López Obrador renews his attacks on National Autonomous University

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May 20, 2022

The National Autonomous University's main campus in Mexico City. UNAM

President López Obrador renewed his attack on the National Autonomous University (UNAM) on Thursday, accusing the prestigious institution of becoming a bastion of right-wing views and asserting that some of its professors supported previous corrupt governments.

Asked at his morning press conference about UNAM’s dealings with United States medical technology company Arrayit Corporation, which is accused of fraud, López Obrador launched into a broadside against his alma mater.

“I’m very interested in this extremely important institution … continuing to be a great institution,” he began.

“… It reached an extreme in which the majority of professors were applauders of the regime of corruption, I’m talking about social sciences,” López Obrador said. “[The university] was inundated by rightism,” the president charged.

López Obrador also accused UNAM of using its budget to “reward people,” asserting that “special institutes were created for them” and “a kind of golden bureaucracy” was created. “And the subject teachers earned very little,” he added.

López Obrador’s attack on UNAM, where he studied political science in the 1970s before submitting his thesis and graduating in 1987, came seven months after he accused the university of becoming “individualistic” during what he describes as the nation’s 36-year neoliberal period from 1982 to 2018.

He has also previously accused the university of lurching to the right and becoming a defender of neoliberalism, which he blames for all manner of problems in Mexico.

In a rare split with the president, the ruling Morena party’s leader in the Senate presented a different view, saying that the majority of academics he knows, including those in the UNAM Law Faculty where he studied, are leftists who didn’t support corrupt, neoliberal past governments.

The Morena party's leader in the Senate, Ricardo Monreal, broke with the president to defend UNAM, where he work as a professor. — The Morena party’s leader in the Senate, Ricardo Monreal, broke with the president to defend UNAM, where he worked as a professor.

“I have friends and colleagues who are professors … and the majority are progressive, they’re from the left and they voted for us,” Ricardo Monreal said. “… I spend time with them and speak to them. We exchange points of view.”

Monreal, who has presidential aspirations, said he wasn’t aware of the existence of a “golden bureaucracy” at UNAM.

“[The president] will have his evidence to support that but I defend the institution,” the senator said. “… The institution is one of the best in the world, … it has educated exceptional professionals, men and women in all branches of science and professional life.”

Arturo Erdély, a mathematician and UNAM academic for over 25 years, told the newspaper El Universal that AMLO’s aim in criticizing the university is to influence the process to elect a new rector, which is scheduled to take place in 2023.

“What he’s seeking is clear: to have an influence on the succession of the rector,” he said.

“[Just] as he wants to have a bearing on the National Electoral Institute [INE] and the Supreme Court justices, he … [also wants to] get involved in the renewal of the UNAM rectorship,” Erdély said.

He charged that all institutions that “still have a whiff of autonomy” annoy the president, who has sought to disband or overhaul some such bodies, including the INE. “That’s why [he makes] his attacks,” Erdély said.

The national president of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), AMLO’s former party, has a similar view.

Arturo Erdély, Arturo Erdély, a prominent UNAM mathematics professor, came out in defense of the university. — Arturo Erdély, a prominent UNAM mathematics professor, came out in defense of the university.

“These criticisms against the university are links in his chain of attacks against everything that smacks of free thought and freedom of expression,” Jesús Zambrano said.

He also claimed that López Obrador has forgotten what UNAM meant to him. “Andrés Manuel … acts like an oaf and is ungrateful to his alma mater that put up with him as a terrible student for years,” Zambrano said.

Since the start of his presidency, the president has been critical of the university, the PRD chief said, adding that he wasn’t aware of the basis of his claim that it has lurched to the right.

Zambrano suggested that AMLO wants UNAM to be another “extension” of Morena, which he founded.

“What he’s seeking is to align it with a form of totalitarian thought and for it to stop being … a receptacle of universal thought,” he said.

Manuel Añorve Baños, an Institutional Revolutionary Party senator, said López Obrador’s attacks on UNAM are excessive and senseless and suggested that he was trying to divert attention.

“President López Obrador is very annoyed by the barrage of criticism from the health sector, doctors’ associations, due to the hiring of Cuban doctors,” he said.

Luis de la Barreda Solórzano, a UNAM academic and former head of the Mexico City Human Rights Commission, said the president’s accusations against the university are strange given that it’s his alma mater.

“These positions have a psychological explanation a lot of the time. I don’t know if … [his] bitterness has to do with him taking 14 years to get a degree that’s normally obtained in four or five years,” he said.

De la Barreda added that the president wouldn’t be such a harsh critic of UNAM if he took the time to read the work of its academics.

“He’s had little time to read, which is noticeable when you listen to him. Listening to him for a few minutes is enough to understand that he has little time to read. If he had read articles, essays, books by the UNAM professors he wouldn’t have made an accusation like that he made on Thursday,” he said.

With reports from El Universal

6-million-peso McLaren wrecked in highway crash

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MND Staff

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May 20, 2022

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The limited-production 'supercar' was apparently on its way to a car show. — The luxury vehicle was apparently on its way to a car show. Instagram @supercar.fails

A McLaren sports car worth more than 6 million pesos sustained significant damage when it crashed into a barrier on the Mexico City-Toluca highway in México state earlier this month.

A video posted to the Supercar Fails Instagram account this week shows the aftermath of the accident in which no one was seriously injured.

Filmed by a passing motorist, the video shows a state police vehicle before it zooms in on a yellow McLaren 720S, which costs 6.2 million pesos (US $312,000), according to car website Kavak.

The badly-damaged rear of the car, which is missing one wheel, is up against the barrier. The video shows five men on the side of the highway as well as three other high-end cars, which were apparently on their way to a car show.

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Una publicación compartida por Supercar Fails (@supercar.fails)

It is unclear how fast the McLaren was traveling when the driver lost control and slammed into the barrier but the vehicle has a top speed of about 340 kph.

The Supercar Fails Instagram account asked its 720,000 followers whether the car was “totaled or fixable.”

One Instagram user commented that “everything’s fixable” if you’re willing to spend the money. Among the other comments were “drug money,” “cartel rally” and “can’t park there bro.”

With reports from El Heraldo de México and Milenio

Tax reform requires expats to obtain taxpayer registration by July 1

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MND Staff

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May 19, 2022

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SAT building Mexico — New tax reform requires all legal residents aged 18 or over to have an RFC number whether they earn income in Mexico or not.

All foreign residents in Mexico will soon be required to have a tax number due to a recent tax reform.

Temporary and permanent residents aged 18 or over or anyone with a CURP identity number must have an RFC number by July 1 whether they earn income in Mexico or not.

RFC stands for Registro Federal de Contribuyentes, or Federal Taxpayers Registry. RFC numbers are used by the federal government for a range of purposes, among which are to track income and detect potential cases of money laundering.

An application for an RFC number must be lodged in person at an office of the federal tax agency SAT. The first step in the process is to make an appointment at your nearest SAT office via the agency’s online portal (Spanish only)

To make an appointment to get an RFC, after following the link in our story, click on “Registrar Cita” (Make an appointment).

If you don’t understand Spanish you can use Google Translate to convert the text to English.

After requesting an appointment (registrar cita) and choosing the option for an individual taxpayer (persona física) you will be required to enter your CURP number, which appears on residency cards, as well as your full name and email address.

You will then be directed to a new page, where you will need to select the service for which you’d like to make an appointment, the state in which you live and the office at which you would like to lodge your application.

After you have done that, you will either be able to schedule an appointment on the page’s virtual calendar or be told that no appointments are available and given the option to join a fila virtual or virtual line. By entering your email address you will be sent a “token” – an alphanumeric code – that can be used to join the virtual line.

You will then receive an email confirming you are in the virtual line and advising you to monitor your email for an appointment date and time. On the day of your appointment, you will need to take a variety of documents to the SAT office.

According to the SAT website, foreigners applying for a RFC number themselves need:

A valid migration document, i.e. a residency card.
Proof of address, such as a bank statement, electricity bill or rental contract.
A passport.

Paul Kurtzweil from the YouTube channel Two Expats in Mexico said in a video about the RFC application process that foreigners should also take a printout of their CURP – available here – and a thumb drive with them when applying for their tax number.

“They’re going to be putting some things on there for you, so don’t forget that item,” he said.

To begin generating your Proof of Fiscal/Tax Situation document after following the link in our story, scroll to the bottom and click on the gold button saying “EJECUTAR EN LINEA.”

Trisha Velarmino, who provides a detailed account of her experience applying for an RFC number on the Mexico Insider website, said that SAT places a taxpayer’s firma digital or digital signature on his or her USB stick.

During the application process, SAT will collect biometric data from applicants, including facial photographs and fingerprints. There is no cost involved in applying for an RFC number, and the application process in a SAT office shouldn’t take longer than 40 minutes.

Kurtzweil said in his RFC video that it’s increasingly difficult to get things done in Mexico due to recent legislative and rule changes. He said that people have been unable to open bank accounts and buy cars because they didn’t have a RFC number.

Lakeside News, an English-language news outlet that publishes on the Semanario Laguna website, said that without an RFC number on your electricity bill, you won’t be able to sell your house or buy a car. It also noted that in some places, an RFC number is needed to open a bank account or contract internet service.

Another bureaucratic requirement of foreigners once they have an RFC number is to obtain a document called Constancia de Situación Fiscal (Proof of Fiscal/Tax Situation). That document will be required by any foreigners doing business in Mexico, even if that business is simply being an electricity, water or internet customer.

According to Lakeside News, companies will soon be asking foreigners for their Constancia de Situación Fiscal if they are not doing so already.

The document can be obtained via the SAT website. Two Expats in Mexico has a video detailing how to get a Constancia de Situación Fiscal online.

With reports from Semanario Laguna/Lakeside News

Two migrants held hostage on US border: a case study in the perils of Title 42

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MND Staff

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May 19, 2022

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Migrants sleep under a sign that says 'A Government for Everyone,' in Chiapas. — Migrants sleep under a sign that says 'A Government for Everyone' in Pijijiapan, Chiapas. Ben Wein

On a dark, deserted highway somewhere in northern Mexico, hostage to a couple of dirty cops — that’s where Nicaraguan brothers José, 44, and Carlos, 40, thought their time was up.

They were on the south side of the United States border at Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, in early December, attempting to cross. After months of struggle, they’d hired a trafficker to take them over the last hurdle.

When they arrived in Ciudad Acuña, they met the trafficker outside the bus terminal, but almost immediately, two balaclava-clad officials in police uniforms appeared. Swiftly, the officials suspended their rights, seizing their documents and cellphones. They took them for a drive in pitch-black darkness to the side of the highway.

The brothers said they suspected the officers were members of the Zetas — one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico’s northeast — who wanted to shut down the trafficker’s business operation.

“Sing,” one of the officials demanded of the trafficker, ordering him to give up information. After receiving a muted response, the heavyset officials took the trafficker out of sight behind the vehicle and beat him.

Stilled by fear, transfixed in the back seats, José and Carlos sat listening to the trafficker’s groans of pain and dwelled on their unknown future. With no better options, they said they closed their eyes and prayed.

“When I prayed, I thought about everything that had happened since leaving Nicaragua. I was thinking about whether it would hurt to die. I thought it could all end there, so tragically, so empty. Just another statistic of someone trying to follow their dream,” José said.

Corrupt officials were one of many obstacles the brothers navigated during their journey through Mexico.

“Sincerely, I thought it was the last moment of my life. The officials looked at us with a thirst, a thirst to kill … I thought my life was only going to arrive at that point and that I’d end up with a bullet in the temple … But thank God it didn’t turn out how the devil wanted,” Carlos added.

Many prayers have gone unanswered in Mexico: missing migrants in the country spiked 292% in 2021 compared to the previous year, according to a report released in May by the human rights organization Jesuits’ Missing Migrant Search Program (SJM).

One contributor to the perils faced by Mexico’s vulnerable migrant population is U.S. legislation. Title 42 — a health decree introduced in March 2020 — allows the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol to immediately expel migrants under the pretext of containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than allowing them to solicit asylum.

Amid more than 1.7 million expulsions under Title 42, almost 10,000 migrants in Mexico have been subjected to kidnapping, torture and rape, and other violent attacks, the U.S. rights group Human Rights First reported in March.

Undeterred by the risks, the Nicaraguan brothers had endured a wearying journey battling through Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico in search of work, dollars and the added perk of freedom. They had marched among thousands — many of them women and children — in a migrant caravan in southern Mexico.

While in the caravan, beating their way across sweltering tarmac in defiance of security forces, it became clear that there was no way back. The incumbent president of Nicaragua, Sandinista revolution hero Daniel Ortega, had regained office for a fourth consecutive term in a disputed election. U.S. President Joe Biden derided the vote in Nicaragua as “a pantomime” that he said was “certainly not democratic.”

The brothers were sick of keeping silent under Ortega’s grip but were also pulled north by the opportunity to earn a decent wage and achieve some stability. It wasn’t the promise of great riches that drove them but the absurdity of exchange rates: the U.S. dollar is worth 36 times the Nicaraguan córdoba.

“There were a lot of motives for leaving Nicaragua,” José explained. “The dream of having a house of my own, the basic things. To create a company in the United States to help create employment back in Nicaragua.

“In Nicaragua, we don’t have the conditions for economic advancement, and [the authorities] can throw your life out at any moment. I thought, ‘I’m not going to wait for the world to change.’”

Now, on a forgotten highway, subject to the desires of corrupt officials, the brothers’ futures looked bleak. When the officials drove them to an abandoned neighborhood, José and Carlos were certain they would be killed. Their fears peaked, but to their puzzlement, they were released. They believe the trafficker was spared too.

The pair wasted no time ruminating over their lucky escape and traveled 90 kilometers to Piedras Negras, Coahuila, to wade through the river on New Year’s Eve, arriving in Eagle Pass, Texas, on the dawn of 2022. In Texas, they were picked up by U.S. immigration authorities, split up, and taken to separate detention centers.

Until their release, the brothers feared they would be returned to Mexico. Why they were freed from detention remains unclear to them. Help from a “sponsor” — a U.S. citizen willing to act as a legal guarantor — strengthened their case, but their nationality may have ultimately saved them from expulsion. Nicaraguans and Cubans have been difficult to deport under Title 42 due to Washington’s lack of diplomatic channels with the governments of those countries, according to the Washington Post.

Where the Rio Grande flows past Piedras Negras, Coahuila, is a common crossing point for migrants seeking to enter the United States.

However, that exception has changed since their release: in April, U.S. officials struck a deal with Mexican authorities to hand back migrants from Nicaragua and Cuba.

Freed from detention, each brother was taken separately to the bus station to start their 2,000-kilometer journeys to the west coast, where their sponsor, a distant relative, would receive them.

On their ride, they relaxed for the first time in months. In his exhaustion, José said, that first opportunity for reflection brought him to tears.

Carlos, meanwhile, experienced a surge of joy. “When I left detention, I felt like I was breathing pure air. I felt great peace and freedom in my heart. I felt safer and more sure of myself. I felt like a bird when it’s released from its cage and allowed to fly into the sky … I still have economic problems, but those resolve themselves with time. This is a land of great opportunity, especially for the people who know how to make the most of them. I thank God for this opportunity,” he said.

The brothers’ asylum hearings are scheduled for October. Short on cash, they have been forced in the meantime to break the law and work in secret — paid US $15 an hour to clean an industrial warehouse. Their right to work legally in the U.S. will ultimately depend on the court’s decision in October.

Hope is carrying them for now: they’ve bought themselves cars and laptops. José plans to start a graphic design company, which was his profession in Nicaragua. Carlos plans to keep working for his salary in the warehouse.

“There’s a world of differences … here you’ve got to do things the right way, with discipline … They’re a good bunch, the gringos,” José said.

“We’re in the promised land,” Carlos added.

The brothers are safe for now, but most displaced migrants are less fortunate: still on the move, physically unsettled by a political decree that blocks them from entering U.S. territory. Those who make it to the border have fought their way through an obstacle course of security forces and detention centers, against the lingering threat of dangerous criminals. But despite their dedication, those migrants are unlikely to find refuge anytime soon: more than 20 U.S. states joined a lawsuit in April seeking to block Title 42 from being rescinded. That lawsuit’s validity rests on an impending court decision.

The U.S. government has promised to lift Title 42 by May 23, but a judge is set to rule on the lawsuit before that date. The fate of many thousands of migrants hangs precariously in the balance.

The names of the people interviewed for this story have been changed to protect their identities.

Mexico News Daily

Weather service predicts higher than normal hurricane numbers this season

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MND Staff

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May 19, 2022

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damage from Hurricane Rick — Hurricane Rick, rated Category 2, took out this piece of highway in Petatlán, Guerrero, in October last year.

The National Meteorological Service (SMN) is predicting there will be more hurricanes than usual this hurricane season.

It’s predicting 14-19 tropical storms and hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean and 16-21 in the Atlantic.

The Pacific hurricane season runs from May 15 to November 30 while the Atlantic season commences June 1 and concludes at the end of November.

The SMN predicts that five Pacific and Atlantic hurricanes will make landfall in Mexico.

General coordinator Alejandra Méndez Girón told a press conference that between two and four Pacific hurricanes are predicted to be Category 3, 4 or 5. Between four and five are predicted to be Category 1 or 2, while eight to 10 tropical storms are anticipated.

Authorities in Baja California Sur have already installed 174 temporary shelters in preparation for the Pacific hurricane season.

Méndez said that two to four Category 3, 4 and 5 hurricanes are also predicted in the Atlantic this year. Four to six Category 1 and 2 hurricanes are anticipated while the remainder of the predicted activity is not expected to surpass storm level.

She noted that 40 named storm systems formed in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans last year, adding that the number was 48% above the average for the last 50 years. Nineteen formed in the Pacific and 21 in the Atlantic.

Six hurricanes made landfall in Mexico last year, claiming lives and causing significant damage. They were Rick, Pamela, Olaf, Nora, Grace and Enrique.

Mexico News Daily

8 Guerrero hospitals have been short of medical specialists for 10 years

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MND Staff

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May 19, 2022

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The municipal hospital in Tlacoapa, Guerrero, was rebuilt in 2021 but doesn't have a complete roster of medical staff.

At least eight federally-run community hospitals in the Montaña region of Guerrero have been short of specialist doctors for over 10 years, according to a report by the newspaper Reforma.

The region is made up of approximately 20 largely indigenous municipalities near the southern state’s border with Oaxaca and Puebla. Among the municipalities where hospitals lack the specialists they need are Tlacoapa and Tlapa.

Tlacoapa’s hospital was rebuilt after it was ravaged by hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel in 2013. The rebuilt facility opened last July, but 10 months later it still doesn’t have the medical personnel it needs.

Federal health authorities have advertised for a pediatrician, gynecologist, general surgeon, anesthesiologist and internal medicine doctor but have been unable to fill the positions.

Abel Barrera Hernández, director of the Montaña Tlachinollan Human Rights Center, said the new hospital was useless without medical personnel to treat people’s health problems.

The community hospital in Tlapa is in a similar situation: former health official Marcelino Milán Rosete, a doctor in Tlapa, said that specialists are required for all three shifts.

“A pediatrician, anesthesiologist, gynecologist and surgeon are needed for each shift. We’re talking about a total of 12 specialists for a hospital that operates 24 hours a day,” he said.

Milán said the government has failed to attract specialists because the salaries it offers are too low.

“They’re offering a specialist doctor a salary of 22,000 pesos [US $1,100] a month to come and work in a hospital in the Montaña region, when in Mexico City and other states they pay 50,000 pesos [just over US $2,500],” he said.

Among the other Guerrero municipalities where hospitals have lacked specialists are Alcozauca, Malinaltepec and Olinalá.

The federal government recently announced that it would hire more than 500 Cuban doctors due to a shortage of Mexican doctors. The medical community denied there was a shortage, and some doctors say they can’t find work in urban or rural areas.

With reports from Reforma

The massive Spanish ‘reverse remittance’ that never arrived

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Carlisle Johnson

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May 19, 2022

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A French map from 1783 depicting parts of North America and the Caribbean. Creative Commons CC BY 2.0

Everybody likes surprises. A surprise that involves precious silver is more enjoyable. A surprise that involves silver and changes the course of history is most enjoyable.

In January 1784, the Spanish warship El Cazador departed Veracruz for New Orleans, the Spanish capital in what would become the United States. Most associate New Orleans with France, but from 1762 to 1803 it was Spanish. Those Ann Rice mansions along the streetcar tracks were built under Spanish rule, not French.

Spain had struggled to establish a stable currency in New Orleans, to the point where its locally printed paper currency was pretty much worthless. King Carlos III, of the old pre-Bitcoin school, figured that if he shipped a massive quantity of silver to New Orleans, he could stabilize the area.

On his orders, El Cazador carried 400,000 large silver pieces of eight that were struck in Mexico, as well as 50,000 pesos’ worth of smaller coins. After it left Veracruz, the warship was not heard from again for over 200 years. It carried over 10 tonnes of silver.

Pieces of eight were silver coins worth eight reales, the Spanish currency of the time.

The ship, and the specie, were declared lost in June 1784 – a failed Mexican remittance.

To put things in time perspective, the United States Constitution had not yet been written and George Washington was not yet president.

Fast forward to 1993, a fishing trawler seeking butterfish (you can’t make this up) snagged a net, 50 miles off New Orleans. When the net was winched up, black lumps fell to the deck, someone shouted, “Coins!” and El Cazador was found. Legal challenges were resolved over years, the cargo was salvaged and even today is making its way to market.

King Carlos III was not amused at the loss and New Orleans was not saved. By 1802, when the indefatigable Thomas Jefferson had $3 million to buy New Orleans, Spain had swapped the territory back to France, just in time for Napoleon, the Vladimir Putin of his day, to sell him the entire Louisiana Purchase for $15 million – enough to invade England. Or so Napoleon thought.

So the next time the conversation turns to remittances ask, “What if?” and remember El Cazador.

Carlisle Johnson is a retired journalist and writes from his home in Guatemala.

Cheap, fast and oh so satisfying: a guide to Mexico’s street food

By

Joseph Sorrentino

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May 19, 2022

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torta stand — A customer gets some homecooked joy at a *torta* stand. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino

When I made my first trip to Mexico — way back in 1997 — friends who had been there before warned me about eating street food.

They’d tell me horror stories about what happened to them or someone they knew when they ate food sold on the street, stories that were usually accompanied by overly colorful descriptions. I’m sure they were trying to be helpful, but they kept me from eating anything sold from a cart.

What a mistake.

Street food is really just homemade food that’s very tasty and extremely cheap. I now eat it pretty often and have never gotten sick.

A *tlacoyo* features meat, cheese and veggies, but it is so much tastier than the sum of its parts.

Every pueblo and city in Mexico has people selling food from carts, small stands or baskets attached to their bicycles. There are also taquerías and even front rooms in homes that have been converted to tiny street food restaurants. There are lots of options, too many to cover in one article, but here’s a sampling.

Tamales: in the early morning, heavy three-wheeled bicycles loaded with silver containers jammed with tamales appear on corners in virtually every Mexican city and town. Tamales are masa (ground corn) stuffed with a variety of fillings and steamed in a corn husk.

My favorite is the rajas, made with queso fresco (a soft cheese), poblano chile and tomatoes. There’s also the sweet dulce tamal (singular is tamal and plural is tamales, by the way), and ones made with mole and verde (green) sauce. I always get my tamal as a sandwich — called a torta de tamal.

Pro tip: when you want tamales, get out early: the carts usually disappear by mid-morning.

Tlacoyos: masa filled with requesón (a soft cheese) or potatoes, molded into a triangle or oblong shape and cooked on a comal. In many places, they’re topped with nopales (sliced cactus) and grated cojita cheese.

Gorditas: the gorditas I’ve eaten in Mexico City are made from masa that’s been shaped into a large, thick circle. Cooks slice these, stuff them with whatever you want and cook them on a comal.

Not all gorditas are the same everywhere, though: I was surprised when the gordita I ordered in Puebla was more like a quesadilla — different but still good.

Molotes: a cross between fried dough and a calzone that I’ve only ever found in Puebla. Although I’m sure there are many ways to prepare them, the ones I’ve eaten — in the tiny front room of a house in Cholula — were made from dough that’s a mix of flour and corn and pressed until paper-thin.

Like gorditas, they’re filled with whatever you like, plus jalapeños and epazote leaves. They’re then deep-fried; probably not something to be eaten daily but man, are they good.

Quesadillas: large tortillas filled with whatever your heart desires. I’ve learned to always ask the vendor to add quesillo (Oaxaca cheese). In Milpa Alta (a borough of Mexico City), a popular version is one filled with sesos (brains), onions, jalapeños and epazote and then deep-fried.

Cemitas: another food I’ve only had in Puebla. A roll — called a cemita — is filled with meat, Oaxaca cheese, avocado and onions. There’s also a vegetarian version that’s piled high with cheese.

Tortas: on my second trip to Mexico in 1999, I came across a food stand in Mexico City that was selling tortas. Somehow, I concluded that a torta must be a small tortilla, so I asked for two, which was a mistake.

mexican woman making gorditas — “Gordita” means “little fat one,” which probably refers to the thick tortillas the ingredients are stuffed into.

Although torta can refer to any kind of sandwich, in Mexico City they’re typically filled with meat, cheese, avocado, onion, refritos and mayonnaise and sold from small silver trailers. My favorite is torta suiza, which has three kinds of melted cheese. I always ask for chipotle salsa.

If you’re not hungry enough for a meal, there are plenty of types of botanas (snacks) available on the street:

Esquites: a simple snack made from fresh corn kernels that are either fried or boiled (I prefer fried). Both are usually served topped with cojita cheese, chile powder, mayonnaise and lime juice.

Chicharrón: slabs of deep-fried pork skin that are often seen hanging from hooks or simply placed on a table.

Cacahuates y chapulines: mobile vendors carry buckets of peanuts and fried grasshoppers throughout the streets. I’ve yet to try chapulines but my friends assure me they’re really good.

Papas: potatoes are sliced into hot oil, cooked for about three minutes, drained, cooled and stuffed in plastic bags. After my first taste, my days of buying bagged chips were over. Adding salsa, lime and salt to these is a must.

Need something to wash down all that food? Here are a bunch of choices:

Atole: during the winter, atole, a sweet drink made with corn masa, milk, piloncillo (raw sugar) and cinnamon is highly recommended. Atole made with rice instead of corn and with chocolate is also popular at tamal stands.

Chile Atole: a personal favorite. Masa is mixed with water and boiled along with corn kernels, chile (usually serrano) and epazote. Some cooks add radish leaves. This green, spicy drink’s usually only available in the colder months.

Tepache: also called pineapple wine, it’s a slightly alcoholic (about 2%) drink made from pineapple peels. It’s a deep reddish-brown drink that’s somehow able to taste sweet and vinegary at the same time. It’s served ice cold.

Cacao: known as tejate in Oaxaca and chilate in Guerrero, this cold, delicious chocolate drink is simply known as “cacao” in Santa María Tonantzintla, Puebla, where it’s made with cacao, toasted corn, amaranth and cinnamon.

The drink is stirred with a special, elaborately carved stick called a molinillo, which is spun between a person’s hands to give the cacao its froth.

aguas frescas Mexico City — Mexicans will take almost any fruit and turn it into an *agua fresca*, a healthier alternative to soda even with the added sugar. File photo

Jugos: stands sell fruit and vegetable juices (fruit juices are called aguas frescas). They’ll often also sell horchata (a sweet rice drink) and jamaica (made from hibiscus flowers).

So now that you know a little about street food, you may be wondering what a meal will set you back. Prices will vary depending on the city or pueblo, but not by more than a few pesos.

A breakfast of a torta de tamal with a cup of atole costs around 21 pesos (US $1). For lunch, a tlacoyo and a cold glass of cacao will cost about US $3. Papas for an afternoon snack run around 18 pesos. If you’re adventurous, chapulines cost 30 pesos (US $1–$1.50).

Want a big dinner? Get a molote for 30 pesos, an order of nachos for another 30 pesos, 25 pesos for esquites and another 25 pesos for a liter of tepache, for under US $6.

Here is a recent Mexico News Daily article about what to watch out for with street food, or any food in general. Follow that advice, and you should be fine.

For what it’s worth, I’ve only had — well, let’s call it “intestinal distress” — three times in Mexico, and they all happened after I ate in a restaurant.

Provecho!

Joseph Sorrentino, a writer, photographer and author of the book San Gregorio Atlapulco: Cosmvisiones and of Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories from an Italian-American Childhood, is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily. More examples of his photographs and links to other articles may be found at www.sorrentinophotography.com He currently lives in Chipilo, Puebla.

Audit finds air traffic controllers were hired despite having failed admission tests

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MND Staff

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May 19, 2022

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Mexico lost its Category 1 safety rating over a year ago due to non-compliance with minimum International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards, related to matters like technical expertise, personnel training and record keeping. (Twitter)

Some air traffic controllers currently working at Mexican airports were approved for training in 2019 despite failing admission tests, a 2021 audit found.

An audit conducted by the internal control body of Navigation Services for Mexican Airspace (Seneam) looked at a sample of 106 files related to the same number of people who entered Seneam’s training center in 2019 and subsequently began working as air traffic controllers.

It found that 28 of the training center entrants didn’t pass admission tests or failed to meet other entry requirements. Fourteen of them are still working as controllers, reported the Reforma newspaper, which has seen the Seneam audit.

The revelation comes shortly after two dangerous incidents at the Mexico City International Airport that were caused by air traffic control errors.

Pilots of a Volaris plane narrowly averted a disaster earlier this month after they were cleared to land on a runway occupied by another aircraft. A similar incident occurred last week.

The publication of the audit’s findings also comes shortly after the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations said it appeared that air traffic controllers at the AICM have received “little training and support” as to how to direct flights operating in the new airspace configuration precipitated by the opening of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport north of the capital.

The Seneam audit found that people employed as air traffic controllers failed a range of tests including psychophysical and English language tests. Knowledge of English is essential for communication with foreign pilots and to understand aviation manuals.

Six applicants were said to have passed English tests when in fact they hadn’t, the audit found.

Air traffic controllers must pass psychophysical evaluations, English tests and meet certain age requirements. Twitter @SENEAM_mx

Eight other applicants completed training and were hired despite exceeding the maximum permitted age for new air traffic controllers, which was 30. Seneam’s internal control body said the training center didn’t provide any documentation showing that the entry of the over-age applicants was authorized by “hierarchical superiors.”

Other applicants were found to be unsuitable for employment following psycho-technical evaluation but were approved for training after their records were changed to show that they were in fact suitable to work as air traffic controllers.

Would-be air traffic controllers are required to complete a two-year course at Seneam’s training center before starting work at an airport.

Aviation authorities are currently working to have Mexico’s Category 1 aviation safety rating restored after the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded the country to Category 2 almost a year ago.

“A Category 2 rating means that the country’s laws or regulations lack the necessary requirements to oversee the country’s air carriers in accordance with minimum international safety standards, or the civil aviation authority is lacking in one or more areas such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record keeping, inspection procedures, or resolution of safety concerns,” the FAA said.

Efforts to recover Mexico’s top-tier safety rating are not going well, according to experts who recently spoke with Reforma.

With reports from Reforma

Guanajuato mayor drives to work in a 7-million-peso Lamborghini

By

MND Staff

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May 19, 2022

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The mayor of Moroleón, Guanajuato, is in the spotlight after it was revealed she owns a 7-million-peso (approximately US $350,000) Lamborghini.

A photo of Alma Denisse Sánchez Barragán’s Lamborghini Huracán sports car parked next to the Moroleón municipal headquarters appeared on social media this week.

The revelation that the Citizens Movement (MC) party mayor owns such an expensive vehicle raised questions about the source of her apparent wealth.

Sánchez explained Tuesday that she bought the vehicle with income generated by her family’s clothing businesses.

“It’s not something … that I hide. In my family, we’re textile manufacturers, … we’ve always made clothes and [we have] other kinds of businesses,” she told the AM newspaper.

Sánchez, who replaced her mother as the MC candidate at the 2021 mayoral election after Alma Rosa Barragán Santiago was murdered at a campaign event last May, asserted that her Lamborghini – which she described as a family vehicle – and other cars her family owns are not the product of her position, which she assumed last October.

“I have nothing to hide, we’ve had high-end cars not for a year or two but for … [many] years,” she said.

Sánchez’s brother also found himself the focus of unwanted attention when Guanajuato media outlets reported on federal intelligence reports that apparently identified him as the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Moroleón and several other municipalities on or near the border with Michoacán.

However, authorities haven’t publicly identified Fernando Tonatiuh Sánchez Barragán as a criminal target and he has appeared at some of his sister’s public events.

With reports from Reforma