Police summoned to an emergency call in Tapachula, Chiapas, on Sunday got a little more than they bargained for: a drunk driver, a crash and a theft, all in one package.
When authorities and emergency personnel arrived on the scene, they found an apparently inebriated man near a damaged car that witnesses told police had hit a tree so hard that the car’s engine was ejected.
Then, during the ensuing commotion, someone stole the engine from the street where it lay.
Officials said the driver was traveling at excessive speed on Central North boulevard in Tapachula when he lost control of the Chevrolet Aveo and hit the tree.
Yiordani Miner “N,” 36, was examined by paramedics at the scene and declined further medical attention, authorities told El Orbe newspaper. A native of the Dominican Republic, Miner was taken into custody by immigration authorities. Police had the car towed away.
A demonstration by the Catrinas CDMX 2020 march on Sunday in Mexico City.
In cities around the country, protesters took advantage of this year’s Day of the Dead holiday to highlight the problem of deadly violence toward women in Mexico, with traditional holiday altars calling attention to femicide, the gender-based murder of a woman or girl by a man, and violence toward women in general.
In Mexico City’s Rotunda of the Illustrious memorial in the borough of Xochomilco, a women’s group created traditional holiday altars, or ofrendas, with the classic orange marigolds, candles, and papel picado (decorative paper cutouts) — but also with pink memorial crosses and photos of women killed by men. At the Benito Juárez Hemicycle monument, about 100 women gathered to place an ofrenda to victims of femicide.
In México state, Lidia Florencio built an altar with a group of protesters in front of the Chimalhuacán District Attorney’s Office to commemorate her daughter Diana, who she said was a femicide victim.
Other altars in front of the Mexico state Attorney General’s Office and elsewhere bore signs with slogans including “Not even one more” and accused law enforcement authorities of not doing enough to protect women from gender-based violence.
Protester Carmen Sánchez, who survived having acid thrown on her, said she was also an example of “how dead the authorities are at finding justice” for victims of gender-based violence.
Las Catrinas march in the capital on Sunday.
“There’s no progress, no follow-up,” she said. “My own case investigation and those of the rest of the women here might as well be buried in the ground because they have been halted, left to die.”
Meanwhile, in the city of Querétaro, protesters created an ofrenda in the city’s iconic Aqueduct that displayed 489 gravestones bearing the names of femicide victims in Mexico between January and October. The number represents the number of femicides recorded so far in 2020.
“We have here represented not even 5% of the actual cases of femicide in Mexico, because in the official data they don’t even count women who were disappeared,” said one activist.
The altar also featured a sign with a macabre play on words:
“En México, todos los días son Día de Muertas,” which used the Spanish feminine form of the word muerto to say, “In Mexico, every day is a Day of Dead Women.”
According to the federal numbers, the highest numbers of femicides occur in the states of Veracruz, Oaxaca, México state, Mexico City and Morelos.
489 ‘gravestones’ in Querétaro represented the official number of femicides so far this year.
In Sonora, at the steps of the state Attorney General’s Office in Hermosillo, activists set up photos of children, teenagers, and adults who were victims of femicide this year, illuminated by candles.
The various groups in the area who organized the event dubbed it a “Vigil for the Femicides.”
A member of the feminist group Marea Verde Sonora said that groups such as hers all over Mexico were organizing the vigils and altars this year in order to make visceral how much violence at the hands of men Mexican women face.
“We are very worried about the violence we see toward women and girls in our state increasing, and each time, we see forms of violence that are crueler and more intense,” she said. “But we also see more women organizing, such as the Madres Buscadoras. Clearly, the government’s efforts to protect us are not enough.”
Videgaray: accused of leading a bribery scheme connected to Odebrecht.
President López Obrador confirmed Tuesday that the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) sought an arrest warrant for former cabinet minister Luis Videgaray in connection with a bribery case but was blocked by a judge.
Videgaray served as finance minister in the first four years of the 2012-2018 government of former president Enrique Peña Nieto and foreign affairs minister in the final two.
Former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya, currently awaiting trial on corruption charges, has accused Peña Nieto and Videgaray of leading a bribery scheme that collected multi-million-dollar payments from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
According to the news website Latinus, which first reported the rejected warrant request, the FGR wants to arrest Videgaray on five charges.
One charge is related to an electoral crime, two involve bribery, one is for criminal association and the fifth is for treason.
The FGR accuses Videgaray of committing an electoral crime by delivering more than US $1.6 million in bribes to Peña Nieto’s 2012 campaign.
One bribery charge is related to the former official allegedly helping Peña Nieto to secure more than US $5.8 million and 84 million pesos in bribes from Odebrecht and Braskem, a petrochemical company that is a subsidiary of the Brazilian conglomerate.
Videgaray and Peña Nieto allegedly used the money for “wrongful acts related to their roles.”
The second bribery charge is related to Videgaray allegedly handing over more than 120 million pesos to lawmakers in exchange for supporting the former government’s 2014 energy reform that opened up the sector to foreign and private companies.
The criminal association charge is related to his alleged dealings with Odebrecht and the lawmakers who are accused of taking bribes.
Accusations against the former minister were made by Emilio Lozoya, former CEO of Pemex.
The treason charge is also related to the bribes that were allegedly paid to the lawmakers. The FGR accuses Videgaray of subjugating “the integrity of the nation to foreign persons” by paying off lawmakers to support the energy reform.
If convicted on that charge, the former minister could be jailed for up to 40 years.
According to the FGR, Peña Nieto entered into an agreement with Videgaray to “implement an organized apparatus of power … to obtain benefits that affect the sovereignty of Mexico, subjugating it to national and foreign persons and groups.”
The federal government intends to hold a referendum next year at which citizens will be asked whether past presidents should face justice for crimes they allegedly committed while in office.
Latinus said it was informed by high-ranking judicial sources that the FGR’s request for an arrest warrant for Videgaray was rejected because it lacked the “necessary legal support.”
López Obrador said much the same at his morning news conference.
“I have been informed that a request of this nature was made to the judiciary, but the request was rejected,” he said. “My understanding is that the judge sent the request back to the Attorney General’s Office.”
Latinus said that the warrant application could be reformulated by the FGR but López Obrador said he was uncertain if a new warrant could be requested.
Videgaray is the highest ranking official that the FGR has sought to arrest in connection with the Odebrecht case.
“Lozoya’s accusations are invented lies to try to get out of the consequences of his own actions,” he wrote.
Videgaray hasn’t publicly commented on the revelation that the FGR sought a warrant for his arrest.
The former minister worked as an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) after serving in the former government but according to a columnist for the newspaper El Universal he left that job and traveled to Israel on October 10.
“It may or may not be the case that Videgaray will ever be found guilty by a judge of committing crimes himself. However, the breadth and depth of credible accusations against him raise serious doubts over his moral authority to lead research projects,” the letter said.
“… MIT should end Videgaray’s appointments.”
Despite the letter, MIT management said that they supported Videgaray’s ongoing tenure at the university.
If he were to be arrested he would be the third Peña Nieto-era minister to be taken into custody after former social development minister Rosario Robles and ex-defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos.
Authorities in Mexico City have set a new coronavirus testing record, applying tests to 42,360 people between October 24 and 31.
The number of people tested at health kiosks, hospitals and medical centers in the last week of October was 48% higher than the previous record set in the first week of September when 28,579 citizens were tested in the capital.
By comparison, the city of San Francisco, California, has been doing 5,000 tests a day and New York City nearly 50,000.
According to the Mexico City government, 40% of all coronavirus tests in Mexico between October 24 and 31 were performed in the capital. Authorities reported 8,811 new coronavirus cases in Mexico City in the same period.
The capital has been Mexico’s coronavirus epicenter since the beginning of the pandemic, and has recorded far more confirmed cases and Covid-19 deaths than any other state. As of Monday, Mexico City’s accumulated case tally was 163,418 and the death toll was 15,231.
The federal Health Ministry estimates that there are currently 11,575 active cases in the capital, a figure that accounts for one in four active cases across the country.
The mayor’s consideration of returning the capital to red light “maximum” risk on the coronavirus stoplight system has reportedly placed her at loggerheads with Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell, the federal government’s coronavirus point man, and President López Obrador.
The president is said to be opposed to implementing stricter restrictions in the capital due to the economic impact such a move would have. The Mexican economy has already taken a massive hit from the pandemic and associated restrictions, slumping almost 20% and 10% in the second and third quarters, respectively, compared to the same periods last year.
Sheinbaum, a close ally of López Obrador, has also had differences of opinion with the federal government over face masks.
The mayor has advocated much more forcefully for their use and began wearing one early in the pandemic whereas López Obrador and López-Gatell have been much more reluctant to promote – and wear – them.
Mayor Sheinbaum speaks at a presidential press conference. The mayor and the president are reported to have disagreed over declaring a red light risk level in Mexico City.
The president and deputy minister both said last week that there was no possibility that the federal government would enforce their use. The latter asserted that their effectiveness in stopping the spread of the coronavirus is “overstated” in the “public narrative.”
Although the federal government is apparently opposed to the implementation of red light restrictions in Mexico City, there are strong arguments for tighter rules.
Almost 3,000 coronavirus patients are currently receiving treatment in hospitals in the capital, about a quarter of whom are on ventilators.
In addition, there is widespread flouting of existing rules and restrictions in Mexico City: masks are supposedly mandatory but many people choose not to wear them with impunity, parties and other large gatherings are becoming increasingly common and keeping a “healthy distance” from others is evidently not a priority for some.
In a bustling, densely-populated metropolis such as Mexico City, social distancing is indeed impossible in many situations, especially among people using public transit or working in the busy historic center.
A shift to red on the stoplight system would not only force the closure of – or at least tighter restrictions on – some businesses but also send a clear message to Mexico City residents that the risk of coronavirus infection remains very real.
Some capitalinos and chilangos, as residents of the capital are known, appear to have little concern about the risk of contracting Covid-19 even though so many people have died in Mexico City.
“Saint Jude can handle everything, even the damn Covid,” said one follower amid a large crowd of non-socially distanced devotees, some of whom were not wearing face masks.
The event set off alarm bells among local authorities and federal officials including López-Gatell, who reiterated that large gatherings are risky.
The deputy minister warned that if large groups of people also gather on December 12 – the feast day of the widely venerated Virgin of Guadalupe – there will be an “extremely high risk” of coronavirus transmission.
López-Gatell also said that if large numbers of people from around the country descend on the Basilica of Guadalupe in northern Mexico City – millions of people normally flock to the church on the feast day – coronavirus case numbers could subsequently spike in states where the pandemic has recently waned.
Mexico has already recorded more than 900,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and over 90,000 Covid-19 deaths to rank 10th and 4th in the world, respectively, for infections and fatalities, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Cases and deaths in Mexico City account for about one-sixth (16%-17%) of the national totals despite only 7% of Mexicans (excluding those who live in México state municipalities in the greater metropolitan area) calling the capital home.
Lidia Florencio sits in front of the altar she put out for her daughter in her home. Molly Ferrill
“I still can’t bring myself to put her favorite things on the altar. It’s too painful to accept that she is gone. I can’t let myself believe it.”
Lidia Florencio stands in her home in Chimalhuacán just outside of Mexico City, tears filling her eyes as she looks at the altar she has prepared to honor her daughter, Diana Velázquez Florencio, in the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead.
Three years have passed since the day her daughter left the house to make a phone call and never came home. That evening, Lidia and her family realized almost immediately that something was wrong. Along witha specialized unit that helps search for missing people, they scoured the city for signs, but none were found.
Hours later, someone picked up Diana’s phone. They said they’d just bought it at the local market.
The grief experienced by family and friends processing the loss of “disappeared” or missing people is said by some psychologists to be one of the worst forms of emotional pain, even worse than the pain of losing of a loved one to suicide.
Lidia Florencio leads a protest in Mexico City in honor of her daughter during the Day of the Dead. Molly Ferrill
After Diana’s phone was identified, Lidia knew that something had happened to her daughter, but still had hope that she might be alive. She says that the idea that her daughter could be suffering somewhere haunted her constantly.
Lidia was not alone in this experience. As of July 2020, there were more than 73,000 disappearances registered by Mexico’s National Search Commission, and the numbers show an upward trend over recent years.
Human trafficking, gender-based violence, the activities of organized crime groups, and repression of activism are some of the many potential causes of forced disappearance in Mexico. With such a high number of unresolved cases, however, the data on this human rights crisis remains incomplete.
Five days after her daughter’s disappearance, Lidia received a call that her body had been found. “They didn’t just kill my daughter. They killed her, they raped her and they left her in the street, and they went to bed and went on with their lives. I can’t resign myself to it. That I couldn’t hug her again. That a bag arrived and they said she was inside it. It fills you with so much pain, so much anger and desperation. But I guess I have to accept that she’s gone.”
Many people with disappeared loved ones are never able to get closure. The question of where their family members or friends might be can loom for years — and there is good reason not to lose hope, since many missing people in Mexico have been rescued years after their disappearance. Some people describe the emotional effect of spending years searching for answers as a feeling of being suspended in time.
Diana Fidelia, an actor from Mexico City, has been searching for her brother Ricardo Flores Palacios for 15 years. When he went away for a soccer trip to Durango, her family never thought it would be the last time they would see him. During that trip, she received a phone call from him that surprised her, since he didn’t usually call. It was the last time she heard from him.
Diana Fidelia and her brother Ricardo used to play soccer together when they were young. His childhood soccer jerseys bring back those happy shared memories. Molly Ferrill
With the passing of the years, she has come to understand that call as a goodbye. When time passed after the phone call and she and her family didn’t hear from Ricardo, Diana says she began to enter into desperation. “I still had the number he’d called me from saved in the call log of my phone. I called him obsessively. I think I called more than 200 times every day.
There was also a time period when I was checking the newspaper of Durango every day, and checking the page of the morgue with the bodies of the people who have died, to see if he was there.”
Over the years, Diana has gone through a long process of healing, and she even created a theatrical performance about her brother’s disappearance. Now, 15 years later, she has accepted the uncertainty as a part of her life,although it is still painful. “It’s very difficult to have a brother whom you love, and not know what happened, where he is, or what they might have done to him.”
She and her family prefer not to give any significance to the Day of the Dead, since they still don’t know where her brother might be. Instead, Diana reflects on her memories and preserves her brother’s belongings and articles of clothing as a way of keeping his presence in her life despite his physical absence.
“It’s another kind of altar,” she says with a small smile. “It is important for me to keep him here in my memory, although we don’t know what happened. It’s important to talk about him, because if we are quiet, I think that silence is death. So it’s better to talk and to share. In the midst of all of this pain, we hope that wherever my brother is, he is all right.”
Dealing with the disappearance of a family member is a personal process, and no two stories or reactions will be the same. For Diana, her art is her way of processing and sharing this experience with the public. Lidia chooses to focus on political activism. She says that the capacity of law enforcement needs to be strengthened in order to locate disappeared people and bring criminals to justice.
Diana Fidelia holds her missing brother’s childhood shirt. Keeping his physical belongings helps with the feeling of not being able to have his physical presence with her. Molly Ferrill
Although Lidia’s daughter’s body has been found, she feels that justice has not been served. She also emphasizes that femicide, or the gender-based killing of a woman or girl by a man,as in her daughter’s case, is one frequent cause of disappearances that needs to be addressed in Mexico.
“Two men assaulted my daughter, but only one is in jail. I never stop thinking about how we can make sure that the authorities work against this kind of murder, because we never felt that they gave my daughter’s murder any importance.”
She feels that more work needs to be done so that disappearances don’t happen in the first place. “We are becoming conscious that there is a lot of violence taking place, and we need to take to the streets and speak out against it.”
Lidia’s youngest daughter Camila, 6, in front of an altar honoring her adoptive sister on Day of the Dead. Molly FerrillFor Lidia, activism is crucial in preventing disappearances like that of her daughter. Molly FerrillDiana Fidelia looks through old photos of her brother Ricardo. Molly FerrillLidia and her youngest daughter Camila walk home together in Chimalhuacán, where a rising number of disappearances have been recorded. Molly Ferrill
Tijuana councilor and actress Claudia Casas courted controversy on Halloween, posting images of herself and her family on Facebook dressed in mock-bloody clothing and brandishing machetes and high-caliber rifles.
Such weapons are highly associated with organized crime.
The post featured pictures of Casas and her husband and daughter wearing various Halloween masks and clothing made to look blood-spattered. All three took turns holding a machete and a butcher’s knife, both also dripping in red paint, as well as a high-caliber rifle.
The wall behind them had slogans in the same blood-red paint that said, “Make Mexico purge again” and “Purge 2020”
The slogans appear to be a reference to the popular American movie series The Purge, which depicts a speculative version of the United States in which, on a single day each year, all citizens can legally kill each other with impunity.
Casas has acted in narco-films produced by her husband, Óscar López.
Tijuana has the highest number of homicides in Baja California, and the state has the highest number of murders in Mexico, according to the latest federal statistics. As of September, 53.7 people have been killed for every 100,000 people in the state this year.
Tijuana accounted for more than half of that number, with 1,534 people killed between January and September.
Governor Rosas announced a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol and other restrictions.
Red light “maximum” risk coronavirus restrictions will apply in Durango starting Tuesday due to an increase in cases and Covid-19 deaths.
Governor José Rosas Aispuro announced the switch to red on the coronavirus stoplight system on Monday, explaining that the Durango government took the decision in conjunction with mayors and the federal Health Ministry.
“The state is recording an increase in positive cases and in the positivity [rate] in tests,” he said, adding that hospitals are facing greater demand for their services.
Durango is currently in the most critical phase of the pandemic, Rosas said.
The northern state has recorded 14,778 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic and 803 Covid-19 deaths, according to federal data. On a per capita basis, Durango has the highest number of active cases in the country with 112.1 per 100,000 residents.
Case numbers have been rising in Durango since mid-September.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell presented data Tuesday morning showing that case numbers have been on the rise in Durango since mid-September and spiked considerably in more recent weeks.
As a result of the worsening outbreak and consequent switch to red on the stoplight system, a range of stricter restrictions will take effect today and remain in place until at least November 17.
Rosas said there will be a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol and severe sanctions will apply to anyone found selling it clandestinely.
Only essential economic activities will be permitted for the next two weeks, the governor said, explaining that the automotive, mining, forestry, energy and construction sectors can continue operating with strict health protocols.
He also said that supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, restaurants and hotels can operate but at reduced capacity. Supermarkets are permitted to operate with 50% of their normal customer levels while restaurants can open at 25% capacity.
All places of worship in Durango must remain closed for the next two weeks and weddings are not permitted. Town squares, gyms, public swimming pools and sports centers are also required to close.
Coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico as reported by day. milenio
Parties and other large gatherings at both public venues and homes are banned and anyone found organizing and/or attending such events will face sanctions.
Public transit will continue operating but capacity is limited to 50% and health protocols will apply. Taxis and private vehicles are limited to carrying a maximum of three people including the driver.
Rosas also said that Durango residents should not leave their homes for nonessential purposes between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. Police will carry out patrols to ensure compliance with the rule.
With Durango’s switch to red on the coronavirus stoplight map, there are now two states at the “maximum” risk level. The other is Chihuahua, which regressed to red in late October.
The federal Health Ministry warned October 23 that Coahuila, Durango and Nuevo León were all at risk of turning red due to their growing coronavirus outbreaks.
Meanwhile, the country continues to move steadily toward an official case tally of 1 million and a Covid-19 death toll of 100,000.
The Health Ministry reported 3,763 new cases on Monday, increasing the accumulated tally to 933,155, and 205 additional fatalities, lifting the official death toll to 92,100.
The first time I wrote a food column about homemade dog biscuits, it involved an entrepreneurial woman in Santa Cruz, California, and her thriving new business. The photo shoot included her adorable basset hound puppy, who attacked the treats with such surprising gusto, we almost missed getting a photograph.
Nowadays, it seems many people have realized that the old phrase “you are what you eat” applies to our four-legged friends as well. More than ever, we want to feed our beloved pets healthy foods that are good for them, with as few artificial ingredients or additives as possible. When I discovered a selection of tried-and-true dog biscuit recipes on a dog-lover friend’s cooking blog, I thought, “Hey, why not?”
Most dog treats are made from basic ingredients: flour and fat of some sort, eggs and then something “special” like peanut butter or certain fresh fruits and vegetables. You can make whatever size biscuit is appropriate for your dog (or fun for you).
I’d suggest not improvising on any of these tested recipes unless you check with your vet or Google whatever other ingredients you might be thinking about adding. For instance, don’t give Fido avocado, cherries, grapes (that means raisins too!), tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, onions, leeks or chives. The American Kennel Club has a long list of what’s OK and what isn’t.
Just like humans, dogs can have allergies too, so be on the lookout for any kind of a reaction if this is the first time your pooch is having, say, peanut butter.
Most dog biscuits have a special added ingredient to make Fido’s mouth water.
Speaking of peanut butter, be absolutely, 100% sure you’re using completely natural peanut butter. Some brands may say “no sugar added” but will include xylitol, an artificial sweetener, instead. Xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs, and even a small amount could be dangerous.
Jen’s Carrot & Rosemary Dog Biscuits
¾ cup steamed carrots
3 Tbsp. lard or other animal fat, melted
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. dried rosemary
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
½ cup water or meat broth (more or less, depending on how juicy your carrots are)
Optional: ¼ tsp. garlic powder, ½ tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 300 F. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Cook carrots until mushy, drain well and beat until you have a smooth puree. Add lard, eggs, rosemary, garlic and salt (if using) and beat until combined. Add flour and oats; mix well. It will be a very dry, crumbly mixture. Gradually add in water/broth just until you have a cohesive dough.
Flour your workspace well; dough is sticky. Roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters or cut into strips ¾-inch x 2 ½-inches with a knife or pizza cutter. Arrange biscuits on prepared cookie sheets. They can be close together because they won’t spread; in fact, they’ll shrink a little.
Bake for 40–60 minutes, depending on size. Biscuits should be a uniform medium golden brown and crisp all the way through. Cool, then store at room temperature for 2 months, refrigerated for 4 months or frozen for 8 months.
Go ahead. Make your pup a large batch. In the fridge, these biscuits will last a couple of months.
Jen’s Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits
½ cup unsweetened, natural peanut butter
2 large eggs
⅓ cup milk
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
3 cups whole-wheat flour
Preheat oven to 300 F. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Beat peanut butter, eggs and milk until smooth. Stir in parsley. Add 2 cups of flour; mix well. Gradually add in enough of remaining flour to create a stiff dough that can still be rolled out with a rolling pin. You may need to use your dough hook or mix in the last of the flour by hand.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters or simply cut into strips about ¾ inch x 2½ inches with a knife or pizza cutter. Gather and re-roll any scraps. Arrange biscuits on prepared cookie sheets. It’s OK to put them close together.
Bake for 40–60 minutes, depending on size. When done, biscuits should be a uniform medium golden brown and crisp all the way through. Store at room temperature for 2 months, refrigerated for 4 months or frozen for 8 months.
Jen’s Apple-Cinnamon Dog Biscuits
1 large apple, seeds & core removed, chopped
¾ cup milk
3 Tbsp. lard or other animal fat (melted)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
½ cup water (possibly more or less)
Preheat oven to 300 F. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Blend apple and milk in a blender to a smooth purée.
Using a mixer, combine apple purée, lard, eggs, cinnamon, ginger and salt and beat until combined. Add flour and oats; mix well. It will be a very dry, crumbly mixture. Gradually add in water just until you have a cohesive dough.
Flour your workspace well; dough is sticky. Roll dough to ¼-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters or cut into strips ¾-inch x 2 ½-inches with a knife or pizza cutter. Arrange biscuits on prepared cookie sheets. They can be close together because they won’t spread.
Bake for 40–60 minutes, depending on size. Biscuits should be a uniform medium golden brown and crisp all the way through. Cool, then store at room temperature for 2 months, refrigerated for 4 months or frozen for 8 months.
Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats
Yes, everyone likes pumpkin-spice flavors!
2 ½ cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
½ cup canned pumpkin
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
½ teaspoon salt (optional)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt and cinnamon. Add water as needed to help make the dough workable, but it should be dry and stiff. Roll dough into a ½ -inch-thick roll. Cut into ½ -inch pieces. Bake in preheated oven until hard, about 40 minutes. – allrecipes.com
Janet Blaser has been a writer, editor and storyteller her entire life and feels fortunate to be able to write about great food, amazing places, fascinating people and unique events. 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.
The United States Embassy in Mexico City intervened to stop the arrest of a former embassy employee who is accused of drugging and raping women, according to a report by the newspaper Milenio.
Brian Jeffrey Raymond was arrested in La Mesa, California, on October 9 and has been charged with coercion and enticement in the United States.
The 44-year-old former diplomat left Mexico for the United States on June 1, the day after Mexico City police attended his embassy-owned apartment in the upscale Polanco neighborhood after a naked woman was seen shouting for help from a balcony.
According to Milenio, the Mexico City police were about to arrest Raymond on sexual assault charges when he showed them a document issued by Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that identified him as the U.S. Embassy’s first secretary. The document reportedly provided Raymond with diplomatic immunity.
Milenio said that it obtained testimony that James Landis, a regional security officer with the U.S. Embassy, subsequently “rescued” Raymond.
The newspaper also said that Ricardo Lohora, head of the U.S. Embassy’s security office, called the Mexico City Security Ministry and demanded that Raymond not be taken into custody.
The woman he allegedly assaulted later filed a complaint with the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office, telling authorities that she met Raymond on Tinder and that she blacked out after drinking a glass of wine he gave her.
She said that she had no memory of having sex with Raymond but prosecutors said that she had injuries consistent with vaginal and anal penetration. Her body was also bruised and her mouth was cut, according to forensic reports.
Raymond denied rape allegations, telling authorities in the United States that he had consensual sex with the woman.
He remains in custody in the United States awaiting trial. A federal judge in California who last month ordered that he be held behind bars said that he was a “danger to the community and a flight risk.”
Roberto Velasco, head of the Foreign Ministry’s North America department, said on Twitter last Thursday that Mexican authorities cooperated with U.S. authorities on “the operation that led to the arrest of the first secretary of the United States Embassy in Mexico.”
He said that the aim was to secure justice in a case in which there was a “potential series of sexual abuses in both countries,” adding that “the Mexican government emphasizes its categorical rejection of any form of gender violence.”
Many Mexican families have their own secret recipe for Day of the Dead's pan de muerto.
Jorge Fitz’s aunt used to tell him and his cousins to be quiet around the pan de muerto dough so as not to stress it out.
“She really meant not to stress her out,” he laughs about his Tía Jose. “She would take the bowl of masa [dough] and put it in the warmest corner of the kitchen and actually wrap it in blankets like a person. No one was allowed in or out so as not to create a draft.”
This is what Jorge remembers about Day of the Dead as a child, the smells and sounds of his aunt and grandmother making pan de muerto. They would spend hours kneading the dough by hand in his grandmother’s kitchen, perfecting the final product for both the living and the dead.
It’s a commitment, this bread. When I asked Jorge and his partner Alberto (Beto) Estúa, my friends and neighbors in La Roma — who happen to own the Casa Jaracanda cooking school — to teach me how to make pan de muerto, there was a definite pause before they responded.
“We had decided we weren’t going to make it this year,” Beto says sheepishly, “just buy some instead, it’s so much simpler. But then, when Jorge said you wanted to make some, we thought, yes, of course we should make it.”
Making the dough for pan de muerto takes much of the day. It needs time to rest and to rise.
It took us seven hours of dedicated baking to create this, the most iconic food of Day of the Dead. However, when the finished product sailed out of the oven — delicately airy in the center, a crust of sugar crowning its surface — we all agreed that there is nothing like homemade, and we were glad we decided to take the time.
Pan de muerto, a sweet yeast bread covered in either sugar or sesame seeds, is a fundamental part of Day of the Dead and the elaborate altars of the holiday created to pay homage to the loved ones who have passed. Candles, favorite foods, photos of loved ones, and lots and lots of flowers are all necessary elements as well. A pinch of salt for purification and a glass of water or alcohol is also needed: coming back from the dead is thirsty work.
This Day of the Dead, which may look different for tourists without its parades and massive cemetery displays, will likely be the same for Mexicans, who have always known the holiday as an intimate celebration of their loved ones.
“I learned about Day of the Dead when I had someone to mourn for, you know? Then it became really relevant,” Jorge says. “As a kid all you want to do is Halloween and trick or treating, but Day of the Dead is more of a contemplation. It’s very intimate and sad, but with joy … you know … that very Mexican feeling, no?”
“It helps with the mourning,” says Beto. “Every year I cry over the altar, putting my grandmothers there, and of course my parents, and there’s this beautiful feeling. You put things on the altar that they loved, and maybe you say to your brothers and sisters, ‘Remember how Dad liked that?’ and you tell stories. It’s very cathartic.”
I remember the first ofrenda, or altar, that I made. My uncle had suffered a massive heartache the year before. My father, still grieving, struggled to hold back the tears when we Skyped, and I showed him Uncle Tink’s photo, surrounded by fry bread – a special treat from their childhood.
The photo was also accompanied by beer, a shot of tequila, a few cigarettes, and an old work shirt he had given me with his name embroidered on a patch – “Tinker.” I sat with his photo and the cempasúchil (marigold) flowers all night, hoping I might catch a glimpse of the uncle I loved but had had so little time to get to know.
Each year since then, my altar has grown; this year is no exception. Pandemic times have meant a lot of us have another photo to add, another loss to grieve. This year’s altar for me will include another uncle, an aunt, and a former teacher and friend of the family, all gone since the beginning of the year.
“This year is going to be different, for sure,” says Jorge, “and difficult. We have some fresh ones to put on that altar … but there are so many things to be thankful for. It is that mix of thankfulness, joy and mourning that makes it special.”
It’s not pan de muerto without the criss-cross “bones” on top.
“Remember the old-school neighborhood bakeries?” says Beto. Their picture windows would be colorfully painted, announcing the sale of pan de muerto and the start of the holiday season. As a child, Jorge would steal the bread “bones” off the top of the pan de muerto buns, and his grandmother would be forced to buy all the bread he had damaged. She didn’t love that, Jorge says, laughing.
Beto’s family would take flowers to the gravestone of his grandfather, who died before Beto had a chance to know him. Both men can remember carrying candles dripping with wax to family cemeteries.
In the kitchen, Beto explains to me that the bread’s criss-cross “bones” are meant to be the skeletal hand of the deceased as they claim one of these delicious confections for themselves from beyond the grave. Altars always include favorite dishes and favorite liquors and tobacco of those passed, in the hope that their spirit will return to commune with the living for just one night.
“Even making the food beforehand, you have them right there,” says Jorge. “It’s like you’re stirring together.”
While I can’t relate exactly to their childhood nostalgia for Day of the Dead, as I stand in the kitchen measuring ingredients and listening to the rhythmic smack of Jorge kneading the dough, the sensation of home and comfort is unmistakable. It reminds me of holidays with my own family, gathered around the countertop, stealing scraps from whoever was cooking.
The pan de muerto recipe we use is an amalgamation – combined elements of Tía Jose’s recipe, now over 100 years old, a classic version from Josefina Velazquez de Leon’s Seleciones Culinarias, and a simpler, more classic version Beto learned from chef Yuri de Gortari, whose Escuela de Gastronomía Mexicana is infamous throughout Mexico City.
Beto started the sponge this morning before I arrived – a combination of flour, milk, yeast and a little sugar. The remnants of a yeast bubble explosion are sticky along the sides of the dish. We cheat (just a little), mixing the first part of the dough in a bread mixer, but the guys have done it many times by hand, so they have street cred.
I myself spent last year mixing kilos upon kilos of dough with the García family at the Jamaica Market where they set up a stand each year and sell pan de muerto in bulk. It’s not for the faint of heart, and you have to understand the exact texture of the ready dough that only comes from years of experience.
Once the perfect consistency is attained, it’s time to let the dough rest until doubled, and, of course, it’s time for lunch.
“You don’t have to feed me,” I insist.
“Of course we do,” Beto smiles graciously, radiating the Mexican hospitality that I have come to love so much.
Our stomachs full and our dough doubled, we roll it into balls and add its dough “bones” atop the mounds to let it double again. The bone making takes its own special skill as you roll three fingers across a length of dough, trying not to make it either too thick or thin. A discussion ensues – the banter of two people who have made this bread dozens of times yet are still perfecting the recipe batch by batch.
There are two methods to add the sugar topping: Jorge opts for the Tía Jose’s version that involves egg wash and the piling on of sugar to create a crunchy crust. Beto wants to baste the pan de muerto with butter after it has come out of the oven and sprinkle sugar on top. We decided to do both.
Twenty-five minutes and one Pacífico beer later, the bread is coming out of the oven in golden-brown perfection. Jorge’s version has a browned, sweet crust and an interior light as air. Beto’s has a strong yeast flavor and that delightful sugar mess that spills all over the table, your hands and your mouth when you bite down.
It’s impossible to decide which is better, but honestly, it doesn’t really matter. It’s the best pan de muerto I’ve ever tasted, no doubt in part because of great ingredients and a great recipe, but no less in part because of the hands that made it.
We definitely weren’t quiet today as we laughed and told stories, but the bread doesn’t seem to have taken it too badly. Just don’t tell Tía Jose.
