Many will be waiting there for a year or more

by Mexico News Daily

About 6,000 migrants are stranded in the border city of Ciudad Juárez while waiting to apply for political asylum in the United States.

Chihuahua’s State Population Council (Coespo), which heads the coordination of migrant services in the city, stated that the current wait time to apply for asylum is about 90 days.

The migrant population in Juárez includes people from Cuba, Central America, Mexico, and even Africa.

As of August 13, 5,981 people were on the waiting list administered by Coespo. From this list, migrants are called by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to cross into El Paso, Texas, and apply for asylum with an officer.

Once they have applied, migrants are held for a short time in El Paso before being returned to Ciudad Juárez, where they must wait for their cases to be heard. Wait times can be as long as a year in some cases.

Dirvin García, head of Mexico’s Center for Comprehensive Migrant Services (CAIM), stated that there are already cases with wait times that extend well into 2020.

Since October 27, 2018, 18,166 people have been put on the list to apply for asylum, of which 12,185 have been allowed to cross into the U.S. to make the application.

Of the 67 people who arrived at the CAIM facilities on August 10, one was from Cuba.

“It’s a long time to wait,” he said, “and we’re running out of money.”

He said he had relatives in the United States that were helping him financially, but the wait still wasn’t easy.

“Hopefully they can speed up the process so we can cross,” he added.

Instead of waiting, many migrants opt for crossing the Rio Grande to speed up the process. Once in the United States, they are arrested by the Border Patrol. At that point they can apply for asylum.

On Monday, the Border Patrol began holding interviews with migrants after a 10-day moratorium during which no one on CAIM’s list was called to cross into El Paso.

A similar situation occurred at the end of July, when interviews were suspended for 11 days due to overcrowding at CBP facilities.

Source: Reforma (sp)

9 states sign on to Oaxaca Pact, seek to narrow gap between north and south

The agreement will encourage growth in the industrial sector, business and tourism

The governors of nine states signed an agreement yesterday that seeks to boost development in the south and southeast of Mexico and to narrow the economic gap with the north of the country.

At a meeting in Oaxaca convened by the Confederation of Industrial Chambers, the governors of Oaxaca, Yucatán, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Veracruz and Puebla inked the so-called Oaxaca Pact.

Under the terms of the agreement, the governments of the southern and southeastern states will work collaboratively with the private and academic sectors to create a more prosperous region.

Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat expressed confidence that the pact will help to reactivate the regional economy and contribute to the achievement of equitable development across the nation.

Growth will be sought in the industrial sector, business and tourism, he said, adding that the agreement also stipulates cooperation on education, security and infrastructure.

The federal government is pursuing three large infrastructure projects in the south and southeast – the Maya Train, the Dos Bocas oil refinery and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor, which includes modernization of the railway between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.

President López Obrador has said that the projects will act as a trigger for economic and social development.

Mexico’s southern states lag behind the north and center of the country in terms of human development.

A report published by the United Nations in May said that development in certain highly disadvantaged municipalities in Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz is on a par with that in impoverished African countries such as Burundi and Burkina Faso.

As a result of a lack of economic opportunities, the southern-southeastern region has struggled to retain its population because many residents choose to seek employment in other parts of the country or the United States. The region also finds it difficult to attract new residents.

The governors agreed that development in their states has not kept pace with other parts of the country, which has exacerbated the north-south divide. They pointed out that the south and southeast has failed to attract much foreign investment and to tap in to export markets a significant way.

Seven out of 10 workers are employed in the informal sector of the economy and 80% of indigenous residents live in poverty, the governors said.

Some residents of the region are not all that keen about the development plans.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) announced this week that it is planning to hold a music festival to protest against the government’s infrastructure projects.

In a rambling statement, Subcomandante Galeano (formerly Subcomandante Marcos) said the Zapatistas will also demonstrate against the “wall that the supreme government is planning to build on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to separate us from the people of the north.”

It is unclear exactly what the EZLN member was referring to although some people have likened the deployment of National Guard troops to southern Mexico to ramp up enforcement against undocumented migrants to the construction of a wall.

The EZLN and López Obrador have a strained history although the president expressed his respect for the Zapatistas during a visit to Chiapas last month.

Source: El Universal (sp), La Neta Noticias (sp)

They’re watching the president closely amid uncertainty about what he might do next

by Mexico News Daily

Fear and uncertainty about the policy agenda of President López Obrador are paralyzing investment, according to high-ranking business executives who spoke to the news agency Bloomberg.

A report published today said that about half a dozen executives who met with Bloomberg in Mexico City last week described navigating the president’s policies and abrupt pronouncements as a struggle.

The most common word that the executives used to describe López Obrador’s decision-making process on issues that affect them was “erratic,” Bloomberg said.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, most expressed support for the government’s implementation of austerity measures and its crusade against corruption – many said that the scourge spiraled out of control during Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidency – but rejected the decisions to cancel the Texcoco airport project, freeze new energy auctions and take legal action that seeks to annul clauses in natural gas pipelines.

Amid uncertainty about what the president might do next, the executives said they closely watch López Obrador’s daily press conferences for clues.

In that context, no one is investing, they said. Many of the executives said they see the beginning of a downward economic trend for Mexico although their views differed about how steep the slope will be.

In any case, the situation raises a range of questions, Bloomberg said: “Invest now? Wait to invest? Simply keep the business on autopilot or consider selling assets? Put resources toward other countries?”

Gross fixed investment in Mexico fell 7.4 percent in May, the worst monthly performance in more than two years, while the economy only narrowly avoided entering a technical recession by recording 0.1 percent growth between April and June after a 0.2 percent contraction in the first quarter.

Although López Obrador has clung to his forecast of 2 percent growth in 2019, his own government predicts an expansion of just 1.1 percent.

The International Monetary Fund slashed its growth outlook for the Mexican economy to 0.9 percent from 1.6 percent last month while the Bank of America and Citibanamex cut their forecasts to just 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

Bloomberg said that the “mix of AMLO’s austerity drive and the uncertainty among business leaders” is taking a heavy toll on the economy.

The news agency noted that while the president is curtailing government spending in many areas, he has allocated significant funding to Pemex, the beleaguered state oil company.

It questioned the logic of building a new oil refinery on the Tabasco coast when existing refineries are operating at or below 30 percent capacity.

Considering the president’s track record on canceling and challenging investment projects, Bloomberg said the business community is waiting for “a sign – any sign” that López Obrador can generate an economic and legal environment in which investors have the confidence they need to make decisions.

The news agency noted that the president told its editor-in-chief John Micklethwait in an interview last week that he respects contracts and the need for foreign investment but added that “for the executives, actions speak louder than words.”

Source: Bloomberg (en).

Mexico considers legal action against US after 8 Mexicans die in El Paso

Mexico could obtain access to evidence revealed by the investigation and prosecute the shooter

Mexico is looking into taking legal action against the United States over the murder of eight Mexican citizens in a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard told a press conference Sunday that Mexico is considering the mass shooting an act of terrorism against the Mexican-American community and against Mexicans in the United States, and that the attorney general is exploring legal action that would rule the shooting as such.

Designating the attack as an act of anti-Mexican terrorism would give Mexico access to all the evidence that comes out of the investigation into Saturday’s shooting. Ebrard said that such a designation would be the first of its kind.

“There will be legal action against whoever ends up being responsible for the sale of the assault weapons to the person responsible, and whoever pulled the trigger,” said Ebrard. “We are going to request access to the investigation to find out how the weapon was sold and how it got into his hands.”

A total of 22 people were killed in the shooting, which took place at a Walmart in the Cielo Vista shopping center in El Paso. The shooter has been identified as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, of Allen, Texas.

Authorities say Crusius is the author of a 2,300-word “manifesto” posted to the message board 8chan before the attack, which speaks of an “invasion” of Mexican and Latino immigrants into the United States.

Ebrard added that Mexico will send a diplomatic note to the United States asking it to “take a clear position against hate crimes,” and that Mexico will consider requesting that Crusius be extradited to Mexico to face charges for the murders of Mexican citizens.

“Mexico considers this individual to be a terrorist,” he said.

Ebrard was scheduled to travel to El Paso on Monday where he was to meet with Mexican consuls from around the United States.

Source: El Universal (sp), CNN (en).

But US lawmakers also have their eyes on the money—if there is any

by the El Reportero’s wire services

President López Obrador will seek to seize the assets of former drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, although some United States lawmakers have already got their eyes on the loot.

A United States federal judge sentenced Guzmán to life in prison plus 30 years yesterday and ordered him to pay US $12.6 billion in reparation. The amount is the estimated value of the drugs he was accused of smuggling into the U.S.

López Obrador said today that he believed the money rightfully belonged to Mexico.

“I believe that everything confiscated that has to do with Mexico should be returned to Mexico, to the Mexican people, and I believe that the United States government is going to agree to turn [it] over . . . but we have to go through the process, because I don’t remember another time when [the Mexican government] has asked for resources to be returned.”

The president said that while previous administrations had never asked for the return of confiscated drug money, the possibility had been brought to his attention by Guzmán’s lawyer, José Luis González Meza.

“I listened to El Chapo’s lawyer, and he said something interesting: that the confiscated money legally belonged to Mexico in any case. And we will be looking into the matter. I agree with what El Chapo’s lawyer said, and we’re going to look into it.”

But some U.S. congressmen, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse have other ideas. They say the money should be used to fund President Trump’s border wall.

López Obrador said he did not expect the amount to be as large as estimated.

“Before they said that [he] was one of the richest [people] in the world, but I don’t believe that actually coincided with reality. They inflated the numbers when in reality there were other traffickers with much more money, but they inflated them for political reasons or for publicity. Now we need to look at his wealth seriously and honestly.”

Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard has been given the task of recuperating the former drug trafficker’s fortune, whatever it’s worth.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Financiero (sp)

El Chapo attempted to dig a second escape tunnel after his capture in 2016

Odd noises, suspicious behavior led to the tunnel’s discovery

Mexico’s most famous drug lord, already renowned for building one escape tunnel, was planning another three years ago in a bid to make a third escape from jail after he was captured in January 2016.

Nuevo León prison official Eduardo Guerrero Durán told the state news agency Notimex that a second tunnel was found at the Altiplano federal prison in México state, where the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was incarcerated following his arrest on January 8, 2016 in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.

Six months earlier, “El Chapo” had escaped from the same prison via a 1.6-kilometer-long tunnel that led to the bathroom in his cell.

Guerrero said that after the second tunnel was discovered, Guzmán – who was entenced in a New York court yesterday to life imprisonment – was transferred to a penitentiary in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, before he was extradited to the United States in January 2017.

The tunnel was detected after prison staff noticed noises emanating from Guzmán’s bathroom, to which the notorious drug lord went frequently, the official explained.

While in the bathroom, Guzmán would repeatedly flush the toilet.

As a result of the noises and suspicious behavior, a study of the soil beneath the prison was carried out and the second tunnel was found.

There was also a reference during Guzmán’s trial of his wish to make another prison escape after his 2016 capture.

Dámaso López, a former Sinaloa Cartel leader who was previously a security chief at the Jalisco prison from which “El Chapo” escaped in 2001, testified that Guzmán’s wife, Emma Coronel, approached him to discuss a third prison break.

“My comadre [female friend] sought me out to tell me that my compadre [buddy] wanted to escape again, [to ask] if I would help him again,” López told jurors.

It is unclear whether he was involved in planning the excavation of the second tunnel.

The witness – sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States last year on drug trafficking charges – also testified that he and other officials at the Puente Grande maximum security prison took bribes from Guzmán during his first incarceration in exchange for providing him with a range of perks such as new shoes, a mobile telephone and secret visits with his wife and other family members.

López quit his security job in September 2000 but told jurors that before he left he had a final meeting with Guzmán, who asked him to speak with the new security chief so that his perks would be preserved.

Four months later, the drug lord was wheeled out of the prison in a laundry cart and would remain a free, albeit wanted, man for the next 13 years.

Guzmán’s lengthy and notorious criminal career came to an official end yesterday when federal Judge Brian Cogan imposed a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment plus 30 years. He was found guilty on 10 drug trafficking charges in February.

United States authorities have not yet made any formal announcement but Guzmán is likely to spend the rest of his life at the “Supermax” prison in Florence, Colorado, the country’s most secure penitentiary where tunneling out might be a challenge.

According to a report in the New York Post, he was on his way to the facility Wednesday night.

Since it opened in 1994, no one has ever escaped from the federal prison that is officially called United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility.

Located 185 kilometers south of Denver and nicknamed “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” the prison is home to a who’s who of notorious criminals.

Among the 376 inmates are domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber,” September 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, Oklahoma City bomber Terry Nichols, “shoe bomber” Richard Reid and Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Prisoners are typically confined to their solitary cells for 23 hours a day, where they may watch television or gaze out a narrow window that is angled upward so that only the sky is visible.

Special restrictions ensure inmates cannot make threats or exert influence in the outside world. Prisoners are escorted during all movements and head counts are done at least six times a day, the news agency Reuters reported.

“It’s very well designed for its purpose, to hold the most dangerous offenders in the federal prison system,” said Martin Horn, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and former commissioner of the city’s Department of Correction.

He told Reuters that the Florence “Supermax” prison “is literally built into the side of a mountain, with a robust security infrastructure.”

“Could Guzmán penetrate that?” Horn was asked.

“I would never say never,” he responded, “but it’s highly unlikely.”

Source: Notimex (sp), Infobae (sp), Reforma (sp), Reuters (en).

Meeting the standard won by Greenpeace would generate ‘economic and social stress’

by Mexico News Daily

Authorities in Mexico City and México state have announced that they won’t comply with a court order to issue an environmental warning when pollution exceeds 100 points on the air quality index because it would cause “economic and social stress.”
Greenpeace was granted a definitive injunction on Monday dictating that contingency measures must be activated when the Imeca index, which measures the quantity of fine particulate contaminants in the air, hits 101.
Under the Mexico City government’s environmental contingency program, a contingency is declared when the Imeca index reaches 150.
While Greenpeace’s stricter pollution standard was endorsed by a judge, the non-governmental organization explained that the ruling allows authorities not to declare a contingency at the lower pollution threshold if doing so would adversely affect the economy, education, public and private transportation and the public in general.
But Greenpeace said that prioritizing the economy over people’s health would be irresponsible, highlighting that 17,000 people per year die in the Mexico City metropolitan area from illnesses related to air pollution.
However, the Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis (CAMe) and the environment secretariats in both Mexico City and México state say that is exactly what they will do.
Had the stricter standard applied since January 1, an environmental contingency would have been declared on all but 19 days so far this year, said CAMe chief Víctor Hugo Páramo.
He explained that around 200 gas stations and 11 LP gas plants would be forced to close on any given day when a warning is in effect.
In addition, more than 2,000 factories would have to reduce their production by 40%, Páramo said.
The CAMe chief also said that declaring a contingency at a lower pollution threshold doesn’t reduce air contamination, adding that people’s health is already protected by the dissemination of information about the risks of exposure to smog.
Mexico City Environment Secretary Marina Robles pointed out that a lot of the measures in Greenpeace’s more stringent standards, such as recommendations not to smoke on high-pollution days and for certain segments of the population to avoid going outdoors, are also set out in the government’s contingency program.
Source: El Universal (sp), La Jornada (sp) 

Over 200 migrants found traveling in truck bearing Pepsi logos
The driver tried unsuccessful to bribe police to let them go

State and Federal Police officers detained 228 Central American migrants while they traveled through Chiapas hidden in a truck disguised with Pepsi logos.
Police gave chase on Highway 190 after the truck driver ignored officers’ requests to pull over. When authorities finally forced the truck to stop near Cintalapa, Chiapas, the driver and another man in the truck attempted to pay police an 80,000-peso bribe (US $4,176) to let them continue on their way.
Instead, police officers arrested the two and turned them over to the public prosecutor’s office.
Inside the truck authorities discovered 228 migrants, including many women and children and all from Central American countries. Police accompanied the migrants to the Cupapé migratory station in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, where they received medical attention, food and water.
Both PepsiCo and Grupo GEPP, the corporation’s distributor in Mexico, firmly denied any involvement in the incident. They said that the truck’s prominent Pepsi logos were false.
“The unit detained by authorities does not belong to our distribution fleet, nor is it the property of any company belonging to the group, which means that [the logos] were falsified.”
The corporation added that neither the driver nor the passenger are Pepsi employees and that the company did not authorize the use of its logo.
Source: Infobae (sp)

Puerto Morelos residents worry that burning is precursor to development
One resident got up at four in the morning and the whole area was full of smoke

Residents of Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, have spoken out against the burning of forest land, which they believe is a precursor to a new real estate development.
Complaints about the fires on social media caught the attention of Sebastián Torres Perdigón, a researcher in the Faculty of Science at the National Autonomous University.
After traveling to Puerto Morelos to investigate, he told the newspaper Reforma that jungle located near the El Faro residential estate is being set on fire at night.
Firefighters arrive to battle the blazes but fires are set again the very next night, Torres said.
“For two weeks, residents have been complaining that smoke is coming out of the jungle . . . In that area, they’re building new real estate developments in the El Faro, Quinta Mareta and La Palma residential estates,” he said.
“The fires start at about eight at night and continue until two or three in the morning, which is when the smoke begins to be noticed in the residential areas,” Torres added.
He said that trees extending across approximately three kilometers of land have been cleared, a process that residents fear is designed to bring about a land-use change to permit further residential development.
The presence of boundary markers was further evidence, Perdigón said.
During a June 29 visit to the site, the researcher said he noticed that two species of protected trees – the chechem or black poisonwood and zapote or Mexican apple – have also been cut down.
Juan Pedro García Trujillo, a resident of the El Faro estate, told Reforma that the fires have very nearly encroached on his home.
“My house is right next to the jungle, it’s only separated by a wire fence so for us it’s very evident. At night, you notice the smell of smoke. One night I got up at four in the morning and the whole place was full of smoke. We went outside and the jungle was on fire,” he said.
“The next day we walked around the site and saw several hectares had already been cleared. There is a federal road [next to the jungle] where high-voltage electricity lines run and some parts [of the lines] were still burning.”
Karen Daniela Hernández said the constant fires are not only clearing trees but also causing the displacement of fauna.
She and other Puerto Morelos residents have called on the National Forestry Commission and the Secretariat of Agrarian and Urban Planning to take action to stop the fires and to implement an orderly urban expansion strategy.
Source: Reforma (sp).