The Ministry of Health (SSa) reported that in the coming days the nation’s servers will making phone calls to adults over 60 years of age to consult with them if they are willing to receive the coronavirus vaccine (COVID-19), through this, plan vaccination campaigns.
Through social networks, the Ministry of Health stressed that the vaccination against COVID-19 continues and called on the elderly population to be aware of the phone call that is going to be made, with which it will be found out if the elderly interviewees are in a position to go to one of the vaccination points.
Therefore, the SSa reminded older adults that the staff who contact them will ask the following:
*If you are willing to get the vaccine
*If you can go to a vaccination point
*The role of the National Servant:
-They must give their name at the beginning of the phone call.
-The Nation’s Servants are not to be asking for money or banking information.
When will the vaccine be given for senior citizens?
According to the National Vaccination Plan, during the month of February they will begin to vaccinate seniors against COVID-19.
Faced with this issue, the head of the Institute of Health for Well-being (Insabi), Juan Antonio Ferrer, detailed this Wednesday, at a press conference, that, according to the Institute registry, Mexico has around 15 million senior citizens .
“We know the names of all our elderly in the country, there are around 15 million, the Welfare Secretariat is calling all of them by phone and asking them to tell their name, confirm their age, their address and let us know if they want us to give them the vaccine or not ”.
Head of the Institute of Health for Well-being (Insabi), Juan Antonio Ferrer, the official explained that they will also be asked if they can go to the vaccination center to apply the dose, or if they need the brigade to come to their home.»
** ALL VACCINES ARE FREE.
Source:
https://www.unotv.com/…/vacuna-covid-19-si-eres-adulto…/
For More Information:
Photo: Courtesy.
Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. Effective January 26, all airline passengers – either citizens or foreign nationals – must provide a negative COVID-19 viral test taken within three calendar days of boarding a flight to the US. Travelers may also provide documentation from a licensed health care provider documenting recovery from COVID-19 in the 90 days preceding travel if they have been previously infected.
This requirement does not currently apply to travelers entering the United States by land or sea or to children under two years of age. No quarantine is mandated after entry into the US but the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends a 7-day quarantine or stay at home period for travelers arriving by air even if they have tested negative for Covid.
The non-mandatory quarantine recommendation is a result of the Executive Order signed by President Biden last week that tasked U.S. federal agencies to “…identify agencies’ tools and mechanisms to assist travelers in complying with such policy” within two weeks. However, CDC spokeswoman Caitlin Shockey told the Washington Post that current rules are not “a mandatory quarantine” requirement, but rather “just a recommendation.”
In response, several hotel chains and airlines, including Volaris and AeroMexico, are offering Covid tests at reduced prices to visitors returning to the United States from tourist destinations. Aero Mexico has agreements with Lapi Laboratorio Medico and Laboratorio Medico del Chopo to provide discounts for travelers with a valid reservation with Aero Mexico or partner Delta Air Lines.
Despite the availability of discounted testing and the lack of mandatory quarantine regulations in the US, many passengers have cancelled reservations for return travel to the US, causing flights from Mexico City and tourist destinations to take off with few passengers or be cancelled altogether.
Persons who wish to return to the US from Lakeside via Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Guadalajara International Airport should obtain a test at one of the local laboratories three days before travel and bring it to the airport. Passengers with reservations on Delta or AeroMexico should check the airline’s website (https://www.aeromexico.com/en-us/actions-covid19/laboratory-alliances) for laboratories offering discounted tests.
Biden signs executive order stopping border wall construction. VOA photo
Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. The United States has a new President. So what will this mean for Mexico, and how much can we trust the Biden Administration to do what the Biden campaign promised?
By the end of Inauguration Day, President Biden signed 6 Executive Orders impacting Mexico and US-Mexican relations. Four of the Orders began changes in Trump immigration policies that have vexed Mexican society and the economy, imposed hardships on Tijuana, and been a topic of constant irritation to the Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) Administration.
Biden signed an Order that strengthened the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)program that protects immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation and provides a path to citizenship for them, ending the potential for 800,000 people being deported to Mexico, many who have no connection to the country.
Another Order revokes Trump’s plan to exclude noncitizens from the census count, which will ultimately give Latinos more clout in US elections presumably resulting in more Mexico-friendly policies. Given that the Democrats lost ground with Latino voters in the 2020 election, there are no guarantees.
Biden also ended Trump’s attempt to find and deport unauthorized immigrants anywhere in the country, and he ordered an immediate stop to all border wall construction, both sore points between the US and Mexico. However, while Biden also ordered a release of the Latino children held in cages and an acceleration of family reunification, he did not rescind the rule that forces 30,000 asylum seekers to remain in Mexico – mostly in Tijuana – another sore point that will continue to fester.
The fifth and sixth Orders brought the US back into the Paris Climate Accord and cancelled the XL Pipeline, mandating a complete Federal review of regulations as part of Biden’s push for a carbon-reduced economy. AMLO has actively sought to close down solar and other non-carbon energy sources, so this too will lead to friction.
Another flashpoint will be the labor requirements of the USMCA –also called T-MEC – which the Mexican government has been very slow to enforce. Biden campaign spokespeople said the new Administration will insist on compliance. Give that US annual trade represents 76% of Mexican exports, plus an estimated $5 billion in remittances, , this will be delicate and controversial in the precarious Mexican economy.
The signals are mixed. After weeks of delay, AMLO sent President Biden a congratulatory letter, but it was late and contained a warning to stay out of Mexico’s internal affairs — not a great start. But José Medina Mora Icaza, head of the powerful Employers’ Confederation of the Mexican Republic (Coparmex) announced that he saw the new US administration as an opportunity to strengthen the High Level Economic Dialogue (DEAN) which had fallen into disuse under Trump, and a way to build up trade under T-Mec.
So what now? At the top of the agenda is immigration, both because of huge pressure from domestic US organizations like Voto Latino , and pressure from the AMLO government to relieve the refugee camps along the northern border and better handle the caravans now moving to the southern Mexican border.
It will be very tough. GOP “immigration hawks” in Congress will oppose any legislation to ease immigration restrictions and close Mexican refugee camps. The immigration prison industry collects over $4 billionUS a year from the government – some of which is recycled into campaigns of the “immigration hawks” to block reform and keep the prisons filled, reinforcing and underwriting opposition.
All of this means President Biden will have to be tough and determined as well as smart to solve the immigration puzzles, overcome the GOP and prison lobbyists, and navigate a new trade and political relationship with AMLO — while he stops Covid, repairs the economy, fights global warming, and outmaneuvers the obstructionist GOP minority in the Senate.
Will he stay the course?
In 2014 then Vice President Biden gave the keynote address at the Netroots Nation Progressive Convention in Detroit. During his speech he was heckled by Latino activists opposed to Obama’s deportation policies. He handled them with courtesy and respect. As Chairman of Netroots Nation, I met the Vice President afterward and complimented him on his deft handling of the hecklers. He thanked me and then looked me in the eye with steely determination as he shook my hand and said they were right – we have to do better on immigration.
He has already begun. I think he will find a way to make Mexico – and Mexicans – great partners.
PEGGY CHILTON ALBUM COVER.
Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. Lakeside resident and former film and television and singing celebrity Peggy Lord Chilton will be the star of the Lakeside Little Theater’s Legacy video series this month. Chilton has a long career including acting in 17 films – several shot in Mexico, numerous television shows, a popular folk singer opening for Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio, and a tour of Playboy Clubs across the nation as a singing comedian. She moved to Lakeside in 2009 and has directed or appeared in numerous LLT productions, including Pajama Game and Nunsense, and plans to stay involved as a director or actress.
In a pre-interview conversation, Chilton – once known as “the Lusty, Trusty, Buster” – described parties at the Playboy Mansion, meeting Phyllis Diller for gossip in an alley between nightclubs, how her pet ocelot protected her, and being told early in her career by one club owner he hoped she was better that the previous singer, someone named Barbara Streisand.
Produced by JeanMarie Harmon, and filmed and edited by Jim Jack, the Lakeside Little Theater Legacy Project is a YouTube video series featuring some of the legacy talent in Lakeside to give a quick peek at their lives before and during their time at LLT. Currently, the series is featuring Broadway dancer, actress and choreographer Barbara Clippinger at www.lakesidelittletheatre.com/
El recurso que dejan los extranjeros es importante para Ajijic.
Arturo Ortega (Chapala, Jal).- Para el director de Enlace con la Comunidad extranjera de Chapala, Héctor España Ramos, existe un decrecimiento de un 30 por ciento tanto en la afluencia de extranjeros residentes como de visitantes debido a la pandemia por coronavirus en el municipio.
España Ramos, explicó que a pesar de que la temporada navideña es considerada como alta, el decrecimiento se ha acentuado más en este año debido a que la mayoría de los extranjeros son mayores de edad y los nacionalizados prefieren no salir de sus casas y acatar las normas sanitarias recomendadas para no contagiarse.
Por otra parte, quienes no son nacionalizados deben regresar a su país de origen para no perder los derechos de sus seguros, y en el caso de los visitantes hay quienes no vienen o no pueden venir por recomendación de los consulados y las medidas restrictivas en aeropuertos.
El titular de Enlace con la Comunidad Extranjera -quien también es dueño de un restaurante en la delegación de Ajijic-, informó que el decrecimiento de expatriados, principalmente estadounidenses y canadienses; se refleja en la ocupación de restaurantes.
Es por este motivo que el impacto económico se ha resentido más en el sector restaurantero, tanto en la delegación de Ajijic y San Antonio, como en la misma cabecera municipal, donde cohabitan la mayor parte de residentes y visitantes de otros países.
España Ramos justificó su estimación asegurando que ni los Consulados, ni Migración tienen datos exactos, ya que muchos residentes extranjeros en Chapala no se han registrado, mientras que Semanario Laguna acudió a las oficinas del Instituto Nacional de Migración con sede en Guadalajara, sin obtener respuesta que corrobore la información.
Chili Cookoff in 2020.
Patrick O’Heffernan, Ajijic. There will be no Mexican National Chili Cookoff in 2021; if all goes well, one of Lakeside’s – and Mexico’s – largest charity events will return in 2022.
Jacque Bouchard, founder and past president of the event told Laguna that it is not logistically possible to hold the Cook Off this year.
“The government has not said yes we can or no we can’t – they just don’t know either. We need to make plans far ahead; we need to make reservations, recruit volunteers, sign up sponsors – there are a million problems with trying to do it this coming February. It just is not possible,” Bouchard said, adding that even if the government were to declare a green light for the event, they could not do it in the short amount of time left, and most likely could not do it later in the year.
“Of course, if there is a green light, Tobolandia will be open and we cannot produce the Cookoff during their season. But most important is that many of our key people are not here and they will not be coming back to the area this winter, so we would have to recruit new people and train them,” he said, adding that many of their volunteers are from the charities they support, but even these might be in short supply because the Canadians can’t drive to Mexico and Americans are afraid to come.
The upshot is that the event has been cancelled for 2021 and it is not likely that an alternative event can be assembled online.
Bouchard, who stepped aside so that Doug Friend could take over as President this year but remains an advisor, told Laguna that, “there are no plans at the moment for online events, but we know the charities we support are feeling the pinch, especially groups like Niños Incapacitados and Cruz Roja. They are trying to come up with new ideas, but some attempts at online fundraising events have not worked.”
The Chili Cookoff Board is planning to get back in the business of supporting organizations like Cruz Roja and Ninños Incapacitados with a bigger, better event in February 2022. Bouchard points out that, providing Covid-19 is tamed, there should be some pent-up demand because the Cookoff is most popular with newbies and snowbirds, who will flock back to Lakeside.
“The newbies and snowbirds love the Cookoff – they love the pageantry and the opportunity to meet new people and hear music; they are not here now but they will be back in 2022 and be very enthusiastic,” he said, “and we know most of our sponsors and participants will be back – the Mexican people are very resilient and they will find a way to support us and get involved.”
Patrick O’Heffernan.
The United States is currently home to more than 7,000 non-daily newspapers with more than 150 million readers. There are no similar statistics of weekly local newspapers in Mexico, but Wikipedia lists 55 regional newspapers, 24 of which publish weekly. The actual total is probably much higher because the Wiki list does not include the many hyperlocal weeklies that exist in almost every town and pueblo in the country. But regardless of the correct number, Mexico is blessed with a robust infrastructure of local papers.
Here in Lakeside, the majority Spanish-speaking population relies on the Semanario Laguna and its website, Twitter feed and Instagram sites for breaking news, plus its innovative Ventas Publicidad Laguna WhatsApp site for local business news. For English-speakers, there is the English-language section of Semanario Laguna, plus hyperlocal online news websites in English, Facebook groups, and the Lakeside edition of the English-language Guadalajara Reporter.
Some people dismiss the hyperlocal news organizations and outlets. They prefer to get their news from Facebook, TV, regional weeklies, national or state dailies, or “big news” websites like NewYorkTimes.com, LATimes.com, Guardian.com, etc. But local weeklies are the muscle and sinew of journalism in any country for two big reasons.
First, local papers provide you with information about what is going on in your neighborhood, your town, your school, sometimes your block. Where else are you going to find out who won the local high school soccer game, whether or not the town’s escaramuza charra team is going to the finals, or why the street across from your house is being torn up? Who else is going to interview Miss Ajijic and Miss Chapala and their courts? Who else is going to cover the local citizens’ rally to stop illegal development and then go and photograph the illegal development?
Local news outlets, whether daily or weekly or online, provide the information people want and need for their daily lives. You cannot get everything you need from Facebook, or local editions of metro papers, or national websites. You need news organizations with people on the ground, in your community who know where the bodies are buried (or try to find out), who know the local government, who know the local businesses and nonprofits, and know what you need to know in your community and its relationships to the state and the nation and yes, even the world.
Which brings me to the second reason local news organizations are so important to journalism; they are not only its muscle and sinew, they are its womb.
The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of NYU publishes a long list of journalists who began at a local weekly or small TV station and went on to win Pulitzer Prizes, lead national networks, serve as executive editors of major newspapers, or become best-selling authors.
Consider Christine Amanpour, Chief International Anchor for CNN; she started on a small radio station in Rhode Island. Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer for the New York Times Homer Bigart started as a copy boy at his hometown newspaper. Ben Bradlee, the Executive editor of the Washington Post whose character we all saw in the film The Pentagon Papers, started his career as a cub reporter at the New Hampshire Sunday News, a start-up Sunday paper in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Or consider Lakeside homeowner Teya Ryan who started in a small, hyperlocal public TV station in Los Angeles, where she cut her teeth producing community stories and eventually rose to Executive Vice President and General Manager of CNN, leading the world’s largest news organization.
Even here at Semanario Laguna we are losing one of our reporters to Mexico City where he will get a Masters Degree and work for one of the nation’s largest magazines. A former writer for Laguna is now one of the top sports writers in the country. And we are proud that they started with us — a hyperlocal news organization that runs photos of local school graduating classes and pictures of crocodiles in our lake alongside investigations of government misfires and private takeovers of public property.
We know many, if not most, of you who are reading this right now also get news from Facebook, or the Guadalajara Reporter, or news alerts from national papers in the US and Mexico. Great – you should. I do. A variety of sources gives you a much better understanding of the world. But we thank you for reading the Semanario Laguna because, not only does that mean that you are well-informed locally, but you are part of what keeps independent journalism in Mexico strong.
Patrick O’Heffernan, PhD, is a volunteer cub reporter for Semanario Laguna. He is a former correspondent and magazine editor in Asia, a Professor of Mass Media and International Relations at Georgia Tech, and an Emmy-winning TV producer for the UN. He started his career as a summer intern with the Los Gatos Times -Saratoga Observer, a hyperlocal weekly newspaper in Los Gatos California
The new well is located in the zone known as «La Mojonera».
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic, Jal.) – SIMAPA stepped up it’s drilling for the new water well the agency started on November 10 to supply west Ajijic to end the years-long water cutbacks in the La Mojonera neighborhood of the Rancho del Oro subdivision.
Municipal president Moisés Anaya Aguilar and officials from Ajijic and SIMAPA were on hand to launch the project last week. Juan José Vázquez, head of operations for SIMAPA Chapala, said that it will take three to four months or a little longer to deliver the water, depending on the type of soil and the time needed to install the necessary equipment. The well is moving a ahead in La Mojonera neighborhood
Complete costs for the well and associated facilities were not available at press time since at this stage it is difficult to determine cost, capacity and duration of the project, Juan José Vázquez told the press last week, and more precise information has not yet been made available. He told the press last week that the capacity of Ajijic’s water supply system is concerning because only two of Ajijic’s six wells supply most of the demand in Ajijic. The new well will help relieve the demand.
Municipal president Anaya Aguilar thanked Jorge Gastón González Alcérreca, the engineer who heads the Secretariat of Integral Water Management (SEGIA) for working with the State Water Commission (CEA) to get the drilling project underway and moving ahead.
Anaya Aguilar said he was pleased with yet another achievement of his administration. «We are happy that this vitally important commitment was fulfilled, since the lack of water was one of the problems that most afflicted the people on this side of town. Let’s hope that the process goes smoothly and that the well will soon start working,» said the mayor in his speech at the well’s kick-off.
Ajijic delegate Juan Ramón Flores, said that he hopes that the process of drilling and equipping the well will move as quickly as possible. Also present for last week’s project launch were Councilwoman Cristina Gómez Padilla; the head of COMUDE, Celso Ramón Hernández Díaz; Secretary Ricardo Martínez; and Ramón Ramírez, head of SIMAPA Ajijic.
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
Ajijic seafront.
Sofía Medeles (Ajijic, Jal.) – Large profits for the tourism sector but inflation for the locals and misuse of the grant money by corrupt politicians are among the reactions of Ajijic residents to the application for Ajijic to be designated a Pueblos Mágicos.
Since it was announced that the Chapala Council would nominate Ajijic for the third time as a Magic City, opinions have been flying. Laguna surveyed 24 people and 12 businesses in the Heart of Ajijic, to get a sense of the local feeling about the application.
Most of the people surveyed (20,) are conflicted because they would appreciate the honor for their town but they see many inconveniences. The remaining four respondents simply find it a bad idea.
Miguel, a five-year resident told Laguna that, “this project would boost the economy of Ajijic and the well-being of the residents, but the infrastructure of Ajijic can’t really support an increase in tourism. “Besides,” he added, “the added value it would bring would be unevenly distributed, increasing the wealth imbalance here – the costs are already exaggerated, and they would be even more so.”
Elena, who works in the restaurant industry, said that she would appreciate more tourism, but had similar concerns.
«Well, it would be great if there was more tourism,” she said, “ so that we all could do well, especially the people who work in places that depend on it, but I think that if we were to get the title everything would be more expensive, so maybe we would earn more, but we would pay more.”
Native Ajijiteco Jorge told Laguna, «there would be more work, yes, but there would also be more inflation in prices, in income, and in services. First, the economic infrastructure should be put in order, so that the magical town really benefits Ajijic and not just the tourists and a few people who get rich from our work. I sincerely believe that the Ajijitecos are not prepared for this, because to me, Ajijic is a rural ranch that wants to rush into urbanization».
Meanwhile, the respondents who denied that there would be any benefit echoed Maria who said, «Tourism has become more of a problem than a solution in the last few years, tourists come and don’t respect, they don’t consume, besides leaving a lot of garbage and creating a road chaos without comparison, I don’t see any benefit to those of us who live here.»
However, for the commercial sector of the Heart of Ajijic, galleries and restaurants and handicraft store owners see much benefit in the proposal.
Alejandra from the handicraft store Manos de Ajijic, commented «As for the economic spillover I think it would benefit the businesses and the people who work with tourism. However, Ajijic does not have the space to grow more, causing excess demand in the hotel business. For the real estate business, I think it would be very beneficial, however only for the tourists, but more tourist housing could price more locals out of the market.”
Gustavo Arce from Amigo del Cacao warned that,»it is a good project because Ajijic has a lot of potential, it meets all the requirements. As long as the magic city award benefits the people and not the corrupt politicians. It’s like saying that the magical towns program sends a peso to Ajijic, and from that, 10 cents arrive in the town and 90 cents go somewhere else. If there is some authority that can regulate that, it would be wonderful, otherwise we don’t need it”
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
Patrick O’Heffernan
In the late 1960s, after a century of complaints, the governors of the North American states of California and Nevada approved a bi-state compact to protect Lake Tahoe, the largest freshwater lake west of the Rocky Mountains. They created the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to oversee development around Lake Tahoe, which is slightly smaller than Lake Chapala. TRPA was approved by the United States Congress and tasked with creating a plan with the local cities and agencies. Today that plan is enforced by TRPA and federal, state, and local governments that strictly regulate development.
Lake Chapala is now facing the same kind of crisis Lake Tahoe faced 60 years ago. But Lake Chapala is far more vital to the people of its surrounding states and towns than the mostly recreational Lake Tahoe is. Lake Chapala, Mexico’s largest natural lake, is the linchpin of a gigantic eco and economic system, the River Lerma-Lake Chapala drainage basin, which includes more than 8 million people, 3,500 diverse industries, 750,000 hectares of irrigated farmland and 14 cities with populations in excess of 100,000. And it is under deadly stress.
Lake Chapala is beset by pesticide runoff, dehydration, algal blooms, high phosphorus levels, heavy metals, aquatic weeds, sewage, and loss of shoreline. Driving much of this is illegal appropriation of the Federal shoreline and water – illegal dumping in Jocotepec for merry-go-rounds, illegal building on the beach in Ajijic by restaurants, illegal filling for farms in Riberas, garbage dumped in the lake from west Ajijic to Chapala, illegal fishermen, untreated sewage – they are all killing the lake.
Why? Because there is little to no enforcement.
Chapala, Jocotepec, Jalisco and the Federal governments all have agencies whose responsibility is to protect the Lake we all love, the largest lake in Mexico. And they all fail.
The problem is not weak laws, or lack of scientific expertise, or ignorance of the problems or corrupt or underperforming officials. It is lack of political will.
As far back as 1997, there was call for international pressure on Mexico, similar to the Canadian lobbying that led to the conservation of Monarch butterfly habitat, to detail the Lake’s problems and develop a multi-state, regional-national effort to save the Lake. But this takes will and money. The agencies whose job it is to protect the Lake are underfunded, overworked and undercoordinated. And that is the failure, not of the good people who manage and staff the agencies, but of political will to give them the authority and resource they need to succeed.
The Lakeshore is Federal, but the local office of the Federal agency is understaffed – so much so that when Chapala Mayor Moisés Anaya Aguilar took its director on a tour of illegal appropriation of Federal shoreline he was told that there are too many problems and too few resources to do much. Local agencies have no authority to act and Federal agencies have no capability to act. And AMLO has other priorities.
Some progress is being made, mostly in uncoordinated fits and starts. There is a move to devolve enforcement authority to the local governments. But that will be a wack-a-mole game that ignores the major problems and will meet fierce pushback. Without a regional plan, progress monitoring, funds from the Federal government for enforcement officers and equipment, sewage treatment plants, shoreline rehabilitation, and prosecution, it will fail.
Which is where political will comes in. The lake can be protected if the people demand it. In this week’s Laguna, reporter Sofia Medeles chronicles how the online complaints of a citizen finally prodded coordinated governmental action to stop illegal beach appropriation by the Maria Isabel restaurant in Ajijic. It will take many –thousands – of citizen complaints to get the sewage treatment plants built, stop the pesticide runoff, prosecute the lakeshore invasions, and regulate fishing and tourism to save the Lake. And it may take international pressure to get the Federal government to generously fund state and local agencies and give them the authority to get the job done.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency could be a model for Lake Chapala’s future. A scientifically-based plan with clear progress benchmarks backed up by determination in state, federal and local governments overcame lethargy and opposition in Lake Tahoe. It might work here. But it took the people of California and Nevada 100 years of complaining, pressuring and voting to create the political will. Lake Chapala does not have 100 years
© 2016. Todos los derechos reservados. Semanario de la Ribera de Chapala