The head of the Nuevo León Fuerza Civil police said the attack wasn't directed against the state government, but rather was "a direct attack on the Fuerza Civil." Fuerza Civil
Six police officers were killed and three more were injured in an ambush in Nuevo León on Sunday.
A convoy of 10 armored pickup trucks attacked the state’s Fuerza Civil police unit in Anáhuac, 200 kilometers north of Monterrey near the Tamaulipas border.
The head of the Fuerza Civil in Nuevo León, Gerardo Palacios Pámanes, said the attack was part of a long running battle against a criminal group. “This is not an attack on the state of Nuevo León, but a direct attack on the Fuerza Civil … we had 14 clashes against them and in all of them we’d won … we will continue,” Palacios said.
Palacios added that one of the three injured officers had been discharged from hospital, while the other two were receiving medical attention, but he confirmed their lives were not at risk.
The Fuerza Civil said in a statement that it “reiterates its commitment to protect citizens in Nuevo León and commits to ensuring these acts do not go unpunished.”
Governor Samuel García also emphasized that those responsible would be punished. “My condolences to the families of our colleagues. The full weight of the law will be applied to those responsible for this regrettable act. Right now, all of Nuevo León is with our Fuerza Civil,” García wrote on Twitter.
In his regular morning news conference on Monday, President López Obrador said the group responsible for the attack had been identified and added that they had previously been active in the area.
Members of the Motonetos detain two police officers in Chiapas a year ago.
The southern state of Chiapas has been plagued by violence in recent months, carried out by a type of criminal group not usually associated with Mexico: a motorcycle gang.
On June 14, videos circulated on social media of clashes between heavily-armed men in San Cristóbal de las Casas, a major city in the southern state. Two groups exchanged fire as they reportedly sought to control a local market, which has also turned into a distribution point for “illegal merchandise,” according to the local news organization Chiapas Paralelo.
At least one person was reported to have been killed during the shootout, which lasted several hours and forced residents to seek shelter in their homes and shops. Several roads were blocked and a number of cars were burned. The police and National Guard allegedly only arrived on the scene after the gangs had left, according to local media reports.
Several vendors in the market, according to an investigation by El País, named the group behind the violence as the Motonetos (Scooters). One expert stated that the group’s members largely came from the indigenous Tzotzil community. “Those who call themselves the Motonetos are children of … displaced Tzotzil [living] in the poorest outskirts of the city,” Marina Page, coordinator of Sipaz, a human rights non-profit working in Chiapas, told El País.
This was not the only recent incident attributed to the Motonetos. On June 17, a group of hooded gunmen opened fire on police and overturned a trailer along a main road in the town of Oxchuc, 50 kilometers east of San Cristóbal. Local media reports alleged this was carried out by the same gang.
InSight Crime analysis
The Motonetos are a unique type of criminal group in Mexico, allegedly recruiting heavily from local indigenous communities, profiting from local criminal economies and acting as a link to larger criminal players.
The group obtained its name through its members’ mode of transportation, traveling by motorcycle and scooter with armed passengers riding behind the drivers. The Motonetos have been blamed for a slew of crimes, including kidnapping and murder, among others.
However, according to Carlos Rafael Coutiñ, a local journalist, the Motonetos mainly draw their income from local drug trafficking, control of prostitution and the production and sale of what has become known as “ethno-pornography.” This type of pornography, according to a BBC report, exclusively features people from indigenous communities and is often created via coercion and blackmail.
Coutiñ told InSight Crime that the violence in San Cristóbal de las Casas was due to a split between two Motonetos leaders, who were fighting for control of the market to sell this pornographic material, as well as drugs.
Coutiñ added that the Motonetos came from the Tzotzil community in San Juan Chamula, just north of San Cristóbal. He stated that they had also in the past been referred to as the San Juan Chamula Cartel.
Chiapas consistently ranks as the poorest state in Mexico, with its indigenous communities having been particularly disadvantaged due to a long history of marginalization.
However, Coutiñ dismissed the idea that the Motonetos were simply a motorcycle gang made up of impoverished youths with nothing to do. According to him, while the group has no formal alliances to larger cartels, they have regularly been recruited by groups such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel to aid in drug trafficking operations.
Additionally, he warned that the Motonetos wielded large influence in local politics. The shootout in San Cristóbal de las Casas was “nothing out of the ordinary.”
“This is an everyday occurrence,” he said.
Reprinted from InSight Crime. Peter Appleby is a writer with InSight Crime, a foundation dedicated to the study of organized crime.
Volunteers at work in the chapel. Yo Restauro Patrimonio
Restoring a 16th century chapel in southern Puebla that partially collapsed in an earthquake is the goal of a team of volunteers that that has been working on the project for the past month.
The vault and arches of the so-called Capilla Enterrada (Buried Chapel) collapsed during an earthquake in the 1970s. It has remained closed ever since.
But in late May a team of archaeologists, restorers, architects, historians and others began the arduous task of restoring the chapel to its former glory – and the first stage of the project has now concluded.
Located within the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve – a UNESCO World Heritage site – in the municipality of Zapotitlán, the Capilla Enterrada is now in a much better state than it was a month ago, although there is still plenty more work to do.
Volunteers inside the Capilla Enterrada. Facebook / Capilla Enterada Restauración
Led by the restorer Norma García, the volunteer team has removed rubble from the chapel, disinfected it and carried out work to strengthen the structure. It has also begun the restoration of the murals on the chapel’s walls and installed mesh to prevent birds and bats entering via a previously-installed provisional door that was removed.
The second stage of the project, which will entail additional reinforcement work, will begin at a later, as yet unspecified date. Members of the specialist team are looking at historical images of the chapel that will help them restore elements of the structure that have been lost, the newspaper Reforma reported.
García – founder of Yo Restauro Patrimonio (I Restore Heritage), a civil society association dedicated to raising funds for restoration projects – said the chapel’s function as a religious location will be recovered once the restoration work concludes. Before its partial collapse, the chapel – located about eight kilometers northeast of the town of Zapotitlán Salinas – was frequented by people participating in religious processions, especially during Holy Week. Centuries ago, it gave shelter to people traversing a colonial area trade route.
After it was built in the 16th century, the structure was initially used as a storehouse for salt, which continues to be mined in the area. It subsequently became a chapel replete with murals that were painted in the 16th century on the instructions of a Spaniard who owned the land on which it was built. It was repainted with new religious scenes in the 19th and 20th centuries, said Jesús Joel Peña, a historian who carried out an iconographic analysis of the murals.
Project leaders pose outside the entrance of the chapel. Facebook / Capilla Enterada Restauración
While the members of the expert team are donating their time, the restoration project – which is endorsed by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) – has received financial and material support from private companies including Oxical, a supplier of restoration and conservation materials.
Local authorities have also supported the project, but Yo Restauro Patrimonio is nevertheless seeking additional donations of money and materials as well as more volunteers. García told Reforma that the project could be finished within three years if all the required support is found. Allowing the local community to use the chapel is crucial to ensuring its long-term survival once the current conservation efforts have concluded, she added.
“It will be hard to maintain a building that has been restored if it doesn’t have a function within the community – it doesn’t matter if you’ve invested millions of pesos,” García said. “In this case, the [local] people really value it and once some of its religious functions resume, [there will be] all the more reason for it to be preserved,” she said.
Some of the drug-laced goodies that were found in a suitcase.
A suitcase crammed with cannabis-laced cookies, gummies and Cheetos — along with more than 100 doses of cocaine and methamphetamine — was discovered last week in Atoyac, Jalisco.
The Attorney General’s Office in Jalisco announced the seizure, which occurred on June 23 when Mexican army soldiers were conducting a surveillance operation at an intersection in the municipality.
The suitcase apparently belonged to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) because some of the packaging included the criminal group’s insignia and the letters “CJNG,” according to media reports.
The plastic packages inside a suitcase included 1.24 kilograms of cannabis cookies, 3.65 kilograms of cannabis gummies, 700 grams of Cheetos Crunchy with a cannabis derivative, 290 grams of candy that contained marijuana, an indefinite number of marijuana joints, and 137 doses of cocaine and meth. Also found was 3.74 kilograms of narcotics in packages with labels such as Medicated Rice Krispies Bar, Weed Tarts, Gello gelatin, Original Skittles, Froot Loops Krispie Bar, Purple Punch and Green Crack.
The contraband will remain in the hands of drug specialists in the Attorney General’s Office while they analyze the content and chemical composition of the products.
No arrests were made, officials said shortly after the “narco suitcase” was found, but an investigation has been started. There was concern because the labels and packaging found normally go on products that are consumed by children and teens.
The municipality of Atoyac, Jalisco, is on the shores of the Laguna de Sayula about 25 kilometers from Lake Chapala and 155 kilometers south of Guadalajara.
Participating artists pose on the stairs up Remedios Hill. Facebook / IMJ Durango
Durango city has been given a makeover after urban artists painted murals in a competition backed by the municipal government. The City Graff competition saw murals painted on the stairs of one of the city’s main viewing points, Remedios Hill, among other locations, and was organized by the city’s Municipal Youth Institute (IMJ).
There were 100,000 pesos’ (US $5,000) worth of prizes split between five artists, whose works were judged for their originality, detail, realism and accuracy. Artist Mario Luna took the first prize. On one part of the vibrantly painted stairs of Remedios Hill, an artist left a message in large white capitalized letters: “Art isn’t just in museums.”
The municipal government has long supported street art: 288 new works have been painted on the walls of the city across 4,669 square meters during the current administration, Mayor Jorge Salum del Palacio said.
“With the rescue of emblematic places such as these stairs, we also give a space to artists to channel their concerns with proactive messages,” Salum said from the stairs of Remedios Hill during the awards ceremony.
Durango’s new ‘aerial museum,’ visible from city’s cable car system.
The director of the Durango IMJ, Rosina García, said that street art is a positive way for young people to avoid antisocial behavior and to maintain their mental health, which she added was particularly important due to the damaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mayor visited another project promoting urban art in the city on Sunday. Salum took the city’s cable car to see the project “Cielos de Leyenda,” or Skies of Legend, from above. The project, being described as an “aerial museum,” will present 10 large scale visual representations of local myths and legends on the roofs of buildings. The fourth work has now been completed which tells the story of “The First Man,” a myth in which a diminutive figure fights against the sun to stop mankind’s creation.
Marifer De Regil, a Puebla Classical Ballet Company dancer, in Callejón de los Sapos, Puebla. Bardo Cardona / Compañía de Ballet Clásico Puebla
The first edition of an international ballet festival will come to Puebla city next month.
The Puebla International Festival of Classical Ballet (Festival Internacional de Ballet Clásico de Puebla) will see Mexican ballerinas perform alongside others from the United States, Japan, Cuba and Chile. The dancers will exhibit their talents in the city’s Teatro Principal from July 11-16.
The festival is being run by the Puebla Classical Ballet Company (Compañía de Ballet Clásico de Puebla) and will include free events, conferences and master classes. The classes will be taught from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during each day of the festival and will include classical ballet, physical conditioning, classical repertoire, contemporary dance and jazz, among other dance styles.
There will be five conferences on the themes of nutrition, injury prevention, sport psychology, business administration for dance and a conference on “How to avoid self-sabotage.”
A free performance will take place at the Teatro Principal on July 15 at 8:30 p.m. and the closing gala will be on July 16 at 6 p.m. The gala will feature international dancers including Cuban-born American Rolando Sarabia, who won the coveted Benois de la Danse prize in 2011.
Five scholarships will be awarded to young ballet dancers to continue their training in the United States and Europe and 10 scholarships will be given to budding ballerinas to attend national congresses and competitions.
Tickets for the closing gala start at 316 pesos (US $16) and can be purchased here.
Guadalajara Archbishop José Francisco Robles Ortega urged greater security for residents of the region. Facebook
Crime bosses in northern Jalisco only allow patron saints’ festivals to go ahead if parish priests agree to give them half the proceeds, according to the archbishop of Guadalajara.
“In order to celebrate the patronal festival – the town fair in other words – all the parishes in the area have to obtain the permission of the plaza chief. The plaza chief authorizes the priest to hold the patronal festival but he has to … [hand over] 50% of the festival revenue,” Cardinal José Francisco Robles Ortega said.
The archbishop, a cardinal since 2007, also revealed that he was stopped and interrogated by criminals last week.
“I went to the north of the state, to the border area with Zacatecas precisely, and I was stoped at two roadblocks, and they’re obviously organized crime roadblocks,” Robles said. “They demand you say where you’re coming from, where you’re going, what your job is, what you’re doing,” he said.
Zacatecas Bishop Sigifredo Noriega Barceló speaks with worshipers. NTR Zacatecas
Robles noted that Zacatecas Bishop Sigifredo Noriega Barceló had the same experience while in northern Jalisco last week. While such occurrences are common in that part of Jalisco – the home state of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) – they are not incidents “we should grow accustomed to,” the archbishop said.
Noriega told reporters he was stopped by armed men last Thursday while on his way to visit communities in Jalisco that are part of his diocese.
“We were going from Huejuquilla to Tenzompa,” he said. “… What struck me was that it wasn’t the National Guard or the army [who stopped us]. They were people from one of the crime groups,” Noriega said.
He added that it was the first time he had encountered an organized crime checkpoint, an experience that frightened him.
“Of course fear is present. We take the [safety] measures that everyone takes [but] there’s no special protection [for bishops],” Noriega said, speaking just days after two priests were murdered in the Sierra Tarahumara region of Chihuahua.
His daunting experience occurred in the municipality of Huejuquilla El Alto – where eight state police officers were detained by armed civilians last November – while the organized crime roadblocks Robles encountered were in Totatiche and Villa Guerrero. All three municipalities border Zacatecas, one of Mexico’s most violent states.
“What I say is why?” said the cardinal. “With what authority does an organized crime group block you, stop you and investigate you?”
Echoing a call from the Jalisco State Human Rights Commission (CEDHJ), Robles urged authorities to provide greater security to the residents of northern Jalisco. The CEDJH last week called on all three levels of government to ramp up security due to the presence of rival criminal groups, namely the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel.
As director of Morelia, Michoacán’s Hogar Irekani orphanage, Sandra Martínez is always looking for opportunities and experiences for her 26 young charges.
Children end up in Sandra Martínez Mendoza’s care for a variety of reasons.
As director of Hogar Irekani orphanage in Morelia, Michoacán, she’s seen kids that have experienced abuse, neglect, poverty and their caregivers’ deaths.
The stories are as endless as they are heartbreaking: the three young children found tied all night at the orphanage door when the staff opened it to get the daily bread; the young girl abandoned by her parents because of her disfigured face; the baby rescued from her mother by the DIF family agency because the mother was suffering both mental illness and abuse from her husband.
Children who arrive at Hogar Irekani are rarely adopted, although Martínez told me about one 12-year-old boy who was adopted a year ago by an older childless couple with great success.
Older children learn work skills by staffing the orphanage’s new Taco Verde restaurant.
But for a pair of brothers in her care, the process hasn’t been successful: both were adopted and returned twice from their adoptive homes. Not surprisingly, Martínez says, the double trauma of being rejected twice has taken its toll.
Martínez began her childcare career 20 years ago, first as a worker in another orphanage in Morelia. She worked her way up the ladder to become its administrator.
Although she left there when the new director’s style differed from hers, Martínez knew that working with children was her destiny.
“It was through the children that I found my God,” she says.
Her search for a purposeful life led her to open Hogar Irekani. “Irekani” in Purépecha means “to live.”
Martínez began with 12 children nearly nine years ago, several of whom were children from her previous orphanage who were expelled for various reasons. She also took in kids from Morelia and Zihuatanejo.
Today, the orphanage has swelled to capacity, with 26 children whose ages range from 14 months to 26 years,
As the numbers have grown, so have the challenges.
“It takes 60,000 pesos to run the orphanage every month, of which US $2,000 [about 40,000 pesos] come from the El Buen Pastor Fund in Washington D.C.,” Martínez explains. The fund provides recipients with basic needs like nutrition, clothing and shoes and medical and dental care, plus school uniforms and enrichment opportunities.
But although the donations help, it is still not enough to provide for the children. And so, after she had a chance to visit a vegan restaurant in another city where she tasted this food for the first time, Martínez got an idea and opened a vegan taco stand at the orphanage on the weekends.
Taco Verde, which opened in April, has been so successful that it’s expanded to a full-service restaurant that operates from Monday through Saturday.
A professional cook and Martínez oversee the restaurant, which the children run, giving them training in many life skills such as handling money, budgeting, serving customers and making wise purchases. They also learn many practical life skills such as cleaning and cooking.
Having a good time while waiting for a meal at the orphanage’s vegan restaurant, Taco Verde.
The restaurant has also inspired some of the young residents: three of them were inspired to start their own smoothie business within the restaurant, buying all the ingredients and keeping whatever profits they make.
The venture’s been successful enough that Martínez decided it was time to open a second location for the orphanage and keep the old building for their blossoming business.
The new orphanage, located about five minutes away, is lovely and bright, with two dormitories for the girls, arranged according to age, and one for the boys.
The new site’s kitchen is a cook’s dream come true, and the dining rooms can serve all occupants simultaneously, although food is sometimes doled out in shifts due to school schedules. There’s a well-stocked library with a study area, a cozy TV room and a space in the courtyard to play.
Despite these sorts of challenges, there are precious moments and memories to be made at Hogar Irekani, thanks to Martínez’s inventiveness and the generosity of people like donor Jim Conahan. Each year, Conahan and other owners of the BayView Grande Resort in Ixtapa gift the use of their condos for a full week in July so that all 28 residents can go on a vacation together, all expenses paid.
Other experiences that Martínez has arranged include a recent “princess” event in Morelia, where girls got to dress up in style and attend a special dinner with escorts.
Martínez is always looking for opportunities like these to enrich the children’s lives or to make the orphanage more viable. Her future ideas include a possible bed and breakfast or hostel in the old building, where the restaurant is currently located.
Martínez also wants to build a two-story dormitory for boys. which would cost at least 200,000 pesos. The site is already running out of space and has had to turn boys away.
The restaurant venture will hopefully help the orphanage cover expenses, but raising funds and sponsors is a priority now, Mendoza says, as needs continue to arise.
To donate to Hogar Irekani and receive a charitable tax receipt, contact the El Buen Pastor Fund at [email protected] or send a check to El Buen Pastor Fund, P.S. Box 6, Custer WA 98240. You can also call Sandra Martínez at 443-688-4106 or 443-166-5807, email her or visit the orphanage at Amado Nervo #260, Colonia Otera, Morelia, Michoacán.
The writer divides her time between Canada and Zihuatanejo.
Land cleared for the Maya Train near Playa del Carmen.
The federal Environment Ministry (Semarnat) has approved the environmental impact statement (EIS) for the southern section of the Quintana Roo stretch of the Maya Train railroad, determining that the project is “environmentally feasible.”
Conditional approval of the more than 6,000-page EIS for the controversial Playa del Carmen-Tulum section (Tramo 5 Sur) was granted in just 36 days after being submitted to Semarnat by the National Tourism Promotion Fund (Fonatur) in mid-May.
A federal judge last month issued a definitive suspension order against construction of the 67.6-kilometer section — part of the longer Cancún-Tulum stretch — due to the absence of an authorized EIS, but that ruling now looks set to be overturned. Fonatur, which is managing the US $10 billion, 1,500-kilometer Maya Train project, has already applied for the revocation of the definitive suspension order, but the resumption of work on Tramo 5 Sur — stalled since mid-May — could still be delayed by four provisional suspension orders.
There is considerable opposition to the Playa del Carmen-Tulum section because it will run through jungle and over subterranean rivers and cenotes (natural sinkholes). The definitive suspension decision followed the granting of a provisional suspension order due to the “imminent risk” of “irreversible damage” to the Mayan jungle, caves, subterranean rivers and cenotes, and the absence of environmental studies and permits.
There are seven sections of the planned railroad, which stretches from the state of Chiapas to Quintana Roo and the state of Yucatán.
While Semarnat’s approval of the EIS is conditional, the conditions or restrictions imposed on the construction of Tramo 5 Sur — to be built by a subsidiary of the Grupo México conglomerate — have not been made public.
The EIS acknowledged that 485 hectares of jungle and land covered by secondary vegetation will be affected and described the impact as “critical.” It also envisaged “severe adverse” impacts to the habitat, the scenic quality of the landscape and natural sites and monuments. However, the negative impacts identified are “remediable,” the EIS said.
In a document submitted to Semarnat earlier this month, Greenpeace and the Center for Biological Diversity asserted that the EIS was invalid because it was published after work on Tramo 5 Sur began. The environmental organizations also said that the EIS had “a great number of omissions [and] imprecisions” and even “false information” about the limestone soils in Quintana Roo.
Its rapid approval is no surprise given that the Maya Train is one of the pet projects of President López Obrador, who asserts that the railroad will spur social and economic development in what he describes as Mexico’s long-neglected southeast.
Environment Minister María Luisa Albores acknowledged early last month that four sections of the train — including section 5 — didn’t have definitive environmental approval, but explained that their construction had been able to proceed thanks to a presidential decree issued in November.
López Obrador in late May claimed that the Mérida-based judge who issued the definitive suspension order against Tramo 5 Sur had failed to take into account that the decree, which established the government’s infrastructure projects as matters of public interest and national security, allowed them to proceed with only provisional approval.
The president has pledged that the railroad — on which tourist, commuter and freight trains will run through Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas — will begin operations in 2023, but two people working on the ambitious project claimed earlier this month that the it won’t be finished while the current federal government is in office, if at all.
Expat Susan Santiago's Galería San Francisco art gallery in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, both sells art and gives community art classes.
What is it about Mexico that brings out talent and appreciation for art? For the last 100 years, foreigners have flocked here to develop a latent appreciation for art or even find one to begin with.
Art galleries abound in Mexico. The number-one art market, unsurprisingly, is Mexico City, but in second place is San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, powered by its expat population and tourism. Often these galleries speak English, a plus if your Spanish is not up to the specialized art vocabulary.
Some foreigners have decided to indulge their passion for art by starting art galleries. Their organization and business strategies can vary quite a bit, but they all have one thing in common: they are enthralled by the artists they have found here, sometimes including themselves.
If there is such a thing as a “classic” art gallery for foreigners in Mexico, Susan Santiago’s Galeria San Francisco in San Miguel de Allende might be it.
Acrylic painting by local Mulegé artist Fernando Uriel Ortíz, supported by Richard Carr.
Santiago was an art teacher for 30 years before coming to San Miguel in 2011. Retirement allowed her to shift her time not only to painting but to starting an art gallery.
Her gallery is in the Fabrica Aurora, a major commercial and cultural hub in the city where several art galleries are located. This allows her to offer classes and more.
Her gallery is “foreign” in two senses — most of her artists are foreign-born and so are most of her buyers. Most of the works are figurative, even folkloric, which appeals to foreign buyers more so than Mexican ones, who tend to prefer more modern and abstract work.
Growing expat populations in other locations have encouraged more folks to take a chance on opening a gallery. Carl Boudreaux and his wife Paula decided to do just that in the port of Progreso, Yucatán, which had no such gallery before they created the House of Bourdeaux.
Carl hopes to sell some of his own work, of course, but his main inspiration is the abundance of undiscovered talent on the peninsula, along with the growing number of people who come here to live, winter and even visit on cruise ships.
Mexico City supports more specialized and avant-garde work. Mexican gallery owners are indeed international and cultured, but foreign entrepreneurs can find niches here as well.
After a couple of false starts, Michael Swank came in 2017 to live in the capital permanently. Since then, he has gotten creative to make this decision work economically, starting with renting rooms on Airbnb, then by providing specialized support for artists looking to reside in Mexico temporarily.
He has hit his stride with the founding of PRPG, an art community incubator that supports Mexican and international artists, especially LGBT+ ones with exhibitions, residencies, specialized feedback and cultural events.
Michael Swank came in 2017 to Mexico and opened PRPG, an art community incubator in Mexico City.
Swank takes advantage of both technology and his knowledge of the market in the United States, partnering with ARTSY and Dab Art Co., online businesses that connect artists, galleries and collectors. Much of Swank’s work is related to the LGBT+ community but is not exclusive to it. His work has attracted the attention of the Mexico City Culture Ministry and others.
Almost by definition, working artists are entrepreneurs, in that they cannot wait around for someone to discover and market them. One obvious answer is to create a gallery that focuses on one’s own work, but this is the most difficult to make successful. But artist and designer Kiki Suárez manages to do this by adding a unique twist at KikiMundo.
Her highly stylized, colorful drawings lend themselves well to everyday items and small collectibles. Her store in the tourist zone of San Cristóbal, Chiapas, has been a thriving business for some time, getting a boost from the establishment of a cafe and restaurant next door.
“Gallery” does not always mean a sophisticated building in an upscale neighborhood. Richard Carr’s Artistas de Mulegeis a community-driven effort in Mulegé, Baja California Sur.
It began in 2017 to provide monthly sales opportunities for both local artists and artisans, whose work includes painting, recycled tire sculpture, glasswork and various crafts. Most of its work is done monthly under the Highway 1 bridge, which may seem strange until you realize that large quantities of shade are important in the desert, so the location is actually a popular community gathering place.
They have since negotiated using the ample wall space at the KM 128 Road Café in town to display works for sale. But their dedication to “the bridge” is shown by community murals the organization painted on five of the bridge’s supporting columns in 2021.
Even by narrowing the focus to foreign-owned galleries, there are far more out there than can be covered here. One of the better ways to find good art galleries in your corner of Mexico is through social media.
The group Talk Baja on Facebook, for example, was particularly helpful for finding galleries in San José del Cabo. Here are two of a number of suggestions I got for where to look.
KikiMundo gallery in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.
It also has an in-house custom framing studio. The Pez Gordo Gallery is the brainchild of Dana Lieb, as is the popular art walk now held in downtown San José de Cabo.
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.
