Sheinbaum praises the ‘heroism’ of flood responders: Friday’s mañanera recapped

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October 17, 2025

Before embarking on a tour of flood-affected states, President Claudia Sheinbaum held her final morning press conference of the week at the National Palace in Mexico City.

Here is a recap of the president’s Oct. 17 mañanera.

Sheinbaum praises ‘heroism’ of Mexicans responding to the flood emergency

Sheinbaum assured Mexicans who have been affected by floods in Veracruz, Hidalgo, Puebla, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí that they are “not alone.”

“The solidarity of the people of Mexico is enormous and the government is with them,” she said.

Sheinbaum said that “around 52,000” federal and state government workers are attending to the situation in flood-affected states. That figure is more than three times higher than the number that appeared at 4 p.m. Friday on the new government website where flood-related data is compiled.

prsident with flood refugees — After her morning press conference, the president visited refugees from the flood-ravaged state of Veracruz who were taking advantage of a Navy “air bridge.”
(@Claudiashein/on X)

In the figure she cited, Sheinbaum was apparently including government workers called “servants of the nation,” who are carrying out a damage census in flood-affected municipalities, as well as doctors and other medical personnel.

The president noted that personnel from the Mexican Army, the Navy, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport and the national Civil Protection agency are among the government workers responding to the floods.

“I take the opportunity to thank all of them — our admiration, our respect,” she said.

“The heroism with which they serve the population is extraordinary — soldiers, marines, national guard personnel, electricity industry workers, construction workers, doctors, and servants of the nation. It is truly remarkable; [they are showing] great dedication and conviction for public service, and a deep love for the people, because ultimately that’s what drives us,” Sheinbaum said.

“I say to them that you are not alone … [and that] we will keep supporting everyone … including throughout the reconstruction period,” she said.

The president, her government and state authorities have faced criticism for their handling of the disaster, especially in the state of Veracruz, where 32 of the 72 confirmed flood-related fatalities occurred.

No evidence that military data was intercepted, says defense minister

A reporter asked the president and military officials whether they had been informed about vulnerabilities in satellite-transmitted data belonging to the Mexican government and military, and to Mexican banks and the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).

The question came after computer scientists from two universities in the United States said in a paper published this week that, using inexpensive equipment installed on a rooftop in San Diego, they were able to observe “unencrypted satellite traffic from multiple organizations within the Mexican government, including military, law enforcement, and government agencies.”

Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation Minister Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina uses a map of Hidalgo to show the press where the trouble spots are in that flood-affected state.
(Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro.com)

The scientists also said they were able to observe unencrypted data belonging to Santander México, Walmart México, the CFE and other Mexican companies.

They said they had disclosed the vulnerabilities that affected the Mexican government and various companies to Mexico’s National Cybersecurity Incident Response Center, which is part of the National Guard.

Sheinbaum referred the reporter’s question to National Defense Minister Ricardo Trevilla Trejo.

“All our communications and transmission systems are encrypted. Technically they are all encrypted,” Trevilla said.

“… All are encrypted, all are secure means and all are functioning properly,” he said.

The reporter asked Trevilla how the computer scientists in the U.S. were able to intercept military data if the communication is encrypted.

“They have not entered [military systems]. We don’t have any evidence that they have entered and that they have obtained that information,” he said.

“I dont know what your source is or how the study was conducted,” Trevilla added.

Sheinbaum: New trade agreement with EU is ‘very beneficial’ for Mexico

Sheinbaum said that Mexico’s new trade agreement with the European Union will take effect in early 2026.

She noted that the modernized pact was “established” several months ago and that it now “just needs to be formally signed.”

The existing Mexico-EU trade agreement will conclude and the new one will take effect in February 2026, Sheinbaum said.

She said that “tariffs on various products” will fall once the new pact enters into force.

“It greatly benefits Mexico in terms of exporting products to Europe, both agricultural and manufactured goods,” Sheinnbaum said.

“So it’s very beneficial for Mexico. We can present the details one day with the Economy Ministry,” she said.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

Congress’s lower house raises fees on tourist and residency visas

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MND Staff

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October 17, 2025

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The National Anthropology Museum, admired universally and popular with Mexicans and visitors alike, would be one of the cultural sites subject to entry fee hikes next year, from the current 100 pesos to 209 pesos (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro.com)

Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies has just passed legislation that aims to boost government revenues, primarily by raising taxes and fees in a number of areas, including tourist and residency visas.

Othe tax increases and price hikes approved are amendments that will cause ticket prices to some museums and archaeological sites to double, raise the levy on soft drinks, tax hydrating electrolyte beverages, and increase levies on tobacco, casino gambling and video games

Coca-Cola — Mexico was a pioneer in imposing taxes on sodas and other sugary drinks, but the current effort by Congress to increase the levy is drawing aggressive pushback from the soft drink companies. (Mario Jasso/Cuartscuro.com)

In some cases, visas for foreigners to reside in Mexico would more than double if the legislation is approved by the Senate and the president.

For example, beginning next year, foreigners seeking temporary one-year residency will have to pay 11,140 pesos (US $606), up from 5,328 pesos (US $290);

Those seeking a two-year permit must pay 16,693 pesos (US $908), up from 7,984 pesos (US $434).

Three-year permits will rise from 10,112 pesos (US $550) to 21,142 pesos (US $1,150) and four-year permits will increase from 11,984 (US $652) to 25,057 pesos (US $1,363).

Permanent residency visas will climb from costing 6,494 pesos (US $353) to 13,578 pesos (US $738).

Prices for tourist visas will climb less significantly, from 860 pesos (US $47) to 983 pesos (US $51).

Although the framework of the legislation will be sent to the Senate, the Chamber will continue to debate additional amendments to the bill.

The soda tax — an amendment to the IEPS Law, a Special Tax on Production and Services created to control the use of products that are harmful to health and the environment — has prompted soft drink companies to lobby lawmakers aggressively against the tax. They have already had some success.

Lawmakers defended the tax on electrolytes by pointing out that the popular electrolyte beverage Electrolit far exceeds the hydrating formula recommended by the World Health Organization of 1.3 parts of glucose to each part of salts and minerals. Electrolit contains 3.7 parts of glucose to each part of salts and minerals.

Proponents of this tax argued that Mexico’s treasury could have added more than 3 billion pesos (US $163 million) in IEPS taxes and around 9 billion pesos (US $489 million) in value-added taxes from the Electrolit brand over the past five years, according to the magazine Proceso.

Lobbyists also sought to negotiate lower taxes on sugar-free and low-calorie soft drinks.

Senior Coca-Cola executives met with representatives of the Health Ministry this week, offering to gradually reduce the sugar content of their soft drinks by 30 percent.

In a joint press conference with lawmakers from the ruling Morena party and Health Minister David Kershenobich, soda companies pledged to reformulate their products, launch new presentations and serving sizes, expand their portfolio of low-sugar and zero-calorie beverages, while also expanding the market for reduced- and no-sugar beverages. They also promised to self-regulate their advertising to reduce the impact of consumption on children and adolescents.

As a result, deputies amended the bill during floor debate, reducing the IEPS rate on beverages sweetened with non-caloric sweeteners — in “light” or “zero” formats — from 3.08 pesos per liter to 1.5 pesos per liter.

Higher fees for culture

As for fee increases at museums and archaeological parks, tickets for priority sites (including the Anthropology Museum, the Templo Mayor, the National History Museum at Chapultepec Castle, the Teotihuacán pyramids, Monte Albán and Tulum) will rise from 100 pesos (US $5.50) to 209 (US $11.35) pesos. Mexican nationals and foreigners with resident visas will pay 104.50 (US $5.70) pesos.

So-called secondary sites such as Tlatelolco, Malinalco and Tehuacán Viejo will see admission prices climb from 80 pesos (US $4.35) to 156.75 pesos (US $8.50)

Prices at tertiary sites, including Puebla’s Guadalupe Fort, the Ex Convento in Yanhuitlán and the Tenayuca pyramid, will rise from 75 pesos (US $4.10) to 143.69 pesos (US $7.80). Just as at priority sites, Mexican nationals and foreigners with resident visas will receive 50% discounts.

With reports from El País, El Universal, La Jornada, Reforma and Proceso

Oaxaca sanctuary welcomes Yazu the jaguar cub, a sign of hope for the species

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MND Staff

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October 17, 2025

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A baby jaguar cub sits in dappled sunlight — Yazu was born in captivity to a mother and father who were rescued by the Yagul Jaguar Sancturary from certain death in the wild. (Santuario del Jaguar Yagul)

Yazu, a female jaguar cub, is being hailed as the possible savior of her species, the Mexican jaguar, or Panthera onca.

That’s a lot of pressure on a one-month-old kitten, but geneticists at the Yagul Jaguar Sanctuary in Oaxaca hope her birth is key to protecting the species, which is threatened by illegal hunting, habitat destruction and the effects of natural disasters.

A baby jaguar cub bounds through short grass — The Oaxaca sanctuary where Yazu was born was originally a zoo, but now focuses on rehabilitating threatened species, especially big cats like jaguars and pumas. (Santuario del Jaguar Yagul)

Yazu’s birth was the first produced via the Jaguar Genetic Bank project, through which experts seek to ensure the continued existence of this species.

The project’s long-term goal is to rescue and care for these felines, study their lineage, incorporate them into the wild and safeguard their genetic material.

The newspaper El País, which broke the story of Yazu’s birth, said that in addition to analyzing and preserving genetic material from Mexican jaguars, the project aims to breed the species to strengthen populations in priority areas for their recovery.

José Eduardo Ponce, the director of the sanctuary, told El País that in addition to the gene bank, the center also focuses on rescue, rewilding, care for abused animals and providing conservation support and territorial defense strategies to rural communities.

The breeding that produced Yazu was made possible through studies conducted on jaguars rescued by Mexican wildlife conservation authorities, including Balam — a male Panthera onca from San Miguel Chimalapas, Oaxaca — and a female recovered in Campeche, Yazu’s parents. Neither of the animals would have survived if returned to the wild, Ponce said.

The sanctuary originally began as a zoo, but in 2014 a move to a new location prompted a paradigm shift, according to El País.

Relocated to the Yagul Natural Monument Protected Area — where domesticated plants dating back more than 10,000 years were found — the Jaguar Sanctuary now focuses on conserving Mexico’s biological diversity.

Yazu will soon begin training in the sanctuary’s “wilding” program, which seeks to rescue and reintroduce into the wild young felines whose mothers either died due to poaching or in natural disasters.

Currently, three pumas found in the state of Hidalgo in 2022 when they were barely three months old can be found in the sanctuary’s wildlife simulator. Constantly monitored by cameras, they are in the process of developing “natural skills and instincts” in a hectare of land with no human contact.

The hope is that the pumas soon meet the challenges in the wildlife simulator — climbing, sniffing, marking territory and, above all, hunting — so they can be released into the wild before the end of this year.

El País cited one of the sanctuary’s success stories: two female jaguars barely three months old who were separated from their mother in 2016 due to poaching in the state of Campeche. After three years of intense training in the simulator, they were reintroduced into the jungle in 2020.

The Yagul sanctuary has a population of 50 animals, including jaguars, ocelots, lions, tigers, crocodiles, spider monkeys, peccaries and even a Burmese python. However, Ponce insists, the focus is on Mexican felines.

With reports from El País, Milenio and Prensa Libre

A week after Mexico’s floods, the death toll is at 72 and dozens remain missing

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MND Staff

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October 17, 2025

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trash from floods — Flood survivers in Poza Rica, Veracruz, and elsewhere are still dealing with foul-smelling accumulations of waste, including dead animals. (Jessamyn Nazario Mendo/Cuartoscuro)

A week after floods devastated large swaths of five states in central and eastern Mexico, the federal government acknowledged that the death toll has reached 72, while 48 others have been officially declared missing.

Mudslides and damaged bridges have left several regions isolated, particularly in the state of Hidalgo northeast of Mexico City and in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation Minister Jesús Esteva said 127 towns remain virtually inaccessible as of Thursday night.

PROTESTERS IN XALAPA — The post-flood actions in Veracruz have reached the protest stage, with those accused of an inadequate response including Gov. Rocío Nahle and, in the case seen here, authorities of the Veracruz University, where some students are said to be among the missing. (Yerania Roló/Cuasrtoscuro.com)

Esteva said his ministry is documenting and mapping the damage to facilitate rescue and recovery operations, while more than 8,000 soldiers are working in the affected areas to search for the missing and remove debris.

The Defense Ministry has been operating around the clock, tasking 21 helicopters with deliveries and medical supplies, especially to isolated regions of Hidalgo and Veracruz.

Esteva said the government is working with some urgency as the weekend weather forecast indicates a cold front will be moving in, bringing with it heavy rain, though the storms are projected to be south of the areas affected by last week’s flooding.

Veracruz, the state hardest hit by the flooding, has reported 32 fatalities with 14 residents counted as missing, followed by Hidalgo (21 dead) and Puebla (18).

Veracruz Governor Rocío Nahle is facing growing criticism for her handling of the disaster. On Thursday, she insisted that the state Civil Protection agency did issue an early alarm and thousands were evacuated, “although some residents preferred to remain in their homes.”

Some residents insist no such alarm sounded.

While on Friday Nahle said her administration would work to make sure all families affected by the disaster are safe and secure, one columnist pointed out that the governor canceled the state’s natural disaster insurance policy.

Near Poza Rica, Veracruz, where thousands are without shelter and fetid water remains ankle deep, residents in the area are voicing concern about the potential spread of typhoid fever and cholera.

In Puebla, government officials are working to find accommodations for more than 200 people who lost everything in the flooding. Although nearly 2,000 people have left state-run shelters in hopes of salvaging their homes and property, dozens of families face an uncertain future.

The newspaper Milenio reported that the state is preparing to close down the shelters, but more than 200 people who lost everything — primarily campesinos — say they have nowhere to go.

“We are just simple farmers. We have no wages, no other means of support except whatever help the government might provide,” said Jesús Hernández, a resident of Colonia Los Manguitos who was in a shelter in the municipality of Xicotepec with his wife and several grandchildren.

North of the impacted areas in the state of Tamaulipas, residents of Tampico and Ciudad Madero along the Gulf Coast are taking precautions as the Pánuco River has reached critical levels.

The National Water Commission (Conagua) has sought to assuage concerns, reporting late Thursday that flood stage would not be reached for another 80 hours, and only if conditions worsen. For now, Conagua said, the forecast is not cause for alarm.

Even so, the state Water Resources Ministry has ordered Civil Protection agents to take preventive measures in low-lying areas of the adjacent municipalities.

With reports from El Universal, La Jornada, Proceso and Milenio

Mexico’s first green hydrogen plant opens in Querétaro

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MND Staff

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October 17, 2025

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green hydrgen plant office — Green hydrogen isolated in Querétaro can now be used by a pharmaceutical glass maker that operates in the same plant. (Gobierno del Estado de Querétaro/X)

The central state of Querétaro, known for its emphasis on sustainable industry, has inaugurated Mexico’s first green hydrogen plant, the result of a partnership between a German and a Mexican company.

The project, teaming Gerresheimer, a German company already manufacturing in Mexico pharmaceutical glass used in packaging medications, and the Mexican company Cryoinfra, processors of cryogenic gases, required an investment of 100 million pesos (US $5.3 million). It seeks to reduce carbon emissions, strengthen the circular economy, and pave the way for new energy technologies.

Inauguration green hydrogen — Mexican and German executives celebrate the inauguration of a green hydrogen plant in Querétaro, a result of a partnership between their companies. (Gobierno del Estado de Querétaro/X)

Hydrogen is primarily produced through water electrolysis, in which hydrogen and oxygen molecules are separated. Unlike “gray hydrogen,” which is produced using traditional energy sources, green hydrogen uses electricity from clean sources such as solar or wind power, and is itself a clean energy source.

The new plant is located at the Gerresheimer complex, where the German company produces 2.6 billion units of pharmaceutical glass annually. According to the company’s general manager in Querétaro, José Antonio Vega López, it is the largest such manufacturing plant in the Americas.

The new green hydrogen plant is expected to support Gerresheimer’s production by producing 500 cubic meters of green hydrogen per day for the pharmaceutical glass forming process, replacing fossil fuels and reducing CO₂ emissions by 100 tons per year.

Not only will operational emissions be reduced to zero, but the new dual function plant ensures a smaller logistical carbon footprint since the hydrogen for the pharmaceutical glass manufacturing will already be at its destination.

Fernando Trejo Álvarez, regional subdirector of Cryoinfra, which developed and installed the electrolysis plant, said that this project helps to reduce emissions, diversifies the use of clean energy, “and sets a precedent for more companies in Querétaro and throughout Mexico to invest in green hydrogen.”

“We are pushing for more jobs and more investment, but in line with the protection of natural resources, which are becoming increasingly scarce,” Trejo added, as he noted that green hydrogen is one of the energies of the future.

Querétaro authorities say that philosophy applies to the state as a whole. “The energy we use comes from green sources, such as solar and wind, which sets us apart from other economies in the country,” state Sustainable Development Minister Marco Antonio del Prete Tercero said at the inaugural event, led by Querétaro Governor Mauricio Kuri.

Mexico is an optimal region for renewable energy production, the Mexican Association of Hydrogen, Storage, and Sustainable Mobility (AMH2) has said. This is due to its hydrogen production costs, which are 64% lower than in other countries. This favorable scenario has led AMH2 in collaboration with Mexico’s Ministry of Energy (Sener), to fund 18 clean hydrogen projects in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases and nurture a nascent green hydrogen industrial sector in the country.

With reports from El Economista, Cluster Industrial and AI Regula Solutions

Mexican government office in Tijuana targeted in drone attack

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MND Staff

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October 17, 2025

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Ataque Drone Fiscalía Tijuana — Soldiers and National Guard members responded to reports of the late-night attack. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)

A Mexican cartel deployed explosive devices to attack a state police installation on Wednesday, Baja California’s Attorney General confirmed Thursday. The incident led the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana to issue a security alert advising U.S. citizens in the area to take precautions.

A crime group reportedly used three drones to launch a crude improvised explosive device with plastic bottles filled with nails, pellets and other metal pieces on the state attorney general’s offices in Mexico’s northern border city of Tijuana on Wednesday night.

El momento en que atacan con drones y explosivos la oficina antisecuestros en Tijuana, México

Watch this video on YouTube

The device struck the office of the attorney general’s anti-kidnapping unit, damaging cars but causing no deaths or injuries, according to state Attorney General María Elena Andrade Ramírez.

Andrade Ramírez confirmed that an organized crime group was behind the attack but declined to name it.

Following the attack, the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana issued a security alert.

“We have received confirmation of the report of an attack on offices belonging to the Baja California state attorney general’s office in the Playas de Tijuana area,” the consulate wrote on the social media platform X.

The agency warned people to avoid the area around any ongoing police presence, monitor local media for updates and inform family and friends of their status.

Andrade Ramírez said the incident was being investigated as an act of terrorism and stressed that the attack was against the office rather than any particular agent. She also denied reports of shots being fired after the attack.

“It was an attack directly on the patio of our installation,” said Andrade Ramírez. “As a way to ease the public’s mind, this was not an attempt on the residents, and we don’t believe it has anything to do with our proximity to the border.”

The attack follows the vandalism of the anti-car-theft and anti-kidnapping offices of the state police in Ensenada, around 60 miles south of Tijuana, on September 21, when police vehicles were also set on fire.

Seven people were detained in connection to that crime, according to the attorney general.

Wednesday night’s attack may be related to the Ensenada incident and the arrests that followed, Andrade Ramírez said, suggesting that cartels have been retaliating against the government’s crackdown on their illicit activities.

With reports from Reuters and Border Report

Did Dr. ATL and Nahui Olin’s wild romance set the standard for modern celebrity drama?

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Bethany Platanella

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October 17, 2025

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nahui-olin-atl copy — Stormy, creative, combative and very public, the story of Nahui Olín and Dr. Atl is every bit as powerful as Frida and Diego. (Yo Nahui Olin)

It’s the middle of the night. Artist Nahui Olin — a rare beauty with her tousled light hair and sharp green eyes — stands naked in front of her lover, revolver pointed at his chest. Dr. Atl, 18 years her senior and likely covered in Atlcolor, the pigment he had invented about five years earlier, leaps from bed to grab her arm. The gun’s barrel points downward, and in her all-consuming rage, she fires five shots into the floor.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Perhaps a roaring fight, perhaps a passionate reconciliation. What we do know is that this wouldn’t be the final straw for one of the Mexican art world’s most tempestuous couples — Dr. Atl and Olin’s five-year affair would be one of extreme highs and lows, leaving a lasting mark on Mexican society.

Nahua Olin was a famed, if tempestuous, beauty. (Public domain)

The cosmic meeting: When green eyes met water

In July 1922, Dr. Atl wrote in his diary. “In the midst of the swaying crowd…a green abyss opened before me like the sea…the eyes of a woman. I fell into this abyss, instantly,” he mused.

He was Gerardo Murillo, an artist, activist, scholar and volcanologist from Guadalajara in the throes of starting his own national art school in the Ex-Convento de la Merced, an abandoned colonial monastery in the center of Mexico City. She was Carmen Mondragón, an artist, painter and poet. She would also become Atl’s muse.

Their pairing would be profound in ways that extended beyond their immediate relationship, sparking debate about the new role of women in Mexico’s largely patriarchal society, and about the power people hold to shape their own identities.

Murillo studied art in Paris and Rome, changing his name to Dr. Atl in 1902 — “atl” means water in Nahuatl. His love for Mexico fully embedded him into Mexico’s political and cultural transformation leading up to the Revolution, even from abroad. In 1913, he returned to Mexico, settling permanently in Mexico City, where he was named Director of the Academy of San Carlos, nowadays part of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

He used this platform to promote national ideals and revolutionary expression among his students, mentoring the likes of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros and fostering the Mexican muralism movement that these three students of Dr. Atl’s would go on to create.

Dr. Atl, he pseudonym of Gerardo Murillo, a famous Mexican painter. (Sopitas)

Curiously enough, the same year Dr. Atl returned to Mexico, Carmen left for Paris. When the Decena Trágica occurred — a military coup that overthrew President Madero and temporarily installed Victoriano Huerta in his place — many conservative aristocrats were exiled.

Carmen’s father, General Manuel Mondragón, inventor of the first semiautomatic rifle adopted by a national military, was one of these exiles. The family fled to Europe, eventually settling in Spain, and Carmen’s career as a painter began.

She and her husband at the time, a Mexican cadet whom she married in 1913, returned to Mexico City in 1921. Now deep in the art scene, Carmen attended an event at the Academy of San Carlos, where she’d catch the eye and heart of Dr. Atl.

The Monastery of Sin: Headquarters of societal rebellion

A now-divorced Carmen Mondragon moved into the monastery with Atl, where he would receive students at his national art school and Carmen would dive more deeply into her craft. She published her first poetry book painted vibrant portraits of herself and daily life and served as a nude model for Diego Rivera and Edward Weston. Together, the art world’s new power couple inspired the local community in forging a new Mexican identity; they also inspired each other’s artistic endeavors.

From the start, their relationship was volatile, fueled by dramatic arguments and even more over-the-top reconciliations. In 1922, Dr. Atl christened Mondragon with the name “Nahui Olin”, a Nahuatl name for the “power with which the sun makes the planets turn,” a nod to her forceful nature.

But as time went on and more female students visited the monastery, Olin’s jealousy grew. She frequently accused him of infidelity — an act of which she was probably also guilty — and she didn’t bother to hide her eruptions from the public.

On one occasion, she allegedly tried to push two young female visitors to the monastery off a balcony; on another, she hung notes on Atl’s door for all the neighbors to see, denouncing him for sleeping with other women. In 1923, just two years into their torrid relationship, the newspaper El Universal Ilustrado published an interview with the couple, an article that was known at the time as the “Public Marriage Debate.”

In that article, the following quotes were published:

“I consider marriage a fundamentally absurd aspect of society…life with a literary woman would be a constant catastrophe” — Dr. Atl

“She would never marry a man,” El Universal told its readers. “And even less an extravagant painter or a mediocre writer,” Olin told the newspaper, “because they are already married to the obsession of glory… They are husbands to vanity.” — Nahui Olin

Separate studios: The unraveling of two worlds

Nahui Olin — After the breakup, Olin lived out a difficult and controversial life, but is remembered today as a 20th century icon, even if she is often seen as second to omnipotent contemporary Frida Kahlo. (Mas por Mas)

Perhaps shocking to no one, the relationship didn’t last. Olin eventually moved to her own apartment in a building’s maid’s quarters, supporting herself through modeling and as an art teacher in the public school system. An entrepreneur at heart, she organized gallery openings to showcase her work — in 1928, she infamously hosted an exhibit of her nude photos and invited the most elite members of society, including Mexico’s Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education, who both gladly attended.

Olin continued posing nude into the 1930s for money and published several books of poetry and prose. She immersed herself in music, learning to play the piano and compose scores, though this proved more an emotional than a lucrative outlet. She managed to scrape by, but with the passage of years became more reclusive, selling her nude photos in San Juan de Letrán and feeding the neighborhood cats. She would eventually die alone, penniless, in her family home in Tacubaya in 1978.

Following their split, Dr. Atl turned his focus once again to studying and painting central Mexico’s volcanoes. In 1943, while observing Michoacán’s erupting Paricutín, he was caught in a flow of hot lava and toxic gas that resulted in the amputation of his right leg.

Despite the life-altering injury, the increasingly eccentric artist would continue writing, researching, painting and lecturing until his death in 1964. There is no published evidence that Dr. Atl commented on Olin, or vice versa, after their breakup.

The creative revolution they began

Atl and Olin’s partnership became emblematic of the avant-garde spirit that swept through Mexico City’s cultural elite in the 1920s. By openly rejecting traditional norms about marriage, gender and artistic roles, they challenged rigid expectations in Mexican culture, sparking debate about the need for personal freedom and creative autonomy. Their artistic collaboration in painting, poetry, essays and their public scandals all helped push the boundaries of Mexican modernism.

And Atl’s open support of Olin’s creative independence — including her nude modeling — pushed a new narrative: that female artists were intellectually equal to males and commanded agency in contemporary art.

That revolver Olin fired into the monastery floor may have signaled a moment of jealousy but before their final breakup, Olin and Atl’s project of love, art and rebellion was an inseparable force in shaping an emerging postrevolutionary Mexico.

Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog or follow her on Instagram.

Amidst an intense rainy season, Lake Chapala finally recovers from last year’s drought

By

MND Staff

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October 17, 2025

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1682067463_644250079b157_644250082a5c0 copy — Thanks to a very wet 2025, Lake Chapala's water levels are on course for a miraculous recovery. (Tourist Platform)

Following a severe drought that saw Lake Chapala lose over two meters of water in 2024, this year’s extraordinary rainy season has brought much needed recovery to Mexico’s largest lake. Lake Chapala is now at just over 70% capacity.

Located between Jalisco and Michoacán, Lake Chapala is the Guadalajara metropolitan area’s largest water supply, providing over 60% of the region’s water.

aerial image of Jalisco's Lake Chapala with docked ships on the shoreline and homes on land. — Lake Chapala has long been Guadalajara’s main water source. (Government of Jalisco)

According to data from the National Water Commission (Conagua), the lake’s water levels have increased by 1.54 meters since May 15, when it was at only 49% capacity.

Carlos Ornelas, a professor at the Universidad Panamericana (UP), said that the lake’s recovery will allow for a stable water supply, avoiding shortages like those experienced in 2024 when several neighborhoods in Guadalajara and the surrounding metropolitan area experienced water supply cuts and reductions due to low levels in Lake Chapala.

“With [the lake’s] recovery thanks to rainfall, we will be able to have water during next year’s dry season,” Ornelas noted.

He also anticipated that Lake Chapala could reach 75% of its capacity by October or November, potentially marking one of the best rainy-season recoveries in the last decade, only surpassed by 2018 and 2021.

Ornelas noted that although the lake receives water from its own basin, the primary source of water is the Lerma River.

“At the beginning of the rainy season, the largest contributions come from the lake’s own basin because the dams upstream of the Lerma River take a while to fill and capture the levels necessary to supply the various users,” he said.

The basin Ornelas refers to is the Lerma-Chapala basin, which originates southwest of the city of Toluca in México state, at the source of the Lerma River. It covers over 52,000 square kilometers and spans across five states and more than 100 municipalities.

Guadalajara’s other water sources also benefit from the rains

Smaller water bodies that supply Guadalajara have also benefited from the rainy season.

The Elías González Calderón dam, in the Zapotlanejo municipality, which provides 14% of Guadalajara’s water, is currently operating at 106% of its capacity, marking the dam’s second-best recovery since 2019.

Meanwhile, El Zapotillo dam, officially inaugurated in August 2024, comes in at a close second, operating at 105.53% of its capacity. Connected to the El Salto-La Red-Calderón aqueduct — itself inaugurated in February 2024 — the El Zapotillo dam is expected to be able to provide up to three additional cubic meters per second to the city.

With reports from El Informador

Sheinbaum unveils flood website and says Fitch is ‘wrong’ about her latest reform: Thursday’s mañanera recapped

By

MND Staff

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October 16, 2025

4

Sheinbaum and graphic of machinery — The president told the press that besides the 12,350 personnel and 30 helicopters reponding to the emergency, 681 heavy machinery units are deployed in the cleanup efforts.  (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro.com)

At her Thursday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum presented a new government website and responded to a credit rating agency’s opinion on a controversial legislative reform.

Among other remarks, she declared that Mexico’s relationship with the United States is “very good.”

Government unveils website tracking the impact and response to floods

Sheinbaum noted that the federal government has created a website where data related to recent flooding in Veracruz, Hidalgo, Puebla, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí is compiled.

At the top of the website, which the president displayed during her mañanera, appears the heading “Impacts from rain and floods caused by Tropical Disturbance 90-E.”

At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the website showed that 70 people had died in rain and flooding-related incidents in Veracruz (30 fatalities), Hidalgo (21), Puebla (18) and Querétaro (1).

It also showed that 72 people are missing.

Sheinbaum and Zaldívar — Arturo Zaldívar, the former Supeme Court justice who serves in the Sheinbaum administration, explains in detail why criticism of the reform to the Amparo Law by the Fitch credit rating agency was off the mark, while the president looks on. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro.com)

Among the other data on the site is the following:

12,350 people are responding to the emergency.
30 helicopters are operating 157 air bridges to get supplies to isolated communities.
681 heavy machinery units are in use to assist cleanup efforts.
Donations can be dropped off at 297 collection centers and points

Sheinbaum dismisses Fitch Ratings’ view on Amparo Law reform

A reporter noted that Fitch Ratings has raised concerns about the reform to Mexico’s Amparo Law, which was approved by both houses of Congress this week.

Fitch said on Tuesday that “Mexico’s proposed amendments to the Constitutional Appeal Law (Ley de Amparo) could raise regulatory risk by limiting courts’ ability to suspend administrative acts and narrowing eligibility relief.”

Among other remarks, the rating agency said that “over time,” the Amparo Law reform “may dampen investment, constrain market access and widen spreads for those most exposed to discretionary actions.”

Sheinbaum declared that Fitch is “wrong” in its assessment of the reform’s potential impact.

The president said she would ask her finance minister to explain in “complete detail” that the Amparo Law reform won’t create any problem for investment in Mexico.

“And to all private investors: this reform does not go against investment in any way; on the contrary, it makes the application of justice much more efficient,” she said.

Sheinbaum denies that Mexico’s support for Cuba will affect USMCA review

A reporter noted that a U.S. lawmaker, Congressman Carlos A. Giménez, warned that Mexico’s support for Cuba could affect the review of the USMCA free trade pact, which will take place in 2026.

Between May and August, Mexico sent more than US $3 billion worth of “subsidized fuel” to Cuba, according to a report published this week by the organization Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity.

Sheinbaum, who said that Cuba bought the fuel like any other country, rejected the claim that Mexico’s support for the Caribbean island nation would have an impact on the USMCA review.

“It won’t affect anything,” she said.

“The United States knows that Mexico is an independent, free and sovereign country, and that the decisions we take are sovereign decisions,” Sheinbaum said.

“And the relationship with the United States is very good,” she added.

“… There is no problem,” Sheinbaum said.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Giménez, a Republican Party representative who was born in Cuba, wrote:

“From the U.S. Congress, we denounce the pathetic actions of the President of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, in giving oxygen to the murderous dictatorship in Cuba. While the renegotiation of the free trade agreement with the U.S. is being considered, how is it possible that Sheinbaum is helping the narco-terrorist dictatorships in the region? If Mexico continues collaborating with Venezuela and Cuba, it will be treated the same as the pariah states it is protecting.”

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

Researchers find much Mexican satellite data is unencrypted and easily hacked

By

MND Staff

-

October 16, 2025

1

The UC San Diego and University of Maryland researchers were able to intercept data from Mexico and elsewhere sent via GEO satellite, which, to their surprise, was not encrypted. (UCSD)

Using inexpensive equipment installed on a rooftop in San Diego, computer scientists from two universities in the United States were able to observe unencrypted satellite data belonging to the Mexican government and military and several Mexican companies.

The scientists from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), and the University of Maryland (UMD), detailed the findings of their study of geostationary satellites in a paper published this week under the title “Don’t Look Up: There Are Sensitive Internal Links in the Clear on GEO Satellites.”

“GEO satellites have been shown to be particularly susceptible to interception attacks,” the scientists wrote.

“… Given that any individual with a clear view of the sky and US $600 can set up their own GEO interception station from Earth, one would expect that GEO satellite links carrying sensitive commercial and government network traffic would use standardized link and/or network layer encryption to prevent eavesdroppers,” they wrote.

The six scientists from UCSD and UMD found that wasn’t the case in their “scan of IP traffic on 39 GEO satellites across 25 distinct longitudes with 411 transponders.”

In a summary of their work, they said that “a shockingly large amount of sensitive traffic is being broadcast unencrypted, including critical infrastructure, internal corporate and government communications, private citizens’ voice calls and SMS, and consumer Internet traffic from in-flight wifi and mobile networks.”

If you are an electricity customer in Mexico, there is a chance that your name, address and account number were observed by the UCSD and UMD computer scientists during their seven-month study in 2024 and early 2025.

While the study carried out by the U.S.-based scientists didn’t have malicious intent, their work shows that people who do have such intent could access sensitive government, company and personal data using affordable technology, provided they have the necessary technical know-how.

“In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of an attacker whose goal is to observe satellite traffic visible from their position by passively scanning as many GEO transmissions from a single vantage point on Earth as possible,” the scientists wrote.

“This form of widescale interception has previously been assumed to only be feasible with state actor-grade equipment and software. More precisely, we demonstrate that a low-resource attacker, using COTS [commercial off-the-shelf], low-cost equipment can reliably intercept and decode hundreds of links from a single vantage point,” they said.

The computer scientists’ GEO interception station setup included a $180 satellite dish, a $195 dish motor, a $230 USB tuner card and other inexpensive “miscellaneous components.”

Mexican government and military data intercepted

The scientists used what they called “low-cost consumer-grade satellite equipment” to “comprehensively survey GEO satellite usage” from a UCSD building in La Jolla, an upper-income neighborhood in San Diego.

They said that they “observed unencrypted satellite traffic belonging to government and military for multiple countries,” including Mexico and the United States.

“We observed unencrypted satellite traffic from multiple organizations within the Mexican government, including military, law enforcement, and government agencies,” the scientists wrote.

“These unencrypted links appear to be used to connect remote command centers, surveillance outposts, and mobile units via commercial satellite backhaul.”

The scientists said they observed “large amounts of unencrypted HTTP traffic” belonging to the Mexican government, including:

References to military terminals, regions, and zones.
Law enforcement asset inventory, personnel records, and traffic monitoring.
Incident reporting, case tracking, and evidence documentation by field personnel and administrative staff, including narcotics activity.
Military asset tracking records for aircraft, sea vessels, armored vehicles, and LIDAR and RADAR, including data on locations, deployments, mission roles, and maintenance logs.
Real-time military object telemetry with precise geolocation, identifiers, and live telemetry.

Data from CFE, Walmart México, Telmex, Banorte, Banjército and AT&T México also observed

In their paper, the UCSD and UMD scientists also said that they had observed data from a number of Mexican companies, including the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and the bank Banorte.

CFE

The scientists said they “observed one transponder carrying unencrypted CFE internal communications.”

The communications they saw included “responses for customer service and maintenance work orders with locations, urgency levels, and customer names, addresses, account numbers, and tariff types.”

Walmart México

The scientists said they identified “three satellite beams carrying unencrypted Walmart México internal system traffic that could be received across North America.”

Among the “notable internal network traffic” they observed were unencrypted logins to Walmart México’s inventory management system and unencrypted internal corporate emails.

Santander México, Banjército and Banorte

The scientists also intercepted and observed unencrypted data from these three financial institutions. Santander and Banorte are large commercial banks while Banjército is a bank affiliated with the Mexican military.

In the case of Santander, the scientists said they observed unencrypted traffic related to ATM infrastructure.

In the case of Banjército and Banorte, the scientists said they identified “extensive unencrypted satellite traffic linked to the internal infrastructure of both banks being transmitted.”

They didn’t specifically mention that they were able to see personal and account data of customers of the three banks.

AT&T México

The scientists said they observed “unencrypted cellular backhaul traffic” from AT&T México, including “protocol metadata and cellular network signaling protocols, and raw user Internet traffic.”

“… In a 30-minute recording, we observed 710 users’ phone numbers and related control and Internet traffic,” they said.

Telmex

The scientists said their analysis “identified three satellite beams carrying unencrypted Telmex VoIP traffic,” or Voice over Internet Protocol traffic.

They said they observed “unencrypted satellite backhaul traffic that included the plaintext contents of user voice calls, and protocol metadata and cellular signaling protocols.”

The scientists informed the Mexican government and companies of their vulnerabilities

The scientists said in their paper that they disclosed the vulnerabilities that affected the Mexican government, Telmex, Grupo Santander México, Banjército, and Banorte to CERT-MX on April 4, 2025.

CERT-MX is Mexico’s National Cybersecurity Incident Response Center, which is part of the National Guard.

The scientists said that they disclosed Walmart México’s vulnerabilities to that company in January and “had in-depth conversations with them.”

They also said that they separately contacted Santander and AT&T.

The scientists said they were “only publishing information about affected systems and naming relevant parties” after the identified issues had been remediated “or an industry-standard 90-day disclosure window” had elapsed “without response or justification for extending the embargo.”

In the paper’s “Discussion and Conclusions” section, they said that “there is a clear mismatch between how satellite customers expect data to be secured and how it is secured in practice.”

While “cell phone traffic is carefully encrypted at the radio layer between phone and tower to protect it against local eavesdroppers, it is shocking to discover that these private conversations were then broadcast to large portions of the continent, and that these security issues were not limited to isolated mistakes,” the scientists wrote.

They acknowledged that there are range of “impediments to encryption” on satellite data, including encryption’s impact on efficiency by “incurring additional bandwidth overhead costs.”

The scientists also said they had discovered that “no auditing tools exist that allow vendors to audit the security of their own satellite backhaul.”

“Our work has identified multiple unintentional misconfigurations among organizations who had intended to enable encryption,” they wrote.

Mexico News Daily