Same-Sex Adoption Ruling Causes Tensions
As we've reported over the last few weeks, Mexico's Supreme Court recently made two landmark rulings that validated same-sex marriages, forced all 31 Mexican states to recognize (but not perform) these marriages, and upheld a new Mexico City law allowing same-sex couples to adopt. As a result of this latest ruling regarding adoption, prominent Guadalajara Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez has publicly claimed that the Supreme Court Justices were bribed to make their decisions, and that he has proof of that. In response, Mexico City's Mayor, Marcelo Ebrard, has filed a civil suit of defamation against Cardinal Sandoval. Other Church authorities have stepped up in support of Sandoval, such as the archdiocese of Mexico City and the Bishops' Conference of Mexico. The nation's Interior Department has said that it will investigate whether Cardinal Sandoval's comments have violated the Constitution, which strictly separates Church and State, and prohibits religious groups from participating in politics.
Global Medical Tourism Conference & Expo
Medical tourism, cross-border medicine, and health travel are the latest buzzwords being bantered about at the first Global Medical Tourism Congress and Expo in Puerto Vallarta this week. There were close to 150 registered guests, 20 booths, and 24 speakers over the course of three days. This Mexican growth market will continue to expand.
As Roy Ramthun of HSA Consulting Services says, "I think the future for medical tourism is very bright. I think there will be a lot of people looking for procedures that they can no longer get in the U.S. because of some of the changes in the law. A lot of people are going to end up losing their health insurance coverage, and so they are going to be paying for their medical procedures by themselves and the cost savings by coming down here are substantial, so I think the industry is going to grow."
The expo runs August 24th through the 26th. Please be sure to follow Laura Gelezunas' series of video reports on the expo covering everything from Medicare in Mexico to what the industry is doing to make itself more attractive and accessible to the American market. You can catch it all on TVPuertoVallarta.com starting this weekend.
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Mexicana Airlines Purchased
After weeks of uncertainty as to the company's future, 95% of Mexicana Airlines' stock was purchased by Tenedora K, a newly-formed consortium of Mexican entrepreneurs. Tenedora K now takes control of Nuevo Grupo Aeronautico, the parent company of Mexicana, Mexicanaclick, and Mexicanalink. Tenedora K's directors are launching a “100 day plan” in order to restructure the airlines' strategy and creditor situation. The remaining 5% of the stock was purchased in an auction by the Airline Pilots Association.
Turtle Egg Thieves
In an unusual story, six suspects were detained last Friday outside of Acapulco with sacks containing 3,756 Olive Ridley turtle eggs. The eggs, which are buried in the sand along beaches here in Puerto Vallarta as well, are protected from harvesting by Mexican law, with punishments of one to nine years in prison. We assume most of our viewers would rather help turtles than steal them, and July through December is turtle hatching season here in Vallarta. Many local beaches have re-located nests to protect the 50-200 eggs laid by each turtle and to monitor the nests until the babies can successfully reach the sea. There are seven different types of endangered turtles that lay their eggs on Vallarta's beaches, and it takes about two months for the eggs to hatch. When they do, many local hotels invite locals and tourists alike to turtle releases.
Local Marine Biologist Recognized
Speaking of Olive Ridley sea turtles, local video production company Aviana Productions recently did a documentary about marine biologist Oscar Aranda Mena and his work with the turtles. Now, Aranda is going to be featured on CNN Heroes. Heroes is a CNN project that recognizes individuals who do extraordinary things in their communities. Aranda has been working to conserve and protect the sea turtles since 2000, and today he is the head of the Sociedad Ecologica de Occidente in Puerto Vallarta. His profile will begin airing on CNN, CNN International, and CNN en Español on Thursday, August 26th.
Mexican Wins Miss Universe Pageant
This past Monday, Jimena Navarrete won the 2010 Miss Universe competition in Las Vegas, Nevada. Representing Mexico, the 22 year-old from Guadalajara was the winner out of 82 other competitors. Navarrete studied nutrition before starting her successful beauty pageant career, which includes wins in the Nuestra Belleza Jalisco and Nuestra Belleza Mexico competitions last year. Coming in 2nd and 3rd places were Yendi Phillipps of Jamaica and Jasinta Campbell of Australia, respectively. Congratulations!
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