Intersections

Mexican Olympic medalist Noe Hernandez buried in hometown

** Originally published at World Now:

MEXICO CITY -- Noe Hernandez, a Mexican Olympic medalist who was shot at a bar outside Mexico City and later died, was buried Saturday in his hometown of Chimalhuacan in Mexico state.

Hernandez, who won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the 20-kilometer walk, died Wednesday at 34 after reportedly suffering a heart attack as he recovered from the shooting.

Hernandez was shot in the head during a Dec. 30 ambush at a bar in La Paz, in Mexico state east of the nation's capital. Two others died in the shooting.

Hernandez was shot through his left eye and underwent cranial reconstruction surgery. He was sent home on Jan. 8. He died Wednesday on his way to a Chimalhuacan hospital after complaining of pain, one report said.

Hernandez had reportedly received threatening phone calls. At the time of the shooting, he  served as secretary of sports for the Institutional Revolutionary Party headquarters of his state.

Mexico state, which borders Mexico's Federal District on three sides, has seen increasing drug-related crime in recent years as gangs splinter and battle for control of the local drug market. A surge of homicides in recent weeks has grabbed headlines in the metropolitan region of 20 million people.

Gov. Eruviel Avila said via Twitter that he will propose Hernandez be bestowed the State of Mexico Prize posthumously.

* Photo via LAT.

New mayor assumes office in Mexico City, a liberal bastion

** Originally published at World Now:

MEXICO CITY -- The city that was once considered one of the world's most polluted and crime-ridden now boasts that it is a haven from Mexico's drug violence and has gone so "green" with new mass transit lines and trendy vertical gardens that it is hardly recognizable from its former self.

Miguel Angel Mancera, the newly sworn-in mayor, vowed this week to continue the socially progressive policies of his predecessor and make Mexico's gargantuan capital "safer, freer, more equal, more progressive" during his next six years in office.

"My government shall be humanist, truthful, honorable, transparent, democratic and united with the people," the mayor said in his first speech after taking the oath of office Wednesday.

Mancera, 46, the former attorney general of Mexico City, holds a doctorate in law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He is a single father and fitness buff who boxes regularly. The society magazine Quien called him "the golden bachelor" in a recent cover story.

Mancera won the July 1 mayoral election by a whopping 63% of the vote, a margin of victory considered partly a referendum on the liberal Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, and its uninterrupted run at City Hall since 1997, when the position of mayor was created for the Federal District, the formal name of Mexico City.

Mancera took the reins of the city's government after the largely successful term of outgoing Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, a popular figure who is credited with reducing crime in the capital even as violence soared in other parts of the country and who legalized same-sex marriage and abortion on demand in the city.

The position of mayor is considered a launching pad for higher office in Mexico, but it is also a frustrating barrier for the PRD. Its presidential candidates in recent national elections, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, have both been mayors of Mexico City but have been unable to capture the presidency in a total of four attempts.

Ebrard, a product of the more centrist wing of the PRD, was sidelined as candidate in the 2012 presidential election by the populist stalwart Lopez Obrador, who finished second after Enrique Peña Nieto, the new president.

After his swearing-in, Mancera said he would install thousands more high-tech surveillance cameras to further reduce crime. He also proposed the creation of a post in his Cabinet, a U.S.-style city manager, to answer citizens' needs.

On Thursday, his first full day on the job, Mancera waded into the capital's current major controversy, the alleged abuse by police and abitrary arrests of dozens of protesters in clashes during last week's swearing-in of Peña Nieto. The city's human rights commission said Thursday that more than 20 people who weren't involved in the violence had been arrested, including a Romanian journalist taking photographs of the events, and that at least four may have been tortured or beaten.

Mancera urged residents to be patient with legal proceedings for 69 people who face charges of vandalism and disturbing the peace on Saturday. "To say that no one disturbed the peace or public order would be out of touch with reality," he said.

However Mancera's term as mayor turns out, it may not be enough to catapult him higher if he harbors aspirations for the presidency in 2018. For that election, his former boss, Marcelo Ebrard, has already indicated he's in the running.

* Photo via Chilango.com.

Mexico tycoons widen U.S. sports reach with Padres, Chivas USA deals

** Originally published at World Now:

A cousin of the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, has become a part owner of the San Diego Padres, and a married couple who are Mexican millionaires have taken control of Chivas USA, a Major League Soccer team.

The deals, announced in separate reports Wednesday, widen the reach of Mexico's hyper-wealthy in the high-stakes world of professional sports in Southern California.

Alfredo Harp Helu, a billionaire banker and Slim's cousin, appeared Wednesday on a list of eight new part-owners of slightly less than half of San Diego's Major League Baseball team.

The sale was reported to be worth $800 million during negotiations, but details on the final purchase price paid by members of the team's new minority group of owners were not revealed. Harp's wealth is estimated at $1 billion.

From its Carson-based clubhouse, meanwhile, Chivas USA announced that Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes, the founder and chief executive, respectively, of the Omnilife nutritional supplements company have acquired the second half of the squad's ownership from partners, becoming full owners.

Vergara and Fuentes are already owners of the original Chivas in Guadalajara, the popular First Division team in Mexico's second largest city. The details of the Chivas USA deal were not released.

It's been a good week for Fuentes, one of Mexico's wealthiest women. On Tuesday she was named a chief patron of the newly renovated Rufino Tamayo Museum, which accompanied a minor controversy in Mexico's art world.

Fuentes' name appears prominently in a renovated gallery inside the museum, along with a gallery named in honor of billionaire Carlos Hank Rhon, brother of the scandal-ridden former mayor of Tijuana, Jorge Hank Rhon. Critics bemoaned the presence of the Hank Rhon name inside the museum as a symbol of the increasing privatization of public art institutions in Mexico.

* Photo: Chivas USA fans gather for opening day at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., in 2005. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

Mexico's first loss to U.S. at home, on a Mexican American's goal

** Originally published at World Now:

It was a sweet Olympic gold victory for Mexican soccer, yes. But that was last week.

On Wednesday night, Mexico was defeated by the United States in a friendly match at the cavernous  high-altitude Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, 1-0, the first win for the U.S. on Mexican soil in 75 years of a storied and often bitter rivalry.

The only goal of the game came from U.S. defender Michael Orozco Fiscal, 26, a Mexican American native of Orange.

When it happened, in the 79th minute, utter silence seemed to befall the entire Mexican capital for a second or two. The United States had not won a single game at the Azteca, and Mexico had barely lost there against any opponent, in official matches or friendlies.

Watch the game-winning goal here:

Mexico's current sports superstar, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez -- who didn't play for gold in London in the men's soccer final on Saturday -- attempted a few desperate strikes in the final minutes to salvage the game.

But U.S. goalie Tim Howard delivered crucial saves for the Americans, despite being battered with harrasment from the stands, a custom relished by fans at the Azteca. (At least one pesky person Wednesday was distracting the U.S. goalie with the light of a green laser.)

There was surprisingly little bad blood for Orozco in Mexico's media the next morning and among armchair analysts online.

Where could an ardently nationalist fan draw a line on criticism anyway? The U.S. friendly roster is rife with border-blurring athletes, a reflection of the complex historical migration patterns between the  countries, and maybe a little of that free-trade spirit that has defined the binational relationship since 1994.

Edgar Castillo, a defender born in Las Cruces, N.M., has played for both the Mexican and U.S. national teams. Midfielder Joe Corona -- half-Mexican, half-Salvadoran and born in Los Angeles --plays professionally for Tijuana. And Herculez Gomez, born in L.A. to Mexican American parents, plays in Mexico for Pachuca.

Game-winner Orozco's parents are from the Mexican states of Durango and Queretaro. He was born in Orange County but plays professionally in Mexico for San Luis.

"That's history," he told one news outlet after the game. "It does leave a mark in my heart."

Photo: U.S. defender Michael Orozco, right, celebrates with teammate Terrence Boyd after scoring during a friendly soccer game against Mexico in Mexico City, Aug. 15, 2012. Credit: Eduardo Verdugo / Associated Press

Sports nerding: Manny vs. Marquez?

* Above, Marquez hammers Katsidis, via LAT.

Everyone it seems wants a Manny vs. Mayweather fight. There's a whole website about it. But after Juan Manuel Marquez impressively defended his title against challenger Michael Katsidis on Saturday, there's a chance after all that Marquez could get his re-match with the Filipino Pacman.

Marquez, a D.F. native, came back from getting knocked down in the third round by the Australian (who came into the Vegas arena dressed as a gladiator) to eliminate Katsidis once the ref stopped the fight in the ninth.

In the post-match press conference, Marquez reportedly wore a T-shirt that read "Marquez beat Pacquiao twice," the kind of stunt that's pure stacks of gold for any good promoter -- one who understands boxing's allure is partly in its politics and ego-drama.

The pyramid gym in Long Beach

One of my favorite oddities of contemporary architecture, the Walter Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach, on 7 November 2010. The pyramid gym, built in 1994, is essentially hollow on the inside, up to the apex. The general fuction of the gym's pyramidal structure is hidden behind the mere statement of its existence; it's a pyramid for the sake of being a pyramid.

Ruben Ortiz-Torres is nodding right now.

We were here checking out the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation world tournament, where my brother Sergio Hernandez became the 2010 purple belt featherweight champion. Above, my sister-in-law and nephews.

The work: A sicario narrates an assassination, and more

In the latest installment in a periodic series, I hustle my posting at the L.A. Times La Plaza blog. Below, recent news and notes from across Latin America, with an inevitable leaning on Mexico, per our location, and a focus on the work of LAT correspondents, per the paycheck.

I've also had two stories recently in The Times. Nice to have a byline in there again. Those links hang down after the posts noted below (and I'm only going back to early June with the posts; this is making my head heart):

Shooting of Mexican boy by U.S. border agent ratchets up tensions

DNA testing pits media family against Argentina government

Ghosts of the Pinochet regime haunt Chile's conservative president

June is shaping up as one of the grisliest months in ...

Students in Puerto Rico end long strike

High-level Mexican officials not to blame in day-care center ...

Santos wins: A vote for continuity in Colombia

'The Other Battles' -- photos from Ciudad Juarez

Argentina dispatches Mexico in World Cup -- again

'Dudus' in drag: How accused Jamaican drug lord evaded arrest

Assassination of candidate Rodolfo Torre in Mexico rattles ...

Pressure mounts on Mauricio Funes in El Salvador

Earthquake felt across southern Mexico; 1 person dead

Mexico Supreme Court orders release of 12 activists jailed ...

Mexican authorities nab suspected cartel hit man, a former ...

Mexico City, Beijing top list for worst 'commuter pain'

Hurricane Alex: 'Monterrey is beyond recognition'

Giant whale fossil found in desert in Peru

Dissident on hunger strike in danger of dying, Cuba says

Drug-smuggling sub seized by Ecuador reportedly able to ...

In Mexico, Times report on network's use of blackface ...

Jorge Videla, former dictator, faces new trial in Argentina

Cuban dissident calls off hunger strike afer 134 days

Colombia journalist denied visa for Harvard fellowship

Drug gang hit man narrates assassination of prosecutor in Mexico

As always, more here. My recent stories in the actual paper are "Mexican labor secretary defends copper mine crackdown" and "For Mexico, 'Zoot Suit' still relevant after 30 years," with an interview with Luis Valdez.

If you've made this far down the post, might as well ask, What do you think of La Plaza? What would you like to see more of, less of? How about the state of Intersections?

And speaking this blog, I'll be updating my right-bar pages soon, I promise.

* Image above, Cristian "El Cris" Rosado Mendoza, accused Juarez hit man.

Deadbeat summer

So summer started, Mexico faced Argentina, Mexico lost, and I'm stuck watching a trippy non-official video for a song by Neon Indian, which ends, for no good reason, with a replay of "The Goal of the Century."

Enjoy yourself!

Mexico vs. Argentina, in stickers, from 1986 *

Above, a page from the Panini sticker catalogue for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, "the greatest World Cup of them all." The whole thing is found at Football Spotter, including pages on the participating cities and venues. (The legendary Mexican striker Hugo Sanchez is seen here.) The catalogue offers a fascinating snapshot of a moment in history when the haircuts were as different as the geopolitical map.

* Update: Javier Aguirre, the current Mexico coach, is lurking in those stickers, too.

Oh, and, below are the Panini pages for Argentina's '86 squad, featuring of course the incomprobable Diego Maradona. In 1986, in a match against England at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Maradona entered the plane of demigods when he made two of the most dazzling goals in football history, "The Hand of God" and "The Goal of the Century."

 

 

Watch "The Goal of the Century" here. The announcer ends up weeping uncontrollably and almost speaking in tongues. Argentina and England had been at war only four years earlier.

On Sunday, Mexico faces off against in Argentina in the first knock-out round of the World Cup 2010. Argentina has one of the best teams on the field in South Africa, and Maradona happens to be the national coach now. Mexico came in with its highest expectations in years, but -- after a win, a draw, and a loss in the first round -- prospects against Argentina are grim. 

To come out on top in this one, Aguirre and El Tri will need help from San Judas, la Virgen de Guadalupe, la Santa Muerte, annnd Huitzilopochtli and Tezcatlipoca. We'll see ...

* Thanks, Josh!

Solstice, standing by

Happy solstice, readers.

Apologies for the silence here. I'm busy with work, final manuscript edits, and the World Cup. I won't be posting for a few more days, maybe longer, but expect stuff on Carlos Monsiváis, the Cup, my final Postopolis report, new music and photos, and maybe something on my new friend Xochipilli, above.

Bear with me in the meantime, please. (My hands hurt.) Thank you.

* Image via.

Black responses to the Arizona immigration law

* Above, new Americans, rallying for justice, by Irfan Khan, L.A. Times.

The signing of SB1070 in Arizona has sparked a wave of negative reaction across the United States and across the political spectrum, from Barack Obama on down. There are numerous calls for a boycott of the state, a pledge against the law for people of faith, and a statement from the Major League Baseball players association condemning SB1070.

Some high school seniors are now deciding against going to college in Arizona. One comment on the New York Times blog post on the topic struck me as particularly intelligent, and hinting at the root of African American disdain for SB1070.

Barbara, a Duke alumnus, writes:

When I was a student at Duke there were many male African-American students who felt like they were being profiled because of the relatively high rate of crime on campus, and the fact that a disproportionate amount of it was attributable to young black men in the community. In some cases students were held even after they proved they were students. It made their college experience a lot worse than if they gone elsewhere. It's a legitimate consideration.

It's not that I don't understand that border states face special challenges and find the lack of progress frustrating, or that I don't agree that Mexico has long shown lack of inclination to face its social problems because it has a safety valve next door -- I share those concerns. But there is simply no way to enforce this law without targeting Hispanics. I don't care if that was the intent or not, it is almost certainly going to be its practical effect.

Indeed, history runs in cycles, and the U.S. has seen far too many discriminatory and hateful laws or practices that have targeted and abused African Americans for generations. Yes, we know that African American anxiety about Latino immigration to the U.S. exists, and exists widely. But Arizona's new law burns at the boundaries of our notions of justice and fair treatment under the law, which assaults any reasonable person's sense of decency -- regardless of color.

This is why so many prominent black Americans and black organizations are standing up against SB1070. At the top of the pack, for pure inspiration, is Chuck D, the former frontman of Public Enemy, who released a special track against the bill called "Tear Down That Wall." (Public Enemy, of course, has a track that has gone after politics in Arizona before.)

Mexico's ice prince

Mexico's lone Olympian competing in the Vancouver Games, which end on Sunday, is 51 years old and is officially a "Prinz." Read more about Hubertus von Hohenlohe --and his bodysuit -- at my current post at La Plaza.

Control your magic

* Above, one of the Seven Muses of Mexico City, and ONDA FUZOO, on a casual mid-week afternoon in downtown D.F.

There is no better way to put this than in the most abstract terms: It is another season of change, challenges, growth, development, the tearing down of walls and the breaking through of membranes. Everywhere I look, stuff is crumbling apart then coming back together in another form. This is not often pretty, very often difficult, but most certainly necessary. Love provokes and provides.

That's life in upside-down Mexico City in the unusually dry mid-late summer of 2009. The city heaves. So we must be brave.

Just like, you might say, the stance of the two worthy football rivals who took to the field at the grand Estadio Azteca on Wednesday. Mexico emerged triumphant in the end, restoring "order to its universe." But greater battles loom on the horizon.

The same day, a measure of justice is achieved for the ghosts of Acteal. But again, it's only the beginning. Today August 13 is the 488th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan. The neo-indigenistas are gathering at the Zócalo as dusk falls, drumming and howling to the moon, in honor of our mangled roots. Imbalances, as a friend said wisely on Sunday, create new balances.

NOTE: This blog stays dark for at least another quincena. I'm writing, fighting with writing, starting new projects, closing others. My only advice to you is: Control your magic. Hunt and gather. And, as I said before ...

Celebrating at El Angel

Per their tradition, fans poured over to the Angel of Independence on Sunday to celebrate Mexico's 5-0 Gold Cup win over the United States, which considerably raises the stakes in the rivalry before Aug. 12's World Cup qualifying match at Estadio Azteca.

The scene was heavily policed and rowdy. People spontaneously decided to do a long victory lap around the monument, some bikers came through to burn fuel and tires, and then weirdly, an especially energetic contingent of Ámerica fans showed up -- even though Ámerica lost in a match with Chelsea that day.

Here's a clip I shot in the crowd just before a downpour of party foam. Mexico, by the way, hadn't beaten their rivals on U.S. soil in 10 yeas, since March 1999 in San Diego. A popular chant at the Angel: "El que no baila es gringo! El que no baila es gringo!" (Roughly, "If you don't dance you're a gringo!")

The politics of a binational soccer rivalry

* Above, coach 'El Vasco,' via SPD.

Mexico and the United States face off on the futbol field on Sunday, in New York, and the tensions of a long-suffering and maybe somewhat lopsided rivalry are pitched high. From a recent post I wrote at The Faster Times:

And why should you care, noble follower of baseball, basketball or U.S. football? Because soccer is the world’s sport, and because anytime the United States and Mexico — the “So far from God, so close to the United States” Mexico — confront one another on a field of play, it’s always about much, much more than the final score.

Put another way, these two squads despise each other, and as the U.S. keeps building a powerhouse reputation and Mexico keeps struggling, the stakes are only getting higher and higher.

On Friday a scandalized El Universal carried a story highlighting a jab at Mexican national coach Javier Aguirre that a U.S. player posted on Twitter. "Apparently we're sharing a plane with the Mexican national team," Jimmy Conrad wrote. "I hope the Mexican coach doesn't kick me when I walk past him in the aisle."

Conrad's account is now down, but you might say Aguirre deserved it. Frustrated with his team's performance in a Gold Cup match against Panama earlier this month, Aguirre kicked an opposing player who got near him in the middle of play. The coach was subsequently suspended for three games, and Mexico was fined $25,000.

We'll see how, uh, animated things get between U.S. and Mexico tomorrow, when Aguirre returns to the field.

Mexican divers: Going for gold, and alcoholism?

* Espinosa, via Getty Images.

Mexican diver Paola Espinosa stunned the reigning Olympic gold medalist Chen Ruolin in the 10-meter platform event at the World Championships in Rome last week. Beating the powerhouse Chinese in diving is no small feat. "I have worked hard all my life," she told reporters later. "Now my next goal is to confirm this gold medal at the Olympic Games in London 2012."

After track star Ana Guevara didn't deliver the gold at Athens and Sydney, then turned to politics, Espinosa will be Mexico's athlete to root for at the London Games. A 22-year-old native of Baja California, Espinosa won the bronze in synchronized diving with partner Tatiana Ortiz in Beijing last year.

Meanwhile, fellow diver Yahel Castillo (who was named among the "sexiest athletes" at the Games in Beijing) is still a contender for Olympic glory but is also turning into a bit of a disappointment. Mexican diving officials sanctioned Castillo for allegedly arriving drunk at an event at the World University Games in Belgrade earlier this month. He apologized in an interview with Televisa Sports, and asked for forgiveness: "The atmosphere at a University meet is not the same as a World meet or the Olympic Games."

The 22-year-old diver was allowed to compete in Rome after all. Today, Yahel advanced to the finals in the 3-meter diving board event.

The radical act of lighting up

Here's a guy I met briefly months ago at a ska-reggae toquin at the totally autonomous Auditorio Che Guevara, at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters on the UNAM campus. The auditorium was "taken" during the student strike of 1999 and has not been relinquished to university authorities ever since. Students hold concerts, meetings, and art events there. The mood inside is always classically punk.

Incidentally, a known drug dealer was shot and killed near this very campus spot on Tuesday, in a rare incident of fatal violence at University City. Just on Sunday, the entire university community and city at large was celebrating their Pumas winning the national football championship, their sixth overall.

Tuesday's shooting victim had a long criminal record and was not a student. But, what happened?

Boxing in Mexico City, and family ties

* Photo by Conrad Starr.

Here's up-and-coming Mexico City boxer Christian Uruzquieta saluting his fans after winning a 4-round decision against rival Javier Rivas, on April 23, the night before the swine flu outbreak. The match was part of a Cinturon de Oro line-up at the Woda nightclub near the Cuatro Caminos transit hub, on the border with Naucalpan.

Christian has several victories already under his belt. He is trained by his father and uncle, the Uruzquieta brothers of the Colonia Zapata Vela in Iztacalco, friends of friends of my father, who is also a trainer back in San Diego, Calif.

Cinturon de Oro offers serious boxing fans regular events focusing on talented young D.F. fighters in professional venues. An all-around solid entertainment. Currently however, boxing in Mexico City doesn't much of a Web presence.

** Here's another family tie I just found: Photos of my older brother Sergio, a painter and tattoo artist, in action in the ring during a recent mixed martial arts match in Long Beach. Surge has a good record, but just this time, he was outgunned.

... Knowing him, though, he'll be sure to get revenge.

* And how am I doing? ... Ishmael Reed said it best: Writin' is fightin'.

Swedish 'joke' out as Mexico's soccer coach

"The chistecito (little joke) turned out to be considerably costly for Mexican soccer," writes David Medrano, probably with a disgusted sneer, in the D.F. sports daily Récord. "All told, Sven-Göran Eriksson proclaimed himself the most expensive coach in the history of the National Selection."

It was only a matter of time before Eriksson got the boot as coach of the national team. After a humiliating World Cup-qualifying loss to Honduras on Wednesday (3-1), the Mexican Football Federation asked the Swede to turn in his green jersey -- to the tune of about $7 million USD total. Genius?

There was never much love here for Eriksson since he was hired last June, ostensibly to give Mexican soccer some international caché. Ten months later, Eriksson kept the home record solid but the away record tanked. Now the tricolor is in danger of actually not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The man replacing Sven-Göran Eriksson, Javier Aguirre, is well known to Mexican soccer fans. He's coached both the Mexican team and Atlética Madrid. But no matter what moves Aguirre makes, this won't be easy for anyone.

The strange death of the Mexican luchador

* La Prensa prints the last known photo of Abismo in action.

On a Saturday night bus ride from Mazatlan to Mexico City, the rudo AAA luchador Abismo Negro suffered some sort of anxiety attack on the road in Sinaloa and asked the driver to pull over. He then texted his wife to say that he was in a panic, lost in some hills. A search was launched. By Sunday, Abismo Negro was dead, found drowned in a muddy river. The wrestler's real name was Andrés Palomeque González. Reports on his age varied between 35 and 37.

Some wrestling media has reported that steroids may have triggered the attack. A wake for Palomeque was held in Mazatlan, with La Prensa reporting on the wrestlers who showed up to pay their respects: "Crazzy Boys, El Elegido, Dark Escoria, Kenzo Susuki, Nicho, El Millonario, Mini Charli Manzon, Rocky Romero, El Elegido, Lola González, and Martha Villalobos, among others."

Palomeque's body was taken to his native Villahermosa, Tabasco, for burial.

Raul Macias 'hangs up his gloves': 1934-2009

* In his prime: Raúl Macías. Via The Ring.

Mexico's original and most legendary boxing hero, Raúl "Ratón" Macías, passed away this week. Michael Rosenthal writes at The Ring:

To understand the impact Raul "Raton" Macias had on the Mexican people, think Ruben Olivares and then Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. after him. Only Macias, who died of cancer at 74 on Monday, was the first. "He was the first real Mexican boxing idol," said longtime boxing writer and publicist Ricardo Jimenez. "When he fought, everything in Mexico stopped. Still, even today, he's probably one of the greatest idols in Mexico."

Macias, raised in one of Mexico City's toughest neighborhoods, wasn't the brawler that Mexican and Mexican-American fans typically embrace. He was a boxer-puncher, a thinking man's fighter who could win in many ways. However, his combination of success in the ring (41-2, 25 knockouts), movie-star looks that would later lead him into acting and his man-of-the-people charm made him a favorite of even non-Mexicans in 1950s.

He filled arenas both in Mexico and in the United States, exclusively in California and Texas, states with many fans of Mexican descent. His fight against Nate Brooks in 1952 drew more than 50,000 to the main bullring in Mexico City.

He was also known for his signature victory line: "I owe everything to my manager and to the Virgencita de Guadalupe." Hundreds attended a Mass for Macías on Tuesday at the Basilica. La Prensa has more coverage here, here, and here.

* See also The Mex Files.

A night at the luchas

* After the matches, shopping for luchador máscaras outside.

And for the main event, we watched Mistico and Marco Corleone fight valiantly but fall in the end to Atlantis and his crew of rudos, Friday night at the big and sleek Arena Mexico, the biggest lucha libre venue in the city. The other highlight of the night? Enjoying the antics of decidedly effete Maximo, the crowd-pleasing "exotic" wrestler who sometimes throws his opponents off with an aggressive wet kiss.

Going to the luchas in D.F. brought back memories. As kitschy-trendy as lucha libre has gotten on an international level, it remains at its core an affordable family entertainment for Mexicans up and down the country and across generations. We used to go to the luchas in Tijuana when we were little. I remember the piles of little plastic luchadores we'd collect, and the miniature wooden rings that came with them, and the excitement inside and outside the arena on Friday nights ... and the wrestler's moves that we'd try inevitably to recreate at home.

* The CMLL is lucha libre's corporate professional parent. Read more about its history here.

Pelota player, in strokes of aerosol

There were spots of good work being done at Estadio Azteca last week, nonetheless. This is a pretty vivid depiction of a pelota player I came across, by a writer from Chimalhuacan who goes by SKRAP.

Graphic perfection: The 1968 Mexico City Olympics *

Part Op art, part indigenous Mesoamerican art, and wonderfully go-go, the "Mexico 68" logo for the Olympics held in Mexico City 40 years ago is considered to this day a masterpiece of graphic design, a completely integrated expression of the '68 Games's ambition that I don't believe any other Olympic logo in comparison has achieved before or since. Take a look.

There is a fascinating exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in D.F. on this logo and on the entire visual language of the 1968 Games. With the Beijing Games wowing everyone this summer, the images of that year's "Olympic Identity Program" are in the air right now in the Mexican capital. I went to see the show on a recent Sunday and it was packed with stylish kids taking photos and checking each other out. It's not just nostalgia or hype. The exhibit is a look at the extraordinary task the organizers had of convincing the world through the power of graphic design that Mexico was capable of hosting the '68 Games -- the first held in Latin America, the first held in a developing country, and first held in the Spanish-speaking world.

Curators mostly ignore the bloody repression against students in D.F. and in major cities at the time, focusing exclusively on the Olympics' central graphic system and how it was integrated into every visual aspect of the '68 Games, from tickets to events, to stamps, postcards, signs, programs, even clothing and tableware. Everything emanated from the Games' logo, "Mexico 68," like the design itself. Credit for the symbol is due to designers Eduardo Terrazas, Pedro Ramirez Vasquez (the architect who also brought you the Televisa logo and the CECUT in Tijuana) and Lance Wyman, who says in this statement that the "Mexico 68" logo helped create an image of "Mexico as an emitting or expanding centre." That's more or less the same impulse that inspired Anni and Josef Albers of the Bauhaus.

A story by Catherine Dunn at Inside Mexico has more details. Chilango magazine's piece comes with a guided tour by curator Tania Ragasol that you can download and play on your iPod when you hit the museum. Finally, in that short audio clip at Inside Mexico, organizer Beatrice Trueblood, marveling at how the '68 Olympics committee managed to pull it off, pays homage where homage is due -- to la Virgen de Guadalupe.

The show at MAM is up until October 27.

* Check out these amazing kicks by Puma commemorating the Black Power salute of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the '68 Games. Pretty fresh.

The new Mexican champ: Tijuana's Antonio Margarito

Mexico has a new boxing sensation, Antonio Margarito, also known as the "Tijuana Tornado." Margarito put away reigning WBA welterweight champ Miguel Cotto on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. I caught the last four rounds of the match at a nameless cantina in a Garibaldi alley, where the dude next to me kept saying this was the "fight of the year," given the national rivalry at play. Cotto, from Puerto Rico, walked into the fight unbeaten with 32 wins, most of them by knockouts. Margarito, born in Torrance and raised in Tijuana, was the consensus underdog to claim the WBA title. He had vacated the IBF title just so he could take on Cotto.

What happened? In the 11th round, after a relentless and smart assault from the 30-year-old "Tijuana Tornado," 27-year-old Cotto dropped to his knee twice, bloodied and beaten, forcing his corner to throw in the towel. Thrilling. Definitely read the BBC's stylish report on the bout, and Steve Bruce in The Independent. AP sports writer Greg Beacham declared that Margarito has "finally established himself as the meanest hombre in a division packed with tough talent." There's an opening in Mexico, Beacham noted, for a fresh boxing idol in that "boxing-mad nation." Maybe the ghost of Antonio's brother helped?

* Above, Cotto and Margarito, doing press for the match. Previously, "Boxing, borders, brotherhood: Meet the Molina twins."

Boxing, borders, and brotherhood: Meet the Molina twins

In a historic first, twin boxers from L.A. are hoping to fight at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing for opposing countries. And guess which ones? One, Javier Molina, will fight for the U.S. The other, Oscar Molina, the older twin by 2 minutes, hopes to fight for el tricolor of Mexico.

The 18-year-old U.S.-born brothers are promising amateur boxers. Sons of a Mexican immigrant boxer from the border state of Chihuahua, they train in Commerce, Calif., in Southeast L.A. County. The Molina family has vowed Oscar and Javier will never face off against each other in the ring, and now they may make Olympic history as the first set of twins to compete for different countries at the same Games, at different weight divisions.

After reading their story, wonderfully reported by Alan Abrahamson, I came away stirred by a complex mix of emotions, about brotherhood, immigration, and the graying boundaries of national identity. From Abrahamson's piece:

They train in one of the boxing world’s best-kept secrets, a clean, well-lighted gym that's tucked in behind a city library at the Bristow Park community center. Roberto Luna, who was once a member of an airborne unit in the U.S. Army and who stresses dignity, courtesy and sportsmanship, oversees the center.

At Luna’s gym, everyone greets everyone else with a handshake. Both Molina twins, with about a semester to go in high school, have proven excellent students.

"People have a misconception about what a boxer should be like," Luna said. "When you get a young kid and he understands discipline and respect, he can go a long way. The sport doesn't begin in the ring; the sport begins outside the ring. It starts with discipline and showing respect to everyone around you and being humble and learning."

The L.A. Times caught up with the twins in March. Kevin Baxter notes:

Five of the 11 boxers on Mexico's 2008 Olympic team -- including 19-year-old Javier Torres, who is also coached by Luna -- live permanently in the U.S. And it was another Mexican Olympian who trained at Commerce, Francisco "Panchito" Bojado, who first inspired the Molinas' Olympic dreams.

More here. As the son of a boxing trainer myself, I'll definitely be rooting for these guys this summmer, no matter what flag they fight under. * Photo via Machochip.

Los Pumas de UNAM: ¿Como no te voy a querer?

What's it like to be in the middle of the madness of a soccer match in Mexico City? See the clip above, from the traditional celebration after a Pumas win at the tunnel that connects the UNAM central campus with its Estadio Olimpico. The ravishing Naomi Palovits -- music promoter, blogger, writer, proud native chilanga, and die-hard Pumas fan -- took me along to watch the legendary UNAM futbol squad duke it out with the Jaguares of Chiapas on Sunday. We watched with her sister Karen and their friend Happy from the rowdy and rather violent Rebel section, which is filled with insanely hyped-up people who may or may not be UNAM students. Not that it matters. By the end of the match I was drunk, wet from whatever liquids were being tossed around, a little bruised, and hollering along with La Rebel's famous chants. My favorite is the one that very Mexicanly asks the team, Como no te voy a querer? ("How could I not love you?")

Here's that link. The Pumas beat Chiapas 4-1. Goya! Goya! Cachun cachun ra ra! Cachun cachun ra ra! Goya! Universidad!

* No original pics because my camera's batteries were confiscated on my way through the double security checks. But here are some shots Naomi took during her last adventure with La Rebel at the Estadio. And here's Happy's analysis of that match. Naomi operates HelloDF and posts about everything else at Love Naomi. * More later!!

Bears are golden: On the wonders of Pac-10 football

Improbable to even imagine just a few years ago, but check out the latest AP college football poll. It shows the USC Trojans dropped from their longtime perch at No. 1 to No. 2 after their just-barely win over Washington, and, unbelievably for many, the California Golden Bears knocking on SC's door at No. 3.

What the hell? Why am I even talking about this?

College football is one of few areas where I "get all beefer," and right now the Pac-10 Conference is packed with reasons to nerd out. On Saturday, Cal held off deep and loaded Oregon at Eugene in what Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel said was a "back-and-forth thriller in which the score was tied on five different occasions." Both The New York Times and the L.A. Times sent reporters to cover the game, which was decided in the final 22 seconds when Oregon committed a touchback on a frightening drive to the end zone. Cal, then ranked No. 6, moved up after five other teams in the Top-10 suffered losses.

Chris Dufresne notes that if USC beats Stanford this Saturday and No. 1 LSU loses to No. 9 Florida, USC and Cal could hop up to No. 1 and No.2, respectively. And if both teams stay undefeated through October, the USC-Cal game at Berkeley's Memorial Stadium in gorgeous Strawberry Canyon on Nov. 10 could pretty much decide the season for the whole country.

You can't overemphasize what a dramatic turn-around this is for Cal. In my four years at Berkeley the football team was a functioning disaster, never seeing a winning season and not once beating archrival Stanford in the Big Game. Then they hired some guy from Downey named Jeff Tedford, and within a season, Cal became a Pac-10 powerhouse and a national name. Tedford is such a G. Now facing Cal is one of USC's primary sources of anxiety. The Nov. 10 game will certainly be epic. If Cal wins -- and they very well could -- could it be? National title contention for the Bears?

* Photo above: Cal running back Justin Forsett outrunning a couple Ducks. Getty Images via L.A. Times.

* Aaaand, beefer cap off.

Addenda: OC murals, Ronny Rios, más Africa

 
Gustavo Arellano writes to remind us that "No nomás hay Chicano murals in LA," as he recently did a run-down at the OC Weekly about some of the surviving murals in Orange County. Here is a slideshow by Janine Kahn. Also at our sister paper to the south, homegirl Daffodil Altan takes us into the world of Ronny Rios, a modest teenage boxing dynamo in (very Mexican) Santa Ana. She also recently had a piece about a legal feud between a Filipina stripper who says a popular Mexican pole-dancing teacher stole her business.

Addenda on the Afro-Mexicans piece: I'm being reminded by a few people that photographer Tony Gleaton was likely the first to comprehensively document the African diaspora in Mexico. His show, "Black Mexico: Africa's Legacy," toured in the 1990s.

* Portrait of Ronny Rios above by John Gilhooley, OC Weekly. Posting on the Tijuana weekend is forthcoming.

Death and boxing in Tijuana: Honoring El Tiburon

Abel Rojas, my mother's biological father, died in a car accident in Tijuana on June 2. El Mexicano, a daily paper, reported the following Monday that Rojas had a heart attack behind the wheel and hit a couple of parked cars. The paper said the police, in an "act of negligence," hauled him to a station instead of a hospital. His death would have been news nonetheless. In his day Rojas was a beloved fighter and trainer in Tijuana, traveling to the great cities of the world on the boxing circuit. He was known as "El Tiburon," or The Shark. Later in his life, he became a writer of short stories, commentaries, and hosted a program on AM radio. El Mexicano described him as a "legend of Tijuana boxing," and "the patriarch" of the city's boxing scene. He also once operated a cantina in downtown Tijuana, named, of course, El Tiburon.

A week or so after he died I went with my brother and mother to Tijuana to visit with two of El Tiburon's sisters who travelled from Cananea, in the state of Sonora, to collect his ashes and return them to the city where he was born. Tiburon was a true Tijuana original, raised there since he was very young. But as his sisters described Cananea, it sounded like a wonderful place to rest for eternity. They said their hometown was high in the mountains, and that it snows. I found these pictures on a local Cananea website. It was first settled in 1760, and became a center of copper mining. El Tiburon's sisters told us immigrants from the south, on their way north, have been pouring into Cananea and rapidly changing its character.

Like death, family ties are never neat and tidy. My mother was raised by a loving stepfather. But on a few ocassions she took us to meet El Tiburon at a Tijuana diner, to hear about his adventures and memories. He went to Scotland and back for a match in less than 36 hours, he boasted. He told us Tijuana was once a lovely city, not as big and hectic and modern as it is now. El Tiburon had chocolate brown skin, and bushy white eyebrows. Everywhere he went people knew him.

I've never been to Cananea, but maybe one day I'll go. Abel Rojas was 74.