Strained security co-operation, opposing views on renewable energy will loom high on the agenda

by Jude Webber

Mexico News Daily

U.S. experts monitoring Mexico’s compliance with the tough labor provisions of the USMCA free trade treaty issued a stark warning before Christmas: “No more business as usual.”

Although they were referring to Mexico’s slow progress in implementing commitments under the NAFTA replacement, the phrase could just as well describe bilateral relations as Joe Biden enters the White House.

Strained security co-operation will loom high on the agenda between the neighboring countries, overshadowing their US $600-billion trade relationship, as will the two leaders’ diametrically opposed views on climate change and renewable energy.

Mexico’s worsening business environment — with independent regulators and respect for contracts under threat from President López Obrador — promises to pile on the pressure.

“A Biden presidency could be quite uncomfortable for AMLO,” said one member of the U.S. transition team, using the Mexican leader’s nickname. López Obrador kept things sweet with Donald Trump in exchange for little U.S. “interference” with his domestic agenda, the person added.

Biden’s approach will be more institutional and “there’ll be no Jared for anyone to call.” The outgoing president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, was a frequent interlocutor with Mexico on migration and development co-operation.

Trump’s threats to withdraw from NAFTA and impose sanctions on Mexican exports unless it cracked down on migrant flows strained relations at times, but López Obrador refused to engage.

Despite Trump’s insults towards Mexicans and insistence that the country pay for his border wall, López Obrador broke his self-imposed ban on foreign travel to meet the U.S. president at the White House.

By contrast, Mexico’s president took six weeks to congratulate Biden on his election victory, eventually sending an uneffusive letter in which he reminded the president-elect he must respect Mexican sovereignty.

Guatemala blocks the passage of Honduran migrants

Hundreds of Honduran migrants are stuck between the border with their country and the Guatemalan police blockade that on Sunday put a brake on their journey.

In the crowd there is hunger and despair that forces them to flee the crisis in Honduras.

Of the nearly 9,000 migrants who have reached Guatemalan territory since last Friday, January 15, around 6,000 remain stranded about 55 kilometers west of the El Florido border point, near the town of Vado Hondo.

“There is no food or water and there are thousands of children, pregnant women, babies, and they don’t want to let us pass,” said a Honduran, who identified himself as Pedro.

“We are hungry,” said a Honduran woman behind the security cordon, where she was with her 15-year-old son, her 9-year-old daughter and her 4-year-old niece.

The crisis in Honduras

In the last 50 years, many Hondurans left irregularly for the United States, where more than a million now live, among those who managed to obtain legal residency and the undocumented.

In 2020, according to official sources, remittances touched 5 billion dollars, despite the fact that they were expected to have a fall due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which affects the United States.

During the last 20 years, an average between 100 and 150 Hondurans left the country daily in order to reach the United States. Migrants are fleeing violence and unemployment in Honduras.

The crisis was already deep when the first caravans emerged in 2018, but in 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic aggravated the situation. The hit of hurricanes Eta and Iota in November was the final push for many of the walkers who today are stuck in Guatemala.

The migrants will have to exceed the 5,000 soldiers that the Guatemalan Army has deployed in seven departments of the country, who also receive support from thousands of officers of the National Civil Police.

In Mexico, the agents of the National Guard are waiting for them, who are already deployed on the shore of the Suchiate River. “Everything is calm here, I hope Guatemala contains them,” declared an official of the Mexican National Guard.

Official votes have been taken in many municipalities, where residents rejected the vaccination plan

by Mexico News Daily

Dozens of communities in a Chiapas municipality have officially said “thanks but no thanks” to Covid-19 vaccinations, following a stance already taken by residents of 24 other municipalities.

“Only two people voluntarily wanted to get the vaccine,” said San Juan Cancuc Mayor José López López in a letter he wrote on Monday to Ministry of Health officials in San Cristóbal de las Casas, explaining that 45 communities in his municipality had voted to disallow any vaccination campaigns in their villages, including shots for the elderly.

In the letter, López explained that the local government held a meeting with community leaders representing the 45 villages to inform them about the upcoming campaign to vaccinate, as well as the benefits and possible side effects of the vaccine. The leaders agreed to go back to their villages and share the information with residents.

However, in all 45 communities, residents “stood firm in their decision not to allow vaccination.”

The decision also affected health clinics in the 45 communities and the medical personnel who work there: administrators in local clinics drew up resolutions stating that Covid-19 vaccination campaigns would not be allowed there. Despite the fact that Chiapas has already received 15,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, more than 40 health officials and medical personnel in San Juan Cancuc remain unvaccinated.

Rejection of the vaccine has taken place in nearly 100 communities throughout the state, according to a report by the Chiapas rural development office.

Ninety-nine villages in 25 municipalities have refused to allow the installation of vaccination sites, it said. These include communities in San Cristóbal, Comitán and Ocosingo, and in the Tonalá and Bochil regions.

Like those in San Juan Cancuc, residents in communities within the municipalities of Chamula, San Cristóbal de las Casas and Tenejapa have voted against permitting vaccination campaigns. In Ocosingo, local teachers have been expressing doubts about the vaccine.

Furthermore, residents in seven Chiapas communities refused to allow the installation of Covid-19 checkpoints, known as filtros sanitarios, throughout the pandemic. In the community of Chenalhó, residents resisted sanitization efforts by local government, the report said.

“In the region of San Cristóbal, sociopolitical conflicts have been detected. There is a lack of confidence in the vaccine [and] the community does not allow measures related to Covid-19 [prevention].”

Sources: Gabriela Coutiño (sp), Reforma (sp)

In other Mexico news:

Supreme Court rules against government’s energy policy

Ruling a major setback for president’s plans to favor electricity production by the CFE

The Supreme Court (SCJN) has rescinded key elements of a federal energy policy in a major setback for the government, which is trying to reshape the electricity market to favor the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).

The court, which last June suspended the energy reliability policy pending a final ruling, definitively struck down 22 provisions of the same policy, which was published by the Energy Ministry (Sener) last May.

By four votes to one on Wednesday, the second chamber of the SCJN invalidated provisions in the policy – which imposed restrictive measures on the renewable energy sector – that it ruled violated the constitution in areas including free competition and sustainability. Only five provisions of the Sener policy were declared legal.

The court’s decision came in response to a complaint filed by Mexico’s antitrust regulator, the Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece). The ruling is a blow for the government’s plans to sideline private and renewable companies from Mexico’s power market.

The government sent a bill to Congress on Monday that proposes a sweeping overhaul of the electricity market to favor the CFE but the legislation, which is expected to be approved, will almost certainly be challenged and could also be struck down by the Supreme Court.

That eventuality, which appears likely based on Wednesday’s decision, would put a sizable dent in President López Obrador’s ambition to wind back the previous government’s energy form that opened up the sector to foreign and private companies for the first time in almost 80 years.

Among the energy policy provisions rescinded by the Supreme Court on Wednesday was one that gave priority to safety in the dispatch of power over economic efficiency.

Another provision that was struck down allowed the National Energy Control Center to determine – based on criteria established by the Energy Ministry itself – whether an application to supply power to the national grid should be considered or not “without taking into account the general technical specifications approved” by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The court said the provision could lead to the “interconnection applicant” – most likely a private company – being unfairly shut out of the electricity market.

Source: Reforma (sp)