From stocks and bonds to promissory notes, Dawn Stoner looks at the best options for foreigners to invest their money in Mexico beyond real estate. (Ngital/Unsplash)
In last week’s installment of Mexico and My Money, I wrote about investing in Mexican real estate through the lens of financing a property purchase. But foreigners have many more options for investing extra cash in Mexico, whether it’s to diversify a portfolio or invest funds acquired while living here.
Our recent financial survey found that readers’ top investment in Mexico is real estate, with 85% of respondents saying they had bought property here, either to live in or for other reasons. Besides real estate, MND readers apparently do very little investing in Mexico. About 8% of survey respondents said they have bought stocks or bonds, while roughly 10% said they had invested in a local business.
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón congratulates Guillermo Güemez García, deputy governor of the Bank of Mexico, during the inauguration of the “CETES Directo” program in 2010, which offered investors a new savings option starting from 100 pesos. (Isaac Esquivel/Cuartoscuro)
Below, I’ll look at three investing opportunities for foreign residents in Mexico: CETES, pagarés and stocks.
Earning passive income with Mexican government bonds
Known as CETES, government bonds are one of the simplest, low-risk options expats have to earn passive income while living in Mexico. And who doesn’t need a little extra money these days?
CETES, or Certificados de la Tesorería de la Federación, are Mexican federal treasury certificates and the functional equivalent of U.S. Treasuries. They are auctioned by the Bank of Mexico most Tuesdays and available in various maturities (e.g., one, three, six and 12 months).
Known as “zero coupon” bonds, these securities are sold at a discount, with investors receiving the full face value at maturity, just like a U.S. T-bill. For this reason, you receive no interest payments on CETES until maturity, so holding them for the full term is essential to earn a return.
The most obvious benefit of investing in CETES is to help insulate your savings from inflation, which is currently running around 3.5% in Mexico. Besides, CETES are currently leaving U.S. T-bills in the dust on yields.
CETES yields vary based on the holding period, with six-month bonds currently offering 6.79%, while those with a one-month maturity yield 6.25%. In contrast, a six-month T-bill yields about 4.36% and a one-month T-bill yields a little over 4%, which is only slightly above the U.S. 3.7% inflation rate.
A look at CETES yields in the U.S. and Mexico, based on the holding period. (Mexico News Daily).
While savvy investors know there’s a first time for everything, the Mexican government has never defaulted on interest payments for CETES bonds. Given the stability of Mexico’s economy lately, the odds of a government default on these bonds (especially for short holding periods) are very low.
These bonds can be purchased by Mexican citizens and legal foreign residents, but not by tourists or those living outside Mexico. In addition, foreign residents must meet the following requirements:
Be over 18 years of age.
Show proof of legal residency (e.g., a permanent or temporary residency card).
Have a bank debit card or CLABE number for a Mexican bank account in which the investor is the owner. (Foreign accounts cannot be linked.)
Have a CURP number (found on your residency card) and RFC number (Mexican tax ID).
The Mexican government operates a website to sell CETES directly to the public at cetesdirecto.com. These bonds can also be purchased through Mexican brokers.
Mexican bank promissory notes (pagarés)
Pagarés, short for pagaré con rendimiento liquidable al vencimiento, are a low-risk, term deposit earning a fixed yield.
They work similarly to certificates of deposit in the U.S., where the purchaser lends money to a Mexican bank for a specified period and the bank pays a fixed interest rate upon maturity. Pagarés are funded with cash and fully insured up to the IPAB limit of 400,000 UDIs (3.54 million pesos or about US $193,000) when purchased from regulated banks.
Right now, these investments are yielding anywhere from 3% to 11% annually. Traditional banks like BBVA, Santander and Banamex tend to offer lower yields (3% to 7%), while fintech and digital providers such as Inbursa offer higher yields (8% to 11%).
Key trade-offs of pagaré investments
The primary downside to pagarés is their lack of liquidity. If an investor withdraws funds from a pagaré before it matures — or sells it on the secondary market before maturity — all of the accrued interest is forfeited and the seller incurs a penalty. So, it’s important to commit funds that won’t be needed during the lockup period.
Pagarés are purchased directly from the issuing bank. Unlike CETES, they cannot be bought from brokers. Another key difference between CETES and pagarés is the capital required. Banks typically have a minimum investment of around 5,000 pesos (US $267) for pagarés, while CETES can be purchased for as little as 100 pesos (US $5).
Like CETES, foreigners interested in buying pagarés must hold legal residency in Mexico and maintain a Mexican bank account.
Foreigners can also invest in Mexican stocks
Full confession: I spent six years working as an equity analyst for various investment banks back in the early aughts, so I do not take stock investing lightly.
Mexico’s Stock Exchange (BMV) is headquartered in Mexico City. (Isabel Mateos/Cuartoscuro)
While some investors may purchase stock after hearing a hot tip from a friend or watching an influencer on TikTok, I don’t endorse it. In contrast to purchasing CETES and pagarés, there is more risk associated with stock investing.
There is no guarantee that your investment will make money, and it’s possible to lose all your principal. For anyone serious about stock investing, due diligence is required.
Stock investing by Mexican households is not common, with an estimated 1% to 5% actively trading stocks. For those who do, one of the best places I’ve found to research Mexican stocks is TradingView Mexico. For market news, another great resource is Mexico Market Chatter from Miranda Intelligence. Mexican brokers such as BBVA, Actinver and Monex also produce equity research for their private clients, as do some foreign brokerage houses.
Navigating Mexican brokerage accounts
Legal foreign residents can trade Mexican stocks through a licensed Mexican brokerage house. Two of the most popular platforms with retail investors today are GBM+ (Grupo Bursátil Mexicano) and Bursanet (by Actinver).
But there are a few unique hurdles for foreign nationals to clear. Chief among them is that foreigners must open a Mexican brokerage account in person rather than online.
When doing so, the following is typically required:
A valid passport.
Proof of legal immigration status (residency card), either temporary or permanent.
CURP and RFC numbers.
Constancia de Situación Fiscal (your official tax status issued by the SAT).
Proof of local domicile less than three months old (e.g., a CFE bill).
CLABE number for a Mexican bank account in your name.
If none of these options appeal to you, keep an eye out for my upcoming article examining emerging opportunities across Mexico’s fast-growing fintech sector.
From tipping and working with local contractors to moving money into Mexico from abroad, check out more from MND’s “Mexico and My Money” archive.
MND writer Dawn Stoner is reporting from Guadalajara.
The cash-discouraging Digital Economy Law passed the Senate Tuesday by a 73-34 vote, and will become law with President Sheinbaum's signature and publication in the Official Gazette, both of which are expected soon. (Andrea Murcia / Cuartoscuro.com)
Seventy-three senators voted in favor of the bill while 34 senators voted against it. The bill was supported by the ruling Morena party, which controls both houses of Congress.
Gas stations and toll booths will most likely be the first to stop accepting cash payments. (Unsplash)
The Digital Economy Law will take effect after its promulgation by the federal government via publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation. President Claudia Sheinbaum submitted the bill to Congress and is expected to promptly sign it into law.
The law, approved by the Chamber of Deputies earlier this month, gives the federal Finance Ministry (SHCP) the authority to determine “the strategic sectors and relevant activities in which the acceptance of digital and electronic payment methods will be the only form of payment.”
Sheinbaum said in March that cash payments at gas stations and highway toll booths would be eliminated starting this year. She said on Wednesday that she expected government tax revenue would increase as a result of eliminating cash payments at gas stations and tollbooths.
While the law could enter into force as soon as this Thursday, it is not yet clear when cash payments at gas stations, toll booths and possibly some other locations will be eliminated. Morena lawmakers said that the transition will take place in an “orderly” fashion.
Unlike some other countries, cash is still widely used in Mexico.
Law aims to promote digital and electronic payments across the economy
The federal Senate said in a statement that the aim of the Digital Economy Law for Digital and Electronic Payments is to “promote the adoption and implementation of these modes of payments in government procedures and in the purchase of goods and services.”
The law seeks to make digital and electronic payments more accessible to consumers, thus reducing the need for cash. It also seeks to encourage more businesses to accept digital and electronic payments, promote financial inclusion, combat tax evasion and increase traceability of transactions. Municipal, state and federal authorities will all be required to accept digital and electronic payments after the implementation of the law.
Morena Senator Emmanuel Reyes, president of the Senate’s Economy Committee, said Tuesday that the Digital Economy Law “establishes a framework of coordination” that allows authorities, financial institutions and other “participants in economic activity” to contribute to the broadening of access to digital and electronic payment methods.
The Senate said that the law seeks to make “new forms of payment” available to consumers, including payment through the use of “QR codes, near-field communication devices, debit and credit cards, direct deposits and transfers of funds, among other methods.”
The Senate also said that the law “incorporates the Digital CURP [identity code] and the Expediente Digital Ciudadano [a personal digital document file for government procedures] as trusted mechanisms for signing up for financial services.”
The law doesn’t ban cash payments at any businesses, but, as noted above, gives the Finance Ministry the power to ban them in “strategic sectors.” The SHCP will publish an initial list of the sectors that won’t be allowed to accept cash payments within 15 days of the law’s publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation.
The Senate noted that the law specifies that “the use of cash or checks” to pay for goods and services will be permitted in affected sectors if digital payment systems are temporarily unavailable for any reason.
Reyes: New law will benefit small and medium-sized businesses
Senator Reyes said that small and medium-sized business will have “the possibility of increasing their payment methods” as a result of the implementation of the new law.
He said that the adoption of digital and electronic payment methods will facilitate distance sales, reduce transaction times and aid the creation of “verifiable records” of businesses’ income.
Those records could allow financial institutions to have a better understanding of businesses’ “economic activity” and provide them with more information to evaluate the possibility of giving them a loan.
Opposition senator says new law promotes exclusion, not inclusion
Senator Francisco Daniel Barreda of the Citizens Movement party said that promoting the digitalization of payments is not a problem in itself.
“The problem,” he said, “is forcing” people to stop using cash by making digital and electronic payments “the only form of payment” accepted in some sectors.
“From a government office, the activities for which a person can no longer pay cash can be decided,” Barreda said.
“… One thing is giving people more options and another very different thing is taking people’s options away. That’s not [financial] inclusion, it’s digital exclusion,” he said.
National Action Party (PAN) Senator José Máximo García suggested that the government and ruling party are out of touch with the reality in Mexico, where cash is the most commonly used payment method.
“Morena is seeking to eliminate cash? What country do they live in? Which Mexico are they legislating for?” he asked.
García also said that “forcing” small and medium businesses to offer digital payment methods obliges them to connect to the internet, “rent a [payment] terminal” and pay bank commissions ranging from 1.5% to 4.5% of the value of each sale.
“… As a small business can’t absorb that cost, it will increase the price of eggs, milk and tortillas,” he said.
“Congratulations to the government! They invented digital inflation by decree,” García said.
The PAN senator also accused the government of “voracity” for tax income.
The law might have “a pretty wrapping of modernization” and “financial inclusion,” but it is in fact “tax collection voracity and [wolf-like] tax inspection in sheep’s clothing,” García said.
“… They’re coming to take the last centavos from people’s pockets,” he said.
Institutional Revolutionary Party Senator Claudia Anaya questioned the viability of the law given that 55% of workers in Mexico are employed in the informal economy — and thus are normally paid in cash — while millions of people don’t use the internet and a large number of adults don’t have bank accounts.
Morena Senator Gerardo Fernández Noroña sought to counter the criticism of the law by claiming that opposition lawmakers were defending “corrupt people who receive money in cash.”
Early childhood education enrollment and government education spending as a share of GDP are well below OECD averages, while the proportion of young adults without an upper secondary qualification remains high, despite a significant decline over the past decade. (VIctoria Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
THE MND MEXICO WELL-BEING SERIES
A data-driven look at well-being in Mexico
MND Intelligence · Part 2: Education
Last month, we launched the MND Mexico Well-being series, a collection of articles designed to complement — and more importantly, supplement — the MND Sheinbaum Index™ and the MND Economy Index™, both of which we publish on a monthly basis.
In the inaugural article, we noted that the MND Mexico Well-being series would present a range of data that is directly relevant to Mexicans’ well-being, including indicators in the areas of education, healthcare, poverty, happiness and gender equality.
In this series, we draw on the most recent internationally comparable data, as well as data from the past decade, to compare Mexico to other countries and assess what has changed in Mexico during the eight years that the ruling Morena party has been in office.
As we previously noted, improving the well-being of Mexico’s most disadvantaged people is a stated priority of both Morena and President Sheinbaum.
Today, we continue the MND Mexico Well-being series with Part 2, which focuses on education. As with health and healthcare, there are numerous education indicators we could examine. For this article, we selected eight that we believe are among the most important.
Before we delve into the data, it’s worth remembering that the majority of Mexican primary and secondary school students (around 84% in the 2024-25 school year) are enrolled in Mexico’s public education system rather than the private education system.
Just as patients’ experiences can vary considerably within and between Mexico’s public and private healthcare systems, students’ experiences can differ widely within and between its public and private education systems, depending on the resources, facilities and teaching staff available.
One issue that causes periodic disruptions in education in Mexican public schools — particularly in some states — is teachers’ protests and strikes. For example, almost 20,000 schools across Mexico — including 95% of those in Oaxaca — closed for a period last year while CNTE union-affiliated teachers were on strike. Teacher absenteeism is another story, which MND has covered extensively over the years.
Below you will find a snapshot of education in Mexico. In parentheses after the subheading for each of the eight indicators we present is Mexico’s comparative position among the countries for which comparable OECD data was available, expressed as a decile where the size of the comparison group allows for one.
(Mexico News Daily)
Before we look at each of the eight education indicators, a reminder that we are always interested in hearing about your views on the issues we cover. What do you think about education in Mexico? Please share your views or experiences in the comments section below.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ENROLLMENT RATES (bottom decile)
According to UNICEF, “Decades of evidence show that the first few years of a child’s life are critical in supporting their physical, mental, and emotional development long-term.”
“Because of how quickly children’s brains and bodies are growing – particularly in the first three years of life – the experiences they have can have lifelong effects. One of the experiences that can help is high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC),” UNICEF says.
Consequently, we chose to include Mexico’s ECEC enrollment rates in this report.
(Mexico News Daily)
Among two-year-old children in Mexico in 2024, just 4% were enrolled in early childhood educational development programs that meet the criteria of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) by combining education and care. The OECD average was significantly higher at 50%. Mexico ranked last on this measure among 30 OECD and OECD partner/accession countries for which comparable data were available.
Among children between the age of 3 and the starting age of primary education, 75% were enrolled in ECEC in Mexico in 2024. The OECD average was 90%. Mexico ranked 42nd on this measure among 46 OECD and OECD partner/accession countries for which comparable data were available. It was thus in the lowest decile among the countries assessed. The only countries with lower enrollment rates than Mexico in 2024 were Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia and Costa Rica.
According to a 2021 Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) report, public child care services in Mexico “are fragmented across various institutional agencies serving different population groups — largely children of formal workers, with different care modalities and different regulatory frameworks.”
In a country where more than half of workers are employed in the informal sector, “these many factors make coordination in the child care sector very challenging and exacerbate inequalities in access,” according to the IADB.
Has Mexico improved on these indicators over the past decade?
No.
The early childhood education enrollment rate was 5% among two-year-olds in Mexico in 2015, one percentage point higher than in 2024. The OECD average was 40% in 2015. The gap between the enrollment rate in Mexico and the OECD average widened from 35 points in 2015 to 46 in 2024.
The ECEC enrollment rate in Mexico among children between the ages of 3 and the starting age of primary education was 79% in 2015, four points higher than in 2024. The OECD average was 86% in 2024. The gap between the enrollment rate in Mexico and the OECD average widened from 7 points in 2015 to 15 in 2024.
EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP (bottom decile)
In 2023, Mexico’s government spent the equivalent of 2.9% of GDP on education, well below the OECD average of 4.2%.
Among 42 countries included in the “Education at a Glance 2026” report, Mexico ranked 39th on this measure, placing it in the bottom decile. The only countries that spent lower proportions of their GDP on education in 2023 were Ireland, Romania and Japan.
Has Mexico improved on this indicator over the past decade?
No.
In 2015, Mexico spent the equivalent of 4.4% of GDP on education. Thus, Mexico’s expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP declined 1.5 percentage points between 2015 and 2023.
(Mexico News Daily)
In 2015, Mexico’s expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP was on par with the OECD average, whereas in 2023, its spending was 1.3 points below the average.
The OECD noted that Mexico was one of various countries (including Brazil, Ireland and Bulgaria) that recorded a “notable” decrease in expenditure on education between 2015 and 2023.
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT RATES (second lowest decile and below)
In 2025, according to the OECD, 40% of Mexicans aged 25-34 didn’t have an upper secondary education (prepa) qualification. That percentage is well above the OECD average of 12%.
Among 47 countries included in the “Education at a Glance 2026” report, Mexico ranked 44th on this measure, placing it in the bottom decile. The only countries with a higher proportion of 25-34-year-olds without an upper secondary education qualification were India (56%), Indonesia (42%) and South Africa (42%).
In 2025, 28% of Mexican men aged 25-34 had a tertiary education qualification, while the figure for Mexican women of the same age was 30%. The figure for men was 12 points below the OECD average. The figure for women was 24 points below the OECD average.
Among 45 countries included in the OECD report, Mexico ranked 39th for its tertiary attainment rate both among men and among women aged 25-34, placing it in the second lowest decile.
Has Mexico improved on these indicators over the past decade?
Yes.
In 2015, the share of 25-34-year-olds in Mexico without upper secondary attainment was 55% — 15 points higher than in 2025.
(Mexico News Daily)
The gap between the share of Mexicans without upper secondary attainment and the OECD average was 38 points in 2015. The gap in 2025 was 28 points.
The OECD said that Mexico has made “significant progress” in reducing the percentage of the population without an upper secondary education qualification.
The percentage of Mexicans aged 25-34 with tertiary qualifications increased from around 21% in 2015 to 29% in 2025.
TEACHER QUALIFICATIONS (fourth-lowest decile and below)
Preschool, primary school and lower secondary school teachers in Mexico are supposed to have a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, but not all of them do.
In 2024, around two in ten pre-primary teachers in Mexico, and about one in ten primary and lower secondary teachers, didn’t meet the minimum national educational attainment requirements. The exact numbers were as follows:
In 2024, 82% of pre-primary teachers in Mexico met the education attainment requirement, five percentage points below the OECD average of 87%.
In 2024, 92% of primary teachers in Mexico met the education attainment requirement, four points above the OECD average of 88%.
In 2024, 87% of lower secondary teachers in Mexico met the education requirement, two points below the OECD average of 89%.
For its share of teachers meeting national minimum educational attainment requirements, Mexico ranked equal 17th out of 23 countries at preschool level, 17th out of 27 countries at primary level and 27th out of 37 countries at lower secondary level.
These positions placed Mexico in the third-lowest decile for preschool and lower secondary school teachers, and the fourth-lowest decile for primary school teachers.
Has Mexico improved on these indicators over the past decade?
No.
The percentage of teachers meeting the bachelor’s-level educational attainment requirement fell from 87% to 82% in preschool, from 97% to 92% in primary school and from 93% to 87% in lower secondary school between 2017 and 2024 — declines of 5, 5 and 6 percentage points, respectively.
AVERAGE CLASS SIZES IN PRIMARY AND LOWER SECONDARY EDUCATION (second/third lowest decile)
According to the OECD, “Smaller classes are often perceived as allowing teachers to focus more on the needs of individual students and reducing the amount of class time needed to deal with disruptions.”
“They contribute to a better learning environment for the students, and to improved working conditions for teachers and staff,” the OECD says.
In Mexico, average class sizes in primary schools and lower secondary schools in 2024 were above the OECD average, but not by much.
Across all primary schools (both public and private), the average class size in Mexico was 23 students in 2024. The OECD average was 21 students.
Across all lower secondary schools (secundaria), the average class size in Mexico was 25 students in 2024. The OECD average was 23.
The average primary school class size in Mexico in 2024 was larger than those in 30 of 38 countries for which comparable data were published in the OECD report. Three other countries also had average primary school class sizes of 23 students: Australia, the Netherlands and Türkiye. Among the countries with larger average primary school class sizes in 2024 were Japan (26), the United Kingdom (26) and Chile (30). The United States was just below the OECD average, with an average of 20 students per class.
Mexico ranked in the second-lowest decile on this measure, on the basis that smaller class sizes are considered better.
The average lower secondary class size in Mexico in 2024 was larger than those in 27 of 38 countries. Spain and Brazil also had average secondary class sizes of 25 students. Among the countries with larger average lower secondary class sizes in 2024 were Colombia (27), Costa Rica (28), Chile (31), Japan (32) and Thailand (36). Once again, the United States was just below the OECD average, with an average of 21 students per class
Mexico ranked in the third lowest decile on this measure.
Has Mexico improved on these indicators over the past decade?
Yes and no.
The average primary school class size in Mexico in 2015 was 22 students, one fewer than in 2024. The gap between the average primary school class size in Mexico and the OECD average increased to two in 2024 from one in 2015. Therefore, Mexico did not improve on the primary school class size indicator.
The average lower secondary class size in Mexico in 2015 was 28 students, three more than in 2024. The gap between the average lower secondary school class size in Mexico and the OECD average declined to two in 2024 from five in 2015. Therefore, Mexico improved on the lower secondary school class size indicator.
As Mexico News Daily reported when the results were published in September, Mexican students recorded the following scores:
408 points in reading, 53 points below the OECD average (461).
414 points in science, 68 points below the OECD average (482).
388 points in mathematics, 75 points below the OECD average (463).
453 in computational problem solving, 47 points below the OECD average (500).
In reading, Mexico ranked equal 52nd out of 90 countries and jurisdictions, placing it in the sixth (or fifth-lowest) decile. Albania and Brazil tied with Mexico, with all three countries scoring 408 points in reading.
In science, Mexico ranked equal 63rd out of 91 countries and jurisdictions, placing it in the seventh (or fourth lowest) decile. Colombia tied with Mexico, with both countries scoring 414 points in science.
In mathematics, Mexico ranked equal 64th out of 90 countries and jurisdictions, placing it in the eighth (or third-lowest) decile. Jordan tied with Mexico, with both countries scoring 388 points in math.
(Mexico News Daily)
In the science/math/reading triad, 41.8% of Mexican students scored below the basic level. That percentage is more than double the OECD average of 19.7%.
Have Mexico’s PISA results improved over the past decade?
No.
Mexico’s scores in reading, science and mathematics were all lower in 2025 than in 2015.
The largest decline was in mathematics (-20 points), followed by reading (-15 points) and science (-2 points).
Mexico was by no means alone in recording lower PISA scores in 2025 than in 2015.
The OECD said that “over the most recent decade (2015-2025), the trend in performance has been negative in all three core subjects, on average across 35 OECD countries with available data.”
The declines in the OECD average PISA scores in reading, science and mathematics exceeded the decreases in Mexico. Thus, the gap between Mexico’s scores and the OECD averages narrowed between 2015 and 2025.
STUDENTS’ EXPOSURE TO BULLYING (fifth decile)
According to the OECD, “Bullying undermines students’ sense of safety and belonging at school and can have lasting detrimental consequences for learning and well-being.”
According to the 2025 PISA results, 19.5% of Mexican students aged 15 and 16 reported being bullied at least a few times a month at school. That percentage is just below the OECD average of 19.6%.
Mexico’s bullying breakdown was as follows:
10.7% of students said other students made fun of them.
3.5% of students said they were threatened by other students.
4.7% of students said they got hit or pushed around by other students.
12.1% of students said other students spread nasty rumors about them.
2.8% of students said that information about them that was upsetting was published online without their consent.
Out of 88 countries and jurisdictions for which bullying data is included in the latest PISA results report, Mexico has the 38th lowest bullying rate. Mexico is therefore in the fifth decile, with the first decile representing the lowest bullying rates and the tenth the highest.
The bullying rates in Vietnam and Hungary (19.9% in both countries) and in Canada (19.3%) in 2025 were similar to Mexico’s rate.
Has Mexico’s bullying rate declined over the past decade?
Yes.
In 2015, 20.2% of Mexican students reported being bullied at least a few times a month, according to the 2015 PISA results report. That is 0.6 percentage points higher than in 2025.
Mexico’s bullying rate was 1.5 percentage points above the OECD average in 2015 (18.7%).
As indicated above, Mexico’s bullying rate was 0.1 percentage points below the OECD average in 2025.
NEET RATE (third lowest decile)
According to the OECD, “Youth and young adults who are neither employed nor in education or training (NEET) are a key policy concern, as prolonged periods of inactivity at a young age can have lasting negative effects on socio-economic outcomes later in life.”
In Mexico, 19% of all 18-24-year-olds were NEET in 2025. That percentage was five points above the OECD average of 14%.
Young women were much more likely than young men to be NEET in 2025. The rate was 29% for women, compared to 10% for men.
People who aren’t studying or working are colloquially (or pejoratively) known as ninis (ni estudia ni trabaja) in Mexico.
In the “Education at a Glance 2026” report, the OECD says that “national averages often mask significant subnational variations, as regional disparities in labour-market conditions and access to education can create very different outcomes for youth within the same country.”
“… The most pronounced regional disparities in NEET rates are seen in Canada, Italy, Mexico, Romania and Türkiye, where the gaps between the regions with the highest and lowest NEET rates reach or exceed 20 percentage points,” the OECD says.
Among 41 countries for which the OECD published comparable data, Mexico had the joint ninth-highest NEET rate in 2025, tied with Chile and Greece. In other words, thirty of the 41 countries had lower NEET rates than Mexico, including Czechia (7%), Australia (10%), Canada (13%) and the United States (14%).
Among the countries with higher NEET rates than Mexico were Israel (20%), Brazil (22%), Colombia (26%) and South Africa (48%).
Has Mexico improved on this indicator over the past decade?
Yes.
In 2015, 23% of all 18-24-year-olds in Mexico were NEET, four percentage points higher than in 2025.
The gap between the NEET rate in Mexico and the OECD average declined to five percentage points in 2025 from seven percentage points in 2015.
The overall picture
Mexico’s education performance compares poorly with that of the other countries assessed across most of the eight indicators examined in this article. Early childhood education enrollment and government education spending as a share of GDP are well below OECD averages, while the proportion of young adults without an upper secondary qualification remains high, despite a significant decline over the past decade. Mexican students also score below OECD averages in reading, science, mathematics and computational problem solving.
(Mexico News Daily)
The data in this report reveal challenges at several stages of education, from limited participation in early childhood programs to weak learning outcomes among teenagers and relatively low tertiary attainment among young adults. Low public spending and declining shares of teachers meeting minimum educational attainment requirements add to the concerns. However, Mexico is close to OECD averages on some indicators: average class sizes are only modestly above OECD averages, while reported exposure to bullying is slightly lower than the OECD average.
The longer-term picture is mixed. Over the past 10 years or so, Mexico has made significant progress in reducing the share of young adults without an upper secondary qualification, while tertiary attainment has increased. The proportion of young people neither employed nor in education or training has also fallen, although young women remain much more likely than young men to be in that situation. Lower secondary class sizes have decreased, and reported bullying has declined slightly.
However, other trends are less encouraging. Early childhood enrollment rates and education spending as a share of GDP have fallen, as have the shares of teachers meeting minimum educational attainment requirements. Mexico’s PISA scores have also declined. Although the gaps with OECD average scores have narrowed, that reflects larger declines in OECD PISA score averages rather than improvements in Mexican students’ performance.
As with health and healthcare, the data in this report should not be read as a verdict on a single administration. The periods examined span several federal governments, and educational attainment among today’s adults reflects schooling received over many years.
A 34-year-old who was counted among Mexicans with a tertiary qualification by the OECD in 2025 was a pre-school student in the mid-1990s, when Mexico was still a virtual one-party state under the rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. That timeline underscores how educational success, or failure, reflects a combination of factors — including access to educational opportunities, family circumstances, teaching quality and policy choices — spanning decades and successive governments.
What is the federal government doing to improve education outcomes and education and training in Mexico?
Listed below are some of the education initiatives that have been implemented in Mexico in recent years or are currently in the process of being implemented. Click the links in the bullet points to read more about the different initiatives.
President Sheinbaum announced in April that 350 billion pesos (about US $19 billion) would be allocated to school construction and improvement across all grade levels by the time her six-year term ends in 2030.
In light of Mexican students’ poor PISA results, Sheinbaum said in September that new textbooks for mathematics, reading and writing would be developed.
The Sheinbaum administration created the Bachillerato Nacional (National High School Diploma), which, according to the president, “integrates and harmonizes” high-school education systems across Mexico’s 32 federal entities.
On Teacher’s Day on May 15, the federal government announced a 9% pay increase for public school teachers. Education Minister Delgado said in June that with the 9% pay rise, teachers’ salaries would increase, on average, to 20,351 pesos (about US $1,100) per month. “There is wage recovery for teachers with the governments of the transformation,” Delgado said, referring to the “fourth transformation,” or 4T, political movement previously led by AMLO and now led by Sheinbaum. Many teachers are still not satisfied.
As the case with recent healthcare programs and policies, the success and wisdom of the various education initiatives outlined above are debated in some cases. As expected, the government defends them while opposition parties have been critical of some of the initiatives.
This X post by the think tank México Evalúa includes an infographic that shows the average number of years of formal education of residents of all 32 federal entities, ranging from almost 12 in Mexico City to just over eight in Chiapas.
The arrival Wednesday of Salma, 5, and Moana, 9, from Serengeti Park Hodenhagen in Germany; Lewa, 4, from Safari de Peaugres in France; and Wami, a 15-year-old male from the Paris Zoo, has been highly anticipated by zoo officials and animal lovers.
(Guadalajara Zoo)
Four white rhinoceroses arrived in Guadalajara from Europe on Wednesday in an effort to preserve genetic diversity as successful breeding leaves European zoos running short of space.
The three females and one male traveled aboard an Air France cargo flight from Paris after more than a year of preparation.
Their destination, the Guadalajara Zoo — possibly one of the “happiest” zoos in Latin America — already features rhinos in its safari attraction, and other Mexican facilities also keep rhinos: Africam Safari in Puebla houses black rhinos, while the León Zoo in Guanajuato state has a white rhino named Yuri.
The new arrivals are Salma, 5, and Moana, 9, from Serengeti Park Hodenhagen in Germany; Lewa, 4, from Safari de Peaugres in France; and Wami, a 15-year-old male from the Paris Zoo.
Their relocation is part of conservation and captive breeding programs coordinated by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria.
Wami’s genetic lineage is particularly valuable in the Americas because it’s not represented there, said Alexis Lécu, the Paris Zoo’s scientific director.
Meanwhile, Europe’s captive breeding program has “less and less space” as rhino reproduction programs succeed, Lécu told the newspaper La Jornada.
European association members hold 326 white rhinos across 83 parks, with five to 10 births annually across the continent, La Jornada reported.
An estimated 15,752 white rhinos were in the wild at the end of 2024, down 25% from more than 21,000 in 2023, according to the International Rhino Foundation’s 2026 report. Poaching remains the major threat — which is why captive-breeding programs are viewed as vital.
Wami — who was born at the Beauval Zoo in Saint-Aignan, France, on Oct. 16, 2011 (belated happy birthday!) — has already had his sperm used for assisted reproduction in European parks. The same is expected to occur in North America.
Getting the rhinos aboard was no small undertaking.
The transfer required more than a year of preparation, including months spent familiarizing the rhinos with their transport crates so they could enter calmly, Guadalajara Zoo officials said.
It reportedly took more than an hour to get Wami, who weighs 2.4 tonnes (about 5,300 pounds), into his container for the 12-hour flight that arrived early Wednesday morning.
Visitors will have to wait to meet the hefty newcomers.
The rhinos, which can live for 35 to 40 years in captivity, will undergo quarantine, examinations and an adjustment period. The newspaper El Heraldo de México reported they would spend 40 days in dedicated accommodations while adapting.
The zoo will announce their public debut after assessing their progress.
The Guadalajara Zoo occupies about 124 acres of developed grounds, according to its website. It houses more than 7,000 animals representing 300 species, the zoo’s general director, Luis Soto Rendón, said on Imagen Radio last week.
He called the quartet’s arrival “the culmination of an extraordinary effort.”
Blessed with 159 of the world's 210 confirmed species of agave, Ministry of Agriculture officials continue to seek out new ways to use them for intoxicating spirits. (This image was generated using AI tools)
MEXICO CITY — Following exhaustive botanical reviews, federal agriculture officials confirmed Tuesday that every last specimen of native Mexican agave will eventually be accounted for, fermented, distilled or otherwise converted into an intoxicating spirit, reassuring a watchful public that no succulent will be left behind to pursue a pointless career as mere flora.
According to a sweeping directive released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), Mexican researchers have successfully mapped more than a dozen distinct traditional beverages — including tequila, mezcal, pulque, bacanora, raicilla, tutsi and tepe — but warned that allowing any of the country’s 159 endemic species to complete their natural life cycle without encountering a copper alembic would constitute a historic administrative failure.
Despite historical prohibitions on agave spirits like bacanora, Ministry of Agriculture officials confirm that nothing will stop them from fermenting agave as potently as possible in the future. (This image was generated using AI tools)
“We have documented agaves that resemble artichokes, agaves that resemble octopuses and specimens that grow 33-foot flower stalks at a rate of four inches a day,” said lead research coordinator Dr. Mateo Escalante, standing beside an experimental fermentation vat containing a rare Agave parviflora. “Yet, despite these incredible evolutionary adaptations, our mandate is absolute: no agave shall evade the barrel.”
The report noted that while pre-Hispanic societies historically utilized the agave plant for structural fibers, construction materials and sewing needles, modern bureaucratic planning has successfully streamlined the plant’s destiny toward liquid form. Officials acknowledged that while smaller varieties may yield little more than a thimble of artisanal spirit per harvest, diligent planning ensures that even roadside succulents will find their way into a clay copita.
Addressing historical anomalies, such as Sonora’s 1915 prohibition on bacanora designed to prevent moral perversion, SADER officials emphasized that government policy has fully pivoted. Rather than restricting regional output, the current administration actively monitors the nation’s flora to guarantee that every municipality exercises its legal right to produce a smoky, high-proof distillate from whatever happens to be growing in the dirt.
“Our ancestors spent thousands of years discovering that Agave tequilana flowers in seven years while Agave deserti takes 55,” Escalante added. “Our duty to future generations is to ensure that no matter how long a plant takes to mature, a distillation schedule is waiting for it the moment it ripens.”
Sheinbaum also gave praise for U.S. Ambassador Ron Johnson on Wednesday, saying that he "has helped us on many issues." (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
⛽ Mexico targets fuel theft with thousands of arrests: Deputy Energy Minister for Hydrocarbons Juan José Vidal Amaro reported that federal security forces have arrested 2,539 people for huachicol (fuel theft) offenses since October 2024. Authorities have seized 5,572 vehicles and 173.7 million liters of fuel, and 2,224 companies have been shut down for selling fuel without the required permits. He also said that 180 companies have been removed from the registry of approved fuel importers over alleged involvement in fuel smuggling.
🔥🇺🇸Sheinbaum: No commitment to buy more U.S. natural gas: Asked whether buying more U.S. gas would undermine energy sovereignty, the president said Mexico hasn’t entered into any “agreement” or made any “commitment” to do so. She acknowledged that the idea is “something that the United States has put on the table” as Trump seeks to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico. However, Sheinbaum said that Mexico’s objective is to produce more gas domestically, including to supply new combined-cycle power plants.
✈️Sheinbaum praises Ambassador Johnson despite disagreements: The president said U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson “has helped us on many issues,” including by providing assistance to Mexico to get U.S. restrictions on new flights from Mexico City airports AICM and AIFA lifted. She acknowledged her government has disagreed with some of his public remarks, including his comments on corruption in Mexico, but stressed that Mexico wants “the best possible relationship with the United States.”
Why today’s mañanera matters
At President Sheinbaum’s Wednesday morning press conference, Energy Ministry officials provided an update on the government’s fight against fuel theft (known colloquially as huachicol or huachicoleo) and a fuel smuggling/tax evasion scheme known as huachicol fiscal. Both crimes have cost the federal government and state oil company Pemex huge amounts of money in lost revenue.
Today’s mañanera was also significant as the president told reporters that Mexico has not made any commitment to purchase more natural gas from the United States, as U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly urged it to do.
Mexico is already heavily reliant on the United States for its natural gas supplies.
On Wednesday morning, Sheinbaum also offered praise for U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson, highlighting that he assisted Mexico in its efforts to have U.S. restrictions lifted on new flights to the U.S. from the Mexico City International Airport and the Felipe Ángeles International Airport.
More than 2,500 huachicol-related arrests since Sheinbaum took office
Juan José Vidal Amaro, deputy energy minister for hydrocarbons, reported that federal security forces have arrested 2,539 people for huachicol offenses since the government took office in October 2024.
Deputy Energy Minister for Hydrocarbons Juan José Vidal Amaro said on Wednesday that in addition to the arrests, more than 2,000 companies have been shut down for selling fuel illegally. (Saúl López/Presidencia)
He said that authorities have seized 5,572 vehicles used to transport fuel as well as 173.7 million liters of fuel.
Vidal said that the data provides evidence of the progress that has been made in combating “illegal activities in the fuel market.”
Earlier in the press conference, he reported that 2,224 companies have been shut down for selling fuel without holding the applicable permits. Vidal also said that 2,032 gas stations have been fined for not having adequate “volumetric controls” on their gas pumps.
In addition, the deputy minister said that 180 companies have been removed from the government’s registry of approved fuel importers due to their alleged involvement in fuel smuggling.
Sheinbaum says Mexico hasn’t agreed to purchase more natural gas from the US
A reporter raised the possibility of Mexico purchasing more natural gas from the United States in order to reduce the U.S. deficit in the bilateral trade relationship. “Wouldn’t this be a backward step for Mexico in the quest for energy sovereignty?” she asked the president.
Sheinbaum responded that Mexico hasn’t entered into any “agreement” or made any “commitment” to purchase more gas from the United States.
Her remarks came almost two weeks after the Financial Times reported that she and U.S. President Donald Trump had “discussed the prospect of Mexico increasing purchases of U.S. natural gas, on which it already depends for about three-quarters of its demand.”
Sheinbaum acknowledged that the possibility of Mexico buying more U.S. gas is “something that the United States has put on the table” as the Trump administration seeks to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico.
“It’s not that they’re particularly interested in selling more gas,” she said, explaining that what Trump is interested in is reducing the United States’ trade deficit with Mexico, which increased more than 20% year over year in the first eight months of 2026 to reach almost US $156 billion.
Mexico already depends heavily on the United States’ natural gas exports to meet domestic demand, and U.S. President Trump sees a business opportunity for U.S. energy companies. (Unsplash)
Sheinbaum said that her government has told its U.S. counterpart that its objective is to produce more gas in Mexico, in part to ensure sufficient supplies for new combined-cycle power plants.
“If for any reason we can’t produce the gas [needed for new power plants] in Mexico, we’ll have to get the natural gas from somewhere. But the objective is to produce it in the country,” she said.
Sheinbaum: Ambassador Johnson ‘has helped us on many issues’
A reporter asked the president about her recent description of U.S. Ambassador Johnson as “a good ally of Mexico” shortly after she called on him to respect Mexico’s laws in light of the United States cooperation with the state of Querétaro on an “international police training academy” project that hadn’t been authorized by the federal government.
Sheinbaum responded that Johnson, ambassador to Mexico since May 2025, “has helped us on many issues.”
She said that Johnson helped her government “a lot” on the issue of “air transport” after the United States last year revoked approval for existing and planned flights to the U.S. from the Mexico City International Airport and the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA).
The U.S. Department of Transportation last week lifted restrictions on new flights to the U.S. from AICM and AIFA, allowing Mexican airlines to launch new routes to U.S. airports. The lifting of the restrictions — which were imposed due to aviation disputes between Mexico and the U.S. — will allow U.S.-bound passenger flights to depart from AIFA for the first time.
Sheinbaum said that Johnson worked with Mexican and U.S. officials on the “whole process” related to Mexico’s efforts to have the U.S. restrictions lifted.
“We have to say it, and finally the [U.S.] sanction was lifted,” she said.
“[Johnson] helped on this issue,” Sheinbaum said.
“There are other issues on which the ambassador helped us,” she added.
Sheinbaum acknowledged that her government has disagreed with some of Johnson’s public remarks, including those he made about corruption in Mexico during an address in Sinaloa in April. She said that she and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have expressed their disagreement to the ambassador.
“But there are issues on which he has helped us,” Sheinbaum reiterated.
“… We don’t have any problem in saying it. What do we want? The best possible relationship with the United States, always with respect for our sovereignty and respect for our compatriots in the United States,” she said.
After being menaced by four consecutive hurricanes, Puerto Vallarta residents are ready to get back to their usually spectacular beach weather. (Jeffrey Eisen/Unsplash)
It is feeling a little bit like “Groundhog Day” in Puerto Vallarta as we closely watch the trajectory of Hurricane Trudy, the fourth hurricane to come our way in recent weeks. If we are lucky, the storm will follow the path that Polo, Rachel and Simón took and skirt the coast without making landfall. While the storms’ impacts have been relatively moderate in Vallarta, they have caused flooding on the Baja California peninsula and El Niño-linked erosion damage in Southern California, and our hearts go out to communities affected.
Major headlines this month include the ordered demolition of a controversial condo complex in San Pancho, Nayarit; infrastructure issues and the tragic loss of five lives due to recent storms; the rollout of a new program to bring free drinking water fountains to schools, sports, civic and tourist areas throughout the city; and devastating tree culling at the Marina Golf Course.
Recent storms cause beach erosion, flooding and five deaths
A graphic released by the National Hurricane Center shows the location and projected course of Hurricane Trudy, as of Oct. 15. (U.S. National Hurricane Center)
Puerto Vallarta is recovering from four back-to-back hurricanes that skirted the city’s southern coast and Banderas Bay. The first hurricane, Polo, rolled in on Sept. 23, followed by Rachel, then Simón and Trudy. The storms brought major tidal surges and pounding waves to Vallarta’s beaches, filling the Malecón with rocks and sand, eroding beaches and leaving just rocks behind.
Impressive photos and videos show waves hitting the Malecón seawall and bouncing many feet into the air. Communities of Yelapa and Boca de Tomatlán were evacuated as a preventative measure as Hurricane Simón approached. Heavy rainfall also caused sewer system backups in the Versailles neighborhood and street flooding in many parts of town. Authorities also closed local beaches, but tragically, one young woman was swept away and is presumed drowned at Playa de Oro during Hurricane Polo. Four people, including two children, were killed when rushing water swept away their home in La Cuesta in the municipality of Talpa de Allende.
Profepa orders demolition of San Pancho beachfront condo
Demolition orders have been given for two towers in the Punta Paraíso condo complex in San Pancho, Nayarit. (MLS Vallarta)
On Oct. 7, the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) ordered the demolition of two towers of the Punta Paraíso condo complex in San Pancho, Nayarit. The towers sit directly on the beach in this coastal community and have been the subject of protests by residents for over a decade due to the buildings’ environmental impacts and encroachment into the protected Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone.
Hurricanes Rachel and Simón pounded the beachfront towers, severely damaging their foundations, causing the towers to lean and necessitating the evacuation of residents.
The developer, Pacific Lifestyle Properties, was also ordered to pay a 96,220-peso (US $5,216) fine for building in the federal zone. Score one for Mother Nature and zero for illegal development.
Seapal rolls out free drinking fountains in public schools, sports fields and tourist spots
Puerto Vallarta’s water authority, Seapal, is rolling out new drinking fountains with purified water at schools and other locations around the municipality. (Seapal)
Remember to bring your refillable water bottles on your next trip to Puerto Vallarta because visitors and residents alike will soon have access to free, purified drinking water in various locations throughout the city.
This summer, Puerto Vallarta’s municipal water utility, Seapal, launched a program to bring purified drinking water fountains to public schools, civic, sports and tourist spots around Vallarta. The program aims to improve public health, increase access to safe, free drinking water, and reduce plastic pollution.
New fountains have already been installed in several schools and the Emiliano Zapata Municipal Market, and several more are planned for the Unidad Deportiva Agustín Flores Contreras sports complex, Centro Cultural y Módulo Deportivo La Lija, Seapal Vallarta’s central offices, Unidad Municipal Administrativa (UMA), and on the Malecón.
Marina Golf Course culls trees in major remodel, angering residents
The Marina Golf Course has been systematically cutting down dozens of large, mature trees over the past several weeks, angering residents and displacing wildlife. Golf course administrators claim the culling of trees is part of a comprehensive remodeling project and that they plan to plant more trees than are being removed.
In the meantime, however, residents must wait decades for new trees to grow to the size of the old ones and face the constant sound of chainsaws and the sadness of watching trees being felled for many more days.
The trees being removed are mostly a nonnative species of ficus, but they provide habitat for native birds such as white ibises, great kiskadees, golden-cheeked woodpeckers, chachalacas and more.
The course has been closed most of the summer and fall during the remodeling project. Rest assured, visitors to Vallarta coming to the course this year will see a drastically different landscape.
They say the only constant is change. Let us just hope the next changes coming to Vallarta are less destructive and more positive, like the free drinking water program. But hurricane season is not over yet, so we will just have to wait and see.
The company will travel with more than 50 members and present a repertoire of dances from various regions of Mexico, featuring live music, colorful garments and routines that blend folk traditions with theatrical staging. (Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández/Facebook)
Amalia Hernández’s Ballet Folklórico de México will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a tour to 24 cities in the United States, beginning Jan. 30 in Northridge, California, and concluding March 23 in Austin, Texas.
The Ballet Folklórico de México was established in 1952 by dancer and choreographer Amalia Hernández. The group revolutionized Mexican dance and laid the foundation for traditional choreographies and costumes to gain prestige in Mexico and abroad.
With the exception of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hernández’s folkloric ballet company has performed every Sunday at the Palacio de Bellas Artes since 1959. (Photo dated 1970/Wikimedia Commons)
The company will travel with more than 50 members and present a repertoire of dances from various regions of Mexico, featuring live music, colorful garments and routines that blend folk traditions with theatrical staging.
“Our 75th anniversary is a celebration not only of Ballet Folklórico de México, but of the people, communities, traditions and artists who have kept Mexico’s cultural heritage alive,” Ballet Folklórico de México General Manager Salvador Lopez, who is also Hernández’s grandson, said in a statement.
“It is an honor to bring Amalia Hernández’s artistic legacy to audiences across the United States and to introduce new generations to the beauty and diversity of Mexico,” he added.
Where will the ballet perform?
In California, the company will perform in Northridge, Modesto, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Chico, Davis, Berkeley, San Luis Obispo and Costa Mesa; in Arizona, in Tucson and Mesa; and in Texas, in El Paso, Lubbock, Richardson, San Antonio and Austin.
The tour will also reach Las Vegas, Nevada; Carmel, Indiana; East Lansing, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Chicago, Illinois; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Denver, Colorado.
Tickets are available through the official channels of the participating venues and, depending on the city, through platforms such as Ticketmaster.
In addition to its international tours, the Ballet Folklórico de México maintains a residency at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where it has held regular performances since 1959.
Some estimates put Mexico's NBA fanbase at 30 million. (Shutterstock)
During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that Mexico City could potentially be included among the NBA’s next expansion locations thanks to the growing popularity of basketball in the capital.
However, the expansion wouldn’t be immediate, Silver said.
“We’re still a few seasons away from actual expansion taking place. We’ve been public about the fact that we’re looking at Las Vegas and Seattle. Maybe down the road there’s Mexico City, which is the largest city in North America,” he stated.
One of Silver’s arguments for potentially expanding into Mexico City is its relative proximity to other markets in the league, highlighting that it is actually closer to travel between Mexico City and New York than New York to Los Angeles.
“It’s a shorter flight from New York to Mexico than from New York to Los Angeles, so you can see why we’d be interested,” Silver noted.
Silver also mentioned discussions regarding sports infrastructure in the capital, which would factor into the decision.
“They are talking about building a new arena in Mexico City; it’s not in the immediate plans, but there is great potential there in the long term,” he said.
The possibility of a new arena was previously mentioned in an Oct. 16 ESPN report. According to the outlet, at least one Mexico City-based group approached PJT Partners — the firm advising the NBA on its expansion — with a proposal to establish a franchise and develop a sports complex centered around a new basketball arena.
ESPN said no construction plans have been confirmed or announced yet.
Marichuy offers closing reflections after three days of debate. “Let there be more of us, and let us remain firm,” she told the gathering, “because we have to leave something for our sons, daughters and all those who come after us.” (Tracy L. Barnett)
Thirty years ago, Comandanta Ramona — a diminutive Tzotzil woman representing the Zapatista movement — marched into Mexico City with her masked delegation and helped launch a national Indigenous political space that would become the Congreso Nacional Indígena (CNI).
This October, the CNI returned to the capital for its 30th anniversary inside another potent symbol of Indigenous defiance: a former federal Indigenous affairs building seized six years ago by Otomí women and transformed into the Casa de los Pueblos y Comunidades Indígenas “Samir Flores Soberanes,” named for the Indigenous land and water defender assassinated in Morelos in 2019.
Indigenous-rights attorney and CNI founding member Carlos González addresses the gathering. He praised the Otomí occupation of the former federal Indigenous affairs building as “a living example of dignity.” (Tracy L. Barnett)
The symbolism was difficult to miss. So was the water.
Across three days of testimony and debate, water surfaced again and again — polluted rivers in Veracruz, depleted aquifers and dirty tap water in Jalisco, wells contested in Puebla, megaprojects and mining threatening communities from Oaxaca to Sonora.
What had begun three decades earlier as a struggle for Indigenous autonomy was now being fought, increasingly, through one of Mexico’s most basic necessities.
The CNI traces its birth directly to the political earthquake set off by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, or EZLN, which rose up in Chiapas on Jan. 1, 1994, demanding land, democracy and Indigenous rights.
Two years later, after the San Andrés dialogues between the Zapatistas and the federal government, Indigenous peoples from around the country took an already growing Indigenous rights movement to the next level, building a national space of their own.
María de Jesús Patricio Martínez — better known as Marichuy, a Nahua traditional healer from Jalisco and longtime CNI spokeswoman who in 2017 became the first Indigenous woman to seek Mexico’s presidency — recalled those beginnings at the opening plenary.
“They know we are in the way. They know the communities are not going to give in,” María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, better known as Marichuy, told the opening plenary, referring to efforts to limit Indigenous control over land and community decisions. (Tracy L. Barnett)
Communities barely knew one another then, she said, but quickly discovered how much they had in common: land disputes, poor health and education services, internal divisions often fueled from outside.
“If our problems are the same, why walk alone?” she recalled them asking.
The answer became the CNI: not a political party or government body, but an autonomous gathering of Indigenous peoples, nations, tribes and communities committed to defending territory and exercising self-determination on their own terms.
For the anniversary gathering, that autonomy was visible in the architecture of the event itself. Indigenous delegates met privately in working groups inside the building. Outside, beneath a vast tent spanning the closed-off street, invited allies — students, feminists, environmentalists, human-rights defenders, families of the disappeared and other organizations — held separate discussions about how to support the CNI without trying to direct it.
At public plenaries, the two groups came together to compare conclusions. Then the Indigenous delegates went back inside to continue their own deliberations, while a music and art festival and street fair unfolded under the big tent.
A student from Morelos speaks about the kidnapping and killing of a medical student and the disappearance of other young people, warning that “Morelos is killing its youth.” (Tracy L. Barnett)
Water as a warning
If one issue linked the wildly different geographies and populations represented at the gathering, it was water.
Cecilia Sánchez Martínez, of the Veracruz collective Mujeres que Luchan por la Vida, described communities resisting megaprojects that, she said, leave few jobs but contaminate “our rivers, our beaches, our lagoons and all the bodies of water we have.”
Wixárika delegates from western Mexico spoke of aquifers threatened by mining and industrial agriculture. Participants from Puebla described communities confronting police and machinery over wells. Others spoke of dams, tourism developments, industrial corridors and urban expansion.
Sofía “Aukwe” Mijarez of the Regional Wixárika Council speaks about the defense of Wirikuta, the sacred desert territory at the heart of Wixárika cosmology, and the continuing threats from mining and other extractive projects. (Tracy L. Barnett)
Carlos Beas Torres, a longtime non-Indigenous ally of the CNI and veteran organizer, argued that such conflicts are precisely why the Congress matters beyond Indigenous communities.
“The message the Congreso Nacional Indígena is sending is not for Indigenous peoples,” he said. “It is a message that goes beyond.”
One of the clearest expressions of the broader crisis, he said, is water — pointing to Guadalajara, where hundreds of thousands of residents have been receiving discolored, tainted water.
Buying another garrafón may get a family through the day, he said, but it does nothing to resolve the underlying problem.
The same pattern surfaced repeatedly during the gathering: seemingly local conflicts over a spring, aquifer, forest or river leading back to larger questions about who gets to decide what happens to a territory — communities, governments or corporations.
‘With or without a law’
The anniversary soon turned into a direct challenge to the Sheinbaum government.
The administration has celebrated the 2024 constitutional reform recognizing Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples as subjects of public law as a historic advance. But CNI delegates were deeply suspicious of the proposed law intended to put those rights into practice — both because of what it contained and because of how Indigenous communities were being asked to review it.
Ramón González López, a Wixárika former communal land commissioner from Tuxpan de Bolaños, described communities being handed a massive document and asked for an opinion almost immediately.
“They arrive all of a sudden and say, ‘Here, we have this law, and we need you to review it and tell us whether it’s good or bad,’” he said. “Almost overnight. That’s not right.”
Then he held up the scale of the task: “This huge book, more than 450 articles. Who wrote it? How did they write it? Why did they write it? Why weren’t we invited when they were writing it? … You can’t review something like that in one or two days.”
Delegates from the Purépecha community of Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán, display their flag and deliver a community-mandated statement rejecting the proposed federal Indigenous-rights law. (Tracy L. Barnett)
By the second day, representatives of 35 Indigenous peoples had reached a near-unanimous position: reject the proposal.
Reporting back to the plenary, delegates declared: “With law or without law, we will continue exercising our free self-determination according to the different territories we inhabit.”
The final pronouncement went further.
Carlos González, an Indigenous attorney from Jalisco, founding member of the CNI and one of Mexico’s leading legal voices on Indigenous rights, read the closing declaration.
“Indigenous consultation is a power belonging to our peoples, not to the state or to corporations,” it stated.
Communities themselves, through their assemblies and customary systems, must decide whether consultation is appropriate, the document continued.
“The occupation of our territories and the destruction of our peoples are not matters for consultation.”
The declaration called on the CNI to strengthen and expand its presence across Mexico and urged participating communities to carry the agreements back to their own assemblies. It also demanded action on disappearances, political prisoners and attacks on land defenders while reaffirming support for Zapatista autonomy.
Resistance — and joy
For all the grim testimony, the gathering itself was remarkably buoyant.
Music filled the courtyard at night. Murals were painted. Workshops ranged from political education to composting the waste generated in the dry toilets set up to accommodate the gathering. Children ran between meetings. Young people played pelota, the prehispanic predecessor to soccer, in the cordoned-off street. Steaming and delicious food appeared in enormous pots, piled high into bowls served by Otomí women in their colorful pleated collars.
One working-group report captured that contradiction: resistance, it said, was not simply saying no to megaprojects or government laws, but continuing “through love, through hope, but also through rebellion.”
Otomí women serve one of three daily meals provided free of charge to hundreds of participants throughout the three-day gathering at the Casa de los Pueblos. (Tracy L. Barnett)
There was also a clear sense of generational handoff.
Some of the veterans who helped build the CNI are now elderly. Younger delegates, women and first-time attendees were everywhere.
Noé Valentín Aguilar Rojas, from the Indigenous community of San Lorenzo de Azqueltán in Jalisco, was attending the national CNI gathering for the first time with his 22-year-old son Fernando, now serving in his community’s highest position of authority as communal land commissioner. His community has been engaged in a historic struggle to recover their stolen lands, a struggle that led to last year’s assassination of one of their leaders. Hearing so many stories of dispossession and resistance was overwhelming, he said — but also strangely reassuring.
The details differed from place to place, but “the struggle of everyone is the same,” he said. “One person’s path belongs to all of us.”
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Don Poncho, a longtime icon of the CNI, sits with delegates at the front table during the plenary sessions. (Tracy L. Barnett)
Marichuy presents embroidered tributes in solidarity with political prisoners Jesús Plácido Galindo and Sixto Mendoza Limpia, Indigenous community defenders from Guerrero whose release delegates demanded during the opening plenary. (Tracy L. Barnett)
A member of the Poposteando Ando collective discusses the dry-toilet system installed to serve more than 600 attendees. The group also offered a workshop on composting, presenting it as a practical way to turn human waste into fertile soil rather than contaminate scarce water supplies. (Tracy L. Barnett)
María de los Ángeles Fernández Castillo, better known as Doña Fili, has spent decades of her 100 years in struggles for housing, water and Indigenous rights, participating in the civilian “peace cordon” during the San Andrés talks with the Zapatistas. “When there is no other path, there is resistance,” she told the gathering. (Tracy L. Barnett)
Members of the Poposteando Ando collective report that the dry toilets collected about 400 liters of urine and 160 kilograms of feces during the three-day gathering — material they said would be composted into roughly 110 kilograms of fertile soil. (Tracy L. Barnett)
A building changes hands
The CNI formally closed its anniversary gathering shortly after 2 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Then the Otomí women who had hosted the Congress took the microphone.
Six years earlier, they had occupied the headquarters of the federal Indigenous affairs agency and refused to leave, turning it instead into housing, an organizing center and a meeting place for movements far beyond their own community.
Now, invoking Comandanta Ramona and the Zapatistas, they announced that the Casa de los Pueblos would become patrimony of the CNI and the EZLN.
Thirty years after Ramona marched into Mexico City to help create a national Indigenous movement, another group of Indigenous women stood on a stage in front of a government building they had claimed for themselves and handed it, symbolically, to that movement.
