FBI seeks suspect after US consular official shot in Mexico
A US consular official was shot in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Friday night, prompting the FBI to offer a $20,000 reward for information that leads to identifying the suspect.
Guadalajara’s El Informador newspaper reported that the victim, not named in the report or by the consulate, was being treated at a local hospital for a gunshot wound in the upper chest.
CCTV footage released by the consulate showed a well built, light skinned man in gym clothes paying at a machine for a parking ticket at 6.16pm. He was immediately followed by a man in a purple T-shirt.
A second video shows the man in purple loitering by the car park exit before pulling out a pistol, firing once and running away…
Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto has the lowest approval ratings in over 20 years.
Mexico’s beleaguered president Enrique Peña Nieto has once again become the target of public anger after attempting to defend a 20% hike in gasoline prices that has provoked a wave of violent demonstration and looting across the country this week.
At least 987 people had been arrested after the fifth day of unrest, which has spread to at least 14 of Mexico 32 states, according to the Animal Politíco news site.
Officials said three people were killed amidst looting in the eastern state of Veracruz on Thursday and a police officer was killed on Wednesday while trying to prevent robberies at a gas station in Mexico City.
In a televised address to the nation on Thursday night, Peña Nieto insisted that there was no alternative to the hike announced on 1 January as part of government deregulation of the energy sector.
“Allowing gasoline to rise to its international price is a difficult change, but as president, my job is to precisely make difficult decisions now, in order to avoid worse consequences in the future,” he said. “Keeping petrol prices artificially low would mean taking money away from the poorest Mexicans, and giving it to those who have the most.”
Peña Nieto, who took office in 2012, has the lowest approval ratings of any Mexican president in over two decades and has been widely criticised over his handling of corruption scandals, the 2014 disappearance of 43 student teachers, and Mexico’s sluggish economic performance, despite having passed reforms that he promised would bring lower energy prices…
Click here to read this article in full at The Guardian
Explaining Mexico's #gasolinazo unrest and how Donald Trump is already having a major impact on the Mexican economy. pic.twitter.com/FqP3hqTNzM
— Duncan Tucker (@DuncanTucker) January 6, 2017
Ultra-premium tequila is winning over wealthy Americans
Produced at this hacienda in the Jalisco highlands, Tequila Patrón is the ultra-premium market leader.
Long belittled as a cheap party drink to be downed with lime and salt, tequila has fought hard to rebuild its image in recent years. At its best, it’s now recognized as a refined spirit comparable to Cognac or single-malt Scotch. High-end, limited-edition bottles sell for well over $1,000 and it has even become a trendy venture for celebrities, with the likes of George Clooney, Justin Timberlake, and P Diddy all launching their own luxury brands.
The top end of the market is where the strongest growth and biggest profits are found today. While total tequila sales increased by 106 percent across the US from 2002 to 2015, ultra-premium sales grew by a staggering 652 percent in that period, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. But with every new brand that enters this crowded market the harder it becomes to distinguish between tequilas of genuine quality and not-so-cheap imitations.
A jimador demonstrates how to cut the leaves from the agave piña at Tequila Patrón.
With competition intensifying, leading brands are turning to increasingly lavish, experimental creations and even high-tech collaborations in a bid to stand out.
Casa Noble, an ultra-premium brand founded in 1997 by José “Pepe” Hermosillo, just launched a limited-edition extra añejo dubbed Alta Belleza (“highest beauty”), which retails at $1,200 per bottle. Triple distilled, aged for five years in French white oak and finished off with six months in To Kalon cabernet sauvignon barrels, it is limited to just 563 bottles. A single serving at one of the few bars that stocks it will set you back up to $300.
Casa Noble is produced at La Cofradía distillery in the town of Tequila, Jalisco.
“We wanted to create something special, something with character and punch,” Hermosillo tells me at the 27-acre La Cofradía estate where Casa Noble is produced in the town of Tequila. Mango seeds crunch underfoot as we walk past rows of blue agave, cacti, mango, and lime trees to the barrel room, where the inimitable guitar licks of Carlos Santana—Hermosillo’s friend and business partner, who was born here in Jalisco state—drift over the sound-system…
The Tequila Files 