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November 6, 2001
Nuevo Laredo: 600 Waterline Breaks Per Month
Arturo Cortés Villada, director of Nuevo Laredo's
Comisión de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (Drinking Water
and Sewer Commission, Comapa), says that the city water system
experiences 600 waterline breaks per month, an average of 21
per day. Comapa estimates that these breaks can waste 25% of
the water produced in Nuevo Laredo's two water treatment plants.
Despite having six repair teams of six people each, Comapa
can fix only half of the 600 waterline breaks that occur each
month. The rest of the breaks and leaks are dealt with during
the next month. However, Cortés said that the most serious
waterline breaks are dealt with immediately.
The city also receives an average of 18 complaints per day about
blocked sewer lines. These are all dealt with on a daily basis
so that complaints do not begin to accumulate.
Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), November 6, 2001.
Article by Lesy Karina Mendoza.
November 1, 2001
Bomb Threats and Anthrax Scares in Tamaulipas
Tofic Salum Fares, the Tamaulipas director of Protección
Civil del Estado (State Civil Protection), said that despite
the state's 40 recent bomb threats and 17 anthrax scares--all
of which proved to be false--there is not a state of panic in
Tamaulipas.
In recent weeks, Tamaulipas has had to shut down international
bridges in Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo because of approximately
40 false bomb threats, according to Salum. Salum also stated
that his department is supporting the Secretaría de la
Defensa Nacional in its bomb searches. Because of the bomb threats,
some bridges have been closed for more than an hour at a time.
Seventeen suspicious letters from Reynosa, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo,
Río Bravo and cities in the Tamaulipas interior have all
tested negative for anthrax, says Salum. Salum assures the state's
residents that Tamaulipas is anthrax free.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), November 1, 2001.
October 29, 2001
Reynosa: City of 420,000 with One Fire Station
Reynosa's deficit in fire-fighting resources was the topic
of a meeting held between the Centro de Bachillerato Tecnólogico,
Industrial y de Servicios (Cetis) and the Cámara Mexicana
de la Industria de la Construcción (CMIC). Architect Luis
Javier Pinto Covarrubias, the Reynosa president of CMIC, said
that the city needs new fire stations so that immediate responses
can be made to emergencies and fires.
CMIC and Cetis' directors and students agreed that it is urgent
that a study be conducted to look at what parts of Reynosa need
fire stations. To this end, Cetis students will examine how the
city can be best divided into strategic fire-fighting sectors.
The students will later present the results of their study to
CMIC and city authorities.
According to Pinto, Reynosa experienced a large fire a few months
ago and the fire department's resources were insufficient and
outside pipe-laying trucks had to be brought into help fight
the blaze.
Rapid population growth is one reason why Reynosa has not
been able to keep up its fire-fighting infrastructure. In 1990,
Reynosa had a population of approximately 280,000. Today, the
city has a population of over 420,000 people, according to the
Mexican statistical institute, INEGI.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), October 29, 2001.
October 24, 2001
Migration Agents Investigated in Reynosa
Cecilia Díaz Quirarte, head of the Instituto Nacional
de Migración (National Migration Institute, INM), told
the Reynosa newspaper El Mañana that her office began
an investigation to determine if some of the agents assigned
to her were involved in human trafficking. Díaz began
the investigation after US officials told her that an undocumented
migrant detained in the US had said that INM agents at the Reynosa
airport had helped him cross to the US.
After conducting an initial investigation of the agents that
were working at the airport on September 9, 2001, Díaz
gave the case to the Procuraduría General de la República
(Attorney General's Office, PGR). The PGR is now in charge of
the case but so far it has not called anyone to testify in the
investigation.
The agents that were working at the Reynosa airport on September
9 still work for the INM but are at jobs where they do not have
contact with the public. Díaz said that if they are found
guilty of the charges against them they will be fired and the
PGR will determine what will happen after that.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), October 24, 2001.
October 22, 2001
Matamoros Maquiladoras Suffer Job Losses
The US economic slowdown and the aftermath off the events
of September 11 have significantly affected the Matamoros maquiladora
employment situation, according to the Matamoros newspaper El
Bravo.
Juan Villafuerte Morales, exterior secretary of the Sindicato
de Jornaleros y Obreros Industriales de la Industria Maquiladora
(Maquiladora Industry Workers' Union, SJOIIM), said that the
Shot maquiladora has let go 2,500 workers and that only 30 people
continue working in the plant.
Other companies have also experienced set backs, according
to Villafuerte. Some of the companies have reduced the number
of employees they hire, others have reduced the length of the
work week and others have eliminated shifts.
Villafuerte told El Bravo that of the city's 120 maquiladoras,
80 of them are unionized and 12 of these are having "some
problems." However, Villafuerte said that the current economic
situation should not be a cause for alarm as the unions and companies
are confident that there will be a turn around in the economy.
Source: El Bravo, October 19, 2001. Article by Oscar Treviño.
October 19, 2001
Tamaulipas Deals with Anthrax Fears
While visiting the Mexican border city of Reynosa on Wednesday,
October 17, 2001, Homero Díaz Rodríguez, the Tamaulipas
secretary general of government, said that Tamaulipas residents
should not fear biological warfare because conditions are not
right for it in the state. Díaz also stated that there
has not been a case of human or animal anthrax in Tamaulipas
for the last thirty years. However, seeking to reassure the people
of his state, Díaz told the Reynosa newspaper El Mañana
that Tamaulipas' medical system is prepared to deal with anthrax
and large-scale health problems.
Díaz also commented on five envelopes that were turned
over to state health authorities because the recipients did not
know who had sent them the mail. One of the letters tested negative
for anthrax and reports are not yet back on the other four envelopes.
Finally, in Reynosa's General Hospital, on October 18, a course
was held for health-care workers on the early diagnosis and treatment
of anthrax.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), October 18 & 19, 2001.
October 15, 2001
Tamaulipas Health-Sector Hiring Freeze
A nationwide hiring freeze at the Instituto de Seguridad
y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (State Workers'
Social Security and Services Institute, ISSSTE) has created an
overload of work for Tamaulipas ISSSTE health-care providers,
according to Guillermo Guerra Castellanos of the Tamaulipas ISSSTE.
The hiring freeze, in place since 1998, has prohibited the replacement
of all administrative workers that have left the organization.
However, 50% of departed doctors, paramedics and social workers
are replaced.
In Tamaulipas, more than 200 jobs have gone unfilled over
the past three years, according to Guerra. Guerra also said that
the ISSSTE budget cuts have affected the organization throughout
the entire country, not just Tamaulipas.
Guerra said that health-care providers are doing the best
they can given the current situation, "With the help, responsibility
and solidarity of all Tamaulipas ISSSTE workers, we are taking
on the needs that stem from our current economic situation."
Source: El Mañana, October 15, 2001.
October 10, 2001
Tamaulipas Mayoral Election News
Tamaulipas Governor Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, a
member of the PRI, has said that he will work with all the state's
new Congressional deputies and all 43 of the state's new mayors
no matter what their political affiliation. The Partido Revolucionario
Institucional (PRI) won all but seven city governments: Tampico,
Madero, Mante, Xicoténcatl, Río Bravo, Soto la
Marina, and San Fernando. The election was held on Sunday, October
7, 2001 and the results are still preliminary. Tamaulipas is
the PRI's strongest state on the US-Mexico border.
In some parts of the state, the main opposition party, the Partido
Acción Nacional (PAN), has complained of PRI vote buying
and intimidation of voters. In the city of Mier, population 6,200,
located near the US-Mexico border between Nueva Ciudad Guerrero
and Miguel Aleman, the PAN has filed complaints with the state
election board stating that the PRI candidate for mayor, Abdón
Canales Díaz, had broken election laws by campaigning
during the pre-vote period of reflection.
Source: El Mañana, October 10, 2001.
October 8, 2001
Early Tamaulipas Election Results
The Instituto Estatal Electoral (State Electoral Institute,
IEE) told the Reynosa, Tamaulipas newspaper El Mañana
that "absolute tranquility prevailed" in statewide
elections held on Sunday, October 7, 2001. The newspaper also
reported that there were only minor election incidents in Reynosa
such as delayed voting station openings and people advertising
for campaigns too close to voting stations.
The IEE's early results program indicates Partido Revolucionario
Institucional (PRI) wins in the mayoral elections of major cities
such as Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo. The Partido Acción
Nacional (PAN) is expected to have won the southern coastal city
of Tampico.
In recent years, the state of Tamaulipas has been the PRI's
strongest border state although it did vote for Vicente Fox in
the July, 2000 presidential election.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), October 8, 2001.
September 25, 2001
Tourism and Business Off in Matamoros and Brownsville
As in most twin cities along the US-Mexico border, business
and tourism is down in Matamoros, Tamaulipas and Brownsville,
Texas since the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United
States. Newspapers all along the border have been reporting for
days that tourism and retail sales in border cities have been
hurt because of heightened security at US international ports
of entry. US cities are finding that malls and downtown stores
are not being visited by Mexican shoppers and Mexican cities
are experiencing drops in tourists and border shoppers looking
for less expensive pharmaceuticals, eye glasses and other goods.
César Dávila Guerra, president of the Matamoros
Cámara Nacional de Comercio (Chamber of Commerce, Canaco),
told the Matamoros newspaper El Bravo that he was going to seek
a meeting with the Brownsville Chamber of Commerce because both
cities are facing the same drop off in business activity. Dávila
said that the two organizations should discuss a coordinated
response and should look for bilateral action to help alleviate
the current situation.
Dávila stated that Brownsville residents are not shopping
in Mexico because they face long waits and exhaustive searches
upon returning to the US. Matamoros shoppers are not going to
buy in the US because they do not want to wait in long lines
to cross to the US, Dávila said.
Dávila did recognize that the current economic situation
in the two cities is the result of understandable actions taken
after the tragic events that affected the US.
Source: El Bravo, September 24, 2001. Article by Norberto
Calvario Razo.
September 13, 2001
Mexican Border Press Reacts to Attacks on US, Long Waits at Border
For the second day in a row, coverage of the September 11
attack against the US has dominated the front pages of the Mexican
press in border cities such as Tijuana, Méxicali, Nogales,
Hermosillo, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua City, Nuevo Laredo
and Reynosa.
Coverage of the attack runs deep in all of the border newspapers
with numerous articles that outline the events of September 11
and follow the beginnings of crime investigations. Other articles
look at such things as Mexicans working in the World Trade Center
at the time of the attack, Mexican law enforcement reactions
to events, the economic effects of the attack and the effects
of increased delays at the international ports. In Cd. Juárez,
the newspaper El Diario ran--in just its first section--more
than 60 articles and 20 photos related to the attack.
Under two front-page articles detailing World Trade Center
rescue attempts and the alleged threats against the White House
and Air Force One, El Diario ran an article about twelve missing
Mexican citizens that worked in the World Trade Center and another
article that looked at the financial effects of the attack.
According to El Diario, there were between 100 and 150 Mexican
citizens that worked in the World Trade Center. Twelve of these
people have disappeared since the September 11 attack, said the
Mexican consul to New York, Salvador Beltrán del Río.
The newspaper also states that unofficial sources have indicated
that the bodies of four Mexicans have been found in the ruins
of the World Trade Center.
Already concerned about the large loss of jobs in Mexico due
to the US economic slow down, it's not surprising that El Diario's
fourth and final front-page article looks at the economic consequences
of the attack. Like most other border newspapers, El Diario noted
that the attack closed New York stock markets but that there
would probably be only a limited impact on the world financial
system.
In Tijuana, the newspaper Frontera (no relation to FNS) reports
four-hour waits to enter the US at the international ports there.
In Cd. Juárez, waits have been up to three hours long
and a false bomb threat closed the bridges for 45 minutes yesterday,
according to El Diario. In Nuevo Laredo, a false bomb threat
stopped traffic for twenty minutes.
The long waits at the border are due to the Level One procedures
put into effect by Customs and INS after the attack against the
US. These inspections are described by the INS as a "sustained,
intensive, anti-terrorism operation."
More rigorous inspection at international ports has also begun
on the Mexican side of the border. Mexican officials from along
various parts of the border have said that they are watching
for terrorists that might try and leave the US through Mexico.
Sources: El Diario, Frontera, El Mañana (Reynosa &
Nuevo Laredo), September 13, 2001.
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