Suppliers don't have enough of certain bottled water products to meet demand.
Bottled water shortages have been reported in five northern border states: Nuevo León, Coahuila, Baja California, Chihuahua and Sonora.
Water restrictions in Monterrey led to panic buying of bottled water in the Nuevo León capital. That led to shortages at supermarkets and convenience stores.
The president of ANPEC, a national small business association, told the newspaper Milenio that natural water resources are also limited in Coahuila, Baja California, Chihuahua and Sonora, leading residents of those states to buy greater quantities of bottled water, which has also generated shortages.
“The north of the country is very hot and the dog days of summer that are drawing near will be very strong,” Cuauhtémoc Rivera said, adding that the heat and higher demand for water has diminished dams.
He said that the supply of water to retailers has been problematic because suppliers have insufficient stock of some bottled water products. Consumers are snapping up whatever they can find, Rivera said.
The ANPEC chief also said that bottled water prices have increased 5-6% this year, which is below the 10% spike across the broader beverages category.
The Chac Mool figure at the National Museum of Anthropology is probably a familiar figure, but the museum also teaches about lesser-known groups like the Huichol and the Yaqui. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino
Anyone who spends significant time in Mexico eventually learns that the indigenous peoples here go far beyond the ancient Mexica (Aztecs) and Maya peoples they learned about in school.
If you’re curious about the rest of the 68 indigenous groups in Mexico, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park is the place to go. The Museo Nacional de Antropología is the nation’s largest and most visited museum, covering almost 20 acres and with 22 permanent exhibit halls housing several hundred thousand pieces of pre-Hispanic artifacts.
The current museum’s first incarnation was in 1825 when Guadalupe Victoria, Mexico’s first president, established the National Mexican Museum. As the number of artifacts grew, the collection was divided, something that happened twice between 1906 and 1940.
In 1940, the museum was named the Museo Nacional de Antropología, with a focus on pre-Hispanic artifacts and contemporary Mexican ethnography. Finally, in February 1963, construction began on the new building, which was inaugurated on September 17, 1964.
Masks from the peoples of the Gran Nayar region, which encompasses Nayarit, Jalisco, Durango and Zacatecas.
Upon entering the museum’s courtyard — after paying an entrance fee of a modest 85 pesos (US $4.25) — visitors can gaze up at El Paraguas (The Umbrella), a huge tower that pours a steady stream of water onto the ground below.
Exhibits dedicated to pre-Hispanic archaeology occupy the first floor, while those on the second floor are dedicated to modern Mexican indigenous groups.
The first exhibition hall on the right of the ground floor is the “Introduction to Anthropology” which, according to the museum’s information sheet, explains “the adaptations and changes experienced over millions of years [that] permitted the development of physical, social and cultural characteristics that defined modern-day human beings.”
The halls then continue counterclockwise in chronological order, starting with “Populating the Americas,” which includes artifacts and information about prehistoric life in Mexico from 30,000 to 2,500 B.C., then Pre-Classical Central Highlands (2,500 B.C. to A.D. 100), Teotihuacán (AD 100 to 700), the Toltec and the Epiclassic (A.D. 700 to 1200) and, finally, the Mexica (A.D. 1200 to 1521), which occupies a central location.
The museum is free on Sundays if you have an official Mexican identity card or a FM document that’ s not expired. Courtesy of National Museum of Anthropology
Placing the Mexica hall in the center of the museum, directly opposite the courtyard entrance, elicited some negative reactions.
Octavio Paz, a prominent Mexican writer and diplomat, was one of the most vocal critics of its central location. In “Critique of the Pyramid,” an essay published in 1970, he wrote that “[the] exaltation and glorification of Mexico-Tenochtitlán transforms the Museum of Anthropology into a temple.”
But Enrique Florescano, a Mexican historian, considered the museum, “a national treasure and a symbol of identity.”
Placing any indigenous group at the museum’s center would almost certainly have annoyed someone. Whatever people may think about the placement of the Mexica hall, it does contain one of the museum’s most impressive — and famous — artifacts, the Sun Stone.
The Sun Stone is believed to have been carved during the reign of Moctezuma II (A.D. 1502 to 1520). It was buried soon after the conquest, supposedly at the request of the Archbishop of Mexico. It was rediscovered on December 17, 1790, when repaving was being done in the main square.
This Mexica sun stone was likely made during Moctezuma II’s reign in the early 16th century, buried soon after the conquest and rediscovered 200 years later.
Although there’s some debate, most scholars believe that the center image depicts Tonatiuh, the Aztec sun god. Because the stone contains the names of the days, it was initially believed to be a calendar. But it’s not. It’s a temalacatl, a gladiatorial sacrificial altar, and was most likely used to stage combat between warriors, possibly those captured during battles.
Continuing on past the Mexica exhibit are halls dedicated to Oaxaca and the Gulf Coast and the Maya, West Mexico and Northern Mexico civilizations.
It’s impossible to list all of the impressive pieces in the museum, but a few stand out, among them a massive Olmec head, the bebedores (a mural from Cholula depicting people drinking pulque), a large statue of Tlaloc (the Aztec rain god) at the entrance and a couple of figures of Chac Mool, which are also associated with Tlaloc.
Chac Mool figures always have a platter resting on their knees on which offerings — sometimes the heart of a sacrificial victim — were placed.
The current building was erected in 1964, but the original dates back to 1825, founded by President Guadalupe Victoria. National Museum of Anthropology
Some of the rooms have re-creations of some important archaeological sites and artifacts. The Teotihuacán room has a replica of the staircase from the Pyramid of Quezalcóatl and the Oaxaca and Maya rooms have recreations of tombs that were excavated in those regions.
In addition to the larger pieces, all of the rooms have display cases filled with exquisitely carved clay figures and beautiful pieces of gold.
The second floor has 12 halls dedicated to the ethnography of modern Mexican indigenous groups. According to the museum, the exhibits in those halls celebrate the “… cultural patrimony characterized by a distinctive worldview” of extant indigenous peoples.
Each room highlights different indigenous groups from across Mexico, starting with the Gran Nayar room, which focuses on the Cora, Huichol, Tepehuan and Nahua who live in Nayarit, Jalisco and Zacatecas, and ending with groups such as the Seri, Yaqui and Tarahumara, who live in Mexico’s northwest. Each also contains photographs of ceremonies and rituals still conducted by the various groups, examples of their artwork and handicrafts and, often, dioramas depicting daily life in villages.
With a bit of luck, you can catch the Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers) directly across from the museum’s main entrance (there may be a schedule, but I was unable to find it).
During this ceremony, five people (typically but not always men) climb a 30-meter pole. Four sit on the corners of a wooden square while the fifth performs a dance on a small platform. The four men at the corners have a thick rope tied around their waist, and at the end of the dance, lean back and float toward the earth.
This ceremony is most closely associated with the indigenous Totonacs, who occupy parts of Veracruz, Puebla and Hidalgo. The ceremony begun about 500 years ago during a severe drought. It’s performed to bring rain, the men representing raindrops falling.
Touring the museum will definitely work up an appetite. There’s a cafeteria onsite, but there are also plenty of stands outside near the entrance that sell food.
This isn’t a museum that can be tackled in one day; it’s simply overwhelming. It’s best to explore three, maybe four, halls in depth and return at a later time to wander through more.
The elimination of daylight saving time in Baja California is not advisable, according to the state economy minister, but the state government is nevertheless analyzing the proposal put forward by President López Obrador.
AMLO, a longtime critic of daylight saving time, said last week that there is a good chance that the practice of changing clocks twice a year will be terminated this year.
“We have an inquiry open to make a decision,” Baja California Economy Minister Kurt Honold Morales told reporters at his June 1 news conference, adding that a government study showed that the savings generated by daylight saving time are minimal and the harm to health is considerable. He said last Friday that the federal government intended to consult citizens on the proposal via a survey.
Honold made it clear that he is opposed to its termination in the northern border state, which is in the Pacific Time Zone – two hours behind Mexico City, which is in the Central Time Zone.
“We’re certain that we don’t want the change,” State Economic Minister Kurt Honold told reporters.
He said that non-observance of daylight saving time “would hurt us a lot on the border but especially in Baja California” because there would be a time difference of one hour with the U.S. state of California during summer. “It would affect us a lot economically,” said Honold, a former mayor of Tijuana.
The minister said elimination of the practice would affect thousands of Tijuana and Mexicali residents who work in the United States as well as customs offices and truckers that transport goods across the border. Baja California has observed summer time since 1942, whereas it wasn’t introduced in the rest of Mexico until 1996.
“Hopefully the change isn’t made along the entire border, because it would affect all of us who are here,” Honold said. “… We’re certain that we don’t want the change.”
Lizbeth Mata Lozano, a National Action Party deputy who represents Baja California in the federal Congress, also spoke out against AMLO’s proposal, saying it would affect the binational economy and everyone who crosses the border on a daily basis. She said imports and exports would be adversely affected if there was a one-hour time difference between Baja California and California. “The economy would be completely different,” the lawmaker charged.
Not observing daylight time would affect people who cross daily into the U.S from Tijuana. File photo
Governor Marina del Pilar, elected on a Morena party ticket last year, appears more open to the proposal put forward by López Obrador, perhaps because she doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of the founder of the party she represents.
“We’re going to do the corresponding analysis together with the federal government, always supporting President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” she said Wednesday.
The governor said the “characteristics of the region of Baja California, its proximity to the border” and mobility between the state and California and Arizona have to be reviewed. “It’s very important that all these characteristics are analyzed and we’ll be doing the work in a coordinated way with the federal government,” del Pilar said.
The formation of pustules on the skin is one of the characteristic symptoms of monkeypox. CDC Public Health Image Library
A U.S. tourist who tested positive for monkeypox first fled the Puerto Vallarta hospital where he was instructed to isolate and undergo more tests, and then quickly hurried out of the country, according to reports.
The 48-year-old Texas man presented symptoms such as cough, chills, muscle pain and pustule-like lesions on his face, neck and trunk.
“He went to a private hospital in Puerto Vallarta and upon suspicion of this disease, he was instructed to take samples and isolate himself, which he refused and left (he actually fled) the unit,” according to a Jalisco Ministry of Health press release. Attempts to communicate with him went for naught, the agency added.
“According to information from the place where the couple was staying, it was reported that they were seen leaving with suitcases on June 4; however, since the patient had a scheduled flight from Puerto Vallarta to Dallas on June 6, [health officials] informed the National Immigration Institute and the airlines about the patient’s situation so that he would not be allowed to enter or board the aircraft,” the agency added.
In Jalisco, we have strengthened surveillance to detect monkeypox cases on time and help provide timely attention. For further information please contact our Call Center at 33-3823-3220 pic.twitter.com/RucSSQKc1M
— Secretaría de Salud Jalisco (@saludjalisco) June 8, 2022
It has now been determined, with assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, that the patient and his partner flew to the United States on June 4, El Universal reported. On June 7, the Ministry of Health’s National Liaison Center reported that the man’s test for monkeypox turned out to be positive, and the only thing the agency was awaiting at that point was confirmation from the CDC. His case was the first to be confirmed in Jalisco, according to reports.
During his stay in Puerto Vallarta, the patient reportedly was present at various parties and gatherings, some of them held in a hotel. In a tweet, the Jalisco Ministry of Health put out a call to people who attended parties at the Mantamar Beach Club in the period from May 27 to June 4, 2022, and present symptoms such as headache, high fever at 38.5 C, swollen glands, generalized muscle pain, visible skin eruptions in various parts of the body such as pustules. Anyone exhibiting such symptoms was urged to seek immediate medical attention.
According to several news reports, the infected individual was in Berlin, Germany, from May 12 to 16 before traveling to Puerto Vallarta.
Comida corrida restaurants are often family-run businesses.
I’m sitting on a plastic chair on Regina street in the central historic district of Mexico City, eyeing a handwritten menu with the food of the day scribbled out — as I’ve done hundreds of times before. El Centro is the heartbeat of the biggest city in North America and is flush with a seemingly unlimited number of options for stuffing your face with delicious Mexican (and foreign) cuisine.
But despite the choices, I find myself returning, again and again, to eat at the same humble establishments that prepare a cheap, home-cooked meal in a style known as comida corrida.
Comida corrida, a Mexico City tradition, is food made by the people for the people, and over the past seven years as an expat in the capital, this comfort food of sorts has become my favorite meal.
Translated roughly as “food on the run,” it was born in the late 19th century, in the days of President Porfirio Díaz, during the city’s urban expansion. With the rise of factories in Mexico City, workers from places on the outskirts of the city — places like Mixcoac, Tacuba and Narvarte — found themselves too far from home to go there for lunch and needed something hearty, cheap and quick to eat during their lunch break. Local women began selling them homemade meals out of inns (fondas), their homes or anywhere they could set up a small restaurant.
Comida corrida purveyors’ goal isn’t to be the hip restaurant in town, it’s to serve quality, affordable food to their neighbors.
The three-course meal consisted of a “wet soup” (usually a chicken consommé or tortilla soup), a “dry soup” (rice or pasta) and a protein — a thin slice of steak, breaded chicken or another traditional dish that met the requirements.
There are still thousands of traditional comida corrida joints around Mexico City (and throughout Mexico) set up in markets, booths, inns, homes and more traditional restaurant spaces that vary in size, ambition and ambiance. I have a favorite place that seats 12 and another that can accommodate 100–150 patrons. I like one spot that’s housed in an 18th-century colonial building and another that’s in the San Juan Market in Mexico City’s center, where you sit at long benches alongside people from the community.
Today, my options are as follows:
1st plate: Pumpkin flower soup or chicken consomé.
2nd plate: Rice or spaghetti with white sauce.
Main dish: Stuffed chiles, breaded beef, chicken with mole sauce, enchiladas with green, red or mole sauce), or shredded beef with beans.
Before I order, the waiter brings a pitcher of agua de sabor (flavored water) and a glass. The drink is tamarind water, but on other days it could be horchata, jamaica or any of the hundreds of homemade drinks concocted from fruit and herbs common in Mexico. He also brings hot tortillas, a bowl of limes and two different homemade salsas. Nearly all restaurants in Mexico make their own sauces and drinks and many have someone pressing tortillas by hand all day.
I choose the consomé de pollo, and a few moments later, when a moderately sized bowl of chicken soup arrives, I take a tortilla and spread a thin layer of salsaverde on it, squeeze lime in the middle, then roll it up and dip it into the broth. Rice and a fried egg is my second dish, and for the main plate, enchiladas conmole.
The sauce with pre-Hispanic roots made from chiles, nuts, chocolate, fruits, herbs and spices is tough to pass up. Today, the enchiladas are no disappointment, and by the time I finish my meal, I’m satisfied and ready to get back to work. And the total cost? Sixty pesos, or about US $3.
Unlike American fast food, a style of dining also meant to save money and time, comida corrida is a home-cooked meal, with everything prepared in-house, usually by a family. Often three or four generations work together — a grandmother cooking on a grill, her daughter pressing fresh tortillas on a back table, her son or an uncle taking an order and kids in the back playing.
These restaurants are a great way to know the flavors of traditional Mexican cuisine.
Seldom does a comida corrida restaurant scream hip or cool. No company soundtrack, uniforms or corporate airs. Maybe a TV in a corner with a telenovela, the news or a futbol game and a few posters of Mexican celebrities, saints and pictures of the family hung on the wall.
These places are not run-down but cozy, humble and familiar. Their goal is not to make a million dollars, start a franchise or get a magazine to write them up. The goal, from what I can see, is to serve quality food at a price people can afford.
By eating comida corrida, I’ve learned to distinguish all sorts of Mexican dishes, developing a deeper understanding of the country’s flavors. I’ve learned to differentiate sauces made from chile de árbol, jalapeños, serrano, chipotle and habaneros. I’ve learned how to order cooked bananas on top of my rice and which flavored waters are my favorite — maracuya (passion fruit), chia con limón (soaked chia seeds water with lime), sandía (watermelon).
And the long, rich history of Mexican and pre-Hispanic dishes contains enough variety that you could eat comida corrida every day (as I almost do) and not have the same dish twice for a month.
While many restaurants in the United States seem focused on creating menus and environments that are “new” and “original,” the cooks at comida corrida joints are content to prepare time-tested dishes people know, love and expect in an environment that is like their home. And the ritual of taking a break in the middle of the day to eat a hot meal sets the rhythm of the city and links people together.
Most comida corrida joints buy their fruits, vegetables and meat daily from local markets and butchers, which are often a few blocks away. If they run out of something, they send someone next door to buy it from a neighbor.
And as you eat, musicians arrive to play a few songs on time-worn guitars, then ask for a tip before moving on to the next restaurant. Vendors of all kinds and beggars will pass through, hawking products or asking for change; they’re seldom shooed away unless they’re disorderly, which is rare. In this way, comida corrida restaurants not only serve their patrons but also are a hub for many economies.
When I think about my dining experiences in America that were most like comida corrida, I recall eating at my grandma’s house, the familiarity and coziness of it. And since I grew up in New Jersey, it’s also reminiscent of the casual convenience of a pizzeria — ordering a slice while neighborhood kids fold boxes in the back.
But the truth is, I don’t remember the last time I went into a restaurant in the U.S. that felt like someone’s home, where the food and experience were created by a family — and everything served was affordable.
In the U.S, the closest thing to comida corrida is fast food — a cold experience: plastic trays and booths, microphones and headsets, workers behind the counters with no ties to the business and fluorescent lights heating “food” — nothing like the homeliness of dining at a comida corrida joint.
As we move beyond the pandemic and look to becoming healthier, I wonder what the U.S. could learn from Mexico’s comida corrida traditionabout community, affordability and creating spaces to improve our overall well-being.
Handshake Speakeasy in the Colonia Juárez neighborhood of Mexico City.
Eleven bars in Mexico have received spots in the inaugural ranking of North America’s 50 Best Bars, revealed at a ceremony this week in New York City. The list was compiled by William Reed, a multimedia company that focuses on the food and drinks industry and also publishes the World’s 50 Best Bars, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and other lists.
The new regional list places 10 Mexico bars in the top 22, including No. 2, Handshake Speakeasy, and No. 3, Licorería Limantour, both in Mexico City. In all, Mexico City has six bars on the list of 50, with two in Oaxaca and one each in Playa del Carmen, Tulum and Jalisco.
This list includes 30 bars in the United States, eight in Canada and one in Cuba, in addition to the Mexican tally. “Today is a big night because everyone at ‘50 Best’ has been planning to release a list celebrating the top bar talent in North America for almost a decade,” said Mark Sansom, director of content for North America’s 50 Best Bars. “As pandemic restrictions are finally being lifted, we think there’s no better time to unveil the awards that tell the story of great bars in this region.”
In addition to Handshake Speakeasy and Licorería Limantour, the other Mexican bars on the list are: No. 7 Baltra Bar (Mexico City), No. 11 Zapote Bar (Playa del Carmen), No. 13 Kaito del Valle (Mexico City), No. 15 Café de Nadie (Mexico City), No. 16 Hanky Panky (Mexico City), No. 20 Sabina Sabe (Oaxaca), No. 21 El Gallo Altanero (Guadalajara), No. 22 Selva (Oaxaca) and No. 37 Arca (Tulum).
Licorería Limantour, in the Roma Norte neighborhood of Mexico City.
Handshake Speakeasy finished behind only Attaboy, a cocktail bar on New York City’s Lower East Side that last year was named the 34th best bar in the world. To enter Handshake, which is located behind the wall of a cigar shop in a mall in the Polanco area, one needs a secret code that can be obtained via the speakeasy’s Instagram page.
Set in a 1920s decor, Handshake Speakeasy has a long, marble bar with copper arches framing the backbar, and its cocktails are “surprising results [that] are achieved through extensive work in the lab, clarifying juices, creating new syrups and infusing cordials,” according the bar’s summary on the 50 best list.
Licorería Limantour, meanwhile, is “an institution in Mexico City’s bubbling nightlife scene” that is “regarded as one of the city’s best party bars.” One of the establishment’s featured drinks is the “Margarita al Pastor,” which is made with tequila blanco, Cointreau, pineapple cubes, coriander, serrano chile, basil, lime juice and sugar. Licorería Limantour has two locations, but the one selected for this list is in Roma Norte (the other is in Polanco).
On the World’s 50 Best Bars list for 2021, Licorería Limantour was sixth, well ahead of Handshake Speakeasy in 25th place. Hanky Panky was 12th. The 2022 global list will be announced in October.
According to William Reed, the 2022 North America list was compiled by a panel of 220 experts, including bartenders, owners and journalists in eight regions: Canada East, Canada Northeast, U.S. Midwest, U.S. West, U.S. South, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Mexico is represented in one other small way on the North America list: The artwork for the No. 39 bar on the list, ABV in San Francisco, includes a picture of a can of Modelo.
Leadership of the church La Luz del Mundo have been accused of child trafficking, money laundering and sexual abuse, among other charges. Church "Apostle" Naasón Joaquín García is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in California for sexual abuse of minors. (File photo)
The leader of a Guadalajara-based evangelical church was sentenced in a California court Wednesday to 16 years and eight months in prison for sexually abusing three girls between 2015 and 2018 in Los Angeles county.
Naasón Joaquín García, leader or “Apostle” of the La Luz del Mundo (Light of the World) church, pleaded guilty last Friday to two acts of forcible oral sex with minors and performing a lewd act on a child. García, 53, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in 2019. In addition to his prison sentence, he will be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
The church leader submitted a plea just days before he was scheduled to face trial on 23 charges of sex crimes against children, including multiple counts of rape and conspiracy to engage in human trafficking and child pornography. In exchange for admitting guilt, prosecutors dropped most of the charges he faced, including the most serious ones.
Two of three women accused of colluding with García to abuse minors have also reached plea deals with prosecutors.
Five accusers who appeared in court Wednesday said that García’s sentence was too lenient and complained about not being consulted on the plea deal he reached with the office of the California attorney general.
La Luz del Mundo said in a statement that “since his arrest in 2019, the Apostle has been subjected to a prosecution in which evidence was suppressed, withheld, doctored and altered.”
“After the defense finally obtained this evidence, the court ruled that the defense would not be permitted to use the materials at trial, preventing the defense from effectively cross-examining the complaining witnesses and challenging their allegations,” the church said. “Without a right to use the evidence, there is no right of defense. Without a right to use the evidence, there can be no fair trial.”
Consequently, “the Apostle of Jesus Christ has had no choice but to accept with much pain that the agreement presented is the best way forward to protect the church and his family,” La Luz del Mundo said. “… We publicly manifest our support for the Apostle of Jesus Christ; our confidence in him remains intact in the full knowledge of his integrity, his conduct and his work.”
La Luz del Mundo’s church in Guadalajara, where the religious organization is based.
García’s five accusers, who are now young women, presented victim-impact statements at Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, which was held at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. All five, each of whom was given the pseudonym Jane Doe, said they felt robbed of their chance to more fully confront García, according to a Reuters report.
“We looked up to you, you were our god, and you betrayed us. You are no more than a predator and an abuser,” said a visually emotional Jane Doe No. 3.
Dressed in orange prison attire, García sat with his back to his tearful accusers and didn’t make any statement to the court.
“Naasón and this church have ruined my life,” said Jane Doe No. 4, who introduced herself as García’s niece.
Another accuser asserted that García was avoiding accountability by claiming innocence through the church statement. “Your honor, this abuser thinks your courtroom is a joke. Even after he accepted the plea deal, he’s sending messages to the church that he’s innocent,” she said.
Judge Ronald Cohen, who imposed the almost 17-year sentence recommended by prosecutors, assured the victims – who also described García as “evil,” a “monster,” “disgusting human waste” and the “antichrist” – that “the world has heard you.”
Co-defendant Susana Medina Oaxaca pleaded guilty to a charge of assault likely to cause great bodily harm and was sentenced to probation for a period of one year and ordered to complete six months of psychiatric counseling. Alondra Ocampo, another co-defendant, pleaded guilty in 2020 to three counts of touching a minor in a sexual way and one count of forcible penetration. Ocampo, who had previously faced human trafficking and other criminal charges, has not yet been sentenced.
Azalea Rangel Melendez, another woman accused of colluding with García to abuse girls, has evaded arrest.
Two of three women accused of colluding with Joaquín García have also entered plea deals. One of the accused remains at large.
Founded in Guadalajara by García’s grandfather in 1926, La Luz del Mundo is Mexico’s largest evangelical church. It has a presence in 50 countries and some 5 million members. García has been credited with growing the church’s membership since succeeding his father as leader in 2014. He used social media to attract new members, and also to lure his victims, according to California prosecutors.
The church – which doesn’t celebrate Christmas or Easter, segregates sexes during services, prohibits alcohol and doesn’t allow women to hold leadership positions – has been the subject of controversy for decades and described by critics as a cult that preys on the poor.
Andrew Chesnut, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, said after García’s 2019 arrest that the church was “too large to be considered a cult” but has been run as a “cult of personality.”
“García took on godlike roles, saying he couldn’t be judged, that he was like a king,” he said.
Senator Dante Delgado, national leader of the Citizens Movement party.
A new opposition needs to be built in seven months to take on the ruling Morena party at upcoming elections, the national leader of the Citizens Movement (MC) party said Wednesday.
Senator Dante Delgado, a former governor of Veracruz and ambassador to Italy, proposed the creation of an opposition movement that is above political parties, although he indicated that the MC will have a central role in building it.
“We believe that the new opposition has to be built in a maximum of seven months and we’re sure that it will be above parties, and it will have to be … [formed by] actors who are truly representative of society,” he told a press conference in the Senate.
“… I have no doubt that there will be a new opposition in Mexico” by the end of January 2023, Delgado said.
Gubernatorial elections will be held in México state and Coahuila next June, while voters will go to the polls in June 2024 to elect a new president, federal deputies and senators, governors in nine states and many other state and municipal representatives.
Speaking three days after Morena won four of six governorships up for grabs at elections last Sunday, Delgado said the existing opposition movement – a loose electoral alliance between the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) – is inefficient and hasn’t had electoral success.
“We’re building a project for the country, the option Mexico is demanding,” he said. “It’s been seen over and over again that the project that the historic forces have been building is inefficient, it hasn’t had electoral success and we’re going for electoral victory.”
Delgado also said that President López Obrador “knows very well” that MC is building a new opposition to win the presidency in 2024.
PAN, PRI and PRD leaders at a 2021 press conference for their coalition. Delgado criticized both the ruling Morena party and their primary opposition, the Va por México coalition.
He said Mexicans are looking for a political force that can tackle the problems the country faces, such as poverty and insecurity. Delgado also said that citizens want economic development that will generate the kind of jobs new generations of workers want to do. The current government has failed in “practically all areas,” he charged.
He said earlier this week that the MC wouldn’t join the PAN-PRI-PRD alliance – called Va por México – because the leaders of those parties are trying to “revive something that has already failed.”
The senator said Wednesday that his party has made a commitment to contest elections on its own, but left himself some wriggle room, asserting that “we’re not ruling anyone in or out” when pushed to declare whether it would ally itself with any opposition party at the 2024 presidential election.
Senator Ricardo Monreal, Morena’s leader in the upper house of Congress, predicted that the MC will ultimately join the Va por México alliance.
“Notwithstanding that the national [MC] leader has said no [to the possibility of joining Va por México], I think that in the end the three-party bloc and Citizens Movement will work together in 2024, not just to be competitive but to survive,” he said Tuesday.
“…They’re going to come together, it’s the only way they can be competitive with Morena,” Monreal said. “… Even with the four [parties] there is no way they can beat Morena,” he added.
Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro, who won the 2018 election in that state on an MC ticket, could feasibly head up a new opposition built by Citizens Movement, although an obstacle to electoral success could be that he is not well known outside Jalisco, as the El Universal survey found.
He declared late last year that he was “more than prepared” to be a presidential candidate in 2024, but denied being on a personal quest to take the reins of the country and asserted that he doesn’t have “delusions of grandeur.”
"The truth is we reached a weight we didn't imagine," said Juan Manuel Vargas, a member of the record-breaking team.
Mexico’s largest-ever hamburger was made in Mazatlán Sunday at the Pacific coast city’s second annual International Hamburger Festival.
A team of chefs made a 285.5-kilogram burger in just 10 minutes, easily breaking the national record set at last year’s festival, at which a 156-kilo whopper was made.
Luciano Ibarra, the main proponent of the record attempt, said the objective was to promote Mazatlán and provide a meal to needy residents. He said that portions of the massive burger would be provided to local foundations and “a lot of people who need it.”
The chefs said they were happy with their achievement but they’re already thinking about setting a new Mexican and world record in 2023.
“It feels very good, very satisfactory. The truth is we reached a weight we didn’t imagine. We went well over what we had planned, [and] everything turned out well, thanks to God,” said Juan Manuel Vargas, a member of the record-breaking team.
A large crowd was on hand to witness the bulky burger being assembled.
“I’m very excited because it’s just the second time the event has been held and the 100-kilo difference from last year to today is very big,” María Esther Montoya said. “… It’s a very good atmosphere and [making a huge burger] for a noble cause is very interesting and laudable,” she said.
To achieve their goal of making the world’s largest hamburger at next year’s festival, the chefs will have to put together a burger four times bigger than that assembled last weekend. According to Guinness World Records, the world’s largest hamburger – a 1,164-kilogram monster – was made in Germany in 2017.
The civil engineer, who works on section 4 of the tourism train project, said construction is "extremely behind schedule."
The Maya Train railroad won’t open while the current federal government is in office — as President López Obrador has pledged — and may never be finished, according to two people working on the ambitious project.
A civil engineer working on section 4 of the project and an archaeologist working on section 3 spoke with Yucatán Magazine about the construction of the US $10 billion, 1,500-kilometer railroad, which the government says will begin operations in 2023. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid repercussions.
The engineer said that work on section 4, which will run between Izamal, Yucatán, and Cancún, Quintana Roo, is “extremely behind schedule.”
“The official delay is five months, but in reality, at this rate, we are more like a year and a half behind where we should be at this point,” the engineer said.
There are seven sections of the railroad, which stretches from the state of Chiapas to Quintana Roo and the state of Yucatán.
“… We have simply taken on too much. We have actually been gaining some ground when it comes to clearing vegetation and setting the stage to lay rail, but even there we are behind. And this is to say nothing of other necessary pieces of infrastructure such as overpasses and underpasses, as well as the train stations.”
Asked how long it will take to make AMLO’s vision a reality, the engineer responded:
“Honestly, we are looking at somewhere between eight and 10 more years. The thing is that this should not come as a surprise as it’s what we have known since the beginning. We had auditors come from Spain, and that’s the timeline they gave us.”
Probed as to whether the project will ultimately be finished or abandoned, the engineer said the election last Sunday of a Morena party governor in Quintana Roo “bodes well for the project” as Yucatán will be the only state among the five through which the railroad will run without a ruling party leader.
“But ultimately it will come down to who the next president will be and if they decide to continue with the project or simply abandon it,” the engineer said.
The archaeologist told Yucatán Magazine that working on section 3, which will run between Calkiní, Campeche, and Izamal, Yucatán, has been a rewarding experience but one filled with many complications.
“… We really have come across some very interesting finds and are quite excited to see what else we come across during construction. There is much criticism of the project with regard to its potential destruction of cultural heritage, but I can tell you that all the parties involved are being extremely careful and conservative in this respect,” the archaeologist said.
“… I love the work, but honestly, there is more than enough work just in … [section] 3 of the project for an entire six years. I very much doubt we will be able to finish … on time.”
The government has enlisted the military to build sections 6 and 7.
The archaeologist claimed that the project is “riddled with bureaucracy and nepotism” and that the people calling the shots “have no idea what is really going on.”
“… Other than that, … it’s … simply an impossible amount of work. I will give you an example: there is a huge amount of rail sitting on the outskirts of Maxcanú [in Yucatán] at the moment. The person in charge of procuring the vehicles to transport them to the worksites had no idea what he was doing and contacted a friend’s fleet of trucks to move them. To make a long story short, the rails proved too heavy, and they are just sitting there.”
In deciding to build the Maya Train and other large-scale infrastructure initiatives, López Obrador committed to “overly ambitious projects, which in the end are likely to be unfinished,” the archaeologist said.
At a public meeting in Tulum on Tuesday that was arranged by the federal Environment Ministry as part of the EIS consultation process, people opposed to the Maya Train claimed that the document isn’t valid as it doesn’t fully consider the environmental impact of the project and lacks key information such as technical studies.
Activists also questioned an official with the National Institute of Ecology (Inecol), which completed the as-yet unapproved EIS, why jungle was cleared for the construction of Tramo 5 Sur before all required studies were completed and approved.
Inecol official Rafael Villegas Patraca referred the question to an official with the National Tourism Promotion Fund, which is managing the Maya Train project, but he repeatedly avoided answering it, the newspaper Reforma reported.
