As quake alarm sounded, reporters in National Palace ordered to remain seated

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March 4, 2022

President López Obrador and other officials evacuated to the National Palace courtyard when the earthquake alarm sounded. Presidencia de la República

President López Obrador promptly left the building when the earthquake alarm sounded Thursday morning due to a 5.7-magnitude quake in Veracruz, but reporters gathered in the National Palace for the president’s news conference were ordered to remain seated and didn’t start to evacuate for 2 1/2 minutes.

“Let’s go,” López Obrador said shortly after the alarm began at approximately 8:40 a.m., while reporters and other media workers sprang to their feet ready to exit the building.

A Civil Protection official quickly threw a wrench in their plans, ordering them to stay calm and sit down.

“Sit down, prepare your things please. Seated please,” the official said into a microphone. “Now we’re going to evacuate. Remain seated please. Sit down, sit down,” he added, before a lengthy period of silence ensued.

The official finally gave instructions to evacuate the building and the reporters started doing so a full 150 seconds after the alarm began. Another minute passed before most of the reporters, photographers and camera operators had left the room where López Obrador holds his weekday morning press conferences.

Watch this video on YouTube

After the earthquake alarm sounded, journalists were asked to remain seated inside while the president and other officials evacuated the building.

Mexico City’s earthquake alarm, amplified through loudspeakers situated across the capital, usually sounds about a minute before a quake begins to be felt, although the time varies depending on the epicenter. It gives residents a brief window of opportunity to evacuate to the safety of the street and thus avoid the risk of being caught in a building that collapses.

According to a Mexico City government guide, people inside a building should promptly evacuate when the alarm sounds provided they are on a lower floor. The Treasury Room where AMLO’s morning pressers are held is on the ground floor, and opens onto the National Palace’s central courtyard, to which reporters eventually evacuated to find government officials already there.

“It was a bad decision to tell them to sit in their place,” said Fernando Torres, a civil protection trainer who works for a private company.

“The right thing is to retreat to areas of lower risk … so it wasn’t appropriate for the journalists to remain seated,” he said.

However, the civil protection chief of the president’s office defended the decision to instruct reporters to remain in their seats.

Marco Antonio Mosqueda told reporters that the Treasury Room protocol is to remain in place as the alarm sounds and while the earth is moving and to evacuate only after the ground stops shaking.

Marco Antonio Mosqueda, the civil protection chief of the president's office, answered reporters' questions after the incident. — Marco Antonio Mosqueda, the civil protection chief of the president’s office, answered reporters’ questions after the incident. Screenshot

“We’re not exposed to anything here,” he said, apparently referring to the structural integrity of the National Palace. “Or did you see something?”

Mosqueda didn’t explain why López Obrador and other officials didn’t follow the same protocol.

A message posted to the Gobierno de México Twitter account, the official account of the president’s office, said that “each building within the National Palace has its own protocol and the structures are periodically checked by Cenapred” – the National Disaster Prevention Center.

Contradicting the Mexico City government advice, Cenapred’s deputy director of earthquake risks told the newspaper El País that staying in place is not an unreasonable protocol given that the Treasury Room is on the ground floor.

“I don’t know what the characteristics of the conference room are, but if there is no danger of objects falling, you can recommend that the attendees stay inside,” Jonatán Arreola Manzano said.

However, he subsequently acknowledged that the best thing people can do if they are on the ground floor of a building is to go outside to a place where there is no risk of objects falling on top of them.

“On the 17th floor there’s no time to evacuate. The best thing is to look for a place where you can take shelter,” Arreola said.

“It’s a personal decision to leave immediately or to put yourself in a safe place [inside],” he added, although the reporters were prevented from exercising their own judgement.

Fortunately, no damage was reported after Thursday’s quake, whose epicenter was in southern Veracruz.

With reports from El Universal and El País

Huejotzingo’s annual Carnival parade is many things all at once

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Joseph Sorrentino

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March 3, 2022

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Huejotzingo Carnival — Huejotzingo's Carnival celebration is a mishmash of Catholic religious and pre-Hispanic seasonal rituals mixed with a recreation of the 1862 Battle of Puebla. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino

In Huejotzingo, Puebla, Carnival is huge, extremely noisy, very colorful and a lot of fun. And there are a lot of guns.

Officially, this year marked the 154th anniversary of Carnival, but according to Huejotzingo culture and tourism director Edgar Aguilar Teyssier, it’s much older.

“In reality, Carnival has [gone on for] eight centuries,” he said. “What is correct is that this is the 154th anniversary of the militarization of Carnival — that is to say, when it started to celebrate the battle of Cinco de Mayo.”

Carnival’s true origin is linked to the beginning of the farming cycle, when indigenous groups started preparing the land for planting, but despite it’s co-opting over a century ago, it’s still an important event in Huejotzingo, Aguilar said, estimating that 20,000 to 25,000 residents would participate this year.

“[Huejotzingo] has a population of about 90,000, so one of every three participate in the parade, and really, 100% of the population is immersed in Carnival,” he said. “If you are not a dancer, you are someone who makes food or makes clothing.”

Participants are grouped into four “battalions,” one from each of Huejotzingo’s neighborhoods. A band accompanies each, with a “general” leading them.

Each wears a distinctive costume and carries fusiles talladas, elaborately carved and very loud muskets, which have caused injuries and even deaths on occasion, Aguilar said. But, he added, “there are 25,000 participants, and barely 10 people are hurt.”

In Huejotzingo, Carnival commemorates three events: the defeat of the French in Puebla on May 5, 1862; the story of a kidnapping of a mayor’s daughter by Agustín Lorenzo, a bandit; and the first Catholic indigenous wedding.

At 9:30 a.m., members (called carnavaleros) of the Indian Batallion of Barrio 3 entered the municipal cemetery.

“We are here to honor the generals who have died,” said Alberto Santa María Cruz. He’s one of many mandarines responsible for helping to keep the peace. Guns were fired and people drank and danced as a band played and then the battalion marched from the cemetery, stopping in various neighborhoods.

As the day progressed, the energy increased, guns were fired more frequently and the dancing got wilder. In 2013, five tonelades (11,023 lbs.) of gunpowder were used at this event, and I doubt they used one gram less this year.

A break at 3 p.m. allowed participants to rest and get food. At 4 p.m., a ceremony commemorated the first Catholic indigenous wedding, followed by a reenactment of Lorenzo the bandit making off with the daughter of the town’s mayor.

Finally, it was time for the quema del jacal (burning of the jackal), where a small palm hut was burned, representing the end of all Mexican wars, from pre-Hispanic times up through the Revolution.

Carnival in Huejotzingo is crazy, loud and expensive. Guns cost 3,000 to 5,000 pesos (US $150 to $250), and costumes as much as 50,000 pesos (US $2,500).

When asked why Carnival must continue, Hilario Oliver Saloma threw his arms open wide.

“For tradition,” he said loudly. “It is for tradition.”

I left Huejotzingo with my ears ringing as if I’d just attended a Who concert circa 1970. Some hairs on my right arm were singed from getting a bit too close to a carnavalero firing a gun. I was exhausted from photographing for seven hours. My head hurt.

But, as people say in Mexico, “Vale la pena.” It’s worth it.

Joseph Sorrentino, a writer, photographer and author of the book San Gregorio Atlapulco: Cosmvisiones and of Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories from an Italian-American Childhood, is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily. More examples of his photographs and links to other articles may be found at www.sorrentinophotography.com He currently lives in Chipilo, Puebla.

Slim calls for unity, less confrontation between government and business

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MND Staff

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March 3, 2022

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Mexican billionaire and business mogul Carlos Slim.

Billionaire businessman Carlos Slim has described confrontation between the federal government and the business community as “stupid” and called for the parties to work together for the good of the country.

In a discussion with outgoing Business Coordinating Council (CCE) president Carlos Salazar, the magnate said that conflict doesn’t help anyone or anything.

The CCE, an umbrella organization of 12 business groups, was critical of the government for its lack of support for business during the pandemic, has raised concerns about its energy sector plans, and criticized it for its plan to dissolve autonomous public agencies.

Meanwhile, President López Obrador has been accused of being hostile toward business, especially foreign companies in the energy sector, as he seeks to increase the state’s participation in the economy.

In addition to tension between business and government, Mexico, like many other countries, has a polarized electorate, with López Obrador enjoying strong support but also facing significant condemnation, especially for his frequent attacks on the media.

Slim, owner of companies such as Telcel, Sanborns and Carso Infrastructure and Construction, opined that the business sector hasn’t given the government the respect it deserves.

“I believe that when a government is elected democratically it has to be respected,” he said.

“… You have to try to provide them with propositions, ideas and programs, but having conflicts that are sometimes capricious or ideological is nonsense,” said Slim, who was once the world’s richest person.

“Confrontation is stupid, it damages Mexico, it damages companies, it damages the government and it damages everyone,” he said. “What we must do is work together … so that we come out of this situation of underdevelopment,” he said.

Slim charged that Mexico has missed many opportunities in the past and must now take advantage of those generated by the USMCA, the North American free trade pact that replaced NAFTA in 2020.

“Today we have a great opportunity in which the active participants have to be the businesspeople of the United States and Mexico rather than the politicians. The governments already did their work and we haven’t done ours,” he said.

The 82-year-old tycoon said that Mexican industry should be taking greater advantage of the trade war between the United States and China by manufacturing more products here to sell in the U.S. market.

By increasing exports to the United States – the world’s largest economy – salaries will increase here and consumers will have more money to spend in the Mexican economy, Slim said.

But Mexico’s business sector has so far “done nothing” to take advantage of the USMCA, he claimed, although many others believe the trade agreement has benefited the economy amid the recovery from the sharp coronavirus-induced slump.

Slim called on business to act more quickly to reap benefits from the pact, and also stressed the importance of investing in education and health care as part of efforts to mitigate inequality.

In a topical aside, he asserted that Mexico should look to the Ukrainian people as an example of what can be achieved when people bind together for a common purpose.

“We have to look at what the Ukrainians are doing, confronting a powerful army,” Slim said, referring to their stubborn resistance in the face of Russia’s invasion. “Instead of giving up, they’re defending their country, and here we are fighting each other, dividing ourselves.”

With reports from El Sol de México and El Universal

Unseen life of women in Mexican villages subject of Cholula photo exhibit

By

Michelle Aguilar

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March 3, 2022

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Aztec dancer in San Gregorio Atlapulco — An Aztec dancer in one of Mexico City's pueblos originarios, San Gregorio Atlapulco. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino

Photojournalist Joseph Sorrentino isn’t afraid of finding himself in the middle of nowhere.

Since he began coming to Mexico 25 years ago to photograph Day of the Dead celebrations in Metepec, México state, the Staten Island native has taken his trusty Nikon camera with him everywhere he goes while living and traveling throughout Mexico, documenting life in both cities and remote villages, photographing average Mexicans doing everything from the quotidian to the extraordinary.

His quest to capture the life of average people in Mexico has at times taken him to places and events rarely seen even by many Mexicans.

Sorrentino’s photographs have graced the pages of Mexico News Daily for the last two years, giving our readers a close-up look at indigenous rituals dating back centuries, the traditional process of making artisanal tequila, the life of village farmers and Day of the Dead artists, the hard work of Acapulco fishermen plying their trade and much more.

When he’s not taking photos, he’s also the writer of books and plays, including a book about one of Mexico City’s indigenous pueblos originarios, San Gregorio Atlapulco.

farm woman in San Agustin, Morelos — A woman in a farming village in San Agustín, Morelos, harvesting nopal cactus.

The Centro Cultural Somos Uno in San Pedro Cholula, Puebla, is recognizing Sorrentino’s work in Mexico with a solo photography exhibit entitled Campesinas y Mujeres de Pueblos Ancestrales (Farm Women and Women of Ancestral Towns), now on display at the center through March 23.

The exhibit, featuring 36 black-and-white photographs from his projects undertaken between 2003 and 2021, highlights women at work at home and in the fields, as well as their role in traditional ceremonies. The exhibit is aptly timed for Women’s History Month in March.

If you’re in Cholula this week, stop by the Centro Cultural Somos Uno this Saturday at 6 p.m. CST for the exhibit’s opening reception, where you can meet Sorrentino in person.

The Centro Cultural Somos Uno is located at Calle 3 Oriente #210, San Pedro Cholula, Puebla. For more information, visit the center’s Facebook page.

Mexico News Daily

Smugglers find Trump’s wall no barrier when armed with common power tools

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MND Staff

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March 3, 2022

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After using power tools to slice through a bollard, smugglers can push the dangling metal beam out of the way and walk through.

The border wall between Mexico and the United States was breached more than 3,000 times during the past three years, with widely available power tools routinely used to cut through the binational barrier.

The Washington Post obtained unpublished U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) maintenance records that showed that drug and people smugglers sawed through new sections of wall built during the Trump administration 3,272 times between 2019 and 2021.

The CBP records also show that the U.S. government spent US $2.6 million to repair the breaches.

Smuggling gangs typically use inexpensive power tools such as angle grinders and demolition saws to cut through the border wall, the Post said.

“Once the 18-to-30-foot-tall bollards are severed near the ground, their only remaining point of attachment is at the top of the structure, leaving the steel beam dangling in the air. It easily swings open with a push, creating a gap wide enough for people and narcotics to pass through,” the newspaper said, linking to a video of a damaged section of wall.

People familiar with the smugglers’ tactics told the Post that they typically cut through the wall at night, covering themselves with blankets to hide the sparks and reduce noise. Lookouts alert them via radio when there are Border Patrol vehicles in the area.

More than 80% of the breaches during the past three years were detected in California, with over 1,800 in the CBP’s El Centro sector in the Imperial Valley and close to 900 in the San Diego sector.

While Donald Trump’s long-promised, albeit incomplete, wall was breached thousands of times, the Post noted that older mesh style fencing along the border has been even easier to penetrate.

One major breach of the new section in March 2021 allowed two SUVs carrying migrants to enter California. One of the vehicles subsequently hit a truck and 13 people were killed.

While cutting through the wall is common, CBP agents and U.S. ranchers say that climbing over it is now even more frequent. Ladders and ropes help migrants and smugglers climb the barrier and descend safely to the other side.

With reports from The Washington Post

No damage reported after 5.7-magnitude quake in Veracruz

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MND Staff

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March 3, 2022

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The president's morning press conference ended early after the Veracruz quake triggered Mexico City's alarm system.

A 5.7-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter in Veracruz struck at 8:40 a.m. Thursday, but there were no reports of damage.

The National Seismological Service (SSN) reported that the epicenter of the quake was 14 kilometers north of Isla, a town in the Gulf coast state’s southern region near the border with Oaxaca.

Veracruz Governor Cuitláhuac García said on Twitter that there were no reports of damage in Isla and surrounding areas, and that power plants in the region were functioning normally.

“We’re still monitoring and we urge [citizens] to follow the recommendations of Civil Protection [authorities],” he wrote.

Mexico City’s earthquake alarm system was activated by the quake, which the SSN initially reported was a 6.2-magnitude event. Government helicopters flew over the capital but didn’t detect any damage.

Epicenter of Thursday's quake in Veracruz.

“There has been evacuation of some buildings in accordance with protocols,” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum tweeted, adding that the Metro, which suspended services to check for damage, had resumed operations.

The temblor, which many Mexico City residents reported not feeling, interrupted President López Obrador's morning press conference at the National Palace. A video showed officials leaving the space where the conference is held as the earthquake alarm sounded, but reporters remained in the room.

López Obrador later said that he had spoken with the governors of Veracruz and Oaxaca and they told him no major damage had been reported.

The SSN also reported a 4.7-magnitude earthquake at 8:54 a.m. with an epicenter 30 kilometers south of Atoyac de Álvarez, Guerrero.

Earthquakes are common in Mexico, which was struck by two powerful temblors 12 days apart in September 2017. The 7.1-magnitude Puebla earthquake on September 19, 2017 and the 8.2-magnitude Chiapas quake on September 7 together claimed the lives of almost 500 people.

Mexico News Daily

Although crime is down, more soldiers needed in Acapulco: army commander

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MND Staff

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March 3, 2022

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Crime is down in Acapulco, but there are still not enough soldiers to contain violence in the Pacific coast municipality, according to a local army commander.

Speaking to members of an Acapulco civil society organization on Wednesday, General Federico San Juan Rosales said that overall crime declined 31% in December, although offenses such as homicide and extortion remained a significant problem in early 2022.

Despite an additional deployment of soldiers to Acapulco in recent months, “we don’t have the forces needed to guarantee security in the entire municipality,” he said.

That municipality extends along the coast and a significant distance inland to a shared border with the municipality of Chilpancingo de los Bravo, where the Guerrero capital is located.

“It’s difficult for us to be everywhere,” San Juan said. “The criminal also thinks; the criminal won’t commit a crime in front of me, he’ll do it behind me because I’m in a uniform.”

The general also said that some Acapulco residents have protested against the army because they are manipulated by organized crime groups. He noted that stall holders at the central market protested during two days last month, accusing the army of committing abuses in the port city.

Crime groups “didn’t want us to go into the market, but we did and we found drugs and weapons,” San Juan said.

“That’s why [organized] crime started to move people and carry out protests and block [the market] so we wouldn’t go in,” he said.

San Juan said it was unclear how many criminal groups are currently operating in Acapulco, described by The Washington Post in 2017 as Mexico’s murder capital.

The municipality was Mexico’s 50th most violent between February 2021 and January 2022 for homicides per capita with a total of 448, or 53 per 100,000 people, according to data compiled by the crime monitoring website elcri.men.

The federal government identified Acapulco as the fifth most violent municipality in the country last July.

Mayor Abelina López Rodríguez said in January that hot weather and bad eating habits were among the factors that caused violence in the city. She also suggested last October that that the media shouldn’t report on violence in Acapulco because doing so damages the tourism industry.

“If we don’t take care” of the tourism industry, “I don’t know how we’re going to eat,” said the Morena party mayor.

With reports from Reforma

Pemex gas flaring up 50% since López Obrador took office in 2018

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MND Staff

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March 3, 2022

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A Pemex refinery in Hidalgo flares excess gas.

The volume of excess gas disposed of by the environmentally harmful practice of flaring increased 50% in Mexico between 2018 and 2020, according to an analysis conducted for the news agency Reuters.

Scientists at the Earth Observation Group (EOG) of the Colorado School of Mines analyzed NASA satellite images of flare sites across Mexico and determined that flaring has increased significantly since 2018, the year President López Obrador took office.

Many flare sites are facilities operated by the state oil company Pemex, such as the Cactus natural gas processing center in Reforma, Chiapas, a municipality on the border with Tabasco.

Data compiled by the EOG team showed that 5.8 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas was flared in 2020, up from 3.9 bcm in 2018. The 2020 volume made Mexico one of the world’s top 10 flarers, Reuters said.

Pemex doesn’t publish data on gas flaring, but has acknowledged that reducing the high levels of excess gas burning is among its greatest challenges. It doesn’t appear to have made any progress so far.

Residents of El Carmen, a town near Pemex's Cactus Gas Processing Complex in Chiapas, said that their town smells like sulfur and sometimes, ash falls from the sky, raising health concerns. — Residents of El Carmen, a town near Pemex’s Cactus Gas Processing Complex in Chiapas, said that their town smells like sulfur and sometimes, ash falls from the sky, raising health concerns.

EOG data for the first 10 months of 2021 indicated that Mexico was on track to flare more gas than in 2020.

The burning of excess gas releases carbon dioxide and methane – a more potent greenhouse gas – into the atmosphere. Mexico has committed to reducing methane emissions and cutting flaring by 2030, but the EOG data suggests that the country is “moving in the opposite direction from a global push to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas production,” Reuters said.

Last year, the biggest flare volumes occurred in the states of Chiapas, Veracruz and Tabasco, and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, where many large oil fields are located.

Reuters reported that it never gets completely dark in the community of El Carmen due to a red glare created by frequent flaring at the Cactus gas processing center, Mexico’s largest. The facility doesn’t have the capacity to process the huge volume of gas that is emitted as a byproduct during oil production.

Flaring the gas the facility can’t process is cheaper than investing in infrastructure to capture, process and transport it for other uses, Reuters said.

Communities near flaring sites can be affected by pollution, while the emission of large quantities of greenhouse gases contributes to climate change. Reuters reported that three of the five largest flares in Mexico in 2020 were close to several communities, including El Carmen, which is located between the Cactus and Nuevo Pemex gas processing centers.

In a complaint sent to Pemex last September, El Carmen residents said that there had been six major environmental incidents related to flaring since July. They say that a lagoon used for fishing is polluted by oil residue, soil is contaminated, ash falls from the sky like rain and there is a sulfur-like smell in the town.

In its most recent quarterly report, Pemex said that 13% of gas created as a byproduct of oil production is wasted. That’s over six times higher than the 2% limit set by regulators.

With reports from Reuters

Man’s journey around the world in a rowboat visits Mexico

By

Elisabeth Ashe

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March 2, 2022

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When Aaron Carotta first picked up a canoe paddle, he had no idea what he was doing. But that didn’t deter him from embarking on a 5,000-mile journey down the Missouri River — North America’s longest river system — in a beat-up old canoe and a heavy plastic oar no experienced paddler would ever use.

“It started with a cancer diagnosis in 2008. It was my wake-up call,” he explained.

Having since conquered a solo 232-day journey down North America’s longest river system with just $37 in his pocket, limited supplies of mostly oatmeal and Spaghetti-Os and zero experience, Carotta and his canoe have expanded their horizons and decided to undertake an even bigger journey in 2021.

Carotta is making a solo worldwide trip in his rowboat, one that will take him from 3–5 years and that he’s documenting through a variety of media online in the hopes of educating viewers about the lives of people around the world.

Oh, and he also hopes to break a Guinness world record for the longest solo journey by canoe or kayak. Currently the record is 3,462.89 miles by Marcin Gienieczko of Poland.

Carotta at a sidewalk cafe in Zihuatanejo.

Not long ago, when friends told me that Carotta’s rowboat Smiles had anchored in the Bay of Zihuatanejo to repair a rudder, I knew I had to meet him. The burning question I had for him when I caught up with him in a sidewalk café in Zihuatanejo was why?

A failed relationship, along with his health issues, seemed to be the motivating factor for transforming himself into his current public persona, Adventure Aaron. “I believe in the power of this tiny rowboat,” Carotta said, “for the future motivation it can offer to my fellow friends here seeking their own in life, by simply rowing their boat.”

Carotta talked a lot about his spirituality as being a personal thing for him — not something he wanted to push on others, but more like a journey of finding his God. He started the journey as part of his spirituality. “It is a personal thing and a quest — not a mission to save the world. Humanity, communication and God are the three elements that define my life.”

However, Carotta does have a goal in mind that is bigger than himself: he is recording his worldwide journey in a variety of media – from social media to online video posts to podcasts to TV interviews and more, in part so that he can show his viewers how average people around the world live their lives. He calls this project See Level.

“We live in a world that’s influenced and polished in a way that makes it hard to know what’s actually going on out there,” he says on his fundraising page. “Not everyone in First World countries has the means or the knowledge to experience off-the-beaten paths in the world and personally connect with the communities there. They don’t know what other communities have or need in terms of food and supplies; they just go by what organizations tell them.”

Carotta’s plan besides everything mentioned above is to meet as many people as he can on his journey, and in some cases, hand out donations to random needy members he encounters in the communities he passes through. This is at least in part funded by patron donors, who contribute to his Fundrazr.com page.

A montage of Carotta’s adventures in Smiles the rowboat.

He has had several wake-up calls since he first set off on his adventure. Four days after departing from Ensenada, he encountered real weather, with 25–30 knot winds. As he said on his Facebook page, “What got calm, got real — real quick.”

“Waking up at 3 a.m., feeling the winds coming, I stayed out for 20 hours on the oars,” he added.

Trouble also hit as he was coming down the Gulf of California. Blown off course and adrift at sea for days without food, Carotta found himself having to turn to his only source of food left in the boat, a live chicken companion named “Red.”

“It was so hard eating that chicken,” he said, “especially since I had already named him … At one point, I thought that I was going to die,” he remarked. “But it was a peaceful, almost blissful, feeling, and I wasn’t afraid. Not that I wanted to die, of course, but I was okay with it.”

He survived thanks to a concerned boater who had not heard from him in a while and notified Mexico’s Coast Guard. They came to his rescue with a food drop and help repairing his boat.

While in Zihuatanejo, Carotta found himself enveloped in the active marine society that this fishing village is famous for. Since leaving, he has passed through Acapulco, and on Wednesday, according to the tracker map on his website, he and Smiles were near the coast of Puerto Escondido.

Before he left Zihuatanejo, I asked him what was next for him after rowing around the world. “I think I will experience a post-partum,” he said.

What was the solution, I asked him?

“Go get another adventure.”

You can track Carotta’s continually updated progress via his online tracker.

The writer divides her time between Canada and Zihuatanejo.

After initially refusing to play, Ukrainian tennis star beats her Russian opponent

By

MND Staff

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March 2, 2022

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A Ukrainian tennis player thrashed her Russian opponent at the Monterrey Open on Tuesday after initially refusing to play the match due to the Russian military invasion of her country.

Ranked No. 15 in the world, Elina Svitolina was unwilling to compete in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) event in Nuevo León until the international governing bodies of tennis said Russian and Belarusian players could only compete as neutral athletes.

The three governing organizations issued a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the invasion and banning Russian and Belarusian flags and hymns.

Wearing the blue and yellow colors of Ukraine’s flag, the 27-year-old Svitolina swept Russia’s Anastasia Potapova 6-2 and 6-1 in 64 minutes. After the match, she said would donate her prize money from the tournament to the Ukrainian army.

Svitolina added that she was fighting for her homeland from the court. “I was on a mission for my country … I think it’s my mission to unite our tennis community to stand with Ukraine, to help Ukraine because what we’re going through is a horrible thing for all Ukrainians … That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m playing for my country and doing my best to use my platform to try to invite people to support Ukraine.”

Words of thanks from @ElinaSvitolina 🇺🇦 💜 pic.twitter.com/YcnKu6ff95

— wta (@WTA) March 2, 2022

Svitolina speaks after Tuesday’s game.

However, she said she harbored no ill feeling toward her opponent. “I don’t blame any Russian athlete … They are not responsible for the invasion of our homeland … I’m in a very sad mood, but I’m happy I’m here playing tennis.”

Svitolina, who won the tournament in 2020, will face Bulgarian qualifier Viktoriya Tomova in the second round in Mexico.

She has won 16 titles on the WTA tour and has reached two semi-finals in grand slam tournaments. Her highest rank was third.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has suspended the Russian Tennis Federation and Belarus Tennis Federation from international team competition and all ITF tournaments in Russia and Belarus have been canceled, while the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Players (ATP) boards have suspended their combined event that was to take place in Moscow in October.

With reports from Milenio and BBC