The Mexico-Querétaro Highway is the main land route from Mexico City to Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and on north. But the industry-driven growth of both those cities has put a lot of stress on the highway and the hope is that a series of alternatives, including the Querétaro Metropolitan Bypass, will improve conditions. (Rogelio Morales / Cuartoscuro.com)
Construction on the planned 95.5-kilometer bypass around the city of Querétaro to improve traffic flow on the troubled Mexico-Querétaro highway will be privately funded to the tune of 9.57 billion pesos (US $515 million) but probably won’t start until late 2027
Grupo Omega, the project’s concessionaire, said that the Querétaro Metropolitan Bypass “will improve the performance of the Mexico-Querétaro highway, one of the busiest highways in the country, and will reduce traffic pressure in the Querétaro metropolitan area, which concentrates long-distance traffic.”
A government-released map shows the area in Querétaro state through which the new bypass will pass. (proyectosmexico.gob.mx)
Omega is responsible for the design, construction and operation of the project, and since it operates as a concession, will handle toll collection for a period of 30 years.
The road project will begin at approximately kilometer 142 of Federal Highway 57, at the Palmillas toll booth on the Mexico City–Querétaro section, and will end at kilometer 33 of the same corridor on the Querétaro–San Luis Potosí section.
The project also includes a 2.3-kilometer connecting branch to the city of Querétaro, which will start at kilometer 61.7 of the Querétaro Metropolitan Bypass and connect to State Highway 200, which links Querétaro with Tequisquiapan.
It will boast four traffic lanes — two in each direction — as well as side shoulders, a main road, and intermediate junctions in San Juan del Río, Peña de Bernal, Querétaro International Airport and elsewhere.
Plans for the project also include 158 cross drainage works, 12 overpasses for vehicles, 43 underpasses for vehicles and five railway overpasses, 35 overpasses for agricultural machinery, five bridges and two viaducts.
Beyond its impact on mobility, the bypass is shaping up to be an economic catalyst for communities and industrial corridors in eastern Querétaro state, as well as 12 municipalities in nearby states such as San Miguel de Allende and San José Iturbide in Guanajuato, Polotitlá in Mexico state, and Huichapan, Nopala de Villagrán and Tecozautla in Hidalgo.
Querétaro state Public Works Minister José Pío X Salgado told the newspaper Publimetro that Grupo Omega expects to begin construction at the end of 2027 after it finishes securing the right-of-way, which currently stands at 60%.
However, he added that the company will try to secure 100% of the right-of-way this year to begin construction as soon as possible.
Monterrey International Airport, OMA's busiest hub, is central to Vinci's continued investment and confidence in Mexico's aviation market. (Shutterstock)
Although jet fuel prices are expected to stunt global air traffic through the remainder of the year, the world’s leading private airport operator remains open to expansion in Mexico.
In Mexico to canvass some of his company’s operations, Vinci Airports CEO Remi Maumon de Longevialle conceded that geopolitical tensions and fuel prices were producing “new volatility” in markets around the world.
Vinci Airports CEO Remi Maumon de Longevialle. (Vinci Airports)
“It’s fair to acknowledge that growth won’t reach the same figures as in previous years,” Maumon de Longevialle told Reuters news agency. “But there is no specific concern about airlines changing or adjusting dramatically capacities.”
Vinci is not seeing major airline capacity cuts despite fears that carriers could alter schedules more sharply, and the company still views Mexico as a long-term growth market.
Since becoming the main shareholder in Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte (OMA) four years ago, Vinci has invested heavily in Mexico.
OMA’s modernization strategy ahead of the soccer tournament, which began on June 11, included the deployment of automated customs systems and self-service immigration technologies.
The terminal expansion plan is on pace to open partially by year-end, with further openings through the end of next year.
Monterrey is OMA’s most significant hub, and saw a 10.3% annual increase in international arrivals in June. The operator reported that its 13 airports combined handled a total of 2,403,275 passengers in June, a 2.1% increase compared to June 2025.
Domestic traffic is also on the rise: OMA reported a 0.8% year-on-year increase for June while at the same time 22 new routes began operations. OMA Chief Executive Ricardo Dueñas told Reuters the company is preparing to invest another US $450 million over the next five years.
This week, Maumon de Longevialle said the company was not ruling out further expansion, citing Mexico’s domestic aviation market, Monterrey’s role as a business hub and what he described as a stable concession framework.
“Mexico is a country of immense potential,”Maumon de Longevialle said in a post on LinkedIn. “We are proud to contribute to its economic and tourism development.”
Victor Rodríguez's May 14 resignation as head of Pemex has been followed by a string of setbacks, including being charged with domestic abuse, a formal complaint of corruption and a public distancing by President Sheinbaum. (Gustavo Alberto / Claroscuro.com)
A day after being remanded to prison on domestic abuse charges, former Pemex CEO Víctor Rodríguez is now being linked to a questionable 4.8 billion-peso (US $277 million) no-bid vehicle-leasing contract while in charge of the state oil company.
A formal complaint about the contract was submitted to the Anti-Corruption Ministry on July 6 and then forwarded to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF), the Tax Administration Service (SAT) and the federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR).
The shadow of corruption now hangs over two former leaders of Pemex — Emilio Lozoya and Victor Rodríguez — with a complaint against the latter in the hands of three powerful federal agencies — SAT, UIF and FGR. (Roberto Arcide / Unsplash)
The complaint requests a review of the legality of the procedure by which the contract was awarded, as well as an investigation into the technical and financial capacity of the consortium comprising the companies Arrendo Serv and Impulsa Tu Ganancia to which it was granted.
The complaint also alleges conflicts of interest and simulation of competition, and requests an investigation into the identity of the final beneficiaries.
According to Pemex’s contract documentation, an exception to the public bidding procedure was made for reasons of national security, public safety and the protection of strategic facilities.
The contract — which includes the leasing of between 350 and 1,200 specialized vehicles per fiscal year, in addition to maintenance and unit replacement — contemplates a maximum amount of 4.838 billion pesos to be distributed through Dec. 31, 2028.
Proceso magazine reported that among the lines of investigation are the involvement of Carlos Alberto Ulloa (representing Impulsa Tu Ganancia) who was formally accused of misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and embezzlement in 2020 while serving as personal secretary to then-Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum.
Ulloa is currently the general director of the state-owned medical company Birmex, so his involvement in the Pemex contract is a potential conflict of interest.
Additionally, the three primary shareholders in the consortium — José Alejandro Reyes Zeind, Kora Naama Conchas Burelo and Alberto Pliego Hernández — allegedly have close ties with Ulloa.
Finally, the Impulsa Tu Ganancia address listed in the contract appears to be bogus. No company personnel were found at the location in Metepec, México state, nor was there any visible identification of its offices.
Rodríguez has been a close friend of President Sheinbaum but she publicly cut ties with him on June 29, saying the full extent of the law would be applied
Rodríguez served as Pemex director from October 2024 through May 14, 2026, when he resigned. Video of Rodríguez physically attacking his wife at their home in the state of Morelos in mid-March surfaced last month and she filed a criminal complaint shortly thereafter.
The newborn is the second tapir born in captivity at ZooMAT, the result of a cooperative effort between the Chiapas zoo, the Chapultepec Zoo and the Central American Tapir Conservation and Reproduction Program. (ZooMAT)
The Miguél Álvarez del Toro Zoo in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, is celebrating the birth of a male Baird’s tapir, a mammal that is classified as endangered.
The birth of the calf is the result of the Central American Tapir Conservation and Reproduction Program, carried out in coordination with Mexico City’s Chapultepec Zoo.
The baby tapir clearly has a lot of growing to do, but he may never reach the size of his mother, Coco, since adult females are generally larger than males and can reach up to 600 pounds. (ZooMAT)
The zoo, known as ZooMAT, announced the arrival of the baby tapir in a Facebook post:
“Our little one was born weighing 8.4 kilograms and remains with his mother, Coco, who is caring for him naturally and has already allowed him to have his first colostrum feedings, essential to strengthen his immune system and provide him with protection during his first stage of life.”
Zoo officials cautioned that the first few weeks are critical for the development and survival of any wild species, while reporting that “the progress observed so far is favorable.” Meanwhile, the zoo is maintaining remote monitoring and 24-hour security.
ZooMAT said the birth — the second in the zoo’s controlled breeding program — “represents a new hope for the conservation of the Central American tapir.”
There are four species of tapir — a large, herbivorous mammal with a distinctive flexible, prehensile snout — three of which can be found in the Americas, stretching from southern Mexico, through Central America and into northern South America.
About five years ago, experts estimated that there were fewer than 4,500 mature tapirs in the wild and fewer than 230 in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, according to The Revelator magazine).
The Baird’s tapir (Tapirus bairdii) — known as the “gardener of the forest” because it eats a diversity of plants, fruits and seeds, dispersing the latter in its dung and helping forests regenerate — is threatened by severe habitat fragmentation and deforestation, poaching, vehicle strikes and slow reproductive rates.
Reproduction of tapirs in zoos is considered rare. ZooMAT biologist Carlos Guichard said the current program came about after an exchange of specimens two years ago when the Chapultepec Zoo loaned a breeding male to ZooMAT in exchange for another specimen not in reproductive condition.
The first birth — a female — occurred late last year.
Moving to Mexico is also a commitment to accepting change and learning a new way of living in the world. (Arturo Ochoa/Unsplash)
It was a Tuesday afternoon, three weeks after I arrived, when I stood waiting for change at a small panadería on Peña de Bernal and realized I had run out of language. The woman behind the counter had asked me something kindly, twice, and I had answered the wrong question both times. She smiled, gave me my change and moved on. I walked outside with a bag of conchas and the unmistakable sense that something in my life had rearranged itself while I was distracted.
The move to Querétaro had taken place a few weeks earlier in full professional life. I was still serving as Associate Dean, still finishing the revision of a book I had been working on for the better part of two decades, still carrying a clinical practice that would, by the country’s terms, be reshaped in ways I had only partly anticipated. The plan, such as it was, had been to bring my work with me, to settle in a slower corner of the world and continue. The city had a different reading of my plan.
Crossing an invisible line
The 18th-century aqueduct of Querétaro is as good a symbol as any for the line one crosses when transitioning from visitor to local. (Daniel Uribarren/Unsplash)
You feel it the moment you stop being a person who is visiting somewhere and become a person who lives there. I had crossed that line at the panadería without noticing. The conchas had become Tuesday’s bread. I would buy them again on Friday. Within a month I would have an opinion about which baker on which block did them best, and that opinion would matter to me. The woman behind the counter would call me joven, which she does to everyone, but which I have come to receive as a small daily kindness.
James Hollis writes about the difference between the life we plan and the life that arrives. He has been my teacher in print for 30 years. I have used his framework with hundreds of patients, most of them in midlife, most of them sitting with the question of why the life they built so carefully has stopped feeling like home. I have understood his work the way a clinician understands a useful instrument. Querétaro put the instrument in my hand and asked me to use it on myself.
How life reshapes work
I had written my own book on this ground. “A Life Aligned” grew out of three decades of clinical practice, drawing on Hollis, on Jungian depth psychology and on Joseph Campbell’s idea of the journey we are each summoned to take. The revised edition came out in 2026, after the move. I had imagined the move as a tidy hinge between chapters. The book was finished. The new life was beginning. I would write more, see clients more selectively and build patiently in the city’s own time.
The reorganization showed up in the work first. México has its own grammar around clinical practice, and the work I had built my professional life around began to take a different shape, away from the consulting room I had known for 30 years and toward something more integrative. I started coaching. I started writing more. A second book, “Paradise (re)Discovered,” is now in editing, grown out of those questions. The work was reshaping itself around the life, rather than the other way around.
The cave you fear to enter
Every morning my street is filled with people walking their dogs. Older couples, women with small children in tow, men in their 70s with little dogs on long leashes, the young man who walks six dogs at once. They greeted each other at the corners. Buenos días. Buenos días. Some stopped to talk. Some only nodded. They moved as if the morning belonged to them. The choreography of it, repeated under my window every day, made my Southwestern professional confidence look slightly fevered. I caught myself, more than once, wondering what exactly I had been so busy doing for the past 30 years.
Joseph Campbell wrote that the cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. The line has been quoted into uselessness, and it remains accurate and worth saying. In my clinical work, I have watched people stand at the mouth of that cave for years before going in. Sometimes they go in. Sometimes the cave eventually walks out to meet them. Either way, the threshold is real, and once it is crossed, the old map is of limited assistance.
Learning a new grammar
The iconic El Danzante Conchero Chichimeca statue located in the historic center of Santiago de Querétaro. (Alba Rebecca/Unsplash)
Querétaro has been my cave. I went in willingly, with a moving truck and a residency card and what I believed was a reasonable plan. The work waiting for me on the other side has had less to do with my professional life as I had organized it and more to do with the question of who I am when the institutional scaffolding falls away. Some mornings the answer arrives. Other mornings I am the man at the panadería who has answered the wrong question twice in a row.
For those who have come to Mexico and are sitting with something larger than logistics, I will say only what I have learned so far. The country has its own grammar. You learn it slowly, on its terms. The work it asks of you is real, and the way through it is through. The good news, which is also the difficult news, is that the cave is exactly the right size for the person inside it.
Mark Arcuri, PhD, is an integrative wellness coach, Associate Dean, and writer based in El Refugio, Querétaro. His first book, “A Life Aligned: The Journey to Allowing the Magic in Your Life” (A Life Aligned Press, 2026), is available in paperback, ebook and audiobook, and opens a trilogy on the inner work of transition. The second, “Paradise (re)Discovered,” arrives this fall. Learn more at drmarkarcuri.com.
The president previewed the World Cup's impact on tourism to Mexico and announced that Merlin the duck and his family have a new home to call their own, thanks to Mexico City's public housing institute. (Presidencia)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
⚽ Tourism impact from World Cup was “very positive,” Sheinbaum says: Asked about the tournament’s effect on tourism, the president said the government is waiting for Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez to compile data from the three host cities before announcing official figures, but described the impact as “completely positive” in terms of visitor numbers and especially what visitors experienced in Mexico. She noted she’s read that people want Mexico to host the World Cup again in 2038.
📞 Sheinbaum may speak directly to Trump about “El Mayo” case: The president said Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office is seeking information from the U.S. Department of Justice about the 2024 capture and transfer to the U.S. of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. She said she hasn’t sought a call with Trump on the matter but could do so.
🦆 Merlin the “World Cup duck” and family move into new home: Sheinbaum spoke by video link with Karla Gómez, the Mexico City street vendor and single mother who owns Merlin, the duck that went viral last month for wearing a Mexican jersey and sneakers. Gómez, who had been living in a store with her family, received an apartment through Mexico City’s Housing Institute (INVI) after telling Sheinbaum about her living conditions at a mañanera last month. Sheinbaum called the gesture “recognition of her efforts.”
Why today’s mañanera matters
The kidnapping in Mexico of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and his subsequent transfer to the United States on a private plane has been a hot topic all week after a journalist asserted that he had information showing that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) played a role in the operation.
In light of the report by journalist Luis Chaparro, Mexican authorities accused former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar of lying when he said in 2024 that the U.S. wasn’t involved in the capture of Zambada, who is now awaiting sentencing on drug trafficking charges in the United States. The federal government evidently believes that the FBI did collaborate with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of “Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, on the kidnapping of Zambada, and regards such collaboration in Mexico as U.S. interference in domestic affairs and consequently a violation of Mexican sovereignty.
🚨 ¿Quién decidió el traslado a EUA del piloto involucrado en la detención del “Mayo” Zambada?: Sheinbaum responde pic.twitter.com/k2QOTkBnF5
Today’s mañanera was significant as President Claudia Sheinbaum said she may speak directly to U.S. President Donald Trump about the Zambada case. While Trump wasn’t in office when the cartel capo and Guzmán López were arrested at a New Mexico airport in July 2024, his administration has interfered in affairs that are solely the domain of Mexicans, according to Sheinbaum. Examples she has cited are the CIA’s alleged participation in a drug lab raid in Chihuahua in April and U.S. prosecutors’ request for the arrest of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and various other current and former officials accused of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Beyond the Zambada case, also of note at today’s mañanera were Sheinbaum’s remarks about the positive impact of the World Cup in Mexico — which has now concluded its hosting duties — and some happy news related to Merlin, the “World Cup duck,” one of the tournament’s biggest off-the-pitch stars.
Sheinbaum: Tourism during World Cup was ‘very positive’
A reporter noted that the national statistics agency INEGI reported on Friday that the number of international visitors who came to Mexico in May increased more than 5% annually and asked the president whether the World Cup would have boosted tourism even more in June.
Sheinbaum said that the government is waiting for Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez to compile “all the information from the whole country, particularly the three host cities, so that we can announce the impact on tourism.”
Asked whether the impact was positive, the president responded:
“Completely positive, very positive, in the number of tourists who arrived, but especially what they experienced in Mexico. What they experienced here isn’t experienced anywhere else in the world.”
On various occasions, Sheinbaum has spoken about the happiness of Mexican fans and the warm welcome the Mexican people gave to World Cup tourists from around the world. She has asserted that the World Cup atmosphere in Mexico was superior to that of its two co-hosts, the United States and Canada.
On Friday morning, Sheinbaum said she had read that people want Mexico to host the World Cup in 2038.
Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey hosted a total of 13 matches at this year’s World Cup, 12 of which were played in June. Prior to the tournament, the government forecast that 5.5 million international visitors would come to Mexico during the World Cup, but there are indications that the number was not as high as anticipated.
Sheinbaum says she could speak to Trump about ‘El Mayo’ case
Sheinbaum told reporters that the Federal Attorney General’s Office is seeking information from the U.S. Department of Justice about the capture in Mexico and arrival in the United States of “El Mayo” Zambada.
However, she said she could speak directly to U.S. President Donald Trump about the case. Sheinbaum said she hasn’t sought a call with Trump, but could do so.
Merlin, the ‘World Cup duck,’ and family move into a new home
Sheinbaum spoke by video link to Karla Gómez, a Mexico City street vendor and single mother who is the owner of Merlin, the “World Cup duck,” a duck now known around the world after going viral last month due to its unusual attire (for a duck) — a Mexican soccer jersey, socks and sneakers.
Gómez told the president that she and her family now have a home. She explained that she and her family used to live in a store, but after telling Sheinbaum — who she met at a mañanera last month — about their living arrangements, the president offered to help.
“One good day, God put you in my path, and that was when you asked me whether I needed anything,” Gómez said.
President Sheinbaum arranged for Karla Gómez, her children and their duck Merlin, who charmed fans worldwide, to receive an apartment through Mexico City’s public housing program after learning about their living conditions. (Graciela López / Cuartoscuro.com)
“I explained my situation, I showed you photos of where we lived, where we bathed and you said you would be able to help us. And that was real, you helped us,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that Gómez told her that she wanted to pay for her home, that she didn’t want it as a “gift.”
She explained that as the federal government isn’t building many “viviendas de bienestar” (“well-being” public housing dwellings) in Mexico City, she spoke to Mayor Clara Brugada and the head of the Mexico City Housing Institute (INVI) about the possibility of offering Gómez and her family an INVI home in the capital.
“We asked if there was a possibility of them having access to an apartment? They said, ‘Yes, they have to come and do their paperwork.’ [Gómez] did the paperwork and we’re very grateful because yesterday Clara gave her her home,” Sheinbaum said.
“… We’re very pleased because it’s not just about getting to know the great duck Merlin, who conquered the hearts of Mexicans and many [soccer] fans around the world, but also seeing the people and their needs,” she said.
“We wanted to tell you this great story,” the president said before Gómez, who was holding Merlin in her new home, thanked her.
“I’m more relaxed today because my sons and I are now sleeping in a different place. We’re fine and we’re no longer vulnerable,” Gómez said.
Sheinbaum said that the conveyance of the INVI apartment to Gómez, who sells water and soft drinks on the streets of Mexico City, is a “recognition of her efforts.”
“You are now a symbol of our country and city,” she said. “And I’m very pleased that you can also have well-being.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
Affogatos, helados and nieves are what Mexico City is all about this summer. Here’s our selection of the best ice cream shops in town! (Jimmy Elizarrás/Pexels)
Okay, this is a serious matter, folks. Whenever you’re ice cream shopping in Mexico City — or anywhere in the country — you have to know the basics. Mexicans do not group ice cream into one category, but into two: helados and what we call nieves — and yes, there is a difference.
Helados are generally made from dairy, so you get to enjoy the creaminess exploding in every taste bud. Typical flavors include chocolate, vanilla and even lemon pie, if you’re lucky.
Nieves are eaten as appetizers or even snacks on hot summer days, whereas helados are considered a dessert in Mexico. (Viridiana Reyes/Pexels)
Nieves, however, are ice-based — no milk and no cream. In the provinces and in small towns within the city, like the ever-popular Coyoacán, these are the favorites because they’re usually handmade with real fruit. Nothing in a nieve is artificial, except perhaps the chamoy we add to the lemon and citrus flavors.
Now that we’ve established the basics, it’s time to dive deep into Mexico City’s very best ice cream shops, where you’ll get a glimpse of what a childhood in the Mexican capital really tastes like.
The best ice cream shops in Mexico City
Tepoznieves Coyoacán
Nobody can resist Tepoznieves’ lemon ice cream with lots of chamoy dripping on top (Tepoznieves Coyoacán via Facebook)
Every Mexico City-born youth has taken their special someone to eat ice cream at iconic Tepoznieves. Located on the corner of Francisco Sosa and Tres Cruces, right in front of Parque de los Coyotes in Coyoacán, it is one of those places that tastes like your elementary school years.
Tepoznieves established the difference between helados and nieves in Mexico. Originally from the picturesque town of Tepoztlán in Morelos, theydefine nieves as “water-based ice cream without artificial flavorings,” so all their products are made with natural fruit. Perfect for our plant-based readers!
Where? Av. Francisco Sosa 1, Santa Catarina, Coyoacán.
La Michoacana
Only Oxxo stores outnumber La Michoacana shops in Mexico. (ProtoPlasmaKid/Wikimedia Commons)
Founded in the 1930s in a town called Tocumbo, in the central state of Michoacán, La Michoacana has become one of Mexico’s emblematic ice cream experiences. Rafael Malfavón opened the first shop, but today, almost a century later, La Michoacana boasts thousands of locations throughout the country. With over 125 flavors, they have ice cream to please all tastes and preferences.
Many locations! Find the one closest to you.
Nevería Roxy
Note that Roxy is a “nevería” and not a “heladería.” Frozen treats like helados and nieves still await, however, as the crowd out front attests. (Nevería Roxy)
For more than 75 years, Nevería Roxy has served ice cream in the Colonia Condesa. Over the years, it has established itself as the go-to for lovebirds, grannies and their grandchildren, and even tourists who wish to spend a nice Friday afternoon strolling around the area.
Ever since its original opening in 1946, Roxy has grown to haveover 10 locations in and out of Mexico City, ranging from upper-class Polanco to the iconic Cineteca in Coyoacán — and even one in Querétaro! They’re famous for their amazing banana splits and wonderful milkshakes, so bring your children! They’re in for a majestic treat.
Where? Fernando Montes de Oca 89, Condesa, Cuauhtémoc.
Chiandoni
You can still visit Chiandoni’s original shop, but the business has expanded to have several locations in Mexico City’s fanciest neighborhoods. (Chiandoni via Facebook)
My father will never forget that, when he was a child, Don Pietro Chiandoni would enter his business every afternoon and pay the check whenever children were around. He would often come and say hi to my dad and his friends in the 1970s, when his ice cream shop had just opened in Mexico City’s traditional Colonia Nápoles.
Decorated in the same retro style that Don Pietro chose back then,Chiandoni’s is a gem for gelato lovers. All the products are handmade, in the traditional Italian style, and their creaminess is hard to match. Just as my grandmother took my father to Chiandoni’s for years, he took my sister and me for milkshakes in our favorite flavors. To this day, my favorite is mint chocolate chip.
Located on the border of Condesa and Escandón, Maca Helado and Café is one of the best spots to try frozen yogurt in Mexico City. Shop owners Natalia and Sebastián always knew they wanted to “create something delicious, with lots of variety and accessible to everyone”, as they told MND. Maca honors an adopted dog they owned, and it is one of the few ice cream shops in Mexico City that offers pet-friendly products, designed for our pawed companions to enjoy these warm summer days.
Whether you’re an affogato girlie or a cold brew person, this trendy ice cream shop in Mexico City has an option for every palate. Natalia and Sebastián personally love “the mandarin, cappuccino and vegan matcha flavors.” Beyond fro-yo, Maca also offers fantastic açaí bowls — so it’s the kind of place you’ll definitely want to visit this summer.
Where? Esquina con Av. Benjamín Franklin, Unión 208, Escandón II Secc., Miguel Hidalgo.
Ismael "Mayo" Zambada, shown here when first arrested on U.S. soil in 2024, has already pleaded guilty in court and now says he won't contest any sentence given him, even if it's for life. (Cuartsocuro)
Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, the Sinaloa Cartel leader who last year pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in a U.S. court, needs — and deserves — to be incarcerated in a prison where he can receive adequate medical care for his various health issues.
Frank Perez, El Mayo’s attorney, made the unusual argument to the presiding judge that his client not only deserves to be incarcerated but needs to be. The catch? He is pleading for adequate medical care for El Mayo while he’s behind bars. (Frank Perez)
At the start of the July 6 “sentencing letter,” Perez wrote that its purpose was to “assist the Court with its decision regarding an appropriate sentence, and particularly, an appropriate recommendation for designation within the U.S. Bureau of Prison (BOP)” for Zambada, who was arrested in New Mexico in July 2024 after he was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and forced onto a light plane that flew him to the United States.
After noting that his client pleaded guilty, the Dallas-based lawyer said that Zambada — who is set to be sentenced on July 20 — was “fully aware” that the consequence would “be a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment.”
“He accepts this outcome, and does not ask the Court to sentence him outside the law,” he wrote.
“Mr. Zambada’s unequivocal acceptance of responsibility has been a defining feature of his conduct since his involuntary arrival in the United States just under two years ago,” Perez added.
Later in the letter, the lawyer noted that Zambada is 76 and “contends with a complex of age-related health issues.”
“… The request made here is that, within its ability and discretion, this Court recommend designation to a BOP facility suitably equipped to address the defendant’s need for medical treatment, such as FMC [Federal Medical Center] Butner, FMC Rochester, MCFP Springfield, or a similar secure medical or administrative facility within the BOP,” Perez wrote.
“… Given the medical issues documented in the record, the defense respectfully asks that those issues be expressly considered as part of the designation process along with all security, administrative, and institutional factors BOP is required to assess,” he wrote.
Zamada’s health issues are redacted in the publicly-available version of Perez’s letter. However, an unredacted section of the letter states that the conditions “are progressive and likely to exacerbate as the defendant ages.”
Perez argued that Zambada deserves to be incarcerated in a prison where his health issues can be effectively treated because he pleaded guilty rather than opting to go to trial.
“In taking full responsibility for his wrongdoing, Mr. Zambada’s comportment has differed markedly from that of other foreign organized crime figures who have been brought to this country through extradition, including his former partner in the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquin ‘Chapo’ Guzmán, who went through an 11-week jury trial seven years ago,” he wrote.
“… In contrast,” Perez wrote, “by accepting responsibility and entering a voluntary plea of guilty, Mr. Zambada:
Avoided what would have been one of the most complex Federal trials in history;
Spared victims and witnesses the fear and risk of being exposed and having to testify;
Conserved substantial judicial and prosecutorial resources;
Eliminated or greatly reduced the security concerns for all concerned that would be inherent in a protracted drug cartel litigation.”
“… Although there will be no benefit in sentence, it seems reasonable there should be some consideration in terms of designation within the BOP,” the lawyer wrote after once again highlighting the “differing” approaches of Guzmán and Zambada to resolving the charges against them.
“The way that Ismael Zambada has conducted himself since coming to the United States is the way our system wants to encourage defendants to behave,” Perez wrote.
The first page of the lengthy and detailed letter that Zambada’s lawyer wrote to influence Judge Cogan’s decision on sentencing. (Frank Perez)
“Mr. Zambada’s approach benefitted the system by reducing the logjam of justice. For Mr. Zambada to end up not only with the same life sentence as Mr. Guzman, but also in the same draconian Supermax prison, would fail to account in any way for the fact that he took the right path in resolving the charges against him. It would disincentivize other similarly situated defendants who are brought here in the future from following Mr. Zambada’s example rather than Mr. Guzman’s, and would seem somehow counterintuitive,” he wrote.
Zambada’s early life
Perez’s letter includes some interesting information about the early life of Zambada, who founded the Sinaloa Cartel with “El Chapo” and others in the 1980s.
The lawyer wrote that “Ismael Zambada was born on January 30, 1950 to a family of subsistence farmers in an isolated rural community in Sinaloa, Mexico.”
“He was the second of seven children, and the first son. He attended three years at the local village school, which was as high as it went, and then went to live with his grandmother in the city of Culiacán where he attended grades 4 through 6. On weekends and in summers, he retuned to the village to work alongside his father on their farm,” Perez wrote.
He wrote that Zambada’s lost his father to brain cancer at the age of 12 and he “received no further schooling after that because, as the oldest male, he was needed to keep the farm running and help make sure the younger children were fed.”
“Mr. Zambada believes that if his father hadn’t died, he likely would have gone farther in school. However, he was familiar with the labors associated with the farm, since he’d been helping his father since early childhood, and he needed to fulfill that role,” Perez said.
El Mayo’s introduction to the underworld
Perez wrote that Zambada met his future wife, Rosario Niebla, while working as a delivery driver for his uncle’s butcher’s shop in his teenage years.
“They married and started their family in 1968, when he was eighteen,” he wrote in the letter to Judge Cogan.
“Mr. Zambada was introduced to the drug trade a year later when he was nineteen by a slightly older friend who took him up to the mountains about an hour from their village where each planted marijuana, camouflaging it within rows of corn on the same parcel. He recalls that the first cycle wasn’t very successful, though he was able to harvest around 60 pounds which he sold to another man, receiving approximately 180 pesos per kilo (about $15 USD per kilo based on the exchange rate at the time),” Perez wrote.
“… From these origins, Mr. Zambada began to meet and establish friendships with other Sinaloans involved in the marijuana and opium trade. Gradually, over the course of many years, he rose to become one of the dominant figures in drug trafficking, first in Sinaloa and ultimately in Mexico as a whole. This rise to leadership evolved over numerous decades and was not foreseen by the defendant or others,” he wrote.
The lawyer also said in his letter that his marriage to Niebla produced five children but ended after around 20 years.
“A series of relationships with other women ensued, some of which overlapped. Mr. Zambada has a total of 16 children ranging in age from 6 to 55. To the best of his ability, he strived to maintain ties with each of them,” Perez wrote.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar responded to accusations from President Sheinbaum this week, denying that he misled the public about U.S. involvement in the 2024 capture of Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. (Galo Cañas / Cuartoscuro.com)
Former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar defended himself in a statement on Wednesday after President Claudia Sheinbaum and the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) accused him of lying when he said in 2024 that the United States wasn’t involved in the operation to capture Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada.
In July 2024, Zambada was arrested by U.S. authorities after arriving at the Doña Ana County International Jetport in New Mexico in a light plane along with Joaquín Guzmán López, one of the sons of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and a pilot. Last December, Guzmán López said in a U.S. court that he orchestrated the kidnapping of Zambada before the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin was forced onto a plane and flown to the United States.
In a statement in August 2024, Salazar, who served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico between September 2021 and January 2025, said that Guzmán López surrendered voluntarily to U.S. authorities, but added that evidence indicated that Zambada was taken to the United States against his will.
In the statement, the-then ambassador said that “no United States resources were used to facilitate Guzmán López’s surrender, asserting that “it was not our plane, not our pilot, not our people.”
Salazar also said that no flight plan was presented to United States authorities before the plane took off in Sinaloa, and asserted that the pilot was not a United States government employee nor was he hired by the U.S. government or “any U.S. citizen.”
In light of a recent report by journalist Luis Chaparro asserting that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had admitted involvement in the capture of Zambada, Sheinbaum on Tuesday asked the question, “Did Ambassador Ken Salazar lie?” when he released his statement in August 2024. She subsequently suggested that he did.
On Wednesday, the FGR — which is investigating the report by Chaparro and his media outlet/YouTube channel Pie de Nota — also called into question the veracity of Salazar’s remarks.
If it is confirmed that the FBI and/or other U.S. agencies were involved in an operation to capture Zambada, the Mexican government would consider that another violation of Mexican sovereignty by the United States.
Sheinbaum has already denounced U.S. interference in Mexico in light of the CIA’s alleged participation in a drug lab raid in Chihuahua in April and U.S. prosecutors’ request for the arrest of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and various other current and former officials accused of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel. She, like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has asserted that the U.S. government was involved in the capture of Zambada, which occurred while former U.S. President Joe Biden was still in office. Sheinbaum has noted that the López Obrador administration asked U.S. authorities to explain how the arrest of Zambada came about, but it never received a clear response.
Stemming from his belief that the U.S. government was involved in an operation to capture Zambada, López Obrador asserted that the United States was partly to blame for the escalation of violence between “Los Chapitos” and “Los Mayos,” whose long-running feud intensified after El Mayo’s kidnapping and arrest, claiming well over 2,000 lives and causing the disappearance of thousands more since September 2024. Sheinbaum has indicated that she shares that view.
The plane used to fly Zambada and Guzmán López to the United States was recently placed on display at the War Eagles Museum, located at the Doña Ana County International Jetport. In his report, Chaparro, who obtained access to the plane, said that the U.S. government “has accepted” that the capture of Zambada was an FBI operation.
He asserted that a “joint work group” made up of personnel from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the Central Intelligence Agency were “behind” the operation to capture Zambada and used Guzmán López as “the main material operator of the kidnapping” of “El Mayo.”
🔴Aquí el documento con el que el FBI se atribuye la operación del secuestro de “El Mayo” Zambada.
Se trata de la Operación Air Kings.
El documento ya lo tiene el gobierno mexicano, quien lo solicitó a raíz del reportaje de Pie de Nota, me dice @LuisKuryaki
“Today, Pie de Nota obtained an official statement attributed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, where it explicitly accepts its participation,” Chaparro said in his video report, which was posted to YouTube last week.
“Attorney General Merrick Garland and I communicated to the Mexican government in our public statements and to the Mexican government on July 25 and 26, 2024 on the arrests of Ismael Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán,” Salazar said.
“We communicated to the Mexican government that it was not our plane, not our pilot, and not our operation,” he said, apparently referring to the statement he released on August 9, 2024.
“La verdad es la verdad, the truth is the truth,” Salazar said, expressing his position in both Spanish and English.
Statement by Former Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar
President Claudia Sheinbaum has asked a question: who told the truth? Let me answer it plainly:
Attorney General Merrick Garland and I communicated to the Mexican government in our public statements and to the Mexican…
FGR: Salazar’s assertion that US was not involved in the capture of ‘El Mayo’ is ‘false’
At a press conference on Wednesday, Raúl Armando Jiménez, a high-ranking FGR prosecutor, said that “according to the information being collected” by the FGR as part of its investigations into the capture of Zambada, Salazar’s assertion that “there was no intervention” from a U.S. agency is “completely false.”
He and Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said that the former U.S. ambassador wouldn’t be summoned to Mexico to answer questions or investigated due to the diplomatic immunity he had while representing the U.S. government.
Godoy, attorney general since last December, said that FGR “records” related to the Zambada case “warn” that U.S. authorities “on various occasions have provided false or imprecise information” regarding the “identification” of the plane used to transport Zambada and Guzmán López to the United States.
She also said that if it is confirmed that there was a “successful, planned and organized operation carried out by the FBI to capture and kidnap on Mexican soil a person of Mexican nationality in order to transport him and incarcerate him in another country, everything indicates that we would be facing three serious situations.”
If that were the case, there would be “a series of violations of Mexican and international law,” Godoy said.
There would also be an “agreement outside the law” — i.e., a pact between U.S. authorities and Guzmán López — as well as a “lie from a U.S. diplomat,” she said, referring to Salazar.
Attorney General Ernestina Godoy and other top prosecutors said at a Wednesday press conference that Salazar’s denial of U.S. involvment in the capture of El Mayo is “completely false.” (Galo Cañas / Cuartoscuro.com)
Godoy acknowledged the statement the ex-ambassador released and August 2024, and said that if he lied in it, that act would represent “a violation of the fundamental principle of good faith in diplomatic relations, as set forth in various international treaties.”
She said that the FGR has seven different investigations related to the capture of El Mayo. The autonomous agency said in 2024 that it was investigating whether treason had been committed, given that kidnapping a person in Mexico for the purpose of handing him or her over to the authorities of another country constitutes that crime. The FGR has also sought to obtain information from U.S. authorities about any involvement they had in the capture of Zambada and his transfer to the United States.
In a statement based on the information Godoy and Jiménez provided at the press conference on Wednesday, the FGR linked the capture of Zambada to the legal status in the United States of Ovidio Guzmán, another son of “El Chapo” Guzmán and brother of Joaquín Guzmán López.
“On July 23, 2024, it was reported by the media and through reports from Mexican diplomatic missions in the United States that Ovidio ‘N,’ who was extradited by the Mexican government on September 15, 2023, joined that country’s witness protection program,” the FGR said.
“Two days later, on July 25, 2024, the U.S. Embassy announced the change in the precautionary measure [i.e., custodial status of Ovidio Guzmán] without consulting the Mexican government,” it said.
“That same day, July 25, the operation took place that resulted in the illegal extraction or kidnapping of Ismael ‘N,’ through a strategy that is currently under investigation, carried out in Sinaloa and concluded in New Mexico.”
The FGR asserted that “the proximity in time” of the events, as well as the family ties between Ovidio and Joaquín Guzman allowed an inference to be made that the kidnapping of Zambada “was the result of the change of the precautionary measure” applicable to Ovidio Guzmán.
In effect, the FGR is alleging — or at least suggesting — that Joaquín Guzmán López collaborated with the U.S. government on the capture of Zambada to win concessions for his brother (and presumably himself) and safety for his relatives in the United States. Guzmán López, one of the leaders of the “Chapitos” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in federal court in Chicago in December, but has not yet been sentenced.
The pilot of the plane was arrested in Mexico last year and handed over to US authorities
At Wednesday’s press conference, another FGR official, David Boone de la Garza, said that the pilot of the plane that flew Zambada and Guzmán López to the United States was arrested in Mexico last August on weapons charges. The pilot has been identified as Mauro Alberto Núñez Ojeda, aka “Jondo.”
Boone said that Núñez was deported to Mexico after flying the plane to the United States, and he subsequently continued committing crimes in Mexico until his arrest. He said that Mexican authorities transferred Núñez to the United States after his arrest.
“He was later arrested in Sinaloa by Mexican security forces and quietly handed over to the Trump administration last August, along with more than two dozen other suspected cartel figures,” the L.A. Times reported on May 10.
“Court records show he pleaded guilty to federal charges last month in Washington, D.C., admitting that his job in the cartel was to ‘work directly’ for [Iván Archivaldo] Guzmán Salazar” — another son of “El Chapo” Guzmán and “Chapitos” leader — “overseeing his fleet of aircraft, serving as his personal pilot and ferrying shipments of drugs and weapons.”
Sargassum is a fact of life, but not a welcome one, for people who live in Riviera Maya destinations like Cozumel. (Keith Chapman)
I moved to paradise: Cozumel, the beautiful island in the Mexican Caribbean. Like the rest of the Riviera Maya, its warm, clear water called to me like a siren song. Then came sargassum.
That, in itself, is not unusual. Sargassum is part of life in this region. But over the past eight years living on Cozumel, I’ve noticed a change: every year, there seems to be more of it. Much more.
Chen Rio beach in Cozumel last week, when sargassum was so thick that boats had to make tunnels to get out into the ocean. (Katja Pabst)
When sargassum becomes a season
Sargassum is no longer just a nuisance. It is a season.
During the height of it, the beach can disappear completely. “What beach?” is the joke among locals, and it lands because it’s true. The days of long walks, beachcombing and lazy picnics by the water can vanish under thick, rust-colored mats.
Even restaurants feel it. People pull over for lunch or a drink, catch the smell of rotting seaweed, and get right back in the car.
On the island’s east side, the buildup can become so dense that boats have to carve tunnels through it just to get out to sea. That may sound dramatic, but on some days it is exactly what happens.
How it changes daily life
For anyone who spends time in the water, sargassum changes everything.
I swim every other day, and like most swimmers, I get out if there is too much of it. When the wind swings around from the northwest, things can get ugly fast. That is when sargassum hits the protected side of the island — the side where the reefs, boat tours, diving, snorkeling and day trips are concentrated, and where most of Cozumel’s population lives.
So yes, sargassum affects everyone. Tours get canceled. Water activities are cut short. People who were excited to dive or snorkel suddenly decide not to.
It is not only unpleasant; it is physical. Sargassum gets tangled in your hair, and with it comes an entire miniature ecosystem. Tiny sargassum crabs. Stinging creatures. All the things you would rather not discover on your body mid-swim.
Just last week, the wind changed while I was in the water. What had started as a perfect morning swim — purple sea fans swaying below, butterfly fish darting past, angelfish circling in pairs — turned in minutes into stingers, seaweed and a quick retreat to shore. The Caribbean can go from postcard to problem very quickly.
And that is the point: sargassum does not just affect divers, snorkelers and swimmers on vacation. It affects the people who live here and the people whose businesses depend on being in, on or near the ocean.
Sargassum is not fun to encounter while you’re swimming, nor are sargassum crabs. (Lisa Coates)
The cost to local business
That impact is clearest among small local businesses.
My swim coach is one example, and the effect on his work is hard to watch. When sargassum moves in, people cancel lessons. Income drops. Athletes training for major island events such as Ironman and Oceanman lose training days, which affects not only local coaches and guides but also the athletes’ preparation and, potentially, whether they come at all.
That matters because these events are not small. Ironman Cozumel is the island’s biggest event of the year and a major economic driver. If athletes cannot train or compete in decent conditions, they can choose another Caribbean destination instead.
Oceanman is smaller, but the logic is the same. If the water is unusable, the island loses business — not only for race organizers, but for hotels, restaurants, drivers, guides and shops.
Surf schools on the wild side are another good example. Surfing remains one of Cozumel’s most popular activities, but when sargassum piles up thick enough to choke the shoreline, there is no clear way into the water. In some bays, half the ocean seems to turn into a floating field of brown weed. At that point, businesses either relocate or close, sometimes for weeks.
Sargassum’s effect on local businesses is profound. Witness this surf school, for instance, whose beach was recently closed by it. (Bel Woodhouse)
And no, however optimistic anyone may be, you cannot surf on seaweed.
Restaurants suffer too. Beach clubs, bars and waterfront stops that would normally be full can feel deserted when the smell rolls in and the view turns from turquoise blue to mounds of drying algae. Across the channel in Playa del Carmen, the situation is much the same, with heavy equipment often brought in to clear beaches.
A paradise with a problem
This year broke records, and sargassum is clearly not going away anytime soon.
Cozumel is still paradise in many ways. That has not changed for me. But sargassum is now part of the story of living here, and it is becoming a bigger part of the economic and environmental story of the entire Mexican Caribbean.
A possible use for the waste
A novel new use for the weed is to turn it into construction materials for the local community. (Sargacreto)
One reason this issue has become more interesting lately is that people are looking beyond cleanup and asking a more practical question: What can be done with all this seaweed?
One answer is Sargacreto, a concrete-like construction material made with processed sargassum. Grupo Dakatso says it spent five years researching, testing and certifying the material before bringing it to market, and the company has promoted it as a commercially viable way to reuse part of the enormous volume washing ashore.
In simple terms, Sargacreto replaces part of a standard concrete mix with biochar made from treated sargassum. The process uses pyrolysis, which heats the algae without oxygen. According to the company, the finished material retains the structural properties of conventional concrete.
There is obvious appeal in that. Cement is one of the most carbon-intensive materials used in construction, so reducing the amount of cement in a mix could lower environmental impact. Using sargassum in building materials also means less of it going into landfills.
Useful, but only part of the answer
That does not mean Sargacreto is a magic fix.
Tulum’s Maya Train station is partially built from Sargacreto. (Tren Maya)
Even if production scales up, the volume of sargassum arriving each season remains enormous. Mexico News Daily reported earlier this year that sargassum had returned early to Quintana Roo and cited reports of millions of tonnes moving across the Atlantic basin toward the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, underscoring the scale of the challenge.
So the debate is fair. Is it worth it if the material costs more? Is it meaningful if it only absorbs a fraction of what comes ashore? Those are reasonable questions.
Still, using some of the waste productively seems better than simply piling it into landfills. Whether it ends up in roads, paving stones, walkways or larger construction projects, it is at least one way to put a dent in a problem that is getting harder to ignore.
Not a solution, but a start
That may be the most realistic way to look at it.
Sargassum is not going to disappear because a new building material exists. The real long-term answer will probably have to include better containment and collection before so much of it reaches shore, alongside local reuse projects for what does make landfall
But if some of that seaweed can help build roads, stations, walkways or homes instead of choking beaches and filling dumps, that is not nothing. In a region where sargassum has become part of everyday life, even partial solutions matter.
Mexico Correspondent for International Living, Bel is an experienced writer, author, photographer and videographer with 500+ articles published both in print and across digital platforms. Living in the Mexican Caribbean for over seven years now, she’s in love with Mexico and has no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.
