The peso depreciated to 17.47 to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday morning. (Shutterstock)
The Mexican peso is on the wane again after recovering from a dip earlier in the month.
One US dollar was trading at 17.47 pesos at 11 a.m. Mexico City time, according to data from Bloomberg. The greenback reached a high of 17.56 pesos in overnight trading.
A range of factors have contributed to the peso’s most recent dip, including a general strengthening of the dollar and decreased appetite for risk.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the value of the greenback relative to a basket of six other currencies, reached its highest level of the year on Tuesday morning.
Some analysts say that the weakening of the peso on Monday and Tuesday is partially due to Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari’s statement that the Fed probably needs to raise interest rates above the current 5.25-5.5% level to bring inflation down to 2% in the United States.
The U.S. Federal Reserve may increase rates to curb inflation at the next meeting in late October. (Shutterstock)
“If the [U.S.] economy is fundamentally much stronger than we realized, on the margin, that would tell me rates probably have to go a little bit higher, and then be held higher for longer to cool things off,” Kashkari said at an event on Monday.
The Mexican financial group Ve por Más said in a note that it was “probable” that the appetite for risk assets, such as the Mexican peso, would be “limited” due to “the restrictive tone” of “some members of the Fed” as well as “the risk of a United States government shutdown.”
The Fed’s next monetary policy decision is due in late October, while board members of Mexico’s central bank will meet this Thursday to discuss monetary policy.
The significant difference between the Bank of Mexico’s benchmark rate – currently set at a record high of 11.25% – and that of the Fed is cited as one factor that has boosted the peso in 2023 after the year started with a USD:MXN exchange rate of about 19.5.
At a press conference earlier this month, the president highlighted the peso’s strong performance against the U.S. dollar this year. (Gob MX)
Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base, said on X (formerly Twitter) that the expectation that interest rates will remain high in the U.S. for a “prolonged period” as well as “aversion to risk” due to the situation in China were both weighing on the peso.
In the same post, she also said that the auto sector strike in the U.S. is “beginning to generate concern.”
The financial news website Finbold reported that rising U.S. Treasury bond yields is also a factor in the recent strengthening of the US dollar against the peso. Finbold noted that if Mexico’s inflation rate continues to decelerate – the headline rate fell to 4.44% in the first half of September – the Bank of Mexico “may have to adjust the monetary policy, which could potentially weigh on” the peso.
However, a cut to the 11.25% rate before the central bank’s December monetary policy meeting is considered unlikely. The bank itself has said on repeated occasions that maintaining the record high rate for an “extended period” is necessary in order to bring inflation down to its 3% target.
While the peso is currently well off its 2023 – and almost eight-year – high of 16.62 to the dollar – the performance of the currency this year remains impressive.
Buoyed by strong inflows of foreign investment and remittances, the peso has appreciated over 10% against the greenback since Jan. 1, making it one of the best performing currencies of 2023.
Fans have been gifting the "Skyfall" singer with Dr. Simi dolls modelling her most iconic outfits. (Revista Brújula/X)
British pop megastar Adele has been invited to visit the Dr. Simi doll factory, after taking time out from her Las Vegas residency at Caesar’s Palace to praise the Mexican pharmaceutical mascot, which she described as “incredible” and a “Mexican show of love.”
“For anybody that doesn’t know what these are, they’re called Simi dolls,” the singer explained, holding up a doll gifted to her by a fan. “I’ve received so many of them during these shows,” she continued, calling them her “absolute favorite.
Adele has also been receiving traditional Mexican “Lele” dolls. (Screen Capture)
The “Someone Like You” and “Rolling in the Deep” singer has recently encouraged fans to throw Dr. Simi and traditional Mexican “Lele” dolls on stage during her live shows and shared an image of her backstage collection of Dr. Simis dressed in a variety of famous Adele outfits.
Dr. Simi himself then appeared in a video to invite the British singer to Mexico. “Adele, thank you very, very much for showing your love for me,” he said, before offering her the chance to tour the CINIA factory in Puebla, where the dolls are manufactured.
CINIA predominantly employs Mexicans with disabilities that would otherwise make it difficult to find work.
This is not the first time that Dr. Simi has gone viral – in 2022, photos emerged of a neighborhood in Ecatepec, México state, which painted the smiling face of the mascot onto town roofs, to create a giant beaming image smiling down onto the nearby freeway.
Dr. Simi’s smile can also be seen beaming up from a neighborhood in Ecatepec, México state. (Israel Guera/X)
In recent years, throwing Dr. Simi dolls during live music events has become a tradition in its own right, with Mexican fans pelting Coldplay, Maroon 5, The Strokes, The Killers, Gorillaz, and even hitting Lady Gaga in the face during a concert in Toronto.
The president says he can prove the research is wrong, asserting that public works projects are employing more people than gangs. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
President López Obrador on Monday rejected a study that found that cartels are the fifth largest employer in Mexico, but didn’t provide any conclusive evidence to support his rebuttal.
The researchers used mathematical modeling to estimate cartel employment. (Prieto Curiel, Campadelli, and Hope/Science)
Based on their estimate – which was derived from a complex mathematical model that took things such as cartel recruitment, homicides and incapacitation of members due to imprisonment into account – the researchers said that cartels were the fifth largest employer in Mexico behind Femsa, a beverage and retail company and Coca-Cola bottler, Walmart, staffing firm Manpower and telecommunications corporation América Móvil.
At his Monday morning press conference, López Obrador claimed that the article was the work of government adversaries.
“An article from the right, from the conservatives, came out, saying that jobs in Mexico come from drug trafficking,” he said.
López Obrador said that the finding that organized crime groups including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel are Mexico’s fifth largest employer is patently “false.”
The president said that construction of major infrastructure projects in the country is employing more people than the drug cartels. (Cuartoscuro)
“I can prove it. The construction industry is providing the most jobs and it has to do with public investment,” said the president, whose government is building several new infrastructure projects including the Maya Train railroad and the Tulum airport.
López Obrador didn’t name any construction company that is employing more than 175,000 people, but emphasized that Mota-Engil, a Portuguese corporation that is building one section of the Maya Train railroad, employs 50,000 workers in Mexico.
That figure came from Mota-Engil’s Latin America chief João Pedro Parreira, who was present at the president’s press conference.
López Obrador said that public investment has helped Mexico significantly in terms of job creation and economic growth, especially in the country’s south and southeast where several projects are under construction.
The research published in Science last week indicated that drug cartels, such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) employ more people in Mexico than Pemex or Oxxo. (Cuartoscuro)
“And I want to say to those who live in the north [of the country], to those who live in the center, that it doesn’t mean that there is no growth in the north and center,” he said.
“Now we’re seeking balance and for growth to be horizontal, even,” López Obrador said.
Mexico’s main opposition party used the finding that cartels are the nation’s fifth biggest employer to support its claim that the current government has been a failure.
“That drug trafficking occupies the position of fifth largest employer in Mexico is another [example] of the major disasters … of the six-year term of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his party Morena,” said National Action Party national president Marko Cortés.
The Seed Guardians have identified, preserved and disseminated seeds belonging to 22 different types of maize. (Mark Viales)
When people think of banks, they most probably think about saving for the future in financial terms. But for other types of long-term investments, such as in our biodiversity, we may need to think up other definitions. A seed bank is a last-ditch investment that can help us retrace our steps and rescue critical crop species wiped out by man-made or natural disasters.
In rural Yucatán, a group of Indigenous Maya farmers are working to develop a social network of seed banks to protect their way of farming – and their way of life. Calling themselves The Seed Guardians, the group has identified a specific mission objective: saving the Maya “milpa” or field for growing food crops.
The largest international seed bank is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built by the Norwegian Government some 1300 km beyond the Arctic Circle in February 2008. Inside freezing rock vaults, this Nordic anti-doomsday structure stores seeds from almost every nation, acting as a secure backup facility for the world’s crop diversity. It can store 4.5 million varieties of crops.
Mexico currently has 26 seed banks spread across ten states, although some experts believe more is needed to cover the country’s enormous geographical, climate and cultural diversity. A study published last year by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on wild plant conservation claimed the current strategy was “far from successful.” In the same study, UNAM scientists also confirmed that just seven research papers were published on conserving Mexican plant species in seed banks in the last 20 years.
“The fundamental role that botanical gardens and seed banks play in conserving plant diversity not only in Mexico but worldwide is becoming increasingly evident,” the study concluded. “Nevertheless, there is still a clear disconnection between those working in these spaces and those carrying out in situ conservation and management. According to our analysis, despite notable efforts and the relatively important advances in both conservation strategies, they are still far from successful.”
In Mexico, existing efforts to conserve seeds are practically inseparable from farming practices. For this reason, The Seed Guardians are working to save crops and a whole ancient system.
Seed exchange festivals have become a lifeline for local producers who support the Maya milpa by trading different species of endangered native crops.
The Maya milpa system uses intercropping, meaning many different crop species are grown together in the same space. It has been a sustainable method of growing crops for millennia, but monoculture and the climate crisis threaten the system’s resilience.
The Seed Guardians formed in the wake of Hurricane Idris, which struck the state of Yucatán in 2002 and left devastating effects on farmland across the peninsula. Rural communities were the worst hit, and many cultivators did not have access to specific seeds required to sustain the unique milpa ecosystems. As a result, many turned to monoculture because of a drastic shortage of seed diversity at the time.
Despite these conditions, The Seed Guardians grew into a vast exchange network connecting rural communities across the entire state. The group’s seed exchange festivals have evolved into more than just a bank to share stocks; they are now important cultural platforms to spread awareness about milpa mixed-cropping. The efforts of this group over two decades have allowed them to identify, preserve and disseminate seeds belonging to 22 different types of maize, or corn.
Idelfonso Yah Alcocer, 50, a founding member of the group, is a passionate activist for his ancient agricultural heritage, which he feels could soon vanish.
“Our beliefs are being eroded. We need to have closer contact with these seeds and remember the traditions of our ancestors,” he said during a seed exchange festival in Sotuta, Yucatán, earlier this year. “We need to combine modern techniques with our ancestral practices. The villages around Yucatán hold a great deal of knowledge. The scientific world can learn a lot from farmers like us, but we need to work together to achieve our mutual goal, to provide enough nutritious food for our families.”
A comparative study against maize monocropping, published last year by six Mexican and Guatemalan scientists, showed that milpas have higher total productivity than monocropping. The research paper, Maize Intercropping in the Milpa System, also said these ancient techniques provided superior daily allowances of fourteen essential nutrients.
Ancient Maya mixed-cropping techniques are still used today and produce superior nutrients to monoculture.
“Based on a Potential Nutrient Adequacy (PNA) indicator, maize-bean-potato, maize-potato, and maize-bean-faba intercrops had the highest PNAs, and monocropped maize, the lowest,” the scientists found. “These results support the implementation of milpa systems tailored to different agro-ecologies to improve nutrition in the Western Highlands of Guatemala and a variety of similar regions,” including the neighboring Yucatán peninsula.
Alcocer argues that too many farmers and large corporations focus on agricultural monoculture, which produces fewer crops and provides fewer nutrients for a healthy diet. He said the traditional Maya milpa can provide everything from fresh honey to tomatoes, eggs and medicinal plants, which is better than a modern diet of sugary treats and hamburgers.
“Our ancestors lived happily and healthily with everything they needed provided by their backyards and milpas,” he said. “Today, there is little interest in the old ways, and we are descending into monoculture. This mentality poses a grave danger to a jungle that thrives on diversity. We want people to know that seeds are alive and part of this giant ecosystem, so we must learn how to coexist. [Seeds] will give us great abundance if we let them breathe every so often.”
Abelardo Tut Uican, 58, from Canakom, Yucatán, is closely linked to The Seed Guardians and believes the road is long to rescue the dying Maya tradition that was thriving a few decades ago.
“Around 30 years ago, it was the milpa that maintained the cities, but now it is the other way around,” he said. “It makes me reflect deeply on my work as a promoter of the old ways because I see fewer people who make the milpa their life’s work.”
Uican worries about monoculture farming industries that are “taking over” and suffocating the fragile jungle ecosystem, while contributing to climate change that directly impacts his community.
“They – the government and major international companies – are cutting down huge sectors of the jungle to make way for roads to connect their monoculture industries that are poisoning our villages, our cenotes and our milpas,” he added.
But Uican feels the only way to save the Maya milpa is to educate the next generation on the cultural and nutritional importance of traditional farming.
“We need to appreciate our traditions and show the world how [the milpa] can help them too,” he said.
“Children living in Yucatán should be given at least some mandatory education on the milpa and more focus on the traditions of our ancestors. If not, we will lose it all. [Children] need to work the milpa and live it, which would be a valuable experience that will teach them to respect rural areas and promote sustainable development in the future.”
Greece's Maria Sakkari won the Guadalajara Open, her first WTA title in four years. (Fernando Carranza García/Cuartoscuro)
Less than a month after losing in the first round of the U.S. Open, Maria Sakkari won her first Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament in four years – and it happened in Guadalajara.
Sakkari, a 28-year-old from Greece, captured the Akron Guadalajara Open title with a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over U.S. player Caroline Dolehide in Saturday’s final.
Sakkari beat out the United States’ Caroline Dolehide, a shock finalist ranked 111th before the competition started. (Relevant Tennis)
When the new WTA singles rankings came out on Monday, Sakkari had moved up three places to snag No. 6 in the world.
Sakkari had gone 0-6 in WTA finals since recording her first victory on the circuit in Rabat, Morocco in 2019. One of those finals losses was in Guadalajara last year against Jessica Pegula from the U.S., and another was last month in Washington, D.C. against Coco Gauff, who one month later would win the U.S. Open.
Dolehide, a 25-year-old from the Chicago suburb of Hinsdale, Illinois, was somewhat of a surprise finalist at the Guadalajara Open, having entered the tournament ranked No. 111 in the world. However, a number of top players dropped out of the competition, and her strong performance ended up boosting her to No. 42.
Throughout the tournament, Sakkari thanked the enthusiastically noisy Mexican fans for supporting her in her matches. After winning the final, she expressed her gratitude by sporting a Team Mexico soccer shirt and a sombrero.
Sakkari thanked local fans for their support, appearing in a Mexico football jersey and traditional sombrero. (WTA)
The tournament was held on the hard courts of the Panamerican Tennis Center in Zapopan, part of the Guadalajara metropolitan area.
Sakkari was a semifinalist in the U.S. Open in New York City two years ago. But this year, after she was eliminated in the first round on Aug. 28, she cried inconsolably and said, “Maybe I need to stop. I’m suffering on the court.” She also said she was bothered by marijuana smoke near the court. “The smell, oh my gosh,” she stated.
On Saturday in Zapopan, she gleefully reported she was “a very happy player.”
She said coming to Mexico helped her mentally. “I love the atmosphere they generate,” she said of the fans.
The winner paid tribute to the enthusiasm of the Mexican fans, who provided a signature party atmosphere at the event. (Maria Sakkari/X)
Sakkari was the No. 2 seed in the tournament, and Dolehide was unseeded. The final took 1 hour and 43 minutes, and despite a first-set speed bump, Sakkari won easily.
“I dedicated [the win] to my grandfather, who was my coach before, and he would be very proud of me,” Sakkari said.
The WTA Tour finals will be held in Cancún on Oct. 30.
Presumed members of the Sinaloa Cartel entered the town Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas on Saturday. (Screen Capture)
A contingent of Sinaloa Cartel gunmen made an audacious and ostentatious entrance to southern Mexico on Saturday, arriving in a region on the border with Guatemala in a convoy made up of more than a dozen vehicles, including ones specifically equipped for armed combat.
The convoy – captured in video footage that was widely shared on social media – drove into Frontera Comalapa, Chiapas, a municipality that is part of a border region where the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are involved in a long-running turf war that has disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
#Chiapas: Incursión del Cártel de Sinaloa en Chamic, kilómetros antes de #FronteraComalapa. Algunos periodistas hemos valorado o no informar de esta y otras acciones porque nuestra seguridad está en riesgo: O estamos informando de lo que pasa o estamos prestándonos o siendo… pic.twitter.com/kMXNsDjgDq
The video footage shows residents apparently welcoming the convoy. (Isaín Mandujano/X)
Hundreds of residents lined the highway and cheered as pickup trucks filled with heavily armed men and other vehicles arrived in Frontera Comalapa after passing through the neighboring municipality of La Trinitaria.
According to a report by the news website Aristegui Noticias, men and women were “forced” to stand next to the highway in the town of San Gregorio Chamic to welcome the Sinaloa Cartel operatives, who reportedly arrived in Chiapas from Zacatecas and Durango.
The newspaper El Universal reported that locals shouted messages of support for the criminal organization, whose members declared their allegiance to Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and assured residents they were coming to help.
The arrival of the cartel convoy in Frontera Comalapa came after weeks of highway blockades and unrest in the border region of Chiapas. The Sinaloa Cartel gunmen also reportedly moved into the nearby municipalities of La Grandeza and Siltepec, where they were said to be searching for their CJNG adversaries on Sunday.
The CJNG is a bitter rival to the Sinaloa cartel and has challenged the group in a number of territories across Mexico. (Especial/Cuartoscuro)
El Universal reported that the CJNG has recently maintained control over the town of Frontera Comalapa, the administrative center of the municipality of the same name. The CJNG also controls the municipal administrative centers of Siltepec and Motozintla, but the Sinaloa Cartel has surrounded those towns and Frontera Comalapa, according to Aristegui Noticias.
According to El Universal, the Sinaloa Cartel controls almost 300 communities near the border with Guatemala.
The CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel – and local gangs affiliated with Mexico’s two most powerful criminal organizations – are competing to control routes along which narcotics, weapons and migrants are transported north after entering the country from Guatemala.
Blockades they have set up have impeded the entry of essential products such as food, water and fuel in recent weeks, creating shortages in some parts of the southern border region. The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has been unable to get into communities where cartel members allegedly cut supply, while schools have canceled classes in recent weeks due to blockades and security concerns.
The town of Frontera Comalapa has experienced shortages and closures of schools because of cartel blockades. (prestamosdemexico/X)
Trucks transporting foodstuffs including pork and eggs were able to get through to border communities after the arrival of additional Sinaloa Cartel members on Saturday, El Universal reported, but President López Obrador said Monday that the CFE still hadn’t been able to get into communities to restore electricity service.
The conflict between the CJNG and Sinaloa Cartel in border region municipalities including Motozintla, Mazapa de Madero and Siltepec has flared up periodically during a period of over two years. An outbreak of violence earlier this year forced thousands of Frontera Comalapa residents out of their communities and into the nearby municipality of Chicomuselo.
More recently, the CJNG was blamed for the murder of four men on Friday who apparently betrayed that cartel by switching allegiances.
Aristegui Noticias reported that more than 280,000 residents of several border region municipalities have become “trapped” due to the worsening dispute between the powerful cartels. The Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center and others have highlighted cases of forced recruitment of locals by the criminal organizations.
Meanwhile, state and federal authorities “have denied the seriousness of what the population [of the border region] is suffering,” Aristegui Noticias reported.
Teachers and principals have denounced the absence of security forces to combat the criminal organizations, while in a statement issued over the weekend the Catholic Church’s Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas described the situation as a “crisis.”
Isaín Mandujano, a journalist in Chiapas, said on X (formerly Twitter) that colleagues from other states had contacted him “to report from the narco-violence ground zero.”
“My response is categorical: NO. No authority of any level can offer the [necessary] security guarantees to do our work,” he wrote.
The Diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas condemned the violence in the state, which it describes as a crisis. (GameOfLight/Wikimedia)
Mandujano, a correspondent for the Proceso news magazine, said that cartel violence has caused the displacement of thousands of border region residents since 2021 as well as the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of citizens, including “a lot of innocent people.”
He said that both the army and the National Guard have a presence in the region but “do nothing to stop the violence.”
“… Due to the absence of the state, each sector of the population applauds their favorite cartel, [the one] that has them subjugated,” Mandujano wrote on X.
“Journalist colleagues from the area have kept quiet, left or dedicated themselves to other activities that have nothing to do with journalism. At the roadblocks, [the cartels] check all cell phones – the chats, contacts, photos, videos, they don’t miss anything,” he said.
Mexican and Guatemalan security forces promised to “strengthen the ties of friendship” and reinforce border security earlier this month. (DAMIÁN SÁNCHEZ/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Speaking at his morning press conference on Monday, López Obrador said that the Sinaloa Cartel gunmen’s entrance to Frontera Comalapa was part of a propaganda campaign.
In the border region of Chiapas, “there are organized crime groups that are allegedly fighting for territory in order to have space to … [move] drugs that come in from Central America, to have control over that territory,” he said.
“And unfortunately they clash [but] there haven’t been a lot of murders in Chiapas in general,” López Obrador said.
“… There has been a lot of propaganda,” he said, making an apparent reference to material posted online by cartels to demonstrate their strength.
An estimated 3,000 people were forcibly displaced from the town of Frontera Comalapa due to a violent outbreak between cartels in June. (Isabel Mateos/Cuartoscuro)
“So they brought out a video in which 20 pickup trucks are going into Frontera Comalapa and people on both sides of the highway are apparently welcoming them,” López Obrador said before asserting that opponents of his government – “the conservatives” – are responsible for disseminating the footage and making it go “viral.”
He conceded that crime groups have “support bases” in parts of Chiapas and the rest of Mexico because they distribute groceries to locals or “threaten them,” but asserted that the problem is “very limited.”
The government is attending to the situation in the border region of Chiapas, López Obrador said, noting that the National Guard is there and that citizens benefit from social and welfare programs.
“I already ordered a greater presence of the National Guard in that entire region and we’re going to continue helping,” he added.
“Every part of the production is completed by hand." (Photos: Mirja Vogel)
“My grandmother showed me the leaves when I was a child. These leaves changed my life and when she died, I knew they would become my life’s work.”
This is Alberto Castrejón, telling me about his journey to becoming a cigar maker in southern Mexico.
Castrejón showcases the logo of his artisanal Mexican cigars modeled on his favorite photo of his grandmother, taken on her 94th birthday. (Mirja Vogel)
Castrejón strides confidently into the airy auditorium where we meet in Oaxaca city. He adjusts his signature orange suede hat, carrying two wooden briefcases containing every ingredient needed to produce his artisanal Mexican cigars.
He begins leading us through a carefully executed cigar-making workshop, pausing briefly to ensure all attention is focused on his next words: “Every part of the production is completed by hand. We plant and pick the leaves, dry them manually, and when the green leaves have turned the perfect brown color, they are ready to be bunched and rolled.”
His gaze falls back under the rim of his hat as his attention returns to a wooden rolling board on the table between us. He brandishes a curved blade, which he uses to surgically cut the “camisa” or wrapper of the cigar.
Between 2-5 complete tobacco leaves are used as the “tripa” or filler of each cigar, which once rolled together by hand, are left to form within a wooden mold. Next comes the “capote” or binding leaves, which wrap around the interior filler leaves, which represent the second vital component of the hand-made cigar process.
Castrejon dissects the dried tobacco leaf. Waste produce like the stem is kept for compost. (Mirja Vogel)
“My family prefers to use the same plant for each part of the cigar. It is our natural process, which means nearly all parts of the plant are used.”
Castrejón’s words and passion for tobacco reveal pride in mastering the artisanal craft, as well as a love for the traditions of his country.
British neurologist and best-selling author Oliver Sacks writes in his book, “Oaxaca Journal”, thattobacco’s origins are closely entwined with Mexico. A 10th-century pot depicting a Maya man smoking a roll of tobacco leaves tied with string is the earliest evidence of tobacco smoking ever recorded.
A closer look at the etymology of the tightly-wrapped tobacco roll which Castrejón delicately unpacks in front of us, also reveals a deeper connection to its Mexican heritage. The Mayan term for smoking was “sik’ar”, which later became the Spanish word “cigarro” and later the English term cigar.
He quickly moves to trim the edges and cap the ends. (Mirja Vogel)
To create the light layer of glue that is to be used in the final and most intricate step of the process, Castrejón mixes hot water with ground-up maize within a clay vessel made in Guerrero. He continues, “Many of the most important elements of Mexican culture play a part in every step of my work.”
Silence falls upon our table as Castrejón carefully unfurls a large tobacco leaf – the camisa. Its veiny, bat-wing structure shows an intricate map of veins and tunnels etched into the dried, cracking surface of the precious leaf. In the exclusive world of handmade cigars, the wrapping leaf is the most revered part of the tobacco plant and the most expensive.
He made a single incision in the leaf several months ago to suspend it for drying, but a new scratch, cut or blemish would render the leaf useless to him at this crucial stage. The full-flavored leaf is wrapped around the precious tobacco roll, and he quickly moves to trim the edges and cap the ends.
The cigar is passed from hand to hand above the natural leaves it grew from. (Mirja Vogel)
While the origin of cigars is undeniably bonded to Mexican soil, the country’s reputation as a quality producer is at risk. The future of the craft in Mexico relies on young, ambitious artisans like Castrejón to breathe new life into the ancient tradition in order to keep pace with global leaders like Cuba and fast-risers including Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua.
The first two installments of Framing Mexico were about mezcaleros and fishermen.
Mirja Vogel is a Oaxaca-based international photographer. Gordon Cole-Schmidt is a freelance journalist and editor.
The alarming report was published by the National Meteorological Service last week. (Juan Pablo Zamora/Cuartoscuro)
Two thirds of Mexico is now in a state of drought, after a year plagued by heat waves and abnormally low levels of rainfall.
According toMexico’s Drought Monitor, updated every two weeks by the National Meteorological Service (SMN), 67.1% of the country was experiencing some degree of drought on September 15. This is the highest proportion for that date since the record began in 2014, and almost five times higher than the figure of 14.3% registered on the same date in 2022.
A map of Mexico’s current drought, where the colors red and tan represent extreme and severe levels of drought. (SMN)
The Drought Monitor is based on several different criteria, which measure not only rainfall but also factors such as soil moisture and stress to vegetation.
Extreme drought (denominated “D3” by the monitor) was registered in 17.9% of the country in mid-September, particularly in the central states surrounding Mexico City and northwestern states such as Durango. 451 municipalities were affected, up from 315 just two weeks earlier.
Meanwhile, 28.9% of the country was suffering from severe drought (D2) and 20.3% from moderate drought (D1). A further 18.4% of the national territory was not in a state of drought, but was facing “abnormally dry” conditions (D0).
Thirteen of Mexico’s 32 federal entities were suffering some degree of dry conditions across the whole of their territory: Chihuahua, Mexico City, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, México state, Morelos, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.
This year, Mexico has received 28.1% less rainfall than the average for the period 1991-2020. (Cuartoscuro)
Only 194 of the 2,471 municipalities registered were unaffected by dry conditions, while the only two states to escape drought altogether were Baja California and Baja California Sur.
The alarming report reflects a year of remarkably low rainfall in Mexico. Between Jan. 1 and Sep. 17, 2023, the SMN reported an average rainfall level of 401.3 mm across the country, 28.1% less than the average for the period from 1991-2020.
The low rainfall was caused by an anticyclonic system, characterized by persistent high atmospheric pressure, which was also associated with Mexico’smultiple heat waves this year. Conditions could get even worse over the coming months, as Mexico’s rainy season is expected to end next week, reducing hope of rainfall.
Mexico has seen several consecutive years of poor rainfall, causing increasingly severe water shortages across the country. Last month, the National Water Commission (Conagua) reported that Mexico’s per capita water supply declined by an average of 30% between 1996 and 2020, to 240 liters per day.
Mexico’s continued water stress will be felt everywhere, particularly in terms of the agricultural crop yield, which utilizes up to 70% of the national water supply. (Wikimedia Commons)
This followed a warning by the nonprofit Water Advisory Council (CCA) in March thatMexico’s water stress will likely cause social and economic conflicts over the coming years if not addressed. TheWorld Resources Institute ranks Mexico 26th for water stress globally.
Canelo and Charlo will face off on Saturday. (Canelo Álvarez/Instagram)
World champion boxer Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez of Guadalajara will return to the site of his only loss in his last 19 fights for an intriguing matchup against American Jermell Charlo.
The Saturday, Sept. 30 title bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas is being billed as “Undisputed vs. Undisputed.” Of boxing’s four major sanctioning bodies that bestow world title belts, all of them have Álvarez as their super middleweight (168 pounds) champion, and the same holds true for Charlo in the junior middleweight (154 pounds) division.
The two boxers, both undisputed champions in their weight division, will face off in Las Vegas. (Showtime)
Álvarez claimed the WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF title belts in late 2021, and this will be his third defense of his undisputed title.
The 33-year-old owns a record of 59 wins (39 by knockout), two losses and two draws. His last loss was three fights ago, on May 7, 2022 in T-Mobile Arena, when he dropped a unanimous decision to light heavyweight Dmitry Bivol of Russia. It was his only loss since 2013.
He has rebounded with two victories since then, including a lukewarm triumph over Brit John Ryder in May at Akron Stadium in Zapopan, Jalisco, adjacent to his hometown of Guadalajara. Billed as “The King is Coming Home,” the fight was Álvarez’s first in his native Mexico in more than 10 years, and a crowd of 50,000 packed the home of Liga MX’s popular C.D. Guadalajara soccer team, commonly known as Chivas.
Though Álvarez dominated, the win didn’t excite his fans, and coupled with the loss to Bivol, the right-hander has some wondering if his best efforts are behind him.
It’s been more than a year since Álvarez last lost a fight. (Showtime)
“I understand what people are saying, and I agree,” Álvarez said recently. “I didn’t look my best in my last few fights, but I also know why. You’re going to see something different this fight. It’s going to be good.”
On the surface, Álvarez would seem to have the advantage, since Charlo, also 33, is moving up two weight classes and fighting at 168 pounds for the first time. But at 5-foot-11, Charlo is actually 3 inches taller than Álvarez, and has a 73-inch reach compared to Álvarez’s 70½ inches. Then again, Canelo is stronger, thicker and more comfortable fighting in the heavier class.
“My whole career has been about chasing Canelo, basically,” said Charlo, whose 35-1-1 record includes 19 wins by knockout. “This is what I’ve been working toward. … The whole goal in this game is to get in the ring with the best, and he’s the best.”
“He’s a fighter that hits hard,” Álvarez said. “He’s a good boxer that knows how to use distance. That’s what makes him dangerous.”
Though Jermell Charlo is moving up two weight classes for the fight, the junior middleweight champion shouldn’t be underestimated. (Showtime)
Jermell Charlo, whose nickname is “Iron Man,” is the twin brother of Jermall Charlo, who is also a professional boxer and is the WBC middleweight champion.
Álvarez will earn approximately US $50 million for Saturday’s fight as part of a three-fight deal with Premier Boxing Champions. Money aside, Álvarez, who will be fighting for the eighth time in less than three years, will be looking to rejuvenate his career after an unimpressive three-fight stretch.
“I think I have at least four more years left, maybe five,” he said. “I’ve been a professional boxer since I was 15 years old. That’s almost 18 years of fighting professionally. I always said I would retire when I was 36. Or 37, around that age. That should be more than enough. That’s so many years of boxing. By then, I’ll have achieved a lot of things, and then I’ll have time to enjoy life with the family and everything.”
The fight on Saturday will mark the first time in the four-belt era that two undisputed male champions are going head-to-head.
Volaris has applied for the most new routes to the United States since the restoration of Mexico's Category 1 safety rating. (LIfes Sundays/Shutterstock)
With the reinstatement of Mexico’s FAA Category 1 safety rating, airlines in the country are expected to add new routes to the United States as soon as November, Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation Minister Jorge Nuño Lara announced on Wednesday.
1. At least 55 new flight routes will launch this year
The government expects ticket prices to fall as competition increases. (Viva Aerobus)
At least 55 new routes to the U.S. will launch before year’s end, adding some 500 new flights per week, and increasing capacity by 3.6 million passengers, Nuño Lara said.
2. Volaris has applied for the largest number of new routes
According to Nuño Lara, Mexico’s largest airline, Volaris has requested 33 new routes, as it seeks to serve Los Angeles, Chicago and San Antonio in the U.S., in addition to Tulum and Mérida.
Viva Aerobus has applied for 17 routes, while Aeroméxico has applied for five.
Airlines are looking to cash in on lucrative new direct routes to cities such as Los Angeles. (Alek Leckszas/Wikimedia)
“These figures will grow over time as airlines adjust their own business plans,” Nuño Lara said.
He added that these new routes are expected to begin operations between November and January 2024, subject to the Mexican Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) authorization process.
“There’s an ongoing authorization process so that they [the airlines] can market the flights and [tickets] can be put on sale for the winter season,” Nuño Lara said.
3. Prices are expected to decrease as a result
Though flights offered at Mexico City’s central AICM airport will continue to change over time, the airport is saturated with little room for further growth, the transportation minister has said. (AICM/Instagram)
Increased supply would decrease ticketing prices, Nuño Lara said.
“The three airlines (Volaris, Aeroméxico and Viva Aerobus) will be able to open their new routes and with more supply, we should see a price reduction,” he explained.
Finally, Nuño Lara added that the upgrade of Mexico’s safety rating is a “win-win” scenario since passengers will be able to buy direct flights to cities in the U.S. without the need for connections.
