RMSF is a tickborne disease that can infect humans, dogs and other animals. (Erik Karits/Unsplash)
The United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a health advisory for those traveling to northern Mexico, after three deaths from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF) were reported among recent visitors to Tecate, Baja California.
RMSF (sometimes known as rickettsia in Spanish) is a potentially deadly bacterial disease spread by bites from infected brown dog ticks. It cannot be spread from person to person. The disease has been found in urban areas of several north Mexican states, including Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo León.
A CDC poster describes the signs and symptoms of RMSF. (U.S. CDC)
Its symptoms can include fever, headache, stomach problems, swelling around the eyes and on the back of the hands, and sometimes a rash that emerges 2-4 days after infection. The CDC warns that it is a severe and rapidly progressive disease that can be fatal within days if not treated promptly with the antibiotic doxycycline.
The CDC sounded the alarm after five cases were identified in Southern California since July, all involving people who had traveled to Tecate, Baja California in the previous two weeks. All five were hospitalized, and three died. Four were under age 18.
So far, no information has been released regarding deaths from the outbreak in Mexico, although the CDC estimates that RMSF’s fatality rate in Mexico could exceed 40%.
For now, the CDC’s travel advisory remains at the lowest Level 1, meaning “Practice Usual Precautions.” These include using insect repellent, checking your body and clothing for ticks, and treating your pet with tick-preventives if traveling with a dog.
The CDC urged travelers in northern Mexico to protect themselves and their dogs from ticks like this brown dog tick, which can carry RMSF. (James Gathany; William Nicholson/CDC)
Travelers are warned that ticks can be tiny and their bites painless, so you may not realize you have been bitten. For this reason, it is important to seek medical attention if you develop any symptoms within two weeks of travel to northern Mexico.
While early symptoms are often mild and non-specific, if untreated they may progress after about five days to cause an altered mental state, coma, brain swelling, respiratory problems and multi organ damage. Most deaths occur within eight days of the onset of illness. Children under 10 are five times more likely to die from RMSF.
The good news is that doxycycline is considered a safe and effective treatment for RMSF in children and adults of all ages — as long as it is administered as soon as the condition is suspected.
“Do not delay treatment pending laboratory confirmation,” the CDC advises doctors. “Early treatment saves lives.”
The pharmacies, located in the tourist town of Ensenada, were suspected of selling potentially dangerous counterfeit medications. (Juan Pablo Guerra)
The detection of fake or fentanyl-laced pills in drug stores in an action dubbed “Operation Albatross II” has resulted in the closure of 31 pharmacies in the Baja California municipality of Ensenada.
The federal health regulator Cofepris suspended the pharmacies for their “irregular sale of drugs and the presence of medications possibly contaminated with fentanyl,” the agency said in a press release Friday.
The off-brand pharmacies were spread across the city, which is a popular destination for U.S. tourists looking for off-prescription pharmaceuticals. (infoisinfo)
More than 4,000 boxes of medicines were seized during what the agency called “verification visits” to 53 pharmacies. The raids were conducted by specialized Cofepris personnel in coordination with the Mexican Navy, allowing for simultaneous visits to various locations in the municipality of 443,000 people.
Samples from the 4,681 seized boxes of medicine were analyzed to determine their authenticity, adulterations or the presence of fentanyl.
A list of the 31 now-shuttered pharmacies was included in the press release. Most are not among Mexico’s five biggest pharmacy chains, with one exception: a Farmacia Guadalajara on Calle Novena in central Ensenada.
This location was cited for having “73 boxes of controlled medications” worth 168,507 pesos (US $9,658).
Cheaply manufactured counterfeit drugs often contain dangerous levels of fentanyl or other drugs. (CBP)
According to the Associated Press, the action “represents one of the first times Mexican authorities have acknowledged” what UCLA researchers pointed out last year after visiting 40 Mexican pharmacies: “that Mexican pharmacies were offering controlled medications like Oxycodone, Xanax or Adderall, but the pills were often fentanyl-laced fakes.”
Officials never said whether the pills seized in Quintana Roo contained fentanyl, but they did say the cited pharmacies were selling expired medicine that was possibly counterfeit, and that their record-keeping was not up to standards.
In March, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning, noting that pills being sold at pharmacies in Mexico “may contain deadly doses of fentanyl.”
“These counterfeit pills represent a serious overdose risk to buyers who think they are getting a known quantity of a weaker drug,” Chelsea Shover, assistant professor-in-residence of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said earlier this year.
Renata Zarazúa runs to save a low shot during the Montevideo Open semi-finals on Saturday (Montevideo Open).
A 26-year-old from Mexico City who has never won an event on the top women’s pro tennis tour was all smiles on Sunday after making history in the Montevideo Open in Uruguay.
In a grueling match that lasted nearly three hours, second-seeded Renata Zarazúa of Mexico beat top-seeded Diane Parry of France to become the first Mexican to ever win a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tournament.
Diane Parry of France was the top-seeded competitor for womens singles (Montevideo Open).
However, it didn’t count as an actual WTA Tour victory because it came in a second-tier WTA 125 event. Sometimes called the WTA Challenger tour, WTA 125 tournaments are the second-highest level of women’s competition behind the top-level WTA Tour.
Still, for Zarazúa, the 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory in the final was huge, as were her four victories to reach the final. Her world ranking improved 23 spots to 105 — an impressive climb for someone who came into 2023 ranked 368th and was unable to ascend any higher than 227th until August.
Her first career WTA 125 victory earned her US $15,000, boosting her 2023 prize money in singles to US $114,594 and her career earnings to US $646,943.
Zarazúa was born in Mexico City. Her great-uncle Vicente Zarazúa played in 16 Davis Cup events for Mexico and won a gold medal in exhibition doubles in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, and her older brother, Patricio, played Division II college tennis in Florida (and is now her coach).
Zarazúa celebrates her win after the final match. (Montevideo Open)
Zarazúa made her pro debut as a 15-year-old in 2012, winning one match in an International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament outside of San Antonio, Texas.
Over the last decade, she has played mainly second-tier WTA 125 and third-tier ITF events, along with 28 tournaments on the main WTA Tour, including a first-round loss this year in the Guadalajara Open in September.
Her Grand Slam experience is limited to a stunning first-round win and a second-round loss in the French Open in 2020, when she won three preliminary matches just to qualify — thereby becoming the first Mexican woman to make the main draw of a major in 20 years.
One of her career highlights occurred in 2020, when she received a wild card to play in the Mexican Open in Acapulco, then shocked top-seeded American Sloane Stephens in the first round and advanced to the semifinals.
She also qualified for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, losing in the first round in both singles and doubles.
Mexican workers currently have the longest hours of the OECD's 38 member countries. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro.com)
The lower house of Congress won’t consider a bill to reduce Mexico’s constitutionally enshrined 48-hour workweek over six days to 40 hours over five until 2024, according to lawmakers.
Ignacio Mier, leader of the ruling Morena party in the Chamber of Deputies, said in late November that Morena was aiming to get the legislation approved before the Dec. 15 conclusion of the final congressional period of 2023.
However, lawmakers who spoke with Reuters and Forbes México said that won’t happen.
Juan Robledo, a Morena deputy and president of the lower house’s constitutional points committee, told Reuters that there was no time to pass the bill this year.
Julieta Mejía, a Citizens Movement party deputy, told Forbes that she and other lawmakers were informed by Robledo that there is currently insufficient support to get the bill through the Chamber of Deputies.
As it seeks to change the constitution, the bill requires the support of two-thirds of lawmakers in both houses of Congress in order to become law.
Morena deputy Juan Robledo, president of the Chamber of Deputies constitutional points committee, said there wouldn’t be enough time this session to pass the bill. (Canal del Congreso)
“There’s no political will to approve [the bill] this year,” Mejía said, adding that she hoped that the legislation will be discussed when Congress reconvenes in February.
She said that the National Action Party (PAN) is responsible for the delay. Some PAN lawmakers have expressed concerns about the impact of a 40-hour workweek on business.
“Not all employers … are huge multinational companies with almost infinite budgets. … We have to look after … micro, small and medium-sized companies, to whom one worker more or one worker less makes a big difference,” Jorge Romero, leader of the PAN in the Chamber of Deputies, said last month.
Reuters — which said it was informed by “five lawmaking sources” that the 40-hour workweek bill was unlikely to be approved this year — reported that business groups and the PAN are resisting the legislation.
Morena lawmakers cited experts saying that reduced work hours can boost productivity. (Jessica Palomo/Unsplash)
Esperanza Ortega, president of the National Chamber for Industrial Transformation (Canacintra), said last week that reducing the workweek could increase costs for businesses by 10-20%.
“This will impact the final consumer,” the Canacintra chief added.
Ortega said that any reduction in the length of the workweek should be accompanied by increased productivity.
Addressing that issue last month, Morena Deputy Susana Prieto Terrazas, the main proponent of the bill, said that “various experts” had told lawmakers that workers are more productive when they work less.
Lorenzo Roel, head of the labor commission at Mexico’s influential Business Coordinating Council, said that if the bill becomes law, companies could collectively have to hire 2.6 million additional workers at reduced hours, adding US $20 billion to their payroll expenses.
Canacintra President Esperanza Ortega said the bill could substantially increase business operating costs, concerns echoed by PAN lawmakers and other business councils. (Canacintra/X)
“Let’s have more time and invite everyone in and review what’s happening in other countries,” he said.
López Obrador has proposed holding another “open parliament” process, during which employers, workers, union leaders, academics and others have the opportunity to express views.
Morena Deputy Hamlet García said that was a possibility, but noted that it will be up to the leaders of the various parties represented in Congress to decide whether to convene additional open parliament forums before the legislation is put to a vote.
Mexico has the longest working hours, the lowest labor productivity and lowest salaries among the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Reuters reported.
At some 2,226 hours per year per worker, working hours in Mexico are around 500 hours longer than the OECD average, the news agency said.
Every year on Dec. 12, millions of faithful from all over the country travel to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe north of Mexico City to celebrate the visions the Indigenous peasant Juan Diego had of the Virgin Mary.
According to the story, the apparitions occurred on the Hill of Tepeyac (just behind the current-day basilica) between Dec. 9 and 12, 1531 – ten years after the fall of Tenochtitlan (capital of the Mexica empire) to the Spanish domain. Since then, Tepeyac has been a revered Catholic site of worship in Mexico.
However, that same hill was sacred for the Mexica even before the Spanish arrived, as it was the place of worship for another Indigenous deity: Tonantzin.
“It is no coincidence that she [the Virgin Mary] appeared to Juan Diego, who despite his name, was still an Indigenous person,” said Santiago del Bosque Arias, an Art Historian at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
“The Nahuatl people held great reverence for Tonantzin, and she was worshiped precisely on the Tepeyac,” del Bosque Arias continued.
What’s the story of the apparitions of our Lady of Guadalupe according to the Catholic Church?
The Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego on the Hill of Tepeyac five times.
As the story goes, the Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego on the Hill of Tepeyac five times, revealing herself as the mother of God and the “collective mother.” In his visions, she asked him (in Nahuatl) to go tell Bishop Zumárraga of New Spain to build a chapel in her honor on the Hill of Tepeyac.
Juan Diego went to the bishop two times, but he didn’t believe him and asked for proof. On the next visit, the Virgin Mary miraculously imprinted her likeness on Juan Diego’s cloak (tilma or ayate) as dozens of roses he had picked up on the Tepeyac – at the request of the Virgin Mary – fell out of his cape.
Amazed, the bishop gave his blessing and ordered a chapel constructed in her honor in the same place where the apparitions occurred. It was a modest chapel at first, renovated throughout centuries until a basilica – known today as the “Old Basilica” – was built in 1709.
Juan Diego’s cloak is now exhibited in the new basilica, where it is safeguarded behind glass.
What’s the story of Tonantzin according to Mexica tradition?
According to Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s “General History of the Things of New Spain,” written between 1540 and 1585, there was a temple dedicated to the deity Tonantzin on the Tepeyac (originally called “Tepeaca”) before the apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
“There in Tepeaca, where the church that you ordered to be built is located, they made many sacrifices in honor of a goddess named Tonantzin […] which means ‘our mother.’”
“They said that this goddess […] appeared many times […] as a composed lady with attires such as those used in the palace. They say that she carried a cradle on her back, like someone carrying her child in it,” Sahagún described.
In a contemporary publication called “El pueblo del sol,” Alfonso Caso adds that Tonantzin was a name used by the Mexica to refer to the mother of the gods and hence “our mother.” She was also called Toci, “our grandmother.”
These records show that Tonantzin was a name given to certain goddesses who are considered mothers of the Nahuas (the Mexica and all of the communities that spoke Nahuatl), such as Cihuacóatl (‘snake woman’) or Coatlicue (‘serpent skirt’).
Sahagún also wrote that Tonantzin’s temple on the Tepeyac received many pilgrims on the feast day of Tonantzin. Men and women would go “from very distant lands, more than twenty leagues, from all regions of Mexico, bringing many offerings.”
How did the two stories merge according to historians?
“We must see the two figures as a union, or rather, the place where the Indigenous and peninsular (Spanish) parts converge,” del Bosque said, as the Virgin of Guadalupe was a “figure that facilitated the conversion of Indigenous people to Catholicism,” he explained.
After the conquest of Tenochtitlan, the Spanish colonizers destroyed symbols of Indigenous religions and replaced them with traditional Catholic imagery, building churches on top of temples.
Such was the case of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s temple, which replaced that of Tonantzin.
According to “Las informaciones de 1556” (The Informations of 1556), which contains an account of the cult to Our Lady of Guadalupe by the religious orders of New Spain, it was Bishop Alonso de Montúfar who started telling stories about the supernatural powers of the Virgin Mary’s image placed on the site of the apparitions.
That same account reveals that Fray Francisco de Bustamante – who was against the new cult surrounding the mystical image as it contradicted the Spaniards’ rule prohibiting the adoration of religious images – identified a native artist as the maker of the painting: a man known as “Marcos, Indio Pintor” (Marcos, Indian painter).
Many historians recognize Marcos as the author of the image on the basilica.
“From this, you can reflect on many things,” del Bosque said. “Why was the artist an artist of Indigenous origin? Who was the image addressed to? Why wasn’t the image assigned to one of the painters who came from Spain?”
Lady of Guadalupe image in Monterrey. (Unsplash)
While the cult surrounding the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe grew in popularity amongst Spaniards in Mexico and their descendants, in the Tepeyac, natives still honored Tonantzin instead of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
According to Sahagún, the locals’ devotion was “suspicious,” since they only made pilgrimages to the Tepeyac and not to the other churches in the region built in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
However, as the Spaniards continued to celebrate mass in honor of the Virgin Mary, popular devotion eventually shifted to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
In 1666, the Catholic Church officially began an investigation into the apparitions on the Hill of Tepeyac and approved the Virgin of Guadalupe as the patron of New Spain in 1754.
Since then, the Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe has become a defining aspect of Mexican identity.
In the early 1970s, before the Transpeninsular Highway was completed, and before Mexican tourism trust FONATUR began turning Los Cabos into the internationally famous resort destination it would eventually become, two groups of people were already regularly flocking to the area: fishermen and surfers.
The first generation of surfers started coming from California in the 1950s, setting the path for all who followed, including legendary figures like Mike Doyle, Kelly Slater, and Laird Hamilton. Doyle, a champion surfer during the 60s, became a notable exponent of the Los Cabos lifestyle, eventually founding a surf school at the Cabo Surf Hotel. Slater wowed spectators at the Fletcher Los Cabos Classic in 1991, walking away with cash and ownership of an East Cape property. More recently, Hamilton partnered with local luxury resort One&Only Palmilla on a lifestyle-based apparel brand. In Los Cabos, where spectacular suites and villas are often situated near some of the most famous breaks, luxury and surfing aren’t always mutually exclusive.
It’s not the big names or the big-time amenities, however, that make Los Cabos a notable surfing destination. Rather, it’s the variety of surf breaks across a wide swath of the municipality’s 100-plus miles of coastline, from San José del Cabo and the East Cape to the Pacific Coast breaks near Todos Santos. Great waves are rideable year-round, with the breaks of choice varying according to the changing of the seasons. Yes, some of these breaks are best left to experienced surfers. But there are beginner-friendly ones, too, along with schools and lesson providers eager to introduce a new generation to the joys of surfing in Los Cabos.
How does the time of year affect surf conditions in Los Cabos?
What’s so special about surfing in Los Cabos? Its coastline is defined by not one major body of water, but two: the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf of California, or Sea of Cortés. The conditions relative to each, not surprisingly, are the determining factors for the local surf calendar. May to October, for example, is traditionally the best time to surf on the Gulf of California side (thanks to seasonal southerly swells), while the scene shifts to the Pacific side from November to April, notably at beaches like Cerritos, San Pedrito, and La Pastora. Surfing is good year-round, in other words.
For context, Gulf of California-oriented beaches and breaks are those found in San José del Cabo, on the East Cape, and along the Tourist Corridor (the 20-mile coastal corridor that connects San José to Cabo San Lucas). The best Pacific Ocean side surf beaches are about one hour north of Cabo San Lucas by car and are located in Pescadero and Todos Santos.
Why is San José del Cabo such a great surf destination?
Surfing in Los Cabos starts with Zippers, a fast and fun right-hand reef break that has been the centerpiece of both the Fletcher Los Cabos Classic and Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) and World Surf League (WSL) sponsored Los Cabos Open of Surf tournaments. As Surfline notes, it’s “dreamy except for the fact that Zippers is Cabo’s most crowded wave.”
Zippers is one of three noteworthy breaks at Playa Costa Azul, the others being The Middle and The Rock (La Roca). The latter is another popular, advanced-level, righty reef break, and as the name suggests, rocks (plural) are a factor. The Middle, by contrast, is one of the best beginner-friendly surf breaks in Los Cabos. A respected local adventure company, High Tide Los Cabos, has surf professionals teaching private and group lessons here. Nearby Playa Acapulquito (aka Old Man’s) is another great spot to learn or improve rusty skills, thanks to the Mike Doyle-founded surf school at the Cabo Surf Hotel.
Can you surf in Cabo San Lucas?
There are no notable surf breaks in Cabo San Lucas proper, but one is nearby, with picturesque backdrops of Land’s End and El Arco. It’s a famous one, too, and not just for the views. Monuments is its name, and its spinning left-handed point break ranks with Zippers as the most famous ride on Los Cabos’ Gulf of California side. Like La Roca, it’s best left to experts, not only because of rocks but also because of abundant stinging sea urchins.
The Cape, A Thompson Hotel, a luxury property that opened overlooking the beach (Playa Monumentos) in 2015 provides a retro California-style atmosphere, albeit of the decidedly upscale variety. A surf-themed villa and board rentals are available.
Which East Cape beaches are surfari-worthy?
Los Cabos’ East Cape begins at the outskirts of San José del Cabo and extends for over 70 miles to Los Barriles. Because dirt roads are still common in this area, some surfers have been introduced to regional surf breaks through “surfaris,” or transportation-provided expeditions from San José. However, as the East Cape continues to be developed — the Four Seasons Resort Los Cabos at Costa Palmas being a notable recent addition — surf-friendly beaches like Shipwrecks, La Fortuna, and Nine Palms will become increasingly accessible.
All three of the most popular surf breaks here are located in and around — to the north and south — of La Fortuna, one of several small off-the-grid communities along this stretch of coast. The ALA1A Surf Lodge trailer is the accommodations option of choice, putting surfers within easy driving distance (15 minutes either way) of Shipwrecks, the southernmost of the trio, a favorite of locals when the summer season brings southerly swells fueled by the region’s famous chubascos (squalls). Just don’t look for the shipwreck. It’s long gone.
What are three top Pacific Coast beaches for visiting surfers?
Like nearby San Pedrito — home to a rippable right-hand point break — Playa Los Cerritos is located in the small town of Pescadero, a few miles south of Todos Santos. The latter is famed for both its artists’ colony and its surfing, most famously at La Pastora, a local hotspot that benefits from seasonal northwest swells, and features both left and right-breaking sections. These Pacific Coast beaches are gorgeous year-round, but see their best surfing during the winter months; meaning, peak season for snowbirds.
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
San Miguel de Allende is one of the cities that could get its own airport in the near future. (Depositphotos)
The major tourist destination of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, and the northern city of Ensenada, Baja California, could have new airports in the near future according to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT).
The SICT has requested over 15 million pesos (US $860,415) from the Finance Ministry to conduct feasibility studies, as part of a plan to strengthen the country’s airport network.
San Miguel de Allende is currently served by the Guanajuato and Querétaro airports, each located over an hour away from the popular tourist city. (Afeardv/Wikimedia)
“These studies will include surveys to determine the groundwater level and soil layers’ capacity to support the buildings as well as carrying out foundation solution proposals,” the Minister of the SICT Jorge Nuño announced during his appearance in the Chamber of Deputies on Dec. 6.
“Both projects include a study that outlines the development of airport infrastructure in short, medium, and long-term phases,” Nuño added. The feasibility studies are expected to be completed by August.
Both cities have been on the radar for their own airports since earlier this year.
Ensenada’s close proximity to the United States means it could benefit from the nearshoring boom the region is experiencing and while it does have a military base for civil aviation, the site is unsuitable for larger aircraft.
However, independent aviation analyst Juan Antonio José told news outlet T21 that neither of the projects has potential for profitability since San Miguel de Allende is close to two existing international airports, while Ensenada is located near the international airport in Tijuana.
The Basilica will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow, although opening hours could be extended if necessary. (Belikova Oksana/Shutterstock)
This Tuesday (Dec. 12) marks one of the biggest dates on Mexico’s Catholic calendar, the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and pilgrims are flocking to Mexico City’s Basilica of Guadalupe to pay homage to the country’s beloved Virgin Mary.
The Citizen Security Ministry (SSC) estimates that 11 million pilgrims will visit the Basilica between Monday and Tuesday, with most arriving on Monday. The National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism predicts an even higher turnout of 13.7 million pilgrims – 12% more than the record-breaking 12.5 million who attended last year.
The world-famous Mexico City shrine to the Virgin Mary could see more than 13 million visitors this year, many of them pilgrims who’ve traveled thousands of miles. (Photo: Mike Peel/Creative Commons)
In preparation for the event, the SSC has announced the “Welcome Pilgrim” operation, in which more than 22,000 public officials will participate, including 1,500 police officers, six ambulances and a helicopter.
“We will have the support of 448 vehicular units, four operation bases, and we will have special care, protection and attention on the access roads,” said Mexico City’s head of government, Martí Batres, with regard to the operation.
The vice-rector of the Basilica of Guadalupe, Gustavo Watson, said that the Basilica will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., although opening hours could be extended if necessary. Some overnight stays will be permitted in the atrium, with priority given to the elderly and those who have made the longest journeys.
Watson encouraged all who are faithful to visit the ‘Morenita del Tepeyac’ on her feast day, while also stressing that the festivities will be streamed digitally for those unable to attend.
The festival celebrates the appearance of the Virgin Mary (known in Mexico as Guadalupe) to the Indigenous convert Juan Diego on Dec. 12, 1531. Both the figure of Juan Diego and the darker-skinned depiction of the Virgin of Guadalupe are important elements of Mexico’s syncretic tradition, representing Indigenous Mexico’s embrace of Catholicism.
Last year’s celebration broughtrecord-breaking numbers of pilgrims to the capital, after two years during which the event was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the biggest annual pilgrimage in Mexico, with some traveling hundreds of miles to attend.
The event is also an important money-maker for businesses that provide transport, accommodation, food and religious items to the pilgrims. This year, the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism estimates that the celebration will generate 15.5 billion pesos (US $889 million) in revenue across the country.
Revenue of 1.4 billion pesos (US $81 million) is predicted in Mexico City alone – 13.8% more than in 2022.
On Dec. 8 clash, a group of México state farmers clashed with suspected cartel members, leaving 14 people dead. (Screen Capture/Cuartoscuro)
A confrontation on Friday between residents of a municipality in southwestern México state and alleged members of a criminal group left 14 people dead and seven injured, authorities said.
The extortion-related clash between farmers and suspected members of the La Familia Michoacana criminal organization occurred on a soccer field in Texcapilla, a small community in Texcaltitlán, a municipality around 130 kilometers southwest of Mexico City.
The bodies of the 10 slain alleged cartel members were set on fire by the locals. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
In footage posted to social media, gunshots can be heard ringing out as farmers and other locals, many wearing cowboy hats, attack suspected criminals with weapons such as sickles and machetes.
The confrontation reportedly occurred after members of La Familia Michoacana – a notoriously violent cartel – attempted to raise the payments they were demanding from farmers and business owners in exchange for allowing them to operate unimpeded.
México state officials told a press conference on Saturday that 10 of the dead were presumed members of the criminal gang, while four were residents of Texcaltitlán. The bodies of the alleged criminals were apparently set on fire.
Five locals and two suspected gangsters were injured during the clash. The state Security Ministry said in a statement on Friday that two people involved in the conflict were missing.
Law enforcement in México state said they are committed to improving security, while President López Obrador announced the deployment of additional federal law enforcement to the region as well. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
Attorney General José Luis Cervantes said that three “priority objectives” of law enforcement authorities were among the deceased.
One of those killed was Rigoberto de la Sancha Santillán, a La Familia Michoacana leader known as “El Payaso” (The Clown). De la Sancha allegedly participated in a 2021 ambush that killed 13 police officers in Coatepec Harinas, a México state municipality that borders Texcaltitlán.
México state Governor Delfina Gómez said that she “deeply” regretted the violence on Friday, before declaring:
“These events do not paralyze us. On the contrary, they reaffirm our commitment to improve the security conditions in our beloved state. Rest assured that we will continue working so that episodes like this aren’t repeated. To the [residents of the] south of México state I say, you are not alone, we are with you.”
Extortion is a common – and growing – problem in Mexico, affecting both urban and rural areas of the country. Criminal groups target a wide range of economic sectors including agriculture (avocados, limes, etc.), mining, retail (tortilla shops, markets, etc.) and public transport.
Sandra Ley, a program coordinator for the think tank México Evalúa, told The New York Times that communities sometimes fight back against criminal organizations that are constantly harassing them out of “desperation.”
“The communities do this from a place of feeling fed up, of desperation, from that position of ‘no more,'” she said.
Victims of extortion often say that authorities have done little to combat the problem.
Falko Ernst, senior Mexico analyst for International Crisis Group, told The Times that extortion has become increasingly common here as crime groups “have been morphing away from drug trafficking towards a territorially based extraction model.”
On Monday, President López Obrador described the clash on Friday as “very regrettable” and noted that an investigation is underway. He also said that federal security forces have been deployed to Texcaltitlán, explaining that around 600 soldiers and National Guard Officers were sent to the municipality.
Guzmán Loera, a former Sinaloa Cartel leader who was convicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges in February 2019 and sentenced to life in prison later the same year, has been incarcerated in the U.S. since his extradition in 2017.
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in U.S. custody in 2017 after he was extradited to the United States to face trial there. (U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
His mother never got the opportunity to visit him in Colorado’s “Supermax” prison as U.S. authorities denied her visa request.
Loera was back in the news in March 2020 when she briefly met with President López Obrador during a visit he was making to Badiraguato. López Obrador was criticized for shaking hands with the elderly woman, from whom he had received a letter asking for the government’s assistance in her quest to visit her son in the U.S.
Loera, who had four sons and two daughters with Emilio Guzmán Bustillos, staunchly defended “El Chapo” and advocated his repatriation. In addition, she “always publicly denied that he was the boss of the most powerful drug cartel in Mexico,” according to Jenaro Villamil, a journalist and president of Mexico’s public broadcasting agency.
Speaking about Loera’s passing at his regular news conference on Monday, López Obrador said that “any human being who loses his or her life deserves respect.”
Her grieving family members deserve “consideration,” he added.
