Frontera NorteSur
October 2000

Tuesday, October 1, 2000
Matamoros Unions Unaware of PAN-CTM Alliance

Nationally known news that the Confederation of Mexican Workers (Confederación de Trabajadores de México, CTM) will meet with President-elect Vicente Fox to end the alliance that it has had for decades with the PRI has yet to be officially relayed to Matamoros unions.

Juan Villafuerte Morales, Exterior Secretary for the Matamoros Industrial Workers Union (Sindicato de Jornaleros y Obreros Industriales de Matamoros, SJOIM) and general secretary for the CDM of  the PRI in Matamoros, indicated that any decision regarding a change in party affiliation would be something that workers would have to come to a consensus on.

Villafuerte expressed that while no official process exists at this time to determine what is best for workers, decisions will be made by creating a set of criteria that will help define workers' struggles in the future.

Source: El Bravo, October 27, 2000.  Article by Rosy Pereda Rangel.

Monday, October 30, 2000
No FNS news today.

New fiscal programs authorized by the Chamber of Deputies (equivalent to the House of Representatives in the US), upon recommendation of the Secretary of the Economy and Public Credit (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público), have brought small businesses out of the informal economy.  This prevents merchants from being accused of tax evasion according to Juan Chávez, General Secretary of the Small Business Union (Unión de Comerciantes en Pequeño) a subdivision of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (Confederación de Trabajadores de México, CTM).

Sidewalk merchants have stopped being part of the informal economy because most of them have subscribed to the Small Contributor's Plan, authorized by the Secretary of the Economy. Through this program they pay taxes only when they exceed a certain income level.  Chávez said that people who have incomes from N$83,474 to N$157,764 (approximately US$16,000) pesos in six months, will be tax exempt.  He continued that merchants will pay taxes only when income is higher than this amount, but to a minimal degree.  Chavez gave the example of when income surpasses N$157,764 pesos, the merchant would have to pay 0.25% in taxes.

Small businesses are encouraged to register with the Secretary of the Economy through this new system to avoid problems.

Source: El Bravo, October 25, 2000.  Article by Norberto Calvario.
 
Thursday, October 26, 2000
Salary Negotiations for 45,000 Workers Begin in Matamoros

[Editor's note: Matamoros is one of the best paying labor markets in Mexico, if not the best paying city in the country. Earlier this year one of the region's major unions, the SITPME, announced raises averaging 20%. This is in a time of 10% annual inflation. Workers' salaries probably range from US$4 to US$7 day not including yearly bonuses, vacation pay, two free meals and perhaps subsidized or free transportation.]

Marking the beginning of negotiations between the SJOIM union (Sindicato de Jornaleros y Obreros Industriales de la Industria Maquiladora) and the Asociación de Maquiladoras de Matamoros both parties signed on October 23, 2000 a contract negotiation agreement. This document was signed for the first time in 1999 before Tamaulipas Governor Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba to make sure that all negotiations were finished by December 15 and that there would be no strike as a result of the proceedings. The SJOIM represents 45,000 workers and the Asociación de Maquiladoras represents 52 plants where new contracts need to be negotiated with the SJOIM.

Currently up for negotiation are contracts that will expire in January and February, 2001. Tony Capella, President of the Maquiladora Association, says that the desire of business leaders is to guard the rights of workers, and give raises that are based on the national average since this is businesses' limit. The business leaders are also against extending negotiations as they know that workers are waiting to receive their raises.

Source: El Bravo, October 24, 2000. Article by Rosy Pereda.

Wednesday, October 25, 2000
Higher Education Enrollment Rises 43% In Matamoros

The Assistant Secretary of Higher Education and Scientific Investigation (Subsecretario de Educación Superior e Investigación Científica) Daniel Resendiz stated that the last six years have seen a 43% increase in post-secondary education enrollment.  This is a sixteen point increase above the 27% goal proposed by the 1995-2000 Education Development Program. Furthermore, the increase in enrollment is also above the increase in the number of people age 20-24 in the state.

Resendiz also stated that the improvement of higher education is a priority of the federal government.

Source:  El Bravo, October 10, 2000.

Tuesday, October 24, 2000
SITPMEM Union Finalizes Education Project

The SITPME union in Matamoros finalized an educational project on Monday, October 23, 2000 according to union Secretary General Leocadio Mendoza Reyes. Mendoza stated that once the training accord is implemented in the near future it will better the economic conditions of unionized workers. The accord is between the SITPMEM and the Instituto Politécnico Nacional.

Training for the CTM workers will take place in the Union Education and Training Building, "Fidel Velásquez Sánchez." The nature of the instruction will closely follow the needs of the export maquiladoras where the SITPMEM has collective contracts.

Source: El Bravo, October 23, 2000. Article by Angel René Arias Partida.

Monday, October 23, 2000
Brownsville Police Promise More Flexibility On Alcohol Law

In an effort to stop hurting the Matamoros tourism industry, Brownsville, TX police have promised to be more flexible in their anti-alcohol operations that they hold every weekend on international bridges between the two cities.

President of the Chamber of Commerce (Cámara Nacional de Comercio, Canaco), Jorge Almanza Armas said Brownsville Police Chief Ben Reyna asked for the support of local merchants in not selling alcohol to US minors.  Reyna noted his department's operations were not intended to harm the Matamoros tourism industry but to halt the consumption of alcohol by minors, therefore preventing misconduct by minors in the US.

Armas noted that upon making Reyna aware of the tourism merchants' concerns, Reyna responded that the alcohol operations were established by Texas state law at the request of family groups and the Brownsville community in general. Reyna said that Brownsville was worried about a growing wave of crimes and auto accidents caused by alcohol abuse in Mexico--generally among minors.

By the end of their meeting Reyna promised to be more flexible in enforcing the laws and Canaco promised to meet with nightclub owners, restaurants and alcohol-vending establishments to insure that alcohol is not served to US minors in Matamoros.

Source: El Mañana, October 19, 2000.  Article by Mauro De la Fuente Loayzat.  

The immigrant-support group has the unconditional backing of the Mexican Consulate in Brownsville to help family members find relatives on that part of the border. However, Reyes stated that unfortunately, in many cases, families learned that their relatives died while attempting to cross to the US.

From its inception Grupo Beta has focussed on helping immigrants and daily it attends to people that arrive in the area without resources. With help from transportation companies Grupo Beta gets these stranded individuals back to their hometowns.

Reyes added that the job of Beta is to warn immigrants about the dangers inherent in crossing to the US. It does not however impede them from doing so.

Soon Beta is to receive rescue equipment which will help the organization to save more people from drowning in the Rio Grande.

Source: El Bravo, October 18, 2000. Article by Rosy Pereda Rangel.

Thursday, October 19, 2000
No news today. FNS has gone to Ciudad Juárez to work on next month's special stories on the border's human rights situation.

Wednesday, October 18, 2000
Matamoros Street Vendors Threaten Blockade

In what is a year-end, Christmas-time tradition for Matamoros, sidewalk vendors have threatened to take over free space in front of city hall. The dispute erupts every year when the city attempts to clear the plaza of mobile vendors and sidewalk stands in preparation for the Christmas season and New Year's Eve.

City official Roberto Landeros assured El Bravo that the plaza and historic town center will be cleared of all vendors in accordance with Article 30 of the city code.

Crescencio Alcántara Zavala and Juan Chávez Contreras, spokespersons for the vendor members of the Grupo CTM e Independiente union, have claimed that they are going to present a united front against the city government. They have also stated that unless free movement is allowed throughout the disputed terrain they will seize the city plaza on November 1.

Source: El Bravo, October 17, 2000. Article by José M. Barrientos Medrano.

Tuesday, October 17, 2000
Red Tide Hits Matamoros Coast

Three days after red tide arrived in Matamoros beaches are vacant of fishermen and fish sellers. The sale of fish and shell-fish is also down 30% in the city's stores.

Health authorities have already taken the necessary measures to protect public health and the export of seafood to the Mexican interior and the US has been stopped.

Red tide is caused by blooms of neurotoxic plankton in the Gulf of Mexico and has arrived for the fourth year in a row to Matamoros beaches. The phenomena has already killed thousands of fish that have begun to wash ashore. Business at the Matamoros Bagdad beach restaurants has been paralyzed by the arrival of red tide.

The Matamoros city government has set up check points near the beach to make sure that no one picks up dead fish there to sell in Matamoros or elsewhere.

Fish resellers in the area have also been unable to do business because no one wants to buy seafood from Matamoros even if it has been declared safe for consumption.

Source: El Bravo, October 16, 2000. Article by Víctor Manuel Villegas.

Monday, October 16, 2000
No news today.

While a commission of students from the Matamoros Technological Institute (Instituto Tecnológico de Matamoros) met with a Supreme Court judge in Ciudad Victoria, the Tamaulipas capitol, approximately 500 students from the Institute once again protested in front of the Matamoros city hall demanding justice for their jailed classmates. Their classmates were arrested a few months ago as the result of an investigation into a student-police confrontation on April 5, 2000 at the Institute. 

The students arrived at the Matamoros city plaza around 11:00 a.m. and parked their cars in a double row.  Around 1:00 p.m. they began a march around the plaza occupying the entire width of the road, greatly disturbing the flow of traffic. This worried directors of City Hall who ordered that the parking lot to the building be closed immediately. The Student Association Vice President assured city officials that no one would damage the Palacio Municipal which is a city landmark. He did however recognize that his fellow students were very upset that their demands for justice were not being listened to by the government.

Source: El Bravo, October 6, 2000.  Article by Victor Villegas.

Wednesday, October 11, 2000
Matamoros Candy Store Wars

Small stores linked to Matamoros secondary schools have come under fire after groups of parents approached the state Parents Association (Asociación de Padres de Familia, APF).  Parents accuse the school directors and instructors of making a small fortune selling low-quality products to students.  Mariano Baez, President of the APF, said that the co-ops should not be looked at as independent businesses because their spirit is educational. Some of the stores are reportedly bringing in more than US$45,000 a year.

A work session held in the City Hall auditorium, at which not one of the 29 secondary school directors was present, had parents asking whether or not instructors could manage the co-ops and whether or not they could be given to parents to run.  Baez answered these questions by stating that instructors could not and should not have anything to do with the stores.  The stands could be concessed with the consent of the entire Parents Association.  The problem being that upon doing so they fail to meet the reason they were created in the first place because they would become more of a private business.  The only solution offered was to have parents to run the stores.
 
Tuesday, October 10, 2000
Water Shortage Calls for Drastic Measures

Matamoros has found itself in a troubling situation after water levels in the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande plummeted recently.  Water conservation and awareness programs have have been attending to the shortage.  For a time, water services were reduced at certain hours of the day. This has action has created a surplus which is now stored until it is needed.

According to Mario Zolezzi García, of the Water and Drainage Department, the situation reached its peak the week of September 30, 2000, when the river's water level plummeted from its regular 4 meters to a mere 1.70 meters.  The water level is now at 2 meters and water storage lagoons are at healthy levels.

Zolezzi mentioned that the current surplus, which was collected at night when water usage is down 25%, permits the lagoons to fill to normal levels which are then drawn down during the day.   

The situation arises after a long-felt drought in the region kept water levels in the La Amistad and Falcon dams at their lowest levels in history.  The manager of the Water and Drainage Department asked Matamorenses for their understanding.

Monday October 9, 2000
No news today.

The Economic Development and Employment Department (Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico y del Empleo) announced that the maquiladora industry in Tamaulipas has grown by 5.5% in the first half the of the year. The plants now generate 115 million dollars a month in salaries.

Jorge Alberto Reyes Moreno, director of the branch office of the Department, indicated that there are 374 exporting maquiladoras in the state, 14 more than at the beginning of the year, 119 of which are situated in Matamoros.  Reyes highlighted that the industry generates direct employment of 183,000 people.

The Tamaulipas maquiladora industry is changing drastically.  An increase in the hiring of technical and administrative personnel suggests a push for improved quality in the plants.  Reyes also pointed out that maquiladora salaries in the state are the highest in the nation for workers and technical staff.
Source: El Bravo, September 29, 2000. 

Thursday, October 5, 2000
No News Today. Gone to Tour the Delphi Maquiladora in Cd. Juárez.

Wednesday, October 4, 2000
Matamoros Leads In Detention of Human Traffickers

Matamoros ranks first in the region in the detention of immigrant traffickers. So far this year 77 people have been charged with human trafficking and 79 others have been sentenced to prison terms according to Roberto Urzua Anguinano, a spokesperson for the National Immigration Institute (Instituto Nacional de Migración, INM).  Urzua noted that these finding were also announced at the biweekly Tamaulipas delegation meeting, where it was decided that the immigration regulation program had achieved excellent results.

Urzua added that in Matamoros' case an increase in tourist migration has been registered with 85,100 people crossing on tourist visas. He also stated that so far this year 3,500 people have been returned from the US after trying to enter that country illegally.

Source: El Bravo, Tuesday, October 3, 2000.

Tuesday, October 3, 2000
Migration Surpasses Urbanization in Matamoros
 
Matamoros does not have the financial resources or time to attend to the infrastructure needs of its ever-growing population. The number of migrants to Matamoros grows at an annual rate of 157% while the growth from migration in interior cities has increased by only 2.4% according to Javier Núñez of the Department of Planning and Zoning (Departamento de Planeación) at a recent binational meeting.  Among those in attendance at the meeting was Jean N. Weaver of the United States Geological Services.

To meet such growth the city needs to add to its services 110 hectares of land annually. 

The last census puts Matamoros' population at 417,000 inhabitants driving 132,000 cars. With few roads and a weak public transportation system this means that the city's workforce loses many hours spent stuck in traffic.

At the beginning of the current city administration there 43.82 kilometers of first-class road in Matamoros. Within the next three years 52.80 kilometers will be added to that. Also, 24.37 kilometers of secondary roads will be added during the current administration. However, city officials admit that this is insufficient especially due to the city's severe growth.

Source: El Mañana, September 21, 2000. Article by Héctor Espinosa Andaverde.

Monday, October 2, 2000
Union Leader Accused of Mismanaging Money for Workers' Lands

After failed union negotiations with a land owner in the colonia Fidel Velázquez, workers are complaining that their money is not being returned to them fast enough by their union, the Sindicato Industrial de Trabajadores en Plantas Maquiladores y Ensambladoras (SITPME) and its leader Leocadio Mendoza Reyes.

Luis Alberto Sánchez López, a former worker at the FFW plant, said that he was saving for months to gather the 7,000 pesos (approximately US$770) that was necessary to buy land through the union. Now that the land deal has fallen through and Sánchez is requesting the refund of his money he is dissatisfied with the union's response. According to Sánchez the union will not begin the repayment of his money until May, 2001. At that point Sánchez will be paid 500 pesos per week.

Source: El Bravo, September 26, 2000. Article by Rosy Pereda Rangel.