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lights, camera... mexico! Mexican Film Industry At A Glanceiii
- 20
10
mining in mexico
Special Feature
creative industries
fully set up to astonish
SA Golden Opportunity
offices abroad
North AmericaVancouver Regional [email protected]
Offices in: Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York, Toronto and Vancouver
Europe and Middle EastOffices in: Brussels, Dubai, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Stockholm
Brussels [email protected]
Asia - PacificOffices in: Beijing, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei and Tokyo
Beijing [email protected]
Singapore / New [email protected]
Latin Americaand South America Offices in: Bogotá, Guatemala, Santiago de Chile and Sao Paulo
Bogotá[email protected]
Santiago de [email protected]
ProMéxico Headquarters
+ 52 (55) 544 [email protected]
www.promexico.gob.mx
2 Negocios
Contents
AnimAtors tAke BicentenAry By
storm
34
30Lights, Camera …
Mexico! Films “made in Mexico” are not
just Mexican productions, which are gradually receiving more
international exposure. There is another side to the coin: the
international film industry that comes to Mexico to film large-
scale productions.
meXico, tHe Best cHoiceFor tHe mininG inDUstry
Mexico has a world-class mining industry with 500 years of experience and it expects to attract 15 billion usd of investment in the sector between 2007 and 2012.
18
From the CEO 6
Briefs 7
Mexico’s Partner inverAFrUt 12
Special Report meXico AnD tHe Uk 14
Business Tips mininG: A strAteGic sector 16
Special Feature AnimeX estUDios 36
Special Feature DiGitAl meDiA 38
Figures 40
[email protected]+ 52 (55) 5447 70 70
www.promexico.gob.mx
>> Log in to Mexico
Success is just a click away…
Proméxico is not responsible for inaccurate information or omissions that might exist in the information provided by the participant companies nor of their economic solvency. title certificate of lawfulness 14459. text certificate of lawfulness 12032. number of title reserve 04-2009-012714564800-102. Postal registry PP09-0044. responsible editor: sebastián escalante. Printing: cía. impresora el Universal, s.A. de c.v. Distribution: Proméxico camino a sta teresa 1679, méxico D.F., 01900. Phone: +52 (55) 5447 7000. negocios is an open space where diverse opinions can be expressed. the institution might or might not agree with an author’s statements; therefore the responsibility of each text falls on the writers, not on the institution, except when it states otherwise. Although this magazine verifies all the information printed on its pages, it will not accept responsibility derived from any omissions, inaccuracies or mistakes. march, 2010.
4 Negocios
Interview
Lynn fainchtein: Born Into Music
44
The lifestyle Contents
52 The Lifestyle FeatureeditoriaL industry: about the art of book pubLishing
61 Feedback the fascination for mexican handicrafts
42 The Lifestyle Briefs
48 Animation IndustryLa marca deL Jaguar
50 InterviewJudith macgregor,
british ambassador to mexico
proméxicoBruno Ferrariceo ricardo rojo image and communications Director sebastián escalantemanaging [email protected]
miguel Ángel samayoa Advertising and [email protected]
Fernanda luna copy editing
taLLer méxico Alejandro serratos Publisher [email protected]
Felipe Zúñiga editor in chief [email protected]
orlando santamariamarketing [email protected]
Pilar Jiménez molgadoDesign [email protected]
Jorge silva Design [email protected] Dalia Urzua orozcoDesign [email protected]
Paloma ló[email protected]
vanessa serratosDesign [email protected]
piso de ediciones vanesa roblessenior Writer [email protected]
karla Juárez sandra roblaguilucila valtierramauricio Zabalgoitiastaff Writers
transLationAlejandra Díaz AlvaradoJuan manuel romero
proof readingGraeme stewart
contributorsGraeme stewart, maría cristina rosas, Jesús estrada cortés, cristina Ávila-Zesatti, sandra roblagui, Francisco vernis, karla Barajas, oldemar.
this is an editorial project for Proméxico by taller méxico & Piso de ediciones.
Download the PDF version of Negocios ProMéxico at: negocios.promexico.gob.mx
Destination
ZacatecasA Charming Labyrinth
58
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Mexico’s position in the mining world should not come as a surprise. For centuries, the country has been an important player in the international arena because of its abundant mineral reserves and its potential to exploit some of the most demanded products in the market.
Without a doubt, one of Mexico’s main advantages in the mining industry is its geography. The country’s rich subsoil and large mineral deposits, among many other attributes, make it one of the world’s leaders in this sector.
Mexico has become one of the most attractive destinations for investments in the mining sector, not only because of its natural resources but also because of many assertive decisions.
First, Mexico’s legal framework favors and protects investment. Also, its political and financial stability translate into certainty for investors and an environment that is suited for long-term business development, for example, in the area of mining activities.
Second, mining is an important source of income, employments and devel-opment for Mexico, and this is reflected in solid public policies that, based on reliable and avant-garde systems, offer mining companies all the information they need to make decisions and develop business plans.
The world’s leading mining companies are aware of the Mexican mining industry’s infinite potential, and they are leveraging all the advantages that Mexico offers to explore, extract and use its mineral resources.
In this issue of Negocios we paint a picture of Mexico’s mining industry and we discuss why Mexico has become one of the key players in the future of the world’s mining sector.
Welcome to Mexico!
Bruno FerrariProMéxico CEO
From the CEO.
briefs.
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bp
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Luminous Alliance
Mexico will play a key role in the renovation of Chrysler. After the carmaker emerged from government-backed bankruptcy in 2009, it formed a global strategic alliance with Italy’s Fiat Group and now the part-ners are investing 550 million usd in Mexico to produce a retro-version of an Italian icon, the Fiat 500.
The vehicles would be produced at To-luca, one of five Chrysler plants in Mexico, and would start distribution at year-end.
Toluca’s plant could produce up to 130,000 Fiat 500s a year, with 95% slated
Strategic MoveAs it looks for new markets to boost rev-enues, Lowe’s Cos. Inc., the world’s sec-ond-largest home improvement retailer, opened its first two stores in Mexico, in the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León. The company has invested approximately 18 million to 20 million usd in each store and about 430 associates have been hired to operate both stores along with the company’s offices in Monterrey. The store openings in Mexico continue Lowe’s long-term International growth strategy.
www.lowes.com
RETAILINGAUTOMOTIVE
for export to the US and Latin America.The investment would generate 400 di-
rect jobs and more than 1,200 indirect ones.The automotive industry represents
20% of Mexico’s manufacturing GDP and more than 70% of its exports go to the US.
www.chryslergroupllc.com / www.fiat.com
Chrysler Fits Its Engines
BP Solar has entered into an agreement with Jabil Circuit to assemble BP Solar modules for the North American market in Jabil’s plant in Chihuahua, Mexico, as the company banks on increased solar demand in North America and Europe. The agreement calls for an initial capacity of 45 MW with the opportunity for expansion as demand increases. Production will begin in the second quarter.
The plans expand BP Solar’s efforts to cut costs for its solar power panels and the manufacturing deal that the solar player struck with Jabil in October 2009, to manufacture BP Solar modules in Po-land for the European market.
www.bp.com / www.jabil.com
8 Negocios8 Negocios8 Negocios Photo courtesy of nissan / goldcorp / archive
Stays On TopTELECOMMUNICATIONS
Modeling The FutureNissan Motors opened a design center in Mexicali, Baja California. The carmaker is likely to spend close to 10 million usd over the next 10 years on its Baja California facility.
Mexico has been a target for growth for the Japanese carmaker ever since it entered the country in 1961, as it seeks to benefit from its proximity to the US market and its strong trade ties with high demand potential neighbors in the south.
Nissan’s Automotive Modeling Center in Mexicali is expected to help San Diego-based Nissan Design America –one of the carmaker’s three other global design cen-ters– to develop models keeping Mexican and South American tastes in mind.
www.nissan-global.com
AUTOMOTIVE
America Móvil, Latin America’s biggest mo-bile operator, could invest between 3 billion and 3.5 billion usd in its operations in the Americas during 2010. The company oper-ates in 18 countries in the region and report-
ed 201 million wireless subscribers at the end of 2009. Mexico is its largest market, where its Telcel unit had a 72% market share at the end of the third quarter of 2009, with 58.4 million subscribers. Around 850 million usd will be in-vested in Mexico.
www.americamovil.com
Right On TimeThe parcel delivery company Estafeta will increase its investment in Mexico by 66%, go-ing from 15 million to 25 million usd in 2010. With this investment a 6% growth in sales is expected, a figure higher than that recorded in 2009, which was 2%. Of the total invest-
SERVICES
ment, 13 million usd will be allocated to the renewal and growth of the company’s ve-hicle fleet, 4 million will be used to increase infrastructure and 8 million will be invested in technology development to reduce cus-tomer service and package delivery times.
www.estafeta.com.mx
Mexico will participate at the 2010 PDAC International Convention, Trade Show & In-vestor Exchange, to be held in Toronto from March 7 to 10, 2010. The country will offer information regarding mining opportunities, as well as other strategic subjects for investors, such as Mexican legal framework, mining po-tential areas and tax incentives. PDAC is the world’s leading convention and trade show for the mineral exploration industry, jointly organized by the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) and the Cana-dian Association of Mining Equipment and Services for Export (CAMESE).
www.pdac.ca
MINING
Meet Opportunity
briefs.
Mexican IT consultancy North American Software (Nasoft) will receive an 8 million usd International Finance Corporation (IFC) investment to expand operations into new and existing Latin American markets.
The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, will receive an 18% stake in the pri-vately held information technology firm in exchange for its investment. Nasoft is putting up another 4 million usd for its expansion, for a total investment of 12 million usd.
Nasoft was founded in 2000 as a private Mexican enterprise, providing business ap-plications consulting services in Mexico, Central America and the US. Nasoft primar-ily serves large domestic and international private sector companies and progressively a growing number of SMEs. The company is a top business partner of leading enterprise software application vendors.
www.nasoft.com
IT
Profitable Partnership
Grupo México, Mexico’s largest mining com-pany, has purchased the oil-drilling company Compañía Perforadora de México (Pemsa) for 240 million usd, to increase its stake in the infrastructure development industry.
Pemsa, which posted a revenue of 91 million usd in 2009, has worked with Mexi-can state-owned oil company Pemex for 49 years. It offers drilling services for onshore and offshore facilities.
www.grupomexico.com
MINING
the giant can still grow bigger
US industrial gases producer Praxair Inc. will invest 150 million usd in Mexico this year. The investment will be made at plants in the central Mexican towns of Ciudad Sahagún and Tepeji del Río, among others.
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Praxair Has Plans For Mexico
To date, Praxair has 300 Mexican produc-tion and service facilities constructed over the last 40 years. Among its many Mexican operations, it supplies nitrogen to state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), to increase petroleum recovery.
The US based firm, the largest industrial gases company in the Americas, invested 350 million usd in Mexico during 2008-2009.
www.praxair.com
Ph
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10 Negocios Photos courtesy of eurocopter / archive
AUTOMOTIVE
Fast & SafeAccording to figures from the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA, by its Spanish acronym), car production in Mexico rose 102.4% and exports soared 123.6% in January 2010. In that month, Mexico produced 165,058 vehicles and 114,193 units were exported, mainly to the US.
During 2009, Mexico assembled 1.56 million units and placed itself within the “top ten” producers in the world.www.amia.com.mx
The Spanish company Renovalia Energy will build a wind farm in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, that will have 114 wind turbines with 228 megawatts of installed capacity and will be the second largest wind farm in Mexico.
This latest wind project came to fruition after a contract of collaboration between Renovalia Energy International, Desarrollos Eólicos Mexicanos and Gesa México, the Mex-
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Powerful Wind
ican subsidiary of the Spanish Gamesa Wind.The Piedra Larga wind farm will cost
300 million euros (about 410 million usd) and, according to company estimates, it will produce 841 gigawatt hours (GW/h) of elec-tricity annually.
The electricity produced will supply 14 plants of Grupo Bimbo, one of the largest baking companies in the world, for a period of 15 years.
The annual production of the 228 MW wind farm will replace 49,020 tons of oil equivalent (TOE) per year and prevent the emission into the atmosphere of 342,000 tons of CO2 per year.
www.renovaliaenergy.es
French helicopter producer Eurocopter ex-pects sales in Mexico and the surrounding re-gion to rise 10% in 2010 from 305 million usd in 2009. The company, which sells helicopters to civilians as well as governments and their militaries, has risen in recent years to become the market leader in the region, claiming a 57% share in 2009, up from 34% in 2004.
The sales outlook applies to Mexico, Cen-tral America and the Caribbean, in addition to Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. The
AEROSPACE
An Ambitious Outlookcompany delivered 24 helicopters last year to those countries.
In addition Eurocopter, a subsidiary of Air-bus parent European Aeronautic Defence & Space, is developing a long-term program to eventually assemble complete helicopters in Mexico, where it currently has a service facil-ity in its hangar at Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City.
www.eurocopter.com
briefs.
INEOS Group has agreed terms for the sale of its fluorochemicals business to Mex-ichem, leading Latin American producer of PVC pipes and resin, chloralkali, hydrofluo-ric acid and fluorspar. The deal comprises the international business and assets re-lated to INEOS’ fluorochemical operations located in North America, Europe, and
CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Chemistry For BusinessAsia. It is expected that on completion of the transaction, programmed for the end of March 2010, the business will become an integrated, global producer of specialty fluorochemicals with worldwide presence and an annual sale revenue of over 500 million usd.
www.mexichem.com.mx / www.ineos.com
Ph
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Mexican flavors will soon invade Russia as the Russian Federal Supervision Service has approved 28 Mexican food companies to ex-port products to that country. Russia has an-nounced its interest to buy Mexican products such as shrimp, cereals, grains and poultry, as well as increasing its current purchase of Mexi-can beef and horse meat.
www.sagarpa.gob.mx
FOOD
mexico’s flavors in russia
Denmark-based professional cleaning equip-ment company Nilfisk-Advance invested 10 million usd in a new plant in Querétaro, Mexico, where the company estimates it will employ 200 people for the assembling of pro-fessional industrial cleaning equipment.
The move is in line with the company’s global growth strategy and is designed to pro-vide logistical and cost advantages. For over 40 years, Nilfisk-Advance has distributed its products in Mexico through authorized deal-ers. In 2006 the firm, one of the world’s lead-ing manufacturers of professional cleaning equipment, established its own sales compa-ny in Mexico City and followed up with sales companies in Argentina and Chile in 2008. The new plant will work as the company’s “springboard” to all of Latin America.
www.nilfisk.com
MANUFACTURING
Building A Clean Emporium
12 Negocios Photos archive
Two young entrepreneurs are mainly respon-sible for 1,500 tons of tropical fruit leaving Veracruz every year for countries abroad and for putting a citrus touch to many dishes in the US and Europe. Adriana Melchor Muñoz and Luis Omar Urrutia Núñez began their busi-ness cautiously in the tropical fruit sphere but today they export to the US, Germany, France, England, Spain, Switzerland and sometimes Japan, among other countries.
The international market is the prime ob-jective of Integradora Veracruzana de Frutas Tropicales (Inverafrut), whose star product is the Persian lime which, according to these entrepreneurs, has the best quality. They
Juicy BusinessInverafrut began as a consulting firm for businesses engaged in fruit marketing. Today it exports Mexican tropical fruits to different countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Its secret: forming alliances with strategic partners and a strict commitment to quality.
are not mistaken. It has been shown that the Persian lime produced on Mexican soil sur-passes the quality of that cultivated in other countries, such as Brazil, for example.
Inverafrut was born in 2004 from the as-sociation between the two entrepreneurs, who began with a consultancy business for companies in the sphere of fruit grow-ing. Once they had decided to expand their company’s activities, they began to pack and export pineapple, papaya, watermelon and mango. For five years they maintained their operations with these products and, in parallel, provided advisory services to their colleagues.
mexico’s partner inverAFrUt
“With the advisory services we provided, we gradually built up our assets and rented prem-ises. Before, we took a truck and machinery and everything was packed right there in the fields. Afterwards we rented a packing plant in Isla, in the south of Veracruz,” recalls Luis Omar Urrutia Núñez, Administrative Director of In-verafrut. Today the company has major growth plans, among them the inauguration of a new processing plant in March 2010, with an in-vestment of around 450,000 usd. Currently Inverafrut’s corporate offices are in Jalapa, Veracruz. The group has two packing plants in the same state and a commercial office in Paris, France, from where the fruit sent to Europe is distributed.
In their new plant they hope to consolidate a processing project with stainless steel ma-chinery, to extract and market fruit pulp. This will enable them to increase their exports of fruits such as mango, which today face signifi-cant health restrictions. Inverafrut estimates that once it starts operations in its new pro-cessing plant, it will have the capacity to export 5,000 tons of mango a year.
Strategic alliancesAlthough since 2004, when they founded the company, they have worked with tropical fruits such as mango, watermelon and pineapple, this year they are betting on Persian lime.
There are many advantages, Urrutia Núñez points out. Persian lime can be har-vested throughout the year and the prod-uct’s quality has no competition abroad. In addition to the star product, they will begin to strengthen the grapefruit harvest, once they decide on some strategic alliances.
The forming of alliances is a strategy that has worked for them, as Luis Omar Urrutia says, since it has made it possible for them to become consolidated and above all, to have no fear of doing business.
At first, as Urrutia states, exports of In-verafrut products were very complicated. It took them a long time to select the fruit, wax it, wash it, label it and pack it. There was also the traveling time to be considered.
The partners traveled to rural communi-ties, many of which lacked electric power or were in an area with extreme weather, for example. Sometimes, the entrepreneurs re-late, they had to pack the fruit by candlelight or with hand-held lamps.
As in this process time is a key factor, they had to face serious consequences such as the
The international market is the prime objective of Integradora Veracruzana de Frutas Tropicales (Inverafrut), whose star product is the Persian lime which, according to these entrepreneurs, has the best quality.
shipment arriving in a bad state, with the subsequent financial losses. This made them realize that the company they had formed needed reinforcements, so they requested information and support from different agencies. The idea was to have their own premises, with the registration of a brand, a fruit-processing machine to manufacture juices and do the packing and shipping themselves.
With its new plans to industrially process the fruit, Inverafrut is planning important alliances with suppliers of large companies such as Jugos del Valle, for example.
“Associating ourselves abroad has been one of our successes,” states Urrutia. But these alliances have not been the product of chance. Inverafrut has reached high quality standards that have allowed it to penetrate the most demanding markets. The compa-ny’s products are offered packed, classified, insured and represented by the Inverafrut brand. In its slogan, the company states: “It’s fruit, it’s flavor, it’s Mexico.”
Its plants have special health measures to guarantee agrofood quality, from picking in the field to packaging. Furthermore, the company has pre-cooling chambers and spe-cial cold storage chambers for the conserva-tion of the fruits, as well as systems to ensure water health, such as a water treatment plant and a wastewater treatment plant. They abide by food safety standards, inter-national rules, and are currently working on the global certification of their products. n
www.inverafrut.com
14 Negocios i The Lifestyle
Like two shy teenagers whose eyes meet across a crowded ballroom, Mexico and Great Britain had been coyly skirting around the dance floor of greater economic co-operation for years. The interest between the couple was obvious but so-mething had to be done to bring them together.
Then, in 2009, President Felipe Calderón was invited on a State Visit to London that would act as an ice breaker in the hopes that the British Lion and the Mexican Eagle would soon be tripping the light fantastic to the tune of increased bilateral trade.
The State Visit was a great success with both families, the Calderons and Britain’s Ro-yals, getting on famously, so much so that Prin-ce Andrew, the Duke of York, who also happens to be the British special envoy for trade, was invited to Mexico in February 2010. Using his undeniable charm, the third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip flirted with and wooed the Mexican business community with
UK is in the Mood for Tradingby GrAeme steWArt
Photos courtesy of the british embassy in mexico
tales of improved economic prosperity for both countries through greater trade and investment.
At long last, the dance had begun. True, its pace is more that of a sedate waltz than a hot blooded tango but the tempo will increase later this year with the visit to Mexico of Boris John-son, Lord Mayor of London, who, like a loving uncle, will press the marriage of the blushing couple, for richer or even richer.
In this article, Judith Macgregor, Great Britain’s ambassador to Mexico, gives her take on the proposed increase in trade and inves-tment between the two countries.There was great excitement at the British Em-bassy in Mexico City’s Cuauhtémoc district as Prince Andrew, the UK’s special representati-ve for international commerce and investment, was due to arrive at any minute.
But Judith Macgregor, Great Britain’s am-bassador to Mexico, took time out to discuss her country’s hopes of greater trade between the two countries.
Slipping her tall, elegant frame on to a comfortable seat, she said: “I suppose that both Britain and Mexico have rather ignored each other in terms of bilateral trade. Certainly, the figures of trade and investment could and probably should be much higher. That is some-thing we intend to remedy.”
“It wasn’t always like this,” she asserted. “In the 19th Century British miners and engineers came to Mexico in their droves, bringing their expertise for the benefit of the relatively new nation of Mexico. Then, in the 20th Century, the US superceded all other countries in tra-de and investment with Mexico. But now UK Trade and Investment has launched an aggres-sive push for greater economic co-operation between the two countries. In fact, it has been a priority for us for the past two years but it is now being handled much more forcefully.”
“It really took off last year when President Felipe Calderón was invited on a State visit to Britain. Prince Andrew accompanied him on a visit to Aberdeen to view the UK’s oil capital and the two seemed to hit it off well, so it was natural that the Prince, as the UK’s special representative for commerce and internatio-
speciaL report meXico AnD tHe Uk
nal investment, should reciprocate by visiting Mexico to fan the flames of interest among the Mexican Business community,” she explained.
“Of course, there has always been some trade link between the two countries and both Shell and BP work closely with Pemex on oil and gas exploration and drilling. But now we are launching two programmes, one in Britain and one in Mexico, that will promote bilateral trade between the two countries. Here in Mexi-co it will be called Think Britain and in the UK it will be known as Mexico Matters. We have a lot to offer each other. We will be pushing for more trade in many sectors but mainly in en-gineering, education, manufacturing and new technologies.”
“I don’t believe that British business and industry has fully grasped the advantages of investing in Mexico. Here we have a skilled, inexpensive, hard working labor force on the doorstep of the US. British business should take advantage of this, particularly through Mexico’s participation in the North American Free Trade Association market.”
“Likewise, Mexican Business can take ad-vantage of Britain’s membership of the EU and exploit that foothold into the vast European market, not to mention our extremely good tra-de links with India and China. So there are ad-vantages to be gained by both sides in opening up new markets to each other.”
“There are also opportunities for British energy companies as Mexico continues to expand its oil, gas and electricity production as well as in the creative industries like infor-mation technology and education. I know that British universities are very keen to have close links with their Mexican counterparts, inclu-ding the trading of students.”
“So, there is a lot of interest in Mexico in the UK and, we hope, vice versa. As I said, we have a lot to offer each other.”
The Ambassador’s opinions were echoed by Prince Andrew as he addressed the Mexican business community at the Club de Industriales.
He said: “Both our countries have an in-terest in expanding and diversifying our eco-nomies to create a sustainable recovery from the economic downturn. Our economic co-operation, especially in trade and investment, has to be major. Even although trade bewteen Mexico and Britain has doubled since 2000, Brazil exports twice as much to the UK than Mexico and British exports to Mexico represnt only 0.8%. I believe that Mexico is a market that Britain should not be shying away from. Rather, we should be embracing it.” n
Think Britain, Live MexicoMexico is an international partner of great importance to the UK and will be one of the biggest economies in the world during the next 50 years, overtaking the UK on the way. It is a key market for trade and investment, now and in the future.
UK and Mexico share similar values –democracy, open politics, free trade, respect for the law and human rights and a disposition to act on the main challenges of the 21st Century, such as climate change and the promotion of a global economy with sustainable growth.
Both countries are very active in the multilateral forums G20, G8 plus 5, the UN Council for Human Rights, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Organization of Trade, the Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development and now the UN Security Council.
2010 is the Bicentenary of Mexican Independence. Throughout the year, the British Embassy in Mexico, UK Trade and Investment and the British Council
in Mexico along with other partners like Visit Britain, UK-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and ProMéxico decided to use the opportunity to launch the Think Britain programme in Mexico. There will be a parallel campaign in Britain called Mexico Matters.
A series of activities designed to lift the profile of Mexico in the UK, and the UK in Mexico, will be organised with the objective of raising co-operation and understanding between the two countries in the areas of economics, culture and politics.
Through the British Embassy and the British Council, the UK supports projects worth millions of Pounds Sterling in Mexico each year in areas like the creative industries, education, sustainable development, human rights, climate change and economic reform.
That co-operation has shown the importance of the two countries working together. The main activities for 2010 include:
• British Week from 24 to 28 May.• A visit to Mexico by the Lord
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson in October.
Mining: A Strategic Sector For Mexico And The Worldby mArÍA cristinA rosAs *
illustration oldemar
mininG is A strAteGic sector For tHe meXicAn economy AnD is one oF tHe coUntry’s Assets WHen it comes to AttrActinG ForeiGn Direct investment. DesPite tHe internAtionAl FinAnciAl crisis, in 2009 meXico remAineD As one oF tHe most AttrActive AnD sAFe DestinAtions For mininG comPAnies WorlDWiDe, reAson WHy investors Are tAkinG increAsinG interest on meXicAn mines.
16 Negocios i The Lifestyle
Current economic dynamics would be hard to understand without mining. Al-though some insist that modern econo-mies derive a large proportion of their revenue and prosperity from the service sector, primary sector activities form the economy’s real bedrock. Without exagger-ating, the World Bank confirms that the most significant progress toward satisfy-ing human needs –including food, accom-modation, health, education, employment and transport– relies on the increasingly efficient use of mineral resources. Fur-thermore, some studies suggest that ac-tivities such as manufacturing, construc-tion and even agriculture, could not exist without mineral production.
Mining plays a leading social-economic role in Mexico. At its various stages –from exploration to production– it generates a significant number of jobs and income for the country. In 2009, it accounted for 3.6% of Mexico’s GDP (mining expanded), 4% of Mexican exports and 270,000 direct jobs.
Due to the rising demand for minerals by the world’s largest and most rapidly-growing economies, mining is becoming increasingly important. China, for exam-ple, has increased its mineral consump-tion to support its dizzying economic growth, contributing to the growth in glob-al prices for various minerals. African and Latin American countries are among its providers. The African continent is seen as a gigantic deposit of mineral resources –
with everything from oil to coltan– and the world’s largest economies are ever more in-terested in that part of the world. But when it comes to mining, Mexico has a number of advantages, even over African countries.
Mexico offers a solid and less risky alter-native for mining production. Several Afri-can countries suffer from armed conflict, en-demic diseases, poor infrastructure and lack of governmental transparency, which expo-nentially increases the operating costs for foreign investment despite the abundance of mineral resources.
Mexico possesses significant mineral de-posits that are widely sought after around the world. The country is among the twelve largest producers of 17 minerals. It is the world’s second largest producer of silver, bis-muth and fluorite; the third of celestite; the fourth of wollastonite and diatomite; the fifth of lead; the sixth of cadmium and molybde-num; the seventh of zinc, salt and graphite; the eighth of manganese and baryte and the twelfth of feldspar, gold and copper.
Investors are taking increasing interest in Mexican mines given their reserves of strategic minerals, some of which are key to industries such as aerospace, military and electronics.
This all explains how, despite the interna-tional financial crisis, Mexico remained one of the world’s top investment destinations in 2009. In terms of mining exploration, it ranked as the top investment destination in Latin America and fourth in the world.
Mexican legislation encourages invest-ments in the sector. The 1993 Mining Law (Ley Minera) replaced the 1961 legislation and opened up new areas to foreign invest-ment previously limited to Mexican financ-ing. It also removed the requirement for for-eign capital investments to be associated with Mexican capital in a proportion of 49-51 per cent respectively. The Foreign Investment Law further liberalized the mining industry in a process consolidated by NAFTA and the removal of several investment requirements –for production work only to use Mexican supplies, for training and technology transfer or for nationality requirements imposed on the majority of members sitting on boards of directors– as well as tariff reduction on for-eign trade and the import of equipment and machinery. That opened up unprecedented opportunities for private foreign investors interested in the mining sector. The new leg-islation heralded another important change: the duration of concessions, which are awarded for 50 years and may be extended.
The Mexican mining sector is a highly attractive investment. It is far quicker for a company to obtain an operating license in Mexico than in other countries. The US company Hecla referred to the “comparative advantages” offered by Mexico in relation to its other commercial partners, confirm-ing that it had taken only eight months to be granted the license concession for the project at La Choya in Sonora. In the US or Canada the process would have taken between five
business tips
and 10 years. Workers’ salaries are another incentive to invest. In Mexico, the average monthly salary in the mining sector is 482 usd, compared to 1,137 usd in Brazil and 1,472 usd in Turkey. In South Korea, the US and Germany the figure rises to 2,611, 3,384 and 3,696 usd respectively, showing that labor costs in the sector in Mexico are between 60% and 80% lower than in those countries. Therefore mining is not just a strategic sec-tor for the Mexican economy but also for the world, which is looking ever more closely at the opportunities, potential and advantages Mexico offers in this sector. n
*Professor and researcher in the Political and Social
Sciences Faculty, National Autonomous University
of Mexico (UNAM).
meXico oFFers A more soliD AnD less risky AlternAtive For mininG ProDUction tHAn otHer
reGions. tHe coUntry Possesses siGniFicAnt minerAl DePosits tHAt Are WiDely soUGHt AFter
AroUnD tHe WorlD.
18 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photo courtesy of minefinders
MEXICO, THE BEST CHOICE
meXico HAs A WorlD-clAss mininG inDUstry WitH 500 yeArs oF eXPerience AnD it eXPects
to AttrAct 15 Billion UsD oF investment in tHe sector BetWeen 2007 AnD 2012.
FOR the MINING INDUStRY
by JesÚs estrADA cortÉs
In the depths of Mexico’s jungles, moun-tain ranges or deserts, the country’s ge-ography is a map with coordinates set for the growth of its mining industry. Its origins predate the Spanish conquest
and the industry is now fully globalized, with Mexico now ranked first in Latin America and fourth in the world for investments in mining. Mexico is the second largest producer of silver in the world and is ranked among the top 12 countries in terms of production of eighteen types of minerals.
Mexico has become one of the most in-ternationally competitive countries for min-ing at the same time as the sector has taken on a key role in the country’s own economic growth. The sector currently accounts for 3.6% of Mexico’s Gross Domestic Product (mining expanded), thanks to new and sizeable invest-ments for large-scale projects which have an inherently long average life-span: from the ex-ploration phase until production at optimum levels, maintaining a significant number of jobs.
While the industry is optimistic about the future, with 15 billion usd of investment expect-ed for new projects in the 2007-2012 period, it is worth taking a few steps back and revealing the background of the enormous potential of mining in Mexico today.
Mining TraditionMexico has a long history of mining, stretch-ing back over more than 500 years, before the Spanish conquest and colonization. Mining was the driving force behind the New Spain economy. Furthermore, the country’s enor-mous production of silver and gold became Spain’s main source of income.
This 500-year history is the reason for one of modern Mexico’s main competitive advan-tages. The skill developed by its workforce over the centuries has evolved into a tradition and the talent behind the industry’s operations and management is matched by the varied geogra-phy and by the geological potential in Mexico.
Geological PotentialMexico’s geological terrain is one of the most tectonically active and complex in the world. Orogenesis has pushed up mountain chains all across Mexico, like the Sierra Madre Oriental, the Sierra Madre Occidental and the Sierra Madre del Sur, and these three regions have formed some of the key metallogenic areas. Gold and silver mineralization is commonly linked to the two belts of hydrothermal veins and gaps that stretch out underneath both sides of the Sierra Madre Occidental and that are located mainly in the younger volcanic se-
quences, in the case of both types of deposit, according to a document prepared by the Min-istry of the Economy.
“We currently have one of the largest min-ing potentials in the world, especially in terms of extracting silver, copper and gold,” the docu-ment reports.
With the country’s enormous geological potential in mining, the Mexican government has set about organizing all this information for the benefit of investors. Exploration sur-veys have therefore been carried out, cover-ing 100% of the Mexican territory at a scale of 1:250,000 and almost a third of the country at a scale of 1:50,000, available to the general public on the Mexican Geological Survey web-site (www.sgm.gob.mx); essentially based on the mining-geological cartography, geochemical and geophysical program to identify and take an inventory of mineral deposits in Mexico.
Quality DepositsBusinessmen find a number of advantages when investing in Mexico. According to Xavier García de Quevedo, CEO of Minera México and COO of Southern Copper Corp., “the first advantage is the quality of the deposits. There is enormous unexplored mining potential and current found deposits have been of high qual
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20 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photo courtesy of industrias peñoles
ity. Two years ago Mexico ranked as the best location for exploration in terms of the coun-try’s investment risk for mining.
García de Quevedo, previously chairman of the Mining Chamber of Mexico, draws at-tention to the competitive advantages of a country “with a very strong mining tradition. Over the years, Mexico has developed genu-ine expertise in mining, with great technical and growth potential.”
But there are other factors too, such as Mexico’s “total openness to foreign investment, that encourages any company from around the world to come and explore Mexico,” adds Gar-cía de Quevedo. Here he mentions that mining attracted almost 17% of all foreign direct invest-ment in Mexico in 2009. This only accounts for the metallic and non-metallic segments, with-out including the iron and steel, cement and glass industries.
volumes about other essential aspects of min-ing - the country’s infrastructure to ease foreign trade transactions, using road, highway, railway or shipping networks, and the straightforward mechanisms for companies to avoid double-taxation and to exchange information on supply and demand. The Behre Dolbear report, pub-lished in 2010, places Mexico in the first place among 25 countries due to its fiscal regime.
Today’s OutlookDue to these advantages, although not entirely immune to the effects of the global economic recession in 2009, Mexico’s mining industry showed signs of robustness and even growth.
Figures from the Ministry of Economy show that in 2009 private investment in the mining and metal industries increased to 2.73 billion usd, adding up to a total of 8.54 billion usd injected into the sector between 2007 and
The importance and cost of the workforce are just as important, and highly competitive internationally, as well as productivity, which has increased significantly in recent years.
Government SupportTrading partners trust in Mexico and its indus-try’s capacity to respond to global demand for large-scale production and this is reflected in Mexico’s leading role in key market segments of the mining industry.
The country is the second largest producer of silver, bismuth and fluorite; the third of celes-tite; the fourth of wollastonite and diatomite; the fifth of lead; the sixth of cadmium and molybde-num; the seventh of zinc, salt and graphite; the eighth of manganese and baryte and the twelfth of feldspar, gold and copper.
These rankings not only reflect Mexico’s competitive advantages but they also speak
Historical Player complex (Met-Mex Peñoles) in Latin America, and the fourth largest in the world in terms of production value.
Peñoles has substantial silver and gold mining interests through majority-held, publicly traded subsidiary Fresnillo, which it spun off in 2008.
Fresnillo mine has been operating almost continuously since 1550. It is the largest and richest silver mine in the world and produces about 30 million ounces of silver per year, approximately 5% of the total world production of silver.
Jaime Lomelín, Chief Executive Officer of Fresnillo PLC, summarizes the future plans for the mine: “We intend to maintain our position as the world’s largest primary silver producer with the aim of doubling production on a silver equivalent ounce basis by 2018 and equally increasing our gold production.” That is increase Fresnillo’s production up to 65 million ounces of silver and
Industrias Peñoles began operations as a mining company in 1887 and is now one of the largest mining producers in Mexico. Its exports, mainly to the US and Japan, account for nearly two-thirds of the company’s sales.
Part of Mexican Corporate Grupo Bal, Peñoles is the world’s leading producer of refined silver, metallic bismuth and sodium sulfat and is among the major Latin American producers of refined gold, lead and zinc.
The company owns and operates several mines throughout Mexico and is involved in several mining joint ventures as well as mining exploration projects in Peru.
Among its main mining assets in Mexico are La Herradura –Mexico’s largest gold mine–, La Ciénega —the country’s richest gold mine–, Naica –the largest lead producing mine in México– and Francisco I. Madero –the country’s largest zinc mine.
The company also operates the largest non-ferrous metallurgical
400,000 ounces of gold over the next eight years.
Meanwhile, Peñoles remains as the most important mining company in Mexico. A historical player in the industry, engaged in exploring valuable deposits of non-ferrous metals in Mexico and Latin America and profiting from one of the longest mining traditions in the world.
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04
A Roaring GiantThe giant in the Mexican mining industry is called Minera México. The company is the mining subsidiary of Grupo México and it currently operates in Mexico, Peru and the US. It is a holding company operating in the mining and transportation industries through its two subsidiaries: Americas Mining Corporation and Infraestructura y Transportes México.
Minera México operates through three business units: Mexicana de Cobre, Mexicana de Cananea and Industrial Minera México.
Mexicana de Cobre, located in the Northern state of Sonora, operates an open pit copper mine, with a production of 90,000 metric tons of copper ore at the concentrator plant, 22 thousand metric tons of copper, 300.000 metric tons a year for the smelting plant and 300,000 for refining, 150,000 metric tons a year for heavy wire production, around 15 million ounces a year of silver and 100,000 ounces of gold a year in the
precious metal refinery plant.Mexicana de Cananea, also based
in Sonora, operates an open copper mine regarded as one of the largest in the world in copper ore reserves. The company has a concentrator plant with a daily output of 80,000 metric tons and two ESDE plants with a combined capacity of 55 thousand metric tons of electro won cathodes a year.
The Industrial Minera México business unit is integrated by seven underground mines located in the Central and Northern parts of Mexico, where the company produces zinc, copper, silver and gold. This business unit includes the industrial processing operations for zinc and copper in the state of San Luis Potosí and it includes San Martín, the largest underground mine in Mexico, as well as Charcas, the second largest production mine in the country. It also includes coal mining operations in the Northeastern region of Mexico.
Plans have been put in place
to aid growth in production. Xavier García de Quevedo, Executive Chairman of Minera México and COO of Southern Copper Corporation –the largest mining company in Peru, which Grupo México acquired in 2005 through a merger agreement– says the company has implemented important projects, such as the development of a new mine in Pilares, Sonora, next to La Caridad mine site.
La Caridad mine is the most important copper producer in Mexico and it will be expanded thanks to this project. The company has investment plans there, adding up to around 700 million usd in Mexico in the coming years.
However, this investment may grow a lot more considering the project Minera México is implementing at the El Arco mine, one of the largest copper fields in the world and located in the state of Baja California, where it could invest over 1.5 billion usd in years to come.
22 Negocios22 Negocios Photo courtesy of industrias peñoles
2009. Of the total invested capital, 70% came from national companies with foreign capital.
In December 2009, 692 exploration proj-ects were registered in Mexico. Of this total fig-ure, 64% were gold and silver related projects, 18% polymetallic projects (copper, zinc, silver and lead), 13% copper related projects and the remainder was spread out between several mineral exploration projects.
Also, the Mexican mining sector posted a solid trade surplus. As of June 2009, its exports totaled almost 4 billion usd and its imports around 2 billion usd.
In terms of employment, at the end of 2009 Mexico’s mining industry employed 270,000 workers. Mining was one of the first Mexican industrial sectors to show signs of recovery after the international downturn, generating 4,613 new jobs since August 2009.
Mining in Mexico has seen a year-on-year increase since 2006, at an average annual growth rate of 4.8% from 2006 to 2008. The sector registered an accumulated growth of 23.4% up until September 2009.
Supporting InvestmentMexico was therefore able to remain as a lead-ing investment destination in 2009 and one of strongest potentials for mining in the world.
Analysis by prestigious international firms ranked Mexico in first place for ex-ploration in Latin America and fourth in the world. The Behre Dolbear report, pub-lished in 2010, placed Mexico as the world’s fourth-best investment destination for min-ing among a 25-country-list and in first place regarding the fiscal regime.
To assist investors, the Mexican Geologi-cal Survey has not only improved Internet access to its geological maps, as well as to inventories of minerals in the states and geo-chemical and geophysical research, but also the Ministry of Economy provides a follow up right from the promotion phase until pro-viding accompaniment during the extrac-tion or exploration phase, even afterwards, to review its performance and a successful conclusion.
The government also provides all infor-
mation on providers in the sector, on land ownership and the licenses and require-ments for handling concessions, to guaran-tee legal certainty.
The Ministry of Economy’s Mining Pro-motion Trust (FIFOMI) is another key player. In 2009 it helped capitalize micro, small and medium-sized mining companies as well as the sector’s production chain with loans worth 510 million usd, 20% higher than in 2008, in addition to offering training and technical as-sistance to more than 8,000 companies.
The government is particularly interested in reactivating those mining districts that are regions with high potential. Exploration schemes are taking place in those areas and sixteen districts are expected to be reactivat-ed between 2009 and 2012.
Work in ProgressThis has all combined to create a boom for in-vestors in search of Mexico’s wealth of mineral resources, leading to new research and mining exploration.
In December 2009, 262 Mexican compa-nies backed by foreign capital were operating 692 projects in Mexico. Of this total figure, 74% of companies are based in Canada, 17% in the US and 2% in Australia and the United Kingdom. The remainder is spread out be-tween another ten countries.
During 2009 new exploration projects were undertaken. Among them: Palmarejo and Pinos Altos in Chihuahua, reactivation of the La Testera plant in El Triunfo, Baja Califor-nia Sur and the San Francisco and Lluvia de Oro mines in Sonora, as well as increasing in-stalled production capacity in La Encantada in Coahuila and La Parrilla and Cerro Las Minitas in Durango.
In 2009, important mining projects con-solidated. That was the case with the Dolo-res mines in Chihuahua, Campo Morado in Guerrero and Peñasquito in Zacatecas. The latter will begin operations in 2010 and along with Pinos Altos it will contribute to increase Mexican gold production by up to 40%.
Other mines starting operations in 2010 are Santa Elena and Luz del Cobre in Sonora, El Águila in Oaxaca, La Pitarrilla in Durango and El Boleo in Baja California Sur, which will start operations in 2011.
But Mexico still has much mineral wealth to offer throughout its huge territory, enough to ensure it remains a favorite for investors with its top-quality deposits and its reliable and profitable business environment. n
Growth Is The GoalOver a short period, Canadian Goldcorp has grown from a strong intermediate player to one of the top senior gold producers in the world. It is one of the companies with the strongest production growth profile among all senior gold producers and Mexico has played a key role in that.
As Salvador García, Vice President of Goldcorp Mexico, puts it: “Mexico’s major advantages are its big mineral resources and its openness to foreign investment, in addition to an ideal environment for doing business.”
Goldcorp has managed to take advantage of Mexico’s assets to become one of the world’s mining strongest players. The company began its golden business relationship with Mexico eight years ago, when it took control of Minas de
San Luis (Luismin), a wholly owned subsidiary of Wheaton River Minerals who merged with Goldcorp to create a major new company in the gold mining industry.
Goldcorp started producing 50,000 ounces of gold per year and now produces 650,000 ounces. Furthermore, the company expects to increase these figures to 1 million ounces per year, 55% of Mexico’s total production of gold.
To date, Goldcorp employs 6,000 people in Mexico and its operating assets include El Sauzal, Los Filos, San Dimas (Tayoltita) and Peñasquito gold/silver mines. The latter is the largest open pit mine in Mexico and Goldcorp has invested around 1.5 billion usd in it.
To reach its production goals, Goldcorp has a solid pipeline of projects. The company is currently working in two major mining projects: the second stage of Peñasquito mine and the recently acquired Camino Rojo mine.
“Growing is one of our most important short-term goals in Mexico and the Camino Rojo mine will play an important role. The company is also investing in its operating units. Each year around 60 million usd are invested to prolong the life of the mines and to explore new reserves within the project portfolio we have throughout the country,” says Salvador García.
The truth to be said, Goldcorp’s growth profile is unmatched in the mining industry and Mexico has a lot to say about this story of success.
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Value of Mining
Production in
Mexico in 2008
Production by State
Mining projectsIN MEXICO
GuerreroCampo MoradoFarallon MiningStarted operations in 2008
114 million USD
9,000 ounces of gold
54,000 tons of zinc
920,000 ounces of silver
6,800 tons of copper
Los FilosGoldcorpStarted operations in 2008
665 million USD
200,000 ounces of gold
New Mining Projects2006-2009
Production
Investment
El Arco
El Boleo
El Chanate
Mulatos
El Crestón
Los Cedros
Palmarejo
Campo Morado
Ocampo
Baja CaliforniaEl ArcoGrupo MéxicoAdvanced exploration, expectsto start operations in 2012
1.4 billion USD
190,000 tons of copper (expected production)
Baja California SurEl BoleoBaja Mining / KoresUnder construction, expectsto start operations in 2011
889 million USD
1,535 tons of cobalt
55,750 tons of copper
6,300 tons of zinc sulfate
SonoraEl CrestónMoly CorpAdvanced exploration, expectsto start operations in 2011
512 million USD
10,000 tons of molybdenum
8,000 tons of copper
Los CedrosArcelorMittalStarted operations in 2008
157 million USD
2 million tons of iron ore
MulatosAlamos GoldStarted operations in 2007
100 million USD
170,000 ounces of gold
El ChanateCapital GoldStarted operations in 2007
35 million USD
60,000 ounces of gold
ChihuahuaPalmarejoCoeur d’Alene MinesStarted operations in 2009
2.25 million USD
9 million ounces of silver
110,000 ounces of gold
Pinos AltosAgnico EagleStarted operations in 2009
240 million USD
190,000 ounces of gold
2 million ounces of silver
DoloresMinefindersStarted operations in 2008
250 million USD
130,000 ounces of gold
3 million ounces of silver
OcampoGammon GoldStarted operations in 2006
200 million USD
120,000 ounces of gold
4 million ounces of silver
ZacatecasPeñasquitoGoldcorpStarted operations in 2008
1.6 billion USD
400,000 ounces of gold
31 million ounces of silver
El CoronelGrupo FriscoStarted operations in 2008
60 million USD
Pinos Altos
El Coronel
Los Filos
Peñasquito
Dolores
Companies involved
UKVane Minerals
Arian Silver
AustralianKings Minerals
Indo Gold
692Projects
Exploration Projects2009-2012
MexicanGrupo México
Peñoles
Grupo Frisco
Autlán
Grupo Alfil
Nemisa
Minas de Bacis
Las Encinas
Materias Primas
GAN
Canadian Goldcorp
Pan American Silver
Farallon Mining
Teck Resources
Alamos Gold
Gammon Gold
Frontera Copper
First Majestic
27%Sonora
16%Zacatecas
15%Coahuila
13%Chihuahua
10.5billion USD
8.8billion USD
(estimated investment)
262Mining
companies
29%Others
USHecla Mining
Coeur d’Alene Mines
Source: Ministry of Economy - General Direction for Mining Promotion
24 Negocios inFograPhic oldemar
Value of Mining
Production in
Mexico in 2008
Production by State
Mining projectsIN MEXICO
GuerreroCampo MoradoFarallon MiningStarted operations in 2008
114 million USD
9,000 ounces of gold
54,000 tons of zinc
920,000 ounces of silver
6,800 tons of copper
Los FilosGoldcorpStarted operations in 2008
665 million USD
200,000 ounces of gold
New Mining Projects2006-2009
Production
Investment
El Arco
El Boleo
El Chanate
Mulatos
El Crestón
Los Cedros
Palmarejo
Campo Morado
Ocampo
Baja CaliforniaEl ArcoGrupo MéxicoAdvanced exploration, expectsto start operations in 2012
1.4 billion USD
190,000 tons of copper (expected production)
Baja California SurEl BoleoBaja Mining / KoresUnder construction, expectsto start operations in 2011
889 million USD
1,535 tons of cobalt
55,750 tons of copper
6,300 tons of zinc sulfate
SonoraEl CrestónMoly CorpAdvanced exploration, expectsto start operations in 2011
512 million USD
10,000 tons of molybdenum
8,000 tons of copper
Los CedrosArcelorMittalStarted operations in 2008
157 million USD
2 million tons of iron ore
MulatosAlamos GoldStarted operations in 2007
100 million USD
170,000 ounces of gold
El ChanateCapital GoldStarted operations in 2007
35 million USD
60,000 ounces of gold
ChihuahuaPalmarejoCoeur d’Alene MinesStarted operations in 2009
2.25 million USD
9 million ounces of silver
110,000 ounces of gold
Pinos AltosAgnico EagleStarted operations in 2009
240 million USD
190,000 ounces of gold
2 million ounces of silver
DoloresMinefindersStarted operations in 2008
250 million USD
130,000 ounces of gold
3 million ounces of silver
OcampoGammon GoldStarted operations in 2006
200 million USD
120,000 ounces of gold
4 million ounces of silver
ZacatecasPeñasquitoGoldcorpStarted operations in 2008
1.6 billion USD
400,000 ounces of gold
31 million ounces of silver
El CoronelGrupo FriscoStarted operations in 2008
60 million USD
Pinos Altos
El Coronel
Los Filos
Peñasquito
Dolores
Companies involved
UKVane Minerals
Arian Silver
AustralianKings Minerals
Indo Gold
692Projects
Exploration Projects2009-2012
MexicanGrupo México
Peñoles
Grupo Frisco
Autlán
Grupo Alfil
Nemisa
Minas de Bacis
Las Encinas
Materias Primas
GAN
Canadian Goldcorp
Pan American Silver
Farallon Mining
Teck Resources
Alamos Gold
Gammon Gold
Frontera Copper
First Majestic
27%Sonora
16%Zacatecas
15%Coahuila
13%Chihuahua
10.5billion USD
8.8billion USD
(estimated investment)
262Mining
companies
29%Others
USHecla Mining
Coeur d’Alene Mines
Source: Ministry of Economy - General Direction for Mining Promotion
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Economic And Financial Indicators
MINING IN MEXICO
Free access through the web to all the geologi-cal, geochemical and geophysical information from the Mexican Geological Survey
Sources: Statistics and Geography National Institute / Ministry of Finance and Public Credit / Ministry of Economy - General Direction for Mining Promotion / National Bank for Foreign Trade / Bank of Mexico
Legal Framework of Mining ConcessionsThrough mining concessions (claims), the Mining Law guarantees the mineral rights to Mexican individu-als and companies established within the country.
Companies can be constituted up to 100% with foreign capital.
Initially, mining concessions are yielded for 50 years and can be extended for other 50 years.
There is no limit to concession areal extension.
Claims are granted for all mineral rights, excepting radioactive minerals, on the bases of “first came first served.”
Mineral rights can be freely transferred between Mexican individuals or companies constituted in Mexico.
Mexican government does not charge mineral royalties.
Surface and corporate taxes are charged.
Foreign investors are considered evenly as national investors.
2003
2,781
2004
3,671
2005
4,895
2006
7,200
2007
8,262
2008
8,552
2009
6,202Value of Mineral
ProductionMillions USD
Total Foreignand Mining
IndustryInvestments
TotalForeign
Investment
427.7Mining
Industry 731.7 1,167.8 1,923 2,1563,656 2,730
15,000
21,950
27,278
21,92223,659
16,47519,316
2009Estimated
200820072006200520042003
Mining Trade BalanceMillions USD
3,185,712
-3,913,1352003
-5,145,3632004 -6,049,184
2005
-7,816,1492006
-7,749,8532007 -9,179,729
2008
4,227,249 5,249,338
8,109,976 10,435,640
12,413,991
Exports Imports Balance
-727,423 -918,114 -799,846
3,234,262 2,685,787
293,827
Millions USD
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Economic And Financial Indicators
MINING IN MEXICO
Free access through the web to all the geologi-cal, geochemical and geophysical information from the Mexican Geological Survey
Sources: Statistics and Geography National Institute / Ministry of Finance and Public Credit / Ministry of Economy - General Direction for Mining Promotion / National Bank for Foreign Trade / Bank of Mexico
Legal Framework of Mining ConcessionsThrough mining concessions (claims), the Mining Law guarantees the mineral rights to Mexican individu-als and companies established within the country.
Companies can be constituted up to 100% with foreign capital.
Initially, mining concessions are yielded for 50 years and can be extended for other 50 years.
There is no limit to concession areal extension.
Claims are granted for all mineral rights, excepting radioactive minerals, on the bases of “first came first served.”
Mineral rights can be freely transferred between Mexican individuals or companies constituted in Mexico.
Mexican government does not charge mineral royalties.
Surface and corporate taxes are charged.
Foreign investors are considered evenly as national investors.
2003
2,781
2004
3,671
2005
4,895
2006
7,200
2007
8,262
2008
8,552
2009
6,202Value of Mineral
ProductionMillions USD
Total Foreignand Mining
IndustryInvestments
TotalForeign
Investment
427.7Mining
Industry 731.7 1,167.8 1,923 2,1563,656 2,730
15,000
21,950
27,278
21,92223,659
16,47519,316
2009Estimated
200820072006200520042003
Mining Trade BalanceMillions USD
3,185,712
-3,913,1352003
-5,145,3632004 -6,049,184
2005
-7,816,1492006
-7,749,8532007 -9,179,729
2008
4,227,249 5,249,338
8,109,976 10,435,640
12,413,991
Exports Imports Balance
-727,423 -918,114 -799,846
3,234,262 2,685,787
293,827
Millions USD
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Sources: Mexico’s Mining Chamber / Ministry of Economy - General Direction for Mining Promotion / Metals Economics Group. Strategic Report, September-October, 2009.
MiningInvestmentProjectionMillions USD
38.4%Others
21.50%Copper
8.6%Zinc
16.7%Gold
14.9%Silver
3,6562008
2,7302009
2,2452010
2,0112011
1,8842012
2,1562007
NationalMining
ProductionParticipation
Value, 2008
To date, 43 largest Latin American reserves development and feasibility-stage gold projects are documented. Nine of them are located in Mexico, totalizing 42.5 million gold Oz —1,322 tons.
In 2008 and the first nine months of 2009, 16 new mines containing more than 27 million Oz —839.8 tons— of gold in reserves and resources began production in Latin America. Four of them were located in Mexico.
16 projects with potential capacity totaling 3.6 million Oz per year —112 tons— are being built in Latin America. Seven of them are in Mexico.
Latin America’s gold production grew 3% in 2008 to 15.6 million Oz (20% of total world production) and in the first-half of 2009 it increased a further 3%.
Mexico is the second largest producer of gold in Latin America, participat-ing with 10.3% of the total production in the region. The country has the second largest reserves and resources of gold (91.4 million oz —2,843 tons—) distributed in 43 projects.
In 2008, 6 of the 28 largest Latin Ameri-can gold mines (those producing more than 100,000 oz —3.1 tons—) were located in Mexico, just surpassed by Peru with 8 mines.
Latin America And Mexico Gold Production
28 Negocios inFograPhic oldemar
Sources: Mexico’s Mining Chamber / Ministry of Economy - General Direction for Mining Promotion / Metals Economics Group. Strategic Report, September-October, 2009.
MiningInvestmentProjectionMillions USD
38.4%Others
21.50%Copper
8.6%Zinc
16.7%Gold
14.9%Silver
3,6562008
2,7302009
2,2452010
2,0112011
1,8842012
2,1562007
NationalMining
ProductionParticipation
Value, 2008
To date, 43 largest Latin American reserves development and feasibility-stage gold projects are documented. Nine of them are located in Mexico, totalizing 42.5 million gold Oz —1,322 tons.
In 2008 and the first nine months of 2009, 16 new mines containing more than 27 million Oz —839.8 tons— of gold in reserves and resources began production in Latin America. Four of them were located in Mexico.
16 projects with potential capacity totaling 3.6 million Oz per year —112 tons— are being built in Latin America. Seven of them are in Mexico.
Latin America’s gold production grew 3% in 2008 to 15.6 million Oz (20% of total world production) and in the first-half of 2009 it increased a further 3%.
Mexico is the second largest producer of gold in Latin America, participat-ing with 10.3% of the total production in the region. The country has the second largest reserves and resources of gold (91.4 million oz —2,843 tons—) distributed in 43 projects.
In 2008, 6 of the 28 largest Latin Ameri-can gold mines (those producing more than 100,000 oz —3.1 tons—) were located in Mexico, just surpassed by Peru with 8 mines.
Latin America And Mexico Gold Production
reportmininG in
meXico
30 Negocios30 Negocios Photo archive
Between April and May 2009, Mexico City looked almost unreal with its empty streets, closed stores and the few people who ventured out of their
homes wearing facemasks. The authorities had raised the health risk alarm due to a new influ-enza virus, AH1N1.
The real “horror film” began just a short while later, when the globalized fear of travelling to Mexico began to appear a little exaggerated. The restaurant, entertainment and tourism in-dustries immediately felt the side effects of an illness, which, fortunately, did not lead to the ca-tastrophe that was first feared.
And there was another Mexican industry which expected to be hard hit by this fiction-like situation for very genuine reasons: Mexico’s film industry, one which offers 500,000 direct jobs every year and generates increasingly sizeable revenue, according to figures released by the Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE).
The Show Must Go OnDespite the health emergency conditions im-posed across the country, preparations for scheduled filming continued, says Hugo Villa, IM-CINE’s director of film production support.
LIgHTS, CAMErA … MEXICO! Films “mADe in meXico” Are not JUst meXicAn ProDUctions, WHicH Are GrADUAlly receivinG more internAtionAl eXPosUre. tHere is AnotHer siDe to tHe coin: tHe internAtionAl Film inDUstry tHAt comes to meXico to Film lArGe-scAle ProDUctions.
WitH tHe increAsinG ProFessionAliZAtion oF sPeciAlists, toGetHer WitH FinAnciAl AnD tAX incentives oFFereD to ForeiGn ProDUctions AnD meXicAn co-ProDUctions, meXico HAs Become A mAJor PlAyer in tHe internAtionAl Film WorlD.
“Last year we had a good year that was in line with our expectations, and the usual number of foreign movies were filmed in Mexico … of course we were anxious about the possible effect of health restrictions on the industry but at the end of the day it didn’t affect us too much.”
IMCINE’s figures show that during 2009 the institute collaborated on the production of 70 film projects, 44 of which were foreign. And that does not include commercials, which are now made to the same standard as films. In 2009, 27 large-scale commercial productions were filmed in Mexico, 15 of which were foreign.
The threat posed by an unknown virus was not the only dark cloud hanging over the world in 2009. The specter of the global financial crisis also loomed over the world’s strongest econo-mies and affected various industries, including the film industry, and Mexico also suffered as a result from cuts in international budgets.
“We mustn’t forget that the entertainment industry depends on public financing to a large extent. Films are often financed thanks to gov-ernment incentives or support. But the nega-tive effects will only actually be felt in 2010, because fortunately the planning required by a large film production means that those in-
by cristinA ÁvilA-ZesAtti
volved need to think about projects far in advance,” Hugo Villa adds.
And although some analysts believe that the global film industry will face massive cuts in mid-2010, other specialists consider that it will be one of the industries to get off lightest, given the increase in audience numbers - because it is precisely when times are tough that people look for distractions.
And maybe if the major producers and inves-tors plan ahead so far, with some luck films will only be about the crisis rather than suffering from it.
“Avatar, for example, James Cameron’s lat-est film, began to be planned while the director was wrapping up his other great success, Titanic […] we are talking 1997, no less than 13 years ago,” says Villa.
Movie TourismWhen “The King of Rock & Roll” Elvis Presley came to Mexico in 1963 to film Fun in Acapulco,
speciaL feature creAtive inDUstries - FilminG in meXico
it was hugely expensive to transport the heavy film-ing kit, cameras, mate-rials and a cohort of specialists to operate it all. That did not even in-clude the expense of trav-elling with ‘the stars’, finding them lodging and filming them in a pleasant environment.
Today things have changed considerably, not only because the equipment is much more man-ageable but also, and especially because as op-posed to the 60s, Mexico is now able to offer big film producers much more than “beautiful loca-tions and a good climate.” Our appeal as a filming destination has grown.
“100% foreign productions filmed in Mexico are now much better catered for, with top-qual-ity specialists who are generally bilingual. Our workforce is completely au fait with film
32 Negocios
work and this is one of our main competitive advantages, as producers only have to bring the bare essentials to Mexico. They can travel with smaller teams and they can hire the rest of their people here. Films like Apocalypto [Mel Gibson, 2006], The Legend of Zorro [Martin Campbell, 2005] or Troy [Wolfgang Petersen, 2004] are just some examples of productions that employed Mexican labor extensively,” says Hugo Villa.
IMCINE’s statistics reveal that US produc-tions most frequently use Mexico for filming, due to its obvious geographical proximity. France and Spain are the European countries which predominantly choose to film in Mex-ico, the latter for language reasons. For the same reason, a number of Latin American countries like Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Cuba and Bolivia, choose Mexican locations.
This variety of countries that choose Mexico to film their productions seems to be growing at the same pace as the locations themselves. “Local and state governments are taking increas-ing interest in the importance of the film industry, not only for their economies but also for the promotion of tourism that arises from people seeing these places on big screens around the world,” says Hugo Villa.
And so while Durango was once ‘the king’ of American Western movies, today major film producers favor several states across Mexico. Their preferences are not only shaped by the climate, geographical ter-rain or suitable period sets but also by infra-structure around the location which is often a determining factor for whether filming is to take place in a specific place or not.
“Currently Mexico City is top choice for foreign productions. You could safely say that 70% of films produced in Mexico take place in the country’s capital, partly due to the city’s infrastructure and airport facilities but also due to the city government’s work in supporting film productions on their patch, with new legislation and regulations making it very clear how to go about the process,” ex-plains Hugo Villa.
Also, Mexico City has an ace up its sleeve. The Estudios Churubusco film studio is lo-cated in the Mexican capital, with sets suit-able for large-scale productions that are unique throughout Latin America and with industry-related services that easily match the quality of other international studios.
Even so, states like Morelos, Puebla, Vera-cruz and Zacatecas seem to be making their presence felt, after years of the desert and beach locations in states like Durango and Baja California being the star attractions.
This is an area in which IMCINE, as a na-tional institute, is working hard.
“We go to all the festivals we can, both in Mexico and abroad, to promote the country as a ‘film destination’ offering a whole series of benefits […] and of course we invite those in charge of film promotion at state govern-ment level. Little by little, this work is begin-ning to pay off,” says Hugo Villa.
And They Filmed Happily Ever AfterIt is not only the large, 100% foreign produc-tions that generate revenue for Mexico. Co-production is a formula that is increasingly applied in the global market and in Mexico.
The IBERMEDIA program in Spain, for example, created in 1997, has success-
fully raised funds to provide an incentive for Spanish and Latin American producers to work on co-productions.
But this is not the only way. The Mexican film industry is always looking for ways to encourage Mexican filmmakers and produc-ers to “throw their hats into the ring.” In-creasingly, alliances with foreign colleagues are being formed, resulting in benefits for the film industries of the countries involved.
In Mexico, under Article 226 of the In-come Tax Law, producers can make films with exclusively Mexican content, but they can also use this financing for co-produc-tions with content from other countries. No small incentive.
“This investment fund, which does not come from the public purse but instead is paid by the taxpayer himself, has strength-ened Mexican film-makers and producers and converted them into major players with-in the international film scene, especially in Latin America or those countries with similar-sized industries to the Mexican one,” says Villa.
This fund currently has a total of 500 mil-
lion pesos to invest in productions involving Mexicans. Those who take advantage of this incentive almost always have 50% in private investment, a considerable amount for Mexico if the film is made in this country. That amount often doubles the initial funding, meaning that through this mechanism alone, approximately $1 billion pesos remain in Mexico.
According to IMCINE, that is not all. Every year Mexico is host to at least ten or twelve large foreign productions. Each one spends between 8 million and 10 million usd, repre-senting a profit of between 120 million and 130 million usd.
The Challenges Behind The CamerasIt is not all plain sailing in the film scene, however. Like the movies themselves, which compete with each other to position them-selves as the latest “box-office hit,” the com-petition between potential locations and national industries to produce a major film
is tough. Mexico is aware of the challenge.
“We are competing, for exam-ple, with incentives such as those offered by New York City, which recently announced a fund of 490 million usd for those filming in New York locations, or by Puerto Rico, which returns to foreign pro-
ducers 45% of their expenditure in their terri-tory. In contrast, Mexico offers a VAT refund. Also, although all Mexican states offer their own particular attractions for film produc-tions, Mexico’s natural attractions could be optimized and improved a lot more in order to take full advantage of our natural assets,” con-cludes Hugo Villa.
Even with these challenges and with parts of the film machinery still needing a little oil, there is something about Mexico that captures people’s hearts and fascinates them in the same way a good movie does.
Otherwise it would be hard to explain why so many filmmakers choose to return to film in Mexico. This is by no means an isolated phe-nomenon. The latest saga in this “film love” will be in 2010 when Mel Gibson will return to film in Veracruz, where he made his box-office smash Apocalypto.
How I Spent My Summer Vacation is a film written and produced by Gibson himself, once again promising controversy and therefore likely to attract large audiences. Moviegoers around the world will see Mexico’s natural beauty pro-jected before their eyes onto the big screen. n
Every year Mexico is host to at least ten or twelve large foreign productions. Each one
spends between 8 million and 10 million usd, representing a profit of between 120 million
and 130 million usd.
speciaL feature creAtive inDUstries - FilminG in meXico
some internAtionAl ProDUctions tHAt HAve Been FilmeD
(entirely or PArtiAlly) in meXico
movie yeAr locAtion
• fast & furious 4 2009 Magdalena, sonora
• Dragonball evolution 2009 Mexico City - Durango
• The Perfect Game 2009 Monterrey, Nuevo León
• Jumper 2008 rosarito, baja California
• 007 Quantum of solace 2008 san felipe, baja California
• City of ember 2008 rosarito, baja California
• You Don’t Mess with the Zohan 2008 La Paz - Cabo san Lucas, baja California sur
• beverly Hills Chihuahua 2008 Mexico City - Hermosillo, sonora
• No Country for Old Men 2007 Piedras Negras, Coahuila
• into the Wild 2007 Algodones, baja California - el Golfo, sonora
• resident evil: extinction 2007 Algodones - Mexicali, baja California
• Apocalypto 2006 Veracruz
• bandidas 2006 Durango
• Nacho Libre 2006 Oaxaca
• The Legend of Zorro 2005 san Luis Potosí
• between 2005 Tijuana, baja California
• Troy 2004 Cabo san Lucas, baja California sur
• Once Upon a Time in Mexico 2003 Coahuila
• Master and Commander:
The far side of the World 2003 rosarito, baja California
• frida 2002 Mexico City
• Kung Pow: enter the fist 2002 rosarito - Tijuana, baja California
• The Mexican 2001 real de Catorce, san Luis Potosí
• fast & furious 2001 san felipe, baja California
• Pearl Harbor 2001 rosarito, baja California
• Deep blue sea 1999 rosarito, baja California
• in Dreams 1999 rosarito, baja California
• Armageddon 1998 Veracruz
• The Game 1997 Mexicali, baja California
• 007 Tomorrow Never Dies 1997 rosarito, baja California
• Titanic 1997 rosarito, baja California
• Old Gringo 1989 Villas del Oeste, Durango
• 007 Licence to Kill 1989 Guerrero, Durango, Quintana roo
• Caveman 1981 sierra de Órganos, Zacatecas
• The Night of the iguana 1964 Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco
• fun in Acapulco 1963 Acapulco, Guerrero
34 Negocios Photos courtesy of batallón 52
Animators Take Bicentenary By Storm And Launch An IndustryBatallón 52 has raised a high standard for the celebrations marking two hundred years of Mexican Independence and one hundred years since the Revolution. It will animate the festivities surrounding Mexico’s birth as an independent nation, as well as lay the foundations for a world-class animation and multimedia industry in Mexico.
by sAnDrA roBlAGUi
The year marking Mexico’s bicente-nary celebrations of Independence and the centenary since the Mexi-can Revolution will leave behind it
an army-sized group of animation specialists.The forces of animation march to the tune
of Batallón 52. Their main barracks are in the city of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco. Their first engagement is called Suertes, humores y pequeñas historias de la Independencia y la Revolución (Feats, moods and short stories of Independence and the Revolution). It is a col-lection of 52 animated short films on the coun-try’s wars of liberation. The project revealed that Mexico is prepared to lay down the gaunt-let, using its full arsenal of technology and its knowledge base. One of this army’s greatest victories is the Chapala Media Park, in Jalisco –covering an area of almost 35 acres with of-fices, sound and recording studios and sets to match any film studio in the US. Some believe Jalisco will soon become a Mexican Jaliwood.
For example, the entire production of Matrix, as well as the entire lobby of Titanic, could be filmed on Chapala’s sets. That is just for starters because the installations will be equipped to handle all the technical post-pro-duction work of any independent or commer-cial film, “entirely staffed by people trained in Jalisco state itself,” says Carlos Gutiérrez Me-drano, producer of Batallón 52 and founder, in 2002, of Metacube, which focuses in special effects, animation and 3D.
Gutiérrez Medrano confirms that various US-based studios have already expressed an interest in renting out space in the park, which will be inaugurated in the first quarter of 2010. A second section is planned once the first is fully occupied.
Carlos Gutiérrez has recently become a key figure in persuading members of the Na-tional Chamber of the Electronics, Telecom-munications and IT Industry (Canieti,) of the importance of the film industry for Mexico’s economic growth.
In 2007, the young entrepreneur became Canieti’s Western Division (Canieti Occidente) first Vice-President of Audiovisual Media and through Metacube he is now working with var-ious unions to train up specialist technicians in constructing and moving sets in the Chapala Media Park. He also played a major part in ensuring that the state government of Jalisco bought ten hectares of land for use as backlots for movie productions.
As Vice-President of Canieti’s Western Di-vision, Gutiérrez submitted a proposal to Víc-tor Ugalde, then Secretary General of the Film Investment and Incentives Fund (Fidecine), a State film fund managed by the Mexican Insti-tute of Cinematography (Imcine), for the pro-duction of ten feature-length animated films with a view to Mexico’s national celebrations in 2010. “The final agreement was better than good. We settled on 52 shorts, each lasting a minute and a half. One half on the Bicentenary
01
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01 / 02 / 03 hidaLgo’s excommunication decree, directed by Rigoberto Mora04 the first air to sea attack, directed by René Castillo.
speciaL feature creAtive inDUstries - BAtAllón 52
of Independence and the other on the first cen-tury since the Revolution,” Gutiérrez explains.
He then raised over 3 million usd to finance the production of the shorts, with equal support provided by Imcine and the Jalisco state govern-ment, through various institutions and programs.
The next stage involved finding directors to command the battalion. The generals appointed were to be Rita Basulto, Karla Castañeda, René Castillo, Luis Téllez and Rigoberto Mora. All of them young, Mexicans, with plenty of experi-ence and recipients of national and international awards for their animation work.
Then the magic of Batallón 52 began to work together with future animation and movie projects in Jaliwood. Paola García, the project’s Marketing and Public Relations man-ager, remembers that in December 2009 Cani-eti’s Western Division invited people to apply for a job through various media outlets in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara. It was open to people of all ages, professions and trades who liked to talk and to draw. It was a tempt-ing offer. The successful applicants could learn and receive a salary to take part in various stages of a series of short films that would illus-trate some stories from the eras of Mexican In-dependence and the Revolution. As well as the Mexican directors, team leaders also included animators like Jason Ryan (Walt Disney and DreamWorks), Shawn Colbeck (Disney and CORE), Mark Simon (author of Producing In-dependent 2D Character Animation, a book regarded as “the Bible” of the animation indus-try), and Víctor Manuel Espinoza (the voice of Homer Simpson in the movie’s dubbed ver-sion for Mexico).
Paola remembers that she thought about 200 people would show up. But 600 came, including painters, illustrators, graphic design-ers, bank employees, aspiring voice-over art-ists, and 150 were chosen.
On a separate front, the battalion’s generals were fighting to set up a state-of-the-art studio. Eighty computers were bought and equipped with “less paper” technology where drawing can be done straight on to the monitor. Batal-lón therefore became Latin America’s largest animation studio.
The 52 films –one for each week of the year– were created from this mix of manage-ment, talent, knowledge and technology. They freely tell some of the stories –some amusing, others serious– that provide the backdrop to the two most important wars in Mexico’s his-tory. The first shorts, which will be added with the remainder during the first quarter of 2010,
are screened before mainstream films show-ing at most movie theaters across Mexico.
“Actually, Batallón 52 even went beyond its brief, by training dozens of people in us-ing animation technologies. This will lead to the creation of new projects in the Chapala Media Park,” confirms line producer Este-fani Gaona.
Over the next months, the battalion will march in a new direction and several of its troops will be working on feature length pro-ductions in 2D and 3D that Metacube is plan-ning for 2011.
Carlos Gutiérrez adds that now the fight will continue to generate intellectual prop-
erty and ideas to take shape in movies and video games.
“The idea when the Bicentenary project began was to lay the foundations for the Mexi-can animation industry to grow and become globally competitive. We aimed high and hit out target,” adds Estefani Gaona.
They hit several targets, in fact. Now, the shorts’ directors are receiving invitations to present their productions in places such as the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand in France, in which they took part on February 2, 2010, while in Jalisco the scene is set for an industry that will grow over the com-ing years. n
The generals appointed were to be Rita Basulto, Karla Castañeda, René Castillo, Luis Téllez and Rigoberto Mora. All of them young, Mexicans, with plenty of experience and recipients of national and international awards for their animation work.
03
04
36 Negocios Photos courtesy of animex estudios
Mexican cleverness can also fill up seats in movie theaters. With support from Puebla’s state government and private
investment by a regional business association, but most importantly with great stories to tell, Animex Estudios (www.animex2d.com.mx) has taken the international industry by storm with its animation and audio work, as well as by producing scripts, character designs and story-boards for companies in other countries.
But these global services are just the tip of the iceberg for this young Mexi-can company. It is passionate about recovering Mexican sto-ries and legends –pre-Hispanic and modern alike– and revealing them to other cultures. Over the past three years, the studio has reached an audience of almost two million children for its La Leyenda de la Nahuala (The Legend of the Na-huala, 2007) and Nikté (2009). The story contin-ues. Its latest children’s animated film project El Americano (The American) is currently being co-produced by Mexican-American actor Ed-ward James Olmos, and by founder and cur-rent CEO of Animex Estudios, Ricardo Arnaiz. The movie will be released in early 2011. Its char-acters are birds and Ricardo Arnaiz says that “the story is about migration and the many positive results of contrasting cultures meeting together.”
Yes, yes, yes. Hollywood tries and dumps productions all over and has Animex’ success at least 30 times per year. However, the differ-ence is that the company from Puebla is hardly ten years’ old, its directors, Eduardo Jiménez and Ricardo Arnaiz, are very young –Ricardo is thirty-five– and until recently it operated exclusively with family backing. For example its offices were located in a space lent by Ar-naiz’ father. In 2000, Animex employed just five people but now has a full-time staff of 55 employees.
This Mexican company has also shown that a first-rate film does not need massive invest-ment. La Leyenda de la Nahuala and Nikté cost just 2.5 million usd each. Nothing compared to Disney productions, which cost an average of between 90 and 180 million usd.
Even without the benefit of the Holly-wood marketing machine, Animex Estudios has scored some great successes with a self-taught process and bottom-up, low-budget scripts. The story of a frightened boy who
in 1807 personally discovered the legend of La Nahuala, a spirit that hides in an old house in the city of Puebla, was seen by 1.2 million people. The Spanish company Filmax took an interest in the film and is now responsible for distributing it across ten countries in Europe and Asia. In the US, the animated film is on sale on DVD. Nikté, the story of a young girl in the Olmec culture –which flourished in the state of Tabasco in south-east Mexico– is still showing in movie theaters across Mexico, says Ricardo Arnaiz.
For Nikté, Mexican ingenuity was used right from pre-production. For the film’s sound effects some of the crew travelled to the Agua Selva community in Huimanguillo in the state of Tabasco to record natural sounds for the animation.
The most wonderful aspect is that, in common with other parts
of Mexico where animation is an emerging sector boasting solid technical skills and tal-ent, in the state of Puebla those behind Ani-mex managed to persuade other sectors not normally associated with the film industry. “We received support from the state govern-ment of Puebla and a group of businessmen who are members of the state business de-velopment council [The Council for Industri-al, Commercial and Service Development of the State of Puebla, CDICSEP],” says Arnaiz.
Animations of Mexican Stories Complete the Picture
Animex Estudios has focused the world’s attention on some Mexican legends, tales and, coming soon, a story reflecting the reality of Mexico.
“Obviously we don’t charge the same as in Hollywood but we are creating interesting
products for a global audience and the response is positive.”
speciaL feature creAtive inDUstries - AnimeX estUDios
—There’s a generation of Mexican direc-tors who have received awards in other countries. Is there a boom in animation in Mexico?Definitely. Several Mexican feature-length animated movies are being screened in com-mercial movie theaters for the first time. Some recent ones include: La leyenda de la Nahuala, Nikté, El agente 00P2 and Triple AAA: sin
límite en el tiempo [both by Ánima Estudios], Una película de huevos and Otra película de huevos y un pollo [by Huevocartoon Produccio-nes], and others coming soon are La revolución de Juan Escopeta [produced by Arnaiz himself] and Brijes 3D [by IThrax Producciones].
—Most of the young Mexican directors have not had a formal education in film or animation. Do you think that this gen-eration of creative talent has a mutual influence?Sure. The same animated cartoons that we grew up with and which are still being made around the world; access to technology, for example, to free programs available on the Internet, and our own culture. Most of the recent animated films have been done on low budgets with great creativity. We have grown up. Although Mexico did not have much expe-rience with animation, us Mexican directors have learned by ourselves what works and what doesn’t and we have made improvements with each film.
—Almost everyone says that art and financial survival are incompatible. Is animation the exception?It is difficult to find financing to make a film anywhere, but it’s worth it. In Mexico, we re-ceive increasing support from government and the private sector. Many people make a living with animation. Obviously we don’t charge the same as in Hollywood but we are creating interesting products for a global audience and the response is positive.
—Animation is a competitive and glo-balized industry. How much interest is there in other countries to see stories like La leyenda de la nahuala and Nikté?In this globalized world, differences offer opportunities. Children, like their parents, are looking for something new when they go to the movies because they are keen to find out new things. Good stories make good films and in Mexico we have lots of stories to tell that can be understood and appreciated in any culture. n01
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01 / 02 nikté is the story of a young girl in the Olmec culture.03 drawers and animators at Animex Estudios.
38 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photos courtesy of digital media / archive
In 2002, when Iván Díaz de León decided to start his own company –Digital Media– he did it with a clear goal in his mind: to support the consolidation of the video-
game industry in Mexico. Since then, he has launched proposals such
as the creation of a university degree in video-game development, the foundation of a nation-al association of videogame developers and the creation of special funds to support small and medium companies in the country.
To date, Digital Media is a small company. With barely an eight-year history, it has done what was said to be impossible: develop a game to be launched worldwide by Nintendo for its Wii console. Digital Media’s videogame was entirely designed and developed by Mexican professionals and is based on Lorena Ochoa, another Mexican who is world champion in her specialty, golf.
“This game presented the opportunity for entering the industry at a professional level. It comes from the idea of having a ‘made in Mexico’ product to be exported to the world, leveraging in the fact that Lorena is at the top level of a high profile profession. Negotiations took almost two years,” says Díaz de León.
Launching will be defferred according to each market: US, México and Latin America in the first half of 2010, Europe and Asia in the second half of the year.
The BeginningDíaz de León, founder and general manager of Digital Media was in Spain, being certified in videogame development, when he decided to create his own company and become part of the “creation wave” for a new market.
Playing In The Big LeaguesPlaying golf is not easy. To play it on a videogame console with the skills of a champion sounds even more difficult. With a videogame for Nintendo inspired by Mexican golfer Lorena Ochoa, the Mexican company Digital Media has placed itself on the shelf of international videogames and is moving towards it’s goal of positioning the Mexican videogame industry on the global scene.
by FrAncisco vernis
VaLue of the internationaL Videogame industry• 2007: 62.6 billion usd
• 2008: 71.7 billion usd
• 2009: 81.9 billion usd
source: international data
corporation
growing market• 50% of Mexican gamers buy at
least one videogame every three months.
• 20% of Mexican gamers buy several videogames per month.
• Xbox 360 holds 36% of the market share in Mexico, Wii has 11.5%, PS2 9%, and PS3 8.7%.
• 20% of Mexican videogamers play daily, 24% play every other day and 16% play at least once a week.
• Average Mexican player is 35 years old, 40% are women.
source: competitive intelligence unit
“It was easier opening something in México at a slower rhythm because it gave the oppor-tunity to collaborate in founding this industry in the country. Since then, many cases have projected the Mexican industry to the world,” says Díaz de León from his Guadalajara-based office, in the state of Jalisco, west Mexico.
As a consumed gamer, Díaz de León knew since he was a child that he wanted to develop videogames. With that in mind, he specialized
in it. His passion happened to be contagious to the members of his team, now integrated with 29 professionals, all focused on the same goals.
The company began developing advert-games –advertising based games– to promote specific brands and products. Three months after operations started came the first cli-ent, Aeroméxico. Since then it has not stopped. Among its extensive client list are familiar names such as Samsung, Sony, Mercedes Benz and Intel.
Experience acquired in multimedia develop-ment has allowed the company to survive and keep a place in their favorite market: videogames.
“Advertgames helped us to know, learn, improve techniques and to become interna-tionally competitive. As these videogames are developed by request, specific objectives and needs have to be met. We produced multime-dia projects to gain experience and learn how to deal with big international companies,” says Díaz de León.
Díaz de León foresees a great future for the videogame business, especially due to the fact that sales in México are higher than in other Lat-in American countries, like Brazil or Argentina.
“Latin American markets present the op-portunity of creating different projects that can be produced for diverse audiences, keeping all of them satisfied, as they are eager for different products,” says the businessman.
Since he presented Digital Media’s project in Spain, the company has gained the trust of firms like Nintendo and Xbox, both giants fighting resistence to share their technologies. Even though, since its beginning, the Mexi-can firm has been working with the most ad-vanced systems.
speciaL feature creAtive inDUstries - DiGitAl meDiA
“It was like crashing into a big party, like en-tering the industry by its back door. We learned who were the key players, how decisions were made in the industry and how everything moves within it. These elements helped us de-fine our strategy,” says Díaz de León. Think Global, Act LocalDigital Media’s goal has always been project-ing México internationally. Perhaps that’s why they prefer to move slowly but with certainty in a market valued at around one billion usd, according to figures from International Data Corporation, a leading company in market re-search and analysis for technological industry.
Díaz de León is clear that Digital Media has a long way to run yet. Business trips to create con-tacts and build alliances and professionalization is how the company expects to progress in an industry with more than 30 years behind it.
“We are trying to strengthen the entire in-dustry so we can export more contents. China, India and Singapore are emerging markets that have invested between eight and nine years to build their videogame industry. Now they are important outsourcing centers for the entire world. There is a lot to learn and we manage as a ‘start-up’ company. It is not the best moment to pretend to offer something fully professional in the region. That wouldn’t be realistic. Good news is that even by being humble we have grown. We believe we are on the right track and what we offer is a young company achieving global production levels,” says the Digital Media founder.
But Digital Media does not want to grow alone. The company has been a strong sup-porter of the creation of a Mexican Federa-
tion of Videogame Developers, which aims to group together all companies interested in the professionalization of the industry.
“We are presenting the brand México De-velops Games [mexicodevgames.org] and tak-ing it to every major event worldwide. We are presenting Mexico as a country in the process of maturing to host leader companies and to share our outsource projects,” Díaz de León explains.
This initiative has already worked and the Federation has been invited to take part in some of the main events for videogame devel-opers in cities such as San Francisco, Tokyo, Montreal and Lyon that have become key play-ers of the global industry. Becoming ProfessionalPart of the objectives of the Federation is training and professionalizing human capital in Mexico by inviting specialists from around the world.
For example, explains Díaz de León, “if we need some-one with experience in solving physics issues we go to the network and access a specialist that can solve that specific issue for the project. It works as outsourcing.”
“Talent in Mexico has to grow. We are working for college degrees in main universities and soon a new generation of professionals will be on the market,” he adds.
Digital Media is mostly made up of pas-sionate videogame fans, explains its founder. Maybe that is why their achievements can be
Díaz de León foresees a great future for the videogame business, especially due to the fact that sales in Mexico are higher than in other Latin American countries, like Brazil or Argentina.
compared to those of a larger company.Through its short life, the firm has diver-
sified and now owns a distribution company, Catapulta Entertainment, and a web-based videogame company, Gran Tiki Games.
“We are building an entertainment holding. In the future we will offer diverse contents for the web, consoles and mobile devices. The future seems golden, we are en-tering at a level that is very complicated to access to. That is an achieved goal. The rest of the way has challenges but we know we can face them because we are competitive,” concludes Díaz de León. n
iVán Díaz de León
As Good As The BestBut Cheaper Than All
Average monthly salary....for engineering and design services (USD)
...for music, film,radio and television (USD)
Sources: The Boston Consulting Group / LABORSTA Labour Statistics Database - International Labour Organization / ProMéxico
There are over 900 post-graduate engineering and technology programs offered by Mexican universities.
Labor costs for the sector in Mexico are 80% cheaper than in Germany, South Korea and the US and 45% cheaper than in Poland and Turkey.
$447 $484 $591 $994 $2,387 $3,000 $3,868$835
Mexico Colombia Brazil Turkey Poland South Korea US Germany
$388 $406
Mexico Colombia Brazil Turkey Poland South Korea US Germany
Labor costs for the sector in Mexico are 90% cheaper than in Germany, 85% cheaper than in South Korea and the US and 50% cheaper than in Turkey and Poland.
$550 $752 $891 $2,442 $2,685 $3,715
Negocios figures
40 Negocios inFograPhics oldemar
The lifestyleT h e C o m p l et e G u i d e of t h e M ex i c a n Way of L i fe .
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Born Into Music
Op. 44
Interview
The Lifestyle Feature
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TOURISM
TOURISM
mexico in spain
Central America Gets Closer
TECHNOLOGY
El Corte Inglés, the largest department store chain in Spain, has decided to feature Mexico as its guest country in 2011.
Each year, the chain launches a campaign promoting a country. After visiting Mexico and getting surprised by the quality and de-sign of Mexican handicrafts, buyers from
Aeromexico has revised its international ex-pansion for 2010 by refocusing on new mar-kets in Central America and the Caribbean, while deciding to keep its North American capacity about the same as last year.
As part of this strategy, the company will launch a daily Mexico City-San Jose (Costa Rica) service on board Boeing 737 by the end of March 2010.
www.aeromexico.com
An alliance between Peugeot, Telcel and Apple has resulted in the creation of the first car with Internet. It is the Peugeot 207 Compact WiFi, whose limited 500-car spe-cial edition will be sold only in Mexico.
The French firm’s model has a Modem Router compatible with almost all comput-er equipment and wireless devices.
www.peugeot.com
The Future Reached Us
42 Negocios Photos courtesy of aeroméxico / peugeot / archive
the company decided to schedule Mexico as the country to be promoted in 2011. Mexican products, specially handicrafts, will be sold in the 80 stores of El Corte Inglés in Spain and Portugal.
www.elcorteingles.es
The Lifestyle briefs
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uK and mexico: 50 years of creativityPrince Andrew, Duke of York KG and UK Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, celebrated fifty years of UK-Mexico creativity during his first official visit to the country.
In Mexico City, the Duke of York officially launched the “Young Creative Entrepre-neur 2010” award at the Franz Mayer museum whilst inaugurating an exhibi-
tion of Carla Fernández. Carla Fernández, a Mexican fashion de-
signer, won the award in 2008 for her work designing clothes with Mexico’s indigenous population.
The award was initiated by the British Council to establish a network of entrepre-neurial contacts between the UK and Mex-ico, inspiring and facilitating exchanges of ideas and best practice as well as the devel-opment of skills and creative talents. Prizes are given in the following sectors: design, music, communication, “interactive arts,” vi-sual arts and cinema.
Other Mexicans have also previously won the award including Eduardo Rabasa, Direc-tor of Sexto Piso in 2004, Robert Velázquez Bolio, Director of Production for Milenio TV in 2009 and Uriel Waizel, Content Coordina-tor for Ibero 90.9 FM also in 2009.
The Duke of York launched Love and Money, an exhibition recognizing 50 years of British creativity, which focuses on how creativity and business can come together to be successful.
ukinmexico.fco.gov.uk
Photo francisco vernis44 Negocios i The Lifestyle
Lynn Fainchtein: BORN INtO MUSIc
Lynn Fainchtein’s name is linked to the best Mexican films of the past few years and, more recently, she has worked as music supervisor for foreign films such as Precious, currently nominated for six Academy awards.
by FrAncisco vernis
when she was born, Lynn Fainchtein was given The Beatles’ first single Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You (1963) –the
only time Ringo Starr did not play drums on a Beatles’ track. That marked the beginning of a symbiotic relationship with music that she has maintained ever since.
As a young girl she preferred opening up a new vinyl record and learning the lyrics than playing with dolls. So it is hardly surprising that she cannot remember how many records she has at home and that she has almost 100 thou-sand tracks in her digital music collection. Music is her work, her life, but she herself only plays a little saxophone and flute.
Fainchtein is a music supervisor for movies and advertisements. She and her team make suggestions for film soundtracks, handle licens-ing and do the production work for whatever is necessary (original music and bands on screen).
She has worked on 38 films made between 1992 and 2009 and she has about a dozen proj-ects in production. One of the most important, and the reason for her particular excitement on
Monday February 1 during her interview for Negocios, is Precious (Lee Daniels, 2009), which that morning had received six Academy Award nominations, including for Best Picture.
“I’m thrilled. The director is an incredibly im-portant person in my life, I think he’s wonderful and we get on great together. Successful directors are those that accomplish what they set out to achieve, those who have a clear idea about how they want things. That gets them funding and everything else,” says Lynn, who worked on the production of 30 songs for Precious.
Fainchtein’s career is closely tied to the de-velopment of Mexican film. She began by help-ing the musical supervision of Danzón (María Novaro, 1991), one of the first films that began to be labeled as “the new Mexican cinema.” Since then, she has worked on Mexico’s most impor-tant cinematic releases, such as Todo el Poder (All The Power, Fernando Sariñana, 1999), Voces Inocentes (Innocent Voices, Luis Mandoki, 2004), Una Película de Huevos (An Egg Movie, Gabriel and Rodolfo Riva Palacio, 2006), and Amores Perros (Love Dogs, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2000), which catapulted her onto the interna-tional scene with 21 Grams and Babel.
interView lynn FAincHtein
But it has not all been film work. Fainch-tein graduated in Psychology from the Na-tional Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and has also been successful in ra-dio, with the Salsabadeando and Descelofa-neando programs on Mexico City’s Rock 101 music station. Subsequently she worked on other radio projects with her characteristi-cally relaxed and intelligent style: Dimensión 13.80 and Espacio 59.
As MTV Latin America’s program direc-tor from 1994 to 1999 she immersed herself in so many music videos that she began to develop a distinct visual and musical sense that eventually led to her film career taking off with Altavista Films.
—Where did you find your musical vocation?I’ve loved music ever since I was a young girl. I was never into dolls or toy cars. I loved records instead. We always listened music at my grandparents’ house.
Two memories from my childhood stand out. My grandfather owned a hotel in Puerto Vallarta called Posada Vallarta, and
once, while I was in the swimming pool of the hotel I listened to a trio singing La Glo-ria eres tú. It seemed to me like the trio was putting on a soundtrack for paradise.
The other time was with my parents in a synagogue in the Colonia Condesa in Mex-ico City. Men and women are separated in synagogues but as a child you’re gender-less and they let you be in the men’s section un-til you’re thirteen. I remember that the first time I went, a man they called “el cantor” (the singer) appeared. I was really amazed by the deep notes that man reached.
Those two moments have stayed with me. That was when I started buying records.
—What was the first record you bought?The first records I bought were Hemispheres, by Rush, and IV, by Led Zeppelin.
—Did you ever want to play an instrument?I have tried. I play a little sax and transverse flute but I’ve never been disciplined enough to study every day. And now I’m getting a little old and life has caught up with me. It takes a lot of dedication.
—How do you work?I get the script and I read it. I speak with the director to find out what he wants and where he wants to go. Music for a film is usually divided between what already exists and what still needs to be made. For what has to be made, you need to make a deal with a musician and I pro-duce it. If you have to record with an orchestra, I also produce the orchestra recording. There is a lot of production work.
For songs that already exist and that need to be recorded for a film, I create a songbook. Normally I suggest the songs, depending on the budget and the story. Once I have that, I start getting the licenses to use the songs.
“I’d never pass up on a film that I like no matter how
much work I’ve got on. I’ve even done some films pro
bono because I’ve liked them a lot.”
46 Negocios
—What is your favorite part?When I put the song in the right place. Most of all I like using my creativity to place songs.
—Do you always like the end result?No, of course not. I don’t usually expect the end result to please me but the director, because he is the one with the idea for the film. I try to per-suade him on some things but everything comes down to the budget. If you want a Leonard Cohen song, for example, you’re going to need money. All these things need to be weighed up. Truth be told, I haven’t been pleased with all my work but I have only been really disappointed with a few things, about four or five projects.
—You have worked on almost every Mexican film.No, that’s a myth. I don’t do more than ten films a year. It’s just that I work on many films that come out at different times. I can be working on a film that ends in April this year and then is released next year because they want it to come out at Sundance. Last year around seventy films were made in Mexico, I took part in just ten. It’s not so many, there’s a limit to how much you can do.
—How much is your work appreciated?I worked intensely for two and a half years on Precious. Songs run through the whole film… That was thirty songs in over two years.
On some projects, music groups form part of the filming process. For example I’m in the middle of working on a Luis Estrada film. For the music we need to go to Matehuala in San Luis Potosí, look for musicians in the markets, film them, license the song and wait for the cut to see how it turned out.
If you look at it like that, I don’t get paid much at all. That’s why I have to do ten films a year. I couldn’t make a living by doing just one film.
I think my work is properly appreciated
because I get a lot of it. But it could be better paid! Sometimes I’d like to do fewer films but earn more, although I’d never pass up on a film that I like no matter how much work I’ve got on. I’ve even done some films pro bono because I’ve liked them a lot.
—Do you always listen to music?Yes. I have masses of music to listen to. I’ve got tons of songs that people have sent me and that I haven’t been able to listen to.
—Is it hard to get licenses for songs?I’ve got a whole network now. I know whom I need to speak to for a song and I know which musicians I can talk to depending on the film. My address book is huge.
—Was it hard to set up this network?Yes, especially after I left Altavista Films. It was the first time I was working independently. Before that, I had worked in radio, for MTV, for CIE and Altavista. I had spent a long time work-ing for companies, so it was hard to begin with.
Now I think the wind is in the sails, the captain has learnt how to use GPS, the barometer, the thermometer, and the altimeter.
—Technology must help a lotI can easily spend fourteen hours in front of my computer. I live in this amazing Disneyland! I also see and listen to new music all the time, I can send music from my computer to anyone, make suggestions, do a whole recording for a film’s opening sequence. We’re about to try to do a remote orchestra recording, with the composer directing it via Skype to save on the transport costs of the whole orchestra.
I can be anywhere on my telephone answer-ing emails. I don’t need to be set in an office, hating my boss.
—Is it very different working on a Mexican film compared to a foreign film?Mexican productions are much more friendly. Working on foreign films can be quite an antiseptic experience and more hassle because the lawyers –there are about 25 on a single production– want all kinds of contracts running to 40 pages each. First they want to set a price in one way, then it gets passed into a kind of contract and then the final contract. Working on a big studio production in the US can be a nightmare. Among the materials producers must sub-mit to sell their movies is the folder con-taining all the music and all the associated paperwork.
For some reason, in the US they like doing everything in triplicate. Normally in Britain, France, Mexico or China, one con-tract is enough to say that you and I agree about something. But in the US they need more. First they want a letter establishing that there will be a contract and then there is whole lot more paperwork after that.
Lynn Fainchtein has worked on 38 films made between
1992 and 2009 and she has about a dozen projects in production. One of the
most important projects she has worked in is Precious
(Lee Daniels, 2009), which has received six Academy
Award nominations, including for Best Picture.
Good SelectionLynn Fainchtein has been musical supervisor for severalinternationally awarded films. Among them:
Director
2009
PreciousLee Daniels
Don’t Let Me Drown Cruz Angeles
Without NameCary Fukunaga
2008
2008I Just Want to Walk
Agustín Díaz Yanes
Tear Up My LifeRoberto Sneider
I’m Gonna ExplodeGerardo Naranjo
Paraiso Travel Simon Brand
Sleep DealerAlex Rivera
2007
CochochiIsrael Cárdenas
Under The Same MoonPatricia Riggen
2006Babel
Alejandro González Iñárritu
2004Maria Full of Grace
Joshua Marston
2000Love Dogs
Alejandro González Iñárritu
interView lynn FAincHtein
the dynamic duoJis (José Ignacio Solórzano) and Trino (José Trinidad Camacho) are both
from Guadalajara, Jalisco. They joined the local avant-garde punk/performance/visual art scene of the 1980s before starting professional careers as cartoonists with the weekly fully page strip El Santos contra la Tetona Mendoza in the Mexico City daily La Jornada, in 1989. The strip –now collected in three volumes from Editorial La Jornada– ended in 1997 but has been followed by others made both by the team and by each one individually. These new strips have appeared in several Mexican newspapers and humor magazines, as well as in new collections of their work. Trino’s animated cartoons and videos have also appeared on television.
Jis and Trino became famous due to their character “El Santos,” their very own unrefined and cynical version of “El Santo,” one of the most famous Mexican luchadores (wrestlers).
Lynn Fainchtein is currently producing a film based on this “dynamic duo’s” creations.
—You have also produced films. Would you do it again?I produced ¿Y tú Cuánto Cuestas? [So, what’s your price? Olallo Rubio, 2007]. Now I’m working in the production of a film with cartoons by Jis and Trino [Mexican cartoon-ists]. We’re about to start.
—Do you like any genre of music in particular?I really like cumbia, black music, R&B, re-gional Mexican music. I’m a big fan of tam-bora music [a musical genre from northern Mexico], groups like K Paz de la Sierra and Horóscopos de Durango. I’m also a big fan of bolero. I like music generally, except country.
—How much music do you have on your computer?About 85,000 tracks… Not that much.
—Do you have an MP3 player?Yes. I make a playlist every month. I listen to music from that playlist as I walk every day. I never fill up my MP3 player as I also use it for work and to carry around the playlists for films I’m working on.
—Do you still buy records?Yes, of course, especially box sets of things I like. I’ve just bought a box set of The Beatles and one of Andrés Calamaro. I also buy re-cords that I really like after listening to them on the net.
—What record do you listen to the most?I always listen to Ryuichi Sakamoto when
I’m traveling. It’s now the music I always take with me. I listen to Sakamoto when I want to feel the music rather than think or work with it.
—How many records do you have?I don’t know, because I gave away lots of LPs. Sometimes it hurts getting rid of them. I also tend to accumulate stuff that I don’t listen to. n
48 Negocios Photos courtesy of la marca del jaguar
As a child, Victor Mayorga Figueroa had an indigenous nanny who inspired his passion and interest for Mexico’s pre-
Columbian culture. Later, his approach to in-digenous communities increased his interest in that culture even more.
Mayorga, 32, founded Ocelotl Company, where he developed the Project La Marca del Jaguar (www.lmdj.com.mx), aimed at re-covering the history of the Náhuatl culture from the center of the Mesoamerican region through anime or cartoons –through a mix of 2D/3D animation and the toon shader technique.
Currently Mayorga is working on the film El Despertar del Fuego (The Fire Awakes), the first
Mexico’s AwakeningVictor Mayorga is looping out to revive Mexico’s pre-Columbian history through a trilogy of animated films, which, even when they are still in the planning stage, have spurred the interest of the animated film industry in Mexico and several other countries.
of an animated trilogy based on the history of the Aztecs before the arrival of the Spaniards and throughout the arrival of the Conquistadores.
In 2008, Mayorga produced a short film en-titled La Cueva or The Cave. This effort gave birth to his interest in producing the trilogy and a six season television series. The trilogy alone will cost roughly 3 million dollars and it has the sup-port of organizations such as the Mexican Film Institute and some private companies.
—How was La Marca del Jaguar born?It is something I came up with, though there are a lot of people involved in the project. My contact with ethnic communities set the precedent in my heart and mind so I could give them back a dignified history. I think it
is important for everybody to be aware of the history of ancient civilizations in Mesoamer-ica, the ordeals of their warriors and the vast richness of their heritage and culture.
Also, I have great respect for the Chinese and Japanese cultures and I thought that if those countries are so proud of their roots and culture, why can’t Mexico feel the same way as it has a history unlike any other in the world?
—What is El Despertar del Fuego about?It is based on the most important ritual in Meso-america, before the Spanish conquest, which is called Fuego Nuevo [New Fire]. Every 52 years, the Aztecs had to protect the World from the dark forces threatening to prevent the Sun’s rebirth. According to these cultures, when in the darkness the Sun travels to the underworld and in order to be saved, a new fire shall be lit. This reference can be found on slide 34 in the Codex Borbonicus and in the texts of Friar Bernardino de Sahagún.
Aztec communities performed this ritual to return life to the Sun and help it return to fight evil beings or dark forces trying to unbalance the light. It was said that before the New Fire, the dark side beings would rise from the ground to kill and devour mankind.
by kArlA BArAJAs
animation industry lA mArcA Del JAGUAr
It is a magic war, a mythical story about this ritual.
—Where did you find support for your project?I currently have the support of Fidecine [Trust for Investment and Incentive to the Film In-dustry]. This funding has allowed me to obtain additional resources via venture capital using royalties as collateral. They can provide as much as 10 million pesos [770,000 usd].
Another source is the fiscal incentive program for the film industry, through which private companies may invest and reduce taxes.
IXE Banco and CompuSoluciones, a Jalis-co based company, are also backing us, as well as the Jalisco State Science and Technology Council and the state’s government.
—Who else is involved in this project?On the artistic part we have Rubén Albarrán, the lead singer from Café Tacvba, one of Mex-ico’s and Latin America’s most popular and important rock bands. Rubén will compose the main soundtrack in both the Spanish and Náhuatl languages. He is very excited about the project.
Carlos Santana may also be involved. He has yet to confirm, but is likely to do a duet with Albarrán in one of the songs about the Mexican seal.
Other singers such as Natalia Lafourcade and Ximena Sariñana have expressed their interest too, possibly Jaguares and Bárbara Padilla, a soprano who was born in Guadalajara and currently living in the US, where her talent is well known.
The participation of all these people would not be possible without the help of Ricardo Tejedo, who is the director of the film voice over phase.
Those who have confirmed are actors Victor Trujillo, Damián Alcazar and Érick del Castillo. There are other equally important actors still to be confirmed.
—How advanced is the production?We are in the preproduction stages. The produc-tion begins in March 2010.
The Project was launched in TIFFCOM, the affiliated market of Tokyo International Film Festival, with the support of ProMéxico and the Mexican embassy in Japan. This festival is the most important film summit in Asia.
El Despertar del Fuego was quite success-ful. The Japanese loved the content and some of the most important Japanese companies approached us to learn more details. We are currently in talks with them to get more sup-port. Our goal is to launch the project as a whole international co-production. This would be the first time Asia and Mexico have joined forces to produce a film together.
I think it is important for Japanese com-panies to be aware of the Mexican and Latin American markets’ profitability. This would be the first film coproduced between Mexico and Japan.
tributions to our current society. They had a really advanced vision on matters such as the environment and relationships with nature and the planet. That is one of the themes I try to portray in El Despertar del Fuego.
—Why did you want to work with anime?The graphics are more for practical reasons. The most important part of the project is to produce and deliver a message, in a global language. The youth of today have a very de-veloped audiovisual code. Anime is regarded as a global market and is also very popular in Mexico. To me it is the most developed audio-visual gender in the world. I think it is better than many others in expressing and telling a story. It brings out emotions that no other drawing styles are able to convey.
—How are Mexican animated films wel-comed abroad?I think they are not very well known abroad but I see a boom coming thanks to outstand-ing productions set out to surprise the world.
There are films such as La Nahuala, the ones featuring the Eggs [Una Película de Huevos and Otra Película de Huevos y un Pollo] and Nikté, that have become interna-tional blockbusters.
I am interested in delivering a copro-duction more focused on the quality of the project. The key is what the animated film industry can provide to the country and the world artistically. This is what I care about.
Investing in Mexican animated films is a good business, proven by the audience re-sponse at the box office to the movies I just mentioned.
—You are also involved in social respon-sibility projects…Yes. With the Marca del Jaguar Foundation, we want to provide support to those indig-enous communities inside and outside the big urban zones of Mexico. Initially, we intend to donate a percentage of the tickets sold to those communities.
The Mexican Indigenous Language Institute is currently supporting La Marca del Jaguar. The idea is to have the movie translated into the Náhuatl, Purépecha and Mayan languages, aside from having a nar-rator for the other indigenous languages. We want everybody to be able to see and understand this story. n
The “Newcomers”
El Despertar del Fuego will be one of the first animated films wholly produced in Chapala Media Park, promoted by the Information Technology Institute and with the support of the Science and Technology State Council of Jalisco.
—Why are you interested in rescuing this part of history?Because as Rubén from Café Tacvba puts it “our history has been stepped on.” Some-times, the Mexican and Latin American his-torical background has been stepped on. And we need to change that.
There is a lot of information on real heroes who were not defeated. The Aztec warriors were actually never defeated in hand-to-hand combat.
Also, I think we all must know about pre-Columbian history and culture and their con-
50 Negocios Photo courtesy of the british embassy in mexico
interView JUDitH mAcGreGor
Don’t let her Scottish name fool you. Judith Macgregor is as English a rose as you will ever find, a real London girl.
But the British Ambassador to Mexico ad-mits that she has found a home from home in the sunshine of Mexico City. The fact that her hobbies include arts and crafts and archaeol-ogy, so predominant in Mexican culure, has al-lowed her to feel quite relaxed in the shadows of Popo and Ixta, the two volcanoes overlook-ing the nation’s capital.
The tall, elegant, fair haired diplomat is as friendly and chatty as can be, a real delight to converse with.
Wearing a fashionable navy blue pin striped trouser suit, white shirt and a perma-nent “twinkle in her eye, the mother of four enthused about the delights of Mexico.
I find the Mexicans to be very friendly people, very easy to get along with. And the colours of Mexico are gorgeous! I have really enjoyed living here since I arrived last year. When I have the time, I like to get out to the archaeological sites and there are so many to choose from. They are fascinating places, espe-cially for me as archaeology is one of my pas-sions. I also like to indulge in cycling and em-broidery, so the arts and crafts to be found in the pueblos are right up my street.”
Judith was born in Bermondsey, Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames in 1952, in the days before mass immigration turned the area into a cosmopolitan melting pot.
meXico ticks All BoXes For AmBAssADorJudith Macgregor took up her post as the British Ambassador to Mexico in 2009. Since then she has been busy in her taxing job, particuarly in promoting increased trade between the two countries. But she has found time to enjoy all that Mexico has to offer and her hobbies have helped her feel right at home. She took time out from her duties to tell Negocios of her hectic lifestyle.
by GrAeme steWArt
“I suppose I had quite an Enid Blyton up-bringing” she said, referring to the English author of twee, middle class children’s books. “And I attended a Church of England grammar school in Central London. I had a very nice childhood and I remember my friends and I used to idolise two local boys –Tommy Steele, a 1950s English pop star who went on to star in Hollywood musicals and became an all round family entertainer, and Roger Moore, the actor who became James Bond.”
saw Bucharest. I got a British Council scholar-ship to study history there.”
“So I lived in Bucharest for a year under the Communist regime. It was an experience but I returned home the following year and applied to the Foreign Office and basically worked my way up from there. I soon found myself in Yugoslavia then led by Tito, an amazing man. Then I served in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia and met another diplomat called John Macgregor, whom I married,” she recalls.
As well as being a diplomat her husband is also a talented musician playing the organ, piano and cello and Judith likes nothing better than to listen to him play. Otherwise, she is an opera buff and would love to attend a perfor-mance of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
Judith also cares deeply about women’s Rights and is chair of the Foreign Office’s Women’s Association.
“It is difficut for women to get ahead in the Foreign Office, so we like to promote their cases whenever we can. We do not have many women in senior positions in the Foreign Of-fice,” she said.
As for her future in Mexico, she adds “I enjoy Mexico very much. It ticks all the boxes for me –history, archaeology, arts and crafts. I intend to continue enjoying all that Mexico has to offer while I am here.”
And with that, Her Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador to Mexico is off to her next en-gagement. n
“I enjoy Mexico very much. It ticks all the boxes for
me –history, archaeology, arts and crafts. I intend to continue enjoying all that
Mexico has to offer while I am here.”
After grammar school, she went on to study history at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford Univer-sity, and graduated in 1974. Strangely, she spent a year studying in Bucharest, Romania, before beginning her diplomatic career in 1975.
She explained: “I had never thought about Romania until a friend of mine, a musician, said she was going to Budapest in Hungary for a year. I thought that sounded good so I looked at a map to see what was near Budapest and
52 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photo archive
the LifestyLe feature eDitoriAl inDUstry
About The Art Of Book PublishingA group of new Mexican publishers, with leaders who are only around thirty years old, are looking to stake their place in the Spanish-language publishing industry. Competing against the large publishing houses, especially those from Spain, they want to show that they can find niches of cultural consumption that reconcile cultural quality with financial viability.
by JosÉ miGUel tomAsenA
In their words: instead of bestsellers, long sellers; instead of a Dan Brown or Steig Larsson publishing frenzy, a slow-cooked catalog of consistent quality; instead of fashion, literary merit; instead of the big bookstores that churn out constant novelties, distribution networks that reach their readers.
Publishers like Almadía, Sexto Piso, Tumbona or Textofilia were not on the radar in Mexico ten years ago. The success of Oaxaca-based Almadía shows that the fresh approach is a result of its focus on design –its colorful covers include a window onto the inside– and a catalog that combines acclaimed writers such as Sergio Pitol (winner of the Cervantes prize), Juan Villoro or Margo Glantz, with a generation of young writers who are coming to the fore, such as Bernardo Es-quinca, Alberto Chimal or Daniela Tarazona.
Tumbona Ediciones, founded in 2005, has published a collection of provocative diatribes called Ver-sus, including some of the funniest and most ingenious writings found among modern essay, with arguments against poetry, against television, against work and against copyright.
A report by UNESCO shows that Mexicans read an average of 2.9 books per year. However, a careful look at the 2006 National Reader Survey carried out by the National Council for Culture and the Arts (Conaculta) shows that a specific group of Mexicans with a high level of income and education read a lot more. Those with university-level education read an average of 5.1 books per year and taking into account income levels, the upper-middle and upper socioeconomic groups read 7.2 books per year.
This latest wave of publishers aiming to create high-quality cata-logs, realize that this is their niche. “It would be crazy to try to compete with Grupo Planeta or Mondadori, because their market is very well defined,” says Ricardo Sánchez, Edi-tor in Chief of Textofilia, a new pub-lishing house specializing in classical poetry and contemporary art.
On The Art Of Creating A CatalogDiego Rabasa, a partner in Sexto Piso, a Mexican publishing house that produces around twenty-five works a year and exports its catalog to South America and Spain, believes that the publishing business gives re-sults over the long term. The keys to success: quality and consistency.
Their work involves a slow and careful process of selecting books to create a long-term catalog, setting up independent distribution networks and buying the rights to high quality works that have not been published in Spanish.
54 Negocios Photos courtesy of sexto piso
“The secret is about knowing and being determined not to be mis-led by commercial interests. The only admission criteria to the catalog should be the book’s quality,” he says. “From that point on, the catalog itself makes the choices. Does this name go well with the other 96 books that I’ve already published? Does it work?” explains Rabasa.
“When you create a literary catalog, you’re not publishing opportu-nistically or to follow a fashion. You are aiming to produce long sellers rather than bestsellers,” he adds.
Rabasa often gives the example of Jorge Herralde, founder of Ana-grama, who was on the verge of closing down his publishing house after ten years of existence. It is now forty years old and has the most presti-gious catalog of Spanish-language literature. Another example is that of Manuel Borrás, editor of Pre-Textos, another Spanish publishing house, who took 15 years to generate a profit.
Sexto Piso’s adventure began in 2002 at the Political Science Facul-ty of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) where two students and a teacher swapped photocopies of texts that were no longer published. These books are no longer made, they said, so we should do it ourselves.
Almost eight years later, Sexto Piso “doesn’t make a profit but it doesn’t make a loss either,” says Rabasa. That is no mean feat if you stop to consider the number of idealistic young entrepreneurs who open publishing houses that soon go bankrupt. “We can live off this.
Many publishers can’t even do that,” he adds.
Currently the five partners have a modest salary that pays the bills. And that is something. In the early years, they supple-mented their income by other means - through doing transla-tions, receiving grants, writing for magazines and by living with their parents.
“We never had a business plan,” Rabasa is ashamed to ad-mit. “Our lack of business acu-men cost us dear.” They pub-lished books that did not get sold or which cost too much to translate. But they learnt how to calculate each book’s financial feasibility without compromising their principles.
“Reality soon dictates the need for a good publication to be
Creating an alternative selection
of works is not the only requirement when developing
their business. Small publishing houses
have had to diversify in order to compete.
the LifestyLe feature eDitoriAl inDUstry
matched by an equally good com-mercial potential. Ultimately, it’s a business and we are subject to the same rules as someone selling grapefruit,” says Rabasa.
Opening its Spanish subsidiary was one of the most important steps taken by Sexto Piso. Not only in terms of expanding the compa-ny’s financial growth but also due to the need for professionalization on entering the Spanish market. As Rabasa says, “in Spain there are an-other hundred small publishing houses producing impeccable books.” This required a graphic redesign of their books, a plan to balance out their collections (novels, short stories, essays, classics and illustrated books) and the participation, along with other publishers, as part of the Grupo Contexto, which received a prize from the Spanish government for the Best Cultural Publishing Work in 2008.
Although the Spanish market is much more competitive, it also offers the opportunity given the large number of specialized bookstores that enable their catalog to be on display for longer. If Spain currently reflects 30% of their total sales, compared to 60% in Mexico and the remainder in South America, mainly in Argentina and Chile, Rabasa hopes that sales in Spain will increase over the coming years until they match those in Mexico.
On The Meaning Of Being “Alternative”Textofilia was the creation of a group of literature students at the Ibero-American University who began to publish a magazine on literature and contemporary art. “Unlike other publishers, we had no start-up capital. Our only investment was our work, our time, and as we were still undergraduate students I reckon we didn’t start at zero, but from minus ten,” jokes Alfredo Núñez, editor in chief of Textofilia. It was originally a magazine. But over time the team grew, it became an almanac and a publishing house was born, be-ginning with poems and fragments of text by Anacreon.
Why publish a Greek poet from the sixth-century b.C.? “Textofilia is interested in archaeology through literature, to rescue authors who unfortunately do not appear in their own special editions, except in anthologies of classical poetry,” Alfredo Núñez says. It therefore seeks to be a new alternative in the Mexican publishing industry. “What we saw was that on an international level people’s taste was being defined
by what was commercially vi-able and quick to produce. This led to a homogenous glut of junk books or works that sought to fill a niche and then flooded that niche,” explains Núñez.
But creating an alternative selection of works is not the only requirement when developing their business. Small publishing houses have had to diversify in order to compete. Textofilia, like other publishers, is now involved in distribution, which apart from cutting its own costs, provides ex-tra income for it to work on other
publications, such as La Tempes-tad or Literal- Latin American Voices magazines, books of the Fundación del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México publish-ing fund or the Diamantine pub-lishers. They have also teamed up with other publishers to de-velop alternative sales strategies, such as “evening sales.” On one occasion, they managed to entice four thousand people to the Cen-tro Cultural España.
Small publishers do not have as many resources to promote au-thors or place advertisements in newspapers but nor do they need to play the same game as the large publishers with their constant search for the new.
Their work involves a slow and careful process of selecting books to create a long-term catalog, set-ting up independent distribution networks and buying the rights to high quality works that have not been published in Spanish.
It is the quality, rather than the size, that matters. n
Diego Rabasa, a partner in Sexto Piso, a Mexican publishing house that produces around twenty-five works a year and exports its catalog to South America and Spain, believes that the publishing business gives results over the long term. The keys to success: quality and consistency.
56 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photo archive56 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photo archive
“The electronic book is attracting a new generation of readers”Jorge Pinto is a keen supporter of “electronic literature.” His New York-based company, Jorge Pinto Books, has published around thirty works in Spanish and English, half of which are available in electronic format for the most popular reading devices, such as Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Apple’s iPhone.
by JosÉ miGUel tomAsenA
Despite some resistance and critical com-ments, there is little doubt that the future of the book lies in digital media. The facts have borne out this trend: in December 2009, Amazon reported that Kindle had become its best-selling gift in its history and that electronic
books were out-selling printed books for the first time. And on January 27, 2010, Apple an-nounced the launch of the iPad, an invention that aims to revolutionize the consumption of journals, magazines and books.
Jorge Pinto anticipated this change in 2002
when he founded his own publishing house in New York, Jorge Pinto Books, and he began to ex-plore the possibilities of editing electronic books. He has now published around thirty works in Spanish and English, half of which are available in electronic format for the most popular reading devices, such as Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Apple’s iPhone.
“Reading is being revived,” says Pinto, who is sure that iPad is a “game-changer,” despite receiving criticism from some quarters. “Kin-dle takes the prize for being the pioneer but it is a lower-quality device. Apple has come onto the market relatively late but its arrival will be a definite boost.”
interView AnDreAs Heineckethe LifestyLe feature eDitoriAl inDUstry
a laptop, you can read it lying down rather than always having to be hunched over it.
—How will it affect other reading de-vices?I think they’re going to become obsolete. Literally. It’s completely different. Amazon is going to have to bring out a Kindle that can produce colors. I imagine they’re work-ing hard on that right now. I think that we’ll be seeing a lot of similar devices but like in the case of the iPhone, nothing is going to get close.
advantage of electronic reading will suc-ceed. It’s a new platform. It’s a new media that may be enriched with music, hyper-texts or reading clubs. It opens doors to new ways of disseminating content. For those who already own content –such as publish-ers– you can either choose to do nothing or add greater content and value to what you already have.
—What impact will it have on the Span-ish-language publishing industry?I see it as an opportunity to break up monopo-
—How is an electronic book better than a printed one?Printed books have a very expensive inven-tory problem. There is the difficulty that bookstores sell them for one or two weeks on their shelves and then they want to get rid of books to make room for new ones. A paradox occurred with this year’s Nobel Prize winner [Herta Müller]: it was unpub-lished for a month, even though there were translations dating from 1990 or 2000. But they were no longer available because inventories in the US are also considered a taxable asset.
Another factor is the lack of piracy. The important thing about electronic books, especially those for the iPhone –the device I use most for my publications– is that a book can only be read on one iPhone. I can’t copy it for anyone else. If my wife wants to read it, I have to leave her my phone.
—How are electronic books different from other media businesses, like mu-sic or film?They are two separate types of media. With music you’re talking about millions [of downloads], with books, thousands. That’s the main difference and the same applies for films. My print runs vary between 2,000 and 5,000 but, as opposed to bestsellers, they are known as evergreen because they are sold constantly, each month, and they don’t need to be struck off catalog lists.
—What does the iPad mean for the publishing industry?It’s going to be successful. They’re going to sell four million devices straight away. It’s going to attract precisely those people who are averse to reading devices because “you can’t see the pages,” “the pages turn slowly” or because “you can only read them with lights on.” If you check out Steve Jobs’ pre-sentation you can see how you can literally lift up the page with your finger and leave it half-turned. It’s just like a book. Also, unlike
“It’s a new platform. It’s a new media that may be enriched with music, hypertexts or reading clubs. It opens doors to new ways of disseminating content. For those who already own content –such as publishers– you can either choose to do nothing or add greater content and value to what you already have.”
—How does this change your work as an editor?Actually, I’m working with my developer on de-signing a platform. This is forcing me to be more ambitious and to develop my own reader for the iPad. You can create hypertexts; make books more interactive, with notes. It brings other costs down so much that I have the resources to create my own reader.
The advantage of Jobs is that he lets anyone develop applications. There isn’t going to be just one platform but several. With Kindle, as an editor you upload your books and the quality is uneven. Here the editor has control, although Apple has the last word, as it won’t take on a book without testing it first. For editors like my-self, this is a challenge to publish better books.
—Where are publishers going to com-pete? What is going to distinguish them from each other?Content. Whoever manages to take fullest
lies, as a chance for anyone with a certain amount of imagination to take part. It does away with distribution bottlenecks. For in-stance, the iTunes store is already selling con-tent in Colombia, Mexico and Argentina, and not just music but also applications and con-tent too. You don’t need to be a big publishing company any more. You can get a piece of the action if you can offer attractive content. —What entrepreneurial opportunities do you see in Mexico?Mexico has enormous possibilities with technology. And not just in terms of books but for all kinds of media. We have a huge pool of talent in the software industry. Our creativeness will give us a new opportunity. If I were a businessman or considering a new business, I would set up a company to produce applications for Apple. Not just for books but all types of applications: for debt collections, for catalogs, for everything. n
58 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photo archive
destination ZAcAtecAs
Built between hills and on steep slopes, the city of Zacatecas, capital of the Mexican state of the same name, has a maze-like street plan, which makes wandering it a delight.
Founded in 1548, two years after the nearby discovery of silver, Zacatecas was one of the most important mining cities in New Spain and is one of the most beautiful cities of contempo-rary Mexico.
The people of Zacatecas have made such outstanding efforts to preserve and restore the city’s ancient architectural monuments, and with such good results, that UNESCO designat-ed the city a “World Heritage Site” in 1993.
As one explores the city’s peculiar urban layout along narrow streets, alleys and pla-zas, many of these outstanding buildings can be found.
Look no further than the majestic Cathe-dral, considered one of the most important ex-pressions of Baroque architecture in Mexico. It was built between 1730 and 1760. Its façade is one of the finest examples of Churrigueresque architecture in Mexico.
The State Government Palace, an eighteenth century building, originally the dwelling of the Count of Santiago de la Laguna, hosts a mural by Antonio Pintor Rodríguez that depicts the his-tory of the city. Just outside the building is the Plaza de Armas, the most important and largest square in the city.
Across the main street and on the left as you stand with your back to the Government Palace
The city of Zacatecas in Northern Mexico is not only an absolute labyrinth of winding streets but also a fascinating maze of artistic and cultural treasures.
ZAcAtecAs, A cHArminG lAByrintH
is the Palacio de la Mala Noche (The Bad Night Palace), which used to be the house of a Span-ish miner, Manuel de Rétegui. The former Ho-tel Francés, now a tourist information office, is located next to it.
Several blocks to the east is the Rafael Coro-nel Museum, located at the former convent of San Francisco, dating from the 17th century. The museum exhibits several fine collections includ-ing a fascinating one of some 10,000 masks –the largest collected work of its kind worldwide. Also intriguing are a series of sketches and ar-chitectural designs by Diego Rivera, terra cotta figures of the colonial era, regal parchments and the banner given to the city by King Phillip II at the end of the 16th century.
Returning towards the center, one can see the Plaza de Santo Domingo. The church of Santo Domingo, built as a Jesuit church (1746-1749) but turned over to the Dominicans when the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, has a particu-larly interesting interior with eight Churrigue-resque gilded wooden retablos or altarpieces, with fine sculptures and paintings.
On the north side of the plaza is the former Jesuit College, now the Pedro Coronel Museum displaying this Zacatecan painter’s fabulous col-lection of art from around the world, donated near the end of his life to his native city. The ground floor houses the Elías Amador Library, some 25,000 volumes full of history. The muse-um exhibits paintings by Picasso, Miro, Dali and Chagall, among others.
Two short blocks away is the former Casa de la Moneda (Royal Mint), founded in 1810, which later became the State Treasury and is now the Zacatecan Museum, exhibiting collections of Huichol art, votive paintings and ironwork.
Past the Zacatecan Museum is the side en-trance to the ex-temple of San Agustín. Its main facade was destroyed in the last century and its towers decapitated.
Downhill from San Agustín is the Ro-sales Arcade, once an important shopping area. Turning back towards the Cathedral, one can view the Fernando Calderón The-ater, constructed between 1891 and 1897 and which takes its name from Fernando Calde-rón (1809-1845), a noted poet and dramatist. Across the street from the theater is the 19th century González Ortega Market, completely restored in 1982 as a shopping center. This is a good place to look for souvenirs and below the market are several very good and inexpensive restaurants.
On the outskirts of the city, the Eden mine is one of the main tourist attractions. There, a narrow-gauge mining train takes visitors into the depths below the city and the cable-car, or teleférico, soars over the city from one of the mine’s upper entrances to La Bufa hill with its outstanding view.
Zacatecas might seem a complex, labyrin-thine city, but the effort to explore it is made more than worthwhile by the discovery of so many cultural and artistic riches.
60 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photos courtesy of government of the state of zacatecas
The SurroundingsThanks to its fascinating geography and rich
natural resources, Zacatecas’ surrounding areas offer ideal scenarios for outdoor activities.
The Sierra de Órganos, which has served as a setting for several international film produc-tions, and the Sierra de Cardos, near the city of Jerez, are two excellent places to take in the gor-geous outdoor scenery.
Close to the city you will find La Quemada and Altavista, two pre-Hispanic archaeological zones that reflect the industrious nature of the societies that built them.
La Quemada, located 50 km southeast of Za-
where?• Zacatecas is located in Mexico’s north-central region, 610 kilometers
northwest of Mexico City, 458 kilometers southwest of Monterrey and 318 kilometers north of Guadalajara.
what?• Catedral (Cathedral) – Located on Avenida Hidalgo. Considered
one of the most important masterpieces of New Spain Baroque architecture.
• Church of Santo Domingo – Located at the Plaza Santo Domingo. The sober Baroque façade is certain to grab your attention.
• State Government Palace and Plaza de Armas – Located at 604 Avenida Hidalgo. Inside the Governor’s Palace you’ll see a mural by Antonio Pintor Rodríguez that depicts the history of Zacatecas. Just outside the building is the Plaza de Armas, the most important and largest square in the city.
• Ex-Temple of San Agustín – Located on Miguel Auza Street. What was once a grandiose façade, originally a Baroque design, is now a tall white wall. The side walls of the structure remain intact, giving an idea of how the building once looked.
• Fernando Calderón Theatre – Located at 501 Avenida Hidalgo. This is Zacatecas’ most brilliant architectural treasure. Its svelteness and strategic location allow you to appreciate its beauty from all angles. The three-tiered façade and the building’s crest give it the appearance of an impressive construction from the classical period.
• Pedro Coronel Museum – Located in the Plaza Santo Domingo. This museum houses a collection of universal art from famed Zacatecan artist Pedro Coronel.
• Rafael Coronel Museum – Located at the Ex-Convent of San Francisco, it exhibits Mexican popular art.
• Zacatecan Museum – Located at 301 Doctor Hierro Street. This museum has a large and rare collection of Huichol art, making it the only collected work of its kind.
how?• Either on foot or from 85 meters above on the cable-car that crosses
the city, Zacatecas is a destination with its own unique charm, beauty and culture.
catecas, is one of the state’s most important ar-chaeological zones and it stands out for its stone structures built on man-made terraces on the slope of a hill.
The main attractions of Altavista, located 55 km north-west of Zacatecas, include a rectan-gular plaza with an altar in the middle delete of the square, the Salón de las Columnas with 28 columns and the Pirámide del Sol (Pyramid of Sun) which houses a crypt.
In the suburbs of Zacatecas lies the village of Guadalupe, once the base for the great Francis-can drive northwards. The former monastery is now the Museum of Viceregal Art, a treasure
trove of secret passages, cells, catacombs, sundi-als, enormous water tanks, chapels, corridors and doorways, together with magnificent pieces of religious art of all kinds. Highlights include seventeenth century oil paintings, cells fur-nished in period style, the monastery library and the Nápoles Chapel, richly decorated with complicated white and gold motifs.
For those who appreciate tranquility and nature, Paraíso Caxcan, a spa that offers various treatments and relaxation techniques, is located two hours from Zacatecas. n
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feedback XocHiPilli-XocHiqUÉtZAl
The Fascination For Mexican Handicrafts
Xochipilli-Xochiquétzal are two sister organizations that were born to provide support and training for Mexican craftsmen. The trading company and the civil association work together to give hand
made products from rural indigenous communities access to the international markets.
According to the Aztec cosmogony, Xochipilli and Xochiquétzal were twin brother and sis-ter, a prince and a princess, god and goddess of the flowers and of all the beautiful things in nature and therefore patron and patron-ess, respectively, of artists and craftsmen.
These two names in the Náhuatl lan-guage inspired the names of the twin organi-zations as well – born in the city of Cuernava-ca, Morelos, to revere and support Mexican craftsmanship. A cult of much more modern shades, linked not only to the preservation of traditions but also, and above all, to the In-
ternational expansion of hand-made exqui-site products by rural and indigenous com-munities in Mexico.
Since 1991, these two organizations have helped craftsmen from various sites in Mexico ship their products to countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Austria, the US and Canada. When they decided to em-bark on this project, its founders concluded there were two problems to solve. Firstly, find clients outside of Mexico who could be interested in the work of Mexican artisans. Secondly, help Mexican artisans ascribe to
by cristinA ÁvilA-ZesAtti
62 Negocios i The Lifestyle Photo archive
punctual production and quality standards, without losing traditional manufacturing methods.
Fair Trade and Community Partner-ship
While Xochipilli is an international trad-ing company, Xochiquétzal is a non-profit organization. It may seem contradictory but, according to its founders, the two comple-ment each other. As with the Aztec god and goddess, they were born together to work for a common goal: Mexican artisans and crafts-manship.
In a way, one of the organizations is in charge solely of the products and goods, whereas the other is responsible for the men and women who manufacture them. So, while the trading company specializes in finding international clients who value the work made in Mexico, its twin organization is devoted to training those in charge of pro-ducing this work to improve its quality.
Since their birth, they joined the World Fair Trade Organization (WFT) and later they applied for membership of the Euro-pean Fair Trade Association (EFTA), in order to create an ethical trading culture deliver-ing benefits for the producers and artisans, as well as for their international customers.Xochipilli-Xochiquétzal, which initially start-ed with 100 workshops, has decided to con-centrate its efforts in 18 training workshops located in five states: Guerrero, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Estado de México and Morelos.
Balance and Sustainability, Tradition and QualityTo honor their name, these organizations act as true guides for the artisans. They choose their suppliers based on their ability to pro-duce beautiful works featuring the distinc-tive Mexican tradition aspect and willing-ness and openness to receive training at the workshops in order to upgrade production and quality standards.
“We could say our specialty is the pieces in rustic clay, although we also organize workshops and courses and later export handicrafts made with lacquered wood, tin and ceramics baked at medium and low tem-peratures,” explains Inez Villaseñor Salto, general manager of Xochipilli-Xochiquétzal.
Today, the annual sales abroad with the support of these organizations account for roughly 120,000 usd, which benefit around 100 Mexican artisans and their families.
clay, making their own household products, only occasionally available for retail sale. In this community, only women were allowed to go to the clay mines but now the men help in some of the gathering work, as much as their tradition allows them.
Today, some 26 women from Cuentepec are able to produce 1,000 pieces a week and
when they are not sold to international cli-ents through Xochipilli-Xochiquétzal, they can be sold in other markets.
When Xochipilli-Xochiquétzal has given indigenous women the opportunity to work for a certain wage, the whole family contrib-utes to the work, exponentially improving the quality of life of the community.
“The money the women obtain through their work is usually well invested in im-proving the nurturing and education of their families or in house improvements. Giving them access to an additional source of in-come makes them feel better about them-
feedback XocHiPilli-XocHiqUÉtZAl
It is easier said than done but it implies very hard work. Only three full time employ-ees are in charge of coordinating, visiting, promoting and planning the logistics to ship the goods, which must travel from the rural communities to their final destinations.
Also, in its 20 years of operating, Xochipi-lli- Xochiquétzal has supported itself with its own resources obtained through its intermediary work and helped by clients from abroad, who oc-casionally request and partially fund special workshops and semi-nars for specific craftsmanship.
Future PlansXochipilli-Xochiquétzal have man-aged to preserve the traditions of the artisans in the communities where they work and have also optimized their production and quality skills. They have also been able to implement additional small changes in these indigenous and rural communities of Mexico.
Traditionally, in many of these places women have no access to work or any other type of opportunities. Even though women are typically the creators of most of the handicrafts, the local ways have always al-lowed them to produce them for use solely in their own dwellings.
In Cuentepec, Morelos, for instance, women were the ones typically working the
Since 1991, these two organizations have helped craftsmen from various sites in
Mexico ship their products to countries such as France, Italy, Germany, Austria, the US
and Canada.
selves,” says Inez Villaseñor.At the moment, the international handi-
crafts market is hardly going through a boom period, so Xochipilli-Xochiquétzal plan to concentrate their work in the 18 workshops they operate in five states.
In the future, their plans are to begin a cam-paign amongst its beneficiaries, promoting in-
creased contact between the crafts-men and the Fair Trade mission.
“In the fair trade philosophy, the salaries must be competitive and you have to take responsi-bility for the men and women involved in the processes of pro-duction, as well as for the envi-ronment, complying with all the required standards. The working conditions must be optimized and
the commercial relations must benefit the cli-ents, traders and manufacturers equally and as much as possible,” claims Inez Villaseñor.
These two organizations have not only managed to stay afloat but also in 20 years have implemented important structural and economic changes without undermining the traditional ways of making handicrafts in Mexico. They have also achieved interna-tional recognition and appreciation for these 100% typical Mexican products. Undeni-ably, in a cult for the gods that inspired their names, they have become true modern pa-trons for Mexican artisans. n
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Preserving their traditions and techniques without threatening the environment.
Developing workshops to
improve production and quality.
Maintaining a perma-nent communication
network with the artisans to inspect
production standards, follow up and comply
with orders.
XOCHIPILLI-XOCHIQUÉTZALWorking for Mexican ArtisansThe main objectives of the organizations include:
Creating their own designs and samples requested by foreign customers.
Improving the competitiveness
and quality of life of Mexican
artisans by trading their work in the
international markets.
Achieving equal development and
creating perma-nent work
opportunities for both men and women in the communities.
Improving the empowerment and purchasing capacity of women so that their work benefits their own families and increases their access to educa-tion and opportu-nities.
Creating a network of
communities producing
handicrafts so that they can find
additional tools to market their own work in local and
domestic markets.
Communicating the artistic heritage of the communities they work with.
Sharing the principles of Fair Trade among the
artisans.
Periodically launching
new products.
