17%DE LOS EMPLEADOSde los comercios en el Centro de la CDMX usa careta. / 24

Julio César Serna, quien fue jefe de gabinete en el anterior gobierno capitalino, fue detenido anoche por el delito de enriquecimiento ilícito. Comunidad | 24CAE CERCANO A MANCERA

DOMINGO28 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2021

AÑO CV TOMO VI, NO. 38,070 CIUDAD DE MÉXICO 40 PÁGINAS

$15.00

ALMUDENA GRANDES (1960-2021)

DIO SU VOZ A OTROSLa escritora y periodista española murió a los 61 años debido a un cáncer. Su obra, que fue llevada al cine, destaca por su mirada progresista y la revalorización de la memoria colectiva desde las víctimas. / 26

AGENCIAS, ARTURO PÁRAMO Y WENDY ROA

Ómicron, la nue-va variante de covid-19 que ha puesto en alerta al mundo, ya re-gistra contagios en 11 países: a los

casos iniciales en Sudáfri-ca, Botsuana, Israel, Hong Kong y Bélgica, este sábado se confirmaron otros en Rei-no Unido, Holanda, Alema-nia, Italia, República Checa y Malawi.

Ante el avance de la va-riante, calificada por la OMS como “preocupante” por su número de mutaciones, Is-rael cerrará sus fronteras a extranjeros durante dos se-manas, Reino Unido retomó la medida obligatoria de por-tar cubrebocas en sitios pú-blicos y aplicará pruebas PCR a quien ingrese al país. Ar-gentina permitirá asistencia a actos masivos y en espacios cerrados sólo con esquema completo de vacunación.

Sin embargo, el sub-secretario de Salud, Hugo López-Gatell, dijo que las restricciones de viajes o cie-rres de fronteras son medidas poco útiles para evitar la lle-gada de la variante y, al con-trario, afectan la economía.

Vía Twitter, señaló que ómicron podría tener ma-yor transmisibilidad que va-riantes previas, pero no se ha demostrado que sea más vi-rulenta o evada la respuesta inmune inducida por las va-cunas. “La información di-fundida sobre los riesgos de

la nueva variante es despro-porcionada respecto a lo que muestra la evidencia científi-ca existente”, indicó.

Oliva López, secretaria de Salud capitalina, informó que en el país aún no se han de-tectado casos de ómicron.

PRIMERA | PÁGS. 10, 12 Y 24

SE EXPANDE EN NACIONES DE EUROPA

Aprietan cerco ante avance de variante ómicronMIENTRAS ALGUNOS PAÍSES CIERRAN FRONTERAS y anuncian pruebas PCR a viajeros, López-Gatell dijo que la información difundida sobre los riesgos es desproporcionada

... y en semáforo verde olvidan la pandemiaMientras llega la nueva variante de covid-19, ayer en la CDMX hubo dos actos masivos en los que los asistentes relajaron las medidas sanitarias: el Flow Fest, que tuvo 75 mil personas, y el duelo América-Pumas en el Estadio Azteca, que registró aforo completo: 81 mil aficionados.

FUNCIÓN

ADRENALINA

Arturo Álvarez, por amor al prójimoQuímico egresado de la UdeG, donde dio clases durante 31 años, el Inge Arturo destacó por su trato amable y generoso hacia sus semejantes. Es el primer mexicano miembro del Opus Dei en proceso de canonización. / 8-9

PRIMERA

PRIMERA

HABLADO_RETRATO

Se apunta nuevo contendiente rumbo a 2024POR HÉCTOR FIGUEROA

Con la propuesta de im-pulsar un candidato ciu-dadano a la Presidencia de la República para 2024, políticos y activis-tas presentaron ayer el Frente Cívico Nacional.

Entre los integrantes de la nueva organización están los expresidentes nacionales del PRD, Gua-dalupe Acosta Naranjo, y del PAN, Gustavo Ma-dero Muñoz, así como el senador Emilio Álva-rez Icaza, la excandidata presidencial Cecilia Soto y el politólogo Raúl Trejo Delabre.

En su documento base, la iniciativa se plan-tea como “una alternati-va de organización plural e inclusiva, abierta y de-liberativa, democrática y transparente”.

“Queremos propo-ner que el candidato o la candidata que surja de un gran bloque opositor sea electo por los ciu-dadanos”, indicó Acosta Naranjo.

Propusieron organi-zar una serie de debates a nivel nacional tras los cuales solicitarán al INE que organice una elec-ción primaria para que los ciudadanos elijan a quien será el candidato

presidencial del Frente.“El Frente Cívico viene

a unir, viene a sumar, vie-ne a pedir que la alianza sea aún más amplia de lo que hoy se ha cons-truido”, apuntó Acosta Naranjo.

PRIMERA | PÁGINA 4

LANZAN EL FRENTE CÍVICO NACIONAL

LÓPEZ OBRADOR SUPERVISÓ TRABAJOS

AVANZA CONEXIÓN EN EL ISTMO DE TEHUANTEPECEl Presidente recorrió las obras de modernización del puerto de Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, proyecto que se enmarca dentro del Corredor Interoceánico: una estrategia para conectar ese punto con Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, y de ahí con el Tren Maya. / 2

LIBERTAD, DEBATE Y AUTONOMÍALa FIL Guadalajara inició con un rechazo al pensamiento único y la entrega del Premio en Lenguas Romances a Diamela Eltit. / 27

EXPRESIONES

Va por México impulsará a medias agenda progresistaAunque diputados del PRI, PAN y PRD están a favor de la igualdad sustantiva, no irán en bloque en temas como los matrimonios gay y la despenalización del aborto. / 2

PRIMERA

Suma adeptos plan para aprovechar cultivo de cannabisColectivos de cuatro estados firmaron el Plan de Tetecala, que busca recuperar la libertad para el cultivo y explotación de mariguana para uso medicinal y lúdico. / 6

Empezar a difun-dir entre la ciuda-danía su plan de trabajo.

Consolidar las re-presentaciones en los estados rumbo a una convención.

HOJA DE RUTALa nueva fuerza política deli-neó sus próximas tareas.

Pedir al INE que organice el proce-so de elección de su candidato.

Fabiola Guarneros Saavedra 4Carlos Carranza 17Vianey Esquinca 19

Foto

: Dan

iel B

etan

zos

Ilustración: Horacio Sierra

Foto: Pedro Tonantzin

Foto: Especial

Foto: AFP

Foto: Cuartoscuro

Foto

: Mex

spor

t

Foto

: Tom

ada

de T

witt

er @

Alm

uden

aGra

ndes

EXPR

ESIO

NES

PRIMERA

Una complicidad alimentada por trabajo duro y una fe ciega en los proyectos es la clave del éxito para la mancuerna Pedro Almodóvar-Penélope Cruz.

FUNCIÓN

SON EL UNO PARA EL OTRO

ATLASMONTERREY

11

ADRENALINA

¡PUMAS RUGE Y ELIMINA A LAS ÁGUILAS!

Foto: AFP

AMÉRICAPUMAS

13

PANTONE 282 C

PANTONE PRO Yel CV

PANTONE 032 C

CLUB AMÉRICALOGOTIPO

1 • GLOBAL •3

1 • GLOBAL • 1

DOMINGO 28 DE NOVIEMBRE DE 2021 // CIUDAD DE MÉXICO // AÑO 38 // NÚMERO 13418 // Precio 10 pesosDIRECTORA GENERAL: CARMEN LIRA SAADEDIRECTOR FUNDADOR: CARLOS PAYÁN VELVER

Almudena Grandes dio voz a los vencidos del franquismo

La escritora madrileña perdió ayer la batalla contra el cáncer, a los 61 años. Muy respetada en el mundo de las letras, se convirtió en una de las principales recuperadoras de la memoria histórica de los vencidos de la guerra civil española, a quienes dio voz en sus historias, en las que también había profundidad fi losófi ca, histórica, erotismo, poesía y compromiso político. La FIL de Guadalajara, que este sábado arrancó su edición 35, rindió un minuto de silencio en homenaje a la novelista,

a quien en 2011 le otorgó el Premio de Literatura Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. “Siempre estuvo parada del lado correcto de la realidad”, dijo la novelista chilena Diamela Eltit, quien ayer recibió el galardón de Literatura en Lenguas Romances. Sergio Ramírez, Cervantes 2017, quien era su amigo, se sumó al pesar por el temprano deceso de la autora de Las edades de Lulú, entre otras grandes obras. Foto Afp ARMANDO G. TEJEDA, JUAN CARLOS G. PARTIDA Y REYES MARTÍNEZ / CULTURA

Pleno respeto a DH, prioridad de Loretta Ortiz

Covid: llega ómicron a varios paísesde Europa● Israel sella fronteras y más naciones endurecen controles por nueva variante

● Alarma exagerada, dice López-Gatell; refuerza la CDMX control en aeropuerto

ROCÍO GONZÁLEZ, ARTURO SÁNCHEZ Y AGENCIAS / P 8 Y 32

Favorece a 5 grandes fi rmas de alimentos el alza en los precios

Su valor en bolsa se disparó $72 mil millones en un año

Lala, Bimbo, Gruma, Herdez y Bachoco subieron a 390.2 mil mdp

Esas empresas elaboran la mayor parte de productosde consumo nacional

El repunte equivale a partidas de los 4 programas claves del gobierno

El movimiento, mientras la carestía llevó a la pobreza a otros 6 millones

BRAULIO CARBAJAL / P 22

/ CULTURA

Agradecimiento a Pepe Carral

ELENA PONIATOWSKA

/ P 16

OPINIÓN

Segunda oleada progresista en AL

ÁLVARO GARCÍA LINERA

HOY

La nueva ministra de la Corte, en entrevista conLa Jornada. Foto Marco Peláez ANDREA BECERRIL / P 3

C M Y K Nxxx,2021-11-28,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

U(D547FD)v+&!:!/!?!=

A Kurdish family twice gave up every-thing to flee Iraq for Europe, desperatefor a better life. Now they are back inKurdistan. PAGE 4

INTERNATIONAL 4-13

Migrants’ Circular Struggle

The Bradford pear, hugely popularwhen suburbs were developed, kickedoff an unstoppable invasion. PAGE 14

From a Pretty Tree to a Plague

Members of the company’s intelligence-gathering team were accused of illegalactivity. The claims weren’t true, butthe allegations still follow them. PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

The Price Paid by Uber’s Spies

One teenager shares what it was like tolive through six months of the mostdisrupted period in the modern historyof public education. PAGE 6

METROPOLITAN

An Anxious Path to Senior Year

“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” isabout to become the longest-runninglive-action sitcom in U.S. history. Itscreator wonders what’s next. PAGE 12

ARTS & LEISURE

Brotherly Love Abounds

Farhad Manjoo PAGE 4

SUNDAY REVIEW

Carissa Schumacher claims to channelthe dead for high-profile clients. Shesays she doesn’t want fame. PAGE 12

A Medium Wants to Live Small

Propelled by the renewed popularity ofmaximalist home décor, ornamentalfake food is in demand again. PAGE 1

SUNDAY STYLES

Inedible but ‘Joyfully Wacky’

Two decades ago, Spain was the newFrance, leading gastronomic innova-tion. Now, iconic chefs from each coun-try have joined forces in Paris. PAGE 6

A Marriage of Tastes

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the formerpresident, has beaten back corruptioncases and climbed to the front of nextyear’s presidential race. PAGE 8

Comeback Attempt in Brazil

Lines of fans formed quickly at pianobars and theaters as word spread ofStephen Sondheim’s death. PAGE 26

NATIONAL 14-26

Mourning a Broadway GeniusThe vaccine is ready for kids ages 5 to12! And in other news, because of thepandemic, snow days could now be athing of the past.

THE NEW YORK TIMES FOR KIDS

It’s Our Turn

Brian Shelton’s life was ruled byType 1 diabetes.

When his blood sugar plum-meted, he would lose conscious-ness without warning. He crashedhis motorcycle into a wall. Hepassed out in a customer’s yardwhile delivering mail. Followingthat episode, his supervisor toldhim to retire, after a quarter cen-tury in the Postal Service. He was57.

His ex-wife, Cindy Shelton, tookhim into her home in Elyria, Ohio.“I was afraid to leave him alone allday,” she said.

Early this year, she spotted acall for people with Type 1 diabe-tes to participate in a clinical trialby Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Thecompany was testing a treatmentdeveloped over decades by a sci-entist who vowed to find a cure af-ter his baby son and then histeenage daughter got the devas-tating disease.

Mr. Shelton was the first pa-tient. On June 29, he got an infu-sion of cells, grown from stemcells but just like the insulin-pro-

ducing pancreas cells his bodylacked.

Now his body automaticallycontrols its insulin and blood sug-ar levels.

Mr. Shelton, now 64, may be thefirst person cured of the diseasewith a new treatment that has ex-perts daring to hope that help may

A Cure for Severe Diabetes? For an Ohio Patient, It Worked.

By GINA KOLATA

Brian Shelton may be the firstto be cured of Type 1 diabetes.

AMBER FORD FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page 18

HICKORY, N.C. — Six monthsinto the coronavirus pandemic, asmillions of workers lost their jobsand companies fretted about theireconomic future, something unex-pected happened at Hancock &Moore, a purveyor of custom-upholstered leather couches andchairs in this small North Carolinatown.

Orders began pouring in.

Families stuck at home had de-cided to upgrade their sectionals.Singles tired of looking at theirsad futons wanted new and nicerliving room furniture. And theywere willing to pay up — whichturned out to be good, because thecost of every part of producingfurniture, from fabric to wood toshipping, was beginning to swiftlyincrease.

More than a year later, the fur-niture companies that dot Hick-ory, N.C., in the foothills of the

Blue Ridge Mountains, have beenpresented with an unforeseen op-portunity: The pandemic and itsensuing supply chain disruptionshave dealt a setback to the fac-tories in China and Southeast Asiathat decimated American manu-facturing in the 1980s and 1990swith cheaper imports. At the sametime, demand for furniture is verystrong.

In theory, that means they havea shot at building back some of the

The production floor at a Century Furniture factory in Hickory, N.C., where demand is soaring.TRAVIS DOVE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Shipping Snarl Energizes a U.S. Furniture HubBy JEANNA SMIALEK

Continued on Page 16

Millions of ordinary people inIran and Israel recently foundthemselves caught in the crossfireof a cyberwar between their coun-tries. In Tehran, a dentist drovearound for hours in search of gaso-line, waiting in long lines at fourgas stations only to come awayempty.

In Tel Aviv, a well-known broad-caster panicked as the intimatedetails of his sex life, and those ofhundreds of thousands of othersstolen from an L.G.B.T.Q. datingsite, were uploaded on social me-dia.

For years, Israel and Iran haveengaged in a covert war, by land,sea, air and computer, but the tar-gets have usually been military orgovernment related. Now, the cy-berwar has widened to target ci-vilians on a large scale.

In recent weeks, a cyberattackon Iran’s nationwide fuel distribu-tion system paralyzed the coun-try’s 4,300 gas stations, whichtook 12 days to have service fullyrestored.

That attack was attributed to Is-rael by two U.S. defense officials,who spoke on the condition of ano-nymity to discuss confidential in-telligence assessments. It was fol-lowed days later by cyberattacksin Israel against a major medicalfacility and a popular L.G.B.T.Q.dating site, attacks Israeli officialshave attributed to Iran.

The escalation comes as Ameri-can authorities have warned ofIranian attempts to hack the com-puter networks of hospitals andother critical infrastructure in theUnited States. As hopes fade for adiplomatic resurrection of the Ira-nian nuclear agreement, such at-tacks are only likely to proliferate.

Hacks have been seeping intocivilian arenas for months. Iran’snational railroad was attacked inJuly, but that relatively unsophis-ticated hack may not have been Is-raeli. And Iran is accused of mak-ing a failed attack on Israel’s wa-ter system last year.

The latest attacks are thoughtto be the first to do widespreadharm to large numbers of civil-ians. Nondefense computer net-works are generally less securethan those tied to state securityassets.

No one died in these attacks, butif their goal was to create chaos,

Israel and Iran Widen Targets In a Cyberwar

Hackers Begin to Take a Toll on Civilians

By FARNAZ FASSIHIand RONEN BERGMAN

Continued on Page 13

Nations in southern Africa pro-tested bitterly on Saturday asmore of the world’s wealthiestcountries cut them off from travel,renewing a debate over borderclosures from the earliest days ofthe coronavirus pandemic andcompounding the problems facingpoorly vaccinated countries.

A new coronavirus variantcalled Omicron, first detected inBotswana, put governments onedge after South Africa an-nounced a surge of cases this pastweek, plunging countries into themost uncertain moment of thepandemic since the highly conta-gious Delta variant took hold thisspring.

As in the early days of Delta, po-litical alarm spread quickly acrossthe world, with officials tradingblame over how the failures of theglobal vaccination effort were al-lowing the virus to mutate, evenas researchers warned that thetrue threat of the new variant wasnot yet clear.

Bearing a worrying number ofmutations that researchers fearcould make it spread easily, Omi-cron was spotted on Saturday inpatients in Britain, Germany andItaly, leaving in its wake what sci-entists estimated to be thousandsof cases in southern Africa andtens or hundreds more globally.One country after another shut itsdoors to southern Africa even asthey spurned public health meas-ures that scientists said were farmore urgently needed to take onthe new variant.

Australia, Thailand and SriLanka were among the latestcountries on Saturday to join theUnited States, Britain and the Eu-ropean Union in banning travelersfrom South Africa and nearbycountries.

Israel announced the world’sstrictest ban to date, sealing itsborders to all foreigners for 14days after one case was confirmedin the country.

“The key here is caution andminimal risks until we knowmore,” Prime Minister Naftali

AFRICAN NATIONSBITTERLY REBUKENEW TRAVEL BANS

ISRAEL SEALS BORDERS

The West Is Criticized for Hoarding Vaccines in

the First Place

By BENJAMIN MUELLERand DECLAN WALSH

Continued on Page 10

LOS ANGELES — As the Ham-mer Museum emerges from lastyear’s pandemic shutdown, it hasassembled a lineup of big namesthat it hopes will draw crowdsback to its campus down the streetfrom the University of California,Los Angeles: Cézanne, Manet,Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec. AndWaters.

That would be Alice Waters, therestaurateur who founded ChezPanisse in Berkeley 50 years agoand went on to help define modernCalifornia cuisine. She is lendingher name and reputation to Lulu, anew restaurant she has helpedopen in the courtyard of the Ham-mer, the first time she has associ-ated herself so closely with arestaurant since opening Chez Pa-nisse.

“It will bring people who would-n’t be museumgoers to the mu-seum,” said Ann Philbin, the exec-utive director of the Hammer, whorecruited Ms. Waters for thisproject. “It is about cross-pollina-tion of audiences.”

The Hammer, which is affiliatedwith U.C.L.A., is the latest in a longline of arts institutions collaborat-ing with big-name chefs in thehopes of expanding their audi-ences. And Ms. Waters is the lat-est in a long line of celebrityrestaurateurs (for the record, she

‘Restauratrice’ Brings Her ArtTo the Museum

By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Continued on Page 23

MINNEAPOLIS — When MauriFriestleben learned that Minneapolis wasrolling out a new school integration plan —and that the school she led, a predomi-nantly Black, low-income high school,would soon include white students fromsome of the wealthiest neighborhoods intown — she looked around and proudly con-sidered all that her school had to offer.

The hallways at North Community Highare a tapestry of blue and white, the schoolcolors, and the mascot, a polar bear, seemsto roar around every corner. The curricu-lum had been updated to expand access toadvanced placement courses: U.S. history,physics, art and design. The school had anew athletic field, and on the first floor, a ra-dio studio.

But in some phone conversations with

potential new families, Ms. Friestleben, theprincipal, sensed deep skepticism.

Parents peppered her with questions.Exactly how many A.P. courses did herschool offer? Was Spanish the only lan-guage option? Would their children be safewalking from the bus? Some even won-dered how she had gotten their number andasked her not to call again.

Ms. Friestleben, a mixed-race womanwho identifies as Black, knew that herschool had its challenges, including a his-tory of struggling enrollment and low testscores. But she was working hard to servethe needs of her students and had little in-terest in adjusting her focus to woo whitefamilies.

“At times,” she said, “it was demeaningand humiliating.”

Minneapolis, among the most segre-gated school districts in the country, withone of the widest racial academic gaps, is inthe midst of a sweeping plan to overhauland integrate its schools. And unlike previ-ous desegregation efforts, which typicallyrequired children of color to travel to whiteschools, Minneapolis officials are askingwhite families to help do the integrating — anewer approach being embraced by a smallgroup of urban districts across the country.

“Everyone wants equity as long as itdoesn’t inconvenience them,” said EricMoore, senior officer for accountability, re-search and equity for Minneapolis Public

North Community High in Minneapolis, predominantly Black, was rezoned to include whiter, wealthier neighborhoods.PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANDREA ELLEN REED FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Minneapolis Integration Is a Two-Way StreetA Hard Sell in Black

and White AreasBy SARAH MERVOSH

Mauri Friestleben, the principal atNorth, greeting students at the doors.

Continued on Page 24

Late Edition

VOL. CLXXI . . . No. 59,256 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2021

Today, cloudy, rain or snow showers,high 43. Tonight, showers or possi-ble flurries early, cloudy, low 34. To-morrow, partly sunny skies, high 42.Weather map appears on Page 34.

$6.00

$3.66 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER © 2021 WST latimes.comSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2021

BUSINESS INSIDE: Supply chain snarls have led to record earnings for shipping giants. A17

The reunion was a replay

of so many painful en-

counters that she could

no longer keep them

straight in her thoughts.

She had rushed from a lunch

engagement still wearing a silky

flowered dress. She sat on a curb

beside her 45-year-old brother in

the trash area of a Pasadena strip

mall. She made small talk, easing

into the big question: Would he let

her take him back to his home?

If he didn’t go, he would soon be picked up on a

warrant. He was AWOL from his court-supervised

diversion program.

Sympathetic social workers had helped Sarah

Dusseault find her brother after he left his resi-

dential care facility in South Los Angeles and

walked back to old haunts in Pasadena.

Dusseault, who is a prominent figure in local

government efforts to help the homeless, had

pleaded with them to commit him on a 72-hour

psychiatric hold under the stand-

ard of grave disability.

They said they were hamstrung

because he appeared well clothed

and fed.

“The whole thing drips with

irony,” Dusseault said. “I just went

out there and gave him clean

clothes and gave him lunch. Are you

saying I should make sure I don’t

give him anything? Is that the

better plan?”

She lined up a shelter and came back a couple

of days later to pick him up. But he wasn’t cooper-

ating. He ignored the question and talked about

his fantasy of working with Antonio Banderas.

Then his voice stopped while his lips continued to

shape words.

“Are you talking to Ben?” she asked.

A minute later he was on his feet, marching in a

circle while ranting out loud to, or about, his

younger brother Ben.

She had failed.

COLUMN ONE

Falling through atattered safety net

By Doug Smith

One man’s mental illness takes a toll on him and hissiblings, some who work in a system that’s failed him

Elaine Conrad

JOHN MAURER had ambitions of becoming a model, top, before schizophreniaand homelessness took hold. Below, he mugs for the camera as a child.

MaryRose Courtney

[SeeToll,A10]

A newly identified co-

ronavirus variant that has

sparked global restrictions

on travel and shaken finan-

cial markets could make the

holiday season even more

perilous in California and

across the nation.

Even before the Omicron

variant was discovered,

health officials were warning

of a winter wave of COVID-19

as society regroups for holi-

day events and travel, and

cold weather keep more peo-

ple indoors. While it’s not

clear how dangerous the

new variant is, it’s adding

urgency to efforts to get

more people vaccinated —

and to get booster shots for

those with waning immunity

— and to follow masking

and other safety rules, ex-

perts say.

“The new variant adds

another reminder that

there are more new variants

out there that are poten-

tially incubating,” said Dr.

Eric Topol, director of the

Scripps Research Trans-

lational Institute in La Jolla.

“So if anything, the silver lin-

ing of Omicron is it’s a wake-

up call for all those people

thinking we’re at the end of

this. No, we’re not — not by

any stretch, unfortunately.”

While no cases of the

Omicron variant have been

detected in the United

States, many experts say it

may already be here, given

the country’s lack of system-

atic genomic sequencing

that would flag it.

The variant, first identi-

fied by South Africa amid a

spike in infections there, has

more mutations than any

other that scientists have

seen, including some that

There’smore tocome,variantshowsOmicron is a ‘wake-upcall’ that mutationswill continue amidlow vaccination rates.

By Alex Wigglesworth,

Sarah Parvini and

Rong-Gong Lin II

[SeeOmicron,A8]

As she waited for a

Metro train in Hollywood,

Maritza Mancilla shielded

herself behind the escalator

bringing passengers down

into the fluorescent-lighted

underground.

She wanted to see the

newcomers before they

could see her.

The 55-year-old, who re-

lies on public transportation

to get to her job as a house-

cleaner, has seen fights

break out on the train. She’s

seen a man attempt to open

the car doors while they

were in motion. At the Holly-

wood/Western Metro station

earlier this year, a man ex-

posed himself to her.

“If I could work from

home, I would,” she said.

With the pandemic eas-

ing and lockdowns lifted, a

return to normality has

come with benefits: in-

creased economic activity,

more people going back to

work and school, plus holi-

day gatherings and social

interactions.

But on the Los Angeles

public transit system —

where ridership has re-

bounded to about 843,000

weekday daily riders from a

pandemic low of about

363,800 — normal has also

brought with it a rise in

crime.

In 2021, through Septem-

ber, reports of violent crimes

were up 25% from the same

time last year and 9% from

2019, according to L.A.

County Metropolitan Trans-

portation Authority data.

Some crimes, such as

aggravated assaults, are ex-

ceeding pre-pandemic levels

even though bus and rail rid-

ership hasn’t fully recovered.

Although still rare, homi-

cides jumped from one in

2019 to three in 2020, the first

full year of the pandemic. So

far in 2021, five people have

been killed in stations or on

public transport, including a

28-year-old woman fatally

shot on the train while on

her way to work.

While most people ride

public transit without inci-

dent, the issue of crime re-

cently sparked a clash be-

tween L.A. County Sheriff

Metroriderscite risein crime

As ridership rebounds,reports of violence,including five killings,are up even frompre-pandemic levels.

By Brittny Mejia

[SeeMTA,A14]

Earlier this month, Mil-

bet Del Cid used social me-

dia to put customers of her

Guatemalan restaurant on

alert. Soon, she would have

to make sure they were vac-

cinated to let them in.

Almost immediately, the

criticism poured in.

“If you’re obligated to

ask,” one customer wrote in

response, “then we won’t eat

there anymore, so there.”

Come Monday, Los Ange-

les’ vaccine mandate will

compel Del Cid to ask people

for proof of vaccination. She

can either enforce the law

and deny some people entry

into her restaurant or she

can violate it, which Del Cid

said she wouldn’t do.

Either way, it won’t be

fun.

“If I don’t let customers

eat,” she said, “who’s going

to lose that business? Me.”

But the stakes are too

high for Del Cid to back

down: Latinos have been in-

fected and killed by the co-

ronavirus in numbers above

most any other group. And

most of her customers are

Latino.

At her Amalia’s Restau-

rant on the edge of Korea-

town, Del Cid has repeatedly

tried to debunk false claims

about the vaccine.

She said one woman told

her it contained a microchip,

men have said it causes

fertility problems, and some

religious customers even

tried to link it to the “mark of

They’re about to get a taste of vaccine outrage

PAOLA MORATAYA, right, checks proof of vaccination at Amalia’s Restaurantin L.A. “I have to be ... the bodyguard for the city,” the restaurant’s owner said.

Francine Orr Los Angeles Times

Restaurants must enforce mandateand cope with defiant customers

By Ruben Vives

[SeeRestaurants,A12]

Who was thatmasked man?The heroes and villainsreturn to Comic-Con,vaccinated or tested.CALIFORNIA, B1

Russia jails 5over mine blastThe site’s director andothers are held pend-ing an investigationinto the explosion thatkilled 51. WORLD, A4

COVID blamedfor U.S. issuesAides say economyand Biden’s standingdepend on controllingpandemic. NATION, A6

Telework lawsmay backfire Portugal tries to pro-tect employees, butcritics say rules aren’tfeasible. WORLD, A3

Weather:Sunny and warm.L.A. Basin: 80/55. B10

Printed with soy inks onpartially recycled paper.

7

985944 10300

of her dogs mysteriously

died, one by eating meat

laced with rat poison. Her

security system was hacked.

Someone posted ads in her

name on Craigslist soliciting

men for anal sex.

Bixler made these allega-

tions in a lawsuit, charging

that Scientology waged a

After Chrissie Bixler told

the LAPD that Scientologist

and actor Danny Masterson

had raped her, strangers

showed up at her home,

filmed her family and

peaked in her windows. Two

campaign to terrorize her af-

ter failing to dissuade her

from reporting Masterson to

police. Other women joined

the lawsuit after telling po-

lice that Masterson had sex-

ually assaulted them —

which he has denied — say-

ing they too had been

stalked and placed under

surveillance.

But some of the women,

including Bixler, formerly

belonged to Scientology,

and like other members

signed agreements to sub-

mit any disputes to binding

arbitration before a three-

member board of practicing

Scientologists suing church face hurdleRape case turns focus on use of religious tribunals, not courts, in disputes

By Maura Dolan

[See Scientology,A14]