Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
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October 2007
High-heel racers blaze through Mexico City
I haven’t worn high heels in the Mexican capital, but I’ve walked next to high-heeled women, and it doesn’t look like fun. Pitted, undulating sidewalks ravaged by constant mini-earthquakes make navigating the city a treacherous experience even in tennis shoes.
So it was a little strange this weekend when about 500 women strapped on stilettos for the city’s first 100-meter High Heel Race.
The women, decked out in running gear and heels of at least seven centimeters (2.75 inches), galloped through a downtown street. Several collapsed to the ground, casualties of the city’s broken asphalt. The eventual winner was an ex-national champion 1,500-meter runner, who said she practiced for the event for a week.
The event was not without its detractors: A group calling itself “Totally Indignant” (a play on the “Totally Palacio” slogan of the sponsor Palacio del Hierro, a department store) blasted race organizers for putting the women’s health at risk and making a caricature out of women.
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Halloween vs. Day of the Dead: a scary mix
Tonight is Halloween, and in our Mexico City neighborhood that means not one, but three nights of trick or treating by the local kids. Tomorrow is All Saints Day and Friday is Day of the Dead, and the mixture of holidays is amazing to see here in Mexico City.
Colorful, traditional Day of the Dead altars are everywhere here, but so are scary masks, haunted houses and bowls of candy. The melding of celebrations is on full display at neighborhood markets and supermarkets alike: sugar skulls, pan de muerto and papel picado (elaborately cut-out tissue paper) crowd next to Spiderman costumes and bite-size Snickers.
According to poll of youngsters in this morning’s Reforma newspaper, the Day of the Dead still takes precedence over the American import, but not by much. Fifty-three percent of the kids say they like Day of the Dead better, and 48 percent say they would rather build a Day of the Dead altar than dress up for Halloween. Sixty percent of kids say they will go to a cemetery to celebrate Day of the Dead, while 39 percent are planning on going to a Halloween party.
As would be expected, the lure of the Day of the Dead diminishes as one gets closer to the U.S. border: Only 38 percent of kids are big fans of making altars in the north of Mexico, compared to 57 percent in the south.
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This is the name of your plan … This is the name of your plan on drugs … Any questions?
The p.r. mavens for the Mexican and U.S. governments are working overtime to take control over the name of the multi-million dollar aid package to fight Mexico’s drug cartels.
For months, the aid package had been dubbed “Plan Mexico” in both the U.S. and Mexican press, a nod to “Plan Colombia,” the massive aid package to help that South American country fight narco-traffickers.
The problem, as policymakers apparently saw it, was that Plan Colombia carried some negative connotations. Human rights activists have assailed the Colombian aid package for hurting Colombian farmers, Mexico was particularly apprehensive about the American troop presence in Colombia and experts complain it hasn’t significantly reduced cocaine production. In short, the terms Plan Colombia and Plan Mexico have serious baggage.
Enter the “Merida Initiative.” That’s how the aid package was christened yesterday by Mexican and U.S. officials when the plan/initiative was officially unveiled. The Merida Initiative refers to the spring summit presidents Bush and Felipe Calderon held in the lovely Yucatecan city of Merida and where the aid package was first discussed. Officials argue that the Mexico aid package differs from the Colombian version chiefly in that no U.S. troops will step foot on Mexican soil. Still, the aid package has sparked alarm among Mexicans worried the U.S. will now take control of its anti-drug strategy.
We’ll see if the new, government approved name sticks. So far, the Mexican media appears to be running with Plan Mexico in its headlines and putting a reference to the Merida Initiative deeper in stories. This morning’s El Universal editorial called the dueling names a “semantic game” and argued that comparisons to the Colombian situation are valid.
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Mennonite movie worth 7-minute ovation?
At the Cannes Film Festival, the new Mexican film “Luz Silenciosa (Silent Light)” received a seven-minute standing ovation after its screening, on its way to winning the prestigious jury prize. So when the movie finally came to Mexico this month, I had to see what the fuss was about.
My wife and I scored tickets to a pre-screening with the director, Carlos Reygadas, at the UNAM, Mexico’s massive 100,000-student state university. Reygadas is a bona fide trailblazer: he has made a name for himself by refusing to use trained actors and employing hardcore sex scenes in his previous works. His latest film though is almost more meditation than movie - it takes place in the largely unexplored world of Mexican Mennonites in the border state of Chihuahua.
It’s clear Luz Silenciosa is breaking new ground from the first scene: A full 10 minutes of an approaching dawn, from the starry desert sky to the first colorful blasts of sunrise. That sets the tone for the rest of the movie: visually arresting, quiet, and deliberate.
As in his previous works, Reygadas uses regular people: in this case Mennonites with no acting experience. You’d never know it though - the three lead actors give emotionally wrenching performances.
Reygadas filmed the movie in Mennonite communities, which may be the most amazing thing about this amazing movie. In a Q&A session after the movie, Reygadas said he spend years laying the groundwork for the movie, meeting Mennonite leaders, building trust and finding actors.
Having visited Mexican Mennonite communities, I can imagine how hard this was. In La Honda, Zacatecas where I did story about a Mennonite who won a seat in the state Congress, Mennonites had embraced pickup trucks and mechanized farm equipment, but most refused to watch television. Some schools would not allow students who came from homes with TVs, calling them contaminated. When we tried to take a photo of one Mennonite farmer, he only relented when we swore that we worked for a newspaper and not a TV station.
So was the movie worth a seven-minute ovation? I can only say it’s unlike anything I’ve seen on film. Check it out if you get the chance: you may not be moved to stand and clap (unless you’re a film student), but it will be a unique movie experience.
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Mexico looking for tourist cash
Taking a cruise to Mexico? The Mexican government wants some of your money. Mexico has been pulling out the stops in order to generate more tax revenue and the latest targets are tourists.
The government doesn’t want much mind you: just about $5 every time a tourist gets off a cruise ship and steps on Mexican soil. But the numbers add up: more than 6 million people took cruises to Mexico last year. The new law, passed by the Mexican Congress this afternoon, also calls for an airport tax of just less than $5 for anyone hopping on a flight out of the country.
David vs. Goliath: David’s on a hot streak
First it was Latin American Idol. Now Guatemala’s national soccer team has the temerity to defeat the big bad bruisers from Mexico.
Mexico is nearly 10 times as large as Guatemala and routinely punishes its southern rival on the soccer pitch and in the world of entertainment (how many Guatemalan pop stars can you name?).
But recently the Central American country is riding quite a hot streak against its mammoth neighbor to the north.
Guatemala found itself on top beginning last month with the finals of Latin American Idol, a Spanish language version of the U.S. hit.
As in the U.S., Latin American Idol is largely a popularity contest with viewers texting their votes to determine the winner. The finals featured a Mexican vs. a Guatemalan, and with a population disparity of about 110 million to 14 million, you’d think the Mexican would have been a shoe-in. But Guatemala City native Carlos Pena took the prize, leaving Mexican Ricardo Caballero in the role of bridesmaid.
Then last night the unthinkable happened. Guatemala’s under-23 national soccer team defeated Mexico 3-2, the first time that’s happened in nearly 38 years. The pain and shame in Mexico was palpable: “PAINFUL DROWNING,” lamented this morning’s El Universal, which termed the defeat a “Tricolor disaster.”
Guatemalans take a particular joy in beating Mexico. When Nancy and I traveled through the country last month we got a sense of how many Chapines (as Guatemalans call themselves) view Mexicans: arrogant, snooty and rude. As one taxi driver told us, when they visit Guatemala, Mexicans act like they own the place.
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The Cannibal Poet is a Hannibal Lecter fan
Every day, we good residents of Mexico City learn a little more about the “cannibal poet,” Jose Luis Calva Zepeda, who was arrested last week on suspicion that he dismembered and ate his former girlfriends. If guilty, Zepeda would be Mexico’s first cannibalistic serial killer, although the country has seen isolated instances of human-eating in the past.
Officials yesterday officially declared that the meat found frying in oil on his stove was indeed human flesh, suspected of belonging to his girlfriend. (Police also found a plate with human flesh seasoned with lemon.) And police gave a rundown of items discovered in his downtown apartment: The movies “Hannibal,” “Hostel 2” and “Cannibal Blood: Dark Desires.” Police also believe Zepeda was a cocaine addict, a fan of the Marquis de Sade and a practitioner of witchcraft, performing “limpias” with black candles and cow tongues.
Zepeda has admitted to killing his girlfriend, whose leg was found in his fridge and bones in a cereal box, but denied to investigators that he ate her.
Zepeda earned the other half of his nickname from his various artistic endeavors, which included selling his grisly poetry at informal Mexico City markets. Zepeda was also a frustrated screenwriter and novelist and the theme of cannibalism had a heavy presence in his works.
Officials have linked Zepeda with the dismemberments of three women and believe there may be more victims. Zepeda is in jail for 30 days while police build their case.
Madrazo’s bizarre explanation
One of the stranger pieces of prose I’ve ever run into popped into my e-mail yesterday afternoon: Roberto Madrazo’s slightly incoherent explanation of the Berlin Marathon cheating scandal that has sullied his reputation.
Madrazo dedicates his explanation to the “Mexican Sports Community,” who he says are the ones who will understand his behavior. Madrazo is accused of taking a shortcut of about nine miles in the marathon. For several days he was crowned the winner of his age division before marathon officials stripped him of his title.
Madrazo doesn’t get to the heart of the matter until the last lines of the message. After blaming the brouhaha on politics and explaining that he didn’t feel well on race day (and relaying that Mexican doctors advised him to rest instead of running the marathon) Madrazo writes: “I had to stop at Kilometer 21 and I went directly to the finish line for my clothes and my medal of participation, the same one given to all runners without exception.”
The problem is, Madrazo’s microchip-based results show he didn’t go directly to the finish line. He ran the last leg of the race, finishing the final five kilometers in 25 minutes, 42 seconds. And the photo of him at the finish line shows him with his arms outstretched, a big grin on his face, clearly relishing the moment.
Madrazo also felt it was important to include the results of the six races he’s run since finishing a distant third in last year’s presidential election. They include the not too shabby time of 3:37 in the San Diego marathon.
He also thought we should know his future plans, including a 10K event in Mexico City that should be quite a spectacle. He also plans to be at the Austin half marathon in February 2008.
But perhaps most strangely, Madrazo used the message to announce his new foundation, called, of course, Marathon.
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The “race” issue: A marathon of troubles for Madrazo
There aren’t many things that can compare to the public humiliation that former presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo has gone through in the last week. While his reputation as a politician was never squeaky clean - allegations of election fraud dogged him for years - his character wasn’t completely annihilated until he ran in a marathon.
It began two Sundays ago at the Berlin Marathon in Germany. Madrazo, a longtime politician with the PRI, Mexico’s former ruling party, had largely dedicated himself to marathon running since his dismal third-place showing in the 2006 presidential election. But in Berlin, something amazing happened: he finished in 2:41:12, a full hour ahead of his personal best and won his age class (55-59).
But a race photographer noticed something strange. Madrazo looked remarkably relaxed and rested and was still wearing a windbreaker despite the heat. Upon closer examination, race officials discovered Madrazo had failed to pass through two electronic checkpoints and his personal microchip showed he had run nine miles in an astounding (and humanly impossible) 21 minutes. Matching up his times with a map of the figure 8-type race course showed Madrazo appeared to have taken a short cut.
Madrazo’s athletic “feat” was first splashed across the front page of the Mexico City daily Reforma. Soon after, Berlin race officials stripped Madrazo of his title and the German press began to attack.
“The fastest man in Mexico,” one magazine derisively called him. “It truly seems Madrazo knows how to work fraud in the sports arena as well,” wrote a financial newspaper of Madrazo, whose election victory as the governor of Tabasco state had been marred by accusations of fraud.
But the worst roastings, of course, awaited Madrazo in his homeland. “Those that are rotten inside will always cheat,” railed conservative Senator Federico Doring. “It’s a shame for Mexico and a shame for the marathon itself.”
Leftist lawmaker Javier Gonzalez Garcia suggested Madrazo suffers from mental problems: “Everyone knows he’s a great sportsman, but this need to win at all costs, it seems like a sickness.”
Others have demanded a public apology from Madrazo, saying he has smeared the reputation of all Mexicans, who will be seen as cheaters in the global community.
Madrazo has yet make a public appearance since the marathon. Given the hammering he’s received, that might be harder than running nine miles in 21 minutes.
Immigration advocates: Mexico “criminalizing” Central Americans
Mexico’s immigration authority has set off howls from immigrant-rights advocates by announcing plans to fingerprint and photograph the mostly Central American migrants that pass through its detention facilities.
Human rights groups say the new rules show Mexico is treating migrants like criminals, and they are adding them to a list of grievances: Authorities along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala have long been accused of robbing and attacking Central Americans and human rights groups have decried conditions in Mexico’s detention facilities.
Many have accused Mexican authorities of hypocrisy: demanding fair treatment of Mexicans who cross illegally into the United States while providing less than stellar treatment to the legion of Central Americans who pass through the country on their way north.
“One can understand the need to keep track of the people that pass through the immigration stations, but not to treat them like criminals, because that means punishing poverty and that is unacceptable for a country like Mexico,” reads this morning’s editorial in El Universal. “Our policy should be respect for human rights; punishing criminals yes, but not turning our immigration facilities into ‘guantanamos’ or ‘abu-graibs’ in training.’”
Mexican officials say the new rules represent an important technological advance and aren’t meant to criminalize migrants.
Fox’s legacy taking a beating
Things just keep getting worse for ex-president Vicente Fox. Ever since scandal erupted last week over Fox’s lavish digs at his Guanajuato ranch, it seems each new day brings another revelation related to his wealth. The Mexican Congress is forming a commission to investigate Fox and determine if he used the presidency to get rich.
On the front page of today’s El Universal is splashed a picture of Fox’s bright red Jeep, which a businessman now says he bought for the president at the bequest of Fox’s wife, Marta Sahagun. The problem is, Fox never declared the vehicle in his list of holdings.
Meanwhile, the Reforma newspaper is asking questions about a white Jaguar, which likewise has yet to appear on Fox’s declarations. Reforma also has a story about three employees of the former first lady’s foundation, Vamos Mexico, who apparently have been getting paid by the federal government.
All this adds up to bad news for the former leader, who has been described as hyper-sensitive when it comes to his legacy. In his soon-to-be-released memoir, Fox brags about how different he is from past presidents who fattened their bank accounts while in office and fled the country once their term ended.
A recent poll shows 66 percent of Mexicans now believe Fox engaged in illicit enrichment while in office, while his wife’s favorable rating has plunged from 44 percent in 2005 to 23 percent.
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Going to Mexico City? Put that cigarette out!
Mexico City likes to smoke. Residents smoke in restaurants, cafes, walking through the mall, in the stands at baseball games, at the airport and of course, in bars.
But all that is about to change as the Mexican capital is implementing a tough, American-style smoking law that will ban the nefarious activity from all public, indoor spaces. Restaurants and bars will be allowed to build no-smoking sections, which must be walled off from the rest of the building and have a dedicated ventilation system.
That will be too costly for the vast majority of the city’s hole-in-the wall taquerias, torta joints and cantinas. The city’s restaurant association has blasted the law as “drastic and arbitrary,” according to the local press.
And if the law is to succeed, it will require some drastic changes in the behavior of the locals. Some 40 percent of the city’s population between 12 and 45 smoke, according to the city’s 2006 Addiction Poll.
The smoking law is just the latest to be hailed by social progressives in Mexico City, where lawmakers have approved a gay rights bill and legalized abortion over the last year.
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Dog lovers: stay away from the narcos
A disturbing new trend is popping up along Mexico’s narco battlefields: Dogs are being kidnapped and slain, their bodies dumped with threatening messages.
The trend appears strongest in Culiacan, Sinaloa (home to many powerful drug lords including “El Chapo” Guzman). A month ago, dead dogs were left near a military base, a park and the Red Cross offices, bearing threatening notes. “You’re next, Eddi,” reportedly read one note directed at Gen. Rolando Eugenio Hidalgo Eddi. The dogs also were crowned with headdresses made of flowers.
A grisly hallmark of the ongoing drug war in Mexico are so-called “narco-messages” left with bodies of the executed. Drug gangs have also taken to videotaping executions and distributing them on the Internet.
A fourth dead dog turned up last week in Culiacan with an X-rated message. In April, a man was found tortured and executed along with his murdered dog in Michoacan, at the height of the drug war in that rural state.
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Clock is ticking for street vendors
It looks like Mexico City might be serious about cracking down on street vendors after all.
Many months after he pledged to rid the historic downtown of the illegal sellers, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard last week removed the first of an estimated 20,000 vendors from blocks west of the Zocalo. The plan is to move the street vendors to indoor markets inside buildings expropriated by the government by Oct. 12.
Vendors have bitterly fought their removal from the streets, arguing their sales will plummet if they are cloistered inside a market. However, the powerful leaders of the vendor associations have cut deals with the city government and it appears their removal from the rest of downtown is inevitable. Whether the street vendors return to their posts after the furor dies down is an altogether different story.
Here’s a picture of Eje Central, Mexico City’s Central Boulevard, a few days after the first removal.
And here’s the same street back in the spring when all manner of computer software and bootleg DVDs were available. Ironically, the other side of the street is still filled with vendors who have yet to be removed.
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