Wednesday, April 30, 2025

Judge suspends clear-cutting on Sections 3-6 of Maya Train

By
Cat Rainsford
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A judge has ordered the cessation of logging activities on several major sections of the Maya Train. (Isabel Mateos/Cuartoscuro)

A judge has ordered the total suspension of logging activity in Sections 3 to 6 of the Maya Train route, stretching from Calkiní, Campeche, through Yucatán state to Chetumal, Quintana Roo. 

The affected area forms the majority of the planned railway, as well as almost the entirety of the Caribbean coastal section.

The construction of the train, which will transport both passengers and cargo, is a major infrastructure project, and critics say it risks permanently damaging the fragile ecosystem in the region. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)

Yucatán’s First District Court granted the injunction after a petition by a coalition of local environmentalists and civil society organizations, who argued that authorities had failed to obtain necessary permissions for a change of use of forest lands.

The petition was upheld, as the complainants proved they belonged to communities with strong ties to the local ecosystem and were at risk of being negatively affected by the change in land use. 

The victorious coalition included indigenous, farming, urban and coastal communities from all three affected states.

“The removal of forest vegetation is not allowed in areas that are outside the authorizations of change of land use in forest lands,” the resolution states.

An artist's conception of the Maya Train.
The train will link much of southern Mexico, which the government hopes will provide economic support to the traditionally underdeveloped region. (Fonatur)

Mexico’s Environmental Ministry has already issued these authorizations for most of Sections 3–6, but areas remain where work has continued, despite the lack of full authorization. The court found that the ministry’s authorization was insufficient since it did not include a technical study of the potential environmental repercussions of the logging work.

“Continuing with the logging and clearing activities for the construction of the Maya Train megaproject without having obtained authorizations for change of use can cause communities and organizations to suffer an irreparable impact on their right to a healthy environment,” the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda) said in a statement.

Cemda also called on the judiciary to act with greater diligence regarding the Maya Train, given that “in the face of the suspensions previously issued, the responsible authorities have not complied with the established determinations.”

In January, the First District Court of Mérida issued a temporary injunction against work on Section 5 of the Maya Train, which runs between Cancún and Tulum, in response to complaints about unauthorized changes in land use.

At the time, activist José Urbina pointed out that “forest law says that if you cut down a tree without authorization, you cannot touch the area for 20 years.”

A day after the injunction, however, environmental groups reported via social media that work continued in the area, and called on their supporters to help publicize and ensure enforcement of the ruling. Construction on Section 5 also continued through last year despite several previous injunctions, after the government declared the project a matter of national security. 

The controversial 1,500-km railroad loop was a key campaign promise of President López Obrador, who sees it as vital to the economic development of the Yucatán Peninsula and southern Mexico.

With reports from Reforma and La Jornada

CDMX surpasses Tapachula in number of asylum applications in May

By
Cat Rainsford
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Asylum requests in Mexico City are outstripping those at the southern border, which is leading to slow processing times. (Daniel Augosto/Cuartoscuro)

For the first time on record, the Mexican Commission of Refugee Assistance (Comar) is receiving more asylum applications in Mexico City than in the southern city of Tapachula, on the border with Guatemala. 

Comar director Andrés Ramírez told Milenio newspaper that the increase in asylum applications in the capital had been noticed in the first 18 days of May, a trend which may continue.

A significant number of migrants – primarily those from Haiti – have set up makeshift camps in the Juárez area of Mexico City, while they wait for their applications to be processed. (Daniel Augosto/Cuartoscuro)

“The panorama is changing because all these years it has been in Chiapas, between Tapachula and Palenque, where by far the most people have requested refuge,” he said, adding that the southern state has historically accounted for 70% of all requests.

Over recent years, however, Tapachula has seen such a growing influx of migrants, it has left local offices struggling to cope. 

An estimated 40,000 migrants are stuck in the city, mostly waiting for humanitarian visas that would allow them to cross the country legally. Tired of waiting for appointments, several groups of migrants have formed mass caravans to walk north to Mexico City or the United States border.

“At the rate we’re going, we will easily reach 140,000 asylum seekers in Comar,” Ramírez told Milenio. “It would be a historic mark.”

Many migrants began their journeys in South America, crossing the infamous Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama in search of passage toward the United States. (Pedro Anza/Cuartoscuro)

He said a key driver of this increase had been mass migration of Haitians, many of them fleeing the spiraling political crisis and gang warfare in their home country. Others are Haitians who had lived in Chile or Brazil prior to arriving in Mexico. Including this latter group, Haitians accounted for 65.1% of asylum applications in the first 18 days of May, Ramírez tweeted.

Once in Mexico City, many Haitians are still left in bureaucratic limbo, sleeping in tents while their applications are shuttled between Comar and the National Migration Institute (INM). Most are not seeking refugee status – which does not permit transit outside of the state of issue – but the humanitarian visitor card that would allow them to continue their journey to the U.S. 

Some allege that the confusion between these two documents is used to stall both processes.

“Mexico does not want immigrants; Mexico only wants us to go to the United States,” one migrant told El País newspaper in April. “But they do not want to give us the paper to continue, and we cannot stay here.”

A recent World Bank report cited Mexico as one of several countries that is seeing net decreases in population and will need migrant talent as its population demographics shift.

With reports from Milenio

Ballet about the life of Sor Juana premieres in New York City

By
MND Staff
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Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a 17th-century nun, is considered an icon in Mexico's literary history. (Wikimedia Commons)

On Thursday, the New York City Center will be the stage for the premiere of “Sor Juana,” the latest work by Texan choreographer Michelle Manzanales inspired by the life of the 17th-century Mexican poet and nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.  

Performed by 14 dancers of the Ballet Hispánico, the ballet uses contemporary dance to tell “an abstracted version” of the life of Sor Juana, “considered by many to be the first feminist in the Americas,” Manzanales told news agency EFE. Ballet Hispánico is a leading U.S. dance company and describes itself as the “largest Latinx/Latine/Hispanic cultural organization” in the United States.

Ballet Hispánico
Members of Ballet Hispánico, based in New York City. (Ballet Hispánico/Twitter)

Sor Juana, an icon of Mexican culture whose face appears on the 100-peso bill, is not as well known in the U.S., although the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago does host an annual festival bearing her name. The piece, then, was a perfect fit with Ballet Hispanico’s mission to disseminate “the narratives of [the Latino] diaspora,” Manzanales said.  

Born Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Santillana in 1648, Sor Juana was the illegitimate child of a Spanish officer and a wealthy criolla woman. After spending her adolescence as a lady-in-waiting in the court of the Viceroy of New Spain, marriage or taking religious orders were the only options available to a woman of Inés’ social status. She chose the latter: “Given the total aversion I felt toward the idea of marriage,” she wrote in 1691 letter, convent life “was the least unreasonable and most decent choice I could make.” 

Largely self-taught, she devoted her life in the Convent of San Jerónimo to producing a body of literary and poetic work that covered subjects as varied as astronomy, music, religion and love. She studied the Greek and Roman classics as well as logic, rhetoric, physics, music, arithmetic, geometry, architecture, history, and law. 

Sor Juana is now seen as an important precursor of feminism before that concept even existed. In a public letter written to the bishop of Puebla, she argued that women had the right and ability to dedicate themselves to intellectual life, not just prayer or raising children. 

Though her bravery in criticizing a church superior would lead to her being admonished by the Archbishop of Mexico, a moment that marked the beginning of the end of her literary production, Sor Juana’s prolific work gained her the respect and admiration of viceroys, clergy and intellectuals of her time. Today, Sor Juana is regarded as one colonial Latin America’s of the most important writers and thinkers and an inspiration for those who seek to live “without shame or censorship,” Manzanares added. 

In an interview with The New York Times, Manzanares said that she “was intrigued by all the different things [Sor Juana] did, and the things she was fighting for at that time, and how relevant they are even today.”

One aspect of Sor Juana’s life that modern audiences have found is the possibility that she may have loved women, an idea explored in works like the 1990 film “I, the Worst of All,” which suggests a romantic relationship between Sor Juana and the Countess of Paredes, who in addition to being a patron of Sor Juana was Vicereine of New Spain from 1680 to 1686. This theme has also been explored in the 2016 Canal Once miniseries “Juana Inés” and Octavio Paz’s 1988 book “Sor Juana: Or, the Traps of Faith,” a critical re-examination of Sor Juana’s work. 

Manzanares’s ballet explores this thesis in a passage for two women. In the scene, Sor Juana, danced by Gabrielle Sprauve, delicately emerges and begins a hypnotic dance with another woman, danced by Isabel Robles, as a voice recites one of Sor Juana’s love poems. This passage, described as the ballet’s central scene, invites the audience to question the connection between the two women.  

Tina Ramírez
The founder of Ballet Hispánico, Tina Ramírez, died in 2022 at 92 years old. (Ballet Hispánico)

Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director and CEO of Ballet Hispánico, emphasizes that “sor Juana”  is the result of “a woman creating for another woman,” which shows how the dance company is leading change in an industry dominated by men. 

“Sor Juana” will premier at the opening of a charity gala that remembers the legacy Tina Ramírez, Ballet Hispánico’s founder. 

With reports from López Dóriga and The New York Times

Unemployment in Q1 of 2023 decreased to lowest level on record

By
MND Staff
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Mexican women working in factory
Mexico's unemployment rate is the lowest since 2005, when records began to be kept. (Government of Mexico)

Mexico had a good start to the year in economic terms, with unemployment declining to its lowest level on record in the first quarter and gross domestic product (GDP) increasing 3.7% compared to the first three months of 2022.

The national statistics agency INEGI reported Monday that the unemployment rate was 2.7% in the first quarter of 2023, down from 3.5% a year earlier.

Mexico's economic stats
Of Mexico’s economically active population of 60.1 million people, 58.5 million were partially or fully employed in 2023’s first quarter.

The rate is the lowest since comparable records were first kept in 2005.

INEGI said that Mexico’s economically active population (PEA) in the first quarter was 60.1 million people, an increase of 2 million from a year earlier. The PEA is made up of people aged 15 and older who are in work or looking for work.

While 58.5 million people — 97.3% of the PEA — had jobs in the first quarter, 4.3 million of that number were underemployed, INEGI said. The total number of unemployed people was 1.6 million.

Ana Bertha Gutiérrez, a labor market expert with the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, a think tank, said that high inflation may have helped lower the unemployment rate.

cattle in Durango
All three of Mexico’s economic sectors saw gains. The primary sector, which includes agriculture and hunting and fishing, saw growth of 2.9%. (Government of Durango)

The 2.7% unemployment rate “might reflect greater participation in the economy due to factors like inflation or the need to cover … [life’s] basics. … [Those factors] can incentivize people to join the workforce more quickly,” she said.

People can’t survive for very long without income, so they look to find work as quickly as possible, Gutiérrez said.

Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at the Mexican bank Banco Base, said that the growing nearshoring phenomenon — the relocation of companies to Mexico to be close to the United States market — and associated job creation helped drive unemployment down to a record low.

While the vast majority of Mexicans who are able to and want to work have jobs, over half of them work in the informal sector, meaning that they don’t pay tax and don’t have access to social security benefits.

INEGI noted that 32.2 million people with jobs — 55.1% of the employed population — were working in the informal sector in the first quarter of the year.

The three states with the highest percentage of informal sector workers were Oaxaca (80%), Guerrero (79.3%) and Chiapas (73.9%). The three states with the lowest percentages were Chihuahua (34.1%), Coahuila (34.6%) and Nuevo León (36.7%).

Employment fair in Oaxaca city
An employment fair in Oaxaca city. The state had the highest numbers of informal workers in 2023’s first quarter. (Government of Oaxaca city)

INEGI compiled its employment data via a national survey conducted in the first quarter of the year.

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) reported separately that the average daily base salary of IMSS-affiliated workers at the end of March was 525 pesos (just under US $30), an 11.2% increase compared to a year earlier.

Meanwhile, GDP increased 3.7% in seasonally-adjusted terms in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the first three months of last year, INEGI reported.

Data published last Friday showed that the tertiary, or service sector, of the economy grew 4.2% in annual terms, while the primary and secondary sectors recorded growth of 2.9% and 2.4%, respectively.

INEGI also reported that the economy grew 1% in Q1 compared to the final three months of 2022. The primary sector declined 2.8% compared to Q4 of last year, but the secondary and tertiary sectors recorded GDP growth of 0.6% and 1.5%, respectively.

“The tertiary sector has defied a series of obstacles, including high inflation,” said Andrés Abadia, chief Latin America economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

By far, Mexico’s biggest economic sector is its tertiary sector, or services sector. And it did not disappoint in Q1, where it saw 4.2% growth in annual terms, the highest jump of Mexico’s three sectors.  

The annual and quarter-over-quarter growth figures were both 0.1 percentage points lower than those based on preliminary data reported in late April.

Data shows that Mexico’s economy grew for a sixth consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2023, a positive streak that hadn’t occurred since 2016 and 2017.

President López Obrador last Friday described Mexico’s unemployment and growth rates as “good news.”

He also highlighted the strength of the peso (about 17.65 to the US dollar on Tuesday morning) and noted that inflation fell to 6% in the first half of May.

While the economy is growing, the think tank México ¿cómo vamos? noted that GDP per capita is currently at 2015 levels. GDP per capita had been on the rise but fell sharply in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions, and hasn’t yet recovered.

“The pie is growing, but there are more consumers,” said economist Pablo Cotler, offering a simple explanation of the situation.

With reports from El Financiero, El Economista and Reforma

Mexico’s human rights agency finds no evidence of state espionage

By
MND Staff
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Rosario Piedra Ibarra
Rosario Piedra Ibarra, the president of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), has been criticized by some for supporting the president's policies, including increased use of the military. (Moisés Pablo Nava / Cuartoscuro.com)

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has responded to media reports that claimed that Deputy Interior Minister Alejandro Encinas has been a victim of espionage, saying that it had found no evidence that the federal government is currently using the Pegasus spyware system or spying.

The New York Times reported May 22 that the deputy interior minister for human rights, population and migration has been spied on repeatedly with the Israeli-developed Pegasus system, which can infiltrate and extract information from cell phones.

Alejandro Encinas, Mexico's Deputy Interior Minister
Deputy Interior Minister Alejandro Encinas acknowledged that the civilians were unarmed and did not pose a threat to the troops that confronted them. (Andrea Murcia Monsivais/Cuartoscuro)

The Washington Post reported last Thursday that Pegasus had been found on Encinas’ cellphone and those of “at least two other people in his office, according to three people briefed on the matter.”

The Times cited unnamed people who spoke to Encinas about the hack as well as a forensic analysis conducted by the University of Toronto-based Citizen Lab, which has researched and reported on the use of Pegasus in Mexico.

The newspaper said there was “no definitive proof” which government agency used Pegasus to infiltrate Encinas’ phone, but added that “the military is the only entity in Mexico that has access to the spyware, according to five people familiar with the contracts.”

The CNDH said in a statement on Sunday that it regretted “leaks regarding alleged espionage against” Encinas, who has played a leading role in the government’s investigation into the disappearance and presumed murder of 43 students who were abducted in Guerrero in 2014.

Protest at military base near Ayotzinapa teachers' college
A protest last year by students from the Ayotzinapa teachers’ college and family members of the 43 students, who have been missing since 2014. (Voices in Movement)

The rights commission noted that it has been investigating espionage in Mexico, and in particular the Pegasus system, for months, explaining that it had launched a probe into alleged espionage against “people who participate in” human rights organizations.”

The CNDH said it found no evidence that indicated that “the federal government, or any entity thereof, is currently using the Pegasus system or carrying out espionage.”

It added that it was important to “clarify” who is actually carrying out espionage in Mexico – which it described as “reprehensible and unacceptable” conduct – and “what interests they serve.”

The CNDH called on “those involved” – presumably alleged victims of espionage and media organizations that have reported on the allegations or made assertions themselves – to “provide all the evidence they have so that speculation is transcended” and a proper investigation can be carried out.

Director of Mexico's Animal Politico newspaper Daniel Moreno
Director of news website Animal Político, Daniel Moreno, has said Pegasus spyware was used to spy on one of his journalists during this administration. (Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro)

Despite evidence to the contrary, President López Obrador asserts that his government does not spy on anyone and only performs “intelligence work” to combat organized crime.

On Tuesday, he reiterated that the government doesn’t spy on “any person, any citizen,” including journalists and public servants.

“We’re not the same [as past governments], we don’t carry out espionage. Investigations are done for matters related to the fight against crime and this is done in accordance with the law, for [purposes of] national security. That’s what we do, the rest is an invention … with the purpose to damage us,” López Obrador told reporters at his morning news conference.

Asked how Encinas’ phone was “infected,” he said that “we have to see who did it” before asserting that it wasn’t the federal government, the army or Mexico’s “intelligence system.”

“Probably … it was the the same people as always – the authoritarian conservatives,” López Obrador said, apparently referring to members of past governments.

Mexico News Daily 

A ‘slice’ of New York in Guadalajara: meet Ben Schuder

By
John Downey
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Slice Pizza Club in Guadalajara
Founded by an entrepreneur from California and a Mexican chef, Slice is a popular destination in Colonia Americana. (Photos by Craig Hackey)

Nestled in a quaint little square in the trendy neighborhood of Colonia Americana sits Slice, the newest addition to Guadalajara’s pizza scene. Beneath beautiful cascades of yellow cassia flowers, a long line of people are queued up to get a taste of Slice’s unique eats. 

The eye is immediately drawn to a glowing red neon sign advertising the establishment as a “New York Pizza Club”, and the inviting aroma of fresh oregano and bread wafts through the air. Inside, the restaurant boasts a sleek and modern design, adorned with hardwood floors and marble accents.

Slice New York pizza club in Colonia Americana.

The nostalgic melodies of ’90s hip hop fill the space, and the walls are lined with portraits of the Empire State’s greatest rap troubadours. In a display case, patrons can glimpse the pizzas of the day while a cheery staff of young Mexican employees work expeditiously to serve piping hot pies to hungry customers.

Slice is the brainchild of Ben Schuder, an expat from Oakland, California. He’s one of the growing number of young Americans who’ve permanently relocated to Mexico, finding life south of the border more appealing.

While visiting Guadalajara during the pandemic, Schuder quickly fell in love with the Colonia Americana neighborhood. It’s easy to understand the attraction. Recently crowned “the coolest neighborhood in the world” by Time Out magazine, Colonia Americana is flush with varied gastronomy, mixology, and nightlife. 

“It has a very European flair,” Ben tells me. “With all the little cafes and bistros, sometimes I feel like I’m in Paris when I’m walking down the street.” 

Ben Schuder traded California for Guadalajara and opened a pizza place.

Aesthetics and cuisine aside, there were other factors that led him to settle in Guadalajara. Frustrated with the high cost of living in his native California, Ben saw Mexico as a way for him to accomplish something that felt increasingly impossible back home.

“It’s kind of ironic for me to say that I think there’s more opportunity here in Mexico than there is in the states,” Ben remarks. “So many Mexicans are trying to go to the United States for the same reason, but that’s the power of the dollar, right?” 

“If I wanted to open something like Slice back home, I’d have to find a wealthy backer,” Ben continues. In Guadalajara, he was able to open a restaurant with just his savings, help from friends, and hard work.

“That’s the American dream. Right now, it feels like that dream is more attainable here in Mexico than it is in the USA,” Ben says.

Schuder and his Mexican partner have started with essentials on their menu, but look to expand.

While Mexico has always been a destination for retirees, the last few years have seen record leaps in the scale of the gringo diaspora – the number of U.S. citizens living in Mexico on a temporary or permanent basis has grown by a whopping 75% since 2019.

Much has been written about what’s driving this influx of immigrants, such as the ability to work remotely or the exorbitant prices of US real estate, but for Ben, a large part of his decision to move to Mexico was his genuine appreciation of the culture.

“I’m sure I could open a restaurant in any other country, but there’s something special about Mexico,” Ben says. “I love the people here, I love the culture, I love the music, I love the food. I’ve made so many friends and met so many amazing folks in the course of my time here. I think even if I didn’t have Slice, I’d still be living here. It feels like home to me now.”

And Mexico has taken kindly to Ben. His business partner, Rogelio Haro Quintero, is a seasoned chef and Guadalajara local who owns a micro-bakery specializing in artisanal breads and long fermentation processes. The pair met through an expat group on Facebook, where Ben hired Rogelio to make some bagels for him. They ended up becoming fast friends, and Ben eventually pitched Rogelio on his idea for Slice.

“I honestly didn’t know much about the concept at first, so, Ben showed me some videos of New York pizzerias,” Rogelio remembers. “I realized [then] that it could be a good idea, as the pizzerias we have here aren’t great.” 

At first, Rogelio was a little skeptical about just offering cheese and pepperoni pizzas because he thought that locals would prefer more toppings, but they’ve had “a really good response so far,” Rogelio says. “Going forward, we both want to try to incorporate more local flavors into our pizzas. We just dropped a pizza with huitlacoche and squash blossom, for example.” 

Slice pizza
Schuder says he wants his restaurant to be a place that brings everyone in the community together.

“Tacos al pastor came from shawarma, brought over to Puebla by Lebanese immigrants in the 1930s,” Rogelio tells me. “I look at what we’re trying to do with New York pizza here as a similar thing. It’s been a really fun adventure. It feels like we are doing something that we love, rather than just trying to get a business off the ground,” he adds.

A restaurant born out of friendship and cultural cross-pollination has proven to be a winning formula. I ask Ben what the future holds for Slice.

“Eventually, we’d like to franchise, but right now we’re focused on establishing ourselves in the community,” Ben says. Soon, he wants to rent out a nearby space where he can have a “pizza party” for the whole neighborhood. “I reached out to a bunch of local graffiti artists to paint some murals, and I’m looking for a local band to perform as well. I want this to be a place that brings everyone in the community together, locals and foreigners alike.”

Ben smiles, motioning at the bustling crowd lined up for pizza behind him. 

“Building relationships, connecting cultures, growing your roots in a place you love…. that’s what I’m trying to do here…because that’s what life’s all about, right?”

  • Check out Slice on Instagram: @SlicePizzaClub and Rogelio’s Bakery: @lacocciongastronomia

Mexicans take to the streets to support the Supreme Court

By
MND Staff
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Defense of the Mexican Supreme Court march in Mexico City
Some 2,000 people marched in Mexico City alone. There were similar marches in at least 10 cities across Mexico. (Andrea Murcia Monsivais/Cuartoscuro)

Thousands of people took to the streets of cities across Mexico on Sunday to demonstrate their support for the Supreme Court (SCJN) as it comes under repeated verbal attack by President López Obrador.

Some 2,000 people marched from the Monument to the Revolution to Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo. Some demonstrators clashed with anti-court activists outside the Supreme Court headquarters, located just off the Zócalo.

Mexico City protesters march toward the Zócalo in defense of the Supreme Court. 

 

Among the other cities where pro-SCJN marches and/or demonstrations were held were Guadalajara, Monterrey, Querétaro, Morelia, Cancún, Xalapa, Oaxaca, Chihuahua and León.

“The law is the law, hands off the court,” shouted march participants in Mexico City, most of whom were dressed in white.

The demonstrations in the capital and elsewhere were a forceful denunciation of López Obrador’s frequent criticism of the SCJN, which has recently handed down rulings against the transfer of control over the National Guard from the civilian Security Ministry to the Defense Ministry, part of his electoral reform package and a 2021 presidential decree that protected government infrastructure projects from legal challenges and scrutiny.

López Obrador, who has been an outspoken critic of the judiciary since early in his presidency, has responded to the rulings by calling the Supreme Court “rotten” and asserting that it is at the service of criminals and the country’s powerful elite rather than “the people.”

Defense of Supreme Court protesters in Mexico
In Oaxaca city, protesters gathered in front of the courts to defend the SCJN’s autonomy. (Carolina Jiménez Mariscal/Cuartoscuro)

He also issued a new decree to shield certain infrastructure projects, including the Maya Train railroad, in the wake of the SCJN’s decision against his 2021 decree, which was deemed unconstitutional.

The president’s overarching goal is to overhaul Mexico’s judicial system, and as part of that plan, he intends to propose a constitutional change so that citizens are tasked with electing the country’s Supreme Court justices and other judges. The success of such a proposal hinges on the ruling Morena party and its allies winning a congressional supermajority at next year’s federal elections.

Alejandra Morán, president of the civil society organization Chalecos México and an organizer of Sunday’s march in Mexico City, told the newspaper El Financiero that it was important to defend Mexico’s judicial power as it is the “last bastion we have as citizens in the face of a possible dictatorship.”

Raúl Mendoza, a 71-year-old lawyer who marched in the capital, told the Associated Press (AP) that he and other demonstrators are “asking the justices to withstand the onslaught” from López Obrador.

defense of the National Electoral Institute in Toluca, Mexico
Sunday’s march was the latest in multiple marches since last year by activists, who say AMLO’s controversial initiatives aim to dismantle Mexico’s democracy. In February, thousands marched in various Mexican cities in defense of the National Electoral Institute (INE), another institution in the president’s sights. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)

“We need to conserve the last remaining bastion of this country. If the court falls, Mexico falls,” said Mendoza, who claimed that the president’s attacks on the SCJN are designed to distract people from Mexico’s real problems.

Business owner Cristina Velázquez told AP that the Supreme Court justices enforce laws and “don’t bend to the will” of López Obrador, and “he doesn’t like that.”

According to an AP report, a clash between pro-SCJN demonstrators and anti-court activists took place after the latter, who were camping out in front of the Supreme Court, began throwing objects at the former and insulting them.

There were scuffles between members of the two sides, and the pro-SCJN demonstrators expelled the anti-court activists from the site of their plantón, or sit-in protest. They proceeded to take down their signs, with messages disparaging justices, which had been stuck to the doors of the court building.

Mexican Supreme COurt Chief Justice Norma Pina Hernandez, left, pro-democracy march in CDMX, right.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Norma Piña, left, (whose surname in Spanish means “pineapple”) has become a symbol of the Court’s recent rulings against AMLO’s executive decrees, both for those fighting the president’s initiatives and for the president’s supporters. She was frequently invoked by both sides at Sunday’s march. (Andrea Murcia Monsivais/Cuartoscuro)

Other anti-SCJN protesters burned an effigy of Chief Justice Norma Piña — of whom López Obrador has been especially critical — at an event in the Zócalo in March at which the president spoke, and some have carried mock coffins featuring her image at marches against the court.

While demonstrators on Sunday succeeded in showing their support for the Supreme Court, a street vendor, Belén Esquivel, asserted in an interview with AP that the march in Mexico City “mobilized almost no one” compared to pro-AMLO rallies.

The president himself participated in a march last November to celebrate four years in office. That parade, which Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum reported attracted around 1.2 million people, was dubbed a contramarcha, or countermarch, because it took place two weeks after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest a proposed (but ultimately unsuccessful) electoral reform bill.

López Obrador on Monday criticized the demonstrators in Mexico City for “provoking” anti-court activists and removing the signs they had posted to the country’s top tribunal.

Work on Mexico's Maya Train in progress
Among AMLO’s initiatives that the Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional include an attempt to shield public works projects like the Mayan Train, seen here, from scrutiny, as well giving control of the National Guard, a civilian police force, to the military. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)

“We have to see who they are, not to go after them, not to suppress them … [but] no one should be evicted [from their place of protest]. Everyone has the right to demonstrate,” he said.

With reports from El Financiero, AP, El País, El Universal, Milenio and Expansión

‘Black fentanyl’ blamed for overdoses in Chihuahua state

By
MND Staff
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The black fentanyl paste, also known as "black apache" is reportedly purer than other forms of the drug, warn authorities. (FGR/Twitter)

Seven people who suffered overdoses in the northern state of Chihuahua had taken an illegal substance containing fentanyl, known as “black apache” or “black fentanyl”, according to state authorities. 

Three of the victims were in the city of Chihuahua, while a further four were at the border city of Ciudad Juarez. All victims are in treatment for addiction, but nothing has been released about their current condition.

Fentanyl pills
Both Mexico and the United States have struggled to crack down on the trafficking of fentanyl, which is highly potent in small doses. (CBP)

Earlier this month in Ciudad Juárez, the federal Attorney General’s Office seized an unidentified black paste which they later identified as containing fentanyl. The same substance was also discovered by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents at the El Paso, Texas border crossing.

“The raw material comes from Asia and arrives through [our] ports, [and once it is] here, [fentanyl] is clandestinely manufactured in laboratories,” State Commissioner for Attention to Addiction, Javier González told a press conference.

While little is known about this new form of the drug, health authorities in the United States have warned that the chemical composition suggests that it is a purer, and therefore more dangerous, form of fentanyl. Other forms of fentanyl that are frequently found in Mexico and the United States are distributed as blue or rainbow-colored pills. 

The Public Safety Minister of Ciudad Juárez, César Muñoz Morales, said that while authorities detected its presence and distribution at the northern border, the drug was likely being produced in the states of Michoacán, Jalisco and Sinaloa.

The U.S. has been exerting increased pressure on Mexico to stymie the smuggling of fentanyl into the country, where according to the DEA, nearly 200 citizens die every day from overdoses. In April, the DEA said that the Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) and Sinaloa cartels represent the “greatest criminal threat the U.S. has ever faced.” 

President López Obrador has said his government is actively working to combat illegal trafficking of fentanyl, and that the synthetic opioid is not manufactured in Mexico but rather in China, and then smuggled into the country, a claim their government has denied. 

With reports from Aristegui, Excelsior and Infobae

Monterrey Tigres win 3-2 in Liga MX championship against Chivas

By
MND Staff
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Tigres holding up the trophy.
Tigres completed an incredible comeback, after falling 2-0 down in the first 20 minutes of the game. (Fernando Carranza Garcia/Cuartoscuro)

Monterrey’s Tigres have won the Mexican Liga MX title, after defeating Guadalajara — or  “Chivas” as the team is more ubiquitously known — with a score of 3-2 after two games, in an enthralling comeback in Jalisco late on Sunday night.

Having avoided defeat in the first leg in Monterrey after a 0-0 draw, Guadalajara was feeling confident, heading to their home field, the Akron Stadium, in Zapopan, aiming to lift a record-equalling 13th national championship title, which would make them even with their bitter rivals, Mexico City’s Club América. 

Argentina’s Guido Pizarro sent Tigres fans across the country into raptures as he capitalized on a goalmouth scramble to bury the winner late in extra time. (Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)

The electric atmosphere in the stadium — something for which Chivas fans are famed — reached fever pitch after Guadalajara’s Roberto Alvarado buried the opener after only 11 minutes. When Víctor Gúzman scored a second for the Jalisco side, nine minutes later, it seemed as if Chivas was well on its way to victory.

Los Tigres, however, had other ideas. Two half-time substitutions shored up the formation, with Nico López and Fernando Gorriarán providing much-needed stability for the Monterrey side. Twenty minutes into the second half, André-Pierre Gignac, a veteran of the French national team, scored a penalty to narrow the score, before a 71st-minute equalizer from Sebastián Córdova sent the game to extra time. 

Córdoba’s goal came at the expense of Chivas wingback Alan Mozo, who left the striker unmarked at the far post, with devastating consequences.

Tigres piled on the pressure in extra time, before finding their reward in the game’s 110th minute, as Argentina’s Guido Pizarro smashed the ball home after a frenetic goalmouth scramble, sending Tigres’ fans into delirium and silencing a previously uproarious Akron Stadium.

A Chivas fan looks sad as Tigres win 3-2
Chivas fans were despondent after Tigres grabbed the winning goal in extra time. (Fernando Carranza Garcia/Cuartoscuro)

The fifth goal of the game proved to be the last, as Guadalajara looked defeated, playing out the remaining 10 minutes offering little attacking threat. 

Victory against Guadalajara marks Tigres’ first title since 2019, and their eighth national title overall.

With reporting by El Universal

Field trip: your neighborhood tienda

By
Janet Blaser
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corner store in Mazatlan, Mexico
Lorena has been the happy proprietress for 36 years at her little abarrotes store in Mazatlán. (Photos by Janet Blaser)

Today we introduce, “Field Trip,” a new monthly series by Janet Blaser that explores the everyday adventures of shopping in Mexico.

Need a Band-Aid? Ten pesos worth of Chihuahua cheese? One big black garbage bag for some extra clean-up?

Head to your neighborhood abarrotes store, where you’ll find all of these things — and so much more. 

Inside a tienda de abarrotes
Dog kibble and eggs by the kilo, batteries, fresh-baked pan dulce, produce and cleaning supplies and much more! Your corner abarrotes store is most likely owned by someone in your neighborhood who pays close attention to what locals want.

My favorite is Lorena’s, a little tienda (mom-and-pop store) in the neighborhood where I used to live. Even if I don’t see what I’m looking for, chances are it’s back there behind the counter somewhere and Lorena knows exactly where to find it. 

Queso fresco, paper towels, a baggie of home-cooked frijoles…you name it, chances are she’s got it. 

And, miracle of miracles, and oh-so-convenient (and surprising!): you can buy just one. One ibuprofen or aspirin, one egg, one disposable diaper, or even one cigarette. 

You might wonder what the difference is between these abarrotes stores and an OXXO, Kiosko or even a big farmacia (pharmacy). For starters, they’re privately owned, not part of a big national chain like OXXO is, and they’re often connected to the owner’s house. 

A man stands in the door of a tienda de abarrotes.
Don’t be fooled by a building’s humble appearance — your local abarrotes store is a wealth of produce and products.

The people working behind the counter are usually the owners or family members, not employees, so they have a vested interest in your being a satisfied customer who will return again and again. Prices will be competitive or often lower than a bigger chain, or even the mercado (neighborhood open-air market).

They’ll also have more products and more local handmade products than those aforementioned other options. Fresh produce, delivered once or twice a week; pan dulce, tortillas and bolillos fresh every morning; tortas — either made on the spot and grilled (the best!) or, again, brought fresh every day or so from a local person making them at home. 

Often small stores like this still source their goods from local producers. At Lorena’s, a dairy farmer delivers twice a week, unloading fresh cheeses and yogurt from big coolers in the back of his beat-up blue pickup. Still-warm, fresh-made corn tortillas from the tortillería a few blocks away arrive each morning too, to be wrapped in cloth towels and stored in a cooler. Where? Behind the counter, of course. 

You’ll also find pay de queso, flan and bolis — plastic bags filled with agua fresca and frozen. Yes, you’ll also find the requisite bottles of Coke in every size, bags and bags of chips, commercial dairy products, canned goods and cleaning supplies.

And, when you go to pay, the counters are often overflowing with a mélange of completely unrelated items: a few fragrant, ready-to-eat mangoes, packages of flour tortillas, a couple of small containers of spicy-looking salsa roja, open bags of candy clipped shut so kids can use their pesos to buy just one of their favorites, a stack of conchas inside a big plastic bag. It’s impulse buying at its most basic!

A tienda de abarrotes
These small grocery stores are found in every neighborhood and town throughout Mexico.

One caveat is that sometimes these stores are, well, not the cleanest. Do the ceiling-high shelves full of canned goods ever get dusted? Is the scale calibrated properly? Hmmm. Look past what you can and just remember to disinfect! 

Lorena offers informal credit to regulars, writing the day’s total on a tiny square of neon-colored poster board. This has come in handy when I’ve run in intending to just get a handful of cilantro but then decided I needed/wanted some tortillas, that perfectly ripe papaya on the counter, a new purple broom and — hey, why not? — one of the still-warm tamales de pollo. 

She’s run the tiny, two-room store for 36 years and lives with her family in the attached house that extends out the back. She knows all the locals — her neighbors — by name and has watched many of them grow up and start their own families. 

And she remembers your eating habits — that you seem to eat a lot of bananas and like to try new things, for example. It was because of Lorena that I discovered Suaves, Mazatlán’s iconic coconut marshmallows that remain an addictive favorite of mine to this day. Her tiendita (little store) is open seven days a week for more than 10 hours a day, and although sometimes her husband or daughter are behind the counter, most often it’s Lorena. She loves what she does, and it shows. When you enter, there’s always a smile on her face and a happy greeting by name. 

The Mexican government’s official statistics for 2022 say there are 987,616 tiendas de abarrotes in the country. So it’s safe to say there’s an abarrotes store on almost every street corner in Mexico, in every state, city, town and pueblo, and you owe it to yourself to scout out the ones nearest you, then become a regular. 

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. She has lived in Mexico since 2006. You can find her on Facebook.

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