Mexican authorities will raffle off the imprisoned drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's mansions, a luxury box seat at Aztec Stadium, and other properties. The 'mega raffle' is scheduled for Sept. 15 and will auction off 22 of the cartel's properties worth an estimated $12.5 million.
It's been a very prosperous year to be a billionaire, according to the 2021 Forbes list of the World's Billionaires. And that is true in Mexico as well. The country's billionaire ranks swelled since last year to list 13 members, whose combined net worth rose by nearly a third to $136.1 billion.
Remittances to Mexico jumped almost 40% in April, posting the sharpest increase in nearly two decades, Mexican central bank data showed on Tuesday. The cash sent from abroad reached $4.05 billion, a rise of 39.1% from $2.91 billion in April of 2020. The percentage jump was the biggest since 2003.
The Government of Mexico on May 28 announced the start of the COVID-19 vaccination process for people between the ages of 40-49. Registration is now open, and the inoculation stage will begin at the beginning of June. Meanwhile, vaccination of pregnant women & older adults continues.
With five COVID-19 vaccines already in use in Mexico, the country has now approved emergency use of the single-dose shot from Johnson & Johnson. 'Starting from today Mexico has one more Covid-19 vaccine option,' Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted on Thursday.
Mexico will soon begin exporting AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccines to other Latin American nations under a joint production agreement with Argentina. A first shipment of 800,000 doses will be sent to Argentina this weekend, while Mexico will also receive its first batch.
The Federal Aviation Administration downgraded its air safety rating for Mexico, prohibiting that country's carriers from adding service to the US. Mexican carriers can continue to operate existing service with the lower rating, but they can't add new service or routes.
Schools in Queretaro, Mexico are getting ready to reopen with the help of Benebot, a robot that can detect Covid-19 and other diseases. The robot has medical-grade cameras, temperature sensors and AI software capable of evaluating in seconds whether or not a child has some kind of health problem.
To continue to limit the spread of COVID between the United States and Mexico, non-essential border travel restrictions will remain in place for another month. Binational talks are proceeding to relax restrictions beginning on June 22, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Tuesday.
Mexico said Wednesday it expects to finally start shipping AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine from a private fill-and-finish plant by the end of May, after a delay of nearly three months. The vaccine is produced in Argentina, but the active ingredient is shipped to Mexico to be mixed and bottled.
