San Miguel de Allende is the world’s best small city, and Mérida is the fourth best big one, according to readers of Condé Nast Traveler.
The magazine announced the winners of its 35th annual Readers’ Choice Awards on Tuesday. San Miguel Allende, a colonial city in the Bajío region state of Guanajuato, was also crowned the world’s best small city in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.
Mérida, the capital of Yucatán, won the same award in 2019, but appeared in the big cities list for the first time this year.
Announcing the results of its latest reader survey, Condé Nast Traveler described San Miguel de Allende – a UNESCO world heritage site since 2008 – as a “jewel” and a “hub for expat artists.”
Mérida’s striking downtown landmark, The Homeland Monument. Mérida has been on Condé Nast Traveler’s list before, but this is the first time the publication considered it a big city. Jorge Ramírez/Unsplash
“This highland city is known for its Spanish colonial architecture and colorful facades. You could spend hours browsing the galleries and pop-up shops at Fábrica La Aurora, a former textile factory that is now home to local artisans,” the magazine said.
It also recommended the Rosewood hotel, calling it a “hidden oasis in the heart of the city,” and the restaurant Áperi, “for one of the best dining experiences in the city, full of fresh flavors from the region.”
Other small cities popular with Condé Nast Traveler readers include Oxford, United Kingdom (voted 10th best); Salzburg, Austria (5th); San Sebastián, Spain (3rd); and Victoria, Canada (2nd).
Singapore was voted the best big city ahead of Bangkok, Thailand; Tokyo, Japan; and Mérida, which has a population of about 1 million.
As one of Mexico’s earliest cities, San Miguel de Allende holds onto its original colonial charm with cobblestone streets, but it’s also got a vibrant modern arts community. Jezael Melgoza/Unsplash
“The streets of Mérida are bursting with the colorful facades of Spanish colonial architecture, but the capital of Mexico’s Yucatan state is also steeped in Mayan history,” Condé Nast Traveler said.
“Centrally located on the Yucatán Peninsula, the city is an easy day trip to UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as the ancient cities of Uxmal and Chichén Itzá, and the beaches on the Gulf shore in Progreso.”
The magazine said that locals of the ciudad blanca (white city) recommend visiting Fundación de Artistas, a nonprofit featuring art exhibits in a 19th-century home and the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, a modern cultural museum in the city’s north.
Mérida Mayor Renán Barrera acknowledged the city’s new accolade in a social media post. “You’re great #Mérida!” he wrote on Facebook.
Condé Nast said a suggested place to visit in Mérida is the Gran Museo del Mundo Maya, the Great Museum of the Mayan World. Shutterstock
“We’ve become the fourth best city in the world in the ‘Best Big Cities’ category … in the 2022 Readers’ Choice Awards of the Condé Nast Traveler magazine. We’re still working to be among the best tourism destinations in our country,” Barrera said.
Another Mexican award winner was Isla Holbox, which Condé Nast Traveler readers deemed to be the “top island” in North America outside the United States. The popular tourism destination is located just off the northern coast of Quintana Roo.
Isla Mujeres, located off the coast of Cancún, and Cozumel, southeast of Playa del Carmen, ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the “rest of North America” category for “top islands.”
Condé Nast Traveler readers ranked Mexico as the 36th best country in the world to travel to, with Portugal, Japan and Thailand taking the top three spots in that category.
Work is beginning of Terminal 2 at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) to shore up its supports. It will take 10 months. AICM/Instagram
Work to repair structural damage at Terminal 2 of the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) will begin “in a few days” and take 10 months to complete, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday.
Speaking at President López Obrador’s regular news conference, Sheinbaum said the project will cost about 400 million pesos (US $20 million) and is required due to problems related to how the 14-year-old building was designed.
López Obrador said in late July that the terminal has structural damage, is sinking and needs to be shored up to ensure it doesn’t collapse. The College of Mexican Aeronautics Engineers rejected the claim that the building was sinking, but Sheinbaum repeated the president’s assertion on Tuesday, saying that the land on which the terminal was built has sunk by as much as 1.2 meters since it opened in 2008.
“In this area of the city, there is subsidence that ranges from 30 centimeters to 1.2 meters. … It was decided to build a very heavy, very large, two-story building that had to have foundations with piles that reached the hard part of the soil,” she said, adding that the sinking phenomenon has caused “cavities between the piles and the ground.”
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum made the announcement at President Lopez Obrador’s daily press conference. VICTORIA VALTIERRA/CUARTOSCURO
“These cavities have also caused cracks in the beams [that support the terminal]. It’s a building that was built … [without] the design that was needed,” Sheinbaum said.
“… It was a building that was planned for only 15 years despite it costing 10 billion pesos because it was supposedly going to be demolished because the international airport was going to be built in Texcoco,” she said, referring to the México state airport construction project canceled by López Obrador.
The mayor said that the repair work is needed to counter possible risks posed to the terminal by earthquakes, which frequently affect Mexico City.
“The first thing that has to be done is to fix all the beams,” Sheinbaum said. … On the other hand, … permanent filling [is needed] in the area where there are cavities,” she said.
Terminal 1, which will also see repairs after Terminal 2, actually has “greater deterioration,” AICM’s director said. AICM/Twitter
The required studies have been completed, and the work will start “in a few days,” the mayor added. She said the project won’t interrupt the operations of Terminal 2 because all the work will be carried out in its “lower part.”
Earlier in López Obrador’s press conference, new AICM director Carlos Velázquez said that there had been a lack of investment in the airport during the 2012–2018 presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto. He noted that the Terminal 1 building is almost 70 years old and that the airport’s infrastructure has deteriorated over the years.
“[The deterioration is] mainly in Terminal 1, largely as a result of the lack of investment from 2014 to 2018 due to its projected closure,” Velázquez said, noting that the canceled Texcoco airport was under construction in that period.
The current government, in contrast, has allocated over 5.9 billion pesos (US $295 million) for maintenance and repair projects at AICM, he said, adding that the airport has contributed 1.3 billion pesos of its own resources to improving the facility.
An executive with the Keller Williams real estate company has proposed converting offices into homes to alleviate the housing shortage in Mexico City.
The Valley of Mexico branch of national housing association Canadevi says that 20,000 additional homes need to be built in the capital every year to keep up with demand, but construction figures have been much lower than that in recent years and have declined annually since 2017.
Due to the current shortfall of housing stock, Jorge Carbonell believes that some office buildings – many of which have fewer tenants than they previously had due to the shift to remote work during the pandemic – should be turned into apartment blocks.
“There is a decline in construction and real estate development and converting some offices into homes could be an option,” he told the newspaper Reforma. “It’s a great option to alleviate the crisis” given that there is so much office space in Mexico City, Carbonell added.
According to real estate company JLL, there are 7.5 million square meters of office space in the capital and just under 1.76 million meters – 23.5% of the total – were unoccupied at the end of June.
“Within what is the new reality [created by the pandemic], office spaces are the most affected division of the real estate business,” Carbonell said.
But offices converted into furnished homes could be “very profitable” for their owners if they rented them to vacationers or people in Mexico City for business, he said, citing annual returns of 8-12% of the initial investment.
“… Today it’s easier to remodel than to build a [new] building, the permits in the city are very complicated. The transformation of [office] buildings … to homes could be a great option,” the real estate executive said.
Carbonnel also said that his idea could increase housing stock in central areas of the capital whereas a lot of construction occurs on the outskirts. Office buildings that are good candidates for conversion to apartment blocks are in central locations, up to 50 years old and have vacancy rates of 50% or more, he said.
Leopoldo Maldonado, Director of Article 19 in Mexico, said he has "little confidence" that the criminal complaint the organization filed against the military with the federal Attorney General will be treated with "independence and professionalism." Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro
Press freedom advocacy organization Article 19 announced Monday that it had filed a criminal complaint against the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) for allegedly intercepting the private communications of a human rights defender and two journalists by using spyware to infiltrate their cell phones.
The announcement came after three civil society organizations including Article 19 published an investigation titled Ejército Espía (The Spying Army) that found that Sedena illegally used Pegasus spyware against journalists and human rights defenders in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto in Canada and the Mexican media outlets Animal Político, Aristegui Noticias and Proceso collaborated on the investigation, which gathered evidence that shows that Sedena purchased the spyware during the current government despite President López Obrador’s pledge that his administration wouldn’t spy on citizens and assertions that it isn’t doing so.
“The investigation, by Red en Defensa de los Derechos Digitales (R3D), Article 19 Mexico and Central America, and SocialTIC, with forensic analysis and support from Citizen Lab, found the new cases of surveillance occurred during the current government … despite repeated reassurances from the president that the government did not have current contracts with the [Israeli company] NSO Group, which manufactures the [Pegasus] spyware,” Article 19 said in a statement.
Animal Politico‘s director Daniel Moreno said Pegasus spyware gave the government access to his paper’s entire site, allowing officials to spy on one of their journalists. Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro
“The report reveals that Raymundo Ramos, president of the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee, Ricardo Raphael, journalist and writer, and a journalist from Animal Político were all targeted,” the NGO said.
“The investigation exposes the existence of contracts between the Mexican army and the company Anstua, which signs agreements on behalf of the NSO Group. The journalists and a human rights defender were conducting investigations into serious human rights violations committed by the armed forces at the time they were targeted,” it said.
“Article 19 has filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office [FGR] for the illegal interception of private communications. However, there is little confidence that the Attorney General’s Office will conduct the investigations with independence and professionalism.”
Leopoldo Maldonado, Article 19’s Mexico and Central America director, told a press conference Monday that either López Obrador has knowingly lied about his government not spying on citizens or Sedena is using the spyware behind his back.
Raphael, one of the three espionage victims identified by the Ejército Espía investigation, said that the findings of the probe demonstrated that Mexico’s intelligence apparatus is dominated by the military, although the FGR has also purchased software to conduct cell phone and internet espionage in recent years, according to a 2021 report by the newspaper El País.
The journalist said that his personal communications were passed on to other people for undisclosed reasons. He said that filing a criminal complaint against Sedena was necessary, but noted that he has little faith that Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero will oversee a rigorous investigation.
“I don’t believe in the attorney general,” said Raphael, who contributes to media outlets including Proceso and the newspaper Milenio.
Animal Político director Daniel Moreno told the same press conference that the espionage was illegal as none of the three identified victims had broken the law. He added that the infiltration of the telephone of the unnamed Animal Político journalist gave the army access to the entire operations of the news website.
In July 2021, AMLO showed reporters a contract between the former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s government and the NSO Group to buy Pegasus spyware. He said that his government wouldn’t spy on citizens.
Ramos, the human rights defender, said that he has been under surveillance by the army for more than 20 years as a result of his work investigating human rights violations committed by the armed forces in the northern border state of Tamaulipas.
“They won’t stop us because they infect our … [phones],” he said.
The espionage victims and the organizations involved in the investigation urged other activists and journalists to check their phones for signs they were also targeted by Sedena’s alleged use of Pegasus, spyware that the previous government also used.
After the newspaper The Guardian reported in July 2021 that at least 50 people close to López Obrador, among many others, were potentially targeted by the previous administration of president Enrique Peña Nieto after it purchased Pegasus, the president declared that government espionage was a thing of the past and ordered the cancelation of any active Pegasus contract.
On Tuesday he rejected the revelation that his government is using Pegasus to spy on journalists and activists.
“We’re not the same as the previous [governments], it’s not true [that we’re spying]. I made the commitment that no one would be spied on,” López Obrador told his regular news conference.
He said that the army – which has been given responsibility for a wide range of non-traditional tasks during the current government – carries out intelligence work but doesn’t spy. Espionage is “different,” López Obrador said before reiterating that his government doesn’t spy on opponents.
“What our adversaries are seeking is to compare us with those who governed previously but we’re not the same,” he said.
The publication of the Ejército Espía investigation came just days after it was revealed that the army was targeted by the international hacking collective Guacamaya, which stole a range of sensitive information from Sedena’s IT system including details about the president’s medical problems.
Article 19 said “the facts” the Ejército Espía probe reveals “must not go unpunished.”
“It is essential to clarify how many people have been spied on, which officials participated or had knowledge and how the information obtained has been used, including with whom it has been shared,” it said.
Audi will begin producing electric vehicles at its San José Chiapa plant in Puebla, where it has been producing hybrid vehicles since 2019. Hilda Ríos/Cuartoscuro.com
German automaker Audi intends to start manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) at its Puebla assembly plant in 2027.
Tarek Mashhour, executive president of Audi México, told a press conference Friday that the automaker will make a multimillion-dollar investment to ready its San José Chiapa plant for electric vehicle production.
He said the company will add new sections to its plant to allow it to make EVs. Mashhour also said that Audi will provide additional training to its employees so they are equipped for EV production.
Audi currently manufactures its Q5 crossover SUV at its plant in San José Chiapa, located about 60 kilometers northeast of Puebla city. It has made the hybrid version of the same vehicle in Puebla since 2019.
The 2022 Audi Q5 SUV. Audi
Mashhour said the automaker will confirm in early 2023 which electric vehicle it will make in Puebla, but it appears likely to be an electric Q5. Audi began operations in the state in 2016 and is currently doing well, according to the executive president.
“We’re in a good situation. The Q5 is selling well. We’re receiving the semiconductors we need, that means we can produce without closing the plant and … we’re producing according to our [planned] schedule, with complete shifts. We have [the] parts [we need] and we can produce,” Mashhour said.
He noted that the Puebla plant has manufactured some 876,000 vehicles since it opened six years ago.
In addition to expanding its plant for EV production, Audi wants to install a solar power facility in San José Chiapa. Mashhour said that the company has once again requested a permit to build a 7-10 megawatt solar park at its plant. The federal Environment Ministry rejected its application in July due to an administrative error.
Mashhour said that the planned solar park would cover part, but not all, of the plant’s electricity requirements. The renewable energy facility is slated to be up and running within 15 months of approval.
Mashhour noted that Audi is aiming to reduce its worldwide emissions to zero by 2025, and highlighted that its already 80% of the way there. The San José de Chiapa plant has reduced its water consumption by 50% and put new processes in place to cut gas and electricity use, he said.
Meat prices are up 10% compared to the same period in 2022. Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro.com
The federal government has reached a new agreement with a range of private companies that aims to keep prices of basic food products down amid inflation that reached almost 9% in the first half of September.
President López Obrador and Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O on Monday presented an enhanced version of the purported inflation-busting plan that they first announced in early May.
Its objective is to keep the cost of a canasta básica — a selection of 24 basic products including beans, rice, eggs, tortillas, sugar and soap — at 1,039 pesos (US $52) until the end of February 2023.
In an attempt to help them keep their costs down, companies that signed the new deal will be exempt from a range of regulatory requirements. Among the signatories are tuna company Tuny, tortilla maker Gruma, chicken and egg producer Bachoco, several meat producers and the supermarkets Walmart, Chedraui and Soriana.
President López Obrador, posing with government officials and business leaders, displays the new agreement at his Monday morning press conference. Presidencia de la República
Ramírez said that signatories will be granted a temporary license that exempts them from paying a general import tax on canasta básica items and being subject to quality checks undertaken by health regulator Cofepris and agriculture sanitation authority Senasica.
The federal government will “suspend … all regulation that is considered to prevent or raise the price of importing … food and moving it within the country,” the finance minister said.
“This includes tariffs, non-tariff barriers to foreign trade and other requirements for … [the] entry and national circulation [of essential products],” he said.
Ramírez said that the companies themselves will be responsible for ensuring that their products are of high quality and free of health or other risks. He also announced that the government would maintain its fuel subsidy and freeze highway tolls until the end of February.
For his part, López Obrador said that no companies were pressured to join the plan and expressed confidence that it will help control inflation. “It will have a very positive effect, it will help us, I’m sure,” he said.
“… And we’re going to continue driving the production of basic products because the more production there is the more supply there is and there is less inflation,” López Obrador added.
“We’re going to continue supporting the countryside, … [offer] guaranteed prices to compensate the producer for his effort and work and [provide] fertilizers at accessible prices, … for two million small producers fertilizer will be delivered free, but that’s another plan to reinforce everything we’re doing,” he said.
The president also committed to keeping electricity rates at their current level. “The prices of gasoline, of diesel, of electricity and basic foods won’t go up, that’s the essence of everything,” he said.
Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O exchanges words with Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier at Monday’s press conference. Presidencia de la República
The success of the original version of the government’s anti-inflation plan — which also involved an agreement with the private sector but largely focused on boosting production of foodstuffs such as corn, beans and rice — is disputed. Data published in July by the national statistics agency INEGI showed that 17 of the 24 canasta básica prices had in fact increased since the original plan was introduced.
But the government argues that INEGI’s data doesn’t accurately reflect the effectiveness of its anti-inflation plan, which is officially called the Packet against Inflation and Scarcity, or PACIC. Finance Ministry official Rodrigo Mariscal told the news agency Reuters that INEGI measures a selection of products made by a range of different companies whereas PACIC only covers a limited number of specific brands and products within a larger basket of goods.
Presenting the proposed 2023 budget in September, the Finance Ministry said that PACIC prevented “7.5 percentage points of additional inflation among the 24 products in the canasta básica.”
It estimated that the cost of the PACIC canasta básica items fell 0.4% between early May and the second half of August, while a basket of alternative brands and products increased by just over 7% in the same period.
INEGI data showed that food, beverage and tobacco prices were 13.27% higher in the first half of September compared to a year earlier, with inflation rates for produce and meat even higher at 14.68% and 15.71%, respectively.
Headline inflation was 8.76% in the first half of last month, a two-decade high that prompted the central bank to raise its key interest rate by 0.75% last week. López Obrador predicted in July that inflation would begin to ease in October or November, but it appears unlikely there will be much relief this month or next.
The president asserted Monday that inflation would be worse without his administration’s efforts to contain it, but conceded that high food prices are hurting household budgets.
“We have been able to stop the growth of inflation with a control on fuel prices, a subsidy for gasoline and diesel and that’s helped a lot. We don’t have much inflation in energy, but in food, even when the increase hasn’t been much, inflation is affecting us, it’s causing … families, people, to lose purchasing power,” López Obrador said.
“… We all know that controlling inflation is very important because it … affects us a lot and it affects those who have less income even more. We can increase salaries, people’s income can rise but if there is inflation purchasing power is reduced, so we have that challenge,” he said.
The government of Mexico filed the lawsuit in U.S. federal court in Boston in August 2021. deposit photos
The federal government has announced it will appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit against United States gun manufacturers.
The government filed a US $10 billion lawsuit against gunmakers, including Smith & Wesson and Barrett Firearms in August 2021, accusing them of negligent business practices that have led to illegal arms trafficking and deaths in Mexico, where U.S.-sourced firearms are used in a majority of high-impact crimes.
In a claim filed in Massachusetts, it alleged that the companies have undermined Mexican gun laws by designing, marketing and selling high-powered weapons that appeal to criminal organizations in Mexico.
Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor dismissed the claim in federal court in Boston on Friday, saying that U.S. law “unequivocally” prohibits lawsuits that seek to hold gun manufacturers responsible when people use their products for their intended purpose.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Marcelo Ebrard, seen here on a U.S. tour meeting Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, said he didn’t agree with the ruling that U.S. manfacturers’ legal immunity extends beyond U.S. borders. Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter
The judge said there were some narrow exceptions in U.S. law but none applied in Mexico’s case against the gunmakers.
Saylor explained that Mexico’s case couldn’t surmount a provision in the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that protects gun manufacturers from lawsuits over “the harm solely caused by the criminal or unlawful misuse of firearm products … by others when the product functioned as designed and intended.”
In a 44-page ruling, the judge wrote that “while the court has considerable sympathy for the people of Mexico, and none whatsoever for those who traffic guns to Mexican criminal organizations, it is duty-bound to follow the law.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), which filed the suit, said that the government would challenge the ruling.
“The government of Mexico will appeal the decision of the federal judge and continue insisting that the weapons trade must be responsible, transparent and with accountability,” it said in a statement.
The SRE also said the government would continue to argue that “the negligent way in which … [firearms] are sold in the United States facilitates criminals’ access to them.”
The ministry said that the filing of the lawsuit was an “unprecedented and brave action of the Mexican government to prevent firearms, many of which are high-powered, causing violence in our country.”
It also said that its lawsuit has received “worldwide recognition and has been considered a watershed in the discussion about the gun industry’s responsibility for the violence in Mexico and the region.”
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Gun industry general counsel Lawrence Keane, seen here in a recent National Rifle Association magazine profile, called the lawsuit “baseless.”
Lawrence Keane, the general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a U.S. trade association for the firearms industry, approved of the dismissal of the “baseless” lawsuit.
“The crime that is devastating the people of Mexico is not the fault of members of the firearm industry, that under U.S. law, can only sell their lawful products to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights after passing a background check,” Keane said.
However, the SRE said it’s not giving up on the suit.
“… The government of Mexico will continue taking action to end the illegal trafficking of weapons. The civil lawsuit for damages against those who profit from the violence that Mexicans suffer moves to a second stage,” it said.
In an interview with news magazine Proceso, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that the government knew from the outset that the dismissal of its case was a possibility.
“The judge’s argument is that the PLCAA law, which took effect in 2005, provides immunity to the firearms industry in the United States with respect to civil lawsuits … but he recognizes the impact of the negligence of the firearms industry in our territory,” he said.
Ebrard said that the government didn’t agree with Saylor’s extension of immunity beyond U.S. borders.
“We don’t accept that and therefore we’re going to appeal, saying that the judge already recognizes the link between the negligence of the firearms industry and the damage to Mexico in terms of thousands of people who have lost their lives,” he said.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that 70% of firearms confiscated in Mexico and given to them for tracing between 2014 and 2018 were U.S. sourced. U.S. GAO
“… What we’re saying is that the damage occurs outside the United States and therefore PLCAA doesn’t apply. We will appeal saying that outside the territory of the United States that law doesn’t apply,” Ebrard said.
The judge “is interpreting the law in favor of the firearms industry saying, ‘it isn’t responsible [for people’s actions with their weapons] anywhere, not in the United States or outside the United States,’ but that’s his interpretation, not that of the [U.S.] Congress,” he said.
Ebrard said that Mexico’s appeal will be filed soon and that the government would “look for all the precedents” in U.S. law to support its case. “We think we have a good case,” the foreign minister added.
In its lawsuit, the government estimated that 2.2% of almost 40 million guns manufactured annually in the United States are smuggled into Mexico. As many as 597,000 firearms that flow into Mexico each year are believed to be made by the defendants, among whom were also Colt’s Manufacturing Company and Glock Inc.
In addition to the violence generated by the use of U.S.-sourced guns, the SRE argued that the trafficking of weapons has harmed Mexico in other related ways. Among those cited were a decline in investment and economic activity here and the requirement to spend more on public security measures.
Mexico also alleged that U.S. gun companies are aware that their business practices caused illegal arms trafficking in Mexico.
The government argued that other arms manufacturers also design weapons to appeal to criminal organizations in Mexico, among which are drug cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
National Hurricane Center map showing path of category 1 Hurricane Orlene. It made landfall at about 8:45 a.m. Central Time.
Hurricane Orlene made landfall in southwestern Mexico at around 8:45 a.m. Central Time, just north of the Sinaloa/Nayarit border, according to satellite imagery, the National Hurricane Center reported.
According to Mexico’s National Meteorological Service, the storm touched down 5 kilometers west-southwest of Isla del Bosque, located in the Sinaloa municipality of Escuinapa.
The NHC said that Orlene landed with maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour with higher gusts. At 9 a.m. Central Time, it was located 75 kilometers east of Mazatlán, the NHC said.
The hurricane, which strengthened into a Category 4 storm over the weekend before weakening, is moving north-northeast at 17 km/h, the NHC said. It is now a Category 1 storm, according to Mexico’s National Meteorological Service.
Satellite image showing the storm making landfall just north of the Sinaloa/Nayarit border this morning. NOAA
A hurricane warning is in effect for San Blas, Nayarit, to Mazatlán, Sinaloa.
“On the forecast track, the center of Orlene will reach the coast of mainland Mexico within the warning area this morning,” the NHC said.
“Rapid weakening is forecast after Orlene moves onshore, and the system should dissipate tonight or Tuesday, the NHC predicted. “Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles (30 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles (150 km),” it said.
SMN said that Orlene would cause torrential rain in Sinaloa and Nayarit, intense falls in Durango and Jalisco and very heavy falls in Colima.
On this rain map, the areas enclosed in green predict a rain accumulation of 25-50 millimeters in the next 24 hours. Purple areas could get as much as 250 millimeters of rain in the same period. Conagua
“These rainfall amounts are likely to lead to flash flooding, as well as possible landslides in areas of rugged terrain,” the NHC said.
The NHC predicted 3 to 6 inches (8-15 centimeters) for Nayarit and southern Sinaloa with “local amounts of 10 inches” or 25 cm. It forecast rainfall of up to 5 inches (13 cm) in Jalisco, Colima and southwest Durango. Conagua predicted as much as 25 centimeters (nearly 10 inches) could accumulate in some areas of Sinaloa and Nayarit.
States as far away as Michoacan, Guanajuato, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas could experience heavy rains as a result of Orlene, Conagua said.
“A dangerous storm surge is likely to cause coastal flooding in the Islas Marias and along the coast of mainland Mexico in the warning area in regions of onshore winds,” it also said.
The hurricane center also predicted large swells for the western coast of Mexico, southern parts of the Baja California peninsula and the Gulf of California “over the next day or so.”
“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the NHC said.
Founders and friends Sandy Estrada and Daniel Ruiz posing with their original agave crop that started their tequila business. Sandy & Daniel
In the last couple of years, questions like these have popped up every now and then on expat social media groups around Lake Chapala: “Does anyone know where to buy Sandy & Daniel tequila?” “Are Sandy & Daniel still selling their tequila?”
To understand why it’s so hard these days to find this tequila that’s a favorite of the foreign population around Lake Chapala, you have to take into account the wider forces in the tequila market. For instance, you may have noticed that in Mexican supermarkets and liquor stores, there is almost no real tequila on the shelves — and what real tequila exists is locked up in special cases.
The worldwide thirst for tequila has priced many Mexicans out of their signature drink. It also has put severe pressure on small producers like the Sandy & Daniel brand.
First, let’s talk about the brand’s creation, which was a bit of an accident: Robert (Sandy) Estrada and Daniel Ruiz’s partnership came through a chance meeting.
Their tequila business got started after blue agave farmers oversaturated the market and made their crop — and the seven years of labor that goes into it — worthless. María Di Paola Blum/Cuartoscuro
Los Angeles-born Estrada was staying in the Chapala area with a friend, and Ruiz was working there as a gardener. The two formed a fast friendship, with Estrada as best man at Ruiz’s wedding and godfather to subsequent children.
Because of this familial relationship, when Ruiz’s grandfather needed to sell his farmland in the late 2000s, he accepted Estrada’s proposal to buy it, making him a partner in the family’s blue agave-growing business.
But soon afterward, a major bust hit the agave market, making the crop — seven years in the making — worthless.
But instead of destroying it, Estrada suggested that they harvest anyway, contracting with a distillery in Tequila to make, if nothing else, a batch to share with family and friends. That 20 tons of agave turned into far more cases than they could ever drink, so the business partners looked for ways to sell it in the local area.
The two had experienced one end of the wild boom-and-bust cycle of tequila agave production. Despite the liquor’s huge popularity, there are still problems with farmers planting agave because of currently-high prices versus making educated guesses about the markets six to seven years later. Years of effort can be lost, as well as opportunities to cash in on boom markets.
The ever-growing popularity of tequila lengthens this cycle but does not eliminate it. The need to time planting and harvesting has become even more critical not only because of federal and state tax issues but also the fact that growing, harvesting and selling is heavily regulated by the tequila regulation council, Consejo Regulador de Tequila (CRT).
But through trial-and-error, Estrada and Ruiz found that they had a market for their product among the large and interconnected foreign population around Lake Chapala. Promoted at local events, the smooth tequila became a hit, as well as the story of a partnership between a local farming family and an expat. By the time the pandemic hit, Sandy & Daniel had a very strong regional market and had even gained recognition in Jalisco and California.
But the pandemic and the steady rise in agave prices took their toll. Sandy & Daniel lost their main source of sales through tasting events to COVID restrictions. Since they made their first batch, blue agave prices went from near-zero to as much as 35 pesos today. Predictions since 2018 of gradual decreases have not materialized, and most distillers are not holding their breath.
Sandy Estrada came to Ajijic to escape the rat race of Los Angeles but not really to retire. He found a perfect life balance in Mexico. Sandy & Daniel
The prices for agave are a result of demand, rather than a lack of supply. Tequila originally was a poor man’s drink, something made with “useless” agave growing wild. Its ever-growing worldwide popularity has made it a specialty, taking it out of its traditional markets into silver-decorated bottles named and promoted by celebrities.
The worldwide demand for agave means that major distillers are now eschewing traditional techniques in favor of large industrial machines and even chemicals that allow them to use agave plants before they mature. They have also bought land for growing their own agave to help mediate price fluctuations. Most importantly, with costs so high, it is almost now impossible to stay in the tequila business without exporting.
Today, over 80% of Mexico’s tequila is sold outside the country.
Estrada and Ruiz did consider exporting and began the process, but they found the upfront costs and risks too high. They also decided that they did not want to go the more modern production route. Both have had serious effects on the business. Despite having a relatively affluent foreign community on their doorstep, it is not large enough to sustain them.
To survive, the two have diversified their business activities into other areas such as real estate, but, ironically, they are back to where they started over a decade ago. They have expanded their fields and now focus on producing agave to “…sell to the big boys…” the family’s original business plan. It’s still not without its risks. Agave farms have been experiencing consolidation. In the 1990s, there were about 25,000 growers in the permitted areas for blue agave. Today, the number of cultivators is less than 10% of that.
Emotionally, Sandy and Daniel are still tied to the idea of producing tequila, even though none is currently being made under their label. They built a tequila tasting room on top of a hill overlooking Lake Chapala, where they will be developing homes.
But the future of Sandy & Daniel tequila is murky at best. Due to a longstanding relationship with Chapala’s famous Feria de Maestros de Arte, the two will be selling from the last of the cases they have, both to support the organization behind the handcrafts fair and to celebrate the winding down of the pandemic. It is likely your last opportunity to buy the product for a very long time.
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.
When homemade refried beans are done right, you'll find yourself licking the cooking spoon!
Had I ever even noticed, much less eaten, refried beans before I moved to Mexico? I think not. At restaurants, I always opted out, and I never bought a can of what I disdainfully thought of as a lard-filled throwaway that had no place in my pantry (or cooking).
Well.
Nowadays, my love of refried beans is a quiet secret I usually keep to myself. To me, they’re absolutely delicious; when I make them at home, I find myself licking the spatula as though it’s loaded with cupcake batter. (And, yes, I do that too.) But many expats I know don’t share my affinity for frijoles refritos — or, God forbid, frijoles puercos — for one main reason: the fear of lard.
I find this fear kind of a random parameter, and I have to ask those people: Do you eat bacon? How about the crunchy, yummy skin on a perfectly roasted chicken? Or the crispy fat on the edge of a grilled pork chop? Please. Come on, now. Manteca, i.e., lard, is a perfectly acceptable form of fat when used and eaten in moderation. (In the words of one of my foodie friends: “I have no problem with any kind of rendered fat.”)
Tostadas simply aren’t tostadas without a base of well-made refried beans.
Lard is what gives most tacos, burritos and quesadillas that shot of umami, the “essence of deliciousness.” I hate to break it to you, but chances are, even that vegetarian papa loca you love has been drizzled with a bit of manteca.
Refried beans are a cheap, simple protein powerhouse. They’re great for breakfast, as an accompaniment to eggs-any-style, scooped up with corn or flour tortillas. They’re an essential part of a mollete (perhaps the Mexican equivalent of a PB&J), spread onto a toasted bolillo (a fluffy sandwich roll) and topped with melted cheese, jalapeños and salsa verde or pico de gallo. Let us not forget nachos, tacos, burritos, quesadillas … the list goes on and on.
To make this dish, I always start with dried beans cooked overnight on my Instant Pot’s slow-cooker setting. (Can you use canned beans? Sure.) Personally, I like slow-cooked beans better than those cooked in a pressure cooker. After so many years of bean-eating, I’ve settled on yellowish, buttery peruano beans, also called Mayocobas, as my favorites. They cost a few pesos more, but the flavor and texture are worth it to me.
My tastes are simple, and usually, I just add some salt and maybe half a veggie bouillon cube to the beans as they cook. You can add more flavor with chopped onions, canned adobo chiles, pickled jalapeños, minced garlic, a teaspoon or so of ground cumin, coriander or red pepper flakes.
Once they’re thoroughly cooked and tender, I use an immersion blender to process them until smooth. (Another option is to mash them in the pan for a chunkier version.)
Now comes the “refrying” part: the bean purée is basically sautéed in corn oil (for flavor) or lard or bacon drippings (which makes them frijoles puercos) until the flavors merge and the texture changes. You can use butter, but I wouldn’t advise it; butter adds a flavor that just doesn’t fit well with the rest of the dish.
Basic Refried Beans
2 cups unsoaked dry peruano, black or pinto beans (or whatever kind you like)
2 quarts water
1 heaping teaspoon salt
3 Tbsp. corn oil, lard, bacon or sausage fat, etc.
Refried beans spread on a fluffy sandwich roll Mexicans call a bollilo help make the mollete a classic breakfast comfort food.
Put everything in your slow cooker. Cook 10½ hours on high. This will yield about 5½ cups cooked beans with a little liquid.
Separate 2½ cups cooked beans and liquid; blend with immersion blender, regular blender or food processor till smooth. Heat 3 Tbsp. corn oil (or another kind of fat, but not butter as it will burn) in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Dump in blended beans; spread to edge of pan and, using a silicone spatula, stir, stir, stir.
Reduce heat to medium; continue stirring almost constantly, using the spatula to push the beans from the edge into the center. After about 10 minutes, you will suddenly see the texture change; the surface will start to look dry, and the bubbles will be bigger and dry-looking. At this point, stay close! All of a sudden, the mixture will be thick and done.
Remove from heat. Serve immediately with your favorite dish or cool, store and refrigerate in a sealed container for up to a week. Refried beans can also be frozen.
Classic Molletes
No need to heat up the kitchen; these can easily be made in a toaster oven.
2 cups refried beans
1-2 cups shredded cheese, like Chihuahua or mozzarella
3-4 bolillos (sandwich rolls)
Cut rolls in half. On a baking sheet, toast at 400 F (200 C) for a few minutes before adding any toppings.
Remove from oven, top each with a layer of beans and shredded cheese. Bake 3–5 minutes more until cheese is thoroughly melted. Top with freshly made salsa verde or pico de gallo and serve immediately.
