Several typical Mexican salsas and their ingredients. (Deposit Photos)
Mexico has the seventh best cuisine in the world, according to a 50-nation ranking compiled by the international food guide website TasteAtlas.
Mexico was the only Latin American country in the top 10 of the June update of the culinary ranking released by TasteAtlas. The list was dominated by Europe: Italy, Greece, Spain, Romania and France made up the top five, while Croatia and Portugal were djudged eighth and ninth.
Meanwhile, representing Asia were Japan in sixth place and India in 10th.
The other Latin American countries on the list were Brazil (12th), El Salvador (27th), Chile (30th), Peru (32nd), Argentina (33rd), Venezuela (39th), Bolivia (48th) and Uruguay (49th).
Each country’s rating is obtained by the users average rating of the 30 best dishes, beverages and food products in that country. Countries that are not on the list do not have enough items rated. pic.twitter.com/iRunTiy1Oo
However, as could be expected, the citizens of some countries were in strong disagreement with the list. “Peru and Argentina in 32nd and 33rd in gastronomy?” one Twitter user queried, referring to two countries famed for the high quality of their food and drink.
“United States in 13th place? They all voted wrong,” another Twitter user wrote, referring to a nation less often recognized for its culinary delights.
Some countries weren’t involved in the ranking due to the website’s methodology, which only included cuisines that have 30 or more dishes, beverages or food products rated on the platform. The score for each country included was taken from the average score of their top 30 culinary offerings.
Mexico’s most popular dishes on TasteAtlas are tacos, tortillas, nachos, tamales and burritos. The country’s most popular drinks are tequila, margaritas, mezcal, licuados (smoothies) and aguas frescas (flavored waters).
TasteAtlas is an online encyclopedia of 10,000 dishes and drinks, presented as a world map, where users can browse local cuisines and search for restaurants. The website also offers extensive recipes.
Scene of Sunday's boating accident. Facebook / Protección Civil Sonora
A birthday celebration became a tragic occasion in Sonora on Sunday when an overcrowded boat capsized and eight people drowned, including at least two children.
Nineteen people boarded a small fishboat with capacity for six passengers in Guaymas, 130 kilometers south of Hermosillo.
The 6-meter-long, 3-meter-wide panga departed without informing authorities and without radio communication, lifejackets or sufficient seating on board. It was taken without permission by the son of the owner, the newspaper El Universal reported.
The boat tipped over near the San Vicente Arch, a rock formation and tourist attraction southeast of the city.
Eight people were killed, including a one-year-old baby and another child. Eleven people were rescued.
The group appears to have been a family from the nearby city of Empalme celebrating a quinceañera, a coming of age ceremony common in Mexico for girls’ 15th birthday parties.
Authorities said human error and irresponsible behavior had caused the accident. Civil Protection agents worked alongside navy marines and firefighters in the rescue effort which included two search and rescue boats and a helicopter.
Morena's winning gubernatorial candidates were Julio Menchaca in Hidalgo, Salomón Jara in Oaxaca, Américo Villarreal in Tamaulipas and Mara Lezama in Quintana Roo.
The Morena party won four of six gubernatorial elections held Sunday, preliminary results showed, increasing the number of federal entities controlled by the ruling party to 20.
The National Electoral Institute’s fast count results showed that Morena candidates triumphed in Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo and Tamaulipas, an outcome predicted by polls.
Candidates representing an alliance made up of the main opposition parties – the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) – won in Aguascalientes and Durango.
Morena, whose candidates ran on tickets supported by minor parties such as Labor and the Green Party (PVEM), easily won the elections in Hidalgo, Oaxaca and Quintana Roo, while the fast count results showed a much closer race in Tamaulipas.
Julio Menchaca, a former federal senator and judge, is set to become the next governor of Hidalgo, securing between 60% and 63% of the vote, about double that of PAN-PRI-PRD contender Carolina Viggiano, a former federal deputy. The result will bring PRI’s long-held control of Hidalgo to an end.
Salomón Jara, a former federal senator and state agriculture minister, achieved a similarly thumping victory in Oaxaca, attracting support from 58% to 61% of voters, over double that garnered by PRI-PRD candidate Alejandro Avilés, a state deputy.
Former Benito Juárez (Cancún) mayor Mara Lezama will be sworn in as Quintana Roo’s first female governor later this year after winning between 55% and 58% of the vote in the Caribbean coast state. PAN-PRD candidate Laura Fernández, a former federal deputy and state tourism minister, was a distant second with support in the range of 15% to 18%.
Américo Villareal, Morena’s candidate in Tamaulipas, triumphed over the opposition’s César Verástegui, who served as government secretary in the current PAN administration led by Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca. Fast count results showed Villareal, a medical doctor and former federal senator, with between 49% and 53% of the vote compared to a range of 42% to 45% for Verástegui.
PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Teresa Jiménez is set to become the first female governor of Aguascalientes. Twitter / @TereJimenezE
While Morena was the big winner on Sunday, the opposition took heart from its victories in Aguascalientes and Durango.
PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Teresa Jiménez, a former federal deputy and mayor of Aguascalientes city, attracted between 51% and 55% of the vote, putting her well ahead of Morena contender Nora Ruvalcaba, who was supported by about one-third of voters. Jímenez will be the first female governor of Aguascalientes, Mexico’s third smallest state by area.
In Durango, PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Esteban Villegas, a former state health minister and mayor of Durango city, attracted between 52% and 55% of the vote, fast track results showed, while support for Morena aspirant Marina Vitela was about 40%.
Once the new governors take office, Morena will govern 20 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities. Governors representing parties allied with Morena – Cuauhtémoc Blanco of Morelos (Social Encounter Party) and Ricardo Gallardo of San Luis Potosí (PVEM) – are in office in two other states.
Esteban Villegas celebrates winning the Durango governorship on the ticket of Va por México, the PAN-PRI-PRD opposition alliance. Twitter / @EVillegasV
President López Obrador asserted Monday that the opposition’s “classism” was a factor in its poor results in the states won by Morena, a party he founded.
“I shouldn’t be giving advice … but they should carry out a review of their strategy, it affects them a lot, … their classism, their racism” he told reporters at his morning news conference. “… They show disdain for people, they have no love for people,” claimed López Obrador, who continues to enjoy a high approval rating 3 1/2 years after taking office.
In addition to highlighting Morena’s favorable results, the president emphasized that Sunday’s elections were peaceful, although there were reports of armed men stealing ballot boxes in Tamaulipas.
“Although passions are inflamed during elections there were no deaths, there wasn’t any violence. The citizens, as always, rose to the occasion. My congratulations to all those who participated yesterday …” he said.
Meanwhile, the national leaders of PAN, PRI and the PRD all contended that the results showed that the opposition alliance – called Va por México – will be competitive at the 2024 federal election, at which voters will elect a new president and renew both houses of Congress.
“National Electoral Institute data shows that Va por México represents a [political] force with 40% [support] at a national level,” PRI chief Alejandro Moreno tweeted Monday.
“That’s why … [Morena] wants to divide the opposition because they know that if we make a complete coalition we’ll win the presidency,” he wrote.
However, a recent poll suggests that Morena will easily win the 2024 presidential election if it nominates either Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum or Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard as its candidate.
In 2020, it was reported that 600,000 government-built affordable homes across Mexico lay abandoned because they were not accessible to any services.
I just took a trip!
It was just a short trip to Mexico City to get my daughter’s passport renewed but, oh, what a breath of fresh air to get out of one’s own city once in a while. And now, after two and a half long years, we are finally going to be able to travel home to Texas for a couple weeks this summer.
We made sure to stay close to the U.S. Embassy so that we could be there on time for our 8 a.m. appointment. (By the way — for those of you with appointments soon — you do need an appointment, but once you get there you have to line up outside and it’s first come first serve, so go early!) in the beautiful Roma neighborhood, which to me is an urban utopia.
The streets and sidewalks were wide and well-kept, the buildings were beautiful, and there were trees and plants everywhere. Properties were, for the most part, well taken care of, and crosswalk lights clearly indicated where to go.
To my delight, there were several breweries in the area (I had a delicious blonde ale with avocado leaf and a stout that was essentially layered chocolate cake, if you must know), as well as coffee shops and convenience stores, many with cute little patio coverings for sidewalk lounging and dining. Murals seemed to be everywhere.
As we hung out with my daughter at one of the giant public playgrounds and listened to all the different languages being spoken, I found myself thinking what I always think when I’m in this kind of neighborhood: why can’t all places be this nice?
I know the litany of obvious answers. Mostly it’s money and investment.
But bringing money and investment to a place doesn’t necessarily fix any problems without creating new ones, and that’s what makes me despair. What I want to know is this: is there a difference between gentrification and the real, tangible improvement of a place? Is it possible to make a place beautiful, accessible and safe without making it economically inaccessible to those who already live there?
Surely there is a way, though it’s not something I’ve figured out yet. And you all know (well, you do if you’ve been reading my column for a while) that I deeply value good design and intentional physical beauty in the communities that we humans create for ourselves.
In fact, I’d say that one of my most sacred beliefs is that everyone deserves to have physical surroundings that are safe, functional and pleasing.
Safe and functional seem straightforward, but even that can be tricky. Safe for whom? People? Cars? Bikes? Animals? Functional for which members of the community? You simply can’t just plop a bunch of “improvements” in the middle of nowhere without asking people what they actually need and want. And even when you do, not everyone everywhere is going to be happy with the changes.
“Pleasing” is even more difficult. The jury’s always out on that, and I can certainly accept that not everyone out there possesses my own hippie-bougie aesthetic ideals.
So it’s not that I think that all of urban Mexico should look exactly like the upscale Roma and Condesa neighborhoods. I just think that everyone in urban Mexico deserves that level of care put into the designs of their communities.
Mexico City – at least the places I passed on the bus – does seem to be getting the hang of it fairly well. Murals were everywhere in the city, as were playgrounds with exercise equipment and tracks wrapping around them. Public transportation had expanded since the last time I went.
So, surely there are a few things that we can agree on: walkable sidewalks, drivable streets, bike lanes for people who ride bikes.
Plants and paint, as well, go a very long way, and they’re relatively cheap.
But how to prevent gentrification?
I think the key is community involvement in revitalizing what’s there: letting those who actually live in those spaces decide how those resources will be displayed in the neighborhoods where they live.
Having them participate in what’s produced would mean some important steps in ownership and pride, similar to what the Mar de Jade Hotel has provided for young people where it’s building.
Can this get everyone their own versions of Roma … ones that they actually get to stay in?
Time (and politics) will tell. But I stand firm in one basic belief: everyone deserves to live in a place like that.
Aguachile done right transcends its handful of ingredients.
I was embarrassed — really, really embarrassed — to ask a chef friend how to make aguachile.
I’ve eaten it a million times; I know it’s a simple dish with only a handful of basic ingredients: raw shrimp, fresh lime juice, chile, onion, cilantro and sometimes cucumber. Simple, yes, but iconic and Mazatlán’s claim to seafood fame, so I wanted to do it right.
I think I even blushed as I asked him if he’d come over and show me.
“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s easy. You need serrano chile. And red onion.” And so my lesson began.
Changueras selling shrimp and other seafood in Mazatlán.
Aguachile may be Mazatlán’s best-known dish, and given that the city is known as the “Shrimp Capital of the World,” that makes total sense. According to Mexico’s National Aquaculture and Fisheries Commission (Conapesca), an impressive 10,000 tonnes of wild shrimp are caught in the waters off Mazatlán each year, and even more farmed shrimp is produced.
Needless to say, shrimp is plentiful throughout town, on restaurant menus, in the mercados and from laschangueras, Mazatlán’s fabled “shrimp ladies,” who sell a wide variety of camarones and other shellfish every day of the year from their outdoor stands in the historic center.
Shrimp season is basically September/October to March/April, depending on how and where the shrimp are caught. (Farmed shrimp is available year-round.)
Wild shrimp are caught with nets either close to shore by fishermen in small boats (pangas) or many miles out to sea by big commercial trawlers that flash-freeze the shrimp immediately upon catching them. That’s good news for us, because it means we can have almost-fresh shrimp all the time; I buy frozen ones in one-kilo bags to keep in the freezer at home.
Some say aguachile was first made in Mazatlán, although folks in the Sinaloa cities of Culiacán and Los Mochis might disagree. Either way, when Sinaloan cuisine is mentioned aguachile is always at the top of the list.
Originally made with chiltepines — tiny, fiery, round chiles grown regionally — contemporary recipes use the more common (and not quite as hot!) serrano chiles instead, whirred in a blender with water and lime juice to make a sort of marinade.
Aguachile can also be made with scallops (callos de hacha). And in fact the name aguachile literally means “water chile.” It’s a wonderful and refreshing dish after a hot day at the beach, or any hot day (of which there are many in Mexico!).
What were the take-aways from my cooking lesson?
Something this delicious shouldn’t be so easy to make!
Don’t leave the shrimp too long in the lime juice or they’ll get tough; so you want to time your prep according to when you want to eat.
Serrano peppers (which I rarely use) have lots more seeds, packed tightly inside the pepper skin. Cut them and the white skin surrounding them out of the skin carefully, using a small, sharp knife — and don’t touch your eyes! Scrub your hands thoroughly with soap and water after cutting or handling them.
It helps to have all your ingredients prepped before you start so you can quickly and easily move through the different steps of the recipe.
Other than that, it’s easy — just like my friend said.
Aguachile de Camarón Mazatlán Style
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ cup fresh lime juice
3-4 Tbsp. water
1-3 serrano peppers, stems and seeds removed
1¼ tsp. salt, plus more to taste
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
1 medium cucumber, peeled
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
8 corn tostadas
1-2 avocados, sliced
Using a small, sharp knife, butterfly the shrimp open. If you like, cut into two pieces. (This helps the shrimp lay flat while marinating.) Rinse shrimp in cold water; pat dry with paper towels and set aside while you prep the remaining ingredients.
In a blender, place the chiles, lime juice, 3 Tbsp. of the water, half the cilantro and a teaspoon of salt. Process until the chiles are just broken up; it doesn’t need to be a smooth paste. Alternatively, using a mortar and pestle, combine chiles with a pinch of salt and pulverize thoroughly, then add lime juice and cilantro and continue to work until chiles are reduced to tiny bits.
Place shrimp in a shallow glass dish or ceramic bowl (not metal). Pour sauce over shrimp, stirring to mix well. Marinate in the refrigerator 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the lime juice to “cook” the shrimp. The outside of the shrimp will turn white and opaque when they are ready.
Meanwhile, cut cucumber in half lengthwise. Scrape out seeds with a spoon and discard. Cut remaining cucumber into ¼-inch thick slices or into ¼-inch cubes. Set aside.
When ready to serve, spoon shrimp and sauce onto a serving platter. Layer the cucumbers and onions over the top or around the edges, or gently stir them into the shrimp mixture.
Sprinkle with the remaining cilantro, cover and chill for 15 more minutes to blend the flavors. Garnish with black pepper and avocado slices and with tostadas or saltine crackers.
For the best flavor and texture, serve within two hours.
Checking the award-winning crops at Finca Cañada Fría near Huatusco, Veracruz. Finca Cañada Fría
Unfortunately, despite being the second largest producer of coffee in Mexico after Chiapas, Veracruz’s coffee reputation is highly linked to low-quality beans used for instant coffee, in particular the ubiquitous Nescafé brand.
But Veracruz is where coffee got its start in mainland America. Coffee plants arrived at the port of Veracruz in the 18th century, with the first plantings near Córdoba. From there, coffee made its way to other parts of Mexico and South America.
By the end of the 19th century, Veracruz was producing three-fourths of Mexico’s coffee. The Mexican Revolution, land redistribution in the 1930s and other economic activities such as oil has since pushed this percentage down. Today, Veracruz accounts for only 24% of Mexico’s coffee production.
Veracruz has 10 regions north to south that can grow the bean, and it is still a vital cash crop in 842 communities in 82 municipalities. By far, most are very small producers with small plots who feverishly try to get as much coffee out of them as possible to survive.
The arabica bean, left, and the easier-to-grow robusta bean, right. lovelypeace/Shutterstock
Unfortunately, a lot of that production is of the low-quality robusta bean for mainstream commercial coffees. Robusta is relatively easy to grow and has ready customers, even if they pay very little.
However, Veracruz has areas suited for the growing of quality and even superb coffees. Varying between 700 and 1,400 meters in altitude, the region, marked off by the cities of Xalapa, Córdoba and Orizaba, is prime coffee country.
This area not only has the climate that arabica beans need but also volcanic soils that impart an intense aroma and full body along with spice notes.
It is not easy to get the farmers of this region to take full advantage of what Mother Nature has to offer. Daniel Cobilt of Finca Cañada Fría admits that many are afraid of the risks of venturing into high-quality and specialty beans. Serious work is needed at the learning and growing end, and there is no guarantee that the final crop will be ranked as “specialty” or gourmet quality after harvesting. Experience tempers this, but weather issues are always a risk.
Inside the Museo de Café in Córdoba, Veracruz, which promotes Veracruz coffees. Tours end with a tasting.
Despite this, fincas (farms) such as Cañada Fría, El Suspiro, Kassandra, Arriaga and more have won national and international awards, opening doors to markets willing to pay much more. This can and should be essential, Cobilt says, because small plots really cannot compete with large plantations on price — nor should they, he says, as such farms destroy the environment.
The other way to make the most out of small farms is agricultural and ecotourism, but this is in its infancy here. The good thing is that the area is mostly free of kitschy zip-line attractions and the like, but almost all the coffee tourism here steers visitors to Córdoba, Coatepec, Orizaba and Xalapa.
There is a Coffee Route (Ruta de Café), but it is not like others, such as the Ruta de Chocolate in Tabasco. There, you can drive along a marked road and find signs advertising farms with restaurants, stores selling chocolate and even short demonstrations of how chocolate is grown and processed. There is nothing like this in northern Veracruz.
To do more than just sit at a cafe in one of the cities on the route requires a little research and planning. The Museo de Café in Córdoba — a collaborative effort sponsored in part by Mexico’s main agricultural college, the University of Chapingo — gives a quick overview of coffee in Mexico and Veracruz, along with a coffee tasting.
Don Daniel Cobilt and daughter Monserrat of Finca Cañada Fría. Their “specialty bar” in Huatusco promotes exceptional quality coffee and gourmet preparation.
However, visits right now are via guided tours given by only one professional, Patricia Ponce. To take advantage of this, you need to go to the museum and find out when the next tour is. At any time, you can go in and buy coffees from the region. The museum has a special line of Café de Autor (signature coffees), labeled with the producer’s name — usually individual farm owners unable to market the finished product. Unfortunately, these coffees are not available for purchase online.
A few fincas and entrepreneurs have their own tours, which must be arranged before you come to the area. This has always been the case, but farms are even more strict lately, as many here are still very fearful of COVID despite the fact that mask-wearing has become optional in most places.
Your best bet for finding a farm tour is with El Café-tal, which has its main facilities in El Grande near Coatepec. It has stores in in Xalapa and Coatepec. Tours of its facilities, including a museum, are by appointment only.
Other tours, also by appointment, include those run by Finca Arriaga, Finca Don Silvano and Finca San Felipe. Cafe de Mi Rancho runs its tours out of Córdoba.
A Veracruz coffee plantation, exact location unknown. Image taken sometime between 1865 and 1895. Cornell University Library
It is mostly the same story with online sales. Fincas do ship all over Mexico, but almost always to other cafes and specialty stores. El Café-tal is the only site set up to sell to individuals. Many have Facebook pages, but they assume customers will call to find out everything they need to know.
There is no lack of good cafes in the towns on the coffee route: Coatepec, in particular, is full of them. But one off the beaten track is well worth the visit: Finca Cañada Fria opened what they call a “specialty bar” to demonstrate the extraordinary coffee they produce, and how it should be prepared. It is located in a town called Huatusco, a municipality surrounded by coffee farms but unknown to tourism. However, you can find the cafe easily on Google Maps.
One last piece of advice: if you drive on the main highway into Orizaba and Córdoba, keep an eye out for people selling “galletas de café” on the side of the road. Yes, you have to come to a screeching halt, but I swear the cookies are worth it.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
The president speaks at his Monday press conference. Presidencia de la República
The United States is set to host its Summit of the Americas on June 6. By the start of last week President López Obrador still hadn’t confirmed whether he would attend, displeased at the absence of invites for Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Monday
The president kicked off the week with a sporting roundup. He congratulated Sergio “Checo” Pérez for his Formula 1 triumph in Monaco on Sunday and Atlas for defeating Pachuca in the first leg of the Mexican soccer league final. “Also, a hug for Pachuca supporters,” he added, offering consolation to the losers.
On the Summit of the Americas, López Obrador said he was still waiting for an official response to whether all nations are invited, while conceding that U.S. President Joe Biden was preoccupied with the recent mass murder of schoolchildren in Texas.
“I know that he’s under great pressure, but when it comes to deciding between political impact and principles, one must always lean toward principles,” the president said.
At the end of the conference, López Obrador strode off stage, headed for another engagement. He later hosted indigenous people from Jalisco and Nayarit at the National Palace to discuss land and agriculture.
Tuesday
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer reminded viewers and journalists that Tuesday was World No Tobacco Day and announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) would award AMLO with a “special prize” for combating tobacco consumption.
A World Health Organization representative presents President López Obrador with a recognition of his work to combat tobacco use. Presidencia de la República
The WHO’s representative in Mexico, Miguel Malo Serrano, attested to the dangers of tobacco which he said “don’t just kill people, but also damage mother nature,” pointing to the use of water and trees by the tobacco industry and companies’ carbon dioxide output. Shortly after, Malo presented the president with a certificate.
López Obrador revealed a vape pen he’d brought to the conference. “It’s worth 300 pesos, it’s consumed in a week … most mothers and fathers don’t know about the damage it causes. It’s a matter of information,” he said, before signing a decree restricting the sale of vape pens and electronic cigarettes for nicotine consumption.
Returning to the topic of damage, the president insisted his flagship Maya Train project was entirely benign after a federal judge partially suspended its construction. “We’re going to comply legally and they won’t be able to stop us. Private interests are not going to impose themselves, they won’t be above the public interest. The interest of the people … This is a political issue of those who don’t want the project to be carried out. They’re pseudo-environmentalists, financed by large companies,” he assured.
Wednesday
The president brought attention to Hurricane Agatha at the start of the conference, which hit Oaxaca on Tuesday.
“Today Oaxaca is in mourning,” Governor Alejandro Murat said through video link, and confirmed the hurricane had killed at least 11 people and left 33 missing. Murat added that a cyclone was likely to arrive later in the week.
Ana Elizabeth García Vilchis took center stage for her fake news roundup. Dispatching untruths with ease, she rejected claims that Pemex property was in disarray and corrected reports the president wanted to stop people smoking in some public places, a motion she clarified instead originated in Congress.
García rejected that gas would hit 40 pesos per liter and confirmed that AMLO and his friend, Argentine President Alberto Fernández, were not planning a rebel meeting in Los Angeles to coincide with the Summit of the Americas.
Ana Elizabeth García presents the “Who’s who in the lies of the week” fake news segment on Wednesday. Presidencia de la República
The president dismissed more news as false: the head of the the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, said AMLO previously sent a senator to threaten PRI lawmakers into voting for the failed electricity reform. “It’s not true, I’m not going to discuss it. I never did that. It’s a matter of principles, ideals and morals,” he insisted.
On principles, the tabasqueño said that despite accruing wealth from book sales, money still didn’t matter to him. To evidence his disinterest in dollars and pesos he turned out his trouser pockets to show viewers and journalists they were empty.
Thursday
In the “Zero Impunity” section Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía Berdeja confirmed the arrest of a suspected violent criminal in Sonora, alias “The Nun.” Mejía added that an unusually named alleged serial rapist, Greek Román ‘N,’ had been arrested in Veracruz.
Celebrations opened the questions from the floor: it was one journalist’s special day. The reporter, who has previously addressed López Obrador as “the first president of the transformation of Mexico,” requested a signed copy of his book. With a scribble, AMLO granted the journalist’s birthday wish.
The president lined up the questions: “Let’s go. One, two, the lady at the back there. Three, four, five and six and seven.”
One of the chosen journalists raised a corruption accusation against former president Vicente Fox.
“We don’t have enemies. Former President Peña Nieto is not my enemy, nor [Felipe] Calderón nor Fox nor [Ernesto] Zedillo nor [Carlos] Salinas. We are adversaries, but I do not consider them my enemies,” the López Obrador responded.
Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía Berdeja awaits his turn to present on Thursday. Presidencia de la República
The president’s charitable outlook apparently extended beyond retired politicians. “An elderly lady, a mother, deserves all respect,” he said of the mother of jailed former cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, whom he greeted warmly while campaigning in 2020.
Friday
Veteran politician Porfirio Muñoz Ledo and former Sinaloa governor Francisco Labastida had both accused the president of being linked to cartels. The tabasqueño was appalled by the suggestion. “It’s really very low, very vulgar all of this … Muñoz Ledo knows me very well and dares to maintain that the government has links with drug trafficking; it’s an unfounded, reckless judgment,” he said.
“If they have evidence, let them present it. Stop slandering … but don’t think I’m worried either, firstly because I’m at peace with my conscience and secondly because it’s false. I do not establish relations of complicity with anyone, that is why I can take on the mafia of power,” the president added.
On the international stage, López Obrador was also ready to battle vested interests. He said that Colombian left wing candidate Gustavo Petro was facing a “dirty war” which he described as “undignified and cowardly.” The Colombian election is set for June 19.
The president added that Petro had joined him and former U.S. President Barack Obama in a club of politicians who’d weathered slander campaigns in their own countries.
Fishermen processing the day's catch at an artisanal shark fishery location. Fernando Márquez
In the late 1980s, I completed my social service, a standard college requirement for Mexicans, aboard a longline shark-fishing vessel in the Pacific Ocean. I examined the large, freshly-caught sharks as they wriggled and struggled on the vessel’s deck, sometimes slicing them open. As the fishermen reeled in the longlines, so many desperate and dying animals filled the deck that it was difficult to move around safely.
The scene left me pensive. It seemed unfair that a creature that evolved as a top predator hundreds of thousands of years ago would end up being treated like that, only to become a piece of meat. In those years, even less was known about the biology of sharks. It was then that I saw clearly in my mind that my destiny was to become a shark researcher.
Sharks are a strange kind of fish: normally, fish lay eggs and warm-blooded mammals (like humans) have live babies with an umbilical cord. But sharks have been swimming the world’s oceans for so long that some shark species have independently evolved the ability to give birth to live babies, giving their young a greater chance at survival. They are also incredibly ancient creatures that evolved over 400 million years ago, long before the first dinosaur was born.
Shark fishing in Mexico dates back to the time of the Olmecs and the Aztecs. It started as a small-scale subsistence activity for coastal communities. At first, it was just an artisanal (small-scale) industry. Fishermen used small boats (canoes and pangas) to capture coastal sharks with harpoons, hooks, and later nets. The fishery spread throughout the country’s coastal areas, and became more commercial, using large vessels with greater autonomy and storage capacity.
A “near-born” shark embryo is fed by the mother through an umbilical cord, which is attached to the mother’s uterus, similar to what occurs in the births of mammals. Photo courtesy of Dr. José I. Castro, NMFS/NOAA
According to the CONAPESCA Fisheries Statistical Yearbook, in terms of catch the shark fishery in Mexico is one of the most important worldwide. Historically, catches are reported into two categories: tiburón for adults from large species (more than 1.5 meters) and cazón for young sharks from large species and adults from small species.
In Mexico, shark meat has long been a low-cost protein as well as a source of employment and income. The meat is eaten fresh, dry-salted, or smoked, and it is the base of many typical regional dishes, such as pan de cazón, a traditional dish in Campeche and Yucatán.
Other shark byproducts have their uses as well. There is demand for the skin, cartilage, fins in the Asian market and shark liver oil can be a source of vitamin A, a use which was common during World War II. Demand from the shark leather and shark liver oil industries was reflected in the first uptick in national shark catches in the 1940s. At that time, no one knew that Mexico would become one of the top ten nations in the world in shark production, catching an average 35,000 tonnes per year over the last decade.
Rays, which are closely related to sharks, are also targets of fishing. Both species belong to a group of fish called chondrichthyans, which have a skeleton made of cartilage rather than bone. Both sharks and rays also share traits that make them vulnerable to fishing. They grow slowly, are generally long-lived and take many years to become sexually mature. When females finally reach maturity, they produce just a few young after a prolonged gestation period — longer than 12 months in some species. These life history traits mean that shark and ray populations grow very slowly compared to species like sardine and shrimp.
Historical development of shark and ray fishing in Mexico shows the first increase in production was due to the demand for liver oil for vitamin A extraction in WWII. The fishery entered its growth stage in the early 1960s, and the ray fishery emerged in the early 1990s. Fernando Márquez, data from CONAPESCA.
The artisanal ray fishery, which dates back to at least 1986, is small-scale and coastal, and provides food and employment to workers, just like the shark fishery. The industry caught 14,700 tonnes of rays in 2016. Both fisheries have been able to develop thanks to factors including the privileged geographical position of our country, favorable ocean dynamics and high diversity of species.
Over time, the industry has changed. Some species that were once common haven’t been seen for years. Fishermen are still bringing home the same quantity of shark meat, possibly because Mexico has a diverse shark population with a huge number of species. Though the yearly catch remains high, the size of the populations is still unknown, and in some cases the outlook is not very encouraging.
One of the most worrying trends is the frequent capture of young or pregnant sharks. Tropical species of sharks (and some rays) use shallow water areas such as bays, estuaries, and beaches for the birth of their young. These “nursery areas” provide food and protection for newborns during their early development. However, because Mexican artisanal fisheries occur in coastal areas, the nurseries and fishing zones overlap. As a result, pregnant females and juveniles often get caught in nets and by hooks, with potentially devastating effects for shark and ray populations.
In the entire world, there are 536 species of sharks and 670 species of rays. In Mexico, 200 species of sharks and rays have been recorded, a large proportion for just one country. In the Pacific Ocean, 63 species of sharks and 55 rays have been documented. In the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, 75 sharks and 47 species of rays have been recorded.
There is now more shark fishery regulation than in the past, but lack of inspection and enforcement reduces the laws’ efficacy. Illegal fishing continues and sharks can become bycatch in other fisheries. In addition, the management of shark fisheries with deep-rooted socioeconomic relevance is complex, and reconciling social, economic, and ecological interests is challenging.
Shark fishing is an important source of employment and income for some coastal communities, but the frequent capture of juveniles and pregnant females puts shark populations at risk. The solution to this dilemma is not easy and requires dialogue between the fishing sector and decision-makers. At the same time, collecting information on the species’ basic biology will help guide those decisions. Sharks became top predators through millions of years of evolutionary adaptations but those same life history traits are a disadvantage in the face of the extreme exploitation of shark populations around the world.
Increasing awareness among authorities, fishing communities and shark meat consumers is a step toward making better decisions about shark research and fishery monitoring.
Fernando Márquez-Farías is a professor of fishery biology in the Ocean Sciences Department (Facimar) of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa.
Former Chihuahua governor César Duarte was extradited to Mexico from the United States Thursday almost two years after he was arrested in Florida on corruption charges.
A Mexican government aircraft collected Duarte in Miami and flew him to the Mexico City International Airport. After four hours of medical tests and formalities, he was handed over to Chihuahua officials and transported to the northern border state where a warrant for his arrest was issued in 2019.
Duarte, Institutional Revolutionary Party governor between 2010 and 2016, faces charges of embezzling 96.6 million pesos (equivalent to US $6.5 million at the time the money was allegedly stolen) in public resources while in office.
The money was supposedly transferred to two companies with which he was associated: Unión Ganadera Regional General División del Norte de Chihuahua and Financiera de la División del Norte. Duarte also faces charges of criminal association.
The ex-governor, who fled Mexico shortly after his term ended, appeared in a Chihuahua court Friday as state authorities began to present their case against him. A United States federal judge approved his extradition late last year.
Javier Corral, Duarte’s successor as Chihuahua governor, said on Twitter that the extradition is “the result of the determination and tenacity of many people in an arduous … battle against corruption and impunity.”
Lawyers for Duarte have claimed that their client is a victim of political persecution led by Corral, who left office last September.
Current Governor Maru Campos – who has faced accusations she received millions of pesos in bribes from the government led by Duarte when she was a state lawmaker – said her government is committed to achieving justice in the case “for the benefit of Chihuahua residents.”
Dozens of tortilla shops shut down early on Thursday amid threats of violence.
Violence and threats from organized crime have forced tortilla shops, schools and public transport to shut down in Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, this week.
Almost all of the approximately 50 tortillerías in the Pacific coast resort town closed early Thursday, the newspaper El Universal reported. Long lines formed at the few that remained open.
Some other businesses both in the city center and working class neighborhoods closed Thursday afternoon due to the climate of insecurity that prevailed in Zihuatanejo, the newspaper El Sur said.
In addition, some schools shut their doors and won’t reopen until Monday, while some public transport services have been suspended since Wednesday.
A Zihuatanejo businessman told El Universal that tortilla shop owners had received calls and messages demanding payments in exchange for not setting their businesses on fire.
Armed men started a fire at a Modelorama beer store in Zihuatanejo Friday in what appeared to be retaliation for a failure to make cobro de piso, or extortion, payments. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and security forces attended the scene but no arrests were reported.
The El Universal source, who asked not to be identified, said the current wave of violence began Monday when a taxi was set ablaze. A public transit van was set on fire the next day, leading some transportation operators to suspend services starting Wednesday.
There were long lines of motorists at Zihuatanejo gas stations Thursday after rumors swirled on social media that they too would close. Panic buying was also reported at the Soriana supermarket, the busiest in Zihuatanejo.
A Guerrero news group on Twitter shared a photo of the long lines that formed at one Zihuatanejo gas station on Friday.
Zihuatanejo Mayor Jorge Sánchez Allec acknowledged that “very unfortunate incidents” have occurred in the city, located 250 kilometers north of Acapulco.
He said in an interview that rumors that gas stations were going to close are false and ruled out implementing a curfew. The mayor called on citizens to remain calm and noted that municipal authorities are collaborating with their state and federal counterparts on security issues.
“We’re going to contribute with whatever is necessary so that security conditions improve in the coming days,” he said.
