Oaxaca community remains cut off 10 days after hurricane struck

By

-

June 10, 2022

Residents of a small municipality in the mountains of Oaxaca are still without power and haven’t received any disaster assistance since they were pummeled by Hurricane Agatha on May 30, according to the newspaper Milenio. To make matters worse, residents say their mayor has abandoned them and has taken up residence in Oaxaca city.

The citizens of San Mateo Piñas, a town of about 2,000 people, say that because authorities and various government agencies have not done anything to help, they are now asking the federal government to take action, as they are still without sufficient food, drinking water or housing. They demanded that the army and President López Obrador address their situation and deliver humanitarian aid through the airlift installed at the Huatulco airport, Milenio reported.

San Mateo Piñas is located in the Sierra Sur, about 37 kilometers from the town of Santa María Huatulco via a small mountain road. But residents say landslides on the highway have made it impassable and have left them isolated and “incommunicado.” Instead of being able to drive to Huatulco in less than two hours, villagers and others now have to walk on mountain paths for up to 15 hours to get there, one person said.

At a press conference in the city of Oaxaca, relatives of those affected by the hurricane said they had set up three collection centers for food and other useful items, and that in a week, they collected six or seven tonnes of support. But, they added, they do not have the means to transfer any of it to the devastated community.

Here is some of the damage left behind by Hurricane Agatha in Mexico—this road reaches San Mateo Piñas, a community of about 1,500 that has been cut off following the storm. Their water system also collapsed, so we’re bringing drinking water in addition to food. #ChefsForOaxaca pic.twitter.com/qtUemGCVjs

— World Central Kitchen (@WCKitchen) June 5, 2022

Helicopter footage by the non-profit World Central Kitchen shows the condition of the road to San Mateo Piñas.

Mayor Tomás Victorio García also was criticized for not having assumed his responsibility so far. “He responds from his cell phone, from his home in the city of Oaxaca, he is never in the town,” one person said.

They also denied the mayor’s statements that he came to Piñas on a motorcycle to check out the damage, and then returned to the city of Oaxaca to file a report. “That is impossible,” said one person, “because the community is not reachable.”

However, residents of the affected area have sent photographs to relatives and friends, and some of those have been published on social media. People are able to charge their cellphones, one person said, only because some have solar panels.

Ana Elisa Garcia Galán, originally from San Mateo Piñas, told reporters in Oaxaca city on Thursday that the help being asked for is a “matter of humanity.” She said people are fed up with politicians “because they don’t attend to the demands of the people.”

Family members of San Mateo Piñas residents held a press conference in Oaxaca city to tell journalists about the conditions in the community and ask for government support. Facebook / Lente Informativo Oaxaca

Garcia added that people are eating soup and running out of food. “Two days ago, I posted on my Facebook that we’ve had 30 minutes of rain [in the city of Oaxaca] and everyone is freaking out because of floods. Now imagine six hours of heavy rain, plus the wind, and your house is falling down. Everything that you have worked to have has fallen down.” That, she added, is a whole different kind of reality.

According to news sources, Hurricane Agatha, with winds of 165 kph, was the strongest hurricane to make landfall along the Pacific coast of Mexico in the month of May since records began in 1949. It hit land as a Category 2 hurricane, bringing heavy rains that triggered landslides and flash flooding.

Media reports have put the death toll at 11 people, with several dozen others missing. However, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said nine people had died with five missing. He said the hurricane damaged 31 municipalities, where there were 25,134 affected families for a total of 100,544 people.

He added that 28,021 homes were damaged, the water system collapsed in eight municipalities, 70,082 users were left without electricity in 21 municipalities, 560 kilometers of highways and roads were damaged, 16 bridges collapsed and there was damage to coffee, papaya and sesame crops. Germán Martínez Santoyo, the head of the National Water Commission, reported that 90% of the drinking water systems in the region were affected, and 20% of the drainage systems suffered damage.

In nearby Puerto Escondido, where the hurricane did comparatively little damage, many residents have stepped in to provide emergency aid to hurricane victims in the region, particularly those living in remote mountain communities.

Sembrando Buenas Semillas and Helping Hands Puerto Escondido are among groups providing household supplies and lonas, or tarps, to replace roofs that were damaged by high winds. Some eyewitnesses have told Mexico News Daily that residents of numerous small communities have been left with nothing.

The organizations are collecting funds to purchase supplies with a campaign on FundRazr.

With reports from Mileno, El Universal and El Economista

Electric bus system announced for Mérida

By

MND Staff

-

June 10, 2022

0

An IE-Tram electric bus. Irizar e-mobility

As many as 30 electric buses that look like European-style tram cars will be up and running on the streets of Mérida and two nearby municipalities by December 2023, Yucatán Governor Mauricio Vila said at a conference Thursday.

The plan is for the new IE-Tram to connect Mérida’s Centro Historico with Kanasín to the southeast, Umán to the southwest and the Yucatán Autonomous University Faculty of Engineering building to the north.

The buses will be the first in Mexico with zero emissions, Vila said in a presentation at the Smart City Expo LATAM Congress in Mérida, an event highlighting ideas, projects and actions being implemented throughout Latin America. He also said it would be the first electric route in the south-southeast of Mexico, and the only one of its kind in all of Latin America using both high tech and abandoned train tracks.

The fleet will connect 137 neighborhoods, and its three routes will cover approximately 100 kilometers. In places, it will run on paved-over tracks, and in other parts, it will have dedicated lanes on roadways. It was presented as an electric vehicle that will glide gently along the designated routes; its batteries will be charged at stations along the way.

A map of the proposed bus routes. — The proposed bus routes. Facebook / Mauricio Vila

“It will be a bus with the benefits of a streetcar, the flexibility of a bus that can carry up to 105 passengers,” Vila said. The tram-buses, which will be part of the Va y Ven public transportation system in Mérida, are produced at a plant in Zaragoza, Spain, which Vila visited in October 2021.

He said the vehicles will come equipped with USB cellphone chargers, Wi–Fi, braille buttons, security systems for speed control in congested areas, a real-time geolocator, and information about upcoming stops and destinations. Each unit will measure 12 meters long and will have four handicap-accessible sliding doors, large aisles and electronic ticketing technology.

Yucatan Magazine reported that reaction to the announcement was mixed. It was favorable on the government’s social media channels, but others said the project was coming at the expense of necessities like well-paved roads and safe sidewalks, and one editor writing on EcoYucatán.com wondered if the financing is real or imaginary.

Vila described the project as a public-private initiative, with 60% (2.8 billion pesos) of the budget, for the units and infrastructure work, contributed by the state government. The federal government will kick in 23% and private interests 16%, Vila said. Costs for riders were not discussed.

The new system’s capacity will be 500,000 people a week, reportedly 20% of Mérida’s public-transportation riders. Mérida, Kanasín and Umán are part of a metro area with 1.2 million people.

“Kanasín is the main source of people who come to work every day in the city of Mérida,” Vila said, noting that route will be the first one activated. All three routes, he added, have “high influx during peak hours that affect the operation of the entire transport system.”

With reports from Yucatán Magazine and Diario de Yucatán

Space agency detects massive discharge of methane by Pemex

By

MND Staff

-

June 10, 2022

0

Burning methane is a common way to avoid emitting the gas into the atmosphere, as can be seen at this Pemex processing center off the coast of Campeche. Pemex

The state oil company Pemex released some 40,000 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere from a Gulf of Mexico oil and gas platform last December, according to a study by a team of European scientists.

The European Space Agency (ESA) announced the results of the study on Thursday.

“A team of scientists have used satellite data to detect methane plumes from an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico,” the ESA said. “This is the first time that individual methane plumes from offshore platforms are mapped from space,” it added.

Methane, the main constituent of natural gas, is much more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide and is considered a major contributor to global warming.

Satellite imagery of the Zaap-C methane plume (left) and the researchers' analysis of how much methane was present (right). — Satellite imagery of the Zaap-C methane plume (left) and the researchers’ analysis of how much methane was present (right). ESA

The ESA said that a team led by scientists from Spain’s Valencia Polytechnic University (UPV) used satellite data “to detect and quantify strong methane plumes from an offshore oil and gas production platform near the coast of Campeche in one of Mexico’s major oil producing fields.”

“… The team found that the [Zaap-C] platform released high volumes of methane during a 17-day ultra-emission event which amounted to approximately 40,000 tonnes of methane released into the atmosphere in December 2021,” the agency said.

“These emissions are equivalent to around 3% of Mexico’s annual oil and gas emissions and this single event would have a similar magnitude to the entire regional annual emissions from Mexico’s offshore region. … The results from this analysis showed that this ultra-emitting event, likely related to abnormal process conditions, was a one-time incident with the longest duration since flaring activity began at this platform,” the ESA said.

Luis Guanter, a UPV researcher who co-authored the study, said the results “demonstrate how satellites can detect methane plumes from offshore infrastructure.”

The emission event occurred off the coast of Campeche. ESA

“This represents a breakthrough in the monitoring of industrial methane emissions from space, as it opens the door to systematic monitoring of emissions from individual offshore platforms,” he said.

Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, a UPV scientist and the study’s lead author, said that she and her colleagues are in fact expanding their analysis to other offshore oil and gas production regions.

The news agency Reuters sought comment from Pemex and the federal Energy Ministry about the study’s findings but didn’t receive a response from either.

Mexico News Daily

López Obrador’s one-year health goal: good intentions but unfeasible

By

MND Staff

-

June 10, 2022

0

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) is one branch of the National Health System. — The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) is one branch of the national health system.

President López Obrador’s goal of providing completely free medical care and medications to all public health system patients within a year is unachievable – at least without a massive increase in health sector investment, according to medical professionals who spoke with the newspaper El Universal.

López Obrador on Thursday accepted that some public health system patients are paying for medical services and medicines that are supposed to be free. He claimed that the practice of charging public health system patients is a relic of the old “corrupt regime” and difficult to eradicate. Nevertheless, he committed to putting an end to the practice within a year.

“I can’t leave government” until medical care and drugs are completely free in the public health system, López Obrador said.

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to stay [in power]. I believe that in a year at the most you will no longer be able to say that [public health system patients are paying for medical care and medicines],” he told a reporter at his regular news conference.

President López Obrador speaks at his Thursday morning press conference.

“… We already have this very clear commitment: [free] medical care for everyone regardless of whether you have … insurance or not. … This is the welfare state, the right to health that is enshrined in the constitution,” López Obrador said.

It’s not the first time that the president has made an ambitious pledge to improve the public health system. He promised in early 2019 that Mexico would have a health system comparable to those in Canada, the United Kingdom and Denmark in two years.

Xavier Tello, a surgeon and health policy analyst, told El Universal that establishing a completely free universal health care system is not something that can be achieved in two years – AMLO’s term ends in 2024 – or even an entire six-year period of government.

“It’s something that takes decades. … [Countries] that have created [universal] health care systems, like the United Kingdom or the welfare states of the European Union, it took them decades because it’s not something that can be done from one day to the next,” he said.

A waiting room in a Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) hospital in Tlaxcala. — A waiting room in a Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) hospital in Tlaxcala, part of the public health system.

Tello said that the government doesn’t have enough money at its disposal to offer free health care and medications to all Mexicans. Among OECD countries – most of which are high-income nations – Mexico invests the least in its public health system on a per capita basis, he said.

Germany spends more than US $5,000 per person annually and the U.K. spends $4,200 per potential patient but Mexico only invests $620, Tello said. In order for Mexico to have a high-quality universal health system, the health care budget needs to increase eightfold “and that won’t happen,” he said.

Samuel Ponce de León, a medical doctor and National Autonomous University (UNAM) health academic, said that talking about the creation of a free universal health care system is much easier than actually doing it.

“Having high-quality [and free] medical services requires large investment, great preparation … [and] extensive infrastructure capacity,” he said. “To say that in one year we’re going to have free [medical] services could effectively be achievable but … [establishing] a good health health system [in that period of time] is not a real possibility,” Ponce said.

Mexico’s public health care facilities and the level of training doctors have are currently “not optimal,” he said. “Building a good health system isn’t done only with words. … You have to make a great effort, [have] great planning and … [make] a large investment in human resources … and infrastructure,” he said.

Alejandro Jácome, a surgeon and UNAM academic, said López Obrador has good intentions but predicted that he won’t achieve his stated goal. To be in a position to offer free medical care and drugs to all public health system patients the government needs to make a “very large” investment in the sector, he said.

“But what we’ve seen in recent years is that the health budget hasn’t increased,” Jácome said.

With reports from El Universal

Plastic invades beaches of Veracruz

By

MND Staff

-

June 9, 2022

0

polluted Veracruz waterway — Greenpeace México and the Technological Institute of Veracruz conducted a plastic litter census on 11 beaches and other waterways on the state's eastern coast. Courtesy

Plastic pollution is a significant problem in Veracruz: a study by Greenpeace México and the Technological Institute of Veracruz counted over 4,000 pieces of plastic litter in a relatively small area of the Gulf coast state.

The environmental organization and the higher education institute presented on Wednesday a report entitled Amenaza plástica: un problema en las costas veracruzanas (Plastic Threat: a Problem on the Veracruz coast).

It’s based on a plastic litter census carried out on 11 beaches in the Boca del Río-Alvarado urban area, on islands and in lagoons of the Veracruz Reef System National Park and in the lower parts of the Jamapa and Cotaxtla rivers.

Researchers counted a total of 4,344 pieces of plastic litter in the area studied, most of which were fragments of unidentifiable plastic and polystyrene, the report said. PET bottles and their lids were the second most commonly found plastic items, while plastic bags and plastic packaging were among the other items of litter located.

11 polluted Veracruz beaches — The 11 Veracruz beaches where the plastic litter census was taken.

Only 25% of the pieces of litter collected were identifiable in terms of the company that made them. Of 1,104 items whose manufacturer was established, 389, or 35%, were made by The Coca-Cola Company, a figure much higher than that of any other company. Researchers found 87 PepsiCo plastic items, making that company the second biggest indirect litterer.

Jacobo Santander Monsalvo, one of the report’s authors, said that minute pieces of plastic – “microplastics and even nanoplastics” – that have broken off larger items are the most dangerous to humans and animals.

“These small fragments are the least visible and those that cause more damage to biodiversity and human beings,” he said.

“There is scientific evidence that micro and nano plastics are increasingly being incorporated into the tissues and organs of living organisms and they’re also present in the water and air. While more studies about the effects of plastic on human health and biodiversity must be done, the potential impacts are present and that’s why taking urgent measures to stop this problem is necessary.”

Greenpeace graphic of source of plastic in Veracruz waterways — A Greenpeace graphic showing what portion of the plastic litter it found in the study area that could be identified came from which company. The origin of the majority of fragments couldn’t be identified. Greenpeace

Ornela Garelli, a Greenpeace campaigner and one the study’s coordinators, said that plastic pollution isn’t just a problem of inadequate waste management, but also one of production and mass consumption of disposable plastics. “To solve this problem at its root, companies must leave behind single-use plastics and move toward … distribution of products [whose packaging] is reusable,” she said.

The report focused on a study in Veracruz, but Greenpeace said it is indicative of a problem across Mexico. The organization called on federal lawmakers to “substantially modify” the General Law for the Prevention and Comprehensive Management of Waste, which Congress approved last year, in order to “achieve real changes to protect our catchment areas, rivers and seas.”

Greenpeace said that companies need to be more responsible for the plastic products and packaging they make and asserted that the definition of single-use plastics must be changed, among other measures aimed at reducing plastic pollution.

“Regulating correctly is the first step to changing corporate responsibility and creating more rigid obligations and sanctions, to transforming the culture of consumption … and improving the waste management systems in the country’s cities,” it said.

“The throwaway culture must be left behind – our planet needs systematic changes and … moving toward reuse and refill is essential.”

Mexico News Daily

Bottled water shortages reported in 5 states

By

MND Staff

-

June 9, 2022

0

Suppliers don't have enough of certain bottled water products to meet demand.

Bottled water shortages have been reported in five northern border states: Nuevo León, Coahuila, Baja California, Chihuahua and Sonora.

Water restrictions in Monterrey led to panic buying of bottled water in the Nuevo León capital. That led to shortages at supermarkets and convenience stores.

The president of ANPEC, a national small business association, told the newspaper Milenio that natural water resources are also limited in Coahuila, Baja California, Chihuahua and Sonora, leading residents of those states to buy greater quantities of bottled water, which has also generated shortages.

“The north of the country is very hot and the dog days of summer that are drawing near will be very strong,” Cuauhtémoc Rivera said, adding that the heat and higher demand for water has diminished dams.

He said that the supply of water to retailers has been problematic because suppliers have insufficient stock of some bottled water products. Consumers are snapping up whatever they can find, Rivera said.

The ANPEC chief also said that bottled water prices have increased 5-6% this year, which is below the 10% spike across the broader beverages category.

With reports from Milenio and El Financiero

Go here to learn about all of Mexico’s other native peoples

By

Joseph Sorrentino

-

June 9, 2022

0

National Anthropology Museum, Mexico City — The Chac Mool figure at the National Museum of Anthropology is probably a familiar figure, but the museum also teaches about lesser-known groups like the Huichol and the Yaqui. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino

Anyone who spends significant time in Mexico eventually learns that the indigenous peoples here go far beyond the ancient Mexica (Aztecs) and Maya peoples they learned about in school.

If you’re curious about the rest of the 68 indigenous groups in Mexico, the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park is the place to go. The Museo Nacional de Antropología is the nation’s largest and most visited museum, covering almost 20 acres and with 22 permanent exhibit halls housing several hundred thousand pieces of pre-Hispanic artifacts.

The current museum’s first incarnation was in 1825 when Guadalupe Victoria, Mexico’s first president, established the National Mexican Museum. As the number of artifacts grew, the collection was divided, something that happened twice between 1906 and 1940.

In 1940, the museum was named the Museo Nacional de Antropología, with a focus on pre-Hispanic artifacts and contemporary Mexican ethnography. Finally, in February 1963, construction began on the new building, which was inaugurated on September 17, 1964.

Masks from Gran Nayar region of Mexico — Masks from the peoples of the Gran Nayar region, which encompasses Nayarit, Jalisco, Durango and Zacatecas.

Upon entering the museum’s courtyard — after paying an entrance fee of a modest 85 pesos (US $4.25) — visitors can gaze up at El Paraguas (The Umbrella), a huge tower that pours a steady stream of water onto the ground below.

Exhibits dedicated to pre-Hispanic archaeology occupy the first floor, while those on the second floor are dedicated to modern Mexican indigenous groups.

The first exhibition hall on the right of the ground floor is the “Introduction to Anthropology” which, according to the museum’s information sheet, explains “the adaptations and changes experienced over millions of years [that] permitted the development of physical, social and cultural characteristics that defined modern-day human beings.”

The halls then continue counterclockwise in chronological order, starting with “Populating the Americas,” which includes artifacts and information about prehistoric life in Mexico from 30,000 to 2,500 B.C., then Pre-Classical Central Highlands (2,500 B.C. to A.D. 100), Teotihuacán (AD 100 to 700), the Toltec and the Epiclassic (A.D. 700 to 1200) and, finally, the Mexica (A.D. 1200 to 1521), which occupies a central location.

National Anthropology Museum — The museum is free on Sundays if you have an official Mexican identity card or a FM document that’ s not expired. Courtesy of National Museum of Anthropology

Placing the Mexica hall in the center of the museum, directly opposite the courtyard entrance, elicited some negative reactions.

Octavio Paz, a prominent Mexican writer and diplomat, was one of the most vocal critics of its central location. In “Critique of the Pyramid,” an essay published in 1970, he wrote that “[the] exaltation and glorification of Mexico-Tenochtitlán transforms the Museum of Anthropology into a temple.”

But Enrique Florescano, a Mexican historian, considered the museum, “a national treasure and a symbol of identity.”

Placing any indigenous group at the museum’s center would almost certainly have annoyed someone. Whatever people may think about the placement of the Mexica hall, it does contain one of the museum’s most impressive — and famous — artifacts, the Sun Stone.

The Sun Stone is believed to have been carved during the reign of Moctezuma II (A.D. 1502 to 1520). It was buried soon after the conquest, supposedly at the request of the Archbishop of Mexico. It was rediscovered on December 17, 1790, when repaving was being done in the main square.

Sun stone at National Anthropology Museum, CDMX — This Mexica sun stone was likely made during Moctezuma II’s reign in the early 16th century, buried soon after the conquest and rediscovered 200 years later.

Although there’s some debate, most scholars believe that the center image depicts Tonatiuh, the Aztec sun god. Because the stone contains the names of the days, it was initially believed to be a calendar. But it’s not. It’s a temalacatl, a gladiatorial sacrificial altar, and was most likely used to stage combat between warriors, possibly those captured during battles.

Continuing on past the Mexica exhibit are halls dedicated to Oaxaca and the Gulf Coast and the Maya, West Mexico and Northern Mexico civilizations.

It’s impossible to list all of the impressive pieces in the museum, but a few stand out, among them a massive Olmec head, the bebedores (a mural from Cholula depicting people drinking pulque), a large statue of Tlaloc (the Aztec rain god) at the entrance and a couple of figures of Chac Mool, which are also associated with Tlaloc.

Chac Mool figures always have a platter resting on their knees on which offerings — sometimes the heart of a sacrificial victim — were placed.

Some of the rooms have re-creations of some important archaeological sites and artifacts. The Teotihuacán room has a replica of the staircase from the Pyramid of Quezalcóatl and the Oaxaca and Maya rooms have recreations of tombs that were excavated in those regions.

In addition to the larger pieces, all of the rooms have display cases filled with exquisitely carved clay figures and beautiful pieces of gold.

The second floor has 12 halls dedicated to the ethnography of modern Mexican indigenous groups. According to the museum, the exhibits in those halls celebrate the “… cultural patrimony characterized by a distinctive worldview” of extant indigenous peoples.

Each room highlights different indigenous groups from across Mexico, starting with the Gran Nayar room, which focuses on the Cora, Huichol, Tepehuan and Nahua who live in Nayarit, Jalisco and Zacatecas, and ending with groups such as the Seri, Yaqui and Tarahumara, who live in Mexico’s northwest. Each also contains photographs of ceremonies and rituals still conducted by the various groups, examples of their artwork and handicrafts and, often, dioramas depicting daily life in villages.

With a bit of luck, you can catch the Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers) directly across from the museum’s main entrance (there may be a schedule, but I was unable to find it).

During this ceremony, five people (typically but not always men) climb a 30-meter pole. Four sit on the corners of a wooden square while the fifth performs a dance on a small platform. The four men at the corners have a thick rope tied around their waist, and at the end of the dance, lean back and float toward the earth.

This ceremony is most closely associated with the indigenous Totonacs, who occupy parts of Veracruz, Puebla and Hidalgo. The ceremony begun about 500 years ago during a severe drought. It’s performed to bring rain, the men representing raindrops falling.

Touring the museum will definitely work up an appetite. There’s a cafeteria onsite, but there are also plenty of stands outside near the entrance that sell food.

This isn’t a museum that can be tackled in one day; it’s simply overwhelming. It’s best to explore three, maybe four, halls in depth and return at a later time to wander through more.

Joseph Sorrentino, a writer, photographer and author of the book San Gregorio Atlapulco: Cosmvisiones and of Stinky Island Tales: Some Stories from an Italian-American Childhood, is a regular contributor to Mexico News Daily. More examples of his photographs and links to other articles may be found at www.sorrentinophotography.com He currently lives in Chipilo, Puebla.

Minister warns of economic effects of eliminating clock change in Baja California

By

MND Staff

-

June 9, 2022

0

Trucks waiting at Mexicali border to enter US — (File photo)

The elimination of daylight saving time in Baja California is not advisable, according to the state economy minister, but the state government is nevertheless analyzing the proposal put forward by President López Obrador.

AMLO, a longtime critic of daylight saving time, said last week that there is a good chance that the practice of changing clocks twice a year will be terminated this year.

“We have an inquiry open to make a decision,” Baja California Economy Minister Kurt Honold Morales told reporters at his June 1 news conference, adding that a government study showed that the savings generated by daylight saving time are minimal and the harm to health is considerable. He said last Friday that the federal government intended to consult citizens on the proposal via a survey.

Honold made it clear that he is opposed to its termination in the northern border state, which is in the Pacific Time Zone – two hours behind Mexico City, which is in the Central Time Zone.

Mexico Economic Minister Kurt Honold Morales — “We’re certain that we don’t want the change,” State Economic Minister Kurt Honold told reporters.

He said that non-observance of daylight saving time “would hurt us a lot on the border but especially in Baja California” because there would be a time difference of one hour with the U.S. state of California during summer. “It would affect us a lot economically,” said Honold, a former mayor of Tijuana.

The minister said elimination of the practice would affect thousands of Tijuana and Mexicali residents who work in the United States as well as customs offices and truckers that transport goods across the border. Baja California has observed summer time since 1942, whereas it wasn’t introduced in the rest of Mexico until 1996.

“Hopefully the change isn’t made along the entire border, because it would affect all of us who are here,” Honold said. “… We’re certain that we don’t want the change.”

Lizbeth Mata Lozano, a National Action Party deputy who represents Baja California in the federal Congress, also spoke out against AMLO’s proposal, saying it would affect the binational economy and everyone who crosses the border on a daily basis. She said imports and exports would be adversely affected if there was a one-hour time difference between Baja California and California. “The economy would be completely different,” the lawmaker charged.

Waiting in Tijuana to cross to San Ysidro — Not observing daylight time would affect people who cross daily into the U.S from Tijuana. File photo

Governor Marina del Pilar, elected on a Morena party ticket last year, appears more open to the proposal put forward by López Obrador, perhaps because she doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of the founder of the party she represents.

“We’re going to do the corresponding analysis together with the federal government, always supporting President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” she said Wednesday.

The governor said the “characteristics of the region of Baja California, its proximity to the border” and mobility between the state and California and Arizona have to be reviewed. “It’s very important that all these characteristics are analyzed and we’ll be doing the work in a coordinated way with the federal government,” del Pilar said.

With reports from Zeta Tijuana, El Imparcial, Milenio and La Voz de la Frontera

Tourist flees Puerto Vallarta after monkeypox diagnosis

By

MND Staff

-

June 9, 2022

0

The formation of pustules on the skin is one of the characteristic symptoms of monkeypox. CDC Public Health Image Library

A U.S. tourist who tested positive for monkeypox first fled the Puerto Vallarta hospital where he was instructed to isolate and undergo more tests, and then quickly hurried out of the country, according to reports.

The 48-year-old Texas man presented symptoms such as cough, chills, muscle pain and pustule-like lesions on his face, neck and trunk.

“He went to a private hospital in Puerto Vallarta and upon suspicion of this disease, he was instructed to take samples and isolate himself, which he refused and left (he actually fled) the unit,” according to a Jalisco Ministry of Health press release. Attempts to communicate with him went for naught, the agency added.

“According to information from the place where the couple was staying, it was reported that they were seen leaving with suitcases on June 4; however, since the patient had a scheduled flight from Puerto Vallarta to Dallas on June 6, [health officials] informed the National Immigration Institute and the airlines about the patient’s situation so that he would not be allowed to enter or board the aircraft,” the agency added.

In Jalisco, we have strengthened surveillance to detect monkeypox cases on time and help provide timely attention. For further information please contact our Call Center at 33-3823-3220 pic.twitter.com/RucSSQKc1M

— Secretaría de Salud Jalisco (@saludjalisco) June 8, 2022

It has now been determined, with assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, that the patient and his partner flew to the United States on June 4, El Universal reported. On June 7, the Ministry of Health’s National Liaison Center reported that the man’s test for monkeypox turned out to be positive, and the only thing the agency was awaiting at that point was confirmation from the CDC. His case was the first to be confirmed in Jalisco, according to reports.

During his stay in Puerto Vallarta, the patient reportedly was present at various parties and gatherings, some of them held in a hotel. In a tweet, the Jalisco Ministry of Health put out a call to people who attended parties at the Mantamar Beach Club in the period from May 27 to June 4, 2022, and present symptoms such as headache, high fever at 38.5 C, swollen glands, generalized muscle pain, visible skin eruptions in various parts of the body such as pustules. Anyone exhibiting such symptoms was urged to seek immediate medical attention.

According to several news reports, the infected individual was in Berlin, Germany, from May 12 to 16 before traveling to Puerto Vallarta.

With reports from El Universal and Reforma

Why I love comida corrida — food by the people for the people

By

Nate Kostar

-

June 9, 2022

0

Comida corrida restaurant in Mexico City — *Comida corrida* restaurants are often family-run businesses.

I’m sitting on a plastic chair on Regina street in the central historic district of Mexico City, eyeing a handwritten menu with the food of the day scribbled out — as I’ve done hundreds of times before. El Centro is the heartbeat of the biggest city in North America and is flush with a seemingly unlimited number of options for stuffing your face with delicious Mexican (and foreign) cuisine.

But despite the choices, I find myself returning, again and again, to eat at the same humble establishments that prepare a cheap, home-cooked meal in a style known as comida corrida.

Comida corrida, a Mexico City tradition, is food made by the people for the people, and over the past seven years as an expat in the capital, this comfort food of sorts has become my favorite meal.

Translated roughly as “food on the run,” it was born in the late 19th century, in the days of President Porfirio Díaz, during the city’s urban expansion. With the rise of factories in Mexico City, workers from places on the outskirts of the city — places like Mixcoac, Tacuba and Narvarte — found themselves too far from home to go there for lunch and needed something hearty, cheap and quick to eat during their lunch break. Local women began selling them homemade meals out of inns (fondas), their homes or anywhere they could set up a small restaurant.

comida corrida restaurant, Mexico City — *Comida corrida* purveyors’ goal isn’t to be the hip restaurant in town, it’s to serve quality, affordable food to their neighbors.

The three-course meal consisted of a “wet soup” (usually a chicken consommé or tortilla soup), a “dry soup” (rice or pasta) and a protein — a thin slice of steak, breaded chicken or another traditional dish that met the requirements.

There are still thousands of traditional comida corrida joints around Mexico City (and throughout Mexico) set up in markets, booths, inns, homes and more traditional restaurant spaces that vary in size, ambition and ambiance. I have a favorite place that seats 12 and another that can accommodate 100–150 patrons. I like one spot that’s housed in an 18th-century colonial building and another that’s in the San Juan Market in Mexico City’s center, where you sit at long benches alongside people from the community.

Today, my options are as follows:

1st plate: Pumpkin flower soup or chicken consomé.
2nd plate: Rice or spaghetti with white sauce.
Main dish: Stuffed chiles, breaded beef, chicken with mole sauce, enchiladas with green, red or mole sauce), or shredded beef with beans.

Before I order, the waiter brings a pitcher of agua de sabor (flavored water) and a glass. The drink is tamarind water, but on other days it could be horchata, jamaica or any of the hundreds of homemade drinks concocted from fruit and herbs common in Mexico. He also brings hot tortillas, a bowl of limes and two different homemade salsas. Nearly all restaurants in Mexico make their own sauces and drinks and many have someone pressing tortillas by hand all day.

I choose the consomé de pollo, and a few moments later, when a moderately sized bowl of chicken soup arrives, I take a tortilla and spread a thin layer of salsa verde on it, squeeze lime in the middle, then roll it up and dip it into the broth. Rice and a fried egg is my second dish, and for the main plate, enchiladas con mole.

The sauce with pre-Hispanic roots made from chiles, nuts, chocolate, fruits, herbs and spices is tough to pass up. Today, the enchiladas are no disappointment, and by the time I finish my meal, I’m satisfied and ready to get back to work. And the total cost? Sixty pesos, or about US $3.

Unlike American fast food, a style of dining also meant to save money and time, comida corrida is a home-cooked meal, with everything prepared in-house, usually by a family. Often three or four generations work together — a grandmother cooking on a grill, her daughter pressing fresh tortillas on a back table, her son or an uncle taking an order and kids in the back playing.

Seldom does a comida corrida restaurant scream hip or cool. No company soundtrack, uniforms or corporate airs. Maybe a TV in a corner with a telenovela, the news or a futbol game and a few posters of Mexican celebrities, saints and pictures of the family hung on the wall.

These places are not run-down but cozy, humble and familiar. Their goal is not to make a million dollars, start a franchise or get a magazine to write them up. The goal, from what I can see, is to serve quality food at a price people can afford.

By eating comida corrida, I’ve learned to distinguish all sorts of Mexican dishes, developing a deeper understanding of the country’s flavors. I’ve learned to differentiate sauces made from chile de árbol, jalapeños, serrano, chipotle and habaneros. I’ve learned how to order cooked bananas on top of my rice and which flavored waters are my favorite — maracuya (passion fruit), chia con limón (soaked chia seeds water with lime), sandía (watermelon).

And the long, rich history of Mexican and pre-Hispanic dishes contains enough variety that you could eat comida corrida every day (as I almost do) and not have the same dish twice for a month.

While many restaurants in the United States seem focused on creating menus and environments that are “new” and “original,” the cooks at comida corrida joints are content to prepare time-tested dishes people know, love and expect in an environment that is like their home. And the ritual of taking a break in the middle of the day to eat a hot meal sets the rhythm of the city and links people together.

Most comida corrida joints buy their fruits, vegetables and meat daily from local markets and butchers, which are often a few blocks away. If they run out of something, they send someone next door to buy it from a neighbor.

And as you eat, musicians arrive to play a few songs on time-worn guitars, then ask for a tip before moving on to the next restaurant. Vendors of all kinds and beggars will pass through, hawking products or asking for change; they’re seldom shooed away unless they’re disorderly, which is rare. In this way, comida corrida restaurants not only serve their patrons but also are a hub for many economies.

When I think about my dining experiences in America that were most like comida corrida, I recall eating at my grandma’s house, the familiarity and coziness of it. And since I grew up in New Jersey, it’s also reminiscent of the casual convenience of a pizzeria — ordering a slice while neighborhood kids fold boxes in the back.

But the truth is, I don’t remember the last time I went into a restaurant in the U.S. that felt like someone’s home, where the food and experience were created by a family — and everything served was affordable.

In the U.S, the closest thing to comida corrida is fast food — a cold experience: plastic trays and booths, microphones and headsets, workers behind the counters with no ties to the business and fluorescent lights heating “food” — nothing like the homeliness of dining at a comida corrida joint.

As we move beyond the pandemic and look to becoming healthier, I wonder what the U.S. could learn from Mexico’s comida corrida tradition about community, affordability and creating spaces to improve our overall well-being.

Nate Kostar writes from Mexico City.