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Thread: Mexico.

  1. #1

    Mexico.

    http://news.trust.org/item/20180630120000-8illo

    NAHUATZEN, Mexico, June 30 (Reuters) - Mexican voters will stream to the polls this Sunday in a pivotal presidential contest, but leaders representing tens of thousands of indigenous people have vowed to block voting in their communities to protest a system they say has failed them.

    Residents here have destroyed campaign signs and set up blockades to prevent the government from delivering ballots. Election officials have declared 16 towns here "unviable," and will not likely risk confrontation to force polling stations to open.

    But Arriola said the Purepecha have learned the hard way not to pin their hopes on promises coming from politicians, even ones that purport to have their best interests in mind.

    "Our roads, schools and health care have been in the gutter for more than 40 years," he said.

    Nahuatzen is part of a growing movement among Mexico's indigenous communities, who are seeking self-rule and turning their backs on mainstream elections.

    The growing complaints of indigenous Mexicans appear to track a broader restlessness in the country, where widespread political corruption, drug violence and entrenched poverty have fueled discontent.

    Support for democracy among Mexicans plummeted from slightly more than 70 percent in 2004 to just under half last year, according to data from the Latin America Public Opinion Project.

    Anger over widespread illegal logging believed to be organized by drug gangs sparked the unrest in Cheran. Outraged residents expelled their mayor and the local police force, whom they accused of being complicit. In 2012, citizens began to set up a new governing council based on indigenous customs.

    During mid-term elections in 2015, 11 polling stations in four more municipalities joined Cheran in blocking balloting.

    Pedro Chavez, president of Cheran's indigenous governing council, said he is pleased that the movement has expanded yet again during this presidential election year.

    "We can be an inspiration for free self-determination and a lesson about the rights of native peoples," said Chavez, speaking outside his nearly-completed traditional wood-plank home.

    The rights of Mexico's indigenous poor last commanded the nation's attention just after the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect in 1994 and the Zapatista National Liberation Army issued a "declaration of war" against the government.

    A 12-day battle ensued, claiming at least 140 lives.

    "Free determination (for indigenous communities) is something that's now being discussed for the first time since the Zapatista revolt," said Barcenas, the attorney.

    But, in Arantepacua, another restive Michoacan community which is boycotting the election, Dionisio Lopez said he is finished casting ballots.

    "It's all one big mafia. We having nothing but pure corruption here in Mexico and it's proven," he said. "Why pretend otherwise?" (Reporting by David Alire Garcia in Michoacan and Berengere Sim in Mexico City; Editing by Marla Dickerson)

    We're being governed ruled by a geriatric Alzheimer patient/puppet whose strings are being pulled by an elitist oligarchy who believe they can manage the world... imagine the utter maniacal, sociopathic hubris!



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  3. #2
    Support for democracy among Mexicans plummeted from slightly more than 70 percent in 2004 to just under half last year, according to data from the Latin America Public Opinion Project.
    I am not surprised. I do hope to see this trend in America in future. When they reazlie both parties arent working for the people.

  4. #3
    As expected, Mexico has just elected its first leftist president in decades, with Andrés Manuel López Obrador (or AMLO) winning in a landslide and a near majority outright, or 49% of the vote early exit polls showed; right-left coalition leader Ricardo Anaya, in distant second place with 27% and the incumbent PRI party's Jose Antonio Meade, with 18%.
    And, as Bloomberg headlines flash red, Obrador is now de facto president as his main rivals have conceded:

    • MEXICO'S LOPEZ OBRADOR SET TO WIN AS MAIN RIVALS CONCEDE

    And, adding to the concerns that AMLO may start rolling back energy privatization programs and issue more debt, is that his Morena party just won a majority in the Lower House:

    • MEXICO'S OBRADOR POISED TO GET MAJORITY IN LOWER HOUSE: POLL

    The victory of AMLO, who suffered defeats in the last two presidential votes, will hardly come as a surprise, as has led by double digit numbers throughout this campaign. His popularity stems from his antiestablishment platform (sound familiar?) which has been riding a public revolt against entrenched corruption, rampant violence and an economy that’s failed to deliver higher living standards for the common man and especially the poor, which comprise about half of Mexico’s 125 million population. He also campaigned with promises for economic reform that has been underlined by a desire to freeze prices of gasoline in Mexico for 3 years, as well as a reduction of external investment in the energy sector.
    AMLO has also promised to ramp up social programs and, like so many of his antiestablishment peers, has vowed to fund them without deficit-spending by eliminating graft, a claim which as Bloomberg laconically adds, "has been greeted skeptically by economists." He’s also promised not to nationalize companies or quit Nafta. Investors are worried however that he may cancel oil contracts signed as part of outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto’s energy reforms.


    As Bloomberg notes, Lopez Obrador has promised to govern as a pragmatist. Still, his procession toward victory has alarmed many investors and business leaders, who worry that he’ll roll back privatization of the energy industry and push the country into debt by spending more on social programs.
    Those concerns will be amplified if Lopez Obrador’s Morena party wins majorities in both houses of Congress, which earlier surveys had suggested is likely.
    With the election outcome widely expected, there was little reaction in markets aside from the USDMXN which has enjoyed a relief rally, although as in the case of the Turkish Lira, many expect this will be short-lived as many anticipate Mexico's problems are set to worsen under the new administration.
    What is more notable is that like so many other nations, Mexicans have also opted for change and turned their back on the establishment and the only two parties to have run the country in almost a century. There are plenty of reasons they might want to kick out the governing class.
    “We need a complete transformation in Mexico,” said Sergio Oceransky, 45, as he voted at a polling station in central Mexico City. “We’re experiencing a tremendous political crisis that’s no longer sustainable.”
    On the campaign trail, many voters say physical security was their top concern. A decade-long war on drug cartels has pushed the murder rate to record levels.


    * * *
    As discussed previously, here are the main campaign issues that dominated the presidential campaign(via Reuters):










    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ency-landslide
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  5. #4
    It appears that AMLO has long coattails, as his four-year-old National Regeneration Movement Party (MORENA) has snagged 70 percent of the 300 seats currently reporting in the 500-seat Chamber of Deputies. So, AMLO should have a friendly legislature when he takes office December 1.

    More at: https://www.thenewamerican.com/world...n-in-landslide
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  6. #5
    With about 57 percent of total votes in Mexico's legislative elections, the coalition of populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has won at least 30 of 128 seats in Mexico's Senate and at least 218 of 500 seats in the lower house, Mexico's National Electoral Institute reported July 2.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ative-majority
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  7. #6
    Preliminary information from the National Electoral Council, reported July 3, indicate that Lopez Obrador's National Regeneration coalition will pick up about 69 seats in the Senate and about 309 in the lower house. These figures will give Morena uncontested majorities in both houses of Congress.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...sional-control
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  8. #7
    The new Mexican government will not remove the energy sector reform introduced by the previous administration in 2013, the president-elect’s chief of staff told Bloomberg in an interview.
    Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will review oil contracts for signs of corruption, Alfonso Romo said, but "If anything happens, it would be done without hurting private investment." If anything suspicious is found in any of the contracts, Romo explained, the government will talk with the companies concerned before any action is considered.
    There was considerable worry that the leftist Morena party candidate Obrador would upend the reform after pledging during his campaign that Mexican oil will never again fall into the hands of foreigners.
    However, people more familiar with the president-elect cautioned against this anxiety, noting that Obrador is more pragmatic than idealistic, and a lot of what’s done on the campaign trail stays on it. Romo’s interview has supported this stance: the chief of staff said Obrador has no plans to take away oil licenses, and for the time being, he has no plans to overhaul the industry as Obrador had said during his campaign.

    "What do we want to do? We want to take advantage of all of the enthusiasm we’ve generated to fix everything we can," Romo told Bloomberg. “Mexico has a necessity for lots of money for offshore drilling.”
    As long as private investment contributed to a recovery in production “no one will fight success."

    More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...y-Reforms.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  9. #8
    Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador‘s transition team unveiled a plan Friday to shake up the fight against crime, including reduced jail time but stiffer controls on weapons, as the country reels from a militarized drug war.
    The concept of “transitional justice” is part of the incoming government’s security strategy, Olga Sanchez, Lopez Obrador’s proposed interior minister, told Reuters in an interview before her team unveiled the plan.
    Transitional justice typically involves leniency for those who admit guilt, truth commissions to investigate atrocities and the granting of reparations for some victims.
    “Not only will it be amnesty, it will be a law to reduce jail time,” Sanchez said.
    “We will propose decriminalization, create truth commissions, we will attack the causes of poverty, we will give scholarships to the youth and we will work in the field to get them out of the drug situation,” she said.
    Lopez Obrador, a leftist who handily won the presidency Sunday, wants to rewrite the rules of the drug war, suggesting a negotiated peace and amnesty for some of the very people currently targeted by security forces.
    Sanchez had said the new administration, which takes office on Dec. 1, would move fast to reconsider drug policies and use of the military that, despite toppling some high-profile kingpins, failed to prevent more than 200,000 murders since first adopted in 2006.
    “It’s an integrated public policy,” Sanchez said, the aim of which was to “pacify” the nation.
    Lopez Obrador’s pick for security minister, Alfonso Durazo, said the administration would aim to remove a significant part of the military from the streets within three years while professionalizing local police.
    He said the government would combat corruption in the ports and seek to establish stricter customs controls to stop illegal weapons from entering the country.

    More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/mexico...ug-war/5646901
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  11. #9
    Mexico’s newly elected President-to-be Andrés Manuel López Obrador routinely railed against Donald Trump’s strong border policy while on the campaign trail, calling illegal immigration to the U.S. a “human right,” and encouraged more to illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
    “And soon, very soon — after the victory of our movement — we will defend all the migrants in the American continent and all the migrants in the world,” Obrador said, adding that immigrants “must leave their towns and find a life in the United States.” He then said that immigration is “a human right we will defend.” (RELATED: Top Mexican Presidential Candidate Calls for Mass Migration to the U.S.).
    As the United States ramps up enforcement against illegal immigration, Mexico has been doing much of the same. Since implementing their Southern Border Plan in 2014, Mexico has deported more than 500,000 illegal immigrants from Central America, more than the U.S. has sent back over the same time period. (RELATED: Mexico Has More Than Doubled Deportations Of Central Americans So Far This Year).


    Will that fight against illegal immigration at Mexico’s southern border be suspended by Obrador once he becomes President? Given his pro-open borders stance with the United States, will his attitude be the same with Mexico’s neighbors to the South?
    Of course not. Just like most American politicians, President-elect Obrador is a complete hypocrite. Not only will Mexico continue enforcing their immigration laws while criticizing ours, they’re going to be putting that enforcement on steroids. The media criticizes the U.S. for protecting our borders, but not Mexico, so it’s unsurprising that plans to beef up their equivalent of Border Patrol are reported on uncritically from the media.
    According to Bloomberg; “Obrador is planning his own border police force to stop undocumented immigrants, drugs and guns from crossing into the country from Central America, his future chief of public security said. Picked by Lopez Obrador, Alfonso Durazo stressed that the new force would be part of a larger regional development effort to ease the poverty and violence that lead so many Central Americans to cross into Mexico.” Stopping illegal immigration to prevent the flow of drugs and crime from entering a country? Where have we heard that before?

    More at: https://thepoliticalinsider.com/mexi...&utm_content=1
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  12. #10
    The head of the Mexican Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the ruling party for the last seven decades, has resigned following a massive electoral defeat in the July 1 election.
    PRI Leader and former Governor Rene Juarez Cisneros stepped down from his position on Monday after his party’s candidate José Antonio Meade lost overwhelmingly to the left-wing National Regeneration Movement coalition party candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who won with over 50%.
    According to Reuters, the PRI image has been damaged by several corruption scandals, the growing violence in Mexico, and the struggling economy.

    Cisneros, who only took over the party in May of this year, advised the PRI to reconsider their strategy.
    "The future transformation of the PRI should be the size of the current defeat," he said.

    More at: https://www.dailywire.com/news/33152...ontent=2266209
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  13. #11
    Mexico's leftist President-elect Andrews Manuel López Obrador announced plans to cut his salary from his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto's $171,000 per year (270,000 pesos) to $68,544 - about enough to survive in San Francisco with three roommates.

    "What we want is for the budget to reach everybody," López Obrador told reporters on Sunday. The President-elect said that he would have reduced his salary further, however he doesn't want to stoke resentment among future Cabinet members who are leaving private sector positions and academic posts that already pay more than the new ceiling for public officials.
    López Obrador then reiterated several campaign promises, including cuts on taxpayer-funded perks for high-level government officials, such as private medical insurance, chauffeurs and bodyguards - though considering the 130 candidates who were assassinated during the election, he may want to reconsider on the bodyguards.
    At the same time, he doubled down on pledges to stem corruption. Mexico ranks 135 out of 180 countries in Transparency International's 2017 Corruption Perception Index, with higher numbers indicating higher levels of corruption.
    Public officials will have to disclose their assets, he said, and corruption will be considered a serious offense. -LA Times
    Obrador's supporters cheered the proposals.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...elf-60-pay-cut
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  14. #12
    Mexico's leftist President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been enjoying a honeymoon of sorts even with conservative businessmen, but was rebuffed by the Zapatista rebels.The leftist Zapatistas issued a statement Tuesday denying they have had any contact with Lopez Obrador's team and saying they don't want any.
    The Zapatista leadership taunted Lopez Obrador, noting his aides made an error in saying Pope Francis would participate in their planned forums on bringing peace to violence-wracked Mexico.
    "It is none of our business, but those who claim to represent 'real change' are making a bad choice, starting off with lies, slander and threats," the statement said. "They already did it with the pope, and now with the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army)."
    After winning a landslide victory in the July 1 elections, Lopez Obrador went on an offensive to reconcile with foes.
    But the latest disagreement started when Alejandro Solalinde, one of the president-elect's advisers, announced he was setting up initial contact with rebels who have long feuded with Lopez Obrador.
    The decision by the Zapatistas to boycott the 2006 presidential elections may have led to his narrow defeat that year.
    The rebels, who staged a brief armed uprising in 1994 for greater indigenous rights, have largely stayed off the national stage since 2001, but remain strong in several townships they control in the southern state of Chiapas.
    The Zapatistas note that Lopez Obrador won't take office until Dec. 1. and hasn't been formally recognized by the country's electoral tribunal as the man who will succeed Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.


    https://www.yahoo.com/news/mexicos-p...141300589.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  15. #13
    Mexico's electoral authorities have imposed a USD 10-million fine on President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's party for fraudulently using money from a trust fund for earthquake victims in its campaign.
    The National Electoral Institute ruled the anti-establishment leftist's Morena party broke the law by raising 78.8 million pesos (USD 4.1 million) for victims of the September 19 earthquake that devastated central Mexico, killing 360 people and causing scores of buildings to collapse.

    It is unclear how much of the money actually went to earthquake victims. And even if it did, political parties are not allowed to give money to the public, the electoral institute said.
    Lopez Obrador, who won a landslide victory in Mexico's July 1 elections, personally announced the fund several days after the earthquake, encouraging all Mexicans to "do your part" to help the victims.
    But in a 10 to one vote, the electoral institute's general council ruled the fund broke the law, imposing a 197-million-peso fine.
    Around half the money donated to the fund was in cash and came from unknown sources, said council member Ciro Murayama. Most of the money - USD 3.4 million - was withdrawn from the account via checks made out mainly to party leaders.
    "This is not an isolated case of irregular activities, it was a whole plot to obtain parallel financing," Murayama said.
    Lopez Obrador, who ran on an anti-corruption platform, says the fund was "completely transparent" and has vowed to appeal the ruling.
    The electoral institute also fined the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party USD 1.9 million for illegally using state resources for its campaign in the northern state of Chihuahua, and the conservative National Action Party USD 158,000 for accepting a donation from a company in person.
    All three rulings can be appealed.

    https://www.business-standard.com/ar...1900197_1.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  16. #14
    Mexico's next foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said companies operating in Mexico must meet the same human, environmental and labor standards they would have to meet in their own countries, Reuters reported July 25.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...-official-says
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  17. #15
    The incoming administration of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will cut back funding for Mexico's oil and gas unions, Milenio reported July 27.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...nion-subsidies
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  18. #16
    Mexico’s national oil company is about to receive an injection of cash.

    Incoming President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, has promised to invest around 175 billion pesos ($9.4 billion) into the state-owned energy companies. One of the goals is to reverse the decade and a half of declining oil production.
    “Fourteen years ago, oil production was 3.4 million barrels a day. Now it’s 1.9 million barrels a day,” AMLO said at a news conference. “In 14 years, we’ve lost 1.5 million barrels a day in production, a downward trend because the oil industry was abandoned.”

    More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...-Into-Oil.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  20. #17
    The general secretary of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Angel Avila, offered President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador his party's votes to repeal Mexico's 2013 energy reforms, SDP Noticias reported Aug. 2. On Aug. 1, the Citizens Movement Party (MC) also offered its votes to Lopez Obrador to reverse high energy prices resulting from the reforms.

    Support from the PRD and MC in both houses of legislature gives Lopez Obrador sufficient votes to bring Mexico's energy reforms to a vote, and puts him very close to the two-thirds majority necessary to repeal them.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...energy-reforms
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  21. #18
    When the National Hydrocarbons Commission of Mexico scheduled its first-ever shale tender for September this year, the July elections were obviously not front and center in the thoughts of its management. Yet now, this tender may be as good as gone after President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said last week,“We will no longer use that method to extract petroleum.”
    Obrador was responding to a question about the risks of hydraulic fracturing, the technology that enabled the U.S. shale oil and gas boom and that some believed could be replicated in Mexico, especially for gas production.
    The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated in 2013 that Mexico has unproved but technically recoverable shale gas resources of 545.2 trillion cubic feet. Most of this, around 343 trillion cubic feet plus about 6.3 billion barrels of oil (half of the total shale oil resource base), is located in the Burgos Basin, which is connected to the Eagle Ford shale play in Texas and covers a much larger area.
    While these resources remain largely untapped, Mexico’s natural gas demand is rising, and with it, the country’s dependence on U.S. imports. The Energy Ministry estimated at the beginning of this year that gas demand will average 8.32 billion cubic feet in 2018, compared with 7.99 billion cubic feet in 2017. This will further rise to 9.66 billion cubic feet in 2019. By 2031, gas demand will have risen by 26.8 percent from 2016 levels, the ministry, known as SENER, said at the time.

    To date, Mexico imports as much as 85 percent of the gas it consumes, the head of the Hydrocarbons Commission, Juan Carlos Zepeda, recently said, adding that this makes increasing natural gas production a higher priority than boosting oil production. Such a heavy reliance on imports, according to Zepeda, carries not just geopolitical risk but also operational risks: a natural disaster could disrupt supply.

    More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-G...er-Happen.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  22. #19
    Though there were concerns that Mexico might skew hard to the left due to Lopez Obrador's nationalist and populist rhetoric, two of the president-elect's early security picks are decidedly mainstream. One selection is Olga Sanchez Cordero, Lopez Obrador's candidate for secretary of the interior. President Ernesto Zedillo initially appointed Sanchez Cordero to Mexico's high court, the National Supreme Court of Justice, where she served two terms from 1995 to 2015.
    Another significant pick is Alfonso Durazo, who worked in the administrations of both Fox and Carlos Salinas. Durazo has been tapped to lead the Secretariat of Public Security, which was a Cabinet-level organization created under the Fox administration in 2000. The agency was dissolved under the Pena Nieto administration in 2013, and its functions were folded into the Interior Ministry in the form of the National Security Commission. The commission now oversees the federal police, the federal protection service and the federal prison system. Lopez Obrador also plans to restore the public security ministry to a Cabinet-level agency.


    On the campaign trail, Lopez Obrador vaguely discussed the possibility of somehow working a deal with cartel leaders to reduce violence. He also ambiguously talked about offering amnesty for narcotics crimes, producing a great deal of controversy. However, since the election, the details of the proposed amnesty have begun emerging, allaying the fears of many.
    At a July 7 news conference, Durazo and Sanchez Cordero said women and children coerced into working for criminal organizations or farmers forced to grow illegal drugs would be the primary beneficiaries of pardons. Those involved in violent crimes such as homicide, kidnapping, extortion, human trafficking and sexual assault would not be eligible. Sanchez Cordero also said some repentant drug traffickers might receive amnesty if they help solve serious crimes and locate the bodies of victims.
    This definition of amnesty is clearly not a blanket that will apply to all cartel figures. In fact, most Mexican cartel groups and street gangs are involved in violent crime against people – it would be hard to find a Mexican criminal group that has not been part of the brutality wracking the country. Therefore, the number of criminals who would qualify for the amnesty will be quite limited – if any are even interested in applying for it to begin with (or think they would survive the process).
    Hot wars among Mexico's cartel groups are feeding the country's record number of homicides. The carnage can be found in border towns such as Tijuana, Juarez and Reynosa; in drug production areas such as Guerrero state; at retail drug sales points such as Mexico City and Cancun; and at hot spots for petroleum theft such as Guanajuato. It will clearly take more than an offer of amnesty to people involved in nonviolent crime to solve this array of problems – especially given the lucrative nature of these illegal acts. It appears that the amnesty proposal was just a campaign promise that is now being given lip service, rather than a broad program to help criminals return to civil society.

    Sanchez Cordero has also stated that with marijuana now legal or decriminalized in Canada and several U.S. states, it doesn't make much sense for Mexico to continue to spend so much time and resources prosecuting cannabis cases and eradicating such crops. At the same time, the Lopez Obrador administration will consider decriminalizing the recreational use of marijuana in Mexico, she said. While such a move would certainly cause angst for the U.S. federal government, it would be difficult for the United States to place too much pressure on Mexico since it would follow decriminalization measures by Canada and several U.S. states.

    Sanchez Cordero also said the legalization and regulation of the opium trade would be considered, perhaps permitting the sale of opium gum to pharmaceutical companies. That policy shift would create a legal market for the country's gomeros, as opium farmers are called, and perhaps relax the grip of the drug cartels over the trade. It could also help decrease the amount of Mexican heroin shipped to the United States. In addition, legalizing the trade could help quell the intense fighting over the control of opium-growing areas such as Guerrero state.

    Like the Pena Nieto administration before it, the Lopez Obrador administration has promised it will remove the military from the war on drugs. Durazo has said the public security ministry can be expanded to assume the law enforcement role being performed by the military. This is not unlike Pena Nieto's plan to create a 40,000-strong paramilitary police force or gendarmerie. Durazo has also mentioned a plan to create a new border police force to help keep illegal immigrants and illegal weapons out of the country.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...ican-president
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  23. #20
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...D=ansmsnnews11

    A Mexican congresswoman has been kidnapped at gunpoint just a month and a half after she was first elected.

    Mexico’s recent election—which was the largest ever in the country’s modern history —was also hailed as the nation’s bloodiest. More than 120 politicians and political candidates were reported killed since September 2017.

    More than 35,000 people in Mexico have gone missing, and over 200,000 have been murdered since 2006. Last year saw a record number of killings, with the country’s interior ministry reporting 29,168 in total—the highest level since the government started keeping records in 1997.

    We're being governed ruled by a geriatric Alzheimer patient/puppet whose strings are being pulled by an elitist oligarchy who believe they can manage the world... imagine the utter maniacal, sociopathic hubris!

  24. #21
    A committee of lawmakers in the Mexican state of Guerrero approved a draft law to decriminalize the production and sale of opium for pharmaceutical purposes, El Heraldo de Mexico reported Aug. 15. The law will go to a vote in the state's Congress, after which it may be sent to Mexico's federal Congress for approval.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ium-production
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  25. #22
    U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry praised the goal set out by Mexico’s incoming president to end massive gasoline and diesel imports, nearly all of which come from the United States, as a measure that will boost prosperity in its southern neighbor.

    During a visit on Wednesday to the Mexican capital in which he met with both current officials as well as key advisers to President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Perry brushed off concerns that U.S. refiners stand to lose their biggest foreign market.
    “It’s a good goal for Mexico. I tip my hat to the president-elect for having that as a goal,” said Perry, a former governor of Texas, the most prominent energy producing and refining U.S. state. “I hope they’re successful with that transition.”
    So far this year, Mexico has imported an average of 1.19 million barrels per day (bpd) of fuel including gasoline and diesel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
    Fuel imports now represent 60 percent of the country’s total consumption, as crude processing at Mexico’s domestic refineries has steadily declined.


    Perry pointed to growing South American markets as potential new buyers of U.S. refined products, noting that Venezuela’s oil output has plummeted amid a major economic crisis.
    “We’re going to have more markets, most likely, than we’re going to have product,” he said.

    More at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...KBN1L1289?il=0
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  26. #23
    Esteban Moctezuma, the nominee for secretary of education in the next administration, said that the next government plans to amend constitutional and legal reforms that overhauled Mexico's education system in 2013. The government will hold public forums with stakeholders, such as teachers' unions, to take suggestions on how to alter the reform. Moctezuma did not specify which parts of the reform would change. The government will likely decide on the changes after the consultations are finished and when it's ready to hold a national referendum on the measures.

    In 2013, the government approved constitutional changes to the country's educational system, including instituting evaluations to hold teachers accountable for poor job performance. Before then, teachers had not been subject to particularly strict performance requirements, and certain sections of teachers' unions resisted the measure. For years after the reform, branches of the unions in the states of Michoacan, Morelos and Guerrero were particularly active in resisting the evaluations through frequent, disruptive protests. Starting in 2016, Lopez Obrador made repeal or amendment of education reform a key campaign promise.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/artic...ucation-reform
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  27. #24
    Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is considering changes to the country's energy sector that would allow state-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos to choose its own private partners, directly award blocs without a bidding process, and become the sole marketer of oil produced by private companies in production sharing contracts, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 22.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...sector-reforms
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment



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  29. #25
    Mexico continues to descend into chaos, as a record number of homicide cases were opened last month, the Ministry of Public Security said Tuesday.

    The ministry states 2,599 homicide cases were opened in July - an average of 84 per day, for a total of 3,017 registered victims.
    This is the highest monthly toll ever record since Mexico began keeping stats on homicide cases in the late 1990s. The previous record of 2,894 was set in May.
    In 2018, there have been 16,399 homicide cases opened in the first seven months, which represent a 14 percent increase over the same period last year, said the Los Angeles Times.
    Last year was the country’s most violent period on record, with more than 25,000 homicide investigations into 31,174 death.
    If the parabolic death trend continues, 2018 could go in the record books as the most violent year ever.

    Scott Stewart, a Mexico analyst at the Texas-based intelligence firm Stratfor, spoke with the Los Angeles Times about the problematic situation in Mexico. He said Mexican authorities did not have much choice but to splinter the cartels. “You can’t let them get to the point where they can actually challenge the state,” he said.
    There is no doubt that Mexico’s kingpin strategy of killing or arresting cartel heads has had a destabilizing effect in the region, he explained.
    “Years ago you had large cartels that were fairly dominant in many areas and it was fairly tranquil,” he said. “Now there’s so much friction, and it leads to violence across the board.”
    Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, recently acknowledged that the government’s strategy to fracture drug cartels has, by some means, failed.
    “I am the first to recognize that, although we made progress, it was not enough to achieve the great goal of security,” Peña Nieto said at a news conference earlier this week alongside the president-elect, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office in December.

    More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...descends-chaos
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  30. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is considering changes to the country's energy sector that would allow state-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos to choose its own private partners, directly award blocs without a bidding process, and become the sole marketer of oil produced by private companies in production sharing contracts, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 22.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...sector-reforms
    Mexico will likely halt oil auctions for at least two years, dealing a blow to its oil industry.
    Mexico’s president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) will reportedly suspend oil auctions for at least two years, according to the Wall Street Journal, with some experts believing that his administration won’t hold any new oil auctions at all during his six-year term. He has also vowed to review the 107 contracts already awarded to companies through auctions over the last few years to check for corruption, although he has said he would not try to invalidate them so long as they check out.
    Also, AMLO wants to revise some of the energy laws that govern the oil and gas sector, which could dramatically alter the landscape for foreign oil and gas companies. He long opposed the historic reforms that ended seven decades of state control over the energy sector, although he moderated his position during this year’s presidential campaign. Rolling back the reforms would be exceedingly difficult, requiring a change to the country’s constitution.
    Instead, AMLO wants more modest, though still significant, legislative changes. The WSJ reports that he will pursue legislative tweaks that bolster the power of state-owned Pemex, while weakening the regulatory body that has pursued a technocratic approach and presided over the oil auctions over the last three years.
    AMLO’s desired changes include allowing Pemex to choose its own private-sector partners, without needing the approval from regulators. Current rules require Pemex to partner with the highest bidder for blocks put up for a farm-out. He wants the government to be able to award Pemex with oil blocks directly. And he wants to make Pemex the sole marketer of oil produced by private firms, the WSJ reports.

    On top of that, the WSJ says AMLO will push to raise local content rules, which would require a higher percentage of domestic involvement in oil projects. That means that if a company like ExxonMobil or Chevron or some other outside entity wants to drill for oil in Mexico, it would need to source a certain percentage of equipment and services from within Mexico.

    More at: https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oi...-Industry.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  31. #27
    Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has plans to build the country’s largest refinery with a capacity to produce 400,000 barrels of gasoline daily, Reuters reports, citing comments by Obrador during a meeting with businessmen in Monterrey.
    The refinery would cost US$8 billion to build and construction could start soon, which would see it complete within three years. Though Reuters quoted Obrador as saying, “400,000 bpd of gasoline,” it added in its report that the comments did not made it clear whether he was referring to the crude oil processing capacity of the future facility or its gasoline production capacity.
    Currently, Mexico’s refineries have a combined processing capacity of a maximum 1.6 million bpd of crude but, Reuters notes, it has been working at just 40 percent capacity since the start of the year because of accident-caused outages and operational issues. Pemex, which operates the six refineries, also exported more crude as prices improved internationally. In July, the state oil company produced 213,000 bpd of gasoline.
    Earlier this year, Rocio Nahle, an adviser to Obrador and the most likely candidate for the Energy Minister job, said “In a three-year period, at the latest, we need to try to consume our own fuels and not depend on foreign gasoline.” This would be bad for U.S. refiners, who export the biggest portion of their production to Mexico. In the last few years, Mexican imports of gasoline and diesel have risen to more than 800,000 bpd, representing over 66 percent of domestic demand.

    More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-N...-Refiners.html
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  32. #28
    Caravan from Honduras met by Mexican police.

    https://www.foxnews.com/world/carava...ican-territory

    The 4,000-person strong-migrant caravan pushing north toward the United States initially stalled Friday morning at Guatemala's border with Mexico, where members debated the next step.

    On the Mexican side of a border bridge, they were met by a wall of police with riot shields. About 50 migrants succeeded in pushing through before officers unleashed pepper spray and the rest retreated. The chaos calmed somewhat as migrants formed lines stretching across the bridge and some even returned to the Guatemalan side to buy water and food.

    But others, tired of waiting, jumped off the bridge into the Suchiate River. Migrants organized a rope brigade to ford its muddy waters, and some floated across on rafts operated by local residents who charged a dollar or two to make the crossing.

    Manelich Castilla, the Mexican federal police chief, told Foro TV that his forces successfully prevented a violent breach by the migrants. But in a separate interview with Milenio television, he said people not part of the group had attacked police with rocks and fireworks.

    "It will be under the conditions that have been said since the start," Castilla said. "Orderly, with established procedures, never through violence or force as a group of people attempted."

    Earlier Friday, Mexico's ambassador to Guatemala said his country intended to enforce what he called a policy of orderly entry in the face of the thousands trying to cross.

    Ambassador Luis Manuel Lopez Moreno added that more than 100 migrants had been allowed to cross the bridge to apply for refugee status, including some who were from the caravan and others who were not.

    Trump has told Mexico that he is monitoring the country’s response. On Thursday he threatened to close the U.S. border if Mexico didn't stop the caravan. Later that day he tweeted a video of Mexican federal police deploying at the Guatemalan border and wrote: "Thank you Mexico, we look forward to working with you!"

    Still, Mexican officials said those with passports and valid visas — a small portion of those trying to cross — would be let in immediately.

    Migrants who want to apply for refuge in Mexico were welcome to do so, they said, but any who decide to cross illegally and are caught will be detained and deported.

    The first members of the caravan began arriving in the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman on buses and trucks early Thursday, but the bulk of the group sloshed into town on foot in a downpour late in the afternoon and into the evening.

    We're being governed ruled by a geriatric Alzheimer patient/puppet whose strings are being pulled by an elitist oligarchy who believe they can manage the world... imagine the utter maniacal, sociopathic hubris!

  33. #29
    Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that his government will cancel construction on the new Mexico City International Airport after citizens voted against the project in a recent referendum, El Financiero reported Oct. 29. Instead, his government will focus on building new runways at the military base in Santa Lucia.

    To enforce the referendum's results, the president will likely need to either negotiate compensation with the companies already involved in the airport's construction or order the airport seized through an expropriation degree. U.S. or Canadian companies affected by the canceled contracts may take Mexico's government to arbitration, and such decisions may heighten concerns among foreign investors that Mexico's president will put other projects to a referendum.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...ter-referendum
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  34. #30
    A Mexican federal judge will rule whether the country's recent referendum, which asked citizens whether construction should continue on the international airport in Mexico City, was constitutional, Milenio reported Oct. 29.

    The judge is highly likely to rule against the referendum, which would force President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to either back down from enforcing the results or push forward with an illegal plan to expropriate the airport.

    More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...stitutionality
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

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