Jalisco Governor Alfaro will head up judicial corruption fight.
President López Obrador has threatened to go after judges who regularly free suspected criminals who go on to commit new crimes.
It would be a strategy similar to the one the president has adopted with respect to gas stations — identifying at his Monday press conference those that sell the most expensive fuel.
“We’re going to be respectful of the judicial branch, but we will also be vigilant; if there are judges that are arbitrarily freeing crime suspects . . . that’s over now. There will now be a who’s who of the justice system.”
Reminding his audience that one of the central aims of his administration is to stifle corruption, he said judges will now have to act within the bounds of the law.
As an example of what can go wrong, the president recounted the case of a suspected criminal who was freed and then proceeded to murder the police officer who had arrested him.
“. . . The executive branch must intervene. This cannot be allowed to keep happening.”
On Tuesday, the president and the National Conference of Governors agreed to conduct an offensive against corruption in the judicial branch.
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro will head up an initiative to develop a methodology to review cases of judicial corruption that can then be applied in every state.
He said his state is emblematic of the problem, claiming that for years the judicial branch has been hijacked by branches of government and individuals.
The judicial branch has been controlled, it has had its masters and there has been ongoing manipulation of decisions, Alfaro said, “and that history has come to an end.”
Meanwhile, in an interview with the newspaper Milenio, constitutional lawyer Alberto Woolrich suggested that the president’s threat to identify suspect judges should not be seen as a threat against the judicial branch, but as a response to the public’s demand to purge institutions of corruption.
“People are fed up with so much corruption. I don’t see this as a threat. Instead, it’s a measure to curb corruption among judges.”
The lawyer highlighted the case of Raúl Salinas de Gortari, brother of former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who was arrested for money laundering but later freed by the Supreme Court.
“How can you put faith in the Supreme Court, in these robed lawyers that supposedly respect the constitution . . .”
The lawyer added that corrupt judges directly undermine Mexico’s sovereignty, saying that though he did not fully agree agree with the president’s ideals, the situation requires immediate action. People throughout the country are fed up with situation, he said.
Evidence of heat coming from the ground in Chalco.
On what used to be an ancient lakebed in the state of México, just one misstep could send your feet plunging through the surface and suffering nasty burns.
Two weeks ago, residents of Santa Catarina Ayotzingo and San Juan Tezompa, once waterfront villages on a now dried-up part of Lake Chalco, noticed smoke coming from land where residents grow food on the San Miguel Ranch in Chalco, México state.
Upon closer inspection, residents discovered gas was being emitted from the ground and the temperature — reported to be as high as 370 C — was hot enough to melt plastic bags and bottles and burn grass. Rumors of volcanic activity quickly spread among residents of the region.
After all, the Popocatépetl volcano is just 50 kilometers away.
But it was not a new phenomenon and it wasn’t a volcano forming.
San Juan Tezompa resident Leonel Ramírez remembers that it was his father who first told him that the ground sometimes spontaneously ignited on the dried bed of the ancient lake, which he later confirmed.
“When you walk [in that area] you can feel the discomfort in your feet. If you scratch a little at the earth, you feel it even more.”
Local official Pedro Camacho remembered another occasion on which a woman reported she had been walking on the ranch with her young son when suddenly his foot broke though the surface of the ground. The heat burned the boy’s foot.
Geologist Ramón Espinar at the National Center for Disaster Prevention (Cenapred) was called in to inspect the groundsby federal authorities in response to requests from local officials. Chalco Civil Protection head José Antonio Aguilar said the geologist’s investigations led him to conclude that the phenomenon was not caused by volcanic activity.
“People were alarmed because they thought that it was the birth of a volcano, but that theory was discarded. Cenapred explained to us that it is actually peat, an underground fire. This was once a lake, but when it dried up many organic materials and fossils remained and decomposed over time, causing high temperature that set underground fires.”
Aguilar said that local authorities will cordon off the area because of the danger presented by the high temperatures.
Located in the Sierra Tapalpa, La Ceja is a popular place for paragliders to take off.
The mountain town of Tapalpa is a favorite weekend destination for the population of Guadalajara during the months of April and May. After strolling the picturesque cobblestone streets of this Pueblo Mágico, tourists might visit Las Piedrotas — the Great Big Rocks — just outside of town, or even hike to the spectacular 102-meter-high Salto del Nogal (Walnut Cascade).
There are, of course, many other sites to see and things to do in the surrounding Sierrra de Tapalpa. I began to discover some of them years ago when I heard rumors there was a hermit living in these hills, a man who had quit his job at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in order to dedicate himself full time to self-knowledge and the appreciation of nature.
Finding the solitary cabin of Alfredo Leal was no easy task but we were rewarded with an opportunity to assist at a sort of “seminar under the pines” with the hermit and visitors who had joined him that day discussing — of all things — the nature of time.
The day after that, we heard about an impressive divisadero or lookout point offering a magnificent view of the great salt flats of Sayula a thousand meters straight down.
Today this spot is known as the Cruz del Hermitaño, the Cross of the Hermit, in honor of Alfredo Leal, who passed away in 2017, hopefully after gaining insights into what makes this universe tick.
The panoramic view from the Hermit’s Cross.
The Hermit’s Cross Lookout is easy to reach from Highway 437, the scenic route through the Sierra Tapalpa. This road passes through the mountain town of Atemajac de Brizuela and takes you west to the pueblito of Juanacatlán which, by the way, means “the place of onions” in Nahuatl.
If you park near the plaza of Juanacatlán you can take a delightful hike through the nearby hills to visit La Piedra Balanceada, Balanced Rock. This picturesque trail is simply gorgeous during the rainy season when you will see no end of wildflowers and strange, beautiful mushrooms while you hike beneath the tall, straight pine trees.
The hike starts at the northeast end of the plaza on Calle Pascual Morones. The trail is 4.7 kilometers long, with a vertical difference of 336 meters and the walk may take two hours (one way) with lots of stops for snapping pictures. This turned out to be one of the most beautiful paths I’ve been on in the Tapalpa area, which is noted for its great outdoor beauty.
The trees were incredibly tall here and we passed a bubbling brook whose waters looked so clean that one of my friends drank from the stream, suffering no ill effects. This trail, by the way, is listed on Wikiloc.
When you stand atop the Balanced Rock, you are at 2,817 meters above sea level (nearly two miles), just about as high as you can get in the Sierra Tapalpa. While this rock is rather ordinary looking, it is big, easy to climb, and it does wiggle a little if enough people get on top of it and run back and forth.
The monolith, by the way, is close to a dirt road, so a friend who didn’t go on the hike could drive around and pick you up there. If you do that, you will pass by a huge slate quarry at the edge of town. I believe this would be a fascinating place to visit on a weekday when you could watch workers removing huge, thin sheets of smooth slate several meters across.
Curious cave formation inside La Cueva de la Palma, near Atemajac.
Curiously, I learned that Mexican schools never used slate for blackboards. “Our pizarrones were made of painted wood instead of pizarra (slate), although there’s plenty of slate around this area and it’s dirt cheap,” my friend Jorge Monroy told me.
If it is late in the day and you need a place to stay before continuing on your way to Tapalpa, check out Cabañas Tapalpa, Sierra del Tecuán. The entrance is on the highway, just north of Juanacatlán. Here you’ll find a delightful little lake surrounded by delightful little cabins.
This is also the home of a truly curious place previously known as Amor Corazón Restaurant.
Everything you see here at Cabañas Tapalpa — including the lake — was created and designed by a lawyer named Carlos Sánchez. Most interesting of all, in my opinion, are his artistic creations inside Amor Corazón: psychedelic art which incorporates bottles, sometimes lit up by sunlight from outside, very much in the style of Antonio Gaudí of Barcelona.
When I asked Sánchez to comment on what it all means (to him), he said:
“Well, although I am a lawyer by profession, I’ve always liked painting and art, and I should mention that all the artwork around you, even the colors themselves, are symbolic. Now the main theme is love, a force that radiates, that buds and springs forth. So there are many symbols of the male and female forces here, for example, the bas-relief snake climbing this column has two heads, representing these forces, a motif you see all around you.”
‘Gringos welcome here,’ says the sign at La Ceja.
Indeed, we could see a male jaguar and a female panther at the near end of a long mural running the length of the restaurant, as well as a pair of giant lizards gamboling above us. Carlos went on to explain the meaning of the two fairy-like thrones we could see. One is shaped like a mushroom with a flower decorating its stem.
“The flower is love,” says Carlos,” and its roots are anchored in the earth. But along its length are false roots floating in the air and these show how human beings can be deceived by illusion and lose their way. And the other throne is called the Kundalini of Human Health, representing man’s soul and the path to spiritual well-being.”
If the bizarre, beautiful and mystic art makes your head spin, you can come back to earth by hiking along a wide, smooth trail which circumnavigates the 60 hectares of Cabañas Tapalpa property and, of course, at night you can enjoy the perennial attraction of these hills: sipping locally made ponche in front of a roaring fireplace with occasional excursions outside the cabin to check out the constellations sparkling in the cold mountain air.
Amor Corazón no longer operates as a restaurant, but you can wander about inside the building even if you are just passing by.
Fortunately, you are now only 20 kilometers away from an operating restaurant — and a very fine one, I might add — called La Ceja, which is located right on the edge of another impressive lookout which is also a paraglider takeoff point.
La Ceja means The Eyebrow which is exactly what a paraglider looks like when seen from a distance. So here is a place where you can enjoy a delicious ham-and-mango pizza while watching people leaping over the edge of a precipice and blissfully hovering in the air.
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Checking out their website will give you an idea how beautiful this place is and they actually have an English version. Here you could rent an “ecological cabin” or book a paraglider flight for total beginners, in which you fly together with an expert.
Finally, I should mention that the first thing you see when you arrive at this place is a big sign at the gate saying, “Gringos are welcome!”
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area and co-author of Outdoors in Western Mexico. More of his writing can be found on his website.
There might be a few more Thors in the world this week.
At least one family was planning to name their baby after a character in the blockbuster hit Avengers: Endgame, but were dissuaded from doing so by a municipal official in Veracruz.
The young couple in Tampico Alto went to the civil registry office to register their child with the name of an Avengers superhero.
The municipal clerk in charge of registering babies’ names and issuing birth certificates said the couple had decided to name their baby boy Thor Alberto.
For Santos Alberto Castillo Maya, registering increasingly unusual names is part of the job. But so is offering some counsel to parents.
While the clerk cannot officially refuse to register the name chosen, the registry office has instructed him to attempt to dissuade them from using “strange” names that could later on make children victims of bullying.
“Fortunately we spoke with the parents and we convinced them to chose another name,” said Castillo.
He said the release of the Marvel Studios film last week has unleashed a frenzy among parents who want to name their children after their favorite superheroes.
The film has also caused a frenzy at the box office. Today it became the fifth-highest grossing film ever, with global sales of US $1.78 billion.
Security forces have been searching without success for the presumed leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, but photos reveal that his wanted status has not stopped him from enjoying some beach time.
José Antonio “El Marro” Yépez Ortíz has been the focus of a two-month security operation intended to bring him to justice.
According to unnamed sources, searches of properties in Santa Rosa de Lima, the Guanajuato municipality where the gang is presumably based, have turned up photos believed to have been taken of the gang boss while in Mazatlán.
The photos show Yépez dressed for the beach while in the company of a woman.
Properties believed to belong to Yépez have been seized in Santa Roma — generating hostility among residents who have erected roadblocks to prevent security forces from entering the area — but the gang leader has eluded capture.
Nearly two months ago, federal Security Secretary Alfonso Durazo declared that their target had been located and his arrest was imminent.
Federal forces arrested Eliseo N., believed to be Yépez’s right-hand man, on April 21.
The president and Labor Secretary Alcalde celebrate new labor legislation.
It was Labor Day in Mexico yesterday and the federal government took advantage of the date to celebrate sweeping new labor legislation.
Approved by the Senate on Monday, the bill gives workers the right to bargain collectively with employers through independent unions and elect union representation by secret ballot.
It was also key to ratifying the new free trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The lack of transparency under which unions operated previously enabled them to sign contracts behind employees’ backs, keep wages low and lure foreign manufacturing industries to the country.
Labor Secretary Luisa María Alcalde called the vote “historic,” saying that “Congress has voted in favor of freedom and union democracy.”
In the United States, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer celebrated the new legislation.
“These reforms will greatly improve Mexico’s system of labor justice and are exactly what labor leaders in the United States and Mexico have sought for decades.”
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had previously called on Mexico to pass such a bill, saying the U.S. Congress could not begin work on the new trade agreement unless Mexico ensured workers’ right to unionize.
López Obrador said an agreement on the legislation had been reached only after long negotiations with unions, the manufacturing industry and lawmakers.
Food poisoning victims receive medical attention at a Veracruz hospital.
Authorities in Veracruz report that 1,358 people were admitted to emergency rooms on Children’s Day after contracting food poisoning.
Health officials said the Zongolica, Tlaquilpa and Río Blanco regional hospitals looked after 699 of the intoxicated adults and children, while 433 were admitted at the IMSS clinics in Atlahuilco and Tehuipango.
Another 186 received medical care at the health centers in Tilica and Alcomunga, Puebla, while 40 were taken to private medical institutions.
While most of the victims were in no danger after receiving outpatient oral rehydration, some severe cases required intravenous fluid regulation.
Lab results are expected in three to four days and will enable authorities to determine the cause of intoxication.
At the same time, the state government announced that it will be proceeding legally against World Vision, organizer of the annual event. Preliminary reports indicate that children began feeling ill after eating cake.
Education Secretary Zenyazen Escobar García told reporters that the massive food poisoning could have been “tragic,” and that Governor Cuitláhuac García Jiménez had ordered that action be taken against the aid organization.
World Vision said in a statement later the same day that it was fully prepared to work with authorities to investigate the source of the poisoning and promised medical aid to victims.
The organization, which said it had been involved in the Children’s Day event for 10 years, said it was “deeply concerned” over Tuesday’s incident.
Route of the Maya Train, the federal government's signature infrastructure project.
What would a government infrastructure project be without cost overruns?
According to new statistics provided by the tourism development fund Fonatur, the cost of initial studies for the construction of the Maya Train, including a master plan and environmental impact study, have shot up 710%.
The projected cost of 120 million pesos (US $6.2 million) five months ago is now 972 million pesos (US $50.8 million).
Government documents reveal that initial estimates overlooked 14 of 24 necessary studies, which represents a significant increase in cost.
There was also an environmental cost despite claims that the project would not have any serious effect on the environment.
In April, a payment of 48.2 million pesos was made to the Mexican Forestry Fund for environmental compensation for the removal of approximately 750 hectares of forest, an area slightly larger than Mexico City’s Chapultepec park.
Total costs related to feasibility studies have shot up by 1,200% from 14 million pesos to 184 million, while the master plan has risen six times, from 20 million pesos to 120 million.
Among several other studies that ballooned in cost were a legal analysis, from 11 million to 55 million pesos; a financial analysis, from 11 million to 52 million pesos; a social impact study, from 15 million to 81 million pesos; an evaluation of obtaining a right-of-way, from 12 million to 110 million pesos; a market study, from 11 million to 40 million pesos; and an archaeological preservation study, from 7 million to 95 million pesos.
Three new studies were also added to the total, including a 90-million-peso mobility study, a 30-million-peso social sensitivity study and a 40-million-peso study of soil mechanics.
A memorial for the victims of the 2006 mining accident.
Relatives of the victims of a mining accident 13 years ago at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila have pleaded for years that efforts be made to recover the bodies, but the mine’s owner has insisted that conditions are too dangerous to do so.
But with a new government in office, the relatives are getting some help.
Only two bodies were recovered after the 2006 explosion that killed 65 people at the Grupo México-owned coal mine. Now, the federal government says it intends to recover the rest.
President Lopez Obrador announced yesterday that he had ordered a recovery operation.
“We are willing to ask for forgiveness . . . in all cases of injustice. We cannot turn our backs on the pain of humanity. This is a humanist government. So we are going to carry out this action,” he said.
López Obrador said in February, on the 13th anniversary of the accident, that his government was open to conducting a recovery effort, observing that it might help reconcile the victims’ relatives with the company that owns the mine.
He said today that Grupo México CEO Germán Larrea Mota-Velasco wrote him to explain that the company had attempted unsuccessfully to recover the bodies, but agreed to help and collaborate in the new effort.
The National Human Rights Commission conducted an investigation at the site following the accident. It claimed that the human rights of the miners that died had been violated, and that government officials had allowed the mine to operate under unsafe conditions.
Almost one year after the accident, the widows of the miners won an injunction that gave them access to internal Grupo México documents, which revealed it had been operating the Pasta de Conchos mine under less than optimal security and safety conditions since at least the year 2000.
Fourteen state officials were suspended from their jobs in 2012 in relation to the case after they were accused of receiving bribes.
Grupo México is the country’s biggest mining company and the third biggest copper producer in the world.
The federal government plans to reduce unemployment to a minimum, increase purchasing power for most, put an end to emigration and eradicate poverty for 25 million people through the national development plan for 2019-2014 that was released this week.
President López Obrador said yesterday that the plan does not cater to the whims of international financial institutions or foreign governments. Instead, it responds to actual conditions in Mexico and will emphasize social development and well-being.
He compared the central aims of the new plan, which seeks to target corruption, lack of development, shortage of jobs and social well-being, with the previous government’s focus on structural reforms in the energy, labor, finance and education sectors. That administration, López Obrador declared, was not in touch with the real problems that plague the nation.
The president highlighted an initiative in the new plan to create employment programs and scholarships to meet the demand for young people seeking employment and create a more able and specialized workforce.
He said that by the end of his term, young people will not miss the opportunity to earn a university degree for lack of space, and that citizens will no longer be condemned to unemployment, underemployment or working in the informal economy.
He also predicted that expanded employment opportunities and decreased insecurity throughout the nation will put an end to emigration by 2024.
He pointed out that during the past 36 years there had been sustained decline, but the new plan will result in benefits such as a 20% increase in average purchasing power, a stronger domestic market and a fairer distribution of wealth.
“No one will go hungry. Extreme poverty will have been eliminated, and no one will lack access to medical services and medicine, and retirees will receive just pensions and will be able to live without material hardship.”
The president said that it was particularly important to implement strategies that prevent poverty from being passed on from one generation to the next and to eliminate the historical discrimination that has constantly belittled many Mexicans’ fundamental rights.
López Obrador observed that for the first time in recent history the national development plan contains the word “corruption,” described as the chief problem facing Mexico.
