General News

Illuminating downtown: Guadalajara’s seasonal lighting display is switched on this week.

Such is the high-profile nature of the International Book Fair (FIL) that groups seeking attention now routinely stage protests on the periphery of the event.

The Guadalajara municipal government finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place as licensed traders in the city center’s landmark San Juan de Dios (Libertad) market continue to demand the removal of dozens of ambulant vendors who traditionally clog the surrounding plaza and nearby streets during the busy holiday period.

French poet, critic and translator Yves Bonnefoy, the winner of this year’s 150,000-dollar FIL Literary Award in Romance Languages, left a favorable impression at this year’s fair.

Some 20,000 nochebuenas (poinsettias) have been planted in the Guadalajara metropolitan area over the past few weeks by municipal gardeners. It may seem a lot but it’s only a tiny percentage of the 20.5 million plants – with a market value of 729 million pesos – that are cultivated in this country each year. 

Mexican health authorities raided three pharmaceutical companies in Zapopan this week and confiscated 166 tons of medicines being manufactured in breach of legal standards.

Throngs of readers have poured into Expo Guadalajara for the International Book Fair (FIL) throughout the week to browse mountains of books as well as listen to authors and speakers from around the world.

Traffic officials carried out breath tests on 6,689 motorists in the Guadalajara metropolitan area during the first two weeks of a new program to crack down intoxicated drivers.  That’s already 40 percent of all breathalyzer checks carried out in the state of Jalisco in 2012.