Americans Flocking To Mexico For Their Corona...,

WaPo  |  The beachside dance floor was packed. The pulse of electronic music throbbed. In the middle of the pandemic, in the crowd of maskless dancers, some tourists commented to each other: "Tulum is back."

“It felt like covid was over. The borders are open. The world is back to normal. Let’s just have fun,” said Alexandra Karpova, 31, a public relations executive who flew from New York to attend the November festival, called Art With Me, on Mexico’s Riviera Maya on the Caribbean coast.

 But in the days after the festival, dozens of attendees tested positive for the coronavirus. Some brought it back to the United States.

The incident prompted a question at the heart of Mexico’s economic recovery: Is the country — with among the highest coronavirus caseloads in the world — taking too many risks to re-energize its lucrative tourism sector?

 Remarkably, the number of American tourists visiting the state of Quintana Roo, where Tulum and Cancun are located, has increased by 23 percent compared with 2019. With Europe closed to most Americans, Mexico has successfully marketed itself as a desirable alternative. Roughly 100 flights from the United States are now landing in Quintana Roo every day.

Many tourists are coming to stay at coastal resorts, where masks are mandatory in public places. Others are going on scuba diving tours or taking kite surfing lessons. But Tulum’s global reputation as a party destination has not changed during the pandemic.

“There are parties almost every night,” said Maria Prusakova, 30, the founder of a public relations firm, who traveled to Tulum in July from San Francisco.

When the restaurants closed at 11 p.m., she said, the parties started at private villas. No one wore masks. Prusakova got sick at the same time as 12 of her friends. They all tested positive — in her case, only after she returned to San Francisco.

“I’m still so happy I went,” she said. “I was so glad to see people. The food was amazing.”

Prusakova is returning to Tulum for New Year’s Eve, when the city is typically packed with parties. This year, authorities say they won’t permit them. State officials say they are scanning social media to find any mention of large gatherings. Event organizers are quietly telling tourists that they will find a way to host parties.

“We need to find a way to create jobs. Otherwise, the situation will continue getting worse,” said Marisol Vanegas, the state secretary of tourism. “But we always prioritize public health.”

 

California Has Become The Epicenter In America For Covid19

California’s surge stems from two sources, first the number of Mexicans living in poverty and/or severely packed households. La familia is the most important part of Mexican culture and it is not at all uncommon for one packed household to spread it to other households in the same extended family.

Second, well-to-do, working from home, don’t-know-anyone-who’s been sick white Californians spent the summer traveling both in state and flying to other places like Hawaii and Mexico. Always important to keep in mind that largely wealthy travelers were the initial vector in the US.

The well-to-do, working from home crowd would absolutely crumble if their mostly Latino nannies, housekeepers, and maids weren’t able to go to work every day. The servants and their employers are interacting in close quarters and are almost certainly exposing each other to the virus. Always important to keep in mind that largely wealthy business travelers were the initial vector in the US.

I also thought it really interesting that in the under-18 year olds, Mexicans have nearly 2X as many cases as all other ethnies combined! (110,000 vs 57,000.. Among known race cases.) Always important to keep in mind that largely wealthy business travelers were the initial vector in the US.

I’d guess it’s because the Mexican cases are primarily younger (almost half Mexican infections are 34 years old or younger). I’d also say that it makes me question a lot of these statistics…For example, are Mexican children more susceptible to inflection or, are they more likely to have been tested? Always important to keep in mind that largely wealthy business travelers were the initial vector in the US.

Finally, Mexicans skew younger than whites and blacks at the top demographic level. Always important to keep in mind that largely wealthy business travelers were the initial vector in the US.

Cienfuegos Zepeda Mexico's Former Secretary Of Defense Busted At LAX....,

theamericanconservative  |  While American policymakers focus intently on developments in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific, trouble is brewing much closer to home. Under growing stress from drug-related violence and systemic corruption, Mexico is exhibiting worrisome signs of governmental dysfunction. The latest shock occurred on October 16, when U.S. authorities arrested Mexico’s former defense secretary, General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, at Los Angeles International Airport on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. Cienfuegos Zepeda was a major player in Mexico’s military and political affairs, leading the country’s armed forces for six years under former president Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-2018).

His disgrace is especially important because the military has been in charge of waging the war on illegal drugs since President Felipe Calderon made it the lead agency for that mission in 2006. Allegations that Cienfuegos Zepeda was on a drug cartel payroll, therefore, were especially embarrassing and demoralizing. As the Associated Press reporters Christopher Sherman and Maria Verza point out, Mexico’s reliance on its military has grown under current president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: “He has entrusted it with not only leading the government’s ongoing fight with drug cartels, but also with stopping rampant fuel pipeline theft, building major infrastructure projects and being the backbone of the new, ostensibly civilian, National Guard.”

 Moreover, the military has long occupied a special status in Mexico’s political hierarchy. An ironclad agreement has been in place for decades that the army doesn’t interfere in politics, and civilian political leaders, including the president, do not interfere in the army’s internal operations. The appointment process for defense secretary highlights the extent of the military’s clout. In contrast to all other cabinet posts, the president does not have the latitude of making a personal choice for defense secretary; he or she chooses from a list of acceptable candidates that the generals submit.

The incident with Cienfuegos Zepeda was hardly the first time that scandal has rocked Mexico’s military and drug-fighting establishments. Genaro García Luna, who served as Mexico’s secretary of public security from 2006 to 2012 under President Calderon, was arrested last year in Texas on drug trafficking charges. U.S. prosecutors allege that he took tens of millions of dollars in bribes to protect Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel. Another notorious incident occurred even earlier. In 1996, the Mexican government appointed General Jesus Gutierrez Rebello, who had overseen military operations for the previous seven years in the narcotics-infested region of Guadalajara, to head the National Institute for the Combat of Drugs. U.S. officials hailed the appointment and how it symbolized the growing role of the country’s military in the drug war. Just months later, he was arrested for drug trafficking.

Ultimatum Of 10 Mexican States To Lopez Obrador: Dialogue And Respect Or Secession

eluniversal.mx  |  While President López Obrador made threats and threats against private companies in the energy sector with which his government is waging a legal battle, 10 governors of the Republic yesterday issued an ultimatum to their government "in defense of federalism", trusts and of the budget for their states, in which they warned that if the president continues to ignore his request for dialogue to review the budgetary needs of local governments and refuses to review the draft Budget for 2021, the 10 entities they represent could take a route of breaking to leave the Federal Pact and leave the Republic.

In a coordinated and simultaneous manner, the 10 leaders that make up the Federalist Alliance, delivered a similar speech from the capitals of their states in which they demanded López Obrador stop snubbing and attacking their states, minimizing and disregarding their requests for a larger budget for their needs. In all the public events of each entity, the governors were accompanied by the representatives of the 3 public powers and the most representative sectors of each place to send the message that "we are not only the governors", but 10 entities (Jalisco , Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Guanajuato, Tamaulipas, Coahuila, Michoacán, Durango, Colima and Aguascalientes) whose inhabitants demand respect and dialogue from the Federation.

"We are here to send a strong message that we are not willing to tolerate more abuses by the Federation, we are here proud to be Mexican and with the conviction that we will always be Mexican. But no free and sovereign state that has a minimum of dignity can to continue being part of a Federation when the Government of the Republic ignores us, attacks us, insults us and takes away what belongs to us, "launched the governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro, from the Hospicio Cabañas de Guadalajara.

In Chihuahua, Javier Corral, seconded it with the warning that if there is no response to his request for dialogue with the president, the states are ready to go to a political and legal battle with the Federation to defend their resources: "We are not going to allow neither abuse nor outrage. If the answer continues to be indifference and deaf ears, we are ready to fight the political and legal battle, "said the PAN president from the vicinity of the Government Palace and accompanied by representatives of the state powers and of Chihuahuan society.

From Nuevo León, Jaime Rodríguez Calderón threatened that the state will break with the Federation if the call for a more equitable distribution is not heard according to what each state contributes, and said that if this policy is followed, the state must generate different conditions from the local. "If he does not listen to us, it will generate an unnecessary confrontation, if he does not listen to us then the character of each region will be tested," he said.

The threat of rupture in the Republic was also heard from Guanajuato, where Governor Diego Sinhué also demanded dialogue from the President or, otherwise, he warned, the 10 united entities could make the decision to break the Federal Pact. "Today we want to tell you that we extend our hand and that if there is no dialogue we are ready to give the legal and political fight. By not listening to Guanajuato and the states that make up the Federalist Alliance, it may be leading Mexico to the beginning of breaking the Pact Federal government and that would be terrible for the whole country, "declared the PAN ruler.

In the same sense and with the same tone of ultimatum for a dialogue with the Federation in which drastic budget reductions to the states, the disappearance of the trusts and the destination of those resources can be reviewed, the governors Silvano Aureoles spoke. from Michoacán, Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca from Tamaulipas, José Rosas Aispuro from Durango, José Ignacio Peralta from Colima and Martín Orozco from Aguascalientes.  Each of them demanded respect for their entities and questioned that from the National Palace the president divides and confronts the Mexicans, while neglecting and minimizing the claims of the governors who are trying to ignore the political representation of their states.