In the olden days I was an expert at inserting photos. Times have changed. I'm still learning the New Ways. All three of these are photos relating to this post. First is the front of CeCan, second is a hallway, to the right of which is the waiting area for people receiving injections and chemo, third is a view from the drive looking downhill and away in the distance to Cofre de Perote. Everywhere we look, we see mountains.
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My husband is at the moment a patient at CeCan, Centro Estatal de Cancerología, here in Xalapa. It is on the side of the hill called Macuil tepetl which rises above the city and is mostly covered in forest. He started at a fancy clinic in Puebla which was pretty and well furnished and had glitzy publicity and was private and very expensive. A friend convinced him to meet with the hematologist at CeCan. She sat with him and me and our friend in a small office (someone else's) for over an hour and explained his illness and who she was and the services at CeCan, so he switched.
CeCan is a full service cancer center. They don't turn anyone away. To use it, you have to receive Seguro Popular which everyone here who is a permanent resident of Mexico and does not have other Mexican insurance is eligible for. It is part of the government's ongoing effort to provide universal health care.
So Jim applied for and received Seguro Popular and then went for certification of his illness and THEN enrolled at CeCan. I guess we brought some prejudices with us. Or I did. I wondered if it would be a raggedy, ratty, dirty overcrowded place like some of the places I took clients on Medicaid to years ago in the USA.
It isn't, by any stretch of the imagination. It is clean, attractive, and relatively cheerful and busy with staff as well as patients. And staff AND patients are kind, helpful and truly,I don't know the right word, but friendly and warm. I think a real cultural difference that I've experienced is that as opposed to USAers, Mexicans here are comfortable with strangers, at ease speaking to them, and not afraid of standing or sitting close to each other. It means a lot of warm contacts. CeCan is a large institution with several connected buildings and lots of hallways and turns which are different on different floors. It goes without saying that beginners at navigation there get lost. So you ask where something is, and people don't just tell you, they take you: both staff and patients do. Waiting on lines, people chat and laugh with each other. One woman received bad news on a line we were also on. She turned and her eyes filled with tears. I am learning to be a bit Mexican. Without thinking, I reached over and put my hand on her back. She put her head briefly on my shoulder and then lifted it and smiled at me before heading out. Old people are routinely offered chairs, including (groan) me. (Recently a woman said how young my HUSBAND looked! What can I say?)
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.
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(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?
.
We never have had the heat and dusty dry weather expect in April and May this year. Instead we've had a lot of rain and cloudy, cool afternoons. Sometimes the sun makes itself known for a couple of hours, but not longer than that. The night before last, several inches of rain poured over us. We didn't realize that it had caused damage until we went to see our dentist in the colonia of Mariano Escobedo off the Briones road, the old highway from Coatepec to Xalapa. Her office is in a corner building and we were puzzled to see all manner of vehicle pulled off to the side of the normally quiet and empty street. When we reached her waiting room, we were surprised to see mattresses on the floor past a sign saying Alburgue temporal. The receptionist took us to the back window where we could see some of what had happened. Children were sweeping out their flooded classrooms and ball court; gravel and rock had piled at the entrance to the small bridge and blocked it. After Jim's appointment we headed towards Xalapa and saw that trees and plants and dirt had slid down numerous hillsides.
This photo by Sergio Hernández in today's La Jornada gives you an idea of the kinds of damage the fairly small area suffered. We had to turn back just past the Botanical Garden because of electric cables in the street. At least ten houses were rendered uninhabitable, and our dentist was one of the local people providing shelter. At every site of damage, civil protection people and neighbors were working to clear areas. Other towns affected in our area ainclude Plan de las Cruces and Soncuantla where people also had to be moved to albergues. In the state of Puebla, to our west, the same heavy rains caused the Alseseca river to overflow its banks and led to evacuation of various houses. Although clouds threatened yesterday afternoon and today as well, so far the rain has mercifully held off, but more storms are building off the west coast of Mexico. Our waterfall has grown huge and powerful and sounds rather unpoetically like a freeway. We are all watching the skies more uneasily than we usually do.
Although the house and our lives seemed strangely muted after Jocko's death, we had started to like the idea of having only three dogs, none of whom was big. Jocko wasn't loud or destructive. He was loving and well-behaved, very appealing, endearing. Throughout his life with us, he never quite seemed to be a real dog: more some kind of creature maybe from another planet or dreamed up in someone's imagination. He did learn some dog skills from our other three. He mastered the art of begging: He'd sit quietly, ears forward, eyes huge and liquid. Irresistible. He learned to bark when the other dogs did, his voice low and husky. Boy, do we miss him! But we had, we thought, actually decided three was better than four. Anyway there was no substitute for Jocko.
Then last Monday morning the phone rang.
I´m sure you've guessed. A friend had rescued a dog who'd been wandering, lost, up and down the road to Xico. He and his wife couldn't keep him. He was looking for someone who could, as well as trying to find out if anyone had lost this muy amable creature. Well. With Jim's prompting, not so subtle, either, I said we couldn't. And I asked what kind of dog he was. A slightly dark-haired golden retriever type, incredibly affectionate, he said. I asked our friend to call us back to let us know if he'd had any luck. When I hung up, Jim, much to my surprise, said well maybe we could think about it. But we can't take him unless we meet him first and like him. I said something inane like well, change keeps our minds working better. What's life without a little chaos?
So we brought this lovely beast home. He's a stocky dog, heavy and strong but not particularly tall. And indeed, incredibly affectionate and loveable. And after a couple of noisy days when Daisy and Happy loudly voiced their objections to him every time he got close to Jim and me, things seem to have settled down. I don't quite know why, but we named him Hank. I think we should spell it Jank as this is Mexico. H(J)ank is strictly a Spanish language dog, but he has a big vocabulary and was obviously taught well. As you can imagine, he loves walks. Below are some pictures from today's walk.
Hank in front, Rita and Happy in back.
Good Ole Rita Bita
Daisy jumping off a rock. She makes us nervous when she does this. Dachsunds are notorious for having back problems. We hope all her exercise keeps her back strong.
Jim and Hank in the river near the new bridge.
Daisy and Hank walking back to the car.
We took Hank and Daisy, too, to see the new veterinarians, husband and wife, in Xico last week, a checkúp for Hank and a parasite check for Daisy. They are an interesting couple, from DF, spent five years studying in Spain. I guess you could say they practice integrated pet management, making use of medical treatments when necessary and supporting them with natural stuff, some of which they make themselves. A bird cage hangs outside the office door with a sign saying that a free bird lives in it. And guess what, it is indeed an open cage and the bird lives in it and comes and goes at will.
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We have been having daily rain. Rainy season isn't supposed to start till June. It's hard to complain, though, because instead of the usual dust and heat of May, things are gloriously lush already.
Today is Mother's Day in Mexico. My friend Doña Gloria brought me flowers and a delicious and very fattening cake for the occasion. A lovely surprise! Graciela and Claudia came and wished me Happy Mother's Day last night. We had just come back from our walk. We mentioned to her that the road up to Xico was packed with traffic. Doña Gloria said people were going to the Pantheon, the Xico cemetery, to put flowers on graves of mothers who'd died.
We went to the city of Veracruz twice last week, the first time so Jim could have a cataract removed and the next day to have the results checked on. Veracruz is indeed a hot place, but it is seductive, too, with brilliantly colored flowers and strange plants. It's dreary going into Veracruz, though, with what seem like miles and miles of dreary small stores selling car parts and junk and beauty shop supplies and so on tumbled together on barren blocks. There are housing developments, rows of tiny attached units. And then there are the rich who smile out of the pages of glossy society magazines and sit in the doctor's waiting room in expensive jeans and very high heels.
The setting for Jim's surgery was a blank new building in Boca del Rio, a place I can't quite figure out. The tiny city is stark and modern, with fancy hotels and restaurants and a world trade center in the midst of unfinished streets and buildings. It is contiguous with the city of Veracruz, sitting more or less south and east of it, and bounded on its east side by the Gulf. An anonymous building with only a number on it housed the doctor's surgery suite. It seems that Boca del Rio is actually the municipality of which Veracruz is a part, not the other way around.
The doctor's office is in a small cylindrical medical office building in a neighborhood of doctors and clinics and very pleasant houses. The air is heavy and fragrant. We found a cafe which we've been to twice. They have, by the way, excellent coffee in Veracruz. People talk with each other in much louder voices than they do in the Greater Xico Metroplex. Voluble. They do inthe doctor's waiting room and the bus station and on the street, too.
Well, I'm ending this right here. Somehow time flew. It's way past my bedtime.
Well, inspired by Jim Hightower's excellent article on Walmart in Mexico, (orWalmart,Wal-Mart,Wal*Mart depending on the year or whether you're talking Wall Street or down the street or corporate headquarters or Walt-Mart if you're a person in Xico), which you can and should read, I was going to talk a bit about SERIOUS RELATED ISSUES. I was only incidentally going to remind you that in our very own Xico municipality we are awaiting a Walmart offspring flying under the banner??????and I couldn't remember the name, so I looked it up: it's called Aurrerá, Bodega Aurrerá, or maybe Mi Bodega Aurrerá (there are three versions, depending on of course marketing considerations).
The Aurrerás were orignially started as a supermarket chain by two Mexican brothers, but they were swallowed up by Walmart. You can if you want read about them here on Wikipedia. They also have their own website where I discovered that the Aurrerás have a ¡¡¡¡¡SUPERHERO!!!! You can click on the picture to get it not quite super-sized.
Here is the link. If you go to it, you can also ¡¡¡¡get pictures to color and wallpaper for your desktop!!!!!
Anyway, I don't know when our Aurrerá is due to open. As I believe I mentioned earlier, significant progress has been made. HOWEVER the leg of magically bache free, super smoooothe road from San Marcos to Xico is now under construction, so you have to use the rambling side road which is where we were running when the strip from Coatepec to San Marcos was under construction. The dust is of course incredible. INCREDIBLE. The side road is loaded with rocks and baches. We know someone who took TWO HOURS to get from Coatepec to San Marcos (now easy) to Xico (not.) Will this impede plans to open Bodega Aurrerá? I wondered, gleefully,hopefully. How could it not THEN I thought maybe Walmart paid someone off to redo the road just for the store. There will be a double grand-opening with Doña (Mamá) Lucha leading the parade. Of course other moneyed interests may also have had a hand in the construction. Who knows? They tore up a perfectly good black-top road (well, not perfectly, but you know what I mean).The dream of SOMEBODY for a four-land boulevard leading into Xico seems to have died. But you never know. Much of anything, actually.
The New York Times articles on Wal-Mart pay-offs and corruption make me want to SCREAM and PULL MY HAIR OUT!
First of all, whether or not Wal-Mart pays people illegally to build its big ugly boxes is actually not the worst thing it does. As in the US, the worst thing it does is build stores in places where it can devour small businesses. And they are pretty smart at doing it. Both the Wal-Marts in Xalapa (yes there are two) are in ugly commercial areas that you can easily walk to or get to by bus since car traffic is not so accessible to the majority of poorer people who might shop at Wal-Mart. Lots of not so poor people shop at Wal-Mart, too. And they shop at Sam's Club -- USAers like being able to buy their favorite USA brands. And Wal-Mart has a grip on rich shoppers as well. It bought out a chain called Superama where you can get all kinds of expensive goodies including organic foods which small merchants not far away are also trying to sell.
Even worse than building in Xalapa, which after all is a big city with a lot of chains (though Wal-Mart takes the cake) is the fact that it is building a store in Xico. Right on one of the two main streets in town. It won't be called Wal-Mart, but it's a Wal-Mart. About six months ago, people realized it was on the books and signs started appearing all over protesting, of course to no avail. It is going up in a fairly tight space so its narrow end will be the front door. The parking lot is already completely covered in concrete from one side to the other. The back has a bunch of loading docks. It looks about ready to open.
We know reasonably well some local shop owners. Needless to say, they are very, very worried. Two own dress shops. I mentioned to a Gringo acquaintance that the monster was likely to eat them alive. The Gringo said,"I don't see why. Mexicans don't buy the artisan items. They are too expensive." I said, well they buy regular clothes! That hadn't occurred to her. Xico, being a tourist town (now a Pueblo Magico) has a main street with shops selling what you'd expect. But all you have to do is walk a block in either direction and you come upon fruit and vegetable stores, butchers, grocers, shoe stores, bakeries, hardware stores, flower shops, cheese shops, a local market, and so forth. Sometimes the stores sell jumbles of all these things. A lot of the produce, meat and dairy is local so that not just shop owners but producers are likely to suffer.
I suspect that the mayor of Xico (El Presidente) got a good deal for allowing the Wal-Mart. The mayor is in deep trouble with his constituents because he had some grandiose plans which now sit partly completed because he doesn't have the funds to finish them. The one I know about is his plan to build a four lane boulevard into Xico for which a beautiful long arcade of trees sheltering the road (a perfectly good, newly paved road) was cut down.
A friend of ours says he's destroying all the reasons Xico became a Pueblo Magico to begin with.
So these are reasons I hate Wal-Mart. Please don't shop in Wal-Mart. There are plenty of other places you can indulge your craving for stuff: my favorite is Costco. I feel guilty going there, too, but at least its employees are apparently paid well by Mexican standards. Which is a whole other issue.
can be found at this link. Here is my translation. It is written by EIizabeth Ortega.
Xalapa, Veracruz, 23rd of January 2012
On Friday night, the 20th of January, the municipal president of Xalapa, Elizabeth Morales García supervised the work in the viaduct of Parque Juarez where artists Lucía Purdencio Nuñe and Carlos Daniel Berman Loya were working on the mural called "Fabulous Vegetables".
"I am surprised by the effort and artistic talent of these young graduates of the Universidad Veracruzana. I recognize the effort required to paint this viaduct* since they have to do it late at night in the company of a support team from the municipality which has also commited itself to this grand effort," said the mayor.
She urged citiens not to despair because of the closing of the street during the night.
For his part, Daniel Berman Loya expressed his excitement that he had been the winner with his proposal to paint the "Fabulous Vegetables" on the walls of the viaduct. The medium isa vinyl paint in black, over which, as the final phase, color will be applied.
The interesting thing about this project was, without doubt, to be able to paint something with these dimensions. We are tired but happy and proud that we can see our own work in this part of the city. It generates a number of sensations," he said.
The Municipal President said that with the conclusion of this mural, the cultural patrimony of the city will be increased since it will add to the more than 50 murals which already exist in the city not only enriching the cultural patrimony, but adding to sites of interest to tourists.
"[This is] a city which recognizes in its youth a thriving artistic sensibility to participate in projects of this type. It adds to the attractions we are bringing to fruition for the development of tourism as part of our economic development. The mural from now on will be an obligatory stop for visitors who want to know more about Xalapa," added the mayor.
The mayor urged the citizens not to despair over the closing of the street during the night and furthermore invited families to show their solidarity with the young people who night after night continue with the development of this artistic project of grand dimensions in the city.
*Actually in English I think it would be called a small tunnel or very long underpass since it runs under the park.
"
In the March 2012 edition of the city's public(ity) rag, Elizabeth Morales García, the mayor, wrote a letter celebrating the International Day of the Woman. I translate it below (following the picture of the beautiful Elizabeth) and provide a little information about her following her letter.
The commemoration this month of The International Day of the Woman is a propitious opportunity to reflect on the progress made by women in society without forgetting, at the same time, the problems which still exist in matters of gender equality.
I am taking advantage of this space en El Municpal de Xalapa to remember that women represent more than half the population of the world, and for this reason it valuable to continue pressing initiatives which give them their rightful place in all fields.
In the Millenium Development Objectives, advance in the matter of equality was investigated and it was noted that at present, out of every 10 female workers are located in the most vulnerable economic areas and they are tied directly to poverty and extreme poverty.
Among women and children who ddon’t attend school, 57% are female children, and furthermore, one of every four m¿women who dies because of a pregnancy or delivery could have been saed if there existed effective access to contraceptives; three of every five adults living with HIV are women and the rate is increasing.
Regardless of race, religion, culture, or economic, political or social situation, thousands of women live mistreated and despised on the street, in the school, at work and in that place where they ought to have the most security and happiness: their homes.
It is also necessary to recognize the advances in this area [of women’s rights], as for example, the recognition of the human ights of women and children in the law, in programs and in public budets.
In domestic environment, changes in policies and public services have occurred, which assume certain responsibilities in the care of families and incentivize a more equitable division of domestic responsibilities.
The participation of women in the environments of power is more representative than in past decadesL in spite of the fact that there is much distance to cover in the achievement of equality; the data indicates that the political representation of women will not reach the “zone of parity” (between 40% and 60%) until 2045.
This space also serves to give our recognition and admiration to all women, and especially to you women of Xalapa who from day to day, with your participation at home, at work, and in society, show us that you have the strength, decisiveness and character to construct a better Xalapa and a much more just and egalitarian world.
[signed] Elizabeth Morales Garcia
A little about Elizabeth Morales Garcia
(photo)
Elizabeth Morales Garcia is the 42 year old municipal president (AKA mayor) of the Municipality of Xalapa. A native Xalapeña, a graduate with a Master’s degree in Human Resources Administration from the University of Veracruz and daughter of prominent Xalapeñas, she has been active in public and political life and in the media since college. As all politicians in Mexico (I suspect) are and have been, she has been roundly attacked for abusing her position for monetary purposes, though in her case, I don’t think bribes have been the issue so much as self-legislated high salaries for herself and coworkers. She has been accused of buying up Xalapan property in large quantities and so forth. I believe she has also had some notable successes including the acquisition [restoration] of federal funding for the city. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Morales_Garcia. The signs of this funding are prominent from improved public lighting with ¡environmentally friendly lightbulbs! To a giant student-painted mural called Vegetales Fantasticos in the tunnel that runs under the main parque en the city’s center as well as more substantive (but less fun) efforts in local neighborhoods.
Morales Garcia is more than rumored to be gay. Pictures have appeared on YouTube and on blogs of her with her supposed amante, her secretary. While there have been small explosions of a National Enquirer sort, it has really not had any lasting effect on her, her position, or her reputation. Xalapa is a pretty cool place with a pretty cool mayor.
You can click on the images to enlarge them.
This VW bug parked across the street from our house lacked a hood over its engine so an ingenious solution was found for attaching the licence plate.
The front of the car was notable as well.
We took the bus to Xalapa. The driver was in a tremendous hurry and so we were glad for the extra protection.
A close-up view. Most Jesuses here are not blond. I'm sure the original one wasn't either.
A wall painting at a nursery school.
Stencil wall grafitti in Xalapa offering a commentary on the US I imagine.
A meeting place for Neuroticos Anonymous.