Governor Sinhue said that the association would work to turn the Bajío region into a data hub. (@diegosinhue/Twitter)
The Mexican Association of Data Centers (MEXDC) has officially commenced operations and anticipates an initial investment of up to US $8.5 billion in the Bajío region, an area that includes Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí.
The association seeks to strengthen Mexico’s development in the industry by concentrating the largest cluster of data centers in Latin America, Guanajuato Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo said during the launch event. “We seek to move from manufacturing to ‘mind making’,” the governor added.
One of the new developments will be the KIO center in Queretaro. (KIO)
President of MEXDC Amet Novillo said that the country expects investment of between 600 to 800 megawatts of capacity into data centers — representing around US $8.5 billion of investment. It will largely be allocated to the Bajío.
In the data center industry, megawatts are usually reserved for wholesale colocation customers in need of enough power to host thousands of servers and IT hardware. Colocation refers to data centers hosting a customer’s hardware offsite from the customer’s property.
Governor Sinhue said MEXDC’s alliance with the Bajío is thanks to the region’s geographical location and its infrastructure. Almost 60% of the country’s population is only within a six-hour drive, the governor explained.
“Those people require Uber, UberEats, autonomous cars, and seismic alerts. They need to save photos, hold online meetings, send emails, and make online purchases,” he said. “Data centers are at the heart of it all.”
Brazilian company Odata has built the largest data center in Mexico to date, but more are expected to follow. (Odata)
Industries such as manufacturing, entertainment, telecommunications and finance also benefit from data centers, Novillo added. “We are talking about a digital transformation throughout the industry of a country,” he said. “Everything from a photo on a social network to our financial statements to stock transactions is stored at the data center.”
Data centers require massive amounts of energy to operate. To optimize its use, Governor Sinhue said they are working to create their own local energy agencies and to use hydrogen energy, green energy and hydrogen plants to guarantee clean energy in the future.
Querétaro already has a state energy agency tasked with ensuring energy development. During the event, the state’s Minister of Sustainable Development, Marco Antonio del Prete explained that the agency has instructions from Governor Mauricio Kuri to find ways of collaborating with companies in the industry.
“[The state government needs to] collaborate so that they can use clean energy so that they can access fiber optics and good connectivity so that the facilities are safe,” he emphasized.
According to Minister Prete, Querétaro already accommodates 10 data centers and is expecting 18 new projects, including one from Microsoft. He explained that these are not real estate projects but “productive investments,” since infrastructure and equipment need to be renewed every couple of years. Companies also need to be in compliance with new regulations in matters of digital waste, data protection and the use of energy, he said.
Finally, Prete highlighted the region’s benefit for the housing of data centers.
“Querétaro is a strategic area in the country […] because there are no earthquakes [and] no hurricanes, and this represents a great opportunity to generate added value.”
Kerry arrived in Mexico for a whirlwind visit to meet with the president as well as Mexico's National Conference of Governors. (Presidencia)
Mexico and the United States need to “act quickly” in the fight against climate change, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said Tuesday after a meeting in Oaxaca attended by officials including President López Obrador and U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.
In a statement on the Embassy’s website, Salazar said that U.S. and Mexican officials spoke about “crucial issues for our countries and the whole world.”
“It’s clear to me that [President López Obrador] understands the degree to which our futures are now inextricably linked,” Kerry said.The two countries need to “confront climate change together” and make the transition to using clean energies, he added.
“The recentreport from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change … is an urgent call to act against climate change. We have to act quickly and efficiently because we are running very behind. Our conversations were directed at that as well as complying with our climate commitments,” Salazar said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt (COP27) last November that Mexico would collaborate with the United States to double its capacity to produce renewable energy.
“In this meeting we held serious conversations and learned more about the basic structure needed in this energy transition,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar said after the bilateral meetup.
Salazar said in his statement Tuesday that officials spoke about future solar and wind projects but did not offer specifics. The ambassador added that they discussed “steps to follow to reduce emissions more quickly.”
“In this meeting we held serious conversations and learned more about the basic structure needed in this energy transition,” Salazar said.
“… The private sector plays a crucial role, both in investment and financing as well as in technology. … We’re ready for [private companies] to be part of this work to provide clean, affordable and reliable energy to our nations,” he said.
However, under López Obrador’s leadership, Mexico’s government has not been particularly welcoming of private energy investment, including in the renewables sector. It has implemented policies that favor the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).
Both the United States and Canada are challenging these policies under provisions of the USMCA free trade pact. Their challenges argue that U.S. and Canadian energy companies operating in Mexico are being treated unfairly.
John Kerry has made seven trips to Mexico as the United States’ Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. (Presidencia)
“However, the work can’t stay on the table. We have to deepen it and make it a reality. We can and we must do more in favor of the prosperity and well-being of our families and for the future of the planet,” he said.
At a press conference after Tuesday’s talks, the ambassador made it clear that he hoped CFE chief Manuel Bartlett would travel to Washington D.C. as soon as possible for talks aimed at accelerating the growth of the renewables sector in Mexico.
Salazar expressed that view after Bartlett said at the same press conference that the next bilateral climate meeting would take place in two or three months.
“With all respect, Manuel, we have to [hold the meeting] sooner than in two or three months because there is a lot of work to do,” Salazar said, adding that it was time to put “the action plan” into effect.
The CFE uses nonrenewable sources, including coal, gas and fuel oil, to generate most of its electricity, but the commission also operates renewables facilities, including hydroelectric plants and a largesolar farm in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, that was officially opened in February even though it is not yet fully operational.
While López Obrador has praised the Sonora solar plant and has shown muted support for other renewable projects, he has championed the continued use of fossil fuels and argues that the transition to clean energy cannot be carried out hastily.
While voicing support for tackling climate change, President López Obrador has invested in an energy independence strategy that relies greatly on fossil fuels and refineries. (Presidencia)
The president said earlier this month that he and Secretary General of OPEC Haitham al-Ghais — whopraised Mexico for investing in oil refineries during a visit to Mexico City —understood each other very well given their shared commitment to the oil industry.
Despite that commitment, López Obrador has pledged that his government will work independently,and with the United States, to combat climate change.
Kerry welcomed Ebrard’s more ambitious commitments announced at COP27, saying at the time that Mexico and the United States have a shared “vision” for a clean energy future in North America.
Before the conference in Egypt,Ebrard said that Mexico needs to increase renewable energy production “at a rate even faster than the United States” to ensure it can comply with any clean energy requirements the U.S. imposes on exports to that country.
In addition to attending the climate talks on Tuesday, Kerry, at López Obrador’s invitation, also attended a ceremony in San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, to mark the 217th anniversary of the birth of Mexican president Benito Juárez.
In a brief speech, Kerry said that he saw “a wisdom in [López Obrador’s] leadership that wants to undo some of the wrongs of the past and help to promote the interests of the people.”
“And it is clear to me that he understands the degree to which our futures are now inextricably linked,” said Kerry, who has now made seven trips to Mexico as climate envoy.
“That is not a political statement; that is not an ideological statement,” he added.
“That is a statement based on the reality of science and the report that just came out a few days ago from the United Nations warning all of us that we must take the steps necessary to reduce the rate of increased warming on the planet,” Kerry said.
Juan O'Gorman's mural featuring Vasco de Quiroga highlights the strong influence Thomas More's 1516 book "Utopia" had on Michoacán's first archbishop, who built an artisan manufacturing system among the Purépecha people.
If you spend any time in the Lake Pátzcuaro area, you will undoubtedly come across the name Vasco de Quiroga. Almost venerated here, he carries the Indigenous title of tata, literally “father,” but the word is infused with meaning from the area’s spiritual and political past.
In statue form, Quiroga still watches over the main square of Pátzcuaro. His influence can be seen throughout the city, giving it a much different feel than other central Mexican colonial communities. His work is likely responsible for conserving Purépecha culture and identity here, although that was not his goal.
Quiroga was born in Ávila, Spain, to a well-connected family. Traditionally, his birth is thought to be the year 1470, although this has been disputed. He was not educated as a priest but rather in canon law. He was named a oidor, or judge, of the second Real Audiencia of Mexico, the court that governed New Spain in the years immediately following the conquest of Tenochtitlán.
The First Audiencia was a disaster both according to the Indigenous peoples and the Spanish, and so Quiroga’s mission upon arrival in 1531 was to salvage the situation in favor of the latter.
Quiroga was an idealist for his period, heavily influenced by Thomas More’s book “Utopia.” This word has a more secular meaning today, but in Quiroga’s time, the idea of a utopia was to create a social order that reflected heaven as much as possible.
Quiroga translated More’s ideas into “hospital-towns,” where “hospital” referred to safe areas for the Indigenous people to gather, reorganizing them quasi-communally in order to teach them Christianity and Spanish culture.
A statue of Vasco de Quiroga still overlooks the main plaza of Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, a nod to his lingering impact on this part of Mexico since the colonial era. (LBM1948/ Wikimedia Commons)
Quiroga’s work began in Santa Fe, then in a small town in the Valley of Mexico, using his own money. But his destiny was located in the lands of the former Purépecha Empire.
After the destruction of Tenochtitlán and with their communities already suffering from smallpox, Indigenous authorities in the major Purépecha city of Tzintzuntzan surrendered to Spain in hopes of better treatment.
They were sorely disappointed. The abuses of the Real Audiencia’s leader, Nuño de Guzmán, and company were so bad that many of those who didn’t choose outright rebellion fled for the mountains.
Quiroga came in 1533 to assess the situation, eventually sending Guzmán and others back to Spain in chains. That out of the way, Quiroga set about repeating what he did in Santa Fe but on a grander scale.
Quiroga enticed the Indigenous back into life under Spanish rule, starting in Santa Fe de la Laguna and Santa Fe del Río. The focus was on (Spanish) order, religious observance, work, education and “practical arts,” with just about every aspect of life regimented.
The Second Audiencia gave way to the appointment of New Spain’s first viceroy in 1535. Quiroga was offered the newly-created job of Archbishop of Michoacán. He was not a priest, but that was quickly remedied, and he continued his work under ecclesiastical authority.
He moved the diocese to Pátzcuaro in 1537, founding a cathedral and the Seminary of San Nicolás (today the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo). The seminary was open to both Spanish and Indigenous applicants.
Quiroga’s work was instrumental in the development of many central Michoacán towns, and his reach extended into Salamanca (Guanajuato) and even Guadalajara. But he had another legacy: Michoacán’s culture of handcrafts — one of the most important in Mexico.
Cover from a 20th-century popular series of books about historical figures in Mexico, this one depicting Vasco de Quiroga protecting an Indigenous person from abuse. “Tata” is the Purépecha word for “father.”
The Purépecha were already accomplished artisans, more advanced in metalworking than even the Aztecs. When Quiroga organized his hospital-towns, he assigned many towns to a specific craft in order to avoid competition and to promote trade among them.
Many of these towns maintain their assigned craft today: copper working in Santa Clara de Cobre, musical instruments in Paracho and different styles of pottery in the towns of Tzintzuntzan, Patamban and Capula, just to name a few.
Except for an eight-year period between 1546 and 1554 (due to Church business), Quiroga remained in Michoacán for the rest of his life. His aim was to extend his concept of utopia all over New Spain. But his ideas never gained widespread acceptance outside the Lake Pátzcuaro region, because many Spanish thought they were unworkable or would cut into their ability to profit.
Indigenous people today are particularly fond of Quiroga’s legacy because he worked against the worst of Spanish abuse. In his most famous piece of writing, “Information on Rights” (“Información en Derecho”), from 1535, he argues against the Crown’s reneging on a promise not to enslave the conquered Indigenous — albeit unsuccessfully.
There was even a movement to have Quiroga canonized starting in 1997, but ended in 2004.
Purépecha artisans were entering the copper (and bronze) age when the Spanish colonists arrived. Today, Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán, is renowned in Mexico for its work in this metal (Alejandro Linares Garcia)
But Quiroga was no saint. Many of his ideas would be considered cruel and authoritarian today, not to mention racist. Like other priests, he worked to destroy the old beliefs (rather unsuccessfully in his lifetime) and social order.
Despite working against slavery, he did have slaves — who were released upon his death. He did not support preserving or documenting Indigenous languages and cultures and even tried to get the Inquisition to ban a Christian treatise published in Purépecha.
It’s necessary to frame Quiroga’s work in the context of his times in order to understand why he remains important today.
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.
The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association has joined critics of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's proposal to authorize foreign airlines to operate domestic flights within Mexico. (Wikimedia Commons / ProtoplasmaKid)
The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) has added its voice to criticism of a proposal to allow foreign airlines to fly domestic routes in Mexico.
ALTA’s criticism follows similar concerns expressed by aviation workers, domestic airlines and the National Chamber of Air Transport Services. (Wikimedia Commons / ProtoplasmaKid)
The ostensible aim of including cabotage in the bill is to increase air connectivity in Mexico and reduce costs for passengers, but it’s often appeared that its real goal is to increase use of theFelipe Ángeles International Airport, an army-built airport that opened north of Mexico City a year ago and is one of the president’s flagship projects.
While discussing the bill at a December 19 press conference, López Obrador lashed out at the Mexican aviation industry, accusing airlines of exacerbating aviation problems by resisting transferring routes to the AIFA.
“We are going to seek to reach an understanding with the airlines,” he said at the time. “There are several options. One is to help us not to saturate the current airport [the Mexico City International Airport] by having [routes run through] Felipe Ángeles Airport, because there is a kind of resistance [to doing so], although they say there isn’t.”
“The other option is cabotage.”
Cabotage, which allows foreign companies to operate transportation services within a country, is perceived to be AMLO’s response to unwillingness on the part of Mexican airlines to serve the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA). (Wikimedia Commons / ProtoplasmaKid)
ALTA said in astatement Tuesday that cabotage should only be authorized for foreign airlines under certain circumstances, none of which exist in Mexico.
Mexico is already well-served by air routes, the airline industry is strong and the air travel market is working well, the association stated.
“In Mexico there are 220 routes operated by eight local airlines that serve the 32 federal entities. Mexico is a remarkably well-connected country,” ALTA said, noting that more than 107 million passengers traveled to, from or within Mexico in 2022 and that over half that number took domestic flights.
The association said that letting foreign airlines fly domestic routes “is not a measure related to lowering the cost of plane tickets” and noted that only 31 countries around the world allow the practice, in most cases as part of reciprocal arrangements.
Although López Obrador has suggested that allowing cabotage would lower plane ticket prices for Mexicans, industry groups have warned that it could do just the opposite, as well as reduce connectivity. (Wikimedia Commons / Elemaki)
“Contrary to what might at first seem to be the case, allowing cabotage is an extremely aggressive measure that weakens the local industry and ends up being detrimental to the passenger and the movement of cargo, and consequently to the country in terms of its income from taxes, job creation and the number of routes, which would be reduced,” ALTA said.
ALTA quoted CEO José Ricardo Botelho as saying that “effective and aggressive” competition already exists between airlines in Mexico, creating “more and better options” for passengers.
“It’s an industry that creates direct jobs and promotes tourism, business and investment in all corners of the country,” he said, adding that authorizing cabotage for foreign airlines would allow them to capture a share of the domestic air travel market without investing in Mexico and creating jobs here.
If allowed to operate domestically in Mexico, Botelho said, foreign airlines would focus on “central, profitable routes” and thus “displace local operators that generate investment and jobs in the country, even in remote areas” and which operate less profitable routes, such as those to smaller destinations that are not popular with tourists.
In the long term, the entry of foreign airlines to the domestic air travel market would “reduce connectivity … and options for citizens,” Botelho said.
The ALTA chief suggested that one way to make air travel in Mexico cheaper would be to reduce “extremely high taxes and fees that increase the price of tickets.”
López Obrador claimed in October that allowing foreign airlines to fly domestic routes would help reduce ticket costs and said that “there are a lot of places that can’t be reached by plane because they’re not served by the current airlines.”
His proposal — discussion of which was tabled in the lower house of Congress last week — has been rejected byaviation workers, the National Chamber of Air Transport Services (Canaero) and Mexican airlines such as Aeroméxico and Volaris.
Canaero said Tuesday that it shared ALTA’s view and earlier this month issued its ownstatement asserting that allowing foreign airlines to fly domestic routes would increase the price of plane tickets and reduce air connectivity and could bankrupt Mexican airlines, among other negative consequences.
The lack of water management legislation is creating a crisis in Mexico, says IMCO. (Cristian Hernández/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico needs to update legislation surrounding access and distribution of water in the country, said the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO).
In a press release to celebrate World Water Day, the group called on the federal government to ensure that access to clean water and sanitation is enshrined in law.
INEGI statistics showed that many states do not have adequate access to drinking water. (INEGI)
The United Nations recognizes access to water as a basic human right.
Twelve million Mexicans currently do not have access to clean drinking water. According to government statistics, a survey of national water infrastructure revealed that four states have no drinking water treatment facilities at all. A further six had fewer than three.
The National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) revealed that 58% of the country does not have wastewater treatment — although these statistics were originally published in 2020.
Despite a 2012 resolution to implement a new general water law, no new legislation has been passed since 1992. The Supreme Court has denounced this failure to issue new legislation, calling it a “legislative omission.”
This large logistics center was listed as a small ranch in Tepozotlán, México state, allowing it to exploit poor water management controls. (contralacorrupcion.mx)
A major issue identified by IMCO was the misuse of water extraction rights. Extraction titles last between five and 30 years but have no transparent transfer process — meaning that there is little oversight of how much water is being used and who is using it.
There have been reports that in some regions of the country, water rights have been provided to farmers free of charge but have later been discovered to have been diverted to industrial parks, which use significantly more water. Without proper measurement and government oversight, IMCO estimates that up to 15% of clean drinking water in Mexico has been misappropriated in this manner.
This misappropriation is particularly critical, as droughts have intensified over the last decade, and the overexploitation of aquifers has increased by 15%, placing more stress on an already precarious system.
Amongst the problems facing Mexico are poor management of public resources and an inability to track water levels and basins at a national level. This has made water management a geopolitical issue, rather than a geophysical one, and has limited the ability of the Federal Water Commission to monitor supply and demand.
There is still insufficient wastewater management throughout the country. This graph shows the number of treatment facilities by state. (INEGI)
A lack of monitoring in piping systems also means that authorities are unable to identify leaks in real-time, leading to significant wastage and supply disruption.
To address these problems, the federal Water Resources Commission (Conagua) has proposed a new national fund for water infrastructure, designed to meet the needs of the country by 2030. If approved, IMCO estimates this will cost 600 billion pesos.
Both the current government and opposition have agreed that passing a new law should take priority, but no action has yet been taken to do so.
“A more modern legal and regulatory framework will not solve the challenges of water management by itself,” warns IMCO, “but it is an essential condition to guide the country toward more efficient water systems that guarantee access to water for all Mexicans.”
The Bank of Well-Being was founded to help rural Mexicans to access modern banking services. (@bbienestarmx/Twitter)
The Bank of Well-Being (Banco del Bienestar) no longer receives remittances from other banks and institutions and plans to focus entirely on the diffusion of the government’s social welfare programs.
The public financial institution founded by President López Obrador in 2019 released a statement saying that since Feb. 28, it has stopped receiving remittances from other banks and remittance institutions abroad.
The bank will now focus exclusively on providing banking services to the beneficiaries of social programs and paying out benefits. (@bbienestarmx/Twitter)
A new government entity, Finance for Well-Being (Financiera para el Bienestar), has taken over receiving remittances. Director General of Finance for Well-Being Rocío Mejía Flores told El Economista that remittances are now the institution’s priority.
In its statement, the Bank of Well-Being cites the 2019 Federal Republican Austerity Law that forbids duplication of functions between public entities.
“After reviewing the bank’s status and based on the Federal Republican Austerity Law, which in its Article 13 expressly forbids the duplication of functions in the units that make up the Federal Public Administration (APF), the Bank of Well-Being has taken the decision to leave the remittances market.”
The public institution also denied allegations that U.S. bank Wells Fargo decided to stop providing its remittance services through the Bank of Well-Being over money laundering concerns, and that it was instead the Mexican bank that exited the market. The bank said it informed all remittance institutions it worked with in December of its decision.
According to reporting in Reforma newspaper, in September 2021, the head of the consumer protection agency (Profeco) had encouraged Mexican workers living abroad to use the Bank of Well-Being for sending remittances home. But a year later, López Obrador dismissed a question from the press about alleged bank fraud involving a migrant, saying that the Bank of Well-Being was not “receiving or distributing remittances”.
The bank has stated that it will now focus on the government’s two main objectives: to provide banking services to the beneficiaries of social programs and the creation of the largest branch network in the country. Its goal is to reach 25 million Mexicans and to provide “every one of them” with a Bank of Well-Being card to easily access financial support.
In February, López Obrador boasted that the bank would distribute 600 billion pesos (US $32 billion) in social programs throughout 2023 without charging a commission. The bank currently has 1,500 branches in operation, out of the 2,700 initially promised.
Despite leading a troubled life, Antonieta Rivas Mercado was a prolific author, editor and deep-pocketed cultural patron who founded or led several Mexican arts and cultural institutions. (Public Domain)
María Antonieta Rivas Mercado, who killed herself in Paris’ Notre Dame a few weeks before her 31st birthday, may be best remembered by the world for her immortalization in Diego Rivera’s Mexico City mural, “El que Quiera Comer que Trabaje” (“He Who Wants to Eat Must Work”), but in Mexico, she’s known as one of the most influential figures on Mexico’s cultural institutions during Mexico’s postrevolutionary era.
Born on April 28, 1900, Rivas Mercado, the second daughter of renowned architect Antonio Rivas Mercado — creator of Mexico City’s iconic monument, the Ángel de la Independencia — grew up in what is now the Casa Rivas Mercado museum in downtown Mexico City. She had a romantic childhood surrounded by arts and culture.
Rivas Mercado, left, with her sisters on the steps to her family’s home, built by her father, renowned Mexican architect Antonio Rivas Mercado. (Casa Rivas Mercado)
An avid reader and fluent in French and English, she had access to an education that few women did at the time, learning piano and history from private governesses. At 3 years old, she wrote a love poem to her father.
Antonio was a central figure in his daughter’s life, since Antonieta’s mother, Matilde, who had European blood and features, often ignored her due to the girl’s indigenous appearance. In a story told in the best-selling book “In the Shadow of the Angel“ — written by Kathryn Blair (the wife of Antonieta’s only child, Donaldo) — Matilde asks Antonio soon after their daughter is born: “Don’t you think she’s too brown?”
Matilde had German and indigenous heritage, but she, as did the rest of her children, had European features.
But Antonio admired and cultivated the girl’s bright and curious mind. In 1909, she and her older sister Alicia traveled with him to Paris to supervise the ornamental details for the Ángel de la Independencia, which was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mexico’s independence.
Rivas Mercado’s father, Antonio Rivas Mercado, was a prestigious architect who designed the Angel of Independence.
While in Paris, Antonio took Alicia and Antonieta on weekly visits to the Louvre, where Antonieta learned the value of art.
“The primal function of art is to create beauty,” Antonio would tell his daughters.
He also took them to the theater and to the Paris Opera, where they once watched a ballet performance. Young Antonieta fell in love with the art and was later admitted to the ballet school of Monsieur Soria, where she was considered a gifted young dancer. However, after a year, Antonio took her daughters back to Mexico despite Antonieta’s wishes.
On September 16, 1910, the Ángel de la Independencia on Paseo de la Reforma was inaugurated in a magnificent event, but a revolution was brewing both in Antonieta’s home and throughout the country: Rivas’ mother decided to leave her family, and the Mexican Revolution began.
Rivas Mercado with Minister of Education Jose Vasconcelos. (Federico Garcia Lorca Foundations/Casa Rivas Mercado)
The Revolution (1910—1917) marked Rivas’ life: She witnessed violence, death, hunger and the abuse of power. In February 1913, Mexico City was violently occupied for 10 days as Álvaro Obregón’s forces attempted to oust President Ignacio I. Madero.
During this time, she was a prisoner in her own house along with her father and siblings. In her book, Kathryn Blair describes how the Rivas Mercado family suffered food shortages just like any other peasant in the country.
After the Revolution’s end, Rivas, now aged 18, married Albert Blair, a British man who had fought in the Mexican Revolution. The pair had only one son, Donald Antonio Blair.
However, the relationship was not meant to last: her husband felt that Rivas’ reading material fed her brain with strange ideas and romantic illusions. He forbade Rivas to speak to their son in French and burned all her favorite books from authors like Nietzsche, Verlaine, Baudelaire and Proust.
She eventually became one of the first women in Mexico City’s elite to ask her husband for a divorce. Furious, Albert threatened to deprive her of custody of Donald, resulting in a long court battle.
But she ultimately regained her independence and moved back to her childhood home, where she devoted herself again to her interests. When her father died in 1927, she used the fortune she inherited to finance many cultural projects in Mexico, many that changed its cultural history forever.
The house Rivas Mercado grew up in is today a museum open to the public. (Casa Rivas Mercado)
Through her close friendship with painter Manuel Rodríguez Lozano, she met Los Contemporáneos (The Modernists), a group of young Mexican intellectuals who recognized the emergence of an unprecedented universality of cultural expression in which they sought to contribute. Sharing their vision, Rivas not only became their patron but also a member.
She also financed and helped create the experimental Ulises Theater with Los Contemporáneos. Although it only lasted for a few months, it influenced modern Mexican theater fundamentally.
During this time, she was also an editor of notable books in Mexico by authors such as Xavier Villaurrutia, Gilberto Owen and Andrés Henestrosa. She was also the first person to translate to a foreign language (English) the works of Spanish poet Federico García Lorca and scripted the first theatrical adaptation of the novel “Los de Abajo”(Those From Below”) by Mariano Azuela.
She also founded the Mexican Symphony Orchestra in 1928. Together with Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, they created the most important musical ensemble the country had seen to date.
Her concern for women’s rights led her to write several feminist essays. One of those was published in 1928 in the Spanish newspaper El Sol de Madrid.
In “The Mexican Woman,” Rivas said that culture was the only means for women’s salvation and stressed the importance of education to “cultivate women’s minds and teach them to think.”
In Paris, Rivas Mercado, center, had a wide social circle.
She also founded the first department of indigenous affairs in the Ministry of Education and later became actively involved in politics by financially supporting the presidential campaign of former Minister of Education José Vasconcelos. They later became romantically involved, a development that was to have a profound impact on her life.
When Vasconcelos lost the presidential race in 1929, Rivas had to leave the country after many vasconcelistas (Vasconcelos supporters) were being chased out by the new government.
Rivas sought refuge in New York with her son, whom she took illegally out of the country; her court case to maintain custody was still ongoing. In New York, she met author Federico García Lorca before moving to Paris, where she spent her remaining days.
Rivas Mercado’s suicide at Notre Dame was recorded in the major newspapers of the day, mainly because of its shock value: she shot herself inside a confessional at the cathedral.
Although she maintained a natural poise and elegance given by her education and lineage, Rivas and her son were forced to live in precarious conditions; most of her fortune had gone to her cultural pursuits and patronages.
On her last full day of life, she met up with Vasconcelos, after not having seen him in months. The following day, after what she herself termed a troubled life, she shot herself in the heart in Notre Dame Cathedral with a gun she had taken from Vasconcelos’ suitcase the previous night.
In one of her final letters, Rivas wrote to her sister, “Life for me has been suffering and work, the latter my fun and relief. I have never been able to carry a light soul; something has always weighed on me, and in truth, I wish no one such a fate.”
The president responded on Tuesday to a U.S. State Department report on human rights in Mexico. (Gob MX)
President López Obrador on Tuesday rejected a United States government report that denounced “significant human rights issues” in Mexico.
Published by the U.S. Department of State on Monday, the report said those issues included “credible reports” of a wide range of abuses, among which were:
Unlawful or arbitrary killings by police, military and other governmental officials
Forced disappearance by government agents
Harsh and life-threatening prison conditions
Arbitrary arrest or detention
Restrictions on free expression and media, including violence against journalists
Serious acts of government corruption
Insufficient investigation of and accountability for gender-based violence, including domestic or intimate partner violence
The State Department also said that “impunity and extremely low rates of prosecution remained a problem for all crimes, including human rights abuses and corruption.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the North American Leaders’ Summit in January. (@SecBlinken/Twitter)
Asked about the report at his regular press conference, López Obrador accused the United States government of lying.
“[The report] isn’t true; they’re lying, with all respect, it’s nothing but politicking,” said the president, who frequently asserts that his administration doesn’t tolerate the kind of human rights abuses that routinely occurred during previous governments.
“It’s their nature,” Lopez Obrador said of the U.S. government, “they don’t want to abandon the Monroe Doctrine and … the so-called Manifest Destiny [belief]. They don’t want to change; they think they’re the government of the world.
“It’s not worth getting angry about,” the president said. “That’s just the way they are.”
He also suggested that Mexico could write a damning report about the human rights record of the U.S. government, questioning why it imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange — who is in fact in jail in the United Kingdom as he fights extradition to the U.S. — and why criminal organizations that distribute fentanyl are “allowed” to operate in the U.S.
“What are you doing for young people so that they don’t use fentanyl?” López Obrador asked before going on to claim that the hush-money investigation against former U.S. president Donald Trump is politically motivated.
AMLO, as the president is best known, has vigorously defended Mexico in the face of criticism emanating from north of the border, declaring that the country is both safer and more democratic than the United States.
The latter assertion came after the federal government’s commitment to combating Mexico’s notorious drug cartels was being questioned by some Republican Party lawmakers in the wake of the murder of two United States citizens in Matamoros, Tamaulipas.
The claim that Mexico is more democratic than the United States followed the Feb. 27 publication of a State Department statement that indirectly criticized the government’s recently-approved electoral reform laws.
A U.S. congressional delegation led by Senator John Cornyn returned to the U.S. on Monday after meeting with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Mexican officials in Mexico City to discuss security and development cooperation, among other topics. (Twitter / @lopezobrador_)
President López Obrador said Monday that migration, development cooperation and security were among the topics discussed at his meeting with 12 United States lawmakers in Mexico City on Sunday.
“The meeting was very good, very respectful, and we reached agreements to continue working together with respect for our sovereignties,” he told reporters at his regular morning news conference.
The U.S. delegation’s visit comes at a moment of increased tension between Mexico and the United States on issues such as Mexican energy policy an stemming the northward flow of drugs. (Twitter / @USAmbMex)
The U.S. delegation was led by Republican Senator John Cornyn and included Democratic Senator Chris Coons, Democratic Representative Veronica Escobar and Republican Representative María Elvira Salazar, among other legislators. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and other embassy officials were also in attendance.
López Obrador was accompanied by several of his cabinet ministers and other officials, including Pemex CEO Octavio Romero and National Water Commission chief Germán Martínez Santoyo.
According to a statement issued by the president’s office, López Obrador and the Republican and Democratic lawmakers held “an open and constructive dialogue to deal with common challenges that both countries face.”
The meeting came after some Republican lawmakers proposed the deployment of the United States military in Mexico to combat Mexican cartels and the flow of drugs, especially fentanyl, into the U.S. López Obrador has addressed these statements himself, calling them an offense to the Mexican people.
“Through respectful, frank, and open dialogue with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and officials of the Mexican government, we affirmed our shared commitment to broadening our joint efforts facing the common challenges of illegal traffic in fentanyl and its precursors, irregular migration, and traffic in arms and persons,” read a statement published by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico on the visit. (Twitter / @USAmbMex)
However, López Obrador said Monday that that proposal was not considered at Sunday’s meeting in the National Palace.
“It was an initiative of some legislators who think they can get votes in the United States with this, by blaming Mexico for what’s unfortunately happening in the United States,” he said.
“A lot of young people are dying due to the consumption of drugs, especially fentanyl. That’s something we regret, but it’s been explained to them that fentanyl isn’t produced in Mexico, this is a chemical that is brought in from Asia, that arrives in Mexico to be transported to the United States, but which also arrives directly to the United States,” López Obrador said, despite evidence that the synthetic opioid is indeed manufactured in Mexico.
At the meeting with the U.S. lawmakers, Mexican Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez reported that 2,263 kilograms of fentanyl were seized in Mexico last year.
Despite tensions in recent weeks, AMLO praised U.S. President Biden on new migration measures, while Senator John Cornyn, the delegation’s leader, expressed hope that the delegation’s conversations with the Mexican president would “lead to collaborative solutions that make both countries safer and more prosperous.” (Twitter / @PedroCasas)
The statement by the president’s office also noted that Rodríguez highlighted that 6,115 kilograms of the drug have been confiscated since the current government took office. The figure has been mentioned frequently by federal officials in recent times as they seek to demonstrate that Mexico is serious about stopping the flow of the powerful narcotic to its northern neighbor.
Among the high-ranking Mexican officials at Sunday’s meeting was Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda Durán, who “offered details on thestrategy to strengthen customs and the maritime and ports protection that is being carried out in the country,” according to the president’s office.
The current government put Mexico’s ports and customs stations under the control of the military as part of efforts to stamp out corruption.
The statement added that López Obrador acknowledged U.S. President Joe Biden’s work on migration issues at Sunday’s meeting.
López Obrador praised his counterpart for opening upnew legal pathways for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to enter the United States and “reaffirmed that Mexico will continue promoting development in Central America and the Caribbean with programs like Sembrando Vida [Sowing Life] and Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro [Youths Building the Future].”
The former is a reforestation and employment program, while the latter is an apprenticeship program. Mexico has expanded both initiatives to northern countries in Central America.
López Obrador also highlighted the government’s investment in Mexico’s south and southeast through projects such as the Maya Train railroad, the new Pemex refinery on the Tabasco coast, and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor.
He also spoke about “various projects of United States companies in the region, including energy ones,” according to the statement, which made no mention of theongoing dispute between Mexico and the U.S. over the Mexican government’s energy policies, which the U.S. alleges violate the USMCA trade agreement by favoring state-owned energy companies.
According toa statement posted to Senator Cornyn’s website, the U.S. delegation “received briefings from U.S. intelligence officials, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar on the United States’ security posture with regards to Mexico,recent killings of Americans in the country, efforts to stop drug trafficking, and illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.”
“The delegation shared their concerns with Mexico’s handling of these issues with President López Obrador and members of his administration,” the statement added.
Given that the United States and Mexico share a border, Cornyn said, the two countries “should have a shared interest in working together to address the security challenges that put American and Mexican lives at risk, including drugs, murderous cartels, and unchecked migration.”
“Our delegation made clear to President López Obrador that his administration must do more to address these issues so that we can maintain our historically strong economic and cultural partnership, and I am hopeful that our candid conversations will lead to collaborative solutions that make both countries safer and more prosperous,” the senator said.
López Obrador said Monday that “there is a framework of understanding in which there is cooperation on the issue of security” with the United States.
He stressed, however, that the bilateral security arrangement is “regulated so that agents of United States government agencies” — such as the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation — cannot enter Mexico “without the knowledge of the Mexican government, … as previously happened.”
Abeja Negra SOS is dedicated to protecting and promoting honey bees in Mexico City. (Abeja Negra SOS/Facebook)
A group of beekeepers and veterinarians is on a mission to rescue and relocate the wild bees of Mexico City.
Abeja Negra SOS (Black Bee SOS) was founded in 2018 to help educate local people about the benefits that bees bring to the human environment.
Many rescues are carried out at night to prevent alarming residents and endangering the hives. (Abeja Negra SOS/Facebook)
“These bees are at risk only because people do not have the culture [of caring for bees] or believe they are a danger,” said Adriana Véliz, one of the veterinarians in charge of Abeja Negra SOS.
Bees play a vital role in our ecosystem, helping to pollinate plants and crops. However, bee populations have collapsed in the early part of the 21st century due to multiple stressors, including overuse of pesticides, habitat loss and invasive parasites.
In Mexico, bees are under threat from deforestation and urbanization, as their natural habitats are destroyed by expanding human activity.
In an urban environment like Mexico City, there is always the risk that scared humans will lash out. For this reason, Abeja Negra SOS works to rescue hives in the dead of night, to prevent alarm. A recent rescue in Xochimilco saw the team contend with a hive that was already defensive towards humans.
Abeja Negra SOS distribute many of their rescued bees to local beekeepers and start-up companies, helping not only to sustain wild pollination but also to make a difference in their local community. “These bees can continue with their normal life without being a risk to humans with us,” explains Veléz.
The group also sells honey and other bee-related products to help fund their work.
If you are in Mexico City and would like to report a colony in need of rescue, Abeja Negra SOS can be reached via WhatsApp (55 12 97 49 78).
