In this monthly series, we republish a few of the headlines from our January editions 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago.
1974
Periferico problems studied
Traffic department chief Alberto Mora Lopez said that in order to avoid the many accidents that occur on the Periferico it would be necessary to construct underpasses where the Periferico crosses other highways.
Plans have been formulated for the intersection of traffic lights at these intersections, but apparently, funds are not available. According to Mora, the intersection of traffic lights is not an adequate safety measure. On January 20 there was an accident in which 11 persons were killed at the Morelia Highway intersection, which is well marked with signs and highway vibrators to slow traffic.
1984
(From Digur Weber’s Puerto Vallarta column)
There may be unemployment elsewhere in Mexico, no doubt about it, but in Puerto Vallarta it is difficult to find help and certainly no one here works for the minimum wage. Every able-bodied man is in construction, or is a waiter, or otherwise occupied in some tourist-oriented service job.
Since this is the place of opportunity, new shops and restaurants appear to open their doors every week, many by people from other parts of Mexico.
Our housing shortage, already serious, is now acute. One hears daily of persons given only a few days to vacate, with landlords raising the rents for the newcomers.
One friend from Mexico City, having lived here off and on, returned to find absolutely no place to live for herself and her daughter. In desperation, she bought a five-story hotel and the daughter is now managing it. Needing renovation for the hotel, and finding no workers, the daughter brought in a crew from Guanajuato. And where are the workers living? Why in the hotel, of course.
1994
Cease fire holds as Chiapas negotiations stall
January 29: While waiting for direct negotiations with the Zapatista Army of National Liberacion (EZLN) to begin, the administration of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari moved quickly last week to defuse the month-old crisis in Chiapas. The Mexican army has been pulled out of the towns where fighting took place earlier in the month and an amnesty law is now in effect for the guerrillas. The Mexican Congress is looking into special legislation to improve conditions in the state.
The situation in the region had seemed under control until the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) suddenly announced, January 20, that it had received a warning that the EZLN would attack three towns in the Chiapas highlands within 24 hours. The army moved troops in to occupy the towns, but the attack never came. The next day the president ordered the army to pull back its forces from the entire combat area. Some critics of the government’s handling of the crisis are asking if the army was trying to sabotage the efforts of Peace and Reconciliation Commissioner Manuel Camacho Solis to get negotiations going.
Four days later, Camacho Solis gave a speech on the fragility of the present pause in fighting and emphasized that the government is now committed to finding a political solution—though negotiations and changes in the internal policies that govern the country.
There seems to be growing interest in considering a special relationship between the large indigenous population and the state government—possibly some degree of self-rule within indigenous communities.
The risk to the Salinas de Gortari administration is that making sweeping reforms in the ruling systems of one state will raise a hue and cry for similar reforms on the national level. The attempt to limit reforms and preserve government policies is reflected in economic changes now being considered.
2004
Peso gains ground
The dollar dropped to an exchange rate of 10.94 pesos January 6, a fall of 28.5 centavos since December 30. In Guadalajara, money exchange house rates January 6 were at 10.85 buy and 11 pesos sell. Mexico’s foreign reserves jumped to over 57 billion dollars, helping to boost the peso. This was principally due to Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) taking in an average 24.69 dollars per barrel of oil last year, more than six dollars above the estimated price at the beginning of the year. Remittances of more than 13 billion dollars from Mexican workers in the United States during 2003, much of it coming during the holiday season, also helped increase reserves.
2014
Damp, shivery weather strikes holiday season
December went out with a dreary streak of wicked winter weather marked by a straight week of sunshine-robbing cloudy skies and intermittent rain and drizzle.
Temperatures in the Guadalajara and the Lake Chapala region plummeted over the holidays, with a bone-chilling low point of 6° Celsius (43°F) recorded in one zone of the metro area on December 28.
What the heck happened to the so-called World’s Best Climate?
Meteorologists attribute the persistence of the frosty wet spell to a stationary air mass coming out the Pacific Ocean that has been trapped between by a cold front pressing down from the north and a low pressure system that has prevailed along the Yucatan Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico since the first of December.
January 2 the National Meteorological Service reported that Mexico’s 22nd cold front of the fall-winter season was centered in the state of Tamaulipis, spanning the entire width of the nation and extending towards the eastern seaboard of the United States.