Mejía levels accusations over the monopolization of water in Chihuahua.
The federal government has accused a family of walnut farmers, a group of onion farmers and politicians of controlling and monopolizing water in Chihuahua, where there have been protests against the diversion of water to the United States.
Mejía charged that the Urionabarrenechea family, large-scale producers of walnuts, control a significant portion of water in Chihuahua. The father-in-law of one of the family members was formerly the head of the Chihuahua water utility, he added.
“This group [the Urionabarrenechea family] is important because it was to a large degree behind the financing of the protests and it’s linked to [former Chihuahua governor Cesár] Duarte,” he said.
The deputy minister said that there is another group known as Los Cebolleros (the onion farmers), which he claimed also illegally controls water resources in Chihuahua. The group traveled to the Andrew Weiss dam and demanded that the National Guard leave, Mejía said, adding that the onion farmers are close to state National Action Party (PAN) lawmaker Jesús Valenciano.
Mejía claimed that farmers who control water in the northern state played a part in the Chihuahua government’s awarding of a contract to build a water treatment plant to businessman Carlos Cuevas Abundis, who is accused of murdering two of his security guards and allegedly has links to a drug cartel and fuel thieves.
“Carlos Cuevas was awarded a treatment plant project, he has a friendship with [Jesús] Valenciano,” he said, adding that the state lawmaker has been active in the water protests.
Mejía also asserted that Chihuahua Governor Javier Corral has a personal relationship with Cuevas that played a role in a company he founded being awarded the government contract.
Farmers and politicians involved in the control and monopolization of water resources want to maintain the status quo to “the detriment of the nation,” the official said, adding that their actions place the water treaty – considered by many to be favorable to Mexico as the United States sends more water south of the border than it receives – at risk.
President López Obrador has also asserted that walnut farmers backed by state politicians are behind the water protests. He said in July that politicians with PAN – which Corral represents – want to protect water in Chihuahua for their own business interests.
“The manipulation of information by the federal government is despicable and vulgar,” he said.
“The first thing we have to do is lament the tragedy of Mexico. We’ve gone from a corrupt and corrupting president, as [Enrique] Peña Nieto was, to a president who sows hate, manipulates and ignores the truth,” Corral said.
The governor rejected the claim that his government awarded a water treatment plant contract to Cuevas and said that all information about the tendering process is available on the federal government’s online transparency platform.
“This Ricardo Mejía Berdeja has lost all scruples; he’s become López Obrador’s media hitman on this [water] issue,” Corral said.
Eyraud was killed Thursday by attackers wearing tactical gear and carrying high-caliber weapons.
The brother-in-law of an indigenous and water rights activist in Tecate, Baja California, who was murdered Thursday evening has also been killed, family members report.
Daniel Sotelo, the brother-in-law of Óscar Eugenio Eyraud Adams, was murdered in a store where he worked on Friday afternoon, a close friend of both victims said.
“We fear for our lives,” the friend said. “We plan to bury [Eyraud] directly and not hold a wake for fear by the whole family.”
Although few details are available related to the most recent killing, new information is emerging about Eyraud’s death. No motive in either killing has been officially determined.
A member of the Kumeyaay indigenous group, Eyraud had been an activist for years on issues of ethnicity and environmental injustice, a family member said.
Last month, Eyraud publicly denounced the lack of water in his community in an interview with Reforma and warned of cultural consequences to come if transnational companies were provided with water at the expense of indigenous communities.
On Thursday night, at least five men clad in tactical gear and armed with pistols and high caliber weapons pulled up at Eyraud’s home in two white SUVs, authorities say.
Eyraud lived in the house with his uncle, who said Eyraud stepped out to go shopping around 6:30 p.m.
Police say the 34-year-old man was chased down the street and tried to return home to take refuge but the gunmen shot him in the back in his front yard. As his body lay face down on the patio, the men also shot up the house. Thirteen casings from four different caliber weapons were found at the scene.
A neighbor told the prosecutor’s office that she had seen a man dressed in camouflage clothing with his face covered carrying a machine gun and later heard several shots ring out.
Eyraud was the cousin of Tecate Mayor Zulema Adams Pereyra, who lamented the crime but clarified that the two were not on speaking terms.
“The municipal government sends its condolences and stands in solidarity with the family and friends of Óscar Eyraud, an activist always concerned about a better quality of life for the Kumeyaay community. We join in the request for the clarification of these unfortunate facts,” the mayor said in a statement.
The organization Agua Para Todos [Water for Everyone]called on the government to put a stop to the killings of activists in Mexico.
“Decisive government intervention is urgently needed to prevent names from being added to the already long list of comrades from communities and organizations killed for defending water and nature and demanding their legitimate rights,” they wrote in the statement.
At least four other activists have been killed in Mexico this year, and the country is one of the most dangerous in the world for those who publicly condemn environmental injustice, according to Amnesty International. Fifteen activists were killed in Mexico in 2019.
Members of motorcycle clubs from Saltillo, Coahuila, and Monterrey, Nuevo León. Foresteros Moto Club
As of 2017, there were over 3.5 million motorcycles on the roads of Mexico, a market that has been experiencing robust growth.
One reason is the availability of inexpensive, small bikes that are good for urban transportation, and indispensable with the rise of delivery services like Uber Eats.
Most motorcycling is practical urban transportation, but a “biker” culture of large cruisers on open highways does exist. Black leather jackets, boots, tattoos, certain bikes, and rock and roll dominate and on the surface, there is little to distinguish Mexican bikers from their U.S. counterparts. So are they simply mimicking? The answer is yes and no.
American media brought images of tough guys on Harleys to Mexico. It was adopted, and like in the U.S., the biker culture has since evolved. Mexico’s biker culture is more a homage to that north of the border, rather than a simple imitation, says Diego Piña, co-owner of the Black Dog House, a biker-themed bar in Querétaro.
The influence of the United States also extends to the negative stereotypes many non-bikers have, and unfortunately there are a few bikers who live up to the bad reputation. The lingering social stigma can mean that some bikers will hide their passion at their 9-5 jobs but pull out the stops on weekends. Mechanic Rene Esteves of Querétaro calls them “bikers de closet.”
Members of the Foresteros Moto Club from Saltillo in Bacalar, Quintana Roo.
Mexico does not have the same history of social rebellion like the United States, so what is the attraction? The principal answer is motorcycles themselves. Bikers find their passion young, attracted to the power and freedom from the mundane that the machines promise. In addition, there is an exoticism to the dress and social ritual.
Black Dog, with its chicken wings, onion rings, and live rock and roll, was like being back in college for me, but the Mexicans at my table found it both strange and wonderfully human at the same time.
That said, the biker culture has been around long enough to take on a “Mexican touch.” First is the image of singer and actor Pedro Infante. Starring in the movie A Toda Máquina (Full Speed Ahead, 1951), he gave Mexican riders an icon to go along with Elvis Presley and Marlon Brando.
Longtime biker Edgar Cisneros of Saltillo says that cruising bikes and rallies are more popular in the center and north of the country than in the south. The north has long distances to cross, requiring better planning, but it also has the drier weather and majestic scenery that most bikers crave. Many U.S. bikers come to Mexican events in the northern border states and Baja, and many norteños can get to U.S. events.
Rock and roll dominates by far among motorcyclists, but this is not absolute. Those riding urban sport bikes tend to prefer more modern dance music, and some cruisers favor mariachi and other older styles of Mexican music.
Perhaps the most “Mexican” adaptation is the involvement of religion. Pilgrimage to shrines has been mixed with the concept of group riding. Such rides occur all over Mexico, but the two most popular are to Our Lady of San Juan de Los Lagos, and Our Lady of the Favor in Hostitipiquillo, both in Jalisco. Many biker events will start by having a priest bless the helmets to protect the riders.
The biker-themed Black Dog House in Querétaro.
Family involvement is cited as extremely important by most Mexican bikers. Bikers Sally Mayer and Javier Ramos explain that a common way to include family members is to have them travel in cars behind the motorcycles so that everyone can get to the destination. Other ways include teaching children to ride and even having sidecars. One advantage of family events, Mayer says, is that there is far less drinking and drugs.
Serious motorcycling is not a cheap hobby. Long rides require good bikes, and the usual costs of travel. Some bikers do sacrifice other wants and needs for their obsession, but most are white-collar workers and business owners. Elitism, especially among Harley owners, is not uncommon, in part reflecting the country’s social stratification. One curious result is the banqueteros (sidewalk motorcyclists), who ride their expensive bikes on weekends to a local spot to show it off parked out front.
Many bikers have certain hangouts that they favor, but “biker bars” per se are rare in Mexico. The Black Dog House was established specifically to provide that kind of environment with some important modifications. The main one is that everyone, including non-bikers, are welcome as “there are no colors here.”
While “lone wolves” can certainly be seen in Mexico, organized group rides are the norm. One important advantage is safety; companions can help in case of an accident or other emergency, and groups of riders can fend off bullying cars and trucks on the highway. Many motorcycle organizations have developed almost military-like precision, with assigned roles and protocols.
The preference for organized rides means that biker events are popular and growing. The largest are in the Mexico City area along with the western and northwestern states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Sinaloa, Sonora, Nuevo León, Chihuahua, and all of Baja California. They bring riders from all over Mexico, many from the United States, and even some from South America and Europe.
The largest is the Semana Moto Mazatlán, and another, Chikas Biker, is dedicated to women riders. Most events look to project a more positive image for bikers, often raising money and collecting donations for charity and having strict rules for behavior. Another important event is the Expo-Moto at the World Trade Center in Mexico City, which showcases 600 brands of motorcycles and accessories.
A lone biker with a picturesque backdrop. Bike Mexico
There are too many motorcycle groups to count in Mexico, which vary by membership requirements including type of bike, riding style, geographical location and sometimes sex, religion, socioeconomic status and more. There are also umbrella groups such as the Federación de Motociclistas and the Confederación de Motociclistas.
Interestingly, while there are expat motorcyclists they do not dominate the scene. Perhaps because of this, there are motorcycle tour businesses such as Bike Mexico in Puerto Vallarta, tours down the Baja peninsula highway from San Diego, and a Facebook group called Motorcycle Mexico.
Biker events can be an economic boon to cities and towns, as bikers spend money on gasoline, lodging, food, etc. Riders often go into rural areas that see little benefit from Mexico’s tourism industry. That is not to say that there are never any problems. Mayer likens biker events to rock concerts – most are fine, but there are some which cause problems.
Mayer and Ramos agree that motorcyclists wanting to join others in Mexico need to do their homework to find out which group is right for them, but “99% of motorcyclists are decent people.”
• Special thanks to William B. Kaliher, author of Mexico by Motorcycle: An Adventure Story (Sombrero Books) for his help in connecting with the biker community in Mexico.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 17 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture. She publishes a blog called Creative Hands of Mexicoand her first book, Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta, was published last year. Her culture blog appears weekly on Mexico News Daily.
Mexico City police are turning a blind eye to pot smokers who light up in a cannabis garden called Plantón 420 located next to the Senate building in Luis Pasteur park.
Seeds planted in early February by pro-marijuana activists have grown into plants as tall as 2.65 meters at Plantón 420, which has become a veritable pot jungle. Activists continue to plant seedlings in pots and even in tennis shoes placed in front of signs calling for legal cultivation.
“Being able to smoke here (in the garden) in freedom is very important to me,” said barista Marco Flores. “I no longer go out on the streets in fear.”
Marijuana activists camp out at the site, where they cook, eat and garden together. They hold workshops on germination, growing techniques and the elaboration of products ranging from edibles to sexual lubricants. They also host lectures to raise awareness of the medicinal use of the plant and its derivatives.
The Supreme Court, which ruled that laws forbidding the use of marijuana are unconstitutional, has given lawmakers until December 15 to draft legalization legislation. Until then, pot smokers could face criminal charges for possession of amounts greater than five grams. Anything below that is legal.
Healthy pot plants at Plantón 420.
The protest garden, run by Mexico’s Cannabis Movement, is open to visitors who are allowed inside to smoke for 30 minutes at a time while respecting social distancing. Buying and selling pot is forbidden, as is sharing a joint or pipe. Visitors are given a badge and a loudspeaker alerts them when their time is up. Nearly eight months after the garden began, Plantón 420 is popular enough that it appears on Google Maps.
“It’s great that they have opened a space for people who are open to new experiences, or who want to find out a little bit about this subject,” said pot smoker Carlos Díaz.
Cannabis activists like José Rivera view the garden as a teaching tool. “We want [Mexican lawmakers] to understand that we are smoking quietly and that we are not a risk to anyone,” he said. “Enough of the mistreatment.”
Leopoldo Rivera of the Mexican Cannabis Movement calls it the first non-clandestine pot plantation in Mexico in 100 years.
“Being a marijuana user does not make us criminals. Most of us work, pay taxes. We are just normal people who like marijuana, just like those who like football and who do not harm third parties,” Rivera said.
“Here we are firm in defense of the rights of all. We thank those who do not consume and who understand this fight. … (Legalization) is a fair demand so that no more human rights are violated and that the police stop being distracted by persecuting people who are mostly peaceful and productive.”
Three weeks ago pro-legalization Senator Jesusa Rodríguez took a marijuana plant with her to the Senate floor during a debate on legalization.
This week Interior Minister and former Supreme Court justice Olga Sánchez Cordero defended the recreational use of marijuana, which she considers a natural product with a low risk of addiction. “I am going to plant it in my garden,” she said.
Fishermen are defying rules designed to protect the critically endangered vaquita marina porpoise as the new shrimp season begins in the upper Gulf of California.
The federal government this week enlarged by 50% a zero-tolerance zone in the gulf’s northern region where the use of a range of fishing nets including gillnets are prohibited.
The vaquitas, of which fewer than 10 are thought to exist, are prone to becoming entangled in fishing nets and drowning.
One of the banned nets is called a chinchorro de línea, which is commonly used to catch shrimp.
But according to the head of a fishermen’s federation in San Felipe, Baja California, shrimpers used that net on Friday despite the ban and the fact that the closed season on shrimp fishing remained in effect until Saturday.
Lorenzo García said that officials with the environmental protection agency Profepa and the National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission as well as marines tried to persuade shrimp fishermen not to go to sea but didn’t threaten to impose sanctions on them.
He said authorities want shrimpers to use a net known as a chango ecológico but claimed that they are in fact more dangerous to the vaquita marina than the nets they are currently using.
“The chinchorro is more selective, there is no evidence that it has trapped a vaquita marina but the chango takes everything, everything that goes by,” García said.
He said that fishermen will continue to use the chinchorro but stressed that they are not encroaching on the zero-tolerance zone, which has been increased to 225 square kilometers from 150.
“We’re just looking for a way to keep working,” García said.
He said that fishermen are open to different ways of fishing but asserted that the alternatives currently on the table are not viable.
San Felipe fishermen’s spokesman García: ‘We’re just looking for a way to keep working.’
He also said that he and other fishing association leaders are trying to reach an agreement with the government that will prevent clashes between fishermen and the authorities, as have previously occurred.
“We’re doing our best to stop that but when people get inflamed, we just have to step out of the way,” García said.
He acknowledged that there is pressure from the United States to do more to protect the vaquita, noting that the U.S. has placed a ban on the import of shrimp caught in the upper Gulf of California.
But he said shrimpers will continue to fish there because they have no other way to support their families. García said the government has ignored fishermen’s pleas for financial support.
They used to receive money from the government to compensate them for lost income due to fishing bans designed to protect the vaquita but they became unreliable late in the term of former president Enrique Peña Nieto and dried up completely when President López Obrador took office in late 2018.
García complained that the government is more focused on putting restrictions on legal fishing than eliminating illegal fishing of the totoaba, a species of fish that is extremely lucrative because their swim bladders are considered a delicacy in China.
The gillnets used to catch totoaba are especially dangerous to vaquitas. Authorities in conjunction with non-governmental environmental groups carry out patrols to look for totoaba poachers and their nets but enforcement has been lax.
The federal government said this week that authorities will carry out sea and air patrols around the clock to ensure compliance with the new rules in the zero tolerance area but whether that actually happens remains to be seen.
Baja California Governor Diego Bonilla said state authorities are in a tricky situation with regard to whether they should strictly enforce the fishing gear rules or not.
“We’re between a rock and a hard place, … if we don’t let them fish, how are they going to eat? If we let them fish and their gear affects the vaquita, that’s also a problem,” he said.
The governor claimed that the federal government has abandoned upper Gulf of California fishermen and asserted that it is partly to blame for the vaquita marina being so close to extinction.
“The federal government … has to tell them honestly why it hasn’t placed due attention on the issue of preserving the vaquita marina,” Bonilla said, adding that the fishermen’s right to earn a living must be protected.
Police stepped in to clear protesting teachers from a railway blockade in Michoacán last week, but it didn’t take long for the protest to resume.
Teachers and teachers in training erected blockades in at least seven municipalities on Friday.
In the last two weeks, teachers have closed sections of line in the state on five occasions. The blockades were lifted on Tuesday after state police made a show of force in Maravatío. Teachers, who are members of the dissident CNTE union, said police threatened to remove them by force if they did not clear the tracks.
On Wednesday, CNTE members and police in riot gear clashed as protesters in Caltzontzin attempted to take over the tracks once again, with the teachers lobbing fireworks at police who responded with tear gas. Two police officers were injured in the skirmish.
Teachers and teaching students, known as normalistas, are demanding the payment of bonuses and scholarships and the automatic allocation of jobs to more than 2,000 recent graduates, among other demands.
“We understand what they are asking for, but it is an issue outside the railroad. There may be reasons to protest, some are valid, but in the strict sense, there should be no impact on third parties,” said Óscar del Cueto, president of the Mexican Association of Railways.
Blockades on the tracks have interrupted the transport of goods to and from the center of the country, which is causing economic losses estimated at 50 million pesos (US $2.24 million) per day. Michoacán Industry Association (AIEMAC) president Carlos Alberto Enríquez Barajas says that regardless of whether the teachers’ demands are legitimate, “this can no longer be the way to function in Michoacán.”
The protesters, who also took over two toll plazas in Michoacán yesterday, say their activities will intensify until the federal and local governments meet their demands. In 2019 normalistas blocked the railway tracks in Michoacan for a total of 62 days.
Much of Mexico is now painted yellow on the federal government's risk assessment map.
Campeche will become the first state in the country to switch to green light “low risk” according to the federal government’s stoplight system to assess the risk of coronavirus infection.
The federal Health Ministry announced Friday that the Yucatán Peninsula state, which was also the first state to move from high risk to medium, will be painted green on the government’s stoplight map as of Monday.
“The state of Campeche is the first state in our republic to arrive at the green stoplight, it’s the lowest risk level. We have to remember that this doesn’t mean zero risk. This means that the dynamic of the epidemic has decreased enough to allow almost all economic and social activities to resume,” said health promotion chief Ricardo Cortés.
According to state government data, Campeche has recorded 6,031 confirmed cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and 787 deaths. As of Friday there were just 43 active cases in the state.
Although federal authorities have said that schools can reopen once the risk level decreases to green, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell advised Campeche to “be prudent” and not move to do so immediately.
Authorities in Campeche should carefully weigh the benefits and risks of reopening schools in the short term, he said.
Of Mexico’s 31 other states, 16 will start next week painted yellow on the stoplight risk map and 15 will be orange.
The yellow light states as of Monday will be Chiapas, Chihuahua, Morelos, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Baja California, Coahuila, Sinaloa, Durango, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Puebla, Oaxaca and Tabasco.
The first six states listed were already yellow while the other 10 will switch to that color from orange on Monday.
The orange light states as of Monday will be Baja California Sur, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Guerrero, México state, Mexico City, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
All but one of those states are currently orange. Quintana Roo will switch from yellow on Monday but state authorities have their own stoplight system and have indicated that it will remain yellow.
López-Gatell: pandemic is on the wane in 27 states.
The federal government system considers 10 different indicators to determine the stoplight color allocated to each state.
The 10 indicators are:
The Covid-19 effective reproduction rate (how many people each infected person infects);
Estimated case numbers per 100,000 inhabitants;
The weekly positivity rate (the percentage of Covid-19 tests that come back positive);
Total case numbers;
The number of coronavirus patients per 100,000 inhabitants;
Hospital occupancy rates for general care beds;
Hospital occupancy rates for beds with ventilators;
Hospital admission trends;
Covid-19 mortality rate (deaths per 100,000 inhabitants); and
Covid-19 death trends (whether the number of deaths per week is increasing or decreasing).
Mexico is still recording several thousand new coronavirus cases per day and hundreds of Covid-19 deaths but López-Gatell, the government’s coronavirus czar, said Friday that the pandemic is on the wane in 27 of of the country’s 32 states.
“We have 27 federal entities that are already in a descending pattern; in other words, the daily number of cases registered, the number of hospitalizations, the number of deaths and the positivity rate [of Covid-19 tests] are declining,” he said. “These four indicators are generally behaving very consistently.”
López-Gatell said that the decline in those indicators has been seen in all 27 states for at least two weeks. The epidemics in Chiapas, Sonora and Sinaloa have been on the wane for six to eight weeks, while Campeche has seen the indicators decline for 12 weeks, he said.
The deputy minister said that the epidemics in Durango and Querétaro are still in a growth phase and that it is unclear when they will start to decline. The epidemics in Mexico City and Jalisco have plateaued, López-Gatell said. He didn’t identify the fifth state where the epidemic is not on the wane.
He urged people to continue to observe social distancing recommendations, to wash their hands frequently, to wear a face mask and to stay at home if they have coronavirus-like symptoms.
“With this we’re going to continue having hope and results … in decreasing [new infections]. Tomorrow we’ll reach eight consecutive weeks of a decline” in nationwide case numbers, López-Gatell said.
Earlier in the press conference, Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomia reported that Mexico’s accumulated case tally had increased to 720,858 with 5,401 new cases registered. The official Covid-19 death toll rose to 75,844 with 405 additional fatalities.
Mexico has the seventh highest accumulated case tally, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, and ranks fourth for Covid-19 deaths behind the United States, Brazil and India.
A group of Rarámuri people has walked more than 200 kilometers to Chihuahua city to demand that the federal government comply with an accord signed by President López Obrador almost a year ago.
During a visit to the municipality of Bocoyna in late October 2109, López Obrador pledged that a range of government social programs would be offered in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua and that infrastructure projects would be built there.
But the residents of the region say that he has failed to keep his word.
About 250 Rarámuri men, women and children from Bocoyna, Urique and Guachochi set off from the town of San Juanito on Monday to take their grievances to federal government offices in the state capital.
After staying in community centers along the way, the group arrived in Chihuahua city on Thursday and camped out in a park opposite the offices of the federal Welfare Ministry.
Rarámuris arrive in Chihuahua city on Friday.
Luis Carlos González Fierro, coordinator of the so-called Rarámuri March for Work, said the tree-planting employment program known as Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life), the Youths Building the Future apprenticeship scheme and a program that offers support to cattle ranchers haven’t arrived in the Sierra Tarahumara as promised.
The government has also failed to fulfill pledges to build water infrastructure and suspension bridges and provide materials for the construction of homes, he said.
González said the federal government’s development delegate in Chihuahua, Juan Carlos Loera, was supposed to ensure that the federal government’s promises were kept but has failed to do so.
He said the Rarámuris will remain in Lerdo park in central Chihuahua city until federal officials meet with them and agree to fulfill their demands.
If that doesn’t happen, they will hire a bus to travel to Mexico City and set up camp in the zócalo, the capital’s central square, González said.
“If there is no dialogue with the … [Welfare] Ministry, we’ll go to Mexico City and set up a camp so that they attend to us. Let’s see if the president meets with us there.”
The La Paz penitentiary, where 21 inmates are recovering from Covid-19.
Twenty-one inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus at the La Paz penitentiary in Baja California Sur (BCS). The outbreak at the prison was detected after one inmate presented symptoms.
Tests were then applied to 50 inmates, revealing that 16 men and four women had also been infected.
All are stable and in isolation, authorities report, and sanitary measures are being stepped up with testing to begin soon on staff at the state prison.
Family members of the sick were informed and inmates were permitted to speak with them via video call.
These are the first cases reported in the BCS prison population since the pandemic began six months ago, Debate reports.
• For those not behind bars, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for the coronavirus, which are thought to be the most accurate, can cost up to 11,000 pesos (US $492) in notoriously expensive private hospitals in Los Cabos.
In La Paz, laboratories offer the Covid PCR test for 950 to 1,300 pesos (US $42 to $58), according to BCS Noticias.
• According to the Ministry of Health, BCS has experienced 26.8% more deaths than expected this year due to the coronavirus, a figure substantially lower than the national average excess mortality rate of 32.4%.
Aurora Rebolledo, an epidemiologist at the National Institute of Public Health, explains the term: “Excess mortality is a term used in epidemiology and public health that refers to the number of deaths, from all causes, during a period of time when registered deaths go beyond the statistical projections in a year under normal conditions due to an unforeseen health event,” she said.
Between January and August, 1,344 deaths from all causes were expected, but 1,678 death certificates have been issued thus far, Diario El Independiente reports.
As of Thursday, BCS had registered 9,809 confirmed cases of the coronavirus which has caused the deaths of 445 people.
Betting on a tourism rebound
Despite devastatingly low tourism numbers due to the coronavirus in BCS, seven new luxury hotels are being planned in Los Cabos.
While still in the initial stages of development, the Los Cabos Tourism Trust says the projects are for luxury, boutique hotels with fewer than 150 rooms each, representing investments totaling US $300 million, Diario El Independiente reports.
Currently, construction is underway on 1,000 new hotel rooms in the area and tourism experts are banking on near-2019 numbers in the coming months.
State tourism official Luis Araiza López says he expects to see 60% hotel occupancy beginning in November when the high season normally kicks off. That’s just 10% under the occupancy rate during that time period last year. In August, hotel occupancy averaged 23%.
And American Airlines has announced that it will be flying seasonal routes from Phoenix and Dallas to La Paz and Loreto beginning in December. La Paz-Dallas and Loreto-Dallas routes will be served by a weekly flight, the La Paz-Phoenix route will fly three times a week and Loreto-Phoenix four.
Mulegé hotel owner Don Johnson bought the Hotel Serenidad in 1968.
Mourning a legend
The owner of Hotel Serenidad in Mulegé, Don Johnson, passed away on September 15 at the age of 94.
Johnson first visited Mulegé in 1959 and bought the Hotel Serenidad in 1968, putting in an airstrip nearby for the convenience of his guests, which included Fred Astaire, Charles Lindbergh, James Arness, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John, and in particular John Wayne, who became a good friend.
He also served as U.S. Consul in BCS for 13 years and was known as a true ambassador for the state due to his gregarious nature. He was also known for his Saturday night pig roasts and stiff margaritas, Discover Baja reports.
His family, including daughters Diana, Sandra, and Sara Laura, will continue to operate the hotel and are looking to make upgrades.
Missing
The head of the State Commission for Missing Persons, Lizeth Collins, says that in 2020 84 people have been reported missing, 19 of whom have been found alive and two who were found dead.
Collins says a majority of those cases are in Los Cabos (48), followed by La Paz (22), Comondú (11) and Mulegé (3), BCS Noticias reports.
Booked
A soldier who is accused of firing shots in the air at a restaurant-bar in La Paz will await trial from a jail cell, a judge has decreed.
The crime occurred September 16 at a bar on 16 de Septiembre Street where a lieutenant identified as Fernando got into a dispute with restaurant personnel, allegedly over their refusal to serve him more alcohol. He ended up firing his pistol in the air a number of times both inside and outside the restaurant. No one was injured in the incident.
Cemeteries vandalized
Vandals hit the old cemetery in Cabo San Lucas which overlooks the Sea of Cortés and the famous arch, vandalizing various tombs and even stealing maintenance workers’ cleaning equipment, Los Cabos director of public services Roberto Sandoval reports.
An abandoned, empty coffin at a cemetery in La Paz. The occupant’s whereabouts are a mystery.
The vandals struck in the past week, Sandoval said, and most likely at night as there is no night watchman. Cleaning crews have already repaired most of the damage.
The Jardines de Recuerdo cemetery in La Paz has also seen better days. A recent tour by Diario El Independiente showed an unearthed and empty coffin lying haphazardly over tombs overgrown by weeds.
There was no indication as to whom the coffin belonged nor what became of the occupant.
Cemeteries in BCS have been closed since May except for brief burials.
The ocelot without a name will be released at the end of the month.
Once upon a time, Mexico had a first-rate network of Animal Rescue Centers. The Centros para la Conservación e Investigación de la Vida Silvestre (CIVS) were started in 1988 and over the years they rescued countless thousands of mammals, birds and reptiles. Then, during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, all 11 CIVS centers were unceremoniously shut down.
Wild animals, however, are still turning up in unexpected places and Mexican vets and biologists are scrambling to find temporary shelters for them, as well as the ways and means to return them to their natural habitat, whenever possible.
Recently, I was invited to another city park inside Greater Guadalajara, which is collaborating with Agua Azul in these efforts.
Villa Fantasía, located in Zapopan, used to be a zoo but is now dedicated full time to the rescue, rehabilitation and return to the wild of hapless mammals, reptiles and birds which were somehow removed from their natural environment.
Spider monkey “Britney López” is one of many pets that got too big for their owners to handle.
Slowly, a network of such organizations is being formed not only in Jalisco, but all over Mexico.
I asked the director of Villa Fantasía, Yamile Lotfe, if her rescue center was an initiative of the government.
“In no way!” she replied. “This project was started by people like my staff and me who have worked with animals all our lives. We began talking among ourselves and then to our directors and they said, ‘OK, if you all want to work together on this, we will support you.’”
Lotfe and friends found that the municipality of Zapopan was open to the idea of turning Villa Fantasía into an animal rescue center. The reason may be because Zapopan is a member of an international coalition of city leaders addressing climate change.
“Zapopan joined the The Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy, but Guadalajara did not!” says Lotfe. “I think that’s because Guadalajara is focused on reforestation using endemic or native species of plants and trees. So we went to the mayor and his cabinet and explained to them that endemic trees and plants without endemic animals will fail. You need the animals! So this is the project of Villa Fantasía, to create that equilibrium. For example, this is why Zapopan has a program for the reintroduction of honey bees. We are concerned about the whole picture: insects, plants and animals.”
As I toured the grounds at Villa Fantasía, I was introduced to possums and parakeets, false rattlesnakes, a gila monster, a jaguar, a red-tailed hawk with only one wing and a whole gang of howler monkeys.
A portrait of Pancho, who grew too big for his owner’s patio.
I also met Pancho the crocodile who, I was told, had grown up in a little pool too shallow for him to swim in. His owner loved Pancho dearly, but eventually the croc grew so big that the woman practically had to climb over him to get across her patio. Reluctantly, she turned Pancho — now 3.8 meters long — over to the biologists at Villa Fantasía who then created a sort of Fantasy Park for the croc, with a deep, wide pool where he can finally swim to his heart’s content.
To photograph Pancho in his new digs, I had my first experience of standing one meter away from a huge crocodile with no fence between us. I’m happy to report that neither of us tried to eat the other!
Another resident of Villa Fantasía whom I met was The Ocelot without a Name.
“Somebody in Zapopan phoned us,” said Lotfe, “claiming they had found a wild animal on the roadside. When we arrived, we discovered it was an ocelot, one of the six big cats found in Mexico. This creature, however, was in perfect condition, with no parasites, so we imagined these people had bought it illegally when it was very small and cute, only to discover this was no kitten, but a really wild animal. So they decided to claim they had found it and to turn it over to us. This took place six months ago. When we got it, it was really small.
“We decided to give it special treatment so it won’t get used to humans. Therefore we stay away from it and we feed it live food, creatures that it will be finding in its normal environment. We plan to liberate it on land we have purchased along the Pacific Coast between Nayarit and Puerto Vallarta. This is a really pristine area where researchers are monitoring animals, birds, reptiles and tarantulas. We’ll be studying this ocelot through a satellite collar over a period of 14 months. We’re initiating this project because in Mexico and especially here in Jalisco, there has never been a proper study of this species of feline.
“In Mexico we have six big cats, but the only one that’s been well studied is the jaguar, because of its role in pre-Hispanic Mexico. The ocelot has not been researched and it’s in danger of extinction, like the puma. So our aim in monitoring it is to follow it around, see if at some point it finds a mate and if so, what sort of place it will choose for its den.
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“We are now waiting for the telemetry collar and then, at the end of September, we expect to liberate it. When we tranquilize it, we’ll put on the collar and we’ll take advantage to do blood samples, ultrasound studies and we’ll also check its heart.
“So it will stay with us for 20 days while it gets used to the collar, which has a special battery that lasts for a year and a half. We have contracted with the manufacturer, Telenax, for 14 months. At that point, the collar will open by itself and fall off. It will then transmit a signal that will hopefully lead us to it. If we can recuperate it, the same collar can be reprogrammed for another animal.”
Lotfe told me the Telenax satellite collar costs 51,000 pesos. To help pay for it, and to finance their research program on the Pacific coast, she and her friends started a private foundation called Garras de Libertad which is dedicated to raising funds for the protection and investigation of wild animals.
“In this world we have three big problems,” Yamile Lotfe told me. “These are drug trafficking, arms trafficking and trafficking in exotic animals. We may not be able to do much about the first two, but I think it’s possible to help those mistreated animals.”
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 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.
