Mexico

WHITE HOUSE LIFTS RESTRICTIONS FOR VACCINATED TRAVELERS FROM CANADA AND MEXICO

By Miriam Raftery

Photo:  international border crossing at San Ysidro, via U.S. Customs & Border Patrol

October 13, 2021 (Washington, D.C.) - The White House has announced an easing of COVID-related Title 19 travel restrictions along the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. Starting next month, non-essential travel across borders will be permitted for travelers who are fully vaccinated. Essential travelers will have to show proof of vaccination starting in January.


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MEXICO OPIUM NETWORK LAUNCHED TO COMBAT GLOBAL OPIOID EPIDEMIC

UC San Diego’s Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies among the key partner institutions for the first-of–its kind, international effort

June 30, 2020 (San Diego) -- Despite being considered the world’s second largest producer of opium and heroin, little is known about poppy cultivation in Mexico. Yet, the opioid crisis remains a huge problem across much of the U.S. and Mexico and COVID-19 appears to have made matters worse: Recent lockdowns have disrupted the flow of synthetic opioids and have ostensibly increased production of heroin in Mexico.

To address the global opioid crisis, the Mexico Opium Network, a first-of-its kind international effort, was recently launched to examine the socio-political challenges posed by illicit poppy crops in Mexico.


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U.S., MEXICO WILL RESTRICT NON-ESSENTIAL TRAFFIC ACROSS BORDER STARTING AT 9 PM TONIGHT

 


Completed port of entry at San Ysidro

By Chris Jennewein, Times of San Diego, a member of the San Diego Online News Association

Photo: San Ysidro border crossing, via San Diego Mayor Falconer's office

March 20, 20202 (San Diego) -- The Trump administration announced Friday that closure of non-essential movement across the Canadian border will be accompanied by similar limits on the Mexican border.


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CALLING MEXICO? DIALING RULES HAVE CHANGED

By Miriam Raftery
 
August 6, 2019 (San Diego) – Effective August 3, you no longer need to dial the prefixes 01, 044, or 045 when calling Mexico.  
 
When calling inside Mexico, you will only need to dial ten digits, without the 01. 044 or 045 formerly required at the beginning.  

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TRAVEL WARNING FOR MEXICO ISSUED BY U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT

 

 

East County News Service

September 2, 2018 (San Diego) – The U.S. State Department last week issued an updated travel advisorywarning against all travel to several Mexican states and caution to many others where “violent crime, such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery, is widespread.”


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STATE DEPARTMENT ISSUES WARNING ABOUT TAINTED ALCOHOL IN MEXICO AFTER AMERICAN TOURIST DIES, OTHERS SICKENED

 

43% of alcohol served in Mexico is produced illegally and may be dangerous, government study reveals

East County News Service

Photo:  Abbey Conner, whose family alleges she died due to tainted alcohol served at a Mexican resort

July 27, 2017 (San Diego) – The U.S. State Department has issued a warning for Americans visiting Mexico.  Since 2010, over 1.4 million gallons of tainted alcohol have been seized in Mexico. That includes counterfeit booze that reportedly contained pure industrial ethanol used in rubbing alcohol – a substance that can be toxic if consumed.


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THE LOBSTER HOUSES OF PUERTO NUEVO

 

By Rebecca Jefferis Williamson

June 5, 2017 (Puerto Nuevo) -- Lobster dinners, Viagra coffee, ponchos and more are to be found in Puerto Nuevo, Baja California, Mexico. 

The city, as legend has it, was named after a Newport cigarette billboard.  The legend goes there was a fishing village that offered cheap lobster dinners.  When people asked where to find this place, south of Rosarito Beach, the directions, before Google map, would instruct tourists to go to the Newport cigarette billboard and they would find this fishing village.  Puerto means “port” and Nuevo “new.”


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MEXICO TO PAY FOR WALL

 

 

By Juana  B. Back

April 1, 2017 (San Diego) – In a surprise announcement this morning,  President Donald Trump tweeted that Mexico’s president has agreed to pay for the border wall. The decision came after the winning bid was awarded to a Mexican contracting company, Puerto Abierto, following a four-day bidding process in March.

“We’re going to build a HUGE wall.  The biggest and best wall ever,” Trump promised in a 4 a.m. tweet.  “Mexico has agreed to pay.  Puerto Abierto’s got the contract. They had the lowest bid, a real deal. HASTA LA VISTA, BAD HOMBRES!!!!”


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GAS PRICE PROTESTS ACROSS MEXICO FORCED BORDER CROSSING CLOSURE

 

By Miriam Raftery

January 10, 2017 (San Diego) –  Protests have erupted across Mexico over a 20 percent hike in gas prices due to deregulation ordered by President Peña Nieto. Though cost of a gallon of gasoline is now about $3.50-- nearly as much as a day’s wages (about $4 at a minimum wage job), fueling outrage among impoverished Mexicans.


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MOBILE CONSULATE OFFERS HELP FOR MEXICANS IN U.S.: AUG. 27 AT LEMON GROVE LIBRARY

 

East County News Service

August 21, 2016 (Lemon Grove) – Mexican Consul General Rafael Laveaga will hold a Mobile Consulate at the Lemon Grove Library (3002 School Lane, Lemon Grove) on Saturday, August 27th from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.


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ZIPOLITE - THE HIPPIE PARADISE ON THE OAXACAN RIVIERA

 

By Sam Warren

March 5, 2016 (Mexico) - How did I come to live over a thousand miles away in the sleepy Mexican beach town of Zipolite? I love San Diego. Unfortunately, as a writer who has never had a best seller, I didn't salt enough money into my Social Security to survive in a city with such a high cost of living such as San Diego. When a friend told me about this hippy beach town in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, I had to go check it out. So I flew down with a couple of friends to see the area and decided that this was where I wanted to retire. It isn't the end of the world and as they have WiFi, I can still communicate with friends with email and Skype. There are also a number of other writers living or visiting the area.


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CROCS AND KINGS

 

By Sam Warren

February 4, 2016 (Zipolite, Mexico) -- Two friends of mine, Sophia and Carlos from San Diego, were visiting me at my bed and breakfast in Zipolite, Mexico, and I was showing them around the area.  We visited a nearby lagoon where the government had set up a crocodile reserve in a nearby lagoon named Ventanilla. It was named after the Spanish word for window as there was a nearby rock in the ocean with a square hole in it that looked like a window opening. We got into a boat with a young Mexican guide, another young Mexican who helped with the paddling, and the other passengers.


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CDC ISSUES WARNING DUE TO ZIKA VIRUS: PREGNANT WOMEN SHOULD AVOID TRAVEL TO MEXICO AND PARTS OF CARIBBEAN, SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA

“There’s a pandemic in progress.”-- Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health

East County News Service

January 15, 2016 (San Diego) – Zika virus has spread to at least 14 countries in the Western hemisphere as well as Puerto Rico. Tests have linked Zika virus to babies born with microcephaly, a birth defect that causes babies to be born with small skulls, brain damage and sometimes death. 

Today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel warning urging pregnant women and women who may become pregnant to postpone travel to  Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Suriname, and Venezuela.


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MISTS OF PALENQUE: THE MYSTERIOUS RED QUEEN OF MEXICO

 

 

The Mayan Red Queen: Tz’ aakb’u  Ahau of Palenque, by Leonide Martin (Made for Success Publishing, 2015, 300 pages).

Book Review by Dennis Moore

January 3, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) - Leonide Martin, retired California State University professor, author and Maya researcher, continues her Mists of Palenque Series in Book 3 with a work of historical fiction that has been described as tastefully written with a beautiful weave of historical fact; The Mayan Red Queen: Tz’ aakb’u Ahau of Palenque.


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BAJA BLOG: VINTANGO AND QUINTO ELEMENTO IN GUADALUPE VALLEY

 

By Susan A Mahalick

Photos of Vintango provided by Jo Ann Martino

November 13, 2015 (Baja California, Mexico)--It was a fine fall day to visit one of my favorite winemakers, Jo Ann Knox Martino who owns Vintango. She has been making wine for six years now and this year she only put up Nebbiolo. In years previous she has done Zinfandel and a blend of  Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. She harvested 16 tons of grapes and put up 15 barrels of this wine. She still has 10 cases left of my favorite, the 2011 Zinfandel, which she poured for my friend, Rocky, and I. She is also experimenting with pomegranate wine since there are trees on the ranch. We were able to sample some of this as well and give feedback she appreciated.


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STRONGEST HURRICANE EVER RECORDED BARRELS TOWARD MEXICO

 

East County News Service

October 23, 2015 (San Diego) – Hurricane Patricia, described as a “potentially catastrophic hurricane” by the National Weather Service’s National Hurricane Center, is forecast to slam into the Pacific coast of Mexico later today.  With winds of 200  miles per hour, Hurricane Patricia is the strongest hurricane ever recorded by the center, which tracks all storms in North America.

CNN reports that 50,000 people have been evacuated along the Mexican coast, where a storm surge wave of 30 feet is expected to hit the Mexican state of Jalisco. The powerful storm is between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco, about 85 miles southwest of Manzanillo Mexico and 155 miles south of Cabo Corrientes. Flights from San Diego and elsewhere in California into the region have been cancelled, the Los Angeles Times reports.


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BAJA BLOG: A BAJA WEDDING, KASHUDI AND BRISELDA TIE THE KNOT

 

Article and photos by Susan A Mahalick

October 1, 2015 (Baja California, Mexico)--Kashudi is a talented drummer who lives down here who I have been fortunate to hear on more than one occasion. I heard him 4th of July at Angel’s Camp for their annual pig roast, and again right before his ceremony when he played to entertain his own guests on his rooftop of his home in La Misión at 3 pm on September 19th, a Saturday. It was another wonderful Baja day, not too hot, not too windy or humid. The bride and groom picked a fine day for their nuptials and about thirty people showed up, family from here for her as she is Mexican, family from the states for him, his son and daughter, and neighbors all attended to wish the couple well.


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BAJA BLOG: GALERIA LA MISION, MY SUNDAY PLACE TO HANG OUT

 

Story and photos by Susan A Mahalick

August 19, 2015 (Baja California, Mexico)--My life is not all events and parties; there are my contracts, which I am most fortunate to do from home, my two cats, Zoë and Chloë and my friends, some of whom own businesses. It is possible to work in Baja, but most Americans I know open their dream businesses, such as wineries, gift shops, and galleries.


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READERS & WRITERS CALENDAR: FROM AUGUST 16, 2015

 

 

For complete Calendar including Authors Events, go to www.SDWriteWay.org

 

I'M BACK

I have retired and moved to the southern Mexican beach town of Zipolite in the state of Oaxaca. If anyone wants to visit, I would be glad to help you get a place to stay and show you around.

I have to warn you though. It is not your typical resort town. It is clothing optional, marijuana smoking is legal, it is gay friendly, bars open all night, and you won't find any luxury hotels. What happens in Zipolite, stays in Zipolite. One can stay in a dormitory for about $4 a night or rooms or bungalows from$10 and up. Email me at sambookwarren@yahoo.com.


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CHILI COOKOFF FUND RAISER AT LA SALINA 2015

 

Article and photos by Susan A Mahalick

August 7, 2015 (Baja California, Mexico)--Another beautiful summer day for this now locally famous annual event dawned just like most this time of year, with a light marine layer and cool temperatures. The event would not start until 11 a.m., when people have to start cooking their entries on site to be ready for judging and tasting at 2:30 p.m. Booths were mostly set up the night before, with one couple who always has the best spot in the first place where most people start their tasting. Frank and Darlene, who live here, have entered since the first cook-off seven years ago. Two hundred and eighty to three hundred and twenty people were estimated to have attended the event.


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BAJA BLOG: 5TH ANNUAL DAVE CLARK SAND GOLF TOURNAMENT AT LA SALINA

 

By Susan A Mahalick

Article and photos by the author

August 4, 2015 (Baja California, Mexico)--The day dawned as it usually does this time of year, with a marine layer clinging to the hills to the west of the beach. It is supposed to be 80 degrees later in the day, but for the game which is supposed to start at 11 a.m. this is perfect, especially in the shade. Thirty two people signed up for the fun event and played in teams of two or up to five. This is a usual amount I am told by Jesse, the cantina manager who has been here for many years.


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BAJA BLOG: FOURTH OF JULY BAJA STYLE AT ANGEL'S CAMP AND THE CANTINA

 

Story and photos by Susan A Mahalick

July 7, 2015 (Baja, Mexico)--The day dawned cloudy and cool as it often does this time of year; sometimes the marine layer stays all day, or for a month at a time along the Pacific coastline. At about three in the afternoon the layer was thin enough that the sun came out for a brief time. Time to go to Angel’s Camp for the annual 4th of July pig roast.


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TROPICAL CYCLONE BLANCA TO BRING THUNDERSTORMS AND RAIN TUESDAY

 

East County News Service

June 7, 2015 (San Diego) –Tropical Cyclone Blanca is making its way north from Baja, Mexico, bringing a threat of rain and thunderstorms to Southwestern California.


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BAJA BLOG: BLACK CROSS WINERY 1ST ANNIVERSARY PARTY

 

Story and photos by Susan A Mahalick

June 3, 2015 (Cantamar, Mexico)--Robin MacKenzie, proprietor of Black Cross winery in Cantamar up in the hills helps to support Pretty Horse Rescue owned by Krystal Redmon. Robin had her first anniversary party on a fine May afternoon overlooking the hills surrounding the property where both businesses coexist.


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BAJA BLOG: THE NEW SPLASH OCEANFRONT RESTAURANT AND BAR

 

Photos and story by Susan A Mahalick

May 17, 2015 (Baja, Mexico)--Established June 13th, 2009 and owned by the Santos family, this is the place to hang out, be seen and meet new people all wrapped up with excellent food, service and views of the volcanic rocks being shaped by the waves of the Pacific Ocean.


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BAJA BLOG: LA SALINA CANTINA IN LA MISION, A REAL MEXICAN CANTINA

 

Story and photos by Susan A Mahalick

April 20, 2015 (Baja, Mexico)--Located as an exit off the toll road, or Cuota, is La Salina at Km 73. Two exits after crossing the bridge with the estuary to the left as you travel south from Rosarito is a public beach with palapas to the right. It is Easter weekend which traditionally starts the official camping on the beaches, no matter the weather, as Mexicali, Tijuana and Tecate empty out for all the free camping in this part of Baja. Here the fee is $500 pesos, around $4 at the current exchange rate, per vehicle which accounts for this beach not being overcrowded.


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HOUSE INDEFINITELY POSTPONES BORDER ACT

 

By Hayden Parsley

January 28, 2015 (Washington D.C.) - Leaders of the United States House of Representatives have decided to postpone a vote on the “Secure Our Borders Act.” Otherwise known as H.R. 399, the bill was called for by Republicans and would require the Border Agency to stop all illegal border crossings within five years or be penalized.


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TRAVEL WARNING ISSUED DUE TO PROTESTS, CIVIL UNREST IN MEXICO INCLUDING ACAPULCO AND HIGHWAY TO MEXICO CITY

 

 

By Miriam Raftery

November 27, 2014 (Washington D.C.) – The U.S. State Department has issued a travel warning due to the continued threat of protests and violent incidents in Mexico.  U.S. citizens are advised to avoid road travel within all areas of Guerrero including along the main toll road 95D to and from Mexico City and Acapulco. 

U.S. citizens are also warned not to participate in protests in Mexico, since the Mexican constitution prohibits political activities by foreigners.  Americans are urged to avoid areas of demonstrations, which could result in detention, deportation, or worse.

The region has been rocked by protests over the disappearance of 43 student protesters in Iguala. Burned bodies found in a mass grave may be those of the missing students. There are allegations that they were abducted by police on orders of a mayor and turned over to a gang that murdered them. Mexico’s  President Enrique Peña Nieto has called for constitutional reforms to allow the federal government to takeover local police departments, CNN reports. The Mayor of Iguala and dozens more have been arrested by federal police.


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BAJA BLOG: LA MISION EQUESTRIANS - MORE ABOUT HORSES IN BAJA

 

By Susan A Mahalick

October 21, 2014 (Baja, Mexico)--In my previous article about Black Cross Winery and the Pretty Horses Ranch, I touched on how important both wine and horses are in this part of Baja. Now I want to expand on a group founded by Carla Jesme to help pay for the upkeep of her horse. She arrived here and fell in love with horses and the way of life in La Misión, with all the unpaved roads and trails up in the hills, along with beach rides.


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SCIENCE AND HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS


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