A visualization of the Palais development in Tulum.
An apartment on the Riviera Maya in Quintana Roo has been sold using Bitcoin, making it the first ever property sale of its kind in Mexico.
A woman from Peru spent 5.78 Bitcoin, equivalent to US $248,000, to put her name on the property.
The apartment is in the Palais complex in Tulum, which is 80% built. The luxurious two bedroom apartments are marketed as condos: the most expensive is valued at $332,770, which is a 150-square-meter rooftop apartment.
The real estate agent in the deal, La Haus, announced in November 2021 that it would accept Bitcoin for properties in Colombia and Mexico to attract international buyers.
Jehudi Castro from La Haus’ Innovation and Future department said the new payment method relieved obstacles. “One of the aspects that most enticed us when it came to incorporating this payment method, in addition to the ease it represents, was the possibility of breaking geographical barriers,” he said.
Jonathan Cuan, the founder of Palais’ property developer, Rivieralty, said cryptocurrency could help attract more international buyers to Mexico. “We were really interested in opening our developments to cryptocurrencies … since 50% of our clients are foreigners. That way we can simplify the process of investing in Mexico. La Haus’ integrated solution solved all the technical and legal issues for us,” he said.
The first Bitcoin real estate transaction in Mexico was for commercial premises sold by La Haus in Tulum.
La Haus was founded in 2017 by Jerónimo and Tomás Uribe, sons of former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe. They expect to soon broker Bitcoin sales for properties in Colombia.
Luis Echeverría, a controversial and widely-despised president who ruled Mexico during the country’s “dirty war,” turns 100 on Monday, becoming the first Mexican president to reach triple figures.
President for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) from 1970 to 1976 and interior minister for seven years before that, Echeverría was born in Mexico City on January 17, 1922.
The bespectacled former leader, who now lives in Cuernavaca, planned to mark Monday’s milestone with a celebration on video conferencing platform Zoom with approximately 30 friends, family members and former collaborators, the newspaper Reforma reported.
Echeverría, born less than two years after the end of the Mexican Revolution, studied law at university and started working for the PRI – Mexico’s once omnipotent party – in 1946. He was a deputy interior minister by the late 1950s and became interior minister at the tail end of Adolfo López Mateos’ 1958-64 presidency.
Echeverría stayed on as interior minister when Gustavo Díaz Ordaz assumed the presidency in late 1964 and remained in the position until November 1969.
His position in the Díaz government – interior minister is generally considered Mexico’s second highest office – implicated him in the 1968 massacre of students in the Mexico City neighborhood of Tlatelolco, perpetrated by the armed forces just 10 days before the start of the Summer Olympics in the Mexican capital.
The massacre, in which an estimated 350 to 400 students were killed, is considered part of the Mexican Dirty War, an internal conflict from the 1960s to the 1980s in which successive PRI governments violently repressed left-wing student and guerrilla groups.
State-sponsored violence continued with Echeverría at the helm of the federal government, most notably with the 1971 Corpus Christi massacre in Mexico City, briefly depicted in the award-winning 2018 film Roma.
An estimated 100 to 200 students, some in their early teens, were killed in the massacre known as El Halconazo, or the Hawk Strike, because it was perpetrated by a government-trained paramilitary group called Los Halcones.
Echeverría attempted to distance himself from the violence and enforced disappearances that marked both Díaz’s government and his own administration, but he was unable to escape the attention of a special prosecutor’s office established during the 2000-2006 Vicente Fox presidency to investigate violence perpetrated by the state in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
The ex-president was summoned to give evidence in 2002, formally accused of genocide and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
The centenarian was absolved of genocide charges in 2009.
But Echeverría obtained an injunction against the arrest order and was never taken into custody. He did, however, spend a period under house arrest before being exonerated of genocide charges related to the Tlatelolco massacre in 2009.
Despite his advanced age, activists are still seeking to hold the ex-president to account for his alleged crimes against humanity.
The centenarian, who served as ambassador to Australia in the late 1970s, was last seen in public last year when he was taken in a wheelchair to the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot.
As president, he ruled Mexico with a style of populism similar to that employed by Lázaro Cárdenas, Alexander Aviña, a historian, told the newspaper El País.
Cárdenas, president from 1934 to 1940, is best remembered for nationalizing Mexico’s oil industry and, unlike Echeverría, a beloved Mexican president.
During the campaign leading up to the 1970 presidential election, Echeverría “traveled the whole country to meet different communities wearing his guayabera [shirt],” said Aviña, a historian of Mexico and Latin America at Arizona State University.
“When he attained the presidency he formulated a populism of the Cárdenas style. He knew there were various crises. He had been interior minister and he tried to operate with a populist profile in the domestic sphere,” he said.
One of Echeverría’s central objectives, the newspaper El Financiero reported, was the equitable distribution of wealth.
As part of his governance model, he increased spending on infrastructure, created dozens of public trusts and state-owned companies, expanded agricultural and fishing subsidies and provided additional support for the nation’s poor, the newspaper said.
Echeverría also styled himself as a leader of the third world, championing the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, which was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1974.
Diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China were formalized during his presidency and he strengthened ties with Chile, which was led by leftist Salvador Allende during the first half of his six-year term. After Allende was ousted in a military coup and replaced by Augusto Pinochet in 1973, Echevarría opened Mexico’s doors to Chileans persecuted by the Pinochet regime, even as he persecuted Mexican leftists at home.
Echeverría ran into economic problems such as high inflation and growing foreign debt in the second half of his six-year term, and reforms he pursued didn’t endear him to the population as much as he had hoped.
Meanwhile, his government’s authoritarian tendencies meant he was public enemy No. 1 for some sectors of the population, especially students for whom the Tlatelolco and Corpus Christi massacres were recent memories or even lived experiences. The business community dubbed him a communist for his wealth redistribution efforts and largesse toward the poor.
More than 45 years after he left office, Echeverría remains a controversial and much-loathed figure. Few Mexicans were game to publicly congratulate him on reaching the august age of 100. Many, however, took to social media to condemn the erstwhile president.
Aviña, the historian, denounced the ex-ruler in a Twitter post. “Former Mexican president and butcher of popular movements Luis Echeverría turns 100 today, free and still enjoying the impunity that shields him from prosecution,” he wrote.
“… He’s the world’s oldest genocide perpetrator and a living nightmare for his victims,” said Adela Cedillo, a University of Houston historian. “… His legacy of violence and corruption has marked all of us,” she wrote on Twitter.
“There are many contemporary problems that began in Echeverría’s six-year term but without a doubt his most lasting legacy is state violence,” Cedillo told the news agency EFE.
Citigroup is planning to end its retail banking operations in Mexico, stepping away from Banamex.
The decision by investment banking company Citigroup to sell its Mexican consumer banking business could tilt the sector dominated by global financial giants to more local control as it becomes a test case for the government’s nationalist leanings.
The news of the Banamex unit’s sale or spin off comes at a time of political and regulatory upheaval in Mexico as President López Obrador implements an idiosyncratic agenda of fiscal austerity, social spending and economic nationalism.
Four of the country’s five largest banks are foreign owned. The president on Thursday said he wanted Banamex, which was founded in the 19th century and bought by Citi in 2001, to be “Mexicanized.” He said profits made by foreign companies are often not reinvested in the local economy.
“We’re not against foreigners but we would like it to be Mexicanized,” he said, listing potential Mexican investors including bank owners Carlos Slim, Ricardo Salinas Pliego and Carlos Hank González.
Citi bought Banamex in 2001 but it has been losing market share in recent years and is the third-largest by assets. If sold as a package, the deal could reach up to US $8.5 billion, analysts at JPMorgan estimated in a note. Pablo Riveroll, head of Latin American Equities at Schroders, estimated a valuation between $5 billion and $8 billion.
“It is a big deal because these big franchises don’t come up . . . often,” Riveroll said, adding that incumbents would benefit most from a purchase. “In any domestic banking sector, there are very meaningful synergies for existing players.”
Since Citi’s announcement, the finance ministry has emphasized that it will be rigorous with competition issues, a signal some interpret as complicating a purchase by larger incumbents. The finance ministry said authorities would ensure laws and regulations were applied and avoid concentration in the banking market.
Most analysts believe market leader BBVA, which has a market share of 24%, would face a big hurdle with competition regulators in buying the assets as a package. Spain’s Santander and Hank González’s Grupo Financiero Banorte would also face antitrust scrutiny.
Salinas Pliego’s Banco Azteca — ninth largest by deposits — wasted no time in entering the fray on Tuesday saying he would look at the assets.
Though his existing outfit, which is big in personal credit lending, has a different profile to Banamex, the opportunity to expand his broadcasting and retail empire could be tempting.
Several bankers said on condition of anonymity they believed he was a frontrunner given the president’s comments in support of a Mexican buyer and against market concentration.
Ricardo Salinas Pliego, owner of Banco Azteca, said he would evaluate the idea of buying Banamex.
Azteca, Banorte and BBVA Mexico all declined to comment.
Slim, the telecoms magnate who was once the world’s richest man, could also look at Citi’s assets. His bank Grupo Financiero Inbursa would also likely face fewer competition hurdles than bigger rivals and possibly benefit from cross-selling between his phone company América Móvil and the bank.
Some analysts commented that this deal might not fit his usual pattern of buying assets at distressed valuations. Inbursa declined to comment.
Banorte — the fourth largest by deposits —could have more synergies than other smaller groups, analysts said.
Citi said in its announcement that it would consider a sale or a public market alternative which could mean an initial public offering of the unit. Another option put forward by the head of the finance ministry’s Financial Intelligence Unit was a public-private partnership. Separately, Interior Minister Adán Augusto López said the government was not interested in buying the asset.
Rodrigo Morales Elcoro, professor at the Facultad Libre de Derecho in Monterrey, said competition regulator Cofece would closely analyze individual markets — for example credit cards or mortgages — if an incumbent tried to buy it.
“The scrutiny of Cofece would have to be very detailed with any banking operator that’s already participating in Mexican banking,” Morales Elcoro, a former Cofece board member, said.
In addition to Cofece, the Bank of México and banking regulator CNBV, part of the finance ministry, also have to approve any purchase.
Citi chief executive Jane Fraser on Friday said the company would not comment on speculation about potential buyers or the structure of a deal. She added that the separation process would begin immediately and expected the sales process to start in the spring.
The decision has set off a frenzy in Mexico’s mergers and acquisitions community. Bankers are racing around calling prospective buyers to secure work on what could be the country’s biggest deal in years.
“It’s like being a florist on Mother’s Day,” one investment banker said. “It’s what we’ve dreamed of.”
Cheetos Torciditos are similar in appearance to Crunchy Cheetos sold in the United States.
Bags of Cheetos corn chips contain ingredients that could be toxic, a consumer advocacy group warned.
El Poder del Consumidor (Power of the Consumer) warned against eating cheese and chile flavored Cheetos Torciditos, which are similar in appearance to Crunchy Cheetos sold in the United States.
The group said its analysis showed most of the chips’ 43 ingredients were additives, and isolated THHQ as “a preservative that has been shown to be toxic.” It added that “the poor quality of the product” and its high salt levels made it a bad choice for consumers.
Other ingredients flagged for concern were the additive monosodium glutamate which it said “has been shown to inhibit satiety centers, inducing voracious eating … monosodium glutamate and artificial dyes that affect the behavior of children, as well as other toxic additives such as TBHQ [tert-Butylhydroquinone], BHT [Butylated hydroxytoluene], silicon dioxide, [disodium] guanylate and disodium inosinate.”
The group found that the product contained 561 milligrams of salt per 100 grams, which far exceeds the limit allowed under Mexican food regulations. The law states that highly processed foods should not exceed 350 milligrams of salt per 100 grams.
Food regulations also state that calories shouldn’t exceed a count of 275 per 100 grams. However, the group found the chips contained 344 calories per 60 grams.
“The high consumption of this type of calories has been directly associated with conditions such as … obesity, especially in children,” the group added.
They also found fault in another part of the company’s operations. Cheetos was forced to retire its cheetah mascot Chester in January 2021 in compliance with new regulations. However, the consumer group said the company was still using Chester on social media. “The character of the cheetah so characteristic of the Cheetos was banned, however it is still referred to [on social media] … These types of tactics are used by the industry to continue promoting its products, even with the regulations that governments impose to protect the health of its population.”
Cheetos is a product of American multinational food giant PepsiCo.
A photo of what the thieves left behind: empty boxes and in the case of the pope's gifts, certificates of authentication. Facebook Alberto Barranco Chavarría
For many in Mexico and around the world, Pope Francis is a revered religious leader, worthy of the highest respect. But that didn’t stop some sticky-fingered opportunists at the Mexico City airport from making off with His Holiness’ gifts to the nation.
Religious items sent by the Pope were stolen from the luggage of Alberto Barranco Chavarría, the Mexican ambassador to the Vatican.
The outraged diplomat shared the news of the theft on social media, charging that the items were taken by baggage handlers the evening of January 8, after an Iberia flight from Madrid landed.
“Like vultures, those responsible for unloading baggage from Iberia flight IB6403 … selectively plundered the suitcases, opening and rummaging through [them] without the slightest shame, to find their loot,” Barranco said, lamenting that such was the treatment of travelers arriving in Mexico.
In his case, the thieves took several religious objects given by the pope, leaving behind empty boxes and their certificates of authenticity. They also nabbed a Calvin Klein lotion and a marble figurine.
With sources from Milenio and Bajo Palabra Noticias
Police arrested José Antonio "El Marro," Yépez in August of 2020 at a property in Guanajuato state where he held a businesswoman captive.
A once notorious Guanajuato cartel leader has been handed a 60-year prison sentence for the kidnapping of a businesswoman.
José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, known by the moniker El Marro, was the leader of the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel, a fuel theft, extortion and drug trafficking organization.
He was arrested on August 2, 2020, at a property in a small town in Juventino Rosas, a Guanajuato municipality about 75 kilometers southeast of the state capital, Guanajuato city, ending a 1 1/2-year-long manhunt. The businesswoman was found on the property and freed.
Yépez faces further charges of homicide, fuel theft and organized crime.
Five other cartel members were on trial along with the former leader. They are all being held in different prisons, with Yépez in the maximum-security Altiplano prison in México state. The judgment was announced remotely from Valle de Santiago, Guanajuato.
Beyond the 60-year prison sentence, Yépez faces further charges of homicide, fuel theft and organized crime.
The governor of Guanajuato, Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo, praised legal institutions after the sentence. “We have strong institutions to guarantee justice with the full weight of the law for those who violate it. We will not stop until we achieve the … peace that the good people [of Guanajuato] deserve to live in,” he said.
The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel has been engaged in a bloody turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) since Yépez publicly declared war in 2017.
Guanajuato is destined to be named the state with the most homicides for the fourth consecutive year, pending data for December. From January through November, it recorded 3,239 homicides, ahead of Baja California which saw 2,800.
Celebrations for the New Year were short-lived in the state: in just the first seven days of 2021, it recorded 60 homicides.
President López Obrador has previously questioned the efforts of Governor Rodríguez and Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa to combat crime and violence.
Pressure on Mexico's health care system is growing as the omicron variant is putting more people into hospital.
The omicron variant of the coronavirus continues to drive daily case numbers to record highs as pressure on Mexico’s health system grows.
The federal Health Ministry reported 47,113 confirmed new cases on Saturday, a figure that broke the single-day record set the day before by almost 3,000 cases or 6%.
An additional 19,132 cases were reported Sunday, leaving Mexico with an accumulated infection tally of 4.36 million and an estimated active case count of 306,389.
The active case tally exceeded 314,000 on Saturday – a new pandemic high – before declining slightly on Sunday, a day on which the number of new infections has been lower throughout the pandemic due to a drop-off in testing and/or the recording and reporting of test results on weekends.
The tally has increased 607% this year after 2021 ended with just over 43,000 estimated active cases. Daily case numbers averaged 24,287 in the first 16 days of January, a 720% increase compared to December.
México state health officials on the lookout for mask scofflaws on city streets in Ecatepec on Sunday.
COVID-19 fatalities remain below December levels for now but hospitalizations are on the rise. The Health Ministry has reported 1,982 deaths to date in January for a daily average of 124, a 26% decline compared to last month.
Daily reported deaths on Friday and Saturday – 195 and 227, respectively – were well above the January average before falling to 76 on Sunday. The official pandemic death toll – which excess mortality data indicates is a significant undercount – rose to 301,410 on Sunday, the fifth highest total in the world.
While evidence shows the omicron strain generally causes less severe illness than that caused by other variants, hospital occupancy levels for COVID patients have nevertheless increased significantly. Thirty percent of general care hospital beds are currently taken, up from 15% in the middle of December, while 17% of those with ventilators are occupied, a five-point jump.
Federal data shows that 113 public hospitals have reached 100% capacity in their general COVID wards, while an additional 38 hospitals have occupancy levels above 70%.
• Mexico City easily has the highest number of estimated active cases with over 68,000 as of Sunday. However, Baja California Sur has the highest number of infections on a per capita basis with about 1,000 per 100,000 people.
Mexico City has close to 800 active cases per 100,000 people while each of San Luis Potosí, Colima and Tabasco has over 400.
At the other end of the scale is Chiapas, where the number of active cases per 100,000 people barely registers on the Health Ministry’s latest graph.
• Contrary to the federal government’s assertions, omicron can cause serious illness, says a virologist and researcher at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí.
“We have to stop playing down [the variant], like the federal government, which says omicron is a little flu,” said Andreu Comas García. “… We know that it’s a virus that affects the whole body,” he added.
President López Obrador, who tested positive a week ago but returned to his regular news conference on Monday, described omicron as “un covidcito” or “a little COVID,” while Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell compared the virus to the common cold.
The nation’s former influenza czar Alejandro Macías.
• The omicron-fueled surge in cases is the “last swipe of the pandemic’s tail,” infectious disease specialist Alejandro Macías said in a radio interview.
He predicted that case numbers will continue to increase for the next two to three weeks before starting to decline.
“Let’s get through another three weeks, and I think we’re going to emerge to a much more controllable situation,” Macías said, explaining that his prediction was based on what happened in South Africa, where the omicron-fueled wave has now receded.
The doctor, the federal government’s influenza czar during the swine flu pandemic, predicted last Tuesday that half of Mexico’s population will contract omicron in the coming weeks.
“COVID-19: an infectious disease had never spread with the speed that omicron is spreading. At this rate … half the population will be infected in the following weeks,” Macías wrote on Twitter.
He tweeted another prediction on Monday morning: “Of course we can be optimistic for 2022: the COVID pandemic could reach its endemic phase. But those who think the omicron variant is a little cold are mistaken. There will still be more cases and more deaths. Hospitals and intensive care units will still fill up.”
• Enrique Ruelas, director of the International Institute for Health Futures, a think tank, warned that the fourth wave of infections is placing additional pressure on health workers who are already exhausted after treating COVID patients for almost two years.
“It’s an enormous amount of time [to be under intense pressure], … the exhaustion accumulates, [and] the consequence of this is not just for health personnel but patients as well. It’s … proven that the number of mistakes committed when looking after patients increases in proportion to the tiredness of the personnel providing the care,” he said.
In addition, coronavirus infections among health workers are depleting workforces, placing even more pressure on those who remain on the job.
• Authorities in Orizaba, a magical town in Veracruz, have made the use of face masks mandatory in public places. The rule took effect Saturday with non-compliance punishable with a fine of 864 pesos (US $42). However, scofflaws are supposed to be given two warnings before they incur a fine.
The rule is slated to remain in effect until February 15.
• Authorities in Ecatepec, México state, made masks mandatory last week, and a 29-year-old man last Friday became the first person to be detained for non-compliance. Javier N. was jailed for eight hours for not wearing a mask in the street.
Pharmacies like this Mexico City one are being swarmed with people seeking COVID tests.
According to the newspaper El Financiero, the man received a warning for not wearing a mask and subsequently put one on. However, he removed it a short time later, prompting municipal officers to detain him.
Simmons, right, thanked his devoted fan, left, for the homage.
A garbage collector who dressed up as a member of the rock band Kiss a year and a half ago has caught the attention of one of the band’s founders.
Gene Simmons retweeted a video on Friday of the worker fully clad in black and white outfit, black and white face paint and long hair in the style of the band calling for trash from the back of a truck in Monterrey, Nuevo León.
The man, who Simmons called Rodrigo, imitated the Kiss on stage persona by sticking out his tongue and pointing up his index and pinky fingers to make a “Rock On” sign. The band’s 1979 hit I Was Made for Lovin’ You from the album Dynasty was played over the top of the video.
The clip began circulating on social networks in mid-2020 but only recently reached Simmons, the news website Infobae reported.
“This handsome gentleman works at the Sanitation Company in Monterrey, Mexico … a powerful and attractive man, if there ever was one! Thank you, Rodrigo,” the tweet read. It has received almost 42,000 likes and the video has almost 600,000 views.
This handsome gentleman works at the Sanitation Company in Monterey, Mexico…A powerful and attractive man, if there ever was one! Thank you, Rodrigo. pic.twitter.com/YGE6VHJUg1
Kiss came to prominence in the 1970s and is known for its theatrical live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, rockets, levitating drum kits and pyrotechnics. The four founding members took on comic-book style stage personas: The Starchild, Space Ace, The Catman and Simmons’ The Demon.
The band has been on its End of the Road World Tour since January 2019 and has eight concerts scheduled for Latin America later in 2022, none of which is in Mexico.
Promo photo of the Nipon brand of Japanese peanuts, sold in Mexico.
So what’s up with “Japanese peanuts” in Mexico that are in every convenience store in the snack aisle? The peanuts are not grown in Japan, nor is the snack imported from there. But there is a Japanese connection.
And that connection’s name is Yashigei Nakatani Moriguchi.
Mexico has had Japanese immigration since the late 19th century, when the government allowed immigrants from there to work on railroads and commercial farms. But by the time Nakatani arrived in 1932, such immigration required sponsorship by a Mexican resident.
So Nakatani obtained his Mexican visa by answering a job ad in Japan for a company that owned a button factory in Mexico, as well as the “El Nuevo Japón” department store, a competitor to the upscale Liverpool and El Palacio de Hierro. Nakatani’s plan was to work in Mexico for five years making buttons and then return home.
In his memoir, Ese Árbol aún Sigue en Pie (This Tree is Still Standing), Nakatani describes the day he stepped off the boat in Manzanillo, Colima, in 1932 — in particular the immediate culture shock and disappointment in seeing poverty in the streets. But he had a solid job waiting for him in Mexico City.
“Japanese peanuts” as they’re called in Mexico. But they’re called cracker nuts in English.
In the nation’s capital, he dealt with discrimination and the complete inability to speak Spanish. However, this did not keep him from renting a room from a woman who would become his mother-in-law.
Nakatani liked to sing and would go up to the roof to do so. The landlady’s daughter, Ema Ávila Espinoza, found him up there when she went to do the laundry, and she began to teach him Spanish words.
The couple were married and had children within a year. Nakatani would never speak the language well, but he understood it.
The couple continued to grow their family, and Nakatani worked with his Japanese employers until the outbreak of World War II, an event that complicated things for the small Japanese population in Mexico. Many returned to Japan voluntarily, and others, like the lead supervisor for El Nuevo Japón, were accused of spying for imperial Japan, deported and had their businesses shut down, which meant that Nakatani no longer had a job.
Any Japanese people on the coasts and border zones had to move to the interior of Mexico for the duration of the war. Already in Mexico City, Nakatani did not have to leave his Mexican family, but they did have to live in one of the Japanese neighborhoods in the capital for both support and protection.
With Nakatani’s job gone, the young couple needed a way to feed their family. They began by making and selling traditional Mexican snacks from their home. But what changed their lives was the decision to adapt a Japanese snack food to Mexican ingredients and tastes.
Nakatani’s registration with Mexico’s immigration service in 1936. National Archives
In his rural hometown of Sumotoshi, Nakatani learned to make orinda: mamekichi seeds with a sweet, rice flour-based coating. Having neither the seeds nor rice flour, he improvised with peanuts, wheat flour, soy and sugar to make a coated fried peanut that is mostly salty with a touch of sweet.
The peanut snack slowly became popular until there were lines of people waiting to buy the “cacahuates del japonés” (the Japanese guy’s peanuts). Eventually, the couple decided to move the business out of the house to a stall in La Merced, the city’s main traditional food market.
Soon afterward, they began to sell the peanuts wholesale, inventing machinery to keep up with the demand. La Merced remained their sales base, and by the 1950s, they had a factory set up in the southeast of Mexico City.
The children had been involved with the business almost since the beginning. It became more formalized in 1950 with the help of their son Armando under the brand name Nipón. That same year, daughter Elvia drew the geisha that still appears on the package.
Into the 1970s, the business continued to grow, incorporating in 1975. In 1977, the brand was officially registered.
What they never did, however, was patent the idea. Imitation brands such as Nishikawa were on the market by 1957, a brand that still exists and makes its peanuts in Mexico City.
Yashigei Nakatani and wife Ema Ávila Espinoza.
By the 1980s, the market for the peanuts grew large enough that snack food corporations Barcel and Sabritas took notice and created their own versions. Nipón found it difficult to compete in price with the giants but managed to continue in part by exporting to Brazil, where the snack is also popular.
The Nipón company remained independent until it was bought out by the Totis brand in 2017, which still sells the peanuts under the Nipón name.
Many sources that discuss Nakatani’s peanuts talk about a similar snack sold and eaten in Japan, where they are supposedly called “Mexican peanuts.” It is true that there is a coated peanut snack called takorina that has the image of a stereotypical Mexican guy on the package, but the notion that it is a Japanese version of the Mexican snack food may be an internet myth.
According to the media outlet Vice, takorina peanuts were invented in Okinawa, a place with a different cuisine from the rest of Japan and known for adapting foreign foods. Supposedly, the peanuts’ flavor is based on a dish there called “taco rice” — which takorina sounds vaguely like — and is spicy and savory.
Marrying into a Mexican family helped Nakatani to integrate and gain acceptance. He lived in Mexico City until his death in 1992 but never became a Mexican citizen. According to a daughter-in-law, he still felt loyalty to his home country.
His first son, Carlos, born in 1932, became a painter, sculptor, cinematographer and writer. Another son, Yoshio, became a noted singer.
However, the family will always be best known for its peanuts.
Gustavo Nakatani Ávila, one of Yashigei Nakatani and Ema Ávila’s sons. He was a successful singer in Mexico known professionally as Yoshio.
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.
Panko’s superpower is bringing mouth-feel and texture to foods.
Just like the heart, the palate wants what it wants. Sweet, salty, sour; crunchy, creamy, chewy.
Panko — Japanese-style breadcrumbs — is one of those foods that fills several flavor profiles at once. With little or no flavor of its own, panko’s talent is bringing mouth-feel and texture to whatever it’s part of. When sprinkled on top of a casserole or other baked dish or used as breading for poultry and seafood, tofu and veggies, panko adds that crispy crunch your mouth is lusting for.
What exactly is panko? Well, the word itself says a lot: in Japanese, pan means bread (like Spanish, how weird) and ko means flour — so basically, breadcrumbs. However, panko is made from hokkaido, Japanese milk bread, a featherlight, airy bread that uses tangzhong — a cooked flour and water paste — as a starter.
When the baked bread is dried and ground, the result is a crispy, light flake, not really what we think of as a crumb. Panko’s bigger surface area also yields crispier coatings that last longer, absorb less oil and have more crunch.
There are no Japanese bakeries in Mazatlán, so I make do with bags of panko I get from a small Asian food store here. Panko has become so popular, though, even Walmart and Soriana have it in their “gourmet” sections, although sugar and flavorings are added to the brands I’ve been able to find.
Many people only know a few ways to use panko, but its repertoire is quite versatile.
Most well-known as a coating for fried fish, pork or chicken (and everyone’s favorite, coconut shrimp), panko’s repertoire is actually incredibly versatile. It’s excellent as a binder in all kinds of burgers and meatballs and as a thickener for soups and stews. Casseroles like macaroni and cheese or other baked dishes taste better with a layer of crunchy panko (mixed with Parmesan and herbs, perhaps?) on top.
Make a crispy garnish with toasted panko to sprinkle over steamed veggies, mashed potatoes or a salad. (Bake in a 325 F oven for 12–15 minutes or sauté, stirring, in a bit of very hot olive oil for 3–4 minutes.) In Japanese cuisine, tonkatsu (fried pork filet) kaki fry (fried oysters) and korokke (mashed potato cakes, breaded and deep-fried) are just some of the many dishes that use panko to its full crunchy advantage.
For frying, you’ll want to use the three-step method: first dredge your protein or vegetables in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then in egg and finally in the panko, either plain or seasoned. For the best flavor, salt the flour and panko well. Pan-fry in hot oil and drain on paper towels. Voila!
Easy Jalapeno Popper Dip
Easy to halve if you want to make less.
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup shredded Chihuahua, Jack, asadero or other melty cheese
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles
1 (4 oz.) can diced jalapeños OR 4 fresh jalapeños, seeded and minced
1 cup panko
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup butter, melted
Mix first six ingredients; spread into a greased 1.5–2 qt. baking dish. In a bowl, mix panko, Parmesan and melted butter.
Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over dip. Bake at 375 F for about 20 minutes or until top is browned and dip is bubbly. Serve with chips, crackers or celery/carrot sticks for scooping.
Avocado Fries
The avocados should be ripe but not too soft.
Oil for frying
¼ cup flour
¼ tsp. salt, plus more to taste
2 eggs
1¼ cups panko
Olive oil for drizzling
2 firm/ripe Hass avocados, sliced into ½ -inch wedges
In a medium saucepan, heat 1½ inches of oil till hot (375 F). Mix flour and salt on a shallow plate. Put eggs in a shallow bowl and whisk. Pour panko in another shallow bowl or plate. First dip avocado wedges in flour, shaking off excess, then in egg, then panko, pressing to coat.
Panko makes fried avocados both crispy and velvety.
To fry: Fry avocado wedges until deep golden, 30–60 seconds. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Sprinkle with salt. Serve immediately.
To bake: Arrange breaded avocado wedges on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Drizzle or spray with olive oil. Bake at 425 F for 15–20 minutes until golden and crisp.
Roasted Shrimp with Panko and Parsley
An easy “no-recipe” recipe!
1½ pounds shrimp
Olive oil
Fresh lemon juice
¼ cup panko
Fresh parsley, minced
Heat oven to 500 F. Put shrimp in a roasting pan, toss with olive oil and lemon juice. Scatter panko on top. Drizzle with more oil. Roast, turning shrimp once, until pink all over, about 10 minutes.
Garnish with parsley and sprinkle with more fresh lemon juice.
Stuffed Mushrooms
24 large cremini or button mushrooms, stems removed
½ cup panko
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. minced parsley, plus more for garnish
2 garlic cloves, pressed with a garlic press or grated
4 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper
Heat oven to 400 F. Line a sheet pan with parchment. Mix panko, Parmesan, parsley, garlic and 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange mushrooms on pan, top down. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp. oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fill mushrooms with panko mixture, about 1 Tbsp. each, mounding them a bit on top. Drizzle with remaining olive oil.
Bake about 15 minutes until tops are crisp and golden. Remove from oven; cool 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley.
Easy Coconut Fish Sticks
Eat these in tacos or all by their delicious selves! You can also use the recipe with chicken instead.
1 lb. firm white fish (dorado, pargo)
1 cup flour
3 eggs, whisked
2 cups panko
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Salt and pepper
About 2 cups vegetable oil, for frying
Cut fish into strips about 3 inches long and 1½ inch thick. Season with salt and pepper.
Place flour, eggs and panko in three separate bowls. Season flour and panko with salt and pepper. Mix coconut into panko.
First, gently coat fish with flour, then dip in egg, then dredge in panko mixture, pressing to make a good crust. Set aside.
In large skillet, pour about 1 inch of oil; heat over medium-high until hot. Add fish sticks in a single layer. Fry about 3 minutes till nicely browned on the bottom.
