took office on Tuesday wearing a dress designed by embroiderer Claudia Vásquez Aquino Originally from Santa María Xadani in the southern state of Oaxaca told the newspaper El País that about a year ago they gave me guidelines so I could decide on the embroidery and the flower design But I didn’t know it would be for [Sheinbaum],” she said The president’s ivory inauguration-day dress was made using the hand-knitting technique of crocheting on cotton fabric and elastane “The embroidery features more than 100 flowers on the skirt and on the cuffs,” Vásquez explained “I feel very proud,” Vázques remarked of her design Vásquez told El Páis that she learned to embroider at the age of 10 “Just as I was born with Zapotec [her native language] I was born with embroidery,” she said proudly first with needlework and then with weaving My brothers Carlos and María also learned and together we have undertaken a small textile project.”  The project is called Lari Guie’, which means embroidered fabric in Zapotec. The designer’s Facebook page indicates that they sell online and at sales expos Vásquez is currently president of the Association of Indigenous Artisan Communities of the State of Oaxaca which represents eight regions in the state This is not the first time that Claudia Sheinbaum has worn traditional clothing from the region the Doctor [Sheinbaum] obtains her pieces directly from artisans,” Vásquez said adding that it is a “privilege” that the new president wears “typical clothing” from the different regions of Mexico “I am very excited that this piece of textile, woven by my hands, my heart and my mind, will be worn by the president. It is a very strong commitment, so we ask her to also defend our textiles. She is the voice of the people,” Vásquez said in a separate interview to news outlet Aristegui Noticias “I hope one day I can meet her personally and shake her hand,” Vásquez said “I admire her a lot and I wish Mexico well with the first female president.”  The gold-colored national emblem on the presidential sash was also hand-embroidered This work was carried out by First Auxiliary Soldier Evangelina Rentería de la Cruz who also embroidered the sash bestowed on Sheinbaum’s predecessor With reports from El País ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC Embers blow off a burned tree after the LNU Lightning Complex Fire burned through the area on Aug Read on for a reminder of the ways Earth displayed its wrath in 2020 most of which were the result of heart attacks or other medical events within evacuation centers Related: The deadliest earthquakes in history Shallow earthquakes cause greater shaking at the surface increasing the intensity and damage from a quake.  and the moisture content of the dead and living fuel for the fires Land cover with native Eucalyptus and grazing land were particularly vulnerable.  Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox Ten people died in buildings that collapsed as a result of the quake.  The quake took place in the subduction zone where the Cocos Plate is descending under the North American Plate. The movement of these two plates creates what are called reverse faults, which occur where Earth's crust is being compressed This subduction zone also makes the southern Mexican coast seismically active in general the region has seen at least four quakes of magnitude 8 or above in the past century The most powerful earthquake of 2020 was a 7.8 magnitude temblor that struck off the coast of Alaska on July 22 The quake occurred on a thrust fault where one chunk of seafloor slid over another; this region off of Alaska is another subduction zone where the Pacific Plate is sliding under the North American Plate.  the Alaska Peninsula is sparsely populated no wave materialized — a relief to evacuated locals This fire consumed more than 1 million acres (400,000 hectares) in Mendocino It took three months to fully contain the fire which started with lightning strikes on Aug That means the top three fires in Colorado history all occurred in 2020 Their explosive potential was driven by drought heat and ample fuel: The mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) has killed massive swathes of pine forest in the state in part due to warmer temperatures driven by climate change.  At 2:51 p.m. local time on Oct. 30, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey killing 117 people and injuring more than 1,000 Two additional people died in Greece.  The epicenter of the quake was in the Aegean Sea and it triggered a small tsunami that flooded streets in Izmir's Seferihisar district were due to collapsing buildings in the Turkish town The storm also caused an estimated $7.2 billion worth of damage.  Eta was one of four Category 4 storms in 2020 —7 ways Earth changed in the blink of an eye —10 times nature was totally metal —10 ways Earth revealed its weirdness Related: The 11 biggest volcanic eruptions in history ejections of ash continued into the next day sending a plume 13,000 feet (4,000 m) skyward.  Stephanie PappasSocial Links NavigationLive Science ContributorStephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California La Niña is dead — what that means for this year's hurricanes and weather El Cono: The mysterious sacred 'pyramid' hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest World's first computer that combines human brain with silicon now available The ads promise Canadians an “incredibly private and unique ocean-front opportunity” in Oaxaca Far from the overcrowded beaches of Cancun but still accessible from Canada’s biggest cities Huatulco Beach Properties bills its new development as a chance for snowbirds to buy land and trade winter for “live musicians and cold cervezas.” On offer: nearly a dozen beachfront homes and six condominiums part of a residential project developed by two Albertans from St “Huatulco is full of friendly locals, who are eager to welcome you to your second home,” their promotions assure he is working hard to prevent their plans from coming to fruition Mendoza is part owner of 16,500 hectares stretching inland from the coast of Oaxaca at Santa María Xadani including the beachfront land Canadians claim they legally acquired Mendoza helped organize a meeting of communal land authorities six kilometers inland from where the Canadians are building there’s a pool near the beach and they’ve been cutting trees and removing plants and changing the land use without the consent of the general assembly of communal land owners,” Mendoza told The Breach Mendoza was elected president of the Communal Lands Commission which represents the legal owners of lands belonging to Santa María Xadani and its associated communities While some in his community are involved in low-wage jobs in hotels and the service industry in Huatulco others remain connected to traditional lifeways the Communal Lands Commission is in a battle against land theft by outsiders environmental degradation and unchecked water use and its members are deeply concerned about the future of their territory the Communal Lands Commission has used every legal recourse available to prevent the division and sale of their lands.  conflicts between communal land owners and government authorities have led to a great deal of confusion which has often been exploited by those attempting to claim communally-owned beachfront as their own Mendoza said previous members of the Communal Lands Commission allowed a Mexican national to build a single house on the beach and now a group of Canadians think they’re the owners a representative of Huatulco Beach Properties told The Breach in an interview that prospective buyers shouldn’t worry about the risks of buying coastal land in Mexico a lawyer who works with the Communal Lands Commission Santa María Xadani irregularities and corruption in land titling are so common in Oaxaca that a piece of paper saying you own a lot isn’t a guarantee of much at all it’s like if I wanted to sell you Oaxaca City’s Central Park referring to the imposing Zapotec ceremonial site built over 2,500 years ago.  and I have a friend who is a notary,” said Morales “I can give you a piece of paper that says you own Monte Albán a Mexican government expropriation legalized the buying and selling of formerly communal land in Huatulco And though the Canadians marketing their residential project say their development is in Huatulco it is in fact in another municipality.  Add to that the fact that Mexico’s constitution prevents foreigners from owning land within 50 kilometers of the coastline which means Canadian buyers must employ bank trusts to acquire ocean view properties The Breach asked Carse what his response is to Santa María Xadani’s Communal Lands Commission which says it owns the very same beachfront land Huatulco Beach Properties is building on.  “The easiest way to put it is that the locals are asking for donations,” said Carse “They act like all the land is theirs…but they know it’s not.” Overlooking the activities of Indigenous and rural communities while wilfully ignoring their ownership over the land has contributed to the myth that Oaxaca is undeveloped Efforts to remove sought-after beachfront lots from the jurisdiction of communal landowners have accelerated following the government’s massive expropriation at Huatulco in the mid 1980s The expropriation decree legalized the sale of formerly communal land local mayors in urban areas issued irregular titles for Santa María Xadani’s town center developers have started subdividing ecologically sensitive beachfront lands.  While the Canadians marketing the properties claim land sales in Mexico are protected by trade agreements the real issue isn’t seizure by the federal government it is the possibility that communal landowners could access justice and win the return of lands under their jurisdiction Many of the rural residents of the villages in Santa María Xadani have roots on the Pacific coast that reach back to time immemorial Their ancestors were granted collective title by Spanish colonial authorities in the 18th century.  became president of México and passed a law requiring the division and privatization of all of the country’s communal land This process was aggravated over the decades that followed and was a key factor in the rise of revolutionary figures like Emiliano Zapata in the early 20th century.  a series of Presidential Resolutions were passed enshrining collective ownership Indigenous land into law which are collective land grants made to groups of farmers Indigenous communal property was how the Mexican state recognized and returned lands to Indigenous people.  “Indigenous communities collectively worked these lands before the Spanish arrived to the continent communal Indigenous land isn’t a new idea,” said Salvador Aquino Centeno a Zapotec anthropologist at the Center for Research and Graduate Studies in Social Anthropology in the city of Oaxaca Indigenous communal land in Mexico cannot be bought or sold “Approximately 85 per cent of the territory in the state of Oaxaca is Indigenous communal land,” said Aquino Centeno That’s a considerably higher rate than in other states.  It wasn’t until 1980 that a highway was built along Oaxaca’s coast a presidential decree legalized the expropriation of 21,000 hectares of communally owned land to create a centrally planned tourist destination in Huatulco.  Local landowners never accepted the expropriation and continue to struggle for restitution The tension between authorities and communal landowners contributes to a “social context which is permanently in conflict,” according to a 2007 federal government White Paper on Huatulco.  which resonates through the entire state of Oaxaca is minimized by authorities who continue to promote tourism and ignored by tourists from Canada and the U.S. most of whom seem oblivious to the land theft that gave them access to the white sand beaches and cold margaritas they consume The fight in Santa María Xadani is one of three similar land conflicts along the coast of Oaxaca communal landowners erected blockades after they learned of efforts to privatize 300 hectares of beachfront land known as Tilzapote beach the solitary beach without a single hotel might conjure up the ultimate tropical escape is a key harvesting and fishing site.   “We are the owners of the entire rural area,” said Antonio Ramírez Hernández the President of the Communal Lands Commission of Cozoaltepec he survived an assassination attempt for his role in defending part of the 27,000 hectares of land his community collectively owns Their claim is backed up by a colonial era communal title a post-revolutionary Presidential Resolution He told The Breach his community’s main concern with new developments on the beach are the water shortages that will most certainly follow we’ll have to share our water,” said Ramírez Hernández Most of the 300 rural families in Cozoaltepec are Indigenous Zapotec and Black and keep their traditions alive through subsistence agriculture they have united around protecting their land the same way they come together for the traditional celebrations of Saint Francis in October and San Isidro in May A major housing and hotel development built by the Canadian ski champion and motivational speaker Carey Mullen stands as a stark warning for what can go wrong for communal land owners if their territory is fractured and developed A stone’s throw from the international airport in Puerto Escondido Mullen’s Vivo Resorts complex was built on 40 hectares of Indigenous communal land.  which is the gentrification of the beaches of Oaxaca,” said Morales in which native people are being illegally displaced.” Canadian realtors might manage to convince some retirees that they’ll sleep easy in brand new homes on empty beaches near towns full of friendly Oaxacans who will serve them cold drinks and delicious food.  and they have centuries of experience defending their ancestral lands we’re defending our rights as communal land owners and as citizens,” said Ramírez Hernández and we’ll continue this fight til the very end.” Want to support journalism you can believe in and voices mapping a just future—delivered straight to your inbox.  You can unsubscribe at any time. 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