Mexico City Mayor and presidential contender in 2024 Claudia Sheinbaum was a visible figure at a Morena rally in June. Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum – a leading candidate to succeed President López Obrador – has declared she is “ready” to take on the nation’s top job.
In an interview with Milenio TV, the Morena party mayor said she is excited about the possibility of becoming Mexico’s first female president. She asserted that the country is ready to have a woman as its chief executive before declaring that she, too, is “ready” to succeed her close ally when he leaves office in 2024.
“I’m ready, obviously everything [will happen] in good time,” Sheinbaum said, referring to the ruling party’s future process of selecting a 2024 presidential election candidate. “I believe that the participation of women enriches democracy in our country.”
“Mexico is actually one of the most advanced countries in the whole world with regard to the participation of women in public life, particularly politics. And I think that’s marvelous, not just for us, this generation but also for future generations,” Sheinbaum said.
“Mexico is actually one of the most advanced countries in the whole world with regard to the participation of women in public life, particularly politics,” Sheinbaum asserted in an interview with the news network Milenio.
Sheinbaum – considered AMLO’s preferred successor by many observers – acknowledged that she has the support of the president but said he treats all the possible Morena candidates equally.
Interior Minister Adán Agusto López, Senator Ricardo Monreal and Labor Party Deputy Gerardo Fernández Noroña have also expressed interest in participating in the ruling party’s internal process to find its 2024 flag bearer.
“We all know the rules of the game…” Sheinbaum told Milenio TV.
President López Obrador told a Puebla crowd last week that Morena wouldn’t handpick a presidential successor for the 2024 election, but that party members would choose. Yerania Rolón Rolón/Cuartoscuro
López Obrador reiterated Saturday that he won’t handpick a successor as previous presidents have done. Rather, “the people” – rank and file Morena members – will decide who will appear on the ballot as the ruling party and its allies’ candidate, he told people attending an event in Puebla.
“It won’t be like before, I can assure you. Will there be a tapado? No, screw that! Will there be a dedazo? Screw that!” AMLO declared. The colloquial terms refer to an anointed successor and previous Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) presidents’ unilateral designation of presidential candidates. For most of the 20th century, these candidates were assured victory due to a de facto PRI dictatorship.
“… Who is going to choose the [Morena congressional] candidates and the the next president? …. The people! The people will decide,” he said. “Fortunately, … there are several women and men who can guarantee …that the transformation [of Mexico] in benefit of our people will continue.”
Earlier this month, López Obrador presented a long-list of possible opposition candidates, saying that a total of 43 people have either expressed interest in vying for the presidency or have been touted as potential contenders to the Morena party candidate.
Among the names he mentioned were Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro, former first lady and federal Deputy Margarita Zavala and ex-interior minister and current Senator Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong.
A page from the Códice Maya de México, dated to between 1025-1152 AD Wikimedia Commons
The oldest surviving book in the Americas, known as the Códice Maya de México (Maya Codex of Mexico) is on display at The Getty Center Museum in Los Angeles in an exhibit that opened on Oct. 18 and will run through Jan. 15, 2023.
On loan from Mexico’s National Library of Anthropology and History, this is the first time the artifact has been exhibited in the U.S. in fifty years.
“The importance of this special loan from Mexico cannot be overstated,” said museum director Timothy Potts in a press release. “Home to the largest Mexican diaspora outside of Mexico, this loan is a gift not only to our Getty visitors but to the city of Los Angeles.”
The book has been exhibited only three times before: in 1971 at the Grolier Club in New York – hence its former name as the Grolier Codex – and twice at the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City.
An aerial view of the Getty Center Museum in Los Angeles Wikimedia Commons
Painted by a single artist on amate paper (made from the bark of fig trees), the Códice Maya de México tracked the transit of the planet Venus as the morning and evening star, a journey that, from the Earth’s perspective, lasts 584 days and which was calculated in the codex over 104 years.
For decades, the book’s authenticity was disputed due to its mysterious appearance in the mid-1960s in a private collection in Mexico.
With the use of the latest technology, scholars were able to authenticate the book in 2018 through a multidisciplinary project coordinated by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).
Their extensive research concluded that the codex dates to the period between 1021 and 1152 AD, making it at least two hundred years older than the three other surviving pre-Hispanic manuscripts.
The exhibition will highlight the sophisticated astronomical calendar content of the codex, and the way in which the Maya civilization interpreted the cosmos.
“The exhibition draws attention to the intellectual and artistic achievements of ancient indigenous peoples of the Americas,” said Mary Miller, of the Getty Research Institute. “It critiques and de-centers notions that science and mathematics were under the strict purview of European cultures.”
The Great Pyramid of Cholula is surrounded by the vibrant tourist city of San Andrés Cholula, Puebla. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino
It may not be as famous or get as many Instagram posts as the Great Pyramid of Giza or even Mexico’s own Chichén Itzá, but Tlachihualtepetl, better known by the far more pronounceable name, The Great Pyramid of Cholula, is nevertheless impressive: by volume, it’s the world’s largest pyramid.
No wonder its original Nahuatl name means “mountain made by hand” or “human-made mountain.” The Cholula name comes from San Andrés Cholula, the town where it’s located in Puebla.
It stands 25 meters tall and has a base that’s 300 by 315 meters. Though it’s dwarfed in height by the Giza pyramid, at 146.6 meters, the Cholula pyramid total volume — 4.45 million cubic meters — is almost double that of the Egyptian pyramid.
It’s also the oldest continually occupied site in Mexico. The pyramid was built and frequently modified over at least 1,000 years, with the first construction phrase happening probably around 200 B.C. and then continuing on as several different indigenous groups took it over. Each built on top of or modified the existing pyramid. It’s thought that the pyramid has undergone four major constructions and was modified at least nine times.
A carved head located in the Courtyard of the Altars.
Tlachihualtepetl was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl (the Plumed Serpent), one of the most important gods in Mesoamerica. He was — and still is — worshipped as the god of wind and rain who was also responsible for creating the world and humans. It’s still an important pilgrimage site for indigenous Mexicans.
One of the nice things about this site is that not only are you allowed to climb this pyramid (unlike many others in Mexico), a wide stone path actually leads you to the top. There are warnings not to attempt the climb if you’re suffering from heart problems or other ailments, but nevertheless, the admittedly somewhat steep walk to the peak takes less than five minutes at a moderate pace.
Shortly before you reach the church that stands atop the pyramid, the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of the Remedies), this path will fork into three roads. The left two lead to the church, and the right one leads to where you want to go — the ruins below.
Incidentally, the church, built by the Spanish in 1594, is also worth a visit if you have time. Thousands of Catholics do a pilgrimage here due to the small figure of the Virgin of the Remedies enclosed in a glass case inside. Pilgrims arrive on the night before her feast day of September 8 so they can greet her early in the morning.
Indigenous pilgrims come here on the spring equinox to celebrate with dancing, music and fireworks.
If you take the fork’s right path to the pyramid, you’ll get a view of the archeological site before you arrive. Entry is a modest 85 pesos, and there are several information signs set among the ruins explaining what some of the buildings were used for.
The first people arrived in this area around 3,000 years ago. Over the centuries, the city was conquered and occupied by the Olmecs, Toltecs and finally the Mexicas (Aztecs). At its peak, it reached an estimated population of 100,000.
Some of the buildings exhibit architectural designs like those found in Teotihuacán to the north, suggesting a link between the two. Others have seashells and other marine designs, indicating trade with coastal civilizations.
The arches located in San Andrés Cholula’s zócalo where there are several restaurants and coffee.
Off to one side of the ruins is a reproduction of Los Bebedores (The Drinkers), is located deep within the pyramid and, unfortunately, off-limits to the general public. The actual mural stretches 56 meters (184 feet) and depicts a celebration where people are drinking pulque, a mildly alcoholic drink still drunk today in Mexico.
The city underwent a period of decline between A.D. 500 and 800. Between A.D. 700 and 800, work on the pyramid halted. Researchers give three possible explanations: Popocatépetl erupted in A.D. 500, which may have forced people to leave; a nearby lake may have flooded the city; or people may have moved to Zapotecas, a nearby hill, in order to facilitate trade with other civilizations.
When the conquistador Hernán Cortéz saw Cholula, he declared it to be the most beautiful city outside of Spain. That did not, however, stop him from perpetrating one of the most horrific events of the Conquest, which probably occurred in the courtyard in front of the pyramid in October, 1519.
Cortés had made an alliance with the Tlaxcalans, who were the city’s enemies. He marched from Tlaxcala to Cholula with his soldiers and probably thousands of Tlaxcalan warriors, reaching the city on October 14. Supposedly told of a plot against his troops, he invited the Cholulan nobles a few days later to a meeting in their courtyard, according to one source, leaving the Tlaxcalan warriors outside. Once inside the courtyard, the Tlaxcalan warriors streamed in, slaughtering several thousand unarmed Cholulans.
Just behind the pyramid is the The Regional Museum of Cholula. Housed in a former psychiatric hospital opened in 1910, there are stories of ghosts wandering the museum. The six-room facility displays artifacts from different periods of Cholula’s history. All the rooms are worth visiting. Room 8 is dedicated to Puebla’s popular art, displaying works from across the state, including traditional tree of life figures, tapestries and Talavera. Entrance costs 42 pesos. Be warned it’s closed on Mondays.
Although best known for the pyramid and the archeological site, San Andrés Cholula also boasts a number of excellent restaurants and coffee shops once you’re done perusing the ruins. Several are located just across the way. Ringing the courtyard and along the walkway adjacent to the pyramid are the many souvenir stands you’d expect, but on weekends, you’ll likely catch performances by voladores — Puebla’s aerial acrobatic tradition on UNESCO’s list of intangible human heritage.
Although it’s been said that the city has 365 churches, that’s probably not true. For sure, there are a lot, so you’ll have plenty to choose from and more for a return visit.
Calle Morelos, a street lined with shops, leads from the pyramid to the city’s zócalo (main square), where there’s a lovely park, more restaurants and more stands selling ice cream and candies, perfect for aimless, relaxed sightseeing. On weekends, there’s also a small art fair in front of the park’s gazebo, organized by an artists’ cooperative.
A vendor selling Santa Claras and other sweets typically found in Cholula
No trip to Cholula is complete without eating a cemita, a sandwich filled with different meats and cheese, as well as Santa Claras, a delicious cookie you won’t soon forget.
If you still have time, Cerro Zapoteca, a hill a short distance from the city center, is also worth a trip for its many hiking trails a great view of the pyramid; the monster pyramid looks large up close, but it’s only from a distance that its size can truly be appreciated.
Fall is an excellent time to visit because a field across from the pyramid is filled with cempasúchil and terciopelo, the brilliantly colored flowers of Day of the Dead. The site is less than 10 miles from the city of Puebla and a little under two hours from Mexico City, and there are plenty of hotels and Airbnbs for overnight stays.
Technology magnate Elon Musk was spotted in Nuevo León, sparking speculation about plans for a new Tesla plant in the area.Creative Commons
The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, could inject some of his vast resources into Nuevo León, as the tycoon is reportedly considering a municipality in the metropolitan area of Monterrey as the location for a new electric vehicle (EV) plant.
The Tesla and SpaceX magnate was in the northern border state last weekend, where he met with Governor Samuel García and other state officials as well as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, according to reports.
Musk, who is currently attempting to close a messy deal to buy Twitter for US $44 billion, is believed to be considering Santa Catarina as the site for an EV plant, presumably to be operated by Tesla. Tesla executives accompanied the 51-year-old South African native in his meeting with Nuevo León officials.
Located just west of Monterrey, Santa Catarina is a seven-hour drive from Austin, Texas, where Tesla is headquartered. The EV manufacturer’s Mexico-based suppliers already have their own private lane at a Mexico-U.S. border crossing thanks to a deal the company struck with the García-led state government earlier this year.
“I’m very optimistic and very happy about what’s coming for our state – that’s why the richest people in the world come here; it’s not by chance,” Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel García said after reports surfaced that he and state officials had met with Musk in Mexico. Samuel García/Twitter
Nuevo León officials have said little about the meeting with Musk, citing a confidentiality agreement they entered into with the businessman, but the governor and his social media influencer wife Mariana Rodríguez posted several screenshots of media reports about the encounter to their Instagram “stories.”
One of García’s posts was overlaid by an emoji showing two hands clasped together, apparently indicating that García is praying for Musk to invest in the state. The baby-faced, social media-savvy governor said Monday that Musk was attracted to Nuevo León by the business-friendly environment the state offers.
“I’m very optimistic and very happy about what’s coming for our state – that’s why the richest people in the world come here, it’s not by chance,” García said at the launch of a new online portal for business-related bureaucratic procedures called “Agiliza Nuevo León,” (Speed Up Nuevo León).
“In Nuevo León, as always, we must be an example of how to do things,” said the governor, who highlighted that his state is a job creation powerhouse and a magnet for foreign investment.
Tesla employees and employees of their supply companies in Mexico already have their own lane at the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge crossing, north of the Laredo, Texas, crossing.
State Economy Minister, Iván Rivas, one of the other officials who met with Musk in Monterrey, said that authorities are “analyzing” what they can do with Musk, who has a net worth of US $219 billion, according to Forbes’ 2022 World’s Billionaires List.
He noted that suppliers to Tesla and other EV manufacturers have already set up shop in Nuevo León, an industrial hub and one of the engine rooms of the Mexican economy. Rivas said that any investment from the world’s richest person would be a good thing before telling reporters at the Agiliza Nuevo León event, “We can’t really talk about the issue because we have a confidentiality agreement.”
Musk said earlier this year that both Mexico and Canada were being considered as possible locations for a Tesla manufacturing facility.
“We are looking at sites [in the United States for a new plant], but we are considering some site options more broadly in North America, so including Canada and Mexico and the U.S. as well,” he said in June.
Data published by the national statistics agency INEGI on Tuesday showed that the primary sector of the economy grew 3.6% in August compared to July, the tertiary sector expanded 1.2% and the secondary sector remained steady with no month-over-month variation.
The overall 1% growth was well above expectations and the best month-over-month result for the Mexican economy since April, when GDP increased 1.2% compared to March. It came after month-over-month growth of 0.5% in July and a 0.2% contraction in June.
INEGI also reported that the economy expanded 4.7% in annual seasonally adjusted terms in August. The primary sector expanded 4.3% compared to August 2021, the secondary sector grew 3% and the tertiary sector gained 5.4%.
Mexico’s economy grew from July to August, as well as on an annual basis from August 2021, but growth wasn’t evenly divided among the economic sectors.
The annual growth figure was the best since July 2021, when the size of the economy was 7.7% larger than a year earlier.
A National Guardsman's dog inspects a bag at the airport in Veracruz International Aiport.
Almost three-quarters of Mexicans agree with the government’s plan to continue using the armed forces for public security tasks until 2028, a new poll indicates.
A constitutional bill extending the military’s involvement in public security by four years has already been approved by Congress and will become law once it has been ratified by a majority of Mexico’s state legislatures.
A survey conducted by the polling company Enkoll for the newspaper El País and broadcaster W Radio found that 73% of just over 1,000 respondents agreed with the plan to keep the military on the streets until 2028.
A similar number – 72% – said they agreed with the armed forces having control of customs, airports and border crossings, while 62% of those polled expressed support for the military’s construction of infrastructure projects such as the Felipe Ángeles International Airport and the Maya Train railroad.
AMLO seems intent on increasing the military’s role in Mexicans’ daily life. Citizens polled mostly seemed to agree with his plans.
Conducted face-to-face at people’s homes between October 14 and 17, the poll also garnered opinions about the trustworthiness of Mexico’s different public security institutions. As has traditionally been the case, the navy was deemed the most trustworthy security force, with 54% of respondents saying they trusted it a lot and an additional 16% expressing “some” confidence in the nation’s marines.
The army, National Guard and state police forces were all seen as less trustworthy, although a majority of respondents indicated they had a lot or at least some confidence in the first two institutions. However, only 13% of those polled said they trusted state police a lot while an additional 20% told Enkoll they maintained some confidence in their officers.
In a more telling revelation, two-thirds of respondents said they had little or no trust in their state police forces.
National Guardsmen taking presumed illegal migrants into custody in Chiapas.
Asked whether they agreed with López Obrador’s assertion that corruption could be avoided by using the military to build public infrastructure projects, almost six in 10 respondents said they did. Just over one in 10 said they very much agreed with the claim while 47% indicated more restrained concurrence with the president.
Although Mexican newspapers have recently been filled with reports detailing the contents of a massive trove of emails and documents stolen from the Ministry of National Defense’s IT system by the Guacamaya hacking group, 71% of respondents said they hadn’t heard about the security breach and subsequent leak.
López Obrador downplayed the seriousness of the security breach, asserting that he didn’t expect any negative consequences from it, while Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval declined to meet with lawmakers to discuss the hacking incident. That response was neither particularly popular or unpopular among those polled, with 41% of respondents praising the government’s handling of the issue and 34% criticizing it. An additional 25% declined to comment on the government’s response or said they didn’t know anything about it.
A clear majority did, however, assert that the army’s digital security personnel “must assume responsibility” for the hacking of the army’s servers, a breach that resulted in the theft and subsequent leaking of six terabytes of data.
In response to additional questions about the military, 53% of those polled said they believed that the army was involved in the 2014 disappearance of 43 students in Iguala, Guerrero, while 37% said that the army has a lot of influence over the nation’s politics. An additional 28% said the army exerted some influence, while just 8% said it had no clout at all.
Militarization is currently a hot-button issue in Mexico as the federal government seeks to augment the role the armed forces play in public life. López Obrador recently asserted that military presence is essential to guarantee peace, while he frequently stresses that his administration – unlike its predecessors – doesn’t tolerate human rights abuses perpetrated by the army and navy.
For their part, opposition parties, human rights organizations and others argue that the ongoing use of the armed forces for public security tasks only perpetuates a failed security strategy and comes with the risk of yet more human rights violations being committed by the generally “trustworthy” military.
A majority of Mexicans, the El País/W Radio poll suggests, side with the government on the issue, perhaps believing, rightly or wrongly, that the country’s perilous security situation – there have been over 132,000 homicides since López Obrador took office – would be even worse without soldiers and marines patrolling the nation’s streets.
Annual inflation fell slightly in the first half of the month compared to the previous 15-day period but was still almost three times higher than the central bank’s target of 3%.
Consumer prices rose 8.53% in annual terms in the first two weeks of October, the national statistics agency INEGI reported Monday. That’s a 0.11% improvement compared to the second half of September when inflation was 8.64%.
However, core inflation – which strips out volatile food and energy prices – increased 0.1% to a 22-year high of 8.39%.
Data showed that fruit and vegetable prices were 14.4% higher in the first half of October compared to the same time last year, while the cost of meat rose by 15.67%. Prices for non-food goods were up 8%, services were 5.3% more expensive and energy prices (including gasoline) rose 3.7%.
Compared to the second half of September, consumer prices were 0.44% higher in the first half of October. The increase was driven by a 17.46% surge in power prices as the lower rates offered by the Federal Electricity Commission in several states during summer came to an end. That increase was tempered by lower prices for products such as oranges, avocados, onions and LP gas.
President López Obrador on Monday noted that the annual inflation rate had fallen from (almost) 8.8% in the second half of August and first half of September.
“We now have annual inflation of 8.5%, we were at 8.8%. It’s going down, in other words,” he said at his regular news conference.
López Obrador said that the government will seek to continue pushing basic food prices down via its anti-inflation pact with private sector producers and distributors. He also noted that the government hasn’t increased prices for gasoline and diesel, which are sold to millions of motorists at gas stations supplied by state oil company Pemex.
The slight decline in the headline inflation rate in early October was the third consecutive biweekly drop, apparently indicating that inflation peaked in late August. But the core inflation figure “reflects how entrenched inflation is,” said Pamela Díaz Loubet, Mexico economist for French bank BNP Paribas.
“While non-core price pressures and shocks begin to fade, core inflation shows how those shocks have already created second-order effects,” she said.
With inflation still well above the Bank of México’s target rate of 3% give or take a percentage point, it’s as good as certain that the central bank will once again raise its benchmark interest rate when it makes its next monetary policy announcement on November 10. The key rate is currently set at 9.25% – the highest rate since a new monetary policy regime was introduced in 2008 – after the bank’s board decided on a third consecutive 0.75% hike in late September.
The Bank of México (Banxico) holds its monetary policy meetings the week after the United States Federal Reserve makes interest rate decisions, and has matched the Fed’s recent 0.75% hikes. Carlos Capistrán, Bank of America’s head of Canada and Mexico economics, believes that Banxico will continue matching the Fed’s increases up to 11%.
Rates will likely increase 0.75% in the U.S. next week, meaning that the key rate here could hit 10% on November 10. Another hike of the same size in December would leave Mexico with a rate of 10.75% at the end of the year.
The Morelia International Film Festival decorated Morelia's historic district with a long decorative banner in the form of a carpet. Andy Altman-Ohr
I’ve never attended any of the 15 film festivals regarded as the finest in the world — Cannes, Sundance, Toronto, etc. — but if I had a say in the matter, I’d put the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) right up there as one of the best.
This year’s event, the 20th annual (Oct. 22 to Oct. 30), expects big audiences at two Cinépolis locations, as well as the new Teatro Mariano Matamoros in the heart of the historic center and a cinema under the stars showing free black-and-white Mexican classics (and more) every night in the city’s central plaza.
Though the nine-day affair has a decidedly populist, accessible feel — every morning, people line up at the downtown Cinépolis to secure tickets for that day’s screenings, most at a cost of 71 pesos (US $3.55) per film, and many are free — Mexico’s most important film festival is also a major player on the world stage.
Guillermo del Toro’s new reimagining, “Pinocchio,” animated in Guadalajara, will be showcased at the festival. Morelia International Film Festival
“Created in 2002, the Morelia International Film Festival immediately became one of the most important film events of the Latin-American subcontinent,” says a Cannes Critics’ Week newsletter put out by the French Union of Film Critics. “Structured around three competitive selections (short films, documentaries and first- or second-feature films, all exclusively Mexican), this festival performs a wonderful work of discovery and fully supports the young talent from its country.”
“All exclusively Mexican” applies only to the competitive categories, however, which this year includes 60 short films, 14 documentaries, 11 works in the Michoacán category and 10 titles in the Mexican feature film section — adding up to 95 works by Mexican filmmakers, many of whom will present their films.
But “exclusively Mexican” in no way applies to the full lineup. The festival always showcases films from around the world.
Among the U.S. films on the docket:
Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” will be shown twice in advance of its Nov. 11 U.S. release. A semi-autobiographical film about Spielberg’s youth in post–World War II Arizona, “The Fabelmans” had its world premiere last month at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award. Catch it on Oct. 29 at 8:45 p.m. at the Teatro Mariano Matamoros. In a nod to the director — who is not in attendance — his 1982 classic “E.T.” will also be screened on Oct. 28 at 6:15 p.m. at the Cinépolis Morelia Centro in Sala 3.
“The Woman King,” a historical action film by director Gina Prince-Bythewood about a fierce, skillful unit of all-female warriors that protected the African kingdom of Dahomey for 200 years until the late 1800s, has several showings:
Oct.25, 11 a.m., Teatro Mariano Matamoros
Oct. 28, 3:30 p.m., Cinépolis Las Americas, in VIP Sala 2
Oct. 29, noon, Cinépolis Las Americas, in Sala 2
Oct. 30, noon, Cinépolis Las Americas, in Sala 4.
“Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song,” a documentary about the acclaimed singer-songwriter who died in 2016. Filmmakers Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine will attend. Showings:
Oct. 26, 2:30 p.m., Cinépolis Las Americas, in VIP Sala 2
Oct. 27, 2 p.m., Teatro Mariano Matamoros
Oct. 30, 12:30 p.m., Cinépolis Morelia Centro, in Sala 3.
“Armageddon Time,” a drama about a white, pot-smoking New York City kid who pals around with an African-American kid but then gets sent to a snooty, racist, all-white boarding school. The film premiered at Cannes in May and opens in the U.S. on Friday.
Oct. 26, 11 a.m., Teatro Mariano Matamoros
Oct. 28, 9 p.m., Cinépolis Morelia Centro, in Sala 5
Oct. 29, 10:45 a.m., Cinépolis Morelia Centro, in Sala 4
Oct. 30, 2:45, Cinépolis Morelia Centro, Sala 1.
Notable international films include:
“Broker.” Acclaimed Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda‘s film about a baby who gets left in a mailbox. Showings:
Oct. 25, Teatro Mariano Matamoros
Oct. 28, noon, Cinépolis Morelia Centro, in Sala 4
Oct. 29, 5:30 p.m., Cinépolis Las Americas, in Sala 4. Be warned that it’s being shown in the original language with Spanish subtitles only.
“Triangle of Sadness,” a comedy-drama Palme d’Or winner at Cannes in May, this film in four languages has a global cast and Woody Harrelson as captain of a luxury yacht for the super-rich.
Oct. 25, 9 p.m., Cinépolis Morelia Centro, in Sala 4
Oct. 27, noon, Cinépolis Morelia Centro, in Sala 4
Oct. 28, 8:30 p.m., Teatro Mariano Matamoros
Oct. 29, 9 p.m., Cinépolis Morelia Centro, in Sala 5
Oct. 30, 11 a.m., Cinépolis Morelia Centro in Sala 4.
Saturday’s opening-night selection has passed but is worth mentioning: the Latin American debut of “Bardo, falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades” (known as “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” in English) by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñarritu, winner of five Oscars and three British Academy Film Awards.
BARDO, Falsa Crónica de unas Cuantas Verdades | Tráiler oficial | Netflix
Trailer for Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu’s new film, “Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.”
The semi-autobiographical film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month and hits Mexican theaters on Thursday, stars Mexican actor and three-time Ariel Award-winner Daniel Giménez Cacho. About a renowned Mexican journalist-documentarian living in Los Angeles who’s forced to return to his native country and spirals into an existential crisis, it’s Iñarritu’s first film shot entirely in Mexico since his debut, “Amores Perros,” in 2000.
“Bardo” opens in limited release in the U.S. on Nov. 4 and arrives on Netflix on Dec. 16.
Another Netflix-bound film set to have a grand Latin American debut at the festival is Guillermo del Toro’s reimagining of “Pinocchio.” Part of the stop-motion sequences were shot by Mexican animators in Guadalajara, and the story is set during the rise of fascism in Mussolini’s Italy.
Unfortunately, del Toro will not be in attendance.
I’ll be catching glimpses of this country’s inner workings by viewing Mexican documentaries and short films at the festival. Many offerings have English subtitles. I’m also sure I’ll catch a few Mexican feature films, and when I do, they’ll likely be directed by a woman: eight of the 10 directors competing for the festival’s Best Mexican Feature award are women.
“We have always supported women,” Daniela Michel Concha, the festival’s artistic director of programming, said at a recent press conference. “Of the 2,000 filmmakers who have participated in Morelia over 19 years, there are practically half men and half women, so I feel very happy and proud that right now in this edition, there are eight out of 10 [in this category]. The commitment to them has been permanent.”
I’ll also enjoy seeing Mexican classics from the 1940s and 1950s — part of The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. The era is loaded with outstanding films and the films will have English subtitles. This year, offerings include the Hitchcockian “Él” (1953), by director Luis Buñuel and made in Mexico, and a nine-film tribute to Alejandro Galindo, one of the era’s finest directors. The salute includes a showing of “Una familia de tantas” (“A Family of Many”) from 1948 and “Los Fernández de Peralvillo” (1953), both which won Mexican Oscars.
The festival also has a penchant for showing old U.S. films partially set in Mexico. I’ll be sure to catch “One Way Street” (1950), a noir crime drama starring James Mason and Dan Duryea, showing on Oct. 25 at the Cinépolis Morelia Centro.
Guadalajara director Kenya Márquez’s short film “Aire” (“Air”), is a psychological thriller that examines how family traumas can span generations.
And speaking of old movies, the festival’s program includes four films starring the stoic U.S. actor Robert Mitchum:
“Out of the Past” (1947). Nearly 20% of the film takes place in what is said to be Acapulco, with Mitchum wearing a business suit and tie on the beach in one scene!
“The Big Steal” (1949). A man flees to Mexico with some stolen loot and Mitchum pursues him.
“His Kind of Woman” (1951). A down-on-his luck gambler accepts a mysterious job in Mexico. Costars Jane Russell, Vincent Price and Raymond Burr.
“The Wonderful Country” (1959). A Technicolor classic where Mitchum is an expat in Mexico hired to buy guns in the U.S. and bring them back.
For locations and times of any showings not given in this article, consult the festival’s bilingual schedule, which you can view or download as a PDF here.
There’s still more: more than 30 film premieres, including “Roost,” directed by Amy Redford — Robert Redford’s daughter — a selection of films from Critics’ Week at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, a couple of films about Ukraine and an Indigenous peoples’ forum that includes three features and seven short films.
Finally, American director and Oscar winner Barry Jenkins heads the 2022 guest list; four of his films will be shown, including the 2017 Academy Award Best Picture “Moonlight”:
Oct. 26 at 4:15 p.m., Cinépolis Morelia Centro in Sala 5
Oct. 28 at 8:30 p.m. Cinépolis Morelia Centro in Sala 1
Other guests include producer Frank Marshall (“Paper Moon,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”); Spanish actress Maribel Verdú; and French director Claire Denis.
For details on all the showings and events, visit the festival website, search the daily schedule or check out the virtual offerings on Cinépolis Klic, FilminLatino and Canal 22. The two Cinépolis locations will not require face masks, but screenings there will “be carried out under rigorous adherence to the Cinépolis new normal protocol.”
Andy Altman-Ohr is a former Oakland Tribune sports writer who later wrote about pastrami, bagels and hummus when he was managing editor of J. The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. He and his wife are semi-retired, spending much of their time in Morelia, Michoacán.
Local residents reported beaches streaked with oil and a foul smell along the coast.
A fuel oil spill contaminated four beaches in the Pacific coast city of Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, on Sunday, local authorities have confirmed.
The municipal government said that fuel oil leaked from a Pemex offshore platform known as a single buoy mooring or monobuoy.
The spill contaminated the Punta Conejo, Brasil, Salinas del Marqués and Azul beaches in Salina Cruz, a municipality on the southern coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec where the state oil company has a refinery.
Photos showed sand stained black with streaks of oil, while a foul smell was reported along the city’s coast. The spill, which affected some 10 kilometers of coastline, was first detected by local residents and fishermen.
Un derrame de hidrocarburo en la refinería Antonio Dovalí Jaime, de @pemex, provocó la contaminación de la mayoría de las playas en Salina Cruz, que fueron cerradas este domingo al público y a las actividades de pesca.
Footage of a Salinas Cruz beach stained with oil was shared by a state news outlet on Twitter.
Salina Cruz Civil Protection chief Rafael Ramírez said that Playa Brasil was the worst affected beach. Authorities have asked Pemex to clean up the beaches, which have been closed due to the spill.
“We already told Pemex what’s happening and the request is for them to start cleaning the beaches immediately,” Ramírez said. “What happened is concerning and cleaning up is urgent.”
Ramírez said that the cleanup would take several days and that the spill and beach closures would affect fishermen and beachside vendors and businesses. He said there had been no reports of the spill killing wildlife, but noted that a number of dead sea turtles recently appeared on Salina Cruz beaches and that the coastline has been contaminated on three other occasions this year.
“Fifteen olive ridley turtles appeared dead on the Salinas del Marqués and Brazil beaches about five days ago. Until now the cause [of their death] is unknown but it’s a concerning number of animals. … Hopefully Pemex can give us a response and tell us what’s happening because they can’t keep contaminating these natural spaces,” Ramírez said.
The stela was found in Uxmal, a Maya city founded around A.D. 700. INAH
In the archeological site of Uxmal in the Yucatán peninsula, a Maya stela depicting a god and a goddess has been discovered by a technical team headed by the archeologist José Huchim Herrera. The monument could represent the duality between life and death.
The director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History INAH, Diego Prieto, announced during AMLO’s Thursday press conference the finding of the Maya stela, which he said “is a commemorative dual stela because it is carved on both sides.”
The north-facing side of the monument features the figure of a goddess with big eyes, a bare chest, and barbels at the corner of the mouth, Prieto said. The imagery likely represents death, as such depictions were common in the Puuc and Chenes cultural regions in the southern Yucatán peninsula. The woman depicted is also holding a quetzal bird in her left hand and wears a pectoral decoration with three rows of pearls, bracelets with pearl details and a long skirt.
An INAH graphic highlighting features found on the north-facing side of the stela. INAH / Presidencia de la República
On the south-facing side, Prieto continued, the stela shows the image of a god with a wide-brimmed headdress adorned with feathers and an owl’s head, as well as bracelets, loincloth, and leg bandages. The man wears a cape and holds a cane in his left hand and a bundle of some kind in his right hand.
The stela was discovered as part of the Program for the Improvement of Archeological Sites (Promeza), which undertakes archaeological projects along the route of the Maya Train. The director of INAH said that “the importance of the discovery lies in the fact that it was found ‘in situ,’” meaning in the same place the Maya left it: the sunken patio of the ancient city of Uxmal.
Located 62 kilometers south of Mérida, the city of Uxmal is part of the Puuc Route (a collection of five ancient Maya sites in Yucatán) and was founded in A.D. 700. Uxmal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
