The meeting of governors, attended by AMLO, took place over two years after 10 governors withdrew in protest of the president's policies. (Cuartoscuro)
The governor of Oaxaca was elected as the new president of the National Conference of Governors (Conago) at a meeting in Querétaro city on Sunday.
Salomón Jara Cruz, a Morena party governor who took office last December, was elected unanimously by other state governors and the mayor of Mexico City as the new head of the two-decade-old cross-party group.
President López Obrador (left) with governors Mauricio Kuri of Querétaro (center) and Salomon Jara of Oaxaca (right) at the Conago meeting. (Salomon Jara Twitter)
He said on Twitter that he asked his colleagues to “transform this mechanism of dialogue and embrace an agenda of social and collective wellbeing.”
The governor said there will be a “new pact” with the federal government “to achieve the construction of a state of rights and wellbeing.”
Jara also tweeted that he would lead Conago into a “new era” and that its members would work hand in hand with President López Obrador “on a social agenda to build a state of rights and promote the transformation of Mexico.”
“… Neoliberalism has died and the transformation lives,” he wrote in another post, an apparent reference to the profound change López Obrador claims to be bringing to Mexico.
Mauricio Vila (center), the PAN governor of Yucatán, at the Conago conference. (Mauricio Vila Twitter)
In an address after his election as Conago president, Jara said that governors would “work together” amid a “new stage” in the country’s political life. “There must be a new way of looking at things,” he added.
His Conago deputy is Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila, a National Action Party (PAN) governor who has maintained a good relationship with López Obrador despite belonging to a party that is vehemently opposed to the federal government.
Sunday’s meeting in Querétaro came 2 1/2 years after a group of 10 governors, including five from the PAN, withdrew from Conago after deeming that López Obrador was a threat to democracy due to his alleged efforts to concentrate power in the federal executive.
The governors of 28 of the 31 states – the majority of which are governed by Morena – Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and López Obrador were present at the gathering. The governors described the meeting as a “relaunch” of Conago, the newspaper El Economista reported.
Jara said that the group will work on a reform to the way federal resources are distributed to the states, and also focus on issues related to public security, the electoral reform and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free trade pact that took effect in 2020.
The governors on Sunday approved the creation of a USMCA committee within Conago that will be headed up by Michoacán Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla.
The governors will meet again in Oaxaca next month. Vila expressed confidence that progress on a review of Conago statutes will be made at the meeting scheduled for March 21.
The Yucatán leader asserted on Twitter that the governors are “working together to transform our states.”
President López Obrador covered topics from electoral reform to the end of cargo flights out of Mexico City International Airport this week. (Gob MX)
Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Tuesday completed his 50th month as president, a position he unsuccessfully attempted to attain at the 2006 and 2012 elections.
AMLO now has just 20 months left to continue carrying out what he calls the “fourth transformation” of Mexico, as his successor will take office on Oct. 1, 2024.
The president has 20 months left in his term. (Gob MX)
Monday
Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila – a possible opposition candidate at the 2024 presidential election – joined López Obrador at his first press conference of the week, during which the government provided an update on construction of the Calkiní-Izamal section of the Maya Train railroad.
“In Yucatán we’ve supported the Maya Train project from the beginning because without a doubt … it will allow us to bring [to the state] a portion of the millions of tourists who today arrive in Cancún and the Riviera Maya,” said the National Action Party governor.
“Without a doubt it will generate economic development and employment for us,” added the 42-year-old former mayor of Mérida.
Yucatán governor Mauricio Vila speaks at the Monday morning press conference. (Gob MX)
The president also noted that while a majority of participants in a 2021 referendum voted in favor of investigating Mexico’s five most recent presidents for crimes they might have committed in office, turnout was below the level required to make the vote binding.
“On several occasions I’ve expresses that revenge is not my strong suit … We’re not persecuting anyone,” AMLO added.
“From my point of view he’s a public servant without principles, without ideals, a fraud,” López Obrador said.
“… I really regret it, because I knew his father [academic and politician Arnaldo Córdova], we were friends, colleagues,” he said.
“… Since long ago, the INE has been taken over by conservatives, the conservative bloc. We won [in 2018] despite them.”
In contrast with his remarks about the INE chief, AMLO spoke with significant affection about former U.S. president Donald Trump.
“I hold President Trump in high esteem because he was respectful with us, the [bilateral] relation was good,” he said toward the end of his Monday mañanera.
“With President Trump I believe I had just one very productive meeting in Washington and we spoke by telephone 11 or 12 times. … They were very important calls, respectful calls for the good of two peoples and two countries. I even described those calls in my latest book,” López Obrador said in reference to his 2021 tome, titled A la mitad del camino.
Tuesday
In a health update, the government’s pandemic point man declared that the sixth wave of COVID infections was receding.
“We reached the peak at the end of the year and from the first week of January a process of descent began,” said Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell.
The first question López Obrador took was on the formation of a new group called Colectivo por México, which says it is seeking to “change the [political] course” of the country.
“They have the right to demonstrate, to form a group, but they’re against us and the transformation of the country that we’re carrying out with millions of Mexicans,” AMLO said of the collective, whose members include former health minister Julio Frenk and ex-Supreme Court justice José Ramón Cossio.
“They have the complete right to express themselves. … We’re obliged to guarantee the right to dissent. That’s what I can say.”
The president described veteran leftist Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas as an adversary due to his involvement in the group, which is abbreviated as Mexicolectivo.
“I hold him in high esteem, I respect him, I consider him a forerunner to this movement, but we’re living a time of definitions and this … [path] is very narrow, … it’s about being with the people or with the oligarchy,” he said.
An important figurehead of the Mexican left, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (son of President Lázaro Cárdenas) at a 2022 event.
Cárdenas – son of ex-president Lázaro Cárdenas, a former presidential candidate and co-founder of the Democratic Revolution Party – subsequently announced that he had taken the decision to cease collaborating with the collective.
Near the end of his presser, AMLO asked Mexican Social Security Institute chief Zoé Robledo to respond to a question about the 2009 fire at a daycare center in Hermosillo, Sonora, that claimed the lives of 49 children.
Some people found criminally responsible for the deaths have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms, but Robledo assured reporters that the federal government is still fighting for justice.
“From the beginning of the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador – including in June 2019 when 10 years passed since this tragic fire, this crime – a criterion to attend to matters that have to do with justice has been maintained,” he said.
Wednesday
AMLO opened his third mañanera of the week with a broad attack on the media, one of his favorite punching bags.
Ana Elizabeth García Vilchis conducts the “Who’s who in the lies of the week” segment of the morning press conference. (Gob MX)
Many media organizations have decided to conduct a “dirty war” against us rather than publish “objective, professional, analytical, critical journalism with arguments,” he said.
They “attack and defame, with honorable exceptions of course, but those honorable exceptions are the exception not the rule,” the president charged during an introduction to the controversial “Who’s who in the lies of the week” segment.
López Obrador later turned his attention to drug smuggling through the Mexico City International Airport during past governments.
“A lot of you know how they got drugs through the airport. There was once even a shootout there. … The Mexico City airport was left without surveillance in order to get drugs through. It was managed by the Federal Police, which the conservatives defend so much,” he said.
Moving on to another matter, the acronym-nicknamed president welcomed Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas’ announcement of his decision to dissociate himself from Mexicolectivo.
“I was very pleased about the engineer’s letter,” AMLO said, acknowledging the 88-year-old’s civil engineering degree.
“I didn’t know but he had already informed the group [of his decision],” he said before confirming he had a good relationship with the veteran politician despite labeling him an adversary the previous day.
López Obrador later declared that Energy Minister Rocío Nahle – a Zacatecas native – could run for governor of Veracruz next year despite not being born in the state, and despite the Supreme Court’s ruling this week against a provision of a recent state law that allowed the parents of children born in the Gulf coast state to seek the position.
He said the minister qualifies as a candidate because she has been a Veracruz resident for more than five years – another still-standing provision of the so-called “Ley Nahle,” or Nahle Law.
“Rocío was already a federal deputy, a senator for Veracruz. [She was a] federal deputy for the district of Coatzacoalcos, … she’s a Veracruz senator on leave because she’s helping us in the Energy Ministry and in the construction and rehabilitation of the refineries,” López Obrador said.
Nahle confirmed on Twitter that she met the five-year residency requirement, even though she has lived in Mexico City in recent years.
Thursday
“Good morning. Ánimo, ánimo,” AMLO began, exhorting reporters to liven up for another early-morning press conference.
“We’re going to inform based on what you ask because there’s nothing to present today,” he said.
One reporter queried the president about the Federal Auditor’s Office detection of “irregularities” totaling over 830 million pesos during Delfina Gómez’s 2021-22 tenure as education minister.
“When the Federal Auditor’s Office conducts an investigation … irregularities aren’t acts of corruption in the majority of cases,” López Obrador replied.
“… As the maestra [teacher] Delfina is a pre-candidate or candidate [for governor] in México state they’ll be questioning her … [but] Delfina is an honest woman who has my complete confidence. She’s a woman who is incapable of stealing a centavo, nothing like the old-time politicians,” AMLO said.
Probed as to whether the money in question was “fairly channelled” to public education, he responded that it “surely” was before asserting that “there’s no problem at all.”
The president later offered his support for another politician – Nuevo León Governor Samuel García, a young and ambitious Citizens Movement party leader who is under pressure from the opposition over budgetary issues in the northern border state.
“We have a very good relationship with the Governor Samuel García, … we support the governor of Nuevo León because a lawsuit to strip his immunity has been presented, they want to remove him from office because his budget wasn’t approved,” López Obrador said.
“… He doesn’t have a majority in Congress and his adversaries came to an agreement and they wanted to impose a budget … and force him to allocate funds to public, supposedly autonomous companies run by the parties that are obstructing the governor,” he said.
In response to another question, the sexagenarian leader expressed confidence that the reforms his government has enacted will be long-lasting.
“Why will I be relaxed when my term ends? … Firstly because important changes are being carried out and it will be very difficult to reverse them. For example, how could they eliminate the pension for seniors? It won’t be easy if it’s in the constitution,” AMLO said.
“No matter who’s president, [the old-age pension] is a right. … Do you think that people will easily accept the pension being taken from them? No, touch wood, not even the conservatives could do it if they return.”
President López Obrador eating tamales on the Candelaria (Candlemas) holiday last year. (Presidencia)
At the closure of his presser, López Obrador noted that, in keeping with a Candlemas tradition, he would be eating tamales – specifically Michoacán-style ones known as corundas – for breakfast.
“One day I’ll buy [tamales] out of my salary and I’ll invite you to have breakfast and talk,” he told reporters.
“Really – we’ll talk, we’ll spend more time together. Thank you very much to all of you for being here.”
Friday
While responding to a question about unions’ compliance with USMCA trade pact obligations, AMLO spotted an opportunity to offer a lesson about the true meaning of the word democracy.
“Oligarchs … have a very peculiar way of thinking about democracy,” he opined.
“For them democracy is always having minorities in charge, … that’s the democracy they like, one of privileges,” López Obrador said.
“But democracy is power of the people, for the people and with the people. Democracy is people. Demos, I repeat, means people. Kratos means power. Democracy is the power of the people, oligarchy is the power of the minority.”
A YouTuber subsequently took the microphone and asked the president about the involvement of the National Electoral Institute (INE) in the process to elect the queen of the 2023 Fería Nacional de San Marcos, a huge fair held annually in Aguascalientes.
Candidates for the “Queen” of the San Marcos Fair in Aguascalientes. (Gob Aguascalientes Twitter)
The INE will facilitate electronic voting, Dany Santoyo noted before suggesting that the institute should instead focus on “more important issues” such as holding a citizens’ consultation to canvass opinions on the privatization of water services in Aguascalientes in the early 1990s.
“They could do both consultations,” AMLO said, acknowledging that the election of the fair reina is a “tradition.”
The INE should conduct that vote and one on the water issue at the same time, he said.
“That would be the best thing. … There are people who like [the fair queen contest], they enjoy it, that’s their right, it’s a very important fair. … It’s [also] very important to review water service contracts because they are abused – it’s the privatization policy [that is to blame],” López Obrador said.
The president later defended his decree suspending cargo airline operations at the Mexico City International Airport and asserted that the Felipe Ángeles International Airport has the facilities required to accommodate air freight carriers.
When you move to Mexico, even if your Spanish is good, interpreting street addresses can amount to a confusing bit of culture shock. (Photo: Suriel Ramzal/Shutterstock)
There are the things you know, the things you don’t know, and the things you don’t know that you don’t know.
When you’re in a new country, that last category can cause some issues. Today’s column, then, and like a few subsequent ones, aims to get ahead of a few of them.
Today, we’re talking about all things regarding understanding your new Mexican home address.
— Correos de México (@CorreosdeMexico) July 16, 2020
A Mexican postal service explainer on how to correctly address mail in Mexico City.
In Mexico, there are two things to remember when it comes to the street address: first, the street name comes before the house number and your address’ particular word for “street” (e.g. calle, avenida, privada — more on this in a minute) comes before either of those two things.
So if your house number is 55 and you live on Miguel Hidalgo street, then your address would be “Calle Miguel Hidalgo 55”. Note: whether your street name has a calle (street), avenida (avenue), privada (usually a dead-end street), or something else to define it, include it; you’ll see why it’s a good idea below.
If you live in an apartment, then the apartment number goes below that, and is sometimes written as Interior or abbreviated as Int. And if you live out in the country and don’t actually have a house number — it happens! — then “S/N” – sin número (no number) should be listed after the street name instead of a house number — and you’d better be prepared to give whoever’s delivering your stuff some visual references.
Another thing to remember is that the colonia, (neighborhood), which goes right below the street address, is all-important (it’s unclear how important the zip code actually is, though it will need to be included for any official address forms and presumably the post office uses them). Also, you may need to include your municipio (municipality), which may be different from the town you live in if you live somewhere small.
Why is listing this stuff so important? Because it’s very possible for there to be multiple streets with the same name in the same city (…I know). Proof positive: we actually wound up at the wrong address for a birthday party the other week because whoever made the invitation put the wrong colonia on it!
Due to this potential for confusion, many people, when wanting directions to your place, will ask to be sent your ubicación (location), using your phone’s GPS system. This is usually somewhat accurate depending on the last time Google maps updated things and how accurate they were at putting in street names in the first place. But it doesn’t always work; I’d recommend sending the address as well, with maybe even a picture of the front of where you want them to go.
Finally, stores with delivery services, including Amazon, will often ask you to fill in entre que calles (between what streets) your house is located, so be sure to learn the names of the next street over to you in both directions.
Now let’s talk about the difference between colonias and fraccionamientos. This one is a bit confusing and something that I’ll admit I only recently thought about and made sense of because of my own new address.
Colonia, again, is the neighborhood, and this is how cities and towns in Mexico identify certain areas of their city. Colonias can be anywhere from a few square blocks to areas of a size that resemble suburbs. Each colonia has a name and is a pretty defined area — perhaps not like what you might be used to in your country or origin, where neighborhoods are an unofficial notion open to interpretation. It’s the way that most people get an idea of where they are and where they’re going within a city.
A fraccionamiento is a housing development, usually of houses that were all built together. That said, I supposedly live in a fraccionamiento, but these houses definitely do not all look like they came up at the same time. A fraccionamiento can either be the name of a colonia if it’s very large (so you might write, for example, Fraccionamiento El Porvenir in the space for colonia), or it can be a development within a larger colonia.
My own address is a very tiny fraccionamiento (in name only, if you ask me), and if I say that name rather than the larger colonia’s name, taxi drivers aren’t quite sure what I’m talking about. As for what goes on your official address forms, use whatever was on previous bills – more on that below.
So what about providing proof of your address? This is where the comprobante de domicilio becomes important.
To get pretty much any kind of paperwork done in Mexico, you’ll need the comprobante de domicilio, which basically means “proof of address.” The actual definition, however, is much narrower than you’d probably imagine.
A few months ago, for example, some translation clients were surprised to learn that a signed letter from their landlord from whom they were renting at their current address, complete with copies of the landlord’s INE card, was not going to fit the bill: they needed a water bill, an electricity bill, or an internet bill.
One important thing to remember about a comprobante de domicilio is that in most cases, it doesn’t necessarily need to have your name on it. And really, it won’t have your name on it unless you’ve built the house, are the first buyers, or are subsequent buyers and have already gone to the trouble of changing the titular (the primary name) on all the bills. Unlike in some other countries, it’s rare for a landlord to expect tenants to put utility bills like electricity or water in their own name — or pay the bill themselves; it’s often factored into the rent. This is a known fact, and most of the time, whoever’s asking for a comprobante de domicilio won’t worry if your name’s not on it.
If you do need an official bill in your name, an internet bill will usually do the trick. But if you don’t have any of that, I’ve learned to keep a scanned copy of my rental agreement stored on my cell phone lest I need to print it out to prove where I live, like I had to do when I got my first COVID vaccine (they wanted to make very sure I actually lived here and wouldn’t be taking away someone else’s place).
By the way, a domicilio means “home delivery,” so if you ask for something, it means you want it delivered to your house. This applies to everything from packages to furniture to that pizza you’re ordering.
Domiciliar, on the other hand, is not exactly what it sounds like. This means that you give permission to an institution, usually something like internet or Netflix that’s the same price every month, to automatically withdraw an amount from your bank account each pay period. If you agree to domiciliar sus pagos, expect steady withdrawals!
Next time: gas and water!
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com
Hot chocolate has been a favorite the world over ever since it was first discovered by the Mayans.
Most people know that it was the Mayans who first consumed and used cacao. According to historians, they used cacao beans and paste extensively in ritual as well as for eating and drinking. There were some differences, though.
That ancient version of “hot cocoa,” wasn’t even hot — it was drunk cold — and was more like champurrado with a kick, made from ground cocoa beans, cornmeal, chili peppers and water, poured back and forth between two containers until foamy and thickened.
Cacao beans, like coffee beans, have a variety of flavors and aromas.
With the arrival of the conquistadors in the 1500s, that traditional chocolate drink began to evolve to the hot cocoa we know today. Hernán Córtes brought it back to Spain on one of his expeditions, and the bitter but delicious and exotic chocolate drink quickly became an indulgence of the wealthy upper class. (As with most imported foods — still true today! — cacao beans were expensive.) The chocolate-loving Spaniards omitted the chiles, added sweetener and served the drink hot, albeit still made with water.
It would be another 100 years before “hot cocoa” spread to other parts of Europe. In London, where “chocolate houses” became all the rage, milk was substituted for water, creating a richer, more palatable drink. That idea was also imported, this time from Jamaica, where the president of the London Royal College of Physicians had first encountered it.
Moving into the present, hot cocoa — and cocoa powder — runs the gamut between mundane and gourmet, from the American just-add-water packets to the luxurious, thick Italian cioccolata calda. In Mexico, the standard and most common version of a hot chocolate beverage is made from big round tablets of cocoa paste, cinnamon and sugar, sold in distinctive red and yellow boxes, the most popular being the Abuelita and Ibarra brands. (Word to the wise: Don’t be fooled into thinking you can eat the tablets like candy; they’re quite grainy and not very sweet.) These are crushed into a pan of milk, heated and then vigorously whisked to mix, using either a hand whisk or a traditional wood molinillo, which adds an element of fun to the process. If you’re lucky and determined, your efforts may yield the foam that’s a delicious part of this traditional drink.
If you prefer the kind of classic hot cocoa most of us grew up with,the most important factor to consider when making it is, of course, the type of cocoa. Without going into the many varieties of cacao beans (just like coffee, they have different flavors, aroma and qualities depending on where and how they’re grown and processed), the most basic question you’ll find yourself confronted with is whether to choose “Dutch process” or regular/natural cocoa powder.
Are they interchangeable? Yes. But if you do a side-by-side test, you’ll certainly taste and see a difference.
Again, some history: it was the Dutch — with a monopoly on the cocoa trade — who invented cocoa powder and then developed solid chocolate in 1876. Fresh cacao beans are fermented, dried and then roasted (again, much like coffee) and then crushed into tiny pieces called nibs, which are then ground into a paste. Next the surprisingly tasteless cocoa butter is extracted, leaving dry crumbled solids. That’s what’s ground to make “regular” or natural cocoa powder — think Hershey’s, Ghiradelli, Nestle’s — with a sharp, almost fruity flavor.
Dutch-process cocoa powder is rinsed with a solution of potassium carbonate to neutralize its acidity a little, giving it a smoother, more earthy flavor. Dutch-process cocoa powders are also darker than their natural counterparts; a good example of a really strong Dutch-process taste would be the almost black, distinctly flavored Oreo cookies.
For making hot chocolate, I’ve found that a combination of Dutch-process cocoa powder (which I bring from the U.S.) and crumbled dark chocolate yields the richest, most decadent flavor. Baking chocolate or a dark chocolate bar will work; chips won’t, though, as they have stabilizers added to prevent melting. Adding a little cornstarch thickens the drink and gives it an almost indefinable luxurious mouthfeel.
Whisking with a wooden molinillo gives Mexican hot chocolate its traditional froth on top — and it’s fun!
Rich Hot Cocoa Mix
2 (4-oz) bars baking chocolate or equivalent dark chocolate
1 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
½ tsp. salt
Freeze chocolate until completely frozen, about 10 minutes; remove from freezer, break into pieces. Process in food processor with cocoa powder, sugar, cornstarch and salt until completely powdered. Transfer to airtight container; store in cool, dark place for up to 3 months.
To make hot chocolate, combine 1–2 Tbsp. mixture with 1 cup boiling milk, stirring or whisking to mix. To thicken further, return to heat and simmer 30 seconds until thick and smooth, stirring constantly.
Spicy-Sweet Mezcal Hot Chocolate
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
Salt
2 cups milk
6 cinnamon sticks
1 whole dried ancho chili pod, split
8 oz. crumbled dark chocolate bar
5 oz. mezcal
Toppings: chile powder, dark chocolate shavings
Mix cocoa with sugar and salt in saucepan. Stir in milk, two cinnamon sticks, chile and crumbled chocolate. Heat over medium heat, stirring, until chocolate melts. Gently whisk to completely mix. Simmer over low, whisking occasionally, until fragrant, about 10 minutes.
Strain, discarding chile and cinnamon sticks. Return milk mixture to pot, add mezcal, and heat. Using a milk frother, whisk or molinillo, mix until foamy. Serve, garnished with chile powder or chocolate shavings and a cinnamon stick.
Makes 4 servings.
Barbajada Hot Chocolate
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ cup sugar
½ cups milk
2/3 cup strong coffee or espresso
Whipped cream, for serving
In medium bowl, mix cocoa powder and sugar. Heat milk over moderate heat; whisk in cocoa/sugar mixture and coffee, whisking rapidly until frothy. Ladle into mugs and top with whipped cream.
Enveloped trout at a restaurant in Tenango del Valle, México state. Trout is raised in many of the high mountain streams of Mexico, primarily for local consumption. (Photo: Alejandro Linares García)
There has been much commentary on unusual Mexican food, with bugs and weird animal body parts always good for clickbait. Let’s put these aside, along with commercial crops like berries, which have not (yet) made their way into Mexico’s myriad of cuisines.
Mexican food has evolved greatly since the conquest of Tenochtitlán, and that evolution continues. Because of this, novice foreigners might find some surprisingly familiar-looking dishes.
A huge round of Edam cheese stuffed with seasoned ground meat. Queso relleno is a delicacy of the Yucatan, thanks to Dutch sailors (Photo: Gina Ela)
My inspiration for this article was trout — yes, trout. Believe it or not, Mexico produces over 4,000 tons of rainbow and other types of trout per year in 18 states. The fish was first introduced in México state at the end of the 19th century as a source of protein for those living in very high mountain areas. Today, Mexico’s cooks prepare it in a variety of ways, and it can be found in restaurants in tourist areas such as the Bosque de las Truchas in Hidalgo.
Shrimp is by far the best known of Mexico’s shellfish, but mollusks such as clams and oysters can be found in various coastal areas — and even lobster in some places. The most famous freshwater fish is the charal, which kind of looks like a small sardine but does not taste like one; even catfish can be found.
It is no secret that modern Mexican cuisine was revolutionized by foods introduced by the Spanish — pork, chicken, cheese, wheat, distilled spirits and more — that were integrated into the Mesoamerican diet. But not everything the Spanish introduced became widespread.
Sheep and goats were introduced early, but their meat is found mostly as barbacoa in central Mexico, birria in western Mexico and cabrito in the north.
Wheat was the Spaniards’ staple, but it never displaced the corn tortilla as the definitive “bread” of Mexico. It did manage to find its way, however, into the cuisine in the form of sweet yeast breads usually served with hot beverages like coffee and chocolate. Their forms and flavors will be familiar to most Westerners.
One bread has an interesting twist — pan de pulque, or pulque bread. It developed in Tlaxcala, using native fermented pulque to substitute for the then very expensive yeast. This bread is still made today, found from Mexico City to as far north as Coahuila.
Non-sweet bread like baguettes and the like are definitely less popular with one exception: the bolillo, a small oblong roll that often envelops a wide variety of meats, cheeses and more in something called a torta or lonche. Although it looks like a sub, Mexicans do not consider this to be a sandwich because it started out humbly as a roll stuffed with beans, with the other ingredients overwhelming said beans much later.
Bread is almost exclusively bought rather than made at home. This is because Mexican home cooking does not often include the oven.
Pan de Pulque fresh out of the oven. This soft, dinner roll-type bread has an important history in northeast Mexico. (Photo: Pan de Pulque Casero)
Many foreign fruits were introduced by the Spanish with varying success. Apples were introduced in Puebla early, then later in places like Querétaro and northern Mexico. As a result, Puebla developed a cider industry, paralleling the beverage’s popularity in Europe and Anglo-America.
Puebla cider still exists, but it tends to be very sweet with a minimum of alcohol. You can also find some apple baked goods and an apple salsa in Zacatlán.
Cumin and oregano were introduced by colonial-era immigrants from the Canary Islands and are now staples in northeast Mexico and Texas. Sugar cane does well in hot and humid areas in eastern Mexico, and Mexico does have rum and other cane-based alcohol, often under various names and mixed with fruit and other sweet flavorings.
One unusual colonial-era introduction is Edam cheese in the Yucatán, most often seen in the dish queso relleno, where the cheese is stuffed with a meat preparation. It is thought to have been introduced by the Dutch from their colonies in the Caribbean.
Arrivals after the colonial period have introduced both foods and food preparations. Possibly the most famous of these is the paste, Mexico’s riff on the Cornish pasty, introduced by British miners in the 19th century. It is one of the definitive foods of Pachuca, and very popular among intercity bus travelers in central Mexico.
Hot dogs can be found in many parts of Mexico now, but Sonora has taken the concept to a new level, making the dog larger and piling on a crazy slew of different toppings. (Photo: Ecos)
Christians in the late 19th and early 20th centuries migrated from what is now Lebanon, bringing the shawarma/gyro, which got renamed “Arab tacos,” then reinvented as tacos al pastor: what attracts attention here is that both versions are still cooked on the vertical spit.
More recent immigration and globalization has had some effect on Mexican cuisine, especially regionally. Hamburgers, pizza and hot dogs are ubiquitous in most of the country. Localization of these has resulted in some unusual twists, such as mole pizza and Sonora’s famous dogo, a hot dog with many toppings on a bolillo-type roll.
One of the most recent introductions is sushi, and while relatively authentic versions are widespread, it is definitely going through the same localization process, with chili-infused soy sauce, a larger filling-to-rice ratio, lots of cream cheese and a wider variety of fish and meat in the center, often mashed and mixed with mayonnaise.
More than a few native foods, however, have been forgotten or marginalized in Mexico, even as they (or their cousins) became popular abroad. Perhaps the most curious of these is the turkey.
It was hunted, and even domesticated, by the Mesoamericans, but since meat was only a small part of their diet, European meats became the norm. Only in the Yucatán Peninsula can one find a variety of native dishes featuring this bird. Oddly enough, in the rest of the country, turkey is most often eaten as a special meal for Christmas/New Year’s.
Markets would lead you to believe Mexico only has the introduced button and oyster mushrooms, but the many wild mushroom varieties in forested highlands are making a comeback, both in the areas in which they grow and in gourmet markets like San Juan in Mexico City.
Sweet potatoes and yams are indeed indigenous to Mexico, but over the centuries, they have become associated with other cuisines. Carts like this one in Mexico City roast them, along with plantains, as the vendor walks along the street. (Photo: Orlando Zamudio)
Finally, one other food that does not seem to be native is the yam/sweet potato. Today, you can find it at markets, but if you live in Mexico City, you know it from the wandering street vendors pushing a wood-fired cart and making a loud, high-pitched whistle impossible to forget.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar — in front, third from left — was among the dignitaries on hand for a victory lap at the nearly finished Puerto Peñasco solar farm in Sonora. (Alfonso Durazo/Twitter)
The Puerto Peñasco solar energy plant will come online in April, state officials announced during a visit of foreign diplomats to the nearly finished plant on Thursday.
Representatives of 80 countries and 25 international organizations traveled to Sonora to take part in the visit, which was led by Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, right, led dignitaries around the Sonora solar farm, along with Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo, left. (Photo: Cuartoscuro)
“Mexico is making a really great effort because it didn’t consider [the shift to renewable energy] would be so fast,” Ebrard told the diplomats.
He said the global energy price rises caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine had pushed Mexico and the United States to invest heavily in accelerating the region’s renewable energy transition.
The Puerto Peñasco plant was built by Mexico’s state electricity company with an investment of US $1.6 billion. Once completed, it will be the largest solar power plant in Latin America, with a generating capacity of 100,000 megawatts — enough to power half a million homes.
One of itsmain benefits will be to supply power to Baja California, which is not currently connected to the national electricity grid.
The first 129 megawatts of the project will be operational by April 29, Juan Antonio Fernández, strategic planning director of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), announced on Thursday.
“Today’s message is that Sonora will be the leading solar energy producer of Latin America,” Ebrard said. “The second message is that it will be the main generator of new electromobility technologies in the country in the coming months.”
Sonora state governor Alfonso Durazo, who also took part in the visit, explained that the Puerto Peñasco plant would form part of the Sonora Clean Energy Plan. This plan also seeks to mine Sonora’s large lithium reserves for use in electric car batteries and to make the state a hub for electric vehicle manufacturing.
Ebrard said that the plan represented a “new model of development” that would lead the way in transforming Mexico’s energy model.
Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo told visitors that the Puerto Peñasco plant would form part of the Sonora Clean Energy Plan and about plans to mine Sonora’s lithium reserves. (Alfonso Durazo/Twitter)
President López Obrador has committed to generating at least 35% of the energy used in Mexico in 2023 from sustainable sources. He has also pledged to double the country’s renewable energy capacity by 2030, with a projected investment of $48 billion.
However, AMLO has also invested in subsidizing Pemex, Mexico’s state oil company, and in constructing a new oil refinery, casting doubt on his green credentials.
Inside the Enchanted Cave. (Photo: Ramón Espinasa)
One of the hidden rewards of cave exploration in Mexico is the accidental discovery of gorgeous rivers, canyons, hot springs, waterfalls or other natural phenomena on the way to or from a cave — which, on some occasions, may turn out to be a miserable hole in the ground with no redeeming merit whatsoever.
To stumble upon a jewel of natural beauty, as well as a cave of great interest, is good luck indeed.
View from the cave entrance. (Photo: Ramón Espinasa)
“But it happened to me recently,” says Mexico City geologist Ramón Espinasa, founder of SMES (Mexican Society for Underground Exploration).
Espinasa is especially interested in lava tubes, caves naturally formed when the surface of moving lava cools, allowing hot, molten lava to flow out from underneath it, creating an underground tunnel or room.
Because the state of Veracruz is home to some of Mexico’s best lava tubes, Espinasa is ever on the lookout for rumors of caves in that state.
“That’s how I came upon a YouTube video presenting a spectacular waterfall in Veracruz, located just outside a cave entrance. Fortunately the vlogger also included footage inside the cave, which I immediately realized was volcanic, but not a lava tube. It looked most interesting.”
Espinasa then organized an expedition to find and map La Cueva del Encanto, The Enchanted Cave, located in a remote area 130 km northwest of Veracruz city.
Upon arrival in the target zone, the team of speleologists learned how this particular cave had gotten its name.
Legend says that once upon a time, a farmer named Cirilo happened to pass by the cave entrance and noticed a strange light emanating from it. Curious, he walked into the cave and, inside, found a lake filled with crystal-clear water. Swans were swimming in the lake, and every time one of them came near him, it mysteriously transformed into a beautiful woman.
It feels a bit like “Jurassic Park” here with all this verdant greenery. (Photo: Vicente Loreto)
Cirilo decided to stay a while to enjoy this incredible spectacle and only reluctantly left the cavern a few hours later to get back to work.
His sombrero, which he had left outside the cave, was no longer there. Back he went to his milpa, where he discovered his wife looking older and dressed in black. To his surprise, he learned that what had seemed hours to him had been months to his family, which said that he had been gone for a full year and had been presumed dead.
Ready for enchantment, our cave explorers started out on a trail following the Alseseca River, which soon took them downhill.
“This slope was beautiful,” says explorer Vicente Loreto, “with high vertical walls on one side. I think we were in a cloud forest because we began to run into giant ferns. The vegetation was abundant, even lush. One surprise was that we never saw any trash, in spite of the fact that this place is a well-known tourist attraction. People come not only for the waterfall but also for the cave.”
The Bridal Veil Cascade (Photo: Love Veracruz)
At the bottom of the slope, they came to a river with clean, clear water and to the tall, shimmering cascade locally known as El Velo de la Novia, The Bridal Veil.
“The waterfall is beautiful,” says Loreto, “and produces a fine spray that is very pleasant, inviting you to jump into the water. Really, the whole jungle-like scene makes you feel as if you’ve arrived in a lost world. All we needed was to see a big pterodactyl fly out of the cave entrance!”
That entrance — offering a dramatic view of the cascade — was 25 meters wide and 4 or 5 meters high.
“No sooner did I step into the cave than my headlamp went out,” reports Loreto, and — despite the legend — this was the closest thing to a supernatural event that the team experienced during their entire exploration.
One of two natural showers inside the cave. (Photo: Vicente Loreto)
La Cueva del Encanto turned out to be an easy, one-entrance, walk-through cave, sometimes 15 meters high. The walls were coffee-colored, but in a few places black and red.
In several parts of the cave, the team came upon what looked like large tubes or cylinders in the ceiling that clearly had nothing to do with the formation of the cave.
“When we took a close look at these,” says Loreto, “we saw they were black on top. We came to the conclusion that they were tree molds, that when volcanic ash covered this forest in ancient times, the heat was so intense that the trees were set on fire, not from external combustion but internal.”
As they mapped the cave, which turned out to be 520 meters long, the explorers inevitably found water at the end of every side passage, and in some cases, it was falling down from the ceiling as in a shower.
Tree mold, created when hot ash smothered an ancient tree. (Photo Vicente Loreto)
The frequent presence of water in the cave testified as to its origin, according to Espinasa and fellow geologist Chris Lloyd. They explained to me that the most common kind of caves are formed by slightly acidic rainwater slowly eating away at limestone rock under the surface.
The Enchanted Cave, however, which is formed in volcanic debris (tuff), came into being another way. Water seeped down into cracks and began gently washing away tiny particles of ash. This cleared the way for more water to flow, resulting in interconnected “pipes” transporting water to lower locations.
These piping caves are generally not very big, and it seems Mexico’s Cueva del Encanto — because it is over 500 meters long — will soon be included among the top 10 in Cave Exploring’s list of piping caves around the world.
Delighted to help give international recognition to an obscure Mexican cave and still dazed by the enchantments of a stupendous waterfall, the caving team bade farewell to this lost world, now ready to turn their exploratory talents to the numerous pulque stands they had spotted along the highway.
On the trail. (Photo: Vicente Loreto)
Would you, too, like to be enchanted? Check out the map to this site on Wikiloc.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog.
Cargo services have 180 days to move their operations from AICM. Some services had asked for significantly longer. The Mexican company Estafeta had asked for 16 months. (Konstantin von Wedelstedt/Creative Commons)
The federal government on Thursday published a decree that suspends cargo airline operations at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM).
Air freight carriers will have 108 business days to cease flights to and from the airport, according to the presidential decree published in the government’s official gazette.
The international cargo carrier DHL had just opened operations in June. (Photo: Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro)
That means they will have until July to move their operations away from Mexico’s busiest airport.
The decree doesn’t force cargo airlines to shift operations to the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) north of Mexico City, but that facility would be the most logical alternative.
President López Obrador has said that the new airport – one of his pet infrastructure projects — has the space and security conditions required by cargo airlines. Built by the army on an Air Force base, AIFA is located about 50 kilometers north of downtown Mexico City.
The decision to ban freight carriers from AICM was taken primarily to ease pressure on the facility, which the federal government last year declared had reached saturation point.
However, only about 3% of AICM flights in 2022 were for cargo, data shows.
The period the government has given cargo airlines to move operations away from the airport is significantly less than they were asking for.
Freight carriers requested a minimum of 180 business days to complete the move, although the Mexican company Estafeta specified 16 months as an ideal period of time.
The federal government is eager to increase usage of AIFA, which has been in operation for 10 months but only serves a small number of airlines operating a limited number of flights.
The airline obtained authorizations from Mexico and the United States to operate the route, despite Mexico’s loss of its Category 1 air safety rating with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in May 2021. A consequence of being downgraded to Category 2 status was a prohibition against Mexican airlines adding new routes to the United States until Category 1 status is restored.
Casa Sunset is located in a coveted golf course development in San Miguel de Allende. (West Realty Group Berkshire Hathaway)
After a satisfying round of golf, imagine yourself strolling back to Casa Sunset, laying your clubs down and heading straight to the plush, open-plan kitchen to pour yourself a well-deserved aperitif.
A view of the stunning Malanquín golf course. (La Mesa de Malanquín)
Listening to the hum of the crickets on a balmy Mexican evening, you find the shimmering blue water in the private dipping pool enticing you in to watch the sun go down. If things couldn’t get any better, it’s one of those majestic sunsets where the warm dusk hues sweep across the horizon, accentuating the sprawling green Guanajuato mountains.
This is the moment when you ask yourself, does life get any better than this?
Casa Sunset, privately located in the gated La Mesa de Malanquín, is a prime example of the superb designer homes that are popping up throughout the development. It is designed by the renowned Paola Rodríguez – who has worked on signature homes in San Miguel, Cuernavaca, Mexico City, Acapulco, and Puerto Escondido – and developer Gustavo Asp of “Lomas Residencial La Mesa de Malanquín”.
“Paola and Gustavo have created architectural wonders with these homes,” says agent Kelley West, referring to how Casa Sunset beautifully combines modern and relaxed living.
Casa Sunset brings together Mexican modern design with relaxed living. (West Realty Group Berkshire Hathaway)
Key features:
A US $820,000 modern Mexican oasis situated in the Malanquín golf course community with spectacular sunset views of the vast mountain range and the Ignacio Allende reservoir.
The first of three new exclusive properties designed by renowned designer Paola Rodriguez and developer Gustavo Asp of ‘Lomas Residencial La Mesa de Malanquín’.
This three bedroom, three and a half bath home is spread over 435 m² of construction and boosts an enviable heated infinity plunge pool on the private rear patio.
On the one hand you’re getting a New York City-style penthouse, with its open-plan living areas and contemporary finishes, such as black-lacquered pine cabinets and a black granite countertop in the kitchen. Then there are organic and local Mexican elements like hand-carved stone walls (mined from nearby quarries), complemented by one of the many cozy fireplaces in the main living area, and the characteristic solid cantera countertop in the master bath.
Artistically landscaped outdoor and auto-irrigated indoor vertical gardens with over 400 local succulents, bougainvilleas, bamboos, fruit trees, and lavender bushes let you slip into a calming and sensory oasis.
With its generous 435 m² of construction, three bedrooms, three and a half baths, a stylish kitchen that flows through to the dining room and living room, private rear patio with a heated pool/hot tub, and a floating staircase to die for, Casa Sunset really is the house that keeps giving.
The open floor plan and spectacular views are hallmarks of this property. (West Realty Group Berkshire Hathaway)
Casa Sunset has access to every amenity you can think of on your doorstep, including a wellness center, top-quality gym, swimming pool, tennis courts, and a fabulous community center that includes a delicious restaurant offering meal delivery right your front door.
One of the big attractions for those looking to relocate or invest in a second home in San Miguel is the vibrant golfing community. Although your first impression when picturing golf courses in Mexico is probably not a historic city at 6,200 feet above sea level right in the middle of the country, San Miguel may surprise you.
Malanquín is San Miguel’s original professional 18-hole golf course built 50 years ago. It’s not only a fantastic place to tee-off but also enjoys year-round sunshine, expansive mountain and lake views, has a real family feel with all the leisure activities on offer, and has established itself as one of the most exclusive luxury real estate hubs in town.
A beautiful sunset view over the reservoir. (West Realty Group Berkshire Hathaway)
The exquisite town of San Miguel de Allende, consecutively crowned the best city in the world by Travel and Leisure, has been enchanting visitors for almost 500 years. It’s a vibrant hilltop city that really has it all, including top-notch culinary experiences, stunning architecture, countless cultural celebrations, and a friendly and welcoming community.
For more information, contact the listing agent, Kelley Westof West Realty Group Berkshire Hathaway.
The Democracy Index is published by the U.K.-based Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company to The Economist news media outlet. With a score of 5.25, Mexico was classified as a "hybrid regime." (Graphic: Economist Intelligence Unit)
Mexico slipped three places to 89th on the most recent edition of a well-established index that assesses the health, or lack thereof, of democracy in almost 170 countries around the world.
For a second consecutive year, the U.K.-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) classified Mexico as a “hybrid regime” on its Democracy Index, published this week.
The Democracy Index is published by the U.K.-based Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company to The Economist news media outlet. With a score of 5.25, Mexico was classified as a “hybrid regime.” (Graphic: Economist Intelligence Unit)
Mexico scored a 5.25 out of 10, which was higher than four — below that is a authoritarian regime on the index — but lower than six — the minimum score for the higher rating of “flawed democracy.”
Mexico’s score was 0.32 points lower than in 2021, the ninth largest decline among the countries assessed, while its ranking was one ahead of Georgia and one behind Hong Kong. Mexico ranked 14th out of 24 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, where the state of democracy declined for a fourth consecutive year, according to the report.
The index uses expert assessments, public opinion surveys and voter turnout data to provide “a snapshot of the state of democracy worldwide in 165 independent states and two territories,” according to its report.
“… The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism, functioning of government, political participation, political culture, and civil liberties. Based on its scores on a range of indicators within these categories, each country is then classified as one of four types of regime: ‘full democracy,’ ‘flawed democracy,’ ‘hybrid regime’ or ‘authoritarian regime,'” the report said.
Election irregularities, government pressure on opposition parties and candidates, corruption, a weak rule of law, harassment of and pressure put on journalists and a judiciary that is not independent are among the features that may be found in a hybrid regime, according to the EIU.
“The region is a global hub for transnational drug cartels, which pose a significant threat to democracy. Drug trafficking erodes state capacity by making corruption extremely lucrative and expands the use of violence by nonstate actors, which, in turn, leads to an erosion of civil liberties as governments seek to address citizens’ demands for more security,” the report said.
Among the other countries that the index listed as hybrid regimes this year are Papua New Guinea, Peru, Ukraine, El Salvador and Nigeria.
Mexico scored above a seven for political participation and just below that number for electoral process and pluralism. Mexico’s scores in the three other categories, however, were lower: 5.59 for civil liberties, 4.64 for functioning of government and just 1.88 for political culture, whose undisputed protagonist is President López Obrador.
One of Mexico’s higher scores on the EIU’s list was a seven for political participation. (Presidencia)
The EIU — a sister company of The Economist newspaper — said that Mexico is undergoing a process of “democratic backsliding” under López Obrador, who has been in office since December 2018 and is a divisive figure, even though polls show he retains the support of a majority of Mexicans.
“Mr. López Obrador has used his position to attack his opponents, including the electoral authorities. In 2022, the government passed a reform that reduces the financing of the electoral authority and restricts its oversight powers, putting election integrity at risk,” the index report said.
The EIU also said that media freedoms in Mexico are “under grave threat.”
It noted that at least 13 journalists were killed in 2022, adding that “Mexican intelligence services routinely spy on journalists and activists,” a charge the president has denied.
“The role of the military in public affairs has expanded greatly under Mr. López Obrador. The government intends to expand the armed forces’ role in the economy and over public security, including by giving them control over the National Guard until 2028,” the EIU said.
Journalists protesting in front of Mexico’s Interior Ministry building in Mexico City in January 2022 with photos of media workers murdered in Mexico.
“Mr. López Obrador’s attacks on democratic checks and balances, as well as the growing role played by the armed forces in the economy and security, led to a further downgrade in Mexico’s overall score in 2022, following a decline in 2021.”
A total of 24 countries were classified as full democracies, with Norway, New Zealand and Iceland occupying the top three positions on the Democracy Index.
Canada was among the other countries classed as a full democracy, while Mexico’s other North American trade partner, the United States, was found to be a flawed democracy for a seventh consecutive year.
The index report noted that “the run-up to the change of administration in [the U.S. in] January 2021 was tumultuous, marked by a riot at the U.S. Capitol and attempts by the outgoing president, Donald Trump, and several Republican lawmakers to overturn the election results, citing baseless claims of voter fraud.”
It also said that “election denial is unlikely to disappear from American politics, particularly as some politicians, including Mr. Trump, continue to keep the issue alive ahead of the next elections in 2024.”
The worst performer on the index was Afghanistan, one of 59 countries deemed authoritarian regimes. Myanmar and North Korea ranked second-last and third-last respectively.
Democracy Index 2022: frontline democracy and the battle for Ukraine
This EIU video explainer gives an overview of how the report rated democracies worldwide.
China, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Haiti and Egypt are among the other countries classified as authoritarian regimes.
