El Campanario, an exclusive country club in Querétaro.
The bar at a country club in Querétaro has decided to stick with a new rule: no women allowed.
The Campanario announced this week that the Hoyo 19 bar will remain closed to women, despite pushback from club members.
The Querétaro city club first announced the controversial men-only policy on September 7. In response, a group of members gathered more than 200 signatures on a petition requesting that the decision be reversed.
In addition, the chairwoman of the board of directors resigned her position in protest and issued an open letter expressing her disagreement with the board’s values.
Critics say denying female club members entry to Hoyo 19 violates women’s rights as well as local, national and international laws and treaties that guarantee equality for women.
In light of the outcry, El Campanario partially reversed the decision, saying that both men and women would be allowed on Hoyo 19’s outdoor terraces, though women would still be prohibited from entering the main area of the bar. In the same statement, the club said the Hoyo 20 bar will be a women-only space after 1 p.m. every day.
While the introduction of a women-only space was satisfactory for some critics, others said the issue of discrimination was not resolved by giving women a separate area of their own.
Now when women enter Hoyo 19 bar, they are “jeered at and not served, which constitutes discrimination against women,” some members said.
One report said the measure was introduced in response to complaints the club had received over the use of foul language by men inside the bar.
El Popo blows off some steam early Thursday morning.
The ominous rumbling of the Popocatépetl volcano in recent days was not enough to discourage a Puebla man from making the ascent to its crater.
A Facebook user identified as “Francisco Popocatépetl” shared a video showing his risky adventure. The recording, which shows the alpinist near the crater as it spews volcanic gas, has recorded more than 20,000 views on the social media platform.
“Yahweh will move the air so nothing happens to us,” Francisco said, as plumes of smoke rose up out of the crater and threatened to envelop him. Later, he shouted, “Yahweh, I love you!”
The man climbed the volcano in defiance of current safety guidelines. A 12-kilometer safety perimeter remains in effect around the volcano, inside which civilians are not supposed to enter.
According to his social media profile, Francisco Popocatépetl is a physical trainer.
Puebla state Congress Deputy Sandra Nelly Cadena, alleged weapons dealer.
A Puebla lawmaker was arrested on Wednesday in possession of a collection of weapons, including at least one semi-automatic machine gun and grenades.
Sandra Nelly Cadena Santos, a Morena party deputy in the state Congress, was detained by police in her home in Tecamachalco, a town 70 kilometers southeast of Puebla city. Her husband, a former Federal Police officer, was also taken into custody.
The Puebla Attorney General’s Office (FGE) announced on Twitter that it had raided the home of Cadena and Jesús Portilla and seized long and short firearms as well as grenades — whose legal use is limited to the army. One of the weapons is a semi-automatic machine gun made by the United States gun maker Barrett Firearms Manufacturing.
Puebla Governor Miguel Barbosa, who also represents Morena, told a press conference that it was an open secret in Tecamachalco that Cadena and Portilla were selling weapons.
“They weren’t using them for target practice. They were for sale; a homeowner doesn’t buy a Barrett,” he said Thursday.
Some of the weapons authorities confiscated at Morena Deputy Sandra Nelly Cadena’s home.
“… They presumably dedicated themselves to the sale of the most powerful caliber weapons. Now we have to see who supplied them, it’s a whole chain,” Barbosa said, adding that the investigation into Cadena’s alleged criminal activities was not new.
Cadena, who was formerly the secretary-general of the Tecamachalco municipal government, and Portilla, who was dismissed from the now-defunct Federal Police for “disloyal practices,” were taken to FGE offices near Puebla city after their arrest. A date has not yet been set for their appearance in court.
The newspaper El Financiero reported that the weapons were confiscated and turned over to the Defense Ministry (Sedena) and then eventually taken to a military facility in México state where they were destroyed.
Supporters of the decision cheer in Sonora on Thursday.
The Sonora state legislature approved same-sex marriage on Thursday, making it the 24th state in the country to do so.
Previously, same-sex couples in Sonora needed a judge’s order if they wanted to get married. The new reform makes it clear that marriage is a public institution between two people, regardless of sex.
“The rights of all people, without distinction, must be guaranteed by the law. It is something that has to do with human dignity… that is why to talk about equal marriage is to talk about human rights,” said Rosa Elena Trujillo, one of the Citizen’s Movement (MC) deputies who introduced the bill.
The legalization comes more than five years after the Supreme Court ruled that state laws defining marriage as “the union between a man and a woman, with the only purpose being procreation,” were unconstitutional.
The law passed with 25 in favor and eight National Action Party (PAN) deputies opposed.
Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo celebrated the move, calling it “an important step to approve and ratify that which the [Supreme Court] has already stipulated.”
“In my government, human rights will be respected when decisions are made; we respect everyone equally,” Durazo said.
Ebrard spoke to the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
Mexico continues to apply pressure on the United States to change its policies regarding Cuba, declaring at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly Thursday that it was time to end its trade embargo.
“In the face of the severe economic and health crisis at a global level, putting an end to the economic blockade against Cuba is urgent,” Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard told the gathering in New York.
“Instead of unilateral measures we must put measures of solidarity and mutual support into operation to boost economic growth and development,” Ebrard said.
Mexico’s call at the United Nations comes after repeated appeals for its suspension by President López Obrador.
Just last week he declared that “no state has the right to subjugate another people, another country” and urged United States President Biden to use his “political sensitivity” and end the blockade.
In May, Cubans in Mexico City protested the US trade embargo against their home.
Mexico’s position has broad international support. A total of 184 countries voted in June in favor of a United Nations resolution to demand the end of the blockade. Only the United States and Israel voted against it. The resolution has been approved annually since 1992, the year the General Assembly began voting on the issue, with the exception of 2020 due to restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
In a 15-minute address, Ebrard also touched on a range of other issues including COVID-19 vaccine equity, climate change, immigration and arms trafficking.
“Since the beginning [of the pandemic] Mexico has raised the necessity of guaranteeing equitable and universal access to medications, vaccines and other medical supplies. We do it again with a sense of urgency because while 33% of the global population in high-income countries has already had at least one dose of a [COVID-19] vaccine, only 1.4% of inhabitants of low-income countries have had access to vaccines,” he said, adding that vaccines need to be considered “global public assets.”
The foreign minister described climate change as “the other great challenge of these times” before noting that Mexico has reaffirmed its support for the Paris Agreement and maintains its interest in working with the international community to combat global warming.
“Mexico’s contribution doesn’t just have mitigation commitments, it also has a strong component of adaptation. This component acknowledges the country’s vulnerability to climate change impacts and the urgent need to build resilience against them,” Ebrard said.
“The Mexican adaptation measures include solutions based on nature, … for example the Sembrando Vida [Sowing Life] program, promoted by the government of Mexico, is one of the largest reforestation programs in the world; up until now 700 million trees have been planted, which doesn’t just allow environmental degradation to be combatted but also helps to create dignified work opportunities.”
With regard to immigration – currently a hot-button issue in Mexico due to the arrival of record numbers of migrants this year – Ebrard asserted that the phenomenon is not a “pernicious” one.
“On the contrary, all of our societies have benefited at certain times in their historical development because of the contribution of migrants,” he said.
He noted that Mexico has offered refuge to hundreds of Afghans, more than 18,000 Haitians and over 70,000 Central Americans since the current federal government took office in late 2018.
However, the government has also used force to detain migrants transiting Mexico and deported thousands to the countries from which they fled. The National Guard and immigration agents recently broke up four migrant caravans traveling through the country’s south.
“We will continue to draw the attention of the international community to the irresponsible trade and trafficking of weapons,” he said.
“… We hope that the [Security] Council can implement measures so that there is stricter control of small and light weapons because they are the fuel that feeds the world’s conflicts.”
Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco promoted existing and up-and-coming destinations in Mexico to tourist-sector investors and businesspeople.
Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco traveled to the United States this week to promote the Mexican tourism industry in the sector’s largest source market.
Accompanied by 10 state tourism ministers and executives of three Mexican airlines, Torruco spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Los Angeles, where he met tourism sector representatives, business leaders and investors.
At one event, the federal minister spoke about the Maya Train railroad project, the potential of the Islas Marías as a tourism destination and the development of the Huasteca Potosina region of San Luis Potosí, according to a report by the tourism news website Inversión Turística.
Among the attendees at the Así es México (This is Mexico) seminar were representatives of tourism associations, executives from airlines including Delta, American Airlines and United, travel agents and tour operators.
Torruco also met with California-based consul generals with whom he discussed ways to reactivate Mexico’s tourism sector, which had its worst year in living memory in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The dinner at the official residence of Mexico’s consul general in Los Angeles was also attended by tourism sector entrepreneurs.
Torruco spoke at one meeting of the potential of the Islas Marías as a vacation spot for American tourists.
“The great connection with the state of California makes it the No. 1 market in the United States for travelers to Mexico,” Torruco said at the event.
The L.A. sojourn was the first of three visits the tourism minister will make to the United States as part of a tourism promotion strategy called operación toca puertas, or the knocking on doors operation.
Torruco will visit Chicago and New York during a four-day trip in October and Houston and San Antonio during a trip of the same length in November.
The company Global Publishing Strategies is organizing the trips at a cost of 4 million pesos (US $200,000) to the federal government. Before departing for Los Angeles, Torruco predicted that his visit would be “very productive.”
The Tourism Promotion Council was previously responsible for tourism promotion abroad, but it was disbanded by the current government.
Tourism contributes about 9% of Mexico’s GDP and directly employs more than 4 million Mexicans. Millions of United States citizens visit Mexico annually, bringing billions of dollars into the country.
Just over 97.5 million vaccine doses have been administered.
Mexico’s COVID-19 mortality rate is among the 20 highest in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Based on the federal government’s official death toll, Mexico has recorded 214.3 COVID fatalities per 100,000 people, a rate that is currently No. 19 worldwide.
Peru has the highest mortality rate with 612.4 COVID deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Bosnia Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Hungary and Montenegro. Ranking sixth to 10th are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Brazil, San Marino and Argentina.
Also above Mexico are Colombia, Moldova, Georgia, Slovakia, Paraguay, Belgium, Italy and Slovenia. One spot below Mexico with the 20th highest COVID-19 mortality rate is Tunisia.
Mexico’s case fatality rate is 7.6, meaning that 76 of every 1,000 people who have tested positive for COVID here have succumbed to the disease.
In other COVID-19 news:
• Mexico’s accumulated case tally rose to just under 3.61 million on Thursday with 11,808 new cases reported. The total is the 15th highest in the world.
The official death toll increased to 274,139 with 748 additional fatalities. Only the United States, Brazil and India have recorded more pandemic deaths than Mexico.
An average of 644 fatalities per day were reported during the first 23 days of September, an 8% increase compared to the daily average in August, the worst month of the pandemic for case numbers.
As spikes in COVID deaths typically lag increases in case numbers it is not surprising that fatalities have increased this month, even though seven in 10 Mexican adults have had at least one dose of a vaccine.
There are 67,949 estimated active cases across the country, a 2.5% increase compared to Wednesday.
• Just over 97.5 million vaccine doses have been administered after more than 730,000 were given Wednesday. About 70% of the adult population has received at least one shot but the vaccination rate among Mexico’s entire population is only around 50%.
• México state Health Minister Francisco Javier Fernández Clamont said Thursday that his state is close to switching to low risk green on the stoplight map because indicators used to determine the stoplight color such as the positivity rate and the reproduction rate are trending downwards.
“We received a preliminary report yesterday, we’re still yellow but three points from reaching green,” he said.
México state only switched to yellow from high risk orange on Monday. It is one of 24 yellow states.
• More than 118,000 children have lost either their mother or father to COVID-19, according to estimates by the DIF family services agency. More than 86,000 boys, girls and adolescents have lost their father to COVID, a DIF study found, while over 32,000 have lost their mother.
The study also found that 124 minors were orphaned by COVID, with both their mothers and fathers succumbing to the disease.
Mayapán's Castle of Kukulcán recalls the more famous pyramid at the ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itzá. According to a 16th-century Spanish account, indigenous lore claimed Mayapán was established by the Chichén Itzá lord Kukulcán.
Mayapán, considered the last prominent capital of the ancient Mayas, is ideal for visitors who prefer archaeological zones with fewer crowds.
Mayapán is believed to mean “banner of the Mayas” or “flag of the Mayas.” The site, about 40 kilometers from Mérida, Yucatán, in the municipality of Tecoh, was inhabited between 300 B.C.–A.D. 600, but the walled city is thought to have been established in the 13th century. It was an important Maya city during A.D. 1250–1450, when its population is estimated to have been around 12,000.
The Spanish bishop Fray Diego de Landa wrote around 1560 that local tradition named the founder of Mayapán as the Mayan lord Kukulcán, who is thought to have ruled here for a while before leaving for central Mexico.
Thereafter, Mayapán was ruled by the Cocomes, a wealthy family with the city’s oldest lineage.
According to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the city rose to power after the prosperous eras of Chichén Itzá and Uxmal, although it is thought to have had a centralized government like in Chichén Itzá. It was abandoned after being destroyed and burned around the mid-15th century.
Mayapán attracts far fewer visitors than other more famous ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico, making it a relaxing visit.
Mayapán extends over four square kilometers with around 4,000 structures, but the main area is small and easy to explore. The city’s surrounding wall has a circumference of over nine kilometers.
Perhaps not surprisingly, given its suspected connection to the more famous Maya city, Mayapán is thought to have been influenced by Chichén Itzá: its main pyramid, the Castle of Kukulcán, resembles the main pyramid of Chichén Itzá (El Castillo, which is also called the Pyramid of Kukulcán). However, Mayapán’s pyramid is smaller.
One enters the archaeological zone from the north. Climbing is allowed on most of the site’s buildings.
Near the entrance is the Temple of the Fisherman, with a stairway to the south. This temple holds a mural that is said to depict a scene of a person catching fish.
A beautiful structure in the north section of the site is the Temple of the Painted Niches. This temple has seven rooms, including one with a mural painting that is believed to depict the entrances of five temples and serpent heads with open jaws, over which the temples rest.
To the south, you’ll find the Central Plaza, where the governmental, administrative and religious structures, as well as the rulers’ residences, were located. South of the Central Plaza is the main pyramid, the most significant and tallest building of Mayapán — the aforementioned Castle of Kukulcán. A nine-level pyramid, it reaches 18 meters in height and sits on a base measuring 30 meters on each side.
There are remains of the temple that was built on top of this pyramid, and the main entrance’s columns were once decorated with serpent figures, according to INAH, which says they were similar to ones found at Chichén Itzá. While the climb to the top of this pyramid is steep, the views from the summit are stunning.
The southeastern side of the pyramid has a substructure with stucco reliefs of decapitated warriors. Due to the discovery of a jawbone and pieces of human skulls, the substructure is speculated to have been used for rituals, possibly of a death cult that covered human skulls with stucco.
To the east, adjoining the Castle of Kukulcán, is the Room of the Frescoes, named for the remains of murals discovered here. A scene includes two richly dressed individuals holding a circular banner that depicts sun symbols. Other features of this room include a bench and an altar.
To the southwest of the Plaza is the Room of the Kings, with many columns and a wall with a doorway. The name comes from the human heads sculpted of stucco discovered here, whose purpose is believed decorative.
Southeast of the Castle of Kukulcán, there is a sinkhole called the cenote Chen Mul. On its southern border, you’ll find the Temple of the Cenote Chen Mul.
The temple has three entrances, and its interior features include an altar. There is a platform with a drain that likely emptied rainwater into the cenote, and the temple also has a ramp with access to the Castle of Kukulcán. Near the cenote, the Room of the Masks of the God Chaac features an altar and a shrine and is thought to have been a place of religious and ritual activities. The upper section of the structure has masks of Chaac – the Maya god of rain.
A mask of the Maya rain god Chaac.
East of the Central Plaza is a beautiful structure called the Round Temple — a round structure on a rectangular base, that is believed to have been a ceremonial building.
There is a wide stairway to access the building from the west, and the temple has four entrances. There is a cylinder-like structure in the center of the temple. The building also includes an altar and a shrine.
To the east of the plaza are other buildings worth seeing. A notable one is the Oratory, whose features include two altars in front and one inside, and a shrine by the stairway where 13 human skulls were discovered. Another building is a structure named Xbi Ac, meaning “Turtle-Man,” named after a turtle sculpture with a human head discovered here. There are altars in this building as well.
Northeast of the Central Plaza, you’ll see the Warriors Temple, thought to be ceremonial in purpose. Built on a two-level base, it has an altar inside. Serpent heads and dice adorn the top of the panels by the stairway.
North of the plaza is the Temple of the Mask with six small altars. It’s named after a stucco head discovered here. Adjoining it is the Shrine of the Skulls, named after the human skulls found here. In this section, a structure called the Turtle’s Room, featuring an altar, is worth seeing. Stone turtle figures thought to have been offerings were discovered here.
There are several other structures to explore, including the Temple of the Crematorium, speculated to be ceremonial in purpose.
The winter solstice is a good time to visit Mayapán, when a light and shadow effect in the shape of a serpent occurs on the Castle of Kukulcán like the famed effect at Chichén Itzá. Meanwhile, a different astronomical phenomenon involving halo-like light effects can also be observed during the winter solstice in the Round Temple.
Thilini Wijesinhe, a financial professional turned writer and entrepreneur, moved to Mexico in 2019 from Australia. She writes from Mérida, Yucatán. Her website can be found at https://momentsing.com/
The Congress of Querétaro, one of Mexico’s most conservative states, approved same sex marriage on Wednesday with 21 of 25 lawmakers voting in favor of legalization.
Same-sex couples can now legally marry in 23 of Mexico’s 32 states. The approval in Querétaro, a deeply religious state governed by the conservative National Action Party, came one month after the Congress of Yucatán approved gay marriage and three months after the legislatures of Baja California and Sinaloa voted in favor of marriage equality.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that civil codes that bar same-sex marriage are unconstitutional but some states have not changed their laws, forcing gay couples to apply for injunctions in order to get married within their borders.
Mexico City was the first entity to legalize gay marriage, doing so in 2010. The states where same-sex marriage has not been legalized are Durango, México state, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz and Zacatecas.
An older photo and updated sketch of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García, the alleged boss of the Sinaloa Cartel since 2016.
The United States is now offering three times the reward it previously set for information leading to the capture of alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García.
The U.S. Department of State announced Wednesday an increase from US $5 million to $15 million for information that results in the arrest and/or conviction of Zambada, a 73-year-old former poppy field worker who is presumed to be the cartel’s boss since Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was arrested in 2016.
The reward is offered under the State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program, or NRP.
“Zambada García is a longtime business partner of convicted Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as, ‘El Chapo’ and is charged in several U.S. indictments along with El Chapo and his sons. The increase is commensurate with his leadership status in the Sinaloa Cartel,” the State Department said.
“This reward offer directly complements the derivative designations announced today by the Department of Treasury,” the State Department continued. “Treasury’s designations are being made pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act of Zambada García’s Sinaloa Cartel associates. Together, these actions are part of a whole-of-government effort to combat drug trafficking and transnational organized crime globally and in Mexico.”
Zambada García during a 2012 interview.
The reward for the capture of Zambada, who has never been imprisoned despite being involved in the illegal drug trade for decades, is now the second-highest on offer for a Mexican trafficker. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $20 million for information leading to the arrest of Rafael Caro Quintero, former leader of the defunct Guadalajara Cartel and currently an alleged Sinaloa Cartel member wanted for his involvement in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. Caro Quintero was convicted by a court in Mexico in 1989 and sentenced to 40 years in prison but released in 2013 on a technicality and remains at large.
There are rumors that Zambada is in hiding in the mountains of northern Mexico as he admitted as much in a 2010 interview in which he also said he had a wife, five other female companions, 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
“The six of them are here, on my ranches; they are daughters of the mountain as I am a son of the mountain. The mountain is my home, … my protection, my land,” said Zambada, who conceded he was afraid of being arrested.
“Will you be caught?” asked a journalist from the news magazine Proceso. “[It could happen] at any time, or never,” El Mayo said.
Prior to the State Department announcing the increased reward for the capture of Zambada, the U.S. Department of Treasury said in a statement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had designated Sinaloa Cartel member Sergio Valenzuela Valenzuela as a “specially designated narcotics trafficker.”
“Based in Nogales, Sonora, … Valenzuela Valenzuela is a Sinaloa Cartel plaza boss. In that role, he oversees a major drug trafficking corridor in Mexico, is responsible for smuggling tons of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States and reports directly to the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael Zambada García (a.k.a. ‘El Mayo’),” the Treasury Department said.
The reward being offered by US authorities for Zambada’s capture is the nation’s second largest on offer: the reward for the capture of Rafael Caro-Quintero, wanted for kidnapping a DEA agent, is US $20mn. US Federal Bureau of Investigation
The OFAC also designated seven other Mexican nationals and two Mexican companies as providing material assistance to Valenzuela.
“As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated individuals and entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC,“ the Treasury Department said.
