By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS Wednesday, March 17, is St. Patrick’s Day, and, at least for 24 hours, just about everyone is Irish, or, as the old Dublin saying goes, “wishes they were.” And even though the Irish community in Mexico is relatively small – less than 5,000, including descendants of the martyred San Patricios, an artillery battalion made up of mainly
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Lozoya Case Postponed The start date for the trial of former Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) Director Emilio Lozoya Austin was postponed on request of the Mexican Attorney General’s Office due to pandemic-related complications. The deadline was supposed to be last Sunday, March 7. Judge José Artemio Zúñiga Mendoza, however, granted investigators more time to conclude the presentation of
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Women March Nationwide From A and B to Y and Z, Mexican women will protest in Monday, March 8, International Women’s Day, against macho violence in the nation. Though in the past, much of the attention of previous demonstrations has been centered around the Mexico City main square Zócalo, this year the programming for the protests will
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Pemex Drops Fitch, But It’s Not Reciprocal The Mexican state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) dropped the international ratings firm Fitch from its budget on Tuesday, March 2, saying that it “no longer needs” the New York-based company’s services. Fitch’s ratings of the humongous Pemex debt has been harsh, and in its latest move. Fitch downgraded
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Committees Approve Energy Bill Late Monday, March 1, the Mexican Senate’s Energy, Environment and Legislative Studies Committees approved President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) controversial electric energy bill, which went to the Senate floor on Tuesday, March 2, for a fast-track vote. AMLO had asked Congress to approve the bill without even the slightest of changes, despite
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By RICARDO CASTILLO AMLO, Biden in Virtual Meet On Monday, March 1, U.S. President Joe Biden is slated to hold a virtual conference with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). This will be the second virtual gathering both presidents have, the last one having been on Jan. 22. According to White House sources, the two are expected to discuss
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Cabeza de Vaca Jumps the Gun After Tamaulipas Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, along with his fellow National Action Party (PAN) deputies, headed by minority leader Carlos Romero Hicks, took the facility nearly by storm on Wednesday, Feb. 24, and held a press conference claiming that he was a victim of a witch hunt being directed
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Electricity Bill It will come as no surprise for most people in Mexico that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) Electricity Reform Bill was approved by the Chamber of Deputies, as programmed by Congress’ majority rule, now in the hands of the leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) political party, and will now head to the Senate. If
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Electricity Reform Bill Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) on Sunday, Feb. 21, pleaded with Congress to pass his electricity reform bill. “I hope next week the (electricity) reform I presented to Congress will be approved to help strengthen the (state-owned) Federal Electricity Commission (CFE),” he said. AMLO spoke about the electricity bill in two acts
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Texas Gas Shortage The Arctic vortex that hit Texas and the north of Mexico on Monday, Feb. 15, did not catch the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) unprepared, said the commission’s director, Manuel Bartlett Díaz. The cold spell was expected, and the subsequent gas shortage it produced was also to be expected, he said, but not just for
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