Prices for fruits and vegetables and processed foods still went up somewhat in April, but overall headline inflation was 0.6 percentage points lower than in March. (Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro)
Annual inflation slowed for a third consecutive month in April, reaching an 18-month low of 6.25%.
The headline figure, reported by the national statistics agency INEGI on Tuesday, is 0.6 percentage points below the March reading of 6.85%.
Victoria Rodríguez Ceja, head of the Bank of Mexico (Banxico). She has hinted that the central bank might hold interest rates at 11.25% at Banxico’s next meeting on May 18. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)
The National Consumer Price Index fell 0.02% in April compared to March, INEGI said.
The annual core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, declined to 7.67% in April from 8.09% the previous month.
The headline rate was slightly above the 6.23% consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by the Reuters news agency, while the core rate — the lowest level since July 2022 — was just below a 7.7% prediction.
Despite the decline in inflation, the headline rate remains well above the central bank’s target of 3% with tolerance for one percentage point in either direction.
A 1.1% annual decrease in energy prices, including those for fuel and electricity, helped put downward pressure on inflation. (Moisés Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)
The Bank of Mexico (Banxico) has raised its benchmark interest rate by 725 basis points since the current monetary policy tightening cycle began in June 2021. But with inflation now receding, many analysts believe that Banxico will leave its key rate at (a record high of) 11.25% following its board’s next monetary policy meeting on May 18.
Twenty-three of 32 analysts surveyed by Citibanamex before the publication of the latest inflation data predicted that the central bank won’t change its key rate this month.
Pantheon Macroeconomics’ chief Latin America economist Andrés Abadia is among those who believe Banxico will retain the status quo.
“The inflation outlook continues to improve in Mexico thanks to the lagged effect of restrictive financial conditions, lower prices for raw materials and an improvement in supply conditions,” he said.
INEGI’s data showed that prices for processed food, beverages and tobacco were 12.1% higher in April than in the same month of 2022, while meat was 8% more expensive and fruit and vegetables were 3.7% dearer.
Prices at restaurants and hotels increased 11.3% annually, health care costs rose 6.4%, clothing and footwear was 5.6% more expensive and costs for services were up 5.5%.
A 1.1% annual decrease in energy prices, including those for fuel and electricity, and a 3.1% drop in communication costs helped put downward pressure on inflation, which has remained above the Bank of Mexico’s target for over two years.
Law enforcement showed photos of the clandestine fake coke bottling operation. (FGJCDMX)
Mexico City authorities have uncovered what appears to be a crime ring involved in the manufacture, bottling and distribution of fake Coca-Cola.
Ulises Lara, spokesman for the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office (FGJ), announced that police last week raided a property in the eastern borough of Iztapalapa and discovered hundreds of bottles of “possibly cloned” cola.
Thousands of bottles, both filled and empty, were found in the raid. (FGJCDMX)
Images released by the FGJ show hundreds of plastic Coca-Cola crates containing thousands of empty and filled Coca-Cola bottles.
Lara said in a video message that two men were arrested at the raided property, located in the neighborhood of Santa Martha Acatitla Norte. One of the men apparently washed out empty bottles before they were refilled with fake Coke while the other was allegedly involved in the bottling and distribution of the counterfeit soda.
Authorities believe that a total of about 10 people worked at the bogus beverage plant.
Lara said there is evidence that the pirated Coke was sold to street food stands in Mexico City and the neighboring México state municipalities of Chalco and Nezahualcóyotl.
The two suspects shown in a video message from the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office. (FGJCDMX)
Authorities believe the alleged criminals sold 50 to 60 crates of the phony pop per day, with each crate going for 200 to 210 pesos. The fake Coke syndicate would have thus had daily revenue of between 10,000 and 12,600 pesos (about US $560-710).
Lara said that authorities are continuing their investigations and seeking to detain all those involved in the apparent crime ring.
Authorities took possession of the Iztapalapa property, where equipment such as hoses and pumps as well as stolen license plates and vehicles allegedly used to distribute the fake Coca-Cola were also found.
It is perhaps not surprising that criminals are making and selling fake Coke given that Mexicans are among the world’s largest consumers of Coca-Cola and other sugary drinks, and a wide range of counterfeit goods – collectively known as fayuca – are manufactured and/or commercialized here.
In light of last week’s discovery, several Mexican newspapers including El Universal and Excélsior published guides on how to tell the difference between counterfeit Coke and “the Real Thing.”
Mother's Day represents the second-highest shopping expense for Mexicans, only behind the Christmas season. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Consumers in Mexico City will spend some $2 billion pesos (US $112 million) in celebration of Mother’s Day this year, according to the Economic Development Ministry (Sedeco).
Fadlala Akabani Hneide, head of Sedeco, said that the expected amount is 14.2% higher than that registered in 2022, “a good indicator of the internal economy,” he added.
Roses are the flower of choice for Mother’s Day in Mexico, which is celebrated annually on May 10. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The revenue will benefit more than 80,000 businesses, of which 76,321 are micro-sized, meaning they employ fewer than 10 people. These businesses employ over half a million capitalinos, or residents of Mexico City, Akabani said in a statement.
The vendors that will experience the greatest demand will be restaurants, flower shops, jewelry stores, perfume shops, watch stores and electronics sellers.
Particularly sought-after on May 10 are roses for mom and grandma. According to Akabani, the production of roses reached a volume of 2,560 gross this year (each gross is equivalent to 12 dozen).
Mexico City ranks ninth in the national production of roses, where flower-growing boroughs Xochimilco, Tláhuac, Tlalpan and Milpa Alta provide most of the bouquets sold in the capital.
A rainbow of roses and petals to choose from. (Archive)
To boost the local economy, the Sedeco encouraged people to purchase their gifts at public markets, street markets, ambulatory vendors and from businesses within their neighborhood.
Nationwide, consumers are projected to spend a total of 70.3 billion pesos (US $3.9 billion), 13% more than last year’s spending of 62.4 billion pesos (US $3.5 billion), president of the Confederation of National Chambers of Commerce (Concanaco Servytur) Héctor Tejada reported.
This figure would exceed pre-pandemic sales for the second year in a row, Tejada said.
According to Concanaco, May 10 is an unequivocal sign of economic reactivation and forms the foundation for growth in the tertiary sector. The celebration, Tejada added, represents the second-highest commercial expense for Mexicans, only behind the Christmas season.
The company held an inauguration ceremony on the site of the new factory that included the planting of a tree to mark the beginning of construction. (Twitter)
Taxan México has begun construction of a US $40 million factory in San Luis Potosí to expand its manufacturing capacity in the country.
The company’s current plant in the state, which provides electronic components, primarily for the automotive industry, currently has a plant in the state, manufactures 500,000 articles per month and employs 500 people.
TAXAN already operates a factory in the state, employing 500 people. (Taxan)
The plant is expected to begin operations in March 2024.
The new factory will double monthly production to 1 million articles and create 1,000 new jobs, officials said. Taxan will focus on the manufacture of board assembly products, semi-finished products and electrical components for the automotive industry. The company boasts Nissan, Ford, Mazda and Toyota among its clients.
“Our goal is to continue to actively participate in the industrial corridor… in San Luis Potosí… as we are part of the group of companies that support the automotive industry and the household products sector,” said Julio Esparza, operations manager of Taxan México during the new site’s inaugural event.
During the factory’s groundbreaking ceremony, managing directors of the Japanese manufacturer and state government representatives planted a tree on the premises to symbolize the roots and future of the factory.
“… We have accomplished the dream of inaugurating our first plant in Mexico in 2016, and now to plan our first tree on the construction site of our new complex, that reflects our commitment to potosino residents,” Taxan México President Takayuki Tsuguri said.
San Luis Potosí Governor Ricardo Gallardo Cardona said that San Luis Potosí is a safe place for investment thanks to its peaceful society, its infrastructure, its workforce and its job stability.
Tomohiro Takayama, President of Suntak Group, the design and project management company behind the new factory, said that it will use sustainable and environmentally friendly technology in its one-story design, including maximizing the use of natural light.
“It will also have natural ventilation to reduce the equipment’s dependence on energy, and to create a healthy environment with better air quality.”
To support working mothers in the company and reduce the turnover of staff with young children, the plant will have a nursery onsite operated by the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS).
“We listened to the needs of our collaborators,” said Osvaldo Magdaleno, head of the company’s human resources department. “This was one of their top requests.”
The plant will also hire staff with disabilities and adapt the premises to their needs.
Taxan México is part of Japan’s Kaga Electronics Group. It operates in 10 countries, including Vietnam, India, the Czech Republic and Turkey.
Sandra Ávila Beltrán, known as "La Reina del Pacífico" has been active on social media in recent years. (Sandra Ávila Beltrán/Facebook)
Sandra Ávila Beltrán, an alleged drug trafficker best known as La Reina del Pacífico (The Queen of the Pacific), could soon receive a massive payout after winning a battle against the television station Telemundo.
The Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) ruled in Ávila’s favor after the Mexicali native argued in a 2022 administrative complaint against Telemundo and Netflix that her image was used without her consent to promote the television drama “La Reina del Sur” (The Queen of the South).
Sandra Ávila Beltrán was first detained in Mexico in 2007, then extradited to the U.S. in 2012 (pictured here) and served a 70-month sentence there before being brought back to Mexico to serve time on charges of money laundering. She was released in 2015. (Cuartoscuro.)
The newspaper Milenio, which obtained a copy of IMPI’s ruling, reported Monday that the patent and trademark authority last month ordered Telemundo to pay a fine of 448,100 pesos (US $25,200) for the unauthorized use of a photograph of Ávila in a promotional video.
While the fine is insignificant for a network as large as Telemundo, the ruling paves the way for La Reina del Pacífico to file a civil case against the company.
Lawyers for Ávila intend to seek compensation for their client equivalent to 40% of the profits generated by “La Reina del Sur.” It is estimated that the hit Spanish language series — of which three seasons have been made — has generated profits of as much as US $300 million, meaning that Ávila could receive a payout of some $120 million if her lawsuit is successful.
If it loses the case, Telemundo would presumably have to pay the full amount since IMPI didn’t find any proof that Netflix, which coproduced seasons 2 and 3 of the drama, used Ávila’s image without authorization.
Promotional artwork for “La Reina del Sur” season 1. (Telemundo)
Ávila’s lawyers previously said they decided on the 40% figure because the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that alcoholic beverage company Diageo México must pay actor Gael García Bernal 40% of the revenue it obtained from sales of Johnnie Walker whisky during the period that its “Caminando con Gigantes” (Walking with Giants) campaign ran in September and October 2011. The company used García’s image without authorization in that campaign.
A court ruling in Ávila’s favor would set a precedent in which other narco figures who have been portrayed in television series — in some cases without any attempt to hide their identity — could take advantage.
Ávila, who has been accused but never convicted of drug trafficking, reportedly believes that the protagonist of “La Reina del Sur” — a Mexican woman, played by Kate del Castillo, who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in the south of Spain — is based on her.
“The resemblance between [the character] Teresa [Mendoza] and Sandra is certainly there to interpret,” Milenio reported last year, noting that both are brunettes, attractive norteñas (from northern Mexico) of a similar age and involved in the drug trafficking world. In addition, “La Reina del Sur” has been promoted as a series based on actual events.
In her IMPI complaint, Ávila claimed that Netflix and Telemundo “acted maliciously with the intention of discrediting me and obtaining an economic benefit based on that.”
She specifically cited a 2019 Telemundo news broadcast during which the network did a cross-promotion for the second season of “La Reina del Sur” that included footage of both Ávila and del Castillo as Teresa Mendoza, insinuating a link between them.
A Telemundo reporter went further, saying that Ávila — a niece of Guadalajara Cartel founder Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and allegedly a go-between for the Sinaloa Cartel and Colombian cocaine traffickers — was the “muse” for the series.
Matsumoto was responsible for introducing one of the defining symbols of Mexico City — the jacaranda tree. He also spent much of his time creating stunning gardens across the country. (Matsumoto family)
Born in the Shinagawa region of Japan in 1864, Tatsugoro Matsumoto worked as a royal gardener in Tokyo before migrating to Mexico City, where he worked for presidents like Porfirio Díaz and became the landscaper of Mexico City’s Chapultepec Castle gardens.
Tatsugoro Matsumoto, the man who emigrated from Japan to Mexico and reshaped Mexico’s landscape in the process. (Matsumoto family)
Matsumoto belonged to the 15th generation of landscape architects of the Edo Castle in Tokyo. It was the seat of the military government of Japan during the Edo period (1603–1867) and is part of the grounds of the current Imperial Palace of the Japanese emperor.
“From a young age, Matsumoto learned about gardening and the art of landscaping with different master gardeners who designed and built gardens for the Japanese nobility,” Mutsumoto’s grandson Ernesto told Mexico News Daily.
After eight years of studying Kyoto-style landscaping, Matsumoto received the niwa-shi title in 1884, recognizing him as a master gardener — a distinction similar to a landscape architect of our time.
“Japanese gardens are distinguished by the use of organic lines. They use winding paths to make visitors wander and contemplate the vegetation from different angles, listen to the sound of water in its waterfalls and appreciate the stillness of water in its curvilinear lakes while enjoying the beauty of the Koi fish,” Ernesto explained.
Matsumoto became a master of his trade in the gardens of the historic Edo palace, located in current-day Tokyo. (D Ramey Logan/Wikimedia Commons)
Matsumoto specialized in the placement of rocks to build relaxing waterfalls and lakes and continued designing gardens for Tokyo nobility. These families included the Hosokawa, one of the largest landholdings of the time.
In 1887, Matsumoto met British naval captain John Mathews James, who asked him to design a garden for his residence in Shinagawa. Pleased with the results, he referred him to a German friend in Peru, diplomat Oskar Heeren, who wanted to build a Japanese garden in his magnificent quinta. Born to a Peruvian mother, Heeren worked as Peru’s consul in Tokyo before making Lima his permanent home.
Across Latin America, quintas were rest houses for wealthy families in rural areas that had a vegetable garden or small agricultural plot. Quinta Heeren is currently a tourist destination in Lima.
“Mr. Heeren was in love with Japanese culture,” Ernesto said. “He wanted a garden with waterfalls, lakes and the signature winding paths of a classic Japanese garden.”
A postcard depicting the Quinta Heeren in Lima, Peru, and its world-famous gardens in 1908. It still stands today. (Wikimedia)
At just 24 years of age and never having heard the Spanish language before, Matsumoto accepted the offer and traveled to Lima in 1884. With signs and mimicry, he explained to the quinta’s workers how to install rocks and ornamental plants. Eventually, he mastered the language.
While learning and exploring South America’s native plants, he came across a particular tree that dazzled him with its blue and purple flowers — the jacaranda.
“He fell in love with the jacaranda tree and its beautiful lavender purple [color],” Ernesto said of his grandfather.
It would be a Mexican miner who would bring Matsumoto to Mexico, where he would eventually plant the first jacaranda tree in Mexico City.
Matsumoto came to Mexico to design the gardens of the Hacienda San Juan Hueyapan in Hidalgo.
“People from around the world would visit Quinta Heeren,” Ernesto explained. “One of them was … Don José de Landero, who became fascinated by Tatsugoro’s garden.”
Landero invited Matsumoto to his hacienda in Huasca de Ocampo, Hidalgo, to build a Japanese garden for him. Matsumoro once again ventured into the unknown, and in 1890, arrived in Mexico for the first time. With a lake and a waterfall, Landero’s Hacienda San Juan Hueyapan also featured bamboo trees, which Matsumoto had sent from Japan.
After finishing his work, he returned to his wife Yoshiko in Japan, who patiently waited for him for almost 10 years. During their time together, he became the father of two sons: Sanshiro and Umakichi.
“He always dreamed of going back to Mexico,” Ernesto said.
After three years in Japan, Matsumoto returned to Mexico alone and without his family(years later his son Sanshiro would join him in Mexico). This time, he would travel with Asian ornamental plants to decorate his gardens. He loaded two ship containers with a variety of plants, and sent them to the United States, to the port of San Francisco. He traveled in a separate ship and arrived in San Francisco on Feb. 1, 1895.
But his shipment kept not arriving.
“He would go to the port every day to watch the ships arrive,” said Ernesto. “But many weeks went by with no sign of his shipment.”
Not knowing any of this but worried that Matsumoto was going to the port every day contemplating suicide, Golden Gate Park Superintendent John McClaren — who himself had once been the park’s head gardener — reached out to Kentaro Domoto, a wealthy Japanese immigrant in the area who with his brothers owned the Domoto Brothers Nursery. McClaren asked him to find out the reason for Matsumoto’s daily visits.
Jacarandas at the Fuente de Cibeles in Roma Norte. (Cody Copeland)
When Domoto told McClaren that the man was a gardener, McClaren offered Matsumoto a position in the park’s new Japanese Tea Garden. He was commissioned to build a small lake and a waterfall, according to Ernesto.
After finishing his work in San Francisco and receiving his shipment three months too late — the plants were dead by that time — Matsumoto resumed his trip to Mexico, where he settled on calle Colima in the Roma neighborhood.
Wishing to grow Asian plants here, Matsumoto sent another shipment from Japan with different varieties of bamboo, azaleas, camellias, lilies, irises, junipers and hinoki cypresses, among many others.
He cared for these plants in his nurseries in México state, Morelos, Puebla and Veracruz. He imported all sorts of plants — not only from Asia also but from South America as well.
“If he didn’t find a specific plant, he would import it and grow it massively to use in his projects,” Ernesto recalled.
Matsumoto’s expertise eventually won him the position of gardener to Chapultepec Castle during the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz. During that time, he also participated in the rehabilitation and reforestation of Chapultepec Forest.
After the Mexican Revolution, President Álvaro Obregón asked Matsumoto to beautify Mexico City’s streets. He remembered the jacaranda and imported its seeds from South America to grow in his plant nurseries.
A decade later, President Pascual Ortiz Rubio saw the Japanese cherry trees in Washington and asked Japan to donate trees to Mexico City as they did with the U.S. Matsumoto, however, advised against it since winters in Mexico City are not as cold as in Japan. He warned that the flower wouldn’t blossom.
The jacaranda tree, though it originally came from Brazil, has become part of Mexico City’s identity. (João Medieros/Wikimedia)
Instead, he suggested the jacaranda.
“The first jacarandas were transplanted to calle Veracruz in Condesa,” remembered Ernesto. The beautifying project took more than 10 years.
By that time, Matsumoto’s son Sanshiro had already joined him in his thriving Mexican landscaping business, and together they became the florists and landscapers to Mexico’s elite.
Along with his nurseries, Matsumoto set up a flower business in the Roma neighborhood. Today, Florería Matsumoto is still up and running, located at calle Colima 92, and administered by one of his great-granddaughters.
Matsumoto never returned to Japan and died here in 1955 at 91 years old. He left an enduring legacy in Mexico, rooted deeply in each and every of Mexico City’s jacarandas.
New York City bar Double Chicken Please won best bar in North America at the awards held on Thursday in San Miguel de Allende. (Courtesy: North America's 50 Best Bars)
On Thursday night, San Miguel de Allende overflowed with mixologists, restaurateurs, and cocktail lovers of all stripes for the second annual celebration of North America’s 50 Best Bars awards.
This year’s high-energy and boozy celebration found Ms Franky Marshall, spirits educator and long-time presence on the New York cocktail scene, emceeing in her bright fuchsia bodice to a cheering crowd of cocktail enthusiasts from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
North America’s 50 Best Bars awards ceremony held in San Miguel de Allende. (The World’s 50 Best)
Inaugurated just two years ago, North America’s 50 Best Bars is a branch of the larger 50 Best brand lists that started in 2002 with The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and has extended to include Best Restaurants in Latin America, The World’s Best Bars, and others.
Teams from all 50 of the bars nominated were present to hoot and holler for themselves and their peers in a rapid-fire countdown from 50 to one, held in the central patio of Hacienda Picachos, just outside the colonial city.
Chocolate martinis, fig coconut negronis, and dozens of other specialty drinks were proffered by the list’s sponsors – Ketel One vodka, Roku gin, Remy Martin, and a half dozen other spirits companies, as well the event’s main sponsor, Perrier. Festivities reached a fever pitch as the countdown got closer and closer to number one.
Founded by UK company William Reed, the 50 Best brand and their lists have provided an international spotlight on the “best” dining and drinking establishments across the globe for the past two decades, and have often been a contributing factor in winners rocketing to culinary stardom.
A signature cocktail from Las Brujas in Mexico City, called “Veneno para las hadas”, or “Fairy poison”. (Courtesy: North America’s 50 Best Bars)
The lists both report and promote culinary and mixology trends, and earning a spot on one of them has become a coveted achievement in the industry.
This isn’t to say that 50 Best hasn’t had its fair share of criticism. Some have complained of the lists’ lack of diversity, their Euro-centric focus, and the glaring absence of female representation.
50 Best has taken steps to combat these shortcomings and this year’s winners crossed gender, racial, and national lines to create a potpourri of barmen and women on stage.
The voting process has also been accused of perpetuating repeat winners because panel members can only vote on places they have been to, and they must vote on a certain amount of places outside of their own geographical region – so if 40 judges from the United States have only been to Limantour in Mexico City, guess who will be getting their vote?
Additionally, the awards almost exclusively promote high-end dining and drinking experiences.
The team from Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy, which won best bar in Mexico and second-best in all of North America. (Courtesy: North America’s 50 Best Bars)
The positive argument that these awards represent a celebration of the passion, dedication, and effort of industry professionals was on full display Thursday night, with the nomination as one of North America’s 50 Best Bars an obvious thrill for participants.
The founders of this year’s number one – Double Chicken Please bar in New York City – took the stage teary-eyed, profusely thanking their team and everyone who has supported their evolving project over the past few years.
Mexico had a good showing in this year’s list, increasing the country’s number of recipients from 11 in 2022 to 14. Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy held steady in its second-best spot on the list and new bars Las Brujas, Rayo, and Tijuana’s Aruba Day Trip all joined the slate of winners.
The mere breadth of options for eating and drinking these days can make lists like 50 Best helpful for first time travelers to Mexico City or Montreal. And while most of the places on the list are pricey (relative to where you live of course), that doesn’t negate the fact that the cocktails, ambience, and experience make a visit to them worthwhile.
Mexico City’s Licorería Limantour for example is a raucous bar in the heart of Colonia Roma were you can get a great introduction to mezcal cocktails while at Guadalajara’s boho-cool Gallo Altanero you’ll find uncommon regional Mexican spirits and possibly your new best friend at the same time.
El Gallo Altanero bar in Guadalajara ranked number 21 on the list. (Courtesy: North America’s 50 Best Bars)
North America’s 50 Best Bars also includes several individual awards. One of the most prized is the peer-reviewed Bartenders’ Bartender award, snagged this year by Christine Wiseman from Miami’s Bar Lab. The award for best cocktail menu went to Allegory in Washington D.C. for a list that incorporates literature, art and whimsy, and Best New Opening went to Mexico’s own Rayo, which opened just over a year ago in Mexico City.
This year’s Most Sustainable Bar award went to Denver’s Yacht Club and the Art of Hospitality award was given to the Botanist bar from Vancouver. The Industry Icon award went to Julio Cabrera from La Trova bar in Miami, and Campari’s One to Watch award was given to Manhatta bar from New York.
Álvarez is the only unified super-middleweight champion in Boxing history. His victory over Ryder was his 59th in 63 professional bouts. (Saúl Álvarez/Twitter)
A raucous group of 50,000 fans in Guadalajara saw hometown hero Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez take his 59th win as a professional boxer against Britain’s John Ryder on Saturday.
The world-famous tapatío bruiser successfully defended his titles and remains the only unified super-middleweight champion in the history of the sport.
Publicity for the fight proclaimed “The King is coming home” as Álvarez returned to fight in his native Guadalajara for the first time in 12 years. (Saúl Álvarez/Twitter)
A unified champion is a competitor who holds more than two championship titles from different boxing organizations in the same weight class. Álvarez holds all 4 titles in his division.
Promotion posters for the fight had declared, “The king is coming home,” and Álvarez — who weighed in on Cinco de Mayo for the bout at Guadalajara’s Degollado Theater accompanied by live mariachi music — did not disappoint, demonstrating why he is regarded as an all-time great of the middleweight division.
A near-capacity Akron Stadium saw a masterful Álvarez take a unanimous points win, 12 years after his last hometown bout. Two judges scored the fight 118–109 points to Álvarez, with the third favoring the Mexican more heavily at 120–107.
Ryder, from London, England, was faced by jeers as he walked toward the ring, in stark contrast to the explosion of adulation that greeted local favorite Álvarez. While Ryder launched a late comeback after falling in the fifth round, he failed to make enough of an impact to sway the judges once the fight went the distance.
Defeat to Álvarez sees Ryder, who has enjoyed a long career in boxing, considering his options – including retirement from the sport. (Matchroom Sports/Twitter)
The victory — Álvarez’s first of 2023 — marked redemption from the loss to Russian light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol almost exactly one year before.
“I’m happy with the fight. I won, and I’m happy people had a great fight,” Álvarez said after his victory was confirmed in an interview with television outlet DAZN. “He’s a strong fighter. I knew that; I’m not surprised about it.”
Victory for the defeated Englishman likely would have seen him extend his career, but the 34 year-old now faces questions about a potential retirement, after a second failed title fight. While his promoter, boxing stalwart Eddie Hearn, discussed the possibility of an upcoming U.S. fight, defeat to Álvarez may mark the end of his 13-year career in the sport.
Claudia Sheinbaum remains on course for the Morena nomination in next year's elections. Her lead over closest rival, Marcelo Ebrard, has grown in 2023. (Gobierno de la Ciudad de Mexico/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has extended her lead over Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard as the preferred candidate for the ruling Morena party at the 2024 presidential election.
An El Financiero newspaper poll also shows that the alliance of Morena, the Labor Party (PT) and the Green Party (PVEM) has a 20-point lead over the three-party Va por México opposition bloc, made up of the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).
Sheinbaum is the preferred candidate of many Morena voters.The party has a 20-point lead over its nearest rivals, with a little more than year before the presidential elections. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum, who declared late last year that she is ready to take on the nation’s top job, was the preferred Morena candidate of 34% of 900 people polled by El Financiero in late April.
Support for the mayor was up three points compared to March, while the percentage of respondents who nominated Ebrard as their preferred candidate declined one point to 18%.
Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández was chosen by 10% of those polled as their preferred candidate for Morena and its allies, while Gerardo Fernández Noroña, a deputy with the PT, and Senator Ricardo Monreal, Morena’s leader in the upper house, received 7% and 6% support, respectively.
Almost a quarter of the respondents didn’t nominate a preferred Morena candidate.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard, whom polls put behind Sheinbaum in the race for the Morena nomination, is currently touring Mexico to support his new book, which promotes his vision of Mexican politics. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)
Results of El Financiero’s polling show that support for Sheinbaum has steadily increased this year while Ebrard has lost ground every month since January. The publication of the results on Monday comes ahead of the official launch of Morena’s selection process next month.
“The call for applications will be issued in the second half of June,” Morena’s national president, Mario Delgado, said last week. “… Everyone who wants to participate will register. It will be an open process.”
President López Obrador, who founded Morena, reportedly asked the party to select its candidate by August, but Delgado indicated that a “second and definitive survey” to choose a flag bearer won’t be held until September or October. The potential candidates who fare best in a first survey of Morena members in July or August will advance to the second round, the party chief explained.
El Financiero’s latest poll results also show that Sheinbaum has a significant advantage over Ebrard in terms of what people think of them. Just under half of the respondents —49% — said they had a favorable opinion of the Mexico City mayor, while only 35% said the same about the foreign minister. A third of respondents said they had an unfavorable opinion of Ebrard while just over a quarter said the same about Sheinbaum
A 2021 accident on a Mexico City Metro line that claimed the lives of 26 people is considered an electoral burden for both potential candidates. The line was built while Ebrard was Mexico City mayor between 2006 and 2012, while the accident occurred on Sheinbaum’s watch.
Among potential opposition candidates, PAN Senator Lilly Téllez, who defected from Morena in 2020, is considered the best choice by 15% of respondents to El Financiero’s latest poll, ahead of PRI Senator Claudia Ruiz Massieu (12%).
PRI Senator Beatriz Paredes received 8% support, former PAN national president Ricardo Anaya, who contested the 2018 presidential election, was the preferred candidate of 7% of respondents and former Mexico City mayor and current PRD Senator Miguel Ángel Mancera was endorsed by 6% of those polled.
The Citizens Movement party (MC) has also indicated it will contest next year’s presidential election, but two of its potential candidates are not particularly popular among the electorate, El Financiero found.
The collapse of an overpass on Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro last May is a political liability for both Sheinbaum, the city’s current mayor, and Ebrard, who was mayor when Line 12 was opened.
Just 14% of poll respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Nuevo León Governor Samuel García, while 39% expressed an unfavorable view and 31% declared they didn’t know him.
Monterrey Mayor Luis Donaldo Colosio Riojas, son of slain 1994 PRI presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, fared only slightly better, with 19% of those poll expressing a favorable opinion of the potential candidate and 27% expressing an unfavorable one.
El Financiero also asked respondents which party they would vote for if the presidential election was held on the day they were polled. Morena was the clear winner, with 49% opting for the ruling party, ahead of the PAN (19%), the PRI (12%) and MC (7%).
The Morena-PT-PVEM alliance together attracted 54% support, while the PAN-PRI-PRD bloc, which announced in January it would field a common candidate, had combined backing of 34%.
Those figures, as well as the results of previous polls, indicate that Morena will secure a second consecutive six-year term of government at the June 2, 2024 election.
The ruling party will also be seeking to improve its position in Congress, after losing seats in both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate at elections in 2021.
Back to his daily morning press conferences after missing four last week while ill with COVID, President López Obrador covered everything from aviation to intercepted Chinese shipments to feral animals. (Gob MX)
Having recovered from his third bout of COVID, President López Obrador presided over all five of his morning press conferences (known as mañaneras) in the first week of May, four more than the number he appeared at last week.
President López Obrador giving a speech to mark International Workers’ Day on Monday. (Gob MX)
AMLO still has 17 months left as president, but he is already thinking about who will take his place in October 2024. A report published early this week said that he had asked the ruling Morena party to choose its candidate for the June 2024 presidential election within three months.
Monday
“We’re very happy to start the week, today, on this historic date,” López Obrador said, referring to International Workers’ Day.
“… It’s a tribute … in honor of the martyrs of Chicago, workers who demanded working days of eight hours … in 1886.”
Continuing the labor theme, the head of the National Tourism Promotion Fund reported that the construction of the Maya Train railroad between Calkiní, Campeche, and Izamal, Yucatán, has created over 11,000 jobs.
Javier May said that tracks have been laid along 92 kilometers of the 159-kilometer section, which includes a station on the outskirts of Mérida, the capital of Yucatán.
The governor of that state was on hand, and noted that among the other Maya Train stations in Yucatán will be those in the colonial cities of Izamal and Valladolid and one near the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá.
“We see the Maya Train as a good project for the state of Yucatán,” said Mauricio Vila, a National Action Party governor with aspirations for higher office.
Mauricio Vila, governor of Yucatán, at the Monday morning press conference. (Gob MX)
Having a “fast and efficient means of transportation” will allow Yucatán to attract some of the millions of tourists who visit Cancún and the Riviera Maya, he said.
“Without a doubt, [the Maya Train] is a project that will generate economic development and more jobs in Yucatán,” Vila said, noting that the railroad will benefit manufacturing companies as raw materials will be able to reach the state on freight trains.
He also said that the process to recover the Category 1 aviation safety rating with United States authorities – which Mexico lost in 2021 – is “progressing very well.”
All the requirements for the recovery of the top-tier rating – whose reinstatement would allow Mexican airlines to add new flights to the U.S. – “have already been met,” López Obrador said.
The president later acknowledged that the head of the National Immigration Institute (INM), Francisco Garduño, had been ordered to stand trial on a charge related to the fire in a Ciudad Juárez detention center in late March that claimed the lives of 40 migrants. However, he declined to comment further.
“If I tell you something about Garduño, Reforma’s headline tomorrow will be, ‘He protected Garduño,” López Obrador said, referring to his least favorite Mexican newspaper.
“We’re doing very well in economic terms, not just because there is growth … but also because of something fundamental that didn’t exist in the neoliberal period. There is growth with distribution of income, growth with distribution of wealth, growth with wellbeing,” he said.
Tuesday
During a security update in the first half of the presser, Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda Durán mentioned two curious drug seizures.
Discovered after a sniffer dog alerted customs teams, the drugs were disguised as bottles of “añejo” — aged tequila.(Semar)
National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval later reported that authorities have confiscated 588.1 million Mexican pesos (US $32.7 million) and US $129.5 million in cash from criminals since the current government took office in December 2018.
Responding to a question about street dogs and feral cats and how to control them, López Obrador asserted that animals mustn’t be mistreated before embarking on a monologue about behaviors that were once considered normal but are unacceptable today.
“In the case of dogs, for example, even though they were, and continue to be, the faithful friends of campesinos, … there was, and continues to be, mistreatment. They’re beaten, stones are thrown at them and all this has to change,” he said.
“… In the countryside, when we were kids, we used … slingshots [against animals] – now they can’t be used. And many other things were seen as normal. … Turtle [meat] and turtle eggs were eaten before. There was even the myth that [eating] turtle eggs was linked to virility, … they even sold loggerhead turtle eggs in [the Mexico City neighborhood of] Tepito,” AMLO continued.
“… Now neither turtles nor turtle eggs are eaten. … I believe the area in which Mexicans have made the most progress in recent times is in political awareness and ecological awareness. For example, it was very common to take photos of oneself smoking, … it was a mark of manliness, of machismo, of virility. [Smoking] isn’t allowed now, not even at home because [one’s] children don’t permit it, just as they don’t let adults mistreat animals – it’s a new mentality,” he said.
López Obrador later defended his government’s human rights record when a reporter asserted that the deaths of the migrants in the Ciudad Juárez detention center fire were indicative of a country where such rights aren’t respected.
“There is a difference like that from heaven to earth between what previous governments did and what we’re doing in terms of human rights,” he said.
The survivors of the fire are receiving medical care that has saved their lives, he continued.
“They were taken to specialized hospitals with the best doctors and thanks to that they haven’t died,” AMLO said.
“… This tragedy happened and a complete investigation is being carried out – something that wasn’t done before. …. A lot of human rights organizations financed by the mafias of power are constantly pointing out things that are supposedly mistakes on our part [but] we act out of conviction and with humanism,” he said.
“… We don’t protect anyone, there is no impunity, we’re not the same as the neoliberal governments … our country has suffered. … In this government there haven’t been massacres, no one is tortured, human rights are not violated by the state.”
U.S. envoy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall with President López Obrador on Tuesday. (AMLO/Twitter)
Before bringing his presser to a close, AMLO noted that he would meet later in the day with Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, homeland security advisor to United States President Joe Biden.
Security minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez told reporters that migration, arms trafficking and drug trafficking would be on the agenda at the Mexico City meeting.
Wednesday
Ana García Vilchis began her “Who’s Who in the Lies of the Week” segment by denouncing a Twitter account that “usurps the identity of the government of Mexico.”
Created under the name Información Oficial Gobierno de México, the account, García said, went viral this week when it published a graph that showed that the government slashed funding for the treatment of children with cancer by 97% in 2021 compared to 2015.
“The data is false,” the spokeswoman said, adding that the account also publishes false information about public expenditure and debt.
“They’re so deceitful that they insert a link that redirects to a fake Ministry of Finance page. All the information is false, they straight out lie,” García said before noting that ex-president Vicente Fox and former first lady and current Deputy Margarita Zavala used the spurious health funding post to attack the government.
Did they act out of “ignorance or malice?” she asked.
The director of the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) spoke after García, and announced that a Mexico-produced COVID-19 vaccine called Patria was ready for use as a booster shot.
The Conacyt director speaks at the Wednesday press conference. (Gob MX)
María Elena Álvarez-Buylla said that the vaccine, developed by Conacyt in conjunction with a veterinary pharmaceutical company, meets the safety and effectiveness criteria established by the World Health Organization.
“We now have the Patria vaccine [ready to use] and that’s great news for our country,” she said.
During his engagement with reporters, López Obrador mentioned that he still held out hope that various nations of the Americas would one day form a united bloc, “as was the ideal of Simón Bolívar.”
AMLO, who has previously called for Latin American and Caribbean leaders to aspire to the establishment of a European Union-style bloc, said that “instead of impositions and subjugations” in the region, there should be “cooperation for development and people’s wellbeing.”
There should be “fraternity between the people of America – universal fraternity as foreign policy,” he added.
López Obrador later revealed that he had sent a letter to United States President Joe Biden to complain about the U.S. Agency for International Development’s funding of groups that are “openly” opposed to the federal government.
The president, who has been denouncing such funding for about two years, apologized to Sherwood-Randall, the U.S. official with whom he met Tuesday, “because I told her in private … that I wasn’t going to send [the] letter so as not to bother President Biden.”
“… But … I did send it. Why did I change my mind? Because the truth is that I feel that [funding opposition groups] is very arrogant, very offensive and I can’t remain quiet,” López Orador said.
In his letter, which he read aloud at his presser, the president described the United States’ funding of opposition groups as an “interventionist act contrary to international law” and called on Biden to address the matter.
During his final remarks of the morning, AMLO said he would be “very calm” when he leaves office next year because he will have completed his “mission” and has confidence in those seeking the Morena party candidacy at the 2024 presidential election.
Thursday
A team of teenage soccer players from Nuevo León were present at the National Palace, where AMLO and Nuevo León Governor Samuel García congratulated them on winning a tournament in Spain organized by the Real Madrid Foundation.
These teenage soccer players were invited to the National Palace for the Thursday morning presser. (Samuel García/Twitter)
García said that the Mexican team was the only one that included girls, and advised Liga MX professional teams to take a look at the “very good players.”
One reporter asked López Obrador what message he would like to send to Tulum Mayor Diego Castañón, who took over the job in March due to the death of Marciano Dzul Caamal.
“He has to work in coordination with [Quintana Roo] Governor Mara Lezama,” AMLO responded, adding that the mayor should also collaborate with federal security forces to combat criminal gangs that traffic drugs.
The presence of gangs “frightens off” tourists, he said before noting that Tulum’s beaches and archaeological site make the destination a “paradise.”
López Obrador said he had hadn’t received any complaints about the new mayor and hoped that would remain the case.
Later in his response, he reiterated that the Tulum airport will open in December, and asserted that the facility, which is being built by the army, is “essential” because the Cancún airport is “saturated.”
Renderings of planned features of Tulum International Airport, including a military base and a Maya Train station (in the bottom right box). (Sedena)
The president was later asked about a letter in which sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who were indicted in the United States last month, assert that they have “never produced, manufactured or commercialized fentanyl.”
“I don’t know the content [of the letter],” López Obrador said. “… We don’t offer an opinion about that … and we don’t speculate.”
He subsequently emphasized that, “unlike what happened before,” the government doesn’t protect any organized crime group.
“Before, as it has been clearly shown, one group or one cartel was protected and others were pursued,” AMLO said, referring to former security minister Genaro García Luna’s proven collusion with the Sinaloa Cartel.
“… [Now] the line is very clear, and we’ve always said so. There is a clear line [between] the authorities and [organized] crime.”
López Obrador later rejected a report that claimed that friends of one of his sons benefited from that friendship by obtaining lucrative government contracts.
If the journalist who made the claim, Carlos Loret de Mola, has proof of corruption, he should take it to the Attorney General’s Office, he said.
“My sons aren’t corrupt. … Watch the report. It’s nothing, it’s desperation, it’s slander,” AMLO said before bluntly rejecting the suggestion that the situation was one of a conflict of interest.
“We’re very happy to be here in Puebla on this memorable day,” López Obrador said.
“… We’re going to participate in the celebration of the battle … in which the Mexican Army, with the participation of the people, … defeated the French Army, which at that time was the most powerful army in the world,” he said.
AMLO at the Friday morning press conference with members of his cabinet. (Gob MX)
National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval offered an overview of the security situation in Puebla, which he noted has a population of 6.5 million people across its 217 municipalities.
The incidence of all but three crimes is on the wane, he said before providing specific data for a range of offenses. There were just two kidnappings in Puebla in March, while there were 69 homicides, 190 burglaries and 468 reported incidents of vehicle theft, Sandoval said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard subsequently reported that the United States issued over 360,000 temporary work visas to Mexicans in 2022.
“The figure of 360,656 visas was reached – it’s the highest number in the history of our country. … We hope the figure is a little higher this year,” he said.
AMLO later thanked United States President Biden for opening up new legal pathways to work in the U.S.
“What do I say to our brothers from Central America, the Caribbean, … South America, Latin America? Go to the United States embassies, … the American diplomats there … will provide all the information,” he said.
After Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda Durán reported that authorities had detected a shipment of fentanyl and methamphetamine from China in the Pacific coast port city of Lázaro Cárdenas, AMLO said he would send a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping to inform him of the seizure.
The president, who already wrote to Xi to seek his support in the fight against fentanyl, said that he would once again request information about the trafficking of the synthetic opioid from China to Mexico.
A Chinese government spokesperson said in April that “there is no such thing as illegal trafficking of fentanyl between China and Mexico,” but López Obrador noted that his administration now has “proof” that there is.
The president, his wife and cabinet members at the commemoration of the 161st anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. (Gob MX)
Before departing for breakfast to fuel up for his address to mark the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, AMLO acknowledged that the World Health Organization had declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency and noted that officials of his government would meet on Monday to discuss whether to follow suit.
Health officials will announce Mexico’s decision on Tuesday, he said shortly before bidding reporters farewell.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
