The leaders of the migrant caravan: in their own words

By

-

November 1, 2021

Pastor and migrant advocate Luis Rey García Villagrán shouts into a microphone in a crowded area shaded by a tin roof — Pastor and prominent migrant advocate Luis García Villagrán accused Mexican officials of tricking migrants into accepting bus rides to far-flung cities. (File photo)

Irineo Mújica and Luis Rey García Villagrán are the two people leading the 2,500-strong migrant caravan which left Tapachula, Chiapas, on October 23 and is slowly making its way north. The convoy is largely Central American and partly composed of pregnant women, young children and disabled people.

They’re an unlikely couple. Mújica is a firebrand activist: combative, energetic, instinctive. In contrast, García is more pastor than protester: pensive, eloquent, cool-headed. Both understand the power of public opinion, and have a knack for politics and an eye for the camera.

Their faith also binds them: Mújica is Catholic and García is an Evangelical Christian. The caravan itself is spearheaded by a large wooden cross.

The pair spoke separately to Mexico News Daily about what motivates them to assemble and lead migrant caravans.

Luis Rey García Villagrán, of the Center for Human Dignity:

“I was in prison for 12 years here in Mexico accused of a crime that I didn’t commit. There were a lot of organizations that helped me: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture and in Mexico, the Center of Human Rights Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, until they finally declared me a prisoner of conscience and I won my freedom. That motivated me to help other people. God motivates me to do this. I found God at university; I studied at the UNAM [National Autonomous University].

“I was first held in the most dangerous prison in Chiapas because I insisted I was innocent … that’s a crime in itself … They took me to federal maximum security prisons. I was in Puente Grande [Jalisco] and in Matamoros [Tamaulipas] for five years. In total I was [in prison] for 12 and a half years. In the maximum security prisons I was with the bosses, the leaders of narco trafficking.

“It was for political reasons … a crime that the authorities invented. The criminal records were full of white correction fluid, false signatures. There were graphoscopic investigations … Despite all that, I was sentenced to 78 years in prison until the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, with headquarters in Washington, took my case and told the Mexican state to free me or to go to the Inter-American Court in Costa Rica. A friendly agreement was reached in which public apologies were given … They paid me and I formed the Center of Human Dignity [with the money].

“The political motive [against me] was that I worked for the government and I didn’t lend myself to corruption … in the federal Attorney General’s Office [as a lawyer].

“We all know narco trafficking turned Mexico into a narco state and we didn’t want to lend ourselves to it, so they fabricated a crime. I was tortured, I lost my vision in my right eye … it motivated me to help other powerless people. Other people in the same condition as me.”

Irineo Mújica, of Pueblos Sin Fronteras, or Peoples Without Borders:

“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, I’ve heard all the stories; it began with my own family. They didn’t want to attend to my father because he was a migrant. I’ve been a migrant [to the United States from Michoacán]. I swore on my life that I would help migrants like my father, that’s why I don’t get tired of it.

“Injustices get stuck in my throat, I’m stuck going back over and over again to what they did to my family. God has a path and a destiny for everyone, and this one is mine. I don’t want to be a politician … the only thing I would have wanted is to help my father and through that I made the promise … if I couldn’t defend him at that time I think being able to defend the many injustices that these people carry, who are just like him [is my path]. The blessing is for him … I have been fulfilling the promise for 20 years.

“We’re going to Mexico City — I’m not going to the border — so that they give them their papers. I firmly believe that Mexico has a responsibility.

“I don’t lie to anyone. What are they [the government] saying? That I’m lying to whom? Who do you think is really lying to whom? I don’t care what [Foreign Minister] Ebrard says to be honest.

“He’s a politician. What has the government’s defense been, that we’re lying? Poverty doesn’t lie, necessity doesn’t lie, prison doesn’t lie, children in the street don’t lie, hunger doesn’t lie. You don’t have to lie because you feel it. You feel all of the damage that they’ve done to you.”

Mexico News Daily

After 91 days, security forces clear teachers’ rail blockades in Michoacán

By

MND Staff

-

November 1, 2021

0

A Kansas City Southern train in Michoacán. (Archive)

Teachers who blockaded train tracks in Michoacán for the last 91 days were removed by security forces on Sunday.

Members of the CNTE teachers union installed blockades on the tracks on July 31 in Caltzontzin, on the outskirts of Uruapan, claiming the state government had failed to pay wages owed to some 28,000 teachers. Five weeks ago, they expanded the blockade to the railway to Pátzcuaro, 54 kilometers from the state capital Morelia.

The teachers said there were no confrontations or violence during the evictions, the newspaper Reforma reported. National Guard troops and state police cleared the tracks at about 3:30 p.m., and the Michoacán industry association AIEMAC said on Sunday it expected railroad Kansas City Southern de México (KCSM) to start running trains the same day.

State Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla said 1.5 billion pesos (about US $71 million) was paid to teachers to settle four fortnightly payments, and unpaid bonuses. The disagreement predates Ramírez’s time in office, going back to his predecessor’s administration; the Democratic Revolutionary Party’s Silvano Aureoles.

The leader of the CNTE’s so-called “power base” group, Benjamín Hernández, confirmed that he received a warning about the operation after the state government settled payments.

“The pressure was very strong … finally today the governor told me that he could not stop the eviction … I asked them [the teachers] to withdraw and not come to confrontation. In Caltzontzin, the Michoacán police and the National Guard arrived. They began to remove everything. In Pátzcuaro, they also arrived and asked [the teachers] to retreat, and if not, they said they would act,” he said.

However, the battle might not be over quite yet. Hernández said that union members would meet on Wednesday to discuss further strike action. They say they are owed a salary increase and their bonuses for 2020, and that they want to secure jobs for trainee teachers that graduated in 2019, 2020 and this year.

The industry association AIEMAC said companies were losing a combined total of approximately 50 million pesos ($2.4 million) each day due to the obstruction of access to the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Reforma reported on September 2.

With reports from Reforma

Sinaloa police crack down on cartel-related Halloween costumes

By

MND Staff

-

November 1, 2021

0

A truck splattered with 'blood' was among the vehicles seized. seguridad publica sinaloa

There are limits to what you can wear for a Halloween costume in Sinaloa: don’t dress up as a sicario.

At least 28 people were arrested and eight vehicles were seized due to Halloween-related infractions committed in Culiacán, the capital, over the weekend.

State police took two people into custody for carrying fake weapons to complement their Halloween costumes, while at least some of the vehicles were seized and their drivers detained because they were painted to appear like they were covered with blood. One car splashed with red paint had a mock corpse on its roof.

Many other people were arrested because they were drinking alcohol in public places during Halloween celebrations, the Sinaloa Security Ministry (SSP) said. The army, National Guard and municipal police also participated in an operation against anti-social behavior in the Sinaloa capital.

The SSP published photos of two of the detainees on Twitter. One showed a man dressed in black toting a fake assault weapon and wearing a mask used by one of the fictional characters in the Friday the 13th film series.

“This Saturday in Culiacán this civilian was referred to the relevant authority for carrying this type of object,” the SSP said, adding that anyone else in possession of toy weapons will meet the same fate.

Another photo published on Sunday showed a young man in a Squid Game costume standing in front of a phony firearm.

The SSP said he had been detained in Culiacán for being an apologist for violence and using a toy gun. “Let’s avoid using these artifacts that can generate fear among the public,” it said.

Sinaloa Security Minister Cristóbal Castañeda said Saturday in a post on his own Twitter account that there would be no tolerance for the use of fake weapons during Halloween celebrations.

In another post that included two images of a white car painted with red streaks of “blood,” Castañeda stressed that “these kinds of situations that cause anxiety for the public will not be permitted.”

Citizens of Culiacán, a stronghold of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel, have also been terrorized by real violence. After one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons was arrested in 2019, the Sinaloa Cartel carried out a wave of attacks across the city that prompted federal authorities to release the suspected trafficker.

More recently, a group of armed men shot out more than 80 security cameras with automatic machine guns, causing panic in several parts of the city.

With reports from El Universal and Informador

Attorney general says no to revealing accusations filed against AMLO

By

MND Staff

-

November 1, 2021

0

lopez obrador — The president has been accused of a number of crimes but justice officials won't reveal details.

The federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has refused to disclose the number of complaints it has received against President López Obrador or whether it is investigating the president for any crime.

In response to a request for such information submitted by the newspaper El Universal, the FGR said it couldn’t divulge it because doing so would violate a privacy and confidentiality clause in the federal transparency law.

“Affirming or denying the existence or nonexistence of an inquiry, complaint [or] preliminary investigation against an identified or identifiable person, as is the case at hand, would infringe on the privacy, honor, good name and presumption of innocence of the person,” it said.

The FGR’s refusal to reveal the information breaches an order from the national transparency watchdog (INAI) for it to disclose any complaints made against the president and his predecessors. INAI said in January that the dissemination of such information would aid accountability and help to guarantee citizens’ right to access information.

The Supreme Court has also opined that the right to the protection of one’s honor and good name should not apply as stringently in the case of public officials.

Although the FGR refused to say how many complaints have been filed against López Obrador, it is known that several individuals and organizations have gone to the Attorney General’s Office to make formal accusations against him.

The National Anti-AMLO Front filed a wide-ranging complaint in May, accusing him of electoral crimes, treason, embezzlement and crimes against humanity. The complaint also accused López Obrador of acting illegally for ordering the release of one of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s sons after his arrest triggered a wave of cartel attacks in Culiacán in October 2019.

Also in May, Democratic Revolution Party national president Jesús Zambrano formally accused the president of interfering in the electoral process leading up to the June 6 elections.

National Action Party senators filed a criminal complaint against López Obrador late last year for illicit use of public service after several communities in Tabasco were inundated as a result of a decision to divert floodwaters away from the state capital Villahermosa.

And parents of children with cancer have accused the president and health officials of homicide due to the lack of chemotherapy drugs.

There is nothing to stop the FGR from investigating the accusations as the president’s immunity from prosecution, known as the fuero, was abolished in February.

The FGR is ostensibly independent of the federal government but according to El Universal it has appeared to act on the instructions of the president, or to divert attention from unwanted focus on López Obrador, on at least four occasions.

One case was that of former economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo, who was ordered to stand trial on charges of illicit enrichment after the FGR presented a case against him because he “probably” acquired “an unjustified increase to his wealth” between 2014 and 2018 and couldn’t prove its legal origin.

The FGR’s announcement on July 9 that a judge had ordered Guajardo to stand trial came just hours after a video surfaced showing one of López Obrador’s brothers receiving a large amount of cash from a man who served in the current federal government.

With reports from El Universal

White collar crime, vaccines done on time: the week at AMLO’s press conferences

By

MND Staff

-

November 1, 2021

0

There was a large crowd of officials out for Friday's conference in Campeche.

For Andrés Manuel López Obrador, there is more to his beloved sport béisbol than a bat and a ball. The avid fan, and player, is more concentrated on the ethics of the sport than the score. That, in this writer’s view, is to his advantage: the alternative win-at-all-costs mentality, evangelized by Mexico’s northern neighbor, rather misses the point.

The government has invested heavily to renovate dilapidated stadiums. AMLO has quoted baseball’s favorite son Babe Ruth at his weekly press conferences, and expressed his support for L.A. Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías. Player turned politician Fernando “The Octopus” Remes also gained AMLO’s backing, whom he said “… knows very well that you have to steal the bases, but not the budget.”

Last week the president was injured in a veterans’ game, but that surely won’t deter him for long.

Monday

Once formalities were dealt with, i.e. the standing fuel prices and video presentations of infrastructure projects, journalists were given the floor.

On the budget, AMLO offered unlikely praise to Porfirio Díaz, who like many dictators laid train tracks. “My generation traveled by train … Porfirio Díaz linked up almost all the country. The revolution was done by horse and by train,” he said.

The president, who has riled against neoliberal politics on no few occasions, had the International Monetary Fund in his sights. “I don’t believe in their policies. They caused the world’s socio-economic decline, they are responsible for the global [economic] crisis,” he said.

Politics was sidelined later in the conference, in favor of lyrical endeavor. When asked about his plans for the Day of the Dead celebration on November 1, the president offered a poem by Tabascan Carlos Pellicer: “‘Of all the flowers, ladies and gentlemen, it is the purple lily that amazes me the most. The Mexican people have two obsessions: the taste for death and the love of flowers.'” He confirmed he would be taking the holiday off to reflect.

The president said criticisms of his government were welcome, and called for a song: I Always Say What I Think, by Puerto Rican hip-hop group Calle 13.

Tuesday

They had been heading downward for three months, Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said, speaking about COVID-19 cases. On Friday, he added, the president would celebrate the vaccination — with at least one shot — of the entire adult population at an event in Campeche city. Mexico City would complete its two-shot vaccination program this week.

AMLO updates the conference progress of the Maya Train.

Health Minister Jorge Alcocer took to the podium to pay homage to doctors, past and present, for October 23rd’s Day of the Doctor.

What did AMLO make of the Supreme Court’s decision to get rid of pre-trial detention for some financial crimes? Justice, he said, was “still at the service of money, of the powerful … it’s going toward protecting corruption and supporting minorities … I don’t think the court acted well,” he said. “It’s about white collar criminals, [it supposes] posh people can’t go to prison,” he added.

The National Autonomous University (UNAM) was next in line: “They feel offended because I said it became more right wing … they didn’t say anything during the biggest looting in the history of Mexico … it gentrified … social science, political science, sociology, economics, philosophy, law …” the UNAM graduate said.

Young girls were being sold in Guerrero, a journalist posed. “Indigenous peoples have a great reserve of cultural values … There is a very classist and racist tendency to accuse the poor of all evils,” the president responded.

“There are terrible things that the media hides … about prostitution in elite circles,” he added.

Wednesday

The president confirmed he would fly to Mérida, Yucatán, in the evening, and Campeche the following day, to inspect the progress of the Maya Train from a helicopter.

Elizabeth García Vilchis lined up the media lies. The chief police investigator under former president Calderón, Iván Reyes Arzate, had admitted to trafficking in the United States, but few had covered it, García said. Reports on the 2022 budget were riddled with falsehoods, there would be no reduction in funding for NGOs, and writer-historian Enrique Krauze’s tweet about excess mortality in Mexico was intentionally misleading, she added.

The president turned back to his favorite historian later in the conference: “Do you think that I’m surprised that Krauze manipulates a graph, if he dared to tell colossal historical lies? He dared to say that Porfirio Díaz had not ordered the assassination of as many people as other presidents. He forgot the extermination of the Yaquis, 15,000 Yaquis murdered, he forgot the murdered Mayans.”

AMLO extended his thanks to politicians at all levels for passing new fiscal legislation. It means taxes will not rise and paperwork for small business owners will be simplified.

“Another piece of good news,” the Tabascan began. “A newspaper, which is like Reforma, which is called the Financial Times … recognizes that we are in second place, we have a silver medal, the government of Mexico,” he said, referring to the Global Leader Approval Rating Tracker, developed by the data intelligence company Morning Consult.

The source made it all the sweeter for the 67-year-old: “That’s one for the vanity file … our adversaries; those high up, the elites, consider a newspaper like this to be the Bible,” he said.

Deputy Health Minister López-Gatell reports on the COVID situation.

Thursday

Mérida, Yucatán, where the conference was held Thursday, is the state with the lowest levels of criminality in the country, AMLO confirmed.

Governor Mauricio Vila Dosal said that video surveillance, better conditions for police and preventative measures for crime had helped the state achieve it.

The electricity reform was the first topic from the floor. A study by the U.S. Department of Energy said the reform would put carbon emissions up 65% and would increase the cost of electricity by 54%, a journalist noted.

“With all respect, they don’t have the information about what’s being done in Mexico … it’s false, it’s false, it doesn’t sound logical, it sounds metallic,” AMLO replied, suggesting that money could be the motive.

In local matters, the president guaranteed that nature would be protected against mega pig farms in the state. It is not clear if it was a pig-by-pig strategy being promoted, given his declaration that called time on the conference: “We need some cochinita pibil [marinated pork] and some panuchos,” he said.

Friday

Campeche city was the venue on Friday, home to the Maya ruins at Calakmul. “All of the natural beauty, the art of pre-Hispanic culture, of the Maya world, all of that is Campeche,” the president said.

AMLO then reminded the audience that Pemex would soon move its home to Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche, and that the Maya Train was set to serve almost the whole state.

The governors of Quintana Roo and Baja California, Carlos Joaquín and Jaime Bonilla, alongside Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, all spoke to pat one another, and themselves, on the back for the vaccination program. Adults in the country had all been vaccinated with one shot, and with two shots in Mexico City, Sheinbaum confirmed.

Later in the conference, AMLO’s imagination ran back to Calakmul. “[It] is Athens, it is like Egypt. The culture in Calakmul dates back to 300 years before Christ, it dates back 2,300 years … notice how the Mayans in those times were taking care of their art, and they built the new sites, but they protected and covered the ancient ones,” he said.

On retirement, the Tabascan has declared he will rest and dedicate himself to writing from a ranch near the famous Maya ruins in Palenque, Chiapas.

Mexico News Daily

The Oaxaca pierogi restaurant run by an award-winning filmmaker

By

Leigh Thelmadatter

-

October 30, 2021

0

Slawomir and Barbara Grunberg came to Puerto Escondido to slow their lives down but ended up opening a Polish restaurant in their adopted home. Photos courtesy of Casa de Pierogi

So many of us come to live in Mexico to take life slower, but what do award-winning filmmaker Slawomir Grunberg and his author wife Barbara do in laid-back Puerto Escondido?

Open a pierogi restaurant, of course — while still maintaining their full-time careers.

Slawomir immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1981 and built a successful career as a documentary filmmaker with 49 films to his credit, as well as an Emmy and two Oscar nominations. Barbara, who also goes by Basia, is a published author whom Slawomir credits with making him famous.

Both are accustomed to very long days and a lot of travel.

About 12 years ago, one of those trips took Slawomir to Puerto Escondido on the Oaxaca coast to work on a project about Polish refugees who made their way to Mexico during World War II.

Polish dumplings from Casa de Pierogi, Puerto Escondido — A plate of Casa de Pierogi’s authentic dumplings with seasoned sour cream.

The couple began to visit the area more frequently and for longer periods of time until they decided in 2019 to make it their permanent home.

They thought the out-of-the-way beach town would help them take life a bit easier. Little did they know that COVID-19 would interfere with all that.

The move to Puerto Escondido was supposed to happen gradually throughout 2019 and 2020. However, when the pandemic struck in March 2020 and Poland announced that it would be banning flights out of the country, the couple took one of the last available to Mexico.

Basia’s daughter Kinga Przybysz followed them there soon after.

Puerto Escondido was not immune to COVID either, and restaurants were closed soon after their arrival. Needing something to do and a little money, Przybysz decided to start preparing food for delivery in the area, pierogies in particular.

Despite the fact that Eastern European food was not available here before, the savory dumplings caught on with the local international community, starting with the Grunbergs’ circle of friends.

Head Chef Jesús García López at Casa de Pierogi, Oaxaca — The Grunbergs’ daughter Kinga Przybysz taught head chef Jesús García López the art of making dumplings.

After only six months, there was already talk of opening a restaurant despite the fact that so many had gone out of business because of the pandemic. No one in the family had experience in running such a business, but that did not stop them.

Basia did all the legal work with the idea that her daughter would run day-to-day operations. The restaurant initially opened in late 2020 in what they call a “shack” with only five tables, but only months later, they moved to their current location in the Rinconada area of Puerto Escondido, where many international restaurants can be found.

Again, fate intervened. Przybysz became pregnant and decided to have her baby in Poland earlier this year. Basia and Slawomir had two choices: close the restaurant or run it themselves.

They choose the latter. Why, one might ask, when they already have so many demands on their time?

In essence, the couple had fallen in love with it.

“It is something more than a restaurant for us. This restaurant is proof that with hard work and determination, we can create a piece of art in a foreign country we love,” Basia says.

Case de Pierogi, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca — Casa de Pierogi has become a magnet not only for expats in Puerto Escondido but also Mexicans curious about Eastern European food.

In record time, Casa de Pierogi became a quintessential immigrant restaurant. They found out how many Polish people come to the area, either as visitors or residents, because just about all of them come by there — if not to eat, just to look in the windows to marvel that such a restaurant exists.

The clientele of Casa de Pierogi began with foreigners who already know Eastern European food but has expanded to include Mexican residents and tourists who find they have a taste for the dumplings and the wide variety of European pilsners and IPAs on the menu. The Grunbergs insist on making the food authentically and of high quality but do admit to putting Mexican condiments on the tables.

So, despite promising to slow down, Slawomir and Basia still find themselves working 16-hour days and traveling. Downtime at the restaurant means time to spend on the computer. Juggling the demands of two full-time careers means, as Basia says, “… always have a Plan B …” for when something does not go as planned.

It certainly would be easier to have their careers and restaurant in a place like Mexico City, but the Grunbergs have no desire whatsoever to live anywhere else. And it has everything to do with the people of Puerto Escondido.

“It’s not about the beaches or weather, which are great,” Basia says. “But what really attracted us from the beginning is that people here are so very, very open and very friendly. Everyone smiles and says ‘Good morning. Good afternoon.'”

The Grunbergs will be hosting a showing of Slawomir’s film Still Life in Lodz in collaboration with the Colegio Hebreo Sefaradí on December 9. Details are still in the planning stages. You can contact them for more details at Slawomir’s web page.

• If you have stories to share about your business, please contact me at [email protected].

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.

Mexico’s economic contraction clouds pandemic recovery

By

Christine Murray

-

October 30, 2021

0

President López Obrador's policy decisions among risks for GDP growth.

A sudden drop in Mexican gross domestic product in the third quarter has analysts and investors asking: how fragile is the country’s recovery?

The growth of many economies — including the U.S. — slowed in the three months to the end of September as a third wave of COVID-19 cases hit, but Mexico’s estimated 0.2% quarter on quarter contraction announced on Friday was its first since the middle of last year.

At constant prices, the country’s GDP is probably only at 2016 levels and analysts say it faces further risks from supply chain disruptions and policy decisions by the government of President López Obrador.

The peso began to weaken against the dollar on Tuesday, sliding 2% against the greenback to Friday afternoon in New York, from 20.1718 pesos to 20.5782 per dollar. It put the currency on course for its worst week since mid-August and marked it out as one of the worst-performing emerging market currencies, with only the South African rand sliding further against the dollar.

Gabriel Yorio, deputy finance minister, said at a news conference that the government maintained its growth estimates for 2021 and 2022 and that consumption, investment and employment were almost at pre-pandemic levels.

“This figure does not interrupt the path of growth,” he said.

Playing in Mexico’s favor are record remittances and strong manufacturing exports — excluding a sharp drop in the car sector. Analysts at BBVA said the economy could still reach 6% growth this year and that the negative number was partly driven by a recent labor reform that severely restricted subcontracting.

But the global shortage of semiconductor chips hammering Mexico’s car plants, as well as an uncertain investment climate and a U.S. slowdown would continue to drag into next year, analysts said.

Private sector leaders say a proposed energy reform would do irreversible economic damage and make electricity dirtier and more expensive for companies and consumers if passed.

“What do I see on the horizon? A lot of challenges for Mexico,” said Gabriela Siller, head of financial and economic research at Banco Base.

With inflation now above 6%, the Bank of México has raised interest rates 25 basis points at each of its past three meetings. Analysts expect it to raise rates again in November.

Analysts at JPMorgan said manufacturing headwinds and fragile investment amid poor policy guidance were downside risks.

Uncertainty over nationalist López Obrador’s policy plans meant Mexico’s economy was already shrinking before the pandemic — with a 0.1% decline in 2019 preceding an 8.5% drop in 2020. Siller estimates that GDP will not fully recover to its 2018 peak levels until 2023, while GDP per capita could take until 2027.

“The bigger picture is that the recovery will still struggle from here,” said Nikhil Sanghani, emerging markets economist at Capital Economics. “The recovery will fare worse than in most other major economies in Latin America.”

A tale of 2 oreganos: citrus highlights distinguish the Mexican variety from its Mediterranean cousin

By

Janet Blaser

-

October 30, 2021

0

Mexican oregano is in the same family as lemon verbena, while Italian oregano is from the mint family.

I’m Italian by heritage; my go-to comfort foods are a simple Margherita pizza or al dente pasta with classic marinara sauce. You could say oregano is an important part of my cooking.

But in the more than 10 years I’ve lived in Mexico, oregano hasn’t been delivering the same peppery, minty punch I’m used to. I thought it was all in my head. Come to find out I wasn’t imagining it at all: Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens) and Mediterranean or Italian oregano (Origanum vulgare) are completely different plants, with distinctively different flavor profiles.

Mexican oregano has citrusy undertones and an earthy flavor. If you open a bag of dried Mexican oregano and take a deep whiff with your eyes closed, you can smell the bright lemony highlights. Which makes sense: it’s in the same family as lemon verbena. (Who knew?) Its flavor is the perfect complement to bean dishes, traditional stews like pozole and a host of meat-based recipes. Those citrus notes also balance the heat of chiles in salsas and marinades.

Italian oregano, on the other hand, is from the mint family. Its flavor is sweeter and has a zesty bite that pairs perfectly with Italian and Mediterranean cuisine.

Of course, you can substitute one for the other, but there will be slight flavor differences, which some of us (ahem) will notice. Here in Mexico, the oregano you buy will be Mexican oregano unless labeled otherwise. I’ve put Italian oregano on my list to bring back from my next trip to the States.

Homemade Chorizo

1½ lbs. ground pork
2½ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. ancho chili powder
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1 tsp. dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground coriander seed
Pinch ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar or white vinegar
Optional: ¼ tsp. ground achiote (adds red color)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well until slightly tacky. Let rest for at least 4 hours or up to overnight. Cook as desired. Store in sealed container in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

Oaxacan Chicken with Garlic and Oregano

30 garlic cloves
1 cup fresh oregano leaves
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1½ tsp. salt
Black pepper to taste
One 3-lb. chicken, cut into 10 pieces
1½ cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 450 F. Using a food processor or molcajete, process or mash garlic, oregano, olive oil, lime juice, salt and pepper until coarse and well-mixed but not completely puréed. Rub mixture all over chicken; place skin side down on baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from oven; reduce temperature to 375 F. Pour chicken broth onto baking sheet, flip chicken pieces. Bake 45 minutes more or until chicken is cooked through.

Bright lemon, pepper and Mexican oregano beautifully complement the flavor of fresh shrimp.

Sheet-pan Shrimp with Tomatoes, Feta and Oregano

1 clove garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Black pepper
1½ lbs. peeled shrimp
For serving: chopped tomatoes, crumbled feta

Preheat broiler. Position rack close to the heat. Mash garlic with salt until it forms a paste. Add oregano, lemon juice, olive oil and lots of pepper. Rub paste all over shrimp. Spread shrimp out on cookie sheet; broil 2–3 minutes per side. Top with chopped tomatoes and crumbled feta and serve. — www.nyt.com

Chicken Pozole Verde

2 lbs. boneless chicken thighs, skin removed
1 lb. tomatillos, husked and washed
1 large onion, chopped
3 jalapeño peppers, seeded, minced
6 cups chicken broth
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 large handful fresh cilantro
1 (28-ounce) can white hominy, drained and rinsed
For serving: limes, radishes, jalapeños, cilantro, oregano

In a large pot, place chicken, tomatillos, onion, jalapeños, broth, oregano and salt. Cook on high heat; bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer; cover partially. Cook 40 minutes until chicken is fall-apart tender. Remove chicken and shred with a fork. Set aside.

Using a slotted spoon, place cooked tomatillos, onions and jalapeños in blender or food processor. Add cilantro, about a cup of cooking liquid and purée until smooth. In a large pot, place shredded chicken, puréed veggies and hominy. Cook, stirring, over medium-high heat for 15 minutes. Adjust salt as necessary. Serve with fresh lime juice, radishes, jalapenos, cilantro and oregano.

To make in the slow cooker: Place all ingredients except cilantro and hominy in crockpot. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. Remove chicken and shred with a fork. Using a slotted spoon, remove cooked veggies from broth, transfer to blender or food processor. Add cilantro. Process until smooth. Add chicken, blended veggies and hominy to slow cooker. Stir, cover and cook 30 more minutes.

Mexican Garlic Soup with Oregano and Lime

4 Tbsp. olive oil
15 cloves garlic, crushed
8 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1½ tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp. fresh oregano, finely chopped
Juice from 1–2 limes
For serving: ½ baguette, cut into cubes or rounds, lime wedges

Preheat oven to 325 F. In large pot, heat oil over low heat. Add garlic. Cook until garlic is soft but not colored. Remove from heat. In a bowl, toss bread with half the garlic-infused oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put cubes on a baking sheet in the oven for 10 minutes until lightly toasted and crisp.

Pour stock into pot with remaining oil and garlic. Simmer on medium heat. Add 1 tsp. salt and chopped oregano. Gradually add eggs, stirring constantly. Simmer and stir until eggs set, roughly 3–5 minutes. Remove from heat; add juice of 1–2 limes. Serve topped with garlic toasted bread cubes and lime wedges.

Grilled Tomatoes with Oregano

4 large ripe red tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, each cut into 4 slivers
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano OR 1 Tbsp. dried
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat broiler to high. Core tomatoes; slice in half. Place tomatoes, cut-side up, in a baking dish. Insert 2 slivers of garlic in each half; sprinkle with chopped oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper. Broil about 5 minutes and serve.

Janet Blaser is the author of the best-selling book, Why We Left: An Anthology of American Women Expats, featured on CNBC and MarketWatch. She has lived in Mexico since 2006. You can find her on Instagram at @thejanetblaser.

Clocks change: daylight saving time ends Sunday morning

By

Rose Egelhoff

-

October 30, 2021

0

Metropolitan Cathedral Monterrey Nuevo Leon — The Metropolitan Cathedral in Monterrey, Nuevo León, and most other places across Mexico will be setting their clocks back one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday. deposit photos

Though summer heat persists in some areas of the country, fall has arrived and with it, the end of daylight saving time. On Sunday at 2 a.m. clocks will be set back one hour.

A few states are the exception to the rule. Sonora and Quintana Roo do not observe daylight saving time for economic reasons. And in 33 border municipalities in Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas clocks will change on November 7, in line with the United States.

Daylight saving time in most of Mexico ends every year on the last Sunday of October. It will begin again in six months, on April 3, 2022.

President López Obrador has mused about ending the use of daylight saving time, but Energy Minister Rocío Nahle said last Sunday that only Congress has the power to make that decision. So this year and likely next year, clocks will continue to change with the seasons.

Mexico News Daily

Migrants carry on after rejecting proposals by immigration officials

By

MND Staff

-

October 30, 2021

0

A lone migrant heads north on a highway in Chiapas.

The leaders of the migrant caravan that left Tapachula, Chiapas, on October 23 have rejected a proposal by immigration officials to provide some of the migrants with visitor cards.

They were also offered transportation to other locations to regularize their immigration status.

National Immigration Institute (INM) personnel met with caravan representatives on Friday in Acacoyagua, the town where the roughly 2,500-strong caravan arrived after walking 3.6 kilometers from Escuintla, where they spent Thursday night.

Two large buses, pickup trucks and National Guard officers were on hand in Acacoyagua, presumably to transport the migrants, journalist Chasper Senn said.

The INM said in a statement that it had offered visitor status to women and children and transportation of the migrants to various states to process applications to regularize their immigration status. Food and shelter had also been offered, it said.

But it remains unclear if all the migrants would be eligible for resettlement in other states. Caravan organizer Luis García Villagrán said those who accepted the INM’s proposal would have been transferred to Querétaro, Guerrero, Puebla, Oaxaca, Hidalgo or Morelos.

He and fellow organizer Irineo Mújica said the migrants expected to be regularized where they are, rather than being transferred to another state, the news site Infobae reported.

When the migrants assembled, a majority voted with a show of hands and triumphant cries that the caravan should continue.

The INM said in a press release that it was impossible to update the migratory status of those in the caravan in Chiapas. “Operationally it isn’t possible due to the technological resources in the offices.”

“It is necessary to question the responsibility involved in leading migrants on a march in adverse temperature conditions, with a lack of safe spaces to spend the night and physical exhaustion, especially in the presence of pregnant women, … boys and girls,” it added.

The migrants’ trust in authority is low. Many were sent to prison-like detention centers run by the INM when they entered Mexico, some for months. Their migratory applications to the refugee agency COMAR and the INM have largely gone unresolved. When they left Tapachula they were met by National Guard officers in riot gear who tried but failed to block their path.

Moreover, many have left their countries due to their mistrust in corrupt governmental institutions, and had to pay multiple bribes to immigration authorities in the countries they passed through on the way to Mexico.

Some said they were unable to take the INM at its word. “Immigration wants to take us to Tapachula or send us to the country of origin,” said Honduran Lorena Rodríguez, who is traveling with her husband and their baby.

“We’ve sacrificed so much” to get this far, she said.

Others expressed concern that even if they were transferred to another state, the quality of attention from the INM might not improve.

On Friday evening, the convoy walked another 13 kilometers to Ulapa, where they set up camp.

There are fears among the caravan that the INM and National Guard are waiting in large numbers to confront them on the way to Mapastepec, 15 kilometers north.

UPDATE: This story has been updated with a clarification of the proposals offered by the INM.

Mexico News Daily