The €50 million plant is EuroGroup's third in Querétaro. (EuroGroup Laminations)
Italian automotive company EuroGroup Laminations announced Friday that it has inaugurated a new plant in Querétaro and will invest some 50 million Euros (US $54.8 million) in the facility.
“EuroGroup Laminations … strengthens its international presence and inaugurates a new production plant in Querétaro, the headquarters of Eurotranciatura Mexico, with a total investment to be carried out of approximately €50 million,” the Milan-based company said in a statement.
The new factory is located in the Querétaro Industrial Park, in the state capital. (PIQ)
The facility, which will supply engine parts to automakers, is located in the Querétaro Industrial Park in the state capital.
Eurotranciatura Mexico is the local subsidiary of EuroGroup Laminations, which describes itself as “a world leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of stators and rotors (motor cores), key components of electric motors and generators.”
Eurotranciatura now has three plants in the Querétaro Industrial Park.
“We are proud to inaugurate the new Mexican plant in Querétaro and thus strengthen our production capacity for the North American EV market for rapid growth to execute orders already received for over €3.5 billion to be delivered between 2024 and 2028,” said EuroGroup Laminations CEO Marco Arduini.
The opening of the new site comes as EuroGroup says they have more than €3.5 billion of orders for 2024. (EuroGroup/LinkedIn)
EuroGroup said that the new plant adds around 10,000 square meters to its production base in Mexico “to more than double the production capacity for the EV & automotive segment in the next two years.”
Among the company’s clients, Reuters reported, are Volkswagen, Renault, Ford, General Motors and an undisclosed United States-based manufacturer of electric vehicles.
In addition to Mexico, EuroGroup has plants in Italy, China, the United States and Tunisia.
It makes a range of non-automotive products in addition to motor cores, including HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) equipment, wind energy components and pumps.
In its statement, EuroGroup said that the new plant increases its production area in Querétaro by 43%.
“The new facilities have been built to the highest standards of innovation and sustainability, with a special focus on decarbonization, circular economy and education, capitalizing on the Group’s consolidated experience as a market leader,” it said.
“… The new Querétaro site enriches EuroGroup Laminations’ global production base … and will be central to the execution of the Group’s order book for the EV & automotive segment, which reached a record €6.4 billion in October 2023,” EuroGroup said.
“The expansion also testifies to the strategic nature of the North American region for the Group’s activities: in the first months of 2023, Eurotranciatura Mexico’s revenues amounted to €198 million, up 33% year-on-year.”
In a post on LinkedIn, Eurotranciatura said it was a “pleasure to announce we’ve inaugurated the [company’s] third plant … in Querétaro.”
“The new plant will be dedicated 100% to the automotive industry, so once again we’re betting on personnel from Querétaro to join our quest for excellence in this new era,” the company said.
México state, Puebla and Michoacán were the states with the highest levels of highway robbery last year. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro.com)
Almost 85,000 transport trucks have been targeted in robberies on Mexican highways during the term of the current government, the Confederation of Industrial Chambers (Concamin) highlighted this week.
The president of Concamin, an organization made up of 125 business chambers and associations, told a press conference that there were 84,963 highway robberies in the first five years of the government led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office on Dec. 1, 2018.
José Abugaber Andonie noted that the the figure is equivalent to 46 truck robberies per day.
He said that the crime — which includes the hijacking of trucks in some cases — costs the economy over 7 billion pesos (US $415 million) per year and asserted that insecurity is “rampant” and “out of control” in Mexico.
Foodstuffs, construction materials, auto parts, medications, fuel, clothing and footwear are among the products criminals are stealing on the nation’s highways, Abugaber said, adding that stolen goods may not just be sold on the black market, but also reincorporated into the formal market as a result of criminals pressuring stores to purchase them.
Theft of goods from transport trucks increases the price of those products “to such an extent that it has become an inflationary factor,” the La Jornada newspaper reported.
This trailer carrying 25 tons of steel of stolen in Jalisco in October. National Guard troops found it abandoned on the León-Aguascalientes highway. (SSPC)
“The robbery on freight transport concerns us because it’s on the rise and if it’s not controlled it will get out of hand,” Abugaber said.
He said he had expressed the industrial sector’s concern about insecurity in Mexico during a meeting with Claudia Sheinbaum, the ruling Morena party’s candidate for the June 2 presidential election and the person considered most likely to succeed López Obrador.
In that meeting, which took place earlier this week, Abugaber told Sheinbaum that Mexico’s insecurity problem can only be solved if “everyone” contributes to the solution — “government, business people, industrialists, social organizations, citizens, media outlets.”
“We’ll work with the next government … on strategies and public policies that will allow peace and tranquility in out country to be recovered,” he said.
Where is the robbery of transport trucks most common?
During the term of the current government, México state has recorded the highest number of robberies of transport trucks with some 30,000.
Ranking second to fifth for highway robberies during López Obrador’s presidency are Puebla, Guanajuato, Michoacán and Jalisco.
Official data shows that robberies of trucks in México state, Puebla and Michoacán accounted for 82% of all incidents of the crime in the first 11 months of last year. Almost half of the cases — 46% — occurred in México state, while more than one quarter — 28% — occurred in Puebla.
San Luis Potosí and Jalisco ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, for robberies of transport trucks in the first 11 months of last year.
Two trailers (one towing the other) were saved from robbers after National Guard troops saw three people violently attack its driver at a stop along the Amozoc-Perote highway in Puebla. (SSPC)
Data shows that most robberies occur between midnight and 6 a.m. on weekdays.
There is also evidence that truck drivers are victims of extortion, forced to make regular payments to criminal groups on highways in some part of the country amid threats of violence if they don’t comply.
“Investors are looking at all the scenarios,” Abugaber said.
“… For example, in Guanajuato, they had more investment than Nuevo León, but today they have less because it has been affected by insecurity,” he said, referring to broader security problems, including a high homicide rate in the Bajío region state.
The modus operandi of criminals targeting transport trucks
“Criminal groups in Mexico are using sophisticated technology, including GPS jammers and techniques such as creating fake police checkpoints to stop trucks, provoking roadway accidents to stop vehicles, and, in many cases, using gunmen in passenger vehicles to force cargo truck drivers to stop. In many incidents, criminals temporarily kidnap drivers along with the trucks,” he wrote in an article published Jan. 4.
“These types of hijackings are a constant concern on the highways near Mexico City,” Vickers added.
Vickers, founder of the cross border insurance company Borderless Coverage and head of international logistics for the insurance agency Reliance Partners, also wrote that “just 1% of all hijackings occurred in Mexico’s northern border states” during the first nine months of 2023.
México state registered the highest number of highway robberies in the country since 2018. (CRISANTA ESPINOSA AGUILAR /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
“Until Mexico’s police are capable of improving highway security in its central and southern regions, it’s likely that most nearshoring investment will continue to flow towards states in the north that have better security schemes, and, therefore, do a better job of protecting cargo trucks from hijackers,” he wrote.
“More broadly, however, until Mexico reduces the risk of cargo truck hijacking, the country is likely to miss out on billions of dollars of potential new foreign investment,” Vickers said.
“Minimal” presence of the National Guard on Mexican highways
Javier Robles, director of public relations and sales at the private security company Grupo Multisistemas de Seguridad Industrial, told La Jornada that “unfortunately there is no presence of the National Guard” on many highways in Mexico. “It’s very minimal,” he clarified.
Sections of several highways that run through México state are considered hotspots for the robbery of transport trucks, including the Mexico City-Querétaro highway and the Mexico City-Pachuca highway.
Among the other highways with a high incidence of truck robberies are the Arco Norte highway in Hidalgo, the Querétaro-Celaya highway, the Puebla-Orizaba highway, the Matehuala-Monterrey highway and the Morelia-Lázaro Cárdenas highway.
Despite the rough reputation of northern Mexican roadways, the majority of cargo theft occurs in central and southern Mexico. (Guardia Nacional/X)
Citing truck drivers, La Jornada reported that some highways have become “true hells” due to the operation of criminal groups and the lack of surveillance by authorities.
“Members of the sector believe that authorities are overwhelmed and that operations to prevent the crime haven’t yielded results. Some of them don’t rule out the possibility of complicity with security force personnel,” the newspaper said in a report published Thursday.
“The majority of robberies are now with violence and weapons,” Robles said.
Gerardo García, president of the National Confederation of Potato Producers (Conpapa), told La Jornada that insecurity is one of the greatest challenges for Mexico’s agricultural sector, which ships significant amounts of product to the United States. He called on the federal government to find a solution to the problem.
Farmers “harvest their grains, harvest their vegetables or fruit, load the truck and it turns out that the truck never reaches its destination. It’s stolen — drivers are taken in their trucks for two days, goods are unloaded, sold … and later the trucks and drivers are released,” García said.
Sixty-one migrants were found in the northern state of Tamaulipas by local and federal authorities. (X)
Sixty-one Central and South American migrants have been rescued in the Balcones de Alcalá neighborhood of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, two weeks after a separate group of migrants was abducted, and later released, in the same area.
The Tamaulipas state government reported that the migrants were found on Wednesday night, following investigations by members of the Eighth Military Zone and the state Attorney General’s Office. No details were given on the rescue operation or the circumstances of the kidnapping.
Tamaulipas highways have often been unsafe for migrants in transit to the United States. (Secretaría de Seguridad Pública Tamaulipas)
The 61 people were from Guatemala, Ecuador and El Salvador. The state government affirmed that they have been provided with medical attention and are in good health. They have also received legal advice ahead of a review of their migratory status.
Unaccompanied minors in the group will be transferred to regional social services.
The state government said that the rescue was thanks to enhanced surveillance and investigation work across Tamaulipas’ 10 border municipalities, in response to the Dec. 30 abduction of 32 Venezuelan and Honduran migrants. Thatabduction occurred on a bus traveling on the Reynosa-Matamoros highway, in the municipality of Río Bravo when a group of armed men in five pickup trucks intercepted the bus and forced the migrants to disembark.
According to a report by federal security minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez, they were then taken to a property where they were stripped of valuables and held for five days, while a ransom was demanded for their release.
A separate group of migrants kidnapped from a bus on the highway between Matamoros and Reynosa was released last week. (Gildo Garza/X)
The group waseventually released in a shopping center parking lot on Jan. 3, where they were picked up by authorities – which was initiallyreported as a rescue. President López Obrador has emphatically denied allegations that state police were n involved in the kidnapping.
Although no details have yet been reported on the most recent case, the Tamaulipas state government warned that criminal gangs have been targeting buses operated by passenger transport lines Grupo Senda and Ómnibus México near the border with the United States.
Migrant abductions are becoming increasingly common as an additional source of income for organized crime groups. According to areport by Milenio newspaper, more than 300 migrants were kidnapped last year, in the states of Chihuahua, San Luis Potosí, Chiapas, Sonora and Tamaulipas.
In Spanish we say "Voy a consultarlo con la almohada" - Sleep on it. (Unsplash)
Hey language lovers! Some say you only truly master a language when you start cracking jokes in it, and as much as this might be true, I would also say that you also only really embody it culturally when you learn to throw in some idioms into conversation too.
Idioms are a big part of a country’s culture and Mexico is no different. So today, let’s dive into some cool ways to communicate and convey a message in a more natural (and local) manner!
You can’t have your cake and eat it too: “No se puede todo en esta vida.” (literally: you can’t do everything in this life)
Essentially it means that you can’t have it all. So, how do you use it in Spanish?
Context: Career Choices
English: “I want to work from home, but I also want the structure of an office job.” Spanish: “Quiero trabajar desde casa, pero también quiero la estructura de una oficina, no se puede todo en esta vida.”
Context: Healthy Lifestyle
English: “I want to indulge in delicious desserts every day, but I also want to be in shape.”
Spanish: “Quiero disfrutar de postres deliciosos todos los días, pero también quiero estar en forma. -No se puede todo en esta vida.
Spill the beans: “Soltar la sopa” (literally: dropping the soup)
How can you bring this expression about revealing a secret or disclosing information to life in Spanish?
Context: Office Gossip
English: “Okay, spill the beans. What’s the big news around the office?”
Spanish: “Bueno, suelta la sopa. ¿Cuál es la gran noticia en la oficina?”
Sleep on it: “Consultar con la almohada” (literally: Consulting the pillow)
Here are some Spanish scenarios where you might want to convey that you need time to think before making a decision.
Context: Job Offer
English: “The job sounds great, but I want to sleep on it before accepting.”
Spanish: “Sí, el trabajo que me están ofreciendo suena genial, pero quiero consultarlo con la almohada antes de aceptar.”
Context: Moving to a New City
English: “The opportunity is tempting, but I’ll sleep on it before committing to a big move.”
Spanish: “La oportunidad es tentadora, pero voy a consultarlo con la almohada antes de comprometerme a un gran cambio.”
There you have it! These three idioms are ones we use a lot in our daily conversations.
Try them next time you have the opportunity and shock your friends into believing you’ve finally become Mexicano. ¡Buena suerte!
Paulina Gerez is a translator-interpreter, content creator, and founder of Crack The Code, a series of online courses focused on languages. Through her social media, she helps people see learning a language from another perspective through her fun experiences. Instagram: paulinagerezm / Tiktok: paugerez3 / YT: paulina gerez
The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) says it is ready to meet the challenges of powering the nearshoring boom in Mexico, though it will be costly. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) currently has a 54% share of Mexico’s electricity market and is “ready” to provide the power required to meet nearshoring-related demand, the state-owned company’s director said Thursday.
Manuel Bartlett, an 87-year-old political veteran who was a federal interior minister in the ’80s and governor of Puebla in the ’90s, gave an update on the health of the CFE at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning press conference. In sum, the company is fighting fit, he asserted.
Bartlett announced the good health of the CFE, which has a majority stake in Mexico’s power grid, at the President’s morning presser. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
“At the beginning of this administration there was a fatalistic projection about the future of the CFE,” Bartlett said, explaining that the prediction was that its share of the electricity generation market would fall to just 16% from 62% before the energy reform carried out by the previous government that opened up the market to private and foreign companies.
Faced with that scenario, López Obrador ordered the “rescue” of the CFE so that it would have a 54% share of the market before the end of his term, he said.
The president’s order has been fulfilled, Bartlett said, explaining that the CFE has managed to prevent the predicted decline in its electricity generation capacity through “unprecedented” investment in maintenance and the construction of new power plants and “electricity networks.”
“Today, Mexico has a truly public company, capable of achieving its historic mission of taking electricity to the entire country at the lowest possible cost,” the CFE director said.
Bartlett outlined a range of projects the CFE has initiated and/or invested in, including solar parks in Sonora and Yucatán, the rehabilitation of “our emblematic hydroelectric plants” and combined-cycle plants in five cities including Mérida, San Luis Río Colorado and Tuxpan.
He said the purchase would allow the CFE to increase its share of the electricity market from just under 40% to 55.5%.
The purchase of 13 former Iberdrola power stations has been a controversial part of Mexico’s nationalistic energy policy under López Obrador. (Gobierno de Morelos)
On Thursday, Bartlett said that the purchase will in fact allow CFE to reach a 61% share of the market this September.
He noted that gas is an “essential input” for the CFE as it fuels “60% of our plants with minimal contaminating effects and lower generation costs,” but the company is also a significant user of coal.
Later in the press conference, Bartlett acknowledged the growing “nearshoring phenomenon” in Mexico, and declared that the CFE is “ready to provide the electricity necessary for this phenomenon.”
“There is not the slightest doubt. We have everything ready to supply all of the companies that establish themselves in national territory with sufficient electricity,” he said.
“… We have sufficient energy to attend to all of the companies and factories that set up in our country,” Bartlett reiterated.
Continuing to meet the country’s electricity needs won’t come cheap, according to the Mexican Energy Association (AME).
To meet growing demand, including from companies nearshoring to Mexico, the government will need to invest US $120 billion over the next 15 years, or $8 billion per year, in electricity generation and transmission, the AME said last week.
Bartlett mainly kept his focus on what the CFE has already done and is currently doing.
The CFE has stepped up the construction of vital infrastructure as Mexico has completed a series of ambitious public works projects. (Cuartoscuro)
“We’re working hand in hand with local governments,” he told reporters.
“We’re supporting the Bajío [region] with its industrial corridor projects; Yucatán with a solar plant for public transport; Nuevo León with the processing of permits for the Tesla plant; Tamaulipas with four development hubs; Hidalgo with steel investments.”
Bartlett also said that the CFE has complied with López Obrador’s order to not increase electricity rates in real terms.
“The rates haven’t increased more than inflation,” he said. “All sectors have benefited – homes, companies, industries and businesses.”
After noting that the CFE is also involved in major infrastructure projects such as the Maya Train railroad and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Train, Bartlett said that the state-owned electricity company is “financially stronger than ever.”
“It has more of its own revenue than any other national company. Upon our arrival [in late 2018], the company’s own revenues were half a trillion pesos. Today, with increasing electricity rates in real terms, CFE’s revenues have increased almost 40%, he said.
“… At the end of this administration, together [the president and I] will hand over a strengthened public company,” Bartlett said.
López Obrador asserted that his government has “rescued an extremely important public company.”
An uptick in heavy industry associated with nearshoring, especially in northern Mexico, has meant a functional CFE is more important than ever, government officials say. (Francisco/Unsplash)
Previous governments wanted to get rid of the CFE, but “it was decided to strengthen it because it’s very important,” he said.
If the government hadn’t stepped in to rescue the company, foreign firms would dominate the electricity market in Mexico, charging consumers “whatever they wanted,” López Obrador asserted.
Policies the federal government has implemented as part of its “rescue” of the CFE haven’t been well received by Mexico’s North American trade partners.
Both the United States and Canada challenged the nationalistic policies under the USMCA trade pact in 2022, arguing that U.S. and Canadian companies operating in Mexico are being treated unfairly.
Sections of the Panamerica Highway were closed as freezing weather killed four in two separate incidents in northern Mexico. (Guardia Nacional/X)
Icy conditions in northern Mexico closed one section of highway for 39 hours and sent two members of the National Guard to their deaths when the truck they were in skidded off a frozen road and into a ravine.
The fatal accident occurred in the northern state of Chihuahua, and six people were seriously injured, in addition to the deaths of Miguel Isaí Rivas and Luis Tetatzin, according to the state’s Forensic Medical Service.
Northeastern Mexico has been particularly strongly affected by the freezing temperatures and strong winds. (SMN)
The truck was traveling through the Tarahumara Sierra, a portion of the Western Sierra Madre near the Copper Canyon. Reports said the snow on the ground was 2 inches thick in that area.
Two civilians were killed in a similar accident in a non-mountainous part of Chihuahua, on the Pan-American Highway.
Both calamities occurred Monday during conditions brought on by Mexico’s fourth winter storm of the season along with cold front number 25, which sent temperatures plunging to -12 degrees Celsius.
Sections of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, lost electricity due to strong winds, and some schools suspended classes on Tuesday due to cold temperatures, strong winds and snowfall.
Then cold front number 26 arrived on Wednesday and created similarly frigid conditions overnight and into Thursday.
Chihuahua’s Ministry of Education opted to suspend classes at noon on Thursday, as some schools in the state are withoutheating. Meanwhile, Civil Protection issued an alert for winds of up to 95 km/h.
Earlier this week, 138 migrants in the capital city of Chihuahua were moved to temporary shelters to protect them from temperatures as low as -6 Celsius.
At midday Tuesday, the Sonora-Chihuahua border highway was reopened after being closed for more than 1½ days due to snowfall in the section of the roadway just south of the U.S.-Mexico border between Arizona and New Mexico.
Strong winds led to power outages in Tamaulipas, as electricity lines were felled by the storm. (CFE/X)
Approximately 400 stranded motorists were housed in temporary shelters.
Falling trees and burst pipes were common sites across much of northern Mexico, from Sonora to Veracruz. Cold front number 26 could wreak even more havoc, the National Weather Service (SMN) said.
The front is now generating “a very cold to frigid environment and strong to intense winds.” SMN noted that gusts could exceed 100 km/h in Chihuahua and Durango, and that showers, snow and/or sleet is expected Thursday in Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua.
On Friday, the cold front will expand, with occasional heavy rains forecast in Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco; gusts of 80 to 100 km/h on the Tamaulipas and Veracruz coasts; and temperatures at dawn as low as minus-10 Celsius in some places.
México state governor Delfina Goméz has announced the ambition "Plan Colibri" that would see a host of public mass transit projects in the state - including a new metro service for Toluca. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
A range of public transport projects are in the works in México state, the most populous state in the country.
The state government, led by Morena party Governor Delfina Gómez since September, outlined “100 commitments for sustainable transport” as part of its Plan Colibrí, or Hummingbird Plan.
Transport in populous México state can be extremely varied, depending on the municipality. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
One of the plan’s key objectives is to create a unified, better-connected transport system in the Valley of Mexico metropolitan area (ZMVM), which includes numerous México state municipalities as well as Mexico City.
The state government, whose six-year term runs until 2029, also plans to consider the construction of a metro system in state capital Toluca.
Proposed transport projects
The government’s Plan Colibrí document outlines a range of project proposals, but doesn’t mention any possible completion dates or mention projected costs. The projects include:
The construction of eight bus corridors, two to each of four stations on the Toluca-Mexico City commuter train line, which partially opened in September. The eight corridors would run to the Zinacantepec, Toluca Centro, Metepec and Lerma stations, all of which are in the metropolitan area of the state capital.
The construction of an additional 10 bus corridors in the ZMVM.
The establishment of “new permanent metropolitan corridors” to connect México state “Mexibús” lines to Mexico City “Metrobús” lines. The lines would run between Ecatepec and Río de los Remedios; Tecámac and La Raza; and Velódromo and Chimalhuacán.
The modernization of existing “Mexibús” lines.
The construction of a third “Mexicable” cable car line in the municipality of Naucalpan between the Cuatro Caminos transport hub and the neighborhood of Minas de San Martín.
Construction of “the first Digital Rail Transit line in the Valley of Mexico.” According to the government plan, this would be a light rail line between Múzquiz, in the municipality of Ecatepec, and the new Lake Texcoco Ecological Park, located on the site of the previous government’s airport project, which was canceled by President López Obrador.
A metro system for Toluca?
Commitment No. 40 in the state government’s Plan Colibri is to “carry out pre-feasibility studies and a cost-benefit analysis for the first metro [train] network in the capital of Toluca.”
While México state has existing rail projects, Plan Colibri would look to add several more – including the possibility of a metro service. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
The system would be called “Metroluca” or “Metromex,” according to the document.
Only three Mexican cities currently have metro train systems: Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara.
The population of México state was just under 17 million in 2020, making it Mexico’s most populous entity ahead of Mexico City and Jalisco.
Train to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA)
One of the barriers to increased use of AIFA, which opened north of Mexico City in early 2022, is the absence of a quick public transport option from the capital.
But a rail link between the Buenavista suburban train station in central Mexico City and AIFA is slated to open in June.
Commitment No. 43 of the México state government is to complete the section between the Lechería station and AIFA, and to “plan feeder [bus] routes” to the stations along the line.
Once the line is operational, getting to AIFA by train from Buenavista is expected to take just 39 minutes.
Other transport commitments
Among the other commitments the México state government makes in its Plan Colibrí document are to:
Strengthen public transport camera surveillance systems.
Improve and expand cycleways.
Survey public transport users to identify the problems they face.
Hiking in Huitepec Nature Reserve, Chiapas. Photo Viajes de Tony.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is considered the largest and oldest ecological organization in the world. It is represented in Mexico by the Pronatura Group, which is composed of six regional chapters that cover all 32 of Mexico’s states.
Pronatura is involved in everything from practical projects like providing clean drinking water to marginalized communities to more esoteric goals such as ending poverty. Over the years, Pronatura has planted 79,655,609 trees in 31 states. It has installed water catchment systems on 599 roofs and created 749 backyard gardens.
It works towards the conservation of monarch butterflies, restores mangroves, monitors bird migrations, builds water treatment facilities, sets up community plant nurseries, and works to measure, reduce, and compensate for the carbon footprints of companies and events.
Pronatura is involved in a great many projects in this country, but few people know much about it. To shine some light on Mexico’s number one conservation NGO, I spoke to Pronatura’s Director, Kathy Gregoire.
“Our organization,” she replied, “was founded in 1981 by a group of birdwatchers, scientists, and businessmen who got together to discuss the critical situation of birds in Mexico. The result was the founding of Pronatura.”
The organization’s six regional chapters, Gregoire told me, are involved in projects both large and small.
Tequila and water
Christiane Maertens, founder of showcase Valor Tequila, at the distillery in San Pedro, Jalisco. (Photo: Valor Tequila)
To begin with a small project, we go to the tiny community of San Pedro Landeros, not far from Tequila, Jalisco.
The tequila industry, Gregoire says, uses from 10 to 15 liters of water for every liter of finished spirit they produce. When Pronatura was approached by a tequila brand trying to reduce this use of water, Pronatura signed on board.
The brand is Valor Tequila and its owner is Christiane Maertens of Los Angeles.
“I spent years in the USA,” Maertens told me, “advising companies how to be more sustainable, how to be more responsible. Then, in 2021, someone told me, ‘Maybe it’s time for you to start your own product company so that you can showcase what it looks like to embed responsibility and to affect the supply chain from the very beginning.’”
Since she loves Mexico and has spent many years in the country, Maertens decided to start a tequila company.
Says Maertens: “We are meeting with members of Valor’s local community in San Pedro de los Landeros, and we discovered that one of the main problems they have to deal with is water. They only get it delivered two to three times a week. So we started working with the county of Tequila on plans, blueprints, and approvals and we’re building a water distribution system in San Pedro and helping people build cisterns on their properties.
Maertens is also encouraging tequila companies to put ten percent of their revenues back into the local communities.
“The tequila industry is a multi, multi, multi-billion dollar industry,” she says, “but the money’s not coming back to Mexico and we’re trying to showcase that it is possible to still make money, but helping everybody to prosper and live healthy, well-rounded lives.”
On a bigger scale, Pronatura has been working for 15 years to reduce the water footprint of leading soft drinks brands in the country, and one of the results is a replenishment initiative whereby, for every liter of water they use, the company is committed to returning a liter of water to the earth.
A million seed balls
A million seedballs containing 5 million pine seeds were dropped over Tlaxco after a devastating forest fire. (Pronatura)
Another example of a local project sponsored by Pronatura is Proyecto Siembra Extrema which took place this year in Tlaxco, Tlaxcala, a mountainous area badly affected by forest fires. Here, the townspeople created one million seed balls composed of clay, mud, and earthworm castings, each containing five pine seeds. Then, with the help of a Cessna 210 aircraft, the seed balls were dispersed over the affected area.
“Yes, we have both big and small projects,” Gregoire explained, “but what we say in Pronatura is: ‘When we’re comfortable, we’re uncomfortable.’ So we’re always looking at how to innovate. For example, next year we will be focusing on how to use AI to be more efficient in the implementation of our projects.”
“I think working hands-on is probably one of our strongest points,” added Gregoire. “I guess we’re probably the only Mexican NGO with boots on the ground.”
Huitepec Cloud Forest
Like the escaped cotton fibers of an ancient legend, clouds shroud Huitepec Volcano. (Photo: Todochiapas)
Huitepec is one of the tallest volcanoes in Chiapas and towers over the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas. In 1986 Pronatura A.C. acquired 135 hectares of this cloud forest and turned it into a protected area dedicated to environmental education.
Huitepec is home to a great diversity of flora and fauna, from shrews and salamanders to flying squirrels, as well as endemic species of birds, such as the blue-throated motmot and the bearded screech-owl. In addition, it has a spectacular variety of wild orchids.
Huitepec is, in fact, so special that Maya legends about it persist even today:
“In the highest mountains of the valley,” say the ancients, “where the vegetation is dense and closed, lives the Lord of the Earth, master of the wind, water, lightning, and rain. There he lives surrounded by his daughters, who pass the day weaving cotton. Sometimes the cotton fibers escape them, carried away by the wind, and these are what form the clouds we see shrouding the mountain top.”
For more information on Huitepec, call 967 678 5000.
Hike through Moxviquil Orchid Garden
Pronatura Sur runs a project at the edge of San Cristóbal, called the Moxviquil Ecological Reserve and Orchid Garden. Covering more than 80 hectares, this mountain is of critical importance for capturing water and maintaining the city’s system of natural springs.
Here, you can find over half of Mexico’s 1250 species of orchids. Visitors can spot many of them while hiking through an oak forest along a 1700-meter-long trail, either on their own or accompanied by a specialized local guide.
The trail is open to the public from 9 am to 3 pm, Tuesday to Sunday. To reserve a guide, call 967 678 0542.
Pronatura, it seems, is working in every corner of Mexico. To find out what they’re doing in your corner, have a look at their webpage.
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.
Residents of the southern state of Quintana Roo say that a private sector water supplier is intentionally overcharging users to the tune of billions of US dollars. (Luis Quintero/Unsplash)
Quintana Roo residents are proposing a collective injunction against a local water supplier after a report revealed that the state has the highest drinking water rates in Mexico.
A study entitled “Drinking water services in Quintana Roo 1980-2023: The truth in numbers,” published by analyst Juventino Castilo Pinzón in December, shows that the average domestic water bill in Quintana Roo reached 716 pesos (US $42.27) in 2022, compared to a national average of 88 pesos (US $5.20).
The state has canceled Aguakan’s contract to provide water, though the firm has appealed, saying their franchise is valid until 2053. (Aguakan)
Drinking water rates in Quintana Roo have increased above the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) since 2012, the study found, adding up to a total of 21.5 billion pesos (US $1.27 billion) in overcharges from 2011 to date.
In response to the findings, León Lizárraga Cubedo, president of the Institute of Public Administration of Quintana Roo (Iapqroo), launched a petition to gather signatures of those in favor of freezing the current rates and demanding local water companies improve services to consumers.
Iapqroo proposed filing a collective injunction against the Drinking Water and Sewerage Commission (CAPA) and water company Aguakan, demanding they pay back the accumulated overcharges. The institute alleges that 17 billion pesos (US $1 billion) of these charges have gone to Aguakan.
Lizárraga said that the companies’ unfair billing practices were damaging the local economy and disproportionately affecting the poor. He also criticized local authorities for failing to enforce Article 115 of the Mexican Constitution, which requires municipalities to take responsibility for water, drainage and sewage services.
Residents are gathering signatures for a petition to collective file a suit against the water commission and private company Aguakan. (Iapqroo/Facebook)
“CAPA must disappear … so that each municipality provides the service through a public body with functional, operational and financial autonomy, led by citizens,” he said.
After the report’s publication, the Quintana Roo state government canceled Aguakan’s contract to supply drinking water to the Benito Juárez, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos and Solidaridad municipalities. The company responded by filing an injunction, arguing that in 2014, then-governor Roberto Borge extended this contract until 2053. Aguakan continues to provide drinking water services while the lawsuit is heard.
The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) think tank has previously raised alarms about the high disparity in water costs across Mexican states. In August, it published a list of Mexican states with the highest and lowest minimum monthly tariffs for domestic water services. Quintana Roo’s were the highest, at 172.86 pesos (US $10.21) per cubic meter, while Morelos’ were the lowest, at 0.04 pesos (US $0.0001) per cubic meter.
The institute called for a new state water tariff system coordinated at the national level to reduce regional price disparities, address water scarcity, and guarantee funds to maintain and improve water infrastructure.
When medical lighting manufacturer Lumitex began operations in Mexico four years ago, it had just five employees in the country. Today, the Strongsville, Ohio-based company has 32 and is set to increase its Mexico-based workforce even more in the coming years.
The firm is one of numerous global manufacturers that operate out of Entrada Group’s manufacturing campus in Celaya, a mid-sized city in Guanajuato, a Bajío region state that is one of Mexico’s industrial powerhouses as well as a growing hub for the production of medical devices.
“Lumitex sees Mexico as an essential part of its future expansion,” Entrada co-managing partner Doug Donahue said in late 2019 as the company prepared to set up shop in Celaya.
Four years later, the Lumitex plant, at which medical lighting products are made for customers worldwide, is indeed an integral part of the company’s structure, complementing production centers in the United States and Taiwan.
Before we look at what Lumitex is doing in Mexico today – and its exciting plans for the future – let’s go back a few years and consider what lured the company to Guanajuato in the first place and why it decided to partner with Entrada, a U.S. company with more than 20 years’ experience guiding international manufacturers in establishing and running their own operations here.
Why Guanajuato?
As has been the case for many other foreign manufacturers, Guanajuato was an attractive destination for Lumitex for a range of reasons, including proximity to the United States, Mexico’s free trade pact with the U.S. and Canada (formerly NAFTA, now USMCA) and competitive labor costs.
The ongoing “availability of good people, lower labor costs and open trade agreements” are all advantages to operating in Guanajuato, according to Ricardo DeJesús Hernández, general manager of Lumitex’s plant in Celaya.
In a recent interview with Mexico News Daily, DeJesús also said that the short supply chain to customers in the United States is a major benefit of having a manufacturing facility in the state.
Donahue, who along with the rest of the Entrada team has helped numerous foreign companies establish a presence in Mexico, said in 2019 that Celaya in particular “offers Lumitex access to more sophisticated processes and skilled labor, which helps it diversify its product range for new clients.”
The company “needs to be in a high-growth area like Celaya,” he said, describing the city as “one of Mexico’s fastest-maturing manufacturing centers.”
Lumitex’s rapid growth in Mexico is impressive, though not unexpected. Having witnessed the success other Entrada clients have had in Mexico, Donahue predicted in 2019 that the company would expand its “footprint and headcount in coming years.”
Why partner with Entrada?
“Entrada makes it easy for a mid-size manufacturer like Lumitex to enter Mexico,” Peter Broer, Lumitex CEO and president, said when speaking about the company’s decision to expand its operations south of the border.
“They take care of the local details – permits, paperwork, logistics, personnel, etc. – leaving us to focus on what we do well: innovate and produce,” said Broer, who heads up a company that has over 35 years’ experience developing and creating medical lighting solutions for a range of customers.
As mentioned in a previous MND article, Entrada offers a comprehensive “shelter solution” that provides companies from North America and Europe with all the non-production related support they require in Mexico, ensures they are – and remain – compliant will all local laws and regulations and offers a proven pathway to growth.
In addition to its Celaya hub, the company also has a manufacturing campus in Zacatecas.
A fully certified “very clean” plant in Celaya
DeJesús explained that Lumitex currently makes “medical human-machine interface lighting” in Celaya
“We use proprietary [patent-protected] fiber optic processes to extract light only in specific areas that need to be backlit on a medical control panel,” the plant manager said.
He said that Lumitex in Celaya mainly supplies customers in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Raw materials used in the company’s manufacturing processes in Celaya are shipped to Mexico from the U.S. and Asia, but the company envisions that it will soon be able to source at least some of its inputs locally.
While the Celaya-Querétaro corridor has an educated and motivated workforce that includes many people with experience in the manufacturing sector and relevant qualifications, DeJesús noted that Lumitex provides additional training to workers to equip them with the specific skills needed to produce high-quality products.
Future plans in Mexico
Lumitex will increase its “Made in Mexico” product portfolio in 2024, DeJesús said, noting also that a new cleanroom is currently being built at the Celaya plant.
“Next year, we will begin making surgical lighting that attaches to retractors to minimize surgical incisions,” he told MND, explaining that the product will be made in the soon-to-be-completed cleanroom.
“We will also make phototherapy products for babies with jaundice,” DeJesús added.
After acknowledging that all of the inputs Lumitex currently uses in Celaya come from abroad, he said that the company is seeking to “qualify local suppliers and build a local supply base” to support its Mexico operations as it adds new products to its range.
DeJesús added that Celaya will become the “medical manufacturing center” for Lumitex, which also makes lighting products for sectors other than medical, including the automotive and aerospace industries.
“More products and technology will be transferred to this site and we will expand our current production size, he said.
