Monday, March 2, 2026

En Breve: AMLO congratulates Lula, Checo finishes 3rd in Mexican GP, tourists flock to Mexico

AMLO congratulates Lula on victory in Brazil’s presidential election

President López Obrador has congratulated his fellow leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his victory in Sunday’s presidential election in Brazil.

Lula, as the former president is commonly known, defeated incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro in a runoff election in Latin America’s most populous country, attracting almost 51% of the vote, compared to his opponent’s 49%.

López Obrador acknowledged the 77-year-old’s victory in a post to social media on Sunday. “Lula won, blessed people of Brazil. There will be equality and humanism,” he wrote.

In a telephone call on Monday afternoon, AMLO personally conveyed his congratulations to the president-elect and invited him to visit Mexico before he takes office on January 1, 2023. “I spoke with a friend, brother and colleague who asked me to pass on the following message: ‘Lula loves Mexico,’” he wrote on Facebook above a video recording of his call with the president-elect.

Checo appears on F1 podium for 25th time

Guadalajara native Sergio “Checo” Pérez finished third in Sunday’s Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City.

The 32-year-old Red Bull driver crossed the finishing line 18 seconds behind his teammate and victor Max Verstappen of the Netherlands. Brit Lewis Hamilton, who drives for Mercedes, finished second.

Checo Pérez in his Red Bull/Oracle uniform, giving a thumbs up.
Checo Pérez’s hopes for a home-turf victory were dashed, but he still made it to the podium. Chris Graythen/Getty Images via Red Bull Content Pool

It was the 25th time that Pérez has finished in the top three in a F1 race. The Mexican driver has a total of four F1 victories to his name, the most recent coming in Singapore earlier this month.

Almost 400,000 people flocked to the Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack to watch three days of high-speed racing in the Mexican capital.

Over 15 million international tourists flew into Mexico in the first nine months of the year

The Tourism Ministry reported Sunday that almost 15.1 million international tourists arrived at Mexican airports between January and September. The figure represents an increase of just over 6% compared to the same period of last year.

The three biggest source countries for tourists were, in order, the United States, Canada and Colombia. About 9.7 million Americans flew into the country in the first nine months of the year, a 35.5% increase compared to the same period of 2021.

The busiest airport for international tourist arrivals was that in Cancún, Quintana Roo, accounting for 47% of the total. The Mexico City and Los Cabos airports ranked second and third, respectively.

A good month for the stock market

The Mexican Stock Market’s benchmark IPC index rose almost 12% in October, its highest month-over-month increase since November 2020. The newspaper Reforma reported that it was the best October for the stock exchange since 1999.

El Economista said that an “acceptable reporting season” and “expectations of a moderation to the pace of interest rate increases” contributed to the strong result. The IPC index of 35 large companies rose 1.7% on Monday to 49,922 points, but is still well below the 2022 high of over 56,000 points recorded in April.

Mexico News Daily 

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