I wrote the last edition of this series – la bandera – on Mexican Independence Day. Of course, the major event which led to a craving for Mexican independence in the first place was the arrival of the Spanish to the Americas and the subsequent colonisation of the territory that we today call Mexico but in colonial […]
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Every year on October 2, thousands march from la plaza de las tres culturas (square of three cultures) in Tlatelolco to the zócalo in the historic centre of Mexico City. The march commemorates the victims of a student massacre in 1968. The committee of 1968 led the march followed by parents of the missing, presumed dead, […]
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September 26 2015 marked one year since the disappearance of the 43 teaching students from the Rural Normal School at Ayotzinapa. Thousands of people, led by the families of the disappeared, took to the streets of the Mexican capital in a mass demonstration. Under grey skies and drizzle which grew gradually heavier, the march progressed […]
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It is Independence Day in Mexico today. 205 years have passed since the start of the armed conflict which eventually succeeded in expelling the Spaniards from what was the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Nueva España), allowing Mexico, as an independent nation, to be born. Understandably,the day has long been and continues to trigger an outpouring […]
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Campesinos from the state of Veracruz are in Mexico City and taking off their clothes, as they frequently do, to bring attention to their grievances. Their anger is primarily directed at federal member of parliament Miguel Ángel Yunes of the National Action Party (PAN) who they accuse of embezzling funds from the Institute for Social […]
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For the past five years Jose “Pepe” Ortiz has been impersonating Mexican Independence hero Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on the streets of Mexico City and in various other cities and towns of the Mexican republic. Recently I sat down with Jose for around an hour and a half to talk about his current vocation, his […]
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It’s time to draw the second card in our game of la lotería mexicana. Most of us, fortunately, have two of these. Essential to our daily lives and to none more so than the thousands of artesanos (artisans or craftsmen/craftswomen) who ply their trade all across the vast expanses of Mexico City. Yes, our second card is […]
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Get your boards ready, it’s time to play La Lotería Mexicana. I’m on a quest to photograph all 54 images of the traditional lotería mexicana here in the streets, markets, cantinas, squares and wherever else of Mexico City, where surely all 54 images wait to be found . The cards could come up in any order, be ready to […]
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Cuicuilco is a lesser known archaeological site in the south of Mexico City. It is probably the oldest prehispanic settlement site in the Valley of Mexico. It covers only quite a small area and you probably only need an hour or so to have a pretty good look around. Metrobus station Villa Olimpica on Avenida Insurgentes […]
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It’s just after 1pm when I leave my sixth floor apartment in the Mexico City Historic Centre and walk a couple of blocks to Pulquería La Antigua Roma (Ancient Rome) on the corners of calles Allende and República de Perú. It’s an old school, no-nonsense place with plastic chairs in a square room with just four small […]
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LATIN AMERICA FOCUS 