Noboa reluctant to hand over Glas to reestablish ties with Mexico

May 17, 2024

The Ecuadorian president commented that he wants to have a fluid and peaceful dialogue, “without intervention on one side or the other”

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, expressed his disagreement that the reestablishment of relations with Mexico, which were broken after the assault by the Ecuadorian public force on the Mexican Embassy in Quito last April, is conditional on the surrender of the former Ecuadorian vice president. Jorge Glas, arrested in that raid when he was taking refuge in the diplomatic headquarters and who is currently in La Roca prison in Guayaquil, province of Guayas.

“It does not seem to me personally or to the Government that the only condition and the only way to re-establish a relationship with Mexico is to give them a criminal,” said the president, in an interview with AFP in Paris, France, within the framework of his tour of Europe.

According to the president, his administration wants to have with Mexico “a fluid dialogue and a dialogue of peace, without intervention on one side or the other”; and he mentioned that they are “willing to talk about many things” and even promoted a free trade agreement with that nation for a long time.

“I think it would be better if we once again have diplomatic relations with Mexico for the fight against drug trafficking, since one of the groups that operate in Ecuador are Mexican cartels,” he said in this regard.

But he insisted that “if there are convicted criminals,” they will not allow “justice to be flouted in that way”; pointing out that Glas, who had already received asylum from Mexico at the time of his capture, “is a person who has been convicted of two criminal offenses, according to Ecuadorian laws in past governments” and “was someone who had been given measures alternatives so that he has house arrest”.

“He went to hide in an embassy. It is the equivalent of someone being in prison, escaping and from there going to take refuge in an embassy. It’s that simple,” he added.

Trust in the ICJ

On the other hand, he was confident that they will be “right” at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in The Hague, where Mexico filed a complaint against Ecuador and Quito responded with a counter-complaint later.

In that instance, in response to Mexico’s demand, public hearings were held on April 30 and May 1, where both countries presented their arguments.

“I believe that it will end up being clarified within the Court, if the embassy itself was denatured. We trust that we will be right. The moment a criminal is granted asylum, things begin to become intervention in national affairs, especially in national justice, and we do not agree,” he said in this regard.

At the beginning of May, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, mentioned that if Ecuador gives “safe conduct” and hands over Glas, they could “start” talking to de-escalate the conflict.

In that instance, in response to Mexico’s demand, public hearings were held on April 30 and May 1, where both countries presented their arguments.

“I believe that it will end up being clarified within the Court, if the embassy itself was denatured. We trust that we will be right. The moment a criminal is granted asylum, things begin to become intervention in national affairs, especially in national justice, and we do not agree,” he said in this regard.

At the beginning of May, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Alicia Bárcena, mentioned that if Ecuador gives “safe conduct” and hands over Glas, they could “start” talking to de-escalate the conflict.

The official then said that Ecuador miscalculated and showed “a lot of inexperience” with the assault on the Embassy and described it as “very poorly done” if Quito understood the granting of asylum to Glas as a provocation by the Mexican authorities.

She recalled that both nations had been talking about it before her country granted the benefit to the former vice president.

“Glas arrived at our embassy on Dec. 17 and requested asylum on December 21. We did not grant it to him without dialogue with Ecuador. It was not a unilateral act by Mexico; we spoke with the Ecuadorian authorities, they themselves sent us the legal files so that we could analyze the request. We studied them and continued with the bilateral dialogue,” he said then.

Lawmakers urge U.S. action to halt China’s organ trade

May 17, 2024

by Tyler Durden

Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics,

A group of leading China critics in Congress is urging the State Department to step up its efforts to curb Beijing’s gruesome $1 billion forced organ harvesting trade, which targets ethnic and religious minorities, including Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners.

Six members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, or CECC, sent a letter last week to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking him to utilize existing agency reward programs to provide monetary incentives for information that will “deter and disrupt the market for illegally procured organs” in China. Rep. Chris Smith, who chairs the CECC, and Sen. Marco Rubio, the commission’s ranking member, joined Democrat Rep. Jennifer Wexton of Virginia and GOP Reps. Michelle Steel of California, Zach Nunn of Iowa, and Ryan Zinke of Montana in signing the letter.

The State Department manages two programs that offer awards of up to $25 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of members of significant transnational criminal organizations. One focuses on violators of U.S. narcotics law, and another targets other crimes that threaten U.S. national interests, including human trafficking, wildlife trafficking, cybercrime, money laundering, and trafficking in arms and other illicit goods.

“We strongly support the Department of State’s efforts to issue rewards for wildlife and narcotics trafficking in the [People’s Republic of China],” the lawmakers wrote. “However, given the global demand for organ transplants and the evidence of the illegal trafficking of organs in the PRC, there is a pressing need to uncover first-hand information from those who witnessed or engaged in the practice.”

The State Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Communist China has long harvested prisoners’ organs, even though the government in Beijing initially asserted that all their organ extractions were from voluntary donors. But as far back as 2005, the top transplant doctor in China, then serving as the nation’s vice minister of health, admitted that roughly 95 percent of all organ transplants came from prisoners.

In recent years, leading researchers have documented a reprehensible aspect of these life-ending extractions: Prisoners of conscience – religious minorities and political dissidents are the main victims. There’s now extensive evidence that Chinese surgeons first honed their murderous organ harvesting practices on practitioners of Falun Gong, a meditation and exercise movement. In recent years, the regime expanded its pool of victims to China’s imprisoned Uyghur population as part of its systematic oppression of the Muslim minority group.

China has vehemently denied these claims, but in 2019, the China Tribunal, a non-governmental, independent commission in the U.K., concluded otherwise. The Tribunal investigated accusations of organ harvesting in China and found that some of the more than 1.5 million detainees in Chinese prison camps are being killed for their organs to serve

Set featured image

a booming transplant trade worth an estimated $1 billion a year. The Tribunal also found that the Chinese organ trafficking industry is harvesting organs from executed prisoners and political prisoners at an industrial scale, actions that constitute crimes against humanity.

In response to the Tribunal’s findings, more than a dozen United Nations human rights experts said they were extremely alarmed by reports that organ harvesting was targeting “specific ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities, including Uyghurs, Tibetans, Muslims, and Christians” detained in China. The experts, who operate under United Nations mandates but do not speak on the international organization’s behalf, called on China to respond to the allegations of illegal organ harvesting promptly and to allow international human rights monitors into hospitals and other areas to monitor the country’s organ extraction practices. China has ignored those requests.

In 2022, the American Journal of Transplantation, the leading medical transplant publication in the world, published a peer-reviewed article that uncovered compelling evidence that Chinese surgeons are systematically removing organs from prisoners while they are still alive, providing on-demand supplies for China’s organ export industry.

The practice violates the internationally accepted “dead-donor” rule that holds that organ procurement “must not commence until the donor is both dead and formally pronounced so.”

“Forced organ harvesting is an atrocity, and the disruption and deterrence of this practice should be a priority of the State Department,” the group of lawmakers wrote.

“Getting the PRC to account and fully address evidence of forced organ harvesting will be critical in ending this horrific practice and promoting, long term, the establishment of a truly voluntary organ donation system,” they continued. “With effective enforcement mechanisms, we can work towards ensuring organs are procured safely and ethically.”

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.

Could Mexican exports be affected by new US tariffs on China? ‘Stay tuned’ says USTR

May 17, 2024

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.

How Congress is letting die an internet connectivity lifeline for millions

May 17, 2024

by Aaron Sankin

On April 30, a popular and widely used government program began the process of shutting down due to congressional inaction. With its demise, closing the digital divide becomes considerably more difficult.

The federal government first launched a broadband subsidy program during the depths of COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, where internet connections became many peoples’ only window into the outside world. That effort, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), was made permanent as part of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It offered a $30 monthly subsidy ($75 on tribal lands) to qualifying low-income households for broadband internet or cell phone bills. The program also offers up to $100 toward a computer or tablet.

However, it came with a major caveat: The $14.2 billion Congress allocated toward the program was a one-time thing. When the money ran out at some point in the future, Congress would have to infuse the program with more money or find a more permanent funding solution.

That future has officially arrived. More than 23 million American households, about 45% of all those eligible nationwide, will no longer receive the full subsidies that previously helped them get online. Two-thirds of those households had “inconsistent or zero connectivity prior to ACP enrollment,” a recent Federal Communications Commission survey revealed.

Partial subsidies of $14 ($35 for households on Tribal lands) will be available for some ISP customers for service in May, according to an FCC notice. But that will be the program’s last disbursement.

“Many recent press reports about the impending end of this program describe how ACP households across the country are now facing hard choices about what expenses they have to cut, including food and gas, to maintain their broadband access, with some households doubtful they can afford to keep their broadband service at all,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel wrote in an April letter to congressional leaders. “These press reports echo what the Commission has been hearing from ACP households directly, with many writing the agency to express their distress and fear that ending this program could lead them to lose access to the internet at home.”

Case in point: Alfredo Camacho, who lives in Guadalupe, California, told CalMatters that because he is no longer able to afford home internet service, he’s started taking his daughters to the parking lot outside a local library so the family can use the free wifi to do homework and look for jobs.

“This takes away grocery money,” said Camacho, who is one of around three million Golden State residents losing access to the subsidy. “Being a single father, $30 goes a long way.”

In anticipation of the shut-down, the program stopped accepting new sign-ups in early February. Participating households started receiving notifications about the program’s potential shuttering in January. After it ends, internet service providers are required to allow ACP-using households to cancel without termination fees.

The program has been an essential part of how millions of Americans get online, with nearly one-in-five U.S. households relying on the subsidy to keep their internet subscriptions active. Uptake has been especially strong in areas with high-poverty rates in both urban and rural areas.

The program is “helping people who did not previously have access to get online,” wrote John Horrigan, a leading researcher tracking connectivity trends, who noted that enrollment has been especially high in diverse, high-poverty areas. “In other words, the answer to the question of whether the ACP is closing the digital divide is a clear yes.”

In 2022, the Biden Administration announced securing commitments from 20 providers to begin offering internet service with at least 100 Mbps speeds to ACP-qualifying households — for just $30 a month and without data caps. When combined with the $30 monthly ACP subsidy, internet connectivity became effectively free for low-income households.

The program also increased the reach of another Infrastructure bill-created effort: The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. BEAD is a $42 billion pool that subsidizes internet providers to build new broadband networks in parts of the country where infrastructure is lacking. A Common Sense Media study found that by allowing more people to sign up for internet service, ACP reduced the per-household BEAD subsidy necessary to incentivize internet providers to build new networks in rural areas by 25%. That meant money the government has budgeted to expand broadband coverage could go a lot farther in closing the rural digital divide.

ACP is also massively popular with the public. A survey released last year found 78% of registered voters supported extending its funding. That support crossed the political spectrum, with nearly all Democrats and just over two-thirds of Republicans responding in favor of its continuation.

On Capitol Hill, the program initially appeared to have uncommonly broad support. Last fall, 45 lawmakers, 29 Democrats and 16 Republicans, wrote to congressional leadership asking them to make ACP extension a priority. “We have a unique window of opportunity to ensure that every family and child — rural, urban, and suburban — have access to affordable broadband, and can thrive in the digital age. ACP has become a lifeline for Americans, and we cannot afford to let it expire,” they charged.

It has even united the left and right sides of the political spectrum. The Communication Workers of America, a labor union representing many telecom employees, has advocated for renewing the program. (Full disclosure: The CWA is the parent union of The NewsGuild-CWA, which represents employees of The Markup and CalMatters.) Non-profit advocacy groups like Common Sense Media and the National Digital Inclusion Alliance organized drives for supporters to call their representative about the program’s looming expiration. The R Street Institute, a libertarian think tank, has made its own push – hailing the program as a model for other government connectivity efforts. Conservative publisher Steve Forbes wrote a supportive op-ed for Fox Business.

“It’s often said there are three parties on Capitol Hill – Republicans, Democrats and appropriators. In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, the first two have recognized the positive impact of the Affordable Connectivity Program,” Forbes wrote. “Now it’s time for the appropriators to get on board and find a solution to permanently fund the program.”

A coalition of more than 230 nonprofit groups and municipal governments, ranging from the NAACP to the City of San Antonio, Texas, wrote a letter begging congressional leaders to renew the program.

ACP didn’t just have bipartisan backing, it also had bipartisan uptake. A report by researchers at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism found a nearly even split in households taking advantage of the subsidy residing in Democratic and Republican congressional districts.

In 2022, The Markup published an investigation showing how several internet service providers disproportionately offered the worst internet deals to poorer, less white, and historically redlined neighborhoods, in major cities across the country. By way of comment, many companies highlighted their participation in ACP as a defense against their inequitable infrastructure deployment and pricing practices. When it comes to closing the digital divide, ACP is the method the telecom industry points to as an ideal solution – and industry group USTelecom has come out in favor of its extension, alongside individual providers such as AT&T.

Companies have also announced their own, private efforts to fill in the gap left by ACP’s expiration. AT&T, for example, was one of the companies that rolled out one of the $30, 100 Mbps internet plans. The company will continue offering this low-cost plan, which will no longer be effectively free, after the end of ACP.

A directory of ongoing low-cost internet plans offered by internet providers, compiled by the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, is available here. The FCC’s Lifeline program, which provides a monthly $9.25 ($34.25 on Tribal lands) connectivity subsidy to eligible households, will remain in place; however, Lifeline’s eligibility qualifications are more stringent than the ACP’s.

The ACP has had its own controversies. A 2022 report from the FCC’s Inspector General identified some likely fraud in the program. “In the most egregious example identified, more than one thousand Oklahoma households were enrolled based on the eligibility of a single (qualifying), a 4-year-old child who receives Medicaid benefits,” the report noted.

Some Republican senators jumped on the report to attack the program. “Any extension of this program—if it should occur at all—must only happen after there’s a thorough review of the program’s effectiveness at increasing broadband adoption and preventing fraudulent, wasteful, and duplicative spending,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz told the Washington Post.

According to the Institute For Local Self-Reliance’s ACP Dashboard, there are 1.7 million Texas households currently using the program.

Last October, the Biden Administration requested Congress pass funding to keep the program active through the end of 2024. “Without this funding, tens of millions of people would lose this benefit and would no longer be able to afford high-speed internet service without sacrificing other necessities,” read a White House press release.

Those efforts have not proved successful.

While the $1.1 trillion spending bill passed in March avoided a government shutdown, it didn’t contain a provision to fund ACP – despite the pleadings of a supportive letter sent to Congressional leadership by dozens of U.S. senators.

Early this year, lawmakers introduced stand-alone legislation that would add $7 billion to fund the program through the end of the year. The House version, introduced by Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke of New York, has attracted 224 co-sponsors, including 22 Republicans. That’s above the threshold of 218 votes required to pass a bill. Even so, Republican leadership has not elected to move the bill out of the Appropriations Committee, where it’s been stalled since January.

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania introduced a bill that would pay for ACP on an ongoing basis through the Universal Service Fund, a pool of money funded by fees imposed on telecommunication providers that currently pays for things like Lifeline and a program supporting broadband connections for schools and libraries.

This article is copublished with The Markup, a nonprofit, investigative newsroom that challenges technology to serve the public good. Sign up for its newsletters.

Education in Mexico, invaded by corruption within the teaching profession

May 15, 2024

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.

Five first steps to start a company

May 10, 2024

Man hanging an open sign at a local supermarket — Happy Latin American man hanging an open sign at a local supermarket and smiling - reopening of business

Learn to dance Tango at the Berkeley City Club

May 10, 2024

by Magdy Zara

If you want to learn to dance Argentine tango, this is your opportunity. Instructor Luz Castiñeiras will be teaching three master classes, with which you will learn the most beautiful things about this elegant and complicated dance.

To access the classes it is not necessary to be a member or have prior knowledge, just feel the desire to dance and show up any Wednesday.

Instructor Castiñeiras will begin by teaching a beginner class on the fundamentals of tango, followed by an intermediate class focused on the rhythm of the milonga.

Luz is a master of the milonga, both as a leader and a follower. In milonga class, she explains the differences between body movement in tango and milonga, which apply to even the most basic steps. She also shows us some of the super fun milonga figures from her repertoire.

The tango sessions with Luz Castiñeiras are every Wednesday starting May 15, at the Berkeley City Club, starting at 7 p.m., their cost ranges between $10 and $20. For more information through info@labrujatangoberkeley.com and www.labrujatangoberkeley.com.

The Berkeley City Club is located at 2315 Durant Avenue Berkeley,

Cuban rapper Telmary performs SF

Telmary is a Cuban rapper, musician and spoken word artist, who together with her band offers her unforgettable show of music, culture and inspiration.

Her music effectively united two worlds that seemed separate, combining musical genres, breaking down cultural barriers and connecting people of different backgrounds and languages.

From Havana, Cuba, street poet Telmary has become a leader and tastemaker at the forefront of hip-hop and urban music in Cuba.

As a rapper, Telmary uses her distinctive voice, sometimes deep and soulful, sometimes fast and aggressive, to proclaim a positive and empowering message that contrasts with the commercial norm of the genre.

This rapper will light up the stage at Freight and Salvage, this Wednesday, May 15, starting at 8 p.m., at Freight & Salvage, located at 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley.

San Mateo County Fair reaches its 90th edition

The San Mateo County Fair is a tradition rooted in the Bay Area for 90 years, offering a variety of entertainment, exhibits and food options for visitors of all ages.

The Fair celebrates the rich culture and diversity of San Mateo County and is a highlight of the summer season.

This year, the fair promises to be bigger and better. than ever, with new attractions and surprises that will surely delight attendees of all ages.

One of the new features at the fair this year is the Great American Duck Racing, a fun and exciting event that promises to entertain both children and adults.

Additionally, Toytopia takes guests on a nostalgic interactive journey through the world of toys, featuring both classic and modern favorites. This exhibit will captivate young minds with engaging exhibits and hands-on activities.

The fair will also feature its beloved attractions, including pig races, a butterfly exhibit and an incredible concert program. Artists scheduled to take the stage include Iam Tongi, Remember When Rock Was Young – An Elton John Tribute WAR. Super Diamante – Tribute to Neil Diamond, All-4-One, Queen Nation, Banda Arkangel, Banda Los Lagos and La Gran Sonora, as announced by Dana Stoehr, executive director of the San Mateo County Fair and Event Center .

The fair will be held June 1-9 at the San Mateo County Events Center, located at 1346 Saratoga Drive, San Mateo, CA 94403.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.sanmateocountyfair.com

“Social Revolution or Reconstruction”: The unknown mural of José Clemente Orozco in Orizaba, Veracruz

May 10, 2024

José Clemente Orozco is one of the so-called three greats of Mexican muralism. However, some of his great works are still not well known. Discover the mural of him in the Municipal Palace of Orizaba!

by Mexico Unknown

After the great military campaigns that shook the country during the Mexican Revolution, the construction of the new regime began, that of the Revolutionary State. Muralism was part of the cultural mystique of that historical period, and without a doubt José Clemente Orozco was one of its great protagonists. He painted various murals, some very well known, but others not so much. One of them is the one found in the Municipal Palace of Orizaba, Veracruz.

Vasconcelos’ cultural crusade

Once the strongest turbulence of the armed stage of the Mexican Revolution, between 1910 and 1920, was over, the rise of the new state institutions would come. For the president of Mexico, General Álvaro Obregón, an area of special interest was education. For this, he appointed José Vasconcelos as Secretary of Public Education in 1921.

Taking advantage of the support received from the presidency as well as the resources of his government ministry, Vasconcelos promoted a large-scale educational crusade during his administration, in order to spread culture in the country, with popular education programs, rural schools, book publishing. and promotion of art and culture. The goal was to integrate Mexico into the great changes that occurred in the world, starting from the significant events of the beginning of the 20th century: the First World War, the Russian Revolution and the Mexican Revolution itself, among some others. One of the most famous and specific objectives of this campaign was to educate the majority of the country’s population to read and write.

Muralism

It is in this way that one of the flanks that Vasconcelos decided to address was that of the plastic arts, by using them as a means of disseminating universal knowledge. In 1921, the Secretary of Public Education contacted Diego Rivera (who was in Europe) and other young Mexican painters, in order to make them part of his great cultural crusade and begin commissioning their first works. There is controversy about whose idea of the mural format was, but it is clear that the first great example of this is Rivera’s work “The Creation” (1922), carried out in the Simón Bolívar Antitheater of the UNAM National Preparatory School, in what is currently the Old School of San Ildefonso.

With this, the artistic movement of Mexican muralism began. Very soon the muralists rebelled against the directives of José Vasconcelos, embracing the social spirit of the Mexican Revolution; They also sought to develop a new national identity, arising from the vindication of local traditions and the indigenous peoples who inhabit Mexico. Several names began to stand out; one of them was José Clemente Orozco from Jalisco.

Hundreds of thousands of CA children dropped off Medi-Cal since last year

May 10, 2024

African American pediatrician listening to child lung and heart sound — African American male pediatrician with stethoscope listening to lung and heart sound of little boy sitting on mother lap, physician checkup at home or in hospital, children medical insurance care

by Suzanne Potter

Medi-Cal has dropped several hundred thousand low-income children from the health insurance rolls since April 2023, according to a new report from Georgetown University.

The data show a net drop in children’s Medi-Cal enrollment of 200,000 kids between April and December of last year, as the state started redetermining participants’ annual eligibility – which had been paused to ensure continuous coverage during the pandemic.

Mayra Álvarez, president of the Children’s Partnership, said another 100,000 have been dropped this year.

“Some 80 percent of the people that lose coverage in California are losing it for procedural reasons,” said Álvarez, “not because they’re not eligible but because their paperwork didn’t make it to the county, or they waited too long on the line and got frustrated and had to hang up, or they moved and the letter never even reached them.”

The state of California has made a massive outreach effort to keep those who are eligible covered.

More than half a million children, half of California’s kids, depend on Medi-Cal. And three quarters of them are children of color.

It is unclear how many kids who lost Medi-Cal were later enrolled in private coverage.

Joan Alker is a co-author of the report, and executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. She said gaps in coverage can lead to long-term negative impacts.

“Kids are going to miss out on those well-child visits, they’re going to miss out on getting the medications they need,” said Alker, “be it an inhaler for their asthma or an ADHD medication. And that really sets them back, both in their health and their success in school.”

A few years ago, California lawmakers passed a requirement for continuous coverage in Medi-Cal for children ages zero to five.

Alvarez said she is urging them to follow through and allocate $10 million in the next state budget to fulfill this mission.

In other California News:

Can a comic coloring book help you avoid used car scams?

Consumer advocates find a new way to educate car buyers

Buying a used car can be a risky proposition but a new consumer guide can help people avoid common pitfalls.

The nonprofit Oregon Consumer Justice just released the first edition of its free resource called the Consumer Confidence Comics. The unique guide doubles as an interactive comic book with coloring pages.

Michelle Luedtke, communications director for Oregon Consumer Justice, said it is a fun way to learn how to ask the right questions.

“When you get promises from a dealer, where do you capture those to make sure that they’ll be part of your final contract?” Luedtke asked. “We have a checklist of different questions to ask at a dealer about purchasing a used car, you can also download as a resource on our website.”

The guide is available in English and Spanish. Used car prices shot up during the pandemic but have come down a bit in the last year, with the average used car selling for about $31,000, according to iseecars.com.

Luedtke also recommended taking the time to read the fine print on any contracts. The guide goes through the process from start to finish.

“Whether or not you should be looking for financing beforehand, or what dealer financing looks like? What are scams that are common around purchasing a vehicle,” Luedtke outlined. “And then also what to do if things go wrong.”

In 2022, Americans purchased about 39 million used vehicles. The website Statista projects used car dealers in California will pull in about $11.7 billion in revenue this year.