Home Blog Page 1071

Casa del Mar girls’ home builds community, one girl at a time

December 28, 2021

Gabriela Ramirez, director, Casa del Mar, Mazatlan — “We don’t want pity," says Casa del Mar's board of trustees president Gabriela Ramírez. "It’s our duty as a society to take care of these children."

Girls come to Mazatlán’s Casa del Mar for a variety of reasons — from broken homes affected by drug addiction, violence or severe poverty.

This 94-year-old girls’ home functioned as an orphanage when it originally opened in 1927 after the Spanish flu swept the city and left multitudes of children without families. But these days, the societal problems that bring the girls here have changed, and three years ago, so did Casa del Mar’s focus.

“As a system, we’ve shifted to a human rights focus,” explained Gabriela Ramírez Landeros, president of the institution’s board of trustees. “We don’t want pity — it’s our duty as a society to take care of these children. We want to give them the ability to have an independent future, employability and [the ability] to choose a career and train in that field.”

The changes are obvious in almost every aspect of the program and the girls’ lives: they’re expected to contribute to their “community” in big and little ways and share in making many of the decisions that affect their lives. The new name, Casa del Mar, was voted on by the girls two years ago to avoid the stigma of the word “orphanage,” although the nonprofit is still registered as Orfanatorio de Mazatlán and donations are still tax-deductible.

“It’s very important to us that they can make their own decisions,” explained Ramírez. “Part of living in a community is that you have to contribute. This is about their lives, not just our authority.”

Casa del Mar girls' home in Mazatlan — By necessity, many of the residents sleep in a large dormitory, but they’re encouraged to individualize their sleeping areas.

Before, birthday cakes were purchased; now the cumpleañera’s friends make it. In the past, a staffer would sort donated clothing and decide what garments went to which girls and which items needed to be purchased new.

“Now the girls have a say in what they wear; they have a voice,” said Ramírez. “If they choose to wear their fancy dress on a Monday, that’s OK!”

The girls have regular chores and duties that change monthly. They can earn money by taking on extra tasks, and the girls learn to set goals and save for them.

Casa del Mar’s imposing property covers almost an entire block with high walls surrounding multiple courtyards, a huge playground and the main building, which encircles a big central courtyard with bicycles lined up neatly on one side.

A long, dormitory-style bedroom houses the younger girls in neat rows, while teens have their own room. The spacious remodeled bathroom features modern individual shower stalls. Each girl has their own closet/locker for clothes and personal items, as well as a nightstand next to their bed.

Other areas include a playroom with a big TV and lots of toys, a study/sewing room and a computer room where the girls can do schoolwork. Posters about self-esteem dot the walls, as do paintings done by the girls. A spotless stainless-steel kitchen and dining room are decorated with more of the girls’ artwork, these ones about healthy eating and good nutrition.

Twenty girls, aged five to 19, currently live at Casa del Mar. Some were referred by the DIF family services agency, but nowadays they’re more often brought to the program by family members looking for assistance with their care.

For example, a girl may be living with a grandparent who has to work and can’t care for her during the week. Working within the parameters of a special program, she can live at Casa del Mar from Monday to Friday and go home on weekends.

“Most of them, all of them, come from broken homes or where parents have abandoned them,” explained director Rafaela Cornejo Valdovinos, who has worked at Casa del Mar for almost 20 years.

“Parents must understand that we are not the enemy,” added Ramírez. “We’re not judging, we’re helping.”

Can parents visit?

“We have to see that the girls are safe,” said Ramírez. “Some parents are allowed to visit; some don’t want to. That’s really hard to explain to the girls.”

The dormitory for Casa del Mar’s younger residents.

One might assume there’s funding from the city to help defray costs, but Casa del Mar only receives 2,000 pesos a month from Mazatlán’s municipal government. Sponsors include big companies like Lala, which donates milk products, as well as volunteers who take the girls on outings, teach them to sew or read to them for story hour.

“We have lots of volunteers in the health field: doctors, dentists, therapists and nutritionists,” said Ramírez. But, she added, “Money is always the best donation.”

Casa del Mar carefully screens volunteers with in-person interviews that include questions about the applicants’ families and backgrounds.

“It has to be something to benefit the girls,” explained Cornejo. “We ask them to present their idea and objectives. There are rules and regulations they must agree to, and we work together to oversee what they’re doing and how the girls feel about it.”

The girls are offered therapy, which is suggested but not forced. The girls must decide if they’re able and want to move forward in order to cope with their past neglect and abuse.

“It’s not mandatory,” said Ramírez. “But we encourage them because it’s the only way for them to help themselves.”

When girls “age out” of Casa del Mar they don’t have to leave if they’re willing to continue their studies. It costs 3,000 pesos for a month of school-related costs, paid for by sponsors.

Since the pandemic shut down in-person school, Casa del Mar has contracted two teachers to visit three hours a day at a cost of 200,000 pesos for the year. (High schoolers have virtual classes.)

Since its inception, 2,500 girls have lived at the facility.

“Hopefully, this will be the first generation of girls to go on to university!” said Ramírez.

• Interested in volunteering? Find out more on the Casa del Mar website or send an email with details about what you’d like to do. Reach them by phone at (+52) 669-981-2214.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. She has lived in Mexico since 2006. You can find her on Facebook.

When you find yourself adrift in a sea of Christmas yard displays

Bodie Kellogg

December 27, 2021

Inflatable Santa — The peak of holiday cheer or the stuff of nightmares?

Christmas without drifting snow and icy roads just doesn’t feel like Christmas to me. Admiring lavish holiday displays while wearing shorts and sandals is very incongruous and somewhat bewildering.

So, to keep from becoming a more deeply disturbed person, I have trained my aging and addled mind to disassociate Christmas from snow and cold. I now connect the season simply with inflatable decorations and garish displays.

Each Christmas, I am always astounded by the sheer numbers and wide assortment of blow-up yard art in Mazatlán and probably throughout Mexico. These things come in all shapes and sizes, with the larger ones having their own little compressors to keep them fully inflated.

The upside is that they are easy to store 10 months of the year, but on the downside, they can be exceptionally tacky. Besides having all the standard Christmas themes — Jesus, the Three Wise Men, Santa, reindeer, et cetera, there are also a myriad of inflated cartoon characters scattered across the roofs and patios of town.

I find myself wondering what Bugs Bunny or Mickey and Pluto have to do with Christmas. I guess not everyone can afford the seven-foot Santas that are so prolific in the walled compounds of the wealthy.

yard decorations in Mazatlan — Mazatlan homes can go all out with Christmas yard decorations. File photo

Signs of the holidays have been steadily on the rise since mid-September and peaked with the extravagant exhibits of lights and inflatable decorations in gated communities. There are several streets in the high-dollar neighborhoods, where it became the land of competing Christmas displays, complete with individual soundtracks.

I have seen a larger-than-life Santa kicking a soccer ball, waving from an inflated sleigh, going down an inflated chimney and stuffing an inflated reindeer down an inflated chimney. Many others simply stand in mute testimony to the season at hand.

Both life-sized and miniature Nativity scenes will share a space with an inflated Snow White and seven blow-up dwarfs. A blow-up display of the Warner Brothers cartoon character Wile E. Coyote can be seen chasing another one of his perennial prey, The Roadrunner, among Santa’s air-filled reindeer.

The largest displays will have 30 or more of these egregious bags of air spread across all available roof and yard surfaces, along with every shrub and tree festooned with thousands of lights.

There is only one house in Mazatlán’s center that has been following in the footsteps of the privileged, and it becomes more ostentatious each year.

It used to be a light show only, but now the roof is sprouting inflatables like ticks on a street dog, bloated and leering.

house of Julio Preciado in Mazatlan — Even banda star Julio Preciado’s home in Mazatlán is known to get into the holiday act. This was how his house looked last year at Christmastime.

Each year at this time, I have recurring nightmares where Mazatlán is savagely overrun by blow-up decorations from the dark side. Fortunately, a moderate amount of tequila can assuage these inherent fears.

Although the fervor of Christmas is now becoming but a din in the past, there will still be a few inflatables out there, neglected and sagging. With their little compressors unplugged, the Three Wise Men, once proud holiday icons, will resemble the Marx Brothers on acid.

So … in the spirit of the season, or whatever you may choose to call it, please accept, without obligation implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of this winter holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion, secular practices or pagan ceremonies of your choice, with respect for the persuasion and/or traditions of others, human or animal — or their choice not to practice religious or secular or pagan traditions at all.

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and pain-free entry into the generally accepted calendar year 2022, but not without proper respect for the calendars of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make the world what it is, whether we like it or not.

In addition, this wish is made without regard to the race, color, age, political doctrine, physical ability, mental acuity, religious faith, gender or sexual preference of the wishor or wishee.

Bodie Kellogg was last seen wrestling with a life-sized inflatable Christmas decoration that strongly resembled Betty Boop. It appears that his zeal for the holiday season is truly unbridled. He also describes himself as a very middle-aged man who lives full-time in Mazatlán with a captured tourist woman and the ghost of a half-wild dog. He can be reached at buscardero@yahoo.com.

Failed ‘kingpin strategy’ at heart of new Mexico-US security plans

Parker Asmann

December 27, 2021

Wanted: El Mayo Zambada and El Guano Guzmán. The 'kingpin strategy' continues.

The United States and Mexico have officially entered a new phase of their partnership to tackle transnational organized crime groups and the evolving regional drug trade, yet recent announcements suggest the two countries are relying on some of the same failed strategies.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard met with U.S. government officials December 14 to mark the official start of the Bicentennial Framework. First announced in early October during a “high-level security dialogue,” the plan proposes a “new shared vision of regional security and collaboration.”

In particular, it aims to prevent substance abuse using a public health focus; reduce arms trafficking through enhanced tracing and investments in better technology; improve information sharing to dismantle illicit financial networks; increase cooperation to facilitate extraditions; and target drug labs and precursor chemicals to disrupt illegal supply chains, among other priorities.

Ebrard said the new initiative signified the two countries were “leaving the Mérida Initiative behind.” Launched in 2007, that multibillion-dollar binational security effort largely failed to improve citizen security, quell violence, reign in corruption or confront the scourge brought on by organized crime groups trafficking in drugs, weapons and other contraband.

A day after the U.S. and Mexican governments started their new security efforts, the State Department announced “significant steps to enhance … efforts to disrupt and deter transnational criminal activity.” Specifically, officials said they would now offer up to $20 million in total to anyone that could provide information leading to the arrests of Sinaloa Cartel members Ovidio Guzmán López, Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, Jesus Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Joaquín Guzmán López.

The four sons of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo” — now jailed in the United States after being convicted and sentenced to life in prison on a number of criminal charges — are known collectively as “Los Chapitos.” They are currently battling for internal control of the group with Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo,” one of the group’s oldest members.

U.S. authorities also recently upped the reward for help in arresting Aureliano Guzmán Loera, alias “El Guano,” the older brother of El Chapo and another major Sinaloa Cartel figure who Los Chapitos are also reportedly at odds with.

In addition, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced new designations to the Rojos and Guerreros Unidos crime groups in Mexico for their role in moving drugs into the United States. In Mexico alone, the U.S. government has pledged up to $50 million for information facilitating the capture of a number of organized crime leaders: “Los Chapitos” and “El Mayo” of the Sinaloa Cartel and Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, among others.

President López Obrador said that capturing El Chapo’s sons is a “priority,” and if they’re in Mexico, it should be the responsibility of Mexican authorities to bring them to justice.

InSight Crime analysis

U.S.-Mexico security relations may be entering into a new phase on paper, but the targeting of various organized crime groups and leaders with multimillion-dollar rewards and sanctions suggests the plan moving forward will continue to rely in part on a seriously flawed approach: the kingpin strategy.

“The U.S. government is making a big statement by announcing that the first concrete actions taken within the new Bicentennial Framework are a reaffirmation of the kingpin strategy, and it’s very unfortunate,” said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an expert on U.S.-Mexico relations and organized crime in Mexico.

Since Felipe Calderón launched an offensive against organized crime groups in 2006 backed by the United States and a shared vision of arresting and extraditing criminal leaders, or what has come to be known as the kingpin strategy, violence in Mexico has surged to unprecedented levels.

To be sure, homicides have jumped nearly three-fold in the last 15 years, as the national government reported 34,515 murders and almost 1,000 femicides in 2020. And since 2007, the number of homicide investigations reported by Mexico’s National Security System has tripled, according to data collected by the Justice in Mexico Project at the University of San Diego.

“Leadership disruptions — especially due to the targeting of drug ‘kingpins’ by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement — has contributed to the … pattern of internal schisms and encroachment by rival organizations that has fueled violence,” according to a recent Justice in Mexico report on organized crime and violence in the country.

Not only that, but Mexico’s criminal landscape has fragmented substantially thanks to the outsized focus on crime bosses. The International Crisis Group estimates there are some 200 active criminal groups operating in Mexico today, many of which are factions that have splintered off from once-mighty groups like the Zetas and Beltrán Leyva Organization, only to become incredibly predatory groups in their own right.

Unintended consequences from the heavily militarized kingpin strategy were among the core arguments for needing to completely reform the Mérida Initiative. The Bicentennial Framework promised a shift to addressing the root causes of violence and the public health problem that is substance abuse.

However, at this initial stage it doesn’t appear as if the framework marks a “fundamental change” to the way in which the two countries operate on joint security efforts, according to Jaime López, a security policy consultant and former police official in Mexico. He said it’s possible that direction could change in the future as the plan moves forward, but so far the response seems to be the same scenario with a different name.

Correa-Cabrera agreed, adding that it looks more like a cosmetic change. “It’s the same initiative under a different name, just with makeup,” she told InSight Crime.

Reprinted from InSight Crime. Parker Asmann is a writer with InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime.

Preserve Bank of México’s autonomy, warns outgoing governor in face of political pressure

December 27, 2021

Alejandro Díaz de León leaves his post at the end of the month.

The Bank of México’s outgoing governor has spoken out about the importance of protecting the bank’s constitutional mandate as the institution faces mounting political pressure from President López Obrador and his party.

The bank’s autonomy was recently called into question when López Obrador withdrew his nominee to be the next governor and replaced him with a little-known public sector economist.

Outgoing governor Alejandro Díaz de León said he was confident the bank would continue to fulfil its mandates so long as its legal framework stayed intact.

“The key thing is to conserve the constitutional mandate and the law that the bank has today,” Díaz de León told the Financial Times in an interview. “I think those are the best guarantee that an environment of stability and low inflation can be maintained.”

Victoria Rodríguez Ceja will take over January 1 as the first female governor of the bank, leading a majority-female board.

Tensions between the central bank and politicians began to mount last year when a bill proposed by lawmakers from the ruling Morena party sought to force it to buy excess dollars. The proposal would have undermined the bank’s autonomy, critics said. It was eventually shelved after strong opposition.

The central bank’s board also ran into political controversy this year when it pushed back against López Obrador’s attempt to use Mexico’s share of a global liquidity injection from the IMF to pay off public debt.

The back and forth with the president and his party was part of the normal functioning of democracy, Díaz de León said.

Central banks are at the forefront of a global push to try to slow rising inflation, and last week many of them tightened policy more aggressively. Policymakers face “a critical situation for the handling of monetary policy,” Díaz de León said. “It’s very clear that central banks can do their jobs better in an autonomous framework and it’s really important to preserve that.”

The Bank of México has faced a delicate balance in steering the country’s fragile emergence from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. A sudden output contraction in the third quarter of this year put pressure on its five-member board not to choke off the recovery by raising rates too fast.

Yet Mexico faces spiraling inflation, leaving them with a dilemma. The pace of price growth has hit its highest in 20 years, pushing the bank to surprise markets by raising rates sharply at its meeting earlier this month.

Despite this, Díaz de León cautioned that Mexico was not necessarily targeting substantial future rate rises.

“Sometimes it looks like there are two tracks, the track of 25 [basis point rate rises] and the track of 50 . . . The truth is in the bank we don’t see it that way,” he said. “Going forward all the options are available and none are predefined.”

Mexico has experienced outflows of foreign funds in equities and government securities since the beginning of the pandemic, another factor that could put pressure on the bank to raise rates in a bid to attract foreign capital.

However, Díaz de León played down the economic impact. “The adjustment has been ordered and gradual,” he said. “We hope that as the risk settles even more, the appetite for instruments in local currency may also reappear.”

After taking power in December 2018, López Obrador implemented a sweeping austerity drive that he held firm on during the pandemic. The IMF, which has in the past advocated for tight spending rules, urged the government to raise its spending to tackle the economic impact of COVID.

The Bank of México lost staff in the early months of López Obrador’s administration, particularly after a law was passed limiting public sector salaries. The rotation in headcount had stabilized since then, Díaz de León said.

Campeche man’s annual mission: spread joy through a holiday spectacle

Shannon Collins

December 27, 2021

Campeche Christmas decorations — Keau incorporates figures ranging from traditional gingerbread men to Star Wars characters into his Christmas display.

Undeniably the most magical time of the year, Christmas is a time for opening one’s heart and thinking about the wider community. There are a number of obvious ways to give back to the people around us at Christmas time, but sometimes, it is inspiring joy in smaller ways that makes the biggest difference.

Houses festooned with lights, wreaths, and paper chains are part and parcel of the joy of the festive season, but a home overlooking the sea on the edge of the city of Campeche spreads the spirit of Christmas better than most.

At Avenida Pedro Sainz de Baranda, Manzana 4, Numero 2, Campeche, every day is a celebration — and never more so than in the festive season.

The creative mastermind behind the decorations is José Dolores Keau Canul, who has worked at the property as a maintenance man for 20 years. The property owners sometimes give him money to cover the costs, but it is Keau Canul who decorates and maintains the house.

“We started with a few simple drawings, but naturally, it evolved as we continued doing it,” he said. “One constant is the decor on the doors, which we make by hand to fit every year. And alongside that, we now have,” he stops speaking and gestures broadly, “well, you can see for yourselves.”

And so you can — or, at least, you can try: such is the splendor of these decorations that standing on the pavement outside the house, perhaps counterintuitively, does no justice to the spectacle.

On the home’s exterior, the eye can but dart between the handmade nutcracker sentinels on the doors, Santa Claus singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” a huge maguey cactus on the grass outside with red and gold baubles and a life-sized white reindeer nodding sagely at passing cars.

And it could hardly be a Christmas celebration without a crowning decoration on the roof: in this case, it’s the all-important … inflatable baby Yoda?

Possible affiliations with Jedi Knights aside, seeing the ornamentation on Avenida Pedro Sainz de Baranda is surely a Christmas tradition for all who frequent this part of town; the house has been a proud totem of the Yuletide spirit for nearly all of the two decades Keau Canul has worked at the property.

At this house, as well as in the Plaza de República, where the Campeche Christmas fair is held, and in other places all over the city, people can take a moment out of their day to marvel at the sight of Christmas in all its glory.

“It’s a double win because you feel good and it attracts people’s attention,” Keau Canul explains. “People pass it and they talk about it, and we hope it makes them feel good. In this way, we try to encourage the spirit of Christmas a little.”

But Christmas is not the only time of year when the house is a spectacle. For six months of the year, anyone making the daily journey past the house can marvel at its various decorations, which are put up for the September Independence Day celebrations, then change in October for Day of the Dead and then shortly thereafter transition to the current Christmas theme.

It’s very lucky, Keau Canul says, that people have largely respected the property and its decorations; barring a few very minor incidents, including an aggressive rainstorm the night before, they have not suffered any theft or vandalism of the display.

And perhaps it is this which encapsulates the magic of the festive season: the goodwill that comes with broadening the enjoyment of Christmas beyond the walls of your own building foments amity in the people who are able to view it.

Campeche is a city where an age-old reverence for the Virgin Mary and her child Jesus has blended with western Christmas traditions to make the holiday a celebration that lights up the whole community. Along the highway, men sell traditional Christmas star-shaped and brightly colored piñatas.

They are cheerful in spite of the slightly chill breeze which blows at this time of year, and the passersby who stop to buy their wares stay to chatter for a few minutes before they walk away. Throughout the city, lights glimmer in window frames, and presents meant to put smiles on everyone’s faces nestle under well-adorned Christmas trees.

There is a magic to this time of year that strengthens the bonds between loved ones, and which — even if only temporarily — allows strangers to spread joy in their everyday activities. For, as we all know, there are few joys purer than being able to share the wonder of seeing a house trimmed with Christmas finery and knowing that it is a sure sign that the big day is fast approaching.

Feliz Navidad!

Shannon Collins is an environment correspondent at Ninth Wave Global, an environmental organization and think tank. She writes from Campeche.

And to all a good night: Noche Buena beer is Mexico’s Christmas favorite

Leigh Thelmadatter

December 25, 2021

Noche Buena beer on sale in a Zapopan, Jalisco, liquor store. Facebook

If you’ve ever noticed around this time of year the cases and bottles of beer decorated plainly with poinsettias and named Noche Buena, what you’ve seen is one of Mexico’s most eagerly awaited seasonal beers — and its only traditional Christmas beer.

The name literally means “good night,” but it actually refers to Christmas Eve, as the Spanish word for Christmas Eve is Nochebuena. The poinsettia is also a nochebuena, and its origins as a Christmas flower are Mexican.

This “good night” beer is as welcome in Mexican homes at this time of year as the aguinaldo (Christmas bonus) and the piñata.

Unlike the vast majority of commercial Mexican beers, Noche Buena is a dark bock, a class of beers that have their origins in Germany. They are dense and calorie-rich, dating back to the 14th or 15th century. As the story goes, German monks developed it to get through the winter and fasting periods, especially Lent.

This particular bock has a reddish-brown color with a thick head that holds up well, leaving a lattice on the glass as you drink it. The aroma is agreeable with notes of chocolate, caramel and red fruits. A sip will reveal flavor notes that also include prunes, toasted malts and herbal hops.

Homer Simpson Noche Buena meme — In Mexico, even beer lover Homer Simpson drinks Noche Buenas at Christmas. Twitter

It finishes with a dry aftertaste. It is a low-hop beer, so it isn’t particularly bitter. In fact, I find it a bit sweet for my taste, but then I tend to go for very dry and hoppy beers like India pale ale.

Noche Buena is not considered anywhere near the same quality as European-produced bocks, but those who prefer it say they like it because it is neither too heavy nor too spicy. The alcohol level is 5.9% by volume.

Dark bocks can be produced year-round, but this particular beer is strongly associated with winter, available only between October and February. One reason is that this beer needs colder temperatures to brew and mature well. The second is that dark beers in general are associated with winter in Germany. But perhaps most important is the beer’s history in Mexico.

German immigrants to the country introduced beer to Mexicans in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A novelty at first, it would eventually replace pulque as the working man’s drink as it was commercialized and seen as healthier and more modern.

Noche Buena is the first bock beer made in Mexico. Its history began in 1924 in Orizaba, Veracruz, when a group of Germans founded a brewery here and began making the bock for themselves. Eventually, they began giving the beer as gifts to coworkers and family. This created a demand among the general public, and the brewery began to make it as a seasonal specialty for winter, hence the name.

People all over Mexico drink Noche Buena, but it is most popular in the high mountains in the country’s center where December weather is colder overall than in most other places in the country.

Until 2011, the beer was available only in Mexico. Mexicans and others looking for a case would have to drive across the border to get it. Export began simply because the demand had become so great. However, in 2018, its makers decided to stop exporting it to the United States, citing a lack of demand, according to a San Diego Tribune article published at the time.

Over the 20th century, Mexico’s commercial breweries consolidated into two or three conglomerates, of which Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma was one. It produces well-known brands such as Dos Equis, Superior, Indio, Tecate and Bohemia. The company considers Noche Buena as part of the Bohemia line.

Ironically, in 2010, the Dutch company Heineken bought out FEMSA’s control of Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma, putting most of Mexico’s beer brewing, including Noche Buena, back into European hands. However, it is highly unlikely that this will mean any notable changes in how Noche Buena is made. It is too far an ingrained Christmas tradition for Mexicans to tolerate that.

It costs a bit more than most Mexican beers, but Noche Buena is not a beer simply to drink as alcohol. It is to drink with close family and friends as you celebrate Christmas and New Year’s. Whether or not you get drunk is secondary at best.

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.

The holiday gift we need right now: some optimism about Mexico

Sarah DeVries

December 25, 2021

COVID vaccinations — The nation's largely successful free mass vaccination drive is one reminder that inefficiency and corruption don't always win the day here. File photo

I’m writing my piece for this week on the shortest and darkest day of the year: the winter solstice.

I actually have a completely different nearly finished article that I was planning on turning in for publication this Saturday, which will be Christmas Day. But honestly, it’s bleak, bleak, bleak, and I just can’t have that be my Christmas present to you.

I also happen to have returned from a really fun day and am simply more in the mood to spread goodwill and cheer than gloom and doom. It will be there waiting for us next week, so what’s the rush? Let’s talk about the holidays instead! (In case you missed it, I recently wrote an article spelling out some of the Mexican Christmas traditions, which you can read here).

Today, I went with my partner and my daughter to Coatepec, a small municipality outside Xalapa, Veracruz, that is rapidly becoming a small city. The area between Xalapa and Coatepec will likely fill up over the next 20 years or so, but for now, they’re distinctly different places.

The zócalo is beautifully decorated and filled with lights. Today, there was a stage with dancers performing son jarocho folkloric dances and a Christmas bazaar lined up along the streets with local vendors selling their mostly handmade wares.

It was cold and rainy all afternoon, but that didn’t dampen my mood one bit. As is fitting for the solstice, soft, bright lights lit up and cheered up the gloom around us, making the evening magical rather than dreary.

The highlight of our afternoon, however, and the main reason we went to Coatepec today, was to go ice-skating! The municipality apparently decided that what coatepecanos really needed for a little holiday cheer this year was a free ice-skating rink, and I personally agree that it was a wonderful idea.

It’s been a rough year for all of us. And, besides, how often do we grown-ups get to do stuff for the sole purpose of having fun? Even most “fun” things I do these days also serve some other function. It’s nice to feel like a kid again once in a while.

Though I spent most of my childhood at the roller-skating rink, I was fully prepared to walk off that ice-skating rink with one or several bruises from falling down. Ice-skating is not the same as roller-skating, and I didn’t climb onto the ice expecting to know what I was doing.

Thankfully, my muscle memory kicked in, and I managed to skate around like a nervous chimpanzee mostly not holding onto the edge for dear life — but not a falling nervous chimpanzee, something I’m very proud of.

My kid and my partner also managed to survive the whole thing without incident, and I’m hoping that the local government will keep putting up this skating rink so that it can become a new Christmas week tradition for us.

For those skaters not lucky enough to avoid falls, safety measures were in place: there was a group of well-trained skaters with bright-orange vests responsible for helping anyone that fell and for getting them to safety.

In the group before us — each group got 30 minutes on the rink — a boy fell back on his bottom and started crying. While two of the workers made sure he was OK and helped him up and off the ice, a group of four others held hands and surrounded him to make sure that no one else would trip over him while he was down.

Most of these workers were themselves expert ice skaters. How they are expert ice skaters is a mystery to me.

Maybe they’re professional rollerbladers and just needed a little practice on the ice to get good? Maybe they grew up in Canada? Maybe they had some kind of crash course in ice-skating and got really good really fast?

Their training had obviously been impeccable, as they were also in charge of cleaning and preparing the ice between each session. I’d have believed that any of them had grown up skating and caring for rinks.

Whatever it was, the whole operation was run with the utmost efficiency, order and professionalism. These are characteristics that marked the process (for me, anyway) of vaccine distribution as well, and my faith in gigantic free government operations in Mexico for large swaths of people at once is now growing at a steady clip as a result.

In fact, I’d say it’s even more impressive than the fact that I was able to ice-skate — for free! We sure can’t do that in Texas.

A while ago, I wrote an article basically complaining about the lack of free entertainment during the pandemic, with public parks and events canceled but paid entertainment (for kids as well) still available. Well, credit where credit is due: at least in this particular town, there’s a lot of affordable fun to be had.

So that’s been my winter solstice this year. I started the day off feeling gloomy about what I was writing and despairing about all the ways Mexico, a country I love so deeply, seems to simply not be making it in so many ways: poverty increasing, narcos forever expanding their powers, impunity reigning.

But like twinkling Christmas lights shining through the cold rain, beauty and grace have broken through: glimmers of light and warmth during the coldest, darkest day.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com and her Patreon page.

‘Tis the season to gather with friends, family — and good food!

Janet Blaser

December 25, 2021

crunchy spiced chickpeas — Spiced chickpeas have a satisfying crunch and they fit easily in one hand, making them a perfect party appetizer.

It’s only in the last few years I’ve begun to really appreciate appetizers as more than just filler before the main meal. They have an identity and a purpose all their own that can be just as important — and impressive — as what’s coming next.

Appetizers are also an integral part of the successful Happy Hour, no matter what you’re drinking. They can be a delightful conversation starter and serve to brighten and lighten the atmosphere as guests arrive, are introduced and settle in.

They deserve to be more than store-bought snacks out of a bag or package, yet not so complicated that you can’t (or won’t) deal with making them. And like traditional dinners for special occasions, certain “appies” are classic favorites too.

The best appetizers are deliciously memorable, either because they’re so different or unusual or because they’re something classic done perfectly (or updated just as perfectly). The Creamy Onion Dip below is a good example; we all know and love it, but when the onions are oh-so-slowly caramelized, and Greek yogurt is added for a bit of tang, this traditional dip becomes even better.

If you’re bringing something to a gathering, make it easy to eat (not too messy!) and just as easy to transport and serve. If your appetizer needs something specific to serve or eat it properly, bring that along too. (Case in point: toothpicks.)

And do tell your host what you’re making so he or she can plan the rest of the menu accordingly. Extra points if it can be eaten with one hand and is something small that partygoers can finish in a few bites.

Crunchy Spiced Chickpeas

Be sure to dry them out for an hour before cooking, which adds to their crunchiness.

2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed if canned
1 scant Tbsp. olive or coconut oil
2 Tbsp. smoked paprika, harissa, za’atar, ground cumin or coriander
½ tsp. salt

Rinse chickpeas well; spread out on a paper or cloth towel. Pat dry, then let dry for about an hour. Heat oven to 400 F.

In a rimmed cookie sheet, spread chickpeas evenly. Bake in center rack of oven until crunchy, about 30 minutes, stirring and rotating every 10 minutes. (Chickpeas will continue to get crunchy as they cool.)

Place hot chickpeas in a shallow bowl, drizzle with oil, spices and salt, and toss. Serve warm or cooled. Let cool completely before storing.

Fabulous Creamy Onion Dip

Caramelizing the onions slowly yields a depth of flavor that a packaged mix can’t begin to compare to!

1½ Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely grated
Olive oil for drizzling
Optional: 2 shallots, thinly sliced, ¼ cup finely chopped chives

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and shallots, if using; season with salt and pepper. Cook 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions soften and begin turning golden brown.

Reduce heat to low; continue cooking, stirring often so onions don’t stick, another 45–50 minutes until onions are a deep golden brown and reduced by about half their original size. (Resist the urge to turn up the heat to make them caramelize faster!) Transfer onions to cutting board and finely chop. Place in a large bowl with sour cream, yogurt, lemon juice and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with chives.

creamy onion dip — The secret to this delicious dip: caramelized onions.

Cheese Pennies

Delicious and addictive … you’ve been warned!

2 cups grated sharp, aged cheddar cheese
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups flour
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. dry mustard
2 Tbsp. cayenne pepper or paprika

Using a mixer or food processor, combine all ingredients (except cayenne/paprika) to make a cohesive dough, sprinkling in a tablespoon or so of water if it doesn’t come together. Gather dough into a rough ball and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a 16-inch log, about 1½-inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Using a serrated knife, slice the log crosswise into 1/8-inch rounds. Place on ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about a half-inch between them. Sprinkle with paprika/cayenne.

Bake in 400 F oven for 11–13 minutes until beginning to brown. Remove from oven; cool on pan for several minutes before transferring to racks to cool completely.

Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese

An easy alternative is to just stuff dates with goat cheese and serve them raw. This recipe takes it up a notch. Vegetarians—omit the bacon.

8 slices bacon, thinly sliced
16 medium Medjool dates, pitted
4 oz. goat cheese
Wood toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350 F. Slice dates lengthwise on one side to create an opening. Remove pit. Using a spoon, stuff a little goat cheese into the cavity of each date; press sides together to close.

Cut bacon slices in half. Wrap each date with a slice of bacon; secure with a toothpick. Arrange dates evenly on a foil-covered, rimmed cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and use toothpick to turn each one to lay on one side. Bake another 5–8 minutes until a little browned, then turn the dates to the other side and cook 5–8 minutes more. Remove from oven and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Cool 5 minutes before serving.

Christmas cheer, a referendum rabble: the week at the morning press conferences

MND Staff

December 25, 2021

The president speaks at his Wednesday press conference.

Christmas was fast approaching, and the president would spend it at his rural home, where he plans to retire, in Palenque, Chiapas.

Monday

Chile was on the top of the president’s mind on Monday. He admitted his “unconcealable” pleasure at left-winger Gabriel Boric’s election victory, which he called “a triumph for democracy.” He said he’d already spoken to the political newcomer.

France was next. Its ambassador to Mexico, Jean-Yves Le Drian, was to receive the Aztec Eagle, the highest award for a foreigner. The ambassador spoke on behalf of the 40,000 French citizens living in Mexico.

“These entrepreneurs, these students, these artists, they’re proud to participate in the construction of tomorrow’s Mexico with you and your fellow citizens. In aeronautics, in transport, in the automotive sector, in the health sector, but also in the cultural sector,” he said.

The president said the countries shared the values of liberty, equality and fraternity, and mentioned the French engineering firm Alstom’s involvement in building the Maya Train. He thanked France for its help returning artifacts to Mexico.

A referendum on whether AMLO should serve the second half of his term was delayed indefinitely by the National Electoral Institute (INE). The Tabascan said the head of the INE wasn’t fit for the job as he’d worked as a journalist for Carmen Aristegui, who herself recently entered the president’s bad books.

He renewed his insistence that migrants could solve labor shortages in the United States and Canada, and invited France’s President Macron to visit Mexico.

Tuesday

In the weekly COVID-19 update, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said 23 people had been infected with the new omicron variant, but none of them suffered severe symptoms.

On economic matters, the president had one eye on China’s growth and urged the United States to catch up for the good of the world. “A hegemony of any country does not suit us, because if there are imbalances you are going to want to solve those disparities with the use of force, with war. We want there to be balance so that there is peace,” he said.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell gives his weekly pandemic update.

The Foreign Minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said the 11 U.S. gun manufacturers who are the object of a legal complaint by the Mexican government knew that the weapons they sold were destined for drug traffickers in Mexico, and did nothing to stop it. “We are going to win our complaint,” he said with confidence.

Monday, the president figured, wasn’t a bad day: there were a relatively low 68 homicides and November was the least violent month since he took office. The Tabascan’s critics, who fear he’ll find power all too comfortable, were offered an assurance: “The mistake that some left wing rulers in Latin America made has consisted in wanting to get reelected,” he said.

Wednesday

The president confirmed that the acquisition of Deer Park, an oil refinery in Texas, had been authorized in the U.S.

Fake news detector Ana García Vilchis said workers at the energy regulator weren’t corrupt, the Economy Ministry hadn’t contracted a food company for a restaurant and public hospitals were not short on drugs.

Later in the conference, Ebrard said up to 2,000 migrants — about a third of them Mexicans — were being returned to the country each day from the U.S. under its “Remain in Mexico” policy. The government, he added, asked the U.S to hear asylum claims it would otherwise ignore.

“About 10% of that flow is people who want to apply for asylum. So, what is being discussed is for them to be given an appointment in court so that they can present their case,” even after they are returned to Mexico, he said.

However, the foreign minister said he couldn’t say when the Remain in Mexico policy would end.

The president was in a festive mood. He’d already received a gift and insisted he wasn’t any scrooge. “They brought me a doll. They say I don’t love Santa. A journalist said I am so anti-foreigner that I don’t like Santa … the truth is I respect Santa, but I have a lot of affection for the wise men.”

Thursday

Seasonal sentimentality kicked off the conference: “We convey our greetings to all Mexicans, to all the families of our country … so that this Christmas is one of happiness, of harmony, of reconciliation, of love with our loved ones. Also with our friends … One has to know how to forgive and to forgive oneself. Not to hate,” the president said.

Deputy Human Rights Minister Alejandro Encinas threatened the Christmas cheer with an update on missing people. He said there were about 52,000 unidentified bodies in mass graves and forensic laboratories, and added that state governments needed to commit more money to find more, and help identify them.

Deputy Human Rights Minister Alejandro Encinas gave an update on the country's 'forensic crisis' of unidentified bodies. — Deputy Human Rights Minister Alejandro Encinas gave an update on the country’s ‘forensic crisis’ of unidentified bodies.

The Supreme Court decreed that the referendum on whether the president should continue his term could not be delayed. The president expressed his satisfaction with the decision. “That was a very good decision, because it’s democracy … I believe that opposing the revocation of the mandate — the holding of a consultation — to obstruct asking citizens about the behavior of a leader is to act in an undemocratic manner,” he said.

“Well, see you. Happy New Year. Merry Christmas,” the president added, before striding away to attend to the nation.

Friday

The president was in his Chiapas home on Friday, leaving early risers to their own devices.

Instead, a Christmas song: part of a festive tune by norteño band Los Tigres del Norte (the tigers of the north).

“… The Christmas of the poor is more beautiful than any,
because God accompanies us under the light of the moon,
because even though there’s no more on the table than a piece of bread,
we know that he was born to fill us with peace,
we know that he always come down when Christmas arrives.

“Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, Christmas,

“For whites, for blacks, for the old, for the young,
for the poor, for the rich,
for all men of good heart who inhabit the world.
Hallelujah!
That’s why even though I’m poor,
I feel lucky when Christmas Eve arrives,
because I have God by my side,
and though the house is small, the doors become big,
so that everyone who wants to come, can come,
when Christmas arrives.”

Happy Christmas!

Mexico News Daily

Holiday season in Mexico City means more fireworks—and higher pollution levels

MND Staff

December 24, 2021

A flag flies above Chapultepec on a smoggy day.

Another of Mexico’s frequent bursts of heightened fireworks activity is upon us and for Mexico City that means higher pollution on Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Mexico City has recorded elevated pollution levels on those days every year for the past 21 years due to the explosion of fireworks, according to the agency responsible for monitoring air quality in the capital.

The fine particle pollution was so bad at Christmas in 2018 and 2019 that air quality emergencies were declared.

Pollution has already been a problem in the capital this month as mobility increased due to the switch to low risk green on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map. There have been six December days when air quality in the capital was deemed very bad or extremely bad.

The explosion of cohetes (bottle rockets) and cuetes (fireworks) only exacerbates the problem.

“During fireworks displays there is a significant increase of metal traces in the air and they can sometimes also produce highly toxic contaminants such as dioxins and polychlorinated furans,” said a National Polytechnic Institute study.

Pollution from fireworks is also a problem in neighboring México state, especially in the municipalities of Tultepec, Tultitlán and Zumpango, where the explosives are sold at markets.

Fireworks are a staple of all kinds of celebrations in Mexico, including religious, patriotic and sporting ones.

With reports from Reforma

1...1,0701,0711,072...2,132 Page 1,071 of 2,132