Saturday, December 30, 2006

Xalapa, Veracruz: Governor says, "PEMEX gives us nothing but potholes in the highways."


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ The PEMEX logo. Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

I've been idly watching this unfolding drama for some time. There have been some mutterings in the news from time to time about the monetary costs of various Pemex spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures and ship sinkings. Now comes Veracruz Governor Fidel Herrera. And he comes out swinging.

Herrera says Pemex owes the state of Veracruz 100 billion pesos in damages. That's about 9.3 billion dollars if you don't have your calculator handy. And Herrera says that this 9.3 billion dollars is a minimum because much of the environmental damage is irreversible, so how can you put a price tag on that?

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

Herrera read off a litany of Pemex disasters which have occurred in the state, beginning with a massive leak from the well at Dos Bocas in 1908. They include everything from tankers overturning on the highways to massive explosions and fires to spills and pipeline ruptures.

Here are the ones he named and he emphasized that there are many more.
Dos Bocas, Tamalin
Coatzacoalcos
Minatitlán
Coatzacoalcos river valley
Cangrejera watershed
Pajaritos watershed
Morelos watershed
Cosoleacaque watershed
Nanchital
Zapatero, Ignacio de la Llave
Texistepec
Tuxantépetl
Las Choapas
Agua Dulce
Ixhuatlán del Sureste
Jáltipan
Acayucan
Santiago Tuxtla
San Andrés Tuxtla
Cosamaloapan
Ignacio de la Llave
Tlalixcoyan
The port of Veracruz
Pajaritos
Downtown Veracruz

Whew!

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

To be fair to Pemex, the oil company did accept responsibility for the 1908 Dos Bocas spill -- in 2005 -- a mere 97 years after the fact. Pemex would probably be happy to pay reparations to anyone still alive who may have been affected. "Just roll yourselves down to the Pemex office in your wheelchairs and pick up your checks! PARTY!!!"

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

The governor said that if anyone at Pemex cared to see his list, "We've got every incident well documented." The governor said that in spite of the fact that Pemex does by far the most damage to the state's roads and highways, "They don't even have a policy for repairing the damage that they cause."

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

The governor said, "This is a very profound and painful discussion for the citizens of Veracurz. We give them (Pemex) gas, oil and energy and they leave us with nothing but potholes in all the roads."

To be more charitable to Pemex and a bit less so to the earnest governor, Pemex also pays his salary. The federal government acquires between 60 and 70 percent of its total annual budget from Pemex. In Veracruz state, the center of Pemex operations, that percentage of the state's budget is probably more like 90-95 percent.

To be further charitable to Pemex, as an institution, the federal government used to take an eye popping 60 cents out of every dollar of Pemex income right off the top. President Fox lowered this skim job, effective January 1 of this year, to a merely vein bulging 58 percent. Whoopee.

The federal legislature has leaped (leapt) into action. Demonstrating that they intend to earn every peso of their Pemex-financed, laughably overinflated paychecks, the House of Deputies passed a "Punto de Acuerdo" (declaration with no weight of law behind it) "exhorting Pemex to fulfill its obligations relative to the natural environment and give maintenance to its facilities".

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

This major meaningless declaration was signed by 282 of the 500 or so deputies, meaning that some 218 of them still think everything is just hunky dory. Or maybe thay are the smarter ones who realize that Pemex just doesn't have the money available to fix or maintain its installations and infrastructure. Especially so after the deputies, senators and all the other hundreds of thousands of hogs at the various federal, state and local government troughs take theirs.

The fact is that Pemex corruption is estimated to cost the company, and the federal government, since it owns the company, a cool billion dollars a year. Pemex money kept the PRI in power in Mexico for 52 years (and skimming foreign oil companies' money for 23 years before that). Pemex money paid for political campaigns, federal, state and local. Pemex money bought votes by the tens of millions and probably hundreds of millions over time. Pemex money bought mansions in Mexico City, beach homes on the Mexican and California coasts, villas in Europe and plantations from the Caribbean to Pago Pago. Pemex money financed high level political murders, the machine-gunning of protesting students and massacres of campesinos from Tijuana to San Cristobal de las Casas.

Pemex money pays the wages and salaries of an estimated 40,000 unnecessary and unneeded employees that bloat its payroll. When Pemex tried to cut into that fat, the oil workers union hit the company with 15,000 individual lawsuits on behalf of laid-off, er, workers. How many Pemex, er, workers does it take to replace a lightbulb? Apparently one to carry, set up and take down the ladder, one to climb and replace the defective bulb, and 6 to stand around and watch.

I drove from the airport into Acapulco once and as we passed through the foothills bristling with mansions, my wife muttered, "American movie stars and Mexican politicians with all of our money."

A deputy, one Fernando Quetzalcóatl Moctezuma, emphasized that Veracruz state alone has almost 1000 miles of pipeline, 80% of which is obsolete. Furthermore, "Eighty percent of all the Pemex pipelines (25,000 km - 15,000 miles) throughout the entire country are outside of quality norms and their useful life and could cause incidents."

You think?Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908.

Until the morons in Mexico City can come to grips with the fast approaching armageddon that is the backruptcy of Pemex, Veracruz governor Herrera is just whistling in the wind. And no amount of "Puntos de Acuerdos" are going to fix that.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ http://palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz state Governor Fidel Herrera accuses PEMEX, the state owned Mexican oil monopoly, of owing the state 9.3 billion dollars in reparations for damages from various spills, explosions, pipeline ruptures, oil well leaks, fires and ship sinkings. This debt is for incidents stretching all the way back to 1908. PEMEX's future.
PEMEX's future




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Friday, December 29, 2006

Mexico City: DF government joins president in war on crime . . . just not too seriously


Mexico City's government has decided to respond to an advisory issued by the US State Department which calls Mexico City's skyrocketing rates of violent crime "critical".

The city's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard and its chief of police, Joel Ortega Cuevas, have reacted to the city's soaring rates of serious crime by conducting highly coordinated operations against highly un-serious threats.

Ebrard, you may recall, is a PRD political hack and AMLO buddy who used to be the Mexico City chief of police himself before assuming the mantel of mayor. Ebrard was fired by President Vicente Fox from his job as chief after his forces took more than 3 1/2 hours to arrive to the aid of 2 undercover narcotics officers who were lynched by a mob and then burned alive. The two men were taking photos near a school and the mob thought they might be kidnappers. Ebrard blamed the tardy response on "heavy traffic".

Reporters and camera crews which arrived within minutes of the trouble being first reported seemingly had no trouble navigating the "heavy traffic". Reporters were even able to interview the two bleeding police officers on live television before casually filming their incineration.

Ebrard is also famous for promising to implement all 146 of the Rudolph Giuliani team's recommendations for cleaning up the Mexico City police forces. Ebrard then proceeded to put into action, uh, exactly none of them. These recommendations were those that then Mayor AMLO promised to pay Giuliani 4.5 million dollars for, then paid him a mere million and sent him on his way. The old, "He doesn't understand Mexico and Mexicans" excuse was implemented.

Ortega Cuevas is famous for stating, upon his assumption of the job as police chief of the notoriously corrupt and crime-ridden city police forces, "I'm not going to fire or replace any police commanders. If some want to resign, that would be okey dokey."

Anyway, Ebrard and Ortega, demonstrating their newly awakened interest in truth, justice and the Mexican way, launched an operation against the street vendors in and around Mexico City's center. They sent in a highly trained force of 150 officers to sweep up and confiscate . . .

877 toy guns.


That's right, toy guns. 877 of them. About 6 toy guns per man.

pellet pistols

BB guns

crossbows

Daisy Red Rider air rifles


Replacement units no longer available in Mexico City



Spare parts now scarce in Mexico City



A gang-banger takes aim with a crossbow and poisoned arrows at a rich American tourist cowering in a tree in the heavily forested Zócalo Selva.


This operation was carried out with military precision on Wednesday but I am just now reporting on it because I have been engaged in some heavy research. I have been trying to determine how many of the hundreds of thousands of serious violent crimes, such as murders, rapes, robberies, kidnappings and assaults which took place in the city in 2006 (so far) -- most unreported to the authorities because, well, why bother? -- have been carried out at the point of a crossbow.

I haven't been able to find any. None. Zip. Zero.

However, I suppose that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Therefore, thanks to Mayor Ebrard and police chief Ortega, Mexico City residents and visitors can rest assured that they no longer must fear being accosted by vicious 12 year-olds brandishing Red Riders nor by bloodthirsty William Tell wannabees.


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Thursday, December 28, 2006

Cordoba, Spain: Muslims denied request to share Cordoba cathedral


Spain's Islamic Board made a request to the Vatican that Muslims be allowed to pray in Cordoba's cathedral. The cathedral used to be a mosque -- 800 years ago. The cathedral is a favorite stop for Muslim tourists but cathedral security will step in and stop them if they start all that wailing and Alahu Akbar stuff, which they frequently do.

The Bishop of Cordoba denied the request. I think he made a mistake. That is, the Vatican missed an opportunity. I think the Pope should have responded personally. I think he should have replied,
Sure you can. When Christians and Jews can freely enter and pray in Mecca and Medina -- and leave with their heads still attached.

Over to you, Muhammed.



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Chilpancingo, Guerrero, Mexico: The PRD hard at work for the people.


Last week, a PRD (AMLO's party) deputy, Solorio Almazán, publicly denounced a bribery attempt by Guerrero state governor Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo. Solorio Almazán charged that 45 of the 46 PRD members of the state legislature had been given 100,000 peso year end bonuses by the governor (4.5 million pesos total in one of the 3 poorest states in the country). I wonder who the 46th and unpaid PRD legislator is?

The 100,000 pesos was paid to the each of the 45 PRD legislators in return for their votes to approve the governor's 2007 budget. That budget included, among other things, a 50% pay raise to the governor's cabinet members and a 148,000 peso monthly salary to the governor himself.

And the PRD's reaction to this horrifying news? The state PRD, the socialist party, the left wing party, the party of the people, will sanction Congressman Solorio Almazán by suspending him from the party for 3 months for "lack of discipline".

The 3 month suspension is to be used by PRD Congressman Almazán to "ponder his involvement in the PRD party ranks". He will also use this time, presumably, to ponder his future participation in mass bribery schemes while keeping his mouth shut about it.


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Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Oaxaca, Mexico: Who is Florentino Cruz Bravo?


Florentino Cruz Bravo is the name of the person who presented a real estate mortgage for 150 million pesos to guarantee the bail for the APPO prisoners released so far. The real estate also apparently guarantees the payment of at least 47 million pesos in damages to both government and private property burned and vandalized the afternoon and evening of November 25.

But who is Florentino Cruz Bravo? Nobody knows. Reforma says he is a ghost. He doesn't exist. Reforma tried to find some record of the existence of Florentino Cruz Bravo in Oaxaca and came up empty.

APPO lawyers agree. They say that Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz is under so much federal and international pressure to release "political prisoners" that he cooked up a non existent person and put up a state government owned building as the bail guarantee.

The state government says it doesn't know who the guy is. But it's all "in the record" of the court.

The court says the "record is not available except to those with official access".

So we have the government saying, "Look in the record," and we have the court saying, "You may not see the records." Therefore, everything is reduced to pure speculation. Never daunted, unfaltering and endeavering to perservere, Mark in Mexico joins the fray.


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ Oaxaca, Mexico: Florentino Cruz Bravo, pictured 2 weeks after brain surgery, 2 days after meeting and 2 minutes after wedding María Conchita de la Luz Tiburon Betabel. He put up the 150 million peso property to guarantee the bail for 81 released APPO prisoners.
Florentino Cruz Bravo
This is Florentino Cruz Bravo pictured 2 weeks after brain surgery, 2 days after meeting and 2 minutes after wedding María Conchita de la Luz Tiburon Betabel. Señor Cruz Bravo's lobotomy as well as his wedding costs were paid for by Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz just prior to the signing over of a 150 million peso property to the Oaxacan state government.



Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ Oaxaca, Mexico: Florentino Cruz Bravo's mansion, known as the No Más Mansion. He put up the 150 million peso property to guarantee the bail for 81 released APPO prisoners.
The Cruz Bravo Mansion
The Cruz Bravo Mansion, also known as the "No Más Mansion", is a well known local eyesore located just across Avenida José Murat Casab from the Antonio López de Santa Anna Military Victory Memorial. This property, which just recently was re-assessed by the Oaxacan state government property tax assesor from 15,000 pesos to 150,000,000 pesos, was placed in escrow to secure the release of some 81 APPO political prisoners. When reporters arrived to interview Señor Cruz Bravo, who still resides in the air conditioned upper level of the mansion, he was heard to exclaim, repeatedly, "Uhhh. Uhhhhhh. No más. No mááás."
Funeral arrangements are pending.



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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Mexico: 17 shot dead in Christmas Eve wave of violence


Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have guns.

In Mexico it is possible for a person to get a permit for a .22 caliber pistol or perhaps a .22 caliber rifle or even a 20 guage shotgun. All other caliber weapons are "reserved for the army and police". In other words, it is illegal to own any firearm without a permit and illegal to own any at all except for those small caliber weapons I just mentioned.

So how is it that so many people manage to get themselves shot dead with illegal weapons?

AK-47's, AR-15's, .45, .38 spl and .357 magnum weapons were utilized to gun down 17 people across the country on Christmas Eve, most in Sinaloa and Michoacan. There were also two fragmentation grenades tossed into a bar in Acapulco, only one of which exploded, leaving 11 wounded. One of the wounded, a 30 year old woman, is hospitalized in critical condition.

All of the deaths and woundings were blamed on organized crime. The 17 fresh bodies (well, 2 were burned beyond recognition so they may not qualify as "fresh") brought the total death toll so far this year in gang related murders to 2,198. In Michoacan, alone, there have been 565 executions so far this year, 38 of them police officers.

One of the dead in Culiacan, Sinaloa, was Blanca Yesenia Rincon Martinez, an 18 year-old girl. What did an 18 year-old señorita ever do to deserve to die in a hail of bullets on Christmas Eve? I'm sure her mommy and daddy are asking the same question today.

In Sinaloa, Michoacan and Guerrero there have been 16 decapitations so far this year but that's not counting all of them. The authorities don't count it as an official beheading if they find only the head or only the horseman. They have to find both portions in order to list it (them?) as a decapitation. The drug and kidnapping gangs are more efficient at this than Al Qaeda.


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Oaxaca, Mexico: Who is bailing APPO thugs out of jail?


Sixteen more APPO thugs were released from jail Christmas Eve, but who payed their bail? Reforma has been reporting for more than two weeks that the state government of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz has been paying the bail with public money for a total of 81 prisoners who have since been released.

Now Reforma is getting a little closer to the bottom of this. Reforma says that "real estate", presumably a building but it could just as well be a ranch, a big farm or, for that matter, an airport, bridge or highway, has been mortgaged to guarantee "the payment of 47 million pesos in arson and vandalism damage" from the afternoon and evening of November 25. Reforma says that this real estate is valued at 150 million pesos - about 14 million dollars.

Reforma has not yet been able to identify the piece of real estate nor who mortgaged it. Neither have APPO's lawyers. Gilberto Hernandez Santiago, "legal coordinator" for APPO, says,
Up until now, no family member or APPO member has mortgaged any real estate. Why not? Because no one has such a piece of real estate. So we don't know who it was.
He says that APPO lawyers have not been allowed access to the records.
All we know is that they (the prisoners) have signed the bail documents. So we have solicited the Secretary of Interior (federal, I am assuming) to intervene so that we can review all the records and determine what the legal situation is.
This is complicated by the fact that, according to documents that Reforma was able to review, the real estate not only guarantees the reappearance of all 81 prisoners at trial (that's a laugh - they'll be lucky to see 10 of them ever again) it also guarantees the repair costs of the damage. That is, 47 million pesos will have to be paid by the 81 prisoners so far released or the real estate would presumably be forfeited.

Right.

APPO's attorneys are also demanding that Flavio Sosa, his driver Ignacio García, Sosa's brothers Horacio and Erick, the APPO spokesman Marcelino Coache, as well as Cesar Mateo Benitez and Jorge Sosa Campos all be released under the same circumstances.

Right, again.

There are still some 91 APPO thugs in jail who have not been released. Judges released 43 on December 16, 20 more on December 21 and the latest group of 18 on Christmas Eve, totalling 81 released. All have had their releases guaranteed by bail but no one seems to know or want to admit guaranteeing said bail.

This is the strangest thing I've ever heard of. No one else here has ever heard of the government jailing persons it has accused of the crimes of arson, vandalism, assault, kidnapping and sedition, then paying their bail with public money that is almost surely to be forfeited. Few of these people will ever show up in court for their trials. And even if they all appeared, they couldn't scrape up 47,000 pesos among them, let alone 47 million.

And, according to Reforma, documents indicate that the real estate that was mortgaged guarantees the payment of 47 million pesos in damages. So what happens if judges at trial start declaring the accused to be innocent? Will the real estate still be forfeited? I dunno. No one else seems to know either.


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Monday, December 25, 2006

Oaxaca, Mexico: Nativity Scenes in copal, barro negro, rojo and natural




I found a display of nativity scenes, er, on display in the museum on the Zocalo. This is the former government palace which is still being identified that way by foreign media who don't know any better and by lefty media who seek to impress their readers with various anarchist movements. This building was abandoned by the government over a year ago and was opened as a museum last spring. It was invaded by APPO and the striking teachers and the museum's exhibits were partially destroyed.

Now that the PFP has given the museum back to the government, it is trying to recover. It was a bit breezy inside because none of the dozens of broken windows have been replaced yet, but they had done a pretty good job of cleaning it up.

There is some really nice stuff on display there. The artisans from San Martin
Tilcajete (copal wood), San Bartolo Coyotepec (barro negro - black clay), Santa Maria Atzompa (barro rojo - red clay) and a from couple of villages where they work with barro natural (a mixture of black and red clays) had brought their nativity scenes to the museum for display.

They have also brought them for sale but there were no buyers. So I took photos of most of the pieces and will present them to you on behalf of the artisans. The photos are not the best as far as photos go for a formal catalog, but because these displays could not be tampered with (moved around), I had to take the photos on an "as is where is" basis.

I also realize that it's a bit late in the game for nativity scenes, but that's the way it's been going down here.

Here we go:

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ Nativity Scene in barro rojo - red clay - from Oaxaca, Mexico, made in Santa Maria Atzompa. Painted with glaze and kiln dried.
Angelina Delfina Vasquez of Santa Maria Atzompa
This is a single piece sculpted from barro rojo, painted with glaze and then kiln-cured. The piece is roughly 13"x12"x16" high.
Its weight is about 5 lbs.

$3040.00


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ Nativity Scene hand carved and painted in copal wood. From San Martin Tilcajete, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Adrian Xuana Luis of San Martin Tilcajete
There are 12 pieces in this scene. The pieces are about 3.5" high. They are hand carved in copal wood and hand painted.

$659.00


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ Nativity Scene hand carved and painted in copal wood. From Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Alberto Tonatiuh Estrada of Oaxaca City
There are 12 pieces total here including the Star of Bethlehem and the comet's tail which serve as a platform for the nativity scene.
The pieces are about 17" high.
They are hand carved in copal wood and hand painted.

$1327.00
I've got a lot more but I'll have to add them later. I cannot go before you see this one, however.

You want a Nativity Scene? I'll give you a Nativity Scene.


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.ca/ Nativity Scene in barro rojo - red clay - from Oaxaca, Mexico, made in Santa Maria Atzompa. Painted with glaze and kiln dried.
Francisco Jaime Lopez Garcia of Santa Maria Atzompa
There are 23 pieces in barro rojo. Most of them are about 30" tall. The detail is astounding, down to the hair in the beards of Joseph, the shepherds and the Three Magi.

I asked the young man on the left to stand in so that you could get a better idea of the scope of this Nativity Scene. The grass on the floor and the cross in the foreground are not included.

$13,500.00

This price includes about $500 in packaging and $2000 in freight costs from Francisco's door to yours. These costs are estimated and could be a bit higher. I shouldn't think more than a few hundred dollars, however.


Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries


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Sunday, December 24, 2006

Oaxaca, Mexico: Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas)










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Oaxaca, Mexico: PFP planted a spy in APPO 6 months ago


Reforma reports that the PFP planted a mole inside APPO about 7 months ago. It took the guy 6 months to gain the trust of APPO leadership and "fellow" militants because "they mistrusted everybody" and he was able to deliver to PFP command a complete organizational chart of APPO leadership, up to and including the prescription medicines some of them required.

He was able to identify the principal actors in the street violence by name and home address, who broke into the shops and stores and what they stole, who was supplying the rockets and bombs to the rioters, who was manning the barricades at Cinco Señores and inside Juarez University and down to who was throwing the rocks and firing rockets and marbles at the PFP both on Novemnmber 20 and November 25.

He is only described as "1.65m tall, black hair, black eyes, dark complexion, hence, a typical Oaxaqueño". He eventually was made commander of the the rocket brigades that faced off against the PFP on November 25. As such, he was included in the planning sessions prior to that final street confrontation. In other words, the PFP was more prepared that day than APPO expected it to be.

The agent reported that Flavio Sosa began to lose effective control of the APPO "porros" (thugs) on November 2. Effective control of APPO's fighters passed to someone that Reforma can only identify as "Gutierrez". The PFP agent reported that Gutierrez is a member of the Frente Nacional de Lucha Socialista (FNLS), identified by the agent as the "social arm" of the Ejército Popular Revolucionario (EPR), Mexico's most violent guerrilla army.

Cool.

Thanks for the votes. I really appreciate it!



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Saturday, December 23, 2006

Oaxaca, Mexico: Look who's talking.


APPO keeps insisting that it is holding meetings in Mexico City with the Secretary of Interior during which various agreements, pacts, settlements and promises are being made between APO and the federal government. However, the federal government keeps insisting on saying nothing.

Tuesday, an APPO spokesman said that Interior had granted APPO permission to "exercise our human rights" to march back into and reoccupy the Zócalo. Furthermore, APPO said that it would do so yesterday. APPO said that the agreement with Interior was that APPO could occupy the Zócalo during the day but had to leave "in the afternoon".

I found this hard to believe, what with the preparations for the "Radish Night" and other Christmas festivities being planned. So I took a little trip downtown yesterday morning and found barricades at all the entrances to the Zócalo being manned by about 1000 state policemen backed up by PFP officers. Not exactly Welcome Wagon-ish.

And in fact, the APPO march yesterday did not get within 3 blocks of the Zócalo.

Both APPO and Sección 22 of the striking teachers have been making lots of noise about high level meetings with Interior, but in light of the deafening silence from Interior as well as some other curious incidents, I have doubts that any such meetings are actually taking place at all. And if there were any meetings, the results seem to be somewhat less than APPO and Seccion 22 are representing them to be.

For instance, last week, Enrique Rueda Pacheco arrived with much fanfare in Mexico City for what he claimed was a meeting with the Secretary of Interior himself. But an undersecretary met Rueda Pacheco two blocks away from the Secretary's offices, on the street and in front of reporters, and told Rueda Pacheco that the Secretary would not be meeting with him today and that the teachers union leader should "call for an appointment". Rueda Pacheco had to turn around and go home.

Reforma says that evidence of some kind of agreement was on display during yesterday's march because APPO leaders asked their people not to start spray painting all the downtown buldings again. Reforma reports that no buildings were sprayed. El Universal, however, says that most merchants along the march's route closed up shop and then some stuck around and engaged in shouting, shoving and punching matches with marchers who started spray painting their businesses.

In addition, even Reforma reports that marchers pasted up posters with photos of Rueda Pacheco captioned, "We're looking for this traitor". That's because there has been a major break between Seccion 22 and APPO. Rueda Pacheco says that the teachers union will not follow the route of APPO in marching, painting, shouting and other "non violent" demonstrations. Like, you know, burning buses, smashing windows, kidnapping government employees, arson, robbery, vandalism and the like.

That, to the minds of APPO, is treachery and betrayal. To be fair to Rueda Pacheco, he's got some competition down here now. In order to avoid a direct confrontation with him, and also because all the leadership has been vacationing in Hawaii and too busy to think of anything else, the national SNTE as commissioned a new teachers union section here.

It will be Seccion 59 and its membership will be comprised of teachers who don't truck with Seccion 22 and its annual strikes and Zócalo occupations (31 consecutive years and counting). At last report there were some 5000 teachers in the state in open rebellion against their Seccion 22 and its leadership. The real number could be 2 or 3 times that.

That presents Rueda Pacheco with some real problems. While the SNTE announced it would continue to recognise Seccion 22 as a legitimate Oaxacan arm of the SNTE, the new Seccion 59 will be the other arm, so to speak. The challenge to Rueda Pacheco is which arm will be the right arm, so to speak. If the federal and state governments as well as SNTE national begin to bless the new section with more blessings than Seccion 22, Rueda Pacheco's Huatulco retirement account could suffer a real blow.

Meanwhile, back at APPO, the state governement has paid a reported minimum of 1.3 million pesos in bail money to get all but about 74 of the arrested APPO followers released from prison. I reported earlier that the state governement was paying to bail the rioters out of jail with public money and now we have a preliminary number.

APPO says it has an agreement with Interior that APPO will be the "sole negotiator" over the 74 still remaining in jail. APPO also says it has an agreement with Interior that no more arrest warrants will be issued and no more outstanding arrest warrants will be served. I doubt that, but anything's possible.

For its part, the state government is saying nothing, too. There has been no mention of public money being used to post the bail of almost 150 arrested rioters. Even down here, I don't see how such a thing is legal. In any event, it's happening. I think it must be the Christmas Spirit, or something.

I might also note that APPO has promised to hold their own "parallel 'Radish Night'" festivities. Initially, APPO said they would do so in the esplanade in front of Santo Domingo. However, after several hundred policemen arrived and made that possibility, er, impossible, APPO said it would seek another venue.

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Friday, December 22, 2006

Ocotlan de Morelos, Mexico: Steel worked as in 16th century Toledo, Spain


Updated, again!: I've edited the price on the big Bowie shown in the photos twice. I think I've got it right. I reduced the prices a lot . . . a whole lot. Also, I left out the final sharpening step. I should be stropped for that. Please scroll down.

This art of knife and sword making gets pretty complex, so I’m going to break it down into 3 posts. The first will introduce one of Mexico’s finest sword and knife makers and some of the basic rules to remember when buying a fine knife or sword.

One can purchase some of the finest knives and swords made anywhere in the world in Mexico. One can also purchase junk. You’ve got to know what you’re doing.

There are 3 different basic types of knives and swords being sold in the markets in Mexico.

The first and most common blade found in the Mexican markets is the chrome plated blade. These are everywhere. Beware. They are only good for a few years of hanging on your wall or sitting on your desk. They are useless for anything else. The steel is usually junk metal, sometimes only iron. The blades are cut and polished, then given a thin "flash" chrome job. To be fair, some of the knife makers do load on the nickel and chrome a bit heavier, but the knife is still no good for any practical use.

Also, if you know anything about electroplating, chrome plated steel begins to immediately destroy itself, bit by bit, as soon as it comes out of the last rinse tank. The layers of dissimilar metals (copper, nickel and chrome) pass a minute electrical charge between them, just like a battery does, which attacks the layers of metal and eventually will eat holes through each layer. There is no way to stop this electrolytic action.

The second type is the stainless steel knife or sword. These blades are very nice, but because of the cost of stainless steel, much of the cutting and forming of the blades, hilts, handles and pommels is done with machines. This helps to keep the cost down. Also, the stainless steel blades are softer and will not hold an edge like a hand tempered blade.

I have owned a very good Mexican stainless steel blade that was quite serviceable. I had to sharpen it before every use but I was satisfied with its performance - that is until I got my hands on a hand made and hand tempered blade. There is no comparison.

The third, and the very rarest, are the hand worked, hand tempered and hand sharpened and polished steel knives and swords. These are very hard to find. But when found and purchased, they are among the finest and most serviceable cutting blades that money can buy. And when made by an artist with almost 500 years of history behind him, the resultant blade is a keepsake as well as a valuable tool.

These hand formed and hand tempered blades require a minimum of maintenance. After buying one and using it for awhile, I realized that I spent far less time maintaining the hand tempered steel knife than I did in repeatedly sharpening the stainless steel blade.

Angel Aguilar


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Angel Aguilar pictured polishing a hand forged and tempered knife blade in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Angel Aguilar


Angel Aguilar is an artist. He works with steel. He makes cutlery, knives and swords. Angel uses the 16th century techniques made famous in Toledo, Spain. These knife and sword making techniques were brought to New Spain in the 1500’s by the Dominican Friars and taught to the Zapotecs. The indigenous Zapotecs then were put to work making knives, swords and tools and implements for the Spaniards.

Angel Aguilar was taught these old processes by his uncle, Ricardo Guzmán, who began learning the Toledo techniques at the age of 8 years from his father. Ricardo Guzmán lived to the age of 110 and Angel says he worked up until his last days. 100 years of sword and knife making from one man.

Angel began to learn the art from his uncle at the age of 10 and now, at the age of 49, has been doing it for 39 years. Angel’s uncle Ricardo was taught the techniques by his father who was taught by his father etc. We are talking about almost 500 years of knife and sword making in one family. And it will continue because Angel is teaching two of his nephews the art.

Angel Aguilar’s Techniques


Angel use 3 different techniques to temper his blades. In this post we’ll examine the technique from Toledo, Spain, which the Dominican Friars taught Angel’s ancestors in the mid 1500’s.

The Materials

Angel makes better blades than his forefathers or the Spanish ever dreamed of making because he starts out with better steel. He uses automotive and truck leaf spring steel. He makes his hilts and pommels out of bronze. Not brass, but bronze. Bronze as in Achilles versus Hector outside the walls of Troy. Bronze as in Alexander the Great hacking through the Gordian Knot. His best handles are made of ironwood. He applies no finish of any kind to the handles. He uses another, flame hardened, piece of ironwood to smooth and polish each handle.

He also offers handles in bone, bull horn, antler and ivory. For a working blade that a hunter, fisherman or woodsman would want, the ironwood handles are by far the best. He picked up a finished knife with its ironwood handle, pulled out a smaller knife and then proceed to scuff the just finished knife’s handle. He basically ruined its appearance right before my horrified eyes. He then picked up his flame hardened "polishing stick" and in a couple of minutes had polished out all of the scratches with which he had just marred the handle. Amazin’.

The Forming

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Angel Aguilar pictured hammering a hand forged and tempered knife blade in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Angel does not cut the leaf spring steel to shape. He only cuts it to approximate length. He does this with a hacksaw. It takes him about 1 1/2 hours of sawing to cut a piece of leaf spring to length. He then places the steel in his forge and heats it to about 4000ºF. He begins to hammer the blade into the shape he wants. He repeatedly heats and hammers until he has formed the blade that he wants. If you look at his knives and swords, especially the knives, it is hard to imagine how he hammers some of the finer detailed shapes. But he has about 30 different sized hammers and chisels that he uses.

The Tempering

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Angel Aguilar's blacksmith forge in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Now comes the tempering. He reheats the blade very slowly to one of three colors which will determine its final temper. When the blade has taken on a golden (dorado) color, he quenches it in oil. This temper is used for knives up to about 30 cm in length, but no more. At this temper, the blade is very hard and will hold the best edge. It will be just flexible enough to withstand heavy use, such as gutting and skinning deer or filleting and de-scaling fish. I also use my big Bowie to split wood, but I’m an idiot.

For swords and machetes, as well as any blade longer than 30 cm, Angel continues to slowly heat the blade until it turns a violet color. After quenching this blade in oil, he has a blade with just a bit more flexibility than with the previous process. That’s because a longer blade must be a bit more flexible so as not to snap during use. This will be a tough blade that will hold an good edge but not as hard as the blades tempered through the "dorado" stage.

For rapiers, sabers and foils, Angel continues to slowly increase the temperature of the blade until it turns a bluish color. Then this blade is oil quenched. This is the most flexible of all the blades. He picked up a thin bladed saber, bent the blade 360º (a full circle) and then released the tip and it snapped back into shape.

The finishing

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Angel Aguilar pictured doing the first grinding on a hand forged and tempered knife blade in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.

After the tempering process, Angel goes to work on the finish. He begins to grind out the hammer marks, repeatedly cooling the blade in water to avoid modifying the temper that he just spent a week in getting right. He uses an emery wheel on an electric grinder in place of the granite wheels and hand cranked grinders used by the 16th century Spaniards.

After he is satisfied with the rough finish and convinced that the temper is still good, he moves to the next step. He switches to a cotton wheel which he impregnates with carnauba wax. He sprinkles on a course volcanic pumice and polishes out all of the marks left by the emery wheel. He repeats this process through 5 different sizes, or grits, of volcanic pumice, each time polishing out the marks left by the preceding step.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Angel Aguilar pictured doing the preliminary polishing of a hand forged and tempered knife blade in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.

He changes wheels yet again, replacing the cotton wheel with one made of cardboard. He makes these wheels himself and tells me he knows of no other knife and sword makers -- cuchilleros – who follow this step. He impregnates the cardboard wheel with carnauba wax which contains Teflon. Another modern convenience not available to the sword makers in 16th century Toledo, Spain. The wax acts as a carrier which deposits and then holds the Teflon in the microscopic pits on the surface of the steel. This helps to make the blade water resistant.
Note: The blade is not water proof. It is not stainless steel. Some care and maintenance is required but Angel has that worked out pretty well, too. He says that a cotton rag and Brasso will repair any damage to the blade caused by forgetting to oil it once a month. As for the oil, Angel says you can use anything from olive oil from your wife’s kitchen to used motor oil and anything in between.
Angel then forms the bronze hilt and pommel around the tang of the blade, again all by hand. He polishes the bronze in much the same fashion as the blade, although it goes much quicker now because bronze is considerably softer than the tempered steel. That’s how the Greeks lost the Mediterranean to the Romans. Roman steel against Greek bronze.

He uses this stage to help balance the knife. He’ll add or subtract as much heavy bronze as is necessary to balance the knife. Some of his knives have interesting eagles heads or other animal heads hand cut into the pommels. He did this because he had to add so much bronze to get the balance he wanted that he had to decorate the extra bronze. If I hadn’t told you that, you would think it was all planned in advance.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Angel Aguilar pictured demonstrating the finished balance of a hand forged and tempered 15.5 inch Classic Bowie knife in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.
The balance of my 15.5" Bowie


Then he hand carves and polishes the handle. He does not use any adhesives to attach the handle to the tang. It is a force fit, whether the handle be of wood, bone, antler or ivory.
Note: I don’t know where he gets his ivory and I’m not going to ask. It is, however, ivory and not mother-of-pearl. I would not recommend trying to import an ivory handled knife or sword. There are some very strict laws governing the international ivory trade and if you cannot prove that the ivory on your knife or sword came from Inuit who hunted down walrus or from old piano keys or billiard balls, US Customs will confiscate said blade. Then they’ll come looking for me. Besides, ivory turns yellow with age, especially if exposed to sunlight.
Now he finish polishes the blade, again using the cardboard wheel with the carnauba wax and Teflon.

UPDATE I: Angel then strops the blade edge using a leather strop, just like a barber does, or at least used to do, before shaving someone. And the blade is finished.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ A completed hand forged and tempered 15.5 inch Classic Bowie knife by Angel Aguilar in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Mark in Mexico's 15.5" Bowie knife
UPDATE II:
10" blade, overall length 15 1/2" - $350
9" blade, overall length 14 1/2" - $325
8" blade, overall length 13 1/2" - $300
1.5 to 2 weeks



Etching and Decorating

While I was there today, a Mexican Army general waltzed in with his four bodyguards. He bought an antler handled knife with a 10 7/8 inch blade. It was the first knife Angel had sold all week. I was looked upon with great favor later as having brought him good luck. The general then paid Angel $75 US extra to do some artwork on the blade. The Mexican Army general had more US currency in his pocket than did I. Hmmm.

Angel makes what I would call a “masking paint”. It’s a mixture of tar, gasoline, paint thinner and some other secret ingredients that he would not divulge. Probably a little kryptonite. He free hand draws on the blade with an old style ink pen. He can put just about anything on the blade that you would want. For the general he wrote the date, the general’s army group, the generals name and rank on one side of the blade. On the other he drew a miniature military fort and a soldier firing a rifle. Then he added some flowery curlicues that he thought the general would like.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ Angel Aguilar pictured free-hand lettering a hand forged and tempered knife blade with masking paint, prior to etcheing, in Ocotlan, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Masking the General's design


While he did all this the general helped himself to a couple of cans of Modelo that Angel’s wife had raced to the store to buy. When the general was satisfied with the accuracy of the data and the other decorations painted on the knife, he left with his entourage, promising to return tomorrow to pick up his knife. Angel then painted the cutting edges and the back of the knife to protect them. Angel proceeded to hang the blade in a container of muriatic acid which will etch the surface of the blade, everywhere except the painted areas. When the blade is finished, it will have all of Angel’s design in relief.

I have seen this technique used by other knife and sword makers. What is much more common, however, is the use of high speed grinding tools, like the Dremel, to grind a design into the steel. Also used are pantographs or other duplicating type machines. If you’re going to want lettering done on your knife or sword, it would be best to opt for script or maybe something very Gothic. If you want near perfect Times New Roman font, Angel is not your man.

Also, grinding on a knife blade can mess up the temper. The muriatic acid that Angel uses is hydrochloric acid watered down to about 30%. Angel cuts it another half, to about 15%. With all cutting surfaces masked as well as the back of the blade, the acid etching process has no effect on the temper or the fine edge that has been left on the blade.

Tomorrow, when the background, or relief, around his design is etched into the steel, Angel will polish the masking paint away, again using the carnauba wax/Teflon combination with the cardboard polishing wheels.

And that is the Toledo, Spain process for hammering and tempering a knife or sword. Tomorrow, I’ll write another post explaining the Japanese technique for putting a crystallized edge on daito and shoto (long and short) Japanese swords. This technique was taught to Angel’s uncle Ricardo Guzmán by a Japanese sword maker who came to Mexico back in the 30’s. Angel does not know why the man was here or what became of him.

Hold onto your socks because this technique is extremely expensive. It takes Angel about 6 weeks to make a daito and he’ll throw away as many as half a dozen blades before he gets the one he wants.

There is yet another technique known as Damascus steel. I’ll try to write about it tomorrow, also. Here’s a hint. This process is so expensive and time consuming that it requires 2 months of work. It was so expensive even back in the days when the Arabs used slaves and the Spaniards used unpaid Zapotecs that only Arab royalty, the King of Spain and the Viceroy of New Spain could afford such a blade.

But that’s for tomorrow.

Thanks for the votes. I really appreciate it!



Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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by Mexican indigenous artists.
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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Puebla, Mexico: Some facts that you absolutely, positively have to know.


Reader Ricardo Hernández from Puebla sends an Email with some facts that you absolutely, positively have to know. Please memorize these facts before you turn in tonight. There will be a quiz (of the pop type).
1. A cow can ascend stairsteps, but cannot descend them.

2. Walt Disney was afraid of mice.

3. Johann Sebastian Bach once walked 200 miles to arrive at an organ recital by Buxtehude.

4. Wrigley's chewing gum was the first product in the world to carry a label with a bar code.

5. Frogs have teeth.

6. The 3 industries that are, far and away, the worst contaminators of air are the steel, iron and cement industries.

7. In the Spanish card deck called a "baraja", roughly equivalent to our 52 card poker deck, only the King of Hearts has no moustache.

8. The majority of the Chinese cannot see the color purple.

9. A snail can sleep for as long as 3 years.

10. Mel Blanc was allergic to carrots.
Now, I don't like to be hyper-critical, but I do have just one small bone to pick with this list, Ricardo. The Spanish card deck, the baraja, has four suits. But they are "oros" (gold coins), "copas" (gold goblets), "bastos" (clubs) and "espadas" (swords -- or spades). There is no King of Hearts because there is no heart suit. However, the King of Copas is the only one of the four who is moustache free.

Thanks for the votes. I really appreciate it!



Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Oaxaca, Mexico: APPO gets the bill. "Your prompt payment is appreciated."


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ APPO gets a bill from the state of Oaxaca for 1.3 million pesos.
The Oaxacan state government has prepared and served some 121 APPO members with judicial proceedings demanding 100 million pesos in reparations for damages to property during the recent "troubles". The demands were issued by judges in Etla, Tlacolula y Miahuatlán.










The damages demanded are for reparations to:
The Tribunal Superior de Justicia building where some 6000 civil and criminal case files were destroyed - 43 million pesos

The offices of Grupo Artesanal, Banamex and Agencia Mexicana - 4 million pesos

The Poder Judicial Federal building,

The Federal Relaciones Exteriores ofices

The Asociación de Hoteles y Moteles

The Secretaría de Turismo estatal

The Servicio de Administración Tributaria.

Teatro Juárez

Hotel Camino Real

The Guelaguetza Amphitheater - 3.5 million pesos

The state owned Channel 9 radio and TV studios - 20 million pesos

60 city transit buses damaged or destroyed

20 private vehicles destroyed
And there is no doubt a lot more to come. INAH (National institute of Anthropology and History) estimated 300 million pesos just to repair damage to some 1000 buildings and properties throughout the state. That damage estimate included everything from replacing broken windows and covering or removing painted slogans to the complete rebuilding of some heavily damaged properties. It did not include replacing any vehicles nor did it put a price tag on destroyed files or other data.

Reforma's report also does not list any damages to the 066 (911) emergency communication system installation, Juarez University, the Juarez University radio station, a dozen private radio station installations nor the homes of Big Mac and Double Whopper with Cheese.

Thanks for the votes. I really appreciate it!



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Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Mexico City: Do you wonder where the children's education funds are going? They've been washed out to sea.


If you can recall this post in which I state that the Mexican government spends 93.6% of all funding for basic and intermediate education on teachers' salaries and benefits, here is where some of that money is going.

The SNTE (national teachers union) leadership and their families, as well as past SNTE directors and their families, are all in Hawaii. And they got there on the cruise ship "Pride of Hawaii".

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ The Pride of Hawaii which sailed to Hawaii with about 100 national teachers union officials for a weeks stay.
The "Pride of Hawaii"


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ The Bistro on board The Pride of Hawaii, which sailed to Hawaii with about 100 national teachers union officials for a weeks stay.
The "Bistro" on board the "Pride of Hawaii"

While the exact number of SNTE brass, ex-brass and families on the cruise has not yet been published, you've got to figure that there are about a hundred of them, or so. At $3000 to $5000 each, that's $300,000 to $500,000 dollars, 3.3 to 5.5 million pesos. The SNTE spokesman claims that all of the money was "financed" and that the SNTE brass, ex-brass and their families have, "just like any human being, the right" to take an all expenses paid cruise to Hawaii.

Here is a group of Americans who are also taking a little respite from their daily cares. Only they are in Mexico building a school for the deaf in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas. This group is from, I think, Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ A group of American volunteers who did not take a vacation to Hawaii. They volunteered to build a school for the deaf in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ A group of American volunteers who did not take a vacation to Hawaii. They volunteered to build a school for the deaf in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ A group of American volunteers who did not take a vacation to Hawaii. They volunteered to build a school for the deaf in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Just cruisin' along.

I wonder if these good folks could have used a little of that 300,000-500,000 dollars.


Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/ Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican arts and crafts, http://palehorsemex.vstore.com/ palehorsemex.blogspot.com/ The main classroom building at the school for the deaf, built be American volunteers, in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
The "Bistro" at Rio Bravo school for the deaf.

They finally had their own school! The excited children emerged from the school bus and dashed to the new classrooms. Their eyes lit up and smiles spread across their faces as they darted in and out of the three rooms. They discovered walls decorated with posters and pictures. There were desks and blackboards, cabinets stocked with school supplies and cubicles with a new set of school supplies for each student. This building even had an indoor toilet and a teacher's lounge.
An indoor toilet and a teachers lounge? That was surely a waste of money better spent in Waikiki.

The SNTE issued a press release attacking Reforma for divulging the Hawaii cruise, accusing the newspaper of "a long and intense campaign against the teachers union, its leadership and their families" for which "there is no good reason whatsoever."

It just never stops down here, does it?

Thanks for the votes. I really appreciate it!



Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
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Oaxaca, Mexico: Governor Ruiz reduces charges, pays bail for 43 prisoners


This seems just a bit strange to me. I'm sure, however, that there are good reasons for it, just as there are good and logical reasons for everything else that goes on down here.

Attorney Gilberto Hernández, judicial coordinator for APPO, said that the 43 Oaxacan prisoners released from federal custody in Nayarit had their bail paid by the state of Oaxaca under orders by Governor Ruiz Ortiz. First, however, Governor Ruiz Ortiz had to order that charges of sedition and rebellion be dropped, making the prisoners all eligible for bail.

Hmmm.

Since the remaining charges are all of a minor nature, like rioting, kidnapping, vandalism, arson, robbery and assault, the good governor ordered the state's overflowing coffers opened so that the prisoners might return home in time for this Christmas season's rioting, kidnapping, vandalism, arson, robbery and assault. I guess. The good governor, like Scrooge reborn, also sent a luxury tour bus to pick them all up.

Lawyer Hernández decried the police patrols currently circulating through the city which, he says, are arresting APPO members on outstanding warrants, "trumping up" charges and "torturing prisoners until they sign confessions".

Of the 43, 23 were teachers and members of Sección 22 of the SNTE and the remaining 20 were "other persons". Teachers union president Enrique Rueda Pacheco was at the prison in Nayarit to greet his released comrades and take as much credit as possible for their freedom won. This would seem to indicate that he had a day or two of notice from the state government that the prisoners were going to be bailed out by Governor Ulises "St. Nick" Ruiz.

And this in spite of the fact that there are also outstanding arrest warrants for Rueda Pacheco's incarceration on charges of kidnapping. I guess he knew that there would not be any law enforcement officials present at the prison who might wish to do their duty. Flavio Sosa's lawyer, Eduardo Miranda Esquivel, claims that by arresting Sosa and not Rueda Pacheco, the government is "being political".

You think?


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Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

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Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Mexico City: Calderón to the narcotraficantes: "We make war, not love."


After a just a couple of weeks of work, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has sent some pretty strong messages to rioters, kidnappers, arsonists and now to the drug traffickers. He launched a combined assault on the state of Michoacan, which was in danger of falling completely under the influence of the narcotraficantes (no pun intended).

At a news conference yesterday, his military men who are spearheading this offensive gave an update on their progress. In fact, they've been so busy that they didn't mention everything they've accomplished and I'm not sure I can keep track of it all, but I'll try. Here goes:
2160 marijuana plants destroyed
6.7 tons of marijuana seized and destroyed
300 pounds of marijuana seeds seized and destroyed
8.8 ponds of poppy seeds seized and destroyed
500 acres of marijuana fields destroyed
107 illegal weapons seized
19 vehicles confiscated
3yachtss confiscated
2.2 ponds of gold bullion confiscated
33 complete military and police uniforms seized
54 arrested
At least $1.8 million US in cash
At least 1.8 million pesos in, well, pesos
Now for some fine detail: The police and military uniforms included everything from bullet resistant vests down to military and police issued T-shirts.

The 4 kilos of poppy seeds alone represented about 9 acres of plantings which would have yielded 32 kilos of opium gum - 4 kilos of heroin - value 1,482,400 pesos ($136,000 US)

The sum total of all the plants, harvested crop, seeds and acreage destroyed is, so far, 6,749,826,400 pesos (620 million dollars).

The arrested so far include:
Alfonso Barajas Figueroa, "Poncho el Feo" (Poncho the Ugly One), head of the "Zetas" in Michoacan. The Zetas are ex-military, many trained in the US, who have left the Mexican Army, most through desertion. The Zetas under The Ugly One also included 3 ex-members of the Guatemalan special forces, the Kaibil, trained in the US. The narcotraficantes pay better . . . a whole lot better.

Armando Valencia Cornelio, leader of theMillenniumm cartel.

Elí­as Valencia Valencia, son of Armando Valencia Cornelio.

Jesús Raúl Beltrán Uriarte, a lieutenant in the Sinaloa cartel, along with just about his whole family. His wife, his brother, his lawyer and 6 others were also arrested.
In addition to the actions in Michoacan, the feds seized 2 houses and a ranch in Jalisco (Guadalahara) along with 6 vehicles, 3 motorcycles, arms, ammunition and cash. In Guerrero the feds siezed 3 more properties and hauled in arms, ammo, military and police uniforms and 4 more vehicles.

I think I'll open a used car lot featuring late model pre-owned vehicles. I'll advertise "Had your vehicle confiscated lately? Never fear, Mark in Mexico is here. Next time, don't risk a new car. Let the government confiscate the crap I sell."

This is just a thought, and if any of you have an idea as to the whys and wherefores, please let me know. While operations of this type take months, if not years, of planning, why didn't Fox's administration make any of these moves? Just askin'.


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Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

Please visit the
Pale Horse Galleries online store
for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made
by Mexican indigenous artists.
Thanks!

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