2024-04-22 21:26
Sorry about the double posting (with slight variations) today… I’m still screwing up some wordpress functions and had some “issues” with the computer last night when… Read More
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The Mex Files | ¡como Mexico No Hay Dos! The "real Mexico" From Transvestite Wrestlers To Machete-wielding Naked Farmers. History, Culture, Politics, Economics, News And The General Weirdness That Usually Floats Down From The North. Blog
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¡COMO MEXICO NO HAY DOS! The "Real Mexico" from transvestite wrestlers to machete-wielding naked farmers. History, culture, politics, economics, news and the general weirdness that usually floats down from the north.
2024-04-22 14:00
Today is the 126th anniversary of Vladimir Nabokov’s birth. His best know, and most notorious, novel being Lolita, a repost from June 2013:
Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loi… Read More
2024-04-22 14:00
Today is Nabokov’s 126th birthday. In honor of one of the best American writers in Russian (or, Russian writers in American, or just plain writers ever) … a repost from 2013:… Read More
2024-04-21 04:41
The “youth vote”: Rebels with a cause
The floundering Gálvez campaign: Dead woman walking?
The Embassy siege and the election: The debate eclipsed by the Embassy s… Read More
2024-04-18 03:46
What unites investment publications, Electric cars, the French Foreign Legion, a Communist, T.S. Eliot, and the American Legion? A dive down rabbit-hole of a Mexican footnote.
While only… Read More
2024-04-11 04:15
Although there are two Mexfiles… this one (mexfiles.net) meant for history and culture discussions and Mexfile.substack.com for political matters, its impossible especially in Mexico… Read More
2024-04-07 22:26
Nellie Bly, the 19th century sometime muckraker, sometime travel writer, published her “Six Months in Mexico”, in 1886, an account of her (well, duh…) six months poki… Read More
2024-04-03 04:48
Mexfiles has recommended Mauricio Tenorrio-Trillo’s discursive, rambling, and thoroughly documented social history of Mexico City (“I Speak of the City”) before. Although… Read More
2024-03-29 23:25
An article in Wednsday’s Jornada, (“Etnias nayaritas se oponen a que las farmacéuticas comercialicen el peoyte”) reported on the indigenous communities in Nayarit wh… Read More
2024-03-26 05:35
Politics is over on substack, but there was an article in the news today about presidential candidate Xochiltl Galvéz saying she would not live in the Palacio Nacional, but would pref… Read More
2024-03-24 04:15
My friends at Librería México Antigüo Libraria México Antigüo are my usual go-to guys for Mexico City history documents… but I can only afford so m… Read More
2024-03-14 21:42
A very nice job by Mexico Listo on what is now the world’s largest urban solar plant:
The Centro de Abasos (Mexico City’s central market) is 85 hectares a building (the Pent… Read More
2024-03-13 04:12
My fault, but got into a overly ridiculous “facebook fued” with some guy (hding behind a ridiculous pseudym … “jumborumbo” or some-such over a praise for Merin… Read More
2024-03-10 00:27
Jesse Olsavsky, in Jacobin, writes of one of those too often overlooked Mexico City gringa “influencers” who… whatever she was up to here, had a major impact on India&rsq&helli…Read More
2024-03-08 01:59
Photos by Quoc Nguyen.
Two years BEFORE the Pilgrams landed at Plymouth Rock, the municipio of San Lorenzo de los Negros was granted a charter by the Spanish crown. Other than pointing o… Read More
2024-03-01 07:07
If, that is, the Mexico our “foreign community” seeks is “México profundo” and not– ironically perhaps — the Mexico our “white lens”4 b… Read More
2024-02-22 00:17
AMAZING! Popocatépetl spit up an enormous column of gas and ash yesterday at 6:25 p.m. Yes, that little dark spot is an airplane coming in. Jornada photo by Javier Salinas.
… Read More
2024-02-21 23:11
As a US Supreme Court justice once said about pornography, “We know it when we see it”, the definitions of what exactly a “Settler State” is are nebulous and open to… Read More
2024-02-04 00:47
While not the best known name on the short list of Mexican military leaders, Matamoros certainly was remembered … if only vaguely … in a number of geographical names scattered… Read More
2024-01-21 22:33
To his enemies, Felipe Carrillo Puerto was the “Red Demon”. To her admirers (and enemies), his sister Elvia was the “Red Nun”. Between the two of them, the… Read More
2024-01-14 23:45
I never saw an axolotl
But Harvard has one in a bottle.
(Ogden Nash)
I have met the iconic Mexican salamander … live, and in my pocket (there’s an axolotl on the 50 peso… Read More
2024-01-08 23:59
Maybe, maybe not: https://mexfiles.substack.com/p/brics-eesiu-m Read More
2024-01-06 23:20
Born in Guadalajara in 1917, and never quire finishing high school, and tooling around with junk parts from his radio gig, this guy completely changed the way we see the world. Despite… Read More
2024-01-01 05:02
Everything old is new again. Or, maybe being the last day of 2023, I should say, “Ring out the new, ring in the old”. This year, and in 2024, it’s not new highway… Read More
2023-12-24 23:08
2023-12-22 10:08
A combinaton of Oprah and Studs Terkel, Cristina Pacheco chronicled the lives of Mexico City’s denizens for over 50 years, both in her long-running weekly “Mar de Historias&rdquo&hell…Read More
2023-12-18 22:58
Luis de Onis… of the Adams-Onis treaty that set the boundries between the new United States and New Spain, during the early deliberations that would lead to the 1819 treaty setting th… Read More
2023-12-17 22:46
One of the last of a dying breed… the public writer, or…. “evangalista”. In the days before mass literacy, and even 20 years ago, you’d find “evang… Read More
2023-12-08 06:33
There is no doubt Bernardo de Gañvéz was a key — and until recently, overlooked — figure in the American Revolution, and he well deserves the honor bestowed upon h… Read More
2023-12-05 00:28
2023-12-03 11:29
A new political post… about what will at some point maybe be another “historic” election in Mexico… is up at mexfiles.substack.com. It’s free to subscribe (a… Read More
2023-11-29 22:18
If it wasn’t for British historian John Fox’x “El Proyecto MacNamara” (Irish Academic Press/Merrion, 2014), one of the great “whatifs” of North America&he&hell…Read More
2023-11-19 23:38
I wouldn’t say “little known”, but this facebook post (by Judit Megal) captures the essentials quite nicely:
A little know fact about the Mexican Revolution:
It sta… Read More
2023-11-18 01:48
Born in Michoacán, Felix Parras was a “transitional” artist, still in the academic style favored throughout the 19th century, but with a twist, less a mentor than an inspi… Read More
2023-11-03 18:30
Mexico can still be weird. Much news today about a stray cat wandering around the forested coastal municipality of La Huerta, Jalisco. Poor kitty… uh….How a Bengal tiger &nda&hell…Read More
2023-11-03 01:10
The little rascals are playing in an abandoned 18th century cemetery here in Mexico City. Photo about 1910 by Hugo Brehme Read More
2023-10-24 06:05
“Nobody loves me…everybody hates me. I’ll just go eat worms”… gross! Unless… the worms are chinicuiles.
Technically, chinicuiles are the larval… Read More
2023-10-21 23:46
Mexican cuisine (and music) is more varied than you think… while you might not get EXACTLY what you want, you just might find what you need. Shopping with Mexico City’s famous… Read More
2023-10-09 22:37
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
(Yes, I know I got carried away on this… and tri… Read More
2023-10-09 00:21
Jorge Durant, who specializes in the anthopology of immigrantion and the author of several books on the subject of Mexican migration (the best known, his first, being “Return to Aztlan… Read More
2023-10-08 22:13
Besides being more distracted than usual the last couple months, I started working on what I thought would just be a short piece on the Spanish Inquisition, which has morphed into a fairly l… Read More
2023-10-07 00:01
Mexico has really not pulled its weight in the Nobel Prizes over the years. One in Chemisty (Mario Molino, 1995); one in literature (Octavio Paz, 1990; two Peace Prizes (Alfonso Garcia Robl… Read More
2023-09-16 02:39
Mexfiles has often referenced the late Chavela Vargas’s “A Mexican can be born any f*cking place they want” but usually that refers to people born elsewhere but who fou… Read More
2023-09-13 20:03
By 1915, with the defeat of Pancho Villa at the Battle of Celeya, Venestusio Carranza’s government pretty much in control of the government, Mexico City was still a hot mess, but l… Read More
2023-09-06 10:47
Mexico spends about 41.5 billion US dollars on food imports. Despite its image and history as a largely agrarian country only about 4% of Mexican GPD comes from its own agricultural produc… Read More
2023-09-04 02:14
Chavela Vargas, the irrascible cantina singer, and sometimes “iconic” Mexican… having been born not inn Mexico, once snarled “A Mexican can be born any fuckin’… Read More
2023-08-31 10:16
How did I miss the 70th birthday of Mexico’s favorite folk-hero?… The mighty Speedy Gonzalez made his debut cartoon appearance 29 August 1953.
Feliz compleanos, raton rapid… Read More
2023-08-26 10:15
One thing leads to another…. a small story from AFP on the Panama Canal and the water crisis which is seriously disrupting its operations. Way down, in the 11th of 12 paragraphs wit… Read More
2023-08-22 12:17
David Ignatius’ fluff interview with Xochitl Galvéz in the 20 August Washington Post was brought to my attention by a post by Eric Loomis in Lawyers, Guns and Money (one of my f… Read More
2023-08-15 00:40
One reason to enjoy Latin American history is that our historical figures and revolutionary hero(ines) are soooo much more interesting than those in the history of the United States. Betsy… Read More
2023-08-13 01:40
Before a crowd of 20,000 religious pilgrims, Morelias Archbishop, Carlos Garfias Merlos, explained his objections to the roll-out of a new and revised educational system and its accompan… Read More
2023-08-10 00:21
According to the El Financiero poll, assuming the next June’s Presidential election is between united opposition (PRI, PAN, PRD) front runner Xóchitl Gálvez, the More… Read More
2023-08-07 00:21
(Also on Substack)
https://mexfiles.substack.com/
Whether anything useful or not (and it’s doubtful) from the meeting in Jeddah to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine, there was a b… Read More
2023-08-05 09:14
The bizarre outburst by TV Azteca’s star newsreader, Javier Altorre, devoted 10 minutes (OK, 9.24 minutes) to attacking new school texts (150 million given free of charge to the countr… Read More
2023-07-25 21:33
Under the apparently mistaken belief that he is still politically relevant, former president Vicente Fox stuck in foot in his mouth… twitteraliy (or is it now “X” rated) … Read More
2023-07-20 20:49
The assassination of Pancho Villa Read More
2023-07-19 01:51
(from Proceso)
According to Semovi (Secretariat of Mobility) sources, Mexico City’s “ecobike” program has led to the reduction of 466 tons of atmospheric carbon dioxide… Read More
2023-07-18 23:47
Santiago Creel…the scion of the Creel-Terrazas dynasty (going back to the earliest days of the Republic) has been thwarted again and again in his quest for the Presidency. As only #2… Read More
2023-07-10 20:41
It was inevitable that Porfirio Muñoz Ledo would be a politician. His mother helped him overcame his stuttering by forcing him to speak and read faster and faster until he could clea… Read More
2023-07-03 18:56
Somewhat jokingly, I posted that there was something was missing when discussing the similarities between Morena front-runner Claudia Sheinbaum, and the opposition coalition “Va por Me… Read More
2023-06-24 09:45
Yes, Mexican streets and highways are more crowded. According to the Secretariat of Agrian, Regional and Urban Development (SEDATU, for its Spanish acronym) there are now 40 motor vehicles… Read More
2023-06-19 01:31
Franc Contresas, as usual, does a much better job at CGTN (China Global Television Network) than the US media when it comes to English language TV reports from Mexico.
The electoral seaso… Read More
2023-06-13 06:54
I sometimes watch “HistoryLegends”… featuring a guy named Alexandre (with some sort of European accent) who only claims his “dedication to history and facts is unma… Read More
2023-06-08 03:25
Very little, if anything, has been appearing in Mexican media (or, anywhere substantial, with a few exceptions back in March) about Mexican inclusion in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, Chi… Read More
2023-06-05 00:56
Gotta love my city.
From “Ante inacción de la Benito Juárez, vecinos liberan raíces de árboles“, Elba Monica Bravo for Jornada.
With picks… Read More
2023-06-02 02:03
Reports that an alleged “Cartel member” was filmed carrying what looked like a Javalin missile (video by Milenio TV here) have lead to speculation (perhaps fed by Russia Today) t… Read More
2023-05-31 18:24
Luis Antonio Rojas for The Washington Post
My neighborhood is considered the “old city” althogh old is a relative concept, having been platted in 1890, almost yesterday in a c… Read More
2023-05-20 23:56
Badiraguarto, Sinaloa isn’t a place on most tourists’ bucket-list… unless, that is, unless you have an hankering to visit the hometowns of Horatio Alger type stories of th… Read More
2023-05-16 05:43
If the British Museum has the world’s best collection of stolen goods in the world, it’s kinda of a jumble. Perhaps the National Library of France thought it too messy, and deci… Read More
2023-05-04 01:00
History remembers the revolutionary leaders Zapata, Villa, and other he-men. The women, who lived in silence, went on to oblivion.
A few women warriors refused to be erased:
Juana Ram… Read More
2023-04-17 10:59
It used to be said that Mexico was a democracy… every day EXCEPT Election Day. From Calles in the 1920s to Ernesto Zedillo in the 1990s, even with changes in party label and ideology… Read More
2023-04-14 04:58
Former President Vicente Fox — whose “autobiography” (likely written by Rob Allyn, or his PR team) “Revolution of Hope” (which I bought used for 10 pesos and ca… Read More
2023-04-12 12:15
Europe’s heroin market could soon be in for a supply shock, and experts fear the gap could be filled by something much worse.
Almost all heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghan… Read More
2023-04-12 00:41
If only people like US Member of Congress, for Georgia Marjorie Taylor-Green, echoing the ravings of Donald Trump had been suggesting the US needs to “launch airtrikes on Mexico“… Read More
2023-04-08 02:42
While no one doubts the seriousness of the “fentinyl crisis! in the United States, thw typical reaction has been… like that common to all addicts in dcnial.. to “blame oth… Read More
2023-03-31 04:27
Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank
If there is one personage that the people of the United States might compare to Andrés Manuel López Obrador… maybe we s… Read More
2023-03-30 04:32
I don’t know whether they serve cocktails at Russian Security Council meetings or not, but one has to wonder what Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev, the former FSB head,and now Secretary o… Read More
2023-03-28 02:14
Bloomberg, via El Financiero reports that a Russian oil freighter, Loukas II, is scheduled to deliver 145,400 barrels of diesel at Guaymas, Sonora about the end of this month. Russia’… Read More
2023-03-25 23:59
What role did the Mexican Revolution and its legacies play in the development of the Good Neighbor policy?
Greg Grandin
The Mexican Revolution was the first revolt against US capital… Read More
2023-03-23 02:24
The other day, I actually did see some US pundit-type still referring to Latin America as “America’s back-yard”. And I recall Biden … trying to sound progressive, I… Read More
2023-03-22 03:58
While it’s not de riguer in US media stories about AMLO to add “fiery populist” to any mention of his speeches (he gets down-right folksy in his daily morning press briefin… Read More
2023-03-19 03:03
There is more to say about this, but somehow haven’t posted, but after several calls by U.S. politicians to intervine in Mexico (to “help” wipe out the fentenyl suppliers t… Read More
2023-03-17 05:46
Is this right? Morphine was invented to replace opium, and prevent the scourge of opium addiction. Then herion, to lessen the dependence on morphine. Then Fentinyl. And… so&hellip&hell…Read More
2023-03-01 10:08
Sandra Cuevas, the “mayor” of Cuauhtemóc (the most populous of Mexico City’s 16 “alcadias”… or municipalities) apparently is one of “those p… Read More
2023-03-01 09:13
While large (80 to 100 thousand people) , the rally to “defend the electoral system” rally… or, rather, a rally suppsedly against changes in the structure of the National… Read More
2023-02-23 22:50
I’d vaguely heard of Rio Rico before, but never knew it had this wild past: Read More
2023-02-11 03:28
From “Remember the Maine” to the Zimmerman Note to the Gulf of Tonkin to “Weapons of Mass Destruction”, the US establishment has always taken the “We must fight… Read More
2023-02-10 03:41
I have never denied that the Cristero Revolt of 1928-29 was avoidable, when that counter-revolution did take hold, the state had no choice but to ruthlessly supress it. There were atrocitie… Read More
2023-02-08 05:16
The state picks up the tab for the dogs and miliary personnel. The Topos are a citizen’s group. Donate here: https://www.topos.mx/
Image caption, At least 16 dogs have bee… Read More
2023-02-03 10:55
I usually come across as toooooo serious when I raise this issue, so I’m glad to see someone else doing it with a good dose of humor when it comes to puncturing the pretentions “… Read More
2023-02-02 22:14
February 2, 1848: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the U.S.-Mexico War and extending the boundaries of the United States west to the Pacific Ocean.
Many in the North, p… Read More
2023-01-23 23:23
Today’s the anniversary of the 1916 demise of Victorian Huerta… President, by the grace of US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson.. of Mexico from February 1913 — in what would i… Read More
2023-01-16 21:35
David Brooks, in today’s Jornada:This Monday is a holiday in the United States honoring the prophet, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr,, who warned that “we have to carry out a rad… Read More
2023-01-16 05:59
We’ve seen hair-brained ideas in the Baja before… from William Walker’s “Republic of Sonora”… which quickly devolved into the “Republic of a coupl… Read More
2023-01-09 02:09
What is Putin up to? At least some commentor in a US site seems to think that Putin is the one pushing the Bolsonarista crazies to try occuping state buildings. I get that Putin, being Pub… Read More
2023-01-07 22:53
One needs to ask whether something else wasn’t at work in bringing down onlly-relatively-important narco Ovidio Guzmán. Coming as it did the weekend before US President Joe Bid… Read More
2023-01-04 23:46
From Alex González Ormerod in the on-line newsletter “The Rest of the World” ([email protected])
Why we can’t look away from Mexico City’s gentrifica… Read More
2023-01-03 04:35
A rough, dranatic (and relatively short) life is hardly would you would have expected for the pampered daughter of a wealthy Oaxacan hacienda owner in the early 19th century. Señor M… Read More
2022-12-27 23:01
If there was anyone arbitaring who was bad or good… be good for goodness sake when Pancho Villa came a calling. This photo, with presumably one of his many biological or adopted chil… Read More
2022-12-24 22:27
Despite the title, and overlooking the narrator’s butchery of Nahuatl words… a nice overview of Aztec hygine… probably the best in the world at the time, or at least some… Read More
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The Mex Files | ¡COMO MEXICO NO HAY DOS! The "Real Mexico" from transvestite wrestlers to machete-wielding naked farmers. History, culture, politics, economics, news and the general weirdness that usually floats down from the north.
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