Acclaimed folk art and artisan fair returns to Chapala after 2-year COVID hiatus

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November 1, 2022

Otomi and Guerrero Nahua painting on amate bark paper — This fine painting over rough bark paper, a fusion of Otomi and Guerrero Nahua traditions, is the kind of high-quality art and handcrafts available at the acclaimed fair. Photos by Feria de Maestros del Arte/Facebook

As the long and difficult pandemic eases, one of Mexico’s best handcraft and folk art fairs is returning to Jalisco’s Lake Chapala this month.

For almost two decades, Marianne Carlson and a dedicated group of volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide some of the country’s best creative hands an outlet to get fair prices from people who truly appreciate their work.

November 2020 was supposed to be the Feria de Maestros del Arte’s 20th anniversary, but COVID-19 shut everything down. The loss of points-of-sale like this was a disaster for artisans, even though the Feria and other organizations scrambled to find alternatives to keep artisans afloat.

The Feria was inspired by Carlson’s love of Mexican handcrafts, and by the fact that it is so difficult to find and buy fine, authentic wares due to the logistics of getting small lots of merchandise from isolated areas, where artisans often live, to the markets in bigger hubs where people can and will pay decently.

Translator at Feria de Maestros del Arte in Lake Chapala, Mexico — As most buyers are English speakers, the Feria provides volunteer translators to make transactions easier.

Artisans generally do not have the means to get their work to those markets, and even resellers can face financial difficulty despite raising prices to several times what they pay creators. It bodes poorly for the continuation of these cultural and economic traditions.

To help, Carlson set up a small show with six artisans at a Chapala hotel, all of whom sold out. Each year, she added a few more artisans, as well as patrons and sponsors such as the Chapala Yacht Club — which has become the permanent host — and the California-based Los Amigos de Arte Popular, which provides bus transportation for all artisans.

Carlson has recruited many volunteers as well, most notably those who open their homes so that artisans have a free, decent place to sleep.

Such support is extremely important because artisans then keep every peso that buyers pay. The Feria does not keep track of what the vendors earn, but it knows of many stories of how Feria income changed artisans’ lives.

This year, the directors began the planning process again with trepidation. No one knew if authorities would shut down public events again or if sponsors and volunteers would want to come back after so much time.

The Feria also lost a number of volunteers because of the pandemic, and a few artisans too. But despite being short-handed, Carlson says that everyone has been great and eager to get the Feria back on track.

This year, the Feria will have the celebration that was taken from them in 2020. Carlson is amazed that the event has continued for so long, but so many do not want to see these traditions die.

Carlson says “never again” after each fair, but “…then something happens, like meeting a new artisan… and I’m back at it again,” she says.

The Feria de Maestros del Arte is taking place this year November 11–13, and is following Jalisco state COVID guidelines, recommending masks, hand sanitizer and ventilation. More information can be found at the Feria’s website.

CORRECTION: a previous version of this article stated the incorrect dates for Feria de Maestros del Arte event. It has been updated to the correct dates.

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.

AMLO remains popular, even with concerns about economy and security: poll

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MND Staff

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November 1, 2022

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IMSS_Bienestar_Sinaloa_2.34.11_PM — The president's approval rating continues to be high Gobierno de México

Inflation is above 8% and violence is an ongoing concern in many parts of the country, but President López Obrador retains the support of a majority of Mexicans, a new poll indicates.

Conducted in October, El Financiero’s latest national survey found a 56% approval rating for AMLO, as the president is best known. That result is unchanged from the newspaper’s previous poll conducted in September.

Just over four in 10 of the 1,100 respondents – 43% – disapproved of the president’s performance, giving him a net positive rating of +13.

While AMLO’s approval rating has declined from the high levels seen earlier in his presidency – even as COVID took an enormous toll and the government’s pandemic response came under fire – he remains a popular president almost four years after assuming the nation’s top job.

His enduring popularity is somewhat paradoxical given that most respondents to the latest El Financiero poll disapproved of the way in which the federal government is handling economic and security issues. Asked how they would grade the government’s performance in the areas of economy and public security, 56% said bad or very bad.

Only 31% of respondents said the government is doing well or very well in the former area while just 30% said the same about its performance in the latter.

The Mexican economy is still growing and the peso has appreciated against the U.S. dollar this year, but inflation remains stubbornly high – 8.53% in the first half of October – despite the efforts of the government and the central bank to bring it under control.

Over two-thirds of respondents – 68% – said that higher prices had put them in a bad mood, although that figure was significantly lower than in previous months.

The president, flanked here by the National Defense Minister and the Navy Minister, has doubled down on militarization of public security. Gobierno de México

The percentage of respondents who rated the government poorly for its handling of public security issues declined 4% compared to September, which is perhaps an indication that people recognize that some progress has been made toward making Mexico a safer country. Official data shows that homicides declined 8.1% in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period of last year, but Mexico nevertheless remains on track to record more than 30,000 murders for a fifth consecutive year in 2022.

López Obrador – who before taking office pledged to take the armed forces off the streets – has doubled down on a militarized security strategy, pushing one initiative through Congress that places the National Guard under the control of the army and another than extends the authorization to use the military for public security tasks until 2028.

While there is significant opposition to further militarization of Mexico, a recent survey conducted for the El País newspaper and the broadcaster W Radio found that almost three-quarters of Mexicans agree with the government’s plan to continue using the armed forces for public security tasks until 2028.

The army has also been in the news due to a cyberattack perpetrated by the Guacamaya hacking group that resulted in the theft of a huge trove of emails and documents from the IT system of the Ministry of National Defense.

While AMLO has downplayed the seriousness of the incident, 72% of respondents to the El Financiero poll said that the hacking of Sedena’s servers was very or somewhat serious. Only 28% of those polled said that the government is responding well to the hack, while almost twice as many respondents – 54% – said the opposite. Two-thirds of respondents said that National Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval should appear in Congress to report on the security breach, something he has so far declined to do.

El Financiero also asked poll participants to offer an opinion about the general course of the country under the leadership of López Obrador, who lost two presidential elections before he finally prevailed in 2018. Just over one-third of respondents – 34% – asserted that Mexico is on the right path, while 33% said the opposite. The other one-third didn’t offer a response one way or the other.

Over half of those polled – 55% – rated AMLO positively for honesty, but only 49% praised his leadership and just 44% expressed the belief that he has the capacity to achieve results for the country. The president has made combating corruption a central aim of his administration, but only 35% of respondents said his government is doing a good job in the area.

El Financiero conducted its poll via telephone with residents of all 32 federal entities, and said that the margin of error was +/- 3%.

With reports from El Financiero

Bisbee’s Black & Blue annual fishing tournament offered record US $11.5 million in prizes

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MND Staff

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November 1, 2022

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Los Cabos Tourism Twitter — Los Cabos is known as "the marlin capital of the world." @LosCabosTourism Twitter

The 42nd Bisbee’s Black & Blue fishing world tournament wrapped up three days of offshore sportfishing on Saturday in Los Cabos, with a total purse valued at U.S. $11.5 million. The annual event broke international records by awarding the largest amount ever in a single sportfishing tournament.

At the closing ceremony, Wayne Bisbee, son of late founder Bob Bisbee, announced that for the second time in the tournament’s 42 years, three checks each exceeding US $1 million would be handed out.

219 teams competed in the event, the largest of its kind in the world. The winning “El Mexicano” team took home U.S. $3.5 million after angler Adrián Ponce de León (from Veracruz) caught a 461-pound blue marlin on the last day of the tournament.

Dion Beckne, who caught a 449-pound blue marlin aboard the boat “Happy Ending,” claimed second place with a check for U.S. $2.5 million. Finally, a check for U.S. $1.5 million went out to Team R.V. Rentals for a 344-pound blue marlin caught by angler Michael Ciardullo on board “Vida Loca.”

Winners at the Bisbee’s Black & Blue awards banquet. Photo: Bisbee’s Offshore Fishing Tournaments

Known as the marlin capital of the world, Cabo San Lucas has been home to the tournament since it started in 1982. At the time, six boats competed for a U.S. $10,000 prize in a small event organized by Bob Bisbee, who used the contest to promote a tackle store he owned on Balboa Island in California.

Bob Bisbee passed away early in 2018 at the age of 85, but his family has built on his legacy. With Wayne Bisbee in charge, they currently produce three tournaments: Bisbee’s East Cape Offshore in Buenavista, which takes place every July, the Los Cabos Offshore Charity Tournament and the Black & Blue tournament every October in Cabo San Lucas.

With reports from Bisbees News, Big Fish and Mexico Daily Post

October records high homicide rate, despite this year’s downward trend

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MND Staff

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November 1, 2022

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State of Mexico police officers on patrol — The government's preliminary total of 2,481 homicides yields an average of just over 80 murders per day last month. State of México police

Mexico had another violent month in October with almost 2,500 homicides, preliminary data shows.

The federal government counted a total of 2,481 murders in the 31 daily homicide reports it published last month. The figure is this year’s highest monthly total derived from adding the daily homicide counts, indicating that October could go down as the most violent month of 2022.

Data published by the National Public Security System (SNSP) typically shows that there were more homicides than those recorded in the government’s daily reports in any given month.

Based on SNSP data, May was the most violent month so far this year with over 2,800 homicides. The sum of the daily counts that month was 2,472, while the final SNSP total was about 15% higher. The SNSP will publish final homicide data for October in the second half of November.

The government’s preliminary total of 2,481 homicides yields an average of just over 80 murders per day last month. Among the worst incidents of violence in October was a massacre of 20 people in the Guerrero town of San Miguel Totolapan and the murder of 12 people in a bar in Irapuato, Guanajuato.

The violence continued on Monday with 92 homicides across the country, according to the government’s final daily report for October. Tamaulipas recorded the highest number of murders among the 32 federal entities with 12 victims, followed by Michoacán with nine and Baja California with eight.

SNSP data shows that Mexico is on track to record more than 30,000 homicides for a fifth consecutive year in 2022, despite an 8.1% reduction in murders in the first nine months of the year. There were 23,351 homicides between January and September, with almost half that number occurring in just six states: Guanajuato (Mexico’s most violent state in recent years), Baja California, México state, Michoacán, Jalisco and Chihuahua.

Almost seven in 10 homicides in the same period occurred in just 10 states – the six listed above as well as Sonora, Guerrero, Nuevo León and Zacatecas.

On a per capita basis, Colima was the most violent state in the first nine months of the year with 304 homicides per 100,000 residents. Baja California, which includes the violent border city of Tijuana, ranked second followed by Chihuahua, Zacatecas and Morelos.

With reports from Animal Político, Noticieros Televisa and Expansión

Oil regulator approves Pemex project to develop Gulf of Mexico gas field

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MND Staff

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November 1, 2022

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Agustin Diaz Lastra, head of Mexico's Hydrocarbons Commission — “This is fundamental for the production of gas,” said National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) chief Agustín Díaz Lastra, who is a former Pemex official, after the CNH approved Pemex's plan. “We should increasingly strive to use new technologies that allow us to develop deepwater fields.” Twitter

The National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH) has approved a revised Pemex plan to develop the once-abandoned Lakach deepwater natural gas project off the coast of Veracruz.

The oil sector regulator approved the proposed development at a public meeting on Monday that was chaired by new CNH chief Agustín Díaz Lastra.

Located in the Gulf of Mexico about 90 kilometers southeast of the port city of Veracruz, the Lakach field is estimated to have gas reserves totaling as much as 937 billion cubic feet. High costs have been a barrier to development, but President López Obrador believes the field could be an important source of gas for Mexico.

The news agency Reuters reported that CNH officials raised questions about whether Pemex – which has debt in excess of US $100 billion – could shoulder the cost of the previously abandoned venture, but they all ultimately supported the project.

Lakach deepwater natural gas mining site — The Lakach deepwater natural gas site is located off the coast of Veracruz. Energy 21

The state oil company intends to develop the field in conjunction with New Fortress Energy, a United States-based liquified natural gas company. The project approved by the CNH has a cost of US $1.79 billion.

Alma América Porres, one of the CNH officials, described the investment – and associated uncertainty – as “huge.” “It’s very important that we supervise this [project] very strictly, much more so than others,” she said.

One risk factor is that Pemex has little experience in deepwater projects. But Díaz – appointed as CNH chief by López Obrador last week – said he was optimistic about the Lakach project.

“This is fundamental for the production of gas,” said Díaz, who is a former Pemex official. “We should increasingly strive to use new technologies that allow us to develop deepwater fields,” he added.

Pemex previously proposed developing Lakach with New Fortress Energy via a service contract. Under such a contract, Pemex would retain full ownership of the gas field but bear the risk if prices fall, Reuters reported. The details of the new arrangement between Pemex and the U.S. company were not addressed at Monday’s public NHC session.

Meanwhile, the state oil company reported a net third-quarter loss of 52 billion pesos (US $2.6 billion) last Friday. In a filing to the Mexican Stock Exchange, Pemex said the higher cost of importing fuel was a factor in its negative result.

The company also lost money on the oil it refined. For every barrel it processed in the third quarter of 2022, Pemex lost US $7.37, its worst refining result since the first quarter of 2020. The negative refining margin followed per-barrel profits of $18.32 and $14.74 in the first and second quarters, respectively.

“This result is due to lower prices for crude and the increase in processing rates at refineries around the world combined with weak demand,” Pemex said.

Energy analyst Ramsés Pech said that operating and maintenance costs are very high at Mexican refineries, and that affects Pemex’s per-barrel results. He noted that some U.S. refineries make up to $30 profit per barrel.

Mexico’s refineries are operating at no more than 50% capacity, but running them is still costly, Pech said. “The [profit] margins fell [in the third quarter] due to the [high] cost of producing … [stemming from] the inefficiency of the refineries,” he said.

With reports from Reuters, Bloomberg and El Economista

En Breve: AMLO congratulates Lula, Checo finishes 3rd in Mexican GP, tourists flock to Mexico

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MND Staff

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October 31, 2022

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Then-candidate for the Brazilian presidency Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva shakes hands with President López Obrador in March at the National Palace. LopezObrador.org.mx

AMLO congratulates Lula on victory in Brazil’s presidential election

President López Obrador has congratulated his fellow leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his victory in Sunday’s presidential election in Brazil.

Lula, as the former president is commonly known, defeated incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election in Latin America’s most populous country, attracting almost 51% of the vote, compared to his opponent’s 49%.

López Obrador acknowledged the 77-year-old’s victory in a post to social media on Sunday. “Lula won, blessed people of Brazil. There will be equality and humanism,” he wrote.

In a telephone call on Monday afternoon, AMLO personally conveyed his congratulations to the president-elect and invited him to visit Mexico before he takes office on January 1, 2023. “I spoke with a friend, brother and colleague who asked me to pass on the following message: ‘Lula loves Mexico,’” he wrote on Facebook above a video recording of his call with the president-elect.

Checo appears on F1 podium for 25th time

Guadalajara native Sergio “Checo” Pérez finished third in Sunday’s Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City.

The 32-year-old Red Bull driver crossed the finishing line 18 seconds behind his teammate and victor Max Verstappen of the Netherlands. Brit Lewis Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes, finished second.

Checo Pérez in his Red Bull/Oracle uniform, giving a thumbs up. — Checo Pérez’s hopes for a home-turf victory were dashed, but he still made it to the podium. Chris Graythen/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool

It was the 25th time that Pérez has finished in the top three in a F1 race. The Mexican driver has a total of four F1 victories to his name, the most recent coming in Singapore earlier this month.

Almost 400,000 people flocked to the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack to watch three days of high-speed racing in the Mexican capital.

Over 15 million international tourists flew into Mexico in the first nine months of the year

The Tourism Ministry reported Sunday that almost 15.1 million international tourists arrived at Mexican airports between January and September. The figure represents an increase of just over 6% compared to the same period of last year.

The three biggest source countries for tourists were, in order, the United States, Canada and Colombia. About 9.7 million Americans flew into the country in the first nine months of the year, a 35.5% increase compared to the same period of 2021.

The busiest airport for international tourist arrivals was that in Cancún, Quintana Roo, accounting for 47% of the total. The Mexico City and Los Cabos airports ranked second and third, respectively.

A good month for the stock market

The Mexican Stock Market’s benchmark IPC index rose almost 12% in October, its highest month-over-month increase since November 2020. The newspaper Reforma reported that it was the best October for the stock exchange since 1999.

El Economista said that an “acceptable reporting season” and “expectations of a moderation to the pace of interest rate increases” contributed to the strong result. The IPC index of 35 large companies rose 1.7% on Monday to 49,922 points, but is still well below the 2022 high of over 56,000 points recorded in April.

Mexico News Daily

Photo essay: Day of the Dead festivities in Atlixco, Puebla

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Joseph Sorrentino

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October 31, 2022

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Day of the Dead in Atlixco, Puebla, 2022 — Even Spiderman became a skeleton for Day of the Dead in Atlixco. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino

In Mexico’s Pueblo Mágico of Atlixco, Puebla, Day of the Dead is not a single-day celebration but a big, festive occasion. Starting in the last couple of weeks of October, a slew of events begins to attract tourists from all over Mexico and abroad.

The biggest event is probably the Calaveras (skeleton) Parade, with participants dressed as catrinas and catrins (the iconic Day of the Dead male and female skeletal figures) as well as characters from legends like The Black Charro (a skeletal Mexican cowboy). But the downtown is full of things to do on the days surrounding Day of the Dead, including public ofrendas (memorial altars) and gorgeous temporary “tapestries” made of thousands of Day of the Dead’s colorful traditional flowers.

Photojournalist Joseph Sorrentino gladly took the opportunity this year to shoot photos for us at the Día de Muertos festivities in Atlixco.

“Atlixco’s got a really lovely zócalo ringed with restaurants and shops and a colonial-era church,” he said. “It has its own pre-Hispanic pyramid that hasn’t been excavated, but locals find ancient artifacts there all the time.”

This year, while attending the parade, he found himself interested in a new holiday tradition: 10 different Mexican artists created their own larger-than-life versions of La Catrina and a few other fantastical figures for the city, which have been placed in different residential neighborhoods of Atlixco during the holiday period. They ranged from Sorrentino found that both tourists and locals were lured into traveling from neighborhood to neighborhood to visit the figures.

As he photographed, he kept running into one family in particular, with a young daughter wearing a catrina costume and white makeup on her face. “She was a very happy little girl; she became my best friend,” he said. “She would yell excitedly and run over every time we kept seeing each other.”

He eventually had her pose for his camera after asking her mother’s permission. “I told her to strike a pose, to show me some attitude.” The girl happily obliged with a sassy hand on her hip.

Sorrentino’s last shoot for this photo essay, of dancers in costume, almost didn’t happen, he said. “I’d been shooting for three hours in the sun, and I was all sweated out and dirty and ready to stop when I heard music. This group of dancers suddenly streamed by, like 30 of them, with a live band. They weren’t even part of the parade. They’d just come from somewhere in Puebla to perform.”

“They were in the street, blocking traffic, yet nobody was honking their horn, nobody got upset,” he said. “They just watched from their cars.”

Sorrentino says he loves photographing these sorts of spontaneous moments the best.

“There’s always something happening in Mexico,” he said. “You think to yourself, ‘I’m done,’ and then a parade breaks out.”

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.

Economy grew 4.3% annually in third quarter: INEGI

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MND Staff

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October 31, 2022

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An Audi employee at work at a manufacturing plant in San José Chiapa, Puebla. — Mexico has benefited from investment fueled by the "nearshoring," especially in car manufacturing. Pictured: an Audi employee at work at a manufacturing plant in San José Chiapa, Puebla. Carlos Aranda / Upslash

Mexico’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased 4.3% in the third quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of last year, preliminary data shows.

Seasonally adjusted data published by the national statistics agency INEGI on Monday showed that primary, secondary and tertiary economic activity increased 3.5%, 4% and 4.3%, respectively, in the July-August quarter.

Banco Base economic analyst Gabriela Siller said that the strong annual growth in the third quarter was due to a low comparison base, as GDP declined 0.5% in the same period last year.

Preliminary data also showed that growth was 2.7% in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period of 2021, and quarter-over-quarter growth was 1% in Q3. The latter result was above the 0.8% average growth forecast of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, and slightly better than the 0.9% quarter-over-quarter expansion recorded between April and June.

A cargo ship leaves port in Manzanillo, Colima. Strong demand for exports has helped sustain economic growth this year. Depositphotos

Final third quarter data will be published on November 25. Based on the preliminary data, Mexico has now recorded annual growth during six consecutive quarters, and quarter-over-quarter growth in three successive three-month periods.

However, GDP — which slumped by over 8% in 2020 before growing almost 5% last year — has not yet reached the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Janneth Quiroz, deputy director of economic analysis at the Monex financial group, said that GDP last quarter was at a similar level to that of the fourth quarter of 2017.

The federal Finance Ministry is forecasting GDP growth of 2.4% this year, saying in a statement Friday that economic activity remained “solid” in the third quarter. Growth in the number of formal sector jobs, a surge in remittances, tourism revenue, strong demand for Mexican-made and grown exports and foreign investment fueled by the nearshoring phenomenon are among the factors that have benefited the economy this year.

Deputy Finance Minister Gabriel Yorio predicted that Mexico’s GDP will continue to grow in 2023 even if the global economy slows. “While the world might enter a stage of … economic downturn, growth will continue to be positive in Mexico’s case,” he said.

The World Bank is forecasting that the Mexican economy will grow 1.5% next year, but Bloomberg reported earlier this month that “a near-certain U.S. recession” in 2023 “will likely pull Mexico’s economy into a contraction.”

With reports from El Financiero and El Economista

Sempra and Silicon Valley Power sign deal for Baja California wind energy

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MND Staff

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October 31, 2022

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Wind turbines at Energía Sierra Juárez, another Sempra-operated wind farm in Tecate, Baja California. — Wind turbines at Energía Sierra Juárez, a privately owned wind farm in Tecate, Baja California. Sempra

The United States energy company Sempra intends to build a new wind farm in the Baja California municipality of Tecate, and already has a customer willing to buy the power it proposes to generate there.

Sempra Infrastructure (SI), a subsidiary of the San Diego-based firm, and Silicon Valley Power — a municipal electricity utility owned and operated by the city of Santa Clara, California — announced a 20-year power purchase agreement last Thursday.

The renewable energy is to be supplied to Santa Clara from “the proposed Cimarrón wind project, Sempra Infrastructure’s cross-border wind generation facility under development in Baja California,” SI said in a statement.

To be located less than 10 kilometers from the SI-operated Energía Sierra Juárez (ESJ) wind farm, “Cimarrón is expected to be a 300-megawatt (MW) wind generation facility,” the statement said, adding that clean energy would be delivered to a substation in San Diego County via Sempra Infrastructure’s existing cross-border high voltage transmission line.

“Cimarrón is being developed to include approximately 60 wind turbines with a capacity to produce enough energy equivalent to the annual energy consumption of more than 84,000 homes and is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 210,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year,” SI said.

“The construction of the new facility is expected to create more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs in Mexico with additional local community investment under Sempra Infrastructure’s framework for corporate giving as part of the company’s commitment to the communities where it operates,” the company said.

It added that the development of the planned project “is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including securing all necessary commercial agreements and permits and other factors, including reaching a final investment decision.”

Construction of the wind farm hasn’t yet commenced, but SI believes it could start generating power by the end of 2024.

The energy will go to power the city of Santa Clara, part of Silicon Valley (seen here from the nearby Mt. Hamilton). Depositphotos

CEO Justin Bird said the company is “excited to work with the City of Santa Clara, home to some of the world’s largest technology companies, to provide access to renewable energy that can help meet their energy demands while supporting their sustainable energy goals.”

SI’s agreement with Silicon Valley Power “underscores our commitment to advancing the development of our North American clean energy portfolio as we continue to help create a cleaner energy future,” he said.

Manuel Pineda, chief electric utility officer of Silicon Valley Power, said that the utility is “excited to partner with Sempra Infrastructure to add clean energy resources to help meet our sustainability and climate goals.”

SI didn’t say how much it intended to invested in the new project, but the outlay will likely be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A total of US $450 million was spent on the two phases of the nearby 263-MW ESJ facility, which has 73 turbines.

SI operates another large wind farm in the Nuevo León municipality of General Bravo and a natural gas storage terminal in Ensenada, Baja California. The latter facility intends to start exporting gas to tap into growing global demand for the fuel.

SI also has plans to build a battery storage facility of up to 500 MW in Mexicali, Baja California, and an liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Topolobampo, Sinaloa. The former is slated to serve California’s Imperial Valley, while the latter could ship gas to Asia.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that “export terminals on or near the Pacific are considered valuable because ships carrying LNG cargoes to natural gas-hungry markets in Asia can skip paying the tolls at the Panama Canal that facilities on the Gulf Coast must pay and can reach their destinations in about half the time.”

The federal government is planning to build a gas export hub in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, but that facility is slated to ship LNG to Europe rather than Asia. President López Obrador is increasing the state’s involvement in the energy sector, and his government has pursued a range of policies that are hostile to foreign firms, many of which generate renewable energy here.

Despite that, 17 United States energy companies have committed to invest in solar and wind projects in Mexico, the president said in June. Citing remarks made by López Obrador at the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue in Washington D.C. in July, Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard said that U.S. companies in general will invest $40 billion in Mexico over the next two years.

With reports from The San Diego Union-Tribune and El Financiero

Quintana Roo becomes tenth state to decriminalize abortion

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MND Staff

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October 31, 2022

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901131_Celebran Despenalización Aborto Quintana Roo-4_web — Feminist groups celebrate in Cancún, Quintana Roo Foto: Elizabeth Ruiz / Cuartoscuro.com

The Quintana Roo Congress modified several articles of the local penal code to allow the termination of pregnancy within the first 12 weeks without any criminal liability on Wednesday. The amendment, which was promoted by the ruling Morena party, was approved with 19 votes in favor, three against, and four abstentions.

Quintana Roo is the tenth state to enact similar legislation, following the lead of a Supreme Court decision in September 2021 that ruled that criminal prosecution of abortion was unconstitutional.

“Today, the call of Quintana Roo’s citizens has been answered, to guarantee sexual and reproductive rights,” said Morena congressman Humberto Aldana Navarro after the vote.

When the legislation was announced, the Feminist Network of Quintana Roo stated on Twitter: “The struggle is bearing fruit. We will insist on abortion being not only legal, but also safe and free.”

En #QuintanaRoo ¡YA ES LEY!
La lucha tiene frutos.
Insistiremos en que el aborto no solo sea legal, sino también SEGURO Y GRATUITO.
Trabajaremos para lograr EDUCACIÓN INTEGRAL DE LA SEXUALIDAD.
HAY MUCHO POR LUCHAR, PERO POR HOY FESTEJEMOS ESTE LOGRO!#AbortoLegalQRoo. pic.twitter.com/lQwq1kDWNs

— Red Feminista Quintanarroense (@RedFeministaQR) October 26, 2022

At the same time, pro-life groups held protests outside the local congressional building.

The National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) said that this decision helps “reduce stigmatization experienced by those who request the termination of a pregnancy, thereby recognizing women’s rights to reproductive autonomy.”

Abortion is still regulated at a state level, and the nine other states that have modified their penal codes to comply with the court’s ruling include: Mexico City, Oaxaca, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Coahuila, Colima, Baja California, Sinaloa, Guerrero, and Baja California Sur.

With reports from Milenio, La Jornada Maya and Proceso.