The avocado has rapidly become an important export for Mexico, and is enjoyed in countries across the world. (Alina Karpenko/Unsplash)
With the conquest of what is today known as Mexico, the New World and the Old World experienced an extraordinary exchange of values, knowledge and, of course, food.
While the people in the New World were exposed to wheat, rice, poultry and new meats, the Indigenous people sent Europe corn, tomatoes, chiles, potatoes and chocolate, among other items.
The interaction of both worlds enriched global cuisines and shaped our culinary world into one where many basic ingredients used worldwide originally came from Mexico.
Join us on a brief history of four of the most popular foods Mexico has given the world.
Tomatoes
Many people mistakenly think the tomato is native to Mexico. So why is it on the list, you may ask? Well, because it was the Mexica (Aztec) people who first domesticated it and used it as a cultivated food.
Its name comes from the Náhuatl word xitomatl (shee-tomatl), which means “water fruit belly button.” It then turned to jitomate in Spanish and to “tomato” in English. In Mexico, jitomates are the red tomatoes and tomates, or tomatillos, are the small green ones used to prepare salsa verde.
While the tomato appears to have originated in the Andes, the Mexica people were the first to domesticate what is now considered a staple food around the world. (Courtney Smith/Unsplash)
The ancestral form of the tomato originated in the Andes mountains. Scientists think the species spread north — possibly as a weed — and wasn’t widely domesticated until it reached Mexico. From here, it was taken back to Europe after the arrival of the Spanish.
The tomato has become a staple in many international dishes (you’re probably thinking pizza and pasta!) and is also the basis of many Mexican recipes. It is now so widespread that it is hard to think of a household kitchen without it.
Today, there are some 10,000 different species of tomato cultivated across the world, ranging in size and color. While Mexico has always been one of the 10 top producers of tomatoes, (4 million tonnes per year) China leads worldwide production with 56.4 million tons. The United States comes in third with 13 million tons produced a year.
Chocolate
Its name is spelled almost the same way in many languages. In Spanish, Portuguese and English, it is chocolate. In Dutch, it is chocolade, and in French chocolat. Even in Arabic, it’s pronounced shwukulata.
Thanks to Mexico’s pre-Hispanic Mexica, you can call this cake “chocolate” — originally a Nahautl word. (David Holifield/Unsplash)
All these words have the same root: the Náhuatl word xocolatl,meaning “bitter water.” Some scholars, however, suggest that the word might have originated from the Maya chokol, which means hot, and a, which means water.
Whatever the origin, both Indigenous civilizations thought of chocolate as a sacred drink.
The Maya, for instance, praised it as the drink of the gods — it was regarded not only as a culinary pleasure but also as a ceremonial beverage. Babies were anointed with chocolate, and people used it as a celebratory drink to mark weddings, coronations and the forging of diplomatic alliances.
Later, the Mexica would use chocolate as an invigorating beverage for warriors. Spanish conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo wrote that Emperor Moctezuma’s personal guards drank 2,000 cups of chocolate every day “with foam.” Moctezuma himself drank some 50 cups of chocolate daily, and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés adopted the habit to sustain his soldiers during battle at times when they had no other food.
Traditional Mexican Indigenous chocolate drinks often include chile, quite different from the sweet chocolate we enjoy from coffee shops and in chocolate bars. (currentevents.sg)
While the beverage wasn’t sweet, it was considered a delicious drink exclusively for society’s elite. They drank it as a hot beverage in the winter months and as a cold drink in the summer. It had a bitter flavor and was spiced with chile, flowers and vanilla. Women would pour the chocolate from high above the cup to create a foamy effect.
Chocolate was also preferred over the fermented spirit pulque as it didn’t have any alcohol; the Mexica culture highly condemned drunkenness.
After the Spanish arrived, they transformed the beverage into the sweet treat that we know today by adding sugar, almonds and cinnamon and by removing all other spices except for the vanilla, our next stellar ingredient.
Vanilla
Vanilla has become the most common flavor around the world. In its natural form, it can be almost as expensive as saffron, the world’s most pricey spice.
Vanilla, another ingredient indigenous to Mexico, is a hugely popular flavor worldwide. (Vanillery)
Originally from the jungle highlands of the north-central state of Veracruz, the orchid that produces vanilla was first domesticated by the Totonaca people of Papantla. When the Mexica conquered the Totonacs in 1427, they discovered the vanilla pods and started using them medicinally and as flavoring for their food.
In the Totonaca language, vanilla was known as xahanat (shaHanat), which means “black flower.” When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mexico and discovered the orchid, they called it vainilla, which means “little pod.”
Vanilla became so popular in the world that people tried to bring it to other countries, but the vanilla orchid could only grow here because the Melipona bee, responsible for its pollination, only lived in eastern Mexico.
As a result, Mexico was the only producer of vanilla worldwide until 1841, when French botanist Edmond Albius discovered manual pollination.
Despite the orchid originating in Mexico, Madagascar is currently the world’s top producer of vanilla. Other producing countries include, of course, Mexico, as well as Tahiti, Uganda and Indonesia.
Avocado
Unmistakably Mexican, the avocado is a fruit (yes, technically it is a fruit not a veggie) loved across the world and has managed its way into even the most traditional of foreign cuisines. In India, people make curried avocado. Ethiopians mix avocado with papaya, mango and mint to create a refreshing beverage in the hot summer months, and in the Philippines, people mix avocado with sweetened condensed milk and ice to eat it as ice cream.
Mexico exports 2.1 million tonnes of avocados each year, providing 70% of the world’s supply. (Archive)
As with most of the produce listed in this story, the name avocado comes from the Náhuatl: the word ahuacatl means “tree testicles.” The Mexica thought the avocado had aphrodisiac properties and that it promoted fertility in both men and women.
Puebla, in the central Mexico highlands, is believed to be the motherland of the avocado. There, researchers have found vestiges of the fruit that can be traced back to over 10,000 years. Experts also believe that Mesoamerican tribes first domesticated the avocado tree (Persea americana) 5,000 years ago, which would make the cultivation of avocados as old as the invention of the wheel.
Perhaps due to its creamy and delicious flavor, the avocado was highly regarded by Mesoamerican cultures. The 14th month of the Mayan calendar (K’ank’in) is even represented by the glyph for an avocado.
In Mexico, avocados are traditionally used for savory dishes, mainly in the form of guacamole. But thanks to globalization, Mexicans have learned that it can also satisfy a sweet tooth.
Mexicans from across the country made their way to Mexico City’s central square on Saturday for a rally marking the fifth anniversary of President López Obrador’s emphatic 2018 election victory.
“It’s a badge of pride to be able to say … from the main square of the republic that our movement is stronger than ever,” López Obrador — who won 53% of the vote at the 2018 presidential election — declared at the beginning of an hour-long address in the Zócalo, where over 250,000 people were in attendance, according to Mexico City Mayor Martí Batres.
President López Obrador said that his administration had achieved many social and economic changes in Mexico, which he said were possible because his administration didn’t tolerate corruption. (Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro)
With his wife, cabinet ministers and Morena party governors seated behind him, AMLO listed numerous government achievements during his 4 1/2 years in office, including the delivery of welfare and social programs, the increase to the minimum wage, post-pandemic economic growth, the saving of public money through “republican austerity,” the construction of infrastructure projects, the “rescue” of state-owned energy companies, the rollout of a new universal health care scheme and the establishment of the National Guard.
“What has been the key to achieving all these results?” López Obrador asked himself after outlining some of his administration’s accomplishments. “… In brief, not allowing corruption.”
In his closing remarks, the president said it was “natural” that the “process of transformation” that he asserts his administration is carrying out had created “a conservative opposition” whose leaders don’t accept a government that “governs for everyone,” rather than a privileged minority.
He also stressed the importance of “always looking to, looking after and walking with the people” of Mexico.
In his closing remarks, AMLO assured supporters that he is “always looking to, looking after and walking with the people” of Mexico. (Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro)
“If we ask ourselves who is our best ally, what do we answer? The people. Who are we here for? The people,” López Obrador said before posing several other questions that prompted the large crowd to roar “the people” in response.
“All of us won five years ago,” two women aged in their 20s told the newspaper El País.
Previous presidents — who López Obrador blames for all manner of persistent problems in Mexico — left the country in a “very bad” state, but AMLO “is doing a great job,” agreed Fernanda Sánchez and María Guadalupe García, who attended the rally together.
They told El País that consolidating AMLO’s so-called “fourth transformation” of Mexico — as the aspirants to the ruling Morena party nomination for the 2024 presidential election intend to do — will be difficult but indicated that it’s possible with the support of “the people” — whom the president frequently claims to have on his side.
Supporters interviewed at the rally told reporters that they believed the president looked out for the least powerful in Mexican society, including the poor, elderly and disabled. (Moises Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)
Azucena Gallardo Peña, who traveled from Chiapas to join the fifth anniversary celebrations, also expressed her satisfaction with the government led by López Obrador.
“No president focused on senior citizens, the disabled or the poor until him,” she told El País.
Benito Martínez, María Concepción and Natalia Álvarez, all of Tamaulipas, told the same newspaper that “the people” want the “regime” implemented by López Obrador to continue and pledged their support to whomever Morena chooses as its new standard bearer, as all the aspirants to the party’s presidential candidacy are “capable.”
The tamaulipecos and the six Morena presidential hopefuls were among the throngs of supporters, nicknamed AMLOvers, who flocked to the Zócalo for the Saturday afternoon rally. Many endured long distances on buses to get there, with free travel and free food apparently sweetening the deal for some.
National Action Party President Marko Córtes tweeted this illustration the day after the rally, saying AMLO was celebrating “five years of failures,” such as high numbers of homicides and kidnappings, more public debt and more poverty. (Marko Córtes/Twitter)
Hundreds of attendees reportedly left the event early to ensure they didn’t miss their bus home, or because they were tired after spending hours on their feet.
The president of the National Action Party (PAN) — one of three main opposition parties preparing to field a joint candidate at next year’s presidential election — was among numerous government critics who offered an alternative assessment of the López Obrador presidency.
“López Obrador is right in saying that his government has made history. Never before had 160,000 homicides and more than 100,000 disappearances been recorded,” Marko Cortés tweeted on Sunday.
The former figure refers to the approximate number of murders recorded in Mexico since López Obrador took office on Dec. 1, 2018, while the latter refers to the total number of missing people, regardless of when they disappeared.
Many AMLO cabinet minister and high-profile Morena members were also in the crowd. Here Morena Party President Mario Delgado poses for a selfie taken by former Mexico City mayor and Morena presidential hopeful Claudia Sheinbaum. (Presidencia)
PAN Senator Xóchitl Gálvez — who AMLO asserted on Monday had been chosen as the presidential candidate for the Va por México opposition alliance — posted a video to social media on Saturday in which she criticized the government for failing to meet the projected completion date and cost for the construction of the new Pemex refinery on the Tabasco coast.
“Remember that incompetence is also corruption,” she said after asserting that a 200-billion-peso cost overrun (US $11.7 billion) was the cause of funding cuts for things such as treatment for children with cancer and public security.
Back at the Zócalo, the mood was buoyant despite rainfall as López Obrador concluded his 64-minute address.
“The people!” exclaimed the president’s devotees when he posed the question “who are we?”
“… Long live the fourth transformation!” AMLO cried. “Viva México! Viva México! Viva México!”
Guadalajara's Sergio "Checo" Pérez recovered well for a podium finish at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend — though he narrowly avoided a time penalty for track limit infringements in Sunday's feature race. (Sergio Perez/Twitter)
Red Bull Racing Formula 1 driver Sergio “Checo” Pérez came in third at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, overcoming an awful qualifying session on Friday and narrowly avoiding a time penalty in the feature race after rivals Aston Martin appealed to the governing body, FIA, protesting the Mexican pilot’s performance.
The race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, saw the Netherlands’ Max Verstappen continue his domination of the 2023 season, taking a seventh victory this year. Teammate Pérez, however, was the one who sparked discussion after the race.
Words were exchanged between Red Bull teammates Pérez and Max Verstappen, after the Dutchman objected to Pérez’s audacious overtake during the sprint race on Saturday, in which Pérez came in second. (Sergio Pérez/Twitter)
All the Guadalajara-born driver’s qualifying session laps were deleted for track limit infringements, forcing him to start 15th. It was the fourth straight qualifying session in which Pérez has classified outside the top 10 as an early title charge has faltered in mid-season.
Track limits refer to the area surrounding the curbs at each corner of the track. Due to the high downward aerodynamic force of modern F1 cars — known as downforce — they are able to use small areas of the runoff behind each corner to maintain their speed — something the FIA is trying to prevent through issuing time penalties.
Pérez’s daring performance in Saturday’s short-form sprint race — which saw no track limit infringements on his part — saw him finish second, even briefly snatching the lead from Verstappen.
After the Dutchman took the checkered flag, Verstappen expressed his annoyance with Pérez to the team, calling his audacious overtake at the first corner “really not OK,” suggesting that it had been a dangerous move, and telling F1TV that they “had to have a chat about it.”
After a poor qualifying session that saw him start 15th, Pérez recovered to finish second and third in the sprint and feature races respectively. (Sergio Pérez/Twitter)
However, he later told the Associated Press later that he and Pérez had already settled the issue.
In Sunday’s feature race, Pérez struggled to recapture his spark from the previous day and finished third, behind winner Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The Aston Martin team of fifth-placed Fernando Alonso protested the final race result, claiming several drivers who finished ahead of the veteran Spaniard had failed to respect the track limits and should have been penalized as a result.
Ultimately, Pérez escaped a penalty, though several other drivers — including seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton — were not so lucky. Frenchman Esteban Ocon saw a 30-second time addition as a result of four separate track limit breaches.
Pérez remains the only other Formula 1 driver besides Verstappen to win races this season, and his two victories ensure that he remains second in the table as the championship heads to the United Kingdom for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend.
The president covered the opposition coalition, the Segalmex corruption scandal, security policy and much more at the week's daily pressers. (Moisés Pablo Nava / Cuartoscuro.com)
The selection process to be used by the three-party Va por México alliance to select its 2024 presidential candidate was a dominant topic at President López Obrador’s morning press conferences, or mañaneras, this week.
The PAN-PRI-PRD coalition unveiled its method on Monday and announced the formation of the Frente Amplio por México (Broad Front for Mexico), which will also include citizens’ groups aligned with what AMLO calls “the conservative bloc.”
The opposition coalition, including the PAN, PRI and PRD, has formed the “broad front for Mexico” and announced their selection method for a presidential candidate on Monday. (Daniel Augusto / Cuartoscuro.com)
Hours before the selection process was presented at an event at a Mexico City hotel, López Obrador had already labeled it a “sham,” asserting that the opposition candidate will in fact be chosen by a single person or a “corrupt oligarchy”, rather than via democratic means.
Monday
Claudio X. González, a businessman and co-founder of the civil society organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, will ultimately choose the main opposition parties’ candidate for the 2024 presidential election, AMLO claimed while responding to his first question of the day.
“The corrupt, looting oligarchy is coming to an agreement to have a candidate,” he told reporters after dismissing the Va por México opposition alliance’s candidate selection process – which was announced on Monday but details of which emerged last weekend – as a “sham.”
“… They don’t have a plan [for the country], nothing. What they want to do is continue stealing,” López Obrador said.
The president said he would make his prediction about who the opposition standard bearer will be later in the week.
“I’ll tell you in two or three days and I’m sure I won’t be wrong,” AMLO said.
“… The top magnates are consulted, the conservative political leaders are also consulted. What do [former presidents] Fox, Calderón and Salinas think? They do that consultation then they interact with organic intellectuals, writers, journalists and after that [the candidate] is known,” López Obrador said.
“[The selection process] is a sham, and the conservative bloc candidate, regardless of who it is, … [will] continue with the same classist, racist, discriminatory politics,” he asserted.
Businessman Claudio X. González and former president Vicente Fox were special guests at the opposition coalition event. (Daniel Augusto / Cuartoscuro.com)
One reporter put it to the president that the aspirants to the ruling Morena party nomination for next year’s presidential election are seeking to style themselves in his image and demonstrate the closeness of their relationships with him as part of their strategy to gain support.
“The thing is we’re very similar, we come from … [the same] movement,” Lopez Obrador responded. “… They’re all my siblings. How many are there? I have five brothers and a sister.”
AMLO noted later in his presser that the government is carrying out a national survey on drug use. The aim is to “have a good diagnosis to improve our actions,” he said.
“The truth is that we succeeded from the beginning by attending to the causes of violence. If we hadn’t, the [security] situation would be very complicated. But we got down to attending to the causes [of crime], attending to young people. That has helped us a lot – all the scholarship programs [and the] Youths Building the Future [apprentice scheme],” López Obrador said.
The president subsequently asserted that there is not a lot of drug use in Mexico due to “cultural, moral and spiritual values” and “the cohesion” of Mexican families.
“The family is a fundamental institution, … a social security institution,” AMLO said.
Despite his previous remarks, he conceded that drug use is a problem in certain parts of the country including the border region and Guanajuato, Mexico’s most violent state in recent years.
“We’re working on the case of Guanajuato … because it’s a hot spot. And not all of Guanajuato [but] the industrial corridor. It has to do with the factories, the low salaries paid to workers, the abandonment of families, the lack of welfare programs, of support and other factors,” López Obrador said.
“And [drug] use is what leads to more homicides. That’s why Guanajuato accounts for 12% or up to 15% of [Mexico’s] daily homicides, because gangs clash over the market to control street-level drug dealing,” he said.
Among other remarks, López Obrador responded to United Kingdom government advice warning against “all but essential travel” to seven Mexican states and “all but essential travel” to certain areas within three others.
“They’re misinformed and they’re missing out on getting to know a beautiful country,” he said.
“… I would say to English citizens that there is nothing to fear in Mexico, that we’re reducing the crime rate and that there are very few places where there is violence, very few. Mexico is a beautiful and safe country,” AMLO said.
Tuesday
The press conference started with the government’s regular “Zero Impunity” report, during which Deputy Security Minister Luis Rodríguez Bucio offered details on a selection of recent arrests.
Among the thousands of people detained between June 13 and 26, he said, were a former judge in Veracruz accused of influence peddling, an ex-official from Hidalgo who allegedly embezzled 18 million pesos earmarked for the COVID-19 pandemic response and a former official from Nayarit accused of a range of crimes including embezzlement, influence peddling and criminal association.
National Guard chief Córdova gave an update on seizures of illicit drugs on Tuesday. (lopezobrador.org.mx)
National Guard Commander David Córdova Campos subsequently noted that 1,727 kilograms of fentanyl, more than 138,000 kilograms of methamphetamine, almost 53,000 kilograms of cocaine, nearly 21,000 kilograms of heroin, 41.2 million pesos in cash and banknotes totaling US $3.8 million have been seized by authorities so far this year.
Responding to his first question of the day, López Obrador stressed that the government is committed to combating illegal logging.
AMLO asserted that a lot of progress has been made, but acknowledged that the crime remains a problem in some parts of the country including an area of Mexico City near the border with Morelos and mountainous parts of Durango and Chihuahua.
Asked about Va por México’s presidential candidate selection process, the president repeated his claim that Claudio X. González hijo – the son of the 89-year-old magnate of the same name – is pulling the strings.
“The representative of the entire conservative bloc is Claudio X. González hijo, but of course behind him are [former president Carlos] Salinas and others,” López Obrador said, adding that ex-president Vicente Fox is “very active” behind the scenes.
The “tycoons, oligarchs [and] corrupt politicians” under the leadership of González will choose the Va por México candidate, AMLO said, even though the main opposition parties have outlined a selection process that includes a “direct” vote by citizens.
Later in his presser, López Obrador reiterated that the government’s purchase of 13 power plants from Spanish energy company Iberdrola had allowed the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) to increase its share of the electricity generation market to 55%.
He noted that the government is modernizing 20 hydro-electric plants and building 12 new combined-cycle plants and a solar farm. With the “33 new plants,” the CFE will have a 60% share of the market “when our government ends,” AMLO said.
The Iberdrola power plants purchased by the government are predominantly located in the north of the country. (Iberdrola)
Toward the end of his mañanera, López Obrador said that the government would send a letter to the Supreme Court seeking an explanation as to why the 11 justices earn salaries higher than his own.
The government wants to know “why [the justices] are violating article 127 of the constitution, which establishes that no [public servant] can earn more than the president of the republic,” he said.
“They earn four, five times more than what I earn. … I earn about 140,000 or 150,000 pesos [a month] and they earn 600,000. So I want them to explain to me why so I can inform the people of Mexico,” López Obrador said.
He said that the letter would be sent later on Tuesday and that the Supreme Court justices would have five days to respond.
“They should explain to us why they earn four times more than the president, why they violate the constitution, whether what they are doing is legal,” AMLO said.
Wednesday
Making another attack on the “manipulative” media during his introductory remarks, López Obrador expressed his support for citizen journalism.
While the “conventional” press is “co-opted” by the powerful elite, “we have to move forward and bet on each citizen becoming a media outlet,” he said, adding that almost any person has the capacity to do so due to widespread cell phone usage.
Ana García Vilchis, the government’s chief debunker of (purported) fake news, replaced the president at the mañanera lectern and noted that her controversial “Who’s Who in the Lies of the Week” segment had turned two.
President López Obrador and Ana García Vilchis at the Wednesday morning press conference. (Gob MX)
“It’s an honor to be with Obrador and to belong to the fourth transformation team,” García said before getting down to business.
“… It’s false that the López Obrador government authorized a multi-million-dollar payment to a company … [linked to Genaro] García Luna,” she said.
García said that several media outlets had reported on an Animal Político article that asserted that the government paid just under US $6.5 million to a company controlled by the former security minister and convicted drug trafficker.
“The information provided lacks veracity because the [security] contracts correspond to the six-year terms of [former presidents] Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto,” she said.
Back before reporters, AMLO asserted that he knew who the Va por México presidential candidate would be, but declined to offer a name.
“They already made an agreement, I have information that they have an agreement,” he said, adding that he would reveal who the person is after his July 1 rally to mark the fifth anniversary of his 2018 election victory.
AMLO took office in December 2018 following an election in which he received 53% of the vote. (Lopezobrador.org.mx)
AMLO claimed that the majority of aspirants to the Va por México candidacy know that the candidate has in fact already been chosen, but are nevertheless participating in the selection process because doing so increases their chances of being offered a proportional representation seat in Congress, which are allocated to parties based on the percentage of votes they attract.
A few aspirants might “naively” think “there will be democracy and a level playing field,” López Obrador said. “No, no, no,” he added. “They already decided.”
Later in his presser, AMLO said that Senator Lilly Téllez had decided not to take part in what he sees as a “sham” selection process because she realized she isn’t “the chosen one.”
A shift in focus came via a reporter’s question on the government’s plan to give control of the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) to the Mexican Navy.
López Obrador confirmed that responsibility for the AICM would pass from the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation to the navy, and noted that the latter is already in charge of security at the airport.
“[The navy] has done a very good job. I believe that a lot of people are already noticing that; there’s no theft of suitcases, as happened before, and care is taken so that contraband doesn’t come in, so that drugs don’t come in,” he said.
The president responded to questions on a range of other issues, including one on the recent arrest of eight soldiers in connection with the disappearance and presumed murder of the 43 Ayotzinapa students in Guerrero in 2014.
“We have the commitment to shed light on these events, there won’t be impunity,” López Obrador said.
“… If one member of the army, two, three, five, 10 [or] 15 acted badly – committed crimes – they can’t be protected, can’t be given impunity, because instead of helping the institution, that harms it,” he said.
“The problem with Ayotzinapa, apart from the crime committed, is that … [the previous government] wanted to hide things,” AMLO added.
“It’s a very regrettable event, it’s the most scandalous and I believe the only case of corruption that we’ve faced during our government,” he said.
“… This government doesn’t allow, doesn’t tolerate corruption or impunity because we’re different,” AMLO added.
Public Administration Minister Roberto Salcedo at the Thursday press conference. (Gob MX)
Public Administration Minister Roberto Salcedo Aquino said that irregularities totaling 9.5 billion pesos (US $555.1 million) had been detected at Segalmex by the ministry he heads up and the Federal Auditor’s Office.
“The amount … comes from the results of audits in 2019 and 2020. They are findings that are in the process of being analyzed by the relevant authorities,” he said, noting that Segalmex has the opportunity to “clarify” where the money went.
Eighty-seven people – 41 former public servants and 46 “owners, partners, representatives, shareholders and lawyers of companies linked” to alleged corruption at Segalmex – face charges, said federal fiscal prosecutor Félix Arturo Medina Padilla.
After returning to center stage, AMLO pledged that the Segalmex corruption case won’t go unpunished and reiterated his commitment to combating corruption.
The president subsequently said that the final year of the terms of previous governments, was known colloquially and “improperly” as “the year of Hidalgo,” named after Independence hero Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.
During the final year before a government left office, officials “dedicated themselves to looting, to stealing,” López Obrador said, adding that in the final year of his administration – which will begin in October – there will be no “year of Hidalgo,” at least in the sense in which the term was previously used.
There will be a “year of Hidalgo,” but to celebrate “the father of our homeland,” he clarified.
Later in his presser while responding to a question about his government’s welfare programs, AMLO spotted an opportunity to criticize Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, a leading aspirant to the Va por México presidential nomination.
“The program most accepted by the people for a long time, since we began it when I was mayor [of Mexico City], is the program of support for senior citizens and now even more so. It’s the program that the people approve the most. It’s the program that the conservatives didn’t want,” he said.
Former president Vicente Fox and Gálvez, who was an official in Fox’s 2000-2006 government, said “it was better to put the elderly to work,” López Obrador said.
The National Action Party Senator is “now very active as a representative of the oligarchy, with the same thinking as Fox, she even worked with Fox, she’s from the school of Fox,” he said.
Among other remarks, López Obrador said he was very happy to hear about the Tourism Ministry’s designation of 45 new pueblos mágicos, or magical towns, and asserted – not for the first time – that groups that cause problems at women’s marches are “manipulated by the far-right” of Mexican politics.
“… It’s very sad and painful for families when a person is murdered. We regret it a lot,” he said.
López Obrador claimed that the murder of Mora and three bodyguards was a “remnant of the violence fostered and allowed” by previous governments, especially the 2006-2012 administration of former president Felipe Calderón.
“Remember there was a narco-state in Mexico during the government of Felipe Calderón. The public security minister of Felipe Calderón – who is in prison, accused [and convicted] of complicity with drug traffickers – applied a strategy of elimination for some criminals and protection for others,” he said.
Mora’s funeral was held on Friday in La Ruana, Michoacán. ( Juan José Estrada Serafín / Cuartoscuro.com)
AMLO said that Mora had asked for and received protection from the state government because he had been targeted in previous attacks, but “it wasn’t possible to avoid him being murdered.”
“The governor has said that he spoke with him to tell him to leave [the town of] La Ruana, to go to Morelia. He had an armored vehicle, but these criminals … are very violent, they have high-caliber weapons,” he said.
Later in his presser, López Obrador acknowledged that his term in government has been the most violent in recent history in terms of homicides, but blamed that fact on the security situation he inherited.
“Mexico’s highest paid journalist and one of the best paid in the world whose name is Jorge Ramos says: ‘It’s the six-year period of government with the most deaths.’ Well, yes, yes, due to this,” AMLO said after presenting data that showed increases in homicide numbers during the governments led by former presidents Fox, Calderón and Peña Nieto and a decline during his own presidency.
“Just imagine the years of corruption, of impunity, of collusion,” he said.
López Obrador left the past behind to focus on the near future when a reporter asked him whether his rally on Saturday to celebrate the fifth anniversary of his election as president would be the last time he would fill Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo.
“On Saturday, tomorrow, everyone’s invited. We’re going to celebrate five years,” AMLO said.
“… It’s five years since the historic day on which the people decided to support us to begin a transformation in the country. … How many more times [will we fill the Zócalo]? Well, we don’t know, but that’s the way we’ve always fought, with the mobilization of citizens, the support of citizens. Without a doubt, we’re the ones who have summoned [people] to the Zócalo the greatest number of times in all of history,” he said.
The president discusses security during the Friday press conference. (Gob MX)
“We’re looking for [the police employees], there is coordinated work between … the federal government, the Ministry of Defense, the National Guard and also state police,” he said in relation to the first case.
López Obrador said that an investigation into the car blast was underway and noted that a member of the National Guard was killed, apparently while responding to a tip-off that there were dead bodies in the vehicle.
“They made the bomb explode when National Guard troops went to check a car,” AMLO said.
Just before the conclusion of his presser, López Obrador confirmed that new Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena and Morena party state governors would attend his rally on Saturday.
“I have to go now because we’re going to the commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the [inauguration of] the National Guard,” he said shortly before he left the press conference to travel to a Mexico City military facility where the event was held.
“… Mañana fiesta, baile,” he added, referring to the festivities planned for the Zócalo gathering. “Adiós, adiós.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
Marissa Martínez had the opportunity to learn about the trencadís tile art technique in Barcelona, and brought it back to San Luis Potosí. Here is one of her murals dedicated to SLP sculptor Joaquin Arias at his home in the city. (Marissa Martínez)
The destruction of an art installation by the city of San Luis Potosí (SLP) might just have a silver lining.
Marissa Martínez’s life is defined by a struggle to create art in an environment that is not the most conducive to it.
Marissa’s take on Guadalajara’s Minerva statue at the home of the SLP sculptor Joaquin Arias. (Marissa Martínez)
Born and raised in the state capital, her family talked her out of art and into business administration to make sure “she didn’t starve to death.” Although Martínez worked a “real job” for years, she took art classes and did whatever else she could to satisfy her need to create.
In 2000, she had the opportunity to travel to Barcelona where she first saw the trencadís (broken tile) artwork of Antón Gaudí. She found the technique fascinating, but absolutely no one in San Luis was doing anything like it.
So she began experimenting bit-by-bit on her own, using the walls of her parents’ (now her) home. Those very first experiments can still be seen in her workshop space today.
By 2015, she had learned enough about the technique, as well as efforts elsewhere that she organized her first community project in her home in the historic center, which opens into an alleyway called Callejón de la Yedra. A large section of it is defined by a wall belonging to an old ice factory, and she asked the owners for permission to create murals on it. Neighbors, young and old, came together to create a number of mostly religious images chosen by consensus, and many contributed their own resources to the project. It was such a success that it got coverage in the city newspaper.
Mural on a primary school wall in Ciudad Maíz, recently named a Pueblo Mágico. The mural was designed by Martinez and the pieces arranged by students and other members of the local community. (Marissa Martínez)
At the same time, she got in touch with California philanthropist Dick Davis who has sponsored a number of mosaic mural projects in Mexico. He invited her to work on trencadís murals in California. He and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo sponsored a visit by renowned tile artist Isaish Zeiger to San Luis Potosí. Together, they organized a project to cover one of the fountains in the city’s iconic Tangamanga Park II. Davis’ foundation also sponsored community murals in the nearby cities Matehuala and Ciudad de Maíz.
As much as she respects the work of her maestro, Zeiger, Martínez’s trajectory shows a progression away from his chaotic style of using whatever forms smashing tile with a hammer brings forth, to using more delicate nipping and grinding to control and smooth the pieces. This influence comes from the trencadís work done in Zacatlán, Puebla as well as Martínez’s preference for using Guanajuato talavera tile. Combining these two styles, Martínez has developed a style that is uniquely hers.
The community aspect of many trencadís mural projects is an important part of the more than 35 murals she has been involved with, which can be found in private residences, parks, schools, wineries and more.
Trencadís is labor-intensive, but much of the work is simple and repetitive, providing an opportunity for many to take part. Even before anyone touches a tool, the community gets a say in the design, meaning that those living in the area have a stake in the artwork and its preservation.
There are two ways to arrange the broken tile pieces – directly onto the wall as seen at the project dedicated to corn and bean cultivation in Estancia and onto a mesh as seen at the Martinez’s workshop. Those pieces and the mesh will be applied to the wall as a single unit. (Marissa Martínez)
One of her biggest breaks was the commission to work on the facade of the psychiatry school of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí. It breaks from her usual work, with the use of commercial tile and professional bricklayers, but the design, representing the seven ethics of the profession, is entirely hers. The university was attracted by mosaic work, not only for its appearance, but also because the building is in an industrial area, and prone to graffiti. To date, the work has resisted not only vandalism but also the city’s fierce sun.
However, there have been setbacks. When I visited Marissa in 2022, she told me that she heard that the Tangamanga fountain mural was in bad shape.
We drove out and were shocked by what we saw – entire sections were peeling off, with about half disappeared.
Wanting to save not only the work of her community, but that of an international artist, she organized an effort to get permission to restore the mural, but received no response. Instead, Martínez later found the fountain completely stripped of mosaic and painted over.
The sad state of the first community mural done in the state on a fountain in Tangamanga Park. Park authorities later removed all traces of the mural and painted the fountain. (Leigh Thelmadetter)
As great as this loss is, it may have benefits in the long run. The controversy over the mural’s fate brought publicity to trencadís and community-created murals. Martínez has received more requests to do murals and has more private art students (who pay the bills).
She has already done about ten projects since finding the ruined fountain. These include murals for the Cava Quintanilla winery, the Hospital Central, several in the house/museum of sculptor Joaquin Arias, (including a recreation of his famous Minerva statue of Guadajara) and one dedicated to the corn and bean cultivation of the small community of Estancita (Mexquitic).
Martínez’s projects have not been limited to Mexico, either. She created a mural at a home in Phoenix, Arizona. In California, she collaborated with U.S. artist Monica Meir to do “Butterflies are Free” in Carlsbad and “Homage to 49ers” in Alleghany.
Martinez and community members (Andrea Rodriguez, Bianka Nava, Minerva Franco, Norma Reyes) did this image of the Virgin in the town of Moctezuma, sponsored by the nearby Cava Quintanilla winery. (Marissa Martínez)
All this gives her hope for more financial support for trencadís work in the future. There is no reason why tile murals in San Luis cannot experience the same artistic, civil and commercial success they have in Puebla, Puerto Vallarta and elsewhere. Such murals are particularly important, say Martínez, in areas that are being neglected as the city (and state) experiences accelerated growth, thanks to nearshoring investment.
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.
Sarah DeVries ponders the human tendency to conjure magical explanations for things we don't understand and some of the most common Mexican myths she's encountered. (Illustration by Angy Márquez)
Browsing through Facebook the other day, I noticed a post from a women’s group I’m a part of, mostly (but not exclusively) made up of wives who’ve moved to Mexico after their Mexican husbands were deported from the US.
Many of the women now find themselves living in the “ranchos” (little towns) that their husbands grew up in, with his extended family, a circumstance that can be quite an adjustment.
In addition to trying to acclimate to the dynamics of (extended) family life (pro tip: it’s a lot more intense around here) and sometimes country life in a place where most newcomers don’t speak the language well or completely understand the culture, this particular post brought to my attention yet another difference some have had to content with:
Witches.
“My husband won’t let us sleep with the windows open after midnight because he thinks witches will come and steal our baby, but it’s too hot to keep them closed!”
Nahuales, chaneques, and even owls (potenders of death, I hear) can cause quite a stir, too. Ask around, and you’ll likely discover that way more people than you would have expected truly believe in these creatures.
The world of Mexican supernatural folklore opened up for me in a major way years ago when I accompanied my then-husband to a small town nearby called Jalcomulco, famous for its deep-jungle river rapids and the kinds of hippies attracted to deep-jungle river rapids.
The place itself feels extra lush and primeval – admittedly, it could just be the humidity – and it’s easy to see how its residents could believe in magical wood sprites and the like.
On that trip, my husband’s friend, a college-educated engineer, matter-of-factly told us the story of the time he’d seen La Llorona (llorona is the feminine noun version of the verb llorar, “to cry,” but I prefer my translation, “The Wailer,” because it sounds extra dramatic and tortured.)
La Llorona is perhaps one of the most famous scary stories of Mexican lore. The exact details can change from place to place, but it basically goes like this: she’s a mother who’s killed her children (usually by drowning), sometimes to save them from a worse fate, and sometimes to avenge her abusive Spanish husband. She wanders the streets at night crying for them. She’s dressed all in white and her face is covered with a veil. If she turns around to face you, you die instantly.
The friend didn’t explain how he and all of his friends, family, and neighbors had survived their encounters with La Llorona, but that wasn’t the point. Besides, he had other good stories.
With my enthusiastic encouragement, he went on to tell us about how he knew that his neighbor was a nahual, someone who turns into an animal during the night to make mischief and otherwise wreak havoc on the good people of the community and/or their property, crops, etc.
“There was a big wolf terrorizing the cows in a field right outside of town, but a farmer managed to cut its front-left leg with his machete. The next morning, the lady that lives next door came out with her left arm bandaged, saying she’d been cut.”
I practically squealed with delight and excitement at the story. Later on, I lowered my voice. “You don’t really believe in these things though, do you?”
“What do you mean? We’ve all seen them.”
One of the things that makes humans super-duper adorable and also kind of terrifying is our natural proclivity for magical thinking. Belief in the supernatural seems built into our brains by evolution, perhaps a natural byproduct of our big-brained creativity. No society has ever developed without the gods and their magic developing along with it.
Why? Well, we humans want reasons for why things happen…especially bad things. We want explanations: someone must be held accountable! And we’ll have them, even if we have to make them up ourselves. Making sense of our world is just what we do, and every culture’s got a different way of making that happen.
For most of human history, magic made perfect sense: we didn’t understand how nature worked and we could only control it (or fool ourselves into thinking we were controlling it) to a certain extent, so the rest had to be the work of others more powerful than ourselves.
If this kind of mystical belief weren’t so hardwired into us, we’d have collectively let all that go with the onset of actual science. Alas, we simply cannot accept the possibility of our insignificance or the idea that sometimes terrible things happen for no reason to people that don’t deserve it, especially when it comes to the tiniest among us.
The baby didn’t die of SIDS; a witch came in the night and stole its breath. That other baby doesn’t have colic; it was switched out with a changeling, doubly-likely if it hasn’t been baptized yet (practically a protection spell). You’re not sick and fatigued from a virus; the evil eye has fallen upon you – someone’s jealous! Did someone really disappear, or did they wander into the realm of a mischievous chaneque, a little trouble-making elf known for giving humans some major side-eye and getting them lost in the woods?
Inspired when I first learned about them, I even wrote a story called Chaneque, which I think I’ll edit and republish on my blog this weekend – this topic’s got me excited now!
I’m no fervent believer, but oh, how I love the way my mind sparkles with the possibilities of a magical world that we’re only allowed brief glimpses of! In the words of The Office’s Michael Scott: “I’m not superstitious. I’m just a little stitious.”
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com
Sweetened condensed milk is often used in recipes for flan, a Mexican favorite. (Foto de Mahmoud Fawzy en Unsplash)
There are some ingredients that scream “Mexico”: chiles, cilantro, definitely tortillas (corn and wheat) and maybe avocado.
But what sticks out for me is something else iconic, and, as a non-Mexican, easy to overlook: sweetened condensed milk. It may not have been around in ancient Mesoamerica, but it’s a long-time staple in the modern Mexican kitchen. I’d even be bold enough to say there’s a can in just about every pantry or kitchen in the country.
The Nestlé brand of sweetened condensed milk has become nearly synonymous with the product in Mexico. (Nestlé)
Popularly called la lechera, from the Nestlé brand (which literally means “milkmaid”), sweetened condensed milk is used like syrup and poured over everything from raspados (shaved ice) to roasted plantains or sweet potatoes and pancakes.
It’s an intrinsic part of the classic Tres Leches cake, often used in making flan and is the secret ingredient in some savory dishes, like carnitas, where it helps caramelize the meat. Thinned with water and brushed on top of bread or rolls before baking, sweetened condensed milk adds a golden touch of sweetness; dulce de leche and horchata wouldn’t be the same without it.
Food historians point to Nicolas Appert, a French chef, as the creator and marketer of condensed milk around 1804. Without sweetening, canned milk was not very popular and soon production stopped. About 50 years later, across the Atlantic, Gail Borden came up with the idea first to condense and can milk, as a health precaution, and then to sweeten it.
This was in 1856, and refrigeration was almost non-existent. Condensed milk was safe, healthy and easy to store, and sweetened condensed milk added more calories and, well, tasted better. In fact, Borden’s Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk was an important part of Union soldiers’ rations during the Civil War for all of those reasons, and after the war was easily incorporated into home kitchens.
Sweetened condensed milk is one of the “tres leches” in the popular cake – the other two are evaporated milk and heavy cream. (Nestlé)
Today, Borden’s Eagle Brand and Nestlé’s La Lechera are the most popular brands of sweetened condensed milk, with Nestlé’s being the most prominent in Mexico. It’s used all over the world to make delicious beverages and desserts, often unacknowledged as the crucial component that it is.
And there’s no reason to look askance at it: sweetened condensed milk contains only milk, cream, sugar and maybe a pinch of salt and deserves a place in your pantry. Easy to buy in a can, but with a little patience you can make your own too.
Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
4 cups milk, whole or low-fat
¾ cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
Optional: Vanilla bean, split lengthways, or cinnamon stick
Combine milk, cream, sugar, salt and vanilla bean/cinnamon (if using) in a 5-quart pan. Place over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until milk begins to simmer, about 12 minutes.
Simmer 30 minutes, scraping continuously to prevent any buildup around the sides or burning. When the thickened milk suddenly turns foamy, it’s almost done. Keep cooking and stirring until foam subsides and it has condensed to exactly 2 cups, half of what you started with. Remove aromatics, pour into an airtight container, seal to prevent evaporation, and refrigerate until needed, up to 1 month. Bring to room temperature before using.
Note: The timing may vary depending on the heat output of your stove and the size, shape, and gauge of your cookware. If it takes longer than 12 minutes to bring the mixture to a simmer, increase heat to medium-high in order to reduce the dairy within the allotted time.
Bocaditos de Corn Flakes (Corn Flake Clusters)
1 cup sugar
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
4 Tbsp. butter
½ tsp. salt
7 cups corn flakes
Line two baking sheets with parchment or spray with cooking spray. Fill bowl with cold water for dipping your fingers.
Melt sugar in large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, stirring until deep amber in color, about 8 minutes. Stir in butter and salt, then sweetened condensed milk until completely mixed. Remove from heat.
Stir in cornflakes. With metal spoon or your hands, shape small balls with about 2 tablespoons of mixture. Dipping your hands into water, use dampened fingers to lightly press each cluster so it holds together. Allow clusters to set at room temperature about 30 minutes before eating. Store up to 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature or refrigerated.
Place coffee grounds in a heatproof container. Slowly pour boiling water over the grounds in a circular motion to evenly saturate. Do not stir; steep 5 minutes. Pour coffee through a paper coffee filter into another heatproof container. Discard filter and coffee grounds. Allow coffee to cool.
Fill glasses with ice cubes. Pour coffee mixture into glasses and top off with sweetened condensed milk. You can also mix the condensed milk into the coffee in a pitcher, stir and serve over ice.
Sweet & Nutty Peanut Butter Coffee Drinks
1 cup ice
2 tsp. smooth peanut butter
2 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
1 cup cold coffee
Blend everything together and serve over ice.
Optional: Add 1 Tbsp. chocolate syrup to blender. Fill glasses with ice, fill halfway with blended coffee, and add seltzer to fill.
Indonesian Avocado Coffee Shake
1 cup milk, plus more as needed
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
2 medium Hass avocados
About 10 ice cubes
¼ cup strong coffee or espresso
Pinch salt
Optional: Chocolate syrup for drizzling
In blender on high speed, process milk, sweetened condensed milk, avocado, ice, coffee and salt until smooth, about 1 minute. Add more milk to thin slightly if desired. Drizzle chocolate syrup on inside of serving glasses, divide shake evenly between glasses, and serve.
Punta Sur Eco Beach Park is where to go if you want to see Cozumel's wildlife, ancient Maya ruins and a pristine beach. (Photos by Thilini Wijesinhe)
Many visitors head to Cozumel for a relaxing holiday by the beach. But the island has other interesting activities to do and options for day trips, like visiting the Punta Sur Eco Beach Park. It has lagoons with wildlife, a lighthouse with glorious views, ancient Maya ruins and a spectacular stretch of beach.
Located about 37 kilometers from the town of San Miguel de Cozumel, the Punta Sur Eco Beach Park sits on the southern point of the island, covering an area of over 1,000 hectares. If you love history, outdoor activities and nature, you can spend a day there or even half a day if time is limited. You can drive to the park, hire a taxi, or take atour.
Punta Sur makes for a great full or half-day escapade from busy tourist spots in Cozumel. (Photo courtesy of the author)
Once you enter Punta Sur Eco Beach Park, look out for a path to the west leading to a wooden observation tower that offers magnificent views. You might even spot some crocodiles!
Next, look out for the ancient Maya ruins to the east. You’ll see a small building called El Caracol, named after the decorative snails on the dome of its upper section. Dating to A.D. 1200-1500, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) writes that El Caracol is considered a temple or lookout point but it is also speculated to have been a lighthouse in ancient times.
Likewise, it is believed to have served as a warning system for hurricanes due to noise emitted by its shells when wind passes through them.Nearby is the ruin of another structure from the same era that may have been the residence of El Caracol’s caretaker. Although these structures are cordoned off to visitors, we were able to observe them from outside.
Find crocodiles, birds and other species in the Colombia lagoon, accessible from within the park. (Photo courtesy of the author)
The most striking building at Punta Sur may be the Celarain lighthouse , which you can’t miss.
The current lighthouse was built in the early 20th century, replacing the previous structure. With 133 steps and a fairly narrow stairway, the climb can be challenging, but the views from its top over the ecological reserve and the turquoise Caribbean are stunning. If you choose to climb, take care as the roof gets low toward the top. We visited the lighthouse as soon as the park opened and had it all to ourselves.
Adjoining the lighthouse is a navigation museum that gives you a glimpse into the history of the park and the island. Once the residence of the lighthouse keeper, the museum focuses on Cozumel’s maritime history and animals and displays interesting maps and artifacts like navigation equipment and household goods typical of the area.
Take a relaxing walk on the beach by the museum. You will see small ancient ruins, including an arch-like structure and a signpost highlighting the distances to different countries from the southern tip of Cozumel. You can buy items like souvenirs, snacks, and drinks in the recreation area near the lighthouse.
Don’t miss the views from the top of the Celerain lighthouse. (Photo courtesy of the author)
One of the most interesting activities at Punta Sur is touring the Colombia lagoon by boat, included with the price of admission. The tour, which leaves several times a day, gives you a chance to spot various birds, crocodiles, and other wildlife among mangroves and beautiful natural scenery. We saw many crocodiles during our excursion, including in close proximity by the boat dock.
There is more to do at the Punta Sur Eco Beach Park. On the beach stretch are restaurants with lounging chairs, although you might need to order some food or drinks to use them. Snorkeling fans can experience the magnificent marine life on the reef. You can also go kayaking. Look out for sea turtles on the beach if you visit during their breeding season, around May to September.
Cozumel has much more to offer after you’ve left Punta Sur. You can continue around the island and stop by the beautiful beaches if you have time.
To learn more about the island’s pre-Hispanic past, visit the ancient Maya site ofSan Gervasio. Another worthwhile activity is visiting the Cozumel Planetarium, which offers educational events likes hows and stargazing.
Thilini Wijesinhe, a financial professional turned writer and entrepreneur, moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia. She writes from Mérida, Yucatán. Her website can be found athttps://momentsing.com/
Hipólito Mora led a vigilante pushback against organized crime in Michoacán starting in 2013, but said the security situation was "worse than ever" last year. (Archivo/Cuartoscuro)
The co-founder of a citizens’ self-defense force movement that took up arms in 2013 and succeeded in driving the Knights Templar cartel out of Michoacán was murdered on Thursday along with three of his bodyguards.
Hipólito Mora Chávez, a lime farmer turned vigilante, was attacked by gunmen in Buenavista, a municipality in the notoriously violent Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán.
Mora was attacked and killed by gunmen in Buenavista, a municipality in the notoriously violent Tierra Caliente region of Michoacán. (Juan José Estrada Serafín/Cuartoscuro)
The Michoacán Attorney General’s Office (FGE) said that police heard about the violence shortly before 1 p.m. and subsequently traveled to the small town of La Ruana, where they found two damaged vehicles. Officers also found the badly burned body of Mora, who was 67, and the corpses of three bodyguards, all of whom had been shot.
According to the FGE, Mora was on his way home at around midday Thursday when he and his state-supplied security detail encountered a group of men who had blocked the road with two pickup trucks. The armed men – possibly members of the Viagras crime group – opened fire and subsequently set ablaze the vehicle in which Mora was traveling. They then fled the scene, the FGE said in a statement.
Soldiers, members of the National Guard and other security personnel are on the ground in the area where the attack occurred, the FGE said.
Mora’s house in La Ruana was shot up before the armed attack on the four men, the Reforma newspaper reported, while the former self-defense leader was unharmed in an apparent attempt on his life in March.
The site of the attack in the town of La Ruana. (Juan José Estrada Serafín/Cuartoscuro)
Michoacán Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said that his government “profoundly regretted the cowardly murder” of Mora and his Civil Guard security detail.
“We say it loud and clear, there will be no impunity for those who take away lives. … We will get to the bottom of what happened and justice will be served,” he wrote on Twitter.
At his Friday morning press conference, President López Obrador said that the murder of Mora was “regrettable” before asserting that the crime is a “remnant of the violence that was fostered by the government of Felipe Calderón,” who launched a militarized “war” on drug cartels shortly after he was sworn in as president in late 2006.
In a video posted to Facebook a week before his murder, Mora said that he and other residents of La Ruana were holding out hope that “the authorities” would act to stop extortion in the area.
Mora was instrumental in founding vigilante forces to protect Michoacán citizens from cartel violence. Some of the groups have been accused of being infiltrated by organized crime. (Juan José Estrada Serafín/Cuartoscuro)
“They don’t let us work, and the work we do is unfortunately for organized crime. We ask you … the authorities to come and do your work here in La Ruana, and to stop all these people that are doing so much damage to the people,” he said.
Guadalupe Mora blamed authorities for his brother’s death. “All the authorities from here, from the state, were against my brother. They left him on his own,” he said.
Guadalupe Mora accused the military of collusion with the Viagras.
“All of La Ruana knows that the soldiers, those who are here, are very involved with them, with those who killed my brother, with the Viagras. That’s why they left, they gave [the Viagras] a chance to kill him,” he said.
While self-defense force members, assisted by the military, managed to drive the Knights Templar cartel out of Michoacán in 2014, violence continued to plague the state, especially the Tierra Caliente region. Mora’s son was killed in a 2014 confrontation between warring factions of the Fuerza Rural self-defense group that left a total of 11 people dead.
Poor families in rural areas like where she lives in Michoacán are at risk of violence from cartels and security forces alike. (Juan José Estada Serafín/Cuartoscuro)
“Any authority that tries to detain me or disarm me will have to murder me because they won’t take me to jail or disarm me alive,” he wrote in a Facebook post in July 2019.
“When the government provides us with security, … I’ll gladly lay down my arms,” said Mora, who normally traveled in an armored vehicle and often wore a flak vest, even while celebrating Mass.
Self-defense groups such as that founded by Mora have been lauded by many Mexicans, but some have been infiltrated by criminal groups, and accused of committing crimes themselves.
Ioan Grillo, a Mexico-based British journalist who focuses on crime, said on Twitter that “the auto-defensas of Michoacán appeared like the heroes that Mexico needed against cartels.”
However, “by the end, many had become “narco defensas” with the same vices,” he wrote, adding: “But Hipólito Mora represented the best of the movement and his death is another tragedy in the relentless war.”
As well as the Knights Templar and the Viagras, the nearby CJNG cartel has also moved to consolidate control in the area, with civilians caught in the crossfire. (Cuartoscuro)
Mora said last year that the security situation had deteriorated to a new low in parts of Michoacán. “In terms of safety, we are worse than ever,” he told the Associated Press.
The Viagras, head of a group known as the Cárteles Unidos, moved in on territory once controlled by the Knights Templar cartel and proceeded to commit crimes including murder, abduction and extortion. The Cárteles Unidos has also been involved in numerous confrontations in Michoacán with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
Mora complained that authorities neglected to combat the Viagras and other local crime groups because most of their anti-cartel security efforts in Michoacán were focused on the CJNG. “They have to fight all the cartels, not just one,” he said.
Mora and other Michoacán residents, including José Manuel Mireles Valverde, the co-founder of the broader Michoacán-based self-defense force movement, were originally motivated to take up arms because the Knights Templar cartel and other crime groups were kidnapping people, and committing a range of other crimes, including extortion of farmers and the exertion of control over who they could sell their products to and at what price.
The vigilantes waged a battle against criminals largely on their own, but their eventual expulsion of the Knights Templar cartel was assisted by the military.
“After the vigilantes had held off the cartel alone for months,” the Associated Press reported, “Mexican troops finally rolled in to rescue them. Mora led a rousing cheer, shouting: ‘This war has been won!'”
Hipólito Mora ran for governor of Michoacán in 2021 with the Social Encounter Party (PES). (Hipólito Mora/Twitter)
Mora spent periods of his life in jail both in Mexico and the United States for crimes including kidnapping and drug possession, and ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for federal Congress in 2015 and governor of Michoacán in 2021.
Among those who paid tribute to Mora in the wake of his death were Rev. Gregorio López, a Catholic priest who was involved in the self-defense movement founded in Michoacán in 2013.
“He was a man who could not be corrupted, a natural leader, an authentic voice,” he said.
Guillermo Valencia, an Institutional Revolutionary Party leader in Michoacán, said that Mora “deserved to be in the history books, not killed the way he was.”
“He never ceased in the struggle,” added Valencia, who described himself as a friend of Mora.
Óscar Balderas, an expert on organized crime and security, described Mora as “an extraordinary man, a brave man who plotted a course for the self-defense movement and the armed civilian uprising against Mexico’s cartels.”
Mora’s funeral was held on Friday in La Ruana, Michoacán. “He knew his enemies would kill him,” says organized crime expert Óscar Balderas. ( Juan José Estrada Serafín / Cuartoscuro.com)
“He knew he wouldn’t die of old age. He knew his enemies would kill him. He knew it and he lived with the knowledge that he would soon suffer a fatal attack and, regrettably, that came true,” Balderas said.
“He never got to see his dream of a pacified Michoacán and I believe that this, after the murder of his son, would be his greatest cause of grief.”
Mora himself said last year that “the day they attack me, if they give me even the slightest opportunity, I will go down fighting.”
“I won’t sit around with my arms crossed. I will die defending my rights and defending my life,” he said.
Bosch Rexroth has opened a new 4.3-billion-peso (US $251 million) plant in Pedro Escobedo, a municipality in southern Querétaro. The German company will make hydraulic pumps for mobile machinery at the 42,000-square-meter facility.
The new Bosch Rexroth plant in Querétaro will generate some 900 jobs during the coming years. (Bosch Rexroth)
Reinhard Schaefer, a member of the Bosch Rexroth executive board, said at an inauguration event on Wednesday that the establishment of the Querétaro plant allows the company to strengthen its presence in the North American market. Its operation will generate some 900 jobs during the coming years.
Schaefer wrote on LinkedIn that the Querétaro facility and a new Bosch Rexroth plant in Slovenia allows the company to expand its “global production network” and increase its capacity to deliver hydraulics and factory automation products.
“Our operations in Brnik and Querétaro will benefit our customers by increasing flexibility and robustness of our supply chain. Expanding local footprint and local sourcing in the region, especially in Mexico, means to serve increasing customer demand with competitive lead times and at the same time reducing the carbon footprint to contribute to sustainability,” he wrote.
Bosch, a multinational engineering and technology company headquartered near Stuttgart, has another plant in Querétaro that was recently expanded for the production of auto parts. The company, which has had a presence in Mexico since 1982, has announced investments in Mexico totaling more than 20 billion pesos in the past two years.
Asiaway sets up shop in SLP
Chinese auto parts manufacturer Asiaway began operations at a new plant in San Luis Potosí city last week. The facility is located in the World Trade Center Industrial Park on the outskirts of the state capital.
San Luis Potosí Governor Ricardo Gallardo attended an inauguration event with Asiaway executives early last week. (Government of San Luis Potosí)
Asiaway invested US $41.4 million to open the new plant, which is the first stage of a two-part project. The company will invest an additional amount of some US $370 to develop a second phase of the project.
Some 300 people will initially work at the new plant, but Asiaway’s workforce will increase to 2,000 once the second larger part of the project comes on line in the coming years.
San Luis Potosí Governor Ricardo Gallardo attended an inauguration event with company executives early last week. He said that security in San Luis Potosí and government policies in a range of areas were among the reasons why foreign firms had confidence to invest in the state.
Tim Hortons to enter CDMX market
Canadian coffeehouse chain Tim Hortons will open its first location in the greater Mexico City metropolitan area later this year, the company’s Mexico president said.
In a video posted to Twitter by a Mexico-based Canadian diplomat, Juan José Gutiérrez said that a Tim Hortons store will open on Aug. 31.
“Join us at Sentura, that’s where we’ll be with you,” he said in the video posted by the Embassy of Canada’s Deputy Head of Mission Shauna Hemingway.
A Tim Hortons coffeehouse will open Aug. 31 at the Sentura shopping center in Tlanepantla, the franchise’s first announced location in Mexico City. (Wikimedia Commons)
Sentura is a shopping center in the México state municipality of Tlalnepantla, which adjoins Mexico City to the north.
Tim Hortons arrived in Mexico in 2017, opening its first outlet in the Monterrey metropolitan area. It now has over 50 cafes in the country, but hadn’t announced plans to enter the Mexico City market before Gutiérrez appeared in Hemingway’s video last Sunday.
Valley of Mexico eyes automotive investment
The Mexico City Economic Development Ministry (Sedeco) and the México State Automotive Cluster (CLAUT México) are working together in an attempt to attract automotive sector companies to the Valley of Mexico metropolitan area, which includes the capital and parts of México state.
The Mexico City Economic Development Ministry is working with the México State Automotive Cluster to bring auto manufacturing plants to vacant land surrounding the metropolitan area. (Sedeco/Twitter)
Economic Development Minister Fadlala Akabani Hneide said there is potential to attract US $12 billion in investment in the next five years as a result of the growing nearshoring phenomenon, in which companies relocate some or part of their operations to Mexico to be close to the United States market.
He said there are 40 auto sector companies from the U.S., Europe and China that are interested in establishing plants in the Valley of Mexico metro area.
“We have more than 22,000 square kilometers of … [land] … where large factories can set up,” Akabani said.
The minister said that Sedeco officials would meet with representatives of auto sector companies visiting the Mexico City area with a view to establishing an operational presence, while CLAUT México would help link the firms to local supply chains and industrial parks.
CLAUT México president Elisa Crespo Ferrer said there are already 154 auto sector businesses in the Mexico City area. Those firms collectively employ 31,800 people, she said.
