By RICARDO CASTILLO Covid-19 Vaccines Politicized Ever since the Mexican government announcement on Friday, Jan. 15, that “the last batch” of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines — 219,375 vaccine units, to be exact, half the expected number of doses, would arrive in the country Tuesday, Jan. 19, the topic became a focus of a raging political debate. But at the root of that
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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 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 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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By RICARDO CASTILLO It seemed like two years ago, back in December 2018, that then-new Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) had partially paved the rocky road that would lead to minimum wage hikes for 2019. At that time, AMLO managed to achieve a tripartite agreement among business organizations, unions and the new Labor Secretariat consensus regarding the hike.
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By RICARDO CASTILLO Mexican political parties are scrambling to find women who can be candidates in the June 6, 2021 midterm elections. The rush during this year-end week is due to the fact that Mexico’s Electoral Tribunal has set Wednesday, Dec. 30, as the final deadline to register candidates. Though the search has been on for months, it should not
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