Governor García claims that a former official in the water department bought the cars with public funds.
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García has accused a former official of corruption, claiming that he used public resources to buy as many as 90 luxury cars during a 12-year career in the state water department.
The value of the vehicles purchased by Juan Pulido, a former operations director at the Monterrey Water and Drainage Service (SADM), far exceeded his salary, the governor told a press conference.
The cars are registered in the name of a company in which Pulido is clearly involved, Garcia said.
“It’s estimated there are between 80 and 90 luxury cars in the company. The million-dollar question is: how can a public servant with a net salary of 48,000 pesos [US $2,380] a month afford to buy 80 Lamborghinis? The illicit enrichment is clear,” he said.
García asserted that former directors of SADM, a decentralized organization of the Nuevo León government, embezzled money via simulated infrastructure projects.
“There was a mafia there for 12 years,” he said, adding that public resources were diverted to so-called empresas factureras, or invoicing companies, and subsequently laundered.
García, who succeeded Jaime Rodríguez as Nuevo León governor on October 4, also claimed that nephews of Manuel González Flores – the state government’s former general secretary and interim governor while Rodríguez campaigned for the presidency in 2018 – set up a scheme to defraud Isssteleón, the Nuevo León state workers social security institute.
The brothers Javier and Manuel Flores Martínez embezzled 4.9 billion pesos (US $242.6 million) between 2015 and 2021 via a phony contract with Isssteleón, the governor alleged.
He said that complaints against Pulido and the Flores Martínez brothers have been filed with the Nuevo León Attorney General’s Office.
A Mexico City resident receives a COVID-19 vaccination. 97% of adults in the capital are at least partially inoculated.
Almost four in five Mexican adults are at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the latest official data.
The Health Ministry reported Sunday that 69.97 million people, or 78% of adults, have had at least one shot. Of that number, just under 53.5 million people, or 76% of the total, are fully vaccinated.
All told, just under 115.2 million shots have been administered across Mexico’s 32 states, the Health Ministry said.
Mexico City has the highest vaccination rate in the country with 97% of adults inoculated, followed by Quintana Roo (95%), Querétaro (92%) and San Luis Potosí (89%). The federal government hasn’t offered broad vaccine access to minors, but the inoculation of adolescents with underlying health conditions that make them vulnerable to serious illness is now underway.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s accumulated coronavirus case tally currently stands at 3.78 million, while the official COVID-19 death toll is 286,346.
An average of 3,753 cases and 281 fatalities per day have been recorded during the past seven days. The average number of daily deaths has declined by 190 over the past three weeks, according to the Reuters COVID-19 tracker. Average daily case numbers are just 20% of the seven-day peak recorded in August.
There are currently just over 30,000 active cases across Mexico, a figure that represents 0.8% of all infections detected during the pandemic. About one in five hospital beds set aside for seriously and gravely ill coronavirus patients are currently in use, the Health Ministry said.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said recently that more than 95% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
One of the alebrijes at the Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Two large Mexican folk art sculptures known as alebrijes have been installed in New York City as part of a 12-day celebration of the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) and a month-long promotion of Oaxaca in the United States.
One dragon and one feathered jaguar measuring more than three and four meters high, respectively, currently adorn the center plaza of the Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan.
Made by Oaxacan artisans Jacobo and María Angeles, the colorful and fantastical sculptures are a drawcard of “Mexico Week: Día de Muertos at Rockefeller Center,” a free event that began last Friday and runs through November 2.
Two catrinas, female skeleton figures commonly associated with the Day of the Dead, are also on display at the famous New York City landmark. The center plaza’s statue of the Greek titan Atlas will be converted into a floral installation later this week, and a Day of the Dead ofrenda, or altar, honoring victims of COVID-19 will be set up.
In addition, an open-air market, or tianguis, selling Mexican handicrafts, food and beverages will run from Friday until next Wednesday.
Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat was in New York last Friday to attend the inauguration of the Day of the Dead festival and launch “Oaxaca Month in the United States,” an event that celebrates the art, culture and traditions of the southern state.
“… Oaxaca has an objective that we like to summarize in one sentence: we want more of Oaxaca in the world and more of the world in Oaxaca. Being here at the Rockefeller Center in New York, unveiling these alebrijes and beginning this festival of economic and cultural promotion, we know that we’re achieving that objective,” he said.
“In Oaxaca everything’s done with the soul because, in our land, spirits dance, paint, cook and write,” the governor said.
Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Esteban Moctezuma, spoke of the great natural and cultural beauty of Oaxaca, while Rockefeller Center managing director EB Kelly thanked the government of Oaxaca and the Mexican Consulate in New York for making the Day of the Dead event possible.
Former president Enrique Peña Nieto and his girlfriend Tania Ruiz as they were being filmed by a Mexican Twitter user. Twitter
Former president Enrique Peña Nieto suffered the indignity of being called a thief while leaving a luxury hotel in Rome with his girlfriend on Sunday.
A Twitter user who identifies herself as a tapatía, or native of Guadalajara, filmed the ex-president and Tania Ruiz, a Mexican model, as they left Hotel de la Ville in the Italian capital.
Twitter user @karenytv3 shouted “ratero” (thief) at Peña Nieto as he and Ruiz entered a taxi outside the hotel.
“The ratero is leaving now,” the woman said before she and another person mocked the ex-president for riding in a taxi.
The woman also predicted that Peña Nieto — who vanished from public life after leaving office in late 2018 and now reportedly lives in Spain — will end up in jail.
El ex presidente Enrique Peña Nieto subiéndose en taxi y celebrando el cumpleaños de su novia mientras le gritó que es un ratero y q se merece la cárcel. Que bueno q ni en Roma anda tan comodo y qué hay mexicanos exponiéndolo. Aunque bien que se queda en hotel de $2mil la noche pic.twitter.com/02hRVsSSmr
“It’s good that he’s not even comfortable in Rome [because] there are Mexicans exposing him,” she wrote on Twitter.
“… I scream to him so many things, and he kept hiding from me like a coward,” she wrote in another post.
On Monday, she tweeted that she was surprised that her videos of Peña Nieto had gone viral.
“… I know that a president deserves respect, but we the citizens deserve respect as well. If he doesn’t want to be recognized, he should cover himself more and be more discreet. In the end, he’s a public figure,” she wrote.
Peña Nieto, who led a government plagued by corruption scandals, was apparently in Rome to celebrate Ruiz’s 34th birthday.
The ex-president is accused by fomer Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya of leading a bribery scheme that used money from the Brazilian company Odebrecht to buy lawmakers’ support for the previous federal government’s structural reforms, in particular the energy reform which opened up the sector to foreign and private companies after an almost 80-year state monopoly.
The newspaper Milenio reported last week that the federal Attorney General’s Office would seek to prosecute Peña Nieto on organized crime charges related to the Odebrecht case.
Asked about the latest footage of his predecessor on Monday, President López Obrador declined to comment. “I don’t get involved in that,” he told reporters at his regular news conference.
Uxmal features exemplary Puuc-style Mayan architecture with intricate, well-preserved designs.
Uxmal, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996, is one of the most beautiful ancient Maya ruins in the Yucatán Peninsula. Situated around 80 kilometers from Mérida, the ancient city is part of the Ruta Puuc travel route — which covers several archaeological sites, cenotes and other attractions.
The city’s name, pronounced “oosh-mal,” means “thrice built,” which Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) believes may refer to the site’s successive occupations. The name also translates to “the place abundantly harvested.”
Archaeologists estimate that the Maya occupied Uxmal as far back as 500 B.C., although the city’s peak was around A.D. 700–950. Between the 9th and 12th centuries, Uxmal became a political and economic seat of power in the Puuc region, an area in the northwest Yucatán Peninsula.
The city’s peak population is estimated to have been around 30,000. Notably, there is an 18-kilometer Mayan white road connecting Uxmal with the Maya site of Kabah, which is farther south.
Uxmal was taken over by the clan of the Mayan city Chichén Itzá in the late ninth century, and the city’s decline started around A.D. 900. It was eventually abandoned around the 12th century.
Mayan lore says that the House of the Magician was finished overnight using magic in response to a challenge by one of Uxmal’s leaders.
The architecture here is considered some of the best examples of the Puuc style. You can observe rich decorative elements on the structures, including gods, human figures, and animals. According to INAH, some of Uxmal’s phallic decorations were removed from structures in advance of Mexico’s ill-fated Empress Carlota visiting the site in 1865 to avoid upsetting her.
During our recent visit to Uxmal, many structures we had been able to access on a previous visit, as well as some areas of the site, were cordoned off to visitors.
Upon entering the site, you’ll pass by a chultún – an underground rainwater storage tank. Due to the water shortages in the region, the ancient Mayas built a complex system to collect and use rain.
Near the entrance is the beautiful 35-meter-tall pyramid called the House of the Magician, also referred to as the Pyramid of the Dwarf and the Pyramid of the Soothsayer.
Legend says that this pyramid, with its interesting cone-like shape and two facades facing east and west, was built magically overnight in response to a challenge by Uxmal’s ruler. The builder was said to be a dwarf who was the son of a sorceress and born from a turtle egg.
However, contrary to the legend, archaeologists have identified five building phases and multiple architectural styles within the House of the Magician. It is made up of five temples built in different periods.
A goal ring for the Mayan ballgame played in a court commissioned by Lord Chac. deposit photos
The pyramid’s western stairway is lined by long-nosed masks believed to be of the god Chaac. An upper area called Temple IV has a mask of the earth monster on its facade. Its open jaws create the entrance.
Near the House of the Magician is a square with four palace-like structures called the Quadrangle of the Birds. One building has a frieze with designs resembling a feather or palm-leaf roof and bird sculptures. This group of buildings has been identified as the residence of Uxmal’s ruler, Lord Chac.
Next to the Quadrangle of the Birds is a large palace complex with four structures situated around a courtyard called the Quadrangle of the Nuns — named by the Spanish priest, Diego López de Cogolludo. The Spanish had believed that Mayan priestesses resided in these rooms.
Vault lids discovered in the buildings have partial dates corresponding to the time of Lord Chac’s reign, according to INAH.
Although these buildings are called palaces, it is believed that this complex served administrative and non-residential purposes.
The main access to the Quadrangle of the Nuns is through a beautiful vault on the South Building. The facade designs are linked to deities and cosmogenic concepts said to inspire an intense sense of fertility. There are many decorative elements on the building facades, including masks of God Chaac, planet Venus symbols, double-headed snakes, human figures and houses. Tláloc, the ancient rain god of central Mexico, is also depicted here.
The Governor’s Palace is positioned to track the movements and declinations of celestial bodies.
The North Building, a 26-room structure constructed on a 100-meter-long platform, is believed to be the most important due to its higher platform than the others. The building has a wide stairway in front with two temples on either side.
The other three buildings of the quadrangle also have many rooms and beautiful decorative elements worth seeing. The views from the South Building’s arch are stunning.
South of the Quadrangle of Nuns is the ball court, with two parallel structures and a playing area. Lord Chac is believed to have ordered the ball court’s construction, and INAH says the rings have inscriptions dating to A.D. 905.
Near the Ball Court, the East Portico, featuring a row of columns, is thought to have been where rituals and ceremonies were conducted before the ball games. Other speculated uses of the building include accommodating the players and storing their protective gear.
Towards the south of the site, on a large platform, is a spectacular 98-meter-long rectangular building called the Governor’s Palace, also built during Lord Chac’s reign. Considered a royal residence and the city’s principal administrative center, it is an extraordinary architectural creation with plenty for the visitor to observe. It’s also positioned to track the planet Venus’s movements as well as the maximum solar declinations that define solstices.
A large stairway provides access, and it has three sections separated by high vaults. The building’s facade is richly decorated and includes depictions of rulers and masks of Chaac.
Uxmal’s Dovecote structure features an impressive roof comb. deposit photos
In front of the Governor’s palace is the Throne of the Jaguar. Situated on a small platform, it is a throne made of a double-headed Jaguar sculpture.
Next to the governor’s palace is another interesting structure called the House of the Turtles. This building, which has multiple entrances, has rooms with stools where occupants could sit or lie down. The facade’s top is decorated with columns and features a cornice with turtle sculptures. Turtles were important animals associated with the rain and earth. The views across the site from this area are magnificent.
The next notable building in this section is the Great Pyramid, measuring around 30 meters in height. It has a wide stairway, and at its top is a platform with a crowning structure called the Temple of the Macaws because of the macaw figures on its facade.
West of the site is a partially preserved building called the Dovecote with a beautiful roof comb. Unfortunately, this area was completely cordoned off during our recent visit.
There are several other structures to see on the site. After you’re done exploring, check out the Choco-Story Ecopark Chocolate Museum nearby to experience the history of cocoa, a Maya ceremony to the rain god Chaac and other park activities.
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/
Highway damage at the Juluchuca bridge in Petatlán, Guerrero. Civil proteciton guerrero
Hurricane Rick made landfall in Guerrero as a Category 2 hurricane Monday morning, bringing strong wind and heavy rain to that state and Michoacán.
Rick reached land at approximately 5:00 a.m. in La Unión de Isidoro Montes de Oca, a municipality that borders Zihuatanejo to the north and Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, to the south.
The National Meteorological Service said the hurricane, which has since been degraded to a tropical storm, brought sustained winds of 165 kph with gusts of up to 205.
The hurricane caused flooding and toppled scores of trees in both Guerrero and Michoacán. Some homes were flooded while wind ripped the roofs off others. Strong swells were reported on Mexico’s southwest coast.
There have been no reports of injuries or loss of life since the hurricane made landfall, but scores of families took refuge in government shelters. Cars were stranded in floodwaters in Zihuatanejo and Acapulco.
Debido al paso del huracán #Rick por #Guerrero se produjo un corte sobre la carretera Acapulco-Zihuatanejo, a la altura de Petatlan, por lo que no hay paso hacia ese puerto. Se desbordó el Río Petatlan, inundando varias colonias de la cabecera municipal. pic.twitter.com/jW9WfsMdcA
The Petatlán River overflowed, shutting down the Acapulco-Zihuatanejo highway Monday morning at Petatlán.
The Guerrero Civil Protection service reported landslides on at least six roads, and the Acapulco-Zihuatanejo highway was cut off by floodwaters in the municipality of Petatlán. Authorities warned that several rivers and creeks in Guerrero and Michoacán were at risk of overflowing.
Blackouts were reported in the Costa Chica and Costa Grande regions of Guerrero as well as in Acapulco. Schools were closed in several municipalities in both Guerrero and Michoacán due to the dangers posed by the passing of the storm.
The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Rick was about 170 kilometers north of Lázaro Cárdenas at 1:00 p.m. Central Time and that maximum sustained winds were 95 kph. It said the storm was expected to produce five to 10 inches (12-25 cm) of rain with isolated amounts of up to 20 inches (51 cm) across sections of Guerrero and Michoacán.
“A generally northward motion is expected over the next 12 to 24 hours. On the forecast track, the center of Rick will move farther inland over Mexico today and tonight,” the NHC said.
“… Continued weakening is expected this afternoon and evening, and Rick is forecast to dissipate over the mountainous terrain of Mexico tonight,” it said.
The president got a warm welcome in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Sunday, where he presented a heightened federal security plan to combat violence.
The federal government will bolster security in Guerrero as part of a new support plan for the southern state.
Presenting the plan in Chilpancingo on Sunday, President López Obrador said his government is committed to guaranteeing peace and tranquility in Guerrero, Mexico’s ninth most violent state, which recorded 1,020 homicides in the first nine months of 2021.
An additional 700 soldiers and National Guard members will be deployed across the municipalities of Chilpancingo, Acapulco and Iguala, said Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval. The deployment will increase the number of federal troops in the state to approximately 10,700.
Cresencio also said that almost 16,000 federal security force members stationed in states that border Guerrero can be used to reinforce security in the southern state if required. The army chief said that a strengthening of the federal government’s law enforcement presence in mid-August resulted in a 46% decline in organized crime-related homicides in Iguala and a 33% reduction in Chilpancingo.
However, homicides only fell 6% in Acapulco, Cresencio acknowledged, pointing out that the monthly average of murders had fallen from 69 to 65. “So the [security] strategy … will be strengthened in that municipality,” he said.
Soldiers are stationed in Acapulco, but more are on the way. File photo
The defense minister also acknowledged that the cultivation of marijuana and opium poppies remains a significant problem in Guerrero. Navy Minister Rafael Ojeda noted that some 2,800 marines are stationed in Zihuatanejo and Acapulco, adding that the navy will increase its intelligence capacity so it can offer additional support to Guerrero security authorities.
For his part, López Obrador highlighted that the state will have 24 National Guard barracks by the time he leaves office in 2024.
“This will help a lot … to protect the people,” he said.
Inaugurated in mid-2019, the National Guard already has four barracks in Guerrero. Five more are nearing completion, and the government intends to build 15 more over the next three years.
López Obrador said federal social programs will also help reduce insecurity by dissuading people from criminal activities. An additional 10,000 places in the government’s tree-planting employment program will provide an alternative to growing illicit crops, he said.
The president said that just over 1 million Guerrero residents already receive some kind of government financial assistance. The three states that receive the most federal support are Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas, he said.
A mother and daughter in an illegal poppy field in Guerrero’s Montaña region.
In the Montaña region, which he visited over the weekend, López Obrador said there are three or four welfare beneficiaries per household. “In other words, more support is being allocated to the poorest areas of Guerrero,” he said.
López Obrador also highlighted a range of other ways in which the government is supporting the state.
Among them: the distribution of fertilizer to farmers; the allocation of funds to carry out school improvements; the construction of branches of the state-owned Banco del Bienestar (Bank of Well-Being); and the investment of 2.1 billion pesos (US $103.9 million) to build new roads in the Montaña region;
“… We’re going to continue investigating until we find the young men from Ayotzinapa. It’s a matter of the state; it’s not any old case. We’re going to find out the whole truth. It’s a commitment, and commitments are kept,” he said.
“… We’re going to continue supporting the people of Guerrero,” López Obrador added. “I’ll end by congratulating the good, hard-working, brave and intelligent people of Guerrero, who elected a very good governor, an extraordinary governor, Evelyn Salgado.”
Children from several communities in Chilapa de Álvarez marched to protest against violence in April.
Several federal ministers also spoke at the event and made commitments to allocate resources to support sectors such as tourism, health, culture and agriculture.
Salgado, who took office on October 15, didn’t stop smiling as she heard official after official pledging to support her state, the newspaper Reforma reported.
The Morena party governor committed to leading an honest, austere government that will put an end to corruption and impunity and allow the participation of the people in the decisions it makes.
“That’s the way we’re going to work,” she said. “I’m joining the national strategy.”
The vehicle in which cartel boss El Tigre was traveling when he was killed Friday.
Three members of the Gulf Cartel including one of its leaders were killed during a shootout with the army and state police in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, on Friday night, authorities said.
A bystander was also killed during the confrontation and two police officers were wounded. Tamaulipas authorities said that the security forces detained four members of the Gulf Cartel and seized an armored vehicle and weapons.
Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca said Saturday that the identity of one of the deceased persons had been confirmed as Ariel Treviño, a leader of the Scorpions faction of the cartel.
Tamaulipas authorities said in a statement that Treviño, also known as “El Tigre” (The Tiger), was a plaza chief in Nuevo Progreso, a border town 50 kilometers northwest of Matamoros. He was a priority target for law enforcement authorities in Tamaulipas and the United States, they said.
Friday’s gun battle began after soldiers and state police came across “several suspicious vehicles” while patrolling the streets of Matamoros, authorities said. The security forces ordered the vehicles to stop but their occupants ignored the instruction and fled while shooting at the soldiers and police.
Ariel Treviño, aka El Tigre, was one of three cartel members killed in Matamoros.
A chase and gunfight ensued during which the cartel members used spike strips and hijacked vehicles to set up 15 roadblocks, some on highways that connect Matamoros to Nuevo Progreso and Valle Hermoso. Three vehicles were set on fire, authorities said, adding that several aggressors fled on foot and were lost in crowds as they entered public places, including shopping centers, in the center of Matamoros.
A woman was struck by a stray bullet and died from her injuries on her way to hospital. The victim was identified as Sonia Grimaldo Velazco, an official with a trade union in the municipality of Victoria.
The rolling clash between the cartel members and security forces passed a circus where families ducked for cover as they heard gunfire. Numerous other citizens, including shoppers and restaurant patrons, were caught up in the confrontation but apart from Grimaldo’s death, there were no reports of injuries or fatalities. In video footage that circulated online, one witness described the situation as “war” while speaking to his family over the phone. Gunshots rung out as he spoke.
Governor García – who the federal government is seeking to prosecute for ties to organized crime – said in a Twitter post that his government will use all the resources available to combat criminal groups that operate in Tamaulipas, a state notorious for cartel violence. “There will be no truce,” he declared.
Migrants on the highway north of Tapachula, Chiapas. ben wein
A large migrant caravan is heading north after leaving Tapachula, Chiapas, where National Guard troops in riot gear were unable to stop it despite a blockade across the highway on Saturday.
As many as 2,000 migrants set off from Bicentenario Park in Tapachula at around 7:00 a.m. and marched north up the main highway. The National Guard attempted to block their path near the town of Viva México but the front of the caravan charged the police line and, amid chaotic scenes, crowds of people ran past the authorities, who were unable to deter the surge.
By Sunday night the caravan had arrived in Huehuetán, having met no serious attempt to stop it, though immigration officials, National Guard officers, the army and the navy were seen traveling on the highway.
The majority of the migrants are from Central America. Pregnant women, seniors, one person in a wheelchair and many families pushing strollers with young children are among the convoy. Many said they had asylum claims or that the living conditions in their countries were intolerable. The caravan’s leader, Mexican-U.S. activist Irineo Mújica of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, or Peoples Without Borders, said the goal of the march was to travel to Mexico City, but many migrants said they were committed to reaching the United States.
The convoy’s first major milestone is Huixtla, about 40 kilometers north of Tapachula. Organizers said the success of the march could depend on whether officials try to obstruct the caravan near there. From there, the group plans to move toward the state capital Tuxla Gutiérrez, about 330 kilometers farther north, from which Mexico City is another 840 kilometers.
Here is the moment earlier today the caravan, under the sign of the cross, broke through the lines of the Guardia Nacional. pic.twitter.com/Dy217NZ3MF
Most of the migrants are poorly prepared, many wearing unsuitable shoes and walking in extremely hot conditions. They sleep in the warm open air without tents or cover. There is no system for the migrants to be fed and one woman was treated for exhaustion Sunday morning.
The convoy’s leaders are keeping one lane of the three-lane highway open to passing traffic. However, sometimes the migrants stray into the third lane causing traffic to build up behind.
Representatives from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) said the caravan was smaller than previous ones, but recognized a considerable presence of pregnant women and children.
Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Honduran, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan are the principal nationalities, but Cubans, Colombians, Ghanaians, Nigerians, a Chinese family, and at least one Panamanian are also part of the convoy.
Haitians, thousands of whom are in Tapachula, have not joined the caravan in large numbers.
The group slept in the small town of Álvaro Obregón Saturday night. The atmosphere was peaceful and local merchants appeared pleased with the sudden increase in business. They spent Sunday night in similar conditions in Estación de Huehuetán, and were well received by locals.
Víctor Manolo Contreras of El Salvador carries the cross at the head of the caravan. He blames corrupt governments for the mass exodus. ben wein
Faith plays an important role in caravans, also known as the “Migrant’s Way of the Cross,” a term that relates to the Catholic pilgrimage tradition. The caravan is spearheaded by a large wooden cross, which is normally carried by Salvadoran Víctor Manolo Contreras. He blamed corrupt Salvadoran governments for mass migration.
“The rich and the politicians are always looking to benefit themselves … we came from 30 years of disgraceful governments. They robbed with their hands full and finished the country,” he said.
Caravan leader Mújica is a devout Catholic and another leader, Mexican Luis García Villagrán of the Center for Human Dignity, is an evangelical Christian.
García said the spirit of the caravan would help it overcome obstructions in a speech on Saturday night. “There are more than 1,000 men, young men, we are more than them … They [security forces] try to look the part with a uniform and a helmet. But we are guided by our hearts, we are guided by necessity, we are here to survive,” he said.
Representatives from CNDH and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are following the caravan in an observational capacity. Officials from the National Immigration Institute (INM) are providing medical assistance. Mexican human rights NGOs and Save the Children are also present.
Tapachula is the modern Casablanca: a city flooded with migrants, desperately awaiting their papers, which may never arrive. Their legal status is increasingly clouded: they have been banned from leaving Tapachula while they await the outcomes of their applications to the government refugee organization Comar and the INM. However, both agencies have buckled under the pressure of migrant influxes leaving undocumented migrants waiting for responses to applications without any reliable time frame.
The INM has not responded to applications for residence for more than two years in some cases, the newspaper El Orbe reported.
Many of the migrants who enter Mexico illegally quickly become well acquainted with the INM, which sends them to the prison-like migrant detention centers that it runs. Their imprisonment is called “rescue” by federal officials.
Women in Catrina makeup and Yucatán huipiles for Day of the Dead in Yucatán. Pxhere.com/Creative Commons
The animated film Coco has probably done more than anything else to take the “ew” factor out of Day of the Dead for those of us who grew up with nothing like it.
This is great because there are good psychological reasons for celebrating it.
Grief is universal, but how we cope is largely determined by culture. European cultures have mostly lost their equivalent to Day of the Dead, with only All Souls’ Day and Halloween as distant reminders that we, too, used to actively honor our ancestors. Instead, a belief took hold to see anything associated with death as evil, something to be shunned, ignored and fought against at all costs.
Mexico is not completely immune to this, says National Autonomous University of Mexico professor and researcher Beatriz Glowinski, an expert on death and grieving. But that Day of the Dead has survived gives Mexicans a special outlet for their emotions.
Simply put, Day of the Dead is an annual festival dedicated to remembering lost loved ones and, yes, to mock something we fear. The underlying belief is that the dead can come back at this time to the land of the living, but it is no coincidence that it occurs at the end of the harvest, when fields die to sustain the living.
Large public Day of the Dead altar in Durango sponsored, perhaps appropriately, by the Hernández Funeral Home in that city. Leigh Thelmadatter
It is a syncretism of Mesoamerican and Catholic beliefs or, more accurately, the survival of Mesoamerican beliefs about death with a Catholic veneer. It survives in two forms.
The older and more “intimate” Day of the Dead is a gathering of friends and family to remember those important to them. The dead are not lamented but welcomed back as part of a family reunion.
The other Day of the Dead can be found in the large festivals and parades that have grown in popularity in both Mexico and the United States. In Mexico, they began to become more important as local and national efforts to counter the influence of Halloween began in the 1990s.
Many communities today have one or more open public events on this day, and Day of the Dead celebrations are popular in schools from kindergarten to college.
All cultures recognize the psychological need to grieve, but they also put limits on how long and how publicly a person may be in mourning.
“It is very complicated and very difficult … there isn’t a period of time … it does not exist,” Glowinski says. “It can take years, depending on the person.”
People decorating graves in Mixquic, Mexico City. This is one of the most traditional and colorful observances of Day of the Dead in the capital. Leigh Thelmadatter
And if grief is not addressed adequately, “a person can become stuck in their lives personally and professionally,” she says.
Even after the proscribed mourning period, grief lingers and returns, and Day of the Dead addresses this. Simply visiting graves, as is done in other cultures, can have the same purpose, but it is often a solitary activity, whereas Day of the Dead by its very nature is social.
On and around November 2, Mexicans have permission and even the expectation to acknowledge their losses in a supportive environment. The ritual of shopping for supplies, preparing an altar and sharing time with loved ones is therapeutic. Areas we do not casually visit, such as cemeteries, become a place of social gathering, both for those attending to family graves and those of us looking on.
There is nothing morbid or even remotely Halloweenish about this.
It is easy to see how lighting candles on graves fulfills this purpose, but what about the superficially corny skull and skeleton decorations? These decorations, parties and parades are about showing the relationship between life and death and take the morbidity out of thinking about death.
Many public festivals also have allusions to the cultural and historical past, making Day of the Dead also about connecting to heritage.
Day of the Dead in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, one of the most popular destinations for Day of the Dead tourism. El Motivo de Viajar
Many might have trouble with the belief that the dead come back, but counselor and psychotherapist Merrie Haskins says that such a belief can be beneficial. “[It] means that you have the chance to say anything that was left unsaid before they died.”
Taking the stigma out of talking about death also leads us to express what we want when it is our time to die and to communicate that to family. This is important because said family will be able to find closure when the time comes, knowing that they respected those wishes.
In the U.S., Day of the Dead was originally something celebrated privately only by Mexican-heritage families, but it’s growing in popularity. In the 1970s, public observances began with the aim of asserting Mexican American identity. Only recently has there been interest from the culture at large in the holiday, introduced in schools and with decorations now available in Walmart and Target.
If Day of the Dead becomes a larger part of the U.S. culture in some way, it is because it provides something that our native mourning rituals lack: social recognition and support for the idea that those who have gone are still important to us.
It’s not necessary to literally believe that the dead come back, nor be Catholic, to benefit from the observation, Glowinski says, but the communal aspect is essential. The annual observance is “ … a phenomenal way to deal with the emotions that remembering our loved ones bring,” she says, adding, “They externalize such emotions, and this is very liberating and healing.”
On a personal level, I find Day of the Dead particularly meaningful as I live so far away and rarely go back “home.” In particular, I cannot visit my mother’s grave as much as I “should,” and the yearly ritual of setting up the gringo side of my bicultural home’s altar is a more-than-acceptable substitute.
It even makes me smile as I place my favorite picture of my mother, in a 1970s plaid skirt and cat glasses, with the ever-present mug of tea in her hand.
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.
