The December-January marathon is blamed for increased traffic accidents.
Statistics show that highway deaths increase 25% during the 26-day series of holiday celebrations known as the Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon.
According to the national statistics institute Inegi, 377 people died in traffic accidents from December 12, 2018 to January 6, 2019, yielding a daily average of 14.5 highway deaths, while the average during the rest of the year is 11.5.
Of those 377 deaths 179 were drivers, 90 were passengers, 98 were pedestrians and 14 were cyclists, while details of the other eight victims’ deaths were unspecified.
The last three Guadalupe-Reyes Marathons have left 1,028 people dead and 19,902 injured from automobile accidents.
The deadliest day of the marathon is the day it begins, when the Virgin of Guadalupe is celebrated. There were 37 highway deaths on December 12 this year, 30 on the same day in 2018, and 27 in 2017.
While not a part of Mexican religious or folkloric tradition, it is common for people to try to fit in as much partying as possible during the holiday season, which also includes nine days of posadas parties, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, New Year’s and Three Kings Day on January 6.
While increased alcohol consumption is seen as the most likely culprit behind the rise in accidents, the Inegi statistics show that only 8.5% of people who died in the previous marathon were confirmed to have consumed alcohol, while 37% did not have alcohol on their breath.
This leaves a field of 55% of victims about whom it is not known if they had been drinking.
The Association of Mexican Insurance Companies (AMIS) says that during December automobile accidents increase 20% over the yearly average, but in the last days of the month they increase 40%, and that alcohol is involved in four of every 10 accidents.
Since 2003 Mexico City has implemented a program to combat drunk driving, which has reduced the number of fatal accidents by 30%, according to the city.
In 2013 the Pan American Health Organization suggested that the program be implemented elsewhere in the country, and it is now in effect in several other states.
Although alcohol is historically the primary cause of traffic accidents, the use of mobile devices while driving has recently become the third leading cause after speeding and drunk driving.
AMIS said that 15-20% of accidents are now caused by distracted driving due to mobile device use.
It is estimated that the federal and state governments spend over 150 billion pesos (US $7.9 billion) each year on expenses generated by automobile accidents, such as hospitalization, towing, impounding, administration, expert reports and court costs.
Two Tabasco residents denounced corruption in the federal government’s tree-planting employment program a day after authorities revealed that it had been scammed by thousands of people.
José Manuel Cruz López, a 56-year-old from the municipality of Macuspana, told the newspaper Reforma at an event attended by President López Obrador in Jalapa, Tabasco, on Saturday that one farming family is fraudulently using the names of its employees to collect 5,000-peso (US $265) monthly payments from the Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life) program.
Teresa Méndez López, an ex-worker of the agroforestry program, also claimed that there are people “abusing” the Sembrando Vida scheme.
When López Obrador arrived at the Jalapa event, she personally handed him a folder on which the words “Super urgent. Corruption. Forgery of signatures” were written in large letters, Reforma said.
The number of hectares planted with trees is also well under the target of the reforestation program. López Obrador said that 150,000 hectares of trees had been planted this year, a figure that only represents just over a quarter of the target of 570,000 hectares.
In that context, the president and Welfare Secretary María Luisa Albores urged the teams tasked with providing the saplings for the program to increase production.
“It’s the largest reforestation program in the history of our country, it’s the largest reforestation program in the world, we need one billion saplings between 2019 and 2020,” Albores said at an event in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, on Saturday.
“It’s a great challenge, a great challenge for everyone and so we have to start this work. We have things to do, things to work out, the [tree] planters are ahead of us. While we in the government are trying to move quickly, they’re going faster . . .” she said.
For his part, López Obrador called for the officials in charge of the program to manage it effectively in order to avoid criticism from government adversaries.
“We’re going to be very vigilant so that this program is successful. As always our adversaries, the conservatives, are betting that this program will fail . . . That’s the way conservatives are, they want things to stay the same as they have always been but we want changes,” he said.
“Don’t give them the opportunity [to complain],” López Obrador told more than 900 Sembrando workers and officials from nine states – Veracruz, Puebla, Durango, Colima, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Nayarit and Tamaulipas – where the program will start next year.
He highlighted that the tree-planting program is aiming to create 200,000 jobs with an investment of just 13 billion pesos (US $686.3 million), asserting that even if all Ford factories in the United States moved to Mexico, not as many jobs would be created.
“That doesn’t mean that we’re rejecting those from Ford coming, now with the [new North American free trade] agreement, they’re going to come, but we don’t want to bet only on that, we want to rescue the countryside.”
A polling booth during Sunday's vote on the train project.
A vote on the Maya Train in the areas through which it will run passed overwhelmingly with over 92% of citizens voting in favor of the project on Sunday.
It was held in five southeastern states where 92.3% voted in favor of the megaproject and 7.4% against. The first tenders will be announced in January and work will begin in March or April, said the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur), which is in charge of the 120-billion-peso (US $6.3-billion) project.
“We will begin the first tenders in the first week of January, in the areas where there are already tracks, and by the end of March or the beginning of April we’ll begin working on the project,” said Fonatur director Rogelio Jiménez Pons.
The rate of participation among the 1,078 indigenous communities invited to vote was 70%, according to Adelfo Regino Montes, head of the National Institute of Indigenous Communities (INPI).
In a press conference Regino said that INPI carried out 30 consultative assemblies with indigenous communities near the proposed route of the train in November and December.
The assemblies consulted 1,400 Maya, Ch’ol, Tzotzil and Tzeltal communities, providing information on the project in their native languages and seeking the opinions of thousands of indigenous authorities.
“There was a general consensus for the implementation of the Maya Train development project,” said Regino, adding that several committees were established in order to ensure compliance with the agreements made in the assemblies.
In his morning conference on Monday, President López Obrador said the results of the consultations will be published in detail on the internet and on social media.
Holiday season is baking season: time for some pecan pie.
The holiday season is upon us and I find myself in the mood for baking. The trick is to make things that are easy to give as gifts, so I don’t end up eating the whole batch of whatever it is myself.
That said, when living in Mexico there are some limitations on available ingredients – or the quality of ingredients. The flour is irritating (it’s like powder!), most brands of baking powder and baking soda have a strong bitter/salty aftertaste and much of what’s labeled “butter” is really what we’d call margarine. Nevertheless, a cheerful holiday spirit can prevail!
Another challenge is walnuts. In Mazatlán, where I live, they’re basically impossible to find. Once in a while a bag might appear at Sam’s Club, Costco or Walmart, but pecans are much more common and affordable. I’ve learned to save my walnut cravings for visits north, although friends in Guanajuato have told me walnuts are grown locally there.
And after all, Chiles en Nogada, the traditional Mexican Independence Day dish, features nogada, a rather scrumptious cream sauce made with walnuts. One surmises then that at the very least walnuts must be grown in the state of Puebla, where the dish is said to have originated.
Back to pecans. Turns out Mexico produces about half of the world’s total crop (who knew?!) and they’re harvested in October/November – coincidentally just in time for holiday baking. I didn’t realize how many of my favorite cookie and cake recipes have walnuts in them, but it’s no problem to just substitute pecans, which taste almost – but not quite – the same.
These Wedding Cookies can also be made with a chocolate version.
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Everyone loves these cookies, and it’s easy to make lots and give them as gifts. Don’t use margarine – the rich taste of real creamery butter is a must!
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
About 2 cups confectioner’s sugar (azucar glas in Spanish)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-¼ cups flour
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine butter and ½ cup confectioner’s sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat till smooth and creamy. Add vanilla, mix well, then add the flour and salt. Stir until completely mixed. Stir in the walnuts.
Using your hands, roll bits of dough into bite-size balls, about 1-inch in diameter. Place about an inch apart on cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are light brown and tops and sides are pale yellow. Remove from oven, and taking about 6 cookies at a time, roll them gently in the remaining confectioner’s sugar. Set aside on rack to cool completely, and then roll them again in the sugar. Makes about 48 cookies.
Chocolate version: Reduce flour to 2 cups and add ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted if possible or whisked well into the flour before being added to the butter-sugar mixture.
Sometimes it’s easier to find pecans than walnuts, but they can be used as a substitute.
Potato Chip Pecan Cookies
These are unbelievably delicious – they taste like salted caramel cookies. No one will guess the “secret ingredient.”
2-¼ cups flour
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
¾ cup regular sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
4 cups crushed potato chips, regular style – not Ruffles or thick-cut (2 big bags, about 10 oz.) divided
1 cup pecans, toasted & coarsely chopped
Heat oven to 375 F. Beat butter and sugars together on high speed till fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until combined. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Beat on low till mixed well. With a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in potato chips and nuts. Dough will be soft! Roll into 1-1/2 to 2-inch balls, then roll in remaining potato chips to coat. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. (Do not flatten.) Bake 18-20 minutes until golden. Yield: About 24 big cookies.
Grandma Ozeta’s Pecan Pie
This recipe is from a friend’s grandmother in North Carolina, who used pecans from her own trees. Try to find real corn syrup without added sugar or flavoring, which is common in Mexico. Feel free to use a store-bought pie shell.
1 cup corn syrup
½ cup light brown sugar
½ cup butter
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1-½ cups pecan pieces
9-inch baked pie shell
Preheat oven to 325 F. Combine sugar, syrup and butter and bring to a boil; cool 5 minutes. Slowly pour over beaten eggs, add vanilla and nuts, and mix gently but well. Pour in pie shell and bake for about 45 minutes.
Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Easy to make and classically delicious, this cake will be loved by everyone. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or with afternoon coffee.
Topping:
1 cup pecans, chopped
¼ cup melted butter
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
Cake:
½ cup butter or shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9-inch square pan. Mix all topping ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
In large bowl cream shortening and sugars till fluffy; add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Add vanilla. Combine dry ingredients separately and then add alternately in three parts with sour cream or yogurt. Beat until smooth after each addition. Put half the batter in prepared pan; top with half the topping mixture. Repeat with remaining batter and topping. Bake 45-50 minutes till knife inserted in center comes out clean. Note: Recipe can be doubled and made in a 9×13-inch pan. Just be sure center is cooked through.
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.
You'll find plenty of piñatas at this weekend's fair.
Mexico immediately comes to mind when a piñata appears, but how did the tradition begin?
The origin of the Mexican piñata can be traced to an old colonial monastery in Acolman, state of México, which is found today on the northern fringes of the Mexico City metropolitan area. It is a syncretism of two traditions whose association with Christmas came about with the Spanish evangelicalism in the early colonial period.
On the winter solstice, there was an indigenous tradition of breaking an old pot decorated with feathers to honor the birthday of the god Huitzilpochtli. The Spanish had something similar, which originally came from China and was associated with Lent.
The monks at the Acolman monastery redesigned the pot, keeping it and the treats inside but adding seven cones or points, which represented the seven deadly sins. The breaking of the pot was interpreted as overcoming sin and the treats inside as the eternal reward.
There are still piñatas made with clay pots, but these are rare. They are now far more commonly made with paper maché techniques, both for economical and safety reasons.
Piñatas are made all over Mexico, but they remain an important part of the identity of Acolman with some of the best and most experienced piñata makers located here. One of these is the Ortíz Zacarías family, who in 2003 created what was then the world’s largest piñata for the city of Toluca. It measured 12 meters high and almost five meters wide and was decorated by 4,500 schoolchildren from all over the state of México. It has since been surpassed by makers in Toluca, who created one that was 22 meters tall.
To honor this history and to promote Acolman’s role in the making of piñatas, the municipality founded the Feria de la Piñata in 1986. This year’s edition is set for December 19 to 22 and will feature the sale of piñatas by 50 Acolman makers, as well as workshops to show visitors how to make their own.
It also has a number of cultural events, with artists invited from Aguascalientes, Mexico City and even Chile. Each day has a featured popular musical act and there are midway rides, horse racing and the crowning of a piñata queen. Local food specialities will also be available. Recommended are barbacoa, pulque and tlacoyos.
The new North American free trade agreement has hit a snag just days after a revised version of the trilateral pact was signed in Mexico City.
The federal government has objected to legislation sent to the United States Congress that says that up to five U.S. labor attachés will monitor labor conditions in Mexico to ensure their compliance with the terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
Mexico’s chief USMCA negotiator told a press conference Saturday that the attaché provision was not part of the modified trade deal signed by Mexican, Canadian and U.S. officials last Tuesday and ratified by the Mexican Senate two days later.
“This arrangement, the result of political decisions by the Congress and administration in the United States, was not discussed . . with Mexico and of course, we’re not in agreement,” Jesús Seade said.
“It’s important to emphasize that this proposal . . . is not part of the treaty agreed by the three countries. It’s not the result of the trilateral negotiation . . .”
He stressed that Mexico will never accept foreign labor inspectors “for a simple reason: Mexican law doesn’t allow them.”
Seade told reporters that he had sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to express “Mexico’s surprise and concern” about the changes.
“. . . While Mexico respects the United States legislative process . . . we would hope that [the bill’s] content reflects . . . the commitments that were agreed to without additional considerations or mechanisms,” the letter said.
The U.S. legislation also proposes that three inspectors will be sent to Mexico to ensure environmental compliance with the USMCA. Mexico said it wasn’t consulted about that provision either.
Seade flew to Washington D.C. on Sunday to hold urgent talks with Lighthizer and other U.S. officials with a view to resolving the two countries’ differences. But there was no further information forthcoming after he met Monday morning with Lighthizer. A press conference was scheduled to take place at 2:00pm CT.
Some Mexican business leaders also condemned the United States’ plan to send labor inspectors to the country.
Last week’s signing of the new agreement, which turns out be somewhat different than thought.
“For no reason can we accept them [U.S. attachés] coming to carry out an inspection,” said Francisco Cervantes, president of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers.
The operation of United States inspectors in Mexico is “unacceptable and violates sovereignty,” said Enoch Castellanos, president of the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation. The government “must demand” that the U.S. comply with the terms of the agreement that was reached, he said.
The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said in a communique that Mexico could reject any U.S. diplomats posted to carry out inspections because the accreditation of labor attachés can only proceed with the consent of the host country.
Earlier this month, Mexico rejected the U.S. proposal to allow foreign officials to carry out labor inspections, arguing that it would violate the country’s sovereignty.
Instead, negotiators agreed to the establishment of three-member panels to resolve disputes. In disputes between Mexico and the United States, the panels would include one Mexican and one U.S. expert along with a third from a neutral country.
Mexican officials said that agreement meant that inspections of Mexican workplaces by the United States were no longer a possibility.
However, according to the legislation sent to the U.S. Congress, labor inspections will go ahead, focusing on eight sectors: automotive and auto parts, aerospace, baking, electronics, call centers, mining, steel and aluminum.
Inspectors would monitor compliance with USMCA terms that are reflected by new Mexican labor laws that guarantee the rights of workers to freely elect their union leaders and participate in the negotiation of collective contracts.
According to a report in the newspaper El Universal, a telephone hotline monitored by the United States Department of Labor will also be established with which workers can make complaints if they are not afforded those rights.
Speaking at his morning press conference on Monday, President López Obrador said the United States had acted “in a clandestine manner” by sending legislation to Congress that doesn’t match the deal reached last week.
However, he said it wouldn’t affect the overall implementation of the trade deal, which will replace the almost 26-year-old NAFTA.
“. . . This issue is already being addressed with the same method that we’ve used in our relations with the United States: the method of dialogue,” López Obrador said.
The emergence of the sticking point came a day after the president touted his personal relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump as a key factor in the inking of the revised USMCA deal.
“Everyone was betting that because I’m from this land [Tabasco], because I’m from the tropics, that I was going to fight with Donald Trump. He even said to me: ‘they were betting that we were going to fight but I don’t want to fight with you,’ he told me. Well I don’t want to either,” López Obrador said at a rally in Teapa, Tabasco.
The president said there has been “mutual respect” and understanding between him and Trump and that has resulted in the absence of conflict between them.
But that respect was apparently insufficient to avoid Mexico being deceived by its largest trading partner. Government critics have claimed that Seade was careless or naive in the negotiations with the United States.
“It was a serious error for Seade to have gone alone to the final negotiations on USMCA,” José Antonio Crespo, a political scientist at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, wrote on Twitter.
“If he had been advised by Mexican personnel, he wouldn’t have been tricked, or be pretending that he’d been tricked.”
Although airplanes, jewelry, houses and more were up for bidding, the real stars of the federal government’s “mother of all auctions” on the weekend were seven luxury vehicles that caused a sensation among bidders.
The vehicles had been seized from Héctor “H-1” Ortiz Solares, the leader of a group of hackers, when he was arrested in Guanajuato in May.
The sixth in a series of narco-auctions to sell confiscated goods to fund public works projects, this weekend’s “mega-auction” was expected to bring in 150 million pesos (US $7.9 million), but in the end it earned just 51.6 million pesos (US $2.7 million).
The sales bring the total of funds collected by the auctions to 281.6 million pesos, according to Ricardo Rodríguez Vargas, director of the System of Administrative Allocation of Assets (SAE).
The first car sold on Sunday was a 2018 McLaren 720S coupe, which went for 4.27 million pesos, while the same bidder picked up a 2019 McLaren 600 LT convertible for 3.67 million pesos.
This Ferrari Spider sold for 4.9 million pesos.
The third car on the block was a 2018 Ferrari 488 Spider convertible with an opening price of 2.98 million pesos. But the winning bidder kicked things off with an initial bid of 4 million pesos and after a heated back and forth with the buyer of the first two cars, took it for 4.9 million.
Next up was a 2019 Lamborghini Huracán coupe, which fetched the highest price of all the vehicles. It was sold for 5.6 million pesos to the bidder who bought the two McLarens.
The remaining cars were a 2019 Aston Martin Vintage AM6, which was sold for 3.24 million pesos; a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette, the least expensive of the vehicles, which sold for 1.62 million pesos; and a 2019 Lamborghini 636 Urus, which went for 5.375 million pesos.
Other objects sold included an 18-karat Piaget white gold watch that failed to sell at the July auction when it had an opening price of 2,953,700 pesos. On Sunday, it sold for the lowered opening price of 1,476,900 pesos.
The nine airplanes up for bidding on Saturday did not sell, but Rodríguez said that some state governments are interested in purchasing them.
Two Oaxaca artisans who work in radishes: Laura and her mother Francisca.
In Oaxaca city, add giant, gnarled radishes to the list of must-haves for the Christmas season.
Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) on December 23 combines farming and hand carving to create one of the most important events in the capital city.
The event dates back to 1897 when the city organized the first competition. Previously, there had been a tradition of carving overgrown, inedible radishes into curious figures at the Christmas market as a way of getting the attention of passers-by. Legend states that friars in the mid-18th century pulled up some forgotten radishes in December and took them to the market as curiosities.
The use of radishes as marketing gimmicks died out, but the popularity of the contest grew and the city supervises the growing and distribution of the radishes used. They come exclusively from a field in Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, using techniques and chemicals that prohibit their use as food. The radishes, which can grow up to 50 centimeters long, are cultivated in three plantings to have radishes of different sizes when they are harvested on December 19.
The vegetables take on capricious and sometimes wild shapes, challenging carvers to take advantage of them. The scenes are elaborate, taking up to hundreds of radishes to complete. The variety used has a red exterior and white interior and most carvers take advantage of this contrast in their work. Sometimes the leaves of the plant are used as well.
Hundreds of radishes went into creating this turkey at last year’s event.
Today, the event attracts over 100 competitors and the main square of Oaxaca fills with thousands of people filing past the booths set up for each entry. There are categories for traditional and non-traditional scenes as well for age groups. There are also categories for scenes made from dried flowers and corn husks. Most of the competitors are artisans in other fields, such as wood carving and pottery.
Artisan Serafin Muñoz says that carving the woody radishes is not easy, with the risk of a “war wound” being very real.
The event only lasts one day, with the display itself over only in a matter of hours. This is because the radishes wilt and lose shape shortly after being carved.
Mexico City’s annual holiday season tradition of ice skating in the zócalo has a new twist this year: the rink has no ice.
The ice-free skating rink was inaugurated on Saturday by Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who extolled the ecological benefits of a plastic skating surface.
“We are inaugurating a new skating rink, we call it Ecologísssima [super ecological],” she said. “Its grand quality is that you can skate on it just like ice, but it saves 800 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 307 liters of gasoline.”
Sheinbaum cut the inaugural ribbon with a representative of the Swiss company Glice, which installed the rink, before national figure skating champion Donovan Carrillo Suazo gave the “ice” a try to music by children of the Monumental Choir of Mexico.
The show also included performances by other Mexican figure skaters while the choir sang Mexican standards like Cielito Lindo and Feliz Navidad.
Young skaters on the seasonal rink.
After the performance, young people from the Institute of Youth gave the rink a try. They said it was more difficult to skate on than real ice, but it also helped prevent them from falling.
The ice-free rink will be open daily from 9:00am to 9:00pm until January 6. To reserve ice skates and time on the rink, go to the Ecologísssima website (in Spanish) or stop by one of the registration booths in the zócalo.
The beachfront property once owned by drug lord Escobar.
A house in Tulum once owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar will soon be turned into a luxury hotel.
New York real estate investment firm Thor Equities Group expects the former cocaine kingpin’s notorious reputation to appeal to the young, hip crowd that has taken over tourism in Tulum in the last decade, a phenomenon that led New York Magazine to call it the “Williamsburg of Mexico” after the young and fashionable community in Brooklyn, New York.
The firm bought the house for $17.5 million and plans to invest around $100 million developing it into a 40-room luxury hotel with a spa and upscale shops.
Previously the site of an “eco-chic” yoga retreat resort, Casa Magna is currently unoccupied. Another property once owned by the notoriously murderous drug trafficker on the same beach, Casa Malca, has been turned into an art gallery.
Tulum’s rise to fame among the jet-setting party crowd from New York may be reaching a saturation point, but Thor expects the property and its history to succeed in a luxury tourism environment where hotels can charge as much as $2,000 a night.
“Tulum is the most stylish and now destination in all of Latin America,” said Thor chairman Joe Sitt.
The company’s luxury hotel portfolio in Mexico includes the Thompson Playa del Carmen, the Montage Los Cabos and the Ritz-Carlton in Mexico City, scheduled to open in 2020.
CORRECTION: The previous version of this story identified Williamsburg, with which Tulum is compared, as a tourist destination in Virginia that probably has nothing in common with the Quintana Roo beach destination. A full reading of the New York Magazinestory reveals that Williamsburg in this case is a community in Brooklyn. Mexico News Daily regrets the error.
