Residents of more than 50 indigenous communities in Tabasco have warned that they will lynch Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) workers who attempt to cut their power because they haven’t paid their bills.
The disgruntled customers, most of whom live in the municipality of Centro, say that the rates they are charged are too high and have declared accordingly that they are in “civil resistance” against the state-run company.
“We’re willing to pay but make it fair,” Nicolás Sánchez, spokesman for the civil resistance movement, told a press conference.
“Our resistance is based on not paying; we will not allow any CFE worker to cut [power] in these communities, we will not allow any worker to take readings of the meters, they’ll be run out [of town],” he said.
Sánchez said that residents are asking that the CFE charge a single preferential rate throughout the whole year. Electricity customers in Tabasco currently pay a lower rate in the hotter months of the year than in winter, leading many people to complain that they can’t afford the higher bills they receive when the weather turns cold.
In response, Tabasco Governor Adán Augusto López Hernández pointed out that the rates charged in Tabasco are already the lowest in the country.
Electricity customers have a long history of refusing to pay their power bills in the Gulf coast state, where President López Obrador launched a civil resistance movement in 1995 to protest against alleged fraud in the 1994 gubernatorial election, which he lost to Roberto Madrazo.
From the tender age of 3 Luisa Wilson was already cutting her first lines in the ice. Learning how to skate with a hockey stick in hand, she was instructed by her father Brian, a coach and life-long hockey enthusiast. She grew up as the sole girl playing among boys in the small world of federation hockey in Mexico.
“When I was about 8 or 10 I wanted to quit hockey because I realized girls couldn’t play in the NHL [National Hockey League] and I got a bit sad,” she says. But after some cajoling from her dad she decided, “Why should I quit a sport I really like?”
She stuck to it, moving from rink to rink in Mexico City, ever looking for a better coach, more time on the ice, better facilities. She liked to barrel through the boys she played against, pink helmet tightly fastened, body-checking them one by one. They secretly called her the pink assassin.
But Mexico is tough for a hockey-loving girl. Owners of ice rinks make most of their money on public skating, and hockey teams get the dregs of the time slots. Tournaments are not as regular as in other countries and the small pool of teams meant that the existing tournaments were relatively small and short. Luisa’s brothers were also falling in love with hockey and it reached a point where the three siblings wanted to play a lot more than they could with what was available in Mexico.
So, in 2017, Luisa, along with her mom and brothers, moved back to where her father grew up, outside of Toronto, Canada, where hockey is a national sport. Instead of playing 40 games a year they could now easily play 50 to 60.
Hockey player Wilson with her gold medal.
“My grandparents would say we moved for the schools or something, but I know in my heart that we moved for the hockey,” she says, smiling.
In her case it was a bit of both, as she joined a Sports High School – Bill Crothers — that while not allowing her to play hockey for the school team (student athletes aren’t allowed to play their No. 1 sport to ensure fairness for competing high schools), did encourage her to play hockey outside of school. Bill Crothers has also been the gateway to her latest athletic passion – rugby, which she says gives her more of a “killer instinct on the ice” – but she never lost her love for hockey.
Now that the family is binational, going back and forth between Mexico and Canada, when tryouts were announced in March 2019 in Mexico for the Youth Olympics, Luisa’s parents and school both proudly supported her in her quest to play at the international level. The 14-year-old ranked 30th internationally among the hundreds of kids that tried out and was placed on the yellow team (soon to become the Yellow Stars) with girls from Italy, France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and other countries across the globe.
“It was pretty cool, but at the beginning it was kind of difficult to communicate with each other,” says Luisa. The team bonded over Bruno Mars and Ariana Grande as they belted their hearts out warming up before each game. “We got really close and were like best friends in a week.”
The girls played to a packed stadium in Lausanne, Switzerland — one of the best parts of the experience, says Luisa — and slowly worked their way to the finals as she watched her Mexican friends and their teams get eliminated one by one. Finally they were one of the two final teams and set out to play before thousands of screaming fans.
In the first half of the January 15 game they were tied 1-1 with the Black team and in the second half Luisa, the team’s forward, scored a second goal. The Black team never recovered, and the Yellow Stars won the gold medal. Luisa became the first Mexican ever to win a medal in any Winter Olympics.
Wilson on the ice in Lausanne.
“When I’m really in the game I’m just like ‘don’t get scored on get the puck get it out of here get the girl knock her down,’” she says in a rush. “It’s really quick and just moveyourfeet moveyourfeet moveyourfeet. When I am thinking like that I feel like I’m faster and it’s more fun because I feel like I’m playing better.”
Back home in Canada after weeks of excitement, Luisa is bemoaning the homework she has to do now and the fact that from signing autographs and making history she is going back to being a regular teenager.
“I didn’t think about it at the time, but now I realize that I am going down in the records as the first one [to win a medal] and it was a gold, and that’s really cool.”
Now it’s time to start running, she tells me, so that she can be faster on the ice and she’s honing her crosscheck skills by taking out the biggest girls she can find on the rugby field.
The future holds college hockey and maybe the Olympics again, this time as an adult. But for now, she’s ready for the rest of the hockey season in Canada and tackling that mountain of homework.
Lydia Carey is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily.
The Health Ministry’s announcement on Friday that the first cases of coronavirus had been confirmed in Mexico sent people racing to their nearest pharmacies in search of the preventative fashion item du jour – face masks.
But many were disappointed, finding that stock at both small family-run pharmacies and large chains was already depleted just hours after Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell told the president’s morning press conference that two cases of Covid-19, as the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, late last year is known, had been detected, one in Mexico City and the other in Sinaloa.
Panic buying of face masks took hold in many parts of the country, according to a report by the newspaper El Universal, but was most prevalent in Mexico City, México state and Sinaloa.
Almost all pharmacies in the capital’s historic center, a mecca for those seeking medicines and medical supplies, ran out of both face masks and anti-bacterial gel not long after news of the virus’s arrival in Mexico broke – and quickly went viral. One downtown pharmacy even put up a sign announcing that it had no masks left, El Universal said.
As umbrella vendors appear as if by magic when the heavens open, face mask hawkers popped up on busy Mexico City streets on Friday, determined to cash in on the growing anxiety about the possible spread of Covid-19. Some pharmacies in México state reportedly increased the price of the in-demand items by as much as 200%.
‘No face masks,’ reads the sign in a Mexico City pharmacy.
By Friday afternoon, the number of people wearing face masks of varying colors on the streets and in public places in the capital had notably increased, El Universal said.
“Now it’s … coronavirus but people die from influenza every year in this season,” said a woman identified only as Karla who was wearing a pink mask in the zócalo metro station. “It scares me more than the virus from China.”
Outside the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases, located in the southern Mexico City borough of Tlalpan, it was difficult to spot anyone at all not wearing a face mask.
The attendant at a small medical supplies store in front of the hospital’s emergency department told El Universal that he usually sold 15-20 masks a day but demand spiked to 50 a day this week, exhausting supply completely. The owner of a nearby pharmacy, Karina López, said that she sold out even before the announcement that coronavirus had made its way to Mexico.
She suggested that people would have better luck in hardware stores, explaining that they sell masks and respirators for painters.
While wearing a mask is one way to protect oneself from infection with Covid-19 and other contagious diseases, health experts also recommend washing hands thoroughly and regularly, avoiding touching the mouth, nose and eyes, covering the mouth with the inside of the elbow when sneezing and coughing and avoiding contact with people with flu-like symptoms.
Deputy Health Minister López-Gatell also called on people to refrain from greeting each other with hugs and kisses, as is commonplace across Mexico and Latin America more broadly. However, it appears that his message didn’t get through to the man standing right behind him when he delivered the message: the president.
López Obrador gave out hugs and kisses aplenty to supporters at an event in an indigenous Chontal community in his native Tabasco on Friday afternoon, affection that was reciprocated by those in attendance.
“As if we’re not going to want to hug him … he came from here, from this land. We want to hug him, kiss him and tell him that we’re with him until the end. Don’t forget that us Chontales were with him from the beginning,” Alicia Sánchez said.
The Maya Train is President López Obrador's signature infrastructure project.
A court in Campeche has upheld an injunction granted to two indigenous communities in January that prevents the federal government from starting any new work on the Maya Train project.
The First Collegiate Tribunal of the 31st Circuit ruled that the provisional suspension order granted to two communities in the municipality of Calakmul, Campeche, does not have an adverse effect on public order or social interest, as the plaintiffs – the office of President López Obrador and the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) – argued.
The provisional suspension order prevents the government from commencing any new construction work on the US $7.5-billion railroad that will link cities and towns in the states of Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Campeche and Chiapas, but it doesn’t stop it from carrying out rehabilitation or maintenance on existing stretches of track.
It also doesn’t prevent the government from seeking companies to work on the project via a tendering process nor does it stop it from making applications for environmental permits.
The newspaper Milenio reported that Campeche-based Judge Grissel Rodríguez Febles must now decide whether or not to grant the Calakmul communities a definitive suspension order against the Maya Train, which the government would be required to have overturned by a court before it could commence any new work.
Rogelio Jiménez Pons, head of Fonatur, which is managing the project, said in late January that the first phase of construction was expected to begin in April or May.
However, the government faces opposition from many indigenous communities and groups that reject the legitimacy of a government consultation process on the project and a vote that found over 92% support for it. They argue that construction of the new railroad will damage the environment and threaten their way of life, a claim the government rejects.
The viewpoint of the project’s opponents was supported by the Campeche collegiate court in its written decision to uphold the provisional suspension order.
“This court believes that … the project could produce changes to the Earth, forests, flora, fauna, natural resources, environment, biodiversity [and] water” in areas where indigenous people live, the court said, noting also that people’s health could be affected.
Those changes would cause “irreparable damage” to those communities and therefore their interests must be carefully protected, it concluded.
Businesses look to cross the border into safer Querétaro.
More than a dozen Guanajuato-based businesses are considering relocating to Querétaro due to violence, according to the head of a business group in the latter state.
“There are companies in Guanajuato that want to come to Querétaro. It doesn’t please us at all but it’s the reality,” said Jorge Rivadeneyra Díaz, president of the Querétaro chapter of the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation (Canacintra), which has fielded requests for information from between 15 and 20 businesses looking to flee the prevailing insecurity.
Rivadeneyra said that large and medium-sized businesses across manufacturing sectors such as auto parts and domestic appliances as well as service-oriented companies have expressed interest in moving their operations from Guanajuato – Mexico’s most violent state in 2019 – to Querétaro. The two states, both part of the Bajío region, are located side by side to the north of Mexico City.
Due to ongoing violence in Guanajuato – where the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel are engaged in a bloody turf war over control of fuel theft and extortion – businesses are now beginning to reach the conclusion that staying put is not viable, Rivadeneyra said.
“They’re saying: ‘if this [situation] isn’t fixed, let’s go to Querétaro,’” he said.
The Canacintra chief expressed regret about the insecurity currently plaguing Guanajuato, which he said is an important contributor to the national economy. He urged authorities to implement strategies that restore security and stability to the state.
“It’s one of the richest states and what’s happening there affects the whole country. … What’s happening is now [the situation] is getting worse. I guess the people of Guanajuato thought that it was temporary but with it not being resolved, there’s … a little bit of anxiety,” Rivadeneyra said.
“I don’t see a thriving Mexico if we don’t resolve [the situation in] Guanajuato. … It’s important that in Guanajuato they study some of the things we’ve done in Querétaro and implement them there,” he said, adding that state authorities need to work on their relationship with the federal government in order to improve security cooperation.
According to the Mexican Employers Federation, businesses in Guanajuato are more likely to be victims of crime than those in any other state. It reported in November that 76% of its member companies in that state had indicated that they had been targeted by criminals in the past year.
The average across Mexico was 65%, while 61% of businesses in Querétaro said that they had been victims of crime at least once within the last 12 months.
This 2016 BMW i8 Coupe will be on the block in March.
An armored Cadillac, a luxury home in Cancún and a US $7,600 Rolex watch are among the items going to the highest bidder at the government’s eighth auction of confiscated goods to be held the second Sunday in March.
The director of the Institute to Return Stolen Goods to the People, Ricardo Rodríguez Vargas, announced that the next in the government’s series of auctions, meant to generate funds for poor communities, will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 8 at the Los Pinos Cultural Center in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park.
He said the goods up for sale are valued at 66 million pesos (US $3.3 million).
“I’m inviting people to participate in our eighth socially focused auction, the first of 2020. In 2019 we had enough success to move on to the next level,” Rodríguez said at the president’s Friday morning press conference.
In total, the auction will present 325 lots for bidding, including nine pieces of real estate, 24 luxury vehicles, 157 pieces of jewelry, 132 non-luxury vehicles and three airplanes.
Rodríguez said that a BMW hybrid on the auction block “is a very luxurious vehicle and [buyers] will find a much higher price on the regular market.”
“All of the vehicles are priced at extremely competitive rates. It’s a great opportunity because they are very competitive prices,” he said.
Among the jewelry, he highlighted three Rolex watches, one of which is a woman’s watch for which the bidding will begin at 151,000 pesos. He claimed that they are part of a “difficult to find” collection.
He said that many jewelry lots have very accessible prices, noting a lot of four rings priced at 5,000 pesos (US $251) and saying it was a good gift for anyone looking to “get in good with their girlfriend [or] wife.”
The nine real estate lots include properties located in Cancún, Cuernavaca, Jalisco, Tijuana and Monterrey. The house in Cancún has a pool and a dock for a medium-sized yacht.
“One house in Cuernavaca, just an hour from Mexico City, is in a luxurious neighborhood called El Limonero,” he added.
“This is a diverse, versatile auction. As you all know, the profits are destined for the poorest municipalities in the country, sports scholarships, cultural programs. The last auction went to buy instruments for musicians in Oaxaca and in 2020 we want to surpass the goal we had for 2019.”
Former Nayarit officials Sandoval, left and Veytia.
The United States government announced on Friday that former Nayarit governor Roberto Sandoval Castañeda and his immediate family members are ineligible for U.S. visas due to involvement in corruption.
Noting that the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Sandoval in May 2019 for corruption-related conduct, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the public designation of Sandoval in accordance with the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act due to “significant involvement in corruption.”
Pompeo said that the ex-governor misappropriated state assets and received bribes from drug trafficking organizations, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
“In addition, Mr. Sandoval accepted bribes from the Beltrán Leyva Organization, which President George W. Bush identified as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker pursuant to the Kingpin Act in 2008,” he added.
Pompeo said that once the Secretary of State designates officials of foreign governments for their direct or indirect involvement in significant corruption, those individuals are ineligible for visas to the United States.
The law also requires the Secretary of State to publicly or privately designate the immediate family members of such officials, he said.
“In addition to Mr. Sandoval, the department is publicly designating his spouse, Ana Lilia López Torres; his daughter, Lidy Alejandra Sandoval López; and his son, Pablo Roberto Sandoval López,” Pompeo said.
“Today’s action sends a strong signal that the United States is committed to fighting systemic corruption in Mexico. The United States stands with the people of Mexico in their fight against corruption. The department will continue to use these authorities to promote accountability for corrupt actors globally and near our border, particularly when that corruption is connected to drug trafficking.”
Although Sandoval – Institutional Revolutionary Party governor between 2011 and 2017 – has now been designated by both the U.S. Treasury and Department of State, he does not currently face any criminal charges in the United States.
In Mexico, Sandoval’s bank accounts were frozen by the government’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) after his U.S. Treasury designation last May.
A federal court last month rejected an application by Sandoval to have access to his bank accounts reinstated, ruling that information provided to the UIF by the U.S. Treasury about the ex-governor’s designation is sufficient grounds to keep the accounts blocked.
Sandoval, who has denied all the accusations against him, had argued that the United States does not have jurisdiction over the acts of corruption of which it accuses him because they allegedly took place in Nayarit. It consequently doesn’t have the right to advise Mexico to freeze his accounts, the ex-governor said.
The ex-governor’s attorney general, Édgar Veytia, was sentenced last September to 20 years in jail in the United States for drug trafficking.
He pleaded guilty to accepting payments from drug cartels to help them smuggle cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine into the United States from 2013 until his arrest in San Diego, California, in March 2017.
A 25-year-old from Mérida, Yucatán, won a contest held by a local pizzeria for the strangest name in the city: Cero Cero Tres — or Zero Zero Three — Miler Santos.
“My cousin was the one who encouraged me to participate and share my curious name,” said Cero Cero Tres in an interview with El Universal.
“I read in the comments that many people didn’t believe me, so I decided to show photos [and] documentation of my identity.”
The numbered name won out against other such rarities as Vercingétorix, Baninu, Nívea, Marcio and others.
After providing proof to the pizzamakers that his name really is as strange as they consider it to be, Cero Cero Tres was awarded two pizzas, one in the shape of his name: 003.
He said that the name came from an agreement between his parents.
“My parents wanted to have three children, and that’s where ‘003’ comes from. I’m the three and my siblings are the zeros, but they don’t have their names in numbers, they have common names,” he said.
Cero Cero Tres said that he was bullied by some as a teenager, but many at his preparatory school actually asked for his autograph.
In the United States, where he grew up, his family called him Bambino, which he thought was his name until he became a teenager. It wasn’t until they moved back to Yucatán that he found out what his real name is.
“They told me that since I was 15 years old I should be responsible for my own paperwork. So when I looked at my birth certificate I saw the numbers and I asked my dad what it meant. Then he said ‘That’s your name,’ and I was surprised.”
The only time the numbers gave him a problem was when he went to apply for his voter’s registration card. He was told that he could not register with numbers, so his official name on the ballot is Cero Cero Tres.
“I felt like people bullied me for my name [in the past], but with time I really learned that it is part of my identity. It’s given me so many anecdotes and such good friends that I really am not ashamed to say that it’s my name,” he said.
Three suspects in the murder of three medical students and an Uber driver in Puebla were released from custody on Thursday but immediately rearrested by state police and the National Guard.
A judge ordered the release of Pablo N., Lisset N. and Ángel N. on charges of police impersonation but as soon as they left a court in San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, they were arrested for the homicide of the Uber driver and students, two of whom were Colombian nationals.
The suspects were arrested on Monday in Huejotzingo, the same municipality where the bodies of Colombians Ximena Quijano Hernández, 25, and José Antonio Parada Cerpa, 22, as well as fellow medical student Francisco Javier Tirado Márquez, 22, and Uber driver Josué Emmanuel Vital, 28, were found the same day.
Police detained the three alleged murderers after stopping the BMW SUV in which they were traveling. The vehicle was fitted out with a siren and other equipment whose use is limited to law enforcement vehicles.
Human brain matter, blood stains and bullets were found inside the vehicle, which had a bullet hole in its rear. Pablo N., 46, was driving the vehicle before the arrest occurred while Lisset N., 22, and Ángel N., 23, were wearing bullet-proof vests.
Despite the damning evidence, the judge ruled that Lisset N. and Ángel N. could not be held after determining that their arrest on impersonation charges was illegal because they were merely passengers in the vehicle.
The judge found that Pablo N, as the driver, was responsible for the vehicle. However, the judge ordered his release on the grounds that impersonating a police officer does not warrant preventative custody.
After their second arrest, the suspects were transferred to state Attorney General’s Office facilities. They will face a hearing on murder charges within 48 hours of their detention on Thursday.
The two Colombians, exchange students at the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, and Tirado, a medical student at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, attended the Carnival of Huejotzingo on Sunday before booking an Uber to return to Puebla city.
The vehicle driven by Vital was apparently intercepted and all four occupants were shot dead. Their bodies were found Monday morning on a lot in Santa Ana Xalmimilulco, a community in Huejotzingo. Vital’s vehicle was located nearby.
Puebla authorities said Wednesday that the murders could be linked to an argument that Quijano, the Colombian female victim, allegedly had with another woman at the Huejotzingo Carnival over the hat she was wearing.
“At the carnival, a woman stole Ximena’s hat, there was an argument and she recovered her hat. I don’t want to prejudge but, without a doubt, it’s evidence that we have to include [in the investigation],” said Attorney General Gilberto Higuera Bernal.
He said that the hat and sunglasses that Quijano were wearing were found at one of three properties searched by police in Santa Ana Xalmimilulco. Higuera also said that Quijano’s body had more bullet wounds than the other victims.
The multi-homicide sparked protests on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday by students of several Puebla universities including those attended by the slain students. During a march in Puebla city on Thursday, students called for justice for the murder victims and demanded that authorities guarantee security for all citizens.
The Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla said in a statement that “it expresses its profound indignation and concern over the escalation in crime and violence in our state and our country, that condemns families to live in a constant state of fear and uncertainty.”
Speaking at his morning press conference on Thursday, President López Obrador expressed regret about the murders.
“It’s a reprehensible and very painful incident that has to do with the breakdown [of society]” caused by the neoliberal economic policies implemented by previous governments, he said, repeating a claim he made last week when speaking about the femicides of 25-year-old Ingrid Escamilla and 7-year-old Fátima Aldrighett.
Meanwhile, the mother of Parada and the father of Quijano spent Thursday collecting the belongings of their children from their Puebla home before departing for Colombia.
“We’re leaving very hurt, devastated, but my heart feels neither resentment nor hate for this beautiful country,” said Jorge Quijano.
“The important thing is that they find the truth,” said Angélica Cerpa, mother of José Antonio Parada.
The quiet beauty of the Pila del Rey, a highlight of a visit to the petroglyphs at Altavista, Nayarit.
Long ago we heard rumors that the petroglyphs of Altavista — located 50 kilometers north of Puerto Vallarta as the macaw flies — were a sight we had to see.
Finally, one day in March, we decided to go visit the place, figuring that this time of year the humidity and the gnat count would be low while the temperature would be pleasant by day and cool at night: perfect ingredients for camping on the beach at the nearby pueblito of Chacala.
We left Guadalajara at 10:00 a.m. and by 1:30 p.m. we were pitching our tents in a most unusual setting: the ruins of the ancient munitions armory of the port of Chacala, one of the deepest natural harbors of the Pacific Coast and for many years a favorite hangout for pirates.
At a little table dwarfed by huge stone columns long ago overrun by strangler figs, we shared a bottle of wine with the owner of this ruin, now converted into a hotel and mini-campsite. “My name is Om,” she told us, “and I love Chacala so much, I spent nine years here living in a tree.”
The next day, we couldn’t resist hiking down the beach to see Om’s tree house (the rope ladder is still dangling from the branches) and to visit a volcanic crater which overlooks the gorgeous little beach of Las Cuevas, and — well, there was so much to see, our visit to the rock art of Altavista got pushed off to the last day. But we finally managed to get there and discovered that this out-of-the-way spot is well worth the effort required to reach it.
Chacala’s beach and bay.
Because we could see no signs indicating where to go, it took us two attempts to find the place. The road to the town of Altavista is just off Highway 200 to Puerto Vallarta. Before reaching the town, we turned left onto a dirt road which was in quite good condition, but only for 875 meters. At this point, deep and ugly ruts could be seen just ahead, so here we parked and started walking.
On our right was a huge grove of flowering mango trees and on our left we came upon a farmer spraying his rather sad-looking trees with sulfur. We figured this must be an insecticide, but he told us the treatment was meant to “estresar los árboles” (to make the trees feel stressed out) so they would flower. It looks like there’s no escape from the pressures of modern life, even for trees!
Soon the narrow dirt road turned right (and shady, and flat). Our 1.7-kilometer walk took 45 minutes and ended at a gate where we found big INAH (National Institute for Anthropology and History) signs listing numerous things we were not allowed to do (including applying chalk to the grooves of the rock art). We also found a guard who charged us 20 pesos each to enter the fenced-in zone.
We were now on a trail paralleling Las Piletas Creek, which — because it was the dry season — contained only occasional puddles of water. Every few steps we came upon large, hand-lettered signs in English and Spanish telling us all about the native people who once lived here and who created the petroglyphs. Most of this information originated with west-Mexico archaeologist Joseph Mountjoy and was truly fascinating.
These Indians turned out to be members of a tribe I had never heard of: the Tecoxquin, whose favorite sport, according to the signs, was cutting off the heads of their captives for ritual sacrifice. It is said that the Tecoxquin inhabited the area as far back as 2300 BC and were wiped out during the Conquest by a combination of European disease and the Tecoxquins’ refusal to become slaves.
Soon the trail was winding between and over large boulders: not the sort of place you could push a baby buggy or hobble along with a bad leg. Scattered among the rocks, however, were a variety of quite curious petroglyphs: several boxy, cartoon-like shapes sporting a dozen or so “legs,” a number of elaborately carved crosses, and a humanoid figure who seemed to have a graceful tree growing out of his head. One of the designs cleverly used deep pockmarks as shading and to me (and no one else!) resembled a rabbit-like creature with whiskers.
Basalt columns at the Pila del Rey.
It seems around 2,000 petroglyphs have been registered along el Arroyo de Las Piletas, of which 56 can be seen in the area reserved for visitors. Archaeologists think these images represent a kind of prayer to the Tecoxquin gods, begging them for rain, good crops, good weather, etc.
Of course there are spirals at Altavista, as there are at just about every petroglyph site I’ve ever seen. As for their meaning, a sign at Altavista mentions that spirals “have been interpreted as the sun, rainstorms, the wind, coiled snakes or as a symbol of the natural rainy and dry cycle.” Other sources say they may represent water sources, the solstice, migrations, whirlwinds, snails, growth, energy and lots of other things, all of which seem to leave the door to interpretation wide open.
Historical records dating back to 1612 note the Spaniards’ surprise at finding numerous crosses among these petroglyphs. Some of these resemble a cross potent or Maltese Cross and helped give rise to legends about the apostle Saint Matthew having set foot in these parts. Easier to believe is the most common interpretation, that the crosses represent the five directions: north, south, east, west and “right here where you are now.”
Although the petroglyphs are most interesting, to me the most impressive attraction of this site is the so-called Pila del Rey, the Bathtub of the King: a pool of icy cold water, fed by a spring even in the dry season and surrounded by huge rectangular rocks, probably columnar basalt. This place looks like something straight out of a fantasy novel and will no doubt one day appear in some Hollywood extravaganza.
I asked Dr. Mountjoy who the “King” might have been, but he suggested the name Pila del Rey had more to do with tourist appeal than historical fact. Nevertheless, this must have been an awe-inspiring place 2,000 years ago and it remains so today.
The petroglyphs are located about 10 kilometers south of Las Varas, Nayarit. The park entrance is at N21.09201 W105.16624. Because it’s a tricky place to find, you may want to ask a touring company like Mexitreks to get you there.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.
