“No fear” may have been a popular clothing brand a few years back, but I doubt any of us could … in real life… show the sang froid of Fortino Sámano did on t… Read More
Blog Directory > Politics Blogs > 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. politics Blog >
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.
At most, the short presidency (1930-32) of Pascual Ortiz Rubio is relegated to a mere mention in surveys of Mexican history. Overlooked is that he was the last president to have been a victi… Read More
While we remember the 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City mostly for the wrong reasons … the “off-stage” riots and massacres in part a response to protests against the frivol… Read More
The Comca’ca New Year was the beginning of this month… better know by the name given them by the Yaquís… “Seri” (“sand people) they reside on the… Read More
The first automobile in Mexico City was this 1895 Delaunay Belleville, owned by Don Fernando de Teresa Miranda (1864 -1918). I don’t that kid driving is old enough to have a license… Read More
(sombrero tip to John Kirsch)
In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson mobilized the entire National Guard and sent it to preserve order along the Mexican border, and if possible, apprehend the… Read More
“It’s not easy living next door to a superpower [when the] twin sisters, ignorance and arrogance, characterize a general American attitude toward its southern neighbor… Read More
What’s the most popular dog in Russia? Samoyed? Borzoi? Siberian husky?
HET!
While a puppy may cost up to 120,000 rubles (about 1400 US$ or 25000 Pesos), in Russia Xoloitzcuin… Read More
I’m not sure why, but Mexico City now has its official hymn: Read More
Some Russian “pundit”, commenting on US “permission” for the missiles it provided to Ukraine to be fired into Russian territory, suggested the Russians install their… Read More
To legally hire a foreigner, an employer needs to certify that the position requires the foreigner to have a specific skill not available on the local market for one reason or another. As f… Read More
It’s said that crime doesn’t pay, but I don’t think anyone says that crime can’t be good investment opportunity. And, while the wages of sin are…well…… Read More
While campaigning in Iowa last September, former President Donald Trump made a promise to voters if he were elected again: “Following the Eisenhower model, we will carry out the… Read More
While in the US, today is widely celebrated as some sort of Mexican identity day… and we continunally have to educated the gringos that it is NOT Independence Day, nor even a holiday… Read More
Nellie Bly in 1885. Must have been stronger in those days:
The soldiers have an herb named marijuana, which they roll into small cigaros and smoke. It produces intoxication which lasts… Read More
Like a Roosevelt or a Kennedy in the United States, being born a Cárdenas almost predestines one to a political career. Son and presumed dauphin to Lazaro Cárdenas …whos… Read More
26 March 1937, Spain.
Rafa, etc. 2024… Read More
Oacacan Senator Adolfo Gómez Hernándezm who sits on the Agriculture and Rural Development committe, knows we really, really need rain. Something we can’t do anything abo… Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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… Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Maybe, maybe not: https://mexfiles.substack.com/p/brics-eesiu-m Read More
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
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
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… Read More
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
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
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
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
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… Read More
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
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
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… Read More
The little rascals are playing in an abandoned 18th century cemetery here in Mexico City. Photo about 1910 by Hugo Brehme Read More
“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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
(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
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
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
The assassination of Pancho Villa Read More
(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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
