Security Matters/‘Good’ News for Energy Sector

Homicides in Mexico. A total of 2,606 intentional homicides were registered in Mexico in December 2021, a marginal increase compared to the previous month, when 2,596 homicide cases were recorded, said head of the Ministry for Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), Rosa Icela Rodríguez, presenting the crime report for December. In the August-December period, there was a decrease in the incidence of intentional homicide in the 50 priority municipalities of 1.3 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

Mexico recorded the two most violent years in its history in the first two years of Andrés Manuel López Obrador's term, with 34,690 murder victims in 2019 and 34,554 in 2020.

Pending security topics. Deputy Minister of Security and Citizen Protection Ricardo Mejía said that two criminal counts, for huachicol (fuel theft) and organized crime, are still pending against José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, “El Marro,” the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel who was arrested in 2020. "The conviction and 60 year sentence has already been achieved for aggravated kidnapping, and the counts of huachicol and organized crime are still pending," he said. Rosa Icela added that the security agenda for the six states where there will be elections this year, as well as in the municipalities where there will be extraordinary processes, was agreed with the National Electoral Institute (INE). “An agenda was set for the 2022 elections so that there are elections in complete peace and tranquility as desired by the participants of the table, the minister of the interior, who heads the work, and relationship with the INE,” she said.

INE budget. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that INE does not have an austerity plan in its budget, but quite the opposite: there are "abuses, excesses, waste." He added that "INE spending has been growing, there has not been an austerity plan. I can guarantee that the senators and deputies earn less because there was an adjustment in the Legislative Power, an austerity plan. A senator must now be earning half of what he earned in the previous government."

Good news for the energy sector. López Obrador announced that on Friday, his government would provide “good news” in energy matters for the country. “In the afternoon, we are going to meet with the US Secretary of Energy (Jennifer Granholm). The meeting here at the Palace is at 6 in the afternoon, and it is welcome. There are many issues to deal with," López Obrador said.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish