The now ultra-modern Metro Line 1 will carry 850,000 passengers a day, as it makes the 19 km trip in 40 minutes from Pantitlán to Observatorio, already a major ground transport hub and soon to be the terminus for the Mexico City-Toluca train. (@ClaraBrugadaM/X)
Mexico City’s oldest subway line — Metro Line 1 — is completely operational again after long-delayed renovations were completed last week.
After re-inaugurating the three westernmost stations on Sunday, Mayor Clara Brugada called the restoration effort “the most important urban project in the country” and said it “extended the life of the line for another 50 years.”
The Observatorio station — a modal transfer center — underwent a complete overhaul as it soon will become the terminus of the Toluca-Mexico City Inter-City Train. (@ClaraBrugadaM/X)
“This project not only benefits those who live in Mexico City, but also represents a strategic advance in regional mobility,” she said, touting the state-of-the-art technology as a key part of the comprehensive facelift.
“Every last screw was replaced,” she said.
The modernization of Line 1 began on July 11, 2022, when Claudia Sheinbaum was mayor of Mexico City, and cost roughly 37 billion pesos (US $2 billion).
The nearly 19 kilometers-long metro line with 20 stations traverses the capital from east to west and is projected to transport approximately 850,000 passengers daily. Brugada said commuters will now be able to make a trip from the easternmost station of Pantitlán to the westernmost, Observatorio, in 40 minutes.
The Observatorio station — a modal transfer center — underwent a complete overhaul as it soon will become the terminus of the Toluca-Mexico City Inter-City Train. In addition to the Metro, the Observatorio complex already houses one of the capital’s four main bus terminals as well as a massive station for local bus service.
Guillermo Calderón, Brugada’s travel and transportation adviser, said the work included the complete rehabilitation of the entire subway tunnel and the renewal of 240 kilometers of track profiles, including rails, running surface and guide rails.
Hoy inauguraron la nueva Línea 1 del Metro, obra que inició cuando fui jefa de Gobierno de la Ciudad de México y dieron continuidad Martí Batres y Clara Brugada. Muchas felicidades a quienes la hicieron posible en beneficio de millones de capitalinos y visitantes. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 pic.twitter.com/rLUuX8FyvO
Approximately 200,000 tonnes of ballast (gravel) were replaced, as were 60,000 concrete sleepers (ties), 30,000 insulators and 64 track switches. The new electrical system includes 336 kilometers of cable trays, 2,000 kilometers of cabling and 40 kilometers of lighting, and rehabilitated power stations.
More than 200 km of fiber optic cable were installed for an LTE network, along with 80 kilometers of radiating cable. A new communications-based train control system was also installed.
Brugada praised the work of the Chinese consortium CRCC, which oversaw the construction project.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, China’s Ambassador to Mexico Chen Daojiang also thanked CRCC and reiterated his country’s commitment to continue supporting projects that contribute to the development and well-being of Mexico City.
The two smuggled parakeets were unconscious but breathing, and later found to be in stable condition under the care of the Agriculture Department. (@SDCAnews/X)
An American citizen living in Tijuana who was caught trying to smuggle two parakeets across the border into the U.S. last month was indicted in San Diego last week on federal smuggling charges.
Jesse Agus Martinez, 35, was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers who noticed a suspicious bulge in his pants.
The orange-fronted parakeet is a member of the parrot family, which also includes parakeets. It is native to Mexico and Central America and is considered vulnerable and is therefore on the protected species list. (@SDCAnews/X)
Despite Martinez’s protestations that he was not carrying anything, the officers discovered two sedated orange-fronted parakeets in sacks concealed in his underwear.
The orange-fronted parakeet (Eupsittula canicularis), a protected species of the parrot family (its genus name means good little parrot) and native to Mexico, is listed as “vulnerable” on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
The juvenile birds were “apparently unconscious but breathing,” according to federal prosecutors. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inspector identified the birds and placed them in a cage with food and water.
The birds were transferred to a Department of Agriculture Animal Import Center in New York for quarantine, and are reported to be in stable condition.
A month before the October incident, Martinez was caught trying to smuggle a parrot across the border. The bird, wrapped in a towel under his arm, was badly injured and was euthanized.
If convicted on the smuggling charges, Martinez faces a fine of up to US $250,000 and could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Trafficking of wild and endangered species is common in Mexico. Earlier this year, a Mexican citizen was arrested while trying to smuggle 12 orange-fronted parakeets into California, some of them in his boots.
An investigation carried out by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2022 found that it is relatively easy to negotiate with traffickers in Mexico, often online. Some willingly offered price quotes, including delivery, “even though [they] acknowledge they don’t have legal documentation for the animals.”
NBC News reported that a vendor in Cuernavaca, about 90 km (56 miles) south of Mexico City, said he could ship orange-fronted parakeets across the border for US $500 each by packaging them in cardboard boxes hidden in the trunk of a car.
The 2022 report noted that the trade in protected species in Mexico is often fatal for the animals. It found that 77% of endangered parrots — roughly 60,000 annually — die before reaching the final consumer.
The U.S. military has conducted at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean since September, killing a total of 83 alleged traffickers. (Unsplash)
President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her government had reached an agreement with its U.S. counterpart for the Mexican Navy to intercept vessels suspected of transporting drugs in international waters off Mexico’s coast.
The U.S. military has conducted at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean since September, killing a total of 83 alleged traffickers who the U.S. says were attempting to get narcotics to the U.S.
On Thursday, Sheinbaum noted that there are joint Mexico-U.S. “work protocols” to “avoid” the bombing of suspected drug boats when they are detected in international waters off Mexico’s coast. She also said there are international treaties aimed at stopping such strikes from occurring.
“So, what the navy minister set out is that these treaties be complied with, and in principle they said yes,” Sheinbaum said, referring to U.S. authorities.
“So that is the first agreement. In other words, … if there is information that comes from U.S. agencies or from the Southern Command itself, it will be the Mexican Navy who intercepts these boats that are allegedly carrying drugs,” she said.
Sheinbaum didn’t specify which U.S. authority or authorities she was referring to.
On October 29 — two days after the U.S. military killed 14 people in three strikes on alleged drug boats in the Eastern Pacific — the president said that Navy Minister Raymundo Pedro Morales and Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente had met with U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson, and that the ambassador had “agreed in principle” with Mexico’s view that alleged drug vessels should be intercepted rather than bombed.
On Thursday, it was unclear whether Sheinbaum was referring to the agreement from Johnson on that point or from another U.S. authority at a subsequent meeting. The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) didn’t respond to its request for comment.
Asked whether the United States had failed to comply with the agreement not to bomb alleged drug boats off Mexico’s coast, Sheinbaum said that “recently” it had not.
With regard to such boats “off the Mexican coast,” even if they are in international waters, strikes by the U.S. military are “no longer” happening, she said.
Sheinbaum previously spoke out in favor of arresting suspected drug traffickers at sea, rather than killing them.
“We have a model, a protocol, that has produced a lot of results. If, in international waters, the United States sees a boat that is allegedly carrying drugs, an agreement is reached and either the Mexican Navy or U.S. government institutions [should] intervene to arrest the alleged criminals,” she said Oct. 29.
The Mexican Navy frequently seizes drugs off Mexico’s Pacific coast, but associated arrests are seldom reported. It carried out a search mission aimed at rescuing a survivor of the Oct. 27 U.S. military strikes, but failed to locate him.
The New York Times has reported that “a broad range of experts in laws governing the use of armed force have said” that the U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats are “illegal.”
The Times also wrote that the Trump administration “has offered tenuous legal rationales” for its attacks “while releasing little evidence to support its smuggling allegations.”
The most recent strike occurred last Saturday and was reported by the U.S. Southern Command on Sunday.
“On Nov. 15, at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization,” Southern Command said on social media.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics. Three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed. The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Eastern Pacific and was struck in international waters,” the post stated.
Where in the Eastern Pacific the strike occurred was not specified.
The United States has designated various Western Hemisphere criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations, including six Mexican drug cartels.
The tendency for traffic flow to come to a standstill for uncomfortable periods of time has helped Mexico City "earn" the title of the world's most congested city. (Shutterstock)
Mexico City residents spend on average 152 hours — nearly a week — stuck in traffic every year, according to the latest TomTom Traffic Index, a Dutch transport monitoring firm that ranked Mexico’s capital as the city with the worst traffic in the world.
After comparing traffic congestion in more than 500 cities globally, the study revealed that residents of Mexico City waste on average hours in traffic per year than any other, with automobile trips taking 52% longer than they would under optimal conditions.
🇲🇽🚗💨 La capital de México tiene la mayor congestión vehicular a nivel mundial, según estudio
De acuerdo con el informe de TomTom Traffic Index, las personas que circulan en la Ciudad de México pierden alrededor de 152 horas al año atrapados en el tráfico. Aunque la capital… pic.twitter.com/bzHWe632NW
“Mexico City is the city in which traffic has the greatest impact on the deterioration of journey times compared with ideal traffic conditions,” the TomTom report said. “This means that on all routes surveyed throughout the year on the entire road network, journey times are 52% longer than those recorded in Mexico City when traffic was free-flowing.”
During peak hours, the average speed can drop to 5 kilometers per hour on main thoroughfares such as Eje Central, Constituyentes, Viaducto and Periférico. The report pointed out that in the best-case scenario, average speed can go up to 15 kilometers per hour.
Slow traffic not only wastes time for Mexico City residents and visitors, but it also has a significant impact on air quality and the economy. The report revealed that motorists generate approximately 983 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year due to congestion. The extra cost of gasoline is equivalent to filling a vehicle’s tank eight times.
The world-leading congestion is not directly connected to the city’s number of automobiles. In fact, huge as it is, Mexico City ranks just 17th globally among cities with the most vehicles on the streets. (According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, or INEGI, the capital has 5.5 million vehicles in circulation.)
Researcher Dante Pérez Méndez, from the Institute of Research in Applied Mathematics and Systems (IIMAS), told the UNAM Gazette that the capital’s traffic problems are due in a large part to the disorganized manner in which it has grown, along with a highly transient population and insufficient infrastructure in many areas.
Furthermore, employment centers and tourist attractions are mostly concentrated in specific areas, causing high demand for transportation in certain parts of the city.
Other factors hampering traffic flow include construction work, demonstrations, slow-moving trailers, cranes and heavy trucks, and the frequent boarding and alighting of passengers by buses, large and small..
In addition to the capital, two Mexican cities made the top 100: Guadalajara (No. 28) and Monterrey (No. 72). According to the report, Guadalajara’s residents spend 102 hours in traffic, while Monterrey residents spend 80 hours.
In the global ranking, following Mexico City is Bangkok, Thailand, with a congestion rate of 50%, and Davao City, Philippines, with 49%.
A total of 17,000 people participated in the march, according to the Mexico City government, but some media reports indicated that the turnout was significantly larger. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
A large protest in Mexico City against insecurity and corruption turned violent on Saturday, with some protesters attacking police in the capital’s central square, injuring 100 officers, according to authorities.
A protest march from the Angel of Independence monument to the Zócalo, Mexico City’s main plaza, was organized by a Generation Z movement, but attracted people of all ages, including members of the Sombrero Movement (Movimiento del Sombrero), a group founded by Carlos Manzo, the sombrero-wearing “tough on crime” mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán, who was assassinated on Nov. 1.
‘Tenemos una Presidenta que le está dando atole con el dedo a todas las familias buscadoras de desaparecidos’, acusan manifestantes durante la marcha de la Gen Z, en un mensaje dirigido a Claudia Sheinbaum y a Morena.https://t.co/JrWhp0VTWk
📹 Mayumi Suzuki pic.twitter.com/ccmbl9CMfP
A total of 17,000 people participated in the march, according to the Mexico City government, but some media reports indicated that the turnout was significantly larger.
The “Generación Z México” movement, which called for people to take to the streets in Mexico City via a social media account, says it is non-partisan, but anti-government and anti-Morena sentiment was on prominent display during the march.
Generation Z encompasses people born between 1997 and 2012.
Protest marches were also held in dozens of other Mexican cities on Saturday, including Guadalajara, Monterrey, León, Toluca and Uruapan, where Manzo was shot in the city’s central square during a Day of the Dead event.
The ‘black bloc’
The Mexico City government said in a statement that a “black bloc” group of protesters was responsible for violence during Saturday’s protest march. It said that “around 1,000 people in masks” entered the Zócalo and using hammers and other tools “violently” tore down barriers that had been put up to protect the National Palace, Mexico’s seat of executive power and the residence of President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The government also said that “violent groups” made “direct attacks” on police, hitting officers, stealing their shields and launching explosive devices at them.
The Associated Press reported that “protesters attacked police with stones, fireworks, sticks and chains.”
Clashes between protesters and police lasted for some three hours, the newspaper El Universal reported. The Supreme Court building, located next to the National Palace, was also targeted by “black bloc” protesters.
The Mexico City government said that 100 police officers were injured, 40 of whom were transferred to the hospital for medical assessment. Twenty other people were also injured, according to Mexico City Security Minister Pablo Vázquez.
Police responded to the violence with tear gas, which affected “everyone” in the Zócalo, El Sol de México reported. The newspaper La Jornada reported that police were accused of using excessive force against protesters and committing “indiscriminate abuses,” including stealing cell phones from demonstrators.
The government said that “violent groups” made “direct attacks” on police, hitting officers, stealing their shields and launching explosive devices at them. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Police kicked protesters and hit them with their shields, according to La Jornada. “Paramedics attended to dozens of injured people,” the newspaper wrote.
The Mexico City government said that police “exclusively carried out containment work, without responding to provocations.”
It said that 40 people were arrested, 20 for “administrative” offenses and 20 others on more serious charges.
Vázquez, according to the government statement, said that leaders from Mexico’s political “right” led the protest and that “few” young people participated in it. He criticized “the opposition” for “resorting to violence instead of expressing their differences peacefully and through arguments.”
Sheinbaum, who was in the state of Tabasco on Saturday, denounced the violence and asserted that “very few young people” took part in the protest, despite it being organized by members of Generation Z.
‘Out with Morena, out with Claudia’
The Straw Hat Pirates’ Jolly Roger, a flag that features in the Japanese manga series “One Piece,” was held aloft by some protesters, as was the case in previous Gen Z protests in countries including Nepal and Madagascar. Other protesters carried Mexican flags and signs and banners that criticized the ruling Morena party and Sheinbaum.
Among the slogans chanted by protesters in Mexico City were “Out with Morena!” and “Out with Claudia!” as well as “We want peace!” and “We’re not bots!”
Sheinbaum had accused opposition parties of infiltrating the Gen Z movement, and using social media bots to increase attendance at the protest in the capital, the largest anti-government demonstration since the president took office in October 2024.
While the protest focused on denouncing violence, including the assassination of Manzo, and demanding greater security, protesters also condemned corruption, the alleged concentration of power in the federal executive, high levels of impunity, medicine shortages and the missing persons crisis.
“We are all Carlos Manzo,” read one large banner carried by protesters from Uruapan, among whom was the murdered mayor’s grandmother, who was pushed along in a wheelchair.
The mayor had been critical of the federal government’s security strategy and had urged it to ramp up the fight against organized crime.
Participants of a march held in Toluca on Saturday hold up a banner honoring Carlos Manzo. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
Andrés Massa, a 29-year-old business consultant who carried the Jolly Roger flag during the Mexico City march, told the Associated Press that “we need more security.”
Arizbeth Garcia, a 43-year-old doctor, told AP that she was participating in the protest to call for more funding for the public health system and for increased security because doctors “are also exposed to the insecurity gripping the country, where you can be murdered and nothing happens.”
Rosa María Ávila, a 65-year-old real estate agent from Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, who traveled to Mexico City to join the protest, asserted that “the state is dying.”
She told AP that Manzo “was killed because he was a man who was sending officers into the mountains to fight delinquents.”
Doña Mariana, as El Universal identified the woman, accused the Sheinbaum administration of being a “narco-government,” and complained that it believes that “a pension of 3,000 pesos” per month is enough to live on.
Manzo’s grandmother, Doña Raquel, asserted that “Morena killed my grandson,” and called on former Michoacán governor and current Morena Deputy Leonel Godoy to be investigated in connection with the crime.
A total of 500 butterflies were tagged with BluMorpho transmitters and released from different areas of the United States and Canada in late September. (@correorealmx/X)
The first monarch butterflies tracked with solar-powered location tags have arrived in the oyamel fir forests of Michoacán, marking a scientific milestone for the conservation and study of their migration.
These early-arriving butterflies were released in late September in Lawrence, Kansas, in the United States, and traveled a migratory journey of more than 4,000 kilometers in 43 days.
During this time, they crossed Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in the U.S. before entering Mexico through the state of Tamaulipas, where they sent out their first GPS signal in the country near the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve. From there, they continued through San Luis Potosí, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Querétaro and México state until reaching the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, in the Sanctuary of El Rosario, Michoacán.
Weighing a mere 60 milligrams, the butterflies’ location transmitter is called BluMorpho and was developed by Cellular Tracking Technologies in collaboration with the Cape May Point Arts & Science Center.
Unlike existing insect-tracking models that can only be detected by special receivers, the novelty of this transmitter is that it uses the 2.4 GHz frequency, facilitating its connection with ordinary smartphones and computers.
This year, 500 butterflies have BluMorpho trackers, which were attached using a special adhesive that does not hinder their flight. With the data collected by the devices, researchers can gain a more accurate understanding of flight patterns, the butterflies’ length of travel and critical resting areas, as well as how these factors are altered by climate patterns.
The BluMorpho tracker placed on a butterfly. (celltracktech.com)
The primary causes, according to experts, are habitat degradation and extended drought conditions along their migratory route. Through GPS monitoring, scientists can now pinpoint these conservation challenges with greater precision, paving the way for more targeted and effective environmental interventions.
“With this technology, we saw this year how a monarch butterfly traveled along the east coast of the United States, passed through the Caribbean islands, and entered Mexico through Veracruz,” Jerónimo Chávez, member of the Profauna organization that helps track the specimens, explained to the newspaper El País.
David Alfaro Siqueiros' "Del Porfirismo a la Revolución" explicitly links muralism and revolution. (INEHRM)
In every major Mexican city, there’s at least one building whose walls burst with color, waiting for you to explore them. But beyond their impressive scale, what truly makes each mural remarkable is the commitment the Muralist movement shared with the Mexican Revolution.
Murals weren’t made just for aesthetics; they were a tool in a country where nearly 90% of the population couldn’t read or write. Today, those numbers have changed, but the purpose of muralism remains: to showcase historical events whilst expressing the artists’ visions of the nation’s future.
The “Big Three” of Mexico’s muralism movement: Siqueiros, Orozco and Rivera. (Colegio de San Ildefonso)
Even though it’s been a while since muralism saw its golden days, these massive pieces of artwork continue to captivate locals and foreigners alike, creating a strong bond between art and national identity. What’s portrayed in the murals is meant to be remembered as history — at least, one version of it.
First, let’s talk about the Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a movement that exposed the urgent necessities of a marginalized population, tired of an authoritarian government represented by dictator Porfirio Díaz and his three-decade regime. When the majority of the Mexican population realized that just a few could live a dream life, while the others literally starved, revolutionary ideas started shaping what became an armed movement.
Although the beginning of the confrontation served as a catharsis for the population, the latter part of the war evolved into an internal dispute over who should be in charge once the war ended. And so, the battles were guided more by politics and less by the possibility of a better life.
However, confrontation between those in power and those who worked the land had a specific flavor, as it became the first Revolution of the 20th Century. The Mexican Revolution was also the first led by the working class, which deeply inspired the motifs on which muralism is based.
The Big Three: Siqueiros, Rivera and Orozco
At the same time that Diego Rivera was holding his first solo show after returning from Europe, David Alfaro Siqueiros was on the battlefield, and José Clemente Orozco was in the trenches of Veracruz, listening to revolutionary speeches by Dr. Atl. One thing was certain: the three of them were forging their inner artists to become Los tres grandes — the “Big Three.”
When visiting the Palacio de Bellas Artes, you’ll find yourself surrounded by their creations. But even in that shared space, you won’t feel the same standing before Siqueiros’ “Tormento de Cuauhtémoc” or Rivera’s “El hombre controlador del Universo.” And both feelings differ, of course, from the one you get when staring at Orozco’s “Katharsis.” Siqueiros overwhelms you with intensity, violence and movement; Rivera invites reflection through order, symbolism and balance; Orozco’s chaotic energy and cartoonish characters laugh at everything — and everyone.
Diego Rivera
A portion of Diego Rivera’s famous mural “El Hombre Controlador del Universo.” (Gumr51/Wikimedia Commons)
Even though Rivera presented himself as a revolutionary man, there was a part of him that was a little bit of an outsider. He never really knew what being on the battlefield meant (like Siqueiros and Orozco did). Yet, he had the opportunity to experience art as few artists can: on a scholarship before World War I took its toll on Europe.
Diego tried every technique and met every (or almost every) renowned name of the time. From his long-lasting friendship with Pablo Picasso to his brief but intense marital life with painter Angelina Beloff, he was learning everything he could from the Old World to bring it back home … and so he did.
David Alfaro Siqueiros
Siqueiros’ “Tormento de Cuauhtémoc” reimagines a famous episode in Mexico’s history from a 20th-century perspective. (Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes)
Siqueiros’ nickname “El Coronelazo” didn’t come easy. The muralist left the Academia de San Carlos — the only art academy in Mexico at the time — to join the revolutionary army. As a teenager, Siqueiros was already a soldier, fighting for the causes he believed in —a characteristic that led to his later participation in the Spanish Civil War and the student movement of 1968.
After the war was over, David Alfaro Siqueiros changed the gun for a paintbrush. Besides being one of the founders of the muralist movement, he was also a precursor in experimenting with 3D paintings, introducing the use of pyroxilyn on walls and canvases.
José Clemente Orozco
From Orozco’s terrifying yet satirical mural “Katharsis.” (Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes)
The connection Orozco had with the Revolution grew as he learned from his teacher, Dr. Atl. During the war, both were part of La Vanguardia, a newspaper that pursued revolutionary causes, like “building the Revolution” through text and pictures.
Orozco recalls Dr. Atl’s lessons: “We had to learn from the old masters and from foreigners, but we could do as much, or even more, than they did. Not out of pride, but out of confidence in ourselves, an awareness of our own being and of our destiny.”
Unlike his two partners, Orozco’s art represented not reality in its most literal form, but a satiric and always critical version of it. As he did at La Vanguardia, the characters of his murals showed their worst traits. That is the main reason he is sometimes left behind. Whereas Siqueiros and Rivera capture the essence of the Revolution, Orozco criticizes the whos and the hows, filling his pieces with discomfort.
There’s no trinity without a godfather
To understand muralism, we must return to the moment of its birth. The Mexican Revolution had ended, but the struggle for food, shelter and national identity continued. What did it mean to be Mexican?
With the intention of answering that question, the newly appointed Secretary of Education, José Vasconcelos, created a movement that could do both: create an identity for the re-established nation and produce works of art to show the world what Mexico had to offer. It all began with the buildings under his authority: Escuela Nacional Preparatoria and Secretaría de Educación Pública.
It has been said that Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, located in the colonial building that once served as Colegio de San Ildefonso,is the cradle of muralism, and those who say so are not wrong. The halls and corridors that hosted high school alumni also witnessed Dr. Atl’s first experiments on muralism, a task interrupted by the Revolution.
Reimagining Mexico’s history
Diego Rivera’s mural “La Creación.” Something new from something old. (Colegio de San Ildefonso)
Once the war ended in 1922, Vasconcelos hired 35-year-old Diego Rivera to paint “La Creación,” inside the school’s amphitheater, a symbolic piece that portrays Adam and Eve and the creation of something new. It was related to the beginning of Diego’s muralist career, but also with the whole movement — something was about to happen at San Ildefonso and the world would be stunned by it.
This historical place preserves in its walls the works of young muralists such as Jean Charlot, Fernando Leal, Ramón Alva de la Canal and Fermín Revueltas. Orozco was also invited to this muralist assembly, of course. The murals displayed scenes of Mexico’s history, from Hernán Cortés to current local celebrations. These paintings depicted every color in the country’s light prism.
On the other hand, Diego was also commissioned to design two government buildings: Secretaría de Educación Pública and Palacio Nacional. The first held the national offices of the Ministry of Education, the second was the headquarters of the Mexican presidency. While the murals in both buildings were inspired by social and political events, Secretaría de Educación Pública’s (S.E.P.) artwork shows a deeper representation of the ongoing revolutionary process of the country.
Rivera shows us what the soldiers were fighting for, trying to share their history with every visitor of the S.E.P. It is no coincidence that in one of the most intense panels, Rivera painted portraits of three artists delivering weapons to the working-class fighters: fellow muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, photographer Tina Modotti and a young, revolutionary Frida Kahlo, who would later become his life-long partner.
Before and after the ‘Big Three’
In contrast to Italian muralism, which reached its peak with Michelangelo’s “Sistine Chapel,” Mexican muralism stems from something deeper, something rooted in Mesoamerican cultures. Think of the wall paintings at Bonampak or the magnificent frescoes in Teotihuacán. Even the now-bare Templo Mayor was once covered in color during its golden age.
Muralism wasn’t created; it was rediscovered, not only in format but in its technique. Muralists moved from European encaustics to the traditional fresco used by Mesoamerican artists for millennia.
An ancient mural from an artist in Teotihuacán. (Adrian Hernandez/Wikimedia Commons)
As poet Octavio Paz wrote in “Los Privilegios de la Vista,” the Revolution created the perfect opportunity to reflect on what the century-old nation had done right and what path it should follow toward the so-called “civilized world.”
“Our painting is a chapter of modern art. But at the same time, it is the expression of a people who have just discovered themselves and who, not content with recognizing themselves in their past, seek a historical project that will place them within contemporary civilization.”
Although muralism, as the movement led by Rivera, Siqueiros and Orozco, no longer exists, the walls still call for color, and artists continue to answer. From the murals painted along the U.S. border to the marvelous rótulos that accompany street vendors, muralism remains.
Lydia Leija is a linguist, journalist, and visual storyteller. She has directed three feature films, and her audiovisual work has been featured in national and international media. She’s been part of National Geographic, Muy Interesante, and Cosmopolitan.
Recent data indicates that the wellness real estate (RE) market in Mexico is projected to see an estimated annual investment of US $16.418 billion for 2025, with sustained growth of 13.7% per year.
It’s not just Mexico’s best luxury retreats that are focused on wellness. It’s also a selling point for the real estate industry. (La Joya Sayulita/Facebook)
These homes feature holistic environments and designs that promote the physical and emotional well-being of the people in residence. Especially in Mexico’s vacation hubs, you can find increasing numbers of well-appointed new builds on the market with plenty of these wellness features and amenities.
In Mexico, the primary wellness real estate standard is the WELL Certification, created and overseen by the International WELL Building Institute. This standard considers comfort factors like air quality, water quality and lighting, as well as amenities aimed at sustaining mental health and physical fitness.
Where are the wellness-friendly locations in Mexico?
Certain locations in Mexico are closely linked to wellness tourism destinations, such as the Riviera Maya on the Yucatán Peninsula. However, the trend can be seen throughout the country.
If you’re looking for a full-time home or vacation property you can retreat to and recharge, here are some properties offering wellness-focused features and amenities:
Reserva Escondida Torre Nogal, Mexico City
Looking for a sanctuary in the midst of Mexico City? Reserva Escondida fits the bill. (Reserva Escondida)
Mexico City is a vibrant, culturally rich metropolis. But it also can be exhausting! What if you could enjoy all that Mexico’s capital has to offer — and then come home to your own private nature sanctuary?
This pet-friendly luxury residential tower is located northwest of Mexico City in the heart of the Zona Esmeralda, surrounded by 3 million square meters of protected woodlands and spectacular views of the beautiful Parque de los Ciervos, which features walking trails next to wildlife habitats.
The property has multiple options for relaxation, entertainment or both. All apartments have access to terraces, and the site features a paddleball court, massage room, lush gardens and even its own cinema.
The KAANA project boasts amazing views of the Caribbean Sea and the Nichupté Lagoon. (Kaana Project)
If you dream of being right on the beach, KAANA, in the heart of Cancún’s hotel zone, is an excellent choice, surrounded by the vibrant electric blues of Nichupté Lagoon — a natural reserve with a unique system of seven lakes — and stunning views of the Caribbean Sea. With all its relaxing amenities, including a yoga area, a gym, a massage room, a pool and a steam room, this 12-story luxury residential development is like a stay at a luxury Cancún hotel … but surrounded by all your own stuff.
Located 15 minutes from Cancún International Airport, this property has EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) sustainability certification, which means at least a 20% savings on your average prices for energy and water.
If you like innovative architecture and design, plus easy access to one of Mexico’s premier getaway destinations, you’ll love Love Tulum. (Love Tulum)
This oasis of best ecological practices and innovative architecture gives you the best of both worlds — located in the heart of Tulum’s jungles but with easy access to town nearby. With a blend of private and communal spaces, the Love Tulum residential development easily fosters a sense of community and designs spaces to encourage mental peace.
The property’s communal spaces were built with natural materials such as Super Adobe and were designed to be organic and integrated with nature. Examples include its large palapa designed for events and ceremonies and the walkable trails on the property that lead to pristine cenotes. Fractal architecture and bioconstruction are everywhere here.
You can purchase single-family plots ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 square meters, but to preserve the area’s integration with the natural environment, you are allowed to build on only 25% of each plot, so this is for folks who are committed to living surrounded by nature.
Libera was the first developer in Mexico to be awarded an Environmental Quality Distinction. (Grupo Libera)
This chain of residential developments has properties on the Yucatán Peninsula in Tulum, Mérida, Celestún, El Cuyo and Sisal. This is where to go if you want to live in the quietude of nature while still having access to activities that’ll keep you entertained.
This developer was also the first real estate company in the country to receive the Environmental Quality Distinction from Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office for Environmental Protection (PROFEPA).
While Tulum remains the classic jewel of the Mexican Caribbean, it’s worth considering Libera’s other properties on the Peninsula that are in less overdeveloped locations:
There’s Cuyo, for example, an up-and-coming gem offering more privacy and stunning sea views.
Celestún is a “pink paradise,” a sanctuary of estuaries, flamingos and mangroves.
But all four developments are designed to equally blend into their surrounding landscapes, and each has facilities meant to help you enjoy the surrounding environment and enjoy outdoor activities. Go swimming in a beautiful cenote, practice meditation in the onsite Zen park, have a mini-adventure with family in the onsite camping area and give Fido some quality time in each development’s pet park.
If you enjoy exploration and connecting with nature, this place is worth checking out.
Desarrolladora ECO-GM’s properties like Hakuna are oases of green living. (Desarrolladora ECO-GM)
This is another property located in the heart of the jungle, 35 minutes from Quintana Roo’s beaches and just 25 minutes from Cancún International Airport and the Maya Train.
If you love conservation, Hakuna is one of their projects that preserves over 60% of its green spaces and protects the local ecosystem. Here you’ll find eco-friendly technologies and amenities that enhance the living experience, all while fostering sustainable growth and generating long-term value.
If you enjoy making friends with your neighbors, Hakuna’s amenities are great for promoting a tight-knit community, with a camping area, landscaped walking paths — including orchards — a pet park and an outdoor gym. Meaning, there are plenty of opportunities to meet the people living around you.
Hogares Eco Sustentables is renowned for its comfort and energy efficiency. (Hogares Eco Sustentables)
Are you looking for modernity and comfort in a more urban setting? Hogares Eco Sustentables de Mexico creates residential options throughout the country where alternative energy technologies are already built in. Rather than polluting energy sources like gas and coal, its homes feature solar and other sustainable energy technologies.
Many buyers will likely be interested in the developer’s properties in Mexico City and the greater metropolitan area, but it also has properties in up-and-coming urban settings like Salina Cruz, Oaxaca — one of Mexico’s main port cities and an entry point to the Istmo de Tehuantepec.
If you prefer an urban design approach that integrates technology, innovation and environmentally friendly energy efficiency, Hogars Eco Sustentables’ offerings may appeal to you.
No real estate developer in Mexico has more EDGE-certified properties than Vinte. (Vinte)
If you are looking for a “green life” but want to settle somewhere other than Mexico City or the Yucatán Peninsula, then you owe it to yourself to explore Vinte. This developer has a strong presence in many states — everywhere from Mexico City, Hidalgo, Estado de México, Nuevo León, Puebla, Querétaro and Quintana Roo.
Recognized as an innovator in sustainable housing, Vinte has the highest number of EDGE-certified properties in Mexico. This company promotes green mortgages, has created zero-energy houses and offers homes with zero-gas hybrid technology. Their projects also include spaces that encourage interaction with nature and the community, including green spaces, playgrounds, bike paths, multipurpose playing courts, pet parks, clubhouses and even baseball and soccer fields that are ideal for families with young children.
Ana Paula de la Torre is a Mexican journalist and collaborator for various outlets, including Milenio, Animal Político, Vice, Newsweek en Español, Televisa and Mexico News Daily.
Puerto Vallarta's iconic former pirate ship, the Marigalante. (pirateshipvallarta.com)
For decades, she was a floating spectacle: a roaring, rollicking Vegas-style pirate ship, ablaze with fireworks, sword fights and the ever-flowing promise of all-you-can-drink tequila.
Each night, beneath the warm Mexican twilight, tourists in Puerto Vallarta flocked to her, enchanted by her swashbuckling promises. Music blared, laughter echoed across the Bay, and the Marigalante set sail in a blaze of revelry.
The history of the Marigalante
Each trip aboard the Marigalante in her later life promised sword fights and all-you-can-drink revelry. (Puerto Vallarta)
But behind her dazzling theatrics was a gentler, nobler beginning, one few on board ever knew, as they clinked glasses and cheered on buccaneers wielding plastic cutlasses. The Marigalante wasn’t always a kitschy, tequila-fuelled fantasy. She was born of a far quieter dream.
A full-scale, seaworthy replica of one of the three ships that sailed the Atlantic in 1492, Christopher Columbus’s Santa María, she was lovingly crafted to serve as a floating ambassador of peace, history and cultural dialogue. She wasn’t built for crowds or cocktails, nor for cannon blasts and photo ops. She was conceived as a symbol.
Her tale stretches across oceans and decades. From a forgotten shipyard in Veracruz to the distant ports of the world, from diplomatic mission to floating fiesta, and, finally, to the quiet, final stillness beneath the waves.
The ship’s journey began in Veracruz
The Marigalante’s journey began in the early 1980s, in the bustling port city of Veracruz. At the helm of the vision was Vital Alsar Ramírez, a Spanish-born scientist and sailor who had made Mexico his adopted home. Known for launching epic ocean voyages on humble rafts, Alsar had long been fascinated by the sea’s ability to connect people and cultures. But his ambitions had grown grander. No more rafts. He wanted a galleon.
Thus began the “Mar, Hombre y Paz” Project (Sea, Man and Peace), a maritime mission shaped not by conquest, but by understanding and meaning.
The Marigalante was built using traditional shipbuilding techniques. Her hull was crafted from mahogany and teak, her beams of pine, each timber fitted with care. The aim wasn’t theatrical nostalgia, but historical integrity. She was meant to be a messenger, flying a white flag of peace, sailing not to entertain but to unite.
Crossing oceans like her model
The Santa María, a flagship for Christopher Columbus on which the Mariagalante was based. (Surfer Today)
But dreams, like ships, are expensive things. When Mexico’s peso sharply devalued in 1982, the project stalled. The nearly-built Marigalante sat tethered and forgotten for several years, unfinished, uncelebrated and slowly wearing with salt and time.
Eventually, funding returned, construction resumed and the Marigalante was finally completed. And for a brief, shining season, she lived her purpose.
She crossed oceans, docking with fanfare in Spain, parading past crowds in Brazil, gliding through the locks of the Panama Canal and even bowing gently into Japanese harbors. At each port, she offered not conquest but conversation. She was a vessel of diplomacy. She was a floating museum providing a bridge between centuries.
The move to Puerto Vallarta
Yet, noble missions often drift into reality, and maintaining a full-scale wooden galleon, especially one meant to sail internationally, proved more costly and complex than idealism could sustain. The Marigalante was sold to private owners, and her course shifted permanently.
She was brought to Puerto Vallarta, where the sun-soaked tourism industry welcomed her transformation with open arms. And so, a new era of sequins and stage fights began.
She was retrofitted for spectacles. Loudspeakers, fire jugglers, choreographed sword duels and nightly fireworks now filled her decks. Each evening, she would sail into the horizon, her belly full of tourists and her timbers echoing with laughter, music and the clink of cocktail glasses.
The final dramatic chapter
In later life, the Mariagalante served as a floating party palace. (Mexico Luxury Villa Rentals)
To the thousands who boarded her each year, she was just a really cool pirate ship. But beneath the glitter and smoke, echoes of her old soul remained.
Her name, Marigalante, a lyrical reinterpretation of Maria Galante, an early name for Columbus’ flagship, remained proudly etched on her hull. Her wooden frame still bore the bones of the ship that once sailed for peace. Her essence lingered, if only quietly.
Then, in a twist almost too poetic to believe, her story came full circle on Columbus Day weekend. On October 10, under skies that had once watched her sail in glory, the Marigalante met her final and most dramatic chapter.
The details remain under investigation, but what is known is that she began taking on water. As curious onlookers gathered on the beaches nearby, she listed heavily and struggled for balance. Finally, she surrendered to the sea she’d once ruled.
Miraculously, no one was hurt. But the image of her sinking — majestic and tragic — has left the community reeling. A floating landmark, a familiar friend, was gone.
Replacing the irreplaceable
In the days that followed, there was talk of salvaging and restoring her. But instead, a sister ship is set to take her place: The Jolly Roger, another replica of the Santa María, is being relocated from Cancún and is expected to begin tours by late 2025, if all goes to plan.
The Jolly Roger is set to replace the Mariagalante. (GetYourGuide)
Unlike her predecessor, the Jolly Roger was designed from the start for entertainment. She’ll come outfitted with modern amenities and updated attractions, every inch built to dazzle. But whether she’ll inherit the soul of her sunken sister remains to be seen.
The Marigalante’s life raises deeper questions about preservation, the commodification of culture and how we remember the past. She spent her final years as a party boat, yes, but she was born of something far more idealistic.
Built in peace, tied to conquest
In her earliest form, she was a vessel of diplomacy and historical memory. Her later life was a fantasy cruise for honeymooners and spring breakers. Both stories are true, and both are hers. And in the end, the Marigalante was neither fully one nor the other. She was a floating contradiction of a ship, built to heal and one dressed up to entertain.
Even her very model, the Santa María, now carries a new weight. In recent years, Columbus’s legacy has faced renewed scrutiny, as historians and communities reckon with the devastating impact of his voyages on Indigenous peoples across the Americas.
The Marigalante was conceived with peace in mind, yet symbolically tied to conquest. Her creation was noble, but her associations were complex. In the shifting tides of historical understanding, her story now feels both poignant and painfully relevant.
Charlotte Smith is a writer and journalist based in Mexico. Her work focuses on travel, politics, and community. You can follow along with her travel stories at www.salsaandserendipity.com.
Mexico's national team put up a game effort in a 3-6 loss to Argentina during the first World Cup in 1930. (X, formerly Twitter)
When Mexico steps out onto the Estadio Azteca next June, it will be the country’s 17th appearance in a World Cup tournament. This puts them 5th in a table of appearances, led by ever-present Brazil (22 tournaments), and followed by Germany, Argentina and Italy. Mexico’s success is partly a question of geography. Traditionally, North America has not been a soccer stronghold (although that is changing), and for many years, Mexico expected to represent the region in every tournament. El Tricolor has another claim to fame. On July 13, 1930, Mexico was one of four teams to play in the opening games of the very first World Cup tournament
The story of the World Cup really starts not with that 1930 tournament, but thirty years before with the Olympics. The first Olympic soccer tournament was a modest affair, staged in 1900 with just three club sides representing France, Belgium and Great Britain. The tournament slowly expanded, and while athletics generally was the star attraction of the Olympics, by the 1920s, it was the soccer tournament that was bringing in the most gate money.
The success of Olympic soccer, like this game in Amsterdam in 1928, helped to inspire the first World Cup tournament in 1930. (Public Domain)
Mexican football in the early 20th century
Mexican football during the 1920s centered on the Campeonato de Primera Fuerza de la Federación Mexicana de Futbol, which consisted of just nine Mexico City-based teams. It was all very amateurish, with only a couple of hundred men taking the game seriously, and the big sport clubs, with their “members only”teams, were still influential. Grounds were small, with a few hundred spectators attending the biggest games. Football was a close-knit community, and the young men who played each other on the weekend met in committees during the week, and many socialized in the clubs. The most influential of these pioneers was Rafael Garza Gutiérrez, a man who was a natural leader thanks to both his family status — they were founders of Club América — and his notable physical size. He had been Club América’s player-manager since 1917 and was still playing, although now in his thirties.
The winners of the Mexico City-based league were listed as champions of Mexico, but there were similar competitions around the country, most notably in Veracruz and Guadalajara. However, in the 1920s, it was the capital that beat at the very heart of Mexican football, and the violence of the Cristero War, which was raging across central Mexico, added to this isolation. Indeed, one of the great pioneer clubs from the countryside, Pachuca FC, had recently folded as so many of its players had fled the mining city.
The Mexico City clubs had put out a combined “Mexican”team in 1923 to play visitors from Guatemala, and there had been occasional exhibition games involving a Mexican “selection”since then. The turning point came in 1927 when Club América played Real Madrid in New York. This fed the appetite for international football and focused attention on the need to upgrade the organization from an ad hoc collection of club officials getting together to arrange the occasional game to an elected and recognized governing body. The result was the formation of the Mexican Football Federation in 1928.
The Olympics of 1928
Later that year, Mexico was one of 16 teams that gathered in Amsterdam for the Olympics. Football in Mexico was still played by amateurs, and selection for the team was as dependent on a man’s financial position as his skill on the pitch. Any players selected would have to be able to afford to take up to 6 weeks off work. As a result, the young men who sailed to Europe were either comfortably wealthy or had understanding employers. Goalkeeper Óscar Bonfiglio, for example, was an army officer and had the support of the military. Mexico’s Olympic participation lasted just 90 minutes, and they went out after losing 7-1 to Spain. However, they had planned a prolonged post-Olympic tour, travelling through Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and Belgium for the next six weeks and playing club sides such as Feyenoord, Cologne and Zurich.
It was at the FIFA Congress, staged before the Olympics, that the decision was taken to organize the first World Cup tournament. FIFA wanted to echo the financial success of the Olympic football tournament, and at the same time saw the need for a true World Championship, which, unlike the Olympics, would be open to the growing number of professional players. Several nations came forward to organise the event, but one by one they dropped out, leaving only Uruguay. The South American economy was holding up well, there was immense pride in their football team, which had won the last two Olympic titles, and 1930 would see the country celebrate 100 years of independence. It seemed perfect timing, and plans were immediately laid down to build a gigantic concert stadium to host the event.
The first World Cup
There would of course be problems. Passage would be by sea, meaning players would be away for at least six weeks. This would not clash with the European season, but it would take players away from their families and interrupt the traditional summer rest period. The February deadline for entering came and went with no European sides committed. Political pressure was applied, and France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia agreed to send teams, but the target of sixteen sides was not reached. In addition, Egypt had entered but was delayed by a storm in the Mediterranean and literary “missed the boat”that was to bring them on to South America.
The Mexican team before they faced France in the first World Cup game ever played. (Public Domain)
When the World Cup invitation had first been received in Mexico, Juan José Luqué de Serrallonga had been invited to coach the team. He was a Spaniard who had moved to Mexico in 1928. Back in Spain, he had played for his local side Cádiz CF, where he had been a useful goalkeeper, and he was now coaching in the Mexico City league. On May 25, 1930, Serrallonga invited the best players in Mexico City to play an exhibition game to help select the World Cup team. Of the 17 players selected for the squad, five were from Club América and seven from Atlante. Five of the 1928 Olympic team retained their place, and there were also two sets of brothers, Manuel and Felipe Rosas and Francisco and Rafael Gutiérrez. Then, as now, fans and the press had their own strong ideas.
The appointment of Luque de Serrallonga was particularly criticized. There was a belief that the position should have gone to a Mexican, while El Universal suggested that, after average performances coaching Real España and Germania, he ”lacked the merits” to hold such a position. A thoughtful journalist at El Universal questioned the policy of limiting selection to players from Mexico City, and fans at the final warmup games called out the names of players they wanted added to the squad, most notably América’s Luis Cerrilla.
The journey to Uruguay
The team had to take a roundabout route to Uruguay, first travelling to New York, where, on the evening of June 13, they and the US team boarded the S.S. Munargo. It was an 18-day trip to Montevideo with stops in Bermuda and Brazil, and training on board was difficult, “an open deck for exercising,” and “very poor bathrooms,” as the US team explained to the press.
Mexico had been drawn in Group 1, the only group to have 4 teams, and they would be facing Argentina, one of the favourites for the trophy. Workmen were still rushing to finish the Estadio Centenario, so on July 13, Mexico and France faced each other in the modest Estadio Pocitos. Playing in dark maroon shirts, Mexico showed naivety in defence, crowding their penalty area without tightly marking the opposing forwards. In the 19th minute, the ball came in from the right, and there was Lucien Laurent, standing unmarked, to score the first-ever goal in the World Cup. In the 26th minute, the French goalkeeper fell to the feet of Mejia and had to go off injured. Down to ten men, and with a defender now in goal, France still raced to a comfortable 3-0 halftime lead. In the 70th minute, Juan Carreño, who had scored Mexico’s first goal in the Olympics, scored their first goal in the World Cup, but France ran out 4-1 winners. Mexico’s second game was against Chile, and once again, Mexico lost. The final score was 0-3 with Manuel Rosa unlucky to have the ball hit him and bounce into the net for the first own goal of the tournament.
Mexico game in a losing effort against Argentina
On July 19, Mexico played its third match in a very different atmosphere. The new stadium was ready and the heaving bowl was packed with 42,000 fans, the majority having caught the ferry from Buenos Aires to support Argentina. Argentina were 3-0 up after 17 minutes, and Bonfiglio in the Mexican goal had saved a penalty. That incident became a football legend. There are accounts that Fernando Paternoster, disagreeing with the referee’s decision to award the kick, had deliberately hit the ball into the goalkeeper’s arms, or that the penalty spot had not been marked on the pitch, and the inexperienced referee had paced out too many steps. Just before half-time, Mexico also won a penalty. Manuel Rosa, he of the earlier own goal, stepped forward to hit it into the net. Rosa was only 18 years old and would hold the record as the youngest goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup until Pelé arrived on the scene 28 years later.
The goals continued: 4-1, then 5-1, before Mexico was awarded a second penalty, the third of the game. This time, goalkeeper Ángel Bossio got a hand to the ball, but it fell back to Rosa, who scored his second goal. When Roberto Gayón made it 5-3, it looked for a moment as if Mexico might actually perform a football miracle. But Argentina put the game beyond reach with their sixth goal. Mexico would come home without taking a point from their three games. Even so, they had come out of the tournament with honor, particularly in this last game. “Mexico Plays Well in Montevideo,” was the headline in El Universal.
Mexico lost to Chile 0-3, one of three defeats in the first World Cup tournament. (Public Domain)
The players of 1930 have long ago slipped out of the public spotlight. Dionisio Mejía later became the key striker in the team, scoring 7 goals in the 1934 qualifying campaign. Alfredo Sánchez was still playing for Mexico at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games, and Juan Carreño, the scorer of Mexico’s first goals in both Olympics and World Cup, was the league’s joint top scorer when Atlante won the title in 1932. He died of appendicitis aged just 31. Goalkeeper Óscar Bonfiglio went on to have a distinguished army career, and Rafael Garza Gutiérrez continued to be involved with Club América for another twenty years. The boys of 1930 made up a unique group of colleagues and friends. They would be the last Mexicans to play in the World Cup until 1950.
Bob Patemanis a Mexico-based historian, librarian and a life-term hasher. He is editor of On On Magazine, the international history magazine of hashing.
