The investigators seized a wide variety of both live, taxidermied and even stuffed animals.
Exotic animals, cattle, luxury cars, chandeliers, gold-plated fittings, stuffed animals, swimming pools and artificial lakes were all found in seizures of properties linked to the Familia Michoacana cartel in México state, justice officials announced on Sunday.
At least four properties were seized in seven simultaneous operations by security forces and other officials in Tlatlaya and Amatepec, neighboring municipalities 150 kilometers south of Toluca.
Three people were arrested in the seizure of a two-hectare residential ranch in Amatepec with 145 animals living on the property. Searchers found a home with 14 bedrooms, two artificial lakes and luxury vehicles. Another 3.5-hectare ranch in Amatepec had a bullring and cattle-raising facilities.
In photos of the properties posted by the state Attorney General’s Office on social media, a chapel can be seen as well as stuffed birds, stuffed deer and a stuffed tiger, among other taxidermy, as well as a box of herbs resembling marijuana.
The property owners appear to have spent lavishly on extensive private gardens, palapas, pools, chandeliers, gold detailing, and other luxury amenities.
The animals seized included 70 cattle, 30 goats, 40 poultry, three horses and two peacocks. The seized vehicles included two SUVs, six all-terrain vehicles and a scooter.
State officials said the seizures would limit the operational capacity of criminal groups in the region as the properties were used as safe houses and vacation homes by cartel members.
Cartel properties seized by security forces often reappear in government raffles. In one raffle in September, the houses of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, former boss of the Sinaloa Cartel, and Amado Carrillo Fuentes of the Juárez Cartel were awarded as prizes.
Security forces in high crime México state have turned up results this month. On Friday, they performed a drugs bust at a property in Tultepec. At least two people with links to organized crime were arrested earlier last week and seven more alleged cartel members were charged.
Don Serapio's vineyard, Viñedos El Tejón, was one of the first in the area. Jalisco Tourism Ministry
Oenophiles in Mexico — and even people who just like a big ol’ glass of hearty red with their mole poblano — are already hip to wine regions in Baja California and Querétaro.
But now there’s a new up-and-coming wine destination in Mexico: La Ribera de Chapala, a cluster of small wineries on the southern shore of Lake Chapala in the state of Jalisco. In this case, La Ribera means “the lakeside.”
According to the newspaper Reforma, a 2014 study by Mexico’s National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (Inifap) determined that this area of Jalisco would be ideal for wine production — and that’s just when a lot of grapevines in the new region began taking root between cornfields and greenhouses growing berries.
Reforma reported that the pioneer of the burgeoning area is Don Serapio, a 60-year-old who spent four decades in the Napa Valley before returning to his home of San Luis Soyatlán on the southern shore of Lake Chapala. (San Luis Soyatlán prides itself as the home of the vampirito, a mix of tequila, sangrita, orange and lime juices and the soda Squirt, and served here in a plastic bag, but that’s for another story.)
Serapio’s project — Viñedos El Tejón, or “Badger Vineyards” — inspired others to start producing wine in the region “sheltered” by Lake Chapala.
“I don’t have academic degrees. My teacher is nature,” Serapio said in Reforma. “I went to the United States to work. There I had to plant, graft, prune and even pick grapes. I saw that they grew vines everywhere, and I wondered why in Jalisco nobody did. I started to do tests, first with cabernet sauvignon.”
While that particular “cab” experiment didn’t turn out well, the winery currently has 6,000 plants spread out over three hectares, with grapes such as sauvignon blanc, shiraz, malbec, garnacha blanca, tempranillo and malvasía.
El Tejón has scheduled a harvest festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, August 6, with Serapio himself welcoming visitors and giving tours. There will also be a four-course meal orchestrated by catering chef Gabriel Gómez of El Grill de Catamarca. The cost of 1,500 pesos (US $72) will include food, wine pairings and a tour. Reservations are required at (331) 845-6649, or visit @eltejonvinedoson Instagram.
Visitors tour Finca La Estramancia, another Ribera de Chapala vineyard. Facebook / La Estramancia
Other wineries in the region include Crotalus, Chava Calupo, Finca La Estramancia and Ritualista (all in San Luis Soyatlán) and Post Data (in El Tepehuaje). All are in the municipality of Tuxcueca. La Estramancia is open for private or group visits, and Post Data is not accepting visitors at the moment. Public access to the other wineries was not made apparent.
Crotalus, which refers to a rattlesnake native to the area, specializes in merlot, petit verdot and viognier. Other grapes in the region not already mentioned include macabeo, syrah and nebbiolo.
“The soil [in this region] has an organic layer with a lot of stone, and everything is almost of volcanic origin, which gives the wines a mineral flavor,” said Rafael Vargas, founder of Cava Chalupo. “The results have had good acidity and color, but they are young plants. Each year, the plant evolves and improves its quality.”
In a promotional tour last year, which reached the vineyards by crossing Lake Chapala in a boat, Xavier Orendáin de Obeso touted the emerging area and suggested that one day there could be public boat tours there from Chapala and Ajijic on the other side of the lake.
“We will promote the development of wine tourism in an orderly and sustainable manner,” emphasized Orendáin de Obeso, who coordinates economic growth and development for Jalisco, according to the newspaper Laguna. “We can have a united industry, we can have protected areas, and we come to ask for a vote of confidence. Opening these new opportunities for development is what moves us.”
Bishop Castro of Cuernavaca: 'We're seeking a more effective security strategy.'
Bishops and priests across Mexico used their sermons on Sunday to plead for peace as the Catholic Church embarked on a national prayer campaign amid ongoing high levels of violence.
The church’s Jornada de Oración por la Paz – a three-week-long peace campaign – began Sunday, three weeks after two elderly Jesuit priests were murdered in Chihuahua. The campaign – which seeks to promote peace and commemorate victims of violence, including slain priests – will continue throughout the remainder of July.
“That’s why the clergy is saying ‘enough already,’” said Castro, bishop of the diocese of Cuernavaca and the secretary general of Mexico’s bishops’ association.
“We’re seeking a more effective security strategy, it’s time to listen to us,” added the bishop, who earlier this month criticized the federal government’s non-confrontational “hugs, not bullets” approach. “It’s time for all of us to look for the peace we all long for. Let us attend to wounded Mexico, let’s respond with … hope and faith.”
Castro said that he and other Catholic Church leaders wouldn’t turn their backs on Mexico’s violence problem due to fear or “not wanting to get into trouble.”
“We dream of a Mexico at peace and that’s why all the bishops have raised their voices with a statement, pleading … for there to be peace,” he said.
Issued by the Episcopal Conference of Mexico (CEM) and two other Catholic organizations, the July 4 statement announced the Jornada de Oración por la Paz and advocated “social dialogue to build a path of justice and reconciliation that leads us to peace.” Castro reiterated that message. “We’re not declaring war on anyone. We don’t want more conflicts than there already are, we’re pleading for dialogue for the construction of true peace,” he said.
In his Sunday sermon, Monterrey Archbishop Rogelio Cabrera López advised his congregation that they would pray for “our country, which is reaching an unsustainable point” due to the incessant violence.
“Things must change,” declared the septuagenarian archbishop, who is currently president of CEM. Cabrera reminded authorities they have a responsibility to “contain” the violence that has affected the lives of countless Mexicans. “Many families in our country are suffering because of violence – they’ve had to escape, flee,” Cabrera said, referring to people forced out of their home towns due to the presence of crime groups.
He noted that many other people have been abducted and murdered by organized crime, which holds sway in many parts of the country.
During a Mass in the town of Chapala, Jalisco, Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega suggested that Mexico’s violence problem is related to a lack of application of the love thy neighbor commandment. “We’re not taking enough care of our brothers. That’s why we have so many missing people, so many people murdered and so many young people immersed and involved in the world of drugs and evil,” said the archbishop of Guadalajara.
A Jesuit service in Mexico City Sunday commemorates victims of violence.
He criticized people in power for being more concerned about themselves than the citizens they are tasked with protecting. “They’re more intent on taking care of their party, their position, … [and] their future than looking after citizens,” Robles said.
Mexico needs to undertake a process of pacification and reconciliation, Robles said, adding that delving deeper into division will only result in “disaster for the majority of us who live in this country.”
In his Sunday homily, Ciudad Juárez Bishop José Guadalupe Torres Campos offered an encapsulation of the Catholic Church’s view on the situation the country is facing. “We’re all exclaiming this cry, this protest, with concern and sadness: Enough of so much death, so much pain, so much violence, so much evil across Mexico, in our state and in our city!” he said.
At the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Monsignor Andrés García Jasso called on his flock to not grow insensitive to the violence plaguing the country. “Let’s not become accustomed to these scenarios of deaths and disappearances,” said the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico. “Let’s continue to get angry every time we hear news of this nature and, above all, let’s continue praying for peace in our families, our nation and the entire world.”
García called on teachers and parents to work toward the eradication of violence through education and the restoration of Mexico’s social fabric, and urged authorities to provide “the public security necessary for all Mexicans.”
In addition to churches across the country, believers also gathered next to the Estela de Luz (Stele of Light) monument outside the capital’s Chapultepec Park for a service to mark the commencement of the Jornada de Oración por la Paz. Some 100 people attended the Jesuit service to commemorate the lives of the priests who were recently murdered in the Sierra Tarahumara region of Chihuahua and other victims of violence.
“[We’re] united by the desire for justice, reconciliation and peace that emerges from the depths of our hearts in the face of the blood that is shed every day in this country,” said Jorge Atilano González Candia, a Jesuit priest.
“… Today we are starting a cycle of prayers for peace at the national level. It is the opening of a month marking the memory of all the people killed and disappeared. Today we are remembering the priests, the journalists, the social activists and the young people who have died violently,” he said.
“The over 100,000 disappeared and the 122,000 killed during this administration is a source of pain, of strength, of anger and courage to build justice, reconciliation and peace,” González said.
Among the murder victims since President López Obrador took office in December 2018 are seven priests, according to Mexico’s Catholic Multimedia Center. At least two dozen were killed during the 2012–18 term of the government led by former president Enrique Peña Nieto.
Chef Claudia Albertina Ruiz Sántiz receives the state award. Twitter @SEIGEN_CHIS
An indigenous Tzotzil chef from Chiapas received an award on Thursday for her culinary work promoting regional cuisine.
Claudia Albertina Ruiz Sántiz received the Del Corazón a la Tierra (From the Heart to the Earth) award from the state government on Thursday, which recognizes the success of indigenous women and women of African heritage.
Ruiz has carved her own path through her career. She was the first indigenous woman to enter the school of gastronomy at the Chiapas University of Sciences and Arts and then became the first indigenous woman to work at Pujol, the world-renowned restaurant of chef Enrique Olvera in Mexico City. Last year, Ruiz was recognized by the 50 Next, a list that celebrates 50 young people around the world who are “changing the world of gastronomy in unique and interesting ways,” compiled by the culinary reviews site The World’s 50 Best.
In 2016 Ruiz opened her own restaurant, Kokono, in San Cristóbal de las Casas. The restaurant serves traditional Chiapas dishes and promotes indigenous culture. Its name comes from the Tzotzil translation for the Mexican herb epazote.
Ruiz said that her success had come against all odds. “There were three things that prevented me from achieving my dreams: being a woman, being indigenous and being young … unfortunately society thinks that we as young people, as women and as indigenous people do not have the capabilities and skills to achieve great goals,” she said.
Governor Rutilio Escandón Cadenas and the mayor of San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mariano Díaz Ochoa, presented the award on Thursday. “We are very proud of you chef Claudia, because your career has promoted the name of Chiapas internationally … Through your restaurant Kokono indigenous gastronomy is exalted, and it’s a tourist attraction for San Cristóbal de Las Casas. International visitors and visitors from other states of the Mexican republic come exclusively for the culinary art of chef Claudia … it’s an honor to receive you and for you to represent Tzotzil culture,” Díaz said.
Proponents of Durango cuisine are seeking to have the state’s culinary offering recognized as a cultural heritage in Mexico as a first step towards international recognition.
Governor José Rosas Aispuro Torres is set to sign a decree on Thursday which will make Durango the sixth state to have cuisine recognized as a national heritage, the newspaper La Voz de Durango reported. The signing will be followed on Friday by the start of the National Festival of Durango (Fenadu) where the state showcases its regional delicacies.
The head of the national restaurant association Canirac said the cuisine’s recognition in Mexico was a step towards being awarded world heritage status by UNESCO. “We are taking a giant step for the identity of Durango’s food … This gives us a touristic and gastronomic credential to show off to the country … it gives the identity that Durango’s dishes and gastronomy deserve,” said Miguel Camacho Herrera.
Camacho explained that gorditas, corn dough stuffed with meat, cheese or other fillings, and cadillo durangueño, a beef stew, are two of the dishes in the supporting document compiled by historian Javier Guerrero Romero, but that another somewhat dubious delicacy, scorpion tacos, has not been included.
Tobacco, sweet potato, corn, chile, beans and pumpkin are all harvested in Durango, while fruits such as pomegranate, quince, peach, pear and apple are grown. Pigs and cattle are raised in the region, which is famed for its cheese production. Sweet preserves and dried fruits are also traditionally produced.
Dishes unique to Durango include venorio, which is made with pork ribs, cactus and a chile sauce, and gallina borracha (drunken hen), which requires chorizo, chicken, mezcal and sherry. Carne seca (beef jerky) is another local favorite.
One beverage traditional to the region is licor de membrillo, a liquor made from quince fruit.
The cathedral and main square of San Luis Potosí. Felipe Alfonso Castillo via Wikimedia Commons
One great thing about Mexico News Daily readers is that their interest in Mexico goes beyond where to go drink on the beach (not that there is anything wrong with that!).
So gentle readers, I’d like to present to you a city to check out, or perhaps check again: San Luis Potosí (also known as San Luis or SLP).
Despite its more northerly location, the city has much in common with the colonial cities in the center and south of the country. There are layers of architectural styles from the Baroque to 19th century French in its historic center, making it a World Heritage Site on par with cities such as Puebla, Guadalajara, and Oaxaca.
SLP’s geography and unique history give it both a different and familiar feel. It is best to describe it as a gateway to the northeast and Texas, as it lies halfway between Mexico City and the Texas border.
View of the artificial lake in Tangamanga Park 1 in the south of the city, at a time when water was not scarce. L8stbefore via Wikimedia Commons
The city lies north of the farthest expanses of the former Mexica Empire (also known as the Aztec Empire), but the Spanish and their newly conquered Mesoamerican, mostly Náhuatl-speaking allies pushed quickly north, sparking the Chichimeca War. Decades later, the invaders had won, in no small part because the Mesoamericans had no issue with conquering the Guachichils and other “uncivilized” nomadic cultures.
San Luis did not begin as a unified city, but rather as a number of villages, generally segregated into communities for the Spanish, the Mesoamerican and Guachichil indigenous and even for Ottoman Turks. This changed in 1592 when silver was discovered on the nearby San Pedro mountain. Within months, seven of these villages were reorganized into “San Luis Mexquitic,” 19 blocks around a main plaza and church. The old villages never completely disappeared. The historic center is still divided into barrios conserving names such as Tlaxcala and Tequisquiapan.
Upon being declared a city in 1592, it was renamed San Luis Potosí, a reference to the extremely productive silver mines in Bolivia.
The silver gave out, but San Luis managed to avoid being abandoned because it was located at the juncture of two main thoroughfares: an east-west corridor that links the northern interior with the port of Tampico and another that connects central Mexico to Texas.
Mosaic mural by Marissa Martínez almost ready for inauguration at the Faculty of Psychology of the San Luis Potosí Autonomous University. Leigh Thelmadatter
The treasures of the historic center include the cathedral, Aranzazu Chapel and Guadalupe Sanctuary, which show the evolution of Mexico’s Baroque into very early Neoclassical. More show the development of architecture up until the Mexican Revolution. More modern structures have since been constructed in more peripheral areas, in large part to conserve the historic center.
But San Luis is not a city frozen in time. Its location is still economically strategic, and has led to the development of industry. Such activity is zoned away from the historic center and other desirable areas to live, but the growth it has spurred has led to the introduction of many modern conveniences such as shopping and entertainment, museums and grand urban parks.
Like other northern cities, San Luis is located in an arid region, so water and temperatures are considerations. Issues are not as severe as in cities such as Monterrey; SLP gets more rain and less wild temperature swings, but the drought hitting the far northeast right now is a factor in San Luis as well.
San Luis has not received the same kind of tourist attention as other colonial cities. Its main season is still Holy Week because of its spectacular Procession of Silence held on Good Friday.
The Procession of Silence is held each year in the historic center of the city to commemorate the death of Christ. Italiaugalde via Wikimedia Commons
The historic center can be explored in a few days and is quite walkable, but the city also serves as a base for interesting day and weekend trips. These include the Pueblos Mágicos of Real de Catorce, a former abandoned mining town, and Santa Maria del Río, famous for its silk rebozos (shawls).
There are other colonial-era towns a short distance away, including Mexquitic and Venado with colonial churches and rural food. A promising wine industry has started just to the west, led by Cava Quinantilla in Moctezuma. Natural treasures include the recently protected Sierra de San Miguelito and the Joya Honda volcano.
If you read typical tourist sites, you might think all people eat here is enchiladas potosinas. They are delicious with red salsa, goat cheese and vegetables, but menus here carry many items with familiar names such as pozole and menudo. This is because the Mesoamerican diet was brought here, including the maguey plant to make pulque. A few preparations from the gathering of local foods are hard to find but not impossible. The most important are made from cactus fruit, seasonally used to make colonche, a mild alcoholic drink and queso de tuna, a dried fruit pulp.
The good news is that SLP versions of these dishes tend to be less spicy than their counterparts in Mexico City. Pulque and mezcal are making a comeback with brands like Júrame receiving national attention. Pan de Pulque Casero has taken advantage of this to return the making of bread using pulque as a leavening agent. More modern foodstuffs include one of Mexico’s few producers of chocolate candies, Costanzo Chocolates, founded by an Italian immigrant.
Left: pozole rojo at Antojitos El Pozole, a popular local chain eatery. Right: various versions of pulque bread from Pan de Pulque Casero. Leigh Thelmadatter
The question I always get is, ”Is it safe?” Admittedly, there have been problems with Highway 57 that links SLP with Querétaro. The city did not rank well on a national survey asking locals about their perception of crime in their cities. However, residents I spoke with indicate that much is related to the recent growth of the city and mostly limited to certain areas. I felt quite safe lodging in the historic center. Its location and growth has started to attract foreign residents, especially over the past 10 years.
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.
If you can't find natural peanut butter in your area, making it yourself is a snap.
While we may think that peanut butter— the “paté of childhood”— is a distinctly North American food, the Incas were making and using it hundreds of years before John Harvey Kellogg introduced it at his famed U.S. sanitarium in the late 1800s. Peanut butter must have been on the world food radar though; at about the same time, Québécois chemist Marcellus Gilmore Edson filed a patent for peanut paste, basically the same as what we know (and love) as peanut butter.
As long as we’re discussing surprising things, here’s another: Who do you think is the biggest producer, and user, of peanut butter? China. That’s where almost half the world’s total production of peanut butter happens, and you can bet they’re not using it for PB&J sandwiches.
The truth is that peanuts are a powerhouse food, loaded with easily digestible proteins, fiber, vitamins like E and B and nine essential amino acids. They’re inexpensive and easy to grow and have been shown to help lower cholesterol too. Peanut butter in its purest form is simply ground roasted peanuts with a little salt, and while our go-to form of eating it may be paired with strawberry jelly and spread between two slices of bread, other cultures have developed much more interesting (and delicious) ways of incorporating it into their diets, like the Spicy Peanut Sauce below. Versatile, easy and delicious, you can use it with all kinds of shrimp, veggie, chicken, beef and noodle or rice dishes. Atole — which you may know — takes on a rich flavor with peanut butter added; and the Chicken & Mango Soba Salad, while Thai in origin, translates perfectly to Mexican ingredients.
I can’t find natural peanut butter where I live, and so I’ve learned to make it myself, thanks to a friend’s suggestion. She uses a blender; I use a food processor. It’s not quite as smooth and creamy as I’d like, but still does the trick.
If you have a source for raw or fresh-roasted peanuts, by all means use those, but commercially roasted, easily available cacahuates salados or dry-roasted peanuts will work too. The only caveat is that packaged peanuts for snacking often have more salt than you’d want in peanut butter, so taste them before using. If you can find unsalted ones, that’s best. (Raw peanuts should be roasted before using to make peanut butter, at 177 C/350 F for about 25 minutes, stirring once. Cool completely before using.)
Homemade Peanut Butter
About 2 cups roasted or dry-roasted peanuts, preferably unsalted
1 tsp. coconut oil
Salt
Place peanuts in food processor or blender. Process on high 4-5 minutes; peanuts will go in stages from being crushed, to crumbs, to a dry paste, and then suddenly to a fairly smooth and creamy peanut butter. Add coconut oil and process another minute to blend. If peanuts were unsalted, add salt to taste.
This flavor-packed sauce is perfect for tofu satay and pairs well with meat and vegetables.
Spicy Peanut Sauce
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup hot water
2 Tbsp. Thai red curry paste
2 Tbsp. brown sugar or grated piloncillo
2 Tbsp. Sriracha
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp. minced garlic
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
2 scallions, thinly sliced
Salt to taste
In medium bowl, whisk peanut butter and hot water. Stir in curry paste, sugar, Sriracha, soy sauce, vinegar, lime juice, garlic, red pepper and scallions. Season with salt. Use immediately or store refrigerated up to two weeks. –www.seriouseats.com
Iced Peanutty Coffee
This combo is a sweet twist on a typical afternoon pick-me-up.
1 cup ice
2 tsp. smooth peanut butter
2 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk
1 cup cold coffee
Optional: 1 Tbsp. chocolate syrup
Blend together and serve.
Chicken & Mango Soba Salad with Peanut Dressing
½ cup smooth peanut butter, natural or regular
¼ cup hot water
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. lime juice
½ tsp. Sriracha
Salt & pepper
½ tsp. sugar
2 cups string beans or sugar snap peas, fresh or frozen
8 ounces soba noodles*
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
½ large mango, thinly sliced
½ Persian cucumber, thinly sliced
1 cup cilantro
1-2 serrano chiles, thinly sliced
This colorful chilled salad is perfect for hot summer days.
In medium bowl, whisk peanut butter, hot water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, lime juice, Sriracha and sugar until smooth. Season with salt. Set aside. Steam or parboil peas/green beans till crisp-tender. Rinse with cold water; set aside. Cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool.
In large serving bowl, toss noodles with chicken, mango and dressing. Add two-thirds of peas/string beans, cucumber, cilantro and chiles. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, top with remaining veggies, cilantro and chiles.
* Substitute another rice noodle or even capellini if you can’t find soba noodles in the Asian section of your grocery store.
Peanut Atole
½ cup natural smooth peanut butter
1 cup milk
½ cup masa harina
3¼ cups water, plus more as needed
3 Tbsp. brown sugar or grated piloncillo
Salt
Combine peanut butter and milk in a blender until combined. Pour masa into large saucepan; set over medium heat. Immediately add water in slow, thin stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring to a simmer; whisk in peanut-milk, sugar and pinch of salt. Return to simmer, lower heat to low and simmer gently, whisking, for 3 minutes. Thin with additional water as needed to create a thick-yet-drinkable beverage. Add more sugar or salt if desired.
Heat butter in skillet until bubbly and brownish but not burned. Add peanut butter; turn off heat. Stir until peanut butter melts, then stir in crumbs/coconut. Sweeten to taste with confectioners’ sugar. Spread mixture into parchment-lined 8-by-8-inch pan.
Add chocolate chips and coconut oil to a small pot; melt on stovetop over low, stirring constantly. (Alternatively, microwave in 20-second bursts, stirring between each one.) Spread melted chocolate over peanut butter layer. Sprinkle on any other toppings. Refrigerate until layers set, about 1 hour. Cut into bars or squares. Store in refrigerator.
I’ve been in a lot of taxis since first coming to Mexico 20 years ago — easily thousands. I’ve not had a vehicle for much of that time, though even when I did, I would still take a taxi to certain destinations when, for example, I knew parking would be scarce.
While I used to find the city buses to be a perfectly fine way to get around, that’s changed with such drastic increases in traffic (and simultaneously, bus fare) that have made any bus ride an event that might very well get you to your destination at the same speed as walking would have.
So, if you don’t have a car and don’t live in a place with a metro, then a taxi’s the way to go.
Most of my taxi rides are fairly uneventful. For about a third of my rides, there’s not a word spoken. For the others, it’s always the same conversation: where am I from, do I like Mexico, isn’t it funny that you’re here when so many of us want to go there, etc. There’s a list of probably 10 topics that typically get covered, but I don’t mind. I like to talk to people, so I’m usually happy to chitchat while we travel.
And while more than a few of them have been such crazy drivers that I’ve spent most of the ride praying to simply get to my destination safely, most drivers are very nice.
One thing that separates taxis in Xalapa from those in other areas of Mexico is that here, they’re still quite cheap. I routinely pay 50 pesos or less to most places in the city. There was a time when I’d haggle over the fare and get pretty worked up when I found it to be obvious that they were charging me a special “gringa” price, but aside from an occasional complaint (“But they always charge me 40 for this trip!”), I’ve mostly calmed down.
The main thing that’s helped me to calm down is the presence of ride-hailing apps. We don’t have Uber in Xalapa — it seems that taxi drivers have been successful in preventing the platform from establishing itself here — but we do have one called InDriver that (I think) works much the same way.
To use it, I put in my location and the address of the place I want to go, I offer a price which is slightly higher than I might offer otherwise since the app charges drivers 10%, and it goes out to drivers close by. Though I pay 10-15 pesos more for the ride than I would if I’d gone out to hail it on the street, I love knowing that they’re not going to surprise me with a ridiculous fare at the end; I also like not having to give directions on how to get to my destination.
A Xalapa taxi waits at a corner.
Almost everyone who’s arrived through InDriver has been someone driving a taxi; at least in my city, taxi drivers are working through it rather than competing against it. The prices they charge and the prices that are typical on the app are similar, so it seems to have just become one more tool for them.
I’ve learned, however, that this is not the way things are everywhere.
When I visited a good friend in Los Cabos a few years ago, there was a big fight going on between taxi drivers and Uber. It’s one that I’ve read has gone on quite a bit throughout the Americas, including in my own home country.
In Los Cabos, an area of Mexico that thrives on tourism and is accustomed to a large presence of foreigners, taxis typically charged what their counterparts in New York City did. And this is the part where I’m personally conflicted: I think that those prices are ridiculous because it’s so much more than I’m used to paying where I live (and so much more than I know most middle-class Mexicans can afford). While many foreigners can afford to pay those prices, the prices themselves are excessive and ensure that taxis are simply inaccessible to large swaths of people.
On the other hand, if there are workers who are accustomed to being paid a certain amount and enjoying a certain degree of steady work, it’s perfectly understandable that they don’t want to lose that. I’m accustomed to being paid a certain amount of money for the work I do. If I suddenly started getting paid less or not receiving the work because others were showing up to charge half of what I do for exact the same thing, I’d be pretty upset about it.
So as a worker, I sympathize with taxi drivers: I’m also a freelance worker that depends on making a certain amount of money each month to meet my expenses, something that results in intense and consistent monthly hustling. As volatile and varied as my income might be, my financial obligations are incredibly predictable and ever-growing.
But as a consumer that needs access to rides, I sympathize with them exactly none. If they want to keep driving, then they should sign up for these apps as drivers in my own city have, because it means they’ll keep giving rides even when no one stops them on the side of the road or calls their dispatcher. If they don’t want to, then I’m guessing it’s likely an indication that they’re charging excessively because they can, and ride-hailing apps are a threat to their established inflated prices.
Now that the Mexico City airport – along with a whole host of similar other places (my local mall for example) – is officially not letting in ride-hailing app drivers, taxi drivers there might see a slight increase in their use. But anyone can simply leave the grounds to meet their drivers, which I believe is what many will do.
It might be time for taxi drivers to stop their uphill battle against ride-hailing apps. They’re not going away. Taxi drivers who pay to line up for access to high-paying customers … I wouldn’t put my money on the survival of that gig.
The president expressed his respect for Jesus Christ on Monday. Presidencia de la República
President López Obrador took to the skies last weekend to fly over his flagship Maya Train project, the 1,525-kilometer railroad under construction in the country’s southeast. AMLO previously pledged the railway would be completed in 2023 but work on a section of track in Quintana Roo has been suspended since May due to a federal court ruling.
Monday
The president arrived to a new week armed with a message of love. “Our adversaries, as they have not been able to impose themselves, want us to enter into an argument with the churches … love and peace … if you ask me to express who is my most admired social leader, who I respect most for his dedication in favor of the dispossessed, it’s Jesus Christ,” the tabasqueño said.
“With all due respect, a priest, a bishop, a pastor cannot say that violence must be responded to with violence … Let it be heard well, let it be heard far: since we are in government there has been a 30% reduction in crimes of federal jurisdiction,” López Obrador declared, following renewed criticism from religious figureheads about violence.
Yet later in the conference, the president repeated a threat against one of the United States’ most famous women. “If he is taken to the United States and sentenced to a maximum penalty to die in prison, the campaign to dismantle the Statue of Liberty must begin,” he said about the extradition of the long-imprisoned investigative journalist Julian Assange.
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer outlined the rationale for the proposal. “Adults need three to seven days to adapt to the time change and the child population requires more time. The lack of synchronization with the environment alters our internal temporal order and causes physical and mental problems,” Alcocer said, before adding that daylight saving time changes increase the risk of depression and suicide.
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer speaks on Tuesday. Presidencia de la República
“It’s advisable to return to the standard time, which is when the time of the sundial coincides with the time of the social clock, the clock of God,” Alcocer added.
Later in the conference, the president defended U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar after criticism of him was reported in The New York Times. “He is my friend and he is a good, sensible man. A friend of [U.S.] President Biden. A very responsible politician, from Colorado, who comes from below, of Mexican origin,” he said.
López Obrador had further words of sympathy for the leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), “Alito” Moreno, whose home in Campeche city was breached with a battering ram by investigators. “I would like to express my dissatisfaction with the way in which a judicial procedure was carried out in Campeche … You know that the gentleman [Moreno] isn’t a saint in my book, but I do not agree with the procedure,” AMLO said.
Wednesday
With truth at the ready, government misinformation expert Elizabeth García Vilchis brought clarity to the Mexican public in the “Who’s who in the lies of the week” section.
García highlighted an accusation that the president had criticized the Jewish origins of a politically vocal advertising executive. García added that the newspaper Reforma later issued a retraction and apology to its readers for the claim.
García was also dissatisfied with reporting on the Dos Bocas refinery in Tabasco, after it was inaugurated by the president. She said it was false that the no oil would be refined there until 2024 and clarified that a testing phase would begin, allowing for full operation in 2023.
García also named her first “expert of the week,” awarding the ironic prize to National Action Party (PAN) Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, who’d gone from refinery enthusiast to critic.
This week, Elizabeth García Vilchis announced a satirical award for an opposition lawmaker. Presidencia de la República
Despite all the newspapers allegedly against his government, the president said he retained his peace of mind. “The truth is I do not hate anyone. I have no enemies, I only have adversaries. I don’t get bitter and my heart will not harden … I try to keep a sense of humor,” he said.
Thursday
The president’s predecessor was the main point of discussion at Thursday’s conference. The head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), Pablo Gómez, announced that former president Enrique Peña Nieto was under investigation. Gómez said the UIF detected a scheme by which Peña had received 26 million pesos (US $1.27 million) through international bank transfers.
The UIF is well-versed in corruption matters: Its previous chief, Santiago Nieto, resigned in November after a lavish wedding in Guatemala caused scandal. Nieto was later put under investigation for acquiring four vehicles and a property worth a combined 40 million pesos (US $1.9 million) while in the post.
Pablo Gómez, chief of the federal Financial Intelligence Unit. Presidencia de la República
Gómez confirmed there was no standing criminal case against former president Felipe Calderón. The UIF head called Tamaulipas Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca “a scandal,” refused to say whether Alito Moreno was under investigation for corruption by the UIF and didn’t rule out an investigation into former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari.
“The government does not have an agenda for persecution of a political nature,” Gómez assured.
Friday
López Obrador reiterated his moral opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but dismissed the notion of any political reaction. “We don’t agree with invasions but we don’t want to participate in international conflicts. We have opted for neutrality,” he said.
“Wars are disastrous because people suffer a lot, and innocent people suffer,” the president added. However, he denied there had been any breakdown in relations with the Russian government.
López Obrador conceded it was likely that U.S. women would arrive at clinics in border cities after new restrictions on abortion in many U.S. states, but he appeared more concerned by the arrival of another group at the border. “He is going too far. It is not up to him to make that decision … it’s up to the U.S. government,” López Obrador said of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who had authorized the return of migrants to the border.
“It’s an aberration, we don’t agree with it … isn’t it in the Bible that we must protect the outsider?” asked the man from Tepetitán, Tabasco.
The plan by Abbott, left, is outside his jurisdiction, says López Obrador.
President López Obrador on Friday described Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s plan to use state security forces to detain illegal immigrants as “vulgar” and “immoral.”
Abbott on Thursday issued an executive order “authorizing and empowering the Texas National Guard and the Texas Department of Public Safety to apprehend illegal immigrants who illegally cross the border between ports of entry and return them to the border,” according to a press release.
“While President Biden refuses to do his job and enforce the immigration laws enacted by Congress, the state of Texas is once again stepping up and taking unprecedented action to protect Americans and secure our southern border,” the governor said.
López Obrador told reporters at his regular news conference that “it is not [Abbott’s] legal responsibility to make that decision” but one of the federal government.
“Even though we are respectful of the sovereignty of other countries, we see that there are anti-immigrant campaigns for electoral purposes. I consider it immoral, political,” he said.
“… Doing this is very vulgar and it doesn’t have a legal foundation because it’s not up to [state authorities],” López Obrador said. “I’m sure that President Biden doesn’t approve … and the State Department is already questioning the measure,” he said.
Abbott’s executive order came less than two week after 51 mainly Mexican migrants perished after being trapped in stifling conditions in a tractor-trailer found abandoned in San Antonio, Texas. The Republican governor is vying to win a third term at an election against Democratic Party candidate Beto O’Rourke in November.
The United States is currently seeing record numbers of migrants arriving at its southern border. There were 1.7 million encounters between United States Customs and Border Protection personnel and migrants in the 2021 U.S. fiscal year, an increase of 77% compared to 2019. In the first seven months of the current fiscal year, encounters were up 73% and had already exceeded numbers for the entire 2019 fiscal year.
The press release issued by Abbott’s office said “the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42 expulsions [to stop the spread of the coronavirus] and the Remain in Mexico policy has led to historic levels of illegal crossings, with 5,000 migrants being apprehended over the July 4th weekend, creating a border crisis that has overrun communities along the border and across Texas.”
López Obrador asserted that the executive order Abbott believes will help address that crisis won’t win him votes among migrants in Texas.
“I don’t believe that the migrants who have … contributed to the construction of that great country, … [including] of course our compatriots will like this anti-immigrant policy, it’s an aberration,” he said.
