Kurimanzutto opens doors to new art gallery in Mexico City

The beautiful people were out in force on Saturday afternoon in Mexico City for the opening of the new Kurimanzutto contemporary art gallery in the San Miguel de Chapultepec neighborhood.

Cool young Mexicans mixed with a manicured, international crowd; back-combed hair and skinny jeans mingled with manicured, slender women, over-sized glasses and fake gold handbags. It was so retro, and so now.

Rather than sipping champagne from long-stemmed glasses, guests sucked fruit juice out of cardboard cartons. American English blended with Spanish in this elegant and luminous inside-outside space that looks a world away from the timber yard that it once was. Visitors start inside the building but under an open sky, then walk into a showroom covered by a ceiling of fogged glass that lets in the daylight and is supported by grand, wooden beams reminiscent of a farmer’s barn.

Then it’s outside again and through a tiny, Japanese-style garden and up the back steps into a smaller space hung with paintings and photographs.

Kurimanzutto boasts a collection of some of Mexico’s most up and coming contemporary artists, including Damián Ortega, Daniel Guzmán (see video below) and Gabriel Orozco. To the uninitiated, the main showroom might be reminiscent of a secondhand store, with installations including a suitcase full of '70s style pornographic photos and a cork pin board covered with photographs –- all mounted on bare metal bookshelves. But a closer look proves more fulfilling, and the choice of such basic furniture to present the exhibits was, of course, part of the message.

West Coast ports face struggle to maintain relevance

Ronald D. White reports:

The slowdown in international trade has left the docks at the nation's biggest seaport complex quieter than they've been in years.

Some workers, particularly non-union "casuals," at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports wait for shifts that never come. Automobiles and other merchandise pile up as consumers dig in for a long economic winter.

But the problems at the twin ports, along with smaller West Coast harbors, extend beyond the nation's economic woes, maritime experts say, and changes on the horizon could leave the seaports struggling to keep customers.

That's the assessment of a recent report by London-based Drewry Supply Chain Consultants, a maritime industry research firm that has about 3,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

West Coast ports will see increased competition from the Panama Canal, which is undergoing a bigger-than-expected expansion due to be completed in 2014, Drewry said. In addition, rising Chinese labor costs will push some manufacturing back to Mexico and South America.

Read more of "West Coast ports face struggle to maintain relevance" here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Cargo ships wait to enter the Pedro Miguel lock along the route of the Panama Canal near Panama City. West Coast ports in the U.S. could take a "serious hit" in market share with the soon-to-be widened Panama Canal. Credit: Elmer Martinez / AFP / Getty Images

Friends of opportunity

The Economist writes this morning, in relation to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's Latin America tour:

To some in the United States, this flurry of outside interest in a region that they considered their “backyard” is threatening. They see it is a sign that under President George Bush America has lost influence in the region. In fact, Latin America’s international ties have long been more diverse than caricature allows, but they are becoming even more so as the world changes. For some South American countries, Europe has always been at least as important as a trade and investment partner as the United States. Trade with Japan and the Middle East grew in the 1970s, while the Soviet Union sold arms to Peru as well as sustaining communist Cuba.

It is Mr Chávez’s search for allies in his rhetorical and political battle against the “empire”, as he likes to call the United States, that pricked the interest of Russia and Iran. For Russia, its Caribbean naval jaunt is a symbolic riposte to America’s plan to place missile batteries in Poland and to its dispatch of naval vessels to distribute aid in Georgia after Russia’s incursion in August. The same goes for its recent revival of ties with Cuba.

Click here to read more of "Friends of Opportunity."

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Outgoing U.S. ambassador to Mexico lashes out on drug war

The Dallas Morning News spent some time with outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, this week following comments that he made last week in Texas over the United States' responsibility in Mexico's battle against its illegal drug cartels:

Mr. Garza, a second-generation Mexican-American and Brownsville native, arrived in Mexico in 2002 after his friend President Bush appointed him to head one of the largest U.S. embassies in the world. In an interview over steak tacos at a modest restaurant near the U.S. Embassy, Mr. Garza talked about his tenure as ambassador, his future, and the challenges ahead in the land of his grandparents.

Failing to win U.S. congressional approval for comprehensive immigration reform and the debate over a controversial border fence remain concerns, Mr. Garza said.

"You're not really addressing the question of border security if all you are talking about is building walls," he said. "You have to look at comprehensive immigration reform, the Mérida Initiative, trade and, yes, smart barriers."      

Analysts say Mr. Garza's access to the White House helped put Mexico on the radar when U.S. foreign policy was focused on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read the rest of "Outgoing U.S. ambassador to Mexico lashes out on drug war" here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Mexico: Half of police fail evaluations

World Briefing reports:

Almost half of Mexican police officers examined this year have failed background and security tests, a figure that rises to nearly nine of 10 officers in the border state of Baja California, the government reported.

Nationwide, 49% of officers scored "not recommendable" on the tests, compared with 42% that rated "recommendable." In Baja California, which includes Tijuana, a city riven by drug violence, about 89% failed, and only 4% were judged "recommendable."

The tests -- which involved lie detectors, drug tests, psychological profiling and tests of personal wealth -- were intended to root out corrupt, incompetent and unfit officers. The report did not break down how many officers failed each category.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

U.S. war on drugs has failed, report says

Tracy Wilkinson reports:

The United States' war on drugs has failed and will continue to do so as long as it emphasizes law enforcement and neglects the problem of consumption, a Washington think tank says in a report co-chaired by a former president of Mexico.

The former president, Ernesto Zedillo, in an interview, called for a major rethinking of U.S. policy, which he said has been "asymmetrical" in demanding that countries such as Mexico stanch the flow of drugs northward, without successful efforts to stop the flow of guns south. In addition to disrupting drug-smuggling routes, eradicating crops and prosecuting dealers, the U.S. must confront the public health issue that large-scale consumption poses, he said.

"If we insist only on a strategy of the criminal pursuit of those who traffic in drugs," Zedillo said, "the problem will never be resolved."

The indictment of Washington's counter-narcotics campaign comes in a report released this week by the Brookings Institution that advocates closer engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean. U.S. influence in the region has slipped dramatically during the eight years of the Bush administration, and the report suggests an incoming Democratic government led by Barack Obama can open opportunities for better ties and communication.

Read more of "U.S. war on drugs has failed, report says" here.

Go here for our "Mexico Under Siege" coverage.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Russia seeking inroads among Latin American nations

Chris Kraul and Patrick J. McDonnell report from Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia:

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Venezuela on Wednesday to boost economic and political ties, his latest stop on a Latin American tour coinciding with President-elect Barack Obama's preparations to take office.

Along with earlier visits to Brazil and Peru, the trip to Caracas reflects a strategy to re-engage a region that Russia largely has ignored since the fall of the Soviet Union. Venezuela has purchased more than $4.4 billion in arms from Russia, which in turn has committed huge sums for energy exploration in Venezuela.

Medvedev's red-carpet welcome at Caracas' Maiquetia airport followed Tuesday's arrival of four Russian warships, including the nuclear-powered Peter the Great missile cruiser, in the Venezuelan port of La Guaira. It was the most significant appearance of Russian military assets in the hemisphere since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

The Russian ships are to participate in joint military exercises with Venezuelan vessels and aircraft starting next week. Medvedev and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will review the Russian ships today.

Read more of "Russia seeking inroads among Latin American nations" here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Crimes against dogs in Mexico City

Video and reporting by Deborah Bonello.

When thieves brandishing handguns broke into Ignacio Villanueva's bulldog-breeding kennels on the outskirts of Mexico City, it wasn't the safe they were after but Cinderella, Titiana, Adelita and a handful of other dogs and puppies.

A gang of robbers who forced their way into the home of Jesus Guerrero's business partner went straight for Kissi, Mexico's No. 1 Yorkshire terrier. And Suleika Lara had to give up Valentina, her purebred Yorkshire terrier puppy, at gunpoint when she was on her way to see her vet in the middle-class Mexico City neighborhood of Del Valle.

Reports of dog theft are increasing around Mexico City, which is already struggling with dire crime levels and high kidnapping rates of people.

There have been 50 dog thefts so far this year reported to Mexico's Canine Federation (la Federación Canófila Mexicana).

From the front page: Mariachis in Boyle Heights

Hundreds of mariachis participate in an annual procession in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles in honor of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music.

The musicians attended an open-air Mass celebrated by Msgr. John Moretta, who also called on the mariachis to unite for the first time on Dec. 7 to sing at an L.A. Archdiocese Mass honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Photo credit: Barbara Davidson /  Los Angeles Times

Brazil's housing boom shows cracks

Chris Kraul reports:

Just weeks ago, Brazil's housing market was one of the world's most dynamic. But now, the global credit crisis has set up housekeeping, and government efforts to stimulate buying are being trumped by consumers' fears for the future.

Through September, Brazil's housing sector was on fire.

January-September sales of new houses and condos were up 25% from the same period in 2007, ignited by a rising economy, decades of pent-up demand, job growth, an increase in affordable mortgage loans and legal changes that improved banks' powers to repossess property.

The sales slowdown, which isn't reflected yet in official statistics, has hit with sudden force. The nation's largest home builder, Cyrela Brazil Realty, laid off 300 workers last month and lowered its sales estimate for the year by 25%. Shares of Cyrela and the two dozen other publicly held home builders have plummeted in recent weeks.

"Whoever thinks Brazil has decoupled from the world economy is talking science fiction," Cyrela director Luis Largman said in an interview at the firm's Sao Paulo headquarters. "We are being affected collectively."

Read more of "Brazil's housing boom shows cracks" here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Housing's boom was a key part of Brazil's economic success. Above, apartments in Rio de Janeiro. Bruno Domingos / Reuters