What was once the world’s most polluted City has been cleaning up it’s act. Public transport has been given a boost and the bicycle has been widely promoted as the new way to get around Mexico’s capital. Ecobici is the City’s government’s latest gambit to impulse two wheel travelling. The scheme, billed as “Individual Public Transport” has taken off in the Cities wealthier zones. We hopped on to take a look.
Pulque is the pungent, alcoholic drink that Pre hispanic Mexicans believed was a Gift from the Gods. But until recently it found itself down and out, as pulque joints in Mexico City closed by the dozen and Mexicnas turned to new and exotic beverages such as beer and tequila. But now it’s making a comeback in a revival spearheaded by the City’s hipster youth who are keen to get back in touch with their roots. We report from Mexico City.
The Mexican elections may be over but the demonstrations continue. This Sunday marches took place in several cities as protestors took to the streets against the winner of the most votes, Enrique Peña Nieto. Marchers claim his party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, used illict funds and bought votes during the election campaign. Peña Nieto won more than three million votes more than his nearest rival but the protests are scheduled to continue. John Holman reports on the march in Mexico City, and what the protestors hope to achieve, with camera by Tania Miranda.
You can also read this article on the Al Jazeera English website here.
Judith Vazquez and Lolkin Castañeda are preparing for their wedding. The two academics and gay rights activists have been living together for 6 years and are now enjoying a landmark decision that has given Mexico Citys gay population the right to marry, with all the legal benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy. They will be able to open a joint bank account, inherit property from each other and adopt children together. Judith believes that it is a defining moment.
“It is a triumph for those of us who believe that society and the world can change, for those that have the certainty that things can be different tomorrow, if you get involved. It’s a huge step forward.”
For some it is a step too far. Since the leftist government of Mexico City voted in the law in December, it has proved polemic. The nations ruling political party PAN has headed the opposition. Mariana Gomez del Campo, party coordinator in the Mexico City Legislative Assembly, claims that marriage should be reserved exclusively for heterosexual couples.
“It’s an institution for a man and woman for mutual help and procreation, those are the two reasons to marry, that’s what our laws say and our constitution.”
The fact that the law will give gay couples the right to adopt children has proved an inflammatory issue. The Catholic church has entered the debate, with the top Mexican cleric Norberto Rivera arguing that the law violates the rights of children.
“The government should be the first to respect the need for children to have a father and a mother.”
The official Catholic newspaper of Mexico City, “Desde La Fe” or “From the Faith”, calls the law “Immoral, unacceptable and reprehensible”. José Martín Rabágo, Archbishop of the central state of Leon, goes further, questioning whether the recent natural disasters are a divine response to “Legal initiatives which affect the base of society; the family”.
Even the Federal Attorney General has launched a legal counterattack against the law, citing an article in the constitution that makes reference to “protecting the family”. The Supreme Court is still reviewing this challenge which, if successful, could eventually overturn the measure.
Many gay activists are unsurprised by the strong reaction from these powerful institutions, saying that Mexico remains a macho society in which homophobia is prevalent. The capital is noticeably one of the more liberal, cosmopolitan areas, in which gay couples walk down the main avenue, Paseo Reforma, hand in hand and areas such as Zona Rosa are famous for gay cafes and bars.
Now the battle seems to be for the rest of the country, where the law does not apply. Some gay couples from other states plan to travel to Mexico City to marry and then return to their homes and attempt to force the state authorities to recognize their union.
Others are pushing directly for the law to be expanded into other states. 22 gay couples celebrated a “symbolic” marriage ceremony in Tlaxcala on 26th February to highlight the issue.
Their opponents will be equally determined to prevent the reform from spreading. The conservative states of Jalisco, Baja California, Sonora, Guanajuato, Morelos and Tlaxcala have already had consitutional challenges against the law in Mexico City rejected by the supreme court. They would put up a stiff resistance to it moving outside of the capital.
When the first couples in Mexico marry in the middle of March, Judith Vazquez and Lolkin Castañeda will be among those tying the knot. It is part of a growing trend in Latin America which saw the first gay wedding in Argentina at the end of December and gay couples in Uruguay granted the right of adoption in September. For Judith and Lolkin, it is the end of a long struggle to be recognized as any other married couple.
The small aircraft touches down in a tiny dirt track airstrip, hidden in the folds of the surrounding mountains. A crowd of men wait for us in pickup trucks. They are heavy set, clad in jeans and trucker hats. Strong hands grasp ours in greeting before we all clamber onto the pickups, and the strange convoy [...]
Silence reigns over San Ignacio lagoon in North Mexico. The only sound is the hum of an idling motor in the launch that has brought the half-dozen tourists to the centre of the lake. They grip the side of the boat, straining to see movement in the depths below or squint off into the middle [...]
More than 1 million Haitians displaced in temporary camps are bracing themselves for tropical storm Tomas, wheeling it’s way past Jaimaca and predicted to swing round into a full hurricane when it hits Haiti early this Friday.
NGOs and the UN admit that they will struggle to cope if the hurricane hits Haiti on Friday as [...]
You can also read this article at Al jazeera English website here.
14/04/10 Mexico City- Alberto Athie, a former Mexican priest, took the difficult decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church following his investigations into a high-profile paedophile priest.
He holds up the letter he wrote 13 years ago to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. [...]
You can also read this story on the Al Jazeera English website here.
Sotero Palencia holds the withered corncob in his hand. It is all that’s left of his crop for this year and the result of the harshest Mexican drought inover six decades. Gesturing to the rest of the withered maize plants in the field, [...]
You can see this article on the Al Jazeera english website here.
Susanah squats down by the side of the train tracks in Tultitlan , Central Mexico. The 32 year old Honduran is one of the many central Americans passing through Mexico on freight trains to get to the US. However, the trip has become an [...]