Baja California already has the blessing of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to be one of the nine States obtaining the first doses of the covid-19 vaccine (part of the phase 3 clinic trials).
This was stated recently by Governor Bonilla, who said, “I have been in contact with Chancellor Marcelo Ebrard, I mentioned my interest in making Baja one of the benefited States, because of the high mobility that we have, and he said, I’ll talk to the President…, and today I talked to him. He told me: I have authorization from the President to send the vaccine.”
Governor Bonilla also stated that he had talked to Alonso Perez Rico, head of the health department for Baja, in order to follow protocol and define the order of priority for applying the vaccine, giving priority to healthcare workers who are in the first line of defense against COVID-19.
A new proposal by congressman Miguel Ángel Bujanda would make Tijuana the capital city of Baja California if approved.
Bujanda says that Tijuana should be the capital because it has more than double the population of Mexicali (the current capital), has the most transited border of the world, and is the city with the most significant growth rate in Baja.
He added that Tijuana is attractive for international investors, and making it the capital would promote the whole state’s economic development.
To avoid being controversial, Bujanda proposed to make a public consultation where the population could decide the faith of the capital.
Due to the increase of active coronavirus cases and intubated patients in Baja California, Alonso Perez Rico, head of the State Health Office, and Governor Jaime Bonilla, recommended not to take kids trick or treating this coming Halloween.
“Kids are perfect carriers of Covid. They are the persons who more likely will catch the disease asymptomatically but can transmit it perfectly. I would advise any parents to keep doing social distancing,” said Perez Rico.
Although there has only been a slight increase in active cases, a more notorious increase has been seen in suspected cases, which most certainly will become active soon.
“It would be a serious mistake to allow children to go knocking on doors, and it would be an even bigger mistake to open the door to them because you don’t know if you’re really opening the door to COVID that night,” stated Governor Bonilla.
The public consultation regarding the acceptance of Sempra’s Energy 2-billion-dollar investment in expanding their current Ensenada plant, is going on today.
The exercise is promoted by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who says that every transcendent decision for the country should have its citizens’ approval.
Anyone with a valid Mexican voting ID, with an Ensenada address, will be allowed to vote on the consultation in any of the booths set up for this.
Critics of the consultation say that Sempra is only missing one permit to go ahead with its expansion, and it has nothing to do with the consultation. The only license they are missing is one from the federal Energy office, and the decision of this office will be completely independent of the output of the consultation.
Several business groups and the government of Ensenada have been very vocal in their approval of the investment; as they say, it will positively improve our state’s economy.
Sempra has committed to investing 21 million dollars in public works that will directly benefit Ensenada’s citizens.
The Mexican Supreme Court announced last Tuesday that it had declared illegal for any of the cities in Baja California to collect public lighting taxes, better known as DAP, in the CFE bill.
Each city defined the DAP tax amount, and the CFE collected the money and passed it on to each government. It ranges from $17 to 55 pesos every two months, depending on the city, and it’s supposed to maintain and pay for public lighting.
The Supreme Court deemed the charge unconstitutional since the cities cannot charge extra for this service, as it’s supposed to be paid for with the money gotten from regular taxes.
Mayor of Ensenada Armando Ayala stated that the new ruling would hit Ensenada hard, which is already known to have severe budget deficits, as they are losing 6.6 million USD every year with the DAP charge cancellation.
Arturo Gonzalez, mayor of Tijuana, surprisingly announced that he had submitted a leave of absence effective next Wednesday because he is interested in participating in the internal process to choose a state coordinator for the Morena party.
He emphatically denied that he was leaving his post because of the many allegations by governor Bonilla criticizing his work in the city.
He stated that the governor has repeatedly tried to discredit him and uses illegal tactics to diminish his odds of winning the governor seat in the coming election.
Both the Governor and Tijuana Mayor come from the Morena party, but they have not been able to get along since May.
Every year the organization committee of the Resistance International Film Festival (RIFF) questions and explores different aspects of social responsibility and adds new categories to the competition program. This year its definition is expanded to include dealing with the invisible threats such as viruses. A new section called “Health Defenders” is added to the festival’s program to document and show health workers fighting the COVID-19 and thus sacrificing their lives on the path of protecting society’s health.
This festival for now is the only cinema event dedicating the biggest part of its program to this pandemic, and the organizers hope that it would help to gather different experiences in one place, and also to promote a further documentation of the recent events as it would become crucial evidence for the future generations.
Jorge Salgado Ponce, “Gratitud” short film director.
Organizers of the festival announced that filmmakers from the United States, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Britain, France, India, Turkey, Iraq, Germany, Pakistan, Portugal, Russia, Malaysia, Mexico have already submitted more than 300 films to compete in this section of the festival and thus to express their gratitude to the health defenders from all around the world.
Mexican short film “Gratitude” directed by Jorge Salgado Ponce submitted for this section has been nominated for the festival’s prize and received favorable reviews from the festival’s jury.
The 3 minute film, that is based on real events, movingly portrays the dedication and passion that health workers in Mexico put into their work, but also the ignorance that they sometimes have to fight against in the streets.
You can view the movie online, right here:
RIFF’s carefully curated program as well has earned this festival recognition from viewers and industry professionals alike. American filmmakers such as Michael Moore, Oliver Stone as well as many other artists from more than 100 different countries have participated with their documentaries and films in this festival. Also, many renowned international guests and exceptional filmmakers have come directly to present their films and interact with viewers, including, David Barsamian, Scott Frank, Rafael Lara, Darnell Stephen Summers, Yvonne Anne Ridley, Jasmin Durakovic, Robert Hofferer, Diana Kamal-al Din, Rashed Radwan, Yousef Wehbi, Ahmed Boulane, Basil al-Khatib, Saddam Wahidi Melika, Zairi Alper Akdeniz, Thomas Hayes, Daz Chandler and many others.
Resistance International Film Festival is divided in two parts that will be held on separate dates. The first part that includes “Health Defenders” section and is currently underway in Tehran has started on September 21st and the second part dedicated for the “Main Competition” is scheduled for November 21st-27th.
This year the event will go online due to a spike in the coronavirus cases in the country.
