After visiting her Mexican-born father where he lives in Sydney, Mexico City native Rosa Cienfuegos moved there in 2009. The first thing she missed about home was her country's cuisine — practically nonexistent in Australia at the time. (Photos courtesy of Rosa Cienfuegos)
Mexican food knows no bounds: authentic tacos in Tokyo, cochinita pibilin Sweden, quesadillas and huevos rancherosin Nairobi. The list goes on.
In Sydney, Australia, one of the leading purveyors of bona fide comida mexicana is Rosa Cienfuegos, a Mexico City native who has called “Down Under” home for more than a decade.
It’s still a struggle to find authentic Mexican ingredients in Sydney, so Rosa opened a store where she sells imported foods.
Rosa owns and operates two Mexican eateries in Sydney — Tamalería and Itacate, where she serves up her famous tamales as well as other antojitos (tacos, gorditas and the like) and dishes such as chilaquiles and pozole.
The chef and business owner — who has been described as being “instrumental in broadening and shaping Sydney diners’ understanding of Mexican cuisine” — is also a Mexican cookbook author, with her first book published in 2020 and a second one to be released later this year.
I recently caught up with Rosa via email to find out more about her life and work in Australia. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Peter Davies:
Hi Rosa, thanks for speaking to Mexico News Daily. Can you tell us a little bit about your background in the food industry?
Rosa Cienfuegos:
Hola Peter, thanks for reaching out, it’s a pleasure.
My background in the food industry started back in 2010 when my dad — who lives in Sydney as well — decided to open a Mexican restaurant and I started to help him with small tasks like making pico de gallo, guacamole and salsas.
Cienfuegos learned to make classic Mexican dishes as a girl in her mother’s kitchen.
I became very enthusiastic as I realized that there was a lack of authentic Mexican food in Sydney and it was pretty hard to find the right ingredients to make it. It was a successful restaurant, and our main customers were happy Mexicans, finally enjoying traditional flavors and uncommon dishes — for Australia.
We closed it down in 2013, but I decided to keep the cooking going, … first with a monthly pop-up at a community center … until we couldn’t use the space anymore. By then, I had a large number of Aussie followers, and that’s when Tamalería, my first shop, opened in 2018 right in the heart of (the neighborhood of) Dulwich Hill, where I became the “Tamale Queen.”
PD:
Sydney is a long way from Mexico City! How did you end up living in Australia?
RC:
My dad has been here for the last 22 years as he is a mariachi player who came to Sydney as part of the Bellas Artes Mariachi Band de Amalia Hernández. He came and decided to stay, so here I am!
Mexican cuisine is becoming more and more popular in Australia, but eager cooks still face a learning curve.
PD:
One article in the Australian media says that Tamalería “serves the most authentic Mexican food in Sydney,” while another says that the tamales are “even better” than those in Mexico City! What makes your tamales so good, and what else is available at Tamalería?
RC:
I have heard that many times, and it bring tears to my eyes! Many Mexican Australian friends say that they don’t even bother to eat tamales when they are back in Mexico as they have that craving covered in a better way at Tamalería.
And I have to agree: every time I go back to Mexico, I try tamales from different stalls and places, and I still prefer mine!
I guess the only secret ingredient is love and dedication. We make them by hand every day in small batches to keep track of the quality, weight and presentation. They have lots of meat, and with the fluffy steamed masa (corn dough), it’s the perfect combination to make this delight.
Cienfuegos’ second Mexican recipe book, CDMX, focusing on the food of her hometown, comes out in October. (Smith Street Books)
At Tamalería, we have a small menu as some items are handmade and it takes time to produce them, things like gorditas, tlacoyos and quesadillas fritas.
But we also have tacos, Chihuahua-style burritos, Tijuana-style quesabirrias, chilaquiles and some specials over the weekend like menudo, pozole, sopa de tortilla, barbacoa and pambazos.
Tamalería also offers a range of Mexican ingredients for those who are into cooking, like dried chiles, tomatillo, nopales, maíz pozolero, tortillas and frozen meats like pastor and cochinita pibil.
There is an open invitation to our monthly cooking lessons, at which we either use my first cookbook “Comida Mexicana” or seasonal recipes.
PD:
You opened Itacate in an inner-city neighborhood of Sydney a couple of years ago. What’s on the menu there?
Itacate’s menu was inspired by Cienfuegos’ first cookbooks and introduce readers to lesser-known Mexican favorites — like tlacoyos. (Itacate/Instagram)
RC:
Itacate’s menu was inspired by my first cookbook and included breakfast dishes like huevos divorciados, molletes, guajolotas (a tamal in a bread roll), tamales, of course, chilaquiles con huevo, atole [and] cafe de olla.
For lunch, we had tortas de suadero and pastor, enchiladas, mole negro Oaxaqueno, pambazos, tlacoyos, gorditas and more!
It was a huge menu that we had to reduce because of COVID. But I still have an awesome changing authentic Mexican menu to cover cravings.
PD:
Has the Mexican food scene in Sydney and Australia more broadly changed much during your time living there? And, in your experience, are Australians becoming more knowledgable about Mexican food and Mexico in general?
RC:
Yes, at the moment, the Mexican food wave is trendy, and I’m glad to have seen more restaurants opening here in the last 10 years with different dishes and styles to fit into the Australian diet, including plant-based options.
Australians are 100% into the Mexican wave, although I really think there is still a lot of misunderstanding of traditional dishes. But I’m happy to see them eating corn nixtamal tortillas instead of hard-shell tacos!!
Bit by bit, Australians are getting into real Mexican food more, and there are different options for all tastes and I really hope we can keep it like that and grow the scene even more. My dream is to see Mexican restaurants everywhere here [the way] you see Asian ones. There are customers for everyone, and the more options the merrier, as long as we share our culture and traditions,
In the end, the range of Mexican gastronomy is huge so we could all have different menus!
PD:
Can you tell us a little bit about your cookbook “Comida Mexicana”? And, finally, what do you miss most about Mexico, and do you have any plans to return here to live?
Cienfuegos said yes to writing her first cookbook, “Comida Mexicana,” on impulse. (Smith Street Books)
RC:
“Comida Mexicana” was a big surprise as I didn’t ever have the intention to write a book!
(The publishing company) Smith Street Books contacted me, and I said yes without even thinking what was coming next. The experience has been one of the greatest in my life as it has taken me to cooking shows and festivals to empower young women, even in Tasmania!
My second cookbook, called “CDMX” is powerful and full of love as it is about my beloved Mexico City, the city where I grew up and which made me the strong, independent woman I am now.
I miss the warmth of the people in Mexico, the music, the loud mornings and crazy nights, the midnight taco stall and even the smell!
I don’t have plans to live there at the moment as I know I still have so much more to share about Mexico here, but I have a new project doing food tours from Australia to Mexico with me as a foodie guide, and I really think that will keep me close enough to Mexico.
I might end up living in Mexico for a few months and coming back to Australia to keep doing what I love — sharing my culture, traditions and love through my food.
Visit mexicanfoodaustralia.com to find out more about Rosa and her businesses, and check out her Instagram accounts for Tamalería and Itacate.
This interview is the fourth in a series called “The Saturday Six”: six-question interviews published in Saturday editions of Mexico News Daily. Read the first three interviews in the series here,here and here.
It all started with someone complaining about a rooster. (Illustration by Angy Márquez)
Yesterday, I received a message from a long-time acquaintance, a fellow immigrant: “What is going on in your expat group?”
I winced and immediately felt irritated, remembering that I am, in fact, the administrator of a local Facebook group.
I inherited the group from another fellow who was leaving Mexico and wanted someone “in-house” to take charge. “You won’t really have to do anything with it, I just thought it would be silly for someone not actually in Mexico to be running it,” he’d said.
I accepted and then pretty much forgot about it along with the rest of Facebook — except for the memes; I’ll always show up for the memes.
That, apparently, was a mistake. Unbeknownst to me, many people had joined this group without me realizing it, requests having been granted automatically for those with Facebook accounts more than two years old. Among those who had joined were quite a few Mexicans.
Some of them simply wanted to offer their services and wares, but a few had a major bone to pick with foreigners in general and found in this group a great place to launch their fightin’ words.
The thing that set it all off was pretty silly: someone was complaining about their neighbor’s rooster, which, if you ask me, is a pretty normal thing for anyone to complain about because roosters are just the worst. Plus, hens will still lay (unfertilized) eggs without them, so I don’t know why people have them in the city at all unless they’re raising chickens.
Anyway.
Before we all knew what was happening, someone had taken a screenshot of the post and put it on Reddit, where many an insulted Mexican piped up with some version of “Who do these freaking gringos (the poster was actually French Canadian) think they are? That’s just like them, telling us how we’re supposed to live, but if we go there, we can’t say anything, can we?” And on and on and on it went, until it eventually became a “news article” of the click-baity type that claimed it was a “viral” story. Sigh.
After that happened, another Mexican who was in the group for unknown reasons made a long, ranting post about how if we didn’t like things here, we could go back to where we came from. He made some very rude suggestions about what we could do to our mothers, and others piled on in the comments. Double sigh.
I quickly deleted the offending posts and banned the authors and for the first time in a while, went through the group’s various posts, looking for and extracting offenders. I re-established the rules and added another administrator — one who was actually excited to be helping with the group — and crossed my fingers that that would be that.
Though it perhaps shouldn’t have, the drama took me by surprise.
The conflicts, of course, weren’t just about an annoying rooster. The conflict was really about history and prejudice and belonging and resentment and immigration and acceptance and duplicity. There are so many complex factors at work when it comes to the host-immigrant relationship, we could probably fill a library with books on the subject.
And as any immigrant in the United States (or anywhere else) will tell you, when you’re an immigrant, you’re officially a representative of the people from your country and are generally lumped in with them, like it or not.
For U.S. citizens especially, this can come as a bit of a shock, as we’re culturally used to being seen as unique individuals — nothing like those other annoying gringos you know.
But everything you do as an immigrant is loaded with meaning. You don’t just get to be a neighbor irritated about someone’s rooster; you’re a gringo who thinks you know everything and wants to tell everyone else how to live their lives, as well as what’s good and what’s bad, and you think you’re better than everybody else — who should follow your rules.
That’s how some people will interpret it, anyway. History itself interprets your behavior, despite what your true feelings and thoughts are.
But as any good therapist will tell you, you can’t control what other people think or feel; you can only control the way you react.
And anyway, Anglos from richer countries are hardly disadvantaged as immigrants in the ways that most other immigrants around the world are. Why, just look at what many of us call ourselves: expats! (I personally do not like or use the term).
“Expats,” among many other things, denotes a person who, rather than humbled to the point of starting from zero in a brand-new place, gets to start from at least 80 in a place where they feel fairly confident and important enough to make demands.
Many of the more recently arrived so-called “digital nomads,” after all, arrive with everything they need to settle into a standard of living that most Mexicans simply do not have access to, no matter how hard they might work; the optics are really not great.
When recently-arrived foreigners scoop up all the best real estate (who else can afford it, I suppose?) and rave about how wonderful their lives here are, it’s easy to see how those unable to enjoy those same perks might feel fairly resentful.
I mean, it sucks to watch people get so much further ahead when you’re just as smart and work just as hard.
The main advantage Mexicans have over foreigners is, of course, the home advantage. They have family support. They can play with and understand the language and culture in a way we never will. They know how things get done.
Also, maybe they can’t afford the most luxurious living spaces, but they have family property where they can live. They might not be able to afford the best hospitals, but there’s someone who can stay by their side in the public hospital, fetching them food and medicines.
We are certainly not disadvantaged. But like immigrants in the rest of the world, it’s nice to have a little connection to home through others that are from where you are. But if you’re going to rant — all of us do sometimes — make sure you’re aware of who’s paying attention and drawing conclusions.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.
Coconuts have been prized for centuries for their use as food, a cooking aid and fuel. You can use them to liven up your culinary repertoire. (Louis Hansel/Unsplash)
Coconuts travel easily, happily bobbing along in ocean currents from country to country, eventually ending up on a sandy beach or inlet where they take root.
Early explorers, sailors and pirates valued the coconut for its many uses: the water, or “juice;” the meat, the oil and shells — the latter two could be used as fuel. They brought them along on their ships as well, adding to the migration of this valuable foodstuff.
What a long, strange trip it’s been for coconuts, which have spread around the world over the centuries, often on their own. (Nipanan Lifestyle/Unsplash)
Coconuts are not native to Mexico; biologists have identified two varieties, one originating in India and the other in Southeast Asia. In appearance, they are quite different, with distinct qualities.
The domesticated Pacific coconut is rounder, with a thinner husk and more meat and water. The wild coconut is more elongated in shape — making it easier for them to travel and root — and has a thicker husk, making them more buoyant.
Historians tell us that coconuts arrived on both coasts of Mexico in the mid-1500s, in Acapulco and Colima on the Pacific side, coming from Panama and the Philippines, and on the eastern Atlantic coast through Campeche and Veracruz via the Caribbean islands and West Africa.
Coconut palms grow easily but slowly, taking six to 10 years before they bear fruit. The kind usually cultivated commercially is called a “three-generation tree” because it can support a farmer, his children and grandchildren over a lifespan of 60–80 years.
Coconut is a versatile fruit that goes well in both savory and sweet dishes.
Despite the name, coconuts aren’t nuts, but are instead classified as stone fruits, or drupes. Drupes have an outer fleshy part that surrounds a pit with a seed inside. With some drupes, we eat the flesh (peaches, cherries, olives, mangos) while with others, we eat the pit (almonds, pecans).
Ever wonder why many palm trees in Mexico have their trunks painted white? I always thought it was to keep the trees cooler and reflect the sun. Wrong! It’s actually calcium hydroxide to repel leaf cutter ants and other pests.
Coconut is so versatile in the kitchen; the meat, oil and water can be used in any number of recipes. And let’s not forget canned coconut cream, which opens up another whole world of deliciousness! Here are a few of my favorite recipes.
Coconut Shrimp
½ cup apricot or mango preserves or puréed fresh mango
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Sriracha or other hot sauce
1 tsp. fresh lime juice, plus more as needed
Pinch of salt
½ cup cornstarch
1 Tbsp. fresh lime zest
1½ tsp. fine sea salt
4 large egg whites
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
½ cup panko bread crumbs
Salt and black pepper
1 lb. large raw shrimp (21-25 count), peeled, deveined, with tails attached
4-5 Tbsp. coconut or canola oil for frying, plus more as needed
For dip: combine preserves/mango, mustard, hot sauce, lime juice and salt in small bowl. Thin with lime juice if necessary.
With this combo of coconut, fruit, a zing of lime and the crunch of panko, you’ll find it hard to eat just one of these Coconut Shrimp. (Jo Cooks)
Place cornstarch, zest and sea salt in shallow bowl. Whisk egg whites in another bowl until frothy. Toss coconut and panko in another shallow bowl; season with salt and pepper.
Holding each shrimp by its tail, coat shrimp (but not the tail) in cornstarch mixture; shake off excess. Dip in egg whites; shake off excess. Dredge in coconut-panko mixture, pressing to coat. Set aside. Repeat with remaining shrimp.
In large skillet, pour a thin layer of oil. Heat over medium until oil shimmers and a pinch of the coconut-panko mixture sizzles when added. Add shrimp in a single, even layer (do not crowd the pan); cook until golden brown on bottom, about 2 minutes. Adjust heat as necessary if shrimp browns too quickly.
Using tongs, flip shrimp by grasping tails. Cook until golden brown underneath, 2 minutes more. Remove from pan to plate lined with paper towels. Repeat with all shrimp, adding additional oil as needed. Serve immediately with dip.
Easy Coconut Flan
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1⅓ cups whole milk
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
½ tsp. vanilla
¾ cup unsweetened flaked coconut
This flan is a melt-in-your-mouth masterpiece. (Norwichnuts/Wikimedia Commons)
Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Bring kettle of water to boil. Arrange six ¾-cup custard cups in a glass or metal baking pan, 13x9x2 inches. In large bowl, combine condensed milk, whole milk, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Mix well. Add coconut, stir again. Divide mixture among cups.
Pour boiling water into the baking pan to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Bake about 30 minutes until just set in center, testing by inserting a knife until it comes out clean. Remove flans from pan; set on a rack to cool. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
Stir-Fried Coconut Noodles
¾ lb. rice noodles or linguine pasta, cooked al dente, drained and rinsed in cold water
3 Tbsp. canola, corn or coconut oil
1 lb. minced or ground boneless pork or chicken
1 yellow or red bell pepper, chopped
1 eggplant, about ½ lb., cut into ½-inch cubes
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
Fish sauce, soy sauce or salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
½-1 cup minced fresh cilantro
If using rice noodles, soak them in very hot water until ready to use.
Place 1 Tbsp. oil in large skillet over high heat. Add meat and cook, stirring, until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon; set aside.
Add another tablespoon of oil to skillet, then bell pepper and eggplant. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, about 10 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon; combine with meat.
Add remaining tablespoon of oil and garlic to pan; cook 30 seconds then add the coconut milk. Cook and stir over medium-high for about a minute. Add drained noodles, meat and vegetables. Cook until noodles absorb most of the coconut milk, about 3 minutes. Season with black pepper and fish sauce or soy sauce to taste. Garnish with cilantro and serve.
Use plantain chips or shredded coconut to introduce tropical spark to regular old black beans.
Coconut-Ginger Black Beans
2 (15-oz.) cans black beans or equivalent fresh cooked beans with some liquid
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
1½ tsp. ground cumin or coriander
3 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 (13-oz.) can full-fat coconut milk
Salt and black pepper
½ cup plantain chips or toasted coconut flakes
1 tsp. lime zest plus 2 Tbsp. juice
Optional: Hot sauce for serving
Rinse 1 can of black beans; set aside. In large saucepan, heat coconut oil over medium. Add cumin/coriander and half of the ginger; cook, stirring, 1–2 minutes. Add rinsed black beans, remaining whole can of black beans (including liquid) and coconut milk; season with salt and pepper.
Bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring, until beans soften, 15–20 minutes; smash some of the beans with the back of a spoon and mix well.
In small bowl, crumble plantain chips or toasted coconut into bite-size pieces. Stir in lime zest and some black pepper.
Remove beans from heat. Stir in remaining ginger; season with salt and pepper. Stir in lime juice a little at a time until beans taste bright. Top with seasoned plantain chips/coconut.
President López Obrador faced chastisement from the National Electoral Institute and a crisis in Guerrero where law enforcement personnel were taken hostage, but he at least got to finish out the week on the sunny Baja Peninsula. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
President López Obrador called Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, one of 13 aspirants to the Broad Front for Mexico’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election, a “puppet” of two former presidents and two businessmen at his morning press conference, or mañanera, on Tuesday.
It wasn’t the first time he made a public verbal attack on the senator, but it may have been one of the last. In response to a complaint filed by Gálvez, the National Electoral Institute ordered López Obrador to abstain from speaking about electoral issues.
President López Obrador claims that Xóchitl Gálvez has already been selected as a rival candidate to his Morena party. (Gabriela Pérez Montiel/Cuartoscuro)
AMLO said on Friday that he intended to comply with the directive, but not before railing against having his right to freedom of speech taken away.
Monday
Ricardo Sheffield, head of the consumer protection agency Profeco, opened the press conference with his weekly report on fuel and food prices.
The three most expensive gas stations last week were Chrevron, Redco and Oxxo Gas, while the three cheapest were Total, BP and Exxon Mobil, he said.
“Thanks for being allies of consumers last week,” the Profeco chief said in reference to the latter three.
The president said that he intends to take part in the first test operation of the Maya Train in September, ahead of operations commencing in December. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro).
With regard to the 24 products of the canasta básica, or basic basket of essential foodstuffs, there is a “clear downward trend” in prices,” said Sheffield, who has expressed interest in representing the ruling Morena party at the 2024 gubernatorial election in his native state of Guanajuato.
During his regular Maya Train update, the general director of the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur), Javier May, noted that the first four train cars to be used on the 1,500-kilometer-long railroad arrived in Cancún last weekend.
The cars — the first “Maya Train” to reach Mexico’s southeast — will commence “static tests” once they have been coupled together and will subsequently begin to run between Cancún and Mérida for “dynamic tests,” May said.
“The transfer of this first train involved seven days of travel over almost 2,000 kilometers,” the Fonatur chief said, adding that the journey passed through 10 states.
“There were initially some setbacks, mainly due to rain, but the [expected] pace was resumed, and the journey was completed as estimated,” May said.
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo was a titan of Mexican politics and a key figure in the fight to remove the PRI from their 71-year tenure as Mexico’s rulers. (Cuartoscuro)
Before opening the floor to questions, AMLO acknowledged the death on Sunday of Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, a veteran leftist politician who served as a federal cabinet minister in the 1970s and was a cofounder of the Democratic Revolution Party.
López Obrador read aloud the message he shared on social media after the death of the 89-year-old Mexico City-born statesman.
“I regret the passing of Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, whom I agreed with for a long time. The recent disagreements don’t erase the long, good moments of friendship and comradeship, much less his political legacy. A hug to his family and friends.”
Responding to his first question of the day, AMLO announced that the government’s purchase of the defunct airline brand Mexicana de Aviación — in order to use it for a new state-owned commercial airline — was going ahead.
“A judge threw out the appeals filed by lawyers and some [former] workers against … the legal representatives of the union selling some assets and the Mexicana de Aviación brand. So [the problems] have been resolved,” he said less than a week after effectively ruling out the purchase.
“…We’re happy, and I believe the [former Mexicana] workers are as well because they’re going to receive a payment from the sale of this brand and these assets. An appraisal was done, and they’re going to receive about 1 billion pesos [US $58.6 million],” López Obrador said.
“There are 6,000 workers, and some of them are going to get sixty thousand, eighty thousand or even 100,000 pesos. This will be compensation for all they have suffered,” AMLO said before railing against former president Vicente Fox for “almost gifting” Mexicana “to one of his close friends” before the airline went bankrupt, while employees were “thrown out on the street.”
Later in his press conference, López Obrador remarked that the government’s infrastructure projects in the south and southeast of the country — such as the Maya Train railroad, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor and the Olmeca refinery — are aimed at “evening out development” in Mexico.
“In the neoliberal period, there wasn’t horizontal development. Well, there wasn’t development; what there was, was economic growth, and it wasn’t even — the north [of the country] grew, the center grew and the south and southeast declined,” he said.
Among other remarks, AMLO noted that he will deliver his fifth annual government report in Campeche on Sept. 1.
“And that day, once I’ve finished the report, we’re going to get on the [Maya] train,” López Obrador said, adding that he will travel from Campeche to Mérida on the first “supervision” trip of the new railroad slated to begin operations on Dec. 1.
“In December, [we’ll have] the inauguration, but in September, we’re going to do that supervision [trip],” he said.
Tuesday
A man known as “Pepe Gangas” and another nicknamed “Comandante Oso” were among thousands of people detained during the previous two weeks, according to information included in the recurring “Zero Impunity” report, presented by Deputy Security Minister Luis Rodríguez Bucio.
Rodríguez said that the former was arrested in connection with the murder of a municipal official in Bácum, Sonora, while the latter was detained on charges of extorting hotel owners in Solidaridad, a Quintana Roo municipality where the resort city of Playa del Carmen is located.
“Pepe Gangas” was detained for the murder of a munipical officer in the northern state of Sonora. (FGR)
The deputy minister also noted that a man was arrested in connection with a car bomb explosion in Celaya, Guanajuato, late last month, which claimed the life of a National Guard officer, and that two men allegedly involved in a Mexico City jewelry store robbery were taken into custody.
Rodríguez acknowledged that one of three journalists who disappeared in Nayarit earlier this month was found dead, while the two others survived their kidnappings.
Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez presented the latest crime statistics, including homicide data showing that there were 2,536 murders in June, a 5% decline compared to the same month of 2022. Last month was the least violent June of the past six years, she said.
During his Q & A session with reporters, López Obrador claimed that Xóchitl Gálvez — the senator he asserts has already been chosen as the Broad Front for Mexico’s 2024 presidential candidate — is a “puppet” of former presidents Fox and Carlos Salinas, as well as businessmen Claudio X. González and Roberto Hernández.
In contrast, the Morena party candidate — the person who “will receive the baton of leadership of the [ruling party’s] transformation movement” — will have “autonomy,” and his or her only “master” will be “the people of Mexico,” AMLO said.
One reporter asked the president why broadcasting behemoth Televisa is conducting “a campaign against” Adán Augusto López Hernández, López Obrador’s former interior minister and one of the six aspirants to the Morena nomination.
“Por algo será, that’s what they say in my hometown [in Tabasco],” AMLO said, using a phrase that roughly translates as “there must be some reason.”
“…It’s very obvious that Televisa is against Adán. I don’t know why … [The broadcasters] are constantly against him, and now it’s like they have an order to speak well of the señora Xóchitl,” he said.
On the presence of organized crime in Guerrero — where 13 people, including National Guard officers and state police, were taken hostage this week as part of a highway blockade outside the capital of Chilpancingo that officials attributed to criminal gangs — López Obrador said that the government would solve the problem “without the use of force.”
Protesters in Guerrero with an armored troop carrier they stole and then returned this week as part of their blockade protest. (Dassaev Téllez Adame/Cuartoscuro)
He rejected a reporter’s suggestion that Guerrero is a “failed state,” asserting that crime is only a major issue in one of the state’s eight regions. The blockade of the Autopista del Sol highway on the outskirts of Chilpancingo that was set up earlier this week by citizens allegedly acting on the instructions of two imprisoned members of the Los Ardillos crime group was “dramatic,” but the government wouldn’t give in to their demands, AMLO said.
Asked to identify the criminal group responsible for a fire on Monday in the Toluca Central de Abasto wholesale market that claimed the lives of at least nine people, López Obrador asked his security minister for comment.
“The investigation is being carried out by the state Attorney General’s Office in collaboration with … the security cabinet of the federal government,” Rosa Icela Rodríguez said.
“There are several lines of investigation, and there was an advance yesterday. Today I would only like to say that the culprits will be arrested…Unfortunately several people lost their lives,” she said, acknowledging also that children were among the dead.
“… We will soon have results,” Rodríguez said before noting that the lighting of the fire was linked to the crime of extortion.
Shortly before concluding his Tuesday mañanera, López Obrador thanked the band Grupo Frontera and the musical artist Bad Bunny for withdrawing their opposition to his use of their song “un x100to” during a recent press conference.
“They removed the song from my social media due to copyright, but as what we do is not for profit and because they’re good people, they exempted us [from copyright infringement] yesterday,” he said.
Wednesday
During a heated discussion with a reporter about violence in Mexico, López Obrador asserted that the media and “the conservatives” — as the president calls opponents of his administration — exaggerate the situation, “as if it was the same as before and we weren’t attending every day to this problem that we inherited from corrupt governments that were linked to organized crime.”
“In the time of [former president Felipe] Calderón, there was a narco-state, and that’s not spoken about. You might be speaking about the violence in Chiapas, in Guerrero or in any place, [and]…even those of you who do independent journalism…don’t deal with the [history of the] issue — García Luna, for example,” AMLO said, referring to the Calderón-era security minister who was found guilty of collusion with organized crime following a trial in the United States earlier this year.
Former president Felipe Calderón, left, seen here passing the presidency to Enrique Peña Nieto in 2012, is a frequent target of criticism from AMLO, who claims his predecessors caused many of Mexico’s modern ills. (Aarón Sánchez/Cuartoscuro
“You don’t address the issue of the war [with cartels] that was unleashed with Calderón,” he added amid a lengthy rebuke of the Mexican press.
“I regret that you see those of us doing a job as adversaries,” Ernesto Ledesma of the news site Rompeviento said almost an hour into his back-and-forth engagement with the president. “We don’t have political party agendas…We’re doing a job and we’re honest with our work,” Ledesma said.
Later in his press conference, AMLO lamented the drug crisis in the United States fueled by the potent synthetic opioid fentanyl, which Mexican cartels illegally ship into the U.S. across the northern border.
“The fentanyl situation in the United States is very serious. [The U.S. government] is acting responsibly, but more needs to be done, and the causes [of addiction] need to be dealt with,” he said.
“… It’s a very complex problem because there is demand, and it’s demand for fentanyl or demand for any drugs,” AMLO added.
“… There is a society that is unsatisfied — in this case, young people who feel alone. There is a void; they’re not happy, and they seek to confront that distress, that void, that unhappiness … with drugs, which create happiness temporarily, but it’s an ephemeral thing, a trap that leads to greater unhappiness and … [even] the loss of life,” he said.
López Obrador reiterated his view that Mexico doesn’t have a large drug problem and claimed that there are few Mexicans in the U.S. with addiction issues.
A permanent exhibition honoring the lives lost to fentanyl lines the walls of the DEA Museum in Washington, D.C. President López Obrador says these deaths are the result of an unhappy society and that the problem does not exist in any meaningful way in Mexico. (U.S. Department of Justice)
“It has to do with our idiosyncrasies. That’s why I always defend our past, our cultures, what we inherited from the great Mesoamerican civilizations,” he said.
“… Who are we, the Mexicans? We share with each other because we have a tradition of community life. What are we? [We’re] caring, fraternal, we help each other out. … What else are Mexicans? Hardworking, very hardworking. What else…? Honest, very honest. These are the virtues our people have.”
Among other remarks, AMLO noted that he would travel to Durango next week to attend a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the death of revolutionary hero Francisco “Pancho” Villa.
“We’re going to La Coyotada because Francisco Villa was born there. And we’re dedicating this year to him, Francisco Villa, the revolutionary of the people,” he said.
Thursday
AMLO opened his fourth press conference of the week with a monologue on the richness of Mexican history and culture.
“It tends to happen that those of us who have the possibility to do so go abroad on occasion — to Egypt, to Athens — and we don’t know what we have in our country: our exceptional, splendid cultural and artistic past. We have to exalt the cultural grandeur of Mexico because starting centuries ago, since [the Spanish] invaded us, they considered us barbarians and made us believe that they came to civilize us,” he said.
The president said that Mexican people need to take more pride in the history of their nation and appreciate the glory of Mexico’s historic monuments. (soft_light/Shutterstock)
“… Although our people nourish themselves with this glorious, exceptional, extraordinary past, it’s very important to … strengthen our identity and also … pay tribute to the cultures, the great [pre-Hispanic] civilizations that flourished in our territory because thanks to that, cómo México no hay dos,” López Obrador said, using a proverb (and movie and song title) that means there is no other country similar to Mexico.
During his introductory remarks, AMLO also noted that there are forecasts that Mexico will become one of the 10 largest economies in the coming decades.
“Mexico is very attractive for foreign investment — it’s one of the countries that’s receiving the most foreign investment in the world,” he said.
Diego Prieto Hernández, director general of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), subsequently reported that INAH has carried out archaeological inspections along the route of all seven sections of the Maya Train railroad and has “granted approval” for the construction of the entire project.
“In each piece, each shard, every fragment of ceramic or arrowhead or flint knife” found along the route there is “very valuable information to recover knowledge about the evolution, the development, the characteristics and the composition of the civilizations and cultures that flourished in this territory,” he said.
There have been widespread protests against the construction of the Maya Train project, including concerns about damage to artifacts that might be on the route. But INAH’s head Diego Prieto Hernández assured reporters that his agency has inspected the entire route and made valuable new archeological finds. (Twitter)
Back behind the mañanera lectern, AMLO acknowledged that the Mexico City-Querétaro highway is “very busy” and announced that the government has entered into an agreement with railroad company Canadian Pacific Kansas City “to begin to draw up the project for the construction of a passenger train” to run between the two cities.
“Fifteen or 20 days ago, an agreement was signed in which the company commits to … looking at the viability [of the project], which I maintain it has,” López Obrador said.
“… This railroad company already has the concession for the line, so it’s using the same line for passenger trains and modernizing the system. This will help a lot because … there’s a lot of traffic and constant accidents [on the highway],” he said.
AMLO later indicated that he partially shared Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro’s view about the events leading up to the detonation of seven improvised explosives that killed six people, including four police officers, in a municipality south of Guadalajara on Tuesday night.
“It was an ambush, a trap,” he said, indicating that he agreed with Alfaro’s statement that police were lured to the site of the explosion after receiving a call alerting them to the “supposed” presence of human remains there.
“[What happened is] reprehensible. In addition, they used a means [of luring police to the location] that has to do with a human activity, as is the case with searching for [missing] family members,” López Obrador said.
The president said that “everything indicates” that it wasn’t a member of a “searching mothers” collective that called the police after receiving an anonymous tip-off about the presence of human remains — as Alfaro claimed — but rather someone else who passed herself off as such and was actually colluding with the criminal group that placed the explosives on a road in Tlajomulco.
“We very much regret this event. It’s cruel, a trap; it can’t be accepted, permitted or justified in any way. An investigation is being done, and the government of the state of Jalisco is in charge, but we always help in these cases,” he said.
Friday
“We’re very happy to be here in La Paz, Baja California Sur,” López Obrador remarked at the beginning of his presser before inviting the state’s Governor Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío to speak.
Castro delivered a lengthy address, during which he welcomed AMLO to Baja California Sur (BCS) and spoke about a range of issues, including government investment in the state to improve security, health care, education and citizens’ overall well-being.
Baja California Sur has benefitted heavily from federal government social programs, Governor Victor Castro told reporters at Friday’s mañanera. (Luis Aleman/Unsplash)
About 150,000 people out of a population of 800,000 people in BCS benefit directly from the federal government’s social programs, he said.
“The enrollment in high schools increased, Mr. President, thanks to the scholarships [for students],” Castro said.
“… For me, it’s an honor to be with López Obrador,” the Morena party governor said at the conclusion of his remarks.
Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda Durán reported that Baja California Sur ranks 31st out of Mexico’s 32 federal entities for total homicides during the term of the current government — Yucatán is the least violent — and 29th for murders per 100,000 people.
“There is very good security,” Ojeda said of Baja California Sur, which was one of Mexico’s most violent states for a period last decade.
The INE has ordered AMLO to cease discussing election matters in public. (Andrea Murcia)
“I’m going to appear here with tape [across my mouth],” jested López Obrador, whose remarks about presidential aspirant Senator Xóchitl Gálvez prompted her to file a complaint with INE.
“They want to silence me, they don’t want me to speak. And where does that leave freedom? And freedom of speech? And the right to reply? And the right to dissent? Aren’t these basic principles of democracy?” he asked.
After confirming that the government hasn’t received formal notification of the INE’s ruling, López Obrador said he still had time to ask businessman Claudio X. González — a cofounder of the organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI) — to “hurry up” and conduct an investigation about government infrastructure project contracts awarded to companies owned by Senator Gálvez.
“I received information that in nine years, she received contracts for close to 1.5 billion pesos. They just need to clarify it, … public life has to be increasingly more public,” he said.
“…This man, Claudio X. González, is supposedly interested in transparency, but [MCCI] only does investigations against us; they even receive money from the United States to do their investigations against us, all of which have failed because, in my case, I’m not a thief,” AMLO said.
Late in his press conference, the president suddenly called for the United States-Mexico exchange rate to be displayed on the screen behind him and noted that the peso — 16.81 to the U.S. dollar at the time of the press conference — was fortachón, or very strong. (Later in the day, the peso would strengthen even further, trading at just under 16.74 pesos to the U.S. dollar at the close of markets on Friday.)
Jesús Ramírez noted that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the most popular leader with a 77% approval rating, followed by AMLO, with 61% of poll respondents approving of his performance and 35% disapproving.
López Obrador remarked that his detractors would call him “egocentric, vain, conceited, and arrogant” for displaying the data.
Before bringing his mañanera to a close, AMLO pledged to “continue helping” the people of Baja California Sur and to continue combatting crime throughout the state, including extortion.
“Let one thing be clear: [In my government there is] zero corruption and zero impunity. Before there was no border, the line wasn’t painted. It wasn’t known where crime ended and where the authorities began,” he said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
Baseball in Mexico may not be as popular as in the early 20th century, but still draws big crowds in modern stadia. (Diablos Rojos/Cuartoscuro)
On April 29, I made the mistake of taking Line 9 of the Mexico City Metro just as fans from a game between the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants left the Alfredo Helú Harp Stadium. Although I had seen advertisements for the game, I never took Mexico for a baseball country.
We may have to rethink that at some point.
2016 Caribbean Series champions the Venados with then Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City. (Presidencia)
Without a doubt, soccer is king here, but baseball does have an important presence.
Several cities in the country claim to be the site of the first baseball game in Mexico: Guaymas, Sonora, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Cadereyta Jiménez, Nuevo León and even the port of Veracruz. All are good candidates since they had significant contact with the United States, either through railroad construction or “visits” from the U.S. military. Another early introduction was in the Yucatán Peninsula, though this was via fans from Cuba.
By the early 20th century, baseball had become Mexico’s most popular sport, with Mexican teams regularly playing those from the U.S. and Cuba. In 1925, Ernesto Carmona established the Mexican League of Baseball, which is still Mexico’s most important league.
Mexican baseball’s golden age extended from the 1920s to the early 1950s in no small part due to the efforts of brothers Bernardo and Jorge Pasquel. In the 1940s into the 1950s, they raised the status of the sport, regularly recruiting players from Cuba, U.S. Negro leagues and occasionally from the “white” Major Leagues as well.
Jorge Pasquel, right, managed to convince U.S. baseball legend Babe Ruth to demonstrate his skills in front of an enormous Mexico City crowd. (LMB)
However, after World War II, they were unable to match the rising salaries in the U.S and in the post-Pasquel decades, the game experienced slower growth here, with 20 professional teams at its height.
These days, Mexican professional players are clearly focused on getting lucrative contracts in the United States, especially after the “Fernandomania” of Mexican pitcher Fernando Valenzuela during the 1970s and 1980s.
Mexican leagues have also struggled with the wild popularity of soccer and, at times, boxing. There are several theories why this is so.
Baseball’s appeal was always concentrated in certain sections of the country. As much as the U.S. influences Mexico’s culture, Europe is a major influence as well, and the sport there is soccer.
President López Obrador is a noted fan of the sport. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
The shift in baseball players going off to play for U.S. teams certainly had an effect on baseball here as well. This talent drain hasn’t happened quite so much in professional soccer, where Mexican players divide their time playing for foreign and domestic teams, as well as represent Mexico in international tournaments.
But the work of the Pasquel brothers is important because it established a connection between baseball and Mexico’s industrial enterprises. For decades, Mexican companies have been essential in conserving and reviving the sport here.
The Cuauhtemoc Brewery established the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973 in Monterrey, Nuevo León. Years later, the Alfredo Harp Helú Foundation (created by one of billionaire Carlos Slim’s relatives) moved it to its current building in the massive Fundidora Park, also in Monterrey.
The Slim/Helú family has been at the forefront of Mexican baseball for several decades now, promoting it both in Mexico and the United States. Their passion for the sport comes from their childhoods — some are old enough to remember the tail end of Mexican baseball’s “golden age.”
In 2011, Carlos Slim gave a rare interview with Puro Beisbol Magazine during the Red Sox/Yankee World Series, where he declared himself a “…fan of the Diablos Rojos [the Mexico City team], of the Yankees and of Babe Ruth.”
Carlos Slim, owner of the Telmex empire, is known to be a baseball fan and has wanted to amplify the sport in Mexico. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The family’s efforts consist of dominating professional baseball in Mexico and getting a foothold in the MLB. Harp Helú, opened the Alfred Harp Helú Stadium in Mexico City — home of the Diablos Rojos — and in 2009, Slim’s foundation built the Telmex Bicentennial Sport Center in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, México state, on a reclaimed landfill. A multisport center for use by the community, it includes baseball fields.
More importantly, the family has established baseball institutions to encourage an interest in baseball among the young and support their careers, such as the Alfredo Harp Helú Academy in the city of Oaxaca, and the Telmex-Telcel Baseball League, aimed at promoting baseball for kids aged 13–15 all over Mexico through tournaments in which locally organized teams can register to participate. According to the league’s website, it has served as feeder source for teams at the national level.
The purpose of these institutions is to find promising young talent and offer them academic and athletic scholarships. Students pay no tuition, but costs for educating them — covered by corporate benefactors — run around 30,000 pesos per student, per month. The Oaxaca academy has been quite successful, placing about 20% of its graduates into professional teams in Mexico and the United States.
Other industrialists and professional teams have followed suit, not only seeing a way to develop talent but improve community relations. They include the Pastejé Academy, founded by the industrial group of the same name, located in northern México state; the academy of the Charros de Jalisco professional baseball team in Guadalajara, owned by the Gonzalez-Iñigo family, behind seed industrial giant Sesajal; and the Tigers Academy in Quintana Roo. The Tigers team were bought in 2017 by none other than Fernando Valenzuela, with the help of a group of business owners.
Harp Helú bought Mexico City’s Diablos Rojos in the 1990s, and a stake in the San Diego Padres in 2012. There is no doubt that the long term goal is to integrate Mexican baseball at a much higher level internationally, something that just might be of benefit on both sides of the border.
Over in the U.S., the MLB has had its own issues with losing market share to (American) football, and since the 2010s, has been working to broaden the sport’s appeal internationally, especially in Europe and Latin America.
The Giants vs. Padres game I ran into was part of these efforts in collaboration with the Slim/Helú family. The game brought in an impressive number of live fans and was broadcast internationally — and turned out to be an insane 27-run classic.
Without a doubt, there is big money backing the sport in Mexico, but it remains to be seen if slow-paced baseball can make a comeback in a fast-paced world, or whether it will remain a sport with a niche following both in Mexico and the United States.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico over 20 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
NOTE: This article originally misstated the owner of the Mexico City baseball team Los Diablos Rojos. The owner is Alfredo Harp Helú.
Trade with Mexico accounted for 15.4% of all goods exported and imported by the U.S. during the first four months of the year, valued at US $263 billion. (Unsplash)
Mexico is consolidating its place as the United States’ top trading partner, with trade between the two countries reaching US $263 billion in the first four months of this year.
This accounted for 15.4% of goods exported and imported by the U.S. during the four-month period, outstripping Canada, with 15.2%, and China, with 12%, according to an analysis by theFederal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
A decrease in exports from Canada made way for Mexico to become the top trade partner of the U.S. in Q1 2023, the first Q1 since 2009 that a country other than China has claimed the top spot. (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas)
Mexico’s top ranking continues the trend noted in the first quarter of 2023, when bilateral trade with the U.S. totaledUS $196.7 billion – an 8% increase over the same period in 2022.
This is the first time since Q1 2009 that a country other than China was the U.S.’s top trade partner, other than the pandemic year of 2020, when Mexico took the top spot.
Mexico’s recent primacy in U.S. trading relations is partly a result of U.S. tensions with China since 2018, when the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese goods. Pandemic-era supply chain disruptions also impacted U.S. trade with Asia and accelerated the ‘nearshoring’ process in which many companies have relocated operations to the Americas to be closer to U.S. markets.
Mexico and Canada have both benefited from these shifts, as well as efforts to bolster regional trade through the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Canada was the U.S.’s top whole-year trading partner in 2022, but saw its exports to the U.S. drop over the first quarter of 2023, making way for Mexico to take the top spot.
Mexico’s automotive industry contributes nearly 4% to the national GDP and 20.5% of manufacturing GDP. (Shutterstock)
Mexico’s strong performance is largely accounted for by the manufacturing sector, particularly the automotive industry. Manufactured goods accounted for US $234.2 billion in U.S.-Mexico trade in the first four months of 2023 – 16.5% of the U.S.’s total manufacturing trade, compared to Canada’s 13.5% and China’s 12.5%.
While Mexico shares Canada’s proximity to the U.S., its manufacturing sector benefits from skilled but relatively low-cost labor. In sectors such as the automotive industry, Mexican assembly plants often process intermediate goods produced in the U.S. before exporting the final products back again, creating a dynamic cross-border relationship.
Numerous automotive companies have set up plants in Mexico in recent years to take advantage of this relationship. In the first nine months of 2022, Mexico became the leadingexporter of cars to the U.S., taking the top spot for the first time ever.
The trend is expected to continue as Mexico’s northern and Bajío states have received announced investments of over US $15 billion from automotive companies in this year alone.
This culinary herb has been used for thousands of years, not just for its flavor, but for its health benefits. (Foto de Tomasz Olszewski en Unsplash)
One vibrant herb dances its way through the colorful tapestry of Mexican cuisine, adding a burst of freshness and a hint of intrigue to every dish it touches: cilantro.
Why is this humble herb so ubiquitous in the Mexican culinary landscape?
Cilantro is a favorite part of many Mexican dishes. (Jeswin Thomas/Unsplash)
The distinctive aroma and taste of the leaves and seeds of the coriander plant (coriandrum sativum) are hard to miss. Some describe it as herbal and citrusy, and others detect a slight peppery note. I have never heard of a Mexican who rejects it, and we would all be a little appalled by a guacamole sin cilantro, but some of my foreign friends have strong opposing opinions. Love it or hate it, there is a long history behind its use in many Mexican dishes.
The plant is believed to have first been used along the Mediterranean, with records dating back to ancient Egypt, where it was revered for its medicinal properties. When the Spaniards arrived in what is now Mexico, they brought their culinary traditions and introduced the herb to the native cuisine. The result was a beautiful marriage of flavors that would later define Mexican food as we know it today.
Mexico now produces over 50,000 tons of cilantro per year! Think of that number while keeping in mind how very little each cilantro plant weighs.
Cilantro acts as a counterbalance in dishes, cutting through richness and adding a touch of brightness. The presence of this aromatic herb can elevate a simple taco or cool down a spicy salsa. Its bright and zesty notes harmonize well with the richness of meats, the creaminess of avocados, the heat of chili peppers, and the tang of lime juice, enhancing the overall flavor profile of any dish.
Cilantro is not just a culinary superstar. This versatile herb has much to offer beyond its flavorful allure. Its chemical composition confers antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiseptic properties.
Cilantro has also gained attention for its detoxifying powers. Some recent scientific studies suggest that the herb has the ability to bind to heavy metals, acting as a natural chelating agent,helping to neutralize these toxins and facilitate their excretion.
The plant also has natural sedative properties. In some 2015 research, cilantro’s analgesic activity was deemed comparable to morphine when used as a high dose extract.
Cilantro contains the compound dodecenal, a powerful antimicrobial, so adding it to your diet can be a delicious way to fortify your body’s natural defenses.
The herb also helps produce digestive enzymes that ease bloating and indigestion, making it a go-to for a happy and harmonious digestive system. There’s a reason freshly-chopped cilantro is offered to sprinkle on your tacos!
Next time you enjoy a dish adorned with the verdant freshness of cilantro, take a moment to savor the flavors, and relish in the knowledge that you’re nourishing your body an array of health-boosting properties.
Cilantro is more than just an aromatic herb, it’s a vibrant character that plays a vital role in the symphony of flavors that is Mexican cuisine. Embrace its uniqueness, celebrate its health benefits, and let its fresh, invigorating taste boost your mood.
Some reasons for the peso's strength include high interest rates, large volumes of remittances and falling inflation. (Rmcarvalho/Istock)
The Mexican peso appreciated again on Friday, reaching an exchange rate of 16.72 to the US dollar before weakening slightly.
The exchange rate at the close of markets on Friday was just under 16.74 pesos to the greenback, according to the Bank of Mexico. It’s the peso strongest position against the greenback since December 2015.
The US dollar depreciated just under 2.4% against the peso this week after buying 17.14 pesos at the end of last week.
The peso strengthened on Wednesday on the back of data that showed that annual inflation in the United States slowed to 3% in June. The decline in inflation in the United States makes it less likely that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates later this month from the current 5% to 5.25% range.
Analysts cite the Bank of Mexico’s high benchmark interest rate – currently 11.25% – and the significant difference between that rate and that of the Fed as one factor in the current strength of the peso. Strong incoming flows of foreign capital and remittances are among the other factors cited.
President López Obrador celebrated the recent appreciation of the peso at his morning press conference on Friday, describing the currency as fortachón, or very strong.
The peso has appreciated over 14% in 2023, after starting the year at around 19.5 to the US dollar.
Tequila Tromba Distillery’s Vanessa Ramírez transporting native agaves to the rougher parts of the rewilding site. Agressive agave cultivation for the tequila industry has damaged biodiversity in the region (all photos courtesy of ARP)
Tequila is conquering the world, but the world is paying a price for it. In Mexico’s tequila-producing territory, trees are cut down, unique archaeological sites are plowed under and for seven years, the agaves are bathed in highly toxic pesticides. Then their flowers are cut, leaving them genetically anemic.
All of this leads to an imbalance in the ecosystem, loss of biodiversity and the cutting off of wildlife corridors.
Agave Rewilding Project site near Zapotitlán, Jalisco. This entire crop of agaves will eventually be replaced by endemic trees and plants.
While many environmentalists look upon the scene with a jaundiced eye, a few members of the tequila industry itself have decided to try to do something concrete about the situation.
The Agave Rewilding Project (ARP) was developed by members of Tequila Tromba distillery, located in the Highlands of Jalisco.
Well-managed rewilding, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, rebuilds disturbed ecosystems using the plant and animal life that would have been present had the disturbance never occurred.
“Our mission,” says Tromba cofounder, Nick Reid, “is to rewild and reforest land damaged from the overcultivation of the blue agave for the production of tequila. In the next 10 years, we hope to rewild 1,000 hectares. Maybe it could be considered similar to generating carbon credits.”
Water for the new plants. Rodrigo Pineda from the Tromba team carrying a 200-liter drum.
The Tromba crew began looking for land they could return to nature by planting endemic species of agaves and trees — not in rows, of course.
“Things started badly,” Reid told me. “We couldn’t find land for the project because avocados and blue agave are in such great demand.”
The team then began searching for terrain on the Jalisco side of the Colima Fire Volcano, where the techniques for producing mezcal were honed over centuries of experimentation.
Finally, with the help of the Municipal President of Zapotitlán de Vadillo, located 135 km southwest of Guadalajara, Reid was introduced to a rancher, 80 years old, with no children to inherit his land.
The joy of rewilding. Vinicius Mauger, from Townhouse bar in Venice, California, working as a volunteer agave planter.
“We explained our project to him, but he didn’t really get it. However, in typical ranchero style, he said, ‘Haz lo que quieras. ¡Nada más págame!’ (Do what you want, just pay me!)
The team ended up with 28 hectares of rugged land ideal for their project, some of it still planted with agaves from the owner’s previous contract.
“Last year, I brought 30 people there,” said Reid, “and we planted 3,500 endemic agaves in one day: angustifolia and rhodacantha. I wanted to plant nothing but seeds, but we ended up doing half seeds and half hijuelos [offshoots or pups, which are genetically the same as their parent plant].”
In June of this year, 2023, ARP held its second rewilding event at the Zapotitlán site.
Normally specializing in urban tree growing, members of Guadalajara-based Canopea participated in the Agave Rewilding Project and planted 40 trees.
“Many of these folks were customers of Tequila Tromba: bartenders working in Toronto, Calgary, British Colombia, Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Miami,” said Reid. “They all stayed in the nearby town of Comala, Colima. They got up at 5:30 a.m., worked in teams of three, and planted 800 agaves — bartenders! Then they had lunch in Zapotitlán with the local people.”
The agave planters were joined by arboreal experts from an organization called Canopea, headquartered in Guadalajara. These volunteers planted 40 endemic varieties of trees
Other organizations now participating in the ARP are Revive — a nationwide network of plant nurseries for biodiversity run by reforesting experts — and the Txori Ornithological Foundation, which hopes to reintroduce Mexican macaws into the rewilded territory.
I asked Nick Reid which tequila brands readers should support, but he replied that it’s still too early for the team to provide a list of cooperative distilleries.
Nick Reid, left, gives last-minute instructions to volunteers gathered to plant endemic species of agaves at the Agave Rewilding Project site near Zapotitlán.
“At this point in our project,” Reid said, “we are looking for questions. Right now the tequila industry doesn’t have to come up with answers because there aren’t any questions. No one is asking them where their agaves come from, or what’s the environmental impact.
“You look at photos and you see beautiful blue-green fields. You don’t see any photos of the trees that were knocked down before those agaves were planted. So nobody’s asking: How many agaves are out there? How do they grow them? Do they use pesticides? Are they destroying forests to do this?”
Answers to these questions are hard to find, says Reid, due to “a disconnect between a lot of the distilleries and the farming operation. Some big companies like Cuervo grow their own, but there are many independent growers. One of the aims of the foundation is to get these questions going.”
A man on horseback rides through an agave field in Amatitán, Jalisco, in the heart of tequila country. Reid hopes monocultures like this will soon be rewilded when the crops are harvested, helping to restore biodiversity to the region. (David García Sandoval/Unsplash)
Reid says the price of agaves is now at its peak and will soon come down.
“So I would imagine that the immediate danger of deforesting will be reduced for the next five or six years because people won’t be planting. Now is the time for us to work on how we grow more sustainably. Do we mix the agaves with other crops? People have started to work on biodiverse agave farming, but we need to work together to do more.”
Nick Reid suggests what kind of question could be asked.
“Hey, Tequila Don Sinforoso, what do you know about the agaves you use? Do you know what pesticides they put on them? Is deforestation involved in the planting process? Do you even know where your agaves come from?”
The Agave Rewilding Project is a pilot program.
“We hope to see our plot of land bloom,” Reid said, “and we hope it will be home to animals and birds. It’s a pilot project, but if we succeed here, we’ll be able to do it anywhere in Mexico.”
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog.
The intention of the Plan Sonora initiative is to make the Mexican state of Sonora the Silicon Valley of renewable energy. (Government of Sonora)
The European Union will next week make a formal decision to invest in Mexico’s Plan Sonora renewable energy initiative, the EU’s ambassador to Mexico said Wednesday.
Gautier Mignot said that investment in the Plan Sonora project, which includes the development of a massive solar park in Puerto Peñasco, will be approved at the EU-CELAC summit to be held in Brussels, Belgium, next Monday and Tuesday.
President López Obrador and Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo presented the project to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to Mexico last month. (European Parliament/Wikimedia Commons)
CELAC is the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, a regional bloc formed in 2011.
“A list of investment projects on which we will commit to work together will be approved at the summit. The investment agenda will include Plan Sonora,” Mignot said at a Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) event at which officials presented the renewable energy initiative to over 80 European companies.
The EU ambassador said that President López Obrador and Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo presented the project to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during her visit to Mexico last month.
Von der Leyen “confirmed the interest of the EU to accompany Plan Sonora,” Mignot said.
Earlier this month, Sonora officials from the Economy Ministry met with European Investment Bank officials and EU business organizations to talk up Plan Sonora. It appears to have worked. (Government of Sonora)
He said that the initiative — another aspect of which is planned lithium extraction in Sonora — is congruent with the European priority to provide “support for sustainable development and the green transition” in Mexico.
Mignot didn’t say how much the European Union would invest in Plan Sonora or which European firms would participate but noted that EU and Mexican teams are in contact “to define concrete projects.”
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Carmen Moreno said that recently appointed Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena intended to meet with European leaders in Brussels next week and that she was sure they would talk about Plan Sonora, among other projects.
She noted at the SRE’s Plan Sonora information session that the EU is Mexico’s third largest trade partner and that Mexico is the EU’s second largest trade partner in Latin America.
The renewable energy initiative is “designed to transform Sonora and Mexico into a prosperous and sustainable place as well as improve the conditions … so that more companies expand their operations and investments” here, Moreno said, acknowledging that some firms partially base investment decisions on the availability of renewable energy and the host country’s climate credentials.
Former foreign affairs minister Marcelo Ebrard announced late last year that Mexico would collaborate with the United States to double its capacity to produce renewable energy.
Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo, right, and Germany’s Ambassador to Mexico Wolfgang Dold, left, worked together to connect the Sonora economic delegation with German businesses considering investment. (Alfonso Durazo/Twitter)
Governor Durazo met earlier this week with Germany’s Ambassador to Mexico Wolfgang Dold, who traveled to Sonora with business-sector representatives to learn more about Plan Sonora.
The business leaders represent more than 2,000 German companies that operate in Mexico, Durazo said, adding that the “objective” of their visit was to “get to know the potential” of Plan Sonora with a view to investing in the state.
Dold said that many German companies are looking to expand their operations in Mexico for a variety of reasons, including the country’s proximity to the United States and the availability of qualified labor.
He also said that the supply of reliable and renewable energy from the Puerto Peñasco solar park, the first section of which began operations earlier this year, was a draw for German companies. Germany has made significant efforts to generate more renewable energy; in the first half of 2023, 57.7% of the country’s electricity generation was renewable energy, a record, according to Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.
