Women marching in favor of decriminalizing abortion in September in Chiapas, one of 21 states in Mexico with laws making abortion a crime. The Supreme Court ruling paves the way for more citizens to challenge such state laws, even when not currently trying to obtain an abortion. (Isabel Mateos Hinjosa/Cuartoscuro)
The Supreme Court (SCJN) has ruled that all women — as well as other people “with the capacity to gestate” — can challenge state laws against abortion, whether they are pregnant or not.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the SCJN noted that the decision came after two lower courts handed down contradictory rulings on whether the condition of being a woman or “person with the capacity to gestate” was sufficient to “recognize their legitimate interest” to challenge laws that establish abortion as a crime, even if the complainant isn’t pregnant.
Justice Jorge Mario Pardo Rebolledo presided over the Supreme Court session in the first chamber on Wednesday. (SCJN)
The SCJN said that its first chamber determined that laws that penalize abortion affect the cultural and social rights of people with the capacity to gestate, contributing to the creation of an adverse environment in which to exercise their human rights.
Such laws promote the belief that having an abortion is not the right thing to do from an ethical standpoint and “increase stigma for those who turn to these medical services,” the court said.
The SCJN said that its first chamber determined that while laws that punish abortion “directly affect pregnant people,” they also have an impact on “those who have the capacity to gestate” but are not currently expecting a child as they send “a discriminatory message” to them.
Activists celebrate in Quintana Roo in October after the state Congress passed legislation decriminalizing it in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Many states passed such legislation after a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that such laws are unconstitutional. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)
Laws punishing abortion have an impact on “their right to choose their life plan” and on “their sexual and reproductive rights,” it added.
“… The chamber concluded that the sole condition of being a woman or person with the capacity to gestate is sufficient to recognize” their right to file a legal challenge against the classification of abortion as a crime “without the need” to be immediately subject to relevant laws, the SCJN said.
Challenging state based laws against abortion on the basis that they are unconstitutional could result in a complainant being granted an injunction that authorizes the termination of a pregnancy and thus exempts them from punishment.
The issuance of injunctions in states where abortion has not been decriminalized could pave the way for the legalization of the termination of pregnancies in the first 12 weeks.
Puebla, Sonora, Chiapas and Nuevo León are among the states where abortion hasn’t been legalized, except in cases of rape or a risk to the mother’s life.
Inflation is on a downward trend but it's still far from the 3% rate the Bank of Mexico would like to see. (ProtoplasmaKid/Wikimedia Commons)
Inflation in Mexico slowed to its lowest level in over two years in the first half of June, but still remains well above the central bank’s target.
The annual headline inflation rate was 5.18% during the first 15 days of the month, the national statistics agency INEGI reported Thursday.
This graph shows the annual trajectory of inflation from the first 15-day period of June to the next each year since 2014. The dark green line represents headline inflation, while the light green shows core inflation. (INEGI)
The rate, down from 5.84% in May, is the lowest since March 2021, and slightly below the 5.3% consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by the news agency Reuters.
The Bank of México (Banxico) targets inflation of 3% with tolerance for variation of one percentage point in either direction.
Mexico’s core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was 6.91% in the first half of June, a decline of 0.48 percentage points from the end of May. That figure was below a 7.02% forecast of analysts polled by Reuters.
The publication of the latest inflation data on Thursday morning comes just hours before members of the Banxico board convene to discuss monetary policy.
Processed food, beverages and tobacco were 10.67% more expensive in May than a year earlier, according to INEGI. (Victoria Valtierra Ruvalcaba/Cuartoscuro)
With inflation slowing but still higher than desired, the central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark interest rate at the record high level of 11.25%.
After the bank’s board voted unanimously in May to keep the rate at 11.25%, Banxico said it “considers that it will be necessary to maintain the reference rate at its current level for an extended period.”
In the same statement, the central bank predicted that headline inflation will fall to 4.7% by the end of 2023 and continue declining next year to reach 3.1% in Q4 of 2024.
INEGI’s data shows that processed food, beverages and tobacco were 10.67% more expensive in May than a year earlier, while meat prices rose 2.81% and the cost of fruit and vegetables was up 3.67%. Inflation for those products was lower than that reported at the end of May.
The cost of non-food goods rose 5.65% annually, while services were 5.23% more expensive. Those figures also declined compared to May.
Energy costs, including those for gasoline and electricity, fell 2.6% annually in the first half of June.
The Bank of Mexico’s governors board meet Thursday to discuss monetary policy. They are expected to keep Mexico’s benchmark rate at 11.25%. (Presidencia and Galo Cañas Rodríguez of Cuartoscuro)
At his Thursday morning press conference, President López Obrador — whose government entered into an anti-inflation pact with the private sector – said that the decline in inflation reported by INEGI was cause for celebration.
“Some people might say: ‘How does that help me?’ Well, a lot, because your income goes further,” he said.
“… If inflation is up, you buy less, your income isn’t enough. So this is an achievement and … the peso remains very strong. The economy is doing very well, there are jobs and the people are happy in the countryside and in the cities,” López Obrador said.
Adding plantain or (for the brave) a hot pepper can elevate this already loft dish even further. (nutmegnanny.com)
You hear the crunch of the base tortilla as soon as you cut in. Slathered in a thin layer of refried black beans, then fried once more, it’s the bedrock of one of the Yucatan’s most iconic dishes: huevos motuleños.
The dish became a southern Mexico breakfast staple way before any of our times, and it’s only grown in popularity over the years.
Motul, Yucatán, the home of huevos motuleños. (Alejandro Linares Garcia/Wikimedia)
Named after the Yucatán city of Motul, it’s a work of art: a baroque brunch on a crispy tortilla canvas that’s a melange of reds, yellows, and oranges, dotted pink — and green for good measure — because art is play, and who doesn’t like to play with their food?
When the side of your fork slices in and runny egg yolk oozes out, it’s like the breaking of a dam, transforming the base of your plate into a reservoir of burnt orange. It’s a feast for the eyes — and don’t get me started on the flavor. One hundred years ago, when Yucatán governor Felipe Carrillo Puerto walked into La Sin Rival eatery with artist Diego Rivera, Mexico’s education minister José Vasconcelos and writer Jaime Torres Bodet — among others — he couldn’t have known the role he’d play in changing the face of Mexican gastronomy.
As the story goes, while entertaining his guests during a trip to the Yucatán, they made a stop to eat at the famed Motul culinary institution. Carrillo asked the chef to bring out his favorites: eggs, refried beans, ham and peas.
Jorge Siqueff Febles (far right) is credited with creating the authentic huevos motuleños for Yucatan’s governor, Felipe Carillo Puerto. (midcitybeat)
Short on plates, the chef, Jorge Siqueff Febles, opted to pile all the ingredients onto one platter, layering them between fried tortillas and covering them in salsa. The guests loved it, and when Vasconcelos asked Carrillo — a native to Motul — what he called the dish, he told Vasconcelos: “These are the authentic huevos motuleños.”
Since then, the dish has evolved, undergoing countless iterations in the face of changing circumstances. In Carrillo’s days, Motul was a sizable mercantile hub, its proximity to the Caribbean coast facilitating trade between locals and European merchants. As a result, early versions of the recipe called for Spanish jamón serrano as opposed to the cubed ham used today; the state had no meatpacking industry at the time.
Siqueff also tinkered with the preparation of onions that went into the sauce, frying them first in olive oil brought in by foreign merchants. Occasionally, fried sweet plantains were added, which became so popular that patrons demanded it each time they ordered it — that and the lone habanero pepper that sits atop the dish.
What makes this dish so special is its balance, despite it being a plate full of contrasts. The fried tortilla — dry and crisp — sits beneath soft, creamy eggs and a runny tomato salsa, whose acid shares the spotlight with the salt of the tortilla-bean combination, the sweetness of the plantains and the savory sensation of each mouthful of eggs.
The crunchy, colorful, rich huevos motuleños have become of Mexico’s most iconic – and best – breakfast dishes. (great-taste.net)
Those brave enough to nibble on the habanero before digging in will tell you that the eggs and refried beans are the perfect neutralizers for heat, allowing you to tiptoe to the edge of setting your mouth on fire before taking refuge in one satisfying bite after another. And if you go to the right place — a certain second-floor spot in Motul’s 20 de Noviembre market — that burnt-orange reservoir you’re left with gets sopped up with a basket of freshly baked bread.
The fact that one plate can play host to so many unique components — seemingly the end-product of a basket of mystery ingredients beyond the imagination of cooking shows like “Chopped” or “Masterchef” — is a marvel. But maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised.
Often, it’s the things we least expect to work well that end up pairing perfectly. And in that way, on this plate, art mimics life.
Ethan Jacobs is a freelance writer and writing coach based in Mérida. He has written extensively in narrative and short fiction formats, and his work has received recognition both domestically and internationally in microfiction, short fiction, and narrative essay formats.
The sea turtle was spotted at the Xcacel-Xcacelito turtle sanctuary during the nesting season, an encouraging sign for the currently endangered species. (Wikimedia Commons)
A leatherback sea turtle, the largest turtle species in the world, was spotted in the Xcacel-Xcacelito turtle sanctuary in Tulum for the first time in 36 years, the Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Natural Areas of the state of Quintana Roo (Ibanqroo) reported.
The turtle sighting happened during the nesting season between May 1 and June 16.
The largest turtle species in the world, leatherbacks are unique for their distinctive leathery shell. (NOAA)
Located 45 km south of Playa del Carmen, Xcacel-Xcacelito has been a protected natural area since 1998 and is considered a wetland of international importance, also known as a Ramsar site. The area covers 362 hectares of jungle, beaches, mangroves, cenotes and coral reefs and has become an important tourist destination in Quintana Roo.
According to the Ramsar Convention, Xcacel-Xcacelito has the highest breeding index in the state and in all of Mexico for the green sea turtle.
Between 1996 and 2022, the sanctuary recorded 54,214 white or green turtle nests and 9,030 loggerhead turtle nests. Some 4.7 million white or green turtles and 712,000 loggerhead turtle hatchlings have been released in the sanctuary since.
The leatherback sea turtle can weigh between 750 to 1,000 pounds and grow as long as 5 to 6 feet. Named after their tough rubbery skin, these turtles have existed in their current form since the age of the dinosaurs.
The area of Xcacel-Xcacelito, where the leatherback was seen nesting, is a Ramsar site that functions as a turtle sanctuary. (Government of Quintana Roo)
Once dominant in every ocean except the Arctic and Antarctic, the leatherback has rapidly declined in many parts of the world and is listed under the Endangered Species Act. In Mexico, leatherbacks have been found both in the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. Coastal development, however, has limited the areas where turtles can nest and forage, resulting in habitat loss.
“In collaboration with various sectors of society, strategies and concrete measures are being developed to protect these endangered species, as well as to promote scientific research and continuous monitoring of their population,” Ibanqroo said.
Mexico is one of the most important turtle nesting sites in the world: six of the world’s seven species of sea turtles nest on Mexico’s beaches.
The two main turtle nesting areas are the Baja California Peninsula in the Pacific and the Yucatán Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico.
An attempted robbery at Mexico City's southern bus terminal left two dead and two wounded on Tuesday. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Two presumed criminals were shot and killed by employees of a private security company at a bus station in Mexico City on Tuesday.
Mexico City Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said on Twitter that cash-in-transit personnel responded with their own gunfire when they were targeted in an attempted robbery at the Central del Sur bus station in the southern borough of Coyoacán.
As many as four people attempted to rob the cash-in-transit company Transval at the Central del Sur bus station in Mexico City. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
“Two probable culprits lost their lives,” he wrote.
The Mexico City Attorney General’s Office said that two others were wounded. The newspaper El Financiero identified them as employees of the cash-in-transit company Transval.
As many as four alleged criminals reportedly participated in the attempted robbery. Mexico City authorities didn’t say whether police made any arrests.
Videos posted to social media show people running for cover and hiding under seats in the bus station as gunshots ring out.
In a separate incident later on Tuesday, two people were shot in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant in the Mexico City neighborhood of Juárez.
A 16-year-old youth and a 46-year-old man were in a luxury SUV when they came under attack, according to the Mexico City Security Ministry.
Both were taken to hospital for treatment. The man later died, the news magazine Proceso reported.
Two men, both aged in their 30s, were detained in connection with the attack. A taxi driver told the El Universal newspaper that they had been chasing and shooting at the vehicle from a motorcycle.
A Pemex oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. (Pemex/Twitter)
A helicopter owned by a firm that provides transport services for state oil company Pemex crashed into the Gulf of Mexico off the Campeche coast Wednesday morning.
The pilot and co-pilot appeared to be unaccounted for at 3:00 p.m. Mexico City time, but at least one newspaper reported that they had died.
The company Heliservicio provides helicopter transport services for Pemex. (Heliservicio)
No one else was onboard the aircraft when it came down at 6:43 a.m. approximately 11 nautical miles from Ciudad del Carmen, according to a Pemex statement.
The state oil company said that a helicopter owned by Heliservicio was involved in a “regrettable accident” near the Bay of Campeche while flying to Gulf of Mexico oil platforms.
A helicopter featured on the Heliservicio website is emblazoned with the message “at the service of Pemex.”
Pemex said that an emergency response plan was immediately activated following the accident and that two navy vessels were dispatched to search for and rescue the pilot and co-pilot. The state oil company also said that the cause of the crash was under investigation.
The newspaper El Financiero said that it was told by a source – which it didn’t name – that the pilot and co-pilot didn’t survive the accident.
Pemex has numerous drilling rigs and oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, including the Bay of Campeche.
Researchers used LiDAR imaging to survey the ancient city, deep in the jungle of Campeche. (INAH)
Fifteen-meter high pyramids, numerous cylindrical stone columns and a ball court are among the features of an ancient Maya city recently rediscovered amid jungle in the southeastern state of Campeche.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced the “discovery” of the “monumental site”, which has been named Ocomtún, which means “stone column” in the Yucatec Mayan language.
Archaeologists believe the site dates to the Classic period, which lasted from A.D. 250–1,000. (INAH/Cuartoscuro.com)
The pre-Hispanic city is located within the Balamkú ecological reserve in the municipality of Calakmul.
A team of researchers led by Slovenian archeologist Ivan Šprajc reached the site by traversing 60 kilometers along logging paths covered with thick vegetation, INAH said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Prior to their expedition, experts from the University of Houston’s National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping (NCALM) used the laser surveying method known as LiDAR (light detection and ranging) to scan the area where Ocomtún was located.
NCALM’s images were of “great assistance” to the researchers as they indicated the “probable” presence of “archaeological relics,” INAH said.
Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Šprajc led the research team exploring the Ocomtún site. (INAH)
Šprajc, who is well known for his work at and study of Maya archaeological sites, said that the “the greatest surprise” on the recent exhibition in Campeche “turned out to be the site located on a ‘peninsula’ of elevated land surrounded by extensive wetlands.”
The “monumental core” of Ocomtún “covers more than 50 hectares and has several buildings of large dimension, including several pyramids over 15 meters high,” he said.
Šprajc said that “the site served as an important center at the regional level, probably during the Classic period,” which lasted from 250-1,000 AD.
Ceramics collected at the site appeared to be from the late Classic period of 600-800 AD, the archaeologist said, adding that an analysis of the samples would provide more reliable information about the occupation of Ocomtún.
A column found on the site. (Ivan Ṡprajc/INAH)
Šprajc, who was quoted in the INAH statement, said that the numerous stone columns must have been part of entrances to upper rooms of the buildings that make up the ancient Maya city.
In the southeast of the site, there are three plazas, or squares, surrounded by “imposing buildings,” he said.
“Between the two largest plazas a group of several low and long structures stretches out, almost in concentric circles. There is also a ball court,” Šprajc said.
A calzada, or road, connects the buildings in the southeast of the site to the northeast of the ancient city, where the “most voluminous” structure is located. Šprajc described the building as an approximately 10-meter high rectangular “acropolis” with sides measuring 80 meters. Atop the northern part of the structure is a pyramid, its apex 25 meters above land.
Šprajc also said that “construction elements” removed from buildings at Ocomtún were found in places of worship within courtyards and plazuelas (small squares) at the site.
This stone has been identified as an altar by the archaeologists. (Ivan Šprajc/INAH)
Their removal reflected “ideological and population changes in times of crisis that finally, by the 10th century, led to the collapse of the complex socio-political organization and the drastic demographic decline in the central Maya lowlands,” he said.
The archaeologist also noted that he and his team explored structures similar to those at Ocomtún in an area extending to the La Rigueña River. Various groups of structures were found, “which in some cases include a ball court and central altars in others,” Šprajc said.
Some of those structures might be markets or “spaces used for community rituals,” he said, adding that future investigations will be required to determine their function.
The laser mapping and exhibition that led to the re-discovery of Ocomtún were carried out as part of an INAH project called “Ampliando el panorama arqueológico de las Tierras Bajas Centrales mayas” or “Broadening the Archaeological Panorama of the Central Maya Lowlands.”
“The initiative seeks to increase knowledge of a vast area practically unknown to archaeology,” INAH said, noting that the uninhabited, jungle-covered 3,000-square-kilometer zone occupies the central part of the state of Campeche.
Among the other Maya sites in the Yucatán Peninsula state are Calakmul, Edzná and Becán.
Baja California Sur, a major tourist destination and Mexico's second-smallest state by population had the fewest homicides in 2023. (Sectur/Twitter)
Baja California Sur, Mexico City and Quintana Roo were the largest recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mexico’s tourism sector in the first quarter of 2023, Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco reported Monday.
Countrywide tourism-related FDI totaled US $326.9 million between January and March, Torruco said in a statement.
Areas of Mexico City popular with expats and remote workers, such as Condesa, have seen heavy investment so far this year. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
The figure is equivalent to about 1.8% of total first quarter FDI in Mexico, which was just over $18.6 billion.
Just over three-quarters of tourism sector FDI in the first three months of the year was in furnished apartments and houses with hospitality services ($241.7 million) as well as hotels “with other integrated services” ($5.1 million), Torruco said.
The remaining 24.5% tourism-related FDI went to the management of airports and heliports, the tourism minister said.
Foreigners, especially United States citizens and companies, are snapping up holiday properties in locations such as Los Cabos, Mexico City and Cancún, data suggests.
This map shows the top five Mexican states in amount of FDI received in the first quarter of 2023. (Sectur)
Baja California Sur, home to popular tourist destinations such as Cabo San Lucas, San José del Cabo and La Paz, received $81.9 million in FDI between January and March, an amount equivalent to 25% of the first quarter total.
Just under a quarter of the tourism sector FDI – $80.3 million – flowed into Mexico City, where neighborhoods such as Condesa, Roma and Polanco are particularly popular with foreigners, while $69.4 million went to Quintana Roo, where tourism hotspots such as Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Tulum are located.
Torruco said that the fourth and fifth biggest recipients of tourism sector FDI in the first quarter were Jalisco ($31.5 million) and Nayarit ($22.4 million).
Just over half of tourism sector FDI – $168.3 million – came from the United States, while investors from Denmark injected $80.1 million into the tourism sector between January and March, a figure equivalent to 24.5% of the total.
Countrywide tourism-related FDI totaled US $326.9 million between January and March, much of it going to destinations like Cancún, Quintana Roo. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)
Denmark’s position as the second largest investor in Mexico’s tourism sector in early 2023 is somewhat surprising as the country wasn’t among the leading investors in the sector last year. Torruco didn’t comment on the country’s sudden rise in the rankings.
Just under 12% of first quarter tourism sector FDI – $38.5 million – came from Canada, while Spain and the United Kingdom ranked as the fourth and fifth largest investors with outflows of $5.4 million and $4.6 million, respectively.
Extremely strong tourism sector FDI inflows will be needed in the second, third and fourth quarters to get close to that figure this year as the January-March total is equivalent to less than 10% of the 2022 result.
Torruco highlighted that Mexico’s tourism sector received just under $28.33 billion in FDI between 1999 and the first quarter of 2023, an amount he said represented 4.1% of foreign investment in the period.
Ternium's industrial center in Pesquería, Nuevo León is located on 437 hectares. Operations began at the plant in 2013. (Ternium México)
Steel manufacturer Ternium announced Tuesday that it will invest US $3.2 billion to build a new steelworks and cold rolling facility in Nuevo León.
The plant will be located on the company’s existing site in Pesquería, a municipality in the metropolitan area of Monterrey. The multi-furnace facility will allow Ternium to increase its steel production capacity and meet strong international demand for the alloy.
Ternium México CEO Máximo Vedoya (right) gave federal Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro (left) a tour of the plant this week. (Máximo Vedoya/Twitter)
CEO Máximo Vedoya described the investment as the largest in Ternium’s history. A video he posted to his personal Twitter account said the new facility will be “the most modern and sustainable steelworks” in the Americas.
It will have its own carbon capture capacity and will use treated wastewater in the steel production process.
Vedoya told a press conference in Nuevo León that the company’s board decided to build a new steel mill in the USMCA area – the United States, Mexico and Canada – but noted that there was a lot of internal debate about exactly where it should be located.
A site in Texas was initially considered but the company ultimately opted for Nuevo León due to the investment it has already made in the state, he said.
Dignitaries attended the new facility’s “inauguration” in Pesqueria, Nuevo Leon, including from left to right: Ternium México President César Jiménez, Ternium CEO Máximo Vedoya, Nuevo León Governor Samuel García and state Economy Minister Iván Rivas. (Ternium)
Construction is expected to commence in December, while the steelworks is slated to begin operations in the first half of 2026.
“The new state-of-the-art installation will complement the company’s new hot rolling mill in Pesquería, which began operations in the middle of 2021,” Vedoya said.
“… This decision is a significant milestone for our company … at a time when we’re consolidating our position as a leading player in the USMCA region,” he said.
Total investment by Ternium – formed in 2005 by the merger of Mexican, Argentine and Venezuelan firms – at its Pesquería site will now increase to some $6.8 billion. “It’s gigantic for us,” Vedoya said.
Governor Samuel García, who appeared alongside Vedoya at the press conference, said on Twitter that “Nuevo León’s moment is now.”
“With Ternium’s mega-investment we will now build the steel for the mobility of the future,” he added.
Inside Ternium’s current facilities in Pesqueria. (Ternium)
García told the press conference that a new 18-kilometer highway will be built to link Ternium’s Pesquería site to the ring road in the neighboring municipality of Juárez. The state government will contribute 1 billion pesos (US $58.1 million) to the project, he said.
Nuevo León has attracted significant investment from foreign companies amid the growing nearshoring phenomenon in which manufacturers seek to take advantage of Mexico’s proximity to the United States and other benefits such as competitive labor costs and the presence of a specialized workforce.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla announced in March that it would build a new “gigafactory” near Monterrey, a decision that will spur additional investment in Nuevo León.
García asserted in February that the state will receive over $12 billion in foreign investment this year, which would be roughly double the figure achieved in 2022.
San Martín Tilcajete, Oaxaca, alebrije artist Juventino Melchor Ángeles’ most popular figures are animal figures who are musicians. (Joseph Sorrentino)
Alebrijes began as someone’s dream.
In 1936, Pedro Linares López, a master cartonero in Mexico City’s La Merced neighborhood who made piñatas, masks and other items out of papier-mache became seriously ill. At one point, he lost consciousness.
While passed out, he dreamed of strange animals including winged burros and horned chickens, all of whom he remembered to be shouting “Alebrijes! Alebrijes!”
When he awoke, recovered, he remembered his dream and decided to bring those creatures to life, naming them for the nonsense word they had shouted.
Linares made his new sculptures out of paper layered over a wire frame and painted them with bright colors. The technique continues to this day, and in 2019, the Mexico City government officially designated alebrijes as an example of cultural heritage of the capital.
However, alebrijes did not stay an art form exclusive to Mexico City. They also became an art form in some Oaxaca towns after residents there saw Linares’ creations. But unlike his pieces, they made theirs from copal wood.
Pedro Linares López, the inventor of the alebrije. (alebrijes.net)
I decided to visit alejbrije artists in San Martín Tilcajete to learn how they make these unusual, beautiful figures that have captivated people around the world. Martín Melchor Ángeles and his wife Hermelinda Ortega Ramirez, alebrije artists and natives of San Martín, talked with me about their craft as they sat in front of their home.
“Here in the town, we started making alebrijes at the beginning of the 1960s,” Melchor said. “Parents were already making toys for their children using copal. In the beginning, the figures weren’t painted; they were white.”
Melchor worked in the fields and in construction before turning his attention to alebrijes, which he has made now for 36 years.
“I learned from an uncle, who was one of the founders,” he said. “From him, the desire to make alebrijes was born in me.”
Copal is the wood of choice in the town because, as Melchor told me, it’s easy to work with, and doesn’t absorb paint. He selected a small piece of wood from a pile that sat under a tree.
Hermelinda and Martín posing with finished pieces.
“I look at a piece of wood and I think, ‘I can make an animal out of that,’” he explained.
The piece he chose on this day was L-shaped precisely because he knew it would be right for turning into a crocodile. Placing it on an old tree trunk, he cut away expertly at it with a machete, chatting amicably as he carved. Melchor is an expert who can use the same machete blade to cut large, thick pieces of wood as well as paper-thin slices.
“I make everything without a guide,” he said. “My mind has the figure engraved in it.”
The most he’ll do on occasion is draw a thin line with a pencil.
“I have a design that’s different from other artisans,” he continued. “I make little figures on bicycles and animals and bike-taxis. I work differently because I like to and because it’s something that I can sell more of.”
I mentioned that carving a figure looked very complicated.
San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca. (Rey Perezoso/Flickr)
“In the beginning, yes, it was difficult to make figures,” he told me, “but now, after 30 years, everything is easy.”
Once the figure is carved — a process that takes a couple of hours and involves as many as six different tools — it’s put in the sun to dry. After that, it’s bathed in gasoline to prevent moths from burrowing into the wood and then placed in a freezer to kill any weevils that may have entered it. Finally, the figure is ready to be painted, which takes another three to four hours.
Melchor and his wife — who helps paint his figures and also makes her own alebrijes — don’t have a studio. They sell their alebrijes out of their home at Andrés Portillo #2 street and to clients who sell them in stores in Mexico and the United States.
Melchor’s figures tend to be small, between 18 and 20 centimeters, and sell for anywhere between 50–60 pesos for small figures and 1,500 pesos for more elaborate pieces, like the beautiful snake alebrije he showed me.
Not all alebrijes are as small or inexpensive: just down the street, Arturo Aguilar Melchor has a 7-foot tall figure called The Martian guarding the front of his studio.
“This took me three days to make with a machete,” said Aguilar. “This figure is in a style called rustic.”
Arturo Aguilar Melchor posing with The Martian.
It sells for 20,000 pesos (US $1,160).
Across from Aguilar’s studio, Juventino Melchor Ángeles, Martín’s younger brother, was painting a figure of an animal that will form part of a band.
“My whole family works in this craft. My children paint and I make the figures,” he said. “The most popular figures are ‘La Banda’— animals who are playing instruments.”
About 80% of the 4,000 or so residents of San Martín make their living as artists, according to Martín Melchor. That means the streets are lined with studios and stores selling alebrijes. On weekends, a small number of artists set up tables in the park in front of the church.
“We are here Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 6,” said Plácido Melchor, sanding the figure of a rabbit. “Or until the last client leaves.”
Although the majority of the town’s artists focus on making alebrijes, some, like Criselda Velazco Sosa, make other items out of wood. Velazco makes small, intricately decorated mirror boxes made of pine that she paints freehand using a tiny brush and without any guides.
“It takes about eight hours to paint each piece,” she told me.
There aren’t a lot of places to eat in the town. There’s one family restaurant that sells quesadillas, gorditas and tacos. Los Girasoles, San Martín’s only full-scale eatery, is located just behind the town hall.
There are more restaurants and lots of food stands on Route 175, which is the main road leading to San Martín, so you can make a day of it.
Although there are only a handful of artisans in the park most weekends, there will be 80 during Oaxaca’s Guelaguetza, the city’s huge annual dance festival, which will take place this year July 17–24. Plácido said that the artists will be in San Martín’s park from July 14 to Aug. 1.
