Medicines Purchased/School Letter Not Mandatory

Medicine supply. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that his government’s priority remains the vaccination of the entire population against COVID-19 before October. “We are vaccinating an average of 700,000 people a day,” he said. Deputy Minister of Prevention and Health Promotion Hugo López-Gatell added that for the second consecutive week there had been a reduction in coronavirus cases in Mexico. The authorities expect this trend to continue. Later, Minister of Health Jorge Alcocer Varela announced that the government is working to guarantee its supply of medicines. “The sector’s demand for 1,840 key drugs has been met. As of yesterday, 54.5 million drugs had been purchased with the participation of 335 suppliers.”

López Obrador also thanked the US government for its donation of vaccines against COVID-19. “I want to thank the United States government for its support, for its collaboration, because they offered us these vaccines, there are 8,500,000 doses and they are a donation. This is important to highlight and express our appreciation to President Biden.”

Bilateral dialogue. Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard reported that he and representatives of the ministries of economy, finance and foreign relations would meet with US authorities in Washington on Sept. 9 to review economic issues, including supply chains, emergency mechanisms, increased vaccine production and cooperation for the development of Central and South America.

Face-to-face classes. López Obrador said that to ensure that students return to classrooms at the end of the month, sanitary protocols are being implemented to guarantee the safety of both teachers and students. “Yesterday, we evaluated, and we thank the teachers’ union very much, and I have already started the preparation process that has to do with meetings of teachers and students. There is certainly resistance but what happened with the vaccine is normal.” After hearing the criticism of a commitment letter that parents were asked to sign to return their children to class, López Obrador said the letter was not obligatory and that the idea did not originate with him. “It is not mandatory and if the children go to school and do not take it, it is not mandatory. Facing this bureaucratic, authoritarian concept inherited from the neoliberal period, do you think I had something to do with the letter? No.”

Félix deportation on hold. Ebrard announced that drug trafficker Eduardo Arellano Félix would not be deported to Mexico tomorrow as expected. “We are going to confirm it today; it means that he will not be deported on Wednesday. It would depend on the US Attorney General’s Office.” The US government will be asked to explain why this change occurred.

José Eduardo Ravelo’s case. López Obrador addressed the case of José Eduardo Ravelo who was taken into custody and subsequently died in hospital. López Obrador said that given the circumstances, he had asked the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to look into the case. “Today, we see that we have to intervene in the case of this young man who was murdered in Merida.” On July 21, Ravelo was detained by the police after being denounced by two men for having thrown a piece of concrete into a premise, for which he was arrested and taken to a police station in the city of Merida. However, his mother reported that at some point along the way, he was beaten and raped. He later died in hospital.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish