Dressed as Psycho Clown, Miguelito gets his COVID shot.
Wearing the mask and suit of his favorite lucha libre wrestler helped an eight-year-old Oaxaca boy overcome the fear of getting a COVID-19 shot.
Dressed as Psycho Clown, Miguel Ángel Carrasco Echeverría was vaccinated Wednesday in Tuxtepec, Oaxaca’s second largest city.
He closed his eyes when a nurse administered the vaccine but didn’t shed a single tear, according to a report by the Milenio newspaper, which described the inoculation as the longest four seconds of Miguel’s short life.
Géminis Echeverría posted a video to social media of her brave son getting his shot and holding cotton wool against the injection site on his upper arm.
Four seconds later, it was all over.
Miguel was one of hundreds of children aged five to 11 who got COVID shots Wednesday in Tuxtepec. Accompanied by their parents or grandparents, many lined up for hours in sweltering heat to get a dose of Pfizer’s vaccine, the only shot authorized for use on children in Mexico.
After long maintaining that vaccinating young children against COVID-19 wasn’t necessary, the federal government announced last month that it would offer shots to minors aged five to 11.
A fifth wave of coronavirus infections is currently spreading across Mexico, where there are more than 185,000 active cases, according to federal Health Ministry estimates. An additional 31,116 new cases were reported Wednesday, the first time since February that the daily count exceeded 30,000.
The Health Ministry also reported 60 COVID fatalities, which lifted the official death toll to 325,928. Accumulated case numbers total 6.15 million.
An official with the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) said Wednesday the end of the fifth wave is near, predicting it would be peak during the week of July 17.
The archdiocese said the statue is historically and culturally priceless.
Authorities have notified Interpol of the theft of a much-loved and valuable religious sculpture from a San Luis Potosí church due to fears it may have been taken out of the country to be sold on the black market.
A Guatemalan-made wooden sculpture of Joseph and the baby Jesus was stolen from a church in the municipality of Villa de Reyes in the early hours of last Saturday. Revered by parishioners, the 18th century piece could sell for as much as 150,000 pesos (US $7,300), according to state authorities.
The San Luis Potosí Attorney General’s Office said in a statement that it was the responsibility of its federal counterpart to investigate the crime, but added that it was collaborating on efforts to recover the sculpture, which was stolen from the central niche in the Bledos parish church.
The church was built in the 18th century by Bledos hacienda owner Juan Manuel de la Sierra, who commissioned the Joseph sculpture.
State Attorney General José Luis Ruiz Contreras said Tuesday that an Interpol notice was in the process of being generated. He said it was unclear whether the sculpture was stolen by thieves dedicated to the commercialization of religious relics.
San Luis Potosí Archbishop Jorge Alberto Cavazos Arizpe noted Wednesday that authorities had notified Interpol about the theft and said he remained hopeful that the sculpture hadn’t been taken out of the country and could be recovered. He also said that the Catholic Church was maintaining ongoing communication with investigators.
Thieves also got away with the church’s most valuable chalice, according to church authorities in Villa de Reyes.
The theft of religious art has increased significantly in Mexico during the past decade, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center. San Luis Potosí is one of the states most affected by the crime.
Beer sommelier Katia Niño will be part of the first group of experts to represent Mexico at the World Championship in Munich. Instagram @kattnino
Katia Niño’s hard work in the beer industry is finally paying off as she heads to Munich this September to join close to 100 beer sommeliers from around the world at the the World Championship of Beer Sommeliers.
This will be the first year that Mexico will be represented at the competition and Niño is excited not only to be representing her country but all women in beer throughout Mexico. While 2019’s winning beer sommelier was Elisa Raus, a woman from Germany, every other competition since the World Cup began in 2009 has been won by a man.
“I’m so proud to be chosen for this first selection, representing Puebla and women [in beer],” she said in an interview with El Sol de Puebla. Niño has her own craft beer brewery in Puebla city — Cervecería Ángeles de Zaragoza — and is a certified beer sommelier, meaning she has had to learn all there is to know about the process, production, and tasting of the beverage.
The World Cup championship participants have been chosen from over 5,000 beer sommeliers worldwide, and compete among a group that is narrowed down to about 100, from different countries. The final eight will compete publicly in front of a group of expert judges and have to prove their knowledge of theoretical basics about beer and the sharpness of their sensory skills in beer tasting. The final stage of the competition will also require a little showmanship on stage and the winners will have “best presented the message of beer culture and its diversity,” according to organizers.
Niño hopes that she can put a spotlight on Mexican beers during her time in Munich, in particular their use of endemic ingredients that give them unique flavor profiles. While Mexico is not where beer originated, the country is one of the top three exporters of beer in the world and one of the top five consumers.
“Beer is a thousand-year-old beverage,” says Niño, “and a lot of the time we drink it without understanding the weight of its history.”
Smokestacks of the Plutarco Elías Calles power plant in Petacalco, Guerrero. MCCI
A state-owned power plant on the coast of Guerrero is responsible for water and air pollution that has caused the deaths of a huge number of aquatic animals and sickened and ultimately killed some local residents, according to a report by an anti-graft group.
Located just south of the border with Michoacán, the Plutarco Elías Calles coal and fuel-oil fired plant in Petacalco is the Federal Electricity Commission’s most productive – and most contaminating – electricity generation facility.
Published under the headline “La carboeléctrica que produce muerte” (The coal-fired power plant that causes death), the report said that turtles, crocodiles and fish die every day due to the operation of the plant. Sea turtles enter the Balsas River, into which a CFE-built canal flows, MCCI said. The plant disposes of water used in an industrial cooling process in the canal and consequently contaminates it, the Balsas River and the Pacific Ocean into which it flows.
Plant workers clean up dead sardines. MCCI
But it’s not just contamination that is killing turtles and other animals that enter the river and the CFE canal. Some are dying excruciatingly painful deaths when they inadvertently reach the power plant.
“Except for some buoys floating on the water, nothing prevents the passage of the turtles to the artificial canal, which leads them to death,” MCCI said.
Citing accounts from locals and environmentalists, the organization said that sea turtles including leatherbacks and olive ridleys are caught in grilles on the exterior of the power plant and are subsequently “pulled with rakes that sever their limbs.”
“Others are stranded in the sun for days and die of dehydration,” MCCI said, adding that residents and environmentalists have documented the death of as many as 76 turtles “in a single day under these conditions.”
“Moreover, they say that CFE personnel arrive with cranes or trucks to pick up the animals – even if they’re [still] alive – and take them to a dump inside the plant, where they’re covered with earth and grass,” MCCI said. The organization said that crocodiles and a range of different fish species have also become trapped in the power plant’s canal.
In January, Petacalco fishermen accused the CFE of killing approximately 150 tonnes of sardines by dumping chemicals in the canal. MCCI noted that a Guerrero Environment Ministry investigation concluded that the massive die-off was not caused by contamination generated by the power plant.
But local fishermen say that the plant’s improper waste disposal over a period of almost three decades is the cause of a drastic depletion of fish stocks.
“Fishermen, many of whom are now elderly, say that before the CFE smokestacks started operating, they caught up to a tonne of fish a day just a few kilometers from the beach,” MCCI said. “Today they have to travel more than 30 kilometers to set their nets and leave them for a day or two to catch a couple of fish. The reason, they explain, is that the CFE discharges its waste into the sea.”
One young girl recently died of aplastic anemia, a bone marrow disease that can be caused by exposure to radiation or toxic chemicals. She wasn’t the first in Petacalco to succumb to the rare disease. MCCI
Equally problematic is the air pollution generated by the Plutarco Elías Calles plant, which according to a 2017 study by National Autonomous University researchers, is the CFE’s largest emitter of mercury. The United States Geological Survey describes mercury as “a potent neurotoxin that can affect the human nervous system.”
The World Health Organization notes that coal contains mercury and other hazardous air pollutants that are emitted when it is burned in coal-fired power plants. It also says that the inhalation of mercury vapor can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal.
MCCI said it was able to confirm that almost one-third of all deaths in Petacalco between 2012 and 2020 were caused by illnesses linked to exposure to contaminated air. Of 176 reported deaths, “at least 56 were caused by tumors, anemia or lymphoma (22), respiratory ailments (14), cerebral infarction or nervous system diseases (11) and liver or kidney ailments (9),” the organization said.
The air that Petacalco residents breathe “stings the nose, throat and eyes,” MCCI said. “Those who live a few steps from the doors of the power plant say that there are days when the smoke that comes out of the chimneys … comes down to ground level and it’s impossible to breathe.”
One local man described how after days when it rains ash, tree leaves and the upward-facing sides of fruit get “burnt.” MCCI
Bárbara Abarca, who lives near the plant, told MCCI that the contamination has recently worsened. “I would like to leave because I live [so] close [to the plant],” she said.
MCCI also said that smoke that belches day and night out of the power plant’s chimneys adversely affects a variety of crops grown in the area, including limes, coconuts, watermelons, bananas and plums. They are routinely covered with ash and some fruits are rendered inedible because they have “small burns” or have turned black inside.
Urbano Duarte, a fisherman and lime producer, told MCCI that the CFE is “fucking us over.”
“Look at the leaves on these trees, covered in ash … and the trees don’t even want to produce,” he said in an interview at his small farm. “… The government doesn’t take care and this [contamination] is affecting the entire municipality. … There are ranchers, farmers [and] fishermen, and they’re the people who are affected.”
Iberdrola has been attacked repeatedly by President López Obrador.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) has put the brakes on a US $150 million wind farm built by Spanish energy company Iberdrola in Guanajuato.
The newspaper Reforma reported Wednesday that the federal regulator advised Iberdola on June 9 that it couldn’t begin operations at the wind farm, which is located in the northern municipality of San Felipe. According to the CRE, the Spanish company doesn’t have the permit it requires to operate there.
Iberdrola initially planned to build the project in Villa de Reyes, San Luis Potosí, and obtained a permit to operate the wind farm in that municipality. It asked the CRE over three years ago to modify the permit to allow operations in San Felipe but in March this year the regulator denied the request, telling the company it will have to submit an application for a new authorization.
Iberdrola has initiated legal action against the decision, but a court hearing isn’t scheduled until September 5. The judge who agreed to hear the case didn’t invalidate the CRE’s suspension order in the interim.
Earlier this year, the regulator refused to renew a permit for Iberdrola’s power plant in the Nuevo León municipality of Pesquería. In addition, the CRE – an ostensibly autonomous federal body – recently fined the company over 9 billion pesos (US $435.4 million) for violating a now-defunct electricity law.
President López Obrador, who is determined to “rescue” Mexico’s state-owned electricity and oil companies, holds Iberdrola up as an example of what he calls unscrupulous foreign firms that have “looted” the country. The company, one of the largest private energy generators in the Mexican market, has made significant cuts to its investment here since López Obrador took office in late 2018.
Meanwhile, United States Embassy official Laura Sima said Tuesday that a lack of clear rules in the energy sector is the reason behind legal battles between private companies and authorities. Speaking at a Mexico-U.S. business forum, the head of the embassy’s energy department also said that measures taken to strengthen the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and Pemex have affected private companies’ ability to operate freely in Mexico.
Authorities now think nothing of delaying or denying energy sector permits, which has a negative impact on foreign companies’ participation in the market, she said.
Ambassador Ken Salazar has made similar remarks, noting in March that U.S. energy companies are having problems securing the permits they need to operate without encumbrance in Mexico. Reforma reported earlier this year that gasoline retailers and other private companies were effectively being forced to purchase fuel from Pemex because the federal government wasn’t renewing import permits and has shut down some privately owned fuel storage terminals.
Sima advocated additional development of Mexico’s renewables sector, noting that the country has abundant natural resources with which to generate clean energy. Taking full advantage of those resources could spur the creation of millions of well-paid jobs, she said.
Lonchería Suvai is located in a tiny spot in the capital's Navarte neighborhood. Its Indian food is the best in the city, in the writer's opinion.
Many tourists who visit Mexico City look for restaurants with classic Mexican cuisine, places like El Cardenal or Nico’s, or if they are less purist, contemporary Mexican like Maximo Bistrot or Quintonil. But visiting the capital doesn’t always have to mean tortillas and chiles, especially if you already live somewhere else in Mexico and already eat great Mexican food there.
Mexico City has some great stalwart world cuisine restaurants, with new ones popping up all the time, each adding their own spice to the food scene. You might be surprised at what you can find in this city to feed your craving for cuisine beyond Mexico’s borders.
For a taste of the old country, perennial favorite Kolobok has heavenly homemade borscht and Russian black bread at its family-friendly location in St. Maria de Ribera, just outside of the historic center. There’s also Polish experts Specia in the Condesa neighborhood, with its black vested waiters, steaming Strogonoff and the boiled, stuffed cabbage dish golabki.
Italian-Mexican restaurants like Rosetta and Sartoria offer a little Old World and a little New, blending handmade pasta with huitlacoche and chile de árbol in fine dining settings. Both have permanent slots on the best eating lists for Mexico City.
Ever tried cuisine from Singapore? You can find it at Makan, located on Querétaro street.
Craving Middle Eastern cuisine? One of my favorite new additions to the foodscape is Pat Patz, created by the affable and award-winning chef Mijael Seidel, a local native who fell in love with Middle Eastern cooking while living in New York in the 1990s. His dishes pop with flavor, thanks to his sensibility for acid, salt, and citrus, but they are faithful enough to traditional recipes. Your craving for falafel, hummus or eggplant schnitzel (a fusion dish) will be more than satisfied.
Al Andulus is a more traditional option for Middle Eastern fare, in one of the city’s most iconic buildings in the section of the historic center that was once home to the city’s thriving Lebanese population.
A former pop-up in the working-class neighborhood of Doctores, Korean restaurant Dooriban now has a commanding location in the Roma neighborhood, on the corner of Jalapa and Tabasco streets. In the kitchen you’ll find Ju Hee Park — or Mama Park, as she is called — making her homemade kimchi, kimchi fried rice, spicy chicken wings with gochujang sauce and Korean liquors.
Bao Bao, a Taiwanese restaurant that opened right before the pandemic in 2019, makes a delicious variety of traditional steamed bun sandwiches and a heavenly beef soup that takes something like 16 hours to make.
Roma’s Galanga has been around for a while and is still a star: it was the first Thai restaurant to rise to gourmet status, offering crowd-pleasing pad thai and authentic curries of all stripes in a chic setting inside an old Mansion.
Makan arrived with Singaporean food in 2020, led by husband-wife team Maryann and Mario. Maryann hails from Singapore, and while I’m no expert on Singaporean fare, her pickled veggies with sambal and the marinated duck with noodles that are made in-house are to die for. The location isn’t too shabby either, centered around an intimate terrace on Querétaro street.
For some delicious Asian fusion, head to Cariñito, a tiny place in Roma Norte with only five different tacos on the menu, four made with pork belly and one with the most perfectly cooked eggplant. Each taco preparation is in homage to a different Asian flavor profile, and one, the criollo, is a slight nod to chifa (Chinese-Peruvian) food in Peru.
The Cantonese taco is pork belly with hoisin sauce, siracha made onsite and pickled veggies. The Thai taco — made with pork or eggplant — has Jim Jaew sauce with tamarind and fresh basil. Each is a perfectly balanced flavor explosion.
Pat Patz, a Middle Eastern restaurant in the Roma Norte neighborhood, makes a traditional baklava with a bit of flair.
For an extra-hip vibe, stop by Roma’s Choza on the weekends (the only time they’re open) — which mixes and matches Thai influences, with sticky coconut rice, green mango salad, a whole fried fish and shots of small-batch Mexican mezcal. Hidden away behind a door without a sign, you have to be in the know to find this place, but once you do, you’re in for a delicious weekend feast al fresco on their upstairs patio.
Pandemic-born Lonchería Suvai, captained by Malini Shreedharan, was formerly delivery only, but now they have a tiny lunch spot in the Narvarte neighborhood. The South Indian dishes that make up the majority of the menu are the best Indian food in Mexico City. A tiny hole in the wall, their diner is open just for lunch and so reasonably priced that I want to eat there every day.
Masala y Maiz, which has been thrilling palates in the city since 2018, now has a location in the Juárez neighborhood. It combines Indian cuisine’s delights with Mexican ingredients and flair. Their crunchy Kuku Poussin is a twice-fried half chicken whose decadently rich side of melted ghee is balanced by a raw watermelon, jicama and grapefruit salad sprinkled with black sesame seeds. And the crinkly samosas filled with suadero (confit-style beef) have the perfect amount of tamarind and mint drizzled on top.
And for expats from the United States looking for a taste of the American South, the American Legion in Condesa has reopened post-COVID with a new southern-barbecue-focused specials list (full disclosure, I haven’t been there to try it yet) that includes things like brisket sandwiches and pulled pork. There’s also always Pinche Gringo BBQ, another longtime favorite for pulled pork or brisket and some downhome sides. For east coasters, a new New York-style deli is set to open up in the next few months in Roma, so stay tuned for news on that.
Obviously, this is just a partial list. There are so many places in Mexico City for a taste of great world cuisine, but this will give you a good start if you seek more than tacos and moles in the metropolis.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at www.mexicocitystreets.com.
Forty female massage therapists were dispersed from a beachside massage tent on Playa Bucerías on Friday by local authorities with the help of the National Guard.
Citing the lack of a necessary permit, local and federal authorities arrived Friday at a massage tent on Playa Bucerías in Nayarit and tore down its awnings, saying its 40 female massage therapists were not permitted to work there and had to leave immediately.
The women, whose belongings were unceremoniously tossed out by agents of the federal environmental protection agency Profepa, local police and the National Guard, told the newspaper Tribuna de la Bahía that they have attempted several times to get the necessary permits for their business but have been repeatedly stymied by bureaucracy. They say that they have paid up to 2,000 pesos for the permitting process, money that has been lost after they were unable to complete their application.
The women also said the authorities acted “over the top” in a situation that didn’t require such brute force, adding that they did not present official orders to remove the massage tent and just told the women to take their things immediately or to pick them up later in the trash.
On Tuesday, the massage therapists reported that they had signed a letter to Nayarit Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro Quintero, asking him to intercede on their behalf. They also said that they planned a visit to Bucerías Mayor Mirtha Villalvazo Amaya, hoping that she might be able to help them get the paperwork they need to work legally at their beachside stand.
Until that time, they say, they will be out of work indefinitely with families to feed at home.
The Querétaro hospital where a patient lost her legs and uterus after the preventable spread of infection.
The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has denounced the case of a woman who had to have her legs amputated and uterus removed after receiving “inadequate” medical treatment in Querétaro city.
The CNDH announced Tuesday it had submitted a recommendation to Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) director Zoé Robledo in relation to a case in which a 27-year-old woman allegedly received substandard care at two IMSS facilities in the Querétaro capital.
The woman, who initially felt unwell due to an out of place intrauterine device (IUD), suffered a system-wide infection in late 2018 after she received incorrect diagnoses and inadequate medical treatment and follow-up care, the rights commission said in a statement. Days after the removal of her IUD with an “erroneous procedure,” the woman suffered septic shock, which necessitated the removal of her uterus and an ovary, and the amputation of both her legs.
The septic shock she suffered was allegedly related to the improper extraction of the birth control device.
In a complaint she submitted to the commission, the woman said she went to an IMSS clinic (Family Medicine Unit 9, or UMF-9) at least three times in September 2018 because she was suffering from abdominal pain. She was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and colitis and a course of action was prescribed “without requesting laboratory studies.”
At the No. 1 General Regional Hospital (HGR-1) it was subsequently determined that the woman’s IUD was out of place and needed to be removed. “It was removed with forceps without previously carrying out an ultrasound or X-ray studies,” CNDH said.
Three days later, the woman presented at UMF-9 with back pain and was diagnosed with acute lower back pain without any analysis being carried out. When there was no improvement in her condition, she went to the emergency section of UMF-9 and from there was transferred to HGR-1, where she was admitted due to serious loss of blood, infectious gastroenteritis and severe dehydration.
The commission said it had collected sufficient information to confirm that when the woman arrived at HGR-1 she was in such bad condition that her life was at risk. It said that the loss of blood was due to a generalized infection caused by the incorrect IUD removal, and that the woman required intubation and a blood transfusion. She also had to be resuscitated after suffering a cardiac arrest, after which her uterus and an ovary had to be removed and her legs had to be amputated, the CNDH said.
“… the care provided was not timely or adequate, mainly that given at UMF-9, where the authorities … made a diagnosis without clinical laboratory studies, X-rays or ultrasounds and without taking the IUD removal procedure into account,” it said.
The CNDH said it was able to confirm that the removal of the IUD didn’t adhere to official standards. No clinical studies were carried out to detect vaginal infections or “the presence of collateral effects,” it said.
The commission said the woman’s right to sexual and reproductive health was violated and noted that she now uses prosthetics in place of her amputated legs.
“While the amputation of limbs was carried out to save the victim’s life, … this procedure was the result of inadequate medical care, a deficient and incomplete diagnosis and inadequate follow-up control that allowed the significant advance of an infection that could have been prevented,” it said.
The CNDH urged the IMSS director to pay “sufficient economic compensation” to the victim and ensure she has access to social programs that provide “development opportunities” for her. Two of her “directly affected” family members should be given scholarships, it said.
The commission also directed Robledo to ensure the woman has access to ongoing psychological and psychiatric care as well as any other medical care she requires throughout the remainder of her life. In addition, it instructed him to collaborate with the IMSS internal control body to ensure that the medical personnel accused of providing inadequate care to the woman are appropriately sanctioned.
Traditional dishes are losing their appeal to today’s young people, says celebrated local cook Raymunda Vásquez Hernández, one of more than 50 chefs to participate in the state’s Fourth Encounter of Traditional Cooks at the end of April. After a two-year suspension due to COVID, the gastronomic fair was a massive hit, with hundreds of people turning out for traditional barbacoa, moles, tamales and stews.
Despite that warm reception, Vásquez says that today’s youth are not interested in the traditional dishes she is famous for like beef pozole with yerbasanta or a fresh drink made from chilacayote. Around the world Oaxaca food is finally gaining the fame that it deserves, with Oaxacan restaurants popping up as far away as the west of the United States and the streets of London.
Yet Vásquez says she sees kids in her community opting to buy instant soup and sodas in the local convenience store instead of eating at her local eatery in San Andrés Chicahuaxtla, Puebla, where she lives. She worries that their diet is moving away from their traditional cuisine based on ancient varieties of corn, to one that is full of preservatives, artificial flavoring, and artificial coloring.
Oaxaca’s cuisine was officially designated as cultural heritage in 2010. Vásquez formed part of a team of renowned traditional cooks that were included in Oaxaca & Its Traditional Cooks, Gastronomic Treasure of Mexico (Oaxaca y sus Cocineras Tradicionales, Tesoro Gastronómico de México), a recipe book that highlighted 80 ancestral recipes. While this kind of work wins endless praise from chefs and food enthusiasts, indigenous communities around Mexico are inundated with cheap snacks and Coca-Cola and have a growing problems with diabetes among their residents.
Vásquez insists that she and other traditional chefs will continue to fight for the visibility and presence of local dishes on menus and in homes. She participates in expos across the country presenting her food and the products necessary to create them, and says that the value of traditional Mexican cuisine should also be given a voice in major media like television.
U.S. officials have told the New York Times that envoy to Mexico Ken Salazar's close relationship with President Lopez Obrador isn't benefitting the United States.
President López Obrador has defended United States Ambassador Ken Salazar after the New York Times published an article that critically examined the diplomat’s close relationship with him.
Published in the Times‘ print edition under the headline “Biden Envoy’s Cozy Ties to Mexican Leader Worry U.S. Officials,” the article cited “what several U.S. officials say is a worrying pattern, in which America’s top diplomat in Mexico has appeared to contradict his own government’s policies in the interest of aligning himself with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.”
The Times, which interviewed the ambassador for its story, examined Salazar’s views on issues such as possible fraud at the 2006 Mexican presidential election, which López Obrador narrowly lost to Felipe Calderón, and reforms to Mexico’s energy sector.
It also considered the diplomat’s opinions about Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity, a nongovernmental organization that receives funding from the U.S. government and which has been critical of the López Obrador administration.
Ken Salazar said in the Times article that his “direct relationship” with AMLO benefits the United States.
At his regular news conference on Tuesday, AMLO said that his administration has a good relationship with the U.S. government before observing that the Times had launched an attack on Salazar.
“He’s my friend and a good, sensible man, a friend of President Biden, a very responsible politician,” he said of the ambassador, who succeeded Donald Trump appointee Christopher Landau last September. “He’s from Colorado, he’s from below, of Mexican origin, … and he’s a good person, and we have an extraordinary relationship.”
The president charged that the “reactionary conservatives” — his political opponents and critics — would prefer to have a “hawk” as ambassador.
López Obrador and Salazar have met frequently since the latter was posted to Mexico, and — in contrast with other U.S. officials who spoke with the Times — the ambassador believes that his “direct relationship” with the president benefits the United States.
President López Obrador slammed the New York Times for its critique of Salazar, saying “those from The New York Times have the idea that the United States should subjugate us.” File photo
According to one media report, Salazar has met with Mexico’s president at the National Palace 21 times since he assumed the post 10 months ago.
For his part, AMLO told reporters that Salazar “defends his country” before noting that the ambassador spent almost a week with him at the National Palace to meet with “18 owners of United States companies” with whom “we dealt case by case.”
“He’s one of the best people, but those from The New York Times have the idea that the United States should subjugate us; they think we’re a colony,” he said.
“Mexico is an independent, free sovereign country. It’s not subordinate to any power, any hegemony, any government of the world, whether it’s our neighbors in the United States, China or Russia. We’re respectful of all countries of the world; that’s why [we have] our policy of nonintervention and of self-determination of people. So, our support is for Ken,” López Obrador said. Instead of writing about Salazar, the Times should be defending Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the president said. “That’s defense of freedom, but they don’t touch [the issue]. It’s not a story, [as] they would say here.”
AMLO and Salazar with U.S. climate envoy John Kerry in March. AMLO cited this meeting, which included U.S. business owners, as an example of how Salzar “defends his country.” Presidencia
Writing in the newspaper El Universal, journalist and columnist Ana Paula Ordorica said the former U.S. deputy chief of mission in Mexico, John Feeley, told her that the criticism of Salazar published by the Times has been an open secret in Washington for some time.
“The article has the appearance of endorsement from the White House because, among other things, they cite Juan González, Biden’s Latin America adviser,” she wrote. “… The White House seems to be sending a very clear message to Ken Salazar: this is the prudent time to leave the embassy in Mexico.”
Tony Payan, director of the Baker Institute Center for the United States and Mexico, said on Twitter that the U.S. needs a “savvier, more experienced ambassador in Mexico,” while Mexico expert Duncan Wood, vice president for strategy at the Wilson Center, told the Times that the Biden administration is “being played by AMLO” with Salazar as its top diplomat here.
“The ambassador believes he’s close to AMLO,” Wood said. “Is there anything to show for it? I can’t find anything.”
