Mexico

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s economy showed life in the first three months of the year, growing 0.9% compared with the final quarter of 2021, according to preliminary estimates released Friday by Mexico’s statistics agency.

That was improvement over the zero growth in final three months of 2021 and the slight retraction in the quarter before that, but the economy continued to show weakness after its initial rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced shutdown of 2020, fueled largely by the United States’ economic recovery.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — As Mexican investigators struggle with the so-far inexplicable death of an 18 year-old woman, the odds of an answer are slim: Even nationally significant homicide cases — like nearly all homicide cases in Mexico — tend to wind up as mysterious as the 1975 disappearance of U.S. union boss Jimmy Hoffa. Poor evidence handling, intentional distortion of investigations, cover-ups, political interests and just plain incompetence often leave the public without complete answers. Surveys by Mexican think tanks say roughly 90% of homicides go unpunished in Mexico.

MEXICO CITY, April 28 (NNN-XINHUA) — At least eight people were killed and 11 others injured in a clash between two opposing groups of workers at a cement plant in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, governor Omar Fayad said.

“This morning, attacks and disturbances between two groups of people at an entrance to the plant were reported to 911 emergency services,” Fayad tweeted, adding that nine workers were detained as a result of the clash.

MEXICO CITY, April 21 (Reuters) - Mexico's president said on Thursday that an elite unit which worked on narcotics investigations with the United States was closed last year, confirming a Reuters report, and alleging the group had been infiltrated by criminals.

On Tuesday, Reuters reported Mexico had disbanded the group that for a quarter of a century worked hand-in-hand with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to tackle organized crime. 

MEXICO CITY, Apr 20 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF), yesterday, cut Mexico’s 2022 economic growth forecast to 2.0 percent, down from 2.8 percent.

According to an update to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report, released earlier this year, the forecast for the country’s growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, was also downgraded, by 0.2 percentage points to 2.5 percent.

MEXICO CITY, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday that his administration will push for a new mining law to reserve lithium exploitation to the state, after lawmakers rejected his proposed electricity reform bill.

During his daily press conference, Lopez Obrador explained that a state company would exploit, extract, process, industrialize and sell lithium, whose price has been soaring lately.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador failed to find enough votes late Sunday to pass a constitutional reform limiting private and foreign firms in the electrical power industry.

The reforms would have undone much of the market opening in power generation carried out by his predecessor in 2013, but also raised concerns among U.S. officials and companies.

On Monday, López Obrador called the opposition members of congress who voted against the reform traitors, claiming foreign firms “bought the legislators.”

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexicans vote Sunday on whether their popular president should end his six-year term barely midway through or continue to the end.

Strangely, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was the one who pushed for the first-ever referendum of its kind in Mexico.

It was considered a safe bet. The referendum is only binding if at least 40% of the country’s electorate votes — something experts believe unlikely — and López Obrador has maintained approval ratings around 60%.

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A small archipelago off Mexico’s Pacific coast that had been home to an island prison colony is now ready to receive tourists.

Getting to Islas Marias, however, will be a challenge for even the sturdiest tourist: a five-hour boat ride in often choppy waters.

But some people, like Beatriz Maldonado, are already imagining the voyage. When Maldonado was imprisoned between those “walls of water” — as a Mexican writer also confined there described it — she thought she would never see her mother again.

MEXICO CITY, April 5 (Reuters) - Mexico's president on Tuesday ramped up pressure on opposition lawmakers to support a constitutional energy reform a day after they said they would reject the bill, suggesting those who did not would be "traitors" to the country.

The bill, which congressional leaders have said they want to vote on next week, is a central plank of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's drive to give greater control of the electricity market to the state over private companies.