700 restaurants in La Paz, BCS, set to reopen on Monday

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May 4, 2020

Lorena Hinojosa of Canirac, the restaurant association.

Over 700 restaurants in La Paz, Baja California Sur, that were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic will reopen today and provide takeout and home delivery service, announced the national restaurant association Canirac.

“We have approximately 1,580 affiliates [in La Paz], of whom at least 700 will reopen,” said Canirac President Lorena Hinojosa Olivas. “This situation can’t go on without revenues, which is why we have to begin to have liquidity in order to pay salaries, primarily.”

The restaurants will open with 25% of their staff, who will be required to follow strict physical distancing measures to continue minimizing the risk of transmission.

Restaurant owners and employees will also be responsible for their own delivery services, “so that the client receives a product [prepared and delivered] with all the established hygiene measures.”

Hinojosa lamented the fact that the biggest day of the year for restaurants, Mother’s Day, which will be celebrated on May 10 this year, will be severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We’ll have substantial losses. … [Mother’s Day] is the date when restaurants record their highest sales of the year, but due to this health crisis, … the economic loss will be … in the billions of pesos,” she said.

During April as many as 98% of the eateries in La Paz remained completely closed, but the owners continued to pay their employees’ salaries.

The neighboring state of Baja California also partially reopened closed businesses in its manufacturing sector today amid opposition and cries of the decision being “criminal” by labor unions and social activists.

Source: Milenio (sp)

The simple potato is full of wonders; it simply needs to be understood

By

Janet Blaser

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May 4, 2020

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Top this Potato Onion Fritatta with chorizo or bacon.

Potatoes, seemingly a common and innocuous vegetable, are actually full of wonders when understood and prepared properly in ways that highlight their natural virtues.

Granted, it’s often challenging or impossible to find different varieties of papas in Mexico, but they’re also very versatile and forgiving (up to a certain point).

I like to keep some parboiled potatoes in my fridge so I always have them on hand, either for a quick sheet-pan dinner (tossed in a Balsamic-soy-garlic mixture with chicken or other root veggies), a potato salad, or a messy home-fry bowl I can top with avocado, fresh cilantro and crema.

Another favorite of mine is to brush parboiled potato wedges with mayonnaise, dust ‘em with salt and pepper, maybe some dried oregano, and broil for about 15 minutes, turning once or twice. Delicious!

While I’ll be the first to admit there’s nothing that compares to a street-fired papa loca, rest assured the recipes below will hold their own at any table.

Sour Cream & Onion Potato Salad

Don’t worry if the dressing looks a little watery at first — it will all get absorbed and be nice and creamy.

2 lbs. baby potatoes
¼ cup salt, plus more
¾ cup crema or sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. onion powder
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove
1 bunch chives
¼ small red onion
½ cup sour cream & onion potato chips

Place potatoes in a large pot, cover with 3 qt. water, add ¼ cup salt, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. (Yes, this is a lot of salt.) Once water boils, reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Cook potatoes until fork-tender, 15–20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make dressing: combine sour cream, mayonnaise, onion powder, mustard and pepper in a large bowl. Finely grate garlic into dressing and stir. Thinly slice 1 bunch chives; add half to dressing; set remaining aside for serving. Slice red onion as thinly as possible; add half to bowl with dressing and reserve rest for serving.

Scoop out ½ cup potato cooking liquid and set aside. Drain potatoes and let cool 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle but still warm so they absorb the flavors of the dressing. Crush each potato slightly with your hands and add to bowl with dressing and reserved ¼ cup potato cooking liquid. Toss gently. Top with reserved chives and onion. Crumble potato chips on top just before serving. -Bon Apetit

Potato Onion Fritatta

Leftover roasted potatoes or boiled cubed potatoes will both work for this.

About 2 cups cooked potatoes
8 eggs
Salt & pepper
1 large onion, cut into thin rings
Butter or oil
Optional: Cooked chorizo or bacon to crumble on top

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, beat 8 eggs with salt and pepper until they’re uniformly yellow. In a cast-iron or nonstick skillet, sauté onion in a little butter or oil until golden and soft.

Season with salt and pepper, stir in the potatoes and toss. Pour in beaten eggs, stir to combine, and place pan in oven.

Baking time is variable, depending on how much the eggs cooked when you stirred them around in the pan. Start checking after five minutes but don’t be surprised if it takes 10-15 minutes. Fritatta is done when it jiggles only slightly in the center when you move the pan. Top with chorizo or bacon if desired. Serve hot, warm, or even cold. –nytimes.com

Smash these potatoes for maximum crispiness.

Crusty Smashed Potatoes with Onions & Parsley

Smashing the cooked potatoes makes for maximum crispy surface area.

1¼ lbs. tiny potatoes (the size of a golf ball)
⅓ cup chicken fat or olive oil
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
½ small yellow onion, thinly sliced into rings
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

Wash but don’t peel potatoes; steam or boil until tender. Let cool slightly. Using the bottom of a bowl or cup, or the palm of your hand, smash potatoes until just crushed to expose the inside, but not so much that they fall apart.

Heat the fat or oil in a large skillet over medium–high heat. Add potatoes in a single layer (work in batches, if necessary) and season with salt and pepper. Cook until both sides are very browned and very crispy, about 5 minutes per side. Remove potatoes to a serving bowl or platter. Add butter to skillet; let it melt and foam. Add onion rings in a single layer; season with salt and pepper. Cook, swirling skillet occasionally, until onions are golden brown and starting to crisp, 3-5 minutes. Add red pepper flakes. Remove from heat. Pour onions and any butter in skillet over the potatoes. Top with fresh herbs. –nytimes.com

Janet Blaser of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, has been a writer, editor and storyteller her entire life and feels fortunate to write about great food, amazing places, fascinating people and unique events. Her work has appeared in numerous travel and expat publications as well as newspapers and magazines. Her first book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, is available on Amazon. Contact Janet or read her blog at whyweleftamerica.com.

At US $4 billion, remittances from workers abroad hit a record in March

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 4, 2020

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Despite economic unrest and massive unemployment in the U.S. due to the coronavirus, remittances to Mexico reached their all-time high in March, the Bank of México reports, rising to US $4.02 billion.

The amount is a 35.8% increase over the same month in 2019, and up 49% from the US $2.69 billion sent home by Mexican workers in February of this year.

The increase was puzzling to experts such as Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos who wrote, “The significant acceleration of remittances in March is difficult to square with labor market conditions and sentiment in the U.S.” in a note to investors, adding that the weakened peso and mounting financial uncertainty for those working in the U.S. may have prompted many to send more of their savings back home.

Thus far this year total remittances are up 18.8% to U.S. $9.29 billion. The average remittance is around US $378, up from US $321 in February.

But sending money home at this level may not last as the U.S. veers toward a recession.

According to information from Grupo Financiero Banorte, some 299,839 Mexican migrants in the U.S. lost their jobs in March, among whom 36,179 were documented.

In 2019, US $36 billion in remittances was sent back to Mexico and along with oil and tourism are a pillar of Mexico’s economy.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Norteño bands play in the streets to earn what they can

By

Cody Copeland

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May 4, 2020

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Members of norteño bands from Jalisco, Nayarit and Sinaloa have taken to the streets to play music and earn what they can, being out of work due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tourism and the entertainment industry have suffered in the states, as in other parts of Mexico, and bands find themselves facing months of cancelled gigs.

“We make the day happy and help out with music,” said Israel Rodríguez, a musician collecting donations from the few people crossing a pedestrian bridge in Bahías de Bandera, Nayarit. His band El Coral de Puerto Vallarta was forced to search for new territory after not being allowed to play and collect money in the streets of neighboring Puerto Vallarta.

He carried a sign that read, “Support for musicians. We’re out of work. Music is what we do. Thank you.”

He and musicians from other bands in the region united in Bahía de Banderas to play music in the streets while observing physical distancing measures to minimize the chances of transmission of the coronavirus.

“Thank God we’re able to earn enough to survive, for our families. We’re going to continue [playing in the street] because there’s no work. All the gigs we had scheduled for April, May and June were cancelled because of the virus,” he said.

Another musician named Isidro Guerrero said that he and his fellow players have asked for economic support from the government, but have had to settle for these small chances to play music in public.

“We play for a little while, make people happy for a little while … and ask for a small donation so that we can buy food,” said Guerrero. “[The pandemic] stopped everything for us, all the contracts we had scheduled.”

Working musicians across the country are experiencing tough economic times, as the weddings, birthday parties, confirmations and other fiestas that normally keep them employed have been cancelled.

Mariachi musicians in Acapulco performed outside hospitals in the city in early April to show their gratitude for the frontline workers’ efforts, to encourage them to keep going and to ask the local government to help them during the difficult times.

Source: La Jornada (sp)

Due to coronavirus, Guerrero street market closed for first time in 500 years

By

Cody Copeland

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May 4, 2020

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Chilapa's Sunday market, closed by coronavirus. — Chilapa's Sunday market, closed for three weeks.

The weekly street market in Chilapa, Guerrero, was cancelled on Sunday for the first time in 500 years in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Perhaps one of the oldest of such markets in Mexico, the Chilapa tianguis has persisted in spite of adversity, especially during the last decade, due to drug-related violence.

The situation came to a head in 2014 when the violence severely slowed down market activity, but did not stop it completely. Many rural transportation companies suspended services, making it difficult for farmers to make it to the city to sell their goods. Others never returned: they were either killed or fled the insecurity.

The violence kept market activity to a minimum for years, but nothing was able to stop it completely, until now.

The Chilapa municipal government notified the more than 1,000 vendors who set up their booths under the plastic tarps each Sunday that the tianguis would be cancelled as of yesterday, and would remain closed for the two following Sundays.

The pandemic had already begun to take its toll on the weekly commerce in Chilapa, as the number of visitors has decreased dramatically during the crisis. For weeks the market ran at minimum capacity, covering local demand but little more.

Now the subsistence farmers, artisans and other local and regional merchants who depend on the tianguis for their livelihood don’t even have the option to barter their goods, a custom that is still practiced in this and other such markets in Mexico.

The crisis has hit those in the informal economy hard. Some street vendors in Baja California Sur have even resorted to bartering directly for food to survive in the absence of the tourists on which they depend for sales.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Coronavirus pandemic proves that ‘neoliberal’ model has failed: AMLO

By

MND Staff

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May 4, 2020

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The president gives a video address Sunday to discuss the causes and effects of the coronavirus pandemic. — The president gives a video address Sunday to discuss the causes and effects of the coronavirus crisis.

The coronavirus pandemic serves as proof that the “neoliberal” economic model has failed, according to President López Obrador.

In a six-page dispatch entitled Some lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, the president writes that “the coronavirus is not responsible for the economic catastrophe” but rather “the pandemic has … exposed the failure of the neoliberal model in the world.”

In Mexico, López Obrador writes, governments in power during the neoliberal era – a period he defines as the 36 years before he took office in late 2018 – failed to adequately fund public universities, violating young people’s right to education and leaving the country with an insufficient number of doctors and nurses “to attend to the nation’s health needs.”

He also says that a lack of hospital beds, ventilators and personal protective equipment for health workers is a product of the years of neoliberalism in Mexico.

In addition, López Obrador blames neoliberal governments for failing to respond over a period of decades to the widespread prevalence of health problems that make many people more susceptible to Covid-19.

“Perhaps the greatest indifference or irresponsibility of governments that the coronavirus [pandemic] has exposed is the disregard, for decades, of chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity and kidney problems,” he writes.

“In our country, the pandemic has showed that the most affected people have been those with the above-mentioned chronic diseases.”

The neoliberal model, the president charges, is only concerned with economic growth “without caring about the wellbeing of the people” or the environmental damage that the pursuit of endless growth causes.

Another failing exposed by the coronavirus pandemic, López Obrador adds, is that there is “scant solidarity” between the nations of the world when it comes to purchasing medical equipment and medicines.

“A ventilator that cost on average US $10,000 before Covid-19 is now sold for up to $100,000” he writes. “The worst thing is that, due to the shortage, there is stockpiling [of medical equipment and supplies] both by governments and the companies that produce them.”

López Obrador asserts that the coronavirus pandemic “has come to demonstrate that the neoliberal model is in its terminal phase.”

“As a result, it’s time to create new forms of political, economic and social cohesion, putting definitively to one side the commercial, individualistic and unsupportive approach that has been predominant during the last four decades. … The unstoppable expansion of predatory neoliberalism … [has caused] exploitation, looting [of public coffers], environmental devastation, pathological eating habits, organized crime, social and family breakdown and a generalized loss of values,” he writes.

“There has been no interest in providing people with drinking water, electricity, schools, clinics, roads and telecommunications.”

At the end of his dispatch, the president outlines eight “basic lessons” he has drawn from the coronavirus pandemic.

López Obrador writes that the strengthening of public health systems is essential and that attending to the “serious problem” of chronic diseases is urgent.

He says that “a more caring world” in which medical resources are shared more equitably is essential and that the United Nations and the World Health Organization “must immediately summon the government and scientists of the world to create vaccines against the coronavirus and other ills.”

The president also writes that the economic model that “creates wealth without wellbeing” must be disposed of, asserting that it is the responsibility of the state to reduce social inequalities. His sixth “lesson” is that cultural, moral and spiritual values must be strengthened and that the family should be recognized as “the best social security institution.”

López Obrador argues that the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the G20 need to become “true promoters of cooperation for the development and wellbeing of people and nations.”

The final “lesson” the president draws from the pandemic is that the ideas and actions of the governments of the world should be guided more by “humanitarian principles” than economic and personal interests.

“The still ongoing pandemic will leave us with hundreds of thousands of irreparable absences [deaths] and a … severely diminished economy” he writes.

“In many senses, we will have to apply ourselves to the task of rebuilding the world,” López Obrador adds, asserting that health care has to be a “collective task” and that all people around the world “belong to the same family – humanity.”

Mexico News Daily

Former ambassador says Mexico knew about top cop’s narco involvement

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Susy Buchanan

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May 4, 2020

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In an explosive interview with Proceso magazine published on Saturday, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson revealed that the Mexican government knew about the criminal activities of former head cop Genaro García Luna.

However, she later said via Twitter that she had never seen any “corroborated information” about García’s involvement in drug trafficking.

Garcia, the Minister of Public Safety under Felipe Calderón, was arrested in December 2019 in Texas on charges of receiving millions in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel. He is currently awaiting trial in New York.

In public García played the role of supercop, but in private he had close ties to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s drug smuggling ring, something Mexico was well aware of, Jacobson said.

And so was the United States.

Calderón, right, says there was no concrete evidence that García, left, had criminal ties.

“The information we obtained – in the State Department – was through U.S. officials, but it came from Mexicans, they were those who received the most information and had information about the corruption of García Luna,” she told the magazine.

“The Mexican government knew as much as we did, if not more, and never took action at the time and therefore I find it a little naive to blame the United States for not taking action,” said the former ambassador.

In a pair of tweets following the publication of the story, Jacobson appears to soften her remarks and deflect blame for allowing García to act with impunity.

On May 3 she posted: “Let’s be clear about what I said — and have always said about former secretary García Luna: 1. I never saw any CORROBORATED information of involvement in drug trafficking; 2. In an environment of many rumors, one is always cautious about working with officials.”

Former President Calderón also denied having any concrete evidence that García was involved in illegal activities. “If the United States government had had actionable information against any top Mexican official, that information should have been communicated to my government through one of the robust communication channels we had,” he wrote in a letter to Proceso published Sunday. “That did not happen.”

Today, President López Obrador called on the United States to investigate its top federal law enforcement agencies and their possible cooperation with García, especially during “Operation Fast and Furious,” when U.S. weapons were allowed to make their way into Mexico in an effort to track the guns in Mexico.

Those weapons, López Obrador said in his morning press briefing, “were used to murder people, so it does merit a thorough investigation. It is not only corruption, it is a criminal association between governments or between officials of two governments. All of this must be analyzed.”

Jacobson was ambassador to Mexico from May 2016 until May 2018.

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

Beer shortage in 25 states; prices soar on black market

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 4, 2020

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With beer production having been deemed a nonessential activity during the coronavirus pandemic, breweries have been shut down since early April. Now Mexico is running out of beer.

The short supply has driven prices through the roof on the black market, where a six-pack of cold ones can cost up to 300% more than pre-coronavirus prices.

Smugglers on the northern border are bringing in clandestine shipments of beer from the U.S., where production continues.

In southern Mexico, illegal beer runners in Tabasco, where alcohol sales have been prohibited for the past month, recently saw 85 cases of beer meant for resale seized by authorities. The shipment was destroyed by a bulldozer.

Last weekend at least 25 states across Mexico reported beer shortages both in large supermarket chains and corner stores.

As of Friday, the Oxxo chain of convenience stores had inventory for 10 days.

Some areas of the country are under government-mandated dry laws either banning outright the sale of alcohol or limiting the hours during which it can be purchased, but the shortage has imposed de facto dry laws on other regions simply because supplies do not exist.

And in areas where beer is still in supply, prices are soaring. In Tamaulipas, the price of a six-pack has doubled and a case of beer that used to sell for 280 pesos is now going for up to 600 pesos. In Coahuila, prices are up by 40%. In Chihuahua, panic buying and hoarding have exhausted shelves.

In Monterrey and Tijuana, stores are posting signs saying they have no beer.

Beer runners are taking to social media to sell their clandestine wares, which are being trafficked similarly to cocaine and marijuana. Sellers will bring beer to a customer’s door to lower the risk of being caught by police, but purchasers will often pay a 300% premium for the service.

Not only do regular beer drinkers miss out, so too do the government’s coffers as they are no longer collecting beer tax money. In 2019 those revenues amounted to around 1 billion pesos, almost US $41 million.

According to Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography, there were about 65 million regular beer drinkers in 2018, about half the population.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Mexico City hospitals to see greatest number of virus cases May 11-15

By

MND Staff

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May 4, 2020

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One of the warning signs in 89 areas of Mexico City that are considered high risk.

The number of coronavirus patients in intensive care beds in Mexico City hospitals will peak next week, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said on Sunday.

Speaking at the Health Ministry’s nightly coronavirus press briefing, López-Gatell said that about 1,800 Covid-19 patients are expected to be in the capital’s intensive care wards between May 11 and 15. The prediction is based on the estimate that the transmission of the virus will reach its peak in Mexico City between Wednesday and Friday of this week, he said.

With that scenario looming, the Mexico City government has put up signs in 89 different locations warning residents that they are areas of high risk of infection because large numbers of people pass through them.

Placed in 51 metro stations, 31 transit hubs (mainly bus stations outside subway stations) and seven public markets including the Central de Abasto wholesale market and the sprawling Mercado de la Merced on the fringe of the capital’s historic center, the yellow and black signs bear messages such as “Careful! High contagion area” and “Keep your distance and don’t touch anything.”

Mexico City is the worst affected entity in the country in terms of both Covid-19 cases and deaths from the infectious disease.

Confirmed Covid-19 cases as of Sunday evening. milenio

López-Gatell said on Sunday night that the number of confirmed cases across the country had increased by 1,383 to 23,471 and that the death toll had risen by 93 to 2,154. He also said that there are 191 suspected coronavirus fatalities that have not yet been confirmed.

More than a quarter of the confirmed cases since Covid-19 was first detected in Mexico at the end of February – 6,417 – were reported in Mexico City while almost 4,000 more were identified in neighboring México state. The capital has reported 472 coronavirus-related deaths, almost double the 238 fatalities in Baja California, which has the second-highest death toll in the country.

México state has the third highest death toll with 199 fatalities followed by Sinaloa, Tabasco, Quintana Roo and Puebla, where 170, 145, 118 and 102 people, respectively, have lost their lives to Covid-19.

Of the more that 23,000 confirmed cases, 6,933 are currently considered active, López-Gatell said, adding that there are 12,664 suspected cases of the disease and that almost 96,000 people have now been tested.

Mexico City also has the highest number of active cases, with 1,894, followed by México state, with 1,076. Tabasco has 344 active cases, Sinaloa has 287, Veracruz has 273, Yucatán has 261, Puebla has 241, Quintana Roo has 222 and Morelos has 216. No other state currently has more than 200 active cases, according to Health Ministry data.

While admissions of Covid-19 patients to intensive care wards in Mexico is predicted to spike next week, hospitals in the capital are already under more pressure than those in the rest of the country.

Mexico City leads with the number of Covid-19 deaths — Mexico City leads with the highest number of Covid-19 deaths, at 472, according to the statistics released Sunday. milenio

Two-thirds of hospital beds for patients requiring general care are already occupied in the capital while 59% of those with ventilators are currently is use, López-Gatell said.

Baja California has the second highest occupancy rate of regular hospital beds, at 53%, while Sinaloa ranks second for occupancy of beds with ventilators, with 55% currently in use.

At a national level, occupancy of regular hospital beds is 29% while 24% of beds with ventilators are in use.

President López Obrador said in late April that Mexico is prepared to respond to the worst of the pandemic and pledged that “no sick person will be left without a ventilator.”

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

Ex-drug lord’s mansion goes for 49 million pesos in latest auction

By

Susy Buchanan

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May 4, 2020

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The drug lord's mansion in the Jardines de Pedregal neighborhood of Mexico City.

The former home of famed Mexican drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes has a new owner. On Sunday, the once luxurious property in Mexico City’s posh Jardines de Pedregal neighborhood was sold at auction for 49.71 million pesos, a little over US $2 million.

The home was one of hundreds of offerings put on the auction block by Indep, a branch of government formed to claim the proceeds of assets seized during the committing of crimes. The money raised in this auction will be used to help fight the coronavirus, officials said.

The boxy, cement home would have been state-of-the art when it was built. The 3,500-square-meter mansion includes an indoor swimming pool and spa, an elaborate children’s playhouse, large gardens, a bar and a wine cellar.

There was only one bidder for the house.

The auction, held at the Los Pinos cultural complex, also offered 77 cars, five airplanes, five homes and 107 lots of jewelry, among other seized goods. In total, more than 130 million pesos, around US $5.3 million, was collected.

The home, whose style and fixtures appear dated, belonged to Carrillo, known as “The Lord of the Skies,” until his death in 1997 from a botched series of plastic surgery procedures.

Carrillo became involved in the drug trade while still a teenager, working in poppy and marijuana cultivation in the mountains of Chihuahua before rising through the ranks to become head of the Juárez Cartel.

He is estimated to have amassed a fortune of around US $25 billion by transporting drugs, mostly cocaine, from Colombia and Mexico to the United States, often using his fleet of jets, which is how he earned his nickname.

After his death, Mexican police seized dozens of Carrillo’s properties across the country. The government also seized an Arabian-style home called “The House of 1,001 Nights” from Carrillo in 1993. The over-the-top mansion still stands, abandoned and covered in graffiti, in Hermosillo, Sonora.

Source: Infobae (sp)