100s more archaeological sites found on Mexico train route

10/22/2021

Source: ABC News

Mexican experts said Thursday they have detected the ruins of almost 2,500 pre-Hispanic structures and 80 burial sites on just one-sixth of the route of the president’s controversial “Maya Train” project on the Yucatan peninsula.

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History did not say whether any of the remains were disturbed or destroyed by the train project, which in some places runs alongside existing rail lines. It described the ruins as being “on the edge of the project.”

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Mexico’s new culture war: Did a pyramid light show ‘decolonize’ or rewrite history?

10/18/2021

Source: Los Angeles Times

A replica of the Great Temple of the Aztecs, about a third of the size of the original, rose from the floor of the central square of Mexico’s capital this summer like a gargantuan child’s toy, more than 50 feet high, a gleaming form smack in front of the baroque National Palace. At night, the pyramid’s slanting white walls became a video-mapping screen that told a dramatic animated story of the rise and fall of the Mexica, or Aztec Empire — an event that took place 500 years ago, right on this spot in a city on a lake that was once called Tenochtitlan.

Throngs of locals and tourists showed up to watch the 15-minute history show. Vendors walked among the crowds selling Aztec-style souvenir headdresses with colored lights, filling the Zócalo with flashes of revelry.

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World’s 50 best restaurants include 2 in Mexico City

10/08/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

Two Mexico City restaurants appear on the 2021 list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Pujol ranks ninth, three places higher than in 2019, while Quintonil took 27th place, down three spots compared to two years ago.

A list wasn’t published last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Capitalinos celebrate 200 years of Mexico’s independence

09/29/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

Fireworks, theater, the pope and U.S. President Joe Biden all formed parts of celebration of 200 years of independence in Mexico City Monday.

The capital’s central square was taken over for the ceremonies, the same location where the rebel army had marched two centuries earlier before declaring independence the following day. In fact, the best known date for Mexico’s liberation from Spain is September 15, day of “El Grito,” which marks the beginning of the struggle 11 years earlier, but the ceremony to mark the 200th anniversary was larger in scale this year.

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Italy halts auction of archaeological artifacts on Mexico’s request

09/21/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

Italian authorities intervened to cancel an auction in Rome at which 17 Mexican archaeological artifacts were to go on the block.

Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto said the timely action of Mexico’s ambassador in Italy, Carlos García de Alba, and the European nation’s chief of police for the protection of cultural heritage, Roberto Riccardi, were crucial to the suspension of the auction, which the Bertolami Fine Arts auction house planned to hold last Thursday.

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In Mexico City, another Grito minus a crowd in the zócalo

09/16/2021

Source: Mexico News Daily

Celebrations of “El Grito,” a symbol of the struggle for independence, will be heavily toned down on Wednesday in Mexico City due to COVID-19 restrictions despite this year being the two-century anniversary of the beginning of liberation from Spanish rule. The event was also heavily diluted in 2020 due to health considerations.

Traditionally, a large crowd congregates outside the National Palace and calls back to the president as he calls the names of the heroes of the independence movement, culminating in three cries of “Viva México!” or “Long live Mexico.”

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Below a pyramid, a treasure trove sheds new light on ancient Mexican rites

09/01/2021

Source: Reuters

More than a decade after Sergio Gomez began excavating a tunnel under a towering Mexican pyramid, the archeologist still spends most of his time studying the massive cache of sacred artifacts carefully placed there by priests some 2,000 years ago.

The volume and variety of objects hidden in the sealed tunnel under Teotihuacan’s ornate Feathered Serpent Pyramid has shattered records for discoveries at the ancient city, once the most populous metropolis of the Americas and now a top tourist draw just outside modern-day Mexico City.

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Mexico: Builders bulldozing outskirts of Teotihuacan ruins

05/26/2021

Source: Associated Press

The Mexican government said Tuesday that a private building project is destroying part of the outskirts of the pre-Hispanic ruin site of Teotihuacán, just north of Mexico City.

The Culture Department said it has repeatedly issued stop-work orders since March but the building crews have ignored them. The department estimated at least 25 ancient structures on the site are threatened, and it has filed a criminal complaint against those responsible.

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Mexico’s Catholic Church halts large pilgrimage

11/23/2020

Source: PBS

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Roman Catholic Church announced the cancellation Monday of what’s considered the world’s largest Catholic pilgrimage, for the Virgin of Guadalupe, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mexico’s Episcopal Conference said in a statement that the basilica will be closed from December 10-13. The Virgin is celebrated on Dec. 12 and for weeks in advance, pilgrims travel from across Mexico to gather by the millions in Mexico City.

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Vote in Mexico brings world’s largest legal weed market one step closer

11/19/2020

Source: Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s Senate approved a landmark cannabis legalization bill in a landslide vote on Thursday, paving the way for the creation of the world’s largest legal marijuana market if the initiative passes the next hurdle in the lower house of Congress.

Senators voted 82 to 18 to approve the measure, with seven abstentions.

Lawmakers are rushing to secure final approval before the end of the current congressional session in December. If enacted, the reform would mark a major shift in a country where drug cartel violence in recent years has claimed over 100,000 lives.

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