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This past Saturday, September 19th, Mexico commemorated the fatal magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck in 2017 and the even deadlier 8.0 earthquake in 1985 (yes, both on the same day). As families remember their victims, many still demand justice as it was not only an act of nature that caused many fatalaties, but also the corruption of local governments who allowed unsafe building. This week, we bring you a story about a small step towards justice for the deaths of 19 children and 7 adults in an elementary school.
And at last Sunday’s Emmy Awards, the New York Times and FX won best coverage of a breaking news story for their reporting on the failed attempt to capture El Chapo’s son last year in Sinaloa.
AMLO’s government to seek punishments and further actions if Mexican women were subjected to medical abuse in U.S. custody
Reuters
© Protests outside the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, where claims have been made that a number of migrant women have been sterilized after hysterectomies were performed on them without their consent.
What happened ? Last week, a whistleblower complaint alleged that at an Immigration Detention Center in Georgia, USA, hysterectomies (surgical removal of the uterus) were being performed on women without their consent. Mexican women are among those who went through this surgery. “I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp. It was like they’re experimenting with our bodies.’”
What has Mexico done? On Tuesday, Foreign Relations Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, confirmed that Mexican diplomats have interviewed six alleged victims and will interview more before releasing more information. “This has to be cleared up. If it is confirmed it would be a major issue and not only punishments but also other measures would be taken,” said Ebrard in the President’s daily press conference.
Will Mexico really seek to punish US authorities? AMLO has tried to avoid conflict with President Trump - even instructing the Mexican National Guard to deter immigration to the US. However, he now states that the only possible conflict between Mexico-US relations are these claims. If they turn out to be confirmed by the investigations, they will definitely become a challenge to the current administration who campaigned on defending national sovereignty and the country’s dignity with its northern neighbour, but have mostly bowed to White House requests.
⚖️ Justice arrives 3 years after deadly earthquake
A director and owner’s decision to build an apartment atop a school killed 19 children and seven adults. Last week, Mónica García Villegas, former director of elementary school Enrique Rebsamen, located in the southern part of Mexico City, was found guilty of charges equivalent to manslaughter. Although the building collapsed due to a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in September 2017, it was the authority's failure to enforce building permits that sentenced 26 humans to death. Associated Press
Above: Enrique Rebsamen Elementary School collapsed after September 19, 2017 earthquake © Associated Press
It’s easy to disregard the President calling out the food industry as neoliberal - he tends to categorize everything and everyone who is against him as such. However, this fantastic piece explains how NAFTA (and the now “something-way-better-than-NAFTA”) has amplified Mexico’s soaring obesity epidemic, along with a dazzling display of anti-American zingers. Al Jazeera
🌮COVID is forcing lucha libre stars to sell street food
Have you ever dreamt of meeting your favorite lucha libre star in person? Were you also eating cochinita pibil tacos in this dream and drooling all over your pillow? Well, no need to wake up! In the same strange way that COVID has been warping everybody’s realities, many lucha libre stars have been forced to become street food vendors. Although this is not financially ideal for them or their families, some wrestlers, like Último Guerrero, have had a chance to heal their bodies and stop taking pain killers. Los Angeles Times
🔫President behind Mexico’s war on drugs admitted it was ‘unwinnable’
After President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa (2006-2008) left office, he declared that he had no regrets from his militarised war on drugs. But it turns out that back in 2011, he confessed to British deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg that his war was “unwinnable”. According to Clegg, FCH told him “You will never win unless you can squeeze out criminality by moving towards the regulation of drugs’.” Vice
⛺AMLO: Conservative protesters welcome to camp near my office Fifí’s first time camping in Mexico City’s Zocalo
😕 Assets seized from criminals re-stolen by Mexican officials Awkward
🇮🇹 AMLO addresses the UN for the 1st time, recalls that Benito Mussolini was named after Mexico’s 19th century reforming president Benito Juarez Veryyy Awkward
Translation: “When your ex finds out that you are finally seeing someone”
Ricardo Anaya: “I have decided to return to public life”
A bit of context: Ricardo Anaya (above) was the PAN presidential candidate in 2018 who lost in a landslide to President Lopez Obrador. After his defeat he went into a sort of political exile - probably to Querétaro - and just as the 2021 elections are approaching and corruption allegations are being made against him, he has decided to come back. It’s still unclear if he will run for office next June.
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AMLO’s quote: “The main problem in Mexico has been corruption ... which is worse than a pandemic ... It is a plague of the most fatal variety”
Funesta translates to fatal or disastrous. However, it is likely that most Mexicans will give you an odd look if you use this word as it’s not very common.