Add strong yet subtle flavor to dishes with a classic ingredient: celery

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March 29, 2021

The classic use of celery: topping a Bloody Mary. But why stop there?

My first stop this morning at the mercado near my house was Chava, my “chicken guy.” I’ve learned it’s always best to make my order with him ASAP and then do the rest of my shopping, as there’s often a line of people waiting before he even opens his stall.

At Blanca’s produce stand, I picked out tiny papitas (baby potatoes, smaller than a ping-pong ball), a nice red onion, a couple of red bell peppers and a big bunch of cilantro. Two heads of celery (apio) sat next to the scale, and as Blanca weighed each of my items one by one, I saw my dinner take shape. Chicken salad or potato salad? Heck, why not both?!

While we’re fortunate in Mexico to be able to buy just one or two stalks of celery if that’s all we want, I decided to buy the entire head. Especially at this time of year, as the weather is getting hotter, celery is a refreshing snack to have on hand, and I wanted to at least make those two salads. Plus I had this column to do, too …

Celery, along with bell peppers and onions, is part of the New Orleans “holy trinity” flavor base and also a key ingredient in the French mirepoix (with carrots and onions). History tells us that in New York City in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it cost more than caviar, and was the third-most-popular menu item after coffee and tea. Celery seed and celery root both add strong but subtle celery flavor to many recipes but aren’t as commonly found in Mexico.

The tricky thing with celery, especially in hot climates and even more so if it’s not refrigerated (like in a mercado or your neighborhood tiendita), is to find it before it starts to get stringy or fibrous. That’s a feature of age but also temperature, and while sometimes you can revive wilted celery in a bowl of ice water in the fridge, that won’t solve the stringiness issue. Look for bright green, fresh-looking firm stalks with leaves that aren’t brown or discolored.

Go on, buy the whole head. We've got plenty of ideas. — Go on, buy the whole head. We’ve got plenty of ideas.

The best way to store celery is not in a plastic bag; like bananas, it releases ethylene gas, which will cause it to spoil. Keep the stalks whole, wrap them tightly in aluminum foil and keep them in the crisper drawer of your fridge. Alternately, cut into sticks and refrigerate in a container of water. And while celery can be frozen, I have to ask why.

Shrimp Rolls

1¼ lbs. medium shrimp, cleaned
Salt and pepper
1-2 celery stalks, finely chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill, cilantro or parsley
1 Tbsp. fresh lime or lemon juice
1½ tsp. prepared horseradish
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
4 hot dog or other soft buns
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
Optional: ¼ teaspoon paprika, 1 Tbsp. Sriracha

Cook shrimp in boiling salted water until cooked through, about 2 minutes. Drain, then rinse with cold water until cool. Pat dry, chop into bite-size pieces.

Whisk celery, scallions, mayonnaise, fresh herbs, lime/lemon juice, horseradish, vinegar and, if using, Sriracha and paprika; season with salt and pepper. Fold in shrimp. Spread buns with butter and grill on a comal or skillet or in the oven until golden.

Fill with shrimp salad.

Morning Juice Blend

Juice of 2 small limes
1 cup water
1 bunch of celery, diced
1 apple, grated
¼ inch ginger
1 clove garlic

Put everything in a blender and process until mixed. Strain. Serve chilled with ice.

Classic Bloody Mary

2 parts vodka
4 parts tomato juice
½ part of lemon juice (to taste)
4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
4 dashes Tabasco (or hot pepper sauce)
Shake of salt & pepper
Touch of celery salt
Celery stalks
Optional: ½ tsp. horseradish

Mix in a glass or pitcher; top with ice. Stir well. Garnish with a stalk of celery.

Creamy Celery Soup

Play around with this recipe by omitting the dill, adding ½ cup of spinach leaves or using milk or yogurt instead of cream. If you prefer a thicker texture, don’t strain the finished soup.

1 head celery, stalks chopped, leaves reserved
1 large potato, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
¼-½ cup unsalted butter
Salt
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
¼ cup fresh dill OR 1 Tbsp. dried dill
½ cup heavy cream OR half & half
Olive oil (for serving)

Cook celery, potato, onion and butter in saucepan over medium heat, stirring, 8–10 minutes. Add broth. Simmer until potatoes are tender, 8–10 minutes. Purée in blender with dill. If desired, strain.

Put back in pan over low heat; stir in cream.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve topped with celery leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

Celery Tonic

1 celery stalk, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
2 oz. gin
Lemon twist (for serving)

Muddle celery with sugar and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker. Add gin, fill shaker with ice; shake about 30 seconds.

Strain into a rocks glass filled with ice.

Garnish with a lemon twist. — bonappetit.com

Celery in guacamole? No, seriously, hear us out.

Celery-Spiked Guacamole

4 avocados, chopped
1 celery stalk, diced
1-2 serrano chiles, seeds removed, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
¼ small red onion, chopped
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salt to taste

Mash avocados, then mix in all other ingredients.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. A retired journalist, she has lived in Mexico since 2006 .

Victim’s remains delivered to his family in plastic bags

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MND Staff

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March 29, 2021

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The victim's mother at a prosecutor's office in Veracruz with the bags containing the remains of her son.

A senior law enforcement official in Veracruz has been fired after the recently-located remains of a 30-year-old man were delivered to his family in black plastic bags on Saturday.

The Veracruz Attorney General’s Office (FGE) announced Monday that Alberto Torres Rivera, head of its sub-unit in the municipality of Las Choapas, had been dismissed for delivering the remains of Eladio Aguirre Chable, who disappeared in April 2020, to his family in the bags, which weren’t even sealed.

His dismissal came after members of a Coatzacoalcos-based collective made of up mothers of missing persons denounced the way in which the man’s remains were handed over to his family.

The Colectivo Madres en Búsqueda Coatzacoalcos called for criminal sanctions to be imposed and for Torres and Las Choapas prosecutor Lenin Juárez to be sacked.

The Las Choapas sub-unit of the FGE delivered the body in “deplorable” conditions without complying with its obligations in accordance with the legal framework that applies to missing persons and without abiding by “necessary forensic standards,” it said.

The collective said the insensitive way in which the man’s body was delivered to his family only served to revictimize him.

“We demand the immediate dismissal of prosecutor Lenin Juárez and Alberto Torres; the rights of victims must be guaranteed,” it said.

In addition to announcing Torres’ dismissal, Veracruz Attorney General Verónica Hernández Giadáns said Monday that an investigation had been opened to identify all of the public servants responsible for violating the General Victims Law as well as state and federal protocols that apply to the treatment of bodies of missing persons.

She issued an apology to Aguirre’s family and said she was committed to eradicating practices that violate victims’ rights.

The attorney general added that “exemplary punishments” will be imposed on those found to be responsible for the delivery of the man’s body to avoid any repeat of “such regrettable actions.”

She didn’t say whether Juárez, the Las Choapas prosecutor, would remain in his job but issued a stern demand to all FGE employees.

“I reiterate my demand to the public servants of this institution to adhere strictly to the law and to apply it with sensitivity and respect to human rights. I will not tolerate a single act that is removed from the principles that govern the institution that I represent,” Hernández said.

There are more than 70,000 missing persons in Mexico, including a large number of people who disappeared in recent years in Veracruz, where many hidden graves have been discovered.

Source: Reforma (sp)

The next level of glamping: bubble hotel concept arrives in Mexico

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MND Staff

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March 29, 2021

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Bubble accommodations near Ensenada, Baja California.

Mexico will soon have three “bubble hotel” options for tourists looking for the next level of “glamping.”

Two such hotels – whose “rooms” are described by travel guidebook publisher Lonely Planet as essentially inflatable, transparent domes designed to allow guests to cocoon themselves in nature without quite leaving their material comforts behind – have already opened and a third will begin welcoming guests sometime toward the end of this year.

One of those that is already operational is Alpino Bubble Glamping in Mexico City while the other is the Campera Bubble Hotel in the Valle de Guadalupe wine region of Baja California.

Located in the Cumbres de Ajusco National Park in the south of the capital, the former has just two “bubbles,” a 40-square-meter deluxe one that goes for 4,500 pesos (about US $220) a night and a 25-square-meter standard where

A standard bubble located at Cumbres de Ajusco National Park in Mexico City.

a stay costs a slightly more affordable 4,000 pesos.

Both have views of the Pico del Águila, the highest point of the Ajusco, or Xitle, volcano, and come equipped with telescopes that guests can use to get a better view of the surrounding scenery and night sky.

Guests can also enjoy a range of activities during their stay, including trekking, horseback riding and mountain bike riding. In addition, they can watch films at the hotel’s outdoor cinema and warm themselves around a cozy campfire.

Thousands of kilometers away in Mexico’s northwest, tourists can enjoy another glamping experience at the 12-bubble Campera, which is a 45-minute drive from the coastal city of Ensenada.

Apart from having the unique experience of sleeping in a French-made bubble set amid a working vineyard, guests can play golf at the Docepiedras course, which is located on the same property, dine at the Doce @ Campera restaurant and sample the best whites and reds of the famous Valle de Guadalupe wine region at scores of nearby wineries.

On its website, Campara invites would-be guests to spend “an epic night under five million stars, with a clear view of the heavens and vineyards.”

A night in a bubble suite starts at US $180 while a bubble room starts at $145.

Mexico’s third bubble hotel, Bubbotel, will open on the Gulf coast in Campeche in late 2021. Currently under development, the hotel is located at Playa Mundo Maya, a self-described sustainable hotel zone near Isla Aguada, a new magical town in the municipality of Carmen.

Bubbotel will have couple-sized and family-sized bubbles and guests will be able to enjoy the white sand beaches and clean Gulf of Mexico water, which sometimes glows bright blue at night due to the presence of bioluminescent plankton. Day trips will also be on offer to nearby cenotes (swimmable natural sinkholes), mangrove swamps and archaeological sites.

A night at the hotel, which will have three separate kitchens serving seafood, Mexican and Italian cuisine, will cost US $445 for a three-dome luxury beach bubble that sleeps six, $375 for a two-dome bubble that sleeps four and $294 for a single-dome couples bubble.

Source: El Universal (sp), Forbes México (sp)

Small-particle pollution spikes to six times the acceptable limit

By

Michelle Aguilar

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March 29, 2021

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Dust clouds and 25-kilometer-per-hour wind gusts Sunday caused a part of Mexico City to register one of the city’s highest levels of small-particle pollution in years, almost six times the acceptable limit.

The city’s air monitoring agency did not declare an official pollution alert, nor were instructions issued for citizens not to drive. But the agency did warn about high winds which appear to have kicked up enough particulate matter into the air to cause the southern Iztapalapa borough to record PM10 levels at 581 points.

On the air monitoring scale, 100 points is considered the highest safe level.

While winds in the city had died down to around 10 kilometers per hour Monday an update by the agency around 2:30 p.m. continued to list the borough’s air quality to be at “high risk” to health.

The rest of the city was listed as “acceptable” or “good.”

According to the federal water agency Conagua, the high winds were caused by cold front No. 46.

PM10 particles often result from dust or soil being dispersed in the air at construction sites, landfills, and on farm land. It also can occur due to wildfires and brush and waste burning.

It is currently brush-burning season in the city. In addition, according to the nation’s forestry service, Conafor, Mexico City experienced 41 forest fires between March 19 and March 25 and is one of the country’s top 10 states for the greatest number of forest fires so far in 2021.

Ozone and very small particles, known as PM2.5, can be caused by vehicle emissions and typically cause more of Mexico City’s pollution problems, but they did not appear to be the culprit in Sunday’s spike.

Source: Associated Press (en)

Murdered candidate spent years seeking justice for husband, also a murder victim

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MND Staff

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March 29, 2021

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A candidate for mayor who spent six years seeking justice for the murder of her husband was killed earlier this month in Oaxaca. She was the 18th candidate to be killed in Mexico since the electoral season began last September.

Ivonne Gallegos Carreño, National Action Party (PAN) candidate for mayor in Ocotlán de Morelos, was murdered by armed men while traveling on highway 175 south of Oaxaca city on March 20. A man driving the vehicle in which she was traveling was wounded in the attack.

The murder of Gallegos, a dentist, former PAN lawmaker in the Oaxaca Congress, mother, staunch feminist and women’s and indigenous rights activist, is being investigated as a femicide, according to state authorities.

Eufrosina Cruz Mendoza, another indigenous rights activist, former state minister of indigenous affairs, ex-PAN lawmaker and a colleague and close friend of Gallegos, told the newspaper Milenio that she had little doubt that the murder was politically motivated.

The day before the attack, Gallegos filed a political violence complaint with the Oaxaca Electoral Institute against people who had been threatening and defaming her, she said.

Ivonne Gallegos had been subjected to harassment and defamation in the days before her murder.

“She experienced harassment, questioning and defamation in the final days before her murder,” Cruz said, adding that the candidate also asked for protection while on the campaign trail.

However, no protection had been provided to Gallegos before her murder nine days ago, a crime that left her 10-year-old son without a mother and a father.

Gallegos’ husband, José Luis Méndez Lara, was shot dead in March 2015 in Ocotlán, located about 40 kilometers south of Oaxaca city. No one has been arrested in connection with that crime and no motive has been established.

Gallegos knocked on doors for six years seeking justice for her husband but it never arrived, Cruz said.

“She left [the world] with that frustration and anger. It really pains me because a boy has been left an orphan: his father’s gone, his mother’s gone. As a society what do we say to him? That we became indifferent? That justice is not capable of providing a response?”

Cruz said that Gallegos was a passionate feminist and women’s rights activist who worked tirelessly to achieve gender equality.

“She was my friend, confidante and sister – we did everything together, we dreamed that things could change,” she said.

After noting that Gallegos will now be unable to achieve her dream of making “her beloved Ocotlán” a better place to live, Cruz said that justice must be served and that the murder of her friend mustn’t be allowed to become just another statistic.

“The prosecutor mustn’t hesitate, not just in Ivonne’s case, there are many other cases. … They [the authorities] have to provide … certainty to women that we can trust the justice system,” she said.

Eight days before Gallegos’ murder, another female candidate in Oaxaca was targeted in an armed attack. However, Aime Rodríguez Vázquez, candidate for mayor of Zimatlán de Álvarez, survived and subsequently filed a criminal complaint with the state Attorney General’s Office.

Other female candidates in Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico have faced online smear campaigns designed to derail their political ambitions.

“All women who decide they want to participate in public life” face the prospect of being intimidated or attacked, Cruz said.

“… They’re taking our lives, our dreams, they want to cut our wings,” she said.

Source: Milenio (sp)

México state bus accident kills 7, injures 4

By

Michelle Aguilar

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March 29, 2021

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A bus whose driver lost control around 6 a.m. on Monday on a highway near Acambay, México state, slid into a ditch leaving seven people people dead.

At least some of the victims were ejected out the bus’s windows and into the ditch, according to authorities. Among them was a pregnant woman. The media outlet UnoTV reported that other victims were also crushed underneath the bus, which rolled over into the ditch on its side.

Four surviving passengers with serious injuries were transported to a hospital in Acambay.

A host of state and local emergency personnel responded.

The bus, which belongs to the Omex VIP company and was traveling from Saltillo, Coahuila, was only about an hour from its final destination in Toluca when the accident occurred on the Aculco–Acambay highway near the community of Dongu.

Some initial media reports said that there were over 30 people on the bus, and at least 10 additional passengers received medical treatment at the scene but authorities told the newspaper Milenio that those reports were incorrect and that only 11 passengers and two drivers were involved in the accident.

Sources: Milenio (sp), El Sol de Toluca (sp), UnoTV (sp)

Government concedes Covid deaths more than 60% higher than official numbers

By

MND Staff

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March 29, 2021

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Workers prepare graves for 1,500 anticipated Covid victims in Jalisco last year.

The federal government has acknowledged that Mexico’s true Covid-19 death toll is above 321,000, a figure almost 60% higher than the official count of test-confirmed fatalities.

Mexico’s official death toll has long been widely considered a vast undercount due to the extremely low testing rate and because many people have died at home during the pandemic without being tested for Covid-19.

Consequently, the analysis of excess mortality data and death certificates has been the only way to get a clearer picture of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Mexico.

The Health Ministry on Saturday quietly published such a report that said that that there were 294,287 deaths attributable to Covid-19 from the start of the pandemic through February 14.

That number is 69% higher than the official figure of 174,207 deaths reported by the same Health Ministry on February 14. Since that date, an additional 27,416 test-confirmed Covid-19 fatalities have been reported, meaning that there have been at least 321,703 deaths that are attributable to the disease.

Although the Health Ministry acknowledged the “excess deaths” in its report, the official death toll as of Sunday nevertheless stands at 201,623.

The real death toll, as detailed in the report, is 59.5% higher than the official count.

Mexico has the third highest Covid-19 death toll in the world after the United States and Brazil based on official figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The real death toll, however, is higher than the official count in Brazil, which currently stands at about 312,000.

Johns Hopkins data shows that Mexico ranks 17th in the world for Covid deaths per capita with 159.8 fatalities per 100,000 people. However, based on the real death toll, Mexico’s mortality rate is 254.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, higher than the official rate of any other country.

The government report also reveals just how deadly Mexico’s second wave of the coronavirus was. By the end of December, there had been about 220,000 deaths attributable to Covid-19. That figure rose by more than 74,000 in the first 1 1/2 months of the year.

January was the worst month of the pandemic in terms of both new cases and deaths with almost 33,000 of the latter, according to official numbers. However, the real death toll in the first month of the year was likely above 50,000.

The report also revealed that the total number of excess deaths since the start of the pandemic was about 417,000. Excess mortality data is determined by comparing deaths in a certain period of time to the average in the same period in previous years.

About 70.5% of the excess deaths were determined to be Covid-related but some experts say that the pandemic also likely contributed to other excess fatalities because many people were unable to get the medical treatment they required because hospitals were overwhelmed by an influx of coronavirus patients.

Source: AP (sp)

4 Tulum cops investigated for murder after migrant woman dies during arrest

By

MND Staff

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March 29, 2021

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A police officer in Tulum pins down the woman who died during her arrest. — A police officer in Tulum pins down the woman who died Saturday.

Four municipal police officers are in custody and under investigation for murder following the death of a Salvadoran woman who was violently pinned to the ground while she was being arrested in Tulum, Quintana Roo, on Saturday.

Video footage shows a female officer with her knee on the back of a woman who has been identified as 36-year-old migrant Victoria Esperanza Salazar, a mother of two teenage daughters who was living in Tulum on a humanitarian visa.

In the footage, Salazar, who was apparently arrested for disturbing the peace, can be heard moaning in pain and is seen writhing on the road next to a police vehicle as she was held down for more than 20 seconds. Three male police are also present, one of whom appears to help the female offer restrain Salazar.

Video footage also shows officers subsequently picking up the woman’s limp body and placing her in the back of a police truck.

The Quintana Roo Attorney General’s Office (FGE) said Salazar appeared to have died during her arrest and that a murder investigation had been opened. It said forensic medial experts identified that two of her upper vertebrae were broken and determined that the injury was the cause of her death.

police pin down woman in Tulum — The woman’s death had striking similarities to the alleged murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May.

The spinal injury is compatible with the “submission maneuvers” of the police, the FGE said, adding that the force used by the police was disproportionate, unreasonable and generated a high risk of death.

The police actions violated the national law on the use of force, the Attorney General’s Office said. The four officers were taken into custody on Sunday morning “for their probable participation in acts regarded by the law as femicide” and have been interviewed by investigators, the FGE said.

Salazar’s death, which had striking similarities to the alleged murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis last May, triggered a torrent of condemnation on social media where the hashtag #JusticiaParaVictoria (Justice for Victoria) went viral. Migrants associations, human rights groups, feminist collectives and politicians denounced the actions by police.

“I join the demand for justice and zero impunity for the murder of Victoria, a woman who lost her life at the hands of municipal police from Tulum, Quintana Roo. I condemn … the excessive use of [police] force. It must be punished,” said Martha Lucía Micher, a Morena party senator and president of the upper house’s gender equality committee.

Quintana Roo Governor Carlos Joaquín González condemned the police action and asserted that there will be no impunity. He also said the family of the victim will have the full support of the state government “to safeguard their safety and integrity and guarantee their access to justice.”

Federal Interior Minister Olga Sánchez also decried the police action and demanded those responsible be held to account.

“I condemn and demand justice for these lamentable occurrences in Quintana Roo this weekend. Acts such as these must not go unpunished,” she said.

The government and politicians in Salazar’s native El Salvador, including President Nayib Bukele, also condemned her death and called for justice.

“I’m sure the Mexican government will apply the full weight of the law to those responsible. We are sister nations, there are bad people everywhere, let’s not forget that. My condolences for the family of Victoria, especially her two daughters, to whom we will provide all possible help,” Bukele wrote on Twitter.

“We’ll take care of the upkeep and studies of Victoria’s two daughters and everything they need. [Of Mexico] we only ask for justice, that those who did this feel the full weight of the law. I see thousands of indignant Mexicans, demanding justice for our compatriot. They’re just as angry as we are. Let it not be forgotten that it was not the Mexican people who committed this crime but rather a few criminals in the Tulum police.”

Salazar’s death comes as millions of Mexican women demand that the authorities do more to combat gender violence in Mexico, where an average of 11 women are killed every day. Her alleged murder occurred as Mexican authorities ramp up enforcement against mainly Central American migrants traveling through Mexico to seek asylum in the United States.

Source: NotiTulum (sp), EFE (sp), Milenio (sp)

Planning a move to Mexico? Updated guide offers latest on immigration

By

MND Staff

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March 27, 2021

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Anyone considering a move to Mexico or looking to formalize their immigration status will find a wealth of information about the immigration process and visas in an updated guide available for download free of charge.

Published by the website Mexperience, the 2021 edition of the Mexico Immigration Guide is an exhaustive resource about immigration and visas in Mexico.

The guide, which takes into account the sweeping 2012 changes to Mexican immigration law as well as more recent minor changes, includes information about legal residency, the various types of residency permits, the qualification criteria for different visas, the documents required to support an application, visa fees, and rights obtained with each visa type.

According to Mexperience, the 2021 Mexico Immigration Guide is a “definitive source of information about Mexican immigration and visas and an ideal resource for anyone who seeks to live, work, retire, invest, or start a business in Mexico.”

All of the information in the guide is cross-checked with immigration experts and supported by more than a decade of readers’ feedback as well as practical experience helping people to apply for legal residency in Mexico, the publisher said.

Mexico News Daily

‘We hope Mazatlán will be full:’ city braces for crush of Holy Week tourists

By

Rose Egelhoff

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March 27, 2021

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Hotels are expected to be filled to capacity during Semana Santa.

Restaurants, hotels and authorities in Mazatlán are preparing for crowds of Holy Week tourists, even as Sinaloa remains at medium-risk yellow on the federal government’s coronavirus stoplight map.

Authorities have announced a range of safety measures for the holiday. Julio Birrueta, the director of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Businesses, said the hotel sector will comply with the municipal directive to cap hotel occupancy at 65%.

It is expected that all available hotel capacity will be filled during the week, according to Luis Terán Tirado, secretary of economic development, tourism and fishing.

“We hope Mazatlán will be full, with the preventative measures for Covid-19, with a windfall of revenue close to 600 million pesos [US $28.9 million] this Semana Santa,” Terán said.

Meanwhile, restaurants are increasing their capacity from 40% to 65%.

Ricardo Velarde Cárdenas of Canirac, the national restaurant association, said the change was made in preparation for the large number of visitors expected.

Transit police will implement traffic redirection measures to accommodate the influx of tourists, which is expected to generate an increase in traffic of up to 90% starting next Wednesday.

At the state level, Health Secretary Efrén Encinas Torres noted that based on 10 health indicators including the number of Covid-19 patients, hospital occupancy and mortality rates, Sinaloa is stable.

“Since last year, we have all learned to follow the sanitary measures and protocols to take care of ourselves. One factor [in the stability of the risk rating] is that the population now knows how to take precautions, and it is doing just that,” Encinas said, adding that Sinaloa currently has only 14% of hospital beds occupied.

Sinaloa has recorded more than 5,600 confirmed Covid-19 deaths. Encinas asked that residents continue to take precautions such as using face masks, practicing social distancing and washing hands frequently.

Sources: Noroeste (sp), El Sol de Mazatlán (sp)