Children returning to in-person classes in León, Guanajuato, under a pilot program that began in May.
Approximately 10 million students will fall behind in their learning by up to two years due to the closure of schools during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a think tank.
The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Imco) estimates that 2.2 million students are at high risk of not having progressed in their learning since schools closed early last year, while almost 7.8 million are at medium to high risk of not having advanced.
In a report entitled Pandemic education: the risks of distance learning, the think tank said the former cohort was at high risk of falling because they don’t have the necessary equipment or support to learn online or via televised classes.
The latter cohort are at medium to high risk because although they have devices that allow them to study virtually, they don’t have someone to guide them.
Citing World Bank data, Imco said that before the pandemic Mexicans had completed on average 8.8 years of education, which is almost equivalent to completing middle school.
“The World Bank estimates that this indicator will decline 1.8 years [during the pandemic] … to just seven years, a level of learning close to the first year of middle school,” the think tank said.
“… Millions of students could finish their studies with a knowledge equivalent to two academic grades lower.”
Imco said statistics show that the challenges posed by virtual education cannot be met equally in all Mexican households.
“… There are students with the necessary resources to mitigate the negative impacts … but there are others who haven’t had what is necessary to acquire the expected learning,” it said.
Imco said students who have been unable to study adequately at home will be at a disadvantage when they seek to join the workforce. And that could exacerbate inequality, the think tank said.
“Today we know that there are at least 10 million girls, boys and young people, 30% of the total [number of students], who face a high or medium to high risk of showing significant lags in their knowledge that will place them at a disadvantage when they seek to enter the labor market in the future,” Imco said.
When schools reopen, measures should be put in place to attract students who have abandoned their studies and to support students who have fallen behind, it said.
An observer prepares for Sunday's elections at a voting station. File photo
Thousands of independent observers, including more than 500 foreigners, will monitor this Sunday’s municipal, state and federal elections in a bid to ensure they are conducted freely and fairly.
Almost 3 million representatives of political parties will also be on hand to watch over the voting and vote-counting process in what will be the biggest elections in Mexico’s history.
As of last Friday, the National Electoral Institute (INE) had certified almost 19,000 citizen poll watchers who declared that they don’t have any affiliation with parties contesting the elections.
Almost 2,200 were registered in Jalisco, more than any other state, while Chiapas ranks second with over 1,700 certified scrutineers. In third place is Mexico City, where more than 1,300 citizens are set to oversee the vote.
Scrutiny of the elections in Baja California Sur, San Luis Potosí and Colima will be far less intense, with just 25, 61 and 62 citizen observers, respectively, having been certified by the INE.
The electoral authority also approved 558 requests from foreigners to observe the elections, at which voters will elect 500 federal deputies, 15 state governors, state lawmakers and thousands of municipal representatives including mayors and councilors.
The international election observers will come from 41 countries, including the United States, Guatemala and Belize, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Jamaica. Some international observers will represent the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean, a multilateral non-government organization.
Political parties and independent candidates sought to register some 2.98 million poll-watchers, the newspaper El Economista reported.
Metropolitan Autonomous University political scientist and researcher Jorge Javier Romero said the participation of citizen observers in elections nowadays is the result of a civil society campaign during times when the INE’s predecessor, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), was not autonomous.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was in power for the vast majority of the 20th century and implemented a quasi-dictatorship that included guaranteed election victories.
In the times prior to the IFE’s autonomy, members of civil society repeatedly called for electoral observation beyond that carried out by the political parties, Romero told El Economista. They eventually got their way.
“Civil society has played an important role in making the electoral process in Mexico more transparent,” the academic said.
“[Today] there is no administrative or political process in Mexico that is more transparent than the elections; in our country, the elections are transparent from beginning to end — party representatives participate in every stage, [and] all the information is public,” Romero said before again emphasizing the importance of citizens’ observation.
“In Mexico, there has been no electoral fraud since we’ve had an autonomous electoral body watching over the elections,” he said.
The INE will set up more than 163,000 polling booths for Sunday’s elections, institute president Lorenzo Córdova said Wednesday, adding that more than 1.4 million people will man them. There are almost 93 million registered voters.
Polls suggest that a coalition led by the ruling Morena party is on track to retain its majority in the lower house of federal Congress, but the race has tightened in recent weeks.
Seniors 60 and over wait in line outside the Pepsi Center in Mexico City on Tuesday for their second dose of Covid-19 vaccine.
More than 1 million Covid-19 vaccines were administered in Mexico on Wednesday, a single-day feat not achieved since vaccinations began last December.
President López Obrador announced Thursday that 1,061,962 people got a first or second shot of a vaccine yesterday.
México state, Mexico’s most populous state and the second most affected by the pandemic after Mexico City, led the country with more than 221,000 doses given. Mexico City ranked second with almost 103,000 shots followed by Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Tabasco and Jalisco.
López Obrador said the progress in the government’s vaccine rollout will help to stop a third wave of the coronavirus.
“We’re doing very well. The vaccination of those aged 50–59 with a first dose ends this week,” he said, adding that “if we continue as we are,” all adults will have been offered at least one shot of a vaccine by the end of October.
“… We’re going to have additional vaccines … in order to meet the commitment to conclude [the vaccination of adults] in October,” López Obrador said.
The president said in a Twitter post later on Thursday morning that he had spoken to United States Vice President Kamala Harris, who informed him that the U.S. would send 1 million single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccines to Mexico.
About 31.8 million doses have already been administered, according to the latest Health Ministry data. Those shots went to health workers, seniors, teachers, pregnant women, people over 50 and those in the 40–49 age bracket, for whom vaccinations began this week.
The pace at which vaccines are being given has increased in recent weeks as more doses have arrived in the country. Some 3.45 million doses were administered last week, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said Wednesday, and 2 million per week were administered during a period of several weeks prior.
More than 816,000 doses were given on Tuesday, setting a new single-day record that was promptly broken by yesterday’s high-water mark.
“We’re vaccinating faster and faster. … The [vaccination] program is increasingly more efficient,” López-Gatell told reporters at the Health Ministry’s Wednesday night coronavirus press briefing.
He said 12.9 million people have been fully vaccinated, meaning that they have received both shots of a two-dose vaccine or were inoculated with the single-shot CanSino. Another 9.7 million people have received one of two required doses, he said.
Mexico has used the two-shot Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V and SinoVac vaccines in addition to the single-shot CanSino.
Shipments containing a combined total of 40.76 million vaccines have been delivered, meaning that almost 80% of those received have been used. A shipment of 585,000 Pfizer shots and another of 1 million SinoVac doses were due to arrive today.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s accumulated coronavirus case tally rose to 2.42 million on Wednesday with 3,269 new cases reported, while the official Covid-19 death toll increased by 306 to 228,146, a figure considered a vast undercount.
The intensity of Mexico’s coronavirus outbreak continued to wane in May with reported case numbers down 35% compared to April. Reported Covid-19 deaths declined 51% in May to 6,661, or an average of 215 per day.
A handwritten message on a campaign leaflet warns that if Briones doesn't step down, her head will be next. The message was accompanied by a cooler containing two pigs' heads.
A mayoral candidate in San Luis Potosí detailed the threats she has faced during her campaign in a tearful video made after an attack by gunmen on Wednesday.
Erika Briones, the Democratic Revolution Party candidate for Villa de Reyes, made the emotional address yesterday afternoon shortly after a pickup truck struck her vehicle, with her family inside, before the assailants opened fire.
In a separate event yesterday morning, municipal police discovered a threatening message and two pigs’ heads alongside promotional material for Briones’ campaign. The candidate also claimed that a death threat had been issued against her son.
Briones said security forces were present at the collision but offered no assistance. “The National Guard were traveling behind and did absolutely nothing. I’m with my family, this can’t be happening, surely the authorities can’t be [aligned] with those people,” she said.
She also indicated who she thought might be responsible. “These are dirty games … the PRI [Institutional Revolutionary Party] has to recognize that they lost Villa de Reyes, that the people don’t want them. They hate them: no one wants the family that has always been [in power],” referring to former mayor Juan Gabriel Solís.
‘This can’t be happening,’ lamented Erika Briones in a video.
The campaign has been the worst for violence against women on record, according to data gathered by citizens’ observatory Todas MX, which counts 21 female candidates assassinated between March 5 and May 31.
Tourists last week in Cancún. Quintana Roo has recorded an average of 140 new Covid-19 cases per day recently.
While the coronavirus situation has improved markedly in much of Mexico during recent months, one exception is Quintana Roo, where new case numbers remain stubbornly high.
The Caribbean coast state, home to popular destinations such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, has recorded an average of 140 new cases per day during recent weeks, the highest level since December.
The only high-risk orange light state on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map, Quintana Roo has now recorded more than 27,000 confirmed cases and almost 2,800 Covid-19 deaths.
According to federal health authorities, case numbers have been on the rise in the state for five weeks, and Cancún — the state’s premier destination — is driving the increase. There are currently an estimated 1,158 estimated active cases in the state, the fifth-highest figure among Mexico’s 32 states.
Hospitalizations of Covid-19 patients are also trending upwards, according to state Health Minister Alejandra Aguirre, who attributed the spike in cases to an increase in people’s mobility. More than 200 Covid patients are currently hospitalized, most of whom are in facilities in the northern half of the state, where Cancún is located.
Tourists at a Cancún beach restaurant in late May.
The situation prompted Governor Carlos Joaquín to announce 10 new measures to drive down new infections and ultimately save lives.
“If we continue with this trend of growth in infections, we could reach the red [maximum-risk] stoplight level. Faced with this trend, I’m announcing 10 new actions … that we must carry out,” he said in a video message posted to social media on Monday. The measures took effect on Tuesday.
“… This is serious, and the immediate future of Quintana Roo residents depends on these measures.”
Among them are a 12:00 a.m.–5:00 a.m. curfew in Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum; increased vigilance of public transit to ensure adherence with health protocols including the wearing of face masks; increased Covid-19 testing; shorter business hours in the north of the state; a push to administer greater numbers of Covid-19 vaccines, especially to tourism sector workers; the mapping of active coronavirus cases at a neighborhood level so that hotspots can be identified and citizens can be informed of the risk they face; and a crackdown on parties and social gatherings that violate health protocols.
It remains to be seen whether the measures will be effective in controlling the current outbreak, and whether Quintana Roo will avoid regressing to the red stoplight level, which would entail the implementation of stricter restrictions and deal a devastating blow to the tourism sector, the main driver of the state’s economy.
Joaquín warned three weeks ago that the state was at high risk of switching to red on Quintana Roo’s own stoplight map, which the state government has used to guide the implementation and lifting of restrictions.
‘This is serious,’ Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquín announced on Monday, outlining new measures to combat rising case numbers, adding that ‘the immediate future’ of the state depends on them.
Federal health official Ruy López Riadura said this week that the common denominator between the states where case numbers are on the rise – Yucatán, Campeche, Colima and Baja California Sur have also seen recent spikes – is the return of tourism.
Quintana Roo is Mexico’s most visited state, and international tourists, especially United States citizens, have continued to travel there during the pandemic, encouraged by Mexico’s lax entry requirements (negative Covid tests are not required, for example) in comparison to many other countries.
Mexican and foreign tourists flocked to the state during the spring break and Easter vacation period earlier this year, and in many cases were less than strict with their observance of virus mitigation protocols — even as they frequented busy places such as bars and restaurants.
Such behavior, of course, is an invitation for the virus to spread, a reality recognized by National Autonomous University epidemiologist Alfonso Vallejo.
“With all the measures that have been taken, tourism itself is not the problem but rather [the gathering of] crowds and the absence of preventative measures,” he told the newspaper El País.
“We’re talking about a highly infectious virus, which is transmitted through the air from person to person; sooner or later the cases will arrive,” Vallejo said.
Tourists have flocked back to Quintana Roo’s beaches at least since the winter holidays, like these visitors to Playa del Carmen in January.
According to Aguirre, the state health minister, the reactivation of tourism has not only brought large numbers of outsiders into Quintana Roo but also caused locals — many of whom work in the tourism sector — to move about more, which places them at greater risk of exposure to the coronavirus.
She said the state wants to avoid reaching “a compromised epidemiological situation” but declined to advocate an economic shutdown as a means to bring the spread of the virus under control.
“The economic reactivation we have today cannot be stopped,” the minister said.
Although their effectiveness against the different strains of the virus that have emerged is unclear, Covid-19 vaccines still appear to be the main ticket out of the pandemic for Mexico. In that respect, Quintana Roo is making progress, although rising case numbers attest that there is still a long way to go to stop or at least significantly stymie the spread of the virus.
The state government reported Wednesday that more than 342,000 vaccine doses had been administered in Quintana Roo’s 11 municipalities, including more than 138,000 in Benito Juárez, which includes Cancún. As the state has a population of approximately 1.8 million, that means that about 19 shots have been given per 100 people, a figure below the national 25 per-capita rate, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker.
“The most effective way to stop the pandemic is vaccination,” said Vallejo.
State police inspect weapons belonging to Zongolica municipal police.
State police in Veracruz took control of two municipalities on Wednesday, disarming and relieving from duty at least 40 municipal police officers.
Law enforcement from Papantla and Zongolica will be sent to the state capital Xalapa for reevaluation.
Veracruz authorities have intervened in at least nine municipal police forces this year, and taken control of at least six.
Papantla and Zongolica are both locally governed by the Democratic Revolutionary Party. The party’s state leader, Sergio Cadena Martínez, believes the Morena state government’s intervention was tied to politics, and Sunday’s elections.
“This is clearly an intimidating and desperate act that seeks to try to suppress the spirit of citizen participation … It’s a cowardly government, a government that is afraid, and takes advantage of institutions,” he said.
Zongolica has one of the largest community police forces in the country, which continues to operate. It is composed of 1,200 elected, local indigenous people, who patrol unarmed.
If you are like me, one of the first things you noticed about driving in Mexico (after blinking green lights) is that there are certain street names that keep getting repeated. In fact, if you see street names such as (Benito) Juárez, (Miguel) Hidalgo, 16 de septiembre, (Francisco I.) Madero and Reforma closely together, chances are you are in the historic center.
If you guessed that most of these street names come from Mexican history, you would be correct. Most countries have street names to preserve the memory of historic events and people. Mexico is no exception. These have changed from time to time, principally when there has been major sociopolitical changes. For this reason, many names today are related to the War of Independence followed by historical events after that such as the Mexican Revolution. According to Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) the most common street names in Mexico are Miguel Hidalgo, Emiliano Zapata, Benito Juárez and 5 de Mayo.
Miguel Hidalgo is called the “father of the nation” and the “father of independence.” His role in Mexico’s identity has similarities to that of George Washington, although their lives before and during and after their struggles against European powers were very different.
Hidalgo was one of several conspirators against the Spanish Crown whose plot was prematurely discovered. Warned by fellow conspirator Josefina Ortíz de Domínguez, Hidalgo decided to call together the townspeople of the small village of Dolores in Hidalgo where he was parish priest. Ringing the bell at 11 p.m. on September 15, 1810, he called the people to join him in rebellion, an act that officially marks the start of Mexico’s independence and is recreated every year as part of celebrations.
Independence is so central to Mexican identity that (Miguel) Hidalgo is the most popular name in 24 of Mexico’s 32 states, appearing over 14,200 times.
Avenida Madero in Villahermosa.
In Mexico City alone, it appears on 317 streets. Other names referring to this war are also extremely common. Independencia appears about 7,000 times and 16 de septiembre (the first full day of independence and the national holiday) just over 6,600. Other national figures from this time period are common and include (José María) Morelos, (Ignacio) Allende and (Vicente) Guerrero.
Regional heroes of the movement are often honored in the areas where they were active. Fray Servando and Padro Mier refer to José Servando Teresa de Mier y Noriega y Guerra, who was active in Monterrey and appears frequently on street signs in Nuevo León and the northeast.
Emiliano Zapata was the leader of the Liberation Army of the South, one of the major factions fighting during the decade-long Mexican Revolution. Unlike some other factional leaders, Zapata never became president of Mexico; in fact, he was killed by troops loyal to rival Venustiano Carranza.
But Zapata’s name is the best remembered in Mexico and most recognized internationally. Zapata’s ideas about land and agrarian reform found their way into the current 1917 constitution, and his name and image are still invoked in struggles of the rural poor against the powers-that-be. One recent example of this are the Zapatistas of Chiapas, who made international headlines in 1994.
Zapata’s name is second only to Hidalgo, but his name does not appear quite as ubiquitously in Mexico as Hidalgo’s. The name is most popular in Guanajuato, and not surprisingly, Morelos, where he had his base of operations and where his ideas still dominate land tenure today.
Other names related to the Revolution include (Francisco I.) Madero, (José María) Pino Suárez, (Álvaro) Obregón, and interestingly enough Porfirio Díaz, the president/dictator that all of the factions rose up together against at the outset. Although Francisco (Pancho) Villa was also a factional leader (and best known to Americans), his name appears commonly only in certain parts of northern Mexico such as Durango.
There are many Calle Hidalgos, named after the Mexican Independence hero Miguel Hidalgo.
Neither part of the Independence or Revolution movements, Benito Juárez nonetheless may be the closest thing Mexico has to a secular saint. Born 1806 in rural Oaxaca, Juárez was a full-blooded Zapotec who studied law to help his people. The 19th century was a time of constant civil wars and coups d’état in Mexico, and Juárez spent his life fighting either French invaders and/or conservative factions among his own countrymen.
He was a driving force behind the 1857 constitution and the Reforma (Reform) that irrevocably changed Mexican society. He died in office as Mexican president in 1872 and is the only Mexican individual to have a national holiday on the anniversary of his birth. Juárez’s name appears just under 10,000 times nationally, appearing most strongly in Quintana Roo and his native state, with about 1,500 streets there alone.
The last is not a person but a historical date, and a curious one at that. 5 de Mayo (May 5) is the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. It is better known in the U.S. as something similar to St. Patrick’s Day, a day of celebrating Mexican heritage often with large quantities of alcohol and cheesy costumes. It is not a national holiday in Mexico although it is very important in Puebla and in certain places where many poblanos have migrated, both in Mexico and the United States.
The battle pitted the invading French against various Mexican forces cobbled together just outside the city of Puebla. On that day, Mexican forces won, but only managed to delay the French installation of Maximilian I as emperor of the Second Mexican Empire. Although 5 de mayo ranks fourth, streets with this name are clustered strongly in Puebla and central Mexico.
Street names do not stay completely static, with a number of signs in Mexico City attesting to historic name changes. It is common to rename streets as local men gain the presidency or other important political posts, so be on the lookout for López Obrador streets in the near future.
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.
President López Obrador on Monday officially handed control of the government's ports and merchant marine department to the navy.
President López Obrador on Monday officially handed control of the government’s ports and merchant marine department to the Ministry of the Navy (Semar).
The department was formerly managed by the Ministry of Communications and Transportation but the federal government last year decided to hand it over to the navy, a move that triggered the resignation of former communications and transportation minister Javier Jiménez Espriú.
López Obrador formalized the transfer at a ceremony in the port city of Veracruz to mark Mexico’s annual Navy Day. He said the navy is the institution best prepared to defend Mexico and combat the importation of illegal drugs via the country’s ports.
Communications and Transportation Minister Jorge Arganis said the process to hand over the ports to Semar was seamless.
“Today, June 1, we’re completing an impeccable delivery of the General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine to the Semar authorities,” he said.
“We can inform you [Mr. President] that we’ve complied with your instruction and we’re absolutely convinced that the operation of the ports is in the best hands.”
Navy chief José Rafael Ojeda pledged to put an end to corruption at Mexico’s ports and maritime customs.
“We’re going to focus on eradicating any act of corruption and poor management,” he said before ruling out any possibility that the country’s ports will be militarized.
Ojeda said that the personnel who will manage the ports won’t be “makeshift” officials but highly-trained professionals well suited to carrying out the tasks the president has entrusted to the navy.
“… There will be … changes in the administration of the ports in order to make their operation more efficient. On the customs side, we commit to carrying out an administration that is free of corruption and of course very efficient; foreign trade won’t be affected,” he said.
López Obrador has justified his decision to give the navy control of the ports by saying that it is best placed to root out longstanding corruption. Since taking office in late 2018, he has delegated a range of non-traditional tasks to the armed forces, including public security, infrastructure construction and the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines. The president announced last month that the navy will also be given control of the new Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor once it is completed.
López Obrador has defended his heavy reliance on the armed forces, casting the military as an honest institution and an essential ally in the fight against corruption.
Candidate Marilú Martínez was abducted with her family.
Candidates have continued to campaign at risk of attack in the final week before Sunday’s elections, although in one case the attack was devised by the candidate himself.
Marilú Martínez Núñez, a Citizens’ Movement candidate for mayor of Cutzamala de Pinzón, Guerrero, was kidnapped with her family Tuesday night by approximately 10 armed men. The military, the National Guard and state police are working to find them.
Head of the Citizens’ Movement in Guerrero, Adrián Wences Carrasco, said he was informed that outgoing mayor Timoteo Arce Solís could be behind the abduction. His wife, Rosa Jaimes, is running against Núñez.
In Puebla, meanwhile, Dr. Porfirio Eusebio Lima, a Green Party candidate for Acajete, was reported kidnapped on Saturday. But not only has he reappeared unharmed but admitted to staging the event, although the reason for doing so has not been revealed.
The candidate had checked into a hotel in Querétaro city using a false identity, but he was caught on security cameras. He had been there since Saturday.
In Quintana Roo, one case of election violence is closer to resolution. The Attorney General’s Office is investigating groups connected to the Sinaloa Cartel for the murder of mayoral candidate Ignacio Sánchez Cordero in Puerto Morelos, and an attack on his wife, Blanca Merari Tziu, who is now running in his place.
Santos Popoca draws Aztec figures on the dress of a traditional dancer. joseph sorrentino
Coatlicue, the Aztec serpent goddess, slowly comes to life under the steady hand of Santos Popoca Fernández.
He’s leaning over his worktable in his small studio in San Pedro Yancuitlalpan, Puebla, concentrating intently on the drawing he’s making on a dress that will be worn by an Aztec dancer.
Popoca started painting clothing for traditional dancers about four years ago.
“I make them because I want to revive the ancient forms of art,” he said. “The symbols I use are all Azteca. All of the pre-Hispanic cultures used representations of their culture on clothing or on their bodies. Every culture had its own symbols, their own particular identity. Pre-Hispanic groups made clothing with different materials, but they always used clothing with symbols. Depending on who they were, it was to distinguish societies, positions, classes. So a governor wore different clothes than a warrior.”
Many people are familiar with the Aztec dancers who perform in Mexico City’s zocalo, but such groups are found in pueblos all across Mexico, performing their dances during ceremonies and rituals. The dancers are easily recognized, wearing their feather headdresses and brightly colored clothing.
Dancer Guadalupe Jiménez Rincón models one of the artist’s works. joseph sorrentino
Aztec dances are, in part, a way to show the art and culture of Mexico’s indigenous groups. But they’re also a form of prayer, a way for dancers to communicate with their gods and goddesses, and a way to take the dancers out of their everyday lives.
“We dance to obtain different levels,” said Miguel Antonio Zamora Solís, captain of Grupo San Miguel, an Aztec dance troupe in Xochimilco, Mexico City.
Many Aztec dance troupes incorporate Catholic imagery in some way into their ceremonies. Often, flags or paintings bearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe will be carried. Cleansing ceremonies will be done in front of Catholic altars. Crucifixes will be adorned with flowers.
Clothing with paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe are often worn during ceremonies.
“With the dance, it is a union of the two religions: Catholic and indigenous,” Zamora said. “It is a mix of Catholic and indigenous, and they are equal in importance.”
But not all Aztec dancers do this.
“There are dancers who still conserve the most original cosmovision [worldview] of the Mexicas [Aztecs],” Popoca said. “They do not integrate anything from Catholic ideology.”
Popoca doesn’t use any Catholic images in his work.
“… I want to conserve and revive what’s authentic about our cultures,” he explained.
The symbols he does paint on the clothing worn by dancers have special meanings.
“Every dancer, every person will have their particular symbol, symbols that are unique to them,” Popoca said. “Shamans and priests have special symbols and numbers that are only for them. All of the symbols and characteristics give a person power or knowledge.”
Coatlicue, the goddess that Popoca is painting on the dress, is the Aztec’s earth-mother goddess, the goddess of, among other things, childbirth, warfare and agriculture.
Santos Popoca Fernández in his studio. joseph sorrentino
“She has a necklace with hands, hearts and a skull,” he told me as he drew. “These are symbols that are very typical for this goddess.” She’s usually portrayed with snakes draped on either side of her. “The snake is a symbol of transformation,” he continued. “It sheds its skin. The oldest symbol of her is a statue of a snake, no human face.”
The images he paints aren’t always exactly what an actual symbol or a figure looks like.
“The symbols I paint are a fusion of what I find in books, the figures I see and my own ideas,” Popoca said. “They are really something new.”
When Popoca’s ready to paint an image on a dress, he’ll first make a drawing on onion skin, a thin, transparent paper. He will then either place the drawing under the cloth and trace it or draw it freehand.
“It is a very slow process because it is very detailed,” he said. Once the drawing is done, he’ll color it in with spray paints and oil paints.
Although often portrayed as an old woman, Popoca said he’ll portray Coatlicue on different sides of the dress as both an old and young woman.
“All of the symbols transform, have different forms, different ages, too. According to our ancestral beliefs, everything that exists is moving, metamorphizing,” he said. “Land moves, people move, as does water, our heart. The idea [here] is to show the evolution, the transformation.”
Popoca estimates that he paints between five and 10 dresses a year. He’ll work eight hours a day for four days on a simple one and charge about 3,000 pesos (US $150). The most complicated dresses take him 15 days and cost a dancer 7,000 pesos. Most of the clothing he paints will be worn by women, but he also paints clothing for men.
There’s been a lot of debate lately about whether it’s appropriate for non-indigenous people to wear clothing or use symbols from indigenous cultures, symbols that often have religious significance. Popoca’s painted clothing is beautiful, and it’s easy to imagine that someone who’s not an Aztec dancer would want to buy one of his dresses.
“Anyone can wear them,” he admitted, “but they’re not a fashion. It would be difficult for me to sell it as a fashion. It’s not typical to do that. They are not for daily use, only for ceremonies and dances.”
In addition, Popoca views his work as more than just painting beautiful images on clothing.
“It is important to preserve these images and the culture,” he continued, “because everything is related to — and organized by — our ancestral roots. This is ancient knowledge. It is to understand your place in the world and your objectives. If one does not understand the past, one cannot understand the present or future.”
