There is a very good chance that you have seen this artist’s work, but have no idea who he is.
Drive into and around metropolises such as Mexico City, Chihuahua, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Cancún, Veracruz, Torreon, Campeche, Toluca, Cuernavaca, Colima, Chetumal, Nayarit, Villahermosa and more and you will see at least one of the monumental sculptures by the Mexican artist known best as Sebastián. They have a distinct abstract or semi-abstract style; once you see a few, you will recognize others.
Many of the pieces are enormous, meant to make an impression on those visiting the city, either as they enter or as they arrive into important areas. College campuses, corporations and other organizations also see value in his work to make statements about themselves and their ideals.
Although his work can be found in many parts of the world, by far his most common and most loyal patrons are the public and private entities of Mexico. He gives even Mexico’s obsession with mural painting a run for its money — no mean feat in a country where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo are still the king and queen of the fine arts.
The main reason for the popularity of Sebastián’s works is that they are uplifting rather than political and easy for the general public to relate to.
Gate to Chihuahua. Jonathan Hernandez
Sebastián’s personal history could have steered him in a very different direction. He was born Enrique Carbajal Gonzalez in 1947 in the little town of Santa Rosalía de Camargo, Chihuahua. He was accepted into Mexico’s National School of Fine Arts (today the Faculty of Art and Design of UNAM) in 1964, working several jobs to get through school. More importantly, he was a student during the demonstrations that led to the Tlatelolco Massacre in 1968.
Rounded up with other protesters, he spent two weeks in a military prison not knowing if he would ever be released. He had reason to worry; more than a few student activists disappeared during this time — their fates still not known today.
He was already highly dedicated to his craft during his school years, renaming himself “Sebastián, the sculptor” (a reference to St. Sebastian by Botticelli). Upon finally being released from military custody, Sebastián became obsessively prolific, driven by the aim of making an impact both in Mexico and the world.
But Sebastián prefers to use his art to help “diminish the suffering of people” rather than make political statements, focusing on providing inspiration to the human spirit to help get through the hard times.
His “gate” sculptures are designed to welcome those coming into a city. Famous works of this type include the gates of Chihuahua and Monterrey and, in the case of the border city of Matamoros, the gate into Mexico itself. Those destined for city centers, marinas and the like often depict something related to the city or region. These include the sailfish sculpture in Manzanillo, Colima, and the “hungry coyote” sculpture in Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, México state.
A number of cities have adopted his sculptures as official city symbols, such as those for Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl, Chimahualcan, México state, and the Japanese cities of Tsuro and Kadoma.
Originally from Chihuahua, Sebastian’s real name is Enrique Carbajal.
In a country as dependent on tourism as Mexico, his works in visitor destinations such as Cancún, Ixtapa, Los Cabos, Loreto, Huatulco, Manzanillo, Cozumel and Playa Espiritú play a significant role in bringing visitors and helping them remember their stays fondly. Former Secretary of Tourism Enrique de la Madrid said that Sebastián’s work has “…raised the status of [Mexico’s] name in the world.”
His most famous piece among Mexicans is the relatively modest Caballito, at only 28 meters in height, located in front of an office building on Paseo de Reforma in Mexico City. It is a modern reinterpretation of the famous equestrian statue by Manuel Tolsá in 1803 found in the same city.
Despite his young age, Sebastían’s attitude towards art is more in line with the Ruptura art movement of 1950s Mexico than the politically and socially-charged movements that followed in the 1970s and 1980s. The Ruptura was about breaking with muralism of Diego Rivera and company, towards art that was more international, abstract, apolitical and even looked towards scientific principles.
It was quite controversial but eventually found favor with authorities as the avant-garde moved toward works that were anti-government.
Sebastián does not limit himself to monumental sculpture, dabbling in many types of expression including installations, digital art and even jewelry making. He has exhibited in major museums all over Mexico, the U.S., Europe and Asia and has lost count of the number of works he’s produced.
At 74 years of age, he has no interest in slowing down, still living and working hard in Mexico City. “For the artist, there is no retirement, since if you retire, you are no longer an artist,” he said.
The Sailfish at the marina in Manzanillo, Colima. Yaomautzin Ohtokani Olvera Lara
He does admit that he is at the age where the documentation and preservation of his past work is now important and has established a foundation and museum in the city of Chihuahua to this end.
He has no problem being remembered for his monumental work, stating, “Monumental urban art is not a fashion, nor is it a way to exhibit [artistic] tendencies … It is a human condition, a necessity of the human spirit since [we lived in] caves.”
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
Since the fall of 2020, Wolfe has been encouraging foreigners from the US, Canada and beyond to come join him for treatment and training in the Ixtapa Palace Hotel. Facebook
Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo has become the home base for the Braveheart Nation, a group of alternative medicine practitioners and patients from the United States, Canada and beyond led by controversial U.S.- Canadian natural medicine practitioner Darrell Wolfe.
Wolfe, who refers to himself as the Doc of Detox, founded the Ixtapa World Training and Healing Center inside the Ixtapa Palace Hotel in the Guerrero resort destination in late 2021.
Since then, an estimated 20–30 people, mostly from Canada and the United States, have reportedly followed Wolfe to the Ixtapa Palace, where he has created a headquarters and a teaching and treatment center.
Wolfe’s online websites and YouTube channels have been advertising seminars and training sessions designed to teach patients and potential new practitioners certification in his self-developed treatments and protocols since at least October. In these online venues, Wolfe claims to be expecting between 300 and 400 people to come from outside Mexico to attend.
Wolfe’s various websites state that his methods — which can include nutritional and diet advice; emotional counseling; his own alternative bodywork treatments, many of which bear his name; or the use of “advanced energy medicine” devices — can treat or eliminate a wide variety of health issues. His International Training Institute of Health’s website says, “There is nothing we cannot treat. Your body is amazing. Let us help you heal.”
Darrell Wolfe, as he appears on his Doc of Detox and International Training Institute of Health websites.
Wolfe previously lived in Kelowna, Canada, where, according to his LinkedIn bio, he founded the International Training Institute of Health in 1989. His bio there also lists him as the former president of the North American Institute for The Advancement of Colon Therapy in Toronto from 1984 to 2001 and says that he headed “one of North America’s leading natural cancer treatment and preventative care centers,” although he does not specify which one. He lists his credentials as a Doctor of Natural Medicine and a Doctor of Humanitarian Services.
The International Training Institute of Health is a website dedicated to promoting Wolfe’s treatments and training sessions for potential patients as well as for people interested in becoming “New World Practitioners” — people certified as trained in Wolfe’s techniques by the Institute, whose courses are in turn advertised as certified by the Board of Integrative Medicine (BOIM), which according to its website is based in Ontario.
BOIM appears on a 2021 list of “questionable” organizations that are “non-recognized accrediting/credentialing/licensing agencies” on the medical fraud watchdog site Quackwatch.
According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which in 2020 investigated a complaint by the United States Better Business Bureau about Wolfe’s specious claims regarding a product called “Black Gold,” Doc of Detox is a Canadian entity that goes by several names, including the aforementioned International Institute of Health, the International Health Initiative and the International Training Institute of Health. Wolfe refers to believers in his treatment methods as members of the “Braveheart Nation”
The FTC’s investigation into Wolfe and the Black Gold product found that Wolfe was claiming the product “treats, cures, or prevents a variety of diseases and serious conditions.” According to an email between the FTC and the BBB, the case was resolved in October 2020 by Wolfe agreeing to discontinue his claims about the product.
Since late 2021, Wolfe has been uploading videos recorded in Mexico in which he gives extemporaneous talks in English to groups of people. His topics range from the body’s ability to heal itself to the value of changing one’s eating patterns to personal development-styled emotional advice. These talks are often filled with remarks showing skepticism and hostility toward medical science, the pharmaceutical industry and doctors.
In some of his videos and on his web pages for docofdetox.com, he has been encouraging viewers to travel to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo to stay at the hotel or in the area to be “part of our community.”
Wolfe’s online content also indicates a strong anti-COVID-19 vaccination stance. In videos, he repeatedly denies that COVID-19 exists and expresses unhappiness with government attempts to encourage widespread vaccination through mandates and restrictions. He refers to U.S. President Joe Biden and his chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, as murderers and uses the phrase “liar, liar, pants on fire” to refer to government officials in general.
“Everything you hear from the media is a lie,” he said in one video. “People in the government are morons and they are ass-kissers because they are selling their brothers and sisters.”
“Here’s the truth about flying,” Wolfe said in an online video posted on October 31, speaking about Canada’s decision at the time to extend a vaccination mandate deadline for passengers on Canadian buses, trains or airlines.
“Guess what? Now they say you can’t fly without a vaccination until November 28,” Wolfe said. “Understand this: this is not about [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau being nice. Understand this: he got slapped by the Justice Department because this is a crime against humankind. So you can fly — they can’t stop you; they can’t vaccinate you, and they can’t make you get a vaccine passport, and they can’t lock you up. All they’ve done is corrupt your mind. Don’t let them do that.”
His treatment protocols, according to his website, start with what he calls a “Perfect Day” one-hour consultation, which allows him and his practitioners an opportunity to assess the needs of the client before compiling a treatment plan Wolfe says will be suited to their specific needs.
The Ixtapa Palace hotel in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, where Wolfe has opened a treatment and training center attracting foreigners.
This is accompanied by a thick, illustrated book sold by Wolfe, which serves as a roadmap of everything Wolfe advises to maximize health, including a nutritional guide and advice on exercise and lifestyle. It also is a shopping cart of all his treatment protocols needed for healing, including services, supplements bearing the Doc of Detox label and courses from the Ixtapa World Training and Healing Center on how to become a master practitioner of Wolfe’s treatment methods in six weeks. Courses can easily start at US $8,000. Treatment protocolscost upward of US $150.
“One month with me is like a six-month to one-year course,” Wolfe says in one of his online videos, “and you can hold me to the fire on that.”
Once the initial consult is completed, appropriate treatments can include a combination of any of the following:
One of Wolfe’s treatment techniques, deep tissue massage — also known as deep tissue restoration or Wolfe nonsurgical bodywork — involves the practitioner using his elbow to apply intense pressure in a circular motion to an afflicted area of the body, a technique that seems to be a repackaging of the intensive massage technique known as Rolfing.
Wolfe maintains that deep tissue massage “will facilitate the proper blood flow, lymph and energy flow returning to the area of concern.” He also says that this technique can replace any surgery or drugs and can in fact heal anything in mere minutes, including cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, joint issues and a host of other problems.
One former patient, who asked to remain anonymous and who experienced this treatment on his knee, called the treatment “archaic, barbaric and useless.” He said it left him sore for a week with no improvement. However, he did say that others he spoke to had felt they had benefited from the treatment.
But no one he talked to had reported being cured of their ailment, he said.
Other treatments include detoxification methods — teas, fasting, supplements and colon flushes among them. Wolfe also uses something called CellSonic therapy, which uses a machine to deliver high-intensity pulses of energy on the skin on an afflicted area of the body.
Andrew Hague, the CellSonic machine’s inventor, has no accredited medical training, according to his LinkedIn bio. But he states on his website that his machine “can cure cancer tumors within minutes,” and in 2021 promoted it online as a cure for COVID-19 infection in the U.K.
Another patient, who also wished to remain anonymous because treatment with Wolfe is ongoing, says he is willing to try anything to cure his cancer. His treatment includes Wolfe’s deep tissue massage on his cancer tumor, supplements costing US $458 and CellSonic treatment.
Although proof of success will only be evaluated once he returns to his own country for assessment, this patient said that it will all be worth it if he becomes cancer-free. He also said that Wolfe offers no money-back guarantees.
In a review on Yelp, a person who identified themselves only as “Danny J.R.” who claimed to have sought treatment with Wolfe, said, “When his son, who is a master trainer, performed three sessions of the so-called incisionless scar removal on me, not only I did not get results, I got worse and suffered internal bruising.
Wolfe photographed last month in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
“When you do a consultation with him, he will recommend so many products and comes up with treatment regimens that make no sense. If you challenge Dr. Wolfe on the phone, he shuts you up. His tissue sessions are supposed to be refundable if you don’t see results, and not to my surprise that turned out to be bogus as well. I feel bad for all the people that will sustain pain and damage by falling into his trap. He’s dangerous and selfish for doing this.”
The reviewer also added, “When you’re desperate, you’re willing to try anything, and this is exactly what fuels this business. [The] problem is, by getting distracted [by] thinking that his methodology works, one can fall behind [on] getting sensible treatments and/or getting properly diagnosed.”
Wolfe also sells a polarized light therapy machine, made by Bioptron, owned by the Swiss company Zepter, which makes consumer goods and medical devices for direct sales and through stores. The Bioptron website claims its machine improves cell metabolism in minutes a day and that it can be used for sports injuries, skin repair and immunity correction as well as help fight COVID-19 by boosting one’s immune system, especially important for people who are frail and immunocompromised.
It also features testimonials on its use for a wide variety of ailments — including chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis and respiratory diseases — from both medical professionals and individual customers, mainly from Russia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
According to CBC Marketplace, a Canadian investigative program renowned for sussing out fraudulent claims and business practices, Wolfe practiced alternative medicine in the 1990s in Toronto at The Wolfe Clinic, where he specialized in naturopathic treatments and sold ozone machines, primarily to AIDS patients, for around US $3,000 each.
Tests in Europe have shown that ozone can kill the HIV virus in blood in a test tube. The United States Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada, however, state that there is no scientific evidence yet that it works on people.
Dr. Gary Garber, an infectious diseases physician at Ottawa Hospital, a past president of the Ontario Medical Association section for Infectious Diseases and one of Canada’s foremost experts on AIDS at the time, has said that ozone therapy is not based on fact or scientific evidence and called it a “sales pitch.”
Jeff Mowat, an AIDS patient in Toronto, bought one of the ozone machines sometime between 1993 and 1994 in a last-ditch effort to save his life. One of the ways practitioners recommend using it is by drawing the blood of AIDS patients, treating it with ozone and then reintroducing it into the bloodstream.
The other way the machine can be used, which was employed by Mowat, according to a Marketplace interview with his friends, is to insert a tube into the rectum, thereby introducing ozone into the body.
According to his friends, Mowat found the treatment an ordeal and did not believe it was doing anything for him. In fact, they told Marketplace that he felt it did more harm than good. He died three weeks later.
After his passing, his sister Sandra attempted to contact The Wolfe Clinic to find out what staff there had been telling her brother, but no one replied to her repeated requests for a meeting or returned her calls. She then reached out to Marketplace, which resulted in the investigative piece, which aired in 1994.
In that piece, AIDS patient Joe Sheffield called The Wolfe Clinic to find out about the ozone machine. In a secretly taped phone interview, Wolfe stated that the machine would cure AIDS.
WHY THE EVIL ELITE ARE IN CHARGE
A video of one of Wolfe’s lectures with an audience of foreigners in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo.
“OZONE Is curing HIV and AIDS more than any other therapy on the planet,” he told Sheffield.
When Sheffield asked for examples of results the clinic was seeing, Wolfe replied, “Well people are going HIV-negative.”
Marketplace then sent an undercover reporter who posed as an HIV patient. Wolfe reiterated his claims of curing AIDS and cited several people who had been cured.
“And, guess what?” Wolfe added during the videotaped conversation. “If you do it in the ear, it will also shrink brain tumors.”
In the recorded conversation, Wolfe dropped names of well-known supposed fans of the procedure, including the deputy surgeon general of the Canadian armed forces, Commodore Michael Shannon. When contacted by Marketplace, however, Shannon said he had never met Wolfe, nor did he endorse his claims.
A Marketplace reporter also called Wolfe, asking if he had made the above-mentioned claims, to which Wolfe replied, “That is absurd; there are no guarantees,” denying he made any such statement of cures.
The tape was then played back to him on air, after which he hung up. He also refused to answer questions by a Marketplace crew when they confronted him on a Toronto street.
Wolfe closed his clinic in Toronto shortly thereafter.
The YCancer Foundation — a U.S. organization of scientists, doctors and others focused on unearthing cures for cancer that are tried, true or otherwise — gathers data from hospitals and leading health organizations worldwide and disproves incorrect information and debunks myths about cancer. Their database includes information on medicines and their correlation to causing cancer.
In an article about fraudulent alternative healers, William M. Landon talks about the various ploys that such healers use to defraud patients, singling out two people, one of whom is Wolfe, as some of the worst offenders. He also questions Wolfe’s credentials as a doctor.
“At first, I thought the Ac.Ph.D. following his name onscreen … might be a typographical error and that he might be an L.Ac. [licensed acupuncturist] who happens to also have a Ph.D. in some field. So I checked his docofdetox.com site, which indicates that he’s a resident of Kelowna, British Columbia.
“I found that he refers to himself there as Dr. Darrell Wolfe without indicating what kind of doctor he is. But on one page at drdarrellwolfe.com, he presents himself as “Dr. Darrell Wolfe Ac.PhD,” though without any mention of the institution that conferred the degree.”
Dr. Caesar A Maciel Vargas, director of the Mediciel Hospital in Zihuatanejo, expressed concern about the alternative practices of the Wolfe organization as it was explained to him by Mexico News Daily.
“Alternative healing is not recognized by doctors who believe and follow the science when looking for treatment plans and cures,” he said. “The vaccine is still the only viable alternative to getting us through the pandemic.”
When asked if he felt that the healing methods of using one’s elbow to dissipate cancerous tumors, combined with electronic pulses and supplements could be effective, he said, “absolutely not.”
Food and drinks giant PepsiCo México has been recognized as one of the world’s best employers for the second year in a row.
The list compiled by the Top Employers Institute showcases companies that achieve a positive work environment and have well crafted human resources policies.
PepsiCo México made the list due to flexible work schemes it introduced in 2021 and the opportunities for professional development it provides employees, the newspaper Milenio reported.
It was also credited with developing a diversity and inclusion strategy which categorized its workforce on six dimensions: gender, sexual identity, disability, race, generational differences and age.
The company presented a human resources manual for including trans people in the workplace last year, which identifies best practices on human and labor issues for trans people.
Parent company PepsiCo was one of 11 considered top global employers by the institute.
PepsiCo México vice president Gabriela García said the company’s positive work environment was deep rooted. “For more than 100 years, PepsiCo has worked to make a positive impact by boosting the talent and skill development of our employees. We are proud to receive the certification as a Top Employer 2022 as it is a recognition of the unique culture we have managed to build and the opportunities and experiences of personal and professional growth, in the diverse and inclusive workspace which we provide to our employees,” she said.
The Top Employers Institute tracks the human resources departments of companies from 123 countries and evaluates their work environment, learning, well-being, leadership, sustainability, diversity and inclusion.
PepsiCo México was one of 35 Mexican companies that made the list.
An architectural rendering of what was to be the Mexico City airport.
The cost of canceling the previous government’s Mexico City airport was 184.55 billion pesos (US $8.9 billion), according to a new estimate by the Federal Auditor’s Office (ASF).
The estimate is the third provided in less than a year by the ASF.
President López Obrador canceled the partially built airport after a legally questionable referendum held before he took office in late 2018. He had long argued that the US $15 billion project was corrupt, too expensive and being built on land that was sinking.
The ASF published a document in February 2021 that estimated that the total cost of canceling the airport would be almost 332 billion pesos (US $16 billion).
That estimate – which considered a wide range of costs including non-recoverable investment expenses, the liquidation of airport bonds and legal fees – was more than triple that of the federal government, which put cancellation at 100 billion pesos in a 2019 document.
López Obrador disputed the ASF’s finding and called on the auditor to explain how it reached the 332-billion-peso figure.
It said last May that the cancellation cost was in fact 113.3 billion pesos (US $5.46 billion), but that estimate has now increased by over 60%.
Marco Fernández, a researcher with think tank México Evalúa and an academic in the school of government at the university Tec de Monterrey, told the newspaper Reforma that the ASF has undermined its own credibility by changing its estimates twice since last February.
“… It was incapable of realizing the errors it committed in the beginning,” he added.
Fernández also criticized the Chamber of Deputies, to which the ASF has submitted airport cancellation cost estimates, for not holding the auditor to account. The lower house failed to demand a thorough explanation from the ASF for its mistakes and didn’t take any disciplinary action against personnel who erred in their calculations, he said.
“It’s not just a problem of the auditor, it’s [also] a problem of the lawmakers who don’t do their work. … I think that’s extremely serious,” Fernández said.
As many as 170 vehicles had mechanical problems on Sunday after filling up at a BP gas station on a highway on the outskirts of San Luis Potosí city.
It was through no fault of the motorists: instead of gasoline, the station mistakenly sold them diesel.
Some of the affected drivers returned to the station on Tuesday to demand the company cover the cost of their repairs.
One motorist said she hadn’t been able to work since the error. “It’s not fair. I need my car to go to work and since yesterday it’s … at the mechanic and who is going to pay for it? All because of a mistake they made.
“It’s not just the failure, we have to bear the expenses for this and some of us are losing money by having to be here,” she added.
The drivers said they would close the gas station and one side of the highway if they didn’t receive a response. They also demanded the intervention of the federal consumer protection agency Profeco.
However, later on Tuesday the company appeared to accept responsibility for the mistake and promised to reimburse the drivers.
In a document which spread on social media, the company said it would cover the costs. “The company takes responsibility for payments for damages suffered due to refills of Magna gasoline made in the station from Sunday, January 23 to January 24 until 9:30 a.m. … [it’s responsible for] the refund of all the related costs.”
Diesel is a thicker fuel than gasoline and will clog the fuel filter and injectors in a gasoline engine.
Headquarters of the national science agency Conacyt.
Having a baby while studying abroad is apparently frowned upon by the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt).
The public agency is planning to suspend scholarship payments to Mexican women who become pregnant while studying overseas.
Mexican men who father a child while studying in a foreign country would also be liable to having their Conacyt scholarships suspended.
In addition, foreign students studying in Mexico would lose any financial support they receive from the science council if they are expecting a child.
Conacyt has submitted an updated version of its scholarship rules to the National Commission for Regulatory Improvement (Conamer). The commission is currently reviewing the document.
“A female scholarship holder who is pregnant, in labor or in puerperium” is subject to the suspension of her scholarship or support payment, the document says, adding that male scholarship holders who become fathers can also temporarily lose their payments.
Payment would resume once affected students can show Conacyt they are no longer in violation of its scholarship rules. Presumably that could only occur after the puerperium period – usually considered to be about six weeks – has ended and students have returned to their studies.
Conacyt is also seeking to extend the validity of a rule that allows it to suspend the scholarship payments of Mexicans students studying abroad and foreign students studying here if they participate in political protests. That rule was published by Conacyt in a 2018 document that sets out its scholarship do’s and don’ts.
“A [Mexican] scholarship holder who is carrying out his or her studies … outside the country as well as a foreign scholarship holder who is carrying out his or her studies in Mexico must respect the legislation and regulations of the host country as well as abstain from participating in any kind of political event or protest,” says the updated rules document submitted to Conamer.
A beverage can manufacturing plant in Monterrey, Nuevo León. LukeandKarla.Travel / Shutterstock.com
Approval of the federal government’s proposed electricity reform will result in manufacturing companies leaving the country, according to the head of a national industry group.
Luis Hernández, president of the National Council of the Maquiladora Industry (INDEX), predicted that companies will depart Mexico if the constitutional bill passes Congress because the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) won’t have the capacity to provide them with sufficient clean energy.
The controversial, widely criticized reform – which is expected to be put to a vote in April – would guarantee 54% of the electricity market to the state-owned CFE and thus limit the participation of private companies that generate renewable energy.
“Companies will start to leave because the CFE doesn’t have a way to provide renewable or clean energy in accordance with what the USMCA suggests,” Hernández told a press conference, referring to the North American free trade agreement that took effect in 2020.
“We have a lot at stake,” he said, citing the risk of capital flight as well as likely difficulties in attracting new investment if the proposed electricity reform becomes law.
The INDEX chief said that approval of the bill would also have a negative impact on employment.
“If a reform is passed you can’t go against [it] … we’re going to have a limitation – investment will no longer be encouraged and employment growth will no longer be encouraged,” Hernández said.
He said the negative impact of the reform would be felt most in Chihuahua, Querétaro, Baja California and Tamaulipas, where many manufacturers have factories.
Lawmakers in the state Congress have put a stop to bullfighting.
A veto that permitted bullfighting in Sinaloa was thrown out on Tuesday in a unanimous vote in the state Congress.
Reforms to the state’s animal rights bill were first passed in January 2021, which outlawed bullfighting and defined the spectacle as an act of animal cruelty.
However, in April former governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel vetoed the part of the bill that banned bullfighting.
Ordaz finished his term on October 31 and now his amendments have now been repealed, meaning those found guilty of animal cruelty — including bullfighting — could face six years in prison or fines.
The bill’s approval will also see new animal welfare centers created in the state.
The reforms do not cover the sacrificial killings of slaughter animals, controversial equestrian sports or cockfighting, as the state legislature said they were federal matters.
Ordaz had argued that the reforms were ambiguous, given that bullfighting was to be banned, but other violent animal sports would remain legal.
A deputy who promoted the bill, Pedro Villegas Lobo, said it was necessary to give prison sentences for animal abuse rather than fines.
But Ordaz might not have to wait long to see another bullfight: his name was put forward as ambassador to Spain by President López Obrador in September.
National Guardsmen and state police outside the prison facility.
A prison riot in Colima city on Tuesday morning left at least eight inmates dead and seven wounded.
The riot started at about 9 a.m. in cells at the Social Readaptation Center (Cereso), located near the Colima-Guadalajara highway, and was brought under control about an hour later, the state government said.
Police found sharp weapons, a firearm and telephones during a search, the state Attorney General’s Office said.
The state government said in a statement that the wounded men were given medical attention. “Inside two of the dormitories, seven people were found dead and eight people were injured, who were transferred to various hospital units,” it said.
One of the victims died later in hospital, the newspaper El País reported.
The state Human Rights Commission visited the prison in October. Earlier this month, it issued a report recommending improvements in prisoner treatment.
Colima Governor Indira Vizcaíno offered only scant details when she addressed the incident. “At 10 a.m. the state authority had total control of the situation in this penitentiary center … From the first moment, the Public Security Ministry and I have personally addressed this situation. I have asked the Attorney General’s Office to carry out the pertinent investigations …” she said.
This was the fifth such incident at a facility in Colima in the last two years, the newspaper La Jornada reported.
Earlier this month, the head of the state Human Rights Commission, Roberto Ramírez, said it was necessary to make improvements to the prison. He recommended that inmates’ food be improved and called for a review on how punishments were handled. Both recommendations remain pending.
There has already been a string of violent incidents so far this year in Mexican prisons: a fight in Tulancingo, Hidalgo, on Tuesday left at least two inmates injured, and 56 people were injured in a riot at a prison in Nuevo León earlier in January.
The Supreme Court sided with actors Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna against Johnnie Walker. (Wikimedia Commons)
Two Mexican actors have won a decade-long legal dispute with a whisky maker over image rights.
Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna were featured in caminando con gigantes (walking with giants) advertising campaign for its whisky brand Johnnie Walker in 2011.
Under federal copyright law, the use of a person’s image in an advertising campaign without his or her permission is illegal. The value of the compensation owed to the actors is yet to be determined.
García won a separate victory against Johnnie Walker owner Diageo in the Supreme Court in November. That ruling earned him 40% of the revenue from sales of Johnnie Walker during the period of the campaign. The actor’s lawyers said the commercial was played at least 22 times from September 3-October 6.
In early hearings, Diageo argued that the campaign was not intended as publicity for the company but a means of featuring “great personalities” to encourage Johnnie Walker consumers to strive to reach their goals. A press release issued by Diageo in 2011 said the campaign, introduced in 1999, was intended to “showcase a series of pioneering ideas which could help the world take a step forward.” It won several international awards.
The two actors starred together en Alfonso Cuarón’s 2001 film Y tu mamá también (And Your Mom Too). Since it was released, they have been known collectively by their fictional shared nickname in the movie: Los Charolastras (space cowboys).
