Women Artists of Zihuatanejo: empowerment in the gallery

March 6, 2020

It’s appropriate that the premier art show in Zihuatanejo, Women Artists of Zihuatanejo (Mujeres Artistas de Zihuatanejo), happened this year on February 29, also known as “Sadie Hawkins Day.” An Irish-based tradition, it’s the day when a woman can propose to a man.

Today, however, the day celebrates, among other things, female empowerment. And since the name Zihuatanejo can be literally translated as “A Place Of Women,” it is appropriate to do a show of this type on this day, one that occurs only once every four years.

It all started when artists James Crespinel and Monica Gutiérrez decided they needed a creative space to work. It wasn’t too long before other artists were invited to share the workspace and exhibit at what is now known as Mezgaleria.

Says the duo, “It became a place where artists who previously could only show in restaurants, retail stores, or in some cases, their own gallery, could now have a professional venue to showcase their works.”

Speaking with them I could feel the passion they had about the gallery, a true labor of love as they’ve given the community a space for creative expression. Adds Crespinel, “The purpose was to bring women together as a collective group rather than with an individual show.”

The artists represented at the Zihuatanejo show.

I walked into the gallery on opening night to find the place buzzing with excitement. It seemed that the elite of Zihua society were in attendance and, as Gutiérrez remarked, women (and perhaps men too) were as concerned as much about the clothes they wore as the show itself. Judging from the looks of so many beautiful people in one room, I can only agree.

But as to the show itself … 30 talented women from the region exhibited their works in a variety of styles and genres that ranged from sculpture to paintings to paper maché, along with textiles in the form of purses, jewelry and silk scarves. The intent, of course, was to sell their work and five of the artists did just that.

Organizer Peg Harris, an artist and exhibitor herself, explained how women were chosen for the show. “Some of the women were gathered by their involvement at previous shows, this one being the fourth after a one-year hiatus.” She also sent letters out to artists inviting them to exhibit, while Gutiérrez searched the area, spreading the word and visiting artists in their home studios.

“It’s a wonderful event and it’s all about bringing communities together,” Harris said.

As far as how the show might evolve in the future, “There are a lot of directions that we could do in the future but right now we know it’s a show that people look forward to and we’d like it to continue.”

Interesting to me was that of 30 exhibitors, 17 were Mexican while the other 13 were either American or Canadian with one artist from Sweden. “And all of them have a strong connection to Zihuatanejo in one form or another, whether they live here full-time or are people who spend a few months a year here,” said Gutierrez.

For those who missed the show, the gallery will be open 10:00 a.m – 6:00 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Saturday for one more week.

The artists are Agatha Fast, Ana López Doddoli, Barbara Bridges, Carla Juarez, Carla López, Carmen Rivas, Ciria Velázquez, Edita Kon, Gabriela Trejo, Gloria Hernández, Grace Relfe, Gwyn Barre, Guadalupe Gaytan, Lauri Copeman, Lisa Bissonnette, Martina Croghan, Mishel Espinal, Mónica Gutiérrez, Monserrat Baños, Nina Turkin, Peg Harris, Perla Arana, Rubí Quintana, Sonya Yahyaoui, Suzanne Viechnicki, Tamara Zapata, Tina Andreasson, Viridiana De la O, Yoba Gould, Zahira de Anda.

Mexico News Daily

Ex-governor of Nayarit, barred from US, denies knowing any narcos

Cody Copeland

March 6, 2020

Sandoval distanced himself from activities of his former attorney general.

The former governor of Nayarit, Roberto Sandoval, expressed his surprise over being barred entry into the United States and claimed not to be connected to any drug traffickers or other criminals in an interview with the news outlet Milenio.

The United States government denied Sandoval and his immediate family members visas to enter the country in February due to his “significant involvement in corruption” during his time as governor.

“For me it was a surprise that the U.S. Secretary of State made that announcement when I have been in communication with the government, [and] we’ve conducted a joint investigation,” said Sandoval.

The former state attorney general during Sandoval’s governorship, Édgar Veytia, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in the United States in January, and Sandoval claims to have been caught up in a smear campaign in the wake of that trial.

But Sandoval said that he was “not [Veytia’s] boss” and distanced himself from the former attorney general’s criminal actions.

“I don’t know any criminals, any drug traffickers,” he said before stating that he did not appoint Veytia to the position, but rather proposed him for confirmation by the state chamber of deputies, who elected him to the position.

Sandoval has defended his record since the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on him in May of last year. He told Milenio that the investigation into his presumed illicit enrichment came out of confusion over a sale of purebred horses and the purchase of a ranch and house.

“I raise livestock. I don’t buy horses, I sell horses. … I’m not ashamed of coming from the country and going back to the country after being in politics. There is some confusion about the purchase of purebred horses, a ranch and a residence,” he said.

Sandoval added that he currently has access to the properties in question, but that his bank accounts and those of his immediate family have been frozen.

He claimed that the accusations are part of a smear campaign led by Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) national president Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo.

“Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo has set out to revile me, to play politics with me. As he was my rival in 2011 and I beat him, he’s taking advantage of the fall of [Veytia] to burn me too,” said Sandoval.

He added that the federal auditing office has conducted numerous audits on him and never found any irregularities. He reiterated that he never misused government funds and asked that his family be left out of the controversy.

He also emphasized that there are no criminal charges filed against him, merely administrative proceedings.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Kindergarten director suspended for exorcism in Querétaro

Cody Copeland

March 6, 2020

Parents protest abuse at Querétaro school.

A director of a kindergarten in Querétaro has been temporarily suspended after parents carried out an undercover investigation that revealed she was conducting exorcisms on their son.

A student of the Juan Caballero y Osio kindergarten had told his parents that the director of the school was mistreating him, so the concerned parents hid a microphone in his clothes to find out what was going on.

When the student returned home, his parents listened to the recording and heard the director attempting to exorcise their son.

“The blood of Christ has power,” the director can be heard saying as the boy cries. She tells the boy to take his jacket off, but he refuses to do so between sobs.

The school director also tells him that the exorcism is meant for children who misbehave, and when the boy continues to disobey her, she threatens him: “Do you want me to hit you? This hits hard.”

Local administrator Enrique de Echávarry announced the director’s suspension.

“As a precautionary measure we are going to remove the educator from the service of the school while we carry out the administrative process,” he said.

The parents of the child said that their son’s exorcism was not the only case of abuse in the school. They claimed there are other reports of physical and emotional abuse of students by teachers and administrators on its premises.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Elections agency ‘loses’ computers, furniture and 116 vehicles

MND Staff

March 6, 2020

Federal electoral authorities have lost or lost track of thousands of their assets including 116 vehicles but say that there is no concrete evidence that public officials are to blame.

The internal auditing body at the National Electoral Institute (INE) reported to Congress that 17,355 items of movable property – including computer and medical equipment, office furniture, electric generators and cameras – cannot be located.

According to an INE inventory, the items have a combined value of 126.1 million pesos (US $6.2 million).

In a 2019 annual report sent to the Transparency and Anti-Corruption committee of the Chamber of Deputies, the INE Internal Control Body (OIC) also reported that 116 vehicles worth 6.2 million pesos are unaccounted for.

Questioned by the newspaper El Universal about the missing assets, the INE itself presented a different, and more detailed, version of events.

“The 17,355 goods to which the OIC refers are identified, albeit misclassified. The information has now been updated,” the INE said.

The institute told El Universal that 3,123 of the items in question are no longer in its possession although it didn’t explain what happened to them.

The INE said that it was bequeathed a list of 7,719 missing goods by the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, which it superseded in 2014, and that 5,479 of the lost items were reported by state-based INE branches rather than institute headquarters.

It also said that 271 items were located in storage, 471 were found in INE’s central offices and 291 were disposed of or sold but have not yet been removed from the institute’s inventory and hence appear in the OIC report.

With regard to the missing vehicles, the INE said the institute’s executive management had reported 117 missing vehicles, one more than the number cited by the OIC.

Of that number, 82 were removed from the institute’s “administrative resources computer system,” or SIAR, in 2013 because they were no longer in the institute’s possession, the INE said. However, when information from that system was migrated to the new “comprehensive administrative management system,” or SIGA, the record of the missing vehicles was also transferred.

The INE said that it doesn’t currently have the supporting documentation to remove the record of the 82 lost vehicles from the SIGA.

Thirty-one vehicles that were classified as stolen in the SIAR are also classified as such in the SIGA. INE said that it doesn’t currently have any documentation about those vehicles or their theft. Another four vehicles that weren’t listed as stolen in the SIAR appear as such in the SIGA.

The INE said that 18 audits conducted by the OIC that are referred to in the report submitted to Congress have not yet been completed. Therefore, the observations are preliminary and “in no way signify clear or proven” irregularities or show that public officials are responsible, the institute said.

The OIC said in its report that 15 investigations conducted in 2019 found that there was no evidence to suggest that INE officials had stolen goods. However, it added that at the end of last year there were 72 pending investigations related to the disappearance of goods from the National Electoral Institute.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Every CDMX home to be visited in campaign to counter gender abuse

Cody Copeland

March 5, 2020

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has announced her administration’s latest initiative to take on the problem of gender violence: visiting every home in the nation’s capital to inform women of the institutions available to victims in need of support.

The S.O.S. Mujeres (S.O.S. Women) program will be added to 11 other initiatives launched by the city government in November of last year, when Mayor Sheinbaum activated the gender violence alert.

“ [S.O.S. Mujeres] … focuses on what we’ve been doing to locate and work with cases of femicide that have occurred in Mexico City,” Sheinbaum told a press conference on Thursday.

“These cases stem from a circle of violence linked fundamentally to the home and the people closest to the victims,” she added.

She said that many victims feel they have nowhere to turn and are unaware of the various institutions and support programs available to them.

The S.O.S. Mujeres program aims to send representatives to people’s doors to inform them of government programs.

“They’re going to go house by house. They have been trained and informed to tell each family, and in particular each woman, that if you’re a victim of violence, these are the institutions that can help and protect you,” said Sheinbaum.

Head of the city’s Ministry of Women Ingrid Gómez Saracíba said that the most reported crime against women is family violence. Of the 22,000 current open cases of gender violence, 98% of the women reported experiencing it in their homes.

The majority of the violence reported — 57% — is psychological and emotional, while the second most reported type is physical.

“There are many women who for various reasons are not coming [to report violence] and we’re going to come to them, give information, accompany them, protect them,” said Sheinbaum.

The recent murders of Ingrid Escamilla and a 7-year-old girl named Fátima sparked outrage among those calling for gender justice and equality.

Women across the country have planned a national strike for Monday, March 9, to call attention to the problem and demand the government take action.

Federal Interior Minister Olga Sánchez Cordero admitted in February that the federal government had “arrived late” in its actions to combat gender violence, but said that it was now committed to dealing with the problem directly.

Source: 24 Horas (sp)

Business group urges government to renew investor confidence

MND Staff

March 5, 2020

The head of the Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) has urged the federal government to put an end to the climate of anxiety and uncertainty that is scaring away investors.

Gustavo de Hoyos charged that the López Obrador administration is “highly destructive” to investment and said that it must make the “restoration of confidence” an “absolute priority.”

The warning from United States company Constellation Brands that it could terminate construction of its new brewery in Mexicali, Baja California, and transfer production to another country should serve as a wake-up call for the government, he said.

Speaking at a press conference after signing the United Nations Global Compact, a pact that seeks to encourage businesses to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, de Hoyos said that if the government succeeds in restoring confidence, the investment of Constellation and other companies can help Mexico to rekindle growth after the economy contracted last year.

His remarks came after President López Obrador said that a public consultation will be held to decide whether Constellation will be allowed to open its new brewery, which local farmers say poses a threat to the state’s water supply. López Obrador already canceled the previous government’s US $13 billion Mexico City airport project after a legally questionable public consultation, a move that was particularly damaging to investor confidence.

The departure of Constellation, de Hoyos said, would send a negative message to investors around the world. There is “nothing more damaging for the country’s future growth than a sign of uncertainty,” he said.

“Uncertainty could be destructive to the capacity to attract millions of dollars. … The continual reductions to growth outlooks for the Mexican economy in 2020 and 2021 are categorical evidence that there is not a climate of confidence … [nor] the willingness to take action in the short term to reestablish it,” said the chief of Coparmex, which represents some 36,000 businesses across Mexico.

The absence of growth is the fault of the government, he added, asserting that it has undermined investor confidence since it took office in December 2018. The decisions to disband the National Institute for Entrepreneurs, the investment promotion agency ProMéxico and the Tourism Promotion Council have especially hurt small and medium-sized businesses, de Hoyos said.

One positive is that Mexico, the United States and Canada signed a modified version of a new North American trade agreement late last year. The USMCA (only Canada’s legislature has not yet ratified the pact) will help attract greater foreign investment to Mexico, some experts say, because it guarantees tariff-free access to the North American market for the companies that operate here.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

Cannabis entrepreneurs find much to like in Senate’s legalization bill

MND Staff

March 5, 2020

Entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on the legalization of marijuana are happy with the draft bill approved by three Senate committees on Wednesday that seeks to regulate the plant for medicinal, recreational and industrial use.

“We see it as a way to provide security and certainty to both national and international investors,” said Erick Ponce, president of the Cannabis Industry Promotion Group, which has 25 Mexican and foreign members.

The bill, which seeks to regulate cannabis for medicinal, recreational and industrial use, proposes legalizing the possession by adults of 28 grams of marijuana for personal use.

Ponce highlighted that the bill approved on Wednesday does not prohibit local entrepreneurs from receiving more than 20% foreign investment for cannabis-related business ventures in Mexico, as an earlier version of the proposed law did. The elimination of the 20% investment ceiling will allow Mexican businesses to receive greater support from people who already have experience in the legal marijuana industry, he said.

The recreational use of marijuana was legalized in Canada in 2018 and the plant is also legal in some U.S. states such as Colorado and California.

Ponce noted that the bill proposes granting two different cultivation licenses, one for marijuana destined for the recreational market and one for hemp to be used by industry.

“The two types of cultivation will be allowed under a licensing model that will be defined by the cannabis regulatory institute; there aren’t very specific details. It appears that [the regulatory institute] will be a specialized independent body. It’s not yet known if it will be part of the Interior Ministry or the Health Ministry,” he said.

Slated to begin operations on January 1, 2021, the institute will also have responsibility for granting permits to sell marijuana and products that contain its psychoactive ingredients.

In accordance with a directive from the Supreme Court – which has established that prohibiting marijuana is unconstitutional – the Congress must legalize the plant for recreational and medicinal use by April 30.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

1 vaquita less: video reveals endangered porpoise in fisherman’s net

Cody Copeland

March 5, 2020

A video taken by a fisherman reveals that there is one less vaquita porpoise in the upper Gulf of California.

Footage sent to the newspaper Reforma shows a lifeless vaquita in a fishing net. The sender said that the marine mammal became trapped in the net on Sunday or Monday, days when fishermen are active in the region.

It was the first time the fatal impact of fishing nets has been caught on camera. Once trapped, the vaquitas are unable to return to the surface for air and drown if not freed in time.

The fishing net in the video appears to be a No. 8, a type of net used illegally to fish for totoaba, which is prized in China for its swim bladder’s alleged medicinal and aphrodisiacal qualities.

With prices so high that the fish has been nicknamed “the cocaine of the sea,” totaba fishing has been responsible for decimating vaquita populations. Scientists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society reported last March that only 10 members of the species were estimated to remain in the wild.

Graban muerte de una de las últimas vaquitas marinas

Watch this video on YouTube

Federal Environment Minister Víctor M. Toledo met with fishermen from the area on January 17 to discuss the problem.

Since then, fishermen have attacked conservationists and federal agents working to protect the species. On Tuesday they used net weights and Molotov cocktails to attack a Sea Shepherd boat, the second such instance of violence by area fishermen in a month.

Toledo said that the illegal fishing that prevails in the area will require intervention by various departments at all three levels of government, as well as by the fishing sector and society in general.

The situation has grown worse as criminal organizations have entered the market to cash in on the high prices fetched by the totoaba swim bladders. The problem is the worst between the towns of San Felipe, Baja California, and Golfo de Santa Clara, Sonora.

Mexico barely avoided sanctions from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in August by pledging to take stronger action against illegal fishing in the vaquita’s natural habitat, but conflict between conservation efforts and local fishermen still endangers the dwindling species.

Sources: Reforma (sp), Tribuna (sp)

Xibalbá, a new theme park in Yucatán, will feature 8 cenotes

Cody Copeland

March 5, 2020

Xcaret's Xplor Park, located on the Riviera Maya in Quintana Roo.

Theme park operator Grupo Xcaret is set to open its latest attraction in Yucatán: a circuit of eight of the natural sinkholes called cenotes, which are unique to the region.

Called Xibalbá, the new attraction is being developed with an investment of 1 billion pesos (US $50.3 million). The 250-hectare park will open its doors on December 12 of this year.

Grupo Xcaret president and general director Miguel Quintana Pali presided over a presentation ceremony on a nearby hacienda.

“This is the biggest project that Grupo Xcaret has developed until now. It’s the most lavish, grandiose, the most beautiful,” he said.

He said that the project has encountered some difficulty due to the site’s distance from major tourist centers in the region. It is 189 kilometers from Mérida, 140 kilometers from Cancún, 120 kilometers from Playa del Carmen and 39 kilometers from Valladolid.

The five-to-six-hour tour will consist of a trip through the eight cenotes on the property, which are of several types: closed, open and semi-open.

It will begin in a cenote called Zopilotes (Vultures), with a gift shop, ticket booths, bathrooms and changing rooms nearby. From there, visitors will be able to reach the other cenotes via a canal aboard a kayak.

One of the cenotes is different from all others in the Yucatán peninsula.

“Normally a cenote with really nice water has little light, because light is what turns the water green or cloudy, but this one has a very crystalline color … and it has a lot of light. It’s a very pretty cenote, with many rock formations, and it has a kind of beach, which, from what we know, is the only cenote with a beach that exists,” said David Quintana Morones, the company’s director of development.

Another cenote will be given over to quiet meditation. It is open to the air above and has lots of lush vegetation hanging down its rock walls.

One cenote will be a venue for a show of traditional Mayan dancers and musicians.

Visitors will be able to move through the park via ziplines, kayaks or on foot. Snorkeling equipment may be used to view the interesting rock formations under the water.

There will also be a Mayan town with vendors selling souvenirs of hand-carved stone and wood, hammocks and leather goods, as well as a traditional Mayan medicine workshop.

“The idea is to steep visitors in the culture of Yucatán,” said Quintana.

Other features of the park include a food court, an area constructed in the style of a small colonial town and the largest aviary in the Xcaret park system.

The developers did not announce how much the park would cost, but they said they expect to see 1,500-2,000 visitors per day. It will generate 150 direct jobs once in operation, and residents of the state of Yucatán will receive a 50% discount on admission.

Yucatán Tourism Minister Michelle Fridman Hirsch said at the ceremony that the park is the state tourism board’s flagship project in its push to create more products that will attract more visitors and revenues to the state.

Source: Diario de Yucatán (sp)

Most senators say yes to cannabis legalization framework

MND Staff

March 5, 2020

A senator uses baggies of oregano to demonstrate pot quantities.

The legalization of marijuana is one step closer after three Senate committees broadly approved a draft bill that seeks to regulate the plant for medicinal, recreational and industrial use.

At a joint meeting of the Justice, Health and Legislative Studies committees, 26 senators voted in favor of the bill, seven voted against it and eight abstained. The proposed law was approved “en lo general,” or in a general sense, meaning that the individual articles within it remain up for debate and are subject to modification.

The bill, which seeks to make changes to the Federal Health Law and federal criminal code, proposes legalizing the possession by adults of 28 grams of marijuana for personal use. Legal possession of the plant is currently limited to five grams.

The bill also proposes allowing people who require marijuana for medicinal purposes to grow up to 20 plants with the permission of the Mexican Cannabis Institute, a new government department that is not yet operational.

In addition, it stipulates that marijuana possession will not be punished as a drug trafficking offense until a person is carrying more than 200 grams. Prison sentences of up to 10 years can be imposed on people in possession of between 200 grams and 56 kilograms of marijuana, according to the draft bill.

The Cannabis Regulation Law would establish a controlled legal market for the plant that avoids monopolies. In the first five years after legalization, 40% of production licenses would go to people who live in communities affected by drug trafficking.

Lawmakers with the conservative National Action Party (PAN), who opposed the bill, and the Institutional Revolutionary Party, who abstained from the vote, stressed that the committees’ approval of the draft law doesn’t mean that all of its different parts have been supported.

The specifics of the bill will be debated in another meeting of the three Senate committees and in a plenary session of the upper house, where a vote could be held as soon as next week. If approved, the legislation would have to be ratified by the lower house and promulgated by President López Obrador in order to become law.

PAN Senator Damián Zepeda said that his party rejected the bill because it would make it easier for young people to obtain drugs. He also charged that the regulation of marijuana would not lead to a reduction in violence.

Antares Vázquez, a senator with the ruling Morena party who voted in favor of the bill despite President López Obrador’s opposition to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use, stressed that the law would regulate the plant but not promote it.

When the president’s opposition to recreational marijuana was raised during the meeting of the three Senate committees, Morena senators stressed that the legislative branch of government is separate from the executive.

The Supreme Court has set an April 30 deadline for Congress to legalize marijuana, granting a six-month extension to the Senate after it suspended debate on the issue in October.

The court published eight precedents on the recreational use of the plant in February 2019 that determined that its prohibition is unconstitutional.

Judges ruled that the complete prohibition of marijuana is not a proportional measure to protect people’s health and public order and that criminalization of the drug violates the right to free development of personality.

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

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