Arroz con leche varies with each Mexican grandmother who makes it

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November 9, 2020

Arroz con leche can be made quickly with leftover rice, but many swear using freshly cooked rice makes it come out much better.

In Mexico, arroz con leche is a longstanding traditional dessert, and there are as many ways to make it as there are grandmothers willing to share their recipe.

While it’s a simple enough dish, there are secrets to success that involve the ingredients, cooking methods and level of patience (ahem). Traditionally arroz con leche, or rice pudding, is made by slowly, slowly cooking rice in sweetened whole milk until the rice is soft and the milk has thickened. Cinnamon, vanilla and sometimes nutmeg can be added before serving.

Some people like an arroz con leche that’s more soupy; others prefer it firm. That’s just a matter of cooking time, the ratio of rice to milk and, to some degree, about the type of rice you’re using.

What’s the best kind of rice to use? Some say long-grain rice is best, some swear by short-grain for a creamier result. Some believe in arborio rice. Quien sabe? But don’t use “Minute Rice” or any kind of arroz precocido (precooked rice); it defeats the purpose of the rice starch cooking into the pudding.

Sugar is the time-honored sweetener, and for good reason: using granulated sugar or piloncillo (unrefined whole cane sugar) helps the milk caramelize as it cooks down, creating a complex depth of flavor.

Rice, milk, cinnamon, and sugar are the basics for making Mexican arroz con leche, but the delicious flavor variations are nearly endless.

But time-saving versions in some recipes use sweetened condensed milk instead of sugar, and/or use leftover or precooked rice rather than cooking it slowly in the milk. Can you do this? Sure. Will it taste the same? Well, I don’t think so, although I’ll still happily eat it at my favorite taco stand.

Rice pudding is a favorite all over the world, where it’s called by different names and baked, boiled and simmered in a variety of ways. Legend tells us a big bowl of kheer was the Buddha’s final meal before his enlightenment. In Chinese cuisine we find ba bao fan, made with eight kinds of fruits or nuts and eaten at the New Year. The Lebanese serve meghli to celebrate the birth of a child.

The Philippines’ tsamporado, a chocolate rice pudding, traces its history to early trade with Mexico; innovative Filipino cooks revised the Mexican champurrado by substituting sticky rice for masa.

If you’re going to make arroz con leche at home, I’ve included different versions of the traditional recipe. You be the judge, and see what you think.

If you’re a dairy-free person, other types of milk may work, albeit with slightly different final textures.

First, let’s start with a video of YouTuber Doña Angelita making her very traditional arroz con leche over a wood fire. The written recipe follows.

Arroz con Leche De Mi Rancho A Tu Cocina

Watch this video on YouTube

Doña Angelita’s Arroz con Leche

5 liters whole milk
½ kilo rice, washed
1 big cinnamon stick
5 small piloncillo cones
½ cup white sugar
1 cup raisins

Put 1 liter of the milk, plus the rice and the cinnamon stick in a large pot. Cook uncovered until rice is soft.

Add the remaining milk, piloncillo, sugar and raisins. Cook, stirring constantly to make sure it doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom, for about 30 minutes or until thickened.

Kind-of Classic Rice Pudding

¾ cup uncooked white rice
2 cups whole milk, divided
⅓ cup white sugar
¼ tsp. salt
1 egg, whisked
⅔ cup golden raisins
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Bring 1½ cups water to a boil in a saucepan; stir rice into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Set aside.

In a different pan, combine 1½ cups of the cooked rice, 1½ cups milk, the sugar and the salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 20–30 minutes.

Stir in remaining ½ cup milk, the egg and the raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and let cool.

Old-Fashioned Arroz con Leche

1 cup uncooked rice
2 cinnamon sticks
¼ tsp. salt
2½ cups water
4 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar

In large pot over high heat, combine water, rice, cinnamon sticks and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to simmer. Cook 15 minutes.

Add milk, stir, cover and cook on low for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in sugar, cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Uncover, raise heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes until pudding thickens. Remove from heat and cool.

A bit of coconut milk in place of some of the milk in chocolate arroz con leche makes for an unexpected hint of the tropics.

Chocolate Rice Pudding

5 cups whole milk OR substitute 1 can unsweetened coconut milk for some of the milk
⅔ cup uncooked arborio or other short-grain rice
¾ cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine milk, rice and sugar. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into mixture. Bring milk to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring frequently, until rice is tender and mixture thickens, 35–40 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in cocoa powder. Add chocolate chips and stir until melted. Allow to cool 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon into serving bowls, cover and refrigerate.

Cajeta Arroz Con Leche

1 cup uncooked rice
3½ cups whole milk
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
¾ cup cajeta, divided
½ tsp ground cinnamon, plus more for garnishing
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In heavy-bottomed saucepan, cook rice as you normally would or use leftover rice. In separate pan, combine milk, sweetened condensed milk and ½ cup of cajeta. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Stir into cooked rice.

Cook uncovered over low heat for 8–10 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping bottom to prevent sticking, until thick and creamy. Stir in cinnamon and vanilla. Spoon into serving bowls and refrigerate. Drizzle with cajeta before serving.

Janet Blaser has been a writer, editor and storyteller her entire life and feels fortunate to be able to write about great food, amazing places, fascinating people and unique events. Her first book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, is available on Amazon. Contact Janet or read her blog at whyweleftamerica.com.

Coronavirus won’t stop Christmas Ornament Fair in Michoacán

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 9, 2020

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Tlalpujahua Ornament Fair — The annual fair begins December 13.

The Michoacán town of Tlalpujahua refuses to let Covid-19 ruin its Christmas spirit: artisans here are preparing to go ahead with a 50-plus year tradition — the Tlalpujahua Ornament Fair, which begins December 13.

The fair, well-known throughout Mexico, will operate with some major restrictions: the usual capacity will be reduced by 50% and senior citizens and children will not be allowed to enter. There will be the usual temperature checks and distribution of hand sanitizer and social distancing rules will be in place.

In addition, to avoid overcrowded conditions, the 300 artisans expected to participate will only be allowed to set up shop on alternating days, meaning no more than 150 artisans will be on hand a time.

It’s a bit of a blow for the Magical Town that is known the “town of eternal Christmas.” But the more than 400 artisan workshops that make their living manufacturing blown-glass Christmas ornaments here are betting on visitors being willing to put up with the inconveniences to get a much-needed dose of the holiday spirit.

It’s a high-stakes bet: ornaments are big, big business here. Between year-round sales and the revenue generated in town from the annual event, Tlalpujahua artisans, directly and indirectly, represent about 60% of the town’s economy, or 180 million pesos annually. In some way or another, nearly all the town’s 27,000-plus inhabitants earn money from the industry — as craftsmen, factory workers, tourism providers, and suppliers and vendors.

[wpgmza id=”123″]

Christmas tree ornaments in Mexico go back probably to the late 1800s, when Queen Victoria made them a fad in Europe. Mexico already had Christmas trees, thanks to their introduction in the 1860s by Emperor Maximilian and his wife Carlota, who brought what is believed to be the first Christmas tree to Mexico from Europe and displayed it in Chapultepec Castle, likely using small candles, not ornaments.

However, even after the royal couple was ousted, wealthy families who copied their example kept the Christmas tree tradition alive and likely began importing ornaments as they became popular abroad.

The Christmas ornaments industry came to Tlalpujahua, located about three hours from Mexico City, in 1960. Resident Joaquín Muñoz and his wife María Elena Ruíz had learned the technique for glass-blowing Christmas ornaments while in the United States and brought the knowledge back to their town with them.

Muñoz went into the ornaments business and soon had 1,500 people working for him producing 15 million ornaments per season.

Over time, Muñoz’s workshop expanded, becoming an even larger source of local employment. The factory added a “Santa’s House” and, as of last year, a Bavarian-style Christmas village which, among other things, features craftspeople publicly making Christmas decorations and minstrels that dance and sing Christmas carols.

These days, the Muñoz workshop is run by the family’s 10 children, who say their parents trained many of Mexico’s renowned glass artisans, people like Javier Vidal Ramírez, 43, an expert in the technique who has spent the last 20 years working in the Muñoz workshop after learning the craft from Joaquín. He calls his work “the most beautiful job in the world,” and says that from boyhood he wanted to learn how to make ornaments, having grown up in Tlalpujahua, surrounded by the Muñoz workshop’s creations.

Joaquín’s son Alfredo Muñoz says he and his brothers attend international conventions each year to learn how to update their technology and innovate their designs. It’s a dedication to their craft that has paid off: Muñoz family ornaments have been on trees in the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, and in the United States in the White House.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Cartels issue threat against governor of San Luis Potosí

By

MND Staff

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November 9, 2020

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A frame from the cartels' video message.

Two cartels have issued a threat to the governor of San Luis Potosí, warning that his government should cooperate because they plan to “seize the entire state.”

The Gulf Cartel and the Cartel de los Alemanes made the threat to Governor Juan Manuel Carreras in a video that has been widely shared on social media.

Surrounded by four armed and masked men, a suspected cartel member reads out a message to the Institutional Revolutionary Party governor.

“Governor Juan Manuel Carreras López, San Luis Potosí will burn in the last year of your six-year term.”

(The final year of Carrera’s term began in late September.)

“We recommend that you speak with your narco-government and tell your security chiefs that they can negotiate the state’s peace with us.”

The masked orator then told Carreras that if his government reaches a deal with the two allied cartels, current officials won’t have to go into hiding when they leave office next year.

“If you don’t help us, don’t get in our way because we’re coming with all the support of the Vaquero [the Cowboy] to seize the entire state. Stop screwing around. Yours sincerely, Cartel de los Alemanes and the Gulf Cartel,” he said.

The Vaquero is believed to be Evaristo Cruz, the suspected leader of the Gulf Cartel in Tamaulipas. He is wanted in both Mexico and the United States.

Earlier in the video, the orator announced that the Gulf Cartel and the Cartel de los Alemanes were now in the Huasteca region of San Luis Potosí “cleansing the towns” of undesirable elements so that “everything is in order.”

He told local residents to not be alarmed if they see cartel members “working” because they have no problems with them.

However, the speaker issued a threat to Huasteca region state police chief Samuel Ruiz Montealvo, telling him that he will pay with his life if he and his officers cause problems for the cartels.

“It’s better that you align [yourself with us]” or ask the San Luis Potosí security minister for a transfer, he said.

Just before he made that remark, one of the armed cartel thugs points the barrel of his gun directly at the camera.

The cartel mouthpiece also issued a threat to army Colonel Rolando Solano Rivera, telling him that if he continues sending “intelligence” people to the Altiplano region, “we’ll disappear” them.

“We’ve already located the assholes,” he said, adding that the cartels haven’t forgotten a clash with the army in the municipality of Charcas in late October in which one Gulf Cartel member was killed, two were arrested and weapons were seized.

The orator also told Solano that not all soldiers are “faithful to the homeland,” implying that some are in cahoots with cartels.

The video is the second in recent months from the two gangs. In August, a man who identified himself as cartel leader Alfredo Alemán issued threats to San Luis Potosí police director José Guadalupe Castillo Celestino and Security Minister Jaime Ernesto Pineda Arteaga.

The Gulf Cartel, one of Mexico’s oldest organized crime groups that remains active today, operates in at least 19 municipalities in San Luis Potosí, according to navy reports.

The Cartel de los Alemanes, an offshoot of the Zetas cartel, is a new criminal organization that announced its existence earlier this year.

Source: Reforma (sp), Infobae (sp)

Environmentalists see blue skies ahead under new US administration

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Omar Vidal and Richard Brusca

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November 9, 2020

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solar panels — US president-elect Biden favors the development of renewable energy but his Mexican counterpart is betting on fossil fuels.

As scientists and environmentalists — one mexicano, one estadounidense — we believe that the 46^th United States president, Joseph Biden, will fulfill his campaign promises of placing environmental protection and climate change at the center of his administration’s agenda.

And we look forward to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris exercising a respectful cooperation and leadership with other nations — a leadership founded on true multilateralism. Tens of millions of Americans who gave them their vote expect nothing less, and the billions of people around the world cheering the election win will accept no less.

The U.S. and Mexico share a border of 3,000 kilometers, extending through some of the world’s most magnificent landscapes. From the banks of the Rio Grande, across the vibrant-with-life deserts of Sonora and Chihuahua bordering Texas and Arizona, to the Colorado River and Sea of Cortés, through breadbaskets of Arizona and California, to the Pacific Ocean — where the mighty gray whales have migrated for millennia between Alaska and Baja California to connect our two geographies.

And crossing the border through blue skies are millions of tiny, orange-and-black monarch butterflies weighing only half a gram but linking the hopes and aspirations of millions of U.S. and Mexican citizens through their annual migrations.

We are convinced that, despite past misgivings and sometimes mutual mistrust, for the most part the peoples of the two nations love and respect each other. Not only because we share landscapes and iconic species, but also because we depend on each other to culturally and economically thrive as neighbor nations.

It is in this context that we believe the next four years offer Presidents Biden and López Obrador an exceptional opportunity to boost an important binational alliance, one that helps tackle two of our most pressing environmental challenges: global warming and the loss of biodiversity. It is a unique moment in time for our nations to make history together.

For four years, Donald Trump led an unprecedented offensive to weaken scientific institutions and malign science and scientists. He degraded the Environmental Protection Agency and used it to undermine regulations on protected areas, wetlands, fisheries, and endangered species. His administration dismantled most public policies and institutional foundations needed to curb global warming and protect the environment and people, and he rolled back regulations for carbon dioxide emissions, toxic chemicals, food safety, and air and water pollution.

He even stopped payments to the Green Climate Fund – a UN program to assist developing countries in reducing carbon emissions.

But he might be most remembered as the builder of an infamous “wall” — a wall that offended all Mexicans and most estadounidenses, fragmented ancestral indigenous lands and some of the most mind-boggling landscapes on Earth; a wall that crippled hundreds of North America’s wild migratory species from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico.

But now comes the time for reconstruction, a time for healing and renewed partnership between our two countries. There are countless areas in which we can work together to improve our tightly linked societies and landscapes — such as immigration, trade, drug trafficking and gun smuggling, climate change, and biodiversity protection. As environmentalists, we herein focus on the last two.

The U.S. is the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter, while Mexico is the world’s 12^th (and the largest in Latin America). Although fossil fuels still dominate the energy mix in the U.S., renewable energies are growing quickly. President Biden is expected to step up policies and efforts to fulfill his promise to invest nearly $2 trillion in infrastructure spending, focused mostly on renewable energy, as an opportunity to reestablish the U.S. as a global economic, environmental, and political leader. He wants to put the U.S. on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by no later than 2050; an easily achievable goal that can also boost the economy.

tula refinery — Mexico’s López Obrador has favored fossil fuels over renewables.

On the other hand, President Lopez Obrador’s administration is betting on expanding Mexico’s fossil fuels capabilities, such as new oil refineries and boosting carbon production and use. This likely means the country would not fulfill its goal in the Paris Agreement to reduce emissions by 22% by 2030.

We believe there is ample room for the U.S. and Mexican governments to work in tandem for a renewed push in both the Paris Agreement and the Green Climate Fund, which are the most important current international agreements for tackling climate change. And there is also opportunity for President Biden to try to convince President López Obrador that the era of fossil fuels is rapidly coming to an end, and that renewable energies would not only reduce electricity prices to the people, but also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs across both countries.

Mexico and the U.S. are two of the world’s most biodiverse countries. They share a unique array of habitats and species, including 450 species listed under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and over 100 species on the U.S. Endangered Species list. These species include many migratory mammals and birds, as well as native fish, amphibians, reptiles, and insects.

The U.S. national parks and Mexico’s protected areas system are both exemplars for the world. For decades, the two countries have invested billions to strengthen those protected areas, which have proven to be the best strategies yet to protect ecosystems, indigenous lands, and the associated environmental services on which the health and wellbeing of 335 million Americans and 130 million Mexicans depend.

This December, as the third year of President López Obrador’s administration begins, we hope he gives the environment the priority it deserves for the remaining four years of his mandate. And President Biden must join the other 196 countries in the world by signing on to the pivotal Convention on Biological Diversity and help protect planet Earth for this and future generations.

Presidents López Obrador and Biden — and all mexicanos and estadounideses — must seize the moment to work closely on those issues that bind us, not those that separate us. We cannot think of a better cause for our two nations to partner on than protecting our precious shared environment.

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.

Richard C. Brusca is a research scientist at the University of Arizona, former executive director of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and author of over 200 research articles and 20 books.

AMLO will wait for official results before congratulating Biden

By

MND Staff

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November 9, 2020

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amlo-biden — 'We don't want to be imprudent,' said López Obrador, who has declined to congratulate Biden, right.

Unlike scores of leaders around the world, President López Obrador didn’t congratulate Joe Biden after United States media announced his victory over President Donald Trump in last Tuesday’s election.

Speaking in Villahermosa, Tabasco, on Saturday evening several hours after major media outlets called the race for Biden, López Obrador said he would wait until legal challenges are resolved before offering his congratulations to the successful candidate.

“We’re going to wait for all the legal issues to be resolved. We don’t want to be imprudent. … We want to be respectful of people’s self-determination and the rights of others,” he said.

The president joins the leaders of Brazil, China and Russia in withholding congratulatory remarks to the president-elect.

López Obrador, a strong advocate of non-intervention in the affairs of foreign countries, also said that “President Trump has been very respectful of us,” adding that “we have achieved some important accords.”

“We are thankful to him because he has not interfered,” he said.

Indeed, Trump didn’t make Mexico a major issue in his campaign for re-election this year as he did when he faced U.S. voters in 2016 and infamously described some Mexican migrants as drug dealers, criminals and rapists.

Despite that rhetoric and their ideological differences, López Obrador has developed a friendly relationship with his U.S. counterpart. His only trip outside Mexico since taking office in late 2018 was a visit to Washington in July to meet with Trump.

During the visit, AMLO, as the president is best known, said that in his time in office, Mexico has received “understanding and respect” from Trump and his government.

In Villahermosa on Saturday, López Obrador said that Biden has also shown respect toward Mexico and not sought to interfere in its internal affairs.

AMLO said that he has known the 77-year-old former vice president for more than 10 years, noting that he had spoken with him about migration policy.

Biden and López Obrador met in Mexico City in 2012.

“There are no bad relationships, it’s just that I can’t congratulate one candidate or the other. I want to wait until the electoral process is finished,” he said.

In addition perhaps to not wanting to offend Trump while the U.S. president remains in office and takes legal action against alleged voting irregularities, López Obrador’s decision not to congratulate Biden appears related to his own experience in close, contested elections.

In remarks that were striking in their similarity to those made recently by Trump, the president said Saturday that the presidency was stolen from him at the 2006 election he lost narrowly to ex-president Felipe Calderón.

“They hadn’t finished counting the votes and some governments were already recognizing those who declared themselves winners,” López Obrador said.

Although AMLO – who also challenged the result of the 2012 election he lost to former president Enrique Peña Nieto – said his decision to not congratulate Biden didn’t amount to an endorsement of Trump, many of his critics charged that he had indeed sided with the U.S. president, who is deeply unpopular in Mexico.

It was widely expected that López Obrador would reach out to Biden given the importance of the relationship with the United States, which shares a more than 3,000-kilometer-long border with Mexico and is the country’s most important trading partner.

“This was a very serious mistake by López Obrador,” said Jorge G. Castañeda, a former foreign minister who served in the administration of ex-president Vicente Fox.

López Obrador should have followed the lead of other leaders who quickly congratulated Biden, he said, noting that leadership aspirants welcome congratulatory remarks from foreign leaders because it confers legitimacy on election results.

“The standard on these matters, and this is a long-standing issue in diplomacy, is pretty much this: you should do what everyone else does,” Castañeda said.

The former foreign minister, now a professor at New York University, charged that López Obrador is “scared to death of Trump” but wondered “what kind of retribution” he is afraid of.

“Trump is not going to close the border. Or bomb Ciudad Juárez. Or deport 2 million Mexicans. It’s not in the cards,” he said.

Pascal Beltrán del Río, editorial director of the newspaper Excélsior, charged that López Obrador effectively endorsed Trump’s repudiation of the election results by not congratulating Biden.

“The president of Mexico now owns Donald Trump’s hallucinatory observations about the presidential election,” he wrote on Twitter. “The relationship with Biden was already going to be difficult; now more so.”

United States Representative Joaquin Castro, a Texas democrat who heads up the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said on Twitter that López Obrador’s failure to recognize Biden as president-elect was a “a stunning diplomatic failure … at a time when the incoming Biden administration is looking to usher in a new era of friendship and cooperation with Mexico.”

Jesús “Chuy” Garcia, a U.S. representative for Illinois, tweeted at the president to tell him that “American voters have spoken and Joe Biden is our president elect.”

“He won fair and square,” he added before advising AMLO not to miss out on the timely opportunity to congratulate him.

Other observers were not as critical of López Obrador’s decision to withhold his congratulations.

“The crazy guy [Trump] could close the border, deport people or [do] something else that could cause a lot of damage to Mexico and to our compatriots,” said Genaro Lozano, a political analyst and columnist.

Héctor Diego Medina, a columnist and foreign affairs analyst, said that AMLO had made a “diplomatic error” but contended that it won’t be a costly one.

“Joe Biden is not a vengeful politician,” and therefore there won’t be any reprisal against Mexico once he takes office, he said. “Biden won’t create a fuss nor will he implement any sanction [against Mexico].”

The analyst said that he actually sees a warming of bilateral relations with Biden in the White House.

“The tone [toward Mexico from the U.S. president] will be better, the bilateral … [relationship] won’t be so coarse and there will be greater possibility of dialogue,” Medina said.

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that he anticipates greater cooperation between Mexico and the United States if Biden’s election victory is confirmed.

He specifically cited economic matters as one area in which cooperation could improve but stressed that the relationship could benefit from a Biden presidency in a range of others.

Ebrard also said that the government will ask the United States to ramp up efforts to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico and the sale of drugs in the U.S.

The foreign ministers added that a meeting with an incoming Biden administration will be necessary in order to understand its vision for the relationship with Mexico. He ruled out any possibility that López Obrador’s decision not to immediately congratulate Biden will cause problems in the bilateral relationship.

Once the election result is confirmed, the Mexican government will dedicate itself to forging the “best possible relationship” with the new U.S. administration, Ebrard said.

Source: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp), Infobae (sp), The Los Angeles Times (en)

Golfer’s PGA win at Houston Open is first for Mexico in 42 years

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 9, 2020

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Golfer Carlos Ortiz in Houston on Sunday.

After several close calls, Mexican golfer Carlos Ortiz came from behind to emerge as the victor at the Houston Open on Sunday. The win marked not only Ortiz’s first PGA tour victory but also the first PGA title to go to a native Mexican golfer in 42 years.

The 29-year-old Guadalajaran claimed the title with a two-shot victory, blowing past high-ranked golfers Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day, and Sam Burns, who started the tournament’s final day in the lead, one shot ahead of Ortiz.

In the end, Ortiz finished the tournament at Houston’s Memorial Park Golf Course 13 under par.

“I wasn’t really thinking about the other guys,” he told CNN. “I wasn’t worried. I knew if I played good I was going to be hard to beat.”

However, Ortiz was on the verge of tears at his win, accomplished with a more than 20-foot birdie putt.

“I’ve played great this week and it was really hard to hold the emotions all the way to the end,” he said of his tearful reaction. “But I’m really happy the way it played out and the way I played, too.”

The win places Ortiz into an elite group of only two other Mexican golfers to earn a PGA win — Victor Regalado, who won in 1978 at the Ed McMahon-Jaycees Quad Cities Open and in 1974 in the Pleasant Valley Classic, and Cesar Sanudo, who won the Azalea Open Invitational in 1970.

The win also qualifies Ortiz for an invitation to the prestigious 2021 Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Course next April.

The Houston Open, which began Thursday, was the first PGA Tour event in the U.S. to have fans in attendance since March.

Sources: CNN (en)

Overflowing rivers create worst flooding in 50 years in Macuspana, Tabasco

By

MND Staff

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November 9, 2020

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Boats have been the only means of transportation.

Flooding over the weekend was the worst in at least 50 years in the Tabasco municipality where President López Obrador was born, according to residents.

Several towns in Macuspana, located southeast of the state capital Villahermosa, suffered severe flooding due to heavy rains brought by two cold fronts and Tropical Storm Eta.

One of the worst affected was El Castaño, a community near Macuspana, the municipal seat.

The newspaper El Universal reported that residents sought refuge on their roofs as water from the overflowing Puxcatán and Tulijá rivers inundated the town.

Ángel Antonio, a local boatman who helped some residents evacuate their homes, said that floodwaters had claimed the lives of many people.

“There are a lot of dead people, [they] drowned. I saw them,” he told El Universal.

The official death toll in Tabasco from flooding stands at five but it appears likely that number will rise.

César Guadalupe Carrillo Sanchez, another resident of El Castaño, said Sunday that the town had been completely flooded for two days.

“It’s a situation that had never occurred in Macuspana,” he told El Universal while standing in waist-deep water.

“My neighbors and I are removing everything [from our homes], … We’re removing clothes and supplies, whatever we can.”

Carillo said that the only way to move about El Castaño was in a canoe or boat, adding that the roads into the community are cut off.

“This had never happened. I’m 47 years old, I’ve been living here for 40 years and this had never happened,” he said.

Residents said that they haven’t received any support from state or federal authorities and that they are fearful of snakes and crocodiles lurking in the floodwaters. Despite that fear, some residents have fled their homes swimming, El Universal said.

In Tepetitán, López Obrador’s home town, water has inundated homes after flowing over the top of sandbag walls that were erected in vain.

Other Macuspana communities where flooding has been reported include Nicolás Bravo, Álvaro Obregón, Puxcatán, Luis Donaldo Colosio, Josefa Ortiz and San Joseito. Flooding has also affected Villahermosa, where the Grijalva River burst its banks.

The federal Civil Protection service said late Sunday that the government was providing humanitarian assistance to more than 177,000 people affected by heavy rains in Tabasco, Chiapas and Veracruz. More than 141,000 of that number are in Tabasco.

The Civil Protection service also said that 58,877 homes have been damaged and that 220 roads and 20 bridges have been affected by flooding in the three states.

Civil Protection chief Laura Velázquez Alzúa said that 27 people had lost their lives due to the heavy rain – 22 in Chiapas and five in Tabasco. Several landslides have been reported in the former state.

She said that more than 8,000 people had sought refuge in 209 temporary shelters, 195 of which are in Tabasco.

Velázquez noted that rain is not forecast this week in areas currently affected by flooding. The forecast “allows us to take very important decisions to help people,” she said.

She said that thousands of civilian and military personnel from several government institutions are contributing to efforts to evacuate affected residents and deliver humanitarian aid.

López Obrador, who flew to Villahermosa on a military aircraft on Saturday, said that no one would be abandoned by the federal government.

He also said that the government will draw up a new plan to avoid future flooding in Tabasco. Rivers will be dredged and there will be greater control over the release of water from dams on the Grijalva River, López Obrador said.

The response to the flooding by Tabasco and federal authorities was criticized by federal Deputy Verónica Juárez Piña, who said that they acted too slowly.

The lawmaker, coordinator of the Democratic Revolution Party in the lower house of Congress, said the federal and state Morena party governments lacked foresight and coordination in their response.

Juárez also took aim at López Obrador for dissolving the disaster relief fund Fonden, one of 109 public trusts that were recently abolished.

Fonden, she said, ensured that funds for disaster relief were available and it was managed by officials with extensive experience in responding to natural disasters.

López Obrador and the ruling Morena party ignored the warnings about the adverse consequences that abolishing the fund would have, Juárez said.

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

Guerrero announces stricter Covid measures ahead of Christmas holidays

By

MND Staff

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November 9, 2020

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Stricter coronavirus restrictions designed to avoid a spike in case numbers as the Christmas holiday season approaches take effect Monday in Guerrero.

Announcing 12 new measures to slow the spread of the virus, Governor Héctor Astudillo said that if there is a large new outbreak, the state won’t be able to receive tourists over the Christmas/New Year period.

That would be a big blow for the economy in Guerrero, whose Pacific coast beaches in destinations such as Acapulco and Zihuatanejo are popular with tourists during the end of year holiday season.

The new measures are:

The use of face masks is mandatory in open-air and enclosed public spaces.
Shopping centers, supermarkets and nonessential stores must close between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
The sale of alcohol at convenience stores is banned after 8:00 p.m.
Pharmacies, hospitals, health centers, gas stations and funeral homes may operate 24 hours.
Citizens are prohibited from using their cars between 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Bars in open-air spaces and on rooftops must close by 11:00 p.m.
Bars in enclosed spaces, nightclubs/discos and casinos are not allowed to operate at all.
Open bar events are prohibited.
Restaurants must close between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
Movie theaters must close by 11:00 p.m.
Gyms must remain closed.
Events such as weddings and 15th birthday parties are only permitted in open air spaces and must conclude by 11:00 p.m.

Coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico as reported by day. milenio

The restrictions will remain in effect for at least two weeks.

Astudillo said that a survey of residents in municipalities with high numbers of coronavirus cases found that more than seven in 10 people are in favor of stricter restrictions being implemented.

Non-compliance with the face mask measure will not immediately be punishable but Guerrero authorities are analyzing the possibility of establishing sanctions such as fines for people not wearing masks in public spaces. They are also considering the possibility of closing beaches.

To encourage compliance with health measures among visitors, officials with the state Tourism Ministry are carrying out an awareness campaign at bus stations and hotels. They are also distributing face masks and antibacterial gel to tourists in popular destinations including Acapulco.

At Playa Icacos, a popular beach in the resort city, members of the National Guard along with tourist police and municipal officials have been urging tourists to wear face masks and refrain from consuming alcoholic beverages, the newspaper Milenio reported.

According to federal data, Guerrero has recorded 22,598 confirmed coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic, the 15th highest tally among Mexico’s 32 states. The federal Health Ministry estimates that there are currently 370 active cases in the southern state.

Guerrero’s official Covid-19 death toll is 2,219, the 15th highest total in the country.

Currently classified as “high” risk orange on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight system, Guerrero is one of several states that have recently announced tighter restrictions to control the spread of the virus.

Among the others where stricter rules have been introduced are Jalisco, Chihuahua, Durango and Mexico City.

Mexico’s national coronavirus case tally increased to 967,825 on Sunday with 5,887 new cases reported, while the official Covid-19 death toll rose to 95,027 with 219 additional fatalities registered.

Health Ministry Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomía said that Chihuahua, Durango, Aguascalientes, Mexico City, Coahuila, Querétaro and Zacatecas are all seeing a spike in new case numbers.

Mexico City, which easily leads the country for accumulated cases and Covid-19 deaths, currently has the largest active outbreak among the 32 states with an estimated 12,165 active cases.

On a per capita basis, Durango – one of two states currently painted red on the federal stoplight map – has the worst outbreak with 111.5 active cases per 100,000 residents.

Source: La Jornada (sp), Milenio (sp)

Guerrero farmers face some obstacles if they’re to switch to legal crops

By

Parker Asmann

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November 7, 2020

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Facing increased economic hardship, poppy-growing communities in southwest Mexico want to join a state program offering alternative projects, but this would only be a first step that cannot tackle all the complex issues campesinos are facing.

Hundreds of farmers spread across 19 communities in the Sierra poppy-growing region of Guerrero state allege that they were shut out of a government program — known as Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) — by an official because they “had not pacified the region,” the newspaper La Jornada reported.

Launched by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in early 2019, the government program arrived in Guerrero this year. It pays local community members 5,000 pesos (around US $240) per month to plant trees and cultivate legal harvests in an effort to move away from illicit crops. The goal is to improve living conditions for those in the countryside and stop environmental degradation.

However, the program has struggled to reach everyone in Guerrero’s Sierra. The farmers, who have banded together to form the Observatory for the Peace and Development of the Sierra (Observatorio por la Paz y el Desarrollo de la Sierra — OPDS), said officials have failed to even visit certain communities in the area, according to La Jornada.

“It is time for the government to support us; everything we have done is thanks to our efforts and from our own pockets, we have defended these forests without any support from the government,” farmer Norberto Verónica Jesús told the newspaper.

Farmers in Mexico’s poppy-growing region that stretches across the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa, as well as Guerrero and Nayarit, have been struggling lately. Most recently, this has been driven by a sharp drop in the price of opium gum — the raw ingredient cultivated to produce heroin — as well as a complex set of criminal, social and political factors.

InSight Crime analysis

No single government program alone could adequately address the difficulties poppy farmers are facing in Guerrero.

Farmers there have grown poppies for decades, but Sembrando Vida encourages them to move towards alternative crops, such as avocado and coffee, which are also ideal for the high elevation and soil type of the Sierra. But there are other roadblocks, including the logistical problems posed by the remoteness of the area.

“You have this fertile land in the Sierra, but how are you going to transport these crops? There aren’t any roads. One of the advantages of cultivating poppy is that you can transport the opium gum in a backpack, which is much easier logistically than other, legal crops,” Irene Álvarez, an investigator with Noria Research in Mexico, told InSight Crime.

Guerrero also suffers from extreme violence and is highly marginalized both socially and geographically. What’s more, political powers — whether criminal leaders or elected officials, which at times are one and the same — have historically relied on violence to establish order and maintain power, according to Romain Le Cour, the president of Noria Research.

“You can have a legal framework for certain economic activities, but you also need infrastructure to enter the market and the political will to reform power dynamics and make them less violent,” Le Cour told InSight Crime. “As we have seen in neighboring Michoacán, the avocado and lime industries are perfectly legal and highly functional, but are regulated with violence like illegal markets are.”

Indeed, the booming avocado industry has led to criminal groups extorting exorbitant amounts from farmers in Michoacán. Alternative crops set up in Guerrero could very likely face a similar response.

The Sembrando Vida program is an important first step, according to Vania Pigeonutt, a Mexican journalist and the founder and editor of Amapola Periodismo, but does not provide the long-term focus Guerrero needs.

“Communities here have cultivated poppy and marijuana for decades,” she told InSight Crime. “There is no quick fix and any proposed solution must also analyze the roots of the complex structural factors at play.”

Reprinted from InSight Crime. Parker Asmann is a writer with InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime.

Investigation clears Foreign Affairs official of charging for personal travel

By

MND Staff

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November 7, 2020

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Mexico’s chief North American trade negotiator has been cleared of allegations that he made improper use of travel allowances by flying to Hong Kong to visit family.

Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Jesús Seade traveled to Hong Kong five times between 2018 and 2020, apparently to visit his wife and other family members who live there.

But Seade, who charged the government more than 865,000 pesos (about US $42,000) for his travel, claimed that the trips were work-related.

The newspaper El Universal revealed last month that the Public Administration Ministry (SFP) was investigating the deputy minister for embezzlement and abuse of office after he allegedly lied in order to obtain funding for his trips to the Asian city.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) said in a statement Friday that the investigation had finished and that it found insufficient evidence to conclude that Seade had acted improperly.

It said that investigations “didn’t find sufficient evidence” to demonstrate that it was “probable ” that the official had committed an offense.

Seade posted a link to the SRE statement to his Twitter account but didn’t personally comment on the accusations he faced.

Seade led Mexico’s negotiating team in the latter stages of discussions with the United States and Canada aimed at reaching a new North American trade pact. The USMCA, as the agreement is known, took effect July 1.

The deputy minister was nominated as a candidate for director-general of the World Trade Organization but was eliminated from the race during a voting round in September.

Source: El Universal (sp)