In a surprise move, US agrees to drop charges against ex-defense minister

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November 18, 2020

Former army chief Salvador Cienfuegos will return to Mexico.

A month after former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos was arrested on drug trafficking and money laundering charges, United States and Mexican authorities announced Tuesday that the U.S. Justice Department was seeking dismissal of the charges so that the ex-army chief could be investigated in Mexico.

A federal judge in New York agreed to the request to drop the charges on Wednesday morning, saying there was no evidence or suspicion that Mexico won’t conduct an investigation into Cienfuegos’ alleged crimes.

Announced in a joint statement by United States Attorney General William Bar and his Mexican counterpart Alejandro Gertz Manero, the decision to release Cienfuegos, defense minister in the 2012-2018 government led by former president Enrique Peña Nieto, is both extraordinary and unexpected given that U.S. authorities spent years building a case against the ex-military official and have previously shown little faith in the Mexican justice system.

“In recognition of the strong law enforcement partnership between Mexico and the United States, and in the interests of demonstrating our united front against all forms of criminality, the U.S. Department of Justice has made the decision to seek dismissal of the U.S. criminal charges against former [minister] Cienfuegos, so that he may be investigated and, if appropriate, charged, under Mexican law,” Barr and Gertz Manero said in the statement.

They also said that the U.S. Justice Department has provided evidence in the case to Mexico and “commits to continued cooperation … to support the investigation by Mexican authorities.”

The statement noted that the Mexican Attorney General’s Office (FGR) opened its own investigation after learning of the charges against Cienfuegos but the Mexican government has not committed to trying the former defense minister even though U.S. prosecutors say that the evidence against him is “strong.”

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told a press conference Tuesday that Cienfuegos would be returned to Mexico “as a Mexican citizen” and will not be facing any criminal charges. He stressed that the agreement allowing the the 72-year-old former army chief to be investigated in Mexico was not representative of impunity but rather “respect for Mexico and its armed forces.”

Ebrard said it will ultimately be up to the FGR to determine whether Cienfuegos will face trial. He said late last month that Mexico had expressed its “profound discontent” to the United States over not being informed about the plan to arrest the ex-official, and the federal government lobbied the United States to allow him to face justice here.

According to the U.S. indictment, Cienfuegos as defense minister helped the H-2 Cartel, a splinter group of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, operate in Mexico and ship drugs to the United States, and conspired to launder the money he obtained from his involvement in the illicit activities. The case against him was largely based on thousands of incriminating Blackberry smartphone messages intercepted by United States authorities.

Cienfuegos pleaded not guilty to the charges earlier this month.

The decision to release the former army chief and allow him to return to Mexico “appeared to be an attempt to repair a growing breach in relations over Cienfuegos’s arrest,” The Washington Post said.

Cienfuegos and his former boss, Enrique Peña Nieto.

The arrest of the former defense minister was deeply embarrassing for the Mexican government, which holds the military up as one of the country’s most trustworthy institutions. It upset a bilateral relationship that has been punctuated with episodes of acrimony since United States President Donald Trump took office in early 2017.

President López Obrador, who is relying on the military for a wide range of tasks including public security and infrastructure construction, suggested that Cienfuegos might have been arrested “for political or other reasons” and accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of “meddling” in Mexico’s affairs.

The Post reported that prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York attributed the decision to drop charges against Cienfuegos to the Mexican government’s threats to limit the role of the DEA in Mexico. The newspaper said that information came from a law enforcement official familiar with the case, adding that a Mexico official confirmed that the DEA could be barred from entering Mexico.

For their part, Barr and Gertz Manero said the United States and Mexico remain committed to “bilateral law enforcement cooperation.”

“As the decision today reflects, we are stronger when we work together and respect the sovereignty of our nations and their institutions. This close partnership increases the security of the citizens of both our countries.”

Alejandro Hope, a prominent Mexican security analyst, said that if the United States hadn’t agreed to drop the case against Cienfuegos, “the army would have held off on any kind of cooperation with the U.S. for a decade.”

Mike Vigil, a former DEA chief of international operations, said that the U.S. decision “is nothing more than a gift, a huge gift” from Trump to López Obrador. The two men have developed a warm relationship despite their ideological differences and the former’s history of aggressive and offensive rhetoric toward Mexico.

Vigil also said that “the chances of Cienfuegos being convicted in Mexico are slim to none,” adding that the U.S. decision “sends a very negative message to U.S. law enforcement agencies – that Donald Trump is willing to politically manipulate judicial proceedings.”

The decision represents a radical change of direction given that the United States government has sought to extradite Mexican drug traffickers and try them in its own courtrooms for decades because it believed that they would never be brought to justice in Mexico.

But the Trump administration is apparently willing to put that belief to one side in order not to upset the Mexican government – another radical shift given that the U.S. president is not known for his amiability toward Mexico.

In a filing asking a judge to dismiss the charges against Cienfuegos, U.S. prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration had come to the conclusion that preserving the relationship with Mexico was more important than pursuing the case.

“The United States has determined that sensitive and important foreign policy considerations outweigh the government’s interest in pursuing the prosecution of the defendant, under the totality of the circumstances, and therefore require dismissal of the case,” they wrote.

Ebrard rejected any suggestion that the United States’ actions were related to López Obrador’s decision not to congratulate Joe Biden on his election victory over Trump.

At his news conference on Wednesday morning, López Obrador asserted that there would be no impunity in the Cienfuegos case. He also said that Mexico had not committed to giving anything to the U.S. in exchange for it dropping the charges.

“There’s no exchange, we don’t establish commitments that affect our principles. … It doesn’t mean impunity, … an investigation has started, it started when they sent us the evidence,” López Obrador said.

He said the government expressed its anger to the United States about not being informed about the plan to arrest Cienfuegos because the U.S. violated a years-old agreement to provide such information.

The managing editor of InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime in Latin America, expressed doubt that Cienfuegos would be tried in a civilian court.

“[AMLO’s] prosecutors are going to have to weigh up what the evidence against Cienfuegos is and whether it is strong enough to warrant a very public trial, against the loyalty of the army and how much he wants to keep the army onside,” Chris Dalby said.

“Cienfuegos has a lot of friends in high places.”

It is also likely that Mexican courts will be unable to try Cienfuegos on much of the evidence collected by U.S. authorities.

The interception of the former defense minister’s telephone communications was not authorized by a Mexican judge and therefore the incriminating Blackberry messages were illegally obtained and will be inadmissible in court, wrote Carlos Marín, a columnist with the newspaper Milenio.

He also said the government could legally detain Cienfuegos in a military prison or place him under house arrest for up to 40 days while an investigation takes place. However, it appears more likely that he will be not be arrested upon arrival in Mexico.

The “possibility that Cienfuegos will remain free, at least for some time,” said The Washington Post, is “a symbol to some of the Mexican government’s ability to play hardball with the United States — and win.”

Source: The Washington Post (en), Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp), The Guardian (en)

State of dams is unknown due to lack of money and personnel

By

MND Staff

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November 17, 2020

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The Álvaro Obregon dam on the Yaqui River — The Álvaro Obregón dam on the Yaqui River in Sonora was built in 1952.

The inspection frequency of Mexico’s dams doesn’t come close to meeting international standards.

Dams with structural problems or those that haven’t been properly maintained have the potential to leak and/or accidentally discharge large quantities of water that could pose a risk to human life, property and the environment.

The risk in Mexico is even greater because the National Water Commission (Conagua) only carries out about one-sixth the recommended number of dam inspections per year due to a lack of personnel and resources.

The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the sharing of information and knowledge about the design, construction, maintenance, and impact of large dams, recommends that dams be thoroughly inspected at least every five years.

There are 6,256 dams in Mexico’s network, meaning that Conagua would have to complete about 1,250 inspections per year to comply.

But it only completes about 200 inspections annually due to a lack of specialized staff, the newspaper El Universal reported.

In other words, the state of 6,000 dams is unknown by Conagua in any given year and the condition of more than 5,000 is unknown over a five-year period.

Lack of money is another obstacle to complying. The federal government launched a dam assessment program to be managed by Conagua in 2010 but it hasn’t received any funding for years.

Another program known as K111 whose objective is to maintain and modernize dams – some of which were built in colonial times and the 19th century – is set to have its budget cut by almost a third next year. The program was allocated 465.9 million pesos (US $23 million) this year but is slated to receive just 320 million pesos in 2021, a 32.4% cut.

The fact that the recommended number of dam inspections are not being carried out is particularly concerning given that extreme weather events such as hurricanes are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

As a result, Mexico’s dams, especially those in the south and southeast of the country, are coming under intense pressure from torrential rains more frequently.

Conagua has acknowledged that the risk of dam malfunction due to severe weather events is “permanent.” It has also recognized that earthquakes, landslides and vandalism have damaged dams in Mexico.

But without the funding and personnel to inspect a greater number of dams, it is inevitable that some problems won’t be detected.

The state of dams and their management is currently in the spotlight due to severe flooding in Tabasco.

Governor Adán Augusto López Hernández has blamed much of the flooding on the excessive release of water from the Peñitas dam, which was recently inundated with rain brought by two cold fronts and Tropical Storm Eta.

He accused the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) of releasing the water from the dam, which is located on the Grijalva River in Chiapas and used to generate hydroelectric power.

But CFE chief Manuel Bartlett last week denied that the state-owned company is responsible for the flooding, saying that Mexico’s Committee of Large Dams – made up of Conagua officials and university academics – manages dam water.

Source: El Universal (sp)

5,000 people who signed petition on referendum were actually dead

By

MND Staff

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November 17, 2020

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'Do you want Salinas, Peña and Calderón to go to jail?' reads the sign seeking signatories for the petition — 'Do you want Salinas, Peña and Calderón to go to jail?' reads the sign seeking signatories (dead or alive).

Deceased critics of past presidents aren’t just turning in their graves – they’re also signing petitions.

The National Electoral Institute (INE) reported that 5,530 dead people were listed as signatories on a petition calling for a referendum that would ask citizens if past presidents should face justice for crimes they allegedly committed while in office.

Some of the deceased signatories died as far back as 1999, the INE said in a statement, adding that their names were likely taken from out of date electoral rolls.

The INE said the signatures of more than 400,000 other people were not counted for a range of reasons.

Among them: their electoral registration wasn’t current; they don’t appear on the electoral roll at all; they appeared on the petition twice; their political rights had been suspended because they’re in jail; and/or their personal details were deemed to be irregular.

The INE also said it visited the listed addresses of 850 signatories and was able to speak to 597 of them. Of the latter, 480 people confirmed that they had supported the petition but 117 said they had not.

All told, more than 2.5 million signatures appeared on the petition but only 2.1 million were deemed to be valid.

The latter number nevertheless represented more than 2% of everyone on the electoral roll, giving the petition enough signatures to ensure that the process to hold a referendum will proceed.

President López Obrador sent a request to the Senate in September to approve a national consultation in which citizens would be asked whether the five most recent former presidents should be held legally accountable for crimes they allegedly committed while in office.

Both the upper and lower houses of Congress subsequently approved the request.

The referendum proposal got the green light from the Supreme Court (SCJN) in early October, although it ruled that a consultation question cannot name the past presidents. Instead it must only refer to them as “political actors,” the court said.

Government critics have slammed the move to hold a referendum, saying that if there is evidence of wrongdoing by past presidents they should be prosecuted regardless of public opinion. Many said the SCJN decision serves as evidence that the president has co-opted the nation’s highest court.

Although he frequently blames past presidents for all manner of problems faced by Mexico, López Obrador has said that he won’t personally vote in favor of prosecuting his predecessors because he favors looking to the future rather than dwelling on the past.

By law the national referendum should take place in August but there is speculation that López Obrador will push for it to be run concurrently with the midterm elections next June. If the consultation is held on the same day as the elections, there will be increased focus on government corruption, which the current government says it is eliminating.

That could help López Obrador’s Morena party at the elections, at which citizens will vote for new federal deputies as well as municipal and state representatives.

The president could seek to justify holding the referendum on the same day as the elections by saying that it will save money.

The INE has estimated the vote will cost nearly 1.5 billion pesos, or US $74 million.

Source: Milenio (sp)

After long weekend crowds, more beach closures possible in Acapulco

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MND Staff

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November 17, 2020

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The mayor of Acapulco has suggested that beaches could be closed for the rest of November after hordes of tourists descended on the resort city over the Revolution Day long weekend.

Adela Román Campo said in an interview that the closure of Acapulco’s beaches was a possibility, explaining that such a move might be needed to ensure that the city can welcome visitors during the Christmas/New Year holiday period.

The mayor said she would personally push for beaches to be closed for the remainder of November but noted that she would have to follow federal and state guidelines.

Román said that many people don’t wear face masks or maintain a healthy distance from each other while on vacation in Acapulco, which leads Guerrero for both confirmed coronavirus cases and Covid-19 deaths.

Plenty of such behavior was on display last weekend as approximately 70,000 tourists from Mexico City and states including Puebla, México state and Morelos let their hair down in the Pacific coast resort city.

Many of Acapulco’s most popular beaches were packed on Saturday and Sunday and hotel occupancy across the city was just below the permitted 50%. Eleven establishments were shut down because they were not following health measures, the newspaper El Universal reported, and authorities intervened to stop a wedding at which 300 guests were expected to be in attendance.

Governor Héctor Astudillo said Monday that visitor numbers in Acapulco over the weekend exceeded authorities’ expectations.

The influx of tourists occurred despite the state’s implementation of stricter coronavirus restrictions at the start of last week.

Announcing 12 new measures to slow the spread of the virus, Astudillo said that if there is a large new outbreak, the state wouldn’t be able to receive tourists over the end of year holiday season – the same concern raised by the Acapulco mayor on Monday.

That would be a big blow for the economy in Guerrero, whose beaches in destinations such as Acapulco and Zihuatanejo are popular with tourists during winter.

The southern state, currently “high” risk orange on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map, has recorded 23,030 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, 44% of which were detected in Acapulco. Guerrero has recorded 2,312 Covid-19 deaths, approximately half of which occurred in the Pacific coast resort city.

Acapulco’s hospitals came under intense pressure earlier in the pandemic, prompting Mayor Román to say that she was “deeply concerned” about the situation and urging people to take the virus seriously.

Meanwhile, the national accumulated case tally increased to 1,009,396 on Monday with 2,874 new cases reported by the federal Health Ministry. The official death toll rose to 98,861 with 319 additional fatalities registered.

Both the case tally and death toll are widely believed to be significant undercounts, mainly due to Mexico’s low testing rate.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Tanker truck driver not responsible for crash: witness

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 17, 2020

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A witness of the horrific accident in Jala, Nayarit, Monday in which a double tractor-trailer carrying propane gas rolled over and exploded says the accident was not caused by the truck driver, as was reported, but by another driver who cut in front of the tanker.

The explosion killed 14 people, 12 of them instantly while in their vehicles on the Tepic-Guadalajara highway. They were burned beyond recognition.

The body of one victim was found on the highway, presumably ejected from a vehicle, possibly the tanker truck, and later died. Local media reported Tuesday that a 31-year-old woman survived the initial crash but later died at a nearby hospital from burns.

Authorities have not identified the cause of the accident but speculated that brake failure on the part of the tanker truck, which was from Torreón, Coahuila, may have been responsible. They also believe that the truck initially collided with another vehicle on the highway, leading to a chain-reaction accident involving the other two cars.

But Jared Grymaloski, who was driving from Guadalajara at the time of the accident, told Mexico News Daily that he witnessed a car cutting off the tanker truck as it attempted to leave an off-ramp that turned out to be closed. When the car, a small white SUV, tried to re-enter the highway, the tanker truck was unable to stop in time, he said.

Said Grymalowski of the tanker truck driver, “He was just minding his own business.”

According to media reports, the off-ramp to Jala was closed at the time of the accident due to construction.

Just before the accident, Grymaloski said, he and his wife had been traveling behind the SUV and another vehicle. Both had been traveling at about the same speed with them for about 40 kilometers.

Just before the Jala exit the SUV had pulled ahead of the tanker and exited on the off-ramp. But realizing that the ramp was closed the driver tried to re-enter the freeway, Grymaloski said.

“The tanker driver saw what the white SUV was doing and locked his brakes up — a lot of smoke — and tried to swerve to the left but clipped the white SUV and then caught the red car that was trying to cut in front of the truck and literally drove over the top of the right front hood, which flipped the truck onto its passenger-door side,” Grymalowski said.

The tanker truck’s two trailers then began to jackknife and “wrapped around the red car and then burst into flames.”

“We had slowed right down, as we thought we might help the injured,” he added, “and then the fire started toward us; we got out of there pretty fast.”

Mexico News Daily

French designer apologizes for copying Purépecha designs

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 17, 2020

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Purépecha weaver Domitila Basilio Galván at work.

The house of fashion designer Isabel Marant has issued a statement apologizing to Mexico and the indigenous groups whose traditional design patterns she used without acknowledgement in her latest winter-fall clothing collection.

Earlier this month, Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto Guerrero wrote an open letter to the French designer, questioning her use of indigenous designs in her clothing, citing in particular a Marant cape that Frausto said featured stolen design patterns long associated with the Purépecha of northwestern Michoacán.

The cape is featured on Marant’s clothing website for 490 euros (US $580).

Frausto also charged that the collection used designs belonging to other indigenous people in México state, Tlaxcala, San Luis Potosí and Oaxaca.

“I ask you, Ms. Isabel Marant, to publicly explain on what grounds you privatize a collective property, making use of cultural elements whose origin is fully documented,” Frausto wrote.

Marant’s design house initially claimed that the designer was simply paying tribute to the indigenous communities of Mexico, a country with which the designer said she was well familiar. It also said that Marant’s brand is firmly oriented toward highlighting traditional cultures around the world, and that the collection reinterprets indigenous patterns as a way of “valorizing and highlighting” the mix of cultures generally.

However, the latest company statement said that Marant had been “enormously saddened” that her focus on indigenous patterns had been perceived as cultural appropriation, and that the designer had wanted “to promote a craft and pay tribute to the aesthetic to which it is linked.”

Future Marant designs, the statement went on to say, would “pay tribute to our sources of inspiration.”

Frausto, who made public Marant’s statement of apology, said that while she recognized the importance of Marant’s apology, it was the indigenous communities themselves who would decide whether to accept it.

She also invited Marant to Mexico to visit the peoples whose designs she had used, to learn their languages and “their worldview represented in the language of each piece,” as well as the time and money that the indigenous makers had invested in their work.

Sources: Infobae (sp), AFP (en)

Waist deep or more in water, Tabasco communities continue waiting for aid

By

MND Staff

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November 17, 2020

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Residents of Caparroso, chest deep in floodwaters.

Residents of flooded communities in Tabasco are criticizing the federal government for choosing to flood poor areas of the state in order to save Villahermosa, and denouncing the failure of authorities to provide humanitarian aid in a timely manner.

President López Obrador said Sunday that the government diverted water to low-lying, poor areas of Tabasco by closing a sluice in a river that runs through the state capital.

The decision – completely at odds with López Obrador’s oft-repeated maxim,“For the good of all, the poor come first” – caused severe flooding in the municipalities of Jalpa, Nacajuca and Centla. One community that was hit particularly hard was Caparroso, located in Centla.

Homes were flooded and crops were destroyed, leaving the community’s many farmers without a source of income. Days after the flooding started, residents still hadn’t received any assistance, the newspaper El Universal reported Tuesday.

Caparroso local Magali Méndez condemned the government’s decision to give preferential treatment to Villahermosa as the state struggled to cope with heavy rains brought by two cold fronts and a tropical storm.

“Nos refundieron en el agua por Villahermosa”

Watch this video on YouTube

“This was a bad decision. [López Obrador] saved Villahermosa but the water ruined us,” she said. “They support those in the center [of the state], those who have money, and they never help the poor.”

Jackeline Valencia Ávalos, another Caparroso resident, also denounced the government’s decision.

“It’s a decision that the president took but he didn’t stop to think about us; as citizens we ask [the authorities] to support us … we haven’t received anything – that they haven’t even give us a single food package is unfair,” she said.

Floodwaters are so high in Caparroso, El Universal reported, that it is impossible for short people to venture outside their homes because they would be completely immersed. Residents also fear that snakes and crocodiles are lurking in the floodwaters.

To purchase supplies such as food, water and medicines, residents need a boat and a lot of strength to row through the murky waters, the newspaper said, adding that some people without their own means of aquatic transportation have had to pay their neighbors to take them to stores.

People are constantly monitoring the floodwaters for any signs that they are rising, fearful that their homes could be completely submerged.

Hundreds of other communities across Tabasco, where more than 300,000 people have been affected by recent flooding, face similar situations.

Although flooding was avoided in the city center of Villahermosa, some neighborhoods were inundated with water after the Grijalva River burst its banks last week.

A resident of Gaviotas Sur, one of the affected neighborhoods, staged a unique protest on Monday to condemn the delay in getting government assistance to flood victims.

In front of the government palace in Villahermosa, William Morales Alejo, a former municipal official who represented Gaviotas Sur, allowed another man to whip him some 20 times on his shirtless back.

Before he was subjected to the painful treatment, Morales accused the army, the National Water Commission (Conagua) and Civil Protection authorities of abandoning Villahermosa residents affected by the flooding.

“Thousands of families were left trapped; they didn’t even take them a can of tuna,” he said.

[wpgmza id=”268″]

“It was only the day before yesterday when the president came that the army started to distribute [supplies] in areas where the water went up to people’s ankles, [but not in areas where flooding was worse]. It’s not fair,” Morales said.

“I don’t know if this government lacks humanity but it’s not okay that … [López Obrador] sells a discourse at his morning press conferences that everything’s going well in Tabasco; it’s a lie – it’s day 12 [of the floods] and only yesterday help started to arrive.”

Meanwhile, Conagua director Blanca Jiménez came under fire on social media after she said in an interview that Tabasco residents have to be prepared to deal with flooding because “aquí les tocó vivir.”

Her use of the phrase, which roughly translates as “this is where you have the misfortune of living” was condemned as insensitive by many social media users.

Memo Arias, a newspaper columnist in Tabasco, was among those who criticized Jiménez.

Instead of telling people to prepare for recurrent floods, the Conagua chief should get to work on flood prevention projects in Tabasco, he wrote on Twitter.

Beds are raised above water level to allow people to sleep.

The previous federal government pledged to spend almost 20 billion pesos on such projects but only ended up spending 14% of that amount, while the current government has only budgeted 90 million pesos to build flood prevention infrastructure in 2021.

Source: El Universal (sp), Sopitas (sp), Reforma (sp)

Citizens dig trenches across highways in effort to thwart CJNG attacks

By

MND Staff

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November 17, 2020

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Trenches across highways are citizens' defensive strategy.

In an attempt to prevent Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) hitmen from entering their communities and attacking them, residents of two municipalities in western Michoacán have taken defensive measures by digging trenches across highways.

Residents of Coalcóman and Tepalcatepec, neighboring municipalities that border Jalisco, cut road access at La Limonera and La Pinolapa, the newspaper Milenio reported.

Dug with heavy machinery, the trenches prevent vehicles from traveling through the two municipalities to Jalisco and the Michoacán coast.

According to residents, CJNG gunmen have entered several communities in armored vehicles over the past week and launched attacks directed at their adversaries, among which is a group known as Carteles Unidos.

Residents say that the CJNG – usually considered Mexico’s most powerful and dangerous criminal organization – has taken control of several communities in the Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán.

The decision to dig the trenches came after members of a CJNG cell set fire to 11 vehicles last weekend in the Coalcóman community of Puerto de las Cruces, apparently to stop the entry of security forces from Jalisco after a cartel ambush.

Residents say the CJNG has been bringing weapons and people into Michoacán via Puerto de las Cruces, which adjoins the Jalisco municipality of Pihuamo.

The weapons and cartel personnel are taken through Coalcóman to a community in the municipality of Aguililla where the CJNG has a base, according to residents.

Aguililla was the scene of a cartel ambush just over a year ago that left 14 state police officers dead. The attack is believed to have been perpetrated by the CJNG.

Community authorities told the newspaper El Universal that the cartel was also responsible for an ambush last Friday that wounded three state police. The attack occurred on the Tepalcatepec-Coalcomán highway near the community of Los Aguacates.

As a result of the recent cartel violence in the region, about 200 families decided to abandon their homes and seek refuge in safer locations. Some are reportedly planning to leave Michoacán to travel to the northern border and seek asylum in the United States.

One of 11 vehicles set on fire by a Jalisco cartel cell in western Michoacán.

Some teenagers have fled their towns out of fear that the CJNG will attempt to recruit them forcibly, El Universal reported.

Authorities have identified a man nicknamed “El Negrito” as well as Miguel Fernández, aka “El M2,” as the main instigators of the violence in western Michoacán municipalities on or near the Jalisco border. El Negrito is believed to be the leader of a CJNG cell while Fernández is the suspected plaza chief in Aguililla.

El Universal reported that there is video footage of the former executing presumed members of rival groups in cold blood. The newspaper also said that there is footage of CJNG members setting residents on fire as a form of torture to obtain information from them about rival criminal groups.

Formed about a decade ago, the Jalisco cartel is led by Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, Mexico’s most wanted drug lord. It is notorious for violence and making videos that show off its significant firepower.

Oseguera hails from a town in Aguililla, and violence in and around the municipality last year was reportedly linked to his desire to move home.

The kingpin, rumored to be suffering from kidney disease, is also wanted in the United States, where a US $10-million reward is on offer for information that leads to his arrest.

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

Gas truck explosion kills 13 on Tepic-Guadalajara highway

By

Michelle Aguilar

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November 16, 2020

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Site of the explosion Monday morning in Nayarit.

Thirteen people are dead after the driver of a tractor-trailer carrying propane on the Tepic-Guadalajara highway lost control and rolled over, crashing into another car and causing a chain-reaction accident that involved two other passenger vehicles before it exploded.

The explosion took place around 8:30 a.m. near the Nayarit municipality of Jala. Authorities said the explosion had a reach of about two hectares.

The Nayarit Attorney General’s Office said that 12 of the 13 victims never escaped their cars and were instantly killed by the explosion and burned beyond recognition.

One victim was initially taken to a hospital in Tepic. Authorities speculated that it was someone in the gas truck, either the driver or a passenger.

The bodies were taken to forensic authorities for identification and investigation.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Lentils make for a cheap, unassuming start to some highly flavorful meals

By

Janet Blaser

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November 16, 2020

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Lentils make a good blank canvas for the intense flavors in Mexican cuisine.

Although I’ve seen lentils in mercados all over Mexico, it never occurred to me till now to wonder what their place was in traditional Mexican cuisine. Turns out there are lots of unique lenteja recipes.

In some states, lentil dishes replace meat during Catholic holidays; in others, they’re paired with chorizo or poblano peppers, nopales or pork. My sense is that Mexican cooks like lentils for the same reasons I do: they’re cheap, easy and quick to cook.

They’re also a nice blank canvas for Mexico’s smorgasbord of chile peppers, spices, herbs and distinctive local ingredients.

Mexico is one of the top 20 lentil-producing countries in the world, with the majority grown in Michoacán and Guanajuato. There’s such a demand for lentils here, though, that thousands of tonnes are imported each year, mostly from Canada.

The most commonly found are green lentils, which come in two sizes: the smaller, or “French,” lentils cook faster and are a bit darker in color. There are also brown, yellow and red lentils. You can buy lentejas in bulk in your local mercado or packaged at any grocery store. Always remember to wash and sort through them in case there are any pebbles!

Lentils are grown in Mexico but are so popular, they're also imported. — Lentils are grown in Mexico but are so popular, they’re also imported.

Lentejas Oaxaqueñas

Traditionally served during Lent, this is an unusual, delicious combination of smoky lentils, sweet pineapple and plantains.

¾ cup lentils
4 cups water
4 cloves garlic, halved
1 white onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 ripe plantain, peeled and chopped
1 fresh pineapple OR one (10 oz.) can unsweetened pineapple slices, cut into chunks
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
¼ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. allspice
1 tsp. salt

Put lentils, 1 tsp. minced garlic, half of the chopped onion and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer about 20 minutes or until lentils are tender but not mushy. Drain and reserve liquid.Heat oil in large saucepan. Sauté remaining onion and garlic until onion is soft. Add plantain, pineapple and tomatoes; cook, stirring, until plantains are soft, 15-25 minutes. Add lentils, spices and salt and some of the reserved cooking liquid. Continue cooking until mixture thickens a little; add more cooking liquid or vegetable or chicken broth so dish has a thick, stew-like consistency. Serve over rice.

Lentil Soup with Nopales

½ cup lentils, rinsed
6 cups water
½ lb. fresh nopal, diced
Salt to taste
1 green onion, quartered
½ pound tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 jalapeño, minced
1 cup chicken stock
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Bring lentils and water to boil in large pot, lower heat and cook until lentils are mushy. Separately boil nopal with salt and the green onion until tender. Drain, discard onion and rinse the nopal.

Blend tomatoes and garlic to make a purée and set aside. Heat oil in small skillet, add onion and jalapeño; cook until softened. Add tomato/garlic purée; cook until almost dry and then add to lentils along with stock and nopal. Cook, covered, for 20 minutes on low heat. Stir in cilantro. Serve with warm tortillas or bolillos. – The Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy

Lentil Burgers

¾ cup lentils, washed
1¾ cups plus 1 Tbsp. vegetable broth or water
2 tsp. olive oil
½ onion, minced
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt
8 oz. fresh baby spinach leaves, chopped fine
2 big cloves garlic, minced
Salt & pepper
½ tsp. ground cumin
1 cup breadcrumbs
½ cup pecans, toasted, finely chopped

Bring lentils and 1¾ cup of broth to a boil in medium saucepan over high heat. Reduce to low, partially cover and simmer until lentils are soft and liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl with remaining 1 Tbsp. broth. Mash well; set aside.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, lemon juice and ¼ tsp. salt and cook, stirring, until softened. Stir in spinach, garlic, cumin and 1 tsp. pepper; cook 3 minutes. Add breadcrumbs, pecans, spinach mixture and ¾ tsp. salt to lentils and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

To cook: Preheat grill to medium-high. Form into six 4-inch patties and spray with cooking spray on each side. Grill until grill marks form, about 3 minutes per side. To cook in a non-stick skillet, coat pan with olive oil and sauté till browned, crispy and heated through.

Lentil Paté with Cumin, Cilantro & Lime

4 cups water
1small onion, finely chopped
1cup lentils, washed
1 tsp. ground cumin
Salt & pepper
1 cup cilantro leaves, slightly packed
¼ cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

Combine onion, lentils, cumin and water in a saucepan; add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until lentils are falling-apart tender, 25–30 minutes. Cool. In a blender, purée lentil mixture, cilantro, oil and lime juice until smooth; taste and season. Spoon into a bowl, drizzle with a little more olive oil and lime juice; top with more cilantro.

Try using the meat and water from a fresh coconut for this soup.

Coconut Lentil Soup

You can use the water and meat from a fresh coconut instead of canned or packaged. To make coconut “milk,” blend coconut water with some of the meat till smooth.

2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
One 3-inch piece of ginger, peeled and grated
½ -1 jalapeño, minced
1-3 tsp. garam masala or curry powder
One 13½ oz. can full-fat unsweetened coconut milk
5 cups water or vegetable stock
1 cup lentils, washed
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
4-6 oz. fresh baby spinach
One 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes
Salt & pepper
Splash or two of soy sauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract

In medium saucepan, heat coconut oil over medium heat until hot. Add onion, stirring occasionally, until transparent and beginning to turn golden, 6-8 minutes. Stir in garlic, ginger and jalapeño; cook 5 minutes. Add garam masala or curry.

Stir in coconut milk, lentils, shredded coconut, tomatoes with their juice, and stock/water. Bring to a boil, then turn to low and simmer, 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally until lentils break down and soup thickens. Add more water if needed. Stir in spinach and soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off heat, stir in vanilla. Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt.

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.