Calakmul, deep in Campeche’s jungle, holds clues to ancient Maya life

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April 22, 2021

A replica of the frieze from Calakmul's main pyramid.

Situated in Campeche 35 kilometers from the border with Guatemala, in the second-largest tropical forest in the Americas, Calakmul is one of the most significant Maya ruins in present-day Mexico.

UNESCO declared Calakmul — located in the Calakmul biosphere reserve — a World Heritage Site in 2002. The area that includes the protected biosphere was declared a Mixed Natural and Cultural Property in 2014. The site is located 60 kilometers from Highway 186, through the jungles and much wildlife — notably ocellated turkeys. On our trip from Xpujil, we saw only a few tourists.

Discovered in 1931 by biologist Cyrus Lundell, calakmul is Mayan for “Two Adjacent Mounds,” referring to its two largest structures. Calakmul is thought to have been occupied from 550 B.C., peaked in development during A.D. 250–900 and abandoned around A.D. 1000.

During A.D. 636–695, the city developed an extensive sociopolitical network before being defeated by the rival Maya city, Tikal. The kingdom continued afterward, and subsequent rulers had focused on establishing relationships with other cities like Río Bec in the north.

During its peak, the kingdom controlled an area over 13,000 square kilometers with an estimated population of over 1.5 million. Around 18 rulers have been identified by archaeologists so far.

Calakmul's most significant pyramid, known as Structure II. — Calakmul’s most significant pyramid, known as Structure II.

Researchers have determined that Calakmul was a pilgrimage site during A.D. 1000–1500 due to the offerings discovered inside buildings.

The archaeological zone extends over 70 square kilometers with more than 6,000 structures, but only a portion is open to the public. The site has around 120 stelae, carved or inscribed stone slabs or pillars used for commemorative purposes, the greatest of any Maya site.

There are several reservoirs in the area built by the ancient Mayas to collect rainwater; the largest measures around 242 by 212 meters. There are also useful notices with historic information at the site from the Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Anthropology and History. You can climb most of the buildings.

The display area at the entrance has replicas of art and sculpture, including a model of the large frieze from the main pyramid.

We entered the Great Plaza from the north, by a stela from around A.D. 721, and a small pyramid with a possible astronomical purpose. The stela’s visible text is said to depict an ancient name of Calakmul, Uxte ‘Tuun, meaning “Three Stones,” as well as a reference to the most powerful rulers.

The plaza, measuring 250 by 150 meters with six structures around it, is the center of Calakmul, where ceremonies and political events took place. Archaeologists have identified this section as having the oldest and longest-running occupation. It was continuously occupied until A.D. 1000. Most buildings here have held tombs of rulers and elites.

You can climb most of the structures here, but prepare for the journey to be a bit steep.

South of the plaza is Calakmul’s most significant pyramid, the spectacular Structure II, measuring around 55 meters in height, on a 140-meter square base. There are four buildings on top of the main structure. To the north are the palace buildings, and to the rear is a temple. It is the highest point of the pyramid and not visible from the ground.

Some notable findings from the Structure II pyramid are nine tombs, including that of King Jaguar Claw, who ruled during A.D. 686–695; a frieze depicting different characters and large stucco masks. The pyramid is thought to represent the mythical sacred mountain Witz, whose interior was believed to have access to the underworld.

There are several stelae on the base of the pyramid. One dates back to A.D. 431, the time of the earliest known ruler. The most prominent stela on the pyramid, from A.D. 692, is thought to represent Jaguar Claw’s wife or mother performing a ritual. There are remains of large masks on either side of the main stairways.

Over time, this complex had been used for a variety of purposes: a residence for the rulers, elites, and their workers; a burial site and a location for political, ceremonial, and religious activities. The views from the top of the Structure II pyramid across the biosphere are breathtaking, and you can visualize the great kingdom from here.

North of the Great Plaza is a temple pyramid measuring around 24 meters in height, facing the Structure II pyramid. There are five stelae in front and room structures on top. An eighth-century tomb with jade masks and other ornaments was discovered here. Another notable discovery was the Mask of Calakmul, now in the Museum of Mayan Architecture in Campeche city.

East and west of the plaza are a set of buildings called the E Group, considered to be astronomical in purpose since solstice and equinox observations can be done there. The stelae on top of one of the buildings are considered possible observation points. Another building, referred to as Structure IV, has three main buildings — the central Structure IV-B and two temples on each side. A stela depicting the birth of Jaguar Claw, now in San Miguel’s Museum in Campeche city, as well as the tomb of a ruler were discovered here. While the tomb was looted, some of its funeral offerings have been recovered.

A bird's-eye view of Calakmul's main pyramid, off in the distance. — A bird’s-eye view of Calakmul’s main pyramid, off in the distance.

Another monument in the plaza worth seeing is a stela from A.D. 721 created by King Yuknoom Tok’ K’awiil, recording a ceremony conducted in A.D. 593 by an ancestral ruler, The Coiled Snake.

The 12-room elite residence building known as Lundell Palace, to the east of the plaza, is also worth seeing. A tomb of a possible ruler was found here.

West of the plaza is the Great Arcópolis, a complex which features residential buildings, temples and a ball court. The tallest building here is a pyramid with a two-layered building on top. The stela on the stairway is said to depict a woman with a ceremonial staff.

In another building in this section, there are the tombs of three elites.

Unfortunately, the Acrópolis has been cordoned off to visitors with the ongoing pandemic, but if the state of Campeche stays green on the coronavirus stoplight map, that might soon change.

The Chii’k Naab’ Acrópolis to the north of the plaza, with its mural paintings discovered depicting scenes from daily life, is also significant. Chii’k Naab’ means “House of the Water Lily,” and the acrópolis here is a quadrangular area with 68 structures.

The site is 60 kilometers from Highway 186, through the jungles and much wildlife, notably ocellated turkeys.

There are other structures to explore, including the Small Acrópolis to the east of the plaza and residential buildings to its north, but a must-see, however, is the Calakmul Museum of Nature and Archaeology, around the 20-kilometer marker on the road to the site. It has information about the kingdom of Calakmul and the region since the time when a meteor hit Earth on the Yucatán Peninsula over 65 million years ago.

Thilini Wijesinhe, a financial professional turned writer and entrepreneur, moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia. She writes from Mérida, Yucatán. Her website can be found at https://momentsing.com/

Scientists make it official and declare Ayoloco glacier dead

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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A group of scientists has erected a plaque that officially acknowledges the “death” of the Ayoloco glacier, an erstwhile ice mass on the Iztaccíhuatl volcano that disappeared in 2018.

Experts from the National Autonomous University (UNAM) faculty of geophysics, ecologists and others trekked to the site of the now nonexistent glacier on Wednesday to install the metal plaque, which reads:

“To the future generations: the Ayoloco glacier existed here, but it retreated until it disappeared in 2018. In the coming decades, Mexican glaciers will inevitably disappear. This plaque is to leave proof that we knew what was happening [climate change] and what needed to be done. Only you will know if we did it.”

Hugo Delgado Granados, one of the scientists who completed the 7-kilometer hike to the glacier site, told the newspaper Milenio that the main consequence of the disappearance of Ayoloco and other glaciers is a reduction in the quantity of water on Earth. Without large ice masses on mountain peaks, he added, temperatures will increase.

In addition to being ecologically and environmentally important, the Ayoloco glacier has inspired a range of artists. It was extensively photographed, filmed and depicted in artworks, and inspired many Mexican writers.

The message left at the site, said UNAM faculty member Ana Pérez, tells of the “shame we feel” for not addressing climate change.

“For sports people, volcanoes are one thing, for the people who dedicate themselves to literature, they are something else and for geologists, they are another thing,” said Ana Elsa Pérez Martínez, director of literature at UNAM’s culture dissemination department.

Pérez, who also completed the hike, said the plaque acknowledging the disappearance of Ayoloco is not one of honor but rather of dishonor. It’s a sign of the “shame we feel” as a result of the inadequate response to the climate emergency, she said.

Delgado, a geologist, vulcanologist and keen mountain climber, said that Ayoloco was one of Mexico’s most emblematic glaciers, explaining that it was visible from the Valley of México, which includes Mexico City.

“This loss will have a definitive impact on … water, flora and fauna, since it is on these peaks where the liquid originates,” he said.

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)

On Earth Day, let’s rejoice in the immensity of the feminine

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Omar Vidal

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April 22, 2021

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A baby leatherback sea turtle. Luis Díaz Gambóa

Today, on International Mother Earth Day, it is fitting and just to honor the strength of the feminine.

It is not a celebration that refers specifically to women — neither as mothers, partners, daughters nor sisters. I illustrate it as a tribute to the complementary powers that manifest themselves, often epicene, sometimes opposing one another, within the feminine and masculine of the animal kingdom.

What drives a leatherback sea turtle that feeds in Japan to swim 11,000 kilometers across the Pacific to lay her eggs on the same beach where she was born decades before on the Mexican coast of Michoacán, Guerrero or Oaxaca?

What kind of invisible force does a pregnant gray whale respond to by swimming 8,000 kilometers for five months, day and night, without stopping or eating, from the Arctic to the coastal lagoons of the Baja California peninsula to give birth?

What drove the famous whale shark, Rio Lady, probably pregnant, to depart Isla Mujeres in the Mexican Caribbean to navigate 8,000 kilometers across the Atlantic to Africa, by way of the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, a thousand kilometers off the coast of Brazil?

Grey whale and her calf. — Gray whale and her calf. Sergio Martínez-PRIMMA-UABCS

And why does a monarch butterfly, weighing just half a gram, fly 3,000 kilometers from Canada and the United States to reach the oyamel, pine-oak forests of central Mexico, where she mates to ensure the survival of her species?

The truth is, we don’t actually know. Certainly, these are manifestations that have been nurtured over millions of years and form part of the intricate evolutionary-ecological web of life. Perhaps they are ancestral expressions of archetypical appeals that affirm the feminine, the yearnings of a deep, shared animal subconscious.

Whatever the case, today let us not miss the opportunity to rejoice in the natural world and the vital force of the feminine essence — one that, in the broad sense, is found within the chromosomes of all human beings and surely also in the cosmos.

In that context, let us go back to the insects, to those millions of species of bugs whose ascendancy has given them jurisdiction over our planet’s terrestrial world for over 400 million years, those ever-present arthropods equipped with two antennae, three pairs of legs, two pairs of wings.

On this Earth Day, let us think about the 380,000 species of beetles, over 20,000 species of bees, 135,000 species of flies and mosquitoes, and 120,000 species of butterflies and moths. Why? Because without them, Earth, us, would not be what we now are. Without the work of insects, especially the pollinators, humans would be in dire straits.

My favorite insect, by far, is the monarch butterfly because it embodies the essence, the reach, of the feminine. No wonder that the Greek word psyche refers to the soul of a woman, or to a butterfly!

The monarch: that indefatigable traveler that performs the second-longest migration of all insects — the first being the globe skimmer, Pantala flavescens, a transoceanic dragonfly that travels 14,000 kilometers between India and East Africa. The monarch: a migrant without a visa, the butterfly that travels the skies of three countries to unite them as an indivisible landscape.

Because of its genetic assemblage, the monarch knows when to depart from Canada, how to maneuver the inhospitable heartland of the United States and when to arrive at its Shangri-la on top of the mountains of the states of Michoacán and México. Its journey is a natural wonder that is today threatened by the glyphosates that destroy its habitat in the United States, by the illegal logging in its hibernation forests in Mexico and by climate change.

If we allow the monarch, and other insect species for that matter, to be taken from us, it is not just a butterfly or a magnificent migration that we will have lost. We also lose the enormous environmental services associated with the pollination of wild plants and humankind’s crops. We would lose the ancestral stories and folklore that bond the three countries. We would lose the superstar ambassador of the feminine element of being.

On Earth Day, as a tribute to the feminine component in all of us, let us pause for a moment to think about the metamorphosis of each of those 400 little yellow eggs of 0.46 milligrams each that a monarch lays — the eggs that after just two weeks turn into caterpillars 3,000 times larger than the egg.

Let us rejoice in the chrysalises, the butterflies, their daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters and the great-great-granddaughters; the latter are precisely the ones that have flown back to Mexico every winter since primeval times.

I finish these thoughts on a personal note. One winter, 15 years ago, my daughter, Pía (at the time, just 4 years old) and I walked, hand in hand, at 3,000 meters above sea level among oyamel and oak forests at El Rosario, a community monarch butterfly sanctuary in the state of Michoacán.

Monarch butterflies. Eduardo Rendon WWF Mexico

We will never forget that deafening stream of lepidopterans that mowed us down, those fast-flying “flutterbys” that descended to gulp the droplets left by the morning mist. With our eyes closed and curling up, we hugged each other, waiting until the orange-and-black winged Danaus plexippus crowd chose to dissipate.

Now I wonder if they were perhaps the descendants of the yellow butterflies that always accompanied the appearances of Mauricio Babilonia, that magic character of Gabriel García Márquez´s One Hundred Years of Solitude.

I am wholeheartedly convinced that the survival of all species, and of Planet Earth, rests on the vitality and generosity of the feminine.

These lines, I have written for Pía.

Omar Vidal, a scientist, was a university professor in Mexico, is a former senior officer at the UN Environment Program, and former director-general of the World Wildlife Fund Mexico.

Pedestrian overpass collapses after being hit by truck

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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The scene of Thursday's accident in San Luis Potosí.

A pedestrian overpass crushed two trucks Thursday morning after it collapsed onto the Querétaro-San Luís Potosí highway, 39 kilometers from San Luís Potosí city.

A truck hit the overpass causing the collapse and as it fell it struck and trapped the truck as well as another which was passing.

No serious injuries or fatalities have been reported.

The accident happened at kilometer 164+400, near the community of Enramadas in the municipality of Santa María del Río, San Luís Potosí.

At around 3 p.m. the National Guard announced that limited through traffic had been reestablished in both directions on the highway.

Source: Milenio (sp)

What was Mexico’s second largest lake now a cemetery of abandoned fishboats

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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Dried up bed of Lake Cuitzeo, Michoacán.

Drought has dried up what was Mexico’s second-biggest lake, destroying a once thriving fishing economy in Michoacán.

At Lake Cuitzeo, 30 kilometers from the state capital Morelia, fishboats now lie on the lake’s dry bed, which has become a shortcut for motorists.

The dearth of water also creates frequent and prolonged dust clouds which reach municipalities 20 kilometers away in Guanajuato. That affects the health of residents in nearby communities, causing allergies, respiratory illnesses and gastrointestinal complications from the bacteria they transport, according to the State Health Ministry.

The more than 300-square-kilometer lakebed is located in the Michoacán municipalities of Huandacareo, Chucándiro, Copándaro, Álvaro Obregón and Zinapécuaro.

Julieta Gallardo Mora, honorary president of a foundation committed to conserving the lake, says its deterioration started in 1941, and authorities have made no effort to stop it.

“The first blow was when the Cointzio dam was built in 1941, which meant that two-thirds of Lake Cuitzeo was removed,” she said.

Gallardo added that the first noticeable impact was the disappearance of fish, starting with the chirostoma, which is native to the lakes of Jalisco and Michoacán, followed by white fish and other water life.

“Cuitzeo should have 800 million cubic meters of water, but today it doesn’t even have 200. That’s the scale of the problem,” she said.

According to government estimates, the fishing yields just 5% of what it used to in the 1990s and of the 19 species of fish documented in 1975, only six remain.

State Environment Secretary Ricard Luna said deforestation and the building of two highways 30 years ago, which split the lake into three parts, have contributed to its demise.

A researcher at the Michoacan University of Saint Nicholas of Hidalgo (UMSNH), Alberto Gómez-Tagle, identified water demand in the state capital Morelia and waste from pig farms and industrial waste from factories, which are dumped into the lake, as other factors.

Huandacareo Mayor Celedonia Guzmán Herrera said that although mayors from the region have presented projects to rescue the lake, federal authorities have not intervened, and deterioration of the fishing industry had caused a surge in migration to the United States.

She insists that municipal authorities do not have the resources to restore the lake, and called on the Ministry of Environment and the National Water Commission to initiate a plan that municipal authorities have presented to them.

Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles said the lake’s rescue should be tackled jointly by federal and state authorities and the 15 municipalities which surround the lake.

He warned that to clean up the wastewater that reaches it would require at least 3 billion pesos (US $150 million), which he said can only be provided by the federal government.

Academics from UMSNH, fishermen and activists have created a petition on change.org calling for the government to rescue the lake and restore its economic activity. The petition had gathered almost 28,000 signatures by Thursday.

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)

Environmental commission asks CFE to reduce fuel oil use to ease air pollution

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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Due to high levels of contamination in Mexico City and surrounding areas, the Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis (CAMe) asked the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to reduce the use of fuel oil at its power plant in Tula, Hidalgo.

The commission requested Thursday that the CFE cut by 30% its use of fuel oil, a highly contaminating energy source.

CAMe also asked Pemex to reduce activities at its oil refinery in Tula due to the high levels of pollution in the Valley of Mexico, which triggered the first atmospheric emergency alert of 2021.

A lack of rain and wind has created favorable conditions for the accumulation of pollution in the metropolitan area.

The quality of air at a testing station in Tultitlán, a México state municipality that is part of that area, was deemed to be extremely poor on Wednesday night due to the high levels of ozone and small particles.

Horacio Riojas, a researcher at the National Institute of Public Health, warned that the contamination can trigger flare-ups of respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

CAMe ordered that the circulation of many vehicles be suspended between 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Thursday in the Valley of Mexico due to the air pollution. It also advised people not to exercise or carry out vigorous activities from 1:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.

In addition, CAMe advised citizens to continue to work from home to reduce traffic, to avoid the use of aerosols and to reduce the use of fuels such as gas at home.

According to Mexico City authorities, the quality of air in Mexico City and the broader metropolitan area ranged from acceptable to bad at 11:00 a.m. Thursday. Air pollution posed a moderate-to-high risk to health, they said.

Source: Reforma (sp), Animal Político (sp)

Sonora search brigade locates hidden grave/crematorium

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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Smoke rises from the pit in which bodies had been deposited.

A still burning clandestine grave containing human remains was found by a citizens’ search brigade on Wednesday in Guaymas, Sonora.

The Madres Buscadoras, or Searching Mothers of Sonora, is a group of around 200 people that have taken up the search for the missing victims of drug cartels in the absence of official efforts. They revealed the find at a makeshift garbage dump the community of San José through a live transmission on Facebook.

A dozen graves and more than 30 bodies have been found in the area since 2018.

In the transmission, members of the group showed the improvised crematorium where smoke was rising. They believe that the pit, more than one meter deep, was built by a criminal organization to dispose of its victims.

The group’s founder, Cecilia Flores Armenta, told media at the scene that the search party was guided there by the smell of “burning fat.”

An estimated 85,006 people have disappeared since 2006, according to the federal government. Seventy-six percent of cases are concentrated in Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nuevo León, Sonora, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

From 2018 to March 2021, 1,606 clandestine graves with 2,736 bodies were found; 38% of the bodies were identified and 23% returned to the relatives of the victims.

Source: Sin Embargo (sp)

Vatican envoy’s trip to Aguililla a pointed message to Mexico’s bishops

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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The Vatican's nuncio to Mexico Franco Coppola.

The Vatican’s envoy to Mexico has chastised the country’s bishops for being estranged from the faithful, according to a religion expert.

In an interview with the newspaper Milenio, Elio Masferrer said that Archbishop Franco Coppola, apostolic nuncio to Mexico, “read the riot act” to bishops at a recent meeting of Catholic Church leaders.

Coppola told them that their administration of the church has become a disaster, Masferrer said. The papal nuncio gave the bishops “a pull on their ears,” telling them that it’s not their job to be “comfortably seated” in their offices, he said.

Masferrer also said that Coppola has openly told Mexican bishops that they do nothing for the Catholic community. He recalled that Pope Francis also criticized Mexican bishops for being more concerned with worldly matters than their diocesan communities.

Masferrer said that Catholic Church in Mexico needs to commit itself more to the nation’s millions of believers and those who suffer the most. He advised church leaders to follow in the footsteps of Salvador Rangel, bishop of the Chilapa-Chilpancingo diocese in Guerrero, who is well known for facilitating dialogue and seeking truces between feuding narcos.

The aftermath of a Cartel Jalisco New Generation assault on the Aguililla municipal seat on March 31. — The aftermath of a Jalisco New Generation Cartel assault on the Aguililla municipal seat on March 31.

“If Christ died on the cross for going into Jerusalem to speak with his disciples, the bishops have to follow that model,” Masferrer said.

Coppola, an Italian who has been nuncio to Mexico since 2016, will practice what he preaches when he travels to the violence-stricken municipality of Aguililla, Michoacán, to celebrate Mass.

He will travel to Apatzingán on Thursday at the invitation of Apatzingán Bishop Cristóbal Ascencio García.

According to a statement issued by the diocese, Coppola will travel the 84 kilometers from Apatzingán to Aguililla by land without private security on Friday so that he can offer blessings to the people and communities along the way, including El Aguaje, where state police were attacked by drones on Tuesday.

Michoacán police reopened the Apatzingán-Aguililla highway earlier this week after it was affected for months by blockades set up by criminal groups.

Coppola is scheduled to meet with Aguililla families affected by violence on Friday morning before officiating at a Mass at a local school. Later in the day, he will attend a lunch in his honor offered by the Aguililla community.

In short, he will have plenty of opportunities to get up close and personal with the locals and thus set a powerful example to the bishops he criticized for being too distanced from their parishioners.

Source: Milenio (sp)

US travel advisory a setback to recovery of tourism: Foreign Affairs

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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The international arrivals gate at Mexico City airport.

The Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over the U.S. government’s recommendation to its citizens to avoid travel to Mexico.

In a statement released Wednesday night the ministry warned of a “bilateral impact on the reactivation of tourism and connectivity with the North American region.”

Citing Covid-19 and crime in a handful of states, the U.S. State Department raised its travel advisory to level 4 on Tuesday, or “Do not travel.” At least 115 other countries have been increased to level 4 status this week.

In 2019 over 173 million tourists traveled between Mexico and the United States, 81 million of whom were Mexican. In that year Mexican tourists spent more than US $8 billion in the United States, while U.S. travelers spent close to $27 billion visiting their southern neighbor. A combined 775,249 airline flights crossed the border.

“With the U.S.A. we are united by a complex common border and a diversity of natural markets which together with Canada form one of the biggest supply chains in the world,” the statement read. “Restricting productive travel for business and tourism by inhibiting the flow of travelers between the two countries represents a loss for the two economies, in the interior, along the border and in the cruise market,” it continued.

The Foreign Ministry pointed to the success of Mexico’s vaccination efforts. “Faced with the pandemic, Mexico has promoted universal inoculation and international cooperation in access to vaccines. Proof of this is in the biosafety and vaccination measures, which have placed it among the 15 countries with the highest application of vaccines against Covid-19, building international confidence and certainty.”

The latest U.S. travel advisory on Mexico reads, “Do not travel to Mexico due to Covid-19. Exercise increased caution in Mexico due to crime and kidnapping. Some areas have increased risk … The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a level 4 travel health notice for Mexico due to Covid-19, indicating a very high level of Covid-19 in the country.”

The advisory warns specifically against travel to Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán and Sinaloa due to crime and to Tamaulipas due to crime and kidnapping.

Other countries raised to level 4 travel advisory by the U.S. State Department this week include the UK, Canada, France, Israel and Germany.

Additional advice for people traveling to Mexico and specific information about the security situation in each of the 32 states can be found on the State Department website.

Source: El Universal (sp), Reuters (en)

Environmentalists say López Obrador’s climate proposal is throwback to the past

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MND Staff

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April 22, 2021

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President López Obrador and El Salvador President Nayib Bukele in 2019 celebrating expanding the Sembrando Vida program to address Central American migration.

Proposals that President López Obrador presented Thursday at this week’s Leaders Summit on Climate are not serious, based on ideology more than reality, and hark back to decades past, according to three environmentalists.

On top of that, a senior U.S. official on Wednesday rejected the notion that immigration reform could be tied to a reforestation plan in Central America.

Speaking at the two-day summit being hosted virtually by United States President Joe Biden, López Obrador said on Thursday that Mexico will discontinue exporting crude oil and use its reserves to meet domestic demand for fuel. In addition, he indicated that hydroelectric plants are being upgraded to reduce the use of fuel oil or coal in electricity production.

But the central message of the president’s remarks to the summit was an invitation to President Biden to support the expansion of Mexico’s Sembrando Vida program (Sowing Life) in southeastern Mexico and Central America by planting 3 billion trees and creating 1.2 million jobs.

“We will cover our financial responsibility and commit ourselves to help with the productive and social organization, and you, President Biden, could finance the Sowing Life program in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.”

López Obrador offered “a complementary proposal” in which participants could apply for a temporary work visa from the U.S. once they had spent three years planting trees. After another three or four years they could obtain residency in the U.S. or dual citizenships, he suggested.

“Migration, as we all know, is not resolved with coercive measures, but rather with justice and well-being. In addition, you, President Biden, are a sensitive man and you know that the migrant’s desire to work and get ahead is key to the development of nations. Great nations have been made with migrants, with these exceptional beings. It’s a matter of organizing the flow of migrants and channeling them humanely and with practical judgment,” López Obrador said.

The president announced on Sunday his intention to propose the immigration-tree planting scheme and ask Biden for the U.S. to legally and financially support the expansion of Mexico’s tree-planting employment program.

For environmentalists in Mexico, the climate change aspects of the president’s proposals are old and outdated.

In an interview with the newspaper Reforma, the research coordinator at the Mexican Center for Environmental Law said the proposal to increase energy generation with hydroelectric plants dates back to the 1960s.

“It was in the ’70s when the development model was focused on the fossil fuels sector,” Anaid Velasco added. “That’s why I believe that with these proposals, we’re going back to the beginning.”

Velasco asserted that the federal government has abandoned plans to support a transition to clean, renewable energy in Mexico.

Indeed, the government has legislated to make it more difficult for private, renewable companies to operate in the Mexican energy market.

Daniel Chacón, director of energy at the Mexico Climate Initiative, told Reforma that López Obrador’s proposals are not serious.

Even when there is no drought — more than 70% of the country is currently in drought — hydroelectric plants generate no more than 17% of the energy Mexico needs, he said. Chacón also said that hydroelectric plants can cause problems such as flooding and water shortages.

The worst aspect of the proposals, he added, is that the president believes that future generations will need to continue using oil. That view is at odds with the global push to phase out the use of fossil fuels, Chacón said.

Last May, a NASA report on its satellite monitoring revealed that five Pemex refineries were among the world’s top polluters for sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions.

The environmentalist said that Mexico is currently only refining 584,000 barrels of oil per day but is generating 200,000 barrels per day of fuel oil (obtained during the refining process), which has been used by the Federal Electricity Commission to generate electricity despite the high levels of contamination it causes.

“What’s going to happen when we refine 2 million barrels per day? There will be 600,000 barrels of fuel oil per day, but they banned fuel oil as fuel for ships, so I believe that they’re planning to burn it in the thermal power stations as was done in the past,” Chacón said.

“They’re advising the president poorly. … They’re making decisions based more on ideological or political points of view than on reality,” he said.

Sergio Rivera, director of the environmental organization Calixaxan, said the proposal to extend the tree-planting scheme to Central America cannot be taken seriously.

He warned that the program won’t help to contain migration, as López Obrador claims it will, and questioned its reforestation credentials. Sembrando Vida has in fact been accused of encouraging deforestation.

“They’re paying 5,000 pesos [US $250] a month to farmers who are only looking for money; that’s their only interest, and the proof is that they’ve deforested plots of land [to qualify],” Rivera said.

According to Reforma, the United States is not interested in López Obrador’s proposal to extend Sembrando Vida to Central America.

Reforma quoted an unnamed high-ranking United States official as saying that the U.S. won’t consider migration reform and climate change as a joint issue.

“This is not a conversation about migration but rather a conversation about climate change,” the official told international journalists at a briefing on the agenda for the Leaders Summit on Climate.

“We’re not focused on the interaction of issues. For us, the climate agenda must be considered by itself, on its own merits.”

Source: Reforma (sp)