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Fall is here now, and the leaves are falling. The pool is closed for the winter, including a complete remodel. I purchased a cover for the pool because the gardener complains every year about the leaves. He has reason to do so. I've been there myself fishing out and scooping up leaves. It's not so much the leaves as it is the little stems that are bad news for the filter.
The bamboo along our front wall decided to die. The new wall created too much heat and killed it off. The bamboo made a great fence cover, allowed air to flow, and who doesn't love green? Things change, and now we are taking out the dying bamboo. Workers will begin spreading stucco on the wall. Time for a new look.
Even though we will be in San Miguel de Allende for the month of December, I am planning our trip for January and maybe February. We'll be heading west. This year we'll enjoy a shorter distance than going to Quartzsite and head for Big Bend National Park. It's been years; with the short distance, we can take our time and hang out in places we always pass and wish we had taken a look.
Are things really getting better in Mexico? It depends on what most people consider a "war" and how many troops on the ground it takes to qualify as one.
Currently, around 130,000 Mexican security personnel are dedicated to qualifying as one.
Are things really getting better in Mexico? It depends on what most people consider a "war" and how many troops on the ground it takes to qualify as one.
- Guardia Nacional: Approximately 107,000 troops
- Army: Thousands of military personnel
- Navy: Around 25,000 personnel patrolling and conducting operations along coasts and rivers
With a deployment of that scale, it is hard to argue that the conflict isn't an active war. Just yesterday, the president claimed that homicides have dropped by 50% -- a hard claim to square with the reality on the ground since 2024. The numbers come from her security cabinet. At the same time, INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas) says that there are 6000 more murders than the government's cabinet has announced. Adding those 6000 would drop the reduction rate in homicides to 21% not 50%.
It doesn't get much better when you look at the homicide rate in the state of Sinaloa. There, just in the state alone, are 20,000 troops on the ground concentrated in the municipalities of Culiacán and Mazatlan. It's a real shame to see the damage being done to Mazatlan. They've suffered hurricanes, the depletion of the malecon, not to mention the impact of all that on tourism, which is 22% of their local economy (makes up about 68% of the state's tourism economy). We know a lot of good people, friends and ex-coworkers, who live, travel, and spend winters in Sinaloa. Just stay safe and off the streets and highways, especially at night. Kidnappings and extortion are on the rise.
We keep track on a local and state level here in Nuevo Leon. Our illustrious governor is now attempting to join forces with the Morena party. He is also under allegations of money laundering and corruption. It must be a learned behavior. The state publishes similar numbers, but our local news has a different set of statistics, counting daily, weekly, and monthly.
I wonder how long Mexico can sustain its war.
