A beach on Isla Mujeres, Quintana Roo, has been ranked among the top 10 beaches in the world by the travel website TripAdvisor, and not for the first time.
Published yesterday, the website’s Travellers’ Choice Awards 2019 ranked Playa Norte No. 9 on a list of of 25, describing the Caribbean destination as having “calm turquoise waters, pure white powdery sand. Water so blue, it makes the sky look pale.”
The list is based on user-generated content at TripAdvisor, and each beach’s ranking depends on the quantity and quality of the comments and reviews left by users of the online platform.
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The beach was ranked No. 10 last year and No. 7 in 2017.
The website advises that any time of year is a good time to go to Playa Norte, which was also ranked the best among the top 10 Mexican beaches.
Balandra Beach, in La Paz, Baja California Sur, took second place, followed by Playa Delfines in Cancún.
Also on the list of the best Mexican beaches were Maya Chan, Quintana Roo; Nuevo Vallarta, Nayarit; Playa El Cielo, Quintana Roo; Playa Bacocho, Oaxaca; Chileno, Baja California Sur; Playa Paraíso; Quintana Roo; and Playa La Ropa, Guerrero.
Four-time Academy Award winner Alejandro González Iñárritu has been named to head this year’s Cannes Film Festival jury, the first Mexican filmmaker to be named to the position.
The director of Birdman and The Revenant came to the attention of Cannes audiences in the year 2000 when his first film, Amorres Perros, premiered and won the Critics’ Week sidebar.
Since then, Iñárritu’s career has exploded, with consecutive Academy Awards for best director for Birdman and The Revenant in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
His films Babel in 2006 and Biutiful in 2010 also premiered and won awards at the festival. Carne y Arena (Flesh and Sand), a virtual reality project that immerses viewers in the harsh experience of migrants, was an official selection at the festival in 2017.
In a statement, the acclaimed director said that he was “humbled and thrilled” to be presiding over the jury at a festival that was key in launching his career.
“Cinema runs through the veins of the planet, and this festival has been its heart. We on the jury will have the privilege to witness the new and excellent work of fellow filmmakers from all over the planet. This is a true delight and a responsibility that we will assume with passion and devotion.”
Festival president Pierre Lescure and artistic director Thierry Frémaux celebrated Iñárritu’s acceptance of their invitation in a statement.
“Not only is he a daring filmmaker and a director who is full of surprises, Alejandro is also a man of conviction, an artist of his time.”
They added that the Cannes Film Festival “. . . embraces all cinematic forms, and this year, with the presence of . . . the director of Babel, the festival will celebrate Mexican filmmaking.”
Iñárritu, 55, is one of a trio of Mexican filmmakers that have earned significant recognition in recent years, earning them the nickname “The Three Amigos.” His fellow amigos are Alfonso Cuarón, who won best director for Roma at the Oscars this year, and Guillermo del Toro, whose film The Shape of Water won best picture in 2017.
In his role as panel president, Iñárritu succeeds Australian actress Cate Blanchett, who starred in his film Babel.
The Cannes festival will take place May 14-25. The remaining jurors are to be announced in the coming days.
A power outage in Villahermosa, Tabasco, forced a team of surgeons to resort to using cell phones to illuminate an operating room.
When the power went out in several areas of the state capital on Monday night, the emergency power generator at the Doctor Gustavo Rovirosa Pérez specialty hospital kicked in. But it quit soon after when it ran out of fuel.
Dark hallways and operating rooms could be seen in a video posted later to social media, but the lights were on in one operating room after doctors lit up their phones so they could continue with a patient’s bile duct surgery.
Members of a special naval police force based in the most dangerous municipalities of Veracruz for the past eight years are President López Obrador’s choice to be the first recruits for the national guard.
Made up of 1,230 men and 70 women, all of whom were formerly marines, the elite force was created in 2011 after then Veracruz governor Javier Duarte asked former president Felipe Calderón for the navy to support security operations in the state.
An admiral of the force told the newspaper Milenio that the members were selected based on the standard of their conduct in the navy, after which they received training from state police, the Federal Police and the federal Attorney General’s office, and human rights education from the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
The military police were initially deployed to just two municipalities, Veracruz and Boca del Río, but in 2013 they also began patrolling Xalapa, Tuxpan and Coatzacoalcos.
During the past eight years, the state government has continued to renew agreements with its federal counterpart to ensure that the force remains in Veracruz.
At all times, the naval police are accompanied by state or municipal police while they work so that, according to the force’s commanders, they can draw on each other’s experience and knowledge.
However, police in Veracruz were widely considered corrupt during Javier Duarte’s term.
Four former high-ranking security officials and 15 police officers allegedly used death squad tactics to abduct, kill and dispose of the bodies of at least 15 people during 2013. Xalapa, the state capital, was one of the locations where the crimes were committed.
Duarte, considered one of Mexico’s most corrupt governors ever, was sentenced to nine years in prison last year for money laundering and criminal association.
Giselle Rodríguez, a human rights educator who works with the naval police, said that it is “very important” for the force’s members to be “fully trained” on human rights issues and conceded that doing so is a “challenge.”
However, she also said that the members of the force that has been operating in Veracruz have demonstrated keen interest in the area by constantly asking her questions about the human rights training they receive, particularly that which focuses on contact with citizens.
According to the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar), the naval police currently deployed in Veracruz could be assigned to national guard roles in other parts of the country but stressed that they, and all other new recruits to the security force, will first need to undergo additional training.
The National Human Rights Commission and a range of non-governmental organizations have criticized the government’s decision to create the new force, arguing that its deployment will perpetuate the failed militarized crime-fighting strategy implemented over the past 12 years and result in the military committing more human rights abuses.
Mexico will renew a 15% safeguard duty on steel imports from countries with which it doesn’t have free trade agreements, an Economy Secretariat official announced yesterday.
The safeguard measure was first put in place in October 2015 and was subsequently renewed every six months but the current government allowed it to lapse on February 1.
However, industry and trade undersecretary Ernesto Acevedo said the government will renew the safeguard measure, explaining that it will take effect this week and apply to the same 186 steel products as before.
The National Chamber of the Iron and Steel Industry (Canacero) and the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) were among a range of groups and experts who said that if the government didn’t renew the measure, there would be no chance of the United States removing the tariffs on Mexican steel and aluminum imports that it introduced last year on national security grounds.
Acevedo said that the Mexican government will continue to pressure the U.S. government to lift the respective 25% and 10% tariffs, which took effect on June 1.
At a press conference, he described the duties as “an important threat to the Mexico-United States trade relationship.”
Mexico swiftly introduced its own equivalent measures on a range of United States imports including pork, cheese and apples.
Acevedo also said yesterday that the government will sign two decrees to reestablish 25% and 30% tariffs on textile and shoe imports from countries with which it doesn’t have trade pacts. The previous duties on the products expired in January.
Teachers from Oaxaca are protesting in Mexico City to demand the creation of 13,000 jobs in the state and the automatic appointment of teaching graduates to the positions.
The leader of Section 22 of the CNTE teachers’ union said that protesters want the General Professional Teaching Service Law – part of the 2013 education reform – to be cancelled so that positions can be allocated to graduates of Oaxaca’s teacher training colleges in accordance with bilateral agreements between teachers and the Secretariat of Public Education (SEP).
Eloy López Hernández said the teachers also want promotions to be given in accordance with the scale system as set out in Article 123 of the Mexican constitution.
In addition, teachers want the concept of bicultural education to be changed to multicultural education so that the curriculum is inclusive of all of the different indigenous groups in Oaxaca and across Mexico.
To pressure the legislative branch of government, members of the dissident union yesterday began a 72-hour protest in front of the lower house of Congress.
Teachers also marched through the streets of the capital to the Venezuelan embassy to show their support for President Nicolás Maduro, who is currently under intense international pressure to step down.
Despite the presence of teachers in Mexico City, education authorities in Oaxaca said that classes proceeded as normal in 90% of schools yesterday.
CNTE leaders had called on all teachers in the state to stop work on February 25, 26 and 27 to travel to Mexico City to protest.
But only around 800 Oaxacan teachers – a small minority of the state’s educators – are currently camped out in front of the San Lázaro Legislative Palace.
The 'Yalistour," a 438-kilometer roadtrip from Mexico City to Tlaxiaco.
Oscar-nominated actress Yalitza Aparicio is an international agent of change, according to the governor of Oaxaca, where her fame is prompting authorities to act.
The success of the 25-year-old Mixtec star of Alfonso Cuarón’s film Roma has triggered a swift reaction from Oaxaca authorities, who have announced plans to revitalize the artistic and cultural life of the state’s indigenous communities and pledged to improve the labor rights of domestic workers.
Oaxaca Governor Alejandro Murat has also announced a new tourist route from Mexico City to Aparicio’s home town of Tlaxiaco.
The preschool teacher-turned-actress missed out on an individual Oscar at Sunday night’s Academy Awards but Murat still described Aparicio – who plays the role of a domestic worker in Roma – as a winner and a star who is capable of helping to change discriminatory attitudes towards indigenous people around the world.
The governor said that state authorities are looking at proposals to improve the labor rights and benefits of domestic workers, stating that the government will provide them with social security, a retirement pension and housing credits.
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Murat added that his government will seek to create a culture in which people treat women working in their homes as another member of the family rather than just an employee.
The governor also said the people of Oaxaca are very proud of Aparicio, the success of Roma at the Oscars and the fact that Cuarón continues to help promote the state as he did in his 2001 film Y Tú Mamá También, which features the Oaxacan coastline.
Murat explained that there was a possibility that the state government would invite Cuarón, his production team and the cast of Roma to Oaxaca to work together on a new project.
“The important thing is to speak to them, with Yalitza . . . with Cuarón to see what they wish to do,” he said.
Murat said that he had already collaborated with Cuarón’s production team after it requested that Roma be screened in Tlaxiaco.
Oaxaca Culture Secretary Adriana Aguilar said that Tlaxiaco, located around 160 kilometers northwest of the state capital, has a lot of potential as a cultural destination because it is not only the birthplace of Aparicio but also singer Lila Downs.
Aparicio with her mother, Margarita Martínez, at the Oscars on Sunday.
She added that the city will be invited to participate in this year’s Guelaguetza, an annual festival that celebrates Oaxacan culture, with a specific focus on Tlaxiaco’s food and architecture.
Aguilar also said that state authorities will seek to reinvigorate the Mixtec artistic, cultural and music scene and, with the support of the National Autonomous University (UNAM), work to preserve the native languages spoken in Oaxaca.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Tlaxiaco has announced that the municipal government will bestow its highest honor on Aparicio in recognition of her status as a distinguished citizen.
The actress has also inspired at least two murals, one in the market of her hometown and another in the Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa while singer-songwriter Humberto Reyes has composed a ballad called El Corrido de Yalitza Aparicio.
Although Aparicio’s success has triggered a negative reaction from some, many people are celebrating the actresses’ emergence as a new –and different – role model and her representation of Mexico on the world stage.
Congratulating Cuarón for taking home three Oscars, federal Culture Secretary Alejandra Frausto wrote on Twitter: “Congratulations, you made the world see the diversity of the country we are.”
More workers are going on strike in an effort to match salary increases and bonuses already granted to workers at maquiladoras, or factories, in Tamaulipas.
Some 400 miners at Siderúrgica del Golfo in Matamoros walked off the job yesterday while Walmart employees have announced a strike on Monday. All are demanding a salary increase of 20% and a bonus payment of 32,000 pesos (US $1,700),
Miners’ union president Javier Zúñiga said that even though miners receive some of the highest salaries in Matamoros, workers feel they are owed an increase in their earnings because of the physical demands and risks the work necessitates.
“The majority of the workers decided to strike, and as a union we decided to support them. In the mining industry, we have always had the best salaries. Due to salary increases and the continuing fight by [other] workers, they have caught up to us.”
Tens of thousands of workers in various industries in Matamoros have walked off the job in recent weeks. Over the weekend, nearly 30 employees at a Coca-Cola distribution plant that recently closed its doors due to work stoppages were seen offering to wash cars for 30 pesos (US $1.50). Drivers lined up for several blocks to support the striking workers.
Meanwhile, a union that represents workers at Walmart México announced that a strike will begin on Monday in 10 states to press for a 20% salary increase and better conditions for the 8,000 workers it represents.
The union also hopes to set up a sales commission program that would pay employees 4% for every sale they make. The union also alleged that employees often did not receive compensation for extra hours worked and cited other abuses, such as sexual assault by managers.
A Walmart spokesperson told the news agency Reuters that the company saw talks with the union as positive, though they countered that the allegations of abuse were without foundation.
Revolutionary Confederation of Workers and Farmers (CROC) representative Eduardo Miranda said that talks will continue until March 5, though he added that after three meetings with union leaders, Walmart has yet to come up with a new salary proposal.
A music school that caters to the poorest of the poor in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, is facing eviction barring a miracle.
Elvis “Aikeke” Rose is the director of the school of music and art, best known as EMAZ, a school that operates on a shoestring budget and on borrowed or donated instruments, which are still in short supply.
Although the government has set aside land to fulfill the dream of a world-class school, the reality is that for now the school is set in a courtyard adjacent to a cabana-like structure where Aikeke lives.
No one with talent is turned away. Somehow Aikeke makes it work and has turned out fine students over the years who have gone on to sing in opera houses in Mexico and play with groups or as solo artists locally and beyond.
The few students who can pay barely cover the rent, so the school is facing eviction this month if a miracle doesn’t happen soon.
Christopher on the piano, watched by his sister and teacher Aikeke.
An accomplished musician who began playing professionally at 11, Aikeke is proud of his military musical training at the United States Navy School of Music in Virginia. He describes it as the best training anyone could possibly have, with emphasis on theory and technical proficiency.
Following service in the U.S. Army, the native of St Vincent in the Caribbean honed his craft by working as a studio musician for some of the greatest in Jazz — Rubén Blades, Roland Prince and Elsworth (Shake) Keane to name a few.
Aikeke played drums for a touring band known as The Equitables, playing throughout the U.S. and Canada, but it was when he came to Mexico around 1995 that he first discovered Zihuatanejo and decided he could make a difference here.
He asked me to visit the school to meet one of his most promising students, Christopher, age 24. Christopher started to play the piano a short year ago and is now playing full compositions in many genres. Among his favorites is John Lennon’s Imagine, which he played for me, but he is proficient with many more.
Aikeke used the word genius to describe him. He is also Aikeke’s first autistic student who is blind.
The pair first met at a local school that specializes in helping children and young adults who are challenged either physically or mentally or sometimes both.
An architectural rendition of the proposed new music school.
Although Aikeke has taught other blind students, it has taken an inordinate amount of patience to be successful with an autistic student like Christopher, but the effort has been well worth it.
In addition to his playing ability, Christopher can sing in perfect pitch and loves to perform for anyone who will listen. For Aikeke, music has been the perfect way to help students like Christopher reach their potential.
As I listened to Christopher play, I could feel the passion this young man had for the music, and I wiped away a tear when Christopher finished the number.
For Christopher’s parents, music is a way for their son to grow, to learn and best of all, find normalcy in his life.
For Aikeke, music has been the perfect way to help students like Christopher reach their potential. “I don’t just teach kids who can afford to play,” Rose stated. “I teach kids with talent. And Christopher has talent.”
Unfortunately, judging by the school’s dire financial straits, “payment in apples, oranges and sometimes coconuts doesn’t pay the bills.”
A guitar student at EMAZ.
• To find out how you can help, either by sponsoring a student or supplying instruments or just donating, visit the school’s website. EMAZ is a fully recognized Mexican charity.
The Christmas Eve helicopter crash that killed the governor of Puebla and her ex-governor husband was no accident, claims the national president of the political party to which they belonged.
Martha Erika Alonso, who was sworn in as governor on December 14, Senator Rafael Moreno Valle, two pilots and a political aide all died after the Italian-made Agusta helicopter in which they were traveling plunged to the ground just outside the city of Puebla in the municipality of Coronango.
National Action Party (PAN) president Marko Cortés told the newspaper El Universal that there has been a “suspicious silence” from the federal government about the crash, leading him to believe that it was caused deliberately.
“There’s a black hand in this [crash] that was presented as an accident, and today – with scant evidence and without an official and scientific verdict 60 days later – we see that it wasn’t an accident but rather a provoked incident . . . Being a day with good weather, the equipment [the helicopter] in good order and expert pilots, it makes you think that it [the accident] was provoked,” he said.
The PAN president also said the investigations into the crash are “at a standstill,” a situation he argued is generating uncertainty in the lead-up to a new election for governor that will be held on June 2.
“The investigations undertaken by the federal government are conspicuous by their absence,” Cortés declared while demanding that the López Obrador-led administration provide clarity about the causes of the crash.
Two days after the incident, the president rejected accusations that his government was responsible, declaring that such claims were only made by a “mean” and “neo-fascist” minority.
“As a matter of principle, we would never act against anybody,” López Obrador said, adding that the government was fully committed to finding out what caused the crash.
Yesterday, presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez said that a report on the progress of the investigations would be made public soon.
“There has to be a report because it’s an open case of national interest, a report about the state of the investigations will be given in the coming days,” he said, adding that experts’ reports completed outside Mexico will be included.
