A public-private partnership will spend $10 million U.S. dollars to illuminate the exteriors of 10 buildings in the capital city of Oaxaca which are listed as UNESCO-designated World Heritage sites.
Jointly funded by the state of Oaxaca, the city of Oaxaca, the archidiocese of Oaxaca, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (or INAH), and the Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, the project will light up the exteriors of the state Government Palace, the Macedonio Alcalá Theater, and 8 churches, including the Cathedral and Santo Domingo, with energy-efficient LED lighting.
The Spanish company Iberdrola said that of the $10 million U.S. dollar price tag, it would be contributing $1 million U.S. dollars over the course of the next five years. The company has been operating in Mexico for some 20 years, but not without controversy: In January of last year, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called out Iberdrola as a “monopolist” which was among three Spanish companies that had come to Mexico to carry out a “second conquest.”
And in May of last year, Mexico’s Energy Regulatory Commission fined the Madrid-based energy giant 9.15 billion MXN pesos ($466.4 billion USD at the time) for selling electricity to its partners, in violation of its operating agreement.
A Oaxacan chef will receive this year’s National Arts and Literature award in the category of Popular Arts and Traditions. Abigail Mendoza Ruiz, a Zapotec chef from Teotitlán del Valle, has gained worldwide fame over the years through her restaurant, Tlamanalli. The awards, which are given every year by the federal secretariat of culture, also cover language and literature, fine arts, and social sciences and philosophy.
A large caravan of Haitian, Venezuelan, and Cuban migrants traveling together toward the United States are currently in Chiapas, preparing to cross into and through the state of Oaxaca. Organizers from the group Peoples Without Borders claim that over 8,000 people are traveling together — a figure which has Oaxacan authorities worried about how to move such a massive group efficiently through the state.
Meanwhile, Milenio reports that operations at the transit center for migrants in the city of Juchitán have all but collapsed under the heavy demand, and cannot provide enough buses to move all the people who are already coming through.
It’s gonna be a hot one today: In the capital of Oaxaca, expect high temperatures of 31ºC (that’s 88ºF) with mostly sunny skies, and a 40% chance of light rain in the afternoon. Highs of 32ºC (that’s 90ºF on the coast, with a 50% chance of light thundershowers in the afternoon.