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January 28, 2002
Eye Glasses and possibly Metal Detectors for Tamaulipas Schools
Low-income students in Tamaulipas will receive free eye glasses
through the states "See to Learn" program, according
to the Reynosa newspaper, El Mañana. This year, there
is funding to give glasses to 2,200 students, said Raúl
Cienfuegos González, head of the Department of Regional
Education Development.
The goal of the program, according to Cienfuegos, is to help
students learn better by improving their vision. As part of the
program, students are allowed to choose the glasses they prefer.
In a separate story, El Mañana Nuevo Laredo reports that
school police are hoping to install metal detectors in a few
city schools. The school police, known as the Unidad de Seguridad
Escolar (School Security Unit), have said that they can install
the detectors with just city approval. Police want to use the
detectors to scan students for guns and knives as they enter
and leave school.
Interest in heightened security has surged since three people
were arrested in or around public schools in just the first few
days since the Christmas vacation. At least seven Nuevo Laredo
schools are specifically being targeted for greater security,
according to the newspaper.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), January 17, 2002. El Mañana
(Nuevo Laredo), January 17, 2002. Article by Ericka Makryna Morales.
January 17, 2002
Water in Río Bravo, Tamaulipas: High-Levels of Contamination
but Lower Prices
Río Bravo, Tamaulipas, a city of approximately 100,000
people located between Reynosa and Matamoros, is forming a nonpartisan
group to ask for the state government's help in securing a safe
supply of drinking water.
Alberto Sacramento Fortuny, director of Capacitacion y Desarrollo
Comunitario (Community Development and Training, Cadeco), said
that Río Bravo civic groups and NGOs will meet to form
a non-political, common front to fight for better water and lower
water prices. An organizational meeting has been set for January
22 at 8:00 p.m. No location was announced in Reynosa's newspaper,
El Mañana.
Jesús Melhem Kuri, the president of the State Federation
of Chambers of Commerce (Federación Estatal de Cámaras
de Comercio), stated that the city should show photos to state
water officials of the nearly twenty points where Reynosa empties
raw sewage into the Anzaldúas canal. This canal is Río
Bravo's source of drinking water.
Melhem also said that the high-levels of contamination are a
health threat and should be looked into by federal agencies like
the Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales
y Pesca (Secretary of Environment, Natural Resources and Fishing,
Semarnap).
In a separate story, El Mañana Reynosa reported that the
water commission, Comapa, has voted to lower Río Bravo
water rates. Previously, water users were being charged 300 pesos
(US$28) per month for service. The rate has now been lowered
to 100 pesos (US$9.25) per month for up to 30 cubic meters of
water.
People that believe they use less than 30 cubic meters of
water per month can have a water meter installed so that they
may pay for the exact quantity of water that they use, according
to Comapa.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), January 17, 2002.
January 11, 2002
Nuevo Laredo Hospitals: Out of Vaccines and Short on Drugs
Representatives from Nuevo Laredo hospitals say that they
exhausted their supply of childhood vaccines in the first few
days of the new year. New supplies will not be available until
February, said Gilda Guadalupe Flores Peña, chief of preventative
medicine a the ISSSTE (Instituto de Seguridad y Servicio Social
de Trabajadores del Estado, State Workers' Social Service and
Security Institute).
Flores said that city hospitals ran out of the "pentavalente"
(five-way) vaccine that they use for children under the age of
five. The vaccine is for Haemophilus influenzae type b, hepatitis
B diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
City supplies of the vaccine ran low after area hospitals had
an immunization campaign in October, 2001.
Lorenzo García Rangel, director of the ISSSTE hospital
in Nuevo Laredo, said that his pharmacy lacks diabetes and hypertension
medication for the people that the hospital insures. Despite
high-level discussions to remedy the shortage, monthly drug deliveries
always end up short. García also says that of the 240
medicines he requests every month, only 70% arrive to the pharmacy.
Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), January 9, 2002. Article
by Erick Makryna Morales.
January 9, 2002
More Join Hunger Strike at Federal Prison in Matamoros
The Matamoros newspaper El Bravo reports that two men, Eduardo
Fox Olvera and Luis Olguín Soto, have joined fellow inmate
Oscar Noriega Hoyos in a hunger strike aimed at changing conditions
in the federal prison where they are serving sentences.
Irma Aida Fox, sister of Eduardo Fox, and María Esther
Morales Arias, wife of Luis Olguín Soto, told El Bravo
that other prisoners are on strike as well but they are neither
sure of the number of strikers nor when they quit eating. The
strike is taking place at the Centro Federal de Readaptación
Social Número 3 (Cefereso).
Ms. Fox said that when she went to visit her brother, Eduardo,
he told her that despite cold temperatures, prisoners are awakened
at 5:00 a.m. and are forced to bathe in cold water. When the
inmates complain the guards tell them that their orders come
from their superiors.
Ms. Fox also told El Bravo that inmates are not allowed to have
blankets and have only thin jackets with which to stay warm.
She said the prisoners' clothing is in terrible condition and
is also inadequate for the low temperatures. She was not allowed
to bring in underwear for her brother and says that prisoners
must wash their own clothes. Many of them put the clothes back
on while still wet.
According to Ms. Fox, inmates are strip searched and receive
cavity searches as well. While the inmates are being searched
they are not allowed to look guards in the face. This extends
to visitors as well who are not allowed to look at guards, she
said.
Ms. Morales, wife of Luis Olguín, said that her husband
told her that the Cefereso provides inadequate medical attention
to sick inmates.
Source: El Bravo (Matamoros), January 8, 2002. Article by Rosy
Pereda Rangel.
January 7, 2002
Newspaper's Complaint Section Ignored by Nuevo Laredo Government
Two months ago the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Mañana
initiated a new section, Monitor Urbano (Urban Monitor), which
follows citizens' service requests to government agencies. Common
in many Mexican newspapers, these sections list service problems
that government needs to address in the areas of water, city
lighting, roads, electricity, etc.
So far, the complaints listed in the Monitor Urbano, have
been mostly ignored, according to El Mañana writers Marco
Martínez García and Cinthia González. Martínez
and González state that between December 2001 and January
5, 2002 more than 130 requests for service have been reported
to the Monitor but only 27 cases have been resolved, about 20%.
While the city water utility (Comisión Municipal de Agua
Potable y Alcantarillado, Comapa) has been alerted to the greatest
number of service problems, with 45 complaints of waterline breaks
and blockages, it is also the city office which has fixed the
greatest number of problems, 17 so far, about 35%.
El Mañana says that the slow reaction time from government
agencies is due to the winter holidays and the fact that there
is a new city government in office. No city officials were interviewed
for the article.
The department in charge of fixing city streetlights has resolved
10 of 35 service requests while the city works department, transit
department, environment department and police have not fixed
any of the problems that have been directed to them, according
to El Mañana.
Source: El Mañana, January 7, 2002. Article by Marco Martínez
& Cinthia González.
December 18, 2001
Bah Humbug: Matamoros Allegedly Makes Corn Vendors Buy Santa
Costume
Matamoros corn vendors that operate from mobile, sidewalk
carts had to force their way past city police and authorities
to gain access to the city's Plaza Hidalgo, said Ignacio Flores,
one of the vendors.
According to the Matamoros newspaper El Bravo, the corn vendors
known as "eloteros" paid between 1,500 and 2,000 pesos
(approximately US$157-US$211) each to be able to sell corn in
the central plaza during the Christmas season. They also had
to contribute to the purchase of a Santa Claus costume and outfit
their wheeled stands with Christmas lights, said El Bravo. These
additional expenses cost the eloteros about 400 pesos (US$42)
each.
Eloteros Santiago Recendis and Maria Gutierrez showed El Bravo
permits they were given by the city to work in the plaza between
December 6 and December 31, 2001. However, the two complained
that city officials now say that the permits are invalid.
El Bravo also reported that other vendors said that they lacked
permits even though they had paid one city office 2,000 pesos
each. They also complained that they were not given receipts
for their payments.
Source: El Bravo, December 17, 2001. Article by Erandi Márquez.
December 14, 2001
Nuevo Laredo Home for the Mentally Ill to Continue Work
David Flores Reyna, director of the Centro de Atención
Transitoria, a home for the homeless mentally ill of Nuevo Laredo,
said that his center can continue helping people in that city
because of 22,000 pesos (approximately US$2,300) that it received
from private individuals and businesses. This money will allow
the Centro to stay open until the end of the year and assist
up to 40 mentally ill homeless people in Nuevo Laredo. Flores
also said that beginning on Friday, December 14 he will go out
into the community and bring in mentally ill people in need of
shelter, food, clothing and services.
Despite the Center's economic viability through the end of
the year, Flores said that he still requires donations of mattresses,
blankets, clothing and shoes. Flores also stated that he would
appreciate help with the Center's finances. "Everyone thinks
money is stolen," Flores said, but he invited people to
come to the Center to serve in the capacity of treasurer or secretary.
He added that he would do whatever it takes to make the home
financially transparent.
Flores said that while many of the people he works with are too
sick to work, "they also have the right to eat, use a restroom,
bathe, sleep--the same as the President and as any of us--and
we have denied them help, but they are equal to us."
Through a Nuevo Laredo doctor, Flores said that he heard that
the Secretaría de Salud (Department of Health) would find
ways to support his project. He added that people have even gone
to the federal level of government to make sure that the Centro
does not disappear.
Source: El Mañana, December 14, 2001. Article by Lesy
Karina Mendoza.
December 10, 2001
New Transportation Law for Tamaulipas
Under the provisions of a new Tamaulipas transportation law,
taxis and microbusses will undergo regular mechanical inspection
and will be retired when the vehicles are 8 years old, said Faruk
Saade Luévano, president of the communication and transportation
commission in the state congress. Saade also stated that drivers
will receive training and regular medical exams so that service
users can feel safe when taking public transportation.
The revisions to the previous transportation law were made
with the participation of transportation companies, according
to Saade.
Other changes to the law mean that the concession of routes
to private companies will be more strictly regulated and that
companies will have more freedom to change routes to meet demand.
Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), December 11, 2001.
December 3, 2001
Little Houses on the Border: 452 Square Foot Homes
According to Mexican law, Infonavit (Instituto del Fondo
Nacional de la Vivienda para los
Trabajadores, Institute of the National Fund for Workers' Homes)
homes are supposed to be at least 7 meters wide (approximately
23 feet) and 18 meters long (59 feet). That's what Lucila Ayala
Yang of Nuevo Laredo's Benito Juárez-Infonavit neighborhood
thought she was getting when she agreed to an Infonavit house.
However, what the five-person Ayala family and their 600 neighbors
received were houses that measured 3.5 meters by 12 meters--approximately
452 square feet.
"It was a true trick," Ayala said. "They took
advantage of our need for a house."
Ayala and others in the neighborhood have started legal action
to demand new, larger homes that were built to legal specifications.
The families also complain that their homes are of poor quality
and that they must spend too much of their income on housing
payments and repairs. After only a few months in their homes,
cracks have appeared in the walls, rain water comes in and some
houses have begun to slowly sink.
Source: El Mañana, December 3, 2001. Article by Silvia
Alvarez Araiza.
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