Three days after Hurricane Otis struck Acapulco in October 2023, El Universal spoke with José Mercado Medrano, a gardener, mason and painter who had lived in the city for more than 30 years.
“Gracias a Dios, gracias a la Virgen, estamos con vida” (Thank God, thank the Virgin, we are alive), he said. “De todas maneras tenemos manos y fuerzas para poder levantarnos” (In any case, we have hands and strength to get back up).