The film festival will celebrate Swiss cinema this year. (GIFF)
The 26th edition of the Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF) begins on Thursday, and will run until July 31 in the cities of León, San Miguel de Allende and Irapuato.
Switzerland will be this year’s guest of honor, and the festival will showcase a number of Swiss films. A total of 201 films will be screened from 49 countries around the world.
Running from July 20–31, the festival will debut movies from around the world, as well as discuss many of the challenges facing the industry — including artificial intelligence. (GIFF)
The festival will also host 37 world premieres, in addition to 53 Mexican, 21 Latin American and 32 U.S. premieres.
From vineyards in San Miguel de Allende to theaters in León and gardens in Irapuato, this year’s venues will bring back annual features of the festival such as Children in Action, Midnight Madness, Music + Cinema and Cinema Among the Dead.
“The festival will take on the host city’s identity,” GIFF Director Sarah Hoch told the publication Forbes Life in an interview. “Venues in León include large spaces, theaters and museums. In San Miguel de Allende, we will be in vineyards and ecological zones, while in Irapuato we will see gardens, a cinema picnic and a gastronomic space.”
Rather than running concurrently, the festival will move across the state, beginning first in León, where the festival will run from July 20 to 23 and open with the biographical film “Joan Baez: I am a Noise” by directors Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky y Maeve O’Boyle. “Lost in the Night” by Mexican director Amat Escalante, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, will also be shown.
Events will take place in the cities of León, San Miguel de Allende and Irapuato. (GIFF)
The festival will then move on to San Miguel de Allende, from July 24 to 27, before finishing in Irapuato on July 28, with the world premiere of “Martínez” by Lorena Padilla. GIFF will wrap up on July 31 with the screening of different children’s films in the Teatro de la Ciudad.
The festival will also pay homage to Mexican director Luis Estrada, Mexican actress Araceli Ramírez, Mexican film producer Tita Lombardo and U.S. musician Baez.
A panel of experts will also discuss the role of artificial intelligence in the creative industries “to anticipate what is coming,” Hoch said. “We believe that AI is a threat to Mexican cinema and to the industry worldwide. It is a very serious issue, and that’s why we must discuss it.”
Access to all movies shown during the festival is free of charge.
Make sure to read this list before you jet off for Mexico. (Lutfi Gaos/Unsplash)
Mexico’s three largest airlines have seen a total 16.5% growth in passenger numbers between them so far this year, when compared to the same period in 2022.
Volaris, Viva Aerobus and Aeromexico dominate the airline industry in Mexico, and the three airlines have carried 39.6 million passengers between January and June of 2023 — about 6.5 million people more than in the first half of 2022.
Volaris General Director Enrique Beltranena says his airline expects more expansion as soon as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration restores Mexico’s Category 1 safety status, which he believes will be restored from Category 2 in the near future. (Enrique Beltranena/Twitter)
Volaris General Director Enrique Beltranena believes that the impending restoration of Mexico’s Category 1 status, which was revoked in 2021 over safety concerns, will allow the airline to expand its international offerings aggressively. New flights between Mexico and the United States are currently prohibited as a result of the FAA downgrade to Category 2.
“We continue to anticipate Mexico’s return to Category 1 classification in the United States, and the team has begun to plan changes to our network that will allow us to concentrate on growth in strong international markets,” Beltranena said.
Volaris is currently Mexico’s largest airline and is responsible for 41.5% of the total number of passengers between the three airlines from January to June 2023.
Aeromexico, the only one of the three airlines to offer long-haul and trans-Atlantic options, has seen a 21.7% increase in passenger numbers this year. It carried almost 11.8 million people for a 29.8% share of total passengers.
Viva Aerobus started flying out of AIFA in May 2022. Flights from the airport now offer around 80% capacity. (Viva Aerobus)
Volaris, which ferried 41.5% of the total passengers, moved some 16.4 million people, while Viva saw 11.3 million passengers for 20.2% of all passengers that traveled between January and June of 2023..
Demand for flights has been currently boosted by the high season for Mexico’s tourist industry, which is likely to ensure that the strong growth figures continue, said Viva Aerobus chief Juan Carlos Zuazua.
June proved a particularly strong month for the airline industry, with high domestic and international demand driving performances for all three carriers.
All three airlines now also operate from Mexico City’s new Felipe Angeles Airport, which has flights averaging around 80% capacity.
A new El Financiero newspaper poll found Gálvez to be the frontrunner among respondents questioned about who they'd like to see represent the Frente Amplio por México coalition in the 2024 presidential election. (Yerania Rolón/Cuartoscuro)
National Action Party (PAN) Senator Xóchitl Gálvez is the most popular opposition candidate with non-Morena voters for the presidential race coming in 2024, according to a new El Financiero poll.
With 22% of respondents saying they prefer her as the candidate to run against the Morena Party candidate for president, Gálvez jumped nine points from a previous poll earlier in July and now stands six points ahead of the second most popular choice, PAN deputy Santiago Creel, who was chosen by 16% of respondents in the latest poll results.
Federal deputy Santiago Creel (left) arrives with his wife to register as a candidate for the Broad Front for Mexico. He was the second most popular choice by poll respondents regarding who they want to see run against the ruling Morena Party candidate. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Positive opinions of Gálvez also moved forward two points to 36%, compared to the previous poll.
In third place was former tourism minister Enrique de la Madrid of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) with 12% support. The top three were followed by Beatriz Paredes (PRI), who was chosen by 8% of respondents, and former Governor of Michoacán Silvano Aureoles of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), who got 3% support.
The Frente Amplio por México (Broad Front for Mexico) is an opposition coalition that will represent the PAN, PRI and PRD in the run for president next year. Together, they will nominate a single candidate from among their parties to contest the June 2024 election. While there will not be a direct-voting process by rank-and-file party members to choose the coalition candidate, party leaders have said they will take the will of party members into account.
The two frontrunners to win the Morena candidacy are generally agreed to be former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and former foreign affairs minister Marcelo Ebrard.
Incumbent president López Obrador has repeatedly railed against Gálvez. The election authority INE has recetly ordered him to cease comment on his perceived electoral rival. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Almost all the other opposition options considered in the poll also showed some forward movement in favorable opinions toward them compared to the previous poll: Santiago Creel jumped four points from 27% to 31%, while Beatriz Paredes moved forward two points from 25% to 27%.
Enrique de la Madrid, however, showed a decrease of 1%, going from 29% to 28%.
Approval ratings for the potential candidates went largely along party lines, with Gálvez proving the first choice amongst PAN voters, at 49%, and de la Madrid the top candidate for PRI supporters, at 50%.
While some of the opposition candidates considered in the poll, such as Creel, Aureoles and Parades had been courting the idea of running a campaign in the last few months, Senator Gálvez has only emerged as a candidate in the last two weeks, making her ride to the top of the polls somewhat unexpected. Her visibility as a presidential candidate has only been amplified by President López Obrador’s frequent disparagement of her recently during his morning press conferences, known as “the mañaneras.” The frequent verbal attacks led Gálvez to report López Obrador to the National Electoral Institute (INE), accusing him of conducting gender political violence with his remarks about her.
Some analysts theorize that the reason AMLO has been quick to label Gálvez as part of the “mafia of power” is because her working class Otomi roots could appeal to Morena’s large working-class base, posing a threat to Morena frontrunners Claudia Sheinbaum and Marcelo Ebrard. (Andrea Murcia Monsivais and Adolfo Vladimir/Cuartoscuro)
When asked if it was acceptable for López Obrador to give his opinion or make public statements about the presidential contenders, 45% of respondents said it was fine, while 35% said it was not.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents also considered the president’s recent criticism of Gálvez for having sold tamales on the street to support herself in her youth as “bad” or “very bad,” while 22% did not see a problem with AMLO’s statements.
The candlemakers of Teotitlan del Valle in Oaxaca are amongst some of the most skilled in the world, and their work can be found across the globe. (All photos by Anna Bruce)
Down a dusty side street, near the heart of the town of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Liliana Ruiz López and her family run a candlemaking workshop called Velas San Pascual. It was founded in 2011, but the family has been passing down the tradition of candlemaking for three generations.
According to Liliana, “most of the candlemakers here in Teotitlán inherited work from our great-grandparents.”
The family works together to create ornate, intricate wax candles.
And the generations of knowledge passed down shows: their stunning creations hang from the walls and fill tables in an abundant feast for the eyes. Candles in every shape, size and color. Nor are the colors random: each different color represents specific personality traits — white for purity, blue for serenity and orange for vitality.
Liliana invited me up to the second floor, where the practical side of the workshop is located.
The air is sweet with the aroma of locally sourced beeswax in the process of melting. The naturally yellow wax is made into thin bowls by dipping a jicara (gourd) into the liquid. These bowls are then put in the sun to bleach, creating a white base to color with natural dyes.
As Liliana showed me around, her cousins worked on intricate wax flowers. They were making petals by using wooden molds dipped in hot wax before submerging them in cold water.
Viviana Ruiz Lopez, who was once ostracized for choosing to sell her candles, has revolutionized and innovated the local candle industry.
Originally these candles were known as velas de concha (shell candles) because shells were used as molds to make the flowers.
The flowers are then attached to the base of tall candle stems to make an ornate arrangement. They make the stem by hanging cotton wicks from a suspended metal ring.
The artisans bathe each wick in wax, building up layers: ceremonial candles can be almost 2 meters tall, taking hundreds of wax “baths,” and weeks of patient work.
Traditionally, these candles were used as part of a marriage proposal ritual.
Individual wax petals are combined to make intricate flowers. Traditionally, candlemakers used shells to create the shapes.
Lila described how in Teotitlán, “when asking for the hand of a bride, it is important to carry these candles as symbols of spirituality, abundance and prosperity, and to unite the family of the bride and groom.
“The light, or the fire, is what will guide the path of that couple,” she said.
Liliana recalls that when her husband Gregorio Montaño Pablo proposed, he brought an immense number of candles.
“His whole family participated. My whole family participated. It’s very nice to be part of this tradition.”
The candles also play an important role in traditional proposals in Teotitlán del Valle.
The other main reason to make candles was for the Catholic Church. These candles were expected to be a donation, rather than a commercial sale.
One of the first candlemakers to counter this tradition was maestra Viviana. After her husband fell ill, she began to sell candles to support her family. The controversy led Viviana to be marginalized for many years.
Fortunately, Viviana persevered, and the restrictions led to innovation in her candles. Now she is an inspiration to many and has helped revive the practice of candlemaking. Her efforts paved the way for workshops like San Pascual, and now the elegant candles of Teotitlán can be found around the world.
Anna Bruce is an award-winning British photojournalist based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Just some of the media outlets she has worked with include Vice, The Financial Times, Time Out, Huffington Post, The Times of London, the BBC and Sony TV. Find out more about her work at her website or visit her on social media on Instagram or on Facebook.
Numbers of the critically endanged vaquita porpoise have increased this year, but the U.S government want to see further progress before ruling sanctions out entirely. (Dolphin Discovery)
The United States has decided not to sanction Mexico for its failure to protect the endangered vaquita porpoise but still threatens to do so if the vaquita’s situation does not improve within a year.
The decision followed the U.S. Secretary of the Interior’scertification in May that Mexican nationals are “diminishing the effectiveness” of CITES and that the Mexican government has failed to stem the illegal harvest and commercial export of totoaba”. That decision authorized the U.S.’ President Biden to impose trade sanctions on wildlife products from Mexico if he chose. He had until July to decide how to respond.
International pressure to save the vaquita porpoise has been ongoing in Mexico. Here, the WWF displays models of vaquitas in Mexico City’s central Zócalo square. (Diego Simón Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
On July 17, President Bidensent a letter to the U.S. Congress declaring that he will not impose trade sanctions and outlining a three-step action plan to protect the vaquita. In the letter, Biden directs:
Relevant U.S. agencies to hold high-level dialogues with Mexico to discuss measures toward reducing illegal totoaba trafficking and enhancing vaquita conservation.
U.S. agencies to support Mexico’s compliance with these measures and offer relevant training, if requested.
The U.S. Secretary of the Interior to assess Mexico’s implementation of its CITES Compliance Action Plan and to prepare a report by July 2024.
The Interior Secretary’s certification was made under the Pelly Amendment to the Fishermen’s Protective Act of 1967, which gives U.S. presidents 60 days to notify Congress of actions taken pursuant to this type of certification. If the president fails to implement trade sanctions on an offending country, they must explain why.
Biden’s letter states that he is not directing that sanctions be put in place because the actions outlined in his plan “are the appropriate means to address the issue.”
With so few vaquitas left, spotting one of the elusive porpoises is rare. (Semarnat)
However, the letter warns, “The [July 2024] report will be used as the basis for assessing whether additional steps, including potential trade restrictions, will be necessary.”
Native to the Gulf of California, the vaquita is the world’s smallest porpoise. Vaquitas are frequently caught and drowned in nets used to illegally catch totoaba, itself an endangered fish species that is prized on the international black market for the supposed medicinal properties of its swim bladder.
In December 2022, three U.S. conservation groups — the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the Animal Welfare Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council — sued the U.S. Department of Interior todemand sanctions on Mexico for failing to stop this illegal trade. They claimed that Mexico had failed to act against totoaba fishing for over a decade, during which time vaquita numbers had plunged from 200 to around 10.
“I’m disappointed in the U.S. government for doing so little to save vaquitas from extinction,”Sarah Uhlemann, international program director at the CBD, said in response to President Biden’s latest decision not to impose sanctions.
The illegal fishing of totoaba for their swim bladders has caused a significant decline in the population of vaquitas. (Sea Shepherd)
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador thanked President Biden and claimed that Mexico is already taking action to protect the vaquita.
“The navy and other authorities are protecting the area of the Sea of Cortez [Gulf of California] where there are these species in danger of extinction; they are being cared for, and there is evidence that they are being preserved, even that they are reproducing recently,” the president said.
AfterCITES sanctioned Mexico on March 27, recommending that parties to the convention suspend trade with Mexico in all species listed in the convention, Mexico submitted a Compliance Action Plan to the CITES Secretariat, outlining steps it said it would take to reduce illegal fishing in the Gulf of California. CITES accepted the new plan and withdrew sanctions on April 13.
President Biden’s letter to Congress highlights recent improvements — including Mexico’s partnership with the NGO Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to remove illegal nets from a small priority area — but stresses that these measures alone are “insufficient to ensuring the recovery of the vaquita.”
A U.S. embargo on Mexican wildlife products could potentially stop all Mexican seafood exports to the U.S., worth nearly $600 million in 2021.
The identification of Mexico's disappeared persons has become what many experts call a "forensic crisis," requiring solutions beyond simple DNA analysis. (Fernando Carranza García/Cuartoscuro)
In researching how Mexican forensic experts identify the recovered bodies of victims of forced disappearance, UNAM professor Vivette García Deister has encountered some gruesome situations.
“Most difficult is that many of the international standardized protocols on how to identify [bodies] cannot be applied to the victims received in many places by the forensic services of Mexico, for the reason that what arrives at the morgue is not always a complete body,” she said. “Sometimes you have a femur, a torso, a head.”
The scientist Vivette García Deister is working on cross-border solutions to the identification of Mexico’s disappeared. (Photo courtesy of Vivette García Deister)
Yet García Deister continues to study the issue, including the increasing trend of using DNA to identify the disappeared. Over the last 10 years, she has examined forensic DNA analysis initiatives by the Mexican government as well as by civilian-led groups, becoming familiar with both the promises and shortcomings of DNA identification.
“It can be very personal, especially with the families,” she said. “It can be conclusive. It’s not the only means of identification, and it’s not always available or possible to use DNA.”
Last year, she edited an anthology on the overall subject – “ADN, protagonista inesperado: Promesas y realidades de la investigación genética ante nuestra crisis forense” (“DNA, an Unexpected Protagonist: Promises and Realities of Genetic Research in the Context of Our Forensic Crisis”).
It’s been a busy time for the scholar, who this year added another responsibility to her portfolio: editor-in-chief of Tapuya, a journal of science, technology and societal studies in Latin America.
The anthology, “DNA, an Unexpected Protagonist,” addresses some of the reasons why DNA remains an underutilized resource in the identification of bodies. (UNAM)
As of May, the number of disappeared persons in Mexico stood at 112,000, while Mexico’s national forensic personnel were dealing with 52,000 unidentified sets of remains.
It was the Calderón administration’s War on Drugs that prompted García Deister to change her academic trajectory. Up to the end of the administration and the aftermath of its narco policy, she had been researching DNA with regard to diverse national population demographics in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil.
“The way [Mexicans] were engaging with genetics was not through ancestry tests or questions of propensity to disease,” she said. “That was the Global North [approach] — the U.K. and U.S. That was an issue in Mexico. The way people were engaging with genomics and genetics [here] was through forensics.”
As García Deister explained, these efforts have been made not only by the Mexican government but also by loved ones of the disappeared who distrust the government and seek independent means of identification of remains. This has resulted in the rise of nongovernmental organizations involved in identification, which are sometimes aided by experts from other Latin American countries with large numbers of disappeared citizens, including Argentina and Peru. Mexican journalists, including documentary filmmakers, also play a role by publicizing their countries’ citizen-led forensic initiatives.
Current initiatives to identify the disappeared are fragmented, and involve many parts of society, including relatives, nongovernmental organizations and federal forensic agencies. (Adolfo Vladimir/Cuartoscuro)
“What we see in these [last] 10 years is that these collective organizations, civilian organizations, have become forensic experts themselves,” she said, “doing the work nobody else is willing to do or sees a need to do.”
“I also know that there are civil servants and authorities who are willing to do the work, but their capacities are limited and the overflow and backlog of bodies is unmanageable.”
García Deister’s own research involves regularly observing examiners from forensic services, particularly geneticists, as they use DNA for identification. She documents and analyzes the day-to-day process, including necropsies, sample-taking and DNA extraction.
“Having been trained as a biologist and receiving some training in human dissection or autopsy, I am able to be there in a somewhat professional manner,” she said. “I do not participate in identifications or in the work with any of the subjects. It’s still very difficult.”
García Deister’s work includes a collaboration with Lindsay Smith, a professor at Arizona State University’s School for the Future of Innovation in Society. Aided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, their project studies the deaths of migrants on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Undocumented families can be hesitant to share DNA samples north of the border, making it difficult to identify the bodies of immigrants who have died. (SOS Busqueda y Rescate)
“I think a really interesting aspect of the project that Vivette and I do together is that it focuses on ties between U.S. and Mexican institutions to understand processes on both sides of the border,” Smith said. “[García Deister’s] work is amazing and brilliant. The project in general is an important one that brings nuance.”
Both scholars point out that there are nuances involved in DNA profiling, whether in Mexico or the U.S.
North of the border, Smith said, “migrant, maybe undocumented, families are often fearful of [giving] DNA samples to a medical examiner,” especially if they “have to give information such as their address.”
In Mexico, she added, “it’s a really hard process politically in all of the Mexican states … to get all the samples processed in the same place. It sounds very simple. In practice, it’s very difficult. I work with a lot of families. When you speak with them about coordinating DNA databases, they just laugh. Mexico has been talking about it for 10 to 12 years but never managed to do it.”
When García Deister was consulted by the Peña Nieto administration on best practices for establishing DNA databases, she warned against using the same biobanks for multiple purposes — for example, using the same banks for storing forensic samples and biomedical research. She also criticizes the current López Obrador administration.
“It is a difficult time for science and technology,” she said. “Also, for experts. There seems to be a huge disregard for expert knowledge in the current administration.”
For anyone working with forensic DNA, García Deister urged a sense of balance — in other words, not just relying on DNA alone.
“A cold match, a random match on a database, needs to be connected to the description of the body, the date in which she disappeared, where she was found, whether the biological profile corresponds with the description the family provided of the person who disappeared,” she said. “We do need DNA — among many other tools.”
Rich Tenorio is a frequent contributor to Mexico News Daily.
Tired of politics in the U.S. or Canada? Maybe it's time for you to follow Mexican politics. (Foto de Juanjo Jaramillo en Unsplash)
If you find politics in the U.S. or Canada frustrating or disappointing, why would you possibly want to subject yourself to national politics in Mexico? I have often felt this way, but the more I tune into the upcoming presidential elections here in Mexico in 2024, the more interesting I find them to be. Let me tell you why.
First, a few disclaimers. I am not affiliated with either political party in the U.S., and I have voted for both Democrats and Republicans many times throughout my voting career. I enjoy a good, well-educated political debate, and for the most part, I am able to keep emotions out of the discussion.
Second, despite having an almost 30-year connection to Mexico, I have rarely followed Mexican politics – until now. Also, I am not a political analyst and my objective in this piece is merely to share my three reasons for paying attention to this election.
Mexico’s political parties are evolving fast and furious right before our eyes.
Unlike the entrenched, even calcified, Republican and Democratic political parties in the United States, the parties in Mexico today are very dynamic. It wasn’t always that way.
As most people know, the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) had a monopoly on political power since 1929 – winning every single presidential election for over 70 years, until the year 2000. In that year, Vicente Fox of the PAN (National Action Party) took power and was succeeded by Felipe Calderón in 2006 (also PAN). In 2012, Enrique Peña Nieto, brought the PRI back to power. Then, in 2018, things really started getting interesting.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had first been a member of the PRI and was a leader of the leftist PRD (Democratic Revolutionary Party), ran twice for the presidency in 2006 and 2012. Following his second defeat, his National Regeneration Movement (Morena) registered formally as a political party in 2014. López Obrador ran for a third time in 2018 representing Morena and won in a landslide. Since then, the party has consolidated vast amounts of political territory and today governs in 22 of 32 states.
Today, Morena continues to enjoy broad popular support, and many consider that Morena’s 2024 candidate will be the next president of Mexico. The PRI, PAN, and PRD — three parties that have long been competitors — have joined forces to create an opposition alliance called Va por México, and have begun their candidate selection process. Although not yet confirmed, rumors have it that some candidates from either Morena or the Va por México alliance will splinter off to be the candidate of a relatively new party called Movimiento Ciudadano (MC). Lots of dynamism in the political parties here!
Despite the stereotype of Mexico as a country of machismo, one or perhaps BOTH of the candidates running for president could be a woman.
In conversations that I have had with many Mexicans recently about the 2024 election, I’ve often heard that “Mexico is still too macho to have a woman president.” However, the current leading candidate (according to poll data) for the Morena party is former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, a physicist and engineer who was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Many see her as AMLO’s favorite.
On the other side, the Va por México alliance recently published their list of potential candidates, which includes 13 potential candidates, four of whom are women. Just last week, ALMO speculated that the candidate has already been selected: none other than Xóchitl Gálvez, a PAN senator. The thought of an election battle between two women candidates is a fascinating prospect!
Many Mexicans view the upcoming election as a referendum on the future of the Morena party’s populist socialism platform going forward.
As I have discussed in a previous column, most Mexicans have very strong emotions about AMLO — they love him or loathe him. His party’s platform is known as the “Fourth Transformation” (or “4T”) of Mexico. AMLO and his supporters believe their policies will lead to more equality and prosperity in Mexico, while his opponents believe it will lead to Venezuelan-style socialism that will destroy the country. That’s a pretty big difference in opinion!
The upcoming election will absolutely be a referendum on Morena’s vision. As you might imagine, emotions are very high and both sides are passionate about their positions. Could this be an election in which a third-party candidate finds a message that is appealing to supporters of both parties?
Stay tuned and watch the political news closely, it’s going to get exciting!
The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of increased consumer protections, as travellers must now be at least partially refunded if their flight is overbooked. (Hanson Lu/Unsplash)
Mexico’s Supreme Court (SCJN) has ruled that airlines must partially compensate passengers denied boarding due to overbooking, regardless of the alternatives provided, as per the Civil Aviation Law.
The SCJN’s decision means that airlines operating in Mexico must compensate passengers for at least 25% of the ticket price, irrespective of any other compensation option offered. The ruling arose from a lawsuit brought against Air France in September 2017 after a Mexican family missed a flight and its connections to various European cities due to the overbooking of tickets by the French airline.
Airlines in Mexico often overbook flights, leading to passengers being denied boarding and forced to reschedule, sometimes without a refund. (Volaris/Instagram)
In addition to losing its Barcelona-London and London-Mexico City flight connections, the family had to buy new tickets to replace the missed connections for a total of $51,000 pesos (US $3,000).
The local and federal courts ruled in favor of Air France before the SCJN annulled those rulings and said Article 52 was unconstitutional.
In its statement, the SCJN explained that the ruling emerged from an in-depth review of the Civil Aviation Law’s regulations concerning airlines’ responsibility when a passenger misses a connecting flight because of overbooking.
According to Article 52 of the current Civil Aviation Law, in the case of overbooking, airlines must ask passengers to give up their seats and provide, at the passenger’s discretion, a ticket refund, boarding on the next available flight with airline-covered food and lodging, or a rescheduled flight. If the passenger opts for the first or third options, airlines should also offer compensation of at least 25% of the ticket price.
Until now, passengers were not always entitled to refunds in the event of an overbooking. (Viva Aerobus)
The court noted that the law unreasonably denies full compensation in the second scenario — selecting the next available flight with airline-covered food and lodging. Thus,the SCJN rendered the last part of Article 52 unconstitutional and declared that airlines must compensate passengers denied boarding due to overbooked flights with at least 25% of the ticket price, regardless of the options offered to them.
In the case of the family that filed the lawsuit, the SCJN has now sent their dossier to the originating courts for review and to establish the amount Air France must pay as compensation.
Victory against Panama marks 9 Gold Cup titles for Mexico - two more than their bitter rivals, the U.S. (Eredivisie/Twitter)
The Mexican national soccer team has won a record 9th Concacaf Gold Cup, beating Panama 1-0 at the SoFi stadium in Inglewood, California, on Sunday night.
A hard-fought and physical contest that saw nine yellow cards issued by referee Said Martínez was settled in the 89th minute, when Mexico’s Santiago Giménez broke through the Panamanian defense and slotted past goalkeeper Orlando Mosquera to send the 70,000-seat stadium — dominated by Mexico fans — into raptures.
Mexico’s Santiago Giménez, who plays for Feyenoord in the Netherlands, finally broke the deadlock 0-0 score in minute 89, after a powerful sprint. (Concacaf)
Mexico had an earlier goal, scored by Henry Martín, which was disqualified for offside.
Just moments before, El Trí, as the Mexican side is known, was defending hard against a resurgent Panama, who looked more likely to score, first with a 4-on-3 overlap narrowly sailing wide of the post and then a cheeky nutmeg by Ivan Anderson that put Panama back in front of the Mexican goal. The resulting clearance was slipped through to Giménez, however, and the Argentine-born striker sprinted away from his marker to score the decisive goal.
Despite eight minutes of added time, Panama’s “Canaleros” were unable to find a way back into the game and suffered a third finals defeat despite having an otherwise excellent tournament. While the small Central American nation lacks any big-name stars, the team topped their group, winning every game, and eliminating the United States — the pre-tournament favorites — on their way to the final.
Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa was awarded the “goalkeeper of the tournament,” and Panama’s Adalberto Carrasquilla won “player of the tournament.” The U.S.’ Jesus Herrera took home the top scorer prize, with seven goals in five games — including two consecutive hat tricks — while the U.S. team also won the fair play award for fewest yellow cards.
Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa picked up the Golden Glove for best goalkeeper of the tournament. (Concacaf)
Mexico’s interim manager Jaime Lozano, Mexico’s third since the World Cup in December last year, was on a short-term contract to guide El Trí though the Gold Cup but suggested he would like to take on the role full-time, if he were offered the opportunity.
“The decision [to sign] is not up to me, but you need to take advantage of opportunities. For my part, I will always do what I can to help the team if I am able,” he told reporters during the post-match press conference.
The tournament win is redemption for Mexico, after they were eliminated from the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar during the group stages and fired replacement manager Diego Cocca after only seven games in charge.
After visiting her Mexican-born father where he lives in Sydney, Mexico City native Rosa Cienfuegos moved there in 2009. The first thing she missed about home was her country's cuisine — practically nonexistent in Australia at the time. (Photos courtesy of Rosa Cienfuegos)
Mexican food knows no bounds: authentic tacos in Tokyo, cochinita pibilin Sweden, quesadillas and huevos rancherosin Nairobi. The list goes on.
In Sydney, Australia, one of the leading purveyors of bona fide comida mexicana is Rosa Cienfuegos, a Mexico City native who has called “Down Under” home for more than a decade.
It’s still a struggle to find authentic Mexican ingredients in Sydney, so Rosa opened a store where she sells imported foods.
Rosa owns and operates two Mexican eateries in Sydney — Tamalería and Itacate, where she serves up her famous tamales as well as other antojitos (tacos, gorditas and the like) and dishes such as chilaquiles and pozole.
The chef and business owner — who has been described as being “instrumental in broadening and shaping Sydney diners’ understanding of Mexican cuisine” — is also a Mexican cookbook author, with her first book published in 2020 and a second one to be released later this year.
I recently caught up with Rosa via email to find out more about her life and work in Australia. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Peter Davies:
Hi Rosa, thanks for speaking to Mexico News Daily. Can you tell us a little bit about your background in the food industry?
Rosa Cienfuegos:
Hola Peter, thanks for reaching out, it’s a pleasure.
My background in the food industry started back in 2010 when my dad — who lives in Sydney as well — decided to open a Mexican restaurant and I started to help him with small tasks like making pico de gallo, guacamole and salsas.
Cienfuegos learned to make classic Mexican dishes as a girl in her mother’s kitchen.
I became very enthusiastic as I realized that there was a lack of authentic Mexican food in Sydney and it was pretty hard to find the right ingredients to make it. It was a successful restaurant, and our main customers were happy Mexicans, finally enjoying traditional flavors and uncommon dishes — for Australia.
We closed it down in 2013, but I decided to keep the cooking going, … first with a monthly pop-up at a community center … until we couldn’t use the space anymore. By then, I had a large number of Aussie followers, and that’s when Tamalería, my first shop, opened in 2018 right in the heart of (the neighborhood of) Dulwich Hill, where I became the “Tamale Queen.”
PD:
Sydney is a long way from Mexico City! How did you end up living in Australia?
RC:
My dad has been here for the last 22 years as he is a mariachi player who came to Sydney as part of the Bellas Artes Mariachi Band de Amalia Hernández. He came and decided to stay, so here I am!
Mexican cuisine is becoming more and more popular in Australia, but eager cooks still face a learning curve.
PD:
One article in the Australian media says that Tamalería “serves the most authentic Mexican food in Sydney,” while another says that the tamales are “even better” than those in Mexico City! What makes your tamales so good, and what else is available at Tamalería?
RC:
I have heard that many times, and it bring tears to my eyes! Many Mexican Australian friends say that they don’t even bother to eat tamales when they are back in Mexico as they have that craving covered in a better way at Tamalería.
And I have to agree: every time I go back to Mexico, I try tamales from different stalls and places, and I still prefer mine!
I guess the only secret ingredient is love and dedication. We make them by hand every day in small batches to keep track of the quality, weight and presentation. They have lots of meat, and with the fluffy steamed masa (corn dough), it’s the perfect combination to make this delight.
Cienfuegos’ second Mexican recipe book, CDMX, focusing on the food of her hometown, comes out in October. (Smith Street Books)
At Tamalería, we have a small menu as some items are handmade and it takes time to produce them, things like gorditas, tlacoyos and quesadillas fritas.
But we also have tacos, Chihuahua-style burritos, Tijuana-style quesabirrias, chilaquiles and some specials over the weekend like menudo, pozole, sopa de tortilla, barbacoa and pambazos.
Tamalería also offers a range of Mexican ingredients for those who are into cooking, like dried chiles, tomatillo, nopales, maíz pozolero, tortillas and frozen meats like pastor and cochinita pibil.
There is an open invitation to our monthly cooking lessons, at which we either use my first cookbook “Comida Mexicana” or seasonal recipes.
PD:
You opened Itacate in an inner-city neighborhood of Sydney a couple of years ago. What’s on the menu there?
Itacate’s menu was inspired by Cienfuegos’ first cookbooks and introduce readers to lesser-known Mexican favorites — like tlacoyos. (Itacate/Instagram)
RC:
Itacate’s menu was inspired by my first cookbook and included breakfast dishes like huevos divorciados, molletes, guajolotas (a tamal in a bread roll), tamales, of course, chilaquiles con huevo, atole [and] cafe de olla.
For lunch, we had tortas de suadero and pastor, enchiladas, mole negro Oaxaqueno, pambazos, tlacoyos, gorditas and more!
It was a huge menu that we had to reduce because of COVID. But I still have an awesome changing authentic Mexican menu to cover cravings.
PD:
Has the Mexican food scene in Sydney and Australia more broadly changed much during your time living there? And, in your experience, are Australians becoming more knowledgable about Mexican food and Mexico in general?
RC:
Yes, at the moment, the Mexican food wave is trendy, and I’m glad to have seen more restaurants opening here in the last 10 years with different dishes and styles to fit into the Australian diet, including plant-based options.
Australians are 100% into the Mexican wave, although I really think there is still a lot of misunderstanding of traditional dishes. But I’m happy to see them eating corn nixtamal tortillas instead of hard-shell tacos!!
Bit by bit, Australians are getting into real Mexican food more, and there are different options for all tastes and I really hope we can keep it like that and grow the scene even more. My dream is to see Mexican restaurants everywhere here [the way] you see Asian ones. There are customers for everyone, and the more options the merrier, as long as we share our culture and traditions,
In the end, the range of Mexican gastronomy is huge so we could all have different menus!
PD:
Can you tell us a little bit about your cookbook “Comida Mexicana”? And, finally, what do you miss most about Mexico, and do you have any plans to return here to live?
Cienfuegos said yes to writing her first cookbook, “Comida Mexicana,” on impulse. (Smith Street Books)
RC:
“Comida Mexicana” was a big surprise as I didn’t ever have the intention to write a book!
(The publishing company) Smith Street Books contacted me, and I said yes without even thinking what was coming next. The experience has been one of the greatest in my life as it has taken me to cooking shows and festivals to empower young women, even in Tasmania!
My second cookbook, called “CDMX” is powerful and full of love as it is about my beloved Mexico City, the city where I grew up and which made me the strong, independent woman I am now.
I miss the warmth of the people in Mexico, the music, the loud mornings and crazy nights, the midnight taco stall and even the smell!
I don’t have plans to live there at the moment as I know I still have so much more to share about Mexico here, but I have a new project doing food tours from Australia to Mexico with me as a foodie guide, and I really think that will keep me close enough to Mexico.
I might end up living in Mexico for a few months and coming back to Australia to keep doing what I love — sharing my culture, traditions and love through my food.
Visit mexicanfoodaustralia.com to find out more about Rosa and her businesses, and check out her Instagram accounts for Tamalería and Itacate.
This interview is the fourth in a series called “The Saturday Six”: six-question interviews published in Saturday editions of Mexico News Daily. Read the first three interviews in the series here,here and here.
