A decade ago, there was a conspiracy theory going round the internet, about a secret superhighway that was going to be built from Mexico to Canada. Now it is finally happening; At the recent meeting of Prime Minister Trudeau, President Obama and President Enrique Pena Nieto they agreed to build a highway – for butterflies. Is this the thin edge of the wedge?
This superhighway would connect Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines, fiber-optic cable lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines running alongside. Paul thought the highway was the thin edge of a bigger wedge of full integration of the three countries. What they are building is an even thinner wedge; President Obama calls it a “wildlife corridor.” According to an earlier report in The Verge,
A wildlife corridor is a habitat that connects populations cut off by human activities. The White House plans to allow the Department of Transportation and the Fish and Wildlife Service to rehabilitate the land and vegetation along the highway, allocating resources to educate "target audiences" about conservation efforts, while also working with the Mexican and Canadian governments on broader strategies that cross borders.
There has been significant progress already, according to Mexico's President Enrique Peña Nieto. The transcript:
I would like to use an example to describe our level of integration. The preservation of the monarch butterfly conservation — this is a species that, in its pilgrimage, we can see how our countries are intertwined.
And back in our last summit, we agreed that we would take care of this species and make sure that in its journey, the monarch butterfly from Canada, flying through the United States all the way down to Mexico, and the figures speak for itself. In the year 2014, in our country, the area where butterflies reach — that eventually reached only covered less than one hectare, .6 hectares.
Due to the efforts made by our trilateral task force created for that purpose last year, this year, the surface in my country now extends to 4.1 hectares and we are in route that by 2018, this figure would grow to six hectares and eventually, that would be our goal for the monarch butterfly reserve in — in Mexico. And by that, we will be making sure the migration of this species is the symbol of the relationship that Canada, the United States and Mexico has.
Obama liked this comment, responding:
By the way, Enrique, I love the story about monarch butterflies. They're not just any species — they are spectacular and we want to make sure that our children, our grandchildren can see them as well. — Obama on the trio's plan to take steps to further protect Monarch butterfly habitats.
This is all wonderful news for the butterflies. But is it also the thin edge of the Agenda 21 wedge – a highway, re-wilding of the countryside, re-education, statements like “our countries are intertwined.” Just thinking....
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.- There’s a big geopolitical imbalance in the new clean energy agreement reached this week by the presidents of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Although Canada already far exceeds the trilateral pledge to generate half of North America’s electricity from non–carbon-based sources by 2025 and the United States has a clear path forward, Mexico faces major hurdles. Experts say that new laws will improve its chances of holding up its end of the agreement. But the Mexican government also needs to tighten enforcement of those laws and resolve conflicts over building renewable energy projects on indigenous land.
The three countries signing the new agreement now generate 37% of their electricity from clean power sources, with Canada at 75% thanks to abundant hydropower and the United States at 33%, more than half of which comes from nuclear power plants. (The United States also consumes more than 80% of the total amount of electricity used by the continent’s 500 million residents.)
Mexico trails the pack with only 22% of its electricity from non–fossil fuels, and the two reactors at its only nuclear power plant generate just 4% of the country’s electricity. Although the government is planning to build several new nuclear plants, most of the immediate action will likely be focused on renewables like solar and wind, experts say.
“It’s good to have such an ambitious goal,” says Juan Bezaury-Creel in Mexico City, an expert on Mexican policy at The Nature Conservancy. “I think it’s doable.”
Mexico had already pledged that 35% of its electricity would come from clean sources by 2024, as part of a climate change law passed in 2012. And the new continent-wide commitment comes shortly after the Mexican government completed a controversial energy reform that opened up the nationalized oil industry to foreign investments. The reform will make regulating the energy sector more complex. “You used to have two actors, Pemex [the state oil company] and the Federal Electricity Commission [CFE]. Now, you’re going to have a multitude of actors,” Bezaury-Creel says. “Enforcement is going to have to be upgraded.”
Some of those new actors are likely to be smaller, decentralized renewable energy providers that will provide some welcome competition for CFE, says Marcela López-Vallejo, a political scientist at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching, an economics research center in Mexico City. Last December Congress required that companies in Mexico obtain a minimum threshold of their energy from clean sources (the exact amount hasn’t yet been defined). In order to exceed its allotment of fossil fuel energy, a company has to buy “clean energy certificates” from the government, which will invest that money in developing additional clean energy projects. In practice, it’s similar to a carbon cap-and-trade system, López-Vallejo says. “With this law at least we have the legal framework and the incentives in place to [meet clean energy goals].”
Gustavo Alanís-Ortega, president of the Mexican Center for Environmental Rights in Mexico City, supports the new law but worries about enforcement. “We’re a country that is always ratifying international treaties and legislating national laws, but then the implementation is very poor.”
As part of the North America pact, Mexico also pledged to cut methane emissions from its oil and gas industry by 40% to 45% by 2025. “I see that one as a bit harder” to achieve, López-Vallejo says. “Our oil industry is pretty dirty … I think that one is going to depend on the support, whether it be financial or technological, of the North American partners.” The government says its energy reforms will make that kind of foreign investment easier.
Hydropower now makes up 70% of renewable energy in Mexico, with wind at only 15%. But last year the government committed to tripling the country’s wind energy capacity to 9.8 gigawatts by 2018. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico—the thin strip of land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans—is one of the windiest places in the world and already hosts about 1600 turbines, generating 90% of the country’s output. The majority of future wind development is planned for this region, but several ambitious projects there have been delayed or canceled by conflicts with indigenous communities over land rights.
“The problem isn’t that they don’t want wind power. The problem is that they are not consulted,” says Alanís-Ortega, whose organization has supported the communities’ challenges. “They feel invaded, marginalized, and exploited. No one is taking them into account.”
Most wind development projects in Oaxaca are led by Spanish companies, and residents have complained that they have been misled into signing over their land rights for rock-bottom rates with little or no profit-sharing. Some farmers say they were shocked by the size of the wind turbines and the fact that they couldn’t plant crops near them.
Conflict continues to roil Eólica del Sur, which would be the largest wind project in Latin America with 132 turbines generating 396 megawatts. The same investors and developers had previously planned a similar wind park in a different part of the isthmus under the name Mareña Renovables. That project was canceled because of community opposition. Late last year the indigenous community of Juchitán de Zaragoza sued to halt the new Eólica del Sur project, saying they had not been adequately consulted. On 9 June, a judge ruled against the community and allowed the project to continue.
Lizzie Wade Lizzie is a contributing correspondent for Science. She covers Latin America for the magazine from her home in Mexico City. After graduating from Barnard College in 2008 with a degree in comparative literature, she studied translation theory at the National Autonomous University of Mexico as a Fulbright scholar. Along the way, she stumbled into an internship in the Fermilab communications office and discovered a passion for science writing.
After returning from the Fulbright, Lizzie was a fellow at Wired and an intern at Science. She headed back to Mexico as a correspondent in 2013. Her work has appeared in Aeon, Slate, and the California Sunday Magazine, among others. She is also a regular contributor to Wired
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.- Is “The Shallows” – Blake Lively’s new flick about a surfer trying to survive a shark attack – simply a girl power exercise wrapped in a sandy bikini? Yes.
Still, it gets as much right as it does wrong.
Lively plays Nancy, a med student alone on a secluded, secret beach in Mexico. She’s here to be alone, to mourn, to surf. As the local drops her off on the beach and refuses her offer of cash, he asks how she plans to get back to town.
Excellent question.
There’s a great deal of convenient idiocy in this screenplay, but director Jaume Collet-Serra – who is no comrade of subtlety – actually handles most of these items deftly. After a few middling horror efforts, Collet-Serra made his name with a string of Liam Neeson films, so he knows a little something about a solitary figure fighting deadly odds.
Lively does a fine job in what is essentially a one-surfer-show. Nancy is smart. Not smart enough to avoid surfing alone in an isolated area of a foreign land, but a different kind of smart. MacGyver smart. And it’s with a balance of delicacy and grit that she just about makes you believe the ludicrous.
“The Shallows” is gorgeously filmed – and not just Lively. Yes, the camera hugs her form more closely than a wet suit, but Collet-Serra treats the surf, sky and sand with as much ardor. A generous reviewer might even say he’s creating a parallel – something about breathtaking beauty that belies serious ferocity. I am not generous enough to buy that theory, but I am generous enough to throw it out there.
For stretches, “The Shallows” will have you believing you’re watching a tense, thoughtful survival drama. Eventually the shark becomes a vengeful-mythical-beast-warrior-machine-monster, and any hint of credibility is lost at sea. This is the age of “Sharknado” – maybe Collet-Serra didn’t think he could keep his audience’s attention until the shark tried to scale something with his teeth?
Whatever the case, it’s a wild mashup of efforts: equal parts empowerment and ogling, survival thriller and Sharkasaurus Rex
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.- The U.N. Human Rights Council agreed on Thursday to appoint an independent investigator to help protect homosexuals and transgender people worldwide from violence and discrimination.
After a heated debate lasting almost four hours, the 47-member state forum overcame strong objections by Saudi Arabia and Muslim countries to adopt a Western-backed resolution by a vote of 23 states in favour and 18 against with six abstentions.
The United Nations expert, still to be named, will have a three-year mandate.
Mexico, which led Latin American states that were the main sponsors of the text, said that thousands of people are exposed to violence and discrimination due to their sexual orientation and gender identity.
"Remember Orlando," Mexican Ambassador Jorge Lomónaco told delegates, referring to the massacre of 49 people at a gay club in Florida on June 12. "Let us give hope to millions."
The United States and major European countries backed the resolution, while China, Russia and 16 African and predominantly Muslim states rejected it. India, South Africa and the Philippines were among the abstainers.
"This Council regularly - and rightly - passes resolutions on racism, women and children. Yet, on this issue, we often hear of culture and tradition as reasons to justify violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity," British Ambassador Julian Braithwaite said in debate.
"This affects people in this room, and people in my team who are LGBT. Are you saying it is okay to discriminate against them based on their sexual orientation and gender identity? To hit, torture, or possibly kill them? Because that is what you are supporting, if you vote against this resolution."
Early in the session, Saudi Ambassador Faisal Trad brought a "no-action motion" to quash any debate on the resolution, but his move was defeated.
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.- Endeavour Silver Corporation (NYSE:EXK) : Zacks Investment Research ranks Endeavour Silver Corporation (NYSE:EXK) as 3, which is a Hold recommendation. 1 research analysts consider that the stocks fundamentals point to a bright future, hence they rate the stock as a Strong Buy. A total of 2 analysts believe that the stock has a limited upside, hence they advise a Hold. The average broker rating of 3 research analysts is 2.33, which indicates as a Buy.
Endeavour Silver Corporation (NYSE:EXK) stock is expected to deviate a maximum of $1.04 from the average target price of $2.83 for the short term period. 3 Street Experts have initiated coverage on the stock with the most promising target being $4 and the most muted being $2.
The shares have received a consensus rating of Sell for the current week Also, Major Brokerage house, Rodman & Renshaw maintains its ratings on Endeavour Silver Corporation (NYSE:EXK). In the latest research report, Rodman & Renshaw raises the target price from $2.5 per share to $3.4 per share. According to the latest information available, the shares are now rated Buy by the analysts at the agency. The rating by the firm was issued on April 12, 2016.
Endeavour Silver Corporation (NYSE:EXK): stock turned positive on Tuesday. Though the stock opened at $3.73, the bulls momentum made the stock top out at $3.86 level for the day. The stock recorded a low of $3.7 and closed the trading day at $3.82, in the green by 1.33%. The total traded volume for the day was 1,852,513. The stock had closed at $3.77 in the previous days trading.
Endeavour Silver Corp. (Endeavour) is a Canada-based mining company. The Company is engaged in silver mining in Mexico and related activities, including property acquisition, exploration, development, mineral extraction, processing, refining and reclamation. The Company is also engaged in exploration activities in Chile. Its producing mines include Guanacevi Mine, which is located 260 kilometers northwest of the city of Durango, Mexico; Bolanitos Mine, which is located 10 kilometers northwest of the city of Guanajuato, Mexico, and El Cubo Mine, which is located six kilometers southeast of the city of Guanajuato. Its exploration projects include Guadalupe y Calvo, an advanced silver-gold exploration project; Parral Mine, which is located around 210 kilometers south of the city of Chihuahua, Mexico; Terronera, a project is located 40 kilometers northeast of Puerto Vallarta in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, and Lourdes, an early-stage exploration silver and gold property.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will host a webinar “Foreign Earned Income for U.S. Overseas Taxpayers” on June 29, 2016, 2:00-3:00 pm EDT (1:00-2:00 pm in Vallarta-Nayarit).
Caught in the crossfire: Miss Universe Paulina Vega is being urged to give up her crown to protest organization owner Donald Trump's harsh remarks about Mexicans
Miss Universe Paulina Vega, 22, of Colombia, criticized Trump's remarks but refuses to step down
Vega called the presidential hopeful's remarks 'unjust and hurtful'
Brunette stunner says she wants to continue to work in the pageant for the 'common good'
The reigning Miss Universe says Donald Trump, the beauty pageant's owner, was 'hurtful and unfair' in his comments about Mexican migrants.
But Paulina Vega has been under pressure at home and from abroad to renounce her title over Trump accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug traffickers into the U.S.
In her first public comments, Vega said Thursday that she wanted to join in the chorus of rebukes to Trump.
Besieged beauty: Miss Universe Paulina Vega refuses to give up her crown despite the controversy surrounding the pageant owner, Donald Trump
However, she said she didn't plan to resign her crown because the Miss Universe organization does meaningful social work in communities around the world.
Many Colombians were outraged by Trump's remarks, and the city government of Bogota withdrew its support for a bid to host the Miss Universe pageant.
Trump has been under fire since he began bashing Mexicans during his announcement seeking the Republican presidential nomination, saying they were bringing drugs and crime to the U.S. and are 'rapists.'
Univision, the world's largest Spanish-language network announced it would not air the Miss USA pageant in light of his remarks.
Isn't she lovely: The 22-year-old brunette stunner (pictured) is the second Colombian to win the title of Miss Universe. She probably didn't expect this level of controversy
Trump reportedly subsequently sued the company for $500 million.
NBC has also announced it would not air either the Miss Universe or Miss USA pageants.
Miss USA hosts Cheryl Burke and Thomas Roberts announced they would step down as hosts.
The pageant is to air July 11, but it's unclear who will host the show.
Macy's, which carried a Trump menswear line, also ended its relationship with the reality star and entrepreneur known as The Donald.
The famous store released a statement saying: 'We have no tolerance for discrimination in any form,' according to CBS Los Angeles.
Trump has been busy bashing Macy's on Twitter ever since.
Though he has somewhat backtracked on his remarks, he still remains unrepentant about his thoughts on Mexico in general, recently tweeting:
'We MUST have strong borders and stop illegal immigration. Without that we do not have a country. Also, Mexico is killing U.S. trade. WIN!'
Republican president hopeful Donald Trump, who said Thursday he would sue Univision for breach of contract, now plans to go after the network for defamation after an executive compared the mogul to the man accused of murdering nine black people in Charleston, South Carolina.
Trump, who on Friday called for a boycott of Univision, said he would still participate in a presidential debate hosted by the Spanish-language network.
Trump said Thursday on Fox News' The Kelly File that he plans to sue Univision for defamation after the Spanish language media giant's president of Programming and Content sent out a photo on Instagram photo comparing the presidential candidate to 21-year-old alleged Charleston shooter, Dylann Roof.
“Well, I think it’s disgraceful," Trump said." I think he should be ashamed of himself. He immediately deleted it and the lawyers are going to have a field day."
“They put a picture of me up next to that horrible human being who killed nine people," Trump said in an interview with The Daily Caller. “You know what that picture’s going to cost them? It’s going to cost them a fortune.” Trump went on to tell the Daily Caller that the Instagram post will "play very prominently" in his lawsuit against Univision.
The outspoken billionaire mogul also told Fox News' Megyn Kelly Thursday that despite his plans to sue Univision, he would still take part in the TV company's Republican presidential candidates' forum scheduled to take place before the March primaries in 2016.
"I guess, I would probably go because I would just have to go and defend myself," Trump said. "They may be much tougher on me than anybody else."
Trump said on The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson Thursday that he plans to sue media giant Univision for "hundreds of millions of dollars" for severing ties with him and the Miss Universe pageant organization. Univision had said earlier Thursday that because of offensive comments Trump made about Mexico and Mexicans when he launched his campaign, it was breaking off with the pageant organization – of which Trump is an owner – and that it would not air the event on July 12. Trump said Univision was breaching its contract to air the pageant for five years, an agreement worth $13.5 million.
On Friday Trump said in a statement that “Ciurana issued an apology to me late last night. Apology not accepted. I call for his resignation as president of Univision, and Univision should not be allowed to host the Presidential debate. It is a total conflict of interest.”
The billionaire also said on The Kelly File Thursday that he believed Univision severed ties with him because of pressure from Mexico's leaders.
"A tremendous amount of pressure was put on Univision – by Mexico and the leaders of Mexico – because they didn’t like about what I was saying about trade," Trump said. "All I have to do is be silent and Mexico would continue to rip us off for many years to come, but that’s not what our country needs to be great again."
He went on to laud how his frankness and willingness to speak straightforwardly about issues such as immigration is what makes him a better candidate than Republican presidential candidate frontrunner, former Governor Jeb Bush.
"Jeb Bush does not speak this way, that I could tell you," he said. "If Jeb Bush, was in my position he would have folded, which I could have done very easily."
The fight over ownership of a giant 752-pound emerald isn't over.
On Thursday, a federal court in Washington D.C. issued a restraining order that prevents anyone from transferring, selling or otherwise disposing of the so-called "Bahia Emerald" until a Brazilian criminal case involving it is settled.
The emerald was pulled from a mine in the jungles of Bahia state. It is one of the world's largest uncut emeralds with about 180,000 carats.
Brazil contends the gem cluster — which has been appraised at $372 million — was illegally mined and smuggled out of the country. It has criminal proceedings pending against two alleged smugglers and contends the emerald is subject to forfeiture under Brazilian law.
The restraining order stands until the Brazilian case ends and any forfeiture judgment is presented to the U.S. court. It also requires the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department — which has been storing the emerald since 2008 — to keep custody.
The United States has a mutual legal assistance treaty with Brazil and the order was sought by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The restraining order comes about a month after Los Angeles County Superior Court Michael Johnson tentatively ruled that FM Holdings Inc. had established clear title to the gem.
That followed six years and millions of dollars in legal and other costs. At the time, Andrew J. Spielberger, an attorney for FM Holdings, said the ruling was expected to be finalized in a month or two. Spielberger said nobody was expected to object to the decision because other claimants had either lost in court or settled with the holding company.
Johnson earlier had refused Brazil's request to dismiss or stay the proceedings.
An emailed request to Spielberger seeking comment on the federal restraining order was not immediately returned Thursday. However, the lawyer previously said that his clients were willing to work with Brazil but would want to be paid for the unique specimen.
The emerald came into the U.S. in early 2005 and was kept in San Jose, California. It was the subject of a torturous series of agreements that shifted ownership to various people and involved various moneymaking schemes.
The emerald was said to have been stored at a warehouse in New Orleans that was flooded during Hurricane Katrina, then supposedly was stolen from another warehouse in the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte. It was sighted briefly in Idaho before gem trader Kit Morrison, now a partner in FM Holdings, handed it over to Los Angeles County sheriff's officials in 2008 in Las Vegas, where he was trying to sell it.
PUERTO VALLARTA– A sewage-filled Rio de Janeiro beach has been removed from the list of venues for an upcoming surfing competition in the city, the World Surf League said Wednesday.
Spokesman Dave Prodan said in an emailed statement that São Conrado beach had to be removed as a competition site "due to pollution issues."
São Conrado had been a backup for the May 11-22 Rio Pro event, to be used in case of sub-par waves or other issues at the primary venue, nearby Barra da Tijuca beach.
Wedged between the high-rent Barra da Tijuca and Leblon neighborhoods and two "favela" hillside slums, São Conrado is among Rio's most polluted beaches. Much of the sewage from the slums flow untreated directly into the water. A ruptured sewage main has added to the problem in recent days, unleashing a malodorous fountain of untreated waste that is cascaded down a rocky outcropping and into the water, creating a huge brown stain.
The result of spotty infrastructure and chaotic urban planning stretching back decades, Rio's water pollution is in the spotlight ahead of next year's Olympics in the city.
An extensive cleanup of Rio's beaches, lakes, lagoons and its big Guanabara Bay, sites where Olympic aquatic events from sailing to rowing to open-water swimming are to be held, was marketed as one of the main legacies of the games. But with little progress on the promised cleanup, and with local and state authorities acknowledging the Olympic goals won't be met, athletes have begun to voice health and safety concerns about competing in the polluted waters.
In its statement, the World Surf League said it was confident that Barra da Tijuca beach "will deliver excellent conditions" as the primary site for next month's surfing event.
However, biologist Mario Moscatelli, an environmentalist who has been denouncing the state of Rio's waterways for decades, said water quality during the surfing competition will likely depend on wind and tides. Barra da Tijuca is near the spot where the sewage- and trash-filled Jacarepagua lagoon flows into the Atlantic. During low tide, wind can spread the brown patch of contaminated water to Barra da Tijuca.
"You could have a situation where most of the beach is awash in this putrid water," Moscatelli warned in a phone interview.
A New York City resident saved a struggling waitress from eviction with a $3,000 tip for his bill of $43.50 — all because of a lovely pay-it-forward campaign started by the man’s eighth grade science teacher.
Mike, who asked to remain otherwise anonymous, described his generous impulse to ABC News.
“This woman had been serving us for almost a year now. She’s a lovely individual, and she talked about how she was served an eviction notice last month. I just had also been constantly thinking about for quite some time my teacher’s project and this foundation, and I thought it was an appropriate time.”
The foundation, ReesSpecht Life, was founded by Rich Specht after the death of his 22-month-old son. The pay-it-forward organization is named after the boy, Richard Edwin-Ehmer Specht, who was nicknamed Rees.
Specht and his wife continue to encourage others to do good deeds for others. On the back of the receipt, the restaurant patron wrote, “My teacher in middle school had such a difficult experience a few years ago, which sparked me [sic] to do this.
My only requirements are:
Go to Reespecht.com and learn!
Don’t let ‘pay it forward’ end with you.
Since it is about the idea and now about you, or me, if you decide to share this, please don’t use either of our names!
Thank you for being around for all of my shows off and on Broadway. I hope that one day someone gives as much love and happiness into the world as you do.”
PUERTO VALLARTA – The sound of heavy machinery scraping against rocks and an overwhelming smell of diesel fuel invade an otherwise serene desert beach where Mexico will spend roughly $100 million building its first cruise ship home port.
The Mexican government chose to build the port in this sleepy beach town — better known as Rocky Point — because of its proximity to the United States and potential to become an international tourism destination.
“It is the most important project the city has ever had,” said Miguel Guevara, director of promotion and international affairs for the city.
Construction workers spend their days dumping rocks, making concrete blocks and placing them along the breakwater to prepare the port for a January 2017 opening.
Officials said they hope the roughly mile-long port will tap into the growing cruise ship industry by offering passengers an opportunity to explore the Sea of Cortez.
Supporters said the port could attract 3,000 new weekly visitors and transform the city’s economy.
However, critics said the port could have a harmful impact on local residents, wildlife and biodiversity.
Why Rocky Point? Rocky Point is about 200 miles southwest of Phoenix and Tucson in Sonora, Mexico, along the Gulf of California. Some have nicknamed the town “Arizona’s beach” because it’s a three and half hour drive from both cities.
Tourism in the town, historically driven by fishing, is increasing with a majority of the town’s visitors coming from Arizona.
Rosie Glover, a co-founder of the Rocky Point Tourism and Visitor Assistance Office, said the increase in tourism has been “surprisingly dramatic and not gradual at all.”
Guevara said tourism dropped after the 2009 recession and although the city has not fully recovered, some have seen impressive gains.
“For the last six months or more, we’ve been busy every single week,” Glover said.
Residents said there’s been talk around the town about the home port for decades, but many people didn’t take it seriously until recently, after construction began in December 2013.
The government has already spent roughly $40 million on the port, which is about 50 percent completed, Guevara said.
Mexican authorities support the project because it will benefit the entire country’s economy, said Jose Luís Castro, director of port operations for the Sonoran government’s tourism department.
Castro said money would flow into cities situated on the cruise ships’ routes, like San Felipe, Cabo San Lucas and Mazatlan.
Joe Houchin, who has followed the cruise industry for decades, said the cities have opportunities for repeat visitors because 80 percent of cruise goers choose land vacations based on the destinations they visit on a cruise trip.
Castro said millions of the country’s residents want to take a cruise, but don’t have visas – leaving that market largely untapped.
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In addition, officials hope to attract millions of international visitors annually.
“Our main market is and will always be Arizona, but the home port will bring people from other states to come and start their trip on the Sea of Cortez,” Guevara said.
The proximity to the U.S. made the town an ideal location for the home port, said Gustavo Brown, owner of Sandy Beach Resorts.
“With half a tank full of gas, you’ve got a whole family at the destination,” Brown said of Arizonans.
Brown donated 12 acres of land for the construction of the home port and terminal on Sandy Beach, just west of the tourist strip.
“Our dream is to create a mega tourist resort in which we could have people from all around the world to come see us,” Brown said.
Port will open up new cruise route Hotels and condominiums line a strip of oceanfront property, distinguishing the town as a tourist destination except Rocky Point is on a much smaller scale compared to cities like Cancun and Acapulco.
Although other resort towns serve as popular ports of call for cruise ships, Rocky Point’s home port will serve as a departure and arrival point for passengers.
It will start small and eventually host 3,000-passenger ships. Officials said they brought in the best contractors in the world for the project, which will include a state-of-the-art terminal and convention center.
Guevara said he hopes the port will provide a catalyst for new projects in the town.
“We’re like 20 years behind (Puerto) Vallarta and 30 behind Cancun, but yeah, why not?” Guevara said. “We are closer to the U.S. than anywhere else, so why not? That’s a good dream.”
He said this is the first test to see what Mexico can do with the cruise industry.
“There’s a need for new routes for cruises,” Guevara said.
Passengers would get a unique view of the uncharted waters of the Sea of Cortez, Castro said.
“The cruise liners also suggested (the home port) because it’s an area where they haven’t exploited,” Project Administrator Wendy Winzer said.
Houchin said some cruise goers have seen the same routes dozens of times and the growing industry needs to offer new destinations.
In 2009, about 17.8 million people took cruises. In 2013, that number grew to 21.3 million passengers, according to Cruise Lines International Association, an industry association.
Last year, major cruise lines added 22 new ships, which made room for 20,000 more beds, according to the association’s website.
Houchin, who lives in Puerto Peñasco, said cruise liners are building bigger ships to accommodate the increasing passenger volume.
“They will send the smaller ones to more exotic destinations, such as Puerto Peñasco, we hope,” Houchin said.
Houchin writes a monthly economic impact blog about the home port for the Sandy Beach Resort. He said people should expect major airlines to begin applying for landing rights at the Puerto Peñasco International Airport.
Major cruise liners did not respond to requests for comment but Castro said authorities are in contract negotiations with several liners – including XYZ.
However, some cruise liner officials expressed concerns over the small town’s ability to accommodate an influx of visitors.
If tourism swells to the level officials hope, the city will need to improve hotels, roads and airport accesses, Castro said.
“I think the city is not ready yet,” Guevara said.
However, Guevara said the infrastructure and supplies would be ready by the time the port opens.
“We can bring all the components together really fast,” he said.
Home port brings jobs, potential development Those involved with the project said the port will have an economic impact on both sides of the border and bring in much-needed jobs to the area.
“(Puerto) Peñasco is the closest beach to El Paso, Texas,” Brown said.
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He said the home port presents economic opportunity for Arizona because tourists would drive through the state to get to the port.
“We are in the same region. What’s good for Arizona is good for Sonora, what’s good for Sonora is good for Arizona,” Guevara said.
Once the home port opens, it will generate about 2,500 direct jobs and 5,000 indirect jobs in the first two years of operation, Guevara said.
And the project has brought construction jobs as well.
Winzer said there are nearly 100 people working on the port.
“It’s been a good thing because a lot of people really needed the work,” Winzer said.
She said many are working around the clock, in two shifts, making the concrete cubes that are the foundation of the structure. There’s a possibility of more 24 hours shifts if they need to increase production, she said.
Mary Snyder, director of sales and marketing for Puerto Privada Luxury Waterfront Condominiums, said when it opens, the port would send property values soaring in the town of 60,000 people.
She said this would be a good thing for the thousands of Arizonans who own properties in the area.
Guevara and Snyder said the hikes would not affect local residents because increases would apply to beachfront properties, which many locals already can’t afford.
Critics fear changes to culture, environment Officials delayed the project early on because cruise liners had concerns about the depth of the port, Castro said.
Winzer said they have overcome industry concerns and workers have been back at it since November 2014.
However, the delay heightened skepticism among the doubtful locals.
Unfinished projects — vacant condominiums and hotel renovations — dot the landscape. Locals said it’s not unusual to see construction come to a halt.
Guevara said because the port is federally funded, it would be finished.
Critics said the home port will amplify inequality in the town.
“The line is that the economy is going to boom, but there are an awful lot of people that it’s not going to boom for,” resident Beth Hill said. “It is going to increase the cost of living, and I think it’s going to be really sad.”
Everyone sees the islands of luxury surrounded by a sea of poverty. Condos and high-rise hotels tower over the shacks of the disenfranchised.
Residents are also worried about the effects the port will have on fisherman.
“Traditional users, landowners and fishers who depend on marine and coastal resources for their livelihoods, are often not consulted during these processes,” the Intercultural Center for the Study of Deserts and Oceans said in a statement.
The Tucson-based nonprofit organization initiated a project with local fishers and government agencies to develop a 10-year plan for coastline use to reduce conflicts and sustain fisheries.
The research center said the environmental changes the port will cause would affect important fishing grounds. The center also expressed concerns about the hazards the port would pose to a nesting site sea turtles occasionally use.
Winzer said they are trying to mitigate ecological disruptions.
“We have a biologist here 24/7 and he dives before the jetty to relocate sponges and reefs,” Winzer said. “The structure of the jetty has created housing for schools of fish.”
Hill said there was a noticeable change in the wildlife in the area.
“There’s a lot of wildlife that’s actually coming in that wasn’t in that area,” Hill said. “But will that stay there when the ships actually come in, and there’s traffic in that area?”
Workers have spotted many whales, dolphins, seals and locals watching construction on the port.
Everyone is curious to see what happens on Sandy Beach.
PUERTO VALLARTA— National Guard troops fanned out through the city, shield-bearing police officers blocked the streets and firefighters doused still-simmering blazes early Tuesday as a growing area of Baltimore shuddered from riots following the funeral of a black man who died in police custody.
The violence that started in West Baltimore on Monday afternoon — within a mile of where Freddie Gray, 25, was arrested and placed into a police van earlier this month — had by midnight spread to East Baltimore and neighborhoods close to downtown and near the baseball stadium. The streets were calm Tuesday morning.
Monday's rioting was one of the most volatile outbreaks of violence prompted by a police-involved death since the days of protests that followed the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man who was shot and killed during a confrontation with a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, last summer.
At least 15 officers were hurt, including six who were hospitalized, police said. There were 144 vehicle fires, 15 structure fires and nearly 200 arrests, according to numbers provided Tuesday morning by Howard Libit, a spokesman for the mayor's office.
Aerial footage Tuesday morning from Baltimore station WJZ-TV showed a firefighter spraying the burnt out shell of a large building as an American flag fluttered nearby on an untouched building.
State and local authorities pledged to restore order and calm to Baltimore, but quickly found themselves responding to questions about whether their initial responses had been adequate.
Residents clean streets as law enforcement officers stand guard, Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimo …
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was asked why she waited hours to ask the governor to declare a state of emergency, while the governor himself hinted she should have come to him earlier.
"We were all in the command center in the second floor of the State House in constant communication, and we were trying to get in touch with the mayor for quite some time," Gov. Larry Hogan told a Monday evening news conference. "She finally made that call, and we immediately took action."
Asked if the mayor should have called for help sooner, however, Hogan replied that he didn't want to question what Baltimore officials were doing: "They're all under tremendous stress. We're all on one team."
Rawlings-Blake said officials believed they had gotten the unrest that had erupted over the weekend under control "and I think it would have been inappropriate to bring in the National Guard when we had it under control."
But later on, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts made it clear events had become unmanageable. "They just outnumbered us and outflanked us," Batts said. "We needed to have more resources out there."
Police certainly had their work cut out for them: The rioters set police cars and buildings on fire in several neighborhoods, looted a mall and liquor stores and threw rocks at police with riot gear who responded occasionally with pepper spray.Batts said authorities had had a "very trying and disappointing day."
"I understand anger, but what we're seeing isn't anger," Rawlings-Blake said. "It's disruption of a community. The same community they say they care about, they're destroying. You can't have it both ways."
Gov. Hogan was temporarily moving his office to Baltimore on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the governor said Hogan would be visiting sites around the city and planned to work out of state offices in downtown Baltimore with cabinet members and senior staffers.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in her first day on the job, said she would send Justice Department officials to the city in coming days. A weeklong, daily curfew was imposed beginning Tuesday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., the mayor said, and Baltimore public schools announced they would be closed Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Linda Singh, adjutant general of the Maryland National Guard, said up to 5,000 troops would be available for Baltimore's streets.
"We are going to be out in massive force, and that just means basically that we are going to be patrolling the streets and out to ensure that we are protecting property," Singh said at a news conference Monday night.
Singh said they will be acting at the direction of Baltimore police.
Col. William Pallozzi, the superintendent of the state police, said a request for up to 500 additional law enforcement personnel in Maryland had been sent. Pallozzi added that the state is putting out a request for up to 5,000 more law enforcement personnel from around the mid-Atlantic region.
Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings and about 200 others, including ministers, tried unsuccessfully to quell the violence at one point Monday night, marching arm-in-arm through a neighborhood littered with broken glass, flattened aluminum cans and other debris. As they got close to a line of police officers, the marchers went down on their knees. They then rose to their feet and walked until they were face-to-face with the police officers in a tight formation and wearing riot gear.
An officer stands near a blaze, Monday, April 27, 2015, after rioters plunged part of Baltimore into …
But the violence continued, with looters later setting a liquor store on fire and throwing cinder blocks at fire trucks as firefighters labored to put out the blazes.
Monday's riot was the latest flare-up over the death of Gray and came amid a national debate over police use of force following the high-profile deaths of several black men in encounters with police — from the Brown death in Ferguson to the deaths of Eric Garner in New York and Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina.
Gray was black. Police have declined to specify the races of the six officers involved in his arrest, all of whom have been suspended with pay while they are under investigation.
While they are angry about what happened to Gray, his family said riots are not the answer.
"I think the violence is wrong," Gray's twin sister, Fredericka Gray, said late Monday. "I don't like it at all."
A police officer walks by a blaze, Monday, April 27, 2015, after rioters plunged part of Baltimore i …
The attorney for Gray's family, Billy Murphy, said the family had hoped to organize a peace march later in the week.
Gray was arrested on April 12 after making eye contact with officers and then running away, police said. He was held down, handcuffed and loaded into a van without a seat belt. Leg cuffs were put on him when he became irate inside.
He asked for medical help several times even before being put in the van, but paramedics were not called until after a 30-minute ride. Police have acknowledged he should have received medical attention on the spot where he was arrested, but they have not said how he suffered a serious spine injury. He died April 19.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will host a webinar “Foreign Earned Income for U.S. Overseas Taxpayers” on June 29, 2016, 2:00-3:00 pm EDT (1:00-2:00 pm in Vallarta-Nayarit).
