Mexico issues warrant for ex-security chief accused of aiding cartel

11/29/2020

Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico has issued an arrest warrant for a former security minister wanted on corruption charges and may request his extradition from the United States where he is being held awaiting trial, an official told Reuters.

Ex-Security Minister Genaro Garcia Luna pled not guilty last month to U.S. charges involving a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme allegedly designed to boost the Sinaloa cartel once headed by jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

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Mexico government unveils second investment plan worth $11.4 billion

11/30/2020

Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s Finance Minister Arturo Hererra on Monday announced a second package of 29 infrastructure investments assembled between the government and the private sector worth some 228 billion Mexican pesos ($11.4 billion).

The package follows an initial 297-billion-peso raft of investments set out last month, and heralds a further thawing in what have often been frosty relations between Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and business groups.

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Exclusive: Red tape, bad data and bribes endanger Mexico’s workers

11/26/2020

Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Workplace accidents and deaths in Mexico routinely go unreported as companies flout labor laws and officials struggle to share data, a Thomson Reuters Foundation analysis found, with concerns that budget cuts and COVID-19 could put workers at greater risk.

Exclusively obtained data from public records requests and interviews with 10 current and former labor ministry officials revealed the system meant to keep workplaces safe and fair has been beset by corruption, bogus inspections, and a lack of data.

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Mexico Economy Grows at Record Pace With Long Recovery Ahead

11/26/2020

Source: Bloomberg

Mexico’s economy grew at the fastest pace in at least three decades in the third quarter, as a surge in manufacturing to meet U.S. demand helped claw back a portion of the output lost since last year.

Gross domestic product rose 12.1% from the previous quarter, according to final data released by the national statistics institute Thursday. The expansion, the best in data going back to 1990, was slightly higher than the 12% growth both estimated by economists in a Bloomberg survey and also recorded in preliminary data published last month.

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Journalist killings in Mexico worst in a decade, government says

11/25/2020

Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – This has been the most violent year for journalists in Mexico in at least a decade, with 19 murdered, a senior official said on Wednesday, the latest sign the government is struggling to get a grip on chronic violence.

Alejandro Encinas, deputy interior minister responsible for human rights, said there had been 138 homicides of journalists since 2010, 38 of them since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office on Dec. 1, 2018.

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Mexico’s Catholic Church halts large pilgrimage

11/23/2020

Source: PBS

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church announced the cancellation Monday of what’s considered the world’s largest Catholic pilgrimage, for the Virgin of Guadalupe, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mexico’s Episcopal Conference said in a statement that the basilica will be closed from December 10-13. The Virgin is celebrated on Dec. 12 and for weeks in advance, pilgrims travel from across Mexico to gather by the millions in Mexico City.

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Mexico reports jump of over 9,000 new Covid-19 cases in one day

11/23/2020

Source: NBC News

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s health ministry reported 9,187 additional cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, only the third time it has recorded more than 9,000 new infections in a single day.

The total number of cases rose to 1,041,875, while 303 more deaths brought the toll to 101,676.

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Officials: 113 bodies found in secret graves in Mexico

11/23/2020

Source: The Washington Post

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities have recovered 113 bodies and additional human remains from a secret grave outside the western city of Guadalajara.

Jalisco state Attorney Gerardo Octavio Solís said Sunday night that 30 of the victims had been identified.

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Mexico denies deal to nab cartel leader in return for Cienfuegos

11/23/2020

Source: Al Jazeera

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has denied that Mexico had agreed to capture a cartel leader for the United States in order to secure the return of ex-defence minister Salvador Cienfuegos from US custody.

News agency Reuters reported last week that Mexico agreed with US Attorney General William Barr to seek the arrest of a high-level Mexican drug cartel leader as part of a deal to get US drug trafficking charges against Cienfuegos dropped.

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US borders with Canada, Mexico will stay closed through December: ‘These measures are with us for a while’

11/20/2020

Source: USA Today

If you were hoping that the United States’ borders would reopen for holiday travel, don’t get your hopes up.

The land borders with Canada and Mexico will remain closed through Dec. 21, Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday.

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