Campeche Daily News

Categoría: Opinions

PRENSA IMPRESA MÁS INTERNET: UNA HERRAMIENTA CON GRAN POTENCIAL PARA LA EDUCACIÓN CONTINUA

Igor Galo
Director de comunicación Latam IE University / IE Business school. El contenido y las ideas de esta cuenta son personales.

ibit.ly/aczi

Hace pocas semanas me encontré, mientras leía la versión impresa de un periódico, la noticia sobre los beneficios récord de Tesla en el primer trimestre de 2022.

Decía así “Los ingresos procedentes del automóvil aumentaron en el trimestre un 87%, hasta 16.861 millones de dólares (15.400 millones de euros), y el margen operativo se situó en el 19,2%. La cifra de ingresos incluye la venta de créditos de emisiones por valor de 679 millones de dólares (620 millones de euros), un 31% más que en 2021.”

¿Qué es eso de “venta de créditos por emisiones”? ¿Es un negocio nuevo de Tesla? ¿No se dedicaba la empresa de Elon Musk a vender automóviles eléctricos?

Dejé el periódico impreso por un momento, agarré la Tablet y busqué en Google “venta crédito por emisiones Tesla”. Entre los resultados que me mostró el buscador en la primera pantalla encontré una publicación especializada me explicó que “Tesla fabrica y vende coches eléctricos, única y exclusivamente eléctricos, así que está en una posición ventajosa respecto a otros fabricantes cuando hay que rendir cuentas con la normativa que regula los «derechos de emisiones» de CO2.” “Muy interesante el tema. Cuando termine de leer el periódico voy a investigar más”. Y continué leyendo el diario impreso.

No ha sido la primera vez que comienzo a descubrir realidades económicas, sociales, tecnológicas, ambientales o geopolíticas gracias a la prensa impresa.

Y es que, en un mundo en constante cambio, donde el 60 % de los empleos habrá en dos décadas aun no existen según el Foro Económico Mundial, los periodistas y la prensa son, en realidad siempre lo han sido, una ventana al futuro y al conocimiento. Una fuente de formación continua del entorno en el que vivimos y nos desarrollamos profesionalmente.

Las empresas periodísticas serias, con sus equipos de periodistas e investigadores, nos muestran con sus pesquisas cómo va cambiando el mundo en el que vivimos. En especial la prensa impresa, qué a diferencia de redes sociales, nos permite cada día en menos de 30 minutos y por menos de un dólar actualizarnos en aquellos temas que nos interesan personalmente. Pero también de aquellos temas que quizás no nos interesan tanto o de los que incluso ignoramos todo, pero que igualmente son importantes para desarrollarnos profesional y personalmente.

Esta es la gran diferencia de la prensa impresa respecto a los algoritmos de redes sociales que nos muestran, en su afán de mantenernos pegados a las pantallas, solo informaciones que ya son de nuestro interés.

La prensa, y sobre todo los periódicos impresos, nos permiten al ojearlo llegar a informaciones que quizás nunca hubiéramos buscado motu proprio ¿No es acaso su labor muy parecida a la de un profesor que nos debe preparar para el mundo de mañana?

Recuerdo que cuando estudié mi MBA en la IE BUSINESS SCHOOL, el economista y profesor Juan Carlos Martínez Lázaro, empezaba el día preguntándonos por la actualidad económica y las principales noticias del día en la prensa económica para, a partir de ellas, explicarnos las teorías económicas. Al final del MBA, mis compañeros de Máster y yo mismo no podíamos dejar de leer diariamente la prensa económica con el objetivo de, utilizando la actualidad del momento, profundizar en los conocimientos de macroeconomía. Juan Carlos recibió el premio al mejor profesor de nuestra promoción.

El Máster terminó, pero somos muchos los alumnos de Juan Carlos que seguimos leyendo la prensa económica impresa para seguir la actualidad y descubrir nuevas realidades y que, a falta de un buen profesor que nos pueda explicar en persona los detalles, utilizamos Google para descubrir y profundizar sobre aquellos temas de actualidad que los periodistas nos ofrecen cada día en las páginas de los periódicos. ¿Qué es esto sino formación continua?

La combinación de lectura diaria de la prensa, mejor si es impresa, y el acceso al conocimiento disponible de forma libre en Internet a través de Google u otras herramientas puede ser una de las mejores formas de formación continua. Y todo por el precio, muy reducido, de una suscripción y una conexión a la Red.

Artículo publicado en El Universal (México), portal Generacion Universitaria

31 mayo 2022
MEXICAN REVOLUTION 101: WHY IS NOVEMBER 20 SUCH AN IMPORTANT DATE?

A 1910 letter written on that date began a culture shift that ended a three-decade dictatorship

By Leigh Thelmadatter

Like that of the Mexican War of Independence, the history of the Mexican Revolution can look like a confusing series of armed struggles — few major battles but lots of fighting. However, it is important to understand the basics of what happened in this period of history to understand the Mexico of today.

The Revolution’s official start is marked by an open letter written by Francisco I. Madero urging Mexicans to revolt on November 20, 1910 — hence the upcoming federally-recognized holiday, Revolution Day.

Like all revolutions, this armed conflict was against a political and social system, and the “sins” of that society would shape what would replace it.

That system was the more than 30-year dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, who came to power in 1880 during a century when Mexico’s history was marked by coups, civil wars and foreign invasions.

Díaz’s rule started with a coup, but he managed to stay in power and even bring economic expansion and political stability to the country through foreign investment, political acumen, as well as ruthlessness.

Perhaps the most iconic photograph of the Mexican Revolution, underpinning the importance of the railroads to both sides. CASASOLA ARCHIVES

This period of time, called the Porfiriato, was marked by the best and worst of the Industrial Revolution: there were trains, factories and revived mining but also atrocious working conditions, company stores and the dispossession of communal lands into haciendas.

Díaz’s motto was “order and progress,” with the aim of relegating indigenous and agricultural communities to the past and justifying these actions through the academic concept of “scientific politics.”

But the economic progress benefited few and dispossessed many. During the Porfiriato, there were strikes, rebellions and other unrest, but Díaz managed to keep a lid on all that. However, some in the upper classes soured on him as presidential elections under Mexico’s 1857 constitution became a farce, with Díaz “re-elected” again and again.

Then 80 years old, Díaz promised in 1910 not to run again, which set off a flurry of political activity. Díaz reneged on the promise, but not before significant opposition had coalesced around Francisco I. Madero, a businessman and writer with reform in mind.

Shortly before the election, Díaz had Madero arrested and eventually proclaimed himself the winner in a “landslide.”

Madero escaped prison and wrote that open letter calling for armed rebellion against Díaz, later called by others “The Plan of San Luis Potosí.”

This document did not drive Díaz from power, but Madero’s allies — northern strongmen Pascual Orozco and Francisco “Pancho” Villa — mobilized in Chihuahua and began raiding government garrisons. They eventually took Ciudad Juárez, a strategically important city garrisoned by federal troops. This act forced Díaz to resign, and Madero was declared president.

If Madero had been an effective leader, that might have been the end of the story. Unfortunately, he was too idealistic and alienated key allies such as Orozco, as well as Emiliano Zapata, who was angered after Madero became president that he did not make Zapata governor of Morelos and the relationship soured between them.

Counterrevolutionaries pulled off the Ten Tragic Days, a 10-day violent coup in February 1913 that eventually resulted in Victoriano Huerta, the general of the Federal Army, becoming president and Madero being killed.

Villa and Orozco, along with fellow northerners Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón, went back to war, leading a coalition of separate armies that succeeded in ousting Huerta a year later.

But the alliance among the different generals almost immediately faltered. Soon after Huerta’s ouster, the Convention of Aguascalientes was held to try and unify the armies politically, but it resulted in Villa and Zapata forming one faction and Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón forming another. Mexico found itself back in active civil war.

The two sides fought battles until 1915. Villa was defeated at the Battle of Celaya, taking him out of the picture. Zapata’s forces, also defeated, turned to guerrilla tactics.

Center front from left to right: Francisco “Pancho” Villa and Emiliano Zapata in Mexico City. CASASOLA ARCHIVES

With the upper hand, but victory not assured, Carranza called for another convention in Querétaro in December 1916. It resulted in the 1917 (and current) constitution adopted in February.

Many of the grievances of the various generals are addressed in this document, having to do with working hours, land redistribution and other economic issues. It also was the beginning of a new identity for Mexico, one that combined the indigenous and the Spanish, supposedly with equal weight.

The ideal of this notion is best seen in the murals of Diego Rivera and other artists who worked in the 1920s and 1930s.

The constitution’s adoption was the beginning of the end, but the Mexican Revolution really petered out rather than conclude with a single battle or treaty. For this reason, there is disagreement as to an ending date.

Many put it at 1920, the year Álvaro Obregón was elected and served his term without getting ousted or killed. But since violence continued sporadically, some put the date as late as Lázaro Cárdenas’s presidency in the 1930s.

Perhaps the biggest change as the 20th century progressed was Mexico’s shift from political power centering on one person to power centering on institutions. The most important of these was the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which would essentially rule Mexico almost unopposed for 80 years.

Former president Vicente Fox, left, in 2003 with AMLO and México state governor Arturo Montiel. GOVERNMENT OF MEXICO

By the time Vicente Fox of the National Action Party was elected president in 2000, the country had soured on the PRI but not the ideals of the Mexican Revolution.

Nowadays, we might be in a transitional post-PRI phase of Mexican politics, but we are definitely not in one where the Revolution ceases to matter.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

14 noviembre 2021
COMING TO TERMS WITH GRIEF: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERKS OF DAY OF THE DEAD

The annual festival is dedicated to remembering lost loved ones — and mocking something we fear

By Leigh Thelmadatter

The animated film Coco has probably done more than anything else to take the “ew” factor out of Day of the Dead for those of us who grew up with nothing like it.

This is great because there are good psychological reasons for celebrating it.

Grief is universal, but how we cope is largely determined by culture. European cultures have mostly lost their equivalent to Day of the Dead, with only All Souls’ Day and Halloween as distant reminders that we, too, used to actively honor our ancestors. Instead, a belief took hold to see anything associated with death as evil, something to be shunned, ignored and fought against at all costs.

Mexico is not completely immune to this, says National Autonomous University of Mexico professor and researcher Beatriz Glowinski, an expert on death and grieving. But that Day of the Dead has survived gives Mexicans a special outlet for their emotions.

Simply put, Day of the Dead is an annual festival dedicated to remembering lost loved ones and, yes, to mock something we fear. The underlying belief is that the dead can come back at this time to the land of the living, but it is no coincidence that it occurs at the end of the harvest, when fields die to sustain the living.

Large public Day of the Dead altar in Durango sponsored, perhaps appropriately, by the Hernández Funeral Home in that city. LEIGH THELMADATTER

It is a syncretism of Mesoamerican and Catholic beliefs or, more accurately, the survival of Mesoamerican beliefs about death with a Catholic veneer. It survives in two forms.

The older and more “intimate” Day of the Dead is a gathering of friends and family to remember those important to them. The dead are not lamented but welcomed back as part of a family reunion.

The other Day of the Dead can be found in the large festivals and parades that have grown in popularity in both Mexico and the United States. In Mexico, they began to become more important as local and national efforts to counter the influence of Halloween began in the 1990s.

Many communities today have one or more open public events on this day, and Day of the Dead celebrations are popular in schools from kindergarten to college.

All cultures recognize the psychological need to grieve, but they also put limits on how long and how publicly a person may be in mourning.

“It is very complicated and very difficult … there isn’t a period of time … it does not exist,” Glowinski says. “It can take years, depending on the person.”

People decorating graves in Mixquic, Mexico City. This is one of the most traditional and colorful observances of Day of the Dead in the capital. LEIGH THELMADATTER

And if grief is not addressed adequately, “a person can become stuck in their lives personally and professionally,” she says.

Even after the proscribed mourning period, grief lingers and returns, and Day of the Dead addresses this. Simply visiting graves, as is done in other cultures, can have the same purpose, but it is often a solitary activity, whereas Day of the Dead by its very nature is social.

On and around November 2, Mexicans have permission and even the expectation to acknowledge their losses in a supportive environment. The ritual of shopping for supplies, preparing an altar and sharing time with loved ones is therapeutic. Areas we do not casually visit, such as cemeteries, become a place of social gathering, both for those attending to family graves and those of us looking on.

There is nothing morbid or even remotely Halloweenish about this.

It is easy to see how lighting candles on graves fulfills this purpose, but what about the superficially corny skull and skeleton decorations? These decorations, parties and parades are about showing the relationship between life and death and take the morbidity out of thinking about death.

Many public festivals also have allusions to the cultural and historical past, making Day of the Dead also about connecting to heritage.

Day of the Dead in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, one of the most popular destinations for Day of the Dead tourism. EL MOTIVO DE VIAJAR

Many might have trouble with the belief that the dead come back, but counselor and psychotherapist Merrie Haskins says that such a belief can be beneficial. “[It] means that you have the chance to say anything that was left unsaid before they died.”

Taking the stigma out of talking about death also leads us to express what we want when it is our time to die and to communicate that to family. This is important because said family will be able to find closure when the time comes, knowing that they respected those wishes.

In the U.S., Day of the Dead was originally something celebrated privately only by Mexican-heritage families, but it’s growing in popularity. In the 1970s, public observances began with the aim of asserting Mexican American identity. Only recently has there been interest from the culture at large in the holiday, introduced in schools and with decorations now available in Walmart and Target.

If Day of the Dead becomes a larger part of the U.S. culture in some way, it is because it provides something that our native mourning rituals lack: social recognition and support for the idea that those who have gone are still important to us.

It’s not necessary to literally believe that the dead come back, nor be Catholic, to benefit from the observation, Glowinski says, but the communal aspect is essential. The annual observance is “ … a phenomenal way to deal with the emotions that remembering our loved ones bring,” she says, adding, “They externalize such emotions, and this is very liberating and healing.”

On a personal level, I find Day of the Dead particularly meaningful as I live so far away and rarely go back “home.” In particular, I cannot visit my mother’s grave as much as I “should,” and the yearly ritual of setting up the gringo side of my bicultural home’s altar is a more-than-acceptable substitute.

It even makes me smile as I place my favorite picture of my mother, in a 1970s plaid skirt and cat glasses, with the ever-present mug of tea in her hand.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

29 octubre 2021
URGE CAMBIO RADICAL A SEGURIDAD

Por Lázaro Briceño

Hay que reconocerle al nuevo Gobierno del Estado el énfasis que le está poniendo a la situación en que se encuentra la Policía en todo el estado. La secretaria de Seguridad, Marcela Muñoz, criticada por algunos por fobias de género y por el nombramiento de su hija en Ciudad del Carmen, le ha venido imprimiendo un sello diferente a la labor de la corporación.

El primer cambio, y quizá más visible, es la apertura a la información. Nunca antes un secretario de Seguridad fue tan activo en redes sociales, al grado de publicar casi a diario con quién se reúne, a dónde viaja y qué hace durante el día. También nunca antes se habían hecho públicos los reportes de incidentes de los que tiene conocimiento la policía, y ahora a diario se detallan los hechos. Asimismo, se ha lanzado un programa en específico para atender a las mujeres.
Pero, quizá lo más importante, nunca antes se había hecho pública la situación en la que se encuentra la corporación que tiene la tarea de cuidar a los campechanos. La nueva secretaria no ocultó la realidad: denunció que le mintieron con el número de policías que supuestamente habría; reveló que los elementos eran usados como jardineros y peluqueros en vez de estar en las calles cuidando; detalló que varias patrullas estaban desaparecidas, otras eléctricas sin cargador y muchas sin placas. Y, por si algo faltara, usó sus redes sociales para subir fotos sobre las deplorables condiciones en que se encuentran las instalaciones al servicio de la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública.

Sí, era un secreto a voces que no todo iba bien. Solo basta voltear a ver el uniforme que visten los policías, las patrullas que manejan y en dónde viven los elementos para darse cuenta que no han recibido justicia por la peligrosa labor que desempeñan. Lo bueno es que ahora esta triste situación ya ha sido reconocida por quien tiene en sus manos las riendas de la seguridad en Campeche.

Ahora, el paso que sigue es pasar de las acusaciones a los hechos. Y no se trata únicamente de darles nuevos uniformes, ni de pintarles las instalaciones, sino de hacer una estrategia integral que premie a los buenos policías sí, pero también que involucre a la sociedad para que entre todos se consolide la paz que prevalece en la mayor parte del estado.

Hoy, hace falta trabajar en la verdadera prevención del delito, que incluye tener espacios públicos seguros, que generen una sana convivencia entre los ciudadanos. Hay que trabajar y mucho en la atención oportuna a la violencia familiar, en especial contra la que reciben las mujeres; hay que endurecer las sanciones por las faltas administrativas que se cometen a diario y que muchas quedan impunes.

La labor policiaca no solo es patrullar las calles, también se debería de emprender una campaña intensa, sonora y visible, para impulsar la presentación de denuncias por parte de los ciudadanos. Cientos de delitos quedan sin castigo porque no se acude a la Fiscalía a interponer una denuncia. El policía puede ser el canal ideal para acompañar a las víctimas a denunciar.

Pero no solo eso. Se requiere que los delincuentes paguen por lo que hicieron. Hay personas que pasan cientos de veces con los jueces cívicos y salen como si nada. Es un cuento de nunca acabar, que les permite seguir robando sin castigo. Aunque eso no corresponde a la policía, sí debería de proponer y pugnar por cambios legales.

En fin, son varias las acciones con las que las autoridades no solo policiacas, sino federales, estatales y municipales pueden contribuir a disminuir los índices delictivos. Se dice que en Campeche no opera el crimen organizado pero, por desgracia, la delincuencia no organizada es, muchas veces, la que más daña a los ciudadanos. Es hora de tomar las riendas de la seguridad en el estado, acabar con el maquillaje a las cifras y, entonces sí, darle un giro radical.

27 octubre 2021
Patriotic or predatory? Inside Mexicans’ love-hate relationship with Oxxo

The popular chain is involved in key financial aspects of customers’ daily lives

By Leigh Thelmadatter

The Oxxo convenience store chain is a story of how a national brand beat out foreign ones, as well as mom-and-pop stores.

“Rumor has it if you discard your Andatti [Oxxo’s house brand of coffee] cup in a vacant lot, up will sprout a new Oxxo” says Russell Parsons of Tijuana.

Obviously, that is a joke but despite them seeming to be everywhere, more and more Oxxos do keep appearing.

The first Oxxo opened on October 16, 1978, the brainchild of Eugenio Garza Lagüera of the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma beer company, today FEMSA. Its initial purpose was to sell the company’s beer directly to the public, along with cigarettes and snacks. Its name most likely comes from its initial “shopping cart” logo (with the O’s standing in for the wheels), but another story says it comes from the percentage sign, indicating a discount.

Within two years, there were locations in Chihuahua, Sonora and Baja California. In 1982, the company began its expansion program, recruiting Mexican families to operate new stores. These locations are not franchises but rather “mercantile commissions,” where the families become agents or “collaborators” with the company.

Meme making fun of just how ubiquitous Oxxo stores are, with the Mars Rover finding one. RUSSELL PARSONS

The stores are extremely profitable for FEMSA. They account for 40% of the income of the company, which is also the largest bottler of Coca-Cola in Latin America. As Oxxo grew and developed name recognition, it began to create its own branded products such as Andatti coffee and Bitz snack foods and even Oxxo gas. Today, it is the third most valuable brand name in Mexico, behind Corona and Telcel, with an estimated value of 44 billion pesos.

According to FEMSA’s website, Oxxos see 13.2 million customers per day at 19,556 stores, which employ over 150,000 people in Mexico. More recently, it has expanded into Chile and Colombia and even has a couple of stores in Texas. In Mexico, Oxxo dwarfs United States-based chains 7-Eleven and Circle K. Both have fewer than 2,000 stores in the nation, and neither are found in all 32 states. Circle K is something of a latecomer, but 7-Eleven México was founded two years before Oxxo.

For years, FEMSA has been opening up hundreds of Oxxos per month nonstop. However, 2020 saw the first significant decline in sales because the pandemic kept people home. By November 2020, there were only 139 new openings for the year, with 108 stores closing permanently.

Over its history, Oxxo expanded its stores’ inventory to include things such as basic staples, but beer, cigarettes, soft drinks and junk food remain the base. However, a real change came in the early 2000s, when it began providing electronic payment services, starting with buying airtime for cell phones. Today, you can do everything at an Oxxo: basic banking transactions, payment of utilities and other services, sending and receiving money, purchasing intercity bus tickets and more. These services are important in a country where many people still pay with cash and receive remittances from abroad.

But not all is rosy for the company. There are people, both foreigners and Mexicans, who at least try to avoid going into one.

One main issue is that the opening of an Oxxo puts pressure on local mom-and-pop corner stores, which often cannot compete with the chain’s ability to be open 24/7 and take debit and credit cards. A related issue is that it is owned by one of Mexico’s largest companies.

Oxxos in historic town centers are often required to tone down their facades. This does not always keep them from being controversial.

“I avoid them because they are part of the Coca-Cola monopoly here in Mexico, and I think monopolies are not good,” said Chucho Herrero of México state. “I use them only when I don’t have another option, such as when I get gas on the highway.”

Oxxo’s collaborator system has been criticized as unfair to the families who operate the stores.

There are also complaints about not being able to do electronic transactions sometimes, either because the system is down or the cashier does not have the cash available. This problem is common enough that there are popular Spanish-language memes about it on the internet — and about the cashiers being rude or unavailable.

Oxxos have also been associated with crime, blight and other social issues, even leading to restrictions against them in some communities. There have been movements to eliminate or seriously limit their presence, especially in the south.

Writer Juan Villoro wrote in a Reforma article in 2017 that Oxxos serve as a place to meet at whatever hour, even for illicit business like recruiting hitmen.

“Here in Xochimilco [in Mexico City], all Oxxos have been closed because they promote alcoholism in minors and others; also, they take away customers from traditional food stores,” said Alice Aguilar of Mexico City.

A very typical Oxxo store of today, with its blaring red and yellow facade. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“Our [local government] decided not to allow them in Loreto,” says Baja California Sur reader Kathy Hill, “… and in their place, we have a chain of similar stores owned by a local family …”

But despite Oxxo’s problems and somewhat higher prices, it is obvious that many people love them — or at least find them very, well, convenient.

Regular users cite the hours, the electronic payments, the products not available anywhere else (like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups) and proximity to home or work as reasons for their preference.

One thing people seem to be split on, however, is the coffee: you either love it or you hate it.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 17 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture. She publishes a blog called Creative Hands of Mexico and her first book, Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta, was published last year. Her culture blog appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

15 marzo 2021
WHAT IS CONTACT TRACING, AND HOW DOES IT WORK WITH COVID-19?

By The Associated Press

What is contact tracing, and how does it work with COVID-19?

The goal of contact tracing is to alert people who may have been exposed to someone with the coronavirus, and prevent them from spreading it to others. Health experts say contact tracing is key to containing the virus and allowing places to reopen more safely.

But the process isn’t easy.

After a person tests positive for the virus, a contact tracer would get in touch with the person and attempt to determine where they have been and who they were around.

The focus is on close contacts, or people who were within 6 feet of the infected person for at least 10 minutes or so. Those people would then be asked to self-isolate, monitor themselves for symptoms and get tested if needed.

For those showing symptoms, the tracing process would start all over again.

Contact tracing is done in a variety of ways around the world. But a common issue is that determining who a person has been around can get harder as gatherings with friends and family resume, and as bars, restaurants and other places start reopening.

Health officials could also become overwhelmed with cases. In the U.S. for example, local health departments may rely on automated texts to alert people who may have been exposed to an infected person. Health officials prefer to call people if possible because it can help build trust. But some people never return calls or texts.

There’s also pressure to act quickly. Ideally, most of a person’s contacts would be alerted within a day.

___

The AP is answering your questions about the coronavirus in this series. Submit them at: [email protected].

3 octubre 2020
FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND GOOGLE FAILED TO PROTECT THE 2016 ELECTION. NOW THEY WANT TO PROVE THEY’VE LEARNED THEIR LESSON

By Brian Fung, CNN

Brian Fung
Brian Fung is a technology reporter who covers the intersection of business and policy. A native of Washington, D.C.,

CNN

(CNN) For the past four years, tech giants including Facebook (FB), Google (GOOGL) and Twitter (TWTR) have invested massively in beefing up their election security efforts — creating new rules for political advertisers, hiring thousands of content moderators and building ties with law enforcement. The aim has been to avoid a repeat of the 2016 campaign, which was marred by foreign meddling and highlighted how woefully unprepared social media companies were for an attack on US democracy leveraging their platforms.

Now, as they gear up for the most consequential presidential race of the decade, the internet’s largest platforms are eager to show they are ready.

On Wednesday, the companies met with federal officials to discuss how they’re monitoring their platforms for foreign interference and preparing for the Republican and Democratic national conventions. And on Thursday, Facebook, Google and Twitter all announced new or forthcoming efforts to promote voter registration and participation. Facebook told reporters on a conference call Thursday that it has engaged in testsand exercises to try to anticipate certain election night scenarios.

But for all their efforts to hunt down foreign influence operations targeting the 2020 race, tech platforms are still figuring out how to handle what may be the biggest variable of the election: President Donald Trump himself. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have publicly diverged over how to address Trump’s controversial claims in the past; now, the stakes are even higher.

Trump has indicated he may not be willing to accept the outcome of the 2020 race, and in recent weeks has increasingly lobbed unsubstantiated attacks against mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that the practice will lead to «massive» vote-rigging. The debate has prompted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to warn that «partisan political voices» risk making vote-by-mail vulnerable to harmful misinformation and confusion campaigns at a time when a record number of voters may turn to this option given the pandemic. The agency said voters should rely on state and local officials for accurate voting information.

Tech companies have spent years learning the costly lessons of previous elections, but have only recently begun to grapple with Trump head-on, said Graham Brookie, director of the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council, a non-partisan policy think tank.

«The [tech] industry has a fairly robust approach to the overall issue of enfranchisement and election content, but it remains reactive to the single largest amplifier of election process disinformation: the President of the United States,» Brookie said. «Donald Trump has used process disinformation as a strategy dating back to his first primary in 2016, in which he laid the groundwork of calling the election ‘rigged’ as an insurance policy just in case he lost. His 2020 strategy is the same but on steroids, mixed with real attempts to suppress the process of voting by undermining the Postal Service and other efforts in the middle of a pandemic.»

Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, told CNN Thursday that efforts by Trump and others to discredit mail-in voting, or to cast doubt on election results, which could take significantly longer this year because of mail-in voting, are «something we’re particularly focused on.»

«For election night and the period after, it’s not just about how to vote, but we’re preparing to show similarly clear information about vote counts,» Gleicher said. «We’ll have teams working 24/7 to stop actors using deceptive campaigns, to stop that uncertainty.»

Still, due to the pandemic, tech companies, government officials and independent researchers are more limited than usual in their ability to predict disruptive events, Gleicher added.

Tech companies say they have partnered with state and local election officials to relay accurate information to the public. On Thursday, Facebook launched a centralized hub for voting information, and added that users will now be reminded about upcoming registration deadlines and whether their states have expanded mail-in voting. Facebook will also apply information labels to user posts that appear to be about voting. Meanwhile Google said Thursday that when users search for information about how to vote or how to register, the search engine will now place localized instructions atop the results.

«We work with non-partisan, third-party data partners, such as Democracy Works,» Google said in a blog post, «which aggregates official data directly from state and county election administrators, and we link to your state government’s official website for more information.

But it is far from clear that those efforts can withstand Trump’s determined efforts to discredit mail-in voting, or how the companies might handle social media posts by Trump that reject the election results.

In response to CNN’s questions on the matter, Google referred to its existing policies that prohibit voter suppression or incitement to interfere in democratic processes.

Twitter has been the most aggressive in flagging and removing Trump’s content, provoking a White House executive order seeking to clamp down on social media. Yet the platform remains Trump’s preferred megaphone, and he continues to spread unfounded claims about mail-in ballots on the service. On July 30, he tweeted that widespread mail-in voting poses «RISKS to our Democracy» and called it «dangerous,» despite the fact that all 50 states support at least some level of vote-by-mail.

Twitter said Thursday it will introduce new voting tools and resources to help Americans participate in the election.

«Twitter is working hard to increase informed participation in democratic processes around the world,» said Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, VP of public policy and philanthropy, in a statement. «Ahead of the 2020 US Election, we’re focused on empowering every eligible person to register and vote through partnerships, tools and new policies that emphasize accurate information about all available options to vote, including by mail and early voting.»

Facebook, meanwhile, has been reluctant to remove Trump’s content despite internal and external criticism. Facebook said it has begun to think about the possibility of delayed vote counts on election night, and the opportunity that could present to misinformation distributors. While the company promised to connect users to «the latest authoritative information and news on and after Election Night,» it said the public will need to wait for further details.

«We will have more to share on additional preparations soon,» wrote Naomi Gelt, VP of product and social impact, in a blog post.

But merely giving voters basic information about the process of voting isn’t enough, said Vanita Gupta, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

«Facebook must also do more to combat the weaponization of voting and election disinformation and misinformation on its platform,» she said. «Our democracy depends on it.»

SOURCE: CNN BUSSINES

14 agosto 2020
IS IT TIME TO MOVE THE US-MEXICO BORDER? HERE ARE SOME BENEFITS

Greg Custer
Worked in international tourism since 1977, starting with airlines and moving on to destination marketing and travel agent education. Mexico full-time resident.

Choosin Mexico

The US and Mexico need a border, just not the one currently delineated

By Greg Custer

A Cold War is brewing with China. The U.S.-Mexico-Central American humanitarian crisis continues unabated. The pandemic has laid bare the soft, exposed underbelly of globalization, an over-dependence on events time-zones distant.

How can the U.S. rebound with sharper focus on regional alliances? A good place to start can be a pivot, south toward our relationship and border with Mexico.

In this world of shifting alliances and loyalties, the U.S.-Mexico border should be understood and probed with renewed determination. This line of sand and river embodies the inevitable reckoning of our binational, ingrained bonds.

A border “fix” could dramatically reduce America’s tenuous overseas dependencies and put Mexico on a development path toward addressing the grinding poverty across its southernmost states, the focus of President López Obrador’s administration.

Both nations want the same things: peace, security, and international trade. An innovative response to the border quagmire could become the economic engine and social justice solution driving our binational, mid-21^st century connectiveness. Especially at a time when China-American relations are imploding, the border needs a new future. In this spirit, is it time to move it?

The U.S. and Mexico do need a border, just not the one currently delineated. Borders exist for good reasons, but this border is not working. Could the border be moved? With a pen stroke, yes. Let us suppose for the moment it could happen.

By most measures of binational cooperation, the current demarcation running through mega-urban centers is broken. Environmental violations, crime, smuggling, and the migration crisis make it impossible to expect the current megacity clusters to remain viable. The existing international border treaty (re-negotiated in 1970, modifying the 1840-1850s treaties) reaffirms the notion that international borders can be moved by the will of governments.

The efficacy of a newly drawn border lies in its isolation, completely detached from any developed towns or settlements. The new border would bypass all urban areas and be entirely unpopulated and in the middle of barren desert, but for humanitarian aid stations and certain immigration functions.

There would be no repeat of the 1850s attempt to establish towns across the new border, when Mexicans were given free land in exchange for returning and repopulating the area. The new border would remain unpopulated, possibly for decades or until both nations agree it is the right time, under strict development rules.

Most of Mexico’s border culture and society already peers northward to U.S. trends, commerce, news, sports and values. Support for some form of MEXit is fathomable for many of those making the 350 million border crossings that happen each year. San Diego united with greater Tijuana; El Paso and Ciudad Juárez as a single urban unit. You get the picture.

Border policing becomes greatly simplified (and more secure) with a silver lining of treating migration as a humanitarian activity. Both nations could equip this new border (built by a binational Conservation Corps-type plan) with health and repatriation “stations” that would attract migrants (and reduce remote, deadly migration routes) to understand their individual options and receive basic human needs assistance — but not a free pass into the U.S.

The new border would bypass urban areas such as Tijuana-San Diego.

It is all paid for via a diversion of the billions supporting border security on both sides.

Mexico gets lower enforcement costs for border and immigration services obligated by the U.S. government; crime rates fall across Mexico, as syndicates lose transit routes and border allies. All border-based businesses (export-oriented, including maquiladoras) retain their favorable export tax status, albeit with labor law alterations.

There would, of course, be monetary compensations to Mexico for lost real estate, and an offer of dual citizenship for those Mexicans living within the “new” U.S. territory. Mexico’s surging population is dramatically reduced as are associated externalities of surging border populations and policing the current line.

Mexico would obtain an unencumbered, better managed, humanitarian-focused northern border, equally managed by Mexican and U.S. stakeholders across social, environmental, and economic spheres. The U.S. gets new taxpayers and a renewed charge into manufacturing and industry.

A secure alliance between Mexico and the U.S. is achieved, dissuading other players (e.g. China) from economically toying with the unprotected U.S. southern flank. New consumers with values in line with the U.S. economy and society are offered a path to citizenship and dual nationality.

Most importantly, as the U.S. population ages, it gains a young and talented workforce, consolidated and ready to expand its labor and language skills at a time when the post-Boomer U.S. economy will face demographic pressures related to population decline.

Of course, not all Mexicans would accept being melded into U.S. society; repatriation options with compensation would have to be considered. Fears that a tsunami of Mexicans demanding U.S. citizenship would leave both nations weaker.

But a 2015 Gallup poll showed that less than 5% of Mexicans would prefer to live in the U.S., if given the opportunity.

With a newly drawn border that skirts urban areas would come a mountain of socioeconomic and environmental challenges, some insurmountable. But an “unencumbered” border would be a body blow to entrenched illicit industries in both nations, reduce crime (as the new border will be totally uninhabited), human smuggling, and force this porous line to become something it’s never been: a demarcation for changing our geopolitical priorities in favor of humanitarian (and economic) realities.

Without tensions, such a unilateral move-the-border decree would seem utter fantasy. However, with the stroke of a pen, the 21^st century could take a bold first step toward economic integration and social justice across the longest international border on the planet.

Can we humanely turn the new “la línea” from a human debacle into a fused urban zone of growth and opportunity? Of course, there will be winners and the less fortunate, and many who reject the entire concept as unworkable. However, doing nothing is not an option in the long run.

International borders are at best temporary lines in the sand; at their worst, a bungled bundling of societies and disparate cultures and languages that over time need to be reexamined and reworked.

If the U.S. has any kind of hemispheric destiny — that of owning a responsible posture toward Latin America, then there is one decree (move the border) that must not be rejected out of hand. Without a better border, the Western Hemisphere is the big loser.

Greg Custer resides in Ajijic, Jalisco, and has worked in the Mexican tourism industry for over 35 years.

He writes about retirement living across Mexico at www.choosingmexico.com.

Source: Mexico News Daily

10 agosto 2020
WHAT DOCTORS KNOW ABOUT LINGERING SYMPTOMS FROM CORONAVIRUS

With over 2 million cases in the U.S. since the coronavirus pandemic began in late December, there are now many people who have recovered from COVID-19. At the same, there have been reports of people who continue to have long-term side effects from the infection. I am a professor and physician and I specialize in infectious diseases of adults. I not only care for patients with bacterial, parasitic and viral infections – including COVID-19 – but actively teach and perform research into diseases that infectious pathogens cause.

Here I offer a summary of what is known today about recovering from COVID-19 – and where there are important gaps in our knowledge. Much of this information, which has been gleaned from studies that began after the 2003 SARS outbreak, is important for those recovering and their family and friends who should know what to anticipate.

Confusion

In the most seriously ill patients who receive care in the ICU, there is a substantial risk of delirium. Delirium is characterized by confusion, difficulty in paying attention, reduced awareness of person, place and time, and even the inability to interact with others.

Delirium is not a specific complication of COVID-19 but unfortunately is a common complication of ICU care. Risk factors in addition to being in the ICU include advanced age and pre-existing illness. Some studies say as many as 75% of patients treated in the ICU experience delirium. The problem is not only with confusion during the hospitalization, but for months after. For example, at three and nine months after discharge many of those who recovered still had difficulty with short-term memory, the ability to comprehend written and spoken words and to learn new things. Some even had difficulty knowing where they were and what today’s date was. And, executive function scores were significantly worse in those who had suffered from delirium.

Physicians are dedicating considerable effort to reduce delirium in patients in the ICU. Approaches that may help include reducing the use of sedatives, repeated reorientation of the patient to date, time and location, early mobilization, noise reduction and cognitive stimulation.

Lungs

The most severely ill patients with COVID-19 often suffer from pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS, while ill. Doctors have not followed patients who have recovered from the new coronavirus long enough to know if there will be long-term problems with breathing.

However, a study of health care workers in China who contracted SARS, caused by the SARS-CoV coronavirus which circulated during the 2003 outbreak, are reassuring. Lung damage (measured by interstitial changes seen on CT scans of the lung and pulmonary function test results) mostly healed within two years after the illness.

Smell and taste

Most patients with COVID-19 experience a loss of taste and or smell. Only a quarter of patients had noted some improvement in a week’s time, but by 10 days most patients had recovered.

Post-infection fatigue syndrome

While again it may be too early to tell, in the case of the original SARS outbreak almost half of survivors interviewed more than three years after recovery complained of fatigue.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for diagnosis of the chronic fatigue syndrome were met in a quarter of COVID-19 patients. It will likely be important to target mental health interventions to COVID-19 survivors to help them deal with a prolonged convalescence characterized by fatigue.

Blood clots

Blood clots may arise in up to a fourth of critically ill COVID-19 patients. Blood clots can cause serious long-term complications if the clots break loose from blood vessels and migrate to the lung and cause a pulmonary embolism or go to the brain and cause a stroke.

To prevent blot clots, physicians are now instituting blood thinners prophylactically when there is a rise in the concentration of the D-dimer, which is a fragment of fibrin – a protein that makes blood clot.

Heart

In one study, inflammation of the heart muscle, called myocarditis or cardiomyopathy, was observed in a third of severely ill COVID-19 patients. Arrhythmias – an irregular heartbeat – are also seen. It is not known if this is due to direct infection of the heart or secondary to the stress caused by the inflammatory response to this infection.

Most importantly, the long-term consequences in survivors are not understood.

Diabetes

Diabetics are at increased risk of severe COVID-19, which may in part be attributable to an overreaction from immune response to the infection.

But the COVID-19 and diabetes interaction may go in the other direction as well. Elevations in glucose are seen in severe cases of COVID-19 in some patients who do not have a prior history of diabetes. Because the virus interacts with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, or ACE2, on human cells, it is plausible that changes in ACE2 activity could be one cause of diabetes in patients with the new coronavirus. In any case, it will be important long-term to follow up.

The bottom line is that the new coronavirus infection has profound effects on many different organ systems in the body. The good news is that we expect that the damage caused by COVID-19 will heal in the vast majority of patients. However, it is important to appreciate that some long-term conditions can be anticipated, and prevented or managed to benefit patients.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

30 junio 2020
WEARING A MASK IS A SIGN OF MUTUAL RESPECT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Mark Smolinski Contributor Coronavirus Frontlines Contributor Group Healthcare Mark Smolinski is the President of Ending Pandemics.

Dr. Mark Smolinski, an infectious disease physician and president of Ending Pandemics, explains why wearing a mask both helps to stop the spread of Covid-19 and shows respect for others.

As we continue to struggle with the realities of living through the Covid-19 pandemic, I can’t help but feel disappointment, even sadness, every time I venture out of my house and witness people not wearing a mask. My rationing of groceries and household goods intended to keep me home for three weeks at a time have depleted several times over as the pandemic nears its five month mark in the United States. Putting on my mask, and gloves, to head to the corner market or get a ”breath of fresh air,“ I am astounded by the large numbers of people who are not wearing a mask.

As a public health physician, I know the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t care that we are all going a little stir crazy sheltering in place. Coronavirus lays in wait to move from one person to another, as the percentage of people with asymptomatic infection is quite high. My chances of getting infected, therefore, are not solely based on my actions, but are also impacted by the behaviors of those around me. This is why I am both disappointed by the seemingly nonchalant actions of those without masks, and sad that I know it will mean the pandemic will continue to cause illness and death.

Wearing a mask is a true sign of respect for others; it is not an impingement on one’s freedom.

While it might be my preference to keep us all ‘locked down’ for much longer as I continue to witness this ‘bad’ behavior, I am also cognizant that we cannot stay in our homes forever. People need to return to work, want to go back to school, and long to enjoy recreational activities once again. I, too, want to spend my summer relaxing at the beach, dining with friends, and traveling to see family who all live in distant places requiring air travel. My reluctance to do these activities is amplified by the refusal of many to wear a mask.

You wear a mask to protect others, and others wear a mask to protect you. Wearing a mask is a true sign of respect for others; it is not an impingement on one’s freedom as many have claimed. Wearing a mask tells the person you pass on the street, share an aisle with in the supermarket, or march along side at a peaceful protest, that you respect them as a fellow human.

While being completely supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement, I must simultaneously implore my fellow humans to please wear a mask whenever it is not possible to socially distance. The heartbreaking reality of racism in America has reached a tipping point during this pandemic, bringing people of all ages, races, ethnicities, sexual orientation, and gender in support of Black Lives Matter. This issue rightly calls for the unity garnered by peaceful protest and marches that cannot wait for the pandemic to subside.

My sadness, however, is hard to overcome when I see the lack of social distancing and large numbers of people not wearing masks, as I know this can only lead to the further spread of Covid-19. The very people being embraced through this incredible show of unity are, unfortunately, likely to be among those who succumb to Covid-19 as Blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans continue to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. The reasons for this are many, but most stem from the systemic racism that is pervasive in America.

We are clearly not doing the right things in the United States as we account for less than five percent of the world’s population, yet represent one quarter of the global deaths from Covid-19. We all have to do our part to curb this pattern. Wearing a mask, along with social distancing and hand washing, does not seem too much to ask if we are insistent on opening up society once again. The virus has not gone away just because we want to get out of the house. So, when we step out of our homes and enter any space shared by others, please wear a mask to save a life that may not be your own. And hopefully, others will do the same to save yours.

27 junio 2020