From Xico

IF YOU HAVE A CONSCIENCE, A SOUL, A HEART, YOU WILL WANT TO STOP TRUMP'S RACIST WALL

I wish we could all opérate with the knowledge that we are all very closely related under the skin.  Or even in the skin.  But we are also all humans and subject to human weaknesses. Fear jerks us around with practically no effort.  There is an article in the New York Times about how trauma and frightening situations cause us to misremember.  Leaders can stoke up fear and then feed you images that you file under "DANGEROUS".  From the beginning of his campaign, Trump has done this with immigrants.  He's been pounding at these awful lies about immigrants for two years and more now.  There are dangerous people in every culture.  Mexico itself has regiones where I wouldn't feel happy by myself.  But even in countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala where ordinary people are terrified by violent, lawless men, most people are not criminals, not rapists, not murderers. We have lived in Mexico for almost thirteen years.  We live in MEXICO, not an American settlement in Mexico.  our colonia, our village, has no other Americans.  An Englishman, now a Mexican citizen, farms outside the colonia.  We are as safe as in most places in the US which is to say pretty safe.  In the US, I experienced personally more crime than I have here by a long shot.

We have neighbors who have gone to the US and come back here to Mexico, their home.   Their stories are varied, but none of them are people to fear.  Most of the people who want to enter the US had situations to fear in their Central American home countries. Some have had situations to fear in Mexico. They would not have made their incredibly difficult journeys if they didn't. Sometimes they cannot make a living at home, so they try to get to the US.  It is, in a way, the fault of Americans for advertising the country as a land of plenty where anyone who makes the effort can succeed.  If you wanted to feed your family and you heard that myth over and over, wouldn't you want to go to the US?  And the US advertises itself as welcoming.  Remember "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"  This, of course is what greets us at the Statue of Liberty.

I am posting three links to articles, one by a former border agent remembering his experiences, one by that agent about a friend of his who now finds himself unable to return to his home and family in the US, and one by a Mexican angry at the unrelieved stereotypes Americans see in the media, on TV and in movies.  They are all worth reading, and of course I hope you do.  Please awaken to the horror that is Trump's border wall and the horrible racism he is stirring against people from south of the border.  I will be happy to discuss this, to provide information, whatever.  Just write comments.

The first is called "Has Any of Us Wept?"  and it can be found here: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/01/17/has-any-one-of-us-wept/

The second is called "Confessions of a Former Border Patrol Agent.  It can be found here: https://www.gq.com/story/confessions-of-a-border-patrol-agent

The third is called Hollywood's Obsession with Cartels and it can be found here" https://nyti.ms/2H5AZT4

The first two are by Francisco Cantu, the third by Hector Tobar.

 

 

 

More rocks, stones, tear gas. We need, rather, more understanding.

If you are a compulsive NY Times reader as I am, you will have seen articles talking about how tech is taking over our lives. We'll all be living in tech-run hives before we know it wi}th AI opening our refrigerators and scolding us for eating too much cake.  

But when I look past that, I still see a world largely ignored by tech, billions of small houses often made of concrete or mud with straw rooves or lamina rooves, inhabited by large numbers of parents and kids who barely have enough, who often don't have enough, through no choice of their own, but through the luck of the draw.  And in the Americas, Central America, for instance, their lives are riddled by gang violence, government corruption, no work, no chance to even farm.  Some of these problems, at least, can be laid at the feet of the United States.  Remember United Fruit.

So today in ye famous NY Times I find this in an article by Alan Yuhas.

American border officers sent tear gas into Mexico early Tuesday to drive away about 150 migrants trying to cross the border into the United States, the authorities said.

In a statement, the Customs and Border Protection agency said that the migrants tried to climb over and crawl under the border fence near San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico — the same area where American officers fired tear gas across the border late last year and where Mexico is struggling to handle thousands of migrants who have fled violence and poverty in Central America.

Early Tuesday, as migrants gathered at the border fence there, several teenagers with heavy jackets, blankets and rubber mats tried to cross or cover concertina wire at the barrier. Others began throwing rocks over the fence at the American officers, according to the statement.

    *******

In the December 3, 2018 of the New York Review of Books, Pramila Jayapal, herself an immigrant  and now

... a Congresswoman, representing Washington’s 7th district, and the elected chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Previously, she was a state senator in Washington, a civil rights activist in Seattle, and the executive director of OneAmerica, Washington state’s largest immigrant advocacy organization. 

wrote an article that was reasoned and calm about the need for immigration reform and the absolute lack of a need for a wall.  It is a longish article.  I have outlined it for you so you can read it in a shorter amount of time.  Please do if you are still not clear about where progressives stand on immigration.  We absolutely must learn how to return to respecting each other and especially suffering human beings.

From:  A New Moral Imagination on Immigration, Pramila Jayapal, Dec 3, 2018

Immigrants as central to national identity.

Historical background

1. 19^th and early 20^th century labor demand so great almost anyone allowed in who passed a physical exam
   1. Immigration exclusions before 1921: Chinese, most Asians, prostitutes, people with “dangerous and loathsome contagious diseases”, and the insane.
   2. 1921, 1924 quotas based on race, nationality and favored people from western Europe.
   3. BUT few laws and little bureaucratic control so undocumented immigration was the norm.
   4. 1929 Registry Act allowed “honest, law-abiding aliens…” without papers who’d been here a certain no. of years to stay.
   5. 1965: admission on basis of immediate family or employer relations permitted. No national quotas
   6. 1990: increase in employment-based visas.
2. Two contradictory immigration traditions defined approach
   1. Bigotry
   2. Spirit of generosity and renewal of country always shaped by immigrants.
   3. Battle has occurred in every generation.
3. Under Trump and his remake of Republican Party
   1. Political calculation to appeal to fear and racism. Refers to immigration as “invasion” and “infestation” in supposed implicitly white, Christian America. otros
   2. Trump made unconstitutional threat to revoke citizenship of those born here.
   3. Provoked and used fear of supposed horde to send wave of troops to border.
   4. , etc., etc.,
   5. Propaganda narrative: current laws work; undocumented immigrants prefer to live in shadow, game the system; benefit from generosity of taxpayers.
   6. These beliefs are absolutely false.
4. Current immigration system
   1. Immigrants are currently held in expensive private prisons – majority because of undocumented status or waiting to see a judge.
   2. A militarized and hardened southern border has led to large surges of undocumented immigrants becau
   3. In past there was a “circular flow” of migration: workers moved back and forth across the border more easily.
   4. Laws protecting workers, however, weak.
5. Good immigration laws would…
   1. Allow immigrants to move back and forth from their homes to US and back again depending on work. Most immigrants would prefer to maintain their south of the border homes if they could by only

coming to the US to work.

1. Encourage family immigration which laws did in the past.
   1. Can fill jobs at different levels with different family members.
   2. Essential support for immigrants to integrate and become self-sufficient: e.g. grandparents taking care of grandchildren, children taking care of parents, etc.
2. Update system regularly
   1. To prioritize industries growing rapidly, needing workers.
   2. Address problems of declining economic conditions for both American-born and foreign workers.
   3. Retraining initiatives, investment programs for displaced workers.
3. Resources for helping immigrants integrate will lead to economic and civic benefits.
   1. Learn English while preserving own languages
   2. Training for skills needed to realize their talents.
4. National interest in reforming immigration law
   1. Now is a blunt tool of a militaristic foreign policy.
   2. Should reflect interest in development, diplomacy, protection of human rights internationally.
   3. US (and other countries) should invest in countries that send most immigrants to encourage people to stay at home (most people when surveyed want to stay at home) instead of making “perilous journeys”.
5. Sensible, humane system of immigration is best for everyone to address the following;
   1. Immigrants needed to replenish US work force as baby-boomers age.
   2. Fast-growing industries of domestic care, home health, nursing assistants, personal care aides, immigrants make up “vast” majority of workers.
   3. of visas for nonagricultural e.g. construction, housekeeper, forest, health care) workers: 66,000 last year, BUT THE ECONOMY requires “millions”.
   4. Last year, 3.9 million US citizens and permanent residents had legally applied for closest family members: parents, spouses, kids, siblings—these are the only members eligible (Trump´s chain migration” is a lie) Thet are in processing “backlog” that could take decades to clear. There are many huge backlogs in US immigration.
6. S. moral and legal obligations (under US and international law) to take refugees and asylum seekers from around the world.
   1. Often fleeing horrible political situations.
   2. In some cases, US has been complicit in political, economic situations leading to need to become refugees.
   3. Submitting millions to refugee camps with little freedom, dire living conditions, no say in their futures is a moral question for all nations.
   4. US ranks only 50^th in the world for welcoming refugees.
   5. Leaders of all faiths (including evangelicals) emphasize need to strengthen and humanize refugee resettlement program.
7. Currently no orderly, functioning US immigration process
   1. Temporary fixes under Reagan and Bush but no underlying reform.
   2. Simplistic narratives by anti-immigrant groups have led to billions of dollars poured into mass deportations, vast labyrinth of private prisons costing millions (maybe billions).
   3. Trump, unlike all previous presidents of the past several decades, has followed rigidly restrictionist agenda of anti-immigrant zealots.
   4. Inhumane policies: separating children from families, imprisoning them, shackling pregnant women; slashing all legal migration; vilifying immigrants.
8. Progressives must (and most do recognize that nation has the right to control who comes in and out. Democrats who wants to fix the system in humane way do not believe in “open Borders”.
9. Enforcement against employers and employees who break law vital, but in a system that actually works.
   1. Vast majority of imprisoned immigrants in expensive private prisons for undocumented status or waiting to see a judge.
   2. Effective reform would mean they wouldn´t be held in prison.
   3. Immigration courts could again function efficiently.
10. Evidence shows:
    1. A more militarized and harden southern border has led to enormous surge of undocumented immigrants because of the breakdown of “circular flow”.
    2. Family immigration is the best.
    3. Have spent over 20 billion on border security with no underlying solutions.
    4. 2/3 of those surveyed opposed detaining families with children who want asylum.
    5. ¾ support humane forms of enforcement such as providing with case management and aid to get into compliance.
11. Goals should be
    1. Laws that work
    2. Knowing who is in the country
    3. Immigrant wouldn´t have to hide.
    4. “…a fair and forward-looking immigration system must be at the heart of America´s moral imagination.

 

 

 

 

Buzón Xalapa and Crime

Although we live at the very edge of a village and can just cross the small river at the bottom of our property and be in coffee growing country, we also live very near -- maybe eleven miles -- from Xalapa, the capital of the State of Veracruz. 

 Xalapa is a real city with urban delights and urban problems. We often go for a lot of reasons. Recently I discovered a site for a local online newspaper called Buzón Xalapa  on which pictures of the capital are often posted, along with news, columns, local requests and so forth. The articles and photos -- most of the stuff, in fact -- gives me ideas for blog posts, though as usual, I don't follow through that much.  Since so many people in the US are interested in crime in Mexico (they seem more interested in that than in so much else worth knowing about this country), I picked a piece on crime in Xalapa to talk about. 

 

An aerial view of the Palacio del Gobierno.  The roof is being painted.  

 

 

 

A view looking over the main highway looking toward Macuiltepec 

Macuíltepec, a dormant volcano, is now an ecological park.  We haven't been up it in many years, but it has a lovely, long, circling path to the top and its vistas.  This area is on the western side of Xalapa and gives you a feel for the newer, sprawling, densely packed urban area with houses and tiendas and other small businesses packed cheek-by-jowl.

 

Urban complaints about Xalapa will be familiar to city dwellers everywhere.  I use italics for my translation of Brenda Caballero's piece.

It's hard to figure out exactly what the rates of various crimes are in Xalapa.  The state government insists they are going down and that it is not that high to begin with, but I don´t have that much confidence in the statistics the state government publishes to polish its image. But to me, an old dangerous-city dweller in the US, it doesn't feel particularly scary in Xalapa.  Of course, you shouldn't confuse it up with some idyllic rural area or even one of the so-called ten most desireable small cities to live in in the US. And when you've been assaulted or know someone who has been, suddenly the whole city can seem dangerous. Thus far, we haven't been assaulted in Xalapa. Jim was, in fact, the object of a pick-pocketing scheme a few years ago which did not succeed. Fortunately (or probably not) he was the victim of the same trick in Barcelona, Spain.  Here´s how it goes:  You are walking along a crowded sidewalk when some very respectable looking man stops you and says, Oh, Sir, how unfortunate!  A bird has deposited his droppings on your pants!  Here, let me help.  You can use my handkerchief.  And while you and he are bending over to clean your pants leg, a nimble-fingered accomplice is taking your wallet out of the pocket on your other side. Since Jim was immediately aware of what was happening as we walked down the book-selling arcade in Xalapa's El Centro, we foiled the plot.  But we were still mad.

While there are narcos living in Xalapa (I'm pretty sure), and probably in the surrounding areas (there are some incredible mansion-like structures in local cemeteries), most complaints of crime don't point directly to narcos, but rather to more ordinary types. The crimes I've heard of are assaults and robberies, virtual kidnappings, extortion. And so forth. I know of one person who was murdered in Xalapa. 

 

INEGI, the National Institute of Geography and Statistics has, for the past five years, conducted surveys to report and analyze victimization by and perception of crime in Mexico and the individual states. This survey, called ENVIPE, is linked to UN studies.  I trust INEGI surveys.They publish their methodology, their sources, everything. But I can't give you data on Xalapa by itself, only about the State of Veracruz.

I am not any statistics expert, so you have to take what I say with a fat grain of salt and check these things for yourself.  I have only one non-Mexican statistic for comparison: that is NYC´s reported crime for 2014.  In 2014 in NYC,  there was very roughly one serious crime per 100 people in 2014.  This rate is, by the way, drastically lower than the crime rate was in the early 1990s in New York.

In Veracruz, I estimate (roughly, remember) that 1/80 people were victims of some crime, probably not serious, in 2014.  Specific crimes reported were extortion, robbery and assault in the street or on public transport, and fraud.  So I don't at this point know how many murders, for instance, were committed or whether anyone made distinctions between demographic groups or narco-crime and non-narco-crime in the final reports.  The statistics for Veracruz are blanket statistics.  There is no distinction between rural, town and city people, or income groups or anything in the summary information I was looking at, but all pertinent demographic information is collected.  And the crime rates also included estimates, called cifra negra, or unreported crime figures. In Veracruz, it is thought that in 2014, 86.3% of crime went unreported. The 86.3% is based on surveys and statistics.  

Now back to Buzón Xalapa.  

In an article called Assaults, Robberies and Statistics, Brenda Caballero first reports that the wife of a friend was on her way to her car when she was threatened by two people who stuck what might or might not have been a gun or a knife in her back.  "Everything happened so fast that she couldn't identify if it was a gun or a knife.  They pushed her against a wall and began to paw her; in the face of her resistance, they hit her, and next began to take various of her things like her wallet.  Since she could, she managed to escape, running and yelling for help.  

The police?  Thanks but no thanks, no one saw anything.

The writer continues saying that this is not an isolated incident. She says, and it´s true, that insecurity is the most worrisome issue for all Mexicans. In Veracruz, the percentage of people who claim insecurity is their biggest fear is 53%.  (1)

The worst thing to do with feelings of insecurity is to panic and withdraw  The best thing is to see what you sensibly should feel insecure about and take precautions. We used to call this having street smarts where I grew up, and in St. Louis where we lived, too.  

Brenda Caballero presents the summary statistics for the State of Veracruz: 58% of people cite insecurity as their biggest problem. And where do they feel most insecure?  The bank 68.4%)? The street (67.6%)? Public transport (67.4%)?  The highway (62.1%)? The market (56%)? The commercial center(43%)? the car(39.95? At work (30.8%) At school?(26.2%)? At home (22.6%)? You could give as many answers as you wanted to as to where you felt insecure.

She lists responses to a sense of insecurity.  I think she is often talking about people here who may be upper middle class living in gated communities which exist here, too.  I remember when we first arrived here almost ten years ago, some friends living in Las Animas, a suburban sort of development which would be familiar looking to USA folks with some of the houses planted in the midst of big lawns, almost all set back from the street.  These friends commented that they and their neighbors would never allow their kids to play outside alone.  And indeed, when you drive through Las Animas, it lacks kids outside and pedestrians, and groups of neighbors chatting on stoops, appealing features of our colonia and lots of less prosperous environs.

So Sra Caballero says, Maybe because of this situation we Mexicans have changed our behavior. According to ENVIPE 2015, the changes in descending numbers of frequency are: Now we don't permit younger children to go into the street.  Now we don't wear jewelry.  Now we don't go out at night.  Now we avoid carrying cash, credit or debit cards.  Sadly we don't go out walking.  We avoid visiting family and friends.We avoid taking taxis. There are those who avoid going to the movies, the theater, to restaurants to eat, to go to a party, or to travel by highway to another state or city.

What do we do in the face of these statistics and numbers?  What can we do as citizens?

Well.  I have to say that throughout its history as an independent country, and before as well, Mexico has never been a crime-free or violence-free haven.  What is different now is the people affected, perhaps, and maybe the numbers.

And the nature of society has changed.  There are I am willing to bet, many more people without decent work, without close ties to family, who have had to break their ties to place. And there are, simply, many more people.  These are incredibly serious social and economic problems, not only in Mexico but throughout the world wherever the corporate world, the modern apparatus of state, vast fortunes controlled by a few have become dominant and where cities are packed with poor people who often migrate there to make the living they can no longer make in agriculture.

What to do? These problems are very real.  

 

Here is what Sra Caballero offers as commentary.  

In fact, it's a complicated answer since although we are each of us dealing with our own grain of sand taking care of ourselves in a personal or collective way, although we groups of vigilant citizens buy ourselves a dog, padlocks and alarms if we don't have the support of the authorities in charge if security, if impunity and insecurity continue to be the rule, the lack of jobs or of salaries that are adequate, the perception of citizens a will not diminish. On the contrary, it will increase to the extent that we run the risk of finding ourselves a weary people who only free themselves through the lynchings of criminals, encountering justice by our own hand. Then yes, the authorities will want to intervene.  We hope that it won't be too late...

PLEASE NOTICE THERE IS NO SUGGESTION THAT THE CITIZENRY ACQUIRE ITSELF GUNS. Lynching is mentioned. Lynching has always seemed to me to be an act of mob rage.

*******

(1)  The Survey itself can be found here. As I said, the demographic questions were extensive.  Just five of the questions about what was most worrisome follow. It's worth looking at the whole thing.

A. Of the issues below, what are the three which worry you most?

    Poverty, unemployment, narcotrafico, price increases, Insecurity, natural disasters, water scarcity,    corruption, education, health, lack of criminals being punished, and "other".

B. In terms of crime, tell me if you feel secure (1) or insecure in

    Your house, your work, the street, the school, the market, the commercial center, the bank, the automatic teller located on a public street, public transit, the automobile, the highway, the park or recreation center.

C. Do you know or  have you heard if in the area around where you live the following situations have occurred?

    Alcohol is consumed in the street, gangsterism or violent gangs, quarrels between neighbors, sale of illegal alcohol, sale of piraed goods, police violence against citizens, invasion of property, drug consumption, frequent gunshots, prostitution, kidnappings, murders, extortion, none of the above, don't know, no response.

 D. During 2014, out of fear of being a victim of a crime (robbery, assault, kidnapping, etc), did you stop doing (response of yes, no, or does not apply):

    Go out at night; permit minors who live with you to go out alone; visit family or friends; take taxis; use public transport; carry cash; go to school; go to the movies or the theater; go out walking; wear jewelry; carry credit or debit cards; go out to eat; go to the stadium; frequent commercial centers; travel by highway to other states or cities. 

 E. During 2014, to protect yourself from crime, in this home, has anything been done to take measures against crime?

     Change doors or windows? Change or place locks and padlocks? Put up or reinforce bars or outside walls? Install alarms and/or videocameras? Hire a security guard or guards? Buy a watchdog? Get fire arms? Change where you lived?  Other measures?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mexico´s Enrique Peña Nieto at the United Nations Warns of Populism's Threats

You all must have heard of Ayotzinapa by now.  It's been in US papers as well as Mexican ones.  It has been one year since the murder and "disappearance" of 43 students from the normal school in Ayotzinapa. The parents of the missing and dead have kept the issue in the headlines by their demonstrations and meetings and speeches. Peña Nieto's government has not been able to push past it. Unlike the clichéd belief that what's news today disappears tomorrow, Ayotzinapa, has remained front and center.  

Yesterday Peña Nieto spoke at the United Nations.  Maybe he was trying to discredit the Ayotzinapa families, perhaps not.  They must have been on his mind in any case.

 As reported in Aristegui Noticias,* "at the UN General Assembly, he called on society to be on the alert for populists who can 'take advantage of their fears.'

"He continued, 'With growing inequalities, a world economic crisis that hasn't eased up, and with the social frustrations these provoke, the world today is threatened with new populist movements on the right and on the left, the risks from both being the same.'

"Without mentioning names, he said that 'the twentieth-century already has lived through and suffered the consequences of people who are lacking understanding, a sense of responsibility and an ethical grounding and thus try to divide their people.´

"For that reason, he considered that ´societies must be alert facing those who take advantage of fears and concerns, in the face of those who sow hatred and rancor, with the sole end being to fulfill political agendas and to satisfy personal ambitions.'

"The president stressed that we must not repeat the errors that have caused so much pain to the world in the past.'  Peña Nieto said that 'division is not the solution', and he fought to recover the value of trust in institutions.

"The president indicated that in the UN, 'Mexico is a nation committed to human rights and peace,' at the same time, he spoke about the challenge that climate change represents and urged an international response to the problems that illicit drugs cause in the world."

*Spanish Text and photo from Aristegui Noticias.  I translated the text.

Just saying.

Whatever.

 

Peña Nieto in Great Britain: Unfavorable Press for Drug War in Mexico

EPN is in the midst of a state visit to Great Britain.  He has visited the queen and I think is staying in Buckingham Palace.

And right in the midst of his visit, Nick Cleg, the Deputy Prime Minister of the UK and Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Airlines had an interview published in The Guardian urging the UK to begin decriminalizing drugs.  Like many others, they say the "war on drugs" has failed.They pointed out that "The Home Office's own research, commissioned by Liberal Democrats in government. . . found there is no apparent correlation between the 'toughness' of a country's approach and the prevalence of adult drug use." [Branson is a member of the global commission on drugs policy.]

In the article by Clegg and Branson, they continue, "Yet the criminal market continues to grow, driving unimaginable levels of profit for organized crime....,"

Clegg and Branson continue, "As Mexico's president, Enrque Peña Nieto, visits the UK, we should remember the estimated 100,000 people killed in Mexico alone since 2006."

There is much meat in the article and praise for Portugal's apparently successful approach as well as the position of the President of Colombia.

Mexico's Night at the Oscars

Those of you who watched the Oscars last Sunday probably saw Alejandro González Iñárritu give his very short speech. In case you didn't, or in case you forgot, González Iñárritu won the award for best director and his film for best film and I don't remember what the third award was for. He said, "I want to dedicate this award to my fellow Mexicans, to those who live in Mexico, and I pray that we can find and build the government that we deserve." 

He also said, "I just pray that they [immigrants in the US] might be treated with the same dignity and respect as those who arrived before and built this incredible nation of immigrants."

Quite a lot of people in Gringolandia as in Mexico noticed and commented.  My favorite column is by Jorge Ramos writing in Reforma.  Anderson Cooper is the US version of Jorge Ramos, but Jorge Ramos has Andersoon Cooper beat by a mile (or maybe 1.61 kilometers), although maybe because he has such varied places to express himself and those places don't mind references to writers like Octavio Paz..  

Among other things, Ramos said,

"It isn't easy being Mexican these days. If you live in Mexico, you are live in one of the most violent countries on the continent and, possibly, one of the most corrupt."

 

To me it appears as if the President and some of his cronies don't even realize they are corrupt: it is a fairly small club they belong to, and they only talk to each other, or so it seems.  Maybe they say, "Well, everybody does it."  And perhaps everyone they know does.

 

Ramos goes on to talk about undocumented workers (or what a lot of people in Gringolandia like to call 'illegals' or worse:

"And if you live in the United States without a work permit, visa or residence permit, it is very possible that at some point you might have been discriminated against and even persecuted.¨

 

Because we live in a largely working class colonia we know some people who have gone to Gringolandia and returned.  Not too many, maybe one I can think of, really wants US citizenship or wants to return because he prefers life there. Legal immigrants have to return to keep their legal status in case they ever want to go again to work.

Ramos continues, "There is little to celebrate. But when there is, no one stops us. So the cyber fiesta for winning four Oscars—film director Alejandro González Iñárritu (3) and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki—is attention-grabbing. These Oscars follow the two won last year by Emmanuel Lubezki [his first] and director Alfonso Cuarón.

"We Mexicans are good at partying. Our fiestas are inversely proportional to our squabbles. The more problems there are, the more we enjoy partying. In Labyrinth of Solitude, Octavio Paz wrote:

'It is significant that a country as sad as ours has so many and such lively fiestas. For us, the fiesta is an explosion, an outburst ... There is nothing more lively than a Mexican fiesta.'

"But, also, our fiestas are a form of protest. We take advantage of them to complain and let off steam. Once again Paz:

"In the swirl of the fiesta, we explode. More than opening up, we tear ourselves open."

"Iñárritu's speech in accepting one of the Oscars channeled the anger and frustration felt by many Mexicans on both sides of the border:

"Having come to office via an election questioned for tricks and serious allegations of conflict of interest, Peña Nieto is not an Oscar-winning President. If we have two Oscar-winning filmmakers, why haven't we been able to find a good director of the country?

"The second part of Iñárritu's remarks, about Mexican immigrants living in the United States, was equally strong:

'I just pray that they might be treated with the same dignity and respect," said Birdman's director, "as those who arrived before and built this incredible nation of immigrants.'

"More than half the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are Mexican. They live persecuted and in the shadows. And the current Congress and Republican governors, mostly, are trying to block President Barack Obama's executive action that would try to help millions of these Mexicans. It is difficult and frustrating being Mexican and undocumented in the United States.

How could Sean Penn have joked,'Who gave a green card to this bastard?' Fortunately, the audience   didn't laugh."Ït went over so badly because It reflects many Americans' xenophobia and rejection of Mexican immigrants."  

 

Or maybe worse, total lack of interest in Mexico and Mexicans.  A relative, a well-educated successful man said he doubted many people in Boston where he lives ever thought about Mexicans.  This didn't seem to be an issue of concern with him.

 

Ramos went on, "In a television interview after the award, Iñárritu was asked about how weird it was that two Mexicans, consecutively, have won an Oscar for best director. 'That's suspicious,' he responded with humor. But, actually, these Oscars destroy many of the stereotypes about Mexicans.

"It isn't easy being Mexican, either inside or outside of Mexico. But when things are tough, the wins are richer, they have more impact, and the fiestas are a blow-out. For there, among the tequilas and the Tweets, I again heard the phrase: Success is the best revenge."

 

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China's Voracious Appetite Is Devouring Mexico's Crafts

In at least two important areas Mexico has seemingly managed to put the kibosh on China's efforts here. The first was the cancellation of its winning bid to build high spped rail here.The second was shutting down the Dragon Mart development near Cancún because of serious environmental damage.

But China has many tentacles.  Now China is overwhelming Mexico's artesanal production.  With Chinese junk, of course.  Today's La Jornada quotes Socorro Oropeza the director of the Unión Nacional de Productores Artesanales Coyolxauhqui which claims 15000 members as saying "We [artesans] are being extinguished" by the cheap Chinese imports. Although Mexican artesans have won international prizes, most live on the edge of poverty, without land. Rodrigo Gutiérrex from the indigenous community of El Rosario in Jalisco said that artesans had stopped making ceramics because of Chinese "junk".  Instead, almost all the artesans in his area collect plastic bottles for which they get 12 pesos a kilo.  (That would be empty plastic bottles.)

As far as I know, there is no official national government support for Mexican craftsmen.  Here in our area, there is a government store, but I don't know about anything else.  I do know we still buy lovely pots and casseroles and dishes from Puebla and our area.  But tourists are the big market.  Tell any you see to BUY MEXICAN.

 

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Dear President Obama, About Aid to Central America

Dear President Obama,

I read a couple of days ago that you were going to seek a billion dollars in non-military aid to Central America in projects designed to reduce the need for people to emigrate.  Although it sounds more humane than sending military aid, aid in the guise of economic and social assistance can backfire pretty seriously. The unfortunate tendancy of diplomats and politicians and the like is to associate in other countries with their counterparts. I suspect at least in some ways, these officials have more in common with each other than with the rest of the people in a country.  Mr. President, you seem to have a real liking for President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico and have offered him support without having any real understanding of his position in his own country.  What you really should do in the case of not only Mexico but Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras is first learn about the country away from the leadership.  A bridge to that knowledge could be Peace Corps Volunteers.  I think the Peace Corps was pulled out of Honduras a couple of years ago, but there remain blogs by some PCVs on the web.  Just look up Peace Corps Honduras.  Guatemala still has Peace Corps, and the web provides some good entries into its experience there.  Same with El Salvador.  I was quite surprised to find out there were Peace Corps Volunteers in Mexico, where my husband and I have lived for eight years.  Having been in the Peace Corps way back in the 1960s, we both would vouch for the fact that at least some of the PCVs have clear-eyed views of the countries they are serving and could even help people from Washington find their way around away from the diplomatic circle. Find some in a variety of situations.

Another thing to understand is that you can't really just suddenly understand the political situation.You might  talk to Carlos Slim about the politics in Mexico.  He's an interesting, odd man who is also very rich. Sometimes he tops Forbes's list of the richest people in the world.  He also owns 17% of the New York Times where there have been some interesting developments regarding Mexico recently. In Mexico, where too many journalists are killed, some nDonetheless remain who would provide excellent insights into power and corruption here. You could start with Carmen Aristegui and Denise Dresser and Roger Ackerman, among others. I translate articles once a week for a site called Mexico Voces: Where Democracy and the Drug War Collide. You can Google the address.  I think journalists in Guatemala, etc. might do the same.

What you also have to understand is that NGOs often have great limitations.  They come in with a vision of what they want to do and all too often trample over local people who understand quite well how things are going.  The local people also often have very good knowledge of what their needs are:  ask them to help you decide what to do.

American economic beliefs are harmful to a lot of people here in Mexico and Central America.  Yes they need education and jobs, but most of all they need to belong to their communities and to be interested in helping them and their families.  I don't think it is good to just lambast the present, but indeed, jobs which uproot people and make them leave for distant places where jobs in Mexico exist in large factories or cut out local potential and cause people to feel they must migrate don't provide good aid.  An example of this is I think farming.  Mexico used to be self-sufficient in corn at least, but the competition from NAFTA products has made it too difficult to earn a living farming corn in Mexico for many people.  Industrial pig raising in our state has put local pig farmers out of business.  The waste from these plants has sullied local water supplies.  Good economic aid might be pilot agricultural projects that exist in a local community that has good resources for farming: good soil and water, for instance.  You might want to get in touch with Robert Hunter Manson at the Institute of Ecology at the University of Veracruz, for instance. His email address is [email protected].

Then there is the problem of crime.  It isn't just going to go away if you rip out people's crops or enlarge the police force, and certainly it isn't if you bolster the military.  I don't have any contacts in this area, but I'm sure you could find some.  It is absolutely critical to understand at least a little of how crime has poisoned the wells.  

I could go on and on and on, obviously, but this is a start.  I want you to know that I deeply love Mexico.  It is a wonderful country, full of cultures and art and history, and a lot of other stuff. It has not benefitted from the US helping greatly to militarize the problems caused by drug gangs.

As my grandmother would have said, "Don't go throwing good money after bad."  And I know you are extremely intelligent, in fact intellectual.  We very smart people often misjudge a situation because we draw connections before we really have some of the important facts.

Most sincerely yours,

Esther Buddenhagen

Colonia Ursulo Galván

Xico 91240, Mexico

 

Popocatepetl Observed and Described (with a super-quick introduction to volcanoes in general)

What follows is A VERY elementary description of what volcanoes are and do. Some of the information and illustrations below drawn from online site of the magazine Arqueología Mexicana which, believe it or not, I have seen in our local Chedraui supermarket.  I've put links to the other sources I've used and they are all worth exploring, and none is overwhelmed by jargon.

There are three important and intertwined factors used to describe volcanoes:

           Spatial distribution of volcanoes

           Time factors

           Nature and intensity of volcanic activity

Spatial distribution

    Volcanoes are not dispersed arbitrarily over the surface of the earth but rather are distributed in different regions which are defined by global tectonic activities -- that is, shifts in the earth's plates. México is a region that is tectonically active, especially in the band from Nayarit to Veracruz.  The map below shows this belt and labels the major volcanoes in it as well as a couple in Baja and one at the very top of the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California).  Where we live in the state of Veracruz a little north and west of Veracruz, the city, we can see a number of small cones that are no longer active and probably haven't been for a huge amount of years, if ever. Directly opposite our house sits one called Acamalín.

I took the picture below on a hike. This is a spot sort of between Xico and Xico Viejo. Acamalín is the bump between the two tree-covered hills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My father-in-law witnessed some of the  growth of Paricutín in West Mexico, number 10 on the map below, in the late 1940s.  .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As everyone who has come across it knows, it literally sprang up in a cornfield and buried everything in the town of Paricutín except the church.

Below is a picture Jim took during a trip we made to the state of Morelia. The volcano Paricutin is the small dark caldera outlined by the mountains behind it.

 

Well, maybe a little about plate tectonics.  There are a whole bunch of good sites with well-illustrated information if you want to know more.The earth's outer layer, the crust, is divided into a set of large moving plates.  The lines where they meet are called plate boundaries.  

The illusltration below shows the different kinds of plate boundaries and hotspots.

From left on the picture below, a divergent boundary, a hotspot, a convergent boundary and another hot spot.  

 

 

 

 

 

HOTSPOTS are stationary plumes of magma. This is a good brief discussion of them.  Volcanoes in Hawaii are the result of hotspots.

The illustration below shows a hotspot forming an island in the Hawaiian Emperor chain.

 

 

 

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Temporal distribution

This is the second factor considered important in evaluating volcanoes.  It refers to the frequency of eruptions, especially of the biggest and most destructive ones. Timing is related to the intensity of tectonic processes.  Figuring out timing remains a puzzle.  No one can exactly say when a volcano will erupt.  Furthermore, eruptions don't happen in any predictable cyclical way though the past does provide some guidance about what might happen in the future.

The nature and intensity of volcanic activity

Temporal distribution and spacial distribution affect the nature and intensity of volcanic activity although they are not the only factors.  And volcanic activity is not necessarily harmful.  For instance, volcanoes enrich the soil.

Kinds of volcanoes

In a very interesting and easy to read article from Oregon State University, the author explains that though people like to characterize things in strict ways, really, nature chooses its own ways.  People miss a lot by holding to strict categories, especially the three that have long been used for categorizing volcanoes. The unnamed Oregon State author (see link immediately above) proposes six and hopes you won't be limited by the brief explanations he gives. 

Popocatepetl, sort of scientifically speaking 

Lies at latitude 19.02 and longitude -98.62, about 43 miles to the east of Mexico City and roughly 28 miles to the west of the city of Puebla. It is similar distances from Tlaxcala and Cuernavaca. It occupies parts of the states of Morelos, Mexico and Puebla. So clearly people in the Valley of Mexico and near it have a personal interest in Popo and in how it might affect them.

Briefly, Popo is a stratovolcano which spews out lava characterized as andesite and dacite.  These are lavas that are cooler and more viscous than basalt,   Popo is also known as a composite volcano.

"Below  is a schematic diagram of a stratovolcano intended to illustrate the different layers of different materials that comprise them. The purple colors are meant to represent layers, either the products of fall-out from big eruption clouds or the products of pyroclastic flows. Notice that these ash layers tend to be thin but widespread. The orange colors represent lava flows, and note that some of them have cinder cones associated with them at the vent. The green colors are meant to represent lava domes, and notice that they do not flow very far. Each eruption, regardless of what it produces, is fed from the the magma chamber by a dike. Most dikes come up through the center of the volcano and therefore most eruptions occur from at or near the summit. However, some dikes head off sideways to feed eruptions on the flanks."

 

 

 

 

 

Popo has been rather active of late, and so there are many questions about what it might do.  The past few days it seems to have quieted down a bit.  You can read the official daily report and see the related charts at the Cenapred website here.  Although Popo is the second tallest volcano in Mexico and one of the most active, it hasn't had a big eruption for many  years. It is not considered extremely explosive, either, rating a 1-2 on the Volcanic Explositivity Index where the highest score is 8 and all the values after 1 (i.e. 2-10) increase from number to number by a factor of ten the way numbers on the Richter scale for measuring the intensity of earthquakes do.

Here people are aware that Popo has been a more active than usual.  What can they expect? Currently the warning level is yellow.  That's right in the middle with red indicating it's time to move nearby people and green meaning things are very quiet.

This is what Popo might do in the near future:

• Continue explosive activity at a low to intermediate level.
• Cause rains of ashes from a light to moderate level in nearby populated areas
• Possibly there will be pyroclastic flows which are "fast-moving currents of hot gas and rock" which can reach "speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700/km/h (450 mph).

You can find a list of what to do if there is imminent danger to you at this link.

Below is a kind of scary picture of pyroclastic flows "sweeping down the flanks of Mayon Volcano, Philippines in 1984."  This is NOT Popocateptl. The Mayon volcano has a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Volcanoes' eruptions can't be predicted over the long term, but over hours and days, it becomes more possible.  Cenapred and other government offices have things well-covered.  They are experienced and can be depended on.

Coincidentally, today the NY Times has a short video on what volcanoes are and how they work.  It is on the front page of the digital edition at the moment.  If it is moved from there, you can find it in the science section.

 

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Glorious Mexico, Tragic Mexico

 

Mexico has had a rough autumn, to put it mildly.  We are accustomed here in Xico to a continuous but for the most part fairly quiet drum beat of anxiety- and sadness-producing news, but so far we live our lives more or less peacefully in the midst of our beautiful, verdant neighborhood. But this fall, the disappearance of the 43 normalistas or students training to be teachers has touched everyone.  The most detailed story I’ve seen in English of the disappearance and following events is here: https://stories.californiasunday.com/2015-01-04/mexico-the-disappeared-en . It is also available in Spanish.  Just change the final en to sp.  

A well-known contemporary Mexican author, Guadalupe Loaeza wrote a very moving piece in La Reforma about a surprising and dramatic demonstration of support at the National Theater for the fallen students.   She started it in a way which will stir memories at least among some New York (and Boston) women:

 As I do every year, last Sunday I took my grandchildren to see “The Nutcracker” at the National Theater. Once seated, I gave myself a task: to watch all the people filled with holiday cheer as they entered the theater to admire the last performance of Tchaikovsky’s famous ballet, the music of which is so familiar to us that even the most ignorant can recall a fragment. Most of the attendees were children and adolescents, bundled up and accompanied by their families. The atmosphere inside the enormous auditorium, with space for 10,000 people, was festive and Christmassy.

She continued,

For my part, I was a deeply gratified grandmother surrounded by my six grandchildren, two of my sons, my daughter-in-law and Paloma Figueroa, the young professional dancer. With that same festive mindset, I watched young grandmothers wearing 100 percent wool coats with furs and carrying Coach or Marc Jacob purses. Many greeted and waved to each other from afar. The show was only minutes away from beginning.

Suddenly, the lights went down and at the stage’s illuminated center appeared a group of young people holding two banners, one with the hashtag #Yamecansé [Enough, I'm tired]** written on it and on the other could be read the words, “Stop impunity.” Daniel Castillo, in evening wear, spoke on behalf of his fellow members of the National Dance Company:

"Mexico is mourning the unsustainable and heartbreaking impunity that has become a daily story and that violates our citizenry."

With perfect diction, his words echoed all across the auditorium.

You can (and should) read the rest of it here .

The tragedy has threaded its way through all classes here, all regions.  

The National Theater where Señora Loaeza and her grandkids saw The Nutcracker  shows the extravagant side of Mexico.  Housed in the Palacio de las Bellas Artes, it is home to the Mexican national theater company and I think the Ballet Folklorico.  It hosts all kinds of performances and performance groups.

                                      Auditorium of the National Theater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stage is hidden by the luminous curtain, the work of the Tiffany Glass Studios of Long Island, New York.  Louis C. Tiffany oversaw its creation from the beginning and supervised twenty mosaic workers for fifteen months. The workers came to Mexico to steep themselves in the setting.The curtain is a mosaic weighing 27 tons with a surface of 2500 square feet.  It apparently takes 7 seconds to open. I don't believe there is anything like it elsewhere in the world. I tried to insert an old black and white picture of the curtain in which you can see very clearly the scene of Popocateptl and Ixtaccihuatl, but I couldn't transfer it into a form acceptable to Typepad.  These two volcanoes are, according to legend, the final resting place of two star-crossed lovers.  You can read about the legend, the mosaic, and the Palacio de las Bellas Artes in a charming booklet written by someone in the Tiffany Studio about the time of the making of the curtain here.

The Palacio itself is a wedding cake of a building, art nouveau on the outside and art deco on the inside. Among the works of art you can find murals by Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and others as well as an array of sculptures by European as well as Mexican sculptors.  Indigenous imagery mixes with European.

Construction started just after the birth of the twentieth century by command of Porfirio Diaz who wanted opulent buildings for the 100th anniversary of Mexican independence. He laid the first stone in 1904. The Palacio was supposed to be ready by 1910 in time for the celebration of Mexico's independence, but not just geological problems with the subsurface, its history did as well. 1910 marked the start of the Mexican Revolution.  The building was not completed until 1934 when the Mexican architect Federico Mariscal took over supervising its construction.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has extensive online resources.  I was amazed and really excited to find out about them.  Just start with the link to the Tiffany Studio booklet and go grom there..

Well, I took a detour. Not really.  It circles back to Guadalupe Loaeza and her grandchildren and the tribute to the 43 normalistas and beyond.

And as if in sympathy with the sorrows of the country, Popocatepetl has roused himself from sleep.