Amid covid-19, recession and violence, Mexico’s López Obrador takes aim at his predecessors

09/22/2020

Source: The Washington Post

MEXICO CITY — For decades, Mexico’s presidents have handed over power peacefully at the end of their six-year terms. And in contrast to some of their Latin American counterparts, they have been left alone to pursue quiet, comfortable retirements, free of the fear of being held accountable for any misdeeds they might have committed while in office.

Now President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is threatening to shatter that tradition, accusing his five immediate predecessors of corruption or unfair economic policies — and seeking public approval to bring them to justice.

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Mexico is open to tourists. Here’s what locals want you to know before you go.

09/23/2020

Source: The Washington Post

Americans willing to travel abroad have limited options. Their passport, which once unlocked access to most of the world, is now hindering them from moving freely as countries watch coronavirus cases rise in the United States.

But one of America’s most popular travel destinations remains open and available: Mexico.

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Mexico Reports Slight Decline in 2019 Homicides

09/23/2020

Source: The Wall Street Journal

MEXICO CITY—Mexico registered 209 fewer homicides in 2019 than a year earlier, the first decline in five years, though the murder rate remained at its highest level in decades, the National Statistics Institute said Wednesday.

The country registered 36,476 homicides last year, down from 36,685 in 2018, according to preliminary data based on death certificates. The homicide rate was unchanged from 2018 at 29 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest level on records stretching back 30 years.

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Mexico’s drug war leaves 39,000 unidentified bodies in its morgues

09/22/2020

Source: The Gaurdian

Mexico’s militarised crackdown on organised crime has left nearly 39,000 unidentified bodies in the country’s morgues, which are often unable to handle the volume of corpses brought in for autopsies.

A new investigation by the investigative NGO Quinto Elemento Labs found that an alarming number of people were simply buried in common graves without proper postmortems. Some were left in funeral homes and more than 2,500 bodies were given to medical schools.

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In the Epicenter of Mexico’s Coronavirus, Feeling Like a ‘Trapped Animal’

09/23/2020

Source: New York Times

IZTAPALAPA, MEXICO — The man in the vegetable stall next to Christopher Arriaga’s died first. A longtime customer was next, then another. A few days later, an elderly carrot vendor got sick and died within the week.

Soon, the coronavirus was storming the vast, gridded passages of the Central de Abasto, the largest produce market in the Western Hemisphere, and Mr. Arriaga’s father fell ill, too. Dozens in the market died, perhaps hundreds. Not even the government knows for sure.

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Mexico Surpasses 700,000 Confirmed COVID-19 Cases, Actual Toll Unknown

09/21/2020

Source: U.S. Word & News Report

MEXICO CITY (REUTERS) – Mexico surpassed 700,000 confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday even as health authorities cited what they described as nearly two months of slowing infection rates.

On Monday, the Health Ministry reported 2,917 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the Latin American country, bringing the total to 700,580 as well as a cumulative death toll of 73,697.

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Amid covid-19, recession and violence, Mexico’s López Obrador takes aim at his predecessors

09/22/2020

Source: The Washington Post

MEXICO CITY — For decades, Mexico’s presidents have handed over power peacefully at the end of their six-year terms. And in contrast to some of their Latin American counterparts, they have been left alone to pursue quiet, comfortable retirements, free of the fear of being held accountable for any misdeeds they might have committed while in office.

Now President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is threatening to shatter that tradition, accusing his five immediate predecessors of corruption or unfair economic policies — and seeking public approval to bring them to justice.

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Mexico to sign up for WHO’s coronavirus COVAX vaccine plan this week

09/22/2020

Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Tuesday said his country will finalize this week a deal to join the World Health Organization’s global COVAX plan, which aims to deliver at least 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines by the end of next year.

A dozen Central and Latin American countries had informed the WHO that they would request more time to sign up for the COVAX multilateral mechanism after the midnight on Friday deadline to formalize legally binding documents.

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Drought-hit Mexicans assert demands that water sharing with U.S. ends

09/20/2020

Source: U.S. News & World Report

LA BOQUILLA DAM, Mexico (Reuters) – Protesters gathered on Sunday in drought-hit northern Mexico in an attempt to retain control of a dam key to government efforts to diffuse tensions over a water sharing pact with the United States.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has been working to maintain a good relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, said on Friday that Mexico has to comply with its obligations.

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In Pictures: Mexico’s Indigenous children struggle for education

09/20/2020

Source: Al Jazeera

In the poverty-stricken mountains of southern Mexico, children can only dream of having the internet or television access that would allow them to join millions of others following distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

Children across the country began a new school year last month with remote learning via television, a move aimed at curbing the spread of the disease in a country that has reported 73,000 COVID-19 deaths – the fourth-highest tally in the world.

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