Cont. from front page,

Archeologists Gabriela Zepeda, Luis Felipe Nieto, Carmen Acosta Rioja and Andrés Cuellar, part of the team working on the Cañada de la Virgen site, proposed converting the building into a city museum of archeology, ethnography, art and culture. 

The second proposal, for a museum of history and local traditions, was presented by television and radio producer Lucy Zavala, wife of Javier Zavala, owner of the radio station XESQ and TV channel 4.

About 80 people attended the presentations, held in the former presidencia building. Many audience members seemed to think that the two proposals had a lot in common and could be combined into one project. 

Museum of archeology, ethnography, art and culture

The archeological project proposal includes several rooms devoted to exhibits about Cañada de la Virgen; a photo archive including Cañada de la Virgen photographs; an historical archive of San Miguel de Allende that could be used by students and researchers; a library; and a model of the city highlighting main points of tourist interest and showing changes in the urban landscape over time. The proposed museum also would include an ethnography exhibit presenting the history of San Miguel traditions since the seventeenth century and a gallery of modern art. A bookstore, coffee shop and souvenir shop would complement the project. 

According to Zepeda, an historical basis for the proposed museum is the connection between the agricultural cycle and San Miguel’s traditional festivities. She explained that Cañada de la Virgen was an important pre-Hispanic astronomical site and its inhabitants looked to the moon’s phases to guide their agricultural activities. “All the ancient festivities were related to the agriculture cycle,” she said. 

Zepeda announced that four archeological collections are currently available for exhibit: the newly restored Cañada de la Virgen collection; the Arnulfo López Castro collection; the Gaston collection; and the Miguel Malo collection. “This museum would be an opportunity to show these pre-Hispanic collections,” she said. 

Carmen Acosta Rioja said that the project is self-sustaining and would be supported by the federal, state and local governments. She also presented a letter in which the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) expressed its support of the project. 

Museum of history and local traditions 

Lucy Zavala’s project includes an exhibit highlighting the pre-Hispanic culture of this area, specifically Cañada de la Virgen. Zavala said that she had invited archeologist Zepeda to collaborate with her on this exhibit and was “very surprised to learn that she had presented her own proposal.” An architectural exhibit would offer insights into the style of the old buildings in San Miguel. Another exhibit would be about the founding of the Villa of San Miguel el Grande by Fray Juan de San Miguel. Zavala’s proposal also includes a room devoted to the history of the Mexican independence movement and Ignacio Allende. 

The main purpose of this project is to demonstrate and preserve the cultural traditions of the city. “Unlike the other proposal, which aims to show the history of San Miguel’s traditions, mine would show and explain the current traditions in an attempt to preserve them and the way they are celebrated and also to illustrate their origins,” said Zavala. 

Among the traditions she mentioned are the Holy Week processions, the Virgin of Dolores altars, the Locos, the Day of the Dead altars, the Independence Day celebrations, and the Saint Michael Archangel festivities. 

The proposal also includes a room to honor renowned sanmiguelenses such as the poet and politician Ignacio Ramírez “El Nigromante,” singer Pedro Vargas and Manuel Zavala PPKBZON. 

Zavala said that she is not an expert on these subjects and she would invite experts such as archaeologist Gabriela Zapeda; historian Graciela Cruz López; expert in local traditions Don Félix Luna; and city chronicler Don José Cornelio López Espinoza, to collaborate. 

She said that her project is self-sustainable and an entrance fee would be charged. “There would be a discount for those who live here,” she said. 

Audience reaction

At the close of the presentations, questionnaires were distributed so audience members could express their opinions about the proposals. 

Some thought it would be better to have an archeological museum at the Cañada de la Virgen site itself, which according to Zepeda opens in November 2008. Zepeda replied that it would be very risky to exhibit the valuable archeological collections at a distant site that lacks appropriate security. “Besides,” she said, “Cañada de la Virgen lacks electricity and running water, and installing those services would detract from the authenticity and ecology of the site.”

Others agreed that it would be impossible to “enclose the traditions of San Miguel within four walls,” and that an architecture exhibit would be superfluous, since the city streets themselves are an architectural exhibit.

“The museum would not attempt to enclose the traditions,” replied Zavala, “but it would explain the origin and significance of each and of the elements included in each celebration. The historical and architectural explanation of the buildings and churches and of the figures and images inside would invite the public to visit them.”

Historian Graciela Cruz López said that Zepeda’s project was “extraordinary and very complete.” In her opinion, it is not necessary to include exhibits on Allende and Mexican independence, as Zavala’s proposal suggests, since “the Museo Casa de Allende is being restored and renovated as part of the celebration of the bicentennial of Mexican independence in 2010 and it will be a comprehensive museum devoted to Ignacio Allende and the independence movement. To include such a room in the project for the former presidencia would repeat what it is shown in Museo Casa de Allende,” she said. 

Professor Miguel Olvera said that the project should also include preservation of some nearly forgotten but great old books about San Miguel, such as Francisco de la Maza’s San Miguel de Allende.

Eleazar Romero, lawyer and ex-PRI candidate for mayor, said that both proposals may be combined to obtain a final project.

The final decision will be made by the Commission on Urban Development and Public Works (city councilors Gerardo Arteaga, Gustavo Carrillo and Juan Rosario Licea, and Assistant Mayor Rodolfo Jurado Maycotte) and the assistant council (Francisco Vidargas, ex-director of Bellas Artes; Hernán Ferro de la Sota, an architect and expert in building conservation and restoration; and historian and writer Maruja González) taking into consideration the opinions expressed in the questionnaires. 

Neighborhood Watch
By Gabriela Blanco

Acts of petty theft and vandalism in Colonia San Antonio prompted the revival of the community-police program Vecino Vigilante (Neighborhood Watch). The security program is still active in Los Frailes and La Lejona/Olimpo. The program started over two years ago in response to community outrage over attacks on women.

Neighborhood Watch links the police department and trained members of the community through a network of neighborhood organizers and “block captains.” The success of its application in San Miguel depends upon the united effort of all sanmiguelenses, both Mexican and foreigners, and a willingness to work with local police officers.

Neighbors in the program conduct regular meetings and report incidents in their neighborhood—problems with trash collection, public lights, gangs and suspicious activities. The program also encourages a sense of community with organized evening walks, email and telephone chains.

Neighborhood Watch continues to be the program with the greatest potential to improve general safety and foster community identity. Monthly meetings are held now with presidents of colonias to promote the program throughout the city. So far, Los Frailes and San Rafael have the most organized neighborhoods.

About 15 local residents attended the San Antonio meeting on December 6 with Comandante Javier Torres Garcia and Miguel Kegel, former police officer and initiator of the program. According to Kegel the disintegration of the Mexican family has affected neighborhood relations. “A single mother will be reluctant to report a neighbor to the police because she is vulnerable to retaliation.” It was suggested that the city start a public relations campaign urging everyone to report crimes.

To establish a Neigborhood Watch, contact Comandante Javier Torres Farcia at 044 (415) 105-4711 or Perla Alvarez at the police department, 152-2890 or 155-0022.

Street closures during the holidays call for patience
By Jesús Ibarra

Many highly transited city streets are currently closed for repairs. And, not surprisingly, residents, business owners and tourists are asking why road construction occurs during the holiday season as they negotiate detours, park blocks away from their homes, or carry their luggage long distances to their cars.

Cristóbal Finkelstein, city secretary, explained that most of the work is part of the underground cable program. “The underground cable project is supported by Pueblos Mágicos (Magic Towns) funds, which come from the federal, state and local governments,” said Finkelstein. “It is not easy to calculate times, since we receive the resources only when the state and federal governments decide to send them.”

Finkelstein said that the funds must be used within a certain amount of time or otherwise they would be forfeited. “Although the year is almost ending, we are still receiving funds, whereas in a normal year we receive them in March. I think this is due to changes in government authorities.”

According to the city secretary, the inconvenience is only temporary but the benefits are permanent. “We all want to see progress, but not in front of our own homes. We all want to see infrastructural enhancements, but only if they do not affect our personal interests. I ask residents to be patient. We are not doing this to bother anyone but, on the contrary, to benefit the whole city. The work has to be done when the funds are received, not when we want to.”

Finkelstein announced that the local government is trying to keep people informed about the closing of the streets through the Public Service staff and through the media. “Sometimes, people are not home when a Public Service employee knocks at the door, or they do not watch the local news or read the newspapers, but we are trying to get the information out,” he said.

Jorge Zavala, head of the Public Works Department, announced that the latest streets to be under repair include Calle Nueva, which will be closed about three weeks and finished before the end of December; Hidalgo between Insurgentes and Calzada de la Luz, which will be closed from December 10 to January 19; and Callejón del Pueblito, which will be closed during the same time period. 

Barranca, currently under repair, will be open by December 15, and Chorro, also under repair, will be open by December 22. These two streets are being repaired under a joint agreement between the local government and residents, who provided the materials.


Atención received news from the Public Works Department of the following road closings due to underground cable works: 

Street		Closed from
Calle Nueva		December 3 to December 31, 2007
Tenerías (From Callejón Suspiros to Aldama)		January 1 to Janaury 23, 2008
Callejón del Pueblito (whole street closed)		December 10, 2007 to January 19, 2008
Hidalgo ( from Insurgentes to Calz.Luz)		December 10, 2007 to January 19, 2008
Relox (whole street closed)		January 18 to February 6, 2008
Palmar (whole street closed)		January 24 to February 6, 2008
Calzada de la Luz (from Hidalgo to Relox)		February 6 to February 13, 2008
Insurgentes (from Hidalgo to Plazuela San Felipe)		February 6 to February 13, 2008

Mexico Round-up
Compiled by Gabriela Blanco

In order to keep our readers in San Miguel informed of all recent developments across Mexico, we’ve compiled a comprehensive overview of the national newspaper’s lead stories from last week. Stay tuned for future Round-ups from Atención staff.

Smokers outdoors!

If you are smoker and want to continue with this habit, you should do it outdoors or you will have to pay a five thousand peso fine.

El Universal said the plenary meeting of the House of Representatives approved the anti-tobacco law; the Secretary of Health established 100 percent smoke free places throughout the country. The House of Representatives voted with 328 approval votes, 35 votes in opposition and 21 abstentions.

La Jornada (liberal) wrote: “Because of the pressure applied by tobacco companies, the Secretary of Health suppressed an article to propose an increase in the taxes on the import and export of tobacco products, as well as to prohibit or restrict the selling and/or import of these products without the payment of taxes in customs by international travelers.”

Also, the plenary meeting reduced the minimum fine for smoking in the smoke-free areas from 50,000 to 5,000 pesos. In the debate report of the Commission of Health, the majority of the legislators made sure that the public health priorities were held over the interests of the tobacco companies.

El Reforma mentioned: “It is now obligatory to not smoke in schools, restaurants and snack bars, and these businesses have to assign exclusive spaces for smokers.”

Gigante says good-bye, welcome to Soriana

El Universal wrote: “The Gigante group, one of the three biggest chains of grocery stores in the country, yesterday confirmed the selling of 197 stores in Mexico and four in the US. The sale is for US$1.35 billion to Soriana, which has a strong presence in the north and eastern parts of the country.”

El Reforma: said: “With this operation, for a long time announced and denied, the market for electronics has been consolidated into four powerful groups with presence in the entire country: Mexican Wal-Mart, TV/radio commercial, Chedraui and, now, Soriana, which will add a capacity of 47 percent with these 197 stores.”

La Jornada mentions: “After this investment, according to declarations from the financial adviser Carlos Vara, the future of Gigante will concentrate on real estate, as well as on the strengthening of other markets, such as the chain of Toks restaurants and the co-investments that it maintains with Office Depot and Radio Shack.”

9 people die in a car accident in Guanajuato

La Jornada: “A bus that was transporting pilgrims from San Luis Potosí, Dolores Hidalgo and Guanajuato fell down a gully of 35 meters in the community of Valenciana. Nine people are dead and 32 are injured, the director of Civil Protection of the state of Guanajuato informed.”

El Universal said: “In accordance with the survivors’ testimony, at approximately 1:45pm, the driver of the bus, without commercial registration, lost control of the bus and crashed. The police department of Guanajuato is investigating in order to determine the driver’s responsibility and the conditions of the road. The mayor of Guanajuato, Eduardo Romero Hicks, promised to arrange for the transportation of the injured people to their cities.”

El Reforma: “The emergency staff of the Secretary of Health, Civil Protection and the Red Cross came to the crash scene to help the injured people; several kids were moved to the general hospitals of Guanajuato and Irapuato. The driver of the bus, from a private company, died at the scene.”

AIDS statistics in Mexico hard to pin down
By Alfredo S. Lanier

Approximately 25 years after one of the first cases of AIDS in the world was reported, Mexico has neither an effective strategy nor sufficient funding for combating the disease. 

Even getting firm figures on the number of people infected with HIV—the virus that can lead to AIDS—is often hampered by a culture of shame and concealment than contributes to the spread of the disease.

Those grim conclusions were part of a presentation December 2 by Dr. Roberto Maxwell and Antonio Abunde to the Unitarian Universalist congregation of San Miguel de Allende, to mark World AIDS Day.

Maxwell is a well-known physician in San Miguel and medical director of the newly established Hospice San Miguel. Abunde is a trained counselor who worked with HIV patients in San Francisco, Calif. for several years.

According to figures by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2006 there were approximately 180,000 people in Mexico living with HIV. Among adults aged 15 to 49, the prevalence of HIV infection was 0.3 percent, or about half that in the same sector of the population in the United States.

But when reporting HIV statistics—particularly in Mexico—the key caveat is “approximately.” Even according to the UNAIDS estimates, the actually number could be as high as 440,000.

The HIV epidemic in Mexico is concentrated among men who have sex with men, sex workers and people who inject drugs, according to the UN group.

In his presentation, Maxwell said official figures “are not believable” and the actual number of HIV cases could be twice as high.

AIDS reporting gets even fuzzier in the smaller state and local jurisdictions. Abunde, who had experience with HIV-related data collection California, questioned the official numbers for AIDS cases in the state of Guanajuato. Between 1995 and 2005, 685 HIV infections were reported statewide, he said.

“That is very low,” said Abunde. “That can’t be possible.”

A 2004 ranking by Mexico’s National AIDS Registry of all 31 states plus the Federal District, according to the number of cases reported, put Guanajuato fourth from the bottom with only 45.2 cases per 100,000 population. Highest was the Federal District with 218 cases and Baja California at 147 cases. The national average was approximately 85 cases per 100,000 population. 

Taboos, traditions—and the stigma specifically associated with AIDS as a “gay disease”—hamper the gathering of accurate AIDS statistics in Mexico.

“People refuse to get tested for HIV,” Abunde said, “and even when they do sometimes they are too fearful to come back for the results. If they results are positive, health officials are left with a statistic without a person attached to it who could be counseled and possibly treated.”

Migrant workers returning from the United States, where they might have had high-risk sexual encounters and been exposed to HIV, in some cases infect their wives here, in a deadly chain of denial and ignorance.

By one estimate, Guanajuato is the fifth largest exporter of migrant labor to the US, among all Mexican states.

A report in The New York Times this summer noted that “Migrant workers…go to the US with dreams of prosperity, hoping to bring back dollars. But some are bringing back something else as well, HIV and AIDS, which they are spreading in rural parts of Mexico least prepared to handle the epidemic.”

The article noted that, ironically, instead of Mexican migrants bringing disease into the US—as some American foes of immigration claim—in the case of HIV the flow of infection may be going in the opposite direction.

But even among middle-class Mexicans, denial about AIDS persists. Maxwell recalls treating a patient who did not reveal he had been HIV-positive for approximately 10 years, a fact that was discovered accidentally during emergency treatment.

Even when complications from HIV are the immediate cause of death, relatives and doctors are loath to reveal it. “In Mexico you can die of anything, but not really from HIV,” said Abunde.

During a six-day visit to Mexico City earlier this month, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot met with and praised Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón for the AIDS policies developed during his administration.

Next August, Mexico will host the International AIDS Conference, the first time the event has been held in Latin America.

“Still, mustering political support for greater government funding for HIV prevention and treatment is a delicate and frustrating political problem in Mexico,” Maxwell said. “When far simpler yet untreated health problems remain—such as children dying of diarrhea—more money for AIDS will remain a hard sell.”

Alfredo S. Lanier was a member of the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune.