Mexico City’s metal barrier becomes memorial for thousands of victims of femicide

By

-

March 8, 2021

Victims' names adorn metal barrier in front of National Palace. — Victims' names adorn barrier in front of National Palace.

Mothers of murdered girls and women and members of feminist collectives have turned a metal barrier erected around the National Palace in Mexico City into a memorial for femicide victims.

The names of thousands of victims of femicide are now painted across the three-meter-high barrier, which went up Friday in anticipation of Monday’s International Women’s Day march. It was quickly denounced by critics as a “a macho wall of shame.”

Activists added to the memorial by laying flowers, crosses and candles in front of the metal fence. One poster left next to the barrier read: “For those who hugged their mom without knowing that it was going to be the last embrace.”

The memorial-cum-protest was augmented on Sunday night by the projection of messages such as “Femicidal Mexico” and “Legal Abortion Now” onto the facade of the National Palace.

President López Obrador defended the metal barrier on the weekend, saying it was installed not because of fear but rather to avoid “provocation” and prevent confrontation and damage to historic monuments. The president’s office issued a statement calling the barrier “a wall of peace.”

Messages such as 'Legalize abortion now' were projected onto the National Palace Sunday night. — Messages such as ‘Legal abortion now’ were projected onto the National Palace Sunday night.

(Acts of vandalism and violence committed by a minority of protesters have marred recent women’s marches, including the one on International Women’s Day in 2020.)

The National Feminist Collective charged that the government has taken more action to protect the National Palace – the seat of executive power and López Obrador’s residence – than it has to protect women from violent crime.

Activists who participated in the transformation of the barrier into a memorial told the newspaper El Universal on Sunday that there have been so many femicide victims in Mexico that “there are not enough walls to name them all.”

Reading the names of those who appear on the “wall,” and contemplating the extreme violence they suffered at the end of their lives, was a harrowing and infuriating experience for many women.

“It pains me to know that I could be one of them, that any woman I know could be here. … It makes me angry and it hurts a lot. It’s very sad,” said 21-year-old Verónica Cifuentes.

“I’ve seen [my name] Verónica, the [same] names as those of my friends and family members. It’s so real, you know that you could be there,” she told El Universal.

Flowers, crosses and candles have been placed in memory of the victims.

The mothers of three femicide victims who spoke to the newspaper Reforma said that the “wall of shame” minimizes their demands for justice.

Lorena Gutiérrez said the wall is a sign of the federal government’s indifference toward the “collateral victims of femicide,” adding that the barrier is a metaphor for its intention to turn its back on women’s calls for justice.

“What they’re doing and showing to the world with this barrier is a vile act; it’s a wall of shame, simulation, indolence, corruption, ineptitude and impunity,” she said.

Gutiérrez said that in the case of her daughter, who at the age of 12 was raped and murdered by three young men, there has been little justice since the crimes were committed in 2015. One of the men is is jail but the other two are free. Gutiérrez expressed doubt that they would ever be brought to justice.

Irinea Buendía, whose lawyer daughter was murdered by her policeman husband – who was convicted after a legal battle that lasted more than 10 years – told Reforma that with the erection of the barrier, President López Obrador is sending a message that he has no concern for femicide victims and their families.

“It tells us that he doesn’t see us or hear us, we practically don’t exist for him because he says that women are better attended to now than at any other time but the discourse leaves much to be desired because that’s all it is – discourse,” she said.

“… He always has other information [to deflect criticism] and now it culminates with this fence, … we realize that he doesn’t want to take a position against violence toward women, he doesn’t want to … prevent, punish and eradicate [crime against women],” Buendía said.

Soledad Jarquín, whose daughter was also murdered, said it was regrettable that the government has responded to women’s legitimate calls for justice with a wall.

“What a shame that Andrés Manuel López Obrador is responding to us in this way,” she said.

“… What we want is for them [the government] to solve the cases, for there to be justice in the cases of our daughters. And this is not the first barrier that they’ve put in front of us,” Jarquín said.

López Obrador on Sunday once again addressed the installation of the metal barrier and the subsequent criticism in a video message posted to social media.

“We’re never going to repress the people; … it’s better to install a fence than to put the riot police in front of the women who are going to protest, as was the case before. We have to avoid violence, avoid anyone being harmed or injured,” he said.

“I’m a humanist and I’m not against feminism. I’m against corruption and manipulation, I’m against authoritarianism and hypocrisy,” the president added.

López Obrador repeated a claim he has previously made that conservatives – a word he uses broadly to describe those who oppose him and his government – infiltrate women’s marches and cause violence.

“Imagine allowing them to vandalize the National Palace because that’s what they want – a scandal. … We installed this fence to protect the palace,” he said.

The president said that he supports the right to peaceful protest before calling on people not to succumb to violence.

“These provocateurs are very authoritarian and I’m going to say it – the conservatives are fascists. [They’re like] Hitler, Franco, Pinochet, that’s the way they think. What’s that got to do with feminism? On the contrary, that’s the opposite of the feminist movement,” he said.

“I’m not sexist, I’m in favor of the rights of women, I’m in favor of equality, I always have been. When in the history of Mexico was there a female interior minister? For the first time the interior minister is a women, for the first time a woman is public security minister, for the first time in history half of the cabinet are men and half are women. … Now half of the legislators in Congress are women – that’s because of our fight and we’re always going to respect men and women and above all we’re always going to fight for equality.”

Source: El Universal (sp), Reforma (sp), Milenio (sp)

Culture and Covid delay women’s advance in macho Mexico

By

Jude Webber

-

March 8, 2021

0

When Tatiana Clouthier, Mexico’s new economy minister, was in her 20s and finishing her first civil service job, she found out that she was on the lowest salary level of all her colleagues. “That was my first shock of understanding what it means to be a woman and to earn less,” she says, in a video interview with the Financial Times (FT).

A dozen years later, by then a member of Congress, she was warned by a male colleague about her career: “Your children are small and your husband is very handsome and young — you’ll put your marriage at risk.”

That was in the early years of the millennium, barely half a century since women won the right to vote in 1953. Macho Mexico has made progress since then.

Women now hold nine of the 19 posts in Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government. Indeed, in June 2019, gender parity in Mexico’s government, Congress, judiciary, autonomous institutions and election candidacies was enshrined in the constitution. So, too, was “language that makes women visible and included.”

But even though Clouthier — who managed López Obrador’s triumphant presidential election campaign in 2018 — has experienced sexist values first hand, a recent verbal slip showed how deeply entrenched gender attitudes remain in Latin America’s second-biggest economy.

In a virtual news conference soon after starting her job in January, she referred to her female deputy, Luz María de la Mora, by her first name, and the diminutive “LuzMa.” She addressed her male deputy, Ernesto Acevedo, by the honorific “Doctor,” even though both officials have PhDs.

For feminists in Mexico, comments such as this prove that social change is sometimes only superficial — and that, despite major strides, there is still a long way to go.

Studies show Mexican women want jobs, help with their caregiving roles, and freedom from violence, Clouthier says. Yet, on all three counts, results are mixed — and Covid-19 has made things tougher still.

“Women are the most affected by Covid and super vulnerable in employment terms,” says Fatima Masse, director of inclusive society at IMCO, a leading think tank.

She notes that 73% of women who lost their job at the start of the pandemic are back at work, but 57% of job losses in January compared with December were among women and “nearly 800,000 women who had recovered their jobs in December 2020 lost them again in January 2021.”

As in many countries, Mexican women bear the brunt of caring for children and elderly or ill relatives. López Obrador was criticized when he took office for scrapping subsidies to children’s nurseries and giving women cash transfers instead, which did not always covering nursery charges.

Activist Arussi Unda: there is progress but a lot of resistance.

Clouthier says a law designed to ensure the right to “dignified care” was passed in the lower house of Congress last November, but critics say no new funds or institutions have been proposed to support this.

“They consider that cash transfers are like offering a welfare state — that’s inaccurate,” Masse says.

Violence is one of the thorniest issues holding back women’s participation in the workforce. Women who have jobs outside the home can more easily escape violence, Clouthier says, and she is offering 20,000 micro-credits worth $1,200 specifically to women at the helm of small businesses.

But in the first nine months of 2020, nearly one in 10 homes reported some kind of domestic violence in a country where two-thirds of women have suffered violence — 44% at the hands of their partners. Some 11 women a day are murdered. A recent study found 24% of crimes classified as femicide between 2012 and 2018 led to convictions, but more than twice as many murders of women were not classed as femicide, suggesting near total impunity.

López Obrador has ignited a storm of protest for refusing to criticize his party’s candidate for governor of the state of Guerrero in the June midterm elections, even though Félix Salgado Macedonio faces multiple allegations of rape — including one by a woman who says he drugged her first.

Women were further dismayed when López Obrador admitted he had been clueless about what women meant by a social media campaign urging “break the pact” — a reference to patriarchy — and had needed to ask his wife.

“He’s the head of state. Words build realities,” says Arussi Unda, spokeswoman for Brujas del Mar, a feminist collective which rose to prominence last year when it organized “a day without women” strike.

Statistics show that women work more than men, earn less and struggle to climb the corporate ladder in Mexico.

When IMCO — the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness — analyzed 155 listed companies, it found that Mexico’s 9% female board representation was the lowest among similar economies or European nations. Only two chief executives were women.

IMCO has indicated that Mexico’s GDP would increase by 15% by 2030 if 8.2 million more women joined the workforce. The country currently has one of the world’s lowest rates of female participation in the workforce, a little above Bangladesh but below Romania and Kyrgyzstan.

Clouthier says she is working with the U.K. government on a pilot scheme to analyze Mexico’s gender pay gap. Graciela Márquez, her predecessor in the job, also a woman, launched schemes to help women export artisanal products, but Clouthier acknowledged progress so far is “baby steps.”

She also acknowledges that coding, e-commerce or tech skills are vital for women seeking to re-enter employment. However, encouraging girls into science, maths, technology, engineering and technology subjects does not yet figure on the education ministry’s radar.

So when La-Lista, a new media venture, kicked off in January, chief executive Bárbara Anderson made sure the first story was about female role models — the 14 women who made Mexico’s access to Covid-19 vaccines possible.

“The credit went to the men but the success of getting the vaccines depended on these 14 women, some of whom had to be connecting to their computers at 2 a.m., when their kids were in bed, to talk to officials in other countries,” she told the FT.

“Cultural change is very slow,” says Marta Lamas, a professor at National Autonomous University, who has fought for women’s rights for half a century. Or as Unda puts it, particularly regarding gender violence, “I don’t think we’re going backward but we’re meeting a lot of resistance ahead.”

A century after the Revolution’s end, the Adelitas still await real recognition

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

-

March 7, 2021

0

Famous image of Adelitas on train taken by photographer Jerónimo Hernández.

March is Women’s History Month, so let’s begin with what may be the only group of women from Mexico’s past that foreigners know, at least from photographs.

The term Adelitas (“little Adeles”) is used in Mexico today to refer to women who participated in the Mexican Revolution, battling government forces.

To understand their story, it is important to understand just what the Revolution was. It began in 1910 as several uncoordinated revolts against the decades-long rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Díaz was deposed rather quickly, but the shooting continued for the rest of the decade as these same factions fought each other for power.

By 1920, Álvaro Obregón was president, the last of the major rebel leaders to survive. His government would consolidate as the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or Institutional Revolutionary Party, and rule Mexico until 2000.

As in most wars, women participated, but they and their stories have been pushed into the background, both because of machismo and because of the real desire by men to keep their families out of harm’s way. Women fed soldiers at camps and often took care of each others’ children and took over male jobs such as farming. Women picked up guns as well, either to defend themselves while their men were off fighting somewhere else or because they were motivated to join one of the factions.

Women soldiers preparing to fire against troops led by José Inés Chávez García. The official caption mentions Chávez by name but not the women.

The classic Adelita is depicted with humble dress, rebozo (a long shawl), bandolier and rifle. It’s an image made famous by Mexican photographer Agustín Víctor Casasola and others who spent years documenting the fighting for the national and international press. The image has some basis in reality as Adelitas were almost always poor and in rural areas, where fighting was heavy.

Their roles during the Revolution are worth documenting, but also interesting is how they have been portrayed in the century since the fighting ended.

The fame of the Adelitas is initially attributed to a song, a type of ballad called a corrido. The origins of La Adelita are in dispute, but it became popular during the war.

The corrido developed various regional versions, each claiming to be the original and most authentic. However, Adelitas in these corridos are not portrayed as some kind of Amazon warrior. Instead, she is not much more than a sex object, a reason for men to fight.

There are a number of claims that the original Adelita was a military nurse by the name of Adela Velardo Pérez, who ran away from home at the age of 14 to join the Cruz Blanca (White Cross), an organization that tended to wounded soldiers. In 1948, Velardo told the newspaper Excélsior that the famous “Adelita” corrido had been composed by Sergeant Antonio del Río, who was in love with her but died before the two could marry.

According to historian Martha Eva Rocha Islas in the book Los rostros de la rebeldía (The Faces of the Rebellion), the term Adelitas originally referred to the nurses with revolutionary forces, an assertion that supports Velardo’s claim.

Velardo’s role was recognized with a veteran’s pension in 1963 and acceptance into the Mexican Legion of Honor. She died in 1971 in Texas and was buried in the town of Del Río.

For decades, Mexican history books focused almost entirely on the men who participated. During the war itself, Adelitas were denigrated as marimachas (tomboys, to use a nice translation), not respectable women. The Mexican writer Carlos Monsiváis once stated, “The Revolution was a man’s business, and women were the decorative backdrop …”

If women were mentioned, their role was subordinate, with histories explaining their presence as being a case of dire need. In popular culture, especially the movies of the 1940s and 1950s, Adelitas as combatants were depicted distant from the male heroes and sometimes as “bad” women.

Later corridos continued the tradition of depicting women during the Revolution as examples of beauty, bravery and passivity, generally as a romantic interest not a warrior, and certainly not equal to men.

In more recent decades, Adelitas have been reevaluated. Their role is more likely to be depicted as a kind of cabrona (bitch) in the sense of someone who cannot be dominated, someone who is willing and able to abandon her domestic roles to fight for the cause — and not waiting for the permission of men to do so.

Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska wrote in Las Soldaderas (The Women Soldiers), “Without them, there was no Mexican Revolution. They kept the land alive and fertile.”

Image of Adele Velardo Pérez, who may be the original Adelita, circa 1914.

Initial academic research into the Adelitas’ lives began in countries like the United States, but Mexican academics are catching up.

Because the women were almost always from the disadvantaged classes, few of their names are known, with some exceptions.

One is Hermila Galindo, who was involved in anti-Díaz politics early with an important role in the Venustiano Carranza army. She is also considered to be an early feminist in Mexico.

Carmen Serdán became prominent for her ability to procure supplies for troops. Ángela Jiménez became an expert in explosives. Amelia Robles became noted for her ability with a pistol, even earning the rank of coronel (colonel).

Petra Herrera contributed to Pancho Villa’s army as an organizer and leader. At the Battle of Torreón in 1914, she caused the lights of the city to black out so that Villa’s army could enter, but Villa never recognized her contribution. Their relationship soured, causing Herrera to split off and form her own all-women army of over 1,000.

It is neither fair nor accurate to depict all Adelitas as either femme fatales, fallen women or Amazon warriors. Like their male contemporaries, most were doing the best they could during a bloody and chaotic civil war.

Mexico is changing and, at least, any pejorative meaning Adelita had is long gone. What remains to be seen is if depictions of these women can evolve past simplistic archetypes.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 17 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture. She publishes a blog called Creative Hands of Mexico and her first book, Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta , was published last year. Her culture blog appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

‘A macho wall of shame:’ government erects 3-meter metal wall for women’s day march

By

Rebecca Martin

-

March 7, 2021

0

The erection of three-meter-high metal barriers around the National Palace in Mexico City in anticipation of Monday’s International Women’s Day march has stoked more anger against the government for what appears to be indifference over gender-based violence.

Critics dubbed the barrier, which went up early Friday, “a macho wall of shame” and said it showed not only the government’s fear of the women due to march on Monday but its belief that erecting protective walls was more important than the reason for marching.

The annual march is held in protest against gender-based violence in Mexico, where at least 11 women are murdered every day.

Last year’s event was the biggest ever held, drawing an estimated 80,000 participants, most of whom marched peacefully to the zócalo. But a small number of protesters threw Molotov cocktails and committed acts of vandalism. Thirteen people were hospitalized for injuries or burns and another 52 were hurt.

President López Obrador defended the barriers on the weekend, saying it was not because of fear that they were installed but rather to avoid “provocation” and prevent confrontation and damage to historic monuments. His office issued a statement calling the barriers “a wall of peace.”

🔴 ¡Histórico! Palacio Nacional amanece blindado con muros de metal desde la calle de Moneda hasta la calle de Corregidora ante la marcha del #8M2021

📹: Gerardo Galicia / @heraldodemexico pic.twitter.com/3Rb6gcGZ2j

— El Heraldo de México (@heraldodemexico) March 5, 2021

Other women’s protest marches in the city have seen varying levels of violence and vandalism, which the president has blamed on politically-motivated individuals having infiltrated the ranks of protesters.

But his administration has been widely criticized for an indifferent attitude toward the marches and the issues behind them. Since Friday, the critics have rallied.

The National Feminist Collective (Conafem) said the government has taken more action to protect the palace than it has to protect women from rape.

“They are frightened because we are no longer frightened. This barrier is a wall of shame and of fear, fear of the women without fear,” Conafem tweeted Friday morning.

“In Mexico if a woman has an abortion she goes to prison. If a man rapes a woman he can become governor. In Mexico misogynistic chauvinists are in positions of power. In Mexico we as women are not safe.”

The reference to rapists becoming governor refers to another controversy that the government has been unable to contain. The Morena party chose Félix Salgado Macedonio, accused of sexually assaulting five women, as its candidate for governor of Guerrero.

Aerial view of the wall erected Friday in preparation for Monday's women's march. — Aerial view of the wall erected Friday in preparation for Monday’s women’s march.

López Obrador has refused to intervene, claiming that the accusations against Salgado are, like women’s protest marches, politically motivated.

In statements on social media accounts Conafem proclaimed that the barriers were a reflection of the president’s misogyny, declaring him to be “part of the systemic femicide” in Mexico.

Mexico is second in Latin America for crimes against women after Brazil, according to the Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean.

“Women have reason to shout, to leave a mark, to burn everything! Mr. President, we are going to burn everything!”

It said protecting historic sites with barriers sends a message that the monuments come first, women’s demands are not legitimate and that the women are wrong.

“It is an outrage[that] so few people support us in our cries for justice,” said Becky Bois, a survivor of an attempted femicide in 2015 who will participate in the march on Monday. “It is clear that they are trying to erase the footsteps of the women who fight for justice.”

Theatrical producer Jimena Sealtiel said women themselves could use some walls for protection.

“If only we could put up walls to guarantee our freedom to walk in the streets … if only we could erect walls around our bodies and our daughters. If only the government’s efficiency at protecting monuments were the same for protecting women … it would be a different country.”

Source: Reforma (sp), El Economista (sp), El Universal (sp)

CDMX hospital occupancy continues to drop; Baja California to go yellow

By

MND Staff

-

March 5, 2021

0

tijuana restaurant — Restrictions will be eased in restaurants and other businesses Monday in Baja California.

Mexico City will remain at the orange light high risk level on the coronavirus stoplight system next week even though the hospital occupancy rate continues to decline in the capital, while Baja California will switch to medium risk yellow on its local stoplight map on Monday.

Mexico City government official Eduardo Clark told a press conference Friday there will be no change to the risk level but urged citizens to continue following health protocols in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which has sickened more than half a million people in Mexico City.

Clark noted that the occupancy rate of hospital beds set aside for coronavirus patients in Mexico City hospitals had declined to 50.7% from 53% over the past week. There are currently 4,384 coronavirus patients, including 1,341 on ventilators, he said.

As of Thursday, Mexico City had recorded more than 565,000 confirmed cases and 36,034 people had lost their lives. There are just under 20,000 estimated active cases in the capital, which has endured one of the worst coronavirus epidemics anywhere in the world.

Meanwhile, Baja California Health Minister Alonso Pérez Rico said Thursday that the northern state will switch to medium risk yellow on the local stoplight map. The state is already yellow on the federal map, having switched to that color in mid-February.

The change on the state government’s map will allow capacity levels to be increased at a range of businesses and public venues in cities such as Tijuana, Mexicali and Ensenada. Gyms and sports centers will be permitted to increase their capacity to 66% of normal levels, while cinemas, theaters and churches will be allowed to operate at half their usual capacity.

Nightclubs, casinos, bars and hair salons will also be permitted to operate at 50% while the limit for hotels and restaurants will be 75%.

Pérez said that family gatherings of up to 20 people are permitted but people should meet in well-ventilated areas, keep their distance from each other and not spend more than two hours together.

Baja California, an early hotspot in the pandemic, has recorded more than 45,000 confirmed cases and 7,384 Covid-19 deaths, according to federal data.

The national tally increased to 2.11 million on Thursday with 7,521 new cases reported while the official death toll rose to 188,866 with 822 additional fatalities.

Mexico ranks 13th in the world for case numbers and third for deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. It has the 14th highest per capita death rate in the world with just under 150 Covid fatalities per 100,000 residents.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 vaccination program is proceeding albeit at a slow pace, especially compared to the United States, where more than 82 million doses have been administered. As of Thursday night, Mexico had about 2 million unused vaccine doses in the country but only 31,185 were administered yesterday, according to Health Ministry data. A total of 2.67 million doses had been given by Thursday night, mainly to health workers and seniors.

One snag that has delayed the rollout of vaccines was that a shipment of 800,000 Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Mexico City last Saturday without the necessary paperwork to certify the quality of the shots. However, that problem has now been resolved and the Chinese-made vaccines are scheduled to go into people’s arms this weekend.

“Good news: we received the certificate of analysis of the Sinovac vaccine. It will be able to be administered across the whole country this weekend,” Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted Friday above a copy of the certificate.

The government has agreements to acquire 232 million mainly two-shot vaccine doses and more than 100 million are expected to arrive before the end of May.

All of the vaccines Mexico is set to receive were developed abroad but it could one day inoculate citizens with a homegrown product. Scientists at the Autonomous University of Querétaro (UAQ) have developed a Covid-19 vaccine that has been administered to rabbits and other animals and generated an immune response and no adverse effects.

About five months after they received the shots, the animals still have antibodies that protect against the infectious disease, said Juan Joel Mosqueda Gualito, the leader of the vaccine development program.

“We’ve shown that … 150 days after giving the first dose the vaccinated animals still have antibodies circulating,” he said.

Mosqueda said that scientists at UAQ are seeking to conduct more trials at other university laboratories including ones at the National Polytechnic Institute, Tec de Monterrey and the University of Kansas in the United States.

UAQ rector Teresa García Gasca noted that scientists at the university also worked on projects a year ago to develop Covid-19 detection tests as well as antibody tests that can determine if a person was infected with the coronavirus in the past.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)

Mexico’s increasingly complicated immigration policy (dilemma)

By

Carlisle Johnson

-

March 5, 2021

0

migrants in tapachula — As many as 70,000 migrants await immigration processing in Tapachula.

President Lopez Obrador nimbly dealt with the issue of actual undocumented and would-be documented Mexican workers in the U.S. in last week’s teleconference with his counterpart President Biden.

In what was basically Bracero 2.0, he simply proposed reestablishing a 1950s regulated guest worker program, similar to that in today’s Canada which has apparently successfully put into effect inspection safeguards to prevent the abuses that eventually sank the original Bracero 1.0.

It was only a half policy, as AMLO seemingly punted on Mexico’s far thornier and different migration issue on its southern border with Guatemala.

There, chiefly in Chiapas’ second largest city of Tapachula, official population 321,000 (probably low), Mexico is confronted with the unexpected and largely unwelcome arrival of an estimated (probably high) 70,000 would-be transients aiming for the U.S.

From Africa.

To visit the densely packed Little Africa camp literally on the doorstep of immigration headquarters is to encounter universal frustration with the mañana approach of the bureaucracy to issuing the temporary resident ID sought as a key first step in legally proceeding north.

On my most recent of several visits, the day’s scorecard was new petitions received 5, old petitions approved 0. There was the occasional “activist” and other usual suspects such as the no-doubt well-meaning NGO distributing incomprehensible flow charts titled “Path to U.S. citizenship,” in English yet.

Predominantly from west and south Africa — Congo, Angola, Mozambique, Mauretania — almost all were there at the end of an unbelievable but at the same time credibly related odyssey of about six months of hedge-hopping and hiding, from Ghana through Colombia, crossing the infamous and “impenetrable” Darien Gap, and finally wading or inner-tube rafting across the shallow border river separating Guatemala from Mexico.

So AMLO, how about the southern border crisis?

Carlisle Johnson writes from his home in Guatemala.

An 1800s mechanic who ‘could fix anything’ left his mark on a Jalisco city

By

John Pint

-

March 5, 2021

0

Historian Francisco Gallegos Franco wrote down stories that have been repeated by locals for hundreds of years as part of Tepatitlán, Jalisco's oral history.

Tepatitlán is a bustling city located 60 kilometers northeast of Guadalajara in Los Altos de Jalisco (the Jalisco Highlands). Should you happen to be wandering about Tepa — as the locals call it — you might glance up at a street sign and discover you are on Calle Esparza which, in all likelihood, will mean nothing whatsoever to you. But this street, like so many others in Mexico, is named after a citizen who left a mark.

In this case, that distinguished individual is Mariano Esparza, and we know something about him thanks to a little book published in 2006 that is now out of print. The book, Leyendas de Tepatitlán (Tales of Tepatitlán), is by local historian Francisco Gallegos Franco. Once you have read the story of Don Mariano, I doubt you will ever forget him, even if you never stroll down Esparza Street.

Below is my translation of one of Gallegos’s stories, called “If Somebody on this Planet Made It, Then I Can Fix It.”

In 1870, the richest man in Guadalajara was, without a doubt, Don Manuel Escandón, owner of La Escoba Yarn and Fabric Company. In this year, however, a terrible setback had befallen him. The brand new and expensive equipment he had recently imported all the way from Germany was now sitting idle because something had damaged the intricate gear assembly which made the whole thing work. Local engineers had tried to fix it without success, and experts called in from Puebla and Monterrey had thrown up their hands in despair. To make matters worse, it was impossible to find replacement parts, even in the United States.

Don Manuel was nearly out of his mind because it would take up to eight months to get the parts from Germany and, besides, he’d have to buy a whole new assembly, not just the gears that needed replacing. Meanwhile, his 300 employees would be sitting idle while the competition stole all his customers.

Mariano Esparza was born in 1831 and died in 1894. He built the clocks for the church towers of Tepatitlán, Jalostotitlán and Lagos de Moreno, all in Jalisco.

Now, right in the middle of this crisis, Don Manuel happened to receive a visit from his friend, Don Lucas González Rubio, a businessman from Tepatitlán. No sooner had he explained his annoying problem than Don Lucas exclaimed, “Hombre, your troubles are over! There’s a man in our parts who can fix your machine in the blink of an eye.”

“¡Caray!” exclaimed Don Manuel, “but I can’t believe anyone in Tepatitlán could … Tell me: is this man an engineer?”

“Engineer? Well, not exactly. The fact is, he barely made it through elementary school. But I tell you, he’s dead smart.”

“Thank you so much, my dear friend, but this machine has a whole new kind of gear train that our best engineers can’t fix. It’s hopeless.”

“Maybe you’re right,” said Don Lucas, “but after all, you have nothing to lose.”

“Whatever you say,” replied Don Manuel politely and promptly forgot the whole thing.

[wpgmza id=”293″]

Don Lucas returned to Tepatitlán and told the story to Don Mariano Esparza, whose accomplishments included the construction of the parish clock, which has run continuously for 140 years and is still running today even though some of its cogwheels are made of mesquite wood. It was also rumored that Don Mariano had invented an automatic revolver far superior to the famous Colt but had smashed the prototype to pieces when he realized it would be used to kill people.

Without much difficulty, Don Lucas convinced him to undertake the long trip to Guadalajara, which involved spending two days on horseback. So it was that one week later, Don Lucas reappeared in the sprawling factory, accompanied by a man of humble aspect who wore a poncho and a wide sombrero. Don Lucas was greeted by one and all, whereas his companion barely received a nod and was no doubt taken to be a servant.

Upon seeing Don Manuel Escandón, Don Lucas cried, “Buenos días, my friend! Where’s your machine? There’s not a minute to waste!”

“Machine? Oh, the gear train? Why do you want to see it?” asked the fabric magnate, confused.

“You forgot? I told you I was bringing the man who could fix it,” said Don Lucas.

“What? Who? Where is he?” Escandón asked, looking around.

The cover of Gallegos's book, now out of print. — The cover of Gallegos’s book, now out of print.

“Mariano Esparza para servirle,” said a quiet voice from behind the two of them, which meant at your service.

“You?” cried the factory owner. “Let me tell you upfront that I’ve consulted the very best experts and they told me the parts can’t be made here, only in Germany.”

“Germany? Where’s that?” said Don Mariano.

“In Europe, across the sea.”

“To me that sounds like somewhere on this planet, and if that machine was made on this earth, then I can fix it,” Don Mariano said. “Let me give it a try, and we’ll see what happens. Do you have a workshop — with a lathe?”

Escandón nodded and then took the inventor to the German machine. Don Mariano examined the workings with the greatest of care, made meticulous measurements and then shut himself up in the workshop, asking not to be interrupted. For three days, he stayed inside, receiving his meals through a little window. Then he carefully installed the new parts.

The machinery worked with water power, and as they tested Don Mariano’s work, Don Manuel told his foreman to turn the pressure on slowly, expecting to see parts flying across the room at any moment. Don Mariano saw what he was doing and opened the valve full blast.

The gears meshed, and the machine sprang to life … and continued to work for many years thereafter. Words could not describe the factory owner’s joy when he realized what had happened.

“You are a genius, Engineer Mariano!” he shouted. “Tell me what your fee is, and don’t be shy. Whatever you ask, I will pay.”

Don Mariano took out a notebook and mumbled. “Let me see … Don Lucas paid my travel expenses, and you paid my meals … Now, three days work at one peso per day plus … Bueno, that comes to 10 pesos total.”

“You must be kidding, Engineer!” Don Manuel said. “Anyone else would charge hundreds of pesos, maybe thousands! Think again.”

“I have already thought,” the engineer replied. “What you owe me is 10 pesos, exactly what I would have earned in Tepa. So if you’d like to pay me, I’ll be on my way.”

The street named after the renowned 19th-century mechanic.

It seemed no human power could change Don Mariano’s mind, and off he went with his modest payment.

Several weeks later, Don Manuel Escandón took a trip to Tepa and handed the man who could fix anything the deed to a house in Tepatitlán. This, Don Mariano could not refuse because he had been specifically told that it was a gift.

As a persona educada, a properly brought up Mexican, he was bound to accept it — and to this day the street where this house was located still bears the name of Don Mariano Esparza.

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for 31 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.

The number of women holding elected office in Mexico has soared 71% in 5 years

By

MND Staff

-

March 5, 2021

0

Chicoloapan Mayor Gómez: political journey was not an easy one.

Women’s political representation soared in Mexico during the past five years to such an extent that gender parity is almost a reality in state and federal legislatures.

The number of women in elected positions at a municipal, state and federal level increased 71.2% between 2015 and 2020, according to an analysis by the newspaper Milenio.

There were 809 women in the positions of mayor, governor, state deputy, federal deputy and federal senator in 2015. In 2020, 1,385 women held those positions, an increase of 576.

Of the 500 deputies in the lower house of federal Congress, 241, or 48.2%, were women in 2020, an increase of 24.6% compared to 2015.

In the 128-seat federal Senate, there were 63 female senators last year, a figure that accounts for 49.2% of all upper house lawmakers. Only 38.3% of senators were women in 2015.

women in elected office — From left, chart shows women elected as federal deputies, state deputies, mayors, senators and governors. milenio

The situation across state legislatures is similar: women held 543, or 48.5%, of deputy positions last year, up from 409, or 34.6%, in 2015.

But while gender equality is within reach in the two houses of federal Congress and across state legislatures collectively, women remain vastly underrepresented in positions of mayor and governor – even though the situation improved between 2015 and 2020.

There were 536 female mayors last year, a 131% increase compared to 2015 when there were 232. However, women still only hold power in 21.7% of Mexico’s almost 2,500 municipalities.

As for governors, there was just one woman in the top state job in 2015 while in 2020 there were effectively two.

(They are Sonora Governor Claudia Pavlovich and Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. The capital has state-like status and the importance of the mayor, or jefe de gobierno (head of government), position is considered on par with governor.)

That means that women are in power in just 6.25% of Mexico’s 32 federal entities. However, that could soon change because numerous women will contest elections for governor to be held in 15 states on June 6. The Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled in December that parties must nominate women candidates for governor in at least seven states.

All told, there are 4,251 mayor, deputy, governor and senator positions in Mexico and women hold 32.6% of them. In 2015, the figure was 18.8%.

One of Mexico’s 536 women mayors is Nancy Gómez Vargas, who holds the top job in Chicoloapan, a México state municipality that is part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area. She told Milenio that her political journey to become mayor was not an easy one.

“My municipality has strong customs and a very strong inclination toward the masculine gender in politics,” said Gómez, who at 34 is younger than the vast majority of mayors.

She said the most difficult thing in governing as a woman was “to show at all times that you have the capacity and necessary knowledge to be in the position.”

“…With the proposals we’re presenting from a feminine perspective people are accepting and recognizing little by little that women have a key role to play in politics,” Gómez added.

While women’s representation has increased significantly, one elected position that has eluded Mexican women is that of president.

However, there is a possibility that could change in 2024. A recent poll found that Mayor Sheinbaum is one of two leading contenders to become the ruling party’s candidate in the next presidential election. The other is Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Mexico City begins operating first leg of new cable car line

By

MND Staff

-

March 5, 2021

0

One of the cable cars suspended above the borough of Gustavo A. Madero. — One of the cable cars travels above the borough of Gustavo A. Madero.

The Mexico City government has opened the first section of a new cable car line in the north of the capital that officials say will cut travel time and reduce inequality.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum formally opened on Thursday the first leg of the Cablebús system, which will eventually link Cuautepec, a working-class neighborhood in a hilly area of the Gustavo A. Madero borough, to the Indios Verdes Metro and bus station, located some nine kilometers away in the same borough.

The 1.7-kilometer section that opened Thursday runs between the Tlalpexco and Campos Revolución stations at the Cuautepec end of the line.

The entire 9.2-kilometer stretch of the 2.3-billion-peso (US $108.1-million) line is expected to begin operations on June 20. The system will have a total of six stations and the capacity to move thousands of people per hour between Cuautepec and Indios Verdes, a journey that will take just over 30 minutes.

Each of the cars has enough room for 10 people but capacity will initially be limited to six due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some 48,000 people are expected to use the system on a daily basis.

Mayor Sheinbaum opens one of the two first stations — Mayor Sheinbaum opens one of the two stations on the new Cablebús system.

“It’s a historic day because we’re opening a new system of collective transport, … it’s social transport,” Sheinbaum said.

“Having the best transportation for the poorest parts of the city reduces inequality,” the mayor added.

Sheinbaum said the cost of a ticket to ride the entire line has not yet been determined but pledged that the price will be accessible.

“A consultation is being carried out in the area with citizens to see how much they are willing to pay,” she said.

The mayor noted that a second cable car line is under construction in Iztapalapa, a sprawling, densely populated borough in the capital’s east.

Guillermo Calderon, director of the electrical transportation system in Mexico City, said there are almost 1 million people who live in the area around the Cablebús system.

“They [currently] make their trips [to the Metro station] in small vans that descend through narrow streets, and that may take, from the highest point [of the area] … as long as 55 minutes or an hour,” he said.

The Associated Press reported that traditional transportation solutions like bus or subway lines are almost impossible in the area because there are no rights of way in the densely packed slums, which are crowded along hillsides on steep 15-degree slopes.

Transportation Minister Andrés Lajous said the cable cars operating on the line, which runs between 63 towers, will cover five meters per second, or 18 kilometers per hour, and considerably reduce travel time between Cuautepec and Indios Verdes.

Cuautepec resident Evelyn Sánchez told the Associated Press that getting to the Metro station is currently a big challenge for her and other locals.

“It does take us a long time, and now with this … it is going to be a lot quicker,” she said.

A public transit cable car system already operates in Ecatepec, a México state municipality that borders Gustavo A. Madero, and several other Latin American cities, including Medellín in Colombia, Río de Janeiro in Brazil and La Paz, Bolivia, also use the airborne method of travel to move citizens who live in hilly areas from A to B.

Source: Milenio (sp), AP (en)

Boy, 7, launches dog wash service to pay for veterinary studies

By

Michelle Aguilar

-

March 5, 2021

0

Dog washes start at 60 pesos at youngster's new business.

Jonathan Oziel, 7, of Monterrey, Nuevo León, knows he wants to be a veterinarian when he grows up. And while many children entertain fleeting fantasies about their adult careers at his age, Oziel is already saving money for veterinary school with his new dog-washing business.

With the support of his family, the boy publicizes his startup, Bien Bañado “Wow” (Well-Bathed), on Facebook.

The page features a cartoon logo of a content dog lying back in a clawfoot tub and details of the services offered, including one drawn by Jonathan himself showing a dog getting a bath. All his services feature the use of anti-flea soap and perfume and range from 60 to 100 pesos depending on the size of the dog.

On the business’s Facebook page, his mother tells potential customers that the family is proud of him for choosing the veterinarian profession and that they are eager to inculcate in him an interest in saving money.

She also said the family was encouraging the boy to start working by appointment so that his business would not affect his school or personal commitments.

“My son asked me to put his business on Facebook, saying that he was beginning a dog-washing business,” his mother said. “Obviously, as a business-oriented family, we would not deprive him of his plans, especially since he’s very excited and motivated.”

Oziel has even come up with his own business slogan: “Washed with love and affection.” He is currently taking appointments via a scheduling app on his Facebook page, where potential customers can merely click on the date and time they wish to reserve.

The page was created on Wednesday. By Friday afternoon it had attracted 9,700 followers.

Source: Milenio (sp)