Friends:
Mexicans:
The transformation is underway and although it is necessary to continue exposing the great neoliberal farce and promoting a change in the population’s mentality -because that is the closest thing to what is essential and irreversible- we are also eradicating vices and dishonest practices in government functioning.
A decisive measure was to stop the privatization trend in its tracks. We stopped providing concessions to private companies in mines, water, hospitals, ports, railroads, beaches, prisons, and public work projects. But, most importantly, we stopped privatization in the energy sector, that is, in oil and electricity.
This new energy policy seeks to produce the gasoline that the country uses here in Mexico and stop importing it. To this end, resources continue to be earmarked for the modernization of the six existing oil refineries. In three years, public investment for this purpose has amounted to more than 33.58 billion pesos (TN-1). When we took office these refineries were abandoned and the previous administration had begun to sell off the plants (such as the hydrogen plants) inside their facilities. At the beginning of our administration the refineries were producing 511,000 barrels per day and now they process 706,000 barrels; that is, 38 percent more. The relaunching of construction of the coker in Tula, Hidalgo, is good news, because it will increase that refinery’s production by 70,000 barrels of fuels per day. In July of next year construction will be completed at the new oil refinery in Dos Bocas, Paraiso, Tabasco, with the capacity to process 340,000 barrels per day. It is worth recalling that for 42 years, most significantly since the beginning of the neoliberal period, no new refinery had been built in our country; the last one was the refinery in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, which began operating in 1979.
In 1993, during the Carlos Salinas de Gortari administration, instead of building a new refinery here, it was decided that Pemex would partner with Shell to share the Deer Park refinery in Houston, Texas. This year an offer was made to buy the part of the foreign oil company and the transaction was closed at a cost of 596 million dollars. Now the refinery will be fully owned by Pemex and its production of gasoline and diesel and other fuels, 150,000 barrels per day, will be used to supply our country’s domestic market.
This new policy means not extracting more oil than is necessary to meet the domestic market’s demand for fuels. With this moderate production, we will fulfill the commitment to replenish 100 percent of proven reserves as a norm and thus help reduce the excessive use of fossil fuels. In short, we will continue to act responsibly and what the new generations will inherit will not be affected.
With regard to the electricity industry, we are going to push for a constitutional amendment that will make it possible to repair the serious damage caused by privatization to the public sector and to the popular economy. While the market for this industry was opened up to give preference to private domestic investors and, above all, foreign companies, providing subsidies, among other perks, the plants of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) were completely abandoned. Now, we are modernizing the hydroelectric plants to reduce the use of fuel oil and coal in the production of electricity. Energy produced with water is clean and cheap. That is why we have decided to replace old turbines with modern equipment, which will allow us to take advantage of existing infrastructure and water from reservoirs to produce more electricity without building new dams, without causing damage, while at the same time reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. In short, the goal is to have sufficient public supply of electricity, that there will be no blackouts, and that we will prevent domestic consumers from paying higher rates for electricity than corporations and large retail chains.
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With federal budgetary resources, and without the onerous public-private partnerships, the so-called PPPs, or the other brainchild, known as Pidiregas (TN-2), that undercut the public treasury, we are building highways, dams, hospitals, universities, schools, aqueducts, drainage systems, sewage treatment plants, bridges, refineries, railroads, power plants, airports, barracks, libraries, parks, markets, stadiums, sports facilities, and other public work projects.
Of particular importance is the construction of the Felipe Ángeles airport and the integral program for the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (TN-3) to link the region’s ports and rail lines, and create a rapid way of transporting goods between Asian countries and the east coast of the United States. By the same token, the Mayan Train will raise living standards and the quality of life in the region with the greatest archaeological, cultural, and tourist attractions in the country and one of the most important in the world. In implementing these three major projects alone, 143,137 direct jobs and 277,49 indirect jobs are being generated; and by the year 2023 there will be about 500,000 direct jobs and 350,000 indirect new jobs created.
At the same time, economic and commercial integration with the United States and Canada is underway. The cooperation agreement based on respect for sovereignty among our countries means higher production, jobs, better salaries, and growth in North America. As a complement to the Agreement to intensify productive and commercial activity in the northern border area, a fiscal stimulus strategy was put into effect since the beginning of the current administration that consists of reducing the VAT and Income Tax by half, standardizing the price of gasoline and diesel with that of the border states of the neighboring country, and doubling the minimum wage; all of this, together with a broad Urban Development and Housing Program in the municipalities of Tijuana, Mexicali, Nogales, San Luis Río Colorado, Ciudad Juárez, Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo, and Reynosa.
Although new cases continue to be reported, the number of hospitalizations and deaths from COVID have been considerably reduced. The main reason for this decrease in the intensity of the pandemic is the National Vaccination Program, which has worked effectively and has reached every part of Mexico. To date, we have received 103,296,665 doses of vaccines from Pfizer, Sinovac, Sputnik, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Cansino and Moderna; from pharmaceutical companies and foreign governments that have demonstrated their solidarity with Mexico and its people. I would like to highlight the support of Cuba, Argentina, Russia, China, India, and the United States.
At least 65 percent of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose, and I would like to reiterate our commitment that by October all of the country’s the inhabitants over 18 years of age will have received at least one dose, so that we will be better protected for the winter, which is the season when respiratory illnesses occur most frequently.
The fact that we have fewer hospitalizations and, above all, that the mortality rate has been considerably reduced, that is, that there are fewer deaths among those infected, is a very important achievement. But it is also an indicator for the normalization of educational, productive, and social activity in the country. This past Monday, the new school year began with the enthusiastic participation of teachers, mothers and fathers, as well as 11 million children and adolescents who, after 18 months, are returning to school, which is their second home and the main center for sharing good and bad times, and for recharging themselves with humanism and solidarity.
The countryside is producing without limitations. Last year, agricultural production increased 2 percent, and the same trend is occurring so far in 2021. The industrial sector is in full recovery, as is also the case with the retail trade, tourism, the restaurant sector, aviation, and other services. Almost all forecasts for this year agree that the economy will grow around 6 percent; foreign investment in the first half of the year was over 18.43 billion dollars, 2.6 percent higher than in the same period last year and the best in the country’s history. We have not contracted additional public debt; the peso has not been devalued during the first two years and nine months of the current administration’s term in office, something that had not occurred in three decades. Furthermore, the minimum wage has been increased in real terms, by 44 percent, something that had not occurred in more than 30 years.
When we took office, the daily minimum wage bought 5.8 kilograms of tortillas and now it can buy 7.7; that is, almost two kilos more. We have not increased the prices of gasoline, diesel, and electricity in real terms; gas prices have risen slightly above inflation, but we will soon correct this increase, since we have already started selling Gas Bienestar (TN-4) cylinders at fair prices. Since we took office, the stock market index has grown by 28 percent, as never before in its history. Inflation, although it has recently increased, is now stable. The Banco de México benchmark rate has been cut by 3.5 percent, and while the central bank had reserves to the tune of slightly below 173.78 billion dollars at the end of the last administration, they now top 205.39 billion dollars, an 18 percent increase, a historic high, more than 30 billion dollars above the previous level. It is also good news to report that 1,202,691 jobs have been created after the pandemic and only 192,713 have yet to be recovered to equal the number of workers affiliated to the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) before the health crisis, some 20,613,000 workers, a goal that we will reach in the next two months.
What is most important is that the pandemic did not lead to a crisis in consumption. Thanks to remittances and the support of the Social Welfare Programs that reach and are applied from the bottom up, from the poorest to the top of the population pyramid, it has been possible to avoid shortfalls in food and other basic necessities. Department stores have increased their sales by 34 percent from January to August 2021, compared to the same period last year. There have been no reports of looting of stores or acts of vandalism or desperation due to hunger or neglect of people’s basic needs. There is social peace and governability in our country.
As a result of the pandemic, we decided to reinforce social support measures, expanding the budget allocated to the population. More than 3 million loans were granted to small businesses in the formal and informal sectors and it was decided to expand the Urban Improvement Program (introduction of drinking water, sewage, and paved roads) in 77 municipalities in several states; 111,000 subsidies and loans have been granted for the construction, improvement, and expansion of housing throughout the country, with an additional investment of 280 billion pesos (TN-5). All of this was coupled with an exceptional development: in the past period, remittances from Mexican migrants to their families back home have grown as never before.
Last year, remittances reached 40.6 billion dollars and this year we estimate, based on their performance thus far, that they will exceed 48 billion dollars, that is, an 18 percent increase. Today, the Banco de México just announced that remittances in July reached 4.54 billion dollars. This is a record monthly figure. I would like to take this opportunity to recapitulate that we have a historic high in remittances; a historic high in foreign investment; a historic record in increases to the minimum wage; a historic record in not devaluing the peso; a historic record in not increasing the debt; a historic increase in the Stock Exchange Index; a historic high in the Banco de México’s reserves. It’s enough to shout from the rooftops, to boast, to declare to the neoliberal technocrats: “look so you can learn.”
I would like to add something important and fundamental. The money from remittances flows all the way down to the poorest families and communities in the country; we are talking about more than ten million remittances of 380 dollars per month (7,600 pesos) on average per family. This massive flow of resources, together with a similar amount that is allocated from the public budget to the various Social Welfare Programs, is the essence of our strategy to confront the crisis. In other words, with this rapid and direct injection of resources to families, people’s purchasing power or consumption capacity has been strengthened and, as a result, the economy has been quickly reactivated.
Every day, as of 6 a.m., from Monday to Friday, we hold meetings at the National Palace of the security cabinet, comprised of the Ministries of the Interior, Defense, the Navy, and Public Security, to receive reports from around the country on this issue and to make decisions that allow us to confront the different crimes and guarantee peace.
The fruits of this persevering, joint work on a daily basis are shown in the following results: in the time we have been in office, fuel theft, the so-called huachicol, has been reduced by 95 percent; homicides, by 0.5 percent; vehicle theft, by 28 percent; kidnappings, by 18 percent; and so on in almost all common and federal crimes. In short, of 11 crimes considered to have the greatest impact, only three have posted increases: femicides, which grew by 13 percent, and which possibly was not previously classified as it is now; extortion, which increased by 28 percent, and individual robberies in public transportation, which grew by 12 percent. This past July 27, the National Statistics Institute (INEGI) released the data on homicides registered in 2020, which, as in 2019, indicates that the uptrend in this crime has stopped and has even posted a small decrease.
Instead of obtaining lines of credit that plunge the country into debt, as was the neoliberal practice during periods of crisis, we chose to intensify the fight against corruption. In the first year of our administration, we succeeded, among other measures, in eliminating tax remissions for large taxpayers who benefited from influence peddling. We also classified corruption as a serious crime in the Constitution (which had not been the case), without granting the accused the possibility of being released on bail.
We are now improving our tax collection efforts, trying to collect from large national and foreign corporations that previously managed to avoid paying their taxes -which is the same thing as committing a crime- and enjoyed impunity. Today, the public treasury is being strengthened to the extent that it prevents tax fraud. One fact: even with the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, federal government revenue up to yesterday totaled slightly less than 2.44 trillion pesos (TN-6), that is, 2.6 percent higher in real terms than the same period last year and 0.8 percent more than what was projected in the Federal Revenue Law for 2021.
I am obliged to report, out of ethics and honesty, that in the last two presidential administrations, large taxpayers benefited from remissions and condonations to the tune of more than 366.17 billion pesos (TN-7) and that 58 of them alone failed to pay almost 189.19 billion pesos (TN-8).
Now, by contrast, the offensive privilege of condoning taxes no longer exists; we are collecting overdue debts and tax fraud is not tolerated. This is possible when we act with integrity and honesty. When you have moral authority and political authority. The best demonstration of the advantages of this strategy can be clearly seen in the comparison of costs, quality, and time between the construction carried out by military engineers for the General Felipe Angeles civilian airport in Santa Lucia and the failed Texcoco airport. The latter project, cancelled by decision of the people, had an estimated cost, without considering other losses, of more than 300 billion pesos (TN-9); in contrast, the General Felipe Ángeles airport will be built with less than 80 billion pesos (TN-10); and even adding the 100 billion pesos (TN-11) resulting from settling contracts held by companies for the Texcoco project, we will obtain a savings of around 120 billion pesos (TN-12).
In addition, the new airport terminal will be inaugurated before the one planned in Texcoco. The General Felipe Angeles airport will begin operating on March 21 of next year, while the Texcoco airport was scheduled to begin functioning in 2025, provided that the budget was not exceeded and the estimated construction time was met. In short, it can be shown that not allowing corruption and impunity helps to free-up funds for the country’s well-being and development.
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At the same time that we began to fight corruption, a policy of republican austerity was put into practice. In two years and nine months we have saved 1.40 trillion pesos (TN-13) in purchases and contracts, minimizing fuel theft – the so-called huachicol – and drastically reducing tax fraud and other harmful malpractices that proliferated in the Public Treasury under the old regime. Austerity, the cancellation of trusts, onerous contracts, and funds that were managed discretionally and dishonestly and for the benefit of the few, have also allowed us to free up more budgetary resources for the benefit of the people.
With this formula of fighting corruption and governing without luxuries or frivolities, we have been able to fulfill our commitments not to put the country in debt, not to increase taxes, and not to raise fuel prices. And, most importantly, this new economic policy, based on morality, has allowed us to finance social programs for the well-being of our people, especially the poorest and most marginalized.
The universal subsidy for the elderly, support for children with disabilities, scholarships for students from poor families, and free medical care and medicines are already a reality. These are, programs that, by the way, have already been enshrined in the Constitution and are established as rights that must be obligatorily respected by whoever is in government.
In addition to these measures, from the beginning we undertook to support agriculture. Economic resources are being provided directly to growers and fishermen; guaranteed prices were reestablished; fruit and timber trees are being planted on one million hectares; fertilizers are being delivered to all growers in the state of Guerrero, a total of 340,460 people, as well as to an additional 62,536 persons in Puebla, Tlaxcala and Morelos; 1.8 million young people have worked as apprentices with a minimum wage, as part of the Youth Building the Future Program; we have not stopped paying doctors, nurses, soldiers, marines, and other public servants. The misnamed educational reform was cancelled and 56,000 school committees formed by teachers, students, and parents now directly receive the budgetary resources for school upkeep.
There has been no shortage of textbooks for elementary and high school education and we are working to improve their contents; 140 public universities have been completed or are under construction. We have increased postgraduate and research scholarships by 9,370 to a total of 125,816 and we have recently doubled the number of doctors who will receive a scholarship to study a specialty inside the country or abroad. Some 85,988 communities are now connected to the Internet and next year the number will rise to 122,000, while in 2023 the network will cover the country’s entire territory. The Banco de Bienestar (T-14) continues to expand, with 1,064 branch offices having been built so far with 368 more in the works and in the next two years the bank will have coverage even in the most remote regions of the country, with 2,700 new branches. In the field of cultural promotion, we have published 79 titles by renowned authors, with 4,380,000 free or affordable copies; this includes the “21 for the 21st”collection on the occasion of the commemorations of Independent Mexico. The cultural and ecological parks of the Chapultepec Forest and Lake Texcoco are under construction.
In these two years and nine months in office, we have made major decisions and we feel that we have worked intensively and for the good of the people. For example, of the 100 commitments that I made in the Zócalo on December 1, 2018 when I took office, we have fulfilled the vast majority, 98 of 100 commitments. We only have two pending commitments, decentralizing the federal government and uncovering the full truth about the disappearance of the young people of Ayotzinapa (TN-15), and we are working on these. But we have also done many other things that were not included in that list of commitments. For example, we finished the Guadalajara Suburban Train and we are continuing with the train from Toluca to Mexico City; we rehabilitated the airports of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chetumal and the capital’s airport. We have invested 34 billion pesos (TN-16) in the maintenance of 40,000 kilometers of highways nationwide. Since January of this year, the same fiscal stimulus policy that we began in 2019 on the northern border has been applied on the southern border; Chetumal has once again become a free zone. The Conagua (TN-17), Capufe (TN-18), the National Immigration Institute, the SAT (TN-19) and customs are being cleaned of corruption. The National Guard was created, 189 barracks have been built and there are already 100,000 NG members to protect the people.
Islas Marías ceased to be a prison and became the Muros de Agua-José Revueltas Environmental and Cultural Education Center. We have not granted any mining concessions. The National Program for the Search and Location of Persons Disappeared due to violence was implemented. All teachers fired due to the imposition of the misnamed educational reform were reinstated, and reparations are being made to people or their family members affected by neoliberal corruption or State violence, such as the cases of the ABC Day Care Center in Hermosillo, Sonora (T-20) and Pasta de Conchos (T-21), in Coahuila; The program to protect journalists has continued; the Institute to Return Stolen Assets to the People was created; the delivery of confiscated merchandise for the benefit of poor communities has begun. Aid is being provided to those affected by floods and other natural disasters both in Mexico and abroad. As of yesterday we had given 685 press conferences from 7 to 9 in the morning from Monday to Friday. As president I have visited all the states of the country; some four times and others up to 28 times.
The new trade agreement with the United States and Canada has entered into effect. The new labor law was approved to guarantee direct voting and the democratization of the trade unions; profit sharing was increased, outsourcing was ended, and the cost of managing the Afores (TN-22) was reduced. Some 400,000 teachers have had their employment situations regularized. Federal government subsidies and budget resources that by law correspond to states and municipalities have been delivered on time. The independence of the legislative and judicial branches of government and of the Federal Attorney General’s Office is a reality; crimes are not fabricated, nor are opponents persecuted or spied on; political repression has ceased to exist and government pressure on the media to influence their editorial line is a thing of the past. There are no shortages of food, raw materials or fuel. The financial system functions normally; there have only been 20 strikes; protest demonstrations have been reduced to a minimum. Infonavit and Fovissste (TN-23) credits are delivered directly to workers and there are no evictions due to unjust causes or debts contracted with these institutions. We offered political asylum to former President Evo Morales and his colleagues; we have no conflicts with any government in the world; the human rights of migrants have not been violated.
The exceptional case that occurred a few days ago, in which two immigration officials kicked a Haitian national, was dealt with that same day and they were dismissed and placed at the disposal of the corresponding internal control body. International organizations were allowed entry to monitor compliance with human rights in our country.
In these 34 months there has only been one major blackout and there has not been no crisis due to water shortages. The problem of the gasoline shortage resulting from the fight against fuel theft was solved and 612 tanker trucks were acquired and operated by the Ministry of National Defense. There is permanent information on who is who in prices; two information campaigns are underway to prevent consumption of junk food and drug use. The Emisor Oriente tunnel was inaugurated to prevent flooding in the Valley of Mexico. Our country was elected, almost unanimously, to the UN Security Council and this coming November we will assume the presidency of that body. Along the same lines, the resolution that we presented in the UN to guarantee equity in the international sale and distribution of medicines and vaccines was approved. An educational system via the Internet, radio, and television was established. Some 1,530 artistic and archaeological exhibits were mounted in Mexico and abroad.
The civic ceremonies of the Grito (TN-24) and the Independence Day parade have been held annually, as well as the commemoration of the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Some 925 high-performance athletes and coaches have received direct support for their professional training involving an overall amount of 500 million pesos (TN-25). At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Mexican athletes competed with professionalism and dignity, winning four bronze medals. Those who participate in the Paralympic Games are a source of national pride, and so far they have won 5 gold medals, 1 silver and 8 bronze medals. This month, when they return, they will all, including their coaches, receive financial awards.
As an alternative and complementary indicator to the Gross Domestic Product, the Social Welfare Index is being developed. The Healthy Water Project for La Laguna de Coahuila and Durango is being carried out. The Federal Protection Service aimed at providing security for federal government ministries and agencies has been consolidated. Construction of the new airport in Tulum, Quintana Roo, has begun.
Schools are being created to train athletes and physical education teachers. New food labelling is being applied to avoid the consumption of junk food. A new subject, “Healthy Living”, has been incorporated into the public education curriculum. A commission has been set up to promote the Plan for Justice for the Yaqui People of Sonora, among other actions.
But what is most important is that the foundations for the transformation have been laid. After only two years and nine months of occupying the Presidency, I can affirm that we have already achieved that objective; I repeat, to lay the foundations for the transformation of Mexico. Today, the Constitution is respected, there is legality and democracy; freedoms and the right to dissent are guaranteed; there is full transparency and the right to information, no one is censored; human rights are not violated, the government does not repress the people and the federal government does not organize electoral frauds. Government no longer represents, as used to be the case, a minority but rather all Mexicans of all classes, cultures and creeds. Officials govern with austerity and moral authority; corruption is not tolerated and impunity is not allowed; in practice, there are no privileges or immunity. Nature is protected; gender equality is promoted; discrimination, racism and classism are repudiated; moral, cultural and spiritual values are strengthened; and Mexico’s cultural and historical heritage is protected and promoted.
It is a mark of pride that, despite the health and economic crises caused by the pandemic, and with all the suffering it caused, we have not stopped working to bring about the Fourth Transformation of Mexico’s public life. It is clear that if we are moving forward and resisting, it is because we have decided to confront, first and foremost, the plague of corruption that has inflicted so much damage on Mexico and its people.
The people have always known this, but it is only now that it is better understood and has become a reality, because the money that used to be stolen now reaches those at the bottom, the forgotten, the marginalized of our country. I can affirm, in this regard, that 70 percent of Mexican households are enrolled in at least one social welfare program or benefit in some way from the national budget and that the rest, the 30 percent of Mexicans with better economic and working conditions, have also not been left unprotected. They obtain conditions to continue progressing and living in peace, without fear or trepidation, and can experience the gratification that any individual with good sentiments can feel when putting the fundamental principle of love thy neighbor and service to one’s fellow men and women into practice.
In this 2021 we are commemorating the 700th anniversary of the founding of our capital city. We also remember the fall of Tenochtitlan, 500 years ago, in the Spanish invasion, as well as the 200th anniversary of our Independence, achieved on September 27, 1821. For us, history, as Cicero would say, is the teacher of life. The cultures inherited from our great civilizations have always been our salvation in the face of aggressions, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, epidemics, bad governments, looting and pilfering, and other misfortunes. That is why we must not forget our past: its teachings are the basis for building a better future.
Friends:
All that has been achieved by the government that I lead is the result of the work of many efficient, honest, and committed public servants aimed at resolving the demands of our people.
I am grateful for the support of the members of the cabinet, loyal and supportive women and men. But, above all, my gratitude to the people for their support and trust. To me it is very clear that we must attend to everyone with respect, without failing to help anyone, but preference must continue to be given to the poorest and neediest. That is, we must continue to apply the criterion that, for the good of all, the poor must come first.
As I wrote in the introduction to my new book entitled, precisely, Halfway There, what has been achieved in this period is so important that I could even leave the Presidency right now without pangs of conscience, which is what I consider most important in my life.
I reiterate, much has been accomplished and it would be very difficult to reverse decisions or actions that have been taken for the good of the people and the nation. How could the conservatives, for example, take away pensions for the elderly, how could scholarships for poor students be eliminated; how could they return to luxury, to extravagance in running the government: How could they return to tax remissions for large economic or financial corporations; how could they return to the predatory privatization of public assets; how could they allow corruption to reign again. In short, a reversal would not be easy.
We are doing well and I am sure that the people will vote at the end of March of next year to continue my constitutional term in office until the end of September 2024. Of course, this is not the only thing I need in order to conclude my mission. The verdict of nature, science. and the Creator is yet to be pronounced, but if I am lucky and I finish my term in office, I believe we will complete the work of transformation and we will not leave any issues pending. When I hand over the presidential sash, I will only say to all and sundry, “Mission accomplished! I am going to Palenque (TN-26), I leave my heart to you.
National Palace, September 1, 2021
TRANSLATORS NOTES:
TN-1: 33.58 billion pesos = US$1.67 billion
TN-2: Pidiregas – Investment scheme in which private businessmen provide capital for public work projects and the government subsequently pays them back with interest. Projects are paid with the revenues generated during their operation and the State assumes the risk.
TN-3: Isthmus de Tehuantepec – in the southern state of Oaxaca
TN-4: Gas Bienestar – a new government program in which natural LP gas for household use will be sold near cost, undercutting company profit gouging and benefitting households.
TN-5: 280 billion pesos = US$14 billion
TN-6: 2.44 trillion pesos = US$122 billion
TN-7: 366.174 billion pesos = US$1.68 billion
TN-8: 189.189 billion pesos = US$9.45 billion
TN- 9: 300 billion pesos = US$15 billion
TN-10: 80 billion pesos = US$4 billion
TN-11: 100 billion pesos = US$5 billion
TN-12: 120 billion pesos = US$6 billion
TN-13: 1.40 trillion pesos = US$70 billion
TN-14: Banco de Bienestar in a new government bank in which funds from social welfare programs will be disbursed directly to recipients. It will promote and facilitate savings and low-cost financing, with a gender focus and a priority placed on indigenous communities. Branches are being established on a priority basis in areas where traditional banking is weak or non-existent.
TN-15: Ayotzinapan. A rural teachers’ college in the southern state of Guerrero where 43 students were forcibly disappeared in 2014. Previous presidential administrations had dragged their feet and/or falsified the narrative of what occurred in what became a major human rights issue. From the beginning the new government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been attentive to the issue and in recent days announced the establishment of a Truth Commission to investigate this and other human rights violations.
TN-16: 34 billion pesos = US$1.7 billion
TN-17: Conagua, National Water Commission
TN-18: Capufe, Federal Roads and Bridges Department
TN-19: SAT, Tax Administration Service, the federal government tax agency
TN-20: ABC Day Care Center. A tragic fire occurred in May 2009 at ABC Day Care Center in Hermosillo, Sonora that claimed the lives of 47 children. Authorities came under attack for failing to provide proper documentation and oversight.
TN-21: Paste de Conchos, a mine disaster that occurred in February 2006 where a gas explosion resulted in the death of 65 miners, whose bodies still have not been recovered. Grupo de México, the mine owners, have been accused of negligence.
TN-22: Afores, pension fund managers
TN-23: Infonavit and FOVISSSTE are government-run housing programs financed through worker-employer fees.
TN-24: El Grito, or the Cry of Independence, was the call issued on September 16, 1810 by Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo urging the Mexican people to take up arms in the fight for independence.
TN-25: 500 million pesos = US$25 million
TN-26: Palenque – refers to a farming estate owned by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Palenque, Chiapas, where he will live after he retires.
Translation by Pedro Gellert
Mexico City
September 1, 2021
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