‘We’re fed up:’ Weekend deliveries of promised cancer medications fail to arrive

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June 28, 2021

cancer medications protest — 'I want to live,' reads the sign at a protest against shortages.

Cancer medications that the federal Health Ministry promised to deliver to various hospitals over the weekend didn’t arrive, according to an association of parents of children with cancer.

Association president Omar Hernández Ibarra told the newspaper El Universal that the head of the universal healthcare agency Insabi, Juan Ferrer, and the agency’s national coordinator for medicine supply, Alejandro Calderón Alipi, failed to fulfill a pledge made last Wednesday to deliver a range of much-needed cancer drugs to hospitals in cities including Mexico City, Guadalajara, Veracruz, Mérida and Chihuahua.

“The association is made up of at least 50 parents of children with cancer. … We monitor [the distribution of drugs] and we see that they didn’t carry out the supply of the medications,” he said.

The Dr. Ignacio Morones Prieto Central Hospital in San Luis Potosí city was supposed to get 25 essential cancer drugs late last week but only three arrived, according to hospital official Vinicio González Rubio. He said the hospital has faced shortages of more than 600 medications since last year.

Hernández said more protests against drug shortages are likely to be held this week, adding that members of the parents’ association will discuss whether continuing to meet with government officials is worth it given that they have failed to keep their word to resolve the longstanding problem.

‘We can’t go on like this:’ Omar Hernández, head of an association of parents of cancer victims.

“… It’s not fair, it now seems that they’re taunting us, they promise us something and they don’t do it,” he said.

“We can’t go on like this. … [we believe that] the meeting on Wednesday will go ahead but we have to ask all the parents whether they agree with continuing [the dialogue],” Hernández said.

“… It’s now been more than two years that mothers, fathers and other family members of girls and boys with cancer have sought adequate dialogue to resolve our problem. We’ve attended more than 20 meetings with officials who, each time, have committed to resolving our demand but haven’t kept their word,” he said.

“We’re disappointed, fed up, tired and economically and emotionally depleted, but we won’t stop raising our voices.”

The shortage of essential cancer drugs has persisted despite the federal government signing an agreement with the United Nations Office for Project Services last July to collaborate on the international purchase of medicines, medical supplies and vaccines.

President López Obrador said at the time that the agreement would allow Mexico to obtain high quality medications and equipment all over the world at low prices and thus put an end to shortages.

But parents of children with cancer have protested ongoing shortages numerous times since then. Earlier this month, parents protesting at the Mexico City airport said there was not only a lack of cancer drugs but also of basic painkillers at the hospitals where their children are treated. A shipment of more than 50,000 units of cancer medications is expected to arrive from Argentina next month but it is unclear whether it will be sufficient to put an end to shortages.

Hernández said that a Health Ministry purchase list he saw didn’t include cyclophosphamide, a chemotherapy drug. He said the ministry’s purchases would only partially combat shortages and noted that drugs will arrive from different countries at different times, which could hinder the comprehensive and timely treatment of children with cancer.

In San Luis Potosí, parents seeking to buy the cancer medications themselves have been unable to find them, said Alma Durán Valero, director of the state branch of the Mexican Association to Help Children with Cancer.

With reports from El Universal and Reforma

Do Mexicans accept death better than other cultures?

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

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June 26, 2021

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Funeral procession with taxi in Tenango del Valle, México state. More common in towns and rural areas, processions are rare in Mexico City.

Oddly, we’d had a casual conversation about Licha’s condition a few weeks ago, when my husband Alejandro assured me that things were OK with his sister-in-law’s cancer treatment.

Then, a few days ago, I hear him talking on the phone with that tone of voice that transcends all linguistic barriers. You know the one — half hushed and 150% serious.

Licha’s death on June 19 was my second experience with a death in Alejandro’s family; the first was 12 years ago. My experiences with these events contrast somewhat with a lot of what is written in English about death in Mexico. The idea that death is dealt with differently here, more easily and readily, might be a little simplistic.

Such writings focus on Day of the Dead and its festive skeletons. It is true that Mexicans have their own way of relating to the general concept of death, but it is not a devil-may-care attitude, especially when it hits home.

As a United States-raised Protestant, both deaths I experienced caught me a bit by surprise because there had been no frank talk beforehand about the serious medical issues both women had.

Funeral at a church in San Francisco Tlaltenco, in Mexico City. The requirement to dress up or wear black seems to vary by region and social status.

In the case of Alejandro’s sister, Lupita, this was kind of understandable as she was only 45 years old. I do not know to this day how much Alex knew of her condition before she went into the hospital for the last time; I think Lupe herself kept most of it secret from the rest of the family.

Licha was in her early 70s — still too young though not quite so tragic — but a similar scenario played out. Everything was OK, or not so bad, until it wasn’t.

Like everywhere else, once death comes in Mexico, ritual and tradition take over. They seem to vary greatly in the details depending on a family’s socioeconomic status.

To get it out of the way, I’ll say that my husband, Alejandro, comes from a lower-working-class urban family — Catholic, but not overwhelmingly so. My husband believes in God but not so much in the church.

In Alex’s family, death is immediately followed by a flurry of phone calls among distant family members discussing decisions whether or not to travel. Mexican families don’t tend to scatter like U.S. ones do, and the need to travel long distances is still rare enough the families might not take this into consideration when making funeral arrangements.

Alex’s family is somewhat scattered in central Mexico, so the decision was made for him to travel to Guadalajara while I would stay in Mexico City.

Like many other cultures, Mexican funeral rites have a wake, or viewing period (although this can be optional), and some kind of ceremony related to the disposal of the body. The details of how these are done vary by local and family traditions along with the economic situation of the family.

There is also a novena, or period of prayer, unless the family is not Catholic.

The wake can last anywhere from 24 to 72 hours, depending on whether the body is embalmed. If not, the body must be buried or cremated within 24 hours.

Aside from this, regulations are not as strict or as pervasive as in other countries, and there is some flexibility in how and where a body is set for viewing. Family members can participate in the preparation of the body, such as applying makeup to the face, with viewings happening in funeral parlors or in people’s homes.

The body is laid out in a coffin and usually separated from viewers by a pane of glass or translucent shroud, though an open casket allowing mourners to touch the body is not unheard of.

Someone is usually with the body day and night at this time, often with one or more people praying. But there is often food and conversation going on as well, especially in the areas farther away from the deceased.

Depositary for urns at the San José de Gracia Church in Querétaro city.

Final rites can be held in the same funeral parlor as the wake or at a church, with the latter being more common in more rural areas — as are processions. In the almost 15 years I have lived in Mexico City, I have never seen any sort of funeral procession, but I have seen them (motorized and on foot) in towns.

In the case of my husband’s sister, the final service was in the funeral home, with only immediate family accompanying the body to the crematorium. Burial is far more traditional, but the lack of space in places like Mexico City has made cremation more acceptable. Burial or the depositing of ashes is often done with a small ceremony.

If you are not from a Mexican Catholic family, the biggest difference for you will be the novena — a nine-day period after the burial when family and close friends gather at least once a day — often after work — to recite the rosary and other prayers for the deceased.

This is done in the deceased’s home or that of a close family member. It often means a crowded house, full of people eating tamales and drinking atole once the somber task of praying for the soul is completed.

Dress codes for public funeral rites vary quite a bit, and it seems mostly to have to do with socioeconomic status. People may wear anything from the most formal attire, preferably in black, or the clothes they wear every day. In my husband’s family, somewhat more formal attire in a darker color suffices.

Although the rites observed in the hours and days after a loved one dies are very important, they don’t seem to take on the sense of urgency that they have in my family. Probably because of Day of the Dead (when many funeral rites are repeated), it is not necessary to show all of your grief immediately.

So, yes, funerals in Mexico are about saying goodbye, but that goodbye is not as absolute as they are in Anglo-Protestant cultures. On Day of the Dead, you have a chance each year to relate to those who have gone before, a psychologically healthy way to deal with lingering grief.

In loving memory of Lupita and Licha; see you on November 2.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.

Espionage and presidents on trial: the week at the mañaneras

By

MND Staff

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June 26, 2021

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lopez obrador — Despite bad news, the president's optimism is unquashed.

The 65th president of the United States of México has been giving morning news conferences since he took office in 2018. For some, the mañaneras, as they are known, are an essential platform for public information. For others, they are an exercise in propaganda.

Here are the highlights from this week’s conferences.

Monday

The first mañanera of the week was more presentation than conference. Only one journalist was given the opportunity to address the president.

Following the weekly roundups, AMLO, as the president is commonly known, showed the “campaign of manipulation” his administration faced. A clip of an opposition deputy’s voice reverberated: “A disaster … They have to be canceled: the Maya Train, the refinery, the Santa Lucía airport and Sowing Life.”

The deputy on show, Gabriel Ricardo Quadri, took exception, later branding the mañaneras a “narcissistic and cynical instrument of autocratic construction.”

The monthly security report came next.

Top military brass related facts and figures with a sense of ease, in stark contrast to the plague of violence that continues to ravage the country. “99,946 elements have been deployed in 214 regional coordinations,” said one.

The last speaker offered something tangible: homicide rates had fallen 2.9% in annual terms. Fifty percent of killings were concentrated in six states: Guanajuato, Baja California, Jalisco, state of México, Michoacán and Chihuahua.

When the lucky journalist’s chance came, he asked about planes. An old presidential plane had been sold: where did the money go? The president responded by ridiculing commercial space travel and advertising the newer, still for sale presidential plane.

Tuesday

Health officials kicked off Tuesday with their weekly conga, in which a small rise in Covid-19 cases was announced.

AMLO looked ahead to August 1: a referendum will ask whether past heads of state should be investigated for corruption. He summarized the crimes of his predecessors: “Why judge Carlos Salinas? Well, because he gave all the goods of the nation and the people of Mexico to his close friends, it’s that simple.”

Ernesto Zedillo: “Because … he converted the private debts of a few into public debt and we have been paying that debt for 30, 40 years.”

Vicente Fox: “Because he deceived the people … he became president and became a traitor to democracy.”

Felipe Calderón: “He declared war on crime without addressing the causes … massacres were carried out, there were instructions to finish off the wounded.”

Enrique Peña Nieto: “For obvious acts of corruption.”

Conveniently, a journalist raised a corruption case from the previous administration in which 20 billion pesos had been transferred from state oil company Pemex to its associated union. The union leader’s family lived lavishly thereafter.

But, despite the mire, AMLO’s optimism could not be quashed. He turned a famous Porfirio Díaz quote on its head: “Blessed Mexico, so close to God, and not too far from the United States.”

Wednesday

To the relief of neglected journalists, the whole of Wednesday’s mañanera was dedicated to their questions. However, that didn’t stop the president from addressing their questions as he saw fit.

The head of state announced a new weekly roundup. “We’re going to invite someone from the government to explain the lies of the week. Just like we have the who’s who for [gas and oil] prices on Monday, we are going to have a who’s who on the week’s lies, to combat fake news,” he said.

Later, the president put out a warning. “Power,” he related, “makes intelligent men foolish, and makes foolish men go mad.”

The leader of the world’s 15th largest economy acknowledged that taking responsibility is the antidote.

“We should not get angry, neither you nor us … those in authority have to have patience. The three P’s are required: presence, patience and prudence,” he said.

However, one of those P’s was running thin as he made his exit: “This authority has to go and have his coffee with milk and a cookie … So, see you tomorrow.”

Thursday

It was straight to the floor again on Thursday.

A video had circulated of a transparency agency official hitting two women. The president said he hadn’t seen it, and took the opportunity to rail against the organization in question. “The transparency body … Those are the organizations that should disappear. They cost a lot and they achieve nothing,” he said.

A matter of great concern to the audience was raised. The government had been accused of spying on columnists who were critical of the government.

“Well, it’s not true … it’s like a choir, everyone agrees to question the government without evidence … False, nothing more than,” was the president’s response.

It was all sour grapes, he said. “The owner of El Financiero received a loan of US $100 million from the development bank, the owner of El Universal also had a loan from the development bank … and what they received in advertising was stratospheric,” he said.

Despite his feisty rhetoric, AMLO said the charge of polarization could not be laid at his door. “Mexico has been polarized for century … A few have a lot, and a lot have little; that’s the polarization that has always existed,” he said.

Friday

“Good morning, afternoon,” began the president, revealing a late start on Friday. The preceding security meeting had run long, he informed.

Lunch might have already been circulating in some journalists’ minds: avocados and seafood were both mentioned early on. Fishermen in Veracruz were still waiting to be compensated for an oil spill a decade earlier, and wanted some fishing restrictions lifted; avocado farmers, tired of criminal incursions, had taken up arms in Michoacán to defend themselves.

International politics were given a rare platform. A journalist said Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega may seek a fourth term after 14 years in power, and that 17 opponents, including five journalists, had been detained.

“We believe that freedoms should be guaranteed and that there should be no repression anywhere, neither in Nicaragua nor in Colombia, nor in any country in the world … nothing by force, everything by reason and law,” the president responded.

“Hopefully in Nicaragua and in Colombia, and in Peru too, everything is resolved peacefully,” he added, alluding to the fragile political situations in the three countries. The Colombian president’s helicopter was shot at later in the day.

In a change to normal proceedings, Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez presented at the close. She gave some good news to kick off the weekend: all adults in Baja California had been fully vaccinated, the first state in the country to achieve the feat.

Mexico News Daily

Covid cases continue to surge in Baja California Sur

By

Rose Egelhoff

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June 26, 2021

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A healthcare worker administers a Covid test.

Cases of Covid-19 continue to rise in Baja California Sur, prompting the reopening of two temporary hospital wards to handle the surge. The temporary hospitals, which the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) will set up in covered hospital parking areas, will add 40 beds in La Paz and 30 in Los Cabos.

There are currently 320 people hospitalized for Covid in the state, said Health Minister Víctor Jorge Flores. That includes 195 patients in Los Cabos and 120 in La Paz. The patients have an average age of 45 to 47 years, though two are aged 19 and 20.

Baja California Sur currently has 2,812 active Covid-19 cases, up from 2,272 on Monday.

Given the increase in case numbers, Los Cabos mayor-elect Óscar Leggs has called for more stringent health measures to contain the spread. He suggested the state should declare itself red, or high risk, on the stoplight alert system, which would trigger more health restrictions.

“Fifteen days or so of total isolation could help us a lot,” Leggs said.

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

Failing that, he asked citizens to voluntarily stay home.

“Stay home. The beaches are open, so what!” he said. “We are not going to contribute to the propagation of the virus and everyone else should do the same.”

At the national level, Covid cases have surged 14% compared to last week, after months on the decline.

There were 5,270 new cases registered on Friday, bringing the accumulated total to 2.49 million. There were 278 deaths, bringing that total to 232,346.

Hospital occupancy across the country is 17% on average, but significantly higher in a some places.

As of Friday, Mexico has administered 42.8 million doses of Covid vaccine.

With reports from AP News, Milenio, Diario El Independiente and La Jornada

Despite setbacks, Mexico City mayor sees no need to change direction

By

Jude Webber

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June 26, 2021

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Mayor Sheinbaum is determined to pick herself up from the electoral rout.

It has been a terrible few weeks for Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum: just as the capital was getting one of the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks under control, a Metro overpass collapsed in early May, killing 26.

Then, a month later, the opposition seized more than half the city’s boroughs in midterm elections, including Tlalpan, where Sheinbaum served as mayor from 2015 until the end of 2017. The rout in the capital was a bitter blow in one of the left’s biggest bastions.

But Sheinbaum, 59, remains unflappable. “There’s no need to change direction,” she told the Financial Times in an interview. “The president is very clear where he is going, and we are with him.”

Mexico City voters were key to President López Obrador’s landslide victory in 2018, and nationwide gains in the June 6 vote have put the ruling coalition in power in 17 of Mexico’s 32 states. However, the left’s quarter-century domination of the capital was brought to an end after losing nine of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs.

“We were surprised by parts of the results — we’ll have to reflect on that internally,” she said.

Sheinbaum, who is widely considered López Obrador’s favourite to succeed him in 2024, blamed the result on a “disinformation campaign” by critics opposed to the government’s quest to replace neoliberal reforms with a focus on fighting inequality, graft and putting the poor first.

She said the “terrible tragedy” of the Metro — which a preliminary independent report indicated was due to construction flaws — had influenced the vote.

With a practiced air, Sheinbaum swatted aside questions about whether she could become Mexico’s first female president and vowed to pick herself up from the electoral rout and get the capital back on its feet economically.

“I am very strong. I believe in my government and I believe in the transformation of my country,” she said. “Neo-liberalism cannot return to Mexico — it did a lot of damage.”

As president, López Obrador has battered business confidence with abrupt rule changes in the energy sector, which have triggered a flood of lawsuits. He has canceled high-profile, partly-built investments in a new Mexico City airport and a brewery in the north of the country.

lopez obrador and sheinbaum — ‘The president is very clear where he is going, and we are with him,’ Sheinbaum says.

But Sheinbaum, who has a doctorate in climate engineering, has endorsed the president’s energy plans, which are focused on fossil fuels and seeks to give state-run hydropower plants precedence over cheaper private solar and wind projects when it comes to renewables.

“We’re going to build the biggest solar plant of any city in the world,” she said, referencing plans with the federal electricity utility to install solar panels on top of Mexico City’s wholesale food market this year.

With the pandemic easing after Mexico City racked up one of the highest excess deaths tally of any city in the world, she is hopeful that a variety of initiatives can now take off in earnest. These include improving transport connections, offering community-wide computer programming lessons, revamping a gritty industrial neighbourhood that accounts for 1% of national gross domestic product as an innovation hub, and tackling a water crisis.

Sheinbaum, a scientist and longtime leftist, cut her teeth politically two decades ago as environment secretary in the Mexico City government when López Obrador was the city’s mayor. She oversaw the Metrobus rapid transit project and construction of a second story to an urban highway while serving in his city government.

She highlighted resilient private investment and said her blueprint to make the city more green, mobile and innovative remains on track.

Mexico City was this month named as the top spot for foreign investment in Latin America for 2021-2022 in an Americas Cities of the Future survey by fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times company.

It found that Mexico City received 353 inward foreign direct investment projects, the third highest total of all locations surveyed, and made the top 10 cities in the Americas in terms of economic potential.

“It’s a recognition that the transformation under way in this country, in contrast to how it is often portrayed, means … that we are always open for investment and economic development,” said Sheinbaum.

Cartels’ battle for Zacatecas leaves another 18 dead

By

Rose Egelhoff

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June 26, 2021

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One of the vehicles discovered near 18 bodies on Friday.

At least 18 people are dead in another episode of violence in Zacatecas.

A battle between rival cartels occurred Friday in the community of San Juan Capistrano in the municipality of Valparaiso, a rural area near the state border with Jalisco and Nayarit.

Security forces found 18 bodies along with three bullet-riddled vehicles at the site of the incident although some local media outlets have reported more than 30 dead.

Zacatecas Security Minister Arturo López said the incident was a confrontation between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), which are currently battling for control of the state.

The killings in San Juan Capistrano are just the most recent in a string of violent incidents. Last weekend, four bodies were found hanging from highway overpasses in Fresnillo. And Wednesday saw the murder of seven people in a home. Two people were found injured at the scene of the attack, along with five unharmed children.

Also on Wednesday, the bodies of two missing San Luis Potosí police officers were found murdered, hanging from an overpass in the city of Zacatecas, the state capital.

The violence in Zacatecas comes just days after a horrifying episode in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, in which gunmen moved through the city randomly killing civilians, leaving 14 dead. Meanwhile in Michoacán, roughly 3,000 avocado producers have taken up arms to protect themselves against criminal groups including the CJNG.

With reports from AP and El País

Hurricane Enrique forms off coast of Michoacán; heavy rains forecast

By

Rose Egelhoff

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June 26, 2021

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Hurricane Enrique, the first hurricane of the eastern Pacific season, formed Saturday morning off the coast of Michoacán. The storm is expected to grow stronger as it advances northwestward along the coast but forecasters predict it will remain offshore.

Enrique’s maximum sustained winds were clocked at 140 kmh at 10:00 a.m. CDT when the storm was located 370 km south of Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco, and moving west-northwest at 11 kmh.

It is expected to become a Category 2 hurricane by Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
But the center of the storm is predicted to stay at sea, moving parallel with the coast.

The NHC also said the storm could bring 150 to 300 mm of rain with isolated maximum amounts of 450 mm to the coasts of Colima, Michoacán and Jalisco. Heavy rains are also expected in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Nayarit and southern Sinaloa, according to the Mexico’s National Meteorological Service (SMN).

A tropical storm warning is in effect from Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, to Cabo Corrientes, Jalisco.

SMN spokesman Jesús Montes said the rains could bring some relief from the drought that much of Mexico is currently experiencing, raising water levels in dams and other bodies of water. He added that trained personnel are standing by to provide help in the emergency service centers in Guerrero, Jalisco, Sinaloa, Michoacán, Nayarit and Colima.

The Defense Ministry said it was sending troops to aid civilians during the storm.

With reports from AP News and El Universal

A former Jalisco hacienda is a veritable garden of Eden

By

John Pint

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June 25, 2021

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18th-century ex-Hacienda de San Antonio, Jalisco — A visitor to Hacienda de San Antonio takes a jump into paradise.

The former Hacienda de San Antonio del Potrero is hidden away at the bottom of a huge canyon located just northeast of the town of Tequila, Jalisco. It has been there, they say, since 1785, but you might have a hard time, indeed, to find a single tequileño who has ever heard of it.

This is because the venerable old building is closed to visitors and situated at the edge of a very productive orchard which, of course, is somebody’s private property.

I would never have guessed what secrets that old finca (farm) was hiding if it weren’t for colorful and eccentric botanist Miguel Cházaro who, many years ago, gave me a call:

“John, I’m trying to find a waterfall in a valley near Tequila. Do you want to help me look for it?”

Of course, I said yes, simply because this offer was coming from Professor Cházaro, one of the most outstanding botanists in Jalisco. I knew from previous experience that walking through the woods with Cházaro is like speed-watching the Discovery Channel.

At every step, he points out the most amazing things all around you. But on this particular trip, even Cházaro was dazed by the veritable paradise in which we found ourselves.

We set out one morning on the old highway to Tequila. About six kilometers past Amatitán, we turned off onto a rocky dirt road that wound its way down into La Toma Valley. You definitely need a high-clearance vehicle for this!

After 17 minutes, we came to the ruins of Hacienda San Antonio, where we met an old-timer carrying two buckets of water. He was Jorge Rivera Landeros, and when we asked him about the history of the place, he told us that this valley was where Padre Toribio, a local martyr, tried to hide back in the days of the Cristeros.

“The government finally caught him and killed him. Then they shot several members of my family — right over there. I was just a little boy, so they didn’t kill me.” The awful story of these events is preserved, we discovered, in a corrido (a kind of epic poem set to music) composed by none other than Don Jorge himself.

I should mention here that Padre Toribio is venerated by huge numbers of people in the highlands of Jalisco where he was born, and there are several grandiose churches erected in his name. In 2000, he was canonized by Pope John Paul II.

Over time, Santo Toribio has become the unofficial patron of Mexican migrants trying to cross the border into the United States, supposedly because he has miraculously appeared to many of them. This is indeed ironic because it is said that Padre Toribio wrote a play in 1920 urging migrants not to go to the States.

Botanist Miguel Cházaro pressing plants between newspaper — Professor Miguel Cházaro pressing plants. Botanists love newspapers.

Unfortunately, the play (a comedy) was titled “Let’s Go North!”

Maybe that was all his audience remembered.

After hearing the story of Santo Toribio, we asked about the waterfall we were seeking. Don Jorge replied that we’d find it at the end of his orchard, which we were welcome to explore.

“And,” he added, “near the waterfall, there’s a nice pool where you can go for a swim.”

We walked through an arch into what seemed like the Garden of Eden: tall mango, grapefruit, breadnut, mamey, zapote negro, bonete and other exotic fruit trees formed a canopy overhead, and in its shade, we walked alongside (and occasionally through) narrow canals filled with rushing water. Colomos and other humidity-loving plants were growing everywhere, giving no sign whatsoever that this was the dry season.

As we walked, Miguel Cházaro pointed out interesting examples of the local flora, like blue tomatoes.

To me, the most curious plant by far was the bizarre and mysterious cuastecomate or Mexican calabash tree (Crescentia alata), which produces a gorgeous but stinky yellow flower with blood-red veins and a perfectly round green gourd about the size of a large apple.

What’s bizarre is that the flowers and fruits do not hang from the branches but grow directly on the tree trunk, like warts on a witch’s nose. And what’s mysterious is that the gourds must be broken open for the seeds to germinate, but they happen to be as tough as cannonballs.

Most modern animals can’t crack them open to get at their delicious and nutritious contents. It is theorized that in ancient times, this job was done by elephant-like gomphotheres. Since these animals are long extinct, it seems amazing that cuastecomates are still with us.

In no time at all, we arrived at the waterfall, whose beauty we could not really appreciate as we were standing right at the top of it, on the very edge of a steep precipice. There was no easy way down to the bottom … unless you happen to be a canyoneer and would enjoy a rappel down the frothing foam.

A short walk from the waterfall, the river passes under a bizarre natural bridge made up of the roots of a huge amate, or strangler fig tree (Ficus petiolaris). This is so well camouflaged that the first time we walked over it, we didn’t even notice that we were crossing a river.

Within the clutches of the strangler fig, you can still see the original host tree — long dead, of course — from a mortal embrace.

Don Jorge Rivera Landeros reading his poem, “Hola, Mister Amigo.”

Only a hundred meters south of the Amate bridge, we came to a small, natural, spring-fed pool about 1.5 meters deep. The water is cool, clean and refreshing and tall shade trees grow all along one side. If there are swimming holes in heaven, they must surely be modeled after this one!

Naturally, Miguel Cházaro was not in the water two minutes before he began discovering all sorts of curious plants growing on the other side of the pool, adding even more specimens for his helpers to press between sheets of newspaper.

Finally, the botanists ran out of newsprint, and we returned to the hacienda where we found Don Jorge busily writing. He handed me a scrap of brown paper torn from a cement bag.

“Sorry, that’s all I could find to write on,” he said.

To my surprise, I found he had written me a poem entitled, “Hola Mister Amigo” that celebrated the arrival of “a brotherly world in which people come together in a spirit of peace and friendship.”

An exotic orchard, a heavenly pool and a heartwarming welcome from a local poet … to total strangers who had shown up on private property unannounced.

It really did feel as though we had stumbled upon the Garden of Eden.

The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for 31 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.

Amate tree bridge at 18th-century ex-Jacienda de San Antonio, Jalisco — The roots of this amate tree serve as a bridge over a small stream.

People break open the cuastecomate and fill the halves with tequila for a healthy drink, says botanist Miguel Cházaro.

La Canoa pool, Jalisco — La Canoa pool is fed by cool spring water.

The cuastecomate flower is pollinated by flies and smells like carrion.

The gourd-like fruit of the Mexican calabash can be hollowed, dried and used as a container for food or drink.

Government announces completion of adult vaccinations in Baja California

By

MND Staff

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June 25, 2021

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Johnson & Johnson vaccines donated by the United States were used to vaccinate Baja Californians 18 to 39. — Johnson & Johnson vaccines donated by the United States were used to inoculate Baja Californians aged 18 to 39.

The campaign in Baja California to vaccinate adults against Covid-19 has concluded, the federal government announced Friday.

The northern border state is the first in Mexico where all people aged 18 and over have been offered a shot.

“Mission accomplished,” President López Obrador declared at his morning news conference.

More than 1.2 million single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses donated by the United States were recently used to vaccinate people aged 18 to 39 in the state, while seniors and people aged 40 to 59 were offered shots earlier in the vaccine rollout, which began in Mexico six months ago.

“We have the final report that tells us that the population of Baja California is totally vaccinated against Covid-19,” Security Minister Rosa Rodríguez told the president’s press conference. “… We did it, Mr. President, and we’re moving ahead,” she said, adding that 10,000 Johnson & Johnson shots remain in the state to inoculate anyone not yet vaccinated.

Tijuana residents receive their vaccine.

Rodríguez said that 85,000 doses of the same vaccine will be sent to San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, which borders Baja California and Arizona, in order to begin the vaccination of young people in that municipality.

The government is aiming to vaccinate all people in northern border municipalities as soon as possible in order to expedite the opening of the Mexico-United States border to nonessential travel.

The federal Health Ministry reported Thursday that one in three people aged 18 and over, or about 29.1 million people, have received at least one shot of a Covid-19 vaccine. It said that just over 18 million people are fully vaccinated and just under 11.1 million people have received one dose of a two-shot vaccine.

Registration on the government’s vaccination website is currently open to all adult residents of northern border municipalities, pregnant women and all other people who reach the age of 30 or more this year.

It is unclear when the vaccination of children will commence, but health regulator Cofepris granted authorization on Thursday for the Pfizer vaccine to be used on those aged 12 and over.

“It’s the first Covid-19 vaccine authorized for adolescents in our country,” Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell wrote on Twitter. “It’s news that will allow us to keep protecting the people of Mexico.”

Vaccination has helped drive down coronavirus case numbers and Covid-19 deaths in Mexico, although a small group of states including Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Baja California Sur, have recently seen spikes in new infections.

An average of 3,306 new cases and 354 Covid-19 deaths were reported per day during the first 24 days of June, reductions of 77% and 66%, respectively, compared to January, the worst month of the pandemic here.

Mexico’s accumulated case tally currently stands at 2.49 million, while the official Covid-19 death toll is 232,068.

It has the 21st highest mortality rate in the world with 181.9 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 people, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Peru easily ranks first with 587.8 deaths per 100,000, followed by Hungary with 306.8.

The United States, which has recorded more Covid-19 deaths than any country, is one spot above Mexico, with 183.8 fatalities per 100,000 people.

With reports from Reforma, Infobae and Xataka

Oaxaca family artisan studio labors to support an entire valley

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

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June 25, 2021

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A carved rhino from the workshop of Jacobo and Maria Ángeles.

The workshop of Jacobo and María del Carmen Ángeles is by far one of the best-developed production and sales operations of any traditional handcraft maker. In fact, they could just simply be called San Martín Tilcajete, Inc.

The workshop in this small village in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca began like most: Jacobo Ángeles Ojeda was born in the town of Tilcajete in 1973 and is known for the making of colorful animal wood carvings called alebrijes (sometimes called tonas — see this article for the debate surrounding this craft).

Both he and his wife María del Carmen Mendoza grew up in families dependent on subsistence farming, with Ángeles’ father teaching him how to carve the local copal wood. Over time, Ángeles became one of several outstanding alebrije artisans, in particular for painting of fine lines and designs based on Zapotec and other indigenous imagery. However, he credits his wife for most of the designs.

The couple found that they could leave farming behind and concentrate on alebrije making. Demand rose so much that they began to hire other family members and neighbors to work in their shop. By the time I visited them for the first time in 2016, the family compound was humming with activity, carvers in one area and painters in another, as well as areas dedicated to demonstrating the process of making the capricious figures, even including the making of paints for the alebrijes using local pigments.

The maestro still carves pieces on occasion, which command premium prices. But the vast majority of the production is done by employees, students/apprentices and other collaborators, supervised by members of the family, which is currently a major employer in the town, with generations of various families working for them.

Alebrije artist Jacobo Ángeles at work. — Maestro Jacobo Ángeles at work.

Although not directly by the maestros’ hands, the pieces are still of high quality as the family trains carvers and painters, then lets them utilize their talents to take the best advantage of copal wood’s capricious nature. The workshop produces some alebrijes with human faces, belying their link to naguals (somewhat like a spirit animal), but many depict jaguars, dogs, bears, owls and other local creatures, often in motion.

The Ángeles family’s work has been recognized, with their alebrijes appearing in major museums in Mexico and the United States, including the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City (which published a book featuring their work) and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. In 2014, Jacobo Ángeles was invited by the Vatican to create an alebrije nativity and meet Pope Francis.

But the Ángeles family is not content to sit on its laurels. When I was there in 2016, they were building additions to the compound’s buildings and talking about plans for expansion and diversification.

One thing that sets this family and business apart is their awareness of how crucial the local and state economy is to the continued success of their business. In particular, they understand that they need to nurture tourism in San Martín Tilcajete and the surrounding valley. This began by offering tours and workshops for visitors, including some in English.

After that, they began working to make San Martín a tourist destination in its own right, at least as a side trip from the city of Oaxaca. This included the opening of three restaurants in the town, all based on local cuisine but with different interpretations. The basic foodstuffs of these restaurants are mostly supplied by their own farms or other local ones.

In 2020, Jacobo and María, seeking even more awareness of their workshop and community, ingeniously connected with the Mercedes-Benz company, which provided them with an SUV to paint alebrije-style and documented the entire process and the finished product online.

Young artisan apprentice working on an armadillo figure at the Ángeles workshop. — A young artisan apprentice works on an armadillo figure at the Ángeles workshop.

Oaxaca’s main attraction is its various cultures, and the Ángeles family has looked for ways to promulgate the Ocotán Valley’s cultures for its economic development. Their son Ricardo grew up making alebrijes but went on to study art in Oaxaca and Mexico City. He has translated these creatures (and the nagual tradition behind them) into mural projects, which work to bring visitors into towns and into parts of towns they might not have wandered otherwise. His work can be seen on Instagram.

The family has realized, however, that the making of alebrijes, though successful now, is not sufficient. And so the Ángeles family has trained extended family members and other locals how to carve for a long time, leading to a kind of apprenticeship program. They also offer classes and workshops in ceramics and jewelry making, including a class for children, inviting maestros of these crafts to be the instructors.

The vast array of economic and cultural activities promoted by the family really deserves its own future article. But it is important to note that these enterprises employed about 300 people directly before the pandemic struck, including carvers, painters, restaurant workers, arborists and professionals in marketing and sustainable development. That number is now 160, but the family sees a slow rebound in tourism and hopes to bring employment back to pre-Covid levels soon.

Their business sense has allowed them to weather the pandemic better, in part because they already had an online presence. Although sales have still been cut in half, online marketing has been a lifeline, it relying strongly on their website and various Instagram accounts.

While they most assuredly look forward to resuming business as much as possible to the way it was before the pandemic, the Ángeles family is definitely a pioneer in the online marketing of Oaxacan crafts.

Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.