US actor Danny Glover coproduced the film about narco violence.
Actors Danny Glover and Yalitza Aparicio and Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto presented the Mexican premiere of a Cannes Film Festival-winning movie on Wednesday night.
Directed by Salvadoran-Mexican Tatiana Huezo, Noche de Fuego – called Prayers for the Stolen in English – screened at Los Pinos Cultural Center, formerly the presidential residence.
Based on a book by American-Mexican author Jennifer Clement, the 110-minute film tells the story of three girls in the Guerrero Sierra who live amid a backdrop of gunshots and narcos, while they battle to maintain their innocence. It was awarded a special mention by the jury at this year’s Cannes festival.
At Wednesday night’s premier, Glover, a producer of the film, said it was exciting to be in Mexico to present Noche de Fuego, which translates literally into English as Night of Fire.
“Mexico has a rich history in cinematography, from the ’50s until more recent times,” said the 75-year-old actor best known for his role as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film series.
In an interview with the newspaper Milenio, Glover said he became interested in collaborating on Noche de Fuego because of its portrayal of strong women and girls.
“… I come from a family of great women … from my great-grandmother to my wife,” he said, describing them as passionate women capable of taking complicated decisions and changing the status quo.
“… I believe it’s important to elevate the role of women in order to save humanity,” Glover said.
“… I can’t wait for 13-year-old girls to see the film and to see themselves reflected in her story [that of the the lead character Laydi] because the powerful transformation of the protagonist is a very powerful message,” he said.
Aparicio, a Mixtec woman from Oaxaca who rose to fame after starring in the 2018 film Roma, said that movies such as Noche de Fuego help to shed light on important issues in Mexican society that “we must talk about.”
Along with Sin Señas Particulares ((rendered in English as Identifying Features) and La Civil, Huezo’s feature film is among a bunch of recent Mexican movies that explore themes of violence.
Aparicio was one of several celebrities who appeared on the red carpet at the film’s Mexican premiere, which attracted more than 1,000 people to an outdoor area of Los Pinos. The film begins screening in Mexican cinemas on Thursday.
A man believed to be the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Tijuana was arrested in the border city on Tuesday.
Edgar Pérez Villa, who uses the alias León Emmanuel Castillo and is known by the nicknames “Cuervo” and “Cabo 89,” was detained by Baja California police in the second section of the Las Huertas neighborhood.
A woman identified as Lucía N., who is believed to be Pérez’s partner, was also taken into custody.
According to information provided to the news magazine Zeta Tijuana, Pérez is the operational leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Tijuana and a former member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in the same city.
He’s considered one of the main instigators of violence in Tijuana, especially in the Sánchez Taboada district, which the newspaper El Universal recently described as “the most dangerous neighborhood in the country’s most dangerous city.”
Pérez and Lucía N. were traveling in a Toyota Corolla marked as a taxi when they were stopped by state police. Two children were also in the vehicle. They were placed in the care of authorities after the arrest of Pérez and Lucía N., who are presumably their parents.
Police seized one firearm and ammunition from the vehicle as well as approximately eight grams of methamphetamine.
Zeta Tijuana reported that Pérez has been previously detained for making threats and weapons offenses. He was wounded in a gunfight in Tijuana in 2017. Lucía N. was previously detained last year for drug trafficking.
Pérez reportedly started his cartel career as a member of a cell of the CJNG that operated in Sánchez Taboada and surrounding areas. The cell had an alliance with a criminal group called Los Cabos, to which Pérez also allegedly belonged.
Between 2017 and 2019, Pérez established and oversaw small-scale drug trafficking points before becoming involved in the smuggling of large quantities of narcotics into the United States. It is unclear when he took on the operational leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel in Tijuana but he was still allegedly involved with the CJNG until as recently as March this year.
Pérez has also been indicted in the United States. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in June that a superseding indictment and arrested warrants had recently been unsealed in a federal court against Mexican drug cartel enforcement leaders including Cabo 89 for “their alleged violent support of heroin and methamphetamine trafficking.”
Cabo 89 and at least three other men planned more than 150 murders in a period of 6 1/2 months, the majority of which took place in Tijuana, according to court filings in the United States.
“Los Cabos’s bloody reign of terror included the murder of two teenaged United States citizens in Tijuana in November 2018, the government alleges,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
If he is tried and convicted in the United States, Pérez could spend the rest of his life behind bars and be ordered to pay a fine of US $10 million.
Bus passengers from Nuevo León are vaccinated in Texas.
An additional 13,217 coronavirus cases were added to Mexico’s accumulated tally on Wednesday while the COVID-19 death toll rose by 896.
Mexico’s pandemic totals now stand at 3.54 million cases and 269,912 deaths. There are 83,834 estimated active cases across Mexico, a 1% decrease compared to Tuesday.
Tabasco’s per capita active case rate has dropped in recent days but it still ranks first among the 32 states with about 220 active cases per 100,000 people. Colima ranks second with a rate of just over 200 followed by Mexico City, where there are more than 150 active cases per 100,000 residents.
The only other state with a per capita active case rate above 100 is Yucatán. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Tuesday that the pandemic is on the wane in all 32 states.
In other COVID-19 news:
• Almost 93.6 million million vaccine doses have been administered after more than 827,000 shots were given Tuesday. The Health Ministry said that almost 61.2 million people have received at least one shot and 39.85 million are fully vaccinated.
Mexico City has the highest vaccination rate in the country with 92% of adults having had at least one dose. Querétaro ranks second with a rate of 91%, while the other 30 states have rates of between 46% and 86%, the Health Ministry said.
• A vaccination program that is taking residents of Nuevo León into the United States to get a shot expanded on Wednesday.
Nuevo León governor-elect Samuel García, the architect of the cross-border scheme, announced that bus trips to Mission, Texas, would begin Wednesday to complement the exiting route to Laredo.
He also said that the number of manufacturing sector workers vaccinated in the program, which began in the middle of last month, was expected to reach 20,000 on Wednesday.
“As of today we’ll be vaccinating between 2,000 and 2,500 workers per day in this program,” García said, adding that employees of 226 companies have joined the scheme.
A medical worker in Veracruz prepares a vaccine dose for children Wednesday morning, inoculations granted by court injunction.
Up until Wednesday, some 105,000 Nuevo León workers had requested to participate. García, who will take office in October, said that everyone has the right to get a shot and “we will find the way to vaccinate them.”
• Health authorities in Oaxaca reported 388 new cases across 88 municipalities on Tuesday. The figure is almost 300% higher than the tally for Monday.
Just over 46% of general care hospital beds in COVID wards are occupied in the southern state, according to federal data, while 43% of beds with ventilators are in use.
• Puebla and Tlaxcala have the highest occupancy rates in the country for general care beds, with just under 63% taken in each state. The only other states with rates above 60% are Nuevo León and Tabasco.
For beds with ventilators, Tabasco ranks first with a rate of 56.5% followed by Colima, where just under 56% of such beds are occupied.
Mariachis performing in Plaza Garibaldi in Mexico City. With the pandemic, paying customers have been few and far in between, the musicians say.
Mexico City’s mariachi musicians are more affected than most by the pandemic, losing a substantial portion of their income and scores of their colleagues since the virus reached Mexico early last year.
Despite the downturn in demand for their services, groups of musicians continue to make their way to Plaza Garibaldi – the capital’s mariachi mecca – night after night in search of paying customers celebrating events such as birthdays, anniversaries and engagements; mourning the loss of a family member of friend; or just looking for a good time.
But for the past 18 months, such people have been few and far between, especially compared to the heady days of pre-pandemic life.
Speaking to a reporter from the newspaper El Economista, a mariachi guitarist maintained his sense of humor. He joked that fewer people are coming to the square because all the musicians are wearing face masks and potential customers can’t see how handsome they are.
“They don’t come because you frighten them away, loco,” countered one of his fellow musicians.
Guadalupe Sánchez Bustamante, who began as a mariachi not long before the pandemic started, says she and others had to lower their prices due to lower demand.
Jokes aside, the pandemic has hit the iconic musicians hard. Guadalupe Sánchez, a female mariachi and single mother who began her career as a professional musician just a few months before the pandemic began, told El Economista that groups were forced to lower their prices last year to get would-be customers to part with their cash.
A song would go for 150 pesos (US $7.50) in pre-pandemic times, but mariachi groups – who commonly have to split their earnings between six or seven members – had to lower their prices to 120 pesos or even 100 pesos last year, she said.
Hour-long visits to play at people’s homes previously cost 2,500 or 3,000 pesos (US $125 to $150), but the going rate now is just 1,800, Sánchez added,
As for revelers in Plaza Garibaldi – which attracts Mexico City locals as well as interstate and international visitors – the numbers are up slightly compared to the peak of the coronavirus outbreak last year but still well below pre-pandemic times.
“[Things] are getting better little by little,” Sánchez said. “But look now: there’s nothing and nobody has hired us for the Fiestas Patrias,” she said, referring to the Independence Day holidays.
Fernando Carmona Coronel, a trumpeter, third-generation mariachi and leader of a musicians’ union, said mariachis intend to ask the Mexico City government to launch a promotional campaign for Plaza Garibaldi in order to attract more business.
“… We are intangible cultural heritage,” he said, referring UNESCO’s designation for mariachi musicians in 2011. “We have to preserve this tradition that is an essential part of the life of Mexicans.”
Carmona also indicated that his union will ask for the government’s help to offer better working conditions to musicians, who typically don’t have access to social security and other benefits afforded to formal sector workers.
“We hope things pick up on the 15th [of September],” one young mariachi told El Economista.
But even if large numbers of Mexicans do descend on Plaza Garibaldi and the bars around it to celebrate the 200th anniversary of independence from Spain, a dark cloud will still hang over the square. More than 100 mariachis have died from COVID-19, Carmona said.
Mariano Gutiérrez, a 40-year veteran of the Plaza Garibaldi mariachi scene, was luckier than some and managed to survive his bout with the disease.
“When I first got symptoms, I went to the health center and they sent me to a hospital and to get a test. I went and I tested positive, but as I wasn’t doing too badly, they sent me home. In the following days, I felt really bad. [I had] difficulty breathing more than anything,” said the 56-year-old violinist, who has given up singing due to the lingering effects of his illness.
In June 2020, things were so tough for the capital’s mariachis that 200 of them, like this woman, were invited to play in Plaza Garibaldi and receive care packages.
“[But] I thought, ‘This fucking disease isn’t going to stop me from reaching 50 years of [performing] music,’” Gutiérrez said, adding that he sought treatment that ended up costing him 20,000 pesos (US $1,000). “And I did well — because a relative who got sick spent more than 30,000.”
His resilience and positivity in the face of adversity amid a long and devastating pandemic are shared by many of his colleagues.
“It’s been very difficult, [but] we’re going to get through it,” Carmona said. “The music, the happiness of the people and even their sadness give us the energy to go on.”
Vicente Carillo Fuentes being escorted by federal police at the time of his arrest in Torreón, Coahuila, in 2014.
A drug trafficker whose name is synonymous with the Juárez Cartel was sentenced to 28 years in prison on Tuesday.
The federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said it obtained a sentence against Vicente Carillo Fuentes for the organized crime offenses of drug trafficking, operations with resources of illicit origin and the stockpiling of firearms.
Nicknamed “The Viceroy,” Carillo led the Juárez Cartel – also known as the Vicente Carillo Fuentes Organization – from 1997 until his arrest in 2014.
He is the brother of Amado Carillo Fuentes, a former drug lord known as “The Lord of the Skies” because of the large fleet of aircraft he used to transport drugs.
Carillo took control of the notoriously violent cartel after his brother died during a botched plastic surgery procedure.
While leading the Juárez Cartel, Carillo developed a complex financial structure to launder drug money.
He developed a complex financial structure to launder drug money while at the helm of the cartel, which grew quickly under the leadership of his brother and established itself as one of the most powerful and violent criminal organizations in the country.
Prior to his arrest in Torreón, Coahuila, in October 2014, a reward of up to US $5 million was on offer in the United States for information leading to his capture.
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) webpage, which states that Carillo is wanted in the United States for “conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to deliver,” remains online. It also says that the former police officer occasionally traveled to El Paso, Texas, the main entry point to the United States for drugs smuggled by the Ciudad Juárez-based cartel.
An indictment charging Carillo with running a criminal enterprise, firearms offenses, money laundering and other drug-related crimes was filed in a U.S. federal court in October 2019.
“According to the superseding indictment, between January 1990 and October 2014, Carrillo Fuentes was responsible for the importation into the United States, and distribution of, hundreds of tons of cocaine,” the DEA said at the time.
“To ensure the success of his cartel, he employed individuals to obtain transportation routes and warehouses to import and store narcotics, and sicarios, or hitmen, to carry out kidnappings and murders in Mexico to retaliate against rivals who threatened the cartel.”
Carillo took over the Juárez Cartel’s leadership in 1997 after his brother Amado Carillo Fuentes died in botched plastic surgery.
The DEA also said that Carillo and the Juárez Cartel were closely aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel, led by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, until 2004.
“Those cartels shared investments in drug shipments, transportation infrastructure and contacts with corrupt government officials to facilitate the transfer of drugs through Mexico. The millions of dollars generated from the drug sales were then transported back to Mexico,” it said.
The two cartels later engaged in a bloody turf war that weakened the Vicente Carillo Fuentes Organization and turned Ciudad Juárez into one of the most violent cities in the world.
Carillo was held in preventative custody after his 2014 arrest. In 2018, he was a signatory to a letter to federal authorities that complained about the high prices of snacks and other products in prisons.
His 28-year-sentence takes the years he has already spent in jail into account. The 58-year-old is currently being held in a federal prison in Oaxaca, according to media reports.
The Juárez Cartel remains active, but the power it wields is greatly diminished compared to its heyday under The Viceroy’s leadership.
Authorities cordoned off the area near the clandestine grave in Zacatecas. Cuartoscuro
Ten bodies with signs of torture were found on an abandoned rural property in Zacatecas Tuesday.
According to security sources the bodies were discovered in a clandestine grave. Police were acting on reports of criminal activity through an anonymous tip from a member of the public.
The property is located in the community of González Ortega, better known as Machines, located 18 kilometers from Zacatecas city. It is near a ranch owned by former governor Miguel Alonso Reyes.
The state government confirmed an investigation was underway. “At this time, the state Attorney General’s Office is carrying out the investigation to identify the bodies, in order to determine their sex, identity and cause of death,” it said in a statement.
According to the National Public Security System (SENSP), Zacatecas recorded the highest rate in the country of intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the first half of the year at 52.21.
Baja California was a close second with 51.3 followed by Colima with 40.89, Chihuahua with 38.73, and Guanajuato with 35.40.
The daily homicide report released by the federal government recorded 323 murders in Zacatecas from August 1-September 1o.
The state is in the midst of a territorial battle between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), although organized crime has not yet been implicated in this case.
Security officials reported Tuesday that they had destroyed six encampments and eight surveillance points used by organized crime groups in the nearby municipality of Jerez.
The newly inaugurated governor, David Monreal, addressed the wave of violence when he was sworn in on Sunday. He said violence had increased and that the state’s finances were in peril. “Public security is in its worst moment … the finances of municipalities are in disorder. Our state is dying,” he said.
In July of this year, residents of Aguililla, Michoacán, threw firecrackers and rocks at the local military base to demand that authorities take action against crime gangs. Cuartoscuro
The Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán is a war zone and the situation will worsen without federal intervention, according to attendees at a virtual conference organized by public policy think tank México Evalúa.
Jenny Pearce, a political scientist at the London School of Economics who specializes in Latin America, told Tuesday’s security-focused conference that she was extremely concerned about the situation in Tierra Caliente, a notoriously violent region of Michoacán that borders both Colima and Jalisco.
“… I’m hearing a lot from my friends in Tierra Caliente and … they’re suffering displacement, highway blockades [set up by organized crime groups], they can’t get food. It’s really a situation that I acknowledge as a state of war, it is war,” she said.
“The state ultimately has to take this problem seriously. I don’t see any progress if there is no federal policy against what is happening. It’s a war … [and] it needs an immediate response,” Pearce said.
Pearce also said there is an urgent need for humanitarian aid in the region and suggested that the intervention of international organizations is required.
Roberto Ramírez, Michoacán coordinator of the security-focused citizens’ organization México SOS, told the conference that municipal police forces must be strengthened in the region and their public security work must be supported by federal forces such as the army and National Guard.
He,and México Evalúa security program coordinator Romain Le Cour cited extortion as a significant problem in the region and Michoacán more broadly. The latter said the problem is prevalent in avocado, lime and banana-producing areas of the state.
Ramírez said that extortion is a problem in markets, noting that crime groups collect payments from stall holders in the municipality of Zamora.
Orlando Camacho, general director of México SOS, said federal intervention is needed to avoid an escalation of the conflict between the CJNG and the Cárteles Unidos.
“… There are very powerful and very violent actions by two … powerful criminal organizations that are giving their all to control the [Tierra Caliente] area,” he said.
Camacho said that civil society has to push the federal government and demand the intervention of federal forces.
“This is one of the things we have to achieve” in order to bring the problem under control, he said.
Jesús Iván Ríos and Sandra Villegas, who traveled four hours to attend the event, display their artisan wares. photos by Joseph Sorrentino
Every year on September 7 and 8, the Plaza de Concordia in San Pedro Cholula — one of the two municipalities that makes up the city of Cholula — turns into one large tianguis, the name for traditional Aztec markets.
Tianguis comes from the Náhuatl word, tiyanquiztli, which is translated as “an open-air market.” In Mexico, this type of market is often set up on streets and in parks but only on specific days of the week; typically it’s just once a week. But this particular tianguis only happens once a year.
Cholula is thought to be the oldest continuously occupied city in Mexico and is the site of Tlachihualtepetl, which by volume is the world’s largest pyramid. The tianguis here is believed to be one of the oldest in Mexico, dating back well into pre-Hispanic times, when the city was an important religious and commercial center.
On September 7 this year, the Plaza de Concordia was about half-full of shoppers and vendors selling crafts, produce and a variety of other items. The luscious smell of incense filled the air near some stalls.
Jesús Iván Ríos Pineda and Sandra Villegas Herrera drove four hours from Santa María Chigmecatitlán, a pueblo in the Mixteca region of Puebla that’s famous for making miniature figures from palm leaves.
Gabriel Morín, left, makes a successful swap at the trueque.
“The entire pueblo is dedicated to this artesanía [craft],” said Ríos. “There are people who make tiny figures from palm.” He spread an index finger and thumb apart about an inch to show the size. “Whatever figure one wants — a photographer, a doctor — they will make.”
In front of the couple sat figures of animals, baskets and people on bicycles. Some were made from palm, others from strips of plastic. Villegas was making small baskets from the plastic as she sat behind her wares.
Ríos said he can make about a dozen of the bicycle figures in a week, which he sells for 55 pesos each. “We sell at various fairs,” he said. “We move between different pueblos to sell and to survive.”
Because Santa María Chigmecatitlán is so far away and because he wanted to participate in the second day of the tianguis, Ríos said that they would sleep under the arches that ring one side of the plaza.
Adán Jiménez Hernández, from San Miguel Tenextatiloyan, Puebla, which is about a three-hour drive away, was selling his traditional ceramic pots a short distance from Ríos. He’s been coming to the tianguis for 30 years, “ever since I finished secundaria [middle school],” he said.
Last year, the pandemic canceled the event for the first time in its history. This year, Jiménez noticed that there are many fewer clients than in past years.
Before the pandemic, according to vendors, the plaza would have been jammed with people standing and moving shoulder-to-shoulder. Although it was still fairly crowded, officials were limiting the number of people they let in at a time.
On September 7, all items are paid for with cash, but on September 8, the tianguis turns into a trueque, defined as an exchange of goods. On that day, it becomes one large swap meet, a chance for people to barter for goods they want.
While the plaza was only partly filled with stalls and people on the first day, the adjacent parking lot, which had been closed to cars then, was filled on the second. Because of the ongoing pandemic, low metal gates surrounded the plaza this year and there were only two entrances, both manned by municipal officials taking temperatures, doling out hand gel and spritzing people with what was reportedly some sort of sanitizing liquid. Masks were required.
Ríos, who only took cash for his figures on the first day, was willing to exchange for goods on the second.
“It depends on what people bring,” he said. “If they bring beans, I will take that.” He pointed to some colorful flutes he was selling. “I exchanged one small flute for some seeds.”
Concepción Fernández Temich and her husband Santos Popoca García had a stand where they were selling nuts, seeds and vegetables.
“I think more people bring things to exchange than pay with money,” said Cristina Osorio Saloma, who brought to sell or trade seeds, nuts and roasted grasshoppers.
“Some people will exchange, some will pay with cash,” said Fernández. She was only looking for certain items. “I will exchange for food but not for things like clothing.”
Popoca said he was willing to consider other things. “Maybe I will exchange for a lamp or games for my grandchildren.”
A woman approached Fernández with several cloths with designs on them that could be embroidered. Fernández looked them over carefully, roughly calculating their worth before deciding to trade for a couple of them with a small bag of her vaina, a long, green vegetable pod. As the woman began to walk away, Fernández handed her an additional vaina.
Cristina Osorio Saloma’s small stand offered seeds, nuts and roasted chapulines (grasshoppers). “I think more people bring things to exchange than pay with money,” she said.
She prefers dispensa (exchange). “I will take clothing for me, for my family, for my children.”
During the trueque, people meandered throughout the plaza, looking over items and offering the ones they brought for exchange. “People can exchange anything: fruits, pots,” said Gabriel Morín. “I brought rice, oil and clothing.” He exchanged some of what he had brought for fruits and seeds.
Víctor Romero Silva was conducting a short survey for Puebla’s Ministry of Culture, and one of the questions was whether people were paying with cash or exchanging goods. “The results show it is about half and half,” he said.
The tianguis, and especially the trueque, are among the things that make San Pedro Cholula special. “This is something unique in Puebla,” said Silvia Zempoalteca, who brought rice and beans to exchange. “I have been coming all my life. It is fun to come and exchange things.”
“People come for tradition,” said Angélica Figueroa, who lives in San Andrés Cholula, the other municipality that makes up the city of Cholula. “That is why I come.”
There’s also a tradition that happens after people leave the trueque. “Many people will buy queso rancho [cheese from the ranch], cecina [dried beef] and nopales, then go home and make tacos with them. It is very common for people to come to the fair, buy these things and then prepare food for their family.”
Although people can bring virtually anything to exchange — bags of rice, cans of beans, clothing — it’s important that whatever is brought is of good quality. For example, used clothing is OK, but badly worn clothing isn’t.
“I think that people, myself included, want to help people in the trueque,” said Figueroa. “So I believe that people bring things that are in good condition. And the exchange should be more or less equal.”
Follow those two simple guidelines and the trueque will be a fun and interesting day (or two) out. And with luck, next year, the place will be jammed once again.
The president waves the flag during last year's ceremony.
Celebrations of “El Grito,” a symbol of the struggle for independence, will be heavily toned down on Wednesday in Mexico City due to COVID-19 restrictions despite this year being the two-century anniversary of the beginning of liberation from Spanish rule. The event was also heavily diluted in 2020 due to health considerations.
Traditionally, a large crowd congregates outside the National Palace and calls back to the president as he calls the names of the heroes of the independence movement, culminating in three cries of “Viva México!” or “Long live Mexico.”
President López Obrador confirmed Monday that the official ceremony will be an invitation-only event and that Mexico City’s central zócalo would remain empty. The capital is yellow on the government’s COVID-19 stoplight map.
However, the president assured that the commemoration would still take place, and that Mexicans could tune in on television. “El Grito means a lot … I assure you that in your homes most Mexicans will be able to participate, you will be able to see everything,” he said.
He added why the event carried political weight. “[Miguel] Hidalgo and [José María] Morelos sought, at the same time as independence, justice. Hidalgo proclaimed the abolition of slavery and Morelos wanted equality, for poverty and opulence to be moderated, so of course we are going to commemorate El Grito.”
Meanwhile, some state governments have decided to hold in person celebrations, the newspaper Milenio reported. Sinaloa, Durango, Campeche and Coahuila have all announced limited-capacity events. Campeche will allow a crowd of 2,000 people.
Some municipalities in Chiapas and Campeche will also allow limited crowds. In Puebla city, concerts will take place in the central square. At least 14 other states have completely canceled in person celebrations.
“El Grito” recalls the night of September 15, 1810 when Hidalgo, a priest from Dolores, Guanajuato, ordered the church bells to ring and urged people to fight their colonial rulers with the call to arms: “Long live Mexico!” Eleven years later Spain recognized Mexico’s independence through the Treaty of Córdoba.
Google's new Taste Mexico website offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the culture and history of Mexican food.
Google’s Arts & Culture department has published a visual and interactive project including thousands of photographs, illustrations, videos and articles to provide a comprehensive education on Mexican cuisine.
The encyclopedic Taste Mexico platform offers visitors the opportunity to “Learn the histories, meet the makers, and discover the secret ingredient of Mexico’s food culture” on a visually engaging website.
Users can browse through articles to learn the brief history of corn, gain insight on Mexican coffee culture, or examine a 19th century Mexican food market.
The platform provides an education on Mexican culture, including indigenous and regional traditions. It links to Google Street Maps in a “Now walk it off” section to highlight some of the country’s most beautiful cities, such as Puebla and Guanajuato. Lesson plans are also provided for teachers or parents to use as educational materials.
Luisella Mazza, head of Google Arts & Culture, said collaboration was key to the success of the project. “We aim to preserve the culture and show it around the world through Taste Mexico, one of Google’s largest projects, with more than 200 digital stories curated by more than 30 cultural institutions, who had the enthusiasm to share their own vision of Mexican gastronomy,” she said.
A chef at the Mexico City restaurant Dulce Patria, Martha Ortiz, said she was thrilled with Google’s efforts. “I love seeing this whole display. There are ingredients that make life complete and foundational recipes. If cuisine is history, if cuisine is memory, flavor and culture, I think this is one of the best platforms to show it,” she said.
Head of Google in Mexico, Julian Coulter, said the company is committed to improving lives through technology. “We want to help Mexicans take advantage of technology so that young people can consolidate their education, entrepreneurs can grow their businesses and so that all Mexicans can be better off,” he said.
