The federal government is making more spending cuts in order to avoid a fiscal deficit, the president’s chief of staff said yesterday.
Speaking at an event at the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico City, Alfonso Romo said that President López Obrador has asked for further reductions to spending by government departments.
“Believe the president that we’re going to go from republican austerity to Franciscan poverty, don’t doubt that, more cuts have been asked for in the past two weeks,” Romo said.
However, the chief of staff indicated that he will defend departments from excessive spending reductions because they are already feeling the pain of cuts made in the federal budget.
“The problem with cutting [spending] by too much is that the secretariats are overwhelmed, that’s why I defend them, a large part of their budgets and people were [already] removed,” Romo said.
“. . . We don’t want to paralyze [the work of the secretariats] but there is a determination not to fall into a fiscal deficit . . .” he added.
Presenting its first budget in December, the government pledged “absolute commitment to fiscal and financial discipline” and a surplus of 1% of GDP in 2019 without introducing any new taxes.
Luis Foncerrada, an economic adviser at the American Chamber of Commerce, applauded the government for signaling its intent to ensure there is a surplus this year, contending that spending cuts are necessary because economic growth in 2019 is forecast by some analysts to fall short of 2%.
“Given that we’re not going to grow as was imagined, we’re not going to have the revenue that was budgeted for . . . a responsible government has to reduce spending,” he said.
Sunny Villa, director of public spending at the Budget and Economics Research Center (CIEP), a think tank, said it is difficult to know what impact the government cuts will have because it is not yet clear where the cuts will be made.
López Obrador has made cutting government spending a priority for his administration.
Tequila tasters break the world record in Guadalajara.
United by a special fondness for Mexico’s national drink, a crowd of 1,486 people gathered in Guadalajara, Jalisco, to taste tequila and beat the world record for the largest tequila tasting ever held.
Official Guinness World Records judge Natalia Ramírez Taledo congratulated Guadalajara residents on the record-breaking tasting, which took place on Sunday as part of the festivities surrounding the first National Tequila Day, designated by the national tequila industry in conjunction with state and local governments.
The distinction had been awarded to Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, just last Saturday for a tasting that was attended by 1,448 tequila tipplers. Toronto, Canada, won the title in 2013 for a tasting that drew just 341 participants.
The registration of volunteers for Sunday’s tasting in Plaza Liberación began several days ahead of time, and spaces filled up after just two days. Participants were guided by tequila master Jaime Villalobos Díaz through three different varieties specially distilled for the event.
Tourism Secretary Germán Ralis Cumplido highlighted the success of various initiatives that in recent years have linked the fiery spirit to Jalisco’s capital.
“With the Tequila Route we obtained the World Heritage designation, and today it’s an obligatory stop for anyone visiting Guadalajara. We currently have much more to offer tourists, because right now in addition to sightseers, culinary tourists are on their way.”
In the last 10 years, visitors to the eight municipalities that make up the Tequila Route have soared from 130,000 to one million annually.
Two of the many hosts at indigenous communities on Rutopía's itinerary.
A new travel company with a social conscience is enabling tourists to have unique and authentic experiences in indigenous communities, which in turn benefit financially from sharing their cultural and natural wealth.
Eighteen months ago, four friends and travel enthusiasts created Rutopía, a social enterprise which arranges trips to 12 different communities in six states.
The aim of Irene Heras, Emiliano Iturriaga, Sebastián Muñoz and Diego Espinoza was to show tourists a different Mexico that they can’t easily access on their own.
To get their idea off the ground, the first step was to find communities that were willing to welcome tourists.
The Rutopía founders visited several indigenous towns where they met with residents and proposed to create and promote experiences that would attract visitors.
Weaving in the Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo.
In 12 towns, the people agreed to “share the incredible cultural and natural wealth of their communities with the world,” Espinoza told Newsweek México.
Thus, foreigners and Mexicans alike can book immersive travel experiences of between one and five days in four different destinations in Hidalgo, four in Chiapas, and one in each of the states of Oaxaca, Campeche, Quintana Roo and Michoacán.
Among the experiences on offer are zip-lining and insect-eating in La Florida, Hidalgo, making the pre-Hispanic beverage of pulque and listening to local legends under the stars in El Almacén, Oaxaca, and swimming in a cenote and wildlife spotting in Uxuxubí, Quintana Roo.
The other destinations visitors can choose to visit on a Rutopía experience are Acaxochitlán, Valle del Mezquital and Santiago de Anay in Hidalgo; Tzimol, Tacaná, Tzizcao and El Triunfo in Chiapas; El Viente in Campeche; and Pátzcuaro Lake in Michoacán.
Learning how to make tortillas and mole, collecting and cooking mushrooms and visiting coffee plantations are some of the other activities which visitors can enjoy in the different communities.
“We co-designed experiences that highlight local knowledge and cultural heritage . . .” Espinoza said.
The mushroom hunters’ house in Acaxochitlán, Hidalgo.
He explained that 70% to 80% of the price visitors pay for their trips goes to the hosts in the community while the other 20% to 30% covers Rutopía’s operational costs.
Espinoza added that many of the communities have previously been deceived by the government or other organizations with whom they have collaborated on tourism projects but Rutopía is gradually earning their trust.
The cost of a Rutopía experience varies depending on the community visited, the length of the trip and the size of the group.
More information about the different indigenous ecotourism experiences can be found on the Rutopía website, through which bookings can also be made.
López Obrador and his wife, Beatriz Gutiérrrez, recorded today's video message at the Mayan archaeological site at Comacalco, Tabasco.
The government of Spain has “vigorously” rejected a request from Mexican President López Obrador that it apologize for its conquest of Mexico.
López Obrador today published a video in which he advised that he had written both the king of Spain and Pope Francis asking that they apologize for the indignities suffered by the native peoples during the period of the Spanish conquest.
“I sent a letter to the king of Spain and the pope to ask that they make an account of the injustices and apologize to the indigenous peoples for the violations of what are now known as human rights. There were killings, impositions, the so-called conquest was carried out with the cross and the sword.”
The president said he, too, intended to ask the indigenous people for forgiveness, pointing out that they suffered from repression and extinction after the conquest. He cited the Yaquis of Sonora and the Mayas of the Yucatán peninsula in particular.
The year 2021, López Obrador said, will be known as the Year of Historic Reconciliation when Mexico celebrates 200 years of independence and 500 years since the taking of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.
But it appears Spain will not be part of it.
Its government said in a brief statement that it regretted that Mexico’s president had made public the letter to Felipe VI, whose contents “we vigorously reject.”
“The arrival 500 years ago of the Spaniards on territory that is now Mexican cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations,” the statement said.
It noted that the Spanish and Mexican people have always regarded their shared past without anger and from a constructive perspective, “as free people with a common legacy and an extraordinary future.”
Security Secretary Durazo, left, with Colosio's son at a memorial on Saturday.
The federal public security secretary said Saturday that the investigation into the 1994 assassination of presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio should “go deeper,” reiterating that he didn’t believe the conclusion that there was only one murderer.
Interviewed after attending a memorial service in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, to mark the 25th anniversary of Colosio’s death, Alfonso Durazo said it was necessary to reopen the case to “dismantle” the theory that only one man was responsible for the murder of the 44-year-old Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate in Tijuana, Baja California, on March 23, 1994.
“I believe that we must continue to deepen the investigations . . .” he said.
Only one man, Mario Aburto Martínez, was convicted of Colosio’s murder but millions of Mexicans doubt that he was the mastermind of, or even committed, the crime.
The most widely believed theory is that the PRI is responsible for the assassination and that then-president Carlos Salinas de Gortari may have ordered it.
Seventeen days before he was killed, Colosio gave a controversial speech in Mexico City in which he was critical of the PRI and said that Mexico was thirsty for justice.
The speech is considered the moment in which Colosio broke ranks with Salinas de Gortari and signaled that he would take the party and the country in a different direction.
Durazo, who was Colosio’s personal secretary at the time of the assassination, said last week that it was “too simplistic” to believe that “in a moment of elevated political confrontation, especially in the context of the mother of all battles for power –presidential power – that the assassination of Luis Donaldo can be explained by the hand of a sole murderer.”
Despite calls for the case to be reopened, the national president of the PRI said Saturday that she saw no legal reason for that to happen, stating that justice had run its course.
Claudia Ruiz Massieu, who also traveled to Colosio’s home town for Saturday’s memorial events, said that the case “pains all Mexicans” but contended that the best way to honor the candidate’s legacy is to work to build the country that he wanted to build.
Durazo criticized Ruiz’s view that it wasn’t necessary to reopen the case, stating that it was “regrettable” that she came to Magdalena de Kino to “put the final nail in Luis Donaldo Colosio’s coffin.”
The secretary described the death of the candidate as “a wound that remains in the spirit of Mexicans, especially those of us who were close to him.”
“. . . There is a debt of justice to the family and to the country because the assassination of Luis Donaldo didn’t just hurt his family, it hurt a country that had the hope that his ideas would translate into acts of government that would allow the country to take a new direction. Mexico’s political development was delayed by many years.”
After heading a march in memory of the slain candidate in Magdalena de Kino on Saturday, Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas said that he expected nothing of the Mexican justice system with regard to the case of his father’s assassination.
Nothing may come of it anyway given the interior secretary’s comments on the case today. Olga Sánchez Cordero said the case would not be reexamined unless new evidence came forward.
She also referred to an investigation by the attorney general’s office that was conducted by special prosecutor Luis Raúl González Pérez, now head of the National Human Rights Commission, who told her that “in reality the case is closed.” His probe ended with the release in 2000 of a 572-page report on the case.
Timeshare tourism accounts for between 30% and 40% of the total number of visitors in Baja California Sur, the state tourism secretary said.
“It is a recurrent theme, especially in the municipality of Los Cabos, that a large number of visitors we receive stay in this kind of lodging,” said Luis Araiza.
The revenue generated by timeshare tourism is also considerably larger, he said, because such visitors stay longer and their purchasing habits are different from those of traditional tourists.
“This market segment is very important for us, and I believe it will only continue to grow.”
Although he could not offer hard figures related to timeshare sales, Araiza said they have reported “marginal growth,” with sales increasing in Los Cabos.
“Not only timeshares, but occupancy rates in general,” he said, noting that the resort destination will be able to offer around 4,000 new hotel rooms to its visitors “in the next few years.”
Two of those hotels are among five luxury hotels slated to open in Mexico this year. The 200-room Nobu Hotel opens next month with room rates starting at US $460. The Hard Rock Hotel is scheduled to open in May with an initial rate of $500. It will have 600 rooms.
Mayor Valenzuela addresses members of the police department on Sunday.
The municipal police chief and a deputy have been dismissed in Comondú, Baja California Sur, after officers went on strike Saturday to protest the kidnapping of six of their colleagues.
Armed civilians nabbed the police officers early Saturday morning while they were on patrol. They were found beaten later in the morning in Villa Morelos, about 20 kilometers from where they were taken.
In response, the Comondú police department went on strike, demanding that Mayor Walter Valenzuela Acosta address a series of problems afflicting the force.
Striking police occupied municipal police headquarters in Ciudad Constitución, where they displayed signs demanding a response to insecurity in the municipality.
Two days before the officers’ kidnapping, armed men entered police headquarters in nearby Ciudad Insurgentes, where they helped themselves to the contents of the armory.
Mayor Valenzuela met with police on Sunday, later announcing that an agreement had been reached and that police chief Rusbiel Jabadilla Arista and the deputy chief had been dismissed.
He said the dismissal was intended to avoid putting police personnel at risk.
Jabadilla, who served 18 years in the navy, had been appointed to the chief’s position on January 29.
Comondú, located in the center of the state, has a population of about 75,000.
A caravan of around 1,500 migrants from Central America and Cuba left Tapachula, Chiapas, Saturday to begin the journey to the United States border.
In contrast with past cohorts, the migrants formed the caravan inside Mexican territory, the National Immigration Institute (INM) said.
Before leaving Tapachula, Cuban migrants accused INM personnel of deliberately delaying the delivery of visas to allow them to travel legally through Mexico, while Central Americans charged that agents demanded bribes in order to speed up the visa process.
After a 12-hour walk in temperatures as high as 38 C, the caravan reached the municipality of Huehuetán on Saturday afternoon where the migrants rested until resuming their journey today, bound for Huixtla.
Federal Police are accompanying the caravan in order to avoid accidents or other incidents on the highway.
Members of the newest caravan rest in Huehuetán, Chiapas.
Thousands of migrants have entered Mexico in recent months to travel to the United States, drawing the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has described the caravans as an “invasion.”
Earlier this month, the United States government announced that it would return asylum-seeking migrants to Mexico via a second border crossing to await their immigration court hearings.
President López Obrador has pledged that his government will treat migrants humanely while they are in Mexico and more than 10,000 people have been granted visas that allow them to work and access essential services.
However, there are reports that Mexican immigration officials at the northern border have extorted asylum seekers.
According to a report by the news website Vice that was based on the testimonies of 10 migrants, officials have demanded as much as US $3,500 from asylum seekers in order to access certain points of entry to the United States so they can add their names to a waitlist for an appointment with U.S. authorities.
On March 14 – the day after the Vice report was published – López Obrador said his government was investigating corruption by customs and immigration agents.
“The government is full of corrupt practices, it has been for a long time. But we are cleaning it, we will end corruption,” he said.
Thousands of migrants have been stranded in Mexican border cities such as Tijuana as they wait for the opportunity to plead their cases for asylum.
The United States government has introduced a “metering” system that limits the number of cases immigration authorities will hear on a daily basis, spurring some migrants to attempt to cross the border illegally.
“Qué bonito es Chihuahua.” So goes the refrain in the popular Mexican folk song El Corrido de Chihuahua written by Pedro de Lille.
Although he was singing about the entire state, the sentiment is true about the city itself. Squeezed between the vast desert to the north and west, the mahogany-toned peaks of the Sierra Nombre de Dios in the east, and punctuated by a series of rolling hills throughout the city, Chihuahua is far more than just a starting point for a trip to Copper Canyon on the famous train, El Chepe.
Here, art and architecture combine with plenty of revolutionary history to give a unique insight into norteño culture.
Modernization has spread rapidly through Chihuahua over the past 40 years, from the manufacturing plants producing automotive and mechanical parts for export, to American style malls and plazas that line Periférico de la Juventud along the western edge of the city. But despite the growth, much of the historical center retains its colonial and revolutionary period charm.
As with a trip to many Mexican cities, a visit to Chihuahua starts in the central square, Plaza de Armas. The 18th-century baroque style Catedral de Chihuahua dominates the square with its two grand towers imposed against the azure-blue sky.
Chihuahua’s Plaza de Armas and the cathedral.
Around the plaza, a microcosm of Chihuahuan culture emerges. Shoe shiners line the outskirts of the plaza, polishing up the dusty leather boots of men wearing plaid shirts, weather-worn jeans, oversized belt buckles and cowboy hats in a throwback to Chihuahua’s ranching heritage.
In the fountain in front of the cathedral, children play with youthful exuberance, running through the water without a care in the world. Locals sit around on the benches of the plaza, waiting for loved ones, passing the time, or just breathing in the life of the town. Far away from the traffic and chaos of the Periférico, life seems to slow down a bit here.
Large-scale murals and urban artwork adorn many of the buildings in central Chihuahua. Among them are an impressive recreation of Mexican photographer Héctor García Cobo’s iconic photograph of Chihuahuan muralist and revolutionary David Alfaro Siqueiros in a Mexico City prison, and a greater-than-life-sized mural of — you guessed it — a chihuahua dog high on the side of an office building just off Plaza de Armas.
Taking a stroll down Calle Libertad, Chihuahua’s palm tree-lined pedestrian boulevard, young couples pop in and out of fashionable clothing and shoe stores, interspersed with fast food chains and ice cream shops. Here, modern design and historical architecture meet, with many of the trendy stores housed in buildings more than a century old.
Near the end of Calle Libertad sits Casa Chihuahua, once the site of Mexican independence leader Miguel Hidalgo’s jail cell. Built on the location of a former Jesuit college, the building now hosts the Chihuahua State Heritage Museum, highlighting Chihuahua’s environmental diversity and cultural heritage. Inside, three circular rooms celebrate the desert, plains, and mountains of Mexico’s biggest state, with panoramic images and giant screens playing clips of the state’s natural areas.
In adjoining rooms, displays contain information on Chihuahua’s artistic history, including filmmakers and actors, musicians and artists that have called Chihuahua home. In the basement, a gallery hosts rotating art exhibits from some of Chihuahua’s and Mexico’s leading artists. Just behind the gallery space, the museum holds the cold, dark former jail cell of Miguel Hidalgo.
A mural is a tribute to a dog that shares the city’s name.
From the pedestrian area of Calle Libertad a short walk south leads to Paseo Simón Bolívar, named after the Venezuelan revolutionary leader popular throughout Latin America. Among the leafy green parks and popular restaurants and cafes of the broad avenue, more of Chihuahua’s architectural history and design is present.
A significant number of buildings along the Paseo were built as mansions for the elite class in the period just before the Mexican Revolution began.
One of the finest examples is Quinta Gameros, which now hosts a regional museum. Although the facade was built in art nouveau style, the building contains almost as many architectural styles as it’s had owners. Manuel Gameros Ronquillo, the original owner of the mansion, went to France with his wife in the early 1900s to find a style of house that they liked.
Upon returning from France, Gameros Ronquillo’s wife passed away in 1904, before construction of the house could begin. Nonetheless, Mr. Gameros started building in 1907.
By 1910, construction was just about finished, combining elements of late baroque, beaux arts, and second empire architecture along with art nouveau. However, the Mexican revolution broke out, and revolutionary forces took control of Quinta Gameros. Gameros Ronquillo was forced to flee to El Paso, never having lived in his mansion.
Inside, an expansive lobby spreads out and a cedar staircase straight ahead leads to an elaborate stained glass window made by Tiffany’s in New York. On the ground floor, the dining room, bedrooms and living areas contain period furniture from the Requena collection, donated to the museum by Pedro Fossas Requena, the grandson of the creator José Luis Requena.
The former Federal Palace is now the Casa Chihuahua Museum.
Upstairs, art exhibits from Mexican photographers, artists and sculptors adorn the walls. In the rear of the building, an open courtyard leads to a small cafe and gift shop.
In contrast to the extravagantly decorated Quinta Gameros, Quinta Luz, the former home of Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Mexico’s famous revolutionary leader, and his wife Doña Luz Corral, is much simpler. The pale pink palace was converted to the Historical Museum of the Mexican Revolution following the death of Sra. Corral, who lived in the mansion until her passing in 1981.
On the main floor, the remnants of Villa and Corral’s living area include a small kitchen and a Spanish style bathroom. In a courtyard toward the back of the museum sits Pancho Villa’s bullet-riddled 1922 Dodge roadster, which he was driving when he was assassinated as he headed back to his hacienda in Hidalgo del Parral in 1923.
Along the back wall of the museum a complex mural spreads out, portraying many of the main characters of the Mexican Revolution, including Francisco Madero, Venustiano Carranza and of course Pancho Villa himself. Both bright and dark at the same time, the mural rivals many of the more famous works of art from around Mexico.
Upstairs, historical artifacts from the Mexican Revolution grace each of the rooms. An array of weaponry, from sabers and swords to rifles and cannons used by both the federal army and the revolutionary forces demonstrate the type of firepower both sides had.
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Newspaper clippings and black and white photographs from the era tell the story of the division del norte’s exploits as Pancho Villa led his troops around Mexico in his quest to overthrow the government of the day.
Rooms dedicated to Mrs. Corral and the many visits she received over the years from politicians and celebrities complete the collection of the history of the revolution and the house.
As evening falls in Chihuahua, the light of the setting sun casts its fiery red tones upon the side of the Sierra Nombre de Dios. The warm glow spreads over the city, and beyond the art, history and architecture of this noble and royal city, the beauty of the desert shows its glory. Pedro de Lille was right, Qué bonito es Chihuahua.
The body of Sinaloa sports reporter Omar Iván Camacho was found under a bridge on Sunday evening in the municipality of Salvador Alvarado. He had been beaten and tortured.
According to friends and family, the 35-year-old journalist disappeared around 10:00am after he covered the inauguration of a local baseball league in the city of Guamúchil, after which he did not reply to messages and calls.
Nearly nine hours later, at around 7:00 pm, Camacho’s remains were found near the community of La Escalera. His body showed signs of torture and a severe head injury.
Camacho worked as a sports reporter for Noticiero Altavoz and ran his own website dedicated to sports news. The journalist also taught English at a local school.
He is the fifth journalist to be murdered so far this year, following the killing of Santiago Barroso Alfaro in his home in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora. Ten journalists were murdered last year in Mexico.
Human rights undersecretary Alejandro Encinas told reporters today that the federal government will implement new protective measures for journalists and human rights advocates and allocate an additional 75 million pesos (US $3.93 million) in funding to the program, which received 125 million pesos last year.
Encinas said 790 people are currently in the protection program, of whom 292 are journalists and the rest human rights workers. Most are concentrated in just 10 states.
