By KELIN DILLON Mexico’s National Electorate Institute (INE) voted on Friday, Jan. 15, to reduce Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) influence on the upcoming midterm elections this summer by limiting his speech during his daily morning press conferences until the campaign trail for the elections has finished. The vote passed through the INE’s general council with a tally
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Vaccination Rush There are reports of complaints from all over Mexico that throngs of “influential” persons want to use their jobs in government to be the first in line to get access to the much-desired anti-covid vaccines. In Nogales, Sonora, on the border with Arizona, the Social Security for Government Employees (ISSSTE) officials pointed a finger at
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By RICARDO CASTILLO A Birds Story Birds of a feather flock together, says the old adage. This week began with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, Jan. 11, visiting part of his “wonderful wall” in Alamo, a township just east to McAllen, along the Mexico-Texas border. He took the occasion to praise Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) with
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By KELIN DILLON Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador publicly clashed heads this week over whether or not AMLO will be able to hold his daily press conferences during the upcoming mideterm elections this June. Lorenzo Córdova, president of the INE, said on Tuesday, Jan. 12, that López Obrador would have to suspend his
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Free Covid Vaccines Attention, expat seniors: Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) announced Tuesday, Jan. 12, that vaccinations against covid will be free for all residents, regardless of nationality. The top priority groups in Mexico, in terms of urgency, are medical personnel on covid duty, who are first in line for the covid inoculation, followed by
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By KELIN DILLON Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) said during his daily press conference on Friday, Jan. 8, that independent organizations in Mexico have not been fulfilling their functions properly and must be reformed. AMLO proposed that all autonomous organizations be absorbed by the Mexican government to “make sure they execute their roles to the fullest extent.” “These
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Politics and Vaccinations The inevitable mixture of pandemic vaccinations and Mexico’s electoral year politicking could be foreseen months ago. But, now that the antigen is trickling into the country in ever-growing numbers, so is the criticism of opposition political parties who claim President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is using the vaccines as a political tool to
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Ebrard and Sullivan Talk Migration A new era in Mexican-U.S. diplomatic relations began Wednesday, Jan. 6, with a video conference between Foreign Relations Secretary (SRE) Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón and President-elect Joe Biden’s National Security spokesman, Jake Sullivan. Both agreed that the most important issue in a new bilateral agenda is to collaborate in order to have a
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Red Alert for Three Kings’ Day There could be no more powerful image over the Christmas and New Year holidays than the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) doctors working out of covid-laden patient wards telling everyone, “We don’t want to see you here. Please, stay home.” Their pleas, however, fell on deaf ears. On Tuesday, Jan. 5,
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By RICARDO CASTILLO AMLO’s New Year Message The prospects for 2021 are looking good in the eyes of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) as the nation’s treasury starts the new decade with a 65 billion peso surplus, thanks to stiff collections practices that have “wealthy tax evaders” climbing the walls. To be clear, that does not mean
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