The temporary closure of the bridge could create daily losses of US $33 million. (@DFOElPaso/X)
Trucks carrying freight from Mexico into the United States at the Juárez–El Paso border crossing are changing plans after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a “temporary suspension” of cargo processing at the Bridge of the Americas beginning Monday.
Mexico called the move a “unilateral measure taken by the United States,” but said it expected operations “will be restored in the next two to three days.” However, CBP did not comment on the anticipated length of the closure.
According to CBP, growing numbers of migrants are attempting to enter the United States via the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez bridge, which is considered an unofficial point of entry. (Wikimedia Commons)
In a statement, CBP said the move was made to allow its officers in the area to assist Border Patrol in processing migrants arriving outside of official crossings.
With a population of 1.6 million people, Ciudad Juárez is the most populous city in the northern state of Chihuahua and has experienced a massive arrival of migrants in recent months. Apprehensions and expulsions of migrants in the El Paso, Texas, sector reached a nearly four-month high over the past week, according to data from the city.
Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos said the suspension could generate daily losses of US $33 million and urged a quick resolution to the situation.
Campos said the Mexican government has the power to control the large flow of migrants reaching the border, and called on Mexican leaders to take action.
The populous border city of Ciudad Juárez is an important transport hub for its connectivity with El Paso. (Wikimedia Commons)
“This closure means the suspension of the passage of at least 600 trailers a day to the United States, with a high economic impact which could represent approximately $33 million a day,” she said.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry (SRE) issued a statement that says Mexico is in contact with authorities from CBP at both the federal and local level.
“We understand the pressures to which the U.S. authorities are subject due to what is happening in the border area,” Campos added. “But Chihuahua is an active partner of the United States, which is why we are urging the Mexican federal government to resolve these cross-border issues.”
The press release from Mexico’s Foreign Ministry noted that “the management and improvement of [Mexico’s] bridges and crossings is one of the priorities of President López Obrador’s administration.”
Mexican authorities say the decision to close the cargo crossing was made unilaterally but was expected due to a recent surge in migration from Ciudad Juárez. (@DFOElPaso/X)
The release added that “in response to the difficulties that occasionally arise at merchandise crossings, the government of Mexico is carrying out a historic investment to modernize the infrastructure and equipment of its border crossings and customs under the framework of the 21st Century Borders project.”
However, the problem generated by the presence of thousands of would-be migrants in Ciudad Juárez continues. The newspaper Excelsior reported that approximately 1,000 additional migrants arrived in the border city on Sunday.
The Mexican government pointed out that commercial crossings continue as normal at three crossings all within 40 miles of the closure: Ysleta–Zaragoza, San Jerónimo-Santa Teresa and Tornillo-Guadalupe.
The Bridge of the Americas connects the border cities of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. Its four separate structures include four lanes each way for passenger vehicles, as well as two lanes each way for trucks (and two sidewalks for pedestrians). In Juárez, the crossing is often called Puente Libre (free bridge) because there is no toll.
Ovidio Guzmán is planning to guilty to drug trafficking, according to U.S. court documents filed this week. (Courtesy/Cuartoscuro)
Ovidio Guzmán López, son of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, has been extradited to the United States eight months after he was captured in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the extradition of the 33-year-old leader of the “Los Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel in a statement issued by the U.S. Justice Department on Friday. Reuters reported on Monday that Guzmán pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in federal court in Chicago.
Ovidio Guzmán was arrested on Jan. 5 in Culiacán, Sinaloa. (Archive)
“Today, as a result of United States and Mexico law enforcement cooperation, Ovidio Guzmán López, a leader of the Sinaloa Cartel was extradited to the United States. This action is the most recent step in the Justice Department’s effort to attack every aspect of the cartel’s operations,” Garland said.
The attorney general added that “the fight against cartels has involved incredible courage by United States law enforcement and Mexican law enforcement and military service members, many of whom have given their lives in the pursuit of justice.”
Guzmán López, nicknamed “El Ratón” (The Mouse), faces drug trafficking, money laundering and other charges in the United States, where his father is imprisoned in the “Supermax” facility near Florence, Colorado.
Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in U.S. custody in 2017 after he was extradited to the United States to face trial there. (Photo: Department of Homeland Security)
Prosecutors allege that he participated in what Garland has called “the largest, most violent, and most prolific fentanyl trafficking operation in the world.”
In a rambling letter sent to the Milenio media outlet in May, Los Chapitos – the collective name for four of Guzmán Loera’s sons – denied their involvement in the illicit fentanyl business.
But Guzmán López ultimately couldn’t avoid following in the footsteps of his father by being extradited to the country where the Sinaloa Cartel has sent countless shipments of narcotics over a period of decades.
Guzmán’s arrest in January led to an outbreak of violence in Culiacán. (Cuartoscuro)
Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said that extraditing a person with a profile as high as that of Guzmán López usually takes at least two years because lawyers typically file numerous challenges as a delaying tactic, a situation President López Obrador has acknowledged in the case involving “El Ratón.”
Given that it took just over eight months for the 33-year-old “Chapito” to be sent north, Vigil believes that the López Obrador administration facilitated the extradition.
“This happened quicker than normal,” said Vigil, who was quoted in an Associated Press report.
He suggested that calls from some Republican Party lawmakers for the U.S. to use the military against cartels in Mexico – something he described as “political theater” – added to the pressure on the Mexican government to act in the Guzmán López case.
López Obrador on Monday said that Guzmán López was notified that his extradition had been approved and decided not to legally challenge the decision. He also said it was important for Mexico not to give ammunition to “those who use the issue of drug trafficking with political purposes in the United States.”
“There are two issues that are used a lot when there are elections in the United States – drug trafficking and migration,” said López Obrador, who leads a government that has been at pains to demonstrate that it is committed to the fight against fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
Mexico’s Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez with Liz Sherwood-Randall in July after a trilateral fentanyl meeting. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez / Cuartoscuro.com)
U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, who has met with officials in Mexico on multiple occasions this year, said in a statement that the extradition “is testament to the significance of the ongoing cooperation between the American and Mexican governments on countering narcotics and other vital challenges.”
“… We thank our Mexican counterparts for their partnership in working to safeguard our peoples from violent criminals,” she added.
The extradition comes five months after U.S. prosecutors unsealed drug trafficking and other charges against more than 20 Sinaloa Cartel members and associates, including Ovidio Guzmán López, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Sálazar and Joaquín Guzmán López.
Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán is still one of “Los Chapitos” on the top 10 most wanted list of the DEA. Jesús Alfredo Guzmán was recently removed from the most wanted list, but is still at large. (DEA/X)
Getting Ovidio to the United States has been a priority of the government of the United States, where fentanyl smuggled into the country from Mexico is a major driver of a narcotics overdose crisis. Fatal fentanyl overdoses increased by 94% between 2019 and 2021, and an estimated 196 Americans now die every day after ingesting the powerful synthetic opioid, according to official data cited by The Washington Post.
Guzmán López has been indicted in New York, Chicago and Washington D.C. on charges of trafficking drugs including fentanyl, cocaine and heroin. He is expected to first stand trial in Illinois.
Vigil said that the capture and extradition of Guzmán López to the U.S. is “a symbolic victory,” but added that “it’s not going to have any impact whatsoever on the Sinaloa cartel.”
The cartel will “continue to function” and “continue to send drugs into the United States,” he said.
One of Ovidio’s brothers, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, is among the DEA’s 10 most wanted fugitives. Another brother, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, was recently taken off the most wanted list, but remains at large.
The United States is offering rewards of US $10 million for information that leads to their arrests, and $5 million for Joaquin Guzmán López.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in April that the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel pose “the greatest criminal threat the United States has ever faced” given that they are “primarily responsible for driving the drug poisoning epidemic” in that country.
In an interview with Mexico News Daily staff writer Peter Davies, journalist Franc Contreras discusses his short film about migration. (Film still)
Franc Contreras has been aware of human migration and the forces that drive people to leave their homes virtually his entire life.
As a boy growing up in Tucson, Arizona, he would go on trips with his father through the Sonoran desert to the border with Mexico, the gateway to what many migrants see as a “land of opportunity” – just as the United States is popularly known to be.
Franc Contreras is a journalist and filmmaker who grew up in Tucson, Arizona. (Courtesy)
On one of those trips, Contreras – for the first time in his short life – saw an irregular border crosser, a man who had reached the United States with the intention of improving his life, but who found himself being detained before he even had the chance to start the “American Dream” he envisioned.
Contreras, a Mexico City-based journalist and filmmaker with Mexican heritage, recounts that experience in his new short film “Turn Back South”, which was recently named the “Best Human Rights Film” by judges at the Cannes World Film Festival.
“The first time I saw an unauthorized traveler was in the early 1970s out in the desert. A border patrol official arrested a man under the shade of a palo verde tree. My father told me the man was being arrested because he was poor,” he says early in a 10-minute non-fiction film that documents some of the struggles migrants endure as they make the northward journey to the Mexico-United States border.
Contreras, who has lived and worked in Mexico since the 1990s, also explores the north-south divide from a migration perspective in “Turn Back South”. He examines the challenges and hardships people from the “poor south” endure when they migrate versus the privileges those from the “rich north” enjoy if they choose to start a new life as an immigrant (or expat) in a country such as Mexico.
Contreras is writer, director, producer, narrator and participant in this thoughtful short film, which includes archival footage from his long career as a video journalist and reporter as well as several scenes shot specifically for it.
In direct and indirect ways, he contrasts his experience as an immigrant from the United States with those of migrants seeking to start a new life in his country of origin. The empathetic views he expresses and his choice of images to accompany them are informed by his vast experience documenting the migration experience for outlets such as Al Jazeera and the BBC, and living in Mexico as an immigrant himself.
“What I wanted to do is reach back into [my] archive and try to find very humanizing images and then juxtapose those against my own immigration story because I am an immigrant,” Contreras told Mexico News Daily in an interview.
The short is a kind of “essay film,” he said, describing the genre as “a form of non-fiction filmmaking that allows for subjectivity from the storyteller.”
Contreras has lived and worked in Mexico since the 1990s and Mexico City is the backdrop of “Turn Back South”. (Courtesy)
Exciting and energetic Mexico City – now a global hotspot for a very different kind of migrant: digital nomads – is the backdrop for the personal story told by Contreras, who weaves through traffic in a two-tone 1969 VW Beetle as he contemplates the life he has built far from where he was born.
In contrast, the northbound migrants – still en route to a final destination they may never reach – are shown in very distinct places: on the road, in the migrant camp, washing themselves in a river, next to an imposing section of border wall.
Part of Contreras’ motivation for making the film came from wanting to build and expand on his many years of news reporting on the migration phenomenon.
Compared to a news report, “Turn Back South” – which takes its name from a little-known Border Patrol tactic aimed at frightening would-be undocumented migrants just as they are about to cross into the U.S.– “goes to a different place,” Contreras said.
“…This is an attempt by a journalist to try and cross over into the world of cinema and it’s been a good struggle for me,” he said.
“… This [film] is … an attempt to get into a very personal space. I think cinema works best when it touches emotions,” he told Mexico News Daily on a recent Zoom call.
Contreras helps tell the migrants’ story but says he knows he can never fully understand what they’ve lived through. (Courtesy)
Contreras cites John Akomfrah, a United Kingdom-based Ghanaian artist, writer and filmmaker who has explored migration in his work, as one of his influences for Turn Back South.
“Akomfrah speaks a lot about immigration issues from Africa to Europe. … I tried to watch a lot of his films and understand what the difference is between [those and] the news reports we do,” he said.
As for the changes he has noted in the migration phenomenon in the Americas over the years, he remarked:
“I think the biggest difference has been in the numbers of people coming and all of the causes behind that seem to have intensified: poverty, corruption, violence – all those push factors, and, of course, one of the big ones now is the whole issue of climate change.”
One thing that hasn’t changed is the human desire to seek a better life, a longing that many migrants are willing to go to extreme lengths to satisfy. Those who travel through Mexico – on foot, in buses, crammed into tractor-trailers – face a range of risks, including the possibility that they will become victims of violent crime groups known for preying on vulnerable migrants
But many Hondurans, Salvadorans, Venezuelans, Haitians and others still see the path ahead – one with the bright lights of the United States glittering alluringly on the distant horizon – as preferable to the home they left behind.
“They come from the south, from the periphery, with hopes and dreams and fantasies,” Contreras says in Turn Back South.
The film doesn’t hide from the fact that migration is an extremely contentious issue in the United States and that many U.S. citizens aren’t exactly welcoming of their fellow Americans from the south. It even references the 2019 El Paso mass shooting in which the young gunman told authorities he targeted Mexicans.
But what ultimately shines through in the film is that the human spirit is strong and that achieving a goal – in some cases at least – can be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other, as painful as that might be.
Migrants face many dangers on their journey to the United States. (Courtesy)
Near the end of the film, as he sits in his parked vocho in a leafy middle-class neighborhood of Mexico City, Contreras reflects that it sometimes feels like he and the migrants he has long reported on “share the same dream – to improve our lives in another land.”
However, he arrives at another realization as he continues to ponder the experience of the mostly poor migrants who took the decision to head north, leaving their previous lives behind one step at a time.
“… Though I’ve walked a few kilometers with them and visited their homelands, the truth is I’ll never fully understand what they’ve gone through.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
* Keep an eye out for screenings of Turn Back South at upcoming film festivals in Mexico and the United States. Follow Franc on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for confirmed dates and locations at which it will be shown.
The president visited Nuevo León this week for the opening of a new aqueduct, inaugurated the first section of the Toluca-CDMX commuter train in México state, and finished off the week with El Grito de la Independencia in the Zócalo. (Gob MX)
With President López Obrador in Chile to attend a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the death of former Chilean president Salvador Allende during the Augusto Pinochet-led military coup, Interior Minister Luisa María Alcalde Luján presided over the federal government’s first morning press conference (mañanera) of the week.
López Obrador flew back into Mexico City on Monday night, but Alcalde allowed her boss a sleep-in by backing up for a second consecutive day at the helm of the agenda-setting publicity machine that is the daily mañanera.
Interior Minister Luisa María Alcalde presided over two of the morning press conferences this week. (Gob MX)
That left AMLO with just two pressers to officiate this week as he attended the inauguration of the first section of the Mexico City-Toluca railroad on Friday morning instead of meeting with reporters at the National Palace.
Among the topics addressed at this week’s four press conferences were Marcelo Ebrard’s dissatisfaction with the process run by the ruling Morena party to select its 2024 presidential candidate, the valuable contribution Cuban doctors are making to public health care in Mexico, the supposed existence of a Mexican-made nuclear submarine and the apparent happiness of the people of (another) China.
At the final presser of the week on Thursday, AMLO invited “all Mexicans” to join him in Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, on Friday night for the once-a-year maximum expression of Mexican patriotism that is the Cry of Dolores, or Cry of Independence, known in Mexico as El Grito.
Monday
Before settling in to respond to reporters’ questions, Alcalde conveyed Mexico’s condolences to the people of Morocco, where a major earthquake caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives on Sept. 8.
“So far there are no reports of Mexican people being affected. From here we express our solidarity with the people of Morocco,” she said.
Following up on López Obrador’s announcement that United States authorities had decided to reinstate Mexico’s Category 1 aviation safety rating, a reporter asked the interior minister when that was expected to happen.
“We don’t have the day …[but] it’s very good news, of course, for our country,” Alcalde responded.
The transportation minister Jorge Nuño Lara (center) received the document restoring Mexico’s Category 1 rating from Andrew Crecelius Villalobos of the U.S. State Department on Thursday. (AFAC/X)
“We know [the Category 1 rating will be reinstated] because the foreign minister was informed to that effect,” she said.
Alcalde said that the recovery of the top-tier rating was possible thanks to “various actions” carried out by Mexico including “some legislative changes” and “the order that is being put in place at different airports.”
She said that the good news Mexico is waiting for – which will allow Mexican airlines to add new flights to U.S. airports – will “very likely” arrive in the coming days, a prediction that turned out to be correct.
President López Obrador hands over the “baton of command” to Claudia Sheinbaum. (Claudia Sheinbaum/X)
“It was an unprecedented process, a democratic process. … It’s about breaking with el dedazo [big finger],” she said, referring to a longstanding Mexican custom in which the sitting president essentially handpicked his successor.
The Morena selection process put an end to “authoritarianism” and was agreed to by the participants, the interior minister added.
“We have to accompany President López Obrador in this titanic task of consolidating the fourth transformation. The women and men here will … accompany him until the last day of his government. We’re going to dedicate ourselves full time, 24/7, to completing all the [government] projects,” she said.
Alcalde later defended the Ministry of Finance’s proposed 2024 budget, even though it sets out spending that exceeds expected revenue. She noted that the proposal includes funding for key infrastructure projects and welfare programs.
It’s a fiscally “responsible plan” and one that will “help consolidate the projects of the fourth transformation,” Alcalde said.
In the latter country, López Obrador participated in events marking the 50th anniversary of the death of former Chilean president Salvador Allende during the military-led coup, she noted.
AMLO with Chile’s President Gabriel Boric at a ceremony giving Allende’s daughter the Aztec Order of the Eagle. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
“The president reiterated his profound respect and affection for president Salvador Allende, who he called the apostle of Chilean democracy,” Alcalde said.
“… He also reiterated that Mexico and Chile are brotherly nations, united by the ideals of freedom, justice, democracy and unconditional respect for sovereignty,” she added.
During the fortnightly health update, the director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), Zoé Robledo, reported that 806 Cuban specialist doctors have been hired to work in the public health system. He said that the médicos cubanos are working at hospitals in 16 states, some of which now have a specialist on staff for the first time ever.
“They work in places like la Mesa del Nayar [in Nayarit], the Montaña [region] of Guerrero, the Costa Chica of Oaxaca,” Robledo said.
The Cuban doctors, recruited by the current federal government due to a purported shortage of Mexican médicos, have performed over 23,000 surgical procedures, among other important work, in a period of just over a year, according to information presented by the IMSS chief.
“These 23,000 operations simply wouldn’t have happened without the presence of Cuban doctors,” Robledo said, adding that additional specialists from the Caribbean island nation would likely be hired during the coming year.
He also said that the relationship the Cubans have developed with Mexican medical staff is “extraordinary” and that health personnel at public hospitals all work as “one team.”
“Something that the Cuban specialist doctors contribute a lot is a sense of duty to medical practice,” Robledo said, adding that they are always willing to share their experience and knowledge with their Mexican colleagues.
“We truly are very thankful,” he said.
The president highlighted the government’s latest crime survey, which showed the lowest overall rate in over a decade. (Gob MX)
“There are significant reductions in crimes such as robbery on the street and public transport, and extortion,” he said.
Alcalde said that the government is “very happy” with the data calculated by the national statistics agency INEGI based on the survey results.
“It shows that the strategy of attending to the causes of violence is the correct strategy,” she said.
If young people are provided with opportunities to work and study, and if support for “those who have the least” is prioritized, progress toward “the pacification of the country” is possible, Alcalde added.
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer confirmed later in the press conference that authorities are preparing to offer additional COVID-19 vaccine shots to seniors, pregnant women and people with existing health conditions that make them vulnerable to serious disease.
He noted that almost 5.4 million doses of the Cuban-made Abdala vaccines are in storage at the state-owned medical company Birmex and that shipments of 4 million Russian-made Sputnik shots are scheduled to arrive in October and November.
Alcocer said that an additional 10.2 million shots will be required to be able to vaccinate some 20 million people in the priority categories. He indicated that some of that number could be inoculated with the Mexican-made Patria vaccine.
Wednesday
“Good morning. Cheer up. I missed you,” López Obrador said at the beginning of his first mañanera since the previous Friday.
“… We had a very good trip, and the love and respect that Colombia and Chile have for the people was confirmed once again. And it’s reciprocal, we’re brothers of those people. That’s why they treated us very well,” he said.
AMLO noted that he would attend a ceremony later in the day to mark the anniversary of the death of the niños héroes (boy heroes), military cadets who lost their lives during or shortly after a battle with invading United States forces at the Chapultepec Castle on Sept. 13, 1847.
The president at the anniversary ceremony of the “niños heroes” on Wednesday. (Gob MX)
“Let’s not forget that war was declared on Mexico unilaterally, arbitrarily, from the United States and they decided to invade us. [I’m talking about] the [Mexican-American] war of … 1847 and 1848,” he said.
“… It’s a very sad chapter in the history of Mexico because they managed to fly the United States flag here at the National Palace. And later, we had to accept the imposition of a treaty under which they took more than half our territory. It was a great blow, an act of arrogance,” López Obrador said.
The president frequently asserts that there is an interminable torrent of fake news published by the Mexican media, but perhaps that wasn’t the case this week as government official Ana García Vilchis turned her focus to social media content in her regular “Who’s Who in the Lies of the Week” segment.
“It’s not true that the government of Mexico has built or acquired a nuclear submarine,” she told reporters.
“… This is the level of fake news being spread. On the social network TikTok and others, a video and articles with supposed proof of a nuclear submarine developed by the Mexican government started circulating. … This is not true. This disinformation is so absurd that we weren’t going to present it. But given that it’s still circulating it’s better that we make it clear that a Mexican [nuclear] submarine doesn’t exist, except in the imaginations of those who navigate in a sea of lies,” García said.
The president with cabinet members and Nuevo León Governor Samuel García at the inauguration of the new aqueduct on Wednesday. (Gob MX)
“An investigation is already underway. … Progress is being made in arresting the culprits,” he said.
“… I don’t want to disclose any hypothesis,” López Obrador said, adding that he would allow law enforcement authorities to provide relevant information.
Later in his presser, AMLO rejected the suggestion that the ruling Morena party’s candidate selection process was tainted by irregularities, as former foreign minister Ebrard claims.
“I’ve been saying this for some time: el dedazo is over, el acarreo is over,” he said, referring in the second case to a practice in which political parties, most notably the PRI, bus people to rallies to swell numbers after bribing them to get on the bus with things such as money or food.
Shortly before the end of his mañanera, López Obrador noted that he would travel to Monterrey after the niños héroes ceremony to attend the inauguration of the first stage of the El Cuchillo II aqueduct, which will transport water approximately 90 kilometers from the El Cuchillo dam in eastern Nuevo León to the state capital.
“It’s an extremely important project to avoid water shortages. … We built it in record time,” he said.
“… It’s an aqueduct of around 90 kilometers and they divided it [into sections]. I believe that 10 companies [built] an average of nine, 10 kilometers each. The plants that made the pipes also behaved very well,” he said shortly before leaving the National Palace to get on with the rest of a very busy day.
He then invited “all Mexicans” to go to Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, on Friday night for the Grito – his reenactment of the Cry of Independence made by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810.
“The Grito is at 11 p.m. After the Grito, there’s a party and [Grupo Frontera] will keep playing,” AMLO said, referring to a popular Texas-based norteño band.
“… It’s a national party, everyone is invited,” he said of the pre-Independence Day festivities.
The 213th anniversary of Mexico’s independence was celebrated with fireworks and free concerts in the Zócalo of Mexico City. (Gob MX)
Turing his focus to his trip to Nuevo León on Wednesday, López Obrador said that the first stage of the new aqueduct had begun operating as planned. He said that the aqueduct will ensure Monterrey has adequate water supply for the next six to 10 years, but noted that more projects will be needed down the track to satisfy growing demand for water.
The metropolitan area has population growth rates above the national average, AMLO said, noting that a lot of companies are moving to Nuevo León because of the infrastructure already in place there, AMLO said.
“… There is growth and there’s going to continue being growth in Nuevo León, so new water supply projects have to be started, thinking about the medium and long term,” he said.
AMLO asserted that the people in China – known as chinenses – and people across Mexico, are “happy” with the state of the country and his government, in contrast to what his political adversaries say.
“Yesterday, when I went to Nuevo León, we arrived in China, the Air Force helicopter landed there … because the El Cuchillo dam is there. I got out to take the truck to the dam and the people were very affectionate. But the most touching thing was that a few kids from a school came out … and started chanting, presidente, presidente!” he said.
The president highlighted the importance of the new El Cuchillo aqueduct in Nuevo León to “avoid water shortages.” (Gob MX)
“… That’s what there is in the country. In what they call the political class, which is another world, … it’s something else, that’s where there is confrontation … and where there is criticism [of the government], questioning,” López Obrador said.
AMLO later weighed in on an issue involving a person he has been extremely critical of – Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, the presumptive presidential nominee of the Broad Front for Mexico opposition bloc.
There has been speculation that Gálvez’s home in Mexico City could be seized by authorities and demolished because it was allegedly built illegally, but López Obrador made it clear he wouldn’t support such a move.
“They’re talking about the destruction of a house that was supposedly built without papers, without permits, and that the house has to be destroyed. … No, no, no, let’s not burn books or use … a sledgehammer to destroy anything,” he said.
“And let’s see each other as adversaries to defeat, not as enemies to destroy,” AMLO added.
Friday (eve of Mexico’s Independence Day)
The president and his wife, Beatriz Gutiérrez, look out on the Zócalo after El Grito. (Gob MX)
López Obrador appeared on the presidential balcony of the National Palace at 11 p.m. to deliver El Grito de Independencia to a packed Zócalo and millions of Mexicans celebrating “el 15” at home. Here’s the transcript of his remarks and an English translation.
Autumn is finally upon us, and with that, what many Mexicans call a veritable marathon of días festivos. It’s a time to have fun, party, and convivir (spend quality time) with your friends and family.
It is not, I repeat, is not a time to go on a diet.
Independence Day
First is Mexico’s Independence Day (September 16), where Mexicans dress up like more traditional versions of themselves and gather in their town squares – the ones who like going out in crowds, anyway – to shout ¡Viva Mexico! (etc.) in a call and answer chant with the highest-level local leader around and revel in their cool Mexican-ness.
A version of this often takes place at elementary schools, with different kids dressing up as various Mexican Independence heroes for a re-enactment. I always find it especially fun to see a kid donning a half-bald wig to interpret Father Hidalgo.
Día de Muertos
After Independence Day, it’s time to prepare for Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), a several-day celebration dating back to pre-Hispanic times of one’s departed loved ones. While some families’ celebrations might be somewhat somber – especially for those with recently departed loved ones – overall, it’s a lively celebration, filling towns and cities with altars, cultural events, and people with faces painted as colorful calaveritas (skulls).
Posadas
As there’s no Thanksgiving celebration in Mexico, there is no official buffer between Day of the Dead and Christmas, meaning most people inclined to decorate just can’t stop themselves from putting up their Christmas trees in early November. Posadas (which is the word for “inn”) are basically traditional Christmas parties that re-enact a very pregnant Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay and include piñatas, are carried out all over the country, and pastorelas, a humorous play about shepherds following the star searching for Baby Jesus while being tempted by devils and guided by angels, are performed in schools and churches.
Christmas
Christmas Eve is typically “the big day,” and to my personal morning-person horror, the big meal is served chiefly at midnight. It’s typical to spend it with friends, not just family. Christmas Day is mainly used for sleeping in after the big party. Gifts are primarily for children, and parents tend not to go overboard; some save gifts for Three King’s Day (see below).
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are usually for partying with one’s family and also – you guessed it – eating a big meal at midnight.
Día de Reyes y La Candelaria
January 6th is Three Kings Day (Día de Reyes), where children receive gifts traditionally. (Santa Claus is around because of the US influence, but the Three Kings are the ones who bring you gifts around here, which makes sense, as bringing a kid gifts is what made them famous in the first place.)
It’s also the day to eat rosca de reyes – a round piece of baked bread decorated with candied fruit on top. Inside the rosca are little plastic baby dolls (there’s supposed to be just one, but we almost always find at least 5). If you get a plastic baby in your piece of bread, you are responsible for (drum roll, please!)…giving everyone tamales on February 2, Candelaria Day!
It’s quite a marathon, and again, this bears repeating: don’t even try to start a diet while it’s going on.
You can dance if you want to!
Why do I mention all of these festivities? Because I want to assure you that you’re allowed to participate in them.
A few days ago, the paper’s owner, Travis, showed me a post. It was from a recently-arrived foreigner in Mexico wondering if it would be seen as cultural appropriation to participate in Mexican festivities, such as painting one’s face for Day of the Dead.
Good news! You can participate. You’re encouraged to participate! Mexicans are welcoming, generous, and pretty darn gregarious, too, and they’re not going to scowl at you for braiding your hair this weekend or wearing a bolero tie. They’ll help you paint your face for Day of the Dead and invite you to their posadas.
The dynamics of cultural appropriation here are not the same because the circumstances aren’t the same. We’re in their house. They’re clearly the bosses, the ones who lead the way. Foreigners participating in their traditions are foreigners honoring their traditions. We are not, as we might be seen in the US or Canada, a dominant cultural group virtue-signaling by trying to show off our familiarity with a non-dominant group or trying to take over ownership.
Here, we’re the ones being absorbed, not the other way around. And that’s the beauty of being in a new place: we are changed by the circumstances and environments around us, the way changing light and shadows play to make one color on one wall look a thousand different ways. Letting yourself reflect on what’s happening around you is the most human thing you can do.
So, enjoy. Participate. Learn.
And keep some of your baggier pairs of pants on hand. You might need them.
*These celebrations and their forms can vary according to the locality within the country where you find yourself.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.
Jason Cox and a coworker (female) of 5 Sentidos, at a Mexico in a Bottle event in San Diego. (Joe Ramirez/ Mezcalistas)
The recent rise of mezcal has been meteoric, and women are finding opportunities with the beverage’s chic status in Mexico City and beyond. Traditionally, the mezcal world has been male-dominated, with women playing a secondary role at best in production and sales.
Today, several savvy women see opportunities to create new rules. In less than a decade, they have had a significant impact on marketing and distribution, providing support to producers and shaping mezcal’s image and future demand.
Laura Espinoza and mezcal maker Rossy Echave of Sunora Bacanora at Tianguis Turístico – the most important tourist event held by the Mexican government (Leigh Thelmadatter)
The overall market is growing, and some producers in Mexico have managed to create regional and national brands, following the lead of tequila. However, most mezcal is still made by small operations that do not even have a label. This suits certain connoisseurs just fine, as they are turned off by the glitz and industrialization that has overtaken tequila. The problem is bringing together small, isolated producers with superior products, with drinkers willing to pay a better price for an authentic experience.
Women with marketing, legal, bureaucratic and public relations skills are looking to bridge this gap, not just to sell more mezcal but also to avoid the problems of too much demand. They have created businesses and non-profit organizations combining their professional training and connection with their personal “discoveries” of mezcal at some point in their lives.
How they got started
Paloma Rivera’s relationship with mezcal began while still a student studying ecologically friendly and sustainable business in Mexico City. She learned from mezcaleros as part of research projects, which led to selling mezcal locally and at small events – the start of Tianguis Mezcalero. Eventually, she shifted to representing rural mezcal-making families at retail outlets and larger cultural events in Mexico City. In 2019, she began creating her own events for networking, consumer education, and fun.
Paloma Rivera of Tianguis Mezcalero promoting the legacy of master mezcal maker Melquiades Tlacotempa of the state of Guerrero (Tianguis Mezcalero)
Maria Elena Aguiñaga Ortega’s Comuna 52 is a more recent addition to this field but operates similarly. She planned an export operation, taking advantage of her work at the National Bank of Commerce and a brother living in France. After researching several traditional products, she finally settled on mezcal. Aguiñaga and her family now promote a catalog of mezcales from all over Mexico, both inside and outside the country.
Laura Espinoza’s road to bacanora (Sonora’s version of mezcal with its own appellation of origin protection) was really a return to her roots. Due to prohibitions and a “moonshine” reputation, bacanora was not part of her life growing up, even though she hails from the town the spirit is named after. However, instead of forming a for-profit company, Espinoza’s efforts combine her political and business connections, founding the non-profit Sonora chapter of the Association of Women of Bacanora and Maguey of Mexico. Although Espinoza’s organization is the most female-specific, she has a holistic view, realizing that the entire bacanora-producing community of eastern Sonora needs to cooperate to help lift this impoverished area.
Susan Coss did not decide that she liked mezcal until she tried it a third time, finding someone in Oaxaca who truly knew where to find a good product. Since 2010, she has been traveling the back roads of Mexico looking for new mezcales to bring to the United States. Mezcalistas operates primarily through events like Mexico in a Bottle in cities nationwide.
These women have chosen a challenging task. “The mezcal market is changing rapidly in both product and how it is marketed,” says Rivera. “…you have to get the attention of people who are always in a hurry and you must educate them why mezcal is worth a higher price.” All have developed similar ways of meeting that challenge.
Comuna 52 regularly partners with Carbonvino in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City to offer tastings of new and unique mezcales. (courtesy Comuna 52)
Elements in common
Most importantly, these women are passionate about promoting and conserving small-batch, regional mezcales made the traditional way. These products are the most authentic but also in the most danger of disappearing or being usurped by larger companies. All look to conserve and improve life for traditional producers by getting better prices for their products so that they can resist the temptation to change or modernize their operations. One absolute here is that the mezcales are promoted under the names of their producers. You won’t find them slapping their own names on bottles – or worse – those of U.S. celebrities (as has happened with tequila).
Instead, these organizations work to reach educated consumers. Specialty mezcal is very much a niche market that needs loyal buyers who understand and appreciate that they are buying much more than an alcoholic beverage; they are buying culture. Events are a vital part of this education, as they provide information, fun and the opportunity to try different flavors. Comuna 52 and Mezcalistas have blogs (in Spanish and English, respectively) with the stories behind the mezcales and the regional cultures where they are produced. Tianguis Mezcalero partnered with other women in production and sales to create the book “Miradas femeninas desde el mezcal“ (Spanish only).
Cover of the book “Miradas femininas desde el mezcal” which documents the stories of four female producers and four promoters. (courtesy Tianguis Mezcalero)
I should mention that although not a feminist issue, all of the women I interviewed had concerns about the sustainability of this kind of mezcal. Tequila has been an example of what to emulate and avoid. Comuna 52 prefers mezcales made from wild agave, as “… being surrounded by other plants affects the quality of the agave,” but this may not be sustainable as demand continues to grow. Espinoza’s organization promotes a “cut one, plant two” ethic among bacanora producers, realizing Mother Nature needs a hand now and in the future.
It remains to be seen if and how the mezcal industry in Mexico can develop, avoiding the issues of identity, sustainability and mundane commercialization that have plagued tequila. But perhaps the participation of women from diverse regions of the country gives mezcal a better chance than tequila has had in an almost exclusively male domain in a single region.
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.
It’s not that they’re delicious (although they are!) It’s the gooey, melty, yummy cheese you can’t get enough of: queso Chihuahua.
Along with queso Oaxaca, Chihuahua cheeseisMexico’s answer tomozzarella or Monterey Jack. It’s not to be mistaken for cotija, the slightly sour and often quite salty dried cheese sprinkled on top of many traditional Mexican dishes. Chihuahua is a semi-soft melting cheese, lightly aged (only 2-4 weeks) with a mild flavor. Depending on the butterfat content of the milk, it might have a pale yellowish tinge, but usually it’s quite white. Sometimes, the cheese is pressed and can be known as Campesino Menonita because of this process.
Menonita Cheese (Parrillero)
Possibly, you’ve seen Mennonites, men and boys in overalls and straw hats, women in long skirts or dresses, selling cheese at streetlights. They invented Queso Chihuahua, and you could consider them artisan producers. Most of the Mennonite communities in Mexico are in the northern state of Chihuahua, hence the name. In some places, it’s known as queso Menonita, though nowadays other commercial producers make it too. They’ll be selling the cheese in blocks, braids, or balls and it’s worth buying some if you have the opportunity.
Otherwise, avoid packaged brands in the grocery store and search out a cremeria (like a deli that sells dairy products, luncheon meats, salsas, eggs, etc.) in a market. Those vendors will have big rounds that look like the classic wheels of Parmesan we’ve seen in Anthony Bourdain’s and Stanley Tucci’s Italian food shows. Usually, they’re happy to let you taste a tiny slice first, and once you decide which brand you like best (they will all have slightly different flavors), they’ll cut you whatever size piece you want.
Because it’s so versatile, Chihuahua cheese is good to have on hand. Besides being an integral part of so many traditional Mexican foods, it’s perfect for just about anything you’d use mozzarella for: tuna melts, grilled cheese sandwiches, queso fundido, hash browns or pizza.
Cheesy Eggs on Toast
Cheesy eggs on toast (dinnerplanner)
2 large eggs
Salt and pepper
1½ Tbsp. butter
1 slice bread
¼ cup shredded Chihuahua cheese
Whisk eggs with salt and pepper. In a small nonstick skillet, melt a thin slice of the butter over medium-low heat. Swipe the bread in the melted butter, then sauté the buttered side until golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Lift the bread out of the pan with a spatula, melt another slice of butter, then sauté the other side of the bread until golden. Remove to a plate.
Add remaining butter and eggs and cook, stirring gently and constantly with a spatula, until butter melts and eggs are half wet and half solid 15-45 seconds. Turn off the heat, add cheese and continue stirring until the mixture is creamy but no longer wet, about 30-45 seconds more. Scrape onto the toast immediately and enjoy.
Waffled Cheese
3 Tbsp. flour
½ tsp. paprika
½ lb. Chihuahua cheese, sliced about ½-inch thick
2 eggs
½ cup breadcrumbs
Nonstick cooking spray
Optional: Salsa for serving
Preheat waffle iron, setting it to medium if it has temperature controls. Spray both sides with nonstick spray.
On a plate, mix flour with paprika. In a small bowl, whisk eggs. Place breadcrumbs on another plate. Dredge cheese slices in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Place as many cheese slices as will fit in a single layer in the waffle iron; close the lid. Cook until breadcrumbs turn golden brown, about 1 minute. Repeat with remaining cheese. Serve hot with salsa for dipping.
Mushroom Quesadillas
12 oz. mixed fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
¾ cup minced white onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 Serrano chilies, seeded and minced
3 Tbsp. neutral oil
Salt to taste
1½ cups shredded Chihuahua cheese
6 fresh corn tortillas
Optional: Butter for sautéeing
For serving: Salsa verde, sour cream
In a medium bowl, mix mushrooms, onion, garlic and chilies. Place oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering, add the mushroom mixture. Cook, stirring, until mushrooms are browned, 6-10 minutes, seasoning very lightly with salt about halfway through. Scrape into a bowl, taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Divide cheese among the tortillas, spreading a portion over half of each tortilla, leaving a small 1-inch cheese-free border at the edge. Divide the mushroom mixture between the tortillas, placing it on top of the cheese. Fold the empty side of the tortilla over the filling; press firmly to close.
Heat a cast-iron or other heavy griddle over medium heat. Cook quesadillas in batches, turning once, until light golden brown and crisp, about 3 minutes per side. If desired, melt a little butter in a pan before frying for a crispier tortilla. Serve immediately with sour cream and salsa verde.
Experts predict a 10-day strike would cause monthly losses of up to US $2 billion to the Mexican auto industry. (Ford Authority)
The strike by “Big Three” auto workers that began Friday at assembly plants in the United States could have a big impact in Mexico, particularly in northern states where auto parts are manufactured for export.
The website Mexico Business News reported that if the strike among employees of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent company Stellantis endures, Mexico’s automotive sector could face monthly losses of up to US $2 billion. “Mexico’s automotive industry is very worried,” conceded Raúl Moreno, who runs an automotive industry consulting firm.
Auto workers for the “Big 3” auto companies are striking across the United States, which will have immediate impacts on operations south of the border. (@UWA/X)
In the Northern border state of Coahuila alone, the automotive export industry supports 65,000 jobs making headlights, gas tanks, car interiors, door panels, air bags and other components.
Sergio Aguilar, president of the Ramos Arizpe Association of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, which represents assembly plants and manufacturers in Coahuila, estimated that around 10%, or 6,500 jobs, will be affected by the strike.
“We learned from past experiences, and now we’re fully prepared,” said Aguilar, alluding to a 40-day strike in 2019 by the United Auto Workers (UAW) at General Motors (GM) assembly plants in the U.S.
From that experience, and also throughout the pandemic, Mexican assemblers gained insight into effectively managing inventories and implementing measures to mitigate disruptions.
GM, Ford and Stellantis auto plants in Mexico may avoid total shutdown by offering trainings, conducting repairs and doing maintenance at the factories. (GM Authority)
GM and Stellantis have plants in Ramos Arizpe, a Coahuila municipality less than 50 miles from Monterrey, Nuevo León. Ford has an engine factory in the industrial zone of Chihuahua City.
“The Ford plant in Chihuahua will be hit heavily because they bring in U.S.-made engines for final assembly,” Aguilar said. “If they don’t have these engines, they will have to shut down the plant.”
Reuters cited a statement from GM on Friday in reporting that GM’s Mexico plants will “continue operating as normal.”
But many companies in Mexico will resort to “sending their employees on vacation,” Aguilar said, or reducing work shifts to prevent the buildup of inventory that would remain unused in the U.S.
Nearshoring to Mexico and low wages are the hot topics surrounding the UAW strike. (@UAW/X)
Aguilar cited data going back to 1970 that suggests the average duration of this type of strike is 10 weeks. According to Moreno, “Mexico would start feeling the impact as early as week three.”
The National Auto Parts Industry (INA), a group representing Mexican manufacturers, predicts the strike will cause a US $76 million hit to the auto parts sector in Mexico in just the first week.
If and when there is a reduction in employees’ hours, the INA said in a statement that it will support its manufacturers in using the extra time for training, especially “in new technologies such as electromobility,” or to do repairs and maintenance on assembly lines.
The Ford Chihuahua City plant may completely shut down during the strike because it relies on U.S. imports of Ford engines to operate. (Ford Authority)
Jaime Guerra Pérez, the executive vice president for the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry (CANACINTRA) and a former Coahuila economic minister, said the precarious nature of the automotive industry’s “just-in-time” system is concerning.
The industry relies on minimal inventory and timely production, and if manufacturing were to cease at U.S. plants, the supply chain would grind to a halt. However, Guerra Pérez did say that some auto parts factories, particularly in Coahuila, export to countries besides the United States.
According to a recent study by Anderson Economic Group (AEG), a 10-day strike at Ford Motor, GM and Stellantis plants would result in a US $5 billion blow to the U.S. economy. “The impact could be brutal,” Moreno said, “so I don’t think they’ll let it go on very long.”
One of the catalysts of growth in southern Mexico has been the Maya Train project. (ELIZABETH RUIZ/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Supercharged by public and private construction projects, economic growth in Mexico’s south and southeast easily exceeded growth in three other more industrialized regions of the country in the first half of 2023, according to data published by the Bank of Mexico (Banxico).
The central bank’s latest Regional Economies Report shows that the southern region made up of Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán recorded 6% annual growth in the second quarter of the year and a 4.6% expansion between January and March.
The port of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, is on the western side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The interoceanic trade corridor will connect this port with Coatzacoalcos in Veracruz. (Government of Oaxaca/Twitter)
Those levels of growth were well above the GDP expansions registered in Mexico’s central, central north and northern regions in the first half of the year. The Banxico data is very encouraging for a region that includes Mexico’s poorest and least developed states.
In Q2, the central region – made up of eight entities including Mexico City – ranked second for growth with a 3.2% annual expansion, while the central north, including some of the states of the highly industrialized Bajío region, recorded growth of 3.1%.
The northern region – made up of Mexico’s six northern border states – lagged behind the other three sectors of the country with year-over-year growth of just 1.9% between April and June. The relatively weak growth there is mainly linked to economic factors in the United States. National growth was 3.6% in Q2.
Banxico data shows that the construction sector drove growth in the southern region in the first two quarters of the year. Annual growth in that industry was 34.9% in Q1 and an impressive 72.5% in Q2.
The president shows the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor project at a press conference earlier this year. (Gob MX)
Projects including the Maya Train railroad, the Tulum airport, the Nichupté Lagoon bridge in Cancún and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor all helped boost construction sector growth. Private sector construction of homes and residential estates in states such as Quintana Roo, Oaxaca and Yucatán also contributed to the strong growth.
Banxico noted that interest in purchasing properties to subsequently rent them out on websites such as Airbnb is on the rise in the region.
The construction of new industrial properties, including auto parts factories in Veracruz, was also a factor in the construction sector growth recorded in Mexico’s southern region.
Executives from Heineken Mexico, Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro (center) and Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila (second from left) attended the announcement of the 8.7 billion peso investment. (Economia Mexico/X)
While the numbers are nowhere near as impressive as those for construction, the manufacturing (5.7% growth), mining (3.7%), retail (3.8%), tourism (1.9%) and agriculture (0.5%) sectors in southern and southeastern Mexico also made gains in the April to June quarter.
Some factories have seen an increase in demand for their steel products for use in the Maya Train project, Banxico said. The railroad, which is scheduled to start operations in December, is expected to spur additional economic growth in Mexico’s south and southeast, as are other government projects in the region such as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor, touted as an alternative to the Panama Canal.
Another factor that contributed to the strong overall growth recorded in the southern region in the second quarter was an increase in output at the Pemex refineries in Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and Minatitlán, Veracruz.
Banxico on Thursday also reported data based on a survey of companies with at least 100 employees. In the south and southeast, 19.5% of surveyed companies said in June that they had recorded an increase in production or sales over the past 12 months or received additional investment due to higher general demand and/or the relocation of companies to that region.
The percentage was higher for the other regions: 28.6% in central Mexico, 27.1% in the north and 22.8% in the central north. The nationwide figure was 26.1%.
Delfina Gómez was sworn in on Thursday as the first woman to govern the state of México. (Delfina Gómez/X)
México state has a female governor for the first time ever after former federal education minister Delfina Gómez was sworn in on Thursday.
Gómez, who served as education minister in the current federal government between February 2021 and September 2022, takes office just over three months after she defeated Alejandra del Moral Vela in the gubernatorial election in Mexico’s most populous state.
Delfina Gómez won the election in June, bringing Morena to a total of 23 governorships in the country. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
She ended almost 100 years of Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) rule in México state by winning the election on a ticket backed by the ruling Morena party.
After she was sworn in the state Congress at a ceremony attended by President López Obrador, Gómez outlined some of her plans as governor.
She committed herself to leading an honest and inclusive government that prioritizes assistance for the state’s most marginalized people and pledged to address water supply problems. Gómez, a former teacher and mayor of Texcoco, also pledged to implement austerity measures including pay cuts for state officials and to increase the severity of punishment for people who commit crimes against women, animals and the environment.
In addition, she committed to getting rid of the fuero – immunity from prosecution – for public officials including deputies and holding a “revocation of mandate” referendum on her governorship halfway through her six-year term.
Former President Enrique Peña Nieto (seen here in 2015) was also a PRI governor of the State of México. (Wikimedia Commons)
“A public servant who doesn’t fulfill his or her assignment with rectitude and integrity will be dismissed and if applicable punished with the full weight of the law. [We’ve had] enough of so much corruption,” Gómez told attendees of the event held in state capital Toluca.
México state, which includes many municipalities that are part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, has long been a stronghold for the PRI, the party that ruled the country uninterruptedly between 1929 and 2000.
But after 94 straight years of PRI rule in México state, voters decided in June that they were ready for change.
Gómez, whose term in government officially commences Saturday, is now one of 23 governors affiliated with Morena and its allies.
There are currently eight other female governors, six of whom represent Morena, while two women – Claudia Sheinbaum and Xóchitl Gálvez – have been selected as the presidential candidates for Morena and the Broad Front for Mexico opposition bloc, respectively.
