Don't panic
By HUMBERTO CARRILLO Y COLON
To fight the money laundering schemes by organized crime, the Secretariat of Finance Ernesto Cordero Arroyo, presented some measures that will limit the amount of dollars in cash within the Mexican banking system. Now people won’t be able to purchase in cash homes or cars which are worth thousands of dollars, without demonstrating where the money is coming from.
Now taxpayers who have banking accounts at a financial institution will be able to convert up to $4,000 to Mexican pesos per month.
Taxpayers who do not have a banking account and who reside in Mexico will be able to exchange up to $300 per day to pesos, up to a maximum of $1,500 per month.
Companies and businesses will be allowed to exchange dollars for pesos at banking institutions only if they conduct their business at the Mexico-U.S. border or in a touristic area, up to a maximum of $7,000 per month.
It was specified that the sale of dollars to people at large at financial institutions and the purchase and sale of dollars in any media other than cash will remain the same. People will be able to purchase dollars from a bank teller in any amount for trips overseas or to make payments in dollars.
At hotels, tourists will be allowed to pay in dollars, but they have to fill-out a special form. These measures are similar to those in France, Spain, Colombia and Germany, which were set in place to protect their financial systems from illicit deposits.
Next August, Mexico will be host to the largest number of Internet users in Latin America. About 6,000 Internet users, 45,000 guests and a million Internet followers will work for 400 uninterrupted hours in the second edition of Campus Party.
Paco Ragageles, who in 1997 created the first Campus Party in Spain, said that the challenge of the second Mexican edition “is to duplicate the number of participants” that gathered in 2009 – 3,200 Internet users, and to do better than other massive events like the one held earlier this year in Brazil.
The event, which has been held in Colombia, El Salvador and Brazil, will take place Aug. 9 to Aug. 15 in Mexico City, in a 25,000 square-meter space.
How nice!
From January to April of this year, Mexican political parties spent 184 million pesos in personnel salaries, including permanent and temporary employees, food, counseling, consulting, media, official vehicles and services such as travel, travel expenses and other expenses that are not reviewed and only need the coordinator’s signature.
Humberto Carrillo y Colón is a retired professor of the School of Journalism at the Universidad La Salle del Bajío, in León, Guanajuato. Opinions and questions: hcarrilloycolon@mexico.com
