Gritzewsky (right) appeared to be in good health when released on Thursday. (@enlacejudio / X)
A Mexican woman who was taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group Hamas during its attack on Israel on Oct. 7 was released from Gaza on Thursday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena announced the release of Ilana Gritzewsky Camhi on the X social media platform.
Ilana Gritzewsky (left) has been released, but Orión Hernández (right) is still held by Hamas. His German-Israeli girlfriend, Shani Louk, was also abducted on Oct. 7, and was confirmed dead on Oct. 30. (Social media)
“In the name of the Mexican government, we are deeply grateful to the government of Qatar for its invaluable mediation,” she said.
“I also thank the National Intelligence Center of Mexico for its excellent coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this process. We’ll continue working for the release of the other compatriot held in Gaza, Orión Hernández, and the two Mexican crew members on the ship Galaxy Leader,” Bárcena wrote, referring to the vessel hijacked by Yemen’s Houthi militia in the Red Sea last month
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that “the release of the Mexican national comes after Mexican authorities, with the intervention of friendly countries, took multiple actions in a strictly confidential manner, in order to safeguard the safety of all involved.”
Gritzewsky, a 30-year-old dual Mexican-Israeli citizen who has been living in Israel since she was a teenager, was one of eight hostages released from Gaza on Thursday, the seventh – and ultimately final – day of a truce between Israel and Hamas.
Video footage showed her smiling and waving at cameras as she stood alongside Hamas militants shortly before she was released. Gritzewsky, apparently in good health, subsequently bid her captors farewell 54 days after she was abducted from her home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip.
Her 24-year-old boyfriend, Matan Zangauker, was also abducted and is still being held in Gaza.
According to an El País newspaper report, Gritzewsky was born in Quintana Roo and moved to Israel at the age of 16 when she received a scholarship for the Naale program, which enables teenagers from the Jewish diaspora to complete their high school education in Israel for free.
Her father and sister also live in Israel, but her mother and brother live in Mexico.
Gritzewsky, a pastry chef, was reportedly in Mexico for two months earlier this year before returning to Israel on Oct. 2, just five days before she was kidnapped.
Two other Mexican women were trapped in Gaza amid Israel’s retaliatory strikes on the coastal enclave. However, doctors Michelle Ravel and Bárbara Lango – both of whom had been living in Gaza for some time and were not taken hostage – crossed into Egypt in early November.
Querétaro is ranked the 51st most expensive city in the world according to the 2023 cost of living survey. (Glass and Nature/Shutterstock)
The cities of Querétaro and Aguascalientes were the biggest movers up the rankings in the “Worldwide Cost of Living 2023” survey, conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Published Thursday, the survey report shows that Santiago de Querétaro, as Querétaro city is officially known, ascended 48 places to become the 51st most expensive city out of 173 cities assessed by the EIU, the research and analysis division of the London-based The Economist Group.
Aguascalientes, a city of around 860,000 inhabitants in central Mexico, is the other Mexican city that moved up significantly in the cost of living ranking to 82nd most expensive in the world. (Shutterstock)
Aguascalientes, capital of the state of the same name, rose 39 positions in the rankings to become the 82nd most expensive city.
“Three Latin American cities – Santiago de Querétaro, Aguascalientes and San José (Costa Rica) – are the three biggest upward movers,” the EIU said.
“Central banks in much of Latin America were among the first to follow the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest-rate rises, in order to support their currencies. As a result, the Mexican peso and the Costa Rican colón had both appreciated against the US dollar at the time of our survey,” it said.
Querétaro was one of the top five states in formal sector employment growth last month. The state has seen a steady amount of industrial investment this year. (Gob QRO/X)
The EIU conducted its survey between Aug. 14 and Sept. 11, a period during which the USD:MXN exchange rate fluctuated between a low of around 16.7 and a high of about 17.6.
The peso has appreciated considerably this year after trading at about 19.5 to the greenback at the start of 2023. The USD:MXN exchange rate was about 17.3 shortly after 8 a.m. Friday.
The strength of the peso had a significant bearing on the rise of Querétaro and Aguascalientes up the rankings as EIU economists convert the price data collected in the 173 evaluated cities into US dollar terms, “using the prevailing exchange rate and weighting to achieve comparative indices,” according to the survey report.
“To collect the data, each researcher has a list of more than 200 specified products and services to research, with more than 50,000 individual prices collected every six months,” the unit said.
“These include prices for food, drink, clothing, household supplies and personal care items, home rents, transport, utility bills, private schools, domestic help and recreational costs.”
Querétaro’s score on the EIU index – on which New York is the reference city and thus has a score of 100 – was 71, making it similarly expensive to cities such as Rome, Miami, Atlanta, Abu Dhabi and Brisbane. It was the second most expensive city in Latin America among 18 assessed.
Aguascalientes’ score was 64, putting it on or near a par with cities such as Rotterdam, Prague, Montreal, Dubai, Hanoi and Wuhan.
The only other Mexican city where expenses were evaluated was Mexico City, which was determined to be the most expensive city in Latin America. Its cost of living index score was 81, making the Mexican capital similarly expensive to cities such as Helsinki, Reykjavik, Seattle, Houston and Sydney.
Zurich and Singapore – which both had a cost of living score of 104 – tied in first place, sharing the honor (or dishonor) of being the most expensive city out of the 173 evaluated by the EIU.
Zurich, Switzerland (pictured) and Sinagpore tied for most expensive city in the cost of living survey. (Wikimedia Commons)
Ranking third to 10th were Geneva, New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Paris, Copenhagen, Tel Aviv and San Francisco.
The EIU said that “many cities across the world continue to struggle with a cost-of-living crisis, which has sent prices soaring over the past two years.”
It determined that the least expensive city in 2023 was Damascus, followed by Tehran, Tripoli, Karachi, Tashkent, Tunis, Lusaka, Ahmedabad, Lagos, Chennai and Bueno Aires.
A little rain transforms a brecha (dirt road) into a stream. (Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana)
Tanzania has its 90-kilometer-long Mount Kilimanjaro trek and the US has its Pacific Crest Trail, stretching 4270 kilometers from north to south. These and other long trails around the world are laid out so trekkers can walk in safety, avoid getting lost, and find food and water along the way. If they succeed in doing the whole route, they may come away at the end with high satisfaction, a certificate, and, without a doubt, sore feet.
Even though Mexico was crisscrossed with thousands of kilometers of caminos in pre-Hispanic times, today it has no well-established, long-distance-trail network—but that has not stopped the intrepid from setting up their own challenges.
The helpful trail signs above Lake Chapala disappeared once the couple began the long climb up Cerro Viejo. (Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana)
“I want you to meet two extraordinary trekkers,” I was told by Matteo Volpi, owner of Guadalajara’s Volpi Outdoor Gear.
How to get by on very little water
Volpi says he admires Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana because they have laid out some fascinating routes of their own and succeeded in walking them, despite obstacles that might have defeated less determined hikers.
“For example,” he told me, “because Mexico doesn’t have an infrastructure for doing multi-day hikes, there may be no sources of water in the dry season, over huge distances. Well, Gabriel and Lucy decided to solve the problem by training themselves to get by on very little water, until their bodies got used to it.”
Mist invades the oak trees atop La Mesa del Ocote. (Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana)
Over the last three years, Gabriel and Lucy have carried out three extraordinary treks– one per year – which have grabbed the attention of long-distance hikers in western Mexico.
The Plesiosaurus Route
This 71-kilometer walk starts in Jocotepéc at the west end of Lake Chapala and follows the two-kilometer-high ridge above the lake eastward to the extraordinarily beautiful Mesa de Ocote. Here the route does a U-turn, heading back west, up and over nearly three-kilometer-high El Cerro Viejo, terminating in the village of El Molino.
They started out on July 15, 2021, at 4:00 am, catching a bus to Jocotepéc from Guadalajara. Hiking east along the ridge paralleling the shoreline offered views of little villages in the distance and, of course, frequent spectacular views of Lake Chapala.
Camping on La Mesa del Ocote, “home of the vultures” at 2390 meters altitude. (Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana)
This is an up-and-down trail of peak after peak, which—after 25 kilometers—brought them to the Mesa del Ocote, a stunningly beautiful forest of tall oaks that somehow looks like it belongs in Canada, not Mexico. “Here, in the very home of the vultures circling above us, we hugged each other and congratulated each other and set up our camp at 2390 meters above sea level,” Gabriel told me.
The Enchanted Forest
Heavy rain hit them in the middle of the night, “but,” comments Lucy, “our tent withstood the winds and the downpour, and the next morning we left this gorgeous peak and hiked down into a place known as The Enchanted Forest. Heavy white fog had settled in the valley giving it a sinister look that contrasted dramatically with the cheerful, warm, singing of what seemed like hundreds of birds and the whisper of the wind blowing through the trees. They weren’t kidding when they called this place enchanted—what a breathtaking show!”
From here they started up the long ridge to the peak of Cerro Viejo, enjoying sunshine and a good view of Lake Cajititlán.
Cows visit the trekkers’ camp near the top of Cerro Viejo. (Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana)
Hot breath in the dead of night
We arrived at 2300 meters above sea level at 8:30 pm,” says Gabriel, “and we looked for a place to set up the second camp.”
“Fortunately, this night it did not rain hard,” he adds, positively. “However, we were visited by a herd of cows who seemed convinced we were hiding something delicious to eat. Have you ever felt the hot breath of a huge cow, through the thin wall of a tent, just a few centimeters from your face? It’s something you could never forget.”
The next day, fortified by blackberries they found along the way, they reached the summit of Cerro Viejo at 2960 meters above sea level. “Now,” said Lucy, “we knew we had left the most difficult part behind and only had a long descent of 18 kilometers ahead of us.”
The couple’s 2022 odyssey included cycling, hiking and crossing lakes Chapala and Cajititlán (shown here). (Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana)
Wall of thorns, trail of mud
Murphy’s Law then snapped into action. A storm hit them at 2000 meters elevation, transforming the trail into flowing water and mud.
“The last kilometers of this hike were the strangest that I have had to walk,” continues Lucy. “Tightly lining both sides of the flooded trail there was a wall of thorns mixed with cat’s claw, so there was nothing to grab onto as we placed our feet on either side of what was now more of a river than a path. But at last, we reached El Molino.”
Map of the 2022 Chapala to Mascuala Boat-bike-hike Route.
2022: Chapala to Mascuala boat-bike-hike route (150 kilometers of mountains, lakes, and canyons)
A year later, the intrepid couple mapped out a unique “Peak-Puddle-Canyon” route for themselves twice as long as the previous. Starting at El Cerro de Garcia, south of Lake Chapala, they hiked and boated their way north over four of Jalisco’s high peaks, across Lakes Chapala and Cajititlán, and then cycled (on a bicycle built for two) through the city of Guadalajara, subsequently (on foot again) bottoming 500-meter-deep Huentitán Canyon and finishing up atop the other side of the barranca at the town of Mascuala, 150 kilometers from their starting point.
The trek took three and a half days. Their only complaint: “We expected the weather to be warmer…those were three very cold nights.”
2023: Having traveled over 200 kilometers to cross the state of Jalisco, the couple were stopped by ahuates (nearly invisible needles). (Gabriel Román and Lucy Santana)
Most of this was on paved highways until they came to the town of Tala where they were able to plug into Jalisco’s Vias Verdes (Green Rails) network. These are caminos of concrete (pink, not green!) which have replaced a now antiquated railway system. Finally they reached the little town of Lagunillas. They were now a mere four kilometers from Nayarit.
Their bicycle built for two got them within less than a kilometer of their goal, but when they tried to conquer that last small distance on foot, they discovered just how mal the maleza can get.
Map of the 2023 Jalisco East to West Route
Defeated by tiny needles
“It wasn’t just the huizapoles (burrs), “moaned Gabriel, “and it wasn’t just the uña de gato. We hikers have dealt with them before, but when we tried to push that last little bit, we soon found ourselves covered, head to foot with ajuates [from Nahuatl ahuatl], those almost invisible, tiny needles which the Mexican wilderness keeps in reserve for those who think they are macho trekkers. So, only 190 meters from the Nayarit border, we had to turn around and head back the way we came, without fully reaching our goal.”
Yes, trekking in Mexico is different from trekking in other countries and is unfailingly full of surprises. Congratulations to those brave souls who do it. “Walking, walking, and walking through the wilderness,” Gabriel and Lucy told me: “this is what makes us happy!”
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.
As you may know, Mexicans have a great sense of humor, and when they laugh about something, they not only laugh, but they often finish the funny moment with an expression that you sure wanna know because you’ll hear it regularly. So, how to say that something was funny without the typical, haha, or jaja for that matter?
Imagine you’re hanging with your friends, and you catch wind of a joke that hits right. That’s when you drop the classic “¡Qué risa!” which is like saying, “what a laugh!” Now, if what you heard was not just funny but had a touch of brilliance, you’d throw in a cool “buenísimo.” It’s like giving a virtual high-five to the genius behind the humor. Mexicans love to emphasize the fact that they are having a great time in the conversation. Additionally, qué risa is commonly used to fill up an awkward silence after a big laughter, as if the person was reminiscing about that funny moment and thinking out loud just to start a new conversation.
Then there’s “qué divertido,” the go-to phrase for anything that brings a smile. It’s like saying, “That was a blast!” Whether it’s a cheeky comment or a hilarious situation playing out, this phrase is your golden ticket to acknowledging the good vibes.
Now, when you’re spinning a yarn about some crazy, laugh-out-loud moment from the past, you drop the bomb with “estuvo de risa” or “estuvo súper chistoso.” If the person that you are telling the anecdote about did something extraordinary, we use the expression “se la voló” or if that person is you “me la volé.” In Mexico, this is a colloquial way of saying that someone did something extraordinary, amazing, or unexpected. In this context, “volarse” is used as a metaphor to describe something that was done exceptionally or out of the ordinary. In other words, it could be interpreted as praise or recognition for a noteworthy action, almost like saying “You nailed it!.”
These phrases are not just words; they are invitations to join the fun. Even if you are not the person telling the story, you can show you are engaged in the conversation by saying any of them. So get ready to roll with them next time you find yourself having a ball with your fun Mexican friends.
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
Ganfeng Lithium, a Chinese company, had acquired land in Sonora's lithium reserve via acquisition of Bacanora Lithium. (SQM)
The federal government has reportedly confirmed its decision to cancel lithium mining concessions held by a Chinese company for a project in Sonora.
Reuters reported that Ganfeng Lithium said Thursday that the Economy Ministry has maintained cancellations of certain mining concessions held by its subsidiaries.
Mexico is estimated to hold around 3% of total global lithium reserves. The mineral is a key ingredient in the production of batteries. (Alexander Schimmeck/Unsplash)
Ganfeng told its investors in August that it had been advised by Mexico’s General Directorate of Mines that it had failed to meet minimum investment requirements between 2017 and 2021 and nine concessions it held for its Sonora lithium project had been canceled as a result.
However, President López Obrador – whose government nationalized lithium last year –subsequently said that the cancellation of the concessions was still under consideration.
Reuters cited a statement from Ganfeng, in which the company said it would file for international arbitration in response to the decision to cancel its concessions.
He said that Bacanora, which was acquired by Ganfeng in 2021, has spent tens of million of dollars in Sonora over the past 12 years, adding that when initial mining law changes were made, the belief was that existing concessions would be respected.
“And then obviously, … we were informed that the government would be canceling the licenses,” Secker said.
“… We will maintain all our legal rights to defend this … [given] that we have spent many tens of millions. We’ve exceeded all the requirements for spending on the licenses. We’ve built a pilot plant; we have a design for a project that will produce 35,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate. It would be one of the largest plants in the world,” Secker said.
He told Reuters earlier this month that the Sonora lithium project couldn’t proceed until issues with the Mexican government were resolved, adding that there was no clear timetable for that to occur.
Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro at the signing of the nationalization decree last year. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
“Construction work for Ganfeng’s [US] $800 million production plant has not started, which had already made a 2023 production start target unreachable even without the government challenge,” Reuters reported.
Secker reiterated that Bacanora/Ganfeng has “exceeded the minimum spend required” to hold onto the concessions.
He told El País that Ganfeng is open to forming a joint venture with Mexican authorities to carry out the project in Sonora, where the potential lithium reserves are in clay deposits that are technically difficult and expensive to mine.
“Ganfeng has the money to do this. It’s got the technology, and it has the people to develop this project without any assistance from the government. However, we have had discussions with the government over the last few years and, and we’re happy to work with the government. We just need to sort out their apparent attempt to cancel the licenses,” Secker said in late October.
Bacanora CEO Peter Secker said owners Ganfeng are able to complete the project if licenses are restored by the Mexican government. (Bacanora Lithium)
“It would be silly for the government not to work with Ganfeng to develop a strategy,” he told Reuters.
The Finance Ministry has estimated that lithium reserves in Sonora – where Mexico’s largest potential deposits are located – could be worth as much as US $600 billion. There are smaller deposits in other states including Baja California, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.
According to the Bacanora website, the company owns ten mining concessions covering approximately 100,000 hectares in the northeast of Sonora. It is estimated that there is some 8.8 million tonnes of lithium carbonate in the area for which the company received 50-year concessions in 2011.
Lithium is highly sought after because it is a key component of lithium-ion batteries used for green energy storage and can thus play an important role in the transition to clean energy.
Reuters reported that “battery production and recycling plants are set to be part of a larger project” in Sonora, slated to be developed after lithium production begins.
Secker said that construction of the lithium production plant will take 18 months, but when that project will be able to commence – if ever – is unclear.
Timeshare owners in Mexico are being targeted by scammers linked to the CJNG cartel. (Merritt Thomas/Unsplash)
The United States government has again clamped down on cartel-backed operators of a fraud scheme in Mexico that targets owners of timeshare properties in Puerto Vallarta and elsewhere.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) noted in a press release Thursdaythat it has sanctioned three Mexican individuals and 13 Mexican companies that “are linked, directly or indirectly, to timeshare fraud led by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).”
Individuals and businesses affected by the latest round of OFAC sanctions. (U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control)
The action was coordinated with the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), along with the Mexican government’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF).
“The CJNG cartel, a leading trafficker of narcotics like illicit fentanyl into the United States, generates substantial revenue for its multi-faceted criminal enterprise through its timeshare fraud network,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the Thursday press release.
“CJNG uses extreme violence and intimidation to control the timeshare network, which often targets elder U.S. citizens and can defraud victims of their life savings.”
The majority of victims of the fraudulent companies, were owners of timeshare properties in Puerto Vallarta, the U.S. Treasury Department said. (Photo: Juliana Arjes/Unsplash)
According to OFAC, the Mexicans sanctioned Thursday are Teresa de Jesús Alvarado Rubio, who has been linked to this fraud scheme for 15 years; Manuel Alejandro Foubert Cadena, involved for seven years; and Gabriela Del Villar Contreras, a lawyer linked to the collection of payments.
Most of the 13 sanctioned companies are linked to real estate businesses, OFAC said. These include Assis Realty and Vacation Club, Grupo Minera Barro Pacifico and International Realty & Maintenance.
The FBI said that in 2022 its Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 600 complaints about Mexican timeshare scammers, with victims losing nearly US $40 million, according to an article in the Louisville Courier Journal.
The fraudsters use three basic steps, OFAC noted:
First, they call or send an email to someone who owns a timeshare and claim to have interested buyers ready with a purchase offer. They pretend to be a sales representative for a timeshare resale company.
If the unexpected offer is accepted, the scammer then asks the victim for up-front payments, allegedly to facilitate or expedite the sale, ensuring that the money will be refunded at the end.
Promised services are never carried out and, often, additional payments are sought — after which the timeshare owners begin to realize they have been scammed.
Later, victims are contacted by a “timeshare scam recovery company” that promises assistance in recuperating money lost in the first scam.
This CJNG’s thievery is part of a “diversification of criminal activities,” Nathan Jones, an expert in drug policy and Mexican studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston, said in the Courier Journal.
“These cartels and organized crime in Mexico are just getting into so many more sidelines,” he said, adding that the illegalities “look a lot more like classic mafia activities that we oftentimes saw in the United States.”
Residents of Acapulco are working hard to restore their city, although the tourism industry faces a major loss this Christmas - traditionally the most lucrative time of the year for businesses in the area. (Carlos Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
Over a month after Category 5 Hurricane Otis hit Acapulco, Guerrero, residents are facing a challenging holiday season, traditionally the busiest tourism period of the year.
Reports by magazine Proceso show mud and debris still littering the streets of the Pacific resort town, where residents have already collected more than 200,000 tonnes of waste. Much of the city still lacks running water, and some business leaders believe the reconstruction of the local economy could extend until 2025.
The work to repair the city has begun, though it will take years to fully restore the city according to some estimates. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Local business owners have shown remarkable resilience, with some bars and restaurantstentatively reopening as soon as 12 days after the disaster. However, with around80% of the city’s hotels damaged, residents fear for their livelihoods in the tourism-dependent city.
“Acapulco lives on only three seasons: December, which is the biggest for us, Holy Week (Easter vacation) and a little bit of summer,” said Jesús Zamora, president of Infrastructure of the region’s Tourism Advisory Council. “December is the most anticipated and we are not going to get back up [in time].”
The Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions (AMIS) estimates that insurance claims have been made on at least 1,983 commercial assets, with damages totaling around 7.5 billion pesos (US $431 million). AMIS has also received 4,607 home insurance claims between Acapulco and neighboring Coyuca, amounting to 6.3 billion pesos (US $363 million) of damages. The group estimates there could be as many as 16,000 damaged insured properties in Acapulco alone.
This would make Hurricane Otis “seventh in the [nation’s] top ten major events affecting the insurance industry [for claims],” according to AMIS general director, Norma Alicia Rosas Rodríguez.
President López Obrador said efforts were ongoing to find 31 people believed to have been lost at sea during the hurricane. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
Even this is only a fraction of the hurricane’s toll, given that only 22% of homes have voluntary or mortgage-linked insurance across Mexico, and Guerrero’s figure is below the national average. The Mexican government has calculated that 274,000 homes were affected by Otis.
In the morning press conference following his seventh visit to Acapulco since the disaster, President López Obrador announced that 32,000 transfers of 8,000 pesos (US $460) had been delivered to local families to support the cleanup operation. He said these deliveries would continue over the coming days, reaching a total of 250,000 families.
“We are returning to normality, little by little,” he said, stressing that Acapulco’s water supply is gradually being repaired, and electricity supply is now 100% – although usage is only 68% of its previous levels, given that the city’s hotel sector remains closed.
AMLO also insisted that the search continues for 31 people still missing, after families protested that authorities seemed to havegiven up on finding their loved ones. While theofficial death toll of Hurricane Otis is 50 people, local news agencies have claimed that the actual figure could be up to seven times higher.
A smoke bomb was set off in the state Congress on Wednesday. (Social media video screenshot)
In scenes some compared to the 2021 attack on the United States Capitol building, a group of more than 100 Citizens Movement (MC) party supporters stormed the Nuevo León state Congress on Wednesday, but they couldn’t stop lawmakers from naming an interim governor with ties to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
Video footage shows the mob forcing their way through a locked door before making their way to the floor of Congress, where lawmakers were discussing the appointment of an interim governor to replace Samuel García while he is on leave to campaign for the presidency on an MC ticket.
Guardadas las proporciones entre la Presidencia de Estados Unidos y la gubernatura de Nuevo León, esto recuerda mucho el asalto al Capitolio pic.twitter.com/3FkEquGdoX
In Monterrey on Wednesday, there were scuffles on the floor of Congress and a smoke bomb detonated amid the commotion. Chanting in unison, the MC supporters asserted that lawmakers with the PRI and the National Action Party (PAN) were corrupt.
The Reforma newspaper reported that they were irked because only PRI and PAN supporters had been allowed into the Congress gallery to observe the proceedings.
However, the main cause of their anger was that the PRI and the PAN conspired to use their numbers in the Nuevo León Congress to appoint an interim governor sympathetic to their political agenda, rather than a person who would provide continuity to the MC government García has led since taking office in October 2021.
Samuel García took leave of his post as governor to launch a campaign for 2024, but returned as governor on Tuesday until Saturday. (Samuel García/X)
The Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) acknowledged that the Congress has the power to name an interim governor, but ruled that it must appoint an MC representative.
The MC nominated four possible interim governors, according to García, but PRI and PAN lawmakers voted to appoint Luis Enrique Orozco, who stepped down as deputy attorney general in Nuevo León to assume the position.
It was the second time that PRI and PAN deputies appointed a replacement for García as they named José Arturo Salinas Garza, president of the Superior Court of Justice of Nuevo León, as interim governor in October, but the TEPJF subsequently ruled he was ineligible.
The session during which Wednesday’s vote took place was able to proceed as some 100 police officers moved into the Congress building to restore peace after the disruption caused by the MC supporters. There were no reports of any arrests of the men and women who overran the Congress.
The interim governor was sworn in by PAN and PRI party lawmakers on Wednesday. (Cuartoscuro)
Orozco, who was comptroller in the 2015-18 Monterrey municipal government led by PRI mayor Adrián de la Garza, was sworn in as interim governor on Wednesday night, although his tenure won’t officially commence until Saturday, provided MC doesn’t successfully challenge his appointment.
Senator Dante Delgado, the MC national leader, said on the X social media platform that “what the PRI and the PAN did today in the Nuevo León Congress is an act of democratic regression and an assault on legality.”
“They’re trying to derail a legitimate [political] project, endorsed by the majority of Nuevo León residents, and we’re not going to allow it. Their only aim is to generate a crisis in order to remove our presidential candidate from the contest,” he wrote.
Delgado – who attempted to reach an agreement with the PRI and the PAN for the appointment of a mutually acceptable replacement for García – asserted that Orozco is “ineligible” to be interim governor and “of proven ineptitude.”
“We’re not going to allow the old political powerbrokers to impose as interim governor – with vandalistic, illegal and anti-democratic acts – an individual who arrived at the legislative chamber surrounded by armed people,” he said, claiming that Orozco’s aim was to “send a message of intimidation and violence to the people of Nuevo León.”
After he was sworn in, the soon-to-be interim governor told reporters that “it’s time to think of the well-being of all Nuevo León citizens.”
Dante Delgado, the Citizens Movement party president. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
“The current situation demands the best of us. We must return to this state the governability that our beloved Nuevo León deserves,” Orozco said.
He also said he would seek dialogue with García, although it appears unlikely that the governor will be willing to speak with him.
García – who vacated his position as governor for just over a week before reassuming it on Tuesday – said on X on Thursday that “the real danger” for Mexico is the PRIAN, a hybrid derogatory acronym for the PRI and the PAN, which were formerly political rivals but are now both part of the Broad Front for Mexico (FAM) opposition alliance, which also includes the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).
“Yesterday they arrived [to Congress] with armed people to impose an illegal governor on Nuevo León,” García wrote.
In the same post, the 35-year-old presidential pre-candidate for the MC responded to a claim from businessman and FAM supporter Claudio X. González that he is a “danger” to Mexico.
The results of a recent poll conducted for the El Universal newspaper showed that Claudia Sheinbaum had 48% support, while 24% of respondents nominated Xóchitl Gálvez as their preferred choice, and just 8% opted for García.
The Utopía Estrella project in the Mexico City borough of Iztapalapa has taken a coveted sustainability prize. (Holcim Foundation)
The Utopía Estrella Iztapalapa project in Mexico City has been recognized by the Holcim Awards 2023 for being one of the world’s top sustainable architecture projects.
With a total prize pool of US $1 million, only five projects – out of 2,380 entrants globally – won a Holcim Awards Gold prize for their outstanding contribution to sustainable development.
The new site will integrate water processing facilities with a public park. (Holcim Foundation)
Utopía Estrella, which won in the Latin America category, is a project that aims to revitalize a former landfill site providing sports, cultural, social, and ecological education facilities for around 230,000 of the Iztapalapa borough’s 1.8 million residents.
Designed by Cano | Vera Arquitectura in Mexico City, Utopía Estrella will become “the most important social infrastructure of the area” to help the transformation of Iztapalapa, Mexico City’s largest and one of its poorest boroughs, which has a population density of 16,000 inhabitants per square kilometer.
The are 12 other Utopía centers in the borough, which have been built during the term of Clara Brugada (the Morena party candidate for Mexico City mayor in 2024), each aiming to provide cultural and leisure opportunities for Iztapalapa residents. The Utopía Ship opened in April this year, providing a new aquarium and IT facilities. The Utopía Plane, a converted Boeing 737 airliner, has served as a library since opening in 2020.
Utopía Estrella, which started construction in January 2023, emphasizes the importance of water treatment and environmental regeneration while addressing the water challenges that Mexico City faces due to lack of infrastructure, population demands, and pollution.
The new cultural centers offer activities for residents in the capital’s most populous borough. The Utopía Ship opened in April this year. (Claudia Sheinbaum/Twitter)
“The jury panel was profoundly impressed by this design project, which undertakes a remarkable regeneration intervention in a challenging neighborhood in Mexico City,” Holcin said in a statement, adding that it stood out “for its genuine commitment to achieving a positive impact on the community.”
The complete list of winners includes projects in China, Spain, Ghana and Canada.
Holcim, a global provider of low-carbon building solutions, started the awards in 2003 to support the global movement for sustainable design and construction.
Cancún is one of the Mexican destinations that will have additional routes to the U.S. (Cuartoscuro)
Airlines servicing Puerto Vallarta, Cancún and Mexico City have announced new direct flights to cities in the United States and Canada.
Flights to Puerto Vallarta
Kicking off on Dec. 14, Alaska Airlines will operate four weekly flights between Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and Las Vegas, Nevada, with a total of 1,216 seats available per month.
Shortly after, on Dec. 16, two additional routes operated by other airlines will begin service to the sunny Pacific destination.
The first, served by Westjet Airlines, will operate from Prince George, the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada. It will have a weekly frequency offering 760 seats per month.
The second route will depart from Ontario, California, and will be operated by New Pacific Airlines with a frequency of three flights per week.
Aeroméxico will connect Mexico City and Raleigh-Durham starting in July 2024. (Christian Coquet/Unsplash)
Departing from Midway International Airport – a smaller airport in the Chicago area – the route is available daily until at least late February.
In addition to Chicago Midway, Frontier offers seasonal direct flights to Cancún from 13 other U.S. airports.
Flights to Mexico City
Aeroméxico has also announced its latest U.S. destination.
Starting July 1, Aeromexico Connect will operate daily non-stop flights between Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina and Mexico City International Airport. for this type of aircraft.
Mexico City is Raleigh Durham’s third-largest unserved international point-to-point market.
The route is operated under Aeroméxico and Delta Air Line’s Joint Cooperation Agreement, which offers an extensive network of flights.
