Mexico's Federal Attorney General's Office (FGR) has summoned Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos (L) to an interview in connection with the alleged participation of CIA officers in a drug lab raid in the northern state last month, and former Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya (R) to answer questions related to a U.S. indictment charging him and nine other current and former Sinaloa-based officials with drug trafficking. (Cuartoscuro)
The Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has summoned Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya to answer questions related to a U.S. indictment charging him and nine other current and former Sinaloa-based officials with drug trafficking.
Both governors indicated they will comply with the summonses and appear before FGR officials. Rocha, who is currently on leave, and Campos both deny any wrongdoing.
The FGR released a statement on Saturday to announce that it had summoned Rocha, Campos and other current and former officials. They include Rocha’s nine co-defendants, among whom are Senator Enrique Inzunza and Culiacán Mayor Juan de Dios Gaméz Mendívil, who is also on leave. Rocha, Inzunza and Gámez all represent Morena, Mexico’s ruling party.
Two other defendants, former Sinaloa Security Minister Gerardo Mérida Sánchez and former Sinaloa Administration and Finance Minister Enrique Díaz Vega, turned themselves in to U.S. authorities earlier this month. All 10 of the current and former officials from Sinaloa are accused of colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel on a drug trafficking conspiracy in exchange for political support and bribes.
Also summoned by the FGR is former Chihuahua Attorney General César Jauregui Moreno, who resigned last month amid the fallout from the alleged participation of the CIA agents in the operation in Chihuahua. Two CIA personnel and two Chihuahua security officials were killed in a car accident after the operation took place.
Also summoned by the FGR is former Chihuahua Attorney General César Jauregui Moreno. (chihuahua.gob.mx)
President Claudia Sheinbaum asserted last month that either the Chihuahua government or the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office requested security collaboration with U.S. authorities. She has said that the CIA officers participated in the drug lab operation without the knowledge or authorization of the Mexican government, violating Mexican laws. Campos represents the National Action Party (PAN), Mexico’s main opposition party.
Regarding the case against Rocha and the other Sinaloa-based officials, Sheinbaum has endorsed the FGR’s view that there is currently insufficient evidence to arrest the defendants and extradite them to the United States. However, she has also pledged that her government won’t protect anyone who has committed a crime.
At her Monday morning press conference, the president acknowledged that the FGR had summoned both Rocha and Campos. However, she said that the FGR is not formally accusing either governor of committing a crime. The FGR will ultimately have to determine whether there is enough evidence to arrest and extradite Rocha and his seven co-defendants in Mexico, and whether there is proof showing that an official or officials in Chihuahua committed a crime by authorizing collaboration between state forces and the CIA. Regarding the Rocha case, Mexican authorities have requested additional evidence from their U.S. counterparts.
Campos is set to be interviewed by FGR officials this Wednesday, May 27. It is not yet clear when Rocha will speak to FGR personnel.
The cases involving Rocha and Campos have created additional tension in the bilateral security relationship between Mexico and the United States. Sheinbaum said on Friday that she told U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin last Thursday that Mexican laws and the Mexican Constitution don’t allow joint operations to take place on Mexican soil, as allegedly occurred in Chihuahua last month. She didn’t raise Rocha’s case with Mullin, explaining that it corresponds to the U.S. Department of Justice rather than the Department of Homeland Security.
In a social media post on Saturday, Rocha acknowledged that he had received a summons to appear before the FGR.
“I say to the people of Sinaloa, to the members of our transformation movement and to our leader and the head of the Mexican state: I am an honest man who has nothing to fear. My life story bears witness to who I am. I will attend to the requirement that has been made of me by @FGRMexico with my head held high and with the certainty that the truth will prevail,” he wrote.
Campos: ‘The political persecution against me continues’
In a video message on Saturday, Campos also acknowledged that she had been summoned by the FGR due to what she called “the drug lab issue.”
“They hadn’t done it but after the interviews in recent days [with other officials], they decided to,” she said.
“How about it? They protect criminals and go after those who try to fulfill our duty,” Campos said.
“Yes, the political persecution against me continues. But, as always, I will continue facing up [to the situation] and fighting for your family, for our country, for Chihuahua and for freedom,” she said.
When authorities or citizen searchers find human remains, such as this recent discovery by the volunteer group “Las Escarabajo" in Aguascalientes, the FBI-built system will allow for immediate access to a database of DNA. (Adolfo Vladimir/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico is moving to modernize its forensic identification system as authorities confront an ongoing crisis of disappearances.
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) is implementing the FBI-developed Combined DNA Index System — known as CODIS — by linking 15 state prosecutor’s offices and forensic institutes to a national database, El Sol de México reported last week.
How Do Missing Person DNA Profiles Enter CODIS?
The newspaper said its information came from a request to Mexican authorities under the country’s transparency laws, which function similarly to the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
The system was developed by the FBI mainly for crime investigation, but also for linking remains to missing persons, for which it will be used in Mexico.
CODIS allows laboratories to compare genetic profiles and match unidentified remains with relatives of missing persons more quickly.
According to the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons, maintained by the Interior Ministry (Segob) and cited by El Sol, Mexico has 134,101 persons listed as missing or disappeared.
The FGR said states beyond the initial 15 will be added as their laboratories meet international accreditation standards, leaving out for now states such as México and Tamaulipas despite their high numbers of missing persons.
“The truth is that instruments like CODIS are what Mexico needs,” said Mariano Guardado, head of the forensic genetics lab at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) School of Forensic Sciences.
Recent events highlight both progress and need, as new discoveries of human remains underscore the urgency.
Authorities last week seized 1.5 tonnes of cocaine off the coast of Chiapas, after which the newspaper Milenio quoted a statement from the U.S. Embassy that read, in part: “… with support from INL Mexico [the U.S. State Department’s anti-narcotics and law-enforcement office in Mexico City], the FBI’s CODIS system will help expedite forensic identification in Mexico.”
Separately, the group Madres Buscadoras de Chiapas (Chiapas Searching Mothers) last week uncovered skeletal remains and clandestine graves at a ranch in the central part of the state, according to TV Azteca.
Even though the app was launched to serve World Cup visitors, officials have said that México Invita will continue to operate as a mobile tourist guide once the tournament is over. (Sectur/Cuartoscuro)
The Mexican government last week launched “México Invita” (Mexico Invites), an official mobile application designed to boost tourism and guide travelers throughout the country during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
With less than one month to go before the tournament’s opening match on June 11, the app seeks to enhance the tourist experience for national and international visitors in addition to promoting various activities in all of Mexico’s 32 states.
“This application will allow visitors to learn about over 290 tourist routes, discover recommendations for our Magical Towns and access useful information to travel through Mexico in a safer, more practical and connected way,” Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez Zamora said during the presentation of the app.
Beyond providing valuable information about the host cities of Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey, the app contains emergency numbers, contact information for Green Angels (roadside assistance for tourists), a sales point for Maya Train tickets and details about museums and archaeological sites, among other features.
Once the tournament begins, the app will share useful information about the competition in addition to live updates of all football matches.
Even though the app was launched to serve World Cup visitors, officials have said that México Invita will continue to operate as a mobile tourist guide after the tournament concludes.
Officials expect that the app will help ensure that the economic benefits generated by the World Cup reach local communities, artisans and businesses linked to the tourism and culinary industries.
How to download the app and what to expect?
Available in Spanish and English, users can download the app on their phones for free through the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android).
Upon opening the app, the main menu displays three options: Discover Mexico; View information about the 2026 World Cup; and View information about useful services. There’s another section called “Tourist Calendar,” where users will find information about cultural events.
The app features maps with pinned locations of must-see tourism and archaeological destinations, as well as downloadable PDFs with culinary guides.
Xicoténcatl Park, on the outskirts of Tijuana, was once a stream bed filled with debris. Now it is a vibrant community space. (Sedatu)
On the outskirts of Tijuana, in an unassuming residential area, sits Xicoténcatl Park, a community space opened in 2020 that’s been noticed worldwide as a best-practices urban renewal project — one that did what these sorts of projects should do, but don’t always: take into account the needs of the community that will use it.
That community is made up of about 5,000 former migrants from Central America, the Caribbean and Africa who were unable to cross the border into the United States and ended up settling in this marginalized area near the Mexico-U.S.border. Today, what started as an irregular encampment on empty land has grown to about 5,000 people inhabiting an urbanized area on a hillside populated by modest homes. Over time, the community began transforming a stream bed facing the community into a makeshift public space by filling it in with debris and leveling the ground for recreational use, a decision that marked the beginning of the park’s story.
Xicoténcatl’s innovative park design transformed a scene of urban blight into a recreation space featuring a soccer pitch, a playground, seating areas and landscaped pathways. Designers used abandoned tires, a pollution problem for Tijuana, to create landscaping, elevated recreation structures and fencing. (Sedatu)
A design pivot
Initially intending to simply improve urban blight and prevent flooding, Mexico’s Ministry of Agricultural, Territorial and Urban Development (Sedatu) had planned in 2019 to construct sidewalks here and clean the stream bed in order to channel stormwater runoff. However, the situation changed when the project’s contractors arrived and saw what the residents had done.
“We realized that tons of rubble had been dumped into the bed, altering the flow of water, dividing the community and creating areas of extreme violence,” explained Loreta Castro Reguera from Taller Capital, the firm that developed the project in collaboration with the School of Architecture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The designers proposed using some of the rubble in the ravine to transform it into a safer, more appealing park space by building platforms. They also championed a popular local construction method called llantimuro, which creates structures like retaining walls and fencing out of piles of used tires arranged in an aesthetically pleasing way.
“The tire-wall system supports the land where the platforms have been built. We created nine descending platforms that now function as public spaces, and these platforms help guide rainwater runoff straight to the sea and have formed one of the city’s largest gardens, connecting people on both sides of the stream,” Castro said.
Members of the community tend to the park’s plantings. Use and care of the public space has brought together neighbors who were previously separated by an unnavigable stream bed. (Roman Meyer via Tijuana Local/Facebook)
A place for neighbors to meet and connect
Designers used the tires to construct a series of concrete and earth platforms, creating elevation changes of over 15 meters along a length of 390 meters. The tire wall also created habitats for at least 84 trees, 890 shrubs and 13,400 succulents, creating appealing landscaped green spaces.
The park features multipurpose courts, playgrounds, seating areas, a meditation area and walking paths. The project also constructed perimeter channels to divert rainwater runoff and keep streets clear of water by directing it downstream to less disturbed areas of the Xicoténcatl Stream.
Also, importantly, Xicoténcatl Park by uniting the 5,000 residents living on both sides of the stream bed, has promoted social connections among neighbors.
“It has also fostered a sense of community responsibility for its upkeep,” Castro said.
A multi-award-winning park
Since Xicoténcatl Park’s opening in 2020, its unique context, inspiring story and numerous benefits to the community have earned it international attention.
The project has received eight international awards in countries as varied as Chile, Spain, Ecuador, the United States and the United Kingdom. These awards have included the 2020 Architectural League of New York Award, the 2020–2021 Architectural Review Emerging Architecture Award, the 2020 Quito Pan-American Architecture Biennial Award and the Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial Award. It also won an honorable mention at the Seoul Design Award in 2023 and the Make It Circular Challenge, a Dutch competition organized by What Design Can Do in collaboration with the IKEA Foundation, which invited designers, creative entrepreneurs and start-ups worldwide to envision and build a circular society.
Tijuana’s Xicoténcatl Park project exemplifies how specific local needs can be addressed with innovative solutions — which, in this case, brought a better quality of life to one of Tijuana’s often-forgotten communities.
Ana Paula de la Torre is a Mexican journalist and collaborator for various outlets, including Milenio, Animal Político, Vice, Newsweek en Español, Televisa and Mexico News Daily.
Also of note at today's mañanera was Sheinbaum's confirmation of the news that the Iranian men's national team will make Tijuana its base during the World Cup this June and July. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
🔍 FGR summons governors — but no charges yet: Chihuahua Gov. Maru Campos and on-leave Sinaloa Gov. Rubén Rocha Moya have been called to interview by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) as part of separate investigations into alleged CIA involvement in a Chihuahua drug lab raid and a U.S. indictment accusing Rocha and other Sinaloa officials of cartel-linked drug trafficking. Sheinbaum stressed that neither governor has been formally accused of a crime.
⚽ 🇮🇷 Iran’s World Cup team may relocate to Tijuana: Sheinbaum said the U.S. does not want the Iranian team to stay overnight on American soil, prompting FIFA to approach Mexico about hosting the squad. Mexico agreed, and Tijuana is now the proposed base for Iran, which will play its three group-stage matches in the U.S. Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez and World Cup representative Gabriela Cuevas are coordinating accommodation plans with FIFA.
🦠 Ebola screening measures planned for World Cup: With an active Ebola outbreak in the DRC — whose team plays a group-stage match in Guadalajara — Sheinbaum said Mexico will implement health screening measures for travelers from affected countries, while stopping short of a travel ban. Details on the measures are expected at Tuesday’s mañanera.
Why today’s mañanera matters
At her Monday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to the news that Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos and Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, who is currently on leave, have been summoned to interviews with the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya is accused of narcotics importation conspiracy; possession of machine guns and destructive devices; and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
The FGR is investigating the alleged participation of U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers in a drug lab raid in Chihuahua last month. Sheinbaum has said that the CIA officers participated in the operation without the knowledge or authorization of the Mexican government, violating Mexican laws.
The FGR is also conducting an investigation related to a U.S. indictment that accuses Rocha Moya and nine other current and former Sinaloa-based officials of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Both Campos and Rocha have indicated that they will comply with the summonses and appear before FGR officials. Both deny any wrongdoing.
The cases involving Campos and Rocha are among the biggest news stories in Mexico today, and have clear implications for Sheinbaum and the federal government. Rocha is affiliated with Mexico’s ruling party, Morena, and an ally of the president, meaning that the accusation he faces is also tarnishing Sheinbaum. A conviction against the governor in the United States — if he is extradited — would be extremely damaging for Morena and the Sheinbaum administration.
Regarding the alleged CIA involvement in a security operation in Chihuahua, Sheinbaum presumably wants someone to be held to account. It would be politically advantageous for the president, a staunch defender of Mexican sovereignty, if that person were Campos, a representative of the opposition National Action Party (PAN).
Also of note at today’s mañanera were Sheinbaum’s remarks on two issues related to the FIFA men’s World Cup, which Mexico will co-host with the United States and Canada starting June 11.
Sheinbaum: FGR is not accusing Campos or Rocha of committing crimes
Sheinbaum acknowledged that the FGR summoned both Campos and Rocha.
She noted that “the Chihuahua case” is an investigation into the presence of “foreign agents” — i.e., CIA officers — in the northern border state, two of whom were killed in a car accident after they allegedly participated in a drug lab raid.
Sheinbaum said that the FGR has already interviewed various people in connection with the case, including personnel from the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office.
“And as part of the procedures, I understand that it also called the governor to an interview. It doesn’t mean she is accused of any issue,” said Sheinbaum, who has personally accused authorities in Chihuahua of requesting security collaboration with U.S. personnel.
“Son procedimientos, no hay imputación, por lo que nos ha dicho la Fiscalía, sencillamente son entrevistas”, dijo la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum sobre los citatorios de la FGR a María Eugenia Campos, gobernadora de Chihuahua, y Rubén Rocha Moya, gobernador con licencia de… pic.twitter.com/LcusfdYVks
Campos has asserted that she didn’t authorize or have knowledge of the presence of CIA personnel in Chihuahua.
Regarding “the Sinaloa case,” Sheinbaum noted that the FGR has also summoned various people to interviews, including Rocha Moya, federal Senator Enrique Inzunza and Culiacán Mayor Juan de Dios Gámez Mendívil, who, like Rocha, is on leave.
Sheinbaum said that the summoning of the Sinaloa-based officials is “part of the investigation” being carried out by the FGR.
“They’re procedures. There is not an accusation against anybody, according to what the Attorney General’s Office has told us,” she said.
Sheinbaum has endorsed the FGR’s declarations that there is currently insufficient evidence to arrest Rocha and the other defendants for the purpose of extradition to the United States.
Iran’s World Cup team set to be based in Tijuana
A journalist noted that it has been reported that Iran’s World Cup team will be based in Tijuana during the tournament, rather than in Tucson, Arizona, as originally planned.
The BBC reported on Sunday that the president of the Iranian Football Association “says FIFA has approved the country’s World Cup training base being switched from the United States to Mexico.”
“Mehdi Taj said Iran will now be based in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, although the change has yet to be confirmed by FIFA. Iran were given Tucson, Arizona as their World Cup base but the ongoing war in the Middle East and related security concerns has led to uncertainty around their participation,” the BBC wrote.
BREAKING: Iran’s soccer team has moved its base camp for the World Cup to Mexico from the United States, the president of the Iran Football Federation said. https://t.co/Y9QvcEP47o
Sheinbaum said that the United States “doesn’t want the Iranian team to stay overnight” in the U.S., where it will play its three group-stage matches.
She said that a FIFA representative asked the federal government whether the team could stay in Mexico.
“And we said ‘yes, no problem, we don’t have any problem,'” Sheinbaum said.
“So they’re seeking that the base be in Tijuana,” she said.
“… We don’t have any reason to reject the possibility of them staying in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
“So we gave them that option,” she said, adding that the Mexican government’s World Cup representative, Gabriela Cuevas, and Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez are “reviewing” Iran’s accommodation plans with FIFA.
Mexico to take ‘health measures’ to prevent entry of Ebola during World Cup
A reporter noted that there is an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), whose World Cup team will play one of its three group-stage matches in Guadalajara.
Andrew Giuliani, the executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, told ESPN on Friday that the DRC’s team, which is currently training in Belgium, must isolate for 21 days or risk the ability to enter the U.S. for the World Cup.
“Is there also going to be a special situation with this team here [in Mexico], including with the tourists who come from Africa, from [the Democratic Republic of the] Congo?” the reporter asked Sheinbaum.
“There have to be some particular health measures that are worked on together with the country of origin,” the president responded.
“Obviously if there is a problem of a contagious disease, we have to take health screening measures that guarantee that [foreigners] don’t infect [people] in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
She said that health officials will provide details on the measures at her Tuesday morning press conference.
Sheinbaum said that the outbreak of Ebola in African countries — namely in the DRC and Uganda — doesn’t mean that people from those countries “can’t travel” to Mexico.
They can travel, she said, “with all the necessary measures that have to be taken.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
Genaro García Luna in 2011. (Octavio Hoyos/Shutterstock)
A Miami, Florida, court last week awarded the Mexican government a massive win in a civil suit filed against former Security Minister Genaro García Luna, who is currently serving a 38-year sentence in the U.S. for accepting bribes to help drug traffickers.
Judge Lisa Walsh in Miami-Dade County ordered members of the Weinberg family and related companies to pay US $578.5 million in damages to the Mexican state for losses incurred as a result of their involvement in corruption schemes. Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) has identified the Weinbergs as frontmen for García Luna.
This ruling adds to the judgments previously obtained against García Luna and his wife, Linda Cristina Pereyra, which were handed down in May 2025, for an amount exceeding US $2.448 billion, the Finance Ministry (SHCP) said in a statement.
“During the process, the involvement of individuals and legal entities was proven, who participated in mechanisms aimed at the improper obtaining of public contracts and in the subsequent transfer and concealment of resources,” the statement said.
The May 20 ruling — which lifted the total amount of judgments obtained in favor of the Mexican government for this scheme to more than US $3.067 billion — brought to a close a civil case first filed in September 2021 by the Mexican government.
In its initial complaint, the Mexican government — led at the time by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — accused Garcia Luna, his wife and their co-defendants of having “concealed funds stolen from the government” and smuggling the money to places like Barbados and the United States.
“Under the direction of the Defendant, the funds unlawfully taken from the Government of Mexico were used to build a money-laundering empire,” the complaint alleged.
After serving as security minister in President Felipe Calderón’s Cabinet from 2006 to 2012, García Luna moved to Florida. His lawyers said he was a legitimate businessman who did consulting in Florida before he was arrested by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in December 2019 on charges of accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel.
García Luna, left, was Mexico’s security minister under President Felipe Calderón, center (2006–2012). (Octavio Hoyos/Shutterstock)
Last week’s ruling verified the UIF’s accusation that García Luna and associates set up companies that got 30 dubious government contracts while serving as security minister and for six years afterward.
The contracts were for items such as surveillance, monitoring and communications equipment used in prisons and in intelligence work. The contracts were presumably inflated. In one case, the contract was simply falsified.
The UIF has accused García Luna of channeling money from the government contracts to offshore accounts, many in Barbados, then sending it to Miami to buy high-end condos and vintage cars, while also funding a lavish lifestyle.
Mexico further alleges that García Luna stole millions in taxpayer funds, for which it has pledged to seek restitution. The government is expected to file a legal complaint in Miami, where it alleges some of the illegal activity took place.
The Cañada de la Virgen national archeological monument was temporarily closed in March due to an ongoing legal dispute but was reopened May 24. (Eric Reinecke)
The Cañada de la Virgen national archeological monument, west of San Miguel de Allende, reopened Sunday, May 24, after a two-month closure stemming from an ongoing legal dispute between the federal and state governments and owners of the large ranch property surrounding the site.
The owners say they were not informed of the reopening and have been subjected to repeated trespassing over the past few months by state and federal officials and other individuals who have cut locks, damaged ranch property and threatened and injured ranch employees. They say the archeological zone remains closed because the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has not reached an agreement with them.
Soldiers inside the gate at Cañada de la Virgen. (CDLV)
Nevertheless, the reopening was announced May 22 via press conferences in Guanajuato and San Miguel with INAH Director General Joel Omar Vásquez, Guanajuato Secretary of Culture Lizeth Galván Cortés and Jesusa Rodríguez, former Morena senator and advisor to President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“To reach this point, INAH has implemented actions to bring the archeological zone closer and not only delimit it, but also avoid possible damage to the archeological heritage,” Vásquez reportedly said at the press conference in Guanajuato.
The dispute involves more than 700 hectares (about 1,730 acres) of land surrounding the pre-Hispanic site. The pyramids and other monuments within the 16-hectare archeological zone are federal property accessed through land owned by the Cañada de la Virgen ranch (CDLV). The entire site is located within the municipality of San Miguel.
The owners say they have never damaged the site and that access to it has always been controlled by INAH.
INAH announced in January that it was taking possession of the CDLV property through a decree of expropriation President Sheinbaum signed in late 2025. According to the federal Ministry of Culture, the purpose of the decree of expropriation was “strengthening the research, protection, conservation, restoration and recovery of the archaeological heritage of the site.”
Sophia Trapp, CDLV executive director, told Mexico News Daily the expropriation was illegal and constituted abuse of Mexican and international citizens as well as private property laws.
A National Guard truck inside the site. (CDLV)
She said she and the other ranch owners are the legal landowners of the property except for the 16 hectares, adding that they have an expropriation injunction from the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and other official paperwork to back up their position.
“Every country that pretends to have a democracy has laws and due process,” Trapp said. “There are about seven major steps you have to complete toward expropriation, and they have not completed one of them. Not one.”
She said the government officials involved in the expropriation and reopening have no letters, agreements or other documents to prove their claims about ownership of the property. The ranch owners have also not received any payment for the land, she added.
“We have never wanted to sell,” Trapp said. “They sent me a photocopy of a check last week for 71 million pesos, and it was not even drawn on a government bank.”
She said she doesn’t feel safe going to the ranch and her home because her physical safety and that of family members has been threatened.
“We have lost the peace and harmony that we have spent so many years building on a ranch where we have the opportunity to admire the pyramids and also work in our business, which provides a livelihood for many families in San Miguel,” Trapp said.
Cañada de la Virgen has long been a popular place to visit due to its proximity to San Miguel and draws many tourists, along with providing business to local guides. The site is more than 1,000 years old and is believed to have been a center for Otomí ceremonies.
Cathy Siegner is an independent journalist based in San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University
MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities confirmed Tuesday they have activated a “purely precautionary” reconquest protocol following news that Spain’s King Felipe VI will attend a 2030 World Cup match, citing “historical precedent and unusually high levels of European enthusiasm.”
King Felipe VI of Spain, who will be visiting Mexico next month, will hopefully leave without all the gold this time. (Cuartoscuro.com)
Officials stressed there is no indication of an actual invasion, but noted that past encounters involving Spanish arrivals, strong leadership figures, and large gatherings “have occasionally escalated beyond their original scope.”
“We’re not overreacting,” said one government source. “We’re just making sure that if anyone starts founding a viceroyalty, we can respond in an orderly manner.”
Preparations include increased monitoring of ceremonial interactions, quiet reinforcement of cultural landmarks and public reminders that any offers of gold should be considered “strictly symbolic.”
Spanish representatives reiterated the visit is strictly for football. Analysts agree, though several noted that history has rarely begun with an official announcement.
At press time, authorities confirmed that all defensive measures would remain in place “until the king boards his return flight and nobody claims anything on the way out.”
El Jalapeño is a satirical news outlet. Nothing in this article should be treated as real news or legitimate information. Check out our Jalapeño archive here!
President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has reversed field on her campaign promise to ban fracking, leading to recent protests in Mexico City. (Colton Sturgeon/Unsplash)
To the beat of son jarocho,huapango and zapateado, activists from across the country gathered at Mexico City’s Alameda Central on Friday to demand that President Claudia Sheinbaum keep her campaign promise to ban hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking” — and to launch what organizers are calling a new phase of national resistance.
The “Fandango por la vida” — organized by the Alianza Mexicana Contra El Fracking, a coalition of more than 40 civil society organizations — drew an animated crowd of environmental, feminist, water defense and human rights activists. They were joined by representatives of communities in Veracruz’s Huasteca region, San Luis Potosí and Coahuila, many of them already living with the consequences of conventional oil extraction near their homes and water sources. Meanwhile, other actions over the weekend in the states of San Luis Potosí, Veracruz and Nuevo León drew at least 500.
The problem with fracking
CartoCrítica map showing former and potential future fracking sites in Mexico. (CartoCrítica)
“Neither in Mexico nor anywhere in the world does sustainable fracking exist,” said Alejandra Jiménez, a member of the Alianza. “Let them go and smell it, let them go and see what life is like in territories that have already been impacted by hydrocarbons and fracking. Let them drink a glass of water like the ones our compañeros have to drink every single day.”
Demonstrators also called on Congress to act on a constitutional fracking prohibition initiative presented in October 2025 that has stalled without debate. The event served as a call to a National Mobilization Against Fracking, set for June 5.
The protest was the most visible sign yet of an expanding opposition movement that has gathered force since Sheinbaum’s government announced on April 8 that it was exploring the possibility of extracting natural gas from non-conventional shale deposits using hydraulic fracturing — a practice she had promised during her campaign not to pursue.
The backdrop of the protests
The Alianza itself is not new to this fight. It was founded in 2013, when Congress was debating the constitutional energy reform that opened the legal framework for fracking in Mexico. “We have more than 10 years in this struggle,” said Arely Sandoval of Espacio DESCA, one of the Alianza’s member organizations. “This is not something we are doing now because the government made an announcement.”
The backdrop to the Friday protest, and similar ones in Veracruz and Nuevo León, is a government decision that has unsettled even some of Sheinbaum’s own supporters. On April 8, her administration announced it was exploring hydraulic fracturing to meet Mexico’s growing natural gas needs — and on April 15, it formalized a commission of 17 academics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the National Polytechnical Institute (IPN) and other institutions to evaluate the proposal. Sheinbaum herself acknowledged the reversal at that event.
“I myself said no to fracking for many years,” she told reporters, “but when I see the new technologies, the situation of the country in terms of dependence, the worst thing we can say is no.” The commission is expected to deliver its first findings within approximately two months from that announcement, or sometime in June.
The lead-up
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke on April 8 about the possibility of “sustainable” fracking in Mexico, as did Energy Secretary Luz Elena González Escobar, seen to her right. (Juan Carlos Buenrostro/Presidencia)
At the April 8 press conference, Energy Secretary Luz Elena González Escobar had said that Mexico’s dependence on imported gas had become a strategic vulnerability. “Today Mexico faces a high dependence on natural gas from abroad,” she said. “We are importing 75% of the natural gas we consume in the country.”
She argued that new technology had changed the equation, saying there is now “important technological development worldwide that allows extraction to be done efficiently, caring for the soil, the aquifers and with efficient water use — water that is not used for human consumption, it is connate water that comes from the deposits themselves.”
Pemex director Víctor Rodríguez Padilla went further on the safety question. “These developments are not superficial,” he said. “We are talking about depths greater than 4,000 meters of rock, such that contamination of aquifers … does not occur.”
An academic opposition emerges
Three days before the Fandango, on May 5, a parallel group of scientists, researchers and community organizations held their own all-day forum at UNAM’s Faculty of Economics — a deliberate counterpoint to the official commission — and reached a starkly different set of conclusions.
Luca Ferrari, a geologist at UNAM’s Institute of Geosciences who co-led the previous administration’s energy research program and is himself a member of the government’s commission, said Mexico’s shale gas reserves would require “at a minimum around 250 new wells every year” to meet the government’s 2035 production targets for the targeted northwestern region alone. Those reserves, he argued, would likely be commercially exhausted within a decade.
“I believe that fracking is not in Mexico’s best interest … it carries a high economic and environmental cost and would merely postpone the problem of decline on a temporary basis.”
Aerial view of fracking sites in the U.S. (State Energy and Environmental Impact Center/NYU School of Law)
He pushed to broaden its membership, and said the commission has since grown to nearly 50 members, now including environmental and social impact specialists. Still, Ferrari warned that if dissenting members’ findings are not reflected in the final report, “we can also step out and publish it separately.”
Water
The water question drew some of the sharpest disagreements with the government’s position. Manuel Llano of the geographic information project Cartocrítica presented calculations showing that fully developing Mexico’s prospective shale resources could require up to 470 billion liters of water — equivalent, he said, to 47 million tanker trucks — drawn largely from aquifers in regions that are already critically stressed. “The question is, where are they going to get it?” he said. “In other words, who are they going to take it from? Who is going to be left without water?”
Engineer Beatriz Olivera Villa, who coordinates the civil society organization Energía, Género y Ambiente, took on the cost argument. In a moderate development scenario of 3,500 wells across all of Mexico’s shale basins, she calculated the investment required at between US $42 and $63 billion — several times Pemex’s entire annual operations budget of roughly US $13 to $14 billion. “We’re not talking about small costs,” she said, “but about very, very large investments.”
The world’s most indebted oil company, she argued, cannot self-finance such a program, making the entry of U.S. private capital not an ideological question but a structural inevitability. The industry, she noted, has been open about this: fracking promoters have called publicly for international partners “with experience and capital” and for fiscal incentives, because “of course it’s going to be very expensive.”
Ceding decision-making power to the US
Economist José Romero Tellaeche, former director of the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), framed the sovereignty argument in the starkest terms. “Mexico can produce more gas and still end up deciding less,” he said, or having less control over the resource. “That is the paradox of the fracking debate that no one wants to name.” Producing gas with U.S. capital, U.S. technology and U.S. service companies operating just across the border would not reduce Mexico’s dependence, he argued — it would reorganize it. “When that capacity depends on external capital, external technology, external equipment and profitability criteria defined outside the Mexican state,” he said, “sovereignty is reduced to a legal fiction. The resource may be in Mexico, but the decision-making power could be somewhere else.”
Mexico News Daily sought comment from Pemex; the company provided a transcript of the April 8 press conference but did not respond to specific questions.
Condemning the population to water scarcity
Calculations show that fully developing Mexico’s prospective shale resources could require up to 470 billion liters of water, equivalent, he said, to 47 million tanker trucks. (Alianza Mexicana Contra El Fracking)
Opposition has been building since the April 8 announcement. Within days, more than 80 organizations signed a letter to Sheinbaum arguing that sustainable fracking “may sound promising in the discourse, but in practice does not exist.” On April 16, Indigenous community representatives delivered more than 3,000 signatures and formal assembly resolutions rejecting fracking to the Chamber of Deputies, where protesters gathered outside. In Oaxaca, 30 organizations and 55 communities held their own forum, calling the practice part of a neocolonial logic of territorial dispossession. More than 35 organizations mobilized in Coahuila, one of the states most directly targeted for extraction.
At Friday’s Mexico City demonstration, Romualdo García de Luna from the community of Ojital Viejo in Papantla, Veracruz — a region with some 2,500 existing oil wells — offered a blunt summary of communities’ experience with the industry’s promises. “What they told us was progress,” he said, “has been massive destruction for us.” Leslie Sánchez of the collectives Coahuila Sin Fracking and Noreste Sin Fracking warned that dedicating millions of liters of water to fracking in water-stressed states would “condemn the population to scarcity.”
What’s next?
The June 5 national mobilization is timed deliberately — on World Environment Day, and approximately ten days before the two-month window Sheinbaum set when she announced the commission — as a pressure tactic. “We wanted to get ahead of that deadline,” Jiménez said, “and come out on the 5th to pressure the commission to act properly and not present a simulation.”
Tracy L. Barnett is a Guadalajara-based freelance writer and the founder of The Esperanza Project.
Goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal played in his fourth of five World Cups for Mexico in 1962. (Public Domain)
On June 11, 2026, Mexico’s men’s football team will enter Estadio Azteca — officially, Mexico City Stadium — to open its 18th World Cup campaign. It will be the team’s 61st game in a tournament it first entered in 1930. In the 60 matches that the men’s team has played in its World Cup history, it has only ever won 17 of them.
If that record sounds a bit depressing, these statistics really need to be viewed over two periods. Before 1970, Mexico did indeed struggle to leave a mark on the world stage: From 1930 to 1966, the team played a total of 17 games and achieved only one winning match. It did well in 1986, when it won a record three matchups — against Belgium, Iraq and Bulgaria. But it’s only since 1994 that Mexico has consistently qualified for each Cup each time, playing eight consecutive tournaments and reaching the knockout stage seven times— adding 11 more match wins to its record.
Still, the team’s first-ever World Cup match win, in Chile in 1962, is a story worth telling.
A first-ever World Cup point in 1958
At the heart of that story lies coach Ignacio Trelles Campos, a man the FIFA website describes as “an immense personality” who “helped revolutionize Mexican football” with his innovative coaching style and his treatment of players. As a player himself, Trelles had starred for a league-winning Necaxa side. But after a bad injury ended his playing career, he turned to coaching and shone, taking the lowly Zacatepec team to Mexico’s top division. It was in the hot, unshaded Zacatepec stadium, incidentally, that Trelles began wearing his trademark white cap.
He returned a few years later to guide Zacatepec to the 1955 and 1958 titles and, as the man of the moment in Mexican soccer, became assistant coach to the 1958 World Cup squad. It was in Sweden that year that Mexico scored its first-ever point in a World Cup tournament, against Wales.
The match ended in a draw, and Mexico would exit the Cup that year after its very next game, losing to eventual finalists Hungary 0-4, but the team, and Trelles, had made Mexican football history. El Tri now had a new goal: winning its first-ever match.
Ignacio Trelles and the road to the 1962 World Cup
Coach Ignacio Trelles led El Tri to its first win in a FIFA World Cup in 1962. (Wim van Rossem para Anefo/Wikimedia Commons)
After Mexico’s 1958 Cup run ended, Trelles moved on to coach Club América. However, in 1960, he again took over the Mexican team to prepare them for the 1962 Cup. By now, he had matured into a confident and thoughtful coach. He bonded the players by organizing games of basketball and tennis, and he introduced the use of smaller footballs during training sessions, so that controlling the match ball felt easier. He cared for his players, expanding the coaching and support staff, including adding team doctors.
Above all, Trelles was a great character. He once led the Mexican team out into a hostile stadium wearing a builder’s hard hat. The jeers of the crowd turned to laughter, and the intimidating atmosphere was broken for his players. In another often-repeated incident, a Mexican referee threatened to abandon a game if Trelles did not leave the touchline. Trelles shrugged and informed the official that he was quite comfortable where he was and had no intention of moving.
Mexico faced a long path to even qualify for the Cup. After getting the better of the U.S. team, El Tri entered a group stage along with Costa Rica and the Netherlands Antilles. This campaign started badly when, in March 1961, Mexico lost 0-1 in Costa Rica. Both teams then went on to thrash the Netherlands Antilles, and then, in April, Mexico beat Costa Rica 4-1.
With qualification in the balance, Mexico departed for a European tour. The team started well, beating the Netherlands — who were in those days an amateur side — in a healthy 2-0 victory. Then came the news that back across the Atlantic, Costa Rica had lost 0-2 to the Netherlands Antilles.
Mexico’s road to the World Cup suddenly looked a lot easier.
Mexico’s men’s national football team disembarks in London on May 4, 1961 for a friendly with England’s national team at Wembley Stadium. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Next came the highlight of the tour, a visit to Wembley Stadium to face England. Two years before, Mexico had beaten England in Mexico City, and this invitation was a reward for that fine performance. It was one of those nights when England were at their best. “Mexicans dumfounded by England skill” was the headline in The Times after England won 8-0. The visitors, it was reported, did little more than “tip-tapping the ball in pretty circles.”
It says much for Trelles’ motivational skills that the team recovered to finish their tour with a draw against Norway. The England match was to have a major impact on coach Trelles. Inspired by Brazil, world football was moving to a 4-2-4 formation. The disaster at Wembley showed that Mexico did not have the players for this, so he developed his own Mexican style. This involved three central defenders and two players covering the flanks, but willing to move forward with the ball — wing backs as we know them today. Mexico became a team that could soak up pressure and then counterattack quickly. A 0-0 draw with the Dutch Antilles was hardly impressive, but it took them through to a final World Cup showdown with Paraguay. A Mexican team finding steel in their defense won 1-0 at home and survived a tense goalless draw in Asunción. Mexico was going to the World Cup.
Mexico’s 1962 goalkeeper and team captain, Antonio Carbajal, training in England in 1961. (Keystone via Getty Images)
Many national sides at the time tended to chop and change the team, international selection being seen as a reward for good current form. Under Trelles, Mexico regularly fielded the same team, and eight players from the 1958 squad were selected to go to Chile. There was also a strong Guadalajara presence. Chivas had just won their fourth consecutive title and would provide seven of the team, including Salvador Reyes, the league’s joint top scorer that season. Reyes was a man with soccer in his blood. His father had played for Guadalajara, and young Reyes had been a ball boy at the club even before joining the youth team. With five league titles, worshipped by the local fans, and a World Cup appearance under his belt, Reyes had that special presence that marks great players. He would not be intimidated by anybody when he stepped onto the pitch in Chile.
Two other veterans were also expected to play key roles. The team would be captained by goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal, who was set to become the first player to appear in four World Cup tournaments. At 32, he was at his best, a keeper more remembered for being “a safe pair of hands” who never made mistakes, rather than for pulling off spectacular saves. In front of him, Raúl Cárdenas would be playing in his third tournament and was a key man in the new defensive lineup.
The Mexican team in Chile
Resumen México vs Checoslovaquia Chile 62 - Mundial Retro
Two years before the World Cup was due to kick off, Chile had been struck by the Valdivia earthquake, and damage to stadiums resulted in changing some venues. Mexico would be based in Viña del Mar, a seaside town with a modest 18,000-seat stadium. Here, Mexico faced the reigning champion, Brazil, and two strong European sides, Spain and Czechoslovakia.
The campaign opened on May 30, with Brazil struggling to break down the tight Mexican defense. The Brazilians did not take the lead until the 56th minute, and did not secure the win until Pelé scored late in the game.
Next up was Spain, which had lost its first game against Czechoslovakia. With a minute left on the clock and the score still at 0-0, a roar went up from the crowd, convinced that a Spanish player had stopped a cross with his arm. The referee did not agree, the ball was hacked away and Spain scored from the break.
In a few seconds, Mexico had gone from hopes of victory to defeat.
Behind against Czechoslovakia
After two rounds, Brazil and Czechoslovakia led the group with three points — only two points were earned for a win in those days. Mexico was already out, but Spain could still qualify. In those more innocent times, the two decisive matches were scheduled on different days. Brazil played Spain on June 6. Pelé was injured, but his replacement Amarildo scored two goals as the holders won 2-1. That made the next day’s result immaterial, with Czechoslovakia going through whatever happened.
Even so, Czechoslovakia still put out its strongest team, and there was no sign of taking the game lightly. Indeed, in the very first minute, Václav Mašek put the team ahead. That was the fastest goal in World Cup history and would remain so for the next 40 years. Remarkably, Mexico had conceded a goal in 16 seconds despite having the kickoff.
A World Cup match win to remember
At this point, Czechoslovakia certainly looked the better team. Its players were physically strong and technically sound; they always looked comfortable on the ball and always seemed to have a little more time than the Mexicans. However, after 15 or 20 minutes, a subtle change was edging into the game. While the Czechs still had the advantage, their attacks were starting to look unimaginative. The Mexican defense weathered the opening pressure, and their quick breaks down the center started to look more menacing.
The equalizing goal, when it came, was one the Brazilians would have been proud of: Mexico collected the ball in its own half, put together six passes, and then there was Isidoro Díaz to sweep it into the net with the goalkeeper stranded. “Fútbol extraordinario,” screamed the Mexican commentator.
The Czechs came back strongly and were looking particularly dangerous down the right wing, where Ignacio Jáuregui was struggling against the speed of Jozef Štibrányi. Then, in the 29th minute, Alfredo del Águila robbed a defender on the edge of the Czech penalty area. The Toluca star pushed the ball right, collected the return, and, despite being surrounded by four defenders, twisted and turned to get in his shot. A great goal that put the score at 2-1 to Mexico.
The final goal
Nevertheless, it was still a match that could go either way. If the Czechoslovakians had more of the ball, the Mexicans were creating the better chances. As the game entered the last 20 minutes, the Czechoslovakians were starting to tire, and now, as they pushed forward, they were leaving a lot of space in their half of the field.
With minutes to go, Jan Lála pushed a Mexican pass to the ground with his arm. Referee Gottfried Dienst didn’t hesitate — a penalty shot to Mexico.
Héctor Hernández hit the ball high, hard and into the net. Mexico had secured its first World Cup win.
The win had been achieved over a good side, and Czechoslovakia would go on to reach the final. Ignacio Trelles would win seven league titles with five different clubs and take Mexico to the1966 World Cup. Seven of the 1962 team would be in England with him, including goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal, who would become the first player to appear in five tournaments. Mexico would draw two of their games in England, but it would be eight years before they won another World Cup match.
Bob Patemanlived in Mexico for six years. He is a librarian and teacher with a Master’s Degree in History.
