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TOPIC: mexico

Migrant Lives

Latin America's Migrants Trying To Reach The U.S.: Risk It All, Fail, Repeat

Searching for a safe home, many Latin American migrants are forced to try, time after time, getting turned away, and then risk everything again.

BUENOS AIRES — With gangsters breathing down his neck, Maynor sold all of his possessions in Honduras, took his wife and three kids aged 11, 8 and 5, and set out northwards. He was leaving home for good, for the third time.

"I had to leave my country several times," he said, "but was deported." He was now trying to enter the U.S. again, but the family had become stuck in Mexico: "Things are really, really bad for us right now."

Migration in Latin America is no longer a linear process, taking migrants from one place to another. It goes in several directions. Certain routes will take you to one country as a stopover to another, but really, it's more a lengthy ordeal than a layover, and the winners are those who can find that receptive, welcoming community offering work and a better life.

The aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF) calls this an international, multidirectional phenomenon that may include recurring trips to and from a home country.

Marisol Quiceno, MSF's Advocacy chief for Latin America, told Clarín that migrants "are constantly looking for opportunities and for food security, dignified work opportunities (and) healthcare access." These are the "minimum basics of survival," she said, adding that people will keep looking if they did not find them the first time around.

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This Happened — September 19: Mexico City Earthquake

On this day in 1985, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Mexico City.

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Roe v Wade To Mexican Supreme Court: What's Driving Abortion Rights Around The World

A landmark decision Wednesday by the Mexican Supreme Court is part of a push in Latin America to expand abortion access. But as seen by the U.S. overturning Roe v. Wade last year, the issue is moving in different directions around the world.

Updated on September 8, 2023

PARIS — It has been 14 months and 15 days since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ruling that safe access to abortion is no longer a Constitutional right for American women.

For women in the rest of the world, the ruling reverberated on the weight of the U.S. judicial and cultural influence, with fears that it could have repercussions in their own courtrooms, parliaments and medical clinics.

Yet in what is perhaps the most momentous decision since Roe’s overturning, the U.S.’s southern neighbor, Mexico saw its own Supreme Court unanimously decree that abortion would be decriminalized nationwide, and inflicting any penalty on the medical procedure was “unconstitutional … and a violation of the human rights of women and those capable of being pregnant.”

Mexico is the latest (and most populous) Latin American country to expand reproductive rights, even as their northern neighbor continues to take steps backward on the issue.

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The "Magical Towns" Of Mexico, A Tourism Trap Paid By Marginalized Locals

The Patio de la Estrella neighborhood being hailed as a "magical" place in Córdoba, Mexico is a perfect example of "touristification," where the most vulnerable residents suffer the consequences.

CÓRDOBA — In this city in the central Mexican state of Veracruz stands the El Patio de la Estrella neighborhood, which has long been inhabited by a variety of marginalized populations, including people of African descent, women and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Since 2016, locals in Patio have been resisting forced eviction attempts as part of an ongoing gentrification process. But recently, the pressure has multiplied, after Mexico's Ministry of Tourism has named Córdoba as a “magical town.”

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The resident of the neighborhood face harassment from both the police on the street, and the Córdoba City Council, which has been trying to get them to leave to build a shopping center.

“We know that with their gentrification policies they are going to destroy this space," says Lx Santx, a resident of Patio de la Estrella. "This is my home, my safe port, the place where a large part of my personal, family, and community identity has been built.”

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Living Abroad

The (Un)Friendliest Countries For Expats in 2023

Mexico is the most welcoming destination for expats, Kuwait the least, according to an Expat Insider survey.

In its 10th year, the annual Expat Insider survey by global expat network InterNations shines a light on the countries that make settling in easy — and those that don’t.

A warm welcome in Mexico

For the fifth year in a row, Mexico ranks 1st in the Ease of Settling In Index.

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LGBTQ Plus
Daniela Pastrana

How I Learned To Call You 'Son' — A Mother's Awakening To A Non-Binary World

Journalist Daniela Pastrana thought she knew how to be a mother — until her child came out as non-binary. Pastrana's journey to acceptance took her through Mexican history and deep into herself and her own prejudices.

MEXICO — While Gen Z is generally more aware that biology and gender identity are not necessarily connected, their families have a long way to go to learn — or unlearn — old habits and a new language to communicate with.

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Journalist Daniela Pastrana took us into the privacy of her own home, as she travels to the ancestral roots of Mexico and talks with experts in search of answers on how to be a non-binary mother.

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Living Abroad

The Best Destinations For Expats In 2023

Find out the best and worst destinations worldwide for expats, according to the latest Expat Insider survey.

Global expat community InterNations conducts one of the biggest annual surveys on life abroad, Expat Insider. In 2023, close to 12,000 expats representing 171 nationalities took part. Covering key areas such as working abroad, the ease of settling in, quality of life, personal finances, and expat essentials, the findings are a must-read for anyone interested in living abroad.Sunny & Spanish-

Speaking: Common Themes in the Top 3

Mexico Is #1 — Again.

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Society
Mar García

This Naked Body Has A Voice: Mexican Art Models Call Out Abuse

An art-model collective gives voice to a group of women that, for centuries, has been seen but not heard.

MEXICO CITY — Inside an enormous palace, thousands of people have admired a painting of a young woman in the nude. Hundreds of brush strokes breathe life into the cushions where she reclines. The silence that usually dominates her surroundings is interrupted when, in front of a group of visitors, she speaks for the first time in over 100 years.

“Comfortable and elegant, right? Or so it seems. But I’ve been on my elbow for hours. Tricks of the trade,” says Liz, who prefers to go by her first name only, giving voice to the model in the 1920s painting “Desnudo Barroco,” by Mexican painter Germán Gedovius. The model’s name is unknown.

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This Happened

This Happened — July 6: Frida Kahlo Was Born

Frida Kahlo was a renowned Mexican artist known for her distinctive and vibrant self-portraits. She was born on this day in 1907. Kahlo is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

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food / travel
Magdalena Rojo

In Mexico, Indigenous Women Are Saving Your Morning Coffee, One Plant At A Time

Coffee producers in Oaxaca, Mexico, are adapting to climate change by restoring their coffee plantations in agroforestry systems. While the costs of their work are increasing, the price of coffee is not.

OAXACA — Seven women gather beneath the shade of Victórica Ortiz López’ (58) house, their woven bags slung over their arms and ready for the fields. Speaking in Mixteco, the majority of these women are above fifty and still prefer the traditional indigenous language over Spanish.

In Guadalupe Buenavista, a village of around 400 people, coffee production has been the main source of income for multiple generations. “My grandfather, who is already 80, spent all his life growing coffee and so did his father,” says one of the youngest coffee producers, Paula Pérez Ortiz (34), while we wait for a pick-up to take us along the bumpy, unpaved roads.

Once we leave the village for the coffee plantations, forests are everywhere around us. Here, coffee plants grow underneath trees.

Mexico is famous for its arabica coffee, often grown in the shade of different kinds of trees instead of monocultures, where only coffee plants would grow in one plantation. The country is amongst the biggest exporters of organic coffee in the world, with Germany being one of its main importers.

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food / travel
Sophie Jacquier

A Sip Of Summer: Five Rosé Wines From Around The World

Welcome summer with a glass of one of these elegant rosés from winemakers in Mexico, New Zealand and more.

Nothing spells summer quite like a cool glass of rosé on a hot day. From sweet hints of red berries to fresh notes of lemon, rosé is the perfect wine to sip with French cheese or Spanish tapas.

Here's a roundup of the best rosés from around the world to celebrate — responsibly! — the arrival of summer.

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In The News
Emma Albright and Yannick Champion-Osselin

Young Victims Of Russian Attack, Protest After French Police Kill Teen, South Korea De-Aging

👋 Yáʼátʼééh!*

Welcome to Wednesday, where Russian airstrikes on Kramatorsk leave at least 10 dead, including twin sisters, the killing of a 17-year-old by the French police sparks clashes on the outskirts of Paris, and a new law makes people younger in South Korea. Meanwhile, Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda warns that Russia’s history shows that the country exploding into civil war is unlikely to end well.

[*Navajo]

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