It seems that suddenly, at every stoplight in Mexico, someone is selling cellophane bags of pistachios. Is it harvest season for these nuts, I wondered?
Turns out, it is. Pistachios are harvested in early fall, and in Mexico, the desert climates of Chihuahua and Sonora are where they’re grown. The trees need long, hot, dry summers; and while it takes seven to 10 years for pistachios to begin bearing fruit and producing nuts, modern grafting techniques have shortened that time. Pistachio trees can live up to 300 years (!), and in Iran and Turkey, which have the tastiest and most popular varieties, old (dare we say “ancient”?) orchards abound. The southwest United States is the world’s biggest producer of pistachios, though.
Like cashews, pistachios grow inside an odd-looking fruit called a drupe. The distinctive half-open shell occurs naturally, once they ripen, with a perceptible pop. The nuts are then hulled, dried and sorted as “open-mouth” or “closed-mouth.” Harvesting and processing is time-consuming and labor-intensive, hence pistachio’s relatively high cost. Like blueberries and beets, they’re full of antioxidants.
In Mexican cuisine, pistachios are used in sweets like polvorones (the real Mexican wedding cookies), nut brittle and a variety of other candies. They can also be ground with cilantro to make flavorful sauces for chicken and pork. In other countries, pistachios are used in a wide variety of dishes, from Sicilian cakes, cookies and pasta sauces to Middle Eastern baklava, layered cakes and couscous. In China, pistachios are a traditional New Year’s gift, and their “smiling” shell represents happiness, health and good fortune.
President López Obrador with military leaders at Sunday's Revolution Day ceremony. Presidencia de la República
President López Obrador used his Revolution Day speech to praise the armed forces and assert that he still commands the support of the Mexican people.
“If we were not supported by the majority of Mexicans, and especially by the poor, the conservatives would have defeated us or we would have had to submit to their whims and interests,” he said.
AMLO’s address opened a three-hour ceremony to mark the 112th anniversary of the Mexican Revolution, and was followed by a military parade. In the speech, AMLO reflected on Mexico’s history — from the pre-Revolution dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz to military coup that overthrew Francisco I. Madero’smoderate Revolutionary administration in1913 — and asserted that democracy would always triumph over authoritarianism.
“The Revolution left us several lessons, but there are two major teachings: one is that dictatorships or oligarchies do not guarantee peace or social tranquility; and the other is that democratic governments can only be successful if they meet the demands of the majority and get the support of the people in return,” he said.
AMLO also used the address to thank the current military for its loyalty. He emphasized that, unlike other countries in Latin America, the Mexican armed forces are drawn from the common people rather than the oligarchy.
Referring torecent reformsthat extend the use of the military in policing tasks until 2028 while the National Guard consolidates under the Secretariat of Defense, AMLO pushed back against criticisms that his administration has pushed further militarization of Mexican public life.
“In this new transformation, as in its origins, there is a close and fraternal coexistence between the uniformed people and the civilian people,” he said.
He also defended the military’s human rights record, which has been under renewed scrutiny following a report by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) that criticized Mexico for withdrawing arrest warrants against several military members allegedly implicated in the disappearance of 43 students in Ayotzinapa in 2014.
“The good of this military institution is greater than its errors or stains, many of them not attributable to the military commanders, but rather to the civilian governments that have misused themon some occasions; they have used the armed forces to repress the people,” AMLO said.
John Reed's accounts of his time with Pancho Villa's army were later collected in "Insurgent Mexico." He's more remembered for "Ten Days That Shook the World," his memoirs of Russia's 1917 October Revolution.
In 1913, leftist American journalist and poet John Reed spent four months traveling with Pancho Villa’s army, sending regular dispatches to Metropolitan Magazine in New York City, which were collected and published the following year as “Insurgent Mexico,” still available as a free ebook from Project Gutenberg.
Reed’s preconceived notions about Mexicans changed radically during his time as a war correspondent here, and he later described his days in Mexico as the “most satisfactory period” in his life.
It’s easy to find books describing the Mexican Revolution in terms of battles and dates, but Reed excels at showing us the aspirations, frustrations and quirks of the generals, soldiers and “peons” (as he likes to call them) caught up in the conflict.
An example is Reed’s conversation with Torribio Ortega, one of the first generals to revolt against Porfirio Díaz, who had become a de facto dictator after decades in power.
Reed in El Paso, Texas, posing in front of a boxcar apparently owned by the Mutual Film company, which had a contract with Pancho Villa to film footage of his exploits. El Paso Public Library
Says Reed: “At dawn next morning, General Ortega came to the [train] car for breakfast — a lean, dark Mexican who is called ‘The Honorable’ and ‘The Most Brave’ by the soldiers. He is by far the most simple-hearted and disinterested soldier in Mexico.”
“He never kills his prisoners,” Reed continues. “He has refused to take a cent from the Revolution beyond his meager salary. Villa respects and trusts him perhaps beyond all his generals. Ortega was a poor man, a cowboy. He sat there, with his elbows on the table, forgetting his breakfast.”
“‘You in the United States,’ said Ortega, smiling, his eyes flashing, ‘do not know what we have seen, we Mexicans! We have looked on at the robbing of our people, the simple, poor people, for 35 years, eh? We have seen the rurales [country police] and the soldiers of Porfirio Díaz shoot down our brothers and our fathers, and justice denied to them. We have seen our little fields taken away from us and all of us sold into slavery, eh? We have longed for our homes and for schools to teach us, and they have laughed at us. All we have ever wanted was to be let alone to live and to work and make our country great, and we are tired — tired and sick of being cheated…’”
Reed introduces Francisco “Pancho” Villa — born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula and a key figure in the revolution — like this:
“Villa lived in El Paso, Texas, and it was from there that he set out, in April, 1913, to conquer Mexico with four companions, three led horses, two pounds of sugar and coffee and a pound of salt.”
Reed greatly admired Villa’s original and imaginative approach to warfare, which he was forced to invent for himself because he never had an opportunity to learn accepted military strategy.
“His method of fighting,” says Reed, “is astonishingly like Napoleon’s. Secrecy, quickness of movement, the adaptation of his plans to the character of the country and of his soldiers — the value of intimate relations with the rank and file, and of building up a tradition among the enemy that his army is invincible and that he himself bears a charmed life — these are his characteristics.
“And where the fighting is fiercest — when a ragged mob of fierce brown men with hand bombs and rifles rush the bullet-swept streets of an ambushed town — Villa is among them, like any common soldier.”
Reed was born to wealth in Oregon and attended Harvard, where he served on the Lampoon editorial board and was a member of Harvard’s Hasty Pudding group. He would eventually become a champion of leftist and socialist movements. Bain News Service/Creative Commons
Reed gives us an example of Villa’s humor in this exchange with locals in Durango watching the passing of his army from atop a little mound.
“‘Oyez!’ said Villa. ‘Have any troops passed through here lately?’
‘Si, señor!” answered several men at once. ‘Some of Don Carlo Argumedo’s gente [people] went by yesterday pretty fast.’
‘Hum,’ Villa meditated. ‘Have you seen that bandit Pancho Villa around here?’
‘No, señor!’ they chorused.
‘Well, he’s the fellow I’m looking for. If I catch that diablo, it will go hard with him!’
‘We wish you all success!’ cried the pacificos [noncombatants] politely.
‘You never saw him, did you?’
Villa with his generals. From left to right: Rodolfo Fierro, Pancho Villa, Torribio Ortega and Juan Medina, photographed in 1913.
‘No, God forbid!’ they said fervently.
‘Well!’ grinned Villa, ‘in the future when people ask if you know him, you will have to admit the shameful fact! I am Pancho Villa!’ And with that, he spurred away, and all the army followed.…”
Finally, Reed gives us a few insights on the futility of war from “an old peon, stooped with age and dressed in rags, crouched in the low shrub, gathering mesquite twigs.”
Reed, anxious to see action after crossing a dusty plain outside Torreón, Coahuila — where a fierce battle was raging — asked the old man how he could get close to where the fighting was taking place.
The aged campesino (farmer) straightened up and stared at his inquisitor. “‘If you had been here as long as I have,’ said he, ‘you wouldn’t care about seeing the fighting.
‘Carramba! I have seen them take Torreón seven times in three years. Sometimes they attack from Gómez Palacio and sometimes from the mountains. But it is always the same — war. There is something interesting in it for the young, but for us old people, we are tired of war.’ He paused and stared out over the plain. ‘Do you see this dry ditch? Well, if you will get down in it and follow along, it will lead you into the town.’ And then, as an afterthought, he added incuriously, ‘What party do you belong to?’
‘The Constitutionalists.’
‘So, first it was the maderistas [followers of revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero], and then the orozquistas [followers of leader Pascual Orozco] and now the — what did you call them? I am very old, and I have not long to live; but this war — it seems to me that all it accomplishes is to let us go hungry. Go with God, señores.’”
Villa, left, in 1911, with Pascual Orozco (leader of the orozquistas faction) in El Paso, Texas, at Elite Confectionary. Villa loved Elite’s ice cream and “could eat a pound of their peanut brittle.” Otis Aultman
“Insurgent Mexico” offers us a chance to look into the very souls of those caught up in the Mexican Revolution. This remarkable book is well worth reading.
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on hisblog.
In one of the pieces on display at the Met, a lord and his companion observe a small supernatural creature seated between them in this intricately carved backrest for a throne. INAH via Museo Amparo
Nearly 100 landmark Maya works are on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (commonly known as the Met) in an exhibit that opened Sunday and will run until April.
“Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art” is the museum’s first major exhibition in a decade to focus on the aesthetic sophistication of Maya art. It was organized by the Met and the Kimbell Museum of Art, with the participation of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
In the Maya tradition, some gods could die while others could be born anew, embodying the concepts of regeneration and resilience. Addressing those qualities, the exhibit features rarely seen pieces crafted by master artists of the Maya Classic period (A.D. 250-900) who lived in royal cities of what is now Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize.
The sculptures, which range from monumental to miniature, depict gods at all stages of life: from the moment of their creation in a sacred mountain, to maturity, old age and, in some cases, rebirth. Some transformed into blossoming flowers or fearsome creatures of the night. Other works, like finely painted ceramics, reveal the eventful lives of the gods in rich detail.
Another item on display at the exhibition is an incense stand from the residence of a Palenque royal, which depicts a jaguar god wearing a warrior headdress. Josimar Fuentes Zuno / CNME / INAH
Among the exhibited pieces, 19 belong to the INAH’s collection, others come from Europe and Latin America, and the rest belong to the Met — with some of them having been discovered just recently.
Recent advances in the study of Mayan hieroglyphics have made it possible to identify the names of artists from the Classic period. For the first time, some of them will be credited for their pieces.
The exhibition was first proposed by James Doyle, the Met’s former assistant curator for Arts of the Ancient Americas. It was made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Placido Arango Fund, the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund, the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund, the Mellon Foundation, and The International Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Fitch Ratings' headquarters in New York City. Depositphotos
Fitch Ratings on Friday maintained Mexico’s sovereign credit rating at BBB- with a stable outlook.
According to the New York-based credit rating agency, BBB ratings “indicate that expectations of default risk are currently low.”
However, the negative appendage added to Mexico’s rating emphasizes that the country’s sovereign rating is just one notch above speculative grade.
Fitch said in a statement that Mexico’s current rating is “supported by a prudent macroeconomic policy framework, stable and robust external finances, and government debt/GDP [ratio] projected to remain stable at levels below the ‘BBB’ median.”
In contrast, the BBB- rating is “constrained by weak governance indicators, muted long-term growth performance, micro policy intervention affecting investment prospects in Fitch’s view, and the potential contingent liabilities from Pemex,” the state oil company.
Fitch said that the stable outlook it attached to Mexico’s credit rating is “supported by stable public finances and the priority policymakers attach to this and broader macroeconomic stability, notwithstanding challenges from subdued economic growth prospects.”
The credit rating agency forecast real GDP growth of 2.5% this year, but predicted that the Mexican economy would grow by just 1.4% in 2023.
“Growth continues to be hindered by sluggish investment, partly related to ongoing political noise and regulatory uncertainty, particularly in the energy sector,” Fitch said.
The USMCA dispute revolves around energy policies that allegedly give the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) a competitive advantage over foreign companies. File photo
Mexico is currently engaged in dispute resolution consultations with both the United States and Canada after those two countries challenged the Mexican government’s nationalistic energy policies under USMCA, the North American free trade agreement.
In its statement, Fitch listed a total of 10 “Key Rating Drivers,” including commitment to debt stability, higher expenditure pressures, economic growth continuing to lag, near-shoring economic opportunity and continued inflationary pressures.
It said that the federal government “continues to show commitment to a stable debt/GDP ratio, by maintaining moderate fiscal deficits.”
However, government expenditure is “budgeted to increase by 11.6% in real terms in 2023 versus the 2022 budget due to higher interest costs and increased capital expenditure because of higher input costs.”
After outlining its growth forecasts for the Mexican economy, Fitch noted that “a mild U.S. economic recession in mid-2023” is currently its “central scenario.”
“… A sharper-than-expected U.S. recession is a key downside risk for the Mexican economy,” it added.
Elaborating on Mexico’s nearshoring opportunity, Fitch said that “evidence points towards higher demand for Mexico’s production (though this has yet to translate into higher aggregate investment) as a result of U.S.-China trade tensions and manufacturers’ desire for shorter and more resilient supply chains.”
“Further reliance of the U.S. on Mexico’s goods may improve the latter’s resilience despite the expected economic slowdown. Asian countries seem to have benefited from the supply chain reallocation out of China in the short term, but rising shipping costs may tip the scale more in favor of Mexico,” it said.
Fitch acknowledged that inflation in Mexico fell to 8.4% in October, but predicted that the Bank of México will continue raising its benchmark interest rate in the near term. “We project policy rate will reach 10.75% by end-2022,” the rating agency said, thus predicting a fifth consecutive 75-basis-point hike following the central bank’s Dec 15. monetary policy meeting.
The federal Finance Ministry responded to Fitch’s credit rating announcement in a statement, noting that the agency highlighted the Mexican government’s commitment to “fiscal and monetary prudence.”
It also noted that as a result of Fitch’s announcement, “Mexico maintains [an] investment grade [rating] with the eight agencies that rate its sovereign debt.”
A customer gets a haircut at an estetica (beauty salon) in Mexico City. Moisés Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro
Last weekend, I got a pedicure … and a manicure!
My sister and I had taken advantage of the fact that I was in Texas to visit my other dad in Waxahachie, about 60 miles north of Waco. Both funnily and sweetly, getting pedicures is something that the two of them always do together when she visits. This time, I went along for the ride.
I’m a little squeamish about people touching my sensitive feet (every touch seems to tickle or hurt), but a bit of a massage after a week and a half of constantly being on my them sounded like a pretty good idea even to me.
We went to a place in a strip mall that was apparently very popular. The space was lined with massage chairs and foot tubs — surely over 50 of them — and was staffed exclusively by Asian women, with a few men who seemed to be administering things. The pedicure was nice, but the massage chair was what I was really there for. I decided to get their most basic manicure as well, which is basically cuticle removal.
It wasn’t a bad experience, but I can’t wait to get back to my regular place in Xalapa, Veracruz. It’s small, they know me and we can both understand and hear each other without too much background noise.
Now that I live in Mexico, I’m extra fancy.
You wouldn’t know that, seeing me around other women here in Xalapa, though: most of them are extra fancy as a matter of course. My fanciness is mostly just noticeable when I come to the U.S.
I normally get my nails done every two to three weeks and go to the hair salon every two to three months. I’m in the process of as-of-yet not-very-effective laser hair removal – how I dream of not spending precious minutes shaving my legs in the shower! Once or twice a month, I get a massage from someone who comes to my house for about US $30. The most expensive treatment I’ve done is Botox, which was about US $300 for everything from the neck up. The effect was cool, but even at that price, the four months it stuck around wasn’t quite enough (to me) to justify maintenance. Guess I’ll just look my age.
I can get my hair cut and styled at a fairly fancy salon for under US $25, and I can get my nails done, even with cool designs and acrylic extensions, for under 20 bucks. For a while, I had those mink eyelashes put on, my justification being – aside from them just looking super pretty – that if I didn’t need to apply makeup for work (this was during my days of teaching Chinese kids online at four in the morning), I could sleep a bit later. I stopped when I realized that combing and caring for them each morning would take about the same amount of time it would take to just put on mascara.
Prices vary from city to city, but in the non-touristy area of Mexico where I live, all kinds of beauty services are fairly accessible for someone like me, who enjoys being pampered and fussed over but would 100% forgo the same services in the U.S. — where they cost upward of US $100.
And there’s plenty of demand. For those earning pesos, the prices are likely closer to what percentage of our incomes we’d pay in the U.S. Even so, women in Mexico seem to value physical beauty to a high degree, and prices stay reasonably accessible for many because there is a lot of supply to meet that demand. A good friend of mine might not have any going-out-for-coffee money by the end of the week, but she never misses a facial.
For those of you in the U.S. already booking your tickets for a week of inexpensive beauty treatments, an important caveat: like many things south of the border, a lot of these businesses are a bit informal, which is the trade-off for services that aren’t super expensive.
While many of the places will be decorated fairly nicely and mostly have people who know exactly what they’re doing, there won’t always be much in the way of an avenue to complain if things don’t turn out the way you want. And if you’re in a non-touristy area, you’re going to need to be able to explain exactly what you want in Spanish. (Do y’all know how long it took me to figure out how to ask for “choppy” ends? Never, that’s how long – I still haven’t figured it out!).
So if you’re going for treatments in these places, don’t forget your spirit of adventure and a willingness to accept something that’s mostly what you wanted. Make sure you’ve got some time on your hands too: I don’t think I’ve ever made it out of the nail salon in less than two and a half hours, even when I was the only customer!
But I know them, and they know me and what I like. The salon is in walking distance from my house. If something needs to be fixed, I can just walk back.
Besides, they give me free coffee.
Shortly after I get back to Mexico, I’m heading straight to the nail salon for some fancy extensions and lovely, sparkly fall colors. There’s nothing essential about it for my life; it’s just one of those nice, small pleasures that fortunately doesn’t resemble a major purchase.
But whenever someone in the U.S. suggests we go for a massage or a pedicure, my answer is (almost) always the same — “No thanks, I’ll just wait until I get back to Mexico.”
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com
The U.S. is the world’s top producer of pistachios, but Sonora and Chihuahua grow them as well.
It seems that suddenly, at every stoplight in Mazatlán, where I live, someone is selling cellophane bags of pistachios. Is it harvest season for these nuts, I wondered?
Turns out, it is. Pistachios are harvested in early fall, and in Mexico, the desert climates of Chihuahua and Sonora are where they’re grown. The trees need long, hot, dry summers; and while it takes seven to 10 years for pistachios to begin bearing fruit and producing nuts, modern grafting techniques have shortened that time. Pistachio trees can live up to 300 years (!), and in Iran and Turkey, which have the tastiest and most popular varieties, old (dare we say “ancient”?) orchards abound. The southwest United States is the world’s biggest producer of pistachios, though.
Like cashews, pistachios grow inside an odd-looking fruit called a drupe. The distinctive half-open shell occurs naturally, once they ripen, with a perceptible pop. The nuts are then hulled, dried and sorted as “open-mouth” or “closed-mouth.” Harvesting and processing is time-consuming and labor-intensive, hence pistachio’s relatively high cost. Like blueberries and beets, they’re full of antioxidants.
In Mexican cuisine, pistachios are used in sweets like polvorones (the real Mexican wedding cookies), nut brittle and a variety of other candies. They can also be ground with cilantro to make flavorful sauces for chicken and pork. In other countries, pistachios are used in a wide variety of dishes, from Sicilian cakes, cookies and pasta sauces to Middle Eastern baklava, layered cakes and couscous. In China, pistachios are a traditional New Year’s gift, and their “smiling” shell represents happiness, health and good fortune.
Pumpkin seeds are usually the star ingredient in green mole sauce, but pistachios add another flavor profile.
Green Mole
3-4 zucchini or any summer squash, cut into 1-inch pieces
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Salt and pepper
4 Tbsp. canola, vegetable or grapeseed oil
¼ small white onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 poblano chile, sliced
1 güero, jabanero or serrano chile, sliced
1 cup finely diced tomatillos
1 cup roasted, shelled pistachios
1 cup fresh cilantro
2 fresh or dried hoja santa leaves
½ cup baby spinach
Heat oven to 350 F (177 C). Place squash on a baking sheet; drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast until lightly brown, 15–25 minutes.
In a pot, heat canola/vegetable/grapeseed oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add chiles and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatillos and cook, stirring, until soft, 5-8 minutes more. Add ⅔ cup water and pistachios. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat; transfer to blender (or use an immersion blender) along with cilantro, hoja santa and spinach. Blend until smooth. Add salt to taste.
Serve warm with the roasted zucchini. Serve topped with greens (e.g., cilantro, verdolaga, baby spinach), with rice and tortillas.
Mint, Pistachio and Feta Pesto
Serve with pasta, poultry, potatoes, pork or roasted veggies.
¼ cup unsalted shelled pistachios
1 clove garlic
Salt
½ cup plus 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
5-6 sprigs fresh mint leaves
¼ cup packed fresh parsley
2½ Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1-2Tbsp. feta cheese
Using food processor or immersion blender, pulse pistachios, garlic, pinch of salt and 2 Tbsp. oil until nuts and garlic are finely ground. Add herbs, cheeses and remaining oil; pulse until finely minced. Add salt to taste.
Pistachio Milk
1 cup raw shelled pistachios, covered with water by 2 inches and soaked overnight at room temperature
4 cups hot (not boiling) water
5 tsp. agave syrup or other sweetener
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. ground cardamom
½ tsp. vanilla
Line a fine-meshed sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth; set over a deep bowl. Drain pistachios, discarding liquid, and add soaked nuts to blender. Add hot water; blend on high for 2 minutes. Carefully pour blended nut mixture through cheesecloth-lined sieve; squeezing out as much liquid as possible. (Ground pistachios can be reserved for another use). Whisk in agave syrup/sweetener, salt, cardamom and vanilla to pistachio milk. Cool completely, then transfer to bottle or container. Store in refrigerator for up to one week.
This salad’s bright flavors include crunchy pistachios, succulent roasted beets and juicy citrus wedges.
Roasted Pistachios
Preheat oven to 350 F (177 C). Place shelled pistachios in single layer on baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and seasoning to your preference. Roast 10–12 minutes, tossing occasionally. Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt if desired and cool.
Coconut Nut Macaroons
1 cup sugar
3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
½ cup chopped pistachios
3 egg whites, lightly beaten until just foamy
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch salt
Heat oven to 350 F (177 C). Whisk together egg whites, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Add coconut and pistachios. Using a spatula, mix well.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Wet your hands and make small mounds (1–2 Tbsp.) of mixture on pan about an inch apart. Bake until firm to touch and lightly browned on edges, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven; cool on a rack at least 30 minutes before eating.
Roasted Beet, Citrus and Ricotta Salad
2 pounds beets, roasted or steamed, peeled and cut into ½ -inch chunks
¼ cup olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper
¼ cup toasted shelled pistachios
1 grapefruit, cut into wedges, 1 Tbsp. juice reserved separately
1 orange, cut into wedges, 1 Tbsp. juice reserved separately
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 small shallot, minced
2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp. honey
½ cup ricotta or requesón
Optional: 2 sprigs thyme or rosemary
Crush pistachios in a mortar and pestle or chop with a knife until lightly crushed but not pulverized. Transfer half of nuts to large bowl. (Reserve remainder for garnish.) Whisk in citrus juices, shallot, herbs, and honey. Drizzle in remaining 3 Tbsp. olive oil while whisking constantly. Season with salt and pepper.
Toss beets and citrus with vinaigrette in large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Spread half of ricotta/requesón over a serving platter, place dressed beets/citrus on top, dollop with remaining ricotta/ requesón, sprinkle with reserved pistachios and fresh herbs if using, and serve.
U.S. newsreel footage from 1914 of Pancho Villa in action, filmed by the Mutual Film Company. The Smithsonian
He was the only Latin American to execute a military raid on the United States.
Best known as Pancho Villa, the Mexican Revolution general was born Doroteo Arango in 1878 in Durango. His life of violence and flight began early, after killing an hacienda owner who had assaulted his sister.
Villa joined the fledgling Mexican Revolution in 1910. Well-known in the mountain backcountry of Durango and Chihuahua, he recruited rebels and formed his own army, the División del Norte, which rose to national prominence, allied with other revolutionaries such as Emilio Zapata, Venustiano Carranza and Álvaro Obregón against the Victoriano Huerta regime in 1913.
But the alliance quickly split into two factions, with Villa and Zapata pitted against Carranza and Obregon. At one point, Villa and Zapata took Mexico City.
The iconic image of Pancho Villa in a bandolier.
But in 1915, Carranza pushed the two out of the capital, beginning a long retreat northwest for Villa. This pushed him out of the national spotlight, but he remained a major force to contend with in the north.
Carranza painted Villa as a violent, crazy bandit in both Mexico and the U.S. — with some basis in reality when it came to highway robbery and cattle rustling. The depiction was one reason why U.S. president Woodrow Wilson decided to back Carranza and deny arms and other support to Villa.
This shift of allegiance by Wilson was the reason behind Villa’s actions against the United States. They were not the acts of a madman; Villa’s aim was to draw the U.S. into the civil war that had engulfed Mexico post-Revolution, and make the Mexican people think of Carranza as a U.S. puppet.
Villa’s plan began with an attack on a train in northern Mexico in January 1916, executing 16 U.S. businessmen onboard. It ended with small raids on the Texas towns of Glen Springs and Boquillas in May. But it was his attack on Columbus, New Mexico in that same year that would cement him in U.S. consciousness.
An image of Columbus, New Mexico, after Villa’s raid. Creative Commons
In this attack on March 9, more than 600 soldiers entered the border town, killing dozens of Americans and setting the town on fire. The actions had the desired effect: widespread anger in the U.S, even calls for another wholesale invasion of Mexico.
Wilson’s answer was the Punitive Expedition, two waves of forces under General Pershing that spent 11 months scouring northern Mexico to capture Villa.
But no one knew the backcountry of northwest Mexico like Villa did, plus the people of the region were solidly behind him and hostile to the foreigners. While Carranza had given reluctant permission for the Punitive Expedition, he refused to help them, although he definitely wanted Villa out of the picture.
The Punitive Expedition put both Carranza and Wilson in a bind, especially as it wore on with no results except for a few skirmishes. Eventually Pershing was recalled in January 1916, with Villa still at large.
Less than a week after Villa’s raid on Columbus, New Mexico, in 1916, U.S. Brigadier General John Pershing was sent with 14,000 soldiers on a mission to find him, an 11-month operation known as the Punitive Expedition. US military
Villa turned to guerrilla tactics, harassing the federal government for as long as his enemy Carranza remained in power. Neither he nor Zapata became president, like many other generals of the revolution did, but their constituencies could not be ignored. Many of the social reforms in Mexico’s constitution, drawn up in 1917, are due to their influence.
More than 100 years before the term was coined, information warfare played an important role in Villa’s rise and fall, as well as his legacy after the war.
Newspapers on both sides of the border alternatingly painted Villa as a violent madman or a Robin Hood figure. Newsreels had recently become available to the general public and were often faked for propaganda purposes, or simply for increased dramatic effect. Villa himself worked with camera crews from the U.S. on several occasions, even wearing uniforms provided to him. He may have also recreated images of fighting for the cameras.
In Mexico, Villa’s military fall gave him a lower status in the country’s history, but he remains extremely popular in the north, especially in Chihuahua and Durango. His popularity there is not only because he is their native son but also because norteño culture is more affected by Mexico-U.S. relations. He is a hero in part because he challenged the mighty United States and kept his life.
And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself (Trailer)
The 2003 HBO film “And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself” depicts how Villa and a U.S. newsreel film company used each other to create an enduring myth around the Mexican general by staging battles. There was much speculation at the time that Villa staged such scenes for the cameras, although a surviving copy of Villa’s contract with the Mutual Film Company does not mention it.
Villa is one of few Mexican historical figures known to many in the U.S. Despite their country’s involvement in WWI, citizens of the time were fascinated by the chaos of the Mexican Revolution. This fascination sparked a demand for cinematic and other depictions that remains to this day. Villa himself appeared in various U.S. films from 1912 to 1916 and has been portrayed by many Mexican and American actors since.
Despite his wild and brash reputation, Villa ended his animosity against Mexico City with a negotiated settlement that had him “retire” from politics on a large hacienda in Canutillo, Durango. That retirement lasted only three years, however, before he was assassinated in Parral, Chihuahua — not by anyone from the U.S. government but rather domestic political enemies.
It is worthwhile to note that Columbus, New Mexico, has a Cabalgata Binacional (Binational Horse Riding Event) each year on the anniversary of the attack on its city. Perhaps one reason why Villa’s story resonates on the U.S. side of the border is begrudging respect for a man willing to grab the tiger by the tail.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
Opening night of the Original fashion show at Los Pinos, Mexico City. FOTO: GRACIELA LÓPEZ / CUARTOSCURO.COM
The second edition of Original, a free fashion event organized by Mexico’s Ministry of Culture, kicked off on Thursday to promote designs by local artists and to fight cultural appropriation.
Running until Nov. 20 in Los Pinos – former presidential residence now turned cultural center – the fashion show will have seven runway shows displaying designs by local and international artists. The guest countries include Argentina, Bolivia, Ivory Coast, Palestine, Peru, Canada and Colombia.
“This is what we are celebrating here: Mexican cultural diversity, which is our greatest wealth,” Secretary of Culture Alejandra Frausto said during her opening speech.
She also remembered those “voracious characters who have appropriated” local designs with the sole intention of making a profit, inviting the audience to “[…] dress with dignity, buy original and never ever haggle with craftsmen.”
The US Consulate in Mexico City. (National Museum of American Diplomacy)
The U.S. State Department has reduced wait times for visitor visas, officials announced during a press briefing Thursday.
The agency doubled the number of U.S. Foreign Service personnel to meet the backlog of visa applications and conduct in-person interviews.
“We’ve seen a tremendous drop in wait times today. We have a median global wait time of seven weeks for visitor visa interviews and only seven days for students and temporary workers. That’s down significantly from just a few months ago,” said Julie Stufft, an official from the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
The press release also notes that the State Department is waiving in-person interviews where possible, processing more visas with smaller staffs, processing visas remotely and providing greater transparency in the visa application process.
The Mexico City consulate’s wait time for student visa interviews is better than the current global average, but other types still take weeks to years to schedule, as this screenshot taken Friday afternoon shows. travel.state.gov
The processing of visa requests faced extensive delays during the COVID-19 pandemic due to health restrictions preventing in-person interviews.
While the U.S. government states that the median global wait time for a tourist visa is seven weeks, and that it expects to return to pre-pandemic processing numbers in 2023, wait times for a U.S. visa vary significantly throughout the world, with several countries still facing delays.
As recently as last month, the wait to schedule an interview at a U.S. consulate in Mexico reached up to 746 days, depending on the city in which it was scheduled. The wait time for an appointment in Mexico City was 647 days.
According to the U.S. Travel Association, visa processing delays were on track to cause the loss of 6.6 million international travelers, amounting to an economic cost of $11.6 billion by 2023.
Mexico is among the three largest U.S. tourist markets in the world.
