Original, June 12-15, Los Pinos, SC

Alma E. Muñoz and Arturo Sánchez

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 7, 2025, p. 4

While the Mexican government thanked the people, the Principality of Asturias and its foundation for the Concordia award of the Prince of Asturias Prize to the National Museum of Anthropology (MNA), the Ministry of Culture (SC) reported that from the 12th to the 15th of this month, Original, a meeting of decorative and utilitarian art, will be held at the Los Pinos Cultural Complex, with the participation of 250 artisans from 22 cultures of Mexico and 28 states.

It was also announced that 15,000 participants between the ages of 18 and 34 registered for the first edition of the México Canta competition: 12,418 from Mexico and 2,697 from the United States.

Claudia Curiel, Secretary of Culture, said the contestants are primarily from the state of Mexico (18.72 percent), Mexico City (17.56 percent), Jalisco (8.79 percent), and Puebla (5.77 percent). The genres most prominent were banda, norteño, pop, campirano, rock, rap/hip hop, and boleto. The final will be on August 8.

Yesterday, in the Treasury Hall, through a video, the government stated that the award given to the MNA recognizes it as a privileged space of greatness, diversity and cultural strength of Mexico, from the first civilizing impulses that flourished in our territory to the vitality, creativity and resilience of living cultures .

Regarding the allegations of sexual harassment directed at Pedro Alberto Velázquez Castro, Director of Security and Protection of Cultural Heritage at the National Institute of Anthropology and History, when he served as Director of the National Migration Institute's Surveillance Center, Curiel de Icaza said there has been no formal complaint.

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 7, 2025, p. 4

The city of Zacatecas was declared a Historic Monument Zone, according to the Official Gazette of the Federation (DOF), with the goal of protecting Mexico's diversity, memory, and cultural heritage.

The area is made up of 169 blocks, where 827 buildings and urban elements of heritage value are located, constructed between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The document details the historical background of Zacatecas, where the Hispanic presence began in 1546 with the discovery of silver deposits, which generated economic influence and wealth, with the promotion of roads that linked it to Mexico City.

Metal production and the need to meet the demand of the mines, as well as the population, contributed to the construction of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, which crossed the center of New Spain.

It is noteworthy that Zacatecas has two World Heritage Sites listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The mandate signed by President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo specifies that its purpose is to preserve the heritage located in the historic area of ​​the Zacatecas capital.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History will be responsible for monitoring compliance with the decree based on the Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic, and Historical Monuments and Zones.

▲ Actor Carlos Álvarez (left) is Blanco, the university professor, and Marco Antonio García is Negro, an ex-convict who has found faith. Photo by Cristina Rodríguez

Alondra Flores Soto

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 7, 2025, p. 5

A look between desolation and hope is brought to the stage in an acting fencing act in The Last Train, a dramaturgical piece in which American writer Corman McCarthy asks the big question about the meaning of existence.

Each position has some truth, both the desolation of seeing the world as a forced labor camp where we are all prisoners and led randomly to execution. And also the other, that of course something better exists, if we work for it. We want the audience to oscillate between black and white in this gray area , declared director Luis Ángel Gómez during a conference on the play, which opens its season today at the National Center for the Arts (Cenart).

The story is triggered by a subway platform, where the two characters in the play met earlier. "You weren't supposed to be a hero ," one of them reproaches, as he was arrested before jumping onto the tracks.

Two characters, identified in the script as Blanco and Negro, engage in an intense dialogue where they confront their philosophical and spiritual ideas. The duel of life visions takes place while they are locked in a small apartment.

The stage director considered it valuable to identify why some people experience desolation, without denying that feeling of emptiness and pain from reality, that they wake up every day with daily pain and anxiety. Some find redemption, but it doesn't work for others. That would be the quest, to legitimize both positions, since neither is absolute truth .

Marco Antonio García, one of the actors on stage, stated that we have lived in a time where it seems like a system is murdering the future . Seeing the genocide in Gaza or the humanitarian crisis makes us feel complicit, he mentioned. Theater appeals to us to find a meaning that can guide our actions and reflect on ourselves as humanity.

For his part, Carlos Álvarez opined that even though the outlook may seem bleak, we must always fight; we don't know why or what we're here for. We must respect everyone's beliefs and feelings . We must also try not to turn a blind eye to what's happening in the world, in an age of absurd wars.

The play, McCarthy's second, premiered in 2006. The author, who was born in Rhode Island in 1933, is best known for the novels No Country for Old Men; All the Pretty Horses, which won the National Book Award; and The Road, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize.

McCarthy was a very intelligent man; he died in 2023. He knew that he portrayed humanity, at least in the West, as out of step with both nature and what we've built as a culture , opined actor Marco Antonio García. Hence this expression between faith and reason .

The original title of the play is Sunset Limited, the name of one of the oldest and longest trains in the United States, which runs from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The director of the play, which was translated by Gerardo Capetillo, explained that adapting it to the Mexican context was somewhat complicated because the author draws heavily on various American cultural references.

The work's metaphor is a train that does exist; while it doesn't pass through major US cities like New York, it does pass through areas near the border. It's a journey to the fertile and rich lands of California. It's a journey toward a promising future that is resoundingly clear in American culture.

In the Mexican context, emphasis was placed on the metaphor that we are passengers on the train of life, and some already want to get off, while others find meaning in looking at their fellow passengers. The language is clear: it's the last train you'll ever see, but in Blanco's case, it's also what prevents him from reaching peace, solitude, everything he yearns for .

After its premiere in 2024, the production is being re-staged with a new cast featuring Carlos Álvarez as Blanco, a university professor, and Marco Antonio García as Negro, an ex-convict who has found faith. The latter commented that the performance is realistic, and there are some set and lighting elements that are symbolic, so there is a play between these two planes.

The play The Last Train begins its season today and concludes on July 12 (except Sunday the 15th), with performances from Thursday to Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m., at the Cenart Arts Forum, located at Río Churubusco 79, in the Country Club neighborhood.

▲ Photo AFP

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, June 7, 2025, p. 5

French-Algerian contemporary dance choreographer Rachid Ouramdane combines acrobatics, music, and architecture in his performance Vertigo. Suspended in the air or perched on balconies, the acrobats of the Chaillot National Dance Theatre create a dizzying atmosphere in a sensorial immersion, driven by the dream of pushing their limits, following the rhythm set by Ouramdane at the Grand Palais in Paris.