By Tim Binnall
A popular mystic in Mexico known as the country's 'Grand Warlock' has issued his forecast for 2022. Boasting a wizard-like appearance and a penchant for making bold declarations about what the future will bring, self-proclaimed clairvoyant Antonio Vazquez has become something of a fixture in Mexico by way of his annual early-January press conferences wherein he reads the tarot and puts forth his predictions for the new year. The Grand Warlock reportedly kept the three-decade-long tradition alive last Wednesday when he assembled the media to reveal what he sees happening over the next twelve months.
Unlike in years past, however, it would appear that Vazquez did more pontificating than prognosticating as he largely mused about the state of world affairs with an occasional prediction thrown in for good measure. To that end, the Grand Warlock cautioned that climate change will continue to be a serious problem facing the entire world and indicated that "this year we are going to see how New York will be flooded more." Vazquez also warned that the United States will be impacted by economic troubles, but assured the media that Mexico will weather the storm and wind up "in the first 15 places of those that are not so bad."
Although he has made news in the past for his predictions concerning American politics, the Grand Warlock seems to have stayed out of the proverbial fray this year. That said, he did predict that Mexican president López Obrado would face health issues and that there will be setbacks surrounding the construction of a long-discussed railway system spanning the Yucatan Peninsula. With regards to Mexico's chances in the 2022 World Cup, Vazquez likely disappointed his audience as he indicated that "the national team will have a lot of fun, but they will lose most of the games" and fail to get out of the group stage of the tournament.
As always, time will tell whether or not the Grand Warlock's forecast for the new year winds up being correct. A look back at his 2021 predictions sees something of a mixed bag as his vision that the coronavirus "starts to be mastered between May and June, but it doesn't end this year" was fairly accurate in that it did seem that the pandemic had begun to wane around that time of year before the Delta and Omicron variants emerged. However, Vazquez also claimed that the Summer Olympics would be postponed again, which did not happen. So perhaps fans of Mexico's football team should not give up on the dream of seeing them capture the World Cup later this year.