The two quakes occurred around 6:40 a.m. on Wednesday. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Two minor earthquakes occurred within the space of one minute in Mexico City early Wednesday.
A 2.8 magnitude quake struck at 6:42 a.m. and a 1.8 magnitude one followed 49 seconds later at 6:43 a.m., according to the National Seismological Service (SSN).
The micro-quakes in Mexico City may finally have an identified cause: a newly discovered fault near Mixcoac. (gaceta.unam.mx)
Both micro-quakes had their epicenter three kilometers north of La Magdalena Contreras, the SSN said. La Magdalena Contreras is a borough in the southwest of Mexico City. It is bordered to the north by the borough of Álvaro Obregón.
Residents of several boroughs felt the quakes, but they didn’t cause any damage, Mexico City authorities said. Some residents said they were awoken by the shaking they caused.
Mayor Martí Batrés said in a television interview that the earthquake alarm didn’t go off in Mexico City because the quakes were only minor and had their epicenters in the capital.
The alarm “is activated in advance when the telluric wave comes from afar,” he said.
The alarm, amplified through loudspeakers situated across the capital, sounds up to a minute before a sufficiently powerful earthquake begins to be felt, but it is dependent on sensors outside the capital. It can give residents a brief window of opportunity to evacuate to the safety of the street and thus avoid the risk of being caught in a building that collapses.
In recent times, there have been numerous minor earthquakes in the capital. A total of 23 were recorded between Dec. 3 and Jan. 10.
Scientists have confirmed the presence of a roughly one-kilometer-long seismic fault beneath the ground of a densely populated area on the western side of Mexico City.
Researchers from the National Autonomous University (UNAM) are investigating its relation to the frequent occurrence of micro-quakes in Mexico City.
A Mexican national has been killed in New York, after being caught in crossfire on the city's subway. (Nirmal Rajendharkumar/Unsplash)
A 35-year-old Mexican man was killed in a shooting on the New York City Subway on Monday afternoon, authorities said.
Five other people were wounded in the shooting, which occurred on a train when it was at the Mount Eden Avenue station in the Bronx.
Police have released security footage of the men wanted in connection with the shooting. (NYPD)
On Tuesday morning, New York police identified the man who died as Obed Beltrán-Sánchez. He was shot in the chest and died at the scene, Reuters reported.
“Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon, a compatriot from Tehuacán, Puebla, died from a stray bullet at the Mount Eden subway station,” Jorge Islas wrote.
“… I personally conveyed our condolences to his family and offered the consular support and advice within our reach. RIP.”
Police said that Beltrán-Sánchez had no permanent address. It was unclear how long he had been in the United States or whether he was working in New York.
New York police officials said that the shooting occurred amid a dispute between two groups of young men traveling on the same train. Beltrán-Sánchez was a bystander, according to local reports.
Michael M. Kemper, the Police Department’s chief of transit, told a press conference that a person involved in the dispute fired a shot when the train arrived at the Mount Eden Avenue station. A number of other shots were fired as passengers disembarked the train and ran for cover, Kemper said.
The five wounded people are aged 14 to 71 and were expected to recover, police said.
Reuters reported Tuesday afternoon that police were searching for three men suspected of killing Beltrán-Sánchez and wounding five others.
“Transit officials emphasized this week that shootings [on the New York Subway] are especially uncommon,” the news agency reported.
“In 2022, when a man with a handgun injured 10 people on a train passing through Brooklyn, it was the first mass shooting attack on the subway system since 1984.”
The Mexican magnate said the military is not trained to handle the diversity of tasks assigned during AMLO's term, including running companies.(Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
Businessman Carlos Slim has added his voice to criticism of the federal government’s heavy reliance on the military, prompting President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to suggest that the octogenarian billionaire is unaware of the five basic “missions” of the military.
Mexico’s richest person held a marathon press conference on Monday, holding forth on a range of issues including the government’s use of the armed forces for a wide-range of non-traditional tasks including the management of ports, airports, customs and public companies, such as those tasked with running the Maya Train railroad and the new state-owned airline.
Slim and President López Obrador have had a cordial relationship during the president’s term, and AMLO said “I very much respect Carlos” at his Tuesday press conference. (Lopezobrador.org.mx)
“They’re in too many things. It’s too much,” said Slim, the owner of companies such as Telcel, Telmex, Sanborns and Carso Infrastructure and Construction.
In a presser that lasted almost four hours, the 84-year-old magnate said that Mexico’s military personnel are “excellent,” but have been given tasks outside their areas of expertise. He predicted that military-run companies will lose money.
The military is starting to “operate a lot of companies and that’s not its specialty,” Slim said. “… They’re going to report losses,” he added.
However, the government’s use of the army on major infrastructure projects such as the Maya Train railroad and the Felipe Ángeles International Airport “was very good because there are good military engineers,” Slim said.
The Defense Ministry has taken over much of Mexico’s infrastructure construction and operation under President López Obrador. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
López Obrador has been heavily criticized for his broad use of the military — including for public security — with much of the criticism focused on the risks to human rights that entails. Slim appeared more concerned about the potential economic cost to the government.
Among other remarks, the businessman said that Telmex — the telecommunications company he bought from the government in 1990 — has been losing money for a decade. However, he ruled out attempting to sell the company.
AMLO responds
López Obrador on Tuesday stressed that Slim has the right to express his views as “we live in a free country.”
On the government’s use of the military, he said that he respects the businessman’s point of view, but doesn’t share it.
“Perhaps he doesn’t know that the army has five missions,” López Obrador said, explaining that one of them is “the construction of projects related to the development of Mexico.”
At his Tuesday morning press conference, López Obrador told reporters that upon becoming president he found “a team of very important military engineers — good, hardworking, honest, first-class professionals.”
López Obrador defended the use of the military for a broad range of government tasks at his Tuesday morning press conference. (Lopezobrador.org.mx)
He didn’t specifically respond to Slim’s criticism of the military’s management of public companies.
“Anyway, I very much respect Carlos. And we always talk and debate. We don’t agree on everything,” he said.
“I respect him a lot because he is a hard working person who invests for the benefit of Mexico, he’s respectful of the power vested in the president,” López Obrador said.
Asked whether his government planned to buy Telmex, the president — a fierce critic of previous government’s privatization of public companies — gave an unequivocal response.
Slim said it’s a “surprise” that Mexico will get a female president for the first time later this year.
Claudia Sheinbaum, the candidate for the ruling Morena party, is the heavy favorite to win the June 2 election. Her main rival is Xóchitl Gálvez, the candidate for a three-party opposition alliance, while Jorge Álvarez will represent the Citizens Movement party.
Slim also shared his views on a number of other topical issues in Mexico, including upcoming elections. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
Slim didn’t express any preference, but asserted that both Sheinbaum and Gálvez appear “very committed” and are enthusiastic about the prospect of governing. “This government [López Obrador’s] was one of transition,” said Slim. “I hope the next government, whoever the winner is, will be of consolidation.”
On the need for more investment
Investment in Mexico has “historically” been “relatively” low, Slim said.
He said that Mexico should aim to reach annual investment equivalent to 28-30% of the country’s GDP.
With that level of public and private investment — approximately US $440 billion per year — “we can transform Mexico very quickly,” Slim said.
He said in late 2022 that increased investment in manufacturing capacity in Mexico could spur annual economic growth of 6% or higher. Growth that high has not been seen since the middle of the 20th century.
On López Obrador’s proposed constitutional reforms
Slim said he liked some of the reforms, but disliked others. He described López Obrador’s minimum wage proposal as “good,” but was less supportive of a plan aimed at lifting retired workers’ pensions so that they are equivalent to 100% of their final salaries.
The Laura Kirar designed interior of Mesón Hidalgo in San Miguel de Allende. (Laura Kirar)
If you want to explore the best of the Mexican interior design scene, you need to know about San Miguel de Allende-based Laura Kirar. While she has Italian roots, Kirar has skillfully interwoven the essence of Mexican culture with contemporary sophistication through her one-of-a-kind creations.
As a prominent figure in the avant-garde interior design scene worldwide, what sets Kirar’s work apart, is the seamless blend of art and interior design. She considers herself an artist who envisions and transforms interior design into sculptural forms. Her style is renowned for its elegance, and she is passionate about crafting spaces that create experiences and moments. Kirar believes that her designs awaken something within people, prompting them to create their own memories.
Despite her Italian roots, Laura Kirar has reinvented Mexican interior design, effortlessly fusing the old and the new. (Laura Kirar/Instagram)
She first made her name by creating conceptual furniture, such as chairs that were intentionally uncomfortable and not meant for sitting, and fragile embroidered threads that disintegrate over time.
More recently, her work has graced major brands, with her freestanding bathtub and mirror for Kallista and Baker Furniture’s lighting projects becoming highly sought-after pieces by collectors across the world.
So who is this contemporary interior designer and artist? How did she come to fall in love with Mexican art and culture? In an exclusive interview with Mexico News Daily, Kirar discusses her personal sources of inspiration and her deep connection to Mexican culture. She also shares her knowledge of the Mexican design scene and much more.
Who is Laura Kirar as an influential creative in contemporary interior design?
I see myself as an artist, designer, and project director. I am very interested in materials, circumstances, and environments and especially in collaborations: in making projects with other creative minds, artisans, craftsmen, filmmakers, designers, and producers.
These chairs for the Vargueño collection are another of Kirar’s designs. (Laura Kirar)
Also, I’m interested in the idea of collaboration between myself as an artist and the people who experience my creations, because the work I make is not necessarily about me. It’s about creating a context where people can experience and create their own memories. It’s like creating moments of clarity, of impact for people who are in my interiors, who use my furniture, and who experience the installations. I want the person who’s interacting with these spaces to be brought into the present, but also to be transported out of the reality of where they are.
What were your creative motivations when you started your career and how do they change as a contemporary interior designer?
When I started studying industrial design, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and they didn’t have an industrial design department, so I was studying sculpture, and making metal sculptures, and I also had a very strong interest in architecture.
The first thing I did was create installations and spaces that would attract and stimulate the senses. But what I found myself doing was creating sculptures for these spaces: I was thinking a lot about domesticity and how certain objects in a home or a space communicate a use, and I wanted to challenge that.
I also saw the objects within a home or a space, often. I don’t know why, but somehow they also had a gender like a female or a male, and I also wanted to challenge domestic interpretation and domestic roles, so I started making conceptual furniture: like chairs that weren’t comfortable at all and weren’t meant to be sat on, or things that had woven surfaces that I would weave myself but that would intentionally disintegrate over a shorter period.
So there was a level of impermanence in the things I was making. It was kind of through a very conceptual lens that I found my way into making more commercial work and creating functional furniture pieces and designs that would eventually lead me down a very long path of creating collections for larger brands like Holly Hunt, Ralph Lauren, eventually Kohler Company, Baker Furniture, Arteriors Home… So it was a very organic path that led me into making furniture and industrial design.
What are your creative motivations right now as an influential creative in contemporary interior design?
It depends on the project. I’ve always had projects for corporate brands, designing into their brand, designing into their image, but of course, putting my stamp on the collection or the piece. Right now it’s a pivotal point for me because I’m coming full circle to where I was maybe 30 years ago and I’m doing more conceptual pieces again, sculpture and art. I think what I’m trying to do and communicate is about my experience of the world, but I also feel like it’s something in the ether, it’s something in the air that resonates with a lot of people, not just me. I’m very concerned about the environment, pollution, landscape, language and culture, and how all these things intersect and affect people’s lives.
Kirar’s projects have become more diverse as she works on collections with prestigious international brands. (Laura Kirar)
So for the last four years, I’ve been working in ceramics and I created this piece called ‘Forum Glyph’ and the whole purpose is that it’s a big table made out of a material that’s delicate and kind of challenging to create.
And the idea is that this Forum, this table for eight people, immediately puts their minds and their bodies in a certain context of respect and caution. It’s a forum for communication and exchange, a round table, so there’s no head, everybody’s there with an equal distribution of power. So these are things that I think about when I imagine a piece. Maybe if you don’t know the story behind the idea, maybe those things are communicated in a very subliminal way or maybe the pieces are just aesthetic; not everybody knows about the conceptual aspect of the work and I think that’s okay.
You describe your interior designs as a sculpture, could you tell us more about it and how this is special in the contemporary interior design scene?
The way I think about spaces is very much about how the body is going to move through them. So I walk into a space that I’m doing for a new client and usually within 30 seconds know what needs to happen in it; it’s because I can see myself and the client or anybody walking through the space, living it, experiencing it. Then the way I look at it, I think it’s like creating a sculpture or a painting. I call it a sculpture because it’s three-dimensional and of course, it’s an interior. But for me, a great painting is something that has a certain level of balance or intentional imbalance: the eye travels around this two-dimensional plane and then there’s something about it that gives you a sense of the interior architecture of a space. I think about how I would create a sculpture with certain parts being heavier, and some parts being lighter and making the body feel a certain way within that space. You can do that with colors, materials, textures, and objects, all of those things are a palette to put within the volume of the architecture.
What is your creative relationship with Mexico as an artist and interior designer?
Creatively, my relationship with Mexico is very complex. It has a lot to do with being challenged by a very rich history and a deep culture that on many levels is so different from the one I grew up with. And then on other levels, there’s a lot that resonates for me because of my Italian family background. There’s some similarity in the culture, especially in terms of the family, which is very similar to the way I grew up. Then the proportions, colors, the painterly quality, and all the incredible craftsmanship and history of the indigenous cultures for me was something I started a love affair with 20 years ago, and I still haven’t gotten over it.
It’s still an inspiration to me, a mystery, and it’s influenced my work. The collaborative relationships that I’ve had with the best artisans, the most talented craftsmen, and certainly in materials: are so many years doing a deep dive on techniques and materials here.
What’s next in your career as part of the interior design scene and artist?
I think I’ve come full circle and I’m starting to make more art: I just showed a piece at Miami during Art Basel and I’m going to show at Zona Maco. At the same time, I’m still working with clients, doing interiors, designing hotels, homes and my collection with Kallista. I have new collections coming out, and then there’s this other part of me that’s growing, and expanding: I feel like that’s the core of who I am, expanding myself as an artist.
What would you say about San Miguel de Allende, where you have your studio as part of the Mexican design and art scene?
I would say that I feel very fortunate to be living my life as an artist, splitting my time between San Miguel de Allende, Mérida, and also Mexico City: all of these places are so incredibly different and give just a little bit of the diverse cultures of Mexico.
Her work also graces San Miguel de Allende’s Mesón Hidalgo. (Laura Kirar)
Different places have influenced me a lot, and San Miguel was kind of an instrumental place for me to show some of the work that I have been doing with artisans in Mexico and also a platform to express myself and my interpretation of what a contemporary San Miguel looks like that is still rooted in the tradition of Guanajuato. That is Mesón Hidalgo, which has been widely published and was on the cover of Condé Nast Traveler for September: that was a great honor for us because that project celebrated my collaborations with young artists and artisans from Mexico. It’s like a great fusion of the tradition of Mexico with what’s happening now and what’s going to happen in the future in Mexican design. So it’s been a great experience to be in San Miguel.
What would you say about the Mexican design scene as an influential contemporary interior designer?
It’s kind of like a love affair with Mexico, I’m so delighted. It’s hard for me to imagine anything else, but I feel like Mexico is the center of the universe right now and Mexican design is so incredibly strong and influential. I think Mexico is going through a renaissance and the design and art that’s coming out of it right now is kind of unparalleled.
Ana Paula de la Torre is a Mexican journalist and collaborator of various media such as Milenio, Animal Político, Vice, Newsweek en Español, Televisa and Mexico News Daily.
XCMG are one of the world's largest manufacturers of heavy machinery. They plan to open a second manufacturing plant near Monterrey, Nuevo León. (XCMG)
A Chinese company ranked No. 3 in the world among manufacturers of heavy machinery and construction equipment has announced intentions to build a second plant in the state of Nuevo León.
Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG), which arrived in Nuevo León in 2022, said its new plant will be in Ciénega de Flores, a municipality near Monterrey that has also had a large Bridgestone tire factory since 2007.
It is hoped the new site will create up to 300 new jobs. (XCMG)
Media reports said the new plan will see investment of US $80 million and create 300 new jobs in the state.
Making the announcement at its annual meeting, XCMG noted that it has already created more than 100 jobs in the state. Its current plant in Escobedo, a section of Monterrey with a big industrial park, makes scissor lifting platforms for the North American market.
Another Chinese company, the Lingong Machinery Group (LGM), announced in September that it, too, will manufacture scissor lifts, vertical lifts and boom lifts starting this year in a new 10-hectare industrial park in Nuevo León. Media reports said the company will invest $5 billion in a formidable, multi-pronged project that will create 7,000 new jobs.
“When a company decides to expand its operations, we [describe] the unique competitive advantages that Nuevo León offers to investors,” said Iván Rivas Rodríguez, the state’s economy minister.
Nuevo León’s Economy Minister Iván Rivas at a press conference announcing the XCMG investment in his state. (Sec de Economía NL/X)
Chinese furniture manufacturer Kuka Home Mexico is on board. Three weeks ago, it announced plans to expand its plant in Nuevo León, which it said is expected to create more than 4,000 jobs.
XCMG ranked as the third largest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the world in 2023, by the KHL Yellow Table, an annual ranking of the world’s top 50 OEMs by sales figures.
Its sales in 2023 were $13.41 billion, placing it behind only Texas-based Caterpillar ($37.54 billion) and Japan-based Komatsu ($24.65 billion), but ahead of Illinois-based John Deere ($12.53 billion).
XCMG is headquartered in Xuzhou, a city of more than 9 million in China’s northwestern Jiangsu province. The company has more than 40 plants and six research and development facilities in Germany, the United States, Brazil, India and elsewhere.
It manufactures loader cranes, lifters, excavators, concrete mixer trucks and tractors.
The tourism sector continues to boost the Mexican economy, with revenue reaching new heights in 2023. (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
International visitors spent a record high of US $30.8 billion in Mexico in 2023, federal Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco reported Monday.
The figure represents a 10% increase compared to 2022 and a 25.4% spike compared to 2019, a year now considered a benchmark because it was the final year of the pre-COVID era.
Tourism revenue is up more than 25% since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Carlos Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
“The historic result in foreign exchange earnings from international visitors confirms that the tourism policy implemented by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is the right one,” Torruco said in a statement.
Data published by the Tourism Ministry (Sectur) showed that 75.02 million international visitors came to Mexico last year, a 13.7% increase compared to 2022, but 23% short of the 2019 total.
The term “international visitors” refers to international tourists — foreigners who stay in Mexico for at least one night — as well as cruise ship passenger on shore excursions and day-trippers who enter the country via the borders with the United States, Guatemala and Belize.
International tourists the biggest spenders, numbers up by 10%
Data derived from the International Travelers Surveys conducted by national statistics agency INEGI showed that 42.15 million international tourists spent $28.68 billion in Mexico — a figure equivalent to 93% of the $30.8 billion outlay of all international visitors.
The total number of international tourists rose by 10% compared to 2022 while their collective expenditure increased 8.9%. Tourist numbers were 6.4% below 2019 levels, but their total outlay was 28.3% higher.
Each international tourist spent an average of $680 in Mexico, while the figure for all international visitors was significantly lower at $411.
Around 50% of all international tourists in Mexico arrived via air in 2023. (Unsplash)
Just over half of all international tourists in 2023 — 22.83 million — flew into Mexico. Air arrivals were up 7% compared to 2022 and increased 16.3% compared to 2019.
International tourists who arrived by air collectively spent $25.7 billion while in the country, a 9% increase compared to 2022 and a 30.7% jump compared to 2019. On average, those tourists spent $1,126 dollar each while in the country, a 1.8% increase compared to 2022.
The tourism outlook for 2024
Torruco said that Sectur is forecasting that 42.46 million international tourists will come to Mexico this year, a figure that would exceed last year’s mark by 0.7%. Those who arrive by air are expected to spend an average of $1,155 each, which would be a 2.6% increase compared to 2023.
Total spending of all international visitors is forecast to reach $31.14 billion, which would be a 1.1% annual increase.
Torruco said that 9.33 million cruise ship passengers are expected to visit Mexico this year, which would be a 2.7% increase compared to last year.
Thomas Kole has recreated a virtual Tenochtitlán, the ancient Mexica (Aztec) metropolis that is now Mexico City. (Thomas Kole)
A 29-year-old man from the Netherlands who created a mesmerizing digitized representation of Tenochtitlán, the one-time capital of the Mexica Empire, has finally set foot in Mexico for the first time.
The virtual reconstruction that technical artist Thomas Kole worked on for 18 months in his apartment is “the most faithful portrait to date” of the once-thriving metropolis, says the Mexican newspaper El País.
Koles website allows users to switch between ancient and modern Mexico, and compare the Mexica capital with the city of today. (Thomas Kole)
“It was totally unexplored territory for me,” Kole told the paper. “I don’t even know how I found the topic. There is no catalyst. But I think once you read something about it, you’re hooked.”
Tenochtitlán, upon which Mexico City was built, was founded by the Mexicas, aka the Aztec people, around 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco.
It was estimated that 200,000 to 400,000 people lived there by 1500, making it one of the most populous cities in the world at the time — four or five times as large as early 1500s London. Among its many features were three major causeways that ran from the “mainland” to the island city.
Kole attempted to recreate the city exactly as it was in 1518 — just before the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Tenochtitlán, began in February 1519.
Kole is in Mexico to give a talk on his project. (Thomas Kole)
Kole, who will be giving a presentation on Friday — “I’m finally visiting Mexico City!” he posted late last week on the social media site X — said he first got interested in Tenochtitlán when walking virtually through the streets of Mexico City.
Looking at his computer, he realized that nothing he observed was telling him anything about the city buried beneath. “The idea settled in my head and it was impossible to get it out,” he said.
A history buff, he kept clicking away in an attempt to find out more about Tenochtitlán, part of which is featured on Mexico’s 50-peso note.He then turned to archaeological and historical sources, such as writings and old maps (“I soon realized that no one agrees on anything,” he lamented).
A year and half later, he finished his project — without ever crossing the Atlantic or even leaving home. His painstaking, detailed, colorful work is free for the public to view online. Prints made in Mexico are also available.
Kole’s renderings show the city at different times of day and different seasons. (Thomas Kole)
“Tenochtitlán surprised me in many aspects: its size, its organization, its structure,” he said. “Very beautiful things have been written about her. Its natural condition, on a lake and surrounded by volcanic mountains. Really summons the imagination.”
Kole is employed by a company that develops installations and interactive games for museums and other venues, but he worked on this project in his free time from his home in Amersfoort, Netherlands.
He said his work and his knowledge of video games helped keep things within manageable parameters.
“The result is an impressive journey through time,” writes El País.
Mexico City’s stunning volcanic backdrop is also captured in the renderings. (Thomas Kole)
Images in “A Portrait of Tenochtitlan” include the city and neighborhoods laid out in grids, the causeways, the Sacred Precinct at the center of the city, the imposing Templo Mayor, the palace of Moctezuma, plus other temples, schools, gardens and a zoo.
The volcanoes Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl can be seen clearly, as well, unobstructed by the modern scourge of pollution.
“The year is 1518. Mexico-Tenochtitlan, once an unassuming settlement in the middle of Lake Texcoco, now a bustling metropolis,” Kole writes on the website, which can be accessed in Spanish, English and Nahuatl, an Uto-Aztecan language spoken today by about 1.5 million people in Mexico. “It is the capital of an empire ruling over, and receiving tribute from, more than 5 million people.”
Kole will provide much more insight during his talk at 6 p.m. Friday in the Jaime Torres Bodet auditorium at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Entry is free, but seating is limited to about 350.
This year's San Miguel Writers' Conference & Literary Festival will be held from February 19 to 23, 2024. The festival attracts major writers from around the world every year.
I recently sat down with Tina Bueche, executive director of the renowned San Miguel Writers Conference & Literary Festival, to learn how this event continues to attract top-flight literary talent to central Mexico year after year.
Founded in 2006, the bilingual, tricultural conference has hosted an impressive collection of literary stars, including Sandra Cisneros, Gloria Steinem, Naomi Klein, Barbara Kingsolver, Valeria Luiselli and Paul Theroux, among many other notable writers. This year’s lineup of keynote speakers continues in the event’s tradition of excellence, promising an unforgettable and inspiring experience for attendees.
Hollywood actress-turned-author Molly Ringwald is one of the keynote speakers at the festival. (San Miguel Writers’ Conference/Facebook)
“What this year’s keynoters tell us — and what we always hear — is that our conference has a unique reputation for being particularly fun, intimate, lively and content-driven,” explained Bueche, who is in her second year of running the famed conference. “For speakers and conference attendees alike, it’s all about building community while they’re here, a high-level literary community that they can be quite proud to be a part of.”
“Of course,” she added, “San Miguel de Allende itself is a major draw as well.” Bueche credits the conference’s perennial popularity to the charming setting, world-class faculty, consistently high-quality headliners, highly relevant and contemporary programming and great networking opportunities.
“I also want everyone to know that this year will be even better than last year,” Bueche continued, “even more inclusive with additional opportunities for dialogue and interaction. We continue to experiment and refine the experience.” Those opportunities include post-presentation Q&A sessions, workshops, master classes, individual consultations, local author readings, a late-night poetry slam, open mic sessions and a storytelling night, as well as informal social gatherings throughout the week.
This year’s keynote speakers include Molly Ringwald, actor, singer and author of “When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories”and “Getting the Pretty Back.” Ringwald is also the translator of Philippe Besson’s novel “Lie With Me” and the memoir “My Cousin Maria Schneider” by Vanessa Schneider, both originally written in French. This icon of 1980s teen films will share her unique perspective and storytelling prowess.
Mexican screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga will discuss the role of experience in creating autobiographical work. (San Miguel Writers’ Conference/Facebook)
Guillermo Arriaga is the author of “Guillotine Squad” and“The Night Buffalo.” He wrote the scripts for “Amores perros,” “21 grams,” and “Babel,” which earned Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for best original screenplay. In his keynote address, “Narrating Experience,” thiscelebrated screenwriter and author will discuss how experiences, reading and imagination give rise to fictitious elements that allow the reader to find structures through which to confront their own life experience.
A #1 New York Times bestselling author of eight novels including “The Exiles,” “Orphan Train” and “A Piece of the World,”Christina Baker Kline has been published in 40 countries. She has captivated readers worldwide with her poignant and emotionally resonant novels. Her keynote address, “Rewriting the Past,” will focus on using fiction to illuminate hidden historical narratives.
Chris Pavone is the author of five thrillers, including “The Expats,” which won the Edgar and Anthony awards, and most recently “Two Nights in Lisbon,” an instant New York Times bestseller. With his pulse-pounding, intricate plots, Pavone has established himself as a master of suspenseful storytelling. His keynote address will explore using the expat experience as inspiration for writing.
The Thursday of the conference, Bueche noted, will offer a special emphasis on the Canadian contingent, with Canadian authors SilviaMoreno-Garcia and C.S. Richardson serving as keynote speakers. “Both are truly spectacular, illustrating the creativity and diversity of literature currently coming out of Canada,” said Bueche. Representatives of the Giller Foundation, which administers the Giller Prize, will join the conference’s impressive number of Canadian participants. The Canadian Ambassador to Mexico also hopes to attend.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a Mexican-Canadian author has seen her novel, Mexican Gothic, selected as a highlight of the festival. (San Miguel Writers’ Conference/Facebook)
Moreno-Garcia is the author of “Silver Nitrate” and “The Daughter of Doctor Moreau,”among many other books. The Mexican-Canadian writer has won the Locus, British Fantasy and World Fantasy awards. Known for her genre-defying narratives, Moreno-Garcia’s keynote address is appropriately titled “The End of Genre.”
Moreno-Garcia’s book “Mexican Gothic” was selected as this year’s conference“Big Read,” with book clubs and individuals around the world invited to participate. Bueche noted that readers who both joined the Big Read and purchased a ticket to the author’s keynote will receive special fan seating.
C.S. Richardson’s novel “All the Colour in the World” was shortlisted for the 2023 Scotiabank Giller Prize. “The End of the Alphabet” won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book, Canada & the Caribbean and his second novel, “The Emperor of Paris,” was long-listed for the 2012 Giller Prize.
The Spanish-language track of the conference is directed by Armida Zepeda, who also coordinates with the San Miguel de Allende Literary Festival and Book Fair (FELISMA). This year, FELISMA will take place the week before the San Miguel Writers Conference & Literary Festival, treating San Miguel residents to two consecutive weeks of extraordinary literary events.
The second member of the Canadian delegation is Giller Prize nominee C.S. Richardson. (San Miguel Writers’ Conference/Facebook)
“We are proud to increase the number of scholarships we can offer to local high school and university students to attend the Spanish-language track of the conference this year,” said Bueche, “thanks to the notable generosity of local businesses and other patrons.”
Tim Weed, award-winning author of “Will Poole’s Island”and “A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing,”will be this year’s master of ceremonies. Conference packages and individual tickets are still available at the conference’s website, and the Hotel Real de Minas offers rooms at special rates. Bueche expressed her deep appreciation for the warm welcome given to the conference by the hotel and the San Miguel government.
Based in San Miguel de Allende, Ann Marie Jackson is a writer and NGO leader who previously worked for the U.S. Department of State. Her award-winning novel “The Broken Hummingbird,” which is set in San Miguel de Allende, came out in October 2023. Ann Marie can be reached through her website, annmariejacksonauthor.com.
Two separate incidents occurred on Monday at the Pemex refinery in Tula, Hidalgo. (Pemex/X)
Four Pemex workers were hospitalized after sustaining injuries in an incident at a refinery in the state of Hidalgo on Monday afternoon.
Media outlets initially reported that there had been an explosion at the state-owned oil company’s Miguel Hidalgo Refinery, near the city of Tula, but Pemex told the Hidalgo government that wasn’t the case.
In a statement, the Hidalgo government said it was informed that there was a “spontaneous release of high-pressure stream from an automatic valve” in the refinery’s diesel hydrodesulfurization plant
Workers were checking the valve when it suddenly opened, “releasing high-pressure steam onto the turbine, which broke and flung pieces of metal,” according to the statement.
Four workers were apparently hit by the metal shards. They were taken to hospital to receive treatment for non-life-threatening injuries, the Hidalgo government said. Four other workers sustained minor injuries that didn’t require treatment in hospital, according to reports.
Pemex employees said on social media that the situation at the refinery was brought under control, but the company itself has not publicly commented on the incident.
President López Obrador with workers at the Tula refinery in 2022. (Lopezobrador.org.mx)
Later on Monday, a second incident occurred at the Tula refinery. Municipal Civil Protection authorities reported an explosion at around 6:35 p.m. in the refinery’s waste hydrodesulfurization plant.
They said that the explosion — whose cause was not specified — did not pose a risk to the general population. Authorities said they weren’t aware of any injuries.
As of early Tuesday afternoon, Pemex hadn’t commented publicly on that incident either.
The Tula facility is the company’s second largest refinery. Pemex — which has debt in excess of US $100 billion and received billions of dollars in tax relief this week after its credit rating was downgraded by Moody’s last Friday — operates seven refineries in Mexico, includingthe new Olmeca Refinery on the Tabasco coast, as well as one in Texas.
The National Meteorological Service (SMN) has announced five predicted heat waves for the first half of 2024. (CONAGUA)
Brace yourself for a hot spring and summer this year in Mexico.
The National Meteorological Service (SMN) has predicted that Mexico will experience five heat waves between March and July, which are likely to exacerbate the ongoing drought conditions in various regions.
According to meteorologists, Mexico could see its first heat wave as soon as March this year. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Furthermore, the meteorological agency expects 2024 to be hotter than 2023 — when Mexico saw four heat waves — with temperatures potentially exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) in certain areas.
According to the SMN’s forecast, Mexico could experience one heat wave in March, two in April, one in May and one in June. While all states in Mexico will be affected by the scorching temperatures, the northern states of Sonora, Baja California, Coahuila and Nuevo León could experience even stronger ones, while the Yucatán Peninsula could experience higher levels of humidity.
Meanwhile, according to the Environmental Commission of the Megalopolis (CAMe), an intergovernmental coordinating agency which oversees environmental protection in Mexico City and neighboring states, the capital could see between three and eight environmental alerts in 2024 due to heat waves and atmospheric ozone.
“We find the highest concentrations [of ozone] in April and May; during this ozone season elevated particle levels are also registered, above all PM10 particles as a result of drought conditions in the environment,” said CAMe director Víctor Hugo Páramo. Mexico City experienced six such environmental alerts in 2022 and three in 2021.
Ozone pollution is high during springtime in the capital, as the weather warms but the rains have yet to arrive. (Archive)
A heat wave is a period of at least three consecutive days of above-average temperatures, defined according to location. This phenomenon occurs when very warm masses of air enter or stay in an area for an extended period of time. Heat waves can impact agriculture, forest fire incidence and drought.
Overall, weather conditions in the first part of the year may be drier and hotter than usual due to the last remnants of the El Niño phenomenon, a naturally occurring weather pattern that causes higher-than-average sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific region. It occurs every two to seven years with varying intensity.
A strong El Niño can lead to warming of the atmosphere and changes in circulation patterns around the world. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, El Niño will likely finish by April, giving way to La Niña between June and August.
While El Niño is the warm phase of a climate phenomenon called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), La Niña is the cold phase. Historically, El Niño tends to appear before La Niña; both affect climate all over the world and can cause intense storms and other extreme weather events.
