News Summary for January 8th, 2009

++ President Felipe Calderón called on governors and mayors to put an end to waste of public funds and stop presenting misleading reports on how they spend money.

++ José Ángel Gurría, secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, underscored the need to carry out in depth fiscal reform to be able to generate the funds Mexico needs to grow.

++ PAN national chairman César Nava blamed the PRI for inflation sparked by gasoline rate hikes and increases to the value added tax and the income tax… Nava said hikes to fuels were the result of an agreement among political parties.

++ Senate speaker Carlos Navarrete called on the president to freeze fuel rates by next Wednesday, or he said, Congress will act to freeze rates through a decree…

++ The Mexican Stock Exchange increased 0.71 percent on business day four this year. The IPC stock index reached a new all-time high at 33,064.57 points.

++ Federal Public Security agents arrested Manuel Alejandro Briones Rodríguez, known as “El Chaparrito” or “The Little Short One,” and who could be a lieutenant in Morelos for Arturo Beltrán Leyva… The arrest took place on January 4 in Mexico City. Until June 2009, Briones Rodríguez was a member of the now defunct Public Security Secretariat in Cuernavaca, Morelos.

++ Cold front number 22 was spreading over a great chunk of Mexico, mainly affecting eight states where temperatures plunged. In addition to Chihuahua and Durango, the states where temperatures fell drastically are Zacatecas, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Sonora, San Luis Potosí, the hills of Veracruz and parts of Oaxaca. Classes were not cancelled in Mexico City, but kids in Hidalgo, Zacatecas, Michoacan and Veracruz get to stay home and return to school till next Monday

We are back!! Latest News about Mexico for January 7th, 2009

++ Rival groups within the Mexican Electricians union clashed using bottles, stones and sticks… The melee began when Martín Esparza sympathizers tried to force their way into a meeting organized by Alejandro Muñoz followers… Several union members were hurt in the scrimmage and cars parked outside were damaged.

++ The Mexican Electricians Union said it was not to blame for the clash between rival groups within the union… The SME said in a press release that strike breakers and provocateurs caused the commotion… The SME said its demonstrations are peaceful, despite a campaign to spark trouble, which the union blamed on the Federal Police.

++ The Interior Secretariat ruled out resuming talks with the Mexican Electricians Union as long as a belligerent attitude and a failure to keep their activities peaceful, as shown in the last few days, continue.

++ Interior Secretary Fernando Gómez Mont denied that the government acted on its own to raise gasoline and diesel fuel rates in 2010, since, he said, the decision to increase prices was reached together with Congress.

++ The PRI will next week submit to the Chamber of Deputies a proposal to reform the law so that legislators be given powers to set prices and rates for public services, in particular having to do with fuel rates.

++ PRD chairman Jesús Ortega Martínez said his party’s deputies will support the proposal to be handed in by the PRI so that Congress and not the Executive branch be the one to decide on fuel costs and fuel rate increases in Mexico.

++ The Morelos Education Secretariat announced a special plan to keep watch over 1,700 schools to guarantee a safe return to classes and also pledged to establish guidelines to deal with situations involving drug-related violence in case they should arise.