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The government “can’t find” $20 trillion, while pension funds are tanking

Note: the missing $20 trillion does not refer to the national debt

by Jon Rappoport

Alert to pension fund managers all over the planet—and to everyone else—

“If 1,000 US and global pension fund managers start asking questions it could change everything – like stopping a nuclear war.”

That’s a statement from former US Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and now president of Solari, Inc., Catherine Austin Fitts, who is a financial analyst like no other in our time.

Among other feats, she has identified a giant sucking black hole in the US government. And what has disappeared down that hole is money. Over the years, at least $20 trillion.

Unaccounted for.

Gone.

If you’re a pension fund manager, stop reading this article and immediately switch over to these two articles from Fitts: “The State of Our Pension Funds” and “’FASAB [Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board] Statement 56′: Understanding New Government Financial Accounting Loopholes”.

You could begin to see a blinding light that changes your mind and changes your approach to the staggering debt your fund is dealing with. And in the process, you could help lead the way to a peaceful revolution. A far-reaching revolution, in which wide-ranging prosperity, not doom, sits up the road.

As for everyone else, here are a few of Fitts’ quotes from her mind-repairing article:

“So what is the problem? If it’s not a problem for $21 trillion to go missing from DOD and HUD, and, [if] it’s possible [for the government] to come up with more than $20[plus] trillion to give or loan to the banks [in a bailout] — when there is no legal obligation to do so, and, when we [the government] can transfer trillions of the most valuable technology in the world to private corporations at zero cost to them and [at] great cost to the taxpayers, [then] I assure you that fixing whatever pension fund problem there is, is not difficult. However, the political will must exist and want to. That is the problem.”

“If we can print money to give $20 trillion [plus] to the banks, and, [if we can] let $21 trillion go missing from the federal government, [then] why is it a problem to print $5 trillion to fund the pension funds?”

Failing pension funds are on the hook for $5 trillion (see also this short article from 2010), and the federal government has no answer? Well, that is a supreme con job, because, as Fitts points out, the government is playing far larger money games without a shred of concern.

And this is just the beginning of the rabbit hole Fitts has been traveling for the past several decades. Here is her basic position: Prosperity for the many, not the few, is eminently possible and doable.

Starting from that premise, and deploying her relentless skills as an analyst, she has discovered the strategies the government and mega-corporations have been deploying to undermine and torpedo an economically healthy society.

Finding and illuminating these strategies was not her basic intent. Her basic intent was lifting all boats for the citizenry. In pursuing that course, she came upon the secret obstructions.

And because her desire to help people did not waver in the slightest, she didn’t turn away. She exposed the obstructions. She continues to do so.

She writes: “Family wealth has the distinct advantage of returning control of investment decisions to individuals. However, this is hardly what the US establishment wants.”

“Our planetary governance and financial system currently operates significantly outside of the law. Whether the cost of war, organized crime, corruption, environmental damage, suppression of technology or secrecy, this lawlessness – and the lawlessness it encourages in the general population – represents a heavy and expensive drag on all aspects of our society, our economy and our landscape.”

Fitts cites an example of corporate choices in this lunatic money scam—General Electric: “By some estimates, its pension fund is underfunded to the tune of $31 billion. However, during the time its pension fund became so underfunded, GE spent $45 billion to buy back its publicly traded common stock. The needed funds were there at one point; it’s just that the leadership of the company decided to funnel it into stockholders’ hands rather than to the pensions of the employees who helped build the company.”

Do you have a pension fund manager? Do you know a pension fund manager? Link them to Fitts’ article. It’s long past the time when they can sit back and moan about the trouble they’re in. They need to learn about the underlying forces at work. (And if they’re a conscious part of the problem, let them learn that their game is exposed).

Look around you. Money is everywhere. Titanic piles of it are flowing. The question is, to whom is it flowing, and how, and why? Within the current system, there are designated winners and losers. This has to do with criminal controllers posing as benefactors. They steer the money ship. They dump shipments of money at certain favored ports and keep shipments from reaching many other ports.

I know there are people out there who will say, “It’s all about the illegal Federal Reserve and the transnational bankers.” That’s like saying the drug problem is all about the Mexican cartels—but then, digging further, you also come across the expanding opium poppy fields in Afghanistan, the hands-off collusion in Chicago that permits the city to act as a primary hub for drug distribution in the US, the pharmaceutical companies that traffic millions of opioid pills to dealers, and the 2016 law that strangled DEA efforts to bust those companies.

The devil is in the details, and Fitts has uncovered an astonishing number of them.

I first came across her work about ten years ago, when we spoke several times about her specific method enabling local communities to discover money flows—the sources of money coming into their towns and cities, and the destinations of money going out. This brilliant tool would give communities the power to see exactly how money was impoverishing them, rather than enriching them. In an effort to make that tool widely available, thus pointing the way for communities to change those flows and foster local prosperity, Fitts ran into legal trouble with the federal government—and “trouble” is a vast understatement.

She emerged, after a long battle, with her primary goals securely intact.

She has answers and solutions.

Answers that are vital for our time.

Fitts was once an insider and had a front row seat at the money circus. Now, her ongoing enterprise is Solari, Inc. I highly recommend it to you.

(Jon Rappoport is the author of three explosive collections, The Matrix Revealed, Exit From The Matrix, and Power Outside The Matrix).

Rough times ahead, but liberty can still win

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR:

Dear readers, for educational purposes, this week I bring to you this article by former Congressman Ron Paul, which fits well with the current partial shut down of the Federal Government that has been going on for the past two weeks. And it will continue after President Donald Trump and Democratic leaders failed to strike a deal on Friday (today) over Trump’s request for $5 billion to fund his signature wall on the border with Mexico. Marvin R.

by Ron Paul

While Congress and the president fight over funding a border wall, they continue to ignore the coming economic tsunami caused by the approximately 22 trillion dollars (and rapidly increasing) federal debt. President Trump may not be troubled by the debt’s effect on the economy because he believes he will be out of office before it becomes a major problem. However, the crisis may come sooner than he, or most people in DC, expects.

The constituency for limited government, while growing, is still far outnumbered by those wanting government to provide economic and personal security. From lower-income Americans who rely on food stamps, public housing, and other government programs, to middle-class Americans who live in homes they could not afford without assistance from federal agencies like Fannies Mae and Freddie Mac, to college students reliant on government-subsidized student loans, to senior citizens reliant on Social Security and Medicare, to billionaire CEOs whose companies rely on bailouts, subsidies, laws and regulations written to benefit politically-powerful businesses, and government contracts, most Americans are reliant on at least one federal program. Many programs are designed to force individuals to accept government aid. For example, it is almost impossible for a senior citizen to obtain health insurance outside of Medicare.

The welfare state is fueled by the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies, which are also responsible for the boom-and-bust cycle that plagues our economy. The Federal Reserve’s policies do not just distort our economy, they also distort our values, as the Fed’s dollar depreciation causes individuals to forgo savings and hard work in favor of immediate gratification. This has helped create an explosion of business and individual debt. There has been a proliferation of bubbles, including in credit card debt, auto loans, and student loans. There is even a new housing bubble.

An economy built on fiat currency and public and private debt is unsustainable. Eventually the bubbles will burst. The most likely outcome will be the rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status due to government debt and the Federal Reserve’s monetization of debt. When the bubbles pop, the result will be an economic crisis that will likely dwarf the Great Depression.

The fall of the dollar and the accompanying economic downturn will make it impossible for the government to continue running up huge debts to finance a massive welfare-warfare state. Thus, Congress will be forced to raise taxes and cut benefits. Cowardly politicians will likely outsource the job of raising taxes and cutting benefits to the Federal Reserve. This will cause a dramatic increase in the most insidious of taxes: the inflation tax.

As the Federal Reserve erodes the value of the dollar, thus reducing the value of both earned paychecks and government-provided welfare benefits, a large number of Americans who believe they are entitled to economic security will react by engaging in acts of violence. Politicians will use this violence to further crack down on civil liberties. The resulting economic and civil unrest will further the growth of authoritarian political movements.

Fortunately, the liberty movement continues to grow. This movement counters the authoritarian lies with the truths of Austrian economics and the non-aggression principle. While the years ahead may be tough, if those of us who know the truth work hard to educate others, the cause of liberty can prevail.

(Ron Paul is a former U.S. congressman from Texas. This article originally appeared at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity).

Nutritional benefits that prove moringa really is a “miracle tree”

by Ellaine Castillo

Many bitter foods have proven themselves to be amazing superfoods. Take for example dark leafy greens, bitter gourds, dark chocolate, and moringa. Compared to the others on the list, moringa (Moringa oleifera) is less popular but this doesn’t mean that it’s not as good. In fact, this plant is commonly called a miracle tree because all of its parts, including the seeds, pods, and leaves, exhibit many health benefits.

The moringa tree is native to northern India, where its seed is commonly included in the people’s traditional diet, just like in other Asian and African countries. This highly nutritious plant can be used for many applications, including biodiesel production, manufacturing of beauty products, and water filtration. However, it’s still more pcommonly used for its various health benefits, which include the following:

Improving malnutrition — One cup of moringa seeds is enough to give you more than twice the recommended daily intake of vitamin C and nearly four times the amount of iron you need. It is also packed with potassium, magnesium, calcium, carbohydrates, and proteins, which have 19 of the 22 amino acids, that are essential for growth and development. With all these nutrients, you would expect that moringa seeds have high-calorie content, but they don’t. Because of its astounding nutritional content, many developing nations are making it a staple in their diets to avoid and treat malnutrition. Fortunately, moringa is very easy to cultivate since it lives through drought and hot climates.

Reducing inflammation and oxidative stress — Moringa seeds are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds. The presence of these compounds makes this superfood a promising treatment for conditions associated with inflammation and oxidative stress. Previous studies in both mice and humans showed that moringa significantly improves symptoms of ulcerative colitis, a condition characterized by chronic inflammation and ulcers in the digestive tract. To maximize the antioxidant potential of moringa seeds, try boiling them first before eating them since this is said to release beneficial compounds.

Boosting heart health — Moringa is a good source of healthy monounsaturated fats that lower bad cholesterol and consequently reduce the risk of heart disease. Previous studies have also shown that moringa seeds protect heart cells from damage induced by oxidative stress and excessive inflammation. Furthermore, this superfood reduces triglyceride levels in the body and improves heart rate and overall cardiac function.

Promoting good digestion — If you’re looking for a fiber-rich food, then moringa pods would be the better option for you. Each pod contains approximately 47 percent fiber, so it’s great for people who suffer from digestive problems like constipation.

Regulating blood sugar levels — People who have been diagnosed with diabetes or prediabetes can benefit from eating moringa. This superfood can lower blood sugar levels due to the isothiocyanates that it contains. Studies have shown that 50 grams of moringa leaves in just one meal can significantly reduce blood sugar by 21 percent.

Fighting cancer — People who eat moringa seeds have a lower risk of developing different types of cancer including liver, breast, and colon cancer. It works by preventing the growth and spread of cancer cells. (Related: Moringa seeds found to prevent the spread of breast cancer cells to surrounding tissue.) Natural News.

US border agency orders medical checks on children in custody after deaths

by Khushbu Shah and agencies

CBP said it needs help of other agencies to provide healthcare after a second immigrant child died in its custody this month,

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have ordered medical checks on every child in its custody after an eight-year-old boy from Guatemala died, marking the second death of an immigrant child in the agency’s care this month.

The death came during an ongoing dispute over border security and with a partial government shutdown under way over Donald Trump’s request for border wall funding .

The boy, identified in a statement from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus as Felipe Alonzo-Gomez, had been in CBP’s custody with his father, Agustín Gómez, since 18 December. CBP said in a statement late on Tuesday that an agent first noticed the boy had a cough and “glossy eyes” at about 9 a.m. on Monday.

He was eventually hospitalized twice and died just before midnight, the agency said. Reports had previously stated the child died on Christmas Day.

Jakelin Caal, a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl, died on 8 December, less than two days after being apprehended by border agents. The body of the girl was returned to her family’s remote village on Monday for burial.

The UN’s special rapporteur, who acts as a global watchdog for the treatment of migrants, told the Guardian that he would demand a special inquiry into Jakelin’s death.

Speaking on Wednesday, the head of the CBP said the deaths were “an extraordinarily rare occurrence” that were “devastating” to the agency.

The CBP commissioner, Kevin McAleenan, told CBS’s This Morning show that before this month, it had been more than a decade since a child died in the agency’s care.

In its statement, the CBP said it needs the help of other government agencies to provide healthcare. The agency “is considering options for surge medical assistance” from the coast guard and may request help from the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

A CBP spokesman could not immediately answer how many children are currently in the agency’s custody, but McAleenan said the agency is seeing more children than ever. With border crossings surging, CBP processes thousands of children – both alone and with their parents – every month.

Immigration advocates and human rights groups sharply criticized CBP in the wake of Felipe’s death.

The White House referred questions about the latest case to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), CBP’s parent agency. CBP officers and the border patrol remain on the job despite the shutdown.

Felipe was taken with his father to a hospital in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he was diagnosed with a common cold, according to a timeline released by the agency.

The boy was released just before 3pm, about 90 minutes after he had been found to have a fever of 103F (39.4C), CBP said. He was prescribed amoxicillin and ibuprofen, and taken with his father to a holding facility at a highway checkpoint.

At about 7pm, agents helped clean up the boy’s vomit. CBP said the father “declined further medical assistance” then.

The agency said its officers repeatedly conducted welfare checks on Felipe and his father, and that agents decided to take the boy back to the hospital at about 10pm because the boy “appeared lethargic and nauseous again”. He died at 11.48pm on Monday, the agency said.

The hospital, the Gerald Champion regional medical center, declined to comment, citing privacy regulations.

Felipe and his father were detained by CBP for about a week, an unusually long time that the agency did not fully explain on Tuesday.

CBP typically detains immigrants for no more than a few days when they cross the border before either releasing them or turning them over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) for longer-term detention.

CBP said it apprehended Felipe and his father on 18 December about three miles (5km) away from an official port of entry, the Paso del Norte bridge connecting El Paso and Juárez, Mexico. They were held at a processing center for almost two days then taken to the El Paso border patrol station on Thursday.

CBP said it moved them to Alamogordo at about 1am on Sunday “because of capacity levels at the El Paso station”. Alamogordo is about 90 miles (145km) from El Paso.

Óscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consul in Phoenix, said he was told by the boy’s father in a telephone interview that the two had been traveling from their home in Nentón, a village about 280 miles (450km) from Guatemala City. They were planning to go to Johnson City, Tennessee.

CBP promised “an independent and thorough review of the circumstances”, and the Guatemalan foreign ministry called for an investigation “in accordance with due process”.

(Associated Press contributed to this report).

‘I’m in despair’: a mother and village mourn Guatemalan boy’s death in US

Felipe Gómez Alonzo and his father left their modest mountain home with dreams of a new life. Now a community is grieving

by Sofia Menchú in Yalambojoch and José Alejandro García

From outside the flimsy two-bedroom shack, the sound of weeping could be heard as Catarina Alonzo mourned her eight-year old son.

Early in December, Felipe Gómez Alonzo and his father, Agustín Gómez Peréz, left the family’s modest home in the mountains of Guatemala with dreams of starting a new life in the US.

But the pair were detained near the US border just a few miles away from the Paso Del Norte port of entry in El Paso, and within six days, Felipe died in a New Mexico hospital – the second Guatemalan child to die this month while in US custody.

“I’m sad and in despair over the death of my son,” said Alonzo, when she emerged to speak to reporters.

US authorities are investigating the deaths of Felipe and seven-year-old Jakelin Caal, but the circumstances which drove both families to risk sending their children on the long journey north are clear: the absolute poverty besetting swathes of rural Guatemala.

Both children came from remote indigenous communities, where migration has long been seen a reasonable response to the country’s hardship, racism and violence.

“Felipe was happy to leave with his father,” said Alonzo in Chuj, an indigenous Mayan language.

She said that both parents had agreed to let Felipe join his father, an agricultural worker, on his trip north. Gómez Pérez hoped to find work to pay off his debts and send money to the family. Felipe hoped to study, and have a bicycle of his own.

When his father had second thoughts about taking him along, Felipe grew upset, so the two parents agreed he could go. Gómez Pérez even bought him a new pair of shoes for the trip, said Alonzo, through tears, her breath making clouds in the chill mountain air.

Throughout the journey, the family stayed in touch by mobile phone. “We talked as soon as they reached the border,” she said, adding that Gómez Pérez called again the next day when the pair were already in border patrol custody. “He said Felipe was okay and excited and healthy.”

This week, the US homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, announced that migrant children would receive “more thorough” medical assessments when they are taken into custody – but she also blamed parents for putting their children at risk by embarking on the arduous journey.

But for many in rural Guatemala migration is seen as the only hope for a better life.

The 400km (250 mile) journey from the country’s capital to Felipe’s hometown takes roughly nine hours, starting out along the Pan-American highway.

Closer to Yalambojoch, however, the route becomes a treacherous dirt track winding through the mountains.

The village’s population is a little over a thousand; most of the adults spent years as refugees during Guatemala’s 1960-1996 civil war, in which the US-backed military committed a genocide on the country’s indigenous population.

In 1982, the Guatemalan army massacred more than three hundred people in Nentón. The survivors found refuge in Mexico, just nine kilometers away, and only returned years after, as the conflict came to an end.

But the peace deal did nothing to end Guatemala’s systemic racism and corruption, which has channelled the country’s wealth to a small urban elite, and the people of the surrounding Nentón municipality were forced to rebuild their communities without any governmental support.

In impoverished villages such as Yalambojoch, agriculture is the only work available.

Such grinding poverty makes emigration an attractive alternative, according to the town’s mayor, Lucas Pérez. “People leave our village, find work in the US and send money to help their relatives,” said Pérez, who estimated about 200 people from the tiny village live in the United States.

The surrounding Huehuetenango province sends the largest number of migrants from the country, according to Guatemala’s foreign ministry, and evidence of the exodus is clear:

Yalambojoch has no potable water or electricity, but among the wooden shacks are modern two-story houses with tiled roofs – built with remittance money from abroad.

According to the Banco de Guatemala, during this year’s first 11 months, Guatemalans living abroad sent their relatives close to $9m.

That was the dream of Gómez Pérez: to reach the US and provide for his family.

Before leaving Yalambojoch, Felipe shared a bedroom with both his parents and three siblings. The family home has a tin roof and earthen floors. Outside there are pigs, a few chickens, two roosters, a decrepit tomato plant and a mandarin tree.

Felipe’s father made about $6 a day, said Alonzo, who like most local people, subsists on coffee and corn tortillas.

In desperation Gómez Pérez took out a loan of several thousand dollars, and headed north.

Now, despite her son’s death, Alonzo still hopes he can remain in the US. “We have no other way to get rid of my husband’s debt,” she said.

Gómez Pérez remains in border patrol detention; medical examiners are still carrying out tests on his son’s body.

Guatemala’s president, Jimmy Morales, has made no public comment on the deaths of Felipe or Jakelin.

After speaking to reporters, Alonzo and her sisters went back to her bedroom, to a small altar she had assembled with fresh flowers, candles and pictures of Felipe a local teacher printed for her.

The women kneeled to pray the rosary in Chuj. (The Guardian).

OAS calls an extraordinary session on Nicaragua

The meeting had been requested in an emergency by the OAS Secretary General, Luis Almagro

by the El Reportero‘s wire services

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) convened an extraordinary session to address the crisis in Nicaragua for this Friday, Jan. 11, at 8 a.m. (US Pacific time).

The Chancellery of Costa Rica confirmed that, this Thursday, it was called to an extraordinary session of the OAS to evaluate the situation in Nicaragua, after the secretary general of that organization, Luis Almagro, requested to invoke the Inter-American Democratic Charter, the newspaper reported. Costa Rican.

Zapatistas are back and preparing to confront AMLO over Maya Train, other projects
Their army has linked up with indigenous organizations to create a national network of opposition

January 1 will mark 24 years since the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) emerged from the rainforests of Chiapas to declare war on the Mexican government.

Now they plan to mount another protest movement, this time against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his Maya Train project.

The former army is now a political movement and is preparing to raise its voice against the train and other development projects on the first day of the new year, according to a report by the newspaper Milenio.

The organization and two indigenous groups met in October and drafted a text that claimed the new federal government represented a threat to indigenous communities with the Cancún-Palenque train, its trans-Isthmus projects and expansion of the economic zones.

In response, they said, they would create the Networks of Resistance and Rebellion to fight the federal government’s plans.

They also expressed opposition to López Obrador’s plan to plant a million hectares with fruit and other trees in the south of the country, a project intended to promote economic development, the government’s support for mining, its plans to incorporate 50,000 youths into the armed forces and its approval of the new trade agreement that replaces NAFTA.

Pedro Faro Navarro, director of the Frayba Human Rights Center explained that the networks would not only try to bring together indigenous peoples, as it has in the past, but anyone who opposes the country’s system of government.

He said the Maya Train project is only “the tip of the iceberg” for the EZLN and its allies because bringing such a project into Chiapas represents “the dispossession of the indigenous peoples’ lands” and will translate into “confrontations between the government of the ‘Fourth Transformation’ and the native peoples of southern Mexico.”

Large-scale public works projects like the Maya Train provoke the exclusion of the autonomous organized peoples who outright oppose the project, the activist said.

López Obrador has won support for his plans from some indigenous communities and was even honored by indigenous representatives at his official inauguration as president.
But not all see the new president and his Morena party as their political home.

Source: El Sol de México (sp), Milenio (sp).

Mexico to Accelerate census to implement social welfare programs

Mexico”s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador urged regional delegates to accelerate a population census in the 32 states of the country to help implement social welfare programs, the Jalisco coordinator revealed on Thursday.

Carlos Lomeli Bolaños, from Jalisco, admitted there are delays and by the end of the year only 50 percent have made progress in the registry.

These programs, about fifty, are part of the National Security Plan that the president is deploying in his fight against corruption and criminal violence, which has a coercive and a social policy.

The first, aimed at changing the constitution to create a National Guard integrated in its initial phase by the armed forces, the Navy and the federal police. It will be organized by the state governments but with the presence of special coordinators who respond to the federal Executive.

The second, considered the most important by López Obrador because it attacks the roots and causes of crime and corruption, includes dozens of economic and social development plans to generate employment, train citizens in all fields of knowledge, create a scholarship system and give priority attention to young people.

The president believes it is necessary to carry out a population counting with many details called social welfare census, in order to implement the specific plans whose financing is contemplated in the 2019 budget approved by the House of Representatives.

Mexico Reiterates Firm Rejection of US Taxation on Migrants

The Mexican government on Monday reiterated its firm rejection of an imposition by the United States to declare Third Safe Country and receive the Central American migrants who remain on the border in a legal limbo.

Last week, President Donald Trump declared Mexico a safe country that would receive the Central Americans, whom he described as frozen because US immigration authorities did not respond to their asylum requests, and at the same time, Mexico denied that there was an agreement of such nature.

Actress with links to ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán suing Mexican officials for US $60 million

Kate del Castillo also said she would kick Sean Penn in the balls if she saw him again

by the El Reportero‘s news services

Actress Kate del Castillo is suing former Mexican officials for US $60 million for “moral and material damages” and implied that she would like to kick Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn in the balls.

Del Castillo, perhaps best known for arranging a secret meeting between Penn and former drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán in 2015, told a press conference in Mexico City yesterday that her treatment by the former “macho” federal government amounted to “political persecution” and was motivated by her gender.

Mexican authorities investigated del Castillo after she arranged the meeting between Penn and the former Sinaloa Cartel chief.

Penn wrote a 10,000-word account of the meeting for the magazine Rolling Stones that was published the day after Guzmán was captured in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, in January 2016.

Del Castillo is reportedly the favorite actress of El Chapo, who is currently on trial in New York.

She was never charged but del Castillo claims that her reputation was damaged by information leaked by prosecutors in the administration of former president Enrique Peña Nieto, including the possibility that she might be linked to drug trafficking and that she had a romantic relationship with Guzmán.

“The Mexican government chased me and attacked me for being critical of the government, or for interviewing the most wanted man in the world . . .” she said.

“If I had been a man, that would have been another story, we would not be here. It is a violation of my rights for being a woman and actress; it is sad that in this time we keep having to fight only because we are women.”

In January last year, the actress told the Associated Press: “It’s not been a good year. I couldn’t work because people didn’t want me, because they were afraid.”

Del Castillo explained that she arranged the meeting between Penn and Guzmán because she was considering making a documentary or film about the latter.

But she said yesterday that she now has no plans to work on such a project, adding that she is no longer in contact with Penn and believes that he betrayed her.

“Sean Penn apparently helped in the location and detention” of Guzmán, she said.

“I was not aware of that situation, and that it why I’ve always referred to it as a betrayal . . . I have not talked to him for a long time, but if I saw him face to face, I would kick him in his private parts.”

Del Castillo had not returned to Mexico for three years because of concerns about the past government’s investigation but explained that she was reassured by the December 1 change in government and decided to come home for Christmas.

“I hope that things go incredibly well for the administration headed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador,” she said.

The 46-year-old actress also said that she hadn’t been summoned to give evidence at Guzmán’s trial on trafficking and conspiracy charges and declared: “I have nothing to hide, I didn’t commit any crime.”

Source: Associated Press (en), The Telegraph (en), Animal Político (sp).

Alfonso Cuarón’s ROMA in theaters now and launching globally on Netflix

An expanded theatrical release in the U.S. and international markets

by the El Reportero’s news services

The most personal project to date from Academy Award®-winning director and writer Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children of Men, Y Tu Mamá También), ROMA follows Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio), a young domestic worker for a family in the middle-class neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City.

Delivering an artful love letter to the women who raised him, Cuarón draws on his own childhood to create a vivid and emotional portrait of domestic strife and social hierarchy amidst political turmoil of the 1970s. Cuarón’s first project since the groundbreaking Gravity in 2013, ROMA will be available in theaters and on Netflix later this year.

Archaeological inspection of site for solar park turned up 2,300-year-old cave

Archaeologists believe people of importance were buried in five graves found on the site 2,300-year-old ceremonial cave has been discovered between two ancient Mayan cities in Yucatán, an expert from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) announced this week.

Víctor Castillo Borges, leader of the exploration project, said the Múusench’een Cave is part of a Pre-Columbian settlement hidden between the cities of Ebtún and Cuncunul.

Speaking at a Mayan culture forum at the INAH Yucatán Center in the state capital Mérida, Castillo said the cave and settlement were discovered in 2017 during an archaeological inspection of a site for a solar park.

Castillo explained that “virgin water” used by Mayan priests during ceremonial rituals is still present within the cave, which he said “is still considered a sacred place.”

Before exploration of the cave could take place, the INAH expert said that “the people in charge … had to take part in two [Mayan] ceremonies,” adding that “workers carried out a ritual every day before starting work inside the cave.”

Ceramic evidence found inside indicated that it was used for ceremonial purposes as early as the middle pre-classic period, which dates back to 300 BC, Castillo said.

Castillo explained that the cave’s name, Múusench’een, means “lack of oxygen in the cenote,” an “original name that has been preserved for many years.”

Gourmet produces a Grammy nomination to the Cuban group Orishas

Orishas, the distinguished and pioneer group of Cuban hip-hop, is proud to announce its nomination for the prestigious Grammy Awards, thanks to the excellence of its 5th studio album: “Gourmet”.

In this opportunity, his originality and musical trajectory have been recognized by the Recording Academy, obtaining a nomination in the category: Best Latin Album of Rock-Urban or Alternative Album (Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album), because “Gourmet”, a production that, in the words of its leader Yotuel, has been the most” personal and great “of his discography, has collaborations with great artists of the industry such as: Franco de Vita, Chucho Valdés, Beatriz Luengo, Silvestre Dangond, Lila Downs among others.

This is the third time that The Grammy Academy recognizes its musical contribution to the industry. In his resume they already have 2 Latin Grammy.

Cuaron’s film Roma to be screened at former presidential home, Los Pinos

The award-winning film continues to receive international acclaim

by the El Reportero’s news services

Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón’s latest movie, Roma, will be screened this week at the former presidential residence, Los Pinos.

Cuarón announced on Twitter that the film, which has earned international acclaim, will be shown in what was the home until last week of ex-president Peña Nieto, which is now a cultural center open to the general public.
Roma will be shown twice a day for five days, starting Friday.

Cuarón also wrote that 97 locations around the country will be screening his film starting tomorrow. A complete list of locations can be found on the website cinesroma.mx.

The film’s distributor, the streaming platform Netflix, will make Romaavailable to its subscribers on Dec.14.

The film, meanwhile, continues to receive accolades and awards. The American Film Institute announced yesterday that it has recognized the film with a special award “for a work of excellence outside the institute’s criteria for American film.”
And the New York Film Critics Circle announced its picks for the best of the year late last month, and Roma came out on top.

The movie picked up three awards, including best film, best director and best cinematography. The latter two awards both honor Cuarón, who shot Romahimself.

It has been described as Cuarón’s most personal project yet. The film follows the story of Cleo (played by first-time actress Yalitza Aparicio Martínez), a young domestic worker for a middle-class family in the Roma district of the Cuahutémoc borough of Mexico City.

Cuarón draws from his own childhood, writing a loveletter to the women who raised him and depicting a touching and vivid portrait of domestic conflict and social hierarchy, all with the backdrop of the political crisis in which the country was immersed in the 1970s.

Source: Milenio (sp), American Film Magazine (en), The New York Times (en).

Alternative new year’s festival comes to Oaxaca
Restival Oaxaca will take place on the grounds of a mezcal distillery outside Oaxaca city

The debut edition of Restival Oaxaca will bring a unique and alternative festival-meets-destination-spa-experience, all revolving around the new year’s celebration to the valley outside Oaxaca city.

Restival is described by organizers as an intimate retreat for only 70 people with a celebration that combines “the best of fest & rest to create a New Year’s experience which (until now) only existed in your dreams.”

The event offers to take people away from crowded parties and exorbitant bar tabs, to stars and mountains, luxury bungalows, a spa, wisdom teachers, a traditional Zapotec sweat lodge and a sensory buffet of creative workshops.
The six-day event takes place on a new “eco-luxe ranch beside a modernist mezcal distillery in the middle of an agave field” outside the city.

Along with internationally acclaimed musicians and DJs the festival also includes four days of “workshops, fire ceremonies and intention setting to get you ready for 2019.”

Other activities will include meeting a family of Zapotec weavers and learning about their indigenous traditions, a visit to the nearby petrified waterfalls of Hierve El Agua, yoga and meditation classes at an ancient temple, cacao ceremonies, mezcal tastings, art exhibitions and a chance to relax in Restival’s spa.

Restival Oaxaca kicks off on December 29 and will conclude on January 3. Tickets for the New Year’s Eve celebration are US $195 per person, while the entire experience ranges in price from $950 to $2,650 per person.

According to information on the Restival website, the event “is a cultural retreat like no other. We bring together world-class wisdom and yoga teachers with indigenous cultures in off-grid eco-luxe properties and cities around the world.”

Veracruz dancers break a Guinness record with La Bamba

Over 2,000 people danced simultaneously to the famous anthem

by the El Reportero‘s news services

Yet another Guinness World Record was set on Mexican soil yesterday: 2,370 men, women and children danced simultaneously to the Mexican folk song La Bamba.

The successful record attempt took place in the historic center of Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz.

La Bamba, an example of Veracruz’s son jarocho musical style, is considered an anthem of the Gulf coast state.

The song was played live during yesterday’s mass dance by the group Tlen Huicani.

However, it was not just jarochos, as natives of Veracruz are known, who had the honor of claiming the new record as dancers from México state, Puebla, Hidalgo and Morelos, among other states, also took part.

All the participants dressed in traditional white costumes adorned with red neck ties for men and red scarves for women.

The annual record attempt was organized by the folkloric ballet ensemble of the University of Veracruz.

The previous La Bamba record was set a year ago by 1,938 professional and amateur dancers.

All manner of weird and wonderful Guinness World Records have been set in Mexico.

They include the world’s biggest marzipan, the biggest bead mosaic, the largest foosball tournament and – of course – preparation of the largest number of flautas, or crispy, fried tacos.

Source: Excélsior (sp), Al Calor Político (sp).

Matar a Jesus, Winner of the Macondo Awards in Colombia

The film Matar a Jesus, premium film by Colombian Laura Mora, was the big winner in this capital of the 2018 Macondo Awards, winning five out of 11 nominations.

The film won the categories of Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Sound and Best Supporting Actor for Camilo Escobar.

The film, which is also a candidate from Colombia to Goya, recounts the life of Paula (Natasha Jaramillo), a 22-year-old girl who knows her father’s murderer and decides to take justice into her own hands.

The movie was filmed with non-professional actors for 36 days in the city of Medellin, where the father of the filmmaker was murdered in 2002.

‘This is a film that invites the recognition of the other at a very relevant moment in our political history where we have to recognize ourselves,’ said its director, whose debut has received multiple awards around the world in the last year.

The film Virus Tropical won the Macondo for Best Animation, Best Original Song for Adriana Garcia Galan and popularity; while Amazona was selected as Best Documentary and received two other awards: Best Original Music and Best Editing.

On the other hand, Amalia la Secretaria, directed by Andrés Burgos, was the winner in the categories of Best Leading Actress for Marcela Benjumea, Best Lead Actor for Enrique Carriazo and Best Supporting Actress for Patricia Tamayo.

The film Sal won the categories of Best Direction of Photography for David Gallego, Best Costume and Best Art Direction for Marcela Gómez.

The annual gala of the Colombian Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences also awarded two prizes to the production Siete Cabezas: Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects.

The Macondo de Honor Prize was awarded to the actor Alvaro Rodriguez, for his long professional career in the seventh art.

Presidio’s Exclusion awarded the 2018 Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence by the Western Museums Association for Work Illuminating the American West
Presidio’s exhibition Exclusion: The Presidio’s Role in World War II Japanese American Incarceration was awarded the 2018 Charles Redd Award for Exhibition Excellence by the Western Museums Association at their Annual Meeting on October 22. It is the major exhibition accolade granted annually by the professional industry organization that serves the Western United States, Western Canada, and the Pacific. Winners are chosen regardless of geographical location, size, budget, or discipline. Past winners have included the Boise Art Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, the Museum of Vancouver, and the J. Paul Getty Museum among others.

Western Museums Association wrote, “Exclusion: The Presidio’s Role in World War II Japanese American Incarceration truly exemplifies exhibition excellence for its important examination of a complex issue as it impacts the Western United States – and beyond.”

The award recognizes outstanding achievement of temporary exhibitions that encourage museums and the public to study the American West; utilize innovative exhibition and public programming; result from creative collaboration with outside communities or organizations; and engage audiences in the exhibition subject in compelling ways.

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