http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/ A blog by Daniel Hernandez en-US Mon, 06 May 2013 16:37:50 -0500 http://www.typepad.com/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/05/latino-usa-pochos-chilangolandia-commentary.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/05/latino-usa-pochos-chilangolandia-commentary.html From Latino USA: Commentator Daniel Hernandez is a pocho, a Mexican-American, living in Mexico City. But lately he’s noticed he’s not the only one, and the line between pochos and chilangos, what Mexico City natives call themselves, is blurring. Go here for the link and audio file for my latest commentary for Latino USA on National Public Radio. Readers, are you a pocho in Chilangolandia as well? * Previously, “On voting for the first time for president in Mexico.” ** Photo: The crossing at San Ysidro into Tijuana, January 2012. Borderlands Cities Global Mexico People & Ideas Tribes Daniel Hernandez Mon, 06 May 2013 16:37:50 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/05/la-bestia-mexico-fascination.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/05/la-bestia-mexico-fascination.html ** Originally published at World Now: MEXICO CITY — They were tweeting about it, turning it into memes and ogling it in real life along the route that President Obama took from Mexico City's airport to the colonial front gate of the National Palace. Throughout Obama's visit, which ended Friday, the president's super-armored presidential limousine, nicknamed "The Beast" when it was unveiled four years ago, almost stole the show from the cool and cordial display of diplomacy between Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. When Obama stepped off Air Force One and hopped into the customized state Cadillac, one... Fear Global Immigration Media Mexico Pop Technology Daniel Hernandez Sat, 04 May 2013 13:14:00 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/05/mexico-economy-obama-visit.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/05/mexico-economy-obama-visit.html ** Originally published at World Now: MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's economy grew only 1% in real terms in the first quarter of 2013, the Finance Ministry said Thursday, a stark result for government economists who continue to project Mexico will grow by 3.5% for the year overall. The figure represents a "deceleration," economists at the Finance Ministry said in a news conference. They laid the blame mostly on external factors, such as growth rates in the United States. The news of a slowdown came as Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's administration hosts President Obama for the first time Thursday and... Business Cities Mexico Daniel Hernandez Fri, 03 May 2013 15:37:35 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/lady-profeco-lobuki-profeco-mexico-classism-consumer-roma-bistrot.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/lady-profeco-lobuki-profeco-mexico-classism-consumer-roma-bistrot.html ** Originally published at World Now: MEXICO CITY -- Talk about a tough customer. Indignant that she didn't get a sidewalk table during the busy lunch hour at a swanky Mexico City bistro, the daughter of a chief federal regulator threatened to call her father and have the place shut down. Two hours later, according to reports, inspectors from Mexico's consumer protection agency, known by its Spanish acronym, Profeco, showed up in the trendy Roma district and attempted to close the cafe for alleged "anomalies" in its reservation system and in its offerings of mezcal. But at Maximo Bistrot, a... Business Cities Fashion Food Hoods Justice & Society Media Daniel Hernandez Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:01:43 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/unam-occupy-narro-students-campus-protest-.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/unam-occupy-narro-students-campus-protest-.html ** Originally published at World Now: MEXICO CITY -- Mexico's top law enforcement agencies said Tuesday that they were poised to order the removal of a group of masked individuals who have occupied the main administrative building of the national university since Friday. The occupation of the university's rectory tower is linked to a relatively minor political dispute at one of the campus' public feeder high schools, yet the incident has struck a nerve at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, or UNAM by its Spanish acronym, which has an enrollment of more than 330,000 students this year. Students have... Fear Justice & Society Mexico Daniel Hernandez Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:13:32 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/guatemala-war-crimes-trial-rulings-spur-protests.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/guatemala-war-crimes-trial-rulings-spur-protests.html ** Originally published in the April 20, 2013 print edition of the Los Angeles Times: MEXICO CITY -- Contradictory court judgments in the war crimes trial of former Guatemalan dictator Gen. Efrain Rios Montt this week set off protests in Guatemala City and prompted rebukes from human rights organizations around the world. On Friday, Judge Jazmin Barrios, who is presiding over Rios Montt's genocide trial in Guatemala's capital, called court to order despite another judge's ruling a day earlier granting an appeal by the defense to annul the case based on a technicality. The Thursday ruling was "illegal," Barrios said.... Cities Crime Death Fear Global Indigenous America Justice & Society Daniel Hernandez Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:54:00 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/in-guatemala-a-twist-as-genocide-trial-nears-end.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/in-guatemala-a-twist-as-genocide-trial-nears-end.html ** Originally published at World Now and in the print edition of the April 19, 2103 Los Angeles Times: MEXICO CITY -- On the first day of trial, a witness named Bernardo Bernal recounted how, as a 9-year-old in the spring of 1983, he hid in a stream and watched Guatemalan soldiers kill his parents and two younger brothers. On the second day of testimony in Guatemala City, a man named Pedro Chavez Brito described how soldiers found him and his siblings hiding in a traditional sauna in their village on Nov. 4, 1982. His sister was carrying a newborn.... Books Crime Death Global Indigenous America Justice & Society Daniel Hernandez Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:49:25 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/reporters-notebook-zona-maco-waka-waka-waka.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/reporters-notebook-zona-maco-waka-waka-waka.html ** Originally published at World Now: MEXICO CITY -- Skull motifs. Dollar bills pasted on a wall. Phrases written in neon lights. Figures cut out of photographs. Or, if you like, a bunch of lines on paper. It's hardly surprising that the offerings at Zona Maco, the Mexico City contemporary art bazaar that opened its 10th edition Wednesday, tend to look and feel like the art for sale at any other big fair. Many of the galleries with showcases at the glitzy five-day event are visiting from established art centers like New York or Milan. But the ambition of Zona... Art Cities Design Global Mexico Pop Daniel Hernandez Sat, 13 Apr 2013 00:39:02 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/maco-addenda.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/maco-addenda.html * Update, 19:02 p.m.: Actualizo en la noche si tienen tips! Real quick, here are some recommendations for some interesting exhibits and events happening around Zona MACO: Opened Thursday or Saturday: Morgan Manduley, at Yautepec, Melchor Ocampo 154-A, San Rafael. Salón Acme No. 1, at Gob. Rebollar 45, San Miguel Chapultepec. Gustavo Abascal, at Arte TalCual, Colima 326-A, Roma Norte. ** Also ongoing and highly recommended: "Asco: Elite of the Obscure," at MUAC at UNAM. Opening Monday, April 8: PJ Rountree with Kenny Curran, at Comedor (Cafe Zena), Gob. Tagle 66-A, San Miguel Chapultepec lunchtime through Friday, plus April 15.... Art Hoods Mexico People & Ideas Daniel Hernandez Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:42:23 -0500 http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/art-in-america-december-march-issue-atlas-columns.html http://danielhernandez.typepad.com/daniel_hernandez/2013/04/art-in-america-december-march-issue-atlas-columns.html Above, several members of the Mexico City art collective Cráter Invertido at their studio space, October 2012. I profile the group, along with a variety of other exciting artist-run spaces currently operating in D.F., in the March 2013 issue of Art in America magazine, part of their series of "Atlas" columns from different art capitals. An excerpt from the piece, in time for this week's energy around Zona MACO: At a warehouse on a nondescript street in an old semi-industrial neighborhood near downtown, 14 artists have joined forces in a "collective of collectives" calling itself Crater Invertido. The name evokes... Art Blogs Cities Global Hoods Mexico People & Ideas Daniel Hernandez Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:28:32 -0500