Prize winner Eugenio, center, with rights commission president Piedra and López Obrador.
An indigenous activist who documented and denounced abuse committed by the military in Guerrero is this year’s winner of the National Human Rights Prize.
Obtilia Eugenio Manuel was awarded the prize at Tuesday’s presidential press conference by National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) president Rosario Piedra Ibarra.
“. . . Eugenio Manuel, member of the Mep’haa Indigenous People’s Organization, has distinguished herself by denouncing abuses committed by army personnel against indigenous people, particularly women,” Piedra said.
The human rights chief said that among the military abuses that have been documented by Eugenio are the forced sterilization, sexual assault and sexual torture of indigenous women. Piedra also said the activist has received numerous threats and noted that she was abducted for four days earlier this year.
Eugenio, a Mixteca woman from the municipality of Ayutla, said her father encouraged her to study and learn Spanish in order to be able to defend the rights of indigenous people.
She recalled that after the Zapatista Army of National Liberation uprising in Chiapas in 1994, soldiers arrived in her community and accused residents of being Zapatistas.
“They raped women; there was never justice but we started to organize ourselves. [But] soldiers raped two women from the organization again. From that time, we’ve been harassed and threatened by army people who are complicit with people from organized crime,” Eugenio said.
“We don’t want one more rapist in our way,” Eugenio said, making a reference to the Chilean feminist anthem that has been performed around the world in recent weeks.
Also at Tuesday’s press conference, Piedra recognized the human rights work of Margarito Díaz González and presented an award to his widow, Modesta Chávez de la Rosa.
A former member of the Wirikuta security council and an advocate for environmental and indigenous rights, Díaz was murdered in Nayarit last year.
Piedra recalled that the activist opposed the construction of a dam and other projects in San Luis Potosí and the development of Canadian-owned mines on sacred sites of the Huichol people.
Obesity is a greater financial burden on Mexico than petroleum theft, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned on Monday.
“We’re talking about extremely high figures, 150 billion pesos [US $7.8 billion] a year, obviously it’s more than the fuel theft problem,” said PAHO Mexico representative Cristian Morales.
The obesity problem is growing at an increasingly fast rate, he added.
Morales said that health problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes, not only affect the health of Mexicans but also the capacity to maintain economic growth and sustainable human development.
In that context, PAHO presented a report on Monday that details the consumption of unhealthy food in Mexico and six other Latin American countries and provides public policy recommendations to tackle the problem.
A healthier alternative to junk food.
According to PAHO estimates, consumption of junk food in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Venezuela has increased just over 18% in the last decade from 408 calories per person per day in 2009 to 482 calories in 2019.
The report recommends the promotion of unprocessed foods such as fruit, meat and eggs and beverages such as milk. In turn, governments of the seven countries should aim to limit consumption of processed foods through regulatory measures, PAHO said.
In Mexico, the consumption of traditional foods such as tacos, quesadillas and gorditas is not the main cause of the nation’s overweight and obesity problem, said PAHO chronic disease adviser Miguel Malo Serrano.
“How long have Mexicans eaten those things? . . . How long have there been traditional food stands in the street? The overweight and obesity problem took off as an epidemic when ultra-processed foods were incorporated into diets,” he said.
“This started 30 years ago and regrettably we see that Mexico . . . is now the leading country in the world for the consumption of sugary drinks with almost 500 milliliters per capita per day,” Malo said.
He praised the modifications to the General Health Law that stipulate that the labels on food and drinks must warn consumers if they contain high levels of calories, sugar, salt or saturated fat.
“At PAHO, we believe that labeling is fundamental [to reducing obesity] . . .” Malo said.
Obesity is a nationwide problem but higher numbers of people suffer from the condition in rural areas and small cities, according to a study presented last week.
The National Health and Nutrition Survey for towns with fewer than 100,000 residents found that 75.2% of Mexicans in such towns were either overweight or obese in 2018, a 4% increase compared to 2012.
Poinsettia is one of the native plants whose cultivation will be encouraged.
The government has announced a new national project to encourage the cultivation and use of as many as 60 plants native to Mexico.
The native plants for food and agriculture program will aim to recover the value of native Mexican plant species that now form part of the foundation of diets all over the world, according to the Secretariat of Agriculture (Sader)
The project will begin with initiatives to make better use of the poinsettia plant so that people use it for more than just decoration, as it also has “properties for human consumption” and is a medicinal plant, said the department in a press release.
(Boiling up a bunch of leaves for dinner is not recommended. The plant is not toxic as was long thought, but it is not intended for human consumption, according to several sources on line).
Agriculture Secretary Víctor Villalobos Arámbula said the project will also encourage the cultivation and use of other plants such as chia, amaranth, cacao, chiles and vanilla.
“It is important to be aware of what our country contributes to the world because that makes us unique as a society. It make us experts of our resources and, above all, makes us feel proud to be the legitimate proprietors of this legacy,” he said.
Sader will coordinate with the National Forestry, Agriculture and Livestock Research Institute (INIFAP) and the National Seed Inspection and Certification Service (SNICS) to promote, recover and improve native species.
SNICS general director Leobigildo Córdova Téllez said Mexico is home to 10% of the world’s plant biodiversity with 2,500 species, many of which are used for food production and agriculture.
He added that Mexico has great potential for the production of ornamental plants such as bromeliads, cactuses, marigolds, dahlias, echeverias and poinsettias, among others.
Cancún is Mexico's busiest airport for foreign visitors.
The number of international tourists arriving by air increased 1.6% in the first 10 months of the year compared to the same period of 2018, according to Tourism Secretary Miguel Torruco Marqués.
He told reporters that 15.52 million foreign visitors entered the country via the nation’s airports between January and October. Of that number, 55.5% came from the United States, 11.4% from Canada, 3.2% from the United Kingdom, 3.1% from Colombia and 2.2% from Argentina, he said.
Tourists from the five nations represent just over three-quarters of all visitors who arrived in Mexico by air this year. Their numbers increased 0.3% compared to the first 10 months of 2018.
Torruco said that air arrivals from Peru recorded the biggest growth between January and October, increasing by 14.7%. France, Colombia and Canada followed, with air arrivals up by 9.1%, 7.3% and 7% respectively.
Cancún was the busiest airport for foreign arrivals, receiving 41.7% of all international visitors, followed by Mexico City with 26.6%; Los Cabos with 9.3%; Puerto Vallarta with 7.7%; and Guadalajara with 5.8%. More than 90% of foreign visitors flew into those five airports.
October was a particularly good month for international tourist numbers although individual visitors spent less on average while in the country than a year earlier. More than 1.63 million foreign visitors came to Mexico by air or land, a 4.4% increase compared to October 2018 and 27.3% more than in September this year.
Of that number, 83% of tourists arrived by air and 17% crossed into the country via Mexico’s borders with the United States, Guatemala and Belize, according to data from the national statistics agency, Inegi.
The tourists collectively spent US $1.33 billion while in the country, or an average of $816.90 each. The latter figure represents a 4.3% decline compared to October 2018 when tourists spent US $853 each on average. However, as a result of the higher visitor numbers, overall expenditure was equal to that of a year earlier.
The number of people who crossed into Mexico for reasons other than tourism, such as to access medical and dental services in northern border cities, also increased in October. Just over 1.99 million “border tourists” came to Mexico, a 30.8% increase compared to October last year.
They spent US $113 million while in the country, a 24.6% increase over expenditure in October 2018.
The federal government says seven luxury cars are among the goods that will be sold this weekend at the next narco-auction.
They are among 644 lots on the block at the “mega-auction” at the Los Pinos Cultural Center, in Chapultepec Park, on Saturday and Sunday.
“Seven luxury vehicles stand out: two McLarens, two Lamborghinis, an Aston Martin, a Ferrari and a Corvette,” said Ricardo Rodríguez Vargas, director of the Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People.
One of the McLarens has been valued at 3.6 million pesos (US $187,000). The vehicles are expected to sell for prices ranging from 560,000 to 3.5 million pesos, and their total value is estimated at 20 million pesos.
“There are 644 lots. Right now we’re presenting twice what we usually do . . . so we’re doing the auction in two days,” he said, adding that it will be “the mother of all auctions.”
This 2018 McLaren 720S is valued at 3.61 million pesos.
There will also be nine airplanes for sale, of which a Learjet 36A stands out with a value of 19 million pesos (US $987,500).
“This airplane can be used for flights of 10 or 11 hours, air ambulance flights, as an air taxi or for business trips,” said Rodríguez.
Rodríguez said the event will also auction off jewelry and houses that were presented but not sold at previous auctions. They will now be sold at a discount.
“The institute has had a very good reception from the public. We’ve done well selling the vehicles, the jewels as well. The real estate has been more difficult to sell, but we’re selling it.”
He said that houses in Sinaloa that are up for auction will be sold at a discount, while the bidding for those in Santa Fe, Mexico City, will start at 14 million pesos (US $727,000).
President López Obrador reminded the public that the funds collected will be used for public works projects, like highway work in Durango and Guanajuato and paving roads in mountainous regions.
García Luna served as federal security minister during the Calderón administration, a position that allowed him to become an incredibly powerful ally to drug traffickers. (File photo)
Former president Felipe Calderón’s public security secretary was arrested in the United States on Monday on charges that he allowed the Sinaloa Cartel to operate in exchange for multimillion-dollar bribes.
Genaro García Luna, who was in charge of the Federal Police between 2006 and 2012 and a key figure in the implementation of the war on drugs launched by Calderón, was detained in Dallas, Texas, United States prosecutors said in a Brooklyn court on Tuesday.
“García Luna stands accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes from ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel while he controlled Mexico’s Federal Police force and was responsible for ensuring public safety in Mexico,” said attorney Richard P. Donoghue.
The “arrest demonstrates our resolve to bring to justice those who help cartels inflict devastating harm on the United States and Mexico, regardless of the positions they held while committing their crimes.”
An indictment unsealed on Tuesday said that García Luna “received millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel in exchange for providing protection for its drug trafficking activities.”
The ex-official, who prior to serving as public security secretary headed up the now-defunct Federal Investigation Agency, allegedly provided the cartel with security that allowed it to freely move drugs to the northern border and supplied confidential information about government investigations and other criminal organizations.
Sinaloa Cartel bagmen personally delivered payments to the former official in briefcases that contained between US $3 million and $5 million, the indictment said.
Jesús Zambada, a former Sinaloa Cartel operations chief, first made that allegation late last year during the trial of Guzmán in New York. García Luna rejected the claim, stating it was a “lie” and amounted to “defamation.”
However, the indictment said that “financial records obtained by the [U.S.] government” showed that “by the time García Luna relocated to the United States in 2012, he had amassed a personal fortune of millions of dollars.”
United States prosecutors also said the 51-year-old Florida resident lied about his past criminal involvement with the Sinaloa Cartel when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 2018. If convicted of receiving cartel bribes, García Luna faces a prison sentence of between 10 years and life.
Calderón responded to the news of his arrest in a Twitter post.
“I’m finding out via social media [about] the presumed arrest of Genaro García Luna. I don’t know the details and I’m awaiting information that confirms the event as well as the charges he is accused of. My position will always be in favor of justice and the law.”
Jorge Zapata expresses dismay over the painting of his grandfather.
Descendants of Emiliano Zapata announced they will sue the painter of a nude and feminized portrayal of the revolutionary general, as well as the Secretariat of Culture and the Palace of Fine Arts for using the painting in a promotion for an upcoming exhibition.
Zapata’s grandson, Jorge Zapata González, said the painting “denigrates the figure of the general” and is harmful to the image of Mexican heroes.
He said some people wanted to go to the Palace of Fine Arts and burn the painting, “but we are respectful of the institutions and we are going conduct ourselves in the best way, but we are not going to allow the figure of the general to be denigrated.”
Accompanied by family and descendants of other revolutionary figures at a press conference outside the state government place in Cuernavaca, Morelos Palace, Zapata said that depicting the “Strongman of the South” in a homosexual way was disrespectful to the history of Mexico.
He said that without his grandfather, the “purest and most noble icon of the Revolution,” the very government employees that posted the painting wouldn’t have the jobs they have today.
“If General Zapata or General Villa hadn’t led the Revolution, these dimwits wouldn’t be in the spots they occupy today. And they’re repaying him by denigrating his image in a place as important as the Palace of Fine Arts?” he said.
He and others behind the proposed lawsuit aim to use the legal recourse to settle the dispute in a way that does not break friendly ties with the government of President López Obrador.
“We’re investigating what’s behind this and in the lawsuit we’re going to do everything necessary to avoid problems,” he said.
Zapata added that although there may be thousands of paintings that depict the general in various forms, such as the one by Cháirez, he believes that such a painting should not be exhibited in a place like the Palace of Fine Arts.
“People will respect General Zapata or we will make them respect him,” he said.
The death toll due to an ammonia spill near the border of Guerrero and Michoacán on the weekend has risen to nine.
The initial number was five but Michoacán Public Security Secretary Israel Patrón Reyes announced Monday that four more victims had died in hospital.
The spill occurred Friday night when a double-tractor-trailer transporting 30,000 liters of ammonia rolled over on the Siglo XXI highway near the Infernillo Dam at La Unión, Guerrero.
The victims were travelling aboard a bus that was forced to stop by the accident and became trapped in a toxic cloud of gas emitted by the tanker.
Among the dead is Eva Montiel García, a nursing student who got off the bus to treat exposed victims, many of whom survived, but she died hours later.
Also dead is a 2-year-old girl who was among several children who were exposed to the toxic chemical.
Patrón said a preliminary investigation indicated that mechanical failure was responsible for the crash.
Some of the victims reported that their insurance refused to cover the costs of treatment, but Michoacán Governor Silvano Aureoles Conejo said his administration is looking into the matter.
Aureoles added that 1,500 people in the community of Infernillo were evacuated to avoid exposure.
The Siglo XXI highway near the accident was reopened to traffic on Sunday.
Negotiators from the three trading partners at a meeting last week in Washington.
Mexican officials will meet with negotiators from the United States and Canada in Mexico City on Tuesday to work on the final changes to the new North American free trade agreement.
Economy Secretary Graciela Márquez, Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, foreign affairs undersecretary for North America Jesús Seade and Ambassador to the United States Martha Bárcena are to meet with a U.S. delegation led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and senior White House adviser Jared Kushner and a Canadian team headed by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
According to the news agency Bloomberg, the three countries have reached an agreement to make changes to the text of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in the form of an addendum, and a ratification vote could be held in the U.S. Congress as soon as next week.
President López Obrador told reporters on Tuesday morning that negotiators from the three countries will sign off on the changes today.
Mexico and the United States have engaged in recent days in intense negotiations over potential changes to clauses on labor enforcement, steel and aluminum, biologic drugs and internet services, the news agency Reuters reported.
López Obrador last week rejected a proposal that would allow the United States to carry out inspections of Mexican businesses to ensure compliance with new labor laws including legislation that guarantees free and secret ballots for the election of union leaders.
He said on Monday that U.S. officials had accepted Mexico’s proposal to establish dispute resolution panels to review labor law compliance.
Ebrard said that a U.S. proposal that stipulates that 70% of steel used in automaking must be “melted and poured” in North America could be included in the trade pact addendum but stressed that Mexico won’t accept such a rule for aluminum because Mexico lacks any production of the metal.
In the United States, Democrats in the House of Representatives have reached a preliminary deal with trade unions and the White House on a revised version of the USMCA, according to the Associated Press.
However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has the authority to bring on a lower house vote on the USMCA, said Monday that a deal to finalize the trade pact was “not quite finished yet” but “within range.”
Lawmakers from both the Democrat and Republican parties say that ratification of the pact would be more difficult next year because the presidential election campaign will be in full swing and U.S. President Donald Trump could face an impeachment hearing.
For his part, Trump told reporters Monday that he was hearing “very good things” about the USMCA and that “a lot of strides” had been made in the negotiations.
“. . . I’m hearing from unions and others that it’s looking good and I hope they put it up to a vote and if they put it up to a vote it’s going to pass, a lot of Democrats want to pass it too and we look forward to that . . . It’s replacing probably the worst trade deal ever made, which was NAFTA, and this is one of the best trade deals ever made for our country . . .” he said.
Secretary Márquez said Monday that the Mexican Senate – which approved the USMCA in June – will have the opportunity to review the addendum and will be required to pass it before the trilateral trade pact can take effect.
She predicted that the United States will ratify the new trade agreement by December 20 and that it will come into force in the first half of next year.
The USMCA, which is to replace the almost 26-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, sets out rules for trade between Mexico, the Unites States and Canada that is worth US $1.2 trillion annually.
Rina Lazo Wasem, the last living assistant to muralist Diego Rivera, has died at the age of 96.
Born in Guatemala City in 1923, Lazo won a scholarship to study art in Mexico. She could have studied anywhere, but chose “La Esmeralda,” the National School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving, specifically for the opportunity to meet and work with Rivera and Frida Kahlo. That scholarship included a plane ride to Mexico City, something special in 1946.
Little did Lazo know that she would not only have the chance to meet Rivera and Kahlo, but her life would be forever connected with theirs.
Lazo began her studies in Mexico like any other student at La Esmeralda. She stated in an interview in the summer of 2019 that she initially found it hard to break into the various social circles of Mexican students. Her very first friends turned out to be Americans studying on the GI Bill.
After taking a number of classes in different fields, she decided to focus on mural painting, in part because she did not expect to be in Mexico more than the year and a half of her scholarship.
Lazo and one of her murals.
Her first mural class was with Andrés Sánchez Flores, who had worked as an assistant to Rivera. Impressed with her dedication and discipline, he recommended her as an assistant to his maestro even though she had been there only a few months. She became part of a group that worked on Rivera’s mural Sunday Dream at the Alameda Park, painted on the wall at the then Hotel del Prado.
Her workdays there were long, waking up before dawn to take a bus from the new Polanco neighborhood to the worksite and heading home the same way as late as midnight. During the time she began not only to absorb Rivera’s painting style and techniques, but also much of his artistic theory, in particular that art needed to be for the people and have an important message for them.
Lazo quickly stood out among all the assistants and got Rivera’s attention. He called her “a painter of great talent, my right hand, and the best of my assistants.” She worked with Rivera as an assistant for the next 10 years until his death in 1957.
Before then, her life became intertwined with his socially. His acceptance of her as an artist broke just about all social barriers for her. She was a regular guest of Rivera and Kahlo, meeting Mexico City’s artistic, intellectual and political classes. She also met her husband through the famous couple.
Arturo García Bustos was one of Los Fridos, a group of four disciples of Frida Kahlo, who painted with her at the Blue House in Coyoacán, where the couple met. Later, they married and moved into what is called the La Malinche House (the home built by Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés for his indigenous interpreter, advisor and lover, La Malinche)to be near their teachers.
At that time, the house was in ruins so renovating and preserving the old mansion became a lifelong project for the couple and is now a national heritage site.
Rivera’s death did not mean the end to Lazo’s career. She continued to paint canvas works, but is best known for her murals in Mexico and Guatemala. Her work in Guatemala includes Tierra Fértil (Fertile Land) at the San Carlos University Museum.
Her best-known work in Mexico is a replica of the Bonhampak Mayan murals at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, done in 1964, along with another mural in the same museum based on the Popol Vuh. Her murals had social and political themes, while her canvas works focused on portraits, landscapes and still lifes.
Interestingly, Lazo never really considered herself a “foreigner” in Mexico. She preferred to emphasize the cultural similarities between Guatemala and Mexico, especially the Mayan heritage they both share. She had both Mexican and Guatemalan citizenship.
She received many awards for her work during her lifetime, including the Order of the Quetzal from the Guatemalan government. On December 7, 2019, the National Institute of Fine Arts organized a homage to the artist’s life at the museum housing the first mural she did with Diego Rivera so many decades before.
She was extremely generous with interviews and never seemed to tire of keeping the memory of Mexican muralism alive. Her gratitude to Rivera and Kahlo never diminished over her long life.
Despite her age, her death came as a surprise to friends, family and colleagues because she was extremely active up to the day before.
She is survived by one daughter, Rina García Lazo.
