Workers, guests and furniture were thrown out of the hotel Coco Unlimited, before they struck a deal with prosecutors and were allowed to return. Three other hotels were less fortunate. (Via Quinta Fuerza)
Three hotels in the coastal area of Tulum were evicted Wednesday morning, apparently due to a dispute between the properties and the company Santa María S. de R. L.
Workers and even guests had to leave the hotels when agents of the Quintana Roo Prosecutor’s Office and the police began the eviction pursuant to orders of two civil courts based in the municipality of Solidaridad.
The affected hotels were Orchid Beach House, Tatich Tulum and Kuuxum. Although agents of the Prosecutor’s Office also arrived at the hotel Coco Unlimited, the eviction there was suspended. According to the newspaper Milenio, this was the only lodging center in which actuaries and owners reached an agreement for guests and workers to return to the place as well as hotel furniture that had already been evicted.
The newspaper La Jornada Maya reported that the operation lasted more than four hours and ended in the afternoon. Since cargo trucks were parked outside the properties for employees to load the furniture, traffic was affected.
According to La Jornada Maya, the company Santa María S. de R. L. argues it owns the hotel properties. Other hotel owners reportedly said they were surprised to learn that lawsuits between the Pino Suárez ejido and hotels over property ownership continue to take place.
Milenio reported that none of the owners or managers involved in the evictions gave statements about what happened.
Although this festivity could be considered a follow-up celebration to Kings Day, La Candelaria has its origins in biblical events: Catholic tradition recounts that the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus went to the temple 40 days after the baby’s birth, so that the mother could be “purified” as mandated by the Law of Moses, also known as the Torah. The Virgin Mary also brought candles to the temple to be blessed, giving the holiday its name.
However, Día de la Candelaria is also influenced by another event. At the end of the 15th century, two shepherds found an image of the Virgin Mary on the seashore of the Canary Islands in Spain. The Virgin was later named Candelaria.
Eventually, baby Jesus’s presentation at the temple, the Virgin Mary’s purification and the commemoration of the Spanish Virgin Mary of Candelaria started to be celebrated together, leading to the modern Día de la Candelaria. This tradition arrived in America as part of the Spanish Conquest.
As usually happens, the tradition evolved in different ways across Latin America. In Mexico, tamales were fortunately added to the festivities because Feb. 2 was also a special day for the Mexica people (ancient inhabitants of today’s Valley of Mexico).
On this date, the Mexicas celebrated the start of the planting season with the blessing of the corn that would later be planted as a tribute to Tlaloc, the god of rain, asking for a good harvest. With the Spanish conquest, the blessing of the corn stopped and instead the Mexicas would only eat tamales.
A person who gets a slice of king cake with a figurine hidden inside on Kings Day is responsible for providing the tamales come Día de la Candelaria. (Graciela López Herrera / Cuartoscuro.com)
Today, many Indigenous communities still bless the ears of corn that will serve as seeds for the planting season.
Another tradition associated with Día de la Candelaria is the dressing-up of baby Jesus dolls and figurines in elaborate costumes. This tradition was also born in Mexico but in more recent times (1912). It mandates that 40 days after Christmas, baby Jesus must be removed from the nativity scene and covered up with fine fabrics. Nowadays, the baby Jesus is dressed up with all types of outfits made from organza, satin, silk, chamois and taffeta and with sequins, pearls and glitter. During the COVID pandemic, baby Jesus figurines even wore face masks.
According to newspaper Milenio, Mexican families dress up their baby Jesus figurines as a way to strengthen their faith in hard and difficult times. Milenio also reported that on average, people spend between 40 pesos and 300 pesos (US $2 to $16) on an outfit for the baby Jesus.
This tradition is mostly celebrated in Mexico City, where there is an area of Talavera Street in the La Mercerd neighborhood dedicated solely to the selling of baby Jesus outfits. The area was designated as a Cultural Corridor in 2011 by then-Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard.
Protesters gathered in the Zócalo , saying "No to Cabotage", referring to the possible right of foreign airlines to fly national routes. (ASPA Prensa Twitter)
Aviation sector workers protested in Mexico City on Tuesday against a legislative proposal to allow foreign airlines to fly domestic routes in Mexico.
On Tuesday members of the National Union of Workers, which encompasses the pilots’ association ASPA, protested the bill in front of the National Palace after participating in a march to the Zócalo, the capital’s central square.
The president claims his proposal would reduce costs for travelers and increase domestic connectivity. (Depositphotos)
The protesters projected the message #NoalCABOTAJE, or #NotoCABOTAGE, onto the facade of the National Palace, which is both the seat of executive power and López Obrador’s residence.
Cabotage refers to the right to operate transport routes within a particular country or territory. Under López Obrador’s proposal, a foreign airline could fly into Mexico City from abroad and then transport passengers on domestic flights to destinations such as Cancún or Los Cabos.
Protesters chanted “the skies aren’t sold, the skies are defended” and displayed signs with messages such as “the skies of Mexico for Mexicans,” according to a Reforma newspaper report.
ASPA says that the proposed change to the Civil Aviation Law poses a threat to Mexican aviation sector jobs.
It noted in a statement that foreign airlines are prohibited from flying domestic routes in many countries around the world including Mexico “as it has been proven” that allowing them to do so “doesn’t generate competitiveness or benefit passengers.”
“On the contrary, the national [aviation] industry would be affected in the short term,” ASPA said.
In the Zócalo on Tuesday, the president of the Mexican College of Pilots, Ángel Domínguez Catzín, denounced the taking of decisions “without knowledge and without taking into account the opinion of workers.”
In a message directed to authorities, he declared that “if we want to talk about a true transformation [of Mexico], we need to do it … [in a way that makes] sense for our country.”
López Obrador in October said that allowing foreign airlines to fly domestic routes would increase competition and thus help place downward pressure on ticket prices. His bill asserts that allowing foreign airlines to operate within Mexico will lead to an expansion of regional routes and “air services will be of better quality and efficiency at the lowest cost.”
López Obrador has complained about the lack of flights between regional destinations in Mexico, but ASPA said that allowing foreign airlines to operate here won’t help remedy that problem as they would only fly “profitable routes” between major cities.
Mexico City Metro Director Guillermo Calderón displays an example of housing for Metro system cables at a press conference on Wednesday. (Photo: Galas Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)
The chief of the Mexico City Metro has blamed organized crime for the theft of over 14 kilometers of copper wire from the subway system in 2022.
Guillermo Calderón told a press conference Wednesday that approximately 14.5 kilometers of electrical cable weighing almost 33 tonnes was stolen from tracks last year. An additional 4 tonnes of wire was illegally removed in early January, he said.
The stolen cables were part of systems related to signaling and traction power supply, the Metro’s Twitter account posted on Wednesday.
Calderón dismissed the possibility that a single person was responsible for the crime, saying that it appeared that “an organized crime group” was to blame. The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office is investigating.
Calderón said that the theft of cables has primarily occurred on five lines – 2,3,5, A and B – that have aboveground sections.
The remains of cables stolen from the Metro system in 2022, displayed by Calderón on Wednesday.
Ricardo Jesús Morales Salazar, president of the governing board of the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, said that the theft of cables from the Metro system entails more than just showing up with a handsaw and cutting them off.
“There is an organization … with sufficient people to take away 32 tonnes or more of the material,” he said.
Calderón said that the incidence of the crime has declined since the deployment of over 6,000 National Guard troops to the Metro in mid January. He also said that over 3,500 surveillance cameras are set to be installed across the system, which transports millions of passengers on a daily basis.
Mexico City authorities have suggested that recent “atypical” events on the Metro system, including the Jan. 7 accident and the uncoupling of two train cars on Jan. 15, were the result of sabotage.
Calderón said that cable theft in the Metro has declined since the deployment of over 6,000 National Guard troops to the Metro in mid January. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
The driver of a train involved in the crash was arrested on homicide charges this week after authorities determined he didn’t comply with a low-speed protocol that was in place.
The city government’s management of the public transport system has been questioned in light of the recent events — and a 2021 accident that claimed 26 lives — but Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum denies claims the system is underfunded.
The Spanish artist has taken his work to 80 cities around the globe. (Cuartoscuro)
The Spanish artist known as Okuda San Miguel will take over the entertainment center Frontón México in Mexico City with “Metamorfosis,” an immersive art experience that will run until March 11.
“Mexican friends, Okuda San Miguel is here. Opening on Wednesday, Feb. 1,” announced the urban artist on his social media pages.
Organizers are promoting “Metamorfosis” as the most “Instagrammable” experience in Mexico.
Visitors take a selfie in the “Metamorfosis” exhibit. (Cuartoscuro)
The exhibit’s protagonists are color, light and sound. To build the experience, Okuda worked with Mexican artisans in the production of large-scale pieces representing his signature style, using geometry and colors. Among those pieces is “Skull House,” a giant sculpture of 10 x 6 meters.
The artist will also decorate the facade of the emblematic Frontón México, built at the beginning of the 20th Century and located in the Plaza de la República.
In an interview with newspaper Milenio, Okuda said that the Frontón México was covered with a special white vinyl so he could paint on it without touching the original walls, since the building is listed as a property of artistic value by the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL).
Okuda San Miguel is an internationally recognized artist and has brought art installations to 80 cities in countries including India, the United States, Canada and Russia.
Born as Oscar San Miguel Erice in Santander, Spain in 1980, Okuda San Miguel’s work belongs to the pop surrealism genre, with clear influences from urban art.
The ancient Indigenous tradition went for hundreds of years without celebration following the conquest, but has been revived. (Cuartoscuro)
From Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, the Purépecha (the Spanish word for p’urhépecha), a group of Indigenous people who live mostly in the northwestern region of the Mexican state of Michoacán, celebrate their new year to thank Mother Earth for her care and kindness throughout the year.
The celebration includes a ritual called the fire walk. Once the new fire is lit, the Purépecha leaders recall their history and offer a message based on their ancestors’ thoughts to give way to the “new time.”
Each year, the fire walk starts in a different community and rotates among twelve Purépecha villages to strengthen their friendship. This year, the ceremony will be held in the town of Erongarícuaro.
During the ceremony, the participants and Purépecha leaders ask Kurhiahueri (the main god of the pre-Hispanic Purépecha people who represented the Sun) for abundance in harvests, as well as divine permission to use fire to cook the food that the earth will provide them.
Although the new fire ceremony has cultural significance and is an essential part of the traditions of Michoacán, it was only revived forty years ago, after centuries of not being celebrated. During the Spanish conquest, the ritual was prohibited after conquistador Nuño de Guzmán killed the last Purépecha ruler Tangaxoan II, on February 14, 1530.
Today this festivity is seen to symbolize the unity and strengthening of the contemporary Purépecha people.
Onilikan's spirits are made in Mazatlán but can be found all over Mexico and also in some stores and bars in the U.S. (Bang Up Productions/Twitter)
There are mangoes aplenty in Mexico, and one small distillery in Mazatlán is putting the mango to good use, producing spirits and liqueurs.
Onilikan — which means “place of liquor” in Nahuatl — is making waves in the international spirits world with its craft liqueurs and spirits. Known as the only mango distillery in the world, they have won seven international awards for their products.
Onilikan was founded in 2011 by a group of five Canadian and Mexican families, but that’s not who owns it now: One of the founders had experience in the distilling industry in Canada, and another from Mexico was a scientist. Although they sourced their ingredients from Sinaloa, they were based in Canada. Their products were well-received and began winning awards — prior to the pandemic, the company distributed throughout Canada and the United States.
The owners eventually moved the company to Mazatlán to be closer to their source of mangoes but realized traveling between Canada and Mexico was too difficult and decided to sell.
In 2022, the company was purchased by a Mexican couple: Ana Paola and her husband, Manuel Castro. Ana had worked for the company since its inception and was already well-versed in the company’s operations and the distilling process.
“All the ingredients we use are natural and are sourced locally,” Ana says as she takes me through a tasting of their products. “We use no artificial flavoring or enhancements. That is one of the ways our products are unique.”
Until recently, the distilling process used a copper German pot still called an Aromat — the only one of its kind in Mexico. In August, they moved to a new location that couldn’t accommodate the Aromat still, so a shiny new copper-and-steel still sits prominently in the foyer ready to be installed.
Paola explains that “there are mango spirits produced by other companies, but they all use artificial flavoring for the mango taste. We use only the mango.”
Onilikan’s owners Ana Paola and Manuel Castro at the tasting bar. The couple bought the company from its previous owners last year. (Sheryl Losser)
The mangoes come from Paola and Castro’s groves and are picked in July and August when they are ripe and plentiful. They are then macerated in 100% blue agave and pressed to remove the pulp from the syrup.
“We use only 100% blue agave in our products,” Ana tells me. “We only have 10 or 12 agave plants right now, so we source the rest from local producers.”
Their other flavors include tangerine, coffee, tamarind and four spicy vodkas — tamarind and chile pepper, jalapeno, habanero, and chipotle. They also produce light and dark rums aged in oak barrels, and a Mexican gin made with an alcoholic base of blue agave, which is distilled three times to neutralize the agave’s flavor.
After the third distillation, they add botanicals of juniper, bay leaf, coriander and orange peel.
Ana opens a large barrel to show me tamarind macerating in alcohol. Grabbing a handful of it, she explains, “When the tamarind is ready, we will press out the alcohol for our tamarind base.” She pours me a sample of their Tamarind Picante vodka, which has a spicy taste.
They also sell a vanilla extract produced at the distillery. They infuse alcohol with vanilla beans in a large pot-bellied bottle sitting in a rack — where it will sit for months until it reaches the right flavor.
In all, Onilikan has 22 flavored spirits and liqueurs. Their two signature products are still the mango aguardiente (moonshine or firewater) and the mango liqueur, both of which have received bronze awards at the San Francisco International Spirits Competition. Their products have received a total of seven international awards, including at competitions in New York and Europe.
Paola and Castro continue to experiment with new flavors, but some don’t meet their high standards. They tried coconut, but Ana tells me, “The coconut oil would separate during the process and float to the top, leaving an oil film on your lips when you drank it.”
The writer’s Onilikan tasting selection, from left to right: Mango Spirits, Licor de Mango, Licor de Café, Tamarind Picante, and Licor de Blue Agave
“We also tried hibiscus, but after fermentation, it would darken to an unappealing color, so we decided not to produce that,” she says. “It took us a year of testing coffee beans from different parts of Mexico for our coffee liqueur.” They finally decided on beans from Chiapas.
She gives me a sip of the coffee liqueur. I comment on the very strong coffee flavor.
“Let me show you how we like to serve it,” she says as she goes to the refrigerator. “Try this. It’s the coffee liqueur with evaporated milk.” I could easily drink a whole glass of this!
She shows me a small booklet of cocktails they’ve compiled, which she says she’s in the process of updating. She gets a lot of ideas from her customers.
For those who like grapefruit juice, there’s the Mango Girl, made with grapefruit juice, mango liqueur and gin, garnished with mint leaves. Martini drinkers, try the Mango FireTini — mango spirits with dry vermouth and olives. Their Mazatlán Cocktailuses their mango liqueur with their blue agave liqueur and a twist of orange peel.
Paola and Castro are very proud of their Mexican heritage, and that pride is reflected throughout their shop. In addition to their vanilla extract, they sell other culinary products produced in Mexico: dried chiles and herbs, moles, salsas, chocolate and even handcrafted kitchen linens.
Even their mango-shaped logo carries their sense of pride. Divided into quadrants featuring the sun, a deer, a palm and, at the bottom, a fish in blue water, it represents Mazatlán. It’s based on an original work of art by a Wixárika (Huichol) artist named Rosendo who uses symbolism from his culture to represent the city.
Onilikan’s promotional material explains the logo: “The sun, the palm, the river and the fish represent the land, a sacred place in the Huichol culture. The deer represents a messenger god called Tamatz Cauyumanwho came to Earth to ensure bountiful harvests.”
Onilikan Licores is located at Avenida Insurgentes 23B in Alameda, by Gran Plaza. They offer free tours and tastings. They can be reached at 669-266-8165 or on their Facebook page. Their products can also be found outside Mazatlán as far away as Monterrey, Culiacán and San Francisco, California.
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.
President López Obrador takes a tour of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport on its inauguration on March 21, 2022.
When United States President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew into Mexico last month for the North American Leaders’ Summit, their official aircraft didn’t touch down at the Mexico City International Airport but rather at the 10-month old Felipe Ángeles International Airport AIFA), located north of the capital’s downtown.
Built by the army on an Air Force base in the México state municipality of Zumpango, AIFA is one of President López Obrador’s pet infrastructure projects, its construction taking place after AMLO canceled the previous federal government’s more grandiose airport following a legally questionable referendum held before he took office in late 2018.
This edition of “Mexico in Numbers” – see the most recent previous one here — provides a numeric rundown on the new airport in Q & A format, looking at a range of relevant figures ranging from its size to the latest passenger numbers.
How far is AIFA from central Mexico City?
By road, AIFA is 44.7 kilometers from Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, according to Google Maps.
Expect a journey of about one hour if traffic is flowing well, and two hours or more if roads are gridlocked.
A train link from the Buenavista station in central Mexico City is expected to allow travelers to reach the airport in about 40 minutes, but that project is still under construction.
The size of the Santa Lucía Air Force base on which AIFA was built is 2,331 hectares. The area not occupied by the airport houses air force and army facilities.
How long did it take to build?
AIFA opened on March 21, 2022 – 886 days after AMLO officially inaugurated its construction on October 17, 2019. That’s just over two years and five months, in case you hadn’t already done the math.
Federal Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco told a conference in Spain last month that the airport was built in “record time.”
How much did it cost?
The federal government said in a statement in April 2022 that the total construction cost was 74.53 billion pesos, or just under US $4 billion at the current exchange rate.
However, the newspaper El Universal reported in March last year that just over 104.5 billion pesos had already been spent on the airport, and that an additional 11.45 billion pesos had been allocated to the project for 2022, lifting the total cost to 115.98 billion pesos, or about US $6.2 billion.
How many passenger airlines use the airport?
The main Mexican airlines – Aeroméxico, Volaris and Viva Aerobús – all operate flights to and from AIFA as do Venezuelan carrier Conviasa, the Dominican Republic’s Arajet and Panama’s Copa Airlines.
Mexico’s Magnicharters also uses AIFA, taking the total number of airlines with services to and from the new airport to seven.
How many runways does AIFA have?
The airport has three runways, but only two are used by commercial airlines. Its main runway is 45 meters wide and 4.5 kilometers long, making it the longest runway in Mexico.
In January, AIFA managed for the first time to make it to the bottom of Mexico’s list of busiest airports for domestic passengers. But when considering total passenger numbers in 2022, AIFA is still a tiny bubble in the middle of the graph.
How many passengers have used AIFA since it opened last March?
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport’s end-of-year report, AIFA had processed a total of 876,000 passengers by the end of 2022.
AIFA director Isidoro Pastor Román said recently that passenger No. 1 million would pass through the airport on the weekend of Jan. 14 and 15.
“We’re handling an average of 8,000 passengers per day. In the coming days, this weekend, we’ll reach one million passengers transported from March to the current date, and we expect to finish the first year of operations with just over 1.3 million passengers,” he said.
What is the airport’s annual passenger capacity?
According to the federal government, AIFA can currently handle 20 million passengers per year. The capacity could increase to as many as 80 million if planned extensions go ahead.
Nuevo León saw more than 47,500 new jobs, partly thanks to the boom in nearshoring. (Wikimedia Commons)
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla is considering opening an assembly plant near the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) north of Mexico City, according to President López Obrador’s communications chief.
Jesús Ramírez told the Reuters news agency on Monday that the company could set up a plant at an industrial park currently being developed about three kilometers from AIFA, located about 50 kilometers north of central Mexico City in México state.
He said the plant would serve as an export hub for Tesla, whose CEO is Elon Musk, the world’s second richest person.
The Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) opened in March of 2022. (Cuartoscuro)
“Tesla is looking at investing in that area to take advantage of AIFA,” Ramírez said, adding that a plant there could operate as a base for Tesla to export via air.
Reuters said the presidential spokesman offered no further details about the company’s plans. Ramírez’s comments to the news agency came after he made similar remarks to the newspaper El Heraldo de México.
“Tesla will invest … [near AIFA] in an assembly plant, to export directly by air,” he told the Mexico City-based paper.
Ramírez told El Heraldo that the company was looking at investing in the T-MexPark, a major industrial park under construction near the new airport, which opened in March 2022.
Another federal official told Reuters that Tesla representatives had visited the site, but didn’t disclose the company’s plans.
Last October, Musk visited Nuevo León, where he met with Governor Samuel García and other state officials, sparking speculation that Tesla would invest in the northern border state. The newspaper Milenio reported in December that Tesla would announce a vehicle plant in Nuevo León in January, but no such announcement was made.
It was unclear whether Tesla was interested in opening plants both near AIFA and in Nuevo León. Reuters said that the company didn’t respond to its request for comment.
Children as young as 10 have been treated for symptoms in Guanajuato city, Mexico City and Monterrey in recent weeks.(Shutterstock)
Primary school students in Guanajuato city are the latest children to fall ill after apparently participating in a dangerous social media “challenge” dubbed “the last one to fall asleep wins.”
Authorities in Guanajuato said that at least 15 students at the Profesora María de Jesús López school became sick Monday after consuming clonazepam, a prescription-only tranquilizer.
The incident came just days after health regulator Cofepris issued a warning about a “dangerous” TikTok “challenge” in which “controlled medicines that induce sleep” are consumed by minors who compete to stay awake in spite of the effects of the drugs.
La venta de clonazepam sin prescripción médica está prohibida.💊⛔️Si detectas puntos de venta donde se comercialice de manera ilegal, denuncia en📞 800 033 5050 y en https://t.co/7bSryqaOzV
The alert came after eight students at a Mexico City middle school and three at a middle school near Monterrey required medical treatment in January due to the consumption of tranquilizers. A similar case was reported at a middle school near Guadalajara last year.
Four of the 15 students who ingested clonazepam in Guanajuato were taken to hospital for treatment. The others were treated at the school by Red Cross, Civil Protection and fire department personnel. Those affected were aged 10 and 11, authorities said.
The Guanajuato municipal government said in a statement that “it’s presumed that the students ingested the medication as part of a challenge that has gone viral on social media.”
On Facebook, Mayor Alejandro Navarro expressed his concern about the incident.
“I ask parents and teachers to closely watch what your children and students are doing, … [including] their use of social media. … I also ask relevant authorities to do what is required to attend to this case and prevent these kinds of occurrences,” he wrote.
Cofepris said in its warning that the improper consumption of tranquilizers such as clonazepam can cause a range of side effects including drowsiness, dizziness, nausea, headache, blurry vision and breathing difficulties.
“If said tranquilizer is combined with certain medications, it can induce coma,” the regulator added.
Cofepris called on parents, guardians and teachers to speak to children about the “serious risks” of consuming controlled substances. It also urged children to “avoid disseminating and participating in challenges that place their lives at risk.”
“In addition, this regulatory agency urges [citizens] to denounce points of sale where clonazepam is sold without a medical prescription,” Cofepris said.
