Strong earthquake shakes buildings in Mexico City, sends people into streets

MEXICO CITY - A very strong earthquake hit southern Mexico on Tuesday, shaking buildings in the center of the capital Mexico City hundreds of miles away and sending hundreds of people fleeing their homes into the streets.

The US Geological Survey said the quake's magnitude was 7.7, while Mexico's seismological institute put its strength at 7.1. Quakes of such size can be devastating.

The earthquake was centered in the southern state of Oaxaca, the Mexican institute said.

Reuters witnesses in Mexico City saw no initial signs of injuries or damage.

-reuters-

NFL expects to play full season as scheduled despite coronavirus

While the coronavirus wreaks havoc on the global sporting calendar, the NFL said on Tuesday it planned to have a full season, including games in London and Mexico City, and to kick off on time in September.

With a little over five months to go before the 2020 season is scheduled to begin, the NFL has yet to entertain the idea of delaying or shortening the campaign or having its 32 teams play games in empty stadiums.

"Our planning, our expectation, is fully directed at playing a full season starting on schedule and having a full regular season and full set of playoffs," NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Pash told a conference call.

"Am I certain? I'm not certain that I'll be here tomorrow, but I'm planning on it, and same thing, we are planning on having a full season."

A number of major sports events around the world, including the July 24-Aug. 9 Tokyo Olympics, have either been postponed or cancelled in recent weeks because of the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

The NFL, America's richest and most watched sport, remains the only major North American professional sports league that has managed to avoid suspending the playing of games because of the coronavirus given its traditional late summer start date.

The league, however, has closed team facilities for the time being, cancelled its annual owners' meeting scheduled for this week in Florida and made major changes to the April 23-25 NFL Draft in Las Vegas.

The NFL also said it was discussing a "virtual offseason" program that would allow teams to share video and playbooks with players before eventually launching into the regular season.

When asked about any contingency plans for the 2020 season Pash said the league, which plans to release full details of the schedule around May 9, remains "pretty confident" the campaign will go on as scheduled.

"All of our discussions, all of our focus has been on a normal, traditional season starting on time, playing in front of fans in our regular stadiums and going through the full 16-game regular season and full set of playoffs," said Pash.

The NFL's 2020 season features four games in London and one in Mexico City, all of which Pash said the league expected will be contested as scheduled unless health authorities tell them differently.

"We're optimistic that just as we expect conditions in the United States to permit playing a full season that that will be the case for our international partners as well," said Pash.

"But obviously that's something that we will have to work closely with the authorities, public health and other government authorities in those other countries to make sure that it's entirely safe." 

(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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Armed robbers in Mexico steal $2.5 million in gold coins

MEXICO CITY - Armed robbers broke into a Mexican government coin manufacturer on Tuesday and filled a backpack with more than $2 million worth of gold coins from a vault that had been left open, security officials said.

The daylight robbery was the latest high-profile crime to hit Mexico City, where crime has increased during record lawlessness plaguing the country.

Two people, one wielding a firearm, broke into a "Casa de Moneda" branch in the morning after throwing a security guard to the ground and taking his gun, Mexico City police said.

One of the robbers then went to the vault, which was open, and filled a backpack with 1,567 gold coins, police said.

The coins, known as "centenarios," have a face value of 50 pesos, but trade for 31,500 pesos ($1,610) apiece, according to Mexican bank Banorte. That makes the total value of the haul at least $2.5 million.

The coin was first minted in 1921 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain, according to the central bank. Production was suspended in 1931, but the coin was re-minted beginning in 1943 due to demand for gold coins.

One side bears Mexico's coat of arms, with an eagle perched atop a cactus, and the other features the capital's iconic Angel of Independence monument backed by the majestic Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl volcanoes. The coins, 37 mm (1.46 inches) in diameter, have a gold fineness of 0.900, or 90 precent purity.

The same Casa de Moneda branch was also broken into last year while the building was being renovated, according to Mexican media.

Mexico is suffering from record murder levels that have made the capital, long regarded as a relatively safe haven, increasingly prone to violent crime.

Last month two Israeli men were gunned down inside a high-end Mexico City shopping mall, and in a separate incident, Mexican boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez said he was mugged at gunpoint. ($1 = 19.5686 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Sharay Angulo, writing by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Dan Grebler)

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Naked cyclists on a roll for healthy transport in Mexico City

Dozens of naked bikers took to Mexico City's streets Saturday to raise awareness of cycling as a healthy transportation option.

Many people get around by car in this megalopolis of more than 20 million, when a greener option might be in order amid worries about climate change.

Participants in the World Naked Bike Ride turned out with Mexican flair, some in underwear and others just as they came into the world -- plus maybe a bike helmet or colorful wrestler's mask.

Biking has gradually become more popular in traffic-choked Mexico City, which has more than four million cars on its roads daily.

Cycling is more common in the city's central districts, where bike rental services have been popping up.

The government has also tried to encourage bike use by building dedicated lanes, an effort to reduce the number of deadly crashes between cars and bikes.

In mid-May, Mexico City's air pollution levels were so high that schools closed and vehicle use was restricted. That reignited discussions on further encouraging bicycling as a commuting option.

The event in Mexico City is part of a global movement promoting greater use of bicycles in large cities and more sustainable transportation solutions.

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New quake, at magnitude 6.2, strikes Mexico again: US agency

An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 struck southeast of the town of Matías Romero in Oaxaca, Mexico, on Saturday, the US Geological Survey said.

Slight quake tremors were felt, and seismic alarms sounded on Saturday in Mexico City, which earlier this week was hit by the country's most deadly earthquake in decades.


That 7.1-magnitude earthquake destroyed more than 50 buildings in the sprawling Mexican capital on Tuesday, leaving thousands homeless and close to 300 people dead nationwide.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul in New York and Frank Jack Daniel in Mexico City; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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Mexico rescuers in race to find trapped quake survivors

MEXICO CITY - Rescuers toiled on Thursday to extract survivors, including Taiwanese workers, from collapsed buildings after Mexico's deadliest earthquake in 32 years, but the Navy said no children were now trapped at a school at the heart of rescue efforts.

More than 50 survivors have been plucked from disaster sites in Mexico City since Tuesday afternoon's 7.1-magnitude quake, and first responders, volunteers and spectators joined in chants of "Yes we can!"


The death toll was at least 233, revised down from 237 earlier on Thursday, according to Mexico's head of civil protection Luis Felipe Puente. In Mexico City 1,900 were injured.

As the chance of survival diminished with each passing hour, officials vowed to press on, heartened by a few success stories.

Late on Wednesday night, an eight-year-old girl was rescued from a collapsed building in the Tlalpan neighborhood, nearly 36 hours after the quake, local officials said.

After more than a day of wall-to-wall television coverage of the search for a girl in the rubble of the Enrique Rebsamen School in the south of the capital, the Mexican Navy changed its version of events and said all pupils were now accounted for.

"We have done a count with the school authorities and we are sure that all the children, either tragically, died, or are in hospital, or safe at home," said senior Navy official Angel Enrique Sarmiento.

Mexican television stations, led by broadcaster Televisa, had cited rescuers as saying that a schoolgirl was trapped in the rubble. An admiral in charge of the rescue effort at the school had confirmed that.

Eleven other children were rescued from the same Enrique Rebsamen School, where students are aged roughly 6 to 15. Nineteen children and six adults there were killed. The body of a woman was pulled out on Thursday morning.

The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed five nationals were trapped in a collapsed clothing factory in the Obrera neighborhood. The victims included a Taiwanese businessman, according to Carlos Liao, Taiwan's top envoy to Mexico.

Volunteers cutting through debris at the factory, which had been combed by rescue dogs, heard signs of life.

"First we heard blows, and then we established visual contact. There was a person trapped in a car," said rescue worker Amaury Perez. "We shouted, 'If you are inside the vehicle, please knock three times.' He knocked three times."

Rescue workers were joined by crews from Panama, El Salvador, the United States and Israel with others from Latin American countries on the way.

Throughout the capital, volunteers and bystanders used dogs, cameras, motion detectors and heat-seeking equipment to detect victims who may still be alive. Mechanical diggers moved large slabs of concrete.

OUTPOURING OF AID

Armed soldiers guarded abandoned buildings feared to be at the point of collapse. Some 52 buildings collapsed in Mexico City alone and more in the surrounding states.

Thousands of people have donated food, water, medicine, blankets and other basic items to help relief efforts. Companies provided free services, and restaurants delivered food to shelters where thousands of people have sought refuge after their homes were damaged.

President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has declared three days of national mourning, said, "If anything distinguishes Mexicans, it is our generosity and fraternity."

The extensive damage to many buildings, some of them relatively new, has raised questions over construction standards which were supposed to have improved after a devastating 1985 quake.

Tuesday's quake killed 102 people in Mexico City and the remainder in five surrounding states, officials said. The state of Puebla was hit hard. Governor Jose Antonio Gali said on local television that 86 churches had been damaged and more than 1,600 homes would have to be demolished.

The quake came on the anniversary of a 1985 earthquake that killed thousands and still resonates in Mexico. Annual Sept. 19 earthquake drills were being held a few hours before the nation got rocked once again.

Mexico was still recovering from another powerful quake less than two weeks ago that killed nearly 100 people in the south of the country.

Parts of Mexico City, home to some 20 million people, are built on an ancient lake bed that trembles easily in a quake.

Some residents and volunteers voiced anger that emergency services and military were slow to arrive to poorer southern neighborhoods of the city, and that wealthier districts appeared prioritized.

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Hundreds killed in Mexico quake

A man holds up a sign that reads "silence" as rescue personnel look for people underneath the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake hit Mexico City, Mexico on Tuesday. At least 200 people were reported killed after a 7.1-magnitude quake struck Raboso, Mexico which toppled buildings in different parts of the country.

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Mexican lawmakers OK marijuana for medicinal purposes

MEXICO CITY - Mexican lawmakers gave final and overwhelming approval Friday to a bill legalizing medical marijuana after a national debate on narcotics policy in a country mired in brutal drug violence.

The legislation also allows use of marijuana for scientific research, as well as production and distribution of pot for those two stated purposes.

The vote in the Chamber of Deputies was 371 in favor and seven against with 11 abstentions.

The bill will now go to President Enrique Pena Nieto for his signature and then publication in the official government gazette, the lower house said in a statement.

The Senate approved the bill by a wide margin in December.

With Friday's vote, Mexico will join several US states and other nations in Latin America that allow cannabis for medical uses.

Pena Nieto proposed legalizing medical marijuana in a major policy shift in April after his government organized forums to discuss changes to the laws.

The bill fell short of demands from some lawmakers and civil groups that argue that a wider legalization of marijuana use could help the country reduce drug-related violence.

But proponents said it was a major step that will address Mexicans' need of an alternative medical treatment.

The bill authorizes the Health Ministry to design regulations for the use, import and production of pharmaceutical products made from cannabis or marijuana, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's main psychoactive ingredient. Products with one percent concentration of THC will be allowed.

Growing marijuana for medical and scientific purposes will not be punishable.

A family in northern Mexico became a symbol of the push to legalize medical marijuana last year when the parents of a young epileptic girl won a court battle to import a cannabis-based treatment to stop her daily seizures.

The girl's father, Raul Elizalde, told AFP then that the legislation represented "great progress," but that it should make it easier for patients to acquire THC by letting them buy it without a prescription.

In a separate major case in November 2015, the Supreme Court authorized four people to grow and smoke pot for recreational purposes.

Although Pena Nieto is opposed to a broader legalization of marijuana, he has proposed increasing the amount of the drug that can legally be possessed for personal consumption to 28 grams (one ounce) from five grams.

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Mexico fireworks market blast kills at least 27, hurts scores

MEXICO CITY - At least 27 people died in an explosion at a fireworks market outside the Mexican capital on Tuesday, according to a local emergency services official.

The blast at the San Pablito fireworks market in Tultepec, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Mexico City, also injured at least 70 others, according to a tweet from federal police.

Isidro Sanchez, the head of Tultepec emergency services, said the death toll was preliminary as rescue workers scoured the site.

Local television showed a flurry of multi-colored fireworks exploding in all directions as a massive plume of smoke rose above the market while people frantically fled.

Aerial footage showed charred stalls and destroyed buildings.

A blast struck the popular market in September 2005 just before independence day celebrations, injuring many people. (Reporting by David Alire Garcia and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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Hurricane Odile strengthens to powerful category 3 storm

MEXICO CITY - Hurricane Odile became an impressive category three storm on Sunday, dumping heavy rains as it swirled off Mexico's Pacific Coast.

Winds blew at 193 kilometers (120 miles) per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said in its 0600 GMT bulletin. It was located about 280 kilometers west-southwest of Manzanillo as it moved north-northwest at 20 kilometers per hour.

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As Mexico catches cartel boss, others wait in wings

MEXICO CITY - Mexico has finally caught its most powerful drug kingpin, but other capos nicknamed "El Mayo," "La Tuta" and "El Mencho" remain on the loose, ready to take the crown.

While the capture of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is a victory for President Enrique Pena Nieto's government, his arrest could unleash a new wave of violence as rivals tussle for his turf.

"There's going to be a huge void with this capture," Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration, told AFP.

"There's a strong possibility that this may increase the violence in Mexico."

Guzman, who was captured by Mexican marines in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlan on Saturday, made powerful enemies during his time at the top.

- Would-be suitors -

In the least bloody scenario, Guzman's main associate, veteran Sinaloa cartel capo Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, will grab the reins and continue business as usual.

But internal strife could hit the cartel if an ambitious underling decides to fight his way to the top.

"We are now looking for violence between Chapo's kids and El Mayo's kids, the next generation trying to get control of the cartel," a US security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Rival gangs could also smell blood and make incursions into Sinaloa's territory, sparking the type of turf wars that have killed more than 77,000 people in Mexico in the past seven years.

The threat could come from the once-powerful Zetas cartel, even though the northeastern-based gang was weakened after its leader's arrest last year, analysts said.

Even loose allies could make a grab for it, like the cult-like Knights Templar gang based in the western state of Michoacan and led by a former teacher, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez.

"There's a very strong possibility that other organizations such as the Zetas and the Knights Templar may try to attack the Sinaloa cartel and give them a deadly blow," Vigil said.

The Knights Templar, however, have been on the ropes since civilian vigilante militias emerged last year and drove them out of several towns.

The US security official, who requested anonymity because he is involved in cartel investigations, said a prime candidate to become Mexico's top drug lord is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho," reputed leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

The gang, based in western Jalisco state, has been fighting the Knights Templar and the rise of vigilantes has helped Oseguera's gang grab half of Michoacan, making it the "fastest growing" cartel, the official said.

"I think Mencho is now the most important trafficker in Mexico," the official said, adding that Guzman's arrest "will place Mencho in an open war against whatever remains of the Sinaloa cartel."

"El Chapo tried to have him killed a few years ago" because he saw him as a threat, he said.

- Sinaloa not dead yet -

Raising concerns that Guzman may even escape again, as he did in 2001, US lawmaker Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, urged Mexico to extradite the capo to the United States.

"I think that would be the best course for not only Mexico, but also the United States in ensuring that what happened in 2001 does not happen again," McCaul told ABC television.

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in New York's eastern district, confirmed that "we plan to seek his extradition."

Although Guzman's associate Zambada is qualified to take over Sinaloa, he is also being hunted down by security forces who "almost got him" recently, the official said.

Guzman's arrest came after the capture of a dozen Sinaloa operatives, including Zambada bodyguards.

"It is a great strategic blow to the Sinaloa cartel. The drug trafficking map of Mexico will be reorganized," said Raul Benitez Manaut, security expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University.

But the Sinaloa cartel could easily weather the storm because it is like a massive conglomerate that can still operate when its CEO is absent, analysts said.

"The most important cartel remains the one in Sinaloa. The others are much smaller," said Mexican security expert Samuel Gonzalez, a former federal narcotics prosecutor.

"The Sinaloa cartel was hurt, but it won't collapse," Gonzalez said. "Every space tends to be filled. There will be someone to fill the (drug) market to the United States."

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Spurs-Twolves game in Mexico cancelled by smoke

MEXICO CITY - The NBA cancelled a rare game in Mexico City between the San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday after smoke from a generator malfunction engulfed the arena, forcing players to evacuate.

Players abandoned their warm-up and exited the 22,000-capacity Arena Ciudad de Mexico about an hour before tip-off as smoke entered the facility.

The game, which would have given Mexicans a rare chance to see big-name NBA players such as Spurs guard Tony Parker and regional star Manu Ginobili of Argentina, will now take place in Minnesota, the NBA said.

"The date for the rescheduled game, which will be played at Target Center in Minneapolis, will be announced at a later time," the National Basketball Association said in a statement.

It would have been just the second NBA regular season game in Mexico after the Dallas Mavericks played the Houston Rockets there in 1997.

The NBA initially announced a delay to the 8:30 pm game as arena officials scrambled to vent the smoke out of the court and repair the power glitch.

But the players eventually boarded their buses and left as fans stood outside the arena.

An NBA official told AFP that the teams could not wait long because they had planned to return to the United States late Wednesday after the game.

"What happened today is a real shame. I'm really sorry for all the fans," Spurs center Tiago Splitter of Brazil wrote on Twitter. "We were excited to play this game. Big hugs."

The $300 million arena opened in February 2012 and its website boasts that it is the "most important, comfortable, modern and safe facility" in Latin America.

Music stars such as Aerosmith and Maroon 5 have played in the arena, which hosted an NBA preseason game between the Orlando Magic and New Orleans Hornets last year.

The NBA has played 19 pre-season games in Mexico -- more than any other country outside the United States and Canada.

Adrian Perez, an arena manager, told reporters that organizers would announce the mechanism to refund tickets in the next few days.

He did not say how many tickets had been sold.

The Spurs are first in the Western Conference's southwest division with 15 wins and three losses. The Timberwolves are in fourth place in the conference's northwest division with nine victories and 10 defeats.

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