LatinNews Daily - 1 October 2024

*Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has stated that his government is attending to the victims of Hurricane John in the city of Acapulco on Guerrero’s Pacific coast. “We are delivering hot food, we are distributing food supplies, there is medical service. We have already started the census to deliver direct support to 15,000 homes that were affected,” stated López Obrador in the final ‘mañanera’ or daily morning press conference of his six-year term. López Obrador stated that the ministries of defence (Sedena), navy (Semar), and welfare were involved in the recovery process, along with the national civil protection commission (CNPC). John made landfall on 23 September first as a hurricane and again as a tropical storm on 27 September. Guerrero, the worst-hit state, is still struggling to recover from the impact of Hurricane Otis, which devastated the state and Acapulco in particular in October 2023. On 29 September, López Obrador announced on social media that 15 people had been killed in Guerrero as a result of the hurricane and resulting flooding, with the local media since reporting a further three deaths in the state. Authorities have also reported three deaths in neighbouring Oaxaca state. Claudia Sheinbaum, who will be sworn in as president today (1 October), plans to travel to Acapulco the day following her inauguration.