1. The President appointed Augusto López Hernández as the new Secretary of Interior

Via Twitter, Senator Ricardo Monreal reported that Olga Sánchez Cordero requested her reinstatement to the Senate, exiting as Secretary of the Interior (Segob). Sánchez Cordero was the first woman to hold this position. With this, Jesusa Cervantes will lose her Senate seat.

President López Obrador confirmed the appointment of Adán Augusto López Hernández, current Governor of Tabasco, as head of Segob. The president declared that the governor, in addition to being his countryman, is “a close friend and companion.” The Permanent Commission of the Congress of the Union approved Lpez Hernandez leave of absence, so the delegate of Integral Development Programs in Tabasco, Carlos Manuel Merino Campos, was sworn in as provisional Governor of that entity.

Animal Político: Olga Sánchez Cordero deja Segob; la proponer para presidir el Senado.
El Universal: Tras licencia de Adán Augusto, protesta Carlos Merino como gobernador provisional de Tabasco. 

2. INE approves distribution of multi-member councils; Morena comes short of qualified majority

The General Council of the National Electoral Institute (INE) approved the distribution of proportional representation councils, or multi-member. If we add these to those with a relative majority, that is, those that were voted in on June 6th, the next legislature’s majority party will be Morena, with 198 deputies in total, followed by the PAN with 114 and the PRI with 70. The legislators will take office on September 1st.

Morena and its allies from the PVEM and PT have together 278 councils. For their part, the opposition, PAN, PRI, PRD and Movimiento Ciudadano, have total 222 deputies. Since none of the blocks reaches a qualified majority, which is 334 legislators, agreements will have to be reached to promote reforms. However, Morena and its allies have enough votes to pass secondary reforms.

El Financiero: INE aprueba reparto de diputaciones plurinominales: así quedan por partido.
Reporte Índigo: Reparte INE diputaciones plurinominales; así quedaron Morena y la oposición en San Lázaro.

3. There will be no extension for the Outsourcing Law

A week after the entry into force of the Outsourcing Law, the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) stressed that there will not be a new grace period as requested. As a result, the new rules must be followed by the companies beginning September 1st. Luisa María Alcalde, head of the STPS, indicated that, to date, 2.7 million workers have left the subcontracting framework. The figure represents 41% of outsourced employees estimated to exist in Mexico.

The Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit) received a request from 54,299 companies to stop outsourcing. Of these, 74% joined the Registry of Providers of Specialized Services or Specialized Works (REPSE); the rest have not been able to complete the process.

Milenio: No habrá prórroga para que las empresas apliquen ley de “outsourcing”, advierte STPS.
El Financiero:  El Infonavit enfrenta un “diluvio”: miles de empresas que dejarán outsourcing. 

4. U.S. Supreme Court reestablishes “Stay in Mexico” Program

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Biden administration’s request to prevent the reinstatement of the “Stay in Mexico” program, also known as “Migrant Protection Protocols,” which seeks to return asylum seekers to the U.S. to Mexico, so that they wait there until their procedures are resolved. More than 70 organizations from Mexico and the U.S. signed an open letter in which they asked the Andrés Manuel López Obrador government to oppose the reinstatement of the program.

Roberto Velasco, Head of the North America Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Relations (SRE), warned that Mexico’s migration policy is designed and executed from our country, so that the resolution issued in the United States does directly involve the Mexican government’s management. He added that they will talk with the United States to evaluate scenarios in the management of migratory flows.

El Universal: Corte de EU ordena restablecer “Quédate en México”, programa de la administración de Trump.
El Sol de México: Fallo de corte en EU no obliga a México a acatar programa, dice SRE.

5. Change of route of the Mayan Train; costs increase

The Director of the National Fund for the Promotion of Tourism (Fonatur), Rogelio Jiménez Pons, announced that the route of the Mayan Train in Campeche will be modified so as not to enter the city and thus move the station to the periphery. The decision comes after the rejection of inhabitants of the area. He added that thanks to this, savings of MXN $2 million (USD $98,735) will be achieved. Despite this, Fonatur announced that it will ask for an additional MXN $64 billion (USD $3.16 billion) to be allocated for its construction, since it will add the cost of electrifying a section that was not considered.

In addition, the Fund will stop for almost a year the construction of solar parks that would generate electricity for the Maya Train, a project for which Fonatur requested MXN $238 million (USD $11.75 million) from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP). In the remainder of 2021 and early 2022, they will prioritize the development of works, from the construction of the roads to the stations since they have not been able to advance enough in this area.

Animal Político: Fonatur cambiará ruta del Tren Maya en Campeche; se evitará desalojo de 300 familias.
Milenio: Fonatur detiene proyecto de construcción de parques solares para Tren Maya.