Mexican Governors Decry Lacking Equipment as Coronavirus Cases Surpass 5K

Several governors in Mexico are calling out the federal government over lacking protective equipment and medical supplies for public hospitals as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic climbs to more than 5,000 confirmed cases and 332 fatalities.

Baja California Governor Jaime Bonilla Valdez lashed out at the government-run health system (IMSS), claiming that the lack of action is leading to several doctors being exposed and “were dropping like flies.” The state has nine IMSS clinics where officials and claim one in Tijuana has the greatest need.

“We have been telling [IMSS] to apply yourselves, the Seguro Social in Baja California did not apply themselves and now we have the problem, and it is affecting everything else,” Bonilla Valdez said in a streamed news conference where he called out the federal IMSS delegate assigned to his state. “I don’t even know the delegate. Has anyone seen the delegate?”

#Entérate El gobernador de BC, Jaime Bonilla señala que la realidad no se puede ocultar: “Los médicos están cayendo como moscas, el IMSS no les dio la protección” pic.twitter.com/uTRhGBp3dg

— La Silla Rota (@lasillarota) April 13, 2020

Puebla Governor Luis Miguel Barbosa also criticized Mexico City, claiming they had not received needed protective equipment. In a streamed statement, Barbosa took a jab at the federal government’s recent announcement of airplanes full of protective equipment from China. The governor claimed his staff only received one box with 2,000 face masks and some gloves from federal officials. Barbosa is from the same political party as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

“There is an urban legend about some airplanes with equipment that were coming,” Barbosa said. “We didn’t get anything–I don’t know what happened– but nothing arrived to Puebla.”

#LaChispaMx #LaOtraCara
Han llegado sólo dos cajitas: Miguel Barbosa, gobernador de Puebla del partido #MORENA. Todo parece indicar que es una leyenda urbana, ya que nada de los insumos que compraron en China, ha llegado a #Puebla ni al #IMSS pic.twitter.com/AArmz7nynC

— LaChispaMx (@LaChispaMX) April 13, 2020

The criticism comes at a time when Mexico’s Health Secretariat revealed the number of confirmed cases rose to 5,014. On Sunday night, officials placed the number at 4,661. Officials have only carried out a total of 37,395 tests since the pandemic started.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com. 

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.     

Tony Aranda from Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project contributed to this report