"Gateway to the Underworld" is considered to be one of the most important pieces of pre-Columbian Olmec art. It has recently been returned from the United States. (INAH)
“Gateway to the Underworld” (Portal del Inframundo), one of Mexico’s most sought-after artifacts of Olmec culture, has been returned home after it was removed from Mexico more than 50 years ago.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard first shared news of the piece’s recovery in April.
The monumental piece, which depicts an earth monster, a recurrent theme in Olmec art, weighs more than 1 ton and measures approximately 1.8 meters high by 1.5 meters wide. The figure’s jaws, which are opened like the mouth of a cave, represent the entrance to the underworld.
Its return to Cuernavaca International Airport was the culmination of an 18-year search, Mexican officials told the Denver Post as the artifact was being loaded Friday onto a Mexican Air Force C-130 Hercules cargo aircraft in Denver.
It was stolen from Morelos decades ago under mysterious circumstances. According to archeologist David Grove — who published an article in 1968 on Olmec carvings at the Chilcatzingo archeological site in the journal American Antiquity — the artifact had been stripped from the site by then and was in the hands of a private collector Grove did not name.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York exhibited the work from July 1970 through February 1971 as part of its “Before Cortes” exhibition, according to a museum spokesperson cited by the Post. The spokesperson told the newspaper it had been on loan to the museum from the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, New York.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard welcomed the artifact back to Mexico at Cuernavaca Airport. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)
Mexican officials told the Post a breakthrough in their search came when they approached the Antiquities Trafficking Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office with evidence that it had been stolen from Mexico. The unit began an investigation, according to Alejandro Celorio, principal legal advisor for Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The unit eventually tracked down Monument 9 in Colorado, in a private collection, Mexican officials said. They declined to name the collectors.
“They got a settlement,” Consul General of Mexico in New York Jorge Islas López told the Post. “They’re super famous, super wealthy people.”
After the monument’s arrival in Cuernavaca, it was transferred to the Regional Museum of the Peoples of Morelos in the colonial-era Cortés Palace, where it will be displayed.
It was examined by the head of the National Coordination for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage María del Carmen Castro Barrera, restoration expert Ana Bertha Miramontes Mercado and archeologists Mario Córdova and Carolina Meza, who reported that the artifact “is in a stable condition of conservation and was not affected during its transfer to Mexico.”
In a ceremony led by the head of the National Institute of Archeology and History (INAH) Diego Prieto Hernández on Thursday morning, Monument 9 was officially delivered to the people of Morelos.
“Gateway to the Underworld,” now back home in Morelos, will be exhibited permanently at the Regional Museum of the Peoples of Morelos in Cuernavaca. (Margarita Pérez Retana/Cuartoscuro)
The piece is now properly assembled and will be exhibited at the museum, INAH said.
Since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in 2018, the Government of Mexico has recovered more than 11,500 pieces considered to be part of the country’s national heritage. The government has battled auctioneers in cities ranging from New York to Paris to Rome, where Mexico’s stolen history has been put up for sale.
The value of Mexico's non-oil exports only showed a 0.2% decline compared to the same month in 2022, but the value of oil exports fell 32.8%. Depositphotos
The value of Mexico’s exports declined 2.9% in April compared to the same month of 2022, the national statistics agency INEGI reported Thursday.
On a more positive note, the value of exports in the first four months of the year increased 4.2% to US $187.3 billion.
Automotive manufacturing exports brought in US $12.9 billion in April, which is a 2.7% decline compared to the same month last year. (Gob MX)
INEGI published preliminary data that showed that exports were worth US $46.22 billion last month, with over 90% of that amount coming from non-oil products.
Preliminary data showed that the value of oil exports fell 32.8% last month to US $2.62 billion, while the decline in revenue generated by non-oil exports was just 0.2%.
The drop in the value of oil exports was largely caused by an annual decrease in Mexican crude prices. The newspaper El Economista reported that the average price for a barrel of export-grade Mexican crude in April was US $69.32, compared to US $102.05 in the same month last year.
The value of oil exports has declined due to falling prices for exported Mexican crude. (Jaochainoi/Istock)
INEGI said that the value of non-oil exports sent to the United States actually increased 0.3% annually in April, but revenue from shipments of such products to the rest of the world declined 2.7%.
Mexico has benefited from strong demand for manufactured goods in the United States as well as the relocation of companies that make those products for sale in that market, a growing phenomenon known as nearshoring.
Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at the Mexican bank Banco Base, said that the decline in exports in April was expected due to to a slowing U.S. economy.
Manufactured goods brought in the lion’s share of Mexico’s export revenue last month. The value of non-automotive manufactured goods rose 0.8% to US $27.81 billion. Automotive exports were worth US $12.9 billion, but their value declined 2.7% annually.
Agricultural exports fell 2.9% to US $2.04 billion, while mining exports increased 18.1% to US $860 million.
Preliminary data also showed that imports to Mexico fell in April, dropping 3.3% to US $47.73 billion.
The newspaper El Financiero reported that it was the first decline in imports since February 2021 and “could be a sign of weakness in the internal economy.”
Non-oil imports actually increased 0.1% in April, but that was the weakest growth in over two years. Oil imports fell 27.5%, the biggest drop since January 2021.
INEGI’s data also showed that Mexico recorded a trade deficit of US $1.51 billion in April, and a deficit of US $6.3 billion in the first four months of the year.
Marco Aurelio Ramírez Hernández was a veteran crime reporter for El Heraldo de Mexico newspaper and other media outlets. (Internet)
A reporter who covered crime for decades was shot and killed in Tehuacán, Puebla, on Tuesday, becoming the third journalist to be murdered in Mexico this year.
Marco Aurelio Ramírez Hernández, who also worked as a lawyer and served for a brief period as an official in the Tehuacán municipal government, was gunned down early Tuesday afternoon while driving, shortly after leaving his home.
The 69-year-old, who worked for various media outlets during a 50-year career in journalism, was reportedly shot multiple times by a single gunman in another vehicle. Ramírez’s car came to a halt when it veered off the road and crashed into a tree.
The veteran journalist, who sustained a gunshot wound to his chest, was dead when police and paramedics arrived on the scene. The motive for the murder hasn’t been established.
The Puebla Attorney General’s Office said on Twitter that it has begun an investigation and pledged to carry it out “promptly and effectively.”
The Mexico office of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for a “swift and transparent investigation” to determine “whether the homicide was related to his work as a municipal official or to his practice of journalism.”
Ramírez, left, in younger days with fellow Mexican journalist Sergio Vicke. (Marco Aurelio Ramírez Hernández /Facebook)
According to the Tehuacán journalist Juan Gámez, Ramírez received threats while working as the general director of the municipal government under mayor Felipe Patjane, who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence on an abuse of authority conviction.
“He knew perfectly well where the crime hotspots in Tehuacán were. He wanted to contribute to improve security, but he ran into reality, threats started and he quit [in 2019],” Gámez said.
Patricia Flores, another journalist, noted that several high-ranking members of the Bigotonas crime gang were arrested in Tehuacán while Ramírez was working in the municipal government.
Gámez noted that Ramírez had a talent for crime writing from the beginning of his career in journalism, an industry he was born into because his father founded the Tehuacán newspaper El Cuarto Poder.
“We learnt the trade from our respective fathers,” said Gámez, whose father founded a rival local newspaper called La Escoba.
“… We grew up amid the smell of ink and paper. The instruction we both received was ‘the truth above all else.'”
Fellow Tehuacán journalist Juan Gámez recalled that Ramírez grew up surrounded by journalism: his father founded the newspaper El Cuarto Poder. (Marco Aurelio Ramírez Hernandez/Facebook)
Although he also worked as a lawyer and in local government, journalism was Ramírez’s greatest passion, Flores said. He wrote for newspapers such as El Heraldo de México and Periódico Central and more recently contributed to a radio program.
His slaying on Tuesday was the first murder of a journalist in Tehuacán since Adrián Silva was killed in 2012, the newspaper El País reported. No one has been arrested in connection with that crime.
Two other journalists have been killed in 2023, one in Hidalgo in February and another in Guerrero in May. At least 17 journalists were murdered in Mexico last year, making the country the most dangerous for media workers in 2022 ahead of Ukraine and Haiti, according to UNESCO.
According to RSF, over 150 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000, and most of those crimes have gone unpunished.
Reverend Kochi Todaka first moved to Mexico for a business expansion project in 1971, but found his true calling in expanding consciousness.
The first time I saw Rev. Kochi Todaka, he was sitting on a raised platform in the auditorium of the Nikkei-Kai Association of Guadalajara.
In a low melodic voice, he intoned Buddhist sutras as members of the audience walked forward and lit sticks of incense in memory of their dead loved ones. It was August of 2022, and I had been invited to attend what was dubbed the “Japanese Day of the Dead” by the Nikkei Center’s president Francisco Kobayashi.
Reverend Todaka gives a class on Buddhist philosophy and meditation at Alba Edison University in Puebla, Mexico.
Todaka, who serves as a reverend for a Buddhist temple in Mexico City, is often called upon to travel between Mexico City, Monterrey and Guadalajara, where the country’s largest Japanese-Mexican communities reside. He performs Buddhist “mass” (as he calls it), weddings, funerals and services like the one for Day of the Dead.
Most of the communities he serves are the descendants of immigrants who were forced away from Mexico’s borders and ports under pressure from the United States government during World War II. Like in the U.S., Japanese immigrants in Mexico had their property and possessions taken from them and were obligated to establish themselves in major cities like Guadalajara and Mexico City. Thriving communities of families still exist in both cities, and many maintain the ancient customs that their ancestors brought with them to Mexico.
“Not all of them are Buddhist,” Todaka tells me one afternoon as we sit in the garden of the Eko Ji temple in Mexico City’s Nápoles neighborhood. “For them, it’s more about respecting their ancestors, which is very important in Mexico. It’s also about checking in with the community, seeing how people are doing that you haven’t seen in a while.”
Rev. Todaka is 78 years old. His stick-straight hair and beard are streaked with gray, and his Spanish is still heavily laced with a Japanese accent. His speech holds pauses intermingled with bubbling laughter when he says something that amuses him.
He has been serving as the reverend of the Eko Ji temple since 2004.
The Nikkei-Kai Association of Guadalajara’s celebration of “Japanese Day of the Dead.”
Rev. Todaka arrived in Mexico in 1971, sent by the Japanese company he worked for that owned and operated ice factories and constructed industrial refrigerators for commercial fishing vessels. They were looking to expand their foreign market, and Todaka — being a project-oriented person — was right for the job. In 1976, his company wanted to transfer him to Chile or Cuba — two countries he felt were risky at the time — so he quit.
Already married to a young Mexican woman named Maria Guadalupe, Todaka stayed in Mexico. A few years later, he was offered a job with Mitutoyo, a Japanese company now famous for the development of extremely exact measuring equipment.
The company was founded by Yehan Numata, the third son of a priest of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism, one of the 13 main Buddhist sects in Japan. Numata traveled to the United States at the turn of the century to do missionary work and was passionate about the promotion of the Buddha’s teachings. After several failures to start a temple in San Francisco (he graduated with a degree in Economics from Berkeley College), he decided to start his own company in 1934.
“He realized that without money, he wouldn’t be able to spread the word of the Buddha,” Says Rev. Todaka, “and he didn’t want to be bothering donors all the time.”
Reverend Todaka with members of the Eko Ji temple in Mexico City.
Mitutoyo gave Todaka a job in 1980, and in 1985 they founded the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai de México, a regional arm of their organization dedicated to the teachings of Buddha. It would eventually found the Mexico City temple.
At first, they brought Buddhist ministers from Japan to serve at the temple. Later, they started looking for someone local, and Todaka decided that he would study to be a minister.
“Since I was 3 or 4 years old, I was very attracted to nature, and Buddhism is very nature-based. There is no god, no powerful being, no myth about who created the world in Buddhism; all is just cause and effect; the rest isn’t important. You are born, grow, live, age and die; it’s all part of a natural cycle.”
From 1997 to 2001, Todaka studied through a correspondence course and spent a month each year in Kyoto, eventually graduating with a degree in ministry and teaching in the Jodo Shinshu tradition of Buddhism. In 2004, he took over leadership of the Mexico City Eko Ji temple.
“I can’t give you advice because I don’t know you,” he says about his role as reverend. “I feel very irresponsible telling people what to do. Only through my own experience can I say, this is what happened to me. Not ‘do it this way.’ It’s your choice, and if you have any doubts, I am here for you.”
The teachings of the Buddha form the core of the temple’s activities. Todaka explains that their temple doesn’t pick and choose sutras, or scriptures, as do some sects of Buddhism. Rather, they provide all the Buddha’s teachings to their community at the temple. There are kids’ activities, yoga and martial arts classes but all with a spiritual foundation.
Incoming reverend Shaku Bokusho tells the story of Dr. Ota, one of the first immigrants from Japan to arrive in Chiapas, Mexico.
Todaka brings me the 577-page teachings of the Buddha in Spanish and English. Learning is like medicine, he tells me: you have to actually take it for it to make a change.
But the reverend also makes it clear that he doesn’t think everyone is a worthy case for instruction. As opposed to other religions, he tells me, Buddhists don’t hold out hope for everyone.
“Delinquents, for example. I don’t go and teach in jails,” he says. “They are not ready, they don’t have the capacity. How many people are alive today? 8 billion? You have to choose wisely who to teach.”
“Of 100 students that are learning something, it depends on each individual, how they learn and if they are interested,” he says. “If your heart isn’t prepared, you’ll never learn.”
I ask him about the recent controversy surrounding the Dalai Lama and his inappropriate remarks to a young boy at one of his events.
“It worries me a little that Mexicans see him as the father of Buddhism, which is not true,” he says. “[His is] a Tibetan sect, and they are very particular, mixed with the Tibetan religion that believes in the reincarnation of the Buddha. In the teachings of Buddha, there is no reincarnation.”
The Eko Ji temple has been shuttered for the past year and a half due to problems with the local city government over the building’s renovation. Last year, as a way to keep the community engaged, the temple leaders opened a cafe next door where diners could get a taste of Buddhist cooking as well as sit in the beautiful backyard where we are chatting on this Friday afternoon.
To minister Shaku Bokusho, promoting Buddhism is about more than just getting people to practice it. “Our goal is world peace, and the teachings of the Buddha are meant to end suffering,” she says.
Todaka is particularly fond of wild forests, and this garden suits him just right. Lush and overflowing, it has birds that trill in the top branches and bees that buzz around the flowers below. There is little intervention in the garden’s design, and endemic plants grow wild.
By spring, the cherry blossom tree will drip heavily with pink petals just like its ancestors in Japan. Hopefully, by then, the temple will be open and running once again. Rev. Todaka will have retired by that time, and a new reverend, Shaku Bokusho, will have taken over everyday operations.
“We promote Buddhism for more [reasons] than just to do it,” says Bokusho when we talk later on the phone. “Our goal is world peace, and the teachings of the Buddha are meant to end suffering. There is suffering because there is ego.
“But when something comes along that’s different from what we know, we all have our own prejudices; that’s what causes war between countries and people.”
In order to circumvent people’s prejudices, she says, their mission and activities are two-pronged. The Temple Eko Ji is the religious side of their organization, and the Eko Ji Cultural Center is the civic side. Through activities like Buddhist cooking classes, traditional dance workshops, martial arts, Japanese calligraphy, yoga and meditation, Bokusho says, they promote acceptance of diversity.
“Through these cultural activities, we believe it’s easier to create mutual understanding,” says Bokusho.
She has been working with the temple since 2019 when she was sought out by Todaka to replace him as minister. Now, with her at the helm, Todaka has no anxiety about letting go of his post after nearly 20 years.
“I always think that whatever day I am having is the best day. Like right now, here talking to you, that’s the best moment I could be having,” he says.
I ask him what he will do after retiring.
“I want to start a museum with my collection,” he says and pulls out his phone to show me photos of the multicolored butterflies that he has collected in the southern forests of Mexico, as well as in Ecuador, Peru and Panama.
Bugs are his passion, he tells me, but Buddhism has shaped his life.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at www.mexicocitystreets.com.
The pipeline explosion occurred at the presumed site of an illegal tap of a Pemex pipeline near the municipality of Polotitlán. (Cuartoscuro)
Seven people have been reported injured after a state oil company pipeline exploded in México state on Wednesday afternoon.
The blast occurred at the presumed site of an illegal tap on a Pemex gas pipeline in Polotitlán, a municipality in northern México state that borders both Querétaro and Hidalgo.
Emergency response team at the site of the explosion. (Secretaría de Salud del Edo de México/Twitter)
Polotitlán Mayor Teresa Sánchez Bárcena said that three of the seven people injured are local Civil Protection personnel who responded to the explosion. The victims suffered burns and were taken to a local hospital, according to municipal authorities.
Video footage showed large flames and thick clouds of black smoke emanating from the pipeline.
Sánchez said in a video message that residents of the communities of El Tesoro, where the explosion occurred, and Celayita had evacuated. Shelters were set up to accommodate those with nowhere to go.
Sánchez said that authorities of all three levels of government responded to the explosion and that the situation was being brought under control.
La explosión de un ducto de Pemex ubicado en la comunidad denominada El Tesoro en Polotitlán Estado de arrojó un saldo de 7 personas lesionadas por quemaduras de acuerdo a los primeros informes de fuentes en el lugar se realizaba robo de combustible. pic.twitter.com/QX1gDFxPwV
Shein is currently expanding into new markets as part of a localization strategy. Reuters has reported the company is looking to build a factory in Mexico. (Shein)
The Chinese fast-fashion online retailer Shein, based in Singapore, is considering opening a factory in Mexico, according to Reuters.
The move is part of the giant e-retailer’s plans to localize production closer to points of sale and follows a recent statement by the company that it plans to build a manufacturing network in Brazil.
Mexico already has a large garment manufacturing industry, worth US $4.3 billion in exports in 2021, according to Statista. (Cuartoscuro.com)
Reuters quoted sources familiar with the matter who said that a final location for the factory site has not yet been decided.
Founded in China in 2008, Shein manufactures most of its products there. It sells inexpensive apparel and other items (US $5-$10 dresses and tops, for example), targeting the Gen-Z demographic. It has taken market share from other low-cost fashion retailers like H&M and Zara, and is now considered one of the biggest online fashion retailers in the world.
Shein will use funds from its recent US $2 billion capital raise from investors including Mubadala and Sequoia China for the expansion. One source added that despite a valuation cut to US $66 billion in its latest funding round, the retailer still posts annual revenue growth of 40%.
In an emailed statement, Shein declined to comment on the alleged move to Mexico but said it is committed to localization as it expands to new markets.
Shein has been accused of plagiarism by artisanal Mexican designers, shown on the right here, with Shein design in the background. (YucaChulas)
“Shein’s localization strategy allows us to shorten delivery times to customers while expanding product variety and supporting local economies,” chairman of Shein Latin America Marcelo Claure said in the statement.
Shein is “continuing to explore nearshoring options,” he added.
In Brazil, Shein has recently offered an online marketplace platform that allows third-party merchants to sell their products through the Shein app and website. The company plans to launch a similar marketplace in the United States before rolling the functionality out worldwide. According to sources, the Mexican factory would not house items from third-party vendors.
Claure confirmed that Shein is considering bringing “its marketplace model to other markets across Latin America.”
Shein has faced criticism in markets including India, Brazil and the U.S. for its supply-chain links in China. As the company eyes an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. for next year, its environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns could be an obstacle, reported Bloomberg in 2022.
A bipartisan group of two dozen U.S. representatives called on the Securities and Exchange Commission in May to halt Shein’s IPO until the company verifies it does not use forced labor; in April, a U.S. federal commission reported that Shein sourced cotton from China’s Xinjiang region, which is banned in the U.S. due to ties with Uyghur forced labor.
The Uyghur and other religious minorities in China have been persecuted by the government in the Xinjiang region since 2017, according to Human Rights Watch. Beijing denies any rights abuses and Shein denies shipping from the Xinjiang region.
Shein has previously said that it has “zero tolerance” for forced labor and requires suppliers to follow the International Labor Organization’s core conventions.
The prices of fruit, vegetables and meat are down from what they were in the last half of April, as are overall consumer prices, which fell 0.32% in the first half of May. (Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro)
Annual inflation declined to a 20-month low of 6% in the first half of May, 0.25 percentage points lower than the rate recorded at the end of April.
The national statistics agency INEGI reported Wednesday that consumer prices fell 0.32% in the first half of the month compared to the second half of April.
This graph shows how much percentage variation there was between the last half of April and the first half of May each year from 2014 to the present.
The resultant 6% annual headline inflation rate is the lowest since September 2021.
INEGI reported that the annual core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was 7.45% in the first half of May, down from 7.67% in April.
The annual headline and core inflation rates were both lower than the median forecasts of economists polled by the news agency Reuters.
The publication of the latest data comes six days after the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) ended a monetary policy tightening cycle that lasted almost two years. Members of the bank’s governing board voted unanimously to hold the benchmark interest rate at a record high of 11.25%.
Inflation has declined steadily this year, but the headline rate remains double the central bank’s target of 3%.
The Bank of Mexico said that “to achieve an orderly and sustained convergence of headline inflation to the 3% target, it considers that it will be necessary to maintain the reference rate at its current level for an extended period.”
For the first time in nearly two years, Mexico’s central bank decided to hold the interest rate steady at 11.25% at its monthly meeting last week. Bank of Mexico officials have suggested, however, that they plan to stay at that rate for several months in order to get closer to its 3% target inflation rate. (File photo)
But with inflation falling, some analysts believe that Banxico could reduce its key interest rate before the end of the year.
“Banxico’s pause is perfectly safe now, and there may even be room for cuts before year’s end,” said Natalia Gurushina, chief emerging markets economist at investment manager VanEck.
Andres Abadia, chief Latin America economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said that rate cuts could come in September or November as inflation is “falling rapidly” and core inflation is “finally edging lower.”
INEGI data shows that processed foods, beverages and tobacco were 11.6% more expensive in the first half of May than a year earlier, while prices for meat rose 6.9%. Fruit and vegetable prices increased 3.9% on an annual basis while services were 5.4% more expensive.
Prices for fruit and vegetables, and meat, fell in the first half of the month compared to the second half of April, but those for goods in general (including processed foods, beverages and tobacco), services and housing rose.
A 1.5% annual decrease in energy prices, including those for fuel and electricity, and a 3% drop from the last half of April helped put downward pressure on inflation.
INEGI will publish inflation data for the entirety of May early next month ahead of a Banxico monetary policy meeting on June 22.
The new visa program will place Central American migrants in construction jobs to help speed along the president's infrastructure projects. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico will launch a program this week offering Central American migrants temporary visas to work on public infrastructure projects, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Monday.
Ironworkers, tilers, engineers and tradesmen are needed in the construction of his government’s flagship projects, the president said at his weekly news conference. “We need a workforce for these projects, especially … skilled labor.”
The visas will be granted for one year.
The one-year visas will allow migrants to work on the construction of President López Obrador’s flagship projects, including the Maya Train. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)
Although he did not share details as to how many visas would be issued or for which of his government’s projects, he did stress that these jobs will not take away job opportunities for Mexicans. Migrants, he added, intend to stay only temporarily in the country.
“Their goal is to get to the United States, not to stay in Mexico,” he said.
López Obrador’s projects currently underway include the Maya Train, a tourist train linking destinations around the Yucatan Peninsula; the interoceanic corridor, a freight rail line crossing the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to create a trade route between Mexico’s Pacific and Gulf coasts; and the Dos Bocas refinery in the southern state of Tabasco.
To attract migrant workers, López Obrador explained that his government will launch a campaign in Central America to spread the word that salaries in Mexico are increasing.
President López Obrador promised that these temporary visitors wouldn’t take away jobs from Mexicans. “Their goal is to get to the United States, not to stay in Mexico,” he told reporters. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
During his Monday morning conference, he revealed that the United States president Joe Biden had sent a letter to his government that committed to increase its investment in Central America and the Caribbean. López Obrador has long pushed for investment in the region to create employment opportunities and stem migration.
While Biden didn’t share details of the investment, he promised to personally verify López Obrador’s visa project alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.
Every year, thousands of people flee poverty and violence in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua to head to the U.S. through Mexico.
According to the United States’ Migration Policy Institute, between October 2019 and March 2023, nationals of these four countries accounted for almost one-third of all 5.8 million migrant encounters at the Mexican-U.S. border.
The expiration of the pandemic-era Title 42 policy has gone smoothly according to the U.S. and Mexican governments. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
Sharing official numbers from the United States Customs and Border Protection, López Obrador said that as opposed to the “scaremongering propaganda that was going on in the United States” a few weeks ago, detentions in the border have declined from 200,000 in April to some 150,000 in May — although May hasn’t ended yet.
“Fortunately, this [situation] was resolved,” he assured reporters.
Negotiations for Grupo México to buy the Mexican bank from Citigroup appear to have fallen through only a few days after 120 km of Grupo México's railroads were expropriated by the government. (Cuartoscuro)
Citigroup announced Wednesday that it would seek to sell Citibanamex on the stock market, ending conjecture that a US $7 billion sale to Grupo México was imminent.
The New York-based bank said in a statement that it would pursue an initial public offering (IPO) of its consumer, small business and middle-market banking operations in Mexico, which it referred to collectively as the “Business.”
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said that an IPO was in the best interest of shareholders. (Wikimedia Commons)
“As previously disclosed, Citi had been pursuing a dual process to exit the Business, including preparation for a possible IPO, with a commitment to deliver maximum value to its shareholders,” the bank said.
“The Business will retain the Banco Nacional de México (“Banamex”) brand and will remain one of the leading financial groups in Mexico.”
Grupo México, a mining and infrastructure conglomerate led by Germán Larrea, had been in talks with Citigroup to purchase Banamex and was reportedly close to reaching a deal.
Military forces took over parts of Ferrosur’s railroads on Friday. (Ángel Hernández/Cuartoscuro)
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said that “after careful consideration,” the bank concluded that “the optimal path to maximizing the value of Banamex for our shareholders and advancing our goal to simplify our firm is to pivot from our dual path approach to focus solely on an IPO of the business.”
The company said it would continue to operate a locally-licensed banking business in Mexico through its Institutional Clients Group (ICG) — which it noted provides banking and advisory services to private and public institutions, financial sector clients and investors — and through Citi Private Bank “for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families.”
“This work, including obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals, is ongoing. Citi expects that the separation of the businesses will be completed in the second half of 2024 and that the IPO will take place in 2025.”
CNBC and Reuters both reported that sources familiar with the bank’s plans informed them that a dual listing on stock exchanges in Mexico and the United States was possible.
A Reuters source said that recent complications related to the sale process influenced Citi’s decision, including demands made by the Mexican government. Restrictions imposed by the government included a ban on large-scale layoffs.
When Citigroup bought Banamex, it also acquired buildings and antique cultural objects of Mexico curated by the Mexican bank, such as this Renaissance-era building in Mérida. (Wolfgang Sauber/Wikimedia Commons)
Citi said that approximately 38,000 employees supporting a wide range of Banamex business interests including credit cards, retail banking and consumer loans would “remain part of Banamex.”
It also said that Banamex’s art collection and historical buildings would remain part of the bank after the IPO is executed.
Citi purchased Banamex in 2001 for US $12.5 billion and developed it into Mexico’s fourth largest bank. The former noted in its statement that Banamex has 1,300 branches, 9,000 ATMs, 12.7 million retail banking clients, 6,600 commercial banking clients and 10 million pension fund customers.
President López Obrador said Tuesday that the government could buy a majority stake Banamex if the sale to Grupo México didn’t go ahead. He said Wednesday that he would speak with Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O about the possibility of purchasing the bank.
“Almost all governments have a bank, here we don’t,” López Obrador said.
While these may look like other chiles you've seen, the chile chicuarote is quite rare, only grown in San Gregorio Altapulco, in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City. (Photos by Joseph Sorrentino)
Most people who hear chile chicuarote won’t know what it refers to; a few may think it’s the full title to the movie by Gael García Bernal.
But chile chicuarote is a small, spicy chile endemic to the Valley of Mexico and one that’s virtually unknown outside of San Gregorio Atlapulco, a pueblo originario in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City.
Residents of that pueblo are so enamored with this chile, in fact, that they proudly call themselves chicuarotes.
Pueblos originarios like San Gregorio Atlapulco get the designation by the government for having maintained their indigenous traditions. In San Gregorio, that means yearly processions, pilgrimages and fiestas — lots of fiestas — most of them featuring traditional dancers and concheros, traditional musicians.
It also means making salsas with their beloved chile chicuarote.
“The Nahuatl name was chicualoni,” said Javier Márquez Juárez, who has studied and written about San Gregorio’s pre-Hispanic history. “Chi means chile and cualoni means ‘good flavor’ or ‘agreeable spice.’
San Gregorio Atlapulco resident and farmer Ernesto García Zeferino with chile chicuarote plants still in their chapines.
“The fresh chile is green, although when more mature, it turns red. The dried chile is also red and is called chilcostli … It is spicier than the green.”
However, he said the chile wasn’t too picoso (spicy), and Erendira González, another chicuarote, described it as “sweet and spicy.”
Márquez told me that chile chicuarote have only ever been planted in the Valley of Mexico. “They were grown mostly in San Gregorio, Xochimilco, Milpa Alta and Tlahuac. Now, they’re only planted in San Gregorio, where fewer than 10 people plant it.”
All 10 are chinamperos, the name given to people who work the ancient agricultural area in San Gregorio — known as the chinampería.
The chinampería consists of manmade islands — called chinampas — crisscrossed by canals carrying water to the land. There’s evidence that chinampas were first built around 5,000 years ago.
The ones in San Gregorio are probably 1,500 to 2,000 years old. San Gregorio is one of only three towns in which the chinampería is still actively farmed.
Chinamperos, people who farm the ancient man-made islands in San Gregorio, put seeds into traditional chapines.
Ernesto García Zeferino is one of the 10 chinamperos who still plant the chile chicuarote. He grows it on chinampas that have belonged to his family for close to 150 years.
“I am the fifth generation in my family to grow this chile,” he said proudly. “My abuelo said it was their daily food. Because they were poor, they ate what they grew.”
He said that he’s one of 40 grandchildren, and the only one to work in the chinampería.
In March, García put several chile seeds into dozens of small mud squares called chapines. In May, the plants were big enough to be placed in the chinampa. I went with him as he headed to his land to do the plantings.
García carried a tray of chile plants to his chinampa, knelt on the ground, and dug a small hole.
“It is important to put more than one plant in a hole,” he said. “If there is only one, it will not produce many chiles. With more plants, there are more chiles.”
He used his hand to measure the distance to the next hole — 1.5 hand widths, about 10 inches, is the right spacing, he says. More plants went into that hole. He continued this process until the end of a row, something that took about 40 minutes.
When finished, he’ll have four long rows of chile chicuarote planted. He estimates that he’ll put about 1,000 chile plants into the ground.
The chile is usually available fresh only in July and August, although the harvest can sometimes stretch into late September. Márquez said that it isn’t popular outside of San Gregorio.
“There is really no market for it. It is a local product. Chinamperos plant lettuce and other things because they can sell [that] anywhere.”
Juan Serralde, another chinampero who grows the chile, said that peoples’ tastes have changed.
García using his hand to space the chile plants.
“Before, our ancestors ate a lot of chile chicuarote. Now there are other chiles available, like chile poblano, chile de arbol, jalapeños. Those are found everywhere in Mexico. Chile chicuarote is only grown here in San Gregorio. It is not as popular as other chiles because it is not considered modern.”
“People have changed their way of eating,” he said. “They eat hamburgers.”
Chile chicuarote may not be popular, or even known, outside of San Gregorio, but it still has a big role here in the pueblo’s cuisine.
“It is important to save this chile because it is part of the traditional food here,” said Márquez. “Also, it is part of the pueblo’s identity. It is used in mich mole, chile atole, all of the green salsas.”
As with virtually all traditional foods, every home in San Gregorio has a special recipe using chile chicuarote.
Márquez insisted that all you need to make a delicious salsa was about half a kilo of tomatoes and a small handful of chopped fresh or dried chiles (remove the seeds for less heat). The recipe preferred by Gonzalez and her husband Ari Castro Galicia had more ingredients.
While Márquez uses both fresh and dried chicuarotes, Gonzalez and Castro only use fresh ones.
“First, heat the chiles on a comal [a sort of Mexican griddle used daily in Mexican homes],” said Gonzalez. “Then put them in a plastic bag for several minutes. Peel the skin, remove the seeds and tear up the chile. Chop the tomatoes, add onion, garlic, cilantro, lime and salt.”
Although people are happy to give you their recipe, no one can tell you exactly how much of each ingredient to use. When asked, Gonzalez said, “A su gusto [to your taste].”
Los Chicuas
San Gregorio’s chicuarote chile farmers are the subject of the short documentary, “Las Chicuas,” which you can view for free on YouTube.
Once you adjust the recipe to your taste, Castro said, “Put some in a cheese or chicharron taco.” It also goes well on sopes.
So why did San Gregorio’s residents become known as chicuarotes? There are several explanations that can be found online. One is that the chile is known to be hard and resilient, like the pueblo’s residents.
But, said Castro, “Nobody really knows why we are called chicuarotes. Chicuarote is synomous with ‘terco,’ which means ‘stubborn.’”
When asked if people from San Gregorio were stubborn, he didn’t hesitate.
