Seeking to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship.
6/25/19 – BBC News
An infestation of a seaweed-like algae along some of Mexico’s most visited Caribbean beaches has pitted the local community against the president, who has described the problem as a “minor issue”.
In a long-running issue attributed by many researchers to climate change, sargassum has covered the popular white sandbanks, turning the pristine waters brown and leaving a strong odour as it decomposes, alarming residents, businesses and, obviously, tourists.
6/18/19 – New York Times
By David Alire Garcia
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he spoke with Facebook Inc’s Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, inviting the social media tycoon to partner with him in a bid to promote universal internet access in Mexico.
Lopez Obrador posted on both Facebook and Twitter a short clip of his video conference with Zuckerberg in which the president notes that a fifth of Mexico’s population does not have internet access and that he would like better connectivity to help improve social conditions, especially among the poor.
5/27/2019 – Reuters
By Diego Oré
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed on Monday to alleviate a medicine shortage in public hospitals, pledging to shop abroad for essential drugs if necessary and blaming the situation on companies upset about his crackdown on overpricing.
5/6/2019 – Reuters
Mexico’s telecommunications regulator has opened an anti-trust probe into “relative monopolistic practices” in the sector, the government said in its official gazette on Monday.
The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) probe centers on denial of access, and discriminatory access to an “essential input” in the market for “wholesale disaggregated services of the predominant economic agent’s local network in the telecommunications sector,” the government said.
“The aim of the procedure is to investigate the commission of relative monopolistic practices that have or may have as their object or effect, to unduly displace other economic actors, substantially impede their access, or to establish exclusive advantages in favor of one or more economic agents in the relevant market, or in a related market,” it added.
1/29/2019 – The Washington Post
By MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s health regulatory agency says it has cleared about 13,000 requests for permits for medical devices and medicines, some of which had been awaiting approval since 2007.
The agency says that since its new team of officials took office Dec. 3, the agency has worked to reduce a mammoth backlog of permit requests. The agency said Monday that the previous administration left a total backlog of 22,000 applications.
Before President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office Dec.1, investigators uncovered a scheme in which regulators would hide or fail to deliver approvals. The officials reportedly took money for processing documents.
11/26/2018 – Reuters
By MEXICO CITY — The party of Mexico’s president-elect has submitted legislation to legalize marijuana possession, public use, growing and sales.
Sen. Olga Sanchez Cordero presented the measure Thursday, saying that “every person has the right to carry up to 30 grams (one ounce) of cannabis.”
Cordero has been picked as interior secretary by President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office Dec. 1.
