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MEXICO is to begin reopening its industrial plants following pressure from the United States, despite hospitals being left reeling by the country’s biggest one-day jump in coronavirus cases.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged on Wednesday to reopen the economy from next week.
Economy Secretary Garciela Marquez said the return to work would be “gradual, orderly and cautious,” but by May 18, industries such as construction, mining and vehicle manufacturing would be allowed to resume.
The announcement followed the country’s top advisory body on the pandemic, the General Health Council, classifying the industries as “essential activities.”
Health officials reported on Tuesday that Mexico had seen its largest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of infections above 38,000. Almost 4,000 people have now died from the virus.
Mexico has been under pressure from US officials to reopen auto-assembly plants in particular because, without the goods they produce, factories in the US and Canada cannot function.
Employment-rights lawyer Susana Prieto said that the decision showed that the Mexican government was yielding to pressure from transnationals.
“It is safe to say that the president of Mexico is a puppet of Mexican and foreign businesses that do not care about the lives of Mexican workers,” she said.
Mr Lopez Obrado said that it would be left largely to individual states to decide how to proceed with the reopenings.
In Puebla, where Volkswagen is planning to reopen plants, Governor Miguel Barbosa said that sending the state’s estimated 37,000 motor industry employees back to work “undoes all the health safety measures” and could see cases “get out of control.”