Lucha Libre’s culture mixes tradition, family and pure adrenaline

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May 9, 2023

Lucha Libre fighter in Oaxaca — In May, photojournalist Anna Bruce gave us a peek into the world of lucha libre. (Anna Bruce)

One of the first things I did when I arrived in Mexico was get tickets to a Lucha Libre event. I’d never seen anything like it. It was in a huge arena with bright lights and thousands of seats. The atmosphere was electric.

Lucha Libre, or Mexican freestyle wrestling, was introduced to Mexico in the first half of the 20th century. It grew into a unique form of the sport, characterized by high-flying maneuvers performed by wrestlers wearing iconic masks that have over time developed special significance. Wrestlers in the public eye often conceal their identity behind their mask full-time. In some matches, the loser must permanently remove his mask.

A Mexican wrestler — Lucha Libre fighter Endeavor strikes a pose. Fighters, known as a luchador or luchadora, often won’t be seen in public without their masks.

Wrestlers are known as luchadores and usually come from wrestling “families” who form their own stable of fighters.

Mexico City and Guadalajara have the biggest lucha scenes, but the sport is hugely popular throughout Mexico. I live in Oaxaca, where there is also a dynamic lucha scene. Unlike in Mexico City, there are only a few rows of seats around the ring here, so you’re part of the action no matter where you sit.

Geraldine, a friend from Guadalajara, took me to my first Oaxacan lucha event at the Pepe Cisnero Arena. I knew it was going to be wild based on her description of what she grew up with:

“To say awesome is an understatement,” she said. “There’s always heckling going from one section to the other that creates a great atmosphere. All kinds of people go to these events. You see people in their work clothes, straight out of the office, screaming at the wrestlers and just having a good time.”

Female luchadores — Female luchadora Estrellita, in red, proves that some of the best fighters in the sport are women.

The night really kicked off as the sun was setting and the first wrestlers arrived. The energy immediately changed as the audience started picking sides and heckling the opposing wrestler.

As in American professional wrestling, good guys (técnicos) and bad guys (rudos) create a story arc during the fight — or over several fights. Audiences typically heckle the rudos and back the técnicos. Rudos often fight dirty, breaking the rules and giving the audience plenty to heckle.

Arcana, a Oaxacan wrestler, described himself as a rudo but with a lot of technique. He claimed to have created original wrestling maneuvers.

During the evening, we saw different styles of matches: men’s, women’s and teams. Arcana loves one-on-one fights but finds team events more enjoyable. The first rounds stayed in the ring, but as the bouts got toward the headliners, things got more and more unruly: even though we were further back in cheaper chairs, we spent a lot of the night leaping out of our seats to avoid flying bodies.

Surprisingly, I found the women’s competitions were more intense than the men’s: two female wrestlers we saw that night, Cataleya and Pili, had a fight so rough, it ended in a call for an additional grudge match to settle the score. Grudge matches usually end in an unmasking or a wrestler’s hair being cut.

Arcana describes these rivalries in championships as “priceless to win.”

Lucha Libre fighters Fantasma and Cataleya train at gym in Oaxaca — Husband and wife Fantasma (spotting) and Cataleya (sitting) train at a local gym in Oaxaca. Strength and agility training are essential to completing the flying moves demonstrated in the ring.

Masks have been part of Lucha Libre since its beginnings in the early 20th century. In the earliest days of the sport, masks were very simple, with basic colors distinguishing a wrestler. In modern Lucha Libre, masks evoke animal imagery, gods and heroes, helping define a wrestler’s character.

“Personalities in the wrestling world, like the son of the legendary Blue Demon, don’t take their masks off in public, even on their holidays,” Geraldine said. “You protect your identity as a famous wrestler. In some gyms in Oaxaca, you might see a guy working out with their mask on.”

El Santo, arguably Mexico’s most famous luchador and the wrestler credited with popularizing the sport in the country, was famously never unmasked by an opponent during his five-decade career and was even buried in his legendary silver mask after his death.

He changed Lucha Libre forever when he entered the ring with his trademark silver mask in 1942. Audiences fell in love with Santo’s mystique and made him into a folk hero who represented justice for ordinary people. He starred in about 50 low-budget films.

Lucha Libre has a unique rule in team matches where a legal wrestler who touches the ground outside the ring can be replaced by a teammate without tagging. This leads to more frantic action in the ring than standard tag rules allow.

At first, I was under the impression that Lucha Libre matches were scripted, since they’re made up of choreographed moves. But Arcana explained that “nobody knows who is going to win. Sometimes wrestlers are careless. Whether you win or lose is defined in the ring.”

Oaxaca female Luche Libre fighter Cataleya — Cataleya says her mask is a key part of the identity she has created.

I was lucky enough to meet with Cateleya and her husband Fantasma, who together make quite the luchador power couple. Fantasma is the person who supports her most, Cateleya says.

“He understands me [and] accompanies me, and it is a great experience to be able to share this with him.”

At their gym in Oaxaca, I got a behind-the-scenes look at the intense strength training they do together.

“It is something that you always keep in mind in your day-to-day since you have training to improve both in technique and appearance,” Cateleya said.

Women like Cateleya have been competing almost as long as men. By 1952, the first generation of female Mexican wrestlers were gaining fame, including Chabela Romero, Toña “La Tapatía,” Marina Rey, Irma González, “La Dama Enmascarada” and “La Jarochita” Rivero.

It’s clear how these women have inspired Cateleya: “The appeal of becoming a fighter is to show that there is no such thing as the weak gender,” she says.

Lucha Libre in Oaxaca Fantasma and Rasputin — Fantasma pins Rasputín with a chair from the audience. Some of the most exciting action takes place outside of the ring.

Lucha Libre fans will typically have a favorite wrestler, and Geraldine is no exception.

“Rasputin is probably my guy,” she says. “It’s not very common to see LGBTQ+ people in sports, and in Mexico, that’s even worse. Although I don’t really think Rasputin is gay, he is the first queer wrestler I’ve seen, and he really wins you over. He does portray a stereotype, but at the same time I think that’s by being such a badass. He’s positively influencing the culture [in wrestling] around these issues.”

At a larger arena in central Oaxaca, I witnessed a more spectacular match than the first one, featuring the grudge match between Cateleya and Pili, along with Rasputin and Fantasma, who played the antagonist against Místico, the headliner. Though three times the size of the Pepe Cisnero stadium, Geraldine still considered it a poor venue compared to the massive arenas in Mexico City and Guadalajara.

More confident this time, I put myself ringside, shooting pictures and heckling to my best ability. It was a huge adrenaline rush, ducking and diving as wrestlers threw themselves (and each other) from the ring. Fantasma describes feeling a sense of euphoria when he fights. To me, the whole arena is full of it, and I, for one, can’t wait to go again!

Anna Bruce is an award-winning British photojournalist based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Just some of the media outlets she has worked with include Vice, The Financial Times, Time Out, Huffington Post, The Times of London, the BBC and Sony TV. Find out more about her work at her website or visit her on social media on Instagram or on Facebook.

SCJN invalidates first part of ‘Plan B’ electoral reform package

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MND Staff

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May 9, 2023

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SCJN votes to repeal the first part of the Plan B — The vote to invalidate the first part of the controversial "Plan B"electoral reforms passed by nine votes to two. (SCJN/Cuartoscuro)

The Supreme Court (SCJN) on Monday struck down part of a controversial electoral reform package citing violations of legislative procedure by federal Congress.

Nine of 11 justices voted to invalidate two of President López Obrador’s so-called “Plan B” electoral reform laws, both of which were approved by Congress in December 2022.

Anti-Plan B electoral reform protest in Mexico City — A Mexico City protester holds up an image of a pineapple saying, “Be supreme,” a callout to Mexico’s Supreme Court — led by Chief Justice Norma Piña Hernández — to strike down the reform law as unconstitutional. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

Changes to the General Law on Social Communication and the General Law on Administrative Responsibilities were abrogated. Reforms to those laws sought to limit the responsibilities of the National Electoral Institute (INE) as well as its capacity to regulate and sanction political communication.

A second part of the “Plan B” reform package, which slashes funding for the INE, among other measures, is not affected by Monday’s ruling, but its application was suspended by the SCJN in late March. The Supreme Court will consider repealing modifications to laws in that second part of the package — approved in February — at a later date.

The SCJN said in a statement that the first part of the reform package was invalidated due to “violations of legislative procedure, particularly the principle of informed and democratic deliberation, as well as the rights … [of] parliamentary minorities.”

The court determined that the Congress — within which the ruling Morena party and its allies have a majority — violated two articles of Mexico’s constitution that govern legislative conduct. Its decision came in response to a challenge filed by opposition political parties as well as individual lawmakers.

Supreme Court of Mexico — The Supreme Court expressed its concern that a number of protocols were not followed in the lead-up to the controversial vote last December. (Fernando Gutiérrez/Shutterstock)

The SCJN noted that the legislation was not published in the parliamentary gazette in a timely manner and that lawmakers were consequently uninformed about the proposed modifications, which were approved in a lower house session last December that immediately followed the rejection of a more ambitious constitutional reform to the electoral system.

Justice Alberto Pérez Dayán, who proposed the invalidation of the modifications that passed Congress late last year, said he was certain that “no member of the Chamber of Deputies had the real possibility to know the content of the laws that were approved.”

Justice Luis María Aguilar asserted that a “perversion of democratic rules” had occurred due to the myriad “vices and errors” committed by lawmakers.

“Endorsing a legislative procedure with these features would be equivalent to accepting that the parliamentary majority … is above constitutional rules, which I consider unacceptable,” he said.

López Obrador at the morning press conference — President López Obrador has sought to reform the INE through the “Plan B” changes. He claims that the INE is a corrupt institution requiring extensive change in order to better serve Mexicans’ interests. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro.com)

Justice Arturo Zaldívar, considered an ally of the president, said that all parliamentary groups were not given the opportunity to debate the proposed legislation in “conditions of equality and freedom.”

The two justices who voted against invalidating modifications to the two laws were nominated by López Obrador, who put forward the “Plan B” package after his more ambitious electoral overhaul was blocked.

López Obrador’s office asserted in a statement on Sunday that the SCJN would be effectively “replacing the Congress” if it ruled against the legislative procedure it followed to approve the electoral reform laws.

At his morning press conference on Tuesday, the president condemned the court for its decision and asserted that “Plan C is coming.”

“The judicial power is rotten,” he said before accusing the justices who voted in favor of invalidating the reforms of acting in a partisan manner.

“The executive power is elected by the people — they elected me. It’s the same thing with the legislative power — the deputies are elected, the senators are elected. But in an act of arrogance and authoritarianism, the justices dared to cancel [part of the electoral reform] law,” said López Obrador, a fierce and frequent critic of the judicial branch of government.

“They’re at the service of a greedy minority that dedicated themselves to looting the country,” he added.

The successful execution of the president’s proposed Plan C requires the ruling Morena party and its allies to win two-thirds majorities in both houses of Congress at the national elections on June 2, 2024, a supermajority.

A supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate would allow Morena to get constitutional changes through Congress, such as the original electoral reform bill proposed by the president.

López Obrador was highly critical of the INE while it was under the 2014–23 leadership of Lorenzo Córdova and accused its predecessor, the Federal Electoral Institute, of facilitating fraud that he claims cost him the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections.

He has touted the multibillion-peso savings that the “Plan B” reform package would generate and rejected claims that it places the staging of free and fair elections at risk.

However, approval of the second part of the package triggered large protests across Mexico in late February, with participants ordering authorities to keep their hands off the INE, considered a key pillar of the country’s democracy.

With reports from El País, Reforma and El Universal

Economy Minister unveils investment plan for trans-isthmus corridor

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Cat Rainsford

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May 9, 2023

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Raquel Buenrostro announcing investment in the South East — Among the announcements made by Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro was the intention to offer favorable investment conditions to companies looking to move operations to Mexico's southeast region. (Ministry of the Economy/Twitter)

A new industrial corridor will boost economic development in Mexico’s poor and less developed southeast region, according to plans announced by the Economy Ministry on Monday.

The so-called Interoceanic Corridor will include 10 new industrial parks across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec — the narrow “waist” of southern Mexico between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz.

Istmo Tehuantepec diagram — If developed appropriately, the Isthmus of Tehuantepec has the potential to be a new Panama Canal. (Gobierno de Mexico)

“The Interoceanic Corridor is a space that will create and improve the existing infrastructure to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, becoming a geographic space with great competitive advantages for international trade flows,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement.

“With this, the Mexican government will promote economic development with a humanist profile, with a greater quantity of better-paid jobs.”

Bidding rules for six of these parks will be published next week, Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro said, and the process will last 110 days. Companies from countries including the United States, Canada, Taiwan and Germany are encouraged to bid, with potential investors for the new sites coming from current “nearshoring” industries such as auto manufacturers, tech companies and semiconductor producers.

The government will offer tax breaks to companies that invest in the parks, provided they create a certain number of jobs.

Living standards in the southeast of Mexico are lower than in the rest of the country — a fact the government is looking to change through targeted investment. (Adriana Álvarez/Cuartoscuro)

These incentives will likely include accelerated depreciation during the first six years, reducing taxable income; VAT exemption on transactions within and between the parks during the first four years; and income tax exemption during the first three years. The potential income tax reduction of up to 90% may be extendable for an additional three years, depending on the number of jobs created.

The scheme is part of President López Obrador’s broader plans to boost industrial development in the poorer southern states of Mexico — the region from which he originally hails. Historically, investment has been concentrated in Mexico’s northern states, which benefit from their geographical proximity to major markets in the U.S.

“A big concern of this administration has been lowering the asymmetry between north and south,” Buenrostro said.

According to the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), 45.5% of the population of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec lacks basic housing services — more than double the national average of 19.3%.

Industrial development in the south has become more urgent, as recurrent droughts in the north have led the government to restrict offerings of new concessions in that area, in an attempt to preserve civilian water supplies. The administration is expected to publish new rules for existing water usage concessions in the near future.

Another key component of AMLO’s industrial strategy for southern Mexico is a 300-km transoceanic freight rail line that would link the proposed industrial parks. The ports of Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz would be expanded, and a new gas pipeline would be constructed in the oil-rich region. There are also plans for four new wind farms across the region to support the boom in industry that the government hopes will follow investment.

At the presentation, Buenrostro enumerated the advantages of investment in Mexico’s south, including abundant natural resources such as wind and water and a young and increasingly specialized workforce.

With reports from Reuters, Forbes and El Economista

Mexico’s graniceros use magic mushrooms to speak to the divine

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Joseph Sorrentino

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May 9, 2023

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Graniceros engaged in a gratitude ceremony in Mexico — Gerardo, a granicero, conducts a cleansing ceremony for Esmeralda, a granicera herself. (Photos by Joseph Sorrentino)

Journalist Michael Pollan’s book and documentary, “How to Change Your Mind” presents convincing evidence that some psychoactive compounds — including LSD, mescaline (from the peyote cactus), MDMA and psilocybin (from certain varieties of mushrooms) — can help people suffering from a variety of psychiatric illnesses, including PTSD, depression and obsessive-compulsive behavior (OCD).

In strictly controlled clinical studies, a single dose of psilocybin has been proven to help patients with OCD, as well as cancer patients who were experiencing anxiety about their diagnosis. Many cancer patients reported losing their fear of death, and 30% who were given a dose of psilocybin said it was the most significant spiritual experience of their lives.

Feast of the Corn indigenous ceremony in Mexico — A woman lights a candle during an annual indigenous ritual known as the Fiesta de Primer Elote (The Feast of the First Corn). This and other indigenous ceremonies held throughout the year often involve offerings to the supernatural. Each year, those offerings are different, and hallucinogenic substances like psilocybin are taken by graniceros to discover what the gods want in the offerings. (Photos by Joseph Sorrentino)

While psilocybin was virtually unknown in the US until 1955, indigenous groups in Mexico, especially the Mexica, Mayans and Mazatecans, have been using hongos sagrados — sacred mushrooms — for thousands of years. They didn’t, however, use them to cure psychiatric illnesses or to end the fear of death — though that may have been a side benefit. They used these mushrooms to communicate with the gods.

There are at least 200 species of mushrooms known to have hallucinogenic effects when ingested. Mexico has the most, with 53 varieties growing in the country. The most potent of these belong to the genus Psilocybe, and these are the ones most often used by indigenous people in Mexico.

The Mexica called the mushrooms teotlnanácatl (from the Nahuatl teotl (god) and nanácatl (fungus). Today, they’re known as hongos sagrados, niños sagrados or niños de agua.

I interviewed Dr. Mauricio Ramsés Hernández Lucas, one of Mexico’s leading experts on the use of hongos sagrados by shamans — also known as graniceros (also known as tiemperos). Graniceros, among other things, perform ceremonies or rituals to control the weather.

“Graniceros are not common beings,” Hernández said. “They have the ability to enter into contact with spheres that are considered sacred, and thanks to the knowledge they have about plants and human beings, they can also cure the spirit and the illnesses of the body. So they are tiemperos on one side and traditional doctors, or curanderos, on the other.”

Hongos sagrados are harvested during the rainy season in Mexico, which typically begins in May.

Female granicera in mexico — A wide variety of items can be revealed as offerings the gods want brought to a ceremony. Graniceros take psilocybin mushrooms days before a ritual in order to have visions that they expect to reveal what the offerings should be.

“When [the mushrooms are] found, a person will wash their hands, pray and talk to them,” Hernández said. “The mushroom is a fundamental element for these cultures. We are [saying] that sometimes the human being requires a little help, a push — and this help is through the sacred plants — in this case, hongos sagrados.

“They are ingested to establish contact with other cognitive planes of reality… to enter the plane of the sacred. The hongos sagrados teach them and talk to them. Those who ingest them enter a trance [they call] ‘submerged in the sacred.’ They believe the trance to be something totally sacred and supernatural, the world of the mystery, the world [that’s] unknowable and incomprehensible.”

Graniceros conduct five rituals during the year, all connected to the agricultural cycle. The first, the Blessing of the Seeds, is typically on February 2. This is followed by the Petition for Rain, during the month of May and then the Canicula ceremony, in July; Feast of the First Corn in August and, finally, the Ceremony of Gratitude in November.

Hernández said that the mushrooms are ingested before the rituals.

granicero ritual in Mexico — Esmeralda sprays a participant in a ritual with flower water to protect him from the influence of “mal aires,” — essentially bad spirits.

“Three mushrooms is the quantity to eat to attain an altered state,” he said. “I don’t say ‘hallucinate’ because it appears to me that the term is poorly employed. You are going to have a vision.”

Offerings must be brought for each ritual. They are placed in front of a cross — granicero crosses are painted blue, signifying water or rain — or an altar. Different offerings are required for each ritual.

“The vision will reveal… what you need to bring [to the ritual],” said Hernández. “At the beginning of the ritual, they bring the offering — specifically, food, drink and also types of flowers. Paper is very important, maybe because Amecameca means The Place of the Paper. So, in all of the ceremonies, you are going to see paper. Paper is sacred for these cultures.”

In addition to telling the granicero what offerings are required, Hernández said the visions also reveal what the weather during the upcoming seasons will be like.

“Before the rain petition ritual, in the vision, they are going to receive how the season will [be]. That is to say, how the rain will come: moderate, low, high, excessive or, [if] flat-out it won’t rain. The Canícula is a period of much heat where things rot. Consuming mushrooms is done to know things about the season.”

The mushrooms are also used, he said, “To know about the sicknesses. Mushrooms are only used in special cases, [like] for a sickness that can’t be resolved by the community… graniceros are given mushrooms to cure them.”

Graniceros in Mexico — Two graniceros carrying dried corn to be placed near the ceremonial cross.

María Sabina, who lived in Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca, was one of the most famous of all curanderas. She and other curanderas and curanderos used hongos sagrados during their rituals. Stories about their use in Huautla and other pueblos in Mexico had reached the U.S. and piqued the interest of R. Gordon Wasson, a banker and amateur mycologist, and his wife, Dr. Valentina Pavlovna Wasson, a pediatrician and scientist.

They visited Sabina, and after several attempts to convince her to let them try hongos sagrados, they finally succeeded on June 29, 1955. They published articles about their experiences in Life magazine and elsewhere, prompting rock stars, hippies, people seeking enlightenment and those simply looking for another way to trip, to flood the town.

It was a disaster, not only for Sabina, but for her pueblo, as thousands made their way to Huautla de Jiménez looking for the mushrooms. Residents of Huautla eventually turned against Sabina, burning her house down and subjecting her family to violence. She died destitute.

Too many people were going — and are still going — to Huautla just to get high. As curandero Anselmo García Martínez, Sabina’s great-grandson, put it in an interview for a documentary about Sabina’s life, “They did not respect the mushroom.”

I think Dr. Hernández, when talking about hongos sagrados, put it best: “They can only be used by shamans.”

The photographs printed here are part of “Graniceros From Amecameca,” a project supported in part by the Puffin Foundation.

Joseph Sorrentino, a writer, photographer and author of the book San Gregorio Atlapulco: Cosmvisiones and of Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories from an Italian-American Childhood, is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily. More examples of his photographs and links to other articles may be found at www.sorrentinophotography.com He currently lives in Chipilo, Puebla.

Expedition to search for remaining vaquita porpoises to begin

By

MND Staff

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May 9, 2023

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A searcher looks for vaquitas in Mexico — The expedition's mission is to find and survey the numbers of the remaining vaquita porpoises, an endangered species endemic to the Gulf of California. (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society)

Twelve scientists from Mexico, the United States and Canada will carry out a scientific expedition to track the last remaining vaquita porpoises in the Gulf of California, the only habitat of the critically endangered species.

The Vaquita Observation Cruise 2023, will take place from May 10 to 27 and will be a joint operation with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Environment and Natural Resources Minister María Luisa Albores González reported.

With so few vaquitas left, spotting one of the elusive porpoises is extremely rare. — The tiny, elusive porpoises are hard to spot; there may be fewer than a dozen left. (Semarnat)

The group will travel in two ships: the Sea Horse, a Sea Shepherd vessel, and the Sirena de Mar, a Mexican boat, to try and locate the less than one dozen vaquitas estimated to still be in existence.

According to Pritam Singh, president of Sea Shepherd, the expedition will be the most up-to-date scientific analysis since October 2021. At that time, seven or eight adult specimens and one or two calves were believed to remain.

Fishing of the totoaba, which is coveted in traditional Chinese medicine for its supposed healing properties, has brought the world’s smallest cetacean to the brink of extinction. The vaquita often dies after becoming entangled in the gillnets used to catch the totoaba.

Totoaba fishing is prohibited in Mexico, although the government hasn’t been able to end the practice.

Sea Shepherd and Mexican Navy teams have worked hard to clear the Gulf of California of fishing nets in recent months. (Sea Shepherd Conservation Society/Twitter)

Sea Shepherd has been working alongside the Mexican Navy in the Gulf of California to discourage totoaba fishing around the area where the vaquita was last seen, known as the “zero tolerance zone.” In April, both entities announced they had successfully removed all gillnets from the protected area of the vaquita, although illegal totoaba fishermen still reportedly enter the region to fish.

The vaquita cannot be captured, held or bred in captivity as they are highly sensitive to stress and changes in their environment. Previous efforts to capture vaquitas for conservation purposes have led to health complications and even deaths of the specimens.

During a press conference, Albores explained that since the marine mammal spends a lot of time underwater, trained observers and calm seas are required for a successful sighting. The experts will use binoculars, sighting devices and acoustic monitors to try to identify the locations of the tiny porpoise (which measures less than five feet in length and weighs around 20 pounds).

“This cruise brings hope because we have acoustic data that seems to indicate there is a greater concentration of vaquitas in some areas,” said Adán Peña Fuentes, head of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas.

Mexico was sanctioned in March by the CITES international trade body as a result of its failure to protect the vaquita, blocking the nation’s wildlife exports to 184 member countries. The U.S. Department of the Interior is also considering sanctions that could result in a ban on imported Mexican seafood.

Results from the search expedition are expected to be shared with the public in about four weeks.

With reports from Associated Press News, Expansión and Milenio

Mexico declares end of COVID-19 pandemic health emergency

By

Cat Rainsford

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May 9, 2023

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The COVID-19 emergency is officially over in Mexico, the Health Ministry announced today, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared an end to the maximum alert for the pandemic worldwide.

Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said at President López Obrador’s morning press conference that COVID-19 can now be managed as an endemic disease thanks to decreasing cases, high levels of immunity and better management of patients.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus estimated that 20 million people have been killed by COVID-19 and urged governments not to let their guards down despite announcing the end of the global health emergency caused by the virus. (WHO/Twitter)

“Given that the characteristics considered by the WHO are met … the president has signed a decree that ends the original decree of March 23, 2020, in which the health emergency was established,” López-Gatell said.

“With this decree, the agreements issued by the health council and the Secretary of Health will be suspended,” he said.

The new decree ends the powers the federal government assumed during the emergency to impose measures such as school closures, social distancing and home shelter for vulnerable people.

Instead, Mexico will now implement a long-term COVID-19 management plan, including monitoring and alert systems, supporting hospital care and integrating COVID-19 vaccinations into general health plans.

Mexican child vaccinated — The Mexican-made “Patria” vaccine has also provided the country with an additional weapon against COVID-19. (Cuartoscuro)

The implications for vaccine procurement are still unclear. During the pandemic, the federal government used emergency powers to acquire nearly 225 million vaccines and vaccinate nearly 100 million people, at a cost of around 45 billion pesos (US $2.5 billion).

It’s also unclear what impact the new decree will have on issues such as medical insurance, payment for diagnostic tests and employers’ obligations to cover sick leave for employees infected with the virus.

Mexico closes its health emergency with an official count of 505,746 excess deaths between 2020 and 2022, according to the National Population Registry (RENAPO). However, only 333,960 of these have been confirmed and registered by the Epidemiological Monitoring System for Respiratory Illnesses (SISVER).

More than 7.5 million COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Mexico during the pandemic. Health authorities estimate that around 80% of the population has been infected, some asymptomatically.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused at least 20 million deaths worldwide, nearly three times the official count, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“It is therefore with great hope that I declare COVID-19 over as a global health emergency,” he said on Thursday, although various WHO officials cautioned that the COVID-19 threat continues and that governments must learn the lessons of the pandemic.

“The battle is not over,” said Michael Ryan, director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme. “We still have weaknesses and those weaknesses that we still have in our system will be exposed by this virus or another virus. And it needs to be fixed.”

With reports from Milenio and Reuters

Mexico’s inflation slows for 3rd straight month to 18-month low

By

MND Staff

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May 9, 2023

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Vegetables at a Mexican open air market — 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 Rodriguez Ceja, head of Mexico's central bank — 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.

Pemex gas station in mexico city — 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.

With reports from El Economista and El Financiero

Police bust counterfeit Coca-Cola ring in Mexico City

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MND Staff

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May 9, 2023

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Counterfeit Coca Cola operation — 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.

Fake coke bottling — 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.

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.”

Mexico News Daily

Mother’s Day expected to generate 13% more revenue this year

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MND Staff

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May 9, 2023

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Flower vendors — 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.

With reports from Milenio and El Economista

Japan’s Taxan to open new US $40M factory in San Luis Potosí

By

MND Staff

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May 8, 2023

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Taxan factory groundbreaking ceremony in San Luis Potosi, Mexico — 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.

The TAXAN facility in San Luis — 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.

In February, BMW announced an investment of US $800 million in the state.

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.

With reports from El Universal, Mexico Industry, and El Sol de San Luis.