Bárcena has a chance to become the first woman and just the second Latin American to head the U.N. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
The United Nations General Assembly is set to elect a new secretary-general in 2026. Among the candidates is current Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena, who recently said that “it’s time for women” to lead the U.N.
In an interview with Wired en Español, Bárcena expressed her support for any Latin American woman running for the position.
Bárcena, seen addressing the U.N. General Assembly last September, is a seasoned expert in international diplomacy. (SRE/Cuartoscuro)
“The United Nations must be led by someone from Latin America, and I will support any woman who runs for office from this region,” she stated.
Bárcena has a long history with the U.N. and has been mentioned as a potential candidate since serving as the minister of foreign affairs during former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration (2018-2024).
Other Latin American women candidates reportedly include Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.
The U.N. has also indicated that it might be time for a woman to run the world’s largest multilateral organization.
Following the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) — attended by President Claudia Sheinbaum — delegates of member states issued a statement calling for a secretary-general from Latin America, noting that of the nine secretary-generals in the organization’s history, only one has come from Latin America.
Moreover, they highlighted that the position has never been held by a woman.
“How can the U.N. convincingly promote women’s empowerment if its leadership structures continue to exclude women?” Costa Rica’s delegate said, adding that “the time has come to break the 80-year cycle of exclusion.”
If selected, Bárcena said she plans to restructure the organization.
“I’m very familiar with the United Nations framework,” she said. “[It] needs major surgery, and one of my proposals would be to eliminate the Security Council veto, with five permanent members voting against each other,” she added. “The Security Council has the power to generate peace or war, and the veto is what prevents progress in that direction.”
In addition to her recent role representing the López Obrador administration, Bárcena’s experience in the U.N. spans decades. From 1998 to 2000, she coordinated the United Nations Environment Programme, leading the Biodiversity 2000 initiative. In 2006, she served as chief of staff under then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Already two of the most powerful women in the country, could Bárcena join Sheinbaum as another Mexican woman leader on the international stage? (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
While fielding questions about her future, Bárcena emphasized her focus on her current role, though she admits she’s always open to new opportunities.
“What I’ve enjoyed most in life is never thinking about what’s next, just thinking about what I’m doing and doing it well,” she said. “That way, opportunities come naturally.”
António Guterres of Portugal currently serves as the U.N. secretary-general. He is set to stand down at the end of 2026. In the second half of next year, the Security Council will deliberate on his successor, and recommend a candidate to the General Assembly for approval.
The president expressed confidence that the U.S. and Mexico will reach a reasonable agreement on water deliveries in coming days. (Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s water debt to the United States and the imminent arrival of new U.S. Ambassador Ronald D. Johnson were among the issues President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about at her Friday morning press conference.
She also responded to compliments she received from United States President Donald Trump and two well-known women from the world of entertainment.
Sheinbaum confident that water won’t be an ‘issue of conflict’ between Mexico and US
A reporter asked the president whether the 1944 water treaty between Mexico and the United States — under which each country has to supply water to the other via the Rio Grande and the Colorado River — should be renegotiated given that climate change has affected water availability.
“I don’t think it should be [re]negotiated. It’s a fair treaty,” Sheinbaum said.
“… In fact the United States delivers more [water to Mexico] that we deliver [to them],” she said.
The water of the Rio Grande, or Río Bravo as it’s known in Mexico, is a focus of the current dispute. (Glysiak CC BY-SA 3.0)
“Mexico OWES Texas 1.3 million acre-feet of water under the 1944 Water Treaty, but Mexico is unfortunately violating their Treaty obligation. This is very unfair, and it is hurting South Texas Farmers very badly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“… I will make sure Mexico doesn’t violate our Treaties, and doesn’t hurt our Texas Farmers. … My Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins, is standing up for Texas Farmers, and we will keep escalating consequences, including TARIFFS and, maybe even SANCTIONS, until Mexico honors the Treaty, and GIVES TEXAS THE WATER THEY ARE OWED!” he wrote.
Sheinbaum said on Friday that Trump was “perhaps” unaware that Mexican and the United States officials have been discussing the issue.
The president noted — as she highlighted in her own social media post on Thursday — that her government has sent a proposal to its U.S. counterpart detailing how much water it can send to its northern neighbor “immediately.”
She said that the government is looking at how much more water Mexico will be able to deliver in the second half of the year depending on precipitation levels during the upcoming rainy season.
“It’s a very reasonable proposal and it has to do with the availability of water,” Sheinbaum said.
In a post to X on Thursday in response to Trump’s Truth Social message, the president wrote that there have been “three years of drought” and Mexico “has been complying” with the treaty to the extent it has been able to based on water availability.
Sheinbaum responded to Trump’s social media post with one of her own. (Claudia Sheinbaum/X)
On Friday, she predicted that Mexico and the United States will reach a “reasonable agreement” on the issue in the coming days.
“I don’t see it being an issue of conflict,” Sheinbaum said.
She said she didn’t believe the United States would impose any sanctions on Mexico due to the water issue, as Trump indicated he is prepared to do.
“As we know it’s [just] President Trump’s way of communicating,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum stresses importance of ‘not thinking you’re all that’ after compliments from Trump and others
A reporter noted that Trump, rock singer Shirley Manson and actress Fran Drescher all paid compliments to the president in recent days.
Fran Drescher of the 1990s sitcom “The Nanny” is among Sheinbaum’s fans in the U.S. (Esteban Moctezuma/X)
Drescher, a ’90s sitcom star and president of the SAG-AFTRA actors union, told Mexican Ambassador to the United States Esteban Moctezuma that she wants to personally meet Sheinbaum to “express her admiration and interest in working together on women’s and environmental issues,” according to a social media post by Moctezuma on Thursday.
Sheinbaum said she was grateful to receive the compliments, but stressed the importance of “no creerse el muy muy,” or “not thinking you’re all that.”
“That doesn’t help at all,” she said.
“The important thing is that there are a lot of people, and that’s what gives us strength, not the president,” Sheinbaum said.
“It’s this movement of transformation, which has not just been important in the country but is today recognized in the whole world,” she said in reference to the so-called “fourth transformation of public life” in Mexico, initiated by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Mexico will ask for ‘respect’ from new US ambassador
“Well, he’s the ambassador they’re sending. When he arrives here to Mexico we will establish all the relations and communication there needs to be,” Sheinbaum said.
They never met each other, but through diplomatic channels, the Mexican and U.S. presidents Benito Juárez and Abraham Lincoln had a friendly and supportive relationship. (U.S. National Parks Service)
March of 1861 saw the inauguration of two of the most impactful presidents both Mexico and the United States would ever have: Benito Juárez and Abraham Lincoln.
In Mexico, the Reform War had come to a close with the Liberal victory of December 1860, but the country was devastated and the Conservative Party had lived to fight another day. In the United States, North and South were on the verge of civil war, and seven states had seceded from the Union by the end of February.
Nearly a century after the fact, the positive relationship between Lincoln and Juárez’s governments are still remembered in Mexico. This 1944 Mexican print showing the two leaders and in the background, a Mexican and a U.S. farmer shaking hands made use of this history. (The Hoover Institution)
Lincoln, who had followed a losing 1858 campaign for the U.S. Senate by winning the country’s highest office in 1860, did not hear from one European leader when he won the presidency. He had never traveled outside of the United States. So Lincoln had never been to Mexico, and it is unlikely he had ever met a Mexican at all until one fateful snowy day in January 1861.
A Mexican diplomat befriends the Lincolns
At the time of Lincoln’s inauguration, Matías Romero had been working at the Mexican Legation in Washington, D.C. for a year. In January 1861, the savvy and ambitious young diplomat and future Mexican Treasury Secretary received a letter that said, “It is the wish of the President [Juárez] that you proceed to the place of residence of President-elect Lincoln and in the name of the government, make clear to him in an open manner, if the opportunity presents itself, the desire which animates President Juárez, of entering into the most cordial relations with that government.”
Romero sent Lincoln a letter of congratulations on his election. Lincoln acknowledged the letter and expressed his best wishes for “the happiness, prosperity and liberty of the people of Mexico.” With his government’s instructions in hand, Romero set off for Springfield to meet and personally congratulate the newly elected president. Romero was probably the first Mexican Lincoln had ever met, although his support of Mexico went back to 1846, leading Juárez to believe he could forge friendly relations with the Republican.
Abraham Lincoln opposed the Mexican-American War
As a young congressman from Illinois, Lincoln opposed President James K. Polk’s 1846 invasion of disputed territory in Texas, which started the Mexican-American War, but there was strong patriotic fervor in the country, and many supported Polk’s expansionist plans. Lincoln was not opposed to territorial expansion but opposed to the expansion of slavery. He also respected Mexico’s sovereignty and thought the U.S. should have a good relationship with its southern neighbor.
Soon after Lincoln took office, Mexican diplomat Matías Romero reached out to the new U.S. president on behalf of Juárez to establish diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Mexico. He became close to the Lincolns and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
He accused Polk of using a falsehood to justify a war. After a skirmish in the disputed territory of what is now southern Texas, Polk declared, “American blood has been shed on American soil,” and as a result, a state of war existed with Mexico.
Lincoln introduced the first of eight resolutions opposing the war. The first questioned the war’s constitutionality and challenged war proponents to show him the “spot” where blood had been shed. His resolutions became known as the “spot resolutions,” and people called him “spotty Lincoln.” His opposition to the war was so unpopular with his constituents in Illinois that he decided not to run for reelection.
Lincoln was not the only prominent American opposing the war. John Quincy Adams and Henry David Thoreau openly challenged the war effort. Ulysses S. Grant, who served in the war, said in his memoirs that it had been, “the most unjust war ever waged against a weaker nation by a stronger.” The United States won the war and increased its territory by 750,000 square miles, reducing Mexico’s territory by half.
Romero began the meeting by briefing Lincoln on the situation in Mexico: The new President Benito Juárez had assumed leadership of a country devastated by civil strife, whose treasury was depleted. But Juárez believed Lincoln was predisposed to a friendship between the two countries. The Romero papers, preserved at the Banco Nacional de México, indicate that the conversation went well and Lincoln was taken with the young diplomat.
During the War of Independence, Mexico had acquired a great deal of foreign debt. French Emperor Napoleon III sought a foothold to challenge the United States’ dominance in the Americas and planned to use Mexico’s debt to France as a pretext to invade the nation and establish a colonial empire.
Mexico wanted economic cooperation with the U.S. and to be treated as a respected southern neighbor. Perhaps most importantly, the Mexican administration counted on Lincoln to respect Mexico’s sovereignty.
Romero nurtured a personal relationship with the U.S. president and the First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, and the Union generals Ulysses S. Grant and Philip Sheridan, which would prove very helpful in Mexico’s struggle against the French. Lincoln was grateful to Romero because he would accompany the First Lady on her frequent shopping trips, freeing Lincoln from a responsibility he was happy to relinquish.
US support for Mexico’s war with France
The United States did not officially recognize the French regime in Mexico but remained neutral in the war. However, the U.S. needed Mexican troops to slow the French advance to the border, where the French planned on providing the Confederacy with more advanced weapons. The resourceful Romero used Lincoln’s acknowledgment letter from their first meeting and his friendship with Lincoln and Grant to raise US $18 million from prominent bankers to support the Mexican troops. Grant helped him secure Springfield rifles, considered superior weapons.
In 1863, the French took Mexico City and installed an Austrian archduke, Ferdinand Maximilian, as Emperor Maximilian I. Mexico needed more arms from the United States.
Ulysses S. Grant — seen here in a Civil War photo in Cold Harbor, Virginia — covertly sent 50,000 troops to the Mexico-U.S. border, instructing them to “lose” 30,000 rifles that could be “found” by the Mexican troops fighting French invasion. (U.S. National Park Service)
After the U.S. Civil War ended, Grant covertly sent 50,000 troops to the border under General Sheridan, instructing them to conveniently lose 30,000 rifles that could be “found” by the Mexican troops. By 1867, the French had withdrawn from Mexico and Juárez had triumphed. The Mexican Republic was restored, although Lincoln didn’t live to see it.
Lincoln revered in Mexico
Lincoln’s courageous stand against the Mexican-American War and his support of Benito Juárez (sometimes referred to as the Abraham Lincoln of Mexico) endeared him to the Mexican people. His support of political equality, economic opportunity and opposition to slavery demonstrated that he shared their values.
Some historians believe that had Lincoln lived, the two leaders would have forged a close alliance between the United States and Mexico in economic and cultural matters. Some historians say they could not have had a close relationship because they never met and no correspondence between them has been found. However, it is assumed that Romero, as a diplomat, would have carried messages between the two leaders, and there is evidence in Romero’s papers that he conducted a dialogue between the two.
If you have been to Mexico City — among all the statues commemorating Mexican historical figures and events — you may have been surprised to come across a statue of Abraham Lincoln. This statue in Parque Lincoln is identical to the one in London’s Parliament Square (The original stands in Lincoln Park in Chicago).
Numerous Lincoln statues are in Mexico, including one towering over Tijuana’s grand boulevard, Paseo de Héroes, and one in Ciudad Juárez. There is also a statue of Juárez in Washington, D.C.
Former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador visiting the monument to Benito Juárez in Washington, D.C. in 2022. (National Park Service)
On April 15, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson dedicated the Abraham Lincoln statue in Mexico, symbolizing the friendship between the two countries. And on October 26, 1967, Mexican President Gustavo Ordaz reciprocated by dedicating the statue of Juárez in Washington, D.C.
A major influx of seaweed could arrive in Quintana Roo next week, depending on wind and ocean currents. (Elizabeth Ruiz/Cuartoscuro)
The turquoise waters of Cancún, in the Riviera Maya, are threatened by the arrival of a massive amount of sargassum leading up to Easter.
The local city council said it will present a contingency plan for Holy Week — which begins Sunday — in collaboration with the state Government and the Naval Ministry (Semar) to address the problem.
“We’ll present the contingency plan in case of a significant arrival [of seaweed],” Municipal Public Services Director José Antonio de la Torre Chambé said. “We’ve already established schedules for sargassum response, and monitoring will start at 5:00 a.m.”
Sargassum is a brown seaweed that floats on the open ocean, providing food, protection, and habitat for many marine species. However, it can be harmful when large quantities reach the shores, as it decomposes and produces hydrogen sulfide, a gas that smells like rotten eggs and may cause respiratory issues.
In the Riviera Maya, sargassum season usually lasts from May to November, although it varies each year. In 2024, the season officially ended on Nov. 14.
De la Torre said that sargassum collection has increased in recent weeks due to strong winds from the south, which have carried the algae to shores. In the last few days alone, he said 80 cubic meters of sargassum have been removed, mainly from Playa Delfines, one of Mexico’s most visited beaches.
Playa del Carmen has also been affected by sargassum. The buildup has impacted at least 60 maritime service providers at El Recodo Beach in Playa del Carmen, further complicating port closures for smaller vessels due to wind gusts of up to 40 kilometers per hour. The Regional Harbor Master’s Office has suspended nautical and recreational activities in Puerto Juárez, Isla Mujeres, Puerto Morelos and Playa del Carmen.
These climatic conditions have led to cancellations in the tourism industry, with estimated economic losses of US $300,000 per day, affecting everything from ticket sales for tours and other services to clients’ and employees’ ability to access businesses located in locations like Isla Mujeres. .
Apart from seaweed arrivals, good beach weather is expected for Holy Week. The National Meteorological Service (SMN) forecasts partly cloudy skies and scattered showers in Quintana Roo, with warm to very hot temperatures during the afternoon.
The Mexican Wine Council (CMV) has made important strides towards promoting Mexican wine and it looks like their hard work is finally paying off. (Gobierno de México)
There are many groups of people that make an industry like winemaking successful. The most obvious are the wine producers and consumers, but there are other organizations that also play a part in the success.
One of the most important institutions in the history of Mexican grape growing was founded nearly 80 years ago but has only come to public prominence recently: the Mexican Wine Council (CMV).
The CMV team: Ana Paula Robles, director, and Salomón Abedrop López, president, are second and fifth from top left, respectively. (Consejo Mexicano Vitivinícola)
The CMV was founded in 1948, in large part due to the support of its first president, grape grower Nazario Ortiz Garza, who once served as governor of Coahuila, the state home to the oldest winery in the Americas. It was formed with a mission to protect, strengthen, and organize all grape producers, whether they were producing table grapes, grapes for raisins, grapes for brandy, juice grapes, or, of course, wine grapes. For years, the group’s work was invisible, but today nearly 90 percent of all Mexican grape producers are represented on the CMV’s rolls.
Their work’s positive results can be seen in a unified industry of both producers and distributors, an increase in grape production through innovative yet sustainable practices and the promotion and positioning of the Vino Mexicano brand — and the quality, production and presence in the market of national wines.
Today, the council is presided over by Salomón Abedrop López, a Coahuila wine producer and head of Hacienda Florida. Architect Ana Paula Robles has been the General Director of the CMV since September 2023.
The Mexican Wine Council is made up of a vast number of numerary and honorary members, who are involved in grape growing projects that align with CMV’s mission and strategic efforts. Thanks to representation in various state and regional groups, today the CMV is a collection of more than 300 wineries in the country. The organization is also directly affiliated with business groups, international organizations, universities and research centers all interested in the production, sale and promotion of Mexican wine. Government at both the federal and state levels have also passed bills in recent years that favor the wine industry.
Through collaboration, the CMV continues to consolidate a growing and cohesive industry, promoting the expansion of grape growing in Mexico and strengthening the position of Mexican wine in the national and international market.
The CMV continues to evolve in order to assure a competitive, innovative and sustainable future for winemaking in Mexico. Among its achievements is the highly visible growth of production and consumption of Mexican wine. Today, the CMV represents wine producers in 17 states, reflecting not only geographic expansion but also a diversification and consolidation of new regional producers. A large majority of this growth is represented by small producers.
The Mexican Wine Council represents wine producers in 17 Mexican states. (Christian Serna/Cuartoscuro)
The council’s efforts can be seen in the international recognition of the quality of Mexican wines. In 2024, Mexican wine won 884 medals at international contests, an increase of 40 percent over 2023 numbers, putting Mexico on a competitive level with other major wine-producing countries in the world.
National consumption has gone up as well: today, the CMV says, 39 of every 100 bottles of wine enjoyed in Mexico are Mexican, and wine is the second most consumed alcoholic drink in the country.
Wine tourism has also seen dramatic growth: last year, 2 million visitors were registered as having toured Mexican wineries, with an economic impact of 10 million pesos. In 2022, in collaboration with the federal Tourism Ministry (Sectur) and the tourism boards of 14 wine-producing states, the CMV created the first catalogue of wine routes and wine tourism projects in Mexico. A guide for national and international tourists, it has enriched wine tourism experiences and benefits local communities.
One of the upcoming projects within Mexico’s winemaking industry is its participation in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be hosted in Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey. This collaboration will position wine tourism as an attractive option for visitors, integrating sports tourism with cultural and culinary experiences.
Education and training producers is a fundamental part of offering quality tourism options. That’s why the CMV maintains close relations with international allies who share best practices and specialized knowledge.
One example is the council’s conference cycle on sustainable wine tourism, organized in collaboration with the National University of Cuyo (UNCUYO) in Mendoza, Argentina. This virtual conference discusses strategies that Mexican producers can use to strengthen their tourism offerings in a responsible way and shares experiences and successful models that can be adapted in Mexico’s wine regions.
Nearly 40 percent of all wine consumed in Mexico today is produced domestically. (programadestinosmexico.com)
While Mexico has yet to establish an official appellation of origin for a wine region, the identification of special wine regions starts by obtaining a geographical indication, a sign that indicates the origin of a product and links its quality to its place of origin’s reputation. In wine terms, a geographical indication can be another way of recognizing the quality of certain winemaking areas. Last month, however, the state of Querétaro became the first Mexican state to secure geographical indication status for its wines, which will now be protected by the Vinos de la Región Vitivinícola de Querétaro (Querétaro Wine-Producing Region) label.
The strengthening of Mexican wine’s identity through the consolidation of the Vino Mexicano brand as well as National Mexican Wine Day on Oct. 7 is blazing a trail for others to follow, backing the national wine industry and positioning Mexican wine’s participation in events, fairs and tastings that promote responsible but frequent consumption.
The next few years look bright, and industry participants are optimistic about a steady growth in winemaking that will benefit the entire country.
Cheers to Mexican Wine!
Diana Serratos studied at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and UNCUYO in Mendoza, Argentina, where she lived for over 15 years. She specializes in wines and beverages, teaching aspiring sommeliers at several universities. She conducts courses, tastings and specialized training.
After weeks of U.S. tariff talk, Mexico's southern neighbor finally got some time in the limelight at Thursday's presidential presser. (Presidencia)
President Claudia Sheinbaum missed her Wednesday morning press conference as she traveled to Honduras to attend the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Tegucigalpa.
But on Thursday morning she was back in Mexico City to preside over her regular mañanera at the National Palace, where she spoke about plans to extend two railroads into Central America, among other issues.
Here is a recap of the president’s April 10 morning press conference.
She said that the Interoceanic Train railroad — whose main line crosses the Isthmus of Tehuantepec between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz — will enter Guatemala at Ciudad Hidalgo, located on Mexico’s southern border in the state of Chiapas.
Much of northern Guatemala is protected forest, so the Maya Train would have to connect indirectly via Ciudad Hidalgo in Chiapas, Sheinbaum said. (Pau de Valencia/Unsplash)
“Guatemala has to do its projects [to extend the railway into the Central American country] and they’re working on that. … It’s mainly a freight train, although it will also take passengers,” Sheinbaum said.
She didn’t give any timeline for when the railroad might extend into Guatemala.
“So in the case of the Maya Train the option is to enter through Belize and then go down to Guatemala,” she said, adding that the proposal has already been discussed with the prime minister of Belize.
Sheinbaum didn’t mention when the multi-billion-dollar Maya Train railroad might be extended into the territory of Mexico’s two southern neighbors.
Is Mexico preparing a ‘mega expulsion’ of cartel figures?
A reporter noted that Mexico-based British journalist Ioan Grillo reported that Mexico is considering sending 40 cartel figures to the United States.
“The Mexican federal government is looking at carrying out another mass ‘expulsion’ of senior cartel figures from Mexican prisons to U.S. custody, with a list of 40 potential targets including the Jalisco Cartel’s ‘El Cuini,’ or Abigael González Valencia, according to a Mexican source familiar with the planning,” Grillo wrote in an article published Wednesday on his CrashOut Substack site.
Sheinbaum declined to confirm or deny the report.
Mexico overrode ongoing appeal processes to extradite 29 cartel figures to the U.S. in February. (Gobierno de México)
“The [federal government’s] Security Council has to report on that. … It’s not that the president orders [expulsions or extraditions], no. There is a process that has to be followed,” she said.
Mexico sent 29 cartel figures including notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero to the United States in late February. The day after the extraditions, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said that there was a risk that some of the 29 defendants sent to the U.S. could have been released from prison if they remained in Mexico.
‘Now we can speak’
A reporter noted that the Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled on Wednesday that the president and other government officials and institutions can promote participation in the upcoming judicial elections — without speaking in favor of or against any individual candidates.
The National Electoral Institute had prohibited federal, state and municipal governments, public institutions and individual officials from promoting Mexico’s first ever judicial elections.
“Now we can speak,” Sheinbaum said.
“On June 1 you have to go to vote for judges, magistrates and Supreme Court justices,” she said.
Tijuana clinics have seen a significant drop in business this year. (Jafar Ahmed/Unsplash)
Health tourism is on the decline in Baja California thus far this year, with industry representatives saying the slump is partly due to economic tension between Mexico and the United States.
In 2024, the northern border state received 3.5 million foreign visitors seeking medical or dental care. Local hotels often advertise travel packages and special rates for medical tourists who contributed roughly US $2 billion to Baja California’s economy, according to Fox News.
Tijuana is popular destination for U.S. and international medical tourists. (Barbara Zandoval/Unsplash)
Clinics in the state of Baja California, just south of the U.S. border, are popular with medical travelers from the U.S. and Canada. Medical centers in Baja that feature health services certified by the Joint Commission International and Mexican authorities can be found via the Medical Tourism Mexico website.
Medical Health Cluster, a health consultant firm based in Tijuana, reported a 20% to 40% drop in surgery patients arriving in Baja California through the first three months of the year.
Sánchez also conceded that international competition has increased “as countries like Costa Rica, Turkey, Thailand … have very aggressive campaigns to promote services.”
Beyond the friction between the U.S. and Mexican governments, local health sector representatives said problems related to the rule of law have hurt the industry.
Ricardo Vega Montiel, president of the Baja Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery College cited violence in cities such as Tijuana and reports of unlicensed doctors and clinics throughout Baja California as deterrents.
Medical Health Cluster said requests for bariatric surgery — gastric bypass and other weight-loss procedures — have declined since the procedures are now covered by U.S. insurance policies.
According to Medical Tourism Magazine, Mexico can provide equal or even higher quality treatments to patients than what they might find at home, and at a significantly lower cost.
Plastic surgery and other elective procedures are significantly cheaper in Mexico than in the U.S., though problems with unlicensed practitioners deter some would-be medical tourists. (Freepik)
Medical tourists can save from 30% to 80% on procedures ranging from cardiac surgery to orthopedics to plastic surgery, Mauricio Reyes Morales Vázquez, the president of the Los Cabos Association of Medical Tourism, told El Sudcaliforniano newspaper. Los Cabos is located in the state of Baja California Sur.
For example, Reyes said cardiac catheterization can cost more than US $200,000 in the United States, whereas in Los Cabos it costs roughly US $50,000.
Top medical tourism procedures in Baja California include dental, plastic surgery, bariatric surgery and orthopedics. Ophthalmology, neurology and fertility treatments are also popular among health tourists.
After U.S. President Trump yesterday announced a new "reciprocal tariff" rate of 10% across the board, the impact on Mexico was initially unclear. (White House/X)
After several hours of confusion and uncertainty on Wednesday, it was confirmed that Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcement didn’t change the status quo for Mexico on trade with the United States.
It all began with a lengthy Truth Social post by the U.S. president, in which he announced he was raising tariffs on imports from China to 125% and lowering the maximum “reciprocal tariff” rate for scores of other countries to 10% for 90 days.
After the U.S. appeared to mistakenly announce tariffs on Mexico and Canada, chaos ensued on Wednesday. (Cuartoscuro)
The United States hasn’t imposed any so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from Mexico and therefore it appeared that Mexico was unaffected by the announcement.
Enter U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“Mexico and Canada, are they part of the 10%?” a reporter asked Bessent.
“Yes,” the treasury secretary responded, prompting The New York Times to report that “in a strange turn of events, the president seems to have added another 10 percent tariff to Canada and Mexico,” thus lifting the U.S. tariff on some Mexican products, such as steel and aluminum, to 35% — or so it appeared.
The Times reported that a White House official clarified “that was the case,” while the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said it received a statement from the White House also confirming that the 10% tariff applied to goods from Canada and Mexico.
“What’s not clear … is what happens to the earlier tariffs on Canada [and Mexico], the so-called fentanyl tariff of 25 per cent on some products, and similar tariffs on steel, aluminum and some automotive trade,” CBC News said on Wednesday afternoon.
At Mexico News Daily, we continued to monitor developments. If an additional 10% tariff has been imposed on Mexico’s exports to the United States, as the NYT reported, why is the Mexican peso strengthening, I wondered.
I opened X and came across a post by José Díaz Briseño, the United States’ correspondent for Mexico’s Reforma newspaper.
• Bessent’s answer can be interpreted BOTH as a hike & as a reduction of the tariff rate applicable to Mexico & Canada.
• Proof of the improvised nature of Trump’s announcement.
“Yeah, that’s what I think,” a Mexico News Daily editor responded after I conveyed my thinking to her in a message.
Fast forward an hour and I read this: “CBC News is learning initial information that the 10 per cent baseline tariff applies to Canada may not be accurate.”
“No one knows what the deal is,” I wrote to my editor.
Eventually, the truth came out. The situation had not in fact changed for Mexico and Canada, the United States’ largest trading partners.
“From Washington: I am officially informed that we’re not included in the 10% reciprocal tariffs announced today,” Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard wrote on X.
Desde Washington : me informan oficialmente no estamos incluidos en los aranceles recíprocos de 10% anunciados el día de hoy. Saludos.
Economy Minister Ebrard said last Thursday that the Mexican government’s “goal in the next 40 days is to achieve the best conditions among all countries of the world for the [Mexican] auto industry.”
“The same thing for steel and aluminum,” he added.
Mexico has not imposed any retaliatory tariffs on imports from the United States.
Home away from home: "Foreigners" from Teotihuacán built their own altars after arriving in the Maya city of Tikal. (Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes de Guatemala/X)
A 1,600-year-old altar discovered in the heart of Tikal, Guatemala, offers striking evidence of the intricate and often contentious relationship between Maya society and the ancient metropolis of Teotihuacán.
According to a study published this week in the journal Antiquity, the altar wasn’t built by the local Maya, but rather by “foreigners” from Teotihuacán, located 1,500 kilometers away in what is now central Mexico.
The altar appears to have been built by residents of Teotihuacán, the ancient metropolis that preceded Mexico City. (INAH)
Teotihuacán, known as “The City of the Gods,” was a sprawling area northeast of modern Mexico City renowned for its monumental pyramids, vibrant murals, and influential cultural and economic reach across Mesoamerica during its peak between 100 B.C. and A.D. 750.
Tikal was founded in 850 B.C. before ballooning into a dynasty around A.D. 100.
Guatemala’s Culture and Sports Ministry also announced the findings this week, detailing an altar adorned with vividly painted murals and linked to ritual sacrifices — which researchers say reshapes understanding of Mesoamerican power dynamics.
Buried beneath a residential complex in Tikal National Park, the 1-meter tall limestone altar features talud-tablero architecture (one inward-sloping panel topped by a perpendicular, rectangular panel) and painted panels depicting a deity resembling Teotihuacán’s “Storm God” or “Great Goddess.” The national park is located in northern Guatemala, less than 100 kilometers from the Mexican state of Campeche.
By studying the remnant pigment on the surface, researchers were able to reconstruct what the ancient altar looked like in its heyday. (Román Ramírez et al./Antiquities)
This figure, with almond-shaped eyes, a fanged nose bar and a feathered headdress flanked by shields, can be seen on four sides of the square piece. Archaeologists used advanced imaging technology to reveal its original red, yellow and blue pigments.
“What the altar confirms is that wealthy leaders from Teotihuacán came to Tikal and created replicas of the ritual facilities that would have existed in their home city,” said Stephen Houston, a professor at Brown University who was part of a global team of researchers who studied the altar. “This shows that Teotihuacán left a heavy imprint there.”
In an interview on National Public Radio (NPR), Andrew Scherer, another co-author of the study, said a central tenet of the research was trying to figure out just how heavy that imprint was.
“The growing sense of things is that rather than just a few folks coming down from central Mexico to sort of trade or interact at Tikal, they were more deeply embedded in the politics and the daily life, to the point that there were actually settlers who were sort of living permanently at Tikal,” said Scherer, a professor of anthropology, archaeology and the ancient world at Brown and director of the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology.
The altar was found 1,500 kilometers away from the ancient metropolis of Teotihucán, the location of present-day Mexico City. (Román Ramírez et al./Antiquities)
Built around A.D. 378, the altar coincides with a pivotal coup in Tikal’s history, when Teotihuacán elites deposed Tikal’s king, Chak Tok Ich’aak, and installed Yax Nuun Ahiin, whose father Spearthrower Owl was at least a noble, if not a king, in Teotihuacán. His installation is seen as a high point in Teotihuacán influence at Tikal.
Another sign was revealed in a Lidar scan in 2016: a scaled-down replica of Teotihuacán’s citadel near Tikal’s center, suggesting prolonged occupation before the coup.
“Teotihuacán saw the Maya region as a land of wealth — jade, feathers, cocoa — and sought to control it,” said Houston, a professor of social sciences, anthropology, and the history of art and architecture at Brown.
Hoy presentamos el Altar de estilo Teotihuacano de Tikal. Mañana saldrá la publicación en la revista científica Antiquity. https://t.co/Q0NHfeY53m
Excavations around the altar, led by Guatemalan archaeologist Lorena Paiz, uncovered the remains of three children, all under age 4. One was interred in a seated position — a practice common in Teotihuacán but rare among the Maya — alongside a green obsidian dart point, a material emblematic of central Mexico.
Paiz said the altar was believed to have been used for sacrifices, “especially of children.”
Radiocarbon dating indicates the site was abandoned around A.D. 550–645, coinciding with Teotihuacán’s own decline.
The altar remains under guard, with no plans for public access.
Don Neto, shown here in an undated photo, has been released after 40 years in Mexican federal prison. (X)
Guadalajara Cartel founder Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo walked free on Saturday after completing a 40-year prison sentence in Mexico.
Fonseca, known as “Don Neto,” was convicted by the Mexican judicial system for his role in the February 1985 torture and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. The 94-year-old Fonseca had been held in home confinement since 2016.
Neither the U.S. Justice Department nor the DEA have issued a public statement regarding Fonseca’s release.
When asked about the case during her Thursday morning press conference, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said she was unaware of any requests from U.S. authorities regarding Fonseca.
Fonseca co-founded the Guadalajara Cartel, which dominated drug trafficking in Mexico in the 1980s and controlled the key smuggling routes into the United States.
Don Neto frequently appeared in the popular Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico,” portrayed by actor Joaquín Cosio. (Carlos Somonte/Netflix)
The DEA indicted Fonseca in San Diego, California, on money-laundering charges in 1982, but he fled back to Mexico before he could be apprehended.
Agent Camarena was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in February 1985 three months after he spearheaded a raid on a Guadalajara Cartel marijuana plantation that the DEA called its largest drug seizure ever.
Don Neto was arrested for Camarena’s murder in Puerto Vallarta on April 7, 1985, but continued to contest both the criminal and civil charges for decades thereafter.
A Mexican appeals court ordered Fonseca freed in March 2017. The appeals court ruling granted him a form of early release usually given to prisoners who have completed most of their sentences.
However, Mexico’s Federal Attorney General’s Office annulled the appeals ruling and Fonseca remained under house arrest.
In 2022, Fonseca won an injunction against a civil court ruling that ordered him to pay 20.8 million pesos (US $1.2 million) in restitution to the family of the murdered DEA agent and relatives of his pilot, Alfredo Zavala, who was tortured and killed in the same incident.
In March 2025, the Camarena family filed civil charges against Fonseca in a U.S. federal court in San Diego.
Second Guadalajara Cartel co-founder meets a different fate
Another principal figure in the murder of the DEA agent was recently turned over to U.S. authorities. Rafael Caro Quintero was among 29 cartel figures transferred to the United States on Feb. 27 as part of a bilateral effort between the neighboring countries to battle drug trafficking.
As leader of the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s, Caro Quintero was one of the top suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana to the U.S. The DEA asserts that Caro Quintero ordered the kidnapping of Camarena in retaliation for the Rancho Búfalo raid.
Like Fonseca, Caro Quintero was sometimes able to use Mexico’s judicial system in his favor. He was released from prison in 2013 after an appeals court overturned his murder conviction on jurisdictional grounds.
Mexico’s Supreme Court annulled that ruling three months later. A new warrant was issued for Caro Quintero’s arrest and the U.S. government offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. He was finally recaptured in July 2022.
