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Energy

Pemex’s Petrochemicals Trade Deficit Totals US$16 Million In 2009
January 27, 2010
Mexico’s state oil company, Pemex, reported a US$16 million trade deficit in petrochemical products in 2009, the company said in a statement. Exports brought in US$147 million, while imports cost US$163 million. Overall, the company recorded a trade surplus of US$16.5 billion last year. Exports of crude oil, oil products, petrochemicals and natural gas exports totaled US$30.6 billion last year, while imports reached US$14.1 billion.

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Mining

Cananea Miners Reject Grupo México Severance Package
January 28, 2010
Workers from the Cananea copper mine, controlled by Grupo México, have rejected the severance package that the company is offering, according to a spokesman from the mining-metalworkers union. Grupo México took the case to court to request that the labor contract between workers and the company be dissolved because of damage that occurred in the mine during the strike, and is now waiting for a ruling on the matter. The company says that it has offered workers terms that are better than what the law would require. Operations at the mine have been suspended for nearly 2.5 years because of the strike, and according to sources within the company, Grupo México has missed out on around US$1.5 billion in sales during this time.

DeAcero To Build US$500 Million Plant In Coahuila
January 25, 2010
Mexican steel company DeAcero is planning to build a US$500 million complex in the city of Ramos Arizpe in the state of Coahuila. The project, expected to create up to 1,200 jobs, will be the company’s third and largest steel production plant.

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Trade & Investment

Maquiladoras In Reynosa Call For Incentives To Attract Investment
January 25, 2010
Maquiladoras in this border region called in favor of promoting greater state and municipal incentives in order to attract more investment to the region. The initiative also includes greater flexibility in labor contracts during 2010 in order to encourage employment, and productivity incentives based on tax cuts.

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Banking, Insurance & Finance

Central Bank Chief: Mexico May Begin Bolstering Reserves
January 28, 2010
Mexican central bank governor Agustin Carstens said Wednesday that Mexico could start building up its foreign currency reserves in order to withdraw from a US$47 billion credit line with the International Monetary Fund. JPMorgan Chase and Co. had previously indicated that Mexico would probably renew the IMF credit line when it expires in April, but for a smaller amount.

BBVA Bancomer Pension, Insurance Profits Up 35.6% In 2009
January 27, 2010
The pension and insurance units of Mexico’s largest financial services group, BBVA Bancomer, saw net attributable profits of €246 million euros (US$346 million) in 2009, up 35.6% at constant exchange rates over 2008, Spanish parent BBVA (NYSE: BBVA) said Wednesday (January 27) in an earnings release. The improvement was largely due to lower costs and increased net trading income. The insurance business, made up of three companies, had €196 million euros in attributable profits, up 32.9%. Pension fund manager Afore Bancomer saw attributable profits increase 47.6% to €50 million euros thanks to good revenue performance, strong sales and a reduction in costs. The pension company’s operating income jumped 55.6% to €70 million euros.

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Business & Industry

Chavez Threatens To Seize Gruma’s Monaca Unit
January 28, 2010
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that the government will seize Molinos Nacionales CA, a unit of Mexicobased Gruma SAB that produces corn flour, after the company known as Monaca was taken from an arrested banker. Gruma said in a statement on December 24 that the banker held a minority stake in the company and that the government had decided to take control of the company for 90 days, and indicated that it planned to contact the Venezuelan government to resolve the situation and that it didn’t do business with the banks that were seized by the government.

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Automotive

Toyota Investigates Flaws In Their Mexican Cars
January 27, 2010
The Japanese automobile company Toyota is investigating whether the detected flaws in the acceleration pedal on eight of its car models affect the units commercialized in Mexico, and is making the proper adjustments if necessary. Toyota announced today that they will temporarily suspend the sales of eight of their models for recently detected flaws in the acceleration pedal. The vehicles that presented these flaws are RAV4 (2009-2010), Corolla (2009-2010), Matrix (2009-2010), Avalon (2005-2010), some Camry (2007-2010), Highlander (2010), Tundra (2007-2010) and Sequoia (2008-2010). In Mexico all except Avalon have been commercialized.

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Construction & Infrastructure

DF Government Planning US$2 Billion Infrastructure Works In 2010
January 28, 2010
Mexico’s federal district (DF) government is planning infrastructure projects worth Mex$30 billion (US$2.32 billion) for 2010, according to public works and services head Fernando Aboitiz. While the city has a budget of Mex$4.5 billion for public works this year, that amount will be boosted considerably by private—sector investments through public service provision (PPS) schemes, Aboitiz said this week at a meeting with representatives of the Mexican Construction Chamber (CMIC). Planned works for 2010 include two more lines of the capital’s Metrobús bus rapid transit (BRT) system, a new stretch of the Periférico elevated beltway, and construction of the Sur—Poniente highway system.

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Transportation

Government Plans US$464 Million Rail Spending For 2010
January 26, 2010
The Mexican government will invest some Mex$56 billion (US$464 million) in rail projects during 2010, according to Deputy Transport Minister Humberto Treviño Landois. The money, which is included in the federal government’s 2010 budget, will be spent on projects such as level crossings in Manzanillo, Celaya and Tapachula, the minister said. The investment is part of a plan to reactivate rail passenger transport throughout the country by improving the efficiency of rail operations and decreasing costs. Added to the government spending will be a US$429 million investment from the private sector, including US$121 million by Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM), which represents a 15.2% increase compared to 2009, and US$122 million from local railroad operator Ferromex to repair and improve infrastructure. Ferrosur will spend over US$37 million to acquire new equipment, including a new locomotive to serve federal oil company Pemex. Local firms Ferroitsmo and Ferrovalle will spend US$19.9 million and US$12.5 million, respectively, to preserve and rehabilitate existing rail lines.

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Telecommunications & Technology

Fiber—Optic Tender Expected To Fetch Mex$800 Million
January 26, 2010
Mexico has launched the long—awaited tender for two strands of optical fiber in a further effort to boost competition in the telecommunications market. The two strands, with a combined length of 19,469 kilometers (12,097 miles), are owned by Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission, but the government will grant a license to operate them for at least 20 years, the Communications and Transport Ministry said in the Official Gazette. A minimum limit for bids has been set at Mex$858.6 million. The tender is expected to attract big media and cable companies, which are eager to add capacity to their existing networks to offer more services. Eight companies have expressed previous interest in the process: Bestel (Televisa), Marcatel, Iusacell, Telefónica Movistar, Alestra, Axtel, Nextel and Megacable.

Antitrust Commission Declares Telcel Dominant
January 28, 2010
Mexico’s antitrust authority, CFC, has confirmed that telecom mobile operator Telcel of América Móvil has a dominant position in the market. The January 21 ruling confirmed a previous declaration on October 28 and ends a probe that also included América Móvil’s fixed—line sister company Telmex. In November, CFC said Telmex has a dominant position in call termination on fixed lines, which could result in special regulation on the part of sector watchdog Cofetel. According to the latest ruling, CFC found that Telcel has the power to fix prices and also merits special regulation on quality and prices. Telcel has a 72% market share, while the next largest competitor, Telefónica, has 20%. Telcel has the right to appeal.

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Media & Entertainment

Televisa To Boost Broadband Speed In Internet Race
January 25, 2010
Cablevision, the cable unit of media giant Televisa, will boost its broadband speed, following the lead of rival Telmex, owned by tycoon Carlos Slim, as competition in the telecom market heats up. Cablevision’s website was still offering Internet access at 2 Mb on Monday, while last week Slim announced that his fixed-line phone giant Telmex would boost broadband speed to 10 Mb later this year from a current range of 2 Mb to 4 Mb. Telmex is still the leading Internet service provider in the country, but Televisa has made great strides by bundling television, online and phone services in one package at attractive prices.

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Economy

Mexico GDP Down 6.8% In 2009
January 30, 2010
Mexico’s economy shrank 6.8% in 2009, the worst result in at least 30 years, the Treasury Department said Friday. The decline in full—year gross domestic product outpaced the 6.2% fall during Mexico’s currency and debt crisis in 1995. A bright spot was a 1.2% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2009 from the third quarter, although the level of economic output was 3% lower than the same period of 2008, the report said.

Banxico: Mexico To Grow Between 3.2% - 4.2% In 2010 And 2011
January 27, 2010
The Mexican economy could experience annual growth between 3.2% and 4.2% for 2010 and 2011, according to an estimate by the central bank, Banco de México (Banxico). In its "Inflation Report for October—December 2009," Banxico details that the forecast is determined largely by the worldwide reactivation, and particularly by the upturn expected in industrial activity of the United States economy. Banxico has estimated an annual economic downturn for 2009 of slightly below 7%. In terms of employment, it estimates an increase of between 350,000 to 450,000 jobs for 2010 and 500,000 to 600,000 jobs for 2011, based on IMSS records of affiliated workers during the last quarter of 2009 and economic growth estimates.

OECD’s Gurria Claims Mexico Has Passed The Worst Stage Of Crisis
January 25, 2010
The Mexican economy has prevailed over the worst crisis period of the recession and will see a year of modest growth, according to OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria during the Second International Latin American and Caribbean Economic Forum. According to the former Foreign Affairs and Finance Minister, Mexico’s growth during 2010 will depend on how well its main customers perform, particularly the U.S., which has begun to grow but must continue doing so without fiscal incentives in order to be truly self-sustainable.

Basic Products Basket Increases 50% In Rural Areas
January 24, 2010
According to a legislative analysis by members of the PRD party, the basic products basket has risen above 50% in indigenous, rural and mountain areas, from December 15 to date, due to the increase in gasoline prices, tax hikes and rising costs in some basic products. Main increases have occurred in products such as flour corn, wheat, beans, sugar, soups, crackers, milk, eggs and carbonated beverages, as well as medicines.

Mexico Sees Record 15.7% Drop In Remittances
January 28, 2010
Money sent home by Mexicans abroad plunged a record 15.7% in 2009 as migrants worldwide struggled to find work during the global economic slowdown, the central bank reported Wednesday. Remittances—Mexico’s No. 2 source of foreign income after oil exports—totaled US$21.2 billion in 2009, compared with US$25.1 billion in 2008, the bank said. Since the bank began tracking remittances in 1996, it has recorded just one other annual decline—a 3.6% decrease in 2008 as the world financial crisis exploded. Central bank president Agustin Carstens attributed the latest drop to the weak economy in the United States and the increased difficulty Mexicans are having securing employment there. More than 11.8 million Mexicans live in the U.S. Mexico receives the largest amount of remittances in Latin America and the third largest in the world, after India and China. In the first part of the decade, Mexico’s remittances grew rapidly—from US$9 billion in 2001 to US$26 billion in 2007—because of swelling migration and better recordkeeping.

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Politics

PRI Says It Will Not Allow Independent Candidacies
January 25, 2010
Beatriz Paredes, the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s national president, stated that her party (PRI) will not allow the approval of independent candidates as proposed in President Calderon’s political reform package currently before Congress. According to Paredes, the increased influence of special interest groups should lead to caution and prudence because measures that might seem advanced could have counterproductive results given the current national political environment. Paredes assured her Party will oppose any initiatives that might attempt to diminish the power of the Legislative or Judicial branches in relation to the power of the Executive branch. Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Mont called on Paredes and the rest of the PRI to take a more conciliatory stance before the said reform package.

PRD Leader Calls To Support Political Reform
January 25, 2010
Jesus Ortega, the national leader of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), called to form a pact in order to address changing the current political system, which still retains the features of the "presidentialist" system and has accentuated regional rulers and corruption. During a speech at a seminar on political reform analysis, Ortega stated that political parties cannot continue delaying the State reform of the State, because change that was supposed to result from the PAN win of the presidency has resulted only in a continuance of the PRI model and machinery. Ortega indicated that PRD will promote efficiency and transparency in party management, media regulation during campaigns, governmental social programs control and monitoring and congressional ratification of cabinet appointments, among other initiatives.

Unreasonable Electoral Alliances Could Result In Paralysis
January 25, 2010
According to Senator Manlio Fabio Beltrones, leader of the PRI party in the Senate, although alliances among parties are legal, mistakes stemming from the said coalitions run the risk of paralyzing the political arena. The senator indicated that citizens need to have a clear understanding of a candidate’s platforms and a sense of where the country is going. The former governor of Sonora was referring to a number of agreements currently under way, mostly involving right—wing party PAN and left—wing PRD in several states for midyear elections for governor and other posts. The move has also drawn criticism from within the individual parties as well.

Feds Seek To Overturn Mexico City Gay Marriage Law
January 28, 2010
Mexican federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that they will try to overturn Mexico City’s gay marriage law, which allows same—sex couples to adopt children, on the grounds it violates the Constitution. The Mexico City law, approved in December and due to take effect in March, is the first of its kind in Latin America. The federal Attorney General’s Office has said in a statement that it believes the law "violates the principle of legality, because it strays from the constitutional principle of protecting the family." The Roman Catholic Church in Mexico has harshly criticized the law, and President Felipe Calderon’s conservative National Action Party has mounted a campaign against the measure.

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Justice, Safety & Crime

Gunmen Kill 14 At High School Party In Ciudad Juarez
February 1, 2010
Suspected drug hitmen burst into a high school birthday party and killed 14 people in Ciudad Juarez in the early hours of Sunday, the latest massacre in one of the world’s deadliest cities. More than a dozen gunmen jumped out of seven sport utility vehicles and fired at the students, who were celebrating the birthday of a classmate, in a house in the city across the border from El Paso, Texas. Chihuahua State authorities gave no motive for the mass killing, but it bore all the signs of the drug violence that has consumed the city over the past three years. Juarez has become ground zero in the government’s war against drug traffickers. Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said Monday that investigators had no motive for the crime and that the victims were "innocent civilians."

Paraguay Soccer Star Cabanas Shot In Bar
January 25, 2010
Paraguay striker Salvador Cabanas is in serious condition after being shot in the head during an attack in a bar while visiting the establishment with friends and relatives early in the morning. According to an initial report, the bullet had a frontal entry point and no exit. Cabanas is a successful goal scorer for Mexican Club America, scoring 18 goals in 24 matches in the past season, and he is an integral part of Paraguay’s national team and was expected to feature in the upcoming World Cup to be played in South Africa. Doctor Ernesto Martinez, who operated on Cabanas, said, "Salvador Cabanas is in a serious condition but stable." Investigations have uncovered the perpetrator, a man known as "JJ," a frequent patron at the bar, now identified as having drug gang-related ties.

Drug War Required Consensus
January 25, 2010
National and international analysts agreed that the war against drug traffickers should have been decided in consensus with social sectors and institutions. Experts mentioned that the federal strategy neglected several issues that should be taken into account in order to undergo a crusade against crime, indicating that an initiative such as the one that has been undertaken cannot stand on the will of the Executive branch alone. A pact among all political parties and levels of government will be required as well as a clear understanding and consensus with civil society. Measures suggested include removing the army and training police corporations, combating corruption, strengthening institutions, abandoning foreign interests and aid, attacking the financial structures used by criminal organizations and initiating a social restructuring process that addresses poverty and promotes development opportunities for the younger population.

U.S. Trusts That The Drug War Will Continue
January 25, 2010
During a meeting of U.S. Hemisphere Ambassadors in Washington, D.C., Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual discarded the possibility of relaxing in the current war on drugs during the 2012 presidential election because there is a consensus among the three main party leaders that the effort must go on. Pascual acknowledged, however, that a normal debate regarding the components of the strategy is to be expected. Pascual talked about the border cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez as locations in which a more comprehensive drug and security policy is evolving. In recent weeks a move has begun to replace the military in Ciudad Juarez with federal police, and a socioeconomic strategy is being developed in both cities to complement security and rule—of—law initiatives.

571 Gang Members, Associates And Other Criminals Detained Under Project Big Freeze
January 27, 2010
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrests of 571 gang members, associates and other criminals. Project Big Freeze, an intensive ICE—led law enforcement operation executed in 83 cities across the country, focuses on gangs with ties to drug trafficking organizations. Transnational street gangs are frequently involved in human smuggling and trafficking, narcotics smuggling and distribution, identity theft and benefit fraud, money laundering and bulk cash smuggling, weapons smuggling and arms trafficking, cyber crimes, export violations and other crimes with a nexus to the border. Project Big Freeze is the largest nationwide ICE—led enforcement operation targeting transnational gangs with ties to drug trafficking organizations. Of those arrested, 151 were U.S. citizens and 366 were foreign nationals and face deportation either now or when their criminal prosecution is complete.

El Salvador Denounces Three Migrant Deaths In Mexico
January 27, 2010
The government of El Salvador has filed a complaint with Mexican officials over the killing of three migrants and the rape of four others by armed men in southern Mexico. El Salvador’s deputy minister for Salvadorans abroad says about 150 migrants were pulled off a train by unidentified assailants in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. The official, Juan Jose Garcia, says three men were slain and four women raped in the Saturday attack. Salvadoran migrants frequently hop freight trains in Mexico trying to reach the United States.

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Health & Science

Education Ministry Seeks Regulation On Junk Food
January 26, 2010
The Ministry of Education (SEP) is preparing guidelines to regulate the sale of food and beverages to children in basic education schools that will be applied throughout the country, according to Minister Alonso Lujambio during the launch of the "National Accord on Food Health Strategy Against Overweight and Obesity" program. Health Minister Jose Angel Cordoba announced a series of forums, in order to consolidate guidelines for applicable regulations nation wide.

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Arts & Culture

Mexico: Maya Tomb Find Could Help Explain Collapse
January 28, 2010
Mexican archaeologists have found a 1,100-year-old tomb from the twilight of the Maya civilization that they hope may shed light on what happened to the once glorious culture. Archaeologist Juan Yadeun said the tomb, and ceramics from another culture found in it, may reveal who occupied the Maya site of Tonina in southern Chiapas State after the culture’s Classic period began fading. Many experts have pointed to internal warfare between Mayan city states, or environmental degradation, as possible causes of the Maya’s downfall starting around A.D. 820.

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Environment

Sagarpa Spending US$60.5 Million On Sustainable Rural Development
January 28, 2010
Mexico’s agriculture ministry, Sagarpa, is spending US$60.5 million on a project to promote sustainable development in rural areas. The initiative aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by promoting the use of renewable energy in agriculture. The project is being financed by a US$50 million loan from the World Bank, and a US$10.5 million donation from the Global Environment Facility, which were approved in February last year. The scheme, which is expected to be completed in 2012, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 1.6Mt/y.

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