Tens of thousands of visitors flocked to Miramar beach in southern Tamaulipas for the holiday weekend. Twitter @fgcabezadevaca
More than 90,000 tourists flocked to a popular beach in Tamaulipas on Good Friday while 1.3 million visitors arrived in the state over Easter week, municipal and state authorities said.
Miramar beach in Ciudad Madero hosted 90,325 visitors on Friday. The 10-kilometer beach sits on the outskirts of the city of Tampico, which had restricted tourism for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, 1.3 million people visited Tamaulipas with hotel occupancy averaging 60%. The influx provided an economic boost for the region of 859 million pesos (US $43 million).
The busiest destinations in the state were its beaches: Miramar, Bagdad beach in Matamoros, Barra del Tordo in Aldama, La Pesca in Soto la Marina, Tesoro in Altamira and Carbonera beach in San Fernando. Tampico’s traditional fair was also a draw for tourists.
Most visitors to Miramar beach were from nearby states such as Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Chihuahua, Veracruz, Hidalgo, Zacatecas and Mexico City. From April 8-16 more than 191,000 vehicles entered the state, according to the state Tourism Ministry.
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Ciudad Madero official Juan Antonio Ortega Juárez said order was maintained on Miramar beach despite the deluge of visitors. “From an early hour tourists arrived at the main promenade, packing the natural area. The busiest hours were recorded from 12-6 p.m. However, vehicles quickly dispersed, avoiding congestion,” he said.
Ortega added that the influx was managed successfully due to the work of local authorities and security forces. “Thanks to the good coordination between various authorities, everything has been positive in Miramar. The surveillance of the beach area is 24 hours a day, without the city being neglected,” he said.
One visitor, Julisa Martínez, said traveling to a beach in Tamaulipas had been a stress-free experience. “The highway is in very good condition and it’s very safe. Above all, that’s what you want: safety and tranquility,” she said.
However, another tourist heading to Ciudad Mante, 160 kilometers west of Tampico, said that while highways were safe and in good condition, there was a lot of traffic.
Chamber of Deputies legislators met on Sunday to vote on the proposed reform. Cámara de Diputados / EFE
A proposed electricity reform that would have guaranteed the state owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) over half the market failed to pass the lower house of Congress on Sunday, prompting President López Obrador to describe opposition lawmakers as traitors.
The ruling Morena party and its allies fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve the constitutional bill, which would have given the CFE 54% of the power market and nationalized future lithium exploration, among other measures.
A total of 275 deputies voted in favor of the proposed reform while 223 voted against it. Only two of 500 deputies were absent.
Marked by acrimony between the opposing parties, the Easter Sunday debate and vote on the constitutional bill was closely watched in Mexico and beyond given that its approval would have drastically altered rules governing participation in the country’s energy sector. Opposition parties and other critics argued that the reform would adversely affect current and future investment, damage the economy and harm the environment given that the CFE is heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
It was the first time that a constitutional reform put forward by a Mexican president had been rejected.
President López Obrador reflected on the constitutional reform’s defeat at his Monday morning press conference. Presidencia de la República
López Obrador – a staunch energy nationalist determined to “rescue” the CFE and state oil company Pemex and roll back the 2013 reform that opened up the energy sector to private and foreign companies – said Monday that opposition lawmakers committed “an act of treason” in not supporting the bill. They defended the interests of unscrupulous foreign companies rather than those of the Mexican people and nation, he asserted.
In the Chamber of Deputies on Sunday, Morena’s leader in the lower house called on opposition lawmakers to support the proposed reform, which López Obrador sent to Congress in October.
“Think about whether you want to subordinate yourself to money and foreign companies as the bad lawmakers, bad officials and bad Mexicans did in 2013,” Ignacio Mier said, referring to approval of the previous government’s energy reform, one of numerous structural reforms spearheaded by former president Enrique Peña Nieto and passed by Congress.
“Don’t mortgage your honor because there won’t be money to recover it. Honor is a matter of dignity and moral quality,” he said.
His plea fell on deaf ears, with the National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and Citizens Movement (MC) party all rejecting the constitutional bill.
“In the context of this reform, many people bet that the ‘Va por México’ coalition was going to dissolve, but today we tell you that the women and men of the PAN, PRI and PRD are more united than ever,” said Jorge Romero, leader of the PAN in the lower house.
The PRI party president, Deputy Alejandro Moreno, celebrated the defeat of the constitutional electricity reform. Twitter @AlitoMorenoC
Deputy Alejandro Moreno, the PRI’s national president, declared that the rejection of the bill would be Morena’s “largest and most monumental defeat” in the Congress, and warned that the opposition would band together to vote down other constitutional initiatives if the ruling party maintained its “arrogant attitude.”
Ildefonso Guajardo, a PRI deputy and former economy minister, warned that the proposed reform would violate the North American free trade pact – the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – an argument already made by many other critics, including the U.S. government.
As debate was taking place in the Chamber of Deputies, López Obrador took to social media to declare that “whatever happens we’re already shielded against treason.”
The government’s already approved Electricity Industry Law, which gives power generated by CFE priority on the national grid over that produced by private and renewable energy companies, was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court earlier this month, while a reform to the mining law – which requires only a simple majority to pass Congress – gives the president the ability to nationalize lithium resources. The proposed mining law reform could face a vote as soon as Monday.
Speaking at his regular news conference on Monday morning, López Obrador said that opposition lawmakers who blocked his bill had become “clear defenders of foreign companies that are dedicated to getting rich and stealing.”
“To say it clearly, these deputies supported the looters,” he said. “… That’s the mentality that prevailed yesterday,” López Obrador said.
“… We’ve been defending [Mexico’s] oil and the electricity industry for decades because that’s what the foreigners covet the most – not just companies [but] those behind [them]; it’s a chain of command, it’s the investment funds that dominate in the world. It’s the investment funds, the companies and then the corrupt oligarchic interests of each country,” he said.
López Obrador claimed that the “traitors” didn’t present any valid arguments against his proposed reform, singling out Guajardo’s claim that the USMCA would be violated as “completely false.”
The president had harbored hopes that the PRI would support his bill, but the once omnipotent party – whose early president Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized Mexico’s oil industry – ultimately sided with the PAN, which is currently the main opposition party in Congress.
“It was shameful to see the PRI as the co-conspirator of the PAN. … [It’s] regrettable, just imagine – the [PRI is the] party that emerged with the revolution,” López Obrador said.
“ … We saw this coming. Of course it could have been avoided if we acted like they did in 2013 [when] they bought votes, but we’re not the same. In 2013, … [the PRI] obtained an absolute majority, there wasn’t opposition because they handed out money, that’s why the so-called energy reform [was approved], the reform we’re confronting,” he said before signaling his undiminished determination to overhaul the energy sector to favor the state.
“… This isn’t over yet,” the president insisted. “This is just starting.”
National Action Party Deputy Mariana Gómez was one of a couple of hundred legislators who camped in their offices Saturday night to avoid any chance of being locked out of Congress for Sunday's vote.
Mexico’s opposition politicians plan to reject a radical energy reform pushed by the country’s nationalist president in an Easter Sunday vote that will be closely watched by investors.
The constitutional reform, which would guarantee state electricity group CFE 54% of the market, has spooked the private sector, opposition and U.S. government. Critics argue that it would be bad for investment, the economy and the environment.
The reform would transform the regulatory landscape for electricity, including by canceling existing power generation permits and prioritizing CFE power over private renewables on the grid.
The ruling Morena party has tweaked its proposal slightly and won at least one vote from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). But a constitutional change requires approval by two-thirds of lawmakers, which is highly unlikely barring last-minute surprises, say analysts.
“A constitutional reform cannot pass without our consent and votes . . . and they don’t have it,” said Santiago Creel, vice-president of the lower house and a deputy for the opposition conservative National Action Party (PAN).
Since the reform was put forward in October, business leaders, the government and lawmakers have negotiated behind the scenes and debated in public. But the gap between the visions of energy nationalist President López Obrador and the opposition that opened the markets to private investment in 2013 has been too wide to bridge.
Instead, Sunday’s vote is more for López Obrador to make a political point, say analysts. The government wants to paint the opposition as representing the interests of foreign energy companies while it is working for the Mexican people.
“Citizens will pay attention to who votes for national sovereignty and who defends the interests of the transnational companies. The homeland comes first!” the president’s spokesperson, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, said on Friday, citing a leader of Mexico’s movement for independence from Spain.
López Obrador, who grew up in an oil-producing state and is a firm believer in state control of oil and electricity, thinks the liberalization of the sector was plagued by corruption and too favourable to private companies.
“It’s not just another topic, one more item on the agenda but rather it’s something at the heart of [his] . . . agenda, because it’s at the heart of the history of Mexico,” said Lorenzo Meyer, a historian who is broadly supportive of López Obrador’s administration. “The opposition can vote down the bill but not the idea.”
Energy experts agree, and doubt the sector will see much new investment even if the constitutional reform is rejected. The government has other tools at its disposal, such as blocking permits through regulators and trying to implement a secondary bill that the Supreme Court did not throw out in a ruling earlier this month.
“The energy sector isn’t going to change, it’ll stay as it’s been until now without investment or with very focused investment,” said Carlos Ochoa, a lawyer in Holland & Knight’s Mexico City office who has worked in state companies CFE and Pemex.
He said the vote was also important for the broader economy and investment climate. “If the reform doesn’t pass . . . it is a good message for other industrial sectors to know that at least there are checks and balances,” he said. López Obrador has said if the reform is voted down, he will send a new initiative to congress to nationalize the country’s lithium resources.
His coalition has the simple majority to pass secondary legislation. The issue is less immediately material to the private sector as the value of Mexico’s lithium, which is mostly in clay deposits that are difficult to mine, is unclear.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022. All rights reserved.
Before and after: Judas figure being exploded on Holy Saturday in the Santa María la Ribera neighborhood in Mexico City. Alejandro Linares García
Some years ago, there was a fad of making and smashing piñatas in the shape of Donald Trump. More recently, something similar happened with those made like coronaviruses.
This was primarily a phenomenon in the United States. Piñatas haven’t really had a history of being used for political and social statements in Mexico.
But one of the piñata’s papier-mache cousins, the Judas, was used for that purpose — and it almost led to its demise.
Today is Holy Saturday, the day between the commemoration of the death of Christ and the celebration of his resurrection. It is also the day, according to tradition, when the apostle Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus to Roman authorities for money, committed suicide.
For the unspeakable sin of betraying the son of God, Judas has long been an icon of evil second only to the Devil himself in the eyes of Catholics.
Traditional devil Judas effigies border more modern ones of presidents Enrique Peña Nieto, AMLO and Donald Trump.
In southern Europe, a tradition arose of making effigies to represent Judas, then burning them on Holy Saturday as a way to repudiate evil and purify the community for the upcoming celebrations. The Spanish took this tradition with them to the New World.
Of course, Mexico made changes. One of these was to forego the crude human figure made of whatever was on hand to something that required more artistic talent — often in a hard papier-mache craft style called cartonería.
Eventually, a figure of the Devil became the most popular, with the idea that it represented Judas after the betrayal, rather than trying to depict what he might have looked like in life. The second adaption made in Mexico was to “burn” the figure not by setting it alight but by setting off a bunch of fireworks attached or embedded into the figure, essentially blowing it to pieces and destroying a finely crafted artwork that took hours to make.
Until the mid-20th century, Holy Saturday was the biggest day on the calendar for cartoneros, those who use papier-mache to create festival paraphernalia and more. Artisans like Pedro Linares of Mexico City would make hundreds of them, knowing that when they all sold, he could buy his children necessities affordable only once a year.
But a third tradition with the Judases nearly wiped out the entire Holy Saturday ritual in the 1950s: that of making Judases in the form of living public figures who for one reason or another had prompted the ire of the community — in particular, authorities.
During Mexico’s decades-long one-party rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), such mockery of political leaders became intolerable. Artisans’ workshops were checked in the run-up to Holy Week to see if any Judases representing the president or others were being made.
Leonardo Linares, grandson of the famous Pedro Linares, ties one of a series of rockets onto a Judas. Alejandro Linares Garcia
Then, in 1957, a warehouse storing fireworks (some say it had military munitions) caught fire and exploded, causing deaths and devastation around the La Merced Market in Mexico City. Authorities took the opportunity to outright ban fireworks almost entirely in the capital.
Without the fireworks, a Judas is not a Judas, and so the business of making them all but died.
One notable exception was Pedro Linares’ family, who managed to get exemptions from the ban and set Judases off in front of their home in the capital’s Merced Balbuena neighborhood, a tradition the family continues each year on Holy Saturday.
But for most others, the tradition was prohibited, and as goes Mexico City, generally goes Mexico. Soon, other cities followed suit, instituting bans “for safety reasons.”
Many cartoneros believe the real reason was political, and I tend to agree with them. For example, there have never been such restrictions on toritos — cartonería bulls laden with fireworks that are run through crowds as part of annual celebrations. The toritos are at least as dangerous as Judases, probably more so, but they have never been politically charged and they were never prohibited, although in recent years the enactments have often been moved to more remote locations outside the downtown.
Judases have made something of a comeback since the PRI’s hold on Mexico was more or less broken in 2000. But the setting off of Judases, even today, generally requires special permits, and there are often restrictions, such as keeping crowds at a distance.
It seems ridiculous given how people dance in showers of sparks and rockets when toritos are running around, but the government is apparently not yet ready to drop the “public safety” pretense just yet. In most communities where Judases are “burned,” the brightly painted figures are hoisted into a tree or suspended in a way that allows them to dangle, much like a piñata. Some words might be spoken, but usually, the fireworks are simply set off unceremoniously. Often there is more than one Judas.
Some communities have interesting variations on the burning: in the state of Guanajuato, some set the effigy on fire, with or without accelerant, as a way to get around the ban on fireworks. In Jerez, Zacatecas, charros (cowboys) compete to lasso one of the effigies as they are set off so that they can drag it through the streets. In some places, it’s a treat for children to go home with an arm or leg or head from the remnants of an exploded Judas — not unlike baseball fans taking home a trophy ball that flew into the stands.
Judas burnings are still found mostly in central Mexico, but their comeback is a welcome sign of the population’s freedom of expression.
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.
This graphic from the government's National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy shows an improvement in access to social services (the magenta graph) since AMLO's term began in 2018, but the percentage of poverty and extreme poverty (see vertical table and the purple and green graphs) both went up. coneval
For the past couple of months, I’ve been seeing ¡Vota Sí! signs and billboards up all around my city. The president looks handsome and confident, his teeth as perfectly white as his hair. One could almost think he hadn’t been the one to organize this weird performance in the first place.
The “recall vote,” set up and promoted by the president himself, seems to have been nothing more than a bizarre but predictable (and expensive) ego exercise.
With fewer than 20% of the eligible population voting, the results are not considered legally binding. But no matter! Over 90% of that sliver of the population loves him and voted to have him finish out his term.
Those who love him do so feverishly.
I’ve learned my lesson several times over by now that pointing out any faults to a diehard AMLO supporter gets you to the same place as an argument with a diehard Trump supporter does (nowhere, plus you’ll probably be kind of grouchy afterward). Both groups see their respective charismatic leader as a rebellious but noble underdog actively saving the country by daring to go up against the status quo.
They also apparently see them as incredibly sensitive, deeply in need of their supporters’ overtures to find the motivation to fight another day. One interviewee told the New York Times, “Andrés often feels alone because he has to go against an entire system and doesn’t have support.”
But how much has the status quo actually changed under his rule?
Precious little, from where I’m sitting. But let’s start with the positive.
There’s more help for the poor, and social programs for them have increased; that’s a positive thing. Credit where credit is due. Mexico’s poorest are getting much more help than they did under previous governments, and that’s something I applaud.
The minimum wage has gone up four times since he came to office. The former presidential mansion is now a museum open to the public, which is cool.
And while I worry and am generally suspicious about money being diverted from government organizations that need it in order to function and actually serve their purpose (the National Electoral Institute [INE] and the National Anti-Corruption System come to mind), I think the general idea of reducing exorbitant, bloated budgets, ones in which most of the money got driven into individual pockets rather than toward actual services, was at least a good try.
But in so many other ways, plenty of things remain painfully similar.
Let’s take all those Vota Sí signs that have been up for the past month, for example. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who works for the government was forced to spend his Saturday putting them up all over town. It wasn’t a volunteer gig, he said; if you work for the government, then “showing support” for whoever’s in power is part of your job.
This is how it’s always been, especially in Veracruz, but it’s one of those things I thought surely the new president wouldn’t tolerate. Forced political participation and shows of false support? Doesn’t sound very democratic to me.
Add to that the embarrassing new airport project, which seems to have just been the product of a tantrum over wanting to stop the one that was already being built.
Add to that the Maya Train project being protested by environmentalists (“pseudo-environmentalists,” as AMLO calls them, discrediting them in the same way he tries to discredit the women’s movement by saying his female critics are pseudo-feminists who really just want to undo his Fourth Transformation).
Then there’s the law set to guarantee market dominance for the country’s state electricity company, the Federal Electricity Commission that will put us on the map for going in the opposite environmental direction that we should. It’s a law blocking the possibility of clean energy precisely at the time the scientific community tells us we’re at the point of no return for saving this planet.
And call me bitter, but I’m still in disbelief that so many people lost their jobs or had to close their businesses and were allowed to fall into poverty during wave after wave of the COVID pandemic, with not a peso of help in sight.
What else has not changed? Oh, let me count the ways.
A new report by the UN noted how disappearances are up in Mexico amid the near-complete impunity of criminals. Narcos continue to roam free and collude with government officials. Bodies and body parts are still lying around, unidentified, all over the country. Swaths of people have literally been pushed out of their homes by narcos while the president denies the problem even exists.
Laws and policies are great but meaningless if they can’t be enforced. And so far, there doesn’t seem to be a plan or strategy for making sure the most important ones — the ones that protect life, limb and liberty, for example — can be enforced in the least.
The president is great at lip service. He’s great at assuring people that things are changing. But the hard numbers say otherwise. Once again, it seems that the emperor has no clothes.
Veggies in your crisper or intensely colorful spices like tumeric can help you produce unique hues you won't find in a commercial Easter egg dye kit.
Eggs have heralded the arrival of spring — symbolizing renewal, fertility and new life — since ancient times. Civilizations around the world have traditions of festively decorating eggs in all sorts of ways, and Mexico is no exception.
Cascarones, originally a Spanish tradition, are hollowed-out eggs, painted or covered with colored tissue paper and filled with confetti. (For weddings they can be filled with rice.) Revelers break them over each other’s heads at parties, marking the beginning of Lent. (In Mazatlán we just have Carnival!)
While Catholicism and Easter may want to claim the season, there’s another understanding of why eggs are associated with spring. Hens need light to lay eggs, and during the dark winter months — this has changed with the artificial environments of industrial farming — they don’t lay much. Once spring arrives, egg production begins again. Easter also ties in with the spring equinox, closely following other pagan festivals celebrating the change of seasons and return of warmer weather.
My somewhat more commercial Easter egg memories are colored by the Paas dye kits and fighting with my brothers and sisters over who got to use the little metal dipper. Nowadays when I’m in the kitchen, I try to slow down and do things as close to the source as possible. Cascarones sound too messy and difficult, but these natural egg dyes seem like a fun weekend project to do with the grandkids.
Because these are natural dyes, the eggs will dry several shades lighter than how they look in the water bath. For the deepest, richest colors, leave the eggs in the dye overnight, till they’re darker than the hue you want. At the very least, let them soak 3–4 hours.
Cascarones involve eggs with the ingredients siphoned out and refilled with confetti.
The end results will vary, and, obviously, white eggs will color differently than beige or brown eggs! To add a little shine, rub eggs with a bit of coconut or vegetable oil. Play around and see what you end up with; that’s part of the fun.
Oh — and what to do with all those hard-boiled eggs? Classic egg salad, of course!
¼ cup minced scallions, white and pale green parts only
1 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley or cilantro
Salt and pepper
Combine eggs, mayonnaise, lemon/lime juice, celery, scallions and parsley/cilantro in medium bowl. Using your hands, squeeze eggs through your fingers, mixing everything together until desired consistency; alternatively, smash and mix with a firm whisk.
Season with salt and pepper. Refrigerate in sealed container for up to 3 days.
Make unique designs with onion skins and just about any item you think would look good as an imprint on your egg.
Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs
3 cups yellow onion skins from 8-10 onions (creates orange)
3 Tbsp. ground turmeric (creates a vibrant yellow on white eggs and deep gold on brown ones)
3 cups chopped beets (for pink eggs)
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (for blue eggs)
3 Tbsp. hibiscus flowers (creates a dark green)
1.5 quarts water per dye ingredient
12 Tbsp. (¾ cup) white vinegar
2 dozen hard-boiled white, brown or blue eggs, or a mixture
To create a dye bath: Combine a single natural-dye ingredient with 1½ quarts water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once the water is boiling, turn heat to low and simmer about 30 minutes. Remove pan from the heat; allow mixture to cool before straining the liquid into a large glass jar or bowl. (Avoid using stoneware as dye can stain.) Dispose of the solids.
Stir 2 Tbsp. of white vinegar into the dye. Repeat for each of the dye ingredients in separate pots, or use the same pot washed thoroughly after each preparation.
To dye the eggs: Add a single layer of hard-boiled eggs to a jar or baking dish; pour dye over them until completely submerged. For soft, pastel colors, allow eggs to soak for 2–3 hours; for vibrant, richer colors, place the dye bath of eggs in the fridge and soak overnight. You can dip the eggs in different baths to create different colors; for example, purple eggs result from dyeing eggs in the beet dye and then in cabbage dye.
To remove eggs from the dye: Use a slotted spoon, gently removing eggs and allowing them to dry completely before handling them. (Dye can rub off or streak if eggs are handled before they’re dry. Use a cooling rack or empty egg carton for drying.
Estonian Onion-Skin Wrapped Easter Eggs
These eggs are not pre-boiled before coloring; cooking and dyeing happens all at once.
12 white eggs
Skins of at least 8–10 onions
1 Tbsp. white vinegar and 1 tsp. of salt per quart of water
Decorative elements like leaves, leafy herbs, uncooked rice, etc. to leave impressions against the eggshells
Muslin or other inexpensive soft fabric, cut into squares
In your hand, wrap each egg with onion skins, placing any of the decorative elements next to the egg, inside the onion skins. (For darker color, use several layers of onion skins.) Place the onion skin-covered egg onto a fabric square. Wrap tightly; secure the ends with twine. Wrap all the eggs the same way.
Fill a pot with cold water; add wrapped eggs. Add 1 Tbsp. vinegar and 1 tsp. salt per quart of water. Cover; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove pot from heat, lift eggs out. Cool, still wrapped, on wire rack. When eggs are completely cool, unwrap and let dry completely.
President López Obrador at his Wednesday morning press conference. Presidencia de la República
Voters hit the polls last Sunday to decide whether President López Obrador should remain in office. The president justified the vote as an exercise in participatory democracy, while detractors have labeled his series of referendums as little more than a political stunt.
Monday
“It was a complete success,” the president declared of Sunday’s vote. “People acted with a lot of responsibility, millions of Mexicans … reaffirming that it’s the people who rule … now we are in a new stage, not only of representative democracy, but of participatory democracy,” he said.
More than 90% voted for the tabasqueño to remain in office on Sunday, but the turnout was under 20%. The president blamed the National Electoral Institute (INE) for the low turnout, claiming it had in effect boycotted the vote by providing a minimal number of polling stations. The INE replied that the government had boycotted the referendum by limiting its budget.
Despite the electoral ambiguities, López Obrador was already looking ahead. He continued his campaign to split the opposition’s united front against the electricity reform. “What does the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) gain by allying with the National Action Party (PAN)? Nothing!” he declared, and claimed only PAN would benefit from the coalition.
The president presented and discussed the results of last weekend’s national referendum on Monday. Presidencia de la República
Now safe in his post, the president decided to take a couple of days off. He announced there would only be one other morning news conference this week, to take place on Wednesday while Tuesday he would give a quarterly report.
Tuesday
López Obrador waited until the late afternoon to address the public, giving a quarterly review from the National Palace that marked the first 100 days of his government’s fourth year.
The president took the opportunity to lay out some of the government’s main achievements, as is customary for any extended AMLO speech. He focused on improvements in the minimum wage, social security, the recently opened Felipe Ángeles airport (AIFA) and the Dos Bocas oil refinery in Tabasco which he said would be completed in July, among other accomplishments.
There was a warning to lawmakers that that the upcoming vote on the electricity reform would show which of them stand with the people and which represent corporate interests. Part of the reform would nationalize lithium, and the president said that if the reform failed he would send a separate initiative for its nationalization.
On violence and criminality, López Obrador said his government had things under control. “Fortunately, from the first day of government we went to the root of the problem. We’ve faced the problems we inherited with welfare programs. With good results,” he said. However, he conceded that femicides, extortion and theft on public transit had risen.
AMLO gave a quarterly review from the National Palace on Tuesday. Presidencia de la República
The quarterly review concluded on a religious note. “Do not forget that we must seek material well-being, but also the well-being of the soul, because man can not live by bread alone,” the president said.
Wednesday
Federal lie detector Elizabeth García Vilchis ran through the week’s media mishaps. She denied millions of public medicines had expired in warehouses and confirmed that an airplane that split in two on a runway wasn’t at the AIFA, but in Costa Rica.
García added that former president Vicente Fox wasn’t to be trusted on Sunday’s vote after posting an erroneous video.
The president said he didn’t know how much it would costs Emilio Lozoya to get out of prison. The former Pemex CEO, who’s charged with corruption, had a US $10 million settlement offer rejected by the state-owned oil company.
The tabasqueño was more riled by the appearance of an Italian energy company lobbyist in the House of Deputies, where the electricity reform was being debated. He showed a photo of the lobbyist sitting next to Edna Díaz, a representative with the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).
Former president Vicente Fox got a mention in Elizabeth García Vilchis’ weekly segment refuting “media lies.” Presidencia de la República
“They call him a lobbyist — an intermediary, a kind of corporate influence peddler … In a brazen way he went to the headquarters of the deputies … That’s why it will be very important on Sunday to see how the popular representatives vote,” he said.
Later in the conference, the president offered an example of the power of energy companies. He said Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaidó was once revered by the U.S. Senate for his political struggle against the incumbent dictatorship in his country, but now there was a war in Ukraine, energy companies were embracing the Venezuelan regime and Guaidó had been forgotten.”Their god is money,” the president concluded.
However, the conference ended on an affectionate note. López Obrador wished viewers and those in attendance a “Holy Week in peace. In tranquility, with the family … with many hugs. Hugs, hugs, hugs,” before heading off for a short break from the mañaneras.
Thursday
The president took Thursday and Friday off for Easter.
López Obrador has previously said he doesn’t follow any religious institution, but nonetheless considers himself a man of faith. The morning conferences sometimes sound religious in tone and the president has been known to offer the odd parable. Even the name attributed to AMLO’s political movement — the Fourth Transformation — sounds like a phrase from the New Testament.
Recently, the president made a joke in which he placed himself as the son of God. He sarcastically claimed he could change the color of the sea and turn hell into paradise.
Friday
Catholicism is integral to Mexican identity. The country has the second largest number of Catholics anywhere in the world, behind only Brazil. But it’s arguably more dedicated to the faith than its South American rival, with a higher proportion of Mexico’s population identifying as Catholic.
However, Catholicism in Mexico isn’t a carbon copy of the creeds of the Vatican. While the Conquest was a story of domination, it was also a tale of marriage. Pre-Hispanic tradition is pervasive in the country’s Catholicism and in Easter that’s best represented in the Tewerichic, the ritual of the Rarámuri people in Chihuahua.
The Tewerichic celebration centers on a spiritual conflict between God and the devil. The story goes that the devil has forced God to drink tesgüino, a sacred alcoholic drink, making him weak and vulnerable. The Rarámuri join the drama to protect God and his wife until they fully recover.
The community is divided into two groups to act out the ceremony. Some become allies of the devil, while others play the warriors who defend God.
While browsing the net for a nice beach we hadn’t been to before, we came upon a picture of Gran Bahía de Cuastecomates, located six kilometers northwest of Barra de Navidad, Jalisco, on the Pacific Coast.
True to its name, this is a “big bay,” but sheltered and with calm waters, a perfect place for old-timers and toddlers to enjoy the sea without fear of being smacked by a wave and turned upside down — in other words, a place where no surfer would ever choose to go.
So, not being surfers, my wife and I booked a room at the grandiose-sounding Hotel Quinta Gran Bahía de Cuastecomates, which turned out to be grandiose-looking as well, with some 75 rooms, each featuring a balcony facing the ocean and the beautiful bay.
As this hotel includes all meals as well as alcoholic drinks in its overall price, we stuffed ourselves upon arrival and afterward felt obliged to burn off the added kilos by walking “100 paces after eating,” advice given by none other than Mohammed the Prophet, according to my wife, Susy Pint, who ought to know, as she is author of the book Una Mexicana en Arabia (A Mexican Woman in Arabia).
The “prophet’s paces” took us to a street entering the pueblito of Cuastecomates.
Wide, safe streets lead straight to the beach.
What a strange street it was, impeccably paved without a single bache (pothole) and so wide that there were walking lanes on both sides of the street, separated from the driving area by evenly spaced iron stanchions.
Beneath our feet was a multi-grooved yellow strip stretching off into the distance, obviously designed to guide the blind. It was the safest, most intelligently designed street we’d ever seen, and we rubbed our eyes in astonishment.
“Have we been transported to Sweden or Germany?” we asked.
Even the sign showing the name of the street had an international flair. It was written in Spanish, English and Braille!
Well, we followed the yellow strip to a perpendicular street, just as beautifully designed, above which we found a banner informing us that Cuastecomates is a pueblo incluyente, which meant nothing whatsoever to us.
Soon we found a shopkeeper who explained that incluyente means “inclusive,” in other words, “including everything a handicapped or old person might need.”
A handicapped woman takes a dip among the gentle waves. La Gazeta
It seemed that we had stumbled into Mexico’s first town and beach for the handicapped and aged on the Pacific Coast, the pet project of Lorena Jassibe, wife of former Jalisco governor Aristóteles Sandoval, who inaugurated the place in May 2016. The town has two hotels, each of which has a percentage of rooms adapted for clients with disabilities.
“They located the project here because our bay is so well-protected,” the shopkeeper told us, suggesting that we go see the amphibious wheelchairs there that allow the disadvantaged to roll along wooden walkways right into the warm seawater, where they can have fun along with everyone else.
We did just that and found that these specialized, cleverly designed vehicles can be rented for a token fee of 25 pesos per day.
As to our hotel, I should remark that it has four stars probably due to the great view guests get from their rooms. We found the place clean, the staff very friendly and helpful but the food remarkably bland and uninspiring.
There is also a noise problem on Friday and Saturday nights, when loud music is played from 8 p.m. to midnight. An easy solution is to ask, upon arrival, for a room far away from the music.
This hotel, however, does have three attractions you don’t want to miss: three playful raccoons that visit the outdoor dining area every evening after 7 p.m. with the intention of stealing as much leftover food as possible from the plates of guests.
A raccoon on the prowl for leftovers.
Something else unusual for you to see on the grounds of the Quinta Gran Bahía is the great number of cuastecomate (Mexican calabash) trees, for which the bay is named. These trees produce a smooth, round, very hard, light-green fruit about the size of a grapefruit. It grows directly on its trunk, sometimes popping up in the most unexpected places.
These fruits are said to have numerous medicinal properties. A cough medicine, for example, is made by cutting off the top of the dried fruit and pouring alcohol into it. Because the dry seeds of the cuastecomate have quite a nice taste — some say it reminds them of licorice — this “cough medicine” is quite popular among people who don’t have a cold at all.
Finally, I should mention that the Gran Bahía de Cuastecomates has a certain fame for beautiful sunsets, so I had my tripod ready for action the two nights that we stayed in the area — and I found the rumors to be true.
The first evening’s sunset was very nice, but the following night’s was simply spectacular, the best I have ever experienced on any beach anywhere.
What to do at Cuastecomates beside swimming and sunset-gazing? Well, nine kilometers northwest of this beach — a 23-minute drive away — you’ll find one of the best places in Mexico for seeing crocodiles in an estuary.
Cocodrilario Ejido la Manzanilla is the biggest croc sanctuary in the country and features a 650-meter-long boardwalk that allows you to experience the flora and fauna of a mangrove forest without having to get into a boat.
Amphibious wheelchairs are available for a token fee.
This beach, identified as Cuastecomates Playa Incluyente in Google Maps, is a four-hour drive from Guadalajara whether you take the narrow, twisting road to Barra de Navidad or the toll road via Colima and Manzanillo. It’s paved road all the way.
To reach the crocodile sanctuary, ask Google Maps to take you to Cocodrilario La Manzanilla.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog.
Massage on the beach.
View from a room at the Hotel Quinta Gran Bahía de Cuastecomates.
Balcony view of Cuastecomates bay.
Hotel Quinta Gran Bahía de Cuastecomates by night.
Boy meets raccoon.
Only 23 minutes away: the crocodile sanctuary of La Manzanilla.
Google-eye view of Cuastecomates bay.
The cuastecomate, or Mexican calabash, grows directly on the tree trunk and is used to make a cough medicine.
More than 80 brands were taken off the shelf after the federal regulators' operation this week. Cofepris
Bottles of Coca-Cola, packets of Oreo cookies and boxes of Kellogg’s chocolate-flavored cereal were among more than 10,000 product units removed from supermarket shelves in Mexico City this week because they didn’t meet labeling requirements.
Consumer protection agency Profeco and health regulator Cofepris carried out a joint operation that resulted in the removal of 10,075 Mexican-made and imported product units of over 80 different brands.
The authorities said in a joint statement that Profeco officials visited Walmart, La Comer and Chedraui supermarkets in the capital while Cofepris officials inspected products at Soriana and Chedraui stores.
Among the other products removed were Chips Ahoy! cookies, Doritos corn chips, Soriana’s maple-flavored syrup, JELL-O jelly crystals, Lorusso organic strawberry jam, Filippo Berrio pesto sauce and Pepsi cherry-flavored soda.
The products were seized due to “irregularities” on their labels, Profeco and Cofepris said.
Some products were taken off the shelves due to misplaced nutritional warning labels. Photo by ProtoplasmaKid CC BY-SA 4.0
Among the irregularities were the absence of warnings about excess calories or sugar and the nonappearance of warnings about the presence of allergens, caffeine and sweeteners.
The authorities noted that Mexican and foreign companies have a legal obligation to comply with food and beverage labeling laws. “The nutritional warning stamps must be placed on the front of the packaging,” they added.
“Placing stamps in a side or rear position may have the purpose of hiding unhealthy content or deceiving consumers about the nutritional properties of articles,” Profeco and Cofepris said.
A list of all the products seized by the two authorities is available here. They didn’t say whether they intended to carry out additional labeling checks in other parts of the country.
A woman smokes at a 2017 march in favor of cannabis legalization. Cuartoscuro
The use of marijuana for recreational purposes has not yet been legalized in Mexico, but pot smokers can find an oasis in Oaxaca city.
The city government has advised police not to bother people smoking weed in public places in the state capital.
In an official letter directed to members of the Plantón 4:20 – pro-marijuana protesters who have occupied the El Llano park in recent months – and cannabis consumers in general, the city government reiterated its commitment to respecting human rights and noted that there is no municipal law that expressly prohibits the “personal responsible consumption of cannabis in public spaces.”
The government acknowledged that the Supreme Court has ruled that laws prohibiting the use of marijuana are unconstitutional, but also recognized that the court argued there is a need to protect the rights of people who don’t want to be or shouldn’t be exposed to secondhand smoke, such as children and adolescents.
“In that sense, we call on consumers to avoid consuming cannabis in places where there are girls and boys or there is express disagreement from other people,” the April 13 letter said.
La municipalidad de #Oaxaca@MunicipioOaxaca ha sentado un precedente histórico en reconocer los derechos de las personas usuarias de #cannabis y crear una descriminalización basada en la DGI 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 Felicidades a todas las personas involucradas 💚💚💚 pic.twitter.com/wIyzg33OcU
The letter from municipal authorities called on police to avoid bothering marijuana smokers, as long as the smokers are not bothering other members of the public.
“In addition, this municipal authority urges municipal police officers … to abstain from causing … trouble to consumers. In case of disagreement from a person in the same space, proceed only to ask consumers to move to another place,” it said.
The city government’s letter came in response to requests from Plantón 4:20 members and others that they be allowed to smoke marijuana in public without being criminalized.
Its publication coincided with the allocation of federal permits allowing 26 indigenous communities in Oaxaca to cultivate marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The use of marijuana for medicinal purposes has been legal in Mexico since 2017. The Supreme Court has directed Congress to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes, but it has repeatedly missed deadlines to do so.
