San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato is one of many areas with an established expat population. Consejo de Turismo SMA
The low cost of living is the primary reason that expats live in Mexico and security is only a concern for a small minority, according to a survey by the online magazine Expats In Mexico.
The magazine’s Expats In Mexico 2022 Survey reveals that nearly one-quarter of respondents named the cost of living as their top motive, while only 17% said personal security is an issue for them, despite homicides exceeding 30,000 for a fourth consecutive year in 2021.
A much larger concern for those surveyed is their Spanish skills: nearly 39% said they were worried about learning and using Spanish.
Other popular motives for being based in the country were a Mexican lifestyle, chosen by 21% of respondents, and the warm climate, which was the main draw for 16% of participants.
The modest incomes of respondents may explain why cost of living was their uppermost concern. The survey shows that about 64% live on a monthly budget of 40,000 pesos (almost US $2,000) or less.
The founder of Expats In Mexico, Robert Nelson, said that nearly 80% of respondents were retirees, many of whom sold their homes before moving to Mexico.
Nelson added that high global inflation made the country an even more attractive option for expats.
“Mexico has long been known as a low-cost haven for American and Canadian retirees … It continues to rank among the least expensive countries to live. With most of the world caught in an inflationary spiral, cost of living is upper-most in the minds of many expats who live here, as well as aspiring expats from other countries who may be planning or considering a move to Mexico,” he said.
Mexico has the 16th cheapest cost of living in the world. Meanwhile, the U.S. is the 21st most expensive country and Canada is the 31st most costly nation to live in, according to the statistics site World Population Review.
The survey was completed by 364 expats living in Mexico, 77% of whom are full-time residents. Detailed survey results can be found at the Expats In Mexico website.
Soldiers and members of the National Guard responded to the incident.
Twenty people were killed and four were injured in a massacre at a clandestine cockfight in Michoacán on Sunday night.
The bodies of 16 men and three women were found with bullet wounds in Las Tinajas, Zinapécuaro municipality, and an injured person died on the way to hospital.
Las Tinajas is 70 kilometers east of the state capital Morelia near the state border with Guanajuato.
The state Attorney General’s Office was informed of the attack at around 10:30 p.m. and personnel from the Investigation and Crime Scene Unit (USPEC) attended the scene where more than 100 bullet casings were found and 15 vehicles were seized.
Gunfire is audible on videos on social media recorded near the site of the attack.
The Michoacán Security Ministry wrote on social media to say that USPEC agents, soldiers and National Guardsmen were carrying out patrols in Zinapécuaro to search for the attackers.
The victims of that attack are presumed to be members of Cárteles Unidos, which is engaged in a turf war with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
More than half of total homicides recorded in the first two months of the year occurred in six states, a list which included Michoacán and Guanajuato.
The government recently announced that last month was the least violent February of the past five years, with total homicides down 14% from February 2021.
Co-curator Octavio Murillo, center. He's also the lead archivist at the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples. Octavio Murillo
Folk art and handcrafts, called artesanía in Mexico, are essential parts of this country’s identity. But the question of how to present them can be controversial.
First there is distinguishing them from fine art, a problem worldwide because there is significant overlap between the two concepts, especially for decorative items that are inspired by the local culture (hence the name “folk art” for many pieces).
In Mexico, nationality and ethnicity are important factors in the authenticity of artesanía — that’s not the case for fine art. Foreign artists can and have had successful careers in Mexico, but no matter how authentically a foreigner or outsider might make a piece of artesanía, it generally won’t be accepted as “Mexican” neither by other artisans nor by collectors.
Add to this issues of identity and politics for artesanía created by any of Mexico’s 68 federally-recognized indigenous peoples.
This year, the Mexico City Palace of Fine Arts opened an exhibit on creative expression by Mexico’s indigenous communities called Arte de los pueblos de México, Disrupciones indígenas (The art of Mexico’s peoples, indigenous disruptions). The venue and timing are important.
19th-century cross showing indigenous influence in its decoration from the Museo del Pueblo de Guanajuato’s collection.
Why? To start, the building is the most prestigious art venue in Mexico. Also, the event comes 100 years after Mexican muralists such as Robert Montenegro and Dr. Atl promoted artesanía as an integral part of Mexican identity — then a radical idea.
Before then, all artesania was considered to have no cultural or economic value and to be a sign of Mexico’s backwardness.
The Arte de los pueblos exhibit traces the evolution of thought about indigenous peoples and their creative works with a timeline starting just before the Mexican Revolution, then through the promotion of Mexican identity afterward, then to indigenous movements that came later and finally to modern academic thinking about indigenous art.
With almost 500 works on loan from 59 different public and private collections, the exhibit’s selections run the gamut from tools and textiles to the “classic” expressions of the visual arts, such as painting and sculpting.
However, instead of stating that all creative works by indigenous hands are equal to that of those nonindigenous, the exhibit has as its premise that using “European” or “Western” artistic or aesthetic concepts to judge indigenous creations is, at the very least, inappropriate.
The exhibition tosses out any dividing line between “artist” and “artisan.” One reason is that there are indigenous cultures that don’t even have words for the “European” concepts of art and aesthetics, says Juan Rafael Coronel Rivera, the exhibit’s principal curator.
“Tajëëw” is by Mixe artist Octavio Aguilar of Oaxaca. Tajëëw was one of two Mixe twin god-brothers, the snake god.
So we should instead try to look at the pieces in this exhibit from a different perspective — one that emphasizes such works as “truly” belonging to a culture.
According to Coronel, work that fits this definition is created “inside the culture,” where the objects have cultural value to the community, not just as something to sell. He goes on to say that “… those of mixed heritage [mestizo] do not belong to any specific culture.”
However, given all this, the exhibit’s choice of venue is curious.
Mexico City has the National Museum of Folk Cultures. There is also a prominent Museum of Folk Art only blocks away from the Fine Arts Palace.
The most obvious reason to have it at this location is that the building is quite famous and will attract more visitors. However, the choice of site does seem to reinforce the post-Revolution idea of equating folk art with “real” art to give it the respect it deserves.
Still, that is not really a bad thing. The exhibit has some fine writing at the entrance to each of the halls by Octavio Murillo of the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples that explains the academic concepts, but the notion that “indigenous folk art is art” is what gets people in the door.
I have to admit that I am not comfortable with the idea of lumping all indigenous cultures together like this. Some indigenous groups may not see “art” and “aesthetics” the way we do in the western world, but there have been indigenous cultures that definitely have had “art” in that sense. Just one look at the murals and sculptures produced by the Olmec, Mayan and Mexica attest to that.
Masks and other ceremonial items from various Nahua communities in central Mexico.
But I doubt that sort of thinking just disappeared in 1521.
For centuries, and right up until today, indigenous communities have often had to put their efforts into surviving, so creativity is applied to the making of practical items such as clothing and pottery. With the rise of tourism, it’s also been applied to the making of decorative items for sale. In the end, the equivalence between “fine” and “folk” art, especially in indigenous cultures, remains, but its justification has changed.
This exhibition would have us use only concepts from the indigenous cultures themselves in order to judge the works. But I see two problems with this.
First, it assumes that indigenous people are so very different from the rest of humankind, making their ideas of “art” and “aesthetics” too alien or strange for those who speak Spanish or English. That returns indigenous cultures to the “inscrutable” category, one that relegated distinct, complex cultures to little more than novelties. It also lumps too many cultures with very different languages and histories into some kind of homogenized whole.
To be fair, there are problems with any ideological basis for an exhibition that looks to promote indigenous creative expression as part of Mexico while simultaneously trying to conserve each culture’s uniqueness. There is probably no perfect way to do this.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico 18 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
If we didn't say anything, could tell this fat, juicy burger has a portobello inside?
If you’ve always thought of plant-based burgers as a meat substitute, you’ll never be happy; nothing can replace a well-made beef hamburger. Instead, think of them as a dish all their own, made and eaten just because they actually taste good. And while you can buy all kinds of frozen meat-free burgers, making your own — especially using the black bean recipe below — is really the way to go.
The trickiest thing is texture: meatless burgers tend to be mushy, and even if the flavor is good, a mouth full of mush isn’t. How to get rid of excess moisture but still retain juiciness is one of our challenges. Meatless patties are made of already-cooked ingredients and starch; they don’t have the long, sticky proteins of raw meat that meld together as they cook. That’s why, for instance, black bean burgers don’t shrink when cooked and often develop a crispy outside crust while remaining mushy inside — not what we want. Eggs help a little, but it’s still not the same. Another tip for firmer texture is to add the breadcrumbs at the last minute, just before cooking — don’t let them sit in the mixture and get soggy.
The real key is to roast the drained, rinsed canned black beans in the oven, partially dehydrating them, before adding to your burger mixture. This gets rid of the mushiness and intensifies the flavor and is well worth the extra effort. Crumbled cotija or feta cheese, plus chipotles in adobo sauce, add moisture and zesty tang.
I’ve included two other recipes for meatless burgers: one a basic portobello mushroom version, the other a more complex beet and rice burger. For me, it’s the black bean burgers that’ve become part of my repertoire; I make a full batch and freeze them.
In the United States, brands like Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat make plant-based burgers that taste incredible and cook up with the texture, flavor and juiciness of real beef — almost “bleeding” when put on the grill. Burger King even introduced Impossible burgers in 2019 and now serves its own version of the vegetarian patty, named the Impossible Whopper. In Mexico, the fast-food giant began serving the plant-based “Whopper Vegetal” a year later, citing a growing demand. (Are they available in your city? Not here in Mazatlán.)
This black bean burger, loaded with chipotle mayo, cotija cheese and topped with fixings is great on its own terms.
Best-Ever Black Bean Burgers
2 (15-oz.) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil, divided
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped fresh poblano pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped, plus 1 tsp. sauce
¾ cup roasted cashews
½ cup finely crumbled feta or cotija cheese
¾ cup panko breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 Tbsp. mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
Cheese, buns, condiments, toppings as desired
Spread beans in single layer on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake in preheated 350 F (175 C) oven until beans are mostly split open and outer skins start to get crunchy, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven; cool slightly.
While beans roast, heat 2 Tbsp. oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and poblano; cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic. Add chipotle chile and sauce and cook, stirring, about 30 seconds. Transfer to large bowl. Pulse cashews in food processor into pieces no larger than 1/3 inch. Add to bowl with onion mixture.
Transfer slightly cooled beans to food processor; add cheese. Pulse until beans are roughly chopped (largest pieces should be about a third of a full bean in size). Transfer to bowl with onion mixture. Add breadcrumbs, egg and mayonnaise; season with salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix gently but thoroughly.
In skillet: Form bean mixture into 6–8 patties. Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add patties and cook, swirling pan occasionally, until well browned and crisp on first side, about 5 minutes. Carefully flip and cook until second side is browned, about 5 minutes longer, adding cheese if desired.
For a color change-up, try these burgers made with beets!
On grill: Form bean mixture into patties; brush top sides with oil. On clean, oiled grilling grate, place burgers oiled side down. Cook without moving until first side is well browned, 3–5 minutes. Brush burger tops with oil; carefully flip and continue cooking until second side is browned, 3–5 minutes longer, topping with cheese if desired.
Rice, Goat Cheese & Beet Burgers
2 cups cooked brown or white rice
1 cup minced/grated roasted beets
¼ cup chopped fresh herbs (cilantro, parsley, basil, dill)
1 (15-oz.) can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 egg
2 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp. olive/canola oil, as needed
Combine rice, beets and herbs in large bowl. In food processor, purée beans, lemon juice and egg. Add to bowl with rice mixture; stir in goat cheese, salt and pepper. Mix well. With moist hands, form 6 patties. Working in batches, heat 1 Tbsp. oil in nonstick or cast-iron skillet; brown patties on one side for 2 minutes. Gently flip and cook other side. Serve immediately, with or without buns.
Portobello Cheeseburgers
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. olive oil
4 large portobello mushrooms, stems removed
6 oz. baby spinach
Cheddar or Gruyere cheese
Buns, condiments
Whisk vinegar, salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil. In a wide, shallow bowl, toss marinade with mushrooms, covering all sides. Let sit 10–15 minutes. Place mushrooms on baking sheet, rounded side up. (Don’t rinse the bowl — you’ll use the remaining marinade to dress the spinach.)
Blanch spinach 20 seconds; drain and squeeze dry. Chop coarsely; toss in bowl with marinade. Set aside.
Prepare a medium-hot grill, heat heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper. Place on hot grill or pan, rounded side down. Cook 6–8 minutes, depending on thickness, until lightly browned and moist. Flip and cook 6 minutes more.
Flip once more to reheat top, then flip back over and place cheese on top. Continue cooking until cheese melts. To serve, place mound of spinach on bottom half of bun, then mushrooms, rounded side up, on top of spinach. Top with condiments and serve.
Once your international order arrives at a customs office, mysterious processes begin — often at an unpredictable cost to you.
Customs has struck again.
For the third time in the past six months, I’ve had to pay upwards of 800 pesos (always as a surprise) in order to receive packages from the United States.
The first time this happened was over 15 years ago, when I lived in Querétaro. I’d ordered some carefully selected clothing from a company in India, and the delivery company (I find that things shipped through DHL are the most likely to get tagged and charged by Mexico’s customs) called me to say I’d need to pay the fee in order to receive my package.
Back then, 800 pesos was quite a sizable percentage of my paycheck, and I cried out of frustration and my own impotence to do anything about it.
I’d paid more than that for the contents, and it had been a stretch of my budget, so the news that I’d have to pay so much more panicked me.
Surprise customs fees and charges always feel like a hostage situation: pay us or you’ll never see your possessions that you’ve already paid for.
I did pay the customs fee and received my package, only to discover that the clothes did not fit. I had no choice but to cut my losses, and I vowed to never place orders for that sort of thing from outside the country again. If I wanted to order clothing, I’d just wait until I was in the U.S. and have it shipped there.
But apparently, I haven’t learned.
Yesterday, I received an order from a store in the U.S. that has an online Mexican storefront. I thought I’d be safe from customs charges. (I’m looking at you, Moon Magic!) So when I got the message from DHL (goodness, why is it always DHL?) that I’d need to pay 834 pesos in order to receive it, I immediately wrote to cancel my order.
I soon got a message back: you can either refuse to pay and customs will destroy the package (and we can’t issue a refund in that case), or you can ask to have it sent back, and we’ll refund you, minus the cost of shipping it back to us and any taxes and fees … once we get it back, of course.
So to sum up, my choices were:
Lose the money and get nothing for it;
Lose about half the money and get nothing for it;
Pay considerably more than what I agreed to for the product.
I decided to go ahead and pay, but I’m still mad about it. Though I’ve been in Mexico for 20 years now, my American sensibilities when it comes to customer service aren’t something I can shake off. I expect the people in charge to fix the problem because that’s what I do.
So beware, my friends. Just because online stores have a Mexican storefront doesn’t mean they don’t still count as imports, and complaints are likely to get you a “not our problem” response.
The exception, the DHL delivery folks told me, seems to be orders from Amazon and Shien, who must have some sort of agreement with customs (not that I’m encouraging you to frequent these stores, but I figured you’d like to have the information).
My frustration, really, is more toward customs here in Mexico, which feels like a big kid holding up your homework and refusing to hand it over without receiving your lunch money first.
There is no way to argue with them. There is no number to call.
If you really want to fight, you can send them mountains of paperwork to contest their assessment of the value and wait for their response, which must be done before paying the fee; if you’ve paid, then you’ve accepted your fate. In the meantime, DHL will wait exactly seven days before marking it “undeliverable” and doing whatever they do with those packages; I highly doubt they “destroy” them.
One would think that simply by avoiding ordering from companies that must import their products to you from outside of Mexico, you could avoid this situation. But, really, receiving anything from out of the country is fair game.
Here are my other two sad stories from the past six months (I’m pretty sure that customs must have me flagged at this point as one of the doofuses that always pays).
Last year, I lent an old phone to a friend and wanted it back. She had since moved to the United States, and she and her partner had decided to send it back through DHL. Though they paid over US $100 to send it, once it got to Mexico I received the dreaded message: there would be a more-than-800-peso tax to pay in order to receive it, even though it was a six-year-old used phone.
My argument to my friend that I shouldn’t have to pay to receive something that I’d lent out fell on deaf ears, and I forked over the money during a time I was financially suffering so that I could get it back and give to my daughter to take photos with. Once I paid, more frustration ensued: the phone no longer worked.
The second customs fee I faced came slightly after Christmas: my dad had sent a package with a few holiday presents in it. This time, I only had to pay about 400 pesos! I was annoyed that I had to pay to get it, but at least everything inside of the box worked.
There are certainly much larger injustices in the world than this. However, this is information I’d surely want to know if I were new around here.
So, my friends, behold my cautionary tale: either bring what you want from the States with you when you first head down, buy locally or be prepared to fork over a ransom for whatever’s coming your way from up north.
President López Obrador gave his Monday morning press conference at the opening of Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA). Presidencia de la República
President López Obrador toured Oaxaca last weekend, a state for which he has a particular soft spot. The fiercely independent area is divided into 570 small municipalities, 418 of which are governed under the indigenous legal code known as usos y costumbres. Land ownership there is widely distributed.
Monday
It was a big day for AMLO on Monday: the morning conference aired from Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), built to serve Mexico City, which was set for its inauguration. The president said he only took a cool 38 to 40 minutes to get to the airport amid concerns about its transport connections.
Defense Minister Luis Cresencio confirmed a modest opening for the AIFA, with 2,022 passengers on its first day. They’re hoping for an acceleration: the airport’s director, Isidoro Pastor, wants 5 million to pass through the terminal in 2023.
The president, subject to an electoral silence due to an upcoming referendum on his performance, is not allowed to campaign, promote or propagandize. Inaugurating public projects, such as airports, is against the rules, but the president spoke anyway.
“This project was completed despite the resistance of groups with vested interests … those who’d like us to do badly, and see the country do badly,” he said.
However, silence was maintained when the president was asked about a scandalous dispute between his former legal advisor, the former interior minister and the attorney general. On that topic, he kept quiet.
“Mission accomplished,” the president declared, celebrating the AIFA’s completion, shortly before striding away to attend to the nation.
On World Water Day, the Environment Minister, María Luisa Albores, added more green to another map: she announced Lake Texcoco, the original site of the canceled, semi-constructed airport, as a natural protected area. It was planned and initiated by AMLO’s predecessors and later discarded through a 2018 referendum.
President López Obrador, Environment Minister María Luisa Albores and other public officials visited Texcoco in December of last year, during the planning process of the natural protected area. Twitter @alfredodelmazo
Later in the conference, while defending his press conference at the airport’s opening, the president got a bit tongue tied.
“There is political confrontation and there is passion and [people] get angry, because they show what they really are … For example, to illustrate, yesterday we inaugurated the … we did not inaugurate it. The airport was delivered … I did not participate, except as a witness,” the president reassured viewers.
“How little they know about Mexico? … I mean, what do they want? … What’s the name of those sandwiches in the United States?” the president asked.
“Hamburgers,” came the reply.
Wednesday
“The rooster fell asleep on us,” the president quipped, arriving a little behind schedule on Thursday.
Prepped with a pack of “media lies” to refute, federal media expert Elizabeth García Vilchis took the floor. She began with a list of the AIFA’s marvelous features, which weren’t recognized by critics, who she said “refuse to see reality and construct their own post-truth.”
She went through the back catalogues to explain that the AIFA wasn’t over budget, the control tower wasn’t on a tilt, the president didn’t fake a train journey toward the airport and new runways had indeed been built. And in other news, García said the Harley Davidson motorcycle in a photo next to AMLO’s son didn’t belong to him.
“When did these artists, pseudo-environmentalists, speak out about the destruction that was going to take place on Lake Texcoco? … Did they say anything during the neoliberal period about governments handing over 60% of the national territory for mining?” the president retorted.
It was back to tlayuda-shaped battle lines later in the conference.
Elizabeth García Vilchis refuted a number of claims in her weekly segment. Presidencia de la República
“[Our adversaries] … give off airs of superiority. They believe themselves to be blue-blooded … They don’t know what tlayudas are … it wasn’t even a tlayuda the lady was selling,” the president insisted.
A call from the room confirmed his wisdom: “They were doraditas,” someone said, referring to a similar corn-based snack.
At the close, the tabasqueño displayed his colors. “We’re going for a tlayuda,” he announced.
Thursday
An update on homicides was first up at Thursday’s conference. Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía Berdeja offered some assurance to hoteliers in Quintana Roo: 10 men and one woman from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) were detained in Cancún in relation to 13 murders and 28 more people had been arrested in Tulum for organized crime. Another 29 people had also been arrested for the 2019 massacre of a Mormon family in Sonora.
Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejía Berdeja announced dozens of organized crime-related arrests around the country on Thursday. Presidencia de la República
However, the head of Civil Protection, Laura Velázquez, revealed that pacifying the country was not only a struggle against mankind, but also against Mother Nature. She confirmed the dry weather was back with 33 active forest fires being combated by 1,513 firefighters .
Amid the ecological disaster, the president later reiterated that his Maya Train project would do no damage.
“I’m from a town, I grew up in the countryside. I know what trees are, I love trees. I learned to protect the flora and fauna. We’re not destroyers,” he said.
Friday
The president was in Cuernavaca, Morelos, for the last conference of the week. “Our solidarity with the governor of the state of Morelos … this state with such a history of social struggle, the land of General Emiliano Zapata Salazar,” he said, referring to the diminutive revolutionary hero.
Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco said the firm hand of the law would be applied to corrupt former state officials.
“We don’t forgive or forget,” he warned.
With debates on AMLO’s electricity reform starting in the Chamber of Deputies, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said that active contracts with energy companies should be respected.
“I respect the U.S. ambassador to Mexico very much, I respect his opinion, but we have a position that we are going to defend and the legislators are the ones who are going to decide,” the president responded.
“We’re not going to Moscow to spy on anyone, we’re not going to Beijing to spy on what they’re doing in China. We’re not going to Washington, not even Los Angeles, we’re not getting into that,” AMLO insisted.
Alejandra Ríos, one of five winners of the One Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
A Mexican woman is one of five winners of an international entrepreneurship competition for people aged 35 and under.
Alejandra Ríos, CEO of culinary experiences and events company Ambrosía, was selected by a panel of international judges as a winner of the 2022 edition of the One Young World “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, which is judged on the positive social impact of the candidates’ ventures and how they are inspiring others with their leadership.
One Young World, a United Kingdom-based organization, describes itself as “the global forum for young leaders” and is backed by renowned figures such as singer and activist Bob Geldof, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.
Announcing Ríos as one of the five winners, One Young World noted that Ambrosía, a Mexico City-based company, is a leader in Mexico in the creation of culinary experiences and events. It offers catering for events such as weddings and corporate functions, among a range of other services.
The organization also acknowledged that Ríos is the founder of investment fund Meraki Ventures and the “youngest shark” on the seventh season of reality television show Shark Tank México, in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to potential investors.
One Young World describes Ambrosía as a “leading culinary experiences and events company.”
“Additionally, Alejandra is an angel investor in projects such as Básicos de México, The Positive Foods, among other projects. She has also been actively involved in other venture capital funds such as Amplifica and 500 Startups, focused on promoting entrepreneurship in Mexico and Latin America,” the organization said.
Básicos de México is a clothing company while The Positive Foods manufactures products such as tortillas and cookies.
According to a biography on Ríos’ personal website, she completed a business management diploma at the Ibero-American University in 2006 before joining the Ambrosía board of directors the same year.
Ríos has also completed a leadership and management course at New York University, a finance degree at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and an MBA at Harvard Business School.
When she was included on the short list for One Young World’s award in late February, she tweeted, “It is an honor to be nominated together with these incredible young entrepreneurs who are having a positive global impact.”
Ríos and the four other entrepreneurs of the year – two from the United States, one from Colombia and one from the U.K. – will be presented with their award at the One Young World 2022 Summit, to be held in Manchester, England, in September.
Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Dramaretska condemned the creation of the Mexico-Russia friendship group. Screenshot
Ukraine’s ambassador to Mexico has slammed lawmakers who joined a Mexico-Russia friendship group, asserting that expressing support for Russian President Vladimir Putin as he commands the invasion of her homeland is to “participate in a crime.”
“It’s a disgrace,” Oksana Dramaretska told Milenio Television in an interview. “… To support Putin, declare support for Putin in these times, is to participate in a crime.”
The ambassador acknowledged that most deputies didn’t join the friendship group or attend the event with her Russian counterpart, but those who did will have their decision “on their conscience.”
She also noted that some parties, including the Citizens Movement and the National Action Party, have made “strong declarations” against the creation of the group.
In a separate interview with Radio Fórmula, Dramaretska said that lawmakers who joined the group – most of whom are deputies with the ruling Morena party and its ally the Labor Party – offered their friendship to a “criminal regime.”
“To support the murderers … is to participate in their crimes,” she said. Putin is “a criminal, a person who seems crazy,” the diplomat said.
“What can I say? This brutal, unjustified war, unleashed by Putin’s criminal regime against the Ukrainian people, has already lasted for 29 days. They’re killing our people, destroying our cities,” Dramaretska said.
The ambassador told Milenio TV she understands Mexico’s decision not to send weapons to Ukraine given its non-interventionist foreign policy, and expressed appreciation for the position the country has taken against the invasion at the United Nations.
However, she was critical of its decision not to impose economic sanctions on Russia.
“I’m asking the government of Mexico to consider applying sanctions against Russia because to have business as usual with Russia in these times is to support this war, to support the massacre of people,” Dramaretska said.
Meanwhile, data from the National Immigration Institute (INM) shows that the average number of Ukrainians entering Mexico per month has more than doubled this year, presumably due to heightened tension between Ukraine and Russia prior to invasion in late February as well as the outbreak of full blown war.
An average of 2,352 Ukrainians entered the country per month last year, while the monthly average this year – based on data up to March 19 – is 5,037. About 85% of those who came in January flew into Cancún airport, with most of the remainder touching down in Mexico City.
According to the INM, no Ukrainian citizens have sought asylum in Mexico for humanitarian reasons related to the war.
The number of Russians entering Mexico has also increased this year, rising from a monthly average of 6,287 in 2021 to 15,132 this year, a 140% spike.
Members of the band Los Chuparrecio were murdered this week near Celaya.
Seven bodies found in a burned truck outside of Celaya, Guanajuato, Tuesday night belong to a group of banda musicians who disappeared earlier the same day.
Los Chuparrecio, a family musical group, set out from the community of Juan Martín at 3 p.m. on Tuesday headed for a gig in Rancho Seco, a town just outside of Celaya. But the band never made it to their destination. Family members said they stopped answering their cell phones an hour after they left home.
Then around 11 p.m., a different truck was set on fire in the community of San José el Nuevo, a town on the way to the Chuparrecio’s gig. Inside were seven badly burned bodies, with their hands tied with wire. Nearby, there was another body: a man showing signs of torture.
Los Chuparrecio set out with six musicians and two staff members, all of whom were related. The group included three brothers and one minor, Juan Diego Pérez Maldonado, age 15. The state attorney general released an Amber Alert for Juan Diego the next day.
Their truck was found abandoned in Rancho Seco the next day, and their musical instruments were gone. The burned bodies in San José el Nuevo were found inside a red truck with Michoacán plates.
The area south of Celaya, Guanajuato, where the incident took place.
Family members of the musicians said they recognized their loved ones in pictures of the crime scene that circulated on social media and on Wednesday, a group of mothers, wives and siblings showed up at a regional prosecutor's office.
A woman said that a body she saw in social media posts had clothing identical to what her husband was wearing that day.
One man identified his brother and another, his cousin, based on the clothing they could see in the online posts.
On Friday, state Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre confirmed that the seven burned bodies were, in fact, members of Los Chuparrecio. During a military event in Irapuato, he said in a brief interview that forensic evidence and information from the family had allowed officials confirm the identities.
Sophia Huett López, head of the state public security system, said on Thursday that while the number of victims matched, the bodies were so unrecognizable that genetic testing would be necessary to confirm their identities.
A tribute to the band published online on Thursday.
Air Force General Glen VanHerck shared information about the Russian intelligence strategy in Mexico on Thursday in a presentation to a U.S. Senate committee.
Russia has more intelligence agents in Mexico than any other country, a high-ranking United States military official said Thursday.
Air Force General Glen VanHerck, commander of the United States Northern Command, told the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services that “the largest portion of GRU members in the world is in Mexico right now.”
The GRU is Russia’s military intelligence agency. VanHerck didn’t say how many Russians spies are believed to be in Mexico but asserted that those here “keep an eye very closely on their opportunities to have influence on U.S. opportunities and access.”
The GRU has been accused of interfering in elections in the United States, attempting a coup in Montenegro in 2016, carrying out a cyber-attack on the World Anti-Doping Agency and poisoning former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the United Kingdom in 2018.
VanHerck also spoke about his concern that countries such as Russia and China could take advantage of the instability in Mexico created by drug cartels.
“Transnational criminal organizations … create an environment that is not conducive to raising a family [or] for economic success and we see that happening right on our border, in Mexico,” he said.
“My concern with that is the instability it creates, the opportunity it creates, for actors such as China, Russia and others who might have nefarious activities on their mind to seek access and influence in … [the United States] from a national security perspective,” the general said.
“There are actors who are very aggressive and active all across the North Command area of responsibility … [including] the Bahamas and Mexico,” he added.
Despite the apparent presence of Russian spies here, VanHerck spoke highly of security collaboration between the United States and Mexico. The two countries reached a new security agreement late last year.
VanHerck’s assertion about Russian agents in Mexico came the same day as United States Ambassador Ken Salazar rebuked Mexican lawmakers for showing support for Russia despite that country’s invasion of Ukraine.
The creation of the Mexico-Russia friendship group on Wednesday drew criticism from Citizens’ Movement party legislators, as well as U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar.
At his morning press conference on Friday, President López Obrador was asked whether there are Russian spies in Mexico.
“I don’t know. We don’t have information about that,” he replied, before adding that “any foreigner who wants to carry out legal activities in the country can do so.”
“Those who are criminals and commit crimes are detained; neither Mexicans or foreigners are permitted to commit crimes in our country,” López Obrador said.
AMLO also said that Mexico doesn’t send spies abroad. “We don’t go to Moscow to spy on anyone nor to Beijing to spy on what’s happing in China. Nor do we go to Washington, not even Los Angeles, we don’t get involved in that,” he said.
