Catholic church reveals at least 152 priests suspended for abuse in 9 years

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February 12, 2019

Baca, the Juárez priest arrested Saturday on abuse charges.

The Catholic church in Mexico has revealed that 152 priests have been suspended over the past nine years for child sex abuse, triggering demands that the clerics’ names and whereabouts be made public.

Rogelio Cabrera López, president of the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM), revealed the information Sunday, explaining that some of the priests are serving prison terms while others received non-custodial forms of punishment.

However, he didn’t disclose the number of victims.

Cabrera, who is also the archbishop of Monterrey, lamented that there is no national information system which compiles information related to cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic church and said that it was necessary to establish one.

He also said it was the responsibility of bishops to formally report to authorities all illegal acts detected within the church.

Responding to the church’s revelation, the Mexico director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a non-governmental organization founded in the United States, said he was taken by surprise that such a high number of priests have been suspended for committing sexual abuses against children.

Joaquín Aguilar told the newspaper Milenio that he will meet with Cabrera on Friday to demand more information about the priests including their names and current location as well as details about the church’s treatment of victims.

“It’s information that we’ve sought for years but everything seems to indicate that it was given from the Nunciature because they don’t even have a registry [of priest sex offenders] in Mexico. These processes are orders by the Vatican. It [the information] was incomplete. The number shocks us because we had no idea, but we have to see where the priests are, if there was justice, a judicial process independent of the canonical one, a civil one,” Aguilar said.

“There are several aspects about which we need to be better informed, obviously to help the victims [but] also so as not to abandon the culprits. If they already paid a debt to society, what else are they doing [to repent], in what way can we help them to rehabilitate,” he added.

The disclosure of the number of priests who have been suspended comes in the lead-up to a global bishops’ summit that will be held in Vatican City later this month and whose main focus will be the prevention of abuse of minors.

José Francisco Gómez Hinojosa, vicar general of the archdiocese of Monterrey, said that Cabrera is mindful of his obligations as an archbishop and president of the episcopal conference, explaining that he has met with victims of sexual abuse and will continue to do so in accordance with instructions from Pope Francis.

The most recent case of alleged child sex abuse within the Catholic church in Mexico is that of Aristeo Trinidad Baca, a 76-year-old Ciudad Juárez priest who was arrested by Chihuahua state police on Saturday and placed in preventative custody.

The priest is accused of abusing an altar boy but some residents have leapt to his defense, going as far as making threats against the minor and his family.

Over the weekend, dozens of Baca’s supporters gathered outside the Ciudad Juárez prison where he is being held to pray for his release.

“The Father is a good person . . . We know the person he is, very attentive, full of charity, very kind, devoted to God . . . We don’t know why he is there [in prison] . . . but we ask God with all our heart to deliver justice because he is innocent,” said María de León, a local parishioner.

Hesiquio Trevizo, a spokesman for the Ciudad Juárez diocese, also defended Baca, describing him as “an icon of great service to the community.

The state human rights commission said it will provide support to the minor and his family, whose lawyer said the priority was that the boy be protected.

“. . . The minor and his family are at serious risk . . . I know from first-hand testimony that the family has been intimidated and had to leave their home,” Xóchitl Flores said.

Source: Milenio (sp), SDP Noticias (sp)

The presidential photo no longer hangs in government offices

By

MND Staff

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February 11, 2019

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Official portraits of presidents do not include AMLO.

For almost a hundred years, Mexico’s presidents – in the form of photographic portraits – have silently gazed down upon officials working in government offices.

At least since Abelardo Rodríguez’s two-year term as interim president from 1932 to 1934, the framed photos have been a constant.

Salinas, Zedillo, Fox, Calderón and Peña Nieto, Mexico’s five most recent presidents, all appeared in the portraits, dressed in suits and ties and sporting the presidential sash.

But the nearly century-long tradition has been broken by President López Obrador.

The president’s social communication team confirmed that he has decided against having his official presidential portrait hung in government offices.

His spokesman, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, said that while López Obrador is respectful of the power invested in him, he is not interested in promoting his personal image.

Although it breaks a longstanding national tradition, López Obrador’s decision perpetuates a personal one.

While mayor of Mexico City between 2000 and 2005, the leftist also opted not to display his likeness in government offices, choosing instead to hang an image of Benito Juárez along with a quote in which the former president advocates honesty and responsibility for public officials.

As president, however, López Obrador has made one exception to his rule, agreeing to a request from the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) to pose for an official portrait to be hung at Sedena offices.

The image, taken in the National Palace, will be positioned above portraits of other military leaders in recognition of López Obrador’s position as supreme commander of the armed forces.

“It’s a good, professional photo,” said Ramírez, adding that it didn’t cost anything because it was taken by the president’s social communication team.

In contrast, the former federal government spent more than 2 million pesos (US $103,500 at today’s exchange rate) for a photographic session for ex-president Enrique Peña Nieto and to have the images printed and framed.

But López Obrador has made cutting government costs a crusade, implementing a range of austerity measures that have included reducing his salary and that of other officials, traveling on commercial flights and largely eschewing personal security.

He is also putting more than 200 government vehicles up for auction and trying to offload the presidential plane.

“We cannot have a rich government and a poor people,” the president often quips.

Source: Milenio (sp)

9 high-risk zones in CDMX where thieves target bank customers

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MND Staff

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February 11, 2019

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Areas around banks are high-risk for theft.

High and middle-income areas of Mexico City are the favored hunting grounds for thieves who target people who have just withdrawn money from their bank.

An investigation by the newspaper Milenio using publicly available government data identified nine neighborhoods in the capital where bank customers are most at risk of being mugged after using an ATM or withdrawing money inside a bank.

They are Colonia Del Valle, Roma Norte, Lomas de Chapultepec, Narvarte, Anáhuac, Hipódromo (Condesa), Polanco, the historic center and Lindavista.

Information on the Mexico City government’s open data platform shows that between 2016 and 2018, there were 977 street robberies reported by people who had just withdrawn money in the capital and 15% of them occurred in those neighborhoods.

Most robberies occur on streets within a 100-meter radius of the bank where the victim withdrew money.

Zones where bank customers are at high risk from muggings.

The thieves most commonly approach their victims on motorcycles, either in groups or alone, to quickly snatch bags, purses and wallets. However, the threat and/or use of violence is reported in some cases.

In Colonia Del Valle, a middle-class neighborhood in the south of Mexico City, one person was killed after leaving a bank in April last year.

With a total of 24 reported robberies between 2016 and 2018, Del Valle had the equal highest incidence of the crime along with Roma Norte, a trendy neighborhood full of bars and restaurants located to the west of Mexico City’s downtown.

Lomas de Chapultepec, an affluent neighborhood in the Miguel Hidalgo borough, and Narvarte, a middle-class neighborhood that borders Del Valle, both saw 17 reported cases of robberies of recent bank users over the past three years to tie for third place for the incidence of the crime.

All nine neighborhoods identified by Milenio have several banks which are clustered together in the same area, providing a clear focus for would-be thieves.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Oaxaca teachers announce job action, including ‘massive’ 3-day mobilization

By

Madison Koen

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February 11, 2019

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Section 22 leaders at the head of a protest march.

CNTE-affiliated teachers in Oaxaca are set to march again.

The union’s Oaxaca local, Section 22, announced it would suspend classes in the state’s seven regions today through Wednesday, closing schools in 800 locations.

But more job action will follow in two weeks.

The Oaxaca state assembly of Section 22 said classes will also be canceled February 25, 26 and 27 for a massive three-day mobilization in Mexico City.

Teachers are once again protesting against their old scourge — education reform.

They are demanding the repeal of former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s education reform, charging that President López Obrador’s new education law doesn’t go far enough.

“We aren’t going to stop demanding the repeal of the so-called education reform,” said a union official.

Spokesman Santiago Valdivieso said the president’s proposed constitutional amendment fell far short of his organization’s expectations.

“Everything seems to indicate that this is nothing more than a change so that everything stays the same.”

He said the proposal has the same focus as the previous administration’s education reform on certification, student teaching, professional evaluations and bilingual education, a vision he called “corporate” and “colonialist.”

The president’s initiative would amend the constitution and disband the National Education Evaluation Institute (INEE), which has been widely perceived as a punitive institution. The president has said the new reform would “recognize the function of the teaching profession and . . . establish positive incentives and evaluation.”

The form of the protests, whether marches or encampments, will be outlined in detail at a CNTE organizational planning meeting.

The union has been marching against the reforms since they were introduced in 2013, shutting down the state on several occasions with state-wide highway blockades and other protests.

The same union is currently protesting in Michoacán, claiming billions of pesos in unpaid wages and bonuses. It has shut down all railroad freight for nearly four weeks.

Source: NVI Noticias (sp), El Financiero (sp)

9 former officials accused of conflict of interest in ‘privatization’ at CFE

By

MND Staff

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February 11, 2019

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AMLO, left, and Bartlett at this morning's press conference.

Nine former public officials, including ex-president Felipe Calderón, awarded energy contracts to private companies at which they would later work or hold shares in, the head of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) charged today.

Denouncing the conflict of interest at this morning’s presidential press conference, Manuel Bartlett accused the officials of signing contracts that included favorable terms and conditions for the companies.

That “process of privatization,” he argued, contributed to the weakening and “dismantling” of the state-owned electric utility to such an extent that it now generates only 50% of Mexico’s energy needs.

In addition to Calderón, the former officials Bartlett named were:

José Cordoba Montoya, chief of staff for former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
Jesús Reyes Heroles, a former energy secretary and CEO of Pemex.
Carlos Ruiz Sacristán, secretary of communications and transportation during the presidency of Ernesto Zedillo.
Luis Téllez, secretary of energy during Zedillo’s presidency and secretary of communications and transportation during the administration of Felipe Calderón.
Alfredo Elías Ayub, former chief of the CFE.
Georgina Kessel, secretary of energy in Calderón’s administration.
Jordi Herrera, also a secretary of energy under Calderón.
Alejandro Fleming, chief of legal affairs at the Secretariat of Energy during Calderón’s presidency.

All of the ex-officials now work as consultants at energy firms including Iberdrola and IEnova, Bartlett said.

Calderón, who has already engaged in a testy tit-for-tat with President López Obrador over claims of corruption, reiterated in a radio interview today that he had done nothing wrong by accepting a board position with Avangrid, a United States subsidiary of Iberdrola.

“If they have a single piece of proof that shows that I benefited illegally from any company, they should present it. If not, they should shut up,” he said.

“I worked for a company that has never had operations in Mexico almost four years after I left the position of president . . . I respected the term that the law sets,” Calderón added, explaining that he waited almost three years beyond the one-year period stipulated by federal law during which past officials must not take up private sector roles.

“I have no conflict of interest,” he declared

For his part, President López Obrador said this morning that contracts that the CFE has entered into with private companies should be reviewed in order to keep energy prices low.

“We are urging companies that have agreements with the Federal Electricity Commission to come together to review contracts and above all to reach an agreement that electricity prices will not increase,” he said.

The president also contended that the CFE’s energy infrastructure was abandoned by past governments that favored giving contracts to private companies rather than investing in the state company.

López Obrador said the federal Attorney General’s office (FGR) would determine if any crimes were committed by the former officials and if so, it would decide what action to take.

Source: El Financiero (sp), Noticieros Televisa (sp), Reuters (en), MVS Noticias (sp)

No more trust: helping woman in need cost a diamond ring

By

Gary Jones

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February 11, 2019

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The scam began outside the Super Lake store. — The story of the scam began outside the Super Lake store.

When you venture to a foreign land you never know about the local folks until you experience them first hand.

Having traveled previously to Panama, where they don’t much care for Americans because of the invasion of Panama by George Bush Sr., and Ecuador where, although friendly, they basically want your money more than you. There the theory is if you’ve got it they want it and they will take it.

With these not so pleasant experiences in mind I ventured off to Mexico, not expecting it to be much different. To my considerable surprise and joy the local Mexican folks were warm, friendly and happy. Their priorities were family, church, celebrating and they were not really much into material things. I fell in love with them from the first day here.

Fast forward more than a year. I had returned to Canada to get my temporal visa and come back to live out my life here in Mexico. Despite my then Mexican fiancée breaking up with me by text message the day we got back I was simply happy to be here surrounded by all these wonderful people.

That all changed recently when I was stupid enough to trust someone. When I came out of my favorite grocery store here, Super Lake, there was a young girl standing outside with a sign that read, “Please help me with some food for my baby” scrawled in English and then Spanish on a piece of cardboard. I gave her the few coins of change I had.

As I waited for my driver I stood behind her to have a smoke and I watched as person after person came out of the store totally ignoring her friendly “hello” and her sign. I could tell from their clothing and jewelry that they weren’t suffering financially so it annoyed me that they ignored her plight.

After far too much of this I introduced myself to her and asked her to come back in the store with me where I bought her baby food, bread and some chocolate to treat herself. Not a lot of money but I am a pensioner so money is tight. She was thrilled and helped me to load my groceries when my driver arrived. This is when I made my first mistake.

I felt sorry for her and gave her my business card. I told her if she ever found herself with no food for her baby to contact me and I would try to help.

Two days later she called me and asked me for 300 pesos towards her rent. I told her I was not in a position to just give her money. She thanked me and ended the call.

A few days later she called me again and we arranged to meet at Super Lake. She didn’t show up but she called me later to meet her. I told her I couldn’t come back but if she wanted to come to my place I would give her some money. Second mistake.

She showed up with a friend in tow, I assumed because it wasn’t smart for a girl to be alone in a man’s apartment. I got that. I fed them and when her friend wasn’t looking I gave her 200 pesos, telling her that this was the last help I could give her for at least a month.

We were all sitting out on my terrace chatting when she went back in and started cleaning my apartment. I told her she didn’t need to do that but she insisted. I assumed it was to thank me for the money. We said our goodbyes and they left.

A few minutes later her friend returned alone. I thought she might have forgotten something but when I let her in she pointed to the ring on my finger. I was confused but eventually understood she was referring to my other ring, the one with the diamonds that was on my bedside table. The one worth CAD $1,000. The one I had had for 10 years. Sure enough it was gone from my bedside table. Her “friend” had stolen it. That was the thanks I got for helping her.

As upset as I was that she had stolen my ring I was more impressed that her “friend” had come back to tell me the little thief had showed her my ring and said she was going to sell it. She didn’t have to come back, but she did. We called the police, who showed up fairly quickly and took all the details. The plan was to call my driver and meet the police in Chapala then go to the thief’s house and demand my ring back.

By the time we got there, the police station was closed. The new plan was to return in the morning, meet the police and go to her house. I was concerned that my ring would be sold by then so I asked her friend if she was willing to go to the house and confront the woman and she agreed.

When we got to the house she either wasn’t there or refused to open the door. I had her friend call on my driver’s phone so she wouldn’t recognize the number. Although she answered, she soon hung up on her.

The new plan was then to come back in the morning to go with the police. She talked to my driver and made arrangements for him to pick her up at eight o’clock in the morning, get me and then go to the police station. At least that’s what I understood. Third mistake.

The reason we were going to meet early was because the friend said she had to be at work at 10:00 and we didn’t want her to be late because she said she had only just started working at Super Lake. She said she worked from 10 until two. Fourth mistake.

As I waited anxiously for my driver to show up with her the next morning it got later and later. I called my driver to see where they were but he said he knew nothing about picking her up and he didn’t know where she lived.

The new plan was to go to Super Lake at 10:00 and see if she could go with us at two o’clock to the police and then her friend’s house. That was not what I wanted because I figured by then my ring would have been sold. Still, the friend was the only proof I had that she had stolen my ring because the police believed that she had been shown the ring and told that it was going to be sold.

When we got to Super Lake shortly after 10 I asked where Estafan was. I was told no person by that name worked there.

That was when I finally realized they had worked together. I still don’t understand why she came back to my apartment to tell me about the theft, but maybe she thought she could steal something else.

As I have shared this story with friends they have all told me how stupid I was to trust this girl. They said that lots of Mexicans pull these kinds of stunts. They told me to trust no one.

My ring is gone and I will never get it back. The thief will never be charged or go to jail. She will no doubt do this again and again. This experience has certainly tarnished my opinion of the locals. It’s also served to destroy my trust in people.

Live and learn.

The writer is originally from Canada and the developer of city portal sites in the Lake Chapala region of Jalisco, the first being AjijicToday.com.mx.

State takes over policing in Mexico’s wealthiest municipality

By

MND Staff

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February 11, 2019

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State police arrive for duty in San Pedro Garza García.

Nuevo León state police assumed responsibility for policing duties in Mexico’s wealthiest municipality Saturday after a request for help from the mayor.

State Secretary General Manuel González said the state police takeover of San Pedro Garza García, part of the Monterrey metropolitan area, followed a request for assistance from Mayor Miguel Treviño de Hoyos.

He explained that the state will remain in charge of security while municipal officers are subjected to control and confidence testing.

“The decree . . . that will be published says that [the takeover] is temporary, it doesn’t establish a time frame. The reality is that we think that it’s going to take about a month, a month and a week maximum, to carry out an analysis of the control and confidence tests. We will seek to do it faster in order to be able to return to normality soon,” González said.

“We think that it’s a very healthy attitude on the part of the mayor; for him to decide to [ask us] to come to help, to review and diagnose, together with him, the condition of the police force,” he added.

For his part, Treviño thanked the state government for its prompt response. He said his request followed a preliminary analysis of the municipal police force carried out in the months since he was sworn in as mayor at the end of October.

That analysis, he said, allowed us “to arrive at the conclusion that it was pertinent to ask the state [government] to support us in checking that the entire force is clean.”

The mayor, who won last year’s election as an independent candidate, said the decision to ask for assistance wasn’t related to incidents of violence in recent days, including the burning of vehicles.

Nuevo León Public Security Secretary Aldo Fasci Zuazua said the army will also collaborate with state police to carry out security duties in San Pedro Garza García while the confidence tests are applied.

Responding to news of the takeover, former mayor Mauricio Fernández Garza defended the performance of the municipal police force during his three-year administration from 2015 to 2018.

He said that in October, the month he left office, San Pedro Garza García was ranked by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) as having the lowest perception of insecurity among residents of all municipalities in Mexico.

“. . . The effort of the major [former San Pedro security secretary Antonio Lucas Martínez] in controlling the [municipal] force and in coordinating with the military was extraordinary. He was recognized by civil associations for the extraordinary results,” Fernández said.

He added that “what the people perceive, feel and believe” about security in the municipality, as expressed in opinions given to Inegi, gave San Pedro Garza García the best security perception results in Mexico’s history.

In addition to being the country’s wealthiest municipality with a per-capita GDP of more than US $25,000, San Pedro Garza García was last year deemed Mexico’s most livable city in a survey conducted by polling firm Gabinete de Comunicación Estratégica.

Source: Milenio (sp)

Roma named best film at British film and TV awards

By

César Hernández

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February 11, 2019

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Roma, the intimate and semi-autobiographical film by Alfonso Cuarón, won four awards at the 72nd edition of the British film and TV awards (BAFTA) last night, including best film.

The director himself won a record four personal BAFTA awards for a single film from a record six personal nominations, including best director and best cinematography. Roma also won the BAFTA for best film not in the English language.

Cuarón now has seven BAFTA wins, having previously won best director and best British film for Gravity and best non-English film for producing Guillermo Del Toro’s movie Pan’s Labyrinth.

“Thank you Alfonso, you did not make this easy, but it was worth it,” said producer Gabriela Rodriguez as she received the award for best non-English film alongside the director himself.

The ever-growing list of wins and accolades received by Roma and its cast makes it a strong contender for the biggest night for the film industry, the Oscars, for which it has 10 nominations: best picture, best director, best actress, best supporting actress, original screenplay, foreign language film, cinematography, production design sound editing and sound mixing.

As in the BAFTA nominations, Cuarón has been nominated in four of those categories.

Roma has also become the first film distributed primarily by a streaming service to be nominated for best picture, and has tied with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for the most Oscar nominations ever received by a film not in English.

Source: Milenio (sp), Variety (sp)

Lone gunman shoots and kills longtime Tabasco journalist

By

Madison Koen

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February 11, 2019

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Journalist Jesús Ramos was murdered Saturday in Tabasco.

A veteran journalist was killed Saturday in Tabasco.

The host of a popular radio program, Jesús Ramos Rodríguez, known to friends and listeners as “Chuchín,” was shot and killed at a restaurant in Emiliano Zapata.

The journalist was having breakfast with a former mayor of the municipality among others. The current mayor was also expected to join but had not yet arrived when the gunman arrived in a vehicle, went straight up to Ramos and shot him eight times.

The Tabasco Attorney General said the special prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression had been asked to help investigate the murder.

The federal government, Tabasco Governor Adán Augusto López Hernández and the newspaper Tabasco Hoy were among many who lamented the murder, recognizing Ramos’s work over the last 20 years.

Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez Cuevas wrote on Twitter that the executive will “strengthen the measures of protection for human rights defenders and journalists; freedom of expression is a right and fundamental element for democracy, justice and freedom.”

Ramos, 59, is the second journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year. Rafael Murúa Manríquez, 34, was found dead on January 20 in Baja California Sur. The young reporter was the director of a multi-city community radio station and a regular contributor to a local newspaper.

Prior to his death, Murúa Manríquez received several death threats, presumably related to his investigative work to expose corruption and nepotism in local politics. It is not yet known whether Ramos received similar threats for his work, though the state of Tabasco is widely considered to be one of the most dangerous for journalists due to widespread corruption in government and the presence of drug cartels and fuel theft.

The murder of journalists has become increasingly common in the last two decades. In 2017, 11 journalists, including veteran reporters Javier Valdez in Sinaloa and Miroslava Breach in Chihuahua, were silenced in killings linked to their work. Last year saw the murders of nine more.

Mexico is often cited as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists. Interior Secretary Olga Sánchez Cordero has promised to provide more federal protections for journalists since she took office in December.

Source: El País (sp)

Mexico’s first woman-powered distillery: finesse and delicacy in every bottle

By

Megan Frye

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February 11, 2019

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Xila liqueur, made by women at Destilería Flor de Luna.

Pineapple, lavender, chile ancho, hibiscus flower, clove, cinnamon and black pepper infused into mezcal. These are the potent ingredients that make up Xila, an award-winning artisanal liqueur produced by a micro-distillery in Mexico City that is run completely by women.

Xila is one of several small-batch liqueurs that tantalize the senses and make up the products of Destilería Flor de Luna.

Founded in 2015 by distiller Dona Spotter, Flor de Luna started out as a one-woman show. Spotter created infusions in her apartment, a passion that arose from working as a bartender in Santa Fe.

“I really liked studying the measurements of each drink, but I wasn’t that interested in mixology,” Spotter said. “What really intrigued me was the entire process of making a vodka, rum, tequila or mezcal. I spent a lot of time doing tests, making comparisons between what I made with other products that were out there and bit by bit I was able to establish my style and my recipes.”

Spotter went to learn the basics of distilling from Edgar Villanueva, proprietor of Edgar Villanueva Distillery in Guadalajara. The rest, she says, was a combination of reading a lot of books on the subject and, of course, trial and error.

Hillhamn Salome in the herb garden behind the production facility. — Dona Spotter in the herb garden behind the production facility. megan frye

“I didn’t make the alcoholic base at first, just infusing with different herbs and such,” Spotter said. “It was just me. It was with my designs — very underground. Finally I came around to making a mezcal infused with pineapple and chile, and that was what people liked the best.

“So I decided to focus on that, to improve the recipe and create my product. Throughout 2016, I was formulating different processes and trying out different things, and finally Xila emerged as it is now.”

A major aspect of Spotter’s research was based on the changing seasons of Mexico and how that affects the country’s produce.

“It took me a while to make the perfect recipe throughout all seasons,” she said. “We have ingredients that change; there are months when the chile is more spicy, months when pineapple is more sweet, more dry or more acidic. So that entire year I was trying the Xila recipe during different seasons, but I also learned how to distill all kinds of other alcohol.”

Spotter took Xila to the SIP, the International Spirits Competition in California, where it won the gold medal in 2016. That gave her the confidence to begin producing more of it, and also to begin approaching distributors in Mexico.

Unfortunately, she said, that was when Mexico’s machista reality reared its ugly head. And ultimately what led Flor de Luna to be a team of women.

Flor de Luna has more than 300 spices for its various liqueurs. megan frye

“I decided to work only with women because a lot of doors closed to me for being a woman,” Spotter said. “I visited a lot of distributors and showed them my product, and one actually told me flat out that he didn’t want anything to do with my product because he didn’t believe in it and that I didn’t know what I was doing because I am a woman.”

Flash forward to December 2018 when Xila hit the bars of New York City. It had already been present in places such as the Riviera Maya, Monterrey, San Miguel de Allende, Mérida, León, Los Cabos, Ensenada and on the shelves of City Market, Mexico’s gourmet grocery chain.

In addition to Xila, Flor de Luna also produces both a lavender liqueur and a lychee liqueur, as well as four bitters: Fourth Season, Cafe de Olla, Xila and Tea Mix.

The distillery also takes on special projects and commissions, such as a strawberry gin and a Pan de Muerto liqueur made in the past for Mexico City restaurants. Recently, Flor de Luna worked with chef Alejandro Cabral of Mexico City’s Alba Cocina Local to create marinades using Xila.

Moving through what Spotter says is the sexist environment of bartending and liquor distribution has been one challenge, though she doesn’t seem to fazed by it at this point. The other challenge her company has faced is getting people to try something different.

“It’s hard to change people’s minds,” Spotter said. “They are closed off to only drinking what they know. But a lot of people are starting to become more interested in buying Mexican artisanal products. I think a challenging thing for anyone in this business is that while you can get people to try something, it’s harder to later get them to actually choose it over something that they are used to, even if they love what you’ve exposed them to.

Production chief Wendy Rodríguez prepares labels for the company's selection of cocktail bitters. — Production chief Wendy Rodríguez prepares labels for the company’s selection of cocktail bitters. megan frye

“It also has been challenging to explain to people that even though my team is completely made up of women, that doesn’t mean that the product is only for women. It’s for everyone.”

Still, Spotter says, the positives far outweigh any potential setbacks.

“The best thing for me is to see people’s pleasure when they try my product and they like it,” she said.

Currently producing 1,500 liters a month, Flor de Luna will be needing a bigger space soon to accommodate more production and therefore more employees. There is a small but elegant tasting room as well, and Flor de Luna invites people to take a distillery tour ending with a tasting at its location in Mexico City.

Wendy Rodríguez, chief of production at the distillery, has worked at Flor de Luna for four years, learning the entire process of production, bottling and labeling from Spotter. Now Rodríguez is in charge of training new hires.

The production team currently consists of five women, including Spotter and Rodríguez, as well as one of Rodríguez’s sisters and two cousins. The women work a flexible schedule of three days per week, which allows them to care for their children, while learning a new skill.

“Dona is learning even more every day so I keep learning from her,” Rodríguez said. “We go from doing the basic to then labeling and bottling. I love preparing Xila, I love the ingredients. I love to count every little thing that goes into it.”

Building a team of only women wasn’t entirely based on a desire to tell the patriarchy to back off, though. Spotter says she believes women have more finesse and delicacy and are more detailed when it comes to hand-picking the botanicals that go into each bottle.

Xila means woman in the Mexican indigenous language of Zapotec. Flor de Luna references the fragrant and mysterious moon flowers endemic to Chiapas and the Yucatán peninsula.

“If we have to cut 3,000 lavender leaves, they do it with a lot of love,” Spotter said. “And I think that has a been a reason why the product is so good as well; one way that we are able to maintain the quality.”

While Spotter’s professional motto for the company, to be a production house of the best organic alcoholic beverages in Mexico, could well be the goal of many distilleries, her personal goal is one of the things that she asserts sets Flor de Luna apart from competitors.

“I like to believe that in every product and lot that we made, we embottle our feelings,” Spotter said. “We have a massive closet filled with different trials that we’ve made, and each of them was completed at a different point of my life. The whole year that I was actively trying new things, well, each bottle has a feeling in it from that. That is what we want to share.”

Megan Frye is a writer, photographer and translator living in Mexico City. She has a history of newsroom journalism as well as non-profit administration and has been published by several international publications.