Emma Coronel will be sentenced in September. File photo
The wife of convicted drug trafficker and former Sinaloa Cartel chief Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán pleaded guilty in a United States court on Thursday to charges of drug trafficking and financial crimes.
Emma Coronel Aispuro, a 31-year-old dual Mexican and U.S. citizen who was born in California, could face life in prison for the trafficking charge alone.
Coronel, who was arrested in February, appeared in a federal court in Washington D.C. on Thursday morning and pleaded guilty to three counts of conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines; conspiring to launder money and collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel on illegal financial dealings.
A prosecutor said in court there was evidence she controlled properties owned by Guzmán in the United States and collected rent for them, violating the U.S. Kingpin Act, which targets, on a worldwide basis, significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations, and operatives.
As part of a plea agreement, Coronel also confessed to conspiring to aid Guzmán’s escape from the Altiplano maximum-security prison in México state in 2015.
The mother of twin daughters to El Chapo could be sentenced to life imprisonment for the drug distribution charge. The laundering charges carry a maximum 20-year term, while the financial dealings offense is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The former beauty queen could also be ordered to pay fines totaling as much as US $10.7 million.
Coronel, who appeared before U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras wearing a green jumpsuit and a white face mask, said she understood the charges against her and the possible consequences of her guilty plea.
“Everything is clear,” she told the judge, who set a tentative sentencing date of September 15.
Guzmán, who married Coronel in 2007, was sentenced to life in prison on trafficking charges in July 2019 after an 11-week trial during which jurors heard from 56 witnesses, including many former associates who offered an unprecedented glimpse into the inner workings of the Sinaloa Cartel. He is now incarcerated in the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating” has been a favorite expression of philosophers, or maybe even cooks, perhaps since the 14th century.
Mexico and the U.S. share a pudding entitled the Migration Issue. There’s no need to describe the issue, which is front and center from Burma to Brownsville, Texas, but nobody seems able to propose a solution.
I’d like to start.
As any appliance repairman, auto mechanic or medical doctor can attest the best solution is often the simplest. And maybe the least expensive. So it is with illegal migration.
I learned in graduate school in social sciences that the best way to introduce a new idea is to keep it simple to understand and easy to comply with. And cheap.
Kamala Harris’ “Do not come” is a new idea from this U.S. administration. Now let’s make it attractive, cheap and simple to comply with for tens of thousands of already-en-route would be-illegal migrants.
I’ve spent almost countless hours among would-be migrants in Matamoros, on Mexico’s northern border, and Tapachula on the southern border. I’ve crossed at Tijuana, Nuevo Laredo, Puerto Palomas and although not tarrying on my way south have no doubt that there are equally squalid encampments in many other places.
Let’s make it easy, say. attractive for them to go home to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Haiti and maybe even Africa.
It’s 100 F in the refugee camps, which are filled with unhappy campers in Matamoros or Tapachula, even better if it has been raining. A huge and luxurious comfortable bus of the type Mexico is proud of, spilling out air conditioning, pulls up with two signs on the front —HOME and FREE.
Fill ‘er up. All aboard. An immigration official once told me it costs at least US $100,000 to process each asylum request. Filled, that’s a $5 million bus now, 10 buses means $50 million, chock a block with passengers as happy as Vietnam POW Admiral Stockdale and company returning from Hanoi.
Join me at the international bridge in Matamoros, or in front of Immigration in Tapachula, and you’ll see what I mean.”Sure, I’d like to go home, but how?” is what you’ll hear.
There’s room for all in this scenario. The NGOs and churches can provide food and water, and the U.S. taxpayer has just saved over $4.9 million. Furthermore, Mexico’s and the United States’ diplomatic headaches have been mitigated.
The buses from the northern Mexican border need only travel to Tapachula, Chiapas, or — if Guatemala will cooperate — across to the borders of Honduras and El Salvador. So much for the northern tier $5 billion. No multilateral committees, task forces or humanitarian groups required. Just line up some buses and “they’ve got a ticket to ride.”
Simple? Yes. Tried? No.
Carlisle Johnson writes from his home in Guatemala.
David Corbett, author of six novels and two books on writing, will lead an online workshop this month for the San Miguel Literary Sala on character motivation.
Writers, both professional and aspiring, who are looking for some guidance or just some inspiration can find a convenient way to connect with published writers, creative writing professors and publicists this month with the San Miguel Literary Sala’s online workshops.
The Guanajuato organization for authors and poets based in the small city of San Miguel de Allende is known for putting on the San Miguel Writers’ Conference for over a decade. Last year, it took the plunge into online events when the annual writers’ conference and its year-round schedule of workshops could not be held in person due to pandemic restrictions.
It has so far held several successful events this year via online conferencing platforms like Zoom, including interviews with high-profile celebrity authors like Tom Hanks and Matthew McConaughey — where participants got a chance to interact directly with the guests — and writing and poetry workshops led by published authors and other creative professionals.
This month, their calendar broadens a bit to offer online workshops not only on the craft of writing but also on publication and publicity and promotion.
The schedule for the workshops is as follows:
June 21 and 23, 3-4:30 p.m. — David Corbett: “The Compass of Character: Creating Complex Character Motivation.” This workshop from the author of six novels and two books on writing, including The Art of Character, will guide participants in an examination of what he sees as the four key counteracting forces tugging at a character’s willfulness and motivation: lack, yearning, resistance and desire.
June 21 and 23, 5:30-7 p.m. — Kathrin Lake: “Memories to Memoirs: How to Show the Past (Not Tell It)” The author of the novel TheHappy Hammock and the nonfiction Writing with Cold Feet will lead a workshop focusing on making a memoir a compelling read using fiction techniques. Lake will also help students structure their own memoirs.
June 22 and 24, 3-4:30 p.m. — Jamie Brickhouse: “I’ve Looked at Publicity from Both Sides Now: Publicity and Marketing from a Former Book Publicist and Current Author” The writer and comedian whose articles have been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Daily Beast and Huffington Post and who interviewed Matthew McConaughey for a Literary Sala event in May, will instruct participants on writing a pitch letter and press release, pitching to the media, creating successful author appearances and the nuts and bolts of going out on a book tour.
June 22 and 24, 5:30-7 p.m. — Jessica Nelson: “The Science and Art of Imagery and Metaphor” Nelson, a professor of creative writing and the co-author of the forthcoming book Advanced Creative Nonfiction, will draw on lessons from art and poetry to engage participants in multisensory writing.
Workshop tickets are US $80, with discounted prices available via event packages, and can be purchased at the San Miguel Literary Sala website.
He named Rogelio Ramírez de la O, a consultant and longtime ally, as a replacement for Finance Minister Arturo Herrera, who will be nominated to head up the Bank of México (Banxico), replacing current Banxico governor Alejandro Díaz de León, whose term concludes at the end of November.
Herrera’s appointment as the central bank governor must be confirmed by the Senate.
The Mexican Employers Federation (Coparmex) said the nomination of Herrera “provides certainty and generates confidence.”
José Manuel López, the head of Mexico’s chambers of commerce, said Herrera’s nomination as Banxico governor generates economic certainty.
The finance minister, who was appointed to that position in July 2019, “was always a very important interlocutor for the business sector,” Coparmex said on Twitter. Herrera’s nomination will provide certainty both in Mexico and abroad, it added.
“We believe that the Bank of México is an autonomous constitutional body, and it’s the job of everyone to defend that autonomy,” the group said in another Twitter post.
“With respect to Rogelio Ramírez de la O, … we trust that he will maintain dialogue with all sectors, including the business sector, and that he will play a good role at the head of the ministry.”
The Business Coordinating Council (CCE), an influential umbrella organization representing 12 business groups, also took to Twitter to acknowledge the announcement, recognizing “the work and commitment of Arturo Herrera at the head of the Finance Ministry.”
The Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) expressed its satisfaction with the appointments, noting, “The growth of the country needs effective and honest public servants.”
The Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism said Herrera has the credentials to lead the central bank and that his nomination generates economic certainty and observed that Herrera has always been willing to engage with the private sector as finance minister, adding that they hoped Ramírez follows suit.
Such willingness to engage would establish a “direct channel” to the president, which would allow more immediate solutions to problems.
The president said Wednesday that he was announcing Diaz’s successor early to avoid market jitters. He also said that his priorities wouldn’t change as a result of the leadership changes at the central bank and Finance Ministry: no debt, no tax or energy price increases and the poor come first.
López Obrador has already appointed three members to Banxico’s five-person board. Gerardo Esquivel, one of the president’s appointees, celebrated the appointment of Ramírez and the nomination of Herrera.
“[Ramírez] is an excellent economist who will contribute to providing certainty and maintaining economic stability,” he wrote on Twitter. “… [Herrera] is a great economist who understands the importance of institutional autonomy.”
Eggs are the newest tool for thieves in Mexico City: they use them to burgle houses and steal cars.
The so called huevos estrellados or “sunny-side up” method is used by criminals as a surprise tactic, the city’s Security Ministry has warned.
At least five people have been arrested for such robberies.
For vehicle theft, assailants break eggs on the windshields of moving cars to obstruct the driver’s vision. The motorist instinctively turns on the windscreen wipers, smearing the yellow yoke across the glass. Forced to stop, the confused driver exits to clean the mess only to be met by criminals who either rob them, or steal the vehicle.
Properties are being threatened with a more elaborate method. A motorcycle rider throws eggs at the front door of a house to see if anyone is at home. If no one appears immediately, the rider notifies accomplices who arrive in other vehicles and break in to the property and steal possessions.
The tactic is effective because it is low risk: if the criminals throw the eggs and choose not to rob the driver or break into the property, the would-be victim cleans up the mess assuming it to be a juvenile act, which goes unreported.
The egg method has been reported in the boroughs of Benito Juárez, Miguel Hidalgo and Cuajimalpa.
If targeted, drivers are advised to stay calm, not to turn on the windshield wipers and stay inside the vehicle. Homeowners are instructed not to talk about leaving their house in public and always try to have someone on the property.
Things might be different today had president Lázaro Cárdenas followed through with his legalization of drugs in 1940.
“The best way to fight the traffickers,” declared Mexico’s El Universal newspaper in March 1940, a month after radical leftist President Lázaro Cárdenas legalized all drugs and set up a state-run dispensary to dish them out, “is to compete with them on the price of the merchandise.”
Then as now, it was an explosive idea: El Universal itself had branded marijuana “dangerous” only a couple of years previously. Yet it is tempting to speculate how the succeeding eight decades might have panned out had U.S. pressure not forced an end to that bold experiment after just four months.
President López Obrador, who swept to power in 2018, may not have needed to base his campaign around eradicating endemic corruption. Without the chance to skim off huge profits Mexico’s police and politicians might have been clean. Homicides might not now be pushing record levels of 35,000 a year and extortion rackets might not be multiplying.
But as The Dope, a magisterial and immensely readable new history of the Mexican drug trade by British academic Benjamin T. Smith shows, a century of prohibition — barring the 1940 interlude — has had disastrous and far-reaching consequences. Mexico is often seen as a case study of the destruction drugs and violence can wreak.
Whether wholesale legalization is the answer now, as the U.S. battles an opioid crisis claiming 130 lives a day, is an open question and not one Smith addresses.
Nor is it something that López Obrador wants to see, although it could happen very soon. Legislators have missed a host of deadlines to implement a 2019 Supreme Court ruling to legalize pot; either the court now strikes down articles in the general health law that criminalize cannabis, or lawmakers seek yet another extension.
Whatever happens, Mexico is on course to become the world’s biggest legal pot market, joining Uruguay and Canada — and the only producing country to liberalize the drug fully.
The problem, as The Dope describes in riveting detail, is that things may already have gone too far. Smith’s bleak conclusion is that as long as narcotics are outlawed, “incentives to produce and smuggle them will outweigh any economic alternatives.”
In some ways, the violence that Mexicans associate with the drug trade is these days more often about protection rackets — for drugs or other merchandise. Gangs, probably now numbering in the hundreds, have made extortion their main business. As a result, Mexico has descended into what some security analysts have dubbed “disorganized crime.” Or as Smith puts it, “by the mid-2010s, the everyday violence that most Mexicans experienced had little to do with the drug trade at all.”
López Obrador, who idolizes Cárdenas, has tried to ignore the issue of the drug trade as far as possible despite stubbornly high homicide levels topping the list of voters’ concerns. He has slammed the media for “sensationalizing” 37 candidates’ murders ahead of last Sunday’s midterm elections which saw him lose his two-thirds congressional supermajority.
In a scorching rebuke, the last U.S. ambassador in Mexico, Christopher Landau, said López Obrador had displayed a “laissez-faire” attitude toward cartels, which he considered a “distraction.”
The president had already been criticized for going out of his way to shake the hand of the mother of Mexico’s jailed top drug kingpin, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and for his cuddly sounding, but so far ineffective, security strategy, dubbed “hugs not bullets.”
Yet, while he offers apprenticeships and grants to keep young people out of the clutches of cartels, and preaches non-confrontation — security forces released El Chapo’s son on the president’s orders in order to avert bloodshed after a fierce shootout in 2019 — he has reneged on a promise to return the army to barracks and has even created a militarized police force to tame cartel violence
Drawing on a decade of research, Smith traces the roots of Mexico’s multiple drug wars from indigenous remedy to the solace of soldiers during the 1910-1920 revolution, to the present day. His pacy narrative is true crime at its historical best, replete with all the larger-than-life characters and thrills and spills of a Netflix narco drama.
It even probes whether the real reason undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent Kiki Camarena was kidnapped and killed in 1985 — a watershed moment for U.S. counternarcotics efforts in Mexico — was that he stumbled on a covert CIA drugs-for-arms operation.
The Dope is gripping and revealing — but ultimately depressing. Smith skates over what the future holds but it is hard not to agree with his conclusion: “A century and counting; the Mexican drug trade shows no sign of slowing.”
• The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade, by Benjamin T. Smith, Ebury Publishing, 448 pages
The United States government has asked Mexico to review whether workers’ rights are being violated at an auto parts plant in the northeastern border state of Tamaulipas, making use of a novel mechanism in the new North American free trade accord, which took effect last July.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh asked Wednesday for a review to determine whether workers at the Tridonex plant in the border city of Matamoros are being denied the rights of free association and collective bargaining.
Tridonex is owned by Philadelphia-based auto parts manufacturer Cardone Industries, which is controlled by Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management.
Tai’s office said in a statement that the request for review “marks both the second time ever, and the second time in the past month, that the United States has requested Mexico’s review of collective bargaining rights issues under the Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM) in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).”
The RRM is a feature that gives member countries the ability to request the investigation of specific facilities accused of violating the labor standards outlined in the USMCA, such as workers’ rights to collective bargaining. The first time the RRM was employed was when the U.S asked Mexico to review whether workers at a General Motors facility in Silao, Guanajuato, were being denied the right of free association and collective bargaining. Mexico agreed to that review and also committed to complying with the United States’ latest request.
Cardone Industries said it would cooperate with a review but added that it believed that “the allegations are inaccurate.”
This request comes a month after the largest labor federation in the United States, the AFL-CIO, petitioned the U.S. government to lodge a complaint against Mexico in relation to workers at the Tridonex plant allegedly being denied the right to independent union representation.
Workers say they were prevented from switching to a different union after they became disgruntled with their existing one, which is controlled by Tridonex, because the union didn’t support their fight for higher wages. Many workers were fired for withdrawing their support for the SITPME union, according to the head of the union they wanted to join.
The United States Trade Representative said the Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement, which is co-chaired by Tai and Walsh, reviewed the AFL-CIO’s RRM petition and determined that there was sufficient evidence that workers’ rights had been denied.
It said Mexico has 10 days to agree to conduct a review and, if it agrees, 45 days from Wednesday to remediate the situation.
“Enforcing the higher labor standards in the USMCA is a core pillar of the Biden-Harris administration’s worker-centered trade policy,” Tai said.
“The rapid response mechanism was created to quickly address labor disputes, and this announcement demonstrates our commitment to using the tools in the agreement to stand up for workers at home and abroad.”
Walsh said that “workers’ ability to exercise their fundamental human rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining without retaliation is essential to building independent unions in Mexico.”
Using the labor enforcement mechanisms in the USMCA is “a critical step in assuring that U.S. and Mexican workers share in the benefits of trade,” he said, adding that “we look forward to continuing to work closely with the government of Mexico to resolve this matter.”
An airman prepares containers of cloud seeding solution.
The Mexican air force has been assigned a new mission: seeding clouds in an effort to combat the prolonged drought.
The drought has affected as much as 85% of Mexico’s territory since July last year, leaving large reservoirs at exceptionally low levels, straining water resources for drinking, farming, and irrigation.
As of May 31 the area affected had declined to 72% due to rainfall in many parts of the country. However, areas facing extreme or exceptional drought conditions — located in Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Colima and Michoacán —increased due to a shortage of rain.
Cloud seeding thickens clouds and increases the probability of rain by up to 15%, using an acetone solution and silver iodide, which is commonly used as an antiseptic or in photography.
The chemical, prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture, is transported by plane to clouds at 5,000 meters high.
Air force pilot Guadalupe Rojas explained the method.
“When we arrive at the area, we do a preliminary reconnaissance before starting the seeding. The type of clouds is analyzed, and once safety is guaranteed, we take an entry point and enter below the cloud. We search for any ascending currents and spread the chemical,” he said.
The process was tested last March in the San Quintín Valley, Baja California, and later in Nuevo León and Coahuila to help battle fires resulting from the drought.
Air force meteorology expert Francisco Ramírez said the operation is weather dependent. “We always need adequate weather conditions. In the case of Nuevo León there was a fire, but a cold spell helped and … [the cloud seeding] worked,” he said.
He added that the operation will continue in Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Sonora, where the drought remains prevalent.
United States Vice President Kamala Harris and President López Obrador meet at the National Palace.
President López Obrador has been criticized on social media after he bestowed a new title on United States Vice President Kamala Harris and appeared to mispronounce her name.
AMLO, as the president is best known, welcomed Harris to the National Palace in Mexico City on Tuesday for a bilateral meeting on issues including migration, security and trade.
When Harris arrived at the seat of executive power, López Obrador welcomed her as “president” rather than “vice president.” In addition, he addressed the 49th vice president of the United States as the masculine presidente rather than the feminine presidenta, according to some social media users and media reports.
López Obrador has also received flak for mispronouncing the vice president’s first name, Kamala, as “Kabala.” Whether he actually replaced the “m” in Kamala with a “b” is unclear and questionable, but that didn’t stop Mexican media from having a field day with the apparent mispronunciation.
“Welcome, ‘Presidente Kabala’” said a headline in the El Universal newspaper. “¿Presidente Kabala? AMLO changes the position and name of Kamala Harris,” derided El Financiero.
Visita oficial de la vicepresidenta de Estados Unidos, Kamala Harris, desde Palacio Nacional
Whether AMLO actually calls Harris presidente is also debatable. Take a listen, make your own mind up and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below (available to subscribers).
But the president’s alleged list of faux pas didn’t end there. He was also chastised for not wearing a face mask.
“KABALA, nice to meet you. AMLO without a face mask #languagewithoutwords,” one Twitter user wrote.
“The first two words that López Obrador said to the vice president were errors,” another Twitter user said. “1) She’s not a presidente. 2) Her name isn’t Kabala.”
According to a column in the newspaper Reforma, the president made no fewer than six protocol errors when welcoming Harris to the National Palace. He got Harris’ title wrong; he used the incorrect masculine term presidente; he didn’t formally welcome her to Mexico, saying only mucho gusto (nice to meet you); he got her name wrong; he failed to address her by her first name and surname and he wasn’t wearing a face mask although she was.
AMLO acknowledged on Wednesday that he misspoke by calling Harris “president” but didn’t admit any other errors.
“It was a very good meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris. It was so good that I called her ‘president,’ I got it wrong, … I’m not infallible,” he said.
Woman make gorditas in Bernal's historic center. All photos by Joseph Sorrentino
Bernal, a small pueblo in Querétaro, has a lot going for it. It’s designated as a Pueblo Mágico, or Magical Town, and it’s easy to see why when you walk down its cobblestone streets lined with colorfully painted buildings and past shops and carts featuring local foods and crafts.
Bernal features a museum with 300 masks from all over Mexico and the Museo de Dulces (Sweets Museum), which highlights the locally made cajeta (caramel). Looming over it all is Peña de Bernal, the huge monolith.
It’s an easy 40-minute ride from the capital city of Querétaro and is located along the wine and cheese route.
Bernal’s a very walkable pueblo, and there are lots of places to stop for food, drinks or shopping. It wasn’t overly crowded on the Friday in May that I was there, but I’m told it does get packed on most weekends.
Unfortunately, the Museo de la Mascara, the mask museum, was still closed in May, and the Museo de Dulces didn’t open until 1 p.m., and I had to leave Bernal before then. But the first-floor store was open and selling all sorts of locally-made cajeta treats.
Bernal’s historic center is full of tourist oriented stores and vendors.
“Don Julio Rodríguez Velázquez started making cajeta and traditional sweets in 1961,” said Maricela Luna, who was running the store’s counter. “We have the only factory making cajeta in the pueblo.”
She said the most popular treats are the natillas, little squares of cajeta with toppings like sesame, nuts or amaranth. “Our products are artisanal,” she added.
There are too many other sweets to name. If you visit, just know that it can be difficult to show any type of restraint; I wasn’t able to.
There’s been some confusion as to the correct height of Peña de Bernal, the monolith. Some reports list it as 288 meters (945 feet) while others claim it’s 360 meters (1,181 feet). Either of these would make it the third tallest monolith in the world, behind the Rock of Gibraltar and Brazil’s Sugarloaf Mountain.
But according to an article in the journal Geosphere, more accurate measurements found that at its highest point, Peña de Bernal is 433 meters (1,421 feet) tall, making it the tallest monolith in the world. I’m sure there will continue to be debate but there’s one thing that’s certain: that thing is big.
There’s a trail leading up on one side of the rock and, although not dangerous, it isn’t for the faint of heart, either. There are some fairly steep — but thankfully short — climbs along its length, and footing is dicey in some spots.
One hiking website said it’s a Class II trail, one that requires walking over loose stones or sometimes needing to use your hands for balance in spots, something I found to be true. Further on, it turns into a Class III trail, requiring a lot more skill and even further, Class IV, which requires a guide and special hiking gear.
Tiffany Pence, my hiking partner, suggested we stop before reaching the more challenging sections, and believing that discretion is the better part of valor, I agreed.
On the way down, we passed Peter Rochac, a 23-year-old Texan, and a couple of other people who were climbing up the sheer face of the monolith that, to me, looked like the Dawn Wall at Yosemite.
“This is a moderate climb,” said Rochac, smiling when I must have looked incredulous. “It’s called sport climbing.” He pointed to a small ledge above us. “The anchors are pre-set, and it won’t take more than five minutes to get to that.”
There’s also a more difficult section he planned on tackling with Alfredo Pérez, his guide from Aventuras Denali. Pérez handed me his business card, and printed on it was the question, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”
The card advertised rappelling, bungee-jumping and some other rather extreme sports I’m thankfully too old to try for the first time. But I’ve kept his card in case I get that promised second childhood.
The monolith Peña de Bernal towers over a vineyard.
Tiffany told me that it’s a tradition to drink a michelada, beer mixed with — at least — lime and hot sauce (the recipe varies widely) and served in a glass whose rim is dipped in salt. It was early in the day, so we skipped that, but we did feast on another local tradition: blue corn gorditas at El Negrito Gorditas y Micheladas.
Gorditas are made from masa (corn meal) and are large, thick, round and stuffed with any number of tasty foods. I’m planning on a return trip to Bernal and will hike Peña de Bernal later in the day just so I can have a michelada and two gorditas.
Querétaro is considered to be the Americas’ first winemaking region, with the first vines planted by the Spanish in 1531. Bernal’s located at the upper edge of the region, and it’s definitely worth taking the time to visit some of the nearby vineyards and artisanal cheese makers, several of which are located just south of the pueblo.
And no trip to Bernal is complete without sampling some famed Nun Farts.
There were signs in front of a number of stores in the pueblo advertising the Pedos de Monja. I’d never heard of them before and didn’t even know what the phrase meant, so I asked Tiffany what they were. She explained that they are a candy famous throughout Querétaro. My curiosity piqued, we entered Mercadito Las Bugambilias.
“Pedos de Monja is originally an Italian recipe,” explained Mauricio Ramos, the store’s owner. “In Italy, it is a small cookie, and it is called Petto di monca, which means ‘Nun’s Chest.’”
Apparently, an Italian chef in Barcelona came up with the recipe and name sometime in the 19th century. I couldn’t find any information about why he decided to call them “Nun’s Chest.”
“The Spanish, they could not pronounce the Italian word petto, so they changed it to pedo,” Ramos said. “In Querétaro, we have our own recipe.”
The ones I ate in Bernal were delicious chocolate candies filled with almond paste. The slogan on the package was, “Más vale adentro que afuera” — better in than out. I agree.
