Collected artistic traditions of Mexico are under one roof at this city market

By

-

May 8, 2019

Life-sized, Huichol beaded deer at Artesanías Morett.

In Colonia Centro, Mexico City, across the park from the original Ciudadela where Mexican independence leader José María Morelos was jailed before his execution, and where much of the blood of the “10 Tragic Days” of the revolution was shed a century later, sits a monument to a different kind of Mexican history – the collected handiworks of artisans from Sonora to Yucatán.

At first view when entering on Balderas and Emilio Donde, the Mercado de Artesanías La Ciudadela appears to be the cheeseball tourist entanglement sort of souvenir market, with cartoon Frida t-shirts, tequila magnets and bright green ponchos that scream, “Spring Break!”

But just a few paces in and the true handmade crafts come into focus, many of them created to order, on site.

At Familia García, the doña is busy with a gang of Japanese tourists gobbling up her tiny, exquisitely designed colored glass animals, flowers and cactuses set atop glass swizzle sticks. Her grandson works with a torch at a well-worn table in the corner to create more stock. At only 7.50 to 10 pesos a pop, they’re hard to resist.

The government originally established the Artisan Market as “La Feria de la Ciudadela” on June 1, 1965 in preparation for the 1968 Olympics as a way to display the traditional arts and crafts of the cultures of Mexico to visitors from around the world.

The beautiful glass work at Familia García — only 10 pesos each.

Then, during the 1970 World Cup, the market sold related souvenirs, as well as artisan goods, and it was such a success that it was soon established as a permanent market.

Textiles from Oaxaca, silver from Guerrero, ceramics from Chiapas and beaded art from Nayarit – a tour through the traditions and colors of Mexico under one roof. At Mercado de Artesanías, your wallet is your oyster — you can get a well-made blanket for only 130 pesos (US $7) or a life-sized Huichol bead-coated deer for 120,000 (US $6,280).

Walk into a mind stupor of hundreds of hanging alebrijes – the fantastically bright animal figures, kaleidoscopic in color and form. I was surprised to learn that the story of these famed Oaxacan flying donkeys and eagle-headed lions only goes back to the 1930s, when artist Pedro Linares dreamed them up in a deep fever and created the first alebrijes out of cardboard and papier-mâché.

At La Casa del Alebrije, a man sucking on a toothpick with an earring declaring his love of ska music capably though reluctantly helps through the designs. The papier-mâché varieties are made locally and can go for as little as 400 pesos, while wooden versions come from Oaxaca and can go as high as 6,000.

Inside Escorcia the walls and glass cases reflect a brilliant shine from silver mined from Taxco and obsidian from Teotihuacán.

At Imperart the hand-carved statues of eagles and Aztec and Christian gods shimmer blue, silver and copper from an electrolytic chemical coloring process.

Lost in the alebrije jungle at La Casa del Alebrije.

At Tejidos Típicos, all of their wonderfully colorful textiles are made by hand on wooden looms, as they have been for centuries. They have everything from small table coverings and sarapes to huge rugs and embroidered dresses. Most of the larger pieces come from Tlaxcala, while many of the smaller ones are actually made on the loom inside the shop.

La Ciudadela provides the pleasure of actually seeing artists at work. You feel as if you’re walking through a tiny town, with restaurants and cafés at the palenque center. Abundant light and knowledgeable staff help to properly illuminate the goods.

Many of the larger ateliers are in the back of the market, surrounding the parking lot. In the stained glass studio of Vidrio Diseño Guzmán, Alan Guzmán is happy to show me around. Much of his work is done in the south of the city, but smaller pieces are created in the workshop upstairs.

Colored glass sheets sit on racks for the choosing, and clients can bring their personal drawings or choose from a library of popular designs for between 6,500 and 10,000 a square meter. The glass comes from Guadalajara and most of Guzmán’s handiwork goes into churches or centerpieces on residential entrance doors, he tells me.

Across the way at Decor-Art, Ernesto Bonilla has been pounding and sculpting tin into lamps and mirror frames for nearly 40 years. His work is classically Mexican and some of the most perfectly produced that I’ve seen at the price, many featuring Talavera tiles from Hidalgo – from around 550 pesos for wall mirrors to about 800 for full-size standing ones.

Like a practitioner of the modern nose-to-tail movement, Bonilla says he uses every part of the tin. “I get it in sheets because I’m not a huge producer,” he tells me. “So I use every little scrap – for the hanger or the pieces on the back to hold the mirror into the frame.”

Just like every great artisan, Bonilla learned his craft on the job. “From watching friends,” he says. “We’d get together, have a little drink, hang out. And I saw them working. I asked if they’d loan me some tools. And I started from there.”

Maybe bring a beer or two with you to the artisan market, you could learn something. And there are always group dance classes at Plaza de La Ciudadela across the street, for when the beer kicks in.

• Mercado de Artesanías is located at the intersection of Balderas and Emilio Donde, Colonia Centro, Mexico City, and is open Monday through Friday, 10:00am to 6:00pm.

This is the ninth in a series on the bazaars, flea markets and markets of Mexico City:

Drink a beer, rescue a dog: Apolo beer is for dog-lovers

By

César Hernández

-

May 8, 2019

0

Drink a beer, rescue a dog could well be the slogan for Apolo, a Mexican craft beer born from the collaboration of an animal rescue organization and a brewer.

The beer is named after Apolo, a dog that had been trained to fight and was later abandoned by its owner. The animal was subsequently rescued by a family.

Part of the price for every bottle of Apolo sold is donated to an initiative organized by Apolo & Friends that rescues street dogs, rehabilitates them and then finds them a home and family.

The brewer, Dos Palomas, is also made up of people “interested in making animal abuse less frequent, dignifying mongrel dogs, promoting respect toward animals and in making adoption an alternative to the purchase of a friend.”

The beer, an India pale ale, is currently only available at several Mexico City and Taxco, Guerrero, establishments that support Apolo’s cause.

Source: El Financiero (sp)

AMLO wants to end Mérida Initiative, direct funds to development instead

By

MND Staff

-

May 8, 2019

0

The Mérida Initiative has supported crime-fighting for a decade.

President López Obrador wants to end the Mexico-United States security cooperation agreement known as the Mérida Initiative, declaring that “it hasn’t worked” and contradicting earlier comments by his secretary of security.

Instead of the crime-fighting agreement, the president hopes to direct U.S. funding to development programs and job creation in Mexico’s south and southeast, as well as in Central America.

“We don’t want the so-called Mérida Initiative,” López Obrador told reporters yesterday at his daily press conference.

“The proposal that we’re putting forward is for a development plan for the southeast [of Mexico] and Central American countries,” he added.

“We don’t want armed helicopters. We don’t want resources for other kinds of military support, what we want is production and work. We’re seeking cooperation for development, not for the military, not for the use of force.”

Launched in 2008, the Mérida Initiative has directed about US $3 billion to Mexico to assist in the fight against drug trafficking and other forms of organized crime. Funding has also helped to train Mexican security forces and supported justice programs.

The United States Congress approved funding of US $145 million in fiscal 2019 under the initiative, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service. The money is particularly aimed at stopping opioids such as heroin and fentanyl reaching the United States.

The president’s remarks contradicted comments by Public Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo, who told the newspaper Milenio that the government wanted the United States to agree to Mérida Initiative funding to be partially used for the “growth and consolidation of the National Guard.”

With regard to the new security force, however, López Obrador said “we have a way to finance it without needing those funds.”

He also said Mexico doesn’t need assistance from the United States to train the Guard, stating “the army is capable, it has training academies.”

Asked whether the United States government would agree to the redirection of funding to development, the president said, “we’re making progress on that,” noting that the United States recently pledged to invest in development in the region as part of the strategy to curb migration flows.

Some opposition lawmakers called on the president to rethink his proposal to redirect the Mérida funding, warning that it could disappear altogether.

Citizens’ Movement Senator Samuel García said United States President Donald Trump was unlikely to accommodate López Obrador’s “whim,” adding “that’s why I ask for more caution and not to risk [the funding].”

Source: Milenio (sp), Reuters (en)

Oaxaca buys medications after new federal policy fails to deliver

By

Madison Koen

-

May 8, 2019

0

The Oaxaca government has been forced to make emergency purchases of medications after a new federal buying policy failed to deliver, resulting in shortages throughout the state.

Oaxaca Health Secretary Donato Casas said the Oaxaca Health Services (SSO) spent 90 million pesos to guarantee the supply of medications in the state’s 50 hospitals and 300 clinics. He said that close to 50% of the state’s health centers had been affected by the shortages, although a health workers’ union placed the number closer to 70% or 80%.

Casas explained that the crisis followed plans by the federal government to assume responsibility for the purchase of medications beginning in March, a measure that is part of a process to federalize healthcare.

However, due to a lack of funds the federal health secretary informed the SSO that it will not actually cover the purchases until June.

The state health secretary said the government expects the emergency purchases will ensure an adequate supply of medications.

But a health union spokesman warned the state’s healthcare system could collapse within 10 to 15 days if there is not an immediate resolution to the supply problem.

In response, Casas said that the SSO is currently engaged in talks with the federal government to guarantee a full supply of medications to the state’s public hospitals.

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

AMLO’s chief of staff: first-quarter numbers ‘a little slap’ but his boss disagrees

By

MND Staff

-

May 8, 2019

0

romo and amlo — Chief of staff Romo and his boss don't see eye to eye on the first quarter's economic performance.

An economic contraction of 0.2% in the first quarter of this year was nothing more than “a little slap” for the government, according to the president’s chief of staff, who rejected that Mexico is in recession.

Alfonso Romo told reporters yesterday that Mexico had “three complicated months” to start the year, specifically citing delays at the border with the United States in March that cost exporters millions of dollars.

However, he added that the government is “very optimistic” that the economy will pick up because the private sector is strong.

“So, this year, perhaps, we’re going to grow by between 1.6% and 1.7%, it’s very difficult to say now but we’re working on how to change the curve . . .” Romo said.

Asked whether Mexico was in recession as implied by the president of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), President López Obrador’s chief of staff responded: “I don’t see it, I honestly don’t see it in the numbers at all.”

Mexico dropped to No. 25 on the Kearney index.

Romo, a business tycoon and former Olympic equestrian, added: “What’s important is to look at the trend. This first quarter, we were given, what’s it called, a little slap. It’s like when you ride a horse, [if you fall] you get on again to jump better.”

At his morning press conference today, López Obrador said he didn’t agree with Romo’s “little slap” remark.

“I maintain that the economy is very good,” he said, declaring that rather than being slapped, the government is delivering its own backhanders to those involved in corruption.

“. . .We’ve given a slap to the corrupt, that’s right, with a white glove,” the president said.

López Obrador also rejected a new report by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney, which ranked Mexico 25th in its Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, a decline of eight places compared to last year.

“Where does this fall in foreign investment come from? How can it be that we fell eight places in five months?” he asked.

In its report, A.T. Kearney explained that even though Mexico lost eight places in its index – which ranks the markets likely to attract the most investment in the next three years – the country’s score actually rose, indicating that it remains attractive to investors.

“The decline, therefore, is more reflective of an increasingly competitive FDI environment rather than a souring of investment intentions for Mexico,” the company said.

However, it noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Secretariat of Finance (SHCP) have both recently downgraded Mexico’s growth outlooks for this year and next.

“These growth concerns dovetail with the rhetoric of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has challenged the privatization of key sectors of the Mexican economy, including the crucial energy sector,” A.T. Kearney said.

“Furthermore, in early 2019, the Mexican central bank warned that slowing investment and labor strikes, among other challenges, were weighing on its growth forecast.”

A.T. Kearney also noted that credit rating agencies are downgrading the country’s credit rating outlook.

“Contrary to these headwinds, however, the signing of the USMCA free trade agreement has given investors a sense of greater policy stability in the North America economy,” the company said.

“Mexico has made a concerted effort to expand its trading relationships . . . Such efforts indicate to investors that Mexico will remain open to the global economy and is actively seeking to diversify its trade and investment relationships.”

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

Whistled at, taunted, touched and grabbed: a snarky lesson for cat callers

By

Sarah DeVries

-

May 8, 2019

0

During my first 10 or so years in Mexico, I would be grabbed by a strange man, on average, once a year.

All seemed to be crimes of opportunity, and it didn’t really stop until I got a big, scary-looking dog, and men would cross the street to avoid me. (Cat calls and whistles are several times a week, forever, until you’re a skeleton, I guess).

A few times were downright scary, like when a man ran up to me and reached under my skirt while I was walking early in the morning to the bus stop to go to work. He stopped and stared at me for a few seconds even as I screamed and hit him as if he were deciding what to do next. No one was around.

Another time someone grabbed me in front of my apartment building after having asked for directions, and said, when I protested, “What, you don’t like it?” He genuinely seemed confused.

I was so paranoid about him knowing where I lived that I went inside and barricaded my door and carried my keys points-out for months.

Nowadays I live in a decidedly more chill area, my neighbors know me, and often see me with my husband and daughter (having a child with you seems to reduce one’s “fair game” rating by about 70%, but is still no guarantee).

Like every woman I know here, foreign and Mexican, I’ve been whistled at, taunted, touched, and grabbed by men. It sucks. But what sucks more is that so many men don’t seem to realize that it’s something they seriously shouldn’t do, and the contempt it shows for women in general chills my blood. This letter (admittedly snarky) is for them.

Hey there, Cat Callers!

Cute gringa here with your first official class on how to not be creepy toward women. Welcome! I know, this isn’t the best introduction to put you at ease, and surely there are some of you out there who feel you’re being sexy and daring, but much like you feel the need to get things off your chest immediately when you see a female of our species that you think you might like (to harass?), I feel it’s best to just jump right in. Shall we?

First, and this is very important: do not, I repeat, DO NOT touch strange women. Or known women, for that matter, if you aren’t sure how they’re going to take it, and especially if it hasn’t even occurred to you that they’d have any emotions about it at all.

I’m not talking about handshakes and greetings in social situations, and I know you know what I mean. I don’t know a single woman, foreign or national, who hasn’t been grabbed on the street by a strange man and had the living daylights scared out of her, and not an insignificant number of women have disappeared and even died after precisely that kind of initial contact.

So take it from me, fellas: unless your end goal is to commit an actual crime, just keep your hands to yourself! If your end goal is to commit a crime, well, tie yourself up somewhere. I don’t know.

Second rule: direct and constant eye contact is very creepy, and not charming at all. Judging from the number of men who do this, I think this one might not be quite as obvious. Haven’t you ever seen those National Geographic documentaries where giant cats crouch, fixated and unblinking, on their prey?

It’s not a nice feeling, thinking you’re about to get pounced on or are being stalked. And it’s definitely not sexy. If you like someone, do this instead: glance over, catch the person’s eye, smile a bit, then look away again. If she smiles back, maybe do it once or twice more (but don’t sustain the look for over two seconds), then walk over and introduce yourself like a normal human being. You can do it!

Third, just do not do that thing where you turn your head a second too early when a woman walks by so that she just knows that you are checking out her behind. It’s icky. It’s gross. And most of all, it’s unwelcome. When you do that, any hope that you might just see us as regular people dissipates, and makes us feel like, well, an object: something to be compared and examined, then bought or left to rot on a shelf; and if you truly love women, I don’t think this is how you want to make them feel.

Lastly, and oh-so-importantly: when women protest in the streets because they’re tired of being ridiculed, ignored, abused, kidnapped, raped and killed at numbers so high Mexico might as well be one giant war zone, march with them instead of criticizing their efforts as “not the right kind” or “too soon” or discrediting the entire movement because a couple of people spray-painted some graffiti (if there’s one thing we won’t abide, it’s graffiti, amiright?): march with them side by side.

Sexism and machismo hurt all of us, but true equality is sexy.

Sarah DeVries writes from her home in Xalapa, Veracruz.

In 7 years, 10,500 minors were murdered in Mexico: UNICEF report

By

MND Staff

-

May 8, 2019

0

UNICEF México chief Christian Skoog. — UNICEF México chief Christian Skoog at yesterday's presentation.

More than 10,000 minors were murdered in Mexico between 2010 and 2017, according to a new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Just over three-quarters of the 10,547 homicide victims were male — boys and teenagers, UNICEF México said in its 2018 annual report.

Issued yesterday, the report said that violence against minors is on the rise.

“We had an average of three [murders of minors] per day until around five or six years ago. Now, we have about four homicides [per day], according to government statistics, and that is very concerning, it’s serious,” UNICEF said.

Minors aged between 12 and 17 are most vulnerable to deadly violence, the report revealed, accounting for 78% of all homicides in the seven-year period.

UNICEF also said that at the end of 2017 around 20% of missing persons were minors and that girls and teenaged females made up 60% of that figure.

UNICEF representative Christian Skoog told a press conference yesterday that criminal groups prey on children and expose them to risks which in some cases cost them their lives.

“Children are used in illicit activities because they don’t have the same culpability [as adults] . . . That’s why they’re subject to being victims and are attracted by organized crime, because they cannot have the same culpability and that’s dangerous,” he said.

Testimony from a minor included in a report about the prosecution of children published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) last month provided anecdotal evidence that cartels target children for the reason cited by the UNICEF official.

“They [criminal groups] recruit . . . minors because they get out [of juvenile detention centers] more quickly and they put them to work again,” said the minor, who was identified only as Hugo.

Judges cannot impose prison sentences on children younger than 14, the Inegi report said, and the maximum sentence for minors aged between 14 and 17 is five years’ imprisonment, even in the case of serious crimes such as armed robbery, rape and intentional homicide.

Hugo also said that cartels pay the legal fees for minors in trouble with the law and give money to their families, which acts as an incentive for them to stay within the ranks of organized crime.

Skoog urged authorities to “create opportunities” for vulnerable children – one in two Mexican children live in conditions of poverty, according to UNICEF – so that “they don’t have to join illicit activities and [succumb to] the influence of organized crime.”

However, he also noted that children are also increasingly becoming victims of violence in their own homes.

Statistics for 2019 show that children continue to lose their lives in large numbers as an epidemic of violence sweeps the country.

During the first quarter of this year, 285 minors were murdered, according to a report by the Network for Children’s Rights in Mexico (Redim).

Guanajuato recorded the highest number of homicides of minors, with 35, followed by Veracruz and Nuevo León, with 20 and 18 homicides respectively.

Redim said that for every 100 investigations into the murder of a minor, there is only one conviction.

It urged authorities to implement a strategy to combat violence against children that is supported by the full weight of the law and most importantly, sufficient funding.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Petroleum theft a ‘socialized’ problem for 45 Hidalgo communities

By

Madison Koen

-

May 8, 2019

0

Defense Secretary Sandoval in Pachuca this morning.

Seven criminal organizations engaged in fuel theft are active in 45 communities in the state of Hidalgo, where the practice has become “socialized” and involves residents in both stealing fuel and shielding criminal gangs, the defense secretary said today.

At a press conference this morning in the capital, Pachuca, Luis Crescencio Sandoval González said authorities have found 886 illegal fuel taps, which have since been sealed with concrete, a measure that has been successful in preventing repeat taps at the same site.

He said 3,142 personnel have been posted to key locations around the state to carry out surveillance and security protocols. Sandoval said 227,560 liters of petroleum have been recuperated thanks to security operations.

President López Obrador told the press conference that his administration will increase support to anti-petroleum theft efforts in Hidalgo, and celebrated the success of those efforts to date, having reduced theft in the state by 53%.

Nationwide, he said, the number of barrels of petroleum stolen daily has dropped from 80,000 in November of last year to 4,000.

The president admitted that the government has had only limited success in persuading residents not to collaborate with petroleum thieves, but urged citizens from other parts of the state not to stigmatize people whose towns are plagued by the crime.

Source: Quadratín Hidalgo (sp), La Jornada San Luís (sp)

Lawmaker proposes sterilizing women who have a second abortion

By

MND Staff

-

May 7, 2019

0

A lawmaker in Quintana Roo has come under fire after proposing the sterilization of women who abort a child for a second time.

On March 13, independent Deputy Sonia López Cardiel proposed a reform to the criminal code that would force women who want to have a second abortion to sign a document giving their consent to having a permanent contraception procedure.

Pregnancy termination in Quintana Roo is only legal in cases of rape, genetic disorders and health risks to the mother.

López argued that her proposal would be beneficial to women’s health because abortion is “exhausting for physical and mental health.”

The lawmaker also contended that preventing third abortions would reduce the number of children who are homeless, illiterate and live in situations of extreme poverty.

The proposal was referred to a parliamentary committee and will eventually be put to a congressional vote, although no date for that to occur has been set.

The Quintana Roo Human Rights Commission (CEDHQROO) and a range of other groups slammed López’s plan, describing it as discriminatory because women’s rights to make decisions about their own bodies would be limited.

“It’s a punitive and discriminatory measure that reflects gender stereotypes and prejudices as it would punish a woman for having an abortion . . .” CEDHQROO said.

The Quintana Roo Sexual and Reproductive Rights Network, an umbrella organization of 14 separate groups, said yesterday the proposal “fosters hate toward women by criminalizing them for their condition of unwanted pregnancy.”

It also said that enforced sterilization is a crime against in humanity as specified in Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Mexico City is the only state in the country that allows abortions in all cases regardless of a woman’s motive, although a pregnancy must be terminated during the first 12 weeks.

In the 12 years that abortion has been legal in the capital, more than 209,000 pregnancies have been terminated, according to Mexico City health authorities.

In March, women’s rights activists rejected a suggestion from President López Obrador that the legalization of abortion could be put to a public vote.

“Rights are not up for consultation,” they shouted while the president spoke at an event to mark International Women’s Day.

Source: Infobae (sp)

Veracruz files criminal complaint against its attorney general

By

MND Staff

-

May 7, 2019

0

Attorney General Winckler faces criminal charges.

The government of Veracruz today filed a criminal complaint with federal authorities against the state attorney general for probable involvement in crimes that effectively amount to collusion and the obstruction of justice.

State Interior Secretary Erick Patrocinio Cisneros Burgos said Jorge Winckler Ortiz had concealed more than 150 arrest warrants over a period of two years, including some issued against suspects believed to have committed high-impact offenses such as homicide.

“In these two years, those high-impact criminals enjoyed total impunity in Veracruz and the country,” Cisneros said.

“This cannot be, the law says that once an arrest warrant is issued, it has to be uploaded to the Plataforma México [criminal database] within 24 hours so that it’s visible to state and federal authorities.”

However, Winckler took up to eight days to publish the warrants, Cisneros said.

The interior secretary asserted that the government has all the proof necessary for federal authorities to pursue the case against the attorney general.

Winckler was appointed to his current role during the administration of former governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares and has continued to serve in the government of Morena party Governor Cuitláhuac García, who took office in December.

The attorney general has recently been under pressure to resign as a result of accusations of corruption and collusion with organized crime and the former governor. Winckler is also accused of manipulating crime statistics.

President López Obrador said last month that “if he’s linked to the past governor, we have to look at things carefully because Veracruz had a problem with crime being supported by the government.”

He also said that Winckler “is not highly recommended.”

After the criminal complaint was filed today at a branch of the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) in Veracruz, state Public Security Secretary Hugo Gutiérrez Maldonado charged that Winckler is in cahoots with organized crime.

He contended that it will be difficult to fix the security situation in Veracruz if Winckler remains attorney general, charging that the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP) arrests criminals and turns them over to the state Attorney General’s Office (FGE), which instead of prosecuting them, sets them free.

“We can’t put up with so much impunity in Veracruz. It’s double the work but it doesn’t matter. If we have to arrest them five times, we’ll do it,” Gutiérrez said.

“We came to file this complaint and we’re going to follow it up. We’re sure that when we have an attorney general who is impartial to all residents of Veracruz, a lot of justice issues will significantly improve.”

Source: El Democrata (sp), La Jornada (sp), Al Calor Político (sp)