Work on a long-opposed highway in Morelos is set to be completed in August President López Obrador said in his regular morning news conference on Wednesday The 34.2-kilometer modernization of the La Pera-Cuautla highway is set to ease congestion for residents of seven of the state’s municipalities which runs roughly 20 kilometers north of the state capital Cuernavaca to 45 kilometers east of the city is being widened from two lanes to four and is expected to benefit the municipalities of Cuernavaca as well as drivers from Puebla and Mexico City The project was planned by former president Felipe Calderón’s government and initiated in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto It suffered several judicial setbacks due to opposition from activists and residents who accused engineers of passing through woodland and areas considered sacred President López Obrador supervised progress on the highway on Friday and we are going to deliver it … in August … It had not advanced for years,” he said on Monday The president insisted that the expansion was necessary “In one way or another a highway interrupts and interferes with a life of meditation and tranquility … It was necessary work because there is a lot of traffic taking care not to be destructive,” he said the work was more justifiable than a previous proposal The Transport Ministry reported in October that the work was 82.3% complete It said at the time that the investment was 4.4 billion pesos (US $215 million) It also detailed that the journey along the modernized stretch would take 30 minutes The project’s progress is more positive news for the president after the inauguration of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) on March 21 which is to connect the country’s southeastern states of Tabasco faces legal challenges and opposition from environmental activists With reports from Reforma and Proceso  ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC The Morelos State Government reported floods in Tlayacapan Four people lost their lives and 1 person is still missing Similarly 11 homes were reported damaged in Jonacatepec Authorities have established shelters for the victims in affected areas Civil Protection and teams from the military are assisting with rescue and clean-up operations Morelos Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco visited affected areas on 03 September He expressed his condolences and distributed relief supplies to some of the flood victims He also warned that rivers and streams remained high and requested residents living in vulnerable areas to identify evacuation routes Mexico’s meteorological agency Servicio Meteorológico Nacional reported 109.1 mm of rain in 24 hours to 01 September in Tlacotepec The following day 105 mm of rain fell in El Peñón while Casasano recorded 140 mm of rain in 24 hours to 03 September Earlier in the week flash floods affected areas in the municipality of Tlalnepantla in Mexico State Six people were rescued after being swept away by flood water on 30 August One person was reported missing in the floods Richard Davies is the founder of floodlist.com and reports on flooding news Cookies | Privacy | Contacts © Copyright 2025 FloodList Fireworks shoot out from the limbs of a four-person-tall spinning wheel and explode Seven different uniform-clad bands belt out music within 50 feet of each other The Santo Santiago festival held in July attracts Seattle area attendees who own restaurant chains such as Azteca Of the roughly 5,000 guests cycling in and out over the 10 days more than half drove or flew down from the states there were no lavish SUVs with Evergreen-state license plates lining the cobblestone roads of Cuautla a municipality within the state of Jalisco about 100 miles east of Puerto Vallarta the Cuautlan schoolteacher Luz “Lucy Lopez” Lara moved to Seattle and opened the Mexican restaurant Guadalajara in downtown Seattle pioneering Cuautla’s path from sowing corn seeds to raking in U.S Some eventually opened their own restaurants the town of agriculture workers and adobe “casitas” turned into entrepreneurs and multimillion-dollar Cuautlans can’t say for sure why Lucy Lopez chose to move from San Francisco to Seattle with her Spanish husband When it’s not festival time, locals say less than 2,000 people reside in the town, compared to its 3,640 census-estimated inhabitants in 1970 “There’s nothing here,” said Laura Rodriguez who co-owns Ricardo’s in Factoria with her husband Ricardo She sits at a shiny mahogany dining table while contractors buzz around residents continue to invest money into their Cuautlan houses because the Mexican pueblo will always be home Cuautla’s connection with Washington led in 2001 to its status as a sister city with Renton Renton residents like Ted Rodriguez helped pave the way to the measure through extensive community involvement Jalisco was dubbed Washington’s sister state Anabel “Cuca” Sahagun de Garcia who opened and formerly owned four Seattle-area Burrito Loco locations alongside her husband says the transformation of Cuautlans from small townspeople to cooks and managers is a natural one “People here have always been hardworking and honest,” she said sitting at the tiny cafe she now operates in Cuautla While restaurants sold Americanized favorites she wanted a place that tasted like home: with pork tacos Salvador Sahagun arrived in 1992 and opened the first Tacos Guaymas in West Seattle counter-style taco joints became a success with nine now operating in the Seattle area the restaurant owners’ impact seems to be burgeoning just as quickly is completely different than the Cuautla that used to be,” town president Luis Alberto Robles Peña said while eating at a family-style table among dozens of festival attendees there was no school for children after age 14 or 15 there’s a 1980s-constructed high school and a program that offers university scholarships The Mexican government has taken note of the town’s affluence For every dollar the Cuautlans invest in a project the state and federal government contributes three times the amount in a program called “Three to one,” Sahagun Garcia said While members of the community praise the entrepreneurs for bringing money to their formerly rural life Medical visits are twice as expensive as in nearby Morelia has spawned between the thousands who migrated and those who stayed “We’ve lost a little of the relation,” he admitted “They’ve brought a different ideology; they’ve brought different traditions With American-born children taking over their parents’ restaurants many say they don’t anticipate the family businesses to slow down any time soon “That’s the question on everyone’s minds,” Sahagun said about double the number of the American residents showed up to the festival They were born and grew up with two cultures Sahagun de Garcia and her husband have sold their four Seattle-area Burrito Loco locations with plans of spending most of their time in Cuautla She says her little American-born granddaughters are learning Spanish ‘I want to live my whole life here,’” she said and you teach them and they experience life here — they love it.” This story has been published in partnership with The Seattle Times View the print version of this story on the front page of the Times’ Sunday Business section published on Aug Your article does a wonderful job of asking questions and telling a story The Seattle Globalist ceased to operate on September 30 Our mission is to elevate diverse voices through media The Seattle Globalist is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization The Seattle Globalist ceased operations on September 30 Web design and development by Fran López MexicoJuvenil Lucía Meza Guzmán is the Fuerza y Corazón por México (Strength and Heart for Mexico) candidate for the governorship of Morelos she holds a degree in public administration from Universidad Latinoamericana and Redes Sociales Progresistas de Morelos Seattle-area residents return to Mexican hometown to celebrate cultural roots Mexico — Fireworks shoot out from the limbs of a four-person-tall spinning wheel and explode The Santo Santiago festival held in July attracts Seattle-area attendees who own restaurant chains such as Azteca Of the roughly 5,000 guests cycling in and out over 10 days facing “multidimensional poverty” (defined as those with incomes less than the “line of well-being” (living wage) that also suffer from at least one “social deprivation”: access to health services Education levels: 35 percent of adult population defined as having little education beyond eighth grade Standard of living: 48 percent live in poverty; 37 percent of households receive remittances; 11 percent of households with emigrants in the U.S Public services: Potable water: 86 percent of households; electricity: 90 percent of households there were no lavish SUVs with Washington-state license plates lining the cobblestone roads in Cuautla the Cuautlan schoolteacher Luz “Lucy Lopez” Lara moved to Seattle and opened the Mexican restaurant Guadalajara in downtown Seattle the town of agricultural workers and adobe casitas turned into entrepreneurs and multimillion-dollar Cuautlans can’t say for sure why Lucy Lopez chose to move from San Francisco to Seattle with her Spanish husband says Torero’s Mexican Restaurant owner Ted Rodriguez a fraction of its 3,460 census-estimated residents in 1970 who co-owns Ricardo’s Restaurant in Factoria with her husband She is sitting at a shiny mahogany dining table in their Cuautla home while contractors buzz around residents continue to invest money in their Cuautlan houses because it will always be home Cuautla’s connection with Washington led in 2001 to its status as a sister city with Renton Renton residents like Cuautlan Ted Rodriguez helped pave the way to the measure through extensive community involvement who opened and formerly owned four Seattle-area Burrito Loco locations alongside her husband says the transformation of small-town residents into cooks and managers is a natural one she craved traditional food that tasted like home counter-style taco joints became a success with nine locations in the Seattle area “The Cuautla you know today is completely different from the Cuautla that used to be,” town president Luis Alberto Robles Peña said while eating at a family-style table among dozens of festival attendees Now there’s a 1980s-constructed high school and a program that offers university scholarships the state and federal government contribute three times the amount in a program called “Three to One,” Sahagun García said has developed between the thousands who migrated and those who stayed many say they don’t anticipate the family businesses will slow down anytime soon fewer former residents return to visit as families in the states grow about double the number of American residents showed up at the festival Sahagun de García and her husband sold their four Seattle-area Burrito Loco locations with plans to spend most of their time in Cuautla Sahagun de García says her little American-born granddaughters are learning Spanish ‘I want to live my whole life here,’ ” she said Stay secure and make sure you have the best reading experience possible by upgrading your browser It didn’t take long to find at the center of this quickly-booming level of freefly a Frenchman full of passion who is coaching and creating events from Cuautla to Puerto Escondido you can see the hard work and passion behind the vision Rémi Angéli is pushing in the sport in Mexico the vibe he is creating for young freeflyers and skydivers and how much he’s been working to elevate the level of flying, exposure and safety in the Mexican skydiving community but it’s obvious to see how much this one man has had an impact on the Mexican scene.  but it’s obvious to see how much this one man has had an impact on the Mexican scene I started skydiving in 2004 at Skydive Pujaut studying Sports Education at University of Avignon I was also doing a lot of kayaking at the time and working as a barman in a nightclub on the weekends at that time My best friend Florian Lascombes invited me to take the course with him in 2003 but I had no money as I always did in sports.  An ego thing you know I struggled and I was pissed off because another friend of mine called me “chicken” because chickens do not fly Everybody still calls me ‘Chicken’ when I go back to France After the course I went straight to freefly and found my way My motivation evolved from ego to passion – which took a while and I’m not entirely finished yet So I began working as a packer and I grew up in the “Tombé du Ciel” school under the quidence of Benoit Serrell that was my “Master” in many ways and AFF Instructor in 2009 after 2 years studying with the FFP (Fédération Française de parachutisme) I finished university the same year.  I had what the doctor called a depression in 2009 (I lost my shit basically) for one year while I was finishing studies and ratings My Russian friend Rolland helped me a lot to get through this I began to look on the internet for other countries where I could possibly build another life and start again at my little brother’s apartment in Montpellier I found this touristic book about Mexico and on the first page the text read “In México everything is possible” This all helped me decide to continue living.  took a bus to Puerto Escondido right away and relaxed for one month I had little money left and I began to look for dropzones where I could possibly work but I wasn’t receiving any responses I asked the boss of the Buena Onda Hotel in La Punta if he knew something about skydiving and told me that a big group of skydivers were about to arrive in the town the following week and sure enough a traveling boogie arrived in Puerto Escondido I met Enrique Ochoa and Neymar and we made a few jumps together They presented me to the legendary Antonio Montaño He followed me on a first level I did with Karin Antonio asked me to get my shit on the plane because we were going to Skydive Cuautla the next day and you can find more incredible drop zones in Vallarta and reaching international standards with their school It also has an extra spicy taste unique to the culture so it’s a pleasure to live here and be part of it I am another one surfing the wave of consciousness blowing at us at the moment help people to surf it too and get helped myself when I fall.  And if you think that you know how to surf already there are some harder sections to help humble you help people to surf it too and get helped myself when I fall  Since I am in  Mexico I’ve seen a lot of changes safety-wise also… but more than anything a change of mindset from the people Skydiving can be the best thing to feed egos This is what we try to focus on here and we help each other in this process I exercise regularly to keep the power and recover faster!  I’m not really good at it but I am getting there It feels good to center myself once in a while and I feel things I never felt before doing it It also helps me to socialize and express my feelings in another way outside of speaking I wish to do the same in the sky one day Also it helps me to face states of frustration because there are a lot of excellent dancers and I struggle sometimes to remember the choreography as fast as them.  and need to do our best to get them, but first we need to be who we need to be and then we will have the results we are looking for, which engages more mental values than technical skills.  The philosophy on learning I try to implement is that everything is perfect A mistake is a treasure because we can grow from it.  My approach on learning evolves every day but lately I try to be on a balance depending on how I feel about the student I am jumping with To help him in his growing process as he is helping me in mine It feels like an exchange of knowledge and I am always thankful for that A mistake is a treasure because we can grow from it SolAjado represents the perfect energetic balance smooth and sensitive flight between sólido and relajado – SolAjado.  It began as a joke from my friend from Puerto Vallarta And I used it to name one of the events I organize in Mexico during the last night of the SolAjado event A Campechano is a taco made with different types of meat So I decided to use it to name the second big event of the year I organize in México [Note, you can sign up to these events on Rémi’s website] I actually became a little out of balance again during and after the Fly4life Camps this year so I am not in a good position to answer It’s an easy thing to fall into as a coach. But I began to feel better when I found new projects to support with more values to my eyes and when I started training for myself again.  Having another circle of friends helps too And being in nature is the one thing which always fixes everything right away to reconnect with this little thing inside me and be able to create with less external influences.  More projects involving positive impacts with the help of the skydiving community (planting trees I’m always looking for more balance to bring to the community and more events in different locations to show off the beauty of Mexico I find new projects where I can put energy into positive impacts on the planet I get involved in the local community to help maintain sustainable activities like organic growing process reforestation and I feel a lot better now because of this I want and will involve the skydiving community to support this project with donations or actions to help to keep a balance between what we take from planet Earth and what we give to her in return In this way I involved an indigenous community to do the gifts of the last SolAjado event I will use sustainable textile and involve another community for this next one coming in September Rémi Angéli is grateful to be sponsored by Performance Designs, UPT and CYPRES If you want to learn more about his adventures and his events follow his site or his Facebook page Alethia is a passionate full time international angle and freefly coach As the creator of LSD Bigway Camps and LSD Angle Camps she's been running skills camps in skydiving for over 8 years around the world Some of her coaching and LSD camps have taken her to Botswana love of good health and healthy living into the way she coaches angle flying and vertical flying Alethia was a regional captain for the Women's Vertical World Record and has two world records You can find her on Instagram at Instagram.com/alethiaja Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" You have successfully joined our subscriber list About Skydive Mag Contact Us Advertise Terms of Service Advertising Terms Contributor Terms Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Skydive Mag Limited is a company registered in England and Wales at Companies House with company number 06587800 Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie PolicyWebsite by Kevin Blackledge Protesters march in November 2020 following the National Guard’s eviction of the Apatlaco plantón (Photo from the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y el Agua de Morelos MEXICO CITY — Operations at the newly constructed thermoelectric plant in Huexca despite yearslong delays caused by vocal opposition and unresolved legal issues Local communities have resisted the plant that would generate electricity as part of the larger Proyecto Integral Morelos (Morelos Integral Project) including potential environmental impacts on the water used by local communities as well as the government’s lack of transparency surrounding the projects Huexca is about two hours south of Mexico City by car “For ten years we have been fighting and asking for justice,” said Antonia Nava Martínez imposition and name-calling; insults for defending our human and collective rights wanting to eradicate our collective identity.” As workers have continued to conduct tests at the plant worth 22 billion pesos (over $1 billion) grassroots resistors forming the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y el Agua de Morelos Puebla y Tlaxcala (Peoples’ Front in Defense of the Land and Earth of Morelos Puebla and Tlaxcala) have protested outside of the facility since December overexploitation and earthquakes have decreased the flow of the river it is our native pueblos who are using the river water,” said Nava Martínez who has been an ejidataria of ASURCO for over 25 years “We have no other way of living… without water Protesters in opposition to the Proyecto Integral Morelos sit at the plantón Morelos before it was vacated by the National Guard in November 2020 Although the government approved the Manifestación de Impacto Ambiental (Environmental Impact Statement) necessary for the thermoelectric plant to be constructed that assessment took into account neither the aqueduct’s full impacts on the Cuautla River nor ASURCO members’ water rights In a March 2 press conference Flores Solís said that the aqueduct’s construction and operation are illegal because the CFE lacks the required permits including one to “change the use of water from agricultural to industrial.” Though the president of ASURCO supposedly signed an agreement with CFE and other relevant parties to divert water to the thermoelectric plant ASURCO members were not consulted in full before the signing “Operations at the thermoelectric plant have not been able to start because of technical problems and also because the amparos continue to be valid,” Flores Solís said He stated that against various parts of the Proyecto Integral Morelos which are extraordinary constitutional appeals filed in federal courts that serve to protect the rights of ejidatarios The government has continued to not acknowledge the amparos and the requested suspensions of project activities, with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claiming last year that they were all “resolved.”  In recent months the FPDTA-MPT has resorted to other legal remedies including filing “incidents of violations of suspensions” with federal courts and a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights the IACHR demanded that the federal government provide it with further information on the project status and respect the amparo-related suspensions Members of the FPDTA-MPT believe that the thermoelectric plant merely previews more industrialization projects to be constructed in Morelos down the line like industrial parks—all of which would require additional water supplies “The thermoelectric is the heart of everything that could come,” said Jorge Velázquez a member of FPDTA-MPT and a native of Amilcingo an indigenous Nahua community located seven kilometers from the plant Protesters stage a demonstration in Cuernavaca on the second anniversary of the death of Samir Flores Soberanes a Nahua activist from Amilcingo who was murdered in 2019 for his work opposing the project The CFE maintains that the thermoelectric plant is necessary since it would meet 80% of energy demand in Morelos The objective coheres with López Obrador’s pursuit of greater energy self-sufficiency for Mexico during his sexenio He has begun to achieve this in part by bolstering state-owned companies like the CFE and the petroleum monopoly Petróleos Mexicanos through protectionist policies which critics argue also discourage investments in clean energy When López Obrador toured communities in Morelos during his 2018 presidential campaign “that the thermoelectric would not pass and we believed in him,” said Velázquez Jacob Alabab-Moser is a Mexico City-based freelance journalist. Twitter: @JAlababMoser […] Alabab-Moser reports in Latino Rebels: “Operations at the newly constructed thermoelectric plant in Huexca […] Rebels recently reported that the newly constructed thermoelectric plant in Huexca […] Peoples’ Front has argued that the aqueduct – that will take 50 million litres of water a day from the Cuautla River to plant to cool its turbines – is illegal because CONAGUA has not granted […] […] Rebels has reported: “To cool the turbines at the plant the adjoining aqueduct must draw 50 million liters of water […] […] reported: “To cool the turbines at the [thermoelectric] plant the adjoining aqueduct must draw 50 million liters of water daily from the Cuautla […] […] Latino Rebels has reported: “To cool the turbines at the plant This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. It was the early morning of a spring day in 2020 A dozen workers arrived in two trucks escorted by armed men aboard a van the high-pitched shriek of chainsaws scared the birds into flight through the canopy of the trees This was followed by the noise of the crane’s motor and the shouts of those who organized the handling of large trunks of pines The episode wasn’t news for the inhabitants of that corner of the Sierra de Cacoma The forests in the contiguous lands had been felled under the same pattern and for the same purpose: to transform those sites into avocado orchards “They felled trees that had not been touched for many decades an inheritance from my father and my grandfather; it seems that there is no one who can stop them,” the ranch owner complained bitterly during a meeting of the Jalisco Regional Livestock Union The state’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Ana Lucía Camacho who for security reasons asks that his identity be kept anonymous remembers what he said that day: the destruction of his forestlands happened at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic He was out of the country since he was a migrant like a good number of the natives of Cuautla famous in the United States for their Mexican food restaurants The man who looks after his land called him with the news: Strangers had invaded the ranch and cut down an old-growth rodal and I wanted to turn it into a space for cabins for ecotourism Cuautla is a sparsely populated municipality located to the west of Jalisco Its coniferous forests situated in mountainous areas have been preserved for years That changed in the last decade when avocado fever arrived in these lands subsequently spreading through various forested regions of Mexico and comes accompanied by the territorial control of mafias and organized crime — in this particular case part of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) which emerged from a split in the Sinaloa Cartel between 2010 and 2012 the wood and the ranches,” explains the migrant from Cuautla they arrive with the avocados … it is a business that they completely control.” In his case completely invaded the southern region of Jalisco and now grows in places like the Sierra de Cacoma which runs parallel to the coast in western Mexico where criminal groups control most economic activities Michoacán is the leading avocado (Persea americana) producer in Mexico: 70% of the entire area planted in the country with Persea americana trees is in this state, according to statistics from the Agriculture and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP) The expansion of this crop to the west placed Jalisco as the second-largest producer with 11% of the total planted area in the country The same official SIAP data allow us to observe that the area planted with avocado trees has increased considerably in states such as Colima the expansion of avocado orchards is notorious just over 8,400 hectares (about 20,750 acres) of avocado were planted in the state that area tripled and reached the figure of 27,779 hectares (68,643 acres) studies carried out by the environmental authorities of Jalisco estimate that the space occupied by avocado orchards is a little more than double that reported where the SIAP data show a considerable increase in the area planted with avocado during the last decade Satellite images of the last 10 years and analyses carried out by the environmental authorities of Jalisco show that as areas planted with avocado are gained These data allow us to gauge the size of that loss a tree is felled illegally in the mountains of Jalisco to establish avocado plantations in its place there will be 401,500 trees and 1,054 ha (2,604 acres three times the size of Central Park in New York) These are some of the preliminary figures that can be extracted from the study “Analysis of land use change in the agricultural frontier of the state of Jalisco” soon to be published and prepared by the Ministry of the Environment and Territorial Development (SEMADET) implementing public policies for the conservation of natural resources The study identifies 4,439 orchards dedicated to avocado cultivation totaling around 56,504 ha (140,000 acres) for the entire state of Jalisco (almost double what the SIAP reports) The analysis carried out by SEMADET found that 28,336 ha (70,000 acres) cultivated with avocado are located in areas that around 17 times the size of the Chapultepec Forest) corresponds to land where the forest cover was felled to introduce avocado The study also highlights that this forest loss accelerated from 2019; since then at least 5,160 ha (12,750 acres) of forests have been transformed into avocado orchards an area equivalent to the total forest areas lost in the previous 15 years across the state of Jalisco Those 5,160 ha of forest — just over seven times the area of the Chapultepec Forest — that were lost in the last three years contained pine-oak forest (75%) semi-deciduous forest (0.4%) and cloud forest (0.2%) the SEMADET authorities acknowledge that the loss of forests could accelerate due to what happened in July 2022: The United States government authorized the marketing of avocados from Jalisco in the United States (in addition to those harvested in Michoacán) is one of the municipalities where the forest is burned to expand avocado orchards Kilometer 3.5 of the El Milanés gap: This main road connects the Ciudad Guzmán-Autlán highway with the Nevado de Colima National Park entrance oyamel and alpine zacatal (grassland) forest sanctuary Just under 7,000 ha (17,300 acres) are located on the upper part of the largest mountain in western Mexico you can see a motor grader (tractor on wheels and a curved blade used to remove earth and level land) with the logo of the state program known as A toda máquina a devastating spectacle is revealed in the Nevado de Colima National Park area: a 3-hectare (7.4-acre) ravine almost completely cleared The change in the landscape happened in April 2020 The Easter holiday period was used to bring in machines and remove all the vegetation the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) has not given authorizations to change the use of forestland to establish avocado orchards in Jalisco according to the response given by the federal agency to a request for information made for this journalistic project Nor is it necessary to clarify the nonexistence of permits They don’t need them; a maña agreement [a term used in this region to refer to the CJNG] controls the territories This was reported to the state government and PROFEPA [the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection] but nothing has happened,” says a frightened local Changing the use of forestland without authorization from SEMARNAT is a federal crime that should be punished with six months to nine years in prison or a fine ranging from 12,000 to 370,000 pesos ($697 to $21,500) “All of this is almost always a dead letter,” says a disillusioned Gerardo Bernabé Aguayo president of the Board of Trustees of the Nevado de Colima National Park the environmental authorities of Jalisco sued PROFEPA for irregular changes in the use of forestland in 108 properties in the south of the state; the estimate of the affected area is just over 1,573 ha (3,887 acres) which is equivalent to more than four times the area occupied by Central Park in New York information was requested from PROFEPA on the status of the lawsuit filed by the Jalisco environmental authority and has yet to receive a response What PROFEPA did respond to were requests for information on the administrative procedures initiated for unauthorized changes in the use of forestland in Jalisco Another piece of information reflects the impunity around the transformation of forests into avocado monocultures PROFEPA inspected and closed 18 properties in the south of Jalisco where forestland use was changed without authorization Only in four of these cases have fines been paid There needs to be a compliance record of mitigation and restoration measures has only opened seven investigation folders for the alleged crime of changing forestland use in Jalisco All are ongoing; six of them started in 2020 which the environmental authorities of Jalisco presented on March 4 “against whoever is responsible,” for the change of use of forestland without authorization to plant avocado in the Salsipuedes River Basin According to technical reports prepared by the University of Guadalajara the forest loss in that area caused the landslides on June 2 a mudslide covered part of the town of San Gabriel “We lived through the tragedy of my mother we don’t even have a body to cry over,” says lawyer María Guadalupe Gómez Figueroa Forced to activism after the loss of her mother the inhabitant of San Gabriel reports that the felled forests have not been restored With 2.5% of world avocado production, Chile, among the top five exporters globally, had to reduce the area dedicated to this fruit due to the severe droughts the country is experiencing and the growing social conflicts due to the lack of water This has caused a decline in their exports Michoacán and Jalisco could be on the cusp of that destination a researcher at the Michoacán University of Saint Nicolás of Hidalgo who specializes in studying the environmental effects of avocados The researcher’s analyses show the great contrast between the water an avocado tree needs and the forest varieties found in a natural forest on the Purépecha plateau in Michoacán The scientist does not rule out that the excessive use of available water will cause political conflicts over water in the coming months where up to 85% of national production is concentrated satellite images of sites south of Jalisco where the forest was razed to install avocado monocultures were compared the same pattern is observed: The area is cleared avocado trees are planted and shortly after This reduces infiltration and runoff to low-lying areas Localities with just over 1,000 inhabitants located on the northern slope of Nevado de Colima in San Gabriel receive water through pipas (water tank trucks) even though they are adjacent to the forest area In recent times they also have as neighbors the avocado orchards that are displacing the forest there have also been drastic changes in land use that have replaced pine and holm oak groves with avocado trees The lack of water is a daily chronicle in the San Andrés Apango delegation especially for those who live on the highest slopes and we have not received water through the pipes since they built the new well about five months ago but now we depend on a pipa that the city council sends us,” says Marina Jacobo Beltrán as she walks down a steep street The woman hesitates to point to the avocado orchards as those responsible for the lack of water: “They have given many employments The overexploitation of water brings other problems to the region the primary urban center of southern Jalisco the aquifer registers an annual deficit of 21 million cubic meters according to data from the National Water Commission The physical loss of this water generates internal collapses in the subsoil problems already suffered by the inhabitants of Primavera II coupled with an active geological fault found in the region “We need to recover the balance of the aquifer,” says the municipal president of Zapotlán El Grande but the abuse [in use] of water has caused a dramatic decline and active fault lines crisscross this entire city.” Barragán highlights the other damage generated by the avocado monoculture: the significant deforestation of the basin which causes geological material to be dragged every year from the Nevado de Colima to the bed of the Zapotlán lagoon a natural reservoir of almost 1,400 ha (3,500 acres) that is the pride of the region rocks and wood remains come down with the rains from the deforested properties and accentuate the clogging of the lagoon overflows the reservoir and increasingly threatens agricultural properties and human settlements on the shores “An intervention to clear the silt is urgent,” says the mayor the long-term project: retaining the soil in the high mountains the municipality of Zapotlán El Grande lost 1,171 ha (2,893 acres) of tree cover its neighbor San Gabriel was left without 2,605 ha (6,437 acres) according to an analysis carried out by Global Forest Watch (GFW) and the World Resources Institute (WRI-Mexico) shared with Mongabay Latam for this journalistic project The director of the Nevado de Colima National Park points out that steps have been taken to recover the forest area with the creation of a high-tech nursery where native pines of the region are grown to reforest up to 2,000 ha (4,942 acres) of ravines that have been devastated by the lack of control over avocado expansion the last hope to recover a region on the brink of collapse,” warns Villa Castillo the strategy against crime will not be viable while they dominate these markets.” The warning was given when the officers received information that the criminal group Caballeros Templarios financed the phytosanitary certification of avocado orchards in Michoacán told then-President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa “They are strongly intertwined with the business the avocado business finances the entire chain that they control,” says Mayorga Castañeda producer associations and even analyses carried out by state authorities indicate that the collection of “floor rights” affects the producers of some 30,000 orchards in Michoacán and just over 4,000 in Jalisco the control of criminal organizations is present in the entire avocado production process “They decide what part of the forest should be cleared and who is going to be allowed to put the avocados; they also decide on other types of crops and management on whom the product is sold to … and in general on all things in the life of the town,” explains an ejidatario (common land resident) from Tuxpan a Nahua Indigenous town located at the foot of the Nevado de Colima they have suffered from this for a long time “They have cut down our forests and imposed the avocado on the seriously attacked communities.” This was denounced by community member Faustino Zarco during a protest held at a crossing on the Uruapan-Paracho highway “The government covers them and leaves us alone we defend ourselves as best we can with the self defense groups: We set up guards at night so they don’t cut down or burn the forests.” The protest that day mobilized Purépecha communities at six highway crossings demanding support from the government of Michoacán and intervening to curb extortion and invasions of their forests to loot wood and establish avocado orchards PROFEPA reports having carried out 58 closures of properties and 118 various procedures on 852 ha in which the use of forestland was changed without authorization The director of the Interdisciplinary Group of Appropriate Rural Technology points out that the aggression against communal (ejido) structures in Michoacán has been brutal and has had the complicity of personnel from the National Agrarian Registry and the Agrarian Attorney’s Office There are cases in which they buy entire ejidos (commons).” He often points out that not even the avocado orchard will prosper because the land is unsuitable for that crop “These lands remain unproductive and do not require a minor investment: You must invest at least 700,000 pesos per hectare (around $40,000) I do not find the rationality of this,” he underlines He does not rule out that it is a strategy of territorial appropriation and money laundering an Indigenous community in the Purépecha plateau region of Michoacán is a unique case in defending the forest against the interests of criminal gangs arrested the criminals and burned the trucks What happened that day opened the way for this Indigenous community to establish their self-government Today Cherán is an oasis in the desert; no avocado orchards are on their lands the dream of quick wealth for industrious individuals even if they have to share profits with the cartel lords in power Javier Magaña Cárdenas is a forestry businessman from southern Jalisco who has dedicated himself to managing forests he viewed the rise of avocados in a forested region full of environmental values with pessimism; now he stresses that planting avocados is good business “and good businesses leave money to reinvest in your living.” The businessman says he believes that geomatics (a set of geospatial analysis techniques) can help people to understand which orchard that each avocado that enters the market comes from these tools will stop the commercialization of avocados harvested at the expense of forests also an avocado producer in the Piedra Ancha area assures that most of his colleagues are small producers and that he does not know of any who have grown their orchards at the expense of the forest defending the avocado brand will mean distinguishing producers who work by the law from those who have violated it Producers know that there is a growing stigma attached to Mexican avocados due to the environmental damage that their production entails If environmental certifications advance quickly there is a way to demonstrate which product does not come from deforested land This is a task that the government of Jalisco and the Association of Avocado Producers of Jalisco promote under the signature of the Rainforest Alliance certifier a nongovernmental organization based in the United States that supports sustainability between forests and rural economies which has done similar work with avocado trees in Guatemala they have already been certified around 1,500 ha (3,706 acres) Jalisco is the first entity in the country that works to achieve green certification and with the growing demand for deforestation-free avocados in international markets avocado growers will close the doors to their products The Association of Avocado Producers and Packers of Mexico the most substantial organization in this area in the country and made up mostly of producers from Michoacán has not yet incorporated forest certification but claims to have replanted 1,500 ha of forests and be aligning the instruments to respect the North American free trade agreement And while the certifications advance at a slow pace the traditional peasant structures are erased and retirement projects collapse for hard-working migrants who have made the region famous in some 400 Mexican restaurants in Washington learned that his old forest had been razed he has managed to prevent avocado trees from being planted on his land shrubs and bushes; some pines and oaks have begun to grow the only thing that dominates the landscape is rows of dozens and dozens of avocado trees Banner image: Avocado orchards in the municipality of San Gabriel This story was reported by Mongabay’s Latam team and first published here on our Latam site on Aug Indigenous agroforestry dying of thirst amid a sea of avocados in Mexico The “fortress conservation” model is under pressure in East Africa as protected areas become battlegrounds over history and global efforts to halt biodiversity loss Mongabay’s Special Issue goes beyond the region’s world-renowned safaris to examine how rural communities and governments are reckoning with conservation’s colonial origins and trying to forge a path forward […] Three men who were hoping to stand as candidates in municipal and state elections in June were murdered in separate incidents in three states in the first week of January who aspired to become a National Action Party (PAN) deputy in the state Congress was the first would-be political candidate to be murdered in 2024 The 37-year-old was shot and killed by a lone gunman at a Cuautla gymnasium last Thursday His murder preceded the homicides of mayoral aspirants David Rey González The Chiapas Attorney General’s Office reported that the former was found dead in Suchiate a municipality on the southern border with Guatemala president of a local landowners’ association who aspired to represent the PAN the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) in the Suchiate mayoral election the municipality where he hoped to stand as the Citizens Movement party candidate in the June 2 mayoral election No arrests have been reported in any of the three cases. Another aspiring politician, Ricardo Taja, was murdered in Acapulco He was hoping to represent the ruling Morena party in the lower house of federal Congress The murders of the three “pre-candidates” in the first week of the year came around five months before the June 2 elections, which will be the largest in Mexico’s history Voters will elect over 19,000 people to federal In terms of homicides, the 2018 elections in which Andrés Manuel López Obrador won a landslide victory in the presidential race were the most violent in Mexican history with 48 candidates murdered Scores of incumbent politicians were also murdered during the nine-month electoral period Writing in the newspaper Criterio Hidalgo well-known journalist Eduardo Ruiz-Healy said that there is no doubt that “many politicians” and people close to them will be killed during the electoral period leading up to the June 2 elections “It remains to be seen whether the number of homicides and non-lethal aggressions will break the current record,” he wrote Xóchitl Gálvez who will represent the PAN-PRI-PRD alliance Strength and Heart for Mexico at the presidential election weighed in on last week’s murders at an event in Pachuca “It’s serious and delicate that three opposition candidates have been murdered in recent days,” she said “… I’m going to tell the president that the opposition isn’t his enemy a democratic country [where] it’s okay to think differently,” Gálvez said She claimed that her main rival for the presidency, ruling Morena party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum “keeps quiet” and buries her head in the sand “like an ostrich” when “crimes against citizens and candidates occur.” “She simply maintains that we’re fine … when what we see is a bloodbath,” Gálvez said “It’s a shame because I thought she was a woman with more guts.” Sheinbaum predicted a “peaceful election,” and said that the federal government is working to “deal with the insecurity problem” and would continue to do so Homicides declined in the first 11 months of 2023 compared to the same period of 2022 but murder numbers remained high at over 27,000 Police in Morelos have arrested 10 suspected crime gang members connected with drug trafficking and homicides including that of a farmworkers’ leader involved in the creation of community self-defense forces Security Commissioner Alberto Capella told a press conference today that the suspects have been linked to the crime gang leader known as El Ray who is believed to be connected to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel The gang is suspected of killing Romualdo Ixpango Merino after he announced the formation of self-defense groups in Ayala and Cuautla to protect communities against organized crime His partially-burned body was found on Tuesday in Cuautla “It is believed that these subjects took the life of the farmworkers’ leader after he called on the municipalities of Ayala and Cuautla to rise up in arms against organized crime,” Capella said The 10 arrests were made in two operations Capella said the primary objective of security forces is to arrest the gang leader known as El Ray Rising crime in Morelos, particularly extortion, has triggered the formation of self-defense forces in at least nine municipalities Source: Milenio (sp), El Sol de Cuernavaca (sp) have become the first group of farmers in the state to openly grow marijuana as a legitimate agricultural crop One hundred marijuana plants have been planted in the Cuautlixco ejido (communal land area) and the group plans to cultivate a total of 500 plants according to farmer and activist Isidrio Cisneros More are planned in two other Morelos towns — Anenecuilco and Xalostoc Cisneros says the plants in Cuautlixco will be used to produce medicinal products such as CBD oil The activist and the Cuautlixco ejido members are part of a statewide campaign to promote the legal planting of marijuana for sale in Morelos In August 2021, farmers from Tetecala, along with various marijuana legalization organizations, marched in front of the offices of the state health regulatory agency in Cuernavaca with marijuana plants in tow and joints in hand. The farmers requested a license to grow the crop viewing it as a more lucrative alternative to sugar cane farming Farmers from around the state and civil society organizations from Morelos and various states signed a document last fall called the Tetecala Plan that calls for liberalizing the production sale and export of marijuana throughout the country The document was sent to President López Obrador but there has yet to be an official response to the group’s demands the Morelos Human Rights Commission recently released a statement granting protection to farmers who grow marijuana in the state “There was a lot of misinformation about the openness to [marijuana] that has slowed its cultivation,” it said [farmers] are realizing that the situation has changed and that there is more acceptance on the part of the government now.” With reports from El Sol de Cuernavaca, El Sol de Cuernavaca  and Aristegui Noticias a woman has died after being doused with a flammable liquid and set on fire 23 days after she was attacked by a family member in her home Her death followed that of Luz Raquel Padilla, a Jalisco woman who passed away last Tuesday after she was doused with alcohol and set on fire in a park near her home in Zapopan her mother and her son were attacked on July 1 in an incident reportedly related to a family dispute over a home aggressors arrived at the 30-year-old’s home with sticks a machete and a container filled with gasoline A man identified as Primitivo Rangel – an in-law of the victim – doused Ceceña her son and Andrea Martínez with gasoline and attempted to set all three alight Ceceña sustained second and third degree burns to 70% of her body in the attack while her mother and son managed to avoid being burned Ceceña was initially treated in a Cuautla hospital before she was transferred to the National Rehabilitation Institute in southern Mexico City where she died in the intensive care unit on Sunday the Morelos Attorney General’s Office (FGE) will investigate the crime as a femicide no one had been arrested in connection with the attack told Milenio Televisión that the FGE advised her that arrest warrants have been issued but questioned why no one has been detained “A month has passed and I haven’t seen them catch those who did this to my daughter,” she said Martínez said that her daughter had reported threats and previous acts of violence to authorities she’s dead and they still haven’t acted,” she added With reports from Reforma and Milenio Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker A semi-truck lost its brakes and collided with more than a dozen vehicles on the Mexico City-Cuautla highway on Wednesday morning killing at least six people and injuring 21 the truck lost its brakes around 8:30 this morning near Tetelcingo When the driver realized that his brakes weren’t working he attempted to alert other drivers by flashing his lights but lost control of the truck and crashed into 15 other vehicles on the highway before hitting a building and coming to a halt Emergency services arrived at the scene from the municipalities of Ayala Yecapixtla and Cuautla and transported 17 people to nearby hospitals A pregnant woman in critical condition was flown by helicopter to the Cuernavaca General Hospital while firefighters spent an hour putting out the fire in the runaway truck was able to escape his vehicle before it caught fire Morelos Public Works Secretary Fidel Giménez Valdez told reporters that the government will expropriate a property near the highway to build a runaway truck ramp to prevent future accidents of this kind “The state government is going to expropriate the land to build the ramp,” he said “The Communications and Transportation Secretariat will provide the resources and carry out the project.” Giménez added that an emergency escape ramp has been needed in the area for the past 30 years but the project has been delayed by a local landowner who is demanding 10 times the market price for a property with highway frontage Police reopened circulation on the Mexico City-Cuautla highway at 11:00am We take no responsibility for the accuracy of the translation the Independent Union of Free and Democratic Workers of Saint-Gobain Mexico has won the right to represent workers at the group’s Cuautla factory a ballot was held at the factory in Cuautla where 957 workers voted for the Independent Union of Free and Democratic Workers of Saint-Gobain Mexico affiliated with the former Confederation of Workers and Peasants (CTC) Another ballot was held in July on the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the CTC union saying it had been negotiated behind their backs In the months leading up to the second ballot employees say they have been harassed and bullied by the CTC union being told they could lose the benefits set out in collective agreement if they voted for the independent union "The steps so far have not been easy: our union has been the subject of slander defamation and misinformation by the other union But we haven’t let ourselves get pulled into their game We are here to represent our workers democratically – we won’t negotiate behind their backs and won’t mismanage our union,” general secretary of the Independent Union of Free and Democratic Workers of Saint-Gobain Mexico "We welcome this great victory for Saint-Gobain workers Mexican workers need to keep winning in their fight against employer protection contracts to     succeed in eradicating a practice that has been harmful to workers' rights in Mexico They will also succeed in ensuring genuine union representation for employees in all workplaces." IndustriALL Global Union’s affiliates represent over 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining We take up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights around the world © Copyright 2018 - IndustriALL - We care about your personal information and data. Take a look at our Privacy Policy April 17th 2018 history was written in the sky in Huztililla 49 skydivers jumped simultaneously from three planes at 16,000 ft high and made the largest formation ever built in Mexico After several months where they kept practicing and preparing the team set up a date for Sunday April 15 to start the challenge and Eduardo Correa were in charge to lead the team towards the goal there were 5 attempt jumps but the formation didn’t get completed the team managed to get in total synchrony the sky vibrated and they all achieved that long-awaited connection and that was how they established a new National Skydiving Record! This was a significant achievement as it bettered the previous Mexican record of 40 by almost a quarter Mexican 49-way National Record It’s important to highlight the great effort that skydivers captains and organizers made during the long training time because with that discipline and dedication they made it possible for this great goal So does the infrastructure and safety of Skydive Cuautla being the venue for this historical event The mexican sport is on celebration and with great pride this record is dedicated to our beloved Ussy the daughter of Antonio Montaño DZO of Skydive Cuautla and Karin Anzures DZO of Skydive Puerto Rico maybe one of the youngest skydivers holding a record already She had a special waiver by USPA to be able to jump in Puerto Rico Karincita started to jump when she was 3 years old with her father and she made 50 tandem jumps before she was 15 years old She’s been super lucky to jump with the best – even some of the Mafiosos of the Latin Skydiving team Cuban doctors will treat residents of the city of Cuautla as part of an exchange with the local medical community The government of Cuautla announced the visit of “a delegation” of Cuban doctors with the objective of “generating an exchange of knowledge, experiences, realities and good practices” among doctors from both countries, according to El Diario de Morelos which does not specify the number of professionals from the island who will be arriving in Mexico The visit is scheduled “for the end of September” and is part of a common agenda between the Mexican city of Cuautla and the Cuban city of Matanzas among which there is a Twinning Agreement that just turned 20 years old “Five or six exchanges have already been held” during that time in charge of the Office of International Affairs of the city hall of Cuautla Aguilar explained that on this occasion the exchange “not only consists in the visit it is a concrete task with the local medical community and the No as well as with other municipalities of the eastern region of the State so that this also has an inter-municipal approach.” The exchange “foresees two weeks of visits to different hospitals” to which “the College of Physicians of Cuautla would be invited.” In addition he said that the intention is that it “benefit the local population with a mid- and long-term vision” and also for the island’s professionals “to get to know a little of the local idiosyncrasy and culture.” The visit will focus on the treatment of ulcers and stomas sharing and seeing the good or the common that exists between the two sister cities and applying it tropicalizing it in the context of Cuautla and in the Cuban context,” commented Aguilar After the arrival of Andrés Manuel López Obrador to the Mexican presidency there was speculation that Cuba would establish a medical mission in Mexico driven by the affinities between both governments and the end of the island’s cooperation in Brazil AMLO desmiente que México contratará a médicos cubanos de Brasil citing “sources close to the Mexican government,” that the cooperation agreement is underway and that as part of it thousands of Cuban physicians should arrive in Mexico without there being another official statement regarding this Last June, health authorities from the two countries held a meeting in Mexico to “strengthen” institutional relations which was attended by Lázaro Cárdenas Batel chief of advisers of the Mexican Presidency and Cuban Minister of Public Health José Ángel Portal it was insisted that one of the priorities of the López Obrador government is to achieve “the universalization of health services.” The general director of the Mexican Social Security Institute said that both parties should advance “in updating the technical cooperation memorandum of understanding” in order to “give continuity and validity to the main issues of the common agenda particularly in primary health care.” The conversation here is moderated according to OnCuba News discussion guidelines. Please read the Comment Policy before joining the discussion. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions. OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. OnCuba and the OnCuba logo are registered® trademarks of Fuego Enterprises, Inc., its subsidiaries or divisions. OnCuba © by Fuego Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved. She has offered three concerts in Costa Rice and has a musical repertoire that includes pieces by Mozart, Schumann and Chopin, as well as iconic pieces from Mexican culture such as “Cielito lindo,” by composer Quirino Mendoza y Cortes. Her mother, Imelda Cruz, told EFE that she made a considerable effort to ensure that her daughter, who is now 34, could achieve her dream. Isaura has Trisomy 21, a chromosome anomaly that causes Down Syndrome in more than 90 percent of the cases where it appears. “When she was very small, her father bought her a keyboard and she played it with two fingers. We came to Cuautla, in Morelos state, and began to look for a teacher to see if they could continue giving her classes to see if she could learn to play,” her mother said. Many years later, after knocking fruitlessly on many doors to see if her daughter could learn to play, the family met concert pianist Nadia Arce, whose playing fascinated them, when she was giving a recital at a shopping mall. They decided to ask her if she could teach Isaura to play the piano. She agreed and the girl began working with a teacher who significantly changed her life and charted her career. “She gives classes up until the present day. She doesn’t live here and (gives the classes) via Skype,” said Imelda. In an interview with EFE, Nadia Arce said that “it was fantastic” to be able to teach Isaura “because I never took courses in musical pedagogy.” Since there was no Braille music reading system, they had to make accommodations and invent a way that Isaura could “feel the texture and identify the musical notes.” Arce said that love and passion for what they’re doing is essential in helping children with difficulties achieve their dreams. “Above all, they have to have love inside themselves,” she said. “I’ve had marvelous experiences with children: epileptic attacks, a deaf-mute boy; I’ve had students with different special characteristics,” she said. Although no precise figures exist, in Mexico there is approximately one case of Down Syndrome per 650 births, but among women over 50 the figure is one per 42 births. Imelda said that her daughter “has exceeded all expectations that one can have.” Isaura graduated with a degree in music from the Autonomous University of Morelos and in August she will travel to Colombia to perform in the first “Pianothon,” scheduled for Aug. 22-23 in the city of Medellin. EEUU Internacional México Entretenimiento Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map Martin Soltero may have left his hometown of Cuautla but he’s still surrounded by a taste of home cooking from his native land – especially in the kitchen of Mr located in the heart of Midtown Bonney Lake Make sure you clear your calendar for the annual Memorial Day Service on May 25 Local distillers will be competing for your vote for who makes the best cocktail.