First honors to the flag at Urban School 699, Ignacio Zaragoza.
Alma Serrano (San Juan Cosalá).- For the first time since the two years of suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, last April 25 the honors to the flag were resumed in the schools of San Juan Cosalá.
The first honors of the year were held at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, April 25 in the courtyard of the Ignacio Zaragoza Elementary School. The honors to the flag were also held at the entrance time at the Encarnación Rosas and the Urbana 1107 Gabriela Mistral.
Luis Morales, teacher at Escuela Urbana 699 Ignacio Zaragoza explained that the civic act was resumed after both the Governor of Jalisco, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, and the Secretary of Education, Juan Carlos Flores Miramontes, authorized it.
Translated by Sydney Metrick
Symbolic closure of the reported dredging in Alceseca beach area last May 2021. The photo shows the traces of the work recently done by the machinery. Photo: Archive.
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic).- The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) dismissed the complaint filed by activists from Ajijic, for the dredging of the federal territory of Lake Chapala on Alceseca beach.
The complaint was filed in June of last year, pointing out the dredging and extraction of sand for the construction of a floating dock.
At least four lawyers from Ajijic worked on the case for approximately ten months. The FGR and the National Water Commission (CONAGUA) dismissed the case since they found no evidence at the scene 6 months later despite evidence presented by the Ajijitecos.
«The complaint was filed at the regional FGR headquarters in Ocotlán. When the Investigative Police arrived to investigate in August, they told us that we had to go to CONAGUA to file a complaint,” said one of the citizens. CONAGUA is the governmental authority of Lake Chapala.
When a letter sent to CONAGUA was never answered, an injunction (amparo) was initiated. In December it was determined that the CONAGUA was obliged to carry out its investigations and to continue with the case,» said one of the lawyers.
The citizen interviewed by Laguna said that when CONAGUA conducted a tour of the area months after the incident, it claimed that nothing of what was accused was found. The Prosecutor’s Office decided that there was no crime to prosecute, ignoring the record of facts that a notary made the day the dredging was stopped and the multiple photographs, videos, and witnesses that documented the incident.
«This legal process was tiring in time and form. When CONAGUA representatives met with the protesters they encouraged the citizens to make the denunciation through legal channels. This encouragement was a contradiction of CONAGUA’s actions in this process,” said the citizen.
“The demand that activists utilize other legal channels indicates that the authorities do not care about environmental issues, and if federal institutions are not interested, municipal or state institutions are even less interested. The result is that the authorities refuse to intervene,» said one of the lawyers at the scene.
The dredging was documented on May 20, 2021, through social networks with videos that captured how several dump trucks were removing truckloads of sand.
The formal complaint to the FGR was filed in June 2021. In January of this year, it was announced that the amparo had been resolved, asking CONAGUA to collaborate to clarify the unlawful accusation. Recently, the case was dismissed because «there was nothing on the beach» where the dredging took place.
Translated by Nita Rudy
The DIF building, located on Degollado Street in Chapala. (Photo: Jazmín Stengel)
Jazmín Stengel (Chapala).- The Office for the Protection of Children and Adolescents (DIF) Chapala has custody of 39 minors, but none can be adopted until DIF obtains processes of parental authority–a relative’s legal permission, a necessary requirement for adoption.
DIF initiated nine processes of parental authority last year. According to DIF, five of the 43 children in their 12 Chapala shelters have been handed over to close relatives.
In Mexico, if these processes are not initiated by the custodial authorities, either through ignorance or unwillingness, the children are at risk of remaining in shelters without the possibility of access to a family, said Paloma Ventura Valenzuela, head of the children’s ombudsman at the municipal level.
For the minors who have not undergone the process granting parental rights to access adoption, the procedures are more complicated, because in most cases the child’s relatives are untraceable or their sociolegal situation does not allow them to give up the parental rights of the child, which complicates the process for the authorities to acquire it legally, said Ventura Valenzuela.
Consequently, the children’s files remain open for years in the Public Ministry with the investigation incomplete. Additionally, many governmental administrations overlook the children’s situation, failing also to provide the social-work services to support the investigations. Some have not received reports in more than 12 years, said Emmanuel Anthony Frutos, operating director of the children’s shelter Love in Action of Chapala.
Translated by Mags Petela
The smoke reached several neighboring homes.
On Saturday, April 23rd, a property in the town of La Loma was set on fire and generated a large column of smoke that reached several houses, leaving them full of ash. The fire and smoke alerted the neighbors who alerted Civil Protection and Firefighters, who arrived at the site to control the situation.
Translated b y Patrick O’Heffernan
The violent event was recorded during the early evening of April 25. Photo: Twitter.
Editor.- A man and a woman were fatally wounded while drinking in a bar on the Guadalajara-Morelia highway, in the municipality of Tuxcueca, on April 25.
Municipal police responded to the scene in San Luis Soyatlán after gunfire was reported at approximately 6.20 p.m.
Inside the bar, agents found the deceased male victim with gunshot wounds to the head and chest. The injured woman was taken to receive medical attention but died upon arrival at the aid station.
The bodies were transferred to the region’s amphitheater for the autopsy required by law. The victims were not immediately identified.
Various shell casings were found at the scene of the shooting. Evidence was secured with the support of experts from the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences.
Translated by Alan Ferguson
Employees of Civil Protection and Firefighters of Ixtlahuacán and Chapala required Red Cross support.
The body of a man who was trapped in a well in the Las Aguilillas delegation in the municipality of Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos was recovered on April 19 by Civil Protection officers and firefighters of that municipality and Chapala.
The 64-year-old man, identified as Antonio, was extracted from a 19-meter deep well (about 62 feet) after the Ixtlahuacan Fire Department requested the support of the Chapala unit.
Using a rope system, the two squads were able to recover the body that was floating six meters from the mouth of the well, into which the victim had fallen while drinking alcoholic beverages on Saturday, April 16.
During the rescue work, the Civil Protection officers and firefighters were supported by the Chapala Red Cross. The deceased was secured by the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences for autopsy.
Translated by Mike Rogers
A Tyrannosaurus Rex escaped from its habitat at the CUOP Jurassic Park to live with the children of kindergarten, preschool and elementary school in an interactive show. Photo: D. Arturo Ortega.
The students of the Octavio Paz University Campus (CUOP) a Jurassic experience during the celebration of Children’s Day at the school’s Ajijic facilities, which this year was celebrated with dinosaurs.
The experience began with a safari-like tour, through a Jurassic park-like environment guarded by paper-mâché sauropods that surprised the parents as they dropped off their children at school.
During the rest of the day the students learned different play activities in each classroom where they were able to make a fossil, the workshop where the children assembled their safari vehicle, feeding the dinosaur, among other activities.
The day concluded when a Velociraptor and a Tyrannosaurus Rex escaped from their habitats at the CUOP Jurassic Park to spend time with the kindergarten, preschool and elementary school children in an interactive show with fun games for the little ones.
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
AMLO announced vaccination for minors, from 12 to 17 years old in general, as the last stage of the fight against the pandemic. Photo: Internet.
By Abigail A. Correa Cisneros
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced the last stage in the fight against the pandemic, which is the vaccination of children between 12 and 17 years of age, indicating that Covid-19 may be under control in Mexico.
Mexico has met the four criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO):high response capacity, high vaccination coverage, few deaths related to the disease and a low number of cases.
The spread of the virus is decreasing after two years of reducing the number of public activities requiring close contact. The President said everything related to Covid-19 will continue to be addressed. The main focus in health policy will be creation of the new health care system, «With the purpose of guaranteeing the people of Mexico the right to health.”
Medical units, health centers and hospitals must be in good condition. They should have the necessary equipment, all the doctors and specialists. Care should be available on weekends, at night, permanent attention. Clinical analyses and medicines should be provided free of charge. Free medical attention should be guaranteed, not only what has to do with basic medicines, the so-called basic list, but all the medicines, studies and everything that has to do with health free of charge.
The data, so far, show that Mexico ranks 28th out of 30 countries in mortality per million inhabitants, due to SARS-coV-2.
Above Mexico in the rankings are countries such as Peru and Brazil. Chile, in 16th place, and the United States, in 17th place for their levels of mortality related to the disease. Below Mexico, Russia and Ukraine were in 29th and 30th places.
The Undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo Lopez-Gatel, said that the world is about to enter the endemic stage of the disease. The virus will not disappear, but thanks to different factors, such as vaccination, its spread will be less and the disease will remain and will surely behave like seasonal influenza. There will likely be a greater number of infections in autumn and winter and fewer in spring and summer. The WHO, he affirmed, has established criteria that allow pointing out that the nations are at the end of the epidemic state of Covid-19.
He added that our country meets those criteria: hospital occupancy is less than two percent, vaccination coverage is 90 percent among the adult population and 87 percent among all those eligible to receive it. On average there are four deaths per day and less than 300 cases per day.
FROM THE CENTER
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Special Delegation of Palestine in Mexico signed a Declaration of Intent on agricultural matters, aimed at carrying out joint technical cooperation activities for food production in arid areas, expanding agri-food trade and promoting investment in productive projects. The document aims to promote actions for the transfer of climate-smart technology and sustainable soil and water management, in order to promote food security and the incorporation of small-scale producers in these areas of the country.
The National Electoral Institute intends to levy a fine of 448,100 pesos on Samuel García, Governor of Nuevo León, for irregularities in the financing of his campaign, including contributions from his relatives. The electoral body accuses fraud, since the politician allowed a triangulation of resources with the intention of evading the electoral legislation on auditing, since legal entities, by themselves or by third parties, cannot make contributions of any kind to candidates and their political parties.
Translated by Mike Rogers
Boys and girls playing their instruments. Credit: Courtesy.
Alma Serrano (San Juan Cosalá).- The photography group known as «Social Art,» commemorated Children’s Day with a photo session on the boardwalk of San Juan Cosalá. About 20 children participated, members of Colores Que Dan Vida, and the School of Music, were photographed on April 19th.
Josué Mondragón Rentería, a representative of the group of ten photographers, says that this initiative arose with the purpose of celebrating the children of the delegation in a dynamic and fun way. It was important to show the dedication and contribution of the children to the cultural development of their community, He added, «time spent in the arts and culture can change and improve the quality of life of children.»
The children were photographed playing music, and being creative in what they love to do. More than a commemoration, they were free to play and experiment on the theme of “the meaning of art.”
Humberto Guillermo Ibarra, 57-year-old artist, posing next to one of the seven works called, “The Encounter Between Two Races.» Credit: Héctor Ruiz.
Héctor Ruiz Mejía (Jocotepec).- Rehabilitation of «The History of Jocotepec,” a group of murals located in the atrium of the Temple of Señor del Huaje began a little more than three weeks ago. The goal is to restore the seven large paintings that adorn the wall bordering the temple’s terrace.
As part of the project, a new mural will be painted. Humberto Guillermo Ibarra, creator of the existing ones, says that the series will conclude with a mural titled «Golden Brooch.» The series of murals portray the history of the municipality, from its foundation, the appearance of Señor del Monte during the cholera epidemic, and the encounter between two races.
This last painting, explained the artist, will be called «A Sunday Afternoon in the Plaza of Jocotepec.» It will show how the kiosk looked before, as well as the coexistence at the time of the foundation of the main square, from the middle of the last century.
For the execution, Ibarra explained that the people portrayed in the mural will be «real» people, from the town itself. At least ten, he commented, will be from City Hall.
With respect to the rehabilitation of the seven existing murals, Guillermo said that the work required is not major. The colors need a bit of restoring, as well as the adaptation of small items, plants, chairs, or other small objects.
Finally, the artist who has more than 25 years of experience, says he’s satisfied with his work. The work was recently named an official “Cultural Heritage of Jocotepec.” For years it has remained intact, «it has passed the test of time,» he said. He explained that his style has always been influenced by well-known Mexican muralists such as José Clemente Orozco, and Diego Rivera.
Translated by Amy Esperanto
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