Breathing in Mexico City is now like smoking six and a half cigarettes a day

5/15/2019 – Quartz

By Zoe Schlanger

Dozens of wildfires have broken out in Mexico over the past week, sending plumes of smoke drifting far beyond the burn sites to blanket population centers, including Mexico City, home to 21 million people. Officials in Mexico City have declared a state of emergency and are urging people to stay indoors, as pollution levels soar far above what’s considered healthy for human exposure. Concentrations of PM2.5—tiny particulate matter produced during any combustion, like burning trees and plants during fires—reached 158 micrograms per cubic meter yesterday.

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Mexico readies roll-out of tax deal with technology platforms

5/7/2019 – Bloomberg

By Eric Martin and Andrea Navarro

Mexico’s Finance Ministry plans to announce the roll-out of a landmark tax deal with technology platforms in the coming weeks, a top official said Monday.

Deputy Finance Minister Arturo Herrera confirmed the plans in an interview at Bloomberg News offices in Mexico City, while declining to elaborate. Bloomberg reported in November that the previous administration reached an agreement with Uber Technologies Inc. in which the platform will withhold taxes from partners who gain income from both its ride-hailing and food delivery services.

The country has been looking for ways to boost tax collection that’s the worst among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The previous administration was also in talks with Netflix Inc. to collect sales taxes from users. Airbnb Inc. had stepped away from talks that would have required the home-sharing website to collect income tax from its hosts.

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No survivors found in Mexico crash of jet carrying 13 people

5/7/2019 – Reuters

A plane crash in a remote mountain region in northern Mexico claimed the lives of all 13 people on board, including a family of five that were flying back from watching a boxing match in Las Vegas, authorities and local media said on Monday.

The wreckage of the plane that took off from Las Vegas on Sunday was found via aerial surveillance in the northern municipality of Ocampo, the government of Coahuila state said in a statement.

A photograph published on local television network Milenio showed what it said were the burnt remnants of the plane, broken into pieces, spread over charred earth.

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Mexico’s AMLO riding high 10 months after election

5/6/2019 – BBC

lopezobrador.org

By Marcos Martinez

When Mexico’s populist presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador was elected by a landslide in July, some analysts warned that he could quickly lose support once in office, especially if he failed to deliver on his ambitious promise of delivering a “radical transformation” of his country.

Four months after his swearing-in, his approval ratings range between 60% and 86% and are the envy of many other leaders in the hemisphere.

But how has the 65 year old commonly referred to as Amlo fared so far and what problems has he been able to tackle?

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Thousands march in protest against Mexico’s president

5/5/2019 – Reuters

By Josue Gonzalez

Several thousand people marched through Mexico City on Sunday to demand the resignation of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the first major protest against the leftist leader in the capital since he took office five months ago.

Largely dressed in white, protesters marched down the capital’s main thoroughfare, with many chanting: “AMLO, out!” using the president’s nickname, based on his initials.

Some covered their mouths with masking tape on which they had written: “AMLO resign.” Others waved signs bearing slogans including “Mexico isn’t yours” and “You’re not Robin Hood.”

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Bill to undo education reform passes in Mexico’s lower house

4/26/2019 – Associated Press

Mexico’s lower house has passed a measure that would overturn contentious elements of a 2013 education reform that was a key piece of legislation under then-President Enrique Peña Nieto.

The bill would eliminate teacher evaluations and return some power to unions. It goes to the Senate, where President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s allies have a majority.

López Obrador praised Thursday’s vote, saying: “This is one less problem” for the country.

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Mexico has its own immigration crisis

4/25/2019 – Quartz

By Ana Campoy

Just like Donald Trump, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador is struggling to manage an immigration crisis.

In recent months, Mexico has been overwhelmed by the same wave of Central American asylum seekers outstripping American immigration authorities’ resources at the southern US border.  Many in Mexico are headed to the US, but others are choosing to stay there.

The influx, along with pressure from the US, has López Obrador flip-flopping on campaign promises of protecting immigrants, many of them women and children. This week, Mexican authorities raided a migrant caravan in southern Mexico, rounding up stroller-pushing families and forcefully stuffing them into vans. Nearly 400 were detained.

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