Protesters outside the sewer and water utility Monday in Acapulco.
Polluted water can be seen spilling onto a beach in Acapulco, Guerrero, in a video taken by a tourist just before the summer vacation season goes into full swing.
The video uploaded to social media shows the sand at Icacos Beach darkening as it becomes increasingly contaminated due to a leaking drain pipe in the Plaza Canada business precinct.
The tourist used the video to alert state and federal environmental authorities and the navy of the damage, complaining that it wasn’t the first time, and wrote of the health dangers to tourists bathing in filthy water as well as the risks to marine life.
The dumping of sewage on the city’s beaches has been a recurrent problem, despite fines handed out to local businesses, hotels and condos, according to the news portal La Silla Rota.
Last April, sewage leaked onto Papagayo Beach, which the city’s water treatment authority (Capama) blamed on the failure of the drainage system a few blocks away due to heavy rain.
Contaminated water captured in a video taken in Acapulco.
Angered by the inaction of authorities, around 300 tourist service providers protested outside Capama’s office Monday, forcing it to close before making the organization’s head, Roberto Villalobos, walk along Manzanillo Beach to see the extent of the problem.
The protesters shouted “Clean beaches! Clean beaches!” and demanded that authorities stop the flow of sewage into the bay, and put 17 treatment plants into operation.
Villalobos agreed to put together a working group.
One of the protesters said the contamination would dissuade tourists. “They don’t resolve anything, we want a solution. Capama needs to do its job … People won’t put up with this scourge any longer; tourists are eating and there is excrement by their side,” he said.
The head of a water sports cooperative, Arturo Pantoja Guatemala, put the blame squarely on the city government. “We are prepared for the summer season. The truth is that we need it, after very difficult days in the pandemic. But now what worries us is the bad image that we have due to the nauseating smells that we have on all the beaches of Acapulco; it is a situation that has gotten out of hand with the municipal council,” he said.
He called on the council to fulfill its public duties by collecting waste, fixing public lighting and attending to the sewage leaks.
Meanwhile, in more bad news for the tourism industry, Acapulco could soon return from green to yellow on the coronavirus stoplight map due to a surge in Covid-19 infections, according to the news site Infobae.
New ballast on the Mexico City Metro appears to have worn down the support structure.
The elevated section of Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro, part of which collapsed on May 3, was overburdened by as much as 7,000 tonnes due to the replacement of ballast in 2015, according to a report by the newspaper Milenio.
New ballast was placed on tracks between Culhuacán and Tláhuac after structural repairs were carried out on the elevated section in 2014 and 2015. The quality of the ballast previously used was deemed inadequate and substandard by a company contracted by the Mexico City government. The firm, Systra, recommended its replacement.
But the new ballast was heavier than that previously used and overloaded the elevated section by up to 7,000 tonnes, said Milenio, which accessed information from the Mexico City Ministry of Public Works.
The additional weight wore down the structure supporting the elevated section of the line including its concrete columns, the newspaper said.
Former Public Works Minister Alfredo Hernández and ex-Metro director Joel Ortega took the decision to replace the old ballast and selected the new ballast, which was purchased in Acolman, a México state municipality just north of the capital.
Milenio reported last month that replacement rails, sleepers and fasteners installed in 2014 and 2015 added 2,367 tonnes of weight. The new ballast alone weighs almost triple that amount.
“Experts consulted by Milenio commented that this excess load took the structure to its elastic limits, creating cracks, fragmentation and deformation [that] damaged [metal and concrete] sheets, beams and columns,” the newspaper said, referring to the weight added by the rails, sleepers, fasteners and ballast. The situation worsened as a result of two powerful earthquakes in 2017, Milenio added.
DNV’s report noted deformations, fractures and displacement of beams that form part of the structure that supports the elevated section. The excess weight placed on the structure during a period of several years may have contributed to the collapse, the Milenio reports suggest.
DNV will release a final report detailing the results of its investigation into the cause of the tragedy later this year.
Supporting baseball – President López Obrador’s favorite sport – is more than twice as important as supporting women’s rights, federal government spending plans suggest.
In contrast, the annual budget of the National Women’s Institute – which manages a range of programs for women in addition to overseeing the implementation of federal policies aimed at achieving gender equality and eliminating discrimination against women – is just 830 million pesos (US $41.8 million).
The “baseball budget” is also much higher than the annual funding of many other government departments, including the federal government’s Executive Commission for Attention to Victims and the National Commission for the Continued Betterment of Education, which receive 843 million pesos and 577 million pesos, respectively.
It amounts to almost two-thirds of the 2021 budget of the National Sports Commission, whose resources are under intense pressure this year due to Mexican athletes’ upcoming participation in the Tokyo Olympics.
López Obrador, who occasionally seeks to relieve the pressure of managing the nation’s affairs by retreating to a ballpark for some batting practice, has previously defended the government’s spending on his favorite pastime.
Nobody doubts the president’s passion for baseball but his interest in improving the lives of women in Mexico – where approximately 10 women are murdered every day – has been extensively questioned.
A statement published late last year that was endorsed by more than 650 academics, journalists, poets, scientists, artists, writers, filmmakers and other intellectuals even charged that López Obrador has shown contempt for women’s protests and the pain that victims of gender-based violence endure.
Ángel Luis Pereda ran for mayor of a municipality in Puebla June 6.
A former mayoral candidate in San Andrés Cholula, Puebla, was arrested Friday in New York for peddling fake modern art, U.S. federal prosecutors said.
Ángel Luis Pereda Eguiluz, 49, is accused of wire fraud in an attempt to earn millions of dollars by pretending works were by modern art icons Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.
Prosecutors said the Citizens’ Movement candidate in the June 6 elections had “conned art buyers” who he hoped wouldn’t notice the art was forged.
FBI agent Christopher McKeogh, who is investigating the case, said Pereda had tried to sell multiple fake artworks to various auction houses, including a vase and a painting by Haring, a collaborative painting by Basquiat and Haring and a copy of Basquiat’s “Glory Boys Kingdom.”
According to the newspaper Milenio Paredes had lined up a buyer for a supposed Basquiat piece for US $6 million.
The FBI has also tracked transfers of thousands of dollars to Pereda’s Mexican bank accounts, which it alleged are linked to other sales of fake art.
Late last year, at least two auction houses in New York City discovered fake pieces being sold to them. In one case a Haring piece was said to have been owned by the “Pareda Family, Mexico.”
The politician appears to have fallen victim to a sting operation. A person “acting at the direction of the FBI” told Pereda on June 23 that a Basquiat piece was fake but that it would be sold to a potential buyer for US $6 million if Pereda could come up with fake documents showing its provenance, which he did, according to the criminal complaint. “Pereda expected to receive a portion of the revenue of the sale of this fraudulent painting,” read the court filing.
Works by Basquiat and Haring have brought big numbers at auction. In 2017 a Basquiat painting was sold for $110.5 million, a U.S. record at the time.
Members of the philharmonic band are short 10 wind instruments.
Members of a youth philharmonic band in Oaxaca were deprived of 10 wind instruments when thieves ransacked a community center on June 29.
One clarinet, two saxophones, four trumpets and three trombones were stolen from the band in Santa Ana-Ne’äm, Santa María Tlahuitoltepec, 117 kilometers east of Oaxaca City in the Sierra Mixe, home to the indigenous Mixe people.
The case came to light when the band made a public denouncement, and simultaneously put out a plea for help. “We are kindly calling for the support of the whole population of Tlahuitoltepec … for assistance to recover the instruments of the young musicians,” it read.
The Culture Ministry condemned the theft and said the act could inhibit the children’s education. “We stand in solidarity with the girls, boys and young musicians … Acts like these threaten the comprehensive development of children and youth in Mexico,” it said in a statement.
This isn’t the first time a philharmonic in Oaxaca has been left without its instruments. In December 2019, the Philharmonic Band of San Pedro and San Pablo de Ayutla was robbed of 26 instruments. On that occasion, the instruments were replaced by donations organized on social media.
The Mixe people live in the eastern highlands of Oaxaca. They are considered to be culturally conservative, which has helped them preserve their language whose speakers number an estimated 90,000. The group call themselves ayuujkjä’äy meaning “people who speak the mountain language” rather than Mixe, which is probably derived from the Náhuatl word for cloud: mīxtli.
Scene of the ambush in Tuxtla Gutiérrez in which a Sinaloa Cartel plaza chief was killed.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is making its presence felt in Chiapas, a state coveted by drug, arms and human traffickers due to its long border with Guatemala, but one that has largely avoided the kind of cartel violence for which some other states are notorious.
Presumed CJNG gunmen killed five suspected members of the Sinaloa Cartel in the state capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez last Wednesday.
The Jalisco sicarios ambushed the Sinaloa operatives in La Gloria, an affluent neighborhood of Tuxtla, a city of approximately 600,000 people where gun violence is rare.
One of the five slain men was Ramón Rivera, a Sinaloa Cartel plaza chief in Chiapas and son of Gilberto Rivera, a trafficker known as “the lord of the southern border” who was arrested in Guatemala in 2016 and extradited to the United States a year later.
Carmen Villa, head of the Citizens Security Observatory in Chiapas, said the armed attack was an abnormal event for Tuxtla and the entire state.
A victim of the violence last week in the Chiapas highlands.
She acknowledged there have been armed confrontations in Chiapas but asserted that disputes in the state are generally not between drug cartels. The cartel violence that plagues many parts of Mexico is a “very distant reality” for Chiapas residents, Villa said.
“… My reaction [to last Wednesday’s attack] and perhaps that of bystanders was very naive; many were filming the shootout, many people didn’t believe what was happening. … I don’t know what is worse – not having the preparation to react or to get used to [cartel violence] and know what it’s about. … It was definitely something extraordinary and sadly I believe it won’t be a one-off experience,” she said.
Meanwhile, a criminal group allegedly affiliated with the CJNG seized control of a town in the Alto de Chiapas (highlands) region last Wednesday and subsequently clashed with police and military personnel.
Los Ciriles took control of Pantelhó and it wasn’t until Thursday that state and federal security forces arrived in the town, located 120 kilometers northeast of Tuxtla. They were ambushed on arrival, the newspaper Reforma reported, and nine police and soldiers were wounded.
Los Ciriles are also believed to be responsible for the murder last Monday of Simón Pedro Pérez López, a human rights activist who was gunned down in front of his son.
Pedro Faro, director of the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center, claimed that Los Ciriles also have links to the Democratic Revolution Party, which is in office in Pantelhó.
He told Reforma that the criminal group has instilled fear in residents for years and committed 13 murders since March last year.
“… It has threatened, harassed and murdered people in … [their] homes. They’ve gone looking for them because they haven’t wanted to collaborate with the criminal group,” Faro said. At least 65 people have fled Pantelhó out of fear, he added.
According to federal authorities, the CJNG, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel are the three main cartels operating in Chiapas, which has a border of more than 650 kilometers with Guatemala. The Sinaloa Cartel has long controlled much of the border area and is the dominant criminal organization but the CJNG appears intent on muscling in on its territory to expand its influence, as it has already done in some other states such as Guanajuato and Michoacán.
The tussle between cartels has the potential to significantly increase homicide numbers, as armed confrontations such as that seen in Tuxtla last week typically result in multiple deaths. Villa, the citizens observatory chief, noted that homicides in Chiapas increased 30% in May compared to the same month last year and femicides, home burglaries and drug trafficking offenses increased by significantly higher percentages.
“The conversation between those of us who analyze security, which is a small circle because Chiapas has other more ‘urgent’ problems’ is that this [new criminal] reality has already reached us,” she said.
Homicides in Mexico reached a record high of more than 34,000 in 2019 – President López Obrador’s first full year in office – before falling just 0.4% last year. Murders did, however, decline 2.9% in the first five months of 2021 compared to the same period last year, an achievement that has been repeatedly highlighted by federal officials.
There were 14,243 homicides between January and May, of which only some 200 occurred in Chiapas. The southern state is far from the most violent in Mexico but recent events indicate that the security situation could be about to worsen.
Combining sweet grapes and savory sausage will change up your standard oatmeal breakfast in the best of ways.
This week in the mercado I came upon a vendor with a small crate of tiny, beautiful red grapes. They were shiny and fresh, in big clusters, with some of the curling vines still attached.
Here in Mazatlán, it’s not common to find produce that has any semblance of “naturalness” — the majority is commercially grown on giant farms and devoid of any trace of actually being grown. I was, to put it mildly, quite thrilled, and actually went back to buy more after I’d tasted how delicious they were.
Perfect! I thought — this week’s column. I had an idea of the kind of recipes I would find but was surprised at how much I didn’t know about grapes as an ingredient — especially about how they transform when cooked or broiled.
I’d had grapes in salads, yes, especially with chicken. In fruit salads and smoothies, duh. But how about in omelets — as a sweet zing in the classic spinach-and-cheese? (Remember to cut them in half so they don’t roll out.) Or as part of crostini, to add a bite of sweetness to an otherwise savory crudité?
Turns out baking or broiling grapes (really, any variety, although seedless is always recommended) turns the already sweet little globes into rich caramelized bursts of flavor, which can then be used in oh-so-many ways. Grapes can also be added to salsa or kabobs and pair well with chicken and beef.
Spread feta or requesón cheese over the bread on these crostini and you’ll have a truly decadent appetizer that few can resist.
Another aha! moment: DIY raisins or, in more formal terms, oven-dried grapes. Since moving to Mexico, this has been one of my pet peeves: the only raisins I can find are small, tough and basically flavorless.
Whenever I go to the States, I bring several bags back in my luggage: sweet, pretty golden seedless ones; big juicy Thompsons; mixed varieties. While I haven’t yet made my own, I read review after review from folks saying they’d done it. I’m excited to try.
When my kids were little, we used to freeze grapes for an easy iced snack; I’d forgotten about that. Be sure to use seedless grapes!
Pull them off the stems, then rinse, disinfect and pat dry. Spread on a cookie sheet and freeze for a couple of hours. Store in a zip-top bag or container.
Many varieties of grapes are grown throughout Mexico; they’ll appear in different areas at different times of the year. (They’re also imported from the United States, Chile and other parts of South America.)
Locally grown grapes will be the sweetest and freshest. Just keep an eye out, ask where they’re grown and be ready to have some fun in the kitchen!
Roasted Grape Crostini
3 cups seedless red or green grapes, halved lengthwise
2 Tbsp. sherry or rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. grated orange zest
24 slices baguette (cut diagonally ½-inch thick)
½ cup shaved Manchego or Romano cheese
Thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
Preheat oven to 400 F. Gently mix first five ingredients; spread on a baking sheet. Roast until grapes are lightly browned and softened, 30–35 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in orange zest. Cool. Arrange bread slices on ungreased baking sheet. In broiler or toaster oven, lightly toast both sides. Top with warm grape mixture; sprinkle with cheese and basil.
Optional: Spread toasted bread slices with feta or requesón cheese before adding other toppings.
Grape Slushie Freeze
Using banana makes it creamier.
Handful frozen seedless grapes, any kind
1½ cups pineapple juice
Optional: ½ banana
Ice
Blend everything at high speed.
Roasted Grapes
Eat on their own, or serve in a salad as a dinner side dish or on toast with cheese.
Seedless grapes, any kind
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Toss grapes with just enough oil to coat, salt and pepper; spread on cookie sheet. Bake at 425 F for 30 minutes.
Using a cast-iron skillet works even better to sear in the flavors in this roasted chicken with grapes, rosemary and kalamata olives.
Oven-Dried Grapes (aka raisins)
A dehydrator makes fast work of the process, but this method yields plumper, more flavorful raisins. Be patient!
3 large bunches seedless grapes, stemmed
Vegetable or canola oil
Preheat oven to 225 F. Very lightly grease two rimmed baking sheets with oil (use parchment or a silpat if you have one); scatter grapes all over. (Juice will escape from grapes and may cause them to stick to the pan.)
Bake, checking periodically for doneness, until grapes are nicely shriveled and semi-dried but still slightly plump, 3–5 hours. (Exact time depends on the grapes, your oven and preferred degree of dryness.) Let cool.
Use a thin metal spatula on any grapes that are stuck. Store, refrigerated, in sealed container for up to 3 weeks.
Grape Compote
Serve on top of pancakes, oatmeal, vanilla ice cream and more
3 cups seedless black grapes
⅓ cup sugar
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
Pinch salt
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Optional: 2 pods of star anise
Bring grapes, sugar, lemon juice, salt and anise, if using, to a boil in a skillet, stirring to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat; simmer 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until grapes burst and mixture is syrupy.
Discard anise; whisk in butter. Serve warm or chilled.
Roast Chicken with Grapes and Kalamata Olives
3 lbs. chicken parts with skin and bone
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup seedless grapes
1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
2 small shallots, thinly sliced
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp. minced fresh rosemary
Preheat oven to 450 F. Wash and pat chicken dry, season with salt and pepper.
Heat oil in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet (cast-iron if possible) over medium-high heat.
Working in 2 batches, brown chicken on both sides, skin side down first, about 5 minutes per batch. Return pieces to pan, skin side up; surround with grapes, olives and shallots. Roast about 20 minutes until just cooked through and juices run clear. Transfer to platter.
Add wine and chicken broth to pan juices in skillet. Boil for 2–3 minutes, scraping up any brown bits.
If desired, strain sauce, then pour over chicken. Garnish with rosemary.
Savory Oatmeal with Grapes and Sausage
1 cup oatmeal, instant or regular
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. butter
4 sweet Italian sausages
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup red grapes
½ cup fruity red wine
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Salt and pepper
Cook oatmeal as directed. Stir in Parmesan and butter; cover and set aside.
Cook sausages in oil 6–8 minutes, turning occasionally, until browned all over and partially cooked but still pink in center. Add grapes to skillet and cook, tossing and crushing some with a wooden spoon, until they are browned and slightly saucy and the sausages are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove sausages to a plate.
Add wine and vinegar to skillet, and cook until juices are thickened and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in thyme and butter; season with salt and pepper.
Divide oatmeal among bowls. Divide sausages, grapes and sauce over top.
Health officials in Michoacán have detected an outbreak of the Delta variant in Zinapécuaro.
Coronavirus cases among young, unvaccinated people are driving the resurgence of the pandemic in Mexico as the more contagious Delta strain circulates among the population.
Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said last week that Mexico had entered a third wave of the pandemic, and state and federal authorities say that a majority of new cases have been detected among young people, most of whom are not only unvaccinated but are also more likely to have relaxed their observance of virus mitigation measures.
Mexico recorded 71,231 new cases in the first 11 days of July for an average of 6,475 cases per day, an increase of 84% compared to the daily average in June. However, reported Covid-19 deaths are down almost 45% to an average of 175 per day this month from 316 in June.
With the exception of young people in some northern border cities – where inoculation of the entire adult population has been prioritized in order to expedite the opening of the border to nonessential travel – the vast majority of those in the 18-39 age bracket are either unvaccinated or have only received one of two required doses.
The coronavirus, including the highly transmissible Delta strain, has consequently found a happy hunting ground among young, unvaccinated Mexicans, who are less susceptible to severe disease but who are nevertheless driving an increase in the hospitalization rate in some states.
According to data from the Mexican Consortium for Genomic Surveillance, 222 of 3,925 virus samples — or 5.65% — that were sequenced between May 1 and June 16 corresponded to the Delta variant, with Baja California Sur – which has recently seen an extremely steep increase in case numbers – Mexico City and México state recording the highest number of cases of that strain.
Authorities in Michoacán reported Sunday that a Delta strain coronavirus outbreak had been detected in Zinapécuaro, a municipality 50 kilometers northeast of the state capital Morelia, and the variant, which first emerged in India late last year, has also been identified in many other states.
Jaime Sepúlveda, executive director of the Institute for Global Health Sciences at the University of California in San Francisco, predicted that the Delta strain will soon become the most prevalent variant in Mexico, as is already the case in the United States and many other countries.
“We know that it’s circulating in Mexico, it will surely be the predominant [strain] soon and it’s a more aggressive variant with regard to its transmission – it’s 40% to 60% more transmissible than previous variants,” he told the news website Animal Político.
Sepúlveda urged the Mexican government to take up the fight to Delta by speeding up the vaccination process.
Coronavirus cases and deaths in Mexico as reported by day. milenio
“Vaccination is individual protection but it’s also collective protection because it prevents the circulation of the virus. The chain of transmission declines substantially with vaccination and it also prevents the emergence of new, even more transmissible and virulent variants,” he said.
At least 70% of the population needs to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to achieve herd immunity, according to World Health Organization chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan, but only 28% of the Mexican population have had at least one shot, according to The New York Times vaccinations tracker and just 16% are fully immunized.
Sepúlveda urged people to get vaccinated no matter which Covid-19 vaccine – the Pfizer, AstraZeneca, CanSino, SinoVac, Sputnik V and Johnson & Johnson shots have all been used in Mexico – is on offer.
“All the vaccines offer protection against serious disease and death, all of them; and all of them help to fight against [the emergence] of new variants of the virus,” he said.
The 4 million figure, accounting for about 27% of seniors, appears credible because more than 34% of people in the 60+ age bracket who responded to last year’s National Health and Nutrition Survey said they intended to reject the vaccine while another 11.7% said they were unsure whether they would get inoculated.
More than a quarter of respondents in younger age brackets also said they wouldn’t get vaccinated. Anecdotal evidence suggests that much of the vaccine hesitancy is due to fear of having an adverse reaction after receiving a shot. One 60-year-old woman who spoke with Animal Político said she had decided against getting a jab after reading about people developing blood clots as a result of being vaccinated with AstraZeneca.
(Clotting cases and deaths following vaccination have been reported in many countries around the world but the risk of developing thrombosis after inoculation with the AstraZeneca or Johnson & Johnson vaccines remains exceedingly low.)
Despite vaccine hesitancy, reaching a vaccination rate of 70% of adults looks achievable – 39% of the adult population has had at least one shot, according to the Health Ministry – albeit challenging, but in order to obtain that level of immunity among the entire population (not considering immunity gained through infection), children will also need to be inoculated.
The Pfizer vaccine has been approved in Mexico for the inoculation of children aged 12 and older but it is unclear when vaccination of minors will begin.
A scene from La Civil, the story of a mother's search for her daughter, kidnapped by cartel sicarios.
A film telling the true story of a mother whose daughter was kidnapped by a cartel in northern Mexico received an eight-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday.
La Civil is directed by Romanian Teodora Mihai and stars Mexican actors Arcelia Ramírez, who plays the mother, Cielo, and Álvaro Guerrero who plays the father. It focuses on pertinent political themes such as femicide, corruption and impunity.
In the 140-minute film Cielo follows clues in the search for her daughter Laura’s whereabouts, who was kidnapped by cartel sicarios.
Both actors expressed their hope that the film would bring positive change. “It is very important to be here and that this issue is seen around the world, that it is talked about, that it continues to be made visible,” said Ramírez.
“It is a subject that moves me and touches me deeply. There is so much to do … I hope this helps in some small way,” Álvaro said.
La Civil new trailer official from Cannes Film Festival 2021
The trailer for the film La Civil.
Mihai said she aimed to explain how violence spreads. “When violence touches you, it stains you. You cannot escape from it. Violence makes you a victim but at the same time it forces you to join its vicious cycle.”
However, she added that she did not want to make the film overtly political. “I do not get into politics because it is not my role. I tell stories and I hope that with them certain topics can be put in the spotlight, open debates and continue to discuss themes that are ever more present in our society.”
Meanwhile, critics have been quick to offer their praise. “La Civil is an important, forceful, necessary film,” Spanish producer Marian Matachana said.
Kleber Götz, a German critic, explained why he believes the film to be so pertinent. “There are many films about this issue and the problem of kidnappings and drug trafficking in Mexico, but this film has something very important, very intense: it is the gaze of those who remain … they have to settle for bones … which they don’t really know belonged to their loved ones, in order to say goodbye,” he said.
“[It is] a tragedy that Mexico is experiencing and that cannot be measured,” he added.
La Civil is running in the Un Certain Regard (from another angle) competition where 20 films with unusual styles and non-traditional stories are presented, and for the Caméra d’Or (Golden Camera) which is for directors presenting their first drama.
According to the National Search Commission almost 90,000 people have disappeared since 2006. Identifying bodies — usually discovered in unmarked clandestine graves — was a key campaign pledge of the president.
Chipilo, Puebla, residents Ana and Mariel Galeazzi shout encouragement at the Italian team during the European Football Championship's first half. Photos by Joseph Sorrentino
There was really only one place in Mexico to watch the UEFA European Football Championship final between Italy and England at Wembley Stadium on Sunday: under a tent with around 500 other people on a street in Chipilo, Puebla, where a huge screen and speakers had been set up.
Chipilo is an Italian pueblo — where the main population is of Mexicans proudly descended from immigrants from the Veneto region of Italy — and so the street was filled with people wearing the Italian team’s jerseys and bearing painted stripes of green, white and red, the colors of the Italian flag, on their cheeks.
The gathering was hosted under a tent outside Il Canton del Italiano restaurant, owned by Paolo Soliman, a well-known soccer fanatic in town. Asked about Italy’s chances as the game was about to start, he sounded surprisingly uncertain.
“Of course I want Italy to win, but England is a very good team,” he said. “I hope Italy will win.”
In Soliman’s defense, things didn’t look good early on: people had barely settled in, had just started digging into their pizzas and paninis, when England scored a goal after two minutes of play. The crowd, initially boisterous, went quiet, the energy leaking out of the tent.
Chipilo’s Margarita Guridi Merlo prays for Italy during the game’s second half.
But that only lasted a short while, as the early goal soon prompted an increase in gestures and shouts directed at the English team and at the referees anytime a call went against Italy. While some of the gestures were likely Italian, one universally recognized gesture directed at England and the refs, involving the use of an erect middle finger, proved to be very popular.
At halftime, England clung to a 1-0 lead. “The first half was bad, very bad,” said resident Ana Galeazzi during the break. “Italy had opportunities, but they did not score. I think they played well, but they did not score.”
Mariel Galeazzi disagreed — and was more succinct in her assessment. “The Italians were stupid.”
Both of them spent most of the first half on their feet, screaming encouragement. “My throat is sore,” said Ana, “but it is worth it.”
When things still weren’t looking good for Italy in the second half, viewer Margarita Guridi Merlo, who had sat quietly in front for most of the first half, decided it was time to ask for divine intervention. “I was praying,” she admitted.
Something she said must have worked because Italy tied the game early in the second half, causing the crowd to erupt in dancing, spraying beer everywhere and screaming “Italia! Italia!” as they waved Italian flags.
Steffen Merlo Guridi reacts to Italy’s win.
Merlo was certain of divine intervention: “I think God is a fan of Italy,” she said, “and he answered my prayers.”
Tension — and, somehow, the shouts’ volume — grew as the second half continued. But with neither team able to score, the game headed into overtime.
When, once again, neither team could score, it went into a shootout. During the break beforehand, residents began singing the popular Italian folk song, “Ciao, Bella,” which seemed to lighten the mood for a bit until tension ratcheted up again as the shootout began.
The crowd on the street went silent whenever an Italian stepped up to shoot — many appeared to be praying — and then exploded into cheers when he scored or when the Italian goalkeeper blocked a shot. They groaned and held their heads in their hands when an Italian player didn’t score or when their goalkeeper allowed a goal and shook their hands and yelled at the screen, hoping to jinx English players as they approached the ball to kick.
Finally, when Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made one last save to seal his team’s victory, there was just the briefest moment of silence, as if people were in shock, before the place exploded.
To say Chipilo’s residents went berserk would be a gross understatement: they stood on chairs and on tables. They hugged and kissed. Somehow, they were screaming even more loudly than before. More beer was sprayed. When Queen’s song We are the Champions blasted out from the speakers, Soliman hoisted Julia, his daughter, on his shoulders and climbed onto a table as people sang along at the top of their lungs.
“It was a very difficult game,” said Steffen Merlo Guridi, who looked spent and relieved afterward. “England was a very strong team, and I was nervous. I had some doubts, but they did it. Italy did it. I’m very, very happy, and I’m proud of Italy.”
Almost immediately afterward, traffic backed up on Chipilo’s main street for almost a mile, full of cars and trucks with people waving Italian flags in victory. The celebration continued long into the night.
The gathering occurred when the coronavirus still poses a serious risk in Mexico. Chipilo residents seemed aware of the risks of assembling in a large crowd, but few people wore masks and with 500 people crammed under a tent, there wasn’t any social distancing. A couple of people expressed concerns although they had attended anyway.
But after a year and a half of a pandemic — the lockdowns, the quarantines and all the rest — it felt as if, for at least a little while, some joy had sneaked back into the world.
