Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto (center) called the new complex "a great reflection" of Mexico.
(Cineteca Nacional de los Artes/Twitter)
A world-class cinema complex in Mexico City is gearing up for its grand opening, officials from the Culture Ministry announced this week.
The 12-screen National Cinematheque of the Arts is set to open its doors to the public on Aug. 15, which is the National Day of Mexican Cinema. For the first week, admission will be free, and for the next three, tickets will be 2-for-1.
The refurbished complex will be dedicated to showing the best of Mexican and international cinema. (Cineteca Nacional de las Artes/Twitter)
The complex will be dedicated to showing the best of Mexican and international cinema. For many years, the space was a Cinemark movie theater complex, but it has been fully refurbished and will be managed by Cineteca Nacional, the national film archives of Mexico.
The National Center for the Arts (Cenart) and the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (Imcine) are also partners. “It is important for us that together we celebrate recovering a space that had been privately owned,” said filmmaker Alejandro Pelayo Rangel, director of Cineteca Nacional. “It was not easy to turn this into a public space and a new cinema … Our priority is [Mexican] cinema, which often does not find screens, which needs to have its own space. [There will also be] international premieres, film series and festivals.”
Three screening rooms have 3D projectors, and total capacity is 1,300. Overall improvements were made to projection and sound equipment, and better seats were installed. A remodeled parking lot can fit 994 vehicles.
The complex will host cultural and educational events, offering courses for film students, for example. “Also, we are very happy because soon we will implement an outdoor cinema program,” said Antonio Zúñiga Chaparro, director of Cenart.
Cenart director Antonio Zúñiga at the new cinema complex. (Gob MX)
Other improvements include a café, a concession area and a shaded outdoor garden area. The screening rooms, lobby and corridors were also refurbished. The cinema is located in the southern part of Mexico City, adjacent to the Club Campestre golf course.
Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto Guerrero called it “a great canvas for the development of audiences, but, above all, for cultural rights, which are human rights and have to be guaranteed more and more. The families [in Mexico] have the right to access good cinema, [films that are] a great reflection of the Mexico that we are, of the world that we are. If there is an art that gives us a great mirror, without a doubt, it is the cinema.”
From Aug. 15 to Sept. 15, the cinema will “be dedicated to exalting the diversity of voices and stories that make up contemporary Mexican cinema,” according to a press release.
Highlighted films include “Home is Somewhere Else,” a 2022 animated documentary in Spanish and English that tells the stories of three migrant families; Indigenous filmmaker Isis Ahumada Monroy’s “’Mi no lugar,” about Indigenous people from Guerrero who travel to Colima to work in a sugar mill; and 1979’s “María de mi corazón” and 1989’s “Rojo amanecer,” both starring María Rojo, a movie star who went on to become a federal deputy and later senator.
Film director María Novaro Peñaloza also attended the press conference, stating, “We are celebrating the national cinema. We are offering new spaces for the country’s cinema to be seen and to guarantee the right of people in Mexico to see their own cinema.”
Morelia's General Francisco Mujica international airport is one of several managed by the GAP group. (Google Maps)
The General Francisco Mujica International Airport (MLM) in Morelia, Michoacán hit a new record in passenger traffic last month, according to a report by the airport’s managing group Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP).
National passenger traffic at the airport went up from 56,100 in July 2022 to 82,100 last month, a whopping 46.3% annual increase. With 54,900 international passengers recorded for July, the GAP report also shows an annual increase in foreign passengers of 14.5%. Currently, Morelia’s international routes are all exclusively to and from the United States.
Volaris is the largest operator at Morelia’s international airport. (Wikimedia Commons)
These numbers have also surpassed the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, when the MLM registered the arrival of 41,000 international visitors.
The report indicates the airport saw a total of 137,000 passengers during July, beating the last record of 122,800 passengers, which occurred in December 2022. An impressive total of 819,900 passengers were recorded during the first seven months of this year. Compared to the same period of 2022, these figures represent an increase of 25.9%.
If this trend continues, the airport might close the year with total traffic of 1.4 million passengers.
The latest passenger traffic report places the Morelia international airport as the 10th busiest of those managed by GAP nationwide.
The colonial city of Morelia is increasingly becoming a destination for national tourists and international tourists from the U.S. (Jezael Melgoza/Unsplash)
Other airports managed by GAP include the Guadalajara International Airport in Jalisco, which took the No. 1 spot in July with traffic of 1.6 million passengers, followed by Tijuana, Baja California, with a total of 1.2 million, Los Cabos San Lucas, Baja California Sur, with 729,000 and Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, with 567,000.
Compared to July 2022, these airports reported traffic growth of 13.2%, 9.3%, 7.9% and 1.5% respectively.
Overall, GAP’s 12 Mexican airports registered an 11.1% annual increase in total passenger traffic during July.
As the row over new school textbooks has spread, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said his state would not distribute the books. Many opposition politicians are alarmed by what they view as indoctrination by the ruling Morena Party in the new school resources. (Enrique Alfaro/Twitter)
The controversy over Mexico’s new school textbooks continues, with four opposition state governors saying they will block the textbooks’ distribution in schools.
The governors of Chihuahua (PAN), Coahuila (PRI), Jalisco (MC) and Yucatán (PAN) have all committed not to distribute the textbooks, while the governor of Guanajuato (PAN) said his state will complement the teaching with supplementary materials.
Chihuahua governor Maru Campos become the first state leader to publicly reject the new textbooks (Wikimedia Commons)
Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos was the first to reject the books last week, dismissing them as “garbage.”
On Monday, Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro said his state would not distribute the books “as long as there is no judicial resolution” of a case before the Supreme Court about whether production of the books should be halted, although he emphasized that the decision was made on administrative, not ideological grounds.
Coahuila Education Minister Francisco Saracho Navarro and Yucatán Education Minister Libario Vidal Aguilar also blamed the legal case for their states’ refusal to distribute the books. Saracho Navarro added that Coahuila is undertaking consultations with experts, teachers and parents to review and supplement the books’ contents.
State officials in Guanajuato and PRI-controlled Durango expressed concerns about the books, but said they would not block their distribution, in part due to concerns that students in remote areas may not have access to any other educational materials.
Some states have expressed concerns about the new textbooks but plan to distribute them anyway due to a lack of viable alternatives for students in more remote schools. (SEP)
The textbooks, produced by the Education Ministry (SEP), have beencriticized for their allegedly ideological content, as well as various factual and grammatical errors and a decrease in content in core subjects such as mathematics and Spanish.
A Mexico City administrative court ordered the SEP to suspend printing of the books in May in response to an injunction filed by the National Union of Parents (UNPF), one of Mexico’s oldest conservative organizations, initially formed to combat the secularization of education mandated by the Constitution of 1917.
The SEP has lodged an appeal against the decision, which was referred to the Supreme Court.
Last week, Education Minister Leticia Ramírez insisted that the SEP was never “officially notified” of the lower court’s decision. She added that the outcome of the Supreme Court case may be inconsequential, as the books are now already in print and arriving at regional warehouses for distribution.
The Education Ministry (SEP), which produced the textbooks, has denied that they contain any ideological content. (Wikimedia)
However, on Monday, Chamber of Deputies party coordinators from the Va Por México political opposition coalition announced that they intend to file an act of unconstitutionality against the books in the Supreme Court in the coming days.
They called on parents and citizens to reject the books, which they claim “seek to indoctrinate” Mexican children with the leftist ideology of Morena, the ruling party of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. A group of parents led by PRI federal deputy Cynthia Iliana López Castro blocked the SEP headquarters in protest and called for similar collective actions on August 21.
When questioned about the issue at his Tuesday morning press conference, President López Obrador stood by the textbooks, dismissing the opposition’s actions as sectarian politicking.
“[The opposition] talk about how the books are going to inject the virus of communism. That is grotesque, it is absurd,” AMLO said, adding that the Executive has the constitutional right to design and distribute educational materials.
President López Obrador called the outcry over the new textbooks “absurd.” (lopezobrador.org.mx)
“We are going to see what people think; they are going to express themselves, demonstrate, if they agree or disagree,” he said.
Article 113 of Mexico’s General Education Law establishes that the federal educational authority has the exclusive authority to “create, publish, update and distribute” free textbooks and other educational materials to the federative entities “through processes that allow the participation of the various social sectors involved in education.”
While there is some uncertainty about where the peso will finish the year, Mexico's central bank polled experts who agreed that it will close 2023 very close to 18 pesos to the U.S. dollar. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s peso was checking in by mid-afternoon Tuesday at 17.12 pesos to the U.S. dollar — a minor decrease compared to Monday, when it closed at 17.08. But based on the estimates of some recent surveys, the currency is likely to have its value shaved significantly during the progression of 2023, before finishing the year at 17.90 or 17.95 pesos, say experts
One banking specialist even estimated that the peso would weaken to 19.50 pesos to the U.S. dollar.
The Bank of Mexico survey revised previous estimates for the December exchange rate with the U.S. dollar. (Alfonso21/Wikimedia)
Banxico’s July 2023 survey, which gathered input from foreign exchange market specialists, estimated that the peso will reach 17.90 per U.S. dollar by the end of December. That’s an improvement over its estimate in June, which was 18.33.
A Citibanamex survey is guesstimating the peso’s value to the U.S. dollar on Dec. 31 will have weakened to 17.95 pesos, but it’s an improvement over its earlier estimate of 18.30 pesos.
Banco Bx+’s latest survey was one of the most pessimistic. A far cry from the average range of 16.6 to 16.7 that the peso achieved for 15 consecutive days in July, the online banking specialist’s newest estimate is that the peso will close 2023 at 19.50 pesos to the U.S. dollar.
Despite some differing opinions on the peso’s future, experts did agree that the Mexican currency’s actual performance will depend on factors such as monetary policy decisions and the strength of economic data in Mexico and the United States.
Alejandro Saldaña, chief economist at Banco Bx+, predicted that the peso will depreciate significantly by the end of the year due to factors associated with lower world economic growth. (Alejandro Saldaña/Twitter)
According to the newspaper El Economista, the Ministry of Finance has the exchange rate going into 2024 pegged at 19.1 in an early draft of its 2024 budget. That figure, however, can be updated next month before the budget is due.
He said that added pressure in 2024 will come from the June presidential election in Mexico and the November presidential election in the U.S.
Janneth Quiroz, director of analysis at Monex financial firm, estimated that the peso will finish 2023 at 18.15 per U.S. dollar, though a figure below 18 is not unlikely, she added.
“Right now, the market is adjusting,” said Jessica Roldán, chief economist at the Finamex financial firm, which predicts the peso to end at 17.90. “Surely, in a few weeks we will be seeing a less volatile environment. After all this volatility disappears, there may be better exchange rates in the short term.”
“Perhaps we will not return to such low levels that we saw [in July], but the Mexican currency can return to around 17 units per dollar,” she added.
The 29th annual tortilla race celebrates local culture in the town of Santa María Coapan, Puebla, which calls itself the "tortilla capital". (Delfina Pozos/Twitter)
More than 400 women and girls lined up at the start of the 29th Carrera de la Tortilla in Tehuacán, Puebla on Sunday — many of them toting 6 kilos of tortillas on their backs.
When this Tortilla Race finished, approximately 5 km away in Santa María Coapan — in front of family, friends, and hundreds of onlookers from around Puebla state and beyond — the winner was 12-year-old Paula Michelle De Jesús Marcos.
Tortillas are an important part of the local culture in Santa María Coapan, and the race has become a way to commemorate the importance of the role played by the woman of the town. (SEGOB Puebla/Twitter)
Many of the participants hailed from the small town of Santa María Coapan, known as the “Tortilla Capital” for its handmade corn tortillas of a size and texture different from most others. Among the town’s population of 10,000 women, approximately 50% participate in the preparation of tortillas.
On race day, many got up before 5 a.m. to prepare the tortillas they are required to carry during the race.
Women in the open category ran with 6 kg (13 lbs) on their backs, although those from 40 to 49 years old and over 50 had lower allowances of 5 kilograms and 3 kilograms respectively. Some carried even more weight, running with a son or daughter either in their arms or within a rebozo — a traditional sling used to carry a baby. Some ran with sandals, others in their bare feet.
There was also a children’s category in which 4- to 6-year-olds carried 1 kg and those from 7 to 12 years old carried 3 kg.
Women of all ages participate in the annual race. (MIREYA NOVO/CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Paula Michelle De Jesús Marcos ran in the children’s category but was also the overall winner, taking the lead from the start and never relinquishing it. The open winner (a category for 19–39-year-olds) was María de los Ángeles Zamora Leal, who also won in 2019 and 2022.
Governor of Puebla Sergio Salomón Céspedes gave the starting signal after praising the women and highlighting that the event represents the traditions and identity of the region. The race also began with a traditional ceremony, marked by the burning of incense and the blowing of a conch horn.
The races included six categories, including a new recreational category added this year to prevent outside runners from taking an award away from the women who participate in the town’s 30-year-old tradition.
Participants wore typical garments from the Mixtec region: huipiles with embroidered flowers and colored threads, with a wide skirt and an apron tied at the waist.
Participants wore traditional Mixtec garments. (Enrique Glockner/Twitter)
The route corresponded (in reverse) to the route the women take daily to get to the Tehuacán marketplace.
The race is part of the Corn Fair held in Tehuacán; the municipality is said to be the cradle of corn in Mesoamerica.
Who needs four-wheel drive, anyway? (Miguel Ángel Gómez Cabrera)
I’m absolutely convinced that cars driven in Mexico are the toughest in the world. They’re also among the most abused.
Whenever I return to San Gregorio Atlapulco, a pueblo in Xochimilco where I lived for two years, I head to the hills with my friend Javier to explore the pre-Hispanic ruins. We’ve made all sorts of exciting discoveries, but even more exciting is the ride up to the ruins.
Javier has an old Nissan sedan that was definitely not made for the kind of driving done on these hills. I keep telling him that we need a truck or some sort of four-wheel drive vehicle, but we always end up taking his poor ol’ car.
Thin wire keeps the car’s bumpers attached, though they frequently get caught on rocks as we drive along – I’m convinced they’re going to get yanked off someday. Many times during our ascent, the bottom of the car scrapes the jagged surface of the road. Each time it does, Javier lets out a soft, “Oh.” No exclamation mark needed; he never seems concerned.
The hills aren’t very high, but the inclines are quite steep and challenging. The first stretch is a mix of cobblestones and rocks — and some holes where rocks and cobblestones used to be. Next comes the section of hard-packed dirt that’s pocked with holes and littered with gravel. I think I’ve loosened a few of my teeth traversing this section.
The roads, such as they are, are only wide enough for one car, although vehicles go in both directions. So I suppose it’s technically a two-lane road. In theory, anyway. But if two vehicles approach from opposite directions, someone’s gotta give.
The road also boasts several hairpin curves — the kind that necessitate inching forward and back several times in order to get past them. Of course, there aren’t any guardrails, so go back too far, and you’ll find yourself on a significant drop to the bottom.
This is the gentlest part of the journey.
There’s no logical reason Javier’s car continues making it up and down those hills, but up and down it goes. I’ve christened it La Bestia, Jr., the beast.
And that’s not all: as anyone living in Mexico knows, there are two seasons here: wet and dry. Both offer interesting driving experiences.
During the wet season, getting up the “paved” road is no big deal. But after that, the road, is just dirt, which, as you might expect, turns to mud in the rain.
Javier’s car fishtails maniacally as it strains to continue onward on such a road, flinging mud in all directions, as he fights for control. The trip takes a lot longer in the rainy season, and all that fishtailing probably doubles the miles.
As much fun as that must sound, my favorite time to go is during the dry season.
The air fills with dust as we heave up the hill. I have to say I’m not sure if the windshield wipers work, since Javier has never used them in my presence, preferring to lean forward and peer through the layer of dirt blanketing the windshield. I can’t see anything, and I’m guessing he can’t either.
He’s basically going by feel at that point. I figure Javier’s saving the wipers for a time when their use is really warranted but I’m not sure when that might be. Even storms have not seemed to be such a situation.
The final stretch of road is filled with big, sometimes deep, holes, and this is where we’ll get stuck several times a trip. Sometimes I, and whoever else is with us, will get out and push the car, but Javier’s preferred method, however, is to simply press the gas pedal to the floor, which causes the rear tires to spin furiously.
Until these trips, I’d only seen smoke pouring off of tires in movies. Now, I see it every time we head up these hills in the dry season. Let me tell you, if you’ve never smelled burning rubber, you’re missing out on a real olfactory treat.
After all that spinning, one tire will finally catch on something solid, and that’s when we shoot out of the hole, Javier struggling to regain control the whole way.
After surviving several of these sorts of moments, I realize there’s a chance that someday, we may pull a Thelma and Louise: the tires catch, we shoot out and over the guardrails and then launch into space.
I just hope someone finds us. Or, better yet, films our flight.
Nuevo León's governor, Samuel García, has traveled far and wide to promote his state as a destination for foreign investment and in 2022, it received 12% of the national total, second only to Mexico City. (Samuel García/Twitter)
Mexico has only a handful of moguls or politicians who are well-known beyond the country’s borders. At this point, everyone has heard of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), and many will know the name Carlos Slim, who has been one of the world’s richest people since the 1990s (and at one point, was the richest person in the world). But beyond these two prominent figures, most foreigners would be challenged to come up with others.
I think the name Samuel García Sepúlveda is one that might eventually join these ranks. This up and coming, pro-business politician is someone you should get to know. García is the governor of Nuevo León, one of the country’s major manufacturing hubs and home to the city of Monterrey, the third largest in the nation. Why is García one to watch?
The young political “power couple” of Nuevo León: Governor Samuel García and his wife, Mariana Rodríguez. (Samuel García/Twitter)
1. Samuel García is young
García is only 35 years old, and won the governorship at age 33. His wife, Mariana Rodríguez, is 27 years old, and is a popular influencer. García’s youth, his wife’s visibility, and their comfort level with social media have allowed the couple to connect with both García’s constituents as well as Mexicans more broadly.
2. Samuel García is pro-business
At a time when manufacturers are looking towards Mexico as a destination for nearshoring investment, García is most certainly in the right place at the right time.
Nuevo León has a large and growing manufacturing base, contributing nearly 10% of the nation’s exports last year. According to information from the Nuevo León Economy Ministry, the state received US $13 billion in investment between October 2021 and April 2023. These investments will generate an estimated 88,000 new jobs with 135 companies.
The state came in second only to Mexico City in 2022 in its share of the country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) at 12% of the national total. García has predicted that the amount of FDI in his state will more than double in 2023, reaching US $12 billion. Last year, Nuevo León exports were valued at more than US $51 billion, 23% more than the previous year.
The icing on this cake was the March announcement that Nuevo León secured the largest and arguably highest-profile foreign investment project in Mexico’s recent history: a Tesla gigafactory.
3. Samuel García is more than willing to travel outside Mexico
President López Obrador is sometimes mocked (or commended) for his limited travel outside of the country during his term. Just last week he reiterated his view that “the best foreign policy is domestic policy.”
In his five years in office, he has only visited the United States, Central America and Cuba. García, on the other hand, appears sometimes to function as de facto Secretary of State or Commerce Secretary with all of his international travel. In his first two years as governor, he traveled throughout Europe, attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, went on a trade mission to Korea and Taiwan, visited Egypt, took multiple trips to the United States and Canada, and last week, toured India.
4. Samuel García is constantly promoting Mexico’s “brand”
García has defended the amount he travels by saying “nothing sells itself”, and has worked tirelessly to try to position both Nuevo León and Mexico as vitally important destinations for global investment. I think Mexico has a real opportunity to better promote itself on the world stage, and García is getting the message out there.
5. Samuel García does not represent one of the major political parties
As AMLO’s Morena party continues to consolidate power nationwide, the key opposition parties (the PRI, PAN, and PRD) have formed a coalition. García represents a lesser known and smaller party called Movimiento Cuidadano (Citizens Movement). This party, while small in numbers, holds the governorships of two key Mexican states: Nuevo León and Jalisco (governed by Enrique Alfaro).
Nuevo León is getting a lot of attention right now. It’s wealthy, with a per capita GDP that is 73% higher than the national average, and it’s growing faster than other states. It’s also led by a charismatic and media-savvy politician from a minority party.
We are seeing only the beginnings of Samuel García’s career, which may take him far in years to come.
Firefighters took six hours to control the inferno, which left two industrial units completely destroyed. (Cuartoscuro)
Firefighters from 11 municipalities in México state and Mexico City battled a blaze for six hours Sunday that led to two injuries and 100 homes being temporarily evacuated.
The fire occurred at two adjoining companies — including one that collects and recycles waste and one that sells diesel, gasoline and biodiesel — in Chicoloapan de Juárez, México state, some 30 km (18 miles) east of Mexico City. The city of 200,000 is considered part of the Greater Mexico City urban area.
Teams from 11 municipalities in Mexico City and México state were present to control the fire, which briefly sprang back to life later in the day. (Cuartoscuro)
A column of black smoke could be seen from miles away.
According to Chicoloapan Mayor Nancy Gómez, the fire originated in a plant belonging to the company Enermex, which according to its website sells fuel products like gasoline, diesel and biodiesel, after a truck within the company’s facility caught fire. The fire appears to have spread to another nearby company, Red Ambiental, a home and industrial waste collection company. According to media reports, firefighters had to smash down walls at Enermex in order to enter and fight the fire.
The two now-gutted businesses are located near Chicoloapan de Juárez’s Central de Abastos, a wholesale-retail market.
Gómez said that the evacuation of 100 residents was only a precaution. The homes were not close to the conflagration, and no one was truly at risk, she said.
Footage posted to social media showed a thick black cloud over the chemical fire. (Carlos S./Twitter)
The only injuries were to a firefighter who suffered smoke inhalation and a Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) employee who was onsite to help CFE personnel cut off the electricity and took a blow to the shoulder from debris. Authorities did not explain how the CFE employee happened to be hit by the debris.
Some vehicles parked in the area sustained damage.
The fire started at about 1 p.m. Sunday and three hours later seemed to have been controlled, but an hour later, while firefighters removed debris, the flames reactivated, and another column of smoke arose. It took about an hour to get the new blaze under control.
A number of major U.S. and Canadian carriers, including American Airlines and Air Canada, will offer new routes between Quintana Roo and North America, in response to high demand for tourism in the area. (American Airlines)
Two major airports in the state of Quintana Roo have announced new connections with the United States and Canada, after a record 2022 at Cancún International Airport, say state authorities.
Last year saw more than 30 million passengers travel to the Cancún Airport.
The government of Quintana Roo said Cancún International Airport saw over 30 million passengers in 2022. (Elizabeth Ruíz/Cuartoscuro)
As a result of post-COVID-19 travel demand, American Airlines, Delta, Air Canada and Westjet have all announced new routes between Cancún, the island of Cozumel and the rest of North America.
These new routes include flights between Cancún and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Raleigh, and Hamilton, Canada. Cozumel will see new flights to Montreal, Atlanta and Minneapolis.
Delta has also announced that it will operate three additional flights per weekend between New York’s JFK International Airport and Cancún as part of plans to focus more heavily on the U.S-Caribbean market.
“These results are a positive bet by airlines on destinations in the Mexican Caribbean and reinforce our promise to continue offering the best in Mexican tourism to the world,” said Quintana Roo Tourism Minister Bernardo Cueto Riestra.
“This achievement is the result of the implementation of the new tourism model and Agreement for the Well-being and Development of Quintana Roo promoted by Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa so that prosperity reaches all homes in the state and achieves profound transformation,” he continued.
From nuclear power to conflict in Chiapas to stockpiling pharmaceuticals, President López Obrador covered a wide gamut of topics in this week's daily press conferences. (Gob MX)
Topics as trivial as the amount of air in potato chip packets and as serious as homicide rates in Mexico City were addressed by President López Obrador at his morning press conferences, or mañaneras, this week.
Among the other issues AMLO discussed were nuclear power, the disappearance of a Mexican student in Germany, the government’s controversial new school textbooks and his dislike for arduous air travel.
The president covered a wide range of topics during the week’s morning pressers, including data on economic growth in Mexico. (Gob MX)
On Wednesday morning, the president assured reporters that his agenda-setting weekday mañaneras will continue right up until his final full day in office – Sept. 30, 2024 – and joked that he might even hold additional pressers on the weekend.
Monday
“The Maya Train is more than tracks and railcars. It’s accompanied by an extraordinary program to improve 27 archaeological zones and build 10 visitors’ centers,” Javier May, general director of the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur), said early in the first press conference of the week.
“Six Maya Train hotels are also being built very close to the archaeological zones so that visitors can have a unique experience. … The Maya Train is also accompanied by historic actions in favor of the environment,” May said, telling reporters that an area including the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul will become “the largest [natural] reserve in Mexico and the second largest in Latin America.”
The government says the Maya Train project is 80% complete. (Tren Maya/Twitter)
Large swathes of jungle have been cut down for the construction of the 1,554-kilometer-long railroad, but the Fonatur chief highlighted that the southeast of Mexico “is being reforested with 500 million trees.”
He also said that 400 wildlife crossings are being built along the route and noted that trains using the railroad will run on electricity and ultra-low sulfur diesel, “which will significantly reduce contaminating emissions.”
“… The Maya Train is a great project that is being built in record time, like nowhere else in the world,” declared May, who told the Milenio newspaper that the railroad is 80% complete four months ahead of its scheduled opening date.
“… We are getting closer and closer to the inauguration … in December 2023,” he said, adding that the railroad’s operation will pave the way for a “new history” to be written in Mexico’s southeast.
During his Q & A session with reporters, López Obrador was asked whether Mexico had plans to increase its capacity to generate nuclear power, as a Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) official said the state-owned firm was considering in 2019.
“We don’t have plans to create nuclear power stations, the one we have is working very well,” AMLO said, referring to the Laguna Verde plant in the Veracruz municipality of Alto Lucero de Gutiérrez Barrios.
“Electricity is generated [there] safely. To avoid speculation, I believe that it would be good to say with complete clarity that we’re not going to promote the creation of nuclear plants,” he said.
The head of Fonatur, Javier May (far right), said the Maya Train is respectful of the environment, touting that it will run on electricity and on ultra-low sulfur diesel. (Tren Maya/Twitter)
CFE director Manuel Bartlett confirmed that “there is no project to promote [additional] nuclear energy in Mexico” and noted that the firm he leads is working toward attaining a 54% share of the electricity generation market, including through the construction of new non-nuclear power plants.
AMLO later reiterated that he would seek constitutional change before his six-year term ends so that “the people” rather than “the mafia of economic and political power” elect Supreme Court justices and other judges.
He declined to rule out seeking a constitutional change so that citizens are also tasked with electing the country’s attorney general.
“In one period, the period of the Restored Republic, the people elected the attorney general and the Supreme Court justices. The chief justice was the one who took charge of the presidency in the case of the absence of a sitting president,” López Obrador said.
“When the president [Benito] Juárez died, here in the National Palace, it was Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, who was chief justice of the Supreme Court, who replaced him because [chief justices] had legality and legitimacy, they were elected by the people. That’s what we have to seek now and that’s our proposal,” he said.
He also said that the Lake Texcoco Ecological Park project – which is under construction on a México state site where the previous federal government began building a new Mexico City airport – is progressing well.
“The land is being returned to the people of Atenco and justice is being served,” López Obrador said, referring to a municipality that borders Texcoco.
“It’s an extremely important project for the protection of the environment. It’s about recovering the lake, having the birds return. There is reforestation work in the entire area and it’s a comprehensive project that also has to do with [creating] spaces for sport,” he said.
Tuesday
Asked about a statement from the National Autonomous University (UNAM) that warned of an increase in COVID-19 cases and recommended the use of face masks in indoor spaces with little or no ventilation, López Obrador asked Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell to respond.
The government’s COVID-19 point man said it was important not to “exaggerate concern over something that the university presents very clearly and objectively.”
“What they’re saying, and we agree with their assessment, is that the situation is calm,” López-Gatell said.
He acknowledged that COVID case numbers have recently increased, but stressed that the number of hospitalized patients is very low and declared that there is no cause for alarm.
Deputy Health Minister López-Gatell said that the uptick in COVID-19 cases was no cause for alarm, as hospitalizations remain low. (Gob MX)
Later in the press conference, AMLO said that Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena would travel to Chiapas later in the week to look at options for the establishment of an “international space” where a range of services will be offered to migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela.
“What we’re seeking is for there to be work and training options for migrants and at the same time those who want to go to the United States can do their paperwork,” he said.
Asked whether United States authorities would be in Chiapas to process visa applications, López Obrador responded:
“No, no, no. There could be mobile consulates for those who haven’t done their paperwork and who are here in the Mexican republic. … But it’s not just the paperwork, what’s being considered is for there to be … shelters, food, medical care and also work opportunities because our country now has the possibility to offer jobs.”
Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena (far right) visited Chiapas this week to assess locations for an “international space” for migrants. (SRE/Twitter)
AMLO added that there is a lot of public and foreign investment in Mexico, creating demand for workers.
“Something we want to do is establish training centers to train workers, metalworkers, welders,” he said.
“… What is needed is to reach an agreement with migrants, firstly for their paperwork [to go to the United States] or at the same time tell them: look, there are employment possibilities on the Maya Train, in [the government reforestation program] Sembrando Vida, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec projects,” López Obrador said.
“We dealt with this issue, yesterday and today, … because I offered, if necessary, to speak with the president of Germany [Frank-Walter Steinmeier],” AMLO said, adding that the Germany authorities “are helping” and progress is being made in the investigation.
Authorities are searching for Sánchez and the Mexican Embassy in Berlin is “completely dedicated” to the case, he said.
Interpol has issued a yellow notice in the case of missing Mexican citizen María Fernanda Sánchez, last seen in Berlin, Germany. (Interpol/Twitter)
“He has nothing to worry about. … We’re not going to proceed against a doctor who anesthetizes with fentanyl,” he said.
“… If he is innocent, he won’t lose his house, he won’t lose anything,” AMLO said in response to a reporter’s inquiry.
He subsequently said that if authorities prove that the doctor – who apparently bought the synthetic opioid on the e-commerce site Mercado Libre – was “making improper use of fentanyl or any drug, then he will have a problem with justice.”
López Obrador later acknowledged that vehicles were set on fire in Chiapas early Tuesday –an incident reportedly linked to a turf war between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel – and reported that there were seven homicides in the southern state on Monday.
However, Chiapas is “quite a calm state in terms of homicides and in general,” AMLO said.
“In towns where Indigenous culture is maintained there is less violence,” he said.
“… Where traditions, customs, language and social-community organization is maintained, there is more fraternity, solidarity, there is no theft, no aggression, no violence. That’s why maintaining our cultures is important,” López Obrador said.
Wednesday
A warehouse containing “all the medicines of the world” could be the solution to ongoing problems with the supply of pharmaceuticals, AMLO said during his Wednesday morning presser.
The president said he would put his proposal to federal health authorities and said it could provide “a definitive way out from the [medications] shortage” that has plagued his government.
“I’m going to propose the creation of a kind of pharmacy – a pharmacy in Mexico City, a warehouse, with all the medicines of the world in reasonable quantities,” López Obrador said.
He said the facility would serve as a “reserve bank of medications,” and – despite the infancy, and grandeur, of his proposal – pledged that it would be in operation before he leaves office on Oct. 1, 2024.
“The idea is to have all the medications so that we never lack any,” López Obrador said, adding that his proposal is to have a permanent inventory of all pharmaceutical drugs including those that are “the most difficult in the world to obtain.”
Later in his presser, the president spotted a rare opportunity to express an opinion about papitas – potato chips – when a reporter proposed the dissemination of televised information about harmful products at his mañaneras.
Not only is junk food unhealthy, it’s a rip-off, according to President López Obrador. (ROGELIO MORALES /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
“Your proposal is very good,” AMLO said, adding that he would ask Ricardo Sheffield, head of the consumer protection agency Profeco, to consider it “because there is a lot of fraud, a lot of adulterated products [and] junk.”
“… They say, ‘las papitas.’ Well, yes [they are potato chips] … but they add a lot of salt. But … the greatest damage caused by papitas is that they cost a lot – they’re very expensive, right? They put a lot of air [in the packet]. But if you have a potato and you fry it, it’s a lot cheaper,” he said.
“We already know that there are sodas … that are harmful, but people like them. The obligation we have is to inform and then the people have to decide,” López Obrador added.
Turning to another topic, AMLO assured reporters that Mexico wasn’t about to run out of water despite recent hot weather and widespread drought.
“There is sufficient water for irrigation and domestic consumption,” he said.
“Yes, there has been heat in some areas … but there is no risk that we’ll be left without water in any part of the country,” López Obrador said before highlighting a range of water projects his government is carrying out.
Presa El Zapotillo in Jalisco is one of the hydraulic projects AMLO referenced in his Wednesday morning press conference. (Gob MX)
Asked whether he would appeal the ruling of the National Electoral Institute (INE) that he must abstain from speaking about electoral issues in the lead-up to elections in 2024, AMLO agreed that his rights were being violated by the gag order but ruled out challenging it in court.
The reporter subsequently told the president that two legal challenges had already been presented in his name.
“Ah, sí? The lawyers here do it as a matter of routine. You know what lawyers are like,” López Obrador said.
Before concluding his midweek press conference, AMLO reaffirmed that the government’s “adversaries – the corrupt, hypocritical conservatives – would prefer that the mañaneras didn’t exist.”
“Some of them say, ‘I don’t want the mañaneras.’ Cousin, don’t watch them, don’t watch them,” he said.
López Obrador, who presided over his first mañanera two days after he was sworn in as president, said he would hold his final press conference on Sept. 30, 2024, his final full day in the nation’s top job. He joked that he could also hold press conferences on Saturdays and Sundays if the need arose.
“See you there, adiós,” he said before leaving the Salón de la Tesorería (Treasury Hall) of the National Palace to get on with the rest of his working day.
Thursday
Asked about claims that new school textbooks to be distributed to students later this month teach the creed of the Fourth Transformation (4T) – the government’s self-anointed political agenda – AMLO said it would be “great” if they did because his administration believes in “not lying, not stealing and not betraying the people.”
However, they don’t promote the 4T’s way of thinking and claims to the contrary are a “total fabrication,” he said.
“… There is nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. The books are very well-made by specialists, educators, but above all teachers participated [in their creation],” López Obrador said.
He noted that the National Action Party’s national leader Marko Cortés has called for parents to tear out pages of the textbooks they don’t deem appropriate for their children’s education, but claimed that the prominent opposition figure hasn’t even seen them.
PAN president Marko Cortés has made scathing statements about the new textbooks. (Marko Cortés/Twitter)
López Obrador asserted that most critics of the textbooks “haven’t even read them.” He also contended that the criticism is politically motivated.
The president later confirmed a three-week-old Reuters report that said that the federal government was no longer interested in buying the bank Citibanamex.
However, he noted that banking is a very good business as banks made record profits of 230 billion pesos in Mexico last year.
“Speaking with sincerity and responsibility, we can no longer [buy a bank] because of the [lack of] time [we have left in office]. However, a new government could and it wouldn’t be a bad business,” AMLO said.
“But here we’re back to ideology again, there are a lot of people who would say: ‘How can the government get involved in buying a bank!’ because under the neoliberal model the government shouldn’t get involved in anything that has to do with development, everything had to be left to the national or foreign private sector,” he said.
Responding to an inquiry about the Federal Electoral Tribunal’s ruling that remarks he made about Senator Xóchitl Gálvez could be considered gender-based political violence – a decision that differed from an earlier INE verdict – López Obrador called on the court to specify the “offense … I committed against the woman,” a leading aspirant to the Broad Front for Mexico‘s 2024 presidential election candidacy.
Xóchitl Gálvez has been traveling the country to gather signatures for her candidacy to represent the Broad Front for Mexico. (Xóchitl Gálvez/Twitter)
A reporter reminded the president – who claimed last month that Gálvez has already been chosen as the opposition bloc’s presidential candidate – that he called the senator the candidate of a group led by businessman Claudio X. González.
(He has also claimed that Gálvez is the “candidate of the mafia of power” and a “puppet of the oligarchy,” among other disparaging remarks.)
López Obrador doubled down on his assertion that the senator is the candidate of a faction led by González and asked: “What’s wrong with [saying] that? What violence can it be?”
Toward the end of his presser, AMLO once again confirmed that he would travel to Colombia and Chile next month, but revealed that he wasn’t looking forward to the amount of time he will have to spend in the air to get to the South American nations.
“What always concerns me are long trips, being stuck in a tube for 10 hours. … Here [in Mexico] I travel a lot, but these long trips are something else,” he said.
“And I maintain, I’ve always thought, that the best foreign policy is domestic policy. … If we do things well here, they’ll respect us abroad. If we don’t do our work here, they could look down on us abroad. The most important thing is to look after one’s home,” López Obrador said.
“It’s very important for me to go to South America because I haven’t been able to get there as president,” he said.
“And soon I’ll be in Canada, where I’ve never been, but the North American [Leaders’] Summit will be held there and they’re inviting us for the end of the year. … And I haven’t been able to go to Europe or Asia or Africa or any other continent,” AMLO said, adding that he didn’t intend to travel outside the Americas before his term as president ends.
Friday
“I believe there has been a good security policy in Mexico City for some time,” López Obrador said when asked why homicide rates had declined in the capital.
“… The city is safe,” he declared before acknowledging that “of course, there is still crime, there are still robberies, there are still unfortunate homicides.”
AMLO presented data that showed that Mexico City ranked 22nd out of the 32 federal entities for its per capita homicide rate during the 4 1/2 years since the current government took office. Another data set showed that there were 447 homicides in the Mexico City in the first six months of 2023, making the capital the 15th most violent entity this year based on total murders.
AMLO showed official homicide statistics at the Friday morning press conference. ( ROGELIO MORALES /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
“These results are achieved here in large part due to the welfare programs, they’ve helped a lot,” López Obrador said.
“Other things as well. For example, the police in the city aren’t bad. There are four forces – the preventive police, the auxiliary police, the bank police and the ministerial police, and they’re good,” he said, adding that recent Mexico City mayors, himself included, have played an important role in making the capital safer as they have directly attended to security issues rather than delegating problems to other officials.
“It really is very satisfying to live in a safer city, it’s not perfect, but it is a city with more security,” AMLO said.
Not long before the Complaints Commission of the INE once again ordered him to abstain from speaking about Xóchitl Gálvez, López Obrador said he wouldn’t refer to the senator and presidential hopeful if he was prohibited from doing so.
However, the president – who has defied an earlier INE order to refrain from speaking about electoral issues on numerous occasions – made it clear that he believed electoral authorities were violating his right to freedom of speech.
Both the INE and the Federal Electoral Tribunal are guilty of a “flagrant violation of freedoms,” he said. “How can people be silenced?” AMLO asked.
One reporter decided to make an inquiry about the president’s feelings, asking him whether he had ever experienced moments of unhappiness.
“Like any human being, I have moments of sadness and moments of happiness, that’s the way human beings are. But there are things that make one very happy, helping others, for example,” López Obrador said.
“… I can confirm that the neediest people are being helped, that’s worth more than all the gold in the world, that’s not bought with money,” said AMLO, whose government is spending hundreds of billions of pesos per year on welfare programs.
Returning to the school textbooks controversy, López Obrador said that Education Minister Leticia Ramírez and the “specialists” who produced the books will hold a press conference next Tuesday to present information about them and respond to questions.
Education Minister Leticia Ramírez at a press conference earlier this year. (Leticia Ramírez/Twitter)
“All texts are perfectible, that’s why there are later editions with modifications, they are improved over time. The important thing is to see the essence of the books – what they contain, how they are different [from previous texts] … and what is the basis of the educators, those who made the books, which took a very long time [to produce],” he said.
AMLO also said that governors don’t have the power to stop the distribution of the textbooks, as some have threatened to do.
Late in his mañanera, López Obrador reiterated his view that the anti-migrant floating barrier set up in the Rio Grande by the government of Texas is “very inhumane.”
“I believe the people realize that [anti-migrant measures] are actions against fraternity, against [the principle of] love thy neighbor,” López Obrador said.
“It’s very sad because a mother identified her son [as one of the dead] and it’s a young man … from Honduras,” he lamented shortly before calling time on his final press conference of the week.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
