Demand for semiconductors has been accelerating worldwide. (Vishnu Mohanan/Unsplash)
Three technology companies will establish electronic semiconductor chip manufacturing plants in Jalisco and Baja California to meet worldwide demand, according to the head of the National Auto Parts Industry (INA) business chamber, Alberto Bustamante.
While Bustamante didn’t specify a location in Jalisco, he mentioned Mexicali as the location for a Baja California plant on Tuesday.
Industry leaders, including Alberto Bustamante (second from left) at the International Technology and Manufacturing Fair press conference. (@FITMALatam/Twitter)
During the announcement of the International Technology and Manufacturing Fair (FITMA), which will take place in June at the Citibanamex Center in Mexico City, Bustamante said that at least 200,000 units have been affected in Mexico by the semiconductor shortage.
“This doesn’t mean that the manufacturing of such cars came to a halt,” he said, “but that these units are finished and have not yet left the yards of automakers because they are waiting for the semiconductors.”
Since 2020, the disruption caused by COVID-19 lockdowns created a scenario where demand outstripped supply, causing automakers to fall behind in production.
Semiconductors, commonly called chips, are a central component in the manufacturing of consumer electronics such as smartphones, cameras, computers and cars. They are especially important for electric vehicles, which require more chips than gasoline-powered cars.
At the peak of the chip shortage in 2021, global auto production plummeted 26% during the first nine months of the year. Automakers built 3.23 million fewer vehicles than expected in North America in 2021.
Supply chain issues began to resolve in 2022, and J.P. Morgan has predicted a continued steady recovery in 2023.
“We’re nearing the end of the supply crunch after more semiconductor capacity came online in 2022. Looking ahead, we don’t predict any major constraints,” said Sandeep Deshpande, head of European Technology Research at J.P. Morgan.
As part of its promotion of strategic sectors in North America, Bustamante said, the U.S. government is pushing the installation of two semiconductor plants in that country to be ready by the end of this year, or the beginning of 2024.
Once these two plants open, chip shortages will no longer be an issue for the Mexican automotive industry, Bustamante stressed. The INA chief anticipates that semiconductor production would normalize “within the first six months of next year.”
“We are getting closer. As you would say: we already see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Although President López Obrador campaigned on promises to take the military off the streets, he has relied on the armed forces for a wide range of law enforcement and other tasks. He warned it would be a "grave" mistake for the court to rule against military control of the National Guard. (Omar Noyola/Cuartoscuro)
The Supreme Court (SCJN) ruled on Tuesday that the transfer of control over the National Guard from the civilian Security Ministry (SSPC) to the Defense Ministry (Sedena) was unconstitutional, a decision that President López Obrador asserted was based on political bias rather than legal criteria.
The federal Congress last September approved a bill backed by the president that modified four secondary laws and thus paved the way for the security force to be placed under the control of the armed forces.
Eight of the Supreme Court’s 11 justices voted to rule the transfer as unconstitutional, saying that the security force was inherently civilian in nature. (SCJN)
López Obrador argued that the National Guard needed to be under the control of the military to prevent corruption and guarantee the force’s professionalism.
At the time, opposition senators challenged the legislation passed by the ruling Morena party and its allies, arguing that it was unconstitutional. The National Guard was established in 2019 under a constitutionally-enshrined civilian command.
Eight of 11 Supreme Court justices agreed Tuesday that the reform bill was unconstitutional.
The court noted in a statement that it had invalidated the transfer to Sedena of “organic, administrative, budgetary and managerial” control over the National Guard as the constitution “expressly establishes” that the force “will be a civilian entity” and that its “actions, plans and programs” are the responsibility of the civilian Security Ministry.
Justice Loretta Ortiz Ahlf was one of the justices who voted in favor of the reform’s constitutionality. (File photo/Twitter)
The Supreme Court also invalidated the power of the federal defense minister to nominate the chief of the National Guard and the reform’s rule that the Guard must be headed by a high-ranking military official.
In addition, the court ruled that National Guard personnel who were previously military police cannot continue to be considered active members of the military as that situation “distorted the civilian character” of the Guard and violated the constitution.
Supreme Court Justice Javier Laynez, one of the eight who voted to invalidate the transfer of control, said that giving operational and administrative responsibility for the National Guard to Sedena amounted to constitutional “fraud.”
The court’s ruling deals a significant blow to López Obrador, who has relied heavily on the military for public security and a range of other nontraditional tasks since he took office in late 2018.
Without military control, the president has argued, the National Guard is at risk of succumbing to corruption, as he claims occurred with the now-defunct Federal Police.
López Obrador said last week that declaring the transfer of control over the National Guard to Sedena as unconstitutional would be a “grave” and “enormous” mistake. He urged the SCJN justices to take into account that the Federal Police had been “completely spoiled” and “corrupted” under civilian leadership, including that of former security minister Genaro García Luna, who was convicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges earlier this year.
At Wednesday’s presidential press conference, Ana Elizabeth Vilchis ended her weekly “Who’s Who in the Lies of the Week” segment saying that the SCJN ruling “leaves citizens with the possibility of returning to the times of Genaro García Luna,” who was convicted of colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel during the presidencies of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón. (Cuartoscuro)
U.S. prosecutors argued that García Luna took millions in bribes from and colluded with the Sinaloa Cartel to protect its drug trafficking activities in Mexico and the United States.
At his Wednesday morning news conference, the president asserted that the eight justices who invalidated the transfer of control “acted in a partisan way,” employing political rather than legal criteria and “defending the old practices of the authoritarian and corrupt regime.”
The Supreme Court “responded to the interests” of the elite and didn’t listen to “the voice of the people,” López Obrador said.
Opposition parties, government critics and some human rights organizations pointed to the transfer of control over the National Guard to the army as another example of the militarization of Mexico that they say has occurred during the current government.
President of the National Action Party, Marko Cortés, said on Twitter that the Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday was a “triumph in the face of Morena’s authoritarianism.”
Alejandro Moreno, a federal deputy and president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, said that the ruling was a “good move to guarantee the civilian character of the National Guard.”
Supreme Court Justice Javier Laynez said giving the Defense Ministry administrative and operational responsibility over the civilian force amounted to constitutional “fraud.” (Screen capture)
“That’s why we voted against [the transfer of control] in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Militarization is not the solution to the nation’s problems. Building a safer and more peaceful Mexico is possible through civilian institutions,” he wrote on Twitter.
López Obrador, who pledged to withdraw the military from the nation’s streets before he took office, has denied the claim he is militarizing the country, despite putting the National Guard under Sedena’s control and giving the armed forces responsibility for a wide range of tasks including public security, infrastructure construction and the management of customs and ports.
Almost 130,000 National Guard troops and tens of thousands of soldiers and marines are deployed across Mexico to carry out public security tasks, but violent crime, including homicides, remains a major problem in some parts of the country.
The government is also attempting to address the root causes of crime through the distribution of welfare and provision of social programs such as a youth apprenticeship scheme and a tree-planting employment program.
The National Guard has been criticized for lacking the capacity to investigate crimes, and the conduct of some of its members has been the subject of criminal investigations. Guardsmen are accused of killing two people including a pregnant teenager in an allegedly unprovoked attack in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, last Sunday.
Antolín Jiménez, a Mexican Revolution veteran and politician, convinced Mexico's President Camacho to form the Legion of Mexican Guerillas, made up of experts in Mexico's tradition of charrería, or horsemanship, to fight a potential Nazi invasion. (Mexican National Archives)
In the beginning of 1942, the Mexican government was relatively unconcerned about World War II. Europe was far away. It was not Mexico’s war.
But when the nation did finally join the war, it turned to an unlikely source for their front line of defense: the Legion of Mexican Guerrillas — a network of charros (think Mexican cowboys) throughout the country, who were trained to fight the Nazis if they invaded Mexico.
Mexico’s charros were an old tradition by World War II; they came into being during the colonial era when Spanish landowners needed men to protect their haciendas. (Fernando Llanos)
The threat was very real: Hitler was interested in Mexico’s oil reserves.
According to German historian Friederich Katz, the Nazi party had penetrated the political and economic life of Mexico through the backing of big German companies. Historians and writers have documented the influence the Third Reich had on the German community here. In the Mexican capital, there were episodes of violence against Jews, Chinese, communists, and trade unionists. Swastika flags waved at the doors of German businesses.
Then, in May of 1942, the unthinkable happened: a German submarine torpedoed and sank two Mexican oil tankers — the Potrero del Llano and the Faja de Oro – in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho gave up neutrality and declared war on the Axis powers — Germany, Italy and Japan — on May 28, 1942.
This propaganda poster shows how Mexico sought to connect a declaration of war by Camacho — on the far right — with Mexico’s previous fights for freedom and egalitarianism. He’s accompanied by Mexico’s previous war heroes — Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juárez and Francisco I. Madero. (National Archives at College Park)
But Mexico’s army and air force were small and had not been professionally trained. Sophisticated equipment was nonexistent — they had no tanks, no combat planes and no submarines. Camacho would have to rely on the patriotism and ingenuity of the Mexican people. At the end of his speech declaring war, the president appealed to the nation: “Mexico expects each of its children to fulfill his duty.”
Antolín Jiménez Gamas — a patriotic ex–combatant of the Mexican Revolution and President of the National Association of Charros — responded to the president’s call to action. He proposed that the charros be organized as a militia to fight the Nazis if they invaded the country.
Charrería — the horsemanship tradition still practiced by charros today — dates back to the Spanish conquest, when they were enlisted to protect the haciendas of wealthy landowners. These charros were skilled horsemen and knew how to use machetes and pistols.
Camacho agreed to his proposal, and with his backing, Jiménez formed the Legion of Mexican Guerrillas two months later.
He then enlisted the help of his friend, former President Lazáro Cárdenas (1934-1940) — a general in the Mexican Revolution and Secretary of National Defense under Camacho — and other ex-combatants of the Revolution to train the charros in military strategy and guerrilla tactics. The charros trained every Sunday for the next year in preparation for a Nazi invasion.
With the declaration of war, ideologies were stirred up in the capital. Nazi sympathizers came out of anonymity to demonstrate their loyalty to Germany. Even intellectuals like José Vasconcelos — a nationalist — leaned towards Nazi Germany.
One example of the strain of German-influenced fascism that existed in Mexico City in the 1930s: the Revolutionary Mexicanist Action, also known as The Gold Shirts, sought to expel Chinese and Jewish persons, as well as communists, from Mexico. They had the support of Germany’s Nazi Party. (INAH)
Loyalties in Mexico City’s German community were divided. Many prominent German emigrants opposed the war and became part of the Free Germany movement.
The charros — proud Mexican men in traditional costume sitting astride their horses — became a patriotic symbol to the nation. Their motto was “Everything for the Homeland.” To their supporters, they symbolized the “good guys”, opposing the Nazis, the emblematic figure of the “bad guys.”
Newspapers across Mexico proudly touted the fact that Jiménez had organized 150,000 charros stationed at 250 locations throughout the nation to fight the Nazis.
Although it may seem silly now — even absurd — to envision charros with machetes and pistols standing up to the Nazis’ heavily armored tanks and combat planes, the charros took their role in the war very seriously.
In Mexican history there are often contrasts — sometimes conflicts — between tradition and modernity.
Camacho, confident that the charros would protect the homeland, looked for other ways to assist the allies in the war effort. He created the Mexican Expeditionary Air Force (FAEM).
Charros and charrería still exist today, although mostly as a sport. (Cyndepaul/Wikimedia Commons)
Ever since the Mexican-American war the United States and Mexico had an uneasy relationship. Camacho would usher in a new era of cooperation by fighting the Nazis side-by-side with the Americans.
The United States needed raw materials for the production of tanks and planes. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Camacho forged an alliance. Mexico would provide the Americans with the raw materials they needed, and in return the United States would provide Mexico with planes and pilot training.
The 300 members of the 201 Squadron of the Expeditionary Air Force — known as the Aztec Eagles — were sent to the United States for training. After months of intense training exercises — in June of 1943 — the Aztec Eagles were sent to East Asia to fight the Japanese in the Philippines. They fought side-by-side with the American pilots who were impressed with their courage and fierceness.
The war ended September 2, 1945 when Japan surrendered–the Aztec Eagles returned home to a hero’s welcome. The Nazis never invaded Mexico, so the Legion of Mexican Guerrillas – although considered heroes – never got to fight and disbanded.
The story of Antolín Jiménez and the Legion of Mexican Guerrillas was not widely known until 2014, when Jiménez’s grandson Fernando Llanos — a documentary filmmaker – found his grandfather’s memorabilia and press clippings from World War II.
It was a family history his family had never revealed to him . In the process of researching his grandfather, Llanos discovered that Jiménez had also been a 33-degree Freemason, one of the founders of PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party), a publisher, and had been elected to the Chamber of Deputies three times.
He knew he had to tell Jiménez’s story.
After four years of research, Llanos produced and released the documentary “Matria” in 2014 — a tribute to his grandfather and the charros who were prepared to fight a Nazi invasion. It won the award for best documentary at the 2014 Morelia International Film Festival.
Llanos said at the time that if he had to sum up his grandfather’s life, it would be with the motto Todo por la Patria.
The National Association of Charros still exists today, and the equestrian tradition of charrería is practiced throughout Mexico. In 2016, UNESCO named charrería to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, citing it as an important element of the identity and cultural heritage of the communities that hold this tradition and the important social values—such as respect and equality – one it continues to transmit to new generations.
Trailer, Matria
The trailer for the documentary “Matria,” written and directed by Jimenez’s grandson, Fernando Llanos. It was released in 2014 and won the top documentary prize at that year’s Morelia International Film Festival.
Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive and professional researcher. She spent 45 years in national politics in the United States. She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance research and writing.
Elena Reygadas, founder of Mexico City's influential Rosetta restaurant, "is among those most dedicated to moving gastronomy into a positive direction," said the World's 50 Best Restaurants in selecting her as 2023's best female chef. (The World's 50 Best Restaurants)
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants has named Elena Reygadas, owner of Mexico City’s Rosetta, as the world’s best female chef of 2023.
The award ceremony will be held in Valencia, Spain, in June.
When Reygadas began her signature restaurant, Rosetta, she was inspired by Italian cuisine, although she’s also come to champion more Mexican traditional foods that are not as well-known outside Mexico. (Rosetta/Facebook)
In a process audited by Deloitte, Reygadas won the majority of votes cast by 1,080 culinary experts from 27 regions around the world, including writers, food critics and restaurateurs.
The chef’s commitment to her mission was key to her victory.
“Growing into her role as a chef of global influence, Reygadas is among those most dedicated to moving gastronomy into a positive direction and making it a crucial part of conversation about modern culture,” The World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization said in a statement.
Although Reygadas started Rosetta inspired by Italian cuisine, her menu has moved toward including Mexican ingredients such as the izote flower, piloncillo, margarita scallops, the epazote herb, the edible corn fungus known as huitlacoches, as well as quelites (wild greens), to name a few.
Rosetta emphasizes seasonal, local ingredients on her menu. “The world is so homogenized that it’s vital that everyone use ingredients rooted in their territory to conserve the planet and its cultural biodiversity,” Reygadas says. (The World’s 50 Best Restaurants)
“The world is so homogenized that it’s vital that everyone use ingredients rooted in their territory to conserve the planet and its cultural biodiversity,” Reygadas told the newspaper El País.
Among Reygadas’ most recognizable creations, according to World’s 50 Best Restaurants, are savoy cabbage tacos with pistachio pipián sauce, sweet potato ravioli with matcha and corn tamales with smoked cream.
Born in Mexico City in 1976, Reygadas studied English Literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). After graduation, she decided to pursue another path, enrolling at the French Culinary Institute in New York (now the International Culinary Centre) to become a cook. She then worked in London at the Michelin-starred restaurant Locanda Locatelli alongside chef-owner Giorgio Locatelli.
During her time there, Reygadas learned about the key principles of Italian cuisine – respect for ingredients, hospitality and seasonality – and employed them at Rosetta when it opened in Mexico City in 2010.
With a passion for bread, Reygadas also studied ancient artisanal baking traditions and revived the technique of slow fermentation to develop her own recipe. Her success as a baker led her to open a bakery, Panadería Rosetta, located just a few meters from Rosetta and widely recognized for its staple guava roll.
Rosetta has been voted into eight editions of the Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list and is currently ranked No. 37 in the region. Last year, Rosetta made its first appearance in the extended list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, coming in at No. 60.
Reygadas has three other restaurants and cafés in Mexico City. Panadería Rosetta, a bakery, allows her to indulge has passion for bread. (Galo Cañas Rodriguez/Cuartoscuro)
In addition to Rosetta, Reygadas owns Lardo, Café Nin and Bella Aurora in Mexico City, which are more laid-back. Her restaurants employ a total of 410 people.
Reygadas’ passion for culinary culture and health has also pushed her to write. In a series of texts she calls cuadernos (notebooks) that she makes available at Rosetta, she seeks to raise awareness and encourage conversations about how health, culture and the environment converge in gastronomy.
Symbolizing her ambition to educate others, a scholarship bearing the chef’s name seeks to help young women pursue a career in gastronomy.
For Reygadas, being named the world’s best female chef gives her confidence in her work and that of her team, as she recognizes she hasn’t earned this award alone, she said.
“The awards give visibility and security to be able to continue working as a team. I’m just the face, but cooking is pure collaboration,” she said to El País.
Chiapas state police, along with members of the military have had a presence in the city since the killing of artisan leader Jerónimo Ruiz. (Internet)
The murder of artisan leader Jerónimo Ruiz on Monday has led to shootouts between armed groups in the popular tourist city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, which caused the closure of schools as well as businesses and triggered a US government security alert.
Ruiz, who was the head of the Association of Traditional Market Tenants of Chiapas (Almetrach), was killed in a drive-by shooting.
Ruiz was shot whilst getting into his car. He reportedly had ties to local drug traffickers. (@Charro_Negro_Mx/Twitter)
His murder has been met with reprisals, and local newspaper El Heraldo de Chiapas has reported burning vehicles and “shootouts between two armed groups.” Social networks have also carried videos of burning buildings and crowds fleeing gunshots.
Photographs on social media show two men on a motorcycle were shot dead later that day, bringing the death toll in the city to three. While many attribute the killings as related to Ruiz’s murder, it is unclear whether the killings of the two men is related.
Schools and shops have been closed as a result of the violence.
While it is yet to be officially confirmed, local reports cite paramilitary forces in the area, and the “Los Motonetos” gang as responsible for Ruiz’s killing, which according to the newspaper Infobae are attributed by locals with kidnappings, extortion and other criminal activity. There are a number of self-proclaimed autodefensas — or “self-defense forces” — in Chiapas, which is Mexico’s poorest state according to 2020 data.
Jeronimo Ruiz, led an organization of artisan vendors active in San Cristobal’s popular Santo Domingo market.
Almetrach itself has been accused of operating as a gang, threatening market employees, and forcing local artisans to pay a derecho de piso “tax” to the guild in order to be allowed to operate in the area. Almetrach is most active around the Santo Domingo market, one of San Cristóbal’s top tourist attractions.
June 2022 also saw armed confrontations reportedly involving market sellers and Los Motonetos.
The United States embassy issued a security alert warning against travel to the area.
“U.S. Embassy Mexico City has received reports of violence in San Cristóbal, Chiapas, following the killing of a local businessman,” said a statement on the embassy website. “On the evening of April 17, media reported the presence of large numbers of armed individuals in the Ojo de Agua neighborhood. In addition, there were reports of gunfire in the Zona Norte and military convoy movement in the area … U.S. citizens should exercise increased caution if traveling in or around San Cristóbal.”
In recent years, Chiapas has suffered from a rash of violence since allegedly becoming a new trafficking hotspot for drugs en route from South and Central America.
Querétaro presents an opportunity for cargo handlers when Mexico City International Airport stops accepting cargo in July, say local politicians. (Miguel Vega Hernández/Wikimedia)
The international airports in Querétaro, Mérida, and Mexico City topped the charts as Mexico’s fastest-growing cargo terminals in the first two months of 2023.
Handling 12,300 tons of cargo and registering 15.9% growth compared to the same period in 2022, Querétaro International Airport had the fastest cargo handling growth in the country.
Mexico City International Airport (AICM), seen here in 2021, remains the airport with the highest tonnage, despite seeing less growth than Querétaro or Merida. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
In second place was Mérida International Airport, which registered a volume of 4,100 tons and an annual growth of 10.8%.
Rounding out the top three was Mexico City International Airport (AICM). While the airport handles more than half of the cargo shipments in Mexico (52.1%), its growth was below that of Querétaro and Mérida at 10.1% – with a total of 95,700 tons handled in January and February.
In fourth place was Monterrey airport, in Nuevo León, with a volume of 10,900 tons and an annual increase of 2.2%. Ranking at No. 5 is Tijuana, with 1.7% growth and handling 5,200 tons of cargo.
According to the newspaper El Economista, Querétaro’s growth confirms the airport as an alternative to Mexico City, which will stop receiving air cargo operations in July, according to a presidential decree issued in February. The Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in Mexico City also started to handle cargo traffic in March.
Querétaro state’s Minister of Sustainable Development Marco Antonio del Prete Tercero has said that in the short term, Querétaro’s airport could handle between 10% to 15% of the cargo currently shipped to Mexico City.
Querétaro’s capacity, he said, draws from its eight cargo positions, an audited area, internal customs and 10,000 square meters of covered warehouses with refrigerated rooms.
Members of the National Guard were accused of attacking a civilian vehicle in Nuevo Laredo and killing two people on Sunday, including a pregnant girl. (@GN_MEXICO_)
A pregnant 15-year-old girl and a 54-year-old man died from injuries they sustained when presumed members of the National Guard (GN) opened fire on their vehicle without apparent reason in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, on Sunday.
The driver and two other passengers in the vehicle, an SUV with Texas license plates, were wounded, according to the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee (CDHNL), a nongovernmental organization. The occupants of the vehicle were family members and friends who were reportedly traveling to a social event shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday.
Guardsmen stand watch over the scene of the shooting incident on Sunday. The red vehicle in the background is the vehicle that was fired upon. (Internet)
A GN artilleryman shot at the vehicle at least 86 times, CDHNL president Raymundo Ramos said in an interview.
Miriam Mariana “F.” who was eight months pregnant, died in hospital on Monday. Doctors reportedly performed a cesarean section but her baby was stillborn. Jesús Felipe “G,” who was shot in his hip and thigh, died at the scene of the attack.
An adolescent boy, a 24-year-old woman and the 24-year-old man who was driving the SUV were wounded and taken to hospital for treatment.
The seemingly unprovoked attack came less than two months after soldiers fired at a vehicle in Nuevo Laredo, in which a group of seven apparently unarmed men were traveling. Federal prosecutors last week formally charged four soldiers with murdering five of the men.
Luis Adán Rodríguez Santiago, the driver, told authorities that after he realized that the car was being fired upon, he swerved into another lane, lost control of the vehicle and collided with a highway barrier. (Screen capture)
According to a complaint filed by the CDHNL on Monday, the driver of the SUV that came under attack on Sunday noticed that a GN patrol vehicle was following him.
The driver, who was in a relationship with the pregnant teenager, said that the patrol vehicle suddenly opened fire on his vehicle. The man, identified as Luis Adán Rodríguez Santiago, said he swerved into the other lane on the highway before losing control of his vehicle and colliding with a lane barrier.
Rodríguez, who was shot in his back and reported to be in serious condition, said he attempted to reach his wounded girlfriend.
“I was moving toward her, she was bleeding and the [GN] troops shouted at me, ‘Don’t come any closer, asshole, we’re going to kill you!’” he said, according to the CDHNL complaint, which was addressed to President López Obrador, the federal ministers of the Interior and National Defense and the head of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).
“They just looked at us, then I hugged [Miriam] and … the National Guard troops left,” Rodríguez said.
Another GN patrol car reached the scene minutes later and called for ambulances that transported the victims to hospital.
Nuevo Laredo’s Human Rights Commission head Raymundo Ramos, whose agency has filed a complaint against the National Guard on the civilians’ behalf, said that authorities must not “cover up” for or “protect” the guardsmen involved in the attack. (File photo by Moisés Pablo Nava/Cuartoscuro)
An official crime scene report largely matched the account of the shooting in the CDHNL complaint. The report said that 83 spent bullet casings were found on the Libramiento Vial Mex II highway where the SUV crashed into a barrier.
Verónica Treviño, the 24-year-old woman wounded in the attack, told investigators from her hospital bed that the National Guard “started to shoot at us without any apparent reason.”
Another passenger told investigators that the GN may have been chasing a truck full of gunmen who had fired at the patrol vehicle. The passenger said that their SUV may have accidentally bumped into the GN vehicle when it was passing, possibly leading members of the security force to believe that they were involved in the attack.
Ramos, the CDHNL’s president, called on authorities including the National Guard to not let the aggressors get away with the crime.
“The National Guard knows who the troops who attacked the family are,” he said.
Ramos said that authorities must not “cover up” for or “protect” the guardsmen involved in the attack.
Senator Ricardo Monreal, the head of the federal Congress’ armed forces oversight committee, said that it will be meeting on April 24 to review the armed forces’ performance in the sphere of public safety. (Government of Tamaulipas)
“They have to face justice,” he said, asserting that the hands of those responsible are “stained with blood.”
Ramos said that once GN personnel saw that there were no weapons or drugs in the SUV they quickly left the scene without providing any assistance to the victims. The pregnant teenager could have survived if she had received first aid promptly, he said.
In the CDHNL complaint, Ramos urged López Obrador to order an “exhaustive, urgent and transparent investigation” into the incident. The Federal Attorney General’s Office will likely investigate the case as it involves the National Guard, a federal security force that was recently placed under the control of the Ministry of National Defense.
Six of its members were arrested in 2020 in connection with the murder of a woman who was killed after attending a protest at the La Boquilla dam in Chihuahua.
Levin, an expat artist and architect, is making a name for himself in Oaxaca city with his gallery and café, Once in Oaxaca. (@Bucketlistbri/Instagram)
Jaime Levin is a 29-year-old expat artist and architect making a name for himself in Oaxaca city with his gallery and café, Once in Oaxaca. In this profile, Levin talks about why he swapped the Australian coast and an architecture career in Denmark for living the Mexican dream in Oaxaca.
From murals adorning stone walls of several city hotspots, to hand-drawn city maps in bustling cafes and restaurants, Levin’s work is never far from the view of keen-eyed tourists and residents of the city.
Jaime Levin at work in his studio at the café/gallery he owns in Oaxaca city. (@Bucketlistbri/Instagram)
In March, he celebrated one year since opening his own gallery, and he has exciting plans for expansion across Mexico.
On the table at his café where we meet to chat, there are two elegant carrot cupcakes from chef Miri Cole and an espresso from local coffee roasting company Nómada. Next to the coffee machine, I can see Levin’s famous city maps, his illustrated children’s book and custom-designed mezcal bottles.
We’re in Barrio de Jalatlaco — the second oldest, and arguably, the most trendy neighborhood in the city.
“When I first arrived in Oaxaca in 2019, I was delivering sandwiches for a coffee shop and had a rough plan to stay and learn Spanish. Then I discovered the architecture here, and it blew me away. The buildings, streets, ceramics, everything … I spent my free time drawing the city in my sketchbook,” Levin explains.
Levin got his start in Oaxaca by drawing the buildings he saw in the city as he worked delivering sandwiches. (onceinoaxaca.mx)
“I was meeting lots of different local people on my delivery runs and started speaking to them in broken Spanish about my drawings. I found the people of Oaxaca were really taken by my drawings of buildings they grew up with. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I felt there was a connection there.”
Running his own gallery and creating his artistic brand, which has garnered thousands of followers on Instagram, wasn’t a formal plan. It started when Levin decided to turn his sketches into postcards.
He stands up from our table to dash inside to bring me his first collection of pocket-sized drawings.
“I showed cafés these drawings of their buildings, and they were very happy to put them for sale next to the bread and pastries.”
Six months later, the onset of the pandemic caused Levin’s life — like most of ours — to take unexpected turns. With cafés and restaurants closing, the demand for his drawings fell and he needed to adapt quickly.
“For several long evenings, I talked for hours with friends who owned cafés — which were forced to close — about what we could do to keep their businesses alive,” he said. “The conversations all seemed to point to one avenue — growing a social media presence.”
Levin’s hand-drawn maps can be found in cafés and restaurants around Oaxaca city.
This marked a turning point in Levin’s career in Mexico. Under the name “Once in Oaxaca,” he began uploading his illustrations on Instagram, growing a loyal following of local people, businesses and tourists. At the same time, he started an Etsy shop and began selling his art and accepting commissions for larger works.
“It was a crazy time, but it helped me realize [that] opening my own physical gallery had to be the project’s next step.”
During the summer of 2021, he found the ideal location for his first gallery.
“This space was a blank canvas. It was the first time I could design a commercial space in Oaxaca, and my architectural mind was going wild! I designed every detail in there, from the chairs [and] tables to individual shelves and wall hangings,” he said. “I loved meeting people who could help me realize the vision, and this really showed me the huge potential in collaborating with other creatives here.”
Almost an hour into our conversation, as he begins to tell me about his favorite collaboration — a children’s book illustrated and launched with speech therapist, Viri Pacheco to help young children overcome speech impediments — we’re interrupted by two friendly faces who congratulate Levin on his one-year anniversary.
A steady flow of locals and tourists have been arriving since the café opened an hour ago at 8 a.m. The place won’t close its doors for another 12 hours — a routine Levin keeps seven days per week, all year round.
“It’s hard work, but I love the process of growing, and my team is fantastic. I need to give my time to give it the best chance of success,” he said.
“I don’t think the project would have been possible in Australia or in Denmark,” Levin says of his growing artistic career. “I feel so much more free to work creatively here.”
Following the rapid growth of Once in Oaxaca, Levin opened his second creative space — Micha — six months later in October 2022 with his girlfriend Ingrid Flores, a designer who is working on clothing and furniture design. He says that he hopes to expand nationally, into Mexico City and Mérida.
I ask what drives his obsessive work ethic and what motivates him.
“I’m not from here, but when Oaxacan people come by who know the buildings I’ve drawn and tell me they love the way I’ve captured it, in a way a photo can’t … to me, that’s the coolest thing ever,” he said.
“I don’t think the project would have been possible in Australia or in Denmark,” he added. “I feel so much more free to work creatively here, and the support and guidance has been fantastic.
“I feel like anything is possible!”
Once in Oaxaca is located at Curtidurias 121C, Barrio de Jalatlaco, 68080 Oaxaca de Juarez.
Gordon Cole-Schmidt is a public relations specialist and freelance journalist, advising and writing on companies and issues across multi-national communication programs.
President López Obrador has accused the United States government of “abusive interference” and espionage after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) revealed that it had infiltrated the Sinaloa Cartel.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that it had unsealed charges against 28 high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel members, including three known as “Los Chapitos” – the children of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
At an April 14 press conference, DEA Administrator Anne Milgram revealed that the department had infiltrated the Sinaloa Cartel and the Chapitos network without the authorization of Mexican authorities. (DEA/Facebook)
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram told a press conference that the DEA “proactively infiltrated the Sinaloa Cartel and the Chapitos network” over the past year and a half. The law enforcement agency “obtained unprecedented access to the organization’s highest levels, and followed them across the world,” she said.
Milgram also said that the Chapitos, one of whom is the recently-detained Ovidio Guzmán, “pioneered the manufacture and trafficking of fentanyl, … flooded it into the United States for the past eight years and killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.”
López Obrador said Monday that the DEA carried out its infiltration operation in Mexico without the authorization of federal authorities. He pledged to raise the issue with the United States.
“There can’t be foreign agents in our country, no. We can share information, but those who can intervene [in Mexico] are elements of the Mexican Army, the Navy, the National Guard and the federal Attorney General’s Office,” he said.
Last year, the Mexican government shut down operations of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), the elite DEA team that had operated in the country since 1997. (lopezobrador.org.mx).
López Obrador said that the DEA’s infiltration of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico amounted to “arrogant” and “abusive interference” that “mustn’t be accepted under any circumstances.”
“How can they be spying! … Acts of espionage cannot be used,” he said.
“It’s not the same time as before. I’ve already said it here — during the government of Felipe Calderón … [the United States] brought everything but the kitchen sink into the country; they were allowed [to]. They had an overly intense relationship with the Ministry of the Navy, and the time came when it wasn’t cooperation but rather subordination of the …navy to the United States agencies,” López Obrador said.
He said that the United States Department of State and Department of Justice need to “put things in order” because “everything is very loose.”
Ex-DEA boss Nicholas Palmeri was fired in 2022 for improper conduct while leading operations in Mexico. (Photo: DEA).
The president questioned how the U.S. government could “blindly trust” DEA agents when “it is proven that many of them — or some, so as not to exaggerate — maintain, or maintained, links with organized crime.”
López Obrador specifically cited the case of the DEA’s former top official in Mexico, Nicholas Palmeri, who was ousted last year due to improper contact with lawyers for drug traffickers.
He also spoke about U.S. government links to Genaro García Luna, Mexico’s former federal security minister under former President Felipe Calderón. García Luna was convicted in New York on drug trafficking charges in February.
López Obrador’s condemnation of the U.S. government’s “interference” in Mexico comes just days after high-ranking officials from the two countries met in Washington D.C. to discuss bilateral security cooperation, especially joint efforts to combat the trafficking of synthetic drugs and firearms.
Among the topics discussed at a recent security meeting in Washington D.C. was fentanyl trafficking from Mexico to the United States. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)
The president said that the DEA’s unauthorized infiltration operation in Mexico would not affect the ongoing security cooperation, but he rebuked the U.S. government for perpetuating its “bad habits” of the past.
He said last month that the U.S. government thinks it is “the government of the world,” but he has avoided making any direct criticism of President Joe Biden.
The fire at a provisional detention center left 40 migrants dead (Juan Ortega Solís/Cuartoscuro).
The head of the National Immigration Institute (INM) in Chihuahua has been formally accused of homicide three weeks after a fatal fire in a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juárez.
Salvador González Guerrero, a former rear admiral in the Mexican Navy, was arrested in Ciudad Juárez on Sunday, accused of homicide, causing injury and illicit exercise of public service at a court hearing on Monday morning.
INM Chihuahua Commissioner Salvador González Guerrero, second from right, at an event in December to collect clothes and blankets for migrants in Asuncion, Chihuahua. (INM)
The March 27 fire claimed the lives of 40 Central American and South American male migrants and injured 25 others.
The Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said last Tuesday that González and three other INM officials were “directly linked to conduct that caused homicides and injuries” to the detained migrants. All four have now been arrested.
González was taken into custody despite having obtained an injunction against his arrest. The court order was, however, unable to prevent his arrest as it didn’t preclude detention on charges of homicide, for which mandatory preventive prison applies in Mexico.
The official said in court on Monday that he wasn’t shown an arrest warrant and wasn’t informed of his rights when he was arrested in a Ciudad Juárez restaurant on Sunday afternoon.
The incident sparked protests all over the country and calls for accountability on the part of INM officials. (Juan Ortega Solis/Cuartoscuro)
According to lawyers representing victims of the deadly blaze, González gave an order for the migrants to be left in locked cells at the Ciudad Juárez detention center despite the outbreak of a fire.
A video posted to social media showed that the migrants were left in the cells as the fire burned and the area filled with smoke. A security guard and an INM agent appeared to evacuate the building without unlocking the door to the section where the migrants were detained.
Three INM agents and a security guard were arrested late last month, as was a Venezuelan man who allegedly started the fire by setting mattresses alight when he and other migrants were informed that they were going to be deported or moved to another immigration facility.
National Migration Institute (INM) national director Francisco Garduño, in foreground, is scheduled to appear in court later this week, but he still remains INM’s chief for now. (@fgymexico/Twitter)
The FGR announced last week that it has also started criminal proceedings against INM director Francisco Garduño and the agency’s director of immigration control and verification, Antonio Molina Díaz.
They are accused of “failing to fulfill their duty to supervise, protect and provide security to the people and facilities” under their control, the FGR said in a statement.
Both have been summoned to appear in court later this week. Garduño remains INM chief despite the prospect that he will stand trial in connection with last month’s fire, one of the deadliest incidents involving migrants in Mexico in recent decades.
