cont. from front page, 

According to the country’s health secretary, José Córdova, “diabetes is a chronic and often debilitating disease that can damage many parts of the body, including the heart, kidneys, eyes, hands and feet.

It has become so prevalent in Mexico that it is now the nation’s number one cause of death. Nearly 6.5 million Mexicans—more than 6 percent of the population—are diabetic, and another estimated 2 million have not been diagnosed.”

According to doctors in health centers and hospitals in San Miguel, two other main causes of death in the city are heart attack and hypertension, and in many cases these are related to diabetes.

A leading disease here and abroad

According to Dr. Lourdes Tejeira Bautista, head of the research department at the General Hospital Felipe G. Dobarganes, the most common illnesses among patients in San Miguel are respiratory distress in children during the winter, stomach problems in hot weather, diabetes and hypertension.

She said that uterine and breast cancer are also common but are less frequent than the former illnesses.

Dr. Salvador Quiroz, an internist at Hospital de la Fe and member of the Rotary Club of San Miguel, said that the leading diseases that afflict Mexico’s and San Miguel’s population are diabetes and cardiovascular problems such as heart attack and hypertension; he added that cardiovascular diseases are frequently related to diabetes. He also mentioned stomach diseases and poor nutrition as severe problems. Dr. Quiroz remarked that “diabetes’ consequences are currently the leading cause of death in the world. We in the Rotary Club realized that especially here in Guanajuato diabetes was a major health problem, and that was why we organized this First Conference on Diabetes.”

Dr. Larry C. Deeb, a pediatrician who specializes in children with diabetes and a former president of the American Society of Diabetes, said at the conference that Mexico is among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest rates of diabetes.

Other countries he mentioned include India, Japan, China and the island of Nauru, in the Pacific Ocean near Australia. “Latin Americans, Afro-Americans, Indians and Asians are more prone to develop diabetes than are those of Anglo-Saxon descent,” he said.

According to Dr. Claudia Karina Anaya, who works in the epidemiology department of the Health Center of San Miguel, the World Health Organization considers diabetes a leading disease in the 21st century and considers it a world epidemic. “Currently, the consequences of diabetes are considered the second cause of death in the municipality of San Miguel,” said Dr. Anaya.

Dr. James R. Gavin III, an endocrinologist with a specialty in diabetes who also participated in the conference, said that women are very slightly more likely to develop diabetes than men, but that “there is almost an equal distribution among men and women.” Dr. Gavin noted that people frequently think that the leading cause of death among women is breast cancer, but that more women die from the consequences of diabetes.

Two types of diabetes

Dr. Gavin explained that there are two kinds of diabetes, Types 1 and 2. About five percent of diabetics have Type 1 diabetes.

“It used to be called juvenile diabetes, or insulin-dependent diabetes, but we no longer call Type 1 diabetes by either of those names because you do not have to be a juvenile to get it,” he said. “You can be 50 years old and develop it.”

Type 1 diabetes develops when the body can no longer make insulin, resulting in high blood sugar levels. In Type 2 diabetes, which is much more common, the body is resistant to insulin. “One of the things that leads to insulin resistance in most people is being overweight or inactive,” said Dr. Gavin, who added that Type 2 diabetes is more strongly hereditary than Type 1.

Some signs of diabetes

Dr. Gavin said that in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes blood sugar can be elevated for a long time and the person would likely not notice any symptoms. Eventually, these high levels exceed the ability of the kidneys to process the sugar, resulting in frequent urination. Deficient in insulin and unable to process blood sugar, the diabetic eats a lot but loses, rather than gains, weight. Blood sugar accumulates in the clear tissue in front of the eye, resulting in blurred vision. Unclear vision, excessive urination and eating a lot but losing weight are early symptoms of Type 2 diabetes.

“For up to 10 years people with Type 2 diabetes have no symptoms at all,” said Dr. Gavin. “That is why we are trying to get people who are at risk to have periodic check-ups to determine their blood sugar levels.”

Causes and consequences

According to Dr. Gavin, the leading cause of diabetes is excess body weight. “I think the main reason we are seeing more diabetes, especially in younger people, is because of changes in lifestyle,” said Dr. Gavin.

 “Children and younger people are not as active as they once were. Our diets have changed significantly. People are eating more processed food and fast foods and many more meals are eaten outside the home. As a result, we are seeing more overweight people, and excess weight is a mayor driver for developing Type 2 diabetes.”

Excessive blood sugar levels can affect the arteries, causing gangrene in the feet (making amputation necessary), heart attacks and strokes. According to Dr. Gavin, the leading cause of death among diabetics is heart attack, and the second most frequent is stroke. “The earlier you find out whether you have diabetes, the sooner you can begin treatment, if necessary, and prevent complications. Once you have developed them, they are very difficult to reverse. Good nutrition, including fruits and vegetables in your diet, and exercise (walking, for example) are basic to preventing diabetes.”

The Health Center at La Lejona offers free diabetes screening.

Rotary donates equipment to General Hospital

The Rotary Club of San Miguel A.C., and the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday, with support from the Tallahassee Rotary Club, is donating a camera for detecting retinopathy caused by diabetes and a laser to correct the problem. Both will be located in the General Hospital.

Dr. Gavin said that one of the earliest complications of diabetes and an early indicator of the disease is a change in the retina of the eye. “With the retinal camera you can get very detailed images of the retina, but more importantly, you can send those images electronically thousands of miles away to be interpreted, so there is no need for a local expert,” said Dr. Gavin.

According to Liz Powell, David Bossman and Gordon Logan, members of the Rotary Club San Miguel de Allende-Midday, the equipment cost more than US$70,000, and the service, which will be available in November of this year, will be free.

Sculptor’s crosses link the spiritual and worldly
By Jesús Ibarra

Contemporary art in public spaces is appearing around the city—new murals at the Instituto Allende and the Biblioteca Pública, the sculptures along Calle Nueva and the crosses in Parque Juárez and Plazuela San Felipe.

“Art makes people more sensitive, so art in public spaces should be promoted,” said sculptor Juan Pablo Gómez, who created the crosses in Parque Juárez and Plazuela San Felipe. Through his crosses, Gómez tries to “help people elevate their consciousness, to be in closer contact with themselves, with their spirit and with God.” 

Jesús Ibarra: When did you become an artist?

Juan Pablo Gómez: I began in 1989. My first pieces were figures made of stones, found animal bones, wood and all kinds of organic material related to nature. I began creating a magical world. Implicit in my work is the story of a character named Zemög, a troll from Norwegian mythology, who enters into a forest and has a series of encounters with different beings, from whom he learns how to cure others, becoming a kind of shaman. I gave him four hands, because I feel I often need another pair of hands to do my work. I create all the tools he needs, tools related to energy.

JI: Why did you decide to use organic objects in your work?

JPG: I grew up in the country by the edge of Lake Chapala in Jalisco. I gained a great fondness for animals and nature.

JI: Have you studied art in an academic setting?

JPG: No, I am a self-taught artist. My fondness for nature helped me to learn to appreciate beauty. I then began to combine all these pieces and shape them and create things spontaneously. When I came to live in San Miguel, somebody told me that they were sculptures. I actually studied veterinary science and biology.

JI: How did you come to start making crosses? JPG: Although I was born into a half-Catholic family, I am not a Catholic myself. However, I have always felt an attraction to Jesus and spiritual issues. For me, the cross is a very strong link between spiritualism and worldly things.

I identify with crosses, but not with the cross where Jesus died as a symbol of death, but as a symbol of life. Every one of us has a cross to carry in his or her life. But we ourselves build that cross, and we stamp on it whatever we want. The first cross I made was a thin one that read “Te toca” (It is your turn), meaning it is your turn to take control of your own life, and to build it as you want.

JI: Can you tell us about your crosses?

JPG: Yes. I exhibited them for the first time at Bellas Artes some time ago. I made 13 for the exhibition. It was a just coincidence that there had been 13 crosses in the former convent. One of them depicts a crucified woman covered with hot pink silk, and only her hands and feet can be seen. At the top of the cross it says “Despierta” (Wake up).

For a long time, women have been subjugated by men. There are places where this situation is still practiced, so this is my message to women. Another cross holds a crucified skeleton and reads, “Sigo aquí, y tú ... ¿que has hecho?” (I am still here, and you ... what have you done?). Another one has a human fetus and reads “No te detengas” (Do not stop), which people have interpreted in different ways.

JI: What was people’s reaction toward your work?

JPG: People stood silently in front of some of the crosses, having internal dialogs with themselves. I left a book for comments, and fortunately all were positive. There was not a single criticism from anyone who might have felt offended by the crosses.

JI: Some of your crosses are in public spaces. How did you come to place your work there?

JPG: I heard on the radio about the International Day of No Violence against Women and I called the radio station to say that I had a piece exactly about that subject. I was then invited to exhibit my work in the city hall museum, at the back of the Tourism Council, which was the former jail (first I exhibited in a convent, then in a jail ...). Then, Gerardo Arteaga, former head of Ecology and current city councilor, invited me to make a cross for Parque Juárez, which was placed there in 2006. 

Currently the cross is venerated as a symbol of the Holy Cross of the Candelaria, during the Candelaria flower fair in February. This cross is called “Yo soy nosotros” (I am us) and combines intangible elements like wind, light and fire with water, land, animals, plants and human beings. After placing this cross in the park, I had intended to place seven other crosses in San Miguel, but for several reasons it has not been possible to place all of them.

I had the opportunity to place one in Plazuela San Felipe, on Insurgentes. I donated another one to the jail; it reads “Perdóname padre, no supe lo que hacía” (Forgive me father, I did not know what I was doing) and a third one to Centro de Crecimiento, which was auctioned at a benefit for the center on the condition that it would remain at the center. It says: “Yo también vivo, siento y puedo” (I also live, feel and can), and one of its arms is shorter than the other. I gave one to Mayor Jesús Correa that reads “Jesus” at the top of the cross, and then “ser libre es ser honesto” (to be free is to be honest). I tried to donate the cross with the crucified woman to the San Miguel Women’s Institute but it was too big for their office; the same happened with the one with the human fetus when I tried to donate it to the Human Rights delegation.

JI: For you, what is the importance of art in public spaces?

JPG: I have just visited Mexico City, and I was impressed to see so many sculptures in streets and avenues, and everywhere. To see art makes people more sensitive, so all expressions of public art should be promoted—even graffiti. There are some graffiti works that are impressive. Instead of fighting it, it should be properly promoted.

Roundabouts get facelifts

To standardize and beautify entrances to San Miguel, the Medio Ambiente and Ecologia departments are working together with city gardeners on three roundabouts at Celaya and Querétaro accesses.

The monument to Juan Jose de los Reyes Martinez (El Pípila) who heroically burned down the door of the Spanish stronghold Alhondiga, is in the glorieta near Mega. The statue of Allende is across from La Luciernaga and a little farther down the highway is the Conspiración tableau opposite the new Presedencía building.

The gardeners are seeding cypresses, callistemon and other plants which require less water and maintenance. At El Pipila monument, gardeners also are taking away the layer of tezontle (a kind of Mexican soil) and replacing it with a plastic membrane below the gravel to control weeds. The work will last approximately two months; it began March 13 and includes caring for the plants already there.

To expedite the work, people of San Miguel contributed plants and materials and the Medio Ambiente and Ecología provided labor, design and administration.

Earth Day in El Charco and Parque Landeta

Annual Cleanup
Sat, Apr 26, 8am–2pm
El Charco del Ingenio & 
Parque Landeta entrances

Earth Day on April 22 is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the world by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities.

More than a half billion people participate in Earth Day campaigns every year to raise awareness of the need to protect our environment and its natural resources. During the week, many groups clean up rivers or parks, plant trees, hold art or poster contests and offer workshops.

El Charco is hosting the third Earth Day event here on Saturday, April 26. A major cleanup is scheduled for El Charco and Parque Landeta. The project is to collect and separate trash in places adjoining the park and garden and in the stream that feeds the Presa del Obraje. 

The cleaning campaign began three years ago with the participation of children and young people who met early in the morning. Organizers see it as a dual success—not only for the visible effects of a clean area, but also for shared awareness that it is possible to face environmental problems and solve them effectively.

This event is coordinated by the Botanical Garden together with the municipal government, Fundación de Apoyo Infantil (Save the Children) and Programa de Educación Ambiental de San Miguel de Allende (PEASMA, San Miguel’s Environmental Education Program). It aims to involve schoolchildren from San Miguel, people from the communities surrounding the park and garden, residents of Los Balcones and Atascadero, the Department of Ecology and workers from the Municipality.

Urban expansion tends to accumulate garbage in zones adjacent to the park and garden, as well as the Palmita de Landeta, Ignacio Ramirez, Capillas and Los Balcones neighborhoods. The staff in El Charco is able to keep most of it clean, but they need help from the whole community to remove trash from Parque Landeta and the external zones in the preserve, at least once a year.

“We cannot do the cleaning by ourselves on such a huge expanse of land, so that’s why we invite schools, neighborhoods, communities, civic organizations, young people, and Mexican and foreign residents to unite efforts this important day to help us clean the area,” said Cesar Arias, director of El Charco. “Several municipal departments also participate, such as Ecología (Ecology), Servicios Públicos Municipales (Municipal Public Services) and Educación y Cultura (Education and Culture).” 

Last year’s event was a success, both in community participation and cleaning results.

Everyone is encouraged to come out and participate in this environmental event. Bring plenty of water, a hat and work gloves, if possible. Wear comfortable footwear and use sunblock. The meeting points are the entrances to El Charco and Parque Landeta.

Earth Day Program

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Photograph Exposition, 10am
Photos of Parque Juárez
Jardín Principal

Work Projects Exhibition, 10am
Medio Ambiente and Ecología Department
Jardín Principal


Information Booths, 10am
Environmental conservation information, Medio Ambiente & Ecología Departments and nongovernmental organizations
Jardín Principal


Art Exposition, 10am
Third Show of Contemporany Art
Room 1 “Espíritu de la Naturaleza”
Room 2 “El Ser Humano y la Naturaleza”
Room 1 & 2 of the Ayuntamiento Museum
Plaza Principal No. 8

Symbolic Reforestation Works, 12pm
Boulevard of the Conspiración


Conference, 5pm
“Huéspedes sobre la Tierra y Bajo el Sol” & “Filosofía Prehispánica de la Naturaleza,” 5pm
w/ Anthropologist Héctor Álvarez Santiago
Municipal Presidency gardens, Plaza Principal 8


Children’s Ballet, 6pm
School Heroínas Insurgentes
Esplanade Jardín Principal


Massive Freezing, 7pm
Pollution Protest (5 min)
Explanada del Jardín Principal


Live Theater, 7:05pm
“Un Bosque para Todos”
Explanada del Jardín Principal


Candles and Bags, 8pm
Explanada del Jardín Principal


FIRE Show, 8:20pm
By Gravity Works
Explanada del Jardín Principal


Power-cutting Event, 9pm
Public Light will be off
Explanada del Jardín Principal


Documentary, 9:10pm
S.O.S Tierra el Llamado
Explanada del Jardín Principal

Note:

The organizers of these events ask everyone in San Miguel to turn off the lights and unplug electric device in their houses, business and shops all around the city for about 10 minutes from 7–7:10pm.

San Miguel in the International News
Compiled by Atención staff

The urban legend of the Beats in San Miguel rages on. Linda Martin wrote in to The New York Times Letters section, to weigh in on the discussion concerning famous writers on the lam in Mexico—is it Cassady, Kerouac or Kesey?

Letters: Neal Cassady’s Mexico

To the Editor:

In reading “On the Lam with Kesey” (March 23) about Lawrence Downes’s mostly fruitless search for signs of Kesey in Manzanillo from more than 40 years ago, I found myself wondering if he had thought of taking his quest to San Miguel de Allende. True, Kesey had returned to the United States by the time I dropped out in 1967, but Neal Cassady and friends were well established in this town of expatriate artists and potheads. Neal was the featured guest at most parties, entertaining us all with his perpetual-motion silver hammer act and dazzling us with his washboard abs. (He was always bare-chested, regardless of the temperature!) We’d all read Kerouac and Burroughs, but few of us knew that Cassady, too, was something of a poet. By the time I met him, drugs and booze had taken their toll. In 1968, he was found dead on the railroad tracks outside of town. At least, that was the story that made the rounds of our hippie community. Thanks for the memories.

Linda Martin

Port Townsend, Wash.
April 6, 2008

You can read all about last week’s First Annual Diabetes Conference held in San Miguel and co-sponsored by San Miguel and Tallahassee rotary clubs. There was also a mention in the local Tallahassee newspaper, The Democrat Writer.

Tallahassee Rotary club joins with clubs in Mexico to fight diabetes there
By Driadonna Roland

The Democrat Writer

April 7, 2008


Diabetes is the No 1. killer in Mexico, affecting more than six percent of the population and causing conditions that rob many of their eyesight.

This week, the Rotary Club of Tallahassee is partnering with the Rotary Clubs of San Miguel de Allende to present a conference on diabetes.

Bill Webb said he got the idea for the conference last fall when he became director of international service for the Rotary Club of Tallahassee. “Diabetes was becoming the No. 1 health problem in Mexico,” he said.

Webb knew his club had members with rich experience in diabetes. Among them is Deeb, a pediatric endocrinologist and past president of the American Diabetes Association, who will be a featured speaker.

Webb said thanks to the work of the host club, more than 150 physicians and health-care providers will come together to train local doctors, increase public awareness and seek needed medical equipment.

Mexico Round-up

This compilation of recent developments across Mexico is an overview of lead stories from national newspapers.

A summary for Pemex in the news

According to La Jornada, the absence of concrete proposals for sweeping reforms imposed on the federal government raises the problem of increasing the taxes Mexican people already pay or reducing the federal budget, announced Secretarío de Hacienda Agustín Carstens.

Carstens stated that Mexico faces a financial crisis if reforms to energy legislation are not implemented. Lacking revenue from oil, government authorities will be forced to decrease public spending and increase taxes.

According to BBC & ABC News, some analysts said that President Felipe Calderon's energy reform bill is a good a start, but falls short of making the sweeping changes necessary to set Mexico's ailing state oil company back on track.

Calderon sent the proposal, which would allow private contractors a greater role in boosting declining oil production and building new refineries, to the Senate, also Calderon stressed that the bill will not privatize Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex. Mexico's leftist opposition has threatened massive protests if the conservative government tries to sell off the company.

Oil revenues account for about 40 percent of Mexico’s federal budget, but Pemex production is declining. The bill would give Pemex more freedom to manage and reinvest its revenues in production and exploration.

Independent oil expert David Shields said the bill would reduce bureaucratic barriers to contracts with private companies, and would allow them to be paid a bonus — but not a percentage cut — for any oil they find.

Sharing oil or direct income from oil with outside companies’ remains barred under Mexico's constitution, but as oil analyst George Baker said, “You’ve got to start somewhere.”

Oil production in Mexico, one of the top suppliers to the United States, is declining, and reform advocates say state oil company Pemex needs outside resources to explore for reserves. The bill would allow Pemex to partner with private companies for exploration and refining.

Opponents claim the bill would lead toward selling off parts of Pemex and threaten national sovereignty.

Mexico opposition barricades congress

According to La Jornada, leftist lawmakers erected makeshift barricades last Monday April 14 around the podium in Mexico’s lower house of Congress, where they have been camped out for more than five days to protest the president’s oil reform proposal.

They piled heavy chairs around the speaker’s platform, while their colleagues in the Senate began fasting to demand that Congress schedule a four-month national debate on the energy bill backed by President Felipe Calderón.

Seeking to end the takeover, senators with Calderón’s National Action Party, or PAN, and the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, offered later Monday to compromise and debate the issue for 50 days.

For more news from Pemex check the following web pages: www.abcnews.go.com , www.news.bbc.co.uk , or www.jornada.unam.mx. 

Living a nightmare in Spain

El Correo reported that Alejandro Moreno Ordaz believed studying abroad could change his life and it did…into a living hell.

According to Moreno, he was accosted and arrested by two police officers March 8 in Seville. That night he was drinking in a bar near his house and when he left, two people forced him into a car, Then he was taken to the Seville prison hospital, a place called “Zero Point.” I believe this is a racial circumstance, because the police insulted and hit me, declared Alejandro Moreno in a handwritten letter from prison.

Arturo Lara López, rector of the University of Guanajuato where Moreno graduated, asked for help from Jorge Zermeño Infante, ambassador from Mexico to Spain. Moreno remains in prison, however.

The World Health Day warns of climatic change

According to El Universal, authorities at the April 7 World Health Day warned of the dangers of climatic change and the destructive effects of different natural incidents. The World Health Organization said the day’s focus was chosen “because climatic change is an increasing risk to world health and sanitation.” The day is an annual opportunity to call attention to a subject of great importance for world health. In Mexico, health authorities said that prolonged droughts, intense rains and severe floods such as in Tabasco are the results of climatic change.


MEXICO NEWS 

More than 25 wildlife species in the state could be extinguished

El Correo on April 9 said that according to official numbers, 24 species were in danger in 2004. Now the State Plan of Territorial Ordering of Guanajuato indicates 25 species could disappear. On the list of species in danger of extinction are one amphibian, three reptiles, nineteen birds and two mammals. The mammals are the kangaroo rat and bat.