The Mexican national team warms up for practice on Nov. 29, the day before what turned out to be their last game in the 2022 World Cup. (Selección Nacional de México)
Last week, Mexico beat Saudi Arabia in their last game of the group stage, but it wasn’t enough to win them a spot in the round of 16. The failure to advance this year was just one in a decades-long string of so-close-you-can-taste-it losses for El Tri, as the national team is known.
By points, Mexico tied with Poland for second place in the group; each team had a win (3 points), a draw (1 point) and a loss (0 points), for a total of 4 points. But Poland beat Mexico on goal differential, the number of goals scored by the team minus the goals scored against them during the group stage of the tournament. Poland’s goal differential was 0, while Mexico let in one more goal than they scored, for a final goal differential of -1.
Thanks to this year’s performance, Mexico is now the team with the most games lost in a World Cup (28) followed by Argentina with 23 losses and Germany with 24. Mexico has also joined the exclusive club of teams that have had more than 100 goals scored against them in World Cups: Mexican goalkeepers have failed to block 103 points since the World Cup began in 1930. The only other members of this club are Germany, which has been scored on 128 times, and Brazil, with 105 goals scored against them.
These records are actually perverse reminder of the Mexican team’s many brushes with greatness: El Tri ranks with the likes of soccer superpowers like Argentina, Brazil and Germany in losses partly because all four teams routinely qualify for the the soccer’s top competition. But unlike those teams, Mexico has yet to be a World Cup champion. (For hardcore El Tri fans, the 2014 documentary “Ilusión Nacional,” or “National Hope” in English, documents the Mexican selection’s ups and downs over the years.)
The farthest Mexico has made it was to the quarter-finals in 1970 and 1986, also the only two years in which Mexico has hosted the World Cup. This year, Mexico ranked 22 out of the 32 teams to qualify for the World Cup, in the middle of the pack of group stage participants who failed to qualify for the round of 16. But they’ll have another chance in 2026: as a co-host of the next World Cup (along with the US and Canada), Mexico automatically qualifies.
The headless statue may represent a decapitated prisoner of war, the INAH director explained. (INAH)
An imposing, life-size sculpture of a headless human found during excavation work for the Maya Train has been temporarily nicknamed “Yum keeb” — the god of the phallus or fertility.
The finding occurred in the state of Yucatán in the archaeological zone of Oxkintok, about 55 kilometers south of Mérida. The limestone statue without a head, hands, lower legs and feet measures 1.65 meters tall, or about 5 feet 5 inches.
“He was found lying on his back and represents the human figure,” archaeologist Luis Pantoja Díaz said during a media tour of the area on Wednesday. “We see the marked pectorals, the middle part that could be the hanging belly and the part of the member.”
He also said one could see buttocks (which are clearly visible in the photo) and some lines on the back, such as those that delineate shoulder blades (which are not).
While the newspaper La Jornada used the terms falo (phallus) and miembro (member) in describing the figure, another newspaper reported nothing along those lines, or about fertilidad (fertility), explaining instead that the sculpture is that of a warrior.
Its lack of a head “surely represents a warrior who was a prisoner in combat,” said Diego Prieto, general director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), as quoted by El Financiero.
Both sources said the sculpture was possibly used as an offering to the gods. It was found near a hieroglyph-laden staircase that was being cleaned and restored. Pantoja Díaz stressed that the figure is still being analyzed to determine its specific function, thus the “temporary” nickname. Even the statue’s status as the representation of a male is not 100% assured, he added.
Oxkintok was a Maya city that existed in the latter portion of the Mesomerican Classic Period (A.D. 250 to 900) and was the capital of the region before the emergence of Uxmal. Noted for its historical markers, such as pyramids and monuments, it is nestled among mountains that are covered in undergrowth — with lots of potential discoveries still to be made.
The statue was found in Oxkintok in western Yucatán, along Section 3 of the Maya Train. (INAH)
The Maya Train has been divided into seven sections and the INAH reportedly has completed its excavation work in sections 1-3 and 5, with No. 4 to be completed soon and sections 6 and 7 in the prospecting stage.
“We have uncovered information that will nourish the knowledge of the Mesoamerican Maya world for at least the next two decades,” said Prieto, the INAH director. “This work will undoubtedly impact the study of Maya cultures … over many, many years.”
Overall, according to INAH data through Dec. 6, findings on the entire Maya Train route include 31,306 structures including foundations, 1,541 ceramics and chiseled stones, 463 sets of bones or skeletons, 1,040 natural features such as caves and cenotes, 708,428 ceramic figures and fragments (from sections 1-4) and 576 pieces in the process of analysis.
The Maya Train, one of President Andrés Manuel Lopéz Obrador’s most ambitious projects, and one that has been challenged by various problems and issues, will pass through Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo. Originally budgeted for nearly US $8 billion in 2020, it has now ballooned to up to US $20 billion, according to reports.
Last month, AMLO was quoted as saying that “the largest [current] railway project in the world” at 1,550 kilometers (963 miles) will be completed “in December 2023.”
Heavy machinery clears a section of jungle to make way for the Maya Train. Greenpeace / Paola Chiomante
Nine special rapporteurs and a U.N. human rights working group have warned that the Maya Train railroad could threaten the rights of local indigenous communities to land, natural resources and a healthy environment.
In a statement on Wednesday, the experts expressed concern that the planned railroad may be pushed forward without the free, prior and informed consent of indigenous groups in the region, and highlighted that activists opposed to the project have faced threats and attacks.
The experts also denounced the military’s growing involvement in the Maya Train’s construction and stressed that the categorization of the railroad as a national security project could further undermine social and environmental safeguards.
“This decision not only has the potential to allow human rights abuses to remain unaddressed, but also undermines the project’s purpose of bringing inclusive and sustainable social and economic development to the five Mexican states involved,” said Fernanda Hopenhaym, Chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.
The U.N. panel said that the construction of the train could violate the rights of indigenous Maya families. (Ryan Brown / UN Women)
The Maya Train is a US $10 billion public-private mega-project that was a key campaign pledge of President López Obrador. The planned railroad will form a 1,500-kilometer loop through the Yucatán Peninsula. It aims to promote tourism and development in the region by reducing transport times for passengers and freight.
However, the project has long been controversial. Although it received overwhelming approval in a 2019 public consultation, the vote was criticized for its low turnout and lack of prior information. Since then, numerous indigenous and environmental groups have come out in opposition to the railroad, leading to several legal challenges and temporary injunctions.
AMLO has already been forced to make several concessions to the project’s critics. In the latest alteration, AMLO announced on Monday that the railroad will now include a 72-kilometer stretch of elevated trackway through the jungle — a huge feat of engineering that raises questions as to whether he will be able to fulfill his promise to complete the railroad within a year.
Originally, the Maya Train was projected to run on an elevated line over the coastal highway between Cancun and Tulum. However, this was opposed by nearby hotel owners who feared the impact on their businesses. A revised route involved clearing a 68-mile (110 kilometer) swath of jungle to make way for the tracks. The latest proposal seeks to assuage environmentalists’ fears that laying tracks through the jungle risks crushing or contaminating the area’s network of cenotes, or sinkhole lakes.
Activists say the construction of the Maya Train threatens to contaminate the Yucatán Peninsula’s delicate network of cenotes. (Dorian D1 / Unsplash)
In his Monday press conference, AMLO explained that the new plan would involve elevating the railroad 2.5 meters above the ground, supported by thousands of 25-meter pilings sunk into the earth.
“This will have a minimal effect, because they sink the pilots where there isn’t anything,” AMLO said.
However, activists were swift to reject this claim, and to decry the deforestation that has already taken place.
“They do not have the technical ability to sink the columns where there are no caves, because they [the caves] are everywhere,” cave diver José Urbina told the AP.
He warned that construction of the railroad is already contaminating the aquifers that feed the underground lakes, putting the area’s delicate cave system at risk.
The unique geology of the cenotes is just one of the factors that gives the Yucatán Peninsula such huge environmental, cultural and historical significance. The region’s jungles contain a wealth of biodiversity, as well as numerous archaeological sites and indigenous Maya communities.
In their statement, the U.N. experts emphasized that a transparent and participatory consultation process on the railroad’s social and environmental impacts was necessary to ensure the rights of these communities were respected. They demanded the government conduct this process before taking any further decisions on the project, and urged investors to pressure for all due diligence to be carried out.
“Relevant companies and investors domiciled in Spain, the United States and China cannot turn a blind eye to the serious human rights problems related to the Maya Train project,” they said.
Though inflation has slowed, a 13.8% increase in meat prices continued to drive up the cost of agricultural products. (Graciela López Herrera / Cuartoscuro.com)
Headline inflation fell to its lowest level in six months in November, new data shows, but Mexico’s core index rose slightly to its highest level in more than 22 years.
National statistics agency INEGI reported Thursday that the annual headline inflation rate was 7.8% last month, down from 8.41% in October.
The rate is slightly lower than expected, and the lowest rate since May when consumer prices were up 7.65% on a year-over-year basis. However, it is still well above the central bank’s target range of 3% plus or minus one percentage point.
The Bank of México has lifted its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points on four consecutive occasions in recent months as it seeks to combat high inflation. It is expected to announce another hike — perhaps a slightly more palatable one of 50 basis points — after its monetary policy meeting next Thursday. The bank’s key rate is currently set at a record high of 10%.
The core inflation rate, which strips out some volatile food and energy prices, remains a major concern for the central bank — and Mexican consumers trying to make ends meet.
INEGI reported that core inflation was 8.51% in November, up from 8.42% in October. The rate is the highest for any month since August 2000 when core inflation was 8.8%.
INEGI also reported that headline inflation increased 0.58% compared to October and core inflation rose 0.45% on a month-over-month basis.
Prices for agricultural products were up 8.9% on an annual basis in November, with that rate driven by a 13.8% rise in the cost of meat. Processed foods, tobacco and alcohol were 14.1% more expensive last month than a year earlier, while goods in general cost 11.3% more.
Services were 5.3% more expensive, while energy costs rose 3.2%, INEGI said.
María Fernanda Castro Maya and Ceci Flores are Mexican advocates for disability rights and missing persons, respectively. (Human Rights Watch / Facebook)
The BBC list of the world’s 100 most inspiring and influential women for 2022 is out — and two Mexicans are on it.
María Fernanda Castro Maya, a disability rights activist, and Ceci Flores, who began searching for victims of forced disappearance after her two sons were kidnapped by criminal gangs, were both recognized for their leadership in their respective fields.
Castro Maya is part of a group of Mexican advocates with disabilities — backed by Human Rights Watch — who promote participation in politics of people with intellectual disabilities. She was also a member of the Mexican delegation to the United Nations that presented a report on disability rights.
According to the BBC, her work includes the incorporation of accessible language in documents related to political decisions. She also promotes inclusion of disabled people in political parties and electoral events.
Cecilia Flores founded the collective Madres Buscadoras de Sonora (Sonora’s Searching Mothers) and has spent more than seven years searching for her two sons. In 2015, armed men took her 21-year-old son Alejandro and four years later, her other son Marco Antonio, 31, was kidnapped by a criminal gang. Her work is born from the fear of dying without knowing what happened to her children, she said. Under Flores’ leadership, the collective she founded has helped locate more than 1,000 disappeared persons in clandestine graves.
“The shortlist reflects the central role of women in conflicts around the world, from the protesters courageously demanding change in Iran, to the female face of conflict and resistance in Ukraine and Russia,” the BBC said.
Among the women listed are other Latin American names like Eva Copa, who the BBC said, “is revolutionizing politics in Bolivia;” Geraldina Guerra Garces, from Ecuador, who fights against femicide and gender violence in Latin America; and Argentinian environmentalist Sofia Heinonen, who worked to restore the Esteros del Iberá — one of the world’s largest wetland ecosystems.
Some world-famous names also appear on the list, including global music phenomenon Billie Eilish, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska, and actresses Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Selma Blair.
Eduardo San Juan (center) is the only actor in Rodrigo Reyes' acclaimed docudrama, "499." The rest are real-life victims of violence in modern-day Mexico who tell the conquistador risen from the dead their stories. (Photo: courtesy of Cinema Guild)
If you want an education on the impact of the violence of the conquest of the Mexica by Spain on contemporary Mexico, watch the brilliantly crafted movie “499” by filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes.
Made in 2020, this movie’s release was timed to coincide with last year’s 500th anniversary of the conquest of Tenochtitlan by Hernán Cortés in 1521.
The musical background and the stunning cinematography — the latter of which won it the Best Cinematography in a Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020 — create a dreamscape backdrop to the increasingly intense stories of victims who have suffered brutal violence in modern-day Mexico.
Labeled as a docudrama, it has elements of magical realism, blurring lines between fantasy and reality, starring the ghost of a Spanish conquistador who wakes up in modern-day Mexico. Played by Spanish actor Eduardo San Juan, he is the only fictional character in the film.
The film’s aim is to imply a through line connecting the Spanish conquest of Mexico to the modern nation’s epidemic of violence and impunity. (Photo: Cinema Guild)
All the victims who the conquistador talks to, however, are Mexicans telling their own real stories as victims of violence.
In making this decision, Reyes draws a parallel between the violent conquest of Tenochtitlan and the harsh reality for many Mexicans today. San Juan is impressive in his portrayal of the weary and bewildered conquistador who is washed up on a beach in Veracruz at the movie’s beginning — knowing where he is but not why.
This nameless conquistador begins a journey over the misty mountains and windswept dunes and bustling villages, the route he took with Cortés as they landed in Veracruz and made their way from there to Tenochtitlan, the site of contemporary Mexico City.
Along the way, this ghostly conquistador hears stories told by victims of violence, which become more intense as the movie progresses. In the background, a narrator brings to life the accounts from diaries of the conquistadors, recounting how the Spanish dehumanized the societies they encountered on their march to the Mexica capital.
One of this anachronistic character’s first encounters is at a school, where he witnesses school children waving the Mexican flag and singing patriotic songs. He interrupts the proceedings to give a speech claiming Mexico for the Spanish crown. But in the middle of it, he loses his voice.
The conquistador has been silenced — now he must just listen.
“There is a lack of listening in our world,” Reyes explained on David Peck Live in 2020. “People of power refuse to listen to victims of power.” It’s important to listen, he says, “even when it’s uncomfortable.”
Some of the scenes are jarring: the conquistador walks atop a mountain of trash and sees a jet overhead — flying over a shantytown. He reflects on past victories as he walked this same route 500 years earlier. Speaking to himself he recounts how “as we came upon temples, we burned them to the ground.”
Filming a scene from the documentary “499.” (Photo: Cinema Guild)
Along his journey, he listens to the story of a young man who father was murdered by drug criminals. “He was a journalist and an activist; they kill you for being either one,” the son states sadly.
He comes across a group of people using hand drills to drill in fields seeking the smell of death emanating from the ground, meaning that they have found a clandestine grave. The conquistador meets a woman grieving for her son who disappeared five years ago.
The victims’ stories become more and more intense. When he gets to the outskirts of Mexico City, the music stops and allows the mother of a 12-year-old girl who was brutally murdered to painfully tell her story in complete and harsh silence.
He listens as a former soldier tells him how he became an expert at torture. He watches migrants attempt to jump on moving trains traveling north to the Mexico-U.S. border — risking life and limb in their desire to escape violence. Some make it, others do not. It induces a contradictory sense of hope and futility.
As the conquistador traverses a mountain of trash in the beautiful and magnificent country they conquered 500 years earlier he asks himself, “What happened to my treasure? What happened to my glory?”
Reyes seems to be saying there is no glory in the apocalyptic conquest of the Mexica by the conquistadors and that this is the result. “For me, there is a very direct connection between what happened during the conquest and what is happening today,” he told Mexico News Daily.
One beautiful scene in the movie occurs when the conquistador stops to watch a performance of the indigenous Danza de los Voladores — a cultural dance believed to be of Mesoamerican origin. He watches as the four men tethered by rope to a 30-meter pole seemingly fly through the air around it.
Reyes shows us the richness of the culture and traditions the Spanish attempted to destroy.
Rodrigo Reyes premiered “499” in Mexico at the Morelia Film Festival in 2020. (Photo: FICM)
The movie explores the brutal legacy of colonialism on Mexico in a stark manner, made even starker by the beauty of the landscape and the accompanying musical score. Reyes portrays Mexico’s endemic violence as part of the colonial legacy still being enacted 500 years later.
Even though the conquistador begins to question his values by the end of the movie, no amount of remorse can make up for the pain and suffering of the indigenous peoples he and his fellow soldiers conquered.
“For many in Mexico, the conquest hasn’t ended,” Reyes said at a forum at San Diego State University following a screening of the film. “I thought it was important to show how we have internalized this conquistador. Sometimes we don’t understand how important history is. My responsibility as an artist is to break through to deeper truths.”
At the completion of the movie, Reyes took the film back to the victims interviewed along the way for them to view and discuss — setting up community viewings in each of the 11 locations where they had filmed.
“For me, the film was not finished until it was taken back to Mexico and shown to the people along the route,” he told Mexico News Daily.
Reyes was born in Mexico City in 1983, and at 39 is considered one of the most potent new voices in independent cinema. He currently lives in the United States. The making of “499” received financial support from the Tribeca Film Institute, the Sundance Film Institute, and the Mexican Film Institute.
Reyes has directed numerous films depicting the experiences of Mexicans living both in Mexico and the United States. His body of work includes the documentaries “Lupe under the Sun” and “Purgatorio.”
Reyes’ “499” is available to watch streaming (in Spanish without subtitles) on YouTube and the FilminLatino website.
499 - Official Trailer
Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive and professional researcher. She spent 45 years in national politics in the United States. She moved to Mazatlán last year and works part-time doing freelance research and writing.
Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard at a meeting of representatives from the Pacific Alliance in November. (Alianza del Pacífico Twitter)
A meeting of Mexican, Peruvian, Chilean and Colombian officials that was scheduled to take place in Lima next week has been postponed due to the dramatic political events that unfolded in Peru on Wednesday.
The Congress of Peru voted to oust Pedro Castillo – who took office in July 2021 – due to “moral incapacity” in an impeachment trial held just hours after he attempted to dissolve the legislature by decree.
The now ex-president had planned to establish a “government of exception” and called for fresh legislative elections. Opposition politicians and allies of the leftist leader – including his vice president Dina Boluarte – accused him of carrying out a coup attempt. Boluarte was sworn in as president Wednesday afternoon.
President López Obrador had been scheduled to pass on the leadership of the four-nation Pacific Alliance to Castillo at a summit in the Peruvian capital next Wednesday.
President López Obrador in a 2021 meeting with former president of Peru, Pedro Castillo. (Cuartoscuro)
However, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that the Dec. 14 summit has been postponed due to the “latest events in Peru,” which included the arrest of Castillo by national police.
He said in another post that “Mexico laments the latest events in Peru” and supports “respect of democracy and human rights for the good of” the Peruvian people.
For his part, López Obrador expressed regret that Castillo faced “an atmosphere of confrontation and hostility” from the beginning of his “legitimate presidency” due to “the interests of the economic and political elite.”
In the same Twitter post, AMLO added that the hostility the ex-Peruvian president experienced “led him to take decisions that were used by his adversaries to carry out his removal.”
He has previously expressed support for Castillo, and even sent a delegation to Peru late last year to advise him as he faced attempts by the conservative opposition to remove him from office.
The ousting of Castillo came a day after Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the current vice president of Argentina and a former president and first lady, was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to six years in jail, although she currently has immunity that protects her from arrest.
In a Twitter post on Tuesday night, López Obrador expressed his “deepest solidarity” with Fernández de Kirchner and said he had no doubt that the vice president was “a victim of political revenge and a vile, anti-democratic act of conservatism.”
The vice president – found guilty of directing public roadworks contracts to a family friend while president and first lady – can remain in office as she attempts to have her conviction overturned.
The five candidates for Arturo Zaldívar's post as Chief Justice of the Mexican Supreme Court are, left to right: Norma Lucía Piña Hernández, Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, Alberto Pérez Dayán, Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena and Javier Laynez Potisek. (Photo: SCJN)
Five Supreme Court (SCJN) justices are vying to succeed Arturo Zaldívar as chief justice of Mexico’s highest court.
Zaldívar’s four-year term as the court’s presidente, or chief justice, will conclude at the end of the year, and the 11 SCJN justices will elect his successor in early January.
The successful candidate will also become head of the Federal Judiciary Council (CJF), which oversees Mexico’s courts and judges.
Two women are aiming to become the court’s first female chief justice, while three men have also formally joined the contest. All five candidates have presented lengthy documents in which they set out the objectives they would pursue as chief justice and CJF head.
The current Supreme Court Chief Justice, Arturo Zaldívar, seen here at his last press conference in the position on on Nov. 16, finishes his term at the end of 2021. (Photo: Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)
Brief profiles of the candidates, and summaries of their proposals, appear below. You can also read each candidate’s CV and their statements of objectives (in Spanish) at the SCJN website.
Justice Yasmín Esquivel Mossa
Esquivel has a PhD in law from Anáhuac University and worked as a public official in all three levels of government for over three decades before becoming a Supreme Court justice in 2019.
Among her proposals is to establish a commission of former SCJN justices to advise the sitting chief justice. She also advocated greater transparency of SCJN rulings and its use of public resources.
In addition, Esquivel said that civil society should have the opportunity to help create judicial policies that improve access to justice.
Justice Alfredo Guttiérez Ortiz Mena
Guttiérez completed law degrees at the National Autonomous University and at Harvard University. He worked in private practice before his appointment to the SCJN in 2012.
One of his proposals is to improve the internal administration of the Supreme Court, “demonstrating our rational and austere management of resources.”
Guttiérez set out a vision for an efficient and disciplined judicial system that is unconditionally committed to the country.
He also said that courts should be able to hold “virtual trials” and advocated the establishment of tribunals to hear environmental matters.
Justice Javier Laynez Potisek
Laynez studied law in Mexico and France before working as a federal legal official and judge. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2015 and became president of its second chamber in 2019.
Laynez indicated he would adopt a collaborative approach if elected chief justice of the SCJN, noting that the position is about representing the other 10 justices.
“The decisions within our sphere of work have to be collective, broad, emerging from internal dialogue and always thinking of the judicial power as a whole. There is no space for individualistic projects,” he wrote.
As chief justice, Laynez said he would work to combat the backlog in Mexico’s judicial system (some suspects languish in prison for years without trial) and publish SCJN rulings more promptly.
Justice Alberto Pérez Dayán
A constitutional and administrative law specialist, Pérez completed a doctorate degree in law at the National Autonomous University before working as a lawyer and a judge in various courts. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2012.
Like Laynez, Pérez indicated he would be a collaborative chief justice, and advocated the appointment of more women to high-ranking positions in Mexico’s judiciary.
Pérez also advocated greater transparency in the judicial system and argued that Federal Judiciary Council meetings on administrative matters should be public. In addition, the justice emphasized his commitment to the policy of zero tolerance for corruption in the judiciary.
Justice Norma Lucía Piña Hernández
A law and education graduate, Piña was a judge in various lower courts before her appointment to the SCJN in 2015.
As chief justice, she said she would ensure that the independence of the judiciary is upheld.
Like her colleagues, Piña advocated for greater transparency of the SCJN’s work and pledged to create a “Unit of Scientific and Specialized Knowledge” to advise justices on matters beyond their legal expertise.
She also highlighted her commitment to combating corruption within the judiciary and improving the administration of the SCJN and CJF.
Members of the military confronted civilian gunmen this morning in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. (Valor por Tamaulipas Twitter)
An early morning shootout on a highway in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas on Wednesday resulted in the military killing seven gunmen presumed to be members of the Northeast Cartel, news sources were reporting.
Mayor Carmen Lilia Canturosas informed her Facebook followers at 5:44 a.m. that she had received reports of the shootout and warnings about potential outbreaks of retaliatory violence throughout the city.
“Attention family,” the 2021 electee wrote. “A few minutes ago, I was informed about SDR [an alert system] in different parts of the city. The situation is now under control [according to] security authorities. However, take precautions and stay alert to avoid incidents.”
The shootout occurred nine days after the Nov. 28 arrest of Heriberto Rodríguez Hernández, alias “El Negrolo,” a leader of the Cártel del Noreste (CDN) accused of being responsible for violence in the city. His apprehension unleashed gunfire and panic in the city of 460,000 that’s directly across the border from Laredo, Texas (population 256,153).
The wave of violence included confrontations, blockades and the burning of vehicles.
The United States has a consulate in the Mexican Nuevo Laredo, and shortly after El Negrolo’s arrest, it “received reports of multiple gunfights throughout the city,” according to a security alert issued by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City on Nov. 28. “Seek secure shelter. Notify friends and family of your safety. Monitor local media for updates,” the alert advised.
After more than a week of violence, a battalion of 300 sent by the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) arrived in Nuevo Laredo on Monday, Dec. 5, to reinforce security efforts. But according to one report, they were simply replacing some 350 soldiers who had just left Nuevo Laredo for a military base in Apodaca, Nuevo León.
Over the weekend, the violence subsided a bit, but on the night of Tuesday, Dec. 6, social media users began reporting blasts and gunfire in various parts of the city, prompting authorities to suspend classes for Wednesday.
Early Wednesday, state Secretary of Security Sergio Chávez García reported an attack on the military, with preliminary reports stating that seven civilian gunmen were killed and four vehicles and weapons were seized.
Reports said the incident occurred south of downtown on the Nuevo Laredo-Monterrey highway, which terminates in the north at the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge into the United States.
Local schools released a statement through the Regional Centers for Educational Development (CREDE) that classes for Wednesday had been suspended, “in order to preserve the safety of students, teachers and staff of the educational community,” as stated by César Bolaños Hernández, head of CREDE Nuevo Laredo.
Public transportation, which had been suspended during last week’s violent outbreaks, was suspended again for a few hours Wednesday morning, but then restored with “precautionary measures.”
The Delegation of Public Transport posted on Facebook at 9:43 a.m. that 100% of routes are operational; however some “are experiencing delays and adjustments to their route due to road closures” resulting from security actions.
Additionally, Chávez, the security secretary, advised citizens to “take precautions and stay vigilant” even though it had been reported that the situation was under control.
The world-famous Mexico City shrine to the Virgin Mary could see more than 8 million visitors this year, many of them pilgrims who've traveled thousands of miles. (Photo: Mike Peel/Creative Commons)
After two years of restrictions due to the pandemic, pilgrimages to reach the feet of the Virgin of Guadalupe on Tepeyac Hill might hit an all-time record this year, officials with the Catholic Church noted this week.
Every year from Dec. 9 to 12 — except in 2020 and 2021 — millions of faithful from all over Mexico travel to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which stands on Tepeyac Hill (Cerro Tepeyac) north of Mexico City.
Some pilgrims travel hundreds if not more than 1,000 miles to make it there. As many as 8 million visitors have participated in the tradition in a single year, according to the Catholic weekly Desde la Fe. And this year, on the 491st anniversary of Saint Juan Diego’s vision of the Virgin Mary (known in Mexico as Guadalupe) in 1531, the total could soar even higher.
“The celebrations for the ‘Morenita of Tepeyac’this year will finally take place with the normality with which they had been done for generations until the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the ecclesiastical and civil authorities to take restrictive measures in favor of the citizenry,” said an editorial in Desde la Fe headlined “Bienvenidos, peregrinos” (Welcome, pilgrims).
The altarpiece of the Virgin of Guadalupe at her basilica in Mexico City. (Photo: Google Art Project)
Many pilgrimages are already underway, and others are preparing.
“What is a fact is that the pilgrims have been waiting impatiently for this moment,” the editorial continued, “and they will not miss the opportunity to get going again to bring their prayers, supplications and thanks to the Virgin of Guadalupe to her sacred house.”
If the number of pilgrims at the basilica near Mexico City mirrors the record-breaking numbers in October in Jalisco — for the annual, 9-kilometer procession from the Guadalajara Cathedral to the Basilica of Our Lady of Zapopan — “we could have a historical record of visitors to Tepeyac,” the editorial concluded.
That being the case, the Archdiocese of Mexico is calling on motorists to drive responsibly and asking pilgrims to take necessary precautions in order to reach their destination safely. The Church also wants citizens to be respectful of the pilgrims, for example, when they are crossing the street in large groups.
The faithful receiving communion outside the basilica in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo: Creative Commons)
Desde la Fe published a “Pilgrim’s Kit,” which included tips such as consult your doctor before any major physical undertaking, bring a sleeping bag if you plan to sleep in the church and wear a reflective vest so you can be spotted easily on roadways.
Dec. 12 is Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, the day on which Juan Diego’s final vision of the Virgin Mary was recorded. Though schools and most businesses will be closed, the day of honor for Mexico’s patron saint is not a federal holiday.
But it is a religious feast day with many associated activities. Many children dress in traditional costumes (many as Saint Juan Diego) and are blessed when they attend Mass, which the Church holds as obligatory for all Catholics on that day.
There are 132 temples in Mexico City alone dedicated to Guadalupe, as well as 74 in Guadalajara and 32 in Morelia, Michoacán — and 81 dedicated to Guadalupe (as well as three to Saint Juan Diego) in the municipality of Tlalnepantla de Baz (population 672,000) in México state. And Guadalupe is only one of many invocations of the Virgin Mary throughout Mexico with temples of their own.
This short video gives you some glimpses inside the basilica and also what the plaza looks like packed with the faithful.
The Basilica of Guadalupe’s rector, Monsignor Salvador Martínez, is asking those who enter, especially on the busiest days of Dec. 11 and 12, to use face masks to avoid a resurgence in COVID-19 infections.
“As Pope Francis points out,” Martínez said, “the time has come to infect us — not with some virus, but with love, empathy, respect and enthusiasm.”
