On the business end of art: stories of foreign-owned galleries in Mexico

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June 25, 2022

Galeria San Francisco gallery, San Miguel de Allende — 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.

art by Mulege artist Fernando Uriel Ortiz — 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.

Mexico City art incubator owner Michael Swank — 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 Mulege is 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 — KikiMundo gallery in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas.

One is the Ida Victoria Gallery, located in the historic district.

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.

Dress fancy and avoid the clowns: a primer on attending parties in Mexico

By

Sarah DeVries

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June 25, 2022

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baptism party ideas — Even for a baby's baptism, this is the level of party Mexicans often aspire to if they can afford it.

Y’all ever been to a big party here in Mexico? They are no joke.

For officially planned parties for things like birthdays and weddings, people tend to go all out, but even smallish informal get-togethers are usually what I’d consider kind of a big deal. The music is loud, the drinks flow freely and there’s typically no official end-time unless you’ve rented a salón de fiestas (event hall), in which case the party may simply move to a new place once the clock’s run out.

Kids and babies are often in tow, and if there were official invitations sent out, you can expect to see some spectacularly high heels and skintight fancy clothes. There are even party favors!

This past weekend, I attended a large (to me) party for a family member’s first birthday/baptismal party. It occurred to me that I haven’t really written about the full-blown Mexican institution of parties (one-year-old birthday parties could be their own category, actually). So I decided that there’s no time like the present!

Without further ado, here are some things to expect if you’ve been invited to (or just happened to be walking past and get last-minute invited to) a party.

The kind of extravagance you’re likely only used to seeing at weddings is routinely employed for baby and kid parties. First birthday parties, which are also often baptism parties as well since babies tend to be baptized around their first birthday, are especially a Very Big Deal. While in my own country the “party” usually consists of the exhausted parents, a few family members and a cake at home, it’s not uncommon in Mexico to have 50 to 100 or more guests at a catered event in a rented space. Tables and chairs will be decorated in the party colors and feature elaborate centerpieces (which will typically be offered to guests to take home at the end of the night), food and drinks will be served, and there will be a well-decorated mesa de dulces (literally “candy table”) with treats for snacking.

Even if the salón itself is a bit shabby, the decorations will always be on point. The party I went to this past weekend had a Batman theme. This might not sound fancy, but it was: there were black and yellow sequins everywhere and some of the fanciest balloon sculptures I’ve ever seen!

Most parties have a set structure. Initially, a couple of hours pass while the first guests arrive. The ones who went to the church beforehand — typically just family and close friends — are there first. During this period, there are drinks and music (admittedly almost always too loud for my grumpy taste). Platters of snacks are often put on each table for guests to munch on if they want to wait until more people arrive to begin eating.

If it’s a kid’s party, there will almost always be at least a bouncy house or trampoline to ensure that all the children are thoroughly sweaty and dirty by the time they come back to the table. As people finish their meals, the entertainment (often a clown for a kid’s party, perhaps a DJ for an adult’s … more on that in a moment) will begin their performance, which usually involves a lot of audience participation (don’t say I didn’t warn you).

Then, it’s piñata time! I’m not sure why, but I’ve noticed a trend over the past few years of at least two — and up to five — piñatas being brought out. If you’ve got entertainment, they’ll help out with the piñata song before you’re hoarse after singing it 50 times.

After the piñata, there will be pictures in front of the mesa de dulces, the Las Mañanitas birthday song will be sung and then cake will be passed around (pro tip: if the cake is what most excites you about parties, you’ll be waiting for it for, like, four to five hours — at least). After the cake, people will usually start filtering out, party favors in hand.

Party favors! The drinks, the food, the piñata candy — it’s a lot, but it’s not all! In addition to an extra bag of sweets for the children (called an aguinaldo), you may get some extra little goodies as well!

At the party I attended this past weekend, we walked away with two coffee cups, a paper towel dispenser (with a roll of paper towel already in it!), a candle, and (my personal favorite) a lighter, all Batman-themed with the name of the adorable party boy on it. We were also offered the table centerpiece, but the car we would travel back home in was already too full for a giant batman balloon!

Beware of clowns. If you’re at a kid’s party, the entertainment will probably be a clown, and if there aren’t very many kids — because one-year-olds don’t actually have friends — then the clown will focus on the adults.

It’s not that I’m afraid of clowns. But if you’re obviously a foreigner, zeroing in on you can become an important part of their bit throughout the evening, which is something I dread. That said, they’re usually brilliant comics and masters of improv and do provide pretty quality entertainment. But they talk fast, use a lot of wordplay and are often on mics that have about the same level of quality as drive-through menu speakers.

Gifts. Most people bring gifts (often in Liverpool gift bags), but it’s not the biggest faux-pax in the world if you don’t. They’ll be placed on a special table (usually by the mesa de dulces) and are almost always taken home still wrapped up; there’s rarely a “gift-unwrapping” portion of the evening.

I used to think this was strange, but now I appreciate the dynamic of being able to take them home and let my kid open and examine them tranquilamente without me having to profusely thank everyone (and get my kid to do the same during such an overstimulating event) in the moment. And at least for kid parties, thank-you notes shouldn’t be expected; many people don’t even put gift tags or even write “from ____” on the bag!

In case you haven’t figured this out yet: Mexicans are fancy. People, if you don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb, dress up for these things. Men can usually get away with slacks and a button-down shirt with dress shoes, but women are in full hair and makeup, fancy dresses (often tight, short ones) and high heels. So, if you want to look like you belong there at least a little, do not show up in jeans and flip-flops (the exception are the hosts, who often end up changing into “team T-shirts” made especially for the party).

Bedtime? What’s a bedtime? One thing I love about Mexico is that children are always included. “No kids allowed” spaces are few and far between, and getting one’s children home by a certain time isn’t something that most parents worry about.

That is very different from bedtime in the United States, where — at least in my family — it was sacred. Here, the view seems to be that kids will rest when they need rest, and they can always catch up on sleep later.

Extra note on piñatas. Every time I witness a piñata breaking, I feel nervous and often ask myself how many people get sent to the hospital annually after a whack on the head with the stick. As soon as even one piece of candy spills out, adults and children alike nosedive for it, and it becomes a kind of frenzy. There’s often an overlap of this happening while the other person is still swinging, and competition is fierce; if someone isn’t fast enough, then they just don’t get candy — at least not until the party favors are passed out.

So there you have it, folks! There’s a lot to love about parties down here and about a culture that values celebration so much. The world or the country or your relationship may be falling apart, but Mexicans know that celebration is good for the soul, full stop.

I personally believe that the fact that Mexico honors that truth is one of the things that’s making this country — despite some occasional scary stuff — one of the top destinations in the world for tourists these days.

There’s always time and always reasons to be sad. Just be sure to kick your feet up once in a while too!

Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sdevrieswritingandtranslating.com and her Patreon page.

Rice, Plain and Simple

By

Janet Blaser

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June 25, 2022

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Perfectly cooked rice is a joy to eat, a joy to serve and a joy to be able to consistently make yourself. And therein lies the rub: rice is tricky to cook.

Without going too deeply into the science of what rice is, most of us know a grain of rice has multiple layers. Brown rice contains the three most nutritional: the bran, germ and endosperm, which contain fiber, fats, nutrients and starch. (That’s why brown rice is best kept refrigerated — the fats make it less shelf-stable.)

“Regular” white rice is pure starch (only the endosperm) and the three sizes (long-, medium- and short-grain) have different amounts of the two starches that rice naturally contains.

Long-grain rice, like Carolina, Jasmine and Basmati, have just the right ratio of starches to both fluff up and separate the grains — when cooked properly. Shorter-grain rice will be stickier and more glutinous (an example would be sushi rice) — unless it’s precocido, i.e., precooked/parboiled. In that case, the grains are already cooked whole with the endosperm separated afterward, and you’ll get separate, fluffy grains. “Converted” or parboiled rice also cooks more quickly than regular rice.

Salmon bowl — This delicious salmon bowl also means plenty of Omega-3s!

It’s a lot of information, and kind of confusing. I’d wager that most of us, at this point, have a favorite type of rice we cook and maybe a method we swear by.

Put simply, the keys to perfectly cooked rice are rinsing it first, the water to rice ratio and not letting the steam escape. That’s why a rice cooker or Instant Pot makes perfect rice every time.

Mexican cuisine relies heavily on the stickier short-grain rice, but I prefer Basmati, an aromatic long-grain rice popular in Indian cooking. It’s available in Asian food stores, grocery stores and big-box stores like Costco.

My know-it-by-heart recipe uses a ratio of ¼ cup less than twice as much water to rice. So for 1 cup of rice, I use 1¾ cups water. I always rinse the rice till clear (I actually have a special rice strainer that I found in a Chinese store here in Mazatlán) and let it dry before cooking.

I bring the water to a boil, add a pinch of salt, dump in the rinsed rice and bring it to a boil again. Stir once, turn heat to low, cover tightly and cook for 16 minutes. Voilà!

Vanilla-Coconut Rice Pudding (Arroz con Leche de Coco)

½ cup sugar
½ vanilla bean, split and with the seeds scraped OR ½ tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups whole milk, plus extra to adjust consistency
1 cup full-fat coconut milk, shaken to mix
1-1/3 cups cooked long- or medium-grain white rice
1/8 tsp. salt

Combine sugar and scraped vanilla seeds/vanilla extract. in a 3-quart saucepan. Add milk and coconut milk; whisk until sugar is dissolved. Stir in rice and salt.

Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately lower heat to simmer. Cook, stirring and scraping bottom and sides of pot every few minutes with a rubber spatula to prevent sticking and scorching, about 45 minutes, adjusting heat as needed to maintain gentle bubbling until mixture begins to thicken.

Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until pudding thickens to the consistency of yogurt and coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes longer.

Remove from heat. Serve warm or chilled, adding ¼ cup milk if too thick after refrigeration. Top with toasted coconut, fresh fruit or pineapple. — www.seriouseats.com

Coconut chicken — Cashews and coconut milk make this chicken dish nice and creamy.

Sesame Salmon Bowl

¼ cup rice vinegar
3 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt, plus more for seasoning
1½ cups sushi rice (short-grain white rice), rinsed well
1½ pounds skinless salmon fillet, cut into 1-inch cubes
½ tsp. toasted sesame oil
¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
3 Tbsp. white vinegar
2 Tbsp. safflower/canola oil
2 Tbsp. chopped scallions
2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
3 packed cups coleslaw mix (or equivalent made fresh)
1 avocado, sliced

In large saucepan, combine rice vinegar, sugar and salt; stir to dissolve sugar. Add rice and 1¾ cups water; stir. Bring to a boil over high heat; cover and reduce heat to low. Cook until rice is tender and most but not all liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

In small bowl, toss salmon with ¼ tsp. sesame oil. Season with salt. Once rice is tender (after about 20 minutes), arrange salmon in even layer on top of rice. Cover pan and steam over low heat until fish is cooked to medium, 10–12 minutes.

In another small bowl, combine soy sauce, white vinegar, oil, scallions, ginger and remaining sesame oil. Mix well; season with salt.

Scoop salmon and rice into bowls. Top with cucumbers, coleslaw mix and sliced avocado. Drizzle with vinaigrette and serve.

Creamy Coconut Chicken with Rice

Cashews and coconut milk make this something special.

1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each thigh cut into 2 equal-size pieces
¼ cup coconut/olive /neutral oil
2 tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
2 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1½ cups Basmati or other white rice, rinsed until water runs clear
1¾ cups chicken broth
1 (13.5-ounce) can full-fat coconut milk
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into ½-inch pieces
½ cup roasted cashews, coarsely chopped
½-1 medium white onion, minced
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
1½ cups chopped baby bok choy, spinach or other mild green, leafy vegetable

Heat oven to 375 F. (Or use stovetop, see below.) Drizzle chicken with 1Tbsp. oil. Season with salt and pepper.

In large Dutch oven, heat 2 Tbsp. oil. Brown chicken, turning halfway, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Transfer to paper-towel lined plate.

Add remaining 1 Tbsp. oil, ginger and garlic to empty pot. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in rice to coat with oil; add broth, coconut milk, bell pepper, cashews, onions and remaining 1 tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper. Stir well. Arrange chicken on top; bring to a boil over high.

Cover and bake until liquid is absorbed, rice is tender and chicken is cooked through, 25 minutes. (Alternatively, cook, covered, on stovetop over low heat, checking after 15 minutes.) When done, scatter with bok choy; cover and let sit 10–12 minutes till tender-crisp.

Scatter cilantro on top and serve.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. She has lived in Mexico since 2006. You can find her on Facebook.

Taking away the Statue of Liberty: the week at the morning news conferences

By

MND Staff

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June 25, 2022

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The president speaks at his Tuesday press conference. Presidencia de la República

President López Obrador had some banking to do last weekend, opening five branches of the state-owned Banco del Bienestar (Bank of Well-Being) in Morelos, Mexico City and México state. At one inauguration the president donned a Hawaiian-style flower garland, but stopped short of a hula dance.

Monday

The president was in party mood on Monday. He congratulated basketball player Juan José Toscano-Anderson for being the first Mexican to win the NBA finals and couldn’t hide his feelings about another recent victor. “Today we’re going to listen to cumbia. I’m really happy about Gustavo Petro’s triumph,” the president said, referring to the music genre from Colombia and the same country’s newly elected left wing leader.

However, the president’s mood soured on the subject of government collusion with organized crime. “That doesn’t exist in our government. It’s so absent that, to attack us, they make it up … they started making up that the government and I had links to organized crime. They can’t prove anything because we simply have principles and ideals … there’s no evidence,” he insisted.

The tabasqueño‘s winning smile returned at the mention of Petro’s victory, for which he took some credit. “We started a new era in the resurgence of democratic movements with a social dimension in America,” he said of his government, before calling for music: a song by Margarita la Diosa de la Cumbia (Margarita the Goddess of Cumbia), a Colombian-Mexican singer.

In relieving news for viewers, the head of the consumer protection agency Profeco assured that, despite fears, there was no shortage of toilet paper in Mexico. Another point in the country’s favor, the president explained, was the safety of its capital: Mexico City is safer than New York and is one of the safest cities in the world, he assured.

Tuesday

In the health update, the head of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), Zoé Robledo, addressed the country’s shortage of doctors. He said that no applicant had attended an interview for 78% of the 13,765 advertised posts, which appeal for specialists in poorly served, remote areas.

Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) Director Zoé Robledo spoke to the shortage of applicants to be rural doctors. Presidencia de la República

The well-being of Mexicans outside the country was of equal concern to the president. “We are ensuring that there is no mistreatment and that there is no discrimination [against migrants in the U.S.] … we are not going to allow any candidate, any party, for electoral purposes in the United States to use Mexicans … as a piñata. The time of silence is over, because there are very racist groups that used xenophobia, the hatred of foreigners, to get votes,” he said.

Another foreigner is unlikely to be offered the red carpet on arrival to the land of the free: investigative journalist Julian Assange’s extradition to the U.S. was approved by U.K. authorities. The president reiterated his objection to Assange’s imprisonment. “He is a prisoner of conscience. He is being unjustly treated. His crime … was to denounce serious violations of human rights and the interference of the United States government in the internal affairs of other countries … He is the world’s best journalist of our time … This is shameful,” he insisted.

“What about freedoms? Are we going to remove the Statue of Liberty in New York? … I’m going to ask President Biden to address this issue,” the president added of the Assange case, before repeating his asylum offer to the journalist.

Wednesday

The president expressed his condolences for the two Jesuit priests murdered in the Sierra Tarahumara, the rural Chihuahua home of the Rarámuri people. He added both men were around 80 and had been trying to save another man.

Elizabeth García Vilchis, the government’s media monitor, called foul in her “Who’s who in the lies of the week” section. She said the head of a civil organization invented a rape case involving National Guardsmen and insisted social media had been manipulated to promote a “narco narrative” of the president collaborating with cartels.

“As the song says, sometimes customs are stronger than love,” López Obrador said of snail-like reforms of the state oil company Pemex, borrowing words from the much cherished singer Juan Gabriel. He stole another line later in the conference, this time from a 19th century Russian critic, to offer a view on Spanish-Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, an adversary of the president. “Do you think he can write anything worth reading? Imagination and talent are lost when someone gives themselves entirely to lying,” he said, in a barb directed at Vargas Llosa.

Thursday

Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía Berdeja introduces the "Zero Impunity" section, a weekly national security report. — Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía Berdeja introduces the “Zero Impunity” section, a weekly national security report. Presidencia de la República

“Shorty,” “The Egg,” “The Accountant,” “The Cowboy,” “The Cow” and “The Devil” were the colorful names of choice of some of Mexico’s recently arrested criminals, the deputy security minister said. In a plot fitting of a Western, Ricardo Mejía Berdeja added that 5 million pesos (US $250,000) was being offered in the search for a man by the name of “El Chueco” (The Crooked) for the murder of the two priests in Chihuahua.

The president relayed Pope Francis’ reaction to the killings. “I express my sorrow and dismay at the murder in Mexico … of two Jesuits … How many murders in Mexico! Violence does not solve problems, but only increases unnecessary suffering,” the pontifex maximus’ Tweet read.

“We totally agree, because there are still those who think that violence must be confronted with violence, evil with evil,” López Obrador added.

Later in the conference, the president insisted that his adversaries were wrong to challenge his security strategy. “They are defending a failed strategy. They want us to use the full force of the state … an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. That is the essence of conservative thought, that is what led Calderón to declare war,” he said, referring to a former president.

At the close, the president revealed an inspiration for his philosophy on law and order. “With serenity and patience, as Kalimán would say,” he said, in reference to the 1960s Mexican comic hero, an Indian orphan found abandoned in a river — the story goes — dedicated to fighting for justice.

Friday

The president reviewed the work of the Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times on Friday, which he accused of being “very quiet” about the extradition of Assange. He had further advice for the European Union, whose parliament condemned violence against Mexican journalists in a March resolution. “The European Union is accusing us of not respecting freedom of expression and saying that journalists are persecuted … And now with Julian Assange, not a pronouncement, nothing, silence. They act as subordinates to the groups of economic power and political power,” he said.

The tabasqueño also had some constructive criticism for the U.S. Democratic Party later in the conference. He blamed Senator Bob Menendez for preventing the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from attending the Summit of the Americas earlier this month and criticized other Democratic lawmakers for blocking Biden’s infrastructure bill. “President Biden is a good politician and a good human being, but they’re all very abusive, they totally take advantage … hopefully they support the president and support their party. They are leading their party to failure,” López Obrador warned Democrats.

Mexico News Daily

In a tiny Jalisco village, an enormous pre-Hispanic palace is slowly uncovered

By

John Pint

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June 24, 2022

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Ruins of the Palacio de Ocomo in Oconahua, Jalisco — The archaeologists use chalk numbers to remember where each rock of an excavated palace wall goes.

Oconahua is a village hidden away at the western edge of the state of Jalisco. Most of its inhabitants are indigenous people, and Oconahua’s fine tortillas are much appreciated in the region.

Politically, Oconahua might appear to have little importance in modern times, but this was not always the case, say locals. As proof, they’ve always pointed to ruins occupying a big section of the town. “This,” they would say, “is the location of the Palacio de Ocomo [Ocomo Palace].”

When archaeologist Phil Weigand was shown the site in 1958, he was greatly surprised. It appeared to be the remains of a building of monumental proportions, measuring 125 by 125 meters. This ancient building had obviously held great importance for the townspeople, who had been careful never to construct anything on top of it. But what was it?

Weigand speculated that the Palacio de Ocomo might have been a tecpan, a U-shaped building of monumental proportions similar to the Palace of Montezuma buried beneath Mexico City’s zócalo. The Montezuma one was only slightly larger.

Palacio de Ocoma — For centuries, no one but the village of Oconahua’s residents paid attention to this site that rivals the Montezuma palace beneath Mexico City in size.

But all this was pure conjecture. Only by excavating the site could it be determined exactly what lay beneath the surface and what role it played in western Mexico and in local people’s lives.

Digging began in 2009 and is presently in the hands of archaeologists Sean Montgomery Smith Márquez and Samuel Mateo Guadarrama.

“We are now sure that what we have here in Oconahua is clearly part of what we call the Grillo Complex, which covers the period from A.D. 450 to 900 in this part of western Mexico,” Smith told me. “But there was an intermediate period around A.D. 600 [when] the palace was made much bigger. We need to excavate some other spots to get a better idea just what happened around 600.”

“What we have found here in Oconahua,” he added, “is, first of all, the palace, which is enormous and had a great many functions. Then we have what we are calling Residential Unit Number 1, which consists of three buildings around a patio.

Archaeological demonstration at Palacio Ocoma site, Jalisco — Smith explains the substructure of the Ocomo Palace to local students in Oconahua. S.M. Smith

“Studies carried out by the late Michelle Hernández show that this place was a neighborhood center. All this is surrounded by many small dwellings. So the whole place was well-organized, with a main structure, secondary structures and then outlying houses where most people lived.”

After describing the ruins at Oconahua, Smith related the fascinating story of how the people living there today are discovering a direct connection to their ancestors.

“We must not forget,” he says, “that this archaeological site was once inhabited by people. It was people who put those building blocks in place. There were rituals taking place here. There were songs, and there were dances.”

The plazas at Oconahua were designed to hold large numbers of people who gathered together principally for banquets and dances. Since the modern population of Oconahua continues to dance, a project was launched for the purpose of examining the connection between the traditional Oconahua dances of today and the rituals that must have taken place at the Palacio de Ocomo.

dancers in traditional costume in Oconahua, Jalisco — A troupe of dancers, dressed in traditional costumes, gather for a group photo in the center of Oconahua. S.M. Smith

“This kind of project is called community archaeology, and a group of 15 people worked on it, including archaeologists, townspeople and municipal officials,” Smith told me. “It wasn’t something cooked up by us archaeologists, but it was a project of all of us together.”

The group posed questions, did research, made hypotheses and came up with a thesis.

“Together we were able to see the connection between the Oconahua dance and the rituals that must have taken place at the Palacio de Ocomo,” Smith said.

One result of this was the creation of a museum, which was inaugurated on May 22.

Visitors at Ocomo Palace museum — Visitors at the new museum examine a model of what the Ocomo Palace may have looked like in its day.

“This is not a museum housing archaeological pieces,” Smith points out. “It’s a presentation that we archaeologists created together with the Oconahua dancers: a link between the past and the present.”

This is a museum that focuses on culture rather than objects. Its theme is announced at the entrance to the building: danzando por nuestro sustento (dancing for our well-being).

The museum’s purpose is to teach the community, and especially the local youth, about the link between the people who built and used the Palacio de Ocomo over 1,000 years ago and the people who live in Oconahua today.

The museum is long and narrow with giant “posters” covering the walls. Down the center are the costumes worn by the dancers to represent the protagonists of the drama. These protagonists include:

costumes on display at Ocomo Palace museum — Traditional dance costumes are on display at the Ocomo Palace site museum.

La Malinche (Hernán Cortés’ interpreter)
La Mula (The Mule)
Los Nahuales (shapeshifters) or Los Viejos (old men)
La Meca and El Meco (hunters trying to catch The Mule)
Los Capitanos (The Captains, one wearing blue and one wearing pink. They protect La Malinche)

The “posters” hanging on the walls use comic book art techniques to talk about these characters and how they interact. For this story, the team invented a guide: El Teco — a wise, immortal owl that can move forward and backward in time. He narrates the story.

”Over the years,” said Smith, “the details of these ritual dances were being forgotten by the younger generation, and this museum will remedy this. It will restore communication among the grandparents, parents and children and thus restore oral tradition.“

Smith points out that this type of museum can communicate ideas without a great deal of expense. The posters are mobile and could easily be put on display at the cultural centers of nearby communities.

Archaeologist in Oconahua, Jalisco site — An archaeologist prepares a burnt floor for archaeomagnetic dating.

“This type of project is not unique,” he says. “It’s been done in Oaxaca and, in fact, in other countries, such as Brazil, Egypt, England and Australia.”

School groups have already begun to visit the museum.

“Today we had 110 kids in here,” Smith said. “All around the region, they are learning what these Oconahua dances are all about. And the kids come in and they will say, ‘I saw this dance before, but I never knew what this or that character was all about.’ So now it’s the Oconahua kids who are explaining the details to the other ones.”

On occasion, I have watched indigenous ritual dances, and I am always struck by the seriousness and precision of the dancers. What I didn’t realize was that they were telling a story and that the story itself was representative of deeper themes.

ruins at Oconahua, Jalisco — Children visit the ruins under wraps during the rainy season.

Thanks to the Community Museum of Oconahua (and to Teco the Owl’s explanations), I see that the dance is much more than a dance. It is theater. It is part and parcel of humanity’s grand tradition of storytelling, of ballet, of opera, of the Passion Play.

Costumes, dancing and music are combined to tell a story that can be appreciated at a distance by huge crowds of people. It is a visual, physical reinforcement and a complement of oral tradition.

“Oconahua has a history over 2,000 years old,” Smith said. “This pueblo is a cultural paradise.”

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.

U.S. tourist paralyzed in Cancún pool accident

By

Lydia Carey

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June 24, 2022

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Dante Goodwin and Shay Williams. Courtesy of Shay Williams

Dante Goodwin and his girlfriend Shay Williams were vacationing this past week in Cancún when Goodwin suffered an accident that left him with neck and vertebrae injuries causing paralysis in the lower half of his body.

Williams says she didn’t see him go into the pool at their Cancún resort but saw him a few seconds later, floating face down in the water unable to move. A family member pulled him out of the water, his mouth full of blood, and Goodwin told Williams he couldn’t feel his feet and legs.

Goodwin was rushed to a private hospital and then two days later taken to the Jesús Kumate Rodríguez General hospital in Cancún. Family members immediately flew in from the United States fearing the worst, but over the subsequent days in the hospital Goodwin’s condition stabilized enough that they arranged to have him transported back to the United States.

The Goodwin family set up an online GoFund account － which has now raised over US $28,000 － which they hoped would raise enough money to pay for the cost of the hospital care and the medical transport from one country to the other which was expected to have a price tag of anywhere from $27,000 to $60,000.

Goodwin safely traveled to the Miami Memorial Hospital on Wednesday night, a facility known for its spinal treatment center, and is now recovering.

In a social media post, a family member was highly critical of medical care in Cancún comparing the hospital to being in a horror movie. It is still unknown if Goodwin had any kind of health insurance or whether the hotel will be determined to be financially responsible for what happened.

With reports from Por Esto

US to give temporary work visas to 150,000 migrants in Mexico

By

MND Staff

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June 24, 2022

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A migrant caravan gets ready to head north from Tapachula, Chiapas, in November 2021. — A migrant caravan gets ready to leave Tapachula, Chiapas. Ben Wein

The United States will issue 150,000 temporary work visas to Mexicans and migrants currently in Mexico, Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández said Wednesday.

An additional 150,000 visas will go to people in Central American countries, López Hernández said during a visit to Tijuana, Baja California. The interior minister said that a formal announcement about the temporary work scheme will be made during President López Obrador’s visit to the White House next month.

López Obrador has long been pushing for the United States to offer temporary work visas to Central Americans in order to stem illegal migration to the U.S. López Hernández said that the federal government speaks to its U.S. counterpart about migration issues every day.

“Now the president is going to Washington next month and an announcement will be made. The American government agreed to give … 300,000 temporary work visas – 150,000 will be for Mexicans or foreigners who are in Mexico today waiting for the possibility to migrate north,” he said during a meeting with Baja California business leaders.

Huge numbers of migrants from Central America, Caribbean countries such as Haiti and Cuba, South America and even African and Asian nations have entered Mexico in recent years to travel to the northern border in order to seek asylum in the United States or enter that country between official crossing points. Many have found themselves stranded here for months or longer.

López Hernández claimed that the United States’ issuance of temporary work visas “will help us to reduce tension” among migrants stuck in Mexico, many of whom live in dangerous border cities such as Tijuana and Reynosa, Tamaulipas.

He acknowledged that a lot of Mexicans are also forced to migrate due to poverty and a lack of opportunities in their places of origin. “Mexicans and Central Americans don’t migrate for pleasure, they migrate due to necessity,” the minister said.

With reports from Reforma

Climber killed while in restricted area on volcano El Popo

By

Lydia Carey

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June 24, 2022

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Rescuers and climbers descend Popocatépetl in the early morning after the deadly accident, with Iztaccíhuatl volcano in the background. Facebook / Volcan Popocatepetl

One person died and another was seriously injured after five climbers from México state tried to climb to the top of the Popocatépetl volcano on Wednesday.

According to Ana Lucía Hill Mayoral of the Interior Ministry (Segob), the group started out on Wednesday afternoon from the Paso de Cortés in the state of Puebla, a stretch of land between Popocatépetl and its dormant neighbor the volcano Iztaccíhuatl. The group was apparently originally accompanied by a local tour guide who left them at some point during their trek up the volcano as they edged closer to the peak of Popocatépetl, considered dangerous and off-limits to hikers and climbers.

The group had been climbing without the knowledge of local authorities, but radioed in at some point Wednesday evening to inform the México state police that they were at the top of the volcano, which had begun to erupt. They reported that two of members of their group had been injured, and that they feared for their lives.

Search parties were sent out as soon as authorities were alerted, but rescue efforts were complicated by the fact that the climbers were stranded in a 50-meter-deep gully and at an altitude of almost 5,000 meters above sea level. Inclement weather including rain and snow overnight on Thursday also made the rescue slow and difficult.

🆘 Rescatistas en acción 🆘
Esas luces en las faldas del Popocatépetl no son de ovnis.
Se trata del rescate de una pareja que subió al volcán y resultó herida al ser alcanzada por material piroclástico,
La mujer perdió la vida.
Vía: @ALunaSilva.pic.twitter.com/yB0yZvQNJx

— Webcams de México (@webcamsdemexico) June 24, 2022

In a video from Webcams de México, the rescue team’s lamps can be seen descending the volcano.

Popocatépetl is North America’s second highest volcano at almost 5,500 meters above sea level. It is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world thanks to its close proximity to the more than 20 million people in Mexico City’s metropolitan area, and a history of devastating eruptions during its long lifetime. It is also one of the country’s and the continent’s most active volcanoes, spewing smoke and volcanic rock on a regular basis.

Some of that volcanic rock is believed to be what killed the female climber in the group when she was hit with debris as the volcano erupted during their climb. Another climber found by the search parties had been seriously injured with a broken femur and broken ribs by a tool that had punctured his body. He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. The other members of the group have so far been reported as uninjured.

With reports from El Sol de Puebla and Mi Morelia

AMLO’s position on Americas Summit cements LatAm solidarity against US influence

By

Rodrigo Guillot

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June 24, 2022

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President López Obrador in Guatemala during a tour of Central America and the Caribbean.

In 2010, Cuba’s former president Fidel Castro said: “López Obrador will be the person with the most moral and political authority in Mexico when the system collapses and, with it, the empire.” He was referring to Andrés Manuel López Obrador (known as AMLO), president of Mexico and head of the Morena (National Regeneration Movement) political party.

Despite the wide lead he had in all the polls before the elections, López Obrador’s victory in 2018 took almost everyone by surprise. Even the Morena militants remained doubtful for some days, since the dynamics of electoral fraud in Mexican politics had made defeat seem inevitable.

Few of us knew what to expect from Mexico’s new government since AMLO is the first leftist president in our country’s modern political history. The first two years of his term were marked by the absence of any concrete foreign policy, at least publicly.

The theory that the best foreign policy is domestic policy led President López Obrador to concentrate his efforts on trying to solve the larger problems being faced by the Mexican people, as well as dealing with former U.S. president Donald Trump’s aggressive anti-immigration policy that was mainly directed toward the Mexican migrant population entering and already in the United States.

The only noteworthy Mexican public diplomacy initiative undertaken by López Obrador during the first three years of his six-year term was to advocate for the Comprehensive Development Plan for Central America. This plan was developed by El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). President López Obrador’s government began working on the plan from the day he took office.

The initiative addressed both issues, the attacks faced by migrants from Central America in the United States and the real needs of the people who are compelled to migrate to other countries from the region. The structural causes of migration—poverty, inequality and insecurity — framed the discussion by the stakeholders who worked on finalizing the initiative. The plan challenged the U.S. border security doctrine, which treats socioeconomic problems as military problems.

The triumph of Morena in one of Latin America’s largest countries opened a cycle of hope among progressive forces in the region; Latin American leaders and intellectuals have spoken of Mexico as the epicenter of the new progressive wave in the hemisphere. But Morena’s triumph was met by three complexities. First, the difficulties being faced by López Obrador as he has tried to lay the foundations for national development and address the glaring inequalities in the country (10% of Mexicans hold 79% of its wealth); this included a national project to end inequality and discrimination, which would be funded by the revitalization of the oil industry, the nationalization of lithium, and the implementation of various infrastructural works.

Second, because the pandemic accelerated the process of the neoliberal crisis at a global level, including in Mexico, López Obrador has spoken about the need to “end” neoliberalism by 2022 in the country. Third, there has been a renewed aggression by the United States through its blockades and sanctions campaigns against several Latin American countries, including Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. López Obrador’s fourth transformation (4T), which is the name of his political project — referring “to a moment of change in the political system” — has led to disputes with the U.S. government and U.S.-controlled institutions (including the Organization of American States). This is what gradually drew Mexico’s government into a more prominent role in the Americas.

The Joe Biden administration was unable to persuade López Obrador to attend the Los Angeles meeting.

The increase in López Obrador’s activity relating to international diplomacy has been gradual and well-calculated. López Obrador gradually introduced some of these foreign policy matters into the arena of national political debate before he tested the waters in the region with them. Each morning he holds a press conference, where many of these ideas are first introduced. López Obrador’s commitment to building a revolution of conscience has transformed Mexican diplomacy into a public phenomenon.

Before López Obrador, foreign policy matters were discussed behind closed doors. Now, López Obrador uses his press conference to provide the public with the historical and political reasons for Mexico’s position on, for instance, the U.S. blockade of Cuba and its economic war against Venezuela, the violent anti-immigrant policy of the United States and the war between Russia and Ukraine. Because López Obrador has tried to explain the reasons for the diplomatic decisions taken by Mexico regarding various global matters, it has helped build a consensus among large sections of the population for these decisions, including the most recent decision taken by him to not attend the Summit of the Americas.

United States President Joe Biden announced in January that the United States and the Organization of American States (OAS) would host the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles from June 6 to June 10. López Obrador toured Central America and the Caribbean, which ended in Cuba, before the summit. During the tour, López Obrador developed Mexico’s position on the summit.

This viewpoint was also apparent earlier when Mexico hosted the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit in September 2021, where Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were able to participate — unlike during the Summit of the Americas where these countries were banned from attending the event. At that 2021 summit, López Obrador proposed to shut down the OAS and replace it with “a block like the European Union,” such as CELAC.

Before the Summit of the Americas began, López Obrador announced that Mexico would not attend it because of two principles of Mexican foreign policy: First, the United States’ decision to not invite Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela violated the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other countries. Second, the principle of legal equality of all countries should allow all people to be represented at the international level through their governments. López Obrador’s decision to withdraw from the summit surprised both Washington and Latin American capitals; his decision was followed by both Bolivia and Honduras and was backed up by countries such as Argentina.

Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, meanwhile, tried to negotiate to ensure the presence of the Mexican president at the summit, but without any success. The hegemony of the OAS had begun to decline after the CELAC summit in 2021 but seems to have reached its end with these latest developments during the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.

But the more important outcome of the summit was the reaction of the different Latin American leaders who joined Mexico’s show of dignity and displayed the strength of popular power and assumed positions of support for a new form of regional organization, which does not require the support of the United States. The general mood in Latin America is that the U.S. should not waste its time interfering south of its border but should, instead, spend its energy trying to resolve its cascading internal crises.

This article was produced by Globetrotter. Rodrigo Guillot works in the International Department of the Instituto Nacional de Formación Política (INFP), the political education institute of Mexico’s Morena. He is a student at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. Find him on Twitter @RodrigoGuillot.

Central bank raises interest rate to 7.7%, biggest increase since 2008

By

MND Staff

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June 24, 2022

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Mexican pesos — Steady remittances from the U.S. and nearshoring have been highlighted as some of the reasons for the currency's appreciation against the U.S. dollar. (Stock image)

The central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 7.75%, the highest level since late 2019.

It was the first time since the introduction of a new monetary policy regime in 2008 that the Bank of México (Banxico) lifted its key rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. The decision, made at the governing board’s meeting on Thursday, followed 0.5% hikes at each of the previous four meetings. Banxico has now lifted rates at nine consecutive meetings.

In a statement, the bank noted that in the first half of June, headline and core inflation reached 7.88% and 7.47%, respectively, “remaining at elevated levels unseen in two decades.”

In addition to inflationary shocks stemming from the pandemic, Banxico said there were inflationary pressures associated with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and strict lockdown measures imposed by China to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

In consideration of “the magnitude and diversity of the shocks that have affected inflation” and “the increasing challenges for monetary policy stemming from the ongoing tightening of global financial conditions,” among other factors, the board decided unanimously to raise the target for the overnight interbank rate by 75 basis points.

The bank said the board intends to continue raising the reference rate, foreshadowing another 0.75% hike if required by economic conditions.

Janneth Quiroz, deputy director of economic analysis at the Monex financial group, and Adrián Muñiz, who holds the same position at the brokerage firm Vector, both said that another 0.75% hike rate, or even a 100-basis-point one, is not out of the question in the near future. The bank’s future decisions will depend on inflation levels and monetary policy in the United States, they said.

The central bank predicted that headline inflation, which doesn’t strip out volatile food and energy prices, will increase to 8.1% in the third quarter before falling to 7.5% in Q4. It forecasts further declines in all four quarters of next year, with an anticipated headline rate of 3.2% at the end of next year and 3.1% in Q2 of 2024. Banxico targets 3% annual inflation with tolerance of 1% in both directions

With reports from Reforma and El Universal