Day Trip To Laguna de Sanchez - Journalistic Censorship

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We took a drive last week to the top of the mountains closest to us.  It's the same road that takes you to Cola de Caballo (Horsetail Falls).  The drive is not for the faint at heart.  The road has been in better condition over the years but because of the last two hurricanes, one most recently in May, the roads have deteriorated considerably.  In dry river beds there is no road so we drove over the river rock.  I would never attempt to pull the travel trailer up there although it would make for some fantastic camping.

There isn't much history on the area other than there are 300 inhabitants and sits at an altitude of 1650 meters.  There are many cabins for rent on the road up and during summer months, they are almost always rented out on weekends.  Apart from tourism the locals have fruit orchards and sell apples, peaches, and plums.  They make and sell preserves made from the fruit as well.   

We took our time going up the mountain stopping to take pics.  The road is not only washed out in areas, but so narrow only one car can pass at a time.  The drive is incredible and the mountain views something to see.

This is the lagoon at the top.  It's full after heavy rains and hurricanes.  This particular day there was no water but sunflower fields.  In the past, the locals would grow corn and after the floods came they would have to start over.  Same today but they are coming into the 21st century.  Sunflowers are not native to us here but it has become big business.  They sell the seeds, and make cooking oil and body oils.

We found this restaurant which seems to be one of three.  The other two are very small and not a lot of people actually go all the way to the top.  Most if not all of the land around the lagoon is private so walking around would be difficult without asking permission everytime you crossed a fence.  We asked about security and no one really seemed to want to answer directly.

You can see the preserves and sunflower oils they sell.  

The food we ordered was cooked on leña, or wood fire.  It was delicious especially with flour tortillas.  They had corn, but they were made from Maseca, and we don't care for them.  We like the yellow corn from the south.  Corn tortillas are not as common here in the north.

It was a fun day and even though we've been there several times it was cool to see how little the place has changed.  It was 23 years ago we took my oldest brother and his wife to the lagoon.  There was no place to eat and we asked a kid on the road where to eat.  He said there wasn't any place but we could knock on just about any house and someone would be more than willing to prepare something for us.  We also took our friend Dave (David and Marina) from Perth and his friend Cam to the lagoon.  It had water in it then and it was a beautiful crystal blue.  At that time too, we found a woman to cook for us.  But as I remember, it wasn't very tasty.  

Censured Journalism has come to the Americas or I should say has returned.  Politicians and presidents are filing lawsuits, forbidding journalists from reporting and more.  I'm not sure where this will go but here are a few cases in Mexico.  There are 21 cases of registered censorship.

When the majority rules it's not just in the politial cirle.  It trickles down to everyday society.  

This year we have had 21 journalist censored and some in the worst ways.  I'll give you a couple of examples:

A well-known journalist spoke out against a state governor.  He was fined 2 million pesos and not allowed to publish for two years.

A citizen claimed that a representative of the house obtained her job thanks to a higher up in the majority party.  She was sanctioned with giving a public apology for 30 continuous days.

A lawyer made an off the cuff remark to the president of the senate as he was deboarding a plane in the Mexico City airport.  He was required to appear before the senate and formally apologize to the party.

A Tik Toker was sanctioned and forced to apologize via TikTok for speaking out against a politician.  In addition, she will remain on a sanctions list for one year and six months.

Here is the law that is supposed to protect those listed above:

The Political Constitution of the United Mexican States guarantees freedom of expression in Articles 6 and 7. Article 6 establishes the inviolability of freedom of expression and the right to seek, receive, and disseminate information and ideas of any kind through any medium. Article 7 prohibits prior censorship and establishes that the freedom to write and publish on any subject is inviolable.

What's next for the Americas?