Mitla has been partially restored, allowing visitors to get a scale of the once-grand city. (Photos by Joseph Sorrentino)
There has perhaps never been a more interesting time to visit the Mitla archaeological site southeast of the city of Oaxaca, with news this month that researchers have discovered what is likely a pre-Hispanic burial temple for the ancient city’s rulers.
Mitla was once an important Zapotec and Mixtec city, an example of two Mesoamerican peoples coexisting peacefully.
Cutting-edge technology revealed the presence of a large system of rooms beneath the “Columns of Life” in the main temple. (Arxproject)
The Spanish-built San Pablo Church sits atop the ruins of Mitla, located 40 km (25 miles) southeast of the city of Oaxaca, in an area that’s been occupied for at least 2,000 years. Beginning as a Zapotec village, it eventually became an important political and religious center after the fall of the Mesoamerican city of Monte Albán around A.D. 750.
While Mixtecas occupied the city around A.D. 1,000, the Zapotecans continued to inhabit the city after the Mixtecas arrival. Some of the decorations on the buildings show the influence of both of these cultures, as well as that of the mysterious Teotihuacán. At its peak, between A.D. 750 and 1521, the city had approximately 10,500 inhabitants.
Eventually, however, Mitla fell to the Spanish in 1521.
The name Mitla is a Spanish transliteration of Mictlán, a Nahuatl word that means “place of the dead.” Zapotecans called it Lyobaa, which has been translated as “place of rest.” It’s believed that Milta was a sacred city and one that was considered by its inhabitants to have an entrance to the underworld, where a number of important priests and rulers of Mitla are entombed.
Many of the ornamentation at Mitla is intricately carved and supported without any adhesive.
Recently, an archeological survey by a team of international scientists using imaging technology has revealed what the researchers believe is that supposed entrance to the underworld: a hidden pre-Hispanic temple that may have ended up beneath the main site in the colonial era or later due to volcanic activity.
According to Spanish accounts, missionaries sealed all entrances to the temple upon learning about it. Dominican priest Francisco de Burgoa’s 1674 account claimed that the Spanish clergymen believed it was a “back door to hell.”
Of course, this “place of the dead” is currently underground and has yet to be excavated, so there is nothing to see at the moment. But there is plenty to explore at Mitla.
Mitla’s visible ruins consist of five compounds, referred to by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) as groups.
The Church Group, also called the Northern Group, and the Columns Group are the most extensively excavated. The Arroyo Group, the Adobes Group (also called Calvario) and the Southern Group have only been partially excavated. Each group consists of rectangular patios surrounded by rooms.
The main entrance to the ruins leads to the Church Group, where, as its name suggests, the Spanish built San Pablo Church in the 16th century, using materials from destroyed indigenous structures.
Exterior of the main building in the Columns Group. Inside this one are six columns.
The Spanish razed many pre-Hispanic sites — especially those considered to have political or religious significance — and built over them to demonstrate Spain’s power. Zapotecan and Mixtecan royalty and religious leaders lived in the structures of the Church Group before they were displaced by the Spanish.
According to local legend, it is the altar of this church that obscured the mouth of a tunnel to the supposed “backdoor to hell.”
A short walk away is the Columns Group, so called because of the six columns still standing in one room; these had served at one time to support a roof. The buildings located here were most likely used for civic and religious activities. Tombs 1 and 2, which once held the remains of royalty, are also located here.
Every structure in Mitla is covered with intricate geometric patterns made from thousands of small stones. Amazingly, no mortar or any kind of glue was used to keep them in place, and each design is unique. The first European explorers who chanced upon Mitla’s ruins called them “friezes grecas” because of their similarity to Greek designs. Though historically impossible, this comparison is not baseless; the patterns are meandering and continuous. Some have suggested they resemble ancient textile designs that have been used as storytelling tools.
The Church Group and Columns Group are adjacent, but the other three sites are a short distance away. Unfortunately, signs showing how to get to them are nonexistent, but I was able to get there by asking a couple of people.
When I finally did get to the Arroyo and Adobe groups, the entrance gates were locked. I asked a guard at Group of the North why those sites weren’t open and was told it was the responsibility of the local government, not INAH, to open them. He had no idea why they were closed. Given his answer, I decided not to try to make the trek to reach the Southern Group.
The nearby town of San Pablo Villa de Mitla is a pueblo magico, filled with lovely colonial-era buildings, cafés and restaurants. Adjacent to the ruins are large outdoor artisans’ markets that are definitely worth visiting. The site’s open daily and although there are websites claiming it opens at 8 a.m. or 9 a.m.; it opened at 10 a.m. on the day of my visit.
The peso was considered one of the best-performing global currencies in 2022 and has also strengthened rapidly so far this year against the US dollar. Depositphotos
There is a lot to celebrate with the recent strength of the Mexican peso. Mexicans have increased buying power to purchase imported goods and their peso takes them further on travels abroad. Multinational companies from countries like the U.S., Germany and Japan that have invested in Mexico show more profits when reporting in their home currency to headquarters. Mexican companies are able to buy equipment, machinery and raw materials from abroad at a lower cost.
However, there are some serious risks to the broader Mexican economy with such a rapid peso appreciation, especially in light of recent high inflation. Businesses and investors first and foremost require stability and predictability to continue to invest and grow. The accelerating strength of the peso this year has caught many businesses and individuals off guard. Any business that sells products in US dollars – and there are many – has been suffering as the peso appreciates against the greenback.
Let’s review a simple example to illustrate. Imagine your unit price for a good or service is US $100. Your cost in pesos at a 20 pesos to 1 US dollar exchange rate is US $90, leaving you an anticipated profit of US $10 (or 10%). But with the peso appreciation, your cost today is US $103.50, meaning that if you don’t increase your prices, you’ll lose money. Add to this the significant inflation of the past few years, and your costs are actually closer to US $120. To have the same 10% planned profit, you now need to charge customers US $132 – a total increase from US $100 to $132! This has all happened very quickly, and it feels like it’s making Mexico more expensive, almost overnight.
What problems can this cause? Businesses can handle relatively slow moves in inflation or currency exchange rates quite easily. They can make adjustments internally to reduce costs or slightly increase their prices. But when inflation or currency changes happen quickly, businesses often do one of two things, both of which are bad for the economy: they either increase prices very quickly to compensate, or they stop all further investment until things improve. In Mexico, there actually has been a double shock to businesses – first the high inflation, and then the peso strengthening.
There are examples in the past of both currency and inflation distorting and ultimately hurting an economy’s competitiveness. Both Brazil and Argentina in the late 90s had extremely strong currencies. I remember traveling there on business at that time, and the distortion was so painfully apparent. Hotels were US $400 a night, a dinner for one person was US $100 or more, all due to the strength of the local currency. Locals did not feel the pain as they were paying in local currency, but foreigners had very little incentive to travel or invest in these countries due to the very high costs.
In Mexico, this kind of situation would be disastrous. Mexico’s economy is highly dependent on US dollar inflows. Remittances from Mexicans abroad, international tourists spending in Mexico, expats coming to buy properties, and foreign businesses coming to Mexico to invest and hire are all hugely important to the Mexican economy and have been seriously impacted by the peso’s strength. At current peso levels, there is no doubt that inflows will start to be negatively impacted in one or more of these areas.
So, where do things go from here? A few potential scenarios:
If the peso were to stabilize at current levels, it would allow everyone to catch up and take a breath. Businesses and individuals, with more certainty on the stability of the peso going forward, could resume normal activities.
If the peso were to gradually weaken from current levels, in my opinion, this would be the best option for Mexico as it would strengthen the country as an affordable developing economy that is an attractive place to invest.
If the peso were to continue to strengthen, and the country continues to become increasingly expensive for foreigners and foreign investment, there is a real risk of the brakes slamming on many of the US dollar inflows into the country. This would ultimately cause significant economic pain for the Mexican economy.
I think that the best thing that can happen from here is a continued decrease in Mexican inflation, back down to the government’s official target of 3%. This would allow the Mexican central bank to start to lower interest rates (which are currently a very high 11.25%). This in theory would stabilize or even slowly cause the peso to weaken. Of course, many global macroeconomic and political factors also could impact the economic situation, but this is not only an ideal scenario, it seems likely.
Mexico does not yet have the overall economic wealth, tax base, infrastructure, or levels of workforce training and education to be able to “afford” becoming an expensive country (unlike say, Korea and Japan). The best thing for the country’s future is predictability in inflation and currency exchange rates, leading to a continued steady flow of foreign investment into the country, which contributes to a positive feedback loop of improved education, healthcare, infrastructure, and living standards.
The explosion on the Nohoch-A platform spread across the rig, killing two workers. One worker is still missing, the company said. (Lilly Téllez/Twitter)
A fire that broke out on a Pemex offshore oil platform on Friday killed two workers and held up 700,000 barrels of oil production, the company has confirmed.
Ina statement released on its website, the state oil company said that two workers from an outsourced company died in the fire, while another is still missing. Five outsourced workers and three Pemex employees were also injured, including one with burns on 35% of his body, but they are not at risk of losing their lives.
Images on social media showed the Nohoch-A platform ablaze early Friday morning. (Twitter)
“Regarding production, the incident implied a loss of 700,000 barrels because they closed practically all the wells in the area,” Pemex CEO Octavio Romero said in a videoreleased on Twitter posted on Saturday.
However, he added, 600,000 barrels of production had resumed by Saturday afternoon, giving hope that output could soon return to normal levels.
In an earlier statement, Pemex said that “technicians are studying how to repair the pipelines, interconnections and other works” but stressed that looking for the missing worker was the company’s “number-one priority.”
The fire was triggered by anexplosion early Friday on the Nohoch-A link platform of the company’s Cantarell Field, in the Gulf of Campeche, also known as the Bay of Campeche. It then spread to a compression complex, where the two workers lost their lives. More than 300 people were evacuated, the news agency Reuters reported.
The Cantrell oil field was once one of Mexico’s most productive sites. It still produced 170 million barrels per day. (Pemex/Cuartoscuro)
Located about 85 kilometers offshore from Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, Canterell was once one of the world’s most productive oil fields. Although its output has declined in recent years, it still produces around 170 million barrels per day.
Pemex has faced several safety scandals in recent years, including aruptured underwater gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico that killed five people in 2021. In February,three fires broke out at three separate Pemex facilities on the same day.
In its public statements, Pemex said that Friday’s fire “has already been controlled, and work will be done to find the root cause.”
The company also said that the workers affected will receive full support.
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo was a titan of Mexican politics and a key figure in the fight to remove the PRI from their 71-year tenure as Mexico's rulers. (Cuartoscuro)
Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, a giant of Mexican politics who served in several of the country’s political parties and cofounded the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), has died at 89.
Relatives of the veteran politician announced his death on Sunday. The cause of death was undisclosed, but he had been in ill health for some time.
Longtime political ally and Democratic Revolution Party cofounder Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas paid his respects to Muñoz at a vigil in the Frances Cemetery in Mexico City. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Muñoz Ledo started his political career in the 1970s with the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governed Mexico for 71 years. He defected to support the unsuccessful 1988 campaign of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, which was derailed by rampant electoral fraud and institutional corruption later acknowledged by President Miguel de la Madrid. Cárdenas and Muñoz Ledo would go on to form the PRD a year later.
Thereafter, Muñoz Ledo became a champion of Mexico’s transition to democracy, initially by pushing for electoral reforms that loosened the PRI’s grip on power.
In 2000, he ran for president with the now-defunct Authentic Revolution Party, abandoning his campaign midway through to support Vicente Fox, of the National Action Party (PAN). Victory at the ballot box meant that Fox became the first politician to unseat the PRI since 1929.
“I am dedicating all my experience and history to democratizing this country,” he said in a 2020 interview with the Associated Press. “That is the last legacy I have.”
Despite their later differences, President López Obrador paid tribute to Muñoz at his morning press conference and said they’d shared many years of comradery. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
After a stint in the Labor Party, Muñoz Ledo switched to support the Morena Party of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He led the Morena Party in the Chamber of Deputies from 2018–2019 and championed AMLO in the early years of his presidency before turning against him in 2022.
“The current government is cheap populism and violates the rule of law,” he said at the time, and went on to accuse AMLO ofcolluding with drug cartels in order to consolidate power.
“I regret the passing of Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, whom I agreed with for a long time,” AMLO wrote on Twitter. “The recent disagreements don’t erase the long, good moments of friendship and comradery.”
The Chamber of Deputies announced that it would hold a tribute to Muñoz Ledo in the plenary hall of the Palace of San Lázaro, home to the Chamber of Deputies and Congress, at 13:30 on Monday.
Despite joining the ruling Morena party, Muñoz, right, would later renounce President López Obrador, left, claiming he was in collusion with drug cartels. (Twitter)
“With sadness, I have just learned of the death of my dear friend Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, an exemplary Mexican,” current president of the Chamber of Deputies Santiago Creel,wrote on Twitter. “Ahead of his time, he made us see that democratic change was possible peacefully and through institutions. Rest in peace.”
A 2-0 victory on Saturday, the third in four games, was enough for Mexico to sail into the semifinals. (Twitter)
Mexico’s national soccer team has reached the semifinals of the Concacaf Gold Cup with a confident 2-0 win over Costa Rica in Arlington, Texas, on Saturday.
Victory sees El Tri, the Mexican national team’s nickname, take a big step forward in their quest for the North American continental championship, despite a challenging run of form that saw manager Diego Cocca fired after just seven games.
AEK Athen’s Orbelín Pineda, left, opened the scoring with a cool penalty into the center of the net. (Twitter)
Costa Rica had the stronger start, including excellent opportunities in the 9th and 20th minutes, although they were not able to capitalize on a dominant first half, largely thanks to the heroics of Salernita goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who consistently denied Los Ticos the chance to take the lead.
Orbelín Pineda opened the scoring after 52 minutes with an assured penalty that sent the crowd at the AT&T Stadium wild after Costa Rica’s Kendall Watson felled Herny Martín inside the box.
The goal changed the dynamic of the game, with Mexico again coming close in the 69th minute, when a Luis Romo freekick sailed tantalizingly just above the crossbar.
Erick Sánchez secured the win at 87 minutes, slotting a second goal past Costa Rican keeper Kevin Chamorro after a run of play that saw El Tri test Chamorro several times at close range.
Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa kept a clean sheet despite pressure from Costa Rica, in a performance sure to reassure Mexican fans. (MSMX/Twitter)
While this was a far cry from the Costa Rica team that topped their group in the 2014 World Cup, Mexico will be glad to have overcome the potential danger of the men who ranked third in the contest. This is especially true after the tepid 1-0 defeat to Qatar in the final group stage match, which saw a Mexican fan stabbed in a brawl that erupted in the stands after the final whistle.
Victory over Los Ticos means that El Tri have now won three and lost one of the four games since Jaime Lozano took interim charge in June.
The semifinal will see Mexico face Jamaica, who dispatched Guatemala 1-0 on Wednesday. The winner will play either the United States or Panama in the final, scheduled for July 16 in Los Angeles.
Mexico and the United States have contested both of the last two Gold Cup finals, with the honors tied at one apiece.
The president gave updates on megaprojects and programs, the presidential race, and his party's plans for the continued "transformation" of Mexico after his departure from office in 2024. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
The rapid growth of coastal destinations, the extraction of lithium from clay, the death of a well-known historian and a mayor’s encounter with an organized crime figure were among the issues President López Obrador discussed at his morning press conferences, or mañaneras, in the first workweek of July.
AMLO even acknowledged the launch of Meta’s new Twitter-like social media app, Threads, and — in case reporters missed it — read aloud his very first post, in which he offered some free advice to Mark Zuckerberg.
On Friday, AMLO announced that he had joined Meta’s new text-based social media app Threads and shared his very first “thread” — a plea to Mark Zuckerberg to promote “authentic” communication on the site. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
Monday
“There is now a Maya Train,” the General Director of the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) Javier May said during the government’s weekly update on the 1,500-kilometer-long railroad currently under construction in the states of Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas.
“The first four-car train left the Alstom plant in Ciudad Sahagún, in the state of Hidalgo, a moment ago. It’s on its way to the workshop … in Cancún. It will arrive July 8 for assembly and the beginning of static tests and then, in the middle of August, it will begin running on tracks between Cancún and Mérida for dynamic testing,” May said.
“This first train, as is the case with the other trains, was made in Mexico with the best technology and the highest standards of quality and safety. It’s a comfortable, modern and safe train,” he said.
“… The first train is on its way, and the transformation of the southeast is underway. … We’re also going to fulfill our commitment to inaugurate the Maya Train in the month of December because in the fourth transformation, commitments are fulfilled,” said May, who assumed responsibility for the multibillion-dollar rail project when he took the reins of Fonatur in January 2022.
The first cars for the Maya Train have left the factory and are scheduled to complete static and dynamic testing by August. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
Early in his Q&A session with reporters, AMLO asserted that his government is committed to sustainable development in coastal areas that have grown rapidly in recent years.
“In tourism destinations, in beach areas like Puerto Escondido, even Huatulco and also on the Caribbean [coast], in Tulum, [there are] a lot of abuses, invasions, not just by people looking for a place to live but also by tycoons who buy thousands of hectares from ejidatarios [communal land owners],” the president said.
López Obrador said that the federal government is “putting things in order” in such places and will have drawn up urban development plans for each of them before his six-year term ends in late 2024.
“… In the Riviera Maya, there wasn’t a development plan [although] there was originally [one] for Cancún. For example, buildings over a certain number of floors couldn’t be built, and there was order. Now that [rule] has resumed, and developers have to leave sufficient green areas [on properties]. The same thing will happen in all the municipalities that the Maya Train passes through, because there is going to be a lot of population growth and tourism,” he said.
Later in his press conference, AMLO claimed that opposition parties are “splitting up” because they have been taken over by a “grouping” — presumably the recently announced Broad Front for Mexico — led by businessman Claudio X. González, son of a magnate of the same name.
Institutional Revolutionary Party members and leaders are quitting because they have realized the party has been “absorbed, swallowed” by the “supreme conservative power, whose manager is Claudio X. González’s hijo,” López Obrador said.
An opposition coalition, including the PAN, PRI and PRD parties, has formed the “Broad Front for Mexico.” Though the president claims they have already chosen their presidential candidate, the coalition claims they have only just begun the selection process. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
A “process of consultation” led by González was carried out in which “those who don’t show their faces” were asked who should represent the right-leaning Broad Front — which includes the three-party opposition coalition — in the June 2, 2024, election, the president alleged.
“I have all the information [to confirm] that consultations were carried out so that Xóchitl Gálvez [would] represent this group. … [The participants were] those who provide money for the campaigns, for the dirty war, … the owners of media outlets, … the intellectuals,” López Obrador said.
“… And why decide in favor of Xóchitl?” the president continued. “Because they assume that if she was born in a pueblo [town], she’ll have the support of the pueblo [people].”
However, Gálvez, an indigenous Otomí woman born into a family of modest means in Tepatepec, Hidalgo, is “not of the people” but rather “part of the conservatives,” AMLO asserted.
Among other remarks, the president said he was very happy that 16 police employees abducted in Chiapas last week had been released, and expressed his opposition to the new immigration law that recently took effect in Florida.
“Not one vote for [Governor Ron] DeSantis. … Not one vote for those who reject migrants. We can’t remain silent,” he pleaded U.S. voters.
Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, a member of the National Action Party (PAN), called AMLO a “sexist” following his remarks about her candidacy for president. (Santiago Alba Ibarra/Wikimedia Commons)
Tuesday
“That made me mad,” AMLO said when a reporter noted that Senator Xóchitl Gálvez called him “sexist,” after he claimed she had been chosen as the presidential candidate for the Broad Front for Mexico.
The reporter also noted that the senator asserted that the president can’t imagine a woman becoming a candidate by her own merits.
“I respect her point of view,” López Obrador said.
“I explained yesterday that she is the candidate of the mafia of power. She’s the candidate of [ex-presidents] Salinas … [and] Fox; she’s the candidate of Claudio X. González and other influence peddlers. She’s the candidate of those who want to return for their fueros [legal immunity for politicians] because they want to continue looting the country,” he said.
López Obrador was also probed about the Supreme Court’s assertion, in response to an inquiry from the government, that the salaries of the 11 justices of the Court, in accordance with one article of the constitution, cannot be lowered — even though another article of the same constitution states that no public servant, under usual circumstances, can make more money than the president earns.
“A pettifogging response like that was to be expected,” AMLO said before asserting that Article 127 of the Mexican Constitution is “very clear” and that the Supreme Court justices are violating it.
“There can be exceptions … [that allow public servants] to earn more than the president, but only 50% more,” said the president, who has previously pointed out that the salaries of the Supreme Court justices are four times higher than his own.
When asked later in his press conference about when the government planned to offer additional COVID-19 vaccines to citizens, López Obrador called on Deputy Health Minister and coronavirus czar Hugo López-Gatell to respond.
In May, Conahcyt director María Elena Álvarez-Buylla Roces announced that the Mexican-made COVID-19 vaccine, aptly named Patria, was up to regulatory standards and ready to administer. (Andrés Manuel López Obrador/YouTube)
The government’s “preference” is to offer additional COVID-19 vaccines to senior citizens and adults with chronic diseases in October at the same time that flu shots are administered, López-Gatell said.
Back behind the mañanera lectern, AMLO noted that the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (Conahcyt) created a new ventilator model during the pandemic, as well as a COVID-19 vaccine.
“And now it is doing very important work to substitute agrochemicals [such as the soon-to-be banned herbicide glyphosate],” he said of the council, whose acronym recently changed from Conacyt due to the addition of “humanities” to its name.
“And [the council] has started working on how to separate clay from lithium, … which is a technology that only the Chinese have. [Conahcyt chief] María Elena [Álvarez-Buylla] informed me that they’ve made 95% progress, that the separation of lithium from clay can be achieved. A major breakthrough. This will mean a lot for Sonora,” López Obrador said, referring to the state with Mexico’s largest lithium reserves.
Lithium, which was nationalized last year, “belongs to the nation, and is a strategic mineral for batteries,” he added.
Wednesday
AMLO acknowledged the death of historian Adolfo Gilly at the beginning of his press conference.
“He has a book that is essential to understanding the Mexican revolutionary process, it’s called La revolución interrumpida. Young people should read this book,” López Obrador said.
The historian Adolfo Gilly, who passed away at the age of 95, had been a visiting professor at several prestigious U.S. universities, including Stanford and Yale. (Saúl López/Cuartoscuro)
“… A hug to his relatives, to the friends of Gilly. He was here with us about a year ago, he came here to the [National] Palace, he brought me his book about [the revolution-era general] Felipe Ángeles, which is a great book as well.”
Later in the mañanera, a reporter notified López Obrador that José Ángel Gurría, a former secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and a cabinet minister in the 1994–2000 government of former president Ernesto Zedillo, wouldn’t take part in the contest to become the Broad Front for Mexico’s presidential candidate.
AMLO indicated he wasn’t surprised by the news before expressing doubt that Gurría would be able to collect 150,000 signatures of support, the number required for opposition bloc aspirants to advance to the second stage of the selection process.
“He thought he was going to be the chosen one, but those who are in charge — who bought the PRI and the PAN some time ago — were the ones who decided,” López Obrador said.
“… Who the oligarchs chose is the señora Xóchitl [Gálvez], and the media campaign has already started,” he said.
President López Obrador said previous employees of Mexicana, who had protested the collapse of the airline, failed to negotiate the terms of the sale within the time frame required. (Armando Monroy/Cuartoscuro)
“The new planes of the airline will begin to fly in December,” he said.
He subsequently said that the government didn’t want to “buy a lawsuit,” in buying the airline, effectively ruling out the purchase of the Mexicana name. López Obrador described the situation as “regrettable.”
The president’s mood lightened when he was informed that the value of the U.S. dollar had dipped below 17 pesos. He instructed his team to display the exchange rate on the screen behind him and asserted that the appreciation of the peso during his term in office is something that “hadn’t happened in decades.”
AMLO declined to make a prediction about whether the peso would continue to strengthen but declared that he was “very happy” with the current exchange rate.
“It helps us. We have a percentage of public debt contracted in dollars. So, when the peso strengthens, our debt goes down,” López Obrador said.
AMLO shared the peso’s strong exchange rate with reporters on Wednesday morning. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
Thursday
“There were no homicides in half of the [32] states yesterday,” López Obrador said early in his press conference.
“Why am I saying this? … Because yesterday, the Televisa [broadcasters] dedicated all of their airtime to speaking about violence in Mexico,” he said.
“… [In] 16 states — half of the states in other words — … there was not a single homicide [on Wednesday], but [people’s] perception might be different due to the politically driven sensationalism of media outlets,” López Obrador said.
“The two people who committed this crime have already been arrested. … The motive is now known; it was robbery: 15,000 pesos,” AMLO said.
He later said that his government is “constantly” informed about what is happening in the entire country and takes actions to reduce the homicide rate, which declined by 1% in annual terms in the first five months of the year.
New Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena was the executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) between 2008 and 2022. (Rogelio Morales Ponce/Cuartoscuro)
Questioned about his newly appointed foreign affairs minister, López Obrador described Alicia Bárcena as “one of Mexico’s best diplomats,” given her experience in the United Nations.
“There is not one formal complaint [about her] from the United States government, not one. Besides, and this is forgotten sometimes, Mexico is an independent, sovereign country. To appoint a minister of foreign affairs, Alicia Bárcena in this case, we don’t have to ask permission or see if they like it or not in Russia or China or the United States. No, these are our own sovereign decisions,” he said.
The government, with Bárcena, is working on the issues of migration and the trafficking of drugs and weapons, AMLO said.
“These are the issues. And due to the electoral season that … is already beginning in the United States, we have to be very aware of two issues in which they always want to involve Mexico: drugs and migration,” he said.
While he praised Bárcena for her experience at the UN, López Obrador took aim at the intergovernmental organization after a reporter noted that the UN had said in a report that Mexico is one of the world’s largest traffickers and producers of drugs.
“The UN is very stiff; it’s not doing its job; it’s not doing anything to combat the main problem in the world, which is inequality. They don’t do anything,” he said.
“… Also, they don’t do anything to avoid wars,” he added. “[The UN] is a beautiful building in New York with a lot of experts on everything. They earn a lot of money, they have all the specialties [covered], but they forget the foundations on which the United Nations was established.”
The government-owned bank known as “The Bank of Well-Being,” distributes payments from social programs, which according to the president, now reach 30 million Mexican families. (Banco del Bienestar/Facebook)
Turning to one of his favorite topics, the president told the press corps that 25 million Mexican families are benefiting from at least one of the government’s social programs, among which are the seniors pension program, scholarship schemes for students, employment programs and support schemes for farmers.
He estimated that five million additional families receive public money because their members include “public servants — whether they are teachers, doctors, nurses, officers of the National Guard, soldiers, marines [or] police.”
“The [government] budget reaches 30 million families or households of the 35 million that there are in the country,” López Obrador said.
The five million households that don’t receive government money are those with the highest incomes, he said. However, they, too, receive “special attention” because “there are no increases in the prices of gasoline and electricity, and there haven’t been tax increases,” AMLO added.
“Of all the [national] territory, the southeast has 70% of [Mexico’s] surface and subterranean water. … The Maya Train is going to cross the Usumacinta, which is the … most important river in Mexico,” he said.
The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) is the branch of the national health system for formal workers. A new IMSS-Bienestar system seeks to connect informal workers with free, public healthcare. (Archive)
Friday
“Good morning, cheer up, it’s already the weekend, Friday,” AMLO remarked at the top of his last mañanera of the week.
He noted that he had met on Thursday with governors of states that have signed on to the federal government’s new universal healthcare scheme, called IMSS-Bienestar.
Mexico has a mixed healthcare system, meaning healthcare is provided by both public and private institutions. In order to receive public healthcare, Mexicans must be registered as “salaried” employees of a formal employer. Informal employment in Mexico inhibits access to the public system.
“Almost half of [all] Mexicans don’t have social security, don’t have healthcare guaranteed, and for them … the IMSS-Bienestar health system is being built,” López Obrador said, adding that about half of Mexico’s states have signed on to the scheme.
“… In those states where the health system is currently being federalized, there are already general doctors, specialists, … the supply of medications is above 90%, there are new hospitals, upgraded hospitals, equipment that was needed,” he said.
“… We’ve made the commitment that, this year, we’re going to have one of the best public health systems in the world. People will be able to have medical attention 24 hours a day, seven days a week [as well as] the right to medicine, studies and surgical interventions with specialists free of charge. That’s what we’re building. And that’s why we met with these governors yesterday.”
López Obrador noted that he held a separate meeting with the governors of Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Oaxaca and Veracruz, at which the issue of migration was discussed.
President López Obrador, with U.S. President Joe Biden, right, has long called for the United States to support development in southern Mexico and Central America, a key component of Mexico’s migration policy. (Archive)
We’re doing quite well in everything related to migration. The aid programs for Central America and the Caribbean are being strengthened. … Mexico is one of the countries of the world that helps other people the most, even taking the great powers into account,” he said.
“… We’re investing close to US $200 million to support our Central American and Caribbean brothers, and other governments aren’t doing that,” AMLO said, adding that the Mexican government’s initiatives — among which are two employment schemes that have been implemented in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — “have helped a lot to put order to the migratory flow.”
One reporter sought the president’s opinion on photographs that show the Morena Party Mayor of Chilpancingo, Guerrero — Norma Otilia Hernández — meeting the presumed leader of the Ardillos criminal gang.
“And a few hours ago, it was reported that the brother of the mayor of Chicoloapan, in México state, Nancy Gómez, was arrested for the possession of drugs and firearms,” the journalist added.
“Impunity is not permitted,” López Obrador responded. “And an investigation will be carried out, … we’ve already spoken with the governor of Guerrero.”
AMLO said he didn’t know whether the mayors would be forced to step down while investigations are conducted but asserted that there would be no “contamination” of the probes, even if they remained in their jobs.
Later in his presser, he asserted that the “transformation” of Mexico won’t end when he leaves office in late 2024. A president can’t be re-elected in Mexico, but “the transformation will continue,” López Obrador said.
Cabinet members joined the president on July 1 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his election, a moment that began what AMLO frequently calls the “fourth transformation” of the country. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
“The foundations [for the transformation] have been laid, and it will be very difficult for the same people who sank the country, who looted the country, to return,” he said.
“That’s why they’re so upset,” AMLO said, apparently referring to politicians who represent parties that previously held ruling power in Mexico.
He subsequently reaffirmed that he will completely withdraw from politics once his six-year term ends.
“I don’t want to be supreme leader [of Morena], or moral leader or caudillo or cacique [chief],” López Obrador said.
Demonstrating that he is up-to-date with happenings in the world of social media, the president — whose YouTube channel, according to the online analytics service Streams Chart, ranks as No. 5 in the Spanish-speaking world — took a moment toward the end of his press conference to speak about Threads, the Twitter rival launched by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta this week.
“I already signed up and [wrote] my first message,” he told reporters.
“… A courteous appeal to the owner of this new social network,” AMLO continued, reading from his first post:
“In any company or government, you can choose between the quantitative or the qualitative, efficiency and principles. Hopefully, this platform won’t bet on profit and won’t allow the use of bots. It would be exceptional to seek a mechanism, a filter, to avoid manipulation and make authenticity in communication a reality,” said the “thread” sent out into the world by López Obrador, who enjoys (or endures) the support of many social media bots himself.
Shortly before he concluded his Friday mañanera, AMLO noted that there had been a fire on an offshore Pemex platform and declared that he wasn’t worried or afraid about the rise of Senator Xóchitl Gálvez ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“I can openly tell you that the transformation movement is very strong, very very strong,” he said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
For Mexicans, life is too short to care about being tall.
I came across an article today that piqued my interest and set my imagination a-runnin’. You know how it happens: something you haven’t really sat down to think about, ever, is suddenly presented from just the right angle, and down the rabbit hole you go!
The subject? Height. Particularly, the importance of height in men.
Always a sociologist at heart with a special interest in the role that physical beauty plays in our day-to-day lives, it occurred to me that I’ve really only thought about women when it comes to the social implications of beauty standards.
Which is pretty fair. I mean, women certainly do bear the brunt of it: our looks, our weight, our shape — physical attractiveness matters for women to a much higher degree than it does for men. In very broad strokes, women are judged by how they look while men are judged by what they do. While it’s somewhat common to see attractiveness “mismatches” — in which the woman is clearly the more attractive of the two, the opposite is quite rare.
But there’s one area in which certain men are just as helpless as homely women: height. As Pravina Rudra explained in her article, “Why Women Don’t Date Short Men,” even liberal, open-minded and sensitive women are not afraid to disparage men of a certain stature, often justifying themselves by complaining of “short-man syndrome” and the fact that it’s just one flimsy disadvantage among mostly advantages that men have as a class, so what’s the big deal?
This got me thinking about Mexico.
Mexicans are not known for their tall stature. The average height for males in Mexico is between 5 feet, 4 inches and 5 feet, 7 inches, depending on where you are; very generally speaking, those with more prominent European ancestry tend to be taller. For women, the average height is 5 feet, 2 inches.
I’m 5 feet, 4 inches and have been about the same height or slightly taller than most of them men I’ve come across in Mexico. I’m taller than most women I know, though I’m pretty much the exact average height for a U.S. woman. Everyone I’ve dated, I’ll admit, has been at least slightly taller than me, even if it’s by an inch or two. No one has been more than five inches taller or so.
I’ve noticed that the tenets of Rudra’s article don’t seem to hold quite as true in Mexico as they do in the more northern North American countries. Here, I routinely see couples in which the woman is unselfconsciously taller. I also often see women in comically tall high heels, making them appear taller than their partners even if they’re not actually. The men at their sides don’t seem to be in the least sheepish about having to look up at their partners.
It’s something I’ve rarely seen in my own country, where I’ve heard women say, “Oh, I can’t wear high heels out because then I’d be taller than my husband!” as if surpassing his height were the equivalent of telling everyone how long he takes in the bathroom. A friend of mine, married to a man who’s perhaps half an inch shorter than she is, tells me she often gets comments from her friends and family when they visit the States together — mostly rude ones in which they express their disbelief that she’d choose a mate shorter than she is.
She does not receive those comments here.
But in Mexico, this kind of height difference doesn’t seem to bother people. It’s something I find both refreshing and slightly odd in a culture where machismo maintains a tight and insidious grip despite our best efforts to shake it off; it’s like seeing a tough-guy motorcycle gang leader attending a poetry reading or something.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t Mexican women with clear preferences. One friend of mine only dates men a full head taller than her, bonus if they’ve got a big belly. There aren’t a lot of men this size around here, plus she wants them to have plenty of money, so it’s a small market.
But most of my women friends are partnered with men about their size — sometimes slightly taller, sometimes slightly shorter. They routinely wear shoes that make them appear very clearly taller, which tells me that height in men is just not the big deal here that it is where I’m from. It’s not as strongly correlated to concepts of “manliness” here, where larger-than-life personalities and attitudes take the reins instead.
This, of course, is smart: if women here insisted on only dating men above, say, 5 feet, 10 inches, a lot of them would simply be single without wanting to be. Interestingly, I’ve met more women self-conscious about their shorter statures than men, hence the 9-inch platform/heel combos and those ridiculous-looking tennis shoes in style right now sitting on top of 3-inch platforms (I do not understand fashion).
The fact that there’s not such an emphasis on height for men here, is a good thing. And the idea that an emphasis on height is an antiquated notion whose time to part has come is catching on, examples of the disadvantages of being tall abounding.
Taller people, for example, don’t live as long on average. They also consume more (they need more calories) and pollute more because they create more waste. And besides, as Mara Altman explains in her charming editorial, “There Has Never Been a Better Time to Be Short,” “Short people don’t just save resources, but as resources become scarcer because of the earth’s growing population and global warming, they may also be best suited for long-term survival.”
As for me, personally, I’ll admit: the primitive, animal part in me loves being able to snuggle up into my slightly taller and visibly physically stronger partner. Unlike most of my paisanas, though, I’m actually a bit repelled by men who look like they could snap me in two with minimal effort (scary!), so the generally smaller stature of Mexican men suits me just fine.
Now, if only they could lower the height of the kitchen cabinets around here.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com
The perfect solution to a classic problem: what to do with leftover red wine? (Pinterest)
It began as a problem: single woman and light drinker that I am, an open bottle of wine can last me three or four days. What is the problem, you say? Well, I don’t want to drink every night, and sometimes there’s no one to invite over.
Much like making lemonade out of lemons, my solution was to make vinegar. Turns out it’s quite simple, and I feel foolish for not knowing this before.
No longer is leftover red wine a problem, thanks to the power of vinegar. (Jeff Siepman/Unsplash)
Besides wine, you also need a vinegar “mother” — a harmless bacteria that feeds on the sugars in the alcohol — to start the fermentation process. The easiest method is to use Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, found in most big-box grocery stores and health food stores in Mexico and also on Amazon México. I always have a bottle of it in my fridge for making salad dressings. Those brown “flakes” floating in the apple cider vinegar, or sometimes congealed into a gelatinous disc in the bottle, are the mother.
While unattractive, it’s harmless and, some say, gives the vinegar certain health benefits, like helping with weight loss and skin health, lowering blood sugar levels, reducing cholesterol and improving diabetes symptoms. The acetic acid also kills harmful bacteria. Some people like to drink a spoonful of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water every day.
Into a Mason jar, I poured my leftover half-bottle of wine, added ¼ cup of cider vinegar, stirred it well, rubber banded a coffee filter over the top, and set it in my cupboard to ferment. I marked my calendar with both the start day and the three-week point.
That day came and folks, it was vinegar—delicious, complex, perfect red wine vinegar. (I know what my friends are getting for Christmas gifts this year!) I decided to let it sit another three weeks and then strained out the mother (to stop the fermentation and prevent it from turning moldy). I poured it into a bottle with a long neck and a more identifiable vinegar-bottle shape and excitedly drizzled some over a lunch salad with olive oil, salt and pepper.
Delicious!
Red wine vinegar is as simple to make as it is delicious! (Pinterest)
Red Wine Vinegar
1 (750-ml) bottle of good red wine*
½ cup live raw vinegar (like Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar) or vinegar mother
*Wines with an alcohol content of 8% or lower do not need additional water added.
Choose a clean container that leaves plenty of headspace so the oxygen can work its fermentation magic, like a wide-mouthed half-gallon glass jar or ceramic crock. Fill the container no more than three-quarters full. Stir well to aerate the wine, then add the live raw vinegar or mother. (If needed, add water until jar is about three-quarters full.)Cover jar with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, using a rubber band to keep it in place.
Leave the jar undisturbed in a dark place at room temperature for 3-4 weeks, checking regularly to see that a vinegar mother (a translucent, gelatinous disk) is growing on the surface and no mold is forming. (If you see green, black or white mold, throw out the mixture and start over.) You should begin to smell vinegar after a few weeks.
Continue to ferment for about two months, checking and tasting every week. When the alcohol acidifies, it will taste like vinegar and make your mouth pucker. Once it’s to your liking, strain the vinegar through cheesecloth and transfer it to a bottle with a tight seal or cork. The vinegar can be used as-is or aged in the bottle up to a year to mellow its flavor.
Reserve the mother to make future batches, storing it in enough vinegar to cover and refrigerating until ready to begin again.
To make a smaller batch, reduce the wine and raw vinegar as desired, retaining the ratio of one part vinegar to three to four parts wine (for example, ½ cup vinegar to 1½ cups wine for a 2-cup batch).
Raspberry Vinegar
Use this for all sorts of summer drinks!
1 cup red wine or apple cider vinegar
1½ quarts fresh raspberries or strawberries
Sugar
In a nonreactive bowl, combine vinegar and berries. Cover, refrigerate and let macerate at least 1 or up to 3 days.
Mash berries in the bowl; strain liquid through a fine-mesh sieve. To every 1 cup of juice, add 1¼ cups sugar. Combine juice and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then gently simmer 15 minutes. Let cool, then bottle. Keeps refrigerated up to 3 months.
To serve, add 1 tsp. raspberry vinegar to a tumbler filled with ice. Add water, sparkling water, rum, brandy or prosecco.
Raspberry vinegar can be a perfect base for refreshing summer drinks. (Pinterest)
Avocado and Onion Salad
2-4 avocados, depending on size
Salt and pepper
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar or lime juice, plus more as needed
1 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more as needed
For clean avocado wedges, halve each avocado and remove pit. Place halves cut sides down, then cut through the skin into 1-inch thick wedges.
Peel skin off each wedge. Arrange avocado on a platter or plates. Sprinkle with salt. Separate the rings of the onion; arrange on top of the avocado. Season with salt and pepper; drizzle with vinegar and olive oil. Eat right away.
Cut grape tomatoes in half and larger varieties in quarters or smaller. In a wide skillet, simmer tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper until a thick jam-like mixture forms and the liquid evaporates, 20–25 minutes.
Purée with a blender or food processor until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. (For a perfectly smooth texture, strain twice.) Stir in Worcestershire. Chill before serving.
Yield: About 2 cups.
Homemade vinegar can elevate ketchup to another level. (Dennis Klein/Unsplash)
Quick Pickled Onions
Raw red or white onion, sliced, cut into rings, or diced (as much as you need for your recipe)
Salt
Red wine vinegar to cover
Put the onion in a nonreactive vessel (like a glass Mason jar) along with a large pinch of salt. Pour enough vinegar on top to just cover. Let stand, stirring once or twice, for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour (the onion will grow softer and more pickled-tasting as it sits).
Drain and use on sandwiches, tacos, gorditas, quesadillas, salads, etc. Store, refrigerated, up to 1 week.
Don Ramón with an example of a finely-painted leather-back equipal chair at the family's showroom in Zacoalcos, Jalisco. (All photos by Leigh Thelmadatter)
If you have been to Mexican restaurants in the U.S. (and perhaps elsewhere), there is a very good chance you have seen this unusual furniture style that dates back centuries.
Equipales are distinguished with the use of criss-cross slats and padded leather. The most representative piece of the style is a chair with a curved back.
Don Ramón (far right) with several members of the cooperative at the showroom in Zacoalcos, Jalisco.
This chair harkens back to the style’s origins: a low stool reserved only for rulers in Mesoamerica. Its symbolism was so important that the Spanish used them in the early colonial period, though not without some modification; they added cushioned leather and a back.
The basic techniques remained the same however, and over the centuries have been applied to the making of various kinds of furniture.
Use of the equipal died out over most of Mexico, but one area that preserved it is the town of Zacoalco, just south of Guadalajara. Today, its craftsmen are the most important producers of the handcrafted furniture, mostly by luck: a rail line was built through the town that connects it south to Colima and north to the U.S. border.
This rail line not only allowed the isolated community to ship furniture to Guadalajara but to introduce it beyond the state of Jalisco and into the southwestern U.S. Today, trucks and highways have taken over much of the logistics, but the rail line still defines where the furniture remains the most popular in both countries.
A traditional equipal chair. The design dates back to the rulers of pre-Hispanic Mexico. (marisolrosarioz/Wikimedia)
There are a myriad of equipal craftsmen here, and their production varies in quality, quantity and styles. But few have made equipal a status symbol like the family of Don Ramón Hernández.
The family’s showroom is in a prime location, just inside the arches entering Zacoalco from the highway, but the sign in front simply says “Galería de Equipales” with little to hint at the treasures inside. That is seemingly on purpose, as the Galería’s products and clientele are exclusive.
The family has generations of experience making the furniture. Don Ramón himself learned the basics from his uncle Andrés Cantor and cousin Bascilo, who learned from the generations before them. But that is not what sets the family cooperative apart.
Don Ramón decided to leave Zacoalco for the United States, where he worked in hotels and restaurants, learning a fair amount of English and even some French. Most importantly, he learned that there was a wealthy market that could be developed for equipales.
Returning home, Hernández partnered with his cousins in 2005, who had started the cooperative some years earlier. He convinced the family that they did not have to sell to middlemen, who paid poorly, but rather directly to upscale buyers, if they could establish a reputation for quality merchandise.
“What we sell is very, very, very exclusive, as many of our customers are looking for something different and better than what they can find [elsewhere],” says Hernández.
Pairing of more traditional furniture with quilt-like wall hangings, which are unique to Hernández’s family cooperative.
From the start, he used his contacts in the hospitality industry. From there, he reached other businesses, architects and interior designers. The direct sales allow the family to tailor furniture to customers’ tastes and even get inventive — designing sofas, vestibules, dining sets and wall hangings made from leather scraps.
All derive their inspiration from tradition, although they have worked to make the chairs and sofas more comfortable, integrating ergonomic design and experimenting with different leathers, padding and support elements.
His other advantage is quality — in both craftsmanship and materials — although this is not easy. Getting suitable leather and wood takes time. Traditional woods, such as rojo paduzco — used primarily for the slats — can be harvested only at certain times of the year, and overexploitation is forcing their suppliers to travel hours away to find suitable trees. They buy most of their leather as rawhide but process the skins themselves to ensure quality.
Over the past 20 years, the cooperative has evolved, but it is still a family affair with over 14 craftsmen and others in administrative roles. Those few who are not family were admitted only after strict vetting.
It should be stated that Galería de Equipales is not a factory. All members have their own workshops but coordinate the construction, promotion and sale of the furniture collaboratively. This allows finished works to have a uniformity, but perhaps more importantly, says Hernández, the cooperative can respect individual and traditional working styles.
“I have to adapt myself to them, not them to me,” says Don Ramón, noting that it is important to take days off for local festivals and respect that most of the family is still involved in agriculture, leaving less time for furniture-making during the rainy season.
The quality of Don Ramón’s work sets the products apart from the competition, and has made the cooperative a roaring success with high-end clients in the United States and Mexico.
Although he does do tasks like painting and other finishing touches, Hernández’s main role in the cooperative is to be its “face” — so much so that the organization is colloquially referred to as his. He has traveled in much of Mexico and the U.S., meaning the cooperative’s furniture can be found all over both countries in upscale businesses and luxury homes.
U.S. restaurants remain an important part of his clientele, but recent restrictions on the importation of leather and wood products have made this business more difficult.
Word of mouth remains the family’s most important advertising, and they eschew an online presence, which would require an inventory of repeatable pieces, something he finds difficult and antithetical to how the cooperative works.
Instead, many customers are willing to come to the showroom to choose from the wide variety of already-made furniture — which ranges from the absolute traditional to the innovative.
In a way, you could say that Hernández’s family has returned the equipal to its former high social status, once again creating a kind of “throne” for those who demand only the finest quality.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico over 20 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador tends to inspire a passionate response, from opponents or supporters. What is the best way to measure his impact on Mexico? (Gob MX)
I’ll start with two disclaimers.
First, I am not firmly for or against Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO).
Second, I understand that one could argue that the current president of any country is not fully responsible for what happens during his or her tenure, and instead credit (or blame) external factors and previous administrations. While there is some truth to this, it makes it difficult to do any meaningful analysis of a leader.
For the purposes of this article, I am working on the assumption that most of what has happened during President López Obador’s nearly five years in office – the good and the bad – can be credited to his policies.
The goal of this article is to provide a basic framework for evaluating AMLO’s presidency. Nearly everyone I talk to has a very strong opinion about him. In the conversations that I have had with Mexicans of all socioeconomic levels, I have found he is either strongly liked or strongly loathed. Those who like him generally believe him to be less corrupt, and focused on the needs of the lower classes. Those who loathe him point to his anti-business, socialist policies, and attacks against the Supreme Court, fearing he is putting Mexico on the economic path of Argentina, or even worse, Venezuela. But what is the reality?
I remember vividly when AMLO took office and one of his very first actions was shutting down the construction of his predecessor’s Mexico City airport project. It was a very public statement, and a fulfillment of a campaign promise. As a very frequent flyer into Mexico City, I was appalled that he would do something so brazen as halting construction on a project that already had many billions of dollars invested, and was designed to give a modern first impression of Mexico to millions of foreign visitors to the country. I remember thinking, “Wow, this guy is going to be very, very bad for business….and likely for the country as a whole.”
Despite that alarming start to his administration, in my opinion, he has done some good work. He has significantly raised Mexico’s far too low minimum wage and is on track to have it doubled during his administration. He has significantly raised Mexico’s pensions, which also were low by most international standards. He has put in worker-friendly legislation on overtime pay and vacation time, which seems reasonable given where Mexico was compared to international standards. He has redirected resources to parts of the country that historically have not received significant investment.
He has also launched some very bold initiatives. To name a few:
He has built Mexico’s largest refinery to try to capture more economic value from Mexico’s oil output.
He has built a new lower-cost Mexico City airport (Felipe Ángeles International Airport).
He has prioritized the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor project as an alternative route to the Panama canal.
He has willed the Maya Train project forward.
He is building a new airport in Tulum.
He is building a new natural reserve (Jaguar Park) in Tulum.
He has prioritized the completion of the very long-overdue Oaxaca City to Oaxaca Coast highway project.
Each of these projects is big, each is controversial, each is hard, and yet each one has progressed surprisingly quickly.
There is no shortage of criticism of his actions. Many critics have concerns regarding the military’s involvement in many infrastructure projects (and how that has allowed AMLO to bypass normal procedures and approvals for getting things done). Others point to environmental damage from the Maya Train and Tulum airport projects. Many insist that he is “bending the rules” to get these projects completed quickly. Other criticisms focus on his support of the national energy companies, CFE and Pemex, to the detriment of renewable energy investment by the private sector. Still others point to Mexico’s continued abysmal murder rate and AMLO’s security policy of “hugs, not bullets”, which appears to have failed. And others think he has created a general anti-business climate that has many concerned about future investments in the country.
I think that a heated debate is best cooled by looking at some important indicators. Of course, those who are pro-AMLO would say that all good things are due to his policies and those who loathe him would say he has nothing to do with them (and vice versa).
But let’s start by looking at some financial indicators. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is at record highs, Mexico’s debt ratios are very good, resulting in solid credit ratings, the Mexican peso is the strongest it has been in eight years, inflation is coming back down, GDP growth is solid (not great), remittances from abroad are at record highs, and tourism levels and spending are growing fast. I would argue that if AMLO were really that bad for business, we would be seeing worse financial indicators. Businesses would be withholding or delaying investment (which is not happening).
What about other indicators? Violence levels have had minimal improvement during his administration, though homicide rates have seen declines in some parts of the country. Environmental indicators would also point to no real improvement during his administration. There are other indicators that point to a deterioration in some government health services.
It’s too soon to gauge the success of the bold initiatives of the Maya Train, the Tulum airport, the new Mexico City airport, the Oaxaca highway, and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec projects. Each has their proponents, and each has significant opposition – as to be expected of such massive projects. I understand and share many of the environmental concerns about the projects, but at the same time recognize that too many people in these parts of Mexico have been left behind economically. The reality is, without these kinds of investments, sooner or later many of the residents of these communities would continue to leave in search of a better life for their families elsewhere. Is the answer to not invest in an area and have its residents flee to look for opportunities elsewhere? I don’t think that makes sense, for many reasons.
A developing country like Mexico that is rapidly industrializing is obviously going to bring about significant changes that are disruptive and discomforting to many. Although the “business” side of me is put off by the socialist rhetoric of AMLO, I have to acknowledge that he has made some bold investments in areas long neglected, that have the potential for significant positive economic impact on the country.
I also have to recognize that he has not scared off investors, and has been capable of maintaining solid relationships with both the Trump and Biden administrations – not an easy task to say the least. It’s been an unpredictable ride during this administration, but the solid economic indicators and AMLO’s consistently high approval ratings point to him doing more than a few things right. Only time will tell if his unorthodox approach and bold initiatives result in a better Mexico for all.
