New foreign investment grew explosively in Nuevo León in the first half of the year, driven by manufacturing. Pictured: Monterrey, Nuevo León. (David Liceaga / Unsplash)
Baja California Sur, Nuevo León, and Querétaro emerged as the top destinations for new foreign investment in Mexico during the first half of 2026, even as new foreign investment in the country slowed overall.
According to new data from the Economy Ministry (SE), Mexico received US $2.7 billion in new investments from January to June — one of the three components of foreign direct investment (FDI) — down 13.4% compared to the same period in 2025. At the same time, total FDI grew as established ventures reinvested profits.
Baja California Sur led the country in new foreign direct investment, driven by tourism and lodging services. Pictured: Hotel El Ganzo overlooks a marina in San José del Cabo. (File photo)
However, three entities maintained investor confidence.
Baja California Sur topped the list with US $524 million of new FDI, followed by Nuevo León with $473 million, and Querétaro with $410 million. Together, these three states accounted for nearly half of the funds allocated to new projects.
Baja California Sur’s tourism industry pushed it to the top of the list. In the first half of 2026, over 95% of the state’s total FDI was new investment. Of that new investment, over 97% ($511.9 million) went toward lodging services including guesthouses, boarding houses and furnished apartments with hotel services.
Meanwhile, Nuevo León registered a 190.1% annual growth in new FDI. The capital was concentrated in wholesale trade of trucks and auto parts, vehicle manufacturing and the iron and steel industries.
The result reflects the state’s importance as a manufacturing, logistics and automotive hub, favored for its proximity to the U.S. market and the integration of its suppliers into global supply chains.
Finally, Querétaro saw a 158.6% increase in new capital investment after receiving a boost of US $410 million. The main sectors receiving this investment include electricity generation and supply, confectionery, auto parts, and electronic components — sectors that confirm the state’s industrial diversification and its importance within the Bajío economic corridor.
These three states were followed by Jalisco, Quintana Roo, Nayarit, Chihuahua, Baja California, Puebla and Guanajuato, which received between US $100 million to $300 million in new capital investment apiece.
In contrast, Tlaxcala — the smallest state in Mexico — was the only state that saw no foreign investment.
Meanwhile, México state, Zacatecas, Sonora, Aguascalientes and Mexico City registered capital outflows.
Hurricane Marie's proximity to the southern part of the Baja Peninsula is shown clearly in an infrared satellite photo from the U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (NOAA)
Rapidly intensifying Hurricane Marie reached Category 2 status off the coast of Baja California Sur on Friday, closing ports and suspending classes across the state.
A 10 a.m. social media post from the National Meteorological Service (SMN) said Marie was located 885 kilometers west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, at the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula.
“It has maximum sustained winds of 155 km/h, gusts of 195 km/h and is moving west-northwest at 15 km/h,” the National Water Commission (Conagua) reported.
A Tropical Cyclone Advisory was issued by the SMN which forecast intense localized rains for the northwestern coast of Mexico, including the states of Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán to the south of BCS.
Civil protection authorities urged the public to take extreme precautions and heed the recommendations issued by the authorities of the National Civil Protection System.
Navigation is also severely restricted due to the extreme weather conditions. Maritime authorities have closed ports to small vessels in San José del Cabo and Magdalena Bay.
High waves are another risk factor along the western coastline, with waves of 1.5 to 2.5 meters (5-8 feet) in height forecast for the peninsula.
Conagua said Marie’s main threat is the extensive cloud bands which increase the likelihood of heavy rainfall and could cause more flooding in vulnerable coastal areas. This prompted BCS Governor Víctor Manuel Castro to suspend all school activities in the municipality of Los Cabos.
Cabo San Lucas was battered by high winds and heavy rain on Wednesday while Marie was still a tropical storm.
Legendary rock musician Sammy Hagar — owner of the resort city’s famous Cabo Wabo Cantina — said in an Instagram post that the storm caused a great deal of damage, asking his fans to pray for his club and the city.
In a Thursday Instagram post, Hagar praised the authorities for their quick reaction to the flooding.
“Cabo to the rescue,” he wrote. “Congratulations to the community for pulling the cleanup crew together so quickly.”
Hurricane Marie — along with the Mexican monsoon, low-pressure troughs, cyclonic circulations at high levels of the atmosphere and Tropical Wave Number 36 in southern and western Mexico — was also forecast to generate intense rains in Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco on Friday.
Conagua said Marie is expected to weaken to a Category 1 storm on Saturday as it moves further out to sea.
Though it could soon thereafter be downgraded to a tropical storm, atmospheric instability is likely to continue interacting with low-pressure troughs in the interior of the country into next week.
President Sheinbaum's Friday press conference focused on security in the state of Zacatecas, days after a car bomb attack on a police station in Ojocaliente. (Presidencia)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
📉 Zacatecas homicides down 85%: National Public Security System chief Marcela Figueroa reported an average of 0.17 homicides per day in Zacatecas in August, an 85% reduction compared to September 2024, the final month of the López Obrador administration. The 2026 daily average is down 96% versus 2021.
🚔 Thousands arrested since Sheinbaum took office: Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said 3,824 people were arrested in Zacatecas between October 2024 and August 2026 for high-impact crimes. He said that 1,240 firearms and 7.3 tonnes of drugs were seized in the same period, while six meth labs were dismantled.
💰 Atizapán killings tied to money demand: García Harfuch said one of two men arrested over the multiple homicide in México state had a “commercial relationship” with victim Jonathan Meléndez and had been demanding money from him before the killings.
🇲🇽🇺🇸 Defense minister addresses cartel drone reports: Responding to a Fox News report on U.S. operations against cartel drones at the border, Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said the drones are mostly used by migrant smugglers to scout routes free of authorities. He didn’t confirm or deny Mexican military involvement in the U.S. takedown operations.
Why today’s mañanera matters
President Claudia Sheinbaum held her Friday morning press conference in Guadalupe, a municipality that is part of the metropolitan area of Zacatecas city.
She was accompanied by Zacatecas Governor David Monreal and various members of her cabinet, including Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez and Security Minister Omar García Harfuch.
At today’s mañanera, officials presented the latest security data for the state — statistics that allowed them to portray Zacatecas as an example of the success of the federal government’s national security strategy.
Also of note at today’s mañanera was García Harfuch’s remarks about the motive for a multiple homicide in México state.
Government reports 85% decline in homicides in Zacatecas
National Public Security System chief Marcela Figueroa reported that there was an average of 0.17 homicides per day in Zacatecas in August, a reduction of 85% compared to September 2024, the final month of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency.
National Public Security System chief Marcela Figueroa shared data on Zacatecas’ declining homicide rate. (Presidencia)
She said that the daily homicide rate so far this year is 0.2, a reduction of 50% compared to 2025.
Figueroa highlighted that the daily homicide rate in 2026 is down 96% compared to 2021, when an average of 4.5 murders per day were committed in Zacatecas.
In the first seven months of 2026, there were 51 homicides in Zacatecas, the eighth lowest total among Mexico’s 32 federal entities.
More than 3,800 arrests in Zacatecas since October 2024
According to data presented by García Harfuch, 3,824 people were arrested in Zacatecas between Oct. 1, 2024 — the date Sheinbaum was sworn in as president — and Aug. 31, 2026, for allegedly committing high-impact crimes such as homicide, kidnapping, extortion and violent robbery.
He also reported that 1,240 firearms and 7.3 tonnes of drugs were seized in the state in the same period. In addition, authorities dismantled six clandestine methamphetamine labs in Zacatecas, García Harfuch said.
photo-harfuch
He acknowledged that “there is still a lot to be done” to improve security in Zacatecas, noting that rival criminal groups continue to fight turf wars in the state. García Harfuch said that federal authorities are “maintaining and strengthening” intelligence and investigation “actions” in the state as well as “territorial presence” and “coordination” with state and municipal authorities. The aim, he said, is to detain “generators of violence” in Zacatecas.
García Harfuch subsequently noted that three people were arrested in connection with a car bomb explosion outside a municipal police station in Ojocaliente, Zacatecas, last Sunday night.
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch shared data on arrests in Zacatecas and provided an update on the case of a México state multi-homicide that targeted a well-known musician and his family. (Presidencia)
García Harfuch: Multiple homicide in México state related to a demand for money
García Harfuch said that one of two men arrested in connection with a multiple homicide in México state this week had a “commercial relationship” with one of the victims, namely Jonathan Meléndez, keyboard player with the well-known band Camilo Séptimo. The security minister was referring to Diego Sebastián Rosen Ferlini, an Argentine national who was detained in connection with the murders of Mélendez, his pregnant wife, their three-year-old daughter and a domestic worker. The victims were found dead in an apartment in the municipality of Atizapán de Zaragoza late Tuesday.
Asked how much money the alleged murderer was demanding from Mélendez, García Harfuch responded:
“I don’t know but I’ll ask the [México state] Attorney General’s Office. What is a fact is that he was demanding money. There was a demand, there were certain threats and this terrible multiple homicide was committed.”
Defense minister: People smugglers use drones to locate routes that are ‘free’ of US authorities
A reporter asked the president whether she could confirm the “participation” of Mexican authorities in U.S. operations to take down suspected cartel drones at the Mexico-U.S. border.
Citing a senior U.S. War Department official, Fox reported that the U.S. military “took down ‘approximately 100′ suspected cartel drones in August alone” at the United States’ southern border.
Citing the same official, Fox wrote that “each operation was planned and closely coordinated with the Mexican military and border authorities to prevent interference or unintended conflicts between forces operating on either side of the border.”
Operation Ardent Vanguard Update
11 cartel drones defeated by the Army’s Multipurpose High Energy Laser as of Sep. 4. More than 300 defeats using kinetic and non-kinetic systems this year, with more than 100 occurring in August.
Sheinbaum referred the reporter’s question to her defense minister.
“Firstly I want to highlight that the relationship with the armed forces of the United States has been very good, very positive,” Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said.
He said that U.S. authorities have informed the Mexican government that drones are mainly used in the border region by people who smuggle migrants into the United States.
“They are commercial drones. They only capture images … and what they’re seeking to find are routes that are free, where there is no presence of [U.S.] authorities,” Trevilla said.
The defense minister didn’t confirm or deny Fox’s reporting that the Mexican military was involved in the planning of U.S. operations to take down drones.
Mexican beauty brand AORA wants to make its makeup consumers feel "sexy and hot," like the country that inspired its products. (AORA)
Pyramid-inspired palettes, bilingual packaging and vivid shades drawn from Mexico’s streets are just some of the hallmarks of AORA, a Mexican beauty brand that’s challenging the beauty industry with its plastic-free packaging and strong Mexican identity.
“We wanted to bottle the feeling of Mexico,” co-founder Rodrigo Peñafiel told Mexico News Daily. “We wanted to bottle that feeling you get when you visit a beach in Oaxaca; that feeling you experience when you visit Mexico City for the first time.”
AORA as a beauty brand is rooted in Mexican identity, reflected in its use of Mexican landmarks and cultural touchstones like chiles. (AORA)
Since the opening of its flagship store in Mexico City in 2022, the brand has expanded into major retail chains, landed collaborations with international celebrities including Sofía Vergara, and most recently, served as one of the makeup brands used during Bad Bunny’s 2026 Super Bowl halftime show.
International expansion, however, didn’t come as a surprise. For Peñafiel and his co-founder Nour Tayara, going global was always part of the plan.
“Why would we build a small local brand when we have the opportunity to bring something big into the world?” Peñafiel said.
Combining Tayara’s experience in marketing and innovation roles within L’Oréal with Peñafiel’s background in public relations, the pair set out to create a brand that offered more than just clean, high-quality products. They wanted to create a luxury product with a strong focus on identity.
“We do luxury makeup by working with the best factories in the world. Because if we want to compete, let’s compete with spectacular quality. But what we’re bringing — we’re bringing culture,” Tayara said.
The brand’s DNA: Mexico
Rather than downplaying AORA’s Mexican identity to appeal to international consumers, the founders have made it central to the brand, drawing inspiration from the country’s creativity, colors, architecture and connection to nature.
AORA is the first plastic-free brand to be sold by Sephora, a global beauty retailer owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. (AORA)
From the brand’s signature Mírame Eyeshadow Palette to their lipsticks, pencils and accessories, AORA’s products evoke Mexico’s cultural icons, historic landmarks and scenes from everyday life.
“In our palette, you can see a hint of Frida Kahlo, of Matías Goeritz, of Chichén Itzá,” Peñafiel said. “The shades inside our palette could evoke any street in Mexico with a yellow house and a green Volkswagen parked outside,” he added with a chuckle.
Launching the brand from Mexico also meant producing its marketing campaigns in the country. From their photoshoots to their male and female models, everything is done in Mexico with Mexican talent.
“Every detail about the brand reflects Mexico. We could not have created this brand if we hadn’t launched it here,” Tayara remarked.
A retail presence at Sephora
AORA’s authentic vision has propelled the company into a new growth stage after entering Sephora in the United States, making history as the first 100% plastic-free beauty brand sold at the retailer, and the first brand to use both Spanish and English on its packaging.
“Sephora is betting on a brand that’s very colorful from Mexico and is betting on its first plastic-free brand in its portfolio,” Tayara pointed out.
AORA’s models and marketing ideas all originate from Mexico, as part of its commitment to celebrating the country’s cultural heritage. (AORA)
In a competitive market dominated by European and U.S. brands, AORA is disrupting the beauty industry and aims to demonstrate that luxury also stems from cultural heritage.
“We started something that didn’t exist before, which is creating luxury beauty in Mexico,” Tayara said. “We come to challenge the industry in the language, in the visuals, in the products and in sustainability,” he said.
For the co-founders, AORA’s debut in Sephora goes beyond having its products on the shelves of one of the world’s leading beauty retailers. It also signals support for a Mexican brand and recognition for the Latino consumer market in the U.S.
“I think there’s a recognition of the amount of people in the U.S. that are of Latino descent and speak Spanish. It is an amazing message and signal Sephora is sending to the industry,” Tayara acknowledged.
A growing curiosity in Mexican identity and design
AORA isn’t the first brand to place Mexican identity as the center of its appeal. In recent years, global brands have increasingly sought partnerships that draw on Mexico’s visual identity, cultural heritage and creative talent.
In 2025, cosmetic brand Rare Beauty, founded by U.S. actress and singer of Mexican descent Selena Gomez, launched an exclusive, limited-edition makeup kit in collaboration with the Mexican seasoning Tajín.
Back then, Gomez described the collaboration as a “celebration of what makes us unique — our culture, our energy and the moments that bring us together.”
Last year also saw H&M launch a collection in collaboration with fashion designer Lorena Saravia, marking the first time the Swedish brand collaborated with a Mexican designer.
Joining the trend is Mestiz, a design studio founded by Daniel Valero in San Miguel de Allende, which recently collaborated with French design house Hermès to design their shop windows in Mexico.
Mexico’s appeal to consumers
“Mexico is trendy,” Peñafiel said with a smile. “I think there’s a celebration of Mexican culture that hasn’t been seen before. The challenge was to pass the front page of the news that we see every day about the dangers of Mexico, because the reality is that when people come here, they are amazed and fall in love with the food, with the culture, with the colors, the beaches, the brands,” he said.
AORA’s goal is to make users of its makeup feel attractive, and there are more potential consumers than ever given how trendy Mexico has become. (AORA)
As AORA seeks to reshape perceptions of Mexican luxury abroad and share a positive image of the country, its founders say the brand’s ultimate purpose is more personal — to make consumers feel attractive.
“We buy beauty because we want to feel good about ourselves. Because we want to feel sexy,” Tayara said.
“Yes, we want our clients to feel sexy and hot, like Mexico,” Peñafiel said.
Gabriela Solis is a Mexican lawyer turned full-time writer. She was born and raised in Guadalajara and covers business, culture, lifestyle and travel for Mexico News Daily. You can follow her lifestyle blog Dunas y Palmeras.
Be not afraid, fellow CDMX-inhabitants! September is not earthquake month in Mexico — although popular myth suggests otherwise. (Tercero Díaz/Cuartoscuro)
One of the most visceral and profound fears we Mexico City residents have is the seismic alert going off. And that’s no exaggeration.
Particularly for those of us who lived through theSeptember earthquakes — which, in an almost absurd coincidence, all occurred on the 19th of different years — that sound is a near-physical reminder of the catastrophe.
Born and raised in Mexico City, I grew up listening to my parents’ stories about the terrible1985 earthquake, when Mexicans united to help the military and first responders rescue people from the rubble.
“The response from their community was immediate,” Gaceta UNAM magazine noted at the time, “and extended to the most diverse tasks, such as the distribution of medicines, food, drinking water and clothing, as well as transportation to shelters.”
It is estimated that the earthquake of September 19, 2017 left approximately 228 dead and dozens missing. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Therefore, it is no surprise that my generation grew up attending drills at school. We learned about theseismic nature of Mexico City, largely due to the confluence of tectonic plates in our country and the presence of two magnificent volcanoes.
It wasn’t until September 2017, in my first year of university, that I truly understood what it was all for. The tedium of the drills turned into outright terror when the seismic alert sounded.
And yes, September is back. As it happens year after year, there’s this morbid expectation that another seismic catastrophe will shake the nation’s capital. And why not? On Sept. 19, it has become all but customary.
To avoid this irrational fear, MND put together this explainer about why it’s practically impossible to predict earthquakes (yes, even in turbulent Mexico City), and why it’s an infinitesimal coincidence that they’ve occurred on the same day in different years.
No, there is no way to predict an earthquake — but we can prepare for them
Due to the high rate of earthquakes in the country, Mexico has some of the most highly trained rescue brigades in the world. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Ranging from 7.1 to 8.1 on the Richter scale, 1985, 2017 and 2019 are the years that have marked the strongest earthquakes in Mexico City’s recent history, asdocumented by the National Seismological Service (SSN). Leaving hundreds ofthousands of people homeless and an uncertain death toll of hundreds on each occasion, it is understandable why these natural disasters instilled panic among the residents of the capital.
And, understandably, there’s a superstition that September is the month of earthquakes. Although fitting, it’s nothing more than a popular belief that science has taken pains to disprove.
In fact, SSN records show that there have historically been more earthquakes in December than in any other month. But what does this mean?
In Mexico, more than 15,000 earthquakes have been recorded so far in 2026, according to SSNmonitoring. The number changes daily because the country has consistently high seismic activity.
Furthermore, this does not mean that all of the underground movement has been harmful to the population. Sometimes, it’s barely perceptibleon the surface.
Although the records are accurate, they can only be taken after the telluric event. In other words, the technology we currently have is not predictive, but only serves to maintain a record of the country’s seismic activity.
This is because, according to theSSN, “not even the most advanced research has been able to develop a predictive technique for earthquakes, […] in the face of any seismic event, the only thing that can help us is prevention.”
This does not refer to the prevention of earthquakes per se, which are inevitable natural events, but to measures to mitigate the impact of these phenomena on the population. The drills we hated so much in elementary school are the best way to prepare for an event like this.
Tepeyóllotl, have mercy on us!
During an earthquake, when in doubt, offer a prayer to the great Tepeyóllotl, the great Mexica god of seismic activity. He’s waiting. (Wikimedia Commons)
Through the National Center for Disaster Prevention, the Mexican governmentacknowledges that it is an extremely rare coincidence that the three strongest earthquakes in the country’s recent history occurred on the same day.
Almost ludicrous, and certainly grim, for those of us who live in the capital.
It’s almost as if the fearsomeTepeyóllotl, the great lord of seismic movements in the Mexica pantheon, were laughing at us and saying, “Let’s give the capital’s residents a little scare.”
So no, it’s not possible to predict earthquakes. We know why they happen, and that the movement of tectonic plates is inevitable. At best, it has given us our majestic Sierra Madre mountain ranges and the pair of magnificent volcanoes that crown the center of the country. At worst, it has left terrible death tolls across the territory, as part of the cost of living in a seismic country.
Let us entrust ourselves, then, to the lord of the mountains. Perhaps only he, with his guttural roar in the bowels of the earth, can calm the subterranean movements that plague the ever-unstable Mexico City.
PRI leader Alejandro Moreno addresses Congress on Tuesday at the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro, where a joint session of Congress convened to discuss President Claudia Sheinbaum's second annual government report. (Mario Jasso / Cuartoscuro.com)
In a 67-minute speech at the National Palace on Tuesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum delivered her second annual government report. A month shy of completing her second year in office, she touted achievements across a wide range of areas and declared that her administration is “transforming public life in this country.”
Later on Tuesday, prominent opposition politicians presented a fundamentally different view of the state of the nation, asserting that Mexico, as a country, has not in fact improved under the leadership of Sheinbaum and her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-24).
After President Sheinbaum delivered her second annual government report on Tuesday, opposition leaders were quick to respond, giving their own version of the facts. (Presidencia)
While opinion poll results show that Sheinbaum is a highly popular president, millions of Mexicans oppose her government.
In speeches in a general session of Congress on Tuesday, two of Mexico’s best-known opposition politicians, Sen. Ricardo Anaya of the National Action Party and Sen. Alejandro Moreno of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, outlined some of the main grievances that they — and many other Mexicans — have with the federal government and the broader Morena party-backed “fourth transformation” political movement that was founded by López Obrador and is now led by Sheinbaum.
They included grievances about insecurity, even though the president on Tuesday touted a 51% reduction in homicides (in July compared to the final month of López Obrador’s term).
They included claims that the government is shielding a ruling Morena party governor accused by U.S. prosecutors of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel, even though Sheinbaum has said on repeated occasions that her administration won’t protect anyone who has committed a crime.
And they included accusations that the government is attempting to silence or censor government critics, even though the president says her administration will always respect freedom of speech.
Jorge Álvarez Máynez, national leader of the Citizens Movement party, also offered an appraisal of Mexico almost eight years after Morena first came to power. His remarks, and those of Anaya and Moreno, are covered below.
Ricardo Anaya, National Action Party (PAN) senator and former presidential candidate:
“It was said that Mexico is at peace, that homicides had already gone down. I wish that were true; it isn’t.”
In the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro on Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Ricardo Anaya told his colleagues that he was at the rostrum to “seriously respond” to Sheinbaum’s second government report, which he asserted was “unfortunately riddled with lies.”
In his speech, Anaya sought to demonstrate that the Morena party government is failing to uphold its own ethos: “Don’t lie, don’t steal and don’t betray the people.”
“First they promised not to lie. This morning it was said that Mexico is at peace, that homicides had already gone down. I wish that were true; it isn’t,” the senator said.
“And I don’t say it with my numbers, I say it with yours, with those of the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System [SESNSP],” he said.
Mi respuesta al informe de Claudia Sheinbaum:
Maquillan las cifras, esconden el robo y protegen a los narcopolíticos. Prometieron no mentir, no robar y no traicionar al pueblo. Fallaron en las tres. pic.twitter.com/mNr6cx12NQ
Anaya, who contested the 2018 presidential election as the candidate for the PAN, said that the average daily homicide rate before Morena took office in late 2018 was 70.
“In this six-year term of government, according to you, it’s 63. Seven fewer [homicides per day] is the apparent miracle,” he said.
“But this document — yours, not mine — has another column,” Anaya said as he held up a crime statistics report.
“It’s called ‘other crimes that threaten life and physical integrity.’ There are deaths listed there as well, but those — in a devious and deceitful manner — weren’t counted in this morning’s report. Those deaths, with you [in office], went from 15 to 40 per day,” he said.
Anaya also said that the number of daily reports of disappearances has increased from 16 to 31 under Morena’s rule.
“Disappearances doubled,” he said.
“So, do the math with me because it’s a primary school calculation. Homicides went down by seven per day in one column [but] went up by 40 in the other two,” Anaya said.
“Even though they fudge the numbers, in Mexico no one was brought back to life,” he said.
Anaya apportioned blame for the allegedly fudged numbers to authorities in Mexico’s 32 federal entities, the majority of which are governed by Morena. His claim that homicide statistics are being manipulated has also been expressed by security analysts and others.
Anaya proposed a “public and technical review of the methodology” used by the SESNSP — which compiles crime data it receives from state Attorney General’s Offices — “so that no dead person can change columns.”
“Counting correctly is not a technicality; it’s the first requirement for governing truthfully,” Anaya said.
“Huachicol fiscal is the largest robbery in the history of our country.”
Anaya asserted that the government has also broken its “do not steal” maxim.
“Huachicol fiscal is the largest robbery in the history of our country,” he said, referring to a fuel smuggling/tax evasion offense in which high-ranking members of the Mexican Navy and customs officials were allegedly involved.
“And it’s not [just] the opposition saying it. The federal tax prosecutor said it in this chamber: 600 billion pesos (US $35.45 billion),” Anaya said.
“… Six-hundred billion pesos is the hospital that wasn’t built, it’s the medicine that wasn’t supplied,” he said.
The commission, he said, should be “plural,” but chaired by “the opposition.”
A 10-million-liter diesel smuggling bust in March 2025 led to the arrest of several high-profile members of the Navy, including Vice Admiral Roberto Farías Laguna and his brother Rear Admiral Fernando Farías Laguna, who was recently extradited to Mexico after fleeing to Argentina. (Semar)
Anaya said that the commission could begin by looking into allegations that a company called Portacelis is involved in huachicol fiscal.
“The company is called Portacelis and the name that appears again is that of the friend of Andy, Amilcár Olán,” he said, referring in the first instance to Andrés Manuel López Beltrán, a son of ex-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Morena’s former secretary of organization.
“The problem isn’t that Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been stripped of his [U.S.] visa. The problem is that you don’t want to ask a single question. … That is the country you’ve built — one in which your surname determines whether you’re investigated or exonerated,” Anaya said.
“Sovereignty isn’t impunity.”
Finally, Anaya asserted that the government hasn’t fulfilled its pledge to “not betray the people.”
“In a country ravaged by homicides, oppressed by extortion, the worst possible betrayal has a verb, the verb pactar,” he said, alleging that the federal government has a pact with organized crime.
“A grand jury decided to bring criminal charges against Rubén Rocha Moya for drug trafficking. A federal judge issued an arrest warrant. The State Department formally requested his provisional detention for the purpose of extradition. Today marks 126 days, and they keep telling us there is no evidence,” he said.
Anaya asserted that there is indeed evidence linking Rocha to drug trafficking, citing an allegation that he met with Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, among other supposed examples of proof.
“Proof is not lacking here. What we have in abundance is protection,” he said.
“… Sovereignty is not impunity,” Anaya said, referring to Sheinbaum’s assertion that Mexican authorities can’t detain and extradite Rocha unless they are satisfied that the United States allegations are supported by sufficient proof.
Alejandro Moreno, national leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and a federal senator:
“Eight years after the Morena governments began, the outcome is a country that is divided, fractured, indebted, bogged down and engulfed in violence.”
Speaking before Congress on Tuesday, Senator Alejandro Moreno was also highly critical of the current federal government and its predecessor — i.e. the administration led by former President López Obrador.
“Eight years after the Morena governments began, the outcome is a country that is divided, fractured, indebted, bogged down and engulfed in violence,” he said.
Moreno, a former governor of Campeche, asserted that the Sheinbaum administration doesn’t have a “national project” or “answers” to the problems Mexico faces.
Claro, en MORENA sí “Juntos han hecho historia”, pero por haber hecho un pacto inconfesable entre el gobierno y la delincuencia organizada.
Un pacto que se ha convertido en un régimen criminal transnacional y que hemos denunciado ante todos los organismos internacionales por… pic.twitter.com/oOeS2Qd8M1
He asserted that the government is seeking to “put an end to free media outlets” and “destroy the voices of the opposition, canceling the most fundamental freedoms in our country.”
Moreno went on to say that “the Morena government is impunity disguised as false defense of national sovereignty.”
He accused the Sheinbaum administration of protecting Morena governors and other officials wanted by “foreign governments and mainly the government of the United States.”
Moreno also accused the government of making a “shameful pact” with organized crime, a claim that the Trump administration has also made.
He said that if the government had a “modicum of decency,” it would “break its pact with the organized crime cartels and take away the protection of” López Obrador, Andy López Beltrán, Senator Enrique Inzunza, Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila and Tamaulipas Governor Américo Villarreal.
“They’ve ruined peace; they’ve destroyed Mexicans’ quality of life.”
Moreno also claimed that the current government “has ruined peace” and “destroyed Mexicans’ quality of life.”
“They systematically eliminated everything that had a stamp of autonomy,” he said, referring to the government’s abolition of various watchdog agencies, including the now-defunct National Transparency Institute.
Moreno asserted that at elections in 2027, “with a large party and citizens coalition,” the opposition will win a congressional majority.
“And have no doubt, in 2030, with the people of Mexico behind us, we’re going to win the presidency of the republic,” he said.
Jorge Álvarez Máynez, national leader of Citizens’ Movement and a former presidential candidate:
“Hospitals and healthcare centers still don’t have medicine.”
In a video posted to social media, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, MC’s candidate at the 2024 presidential election, said that eight years after Morena took power, “Mexico is not making progress.”
Ya son 8 años de Morena en el poder.
Y aún con todo el poder, México no está avanzando.
El gobierno prometió mucho y ha cumplido poco. Pero México es más que su gobierno.
In July, almost three-quarters of Mexico’s export income came from the shipment abroad of non-automotive manufactured goods. Within that category, revenue from the export of electrical and electronic equipment and appliances soared 134% annually. Among those products are inputs for AI servers and other computer equipment. Mexico is currently shipping large quantities of such goods to the United States.
On the surface, the AI-related export boom appears to be great news for Mexico, but the reality is more nuanced.
As Pedro Casas, CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico, wrote in an article that MND published this week, “a significant share of the inputs” in the AI-related products Mexico is exporting is not Mexican, or even North American, but rather Taiwanese. That means that a significant share of the revenue Mexico receives from the export of such products has already been spent on imported inputs.
In a recent LinkedIn post, economist Gilberto García-Vaquez wrote that “a single trailer of servers” entering the U.S. from Mexico “can be worth as much as a thousand cars.”
“But most of that value entered Mexico as imports before the servers ever left,” he added.
In his article, Casas wrote that Mexico, “in many instances,” is “assembling and integrating components that arrive from Asia, then shipping the finished product north.”
“That’s not nothing — assembly creates jobs and keeps supply chains on this side of the Pacific,” he wrote. “But it’s not the same as manufacturing a vertical regional integrated supply chain.”
In that context, this “Mexico in Numbers” article looks at some of the key numbers related to Mexico’s exportation of AI servers and other electronic products — and the Mexican content (or lack thereof) in those goods.
* The data in this article comes from various sources, each of which is mentioned below. In some cases, the numbers cited are estimates rather than proven figures.
More than 1/3 of US server imports come from Mexico
As we reported on Aug. 14, a report by the Economic Studies Department of Grupo Financiero Banamex found that Mexico’s share of U.S. server imports through the first half of 2026 was 34.5%, just behind Taiwan’s 36%. In the second quarter of 2026, Mexico’s share of the U.S. market for imported servers was nearly 40%.
During the first half of the year, Mexico exported more than US $60.4 billion worth of computer servers to artificial intelligence data centers in the United States, according to Banamex. In May, it surpassed Taiwan in sales.
Banamex said that “Mexico has established itself as an assembly platform close to the U.S. market, while design, technological integration and chain coordination activities (for artificial intelligence computing production) remain concentrated in Asia.”
Taiwan’s exports of artificial intelligence servers to the United States were worth $72.2 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Banamex.
As MND wrote last month, “Mexico and Taiwan have captured the U.S. market for artificial intelligence data center servers, which had previously been dominated by China.”
“In 2017, China accounted for 60.4% of U.S. purchases of computer equipment, while in the first half of 2026 its share fell to 2%.”
The vast majority of inputs in computing and other electronic products made in Mexico are foreign
According to a recent report by Swiss multinational investment bank UBS, more than 95% of inputs used in the manufacture or assembly in Mexico of computing and other electronic products are imported, primarily from Asian countries such as Taiwan. In other words, less than 5% of the content in such “Made in Mexico” products is actually Mexican.
“Mexico is capturing an important role in the North American AI supply chain, but much of the value of the products it exports is still generated abroad. Computers and electronics rely heavily on imported inputs, limiting their domestic value-added and employment multipliers,” UBS says in its report.
The bank also says that “a server assembled in Mexico can have a very high export value without generating a proportionally large amount of Mexican income, employment, or local demand.”
“Each dollar of investment in the highly automated [AI server] plants creates far fewer jobs than more manual sectors such as car parts,” FT wrote, also noting that “Mexico manufactures very few of the parts” used in the country’s AI server sector.
Fernando Alba, deputy economy minister in the state of Chihuahua, told FT that in current conditions Mexico could realistically aspire to reach 3-7% Mexican content in each server, compared to 39% for autos.
“It could do electronics, cooling and product design but making chips was very unlikely, he said, as the country lacks the engineering and design knowhow, as well as enough energy and water,” FT reported.
Alba also said: “A car is a value chain disseminated up and down the country. … It’s much harder to do that with AI servers. We are much less prepared.”
In its report, UBS says that “Mexico does not need to produce advanced chips to capture more value from the AI boom.”
“The more immediate opportunity is to build a broader ecosystem around the manufacturing capacity already being established. Potential areas include electronic components, cooling and power systems, testing and packaging, design, and other specialized industrial inputs,” the bank said.
Mexico’s imports from Taiwan have surged
FT reported in August that “Taiwanese manufacturers are rapidly expanding factories in Mexico to assemble servers, which are now the country’s top U.S. export, overtaking autos that dominated its trade for decades.”
As noted above, the vast majority of the inputs going into servers assembled in Mexico — whether by Taiwanese manufacturers, Mexican manufacturers or anyone else — comes from abroad. Taiwan is a top supplier of those inputs.
“Much of the increase in technology imports is coming from Taiwan,” UBS notes in its report.
Therefore, it is not surprising that official data shows that Mexico’s imports from the East Asian island have significantly increase.
According to Bank of Mexico data, Mexico’s imports from Taiwan totaled US $43.91 billion in the first six months of 2026, an increase of 200.5% compared to the same period of last year. In all of 2026, Mexico imports from Taiwan were worth $46.58 billion, less than $3 billion above the total in the first half of this year.
As Mexico News Daily reported in April, much of the recent significant rise in trade between Taiwan and Mexico is in the semiconductor industry. In other words, Taiwan is sending large quantities of chips and other electronic components and inputs to Mexico, where they are used in the assembly of AI servers and other computer hardware, much of which is sent across the border to data centers in the United States.
After the Guinness adjudicator verified the legitimacy of the giant cheese ball (visible at left), Mayor Carlos Alberto Albores was presented with an award. (Sectur / X)
Blessed are the cheesemakers, for they shall … make a cheese ball weighing 1,611 kilos.
Cheese producers in the small town of Pijijiapan, Chiapas, have re-entered the Guinness Book of World Records after stringing together the largest ball of quesillo in history, earning the acknowledgement on Aug. 29 at the city’s Campo Nuevo Milenio field.
Alfredo Arista, official adjudicator of Guinness World Records, verified compliance with the requirements necessary to recognize the new world record and presented an award to Mayor Carlos Alberto Albores.
With eight cheese-producing companies participating, the strings of cheese were wound for almost four hours, until a single piece weighing more than 1.6 tonnes was realized. (Sectur / X)
Mayor Albores said that the eight cheese-producing companies participating conducted three test runs before undertaking the record-setting effort. He said an estimated 15,500 liters of fresh milk were required to produce the giant ball of cheese.
Once the master cheesemaker and cheese producers finished preparing the string cheese, the difficult task of forming the ball got under way. To do it, a special rotating structure with metal platforms was built, allowing the ball to be rotated and manipulated while its dimensions and weight increased.
The strings were progressively wound over almost four hours, until a single piece weighing more than 1.7 tonnes was realized.
The Tourism Ministry lauded the achievement, saying in a social media post that the record was established thanks to “the tradition, talent and hands of Chiapas’ cheese-producing families who are keeping alive one of the special characteristics that distinguishes the region.”
“Behind this large ball of string cheese lies a lot of work, tradition and pride,” said Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez. “This is a great opportunity for more people to get to know Pijijiapan, its flavors, its communities and everything this destination has to offer.”
The Pacific Coast town of Pijijiapan — with a population of just over 18,000 souls and the county seat of the municipality of the same name — is well known for its exceptional dairy products, especially its fresh cheeses, particularly a renowned doble crema.
One goal of last week’s event was to reclaim the Guinness Record it had lost to cheesemakers in Reyes Etla, just 20 kilometers north of Oaxaca city, when cheesemakers there constructed a ball weighing 636.2 kilos in 2024.
Pijijiapan had established the initial record in 2023 (making a cheese ball weighing 558 kilos), and organizers said they planned to climb back atop the cheesemaking mountain by assembling a cheese ball weighing more than 1,500 kilos.
At the same time, municipal officials sought to protect the identity, origin and tradition linked to the production of Pijijiapan cheese by obtaining an official Declaration of Protection of the Geographical Indication “Quesillo de Pijijiapan, Chiapas.”
In support of this goal, the state Economy Ministry filed an application with the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) requesting the formal designation.
This year's heavy rainfall may have been inconvenient to many and even caused damage on occasion, but it has undeniably helped Mexico's main water supply system avoid a crisis. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Steady August rains have helped replenish the Cutzamala reservoir system, Mexico City’s primary source of water, boosting supply to 81% capacity, its highest volume in a decade.
According to data from the National Water Commission (Conagua), the Cutzamala System has experienced 13 consecutive weeks of recovery, dating to the beginning of the rainy season on June 4.
Just three years ago, the Villa Victoria reservoir was about 30% full. Today it’s over 78% capacity, holding more than 145 million cubic meters of water. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro.com)
During the final week of August, 15.02 million cubic meters of water from rainfall and runoff were captured in the Balsas River basin, where the system’s physical infrastructure and reservoirs are located.
The Cutzamala System supplies 5 million inhabitants of the greater Mexico City Metropolitan Area and provides 18% of the water the area consumes, around 422 million liters daily.
Conagua’s monthly report for August indicated that the Valle de Bravo dam was at 86.58% capacity with 341.47 million cubic meters of water; Villa Victoria dam held 78.10% of its capacity with 145.06 million cubic meters; and the El Bosque dam was at 72.98% with 147.71 million cubic meters.
The current volume of water is roughly equivalent to that recorded in August 2017, but storage steadily declined during the following years. By 2021 and 2022, the system was operating at 50.31% and 50.15%, respectively.
Then, a drought in 2023 reduced the water supply even more dramatically so that in 2023, the system was operating at 36.71% of its capacity. In 2024, it rose slightly to 42%. Ahead of the 2025 rainy season, Conagua reported that storage had reached 56%, but cautioned that the crisis had yet to be averted.
However, plentiful rains boosted the Cutzamala water supply so thoroughly that it remained at nearly 70% by spring 2026.
This year’s August data shows that the three dams had increased their level by more than 30 million cubic meters compared to the same period in 2025, helped considerably by five days in which more than 20 mm of rainfall was recorded in the Balsas and Lerma river basins. Aug. 16 was particularly beneficial to the system, as downpours added 18 mm to Villa Victoria, 34 mm to Valle de Bravo and 26 mm to El Bosque.
On Aug. 1, total storage was 577.56 billion cubic meters, equivalent to 73.81%. By the 30th, the volume had reached 634.25 billion cubic meters, or 81.05%.
Conagua says the system is on track to reach its maximum capacity for the year by Oct. 31 (the date rainfall is expected to drop to near zero in its area of influence), projecting 98% capacity.
Aerial view of a beach in Puerto Vallarta. (Credit: Emmanuel Appiah via Unsplash)
Puerto Vallarta and the surrounding region are undergoing rapid change. However, with new investment and infrastructure comes mounting pressure on public services, transportation, housing and the coastline.
In this week’s roundup, we examine questions surrounding the municipality’s growing payroll, the deeper forces behind Vallarta’s worsening traffic, the long-awaited Amado Nervo Bridge, and the continuing debate over development at Punta de Mita.
Questions raised over Vallarta’s growing municipal payroll
Puerto Vallarta’s municipal government is facing questions over the size and cost of its workforce after independent councilor Melissa Madero presented an analysis of the city’s 2026 payroll.
According to reporting by Urritia Comunica, Madero stated the municipal council originally approved 2,707 positions for 2026. Her review of current records alleged there were 3,375 active positions, 668 more than authorized, representing an additional cost of more than 151 million pesos (US $8.8 million).
She also pointed to what she described as 778 unauthorized positions, including assistants, coordinators and other administrative roles, with an estimated annual cost of nearly 180 million pesos.
Puerto Vallarta’s independent councilor, Melissa Madero, holds a press conference to discuss the findings of her analysis. (Credit: Melissa Madero via TikTok)
Perhaps more striking is the contrast she drew between administrative staffing and the city’s operational services. Madero alleged that positions have increased in areas connected to the mayor’s office while other departments responsible for services such as public safety, parks, gardens and municipal infrastructure face staffing and resource pressures.
Madero says she intends to take the matter first to the municipal comptroller and, if necessary, to Jalisco’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
Although only allegations, the questions are significant.
As Puerto Vallarta spends heavily to keep pace with a rapidly growing city, residents have every right to ask where their municipal money is going, and whether the bureaucracy is growing as quickly as the services people actually depend on.
Vallarta’s traffic problem is about more than cars
If it feels like there are more cars on Puerto Vallarta’s roads every time you leave the house, you’re not imagining it.
Traffic congestion has become one of the city’s defining daily frustrations, with a road network that was never designed for the population and development Vallarta is now supporting. New housing construction and the sheer number of people moving around the metropolitan area are putting additional pressure on already limited routes.
But there’s another part of the story that doesn’t always get enough attention: Who’s living here, and where?
Vehicles parked on a street in Puerto Vallarta. (Credit: Jeffrey Eisen via Unsplash)
The cost of living in Puerto Vallarta, particularly housing costs, has risen sharply in recent years. For many local workers, remaining in the city is becoming increasingly difficult. As rents push people farther from the center, some workers who once lived close to their jobs are now commuting from places such as Ixtapa, Las Juntas, El Colorado, Bahía de Banderas and farther afield.
That means more vehicles on the road. Not necessarily because more people suddenly decided they wanted a car, but because the geography of everyday life changed, thereby creating a need for one. At the same time, Puerto Vallarta continues to attract new residents, businesses and visitors, adding to demand for roads that were already struggling.
So, the traffic problem isn’t simply about too many cars. It’s another symptom of a city trying to figure out how to accommodate growth without pricing the people who keep it running out of the places where they work.
For anyone who regularly crosses between Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas, the Amado Nervo Bridge has become something of a local obsession. And this week, there was another reminder that while the long-awaited connection is getting closer, it isn’t ready for prime time just yet.
The bridge crosses the Ameca River, connecting the Ixtapa area of Puerto Vallarta on the Jalisco side with San Vicente in Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit. When completed, the roughly 2-kilometer project is expected to cut travel times between the two municipalities by about 25 minutes and accommodate thousands of vehicles each day.
The Amado Nervo Bridge over the Ameca River has seen continuous delays. (Gobierno Municipal de Puerto Vallarta)
Construction is now reported to be about 90% complete, with an opening currently expected later this year.
But that hasn’t stopped some drivers from attempting to get onto the new connection. It is easy to understand the impatience. The Ameca River has long been a bottleneck for a metropolitan area that has grown dramatically on both sides of the bay.
The new bridge won’t solve every transportation problem facing Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas. But once it finally opens, it’ll give commuters another option and, perhaps more importantly, provide a much-needed piece of infrastructure for a region that’s been growing faster than its roads can handle.
Punta de Mita’s coastline is the latest development battleground
The fight over development in Punta de Mita and its coastline isn’t going away.
Last week, the Committee of Punta de Mita and environmental groups called on authorities to move beyond announcements and actually remove the rock barrier at Playa Las Cocinas and begin restoring the affected beach.
The demand follows recent statements from Environment Secretary Alicia Bárcena regarding the site. Local environmental groups say the issue now is what happens next.
Disputes over Punta de Mita and its coastline are ongoing, with environmental groups worried about increased development. (Credit: Fernando Gutierrez via Unsplash)
Will authorities follow through with restoration rather than simply declaring that action is being taken?
The dispute is part of a larger conversation playing out across Riviera Nayarit. Development has transformed Punta Mita and its surrounding communities into some of the region’s most valuable real estate, but the coastline itself remains a public and environmental resource.
The latest demands from Punta de Mita residents and environmental groups show that the argument isn’t simply about one project or one stretch of beach. It’s about what happens when a coastline becomes extremely valuable, and who gets to decide how much of it can be changed in the name of development.
Charlotte Smith is a writer and journalist based in Mexico. Her work focuses on travel, politics and community. You can follow along with her travel stories at www.salsaandserendipity.com.
