The archaeological site of Chimalhuacán is surrounded by the city of the same name on the outskirts of México City one of the largest and most densely megalopolises on Earth The name of this Náhuatl ceremonial center translates as the place of the shields a fact which is reflected by the many stone-carved shields found at the site and its surroundings.  Also known as Los Poches, Chimalhuacán also shows evidence of being inhabited by Chichimec and Mixtec peoples during the time of the famous triple alliance that kickstarted the Aztec empire.  Archaeological evidence suggests that Chimalhuacán was first settled by Mesoamerican peoples in the 4th century BCE the vast majority of the architecture visible at the site today dates to the 11th century CE The settlement of Chimalhuacán is also known to have hosted the great Nezahualcóyotl who hailed from Texcoco and became one of the greatest military figures in the history of the Aztec empire Though much of the archaeological site has been destroyed over the centuries to make way for modern construction there are still plenty of interesting structures and objects to explore.  On exhibit within the museum and inside the site are several objects discovered during excavations in the 1980s it is also possible to observe a handful of stone-carved figures.  Though Chimalhuacán’s Mesoamerican ballcourt has not survived one of its rings was recently discovered and set into the facade of the site’s museum One of the most photographed attractions at Chimalhuacán that represents a fire deity is actually a fiberglass mold replica based on a sculpture found elsewhere Like virtually all Mesoamerican cities and settlements Chimalhuacán relied heavily on agriculture but also had the advantage of easy fishing in Lake Texcoco when large sections of Lake Texcoco were still navigable folks from the region still used to fish its waters using canoes identical to those of their ancestors.  But the story of the place today known as Chimalhuacán stretches way further back than even Mesoamerican civilization as it is also the site of the discovery of the so-called Man of Chimalhuacán who is thought to have lived 12,000 years ago Among the burial of the man of Chimalhuacán as well as mammoth tusks covered with markings Municipalities such as Chimalhuacán and Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl are reachable via public transit from Mexico City it is strongly recommended that you take a taxi or use a ride-sharing app as the area may present hazards to lost tourists The trip from downtown Mexico City to Chimalhuacán usually takes about one hour but can be much longer during rush hour It is a good idea to go early on weekends to avoid traffic This region of México state is jampacked with other extremely interesting sites, such as Acozac so making a list of sites to visit and trying to hit several during an extended day trip is a great idea.  Senior Editor Carlos Rosado van der Gracht is a Mexican expedition/Canadian photographer and translation degrees from universities in Mexico The Cacaxtla-Xochitécatl archaeological site is one of the most interesting and unique in all of Mexico Aside from its massive structures and breathtakingly beautiful vistas this ancient city in Central Mexico boasts a rather out-of-place feature — Maya murals which seated attendees atop Uxmal’s Nunnery Quadrangle to view a light show from a stationary position this new show is walkable and much more dynamic Cultural appropriation has become a sensitive topic for folks in the last decade So you may be wondering how people in Mexico/Yucatán feel about foreigners using elements of traditional culture people here in Yucatán tend to be pretty relaxed about this sort of thing… On Episode 5 of “Uncovered,” we dive in to the history and archaeology of Mesoamerica and beyond with Pete of the Ancient Americas YouTube channel Any foreigner can obtain direct ownership of a property in the interior of the country they just need a permit from the Foreigner Affair’s Office foreigners cannot directly own property within the restricted zone Cicloturixes have played a vital role in getting new government mobility programs off the ground including the city’s nearly 50 miles of bike lanes as well as improved infrastructure for pedestrians Advertise With Us The sound of hammers and chisels striking stone rings out on most Sundays in the cemetery of ancient Xochiaca a village swallowed up decades ago by the urban sprawl of Mexico City It is the sound of the stone carvers of Chimalhuacan — as the borough is known — who still pursue a craft passed down for generations even after the local source of quarry stone was exhausted The village cemetery is filled with meter-high statues of saints and a knot of men who coax flower garlands and flowers out of the blocks of stone with their chisels Generations of stone carvers in Chimalhuacan also created much of the stonework that adorns buildings and parks in the capital’s downtown While carvers in other areas long ago turned to mechanical cutters and polishers mallets and a variety of chisels and gouges learned in the traditional way handed down by fathers and grandfathers The group skews to an older demographic these days There were about 600 registered stone carvers a decade ago director of the Mexico State office that supports artisans said there are probably only about 300 now The carvers are dying off and their children generally do not want to take up the trade With Xochiaca now lost in a labyrinth of city streets Many residents use stone mortars and pestles made by the stone carvers these bowl-like grinders are the basic tool for making salsas “They are the backbone of the community,” said Reverend Alberto Sandoval when he served as a parish priest in Xochiaca Most of the carvers have individual workshops at home Unlike many craftspeople who want to see their works displayed in museums the carvers here work free of charge to create and maintain carvings to decorate the local cemetery as well as European-inspired sculptures of the 12 apostles They also work for free at decorating and maintaining the stonework at the 250-year-old parish church and the Christ and Virgin Mary statues that are 3m tall One of the earliest signs of their predecessors’ work is a carved stone in the floor of the churchyard reading “Xochiaca home of the stone carvers.” It does not bear a date it refers to a time when the lake that once covered much of the valley still lapped at the shores of Xochiaca and ship them to Mexico City on barges over the lake He recalls going into the quarries by candlelight to get blocks of stone the land where they stood was sold for housing lots Some of the newcomers considered it quaint and used the sides of the quarry as walls in their homes the carvers truck in stone from other states to the north and to the west but sometimes from as far away as the southern state of Yucatan They get some help from donations from the local government and local residents “The neighbors have helped us out with donations of 100 or 200 pesos [US$6 to US$12] The people of the town buy the stone,” Bastidas said carver Mario Olivares recited a poem etched by the artisans in the church wall: “Your art your culture and the nobility of the people keep the soul of this town alive.” Feike de Jong walked the entire perimeter of one of the biggest cities in the world, to capture the strange scenery of the fringes of Mexico’s capitalFeike de Jong is the creator of the app Limits: On Foot Along the Edge of the Megalopolis of the Valley of Mexico Leather calado (fretwork) on cotton with silver buttons the Denver Art Museum (DAM) worked to broaden and deepen its collection through a number of significant acquisitions across its curatorial departments This ongoing refinement and development of the museum’s holdings extends the DAM’s long-standing commitment to creating and maintaining a diverse collection that reflects the community and provides access and insight into cultures from around the world and through the centuries including works by women and artists of color and further enlarge the range of voices represented and the scope of stories the DAM can tell in its galleries The museum also continued a tradition of adding works shown in exhibitions organized by the museum to the permanent collection Denver Art Museum: Purchased with the Nancy Blomberg Acquisitions Fund for Native American Art Some highlights of the past year’s acquisitions include: Oak and leather upholstery; 40 1/4 x 13 3/4 x 18 3/4 The department of Architecture and Design acquired 28 works by 21 different artists and a slant-back side chair designed by Frank Lloyd Wright—an adaptation of what would become one of Wright’s most notable furniture designs this chair gifted to the DAM by collector Daniel Wolf is one of the most significant objects in the Architecture and Design collection was gifted to the museum after Daniel Wolf’s passing in January 2021 Other works entering the collection included furniture posters and other pieces such as Desert Paper 09 the result of a collaboration between New York- and Tucson-based design firm Aranda\Lasch and acclaimed Tohono O’odham weaver and activist Terrol Dew Johnson Denver Art Museum: Gift of Gana Art Foundation With the exception of a late 1800s Scholar’s Desk from Korea gifted in honor of the appointment of Hyonjeong Kim Han as head of the Arts of Asia department each of the works added to the collection were created in the last hundred years Three of the acquisitions are works by Lim Ok-Sang a South Korean artist at the center of the Minjung (People’s Art) movement a name coined during the Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980 the artist incorporates clay—a medium traditionally used in making ceramics—on his 2021 canvas Lim has created paintings depicting the desire to dwell in peaceful nature nature’s relationship with human beings and embracing freedom An additional contemporary Asian art acquisition is 2016-9-30 by Fong Chung-ray Fong is one of the major figures in the Fifth Moon Group The Arts of the Ancient Americas department made three additions to the collection including a goblet that represents an outstanding example of Cholula-style ceramics crafted by an unknown Mixtec artist Drinking vessels like this small goblet were designed for the consumption of chocolate or pulque Two additional pieces were joint acquisitions with the Latin American Art department—one each from the recent exhibitions ReVisión: Art of the Americas and Traitor Eduardo Sarabia’s Ceiba Sagrada (featuring the Roseate Spoonbill features a framed image of a cross-cut green ceiba tree surrounded by more than two dozen vibrantly colored Sarabia represents four distinct species—cuckoo cotinga and quetzal—each of which contributed feathers to the elaborate headdress associated with Moctezuma a young Nahua girl who played a pivotal role during the Conquest of Mexico The composition of this work recalls traditional representations of the Virgin of Guadalupe A key addition to the museum’s Southwest Santos collection it references the important cultural history of mestizo (mixed-race) people in New Mexico and Colorado through the story of the historical figure of La Malinche The department of European and American Art before 1900 added seven paintings to the collection ranging from the 16th century Portrait of a Man by a Netherlandish artist to a 1904 work by Monet’s son-in-law The distinctive white chalk cliffs that Butler painted in 1904 while sojourning in Quiberville on the Normandy coast demonstrate the artist’s fascination with colors and brushstrokes clearly influenced—in both technique and subject matter—by his father-in-law In addition to works inspired by the Impressionist movement Butler experimented with other emerging styles Acrylic gouache paint on linen; 30⅛ × 49⅝ in Funds from the Contemporary Collectors’ Circle with additional support from Craig Ponzio; John & Sandy Fox; A and Jonathan Futa; Bryon Adinoff & Trish Holland; Ellen & Morris Susman; and Margaret & Glen Wood The 17 acquisitions made by the department this past fiscal year included five artworks by women artists the bequest of a lacquer Maque chest (arqueta) from the 1770s and the gift of seven color woodcut prints These works add to the museum’s newly created but rapidly expanding Latin American Contemporary Art collection The department is committed to challenging preconceptions about the boundaries of Latin America through the inclusion of Caribbean artists and to expanding the representation of women artists in the permanent collection A key acquisition for the department is a painting by Dominican artist Hulda Guzmán who explores how her painting practice can relate to landscape a cartoonish female figure that resembles the artist grabs her sun hat to keep the wind from blowing it off as she gazes directly at the audience Guzmán is one of 19 artists featured in Who tells a tale adds a tail: Latin America and contemporary art Arthur Timótheo da Costa’s painting Portrait of a Boy is the first Brazilian artwork from the early 1900s to enter the DAM’s collection Born in 1882 to a family of African descent in Rio de Janeiro da Costa began his art studies at a young age at the Casa da Moeda do Brasil (Brazilian Mint) Overcoming the widespread race and class prejudices and limitations of that time exhibiting his works regularly until the early 1920s the museum’s annual Collectors’ Choice event raised nearly $800,000 and the net proceeds will support future acquisitions of modern and contemporary Latin American art Denver Art Museum: Gift of Federico Martin Castro Debernardi The Modern and Contemporary Art department added 16 works to its collection this past year including two acrylic paintings by Barbara Rossi and three artworks by Ghanian and Ghanian-American artists Working with personal memories and family history Annor draws upon his archive of family photographs and fabrics sourced from his wife mother and aunts to create intimate portraits of everyday life in his native Ghana Ofori’s body and clothing with rust-colored hues Annor recalls the sepia tones of antique photographs and the passage of time New York-based artist Matthew Brannon explores the anxieties and concerns of contemporary society through imaginatively structured collisions of image and text Influenced by graphic design and promotional advertising Brannon’s figures and shapes are seemingly understated yet their familiar visual appeal is at odds with the shifts in meaning he introduces through disjunctive language and realignments of context Tambour beading and metalembroidery on nylon tulle with glass beads Denver Art Museum: Gift of The People's ArtFund on behalf of Dylan Jacobs and Kaye Wilson Photography by Tira Howard and courtesy of SWAIA Fashion which encompasses the collections of Arts of Africa Arts of Oceania and Indigenous Arts of North America acquired seven works by Indigenous artists from North America 11 works by artists from Morocco and six works by artists from Micronesia Santa Fe-based fashion designer Orlando Dugi (Diné aka Navajo) creates extravagant which draw inspiration from Diné philosophies of beauty is informed by 19th century Diné textiles called Germantown Eye Dazzlers so named because their closely interwoven colors and patterns give the appearance of visual vibration This dizzying effect is mimicked in the dress by the sparkling bodice and 20+ yards of flowing silk chiffon all intended to dazzle and shift with the movement of the wearer is among the premier basket weavers in America former curator Nancy Blomberg commissioned Frey to create his “ultimate masterpiece.” Pictured on page 1 the basket—titled Watchful Spirit—is one of the largest Frey has ever made Besides the absolute perfection in weaving technique the most stunning attribute of this work is the quilled lid The artist used only the natural color variations found in porcupine quills to create the mountain lion in intricate detail mats and jewelry is highly developed in the Marshall Islands and Marshallese women are noted as some of the most skilled weavers in the Pacific Islands In 2022 the DAM acquired a Kili bag in advance of the May 2023 reopening of the Arts of Oceania galleries were first created by women from Bikini Atoll who were relocated in the 1940s to Kili Island by the U.S government because of the US Nuclear Testing Program The 1954 test of the largest nuclear device the U.S was exploded off the coast of Bikini Atoll resulting in contamination of the atoll that rendered it uninhabitable First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy was gifted a Kili bag and helped popularize the bags by carrying it Other significant acquisitions included works by Frank Big Bear (Ojibwe) Marianne Nicolson (‘Tayagila’ogwa) (Kwakwaka'wakw) 11 metal works by Moroccan artists and five other works of jewelry and weaving by Micronesian artists from the series America’s Endangered Coasts The Photography department added 193 new works to the collection through both gifts and purchases with a strong representation of women photographers (127 pieces) as well as 10 works by artists of color photos by such noted artists as Arthur Wesley Dow Mariana Yampolsky and the Sweet Medicine portfolio of 30 photos by Drex Brooks also were acquired John Ganis photographed human-created landscapes likely to be erased by the effects of climate change while the house on the right hovers thirty inches in the air—the beach and the house’s foundation washed away in the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy unpredictable ocean stretches to the horizon Lola Álvarez Bravo described the everyday lives of ordinary Mexicans with fluidity and grace Her photograph Mar de ternura (Sea of Tenderness) is a gentle and evocative example of her approach Murff’s series At No Point In Between focuses on people and places in the historically Black neighborhood of North Omaha His photographs suggest informal conversations that give presence to both the photographer and his subjects as they negotiate life in a place that has been shaped by acts of racial violence and continues to suffer from the effects of redlining and economic suppression the pictures in At No Point In Between “…metaphorically connect the body and the landscape Made in collabora-tion with Gilberto Nuci and Feliciana Hernández Rapacejo (complex knotting) on linen and rapacejo on viscose Of the Avenir Institute’s 60 acquisitions during the past year 42 pieces were by contemporary female fashion designer Carla Fernández The 11 ensembles acquired were created in collaboration with Mexico City based artists and Mexican Indigenous artisans from the communities of Ahuiran Acquired with funds from the Textile and Fashion Circle the 11 ensembles are representative of each section of the DAM’s retrospective Carla Fernández Casa de Moda: A Mexican Fashion Manifesto (May 1–October 16 One to three looks were chosen from each section to illustrate the overarching themes of Fernández’s fashion manifesto including slogans such as “The Origin of Textile is the Earth” and “Fashion as Resistance.” This is the DAM’s first major acquisition from a contemporary Latin American fashion designer and widens the scope of the permanent fashion collection a cocktail dress by American designer JamesGalanos and pair of pantaloons by French designer Paul Poiret were gifted to the collection The Petrie Institute of Western American Art at the DAM added 12 works to the collection including an outstanding nocturne by Frank Tenney Johnson the first work to enter the collection by Alexandre Hogue one of the most significant Japanese American artists working on the West Coast during the last century Obata emigrated to the United States from Japan in 1903 His nearly two-decades-long tenure as a professor at UC Berkeley (1932-1954) was interrupted during World War II from 1942 to 1945 He and his family were forced to move first to the relocation center in Tanforan and then to the incarceration camp at Topaz Obata helped found a number of art schools Obata engaged with a wide array of traditions and techniques during his long career his work often defies strict cultural categorization The acquisition of these seven ink and watercolor artworks reinforces the Petrie Institute’s mission to reveal the complexity of the cultural and artistic interchange intrinsic to the region we call the American West Andy Sinclair, Media Relations ManagerDenver Art Museum720-913-0096asinclair@denverartmuseum.orgpressoffice@denverartmuseum.org Mónica Citlalli Díaz left home in a sprawling suburb of Mexico's capital and headed to the school where she'd been teaching English for years This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Chattanooga Times Free Press Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025 audio and/or video material shall not be published rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use The AP will not be held liable for any delays errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing In response to urgent needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic The Jewish Agency launched a new volunteer center for the Project TEN service-learning program in Chimalhuacán The initiative is a collaboration between The Jewish Agency and CADENA The new center draws volunteers from Israel and around the Jewish world for three-month-long Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) projects empowering local children and teens in Mexico City through educational and community activities Andrea is from Mexico City and is serving as a local coordinator for the new center and started her journey with Project TEN by volunteering in Israel through the CADENA at the TEN Center in Harduf she continued to work with CADENA which led to her involvement at the new TEN center in her hometown “I’ve been working at the Mexico Center now for three months and our first cohort just finished volunteering here in mid-August,” shared Andrea making sure projects are completed and teaching them about the local culture.” The Mexico City center’s opening ceremony was held in mid-August at the Shimon Peres Park in the municipality of Chimalhuacán in the presence of the Ambassador of Israel to Mexico Zvi Tal; the head of The Jewish Agency in Mexico Ari Messer; the local mayor; and senior leaders of the Jewish community in Mexico Project TEN operated in Mexico in the province of Oaxaca but the center was shut down during the pandemic The move to open a new volunteer center was led by Daniel Liberant a leader of the Jewish community in Mexico with the goal of assisting the local population during this challenging period “With a bigger population in Mexico City this new center is able to serve more people,” said Andrea many communities we work with are more isolated Volunteers who come here end up really expanding their horizons.” The Jewish Agency’s Project TEN currently operates in eight countries: Israel The next cohort will arrive at the Mexico City Center in September “Having gone from being a volunteer myself to now acting as a coordinator I can say with confidence that this experience is not just one that helps people It fills your soul and gives you tools for the future,” reflected Andrea “Being able to make a difference is amazing and those who participate in Project TEN call it life-changing.” In Israel and developing regions around the world Project TEN enables volunteers to participate in an integrated curriculum focusing on Jewish values and community and to engage in a global dialogue on Jewish identity with their peers While construction moves ahead on a new Mexico City airport the nation’s grandest infrastructure project in decades an ambitious environmental rescue plan for degraded lands nearby seems to be in doubt Mexico — On the flat salt basin that was once the Aztecs’ great Lake Texcoco Mexico is building its “door to the world,” an enormous airport the government vows will exist in harmony with the environment Officials described a terminal design so green that it would be a “global reference” for sustainability and they pledged to rescue degraded lands surrounding the airport But soon after construction started in 2015 the government appeared to turn its back on part of that promise ceding land designated on project maps for conservation to local officials for development And as construction moves ahead on Mexico’s grandest infrastructure project in decades the much-heralded environmental protection effort is still so devoid of detail that it raises questions of credibility and actually obscures the risk of flooding Centuries-old mistakes concerning land and water management are likely to be repeated as a result an analyst at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who led a group of scientists that examined the government’s initial environmental-impact statement Handing over the land that had been earmarked for conservation was “the first symptom of how they are betraying the entire environmental mitigation effort,” Córdova said President Enrique Peña Nieto’s office defended the plans saying in a statement that the project was “designed to improve the ecological health of the region and provide an integrated rescue of a zone that was environmentally degraded.” The government’s plan calls for a network of channels tunnels and five new reservoirs to collect runoff that drains into the area a spokesman for the government agency managing the project and the National Water Commission said construction of the reservoirs will begin next year the federal government has yet to present detailed environmental plans for the airport’s hotel and shopping areas and for conservation and land use on the approximately 27 square miles surrounding the new transportation hub The study by Córdova’s group warned that salt cedar the main species in the reforesting effort is not native to Mexico and is so invasive that it could damage the entire ecosystem The airport reflects Peña Nieto’s aspirations of turning Mexico City into a travel hub for the Americas it is also part of his effort to establish a legacy who is not eligible for re-election and is deeply unpopular has been forced to cancel other big-ticket infrastructure projects over corruption scandals and budget cuts Evoking the monumentality of Mexican architecture the British architect Norman Foster has designed a soaring steel and glass airport terminal the heart of the $13 billion first phase of the project which is scheduled to open in 2020 and serve 50 million passengers a year which the government hopes will meet the highest international certification for green buildings will relieve congestion at the capital’s Benito Juárez International Airport successive governments have looked for a place to build the airport and Peña Nieto appeared determined to avoid conflict this time Land struggles had scuttled an airport project to the northeast 15 years ago and the lake bed — which is mostly federal land — seemed to offer an easier path where the Aztecs built their island capital once captured the rainwater hurtling down the surrounding hillsides the Aztecs expanded the ancient capital with landfill and planted crops on floating gardens called chinampas arable soil on the shallow lake beds of the Valley of Mexico But Spanish conquerors drained the lake and cleared forestland setting off centuries of flooding and water-management crises With no natural source of water to filter back into the aquifer below “We inherited the war the Spanish waged against water and therefore the lack of wisdom on how to coexist with it in a sustainable manner,” Córdova said the federal government transferred 500 acres wedged between two of the planned reservoirs to the city government of Chimalhuacán which is controlled by a social movement called Antorcha Campesina The local group has a symbiotic relationship with Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party delivering votes at election time and acting a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico The Chimalhuacán authorities wasted no time putting the land to use and soccer fields for a sports center have been marked out An industrial park is on the drawing boards “We’re talking about taking many people out of poverty,” said Cecilia Hernández Anaya a spokeswoman for the Chimalhuacán government Mexico’s National Water Commission approved the transfer of the 500 acres Though project maps show the land had been designated for habitat conservation and flood management responding to questions from The New York Times said that the area had never been included in the original flood control project The water commission’s former director called the land transfer “outrageous” and said the area had indeed been assigned to the reservoir system “You can’t build anything there; there is a very high risk,” said the former director a member of the opposition National Action Party has asked for an investigation by the federal comptroller noting that the land had been handed over with no impact studies a handout with a highly political electoral purpose,” he and four other senators said in a resolution in June the politics of the poor towns surrounding the airport zone a city of low-slung concrete houses straddling the hillsides above the lake bed Ceding the land to the local government may have warded off conflict at one level Some 230 families that claim to be the original landowners of the plot that now belongs to Chimalhuacán and the reservoir sites on either side argue that they have been cheated out of just compensation Bearing copperplate land titles handed down over generations accosted politicians and sought out the news media they unroll copies of maps dating to the 1930s that show named rows of narrow plots the families reached agreement with the federal government for compensation and the families have yet to see their money “Chimalhuacán has always been seen as plunder,” said Cruz Hernández who at 65 is old enough to have fished in the remnants of Lake Texcoco Stay secure and make sure you have the best reading experience possible by upgrading your browser Flooding that contributed to the deaths of 14 COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Tula in early September wasn’t caused by heavy rain in the local area but rather runoff from farther afield according to the National Water Commission (Conagua) Water that entered an IMSS hospital in Tula on September 7 flooded wards and damaged a generator which would have provided an alternative power supply for the oxygen machines on which patients were dependent Heavy rain had cut electrical supply to much of the municipality In addition to the 14 COVID-19 patients who died two other patients passed away just before water from the Tula River flooded the facility In an internal report disseminated by President López Obrador’s office this week Conagua said the flooding was caused by runoff that reached Tula from outside that municipality It said rain that fell in Mexico City and México state municipalities such as Ecatepec and Chimalhuacán flowed into the Tula River via tributaries and tunnels that drain water from the Valley of México metropolitan area Conagua said that runoff from the Sierra de Guadalupe the collapse of the drainage system in Ecatepec the overflow of a wastewater canal in Chimalhuacán and an increase in the water levels of dams that regulate water flows in the Tula River all contributed to the severe flooding in Tula “It wasn’t local rain but rather runoff from rivers dams and drainage works in the Valley of México and the state of Hidalgo that caused the flooding,” the water commission said Up to 500 cubic meters of water per second flowed into the Tula River during the night of September 6 double the waterway’s capacity to integrate Carlos Paillés, a civil engineer and head of the Hidalgo Valleys Environmental Infrastructure Trust, said in late September that a flaw in the design of the Eastern Emission Tunnel (TEO) project, which was completed in 2019 was the main reason why Tula suffered severe flooding 62-kilometer-long mega tunnel – built to reduce the risk of flooding in Mexico City – as an “extraordinary hydraulic engineering project” but one that is incomplete because it doesn’t include a canal that would allow runoff to flow into the Tula River at more than one point also flows into the Tula River as do the Salto the federal Environment Ministry called for work to be undertaken to increase the Tula River’s water-carrying capacity but it was never done The Conagua report said that opposition from environmental groups stopped the project from going ahead The federal Attorney General’s Office is investigating to determine whether anyone can be held criminally accountable for the deaths of the COVID patients The Conagua report said that the deaths occurred due to “a chain of unexpected With reports from El País  ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC the organizers of Sudoliva hope to promote olive oil culture in the Americas and help producers along the way and advo­cates in the Americas have joined forces to pre­serve the region’s olive cul­ti­va­tion his­tory and cul­tural sig­nif­i­cance The first annual International Contest for the Enhancement of Heritage Olives rec­og­nized three cen­te­nary olive trees from Argentina aim­ing to pro­mote olive oil tourism and value these her­itage trees for their social Academics, pro­duc­ers and advo­cates of the olive oil sec­tor have come together in the Americas to help pre­serve the two con­ti­nents’ rich his­tory of olive cul­ti­va­tion and pro­mote its cul­tural impor­tance Three cen­te­nary olive trees were rec­og­nized at the first annual International Contest for the Enhancement of Heritage Olives in America, which was hosted vir­tu­ally by Sudoliva in mid-December Peru and a much younger but no less sig­nif­i­cant cen­te­nary tree in Chimalhuacán 24 trees from seven coun­tries were nom­i­nated “We are doing this so we can iden­tify all the her­itage trees,” Gianfranco Vargas ​“Not nec­es­sar­ily based on the fact that they are the old­est is for the whole of soci­ety — for its his­tory and cul­ture.” While Vargas orig­i­nally founded Sudoliva three years ago as an olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion the Peruvian researcher and pro­duc­tion con­sul­tant always sought to iden­tify and cel­e­brate her­itage olive trees “We did the first con­test in Lima with the olive tree that San Martín de Porres planted [being rec­og­nized],” he said At the fol­low­ing edi­tion of the con­test another cen­te­nary tree from Arica However, just before the third edi­tion of the con­test could take place the Covid-19 pan­demic took hold across the Americas with dev­as­tat­ing con­se­quences the qual­ity por­tion of the con­test was can­celed and Sudoliva quickly focussed its empha­sis on her­itage olive trees “If the objec­tive is to value the olive trees rather than hold an olive oil con­test the most impor­tant thing was to hold a con­test that helps us iden­tify all the her­itage olive trees in the Americas,” Vargas said Vargas and his col­leagues at Sudoliva see this new ver­sion of the con­test as a way to build an olive oil cul­ture in North and South America that is sim­i­lar to what one finds in south­ern Europe Identifying and rec­og­niz­ing these her­itage olive trees is the first step in this process. Once the trees have been iden­ti­fied, Vargas believes they can be used to pro­mote oleo­tur­ismo– olive oil tourism – and can add value to the oils pro­duced from their olives cul­tural and his­tor­i­cal func­tion,” Vargas said Vargas points to the cen­te­nary tree in Chimalhuacán a steadily grow­ing city just north­east of Mexico’s sprawl­ing cap­i­tal The local author­i­ties there nom­i­nated the tree in the con­test in an effort to help pro­tect it “They want to recover it because in this area there has been urban growth but the trees have not been cut down,” Vargas said ​“The houses have been built and these neigh­bor­hoods have grown in the mid­dle of the olive trees.” “Many of these peo­ple who are of low eco­nomic resources har­vest these olive trees that are extremely large,” he added ​“They sell the olives and work in the grove.” Vargas believes the tree will cre­ate more value for the local com­mu­nity Along with the other two win­ners and 21 con­tes­tants the tree will soon be fea­tured on a new web­site and asso­ci­ated social media feeds the award will also draw atten­tion to the city’s olive fes­ti­val “There is a very impor­tant social and cul­tural fac­tor in how olive grow­ing has been main­tained and how it has con­tin­ued with these neigh­bor­hoods for these peo­ple in Chimalhuacán,” Vargas said Along with help­ing to put these New World olive oil des­ti­na­tions on the map, the com­pe­ti­tion also serves as a sort of cen­sus, with local gov­ern­ments and mem­bers of the olive oil sec­tor work­ing to iden­tify cen­te­nary trees and nom­i­nate them for the com­ing con­tests uses all the resources to be able to iden­tify cat­a­log and map these her­itage olive trees in the Americas,” he said In the case of some of the quadri­cen­ten­nial trees in Argentina the con­test can also help local author­i­ties pre­serve the trees and stem the spread of dis­eases that might oth­er­wise have gone unde­tected “For exam­ple, the Arauco olive tree [in Aimogasta] appar­ently has Xylella fas­tidiosa and in a way that is also what we want to man­age,” Vargas said ​“There are many trees that are between life and death and the only way to pro­tect them is by giv­ing them value.” As this new iter­a­tion of the Sudoliva con­test evolves Vargas said it will also become a forum for train­ing olive farm­ers and oil pro­duc­ers on how to effec­tively host tourists and tast­ings He hopes to be able to expand upon this part of the con­test at the next edi­tion which will take place in-per­son in Aimogasta which is home to Argentina’s old­est olive tree (one of the award win­ners this year) “Next year we are going to do it in Argentina to give it more impor­tance there in San Juan,” Vargas said We are talk­ing about 24 out of thou­sands,” he added we hope that many more will be added and that we will shape the route.” More articles on:  , , L’Olivo di Sant'Emiliano: A 1,800-Year-Old Symbol of Umbria's Olive Tradition The millenary tree symbolizes the resilience of the central Italian region with many of its cohorts damaged by repeated frost over the years Spanish Olive Oil Sector Works to Develop Exports to China As high prices change consumption habits in Europe Spanish producers and exporters seek to promote olive oil consumption in the world’s second-largest economy How Two Ancient Olive Trees in Molise Help Fund Meals in New York Proceeds from the olive oil produced from two centuries-old olive trees supply meals for a Harlem outreach program Philippe Starck Reflects on Olive Mill's Bold Design the mill is envisioned as an homage to Andalusian culture and practical space for high-quality olive oil production Team Lithuania Triumphs at Seventh Olive Picking Championship In addition to the competitive part of the program excursions and social events were held in Brač which boasts a centuries-old olive oil-producing tradition Umbria Blazes the Trail of Year-Round Oleotourism Traditionally confined to the harvest season restaurateurs and tourism officials in Umbria are working to turn extra virgin olive oil into a year-round attraction Spain Bets on Comedy to Boost Olive Oil Sales stand-up stars will be promoting extra virgin olive oil in major cities across Spain Panettone Gets a Healthy Upgrade The beloved Christmas cake is attracting new fans in Italy thanks to a change to its traditional ingredients but it also thrust a group of disadvantaged Mexican children living next to a giant garbage dump into the digital world A project teaching the students how to use computers and the Internet has given them hope of a life far from the trash mountain where their parents work recycling waste Miguel Tejeda had never used a computer before COVID-19 arrived because there were no machines in the 14-year-old’s school in Chimalhuacan located in the urban sprawl surrounding the capital he and 200 other students aged five to 21 have learned basic IT skills helped by a Mexican non-governmental organization (NGO) using old computers donated by a religious association “Learning is much easier with the computers We have a much better understanding of subjects,” Tejeda said In a makeshift classroom in an unfinished house the NGO Utopia taught the students reading as well as how to send files in the PDF format The fetid smell of garbage wafted over from the nearby dump has registered more than 186,000 known COVID-19 deaths — the world’s third-highest toll the NGO added digital skills to its educational plan so that the students in the disadvantaged community could continue their studies remotely “for us it was more important to teach them to read than to use Word,” Utopia founder Jesus Villalobos said The impoverished community is located in one of the most populated and violent municipalities in the country home to about 5,000 people working mainly to collect and separate 12,000 tonnes of garbage a day has had public lighting and water supplies for barely a year “the first thing they do is go collect garbage with a donkey they lose their life plan,” Utopia coordinator Yahir Ruiz said “Sometimes the first contact of these children with a computer is at 15 or 16 years old because the schools were not equipped,” Ruiz added About 30 million students in Mexico are not physically going to school because of the pandemic which prompted the government to start distance-learning via television or the Internet about one-quarter of Mexican students between the ages of seven and 17 have no Internet access and 4.4 percent have no television High-school student Norma Hernandez does not have a computer at home and can only get two channels on her television because of the limited signal Her mother recently had the Internet installed so her brother could study online using his cellphone “But the signal is so bad here that sometimes it’s impossible to connect,” the 13-year-old said The Mexican government has said that schools would reopen only when the risk of infection has dropped sufficiently 17-year-old Armando Alvarado said he is no longer daunted by using a computer when they started teaching me here about computing that I was going to have to take it to pieces or something like that,” said Alvarado who learned to read at the age of 12 with help from the NGO “When they began to teach me everything became easy,” he said Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker The number of vehicles in 12 densely populated México state municipalities that form part of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area has increased on average by 600% since the year 2000 The surge in numbers far outpaces population growth which show that the number of people living in the same 12 municipalities increased from 7.23 million in 2000 to 8.37 million in 2015 The municipalities where the 600% increase occurred are Data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) showed that in 2017 there were 4.6 million cars in those 12 Valley of Mexico municipalities the most populous in the Mexico City/México state conurbation Added to those in the 16 boroughs of Mexico City proper — where the number of vehicles has increased by a more moderate 100% from 2.5 million in 2000 to 5 million in 2017 —  there are at least 9.6 million cars in the immense sprawl of the megalopolis whose total population is estimated at around 21 million It’s no wonder that the TomTom Traffic Index ranks the Mexican capital as the world’s most traffic congested city one in which motorists can expect to spend an additional 227 hours a year — nine and a half full days — in traffic on top of their regular travel time the municipality that recorded the biggest increase in vehicles was Ecatepec where the number went from 147,000 in 2000 to just over one million in 2017 However, in Chimalhuacán — voted the worst city in Mexico in which to live in a recent survey — the number of cars multiplied by a factor of 17 located to the immediate east of Mexico City the number climbed 11-fold from 70,000 at the start of the century to 776,000 in the most recent count Ixtapaluca and Huixquilucan also recorded increases of above 1,000% There are now more cars in the 12 crowded México state municipalities than in all of the state’s 113 other municipalities combined Latin America director at the global nonprofit The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) says the exponential increase in the number of vehicles in greater Mexico City is the result of federal and state government policies that have favored road building over investment in public transit infrastructure Another factor has been the construction of large-scale residential developments in outlying metropolitan areas “This motorization is the result of a development model from the last century The use of cars has to be discouraged by promoting public transit and improving [infrastructure] for journeys on foot or by bicycle Traffic congestion brings about high economic and health costs,” he said Source: Milenio (sp) México — “Utter devastation remains,” Armando Cedeño said on his circus’ stage without lights or fanfare await in their cages the uncertain destiny set for them by a new law prohibiting their presence in circus shows in Mexico circuses can only keep animals if they have the proper permits and keep them in good living conditions “I never thought it would end like this,” said Junior “Whiskers,” stares blankly at the six kilograms of chicken in his two-by-two meter cage while “Samurai” licks his paws fears that leaving the circus will be a “shock” for the tigers music and applause.” As for Junior himself he has “no idea” what he will do for work from now on While nearly 1,100 animals were declared in 2014 the owner of the circus in Chimalhuacán and president of the industry’s national union estimates that there are likely about 4,000 animals Some 70 circuses have already gone bankrupt while 2,000 workers have lost their jobs Cedeño said the government has not fulfilled its promise to find new safe havens for the animals in zoos foundations or the homes of collectors in Mexico and abroad But deputy environment minister Rafael Pacchiano countered that circus owners have not requested any help from the authorities to relocate the animals Circuses that still use animals for their shows will be fined more than $250,000 the federal environmental protection prosecutor The law is the brainchild of the Green Party which promoted the legislation with a media blitz that denounced alleged cases of animal abuse a circus in the eastern state of Yucatán was fined more than $50,000 after it removed the lower jaw of its black bear The Green Party argues that the law “sets a precedent for the respect and protection of animals.” But Leonora Esquivel, co-founder of the international animal welfare group AnimaNaturalis said the law is limited because it does not apply to cock fights While wild animals will no longer feature in circuses Esquivel said Mexico needs to implement a new model for zoos to turn them into “fauna recovery centers.” a lawmaker from the leftist Democratic Revolution Party said the legislation offers no financial compensation to circus owners “There’s a clear violation of private property,” Escamilla said Cedeño said circus owners will launch legal bids to counter what they consider a “discriminatory” law that is based on “false propaganda.” The Cedeño Brothers held their final show with animals on Monday “Don’t take the animals away!” the crowd shouted after the tigers formed a pyramid and jumped through a fiery ring “It’s pure grief,” Cedeño said wearing boots covered in dirt at the muddy circus grounds “Don’t stop coming to the circus even though we no longer have tigers Don’t let us die,” he said before shutting himself inside his caravan The following flyer was translated from the blog of the Revolutionary Communist Organization received the following flyer about these important protests from the initiative “End Patriarchy and the War Against Women.” Male domination (patriarchy) permeates the entire world and oppresses women in very cruel ways from the most subtle to even death: Femicide 11-year-old Giselle Garrido Cruz was disappeared near her home in San Lorenzo Chimalhuacán the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Mexico informed the parents that they had found her lifeless body with signs of rape in a place in Coatepec neighbors and friends took to the streets the day after the disappearance and banners with the girl’s photograph were at the head of the mobilization breaking with the idea that “as long as this doesn’t happen to me”; that kind of selfishness was swept to the side The demonstration went forward and one of the stops of the Mexibus was blocked victim of a feminicide in 2017 also in Chimalhuacán “I am here in solidarity with Giselle’s family,” “They must look for her now and we have to do it ourselves,” and called out that “because the authorities are not going to do it they did not search for my Diana.” Then the mother of Lupita Hernández and the aunt of Evelin Marisol Martínez young girls eight and nine years old disappeared in 2017 in the same area as Giselle “I join the search for Giselle because I know the pain of losing a daughter and that to date in my case the police have not told me anything.” These brave denunciations unleash more of the people’s fury anger and indignation at this kind of crime and the actions of these authorities who are not negligent but criminal when the experts found her body thrown in the street raped and murdered It was at the insistence of the family that they could identify it a family member exposes that when they went to pick up the disappearance certificate because the computer system crashed.” And two years after the disappearance their answer is “nothing.” In the femicide of Mariana Lima Buendía in 2010 at the hands of her partner and police agent in the State of Mexico the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Mexico claimed that the autopsy had been performed and it ruled that Mariana had committed suicide denying all the scientific evidence that proved that this had been a femicide when the family went to report her disappearance that same Saturday they were held for more than five hours and the response was “The AMBER alert will not be issued until Monday because today is Sunday.” When asked for the videos of the public cameras installed where Giselle passed by “They don’t work.” In all these cases you can see the systematic actions of the authorities trying to hide the femicides criminalize raped women and persecute families and cover up for the criminals The combative actions of the people and the determined exposure by the relatives outraged and mobilized many more people like Giselle’s friends from her elementary school in a second march that departed from the Port to the Municipal Attorney’s Office the news of the disappearance of Giselle had gone viral The media came all the way out to Chimalhuacán to document the case the criminal actions of the state and its patriarchal institutions were exposed These protests and broad exposure of the crimes against women need to continue and grow more and more By relying on the people and by acting independently from the system and its institutions this can shake up society and create conditions for great social condemnation of the perpetrators of these misogynistic attacks A significant contingent from Chimalhuacán expressed its solidarity with the January 26 march in Mexico City around the disappearance of the 43 students from the Rural Teachers College Ayotzinapa where they joined other families of disappeared and murdered women All this forced the authorities to look for Giselle and to find an alleged culprit We demand punishment with scientific evidence that proves the guilt of the detainee not some supposedly guilty people to derail people's anger Norma Esther Andrade; Víctor Rogelio Caballero Sierra Colectivo Aequus.-Promotion and Defense of Human Rights and Coordination of Relatives of Students Victims of Violence; Justice for Diana One of the protests in Chimalhuacán Read here (PDF) En español Get a free email subscription to revcom.us: Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution Send us your comments.