Graciela Iturbide’s Photos of Mexico Make ‘Visible What, to Many, Is Invisible’

1/8/2019 – The New York Times

Graciela Iturbide/Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Graciela Iturbide may be one of the most renowned photographers working today. Five decades into her journey with a camera, her work, most famously in indigenous communities in her native Mexico, has achieved that rare trifecta — admired by critics, revered by fellow photographers and adored by the public. She continues to travel, photograph and exhibit all over the world.

But it is becoming impossible to discuss her work without mentioning the Zapotec woman wearing five live iguanas on her head.

Ms. Iturbide made the photo after happening upon Zobeida Díaz at a farmer’s market while living with the Juchitán of southeastern Oaxaca in 1979. It took several tries — the iguanas kept moving around, falling off, reducing her subject to laughter — but on her contact sheet, Ms. Iturbide found her “Nuestra Señora de las Iguanas (Our Lady of the Iguanas),” an image so arresting that 40 years later, its popularity is still growing.

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Alfonso Cuaron and His Film ‘Roma’ Win at Golden Globes

1/7/2019 – The New York Times

Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” won the best foreign language film and best director honors at the Golden Globes, giving the Netflix film some added awards season momentum.

Cuaron based the film on a nanny who raised him in the 1970s in Mexico and he said during his acceptance speech on Sunday night that he was in awe of the film’s two lead actresses, Marina de Tavira and Yalitza Aparicio.

The black-and-white period piece set in Mexico City likely would have been a favorite for the best drama picture, but the awards’ rules made it ineligible. “Roma” beat out the other nominees including the Japanese film “Shoplifters,” the Lebanese film “Capernaum,” the Belgium film “Girl,” and the German film “Never Look Away.”

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Cuaron’s ‘Roma’ beckons moviegoers to Mexico’s presidential digs

12-06-2018 – Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Alfonso Cuaron’s critically acclaimed film “Roma” is set to show in one of Mexico’s most exclusive venues, taking over the once-private screening room of the palatial presidential residence, which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has opened to the public.

Lopez Obrador on Saturday transformed “Los Pinos,” the luxurious home of Mexican presidents during the last eight decades, into a cultural center in a symbolic moment for his presidency that has promised an end to rule by the country’s elite.

Cuaron said on Twitter on late Tuesday that “Los Pinos joins in showing ROMA!,” a film that focuses on an indigenous maid in a middle-class home that mirrors the director’s own upbringing in Mexico City.

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Mexico City’s 1st Elected Female Mayor Takes Office

12/05/2018

By the Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — The first elected female mayor of Mexico City has been sworn into office, and immediately announced she would dissolve the riot police.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum says “police are there to protect the people, and we don’t need a police force to repress them.”

Sheinbaum pledged Wednesday to build cable cars to impoverished slums, and improve bus and subway service.

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Mexico’s new ‘common man’ president hits the ground running

12/3/2018 – Washington Post

(Marco Ugarte/Associated Press)

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s newly inaugurated president hit the ground running Monday with his pledge to govern as a common man and end decades of secrecy, heavy security and luxury enjoyed by past presidents.

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sported slightly ruffled hair at his first early morning news conference as president, which started at 7 a.m. local time Monday.

“Isn’t that a change, that I am here, informing you?” Lopez Obrador asked reporters. While past presidents have very seldom held news conferences, Lopez Obrador promised to do so on a near-daily basis, much as he did when he was mayor of Mexico City from 2000-2005.

Lopez Obrador took his first airplane flight as president Sunday, boarding a commercial flight with the rest of the passengers. He has promised to sell the presidential jet as an austerity measure.

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El Chapo’s Early Days as a Budding Kingpin

12/2/2018 – New York Times

United States Law Enforcement, via Associated Press

The jurors at the trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, known as El Chapo, were treated last week to a cinematic narrative about the early years of the kingpin’s career, detailing his rise from a young upstart in the drug trade to a wealthy and successful narco-entrepreneur.

Much of the tale was told by one of El Chapo’s first employees, Miguel Angel Martínez, who began working for the cartel as a pilot in 1987 before being promoted to running operations in Mexico City.

Over four days last week as a government witness in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Mr. Martínez described how the crime lord went from being a novice trafficker with a staff of only 25 people to earning hundreds of millions of dollars that he spent on extravagances like a fleet of private jets and a rural ranch with a zoo where guests could ride a train past crocodiles and bears.

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Mexico’s Lopez Obrador Promises Radical Change in First Speech

12/2/2018 – New York Times

Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY — Veteran leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was sworn in as Mexican president on Saturday, promising a radical change of course in a country struggling with gang violence, chronic poverty and corruption on the doorstep of the United States.

The first leftist to take office in Mexico in a generation moved to reassure business after markets crashed last month on worries about his policies. He promised investments would be safe and that he would respect central bank independence.

Following are some reactions to his inaugural speech:

ALFONSO ESPARZA, ANALYST AT OANDA IN TORONTO

“There were no great surprises in the speech. It reiterates criticism of the neo-liberal model with the example of the energy reform, and puts forward increasing the number of refineries. Lots of problems were raised but not much time was left to get into solutions.”

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