Fauna is the brainchild of chef David Castro Hussong and pastry chef Maribel Aldaco Silva, who are married. (faunarestaurante.mx)
Mexico’s best restaurant according to the 11th edition of the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants awards is Fauna, located in Baja California’s Valle de Guadalupe region.
The winners were announced Tuesday in a live awards ceremony at Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Fauna also came in as the fifth best restaurant in Latin America, behind Casa de Porco in São Paulo, Don Julio in Buenos Aires, El Chato in Bogotá and number one on the list, Maido in Lima.
Latin America’s 50 best restaurants 2023. (The World’s 50 Best/X)
After being recognized with the Highest New Entry Award in 2022 and ranked No. 16 on last year’s list, Fauna is now the only Mexican restaurant in the Top 10. It has also surpassed Enrique Olvera’s Pujol (No. 15), a favorite on the 50 Best list in previous years.
“Fauna is one of the most enchanting settings we’ve come across,” the 50 Best list said, as it is “surrounded by astonishing scenery.”
The restaurant is led by the husband-and-wife team of chef David Castro Hussong and pastry chef Maribel Aldaco Silva, who was also named Best Pastry Chef in Latin America 2023, an award sponsored by Ecuadorian chocolate company República del Cacao. Fauna opened in 2017 and features a tasting menu made exclusively with local and seasonal ingredients.
With a dynamic menu that changes every day, the 50 Best list added that its menu is a reflection of “the changing seasons and the best produce available.”
Fauna’s menu is particularly recognized for a broccoli dish served with chiltepin chili and a basil oil emulsion. It is also famous for the cauliflower tacos topped with seaweed and ponzu sauce, as well as Aldaco’s honey semifreddo with milk ice cream, blue corn flakes and crunchy caramel.
Another Mexican restaurant on the list is Quintonil, now ranked as No. 12 in Latin America. Jorge Vallejo and Alejandra Flores’ restaurant climbed 31 positions.
The massive rail project is set to begin commercial operations next month. (Tren Maya/X)
Starting on Friday, tickets for the first section of the Maya Train will be available for purchase, according to an announcement made by project head Óscar David Lozano Águila. The government has yet to provide the details on the ticket sale platform.
The completed train project will travel through 41 municipalities in Chiapas, Campeche, Tabasco, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, providing rail transportation in the Mexican southeast for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The railway will connect five of Mexico’s southern states, and a number of major tourist hotspots. (Tren Maya)
The first sections running from Campeche to Cancún will be inaugurated on Dec. 15.
What will the tickets cost?
According to the National Tourism Fund (Fonatur), ticket prices for the Maya Train are as follows:
Mexican passengers: 60 pesos (US $3.50)
Foreign passengers: 80 pesos (US $4.60)
Students and teachers with a valid credential: 30 pesos (US $1.75)
Seniors with a valid ID travel for free
When will the Maya Train project be finished?
Lozano Águila explained that Section 3 of the railroad from Calkiní to Izamal, spanning 159 km, is almost complete.
The stretch between Campeche and Cancún includes part of Section 2 of the railroad (Escárcega-Calkiní) and the entirety of Section 3 (Calkiní-Izamal) and Section 4 (Izamal-Cancún).
Maite Ramos Gómez, head of train car manufacturer Alstom México, also announced that in the early hours of Monday, Nov. 27, the fifth convoy of the Maya Train left Ciudad Sahagún, Hidalgo for Cancún, Quintana Roo.
The sixth unit will arrive in Quintana Roo next week, completing the six convoys with which the Maya Train will begin operations.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gave an updated timeline for the train on Nov. 5, saying that the section between Cancún and Palenque will open on Dec. 31, while the entire railroad and its 34 stations will be operational on Feb. 29.
Two of the journalists who came under fire in Chilpancingo were seriously wounded. (Dassaev Téllez / Cuartoscuro.com)
Four journalists were shot in Guerrero on Tuesday, while a fifth reporter was wounded when he came under fire in the neighboring state of Michoacán later in the day.
Armed men on motorcycles attacked four journalists traveling in a car in Chilpancingo on Tuesday afternoon, according to witnesses.
One of the journalists attacked in Chilpancingo on Tuesday. (Dassaev Téllez / Cuartoscuro.com)
The journalists, all men, came under fire in front of a military facility in the Guerrero capital. Before they were attacked, they had attended the scene of the murder of a public transport driver.
The men were taken to a local hospital, and one of them, Jesús de la Cruz, was reported in serious condition with gunshot wounds to the chest. The journalists, one of whom is a photographer, work for local media organizations.
The Guerrero Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that it was investigating the crime as attempted murder. It said that federal, state and municipal security authorities had launched an operation to apprehend the aggressors, but no arrests were reported.
The car four journalists were riding in when attacked in Chilpancingo on Tuesday. (Dassaev Téllez / Cuartoscuro.com)
Later on Tuesday, Maynor Ramón Ramírez Arroyo, a crime reporter for the ABC newspaper, was shot in Apatzingán, a municipality in the notoriously violent Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán. A man who was with Ramírez was also wounded.
“The journalist and his companion were wounded when they were on Emiliano Zapata Street in the Lázaro Cárdenas neighborhood,” the Michoacán Attorney General’s Office (FGE) said in a statement. “The victims were assisted and taken to a local hospital, where they are receiving medical care,” the FGE said, adding that “a multidisciplinary team” attended the crime scene.
The Associated Press reported that “the shooting of five media workers in one day represents one of the largest mass attacks on reporters in Mexico in a decade.”
In a statement, several Guerrero-based journalists’ associations condemned the attack on the journalists in Chilpancingo, demanded a thorough investigation into the crime and called for authorities to guarantee reporters’ safety. They also called on President Andrés Manuel López Obrador – who frequently criticizes the media – to end his “discourse of hate and disrepute” toward journalists and news outlets.
“To Governor Evelyn Salgado Pineda, we demand that you assume your public security responsibility. … To [Chilpancingo] Mayor Norma Otilia Hernández Martínez we say that your attitude of direct aggression toward media outlets … makes journalists more vulnerable … [to attacks from] people who sympathize with your politics,” the journalists’ associations said.
Leopoldo Maldonado Gutiérrez, director of press freedom advocacy organization Article 19 in Mexico, said in a recent radio interview that violence against the press is a particular problem in Guerrero, a poor southern state known for lawlessness in certain areas.
“Violence is rampant in a large part of the country, like in Guanajuato and Tamaulipas, and in Guerrero [there is] specific violence against the press,” he said.
“We have to remember that Guerrero ranks fifth [among Mexico’s 32 federal entities] in number of attacks … against the press,” Maldonado said citing his organization’s data for the period between 2009 and 2023.
Article 19 reported in September that an act of aggression was committed against Mexican media workers and organizations every 16 hours on average during the first half of 2023.
The organization also said that 161 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000, including 41 during the current federal administration. At least five journalists have been killed in Mexico in 2023.
Ojala Niños offers an integrated learning program for children in rural Mexico to inspire creativity, critical thinking skills, and self-confidence. (Ojalá Niños)
“The Open Gate,” a recently published memoir by Elsmarie Norby, is a heartwarming collection of stories that invites us to learn about the events that led to the creation of the author’s non-profit organization Ojalá Niños, the journey it has been and the people who made it possible. This beautiful coffee table book features some of Elsmarie’s photographs that illustrate her experience.
Born to Swedish immigrant parents in Chicago, Elsmarie Norby grew up feeling like an outsider, struggling to fully embrace American culture and history. As she entered adulthood, she embarked on a quest to find her true place in the world. Little did she know that her passion for music, photography and dedication to social justice would lead her to discover profound meaning in the desert highlands of central Mexico.
The Open Gate. (Amazon)
While the book briefly touches on her early years, Norby’s main focus is on the stories that unfolded, as she says, “at the other end of my life, when I had the privilege to witness and be a part of the daily realities of the lives of others.”
When Norby was 67 and contemplating retirement, she chose to relocate to a quiet rural village near San Miguel de Allende named San Miguel Viejo, home to Indigenous Otomí people. Enchanted by the place, she purchased a small parcel of land and embarked on the process of building her modest home. This process was marked by meaningful interactions with local workers and residents, enveloping her in what she describes as “a sacred space, blessed by a surrounding aura of kindness.”
She vividly remembers the poverty-stricken landscape of San Miguel Viejo. Most homes were thrown together haphazardly and the roads were all dirt – or, depending on the weather, deep mud. Her new neighbors relied on collecting wood for cooking, using enormous pots over open fires on dirt floors. Internet, cable and landline phone services were non-existent and electricity was intermittent. The community’s water supply came from a 500-year-old well. Despite being only three miles from the city of San Miguel de Allende, the village also lacked basic bus services.
When Norby moved into her new home, local children began a daily routine of passing by her gate on their way home from school. Although extremely shy, they slowed down and peeked in, hoping to get a glimpse of their new strange neighbor.
One day, Norby noticed that the children were carrying paper and chewed-up pencil stubs. That gave her an idea, so she fetched her box of new pencils, sharpened and complete with erasers, and handed one to each child. Every face blossomed into an expression of grateful surprise. How could such a small thing bring so much happiness? Norby was beginning to learn.
Several days later, a group of nine children arrived at her gate. She invited them into her patio, where they all gathered around a table. She gave each child two sheets of plain recycled paper to use with their new pencils and stepped back to watch. Each child became fully engaged, focused and genuinely happy. She realized that all she had given them was a space and two simple materials, yet each child had immediately become creative.
As word spread, more children came to her house to enjoy whatever she had to offer; and volunteers joined to help. She was amazed by the overwhelming joy these children experienced. Norby began to imagine the daily struggle faced by the families in this community just to meet their basic needs of food and shelter, not to mention education.
Noticing that many of the children were undernourished, Norby started providing snacks during music time. As she played a few songs on the keyboard to set the mood, she noticed that a few children were discreetly stashing snacks in their pockets. One of the volunteers, who had a better understanding of the culture, explained that these children were taking food home to share with their siblings or parents. Norby began to comprehend the daily challenges faced by her neighbors.
By the spring of 2008, it became evident that she would be welcoming more neighborhood children to her home for art, music, books and snacks on Wednesday afternoons. “I had responded to some dear children by giving them pencils. Then they led me on to more giving and sharing. I was happy. They were happy. Together we were learning another way.”
The endearing anecdotes she shares in this book convey Norby’s keen powers of observation and insight into the mindset of her neighbors. She was exposing them to a whole new world – from how to make popcorn to the joy found in books and music – and they were teaching her to appreciate the basic things usually taken for granted.
Whenever new materials were introduced, they were treated as valuable treasures that sparked excitement. Children would eagerly reach out to pick up something new and their eyes would light up with ideas. Norby and the volunteers watched in awe as the children created their own space for discovery.
She remembered Albert Einstein’s words: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
These experiences created the educational philosophy and guiding principles of what came to be named Ojalá Niños with the purpose of providing children of all ages with the opportunity and inspiration to tap into their innate intelligence, ignite their passion for learning and nurture the seeds of self-confidence and expression. Norby states that she didn’t teach her students; she gave them a place to learn.
Norby became welcomed in her neighbors’ homes and invited to baptisms, first communions and quinceañera celebrations. Her skill in photography combined with her love for capturing precious moments earned her the title of the community’s photographer.
When more than 40 children were coming to her house, Norby began writing articles for the local English newspaper in San Miguel de Allende. As her articles attracted donations and more volunteers, she realized it was time to formalize her efforts.
Almost two years after the first group of children gathered in Norby’s patio, a board of directors was formed to apply for official recognition as a non-profit organization. In September 2010, they established a non-profit called Ojalá Niños.
Ojalá Niños continues to be a sanctuary and has benefited over 500 children throughout the years. Elsmarie is grateful for the many kind-hearted individuals who contribute their time and resources to the mission.
The organization offers after-school classes in arts, music and literacy every week. Not all children attend formal schools, but at Ojalá Niños they all have an encouraging haven where they can learn, create, read and discover their talents and interests.
Elsmarie Norby’s journey serves as a powerful example of how one person can make a profound impact by opening their heart and home to those in need.
Sandra is a Mexican writer and translator based in San Miguel de Allende who specializes in mental health and humanitarian aid. She believes in the power of language to foster compassion and understanding across cultures. She can be reached at: [email protected]
More airports - in Uruapan, Palenque and Puebla - have been placed under Sedena control. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The federal government has placed three additional airports under military control, further entrenching the prominent role the armed forces play in civilian life in Mexico.
The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) on Tuesday published documents in the government’s official gazette that grant control of the airports in Uruapan, Michoacán; Palenque, Chiapas; and Puebla to the Olmeca-Maya-Mexica Airport, Railroad and Auxiliary Services Group, a state-owned company run by the National Defense Ministry (Sedena).
The military has become increasingly involved in the operation of almost all major Mexican transport hubs. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Those airports were previously operated by other state-owned companies.
The SICT also published a “concession title” that places the airport in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, under the control of the Mexican Touristic Airport Group, another state-owned company that operates the airport in Tepic, Nayarit.
The Olmeca-Maya-Mexica group – which already operates a number of other Mexican airports and will control the Tulum airport once it opens – will take charge of the airports in Uruapan, Palenque and Puebla for an indefinite period of time.
Among the airports that Sedena already operates via the state-owned company or independently are the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which the army built during the current government, and the airports in Nuevo Laredo, Campeche and Chetumal. The newspaper El Financiero reported that the army will now control 12 airports across Mexico.
The National Defense Ministry already controls operations at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in Mexico City. (AIFA/Instagram)
In addition to operating airports, Sedena will soon launch a new state-owned airline to operate under the long-dormant Mexicana de Aviación brand.
The military has been given a wide range of non-traditional tasks during the current government, including public security, infrastructure construction and the management of customs and ports.
Sedena also controls the state-owned company that will operate the Maya Train railroad, which is set to begin operations next month. The navy will take charge of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor, which will include a modernized train line between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, that is set to begin operations in December.
The rail service in the new Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor will be run by the navy. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
López Obrador said earlier this year that the military is a “fundamental pillar of the Mexican state,” but denied claims that he has militarized Mexico during his presidency.
“Despite what our adversaries maintain, … it’s important to point out that the greater participation of the armed forces in security tasks doesn’t imply authoritarianism or militarization … of the country,” he said during an Army Day address in February.
“… It has been proven that society feels safer and more protected with the army’s fulfillment of this mission. In other words, people feel that a soldier is one of them in uniform … and – like the majority of Mexicans – maintains a great reserve of cultural, moral and spiritual values,” López Obrador added.
Ten tombs, containing the rremains of five people, were found in Chapultepec park earlier this year. They are believed to date back at least 3,500 years. (INAH)
Archaeologists have discovered a series of 3,500-year-old graves on the edge of Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park, theNational Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) revealed last Friday.
The discovery occurred earlier this year, during construction work on Line 3 of the Cablebus, near Avenida Constituyentes.
The site in the park where the graves are being excavated. (INAH)
The graves include ten truncated conical tombs, half of them containing human remains – four women and one man, most of them young adults. They are believed to come from a large village that existed in the Lomas de Chapultepec area during the Early and Middle Preclassic periods (2,500-400 B.C.).
“This community was living here before the eruption of the Xitle volcano and the formation of the Pedregal de Coyoacán [lava fields]. And this subsoil was preserved intact for more than 3,000 years. It’s fantastic!” said the excavation coordinator, María de Lourdes López Camacho.
Xitle’s last major eruption was in around 245-315 A.D., when it destroyed the city of Cuicuilco, an important archaeological site in what is now the borough of Tlalpan.
The discovery of these tombs provides further evidence of the early human habitation of the area, after a collection of objects from the same era was discovered last year.
The tombs are not the first evidence of burials in the area. Work on the Cablebus unearthed a conquest-era graveyard in the forest earlier this year. (INAH)
Most of the burial chambers are between one and two meters in diameter, with a maximum height of 1.5 meters. They are known as botellón or bell tombs, due to their inverted conical shape.
“It is a very particular funerary architecture,” López Camacho said. “Examples of these tombs have been found in other areas of Mexico such as the Gulf Coast and the West; they have also been found in the present-day states of México and Morelos, and there are records of them in the south, north and east of the México Basin. ”
Archeologists also discovered a series of later burials at the site, demonstrating a prolonged history of habitation.
Both sets of tombs contained a series of objects left as offerings, including tools carved from deer antlers, a cup, and numerous female figurines. All of these have been taken to the National Museum of History in Chapultepec Castle for further study.
Building work around Chapultepec Park has exposed a rich series of historical finds over recent years. In February, archaeologists performing pre-construction restoration work in the park discovered a16th-Century cemetery, dating from less than 100 years after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlán.
Bety González and Ale Valladares met in Argentina four years ago and now run their own empanada business in San Miguel de Allende. (María Rosario Ruíz)
At Mexico News Daily we like to tell stories of dreamers who decide to become entrepreneurs in Mexico because this is a great country where everyone can create their opportunities.
San Miguel de Allende is a great example of this, where people of different nationalities and cultures arrive in search of the “Mexican dream” to undertake and create their own success stories. Such is the case of Bety González and Alejandro Valladares, a Mexican-Argentine couple who decided to share a little piece of Argentina with the people of San Miguel.
Spinach, meat, bacon, cheese, corn, chicken, apple with cinnamon, strawberry with cream cheese… More than 14 fillings to delight you. (Photo: María Rosario Ruiz)
How it all began
Bety González, a Mexican from Tampico, Tamaulipas, gradually became attracted to Argentine culture. When she saw the opportunity to move to the South American country to study for a master’s degree, she didn’t think twice. An industrial engineer by profession, Bety always had a passion for cooking. The Argentina-born Alejandro Valladares – Ale – is a lover of craft beer and gastronomy. In 2019, destiny joined their paths in Buenos Aires.
Connected by their love for food, they decided to start a business together. Bety was already running Cualli, a gourmet taco business named for a Nahuatl word meaning “good.” Ale, on the other hand, had his own brand of beer that he was looking to sell. There was no better combination: tacos and craft beer.
Everything was going well… until the pandemic hit. Like so many others, Bety and Ale had to change their plans. They decided to move back to Bety’s home country. Where before Bety had brought Mexican food to Argentina, this time she and Ale were bringing Argentine cuisine to Mexico.
The couple decided to settle in Querétaro, where they ran their business for nine months without much success. One day, they visited San Miguel de Allende, fell in love with the city and without a second’s hesitation decided to move their business.
Right from the start, their business, called Viento Sur, was welcomed with open arms by both the Mexican and foreign communities. Bety and Ale immediately felt at home because of the kindness of the sanmiguelenses and their interest in trying food from around the world.
The most popular empanadas in town
Viento Sur makes typical Argentine empanadas, with more than a dozen kinds of fillings, from spicy beef to corn (choclo). For Bety and Ale, homemade flavor is very important. To keep them fresh, Bety prepares fillings from scratch every day, as well as discos– the empanada dough.
Every day, Bety hand-prepares the dough for fresh empanadas. (María Rosario Ruiz)
In Argentina it’s as easy to find empanada discos as it is to find tortillas in Mexico; getting your hands on discos in Mexico, however, is a different story. The pre-made empanada dough sold here isn’t fresh and is full of preservatives. To maintain the quality they’re known for, Bety and Ale decided to make their discos from scratch to keep the quality that identifies them.
In addition to empanadas, Viento Sur sells plates of pasta with an Argentine touch, salads, and alfajores, made with authentic Argentine ingredients.
A perfect duo
Being spouses and business partners is not easy, but Bety and Ale have learned to maintain a balance between work and marriage. From the beginning, each of them has had their own tasks: Bety prepares the fillings like an authentic Argentine, while Ale is in charge of hand-folding each empanada, as well as administration and delivery service.
Ale is responsible for meticulously hand-folding every empanada, paying close attention to every detail. (María Rosario Ruiz)
Ale says that he’d never made an empanada before opening Viento Sur. One day, watching Bety struggle to fold an empanada, Ale decided to take the initiative; with natural talent and great skill, he folded the pastry as if he’d been doing it all his life. Nowadays, Ale is in charge of stuffing the empanadas with filling and giving them their finishing touches.
Both recognize the difficulties but have enjoyed the process of starting a business together. Every day, they say, they get to know each other a little better and to be the best team.
The next step
Bety and Ale have many plans for the future. They want to get a bigger place to offer an authentic Argentine experience in San Miguel: Argentine music and decoration and a larger menu with asado and picadas. They also plan to offer a space for cultural exchange, where Mexicans and foreigners can dance, sing and share.
You can find Bety and Ale at Viento Sur, at Calzada de la Luz 90, in downtown San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Reachable on Facebook as Viento Sur Empanadas and by phone at 442 171 5586, they’ll be happy to meet you and maybe even share a mate with you.
It is time to pay attention to Mexico’s original spirit. (Canva)
Mezcal is a universe of spirits
Whiskey is made from 4 or 5 types of grain. Tequila from a single variety of agave. But mezcal? Some say there are 30 varieties of agave that will render it, others 40, some 50. Honestly, I don’t think anyone knows for sure, but the variety of flavors and characteristics mezcal offers is nothing short of extraordinary. Over the past 9 years, I’ve introduced many people to mezcal, and the number of times they move from, “Oh, I don’t like mezcal,” to “Wait. This is mezcal? It’s amazing!” is way beyond my ability to count.
This is partly because mezcal is so diverse in flavor. Agave plant varieties like Tepextate yield a verdant herbal distillation. A Madrecuixe agave is normally earthy and complex. Then there’s the Sacatoro agave, which produces a tangy, mildly sweet final product. You have to stop thinking mezcal is a spirit. It’s not. It truly is a universe of spirits. Saying you don’t like mezcal is sort of like saying you don’t like food!
Mezcal may be the healthiest spirit
Let’s get real: it’s a stretch to call any alcohol “healthy.” That said, you’ll find no shortage of doctors and health gurus suggesting that agave spirits are among the cleanest and, thus, least problematic.
Jonathan Lockwood at “Mezcal Desde la Eternidad” in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca.
Terpenes are natural plant compounds believed to carry health benefits. There are at least six noteworthy terpenes in mezcal. Some can have mild anti-depressant effects, others may relax the muscles lining blood vessels, and some have anti-inflammatory properties. Of course, they exist in pretty small amounts, so it’s not definitive. But having spent plenty of time with mezcaleros in the campo, I can assure you they are confident in mezcal’s positive properties. Further, agave sugar is agavin, a natural fructose with molecules linked by long chains. As such, they are a non-digestible dietary fiber that won’t raise blood sugar levels—but are still sweet in flavor and fermentable. My question: while agave sugar has healthy characteristics, by the time the plant is distilled into a spirit, there should be no sugars left, right? Aren’t all pure spirits zero carbs? Therefore, I remain a bit skeptical that this necessarily makes it healthier.
I’ve reached out to quite a few doctors who’ve been quoted in various articles in this regard without receiving a reply. I suspect there’s something I’m missing on this. I’ll let you know when I find out.
Unique chemistry means fewer hangovers
Building on the healthy aspect, congeners are byproducts of fermentation, which provide countless flavors and aromas but also hangovers. Generally, the darker the spirit, the more congeners and, thus, the worse your hangover.
There’s one study in which participants drank either bourbon or a clear spirit, and the bourbon group reported much more severe hangovers.It’s no wonder: the study found barrel-aged bourbon has 37 times as many congeners as vodka. Thirty-seven times?! It’s true that if I’m drinking mezcal with a lot of beer, this is less noticeable. But my friends and I swear that an evening of clean artisanal mezcal produces either no hangover or at least the mildest one of all.
The traditional manufacturing process
Not to insult whiskey or rum manufacturers, but when you visit an artisanal mezcal palenque, you can watch it being made in almost exactly the same way it was over 300 years ago. Harvesting huge agaves from the fields, roasting them in the ground for days, using a horse-pulled stone wheel to crush them, I just feel so privileged to look in on this process.
Yes, larger commercial producers have eliminated some of these charming aspects, but the more you come to appreciate the finer points of this remarkable spirit, the more it’s impossible not to conclude that the traditional way is best. No wonder they continue it!
It’s all a fascinating trip back in time. And when a mezcalero pours you something he made, explaining the intricacies of his process for that particular distillation, you can’t help but be enchanted by it all!
Mezcal provides an exuberant buzz
Maybe it’s all those possibly positive health aspects we already addressed or maybe it’s something naturally magical, but for my mezcal maniac friends and I? Nothing gives us a more buoyant buzz than this spirit! Sometimes, I swear my vision improves after a shot or two. I’m relaxed, I’m smiling, and just enthusiastic. Maybe one day, some biochemist will finally land on why, but when that day comes, I may not be able to resist an “I told you so!”
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: before becoming a true mezcal aficionado, you must know what to look for. Wait for my next article on how to order mezcal.
If you happen through San Miguel de Allende, make sure to shoot me a message. My wife and I would love to have you over for a mezcal tasting. ¡Salud!
Jonathan Lockwood is an American Voice Talent living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He is also a Mezcal Lover, Explorer, and Collector and writes the Mezcal Maniac Substack. Read and subscribe here: https://mezcalmaniac.substack.com.
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox was suspended on the social media platform X after a controversial post. (ANDREA MURCIA /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
The X (formerly Twitter) account of Vicente Fox has been suspended after the former president described the wife of Nuevo León Governor and presidential aspirant Samuel García as an “escort.”
Fox, president of Mexico between 2000 and 2006, called Mariana Rodríguez a “dama de compañia,” or escort, on the social media platform last week.
Samuel García with his wife Mariana Rodríguez and daughter Mariel. (Samuel García/X)
Rodríguez hit back at the 81-year-old ex-president, telling him on X that she is not an escort, but “a woman, university graduate, entrepreneur, wife and mother.”
“I will not allow you to speak to me or any other woman like that. We’re not accessories or objects. … What you did is called violence,” she wrote last Saturday.
Three days later, Fox’s X account disappeared from the social media site purchased by Elon Musk in late 2022.
Former first lady Marta Sahagún issued a statement on behalf of her husband, in which Fox said that his account – which had some 1.5 million followers – had been suspended “without any notice and in an arbitrary way.”
“We’re working to resolve this problem,” said the ex-president, who had been taking aim at García on X shortly before his account became inactive.
As of midday Tuesday, the message “This account doesn’t exist” still appeared below the @vicentefoxque X handle.
Fox is well known for using blunt, colorful and derogatory language, both on and off social media.
On X, he has called President López Obrador “autistic” and described presidential aspirant Claudia Sheinbaum as “Jewish and foreign at the same time.”
In a 2018 interview, Fox called Donald Trump a “wild beast,” and on social media the same year he told the then U.S. president that his mouth was “the foulest shithole in the world.”
It was unclear who at X took the decision to suspend Fox’s account. There was some speculation that the ex-president deleted it himself, but his statement appeared to debunk that idea.
Chinese companies made 19 investment announcements totaling US $8.14 billion between January and November 2023, so, why isn't China considered among Mexico's top 10 investors? (Wikimedia Commons)
When the Economy Ministry (SE) published foreign direct investment (FDI) data earlier this month, one country was conspicuous by its absence in the list of the top 10 investors in Mexico in the first nine months of 2023.
The United States was there, of course, occupying its entrenched position at the top of the list.
President López Obrador met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November of this year. (Facebook/Andrés Manuel López Obrador)
Spain was there, Germany was there, Japan was there, Canada was there, but China — the world’s second-largest country and an emerging superpower — was not.
That was surprising because numerous Chinese companies have announced investments or started operations in Mexico this year: Noah Itech in January, Xusheng in May, Asiaway in June, to name a few.
So why did China fail to crack the top 10 when, as the Economist reported last weekend, “Chinese investments have been pouring into Mexico lately”?
In this article, I’ll seek to answer that question and explore a couple of other issues related to Chinese investment in Mexico.
Investment announcements don’t immediately show up in FDI data
According to Integralia, a Mexico City-based consultancy that tracks foreign investment in Mexico, Chinese companies made 19 investment announcements totaling US $8.14 billion between January and November.
In the Economy Ministry’s FDI data for the first nine months of the year, Chinese investment wasn’t even reported as it was below the $500 million threshold required to get into the top 10.
Based on the $8.14 billion figure — which takes new (as yet unrealized) investment announcements and facility inauguration announcements into account — China is currently the second largest foreign investor in Mexico behind the United States.
Former Nuevo León Governor and presidential hopeful Samuel García with executives of the Lingong Machinery Group, which announced an investment of US $5 billion in the northern state. (Nuevo León state government)
However, money tied to investment announcements — including US $5 billion announced by Lingong Machinery Group last month — takes time to show up in SE data as the funds don’t immediately flow into the country, and in some cases never arrives because the project is canceled before it begins.
As Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base, noted on the X social media platform on Monday: “There are a lot of announcements, but that doesn’t equal investment.”
Of course, Lingong’s $5 billion announcement couldn’t show up in the SE’s data for the first nine months of the year because it was made in October. It will likely take a considerable amount of time before the entire investment amount is reflected in official statistics.
The government of Nuevo León — a nearshoring hotspot that is popular with Chinese investors — “says billions in investments that have been announced there are not yet reflected in FDI figures and exports,” according to a Financial Times report published Sunday.
Some Chinese money is never counted as such
Some Chinese investment in Mexico isn’t reflected in SE data because the money comes into the country via United States subsidiaries of Chinese companies, according to Enrique Dussel Peters, an economist and coordinator of the Center for Chinese-Mexican Studies (Cechimex) at the National Autonomous University.
The FDI inflow is thus recorded as coming from the United States, when for all intents and purposes the money came from China.
Between 2001 and late 2022, the Economy Ministry recorded some $3 billion in Chinese FDI to Mexico, but according to Cechimex, the real figure for that period is around $17 billion.
“It’s almost six times higher!” Dussel told the El País newspaper. “It’s not 10% more or 5% more, but 500% more.”
This graphic shows FDI in Mexico by country of origin in the first nine months of 2023. (SE)
The establishment of joint ventures between Chinese and Mexican companies can also skew Chinese FDI figures in Mexico.
Why Mexico? Why now?
The Economist reported Saturday that “Chinese companies’ heightened interest in Mexico dates to 2018 when Donald Trump, America’s president at the time, launched a trade war that included raising tariffs on imports from China.”
U.S. President Joe Biden has kept those tariffs in place, and his “America-first policies, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, are encouraging companies to consider ‘nearshoring’ in North America, in large part to thwart China,” the London-based publication said.
“The irony,” Dussel Peters told The Economist, “is that the first to react positively to an explicit policy against China are Chinese firms.”
Mexico courted Chinese investment in 2008 when the Mexico-China Chamber of Commerce and Technology organized a series of events, but the attempt to attract more Chinese capital was unsuccessful, according to the chamber’s vice president César Fragozo.
“Back then,” The Economist reported, “China had no need to use Mexico as a way into America, which had yet to turn its back on Chinese companies.”
But 10 years later, with Trump in the White House, things changed. In the years since 2018, Mexico has become more attractive than China for many manufacturers for a variety of reasons, including geopolitical ones, rising wages and costs in China, supply chain issues and other factors related to the COVID pandemic.
Mexico gives China “a back door” into the United States because along with the U.S. and Canada it is party to the USMCA free trade pact, The Economist noted.
The United States has been much less friendly to Chinese companies in recent years, whereas Mexico has focused on strengthening relations with the eastern giant. (@POTUS/X)
“Depending on what components they use, Chinese companies based in Mexico cannot enjoy all the benefits of the trading bloc, whose rules dictate what percentage of a product must originate in North America. But, Mr. Dussel Peters notes, the average American tariff on imports from Mexico in 2021 was 0.2%, far lower than on those from China,” the publication said.
The Economist also noted that Chinese investors “have learned to deal with the challenges of working in Mexico, such as insecurity and poor infrastructure.”
Is increased Chinese investment a threat to the Mexico-U.S. relationship?
A growing Chinese presence in Mexico “could backfire if it raises tensions with the United States,” The Economist reported.
Some U.S. lawmakers have already expressed their dissatisfaction with the presence of export-oriented Chinese companies in Mexico.
A bipartisan group of United States representatives wrote to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai earlier this month to urge the Biden administration to raise the current 25% tariff on Chinese vehicles and request that it be ready to “address the coming wave of [Chinese] vehicles that will be exported from our other trading partners, such as Mexico, as [Chinese] automakers look to strategically establish operations outside of [China] to take advantage of preferential access to the U.S. market through our free trade agreements and circumvent any [China]-specific tariffs.”
“Indeed, [Chinese] automakers BYD, Chery, and SAIC Motors have already established themselves in Mexico,” the lawmakers continued.
A growing Chinese presence in Mexico could backfire if it raises tensions with the United States. (Margarito Pérez Retana/Cuartoscuro)
The four members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party including chairman Mike Gallagher also said in their letter that they are “concerned by how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is preparing to flood the United States and global markets with automobiles, particularly electric vehicles, propped up by massive subsidies and long-standing localization and other discriminatory policies employed by the PRC.”
“… We look forward to USTR’s response on whether the current rules of origin in our trade agreements need to be strengthened and what other policy tools are needed to prevent the PRC from gaining a backdoor to the U.S. market through our key trading partners,” they said.
The Economist said that if China “is too successful in skirting tariffs it may find its back door as well as the front entrance slammed shut.”
Writing in Mexico News Daily last month, Travis Bembenek argued that Chinese investment in Mexico “is a good thing” in a scenario in which China and North America “soon return to ‘normal’ relations in which there is good communication, trust, and cooperation between both regions.”
However, if Sino-North American relations further deteriorate, “North American countries need to urgently get more serious and coordinated with a plan for Chinese investment into the region,” the MND CEO wrote.
If the United States-China relationship worsens — in spite of Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco earlier this month — and Mexico, in the absence of a regional plan, continues to welcome Chinese companies while defending their right to benefit from the USMCA, it is conceivable that Chinese investment here could indeed put a strain on the bilateral relations between Mexico and the U.S.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
