Sinaloa Cartel's armored vehicles in the streets of Culiacán.
The Sinaloa Cartel used armored vehicles custom fitted with high-caliber rifles and protective covering in clashes with government security forces in Culiacán, Sinaloa, last Thursday.
One vehicle that called particular attention was a blue Ford pickup truck modified to resemble a small tank. The bed was completely enclosed with bulletproof plating, and projecting from the top was a protected movable turret fitted with a machine gun.
Videos of the vehicle circulated on social media, accompanied by pleas for help from citizens. It was the first time such a vehicle had been seen on the streets of Culiacán.
In one such video, the vehicle drives through a line of army trucks and a tank. The army tank moves out of the way of the cartel tank while soldiers fire upon it without causing any damage.
The cartel also utilized two white pickup trucks with armored siding and .50-caliber rifles mounted in the beds. In videos taken by frightened civilians, the trucks are carrying two gangsters, one operating the machine gun and the other armed with an AK-47.
The Secretariat of Public Security is reported to have recovered 20 vehicles, either burned or abandoned, in the areas of the city that saw fighting. The blue mini-tank, however, was not among them.
Beaten and bloodied, a fan is carried from the stadium on Sunday.
Fighting among fans shut down a soccer game on Sunday in San Luis Potosí.
The match between the Atlético of San Luis Postosí and the Querétaro Football Club was suspended 83 minutes into the game when fans began fighting and throwing objects at each other.
The brawl forced many terrified fans to escape onto the field in search of safety. Photos of children clinging in fear to their parents served as evidence of the gravity of the situation.
The official Twitter account of the Mexican soccer league, Liga MX, announced the suspension of the game, saying it could not guarantee fans’ safety.
After nearly an hour of violence, the San Luis soccer team announced that the situation had been brought under control and that the combative fans had begun to vacate the stadium.
The Liga MX published a press release Sunday night condemning the violence that broke out in the Alfonso Lastras Stadium.
“We ask that the authorities of the stadium in San Luis Postosí act vigorously, according to the law, to arrest those responsible for these lamentable acts and carry out an in-depth investigation into what happened,” the press release said.
The league also requested that the Mexican Soccer Federation’s disciplinary commission investigate the incident.
San Luis Potosí coach Gustavo Matosas told a press conference that his team took all necessary precautions before the game to prevent such an incident.
“. . . there were three meetings this week about security . . . Sometimes masses of people are uncontrollable, and for the good of soccer, I hope that this never happens again. No one wants this, and none of us like it,” he said.
Querétaro was winning the match 2-0 when the fighting broke out, but the league left it officially suspended, awarding no win or loss to either team.
Cartel gunmen with a machine gun mounted in the back of a truck in Culiacán last Thursday.
President López Obrador and United States President Donald Trump have agreed to take action against arms trafficking, according to Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard.
“The president said that by using technology in both countries we can close the border to arms trafficking that is causing deaths in Mexico,” he said. “Trump’s response was that he thought it was a very good idea . . .”
Such technology would include the installation of advanced lasers, X-rays and metal detectors at border crossings.
Ebrard said the measure could not only impede the flow of weapons into Mexico but of drugs into the U.S.
A high-level binational working group that includes Mexico’s security cabinet, its counterpart in the United States, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Landau and representatives from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will coordinate the effort against arms trafficking.
Ebrard said the group will meet for the first time next week.
López Obrador told Trump he was concerned that the Sinaloa Cartel used .50-caliber, armor-piercing weapons against security forces last week in violent clashes in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
The two spoke by telephone on Saturday.
Mexico estimates that 80% of weapons used by criminals in Mexico come from the U.S.
Homicide numbers remain high but are trending downward.
Homicides declined 4.7% in September compared to August but Mexico remains on track to record its most violent year in recent history.
There were 2,825 homicides last month, the National Public Security System reported on Sunday, 123 fewer than the number recorded in August.
The five most violent states in September were Guanajuato, Jalisco, Baja California, Michoacán and México state, with 285, 239, 234, 220 and 209 murder cases respectively. Four out of every 10 homicides recorded across the country last month occurred in those five states.
With just four homicides in September, Yucatán was the least violent followed by Campeche, Baja California Sur, Aguascalientes and Durango, which recorded five, five, 11 and 12 cases respectively.
In the first nine months of the year, there was a total of 25,890 homicides, a 2.4% increase compared to the same period of 2018, which was the most violent year on record. The figure represents an average of 95 homicides per day.
However, the murder rate is trending downwards: September was the fourth consecutive month in which there were fewer homicides than the month before. The National Guard, the new federal security force, was deployed nationally at the start of July.
Extortion, kidnappings, home burglaries, domestic violence and drug dealing also declined in September but femicides increased to 91 cases compared to 90 in August.
A total of 166,832 crimes was reported across the country last month, a 4.8% decline compared to the previous month.
Colima, Baja California Sur and Baja California recorded the highest per-capita crime rates in September, with 268, 244 and 240 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants respectively.
Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez said on October 9 that she was confident that the National Guard would achieve positive results in the fight against violence and insecurity “very soon” but stressed that the strengthening of municipal and state police forces was also crucial for the pacification of the country.
Last week was particularly challenging for the nation’s security forces. Thirteen state police officers were killed in a cartel ambush in Michoacán, a soldier was among 15 people slain in a clash between the army and gangsters in Guerrero and a member of the National Guard was killed during a wave of cartel attacks in Culiacán, Sinaloa, last Thursday that followed a botched operation to arrest one of the sons of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Having lived in Mexico for more than a decade, I’ve learned – sometimes by choice, sometimes out of necessity — to adapt many of my favorite recipes to incorporate local ingredients.
All in all, I have lots of fun in the kitchen, often discovering pleasantly surprising and delicious dishes and combinations hitherto unimagined, either because of cost or availability.
A good example is coconuts. Where I live – Mazatlán — fresh coconuts are easy to find all year round. Vendors sell them from street carts or on the beach for about 40 pesos apiece, whacking off a small opening at the top with a machete and inserting a straw for drinking the fresh, sweet, preferably ice-cold coconut water.
When you’re done with that, they’ll whack the coconut again, scrape out the meat with a special tool that looks kind of like an ice cream scoop, and give it back to you with toothpicks or a fork for eating. Locals like to doctor up the coconut meat with lime juice, chile powder and all kinds of hot sauces; I like it just plain.
One day I realized (in what I like to call a “duh” moment) that I could get the whole shebang “para llevar” – to go – and take it home to use instead of canned sweetened “coconut milk.”
There is no shortage of coconuts for enjoying on the spot, or taking home and using in the kitchen.
They’ll put the chunks of coconut meat and the water in a plastic bag, tied at the top. Then I just whir the fresh meat and water in a blender and voila! add it to a curry or smoothie. Sometimes I’ll shred the coconut meat and dry it in my dehydrator for using in granola, fruit salads, cookies, etc.
Coconuts, believe it or not, have seasons too. There are certain times of the year when they’re young and new, and the flesh will be softer, almost custard-like, and sweeter; later, as they’re on the tree longer, the meat gets that familiar crispy-hard texture we’re used to.
Personally, I prefer them when they’re tiernos – soft – but feel myself fortunate that I can have them all year round, in whatever state.
Here are a couple of my favorite go-to recipes. Even if you’re not living in paradise like I am, you can still make yourself a little taste of the tropics!
Oatmeal with coconut, mango & pineapple
This is one of my favorite easy breakfasts. Why use plain old raisins when you can have this delightful tropical treat instead?!
2 cups water
2/3 cup whole oats
½ tsp. cinnamon
2-3 Tbsp. dried or fresh mangos, chopped small
2-3 Tbsp. dried pineapple, chopped small
1-2 Tbsp. dried coconut, unsweetened if possible
Place water, cinnamon, coconut and dried fruit in small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Whisk in oatmeal; bring to boil again. Turn off heat, cover and let stand 3 minutes. Sweeten to taste and serve with milk or yogurt. Serves 1.
Dennis’s green curry
This recipe is a bit complex, but the flavors make it well worth your while.
2-3 sweet potatoes or 1 small butternut squash
2 coarsely chopped shallots or 1 yellow onion
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger root, peeled & minced
2 jalapenos or serrano green chiles, to taste
½ cup plus 3 Tbsp. water
¾ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
Meat & water from 1-2 fresh coconuts, blended, or 1 can coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 Tbsp. each sugar and salt
About 1 cup chicken, fish, shrimp or tofu, cut in bite-size pieces
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
Combine shallots or onion, garlic, ginger, chiles, 3 Tbsp. water, ½ cup cilantro. Blend in blender or chop & mix well. You want a paste. Use a mortar and pestle if need be. Set aside.
Put about ½ cup fresh blended coconut “milk” into a medium saucepan and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. (If using canned coconut milk, shake well first.) Cook, stirring a little, for about 3 minutes.
Add the paste and cook for 1-2 minutes, mashing, scraping and stirring it all together. Add the rest of the coconut milk, the remaining ½ cup water, the sugar, salt and chicken, fish, shrimp or tofu.
Raise heat to high and bring the curry to a rolling boil. Stir well, reduce heat to maintain a gentle boil and continue cooking till meat is ready, about 15 minutes. (Tofu may need less cooking time.)
Meanwhile cut all but a few basil leaves crosswise into thin strips. When curry is cooked stir in the basil strips and remaining ¼ cup cilantro. Garnish with 1-2 whole basil leaves. Serve with basmati or other white rice. Yield: 2-3 servings.
Mexico City’s English literature enclave Under the Volcano Books has offered the city a meticulously curated selection of used English books since 2011.
Store owner Grant Cogswell has worn a number of hats throughout his storied career. After being heavily involved in Seattle, U.S., politics in the 1990s and early 2000s, he visited Mexico City and Oaxaca in 2005.
Picked up on a whim while killing time for a dentist appointment, it was the Moon Travel Guide to Mexico City that put the place on his radar.
He recounts his first impressions of the sprawling capital city on the eve of his 10th anniversary of moving there. He remarks on the friendliness of the people, and how the city seemed to have something he’d been searching for unsuccessfully back home.
“After 15 years of trying to foment urban life in Seattle,” he says as he shelves the latest stock, “here it was, pre-served. You know, this town’s got its problems, but I found it to be shockingly gentle and pleasant and livable.”
He decided that if his life in Seattle ever went down the tubes, he’d move down to Mexico City. When that happened in 2009, he did just that.
The city was exactly what he needed at the time.
“This city saved my life,” he says.
After a year or so of getting back on his feet, he told himself, “The only thing it’s missing is an English bookstore.”
In 2011, he opened Under the Volcano Books in the same neighborhood that attracted Kerouac and Ginsberg half a century before, where William S. Burroughs shot his wife in the head instead of the beer can atop it.
A couple of years later, he moved the operation to the American Legion building in La Condesa, and has seen the city change dramatically since then.
Most notably, the air was cleaner 10 years ago. It’s also gotten more expensive. Although everyone was on Facebook, the complete digitization of business and society was still in its nascent stage.
“It felt a lot like I would imagine the 1940s did in the United States.”
He has especially noted a change in the last year.
“There’s been a huge influx of people from L.A., New York and the Bay Area who are working remotely and who are living in Airbnbs because that’s cheap to them.”
This influx of digital nomads has reversed the ratio of the clientele he sees in the store. When he began, he estimated that 80% of his clients were Mexican, and the other 20% foreigners. Now he says those numbers have more or less reversed.
One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the store’s ability to be a cozy, welcoming space for people of different tongues and customs to come together and forge new friendships and ideas.
Anyone who visits the store will get a healthy helping of Cogswell’s characteristic flair for the superlative. He claims with no apparent uncertainty that George Eliot’s Middlemarch is the greatest book ever written in the English language, and to argue a contrasting opinion is futile.
Good luck finding a book on the shelves he hasn’t read. The man is a wealth of information about not only what’s on the shelves, but also the trends they follow in how they fly off or hang around.
He can tell you what’s in and what’s out, who is making a resurgence in the literary world and whose popularity is waning. The sweet spot for him is a moderate spike in renewed interest in an author. Too much, and he can’t hold onto them.
“A really strong resurgence, like James Baldwin is having right now, makes the books unavailable. So that’s not good.”
He says that the current literary scene is deservedly dominated by black writers, whose books he tries his hardest to maintain in stock to keep up with demand.
“I would put on that list Zadie Smith, Chimamamnda Ngozi Adichie, Colson Whitehead, Ta-Nehisi Coates. They’re kinda center-stage in literary culture right now, and they’re the best.”
For Cogswell, the store is a way to stay grounded. He calls running the store a form of healthy hoarding, a way to scratch his literary itch without having to actually hold onto an entire personal library.
“Reading is mental health. There are times when reading is my sole tether to the world.”
He is also an obsessively prolific writer. He has written a screenplay for a modernized film adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu, published a 2012 book of poetry titled The Dream of the Cold War, and is currently working on a memoir.
He doesn’t allow reading to keep him completely sane, though. During our interview, he carries around a pocketful of loose-leaf take-out menus scribbled with print so tiny and illegible only he can read it.
“People see the little pieces of paper with the tiny writing and act like you’re a crazy person,” he says. “And that would be a true observation. No art is made without some concessions to madness.”
Do you know someone you think would be a good subject for Expat Stories? Send us your nomination with a short explanation telling us a little about the person and why you think he or she would be interesting to Mexico News Daily readers, along with contact information for the nominee.
Zubale founders Allison Campbell and Sebastian Monroy.
The future looks bright for a Mexico City-based startup that crowdsources independent contractors to complete tasks for retailers: it has just raised US $4.4 million in capital and plans to expand into other Latin American countries.
Zubale is the brainchild of Allison Campbell and Sebastian Monroy, two graduates of Harvard Business School. Via an online platform and mobile, the company links people looking for short-term work assignments with large corporations.
The jobs can range from conducting market research for a brand to stocking shelves, checking prices and building displays in retail stores.
Since its launch, Zubale contractors have completed 170,000 tasks for consumer brands and in the past year the company’s permanent workforce has quadrupled from 10 to 40 full-time employees.
Campbell told the technology news website TechCrunch that Zubale can save companies money by providing them with casual fit-for-purpose contractors, who have the option of being remunerated with mobile phone credit or digital vouchers that can be used to make purchases online.
She explained that many of the startup’s contractors choose to be paid that way because many Mexicans don’t have bank accounts.
“They love us,” Campbell said, explaining that people who complete tasks listed on Zubale can “increase their income by 40%.”
Contractors complete on average 20 tasks a week, she said, adding that many complete numerous jobs for one retailer which saves them from having to move from one location to another.
The company now has US $4.4 million in seed funding from both venture capital firms and private investors.
Campbell said Zubale eventually plans to enter countries such as Brazil, Peru and Chile. She explained that a lot of the company’s success is due to the buzz it has created on social media, adding that word of mouth has also helped Zubale to attract new contractors.
While there is scope for the company to offer a service that matches freelance labor for a wider variety of tasks, Zubale plans to continue to focus on meeting the needs of large retailers for the foreseeable future.
A Walmart store in Culiacán, Sinaloa, offered refuge to shoppers trapped inside the store on Thursday when fighting erupted between Sinaloa Cartel gunmen and security forces.
The shoppers, mostly women, were afraid to leave the store because of the shooting, and Walmart obliged, providing food, blankets, diapers and mattresses.
“I’m one of the people who’s still inside the Walmart, and honestly, it was scary but I have nothing to complain about,” one Facebook user wrote. “Walmart La Isla, in Culiacán, has treated us very well, protecting us, giving us something to eat and a place to sleep. Now it’s almost 7:00am and I want to leave, but they haven’t opened up the store yet, and we can still hear shooting outside.”
On Friday, Walmart said it will gradually reopen its stores in Culiacán, which have been closed because of the fighting. There are 24 Walmart stores in Culiacán, of which four remained closed as of Friday afternoon.
President López Obrador, or AMLO as he is commonly known, is approaching the completion of his first year in office. To help readers gain a better understanding of the man and his administration — from an alphabetical standpoint, at least — Mexico News Daily has prepared a glossary of common key words and phrases of the president and his government during their first 10 ½ months in office.
A is for austerity:
“There can’t be a rich government with a poor people” is a common catchphrase of President López Obrador and indeed AMLO has made cutting costs, and especially government waste, a central aim of his administration.
The salaries of high-ranking government officials – including that of the president – have been slashed, thousands of federal jobs have been cut and the presidential plane is up for sale.
Lower-house lawmakers passed an austerity bill last week that puts further limits on government spending.
Austerity: AMLO flies commercial.
But while the austerity measures have been widely popular, the president has faced criticism for cutting costs in some areas (see H, for example).
B is for baseball:
A president occasionally needs some downtime and for AMLO that sometimes means picking up a baseball bat and batting away the pressure. While president-elect last year, López Obrador shared a short clip of himself on Twitter while practicing baseball.
“I may be under severe pressure, but I take time for myself and come here to bat, to practice baseball. It relaxes me,” he told his followers.
However, the president’s predilection for the sport has also landed him in hot water.
After he announced in August that the federal government would give the state of Sonora more than a billion pesos to purchase two stadiums that will become baseball schools, critics quickly claimed that the outlay was incongruent with the president’s austerity in other areas.
Baseball: batter up.
C is for combatting corruption:
The president can wax lyrical for hours about his efforts to combat corruption.
In September, AMLO declared that there is “zero corruption” in the government, claiming that he had “swept away” what has developed over the past 30 years.
He has also said that his government could hold a public consultation to let the people decide if past presidents should be pursued legally for corruption and other wrongdoings.
Since the new government took office, the highest profile corruption-related arrest has been that of former cabinet secretary Rosario Robles, who is currently in prison awaiting trial for the so-called “Master Fraud” embezzlement scheme.
The government is also seeking to arrest former Pemex CEO Emilio Lozoya on corruption charges. But he has evaded capture and authorities believe he has fled to Europe.
Corruption: first high-profile arrest was that of Rosario Robles.
D is for don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t betray the people (No mentir, no robar, no traicionar al pueblo)
A pithy phrase commonly used by the president to describe what he sees as the government’s responsibility while in office.
E is for Economy:
Ultimately the performance of the economy under López Obrador’s leadership will be a key indicator of the success or otherwise of his presidency.
Growing the economy amid a global slowdown and ongoing trade tensions with the United States will be a significant challenge for the president.
In just 10 ½ months in office, he has seen banks and international organizations cut their forecasts for 2019 growth over and over again.
AMLO was still clinging to his prediction of 2% growth in July but after a decline in the economy in the first quarter and 0.0% growth in the second, that outcome looks fanciful at best (and he has been mum on the subject since).
The International Monetary Fund predicted this month that the economy will grow by just 0.4% in 2019.
Economy: forecasts have been dropping all year.
F is for the Fourth Transformation:
In the early 19th century, Mexico gained independence from Spain and later the same century Mexico underwent a period of liberalization known as La Reforma.
In the early 20th century, Porfirio Díaz was ousted from power at the beginning of the decade-long Mexican Revolution and now – according to the president himself – Mexico is undergoing its fourth transformation (4T for short), a byword for the profound change López Obrador says he is bringing to the country.
The term, as expected, isn’t to everyone’s liking. Former president Felipe Calderón called it “pretentious.”
G is for the G20:
When the G20 leaders’ summit was held in Japan in June, López Obrador was the only G20 country leader who was absent, sending Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard in his stead.
G20: AMLO’s predecessor used to jet everywhere in the presidential Dreamliner, including G20 summits.
While most new leaders would jump at the chance to appear on the international stage with the world’s most powerful politicians, AMLO chose to stay at home, explaining that he didn’t want to be drawn into a “direct confrontation” between the United States and China and that he had more pressing issues to deal with in Mexico.
The president also decided not to attend last month’s United Nations General Assembly in New York, again sending Ebrard in his place. He hasn’t left Mexico since he was sworn in as president on December 1.
In May, hospitals and national health institutes warned that they were on the brink of insolvency due to budget cuts and parents of children with cancer protested in August due to an ongoing shortage of chemotherapy drugs.
A shipment of cancer medication, which AMLO said would last through the end of the year, was finally flown in from France in late September.
Hospitals: shortages of medications and supplies were a problem earlier this year.
I is for impunity:
Upon taking office, López Obrador pledged to put an end not only to corruption but also to impunity. Delivering his first annual report last month, he cited pipeline petroleum theft as one example of a scourge permitted under past governments that is no longer tolerated.
AMLO has also set up a truth commission to investigate the case of the 43 students that disappeared in Guerrero in 2014 and vowed to bring those responsible to justice. However, new search operations for the students yielded nothing and many people arrested in connection with the case have been released from jail.
In keeping with the “common man” image he has long cultivated, López Obrador has continued to travel at times in his own Volkswagen Jetta rather than government-owned vehicles.
Jetta: AMLO’s preferred ride.
The day he was sworn in as president, López Obrador traveled to Congress in his Jetta and in January he gave Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez a ride in the compact car through the streets of downtown Mexico City.
K is for Kingpins:
El Chapo is in jail but El Mencho (Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes), El Mayo (Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael Zambada) and El Marro (Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel leader José Antonio Yépez), among others, continue to ply their trade at the head of powerful criminal organizations.
The president said in January that the drug war is over and arresting drug lords is no longer a priority, but after Thursday’s failed operation to arrest Joaquín Guzmán’s son, Ovidio Guzmán López, security analyst Alejandro Hope begged to differ.
“. . . Contrary to what President López Obrador announced some months ago, the policy of beheading criminal groups persists, for good or for bad,” he wrote on Twitter.
• Watch for the second installment of the ABCs of AMLO next Saturday.
Guzmán family lawyers give a press conference in Culiacán.
Lawyers for the family of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán thanked the Mexican government and President López Obrador for freeing El Chapo’s son, Ovidio Guzmán, during a violent clash in Culiacán on Thursday.
Lawyers José Luis González Meza and Juan Pablo Badillo Soto gave a press conference on Friday to offer their own version of the events that terrorized residents of the Sinaloa capital.
They said authorities found Ovidio Guzmán in a house in Tres Ríos, in northern Culiacán. He was arrested, interrogated and beaten for five hours, but was later released because there was not enough evidence to hold him, the lawyers claimed.
The word then came down from higher authorities that he be released, they said.
“. . . with a great deal of good judgement,” President López Obrador ordered his release. The lawyers praised the president as a “human and Christian” president for the decision.
They also denied that associates of the Guzmán family were involved in the attacks on security forces on Thursday. One report said they pointed the finger at opponents of the López Obrador government.
On Friday, the president acknowledged that the decision to release Guzmán was made by the security cabinet, and that he had personally approved it. However, the president said the Sinaloa Cartel leader was released to prevent further violence, not because of a lack of evidence.
The United States Justice Department has accused Ovidio Guzmán and his brother Joaquín Guzmán López of trafficking cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine from Mexico to the United States between 2008 and 2018.
