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Opinion: Is AMLO robbing Peter to pay Paul with pension reform?

El presidente López Obrador ha acusado a quienes se oponen al controvertido proyecto de reforma de estar en los bolsillos de los bancos que administran el actual sistema de pensiones. -- President López Obrador has accused those who oppose the controversial reform bill of being in the pockets of the banks who manage the current pension system. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)

by Mexico Institute/Wilson Center

April 24, 202 – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s battle against neoliberalism continues as the June elections approach and his days as president dwindle. The most recent effort entails a significant proposed reform to Mexico’s pension system — one that he hopes will take effect on May 1, International Workers’ Day.

The reform bill aligns with AMLO’s increased public spending and extension of social programs but carries serious long-term implications. The president’s most well-known, and perhaps most efficacious, policy approach has been that of increasing public spending to strengthen the social safety net for Mexico’s most vulnerable populations — groups which have historically been underrepresented and overlooked in the Mexican political sphere.

From Jóvenes Construyendo El Futuro (Youth Building the Future) to a standard universal pension, AMLO and his government have raised the stakes in support of these groups, tripling welfare spending from US $8 billion at the start of the AMLO administration to $24 billion in 2024.

AMLO has doubled down further, promising a 25 percent increase in social spending for 2024, totaling US $30 billion during the election year. A coincidence? Probably not.

The support from the highest levels of Mexico’s government for these historically marginalized groups has reaped significant benefits for AMLO himself and for his party’s electoral success. Though Morena became an official political party only in 2014, it won Mexico’s highest elected office just four years later with AMLO’s presidential victory in 2018.

Today, 22 state governments out of Mexico’s 32 states are ruled by Morena. It’s hard to imagine Morena’s skyrocketing success without AMLO’s strategic use of social programs to get out the vote, especially among these underrepresented groups.

AMLO’s first mention of the pension reform occurred in 2020, but it was not formally announced until February 2024, alongside 20 additional reforms varying in terms of scope and significance. The topic of pension reform came to the forefront last week as the Chamber of Deputies’ Committee on Social Security voted on the proposal.

Put simply, the proposed reform seeks to amend Article 123 of the Mexican Constitution so that workers aged 65 and over who have contributed to the current retirement pension system (which went into effect in 1997) can receive a pension upon retiring that is equal to the employee’s most recent monthly salary but no higher than the average monthly salary of a Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) worker (around 16,777 Mexican pesos or US $983).

These pensions are for workers in the formal sector, meaning that retired workers must have some form of social security coverage — either from IMSS or from the Social Services and Security for State Employees Institute (ISSTE).

It’s important to note that only workers in the formal economy are eligible to receive pension funds, thus excluding a significant swath of Mexico’s population. According to data published in January, 53.6 percent of the economically active population nationwide is employed in the informal sector. However, in states in south and southeast Mexico, the rates of informal employment are substantially higher than the national average, such as in Oaxaca (73.7 percent), Guerrero (73.2 percent) and Tlaxcala (69.8 percent).

Mexico’s retirement savings system has undergone a significant shift in the past 30 years, in part due to the reform put forth in 1997 during Ernesto Zedillo’s term as president and into the subsequent presidential term of Felipe Calderón.

According to Interior Minister Luisa María Alcalde, prior to 1997, retirees received a monthly pension equal to their average salary for the previous five years before retiring. For example, if a formal worker averaged a 10,000-peso salary per month, their retirement pension equaled 10,000 pesos monthly. Presently, however, with the implementation of the 1997 reforms, a worker who earns 10,000 pesos per month will only receive a $2,700-peso monthly pension.

To fund this new pension scheme, AMLO’s administration has proposed the creation of a new public fund, the Fondo de Pensiones del Bienestar (Well-Being Pension Fund). The controversy is over where its money will come from.

These pension funds will be paid from accounts that have remained untouched for at least three years — meaning no withdrawals or deposits — and that belong to retirees aged 70 and over. These funds are currently held by the Administradora de Fondos para el Retiro (Retirement Funds Administration), more commonly referred to as Afore, and total around 40 billion Mexican pesos, equivalent to US $2.3 billion.

According to Alcalde, 0.4 percent of these accounts have been untouched for more than 10 years. AMLO did note, however, that protections will be in place so that workers or dependents who later claim their retirement funds after they have been seized will still be able to access them.

The Well-Being Pension Fund will also be funded by money saved by the government from reductions to expenses, the sale of unused government real estate and the collection of debts. The approval of this reform requires a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers of Congress.

The opposition in Mexico has argued that the direct transfer of money into a new fideicomiso (trust) without judicial approval violates Article 14 of the Constitution.

AMLO contends that the current pension system is a monopoly, with 10 or so banks serving as the primary administrators of the funds. AMLO went so far as to say that these financial corporations are so powerful that they control Mexican media and are leading smear campaigns against the implementation of the reform, equating it to theft.

According to the president, these criticisms arise because the reform would harm the banks themselves, not the pension beneficiaries. The AMLO administration said that those opposing this reform and creating a “campaign of lies” against it are the same people who approved the “neoliberal reforms of Zedillo and Calderón.”

The reform was approved in committee on April 15, with 19 votes in favor and 10 votes against. The legislation was then sent to Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies for a vote two days later, when it was discovered that the legislation received differed substantially from the original legislation’s text.

For example, the legislation presented on April 17 stipulated that all individual accounts with Afore could be transferred to the new pension fund — not just those that have been inactive — a significant departure from the original legislation. The AMLO administration has significantly downplayed the error.

It is undeniable that Mexico’s pension system needs updating, but the reform must strike a balance “between social responsibility and fiscal sustainability,” must account for restrictions in the Mexican economy and must promote a structure that “supports macro stability and financial market development in Mexico.” AMLO is rushing to complete a campaign promise of reforming the pension system without fully considering the long-term implications and challenges that this reform will pose.

According to national statistics agency INEGI, in 2020, there were nearly 10 million people aged 65 and older in Mexico, constituting 7.7 percent of the country’s population. This number is expected to more than double by 2050 to 16.5 percent — which presents a significant challenge in providing retirement pensions, especially given the proposed reform.

AMLO’s priority seems to be on the short-term benefit: increasing the pension for the population of retirement age and thus securing their vote in the upcoming elections without adequately addressing the fact that this demographic will continue to grow substantially. The proposed reform is rushed, with some analysts arguing that it is a final push to ensure Morena’s victory come June.

But perhaps the real reason for the rush is to limit public discussion and scrutiny. Only a few weeks remain to determine the success of AMLO’s most recent effort at dismantling the neoliberal reforms of his predecessors and the consequences left in its wake.

Alexandra Helfgott works in the Office of Strategies at the Wilson Center, researching and writing about supply chains and energy. She also leads the Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide. Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Alexandra was a Fulbright García-Robles grantee in Mexico.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mexico News Daily, its owner or its employees.

This article was originally published by the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center.

Do new tariffs mean Mexico is bending to US pressure on China?

Un barco de Hong Kong espera para descargar mercancías asiáticas en México. (SSA México. -- A Hong Kong ship waits to unload Asian goods in Mexico. (SSA México).

by Mexico News Daily

The federal government has implemented new tariffs on hundreds of imports from countries with which it doesn’t have trade agreements, a move that appears mainly directed at China.

In a decree published on Monday, the government said that 5-50 percent tariffs would apply to 544 products across a range of categories including steel, aluminum, textiles, wood, footwear, plastics, chemicals, paper and cardboard, ceramics, glass, electrical material, transport material, musical instruments and furniture.

The tariffs — which took effect on Tuesday — will apply for two years, according to the decree, which was issued by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O and Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro.

Products from countries with which Mexico has trade agreements — including the United States, Canada, European Union nations and CTPPP signatories such as Australia, Chile, Japan and Vietnam — will not be affected by the new tariffs.

Buenrostro said Tuesday that the government’s aim is to “prevent unfair competition.”

“We have seen a lot of products coming [into the country] … at a very low price and displacing our national producers,” she said at a Council of the Americas event in Mexico City.

“… The prices for the public don’t go down, but [cheap imports] are displacing textile makers, footwear makers [and other manufacturers],” Buenrostro said.

The economy minister said that the imports of concern come from countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements. She didn’t specifically mention China but did say that the “undervalued” imports mainly come from Asia.

The government’s decree said that the decision to implement the tariffs — most of which were set between 25 percent and 35 percent — was made in consideration of a range of things, including the need to “provide certainty and fair-market conditions to all sectors that face situations of vulnerability, in order to allow the recovery of national industry, promote its development and support the internal market.”

It also said that the federal government has an “obligation to implement the necessary mechanisms that generate stability in national industry sectors and that allow trade distortions to be eliminated.”

In addition, the decree said that “due to the growing implementation of new trade models at the global level, such as the case of relocation (nearshoring), … it is necessary to implement concrete actions that allow a balanced interaction in the market, to avoid economic distortions that could affect the relocation of productive sectors that are considered strategic for the country.”

The government also said that the tariffs were aimed at “maintaining the competitiveness of the most sensitive industrial sectors, such as the electric, electronics, automotive and auto parts” industries.

The tariffs’ implementation comes after the Economy Ministry last month imposed tariffs on steel nails and steel balls from China.

López Obrador said in late March that steel-related issues were not weighing on Mexico’s trade relationships with the United States and China, and asserted that the government didn’t want to get involved in any kind of “war, not even a trade one.”

He also said that Chinese investment in Mexico — which has been on the rise — “will continue.”

‘For China, with dislike’

In an opinion piece headlined “For China, with dislike: 544 tariffs,” the newspaper El Economista’s editorial director Luis Miguel González argued that Mexico’s implementation of the 5 percent to 50 percent duties was motivated by its desire to not upset the United States.

“In the marriage between Mexico and the United States, there is no place for a Chinese lover,” the economist and journalist began his column, published Wednesday.

“With a magnifying glass, Uncle Sam is reviewing Mexico’s relationship with the dragon. Our main trade partner has become increasingly possessive. It asks us for ‘proof of love’ over and over again. It offers us nearshoring as a prize,” González wrote.

He wrote that the United States has become “very demanding,” noting that U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen earlier this year “asked Mexico to create an authority to review foreign investment that arrives to Mexico.”

González also pointed out that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai raised concerns about the possible entry to the United States of Chinese steel “disguised” as Mexican steel, and that Donald Trump “threatened to impede the entry of Chinese cars [to the U.S.] if they’re made in Mexico.”

“The demands don’t stop, and the Mexican government doesn’t want to place its marriage at risk. It’s doing the right thing. In that sense, we can understand the Economy Ministry’s recent decision to impose tariffs on 544 products, among which are footwear, plastic, electric material, musical instruments, furniture … and steel,” he wrote.

González noted that the Economy Ministry has been “careful” in its use of language by not specifically mentioning China, saying only that the tariffs would apply to imports from countries with which Mexico doesn’t have trade agreements.

“Why do we know that the measure refers to China? A clue … is that the majority of affected products … [are] considerable imports from China. … The highest tariff, of 50 percent, corresponds to products made with steel,” he wrote.

The El Economista managing editor noted that the new tariffs’ implementation was applauded by Mexico’s Confederation of Industrial Chambers, which said in a statement that the move “doesn’t constitute a protectionist measure but rather a necessary action to create a ‘level playing field’” by combating “unfair practices like dumping and subsidies.”

In closing, González questioned whether the U.S. will be satisfied with the “proof of love” Mexico is offering.

A partial answer will arrive “in the coming weeks,” he wrote without elaborating on that prediction.

“It’s not a matter of Republicans or Democrats. Biden and Trump can be like water and oil on many issues, but on trade, they’re both protectionists, and on … China they share the diagnosis [that] it is Uncle Sam’s main competitor for global economic hegemony,” González said.

He noted that former Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo, now a member of presidential candidate Xóchitl Gálvez’s campaign team, has predicted that China will be “the main issue” when Mexico, the United States and Canada review their free trade agreement, the USMCA, in 2026.

“Continuing the amasiato [concubinage or partnership] with the dragon appears difficult,” González wrote. “Are we prepared to uncouple ourselves from China, even just a little bit?”

With reports from El Economista and Reforma.

Connecting farmworkers to healthcare in California’s rural north

As a promotora, Maria Soto (L) connects migrant farm working communities in California’s rural north with newly available opportunities to gain healthcare through California’s newly expanded Medi-Cal program. -- As a promoter, Maria Soto (L) connects migrant farm working communities in California’s rural north with newly available opportunities to gain healthcare through California’s newly expanded Medi-Cal program.

Promotoras have emerged as an essential piece in California’s ambitious plan to deliver healthcare to all residents regardless of immigration status

by Peter Schurmann

Ethnic Media Services

HAMILTON CITY, Calif. – It’s late February and the road to Hamilton City, an agricultural community about 10 miles west of Chico, is lined with blooming almond trees, their pink blossoms blanketing the fields for miles around. A single clinic stands in the center of town.

Inside the clinic we meet Maria Soto, whose work as a promotora is an essential piece in California’s ambitious plan to deliver healthcare to all residents regardless of immigration status.

“I identify very much with the community,” says Soto, 57. “I worked in the fields, harvesting and sorting nuts here. So, I love it. It gives me a lot of satisfaction when someone says, ‘Thank you for helping me.’ This for me is invaluable.”

Soto is one of four promotoras (individuals who provide basic health education to the community) with the non-profit healthcare provider Ampla Health, which operates more than a dozen clinics across six counties – Glenn, Butte, Colusa, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba – in California’s rural north.  As a Federally Qualified Health Center, Ampla Health is tasked with expanding access to Medi-Cal (California’s version of Medicaid) across the entirety of its jurisdiction.

That job took on added importance as of January 1, when undocumented immigrants ages 26-49 became eligible for the program. Earlier expansions targeted both older adults and children. This latest phase makes California one of the first states in the country to offer healthcare to all eligible residents.

With nearly 16 million enrolled – or one out of every three Californians – Medi-Cal is the nation’s largest Medicaid provider. With the current expansion the state expects to add an additional 500,000 to 700,000 to its list, at a cost of some $2.6 billion per year. Medi-Cal’s total annual operating budget tops $37 billion.

Eligibility is based on income, with the upper limit for an individual set at $21,680 per year, with approximately another $7,100 for every additional member of the household. Medi-Cal covers medical, dental and vision services.

The challenge now is making sure those communities who stand to benefit are informed about the opportunities available, which in California’s far north is easier said than done.

Accessing healthcare ‘without fear’ 

We’re standing in an open field of almond trees, on a farm about 30 minutes outside Hamilton City. Around us a group of about a dozen farmworkers is gathered, all originally from the same community in the state of Puebla, Mexico.

“She came and interrupted our work once,” jokes Elfego Palestino Vidal gesturing towards Soto. “I never enrolled before,” he says, adding that in recent years he’s seen more of his coworkers fall ill because of the increasingly extreme weather. “Sometimes it gets very cold, it rains a lot, then it gets very hot.” Having access to Medi-Cal will “help a lot,” he says.

Famed for its sprawling forests, towering peaks and rugged coastline, the North State, as it’s known – stretching from the Oregon border in the north to just above Sacramento farther south – is beset by some of the state’s most glaring health disparities, from higher rates of poverty and premature death to substance abuse, and behavioral and mental health challenges.

Much of the region is also designated as a Health Provider Shortage Area (HPSA), meaning fewer healthcare resources per capita. For marginalized communities, including many of the farmworkers interviewed for this story, that creates additional barriers to accessing care.

Another farmworker, Leonardo Hernandez Mesa, a husband and father of two, describes how he put off visiting the doctor in the past when he fell ill. He points to his throat and ear as he recalls a recent bout of infections. “Emergency visits are too expensive,” he says, noting that his brother – also a farmworker – has Type 1 Diabetes.

“This is a great opportunity to get health insurance without fear,” says Hernandez, adding that it will allow people to detect health issues earlier rather than later. He says he’s often heard others talk about putting off hospital visits.

A study from UC Merced last year found that nearly half of all farmworkers in California lacked health insurance at some point over the previous 12 months. The study also found that just 43% of farmworkers had visited a doctor’s office while only 35 percent had been to a dentist. Other studies have found a stark disparity in access to mental health and other behavioral services for farmworkers in particular.

Simon Vazquez, who has worked at the same farm in Hamilton City for over two decades and is the foreman here, hasn’t seen a doctor since 2018. He peppers Soto with questions about where and how to contact her, whether he needs to renew every year (you do), and what he needs to bring for a medical or dental visit (a photo ID and Medi-Cal card).

“We’re here to help you with whatever questions you have. You have my information, you have my phone number,” she says patiently.

Reaching the ‘hardly reached’

“A big part of my day is driving around looking for farmworkers,” explains Soto, who came to the US as an undocumented immigrant herself in 1991 and spent time working in the almond fields surrounding Hamilton City. In 2007, she began working with Ampla Health, then known as Del Norte Clinics, after a chance meeting with the organization’s promotora coordinator at a local Mexican eatery.

“She asked me what I knew about being a promotora. I told her I didn’t know anything.” Soto eventually applied, was given training, and has been committed to promotora work ever since. “I’ve fallen more in love with the work as the years have passed,” she says.

The promotora model was first developed in the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez in the early 1970s as a way for the city government to deliver healthcare and related information to marginalized communities. The model soon spread across Latin America, later making its way into the US.

It’s unclear how many promotoras are currently working across California. Some, like Soto, are employed directly by healthcare providers or community organizations. Others work in more informal capacities. The advocacy group Visión y Compromiso, which launched the state’s first network of promotoras in 2001, claims some 4,000 members across 13 regions of California, almost all of them in the southern and central parts of the state where population numbers are larger and overall demand for services greater.

According to data from UC Davis’s Center for Reducing Health Disparities, there are an estimated 10,000 farmworkers across the six counties served by Ampla Health. If their family members are included, that number jumps to nearly 30,000 individuals. While it’s unclear how many are undocumented, data shows that nearly three quarters of the more than half a million farmworkers in California lack documentation.

Dr. Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, who heads the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, calls these communities “hardly reached,” and says local and state agencies have to be proactive in terms of getting the word out. “I’m not sure if they will take advantage of this,” he said during a recent Ethnic Media Services briefing. “It depends on how you communicate.”

A ‘tremendous need’

Aguilar-Gaxiola, who has spent decades researching health inequities impacting California’s farmworker population, points to a range of barriers – from language and culture to fear of deportation – that prevent many from coming forward to access available resources.

“This is a tremendous need,” says Aguilar-Gaxiola. “Meeting it requires more than goodwill and wanting to do the right thing. In order to reach these populations, building trust is front and center.”

During the Trump administration a law known as the Public Charge Rule, which threatened deportation for migrants accessing public benefits, cast a shadow of fear over the community. While essentials like healthcare and food are not considered part of a public charge determination, many immigrants continue to be fearful of enrolling in public programs like Medi-Cal.

Help Multiply: REACH Triple Match Provides Energy Bill Assistance to a Larger Group of Income-Eligible PG&E Customers

Eligible customers can receive up to $1,000 bill credit when making a payment

Corporate News

Oakland, California. — To help support more customers facing past-due energy bills, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is expanding the eligibility requirements and benefits offered by the Relief for Energy program. Assistance through Community Help, REACH). The REACH program helps qualified customers pay their overdue energy bill to avoid service disconnections.

The REACH Triple Match program provides a credit to customers who make a bill payment to help further reduce their balance. The program expands the number of eligible customers who can receive a match from 3 to 1. For example, a household of four with an income of $120,000 a year could qualify for assistance.

The REACH Triple Match program requires low- and moderate-income customers to make a pre-matched payment three times, providing a bill credit of up to $1,000. For example, if a customer makes a payment of $100, REACH will match it with an invoice credit of $300, for a total credit of $400.

Income guidelines and information on how to apply can be found online here.

PG&E recently contributed $55 million to support the nonprofit Dollar Energy Fund (DEF), marking an expansion of the REACH program. This contribution is funded through PG&E and not from customer rates.

More than $8.2 million in billing assistance has already been provided to qualified PG&E customers this year. DEF operates separately from PG&E and is responsible for distributing funds to PG&E customers.

“PG&E is committed to providing tangible bill relief to more households,” said Vincent Davis, Senior Vice President of Customer Experience. “Through the REACH Triple Matching Contribution, we want to help ensure equitable access to essential energy services.”

REACH Triple Matching Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must have an active PG&E residential account in their name.
They must have a minimum past due balance of $200.
They must meet specific income guidelines.
They must not have received REACH funds in the last 12 months.
Minimum payment of $50 required
Customer payment plus matching funds cannot exceed customer’s outstanding balance

Traces: Afro-Peruvian Dance in San Francisco

Belanova regresa a Estados Unidos - Belanova returns to the United States

by Magdy Zara

Huellas is a dance-theater show inspired by the Afro-Peruvian ancestral dance “Son de los Diablos”, co-created by Carmen Román and Pierr Padilla Vásquez, who show the history of decolonization, resistance and connection with ancestral memory.

It is inspired by the ancestral dance Son de los Diablos, which is the first manifestation of resilience of Afro-descendants in Peru, which represents a fight for culture and identity.

Huellas focuses on Afro-Peruvian rhythms, instruments and dances to give visibility to the African diaspora in Latin communities.

“Our project highlights the history, existence, resistance and cultural contributions of people of African descent in Peru as a way to recover and remember a history that is often made invisible,” said Roman.

The staging will be carried out by Carmen Román and Pierr Padilla, while the musicians will be Kyla Danysh, Holly Shogbesan, Erick Peralta and Pedro Rosales.

The performance is scheduled for Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21, 2024, starting at 7 p.m., at Brava Cabaret, located at 2773 24th Street, in San Francisco. Tickets cost between $25 – $30

The Belanova band begins its tour in San José

To celebrate her 24th anniversary, Belanova returns to the United States to begin her Life in Pink Tour, which includes visiting 12 cities and begins at the San José Civic.

This renowned band burst onto the Mexican pop scene in the 2000s, captivating audiences with the smooth voice of Denisse Guerrero and the synth-pop melodies created by Edgar Huerta on keyboards and Ricardo “Richie” Arreola on bass and guitar.

Their unique blend of electropop, sprinkled with anime and club influences, gave rise to chart-topping hits like “Rosa Pastel” and “Por Ti.” With multiple Latin Grammy nominations and a dedicated fan base, Belanova became one of Mexico’s most successful pop groups, leaving a lasting electro-pop imprint on the Latin music landscape.

Belanova’s international success, particularly in the United States and Europe, helped break down barriers and bring Latin pop music to a wider audience. Their music and image continue to inspire and resonate with their fans, solidifying their place as pop culture icons in Mexico and beyond. They became ambassadors of Mexican music and culture, inspiring a new generation of artists and fans.

Its presentation is scheduled for this Wednesday, April 24, starting at 8 p.m. Ticket prices are between $50 – $286 and at the San Jose Civic, located at 135 W. San Carlos St. San José – California.

Poncho Sánchez again Yoshi’s

Poncho Sánchez, GRAMMY-winning bandleader, conguero and percussionist, is among the most influential percussionists in jazz and for more than four decades, has been known as one of the best performers of straight jazz, raw soul music and melodies and infectious rhythms from a variety of Latin and South American sources.

On this occasion he has four presentations prepared with which he will present his new album ‘Trane’s Delight’, with which Poncho Sánchez continues to honor the giants whose music has helped shape his own style while building on the rich legacy they have left behind. As this album of celebration and sentiment exemplifies, he long ago joined the ranks of the luminaries to whom he pays such profound tribute.

Throughout his career, Sánchez has held high the torch lit by innovators like Mongo Santamaría, Tito Puente and Cal Tjader, embraced by each of those icons and trusted to carry forward the traditions of Latin jazz.

Poncho and his band will perform on April 26 and 27 at 7 p.m. at Yoshi, located at 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. Tickets cost $36 – $89.

Momotombo presents Latin rock shows in the Bay Area

Momotombo SF is a 10-piece ensemble of prominent San Francisco Bay Area musicians, primarily comprised of notable Malo and Santana alumni.

Their emphasis is on musicality and improvisational creativity, with the intention of keeping the legacy of Latin rock alive by sharing its music in a live concert format.

Momotombo SF concerts feature the music of Malo and Santana, the iconic San Francisco native bands where the core members of MOMOTOMBO SF hail from. Their mastery of the exciting interplay of Latin jazz and rock, fueled by Latin rhythms and Afro-Cuban rhythms, creates a powerful and authentic Latin rock sound straight from the adventurous and psychedelic days of Winterland and The Fillmore.

You can enjoy this show completely free and outdoors, next Saturday, April 27, starting at 3 p.m., at 459 Seaport Ct, Redwood City.

The Estudiantinas in Guanajuato, how did they emerge?

by México Desconocido

The Estudiantinas usually walk through the narrow streets of Guanajuato, where the echo of history mixes with the happy sound of their music. It is a tradition strongly rooted in the region. Let’s learn more about them.

These musical groups trace their origins to medieval Spain, although over time they became an indelible mark on the Guanajuato cultural landscape.

The Estudentina is a party made by and for young people, where there are dances, choreographies, murgas and sports, among other recreational activities. Students from area schools participate.

How do Estudiantinas emerge?

The Estudentinas, or tunas, emerged in Spain in the 13th and 14th centuries as groups of university students who dedicated themselves to walking the streets, delighting people with their happy and festive music.

In the beginning, the members of the student girls were mostly young people with limited resources, who lived in shelters and developed musical skills to earn a living.

The members of the student girls were given the name tunos, initially the word used to refer to them was ‘tunantes’ due to their bohemian nature.

It is important to note that this tradition spread throughout Europe, becoming an inseparable part of folklore and student life.

Later, in the 20th century they had their renaissance thanks to the enthusiasm of young Spaniards. They were in charge of carrying out various tours around Latin America. Its objective was to promote the tradition that became a true university institution.

Much of this cultural influence found great acceptance in Guanajuato, where over time they became a cultural emblem of the state.

The Student of the University of Guanajuato

In Mexico, the Guanajuato streets became the perfect setting for the student girls, radiating their influence throughout the country. The Estudiantinas of the University of Guanajuato was founded in 1962, making it a clear example of this legacy.

Inspired by Joaquín “El Flaco” Arias, this student became a symbol of the city’s cultural identity, livening up the nights with her music and popular songs.

However, there are several student girls in Guanajuato, who are in charge of exploring the alleys of the city. With their 14th and 15th century school costumes and their repertoire of traditional songs, these groups attract tourists and locals alike, offering a journey back in time through music and history.

So the next time you visit Guanajuato, don’t miss the opportunity to immerse yourself in the centuries-old charm of the student girls. Join a nocturnal alleyway and let yourself be carried away by the magic of the music and the stories that resonate in the alleys of this emblematic city.

Groups plead with CA legislators to save Market Match program

by Suzanne Potter

California News Service

California’s program helping low-income families buy fresh fruit and vegetables is on the chopping block and health care advocates are asking legislators to save the Market Match program.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed cutting most of the program’s $35 million budget to help close the state’s budget shortfall.

Sophia Vaccaro, a participant in Market Match from Echo Park, said she depends on Market Match in more ways than one.

“It helps people being able to stretch their budget further,” Vaccaro explained. “Then, I think it helps the community, in that it creates a sense of camaraderie at the farmers’ market and makes people more invested in the community itself.”

The program matches every dollar CalFresh customers spend on fresh fruits and vegetables at a farmer’s market up to between $10 and $20 per day. It is active at 294 sites across the state and is partially paid for through federal matching funds.

Dr. John Maa, surgeon at Marin Health Medical Center and board member of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the American Heart Association, said Market Match promotes healthy eating and boosts the local farm economy.

“An improved diet really will have long-term meaningful impacts on health, and also reduce health care costs,” Maa explained. “It really helps to sustain the growers and the merchants. I guess it’s a win-win-win.”

Siu Han Cheung, outreach coordinator for the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation and board member of the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market, argued the program is vital to residents across the state.

“If the Market Match will be cut, that is terrible,” Cheung stressed. “That means they have less money to buy their food. So, Market Match is very important for the low-income families and the seniors.”

Legislators and the governor are working toward the May budget revisions, and must pass a balanced budget by June 15.

Peso slips from its strong position against the US dollar

by El Reportero‘s wire services

The Mexican peso weakened to as low as 17.08 to the US dollar on Tuesday morning, a depreciation of around 4.6 percent compared to the 16.30 level it reached just over a week ago.

Bloomberg data shows that the peso was trading at 17.08 to the greenback just before 9 a.m. Mexico City time before appreciating to reach 17.00 at midday.

The low point represented a depreciation of 2.1 percent compared to the peso’s closing position on Monday of 16.72 to the dollar.

Janneth Quiroz, director of analysis at the Monex financial group, said on the X social media platform that the peso was affected by “an increase in aversion to international risk.”

Investors are “nervous” as they await a response from Israel to the recent attack by Iran, she wrote.

The DXY index, which measures the value of the US dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was up slightly at midday.

On Tuesday morning, investors were also waiting for further clues about the United States Federal Reserve’s monetary policy intentions ahead of a speech by the central bank’s Chair Jerome Powell.

Speaking at a policy forum, Powell noted that the U.S. economy was strong, but inflation hadn’t receded to the Fed’s 2 percent goal.

Until inflation shows progress in moving toward that target, “we can maintain the current level of restriction for as long as needed,” he said.

His remarks pointed to “the further unlikelihood that interest rate cuts [in the U.S.] are in the offing anytime soon,” CNBC reported.

The peso has benefited for an extended period from the broad gap between the Bank of Mexico’s key interest rate — currently 11 percent after a 25-basis-point cut last month — and that of the Fed, set at a range of 5.25 percent-5.5 percent.

The peso has also benefited from strong inflows of remittances and foreign investment. The currency began the year at just over 17 to the dollar before appreciating to reach its strongest position in almost nine years on April 8.

Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Mexican bank Banco Base, noted on X on Friday morning that the USD:MXN exchange rate was once again above 17, adding that “with this, the peso erases its gain this year.”

With reports from El Financiero and Aristegui Noticias.

The US will give Ecuador 10 million dollars for security

Ecuador and the United States signed today in this capital a letter of intent through which the northern nation undertakes to deliver 10 million dollars to the South American government to combat drug trafficking and organized crime.

The document was signed by the Ecuadorian Foreign Minister, Gabriela Sommerfeld, and the chargé d’affaires of the Washington embassy in Quito, Lawrence Petroni.

The White House representative noted that Joe Biden’s administration is committed to the Ecuadorian authorities in their efforts to combat drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering and other transnational crimes.

Petroni reported that teams from the two countries will meet in the coming weeks to review the impacts and results of bilateral cooperation.

Sommerfeld, for her part, specified that the additional funds will be allocated to three projects that are underway: fight against transnational organized crime, citizen security and support for public order, and strengthening the capacity and reform of the judicial sector.

On February 15, President Daniel Noboa ratified two agreements agreed with Washington on security matters that are questioned by social organizations and experts.

Through two executive decrees, the president confirmed the entry into force of the agreement relating to the Statute of Forces and the Agreement on Operations Against Illegal Transnational Maritime Activities.

After the signing of these agreements and after the visit of various senior officials of the US government, different voices spoke out against this approach due to its implications for the sovereignty of the South American country.

Despite the agreements and US financing starting in January, when Noboa decreed the internal armed conflict and a state of emergency that lasted 90 days, in Ecuador the levels of insecurity and violence remain high.

On Wednesday night, for example, criminals shot José Sánchez, mayor of the Ecuadorian municipality Camilo Ponce, who joined the list of public servants murdered in this South American nation.

 

US issues assurances on Assange

by Joe Lauria

In London

Special to Consortium News

The United States Embassy on Tuesday filed two assurances with the British Foreign Office saying it would not seek the death penalty against imprisoned WikiLeaks‘ publisher Julian Assange and would allow Assange “the ability to raise and seek to reply upon at trial … the rights and protections given under the First Amendment,” according to the U.S. diplomatic note.

Assange’s wife Stella Assange said the note “makes no undertaking to withdraw the prosecution’s previous assertion that Julian has no First Amendment rights because he is not a U.S citizen. Instead,” she said, “the US has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited.”

The note contains a hollow statement, namely, that Assange can try to raise the First Amendment at trial (and at sentencing), but the U.S. Department of Justice can’t guarantee he would get those rights, which is precisely what it must do under British extradition law based on the European Convention on Human Rights.

The U.S. Department of Justice is legally restricted to assure a free speech guarantee to Assange equivalent to Article 10 of the European Convention, which the British court is bound to follow. But without that assurance, Assange should be freed according to a British Crown Prosecution Service comment on extraditions.

In USAID v. Alliance for Open Society, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that non-U.S. citizens outside the U.S. don’t possess constitutional rights. Both former C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo and Gordon Kromberg, Assange’s U.S. prosecutor, have said Assange does not have First Amendment protection.

Because of the separation of powers in the United States, the executive branch’s Justice Department can’t guarantee to the British courts what the U.S. judicial branch decides about the rights of a non-U.S. citizen in court, said Marjorie Cohn, law professor and former president of the National Lawyers’ Guild.

“Let’s assume that … the Biden administration, does give assurances that he would be able to raise the First Amendment and that the [High] Court found that those were significant assurances,” Cohn told Consortium News‘ webcast CN Live! last month.

“That really doesn’t mean anything, because one of the things that the British courts don’t understand is the U.S. doctrine of separation of powers,” she said.

“The prosecutors can give all the assurances they want, but the judiciary, another [one] .. of these three branches of government in the U.S., doesn’t have to abide by the executive branch claim or assurance,” Cohn said.

In other words, whether Assange can rely on the First Amendment in his defense in a U.S. court is up to that court not Kromberg or the Department of Justice, which issued the assurance on Tuesday.

“The United States has issued a non-assurance in relation to the First Amendment,” said Stella Assange.

Assange Can Challenge Assurances

Assange’s legal team now has the right to challenge the credibility and validity of the U.S. assurances filed on Tuesday. The U.S. would then have a right to reply to Assange’s legal submissions to the court, which will hold a hearing on May 20 to determine whether or not to accept the U.S. assurances.

If the court does, Assange can be put on a plane to the U.S. theoretically that day. If not Assange would be granted a full appeal against the Home Office’s 2022 order to extradite him.  Assange is wanted in the U.S. on 17 charges under the 1917 Espionage Act and one on conspiracy to commit computer intrusion. He faces up to 175 years in a U.S. dungeon.

“The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in US prison for publishing award-winning journalism,” Stella Assange said.

In its 66-page ruling on March 26, the two High Court judges wrote Kromberg wouldn’t have said Assange would be without First Amendment rights at trial “unless that was a tenable argument that the prosecution was entitled to deploy with a real prospect of success.”

“If such an argument were to succeed it would (at least arguably) cause the applicant [Assange] prejudice on the grounds of his non-US citizenship (and hence, on the grounds of his nationality),” the judges said. They added:

“The applicant wishes to argue, at any trial in the United States, that his actions were protected by the First Amendment. He contends that if he is given First Amendment rights, the prosecution will be stopped. The First Amendment is therefore of central importance to his defence to the extradition charge.”

This is the statement Stella Assange put out on X Tuesday at 11:36 am EDT:

“The United States has issued a non-assurance in relation to the First Amendment, and a standard assurance in relation to the death penalty. It makes no undertaking to withdraw the prosecution’s previous assertion that Julian has no First Amendment rights because he is not a U.S citizen. Instead, the US has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited. The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in US prison for publishing award-winning journalism. The Biden Administration must drop this dangerous prosecution before it is too late.”

Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg.

‘Getting significantly worse’: California community colleges are losing millions to financial aid fraud

Martín Romero, estudiante de periodismo en East Los Angeles College en Monterey Park, dijo que lo sacaron de una clase por error cuando la detección de fraude en ayuda financiera salió mal. Martin Romero, a journalism major at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, said he was wrongly dropped from a class when financial aid fraud detection went awry. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters.

California’s community colleges are reporting a rise in financial aid fraud. In January, suspected bots represented 1 in 4 college applicants. Schools have given away millions to these scams, and college officials say fraudsters are getting smarter with the help of AI

by Adam Echelman

They’re called “Pell runners” — after enrolling at a community college they apply for a federal Pell grant, collect as much as $7,400, then vanish.

Since fall 2021, California’s community colleges have given more than $5 million to Pell runners, according to monthly reports they sent to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office. Colleges also report they’ve given nearly $1.5 million in state and local aid to these scammers.

The chancellor’s office began requiring the state’s 116 community colleges to submit these reports three years ago, after fraud cases surged.

At the time, the office said it suspected 20 percent of college applicants were fraudulent. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government loosened some restrictions around financial aid, making it easier for students to prove they were eligible, and provided special one-time grants to help keep them enrolled. Once these pandemic-era exceptions ended in 2023 and some classes returned to in-person instruction, college officials said they expected fraud to subside.

It hasn’t. In January, the chancellor’s office suspected 25 percent of college applicants were fraudulent, said Paul Feist, a spokesperson for the office.

“This is getting significantly worse,” said Todd Coston, an associate vice chancellor with the Kern Community College District. He said that last year, “something changed and all of a sudden everything spiked like crazy.”

Online classes that historically don’t fill up were suddenly overwhelmed with students — a sign that many of them might be fake — Coston said. Administrators at other large districts, including the Los Rios Community College District in Sacramento, the Mt. San Antonio Community College District in Walnut, California and the Los Angeles Community College District, told CalMatters that fraudsters are evading each new cybersecurity strategy.

The reason for the reported increase in fraud is because the chancellor’s office and college administrators are getting better at detecting it, he said. Since 2022, the state has allocated more than $125 million for fraud detection, cybersecurity and other changes in the online application process at community colleges.

The reports the colleges submitted don’t include how much fraud they prevented.

The rise in suspected fraud coincides with years of efforts, both at the state and local level, to increase access to community college. Schools are reducing fees — or making college free — while legislators have worked to simplify and expand financial aid. Those efforts accelerated during the pandemic, when community colleges saw record declines in enrollment.

It’s not surprising, then, that “bad actors” would take advantage of the system’s good intentions, Feist said.

Financial aid fraud is not new

College officials suspect most of the fake students are bots and often, they display tell-tale signs. In Sacramento, community colleges started seeing an influx of applications from Russia, China, and India during the start of the pandemic. Around the same time, administrators at Mt. San Antonio College saw students using Social Security numbers of retirees. Others had home addresses that were abandoned lots. Uncommon email domains, such as AOL.com, were another red flag.

These scams aren’t new. The federal government has long required colleges to report instances of financial aid fraud. Every year, the federal government closes around 40 to 80 cases, including a recent conviction of three California women who stole nearly a million dollars by collecting fraudulent student loans. California community colleges also say they’ve spotted fraudulent applications from people trying to get an .edu email address in order to receive student discounts.

When the chancellor’s office began requiring community colleges to file monthly reports, it asked for the number of fake applications and the amount of money they gave to fraudsters.

CalMatters submitted a public records request for the data, broken down by campus. After the request was initially rejected, CalMatters appealed and received an anonymized copy of all of the monthly reports, lacking individual campus details.

The reports show that between September 2021 and January 2024, the colleges received roughly 900,000 fraudulent college applications and gave fraudsters more than $5 million in federal aid, as well as nearly $1.5 million in state and local aid.

The numbers show that fraud represents less than 1 percent of the total amount of financial aid awarded to community college students in the same time period. It’s hard to tell how accurate the data is because compliance is spotty, with some months missing reports from as many as half the colleges.

More fraud, in more places

To understand how fraud is evolving, the chancellor’s office uses several sources of information and data, Feist said. One indicator is an atypical bump in applications.

“If I saw, for example, that a college that only gets 1,000 applications in some time frame gets 5,000, you kind of know something is probably up,” said Valerie Lundy-Wagner, a vice chancellor for the community college system.

The chancellor’s office provided CalMatters with anonymous application data for each month from September 2021 to January 2024. CalMatters analyzed the data using two different techniques to identify statistical outliers in the application data and asked the office to verify the methodology. The office repeatedly declined.

According to the analysis, more than 50 of the state’s 116 community colleges saw at least one unusual spike in the number of applications they received during that time frame. In the last year, colleges have seen more unusual spikes than at any point since 2021. Along with fraud, however, outliers could also reflect normal fluctuations in applications or the overall increase in college enrollment last year.

“What we’re hearing is that (fraud) is happening more widespread than people are letting on, but people just have their heads in the sand because it looks good to have your enrollment going up,” said Coston with the Kern Community College District. Many college administrators say improvements in artificial intelligence have made it easier for people to attempt fraud on a larger scale.

Yet clamping down too hard on fraud can have unintended consequences. More than 20 percent of community college students in California don’t receive Pell grants they’re eligible for. Administrative hurdles — including the verification process — are one reason why, according to a 2018 study by researchers at UC Davis. To help, the federal government is trying to simplify its financial aid application, but in some cases, it’s created more barriers for students during the rollout this year.

“We’ve overcorrected at times, even in policy, and in how stringently we’re verifying students relative to the amount of fraud in the system,” said Jake Brymer, a deputy director with the California Student Aid Commission. As a result, he said, real low-income students get pushed out.

Kicking real students out of class

Sometimes, the fraud detection backfires on actual students, ousting people like Martin Romero.

In order to graduate from East Los Angeles College, Romero, 20, must take American history, so last fall he enrolled in an online class where students can watch pre-recorded lectures on their own time.

He said it’s all he had time for. Romero takes four classes at East Los Angeles College each semester and serves as its student body president. He also helps out at his family’s auto body shop, sometimes as much as 15 hours a week.

On the first day of class last fall, he said the online portal, Canvas, wasn’t working on his computer.

That day, the American history professor did a test through Canvas, asking students to respond to a prompt in order to prove they were not a bot. Romero didn’t answer, so the professor dropped him from the class.

“I was freaking out,” he said, and wrote to the professor as soon as he found out, begging to be reinstated. The professor told him the class was already full again, so letting him in would mean kicking someone else out.

For the college’s Academic Senate, the faculty group that governs academic matters, fake students is one of the top three issues, said its president, Leticia Barajas.

“We’re frustrated with the fact that some of these courses are getting filled really quickly,” she said. “We see it as an access issue for our students.”

She said there’s been an uptick in recent months, especially in certain kinds of online classes, that has forced professors to focus on hunting bots instead of teaching. Professors now are expected to test their students in the first weeks, asking them to submit answers to prompts, sign copies of the syllabus, or send other evidence to prove they are real.

Increasingly, she said, the bots are evading detection, especially with the help of AI. “They’re submitting assignments. It’s gibberish,” she said.

The endless, multi-million dollar game of combating fraud

Campus and state officials described fraud detection as a game of whack-a-mole. “When we get better at addressing one thing, something else pops up,” said Lundy-Wagner. “That’s sort of the nature of fraud.”

To fight fraud, she said, the chancellor’s office, the 73 independently governed districts and their colleges all must work together, including those who oversee information technology, enrollment and financial aid. Part of the challenge is that the system is so “decentralized,” she said.

The largest reform underway is a new version of CCCApply, the state’s community college application portal, which will offer more cybersecurity, Feist said. He also said there are other “promising” short-term projects.

One of them, a software tool known as ID.Me, launched in February. The contract with the software company, costing more than $3.5 million, gives it permission to check college applicants for identification, including video interviews in certain cases. Privacy experts have warned that the company’s video technology could be racially biased and error-prone.

To mitigate these privacy concerns and avoid creating enrollment barriers, applicants need to opt in to the new verification software.

In the first few days after its implementation, 29 percent of applicants opted in to ID.Me’s new vetting process. Some applicants started the verification process but never finished, said Feist, while others are ineligible because they’re under the age of 18. The rest chose not to verify their identity for other reasons, including many who are suspected bots.

‘We’re just trying to survive’

In Los Angeles, community colleges have already seen a drop in suspicious applications, said Nicole Albo-Lopez, a vice chancellor with the district. But she’s skeptical the problem is solved. “The lull we see, I don’t believe we’ll be able to sustain,” she said. “They’ll find another way to come in.”

Her district is now concerned that bots are trying to steal data or intellectual property, not just financial aid. “Say I have 400 sections of English 101 online. There are 400 variations of readings, assignments, peer-to-peer questions that somebody can go in and scrape,” Albo-Lopez said.

Barajas said faculty at East Los Angeles College are so overwhelmed by bots they haven’t discussed the potential risk to their intellectual property: “We’re at such a level where we’re just trying to survive.”

Meanwhile, students like Romero who are wrongly mistaken for bots must develop their own survival skills. When the professor denied the request to re-enroll, he signed up for the same course in the one format that was still available — in-person. The class met every Monday and Wednesday at 7:10 a.m., and the professor deducted points for anyone who was late.

“It was torture,” he said, noting that he missed two classes and was late to around four. He finished the class with a B but said he would have had an A if he had gotten into the class he wanted.

As student body president, he said he’s been outspoken about the issue. While he was able to fulfill his history requirement, he worries that other students may not be so lucky.

Data reporter Erica Yee contributed to this reporting. 

Adam Echelman covers California’s community colleges in partnership with Open Campus, a nonprofit newsroom focused on higher education.

 

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