Pope Francis will visit Morelia, capital of the troubled state of Michoacán, on Tuesday.
In Nueva Italia, a small agricultural town torn apart by a decade of fighting between drug cartels, vigilantes and the Mexican army, the local parish priest has been left feeling increasingly isolated as he tries to point locals towards an alternative to a life of crime.
“People will turn to whatever they can to get by. Many people here, crippled by debt, end up with a rifle in their hands, taking orders from a boss,” Father Patricio Madrigal Díaz said. “Even the children imitate narcos and pretend to shoot each other. They use the same language as the criminals and recreate the violence that occurs here.”
The arrival of Pope Francis in the troubled western state of Michoacán, which encompasses Nueva Italia, on 16 February brings the faintest hope of a brighter future.
“I think his visit can intensify the humble attempts by local parishes to prioritise peace and provide support for victims and children,” Father Madrigal said. “There’s no one else for us to turn to. We can’t associate ourselves with the criminals or the government. People think they’re one and the same.”
Mexico says it arrested a top female member of the Sinaloa Cartel
Guadalupe Fernández Valencia allegedly played an important role within the Sinaloa Cartel.
Mexican federal police have captured Guadalupe Fernández Valencia, known as “La Patrona” or The Boss, who is wanted in the United States for trafficking drugs and laundering money on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel.
A spokesman for the National Security Commission told VICE News that the arrest took place on Tuesday in Culiacán, the state capital of Sinaloa, but declined to provide further details.
Footage of what purports to be the aftermath of the arrest published in local media, shows officers calmly escorting an unhandcuffed woman into a waiting police car. With dyed blonde hair and a leopard print shirt, she is sporting a look common among women her age in Culiacán.
An earlier statement from the Commission said the 55-year-old was “responsible for importing large quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana from Mexico into the United States.”
Homophobic soccer chant provokes debate in Mexico
The controversial chant was first sung by Atlas fans at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara in 2003.
For more than a decade, rowdy fans at soccer matches across Mexico have delighted in shouting “Ehhh… puto!” — a slang term meaning “faggot” or male prostitute — as the opposition goalkeeper runs up to kick the ball. This practice is generally accepted in Mexico as a light-hearted attempt to distract the goalkeeper, but Mexico’s Football Federation is now facing mounting criticism about its defense of what many people feel is a homophobic chant.
Having previously tolerated the shouts, football’s governing body FIFA took action last week, fining Mexico and four other countries for what it deemed “insulting and discriminatory chants” by their supporters during recent qualifying games for the 2018 World Cup.
The Mexican Football Federation has appealed the $20,000 fine incurred by El Tri fans during the 3-0 victory against El Salvador at the Estadio Azteca on November 13. Guillermo Cantu, the general secretary of the federation, told ESPN last week that “you have to understand some words culturally” and claimed the chant “is not discriminatory”.
Many supporters consider the chant a harmless Mexican soccer tradition and feel that efforts to censor it infringe their right to freedom of speech. Ricardo Olvera, a Club America fan who was born in Mexico but raised in the United States, told VICE Sports the term can mean “dumb ass” or “bitch” and is only used by fans to gain home field advantage by distracting the opposing goalkeeper. Many critics of the term are “people that are not born in Mexico and don’t fully understand our culture,” he said…
Click here to read this article in full at VICE Sports.
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