Over 200 characters from the Star Wars universe will be marching in Mexico City on Saturday 501st Legion Mexican Garrison/Twitter
Mexico City will experience its first Star Wars parade on Saturday morning at 10:00 when Stormtroopers, Sith Lords, Imperial Pilots and Darth Vader look-alikes from across the galaxy arrive and march down Reforma Avenue.
The event is organized by the Mexican chapter of the 501st Legion, a global fan club with 14,000 members, some of whom have even been cast as extras in the films.
The Star Wars franchise includes nine films (with two more planned) that tell the tale of galaxies won and lost over several centuries, with a cast of characters that have invaded pop culture across the world.
The first film, written and directed by George Lucas, was released in 1977 and has spawned television shows, books, theme parks, and video games as the fan base has exploded in the decades since.
The Mexican Garrison has 200 members, all of whom plan to be in attendance at the parade, along with diehard fans from seven other countries.
The chapter hosted a Star Wars march, referred to as “training day” by members, for the first time in 2017 in Guadalajara, and since then they have held them in Monterrey and Campeche as well. Similar marches are planned for the future throughout Mexico.
While only legion members can participate in the parade (in full costume), fans are welcome to attend dressed up as their favorite characters.
Hidalgo's Tourism Minister Elizabeth Quintanar Gómez speaks at a ceremony to pass on hosting of the event next year from Oaxaca to Hidalgo. Carolina Jiménez Mariscal/Cuartoscuro
International buyers and sellers, domestic vendors and state tourism ministries converged on this year’s national Pueblos Mágicos Tianguis (The Magical Towns Bazaar) in Oaxaca on Wednesday. The fair broke a record for exhibitors — 2,200 domestic and international exhibitors in total.
Thirty-two international buyers and 28 tourism ministries also participated.
The Pueblos Mágicos, or Magical Towns, program — a federal initiative begun 21 years ago in the hopes of encouraging the decentralization of tourism in Mexico from just its beaches and biggest cities — promotes certain of the nation’s small towns under the premise that they are the repositories of cultural, social and artistic traditions vital to the country’s fabric.
The program helps towns with the designation to become more attractive to both Mexican and international tourists. Winning the designation gives Pueblos Mágicos access to federal funding and promotional resources that might not otherwise be available to them.
The four-year-old fair was first held in 2019 in Pachuca, Hidalgo, and is an outgrowth of the older National Festival of Pueblos Mágicos.
This year’s event was held at the Oaxaca Cultural and Convention Center in Oaxaca city. The capital of the state of Oaxaca, Oaxaca city is one of Mexico’s most emblematic small cities.
The state’s art and food was on full display, alongside representatives from many other Magical Towns. Fifty traditional cooks from different regions set up food stands to feed the hundreds of visitors, and representatives from the 132 Pueblos Mágicos promoted their locations with regional crafts and music, giveaways and promotional materials.
Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat Hinjosa assured the crowds that tourists are currently ooking for unique experiences. “… and this is what Pueblos Magicos represent: a celebration of the diversity and the grandeur of each region.”
Federal Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco Marqués told the crowds that, for towns with the distinction, economic activity increases by 8% annually on average.
The federal government is continuing to invest further in such initiatives, he said, in programs such as Rutas Mágicos de Color (Magical Routes of Color) — which makes funds available to Pueblos Mágicos for infrastructure and construction projects to improve urban spaces.
As part of the program, the Ministry of Agricultural, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) has carried out 144 public works projects between 2019 and 2022, with an investment of more than 3.2 billion pesos, Torruco said.
Officials also used the fair to announce a new agreement between Mexico’s northern states, in which they promised to support and promote tourism in their region as a whole. Signatories to the agreement included the states of Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Baja California, Sonora, Baja California Sur, Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí.
Federal officials also used the event to announce that the fair has gone international: 2022 was also the first year that a version of the fair was held outside Mexico — in Barcelona, and officials revealed that in addition to holding the fair next year in Hidalgo, a version of the fair would also be held in Los Angeles, California, home to the largest Mexican population outside of Mexico.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard speaks at Thursday’s high-level security talks. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores
Combating the smuggling of weapons and fentanyl will remain a priority for Mexico and the United States over the coming year, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said Friday after attending high-level security talks in Washington a day earlier.
Speaking at President López Obrador’s morning press conference, Ebrard said that the year-old security agreement between Mexico and the U.S. – the Bicentennial Framework for Security, Public Health and Safe Communities – is already yielding results, but acknowledged that more needs to be done to stop the southward flow of weapons and the northward flow of fentanyl and other drugs.
He said that Mexico and the United States are working together to combat the production of fentanyl, an activity in which powerful Mexican criminal organizations such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel are engaged.
“We have a common plan for 2023, which is to drastically reduce the trafficking of weapons to Mexico and … to increase controls on precursor chemicals and the movement of fentanyl [to the United States],” Ebrard said.
The foreign minister offered a summary of the “fruits” of the bilateral security agreement, as presented in Washington during the high-level security dialogue in which he, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero and other high-ranking Mexican officials exchanged views with U.S. officials including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.
Ebrard highlighted that Mexican and U.S. authorities have seized over 32,000 firearms and 17 million rounds of ammunition over the past year, preventing them from reaching the hands of organized crime members in Mexico.
“This figure means homicides and femicides, or potential homicides and femicides,” he said, referring to the number of confiscated weapons. “It’s not a cold figure.”
Ebrard also said that over 5 tonnes of fentanyl pills, 154 tonnes of methamphetamine and 94 tonnes of cocaine were seized over the past year.
A car passes through a scanner at the San Ysidro border port between the U.S. and Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection
“If we hadn’t worked together, these tonnes [of drugs] – which could poison thousands of people – would have arrived in the United States,” he said.
“… Mexico is confiscating more cocaine than the United States,” Ebrard added.
The foreign minister said that the security agreement also contributed to a 9.2% decline in homicides in Mexico in the first nine months of the year. Kidnappings and robberies have also declined, he said.
Ebrard said that Mexico proposed 20 measures to U.S. officials to strengthen the fight against arms trafficking. One proposed measure is for the United States to increase checks of vehicles heading to Mexico from that country.
Ebrard said that Mexico is “respectfully” asking the United States to help stop the flow of weapons from 10 counties in Arizona and Texas that have been identified as leading sources of firearms smuggled across the border.
He asserted that United States authorities should be checking vehicles leaving that country with the same thoroughness as they check those entering the U.S.
“What comes in is important but so is what goes out,” Ebrard said. “That’s essentially what we’re saying.”
The foreign minister highlighted that the military and the National Guard check vehicles on the Mexican side of the border.
National Guard checkpoints on highways near the border are one tool the federal government uses to check incoming vehicles. Twitter @GN_Carreteras
At a press conference with U.S. officials in Washington on Thursday, Ebrard declared that the Bicentennial Framework “is working,” even though a range of bilateral security challenges remain.
“There is still a way to go. This doesn’t mean that everything has been solved. But the most important indicator is that for the first time in the last few years we have seen a reduction in the homicide rate in Mexico,” he said.
For his part, Secretary of State Blinken said that officials at Thursday’s high-level meeting looked at progress toward “three main goals” that were established in accordance with the bilateral security agreement – “protecting our people, preventing transborder crime [and] pursuing criminal networks.”
“We’ve made significant progress, reflected in unprecedented investments, legislation [and] law enforcement action. And these efforts have already made a tangible difference in the lives of Mexicans and Americans,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials on stage at the Washington, D.C., event. Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores
“Today’s discussion focused on the areas where we need to make even more progress, such as redoubling our efforts to combat the threats of fentanyl production and trafficking, arms trafficking, and the exploitation of migrants.”
The secretary of state also highlighted the United States’ broader cooperation with Mexico, and declared that the partnership between the two countries is in great shape.
“Across the bilateral, the regional, and global cooperation, we have I think one of the strongest – if not the strongest – partnership we’ve seen, certainly in my experience,” Blinken said.
In a joint statement, the Mexican and U.S. governments said they “remain committed to an enduring partnership based on mutual trust and respect for each country’s sovereignty and independence.”
“The Bicentennial Framework reaffirmed our commitment to take concrete actions on both sides of the border to address the shared security challenges affecting our communities, including human trafficking and smuggling, violence and illicit firearms, as well as substance use disorder and illicit drugs,” they said.
“The United States and Mexico recognize our shared commitment to uphold the rule of law through enhanced law enforcement cooperation and protect our communities from transnational criminal organizations.”
The two countries committed to pursuing 13 “actions” over the next year, among which were “commit to and implement an action plan to prevent the consumption and trafficking of synthetic drugs, specifically fentanyl and methamphetamines” and “prepare a collaborative report on arms trafficking to identify routes, organizations and tactics used to traffic firearms.”
United States customs officers found fentanyl hidden in an unusual way this week at the Mexico-U.S. border.Twitter @CBPPortDirNOG
Tamales are not always stuffed with delicacies such as chicharrón en salsa verde or mole.
They can also be filled with fentanyl pills, United States authorities discovered Wednesday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers found more than 2,000 such pills inside tamales at the border crossing between Nogales, Sonora, and Nogales, Arizona.
“On Wednesday, CBP officers at the Nogales POE [port of entry] discovered approximately 2,100 fentanyl pills concealed inside tamales in an ice chest,” Michael W. Humphries, CBP port director in Nogales, wrote on Twitter.
“Each tamale contained a baggie of blue pills hidden inside. Excellent work by officers and K9 teams maintaining a high level of vigilance,” he added above photos of the illicit consignment.
10/9: CBP officers at the Nogales POE discovered a new version of “rainbow” fentanyl pills not encountered before. Approx 413,000 fentanyl pills were seized. 44,000 of those had the rainbow colors combined in each pill. 7.4 lbs fentanyl powder, 14.4 lbs heroin was also seized. pic.twitter.com/Kbs9XTdlWj
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) October 11, 2022
This week, U.S. agents at the Nogales port of entry also seized a kind of rainbow-colored fentanyl pills that they hadn’t seen before.
Mexican drug cartels are major exporters of fentanyl to the United States, where overdose deaths from synthetic opioids exceeded 71,000 last year, according to the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics.
Wednesday’s seizure was at least the second time that fentanyl was confiscated by CBP officers in Nogales, Arizona, this week.
Humphries wrote on Twitter Tuesday that officers had “discovered a new version of ‘rainbow’ fentanyl pills not encountered before.”
He said that approximately 413,000 fentanyl pills were seized and 44,000 of that number “had the rainbow colors combined in each pill.”
The official didn’t report any arrests in connection with either fentanyl seizure.
Million flock to the Basilica showed up for this year's festival, which features a procession from Guadalajara to the Basilica of Zapopan, where the Virgin's statue resides. (Fernando Carranza/Cuartoscuro)
After two years of celebrating the Festival of the Virgin of Zapopan virtually, this year’s in-person festivities on Wednesday broke attendance records with 2.4 million guests.
The statue of the Virgin, who is Zapopan, Jalisco’s patron saint, resides permanently in the Basilica of Zapopan, but it is brought out for processions and festivities in the Virgin’s honor, a process that begins in May and culminates in an annual celebration called La Romería on October 12, in which it is brought back from Guadalajara to her home in the Basilica of Zapopan.
Her faithful call this version of the Virgin Mary “La Generala” (the general), “La Reina y Madre de Jalisco” (the queen and mother of Jalisco) and “La Estrella de la Evangelización” (the star of evangelization).
The history of the festival, known to Mexicans as La Romería, dates back to the 1600s, when Guadalajara faced flooding and illness. The statue was led through the city in supplication for the Virgin’s help at that time, and again in the 1700s, when Guadalajara once again faced devastating storms that killed many. The Virgin’s image was carried again through the city streets, and since that time, she has been proclaimed the protector of Guadalajara.
In 2018, UNESCO added the popular annual festival in this city — part of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara — to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
“La Romería is considered as one of the most popular and strongly rooted traditions in west Mexico,” according to UNESCO.
The festival’s culminating event involves carrying the statue for 9 kilometers, from the Metropolitan Cathedral in Guadalajara to the Basilica of Zapopan. The procession begins at four in the morning and is accompanied by music, prayers, fireworks and hundreds of indigenous dancers, a symbol of the religious syncredtism inherent in Mexican Catholicism.
Dance groups come from Mexico City, Michoacan and all over Guadalajara to participate, dancing for almost 48 hours straight.
A series of religious, artistic and cultural events follow in her wake. Her last stop is a tour through Chapala until she is taken to the Cathedral in Guadalajara to prepare for her procession home.
But the festival actually begins long before October 12: each year from May to October, the statue tours the region, visiting neighborhoods, parishes, hospitals, markets, factories, schools and even jails.
“Throughout the year, the planning of the activities depends on the interaction of different communities, helping them to renew and reinforce their social ties,” the UNESCO site says.
Ofrenda in the main square of Durango city, sponsored by one of the municipality's largest funeral homes.
One of the most ubiquitous manifestations of Day of the Dead is the ofrenda, a word that can be translated both as “altar” and “offering” because it is indeed both.
These highly decorated tables filled with food, photos, candles, whimsical figures and more have their origins in the Mesoamerican belief that the dead return home once a year. Mexicans prepare for that occasion not in dread but rather as a family reunion.
The ritual is millennia old, but it has seen some significant changes in the past century. Essentially, it has been extended from a home or small-community ritual to a major expression of mexicanidad or Mexican identity.
Despite its connection with the afterworld, Day of the Dead altars are not considered religious and are not part of official Catholic rites. They developed as one of many examples of syncretism between indigenous and European beliefs.
Aerial view of the altar set up in Mexico City’s main zócalo in 2021.
Ofrendas are set up not only in homes but also in more public places like cemeteries. Graves are cleaned and repaired for the occasion, and many families spend hours here, sometimes even the night.
Other notable locations can host ofrendas as well, the most famous of which is Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán.
The rise of setting up ofrendas in public spaces has much to do with the federal government’s promotion of a concept of Mexican identity promoted after the Revolution. The new government’s Education Ministry allied with artists and others starting in the 1920s to promote a national identity based on indigenous as well as European roots.
This might seem obvious today, but back then, it was a radical idea.
Among many other elements of traditional culture, images of ofrendas found their way into art and publications, and the altars themselves began to appear in schools and other public places.
But why has this particular expression of mexicanidad become so popular all over Mexico and even beyond?
First, you do not need to believe that spirits literally return on November 2 to find significance in remembering lost loved ones. Being mostly divorced from its religious roots and crossing many social and ethnic lines, ofrendas can exist in more secular situations and supported by public entities.
In essence, ofrendas found in schools, museums and government buildings are a cultural and social activity meant to emphasize shared bonds.
Until the 1980s, these altars were not common in northern Mexico because norteños have a different pre-Hispanic heritage and a modern culture more influenced by Mexico’s northern neighbor. But with a strong rise in the popularity of Halloween, federal cultural authorities were alarmed.
A new push to promote Day of the Dead was initiated, with public altars serving as focal points for community activities as an alternative to a “degenerate” gringo party.
The effort has been largely successful. The holiday is part of the Mexican consciousness in all parts of the country, even if the north still keeps certain aspects of Halloween such as costumes.
Public ofrendas are based on the ones that have been built in homes for millenia, especially in areas still maintaining strong local traditions. They are most often sponsored by a local government, which provides at least materials and sometimes labor.
These ofrendas are larger than their home counterparts, and depending on budget, can be monumental, covering entire plazas. But these altars are not always large-scale. Authorities may decide to make substitutions, such as lights instead of candles, for safety reasons. More striking, perhaps, is the addition of new elements.
Photos of notables who have recently died, as well as images related to local and national history are natural extensions of the traditional ofrenda concept. The appearance of elements related to the local economy is not uncommon either, especially if that commodity is a foodstuff.
The popularity of animated skeletal figures means that these altars can also pay homage to local dance and other culturally important activities.
In central Mexico, ofrendas can be surrounded by intricate arrangements of colored sawdust and other materials to create temporary “carpets,” a tradition taken from processions. In areas where Day of the Dead activities are relatively recent, ofrendas are more likely to integrate decorations made of plastics and other modern materials and even include light and sound displays.
The tradition can be used to make political statements. This ofrenda in Nayarit was dedicated to the 43 disappeared students from Guerrero’s Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College.
In some cases, politics and social issues can find their way onto public ofrendas. Especially at universities, it is not uncommon to see references to tragedies such as the Tlatelolco Massacre and the 43 missing students from the Ayontzinapa Rural Teachers College.
Many 2021 altars had sections or more dedicated to the Covid-19 pandemic and its victims.
Ofrendas and accompanying events are also important, like it or not, because of tourism.
Cities large and small have found the altars an effective way to attract visitors, prompting city officials to invest more in them. In some places, this can include the hiring of professional altar makers, such as Rodolfo Villena Hernández of Puebla, whose main commission this year is an ofrenda in Puebla city dedicated to the state’s gastronomy.
Mexico City’s public ofrendas are representative of most in the country. The two most important are located in the city’s zócalo and at the National Autonomous University (UNAM) at Plaza Santo Domingo. Both are conglomerates of individual altars bound together by a theme.
This year, the theme of the altar in the main zocalo is “celebrating life,” a nod to surviving the pandemic. The one in UNAM honors 100 years of muralism in Mexico.
Most cities follow suit often with regional variations on public spots. The ofrenda at the University of Guanajuato, for example, is set up on its iconic library stairs. Another popular place are large city parks, such as Calvarlandia in Guadalajara’s Parque Metropolitano.
Despite the great effort and expense that goes into them, public altars are generally up only from October 31 to November 2. That will likely change, but for now, make your plans to visit them early.
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.
A satellite image of Tropical Storm Karl. U.S. NOAA
Tropical Storm Karl is on track to make landfall in Tabasco or Veracruz late Friday or early Saturday.
The storm was 315 kilometers north-northeast of Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, at 4 p.m. Central Time on Thursday and moving south-southeast at about 11 kilometers per hour, the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an advisory.
Karl, the 11th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, has maximum sustained winds of 75 km/h with higher gusts, the NHC said.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Alvarado, Veracruz, to Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche.
This NHC map shows the area projected to be impacted by Karl Friday and Saturday. U.S. NOAA
“Karl is expected to turn southward or south-southwestward over the Bay of Campeche on Friday, and this motion should continue through early Saturday,” the NHC said.
“On the forecast track, the center of Karl should reach the coasts of Tabasco or Veracruz states … within the warning area late Friday night or early Saturday.”
Mexico’s National Meteorological Service (SMN) said that Karl would bring intense rain to parts of Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas, and very heavy rain to portions of Puebla and Yucatán.
The rain could cause flooding and landslides, the SMN said. Similarly, the NHC warned of the risk of flash flooding and mudslides, and forecast falls of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) in some areas.
“Swells generated by Karl are expected to affect the … [Gulf of Mexico] coastline for the next couple of days,” the hurricane center added. “These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and runs through November 30. Before Karl came hurricanes Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Ian and Julia, and tropical storms Alex, Bonnie (which became a hurricane in the Pacific Ocean), Colin, Gaston and Hermine.
A soldier patrols outside a prison in Cieneguillas, Zacatecas, after a prison break earlier this month. Cuartoscuro.com
The lower house of Congress has authorized the use of the military for public security tasks until 2028.
Just over two-thirds of the 500 deputies – 339 – voted in favor of a constitutional bill that seeks to extend the military’s involvement in public security by four years. The bill was approved by the Senate last week.
Deputies with the ruling Morena party and its allies, and the Institutional Revolutionary Party, supported the bill.
The Chamber of Deputies already approved an earlier version of the proposed reform, but it was returned to the lower house after the Senate modified it.
President López Obrador presents at his Thursday press conference as Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejia Berdeja looks on. Presidencia de la República
Among the modifications added by the Senate are provisions that establish congressional oversight of the public security actions of the military and allow for the creation of a fund that will provide resources for the professionalization of municipal and state police forces.
Critics of the bill argue that it will only perpetuate a militarized security strategy that has failed to combat Mexico’s high levels of violent crimes since it was first implemented by former president Felipe Calderón in late 2006.
President López Obrador said last month that the ongoing presence of the armed forces on the nation’s streets is essential to guarantee peace, even though he pledged before he took office to return soldiers to their barracks. He recently admitted he changed his mind on the matter once he realized the extent of the security problem he inherited.
As the bill that passed the lower house of Congress late Wednesday seeks to change the constitution, it requires approval by a majority of state legislatures. López Obrador on Thursday urged state lawmakers to support the reform.
“Hopefully the state congresses help us. … [The bill] was already approved in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. It just needs to be approved by half of state congresses plus one and it’s a constitutional reform,” he said.
The president – who has relied on the armed forces for a wide range of nontraditional tasks – rejected claims that his government is further militarizing the country with this bill and another recently passed by Congress that transferred control of the National Guard to the Ministry of National Defense.
He also accused members of previous governments – “the conservatives” – of hypocrisy.
“What did the conservatives do with the army? They used it to repress. Without a constitutional foundation, in an illegal way and without respect for human rights, they used the army and the navy for public security tasks,” López Obrador said.
“They’re complete hypocrites. Now that a constitutional reform is carried out and emphasis is placed on human rights, they’re throwing their arms up in horror.”
Still from video footage of the shooting at the Andares Shopping Mall in Zapopan on Oct. 2. Social media
An arrest has been made in connection to a shooting outside an upscale shopping mall in Zapopan, Jalisco, on Oct. 2 that left one dead and six injured, Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía reported on Thursday.
The man captured and arrested by the Mexican army was named as César Augusto “N,” an alleged higher-up in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) who goes by the nickname “El Gafe.”
Mejia said “El Gafe” has been a regional leader for CJNG in the Jalisco municipalities of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga and El Salto, and as someone who coordinates ”drug dealing cells, hitmen and informants,” he is one of the main generators of violence in the Guadalajara metro area. He recruited people in Jalisco, México state Quintana Roo and Querétaro for criminal activities, Mejía added.
Mejía said that the seizure of “El Gafe” on Tuesday was carried out in three locations, during which 1,000 fentanyl pills, an assortment of rifles and guns, grenades, cartridges and vehicles were seized. An additional CJNG operative, said to be Juan Carlos “N.” (aka “Carlitos”) was arrested during the operation, Mejía added.
The detainees were transferred to the Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime and are awaiting trial for the crimes of homicide and kidnapping.
Mejía said “Carlitos” participated in the series of violent outbreaks in Jalisco in August, when criminals blocked roads and burned vehicles and convenience stores, leaving at least three dead. Mejía said “Carlitos” was part of the uprising in Ixtlahuacán del Río, Jalisco.
The wave of violence in Jalisco has put the government of President López Obrador under the gun and set off alarms in the United States. On August 10, the U.S. Embassy issued a travel alert, stating, “Following numerous confirmed acts of violence on August 9, including arson of buildings and vehicles, U.S. citizens are reminded to reconsider travel to Guanajuato state.”
At the Oct. 2 shooting at the Andares Shopping Mall in Zapopan, a city of 1.5 million next to Guadalajara, several black vans stopped in front of the high-end center, at which point the shooting began, according to videos seen by Mejía and others. Hooded men dressed in black can be seen with assault rifles firing in different directions.
The man who died was a bodyguard in an escort car with Mexico City license plates, authorities said. The next day, López Obrador said the CJNG commandos intended to kidnap a businessman who deals in the purchase and sale of vehicles, though he didn’t reveal his identity.
The name of water boatmen eggs, ahuautle, means “water amaranth” in Nahuatl.
Mexico is famous for its edible bugs, from lime and chile roasted crickets sprinkled across guacamole to chicatana ants in a comal-toasted quesadilla. But one of Central Mexico’s most ancient bug proteins is now in danger of disappearing forever — ahuautle, the eggs of the aquatic insects in the Corixidae family. Those bugs, often called water boatmen in English and known as axayácatl or mosco para pajaro in Mexico, are found in the last remaining wetlands of the once-expansive Lake Texcoco, near Mexico City.
Lake Texcoco, part of the lake system that once covered the majority of the Valley of Mexico, has from the time of the Mexica (also known as Aztecs) been slowly drained and developed as Mexico’s capital expanded beyond every limit society has tried to place on it. Only a few traditional ahuautle “farmers” still collect in the remnants of Lake Texcoco at the edges of Mexico City. Juan Hernández, who in his 50s has been collecting since he was a young man, is only one of the half dozen or so collectors still harvesting and selling ahuautle, which he says is difficult and dirty work.
“Now we are just keeping ahuautle alive,” Hernández said according to the Associated Press, “I hope it doesn’t disappear, because it is a source of income for those of us who live off the land.”
The work starts with placing pine boughs on the muddy bottom of the lake’s shallow edges during the ahuautle laying season, from June to September. Hernández then goes back to collect the boughs about a week later, slinging them onto a Styrofoam raft that he drags behind him. The boughs are dried and eggs shook onto a cloth on the shore where they dry and then pass through a cleaning process back at the Hernandez household — put through a sieve to remove any final bits of mud or pine.
A kilo of the ahuautle can cost US $50 or about $23 a pound. The price has converted these tiny eggs into a kind of culinary delicacy not accessible to just any diner. But despite their exclusivity, the ahuautle have also fallen out of vogue among younger diners, a fact lamented by those trying to preserve it.
The dish “is associated with the countryside, perhaps with poverty, as if it were an undesirable protein,” says Edday Farfán, an entomologist at UNAM that has been studying water boatmensince 2016 and has the image of one tattooed on his arm.
For Juan Hernández, who is only one of six collectors still known to be doing this work, the ahuautle are not only a source of income but a way of life.
“For me, more than anything, it means tradition,” he says.
