Tata's offices in Chennai. The multinational is the latest foreign company to invest heavily in Nuevo León in 2023. (Naveen Komar Kotta/Wikimedia Commons)
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Governor of Nuevo León Samuel García unveiled the new offices of the outsourcing company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Monterrey on Wednesday.
The unveiling was timed to coincide with the company’s 20th anniversary in Mexico.
Tata Consulting Services, part of the huge Indian Tata conglomerate, hopes to eventually employ up to 3,500 in various roles across Mexico. (Samuel García/Twitter)
The consulting arm of the Indian conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai, is one of the largest multinational IT service consulting companies in the world. It operates 16 offices across Latin America, including in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Perú, Uruguay. In Mexico, the firm has offices in Guadalajara, Querétaro and Mexico City.
From Mexico, TCS serves more than 260 local and international clients from multiple industries, offering solutions for IT and cloud computing operations. TCS also provides services for the Internet of Things (IoT), the network that links low-level smart devices such as thermostats, ovens and refrigerators.
Tata’s head of Latin America’s Nearshore Business Unit, Rajeev Gupta, said that the new business center has employed 700 people in the northern state. It hopes to raise that number to 1,000 before the end of the year. Gupta added that TCS expects to add 2,500 jobs throughout the country as operations expand.
“Nuevo León is eager for these jobs,” García said during his inauguration speech, “high-impact jobs and skilled labor jobs.”
Foreign Affairs Ministry Marcelo Ebrard, left, shakes hands in New Delhi with India’s Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh earlier this year. The two men signed an agreement for their two countries to collaborate on tech development projects ranging from areas such as electromobility to low-cost vaccine development. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)
García touted TCS as “the type of [company] that make the perfect ally for Nuevo León, as they promote entrepreneurship and new technologies, transforming families and improving their quality of life.”
CEO of TCS Latin America Marcelo Wurmann added that Monterrey is “key” to the company’s expansion in the country.
“Nuevo Leon is undoubtedly the industrial heart of Mexico, and Monterrey is key for our expansion strategy throughout the country.,” he said.
Mayor of Monterrey Luis Donaldo Colosio, who also attended the inaugural event, said that TCS’s latest investment in the city, “strengthens its position as a high-level technological city and the world.”
To date, Nuevo León has received direct foreign investment worth US $13.5 billion, estimated to grow to US $18 billion by the end of the year, García told reporters.
During his speech, Foreign Affairs Minister Ebrard told reporters that since his visit to India, where he met with the CEO of TCS, “the relationship between the two countries has continued to improve.”
According to statistics from the India’s embassy to Mexico, India was the country’s third largest global market in 2022, primarily due to the export of crude oil.
Mexican companies like Kidzania, Bimbo Group, Cinepolis, Nemak, Metalsa, Mexichem, Great Foods & Beverages and RuhrPumpen have all made recent investments in the Asian country.
Mexico’s investments in India reached US $610 million last year.
President López Obrador and Navy Minister Ojeda Durán (to AMLO's right) at an event in honor of National Navy Day in Tamaulipas. (Presidencia / Cuartoscuro.com)
Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda Durán asserted Thursday that Mexico will become a “world shipping power” thanks to the construction of a trade corridor between the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico.
In an address in Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, on Mexico’s National Navy Day, Ojeda noted that the government is building a “new route for global trade” between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, on the Pacific side and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, on the Gulf coast.
The Navy Minister emphasized Mexico’s future as a world shipping power at an event commemorating National Navy Day. (Gob MX)
“In the near future we will become a world power in the field of shipping,” he said.
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor will have a modernized railroad and upgraded highways between the port cities of Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos as well as 10 new industrial parks.
The government is touting the corridor as an alternative to the Panama Canal given that it will connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans across a relatively narrow strip of land.
Once the new railroad is operational, freight shipped from Asia, for example, could be unloaded in Salina Cruz and put on a train for a journey of approximately 300 kilometers to Coatzacoalcos. It could then be reloaded onto another ship before continuing on to the Gulf or Atlantic coasts of the United States.
AMLO demonstrates the trans-isthmus corridor on a map at a morning press conference. (Gob MX)
Ojeda described the multi-billion-dollar trade corridor undertaking, which also includes the modernization of the Salina Cruz and Coatzacoalcos ports, as “one of the projects of the century” and asserted that it will stimulate economic development in the region and the entire country.
President López Obrador, who also spoke at the Ciudad Madero National Navy Day ceremony, announced in 2021 that the navy would be given control of the trade corridor once it is completed. He said Thursday morning that freight trains will begin running on the new railroad in August and that passenger services will begin at a later date.
To facilitate the rail project, López Obrador published a decree on May 19 that ordered the “immediate temporary occupation” of three sections of railroad in Veracruz operated by Ferrosur, a rail subsidiary of the mining and infrastructure conglomerate Grupo México.
The president announced Thursday that the government had reached an agreement with Grupo México under which the conglomerate will permanently cede control of the sections, which were taken over by the navy the day the decree was published.
Mexico City's Museum of Popular Cultures isn't a pop-culture museum but one dedicated to Mexico's Indigenous artists. (photos by Joseph Sorrentino)
While there are many museums in Mexico showcasing the work of its more famous artists — Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Francisco Toledo and Rufino Tamayo, to name just a few — there wasn’t a national museum dedicated to cultura popular, the culture and art of Mexico’s indigenous groups, until 1983. That year, the anthropologist Guillermo Bonfil Balla founded the Museo Nacional de las Culturas Populares in the Coyoacán borough of Mexico City.
Located on Avenida Hidalgo, just a half block from Coyoacán’s Plaza Hidalgo, the museum is made up of several buildings, most dating from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
Handcrafted hats from various Indigenous groups, including the Colimote, Huichol and Tzotil.
The museum has five main exhibition rooms and three patios, where conferences, workshops and concerts are held. Though it doesn’t have an extensive permanent collection, it hosts several temporary exhibits each year. I’ve been to the museum four times over the last two years and have never been disappointed.
The current exhibit, “Espejo de Identidades,” (Mirror of Identities) includes a wide variety of art, from clay and cardboard figures painted in vivid colors to embroidered blankets, dresses and hats, representing pueblos across much of Mexico.
One of the museum’s permanent works is a 4-meter (13-foot) clay arbol de la vida (tree of life) that stands near the museum’s entrance. It was created by José Alfonso Soteno Fernández in 1992 as part of the commemoration of Columbus’s journey to the Americas.
The tree contains numerous figures: the Mexica leader Cuauhtémoc, Mexican independence hero Miguel Hidalgo, Spanish soldiers as well as Catholic and indigenous religious icons. It’s worth spending some time discovering them in the sculpture.
This tree of life sculpture by José Alfonso Soteno Fernández contains historic figures and touchstones, including Mexica leader Cuauhtémoc, Mexican independence hero Miguel Hidalgo, and indigenous religious icons.
On a wall just to the left of the Arbol de la Vida is a second permanent artwork, the huge Tejedores de Sueños (Dream Weavers) mural, painted in 2010 by Mexican street artists Saner and Sego to commemorate the bicentennial of the Mexican War of Independence. The brilliantly colored mural contains masked figures, fantastic animals and insects — another piece of art that deserves several minutes of perusal.
The majority — maybe all — of the artwork in the museum’s temporary exhibits is by people who have learned their craft from a family or community member. These are artists who didn’t attend an art school or a university. Their art not only expresses the artist’s vision but is also infused with their pueblo’shistory, thus preserving its cultural identity.
The museum also gives conferences, concerts and other events celebrating the cultural diversity of Mexico. On Sunday, June 4, there will be a yoko savi, a traditional Mixtec petition for rain, with conferences, music and an art fair.
On weekends, there are usually stalls set up in the patios with artisans selling a variety of goods, including clothing, jewelry and food.
After perusing the galleries in the museum, which will take an hour or two, depending on what exhibits are on, take the time to enjoy Coyoacán, one of my favorite parts of Mexico City.
If you want more art, there are several other nearby museums. The most popular is undoubtedly the Museo Frida Kahlo, also known as La Casa Azul, which is about a 10-minute walk from Coyoacán’s center. Be aware that it gets packed on weekends; you should sign up online for a time to enter.
A mariachi figure made by Felipe Linares, a master artisan in cartonería from Mexico City. The figure is made from molded cardboard and polychrome.
A little further away (about ten minutes by car) is the Museo Diego Rivera-Anahuacalli, which houses work by Mexico’s most famous artist as well as pre-Hispanic art. There’s also the Museo de la Casa de Leon Trotsky.
The Russian revolutionary was a close friend of Kahlo’s and Rivera’s — as well as Kahlo’s lover for a few years. The museum, located in Trotsky’s former home in Mexico, has permanent and temporary art exhibits. It also has kept intact the room where Trotsky was murdered.
After all that art, take your time to meander around and discover what else Coyoacán has to offer.
The San Juan Bautista church, which dates from 1522, is a beautiful example of Baroque architecture. Also nearby is the incorrectly named Casa de Cortés. Though Hernán Cortés did settle in the area of Coyoacán, there is no proof that he lived in this specific yellow house. In fact,the building dates from the mid-1700s, long after Cortés made Tenochtitlán his empire. Legend — again, unproven — has it that the building sits on top of the site where Cuauhtémoc, the Mexica leader, was tortured.
And if you like markets, there are plenty in Coyoacán.
Casa de los Artesanos and the Mercado Artesanal Mexicano, two markets where artists sell traditional crafts, are definitely worth a look. And less than a 10-minute walk away, at the intersection of Malintzin and Ignacio Allende streets, you’ll find the main food market, Mercado de Coyoacán. In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, there are plenty of stalls where you can get a cheap and tasty meal.
The museum is located in a residential section of central Coyoacán.
Rows of restaurants and cafés border the Plaza Hidalgo and the Jardín Centenario, two of the many picturesque squares that give Coyoacán its colonial character. Jardín Centenario, in the very heart of the neighborhood, is known for its fountain with a sculpture of two coyotes. (Coyoacán in Nahuatl is thought to mean “Place of the Coyotes”)
Heading north of Jardín Centenario along Avenida México, you can reach Los Viveros de Coyoacán, a beautiful national park created by Miguel Ángel de Quevedo in 1901. Walking in that park — which is like walking through a forest — makes you forget you’re in Mexico City!
It’s always fun to grab a cup of coffee or an ice cream (or both) and hang out in the plaza and park, where, especially in the evening, there’s always something going on: performances, music, tarot card readings, traditional cleansing rituals, and more. It’s a great way to unwind after a long day of walking around Coyoacán’s cobblestone streets.
The museum opens 11:00 Tuesday-Sunday and the entrance fee is $60 pesos (about US $3).
The remarkably well-preserved statue was uncovered during road paving work in Veracruz. (INAH)
A pre-Columbian sculpture has been discovered by residents of a Veracruz town on Tuesday that resembles one of Mexico’s most important recent archaeological findings, made in the same village of Amajac in January 2021.
The remarkablywell-preserved statue was uncovered during road paving work and is believed to represent the same figure as the “young woman of Amajac.” The new discovery was presented to the public at a press conference on Wednesday hosted by local authorities and officials from theNational Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
The statue will be cleaned and repaired before work begins on determining its origins – including the identity of the mysterious woman depicted. (INAH)
Standing 1.54 meters high and weighing between 200 and 250 kilograms, it is slightly smaller than the 2-meter-high previous find. But the two statues wear headdresses with very similar decorations, leading experts to hypothesize they are representations of the same figure, possibly a female Huasteca ruler.
“In Huasteca tradition, important characters appear in various relief images or sculptures, but always with an identifying attribute,” said Veracruz archaeologist María Eugenia Maldonado Vite. She referenced the case of 13 Conejo, a ruler whose depictions have been found at the archaeological site of El Tajín.
13 Conejo, Maldonado said, “has appeared in various monuments and always wears a headdress that must have been specific to him.”
Although the original statue of the young woman, also called the “young ruler of Amajac,” dates from the Late Postclassic period (1450-1521 AD), Maldonado said the new piece may be evidence of a sculptural tradition dating from the Early Postclassic (1100 to 1200 AD), before the Mexica conquest of the Huasteca region.
The original “Young woman of Amajac,” assumed to be a depiction of the same person as the new find, was discovered in the area in 2021. It suggests that there was female leadership in the Huasteca culture. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
However, she added, “none of the sculptures were found in the original place where they were displayed, which would surely have been a public space to present the figure in a position of power… they may have been hidden by their creators in order to protect them.”
Lilia Arrieta Pardo, the mayor of Álamo Temapache, the municipality in which Amajac is located, said it was a “historic” day for the community.
The first sculpture, found in a local orange grove, has since become anicon in Veracruz and had even been proposed as a replacement for the statue of Christopher Columbus on Mexico City’s Paseo de La Reforma Avenue.
The Columbus statue ended up being replaced in November 2021 by a monument erected by a feminist group.
The head of INAH’s Veracruz center, José Manuel Bañuelos, praised the residents who made the discovery.
“News like this gives us encouragement and vigor for the… daily life of our communities to strengthen and move forward,” he said.
The local city council, he added, has already requested to begin cleaning and restoration work on the newly discovered piece, after which more detailed research can begin on its origins.
Cenapred announced that Popocatépetl has decreased in activity, with fewer emissions and low-level tremors recorded at the volcano. (Twitter)
According to the National Center for Disaster Prevention (Cenapred), activity at the Popocatépetl volcano has diminished, although the yellow Phase 3 warning still remains in place.
On Wednesday, Cenapred reported that in the previous 24 hours, El Popo (as the volcano is commonly known) had seen 315 exhalations, 502 minutes of high-frequency tremors of low-to-medium amplitude, and two explosions — one at 2:23 p.m. and the other at 5:08 p.m. On Thursday at 11:49 a.m., the agency reported there were 219 exhalations and 11 minutes of high-frequency tremors in the previous 24 hours.
The volcano has been highly active in recent weeks, though authorities say that this activity is now diminishing. (Twitter)
The volcano also spewed incandescent fragments at a short distance from the crater, as well as water vapor, volcanic gasses and ash. The quantity of ash was less than in previous weeks.
A tectonic 1.6-magnitude earthquake was also registered at 9:52 a.m. on Wednesday.
Since El Popo’s increased activity began on May 16, winds have blown ash over the states of Puebla, Tlaxcala and Morelos. Towns in the vicinity of volcano have been coated with layers of volcanic ash.
According to Mexican authorities, the yellow Phase 3 alert — one notch below the red Phase 1 alert status that could mandate evacuation — indicates low to intermediate “explosive eruptive activity,” low to moderate ashfall, “significant” growth of lava domes and the possibility of magma expulsions.
According to the President López Obrador, Ferrosur agreed to drop legal action over the expropriation of the section of track in Veracruz, in exchange for an extension of a rail concession elsewhere in Mexico. (Wikimedia)
President López Obrador announced Thursday that the government had reached an agreement with Grupo México under which the mining and infrastructure conglomerate will cede control of a section of railroad in Veracruz that was occupied by the navy last month.
Speaking at his morning news conference, López Obrador said that Grupo México, parent company of the railroad firm Ferrosur, had agreed to “voluntarily hand over” a 120-kilometer section of the Southeastern Railway to the nation.
A soldier watches over Ferrosur railway facilities, shortly after the government seized control of the railroad. Ferrosur will now relinquish their claim over the 120-kilometer section of track. (Ángel Hernández/Cuartoscuro)
In exchange, Ferrosur’s concession to operate another section of railroad in Mexico’s southeast will be extended by eight years to 2044, the president said. No monetary compensation will be paid to Grupo México, López Obrador said.
He said that Grupo México — owned by billionaire businessman Germán Larrea — also agreed to drop legal action related to the government’s cancelation of a 17.8-billion peso (about US $1 billion) contract for construction of part of the 1,554-kilometer long Maya Train railroad, which is scheduled to begin operations in December.
The 120 kilometers of railroad that Grupo México agreed to cede are located in the Veracruz section of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where the government is working on a trade corridor project to connect Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca to Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf coast of Veracruz.
The project — envisioned as a rival to the Panama Canal — includes the modernization of the railroad between the two port cities.
The trans-isthmus corridor is an infrastructure project that will ultimately rival the Panama Canal, according to the government. (Government of Mexico)
To facilitate that project, López Obrador published a decree on May 19 that ordered the “immediate temporary occupation” of three sections of railroad operated by Ferrosur between Medias Aguas and Coatzacoalcos, Hibueras and Minatitlán, and El Chapo and Coatzacoalcos.
The decree declared the combined stretch of railroad to be of “public utility” and relevant to national security, and ordered their temporary occupation by Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec, a military-run state-owned company working on the trade corridor project.
Grupo México Transportes (GMXT), which runs Ferrosur, said that armed navy personnel occupied Ferrosur facilities along the 91-kilometer Medias Aguas-Coatzacolacos section starting at 6 a.m. on May 19.
“The surprising and unusual takeover … by the armed forces is being analyzed by Group México Transportes, its investors and advisors,” the firm said at the time.
López Obrador rejected claims that the government expropriated the 120-kilometers of railroad, asserting that it simply “recovered” a concession granted to Ferrosur.
On Thursday, he described the deal with Grupo México as a “good agreement because the navy is now going to operate the entire isthmus railroad.”
“… It’s a matter, I repeat, of national security,” López Obrador said.
“… [The trade corridor] is a very important project because it’s about connecting the Pacific to the Gulf; we’re talking about no more than 250, 300 kilometers, and we’re investing. The new railroad will be finished in August, and will begin operating with freight trains and later passenger trains,” he said.
López Obrador said that trains that use the military-run railroad will have to pay a fee to Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec.
The president declared the Isthmus of Tehuantepec railroad issue “resolved” and said he was “very happy” because a section of railroad in a “strategic region” was returning to the nation.
“With this asset, we’ve recovered more than 2,000 kilometers of railroad tracks under concession,” he said.
“I hope to end my term delivering 2,000 kilometers of tracks with passenger trains,” López Obrador added.
“… [Such a situation] hasn’t been seen for a long time, [not] since the bad decision to privatize railroads was taken,” he said, explaining that former president Ernesto Zedillo — who was in office between 1994 and 2000 — granted concessions for “the country’s entire railroad” and that passenger trains consequently “disappeared.”
San Miguel de Allende is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and prime destination for both global tourists and expats who choose to stay. (Daniels Joffe/Unsplash)
I have been thinking about the effects of our comfortable expatriate lives on our Mexican hosts, particularly in the city where I live, San Miguel de Allende.
I was recently shaken out of complacency by an essay a friend posted on Facebook called “La Segunda Conquista, Silenciada” (“The Second, Silent, Conquest”). In her post, my friend Sandra discussed some causes of the substantial increase in the cost of living faced by residents of San Miguel, particularly the dramatic rise in real estate prices. Inflation has also been high in recent years — though it appears now to be abating — and has also had an impact.
San Miguel de Allende beckons newcomers with colonial charm and also a vibrant artistic community. (Jezael Melgoza/Unsplash)
While this fair city has welcomed foreigners for generations and is economically dependent on tourism, our numbers have grown in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Middle- and lower-income sanmiguelenses, Sandra worries, are getting priced out of their own city. The National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval), has determined that San Miguel de Allende has the highest level of income inequality in all of Mexico.
Another friend, a realtor also born and raised in San Miguel, pointed out that it’s not only foreigners driving the gentrification trend. Plenty of the people buying vacation homes to rent out short-term, for example, are upper-income nationals from Mexico City, Querétaro, Monterrey and elsewhere.
But Sandra has a point. In talking with several local realtors, I learned that in the last 10 years, the median price of a home in San Miguel’s downtown neighborhoods has grown from an already remarkably high US $324,000 to US $540,000. That is a stunning price point in a municipality with an average net monthly income of only US $682, where nearly half the population lives in moderate to extreme poverty.
In the poorer communities of San Miguel, basic services are lacking and housing is woefully inadequate. Some nonprofits like Casita Linda bring together volunteers to build homes for these families. (Courtesy: Casita Linda)
I sat down with Sandra to learn more about what drives her concerns. First, she said she enjoys living among foreigners, who bring energy and new perspectives to San Miguel. She is happy for people who have the ability to work as digital nomads, and she was not against the national government keeping Mexico’s borders open during the pandemic.
However, Sandra can no longer find an affordable home to rent close to downtown (the centro histórico), which was still possible for her only a few years ago. Despite owning a business, she doubts she will ever be able to buy a home unless she buys land far outside of the city. Over many years, she has watched as San Miguel has become one of the most expensive places to live in Mexico, and she fears being pushed out.
Short-term vacation rentals are clearly a significant contributor to this trend. Currently, there are 3,170 active Airbnb listings in San Miguel, a considerable number for a city of 174,615 (2020 census). While San Miguel’s housing stock is growing in the form of numerous developments along the highways to both Querétaro and Dolores Hidalgo, the supply of homes in desirable central locations is naturally limited. Shifting so many housing units from the long-term rental market to short-term rentals inevitably drives up prices.
This problem is certainly not unique to San Miguel de Allende. For example, according to the Cancún Post, at least 13 schools in downtown Cancún have lost 20%–40% of their students in the last five years as families have been forced out by rising rents, which has been attributed to Airbnb increasing housing costs in the area.
Claudia Sheinbaum, seen with Airbnb and UNESCO representatives last year in Mexico City. (Claudia Sheinbaum/Twitter)
Mexico City has also been wrestling with the challenges of gentrification with an influx of foreign digital nomads landing in the city starting in 2020, and Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is reportedly planning to implement regulations on the short-term rental industry. However, she also made a partnership last year with Airbnb and UNESCO. In my opinion, a cap on the total number and concentration of Airbnbs or other short-term rentals allowed in San Miguel’s historic neighborhoods would be worthy of consideration as well.
Sandra also worries that at some point, only stores serving high-income tourists will be able to afford retail space on the prime streets of Centro. She is fortunate her landlord gave her a deal, specifically to support a local business owner.
We’ve all seen this happen in other cities, eventually, the authentic heart of a city can be hollowed out, leaving an overpriced tourist trap. But Sandra believes it is not too late to avoid that fate because there are still many unique local businesses worth supporting.
Sandra asks that we be more conscious of protecting what we love about San Miguel.
“I hope that people will understand these concerns. Let’s work together to somehow bring the economy back into balance so this city will be livable for everyone. I don’t want to have to leave my own city.”
Individually, our choices to move to Mexico to pursue a better life for ourselves and our families are understandable, and the global economic trends that inspire these trends are bigger than all of us. However, we should acknowledge that collectively, our choices have both positive and negative impact. Yes, our dollars support many businesses, but we have also pushed up the costs for everyone, including the majority who earn pesos, not dollars.
While neither Sandra nor I have come up with any grand solutions, I suggest that we all take some small steps to mitigate the harm.
If you as a foreigner happen to own a short-term rental property in Mexico, be prepared for potential regulation, and please don’t gripe about the VAT and lodging taxes. You’re most likely still getting a wonderful return on your Mexican investment.
Even small things matter. I cringe when I see tourists haggle ruthlessly with vendors in the artisans’ markets. Many of the products are laboriously made by hand; that work has value, and often, very little wiggle room is factored into the asking price.
On the other hand, we should learn the fair market value of products and services we buy regularly, because if we consistently pay a “gringo” price, this too will have the unintended consequence of driving up prices for everyone else.
We should, of course, support local businesses as much as possible — why pay more at Starbucks when there are so many great coffee shops?
Donate as generously as you can to the many NGOs that improve the lives of your city’s poorest citizens. You are certain to find an organization whose mission appeals to you, whether it’s building homes, providing education or healthcare services or addressing environmental problems.
While it’s hard to obtain exact numbers, the municipality estimates that 10% of the city’s population is from abroad, and most of the foreigners are concentrated in the city center rather than outlying communities. This means up to 20% of residents living in the city proper could be foreigners, and this doesn’t include part-timers who seasonally swell this population.
At that concentration, we are inevitably having an impact. Let’s do everything we can to make it a more positive one.
Based in San Miguel de Allende, Ann Marie Jackson is a writer and NGO leader who previously worked for the U.S. Department of State. Her novel “The Broken Hummingbird” will be out in October. Ann Marie can be reached through her website, annmariejacksonauthor.com.
Some of the local fishermen who tend the oyster beds that Perlas de Cortéz maintains to create “normal” pearls and their unique gray pearls. (Photos courtesy of Perlas de Cortéz)
Their site says “we have been in business for only 18 years; it seems like a long time, but in the pearl farming industry, we are just starting.”
Pearl cultivation is one of the most valued aquaculture industries in the world, but Mexico lags behind places such as Japan, Australia and French Polynesia. If companies such as Perlas de Cortéz have anything to say about it, though, that won’t be the case for long.
The teardrop shape is a common result when working with Pteria sterna oysters.
What we think of as pearls are the round, creamy-white gems that come from the saltwater species of the Pteriidae family of oysters. Mexico can and has produced these pearls since the early colonial period.
In the Gulf of California, the gathering of wild pearls was an important industry until overfishing and environmental damage prompted the Mexican government to ban it in 1939.
There had been attempts to cultivate pearls as early as the late 19th century, but technological and legislative issues kept investors away until the 1990s.
At the time, institutions such as the Northwestern Biological Research Center, the Tec de Monterrey University’s Guaymas campus, and the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur began working on repopulating native wild oysters, instead of simply setting up a commercial pearl farming operation. The first commercial species were already accepted by the world market, but according to Perlas de Cortéz director Guillermo Soberón, three graduate students — Enrique Arizmendi Castillo, Manuel Nava Romo and Douglas McLaurin Moreno — had an interest in a species native to Bacochibampo Bay in Guaymas, Pteria sterna, or the rainbow-lipped oyster.
A fisherman places seeded (a nucleus for layering the nacre) oysters in nets that will be lowered onto the farm’s beds. They will stay there for several years until harvest.
Working from the Tec de Monterrey, the oyster’s commercial viability was explored not only because of its unique characteristics but also as a way to diversify Guaymas’ fishing port. Soberón initially collaborated as an advisor, helping to get funding from local and federal sources for this first-of-its-kind project.
Pteria sterna does not produce your typical pearl. The oyster’s nacre (the hard, iridescent substance secreted by the oyster that forms pearls and mother-of-pearl) is distinguished by very thin, uniform crystals, which make light refract differently and produces a soft gray, overlaid with one or more colors, such as blue, green and lavender.
“No pearls in the world look like these,” Soberón says.
This is indeed the pearls’ main attraction. Their drawback, however, is that it is quite difficult to produce a perfectly round pearl, and because of the size of the oyster, impossible to grow them very large.
Examples of just how small many Pteria sterna oysters produce, requiring a new approach to jewelry-making
So Perlas de Cortéz works with talented jewelers to take advantage of the more common shapes, which include drop and a kind of button shape (called a mabe) to create unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.
Perlas de Cortéz today is an independent business, with the three students and others as owner-investors. They still have a relationship with the Tec de Monterrey, which Soberón credits with giving them a great start.
“Where we began our research turned out to be the perfect place for this operation, and we would not have been able to develop it without their help,” he says.
I met Soberón at the Tianguis Turístico event in Mexico City, an annual tourism industry convention in Mexico. I was immediately drawn to the company’s stand and its unusual and beautiful jewelry on display.
Examples of jewelry made with round, irregular and half-pearl (mabe).
“We have a niche market. Our pearls are immediately recognizable because of their look.” says Soberón. Though it can be difficult to get past the idea that pearls must be round and white, here is where tourism figures in.
The company’s relationship with tourism began in 1997 quite by accident, when people wanted to see what was going on.
Soberón says the farm is helping to change the image of Guaymas city to that of a place worth visiting. Today, the oyster farm receives curious from all over the world, who come to marvel at the process of growing, harvesting, and processing the pearls.
The farm is such a tourist attraction, in fact, that over 60% of its sales are from finished pieces sold at the farm’s own store. Internet sales play an important role too, a recent necessity brought about by the pandemic.
Despite its success, Perlas de Cortéz is still a very small operation. No other company in the world has decided (yet) to follow their lead and produce these unique gray pearls. The farm produces about 10,000 pearls per year (a number that includes the production of more traditional pearls), but this figure is very small compared to many pearl farms worldwide.
Given its academic origin, the rest of the oyster has not been forgotten in the business plan. The meat is quite edible and is popular locally. The shells are processed for their mother-of-pearl, or ground into a powder for use in cosmetics, while others are polished and sold as souvenirs.
Soberón is convinced that pearl farming is a very viable business in Mexico, and projects like Perlas de Cortéz help make Mexico more competitive globally. The market for known pearls is very competitive, but the creation of a novel pearl opens exciting opportunities for Guaymas and for the state of Sonora.
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.
Tacos de canasta can often be vegan, filled with beans or potato — meaning you have the chance to enjoy classic Mexican street food, even when you're vegan. (Moíses Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)
Ah, Mexico: the land of pork and cheese. A vibrant, energetic place where “I don’t eat meat” means “I eat fish and chicken.” Where everything coming from those wonderfully Mexican street carts seems to be drowned in sour cream or swimming in lard.
Let me be very honest: navigating the country’s street food culture as a vegan is a lot easier when you’re “vegan-ish.” Following the principle of “what I don’t know won’t hurt me” is useful, because veganism has yet to fully translate on the streets of our beloved Mexico.
Tacos are so popular in Mexico, there’s a Taco Fair each year in Mexico City. (Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro)
I’ve taken it upon myself to dive deep into the delightful world of street food, investigating exactly what can and cannot be adapted to a vegan or vegan-ish diet. My findings were surprising: there are more options than I’d ever dreamed, and I’m not convinced I’ve exhausted them all!
I can’t say with 100% certainty that lard won’t have snuck its way into a few of the morsels included below. I’ve indicated the bites that aroused my suspicions. The possibility didn’t stop me, but it might stop you, so feel free to confirm with the cook or avoid altogether.
And so, ladies and gentlemen of the vegan community, I present to you Mexican street food for vegans, in all its glory.
Camotes: Mexico’s version of candied sweet potatoes. Camote vendors, whose distinctive whistle is forever seared into the ear canal of every Mexican expat, often sell cooked plantains too. Skip the side of evaporated milk.
Chilaquiles: Can you really call yourself a Mexican expat if you haven’t had chilaquiles? While this is not technically street food, chilaquiles are a classic easily made vegan by swapping their egg for avocado, a trend that will repeat itself multiple times on this handy list.
The classic chilaquiles is a dish easily made vegan, and is still every bit as delicious. (Magdalena Montiel/Cuartoscuro)
Churros: Churrería el Moro proudly claims its churros are vegan friendly. If you’re willing, go ahead and assume that means all churros are vegan friendly and grab a bunch en route to your favorite coffee shop tomorrow morning, right? (OK, truth be told, most of them are made with eggs and butter, but they’re amazing.).
Esquites: Roast corn in a cup? Yes, please. Locals prefer this delicacy smothered in mayo and cheese, but one can opt for simple salt with lime and feel equally satisfied.
Flautas: These adorable antojitos (snacks) can be made vegan by ordering the potato version and topping them with lettuce, guacamole and salsa.
Papas con limón y chile: The one street food I dare not indulge in, because who knows when I’ll stop? If your willpower is stronger than mine, never let me know how good these massive, crunchy potato chips doused with lime juice and a spicy concoction taste. I will not forgive you.
Papas a la francesa: Do you know any vegans whose favorite junk food of all time isn’t french fries? I’ll wait while I munch on these delicious, deep-fried-right-in-front-of-me mouthfuls of perfection.
Pozole: Not a true street food, strictly speaking, but widely available all over Mexico, pozole is one of my absolute favorite indulgences. Chicken broth is a common base for pozole, but it’s not impossible to find a spot that opts for vegetable broth instead. Get the veggie version without the cream or cheese toppings and ask for a side of avocado instead. It’s fast, filling and fantastic.
Raspados: The amount of business people I see walking back to work after lunch with small cups of shaved ice in their hands never fails to make me chuckle. If you’re in the mood for a sweet, sugary and cold pick-me-up, most raspados are vegan friendly.
Tamales: This is one street food you’ll have to turn a blind eye to. Most tamales are made with lard, which your average street vendor doesn’t seem to consider a meat product. Nonetheless, if you’re willing to ignore that, sweet tamales are a viable option and can even be served on a roll as a sandwich — Mexico City’s famous torta de tamal — which will keep your belly full for days to come.
Tamales remain a quintessential part of Mexican cuisine, and best of all, many varieties are already vegan (if you ignore the lard). (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Tacos: The reason we all moved here, right? I’ve come to love tacos more than some of my Mexican friends, though asking for them without meat was rather intimidating at first. Now I know most street chefs are happy to make you a veggie version with mushrooms or nopales. Smother them in one or all of the salsas of your choice. Tacos guisados are served with rice and beans and the diner’s choice of meat. Forgo the meat and fill up on guacamole and salsa. Something to note: there is a chance that the rice and beans will have been cooked in chicken broth.
Tlacoyos: Even the name is fun! Tlacoyos are more or less thick tortillas stuffed with some kind of filling – Mexico’s answer to the Central American pupusa or the South American arepa.Luckily for us vegans, one of the most popular fillings is beans! Top your tlacoyo with nopales and salsa — and, of course, avocado, if it’s available — and continue on your day happy and satisfied!
Tortillas: This might sound a little boring, but trust me, it’s not. What’s better than a stack of steamy, fresh tortillas smothered in spicy salsa? Next to nothing. Not to mention the whole meal will likely cost you less than 7 pesos, and that’s being generous. Make up for the lack of vitamins with a jugo verde from the juice cart and you’re good to go.
Tostadas: Tostadas are fried tortillas, usually topped with meat, lettuce, salsa, sour cream and even avocado. Equally as yummy without the meat. Scan the vendor’s cart for nopales, mushrooms or just plain onions if you want something chewy on top.
Bethany Platanella is a travel and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. With her company,Active Escapes International, she plans and leads private and small-group active retreats. She loves Mexico’s local markets, Mexican slang, practicing yoga and fresh tortillas. Sign up for her (almost) weeklylove letters or follow her Instagram account,@a.e.i.wellness.
President López Obrador has thrown his support behind a proposed peaceful solution to the deadly cartel violence that has become endemic in Mexico. (Pedro Anza/Cuartoscuro)
President López Obrador on Tuesday said he supported a peace agreement proposal put forward by an activist who called on Mexico’s most powerful cartels to cease hostilities and enforced disappearances.
“I agree [with the proposal], and hopefully peace will be achieved — that’s what we all want, for there to be no violence, no homicides, no aggression because it affects everyone,” López Obrador told reporters at his daily news conference.
The proposed pact urged cartels to end armed conflicts and respect “the lives and free transit” of people searching for their missing loved ones. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
His remarks came two days after Delia Icela Quiroa Flores Valdez, a human rights activist and spokesperson for a national victims’ collective and an organization of madres buscadoras (mothers who search for disappeared family members) in Tamaulipas, published a “message” to the leaders of 10 notorious cartels, including the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel.
“The missing persons in our country are impossible to count. The National Search Commission estimates there are 110,763 [missing] persons today, but we estimate the figure to be three times higher,” wrote Quiroa, whose brother disappeared in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, in 2014.
“Our collective longs for our missing family members to return, alive or dead, and for this practice [of enforced disappearances] to be eliminated in [the] national territory … and that’s why we need your help and collaboration.”
After asserting that cartel members and victims of violence and their families have “something in common” because “we’re abused by our government,” and observing that gangsters, “like many Mexicans, worship” their mothers, Quiroa proposed a “social pact to prevent and eradicate the disappearance of people in Mexico and promote peace.”
Official statistics suggest more than 110,000 people are missing in Mexico. Activists say this number may be up to three times higher. (Isabel Mateos Hinojosa/Cuartoscuro)
“… Today is the day on which we must take notice [of the situation] without blaming anyone, reconcile ourselves as a society and do something together to stop disappearances in our beloved Mexico, and avoid other countries wanting to interfere in arrests related to drug trafficking because the last thing we want is a war with the United States with the justification that the Mexican government isn’t doing anything [to combat cartels],” she wrote.
The proposed pact urged cartels to end armed conflicts and respect “the lives and free transit” of people searching for their missing loved ones.
Quiroa called on cartel leaders to sign the pact and upload a video of a printed copy of the signed document to social media.
If there is no response from the cartel leaders within 15 days, “we’re going to look for them and take them the pact to convince them, speak with them so that they sign it,” the activist told the Milenio newspaper. “Or we’re going to look for their lawyers to speak to them,” she added.
One criminal group has agreed to sign the pact, Milenio reported, although it didn’t identify which one.
At his Tuesday press conference, López Obrador said that “violence is irrational” and that his government would “continue seeking peace.”
AMLO’s presidential term has been the most violent on record, despite its attempts to peacefully resolve the cartel conflicts that have engulfed areas of the nation. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)
“… If there is an initiative of that kind, of course we support it,” he said.
Members of criminal groups shouldn’t “act with violence,” López Obrador added.
“… Of course I’m mocked when I say that their mothers, their fathers, their grandfathers … don’t like it when they take the path of crime … [but] violence isn’t the path, it’s not an option, it’s not an alternative in any circumstance,” said AMLO, who has previously urged gangsters to “think of your mothers.”
“… I approve of everything that means setting aside or not using violence,” he said, adding that members of crime groups have the power to take such a decision themselves.
Quiroa told the Guardian newspaper that she was pleased that the president expressed support for her proposed pact with cartels but added that authorities need to do more to help relatives of missing people find their loved ones.
“What does it matter if the people below [the president], who are in charge of helping victims, don’t care?” she said. “He needs to supervise his people, to make sure they actually do something.”
López Obrador still has 16 months left in office, but his term of government is already the most violent in recent history, with over 156,000 homicides. Government data also shows that more than 40,000 people have disappeared in Mexico since the president was sworn in on Dec. 1, 2018.
The federal government says it is pursuing a so-called abrazos, no balazos (hugs, not bullets) security strategy in which addressing the root causes of crime through welfare programs is favored over confronting violent criminals with force. However, clashes between cartels and security forces have continued to occur, and even seemingly innocent people have been gunned down by the armed forces.
Before taking office, López Obrador pledged to gradually remove the military from the streets, but he has continued to rely on the army and navy for public security tasks, and has also assigned them a wide range of other nontraditional tasks, including infrastructure construction and the management of customs offices and ports.
His government also created a new, quasi-military security force, the National Guard, which currently has over 109,000 members deployed across the country.
But despite the government’s efforts to pacify the country, violence — as homicide statistics indicate — remains a significant problem. Acknowledging ongoing insecurity in many parts of the country, López Obrador has conceded that the government’s strategy of “attending to the causes” of crime will take time to bear fruit.
A cease in hostilities between cartels and the elimination of enforced disappearances, as Quiroa is proposing, would certainly help his cause.
