Willing to Testify Over Videos / Texcoco Park is Ongoing

Willing to testify, if summoned. President López Obrador said he is willing to testify before the Attorney General's Office (FGR) regarding the videos in which former Civil Protection head David León is seen giving money to López Obrador’s brother Pío. “I have no fear of being investigated. I am willing to testify and participate in everything that involves me. For my brother’s case, of course, I will go if I am summoned,” he said. The videos released last week were recorded by León in 2015 when he has working for former Chiapas Gov. Manuel Velasco, then a political ally to former President Enrique Peña Nieto and current supporter of the López Obrador administration.

Ecological Park will replace canceled Airport. The Texcoco Lake Ecological Park project aims to recover over 12,200ha with one single ecological restoration that will include public spaces, Water Commission (CONAGUA) head Blanca Jiménez said. During the presentation of the project to replace the canceled Mexico City New Airport (NAIM), the park’s head, Iñaki Echeverría, said it will include several protected areas for flora and fauna. The planned opening date is 2021 “if the COVID-19 pandemic allows,” Echeverría said.

Over 80 percent of COVID dead had chronic disease. More than 80 percent of the dead from COVID-19 had a chronic disease, Deputy Minister of Health Hugo López-Gatell said during the Health Pulse weekly presentation. “More than 80 percent of the people who have died from COVID-19 had these conditions that made them susceptible to dying, apart from advanced age,” he said and noted that in Mexico half of all deaths are from chronic diseases associated with poor nutrition. President López Obrador pointed out that the Mexican economy is recovering without “falling to the temptation of increasing public debt” like other countries did.

Mexico joins Italian vaccine project. Mexico will participate in clinical studies with Italy in the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine, Minister of Foreign Affairs (SRE) Marcelo Ebrard said. Mexico getting involved in the trials is “very good news,” he noted. The project is being developed by the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome.

Pushes to sell “raffle” tickets. President López Obrador said he visited the presidential plane to help sell more tickets for the so-called “raffle” for the aircraft on Sept. 15. “Among other things, that's why I visited the presidential plane,” he said. The luxury aircraft became the point of one of the most successful campaign mottos for López Obrador after he said, “This plane, not even Obama has it.” Unsuccessfully offered for sale for almost 20 months in the US, the plane was brought back to Mexico and the money raised from the raffle will be used to buy medical equipment.

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Click HERE for full transcript in Spanish