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])
Traditional charro dancers in the Texcalco section of Meyehualco demonstrate both their dance moves and their elaborate costumes. (credit Alejandro Linares Garcia)
There are really two Meyehualcos — the modern section of Mexico City’s Iztapalapa borough and the old original pueblo that struggles to survive.
The name Meyehualco comes from the Indigenous Nahuatl language, meaning “place of the maguey plants.” It reflects the community’s rural, agricultural heritage but also a long history of domination.
Parish church of Pueblo Meyehualco. It’s one of the few structures of the original village still standing. (CDMX Culture Ministry)
Until the 20th century, the name referred only to a village/town founded by migrating Chichimecas in 1496.
They are not easy to find, but the village’s layout and main structures still exist. An arch just off Calzada Ermita Iztapalapa indicates the old town entrance, and just south of that is a typical plaza and a parish church.
Known as Pueblo Santa Cruz Meyehualco (or sometimes as Barrio Santa Cruz Meyehualco), it is one of 15 original settlements in what is now the Iztapalapa borough, and its story demonstrates these original settlements’ struggles against urban sprawl.
Outside the old village, the streets immediately assume a grid pattern, a result of encapsulation by the growth of Mexico City in the 20th century. The families go back many generations, and the old stories and rivalries still matter. This includes the old division of Pueblo Meyehualco into the Huexotitlan and Texcalco neighborhoods.
Meyehualco’s historian José Antonio Rivera Martínez gives an interview at the El Danzón pulque bar, which features decorations related to the original pueblo’s history and culture. (Alejandro Linares García)
This used to be a division between the (relatively) rich and poor; in the past, those from one could not marry those from the other, but today the rivalry is friendly. All did, and still do, come together to celebrate Meyehualco’s patron saint, Our Lord of the Cross, on May 3 with food, fireworks and processions.
Throughout Meyehualco’s history, its agriculture, labor and volcanic stone were exploited for the ruling classes of Mexico City. But it remained physically independent until less than 100 years ago.
One ugly reality of growing metropolises is that they need a “hidden” place to dump their garbage, and in the 1940s, Meyehualco became one such place. From then until the 1980s, over 44,712,500 tons of trash were dumped in an area north of the village proper, says Iztapalapa historian Beatriz Ramírez, an ecological disaster for both agriculture and what was left of Lake Texcoco there.
The dump was iconic enough to be the setting of one movie from Mexico’s Golden Age of Film, “El Hombre de Papel”(The Paper Man), the story of one man who made his living from picking recyclables, as many families did for more than 40 years.
Photo of the old landfill, date unknown, with the encroaching Mexico City in the background. (Archivo Histórico de Iztapalapa)
As the city continued to grow, parts of the dump were redeveloped starting as early as the 1950s.
The “other” Meyehualco centers on the Unidad Habitacional Santa Cruz Meyehualco housing complex or Colonia Santa Cruz Meyehualco. It began with 3,000 housing units built between 1958 and 1963 and then filled with residents from other parts of Mexico City. This project also included a municipal market that still exists today, with a mural dedicated to “El Hombre del Papel.”
Nearby are the Old Tianguis and the New Tianguis, two street markets whose histories grew out of the economic crises of the 1980s and a somewhat-successful attempt to move the Old Tianguis after the 2017 earthquake.
Much of the rest of the dump was converted into Cuitláhuac Park. It was established in the 1990s with the ambitious goal of creating a new major urban green space in the poor eastern side of the city. The park is indeed impressive — 145 hectares with various sports facilities, regenerated wetlands and, interestingly, a drug rehab center.
Preparing a sawdust “carpet” on one of the streets where the sacred image of Our Lord of the Cross passes by in procession. (credit Alejandro Linares García)
It is a work-in-progress including IztapaSauria, a huge dinosaur exhibition, Utopia Meyehualco sporting and entertainment complex in 2021. But this development draws community focus away from the old Pueblo, which can be easily overlooked by visitors to the area.
People like Meyehualco cronista (historian) José Antonio Rivera Martínez work to save the town’s history, identity, and relevance in the face of ever-growing cultural imposition from the rest of the city they are officially part of.
People like him, from the old families, say that those in the colonia, (the modern neighborhoods) do not know the local culture or traditions and are outsiders. Rivera points to the stories and histories of the buildings and people to make the case that the city needs to do more to help protect it.
The best-known of its traditions is its Carnival. Most of Iztapalapa’s old towns have a carnival, with staggered dates ranging from just before Lent and on through to Easter. Pueblo Meyehualco’s turn is the week after Ash Wednesday, and is a curious mix of tradition and modernity.
Its origins are murky but are from no later than the 19th century. It’s been put on each year without fail with only two exceptions: one for the Mexican Revolution and the other for Covid.
In the past, the celebration of Carnival brought out the old rich/poor division. Those in Texcalco dressed in highly-decorated costumes, and those from the humbler Huexotitlan made do with burlap sacks to make costumes today called costales. The costales costume has been abandoned in favor of the charro for both neighborhoods at carnival, but it still appears in local murals and other artwork.
Rivera states that events like Carnival and its patron saint day are important to “recover the streets” from the surrounding urban encroachment. But despite the fact that Carnival is a cultural and economic success, that “recovery” is not complete. Other costumes, such as those depicting elements of modern popular culture and even politically-themed disguises, are not uncommon.
It proves Rivera’s point that preserving the old ways and identities is difficult because “… Social development and neoliberalism are imposing new cultural norms, which the young people absorb, and they don’t want to participate so much in the pueblo’s traditions.”
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico over 20 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
There are only a few things that I remember about my 7th-grade Texas history class.
One is my teacher: a tall, somewhat portly man with a kind face who would get tears in his eyes every time he talked about Sam Houston, his hero. He was in his 60s, lived with and cared for his mother, and played the piano. Once he chuckled warmly, clearly charmed that I pronounced the word “sweat” as “sweet” when reading out loud from the textbook, which made me feel about 20% less embarrassed than I would have otherwise.
From the content of the class itself, I remember very little, except that the Mexicans were the bad guy aggressors, trying to block the inevitable flow of history toward freedom and independence.
I’m a much better student these days, much better at paying attention now that I’m no longer preoccupied with the boys in the class I think are cute (these classes really are wasted on the young).
And having just come back from Texas a few weeks ago with a borrowed book, “Forget the Alamo“ in hand, I’ve got my home state — the Lone Star state! — and all its peculiarities on my mind.
Texas is, after all, a state of mind. You also should not mess with it, I’m told, or tread on …someone, whatever that means; the “someone” is possibly a snake. Furthermore, one can go to Texas while the rest can go to hell, and naysayers are also invited to “come and take it — “it” being a stand-in for pretty much anything (these days, probably guns).
All of these charming phrases are available for purchase on T-shirts, mugs and beer cozies at a relatively new but already deeply-loved Texan institution, Buc-ee’s.
Texas even has some famous fans, most notably, Phil Collins. He could very well be the Alamo’s number-one fan, in fact, and has spent stupid amounts of money amassing one of the most impressive collections of Texas artifacts in the world. I know this fun fact because I read it out loud in a Texas Monthly article to my sister on one of our hours-long trips across our gigantic state.
But reading more deeply about my home state’s history has given way to some startling realizations. I always knew, I suppose, that the “heroes of Texas Independence” weren’t saints. Still, there are some important details that have made my eyebrows go way up.
Texas and Mexico have always had a contentious relationship. While there’s Mexican influence aplenty blended in with the overall Texas culture, it’s clear who’s in charge.
Mexican-ness in Texas has always been something separate, considered by most without Mexican heritage to be a tacked-on rather than homegrown feature. Tejanos, or at least tejano culture, are generally treated by the more powerful Texians as guests who’ve overstayed their visit but whom they’re too embarrassed to ask to leave since this home did once belong to them.
Spanish, the European language of the land preceding English, is merely an elective in school like it is everywhere else in the country. Also like the rest of the country, Texas has a difficult and fraught racial history to contend with, the effects of which can still be quite clearly seen today.
Well. As we all know, the winners write the history books.
And write them they did. I never understood, for example, that the whole motivation for Texas’ independence from Mexico was about preserving its right to keep slaves. Did you know that? According to Texas government records, there were about 5,000 slaves there by the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836, 30,000 by the annexation a decade later, and 182,566 by 1860 — more than 30% of the total state population.
Was I really just not paying attention in Texas history class, or was the mention of slavery merely a footnote, if that?
In case you don’t know it, here’s the story in a nutshell: Before any Europeans got to the Americas, it was, as we know, occupied. That meant little to the Europeans, of course, and Texas — as well as what currently makes up the southwest United States — was claimed for New Spain in 1690. When Mexicans gained independence from Spain in 1821 (a war that began in 1810), Texas became a part of the new nation.
For most of its early history as a Mexican territory, however, Texas was pretty sparsely populated by Mexicans or any other European-descended people, for that matter.
First of all, there were no Buc-ee’s back then — that’s minus 10 points right there. Plus, the combination of (rightly) aggressive Indigenous groups and oppressive heat made it the backwoods where no one was exactly dying to live.
Mexico had a hard time getting very many of its citizens to populate it, and with good reason: who wants to deal with heat, frequent attacks plus no Buc-ee’s?
All kinds of riffraff from the eastern U.S. were plenty willing, though, to take their chances on claiming a lot of land. Texas was attractive because you could get rich there. Alas, there was really only one way to do it: having slaves work your cotton fields.
So, quite a few gringos started moving in, most illegally. But since Mexico wasn’t able to get enough Mexicans to live there in the first place, it was a relatively easy immigration invasion to make. Before they realized it, Texas had a downright infestation on their hands of people who didn’t speak Spanish, weren’t Catholic and blithely ignored their laws.
The biggest problem, however, was that the newly independent Mexico was an abolitionist state; slavery was outlawed in 1829.
But without slavery, there was no reason to go to Texas in the first place, in the gringos’ minds, anyway. They found ways around the laws for a while with things they shouldn’t have been able to get away with, like saying they didn’t know about the laws because they didn’t speak Spanish — and later, classifying their slaves on paper as “servants.”
It got out of Mexico’s hands quickly, and by the time Santa Anna said, “enough is enough,” the weird wheels of history, complete with bizarre accidents that make it feel like fate, were already in motion.
In short, the invaders of Texas took over and made it their own, casting themselves as righteous heroes against their dictatorial Mexican aggressors. We all know what happened next, because here we are: the Mexican border no longer goes past the Rio Grande.
It’s been a couple hundred years, but the echoes of history are still bouncing off the walls, and the tension between Mexico and their smiling, blue-eyed guests will likely never completely disappear.
Under the circumstances, it’s honestly a wonder they’ve been so patient with us. Of course, they’re in no danger of being overrun by us now — we think.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com
Minced fresh dill brightens up almost any potato or dairy dish — and plenty others too!
Springtime means that lots of beautiful produce starts appearing in markets and shops that we haven’t seen for a while. Mazatlán’s farmers’ market last weekend was a good example, with a cornucopia of goodies spilling from baskets, boxes and tables.
Fresh herbs were in abundance: fragrant bunches of basil (albahaca, pronounced“al-bah-cah”), parsley (perejil), sage (salvia), rosemary (romero) and — could it be?! — fresh dill (eneldo).
Traces of dill have been found in some of the pharaohs’ tombs in Egypt.
Fresh dill is something that isn’t found often, at least where I live, so this was a treat. I love having fresh herbs in the kitchen, and while cilantro is always wonderful and I appreciate having it available year-round for literally pennies, having other options is cool too.
It’s dill that we crave in pickles, in a sour cream dip or in a sauce for salmon. Minced fresh dill brightens up almost any potato or dairy dish, lending its characteristic flavor and aroma and adding a note of complexity. A simple summer salad of sliced cucumbers, rice wine vinegar, salt, freshly ground black pepper and some fresh dill is a welcome dish for the hot summer days ahead.
Traces of dill have been found in some of the pharaoh’s tombs in Egypt, dating to 1400 B.C. It’s a kitchen staple in Scandinavia, Russia, Ukraine and central and eastern Europe (think borscht or gravlax). Dill is not used very extensively in Mexican cuisine, other than in the dishes mentioned above.
Fresh dill will always have the most flavor, and while you can freeze the fresh stuff, it won’t taste quite the same or be as strong. Dried dill and dill seeds can also be found, each of which has a slightly different though distinctively dill flavor.
Add some minced fresh dill atop plain, cooked rice to make it into a more exotic Persian Dill Rice!
Dill and Garlic Vodka
½ cup loosely packed dill, washed, patted dry, tough stems removed
1 clove peeled garlic
750 ml. vodka
Put dill, garlic and vodka in an airtight glass container (like a Mason jar). Seal tightly and refrigerate for 24–48 hours. Strain into a glass pitcher; add fresh sprigs of dill and a few cucumber slices. Serve very cold.
Persian Dill Rice
½ large bunch dill, trimmed and finely chopped
1-2 Tbsp. dried dill
1 cups Basmati or other rice (to be cooked)
Set aside 3 Tbsp. of chopped fresh dill. In a bowl, combine the remainder of fresh dill with the dried dill. Fold dill mixture into hot cooked rice; cover with lid and let sit about 10 minutes.
Gently fluff with a fork, then transfer to a serving platter, scattering the reserved fresh dill in between spoonfuls of rice.
Dill Vinaigrette
1 large garlic clove, finely grated
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh dill
½ tsp. fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper
In small bowl or shaker jar, combine garlic, rice vinegar, olive oil, dill, fish sauce, sugar, 1 Tbsp. cold water, salt and pepper. Whisk or shake until well combined. Toss with salad greens.
This Dill-Avocado Ranch dressing is an addictive alternative for those who can’t have dairy.
Nondairy Avocado Ranch Dressing
1 medium ripe avocado
½ cup roughly chopped dill, plus more as needed
4 tsp. dill pickle brine, plus more as needed
1 small garlic clove, grated
3 Tbsp. finely chopped dill pickles
Salt and pepper
In food processor or blender, combine avocado, fresh dill, pickle brine and garlic with ⅓ cup water. Season with salt and pepper. Process until smooth.
Stir in chopped pickles. Taste and adjust with more brine, water, salt, pepper and dill. Refrigerate up to two days. (The top may brown, but just stir it in.)
Butter-Poached Shrimp with Dill Mayo
2 tsp. toasted whole coriander seeds or ½ tsp. ground coriander
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
½ cup dry white wine, plus more if needed
1 pound shelled large shrimp
Juice of 1 lemon, divided in half, plus more to taste
To make the dill mayo: In a small bowl, whisk lemon zest and juice from half the lemon, dill, mayonnaise and pinch of salt. Taste and add more salt or lemon juice if needed.
To toast the coriander seeds, use a mortar and pestle or a cutting board and the flat side of a knife to crack the seeds. Add seeds to a large dry saucepan over medium heat; stir and toast 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add butter and wine to pan. (If using ground coriander, add it now.) Swirl until butter melts, 2–3 minutes.
Add shrimp, remaining lemon juice and pinch of salt. Liquid should come about halfway up sides of shrimp; add a splash more wine to the pan if needed. Gently poach shrimp for 2 minutes, flip and cook for another 1–2 minutes, until pink and just cooked through.
Pour shrimp and juices into shallow bowl. Top with dollops of dill mayo. Garnish with dill fronds and serve.
Butter-poached shrimp with a dollop of dill mayo is a decadent treat!
Whisk 2 Tbsp. olive oil with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, garlic, oregano, 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper in a bowl. Add chicken; toss to coat. Let marinate at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours, covered, in refrigerator.
Heat oven to 425 F (220 C). On sheet pan, drizzle potatoes with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss well and move to one side of pan.
Pat chicken dry and evenly space thighs on the other side of the pan. Roast 15 minutes, toss potatoes, then return everything to the oven. Roast until chicken is cooked through, skin is golden and potatoes are tender, 15–30 more minutes.
Place chicken and potatoes on a platter; sprinkle with lemon juice, scatter with feta, dill, salt and pepper and serve.
All you need to know about the Mexican mortar and pestle - your friend for more flavorful dips, dressings and salsas. (Shutterstock)
Guacamole is one of Mexico’s staple dishes and one of the simplest ones to prepare. To make a guacamole burst with flavor, texture, and aroma, you need more than just traditional chopping and fresh ingredients – you need a molcajete, the Mexican mortar and pestle made of volcanic rock.
In this article, you will learn how to buy a molcajete, how to cure it and how to use it to prepare the best guacamole, salsas and beyond.
Used by Mesoamerican civilizations to crush and combine ingredients like spices, chiles and herbs, the molcajete continues to be used for the same purposes and is often even preferred over modern appliances like blenders and food processors.
Molcajetes are more than just a serving dish for guacamole. Use them to grind herbs or make a marinade. (Wikimedia)
Why? The volcanic rock is said to give the food a unique mineral flavor impossible to achieve with modern cookware. If you’ve ever eaten salsa or guacamole straight out of a molcajete, you know what I’m talking about.
But beware: to achieve these flavors without risking your health (at the end of the day you’re eating out of a raw rock), you need to know how to buy, use and care for a molcajete.
Volcanic rock or cement? How to pick a molcajete
Volcanic basalt is traditionally the sole material of the molcajete and its tejolote, or pestle. Due to the molcajete’s growing popularity, identical replicas are now made of cement (mainly in China) to meet demand, fooling the unwary consumer.
To tell the difference, check the molcajete’s color: cement molcajetes tend to have a more grayish color than stone ones, which are darker.
Molcajetes made out of stone (left) are preferred over those made of cement (right). (Cocina Vital MX)
Cement molcajetes are also lighter in weight. A standard-sized molcajete (20–25 cm in diameter) made of volcanic rock weighs between 3.5 to 4 kg, while a cement molcajete of the same size weighs slightly less.
But the most obvious difference is the texture, as stone molcajetes have a rougher and more porous surface than those made of cement.
Although modern manufacturing can achieve a finer texture by polishing the rock, a stone molcajete will still feel rough to the touch. And when it hasn’t been cured yet, will small fragments of stone will crumble off when the surface is scraped. (What’s curing? Read on to find out.)
This leads us to the next question.
Where should I buy a molcajete?
When purchasing a molcajete, make sure to buy from local and artisanal producers instead of supermarkets, particularly the big chain stores, as these tend to sell cement molcajetes rather than authentic stone ones.
You can find artisanal shops that sell authentic molcajetes anywhere in Mexico.
Artisanal molcajetes are worth every peso; most are still made by hand. (Shutterstock)
Molcajetes made in Guanajuato are especially sought after. In fact, Forbes recently reported that the price of a molcajete made in Guanajuato can cost anywhere from US $150 to US $300 in places like the United States, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong.
If you’re reading this article as an expat in Mexico, lucky you! You get to buy an authentic molcajete in the country for a fraction of that price. But a word of friendly advice: if you’re a foreigner buying directly from artisanal producers in Mexico, don’t bargain with them; they put a lot of effort and passion into making these traditional pieces.
How to cure my molcajete?
Before using a molcajete for the first time, you’ll need to scrub the debris and sediment that will be inside it. This process is referred to as“curing” the molcajete.
For many, this is the most daunting process. However, this step is essential to ensuring that the food prepared in the molcajete is safe for your health. The process, however, is easier than what you might think, although a bit time-consuming.
Some people prefer to cure their molcajete with a mixture of salt and rice, but either ingredient on its own will work. (Screenshot/Jauja Cocina Mexicana)
To start, pour coarse rock salt or white rice — some people mix these ingredients together, but that’s optional — inside the molcajete and grind it with the pestle. As you press down, twist the tejolote to pulverize the ingredients.
When the salt or rice turns gray, remove and add more until it no longer changes color. Afterward, simply rinse the excess powder and listo! The molcajete is ready to use.
How to care for my molcajete?
The best way to take care of your molcajete is to avoid using soap on it. While you can use a little amount, it’s best to thoroughly rinse it with tap water, as the pores of the molcajete can accumulate small particles of soap and transfer that taste to your food.
A molcajete is like a cast-iron pan: the flavor of the ingredients you prepare in it becomes infused into its surface and carries over to each recipe. The older the molcajete, the better your food will taste!
The possibilities are endless with your molcajete. Anything you would typically mix in a food processor can be prepared in a molcajete – for example, pesto, sauces, and chimichurri. (Allan Ronson/Unsplash)
What can I prepare in a molcajete?
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind are salsas and guacamole. But you can also use your molcajete as a grinder to pulverize dry chili peppers or herbs. While the process might be longer than using an electric appliance, the taste will make the time and effort worth it.
To prepare the best guacamole, pound in your molcajete avocado, chopped tomato (the less, the better, as it makes the guacamole soggy), onion, cilantro, chile jalapeño (if you like it spicy), and lime and salt to taste.
For your typical green or red tomato salsa, try roasting all the ingredients first: onion, tomatoes, garlic and chili. The softened vegetables will make the grinding process in the molcajete easier while enhancing the flavor of the salsa. Don’t forget to add salt to boost the flavor!
When you’re done, use your molcajete as a serving platter for martajada (meaning “made in the molcajete”) salsas to give your table a Mexican touch.
