General News

Guadalajara police officers have captured two carjackers who found their getaway stymied by the city’s congested streets.  

Two men belonging to the indigenous Wirrarika (Huichol) people of Jalisco and Nayarit have been arrested at the Guadalajara International Airport after being discovered in possession of peyote, a plant known for its psychoactive properties.

Downtown Guadalajara merchants wasted no time in applying pressure on mayor-elect Enrique Alfaro, drawing attention this week to the growth of unlicensed street trading, which they say has exploded under the administration of current Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) Mayor Ramiro Hernandez.

The National Forestry Commission (Conafor) is reporting only 177 forest fires this year in Jalisco compared with 420 at the same time in 2014.  Despite this, two firefighting planes, one owned by Conafor and the other rented by the municipality of Zapopan, have made nearly 200 flyovers to dump water loads on fires raging during the hot season.

The adjective “conservative” is commonly applied to Jalisco by journalists looking for a quick way to summarize its culture. Few can deny that the description is apt, especially when compared to “liberal” Mexico City, which has legalized abortion and gay marriage. 

The rector of the Universidad de Guadalajara (UdG) is committed to strengthening the quality of English-language tracking in his institution, at both high school and university levels.  Tonatiuh Bravo Padilla admitted this week that 97 percent of students leaving public secondary schools (secundarias) in Jalisco have virtually no knowledge of English, despite significant investment by education authorities in recent years to develop English-language learning skills in junior schools. 

Progress is already visible in the construction of a third line in Guadalajara’s tren ligero (light-rail network). The supporting columns for the rail track are in place on Prolongacion Laureles, between the planned stations of Mercado del Mar and Basilica. The new line will run diagonally from the northern periferico (beltway) in Zapopan, via downtown Zapopan and Guadalajara, to the Nueva Central Camionera bus station in Tlaquepaque. The new track is expected to open in June 2017.

The U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara has launched a campaign warning Mexicans about “coyotes” hawking their services they say will help them process visa and immigration paperwork. The Consulate stresses that such services are fraudulent and in no way linked to the official procedure. The campaign is titled “No a los coyotes.”  The consulate points out that such scam artists have no influence on immigration policies and simply prey on unsuspecting Mexicans who are unaware of the correct process.