The Mexican Stress Test: How do you think you would do?

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May 8, 2024

Store lit with a candle — How do you respond to the sometimes frustrating challenges of life in Mexico? (Travis Bembenek)

Many people, including myself, wax poetic about how life in Mexico has changed them.

We talk about how the different pace of life has made us more patient. We share how we have a newfound appreciation for things we didn’t notice before.

But how do we really know if we have actually changed, or if we are just telling ourselves (and others) that we have changed? I present to you: the Mexican Stress Test.

A disclaimer: I just invented the Mexican Stress Test last night — but I do think I am on to something.

My wife and I have had the luck of having the power go out in our home in San Miguel de Allende two of the past three nights. The first time, it was very localized, just the 20 or so homes in our privada. Last night, it was big — basically all of central San Miguel went out, and there were outages reported in 21 states across the country. When the power goes out in our home, it is extra special because it also immediately cuts out our water and internet. So we get the trifecta — an immediate total loss of our power, water, and internet. Oh, and we don’t have a backup generator.

Here is where the Mexican Stress Test comes into effect. The question I would like each of you to ask yourselves is: what do you do when your power goes out at your home?

Be honest with yourself. Do you stress out? Get angry? Call the power company repeatedly until you get a clear answer? I’ll be honest, when I lived in the U.S., I did all of those things.

I truly had a “time is money, I must be efficient, and the power outage is wasting my time and making me inefficient” mindset. I would call the power company, text friends and neighbors to see what they knew and complain to my wife. In summary, I wasted the entire power outage being stressed about the power outage.

In Mexico, I have found that I take the outages totally differently.

Of course, it’s hard to imagine how you will react until it actually happens. Two nights ago, the power went out around 9 p.m. with an exploding transformer that startled us. My wife and I just laughed, sighed and set up a makeshift bed on our ground floor to sleep (as it is relatively cooler than our upstairs bedroom).

We had never done this before, it’s not like we were super prepared to do this, but it just seemed like the logical thing to do at the moment. We slept fine, woke up without power, and walked to a friends house in a nearby neighborhood that had power so we could shower. We bought breakfast at a little coffee shop and by the time we got home by late morning, our power was back!

Tonight’s outage was a bit more dramatic as the power went out all over the city. I was finishing a walk and all of a sudden, boom!, it went out and everyone immediately started coming out of their homes and hanging out on the street.

I needed to buy some water, so I went to the local mini-store to find them still open, lit by a single Coke bottle with a candle in it. I talked to a family in the street, petted an 8-week-old husky puppy for awhile that a woman was playing with in the street, and then headed home to find my wife just laying on top of the bed, in the dark, meditating and thinking.

Woman holding a husky puppy — A new friend Travis made while the power was out. (Travis Bembenek)

After making a wager as to how long this particular outage would last, I laid down next to her and we spontaneously started having a strategic brainstorming session about our business — Mexico News Daily.

There we were, in total darkness, with no internet, and with phone signals jammed from so much cellular traffic that there was nothing to do but just talk. Over the period of the next 90 minutes, completely uninterrupted by the many distractions of modern life, we had a wonderful, high-quality discussion about some strategic issues that needed to be addressed.

When the power came back on, we were actually a bit disappointed that it returned so quickly, as we were still deep in thought and conversation.

I can’t say that I hope for another power outage anytime soon, but as I reflect on these two evenings, I am surprised by how calm I was on both occasions. I wasn’t stressed, I wasn’t complaining about what I wasn’t able to do, I just took it in stride, enjoyed the journey, and actually got some great thinking done that I was having trouble getting to when the power was on.

I think I passed this particular Mexican Stress Test. And I feel damn good about it.

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for over 27 years.

Power outages affect 21 states in Mexico

By

MND Staff

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May 8, 2024

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Power outages affected more than half of Mexico's territory in May — In May, a heat wave and subsequent increase in energy demand strained the national grid, causing blackouts in Quintana Roo and elsewhere. (Jorge Ortega/Cuartoscuro)

As extremely hot weather affects much of the country, many Mexicans were left without electricity on Tuesday afternoon and night.

Power outages were reported in 21 states, while the National Energy Control Center (Cenace) declared a state of emergency in Mexico’s electricity system on two occasions.

Así el apagón en San Luis Potosí #SLP pic.twitter.com/frWsO1quFO

— Frankie 🇲🇽 (@frankiefran) May 8, 2024

Cenace said in a statement on Tuesday night that Mexico’s electricity generation capacity was affected from 4:05 p.m. Mexico City time when a power plant in Tamaulipas “went out of service.”

Several other power plants in various parts of the country subsequently went offline and solar and wind power generation dropped, Cenace said.

Mexico’s energy control center didn’t say that the mass power outage was related to increased electricity demand generated by the current heat wave.

In fact, it didn’t specify a reason for the interruptions at the power plants but did say that solar generation decreased due to cloudy conditions in the Bajío region.

However, energy expert Arturo Carranza noted that increased electricity demand due to high temperatures in some parts of Mexico “causes stress” to the national system.

“To achieve conditions of reliability and safety in operations, Cenace declares these states of emergencies, which are accompanied by other actions [including programmed outages] to reduce the stress,” he said.

An “operational state of emergency in the interconnected national system” was declared at 5:04 p.m. Mexico City and lasted 48 minutes. The system needs electricity reserves of at least 6% to operate normally, but they had dropped below 3% when the emergency was declared.

A second state of emergency was declared at 7:10 p.m due to an increase in “night demand” for electricity as well as generation problems at several power plants.

Cenace said that rolling blackouts were required to “maintain safety and reliability” in the electricity system after each of the emergency declarations.

“At 20:10 the reconnection of affected electricity supply began,” Cenace said, adding that it was expected to conclude at 11 p.m.

Blackouts were reported in Mexico City, México state, Morelos, Campeche, Coahuila, Colima, Oaxaca, Puebla, Hidalgo, Chiapas, Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Veracruz, Tamaulipas and Tabasco.

Neither Cenace nor the Federal Electricity Commission specified the number of people who lost power on Tuesday.

Among the municipalities affected by power outages were San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato, Toluca in México state, Reynosa in Tamaulipas and San Luis Potosí, the capital of the state of the same name.

Much of Mexico will continue to swelter on Wednesday. The National Meteorological Service is forecasting temperatures above 45 C in 11 states and temperatures of 40-45 C in an additional 11.

With reports from Reforma, El Financiero, N+ and El Economista

The Baja 500 revs up for 56th annual offroad race

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Chris Sands

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May 8, 2024

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Baja 500 race — Dirt race lovers rejoice! The 56th Baja 500 is almost here, and competition is stronger than ever. (BFGoodrich)

The Baja California peninsula’s rugged terrain and stark desert landscapes have provided the setting for seven decades of off-road racing, and the Baja 1000 is inarguably the most famous of these races. The legendary event dates back to 1967 and is still the longest continually operated desert race in the world. But the Baja 500, also run under the SCORE International banner, has been around almost as long. It celebrates its 56th race this year, only one less than the Baja 1000.

The green flag symbolizing the start of these iconic competitions typically drops in Ensenada, hence the city’s nickname: the Desert Racing Capital of the World. Forty-nine of the previous Baja 500 races began in Ensenada. So will the 2024 version, which kicks off on June 1 and will feature an estimated 280 racers in 45 classes. Competitors have 20 hours to log an official finish in the 483.06-mile course. Misleadingly, it’s not always 500 miles exactly, as the course can vary from year to year.

While the Baja 500 is considered the junior cousin to the more famous Baja 1000, the race has remained popular well into its sixth decade. (BFGoodrich)

What to know about this year’s race

The BFGoodrich Tires 56th SCORE Baja 500 officially happens from May 29 to June 2. The first day, however, is dedicated to technical inspections of participating vehicles and pre-race celebrations on Boulevard Costero in Ensenada. An estimated 50,000 people turn out to see the cars, trucks, motorcycles, quad bikes, UTVs, and other off-road racers. Local vendors and sponsors are also represented on the “Manufacturer’s Midway,” which is free to the public.

The next day, Saturday, June 1, the race begins on Boulevard Costero, with vehicles departing every 30 or 60 seconds, depending on the competition class. Although 20 hours are allotted to finish, the winners in each class will need only about half that time. The course is routed as a loop race, with the finish line also in Ensenada. After the clockwise-running race through a large swath of Baja California, an awards ceremony will be held at 12:30 p.m. on June 2 in the Cathedral Hall at the Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center. It’s located on Boulevard Costero near the starting line.

The Baja 500 is the second of four races that comprise the SCORE (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) World Desert Championship series. The 37th San Felipe 250 was run in March and the 5th Baja 400 is scheduled for September, followed by the 57th running of the Baja 1000 in November. All are set on the Baja California peninsula.

The history of off-road racing in Baja California

The Baja 500 and Baja 1000 races weren’t originally organized by SCORE but run under the auspices of the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA). Founded in 1966 by Ed Pearlman, Don Francisco and other enthusiasts of the sport, NORRA’s first Baja 1000 was held in 1967, running from Tijuana to La Paz. Francisco, the mapper of the original course, was a veteran of the Carrera Panamericana, the notoriously dangerous highway race that spanned Mexico from north to south before being canceled in 1955. It has since been revived, safely. Francisco’s more rugged off-road Baja 1000 routing and the first Baja 500 in 1969 helped to set the template for Baja-style desert racing while connecting it to a national tradition.

The race takes place across (roughly) 500 miles of Mexican desert. (BFGoodrich)

NORRA, however, was removed as the sponsoring body for these races by the Mexican government in 1972. The Baja Sports Committee organized the Baja 500 in 1973 before SCORE’s long-time owner Sal Fish and promoter and former world land speed record holder Mickey Thompson took over in 1974. The first race on July 26 of that year was won by a Hollywood stuntman named Bobby Ferro, who drove a VW Sandmaster open-wheel race car. But for legal reasons, the race wasn’t referred to as the Baja 500 again until 1991. In the public mind, though, it was never anything else.

The Baja 500 and Baja 1000 races have long fascinated Hollywood movie stars and famous race car drivers. Steve McQueen, James Garner and Paul Newman each tackled the Baja 1000, the latter setting the record for oldest-ever competitor when he was 80. The Baja 500 hasn’t drawn as many actors as the Baja 1000, but it has always been considered a serious test by the pros on the IndyCar and NASCAR circuits. Indianapolis 500 winners Parnelli Jones, Rick Mears and Danny Sullivan also tested themselves in the Baja 500, with the former winning the overall title twice. So, too, did noted Nascar drivers like Jimmie Johnson and Robby Gordon. Gordon was the most successful to do so, winning the Baja 1000 three times and the Baja 500 on four occasions, most recently in 2013. That doubled the record set by father, Bob Gordon, who won the Baja 500 in 1980 and 1987.

The defending champion returns

The headliner for this year’s race is Bryce “Golden Boy” Menzies from Las Vegas. The 36-year-old is the defending SCORE series Trophy Truck title holder — he has 10 career victories in the Trophy Truck division — and the defending 2023 Baja 500 overall champion. He and his Menzies Motorsports Ford Raptor all-wheel drive truck are sure to be favorites again, although the estimated list of 260 entrants also includes racers from around the world, including countries as far-flung as Australia, Indonesia and Japan. Mexico will also be represented, of course, with Tijuana native and Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame member Eric Solorzano among those seeking to dethrone Menzies in 2024.

The course map for this year’s race has been released. So Baja California locals and U.S. visitors who make the 80-mile journey from the border to Ensenada now know where the finish line will be: on Boulevard Costero, in the same place as the starting line.

The Baja 500 course map, showing the ruggest terrain that racers must cross to claim the top prize. (SCORE International)

For those who’d like to monitor the upcoming race online, SCORE International tracks results on its website. Live coverage is also featured on SCORE’s YouTube and Facebook social media platforms, with a recap forthcoming in the monthly SCORE Journal Digital Magazine.

Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.

Why do US citizens keep retiring to Mexico?

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MND Staff

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May 7, 2024

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Colorful papel picado hanging in a Mexican town — In 2022, the U.S. State Department reported that 1.6 million U.S. citizens were residing in Mexico, half of whom are retirees. (Unsplash)

Mexico continues to be the preferred country for retirement among United States citizens, as confirmed in an updated 2024 report by Investopedia.

In 2020, more U.S. citizens moved to Mexico than to any other country, and was a top destination for retirees. And in 2022, the U.S. State Department reported that 1.6 million U.S. citizens were residing in Mexico.

Merida — Mérida is becoming a popular destination for expats, thanks to its Caribbean weather, its Old World charm and its status as one of Mexico’s safest cities. (Like Where You’re Going)

For many, the main reason behind retiring in Mexico or any other country is affordability — looking for a quality of life that is no longer within reach in the U.S.

“While retirement abroad requires careful planning about visas and taxes, staying in the U.S. could mean managing higher costs of living and expensive health care,” Investopedia said in a March report.

Which countries are U.S. citizens’ favorite destinations abroad?

Mexico tops the list as a destination for U.S. citizens living here, according to data reported by the U.N. in 2020. Canada is the second most popular destination, with 273,226 U.S citizens residing there.

The other countries rounding out the top 10 choices are as follows:

The United Kingdom: 170,771
Germany: 152,639
Australia: 116,620
Israel: 76,794
South Korea: 68,050
France: 61,668
Japan: 58,340
Spain: 57,112

Cheaper housing and healthcare: big motivators

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that average housing prices in these countries are lower than in the United States, with the exception of Canada.

However, according to the OECD’s most recent data, average housing costs in Mexico are significantly lower — 21% lower than in the U.S.

Mexico also has the cheapest healthcare among the top 10 destinations.

According to the OECD, healthcare in Mexico is 60% cheaper than in the U.S., a fact that is also driving Mexico’s medical tourism industry. In 2023, Mexico ranked as the world’s second most popular country for medical tourism.

U.S. retirees with legal residency in Mexico can sign up for public health insurance through the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and pay a premium that is much smaller than just about any health insurance premium in the U.S. However, most choose to buy private insurance coverage since many find private healthcare in Mexico to be more affordable than in the U.S.

Medicare doesn’t follow U.S. citizens abroad — but Social Security does in the top 10 countries on the list. And, yes, you can continue to collect your Social Security payments if you’re retired and living in Mexico. The U.S. Social Security Administration sent some 62,000 payments to Mexico as of November 2022, just behind Canada and Japan.

With reports from Investopedia

Mexican author Cristina Rivera Garza wins a 2024 Pulitzer Prize

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MND Staff

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May 7, 2024

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Author Cristina Rivera Garza at a podium with microphones — Author Cristina Rivera Garza, who grew up in Mexico and studied at the National Autonomous University, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize Tuesday in the Autobiography and Memoir category for her book "Liliana's Invincible Summer." (Colegio Nacional/Cuartoscuro)

Crafting a rich, genre-bending account of her sister’s 1990 murder at the hands of an abusive ex-boyfriend has earned Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza a 2024 Pulitzer Prize, Columbia University has announced.

Rivera Garza’s “Liliana’s Invincible Summer: A Sister’s Search for Justice” was lauded by the selection committee as a nonfiction work “that mixes memoir, feminist investigative journalism and poetic biography stitched together with a determination born of loss.”

Cover of book "Liliana's Invincible Summer" by Cristina Rivera Garza — Rivera Garza’s book, “Liliana’s Invincible Summer” was also a 2023 National Book Awards finalist. (Hogarth)

The book’s title in Spanish is “El invencible verano de Liliana.”

Best known for novels such as “Nadie me verá llorar” (“No One Will See Me Cry”), Rivera Garza, 59, won the Pulitzer in the category of memoirs or autobiographies — becoming the first Mexican ever to win a Pulitzer for literature.

Rivera Garza was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and lived in several places in Mexico before moving to the United States in 1989. She studied urban sociology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and completed her PhD in Latin American history from the University of Houston. She is currently the M.D. Anderson Professor in Hispanic Studies and the director of the Creative Writing Program in Hispanic Studies at the University of Houston.

Her previous six novels, three collections of short stories, five poetry books and two nonfiction works have collected numerous awards, including the Roger Caillois Award for Latin American Literature in 2013 and the Anna Seghers Prize in 2005.

She is the only author who has won the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize twice — in 2001 for “Nadie me verá llorar” and in 2009 for her novel “La muerte me da,” a work that hasn’t been translated into English.

The Sor Juana prize is awarded by the Guadalajara International Book Fair to a work written in Spanish by a female author.

Cristina Rivera Garza onstage displaying certificate of membership after induction into Mexico's Colegio Nacional — In July, Rivera Garza was inducted into the Colegio Nacional, Mexico’s honorary society for academics and intellectuals. (Cuartoscuro)

Rivera Garza has also been awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2020. In July, she was inducted into Mexico’s Colegio Nacional, the nation’s most prestigious honorary academic organization.

Her short poetic novel from 2017, “The Iliac Crest,” was included in the recent Mexico News Daily article “Books by Mexican writers to take you out of your comfort zone.” In her novel, Rivera Garza writes about the disappearance of several women and examines gender fluidity and identity.

“Liliana’s Invincible Summer,” which was published in English last year after debuting in Spanish in 2021, recounts in luminous, poetic prose her quest to resolve her sister’s murder 29 years after the fact.

It simultaneously tells the story of a brilliant and bold young woman who, as Rivera Garza writes, “lacked, like ourselves, the language necessary to identify, denounce and fight against sexist violence and intimate partner terrorism.”

The book has been praised for its honesty, beauty and importance. American novelist and essayist Jonathan Lethem wrote in 2018 that Rivera Garza is “one of Mexico’s greatest living writers.”

“We are just barely beginning to catch up to what she has to offer,” Lethem said.

The Pulitzer Prizes were established by Hungarian-American newspaper publisher and journalist Joseph Pulitzer, who left money to Columbia University after his death in 1911. First awarded in 1917, the prizes honor excellence in journalism, literature, drama and music.

“Liliana’s Invincible Summer” was selected over two other finalists in the memoirs/autobiography category: “The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions” by Jonathan Rosen and “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight” by Andrew Leland.

The winner in the poetry category was “Tripas” by Brandon Som, a collection that examines the complexities of the poet’s dual Mexican and Chinese heritages.

A full list of this year’s winners can be found on the Pulitzer Prize website.

Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Virtual Afternoon with Cristina Rivera Garza

Watch this video on YouTube

Find out more about Cristina Rivera Garza in this online interview with her from 2023 by Oxford professor, author and The New Yorker critic Merve Emre.

With reports from Proceso and La Jornada

Brazilian steel giant Gerdau eyes new plant in Mexico

By

MND Staff

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May 7, 2024

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Steel tubes in closeup — The long steel that Gerdau produces is typically used in construction and manufacturing. (Thusbaudin Ph/Shutterstock)

The Brazilian company Gerdau, the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, could soon be investing up to US $600 million to build a factory in Mexico.

Already the owners of a steel mill in Hidalgo and two others in México state, Gerdau officials confirmed that the company has undertaken a cost-benefit analysis regarding construction of a new plant in Mexico.

If the company decides the project has commercial viability, Gerdau would begin building in 2025. The cost-benefit analysis will be finalized by the year’s end.

Manufacturing industry news site Cluster Industrial reported that the proposed plant would have the capacity to produce 600,000 tonnes of specialty steels per year. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Gerdau CEO Gustavo Werneck said that a steel mill of this size would require an investment of between US $500 million and $600 million.

Gerdau is also reviewing sites for the proposed steel mill. It is likely to be located in central Mexico, near the company’s three other plants.

Werneck told reporters that any new construction would adhere to the company’s sustainability principles, using state-of-the-art technology and its consumption of raw materials to minimize carbon emissions.

Gerdau — which claims to be the biggest recycling company in Latin America and says that 71% of its steel worldwide is produced from scrap metal — has a stated goal of reducing emissions by 0.82 tonnes of carbon per tonne of steel produced by 2031.

If the project goes forward, its production would target Mexico’s domestic market, primarily the auto industry. Werneck said Mexico’s attractiveness is bolstered by the cluster of important automakers in the country.

“Important players in the automotive industry, including current Gerdau customers, are expanding their operations to Mexico, which is becoming one of the most relevant countries in the production of automotive parts,” Werneck wrote in a Friday LinkedIn post.

According to Gerdau Vice President Rafael Japur, the Mexican market consumes 1.2 million tonnes of specialty steels per year, of which 70% is imported.

With reports from Cluster Industrial, El Economista and Expansión

How many prescriptions has AMLO’s ‘mega pharmacy’ filled?

By

MND Staff

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May 7, 2024

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Mega pharmacy warehouse in Mexico City — While the pharmacy has been touted as a solution to Mexico's drug shortages, a freedom of information request by El Universal shows a mere 2.7 prescriptions have been filled per day since it opened in December. (Cuartoscuro)

It opened with significant fanfare in late December, but in its first four months of operation the federal government’s “Well-Being Mega Pharmacy” didn’t even come close to fulfilling the function it was designed to fulfill.

In fact, the facility officially called the Federal Center for the Storage and Distribution of Health Supplies (Cefedis) only dispensed 341 prescriptions between December 29 and April 29, according to the El Universal newspaper, which submitted a freedom of information request to state-owned medical company Birmex, the pharmacy’s operator.

Pharmacy warehouse with workers in it — The pharmacy, which AMLO said could be the “largest” in the world, opened in December. (Cuartoscuro)

In other words, the megafarmacia — a warehouse that supplies medications to public hospitals and clinics, and to individual patients directly — filled an average of just 2.7 prescriptions per day in its first four months of operation.

That’s hardly an impressive record for a facility President Andrés Manuel López Obrador described as “possibly the largest pharmacy in the world.”

At the inauguration of the pharmacy, located in the México state municipality of Huehuetoca, López Obrador said that the establishment of the facility would allow “everyone to have the medicines they need” wherever they are in the country and no matter whether they are rich or poor.

When he first proposed the creation of “a warehouse with all the medicines of the world in reasonable quantities,” he touted it as a a “definitive way out” of the medication shortages that have plagued his government.

What’s the problem?

El Universal reported in late January that Cefedis had stocks equivalent to less than 1% of the drugs it was designed to offer.

Zoé Robledo, director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), a major health care provider, dismissed the report as “ill-intentioned” and insisted that the mega pharmacy had all the medicines it needs.

Despite that claim, El Universal reported on Tuesday that the facility’s “attempt to solve the shortage of medications in the country” has so far “failed” due to its own “lack of drugs.”

It said that the mega pharmacy didn’t purchase any drugs prior to its inauguration, explaining that its stock was supplied “on loan” by IMSS, the State Workers’ Social Security Institute (ISSSTE) and the universal health scheme known as IMSS-Bienestar.

Protesters hold signs demanding medicines — Protests against medicine shortages have occurred throughout AMLO’s term, and the Well-Being Mega Pharmacy is supposed to help resolve these issues. (Cuartoscuro)

The newspaper said that in its first four months of operation, the mega pharmacy received more than 95,000 telephone calls.

More than 16,000 of those calls were made by people who had previously contacted Cefedis to request a medication. They called again to follow up on their request as they hadn’t received their order. The data supplied to El Universal by Birmex indicates that the vast majority of those people have not yet received the medication they requested.

Cefedis was unable to dispatch medications requested in more than 27,000 calls because the people asking for the drugs either didn’t have a valid prescription or weren’t able to provide their CURP ID number, El Universal said.

Based on the Birmex data, it appears unlikely that the mega pharmacy would have been able to distribute the majority of the medications requested even if those making the requests had prescriptions and/or their CURP numbers.

Of the 341 prescriptions the facility did successfully dispense, 210 were distributed to ISSSTE patients, 129 to IMSS-Bienestar patients and two to IMSS patients.

Birmex said that Cefedis was seeking to fill an additional 1,168 prescriptions by sourcing the requested medications from IMSS, ISSSTE or IMSS-Bienestar.

It is clear that many medications the mega pharmacy is asked to supply are not reaching patients in a timely manner, as federal authorities pledged they would.

“The Well-Being Mega Pharmacy is a MEGA-FAILURE, it only dispenses 2.7 prescriptions per day,” Marko Cortés, the national president of the National Action Party, wrote on the X social media platform on Tuesday.

“That’s López Obrador’s Mexico and the health crisis [the federal government] caused. The good news is that [opposition presidential candidate] Xóchitl Gálvez is coming,” he said.

With reports from El Universal

Chinese EV maker BYD chooses Mexico for launch of first pickup truck

By

MND Staff

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May 7, 2024

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BYD will release its new EV pickup truck next week in Mexico. (TY Lim/Shutterstock)

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has revealed that its new pickup truck will make its global debut in Mexico next week.

The launch of its first-ever pickup truck model — the BYD Shark — will take place on May 14, reported the newspaper El Economista.

A automated care production line inside a factory — Chinese manufacturer BYD was the world’s top electric vehicle manufacturer as of the end of 2023. Pictured: a BYD plant in Hungary. (BYD)

“The BYD Shark will make its debut in Mexico on May 14, ushering in the global era of new energy pickup trucks,” the company said Tuesday on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging website.

The Shark is based on BYD’s own DMO (dual-mode off-road) platform. The new vehicle is a mid-to-large-size model, slightly larger than the Toyota Hilux, a light pickup that Toyota sells globally, although not in the United States.

The expectation is that the Shark model will be aimed primarily at overseas markets and not China’s domestic market, where pickup trucks are subject to more restrictions than passenger car models, according to the website CnEVPost.

In February, BYD announced it would build a factory in Mexico this year. Six states are currently bidding to host the plant, according to El Economista. The western state of Jalisco is said to be among the favorites.

BYD Americas CEO Stella Li said the Mexico plant would build 150,000 vehicles per year for the Mexican market.

BYD is the first carmaker from China to announce its plans to build a plant in Mexico. Though Mexico is an increasingly attractive nearshoring destination for electric vehicle production, plans by Chinese firms to nearshore in Mexico have been complicated by recent pressure from the United States.

Two months after BYD announced its plans to build a factory in Mexico, the Mexican federal government revealed it would not be offering incentives such as tax cuts for Chinese EV makers.

BYD reported lackluster first-quarter sales on April 29. The new energy vehicle maker’s January-March revenue was up 3.97% year-on-year, but down nearly 31% quarter-to-quarter. Net profit was up 10.6% year-on-year, but down 47.3% from Q4 2023.

With reports from El Economista and Car News China

Highway blockades, violence follow Sinaloa Cartel arrests in Zacatecas

By

MND Staff

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May 7, 2024

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A truck that is burned out on a highway — A burned-out trailer truck remains along a highway in Trancoso, Zacatecas, one of 10 sites in the state where presumed cartel members set vehicles on fire Monday, apparently in response to the arrests of 26 alleged Sinaloa Cartel members Sunday and Monday. (Genaro Natera/Cuartoscuro)

Nine bodies were found dumped on two busy roads in the notoriously violent city of Fresnillo, Zacatecas, on Tuesday morning.

Rodrigo Reyes Mugüerza, general secretary of the Zacatecas government, confirmed the discovery in an early-morning post to his Facebook page, noting that “messages directed toward an opposing [criminal] group” were found with the bodies.

Forensic experts taking pictures at a blocked-off crime scene on a highway — Officials take photos of a crime scene in Villanueva, Zacatecas, where armed men forced drivers out of their vehicles to use them in a highway blockade. Villanueva is near San José de Lourdes, a community in the Fresnillo municipality that was the site of a confrontation between authorities and cartel members on Monday that resulted in six arrests. (Genaro Natera/Cuartoscuro)

Members of the Sinaloa Cartel are believed to have abandoned the corpses in Fresnillo. That criminal group — which was targeted in recent security operations — is involved in a turf war in Zacatecas with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The state is located along drug trafficking routes between Pacific coast ports and Mexico’s border with the U.S. state of Texas.

Reyes said that “investigative authorities” had reached the points where the bodies were located. He noted that “the situation is reported as stable, with traffic interruptions.”

In his Facebook post, Reyes also noted that two highway blockades were reported in the early hours of Tuesday. One was in the municipality of Trancoso, located east of Zacatecas city, while the other was in General Pánfilo Natera, located further east of the capital on the border with the state of San Luis Potosí.

Reyes said that security forces were present at both points where presumed criminals had set up fiery blockades. He reported that the situation had been brought under control.

The discovery of the bodies in Fresnillo on Tuesday morning came after the arrest of 26 members of the Sinaloa Cartel in Zacatecas over the past two days. The cartel responded to those detentions by setting vehicles on fire to create highway blockades in 10 Zacatecas municipalities on Monday.

Referring to the murders of nine people and the latest highway blockades, Reyes said that the arrests had “provoked new reactions” from “a criminal group.”

He also said that the state government and “all the institutions that make up the committee for the construction of peace remain firm” in their commitment to “the process of pacification.”

“We ask society to stay calm and consult official sources of information,” Reyes added.

According to the results of the latest National Survey of Urban Public Security, 95.4% of Fresnillo residents believe that the city is unsafe to live in. Located about 60 kilometers north of Zacatecas city, Fresnillo is the only city in Mexico where more than 90% of residents feel unsafe, according to the survey.

In 2023, Zacatecas was the 11th most violent state in Mexico in terms of total homicides, with 977 murders, according to data presented by the federal government in January.

With reports from Reforma, El Universal and Milenio

5 lesser known UNESCO sites in Mexico you need to experience

By

MND Staff

-

May 7, 2024

2

Untitled design (40) — We've all been to Chichen Itzá - but have you checked out these five lesser-known UNESCO World Heritage sites? (Pedro Lastra/Unsplash/INAH/Shutterstock/Querétaro Travel/Gobierno de México)

From pre-Columbian archeological sites to colonial cities and natural wonders, Mexico is ranked seventh for the number of sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List. With a whopping 27 cultural sites, six natural sites and two mixed sites, a marvel is always right around the corner in Mexico.

Perhaps you are already familiar with some of these places, like the pre-Hispanic city of Chichen Itzá in Yucatán, the Historical Center in Mexico City or the expat paradise of San Miguel de Allende in Guanajuato. Perhaps you’re anxious to discover places off the beaten path with fewer tourists but the same historical value.

Querétaro’s Jalpan de Serra, one of several underappreciated UNESCO World Heritage sites in Mexico. (Querétaro Travel/Facebook)

Whether you’re looking for natural sites, cultural destinations or a combination of both natural and cultural significance, here are five lesser-known UNESCO sites in Mexico to satisfy the interests of any travel enthusiast.

1. Tlacotalpan

A river port town 72 km south of the city of Veracruz, Tlacotalpan “is an exceptionally well-preserved Spanish colonial river port,” according to UNESCO.

Preserving its original checkerboard-patterned urban plan, this little colonial town from the 16th century on the banks of the Papaloapan River is the perfect place to experience vernacular Caribbean traditions. Many of the traditional houses adjacent to the river, which feature vivid colors and exuberant decorations, have preserved their original form, scale, adornments, colors and even furniture. Public and private gardens throughout the town also feature ancient trees.

Tlacotalpan is famous for being the birthplace of Mexican singer and composer Agustín Lara, author of renowned Mexican songs like “María Bonita” or “Solamente Una Vez.”

Tlacotalpan offers visitors the chance to experience authentic life in Veracruz. (Shutterstock)

A visit to this jewel of a town should include the Municipal Palace, the Main Park, the San Cristóbal Church and the Agustín Lara Museum. Visitors can also take a boat tour through part of the Papaloapan River for bird watching and visit the historic neighboring town of Alvarado. Companies like Viator offer guided tours in English to both towns.

How to get there? The Veracruz Bus Station in the city of Veracruz has daily departures to Tlacotalpan on the ADO and TRV lines approximately every 45 minutes.

2. The Great Mural Art of Sierra de San Francisco

Deep in a canyon in the Baja California Peninsula are America’s oldest cave paintings. Dating back to approximately 100 B.C. to A.D. 1300 (between 7,000 and 12,000 years old), their remote location and the region’s dry climate have allowed the paintings to survive in remarkable condition for thousands of years. UNESCO has said this is “one of the most outstanding collections of rock paintings in the world.”

Depicting various human and animal figures, including marine and terrestrial fauna, the Great Murals are attributed to the Cochimí people, who lived relatively isolated from continental influences. The paintings, which number in the hundreds, have red, black, white and yellow colors.

The artists behind these cave paintings, the Indigenous Cochimí people, mysteriously disappeared in the 16th century. (INAH)

Little is known of the Cochimí, who rapidly disappeared after contact with the Jesuit missionaries from Europe in the 16th century.

Baja Cave Art Excursions offers guided tours in English to the caves.

How to get there? Due to the difficult access to the caves from the nearest towns (San Ignacio and El Vizcaíno), Mexico’s Culture Ministry recommends booking an expedition with a specialized tourist company. The trek on foot or donkey to the caves may take up to five hours from the Santa Teresa Canyon, the only authorized camping site in the area.

3. 16th Century Monasteries on the Slopes of Popocatépetl

At the conjunction of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala states, on the slopes of Mexico’s most active volcano, stand 15 monasteries in an excellent state of conservation. They were built by the first missionaries in the Americas: the Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians.

Cholula’s Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios is built atop a pre-Hispanic pyramid and provides stunning views of nearby Popocatépetl(Pedro Lastra/Unsplash)

The monasteries are located in different Magic Towns and archeological zones (including famous sites like Tepoztlán and Cholula). These buildings are evidence of an original architectural style created for the purposes of evangelization and as venues for cultural exchange between Europe and the Indigenous communities. These monasteries are particularly special for their innovative architectural features: they feature open spaces and large atriums that did not exist in similar Europe churches.

The influence of this style can be seen across Mexico and beyond its borders in different colonial buildings.

According to UNESCO, the monasteries’ original elements are perfectly preserved, making them a “complete representation of an actual 16th century Monastery.”

How to get there? Since the monasteries are scattered across different places in three states, the Culture Ministry has created a map and guide to the Route of the Monasteries.

4. Pinacate Desert

Pinacate desert, home to the only Erg dunes in North America. (Gobierno de México)

Located in the northern state of Sonora, the El Pinacate and Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve are part of the four great North American deserts along with the Chihuahuan Desert, the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin Desert.

The natural protected area of the Pinacate Desert is a relatively undisturbed desert that encompasses two landscapes across 714,566 hectares. To the east, it is home to a volcanic area of around 200,000 hectares, boasting extensive black and red lava flows and desert pavement. UNESCO claims that the most visually striking feature is the group of 10 enormous, almost perfectly circular steam blast craters.

To the west is the Gran Altar Desert, North America’s largest field of sand dunes. reaching up to 200 meters high. These dunes are the only Erg dunes (areas with a large accumulation of sand) in North America.

Pinacate Tours organizes different camping experiences in the several areas of the desert.

How to get there? The main access is at kilometer 52 of Highway 8 Puerto Peñasco-Sonoyta, 3.5 hours from the city of Phoenix, Arizona in the United States.

5. Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro

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The Franciscan Missions were built between 1750 and 1760 as part of the evangelization of the Spanish colonial period in Querétaro. These missions facilitated the work of Christian missionaries in California, Arizona and Texas.

UNESCO notes that the richly decorated church façades are a clear example of the fusion of cultures between the missionaries and the natives. “They are a testimony of the cultural coexistence between two societies and the natural environment,” it says.

The Franciscan Missions have been remarkably preserved in the mountainous region of the Sierra Gorda. They include the Mission of Santiago de Jalpan, Our Lady of the Light of Tancoyol, San Miguel Concá, Santa María del Agua de Landa and San Francisco de Asís del Valle de Tilaco.

Some church interiors include Indigenous motifs including images of jaguars, eagles and Indigenous peoples themselves.

Promotur Querétaro offers different tours to explore all five missions. This experience can be coupled with a tour of the Historic Center of the city of Querétaro, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

How to get there? The missions are scattered around the state. They are all easily accessible by road. You can follow this guide to explore them at your own pace.

Gabriela Solis is a Mexican lawyer turned full-time writer. She was born and raised in Guadalajara and covers business, culture, lifestyle and travel for Mexico News Daily. You can follow her lifestyle blog Dunas y Palmeras.