Mushrooms and arugula are tumbled together with gooey melted Oaxaca cheese to make these unusual quesadillas.
The longer you live in Mexico, the more things become a part of your life that you’d never heard of before, or that previously had been relegated to the category of “exotic specialties.”
Such is the case for me with Oaxaca cheese. Now I almost always have a ball of it in the fridge, for healthy, high-protein snacking, for cooking, for adding to sandwiches and salads. It’s kind of a mainstay.
Here in Mazatlán, the weekly mercado orgánico has a vendor that makes and sells balls of fresh Oaxaca cheese (plain or with chipotle or garlic). It’s lovely: soft and firm at the same time, with a delicate, almost milky flavor.
But you can find Oaxaca cheese worth buying in grocery stores too — you just have to read the labels and do your own taste tests till you find one that suits your fancy. Avoid any with too many ingredients; that list should be short and leche de vaca (cow’s milk) should be the first one.
Sometimes I’ve found that it can be too salty. Here’s a tip: Pull or cut the ball apart into smaller pieces and let sit, refrigerated, in a bowl of water overnight. The excess salt will leach into the water, and your cheese will be more fresh-tasting.
Queso Oaxaca (waa-haa-kah ) is a simple, unaged cheese, made by double-cooking and curdling milk and then stretching the cheese curds, resulting in the trademark stringiness.
This simple fresh cheese has a delicate, almost milky flavor.
Should you want to make it at home, it’s not difficult, albeit a little time-consuming and exacting. In the state of Oaxaca, where it originated, it’s called quesillo (kay-see-yo), meaning “rope cheese.”
It’s the same process used to make mozzarella, and, yes, it’s what commercial “string cheese” kind of is. I say “kind of” because there are so many added stabilizers, etc. that it bears little resemblance to its purer Mexican cousin.
What to use it for? Anything where you want melty, gooey cheese. It’s a good substitute for mozzarella or Monterey Jack, and, of course, can be eaten for fun just like string cheese (except it tastes better!) Enchiladas, quesadillas, chiles rellenos, grilled cheese sandwiches, lasagna, pizza and other Italian dishes, nachos, migas, molletes — the list goes on and on.
Because Oaxaca cheese is a fresh cheese, you need to eat it quickly. Store in the refrigerator in a covered container of water.It should last seven to 10 days. If need be, you can also freeze it. Just put the unopened package in the freezer and thaw in refrigerator before using.
Choriqueso (“Hangover Helper”)
½ lb. ground pork shoulder
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. paprika
½ tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. grated garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1½-2 cups grated Oaxaca cheese (or pulled into strings)
Tortilla chips for serving
Preheat broiler to high. Using your hands, mix pork, vinegar, cinnamon, paprika, oregano, cumin, cayenne, garlic, and salt in medium bowl. Heat oil in 10-inch broiler-safe skillet over medium-high heat; add chorizo mixture and cook, stirring and breaking up the meat until no longer pink. Season to taste with salt. Remove from heat. Top with cheese.
Place under broiler until melted. Serve immediately with tortilla chips for scooping.
This “hangover helper” cheese dip is just what the doctor ordered!
Carnitas Torta
1 loaf rustic country bread or ciabatta
1½ cups refried beans
About 1½ kilos pork carnitas
1/3 cup salsa verde
12 oz. Oaxaca cheese, shredded or pulled into strings
1½ cups pickled red onions, drained well
2-3 jalapeño peppers, finely sliced
Use a bread knife to make a hollow “bread boat” by slicing off the top 1-1½ inches of the loaf. Then cut around perimeter of the interior of the bigger bottom piece without breaking through the bottom crust and use your fingers to pull out the excess bread from the inside.
Spread beans on bottom of the bread boat, followed by carnitas, salsa, cheese, onions and jalapeños. Close sandwich.
Wrap sandwich tightly in aluminum foil. Place between two stiff cutting boards, and then place a heavy weight on top (about 40 pounds). Press down firmly to flatten sandwich evenly; let rest under the weight for at least 4 hours.
When ready to eat, adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 375 F (177 C). Remove weights; slice sandwich through foil into four to six pieces with a bread knife. Unwrap and transfer to baking sheet, pressing the pieces back together to form a full sandwich shape. Bake in oven until hot and cheese has melted, about 15 minutes. Serve immediately.
Smoky Mushroom Quesadillas
2 Tbsp. olive oil
8 oz. portobello mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 green onions, chopped
½ tsp. coarse salt
½ tsp. smoked paprika
¼ tsp. black pepper
About 2 cups (8 oz.) shredded Oaxaca cheese
½ cup arugula
½ cup chopped cilantro
10 (6-inch) corn or flour tortillas
Salsa for serving
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add mushrooms. Cook 5 minutes, stirring. Add garlic and green onions; cook 3 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. Set aside. In a separate bowl, toss arugula and cilantro.
Wipe out skillet or use a comal; warm over medium heat. Heat a tortilla, flip and layer cheese, mushroom mixture, greens and cheese again on half of one side. Fold tortilla over so melting cheese seals it shut. When tortilla is golden brown on the bottom, flip and cook the other side for another 30 seconds. Repeat with remaining tortillas and ingredients.
Serve with salsa.
Beans and tomato combine with Oaxaca cheese to make a hearty, satisfying side dish.
About 1⅓ cups Oaxaca cheese, grated or pulled into strings
Heat oven to 475 F (245 C). In 10-inch ovenproof skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Quickly fry garlic until lightly golden, then stir in tomato paste (being careful of splattering). Stir and fry 30 seconds, reducing heat as needed to prevent garlic from burning. Stir in beans, water and generous pinches of salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese evenly over top. Bake until cheese has melted and browned in spots, 5–10 minutes. Serve with crusty bread for dipping.
Since coming to Mexico two decades ago, the writer has fallen for Mexico's often vibrant palette of colors. (Sarah DeVries)
“Wow, your house looks so… Mexican!”
This is the phrase my friends — Mexican and immigrant alike — often say when they come to my home for the first time. Always self-conscious about not wanting to copy someone else’s style, it makes me feel a bit sheepish.
Few people here recreate “Mexican décor” (well, a specific type of brightly colored folkloric Mexican décor) as enthusiastically as immigrants, after all! And in this particular case, I’ll always insist that imitation truly is the highest form of flattery. After all, there’s pretty much nothing not to love about this kind of “typical” décor.
Also present here is a marked taste for clean, smooth neutrals and concrete. It has its merits, but if you ask me, they’re missing out on some major opportunities for getting everyone really happy with a coat of carefully-chosen paint.
I know this is only my opinion, but nothing personally depresses me visually more than cinder block color everywhere you turn (I’ll concede, though, that it can look quite striking in what’s otherwise a sea of color).
The use of vibrant color has a long history in Mexico, and I think is one of the main features that makes Mexico so recognizable and distinct. Anyone who’s taken a tour of some of Mexico’s large archeological sites and museums has surely glimpsed traces of the original hues. If you’re lucky, there will be a display somewhere explaining what those colors were, how they actually looked and how they were made.
The Aztecs, for example, used a basic palette of five colors for their murals and sculptures — red, ocher, blue, black and white — and an expanded palette of mostly organic paints for their codices. The Maya are famous for their “Maya blue,” made with indigo, a color they considered sacred.
For their time — before the advent of modern chemistry, I mean — both cultures had quite a wide range of colors at their disposal. One of my favorite daydreams is to imagine what it might have been like to have walked the streets of those ancient cities, taking all those colors in.
Things have changed a lot since then, but the love for and acceptance of vibrant color in public spaces has not. During Mexico’s more recent mestizo history, plenty of new colors have come on the scene and gotten strong, beloved footholds in the Mexican aesthetic, giving way to what I call the “folkloric color palette”: exuberant, saturated hues that simply demand to be looked at.
As far as I’m concerned, color might as well be witchcraft.
That intense blue, for example: saturated, deep, and somehow also bright, commonly called azul rey, is one of my favorites. It’s about the color of a male peacock’s breast, and it just blows me away when I see it painted pretty much anywhere (which is a lot of places in Mexico; I believe I first really fell in love with it, though, on Frida Kahlo’s patio). I have a shirt that color, but I almost never wear it — the color is just too big for me.
I also use it quite sparingly for decorating my own home because it has a way of just 100% stealing my attention, holding me in rapture. I don’t paint it everywhere for the same reason humans don’t walk around naked, even when the weather permits: we’d be too distracted to get anything done.
Another gorgeous color that Mexico is well known for is rosa mexicana. Inspired by the vibrant bougainvillea plant, it was created and made famous by an artist and fashion designer from Veracruz by the name of Ramón Valdiosera. At a New York fashion show, a critic asked him about his unique shades of pink. He responded that they were already well-embedded in Mexican culture, and in its subsequent write-up, the critic described it as “Mexican pink.”
While I’m a big fan of this color, it’s another one that I use sparingly but admire when I see it in other places. I do love pink, though, and currently have a nice pink-orange salmon color in my bedroom. Mostly, I’ve surprised myself to discover, I tend to stick to three of the Aztec’s five basics for most spaces, with some dark teal thrown in generously to give it some extra heart and depth.
Nowadays, of course, I’ve got many more choices than Mexicans 600 years ago could have imagined being able to recreate. While the Mexican paint store Comex, I’ll admit, is not the supplier of my favorite brand here, I have one across the street, so I usually buy from them anyway.
I go there enough that the people who work there recognize me and ask about how previous colors have turned out. And they never, of course, raise their eyebrows when I ask for a gallon of something so eye-catching and saturated that it might cause jaw drops in someone who grew up in a sea of greige. This is Mexico, after all: the land of color.
So that’s what I’ve been doing in my free time for about the past eight months: spending all my money at Comex, and all my free time slapping that paint up on the walls. I have the Balanza color in my TV room, and Cobá in the long, wide hallway downstairs with some murals of dubious quality (it had been painted all white, and it gets no sunlight, giving it the creepy look of a 19th-century hospital passageway; but don’t worry, you guys: it’s fixed now!).
I also go to Comex — I promise they haven’t paid me to write this, though now I think maybe I should have looked into it! — because I love the way they actively help to keep Mexican communities colorful through their initiative Mexico Bien Hecho (“Mexico Done Right” would be my personal translation, though “Mexico Done Well” is the literal one) in which they donate paint for colorfully renovating places that need it.
My daughter sometimes likes to ask me “would you rather” questions in the style of this YouTube Kids video she watches sometimes. Her favorite one currently is this: “Would you rather be blind or deaf?” (I’ve been sternly corrected several times that “neither” is not actually one of the options).
I tell her that I’d rather be deaf — besides, I already kind of am with only one ear working — and that I would be heartbroken to miss out on all the color and beauty around me. At this point, she proceeds to tell me that my answer is wrong; how could I even consider living without music?
“I can sing songs to myself in my head,” is also not an acceptable answer. But that’s okay. She’s 9: opinionated and inflexible in the way that all 9-year-olds are. But on this front, I know myself well.
One of the greatest gifts that the world and especially Mexico has given me, is the chance to be 100% dazzled by the beautiful colors surrounding me on every side.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com
The president discussed safety in Mexico vs the U.S., political "literacy", fentanyl seizures and more at the week's press conferences. (Gob MX)
After spending the weekend on the Yucatán Peninsula to inspect progress on the construction of the Maya Train railroad project, President López Obrador returned to Mexico City to begin a new working week, which, as always, included another five-day run of 7 a.m. press conferences.
Baseball, traditional medicine, fentanyl seizures, the “rescue” of the oil industry and the political literacy of the Mexican people were just some of the topics discussed at this week’s mañaneras, as the early bird pressers are known.
Monday
At the top of his mañanera, AMLO noted that it was a good Sunday for director Guillermo del Toro, whose film Pinocchio won Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, and the Mexican baseball team, which defeated the United States in the World Baseball Classic.
“Our congratulations to this exceptional Mexican, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, he’s a source of pride for Mexico,” he said.
“… It’s also very good news that our baseball team won, they beat the United States, … it’s quite an event,” López Obrador said.
The president is an ardent baseball fan. (Gob MX)
During the customary Monday update on the Maya Train project, the head of the National Institute of Anthropology and History reported that the archaeological “prospecting work” along all seven sections of the railroad had been completed.
“We have now covered … more than 1,600 kilometers along the rights of way,” Diego Prieto said, adding that the work carried out constituted “the largest archaeological investigation” ever carried out in the Maya region.
Over 46,000 “immovable assets” including pre-Hispanic roads, temples and residential structures were examined and some 832,000 ceramic fragments were collected, he said.
After offering a more detailed analysis of Sunday’s match during which he asserted that success in baseball, like “good politics, needs “the three Cs – cabeza, corazón y carácter” (head, heart and character), AMLO opened the floor to questions.
“Lawyers use these legal tactics to buy time, they’re delaying tactics – they’re legitimate because that’s what lawyers do, that’s their job,” he said. “But of course it’s Ovidio,” AMLO added.
In response to a subsequent question about whether it is safe for United States citizens and Mexican migrants in that country to travel to Mexico, López Obrador gave an emphatic answer.
“Mexico is safer than the United States,” he said. “There is no problem with traveling around Mexico safely. United States citizens know that and of course our compatriots [in the U.S.] know that. They’re well informed.”
After once again acknowledging – and condemning – calls from Republican Party lawmakers for the U.S. military to be used to combat Mexican drug cartels, AMLO noted that he had received a letter from President Joe Biden reaffirming his “respect toward the people of Mexico” and “our sovereignty.”
“… The relationship in general [with the United States] is good but all of a sudden things come up and we have [to work] to maintain our relationship. Cooperation with the United States is very important, but without subordination,” he said.
Tuesday
During the fortnightly health update, the director of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), a major public health care provider, announced that retired IMSS doctors will have the opportunity to return to work while maintaining their retirement benefits.
The government, Zoé Robledo explained, will next week launch a recruitment process to hire such doctors for the IMSS-Bienestar universal health care scheme.
“We’re sure that a lot will put their knowledge and all their experience from an entire professional career at the service of IMSS-Bienestar hospitals, where we need it most,” he said.
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer relieved his colleague and proceeded to wax lyrical about traditional medicine.
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer at the Tuesday morning press conference. (Gob MX)
“I would like to remind all of you that thanks to traditional medicine humanity has managed to survive and fight against what has always threatened the physical, emotional and spiritual integrity of human beings: sickness and death,” he said.
“… Why am I reporting this. Well, the government of Mexico through the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples (INPI) is carrying out a series of actions aimed at the promotion of community health and traditional medicine in indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities,” Alcocer said.
The legislation that allowed the creation of INPI “recognizes and includes traditional medicine in the public health system,” he added.
Retaking his place at the mañanera lectern, Robledo reported that 753 médicos tradicionales who “base their practice on ancestral knowledge” are employed in the IMSS-Bienestar system.
“They’re part of the local and community health systems and they direct patients to health units when they identify an ailment,” he said.
With his supporting cast having concluded their contributions, Mexico’s preeminent political protagonist resumed his place at center stage and put himself at the disposal of the patient press corps.
One reporter broached the subject of polarization in Mexico and wondered whether it was time for a presidential call for unity.
“We have an alliance with the people, we have no problem, no differences with the people,” AMLO responded.
“There is a sector [of society], an elite that defends the old regime of corruption, of injustices, of privileges. They’re the ones who aren’t happy, but this is normal. Why would we want everyone to think the same way? That’s not democracy,” he said.
President Benito Juárez (1858-72), whose reforms were part of what AMLO considers the second “transformation” of Mexico and whose birthday (Mar. 21) is commemorated as a public holiday. (INAH)
In a typically long response, López Obrador gave an overview of the three transformations of Mexican society – independence from Spain, 19th-century liberal reforms and the Mexican revolution – and declared that it was “natural” that there is resistance to his government’s “peaceful … fourth transformation.”
The president, a self-styled champion of the poor who has made welfare distribution a central tenet of his governance, also compared his administration to its “corrupt” predecessors.
“What assistance reached the people? None – only when there were elections; they handed out bits and pieces, gifts, groceries, construction materials, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, pigs … beans with weevils [in them] and cash to buy votes, to get into positions [of power] and keep stealing,” he said.
“If there was persecution, we would have already filed a [criminal] complaint against the ex-president,” he said, adding that the government hasn’t done so because the turnout for a 2021 referendum that asked citizens whether past presidents should be investigated for crimes they might have committed in office was below the threshold required for the vote to be binding.
Wednesday
Baseball was once again at the front and center of the president’s mind because Mexico defeated Great Britain the previous night in its third match of the World Baseball Classic.
“I stayed up late because what do you know? Mexico won again, 2-1 against England. … Congratulations to all the members of the Mexican team,” he said.
AMLO later directed his attention to the government’s efforts to confiscate drugs, especially fentanyl.
AMLO discussing fentanyl seizures at the Wednesday press conference. (Cuartoscuro)
“When we took office … the Communications Ministry was in charge of ports but to establish order, to avoid the entry of contraband, of drugs, it was decided that the Ministry of the Navy would manage ports because there were ports like Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas that were were practically taken over by crime,” he said.
“… The decision was a good one because we’ve been able to seize a lot of drugs at ports,” López Obrador said before pointing out, once again, that six tonnes of fentanyl have been confiscated in Mexico since he became president.
He then claimed that Mexico is doing more than the United States to get illicit fentanyl off the streets.
“This drug is distributed there but nothing is known about seizures and arrests of those who dedicate themselves to its distribution,” AMLO said, overlooking frequent announcements of confiscations by U.S. authorities at the border.
Turning to another issue that affects both Mexico and the United States – gun violence – López Obrador acknowledged that President Biden had signed an executive order that aims to reduce the scourge via a range of measures including by increasing the number of background checks completed before a firearm can be sold.
“President Biden yesterday issued a resolution, a decree, for improved control in the sale of weapons, something that I’m happy about. It’s a good thing that he carried out this action,” he said.
“Where do the weapons that the drug traffickers in Mexico use come from? From the United States and they’re bought there without any control, it’s a big business,” López Obrador said.
“… Eighty per cent of the weapons that criminal organizations use here – the high-powered ones – come from the United States and there’s no control. You can buy a machine gun in a supermarket, in a gun store,” said AMLO, who governs a country where firearms can only be legally bought in a single army-run gun store located in Mexico City.
Near the end of his presser, the president pounced on an opportunity to sing the praises of the Maya Train railroad, which is slated to begin operations in December.
“I guarantee that it’s the most important project [currently] being built in the world. There’s no project like this in the world because it’s 1,554 kilometers long; it’s like Cancún to Mexico City in a straight line,” he said.
The Maya Train speeds through the jungle, in an illustrative rendering by federal authorities. (Fonatur)
“… This is the future of the southeast, it’s what will give residents of five states their income in the future, the new generations, because 30 million tourists are arriving [in Mexico annually] and with the the train … they’ll go inland [from destinations such as Cancún],” López Obrador said, referring to a part of the country where there are numerous archaeological sites
“If we get 10% of those 30 million to use the train we’ll give it life,” he added.
Thursday
“We want to report on the progress made in the rescue of the oil industry, it’s very important,” López Obrador announced at the beginning of his presser.
“It was in clear decline because [past governments] wanted to destroy it. …. They left the six [Pemex] refineries … in a deplorable situation. … And in oil production, the same thing,” he said.
Energy Minister Rocío Nahle reported that the government has invested just under 62.9 billion pesos (US $3.36 billion) to carry out major and minor repair projects at the refineries in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas; Cadereyta, Nuevo León; Salamanca, Guanajuato; Tula, Hidalgo; Minatitlán, Veraruz; and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca.
“This is a historic figure to rehabilitate Mexico’s refineries and put them in optimal conditions once again,” she said.
With regard to refinery output, Pemex CEO Octavio Romero said that the state oil company’s goal is to get to 2 million barrels of fuel per day by the end of 2023, when the new refinery on the Tabasco coast should be operational.
Pemex CEO Octavio Romero discussing refining capacity at Thursday press conference. (Gob MX)
“That’s the goal the president has indicated we must get to,” Romero said after noting that production has gradually increased since the current government took office in late 2018.
“With these two million [barrels per day] we’ll practically be guaranteeing self-sufficiency [for fuel] in our country,” he said.
The government’s “self-sufficiency” policy, López Obrador said when he returned to center stage, “has helped us avoid fuel price increases.”
AMLO reminded reporters that when he was campaigning to become president he committed to increasing fuel production in Mexico and keeping prices down.
“We said, ‘we going to stop buying fuel abroad’ because among other things it’s absurd that we sell the raw material [crude oil] and buy gasoline. … It’s like selling oranges and buying orange juice – that’s what the neoliberal policy was,” he said.
The president’s first question of the day came from a young man in a wheelchair.
“My name is Daniel Robles Haro and what you’re hearing is a synthesized voice that helps me express my ideas. My disability is known as severe cerebral palsy,” he said before asking AMLO whether he knew anything about communication boards, visual resources that can help nonverbal people communicate.
Robles pressed for the inclusion of communication boards in school textbooks and advocated making public places, and especially public bathrooms, more accessible for people with disabilities.
“With regard to the special books, we’re going to ask the Education Minister Leticia Ramírez to provide an answer today. And with regard to the special bathrooms, … it would be very good to start here in Mexico City and we’re going to ask the mayor to speak with you,” López Obrador said.
“… It’s important that it’s known that we’re attending to people with disabilities in a way that has never been done before. In this country all girls and boys with disabilities have a scholarship, all of them, … more than a million girls and boys,” AMLO said, adding that disabled adults up to the age of 29 also qualify.
“… And now we’re reaching agreements with state governments so that disabled adults aged 30 to 65 also receive a pension,” he said.
In a press conference that lasted over three hours, López Obrador also touted the health of the Mexican economy, asserting that the country no longer gets “pneumonia” when the United States catches a cold.
In addition, he noted that he would meet virtually with 11 leaders of Latin American and Caribbean countries in early April to discuss ways to combat inflation and announced that the federal government would “rehabilitate” Mérida’s baseball stadium, Parque Kukulcan Alamo, which he diagnosed as being in poor health.
Friday
After speaking at the Association of Mexican Banks’ Banking Convention in Mérida, Yucatán, on Thursday, López Obrador held his last press conference of the week in Tabasco, the state where he was born in 1953.
The president with Yucatán governor Mauricio Vila at the Mexican banks’ banking convention on Thursday. (Gob MX)
“We’re here in Tabasco, in our land, our water, here beneath a ceiba, in front of this sacred tree for the Mayans, which represented the fertility of the soil and support for the sky. We are very happy to be in Tabasco,” he told reporters in the state capital of Villahermosa.
Governor Carlos Merino Campos subsequently welcomed the president back to his home state and noted that he would accompany him to the new Olmeca Refinery on the Tabasco coast later in the day.
“It will produce at its full capacity this year, first 170,000 barrels [per day] and later at the maximum capacity of 340,000 barrels,” said Merino, who became governor in 2021 when Adán Augusto López accepted the powerful interior minister role in the federal government.
Continuing the focus on Tabasco, National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval provided a report on crime in the Gulf coast state, noting that it ranks 22nd for homicides among the 32 federal entities for the period since the current government took office in December 2018.
There were 1,816 homicides in Tabasco between that month and January 2023, he said, noting that the average across all 32 entities in the same period was 3,673, or 102% higher.
“In homicides per 100,000 residents, Tabasco occupies 15th place … with 76, the national average being 102,” Sandoval added.
Citing United Nations recommendations, the army chief also reported that Tabasco has a “surplus” of security force members.
Counting the deployment of members of the military and National Guard as well as Tabasco police officers, there are 13,755 “operational elements” carrying out public security tasks in the state, Sandoval said.
Back in front of reporters, AMLO offered a lesson on government austerity when he was asked about a large payout outgoing National Electoral Institute chief Lorenzo Córdova is set to get.
“Austerity is not an administrative matter, it’s a matter of principles. A person who earns 300, 400 or 600 thousand pesos a month in a country with so much poverty is … immoral, a dehumanized person. … Obtaining profits and accumulating money is legal and legitimate, but not in the public service,” he said.
“[Public service] is to attend to others, support others, serve others. It’s to serve, not serve oneself,” López Obrador said.
The president said that the government attempted to reduce the “extremely high” salaries and “onerous” benefits of high-ranking officials “but in the judicial power and the supposedly autonomous bodies they maintained these elevated salaries and benefits” because they obtained injunctions against the cuts.
The president’s last press conference of the week was held in Tabasco, his home state. (Gob MX)
Returning his focus to Tabasco and Mexico’s southeast more broadly, the Gulf state’s most famous son said that the government – despite pouring money into rehabilitating, buying and building refineries – was planning for a post-oil future.
“We’re thinking about the substitution of economic activities, … moving from the extraction of oil to activities like ecological and cultural tourism. There are countries in Europe that live from tourism,” López Obrador said after once again touting the benefits the Maya Train project will bring to Chiapas, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Tabasco.
“We have something exceptional – nature,” the president continued. “The creator, just as he gave us oil, also gave us water.”
In his final remarks of the mañanera, AMLO took the opportunity to praise the people of Mexico – among whom he retains majority support, according to a recent poll – for their political acumen.
“The people aren’t stupid. With all respect, he who thinks the people are stupid is stupid. … There is no longer political illiteracy in Mexico, we have one of the most [politically] aware populations in the world,” he said.
“If you ask me what is the biggest achievement in recent times I would respond the change of mentality, the revolution of consciences, the politicization of the people,” AMLO said before bidding his fellow tabasqueños adiós.
The U.S. company Rapiscan already supplies U.S. customs officials with tech that takes x-ray images of the inside of vehicles. This image shows a truck smuggling bottles of liquor into the U.S. (Rapiscan)
The Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) has awarded a US $612 million customs equipment contract to United States company Rapiscan Systems, the Reforma newspaper reported Friday.
The California-based company beat out a consortium led by Chinese firm Nuctech even though it submitted a higher bid.
The machines would be installed at Mexico’s 19 northern border stations, designated here by the orange circles as well as a few at Mexico’s southern border. (Google)
Rapiscan and Nuctech were the only companies that met all the requirements outlined by Sedena, which held a public tender to find a contractor to supply inspection machines at 21 border customs stations, 19 of which are in the north and 2 of which are in the south.
Rapiscan will provide and install 54 screening systems for the nonintrusive inspection of loaded cargo vehicles, 70 systems to inspect light vehicles, 18 systems to inspect empty cargo vehicles and four systems to inspect passenger buses.
Reforma described Sedena’s purchase as the most significant acquisition in the recent history of Mexico’s customs system.
The screening equipment on the Mexican side of the northern border has to be interoperable with equipment used by United States Custom and Border Protection.
An example of the “portals” Mexico will be buying. Different portals allow for nonintrusive scanning of vehicles of all sizes, with or without cargo. (Rapiscan)
Sedena took full control of Mexico’s customs procedures in May of last year, and has since started updating its inspection systems. Sedena emphasized that the new scanning systems will strengthen its ability to detect contraband, including drugs and weapons.
Mexico is especially interested in stemming the southward flow of firearms, many of which end up in the hands of powerful – and violent – criminal organizations.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said late last year that Mexico was in the grip of a “firearms pandemic” and urged the U.S. to do more to stop weapons being smuggled across its southern border.
The United States is particular concerned about the entry of illicit fentanyl, which causes tens of thousands of overdose deaths per year in that country.
The site’s most important building, The Castle, measures around 17 meters tall. Two offerings with a large number of ornamental items were found here. (Photos by Thilini Wijesinhe)
Looking for a unique outing around Tulum? Visit the Muyil ruins, where you can also float along a nearby ancient canal with breathtaking surroundings.
Located around 25 kilometers from Tulum, Muyil is an ancient Maya city located in the Sian Ka’an biosphere reserve — a UNESCO heritage site. It has fewer visitors than the more famous archaeological sites in the Yucatán peninsula. We visited the site from Valladolid, less than two hours away.
Muyil is located inside the gorgeous Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, a protected area that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. (Government of Mexico)
The city’s original name is not known. It has been called Muyil and Chunyaxché since the colonial era, which are the names of two lagoons in the area. Muyil means “place of the rabbit,” and Chunyaxché means “ceiba log” in Mayan. Ceiba, also popularly known as the “tree of life,” was a sacred tree in ancient Maya culture. The biosphere reserve’s name, Sian Ka’an, means “entrance to the sky.”
Muyil is considered the most important among over 20 settlements within the biosphere reserve. Its history dates back over two millennia. According to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the settlement was a small village around 300 B.C. and became an important city by about A.D. 250.
The city was involved in trade and also had connections with Maya cities like Cobá, Chichén Itzá, and Mayapán. Although Muyil was occupied when the Spanish arrived, its population declined quickly in the early 16th century. INAH found no evidence of the site’s occupation from the beginning of the Spanish conquest to the mid-19th century, when Maya rebels occupied the area from 1847 to the early 20th century during Yucatán’s Caste War.
The site has two sections, Muyil A and Muyil B, although only the former is open to visitors. There are fewer excavated buildings here than at many famous sites, so you can see them in a couple of hours. During our visit, most structures were cordoned off to visitors.
The Entrance Plaza has several pyramidal structures with temples on them. (Thilini Wijesinhe)
Once you enter the site, you’ll walk into the Entrance Plaza (a.k.a the Entrance Group), with a group of buildings, including several pyramidal structures with temples on them. This plaza shows some of the site’s oldest civic and religious architecture. Civic events and cult-based ceremonies are thought to have taken place here.
An interesting building in this section is a temple with traces of mural paintings. The plaza also has platforms that once had residences built with perishable materials.
Next, you can walk up to the site’s most important structure, the Castle, measuring around 17 meters tall with a beautiful crowning temple. Make time to check out the features of this impressive building from different sides. Two offerings with a large number of ornamental items, including those with jade and shells, were found on an altar here.
Archaeologists have also identified two building phases within this structure, as well as elements representing the architectural style of Petén, a region in Guatemala. It will remind you of the structures in Tikal (Guatemala), if you have visited them.
The circular tower-like structure on top is a unique architectural element. The flat stones on its exterior are believed to represent the protruding thorns of a ceiba tree.
Visitors can take a walk in nature and enjoy magnificent views from a wooden watchtower. (Thilini Wijesinhe)
Another notable building is the Pink Palace (or Temple 8). It is part of a complex of buildings, including temples, altars, and an oratory, separated by a low wall.
Archaeologists have identified two building phases here. It has remains of stucco and traces of paint. The Pink Palace is considered the center of the site’s community life.
After seeing the buildings, take the path through some beautiful jungle to a wooden watchtower. Along the way, there are signs highlighting interesting spots. The watchtower offers magnificent views across the greenery and lagoons. On a sunny day, you can see the beautiful blue shades of the water.
Muyil’s Temple 8, known as the Pink Palace, is considered to have been the city’s center of civic and religious life. (Thilini Wijesinhe)
The climb is steep, so take good care. It may not suit all visitors.
If you’re up for some light adventure, you can take a boat from the nearby lagoon to enjoy the river float, in which you float along an ancient canal for around 30–45 minutes. The boat will take you to a spot near another ancient structure by the canals called Xlapak. You can check this out before getting into the clear and refreshing water.
The canals flow through mangroves and breathtaking scenery. The best part is that the current gently pushes you along, so you can relax amid the tranquil surroundings. Your boat captain will show you how to wear a life jacket in a unique way to get a somewhat seated position in the water.
You can float along an ancient Maya canal with breathtaking scenery. The current gently pushes you along. (Thilini Wijesinhe)
We did the river float first and visited the ruins after since fewer visitors wait for boats early in the morning. You can also book a tour in advance.
If you have extra time after your trip to Muyil, visit the Tulum ruins, less than 45 minutes away.
Thilini Wijesinhe, a financial professional turned writer and entrepreneur, moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia. She writes from Mérida, Yucatán. Her website can be found athttps://momentsing.com/
Gray whale populations in El Vizcaíno whale sanctuary have grown by more than 20% in the past year. (Daniela Martínez Pérez Vargas)
Gray whale numbers have risen dramatically in Baja California Sur, say Mexican conservation agencies.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp) revealed that a recent census of the whales — taken from December 2022 to mid-February 2023 — has revealed a total of 1,364 in the El Vizcaíno Biosphere, located in Mulegé, Baja California Sur.
Whale watching has become a major draw for Baja California Sur in recent years. (Daniela Martínez Pérez Vargas)
Overall, numbers increased by 238 from the 2021-2022 census — a rise of more than 20%.
In the Ojo de Liebre Lagoon, 1,246 whales were counted, with another 118 spotted in San Ignacio. Of the whales counted, 491 were newborn calves, providing researchers with hope for the future.
Authorities believe that this increase in whale numbers is the result of 68 years of strong protections from commercial fishing. These protections have helped to remove gray whales from the endangered list.
El Vizcaíno, which was declared a national reserve in 1988, is a major breeding ground for many of the world’s gray whales and has become a hotspot for ecotourism in Mexico, especially around breeding season. The 36,000 hectares form one of the most important whale habitats in the world.
Gray whales will swim to El Vizcaíno from Alaska to take advantage of the shallow waters and plentiful food available during the early months of the year.
The gray whale is currently listed as needing “special protection” by the Mexican government.
La Toma Valley, located within the municipality of Tequila, Jalisco.
There are two things you may not know about the Municipality of Tequila.
First, it is home to a great volcano, nearly 3,000 meters high, the most important landmark in the vicinity of Guadalajara.
Tequila Volcano, which last erupted 200,000 years ago, produced vast amounts of obsidian, which greatly affected the development of central Jalisco.
Secondly, the very same municipality also encompasses a canyon 570 meters deep called La Toma Valley, featuring tropical foliage and picturesque waterfalls.
Tequila Volcano and La Toma Canyon are only 14 kilometers apart, with the town of Tequila in between. From the bottom of the canyon to the peak of the volcano is a vertical distance of over 2,000 meters.
The highest point in Tequila is the tip of La Tetilla (The Nipple), a needle-like spine, or volcanic plug, that rises from the volcano’s crater. Here, at 2,920 meters (9580 feet) above sea level, you need to bring along a jacket, even on the hottest day of the summer. Believe it or not, it’s actually too high for pines and most other trees. So what you find at the very peak could be called “accidental bonsais:” stunted trees that can only grow as high as a bush.
This is the situation at the spine, which rises 50 meters above the crater rim. People with rock-climbing skills can reach the top of this plug and will be treated to a curious view. At first sight, it appears that this volcano is almost entirely surrounded by lakes, but a closer look with binoculars proves that the lakes are actually great fields of Weber azul, the blue agave, from which Tequila’s most famous export is distilled.
The plug of Tequila Volcano rises from the crater to a height of 2,920 meters. (Sergio Vidal)
Although vegetation is sparse on La Tetilla, conditions are quite different inside the crater around it. Unlike many volcanic craters whose ashy slopes are barren of life, the interior of Tequila’s is what I would call glamorous: filled with beautiful pines and oaks and carpeted by high bunchgrass, which gently waves in the breeze, just as beautiful in the dry season as in the rains.
In fact, a walk along the 700-meter-long path crossing the crater is among the most picturesque of some one hundred hikes I’ve described in Western Mexico over the past 40 years. Here you may spot a small white Govenia orchid that grows not in tree branches but on the ground, often right next to the path.
Or you may come upon a delicate mountain violet or butterwort, a carnivorous plant which traps tiny insects on its sticky broad leaves that lie flat on the ground around the stem.
On the trail through the crater of Tequila Volcano.
You can easily reach the top of the volcano from the town of Tequila — if you have a high-clearance vehicle — thanks to a 16 kilometer cobblestone road which winds its way up to the microwave antennas perched on the crater rim. When you reach a locked gate near the top, you must park and here is where your hike begins.
First, you walk up the cobblestone road for 1.6 kilometers to the trail head of the path through the crater. On the way, you’ll pass a perennial spring of delicious cold water. If it’s the rainy season, you may be enveloped in clouds of fog that whisk across the mountain, one after the other. For more info and directions, see Beat the heat in crater of the Tequila Volcano.
The volcano lies on the south side of Tequila, while at the northern edge of the city you find a steep cliff with a Machu-Picchu style trail winding its way down the canyon to three incredible cascades known as Los Azules.
You can swim in clean, cool water at the bottom of fall number two of Los Azules, just a 30-minute walk from Tequila.
These waterfalls measure 60, 40 and 70 meters, and at the bottom of the second and third drop, there are spectacular pools that you’d only expect to see in a tropical paradise or in a Hollywood movie. The water is neither hot nor cold but just the right temperature for bathing, and because it comes from natural springs — not runoff — it is perfectly clean and unpolluted.
The trail leading down to the second pool, which is the most picturesque, is steep and rough, but if you are in good shape, it’s well worth the effort. The easiest way to reach the pool without getting lost is with the help of a local person. Just tell anyone in Tequila that you want to go to Los Azules, and you will very quickly have your pick of guides. Do this on a weekday, and you will probably have the whole place to yourself — and the friendly blue and red dragonflies that will no doubt come to see who is visiting their paradise today.
Only 1.2 kilometers from Los Azules, there is another wonderful waterfall known as La Toma, which has been turned into a balneario, (water park) offering a magnificent view of the spectacular valley, the upper half nearly covered with tequila agaves and the deeper parts filled with lush tropical vegetation.
The balneario is only a 12-minute drive from Tequila, and you can easily find your way there by asking Google Maps to take you to La Toma, Tequila, Jalisco.
Would you like to get closer to that lush, tropical vegetation? Just drive 1.2 kilometers below Balneario La Toma to the shrine of Santo Toribio, patron saint of migrants, who was shot to death in this valley in 1928 during the Cristero War.
Look for this orchid, the Tequila govenia, growing on the ground alongside the trail through the crater of Tequila Volcano.
Here you’ll find what’s left of Toribio’s secret hideout next to a large, elegant church built in his honor, surrounded by palm trees and exuberant foliage. Here the moisture-laden air is thick with butterflies and the piercing calls of exotic birds.
The locals grow mangoes, papayas and chirimoyas (custard apples), as well as curious, untranslatable fruits like mameyes and bomb-shaped bonetes.
While wiping the sweat from your brow, you may want to cast your eyes southward, where you just might spot the cold, barren, wind-swept peak of Tequila Volcano, 13 kilometers away.
Google Maps says you could drive there from the church of Santo Toribio in a mere 80 minutes — and along the way experience the unique biodiversity bonanza of ever-amazing Tequila, Jalisco.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on hisblog.
The proposal to prohibit fentanyl - which is widely used in medical pain management - comes as Mexico is under pressure to control the flow of illegal narcotics into the U.S. (Hameln)
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has proposed the possibility of banning the medicinal use of fentanyl, saying he will ask Mexican doctors and scientists to analyze whether other strong pain relievers could be used in its place.
López Obrador had much to say this week about the powerful synthetic opioid blamed for fueling a surge of drug overdose deaths in the United States and creating tensions between Mexico and its northern neighbor.
The Mexican military has seized fentanyl pills disguised as other forms of medication. (SEDENA/Cuartoscuro)
At his Wednesday morning press conference, the president stated that if his administration manages to ban fentanyl in medical settings, he will request that the U.S. do the same.
He also assured that his administration is currently doing more work against fentanyl than the United States, where he alleged the drug is distributed with impunity and there are no known seizures or arrests of those responsible.
Yet, he added, U.S. legislators and authorities find it easy to unjustifiably blame Mexico.
López Obrador also argued that young people in the U.S. resort to drugs because of the disintegration of families and moral values — and that the U.S. should address young people’s feelings of unhappiness, abandonment and dissatisfaction like Mexico does.
In his Thursday morning press conference, he pushed back against U.S. criticism of his record of cracking down on fentanyl trafficking by saying Mexico is not responsible for most of the fentanyl that enters the U.S.
Last month Anne Milgram, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) told a congressional hearing on drug trafficking that Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and rival Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) were responsible for the “vast majority of fentanyl that is coming into the United States.”
“I maintain that more fentanyl reaches the United States and Canada directly than reaches Mexico,” countered López Obrador.
The entry of fentanyl into the U.S. from Mexico has become a thorny diplomatic issue in recent weeks. (CBP/Flickr)
The 69-year-old president, whose term is set to end Sept. 30, 2024, said Mexican officials had explained to him that only blue fentanyl pills turned up in Mexico.
“Over in the United States, they’ve got all colors and flavors,” he said.
U.S. authorities have reported that illegal fentanyl is produced in secret Mexican labs using Chinese precursor chemicals and that most of it is pressed into counterfeit pills made to look like medications such as Xanax, oxycodone or Percocet.
Some Republican lawmakers want the U.S. to designate Mexican drug gangs as terrorist organizations and to use the U.S. military to fight them. López Obrador has vigorously rejected such suggestions, arguing that his government has seized more illegal fentanyl than “ever before.”
“We are not going to be their servants,” he said of the U.S. and its calls to crack down on the cartels. “We were elected by the people of Mexico to protect Mexicans.”
He said the DEA “has proved it can’t handle” the problem.
Total narcotics seized in Fiscal Year (FY) 2023, which includes 12,494 pounds of fentanyl. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said those in the U.S. calling for tougher measures were “ungrateful” for Mexico’s efforts. He and López Obrador said Mexican diplomats north of the border would begin a public education campaign in the U.S. to highlight Mexico’s interdiction efforts.
However, there have been only scattered and isolated reports of medicinal fentanyl making it onto the illegal market.
López Obrador said other analgesics besides fentanyl were the norm in medicine before and could be used again if considered effective.
If doctors and scientists see his proposal as viable, he will commit to combating all the illegal entry of fentanyl into Mexico, he added.
A day after the proposed ban, one prominent Mexican doctor dismissed it as impractical because there are certain patients who respond favorably only to fentanyl.
“There are patients who can only be controlled with this medication and, in fact, fentanyl is very commonly used within the field of anesthesia and intensive care,” said Dr Luz Adriana Templos Esteban, head of the Palliative Care and Clinic Division of the Pain at the Gea González Hospital of the Ministry of Health.
Templos said the recreational use of fentanyl — when dosage is not carefully controlled — is very dangerous and addictive, but is non-fatal in medical use. Rather, “it helps patients [with] their surgeries” and helps “to treat severe pain,” she said.
She also noted that if authorities want to approve replacing fentanyl with morphine, oxymorphone, oxycodone or hydromorphone, they should address the shortages of these types of medications that exist globally.
As deputy minister of human rights, population and migration for the Interior Ministry, Alejandro Encinas is Mexico's top human rights official. (Presidencia)
Five young men allegedly killed by soldiers in Tamaulipas last month were unarmed and weren’t involved in a confrontation with the army, Deputy Interior Minister Alejandro Encinas said Wednesday.
The men, one of whom was reportedly a United States citizen, were killed when their vehicle came under fire in the border city of Nuevo Laredo in the early hours of Feb. 26. A sixth man was wounded.
Four soldiers were detained and ordered to stand trial in connection with the killings.
Encinas, Deputy Interior Minister for Human Rights, Population and Migration, said the slain men were victims of murder.
“We have to wait for the investigation the National Human Rights Commission was asked to do, … [but] it wasn’t a confrontation with the young men. Regardless of who they were, they were executed,” he told reporters Wednesday after an appearance in the lower house of Congress.
“We’ll wait for the conclusion of the investigation to see what happened; clearly there is evidence to prove that the young men weren’t armed and there wasn’t a confrontation,” Encinas added.
After the shooting, Nuevo Laredo residents confronted the soldiers involved. (Comité de Derechos Humanos Nuevo Laredo)
His assertions contradict the version of events offered by the army shortly after the incident occurred. The Ministry of National Defense said the soldiers fired their weapons after they heard gunshots and saw a pick up truck without license plates and with its lights off traveling at high speed.
The men who were killed, reported to be returning home from a night on the town when they came under attack, have been identified as Gustavo Pérez Beriles, Wilberto Mata Estrada, Jonathan Aguilar Sánchez, Alejandro Trujillo Rocha and Gustavo Ángel Suárez Castillo.
Numerous media reports have identified Suárez, who lived in San Antonio, Texas, as a U.S. citizen.
A seventh man who was inexplicably unharmed said that the soldiers fired at his friends at point-blank range after their pickup truck was rammed by an army vehicle.
“I got on my knees telling them we weren’t criminals, but they ignored what I told them,” said Alejandro Pérez, brother of one of victims.
Encinas acknowledged that soldiers “all have rights” but added that those who commit crimes must face consequences. He said that the superiors of the troops involved in the Feb. 26 incident should also be investigated to establish their role in the incident.
Nuevo Laredo residents, including relatives of the victims, journalists and human rights defenders, confronted soldiers hours after the incident to denounce their abuse of authority.
Scuffles ensued and soldiers fired their weapons into the air in an attempt to repel the citizens.
Protesters gathered in Mexico City on Sunday to show support for the soldiers accused of murder. (Andrea Murcia / Cuartoscuro.com)
Days after the killings, President López Obrador said the young men were “presumed sicarios,” or cartel hit men, an assertion that appears to have been debunked given the apparent evidence they were unarmed. Despite that claim, the president made it clear that he didn’t approve of “the execution of anyone.”
López Obrador has sought to differentiate his government from its predecessors, making repeated assertions that the military no longer commits human rights abuses such as torture and extrajudicial killings. However, human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have challenged his claims.
López Obrador on Wednesday stressed that the detained soldiers would be treated fairly.
“We always act in accordance with the law and justice. Have confidence that if your relatives are innocent and didn’t commit any crime, they will be attended to, listened to and released if they are in jail. We don’t fabricate crimes,” he said in a message directed to the soldiers’ families.
Eni is one of the 7 largest oil companies in the world, known as "supermajors". (Cipiota/Wikimedia)
Italian energy company Eni has announced the discovery of an oil field off the coast of southeastern Mexico that could contain 200 million barrels of crude.
The oil “supermajor” said Friday that the new discovery was in a mid-deep water section of the Cuenca Salina in the Sureste Basin, located in the Gulf of Mexico.
Eni announced the new find on Friday morning. (Eni.com)
“According to preliminary estimates, the new finding may contain around 200 million barrels of oil in place,” Eni said in a statement.
The Italian multinational has a 45% stake in the exploration block where the field is located, while British firm Capricorn Energy has a 30% share. Mexico’s Citla Energy has the remaining 25% stake.
Eni said the new discovery is located approximately 65 kilometers off the coast and 25 to 30 km from other fields it has found.
The company has been present in Mexico since 2006 and established its wholly-owned subsidiary Eni México in 2015.
“Currently Eni holds rights in eight exploration and production blocks (six as the operator), all located in the Sureste Basin in the Gulf of Mexico” it said.
After ending a 75-year state monopoly in the energy sector, the previous federal government held a series of oil and gas auctions at which foreign and private companies bought exploration and exploitation rights.
No auctions have been held since President López Obrador – a fierce critic of the 2014 energy reform – took office in late 2018. On Thursday he said that 110 contracts were issued to foreign and Mexican companies, but oil production hasn’t met expectations.
“They calculated that we were going to have extraction of about 3 million barrels per day … [but] their production doesn’t exceed 50,000 barrels,” López Obrador said.
On Saturday, the President will lead an event in Mexico City’s central square to commemorate the 85th anniversary of the nationalization of Mexico’s oil industry.
His government has sought to reassert Mexico’s energy sovereignty by implementing policies that favor the state-owned oil company Pemex and the Federal Electricity Commission over foreign and private firms.
