Coffee documentary connects Chiapas growers with Seattle cafes

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October 15, 2019

Directors Díaz Infante and Díaz San Vicente.

The untold stories behind a cup of coffee are what directors Andrés Ibáñez Díaz and Alejandro Díaz tell in their new documentary A Six Dollar Cup of Coffee, which premiered in Mexican City last week after making the rounds in the international film festival circuit.

The film focuses on a Tzeltal family that works in a coffee cooperative in Chiapas and the trend of specialty coffee in Seattle, U.S., questioning the paradigms of quality in the coffee world.

“We opted for this type of documentary because we’re big-time coffee drinkers, we have up to five or six cups a day,” said co-director Ibáñez. “And although we like it a lot, we didn’t know from where it came or what it entailed.”

Alejandro Díaz assured viewers that A Six Dollar Cup of Coffee isn’t a documentary meant to make them feel bad for drinking their favorite pick-me-up.

“What we hope to do is to initiate a conversation. That coffee drinkers look at the product with instinctive eyes and check the label before consuming it, or that when they want a coffee, they analyze whether it’s good to go to the chain store or walk another block to buy it from their neighborhood cafe,” he said.

A six dollar cup of coffee (trailer español) from Andres Ibañez Diaz Infante on Vimeo.

“You shouldn’t be shocked by a six-dollar cup of coffee,” says a person interviewed for the trailer for the film. “You should be shocked by a one-dollar cup of coffee. Because if a cup of coffee costs one dollar, and you truly know and understand the process and where that coffee came from, someone is getting screwed along the way.”

Ibáñez explained that coffee from Mexico to Ecuador is cultivated by indigenous people.

“We have no idea who is paying the producers, but it’s a chain of intermediaries that usually pays them very little,” he said.

Despite the market benefiting the farmers the least, the directors found them to be resilient, positive and self-affirming. Far from seeing themselves as victims, they saw themselves as enterprising producers of a quality product.

“The first thing we encountered [at the cooperative] was a syncretic Mayan/Catholic ceremony to celebrate the beginning of the coffee planting season, and we delved into the cosmogony,” said Ibáñez. “And their stories blew our minds.”

It took Ibáñez and Díaz five years to complete the documentary, which was shown at film festivals in Havana, Vancouver, Turkey, Spain, Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as in Querétaro and Guadalajara.

“We learned to be patient because the documentary moved at different rhythms from our own . . . We had to wait until the coffee was ready to be harvested . . . It was a long process, but it filled us with satisfaction,” said Díaz.

Source: La Jornada (sp)

Terminator filmed in Spain due to insecurity in Mexico City

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Simon Schatzberg

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October 15, 2019

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Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to Madrid instead of Mexico.

Producers of the film Terminator: Dark Fate decided on Madrid over Mexico City as a filming location because of insecurity in the Mexican capital, director Tim Miller said.

At a press conference in Mexico to promote the upcoming film, Miller said that a few factors pushed the production to forgo filming in Mexico, even though much of the sixth installment of the Terminator franchise takes place in the capital. Specifically, the Terminator team was nervous after the 2017 murder of Carlos Muñoz Portal, a location scout for the Netflix series Narcos in Temascalapa, México state.

“The last nail in the coffin was the murder of a scout as he was looking for locations for the series,” Miller said.

The director added that budget concerns also played into the decision to film in Spain; because the crew had already been filming in Budapest, it would have been more expensive to bring them to Mexico.

The film was shot in the Madrid neighborhoods of Pueblo Nuevo and Lavapiés, although changes were made to make it seem more Mexican. The façade of a mechanic’s shop was repainted with the name “México Motor,” and many cars were painted pink and white to make them look like Mexican taxis.

The new film, which will be released on November 1, will be a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and was produced by James Cameron, who directed the first two Terminator films.

The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, and also features Mexican actor Diego Boneta, known for his performance in the Netflix series Luis Miguel.

Source: 24-horas (sp)

Dismissal for displaying swastika tattoo goes to Supreme Court

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Cody Copeland

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October 15, 2019

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Judge Piña has released a statement calling the tattoo a form of hate speech.

The case of a man who was fired from his job for refusing to cover or remove a swastika tattoo has gone to Mexico’s Supreme Court.

The man claims to have been the victim of discrimination for exercising his right to freedom of expression and seeks compensation for “moral damages” from his former employers who, along with many of his former coworkers, are Jewish.

Presiding Judge Norma Lucía Piña Hernández is expected to absolve the company of wrongdoing when she presents her ruling on Wednesday.

While recognizing the plaintiff’s right to freedom of expression, Piña stated that the Nazi symbol is a form of hate speech and in this case is not protected by the law.

She said that in the context of a workplace employing people who are mostly of Jewish origin or the Jewish religion, it creates a climate of discrimination.

“The court recognizes that bearing a tattoo is permitted and one must not be discriminated for it, but in this case the symbol that the plaintiff bore represents an apologia of hate or anti-Semitic hate speech . . .” the judge said in a statement.

The statement goes on to declare that the company’s decision to fire the employee was “valid, reasonable and proportional,” and that it did not constitute an act of discrimination.

Sources: Milenio (sp), AM (sp)

Earthquakes chronicled in Aztec codex reveal potential threat to 52 million

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MND Staff

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October 15, 2019

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The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt has been more active in the past than previously thought. — The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt.

Earthquakes chronicled in Aztec codices and the accounts of Spanish missionaries have led seismologists to believe that Mexico is more seismically active than previously thought.

In a recent issue of the journal Tectonics, scientists offer details about a series of scientifically undocumented earthquakes that occurred in Mexico during the past 450 years.

They looked specifically at quakes that occurred along a 1,000-kilometer-long stretch of volcanoes from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean.

Known as the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, the region is home to 52 million people, or 40% of Mexico’s population.

While only a small number of earthquakes have occurred along the belt since the advent of instrumental seismology in the early 20th century, information uncovered from codices and colonial-era accounts suggest that it is indeed quite susceptible to telluric movements.

One ancient codex, the Anales de Tlatelolco, says that an almost five-kilometer-long crack opened up in central Mexico during a series of earthquakes that lasted up to five days in February 1575.

That seismic event and others recorded in ancient texts were studied over a period of eight years by a team of Mexican seismologists, who attempted to ascertain the magnitude of the earthquakes.

Gerardo Suárez, a researcher at the National Autonomous University (UNAM) and co-author of the report, said that if the earthquake history of a region is compared to a feature film, the era of modern monitoring is just a blip on the screen.

“That hundred years of seismicity is like watching just two or three seconds of the movie,” he said.

Looking at records that pre-date modern earthquake records allows seismologists the opportunity “to see a few more frames,” Suárez added.

Zachary Ross, a geophysicist at the California University of Technology, agreed, telling National Geographic that geologists and seismologists often have to assume the role of a historian in order to get a fuller picture of earthquake activity in any particular region.

Even cave paintings and oral histories that have been passed from one generation to the next over long periods of time can be valuable to seismologists.

However, even more valuable are texts such as the records written by the missionary Fray Antonio Tello.

He chronicled an earthquake on December 27, 1568 that occurred in the western part of the volcanic belt.

Known as the temblor grande, the quake damaged churches and convents, triggered landslides, turned soil into bubbling fluid and opened up cracks in the ground. The UNAM team estimates that it was a 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

F. Ramón Zúñiga, a UNAM seismologist not involved with the study, said the reason why earthquakes are triggered along the volcanic belt is still being debated.

However, he added that it is now clear that earthquakes take place along its entire stretch.

Suárez said that if a moderately powerful crustal earthquake occurs along the belt in an area that is highly populated, such as Guadalajara, there is potential for “a great deal of damage.”

He said he hopes that news of the historical earthquakes, as detailed in Tectonics, will make people living along the volcanic belt more aware of the danger that lurks beneath the ground.

Source: National Geographic (sp)

With 10 days to go, Grand Prix tickets sell out for fifth year in a row

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Simon Schatzberg

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October 15, 2019

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Sergio Pérez is the top-ranked Mexican driver at this year's race.

With less than two weeks to go before Mexico City’s Formula 1 Grand Prix race, tickets have already sold out.

It is the fifth year in a row that tickets have sold out for the event, which will take place October 25-27 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

Federico González Compeán, general manager of the race, said he was happy Mexicans are responding favorably and showing interest in motorsports.

“We’re very excited about the response, and the interest of the passionate Mexican public,” he said. “Each one of them and every fan has been a fundamental part of making this event the best of all. For the fifth year in a row, we’re working on creating an excellent experience for our guests.”

British driver Lewis Hamilton is the top-ranked driver at the event, followed by Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas. The top-ranked Mexican driver is Sergio Pérez.

The Formula 1 came back to Mexico in 2015 after a 23-year break. But earlier this year it appeared the race would leave once again after the federal government said it was not prepared to help finance it.

However, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum made an agreement in August with entertainment company Grupo CIE to hold annual Grand Prix events until 2022, although starting in 2020 the event will be renamed the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Private-sector funding has replaced the 400 million pesos (US $20.76 million) provided by the government in recent years. That money has been redirected to the construction of the Maya Train rail project.

More than 30,000 racing fans attend the event, one-fifth of whom travel from the United States to see it.

Source: La Razón (sp), Esto (sp)

11 criminal groups operate in Guanajuato, 4 have links to police or government

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MND Staff

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October 15, 2019

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In seven municipalities, officers' allegiances may not be to citizens.

Eleven criminal groups operate in Guanajuato, four of which have links to official security forces or government, according to a new study about crime in the state.

Presented in Irapuato on Monday by a former National Public Security System chief, the study by consultancy firm Lantia Consultores said two criminal groups with a national presence operate in the state along with four “regional mafias” and five fuel theft gangs.

Juan Manuel Alcántara Soria said the number of criminal groups in Guanajuato has increased from six to 11 in the past two years and that a turf war between two of them – the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel – is largely responsible for the high number of homicides that has made the state the most violent in Mexico since October 2017.

Criminal groups have links to authorities in at least seven municipalities, the study said.

In León, Pénjamo, Irapuato, Salamanca and Jerécuaro there is evidence of links between criminal groups and municipal police or the local council.

In Valle de Santiago, evidence points to collusion between organized crime and municipal police or the council as well as state police.

In Villagrán, there are signs of complicity between organized crime and municipal police or the council as well as with federal security forces.

Links have been identified between the suspected leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez Ortiz, and Villagrán Mayor Juan Lara Mendoza, the study said.

Lara has previously rejected allegations that he is in cahoots with the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel and denies knowing “El Marro.”

Low police salaries, insufficient training and poor quality or non-existent equipment are among the reasons why criminal groups have been able to establish connections with or infiltrate security forces, the study said.

It also said there is a link between the infiltration of authorities by organized crime and the high number of police deaths.

Guanajuato leads the country in police killings.

Thirty-nine police have been murdered in Guanajuato this year, more than any other state.

Michoacán, where 14 state police officers were killed in a cartel ambush on Monday, has recorded the second highest number of police deaths with 37.

The study said there were 1,878 homicides perpetrated by criminal groups in Guanajuato in the first seven months of 2019, a 7% increase compared to the same period last year.

Alcántara said that León, Salamanca and Irapuato were the most violent municipalities in the first seven months of the year, recording 252, 249 and 243 homicides respectively.

He said homicides spiked after President López Obrador took office last December and when petroleum pipelines were closed in January as part of the government’s crackdown on fuel theft.

The closure of the pipelines, Alcántara said, prompted criminal groups to turn to extortion, kidnapping and other forms of robbery.

He claimed that state and municipal authorities have failed to respond adequately to the violence generated by organized crime groups and have manipulated crime statistics to support their denial of the extent of the problem.

The former security official said that a security strategy for Guanajuato must be based on crime prevention at the municipal level and charged that the deployment of the navy or National Guard won’t be effective unless authorities of all three levels of government share information and work together to combat violence.

Source: Periódico Correo (sp), Zona Franca (sp)

Another threat to coral: sewage discharges by Cozumel hotels

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MND Staff

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October 14, 2019

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One of the tubes used to dispose of Cozumel sewage. — One of the pipes used to dispose of sewage.

Just after environmental authorities closed some of the reefs around Cozumel due to the presence of white band disease, another threat to coral has been detected: sewage discharges from hotels on the island.

Renowned speleologist Germán Yañez has discovered at least 12 pipes that carry sewage from hotels to reefs around Cozumel, the newspaper Milenio reported. One hotel disposes wastewater via a cave that opens up to the Caribbean Sea.

The hotels responsible won’t be made public until the environmental protection agency Profepa has investigated.

“I’m not against development but they [hotel owners] have to be more aware,” Yañez said.

“What they really have to do is find a precise balance between [looking after] the environment and the economic spillover that the hotel industry generates,” he added. “The message is that they have to update all their practices . . . their methods to manage wastewater . . .”

Claudia Padilla, a researcher at the National Fisheries Institute, said that coral around Cozumel doesn’t have the capacity to fight off white band disease – an ailment that destroys the tissue of Caribbean acroporid coral – because the seawater is contaminated and warmer than usual.

“What coral, the reef environment and a lot of coastal ecosystems need is good quality water and that doesn’t start at the reef . . . it starts on land,” she said.

Iliana García, an expert with the non-government environmental organization Amigos de Sian Ka’an, said that wastewater disposal is a problem across Quintana Roo, explaining that only half of homes and businesses in the state are connected to proper drainage systems.

She also said the federal Environment Secretariat has failed to update regulations that govern wastewater disposal for 23 years, even though it should do so every five years.

“The parameters are very lax at the moment, they’re no longer consistent with the [tourism] activity . . . in Quintana Roo, we now have a significant number of hotel rooms,” García said.

Reefs off the coast of the state are also under threat from an aggressive bleaching problem and the annual arrival of sargassum, experts warn. In addition, scientists have issued an alert about a decline in coral spawning in Mexico’s Caribbean Sea.

However, the Quintana Roo government is addressing the problem. Three thousand colonies of lab-grown coral were planted in the Garrafón reef near Cancún in late August and authorities are aiming to plant 265,000 coral colonies in reefs off the state’s coast by 2022.

Improving connectivity to Quintana Roo’s sewage systems also looms as a key challenge to ensure the long-term survival of the vast networks of coral off Mexico’s Caribbean coast, part of the extensive Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Life in Mexico seems normal until you consider how little it costs

By

Janet Blaser

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October 14, 2019

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Salud Digna is a major chain of clinics with over 100 locations. — Salud Digna is a major chain of clinics that offer low prices on a range of tests.

I’ve lived full-time in Mexico for more than a decade and so my life just seems, well, “normal.”

Then I’ll have a conversation with a tourist or go to the States for a visit and realize, once again, how good we have it here. Everything – and I mean everything – costs so much less that it’s kind of unbelievable.

One of the things people always want to know about is medical and dental care. I just finished having two crowns put in, work I’d put off for too many years because of how much it would have cost in California, where I’m from. My dentists, two sisters with multiple university degrees and a sparkling modern office, have changed my “delayed maintenance” into a new shiny smile.

Those basic crowns cost about US $140, with an extra charge for the one post. Now I’m thinking about replacing my amalgam fillings with porcelain ones, which would set me back about $35 each (barring complications). All paid for with an easy, interest-free payment plan.

There are reasons why medical tourism has become such a fast-growing industry in Mexico. In terms of medical care, a basic office visit for most doctors, even specialists, costs between $25 and $35. Appointments are usually available the same week. Or you can go to the emergency room at any of the many private or Red Cross clinics and be seen by a doctor for under $20.

In Mazatlán, beer is cheaper than water.

And it doesn’t have to be for a real emergency: if you need a prescription for flu symptoms, relief from “Montezuma’s revenge,” or treatment for twisting your ankle, they’ll gladly assist.

Mexico also has several big reputable laboratory chains with clinics throughout the country. These offer all kinds of blood tests, vision exams and glasses, imaging (like bone density scans) and more at unbelievable prices, in spotless, professional, well-run centers with the newest equipment and highly trained personnel. You can make an appointment by phone or online for the next day or just walk in and wait in line.

Here’s an example: At Salud Digna – one of the biggest clinics, with more than 100 locations all over Mexico – the “Women’s Package” includes a mammogram with ultrasound, Pap smear, EKG and bone density scan, for about $25. A complete adult package, which checks 30 parameters, including a general urine exam, iron, glucose, total proteins, sugars, cholesterol and triglycerides, is only $12.

A basic blood test for cholesterol, glucose and triglyceride levels costs – are you ready? — $4.50. You pick up the results the next day and then meet with your regular doctor, or one of theirs, to go over them.

Another area where costs are unbelievably low is basic utilities. While these can vary widely depending on where you live in Mexico, the bottom line is still much, much less than in the U.S.A. Water – which in California 15 years ago cost me about $75 a month – has never been more than $6 a month here. My monthly electric bill hovers at about $10, and might increase to $30 in the summer when I’m running the a/c a lot.

I used to think my cell phone and internet bills were high until my grown kids set me straight. Whereas they pay anywhere from $60-$80 or more per month, I pay $20 a month for 10 megas. My cell phone plan costs about the same, and includes unlimited calls anywhere in the world and free Facebook and WhatsApp. I’ve had arguments with people who don’t believe that’s what I pay, but I’m telling you – it’s true!

Let’s see, what else. My cat needed a check-up (she frequently comes home with assorted cuts and scrapes) so I called Dr. César, the mobile vet I’ve used for years. Yep, that’s right, he comes to your house with a big tackle box full of supplies, and for about $15 he takes care of simple injections, routine vaccinations and exams.

If it’s something more complicated – say surgery — of course he recommends another local vet with an office (where a basic visit costs $30). I can call or message him via WhatsApp, and he always comes within a day or two or right away if it’s an emergency.

The list really could go on and on. Going out to eat – breakfast, lunch, dinner or everyone’s favorite, Happy Hour – is laughingly low-cost when compared to the U.S. Again, while these costs will vary in different cities and at different restaurants, I can tell you definitively that a nice breakfast or lunch in Mazatlán will not even cost you $10.

A “fancy” dinner? Expect to spend a maximum of $15-$25 each, for steak, salmon, fresh tuna or shrimp, etc. plus drinks. Oh – and Happy Hour? In Mazatlán, beer really is cheaper than water, because of Pacifico’s long-time presence here.

My tastes run toward a cold Chardonnay at the end of the day, and at barely $5 a glass, my Happy Hour runs through sunset and into the early evening.

What’s not to love?!

Janet Blaser has been a writer, editor and storyteller her entire life, writing 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.

Pemex bribery mechanism revealed at meeting with Israeli investigators

By

MND Staff

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October 14, 2019

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Agents working for Oro Negro learned how to pay bribes to Pemex. — Agents working for Oro Negro learned how to pay bribes at the state oil company.

Two senior Pemex officials were secretly recorded explaining how to engage in bribery at the state oil company during a 2017 dinner with two former Israeli intelligence agents.

Two ex-agents of Mossad, a man and a woman who were employed by the Israeli investigation company Black Cube, passed themselves off as representatives of a United Arab Emirates (UAE) investor interested in buying the Mexican oilfield services company Oro Negro.

In that context, the private investigators – who were actually hired by Oro Negro – invited former Pemex drilling and services chief José Carlos Pacheco Ledesma and former exploration and production deputy director Luis Sergio Guaso Montoya to dinner at Sir Winton Churchill’s restaurant in Mexico City.

Audio recordings made during the meeting were presented as evidence in a lawsuit filed by Oro Negro against the Mexican government last year and have now been reviewed by media organizations including the newspapers El Universal and The Wall Street Journal.

Oro Negro claims that Pemex drove it into bankruptcy because it refused to pay bribes and is seeking US $700 million in damages, a payout which would be a heavy burden for an oil company that has in excess of US $100 billion in debt.

According to a report published Monday by El Universal, Pacheco revealed a range of details about corruption at Pemex during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, focusing specifically on the period between 2012 and 2016 when Emilio Lozoya – who is currently sought by authorities on corruption charges – was at the helm of the state-run company.

Pacheco told the investigators which Pemex officials had to be paid bribes to in order to win contracts, how large the bribes had to be and how much of that money ended up in Lozoya’s pocket.

He also provided details about how much had to be paid in order to arrange an appointment with the Pemex CEO – up to US $100,000 – and how the bribe money was laundered.

Pacheco explained that Pemex officials often used sham companies operated by their children to collect and launder bribes.

Pemex directors had received up to US $5 million in exchange for a single contract, Pacheco said at one stage in the conversation, adding that the amount that the purported UAE investor would have to be pay would likely be less because the deal would involve taking over contracts already awarded to Oro Negro.

However, he added that bribe money also has to “permeate” the lower ranks of Pemex in order for a deal to go ahead.

Both Pacheco and Guaso also said that former energy secretary Pedro Joaquín Coldwell was aware of corruption at the state oil company and “also received his part” of the bribes. Coldwell rejected the accusation in an interview with the broadcaster Univision.

After the private investigators asked how a bribe would be disguised, Pacheco explained again that payments are usually made to companies with links to the corrupt officials.

“There are deputy directors, for example, that his son is the one responsible” for collecting payments, he said. “A lot of times everyone knows it.”

Asked why Oro Negro had run into problems with Pemex – which canceled its contracts in late 2017 after it filed for bankruptcy protection – Pacheco said it was “an economic issue.”

Asked by a Black Cube agent whether the contracts were lost due to a failure to pay bribes, the Pemex official responded: “they didn’t have money, that is the main problem.”

During the dinner, Pacheco also told his companions that Carlos Morales, a former director of exploration and production at Pemex, collected more than 2 billion pesos (US $103.8 million at today’s exchange rate) from contractors to fund the 2012 presidential campaign of Peña Nieto.

Black Cube was hired by Oro Negro, which is suing Pemex.

No further details about the scheme were offered, El Universal said, and the Black Cube agents didn’t pursue the matter.

Lozoya, who authorities believe is on the run in Europe, has also been accused of funneling part of a US $10-million bribe that he allegedly received from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for the awarding of Pemex contracts.

Lozoya didn’t become Pemex CEO until after Peña Nieto assumed the presidency in December 2012 but part of the Odebrecht bribe was allegedly paid before he took on the role.

Pacheco and Guaso were not the only Pemex officials secretly recorded by Black Cube.

Between September and November 2017, several other former and then-current Pemex officials described what The Wall Street Journal called an “elaborate pay to play system” at the oil company.

The Journal reported that Pacheco acknowledged in a telephone conversation that he met with people he believed were interested in purchasing Oro Negro but he denied that he spoke about bribery.

“I worked for Pemex for more than 25 years, and I never had anything to do with that sort of thing, that sort of corruption,” he said.

Mexican and United States authorities are already investigating overpayments of hundreds of millions of dollars in the state oil company’s purchase of several fertilizer plants and a phosphorite reserve during the presidency of Peña Nieto.

The investigations have implicated high-level officials in the previous administration for bribery, including Lozoya, Coldwell and the former president himself.

United States authorities are investigating Peña Nieto in connection with the 2015 sale of a Michoacán plant owned by the fertilizer company Fertinal, El Universal said.

The former president, Coldwell and Lozoya have all denied the accusations of corruption leveled against them.

Source: El Universal (sp), The Wall Street Journal (en)

Guadalajara police seek gang of robbers targeting churchgoers

By

MND Staff

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October 14, 2019

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A Guadalajara church that has been the target of thieves.

Churchgoers have become a target for thieves in Guadalajara. Local and state authorities are collaborating with the Catholic archdiocese to apprehend a gang that has carried out four church robberies in the last two weeks.

The most recent incident occurred on Thursday morning when four armed men entered the Jesús María church in downtown Guadalajara and robbed parishioners attending a Mass.

No one was injured during the robbery, authorities said. Victims told police that the thieves were no older than 25.

The other three recent robberies also occurred at churches in the historic center of the Jalisco capital.

Mayor Ismael del Toro Castro said authorities believe that a single gang of thieves is responsible. Parishioners’ wallets and purses, mobile telephones and other possessions have been stolen, he said.

“The modus operandi is to take advantage of a time when [the churchgoers] are absorbed [in the service] . . .” del Toro said.

Two similar robberies have occurred recently in churches in Zapopan, a municipality that is part of the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

While thieves have targeted parishioners during the past two weeks, criminals have previously stolen religious objects from churches in Guadalajara and even directly threatened priests in order to steal money collected during Mass.

Eduardo Gómez Becerra, coordinator of the sacred art commission in the archdiocese of Guadalajara, said that church bells, chalices, incense burners and candelabra are the most commonly stolen objects. He added that cases of the theft of churches’ sound systems have also been reported.

To prevent robberies, many churches have installed alarm systems and security cameras, Gómez said, adding that priests have undertaken training so that they know what to do if thieves threaten them or their parishioners.

He also said that priests keep inventories of the contents of their churches so that stolen objects can be returned promptly if recovered by authorities.

However, Gómez explained that many thefts go unreported because priests don’t want to lose a whole day going through the arduous process of filing a report.

“. . . A lot of priests don’t tell us [about thefts]; a bell or a sound system is stolen but all they do is replace them, that’s it,” he said.

Source: Milenio (sp), Reforma (sp)