Mexico’s automobile industry has a new achievement to celebrate after Ford México revealed its first car made exclusively by women.
The Mustang Match-E, a battery electriccompact crossover SUV, has been built exclusively by women since 2020 at a Ford plant in México state.
During a visit to the plant in Cuautitlán, accompanied by Ford México CEO Luz Elena Castillo, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said the factory was Ford’s most productive worldwide before boasting the all-female feat. “Another very interesting thing is the manufacture of this vehicle. It’s the first one manufactured exclusively by women. For the first time in the world all the manufacture of the vehicle is done by women,” he said.
Ebrard added that there are also women working at managerial levels at the factory and praised the company for its forward thinking ethos. “The gender perspective of Ford is very good. We are very happy that Mexico is exporting and producing these vehicles that are not the future, they are already the present,” he said.
Photos on the foreign minister’s social media show one of the Mustang Match-E vehicles, decorated with an image of a woman wearing a bright flower in her free flowing purple hair. The car’s design also bears the logo of Warriors in Pink, the company’s initiative to fight breast cancer.
Ebrard also looked ahead to September 12 for the High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) talks with a U.S. delegation. He said the government would unveil its strategy to convert half of the cars produced in the country to electric. “By September 12 we will know what the route is, what the next steps are and who has to do what. [That goes for] all the companies in the automotive sector, the entire energy sector of Mexico including the Federal Electricity Commission, and … the government,” he said.
Mexico and the United States will together invest almost US $500 million in a range of sewage treatment projects designed to clean up the heavily polluted Tijuana River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean just north of the border in San Diego County.
At a ceremony held earlier this month at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve in Imperial Beach, California, Mexican and U.S. officials signed an agreement that commits to funding 17 priority projects. The International Boundary and Water Commission pact pledges almost $144 million in Mexican funding and at least $330 million in U.S. spending for a total outlay of approximately $474 million.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SE) said the San Antonio de los Buenos wastewater treatment plant in Tijuana will undergo a complete renovation while the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant just north of the border in San Ysidro will be expanded in order to double its current capacity. SE also said that pumping stations and other water and sewage infrastructure on the Mexican side will be upgraded.
“With this important agreement, the governments of Mexico and the United States commit to working together on the planning, design, [re]construction and rehabilitation of existing wastewater infrastructure in the region of Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego, California, including the Pacific Ocean,” the ministry said.
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“The new infrastructure will provide for the conveyance, treatment, disposal and when applicable reuse of wastewater to reduce contamination in the Tijuana River basin.”
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the planned projects will increase sewage treatment capacity by 43 million gallons – or 162.7 million liters – per day. The overhaul of the Tijuana wastewater treatment plant is slated to be finished by 2027, and will reduce the quantity of untreated sewage discharged to the Pacific Ocean by 80%, the EPA said.
Scott Peters, a U.S. congressman who represents San Diego, expressed optimism that the overhaul of the Tijuana plant will be finished sooner than 2027.
The pollution of the Tijuana River and the Pacific Ocean off the coast of both northern Baja California and southern California has been a problem for decades, but has worsened in recent years as pressure on the sewage system continued to grow. Binational environment group Wildcoast said in 2018 that the Tijuana wastewater treatment plant was dumping 1,750 liters of untreated sewage into the Pacific Ocean per second.
Imperial Beach in San Diego, where the Tijuana River meets the Pacific Ocean, has been repeatedly closed in past years for unsafe levels of sewage in the water.
Raw sewage, chemicals and trash discarded in the Tijuana River in Mexico usually end up at Imperial Beach, where the waterway flows into the Pacific Ocean. Scores of U.S. border patrol agents reportedly became ill in 2017 after being exposed to contaminants while working in the vicinity of the border. Pollution of the coastline in southern California has forced the closure of beaches on numerous occasions.
Peters described sewage infrastructure in Tijuana as “really decrepit,” asserting that it lacked maintenance.
“The treatment plant is falling apart, so sewage is falling into the water — not through a pipe with partial treatment, but without any treatment,” he said. “They have a double problem — growing population and failing infrastructure,” the lawmaker added.
Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar said last week that the new funding agreement showed that governments on both sides of the border are committed to solving the longstanding pollution problem. “We’re taking a historic step that will transform the life and environment of our region,” she said.
Sandra Ávila Beltran, who is often referred to by the nickname Queen of the Pacific, says the series' lead character is based on her.
La Reina del Pacífico (The Queen of the Pacific) believes the protagonist of the television drama La Reina del Sur (The Queen of the South) is based on her, and she’s not happy about it.
Sandra Ávila Beltrán, a 61-year-old Mexicali native, is aiming to get a hefty payout from streaming service Netflix and television network Telemundo. She says that the lead character in the Spanish-language TV show — the fictional drug lord Teresa Mendoza — is an unauthorized portrayal of her.
Ávila, who is often referred to by the nickname La Reina del Pacífico, has been accused but never convicted of drug trafficking. However, she spent seven years in jail on money laundering and firearm charges
Legal documents obtained by the Milenio newspaper show that Ávila filed an administrative complaint against Netflix and Telemundo with the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) in January. Ávila argues that her image was used without her consent. According to her lawyers, the filing is the first step toward a legal case against the two U.S. behemoths.
Actress Kate del Castillo portrays the fictional Mexican drug lord Teresa Mendoza, a character that Sandra Ávila says is based on her. Twitter
La Reina del Sur premiered in 2011, ran for a second season in 2019 and will hit screens for a third season later this year. Those two companies named in the complaint co-produced seasons 2 and 3 of the drama, in which actor Kate del Castillo stars as Mendoza, a Mexican woman who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in the south of Spain.
The series is not to be confused with an English-language remake of the series, entitled Queen of the South, which starred Alice Braga as Teresa Mendoza and ran on the USA network between 2016 and 2021.
Ávila, Milenio reported, believes that the similarities between her and the fictitious Mendoza are no coincidence.
“The resemblance between Teresa and Sandra is certainly there to interpret,” the newspaper said, noting that both are brunettes, attractive, norteñas (from northern Mexico), in their 50s and involved in the drug trafficking world. In addition, La Reina del Sur has been promoted as a series based on actual events.
In her IMPI complaint, Ávila claimed that Netflix and Telemundo “acted maliciously with the intention of discrediting me and obtaining an economic benefit based on that.”
She specifically cited a 2019 Telemundo news broadcast during which the network did a cross-promotion for the second season of La Reina del Sur that included footage of both Ávila and del Castillo as Mendoza, insinuating a link between them. A Telemundo reporter went further, saying that Ávila — a niece of Guadalajara Cartel founder Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and allegedly a go-between for the Sinaloa Cartel and Colombian cocaine traffickers — was the “muse” for the series.
If her complaint is successful, Ávila will seek in court an amount equal to 40% of the profits generated by the Spanish-language series, which could mean a multimillion-dollar payout given the drama’s estimated revenue.
Ávila’s lawyers said they decided on the 40% figure because the Supreme Court ruled last year that alcoholic beverage company Diageo México must pay actor Gael García Bernal 40% of the revenue it obtained from sales of Johnnie Walker whisky during the period that its Caminando con Gigantes (Walking with Giants) campaign ran in September and October 2011.
Ávila is a niece of Guadalajara Cartel founder Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, who had his own nickname: The Boss of Bosses. He’s seen here in an interview with Telemundo in 2021.
The company used García’s image without authorization in that campaign.
Ávila’s complaint asserted that “the use of [her] image” was not for an “informative or journalistic purpose” but for a “commercial” one. She and her lawyers say that Netflix and Telemundo have violated Mexican copyright laws as well as the Mexican constitution and international agreements.
“Nobody has the right to disseminate the image of a person, her anecdotes, life and essence without authorization,” Israel Razo, a lawyer for Ávila, said in a message sent to Milenio.
In an interview with Milenio Televisión, the lawyer asserted that his client has been defamed by the screening of La Reina del Sur because she has never been convicted of drug trafficking charges.
“It has a direct impact on her image … living with a drug trafficker moniker is very difficult,” Razo said.
Razo pointed out that Ávila has been acquitted of all drug trafficking charges against her. “Imagine going out to the street and having … [people] see you as a drug trafficker and separately having foreign companies exploiting that,” he said. “… What we want is to set a precedent [that] you can’t use people’s image carelessly,” Razo said.
The case could have broader ramifications given that numerous other accused and convicted narcos have been portrayed on screen, in many cases without any attempt to obscure their identity.
Students should be able to choose what kind of uniform they use based on how they self-identify, Durán says.
A Veracruz lawmaker who identifies as non-binary wants schools in the state to adopt a gender-neutral uniform policy.
Veracruz state Deputy Gonzalo Durán Chincoya said a gender-neutral uniform should be promoted in schools and that students should be able to dress in line with the free development of their personalities.
“Let’s get rid of this prejudice, this prototype, this binarism of man and woman. We are just simply people and as people todas, todos and todes have the right,” Durán said, using the feminine, masculine and non-gendered terms for “everyone.”
“It’s part of the free development of the personality. Schools should work on these issues to keep up with the times and respect identities, [personal] expressions and above all to contribute to the free development of the personality,” the lawmaker added.
Veracruz state Deputy Gonzalo Durán Chincoya.
Durán said the issue shouldn’t generate conflicts as they are rights stipulated in human rights law, calling on students to “Go as you self-identify.”
Durán cited the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (Conapred), which has recommended that schools allow students to choose the uniform and hairstyle that is most comfortable for them, whether that be pants or skirt, long hair or short hair. This month, a new Conapred recommendation also advised that students should be allowed to dye their hair, if they choose.
The Tapachula detention center where migrants are held without recourse to human rights protection.
Mexico News Daily writer Ben Wein reflects on his incarceration last October in a detention center in Chiapas where more than 100 “rescued” migrants are held, some for months on end, under extrajudicial detention.
There was no explaining my way out of it. Once the immigration authorities in Chiapas had demanded my passport, and I was unable to present it, my fate was sealed.
Ciudad Hidalgo, the small town on the Guatemala border, is where most undocumented migrants enter Mexico with their eyes on the United States. Immigration officials dot the road between the border and the nearby city of Tapachula, where I’d safely and regrettably stowed my passport in a hotel room.
Resistance seemed futile, and dangerous. Beside some inattentive immigration agents was a soldier with a very large gun. He looked perfectly well concentrated.
I protested but was promised I’d be taken to an immigration center simply to verify my details in a database. I readily accepted that premise, but truthfully I had another motive: as a journalist recently arrived to cover the migration crisis, I was intrigued to see where it would all lead.
Clarity came swiftly. I was loaded onto a bus by National Guardsmen with some 40 Haitian migrants and a few Central Americans. It was night when we arrived at the Siglo XXI detention center on the outskirts of Tapachula.
Once inside, it was belts and shoelaces off, and there was no way back. The bureaucrat registering my details had no interest in my tale of woe, nor did the half-dozen armed police in our vicinity. On paper, there was nothing to complain about: the bureaucrat helpfully reminded me that, according to the records, I’d been “rescued.”
It was a blessing in disguise. Tapachula is the heart of the American migration crisis, and the sinister Siglo XXI is its Sistine Chapel. In a place where no journalists are invited, there were some lessons that could only be learned from the inside.
1) Migrants are detained and held in Mexico at the threat of force. The government terms their detention as “rescue,” which is not only a misnomer but a lie. I spoke to many hundreds of migrants in Chiapas, and not one wanted the assistance of Mexican immigration authorities. They feared them. Everyone inside Siglo XXI was desperate to leave but not allowed to. They’d been locked up in large halls with more than 100 persons, guarded by armed police officers in watchtowers.
These prisoners weren’t only endangered by state officials but by other migrants, some of whom were members of Central American gangs. Many people inside were physically ill, and many others were suffering mentally. Hygiene was poor, sleep was scarce and the diet was short on vitamins. Mexico may be a risky place, but migrants sent to detention centers are guaranteed danger.
2) A murderer who has been arrested and imprisoned is in many ways better off than a detained migrant. Given that migrants have officially been rescued rather than arrested, they are not granted the rights awarded to criminal suspects. They have no access to legal representation, and there’s no promise of a phone call. Doubtless, the conditions in Mexican penitentiaries are squalid, but the same can be said for Siglo XXI.
Under extrajudicial detention, all possessions are confiscated, including cellphones and money. Migrants receive a mattress not unlike a gymnasium mat and some blankets and are told to find a place to sleep on a crammed floor. They wear the clothes they arrived in for the duration of their stay. Toilets don’t flush, and the stalls don’t have doors.
Ben Wein aboard the bus with migrants after his arrest in Chiapas.
A courtyard area is open during the day, based on the discretion of immigration officials. On my third day, we were forced outside while builders did some heavy construction work inside. I frequently asked immigration officials what the legal capacity of our confines was, but was ignored. Such information was unavailable and no one thought it their duty to answer questions.
Effectively, our rights depended on the whims of disinterested immigration agents. I once asked an immigration official if I could leave Siglo XXI, given that I hadn’t been arrested. “I don’t recommend it,” he replied, gesturing at an armed policeman.
No migrant should have been detained for more than 15 working days, but many had been inside for months. Venezuelans, Cubans and Indians seemed to be confined the longest.
3) The police officers in Siglo XXI wore the uniforms of a police unit that no longer exists. The Policía Federal (Federal Police) was absorbed into the National Guard in 2019, the new security force established by President López Obrador. Why officers from a defunct unit were working in a migrant detention center is a matter for speculation. Some officers worked with Central American gangsters, known as Maras — four boys from Honduras. The Maras tried to break up protests organized by prisoners and they were feared because they were known to work with the police. Many migrants said the police supplied the Maras with cigarettes and marijuana to sell inside.
4) Obedience was a bad strategy in Siglo XXI, but it was adopted by most of the people inside. Immigration authorities seemed too overwhelmed and disinterested to keep close track of who was under their protection, so if a migrant didn’t protest their case, they faced being forgotten.
One Venezuelan journalist, Joel Rondón, repeatedly held demonstrations and managed to attain regular meetings with the center’s ghost like director. Rondón managed to speed up the release of many of his friends. Low on patience after more than a month inside, he feigned an escape one day and was tackled to the ground by police officers who put him in confinement. The next day, he was released. It is unclear why he was released, but making trouble seemed to speed up the process. He is now awaiting an asylum hearing in New York.
My passport was eventually delivered to the detention center by the owner of the hotel I’d been staying at in Tapachula. I was told by officials that my entry stamp was insufficient evidence and that the document had to be “verified” in Mexico City. I spent long periods banging on the locked metal door directly opposite two police officers. I provoked the officers by shouting for an immigration official over and over until they lost their patience and searched for one. It was risky but effective, and getting lost in the system seemed such an awful prospect that it was worth pushing my luck.
Disobedience has also proved effective for migrants outside of detention centers: most of those who have joined migrant caravans, in defiance of Mexican law, have eventually been awarded year-long visas, providing them the right to travel to the U.S. border.
5) The majority of migrants inside Siglo XXI didn’t fit media caricatures. The news media tends to display them as impoverished or dangerous. Firstly, the population was incredibly diverse: while there were many Central Americans and Haitians, I also saw Indians, Ghanaians, Uzbeks, Senegalese people, Cubans, Venezuelans, a Peruvian and even a couple of confused Irish backpackers.
Poverty is only part of the story. Migrants from the Caribbean or from outside the Americas paid for an expensive flight, normally to reach South America. Many of the migrants in Siglo XXI were young, decently educated and pulled by the promise of opportunity.
However, Central Americans, who were a minority in Siglo XXI, did largely fit the profiles discussed on both ends of the political spectrum. Many were fleeing serious hardship and danger, their age range was huge and some were criminals. Most were chancers looking to improve their lives. For them the United States was a couple of bus rides away, and many had worked there before. Given their vicinity and relatively short detention period in Mexico, it seemed logical to take the risk to improve their earnings by some twentyfold.
6) If you’re detained, your embassy may not be of much use. After battling my way to a phone call, there was no answer at the British Embassy in Mexico City. Luckily, I’d been writing to my friend Paulina Martínez Núñez before I was detained. She thought to contact the embassy separately and Vice Consul Andrew Castle was put on the case, apparently from Costa Rica. But the embassy’s assistance was miserly: “Despite numerous calls and emails to the detention center, we received no response,” Castle later wrote to me in an email.
Instead, I owed my release to Martínez. She ingeniously got the head of the National Immigration Institute (INM) in Chiapas on the phone. I was released soon after that call, which had been beyond the capabilities of embassy staff but was possible for a Mexican with the cultural know-how.
7) It wasn’t all bad. Being inside a detention center had its fun side. Sometimes it felt like being back in school, goofing around and playing tricks on the police and immigration officials. There wasn’t much anger at those officials: the migrants and staff were players in a cat-and-mouse game arranged by people in high positions, far from view. The officials were doing their jobs — poorly — and earning their salaries. With a dearth of activities on offer, chitchat was the best entertainment available.
I spoke to migrants from five continents, and everyone had a tale to tell. There was strong rapport between migrants, and unlikely cultural exchanges: Venezuelans bonded with citizens of Burkina Faso. Even the Maras were decent conversationalists.
For people who are down on their luck, the migrants were incredibly trustworthy. Once I had my passport but still couldn’t leave, the document became an object of fascination for the migrants. For them, a passport is everything, and a British passport had the glamour of a Ferrari. Short on entertainment, everyone wanted a look. Naturally, I felt protective of the small but invaluable document. However, the requests kept coming, and I started handing it out.
To their credit, the passport repeatedly disappeared from my view to some other part of the detention center but would invariably return after about 10 minutes, in perfect condition.
Dead fish blanket cover part of the surface of the México lagoon in Mexicali on Friday.
Thousands of fish turned up dead in a lake in a Baja California border city last week and authorities said it could be due to a natural phenomenon provoked by scorching temperatures.
Biblical in appearance, a white sheet of fish carcasses covered the surface of the México lagoon in Mexicali, as seen in a video posted to social media on Friday.
In the video, a blanket of motionless fish are seen across the lake, stretching for hundreds of meters. The fish species have been confirmed as Mayan sardine, gizzard shad, black bass, European common carp and African tilapia.
Temperatures of 45 C (113 F) are thought to have lowered water levels, provoking a reduction in the lake’s oxygenation, leaving the fish vulnerable, the news site Excelsior reported. However, the head of a process control laboratory for the State Comission of Public Services in Mexicali (CESPM), Abraham Castro, said that rain was the causative factor, which he said had disturbed sediments at the bottom of the lake.
Mexicali Mayor Norma Bustamante denied that the deaths had been caused by waste dumping in the lake.
Mexicali’s head of wastewater for the CESPM, Benjamin Carrillo, said the phenomenon occurs twice a year, in August and again in March or April and that it can be sparked by cloudy conditions, causing the lake’s oxygen levels to dive.
National Water Commission (Conagua) personnel collected the bodies of the fish for further analysis.
Vehicle fires and caltrops created traffic blockades on Federal Highway 45. Twitter
At least two major universities, along with an unknown number of schools for younger people, canceled in-person classes in Zacatecas on Monday due to an outbreak of violence around the state.
Army troops from nearby Jalisco have joined the National Guard in patrolling areas that have been affected by roadblocks, shootings and vehicle fires allegedly perpetrated by cartel members in the region. The municipalities most affected have been Fresnillo, Zacatecas city, Jerez and Valparaíso — all within about 100 kilometers of one another.
Among the institutions that called off classes were the Autonomous University of Zacatecas, the National Polytechnic Institute and the Academic Mineral Institute. Primary, junior high and high schools in Valparaíso and Fresnillo also told their students to stay home.
Fresnillo has been plagued since Friday by shootings, roadblocks and at least one house fire. As of Monday, at least one man was reported murdered.
A semi-trailer was set ablaze as part of a blockade in Zacatecas city.
“In order to safeguard the security and integrity of the university community, particularly students … face-to-face academic activities will be suspended this Monday, August 29,” explained UNAM Zacatecas officials, adding that classes would take place virtually. At most of the schools, Monday was to be the first day of classes.
Additionally, 350 medical interns were told to not show up for work Monday by order of the IMSS, the Zacatecas Health Secretariat and UNAM Zacatecas, according to a tweet from journalist Paco Elizondo.
Saúl Monreal, the mayor of Fresnillo and the brother of Zacatecas Governor David Monreal Ávila, urged state and federal authorities to take action against the dispute-fueled violence that is turning the population into “hostages.” Fresnillo was reportedly the municipality most affected by the violence.
On Saturday, there were reports of at least eight blockades with burning vehicles. The violence continued over the weekend and into Monday. On Sunday evening, a spokesperson for the State Peacebuilding Board reported a trailer truck with its cabin on fire in the municipality of Zacatecas. There have also been reports of armed clashes, allegedly involving cartel members. The violence is suspected to be in response to the “alleged arrest of a priority objective,” according to Elizondo.
On Saturday afternoon, Zacatecas Minister of Public Security Gen. Adolfo Marín Marín posted a video to social networks stating that security had been reinforced throughout the region, some 90 arrests had been made and that “everything was under control,” as reported by Infobae.
The news website also reported that citizens were posting on social media networks about armed clashes, though that information was not confirmed. Infobae wrote that the clashes might have been “between members of the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS) and members of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG).”
As of Monday morning, Governor Monreal had not issued any statements about the violence.
Just under 24.5 million students begin the new school year in preschools, primary schools and middle schools across Mexico Monday. SEP
After 2 1/2 years of interruptions due to the COVID pandemic, more than 24 million students return to the classroom Monday to begin the 2022–23 academic year.
Just under 24.5 million students will begin the new school year in preschools, primary schools and middle schools across Mexico, according to the Ministry of Public Education (SEP). Over 5.2 million high school students returned to the classroom after summer vacation on August 15.
Basic education students — those from preschool to middle school — will take classes given by some 1.2 million teachers in almost 233,000 schools, according to SEP.
In a statement published Sunday, the Education Ministry urged students to return to in-person classes, stressing that “the necessary conditions” to do so are in place.
Leticia Ramírez becomes Mexico’s new education minister Thursday. She inherits a plan for implementing major curriculum changes from her predecessor, Delfina Gómez. Presidencia
It noted that health authorities are recommending a range of measures to ensure that in-person learning can resume safely amid the ongoing COVID pandemic. Among the recommendations are the use of face masks in enclosed spaces, the frequent washing of hands, and the carrying out of activities in the open air where possible.
Health authorities also advocated vaccination against COVID for both teachers and students. Teachers were among the first people in Mexico offered shots, but the federal government only extended its vaccination program to younger children this year.
Also notable is the fact that Mexico’s schools will have a new Education Minister this week: Delfina Gómez, who shepherded the new curriculum into being, is leaving the position Thursday to become a candidate for the governor of México state in 2023. Her successor, Leticia Ramírez Amaya, who has a degree in education and worked as a primary school teacher, most recently served as the director of citizen attention for the federal government.
The return to school comes as Mexicans face an inflation rate that reached 8.62% in the first half of August, the highest level in over two decades. Prices for school supplies such as pens, pencils and notebooks have increased even more, according to a vendor in the historic center of Mexico City.
“Products here have been affected by [a] 25–30% [price rise], but we try to give [customers] a good price so that they can buy everything they need,” Diego Tejada told CNN.
The ruling Morena party offered students and their families one way to save on school supplies: in a Twitter post on Sunday, it included six printable — and propagandistic — notebook labels with lines for students to write in their name, grade, subject and teacher. Each features an image of President López Obrador, Morena’s founder.
The still-impressive entrance to the eccentric Edward James sculpture gardens in Xilitla, San Luis Potosí.
Salvador Dali reputedly remarked to Sigmund Freud, “Edward James is crazier than all the surrealists put together. They pretend, but he is the real thing.”
Perhaps the best proof of James’s insanity is his sculpture gardens tucked away in a rainforest in San Luis Potosí. Officially called Las Pozas, the compound consists of acres of structures with various levels of utility, creativity, termination, and dilapidation, but it’s why people come to the Pueblo Mágico of Xilitla.
The gardens reflect a life looking for purpose.
James was born in 1907 with multiple silver spoons in his mouth, having American industrialists on his father’s side and royalty on his British mother’s. He never had to worry about earning a living or what he spent, but he did worry about being part of Europe’s artistic and intellectual circles.
James, right, with Surrealist artist Salvador Dali. James was Dali’s patron and a champion of surrealist art, but he was not an artist himself but a poet.
He began as a patron of ballet, wedding a ballerina. When that marriage ended in a scandalous divorce, James left England for the continent. Here, he became involved with surrealist artists such as René Magritte and Pablo Picasso: James commissioned from Dali — for whom he was a patron from 1936–1939 — wild objects such as a lobster-shaped telephone and a sofa based on the lips of Mae West.
World War II pushed him to the United States, but soon afterward, he went to the then-vibrant expat community in Cuernavaca, Morelos. There he met Plutarco Gastelum, who would be his right-hand man for the rest of his life.
Looking for a place for James’s prized orchid collection, the two came to Xilitla in 1947, finding the pristine Las Pozas, named after its natural pools fed by waterfalls.
James’s orchid sanctuary came to a sudden end when frost killed the entire collection of 29,000 in 1956. But he did not abandon Las Pozas, which he called an Eden. Instead, he turned to building his home and other structures there based on surrealist principles. James sketched out what he wanted built; Gasteum and local craftsmen would make it happen.
There are some places in the gardens where the structures do blend in harmoniously with nature.
Over the next decades, 36 buildings, sculptures and other structures would arise in the rainforest, most near the main waterfall. James gave them poetic names such as the House With a Roof Like a Whale and The House with Three Storeys that Could Be Five.
Artists and celebrities came to enjoy the developing complex’s bathing pools, exotic animals and more. British-Mexican surrealist artist Leonora Carrington painted a mural here, and Mexican artist Pedro Friedeberg designed the pair of hands found at the compound’s entrance. Many of the structures were painted in dreamlike colors, hard to imagine today as almost all of the paint is gone.
By the time he died in 1984 while traveling in Europe, he had spent an estimated US $5 million (roughly $18 million today) on the never-completed project.
Despite Gastelum’s family’s efforts, the compound would be abandoned until the 2000s, as James did not provide for its maintenance after his death. Only a few hardy souls would make the trek to see the ruins, which were quickly succumbing to the climate and vegetation growth.
As James’ estate began to take shape, celebrities and artists began to visit, including British surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, second from left.
In 2007, several businessmen and the state government took over the property, investing 600 million pesos to rehabilitate it and make it a protected area. The foundation in charge has done a phenomenal job of promoting it for tourism: thousands have since come to marvel at its structures. Visits are only through tours, which try to keep some control over the crowds constantly stopping to take selfies.
But the compound’s artistic value has been strongly debated.
There was no such thing as surrealist architecture before James came along; the movement was about focusing on what can only be in our minds. James’ devotion to surrealism earns him the moniker of “eccentric” in much literature, but locals in Xilitla bluntly called him a “crazy gringo.”
The structures themselves have invited photography and poetic descriptions, but James himself admitted that the project was “pure megalomania.” His desire was to be seen as something more than a fat checkbook for creatives, but I wonder if he thought he ever really succeeded.
Building the Xilitla compound cost James about US $18 million in today’s dollars, but it was never finished. Bernardo Bolaños/Creative Commons
The rainforest itself has assaulted whatever artistic value the structures have. Almost all of the structures are now so dilapidated that tourists are forbidden to enter everything except a small carpenter’s shop. The site was never meant to host large numbers of people, and it is likely that its popularity is making its deterioration happen faster.
Despite my overall reservations, I found a number of interesting photographs to take. Some are due to the curious shapes among the vegetation and waterfalls, others speak more to the idea of imposing human aesthetics on nature.
Efforts to get the site listed with the federal National Institute for Fine Arts (INBA) as an artistic monument have succeeded, but not to make it a World Heritage Site. Xilitla’s economy is now almost entirely dependent on the gardens. The town is filled with small hotels, and a museum dedicated to Leonora Carrington has opened.
Las Pozas is a conflictive curiosity. It is one man’s effort to see himself as an artist — or at least as something more than some crazy rich guy trying to beat boredom. Its decay and envelopment, despite all the work put into patching it up, just may be Mother Nature’s artistic statement about the futility of dominating her in the long run.
Repair efforts can be seen all over the compound, but it is likely a losing battle due to vegetation growth and the climate.
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.
When it's too hot to cook, a Tortilla Española in the fridge is a quick, easy alternative.
Canicula, Spanish for “the dog days of summer,” may be over, but that doesn’t mean the hot weather is.
Turn on the oven? No way. Stand at the stove with multiple burners blasting? Ugh! Yes, there’s takeout, but sooner or later, you’re going to have to feed yourself. Let’s look at some ways to do that easily, quickly and deliciously.
I’ve actually written quite a bit about the challenge of summertime cooking, most recently this gazpacho story. One of my favorite go-tos is pasta full of fresh veggies, and, of course, full-meal salads. I also find myself getting creative with leftovers, whether it’s using shredded chicken from Sunday night’s roast chicken, turning Basmati rice into an Asian stir-fry or marinating leftover veggies and making them into a salad.
Don’t even get me started on dessert! I definitely have a sweet tooth, and just because it’s hot outside doesn’t mean that goes away.
Ahhhh. mojito. So refreshing.
There’s no reason not to make yourself a mojito first thing; this classic Cuban cocktail is refreshing and easy to make — if you have fresh mint. Bartenders know not to muddle the mint too much or it will get bitter.
Another tip from the pros is to never use tonic water — the quinine will affect the taste. Seltzer or club soda is preferred.
I love eating Tortilla Española but have to admit I’ve never used a recipe; I just sort of wing it (and then wonder what went wrong). That stops now with the recipe below.
Among the several things I did wrong: the potatoes and onions should be slow-fried first; I didn’t beat the eggs enough or mix them with the potatoes/onions before putting them in the pan; and I only flipped the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle once — if even. All of these things are important parts of what makes an authentic Tortilla Española. Live and learn!
What we have here are recipes for a complete meal, with minimal cooking time and possibly leftovers as well. I’ve included an “adult beverage,” a classic dressing for a simple green salad, an easy hot entrée and a super-simple lime pudding that’s rather fabulous. Provecho!
Mojito
2 oz. white rum
1 oz. lime juice
½ oz. simple syrup or agave syrup
5 fresh mint leaves
Club soda
Mint leaf or sprig for garnish
Gently muddle lime juice, syrup and mint leaves. Shake all ingredients except club soda in a shaker tin with ice. Double strain (so no pieces of mint remain) into a Collins glass. Fill with ice and top with club soda
Classic Vinaigrette
2 Tbsp. finely minced shallot/white onion
½ – 1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. water
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Combine shallot/onion, garlic, mustard, vinegar and water in large bowl. Whisk to combine. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly, then add salt, pepper. Add your salad greens to the ingredients. Toss well.
Alternatively, shake all ingredients vigorously in a jar or shaker until emulsified. Add salt and pepper. Store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks.
A sweet treat to beat the summer heat: fresh lime pudding!
Tortilla Española
This uses lots of olive oil, but it adds unbeatable flavor.
8 large eggs
Salt to taste
2 cups good quality olive oil
1½ lbs. Yukon Gold or white potatoes, peeled, halved and thinly sliced crosswise
In large bowl, beat eggs vigorously with generous pinch of salt until frothy. Set aside.
In 10-inch nonstick or cast-iron skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add potatoes and onions; they should gently bubble in the oil. Regulate heat to maintain a gentle bubbling and cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes/onions are meltingly tender, about 25 minutes.
Using a fine-mesh metal strainer over a heatproof bowl, drain potatoes/onions of excess oil. Reserve oil; set skillet aside to use again.
Transfer potatoes and onions to a bowl, season with salt and stir well. Beat set-aside eggs vigorously to refroth, then scrape potatoes/onions into eggs and stir to mix. Set aside 5 minutes.
Wipe out skillet. Add 3 Tbsp. of reserved frying oil. Set over medium-high heat until shimmering. Scrape egg mixture into skillet and cook, swirling and shaking pan rapidly, until bottom and sides begin to set, about 3 minutes. Using a heatproof spatula, press the edges in to begin forming the tortilla’s puck shape.
Continue cooking, adjusting heat to prevent bottom of tortilla from burning, until edges begin to set, about 3 minutes longer.
Working over a sink or counter, place a large overturned flat plate or lid on top of skillet, set hand on top (use a dish towel if it’s too hot), and, in one quick motion, invert tortilla onto it.
Add 1 more Tbsp. reserved oil to skillet and return to heat. Carefully slide tortilla back into skillet and continue to cook until second side begins to firm up, about 2 minutes. Use a rubber spatula to again press the sides in all around to form a rounded shape.
Continue cooking until lightly browned on second side but still tender in the center when pressed with a finger, about 2 minutes longer. If desired, flip tortilla 2–3 more times during these last minutes of cooking, which helps cook the center more evenly and reinforce the shape.
Carefully slide tortilla out of skillet onto a clean plate. Let stand at least 5 minutes before serving with aioli. Cut into wedges or into cubes for an hors d’oeuvre.
Leftovers can be refrigerated up to 3 days; serve at room temperature.
Lime Pudding
7 eggs
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
¾ cup fresh lime juice (about 13-15 limes)
1 (250 ml) box media crema
¼ tsp. salt
½-1 tsp. lime zest
Optional: lime zest or wheels
In a heavy-bottomed 3 qt. pot, whisk all ingredients. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Pour into shallow glass bowl or individual custard cups; chill at least 3 hours. Garnish with lime zest/wheels if desired.
