Defends economic recovery model / Mayan Train moves forward

Defends model for economic recovery. President López Obrador reiterated his position of not requesting any loans from international organizations to face the COVID-19 crisis, pointing out that indebtedness only benefits one sector of the population. He said that despite financial institutions saying he is choking the national economy, he has a different view. “Even if international financial organizations don’t like it, or the rating agencies don’t like it, we have a different vision,” he said.

Tender for Mayan Train Section 5 next month. President López Obrador said after signing four contracts for sections of the Mayan Train, the fifth will be tendered in June. “Next month, the Cancun-Tulum section is being tendered,” he said and highlighted that the project will create 80,000 jobs.

Mexico moving out of emergency. President López Obrador said Mexico is already moving out of the COVID-19 health emergency, which does not mean prevention measures should be relaxed. “According to reports and projections, we are on our way out,” he said. He added that social distancing and shelter in place measures officially end nationwide this and the country will move into the “new normal” based on the staggered resumption of productive activities. Starting June 1, an epidemiological traffic light for each municipality will detail the status of each, giving local authorities the shared responsibility on the final decisions for the reopening process. The president said the reopening of certain sectors of the economy is moving forward with companies abiding by all health and labor protocols.

PROFECO announces tuition agreement. PROFECO head Ricardo Sheffield said an agreement was reached for deductions of up to 25 percent in April and May tuition fees. “We have contributed to the agreement of schools and parents, so that they can make a reduction,” he said. When questioned about alleged increases in private school tuition, he said the only concern of parents is paying for their children’s education after two months of confinement.

Twitter accepts there are bots. After asking social media companies to report on the use of bots, President López Obrador said he will insist that this be further looked into since Twitter had already accepted that it is going on. “We will continue to respectfully ask Twitter and ‘Face’ to open up everything related to bots. Twitter has already accepted that there are bots. Now we have to see how they are controlled, how much is spent and who is financing all those campaigns,” he said.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish