Trade deal hits a snag as US text differs from Mexico’s over labor inspections

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December 16, 2019

Negotiator Seade: either careless or naive.

The new North American free trade agreement has hit a snag just days after a revised version of the trilateral pact was signed in Mexico City.

The federal government has objected to legislation sent to the United States Congress that says that up to five U.S. labor attachés will monitor labor conditions in Mexico to ensure their compliance with the terms of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Mexico’s chief USMCA negotiator told a press conference Saturday that the attaché provision was not part of the modified trade deal signed by Mexican, Canadian and U.S. officials last Tuesday and ratified by the Mexican Senate two days later.

“This arrangement, the result of political decisions by the Congress and administration in the United States, was not discussed . . with Mexico and of course, we’re not in agreement,” Jesús Seade said.

“It’s important to emphasize that this proposal . . . is not part of the treaty agreed by the three countries. It’s not the result of the trilateral negotiation . . .”

He stressed that Mexico will never accept foreign labor inspectors “for a simple reason: Mexican law doesn’t allow them.”

Seade told reporters that he had sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to express “Mexico’s surprise and concern” about the changes.

“. . . While Mexico respects the United States legislative process . . . we would hope that [the bill’s] content reflects . . . the commitments that were agreed to without additional considerations or mechanisms,” the letter said.

The U.S. legislation also proposes that three inspectors will be sent to Mexico to ensure environmental compliance with the USMCA. Mexico said it wasn’t consulted about that provision either.

Seade flew to Washington D.C. on Sunday to hold urgent talks with Lighthizer and other U.S. officials with a view to resolving the two countries’ differences. But there was no further information forthcoming after he met Monday morning with Lighthizer. A press conference was scheduled to take place at 2:00pm CT.

Some Mexican business leaders also condemned the United States’ plan to send labor inspectors to the country.

Last week's signing of the new agreement, which turns out be somewhat different than thought. — Last week’s signing of the new agreement, which turns out be somewhat different than thought.

“For no reason can we accept them [U.S. attachés] coming to carry out an inspection,” said Francisco Cervantes, president of the Confederation of Industrial Chambers.

The operation of United States inspectors in Mexico is “unacceptable and violates sovereignty,” said Enoch Castellanos, president of the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation. The government “must demand” that the U.S. comply with the terms of the agreement that was reached, he said.

The Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said in a communique that Mexico could reject any U.S. diplomats posted to carry out inspections because the accreditation of labor attachés can only proceed with the consent of the host country.

Earlier this month, Mexico rejected the U.S. proposal to allow foreign officials to carry out labor inspections, arguing that it would violate the country’s sovereignty.

Instead, negotiators agreed to the establishment of three-member panels to resolve disputes. In disputes between Mexico and the United States, the panels would include one Mexican and one U.S. expert along with a third from a neutral country.

Mexican officials said that agreement meant that inspections of Mexican workplaces by the United States were no longer a possibility.

However, according to the legislation sent to the U.S. Congress, labor inspections will go ahead, focusing on eight sectors: automotive and auto parts, aerospace, baking, electronics, call centers, mining, steel and aluminum.

Inspectors would monitor compliance with USMCA terms that are reflected by new Mexican labor laws that guarantee the rights of workers to freely elect their union leaders and participate in the negotiation of collective contracts.

According to a report in the newspaper El Universal, a telephone hotline monitored by the United States Department of Labor will also be established with which workers can make complaints if they are not afforded those rights.

Speaking at his morning press conference on Monday, President López Obrador said the United States had acted “in a clandestine manner” by sending legislation to Congress that doesn’t match the deal reached last week.

However, he said it wouldn’t affect the overall implementation of the trade deal, which will replace the almost 26-year-old NAFTA.

“. . . This issue is already being addressed with the same method that we’ve used in our relations with the United States: the method of dialogue,” López Obrador said.

The emergence of the sticking point came a day after the president touted his personal relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump as a key factor in the inking of the revised USMCA deal.

“Everyone was betting that because I’m from this land [Tabasco], because I’m from the tropics, that I was going to fight with Donald Trump. He even said to me: ‘they were betting that we were going to fight but I don’t want to fight with you,’ he told me. Well I don’t want to either,” López Obrador said at a rally in Teapa, Tabasco.

The president said there has been “mutual respect” and understanding between him and Trump and that has resulted in the absence of conflict between them.

But that respect was apparently insufficient to avoid Mexico being deceived by its largest trading partner. Government critics have claimed that Seade was careless or naive in the negotiations with the United States.

“It was a serious error for Seade to have gone alone to the final negotiations on USMCA,” José Antonio Crespo, a political scientist at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, wrote on Twitter.

“If he had been advised by Mexican personnel, he wouldn’t have been tricked, or be pretending that he’d been tricked.”

Source: Milenio (sp), The Washington Post (en), El Universal (sp), EFE (sp)

Seven luxury cars stars of the government’s latest narco-auction

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Cody Copeland

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December 16, 2019

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The Lamborghini fetched the top price in the auction of seven luxury vehicles. — This Lamborghini fetched the top price.

Although airplanes, jewelry, houses and more were up for bidding, the real stars of the federal government’s “mother of all auctions” on the weekend were seven luxury vehicles that caused a sensation among bidders.

The vehicles had been seized from Héctor “H-1” Ortiz Solares, the leader of a group of hackers, when he was arrested in Guanajuato in May.

The sixth in a series of narco-auctions to sell confiscated goods to fund public works projects, this weekend’s “mega-auction” was expected to bring in 150 million pesos (US $7.9 million), but in the end it earned just 51.6 million pesos (US $2.7 million).

The sales bring the total of funds collected by the auctions to 281.6 million pesos, according to Ricardo Rodríguez Vargas, director of the System of Administrative Allocation of Assets (SAE).

The first car sold on Sunday was a 2018 McLaren 720S coupe, which went for 4.27 million pesos, while the same bidder picked up a 2019 McLaren 600 LT convertible for 3.67 million pesos.

This Ferrari Spider sold for 4.9 million pesos.

The third car on the block was a 2018 Ferrari 488 Spider convertible with an opening price of 2.98 million pesos. But the winning bidder kicked things off with an initial bid of 4 million pesos and after a heated back and forth with the buyer of the first two cars, took it for 4.9 million.

Next up was a 2019 Lamborghini Huracán coupe, which fetched the highest price of all the vehicles. It was sold for 5.6 million pesos to the bidder who bought the two McLarens.

The remaining cars were a 2019 Aston Martin Vintage AM6, which was sold for 3.24 million pesos; a 2019 Chevrolet Corvette, the least expensive of the vehicles, which sold for 1.62 million pesos; and a 2019 Lamborghini 636 Urus, which went for 5.375 million pesos.

Other objects sold included an 18-karat Piaget white gold watch that failed to sell at the July auction when it had an opening price of 2,953,700 pesos. On Sunday, it sold for the lowered opening price of 1,476,900 pesos.

The nine airplanes up for bidding on Saturday did not sell, but Rodríguez said that some state governments are interested in purchasing them.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Christmas in Oaxaca means it’s time for radishes, but not for eating them

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Leigh Thelmadatter

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December 16, 2019

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Two of Oaxaca's artisans who work in radishes: Laura and her mother Francisca. — Two Oaxaca artisans who work in radishes: Laura and her mother Francisca.

In Oaxaca city, add giant, gnarled radishes to the list of must-haves for the Christmas season.

Noche de Rábanos (Night of the Radishes) on December 23 combines farming and hand carving to create one of the most important events in the capital city.

The event dates back to 1897 when the city organized the first competition. Previously, there had been a tradition of carving overgrown, inedible radishes into curious figures at the Christmas market as a way of getting the attention of passers-by. Legend states that friars in the mid-18th century pulled up some forgotten radishes in December and took them to the market as curiosities.

The use of radishes as marketing gimmicks died out, but the popularity of the contest grew and the city supervises the growing and distribution of the radishes used. They come exclusively from a field in Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, using techniques and chemicals that prohibit their use as food. The radishes, which can grow up to 50 centimeters long, are cultivated in three plantings to have radishes of different sizes when they are harvested on December 19.

The vegetables take on capricious and sometimes wild shapes, challenging carvers to take advantage of them. The scenes are elaborate, taking up to hundreds of radishes to complete. The variety used has a red exterior and white interior and most carvers take advantage of this contrast in their work. Sometimes the leaves of the plant are used as well.

Hundreds of radishes went into creating this turkey at last year's event. — Hundreds of radishes went into creating this turkey at last year’s event.

Today, the event attracts over 100 competitors and the main square of Oaxaca fills with thousands of people filing past the booths set up for each entry. There are categories for traditional and non-traditional scenes as well for age groups. There are also categories for scenes made from dried flowers and corn husks. Most of the competitors are artisans in other fields, such as wood carving and pottery.

Artisan Serafin Muñoz says that carving the woody radishes is not easy, with the risk of a “war wound” being very real.

The event only lasts one day, with the display itself over only in a matter of hours. This is because the radishes wilt and lose shape shortly after being carved.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Ice-free skating rink draws a crowd to the zócalo in Mexico City

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Cody Copeland

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December 16, 2019

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Skaters on the new 'ice' in Mexico City.

Mexico City’s annual holiday season tradition of ice skating in the zócalo has a new twist this year: the rink has no ice.

The ice-free skating rink was inaugurated on Saturday by Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, who extolled the ecological benefits of a plastic skating surface.

“We are inaugurating a new skating rink, we call it Ecologísssima [super ecological],” she said. “Its grand quality is that you can skate on it just like ice, but it saves 800 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 307 liters of gasoline.”

Sheinbaum cut the inaugural ribbon with a representative of the Swiss company Glice, which installed the rink, before national figure skating champion Donovan Carrillo Suazo gave the “ice” a try to music by children of the Monumental Choir of Mexico.

The show also included performances by other Mexican figure skaters while the choir sang Mexican standards like Cielito Lindo and Feliz Navidad.

Young skaters on the seasonal rink in Mexico City. — Young skaters on the seasonal rink.

After the performance, young people from the Institute of Youth gave the rink a try. They said it was more difficult to skate on than real ice, but it also helped prevent them from falling.

The ice-free rink will be open daily from 9:00am to 9:00pm until January 6. To reserve ice skates and time on the rink, go to the Ecologísssima website (in Spanish) or stop by one of the registration booths in the zócalo.

Source: El Universal (sp)

Tulum property owned by Colombian drug lord to become luxury hotel

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Cody Copeland

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December 16, 2019

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The beachfront property once owned by drug lord Escobar.

A house in Tulum once owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar will soon be turned into a luxury hotel.

New York real estate investment firm Thor Equities Group expects the former cocaine kingpin’s notorious reputation to appeal to the young, hip crowd that has taken over tourism in Tulum in the last decade, a phenomenon that led New York Magazine to call it the “Williamsburg of Mexico” after the young and fashionable community in Brooklyn, New York.

The firm bought the house for $17.5 million and plans to invest around $100 million developing it into a 40-room luxury hotel with a spa and upscale shops.

Previously the site of an “eco-chic” yoga retreat resort, Casa Magna is currently unoccupied. Another property once owned by the notoriously murderous drug trafficker on the same beach, Casa Malca, has been turned into an art gallery.

Tulum’s rise to fame among the jet-setting party crowd from New York may be reaching a saturation point, but Thor expects the property and its history to succeed in a luxury tourism environment where hotels can charge as much as $2,000 a night.

“Tulum is the most stylish and now destination in all of Latin America,” said Thor chairman Joe Sitt.

The company’s luxury hotel portfolio in Mexico includes the Thompson Playa del Carmen, the Montage Los Cabos and the Ritz-Carlton in Mexico City, scheduled to open in 2020.

Source: Bloomberg (en)

CORRECTION: The previous version of this story identified Williamsburg, with which Tulum is compared, as a tourist destination in Virginia that probably has nothing in common with the Quintana Roo beach destination. A full reading of the New York Magazine story reveals that Williamsburg in this case is a community in Brooklyn. Mexico News Daily regrets the error.

Government announces 20% hike in minimum wage; biggest in 44 years: labor secretary

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MND Staff

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December 16, 2019

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The minimum wage will increase 20% to 123.22 pesos (US $6.50) per day on January 1, the federal government announced on Monday.

Speaking at the National Palace in Mexico City, Labor Secretary Luisa María Alcalde said the hike is the largest in real terms in 44 years. It is seven times the current annual inflation rate, which decreased to 2.85% in late November.

Alcalde said the increase was possible thanks to the support of unions, employers and President López Obrador.

The minimum wage will also increase in the northern border region, although only by 5% to 185.56 pesos (US $9.80) per day.

The decision to raise the wage both in the north and across the country was taken unanimously by the members of the National Minimum Wage Commission council. Some 3.44 million workers will benefit.

Alcalde said the 16% increase to the minimum wage implemented at the start of this year did not lead to higher inflation, pointing out that inflation rates are in fact among the lowest in four years.

The northern border region provided even greater proof that the minimum wage increase didn’t drive up prices, the secretary said, because the wage doubled there at the start of 2019 but inflation levels are lower than in the rest of the country.

For his part, López Obrador said the wage increase will help the economy “because it strengthens the internal market.”

Higher incomes will result in more sales for businesses which will stimulate economic growth, he said.

The president thanked the business sector for supporting the increase and said the government will continue to push for a higher minimum wage in order to recover lost purchasing power. However, he said that increases must occur gradually to ensure that they don’t hurt business.

López Obrador declared that the stage is now set for greater growth and wellbeing in Mexico, although he acknowledged that the government still has a lot to do to ensure that they are achieved.

“We have unbeatable conditions for growth and wellbeing . . . We’re going to pacify the country, we’re going to solve the serious problem of violence and insecurity . . . We’re going to be the happiest Mexicans and have a society that benefits the next generations. I’m aware that a lot still needs to be done,” he said.

Business Coordinating Council president Carlos Salazar Lomelín said the wage increase was “great news for Mexico.”

He said the business group will now push for Mexicans to earn salaries of at least 6,500 pesos (US $344) per month – a figure 73% higher than the minimum wage – so that workers can adequately support not just themselves but also their families.

“We will make constant efforts . . . to try now to . . . reach the minimum wellbeing line for families . . .” Salazar said.

The business leader’s commitment comes a month after 100 Mexican companies announced that they will raise the minimum monthly salary of their employees to 6,500 pesos.

According to the chief Mexico economist at the Bank of America, the minimum wage hike will likely prevent core inflation from slowing further even though the economy is weak.

In a report published last week, Carlos Capistrán argued that a 20% minimum wage increase will also limit the central bank’s capacity to further cut interest rates.

The Bank of México will only reduce rates by half a point to 7% next year, he predicted. That would still leave Mexico with one of the highest real interest rates (borrowing costs minus inflation) in the world, the news agency Bloomberg reported.

Source: El Financiero (sp), El Universal (sp)

Artisans and artists unite: exhibition breaks down barriers between the two

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

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December 14, 2019

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One of the pieces on display at the exhibition in Mexico City.

Twelve years ago, the Museo de Arte Popular (Folk Art Museum) in Mexico City decided to establish an event to pair artisans with fine artists, designers, architects and the like to create and exhibit innovative works.

The idea was to erase the dividing line or barrier between fine and folk art as well as to encourage exchanges of ideas among the various fields.

And so the Bienal Arte/Sano ÷ Artistas was born.

The name is a play on words: arte (art) and sano (healthy) together spell artesano (artisan) and are followed by the division sign, which is read as divided by or among.

According to museum director Walther Boelsterly “. . . the barrier between the worlds of handcrafts and fine art is artificial. Both artist and artisan are creators. I think that the distance that has been created is because the market has decided that one is more important than the other.”

Artists and artisans worked together to create the pieces on display at the Folk Art Museum.

Over the years, the biennial, as it is known, has exhibited works such as vases, large jars, lamps, textiles, jewelry and furniture, along with more “typically artistic” pieces such as sculptures, murals and installations. All entries are based on materials that are traditional in Mexican handcrafts such as ceramics, blown glass, wood, leather, metals and more.

This year’s edition, the sixth, is dedicated to Oaxacan painter Francisco Toledo, who died this year. He was a noted promoter of the state’s handcrafts and participated in the first Arte/Sano event. The opening of the biennial also paid homage to the 100^th anniversary of Germany’s Bauhaus movement, which combined fine art, handcrafts and technology.

Invited artisans include traditional clothing weaver Remigio Mestas Revilla of Yalalag, Oaxaca, copper and silver smith Abdon Punzo of Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacan, and paper maché (cartonería) artisan Oscar Becerra of Mexico City. Invited artists and others include sculptor Angela Gurria, mathematician and sculptor Alba Rojo and sculptor Yvonne Domengue.

One of the pairings at the exhibition is that of mixed media artist Mary Stuart and Teotitlán del Valle (Oaxaca) weaver Enrique Jerónimo Hernández Ruiz to create a work called El Vacío.

The work consists of two woven pieces, one black and one white, both highly stylized arrows. The arrows are based on those found on Muslim prayer rugs, which are supposed to point toward Mecca at the indicated times. The design idea is based on Stuart’s experience in the Muslim world, as well as Hernández’s knowledge of how to weave (and unweave) his work to create unusual rug shapes.

Stuart has nothing but praise for Hernández’s professionalism and technique.

“My experiences with working with Mexican artesanos such as maestro Enrique Jeronimo have been absolutely positive. I have had the pleasure of working with this artisan for over 18 years. I knew nothing about weaving when I began and still do not know that much. However, we have no problems communicating. He has always understood my ideas and works with me to make them possible. Nothing has ever been ‘lost in translation’ in the collaboration.”

Mexico does have a history of contact and collaboration among artisans and artists. Artists such as Dr. Atl and Roberto Montenegro worked to promote traditional handcrafts after the Mexican Revolution, writing the first modern treatises on the subject.

Artisans have taken cues from fine art and other creative endeavors. The most famous examples of this is the image of La Catrina (attributed to graphic artist José Guadalupe Posada) and that of Frida Kahlo, which can be found in just about every medium available.

The exhibition runs until February 23.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Cozumel reefs reopened until March for recreational activities

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Cody Copeland

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December 14, 2019

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Coral reefs will be reopened to the public in Cozumel. — Coral reefs will be reopened to the public in Cozumel park. conanp

Coral reefs off Cozumel that were closed to the public for conservation purposes in September will be reopened for recreational activities.

The Natural Protected Areas Commission (Conanp) announced that the Palancar and Colombia reefs in the Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park in Quintana Roo will be open from December 15 to March 31.

The reefs were closed to the public due to white band disease, which kills the coral.

The park’s El Cielo reef will remain closed until March 31, as it is a feeding and breeding ground for young fish and larvae that interact with the neighboring reefs, protecting and conserving the marine life in them.

A third stage in Conanp’s conservation strategy will begin in April, when the reefs will be closed intermittently to give them breaks from human activity.

Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park in Quintana Roo. conanp

“The conservation strategy will be strengthened through the work of collaborative networks and community vigilance,” said the department in a press release.

Academics on Conanp’s advisory council expressed the importance of constant biological monitoring of the reefs, the results of which will allow the department to adapt and improve its conservation actions.

“It should be noted that the proposed strategies can change depending on the conditions of the area . . . In this sense, we ask visitors to Cozumel Reefs National Marine Park to promote good tourism practices for the benefit of the reefs,” it added.

First detected in Florida in 2014, white band disease made its way to the reefs of Quintana Roo in 2018, and experts have since observed its rapid advance through the whole Mesoamerican Reef System.

It is attributed to poor water quality caused by lack of drainage and an excess of nutrients produced by the decomposition of sargassum.

The use of sunblock, overfishing and climate change are also factors.

Sources: Milenio (sp), Conanp (sp)

Bags of dismembered bodies those of kidnapped Villagrán police

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Cody Copeland

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December 14, 2019

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The bodies were found in bags on the Celaya-Salamanca highway.

The dismembered bodies of four police officers kidnapped in a raid on a police station in Guanajuato on Wednesday were found in plastic bags on Friday.

The bodies of the Villagrán municipal police were found in bags abandoned on the side of the Salamanca-Celaya highway.

The municipality of Villagrán posted a black ribbon and two death notices with the names of the fallen officers on social media, including three others killed in Wednesday’s attack, and expressions of solidarity for the families of the victims.

A judge who was also kidnapped in the raid was released alive and with minor injuries.

The Villagrán government canceled the town’s Christmas parade as a result of the attack, which was followed up with a photo on social media Friday. It showed four men presumed to have been the four kidnapped officers surrounded by armed civilians.

Guanajuato Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo said that such videos are part of a strategy of criminal groups to cause fear and panic and announced the arrival of more officers of the National Guard to reinforce security in Villagrán.

National Guard chief Luis Rodríguez Bucio arrived in Guanajuato on Friday on orders by President López Obrador to supervise security operations and oversee the deployment of more security forces in the state.

They will be deployed in municipalities with the most security problems, which are Salamanca, Villagrán, Celaya, Cortazar, Juventino Rosas and Los Apaseos.

Guanajuato Security Commissioner Sophia Huett López said the identities of the gunmen who carried out Wednesday’s attack are still unknown.

“That is information that will come through the investigation. What we have to do is keep working together, working hard and trying to contain this phenomenon . . . [which] is part of a fight for territorial control for criminal activities,” she said.

She said that Villagrán authorities waited 10-15 minutes to activate a code red after Wednesday’s attack, letting “valuable time pass.” She acknowledged that some officers have been corrupted by organized crime.

She said her department is aware that Villagrán has become embroiled in the territorial struggle between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.

The Villagrán officers were among 10 killed in the state in just two days. A total of 64 officers have been murdered this year.

After the murder of an Irapuato officer on his day off on Thursday night, Police Chief Pedro Cortés Zavala said that police officers must be vigilant at all times, even when not on duty.

“We are obviously worried . . . all of the police forces in the state are on alert in the face of this situation and we’re instructing officers to be observant and alert both on duty and off,” he said.

Sources: El Universal (sp), Milenio (sp)

LGBTI community joins artist for demonstration over Zapata painting

By

Cody Copeland

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December 14, 2019

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Zapata lookalikes at the Palace of Fine Arts on Friday.

Revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata appeared in drag Friday when members of the LGBTI community gathered at Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts to show support for artist Fabián Cháirez and denounce violence against the community.

Cháirez’s painting La Revolución, which depicts a feminized Zapata, has sparked controversy since it was used as publicity for an exhibition at the arts center earlier this month.

But even more controversy has followed an agreement by the federal government with Zapata’s descendants to install a plaque alongside the painting to explain their dismay with it. The Secretary of Culture also agreed to withdraw the publicity that used the painting, in which Zapata is shown nude, wearing a pink sombrero and high heels and riding a horse with an erection.

Donning sombreros, makeup, fishnet stockings, women’s shoes, rainbow flags and false, Zapata-style mustaches, protesters expressed support for freedom of expression and spoke against hate crimes against the LGBTI community.

“I would rather die in ladies’ shoes than live on my knees!” and “If Zapata were alive, he would be with us!” were among their slogans.

Gay Zapatas kiss in protest in Mexico City.

A banner revealed there were over 1,500 hate crimes against the LGBTI community from 1995 to 2018.

Cháirez himself attended the protest and spoke to the crowd of around 300 people, denouncing the government’s decision to stop using his painting for publicity and to place the plaque alongside it.

“People who have expressed rejection and have made homophobic, macho and misogynistic statements do not deserve a space in a building like the Palace of Fine Arts. It will be worrying to share the space with such a statement,” he said.

He said he could empathize with the family of the “Strongman of the South,” despite disagreeing with their attempted censure of his work.

“I understand the anger of some because of an image that does not correspond to their expectations. I have felt rage when others have tried to impose an idea on me that does not fit with my way of thinking. This is something that many of us face every day, which is why with my painting I search for other possibilities of existing, of seeing and of interpreting reality.”

The curator of the exhibition, entitled Zapata Después de Zapata (Zapata After Zapata), also expressed his disapproval of the concessions made to the revolutionary’s descendants.

The offending publicity for the show has been withdrawn.

“It’s a shame that the Secretariat of Culture signed the agreement with the Zapata family,” said Luis Vargas Santiago. “I do not agree. It is an attack on my curating and against the work of Fabián Cháirez, and sets a precedent that invalidates freedom,” he said.

A protest by around 200 farmers at the Palace of Fine Arts on Tuesday turned violent when they attacked members of the LGBTI community who had gathered to show their support for the painting and freedom of expression.

A representative of the Network of Civil Society Organizations, David Contreras, spoke at Friday’s protest, proclaiming that the actions of the farmers on Tuesday do not represent the opinions of all farmworkers.

“In the fields there are men and women . . . who fight, that’s why we’re here. We can’t abandon our sexually diverse companions. We’re going to keep fighting with you hand in hand . . . Zapata lives! The fight continues!” he said.

Sources: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp)