City officials clear vendors from the street on Sunday.
Indigenous street merchants in Mexico City plan to appropriate a popular feminist chant to protest their removal from the street Sunday and the confiscation of their products.
Members of the Triqui indigenous group from Oaxaca’s La Mixteca region were removed from an area in the city’s historic center, and the goods they were selling were seized by security forces.
In response to the expulsion, the merchants blocked 20 de Noviembre avenue in protest on Monday, causing traffic chaos in the area.
Leader of the merchants guild of the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, Diana Sánchez Barrios, said that around 5,000 people would perform their own version of the feminist anthem A Rapist in Your Way in the zócalo on Monday afternoon.
“The only thing we’re asking for is social justice . . . the right to work. We’re self-employed and because of that it’s very important to have a legal framework so that they don’t keep abusing this right,” said Sánchez.
She said she hopes the performance would convince Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum to return to the dialogue table and offered a warning for what will happen if she refuses.
“On Thursday we’ll set up our booths in the zócalo, and although we know that they’re going to beat us up, we will not be moved. I want to make this clear,” she said.
Mexico City official Arturo Medina expressed regret for Sunday’s removal of the merchants and said their demands have been dealt with. He said they were offered other spaces in which to sell, but did not accept them.
“They were given the opportunity to sell at the Monument to the Revolution and in the Santo Domingo Plaza,” he said. “[But] They have not agreed to set up shop there. We have the infrastructure ready.”
“They want to be [in the zócalo], but we have other activities going on there . . .” he added.
He added that an officer accused of violence during the removal on Sunday has been suspended from his duties.
If you’re one of those people who can’t or don’t want to eat refined sugar but still want a sweetener now and then, it is likely you’ve been happy to discover stevia, a naturally sweet plant whose leaves can be ground and used to sweeten just about anything.
Pure stevia is about 200 times sweeter than sugar and gets its sweetness from natural compounds in the plant called steviol glycosides.
Is it better than “real” sugar or artificial sweeteners like Splenda? Well, it’s certainly safer and more natural, and has no calories (or nutritional value). Some people, myself included, detect a slight bitter aftertaste that’s unpalatable, but the majority of folks who use it swear by it.
Splenda, the most common low-calorie artificial sweetener, is 450-650 times sweeter than sugar. It’s created chemically in a base of sucralose — an indigestible artificial sugar — by replacing some of the atoms in sugar with chlorine. Now I have to say that all makes me shudder, but hey, to each his own.
Back to stevia. The bad news is that a flood of products claiming to be stevia have saturated the market. Sadly, stevia products available in Mexico are not above suspicion. There’s a lot of money to be made by jumping on the newest food trend bandwagon, and Mexico’s labeling laws are notoriously lax.
And food manufacturers know the average consumer is too busy to read labels: “Studies show that the color of the packet is the most important factor in sweetener selection.”
Here’s an example: the little green and white packets of “Svetia” contain only 2.5% crystallized stevia in a base of 97% other sugars. The ingredients list, in the teeniest, tiniest font on the back, says: dextrose, fructose and a complex phrase that means “crystallized” stevia. And this in a product approved by the AMND, the Mexican Association for Diabetic Nutrition!
So do your homework, folks – your health is worth the effort! Especially if you’re diabetic, read labels carefully and spend the little bit of extra money to get what you’re really looking for.
Another option is to find a local grower and make your own sweetener from fresh stevia leaves (not the stems or flowers). You can even grow your own – stevia is a pretty, leafy plant that’s easy to grow, in containers or in the ground, especially in Mexico, where it’s a perennial. And turning the leaves into a sweetener is as easy as drying and grinding them, or cooking them into a simple syrup or extract.
Bear in mind that you can’t just replace sugar with stevia in baking; whatever you’re making won’t have the same texture or browning, and you’ll need to tweak the temperature (lower) and cooking time (longer). Searching on Google will yield an abundance of adjusted recipes. This YouTube video has step-by-step instructions on harvesting and making stevia powder and liquid sweetener.
If you buy stevia powder, it will be white because of the extraction process, and about 300 times sweeter than sugar. Homemade stevia powder – from dried and ground leaves – will be a lovely green color, slightly less sweet and not as bitter as the store-bought.
Stevia is easy to grow, in containers or in the ground.
While you can just crumble the dried leaves by hand to make a fine powder, an electric coffee grinder works best. (Of course, one that’s not used for coffee!) Sweeteners made from fresh dried stevia leaves will have a dark green color and may tint whatever you use them in a little bit.
Here are some basic conversions, but you’ll have to find the amount of stevia that’s to your sweetening taste. Just remember, a little goes a long way!
Conversion chart
1 cup sugar = 2-4 tsp. stevia leaf powder or 1 tsp. stevia extract.
1 tsp. sugar = Pinch of stevia powder or 2-4 drops stevia extract.
Fresh stevia powder
Pick leaves off stevia plant, discard stems. Dry leaves for about 12 hours in the sun or use a food dehydrator. Once leaves are dry, grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder to make pure stevia powder.
Stevia extract
1 glass jar with a tight-fitting lid
Dried stevia leaves, crumbled or powdered
Vodka or rum
Using a ratio of 2 parts stevia to 3 parts liquid, place one cup of stevia in the jar and cover it with 1-1/2 cups of the alcohol. Shake the mixture well and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. Strain through muslin or a coffee filter, then simmer the mixture on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring regularly, to remove the alcohol. Be careful not to boil. Remove from heat, cool and store in a dark colored bottle for up to 6 months or indefinitely if refrigerated. —Recipe courtesy www.preparednessmama.com
Stevia syrup
½ cup dried stevia leaves, crumbled
2 cups warm water
Place stevia and water in a glass jar and let steep (unrefrigerated) for 24 hours. Strain leaves from mixture. Cook the remaining liquid on low heat, reducing to a concentrated syrup. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to six months.
Liquid stevia sweetener
¼ cup pure stevia powder (made fresh, not from packets)
1 cup warm water
Place in glass jar, shake till mixed. Let sit on counter for 24 hours. Refrigerate and use to sweeten drinks, etc.
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.
The body of a woman killed in front of a primary school last week.
The San Miguel de Allende government and Mayor Luis Alberto Villarreal “only care about protecting rich people and tourism.”
Those are the words of Isael González, director of a program that steers young people away from violence and the use of drugs.
He told the newspaper El Universal that young people from marginalized neighborhoods in the tourism-oriented colonial city are killed every week in drug-related homicides.
“There are deaths every week related to the crystal [methamphetamine] market. They’re young people from marginalized neighborhoods aged between 13 and 28,” González said.
“The government and Mayor Villarreal don’t care about young people dying, they only care about protecting rich people and tourism.”
A case in point is the murder of a man in May. A 26-year-old bartender, father and drug addict identified only as Sebastián by El Universal was shot 24 times by two men who broke into his family’s San Miguel home.
His cousin Mariana said that state police took a couple of hours to arrive at the home and that during their visit they searched Sebastián’s room.
“There were remains of marijuana, three small bags of cocaine and a jewelry bag filled with pure methamphetamine. An officer said that we were victims of the circumstances, and as there were no weapons, no more drugs or signs of trafficking, his work ended there,” she said.
Mariana said that she and Sebastián’s sister reported the murder at state police offices. The last contact the family had with police was at the end of June, she said.
“After that we didn’t hear from them again. There were no more efforts, they didn’t question any witnesses, nobody has been ordered to stand trial,” Mariana said.
The failure to arrest the killers in the case is not unique among the 76 homicides committed in San Miguel de Allende between January and November.
Mariana, the cousin of a murder victim, claims little was done to investigate the killing.
Indeed, Mayor Villarreal said in a radio interview in July that most homicide investigations “haven’t proceeded” because they were considered “settling of scores” and “the vast majority of those murdered had criminal records.”
In another interview, he said that murders in San Miguel de Allende were related to drug trafficking. However – as police noted – there was no evidence that Sebastián was a drug dealer.
The number of murders in San Miguel has tripled this year compared to 2018 but it’s not the only crime that is on the rise: the incidence of burglaries, drug trafficking, malicious injury and fraud have all increased since 2016, according to official statistics.
In addition, there were two femicides in each of 2018 and 2019 and for the first time ever, a case of extortion was reported this year, El Universal said.
Villarreal last week rejected a story by the news agency Bloomberg that drug cartels have infiltrated San Miguel but the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said in a report earlier this year that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel are engaged in a turf war in the city.
According to the FGR, the former cartel is responsible for most of the acts of extortion and the latter is the main instigator of violence. The arrest of 10 suspected members of the Santa Rosa Cartel in San Miguel in October is also incongruent with Villarreal’s claim that cartels have not moved into the city.
In addition, Mexican and foreign residents challenge the mayor’s assertion that organized crime groups are not operating.
An unidentified shopkeeper whose business is located in the historic center described this year as “extremely violent” and asserted that all crime in San Miguel is related to drug trafficking and the cartels.
He told El Universal that he and most other residents have changed their daily routines out of fear, explaining that they don’t wear any jewelry and avoid certain areas of the city at night.
“I’ve been told extortion stories,” the shopkeeper added.
“There are neighbors who have approached me to ask for advice, people who had always worked without problem find that they now have someone suddenly arriving at their establishment wanting something that they have. The authorities deny it, they say that nobody has approached them to report extortion but what happens when you report it? They kill you,” he said.
German mechanic Matthias Heyer, one of more than 10,000 foreigners who call San Miguel home, said the situation in the city is becoming increasingly “brutal.”
He told El Universal that he took the decision at the start of the year to employ armed security guards around the clock to protect his workshop on the outskirts of the city. Heyer also said that his sister was assaulted outside a cantina and that other people he knows have suffered the same fate.
He added that the sound of gunfire is becoming more common in San Miguel, his Mexican friends and employees are scared that they will be victims of crime and three or four of his foreign customers have left the city.
The 49-year-old asserted that “when someone dies, nothing happens here,” claiming also that if one person involved in the trafficking of drugs is killed, three more dealers come into San Miguel to take his place.
“[The problem] is like a hydra and I feel that the authorities are doing nothing,” Heyer said.
A local gangster and meth addict identified only by the nickname Jaguar also said that violence is on the rise in the Guanajuato city, which last month was named Mexico’s best destination by Food & Travel Mexico magazine for the second year in a row.
“. . . San Miguel and the neighborhoods are now rougher, more violent. Almost everyone [involved in crime] uses a firearm . . .Things are rougher because of drugs. There are a lot of shootings and a lot of deaths . . .”
Mexico City police vehicles: colorful but uncoordinated.
A public policy think tank charges that newly painted police vehicles in Mexico City not only cause confusion among the public but are little more than propaganda.
Despite standards set by the city, there are currently nine different color and logo combinations in the city’s various police forces.
The patrol vehicles of the Banking and Industrial Police (PBI) and Auxiliary Police in the boroughs of Benito Juárez, Cuajimalpa, Miguel Hidalgo and Álvaro Obregón are not in compliance with those standards.
City police officials claim that the decorative changes were made to bring the forces “in closer proximity” to the citizens of Mexico City.
But México Evalúa claim the changes to the vehicles actually achieve the opposite, causing confusion because it is more difficult to recognize police vehicles if there are nine different versions of them.
Oaxaca city police vehicles were painted Morena maroon earlier this year.
“Really, in terms of security, I can’t imagine any argument that supports the claim that this generates better patrols or proximity to the public,” said México Evalúa executive director David Ramírez de Garay.
“What we’ve heard from citizens is that the patrol cars look ecological, that they don’t generate trust among citizens, but rather the opposite.”
He added that the color schemes reveal a “terrible application of public resources because of the cost of painting them that way.”
Ramírez went so far as to say that the color changes have a different objective from what the boroughs claim. “. . . the color schemes of the police vehicles more closely follow propaganda than attending to security.”
However, it appears that none of the colors chosen have the political flavor of some jurisdictions. In Oaxaca, either by design or by coincidence, some patrol cars were painted last summer in the distinctive maroon tone used by the Morena party. The mayor said at the time they would be repainted.
Aragón, third-place winner at Miss Universe competition.
Miss Mexico came in third in the Miss Universe competition in Atlanta, Georgia, on Sunday after the crown was taken by Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa, who won out over 90 competitors from around the world.
Sofía Aragón, 25, of Jalisco and winner of the Miss Mexico 2019 competition, had hoped to bring Mexico its third win in the 65-year history of the Miss Universe competition. The first was by Lupita Jones in 1991 and the second by Ximena Navarrete in 2010.
Once in the top five, Aragón was asked her opinion of the recent feminist protests in places like Chile and Mexico, such as the November 25 march in Mexico City that left many monuments and other public spaces vandalized.
“I believe in the cause, I believe in creating change, and I do believe in raising our voices. We do need to be heard, and some of these protests are really powerful and they can create a positive impact,” she began.
“But I do not believe in violence, because violence is always going to create violence. I really believe that what we should do is come together, raise our voices and make an impact in the best possible way ever, through these kinds of platforms like Miss Universe . . . That’s why I’m here, and I really believe that that’s what you should do.”
Miss Universe, Zozibini Tunzi of South Africa.
The answer was good enough to earn her a spot in the top three, where she was asked by host Steve Harvey, “What is the most important thing we should be teaching young girls today?”
She replied, “. . . the importance of their true value. We see so [much] perfection in social media. Perfect lives. Perfect bodies. Perfect faces. Perfect relationships. Nothing is that real. We have to teach them that who they are is already amazing.”
Sofía Aragón was born in Guadalajara in 1994 where, according to her website, she began to write for local publications at the age of 14 and went on to publish two books: Diamond in the Rough and The Color of the Invisible.
She studied film makeup in Los Angeles, California, and marketing at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara. In 2015 she launched her own line of makeup, called Soswami Makeup, a line of cosmetics manufactured in Chiapas.
She began her career as a model in 2017 when she won second place in the Miss Jalisco competition. She later won the Mexicana Universal Jalisco competition, which sent her to Mexico City to compete with women from across the country.
After she was named Miss Universe, South Africa’s Tunzi declared, “I grew up in a world where a woman who looks like me, with my kind of skin and my kind of hair, was never considered to be beautiful.
In Mexico, a craving for tacos is easily satisfied: there are at least 115,000 vendors of the staple of the Mexican diet.
Furthermore, almost 100% of citizens live not more than 400 meters from a taco stand, according to geographer Baruch Sanginés.
A study carried out by Sanginés focused on the country’s many taquerías (taco restaurants and street stands) using data compiled by the national statistics institute, Inegi.
He found there are more taquerías than schools, of which there are 92,000.
To illustrate that one is never far from a taco, civil engineer Ernesto Miranda measured the distance from some of Mexico City’s most famous monuments to the nearest taquerías. He began at the Monument to the Revolution.
The door of the nearest taquería was 176 meters away.
He repeated the investigation from the Angel of Independence, on Paseo de la Reforma avenue.
“Here we find one 152 meters from the main base of the Angel of Independence.”
Sanginés said the high density of taquerías speaks to “the great food culture we have.”
The taco, of course, is the perfect food for those on the go.
“The advantage of eating tacos is that you don’t waste time,” said chef Rafael Cruz. “It’s a product that is very fast, it’s faster than fast food. American fast food takes much longer to prepare. With a taco, you arrive, the taquero gives you one, and you go.”
Sanginés would like his study to lead to something that would help hungry, hurried citizens find a taco when they need it.
“The idea would be to create an app exclusively for tacos that would give information of interest. For example, which are the best? What kinds of salsas do they have? It’s about giving you the info you need to make the best decision.”
The study revealed that Mexico City has the most taquerías with 18,000. Guadalajara followed with 6,800 and third place went to Monterrey with 4,200.
Controversial artwork depicting the revolutionary hero Zapata.
A painting that depicts a nude and feminized Emiliano Zapata riding a sexually aroused horse has sparked controversy on social media after it was used by the federal government to promote an exhibition of art inspired by the revolutionary hero.
The Secretariat of Culture posted an image of the painting on Facebook and Twitter on Friday to promote the exhibition Zapata Después de Zapata (Zapata After Zapata), which opened at the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City late last month.
The painting La Revolución by Chiapas artist Fabian Cháirez, one of 141 artworks included in the exhibition that commemorates the 100th anniversary of the revolutionary’s death, shows a naked Zapata atop a white horse with a prominent erection. Zapata has feminized legs and is wearing a pink sombrero, a presidential sash and a high-heel shoe on his left foot whose heel is a pistol.
The Culture Secretariat’s use of the painting to promote the exhibition garnered a mixed response on social media.
One Facebook user said the federal department should be reprimanded and that the official who approved the painting’s use must be dismissed.
The painting has been greeted with a mixed response on social media.
Twitter user @tererereyo said the image made her cringe, while another Facebook user said it demonstrated a lack of respect for Zapata.
“I truly think that the image is offensive for the Mexican leader and hero. I’m not at all against homosexuality . . . but Zapata deserves respect. He was a leader who fought for land rights and freedom. I will never accept the denigration of his image in this way,” wrote Jonathan Gómez Rios.
Other social media users praised both the painting and the department’s decision to use it to promote the exhibition.
“I love that a simple painting causes so much controversy. People argue and seethe because of a painting, A PAINTING! Well done to the Secretariat of Culture and whoever’s behind this post. Congratulations!” said one Facebook user.
“Reading so many absurd comments, it appears that the artist achieved his objective,” wrote another.
“. . . The artist managed to offend . . . I love seeing you mad. By the way, the painting’s beautiful and I’m very happy that it is included in the exhibition . . .”
The revolutionary as he is normally depicted.
Cháirez himself told the newspaper El Universal that he found the controversy “interesting.”
“. . . The feminine [form of Zapata] is what causes contempt . . . We’re in a super sexist society. There are some people who are bothered by bodies that don’t obey the norms. [But] in this case, where’s the offense? Are they offended because he’s feminized?” he said.
Cháirez said that he chose to depict Zapata in the way he did because he is almost invariably represented as a manly man.
“. . . It’s rare to find [artworks] in which his masculinity isn’t glorified . . .” he said.
The artist said that before the exhibition opened he was summoned by the curator who told him that the Palace of Fine Arts management was concerned about the reaction his painting would produce.
As a result, the painting is shown separately from the rest of the artworks in the exhibition, which will run through February 16, 2020.
A group of feminists voiced their disapproval for a book on display at the Guadalajara Book Fair by burning it.
Wearing the green bandanas that have become characteristic of the feminist movement, the protesters stole several copies of a book entitled Psico-Terapia Pastoral (Pastoral Psycho-Therapy) by Juan Manuel Rodríguez and Misael Ramírez, which talks of changing sexual orientation through spiritual therapies.
The books were taken outside the fair on Friday and burned.
The feminists earlier gave a performance of the popular A rapist in your way by the Chilean collective Las Tesis before moving through the fair chanting slogans.
The protest also demanded justice for Ana Daniela Vega González, 29, a University of Guanajuato (UG) student who was murdered on November 30. Her ex-boyfriend is believed to have been responsible.
“If the fair as so many eyes, well, they’ll turn to look at us. We need to make more noise so that they hear us,” one protester told the newspaper El Universal before the book burning began.
“Protesting here is the best opportunity we have to be heard, after so many criticisms that have been made of our movement. It’s a way of projecting what we want to change,” said another.
Fair organizers coordinated to facilitate the group’s movement through the aisles. Aside from the burned books, there were no other instances of vandalism or violence in the protest.
The book fair closed yesterday after welcoming more than 840,000 visitors.
Video captured the ambassador taking a book of a shelf at a Buenos Aires bookstore.
Mexico’s ambassador to Argentina has been recalled after media outlets published a video that shows him shoplifting a US $10 book from a famous bookstore in Buenos Aires.
Óscar Ricardo Valero Recio Becerra was ordered to return to Mexico on Sunday by Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
“I have asked the ethics committee to analyze the case of the ambassador in Argentina who is accused of stealing books in a famous bookstore. For now, I have ordered him to return home. If it is proven that the video is true, he will be removed from his position immediately. Zero tolerance for dishonesty,” Ebrard wrote on Twitter.
A security camera at the El Ateneo bookstore in the Argentine capital recorded footage on October 26 of Valero hiding a book inside a newspaper before setting off an alarm as he exited the store.
The ambassador’s possessions were checked by a security guard who found that he had attempted to steal a biography of 18th-century Italian adventurer, author and playboy Giacomo Casanova. The bookstore called the police but Valero was not arrested due to his diplomatic immunity.
The Argentine news website Infobae, the first outlet to publish the video of the ambassador’s shoplifting attempt, said the price of the Casanova biography was the Argentine peso equivalent of 189 Mexican pesos or US $10. In contrast, Valero’s monthly salary is 234,000 pesos (US $12,160).
President López Obrador appointed the 76-year-old as ambassador earlier this year, reviving a diplomatic career that began in 1970.
As a foreign affairs undersecretary in the 1980s, Valero played an important role in the Contadora Group, an initiative launched by Mexico, Colombia, Panama and Venezuela to promote peace in war-stricken Central America.
He served as Mexico’s ambassador to Chile between 2001 and 2004 and also worked for many years as a political science and international relations academic at the National Autonomous University.
The Natura Riviera Cancún, an Apple Leisure Group property.
The travel and hospitality conglomerate Apple Leisure Group announced on Friday that it has put investments worth between US $500 and $600 million on hold due to a range of factors, including a lack of tourism promotion by the federal government and lower visitor numbers from the United States.
CEO Alejandro Zozaya told a press conference that four or five projects have been “put on pause,” explaining that the company has the land and necessary permits to build new hotels but for now construction won’t go ahead.
He said the government’s decision to disband the Tourism Promotion Council (CPTM) and the consequent lack of marketing of Mexico abroad resulted in lower profits for the hotel industry this year.
“Hotels weren’t as profitable in 2019 as in 2018 and 2017,” Zozaya said.
“. . . The closure of the CPTM has hit us, it’s one of the factors that has hurt Mexico. Tourism from the United States has decreased,” Zozaya said.
Alejandro Zozaya of Apple Leisure Group: supply growing faster than demand.
He said that another factor in Apple’s decision was that the supply of hotel rooms is growing faster than demand.
“When demand doesn’t grow at the same pace as supply, [room] rates go down but operational costs haven’t fallen,” Zozaya said.
The strength of the US dollar and higher electricity rates have in fact caused them to rise, he said.
The CEO charged that tourism hasn’t been a priority for federal governments for many years even though the industry contributes to 8% of GDP. However, Zozaya added that the private sector needs to do a better job of informing the government about the importance of tourism to the economy.
To that end, representatives of the sector have met with officials from the Tourism and Foreign Affairs secretariats as well as the president’s chief of staff, Alfonso Romo.
“We’re looking for a joint effort to promote tourism in Mexico and we see some strong potential in the collection of taxes that we’re [currently] missing out on . . . We see opportunities in cruise ships and taxes should be placed on digital platforms such as Airbnb,” Zozaya said.
Although Apple is putting some of its projects on hold, the CEO said the company will still open six new hotels in Mexico by the end of next year.
The conglomerate currently has 33 hotels in 15 Mexican destinations, most of which are AM resorts in Cancún, the Riviera Maya and Cozumel. It is also a large provider of charter flights, transporting one million international passengers a year to Mexico.
Some tourism investors have big plans for Mexico, although the 100 billion pesos (US $5.1 billion) that has been earmarked for tourism infrastructure spending in the government’s National Infrastructure Plan is not scheduled to be spent until 2021-2022.
