The new film has taken in US $66 million at the box office in Mexico.
The new Spider-Man film has broken records since its December 15 release and is now the second highest grossing film in Mexican box office history, the national cinema industry agency Canacine said.
Spider-Man: No Way Home, the 27th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is only 60 million pesos (US $2.9 million) from overtaking 2019 release Avengers: Endgame as the most popular movie ever projected onto Mexican screens, Canacine wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
The film has taken in at least 1.35 billion pesos ($66 million) and sold over 19 million tickets in Mexico. It took in $9 million on its first day to beat the Avengers, which took a whole opening weekend to earn $12.5 million.
The 148-minute smash hit is the second sequel of a Spider-Man series starring U.K. actor Tom Holland. It cost $200million to produce and features Benedict Cumberbatch, Zendaya, Willem Dafoe and Jamie Foxx.
Mexico has generated the third highest amount money for the film in global terms, only surpassed by the United Kingdom with over $92.4 million and the United States with $668 million.
At the global box office, No Way Home is already the eighth highest earner in history at over $1.53 billion, still far from first-place Avatar with $2.8 billion.
Audiences have given Spider-Man: No Way Home a 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, while 93% of critics recommend the film.
Cement companies have announced price hikes of up to 20%. Art Konovalov / Shutterstock.com
Prices for construction materials were 17.4% higher on average in December compared to the same month of 2020, official data shows.
It was the biggest year-over-year price hike in 14 years, according to data from the national statistics agency INEGI.
Among the materials whose prices increased substantially were sheet metal, up 58%; metallic structures, up 49%; rebar, up 43%; plywood, up 36%; wire and wire rod, up 35%; plastic pipe, up 34%; lumber, up 31%; and electrical cable, up 30%.
Paint, glass and cement prices also increased albeit by a more modest 20%, 17% and 7%, respectively.
Behind the price hikes were higher international prices for raw materials and shortages due to supply chain problems, according to experts cited by the newspaper Reforma. Higher prices for raw materials such as steel, aluminum, copper, plastic and wood were the result of higher energy costs, they said.
The increased costs for builders will have a knock-on effect on prices for new dwellings, the president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry told Reforma. Francisco Solares Alemán also said that budgets for public and private infrastructure projects won’t go as far as they otherwise would have gone.
He added that cement companies recently announced price hikes of 15% to 20% due to higher overheads including increased energy costs.
Solares noted that inflation in the construction sector is 10 points higher than general inflation, which is currently above 7% – its highest level in more than 20 years.
“The outlook is not good,” the building chamber chief said, explaining that global steel shortages are expected to continue during at least the first quarter of 2022. “That will cause the price of the material to go up again. All these high prices … will hit the price of new homes.”
Company officials said that a specific site in the state for the new plant has yet to be decided.
A United States company that brews Corona and other Mexican beer brands for the U.S. market will build a new brewery in Veracruz, company officials have confirmed.
Veracruz is a plan B decision for Constellation Brands: its US $1.4 billion, nearly-completed brewery project in Mexicali, Baja California, was halted by the federal government after a dispute over water use anda subsequent referendum in March 2020.
The new plant, which the news website Sentido Común reported is likely to be located in the port city of Coatzacoalcos, is part of an up to $5.5 billion investment plan for 2023–2026 that includes improvements at a brewery in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, and its state-of-the-art plant in Nava, Coahuila, located across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas. The spending aims to increase beer output by as much as 30 million hectoliters.
A Constellation representative confirmed that it would be building the new plant in Veracruz, saying that one advantage of the new location in that state would be its shipping connectivity to the United States, offering easy access to Florida and the United States east coast, while the Sonora plant is likely to serve California.
The Coahuila plant will continue to serve Texas, Sentido Común reported.
The Mexicali brewery, which was eventually halted, sparked numerous resident protests over the amount of water it would consume.
Veracruz Governor Cuitláhuac García has proposed the southern port of Coatzacoalcos as an ideal relocation site for the brewery, and Sentido Común reported that it is being considered, although Constellation spokesperson Nina Mayagoitia told the news agency Reuters this week that it has yet to decide on a site in Veracruz or budget for the new plant.
Constellation hasn’t been compensated for its losses on the 80%-completed Mexicali project that was stopped in mid-construction by the government, company officials confirmed.
“The company continues to work with government officials in Mexico to determine the next steps for our suspended Mexicali brewery construction project and seek various ways to recover the capital costs and additional expenses incurred to establish the brewery. However, there are no guarantees of compensation,” an unnamed company spokesperson told Sentido Común.
López Obrador has previously said the southeast of the country was more appropriate for a brewery than the arid border city of Mexicali, based on the availability of water.
“It was explained to them that the people had not been consulted, that the population would be affected and that it would be irrational, where there is no water, to put a factory to produce beer and export beer, which is like exporting water. They understood, and now they are going to [build] a brewery, but in the southeast, where there is enough water,” López Obrador said in May 2020.
The United States is the only country where Constellation can sell many of its beers. Beer giant Anheuser-Bush InBev has commercial rights for the rest of the world, including Mexico. Constellation’s product portfolio includes the beer brands Corona, Modelo Especial, Victoria and Pacífico, as well as Robert Mondavi wines, Svedka vodka and Casa Noble Tequila. It has operations in the United States, Mexico, Italy and New Zealand.
The company bought Grupo Modelo’s U.S. beer business in 2013 and has invested $9 billion in it. Constellation has annual sales of over $8.5 billion, and its Mexican beer portfolio generates a significant portion of its revenue.
Seven people were killed in two attacks in the notoriously violent state of Guanajuato on Sunday.
Two men and two women were killed at about 7 a.m. after armed men entered a property near Acámbaro, close to the Michoacán state border.
Around 9 p.m., a 52-year-old man and a man and woman both aged 36 were killed inside a house in the center of Irapuato, 48 kilometers south of Guanajuato city.
In another incident, near Celaya, six wedding guests were shot and wounded while they celebrated the event. Four men entered the events venue before opening fire.
Five of the victims were shot in the feet and legs, while one man sustained injuries to the side of the head and the lower back.
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 have been short lived in the state: in the first seven days of the year it recorded 60 homicides.
Aeroméxico canceled approximately 300 flights during the past five days due to coronavirus infections among crew members.
In a report submitted to the consumer protection agency Profeco, the airline said about 9% of 3,100 flights scheduled between those dates were canceled.
At least 140 Aeroméxico pilots and cabin crew members have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days, while 65 were suspended because their employment paperwork was not in order, according to aviation union ASSA. The airline said it conducts some 14,000 tests a week to detect infections.
“The phenomenon caused by omicron has had an impact on the aviation industry at a global level,” Aeroméxico told Profeco.
“… Despite the [high] infection rate [among crew members], Aeroméxico has implemented protocols that have allowed it to only cancel around 300 flights,” it said.
The airline said that all customers affected by the cancellations would be booked on alternate flights.
One Mexico City woman who spoke with Mexico News Daily was rebooked on a flight home from Mérida, Yucatán, on Monday morning after her flight on Saturday was canceled. However, Dr. Silvia Ortiz, a psychiatrist, was advised Sunday that her Monday flight was also canceled, forcing her to buy a ticket with Volaris to reach the capital for work commitments on Monday afternoon.
Flight cancellations have caused chaos at Mexico City airport in recent days. Thousands of people were left stranded after arriving at the airport to find out their flights had been canceled. Some of those affected took to social media to criticize Aeroméxico, whose call centers were overwhelmed.
“Terrible service from @Aeromexico, they don’t tell you anything, they cancel flights, they don’t refund anything,” one Twitter user wrote.
The airline said in a statement Friday that the delay or cancellation of flights was “not a decision we take lightly and it is always the last resort.”
It also advised customers to “remain attentive to the status of their flight through our official channels.”
Green gives way to orange and yellow on the new stoplight map.
Thirteen of Mexico’s 32 states are high risk orange or medium risk yellow on the federal government’s latest coronavirus stoplight map, while active case numbers are at an all-time high as the highly infectious omicron strain spreads rapidly.
There are three orange states on the new map – which takes effect Monday and will remain in force through January 23, 10 are painted yellow and 19 are low risk green.
Tamaulipas and Baja California Sur jumped to orange from green while Chihuahua regressed to that color from yellow.
The yellow states are Aguascalientes, Baja California, Sonora, Coahuila, Colima, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Sinaloa, Durango and Zacatecas. The first three were already yellow while the last seven switched to yellow from green.
The updated map is indicative of a coronavirus situation that has deteriorated quickly in recent days – at least in terms of new infections. There were no orange states on the previous map and just four yellow ones.
The Health Ministry reported more than 20,000 new cases on each of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week before the daily tally exceeded 30,000 for the first time ever on Saturday.
An additional 30,671 confirmed infections on Saturday and 11,599 on Sunday lifted Mexico’s accumulated case tally to 4.12 million. There are currently 158,332 estimated active cases across the country, more than at any other time of the pandemic.
Baja California Sur has the highest number of active cases on a per capita basis followed by Mexico City, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas.
The official COVID-19 death toll passed 300,000 on Friday and now stands at 300,334, the fifth highest total in the world.
An average of 16,185 cases were reported per day during the first nine days of January – a whopping 446% increase compared to the daily average in December, but fatalities have declined almost 40% to an average of 101 per day.
The sharp increase in new cases – the majority are presumed to be omicron infections – has not translated into a significant increase in hospitalizations, with just 19% of general care COVID beds and 12% of those with ventilators occupied as of Friday.
However, occupancy rates are much higher in some states such as Quintana Roo and Baja California, where more than 60% of general care beds are taken. Aguascalientes has the highest occupancy rate for beds with ventilators, with 59% currently in use.
In other COVID-19 news:
• There has been a slight increase in hospitalizations in Mexico City, Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said Sunday.
However, the pressure on the health system in the capital is much lower than that exerted during the second and third waves of infections, she said.
The mayor said the high vaccination rate in Mexico City and the characteristics of the omicron variant – which causes less severe disease – have helped keep hospitalizations low compared to previous waves.
There were just under 700 patients in COVID wards in Mexico City hospitals on Saturday, of whom 134 were in intensive care. Federal data shows that 37% of general care beds and 10% of those with ventilators are occupied in the capital.
Coronavirus spokesman Eduardo Clark said that 70% of hospitalized patients are not vaccinated. He also said that it’s not “exceedingly necessary” for people with COVID-like symptoms to get tested.
“People with symptoms have to isolate themselves, getting tested is not necessary. If we have any respiratory symptom, we should assume that it’s COVID, go home and stay isolated for seven days,” Clark said.
Sheinbaum made similar remarks, asserting that “it’s not necessary to go and get tested at this time.”
• Mexico has recorded its first confirmed case of “flurona” – a concurrent infection with COVID-19 and influenza. The case was detected in a 28-year-old woman in Tepic, Nayarit, state Health Minister José Munguía said.
• President López Obrador said he would get tested for COVID after waking up “hoarse” on Monday morning.
“I woke up hoarse, I’m going to get tested later but I think it’s the flu,” he told reporters at his regular news conference.
López Obrador acknowledged Friday that he had been in contact with Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier, who announced earlier the same day that she had tested positive.
A Chinese food restaurant in Mexico City’s historic Chinatown. The cuisine has adapted here and features Mexican taste accents like jalapeños. Leigh Thelmadatter
Many of us English speakers come from countries where eating food from elsewhere is common enough to be pretty much normal.
We bring this habit with us to Mexico, but it can be difficult to indulge it.
It’s not that a variety of non-Mexican food cannot be had in Mexico; it certainly can, but it is nowhere near as ubiquitous as it is in countries such as Australia, the United States and England. And much of that is because of how Mexico sees itself internally and vis-a-vis the rest of the world.
Food and restaurants can play an important part in establishing the presence — and the acceptance of — arriving ethnicities. When there are a sufficient number of immigrants from a particular culture, their presence is generally first visible due to the appearance of their ethnic restaurants, then specialty stores and then even native food distribution channels.
People from London, New York, Sydney and more are no stranger to this phenomenon. But what about Mexico?
Stand in Ensenada, Baja California, preparing Mexican style ceviche.
This country is not seen as a receiving but rather as a sending country when it comes to immigration. People have come to Mexico, in the modern sense, at least since the late 19th century, but the influx doesn’t approach that of the U.S. or Brazil. Even with the smaller numbers, the process of “foreign” food integration is very similar to that of other countries.
One of the largest immigrant groups over the past century or so in Mexico has been Chinese. Historical Chinatowns can be found in many areas here, from Tijuana as far south as Tapachula, Chiapas.
This long history means that most “Chinese” food found here has been adapted to Mexican tastes, with ingredients such as sliced jalapeños not uncommon.
The U.S. has also had a major impact on Mexican cuisine, the most obvious of which is the presence of fast-food chains. While they can be found in all of Mexico’s states, they are far more prevalent in the north, which is economically and culturally more connected with the United States.
Mexican supermarkets reflect the longstanding relationship with Chinese and U.S. cuisines. Many American cookies, breakfast cereals and condiments are readily found in them but with less variety the farther south you go. Supermarkets almost always have an Asian food section, and cheap, instant noodle soups have become a staple.
A few foods are so thoroughly integrated that they are no longer “foreign.” One is tacos al pastor (shepherds’ tacos), which are simply a Mexican adaptation of shawarma, introduced by Lebanese immigrants in the early 20th century.
Gone are the lamb and Middle Eastern spices, substituted with pork and achiote and other mild flavorings. Today, it is Mexico’s most popular taco.
None of this translates into a widespread acceptance of foreign foods by Mexico’s populace, not even with U.S. food. Ask a Mexican what meatloaf or a casserole is and you will probably draw a blank.
You might think that Mexico City would be the country’s epicenter of multiculturalism. It is and it isn’t.
Most immigrants to Mexico have come to the capital, and non-Spanish last names are not that uncommon. The current mayor’s last name is Sheinbaum. You can find restaurants and specialty stores in Mexico City related to many of the world’s cuisines.
But these restaurants and stores are limited to only certain areas of the city. This is because such exotic tastes appeal mostly to the city’s upper classes, and even they are often selective in what they eat.
Cuisines from rich countries are far more popular than those from even other parts of Latin America. Eating foreign food has more to do with imitating “prestigious” cultures rather than demonstrating knowledge of the world in general.
Sonoran-style “dogos” (hot dogs with lots of crazy topping on a bolillo roll) at the first Dogo Festival in Hermosillo.
In upscale dining, Europe still holds a strong advantage, while U.S. food is mostly considered to be hamburgers, hot dogs and pizza. Travel preferences of the rich and media images have much to do with this.
Japanese food has surged in popularity, especially sushi, which is quickly becoming Mexicanized with ingredients such as avocado, mango, and fish and mayonnaise fillings, along with chile-infused soy sauce. This acculturalization is mostly due to the popularity of Japanese cartoons. There is little Japanese immigration to Mexico today, nor much travel by Mexicans to Japan.
But in most parts of Mexico City, ethnic restaurants are almost entirely absent. The closest you get is places that sell hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza, but these have been thoroughly assimilated, often with ingredients that could make an American or Italian cringe.
The presence of foreign food restaurants is most noticeable in areas with high tourism and large foreign populations. They include places like San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato; Ajijic and Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco; and Mérida, Yucatán. It’s true even in smaller destinations.
There are some surprisingly good Italian places on the Oaxaca coast and in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Owners of Eastern European Casa de Pierogi in Puerto Escondido, Slawomir and Barbara Grunberg, specifically credit the international community and tourists for allowing their Polish food restaurant to get on its feet.
Tijuana’s location as the world’s most traveled border crossing brings not only constant influence from the north but also many non-Mexican migrants who find their way here either temporarily or permanently.
Jack’s NY Slice Pizzeria in Cozumel. Sharon Hahn Darlin
Mexico does not see itself as globalized or multicultural in the sense of a mixture of peoples from different parts of the world. It sees itself as “La Raza,” a combination of indigenous and Spanish forged in the colonial period and heavily promoted since the early 20th century.
I should end by emphatically saying that this is a very broad generalization. Of course, there are Mexicans who have similar desires to know more about the world’s cultures and show off the knowledge they have. When I was a teacher at universities in Toluca and Mexico City, I was impressed at how many students knew and preferred to eat their sushi and Chinese food with chopsticks.
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.
Capers add depth to rich foods and bursts of flavor.
I’d wager many of you — like me — have a skinny little jar of capers somewhere in the fridge or cupboard; they’re as ubiquitous as “zoodlers” and red curry paste and probably get used even less.
Mine is on the top shelf of the refrigerator door, where I see it (and feel pressured by it) every time it opens.
I decided to find out once and for all what exactly capers are and where they come from and then to figure out some creative ways to use them.
Capers are the unopened buds of the caper bush, typically sold pickled and salted in brine. Raw, they’re terribly bitter, but once cured, the tiny and smaller-than-pea-sized dark-green buds have a unique flavor that’s herbal, sour, salty and, well, just delicious.
You can also find caperberries, which are a bit bigger and sold pickled with the stem on. These are the mature fruits of the same caper bush, not used for cooking but eaten as appetizers, like olives.
Pasta puttanesca just wouldn’t be the same without capers.
The caper bush, Capparis spinosa, grows in the harsh climates of the Mediterranean rim, flourishing even in extreme drought and torrid sun. The Iberian Peninsula, Iraq, Turkey, Santorini and Morocco all produce capers, but the best-of-the-best (and recognized as a European Protected Designation of Origin product) come from the tiny Italian island of Pantelleria and the Aeolian Islands, off the coast of Sicily.
Hence their use in Italian, Greek, Israeli, Moroccan and Spanish cuisine. Capers add depth to rich foods, bursts of flavor that surprise and delight, and classic dishes like chicken cacciatore, tapenade and pasta puttanesca are known and loved the world over. They also add a zing to any simple pasta dish, hot or cold salmon or other fish entrées and pair well with potatoes too.
Capers — like shrimp, tomatoes, apples and so many other things — are graded according to size, with the smallest being the most sought after (and expensive). The delicate little buds must be picked by hand, a labor-intensive ordeal. When cured in salt, the buds release mustard oil, which accounts for the indefinable but distinctive flavor. Some say dry-cured capers in salt have a better flavor; without vinegar, their subtle floral essence is more apparent. But either way, they’re the key to a great Niçoise salad, caponata, southern-style deviled eggs and so much more.
Pasta Puttanesca
6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced (not minced)
4-6 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
Large pinch red pepper flakes
¼ cup capers, drained and chopped
¼ cup chopped pitted black olives
1 cup whole peeled tomatoes, roughly broken up by hand
8 oz. dried spaghetti
Small handful minced fresh parsley
1 oz. grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
Salt and pepper
Optional: 1 (5-oz.) can oil-packed tuna
In medium-sized skillet, combine 4 Tbsp. oil, garlic, anchovies and red pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat about 5 minutes, until garlic is lightly golden. Stir in capers and olives. Add tomatoes and bring to low simmer. Add canned tuna, if using, flaking gently with a fork. Remove from heat.
Cook spaghetti in lightly salted water until just shy of al dente. Using tongs, transfer pasta to sauce, reserving cooking water. Set over medium-high heat and add a few tablespoons of pasta water to sauce. Bring pasta and sauce to a vigorous simmer. Cook 1–2 minutes longer, stirring constantly, adding more pasta water as necessary to keep sauce loose until pasta is perfectly al dente. Remove from heat.
Stir in remaining olive oil, parsley and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
Tartar Sauce
One word: fabulous.
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup minced dill pickles
3 Tbsp. minced shallots OR 2 Tbsp. minced white onion
2 Tbsp. drained capers, minced
2 Tbsp. finely chopped Italian parsley
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ½ tsp. Dijon mustard
¾ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. hot sauce
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Let sit 30 minutes to blend flavors. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to a week.
Miss tartar sauce from home? It’s easy to make yourself.
Deviled Eggs with Capers & Smoked Salmon
12 hard-cooked eggs, peeled
½ cup mayonnaise
1½ tsp. white wine vinegar
1½ tsp. Dijon mustard
¼ tsp. salt
1½ Tbsp. finely chopped drained capers
¾ tsp. lemon zest
3 tsp. fresh lemon/lime juice
Black pepper
Smoked salmon
Optional: dash of hot sauce
Slice eggs in half lengthwise; carefully remove yolks, keeping whites intact. Grate or mash egg yolks. Mix yolks, mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, and salt. Add hot sauce, if desired. Stir capers, zest, lemon juice and pepper into yolk mixture. Spoon or pipe yolk mixture into egg white halves. Top with smoked salmon.
Crispy Fried Capers
Sprinkle into Caesar or other salads, omelets, grilled cheese sandwiches…
1/3 cup capers, rinsed and drained
½ cup vegetable or peanut oil
Dry capers thoroughly with paper towels. In a large skillet, heat oil until hot over medium-high heat. Carefully add capers and stand back—they will bubble and spit. Sauté, stirring, for a few minutes until bubbling slows and capers have turned a golden brown, being careful not to overcook.
Immediately remove and drain on paper towels.
Black Olive Tapenade with Capers and Anchovies
½ cup pitted black olives, preferably oil-cured
1 Tbsp. drained capers
2 drained oil-packed anchovy fillets
3 medium cloves garlic
5 basil leaves
1 Tbsp. loosely packed fresh oregano, marjoram or thyme leaves
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. fresh juice from 1 lemon
Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
Salt and pepper, if needed
In food processor: Process olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, herbs and mustard until a finely chopped paste forms. Add lemon juice. With food processor running, drizzle in just enough olive oil to loosen to a spreadable paste, about 2 Tbsp. Season with salt and pepper only if needed.
With mortar and pestle: Roughly chop olives, capers, anchovies and garlic. Place in mortar with herbs. Crush until ingredients reduce to a thick paste (a little chunkiness is okay). Using pestle, work in mustard and lemon juice, then drizzle in just enough olive oil to form a spreadable paste, about 2 Tbsp. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
When Mexicans are not happy with the food they tend to let it go. deposit photos
When I was a teenager in Fort Worth, Texas, I spent a lot of time with a particular friend from school and his family.
The dad was fun and genuinely friendly, always ready with a fabulous dad joke. He also had some strange and quirky habits, such as standing in convenience stores while he munched on multiple hot dogs and getting up and marching straight into the kitchens of restaurants — a taboo he was simply unwilling to respect — to see what was going on if he felt the orders were taking too long.
I suppose he thought he was sparing the server of his complaints by bypassing the middleman. It was a real power move too, one that said, “Backstage is not off-limits to me.”
It’s hard to say what he might have concluded about how the people involved felt, and frankly, I’m embarrassed to ask him at this point. Those were the ʼ90s and more innocent times — at least in Texas.
I thought about that habit of his today as I was reading a piece in the New York Times about how customers in all types of industries in the United States have been increasingly — and in increasing numbers — devolving into tantrumming children when they don’t get what they want.
“It’s not just about them not finding the kind of cheese they wanted,” said one grocery store worker after witnessing a brie-induced meltdown.
People from the U.S. have a worldwide reputation of not taking “Sorry, you’re just not going to get what you want and there’s nothing you can do about it” for an answer. The positive side of that characteristic is the kind of relentless striving and achievement that we’re admired for.
This particular side of that relentless that we’re discussing, however, is the arrogance we’re derided for.
The article also made me think about my own recent experiences of frustration — some resolved, some not — here in Mexico, and how differently I handle them than my Mexican friends around me.
On more than one occasion, I’ve stood astonished and dumbstruck as I’ve observed people here simply let things go that would have had me in a literal fit, treating whatever had just happened as a true emergency.
Years ago, for example, one of my English students showed up to a party and didn’t say a word the entire time about the fact that the radio had just been stolen out of his car minutes before. He didn’t want to spoil the party. I’ve also watched people sit calmly and simply not eat their food because it was bad, refusing to say so to the waiter so as not to bother them.
I do send things back if they’re not good, though I have been told on more than one occasion that I’d still have to pay for what I ordered since I’d already eaten a few bites of it. My commitment to politeness keeps me from turning feral, but on the inside, I’m jumping up and down like Rumpelstiltskin.
Stolen vehicles, lost packages, overcharges, unsatisfactory service— they all result in a response of “Let’s just leave it; it’s not worth the conflict” after having thrown only about a tenth of the fit that I would have under the same circumstances.
From what is this Mexican Zen born? To be sure, I’ve known a few people in Mexico more Karenesque than their U.S. counterparts, but they’re mostly an anomaly and tend to be fairly well-off. That said, they’re vocal about dissatisfaction, so they obviously make a lot more noise than someone quietly walking away as they fume.
Surely it was this group that President López Obrador was talking about when he complained about their behavior at vaccination sites.
I flush with recognition but also defiance: where is the line between fighting for fairness — usually on behalf of oneself — and becoming hysterical in a way that hurts others rather than solves any kind of problem?
Is it better to just let things go, or is it better to fight for one’s rights?
I suspect that part of the reason for a baked-in cultural tendency to surrender in these instances is because there are plenty in which people here know that as mad as they may get, they simply won’t get the outcome they want. When there’s no reasonable expectation of justice, you can either accept it or die mad about it. And who wants to be mad all the time?
I’m personally working on my emotions about this myself, trying — unsuccessfully so far — to cultivate my own sense of Zen. I’ve received two packages over the past two months through FedEx: one, a returned cell phone from 2016 that I’d lent to a friend that made its way to the U.S. with her. It’s old and didn’t work very well anymore, but I asked for it back so that my kid could play with the camera on it.
I had to pay a Mexican customs fee of 830 pesos to get it. My argument to my friend that I shouldn’t have to pay to receive something that I lent out fell on deaf ears, so my choice was to either pay the ransom or lose the phone forever. I reluctantly paid, only to find that the “on” button no longer worked, rendering the phone useless. So, that was 830 pesos thrown into a black hole; I’m still mad about it.
I also had to pay (only 490 pesos this time!) to receive my dad’s small box of Christmas presents — he’s old-fashioned and likes to pick things out by hand in stores. I controlled myself as best as I could with the FedEx delivery guy — who I know is not at fault. But, of course, I couldn’t help telling him how unfair it was to have to pay to receive something.
“I hear that from a lot of people,” he replied, adding, “they have to get it out — and I’m the only person in front of them to be on the receiving end.”
I’m officially no longer accepting packages unless the customs fee is explicitly paid for.
I’ve had a few wins as well on the “customer justice” front: getting a lost domestic package replaced after hours on the phone when others had given up, convincing service people to help me out by using my own brand of relentless sweetness and very specific questioning until I wear them down.
For other things, I’ve learned to either let things go or stop participating: no one ever gets the rent deposit back, for example, so just let that slide and tell yourself you’re paying in advance for them to repaint and clean the place after you leave. But if a bank wants to charge me an annual fee so they can play with my money, they’re promptly abandoned. If a beer is flat, I’ll tell them, and maybe get a replacement.
In the end, the exact points at which one should both start fighting and then stop fighting are culturally specific, and I’m still trying to navigate where those lines are and should be. My guess is that, overall, we norteamericanos could learn a thing or two from our Mexican hosts about the art of letting things go.
President López Obrador reviews remittance figures at Wednesday's conference.
It was time for 68-year-old President López Obrador to roll his sleeves up for another year of governance, having rested at his home in Palenque, Chiapas, over the festive break.
As his principal tool for public communication, the morning conferences in 2022 are sure to be dotted with moments of deep reflection, testy exchanges and memorable gaffes, rarely otherwise seen in the political arena.
Monday
A guest from the other side of the puddle joined the first conference of 2022. Jeremy Corbyn, a former U.K. prime ministerial candidate, attended with his Mexican wife, Laura Álvarez. The president described the member of the U.K. parliament as “a defender of just causes, a defender of workers.”
Later in the conference, Corbyn spoke in Spanish to thank the president, before switching to English to extol the value of the daily press conferences, to lament inequality — highlighting the needs of children in Chiapas — and to urge assistance for the world’s 70 million refugees.
The president offered a kind word to a politician of different stripes. “President Bolsonaro, of Brazil, was hospitalized. I hope he comes through it OK, and that he recovers.”
In response to a journalist, the Tabascan said school scholarships were the gift from the Three Kings to children via his administration. “That’s what Melchior, Gaspar and Baltazar are going to bring. But they [the children] should write their letters anyway.” The gift centered celebration was Kings Day on Thursday.
The president also gave an offer of asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is set to be extradited from the U.K. to the United States. “We are willing to offer Assange asylum in Mexico, that is our posture. We believe that the U.S. government must act with humanity. Assange is sick … before the end of President Donald Trump’s administration I sent him a letter asking him to exonerate [Assange].”
Tuesday
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer gave the COVID update on Tuesday as his deputy, Hugo López-Gatell, was off work with a cold.
Alcocer said the omicron variant was spreading fast, but was only causing light symptoms. Just 15% of hospital beds were occupied and 89% of over 18s had received two shots.
Health Minister Jorge Alcocer, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard and Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval await their turn on Tuesday.
The ex-leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party in Mexico City, Cuauhtémoc Gutiérrez — also known as “the King of Trash” due to his inherited refuse collection company — had been arrested for human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
“If the law is being applied without any considerations, without privileges, then what should be done is being done. I can summarize this with a liberal principle: beside the law nothing, and above the law no one,” the president said.
The foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, confirmed that the government was in contact with Julian Assange’s lawyers, but that he couldn’t take up the asylum offer “for a procedural reason.”
The president applauded his own work on education: “Since we came in, there hasn’t been a single strike in protest,” he said, before conceding schools had been shut for most of his administration.
Wednesday
Fake news debunker Elizabeth García Vilchis kicked off the conference on Wednesday. She wished a Happy New Year before dismissing reports that gas prices would spike and that the National Guard was involved in the disappearance of two youths in Michoacán.
García added that the president finished 2021 on a high note, with about a 70% approval rating across three surveys.
Later in the conference, the president said the employment rate fell by 300,000 jobs in December, due to the practice of firing staff and recontracting them in January to avoid paying their labor benefits. He named and shamed the worst offender: “Doing the analysis of the companies that carry out this practice … I’m going to say something. The first place this December, in this dismissal mechanism, is Tecnológico de Monterrey [a private university]. And why am I saying this? Because I want it to be debated.”
The president confirmed that remittances for December would see 2021 comfortably reach the US $50 billion mark. “This is the contribution of our compatriots, the heroes … speaking in baseball terminology, that’s what got us out of the hole.”
He added another present to his wish list for children on King’s Day: the gift of good health, but dissuaded kids from asking the kings for a toy he despises. “The kings and the elephant and the camel and the horse no longer want anything to do with … video games.”
Thursday
The president announced a new monthly feature for an update on economic trends, and laid out some favorable figures. Unlike other world currencies, the Mexican peso only depreciated 0.8% in the first three years of his government; external debt rose to 52.1% of GDP in the pandemic but had receded to 50.4% since the recovery. However, he conceded inflation — at 7.37% — was a primary concern.
The president said on Friday he was in good health and playing baseball again.
He thought back to when he faced legal charges in the 2006 presidential campaign, and drew on Martin Luther King for inspiration: “I remembered Luther King a lot, who was arrested because he supposedly went through a stop sign. He went to jail and was offered bail and never accepted … That’s called peaceful civil resistance.”
On the corruption of previous administrations, he gave the example of oil company Oceanografía. “It’s a company that was very favored during the governments of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón. Those governments gave [Oceanografía] billions of dollars in contracts, without bidding, by direct award. Then one of the owners gave watches away to journalists, politicians and officials … million-dollar watches.”
Friday
There were two new options for the still unsold presidential jet, AMLO said: to exchange it for helicopters to fight forest fires or to give it to the Ministry of Defense to charter out.
He added that two medicines were being approved as treatments for COVID-19.
Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier, who the president recently met with, tested positive for COVID. A journalist checked in on the 68-year-old’s health.
The president confirmed he was fighting fit. “The truth is I’m very well, I’m fine and I have no symptoms … I’m already getting back to baseball because I had torn [a tendon] … but I’m already better … soon I’m going to join up again with our veterans’ team.”
In Zacatecas, a vehicle with 10 dead bodies was abandoned in front of the state government palace on Thursday. However, the president said he was confident of the security strategy in the state: “Very regrettable what happened, but we are advancing. During the time we have had a special operation in Zacatecas we have seen a decrease in homicides of 25% in 40 days.”
