Cont. from front page

Crime increased in the city in 2008, and protests were raised against the Public Security Department.

Perhaps the overarching event this year was that San Miguel de Allende and the Shrine at Atotonilco were named World Heritage sites by UNESCO. Atención presents its annual summary of the year that was 2008 in San Miguel. 




January

This year brought many changes to San Miguel de Allende, and perhaps it could be said that the once small, provincial town took further steps toward becoming a city. Four modern structures heralded a change in the economic, social and physical landscape of this colonial cradle of independence: the shopping centers La Luciérnaga and Comercial Mexicana, a controversial condo complex and a parking garage in Centro.

In the state of Guanajuato, the water commission, CEAG, made an effort to promote the conservation and careful use of this precious natural resource through a school program called “Sumérgete y Cuida A-GUAnajuato” (Submerge Yourself and Take Care of Water in Guanajuato). Most of the municipalities in the state took part in this program. Locally, SAPASMA (Water and Sewage System of San Miguel de Allende) is responsible for providing water to the city and educating the public about smart water usage. 

Many people began the New Year in debt, having spent a lot of money during the holidays. The costs of Christmas parties, posadas, presents, and Christmas and New Year’s dinners all added up. On January 6, Three Kings Day, parents bought presents for their children. And more expenses came during January: aside from property and vehicle taxes, prices for goods and services increased. Most people spent all their aguinaldo (the yearly bonus paid in December), and they took out loans to pay their debts. In Mexico, this time of the year is known as cuesta de enero (January price hike). 

Rafael Tovar y de Teresa, head of the commission in charge of organizing events to celebrate the bicentennial of Mexican independence and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution in 2010, was in San Miguel on January 17. Tovar y de Teresa visited the main cities in the state of Guanajuato in which the Independence movement began: Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato. He explained the main points and objectives of this program and the ways in which it could benefit our city. He also suggested that a federally managed museum could be established in the former presidencia building as part of the program in San Miguel. 



February

After more than 10 years of struggling to offer the community an alternative space for arts and recreation, the building known as El Recreo, or El Sindicato, located in the heart of San Miguel at Recreo 4, started a new life as an art school. Called La Casa de las Artes Escénicas de El Sindicato (The House of Performing Arts of El Sindicato), it offered new academic courses in addition to the workshops El Sindicato used to offer. Ballet, jazz, folkloric Mexican dance, theater, and saxophone are some of the courses offered, focusing mainly on Mexican youth but open to everyone. 

Suggestions for solving the traffic problem in San Miguel de Allende and involving residents in the process were the main points discussed at the Colloquium on Traffic Issues in World Heritage Cities organized by the Tourism, Economic Development and International Relations Department and hosted by Francisco López Morales and Francsico Vidargas, director and sub-director of INAH’s World Heritage Department, on January 30 and 31. 

The local government was accused of making political agreements with the cooperatives that manage the city bus system; this issue was brought to attention during the colloquium when Eleazar Romero, a former PRI candidate for mayor, publicly accused the authorities of making political deals with the transportation cooperatives. The authorities, in particular the Transit Department, headed by Samuel Mercadillo, were working with the public transportation cooperatives to improve service.

According to Eduardo Soria, head of the local Treasury Department, the office in charge of collecting property taxes in San Miguel, this tax represents 45 percent of the local government’s annual income. The money from these taxes is used to pay for public services such as police, traffic officers, public lighting, trash collection and street repair, among other things. 

A campaign called“Si lo ves, no te calles” (If you see it, do not keep quiet), sponsored by the Public Security Department headed by Daniel Trujillo, and the citizens’ group San Miguel Siempre Hermoso (San Miguel Always Beautiful), headed by Filip Lein, encouraged residents to report criminal activity by calling the emergency number 066.


Another Public Security program involved getting gang members into sports as a way to discourage illicit activity. According to Trujillo, participating in a soccer tournament encouraged boys to play sports instead of perpetrating vandalism. 



March

The first Festival Sabor San Miguel, a gastronomy and wine festival, took place March 7 to March 9. More than 170 Mexican dishes prepared by chefs from Mexico and abroad were available for tasting during the festival.

On March 10, the Jardín and adjacent streets were cordoned off by members of the Civil Protection and Police departments. According to Alan Álvarez, head of Civil Protection, a report was received at the emergency number 066 reporting the presence of a strange object that could be a bomb in front of the former presidencia building. The object was a sealed 20-liter bucket with the label “Do not open, explosive material” and a skull drawn on it. Civil Protection called in members of the fire department, the Red Cross and the army for assistance in the emergency situation. They helped to remove the bucket and took it to the safety of Salida a Querétaro, where it was destroyed.

One of San Miguel de Allende’s main tourist attractions and a highlight of the Holy Week celebrations are two processions held on Good Friday: the Sacred Encounter and Priest’s Passing and the Holy Burial. These impressive spectacles have endured for generations and bring venerated statues from the principal churches into the streets for a unique remembrance of the Passion of Christ. 

The Biblioteca Pública (Public Library) is considered one of the best bilingual libraries in Mexico and has served the community of San Miguel for more than half a century. Aside from its holdings of more than 60,000 volumes in Spanish, English, German or French and its many lecture, film and theater events, the library grants scholarships to young students and offers cultural activities. The Biblioteca began in a private home in 1954 and moved in 1958 to its current location at Insurgentes 25. On 2008, the Biblioteca celebrated its 50th anniversary at this address and offered a series of special events.



April

The March 25 opening of Starbucks in San Miguel de Allende caused controversy in the community. Although Starbucks has retained the colonial architecture of its store, for many a US-based business with an English name flies in the face of tradition, the local economy and the essence of a provincial city such as San Miguel.

Members of the activist group Va por San Miguel demonstrated against the establishment in the Jardín during Starbucks’ opening ceremony, but others, mainly younger people, were happy with the new coffee shop, and other residents and coffee shop owners thought that the competition was good and were not opposed to the new business.

Following the 2007 tourism slump, travelers returned to San Miguel de Allende. According to Guillermo González Engelbrecht, head of the San Miguel Tourism Council, and to official information provided by SECTUR (National Tourism Department), tourism in San Miguel increased 18 percent during Holy Week and 10 percent during the first three months of 2008. According to DATATUR, SECTUR’s online database, 67 percent of the city’s more than 9,000 rooms were occupied during Holy Week this year, 16 percent of those by foreign visitors. This represented a 40 percent increase in the number of foreign tourists compared to 2007.

The Rotary Club of San Miguel A.C., the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday and the Rotary Club of Tallahassee, Florida, supported by the local government, sponsored the First Annual Conference on Diabetes in San Miguel, which took place in the Teatro Ángela Peralta and the Hotel Real de Minas. Mayor Jesús Correa proclaimed April Diabetes Awareness Month in San Miguel.

Children’s Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, though on different dates. In Mexico, April 30 is set aside for honoring the nation’s young sons and daughters. Atención dedicated an article to all the children in the municipality and to some of the institutions that support them. Casa Hogar Don Bosco was founded for orphans in 1959 today there are three casas hogar (Mexiquito, Santa Julia and Sollano). Patronato Pro Niños, founded in 1970, provides medical and dental care for children within the municipality. Centro de Crecimiento, founded in 1977, provides therapeutic treatment for children with physical and mental disabilities. Feed the Hungry provides hot breakfasts to children in rural and urban schools in poor neighborhoods. DIF (Department of Family Integration) is a government institution that cares for children and the elderly.



May

Employment opportunities in San Miguel were generally considered to be limited to construction and tourism with little scope for professional employment. Opportunities for young people starting a career were scarce, so much so that the city government provided financial assistance for employment searches beyond San Miguel.


For Mother’s Day (on May 10 in Mexico), Atención dedicated an article to mothers and to the institutions that support those who are single, abandoned or elderly in San Miguel de Allende. CASA helps young, single mothers, and San Miguel Women’s Institute, IMAM, offers psychological and legal support to women who are abused or abandoned. DIF (the government’s Family Integration Department) supports women who are victims of domestic violence and provides exercise programs for women over 60.

May 15 is officially Teacher’s Day. Teachers in Guanajuato earned from 3,600 to 15,000 pesos a month, based on their preparation, level of study and years of service. SEP (Federal Public Education Department) has a program for teachers called “Carrera Magisterial” in which teachers must take continuing education courses in order to increase their salaries.

Teachers in private schools in San Miguel earned between 8,000 and 10,000 pesos and usually do not participate in the “Carrera Magisterial” program. 

The Holy Cross festival in Valle de Maíz, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, mixes the sacred and profane. Most of its population are of Chichimeca or Otomí heritage, and during this festival held on the last weekend of May people honor the Santa Cruz with a blend of Catholic and pre-Hispanic traditions such as indigenous dances and rituals and a blessing to the four winds, part of the Chichimeca culture that endured despite Spanish domination.

Due to increasing crime problems caused by illegal Central American immigrants in Celaya, the San Miguel office of the Instituto Nacional de Migración (INM; National Immigration Institute), one of the only two in the state of Guanajuato, was under consideration to be relocated to that city. Another reason for the possible move was that the state also lacks a detention center for arrested illegal immigrants who are held until repatriation. At this stage the move to Celaya was only a proposal.



June

The firing of bricks during the fabrication process is a substantial source of air pollution, since most of the local ladrilleras (brick factories) use plastic or rubber as fuel. This was the case mainly in two rural communities in San Miguel de Allende, Pantoja, near Presa Allende on the road to Celaya, and Nuevo Pantoja, on the Libramiento Manuel Zavala, near Mega. More than 1,000 people who live in these communities, including Flores de Begoña, adjacent to Pantoja, derive their income from making bricks and did not know how to do anything else to survive. The local Ecology Department was trying to promote the use of alternative fuels as well as to relocate the ladrilleras.

On Thursday, June 5, World Environment Day was celebrated to heighten awareness that we have to take care of our planet. San Miguel de Allende joined the celebration with various events, including conferences, an exhibit of ecological projects by San Miguel students and a city council session at which Mayor Jesus Correa bestowed awards to residents and institutions that had undertaken outstanding projects in the environmental area.

The protection and preservation of the city’s colonial architecture is an important concern for sanmiguelenses, and residents have worked both individually and collectively to ensure that the unique flavor of San Miguel is not lost in the name of development. One group, the Colegio de Arquitectos de San Miguel (San Miguel’s Professional Association of Architects), or CASMA, had endeavored first to establish and then to improve upon construction regulations for the city in concert with local authorities. On June 12, the association celebrated its 20th anniversary with a ceremony and conference held at Bellas Artes.

The arrival in San Miguel of large chain supermarkets and franchises affected small businesses within our growing city. Grocers, produce vendors, druggists and baristas in smaller establishments, once the only local choice for consumers, saw a decline in business. Residents’ buying preferences, however, depend on several factors, chiefly location and quality, and some smaller stores retained, or regained, loyal clientele.



July

In several communities in the area of Presa Allende, the well water contains dangerously high levels of pollutants. To eliminate this public health problem, in 2007 the Ecology Department (Dirección de Medio Ambiente y Ecología) set up two water collection systems in the rural community of Agustín González. This year, on July 1, a water collection system was installed at the school in the community of San Miguel Viejo, funded completely by the Rotary Club of San Miguel de Allende-Midday. Similar systems are planned for other affected communities in the municipality.

Sanmiguelenses braved light rain in the Jardín on July 7 to celebrate the official announcement that the city of San Miguel de Allende and the Sanctuary of Jesús de Nazareno de Atotonilco had been bestowed UNESCO World Heritage status. A message from Mayor Jesus Correa, then in Québec, was broadcast on a giant screen. Celebrations continued into the early hours of the morning.

On July 18, San Miguel opened the world’s most important international short film festival, Expresión en Corto. The festival continued in San Miguel through July 22 then moved to Guanajuato from July 23 to 27. “Identity” was the theme of this year’s festival. This year the festival received 1,750 film submissions from 82 countries, from which 160 were selected.

The city council appointed architect Raúl Barrera as director of City Public Works on Tuesday, July 22. Barrera took office after the surprise resignation of Jorge Zavala in June.




August
From August 1through 17, San Miguel was filled with music during the Chamber Music Festival. Including 42 musicians from around the world, the 30th summer Chamber Music Festival officially opened with the Ying String Quartet, making its 12th appearance here.


After more than 12 years of restoration, the Shrine of Atotonilco remains at risk from the thousands of pilgrims who visit each year and acts of vandalism. Since the shrine, along with the city of San Miguel, was named a UNESCO World Heritage site, the restoration committee is doubling efforts to continue its restoration and preservation and offered a special tour, complete with coffee and refreshments, on Tuesday, August 12, to show the community the restoration that has been done since 1996.

More scholarships are awarded to students in San Miguel than in other municipalities in Mexico because of the several nongovernmental organizations here that grant them. However, San Miguel is made up of so many communities that there are not enough scholarships to go around. The federal, state and local governments, the Biblioteca Pública, Mujeres en Cambio and Jóvenes Adalante are some of the institutions that grant scholarships to students in San Miguel. 

From August 22 through 24, the excitement of motocross came to San Miguel de Allende as the municipality hosted the 2008 National Enduro Championship. More than 300 motorcyclists, including world and national champions, rode into town to take part in the 13th and 14th stages of the competition, which began in Guadalajara on February 9.

After two years in the Senate, Luis Alberto Villarreal, former mayor of San Miguel and current PAN senator from Guanajuato, reported on his activities August 22 at Teatro Ángela Peralta. The assembly was unusual for a senator: ordinarily, only mayors, governors and the president give such speeches.

Unregistered businesses that do not pay taxes are common in San Miguel and create unfair competition for legitimate enterprises. According to Ángel Gastélum, head of the Urban Development Department (Dirección de Desarrollo Urbano), about 3,000 unlicensed businesses are operating in the city, and a campaign initiated by the Civil Protection Department identified, inspected and registered many of them.



September

Green areas are the lungs of a city and help beautify it. San Miguel de Allende has several parks and gardens, not all of them in the city’s center. The Ecology Department has maintained and restored the parks in Centro, and the median strips on Boulevard de la Conspiración (Salida a Querétaro) were replanted.

The Citizens Group in Defense of San Miguel de Allende (Grupo Ciudadano en Defensa de San Miguel de Allende), headed by former PRD city councilor Ariel Garibaldi Mata, collected 1,282 signatures from residents asking for the resignation of Police Chief Daniel Trujillo. According to the document the group handed to Mayor Jesús Correa, Trujillo has not been able to control local police officers who abuse their authority. Trujillo, who over the past year has fired numerous local officers for drug offenses or corruption, responded that he needs to have a “firm hand to prevent an increase in crime.”

One year following the cancellation of Sanmiguelada by local authorities, many business owners and employees still resent the decision and feel the loss of income. Some local business owners are planning alternative events to replace it and others are still demanding that the Sanmiguelada be reinstated. During the city council session on September 5, Mayor Correa and the PRD, PT and PRI city councilors voted to reconsider and discuss reinstating the event.

Two historic flags borne by the insurgent army at the beginning of the War of Independence in San Miguel will probably be returned to Mexico from Spain. On November 23 of last year, Luis Alberto Villarreal, senator from Guanajuato, proposed the Senate exhort the Mexican government to request the return of the banners.

On September 18 Mayor Jesús Correa reported on his activities during the second year of his administration. His speech focused mainly on progress in the areas of education, public security, ecology and the economy.



October

The celebration honoring the city’s patron saint, San Miguel Arcángel, is one of the most lavish in San Miguel de Allende. Usually held the fourth weekend of September, near the saint’s feast day of September 29, this year it took place October 3 to 5.

Fewer than half of the students in San Miguel who finish high school attend one of the city’s universities. Some lack the money for tuition; others further their education in other cities because the four private universities, until recently the only options here, do not offer the courses they want. A new public university, Universidad Tecnológica del Norte de Guanajuato, UTNG, has now opened, offering courses in tourism and gastronomy that are geared toward the city’s tourist economy. However, some students still would like more choices.

According to some estimates, between 8,000 and 9,000 Americans live in San Miguel, and interest in the upcoming US presidential election is high here. San Miguel has the largest chapter of Democrats Abroad in Mexico, and during the organization’s first international Democratic primary election more than 500 people voted, the third largest group of expats to vote worldwide. To get a sense of public opinion about the candidates and issues, Atención questioned US and Mexican citizens. Most of them said they would vote for Obama. 

A team of 24 US medical professionals, in San Miguel from October 3 to 11, performed 80 free surgeries on children with orthopedic problems. This is the fourth time a surgical team from the international organization Kids First has offered this service here. Kids First was supported by the local government through the Tourism, Economic Development and International Relations Department (Dirección de Turismo, Fomento Económico y Relaciones Internacionales) and DIF, by the General Hospital Felipe G. Dobarganes, Centro de Crecimiento, and volunteers from the community headed by Doctor Roberto Maxwell and Kathy Leutzinger.

Architect Raúl Barrera, head of the Public Works Department, announced that construction on Calzada de la Estación began Monday, November 3. The project includes widening and repaving the street and installing a traffic circle (glorieta) at the intersection with the Libramiento Manuel Zavala Zavala, near the supermarket Bodega Aurrerá. Some residents, however, disagreed with this plan.

FELISMA, the city’s first book fair, opened October 17 and ran through October 26. It was a joint effort of the Biblioteca Pública de San Miguel, the Biblioteca Municipal and the Fundación Cultural Un Chorro de Literatura A.C.

This year, on the Day of the Dead the gates of the Panteón of San Juan de Dios remained closed and the graves unadorned. The 18th-century cemetery has been closed for half a century and is normally only open on November 1 and 2, when women from the adjoining DIF office decorate the tombs and surviving family members commune with the departed. The cemetery is currently undergoing restoration and historical and anthropological study.




November

The state health department reported that more than 120 women in Guanajuato died from breast cancer between January and August 2006, an average of 17 deaths per month. The mortality rate from breast cancer has increased 14.7 percent in the last decade in Mexico. The IMAM (Municipal Institute of Allende for Helping Women) promoted the program “Una mastografía para cada mujer” (A mammogram for every woman); 92 women have had the test, and 80 more are awaiting mammograms. In order to assist these women, IMAM organized a “Reto Zumba” on October 18 at the Jardin’s esplanade, collecting more than 16,000 pesos. 

In November, the Faculty of Accountancy and Administration of the Autonomous University of Querétaro and the Colegio Queretano de Economistas (Union of Querétaro Economists) held a conference on the international financial crisis and its impact on the Mexican economy. Among the points discussed at the conference was the PEMEX reform –which according to the experts will generate 300,000 additional jobs. They agreed that the US economic crisis will affect the Mexican economy in four major ways: the remittances Mexican workers in the US send back home will decrease; foreign investment in Mexico will decrease by 20 to 30 percent; tourism is expected to decrease; and jobs in the auto industry are expected to decline by 30 percent. 

Concern for the environment led a group of citizens and officials from the Tourism, Economic Development and International Relations Department to organize San Miguel Sustentable (Sustainable San Miguel), a series of conferences, workshops and exhibits related to ecology and sustainability, from November 9 through November 15. However, the event failed to live up to its promise in some respects.

City councilors unanimously voted to create the Instituto Municipal de Planeación IMPLAN (Municipal Institute for Planning), an entity that would be made up of citizens and local authorities and whose main objective is oversight and coordination of urban development. The newly created institute will start functioning in January 2009. 

The International Jazz and Blues Festival celebrated its 14th season in San Miguel de Allende from November 28 to December 4. This year it presented highly renowned artists, many of them Grammy Award winners. The festival included five free concerts as well as three free workshops at Bellas Artes. 

The end of November marks the beginning of worldwide AIDS Awareness Week, and December 1 is designated as World AIDS Day. According to Dr. Carlos Gutiérrez Aguilar, head of Sanitary Jurisdiction #2 (the sector of Guanajuato’s State Health Department that covers nine municipalities in the northeastern part of the state, including San Miguel de Allende), so far in 2008 six cases of HIV/AIDS have been diagnosed. Four of those infected are HIV-positive and the other two have developed AIDS. Gutiérrez said that of the four HIV-positive residents, one is from San Miguel de Allende and the other three from San Luis de la Paz. The two patients with AIDS, both male, live in San Miguel de Allende. 



December

On December 5 and 6, Fundación Teletón held its annual collection drive with the goal of collecting 439,968,535 pesos, one peso more than last year. The foundation plans to build two more rehabilitation centers for handicapped children with part of the money. The Teletón Foundation’s four main objectives are to foster national unity; to promote a culture favorable to handicapped people; to build and operate Centros de Rehabilitación Infantil Teletón, or CRITs (Teletón Children’s Rehabilitation Centers); and to fund institutions that support the handicapped. Since the Teletón Foundation began collecting money in 1997 it has built 11 CRITs in different parts of the country. Currently, 12 children from San Miguel de Allende are assisted at CRIT Guanajuato, built in 2003. 

Saúl Arellano, research director of the Centro de Estudios e Investigación en Desarrollo y Asisitencia Social, CEIDAS (Development and Social Assistance Studies and Research Center), said that more than a million immigrants who have lost their jobs could be returning from the US in the coming months–between 20,000 and 25,000 from Guanajuato. He added that about 40,000 Mexican immigrants have already returned to their homes throughout the country. The poor economy in the US has also resulted in a decrease in the remittances sent back home from workers abroad. 

After nearly eight years of work, the archeological site of Cañada de la Virgen, located southwest of San Miguel on the road to Guanajuato, may finally open to the public in about eight months. Construction on the access road to the site began December 4, following successful negotiations with the owner of El Gachupín, a private property that abuts the site.


Festival de San Miguel de Allende celebrated its sixteenth season, presenting renowned artists December 19–31. The festival has currently grown into a major annual event, recognized by many as the country’s best festival of classical music. 

Mérida Initiative cooperation
By Ambassador Antonio O. Garza

Recently we marked another step in cooperation under the Mérida Initiative. Together with Immigration Service Commissioner Patricia Romero, we inaugurated a Forensic Document Laboratory that will allow officials at the National Institute of Immigration to quickly determine when immigrants or travelers in Mexico are using falsified or forged documents. This is the first of 60 such facilities to be installed at key airports.

For the past year and a half, our two countries have been working together to bring this initiative to fruition. We can be proud that our work has fortified our nations’ efforts to confront the menace of narco-trafficking and organized crime.

On December 3, together with my colleague from the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Relations, Under Secretary for North American Affairs, Ambassador Carlos Rico Ferrat, it was my privilege to have signed a Letter of Agreement between Mexico and the US that allowed for implementation of the Mérida Initiative and made available an additional US$197 million of the $400 million the US Congress approved in fiscal year 2008 supplemental funds.

On December 19, in Washington, DC, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Patricia Espinosa and me, along with members of President Bush’s cabinet and several Mexican ministers, discussed future security cooperation and Mérida Initiative implementation.


These high-level discussions once again mark the importance that Mexico holds as a partner and a friend to the US. I am certain that they will not only help set the pace for another year of strong cooperation, but will also lay the foundation for a seamless transition to the administration of President-elect Obama.

Visit http://mexico.usembassy.gov/newsletter/enA081218.html  for further information.



Corrections

In Atención´s Red Cross article by Krishna Villena, on Friday, December 19, the correct amount for Red Cross San Miguel´s weekly payroll is 12,000 pesos; monthly payroll is 48,000 pesos.

For donations through San Miguel Community Fund, contact: Dr. Robert Maxwell, Insurgentes 29, 152 2365 or Dr. José Luis Gallegos, 152 4121.