As part of the 2022 tax reform, SAT announced the replacement of the digital receipt (CFDI) 3.3 with the latest version 4.0 FOTO: MARIO JASSO/CUARTOSCURO.COM
The Tax Administration Service (SAT) has postponed the mandatory issuance of the electronic payroll invoice version 4.0 to April 2023. The change was originally scheduled for Jan. 1, 2022.
Taxpayers obliged to issue payroll-type receipts, “will have the option to do so in the 3.3 version until March 31, 2023, so that during said period they can comply with all tax requirements for the issuance of the 4.0 CFDI version,” said SAT in a statement released on Nov. 1.
The tax authority also extended to the same date the period to obtain the electronic signature without it meaning a breach of tax provisions.
The extension, however, only applies to those who issue payroll receipts, since all other types of Digital Tax Receipt (CFDI), such as utility bills or lease receipts, still have Jan. 1, 2023 as a deadline for compliance.
As part of the 2022 tax reform, SAT announced in 2021 the replacement of the 3.3 (CFDI) with the latest version 4.0. The update requires new mandatory data for the recipient of the payroll-invoice, such as Federal Taxpayer Registration, RFC, full name, and postal code of the employee’s tax address. If such data is not included, the pay-roll receipt will not be tax deductible and therefore, employers will be directly affected, said the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants.
For this reason, many employees not aware of their updated tax information, have requested from SAT their Proof of Tax Status (Constancia de Situación Fiscal) to hand it over to their employers, as this document contains the identification data required for the CFDI 4.0.
The CFDI 4.0 came into force in January 2022. However, at the time, the Taxpayer Defense Attorney’s Office (Prodecon) and the National Employers Federation (Coparmex) insisted on the need to extend the CFDI 4.0’s familiarization period before making its use mandatory.
Since then, SAT has postponed the deadline four times: the first time it was extended to May. The second one, to July. The third one, to Jan. 2023, and the last and current one, to April 2023.
Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos Galván (center) in a Nov. 1 meeting with U.S. industry representatives. Twitter @MaruCampos_G
The northern Mexican state of Chihuahua is looking to attract investors from the aerospace and semiconductor industry as part of a plan to draw $8 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the next five years.
Governor Maru Campos Galván held meetings in the U.S. with Intel, Boeing, and other companies to promote Chihuahua as an attractive destination for foreign investment as the state seeks to move up in the supply chain. The goal is to build on the region’s traditional strength in auto parts and electronics, which helped position Chihuahua as Mexico’s largest goods exporter to the U.S. The state currently exports more than US $58 billion worth of goods a year to its northern neighbor.
In the meetings, Governor Campos assured companies that Chihuahua is ready to welcome foreign companies with incentive packages through an economic policy aimed at strengthening a diverse range of manufacturers including the semiconductor and aerospace industries. To date, Chihuahua is home to 15% of aerospace manufacturing in Mexico.
To attract investment, the local government has pushed talent development strategies, the strengthening of local suppliers and the promotion of innovation and applied technology. “I want to be the spark plug of the US-Mexico border,” Campos said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, as part of her tour in Washington, D.C.
Joining the meetings was Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S., Esteban Moctezuma, who said that benefiting from its strategic location bordering the U.S., Chihuahua plays a key role in the relationship between Mexico and the U.S. and its common goal of promoting economic regional growth.
The ambassador added that Chihuahua forms part of a highly integrated region with Texas and New Mexico, connected with efficient, state-of-the-art ports of entry, railways, and airports. The position offers a unique manufacturing and logistics platform to compete in the global market, he said.
The meetings were held as part of the state government’s “Chihuahua Month” in the U.S., which drew representatives from Intel, HP, Honeywell Boeing and Bombardier.
Polls suggest conservatives have a strong chance of winning a majority in the House. Jonathan Simcoe / Unsplash.com
The results of Tuesday’s midterm elections in the United States have the potential to impact Mexico and Mexicans in a range of ways, according to a group of political observers consulted by the newspaper Reforma, with several warning of serious consequences if the Republican Party seizes control of one or both houses of Congress.
Voters will elect lawmakers to occupy all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, while 35 of 100 Senate spots, and the governorships of 36 states, are also up for grabs.
The Republican Party will seize control of the House if it picks up five seats, and take charge of the Senate if it wins just one additional seat. The news agency Reuters reported Monday that “nonpartisan election forecasters and polls suggest Republicans have a very strong chance of winning a House majority, with control of the Senate likely to be closer fought.”
As voters prepare to head to polling stations north of the border, Reforma asked a range of experts to offer a view on how the results of the United States midterms will affect the bilateral relation between Mexico and the U.S.
Rodrigo Aguilar Benignos, a former Mexican government official and member of the Council on Foreign Relations — a New York-based think tank — said that política de mano dura, or heavy-handed (U.S.) policy, will intensify in a range of areas if the Republicans win a majority in the House and/or Senate. Among the policy areas he cited were migration, border security, trade and transnational organized crime, all of which affect Mexico and Mexicans, including those already in the United States and those intending to migrate there — legally or illegally — in the future.
Álvaro Santos, a law professor at Georgetown University, offered a similar opinion. “A Republican victory would place pressure on Mexico with regard to migration [to the U.S.],” he said, perhaps recalling that the Mexican government ramped up enforcement against migrants when former U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose blanket tariffs on Mexican exports in 2019.
Santos also said that a Republican triumph could result in the U.S. increasing pressure on Mexico in areas such as energy and agriculture “within the context of the USMCA” — the North American free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020.
Corn exports and energy policy are two recent points of contention that could be exacerbated by changes in political leadership. Depositphotos
Genaro Lozano, a political analyst and columnist, told Reforma that Republicans will push for economic sanctions on Mexico if they take control of one or both houses of Congress, as they believe the Mexican government has violated the free trade agreement with energy policies that favor state-owned companies over private and foreign ones.
“For now the Biden administration is waiting for the result of this election to move forward in the dispute with Mexico,” he said. “… If the Republicans … [win] they will push hard for Mexico to be sanctioned.”
The U.S. government retains the right to request a dispute panel to make a ruling on Mexico’s energy policies. If a panel rules in its favor, it could impose punitive tariffs on U.S-bound Mexican exports.
One Mexican export that wouldn’t be subject to any tariffs the United States imposes are illegal narcotics. However, one former Mexican ambassador to the U.S. believes that a Republican victory in Tuesday’s midterms could lead the U.S. to ramp up pressure on Mexico to combat the production and northward flow of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that killed tens of thousands of Americans last year.
Republican control of Congress would also mean “less … sympathy for the Mexican call to combat the illegal trafficking of weapons to our country,” said Martha Bárcena, ambassador to the U.S. between late 2018 and early 2021.
“[Republicans] will also seek a harsher migration policy,” she added. “Criticism of the situation of violence and insecurity in Mexico could intensify. We must also be very attentive to the results of the elections for governor in Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico,” Bárcena said.
Texas and Arizona are currently led by Republican governors, while California and New Mexico are governed by Democrats. Of the border state governors, Greg Abbott of Texas and Doug Ducey of Arizona have both taken steps to enhance border security while calling on the U.S. federal government to do more to stop the illegal entry of migrants via the southern border with Mexico.
Abbott is facing a challenge from former representative Beto O’Rourke, while Ducey is nearing the end of his second term and cannot seek reelection.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, left, announced the designation of Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations in September. Greg Abbott/Twitter
Lozano said that Abbott — who recently designated Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations — “has exacerbated anti-migrant and anti-Mexican sentiment” in the U.S., adding that the Texas governor and Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida are leading exponents of “Trumpism” and their reelection could be a sign of things to come in 2024, when the next U.S. presidential election will be held.
Although President López Obrador demonstrated “open support” for Trump while the former U.S. president was in office, a lot of the latter’s “acolytes” are not fans of Mexico or Mexican people, said Shannon K. O’Neil, a senior fellow for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
After Tuesday’s midterms, the Republican Party can be expected to increase its efforts to stem the flow of migrants into the U.S., “limit trade” with Mexico and drive the two nations apart, she said.
José Díaz Briseño, a Reforma correspondent in the United States, said that “the main problem Mexico faces in United States politics is the poor perception Republican voters have of the country.”
“According to [polling company] Gallup, 33% of Republican voters have a negative view of Mexico due to issues such as violence and migration. This was a sentiment that Trump identified well in 2015 and it could be exploited again if the ‘Trumpist’ candidates win on November 8,” he said.
For her part, Ibero-American University historian Pía Taracena asserted that the Biden administration has been “very patient” with Mexico, but the results of the midterms could change that.
A lot of lawmakers’ attacks on Mexico that are related to sensitive bilateral issues such as migration and border security, and even AMLO’s “ideological positions” have been stifled because the Democrat Party controls the lower house of Congress and there is a tie in the Senate, she said, acknowledging that Republicans currently have 50 senators, while the Democrats effectively have the same number, as the two independents — Angus King and Bernie Sanders — caucus with that party.
That situation could change if the Republicans take control of the House, Taracena said, predicting that the party will adopt an aggressive posture toward Mexico in the lead-up to the 2024 election. “Unfortunately, Mexico will continue to be a political piñata,” the academic said.
Adding to that view, the director of the Center for the U.S. and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, Tony Payan, opined that an “essential part of populism” is to “create enemies that are convenient for focusing the negative attention of the followers of a leader.”
“In the case of the Republican Party, Mexico … has played a vital role among followers of United States populism,” Payan said, noting that it has been portrayed negatively for its response (or perceived lack thereof) to “common challenges such as the border, migration flows, trade [and] drug trafficking.”
In responding to Reforma’s question about how the election will affect bilateral relations, Mexican-born, U.S.-based journalist Andrés Martínez said he would like to cite “something very precise about policies and party proposals,” but instead contended that “the tragic thing at the moment is that stability and the viability of democracy [in the U.S.] is at stake, and the risk of contagion to civic culture is enormous.”
“If the tradition of not accepting electoral verdicts is consolidated in many parts of the United States, … [that wouldn’t be] a good omen for what might come in Mexico,” he said.
A vocal group of U.S. citizens believe the conspiracy theory that former president Donald Trump won the 2020 election. One expert said that such refusals to accept election results could spread to Mexican civic culture. Gerry Dincher via Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
Jorge Ramos, another Mexican-born, U.S.-based journalist, said that democracy is “for different reasons … being questioned or put to the test” in both Mexico and the United States.
“In the short term, if the polls are right, the United States will have a divided government and Mexico will be forced to have a relationship with both parties and [that comes with] the serious possibility of conflicts. In addition, a Republican victory on Tuesday, and the [possible] announcement of Trump as a presidential candidate [in 2024], will without the slightest doubt increase disinformation and anti-immigrant and anti-Mexican rhetoric. We have to prepare ourselves for what’s coming,” he said.
For his part, Mexico expert Duncan Wood said that a Republican victory would make things “more complicated” for López Obrador, but argued that nothing much would change in the short term.
“There isn’t much that the Congress can do to demand more action from the Biden administration to punish Mexico,” he said before acknowledging that it could pressure the U.S. government to request an energy dispute panel.
“Although it will be a less positive relationship [between Mexico and] … the Congress, the truth is that until there is a change of government [in the U.S.], … López Obrador can count on a more or less positive relationship with the government,” said Wood, a senior adviser to the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute.
While the political observers consulted by Reforma focused on the ramifications for Mexico of a Republican victory on Tuesday, Aguilar (of the Council on Foreign Relations), considered the possibility that the Democrats will keep control of the House and the Senate. (Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate, something she has done 26 times since the current U.S. government took office).
“If the Democrat majority is maintained in both houses, the Biden agenda [with regard to Mexico] will continue as it has until now,” Aguilar said.
López Obrador has maintained cordial relations with the U.S. president and met with him at the White House in July. At the time, both presidents committed to work together on a range of issues including trade, border security, climate change and security.
More recently, Mexican and U.S. officials held high-level security talks in Washington, where they reaffirmed their commitment to combat the smuggling of weapons and fentanyl across the two countries’ shared 3,145-kilometer-long border, which remains porous despite efforts by both countries to stop the flow of the illicit goods.
Maids, gardeners, and other domestic workers are men and women who for years have belonged to the most vulnerable groups in the country without labor rights, social security, or a decent retirement pension. The new legislation will grant them access to benefits ranging from health care to sick leave and worker’s compensation.
Here are four key points from the domestic workers labor bill for anyone employing domestic help:
1. Who counts as a domestic worker?
For the first time, there will be a legal definition of a domestic worker.
According to the bill, domestic workers are those who perform care activities, cleaning, assistance, or any other work related to house chores. These activities must happen within the framework of an employment relationship, meaning the domestic worker must receive economic compensation in return (so a mother who provides childcare and does housework without pay does not count).
The job can be performed de planta, meaning the worker has one employer and lives in the employer’s homes; or de entrada por salida, referring to those who live out of the employer’s home and can work either exclusively for one employer or for different ones.
The bill also states that those who perform such activities occasionally or sporadically and who provide cleaning, assistance, customer service and other analog services in hotels, nursing homes, restaurants, inns, bars, hospitals, sanatoriums, or similar establishments, won’t be considered domestic workers.
The law clarifies who counts as a domestic worker. Twitter @Tu_IMSS
2. The law defines the rights and obligations of domestic workers.
Overall, domestic workers will have the right to access the five types of benefits that the Social Security Law provides: sickness and maternity leave; workers’ compensation; disability and life insurance; retirement and unemployment in old age; childcare insurance and social benefits.
They must have at least 1 1/2 days off per week, nine hours of nightly rest per day and a three-hour rest every day between morning and evening shifts. If the domestic worker is live-in (de planta), their daily wage must include food and lodging.
If the domestic worker is pregnant, she has the right to medical attention starting the first day of IMSS enrollment. To access maternity leave, at least thirty weekly contributions must have been paid in the twelve-month period prior to the date on which the disability payment should begin.
3. The law also defines the rights and obligations of the patrón or employer.
Employers must register each employee’s start date with the IMSS for both live-in (de planta) and non-live-in (de entrada por salida) workers. Each employer will be responsible for signing up the domestic worker on the IMSS website, and providing information about the agreed daily salary and monthly hours.
If employers want to fire the worker, they can do so without any responsibility within thirty days following the employee’s start day. After the first month, employers must make required severance payments but do not have to give a reason for their decision .
If the employer stops reporting monthly contributions, the IMSS will automatically consider the employment relationship to be over.
4. An online tool calculates voluntary contributions for both workers and employers
Neither the worker nor the employer needs to calculate voluntary contributions. The IMSS website’s calculator does the job. The information needed to calculate the amount of each contribution depends on the location (whether they reside near the border or in the rest of the country), the number of days worked during the selected month and the daily salary.
The patrón (boss) must withhold the corresponding contribution and submit it to the IMSS via monthly payments online or at the designated bank. If the domestic worker has more than one employer, each patrón must pay a contribution based on the number of days the employee worked for them that month.
The official start of the season is November 27. (Luis Avalos/Creative Commons)
After years of concerns about its viability, this past July, the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) was officially declared endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The organization blames habitat loss and climate change for reducing numbers so much that there may not be enough of a population to reproduce.
Those that winter in California are nearly extinct now, but there are serious concerns about those who fly up to 4,500 km from Canada and the United States to wintering grounds located in the high pine forests at the México state–Michoacán border.
In 1986, Mexico declared over 56,000 hectares of their wintering area as protected land known as the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, but habitat destruction, especially logging continues to degrade the insects’ habitat.
Only 100 km from Mexico City, 135 from Morelia and 185 from San Miguel Allende, the butterflies are a major attraction during the season that runs from late November to March. Certain sections of the biosphere reserve, called “sanctuaries,” are open to the public.
Overwintering monarch butterflies cluster in the early morning on pine branches in Sierra Chincua in Michoacán. (Alejandro Linares García)
There are six major ones (meaning they are the most likely to have their permits in order): three each in Michoacán and in México state. Those in Michoacán — El Rosario,Sierra Chincua Angangueo and Sierra Chincua Sénguio — are the most popular, with El Rosario alone welcoming up to 1 million visitors a year.
The popularity has its downside. Ellen Sharp has worked with monarch butterfly tourism and activism for a decade, and is currently writing a book about her experience called “Fragile Messengers.” She states that there are concerns about so many visitors stressing the monarchs.
“People should think about visiting throughout the November–March season and not the oversubscribed month of February,” she says, “Also, try to schedule your visit during the weekdays if at all possible.”
Another good idea is to visit lesser-known sanctuaries, such as those in México state: Piedra Herrada in Temascaltepec, La Mesa and Cerro Pelón, where Sharp did her work. All the sanctuaries offer similar experiences, guided tours on foot or horseback, with restaurants or other food and some other ecotourism attractions.
The smaller sanctuaries have less information available online. Best to check with the site of the Biosphere Reserve and the tourist information centers in the region’s Pueblos Mágicos (El Oro, Valle de Bravo, Angangeo and Tlapujahua) to find out the latest information on visiting.
To preserve the butterfly — and the tourism — there are a number of rules and recommendations to follow. Some are pretty obvious, such as keeping your distance from the creatures and not touching or otherwise bothering them, as well as not throwing trash, not bringing pets and not damaging the flora.
Others are less obvious: sanctuaries strongly recommend silence to maintain the general forest ambiance. They also advise staying on marked trails to keep erosion issues to a minimum. Renting a horse is also highly recommended. Not only is the terrain extremely rugged, the rentals are an important source of income for locals.
Sharp has one other important tip. “Watch where you are walking: many people step on butterflies while they’re looking up with their cameras.”
The El Rosario sanctuary in Michoacán, located within Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, sees 1 million visitors a year. (LBM1948/Creative Commons)
Some sites recommend that you report anyone breaking the rules, as well as illegal logging if you witness it. The first piece of advice may not be practical advice for foreigners, however, and the latter piece could be dangerous if the logging is being done by organized crime members, a real possibility.
But perhaps the best way to contribute to the long-term well-being of the butterfly sanctuaries is to support the communities that live in the region. This is a very poor area of Mexico, in large part because the mines here closed many decades ago. Although logging is severely restricted, both locals and cartels still cut trees here because of poverty and the money the lumber is worth.
Most visitors to the region are daytrippers who contribute little to the local economy, so staying a couple of days and taking advantage of services and attractions both inside and surrounding the sanctuaries go a long way to helping locals out. Sharp strongly recommends tipping guides and horse handlers generously and to avoid tours organized by entities from far outside the region.
Sanctuaries and areas near them have all kinds of ecotourism attractions including cabins, mountain bike rentals, rappelling, zip-lines, local handcrafts and other products. Of course, there’s also local food.
Some of the more unusual tourism offerings include a deer-breeding program at La Mesa that you can visit and a festival in Ocampo, Michoacán, which welcomes the arrival of the butterflies each year with a festival featuring children in butterfly costumes and traditional Purépecha songs. This year’s event is on November 18th.
In addition, the region is home to several Pueblos Mágicos — Mexico’s historic towns full of hotels and restaurants and tourism activities. Michoacán has Tlalpujahua and Angangeo, and México state El Oro and Valle de Bravo. Tlalpujahua has an annual Christmas Ornament Fair that runs from September to mid-December.
Although the concerns about the butterfly’s survival are real, there are some positive signs. The number of butterflies wintering in Mexico rose 35% last year, and there is some hope that this will continue. Local communities are more invested in the insect as the economy shifts.
Locals say increased police presence in the region has helped with illegal logging, and programs like El Rosario’s 1 million tree reforestation project are helping to repair the damage.
The Feria de la Esfera (Ornament Fair) in Tlalpujahua, Michaocán.
The official start of the season is November 27, 2022.
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.
The few Mexican doctors who get past the opaque bureaucratic hurdles to work in the public health system often face low pay, uncertain employment and a lack of medical equipment and medicines. Cuartoscuro
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the government’s claim that there were not enough medical specialists in the country, resulting in Mexico inviting doctors from other Spanish-speaking countries, many from Cuba. The conclusion? Essentially, the government only opens a small number of spots each year for doctors to actually enter specialization programs in the first place, meaning that they actually decide in a very direct way how many specialists there are in Mexico.
After extensive conversations with various doctors around the country, I decided there was too much information for just one article; hence, this second one. This time, I’ll look at doctors through a labor-related lens, i.e., doctors as workers.
In every culture, we have extremely high expectations of doctors. Like we do with teachers, we expect them to be firmly dedicated to their vocation above all else…including their need to draw a dignified salary and enjoy a positive work environment. We look to them to save us when we’re at our worst. We want them to use the magic of science to do everything in their power to make us better. We want to be their number-one priority when we need them, no matter what they may be required to sacrifice in order to make that happen.
In other words, we expect them to be Jesus.
But doctors aren’t Jesus. They’re workers, with lives, families and a stack of bills to be paid each month, just like the rest of us, and if we want them to effectively do the job they signed up for, then their working environments must be adequate.
Now, a brief pause for a bit of recent history: we all know that AMLO flew into an easy victory on the platform of breaking up the “mafia of power.” That resonated with people all over the world – including me – but ultimately AMLO’s actions seem to have translated into the placement of simply different mafias of power, even as leaders claim that corruption in Mexico is no more.
Which is worse: open corruption that even the powers-that-be acknowledge or corruption that unofficially is all around us, but officially doesn’t exist?
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
As a result of these kinds of changes, what used to be the Seguro Popular, for example, became the Bienestar (well-being) system, with changes from on-high in both structure and personnel. The result has been rather chaotic, especially in places that didn’t have a fantastic infrastructure in the first place.
According to one doctor, the cost to the government of hospitalizing a patient for one night is higher than for any private hospital in the country. Even so, 70% of the budgets for public hospitals pay for employee salaries, while equipment and medicine are constantly in short supply. In poorer, less populous places, these things are simply absent.
“If you’re poor and seriously ill in Mexico — especially if you’re not in a major city — you’re probably going to die,” one disheartened doctor told me.
Most frustrating is the fact that, while many doctors do all they can to heal and save their patients, there’s only so much that’s possible to do in the absence of the tools, equipment and medicines they need to do their jobs.
The cardiologist might have her stethoscope, but no instruments for bypass surgery. The neurologist might be among the best of the best, but without an MRI machine, how is he to help sick patients?
The difference in survival rates between public and private hospitals is overwhelmingly due to a lack of necessities; the doctors are the exact same people from private to public, and most doctors, even those with coveted plazas (permanent positions), also work privately to supplement their income.
For decades, a plaza with a public hospital like IMSS was the holy grail of medical labor. Salaries were high, benefits were many, and, hey: job security in a country where most people have none is a big plus.
Salaries are decidedly not high anymore — a peek at the IMSS job board revealed an average base salary of merely 14,000 pesos, or about 700 dollars a month— though the myriad of benefits; job security; and, yes, a sincere desire to help the less fortunate ensure that there are always interested applicants regardless.
These plazas for specialists are the jobs that the Mexican government claims it’s unable to fill because of a lack of specialists in the country. The extent to which this is true is, at best, debatable.
One specialist I spoke with who works privately has been looking for a plaza in his state. He was told by the hospital administrators that there could be a plaza that might open up for him — if he paid for it. Much to their shock, he refused.
The lesson? With the right contacts and plenty of money, plazas can appear, seemingly by magic.
So how do these hospitals have any doctors at all in the first place? Simple: low-paid contractors with no benefits. Many doctors do indeed accept these jobs as hospitals routinely dangle the remote possibility of a future plaza in front of them to keep them around. And of the doctors who do have plazas, acceptable absenteeism is built into the system.
As many as 20% to 30% of doctors in public hospitals might be absent because they’re allowed pases de salida (excused absences). And every single doctor I spoke to said they had colleagues who routinely went to the hospital twice a day just to punch their time cards in and out while attending to their private patients.
I certainly don’t condone this – and feel incredibly sorry for the patients who can’t pay for their care – but I also understand that workers respond to how valued they feel.
When salaries stay low, the tools to do their jobs are absent and hospitals cannot reasonably guarantee their safety, it’s easy to see how some doctors might become outright cynics.
Hence, the arrival of foreign doctors, who, incidentally, are being paid 50,000–70,000 pesos for their work, according to another doctor familiar with several of the new arrivals.
Well, AMLO does seem to be a fan of throwing things out and starting over again. And the part of my brain that is willing to entertain conspiracy theories (we all have one) makes me wonder if there’s something about Cuban doctors specifically he loves: they have a reputation for being some of the best-trained doctors in the Americas, it’s true, but I also wonder if he’s specifically fond of people accustomed to falling in line or else.
We might not ever find out, but one thing is certain: the problem of “shortages” was created by a combination of corruption and the structural system itself. To find a real and fair solution, the government need not look anywhere besides the mirror.
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com
Peanut butter mixed with fresh herbs, spices, chiles and garlic make a versatile and palate-pleasing sauce.
I’ve decided I kind of love peanut sauce; it’s the latest food trend in my house.
Peanuts have made the list of heart-healthy foods to add to my diet; research shows they can help lower LDL, or “bad” cholesterol levels. While peanuts, or ground nuts, are classified as legumes, they have many of the same beneficial health qualities as other more expensive actual nuts and are easy to find here in Mexico.
Historians say peanuts originated in South America or Mexico but that it was African immigrants (i.e., slaves) who incorporated them into the local cuisine, especially in the Yucatán, Oaxaca and Puebla. In dishes like encacahuatas — tortillas folded over in a spicy peanut sauce — pollo encacahuate and complex special-occasion sauces called encacahuatados, the humble peanut’s legacy shines in Mexico.
While I knew peanuts were grown and used in many countries, it was a surprise to discover how universally beloved peanut sauce in particular is. Cuisines the world over — including African, Indonesian, Japanese, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Filipino — all have some version of it.
Pineapple and shrimp skewers? Dip ’em in a smooth ‘n’ creamy peanut sauce for added flavor.
I’ve tried a good number of recipes and have settled on the first one, below, as my basic go-to. You want it to be salty, sweet, spicy and hot all at the same time, with flavors slipping from one to the next on your tongue. And if it’s an easy, no-cook recipe, all the better; while there are a good number of ingredients in this one, all are fairly common and only need to be stirred in.
In Indonesian cooking, peanut sauce is most often used on satay, or skewers; so much so that its name has become synonymous with the dish. In reality, you can use peanut sauce on any number of dishes: drizzled on grilled shrimp and pineapple, as a glaze on roast or grilled salmon, spooned over a grain bowl, mixed in cold soba or pasta salads, and, of course, on chicken, beef, veggie, tofu or pork skewers.
And there are lots of delicious modifications to try! Coconut milk, fish sauce (just a little), fresh or adobo chiles, honey and/or sugar, fresh grated ginger, a teaspoon of miso, sautéed onions or a bit of tamarind paste can all be added to the basic recipes below. Can’t find or don’t have natural unsweetened peanut butter? Just leave out the sugar. And, yes, other nut/seed butters (like almond, cashew or even tahini) can be used instead of peanut butter.
The trickiest part of this first recipe is mixing the peanut butter with the hot water — you want it to be smooth. Whisking by hand is the way to go.
I love this drizzled on a broccoli tofu stir-fry, to jazz up simple chicken and rice or even as a dipping sauce with veggie spring rolls.
Spicy Peanut Sauce
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼–⅓ cup hot water
2 Tbsp. Thai red curry paste
2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Sriracha
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. finely minced garlic
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Salt
Garnish: crushed peanuts, chopped cilantro
Variation: Substitute coconut milk for half or all the water
In medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter and hot water till smooth. Stir in curry paste, sugar, Sriracha, soy sauce, vinegar, lime juice, garlic, red pepper flakes and scallions. Season with salt to taste. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to two weeks. The sauce will thickens as it sits; stir in a tablespoon or two of water to thin to desired consistency if necessary.
Grilled or pan-fried salmon can be glazed with a spicy peanut sauce for a delicious change of pace.
Zesty Basil Peanut Sauce
20–30 fresh basil leaves
½ cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky
¾ cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1-inch-long piece of ginger, grated
½ tsp. red chile flakes
Juice of 2 limes
¼ tsp. salt
In food processor or blender, process all ingredients to a smooth paste. Adjust seasoning as needed.
Spicy Peanut Sauce #2
½ cup smooth peanut butter (not natural)
¼ cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 tsp. chile oil or hot sauce, to taste
1 garlic clove, grated
In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Add ¼ to ½ cup water, 1 tablespoon at a time; whisk until sauce is a pourable consistency. Taste and add more chile oil or hot sauce as desired.
Part of the increase in U.S. citizens living in Mexico appears to come from an increase in digital nomads fueled by effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jordan Carroll/Unsplash
More Americans than ever are choosing to live in Mexico – and many have decided to settle in the capital rather than coastal resort cities that are popular with tourists on short breaks.
Formal immigration to Mexico from the United States is at a record high, federal government data shows, while many more Americans are living and working here while on tourist visas.
Data published in an Interior Ministry migration report shows that 8,412 U.S. citizens were issued temporary resident visas in the first nine months of the year, an 85% increase compared to the same period of 2019 – when the coronavirus pandemic hadn’t yet had an impact on people’s life and work choices and options. The figure is the highest since comparable data became available in 2010, the news agency Bloomberg reported.
Data shows that 1,619 of the Americans granted temporary residency this year – 19% of the total – live in Mexico City, while 1,515 live in Jalisco, mainly in Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara and Chapala.
Mexico City saw the largest percentage of such migrants. Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum recently announced a partnership to attract more foreigners to live and work in the nation’s capital. Cuartoscuro
The next most popular states for new temporary residents from the U.S. are Quintana Roo, which includes Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum; Baja California Sur, which includes Los Cabos and La Paz; Yucatán, which includes Mérida and the port city of Progreso; and Guanajuato, which includes expat hotspot San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato city.
The number of U.S. citizens who were granted permanent residency in the first nine months of 2022 also increased significantly, rising 48% from 2019 levels to 5,418. There are a range of ways foreigners can qualify for residency in Mexico, including by meeting income requirements, having an employer who sponsors their visa and having family ties.
The aforementioned residency figures don’t take into account the large number of Americans who entered the country as tourists but are living here for all intents and purposes. Such people include a growing number of digital nomads – many of whom were able to settle here due to new remote work policies introduced by their employers during the pandemic – as well as older, retired Americans, some of whom have been spending part of their time in Mexico for years.
Mexico has typically allowed tourists to stay for six months, although that period of time isn’t guaranteed. Many Americans return briefly to their home country before re-entering Mexico on a new tourist visa and resuming their lives here.
For many digital nomads, the location of choice is Mexico City, especially trendy inner city neighborhoods such as Roma and Condesa, while Oaxaca city is another destination that is popular with Americans and foreigners in general.
Some Mexicans have expressed concerns about the influx of digital nomads to certain parts of the capital during the pandemic, asserting that their presence has pushed up rents – a claim backed up by data compiled by the real estate website propiedades.com – and driven locals out of desirable neighborhoods.
But those concerns didn’t stop the city government from entering into a partnership with Airbnb that aims to attract even more nómadas digitales to the capital. One response to that move was a social media post that advised digital nomads that “Mexico is not cheap when you make pesos.”
“Your Instagram-worthy lifestyle is ruining your home,” added the IG post, which attracted over 3,500 likes. “Stop colonizing Mexico City.”
Another source of the increasing numbers may be families. Data from Mexico’s 2020 census shows there are over 470,000 U.S.-born kids in Mexico, aged five to 19.
In defiance of such opinions, Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said her government wants to increase promotion of the capital to digital nomads. At a press conference last week to announce the agreement struck with Airbnb, the mayor asserted that the ongoing arrival of the mainly young remote workers – perhaps in even greater numbers in the near future – will benefit parts of the city beyond tourism hubs, one of which is described by some people as the “Roma-Condesa bubble.”
Her remarks did little to mollify tenants’ rights groups, which said that the partnership with Airbnb was part of the “aggressive touristification” of Mexico City. In a statement, they demanded greater regulation of the accommodation booking platform.
Opposition from locals appears unlikely to deter foreigners from coming to the nation’s capital – which became something of an international “it city” in the last five years or so – and to other parts of the country.
In addition to Americans, foreigners from many other countries have flocked to Mexico in recent years, attracted by the country’s openness and lack of restrictions during the first year of the pandemic, as well as traditional draws, including beaches, archaeological sites, tasty food and beverages and the wide range of cultural experiences on offer.
So it’s not surprising that an increasing number of Americans – and other foreigners – don’t want to go home. Government data also shows that the number of Canadians granted temporary residency in the first nine months of the year went up to 2,042, an increase of 137% compared to 2019.
More than 1,000 citizens of many other countries received temporary residency permits between January and September. Those counties include Spain, France, Germany, China, India, Japan and numerous Latin American nations, among which are Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and Cuba.
But none of those countries can compete with the United States in terms of the total number of citizens residing in Mexico. The U.S. Department of State said last month that “an estimated 1.6 million U.S. citizens live in Mexico,” while data from Mexico’s 2020 census put the figure at a more modest total of just under 800,000.
Among the U.S. citizens living here are a growing number of families with children, attracted in part by Mexico’s family oriented-culture. Data from Mexico’s 2020 census shows there are over 470,000 U.S.-born kids aged five to 19, although many of those likely belong to Mexican families.
In addition to being a popular place to settle, Mexico is also the top foreign destination for U.S. travelers, according to the State Department, while data from the Center of Research and Tourism Competitiveness at Anáhuac University in Mexico City shows that more than 10 million Americans flew into Mexico in the nine months to the end of September, injecting billions of dollars into the Mexican economy.
An increasing number of them didn’t just come for a short break on the beach in Cancún, Puerto Vallarta, Los Cabos or Zihuatanejo. For better or worse, many foreigners – including large numbers of Americans – are here to stay.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, left, and Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro met on Thursday via videoconference. US Trade Office/Twitter & Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro
The United States government has urged its Mexican counterpart to promptly address the concerns it has raised about Mexico’s nationalistic energy policies.
“We have repeatedly expressed serious concerns about a series of changes in Mexico’s energy policies and their consistency with Mexico’s commitments under the USMCA,” Ambassador Katherine Tai said at the time. “These policy changes impact U.S. economic interests in multiple sectors and disincentivize investment by clean-energy suppliers and by companies that seek to purchase clean, reliable energy.”
During a virtual meeting with new Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro on Thursday, Tai “underlined the importance of making expeditious progress in addressing the issues in Mexico’s energy sector that the United States identified in its July 20, 2022, consultations request under the USMCA,” the office of the USTR said in a statement.
U.S. Trade Representative Tia has said that Mexico’s nationalistic energy policies disincentivize investment by U.S. clean-energy suppliers and companies seeking to buy clean energy. Mexican Economy Ministry/Twitter
Tai also stressed “the importance of avoiding a disruption in U.S. corn exports and returning to a science- and risk-based regulatory approval process for all agricultural biotechnology products in Mexico,” the statement said.
A ban on genetically modified corn imports and use of the controversial herbicide glyphosate is set to take effect in 2024, and Mexico is already reducing its reliance on non-genetically modified yellow corn imports from the United States, most of which is used as livestock feed.
The USTR and the Mexican Economy Ministry said that Tai and Buenrostro agreed to stay in regular communication on the issues they discussed at Thursday’s meeting.
The United States could have requested the establishment of a dispute panel to make a ruling on the energy policy dispute as the initial deadline for resolution of the concerns was Oct. 3. However, Mexican and U.S. officials said they agreed to extend talks as progress was being made.
If such a panel ruled in favor of the U.S. and Canada – which has also challenged Mexico’s energy policies – punitive tariffs could be imposed on Mexican exports.
Both the United States and Canada are unhappy about delays faced by private energy sector companies to receive permits. They also disagree with other energy sector policies and laws that favor Mexico’s state-owned energy firms, including the Electricity Industry Law, which gives power generated by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) priority on the national grid over that produced by private and renewable energy companies.
Pelota players compete at the World Nomad Games in October. Facebook / Pelota P'urhépecha (Uárhukua Chanakua)
You won’t find the ancient Purépecha sport of pelota in the Olympics or Pan American Games, but it was a big hit recently at the fourth World Nomad Games in Turkey.
The biennial competition aims to showcase non-mainstream ethnic sports that have been handed down through the generations.
Most of the sports are from Central Asia, but this year a team from Mexico put on a display of pelota, a Purépecha sport using balls and long sticks — sort of like field hockey or the Scottish sport of shinty — that has roots in what is now the state of Michoacán dating back some 3,500 years.
“Everyone was very amazed by the performance that we carried out,” said Ana Claudia Collado García, president of the Mexican Federation of Indigenous and Traditional Sports and Games.
Let’s get acquainted with Pelota Purépecha, one of world’s most interesting and inveterate games. 🔥
— World Ethnosport Confederation (@worldethnosport) October 19, 2022
The players from Mexico explained the origins of the game, showed the two types of balls used (one of them soaked in fuel and ignited), and covered the rules and the meaning of the game. They also played some exhibitions, a few of them in a 15,000-capacity stadium used for the opening ceremonies. Fans and others were invited to give the sport a try if they wanted to.
“People were very interested,” said Collado, whose agency is part of Mexico’s Multilingual and Community Cultural Actions Program (PACMYC). She said it was the first time that Mexico had participated in an event of this nature.
The first three World Nomad Games were held in 2014, 2016 and 2018 in Kyrgyzstan; after a hiatus for COVID, the games returned this year from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 in Iznik, Turkey. More than 3,000 athletes from 102 countries were said to have participated.
“P’urhepecha Ball” — according to the website for the 2022 Games — “continues to be practiced by [I]ndigenous communities” and is played on courts that are 120 meters long and 6-to-8 meters wide, with six to eight players on each team.
“The ball is hit with a wooden cane with a curve on the lower side (similar to a hockey stick). It has two main modalities: One is practiced during the night with a lit wooden ball, the other one is played during the day with a cloth ball. To score a point, the ball has to cross” the end line of the other team, the website says.
The game begins with a “faceoff” in which two opposing players hit their sticks three times against one another before the ball is put into play.
“The antecedents of the [game] go back to the first settlers of what is now Michoacán,” the website continues. “A legend in Michoacán tells that when the planet Mars was reborn and unleashed natural catastrophes against the Earth, the P’urhépecha people invented the ballgame as a remedy to level the cosmos.”
The Purépecha are an Indigenous people whose population is mainly concentrated in 22 municipalities in central Michoacán, including Pátzcuaro, Quiroga, Tzintzuntzan, Paracho and Uruapan, and other smaller towns and villages that are more remote. Speakers of the P’urhé language are in 95 of the 113 municipalities of the state.
Some of the other sports contested at the World Nomad Games — at which medals are handed out — include alysh (a type of belt wrestling), salburun (which combines falconry, archery and hunting) and kok-boru (a sport similar to buzkashi, in which horseback riders attempt to move a goat or calf carcass into a goal). Don’t expect to see that one on ESPN.
