Andrés Manuel López Obrador won the 2018 presidential race to become the 67th president of Mexico and six years later, Mexico is ready to elect either the 68th president this Sunday, June 2

by Xochitl TC

In Mexico, three possible scenarios are outlined after Sunday, June 2, the day on which 98.9 million citizens will go to the polls to cast their vote and elect a total of 20,708 positions at the federal, state and municipal level; The president of the republic being the most relevant, since everything indicates that Mexico will have its first female president in history.

The greatest election in history

There are 629 federal positions and 20,079 state positions, which will be voted on next Sunday in Mexico and, below, we present what the panorama is prior to the largest election in the neighboring country, where for the first time two women and a man They face occupying the presidential seat.

Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo

She graduated with a degree in Physics from the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), she has a Master’s degree in Energy Engineering and also a Doctorate in Energy Engineering from the same university. Since her beginnings as a politician in Mexico, she has held various positions in the country’s capital as head of delegation (county) and was a key player in the 2018 elections, serving as AMLO’s campaign spokesperson, in his race for the presidency.

Among the proposals of the standard-bearer of the Let’s Keep Making History coalition, made up of the MORENA, PVEM and PT parties, stand out scholarships for students from basic to university level, free access to the IMSS-Bienestar health system, strengthening of the National Guard to surveillance and security tasks, substantive equality in public positions for women and attention to gender violence and violence against women through the SOS Women Program.

Another of her campaign promises is the increase in the minimum wage, especially for personnel in the militia, the health system and the teaching system. In addition, she will support the current government’s proposal on the Welfare Pension Fund. Said public trust will take 40 billion pesos from unclaimed accounts by older adults holders of AFORES that are considered inactive, with the objective of creating a pension fund, whose trustee will be the Bank of Mexico.

Regarding environmental and mobility matters, she presents the proposal for the transition to clean energy, in addition to building renewable energy generators, without leaving aside the work carried out by PEMEX and CFE, as she expressed that she seeks to strengthen them as public companies. Likewise, she will continue the projects started with AMLO, such as the Maya Train, the Interoceanic Train, the Felipe Ángeles Airport (AIFA) and the Dos Bocas Refinery.

Xóchitl Gálvez Ruíz

She is a computer engineer graduated from the highest educational institution in Mexico, UNAM, and in her political career she has served as senator, head of delegation (county), secretary of dependency of the federal government during the government of Vicente Fox, being at the head of the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples.

She is a candidate for the Strength and Heart Coalition for Mexico (PRI-PAN-PRD), she seeks to strengthen the sports infrastructure in Mexico, to provide better resources to the country’s sports talent. The security plan is, without a doubt, the most solid, since she has proposed a total fight against organized crime to completely put an end to President AMLO’s “hugs, not bullets” policy.

She proposes creating full-time public schools where students have artistic, sports and cultural activities, and giving free Internet access to educational institutions.

Her environmental proposal is based on reactivating the fund for the protection and prevention of natural disasters, fully moving Mexico towards clean energy and reusing wastewater in urban areas. In that sense, she seeks to create more infrastructure spaces for pedestrian and bicycle mobility throughout the country.

Jorge Álvarez Máynez

He is running for the Citizen Movement party and has a degree in International Relations from the Western Institute of Technology and Higher Studies (ITESO), he also has a Master’s Degree in International Studies from the Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, and also a Master’s Degree in Constitutional Law and Human Rights from the Carbonell Center for Legal Studies.

The focus of his campaign has been to restore their right to happiness, providing environments where they have access to sports and the promotion of a healthy life. His political campaign has focused on attracting the vote of young people, who represent 27 percent of the voters, 26 million young people between 18 and 29 years old, who will be in charge of choosing on Sunday.

It should be noted that, despite Máynez’s attempts to obtain the youth vote, the electoral contest is in dispute between the candidates Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez. According to Demoscopía Digital, Sheinbaum has a voting intention of 52.6 percent while Gálvez Ruíz has 29.7 percent and Álvarez Máynez only 14.6 percent.

The Mexico that AMLO leaves

The management of President Andrés Manuel was based on the social policy of “For the good of all, the Poor first.” However, some studies reveal that the poor bore the brunt of this six-year term, since the increase in poverty occurred among the most vulnerable population. In that sense, the NGO Mexicans against corruption and against impunity indicates that in 2018 there were 8.7 million poor people in Mexico and by 2020 there was an increase of 2.1 million, in other words 10.8 million people were in the range of extreme poverty in Mexico just two years after AMLO began his term as president.

In addition to the increase in poverty rates, the perception of insecurity is worrying among citizens, because the increase in intentional homicides has been considerable, registering a 28.20 percent increase compared to the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto, a percentage that represents 176 thousand homicides so far in AMLO’s mandate.

Given the campaign promises that AMLO made six years ago, voters in Mexico are hours away from deciding a new course for the country or the continuity of the Fourth Transformation, a transformation that may be overshadowed because by the end of this “humanist” administration  by AMLO there will be 50.4 million people who do not have access to health services.

by Mexico News Daily

The United States government on Tuesday announced plans to increase tariffs on a range of Chinese products across several “strategic sectors,” including electric vehicles (EVs), steel and aluminum, semiconductors and solar cells.

Will the United States impose additional measures targeting products made in Mexico by Chinese companies or goods shipped from China to the U.S. via Mexico?

“Stay tuned” was the message United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai conveyed to reporters on Tuesday.

Ambassador Tai attended a White House press briefing after United States President Joe Biden directed her to increase tariffs on US $18 billion of imports from China (see below).

As soon as the floor opened to questions, a reporter noted that major Chinese EV company BYD is planning to establish a manufacturing presence in Mexico, and asserted that the cars it makes south of the border “could flood the U.S. market” — even though the automaker itself says it has no intention of exporting to the United States.

“Why isn’t the administration preemptively announcing tariffs to hit these vehicles?” the reporter asked.

After expressing concern about BYD’s presence in Mexico – “at USTR, that is exactly what we are built to worry about” – Tai said that measures aimed at made-in-Mexico Chinese EVs, or other products made here by Chinese companies, “will require a separate pathway.”

“This is about imports from China. What you’re talking about would be imports from Mexico. Equally important — something that we were talking to our industry, our workers, and our partners about. And I would just ask you to stay tuned,” she said.

Later in the briefing, the trade representative was asked whether her “stay tuned” remark could be interpreted as her saying that “there could be some changes” to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) rules, which are up for review in 2026, or “to the law that would allow the U.S. to apply tariffs on goods from China that originate in Mexico or other third countries?”

“What I’m saying is the fact pattern that’s developing is one that is of serious concern to us and that, at USTR, we are looking at all of our tools to see how we can address the problem,” Tai responded.

The USTR, as the trade representative’s office is known, subsequently said that it could take several actions other than tariffs to stop China using Mexico as a workaround.

According to an Associated Press report, the office noted that there are provisions within the USMCA to “address unfair subsidies and efforts to avoid import duties.”

Donald Trump, who could be back in the White House in less than eight months, apparently favors tariffs. He said in March that he would impose a 100 percent tariff on cars manufactured in Mexico by Chinese companies if he wins the upcoming United States presidential election.

How will the new tariffs announced by the United States affect Mexico? 

Before considering the question above, let’s take a closer look at the tariffs announced by the U.S. government. The largest tariff increase is that for EVs made in China, with duties set to increase from 25 percent to 100 percent this year.

Tai said on Tuesday that “after thorough review of the statutory report on Section 301 tariffs, and having considered my advice, President Biden is directing me to take further action to encourage the elimination of the People’s Republic of China’s unfair technology transfer-related policies and practices that continue to burden U.S. commerce and harm American workers and businesses.”

“… While the [current] tariffs have been effective in encouraging the PRC to take some steps to address the issues identified in the Section 301 investigation, further action is required. In light of President Biden’s direction, I will be proposing modifications to the China tariffs under Section 301 to confront the PRC’s unfair policies and practices,” she added.

In a statement, the USTR said that “Ambassador Tai will propose the following modifications in strategic sectors:”

• Battery parts (non-lithium-ion batteries): Increase rate to 25 percent in 2024.
• Electric vehicles: Increase rate to 100 percent in 2024.
• Face masks: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2024.
• Lithium-ion electrical vehicle batteries: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2024.
• Lithium-ion non-electrical vehicle batteries: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2026.
• Medical gloves: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2026.
• Natural graphite: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2026.
• Other critical minerals: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2024.
• Permanent magnets: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2026.
• Semiconductors: Increase rate to 50 percent in 2025.
• Ship to shore cranes: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2024.
• Solar cells: Increase rate to 50 percent in 2024.
• Steel and aluminum products: Increase rate to 25 percent in 2024.
• Syringes and needles: Increase rate to 50 percent in 2024.

Those increased tariffs will provide Mexico with the opportunity to further increase its exports to the United States, according to Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at the Mexican bank Banco Base.

“The stronger the trade war between the United States and China, the more potential Mexico has to export to the U.S. market,” she told the El Economista newspaper.

Mexico has also already dethroned China as the top exporter of goods to the United States, sending products worth more than US $475 billion to the U.S. last year. Tariffs imposed on China by the Trump administration and maintained by the Biden administration are seen as the main factor that allowed Mexico to dislodge China from the top spot.

El Economista acknowledged that the new tariffs announced by the United States on Tuesday are primarily designed to benefit companies in the U.S.

However, “countries like Mexico could obtain secondary gains,” the newspaper said before noting that that the United States’ North American trade partners will benefit from a stronger industrial sector in the U.S. due to the integration of supply chains in the region.

One of the sectors in which Mexico and the United States are seeking to increase integration is semiconductors. United States authorities said in March that the U.S. would partner with Mexico in a new semiconductor initiative whose ultimate aim is to strengthen and grow the Mexican semiconductor industry.

Siller noted that Mexico is well placed to benefit from the increased U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods due to its proximity to the United States and because of the USMCA, which allows most Mexican exports to enter the U.S. market duty-free.

But — as Tai indicated — goods made in Mexico by Chinese companies may not enjoy tariff-free status in the U.S. market at some point in the not-too-distant future. Such a scenario would appear to be of significant concern to Chinese companies that have established a manufacturing presence in Mexico to circumvent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

Mexico gives China “a back door” into the United States because, along with the U.S. and Canada, it is party to the USMCA, The Economist reported last year. But that door, judging by Tai’s comments, is currently swinging in the wind and could slam shut — or at least be heavily reinforced with protectionist measures — very soon.

Among the Chinese companies with Mexican operations that would be affected by U.S. protectionist measures aimed at them are auto-parts manufacturers that supply U.S.-based automakers.

Will the United States’ higher tariffs work? Stopping rerouting through Mexico will be key. 

Following the U.S. government’s announcement of new tariffs on a range of Chinese goods, Reuters reported that “U.S. officials and trade experts say that without strong efforts to cut off transshipped or lightly processed Chinese goods from Mexico and other countries, China’s underpriced excess production will still find its way into U.S. markets.”

Eswar Prasad, trade policy professor at Cornell University and a former China director at the International Monetary Fund, told the news agency that “the new tariffs might keep out imports from China but it is likely that much of those imports could be rerouted through countries not subject to the tariffs.”

He said that Mexico and Vietnam have benefited from the United State-China trade war, and remarked that both countries need to avoid the “ire” of the U.S. government while they continue to seek benefits from Chinese manufacturing investment.

Mexico is thus in something of a catch-22 situation. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has said that Chinese investment in welcome, but his government late last year reached an agreement with United States government to cooperate on foreign investment screening, a move that appeared to be motivated to a large degree by a desire to stop problematic Chinese investment in Mexico.

In addition, Mexico last month implemented new tariffs on hundreds of imports from countries with which it doesn’t have trade agreements – another move that appeared mainly directed at China.

The implementation of new tariffs by the Mexican government came amid growing concern in the United States about Mexico becoming a transshipment hub for Chinese goods headed to the U.S.

In a meeting with Mexico’s Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro in February, Ambassador Tai, according to a USTR statement, “stressed the urgent need for Mexico to take immediate and meaningful steps to address the ongoing surge of Mexican steel and aluminum exports to the United States and the lack of transparency regarding Mexico’s steel and aluminum imports from third countries.”

USTR Senior Advisor Cara Morrow told Reuters that the trade agency has been speaking with Mexican officials about ways to reduce the routing of Chinese steel and aluminum through Mexico to the United States.

She said that U.S. officials have stressed to their Mexican counterparts that the aim of the USMCA is to promote North American integration and competitiveness, “not to provide a back door to China.”

For his part, William Reinsch, a trade expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told Reuters that attempting to block Chinese excess production “is like squeezing a balloon.”

“It shrinks in one place and pops out in another,” he said.

BYD reacts to the tariffs announcement  

In late February, BYD’s Americas CEO Stella Li confirmed the company would build a plant in Mexico, and asserted it will only make vehicles for the Mexican market here.

“Our plan is to build the facility for the Mexican market, not for the export market,” she said.

Li said that officials in Mexico had been receptive to BYD’s plans to build a factory here.

However, Mexican officials who spoke with Reuters last month said that pressure from the United States had led the Mexican government to refuse to offer incentives to Chinese EV manufacturers planning to invest in Mexico. “Welcome to the country,” Mexico appears to be saying, “but don’t expect us to do anything for you.”

As for the higher tariffs announced by the United States on Tuesday, Li said they won’t have any impact on BYD.

“We don’t have plans to go to the U.S. market, so this announcement does not impact us at all,” she said.

“When we build a Mexican plant, we only consider the Mexican market and other countries’ markets, we have not considered the U.S.,” Li added.

Currently, very few Chinese vehicles are exported to the United States, a status quo the U.S. is clearly determined to maintain.

Reuters reported that in the first quarter of 2024 “Geely was the only Chinese automaker to export to the United States with 2,217 cars, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.”

With regard to the planned BYD plant in Mexico, Li said there is a shortlist of potential sites, but explained that “deeper dialogue” was needed before a final decision could be made.

The plant is expected to have the capacity to make 150,000 vehicles per year.

Li said that BYD hadn’t discussed incentives with the Mexican government, and didn’t disclose any incentives the company is seeking from federal or state authorities. However, she indicated that she expected that authorities in Mexico – despite what the officials told Reuters last month – will be willing to roll out the red carpet for BYD, the world’s largest EV company by sales in the final quarter of 2023.

“I think all the states will try their best to give a best offer to attract us because we will be bringing a lot of technology there and create a lot of local jobs. Every state, and even the central government, would love this kind of investment,” Li said.

With reports from Reuters and El Economista.

For more than twenty years, teaching work has been tainted by the transparency of the process for educators seeking to obtain a formal job within the public education system in Mexico

by Xochitl TC

In Mexico, those people who seek to become teachers at the basic or upper secondary educational level must meet the requirements stipulated by the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), the most important being having a bachelor’s degree in education or some other area of teaching, for example. for example, history, literature or mathematics, as indicated in the last call of the System Unit for the Career of Teachers (USICAMM), which belongs to the same government body.

How many teaching positions are granted each year in Mexico?

According to press release number 137 issued by the SEP on July 12, 2023, for the 2022-2023 school year, 125,509 places were assigned, which highlighted that the designation of said jobs was for the “purpose to prioritize the best interests of girls, boys, adolescents and young people to contribute to access to their right to education and guarantee the provision of educational services.” However, different local media in the state of Puebla, Mexico, have focused their attention on an act of corruption within the teaching profession that – according to the authorities of the Mexican Government – can no longer be possible.

Case of sale of teaching positions in Tezuitlán, Puebla, Mexico.

Through the news outlet El Sol de Puebla, a group of teachers recently graduated from universities and normal schools in the region of Tezuitlán, Puebla, Mexico, made a public complaint against a teacher who belongs to the National Union of Education Workers , identified as “Samuel N”. The teacher in question belongs to section 51 of said organization and also “in his capacity as a union representative, he requested official documents and a payment of approximately 100 thousand pesos to 100 people, who were defrauded in their attempt to enter the educational service of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP)”, stated the newspaper in its digital version.

How much does it cost to be a teacher in Mexico?

Covering the expenses of a university teaching career in Mexico are high. Students must travel from their homes to the study center and if they are lucky they can travel within their own locality and in other cases, they must move to the capital of the country (Mexico City) or their entity to train as teachers; However, the amount invested in basic needs such as food, materials, practices, buses and payment for services such as Internet, will depend on the federal entity where they are located. The specialized financial supplement Dinero en Imagen indicated that “from its gastronomy to its educational proposal, each city in Mexico offers something different for young university students, and the regional differences are reflected in the cost of living” and for that reason, the Young university students invest approximately between 600 and 700 pesos per month.

After graduating, what’s next?

Those graduates of degrees in education or specialized teaching who wish to become professors assigned to the SEP must participate in a contest to assign a teaching position and it is through USICAMM that those interested “will compete on equal terms; “It will be public, transparent, equitable and impartial, in which the knowledge, skills and experience necessary for the learning and comprehensive development of students will be appreciated and ensure the hiring of personnel that meets the necessary professional profile,” this declaration cites said decentralized office of the SEP as part of its annual selection process for the admission of teachers.

In contrast to the admission processes that seek to be carried out in accordance with the law and transparency, there are testimonies that indicate the opposite.

A corrupt practice for more than 20 years

Originally from a municipality located in the northwest of the state of Michoacán, teacher Estela Ibáñez shared with El Reportero her experience in seeking better working conditions within the teaching of basic education in the public system. “I have been working in the public education system for 30 years and once tried to change schools to be closer to my town. At that moment I was able to realize that in the system there is a character called “coyote”, who was or, if they follow these practices, is the manager who “carries and brings” the teacher’s official documentation with the Education Union”, he said.

Likewise, she shared that “when I had the need to distance myself for a time from my duties as a teacher in front of a group, I had to find out what procedures I had to carry out and I first tried to change school campus and they told me that if I decided to do so I would have to pay an amount of 30 thousand pesos (approximately 1800 dollars). “I decided not to opt for a change of staff, but to request a leave of absence for six months and my payment was evidently suspended,” she argued. However, once her leave ended and she returned to her job as a teacher, “I had to give them a month of my salary so that my payments could be made normally, that is, that they would pay me my fortnights as they usually did before my license,” he said.

The sales practice that persists until this six-year term.

It was during the second year (2019) of the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, that the then head of the SEP, Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, declared that “the sale of teaching positions and extortion of teachers persisted, because in these practices senior managers of the education union and the SEP itself participate” and, unfortunately, it is a practice that has persisted throughout Mexico, that is, it has occurred for more than two decades in the 32 entities of the country.

Despite the attempts of the Government of the Republic to affirm that the sale of places no longer exists in Mexico, it is the testimonies of teachers that portray the reality that exists to this day.

How many teachers are there in Mexico?

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) is the body in charge of carrying out demographic censuses in Mexico and through the latest National Occupation and Employment Survey (ENOE), carried out in 2020, it showed that there were 1.2 million people with an occupation. as a basic education teacher, with 69.9% women and 30.1% men.

Jessica Soria, a preschool educator from the state of Jalisco, stated that she had to pay the equivalent of 9 thousand dollars to be placed in a basic teaching position, that is, a permanent job within the SEP, and due to His need to have a permanent job did not matter that the position was granted to him in the neighboring state of Nayarit.

On the other hand, Professor Juan Reyes from the Tierra Caliente area of Michoacán, shared that “although the vacancies are open to the general public and meet the academic profile requested,” the price of being a teacher in Mexico is high, since “that practice has not stopped. People must pay between 14,000 and 18,000 dollars to “buy” their workspace and start a teaching career in the federal education system,” he lamented.

Why is it so attractive to join the SEP as a teacher?

The issue of legal benefits plays an important role for those seeking to enter the SEP and pursue a teaching career or only enter as administrative personnel. Although the salary disparity is evident, because the lowest salary is 180 dollars per month; These days, Mexicans are looking for a job that provides them with job security, to have the right to medical service, vacation bonus, bonus, annual bonus, retirement, among others.

In contrast, stories standout such as those of Mr. Carlos López, who died in 2021 due to a respiratory illness and who unfortunately was not able to leave his 3 minor children a child’s pension. He was an administrative worker in one of the sections of the SEP in Veracruz and during the 4 years that he worked, he only worked in the office. The statute of State workers indicates that only “those minors whose parents have completed -at least- 5 years working within the federal worker system may have the right to a child’s pension.” Mr. Carlos, like other members of the SEP, had to cover a fee of 14 thousand dollars to pay for his work space.

The federal government regarding the sale of teaching positions

Óscar Flores, head of the Administration and Finance Unit of the SEP, stated last February during the morning conference of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador that “in the current administration efforts have been made to redirect resources for the benefit of the workers of education, increasing income, benefits and also, the basicization of more than 945 thousand people.

For his part, AMLO indicated that his government “does not want to sell positions or traffic with the teachers’ payroll, no one is allowed, even if they are the most extreme left or right, no one is allowed, in the country there are no longer tolerated corruption.”

Given the latent facts, these are the testimonies of people who have claimed to have resorted to purchasing a teaching position, because beyond the corruption that remains among high-ranking officials of the SEP, the great need to tell comes to light. with a job in line with legal benefits.