The tomb was uncovered during construction work for a new hotel forming part of the Maya Train project. (INAH/Cuartoscuro)
Archaeologists working alongside the construction of the Maya Train Hotel near the ancient city of Palenque have come upon the hotel’s “first, ancestral guest” — according to a playful description in a release from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
What they uncovered were the skeletal remains of a human body with lavish adornments in a grave that could be over 1,000 years old, INAH said on Monday. The discovery was made on Sept. 11 during archaeological work being carried out in tandem with the multibillion-dollar Maya Train project in southern Mexico.
Palenque, in Chiapas, was one of the most important cities of the ancient Maya world. (Ricraider/Wikimedia)
The train’s route of 1,554 kilometers (965 miles) through the states of Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo will include six new hotels, including the one where the discovery was made in Palenque, Chiapas.
It is located just 2 kilometers from the center of one of the ancient Maya civilization’s largest and most sophisticated metropolises, Palenque, home to towering temples and a sprawling palace compound. Also known by the Maya as Lakamha’, the city-state thrived from around 300 to 900 A.D.
INAH officials said the human remains, found in a large stone box sealed with limestone slabs, were of a person of importance who lived outside of the ancient city’s center. Alongside the bones was a funerary collection comprising three ceramic vessels, a pair of Maya ear flares and two greenstone beads.
The individual was buried face up with his head facing north, INAH director Diego Prieto Hernández reported, noting that further tests will attempt to determine when the individual died and other characteristics. The tomb was reported to be 4 meters (13 feet) beneath the top of a Maya structure.
The individual was buried with lavish adornments, say archaeologists. (INAH)
Prieto Hernández revealed the findings during President López Obrador’s Monday morning press conference. He also said archaeologists and conservationists are finalizing their actions in the area.
The discovery was made along Section 1 of the Maya Train, which as of Monday has registered the following findings: 2,698 structures, 248 pieces of furniture, 284,900 ceramic pieces, 177 human burials and 55 natural features associated with the presence of pre-Columbian Maya groups.
The Maya Train is scheduled for a preliminary inauguration in December., although the federal government reportedly will invest 120 billion pesos (US $6.9 billion) more to complete the project and its complementary works in 2024. This brings the estimated total cost of the project to 480 billion pesos (US $27.7 billion).
Marcelo Ebrard is continuing his challenge against the Morena candidate selection process, taking his case to the federal electoral tribunal. (Cuartoscuro)
Former foreign affairs minister Marcelo Ebrard has asked the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF) to intervene in his case against the presidential candidate selection process conducted by the ruling Morena party.
Ebrard, who was one of six aspirants to Morena’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election, argues that the selection process that ended with the announcement that former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum would represent the ruling party was tainted by a range of irregularities.
Marcelo Ebrard at the event announced his political movement launch last week. (Marcelo Ebrard/X)
He formalized his complaint on Sept. 10, sending a 41-page document to Morena’s National Commission for Honesty and Justice in which he called for the nullification of poll results that showed that Sheinbaum had the most support among the six aspirants. Ebrard called for the polling process to be redone.
The ex-foreign minister turned to the TEPJF because Morena hasn’t responded to his complaint. A previous TEPJF ruling obliges political parties to respond to complaints from their members within five business days, but Morena decided it would follow its own party rules which give it 30 days to do so.
In documentation submitted to the Federal Electoral Tribunal on Monday, Ebrard claimed that his “political-electoral rights” are being violated as a result of Morena’s failure to respond to his complaint in a timely fashion.
He asked the TEPJF to order Morena’s National Commission for Honesty and Justice to “admit the request for nullity and subsequent repeat of the internal Morena process for the election” of its 2024 presidential candidate.
Claudia Sheinbaum with other Morena aspirants (except for Ebrard) following her victory in the internal polling. (Mario Delgado/
Among the alleged irregularities Ebrard says occurred in Morena’s candidate selection process were preferential treatment of Sheinbaum by Morena’s Polling Commission, the federal Ministry of Welfare and government and party officials; the placing of undue pressure on citizens; effective vote-buying; violence and intimidation on the part of pro-Sheinbaum groups; the disappearance of ballot boxes and generally lax oversight of the polling process; and the provision of information about polling locations to Sheinbaum’s team.
The ex-foreign minister remains affiliated with Morena despite launching his own political movement last week. He said last Friday that he would continue to seek the presidency and rejected the suggestion that his filing of a complaint against the selection process was part of a “tantrum” he was having after finishing as runner-up to Sheinbaum.
“We observed through the process signs and symptoms of … political practices and a political design that operated in the PRI,” he told supporters at an event in Tlaxcala.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was notorious for its use of undemocratic practices during its 71 years of uninterrupted rule in the 20th century.
Marcelo Ebrard (right), seen here with Claudia Sheinbaum and President López Obrador earlier this year, has said he has been the president’s “most loyal collaborator.” (Gob MX)
“We’re not going to allow practices from 30 years ago to be carried out,” Ebrard said.
He said he wants to become president “not out of ambition … [but] because we have a program … [and a] cause.”
It is unclear whether Ebrard has a “Plan B” if, as expected, his quest to have the Morena selection process redone isn’t successful. He has ruled out standing as an independent candidate, saying earlier this month that he believed that wasn’t “the way to contribute to the future of Mexico we crave.”
Six of the sanctioned individuals are shown here in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) graphic. They are wanted for trafficking fentanyl into the U.S., among other charges. (DEA)
The United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)announced new sanctions against nine affiliates of the Sinaloa Cartel on Tuesday, accusing them of participating in large-scale fentanyl trafficking to the United States.
The nine men are all part of the “Los Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, operated by the sons of infamous jailed cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. Seven were indicted by a New York district court in April, for crimes including fentanyl trafficking, weapons trafficking, and money laundering.
Those targeted by the U.S. Treasury all work for the “Los Chapitos” wing of the Sinaloa Cartel, operated by the sons of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, three of them seen here. Ovidio Guzmán (far right) was extradited to the United States on Sept. 18. (Archive)
Those charged include:
Jorge Humberto Figueroa Benitez, a leader of the Chapitos’ security apparatus who commands a violent group of assassins.
Brothers Leobardo García Corrales and Martín García Corrales, who operate fentanyl labs in the state of Oaxaca, using the proceeds to buy weapons.
Liborio Nuñez Aguirre, Samuel León Alvarado and Carlos Mario Limón Vázquez, who operate a network of fentanyl labs across Mexico, trafficking the drug into the U.S.
Mario Alberto Jiménez Castro, who operates a money laundering network that transfers proceeds from U.S. fentanyl sales to Sinaloa Cartel leaders in Mexico.
Mexico has been increasing its seizures of fentanyl and other illicit drugs. (Semar/Cuartoscuro)
The two other individuals designated by the OFAC are Julio César Domínguez Hernández and Jesús Miguel Vibanco García, described as associates of Jiménez Castro. The sanctions allow the Treasury to freeze the targets’ U.S. assets, and prohibit any U.S. citizen from doing business with them.
“Today’s actions show that Treasury and the Administration will continue to relentlessly target the criminal enterprises threatening international security and flooding our communities with fentanyl and other deadly drugs,” said Brian E. Nelson, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
He stressed that the sanctions were part of a “whole-of-government effort to address the opioid public health crisis plaguing the United States.”
Mexico is coming under increasing U.S. pressure to combat fentanyl, which Mexican cartels manufacture using Chinese precursor chemicals and then smuggle over the border.
President López Obrador has sought to downplay Mexican involvement in the manufacturing of fentanyl, but has also emphasized his administration’s efforts to intercept the drug. Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcenasaid last week that Mexico accounted for a quarter of global seizures of fentanyl since 2020.
President López Obrador has said the migration crisis is one of his top priorities to discuss in an upcoming meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in November. (Dámian Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
President López Obrador plans to present U.S. President Joe Biden with a regional plan to address the migration crisis, based on discussions with the 10 Latin American countries that generate the greatest numbers of migrants.
Oaxaca Governor Salomón Jara announced the decision after a meeting at the National Palace between AMLO and other politicians from southern Mexico. Attendees included the governors of Chiapas, Tabasco and Campeche, Interior Minister Luisa María Alcalde and Foreign Minister Alicia Bárcena.
Oaxaca Governor Salomón Jara said the itinerary for the meetings would be finalized in the next few weeks. (Salomón Jara/X)
“It was agreed that there would be a meeting with the foreign ministers of the 10 countries where there is a greater flow of migrants, such as Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, Cuba… to present to President Biden a proposal that the Foreign Ministry is working on,” Jara told reporters.
Jara said that the meetings would take place over the next two weeks, in order to finalize the proposal before AMLO’s nextbilateral meeting with President Biden. AMLO announced last week that he would not attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November, proposing instead that Biden visit Mexico to tour infrastructure projects, including the Maya Train. He said that if Biden does not make the trip to Mexico, he will travel to Washington, but no official visits have been confirmed.
While the details of the proposal have not been announced, it is likely to include seeking more U.S. support to address the poverty and violence that drive migration in the region.
“The United States has to allocate resources to these places where we have most migrant flows,” Jara said.
Many migrants begin their journeys in South America, crossing the infamous Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama in search of passage towards the United States. (Pedro Anza/Cuartoscuro)
In his Monday morning press conference, AMLO also called for greater action by the United Nations to combat the poverty, inequality and political insecurity that have increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Let’s reactivate the economy in all countries so that people don’t need to emigrate, and also that political problems are resolved,” he said. “[These problems] often stem from the desire for regional dominance, the desire for hegemony. The U.N. should address that.”
The president recalled the November 2021 visit to the U.N. where he addressed the Security Council with a proposal that the world’s richest corporations, individuals and economies address global poverty by making voluntary donations to a fund to benefit the poor. “I made a proposal when I went … They did not take it under consideration. Because the U.N. is stiff, dusty, in need of a shake-up.”
AMLO indicated that he would use his next meeting to address themes he discussed with Biden duringbilateral talks in January, when he urged Biden to champion “a new policy of economic and social integration on our continent,” like the Alliance for Progress development plan of the 1960s.
AMLO used his morning press briefing to outline the need to promote economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and reduce migration through financial stimuli. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
“The economic and trade agreement in North America is going very well, but we need to support Central America, to support many countries in the Caribbean, in South America, to consolidate America,” AMLO said on Monday. “That can be done, [but] there has not been a plan to support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean since the time of President Kennedy.”
The Alliance for Progress, a major aid initiative in the U.S.’s Cold War Latin America poverty, was initiated by Kennedy in 1961 to keep the region in the U.S.’s orbit by promoting economic growth and political stability. By the early 1970s, the Alliance was widely considered to have failed.
Mexico is estimated to hold around 3% of total global lithium reserves. (Alexander Schimmeck/Unsplash)
The Mexican government has reportedly canceled nine mining concessions held by Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium at the largest lithium reserve in the country.
In a document sent to investors, Ganfeng – which is one of the world’s largest lithium enterprises – said that Mexico’s General Directorate of Mines (DGM) told them in August that the company had failed to meet minimum investment requirements between 2017 and 2021.
Lithium is used to make rechargeable batteries. Mexico is attempting to capitalize on demand for the mineral, although some experts have cast doubt on the country’s ability to successfully exploit it. (Ganfeng Lithium)
Ganfeng insists their Mexican subsidiaries have presented “ample evidence of their compliance with the minimum investment obligations,” and had in fact “significantly” exceeded them.
The company also claimed the Mexican government “did not raise any objections” about investment levels before informing them that the process to cancel the concessions was already underway.
Mexiconationalized lithium in April 2022, declaring it a strategic resource whose exploration, production and commercialization was exclusive to the state. The resulting amendments to the Mining Law meant no new lithium concessions would be granted to private companies, other than asminority partners in joint ventures with newstate-owned company Lithium for Mexico (LitioMx), although existing contracts would be honored if they met investment requirements and were nearing the production stage.
“The Mining Law reform was not supposed to apply to pre-existing concessions,” Ganfeng protested. “The company’s position is that the project’s concessions cannot be impacted by these reforms.”
The president celebrated the nationalization of lithium reserves in Sonora in February. (Cuartoscuro)
The company said that it had filed administrative appeals with the Economy Ministry (SE), maintaining that the cancellations are “arbitrary and unfounded.” It also insisted that the decision should not be considered final until the review is concluded. Neither the DGM nor the SE has made a public statement on the issue.
Ganfeng has been the biggest private lithium mining company in Mexico since acquiring the country’s largest reserve – in Bacadehuáchi, Sonora – from Bacanora Lithium in 2021. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that Mexico has a total of 1.7 million tonnes of lithium reserves, some 3% of the global total. There are two large reserves in Sonora (including the Bacadechuáchi deposit), one in Puebla and one in Jalisco. The metal is a key component of lithium-ion batteries used in electronic devices and for green energy storage.
Mexico’s nationalization of lithium seeks to take advantage of the global shift to green energy, and in the words of President López Obrador, to avoid the “exploitation” of the mineral by foreign companies. However, some mining experts haveexpressed doubts about the public company’s capacity to mine the metal effectively. Mexico’s lithium deposits are in clays, making them difficult to process.
This month, Congress requested that Lithium for Mexico receive its first budget in 2024, after a year and a half without formal funding. The budget allocates 9.8 million pesos (US $570,000) to staff salaries, but does not confirm spending on exploration.
Earlier this year, the Mexican government announced that it would invest 36.8 million pesos (US $2.15 million) in lithium exploration before the end of 2024.
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.
