A National Guardsmen pulls a woman by the hair during a violent arrest on Tuesday.
Two residents of Ecatepec, México state, came forward on Wednesday to report that they had been physically and sexually assaulted the night before by members of the National Guard.
A young man identified only as Ezequiel said he was walking home from work Tuesday night in Ecatepec, just outside the border of Mexico City, when a National Guard patrol stopped him. After men in uniform told him to get in the vehicle they put a bag over his head, accused him of selling drugs and took him to another location, he said in an interview with the news site and México state TV channel Telediario.
After the vehicle stopped they beat him with a wooden board, inserted a weapon in his anus and threatened to kill him, Ezequiel said. After the beating, the men took some of his possessions and left him at the Plaza Las Américas, 15 kilometers north of where they picked him up.
A few hours later early Wednesday morning, the same guardsmen allegedly assaulted another Ecatepec resident a few kilometers from the site of the first assault.
Virginia said she was in her home in the El Mirador neighborhood when the attackers forced their way in without showing her a warrant for search or arrest. One man frisked her before penetrating her vagina with his fingers, leaving her bleeding, she said.
#AzucenaALas10 | Un hombre y una mujer acudieron a la fiscalía anticorrupción de Ecatepec, #EdoMéx, para denunciar abusos físicos y sexuales por parte de varios elementos de la Guardia Nacional pic.twitter.com/jMaEJMZAfe
Victims speak on camera about their arrests by National Guardsmen.
The men dragged her out of her home and walked her to a nearby abandoned house. After two hours they left the building and she fled, she reported.
Security footage from that night showed men in National Guard uniforms and a patrol vehicle arriving at a house. In the video, someone inside opened the door of the house to allow two apparent National Guard members inside. Then other uniformed men pulled Virginia into the house, dragging her by her hair and clothing.
The two victims met by chance Wednesday morning, when they both showed up to a local office of the state prosecutor to report the crimes. After realizing they had similar experiences, Virginia showed him the security footage. He recognized one of his attackers in the video, he said.
After completing medical examinations, Virginia filed a report of rape and Ezequiel filed a report of unlawful detention and theft with the state Attorney General’s Office.
The National Guard released a statement on Twitter Thursday night saying that personnel from the internal affairs department had begun investigations in light of “possible unlawful acts by members of our institution in Ecatepec.” The statement thanked the publication that first published information on the alleged crimes and promised that any action violating the principles of the National Guard would not be tolerated.
The artisans put final touches on a section of their latest canopy, three times bigger than the 2,833-square-meter record-winning one of 2019.
A few years ago, the town of Etzatlán, Jalisco, population 20,000, was mainly known as the gateway to the fabulous silver and gold mines of Amparo, which were once among the most prosperous in Mexico.
Today, search for Etzatlán on the web and you will be dazzled by countless photos of colorful tapestries accompanied by accolades from all over the world. Yes, now the name of Etzatlán is known even in swank Dubai, 14,000 kilometers away at the World Expo in that host country, currently happening until the end of March.
This change came about due to the vision and resolve of two women of Etzatlán: veterinarian Lorena Ron and her 90-year-old mother, Paloma.
I asked Ron to explain Etzatlán’s new image.
“Even though I’m a vet by profession, I’m now dedicating all my time to our craftswomen’s workshop, which we call Cielo Tejido (Woven Sky). Our story began in 2015 when we — the ladies of Etzatlán — wanted to do something special for the feast of our patron saint, which we celebrate in the last week of October.
Mexico’s pavilion at the Dubai 2020 World Expo is wrapped in an Etzatlán mantle representing “Mexican mothers hugging their country.” Dubai 2020
“At first, we experimented with decorating the trees in the center of town, but then we saw pictures of a street in Tlaquepaque where they had created a canopy of umbrellas suspended in the air. This got us thinking,” Ron said. “Because all of us had long ago been turned on to crocheting thanks to my mother, María Concepción, whom we all call Paloma, we decided to crochet a canopy of circles made out of rafia— not the traditional kind of rafia but synthetic rafia made from recycled plastic bottles, because we wanted it to hold up in the worst kind of weather.
“Well, our first attempts failed because our canopy was sagging in places. It wasn’t smooth and tight. Then one of my brothers said, ’Try using hexagons instead,’ which we did, and after that, we got just the look we wanted.”
Once the mayor saw what they had in mind, he offered to give the ladies support, and the project was launched.
Soon, the number of women participating expanded to 200, while the size of the canopy grew bigger and bigger — until in 2019, it had reached nearly 3,000 square meters.
At this point, it occurred to the townspeople that this might be a record for a pabellón, as they call this sort of festive street canopy. When they investigated with Guinness World Records, they found that there was a category for crochet blankets but not for an overhead canopy covering city streets.
Eventually, Guinness decided that such a category needed to be created and officially declared that the world’s largest crochet canopy, measuring 2,832.98 square meters, “was achieved by María Concepción Siordia Godínez (Mexico) in Municipio Etzatlán, Jalisco, Mexico, on October 4, 2019.”
From a rooftop in Etzatlán, Lorena Ron checks the new canopy over Eztatlán, which covers about 9,000 square meters.
It took 200 crocheting women nearly 25,000 hours to turn 825 kilograms of rafia into more than 8,000 hexagons.
According to the magazine México Desconocido, this achievement brought to 18 the number of world records achieved in the state of Jalisco.
It was because of this recognition by Guinness, says Lorena Ron, that Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero thought of the artisans of Etzatlán when she was asked to decorate the Mexican pavilion for Expo 2020 in Dubai (it was postponed in 2020 due to COVID-19, but the name was kept this year for branding purposes).
“I want those ladies on my team!” Romero is reported to have said.
Ron was taken by surprise. “When Betsabeé called me, I thought it was una broma, a joke. How could I believe that somebody in Dubai wanted to hire us? Nevertheless, when I hung up, I told my children: ‘Quick, go check the internet to see if this Betsabeé Romero actually exists. And they said, ‘Yes, she’s real. She’s a visual artist and a sculptor.’”
When Romero called back, she and Ron worked out a plan by which the entire Mexican pavilion building in Dubai would be wrapped in a crochet canopy from Etzatlán, which would represent “Mexican mothers hugging their country.”
Ninety-year-old María Concepción “Paloma” Siordia was recognized by Guinness World Records in 2019. Cielo Tejido
After successfully completing their project in the United Arab Emirates, the ladies of Etzatlán gave themselves a new challenge.
“This year,” says Ron, “We’ve made a pabellónthree times larger than the last one. All told, we’ve crocheted 24,000 hexagons! People ask how we’re able to do it, and I tell them, ‘Our assembly line is made up of women’s hands.’”
The new canopy had originally been scheduled for last October, but the project had to be postponed due to COVID until Carnival time, which began February 25 and ended on March 1.
“And here we are, working extra hours to finish it,” Ron told me in the weeks before Carnival with a laugh.
I asked Ron about her mother, Paloma, who was given credit for the original Woven Sky canopy by Guinness World Records.
“The main actor in this show really is my mother, who is 90 years old. Right from the beginning, she has been the inspiration behind all of us. She has a kind of magnetism that brings people together,” Ron said. “She loves to crochet, but after a while, we told her, ‘Mamá, thank you for all these scarves you’ve been knitting for us, but now each of us has got plenty of them, and we think you should try something else.’
A crochet needle flashes as another section is added to the canopy. Cielo Tejido
“Now, she had lost her husband and I had lost mine, and we said, ‘Let’s put all our energy into a new project, into decorating our streets!’ And so she started the whole thing, and it was a way of relieving stress, of turning her sadness into something beautiful.”
Appearing in the Guinness World Records book has opened new doors for the Etzatlán craftswomen.
“Suddenly we are getting new work,” says Ron, “and we are even giving workshops, for example, on how to make dolls. We have our own Facebook and Instagram pages called Cielo Tejido A.C. So, having finished the canopy, most of us are working on dolls and place mats, among other things. For example, we just got an order for 500 individual place mats for a wedding.“
The new Cielo Tejido canopy for Carnival, which was successfully finished on time, will stay up until the end of March.
If you go see it, you may also want to visit Etzatlán’s excellent museum, located in the Casa de Cultura. Among its treasures is a first-class representation of a burial found in a 16-meter-deep shaft tomb.
Etzatlán is a one-hour drive from Guadalajara and two hours from Lake Chapala. It is also only half an hour beyond Teuchitlán, home of the Guachimontones circular pyramids, which you might want to visit on your way to or from your stroll beneath Etzatlán’s extraordinary Woven Sky canopy.
A detail image of Etzatlán’s crochet canopy. Cielo Tejido
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.
Lorena Ron, left, checks the quality of one of the last crocheted hexagons.
This St. Joseph figure was crocheted for a nativity scene. Cielo Tejido
Fish-eye lens view of downtown Etzatlán and its newest canopy from Cielo Tejido.
Members of Cielo Tejido proudly display their latest creations.
Having completed the canopy, members of Cielo Tejido are now crocheting dolls.
Video bloggers Luigi and Lucy Medina take the obligatory selfie beneath the colorful, handmade canopy. Luigi Medina
“We’re the party of universal fraternity that goes beyond borders,” he said.
On Thursday, Ukraine’s ambassador to Mexico, Oksana Dramaretska, presented a letter addressed to Senate president Olga Sánchez in which the parliament of Ukraine requested weapons, radios, bulletproof vests and helmets.
“The armed forces of the Russian Federation are attacking Ukraine from different directions. We’re fighting battles every second in almost all corners of Ukraine. Russia is bombarding civilians, women and children,” the letter said.
“We believe that only the massive military support of our allies can help us drive the enemy back. While our armed forces are bravely resisting, we still have some problems with arms and ammunition,” it said. “… We also implore you to communicate with your European partners [to ask them] to deliver some of their combat planes to Ukraine. If you can provide any other kind of military and humanitarian assistance we would be very grateful. There’s no time to wait. Every second is important.”
Ambassador Dramaretska submitted another letter to Congress earlier this week that also asked for arms, and requested that the Mexican government cut diplomatic relations with Russia and impose sanctions.
Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo said late last week that Mexico intended to maintain diplomatic ties with Russia.
On Friday, he said that López Obrador has authorized a second Air Force flight to repatriate Mexicans who have fled Ukraine if necessary.
Eighty-one people were brought to Mexico on the first repatriation flight, which returned from Bucharest, Romania, on Thursday. That number included 44 Mexicans as well their family members, among whom were 28 Ukrainian nationals.
International tourists who arrived by air spent more than the average visitor.
The federal government has declared that both terminals at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) have reached saturation point, a move that could compel more airlines to use the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), which will open north of the capital later this month.
In a declaration published in the government’s official gazette (DOF) on Thursday, the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC) said that Terminal 1 has reached saturation point between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 10:59 p.m. and Terminal 2 has reached the same point between 6:00 a.m and 7:59 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. and 10:59 p.m.
The AFAC declared on two previous occasions that passengers had overwhelmed the airport’s terminals, once in 2008 and again in 2014. The latest declaration comes before the full recovery of passenger numbers to pre-pandemic levels.
In its DOF declaration, the AFAC noted that passenger numbers at the AICM increased 47% between 2014 and 2019, reaching 50.3 million in the latter year.
It also said that plane sizes have increased during the past 10 years, transporting more passengers to and from the airport and taking up more space at the facility.
The Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) is scheduled to open in less than three weeks.
“The AICM represents 50% of air operations at a national level, and consequently delays … affect the rest of the country’s airports, … Establishing actions that allow the services at that airport to be provided with better quality standards is a priority,” the aviation agency said.
“The saturation of the air field as well as the exceeding of capacity of the AICM terminal buildings could constitute threats … that place national security and aviation operations at risk,” it said.
The airport has been instructed to take the necessary measures to guarantee its optimal operation, including a revision of landing and take-off schedules and modifying them if necessary.
The saturation declaration opens the door to a new cap being imposed on flight numbers at the airport, although it is unclear when that might occur.
Such a move would send a message to airlines that they will have to use the AIFA in order to continue growing in the greater Mexico City market. Only three airlines – Aeroméxico, Volaris and VivaAerobús – have so far said they will use the AIFA after it opens on March 21, and all flights announced to date are domestic.
Built by the army on an air force base, the new airport is located about 50 kilometers north of downtown Mexico City in México state.
President López Obrador and other officials evacuated to the National Palace courtyard when the earthquake alarm sounded. Presidencia de la República
President López Obrador promptly left the building when the earthquake alarm sounded Thursday morning due to a 5.7-magnitude quake in Veracruz, but reporters gathered in the National Palace for the president’s news conference were ordered to remain seated and didn’t start to evacuate for 2 1/2 minutes.
“Let’s go,” López Obrador said shortly after the alarm began at approximately 8:40 a.m., while reporters and other media workers sprang to their feet ready to exit the building.
A Civil Protection official quickly threw a wrench in their plans, ordering them to stay calm and sit down.
“Sit down, prepare your things please. Seated please,” the official said into a microphone. “Now we’re going to evacuate. Remain seated please. Sit down, sit down,” he added, before a lengthy period of silence ensued.
The official finally gave instructions to evacuate the building and the reporters started doing so a full 150 seconds after the alarm began. Another minute passed before most of the reporters, photographers and camera operators had left the room where López Obrador holds his weekday morning press conferences.
After the earthquake alarm sounded, journalists were asked to remain seated inside while the president and other officials evacuated the building.
Mexico City’s earthquake alarm, amplified through loudspeakers situated across the capital, usually sounds about a minute before a quake begins to be felt, although the time varies depending on the epicenter. It gives residents a brief window of opportunity to evacuate to the safety of the street and thus avoid the risk of being caught in a building that collapses.
According to a Mexico City government guide, people inside a building should promptly evacuate when the alarm sounds provided they are on a lower floor. The Treasury Room where AMLO’s morning pressers are held is on the ground floor, and opens onto the National Palace’s central courtyard, to which reporters eventually evacuated to find government officials already there.
“It was a bad decision to tell them to sit in their place,” said Fernando Torres, a civil protection trainer who works for a private company.
“The right thing is to retreat to areas of lower risk … so it wasn’t appropriate for the journalists to remain seated,” he said.
However, the civil protection chief of the president’s office defended the decision to instruct reporters to remain in their seats.
Marco Antonio Mosqueda told reporters that the Treasury Room protocol is to remain in place as the alarm sounds and while the earth is moving and to evacuate only after the ground stops shaking.
Marco Antonio Mosqueda, the civil protection chief of the president’s office, answered reporters’ questions after the incident. Screenshot
“We’re not exposed to anything here,” he said, apparently referring to the structural integrity of the National Palace. “Or did you see something?”
Mosqueda didn’t explain why López Obrador and other officials didn’t follow the same protocol.
A message posted to the Gobierno de México Twitter account, the official account of the president’s office, said that “each building within the National Palace has its own protocol and the structures are periodically checked by Cenapred” – the National Disaster Prevention Center.
Contradicting the Mexico City government advice, Cenapred’s deputy director of earthquake risks told the newspaper El País that staying in place is not an unreasonable protocol given that the Treasury Room is on the ground floor.
“I don’t know what the characteristics of the conference room are, but if there is no danger of objects falling, you can recommend that the attendees stay inside,” Jonatán Arreola Manzano said.
However, he subsequently acknowledged that the best thing people can do if they are on the ground floor of a building is to go outside to a place where there is no risk of objects falling on top of them.
“On the 17th floor there’s no time to evacuate. The best thing is to look for a place where you can take shelter,” Arreola said.
“It’s a personal decision to leave immediately or to put yourself in a safe place [inside],” he added, although the reporters were prevented from exercising their own judgement.
Fortunately, no damage was reported after Thursday’s quake, whose epicenter was in southern Veracruz.
Huejotzingo's Carnival celebration is a mishmash of Catholic religious and pre-Hispanic seasonal rituals mixed with a recreation of the 1862 Battle of Puebla. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino
In Huejotzingo, Puebla, Carnival is huge, extremely noisy, very colorful and a lot of fun. And there are a lot of guns.
Officially, this year marked the 154th anniversary of Carnival, but according to Huejotzingo culture and tourism director Edgar Aguilar Teyssier, it’s much older.
“In reality, Carnival has [gone on for] eight centuries,” he said. “What is correct is that this is the 154th anniversary of the militarization of Carnival — that is to say, when it started to celebrate the battle of Cinco de Mayo.”
Carnival’s true origin is linked to the beginning of the farming cycle, when indigenous groups started preparing the land for planting, but despite it’s co-opting over a century ago, it’s still an important event in Huejotzingo, Aguilar said, estimating that 20,000 to 25,000 residents would participate this year.
“[Huejotzingo] has a population of about 90,000, so one of every three participate in the parade, and really, 100% of the population is immersed in Carnival,” he said. “If you are not a dancer, you are someone who makes food or makes clothing.”
Alongside a battalion of men dressed up as French soldiers, a man on foot is dressed in garb representing indigenous tradition.
Participants are grouped into four “battalions,” one from each of Huejotzingo’s neighborhoods. A band accompanies each, with a “general” leading them.
Each wears a distinctive costume and carries fusiles talladas, elaborately carved and very loud muskets, which have caused injuries and even deaths on occasion, Aguilar said. But, he added, “there are 25,000 participants, and barely 10 people are hurt.”
In Huejotzingo, Carnival commemorates three events: the defeat of the French in Puebla on May 5, 1862; the story of a kidnapping of a mayor’s daughter by Agustín Lorenzo, a bandit; and the first Catholic indigenous wedding.
At 9:30 a.m., members (called carnavaleros) of the Indian Batallion of Barrio 3 entered the municipal cemetery.
“We are here to honor the generals who have died,” said Alberto Santa María Cruz. He’s one of many mandarines responsible for helping to keep the peace. Guns were fired and people drank and danced as a band played and then the battalion marched from the cemetery, stopping in various neighborhoods.
As the day progressed, the energy increased, guns were fired more frequently and the dancing got wilder. In 2013, five tonelades (11,023 lbs.) of gunpowder were used at this event, and I doubt they used one gram less this year.
Not everyone enjoys the noise.
A break at 3 p.m. allowed participants to rest and get food. At 4 p.m., a ceremony commemorated the first Catholic indigenous wedding, followed by a reenactment of Lorenzo the bandit making off with the daughter of the town’s mayor.
Finally, it was time for the quema del jacal (burning of the jackal), where a small palm hut was burned, representing the end of all Mexican wars, from pre-Hispanic times up through the Revolution.
Carnival in Huejotzingo is crazy, loud and expensive. Guns cost 3,000 to 5,000 pesos (US $150 to $250), and costumes as much as 50,000 pesos (US $2,500).
When asked why Carnival must continue, Hilario Oliver Saloma threw his arms open wide.
“For tradition,” he said loudly. “It is for tradition.”
I left Huejotzingo with my ears ringing as if I’d just attended a Who concert circa 1970. Some hairs on my right arm were singed from getting a bit too close to a carnavalero firing a gun. I was exhausted from photographing for seven hours. My head hurt.
The vast majority of participants were men, but there were a significant number of women.
But, as people say in Mexico, “Vale la pena.” It’s worth it.
Mexican billionaire and business mogul Carlos Slim.
Billionaire businessman Carlos Slim has described confrontation between the federal government and the business community as “stupid” and called for the parties to work together for the good of the country.
In a discussion with outgoing Business Coordinating Council (CCE) president Carlos Salazar, the magnate said that conflict doesn’t help anyone or anything.
Slim, owner of companies such as Telcel, Sanborns and Carso Infrastructure and Construction, opined that the business sector hasn’t given the government the respect it deserves.
“I believe that when a government is elected democratically it has to be respected,” he said.
“… You have to try to provide them with propositions, ideas and programs, but having conflicts that are sometimes capricious or ideological is nonsense,” said Slim, who was once the world’s richest person.
“Confrontation is stupid, it damages Mexico, it damages companies, it damages the government and it damages everyone,” he said. “What we must do is work together … so that we come out of this situation of underdevelopment,” he said.
Slim charged that Mexico has missed many opportunities in the past and must now take advantage of those generated by the USMCA, the North American free trade pact that replaced NAFTA in 2020.
“Today we have a great opportunity in which the active participants have to be the businesspeople of the United States and Mexico rather than the politicians. The governments already did their work and we haven’t done ours,” he said.
The 82-year-old tycoon said that Mexican industry should be taking greater advantage of the trade war between the United States and China by manufacturing more products here to sell in the U.S. market.
By increasing exports to the United States – the world’s largest economy – salaries will increase here and consumers will have more money to spend in the Mexican economy, Slim said.
But Mexico’s business sector has so far “done nothing” to take advantage of the USMCA, he claimed, although many others believe the trade agreement has benefited the economy amid the recovery from the sharp coronavirus-induced slump.
Slim called on business to act more quickly to reap benefits from the pact, and also stressed the importance of investing in education and health care as part of efforts to mitigate inequality.
In a topical aside, he asserted that Mexico should look to the Ukrainian people as an example of what can be achieved when people bind together for a common purpose.
“We have to look at what the Ukrainians are doing, confronting a powerful army,” Slim said, referring to their stubborn resistance in the face of Russia’s invasion. “Instead of giving up, they’re defending their country, and here we are fighting each other, dividing ourselves.”
An Aztec dancer in one of Mexico City's pueblos originarios, San Gregorio Atlapulco. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino
Photojournalist Joseph Sorrentino isn’t afraid of finding himself in the middle of nowhere.
Since he began coming to Mexico 25 years ago to photograph Day of the Dead celebrations in Metepec, México state, the Staten Island native has taken his trusty Nikon camera with him everywhere he goes while living and traveling throughout Mexico, documenting life in both cities and remote villages, photographing average Mexicans doing everything from the quotidian to the extraordinary.
His quest to capture the life of average people in Mexico has at times taken him to places and events rarely seen even by many Mexicans.
Sorrentino’s photographs have graced the pages of Mexico News Daily for the last two years, giving our readers a close-up look at indigenous rituals dating back centuries, the traditional process of making artisanal tequila, the life of village farmers and Day of the Dead artists, the hard work of Acapulco fishermen plying their trade and much more.
When he’s not taking photos, he’s also the writer of books and plays, including a book about one of Mexico City’s indigenous pueblos originarios,San Gregorio Atlapulco.
A woman in a farming village in San Agustín, Morelos, harvesting nopal cactus.
The Centro Cultural Somos Uno in San Pedro Cholula, Puebla, is recognizing Sorrentino’s work in Mexico with a solo photography exhibit entitled Campesinas y Mujeres de Pueblos Ancestrales (Farm Women and Women of Ancestral Towns), now on display at the center through March 23.
The exhibit, featuring 36 black-and-white photographs from his projects undertaken between 2003 and 2021, highlights women at work at home and in the fields, as well as their role in traditional ceremonies. The exhibit is aptly timed for Women’s History Month in March.
If you’re in Cholula this week, stop by the Centro Cultural Somos Uno this Saturday at 6 p.m. CST for the exhibit’s opening reception, where you can meet Sorrentino in person.
The Centro Cultural Somos Uno is located at Calle 3 Oriente #210, San Pedro Cholula, Puebla. For more information, visit the center’s Facebook page.
After using power tools to slice through a bollard, smugglers can push the dangling metal beam out of the way and walk through.
The border wall between Mexico and the United States was breached more than 3,000 times during the past three years, with widely available power tools routinely used to cut through the binational barrier.
The Washington Post obtained unpublished U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) maintenance records that showed that drug and people smugglers sawed through new sections of wall built during the Trump administration 3,272 times between 2019 and 2021.
The CBP records also show that the U.S. government spent US $2.6 million to repair the breaches.
Smuggling gangs typically use inexpensive power tools such as angle grinders and demolition saws to cut through the border wall, the Post said.
“Once the 18-to-30-foot-tall bollards are severed near the ground, their only remaining point of attachment is at the top of the structure, leaving the steel beam dangling in the air. It easily swings open with a push, creating a gap wide enough for people and narcotics to pass through,” the newspaper said, linking to a video of a damaged section of wall.
People familiar with the smugglers’ tactics told the Post that they typically cut through the wall at night, covering themselves with blankets to hide the sparks and reduce noise. Lookouts alert them via radio when there are Border Patrol vehicles in the area.
More than 80% of the breaches during the past three years were detected in California, with over 1,800 in the CBP’s El Centro sector in the Imperial Valley and close to 900 in the San Diego sector.
While Donald Trump’s long-promised, albeit incomplete, wall was breached thousands of times, the Post noted that older mesh style fencing along the border has been even easier to penetrate.
One major breach of the new section in March 2021 allowed two SUVs carrying migrants to enter California. One of the vehicles subsequently hit a truck and 13 people were killed.
While cutting through the wall is common, CBP agents and U.S. ranchers say that climbing over it is now even more frequent. Ladders and ropes help migrants and smugglers climb the barrier and descend safely to the other side.
The president's morning press conference ended early after the Veracruz quake triggered Mexico City's alarm system.
A 5.7-magnitude earthquake with an epicenter in Veracruz struck at 8:40 a.m. Thursday, but there were no reports of damage.
The National Seismological Service (SSN) reported that the epicenter of the quake was 14 kilometers north of Isla, a town in the Gulf coast state’s southern region near the border with Oaxaca.
Veracruz Governor Cuitláhuac García said on Twitter that there were no reports of damage in Isla and surrounding areas, and that power plants in the region were functioning normally.
“We’re still monitoring and we urge [citizens] to follow the recommendations of Civil Protection [authorities],” he wrote.
Mexico City’s earthquake alarm system was activated by the quake, which the SSN initially reported was a 6.2-magnitude event. Government helicopters flew over the capital but didn’t detect any damage.
Epicenter of Thursday's quake in Veracruz.
“There has been evacuation of some buildings in accordance with protocols,” Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum tweeted, adding that the Metro, which suspended services to check for damage, had resumed operations.
The temblor, which many Mexico City residents reported not feeling, interrupted President López Obrador's morning press conference at the National Palace. A video showed officials leaving the space where the conference is held as the earthquake alarm sounded, but reporters remained in the room.
López Obrador later said that he had spoken with the governors of Veracruz and Oaxaca and they told him no major damage had been reported.
The SSN also reported a 4.7-magnitude earthquake at 8:54 a.m. with an epicenter 30 kilometers south of Atoyac de Álvarez, Guerrero.
Earthquakes are common in Mexico, which was struck by two powerful temblors 12 days apart in September 2017. The 7.1-magnitude Puebla earthquake on September 19, 2017 and the 8.2-magnitude Chiapas quake on September 7 together claimed the lives of almost 500 people.
