The animal was put down after its second fatal attack.
An aggressive donkey in Oaxaca struck again on Wednesday and killed a 79-year-old man.
The man, identified only as Juan, was the second victim of the donkey in Santa Cruz Tututepec, a village in the state’s Juquila district, a 100-kilometer drive northwest of Puerto Escondido. The first victim was a man named Marcelino, 81, who was attacked by the donkey in the same village in August 2020, the news site NVI Noticias reported.
Juan approached the donkey to tie it up when it bit him repeatedly and left him severely injured.
The 79-year-old’s family took him to a local emergency ward in Río Grande, 50 kilometers south, in a pickup truck.
But given the severity of his injuries, Juan was transferred to a hospital in Puerto Escondido by the voluntary paramedic organization ORAM. He received surgery early on Thursday in Puerto Escondido but didn’t survive the operation.
However, the aggressive donkey will not be allowed to inflict further harm: it was put down by Juan’s relatives.
The federal government’s new coronavirus stoplight map is painted low risk green and medium risk yellow in equal measures as Mexico’s fourth wave of COVID continues to recede.
Sixteen of the 32 federal entities are green, up from just four on the previous map, while the other 16 are yellow, an increase of three.
Five of the six northern border states are yellow, as are the Pacific coast states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Oaxaca, and the small Bajío region state of Aguascalientes.
The other five yellow entities are clustered in central Mexico. They are Mexico City, Morelos, México state, Hidalgo and Querétaro.
Orange is absent on the new map after dominating on the previous one, with 15 states considered high risk between February 7 and 20.
Face mask-clad pedestrians in downtown Mexico City in December 2021. A recent survey found that Mexico has one of the highest rates of mask usage in the Americas.
The updated map takes effect Monday and will remain in force through March 6. It’s indicative of a significantly improved coronavirus situation after the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant resulted in a new pandemic record of almost 1 million reported cases in January.
The Health Ministry reported 470,835 new cases during the first 20 days of February for a daily average of 23,541. That’s a 24% decrease compared to January’s daily average of 31,060 cases. There are currently just over 73,000 estimated active cases, a figure well below last month’s peak of over 300,000.
While case numbers have declined this month, COVID-19 deaths have increased. There were 9,597 reported fatalities in the first 20 days of February, almost 3,000 more than the number recorded in all of January.
However, the number of COVID-19 deaths is lower than during the delta-fueled third wave, and even lower in comparison with some months earlier in the pandemic when vaccines were not widely available or hadn’t yet been developed. Mexico’s worst month of the pandemic in terms of deaths was January 2021 with almost 33,000.
As of Sunday, the country’s official death tool stood at 315,688, while the accumulated case tally was 5.41 million.
In other COVID-19 news:
• Over 85 million people have been vaccinated against COVID in Mexico, the Health Ministry reported Sunday. The figure represents 67% of the country’s total population of approximately 126 million.
The vast majority of those who have had at least one shot – 93% – are fully vaccinated. Among people aged 18 and over, the vaccination rate rises to 90%, according to official data.
• One-quarter of hospital beds in general care COVID wards were occupied on Sunday, a 1% decrease compared to the previous day. The occupancy rate for beds with ventilators was unchanged at 18%. Just under 4,900 COVID patients are in public hospitals, federal data shows.
• Although the federal government has sent mixed messages about the efficacy of face masks, about 90% of Mexicans regularly use them, an online survey indicates.
Mexico’s mask use rate is higher than that of many other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, but below the rates in many Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Conducted by the University of Maryland and the Carnegie Mellon University, the survey asks Facebook users a wide range of pandemic-related questions.
Lemons can add just the pizazz a dish might be missing.
Until I moved to Mexico, I’d never thought much about how I’d miss lemons if they weren’t easily available; the thought had never occurred to me.
But now I’m not ashamed to admit that I treasure them — sometimes even hoard them — and while limones (limes) are a worthy substitute, at times, well, there just ain’t nuthin’ like the real thing. Here in Mazatlán, it used to be that limones amarillos were hard to find; nowadays that’s not the case, as all the big-box stores and even some vendors in the mercado have them. They still feel special to me, though, maybe because the cost is so much more than the little limes.
So why aren’t they more common in Mexico? Is it just because of a preferred taste for limes? Perhaps, but the yellow “Eureka” or Italian lemons are being grown more and more in the states of Colima, Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí and Yucatán. Statistics from international agricultural organizations rate Mexico as the second largest citrus producer in the world — but that’s lumping Persian limes, Mexican limes and yellow/Eureka/Italian lemons all together. At any rate, it sounds like there’ll be more lemons in Mexico as time goes by!
Brought to Hispaniola by none other than Christopher Columbus and then spread throughout the Caribbean and Mexico during the Spanish conquest, genetic evidence suggests that lemons are native to the Himalayas. Historians reference lemons being used in ancient Rome and cultivated in Italy in the 15th century. Interestingly, the word “lemon” stems from the Italian limone and Old French limon, and traces further back to the Persian limun (referring to all citrus), a cognate of the Sanskrit word.
I’ve learned to buy lemons when I see them, often making a citrus-ade with a mix of limes, lemons, oranges and a touch of sweetener. Recently, I’ve also developed an appreciation for lemon zest, not just in baked goods but in salad dressings and light sauces for poultry or fish, or squeezed into chicken soup just before serving. A little bit goes a long way and can often add the pizazz a dish might be missing. Zest can also be frozen; freeze in a container or zip-loc bag and use when needed.
Just tell everyone you’re getting your Vitamin C with this Tequila Honeybee.
Lemon slices can also be frozen for use in cocktails or other drinks and maintain their color and flavor. Slice about ¼-inch-thick rounds, lay on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and freeze. Once frozen, transfer to a container or zip-loc bag for up to three months.
As long as we’re prepping and freezing, fresh-squeezed lemon juice can be kept in the fridge for up to two weeks. Or freeze in cubes in an ice cube tray, pop into a freezer bag, and keep for up to three months.
Crispy Feta with Lemon
1 (8-oz.) block feta cheese, preferably not in brine
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Flaky salt
Black pepper
For serving: red pepper flakes, lemon wedges, crackers or toasted baguette slices
Cut feta into ¼-inch-thick slices, then cut each rectangular slice in half crosswise to form two squares, ending up with about 16 squares.
Pat dry with a paper towel; set aside. In a large, shallow bowl or plate, mix cornstarch and sesame seeds. Gently coat feta slices on both sides with cornstarch mixture.
In large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add feta in a single layer; cook about 1 minute until golden brown. Gently flip and cook other side until golden. Transfer to platter; sprinkle with salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes. Serve warm with crackers or baguette slices and lemon wedges.
Tequila Honeybee
Dash mezcal, to rinse
2 oz. reposado tequila
1 oz. Honey Syrup (see instructions below)
¾ oz. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Garnish: lemon peel
To make the Honey Syrup:
½ cup honey (adjust to taste)
½ cup water
Heat honey and water in small saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until honey dissolves. Cool. Transfer to airtight container. Store, refrigerated, for up to 1 month.
Combining lemon and fish is a classic, but that’s ’cause it works!
To make the Tequila Honeybee:
Rinse a highball or other glass with the mezcal, coating inside of glass with a thin layer, discarding (or drinking!) the excess. Add tequila, honey syrup and lemon juice into a shaker with ice; shake until well chilled. Strain into prepared glass over fresh ice. Top with bitters. Garnish with lemon peel.
Lemon Pudding Cake
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp. lemon zest
⅓ cup lemon juice
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
½ tsp. salt
1½ cups whole milk
Place large roasting pan on a rack in center of oven; fill pan halfway with water. With the pan inside, preheat oven to 350 F (177 C). Grease an 8-inch square or round baking dish.
In large bowl, whisk egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon juice and butter.
In another bowl, mix sugar, flour and salt. Whisk half the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture, then half the milk. Whisk in the remaining flour mixture, then the remaining milk.
Whip egg whites until soft peaks form, then gently fold into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan; carefully place in the pan of water in the oven.
Bake about 45 minutes until cake is set.
Lemonade Syrup
1 cup water
1½ cups sugar
1½ cups fresh lemon juice
Simmer water and sugar together until sugar dissolves into a syrup; cool and chill.
To serve, combine 7 cups cold water, syrup and lemon juice. Serve over glasses filled with ice and garnish with lemon slices.
Lemon-Baked Fish
4 fillets of any kind of fish, skin on or off
Extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt
Black pepper
Lemon wedges, for serving
Heat oven to 400 F (200 C). Drizzle fish with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper; place on a rimmed baking sheet, skin side down if applicable. Roast fish for 10 minutes per inch of thickness until fish is opaque and tender when pierced with a fork but before it starts to flake. Serve with lemon wedges and drizzled with olive oil.
In 2020, students from the Ayotzinapa teacher college set fire to buildings at Guerrero's Congress to protest the kidnapping of 43 students in 2014. Twitter
For the past several months, I’ve been noticing banners on the various buildings of the Universidad Veracruzana campuses across my city that say “20% Salary Increase or Strike.” They’re signed by the university workers’ union, which consists of mostly nonacademic laborers.
I’m a fan of the labor movement, but the institutionalization of these threats to strike — an insider tells me that every year, the workers say they’ll go off the job, they receive a counteroffer from the university and then they accept a 3.5% pay increase — makes me both chuckle and frown.
Why not just institutionalize the 3.5% yearly increase without the scary-looking signs?
Is the protest necessary if we all know the outcome? What kind of weird dance is this?
Maybe it’s because I’m getting older. Maybe it’s because I’m witnessing the political right in my own country co-opt many of the techniques and even slogans that used to be the purview of the left but with assault weapons horrifyingly slung over their shoulders. (“My body my choice?” Really?)
But it’s all just so confusing. Here, for example, I was about to make a brassy comment along the lines of, “If you’re carrying a loaded gun and are dressed for nothing short of guerrilla warfare, it’s going to be hard to convince anyone you’re the one being bullied.”
Then I thought of the Zapatistas, who literally carry guns over their shoulders and are dressed for guerrilla warfare. Ah! The middle part of this Venn diagram is too encompassing, and I’m feeling both weary and panicked about the prospect of having to sort out the difference.
I suppose the short answer would be that one of these groups has been systematically oppressed by the greater society while the other has simply pretended that this was the case for them, even while maintaining about as much power as a non-elected official can.
Still, though. The assault weapons throw me off.
The fact is, protest – especially when it’s violent – is suddenly something I’m suspicious of, which is a very new feeling for me. I’m trying hard to examine those feelings and catch myself, lest I fall into some trap that should be hard to miss.
But I do know one thing: noble cause or not, violence, and the prospect of violence, make me nervous. It’s the point at which I draw the line between acceptable and unacceptable social and political action.
Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. had the right idea: once you start hitting back, the water gets muddy, and one’s moral righteousness along with it.
Especially uncomfortable to think about has been the case of the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college in Guerrero, where conflict — often violent conflict — with the government is an established tradition.
Why does a college designed to create educators seem instead to be a guerrilla-warrior training academy?
No one, of course, should have disappeared or been killed for protesting, even violently. Still, it’s hard to figure out what the students are trying to accomplish by constantly daring the authorities to react to them as they take over toll booths, hijack vehicles and assault members of the National Guard.
It hardly seems the way to get the public on their side. And while I’m confused by the president’s apparent reaction of “Oh, those rascals!” I’d certainly get behind him on the plea he made this past week at his morning press conference: “I want to call on the boys … to no longer act in this way … You have to fight for ideals, not for destruction. There should be no rebel without a cause.”
While I agree with his assessment, I don’t understand at all why the behavior is openly tolerated.
All of this is swimming around in my head with bigger questions about the nature and purpose of social protest. Is it possible for a cause to be objectively good or objectively bad? Under what circumstances is violence justified? Even Martin Luther King, Jr. moved a bit closer to Malcolm X’s way of thinking in the end, after all.
Can a cause start out as good and justifiable and then turn sour? How can we tell when someone has lost sight of good intentions? If a hero of a cause loses their way and is no longer good, how much damage will we let them do before we come to our senses?
And if we have to act, how do we pull it off? So many people, myself included, thought that the president would be the kind of hero we’d been waiting for. So now what?
I’m reminded of two of Mexican director Luis Estrada’s more famous films: Herod’s Law and Hell. Both films are satires, and both are set up in such a way that the viewer identifies with and roots for the protagonist even as he descends into increasingly deeper levels of corruption and just plain evil. By the end, you find yourself thinking things like, “Oh, if he can just make that one thing work, all those horrors will have been worth it!”
Art that came later has followed the same antihero narrative that we love and root for, and it often makes me wonder about the extent to which we let ourselves be fooled in real life by nonfictional people.
We rooted for Walter White in Breaking Bad. I’m currently watching the show You on Netflix, and find myself thinking, “Sure, he’s a psychopath, but maybe he and that girl can find happiness together.”
And then I go and take a long, hard look in the mirror. Me, manipulated like that. Me!
I’m not saying that any of these protesters or participants in social movements are evil or unjustified or that they have nefarious intentions. But the fact that it’s so difficult for any of us to switch opinions once we’ve settled upon a certain narrative sure is scary.
Because if beloved heroes of our own modern folklore turned into villains, how long would it take us to recognize it?
The university workers fight with signs, not guns. That, at least, is something I can get behind.
From front to back: Haeberli Piel's Anabel Rodríguez, Anabel Cárdenas and Diana Morales at Los Pinos, where they exhibited their company's traditional and innovative clothing.
The northeast is not the best-known part of Mexico for many expats, but there is a very good chance you have seen the region’s contribution to the country’s cowboy culture — the cuera. It has an unmistakable flair: a leather jacket heavily decorated with fringe and ornate depictions of flowers and plants.
Leather coats and jackets started out as practical wear for working out on the range, but the main purpose of these garments nowadays is to make a statement. They are popular with politicians, businessmen, musicians and anyone looking to show love for Mexico’s distinctive northern culture.
Showing that love can be pricey — cueras run as high as 35,000 pesos, depending on the quality and type of leather, along with how ornately and finely it is decorated.
The small town of Tula, Tamaulipas, claims credit as the origin of the iconic jacket. Its predecessor was called a cotón, a long deerskin overcoat that cowboys wore to protect themselves from thorns and branches.
During the Mexican Revolution, a general by the name of Alberto Carrera Torres contracted an artisan in this town named Porfirio Reyna Mata to make one. Of course, it could not be an ordinary cotón. Reyna added the floral designs and fringes, taking inspiration from Mexico’s northern indigenous culture, along with its Spanish and Arabesque heritage.
María Luisa Martín Font in her older years working at Haeberli Piel, date unknown. Courtesy of Haberli Piel
From then until the latter half of the 20th century, such decorated leather wear was exclusively for men. It proved to be extremely popular not only because of its looks but because the shortened version was practical to wear with jeans. It can also be made from different kinds of leather, which allows it to be worn in both cold as well as hot, dry conditions.
But there was nothing like it for women until María Luisa Martín Font stepped into the picture.
The widow of a Swiss-German immigrant, she opened a shop that made bridal gowns and other specialty wear. In 1959, the then-governor of Tamaulipas Norberto Treviño Zapata, decided that the state needed a distinctive women’s outfit, much like that of the china poblana of Puebla and the huipil of the Yucatán Peninsula. He announced a competition, and Martín’s entry won.
She took the basic look of the cuera and adapted it to a tunic-and-skirt set. Traditional fringes and vegetation appear on her entry, along with the Tamaulipas state seal for good measure. It was innovative in part because at that time, nobody considered leather suitable for women’s clothing or anything approaching formal wear.
Interestingly, her version did not include a jacket, not even a modified one. Today, Tamaulipas women do wear cuera outfits, but they now almost always have a jacket as well as a skirt. The tunic is optional.
Despite the cuera’s iconic status, there are few enterprises in Tamaulipas still making the garments by hand. Most are in Tula, but the best known is the company that Martín started after winning the state contest, Haeberli Piel. The business she named after her deceased husband is still around, located in the state capital of Ciudad Victoria, with a gallery in an old mansion in the center of the city.
Examples of Tamaulipas cueras for men and for women exhibited at the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City. Alejandro Linares García
Just about all of Martín’s three generations of descendants are involved in the business in one way or another, but it is run by the women of the family, principally Anabel Rodríguez Gerber, Anabel Cárdenas Rodríguez and niece Diana Morales Rodríguez.
Like Martín before them, the company continues to both preserve tradition and innovate, constantly creating new products and new colors but always using the cuera style of decoration.
In addition to jackets and skirts, they make hats of several types, boots, shoes, purses, wallets and even home decorations. The family is in charge of design and quality, but much of the work is done under contract by people in Ciudad Victoria and the surrounding area.
Owning and wearing a cuera, in whatever form, is still extremely important to the identity of people from this state.
“… Immediately you are recognized as being from Tamaulipas, and this gives us much pride because it is a beautiful and elegant outfit. It attracts attention and is comfortable to wear at the same time,” says Cárdenas. “It will never go out of style.”
There are garments more than 60 years old that families still carefully treasure. Tamaulipas declared the cuera part of the state’s official heritage in 2016, even giving it its own day of celebration on October 20.
An example of the Haeberli Piel company’s mix of tradition and innovation: these Spanish-style felt hats have the fancy leather trim essential to cueras.
And the town of Tula takes great pride in being where the garment originated. It is one of the main reasons why this little place between Ciudad Victoria and San Luis Potosí was named a Pueblo Mágico by the federal government. Mexican federal authorities have also given examples of these garments as gifts to several recent popes and various European royalty.
In 2021, Tula created a four-meter-tall monument to the jacket on a hill, impossible to miss when you visit.
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 Tuesday press conference. Presidencia de la República
President López Obrador, once known as El Peje, after a Tabascan fish, was on dry terrain on the weekend in Sonora. He met with members of the indigenous Yaqui and Seri communities and visited two baseball stadiums that are being converted into baseball schools. AMLO’s passion for the sport comes at a price: the stadiums were bought by the government in 2019 for 1.057 billion pesos (US $54.7 million).
Monday
Love was in the air on Monday, for Valentine’s Day.
“Happy Day of Love and Friendship, Mr. President, and to all of you,” said Ricardo Sheffield, the head of the consumer protection agency Profeco, calling the festivity by its alternative name.
Sheffield shared some money-saving romantic advice: “Remember: give love away, don’t buy it,” before mentioning that Russia’s military presence on the Ukrainian border was keeping fuel prices high.
However, there was only so much love on offer from the president.
“Did the people of Mexico know that this man [Carlos Loret de Mola] has an income as a journalist of 35 million pesos a year (US $1.7 million). Who earns that? A scientist, an intellectual and the president all earn … 10 times less,” López Obrador said.
“My head hangs out of grief, out of shame. ‘Todos somos Loret,'” he said in mockery of the support given to the well known journalist who was been the target of the president’s ongoing attacks at the daily mañaneras.
Reflecting on his weekend trip, the president played a clip of a Seri woman welcoming a delegation by playing a drum and singing.
“This Mexico is sometimes discarded from daily life,” he said. “We forget it exists, and that public life only takes place among elites.”
The president shared a chart showing COVID deaths per capita by country at his Tuesday press conference. Presidencia de la República
Tuesday
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said the fourth wave of COVID-19 had been declining for three consecutive weeks.
“The COVID hospital units are emptying,” he declared.
The pandemic point man called on those that haven’t been vaccinated to get their shots, lamenting an “epidemic of the unvaccinated.”
The president hailed his government’s achievements in the pandemic: Mexico is “ninth in application of doses and 25th in deaths,” he said, pointing to two charts. The chart for doses was ordered by the absolute number of shots in arms, putting Mexico high on the chart due to its large population. However, the chart for deaths was relative to population size, putting Mexico some 20 places lower than it would be in absolute terms.
Branded “Mexico’s False Messiah” by a British newspaper last year, AMLO passed on the title. He called the journalist Enrique Krauze “the Messiah of Conservatism,” and said that political lobbying groups that received money from the United States might have committed treason.
Wednesday
Elizabeth García Vilchis gave some advice to keep a healthy mind during her media lies segment: “The best vaccine against lying is to inform yourself and compare the data,” she said.
García assured that the Patria (Homeland) vaccine being developed in Mexico wasn’t for chickens and that there were no dodgy deals between Pemex and supplier Baker Hughes. She added that the #TodosSomosLoret (We Are All Loret) Twitter protest, in support of the journalist, had been inflated by Twitterbots.
AMLO lined up the questions: “Let’s see. The lady in the yellow, then you, you, you and you,” he said, pointing to the chosen reporters.
However, one of the chosen few didn’t feel in an inquisitive mood.
“Yesterday … in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate, fellow journalists protested … in solidarity for the fallen journalists … With all due respect, we want to tell you that today, we don’t want to ask you questions,” the reporter said.
On Wednesday, one reporter declined to ask questions in protest of the administration’s record on violence against media workers. Presidencia de la República
There was a late start to the conference on Thursday. AMLO was in Tijuana, Baja California, and started at 9 a.m., two hours behind Mexico City time.
He confirmed he’d tour the U.S. border and would travel by military helicopter due to the lack of commercial flights.
The governor, Marina del Pilar Ávila, kept it brief, thanking the president for his second visit in three and half months. She highlighted the federal government’s investigations into the murder of two reporters in Baja California.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval, back from a second stint with COVID, detailed the security situation in the crime-ridden state. He said it was the second worst in the country for homicides and human trafficking and the first for vehicle theft.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio gave a security report on Thursday. Presidencia de la República
Once again, a journalist spoke on behalf of murdered reporters.
“In Tijuana, where we buried two of our colleagues in less than a week, we will not stop demanding justice. You can’t kill the truth by killing journalists,” she said, before reading the names of those lost in 2022.
The president offered a fable to explain that some bad actors will never change.
“Do you know about the fable … of the toad and the scorpion? It’s great. There was a flood and the scorpion was going to drown and said to the toad, ‘Help me … save me. I’ll climb on top of you, and you can take me to the other side of the river.'”
The toad obliged. Reaching safety the scorpion stung the toad.
“‘Why did you do this to me, if I’m saving your life?'” the toad implored.
“‘That’s my nature,'” replied the scorpion.
Friday
The president was still on the border on Friday, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
Governor Maru Campos said homicides had fallen in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua city and Cuauhtémoc and gave a message of unity to the president.
“Between you and me there can be no room for indolence, confrontation, violence, omission or noise that does not allow us to hear each other,” she told him.
Cresencio said crime was generally going down in Chihuahua, save for extortion. He added that the state was third for homicides.
The accelerating breakdown of Mexican institutions and the rule of law under López Obrador is a threat to US national security.
Today, I pressed the Administration on the need to do more to stop and reverse this deadly trend. pic.twitter.com/h1ZAiNUB7c
Later in the conference, the president mentioned Ted Cruz, the U.S. senator whose remarks went viral on Twitter after he called the “accelerating breakdown of Mexican institutions” under López Obrador “a threat to U.S. national security.”
The president said it was natural that the Texas senator was “in opposition to the policies we are carrying out to benefit the people of Mexico and in defense of the Mexicans who work and live honorably in the United States.”
“It’s a point of pride that U.S. Senator Ted Cruz is setting himself against my administration … if Ted Cruz praised me, maybe I would think that we are not doing things right,” López Obrador said.
A shot is given to a girl aboard a bus load of families from Nuevo León in Laredo, Texas, as part of a vaccination campaign last year by the state government.
A federal court has ruled that children aged 5 to 11 have the right to be vaccinated against COVID-19, setting a precedent that other courts are obliged to follow.
In a ruling published Friday, a Mexico City-based administrative court said that children between those ages remain susceptible to infection if they are not vaccinated and therefore their health and even lives could be placed at risk.
The court noted that coronavirus cases among young children are on the rise and “numerous” deaths have been recorded.
It referenced a Pfizer study that found that a reduced dose of its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children aged 5 to 11.
The court’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of parents seeking an injunction obliging the federal government to offer shots to their children.
A child gets tested for COVID-19.
It said that health authorities have an obligation to offer vaccines to the children named in the lawsuit. Unless the ruling is superseded, other courts will have to issue similar injunctions to families who request them.
The government has not offered vaccines to children under 15 with the exception of those aged 12 and older with an existing health condition that makes them vulnerable to serious illness.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell has defended the government’s vaccination policy, saying late last month that the probability of a healthy child getting seriously ill or dying from COVID is “very, very low.”
In other COVID-19 news:
• The Health Ministry reported 21,565 new cases and 470 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday. Mexico’s accumulated tallies are 5.36 million confirmed infections and 314,598 fatalities. There are just over 82,000 estimated active cases, with the highest number per capita in Colima followed by Baja California Sur and Mexico City.
• Over 1.2 million vaccine doses were administered in Mexico on Thursday, lifting the total number of shots given to just under 176.2 million.
López-Gatell said Tuesday that 90% of Mexicans aged 18 and over are vaccinated, and tweeted Friday that the campaign to offer booster shots to eligible recipients is making progress across the entire country.
“There will be coverage in the most remote localities,” the coronavirus czar added.
National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio presented data on violence in nine states where the federal government has provided extra security support. Presidencia de la República
Homicides have increased over the past six months in three of nine states where the federal government has recently bolstered security efforts.
National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval presented data Thursday that showed that homicides increased 10% in Zacatecas between August 13 and February 16, 9% in Michoacán and 5% in México state.
Zacatecas was the most violent state on a per capita basis last year with almost 100 homicides per 100,000 people, and the eighth most violent for total murders with over 1,600.
Michoacán and México state ranked third and fourth respectively for total murders with more than 2,600 each.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has significant power in both Zacatecas and Michoacán, although it recently lost ground in the latter. It is involved in turf wars with the Sinaloa Cartel in Zacatecas and the Cárteles Unidos in Michoacán.
Michoacán’s new Morena governor, Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, took office last October.
The conflicts are the main drivers of violence in the states, both of which have new Morena party governors.
Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, who took office in Michoacán on October 1, said earlier this month that pacifying the state might take six years. Homicides were up over 10% during his first 105 days in office compared to the final 105 days of the term of his predecessor.
In Zacatecas, David Monreal was sworn in as governor on September 12, and homicides rose 9.3% in the first 145 days of his term. The northern state has recently seen a spate of macabre incidents, such as the abandonment on Kings Day of a vehicle with 10 dead bodies beneath a giant Christmas tree in front of the state government palace and the discovery of another 10 cadavers on a Zacatecas highway last November.
After 18 murders on one day earlier this month, Monreal said that the implementation of the new security plan had “generated an escalation in violence … between criminal groups.”
More than 20 criminal organizations operate in México state, the country’s most populous entity with approximately 17 million residents. Among them: the CJNG, the Gulf Cartel, La Familia Michoacana, the Guerreros Unidos, Los Rojos and La Unión Tepito.
The state, which includes many municipalities that are part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area, also has a serious femicide problem. There were 145 gender-related killings of women and girls last year, a figure higher than that of any other state.
Speaking at President López Obrador’s regular news conference, Cresencio said that homicides declined over the past six months in the other six “priority” states.
Murders decreased 18% in Quintana Roo; 17% in Baja California; 15% in Jalisco; 15% in Chihuahua; 5% in Sonora; and 5% in Guanajuato – Mexico’s most violent state for total homicides last year with over 3,500.
From this lookout point, you can get a good look at Jalisco’s highest mountain, the Nevado de Colima.
Of the many mountain ranges running through the state of Jalisco, I deem La Sierra Verde the least appreciated. Good luck on finding even one man in the street in Guadalajara who could tell you where the range is located or who has ever heard of Las Piedras Bolillo, a spectacular lookout point hidden among its verdant hills.
The problem is roads: the Sierra Verde occupies an area of around 2,000 square kilometers, but if there’s even one decent road tucked away in there, I have yet to see it.
What I have seen are the roughest, rockiest, bumpiest, most washed-out excuses for a road you could ever imagine, so if you don’t have access to a serious four-wheel-drive vehicle, you can stop reading right now — unless, of course, you are an armchair explorer in search of virtual adventure.
However, if you happen to own a 4×4 or a mountain bike and want to explore territory hardly anyone else can get to, read on.
I was introduced to the Sierra Verde by geologist Chris Lloyd, who began exploring the area for its mining potential and ended up falling in love with the place for its beauty and silence.
You’ll reach the Piedras Bolillo lookout point after driving 9.4 kilometers over rough roads. A 4×4 vehicle is essential.
The Sierra Verde gets its name from its ubiquitous pine and oak trees, and loggers were the ones who created the web of horrendously bad dirt roads that crisscross the forest.
What’s it like navigating these brechas in a Jeep?
Well, on my first visit to the Sierra Verde, I was traveling with four other off-road vehicles. After driving for an hour, we came to a spot in the road that was so steep and so encumbered with boulders that none of those hardy 4x4s could get up it.
“Well, that’s the end of our expedition,” I thought, but my compañeros had a lot more experience at this sort of thing than I did.
Instantly, they all jumped out of their trucks, each one armed with a shovel and a heavy steel wrecking bar that was over a meter long, which they immediately applied to the boulders ¡con ganas! (with enthusiasm).
Before my eyes, they rolled the boulders away and utterly transformed that impassable brecha into a smooth, drivable road.
Hikers atop one of the Piedras Bolillo.
On other occasions, we have had to uproot stumps, roll heavy logs off the road and chop our way through maleza (underbrush) using machetes.
If, however, you have the right tools, the right vehicle, and a lot of gumption, you can take advantage of these ubiquitous roads to visit outstanding places like a lovely mountain peak called La Tetilla de Ameca, which I described in volume three of my book, Outdoors in Western Mexico.
On this occasion, I would like to present another outstanding attraction of the Sierra Verde: it’s a unique mirador (lookout point) I call Las Piedras Bolillo, featuring giant rocks shaped like el bolillo, the popular Mexican bun-shaped version of the French baguette, introduced to Mexico City in the 1860s thanks to Mexico’s briefly enthroned Habsburg emperor, Maximilian I.
The Piedras Bolillo are located 100 kilometers southwest of Guadalajara, off Highway 70 to Mascota, Jalisco. At an altitude of almost 2,000 meters above sea level, they offer a magnificent view of the Sierra Verde that you can enjoy without stepping out of your four-wheel-drive vehicle.
This mirador has obviously attracted some attention in the past — perhaps the ancient past — as can be witnessed by a shelter cave on the site featuring carefully constructed sidewalls.
The cave is nothing more than a protected area under one of those very same bun-shaped rocks, lying at an angle. Dig a bit on the floor and you will find plenty of potsherds. Yes, if you’d like to spend a night at this enchanting belvedere, you don’t even need to bring a tent!
This nipple cactus (Mammillaria) is five centimeters in diameter, nestled among colorful lichen-covered rocks.
I, however, did bring my tent, and I am happy to report that the Sierra Verde turned out to be the quietest place in which I have ever camped in this country, bar none … and note that I was sleeping there on a Saturday night when raucous music tends to fill the air around even the most remote ranchito.
That’s right, I could hear no rockets going off, no radio blasting, no barking of dogs, no roar of traffic. Why, even the chorus of crickets ended its concert somewhere around midnight.
It was the most glorious silence I had experienced since sleeping inside a lava tube in Saudi Arabia. But in Hibashi Cave, I could not see the stars, whereas this mirador offers a spectacular wide-angle view of the sky, unimpeded by city lights.
From the Bolillo Rocks, you can dare all those logging roads to hike into every corner of this area, where you may be delighted to stumble upon a little waterfall surrounded by wildflowers and mushrooms, or a small lake shaded by trees covered with lichen, their branches burdened with a light-green bromeliad I’ve never seen before. And as you wander about, you may even come upon a pino triste (sad pine), whose needles point down like the branches of a weeping willow.
This tree, endemic to Mexico but considered rare in most of Mexico’s forests, is the Pinus lumholtzii, named after the Norwegian explorer Carl Lumholtz (1851–1922), who led the expedition on which the tree was discovered. At the moment, it’s on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of endangered species in Mexico.
As you wander about in the Sierra Verde, keep an eye out to the southeast where, from most high points, you should have a magnificent view of the Nevado de Colima, 120 kilometers away, the highest mountain in Jalisco. Right next to it is the ever-smoldering Volcán de Fuego, or Fire Volcano.
Camp here and experience silence like practically nowhere else in Mexico.
If you are gung-ho to set foot upon the Piedras Bolillo, start out by asking Google Maps to take you to FJ6C+X6M Mixtlán, Jalisco, a spot on Highway 70 where you will find an easy-to-see dirt road heading east. Follow this eastward and then southward for 6.5 kilometers until you reach a fork at N20.43540 W104.35305. Turn right here onto a road heading southwest. Follow this for 2.9 kilometers, and you should end up at the lookout point (N20.42423 W104.36862).
Driving time, if all goes well, might be about 3 1/2 hours, starting from the center of Guadalajara.
This route is shown on Wikiloc.com as Piedras Bolillo, and I hope that the map will help you find your way — but be warned: once you’ve been seduced by the Sierra Verde, you’ll find that you have to keep going back again and again!
The writer has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, since 1985. His most recent book is Outdoors in Western Mexico, Volume Three. More of his writing can be found on his blog.
A natural shelter underneath one of the Piedras was turned into a home … but whose home and how long ago?
A woolly oak leaf gall containing the eggs of a tiny cynipid wasp.
The endangered pino triste (sad pine) is a common sight here.
Even if you have a 4×4 vehicle, be prepared for anything on these roads.
Sunset in the Sierra Verde at an altitude of about 2,000 meters.
Hiking through the Sierra Verde along no-longer-used logging roads.
A small dam located two kilometers from the Piedras Bolillo.
Producers say labor shortages in Canada and the US are partly to blame. deposit photos
Mexican beef producers became the main source for U.S. beef imports for the first time, after Canada held the title for many years.
As of February 11, more than 37,000 tons of Mexican beef had been exported to the U.S. since the start of the year. That is 3.3% more than what Canada exported, and nearly 70% more than what Mexico exported in the same period in 2021.
In total, Mexican producers made up nearly 26.9% of beef imported by the U.S., just a percentage point more than Canadian producers.
Héctor Garza, the president of the Mexican beef producers association, said the change is due in part to the worker shortages that the U.S. and Canada have faced as the omicron variant of the coronavirus has torn through the continent.
“In effect we have now surpassed Canada as the main beef seller in the [U.S.] market and, though we know it’s circumstantial, we hope to remain close once [Canada and the U.S.] have recovered,” Garza said.
