120-year-old’s key to longevity: eat lots of enchiladas

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February 22, 2021

Doña María Antonia remembers hearing the shooting during the Revolution.

Doña María Antonia doesn’t remember all the events that she has lived through in her 120 years on Earth, but she does remember vividly the day she married her husband, the day they built the first school in her small Veracruz town, and constantly hearing shootouts between fighters during the Mexican Revolution.

Born on June 13, 1900, the grandmother of 44 and great-grandmother to 130 became a celebrity when the Ministry of Well-Being recently shared photos showing her living through another memorable life moment: receiving her Covid-19 vaccination.

“I am well. I feel good,” she said from her home in Platón Sánchez. “The only thing that bothered me a bit is when they gave me the vaccine, but … now that I’ve received the vaccine, I’m content. But then I’m always in good spirts,” she said in a Náhuatl dialect that her relatives had to translate for the Milenio newspaper reporter who interviewed her.

She understands Spanish, but does not speak it, her family said.

She also doesn’t really get all the fuss over her, she said.

The centenarian and a great-granddaughter. — The supercentenarian and a great-granddaughter.

Sitting on an easy chair, she told a reporter about growing up in a farming family and making crafts. She also talked about the hardships in her life: her parents died early during an epidemic. She also remembers vividly when she lost her 3-month-old child not long after she had lost her husband.

Asked about her memories of the Revolution, which she lived through as a young child, Maria Antonia said she mainly remembers everyone being terrified of encountering any of the soldiers they heard engaged in warfare off in the distance.

Her parents would take the entire family to hide in the hills at night.

“We heard the shootouts, and we always were worried that at any moment they would come across us,” she said. “Most everyone was afraid, and we all hurried to finish our work so that we could eat early and leave for the hills. Our parents gave my siblings and me tortillas, but they were tortillas made from tree seeds, not corn.”

However, despite some of the tough times she’s gone through, she maintains a sunny disposition, she said. On her 120th birthday, she danced with her grandchildren.

Asked about her secrets to longevity, one of her grandchildren told Milenio that Maria Antonia eats very healthily, “no junk food or soda.”

The supercentenarian herself, however, had clarifications to add:

“I like to eat everything,” she said. “And I eat a lot of enchiladas. I like them.”

Source: Milenio (sp)

Mexico proceeds with plan to replace 16mn tonnes of GM corn with homegrown variety

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MND Staff

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February 22, 2021

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Almost all yellow corn imported is genetically modified.

The federal government will go ahead with its plan to stop importing genetically modified (GM) corn and replace it with homegrown maize, according to Deputy Agriculture Minister Víctor Suárez.

The official also told the news agency Reuters that the government is sticking to its plan to ban glyphosate, a controversial herbicide.

The government announced by executive order on the final day of 2020 that it aims to replace approximately 16 million tonnes of yellow corn imports – most of which comes from the United States and almost all of which is GM corn – with new, local production by 2024, the final year of the current administration’s six-year term.

The imports account for more than a third of Mexican demand for corn, and are mostly used as livestock fodder. Replacing the imports by 2024 with homegrown corn would require an almost 60% increase over current domestic production levels.

Suárez, an agronomist, long-term ally of President López Obrador and a key architect of the executive order, told Reuters that GM corn and glyphosate, the active ingredient in the Monsanto herbicide Roundup, are too dangerous to be permitted long term in Mexico. He said that Mexican agricultural production and sustainable “agro-ecological” practices must take priority.

victor suarez — Suárez: Sustainable “agro-ecological” practices must take priority.

“We are moving in this direction, and this must be clear: no one should think that they can bet that this decree will not be implemented,” Suárez said.

The deputy minister cited studies that have linked glyphosate to cancer and found that it is harmful to bees and other pollinators. He also claimed that GM corn contaminates native strains of the grain that have long been cultivated in Mexico.

Supporters of GM crops, including corn, argue that they have allowed farmers to boost production significantly and that studies have proven that they are not harmful to human health.

But Suárez described GM corn, and glyphosate, as “undesirable and unnecessary,” saying that they are not needed to attain the government’s goal of self-sufficiency in food production.

“We have to put the right to life, the right to health, the right to a healthy environment ahead of economic and business [interests],” he said.

Ending corn imports would be a heavy blow for United States farmers who have come to depend on shipments to Mexico for much of their livelihood. Critics say that the goal to replace imports with local production is completely unrealistic and would force prices up.

Suárez acknowledged that the production goal will be difficult to meet but said there is no current need to change the executive order. However, he did say that the government could adjust the goal at a later date.

“Let’s say we don’t reach the goal of substituting the 16 million tonnes [of imports], and we only reach the substitution of 10 million. Well, we would evaluate that along the way and we could eventually make the necessary adjustment,” Suárez said.

That remark, Reuters reported, provides a “strand of hope to those in the industry hoping moderate voices in the government will prevail.”

Source: Reuters (sp)

My big, fat, Mexican sandwich: tortas tantalize the taste buds

By

Janet Blaser

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February 22, 2021

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A torta’s main job is to keep a person full for hours.

I’m ashamed to say I’d lived in Mexico for quite some time before I had my first torta; my snobby I-don’t-eat-white-bread self wouldn’t allow me to look beyond the outer layer of what turned out to be a delicious, many-faceted meal in a bun.

Since that first time (at Sefe’s in Mazatlán, where the tortas are actually rather tame), I’ve come to love these big, fat, messy sandwiches and realized there’s admirable method to their madness.

Each aspect of a torta’s construction is carefully considered to allow the best flavor and optimal texture of every ingredient, individually and collectively, to shine. Sometimes that kind of culinary expertise comes from schooling; other times it comes from a simple love of eating and lots of experience with a range of common ingredients that, when combined together, tantalize the taste buds and satisfy the tummy.

Tortas are what fuel hard-working construction laborers, schoolkids hungry after an afternoon of classes and employees facing an often 10-hour workday. It’s a carb load and a protein boost, perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The best way to eat any kind of torta is to order it “con todo,” with everything. The basics might be the same — a fluffy white roll spread with butter, margarine, mayo and/or refried beans and then stuffed with meats and with cooked, marinated and/or raw veggies, plus an array of dressings. But wherever you go in Mexico will have its own signature torta style. (Which is a good thing!)

The torta ahogada smothers the entire sandwich in spicy sauce. — The *torta ahogada* smothers the entire sandwich in spicy sauce.

Like tacos, these should be explored and savored while traveling here. Of special note is Guadalajara’s torta ahogada (“drowned torta”), so named because it’s smothered in a spicy red sauce.

Tortas can be hot — served fresh off the griddle or grilled and then wrapped in foil, which steams them into something else altogether — or cold. The soft white bolillo (like a baguette) or telera (a flatter, wider roll) turns into a crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside, mouthwatering wonder once it’s pressed onto the grill.

Next come the meats and cheeses, grilled separately and then quickly added to the roll, followed by veggies, peppers and sauces.

Use the list below as a starter for what to put on your torta — or just head to your neighborhood lonchería or tiendita and buy one.

Milanesa. A pounded-thin, lightly breaded, crispy chicken cutlet
Chorizo. Mexican sausage in the casing or loose and ground
Albóndigas (meatballs)
Camarones. Grilled, sautéed or battered and fried shrimp
Eggs. Hard-boiled, fried or scrambled
Meat. Almost any kind: chicken, cochinita pibil (slow-roasted pork), pork shoulder (pierna), carne asada
Jamón. We’re talking lunch-meat ham
Tocino (bacon)
Cheese. You want a mild melting type: quesillo (Oaxaca cheese), manchego, chihuahua
Grilled: poblano peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, nopales (cactus), even potatoes
Raw: lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, green onion, jalapeños, cilantro, avocado
Pickled: onions, jalapeños (or any other pepper), nopales, tomatoes
A squeeze of fresh lime on top

While tortas are usually named after their main ingredient (i.e., torta de huevo, torta de adobo, torta de jamón), they always include a mélange of other ingredients as well. Provecho!

Tortas are generally made on some kind of thick white bread. — Tortas are always made with rolls.

Basic Torta

Feel free to improvise! Cook the meat yourself or buy something already cooked from a local taco stand or tiendita. Some casual restaurants also sell kilos of grilled meat.

¾ lb. meat, cooked and chopped (See list above. For milanesa, leave whole.)
½ cup mayonnaise
1 onion, sliced
2-4 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 cup shredded cheese (see list above)
1-2 avocados
7 oz. can marinated jalapeños
1 Tbsp. butter, vegetable oil or manteca
Salt
2 bolillos or teleras
Optional: 1½ cups refried beans; foil, parchment or wax paper

Assemble all ingredients before starting to cook. Heat butter/oil/manteca to medium-hot. Add meat, cook and stir 5 minutes to brown. Set aside.

Slice roll in half and generously spread mayonnaise on inside of both halves. Over medium heat, toast the bread on both sides in the same pan you browned the meat in, pressing down with a spatula. Remove from heat. Now work quickly to construct the torta while the meat and bread are hot.

If using refried beans, spread on bottom half of roll. Top with meat, then cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and jalapeños. On top half of the bread, place avocado slices, mushing them into the bread a little. Sprinkle with salt.

Carefully place the top half of the roll onto the torta, then press gently to connect. For an authentic experience, wrap in foil, parchment or wax paper and peel down as you eat.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. A retired journalist, she has lived in Mexico since 2006.

Flautist, 23, is winner of London music scholarship

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MND Staff

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February 22, 2021

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Musician Marcos Nicolás Sosa was recognized for great talent and excellence.

A 23-year-old classical flautist from Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, México state, has won a scholarship to study in London, England, for four weeks over the summer.

Marcos Nicolás Sosa was awarded the annual Anglo Arts City Music Foundation Scholarship, an initiative of the Anglo Mexican Foundation that recognizes young Mexican instrumentalists of great talent and excellence in the performance of classical music and/or jazz.

He will now have the opportunity to study at the City Music Foundation, an institution in the British capital that provides early career music professionals with expert advice, guidance and support.

“I feel very honored, it’s a large responsibility but also a great opportunity,” said Sosa, a graduate of the National Conservatory of Music who has played in several orchestras and teaches flute at his alma mater.

“I’m really eager to learn in a country such as England, one of the most established places in terms of culture, art and history.”

Sosa, who began playing the flute at 8 and taking formal classes at 11, participated in a virtual selection process before being awarded the scholarship, which will also afford him the opportunity to perform at concert venues in London and make recordings of his music.

The son of two accountants, the flautist is the first professional musician in his family. He decided that he wanted to dedicate his life to music at a young age while attending classes at the Ollin Yolitzli music and dance school in Mexico City.

“The path has obviously not been easy, especially this pandemic period,” Sosa told the newspaper Reforma, adding that his desire to excel in his chosen field has only increased as the result of having limited recent opportunities to perform in front of audiences.

He is the third winner of the Anglo Arts City Music Foundation Scholarship after Eusebio Sánchez, a xylophonist, and Abner Jairo Ortiz, a cellist.

Source: Reforma (sp), ADN Cultura (sp)

Healing the US-Mexico border divide calls for ingenuity and some chutzpah

By

Shannon Collins

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February 22, 2021

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The Teeter Totter Wall art project gave people in El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the chance to play together despite the border wall.

For 40 minutes in July 2019, three seesaws in vivid pink broke through the United States-Mexico border wall, bridging communities on either side.

The work — then and later — became a literal manifestation of what unites rather than divides us, the communities we can generate when we dispense with barriers and instead embrace interacting together.

Eighteen months later, in January 2021, the Teeter-Totter Wall was awarded the prestigious Beazley Design of the Year Award by London’s Design Museum.

“The Teeter-Totter Wall encouraged new ways of human connection,” said Tim Marlow, the museum’s director. “It remains an inventive and poignant reminder of how human beings can transcend the forces that seek to divide us.”

The project’s inception came a decade before its physical appearance on a tiny patch of wall between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. The architects behind the innovation, Virginia San Fratello, associate professor of design at San Jose State University, and Ronald Rael, professor of architecture at UC Berkeley, came up with the idea to use play as activism and generate the possibility of joy and togetherness at the border wall after the Secure Fence Act of 2006.

A video about the project that can be found on YouTube is playful, peppered with the laughter of adults and children alike, each taking their turn at bobbing up and down on the bright pink seesaws. It is a contrast to images commonly associated with the border wall during president Trump’s administration, the visual metaphor of a seesaw a stark reminder that the actions on either side of the border do not exist in a vacuum.

An attempted coup and two impeachments notwithstanding, the border wall — and the many other conflicts it engendered — was one of the defining issues of the Trump administration. Indeed, since 2017, the U.S. has spent US $9.7 billion on construction of the border barrier, primarily at the southwest border.

It is important to note that other administrations had a hand in border tensions and certainly set the wheels in motion, fomenting tensions and the enduring humanitarian crisis.

Trump’s attitude toward the border wall, however, was not only literally manifested in its construction and the commissioning of contracts. It also perpetuated an entire separatist ideology that will continue to reverberate for a long time to come — not to mention that this very attitude was a significant part of the platform he won the presidency on in the first place, and thus a large part of the significance of the teeter-totter project for the creators.

Both the project itself, and the announcement of the award, are timely reminders of the ongoing question of the border wall and the efforts of U.S. government administrations to curtail the flow of immigrants from the south.

Tens of thousands of migrants a year attempt to make the northern passage between countries in Central and South America and the United States, fleeing poverty, persecution and crime in their home countries, as well as the sweeping negative effects of natural disasters and climate change. The journey is a treacherous one, made significantly more dangerous by the risks of being attacked or enlisted by gangs smuggling drugs and other goods across the border.

The Mexico-U.S. border itself is, like most borders, a fairly arbitrary line in the sand. Territory on either side has been transferred between nations, most frequently in favor of the United States. However, while the boundary may be symbolic, the violence and crime there are definitively not.

Recently in Guatemala, security forces broke up a caravan of about 4,000 — mostly Honduran — migrants who had been camped out near the village of Vado Hondo. The police arrived with shields and tear gas to disperse them. Then, just a week after the Teeter-Totter Wall won the Beazley award, 19 bodies were found in a burned van farther along the border in the state of Tamaulipas. The incident is reminiscent of the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants who refused to work for cartels on the border and is a stark reminder that the transient communities surrounding the border wall are spaces of conflict.

There is burgeoning hope, however, for the reparation of relations between Mexico and the United States now that President López Obrador and the newly inaugurated President Biden have agreed to work together toward ending the “draconian” policies put in place by the Trump administration.

“It’s a question of drawing a very hard line in the sand about what one thing is and what another thing is, but those lines are complete abstractions,” Rael says. “Really, people and animals and water flow across these boundaries, so we just wanted to see if we could change the way this space is occupied for a moment.”

Too often, border walls merely serve as symbols of hitherto unsolved problems rather than as solutions. It is no surprise, then, that the wall has served so often in the recent past as an opportunity for communities, artists and activists to present utopian aspirations of what might be if we recognize our neighbors’ faces in our own.

For 40 minutes on one July pre-pandemic day not that long ago, pink seesaws subverted hegemony and more traditional symbols of the border, showing us how, with a little imagination and innovation, with a sprinkle of love and daring, with a dash of chutzpah, it is possible for us to imagine new and braver worlds into existence.

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

Electricity commission thanks workers for their efforts—with fake photos

By

MND Staff

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February 22, 2021

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One of the photos that accompanied a thank-you message to CFE workers.

The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has bungled an attempt to thank its employees for restoring power after a major outage last week by publishing a Facebook post that included photos of workers who are not employed by the state-owned company.

The utility published six photos to its official Facebook page on Saturday as part of a post to acknowledge the work of the “heroes” who restored power last week amid freezing conditions in the north of the country.

One of the images used, that of a man kitted out in a frost-covered uniform, was lifted from a Facebook post made by United States electricity company Evergy.

Two photographs showing workers repairing electricity lines as heavy snow fell previously appeared on the image sharing website Pinterest, the digital news outlet López-Dóriga Digital determined, while another similar image was taken from an advertisement for heavy-duty gloves.

The CFE erased its post after it was heavily criticized on social media and acknowledged later on Saturday that there had been an “error” in its selection of photos.

A photo used by the CFE was taken from a post by a US energy firm. — Photo used by the CFE that was taken from a post by a US energy firm.

In a new Facebook post, which featured four photos including an image of a worker standing in front of icicles at a CFE plant, the utility said that while it accepted it made a mistake it wouldn’t allow the “great effort” of its employees to go unrecognized.

CFE chief Manuel Bartlett and President López Obrador have both praised workers for reestablishing electricity supply after some 4.7 million people were left in the dark last Monday when an interruption to the natural gas supply due to freezing weather in the United States caused a blackout.

Bartlett said last Thursday that workers averted a “total disaster” in quickly reestablishing electricity generation, an achievement he described as a “a great feat.”

The posting of the fake images was the second example this year of the utility’s capacity for playing fast and loose with the truth. In December, the commission forged a document it used to back up its claim that a wildfire in Tamaulipas contributed to as massive power outage.

The CFE later admitted to the forgery but Bartlett dismissed the issue as a minor one.

Source: López-Dóriga Digital (sp)

Logistics firm to invest nearly 2 billion pesos this year

By

Rebecca Martin

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February 22, 2021

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estafeta aircraft — A new aircraft would increase the company's fleet to six.

The courier and logistics company Estafeta will invest 1.95 billion pesos (US $93.94 million) in Mexico this year as e-commerce continues to grow.

The company will create a new hub in Mexico City and install smaller operating centers at key points in other major cities. The expansion of the network will increase the number of service points and delivery lockers for shipments of online orders.

Estafeta CEO Ingo Babrikowski explained that the company is also contemplating the acquisition of a new airplane, which would increase its fleet to six.

The new hub in Mexico City, which is due to begin operations in April 2022, will cover 10,800 square meters and in its first phase will process 18,000 items per hour, with an ultimate capacity of 50,000 per hour.

In 2020 Estafeta saw a major increase in online shopping deliveries, which led to increasing operational capacity by 50%. It hired 4,000 workers and plans to create 1,300 new jobs in 2021.

Asked whether Estafeta would participate in the delivery of vaccines in Mexico, Babrikowski explained that each vaccine has specific transportation requirements so the company is analyzing whether it can adapt its services to meet them.

“Transporting vaccines is a serious health and logistical issue as the requirements for each vaccine are different. Before making any proposal, we need to review the specifications of each product in order to help with any transportation for the government and the health sector,” said Babrikowski.

Source: Forbes (sp)

Searchers find large, hidden gravesite in Celaya, Guanajuato

By

Michelle Aguilar

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February 22, 2021

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Officials at the site of a mass grave in Salvatierra in November.

Collectives dedicated to searching for missing family members have found a large clandestine gravesite containing at least 80 bodies in Celaya, Guanajuato.

While the number of bodies in the gravesite in the Celaya community of Sauz de Villaseñor is yet to be confirmed, a spokeswoman for one of the collectives said they believed there could be even more murder victims than those in the nearby city of Salvatierra, where the remains of 79 people were found in October.

“It’s plagued with graves,” said the spokeswoman, who only identified herself as Bibiana. “We are beginning to verify the area, and there was one grave after the other and after the other.”

An anonymous call led them to the site, members said. According to the newspaper Reforma, the graves mainly contained bones, not decomposing bodies, suggesting they had been there for some time.

Bibiana, whose brother went missing in 2010, accused Guanajuato’s state and local authorities of being uncooperative, hostile, and incompetent in assisting them with processing the site once they reported it on Saturday.

Municipal police, she said, threatened them with arrest at one point while authorities from the Attorney General’s Office came and took away only some remains from the site, leaving others behind and exposed to the elements.

They exhumed the remains in a way that made them “totally inadmissible [as evidence],” she said.

The family members returned at 8 a.m. on Sunday, this time accompanied by officials with the state search commission, at which time they found even more remains.

“They called attorney general officials but they refused to come,” Bibiana said.

According to Reforma, officials arrived at 5 p.m. that day.

“I think that in Guanajuato it’s about time that the governor created a forensic investigation institute that is connected with the Attorney General’s Office,” Bibiana said.

The group planned to return to the site Monday morning to continue searching.

Source: Reforma (sp), Sin Embargo (sp)

More restrictions eased in Mexico City as hospital occupancy drops

By

MND Staff

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February 22, 2021

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Commercial art galleries and libraries may reopen but by appointment only.

Coronavirus restrictions in Mexico City were eased slightly on Monday although the capital remains orange light high risk on the federal government stoplight map.

Libraries, commercial art galleries and historical archives are now allowed to open but are required to operate under an appointment system.

For the first time in more than two months, restaurants may now seat diners in indoor spaces, albeit only at 20% of normal capacity. However, restaurants are only permitted to open up indoor dining spaces if they have run out of room in open air areas, where a 40% capacity limit applies.

Mexico City on Monday begins its second week at the high risk level after remaining at red light maximum risk for eight weeks between mid-December and mid-February. Outdoor theatrical productions were permitted to resume last week and gyms, public swimming pools and places of worship were allowed to reopen. Restaurants were permitted to reopen to in-house diners at the tail end of the eight-week red light period but only in outdoor areas.

The capital has recorded far more coronavirus cases and Covid-19 deaths than any other state but hospital occupancy levels have recently trended downwards.

Restaurants may open indoor seating for the first time in two months. — Restaurants may offer indoor seating for the first time in two months.

As of Sunday night, 56% of beds set aside for coronavirus patients in Mexico City hospitals were occupied, according to city government data. The occupancy rate peaked at about 90% last month, although many hospitals in the capital reached full capacity.

Mexico City has recorded 539,990 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 33,901 Covid-19 deaths.

The national accumulated case tally rose to 2.04 million on Sunday with 3,104 new cases reported while the official death toll increased to 180,107 with 310 additional fatalities.

In other Covid news:

• Vaccination of seniors with China’s two-shot Sinovac vaccine began Monday in Ecatepec, México state. A shipment of 200,000 doses of the vaccine, which has been shown to be about 50% effective, arrived in Mexico City on Saturday. All of the doses will be administered in Ecatepec, a sprawling, densely populated municipality that borders Mexico City.

As of Sunday night, almost 1.7 million doses of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines had been administered in Mexico, mainly to frontline health workers and seniors.

• Four of the five municipalities in Baja California Sur shifted Monday from maximum risk to high on the state’s coronavirus risk measurement system. Health officials announced that La Paz, Comondú, Loreto and Mulegé would advance to level 4 from level 5 after a downward trend in key Covid risk indicators in the past few weeks.

Los Cabos remains at level 4.

• Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, who has led the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and appeared at the Health Ministry’s press conferences on a near daily basis for almost a year, announced Saturday that he had tested positive for Covid-19.

“I developed symptoms last night, fortunately they’re mild,” he said on Twitter. “The antigen test came back positive and I’m waiting for the PCR test result. I’ll be working from home, attentive to the vaccination strategy.”

Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval also tested positive for Covid-19 last week. President López Obrador recovered from his Covid-19 illness earlier this month.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Alert over natural gas shortage lifted after Texas cancels export ban

By

MND Staff

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February 22, 2021

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gas pipeline — The gas is flowing southward after export ban lifted.

The National Gas Control Center (Cenagas) has ended its “critical alert” for the national gas system after Texas lifted its temporary ban on natural gas exports earlier than expected.

Cenagas declared on Saturday an end to the alert, which was issued last Tuesday due to the limited amount of natural gas being sent to Mexico from the United States amid an extreme cold snap in Texas.

The termination came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted the ban on shipping natural gas out of the Lone Star state on Friday. Announced last Wednesday, the suspension was to remain in place until Sunday.

Cenagas said Saturday that the risk to the operation of the national gas system had ended and that restrictions on consumption had been lifted.

The Mexican Natural Gas Association said that gas supply was normalizing but called on industrial, commercial and residential users of the fuel to continue limiting their consumption to help stabilize the distribution system.

Last week’s supply interruption, which the federal government attributed to the freezing of pipes in Texas, caused a blackout last Monday that affected some 4.7 million people in northern Mexico – Mexican power plants are heavily reliant on natural gas for electricity generation – and forced some manufacturers to stop work.

The Nuevo León industry association Caintra said the power outage and gas supply interruption caused manufacturers in that state to lose some 14 billion pesos (US $677.2 million) between Monday and Thursday of last week. Losses in Tamaulipas amounted to $266 million by Thursday, said Humberto Martínez Cantú, president of the Index industry group in Reynosa.

In Chihuahua, a least 120 manufacturing firms had to halt operations, resulting in losses of up to $60 million a day, according to Index.

Manufacturers in several other states, including Durango, Coahuila, Jalisco, Guanajuato and Querétaro, were affected by the natural gas shortages and suffered large losses. Automakers including Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Kia and Mazda were among the manufacturers that temporarily shut down all or part of production due to the lack of gas.

President López Obrador discounted reports that the economic costs would be serious, accusing media outlets of exaggerating the extent of the impact of gas shortages because “they’re angry with us.”

“The anger of the media in this country is notorious … what interests them is attacking the government.”

On Sunday the president said he was “very satisfied” with the government’s response to the gas crisis.

“I’m very satisfied with the result, with the way in which the CFE [Federal Electricity Commission] confronted this crisis,” he said during an event in La Paz, Baja California Sur.

“… How long did it take us to resolve this problem? Five days, five days thanks to the work of … the Federal Electricity Commission technicians,” López Obrador said.

“I very much regret what’s happening in Texas, … they haven’t resolved the problem yet. We confronted it well because we were attentive, we took early decisions. Before the crisis erupted, an emergency meeting of the CFE with the Energy Ministry was held and they asked me if they could use more fuel oil from Pemex … to put all the country’s plants into operation and increase the energy in the entire network,” he said.

CFE chief Manuel Bartlett said last week that reestablishing electricity generation after the gas supply interruption was “a great feat,” asserting that the public utility’s workers averted a “total disaster.”

López Obrador said the lesson to be learned from last week’s events is “not to put all your eggs in one basket” with respect to energy sources for electricity generation.

“In Texas, I say it with complete respect, they don’t have options other than natural gas. This crisis comes along and they have no options, no alternatives. Here, when the natural gas price started going up and when it was decided they weren’t going to supply us, ships with liquified gas were immediately contracted and other actions [were carried out],” the president said.

“This is a very good lesson; you can’t bet on just one type of fuel. Of course, to the extent possible, you have to seek out non-contaminating fuels,” López Obrador added, brushing aside his government’s clear preference for fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and fuel oil over renewable sources such as wind and solar.

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