The international law enforcement body issued a formal request for their arrest after the family members failed to appear in a Mexican court in May. (Interpol/Twitter)
Interpol has issued red notices for the arrest of the wife and two brothers of former Mexican security minister Genaro García Luna, who is currently in prison in the United States on charges of drug trafficking.
The three people are wanted in connection to crimes committed in Mexico that are unrelated to the U.S. drug trafficking charges for which García Luna wasconvicted in February.
García Luna was convicted by U.S. prosecutors of international cocaine distribution, among other charges. His attorneys have been granted more time to pursue potentially favorable new evidence they say has come to light since the conviction in February. (File photo by Tercero Diaz/Cuartoscuro)
According to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office (FGR), García Luna’s siblings and his wife Cristina Pereyra are suspected of involvement in one of three cases being brought against García Luna in Mexico.
The case concerns 10 allegedly fraudulent contracts to provide technological services to Mexican federal prisons, amounting to 5.1 billion pesos (US $302 million).
Pereyra is currently living in the U.S., where she accompanied her husband during his trial in New York in March. Justifying her decision to move from Mexico to Miami, she told the court: “We wanted our children to have a normal life.”
A Mexican federal judge ordered the arrest of Pereyra and García Luna’s brothers in May, along with60 people accused of involvement in the embezzlement scheme. When they failed to appear in court, the FGR requested that Interpol issue red notices for their arrest.
Pablo Gómez Álvarez, head of Mexico’s federal Financial Intelligence Unit, revealed this year that García Luna orchestrated an embezzlement network of 44 international companies. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
Though a red notice may lead to an arrest, it is considered a formal request, and it is ultimately up to the discretion of the Interpol member country whether or not to arrest the person. This distinguishes it from an international warrant.
After Interpol issued the red notices, President López Obrador called on former President Felipe Calderón to break his silence about the charges against García Luna, who served as security minister in Calderón’s government.
“He should say that it’s all false, that it was an invention of the government, of the U.S. Attorney General’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration. [If] what is said about García Luna isn’t true, defend him. Or say ‘I made a mistake,’” AMLO said.
García Luna faces two additional arrest warrants in Mexico. One is for the “Fast and the Furious” case, named after a controversial police operation that allowed 2,500 weapons to be trafficked from the U.S. to Mexico between 2009 and 2011.
Its stated aim was to use the arms to trace drug traffickers, but the illegal arms trafficking network it created only gave more power to the criminals.
The second warrant is for the fictitious construction and operation of several federal prisons, through which García Luna allegedly embezzled 64.9 billion pesos (US $3.84 billion).
United States authorities have not commented on Interpol’s request.
Qualcomm is coming to Baja California, along with nascent initiatives to train a semiconductor workforce in the border states. (Qualcomm)
Semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm Technologies will open its first facility in Tijuana as soon as next fall, according to a statement made by Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon.
In the joint statement, Ávila Olmeda and Caristiano Amon said the operations center will focus on engineering for internal research and development projects.
The United States’ new CHIPS bill offers financial incentives to companies engaged in US semiconductor, or chip, production. For Mexico, that means more manufacturers may seek to supplement their supply chain south of the border. (Intel Latin America)
“We’re very pleased to expand Qualcomm Technologies operations and engineering footprint to Tijuana and to strengthen our presence and commitment in Mexico,” the Executive Vice-president and Head of Supply Chain and Operations for Qualcomm Roawen Chen said. “Access to engineering talent in the Baja California region was key in this decision,” he added.
Based out of San Diego, United States, and with operations in over 30 countries, Qualcomm powers the cellular connection of smartphones and tablets around the world. Besides semiconductors, or chips, its product catalog includes processors, modems, RF systems, 5G, 4G, legacy connectivity solutions, and optimized software.
In a statement, Ávila Olmeda said that Baja California is developing infrastructure projects, such as ports and roadways, that will facilitate the operations of Qualcomm and other multinational companies in the state.
“These actions will streamline the movement of goods and people, facilitating the operations of Qualcomm as well as other companies that operate in Baja California,” Ávila Olmeda said.
The Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) is prepared to meet the emerging labor demand for chip engineers, with plans for a new specialized degree at two campuses. (Wikimedia Commons)
Earlier in July, Baja California’s Economy and Innovation Minister Kurt Honold Morales said that a German semiconductor manufacturing company will also establish a plant in the state. However, he gave no further details as to the name of the company or when it would arrive.
He also added that, to attract new companies, the state needs to invest in more talent, in hydraulic infrastructure and electricity, and in the transfer of hydrogen and gas to industrial plants.
To encourage the development of new talent, the rector of the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) Luis Enrique Palafox Maestre said that starting in the new school year, the Mexicali campus will launch a Semiconductor and Microelectronic Engineering degree with a first class of 15 students, followed by the Valle de las Palmas campus in Tijuana.
Qualcomm’s announced arrival in Mexico comes one year after the United States signed the CHIPS bill to expand semiconductor manufacturing in the region.
The bill includes an investment of US $500 million in international cooperation, which is aimed at developing manufacturing capacity and workforce training in border states.
The independent Mexican union La Liga had reported the abuse of workers' rights at Goodyear San Luis Potosí city factory. (Goodyear)
Mexico and the United States have agreed on a “course of remediation” to address a situation at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company plant in San Luis Potosí in which workers’ rights have been denied.
The announcement on Wednesday of the “plan to remediate denials of rights” came almost two months after the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) asked Mexico to investigate a claim from independent union La Liga that Goodyear — an Ohio-based company — had been abusing workers’ rights at its plant in San Luis Potosí city.
Employees, who voted to terminate their bargaining contract with Goodyear earlier this year, said that their union had not followed workers’ wishes. (Government of Mexico)
Announcing the plan, the USTR noted that it had asked Mexico to “review whether Goodyear was failing to provide workers with the beneficial terms of an existing sector-wide agreement (contrato ley) in place for the rubber manufacturing industry.”
“Mexico accepted the request and concluded that workers at the facility are being denied their right to freedom of association and collective bargaining,” the USTR said in a statement.
The agreed “course of remediation” — reached in accordance with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Facility-Specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism — consists of 11 different points.
According to the USTR statement, the government of Mexico will:
The agreement lists many requirements, including that the Government of Mexico will conduct in-person workers’ rights trainings with employees. (Goodyear)
Ensure that Goodyear distributes copies of and applies the sector-wide agreement (contrato ley) at its San Luis Potosí plant.
Ensure that Goodyear continues to apply any and all wages and benefits currently provided to covered workers that are superior to the terms of the contrato ley.
Ensure that Goodyear adequately compensates covered workers for any wages or benefits they didn’t receive as a result of Goodyear’s failure to apply the contrato ley.
Ensure that Goodyear posts, disseminates to workers, and abides by a public statement acknowledging its commitment to respect the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining and affirming its neutrality and noninterference in union activities.
Ensure that Goodyear issues transparent guidelines explaining the rights it will provide to union representatives and advisors and trains all company personnel on the company guidelines and neutrality commitments, as well as the rights to collective bargaining, freedom of association, and the contrato ley.
Ensure that Goodyear posts information about how workers can file complaints with the company and the Government of Mexico related to violations of their rights.
Inform workers of the reasons that led the Government of Mexico to determine there is an ongoing denial of rights at the facility, as well as the scope and content of the Course of Remediation.
Conduct in-person workers’ rights training for all company personnel.
Monitor the facility to ensure compliance with the course of remediation and Mexican laws related to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
If warranted based on this monitoring, initiate sanctions proceedings, in accordance with Mexican law, and if applicable, impose the corresponding sanctions on persons, labor organizations, or the company.
Publish and disseminate materials that explain key issues related to the rights of workers to freedom of association and collective bargaining, including the law related to and existence of contrato ley, to increase public awareness on the rights of workers and the responsibilities of employers, particularly at facilities covered by a contrato ley.
The course of remediation is scheduled to be completed by Jan. 19, 2024, according to the agreement between Mexico and the United States.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the course of remediation is “aimed at remedying violations of workers’ rights at the Goodyear facility.”
“The United States will closely monitor the plan’s implementation. I commend the government of Mexico for its commitment to bringing this facility into compliance with Mexico’s labor law and for raising awareness of the applicability of the contrato ley across the sector,” she added.
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai. Katherine Tai Twitter
Mexico’s Economy Ministry and Labor Ministry said in a joint statement that Goodyear “cooperated fully” with Mexican and U.S. authorities during a review of its San Luis Potosí plant, and affirmed its commitment to labor and union rights including those to freedom of association and collective bargaining.
The USTR noted that the bilateral Goodyear plan “marks the fourth time the United States and Mexico have agreed on a formal course of remediation” under the USMCA’s Facility-Specific Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRM).
“This course of remediation is the result of the commitment of the U.S. and Mexican Governments to workers’ rights. It represents a success for the workers in the facility and demonstrates the continued impact of the RRM,” it said.
In response to increased demand, Volaris will introduce 40 new flights, some of which are brand new routes. Special focus is being given to the Bajío region, part of Mexico undergoing a significant boom in 2023. (Volaris/Instagram)
Flying these days is rarely described as a fun activity. As I have had to do a fair amount of it within Mexico lately, I have tried to entertain myself by doing some observational research in airports. As a marketer at heart, I love doing research – reading extensively from lots of sources and then applying what I have read to what I observe in the real world.
I’ve been using my marketing research brain recently to think about Mexico’s airline industry. I analyze it here through three different lenses: airports, domestic routes and international routes.
The amount of development and construction taking place now in Mexico’s airport sector is nothing short of mind-boggling. We all know about the new airport in Mexico City, Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), with a capacity for 20 million passengers annually (and potentially up to 80 million if planned expansions are completed). Despite the controversy surrounding the project, it continues to attract airlines and passengers.
The second and third largest cities in the country, Guadalajara and Monterrey, are currently expanding their airports with massive multi-year projects increasing capacity to 40 million and 16.5 million passengers respectively per year. It’s not just in the very largest cities: Querétaro has recently announced continued expansion plans, Puerto Vallarta has a significant expansion underway to increase capacity to nearly 12 million passengers per year, Cabo San Lucas airport is adding nine new gates, and Cancún’s airport seems to never stop expanding.
The new Felipe Carrillo International Airport in Tulum is under construction and slated to begin operations early next year. Even with all of these expansions, the airports are more packed with travelers than ever.
The amount of domestic routes being added is also an exciting development taking place. Clearly, the airlines are seeing increased demand and purchasing power from their customers and responding with more flights.
New connections, new cities, additional flights are announced on an almost weekly basis. The demand – from families going on beach vacations to business people traveling from one city to another – is undeniably on the rise. Last year, there were 115 new routes added nationally and from abroad to Mexico, and Volaris alone just announced 40 new flights last month.
I think an interesting observation of the two fastest-growing domestic airlines, Viva Aerobus and Volaris, is that neither one has a first class section. These airlines are not building their business models based on well-heeled business people, or the wealthy who prefer flying in first class, but rather with a focus on the rapidly growing Mexican middle class.
Along with the growth in domestic routes, the amount of international routes being added by both national and international airlines is a development to watch as well.
According to schedule data from Cirium, there are now a total of nearly 750 flights per day between the United States and Mexico. American Airlines, with a total of 170 flights to Mexico per day, just increased its total number of flights per day to 50 from Dallas alone to different cities in Mexico.
United Airlines has 143 flights a day to Mexico, and Volaris is in third position, with 88 flights a day. Delta is in fourth place, with 66 flights a day between the two countries. Both United and American have seven flights a day from their Texas hubs to Cancún, Delta has six per day from Atlanta to Cancún, and United has six per day from Houston to Mexico City – that is an incredible level of connectivity!
In countless flights I’ve taken between the United States and Mexico over the years, I remember feeling like most passengers (outside of the beach flights) fit into one of two categories: U.S. business people traveling to Mexico, or Mexicans coming to visit family in the U.S.
Today, the diversity of travelers is inspiring and exciting. Business people from around the globe are on Mexico-bound flights, Mexican business people are traveling out to do business, Mexican families flying to take holidays in the U.S. and beyond, foreign tourists are flying into Mexican cities on vacations, young Mexicans are on flights to the U.S. or abroad to study. The frequency of flights, the diversity of airlines, and new connections from both abroad and in Mexico are allowing passengers to explore internationally like never before.
I encourage you to get out and fly into and around Mexico to be inspired by a dynamic industry responding to a rapidly growing and evolving customer base. The construction noise, packed waiting areas, and loud kids in the airports might not make your journey the most relaxing one ever, but you can’t help by be excited by the sounds of an expanding and mobile middle class, and what it means for the future of the country.
Inmtec is offering this valuable service to help facilitate financial transactions in Mexico. (Courtesy)
When you’re buying property or getting started with a new commercial enterprise, how do you make sure you best protect your investment and find your way through the legal landscape? It can be stressful and pretty daunting, going through all the necessary steps from start to finish, especially when doing transactions abroad.
To ensure your financial security, peace of mind and your understanding of the Mexican process, a well-managed escrow account is without a doubt the best way to go. Inmtec, a well-established and reputable financial services company based in Querétaro, has recently created an entirely new division, providing escrow services.
Over this next month, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the step-by-step process of Inmtec’s escrow services. We’ll also be interviewing Inmtec’s’ CEO, Ángel Marín Díaz, and National Director of Escrow Services, Addy Montoya, asking in-depth questions and examining the benefits of escrow on multiple levels.
This week, we’re outlining the broad scope of Inmtec’s escrow services. As the demand for secure and transparent transactions in Mexico grows, whether you’re a buyer or seller, choosing escrow is solid insurance for a reliable and seamless process.
We asked Addy Montoya some questions about what Inmtec can provide in comparison to other escrow services in Mexico.
Why do I need an escrow account in Mexico?
Mexico has a thriving international trade market, and an escrow service can facilitate secure cross-border transactions. You’ll mitigate the risks associated with international trade, such as non-payment, delivery disputes, or issues with product quality. The Inmtec team considers escrow particularly useful for complex transactions that involve multiple parties or contingencies.
Escrow services act as a neutral third party that holds funds and documents during a real estate or commercial transaction. This impartial intermediary, Inmtec, ensures all conditions are met before releasing funds to the seller. The added layer of security and trust is increasingly important,where buyers and sellers seek peace of mind and protection against potential fraud or misrepresentation.
Only Inmtec is licensed to provide this type of service in Mexico, and therefore we understand implicitly the specific legal frameworks and regulations. Your protection is guaranteed by law.
Would my escrow account be personal and confidential?
Yes, Inmtec maintains strict confidentiality over every client’s account, understanding the multiple different needs and specific requirements for each account holder and their business at hand. Personalized attention fosters trust, reliability and lasting relationships, and Inmtec’s main focus is to provide an impeccable bespoke service, through every account detail and every stage of the deal.
Would my escrow account be bonded?
The answer is, yes, absolutely. All agreements and contracts between buyer and seller parties would be compliant with relevant laws, agreements or contracts that outline the terms and conditions of the escrow.
Do I get preferential exchange rates?
Given the peso/US dollar rollercoaster right now, you’ll be offered preferential exchange rates.
Inmtec’s partnerships and expertise in the financial industry means they stay on top of market trends and fluctuations, ensuring their clients benefit from the most favorable exchange when converting currencies for their escrow transactions.
Is Inmtec escrow company a fiduciary?
Yes! Inmtec’s classification as a fiduciary will mean locktight security, trust and legal protection, as the fiduciary also carries additional responsibilities and potential liabilities. Fiduciaries must navigate conflicts of interest, maintain accurate records, and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
Buyers, sellers and other stakeholders involved in the transaction, are offered that much more security knowing that their funds or assets are being held by a fiduciary who has a legal obligation to act in their best interests. A higher level of transparency and legal protection is assured. Additionally, being able to offer escrow service as a fiduciary can provide a competitive advantage, demonstrating your commitment to integrity, transparency, and client-centric services, which can differentiate you from competitors.
Is Inmtec escrow insured?
Inmtec insures each individual depositor.
Can I get title insurance?
Yes, Inmtec Escrow Services supplies title insurance for transactions.
Can I get insurance for hidden construction flaws found post-purchase?
Yes, Inmtec Escrow Services offers Vicios Ocultos (“hidden defects”) insurance for all your post-transaction coverage.
In summary, Inmtec Escrow Services offers robust streamlining and efficiency throughout your transaction process; centralizing funds and documents in one secure location, simplifying the administrative tasks involved in buying and selling, including managing the transfer of ownership, coordinating with lenders and ensuring all legal requirements are met.
Inmtec is setting the stage by playing a crucial role in shaping the future of the real estate and other markets in Mexico, and where other companies don’t, provides the necessary infrastructure for trade transactions to be facilitated in the most time efficient manner, reducing delays and complications.
Next week, we meet the team at Inmtec, discovering their areas of expertise and getting acquainted with their specialized process. Stay tuned!
The site of the incident was ordered to halt operations in 2022 due to unsafe working conditions. (Twitter)
Two workers were killed on Tuesday in an accident at a coal mine near Sabinas, Coahuila.
According to official reports by the Coahuila branch of the National Coordination for Civil Protection (CNPC), the accident happened at a mine on the El Mezquite communal land at around 12 p.m. The victims were named as merely José Guadalupe and Juan Jesús.
Although local media initially reported the accident as an explosion, authorities later said the two men died after a winch carrying them out of the mine shaft broke. Coahuila’s Undersecretary of Civil Protection Francisco Martínez Ávalos estimated they had fallen about 70 meters.
The bodies of the deceased were recovered on Wednesday. (Twitter)
Relatives of the miners began to arrive at the site in the hours following the accident, and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) was notified to activate the relevant protocols.
On Wednesday, the CNPC announced onsocial media that the two bodies had been recovered and sent condolences to the miners’ families. The federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) is participating in an investigation into the incident.
The accident comes almost a year after a collapse at the nearby El Pinabete mine on August 3, 2022, left10 workers trapped. All 10 died after flooding in the mine made it impossible for rescue crews to reach them. Their bodies have yet to be recovered.
In May, Luis Rafael García Luna Acuña, majority owner of the Pinabete mine, was arrested onillegal mining charges and ordered to stand trial for “unlawful exploitation of an asset belonging to the nation.”
Laura Velázquez Alzúa, federal head of the CNPC, said that the bodies of miners killed last year at the nearby El Pinabete mine may soon be recovered. (CNPC/Facebook)
Laura Velázquez Alzúa, federal head of the CNPC, held a meeting with families of the El Pinabete miners and engineers from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) on Monday, in which the families were informed of progress in the excavation of the collapsed mine to recover their loved ones’ remains.
CFE engineers reported that more machinery and personnel had been deployed to accelerate pumping work and construct hydraulic plugs to control water levels in the pit. If the plugs pass efficiency tests, controlled excavations can begin to recover the bodies.
A soldier stands guard outside Altiplano federal maximum-security prison, where Rafael Caro Quintero was held before his extradition on Thursday. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
A regional judicial body has handed down a ruling that effectively eliminates mandatory preventive detention in 18 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities.
The decision by the Regional Plenary on Criminal Matters of the Central-North Region (PRMP) complies with rulings made by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) against the use of mandatory pretrial detention in Mexico.
Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldívar has said that preventive detention has been abused in Mexico and that pretrial detention should be the exception rather than the rule. (Galo Cañas Rodriguez/Cuartoscuro)
The IACHR in April ordered Mexico to change its laws regarding the use of preventive detention after ruling that the Mexican state violated the rights of two men who were imprisoned for more than 17 years before being convicted of homicide charges.
The Costa Rica-based court made a similar order in January after concluding that Mexico violated the rights of personal freedom and presumption of innocence in a case involving three men who were arrested on the Mexico City-Veracruz highway in 2006 on organized crime charges and held in pretrial prison for over 2 1/2 years before they were absolved.
Once it is officially published, the Regional Plenary’s ruling will eliminate mandatory preventive detention — called prisión preventiva oficiosa in Spanish — in Mexico City, México state, Nuevo León, Sonora, Coahuila, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Baja California, Guanajuato, Chihuahua, Tamaulipas, Querétaro, Zacatecas, Nayarit, Durango, Baja California Sur, Tlaxcala and Aguascalientes.
The decision, announced by the Federal Judiciary Council (CJF) last Friday, came eight months after the Supreme Court ruled that existing mandatory pretrial detention arrangements were valid in most cases. Suspects accused of a range of “serious crimes” including homicide, rape, kidnapping, fuel theft, burglary and firearm offenses have been subject to mandatory imprisonment as they await trial.
🟡 Amnistía Internacional se congratula por la decisión del Pleno Regional de eliminar la Prisión Preventiva Oficiosa en 18 estados de #México, conforme a las sentencias emitidas por la @CorteIDH en los casos Tzompaxtle Tecpile y otros contra México, y García Rodríguez y otro… pic.twitter.com/qqK9qDP47H
— Amnistía Int. México (@amnistiamexico) July 19, 2023
Amnesty International’s Mexico division praised the ruling. The NGO has long urged Mexico to eliminate mandatory preventive prison.
According to a CJF statement, when a person accused of a crime in the entities where the PRMP ruling will apply requests a provisional suspension of the imposition of mandatory preventive detention, that suspension is automatically granted pending a hearing at which a judge will have the option to make a suspect subject to an alternative pretrial control mechanism such as house arrest, a requirement to periodically sign in with authorities or an obligation to wear an ankle monitor.
A judge could still decide to place a suspect in preventive custody, but will not have an obligation to do so if the person is accused of a crime such as homicide or rape, as is currently the case.
The Mexico branch of Amnesty International said on Twitter that it was pleased that the PRMP had decided to eliminate mandatory preventive detention in 18 states in accordance with the IACHR rulings. It also called on the Mexican state to “strengthen a justice system that favors and guarantees human rights.”
Amnesty International has been calling for mandatory preventive detention to be abolished in Mexico since the IACHR handed down its ruling in January.
According to the ruling, in the states where it applies, judges will have the option to order preventive prison but also have other options such as house arrest, a requirement to sign in with authorities regularly, or a mandate to wear an ankle monitor. (Wikimedia Commons)
The court in April ordered the Mexican government to “adjust its internal legal system on mandatory preventive detention” within one year and “review the pertinence of maintaining” the measure.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at the time that the Mexican state would carefully analyze the IACHR’s ruling with the aim of complying and “ensuring the greatest respect” for the obligations outlined in the American Convention on Human Rights.
The government said last year that the existence of preventive prison is fundamental for certain crimes “to ensure that the alleged criminals detained for organized crime, serious crimes … or white-collar crimes don’t avoid … justice during the criminal process.”
The news website Animal Político reported late last year that 300 men and women are imprisoned every day, most of whom haven’t been convicted of a crime.
It was reported late last year that some 92,000 people were in prison awaiting trial, a figure that equates to over 40% of the entire prison population in Mexico. Some suspects languish in prisons for years without facing trial, although by law they shouldn’t be held in preventive custody for more than two years.
Arturo Zaldívar, a member of the Supreme Court since 2009 and a former chief justice, said last year that preventive detention has been abused in Mexico and that pretrial detention should be the exception rather than the rule, used when the accused is a flight risk or there is a danger that evidence will be destroyed or witnesses’ safety will be placed at risk.
Mexico has 18 million stray dogs — twice the population of New York City. (Photos by Caitlin Ahern)
Founding a successful business in a foreign country is challenging. Combining it with an all-consuming philanthropic pursuit is even harder. Caitlin Ahern, an ambitious creative entrepreneur with a passion for protecting dogs, tells her story
There are 18 million street dogs in Mexico, more than double the amount of people living in New York City today. If these 18 million dogs were to come together to form one canine community, it would be one of the most populous cities in the world.
Dogs at Caravana Canina get treated with a kind of love and respect that some of Ahern’s canine guests may never have experienced in their entire lives.
Cruel treatment, neglect and abuse of street dogs is an endemic issue in Mexico. Though kindhearted people help some of these animals find homes, Mexico has one of the highest — if not the highest — rate of stray dogs in all Latin America.
Entrepreneur Caitlin Ahern moved from the United States to Mexico in 2014. Combining her experience as a teacher and working for fair-trade craft companies stateside, she came to Mexico and founded Thread Caravan, an experience-led business that organizes art and textile workshops nationwide in collaboration with local craft communities.
Working with local communities, Ahern increased her offerings rapidly, introducing more and more people to the unique world of Mexican crafts. Her research trips to remote areas also revealed a challenging, darker side of everyday life here.
“In many towns, there are large open spaces where unvaccinated, maltreated dogs come and go,” Ahern says. “Living on the streets provides dogs with certain liberties that some genuinely seem to enjoy. However, it also brings many inherent risks.”
Because homeless dogs must roam the streets, they are in constant danger of injury, sometimes by accident, sometimes by the cruelty of humans who attack them.
“I encountered dogs that have been hit by cars, dogs that have machete wounds, dogs that are paralyzed from acute spinal impact injuries,” she said.
Although there were animal rescue organizations where Caitlin lived, they were few and far between in smaller towns.
Ahern refused to turn a blind eye and quickly set about meeting with local veterinarians. She became part of different communities, learning from people which dogs had homes or were injured. She quickly saw the benefits of information-sharing and of discussions about how the problem of a growing stray dog population could be solved.
Shortly afterward, Ahern, two vets and several neighbors spayed and neutered 10 dogs in San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya. The campaign attracted attention from other towns, planting the seed for what would become Aherns’s dog shelter and protection charity, Caravana Canina.
Providing medical care for dogs is an everyday part of the work carried out by Caravana Canina.
Eight years on, she runs her charity as a vehicle for education and canine protection. Caravana Canina has spayed and neutered over 400 dogs, found homes for 150 and provided food and medical care for countless dogs across Mexico.
Ahern tells me she can’t remember the last day she didn’t receive a message asking her to rescue an injured or abandoned dog. One recent case still resonates in her mind.
A woman who lived in Santa María del Tule, a town famous for being home to Mexico’s oldest tree, called Ahern in panic. She had seen a dog unable to walk that was crawling on the hot pavement just outside the town’s center.
X-rays showed an acute spinal fracture, likely from being struck hard by a blunt object. A trusted vet told Ahern and the woman who had alerted her to the situation that the 1-year-old dog, named Ficus, would remain permanently paralyzed. Euthanizing Ficus would be the most practical option the vet told Ahern.
At Ahern’s shelter, even dogs that some vets might suggest to euthanize get a second chance.
“We listened to the vet in silence together. I recall how enthusiastic the dog was about life, despite not being able to walk, and couldn’t shake the thought from my head.”
That day, Ahern decided to foster the dog.
“Ficus, [now renamed Ferris] was with us for almost one year,” Ahern told me. “We organized a wheelchair for him, reusable diapers and reusable pee pads for his bed. We spent time researching pain relief and found that giving him CBD and restricting him to a specialist diet would ease his pain and gradually boost his strength.”
“Eventually, we found a wonderful family for him — a woman in Phoenix, Arizona, who has three other dogs with special mobility needs. Ferris is incredibly happy there.”
Over eight years, Ahern’s charity has expanded from not just caring for individual dogs in crisis but also promoting education and providing resources to help people neuter their dogs and treat all canines with more compassion. (Caitlin Ahern)
Throughout Mexico, admirable work is already being done to raise awareness of the benefits of spaying and neutering dogs.
According to Ahern, “Caravana Canina is just reinforcing that effort to help amplify, connect people and provide extra resources.”
Despite this, it’s clear that more needs to be done.
Many people also feel threatened by packs of street dogs roaming the streets. One dog owner from Oaxaca revealed to me that she won’t leave the house without pepper spray, which she is ready to use against street dogs who could threaten her and her own dog. Another dog walker tells me they prefer to arm themselves with a “large wooden stick for self defense,” a common solution in Mexico.
Caravana Canina and other similar charities operating in Mexico are actively demonstrating that tackling the root of the problem through education about population control allows humans and dogs to coexist in the most healthy and humane way.
“We can all do our bit to help humans feel safer and dogs live a better life here,” Ahern said. “Teach children how to care for animals, share information with your friends about different illnesses that affect animals and talk about useful tips and tricks to help pet owners provide the best care to their animals.”
Though the scale of the problem may seem too great to solve, rooting for this woman and her (literal) underdog story is hard to resist.
Gordon Cole-Schmidt is a public relations specialist and freelance journalist, advising and writing on companies and issues across multi-national communication programs.
Chacala, Nayarit, is a small-town paradise by the ocean, but with Mexico's small towns often come challenges you might find frustrating if you're originally from a more urban or even suburban area. (Debbie Slobe)
Last night, we had our first real rain of the season in Chacala, here in Nayarit. Nary a drop had fallen in 8 ½ months — not since hurricane Roslyn in October. And this is supposed to be the tropics.
I stood outside on my terraza and let the raindrops hit my face, mixing with my tears of relief. Relief from the fires that had been burning around our community for months. Relief from the drought and heat that had withered many of our plants to dry, lifeless nubs — and our streets to dust. Relief from the feelings of far-away-ness and stress I’d been holding onto lately as our community and family faced challenges beyond our control.
Services cannot always be relied upon to work all of the time, as this photo of the author by candlelight illustrates. It was taken during a prolonged power outage. (Debbie Slobe)
Contrary to what most “move to Mexico” social media feeds would have you believe, life in Mexico isn’t always sunsets and margaritas. Life continues to “life” no matter where you live. And sometimes life in Mexico as a foreigner can feel, well, quite foreign.
Never have these feelings been more acute for me than during the last few months when our community was plagued at the same time by fires, smoke, heat and drought, as well as water, internet and cell service outages.
We are used to having one or two or even three of these things occur at once, but having them happen all at the same time for weeks on end brought me to a near-breaking point.
You have to understand: I’m a girl from the suburbs and used to things working relatively smoothly; when they don’t, a service provider comes and fixes it.
Although more fires, heat and drought are being felt by nearly everyone, everywhere, due to global climate change, in the U.S. suburbs, you can usually count on a reasonably well-equipped fire department to come and assist, count on water to still flow and count on people having access to air-conditioned spaces — if not in their own homes, then in stores, restaurants, schools, offices and other buildings.
I know this is a generalization, and there are also many communities in the U.S. without reliable services, but not at the same level as in Mexico. This is certainly the case in Chacala — and I suspect for many other small towns here.
During all this, I received the news that my father in the U.S. had had a cycling accident and needed emergency surgery. Never had I felt so far away from “home.”
For seven years now, Mexico has been my home. More accurately, the small coastal town of Chacala has been my home. I love it here for so many reasons: the beautiful beaches, the close-knit community, the colorful birdlife, the access to fresh fish and fruit, the incredible school my daughter attends, the wonderful friends I’ve made here, the cultural practices and traditions I’ve come to respect and enjoy and the intergenerational, family-centric way of life.
I could go on. I have traveled all over Mexico, and the more I see of the country, the deeper I fall in love with it. But it’s a love that comes with lumps that, as a foreigner, I have a hard time swallowing sometimes.
It’s a nearly daily struggle, no — opportunity for personal growth — to flex and flow with how things work here versus how I think they should work. I’ve had to peel back so many layers of my US- and white-centric conditioning in order to navigate life here.
My sense of urgency, time, responsiveness, the-customer-is-always-right are layers of myself that, quite honestly, I’m happy to shed because they represent a type of entitlement I find ugly in foreigners like me. Except, of course, when I want the damn internet, power, water and cell service to work at the same time.
Living here vale la pena (is worth it), for sure, but there are times when I want to run screaming back to the ‘burbs.
When I reach those points, I take a look around me and see how others — my Mexican friends and neighbors and fellow foreigners who have lived here long enough — are responding, and that’s what brings me back.
I see so many acts of generosity, volunteerism, organizing and can-do-ism — responses from a community that has long had to fend for itself amid the growing pressures of development and corruption (which often go hand in hand), not to mention failing infrastructure and the lack of meaningful government support.
This is what true resilience looks like. And it’s these qualities that this foreigner is trying to develop within herself. She’s also trying to shed some layers of entitlement and escapism when life gets hard in Mexico.
It’s also at these moments when I remind myself that every place has its lumps. Like those idealized social feeds about life in Mexico, I sometimes have an idealized feed in my head about life in the ‘burbs. But no place is perfect, and neither am I.
I may never feel totally at home in Mexico, but I still love it, lumps and all.
Debbie Slobe is a writer and communications strategist based in Chacala, Nayarit. She blogs at Mexpatmama.com and is a senior program director at Resource Media. Find her on Instagram and Facebook.
Despite an order from the INE last week, President López Obrador has established a new line of attack against his political adversaries that follows the letter, if not the spirit, of the electoral body's ruling. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
On Wednesday, López Obrador launched a new segment for his morning press conferences, or mañaneras, in which he will present the remarks of selected people on issues related to the 2024 elections.
The president has targeted opposition presidential hopeful Senator Xóchitl Gálvez with a number of questionable public remarks about her character and personal history, which finally prompted the National Electoral Institute to ban him from speaking about electoral issues altogether. (Santiago Alba Ibarra/Wikimedia Commons)
“As I can no longer say much … I’m going to have a new section,” he said, adding that his proposal was to call it “No lo digo yo” (It’s Not Me Saying It).
The views of others will be presented “so that the people have information,” López Obrador said.
He inaugurated the new segment with an interview broadcast earlier this week in which former president Vicente Fox made a potentially damaging remark about Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, an aspirant to the Broad Front for Mexico’s candidacy for the 2024 presidential election.
Disparaging comments made by López Obrador about Gálvez — such as that she is the “candidate of the mafia of power” and a “puppet of the oligarchy” — prompted the senator to file a complaint with INE, which led the elections oversight agency to impose an electoral issues gag order on the president.
Gálvez is known for camera-friendly antics. She’s been known to bring her trademark bicycle into the Senate chambers, and in December, when controversial electoral reform was voted on in the Senate, Gálvez called it a “Jurassic Plan” and attended the session in a dinosaur costume. (Cuartoscuro)
In the video presented by AMLO on Wednesday, Fox said that “lazy people” don’t have a place in government or “the country,” and asserted that citizens should find a job rather than depend on welfare payments.
“As Xóchitl says, get to work cabrones [assholes],” Fox said.
López Obrador called for the remark to be played again, saying that it went to “the heart of the matter.”
“INE, … I have been notified, I’m not going to say [anything],” added the president, who has claimed that Gálvez is opposed to government welfare and social programs.
The INE has been a foil to President López Obrador’s attempts to implement major electoral reforms in Mexico, as well as his attacks on opposition politicians. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
However, the National Action Party (PAN) senator — currently considered the leading aspirant to the nomination of the PAN-PRI-PRD-backed Broad Front for Mexico — affirmed her commitment to welfare and social programs in a video posted to Twitter late last month in which she declared she would become the next president of Mexico.
“I’m convinced that the social programs are absolutely essential,” she said.
López Obrador on Wednesday morning didn’t say how frequently he intended to present his new mañanera segment or reveal who else would appear in it. He has repeatedly railed against the INE’s ruling, characterizing it as an attack on his right to free speech.
