Declines in the prices of fresh food offset increased energy prices in early January. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s annual inflation dipped to its lowest level in almost four years in early January, perhaps allowing for a bigger interest-rate cut at the Bank of Mexico’s Feb. 6 policy meeting.
Consumer prices rose modestly in the first two weeks of the year, with declines in fresh food prices and some services partly offsetting higher energy and core goods costs, according to new data from the national statistics institute INEGI.
Official data released Thursday showed 12-month headline inflation came in at 3.69% in the first half of January, its lowest since February 2021 and within the central bank’s target of 3% plus or minus one percentage point.
Annual inflation was below both the previous month’s 4.44% and the 3.78% forecast by economists polled by news agency Reuters.
Slowing consumer price growth is likely to provide the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) with room to cut interest rates for a fifth straight meeting. Banxico lowered its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 10% in December — its fifth interest-rate reduction of 2024 — and said it could consider larger cuts at future meetings.
According to Bloomberg News, policymakers indicated that “in view of the progress on disinflation, larger downward adjustments could be considered in some meetings, albeit maintaining a restrictive stance.”
The easing of inflation could allow the Bank of Mexico to cut interest rates more than previously planned. (Rogelio Morales Ponce/Cuartoscuro)
Reuters reported that the decline in inflation “was driven by lower non-processed food costs, which helped offset a slightly higher-than-expected reading in the core index.”
According to the INEGI report, core inflation — which is considered more reliable as it excludes volatile energy and food prices — came in at 3.72%, slightly above the 3.69% median estimate.
INEGI reported that fruit and vegetable costs fell 2.67%, acting as the biggest drag on inflation. Meanwhile, good prices rose 0.49% while services edged 0.07% higher. Energy prices soared 0.82%.
The Wall Street Journal noted that “increases in gasoline, cigarettes, diners and restaurants were largely offset by a drop in airfares and tourism packages after the Christmas and New Year holidays.”
A cautious approach for uncertain times
Facing the possibility of a recession or economic stagnation, some Banxico members have spoken in support of faster rate cuts, but Deputy Governor Jonathan Heath has said he preferred a more prudent approach.
In an interview with Excelsior newspaper, Heath explained his position by citing “the many challenges and risks in 2025, starting with Donald Trump.”
The uncertainty created by Trump’s threats to levy tariffs on Mexican goods and the likelihood of a pause to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s easing cycle are making some analysts cautious.
“It’s more likely that Banxico will deliver another 25 basis-point cut, rather than step up the pace of easing,” Kimberley Sperrfechter, an economist at Capital Economics, told Reuters.
According to the minutes of the Banxico’s last policy decision, there is concern about the inflationary impact of tariffs with one official warning about the potential consequences on Mexico’s economic activity just as the country is dealing with a slowdown in growth.
In the latest Citi survey published this week, 17 of 30 economists see the central bank cutting the benchmark interest rate by a quarter point to 9.75% at the February meeting, while 13 expect a half-point reduction to 9.5%.
Mexico City's surprising Chinese food scene has more than century of history behind it. (Culinary Backstreets)
On Sunday morning, the dining room at Le Fu is dominated by the soft tapping of bamboo dim sum steamers being shuffled around by the server behind the food line. “Hottest ones on the bottom,” she says to me as we point out our selection. Inside each bamboo steamer, or zhēnglóng, there are char siu bao buns with savory pork filling and Chinese five spice; ngao yuk, or Cantonese steamed beef meatballs with green onion; and pork and ginger rice paper dumplings slightly crispy on one side, along with dozens of other options. As it turns out, Chinese food in Mexico is serious business.
There are also several mysterious soups bubbling away in chafing dishes and the bare ends of what look like meat skewers sticking out of a velvety dark brown sauce. A cacophony of voices come from the Chinese families serving tea from the metal kettles at each table as they deftly grasp slippery dumplings with chopsticks and pop them in their mouths.
Xi Yang Yang offers authentic Chinese delights to hungry Mexico City eaters. (Good Food Mexico)
My guide to the Chinese restaurants of Mexico City
I would have known nothing about Le Fu or dim sum in general without Nicholas Gilman. A friend and food writer in Mexico City, Nicholas has been writing about the city long before it was considered a world-class culinary destination. As a born and bred New Yorker, he had to go looking for Chinese food when he arrived 25 years ago, and he says the latest slew of restaurants far exceeds anything that he found once upon a time.
“There was zero for years,” Nicholas told me. “Out of desperation we would go to this place in the Zona Rosa — Golden something, maybe Dragon — that was just kind of okay. Coming from New York, we were just so used to good Asian food. Then [writer] David Lida discovered a place in Viaducto Piedad from a taxi driver who had a Chinese sister-in-law or something, and that was where the Chinese went to eat.”
Colonia Viaducto Piedad is where Le Fu is located, within a collection of blocks where you will find not only some of the city’s most authentic Chinese food, but also Chinese groceries, barbers and tea shops.
I sought Nicholas’ help because I am a Chinese food novice. Unlike him, I grew up in a tiny Midwestern U.S. town where the one Chinese restaurant no doubt catered to bland local tastes. When I decided to write about Mexico City’s Chinese options, it felt only right to seek his expert counsel.
Le Fu is hidden away in the Viaducto Piedad area of Mexico City, which serves as a Chinatown for the capital. (Good Food Mexico)
New delights in Anzures
The first area Nicholas took me was Colonia Anzures, where a crop of new places has opened to serve the executives and tech workers who’ve come to Mexico City with Chinese companies like Hauwei and Xiaomi. We start at Lion Noodles, where we had the carne picada ramen with baby bok choy, carrots and hand-pulled noodles in a rich, cinnamony broth, washed down with a can of Chinese soda from the fridge. At Yiwei Ramen a few storefronts down we tried a collection of cold salads — tree ear mushrooms, pickled cabbage and onion — and some delicious fried dumplings with garlic and sesamesalsa macha.
Our waitress at Xi Yang Yang was as excited to serve us as we were to eat, showing us every dish that came out of the kitchen, whether it was headed to our table or not. We tried a smoky eggplant dish with hints of lemongrass and garlic and a plate full of beef tripe, tiny in-bone pork ribs and lotus root that numbed our tongues with Sichuan peppers. One thing Nicholas has noticed in his years here is a growing regional diversity in the city’s Chinese cuisine
“Sichuan, Yunnan, Cantonese… you see a lot more diversity than you did, and people know a little more than they did before. And this new wave of immigrants… where are they coming from? Will there be more of a focus on their [regional] food? We hope so, because that’s what makes it interesting.”
An old community in Mexico
According to a 2024 Associated Press article, last year Mexico’s government issued 5,070 temporary residency visas to Chinese immigrants, twice as many as the previous year, making China third, behind the United States and Colombia, as the source of migrants granted permits. This is a spike from previous years, but Chinese immigration to Mexico City is not new. The first Chinese arrivals came during the colonial period on the Manila Galeon or Nao de China, the trans-Pacific trade route that connected Spain’s colonies in the Philippines with New Spain.
Chinese cafés in Mexico City’s Chinatown merge both Chinese and Mexican cuisine. (Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)
Historian José Luis Chong’s book “Hijo de un pais poderoso” explains that the California gold rush in the mid-19th century, as well as the building of the railroads on the west coast of the United States, brought thousands of Chinese to the Americas. Most were Cantonese, and both their passage and life after arrival in the United States was difficult: poverty, racism and extreme working conditions tested their will to survive.
While most Chinese immigrants of the time had in their mind an eventual return to China, the impossibility of paying for the return passage and the abusive terms of the “contracts” they were forced to sign before departing China meant that many had no choice but to stay in their new adoptive countries. Facing anti-Chinese laws passed in the United States, immigrants made their way south to Mexico, many to work on railroads, in mining and on farms along the northern border and Pacific coast. Some Chinese immigrants also came through the port of Veracruz from Cuba, where they had been brought in droves as indentured servants in the 1840s. They also faced racism in Mexico, including grim episodes like a 1911 massacre in Torreón and expulsion from Sonora and Sinaloa in the 1930s during so-called “anti-Chinese” campaigns.
Chinese restaurants, yesterday and today
In the first part of the 20th century those newly arrived Chinese immigrants slowly made their way to larger Mexican cities, setting up restaurants, laundries and shops. The “cafés chinos” of Mexico City — diners where inexpensive Mexican and Chinese food was served — became famous for their pan chino, pastries made by immigrants trained by French and English bakers in their country of origin. Many of those cafes have become little more than a trace in history, but two or three still remain, albeit, most without Chinese dishes on their menus.
Today, the restaurants of Colonia Viaducto Piedad are what those cafés chinos were to previous generations: gathering places offering a taste of home. Ka Won Seng even has a diner-like ambiance, with vertical venetian blinds that cast long shadows across the red and gold decorations of the dining room. You are likely to find very few non-Chinese customers there. On a quiet Saturday afternoon, we lingered over their delicately caramelized duck breast as we watched servers stack box after box of to-go food ready to be delivered.
The top stop for me on the entire tour was by far Le Fu, where I learned that dim sum, that vast collection of dumplings, buns and other little treats, is a morning tradition, something you have to arrive before noon to enjoy. At Le Fu there are no descriptions in English or Spanish, but the server was able to tell me in Spanish which were pork, shrimp or beef and she recommended the soy milk, a specialty there. I passed on the chicken feet and was too shy to order the lotus root soup, but we did try half a dozen dumplings and buns, marveling at each unique flavor. While I still feel like a beginner, my couple of outings with Nicholas have started me on my way to learning about Chinese food in Mexico City. Following his expert suggestions, I’m ready to continue my education on my own.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of Mexico City Streets: La Roma. Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at mexicocitystreets.com.
From Mexico's revolutionary heroes, to the country's ancient cultures, the names of the states echo its complex history. (Beate Vogl/Pexels)
From ancient cultures and Spanish cities to heroes of the Reform, to understand the names of Mexico’s states is to understand the country’s history.
The Northwest
Baja California and Baja California Sur
The Baja California Peninsula has some of the country’s most gorgeous beaches and extensive biodiversity. (Ramón Hernández/Pexels)
Imagine if, having stumbled across an undiscovered continent today, an explorer were to name the new landmass Middle-Earth, or Westeros or Narnia. That’s basically what California is: it’s the name of a fantasy island from a 16th-century Spanish romance narrative called “Amadis of Gaul,” which in the story is ruled by a warrior queen named Calafia.
These kinds of narratives were hugely popular with the conquistadors, who often understood what they saw in the New World through the romances they knew from home. When they came across the peninsula, they thought it was an island and named it for Calafia’s. That’s right: California was named by poetry nerds.
Sonora
‘Sonora’ might come from a Tohono O’odham word meaning “place of plants.” (Nate Hovee/Pexels)
Most explanations of Sonora’s name point to some interaction between Spanish colonizers and local Indigenous peoples. One line maintains that Sonora is a deformation of the Spanish “Señora” produced by Opata people who had trouble pronouncing the eñe sound they heard from conquistadors speaking about Nuestra Señora (Our Lady), as the many titles of Mary start in Spanish. Another account has the adaptation running the other way, with Sonora being a Spanish deformation of an Opata word meaning “in the corn” or a Tohono O’odham word meaning “place of plants,” a possible reference to the materials these peoples used to build their houses.
Sinaloa
Sinaloa is Mexico’s top tomato producer. (Markus Spiske/Pexels)
Today, Sinaloa is known for its tomato production, which accounts for a fifth of all tomatoes produced in Mexico. Coincidentally, the state takes its name from another fruit full of seeds: the pitahaya, cousin to the dragonfruit. The Indigenous inhabitants of Sinaloa were historically Cahita-speaking peoples like the Yoemem (Yaqui) and Yoremem (Mayo). In the Cahita language, “sina” is pitahaya and “lobola” is “rounded,” combined to make “sinalobola,” or “round pitahaya.” The name was given to one of the area’s many rivers and eventually to a province of New Spain.
Durango
Durango is well known across the country for its long railways. (Pixabay/Pexels)
The Free and Sovereign State of Durango takes its name from the state’s capital, which itself is named after the city of Durango in Spain. Francisco de Ibarra, the conquistador who founded the city in 1563, was a native of the original Durango, located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque country. During the colonial period, the area that is now Durango made up part of the province of New Biscay.
Chihuahua
The name of one of Mexico’s largest states might come from the Nahuatl word “dry”.(Arquemond/Wikimedia Commons – CC BY-SA 4.0)
Which came first? Not the dog. The name of Mexico’s largest state by area may come from a Nahuatl term meaning “dry” or “sandy,” which was used to name the mining town of Santa Eulalia, one of Chihuahua’s oldest European settlements. Real de San Francisco de Cuellar, present-day Chihuahua city, was founded in 1709 to replace the remote Santa Eulalia as head of its mining district. In 1718, it was elevated to the status of Villa and renamed San Felipe el Real de Chihuahua.
The Northeast
Coahuila
Coahuila state’s name probably comes from a Nahuatl phrase meaning “place where trees abound.”(Juan Carlos Fonseca Mata/CC BY-SA 4.0)
Coahuila’s name probably comes from a Nahuatl phrase meaning “place where trees abound.” If that surprises you given the state’s mostly arid geography, it’s worth noting that the name originally referred to the area around the former state capital of Monclova, a green spot watered by the Monclova River— this lush setting actually appears on the state’s seal. Whether the first Coahuiltecans were Nahuatl speakers or the place was named by Nahuas from somewhere else is up for debate.
Coahuila’s official name is Coahuila de Zaragoza, honoring Ignacio Zaragoza, the Liberal leader best known for leading the stunning victory over the French troops at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, commemorated every year as Cinco de Mayo.
Nuevo León
The New Kingdom of León was founded by Spanish and Portuguese settlers in 1582. (Óscar Domínguez/Pexels)
The English weren’t the only Europeans imaginatively naming their American colonies after places in the old country, and New Spain — present-day Mexico — was dotted with News: New Navarre, New Santander, New Biscay and even New Mexico. The New Kingdom of León was founded by Spanish and Portuguese settlers in 1582 in honor of this former Spanish kingdom.
Tamaulipas
As it often happens with the state names in Mexico, the word “Tamaulipas” comes from an Indigenous language. (Adanreyes/Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0)
The name Tamaulipas comes from the language of the Tenek (Huastec) people. Depending on how you parse it, Tamaulipas either means “place of tall mountains” or “where they pray a lot.” The latter interpretation may be backed up by the fact that in the colonial period, the Spanish referred to one of the region’s Indigenous groups as the Santos (saints), a possible translation of the Tenek word “holipa” and a reflection of the area’s religious atmosphere.
The Bajío region
Zacatecas
“Zacatl” is the Nahuatl word for grass, which is probably the etymological origin of “Zacatecas”. (Becerra Govea Photo/Pexels)
Puebla has Zacatlán, Tlaxcala has Zacatelco and there’s even a Zacatecoluta as far away as El Salvador. What’s with all the Zacat-places? “Zacatl” is the Nahuatl word for grass, and gives us the Mexican Spanish word “zacate.” The Nahuatl suffix “-teca” denotes someone from a given place, so Zacatecas is usually taken to mean “people from the place where grass abounds,” which makes sense given the area’s large grasslands, home to species like the golden eagle. The state takes its name from Zacatecas city, founded in 1546.
San Luis Potosí
Mexico’s syncretism can also be appreciated in its states’ names, like San Luis Potosí. (Foto de Alex Agrico/Pexels)
San Luis Potosí’s name is a mashup. The San Luis part honors Louis IX of France — the same St. Louis who gives his name to the city in the United States. Potosí comes from another Spanish colonial holding: the mines of Potosí, in what is now Bolivia but was then the Viceroyalty of Peru. In the 1540s, the Spanish discovered the single richest source of silver in human history there, creating an industry that would lead to the deaths of untold numbers of enslaved Indigenous people who mined and refined the precious metal.
The Spanish expression “worth a Potosí” or “worth a Peru,” meaning something of tremendous value, comes from this history. When San Luis was founded in November 1592 in order to better exploit rich mineral deposits discovered in the area earlier that year, the name Potosí was chosen in the hopes that the new mines would yield as much as their South American namesake.
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes is named for the natural hot springs that surround the state’s capital. (Alex Quezada/Pexels)
Finally, an etymology that’s not in question. Aguascalientes is named for the natural hot springs that surround the state’s capital, founded in 1575 as Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de las Aguas Calientes, a stop on the Royal Inland Road. Used since prehistoric times for their medicinal properties, these springs became the common property of the city’s residents in the colonial period and a cutting-edge system of public baths and laundries in the 19th century. Locals and visitors continue to enjoy Aguascalientes’ hot springs today.
Jalisco
Jalisco state name comes from a Nahuatl term meaning “on sandy ground.” (Manual de Yáñez/UNAM/Wikimedia Commons)
At the time of the Spanish invasion, the kingdom of Xalisco was an important power on the Pacific coast, in what is now the state of Nayarit, where its namesake city still exists. The two states were historically a single territory, which is how the smaller region gave its name to the larger one. About 12 miles from the coast, the city’s name is said to derive from a Nahuatl term meaning “on sandy ground.”
Guanajuato
The name of the Guanajuato state in Mexico comes from the Purépecha “place of the frogs.” (ed_devilinside/Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0)
Another state named for its capital city, Guanajuato comes from a Purépecha term often translated as “hill of frogs” or “where frogs abound.” But why? While there are frogs in Guanajuato city, they’re not well-represented enough among the area’s fauna to name the whole region for. The answer might be found in the city’s geography. Seen from afar, the grey-green hills of La Bufa and Los Picachos, which lie south of the city, look like nothing so much as the body and eyes of a giant frog. Check out the resemblance for yourself when you’re in town.
Michoacán
The name of the state of Michoacán comes from either “where fish abound” or “place of the fishermen” in Nahuatl. (Pedro P.R.C./Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0)
There are two main theories as to what Michoacán’s name means, and both have to do with water. The first is that the word comes from the Nahuatl word “michin,” meaning fish, and the suffix “-can,” which denotes a place. Michoacán, then, would mean either “where fish abound” or “place of the fishermen,” and anyone who’s ever chowed down on french fry-like charalitos caught in the butterfly nets of Lake Pátzcuaro can tell you that the state has plenty of both.
The second theory is that Michoacán comes from “Michmacuán,” a Purepecha phrase meaning “next to the water.” The Purépecha Empire was the second great power in Mesoamerica after the Mexica Empire at the time of European invasion, and seeing as their major cities were centered around Michoacán’s highland lakes, this explanation seems just as convincing.
The state’s official name, Michoacán de Ocampo, honors Melchor Ocampo, the 19th-century radical liberal born in the municipality of Maravatío. A leader in the republican fight against the Second Mexican Empire, Ocampo was captured and executed by imperialists in 1861. Two weeks after his death, the state’s governor decreed that Michoacán would henceforth be known as Michoacán de Ocampo in honor of its slain son.
Marcos Gómez Jerez and Arturo Alberto Zacarías Meza. seen here on either side of Mexico's Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Aníbal Gómez Toledo after being released in Muscat, Oman, Wednesday. They were hostages of Yemen's Houthi militia for 14 months. (SRE/Twitter)
Two Mexican crew members of a ship hijacked by Yemen’s Houthi militia in the Red Sea more than a year ago were released in Oman on Wednesday, the federal government said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said in a statement that Marcos Gómez Jerez and Arturo Alberto Zacarías Meza, “crew members of the Galaxy Leader vehicle carrier ship who had been held by Houthi militants in Yemen since November 19, 2023, were released today in Muscat, Oman.”
The Galaxy Leader car carrier ship before its hijacking in November 2023. (Garitzko/Wikimedia Commons)
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels said in November 2023 that they seized the Galaxy Leader due to its connection with Israel and to demonstrate support for “the oppressed Palestinian people.”
The ship is British-owned and was operated by a Japanese company at the time of its hijacking. However, “the company’s beneficial owner — meaning the person who exercises control over it, owns more than a quarter of it or receives substantial economic benefit from it — appears to have at some point been an Israeli billionaire, Rami Ungar,” the New York Times reported.
The SRE said that Aníbal Gómez Toledo, Mexico’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and embassy staff, received Gómez and Zacarías in Muscat.
“Following the hijacking of the ship, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs worked through multiple diplomatic channels to secure their release, collaborating with friendly nations including Oman, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar,” the SRE said.
“The United Nations and International Committee of the Red Cross also helped establish contact with Houthi representatives.”
The SRE said that it kept the men’s families “informed and supported” throughout the 14-month “ordeal.”
“Mexico’s diplomatic efforts enabled both citizens to have regular phone calls with their families, and Mexico’s Honorary Consul in Yemen was able to confirm their good health and fair treatment during visits,” the ministry said.
The SRE said that the Houthi leadership “tied the crew’s release to a ceasefire and improved conditions in Gaza.”
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs extends its gratitude to the Sultanate of Oman for its mediation, and to Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, and Mexico’s honorary consuls in Yemen and Oman for their assistance,” the SRE added.
On a cold January morning, nothing warms the soul like a hot rice pudding. (Canva)
Winter is when the world feels like it’s holding its breath, a chilly pause between the chaos of fall and the hope of spring. And in this frosty intermission, we crave warmth — not just from radiators or fireplaces, but from something tender and sweet that whispers, “It’s okay, you’re human, and you’re safe.” Warm desserts don’t hurt either, I think a piping hot horchata rice pudding would do the trick.
Rice pudding is proof that across the globe, people looked at rice and thought, “This could be cozier.” In ancient China, it was a sweet porridge to honor ancestors. India perfected it as kheer, a celebration staple infused with cardamom and saffron. The Persians added rosewater, turning rice into poetry. Europe embraced it, simmering grains in milk and sugar, and carried it to the Americas, where cinnamon and caramel were thrown into the mix. Each version whispers the same truth: survival is sweeter when shared.
Cinnamon is an essential part of a good horchata. (Unsplash)
This recipe works because it’s got everything the season lacks: warmth, spice, and a creamy richness that seems to mock the stark austerity of the brown Veracruz coastal plains in the winter. The cinnamon and nutmeg do the heavy lifting, filling the air with the kind of aroma that makes people nostalgic for things they never actually experienced. The combination of milks — condensed, evaporated, and whole — wraps the rice in a velvety embrace, as if each grain has been given its own tiny, fluffy comforter.
And then there’s the rice itself, humble and resilient. Like us in winter, it starts out stiff and stoic but softens beautifully with a little warmth and care. It soaks up the horchata-inspired spices like it’s remembering something it was always meant to be — a tiny, edible epiphany of coziness.
So, go ahead. Make it. Eat it. And remember, spring will come soon enough — but this is what gets us through.
Horchata Rice Pudding Recipe
(Canva)
Ingredients
For the Rice Pudding:
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups water
2 cups milk (whole milk or almond milk for a dairy-free version)
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Horchata Flavor:
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
For Garnish:
Ground cinnamon
Slivered almonds or raisins (optional)
Instructions
Cook the Rice: Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear. In a medium pot, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add the rice, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed.
Prepare the Pudding Base: Add milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk to the cooked rice. Stir in the cinnamon stick and salt. Simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens (about 20 minutes).
Incorporate Horchata Flavors: Remove the cinnamon stick and stir in ground cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and almond extract (if using). Cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring continuously to prevent sticking.
Adjust Sweetness: Taste and adjust sweetness with more condensed milk or sugar if desired.
Cool and Serve: Remove from heat and let the pudding cool slightly. Serve warm, topped with ground cinnamon, slivered almonds, or raisins.
Stephen Randall has lived in Mexico since 2018 by way of Kentucky, and before that, Germany. He’s an enthusiastic amateur chef who takes inspiration from many different cuisines, with favorites including Mexican and Mediterranean.
President Sheinbaum said that Marco Rubio's first call as U.S. Secretary of State this week was to Mexico. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Two days after Donald Trump commenced his second term as United States president, Mexico’s relationship with the U.S. and the Trump administration’s plans were a key focus of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference.
Toward the end of her Wednesday press conference, the president revealed that yet another constitutional reform proposal — more than a dozen have been approved in recent months — is ready to be submitted to Congress.
Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Gustavo Alberto/Cuartoscuro. Marco Rubio/Facebook)
Mexican government now in contact with Trump administration
Sheinbaum told reporters that Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente spoke with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday.
“It was a very good conversation, very cordial. They spoke about migration issues, security issues. Starting yesterday these conversations [with the U.S. government] began, it’s very important for everyone to know that,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that the “first call” Rubio made as secretary of state “was to Mexico.”
“… And from there, a process of talks between both governments was opened,” she said.
Sheinbaum later said she was “convinced” that her government would reach agreement with the Trump administration on “different issues.”
Sheinbaum was also asked to respond to the Trump administration’s announcement that it would allow arrests of undocumented migrants at schools, churches and hospitals. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum: ‘We don’t agree’ with immigration raids at schools, churches, hospitals
A reporter asked Sheinbaum her opinion about the Trump administration’s announcement that it would allow federal immigration agencies to make arrests at schools, churches and hospitals in the United States.
“Of course we don’t agree,” the president said.
“And to protect our compatriots [in the U.S.] there are the [Mexican] consulates,” Sheinbaum said before reiterating that deportees and any Mexicans living in the U.S. who choose to return to Mexico voluntarily will be supported by the federal government.
Around 5 million undocumented Mexicans are estimated to be living in the United States.
Sheinbaum expresses support for Panama after Trump said that US is ‘taking back’ the Panama Canal
“Our support always to Panama,” Sheinbaum said after a reporter noted that Trump has designs on the Panama Canal.
“I didn’t mention it yesterday but our support always to the people and the government of Panama,” she said.
In a statement, he declared that the Panama Canal belongs to and will continue to belong to Panama and “its administration will continue being under Panamanian control.”
Sheinbaum seeks constitutional ban on the planting of GM corn
Sheinbaum told reporters that a constitutional reform proposal that seeks to ban the planting of genetically modified corn in Mexico is “ready.”
I think we’ll send it [to Congress] tomorrow. It’s very simple — the prohibition of the sowing of genetically modified corn in the country,” she said.
"We are not going to allow families to be thrown onto the street without any support," PAN president Jorge Romero said in response to Trump's mass deportation plan. (Victoria Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
President Claudia Sheinbaum has said on repeated occasions that she believes Mexico will have a good relationship with the United States during Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president. But how have other Mexican politicians reacted to the return of Trump to the White House?
Here is a roundup of what Mexico’s party leaders, lawmakers and state governors have said since Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday.
PAN president Jorge Romero calls Trump a ‘bully’
The national president of Mexico’s main opposition party, the National Action Party (PAN), described Trump as a “bully” at a press conference on Monday.
“To that bully called 4T, another bigger bully called Donald Trump has arrived,” Romero said.
PAN party leader Jorge Romero described Trump as just another “bully” towards Mexico while making the same assessment of Mexico’s popular “Fourth Transformation” movement. (Victoria Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
4T is an abbreviation of “Fourth Transformation” — a nickname for both the federal government and the political transformation former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador is said to have initiated when he took office in late 2018.
Romero, a former lawmaker who took over the national leadership of the PAN last November, also responded to Trump’s mass deportation plan.
“We’re facing a critical situation that requires clear and humane responses,” he said.
“… We will not allow the government to ignore this threat and to continue failing in its responsibility to Mexican families. … We are not going to allow families to be thrown onto the street without any support,” Romero said.
MC leader warns of ‘consequences’ of second Trump presidency
Jorge Álvarez Máynez, national coordinator of the Citizens Movement (MC) party and a candidate in last year’s presidential election, took to the X social media platform to offer a view on the second Trump presidency.
El mundo vivirá las consecuencias de las decisiones que tome un hombre de 78 años los próximos 4 años.
Tus hijos, y los míos, vivirán las consecuencias. Él no.
“The world will live the consequences of the decisions a 78-year-old man takes during the next four years. Your children, and mine, will live the consequences. He won’t,” Álvarez wrote without providing any additional explanation of his post.
Mexico unwilling to give up ‘a single millimeter’ of sovereignty to US, says Senate leader
Gerardo Fernández Noroña, a ruling Morena party senator who has been president of the Senate since Sept. 1, said Monday that “we agree with coordination, communication and collaboration with the United States government.”
“But,” he added, “under no circumstance are we willing to give up a single millimeter of our sovereignty and our national independence.”
The politician’s remarks came after Trump signed a number of executive orders directly related to Mexico, including one in which he outlined his intention to designate Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Asked whether he would consider “ordering U.S. special forces into Mexico” to “take out” cartels, the U.S. president said it “could happen” and “stranger things have happened.”
Senate leader Gerardo Fernández Noroña echoed the president’s sentiment when he said “under no circumstance are we willing to give up a single millimeter of our sovereignty and our national independence.” (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Fernández said that “the risk of a direct military intervention is unacceptable.”
“We’re an independent and sovereign nation, we’re pacifists, we’re not going to confront the United States army, but we’re not going to allow a military intervention,” he said.
PRI leader takes diplomatic approach
Alejandro Moreno, a federal senator and president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), issued a statement “greeting” Trump on the occasion of his inauguration as president of the United States.
He said that the PRI hopes that the Trump administration will be successful “in benefit of the North American people and the consolidation of a more integrated, democratic and globally competitive North America.”
“… We hope that the government of Mexico is up to the challenges the region will face in order to be able to respond with strategy and intelligence and with character and determination to resolve the economic, security, migration and trade issues and to emerge strengthened as a country and region,” Moreno said.
Governors reject ‘any attempt of external interference’
The governors of Mexico’s 31 states and the mayor of Mexico City all endorsed a Jan. 21 National Governors’ Conference (CONAGO) statement “in defense of our sovereignty and the wellbeing of Mexicans.”
“CONAGO categorically rejects any attempt of external interference that violates our national sovereignty,” the governors said a day after Trump indicated that U.S. military action against cartels in Mexico wasn’t out of the question.
Esta mañana, las y los Gobernadores que integramos la CONAGO (@CONAGO_oficial) suscribimos este documento en respaldo a nuestra Presidenta, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein), y a las y los mexicanos que viven en el exterior, a quienes siempre les tendremos los brazos… pic.twitter.com/ow245uv8wW
“In defense of our independence and self-determination, we make a call to respect the principles of non-intervention and mutual respect between nations,” the statement said.
The state governors and the Mexico City mayor also expressed their “complete support” for Mexican communities outside Mexico, “particularly those located in the United States.”
PAN senator pleased with (probable) designation of cartels as terrorists
PAN Senator Lilly Téllez said on X on Tuesday that she was “pleased” that “my initiative to designate cartels as terrorists is reality,” even though it occurred in the United States rather than Mexico.
She made that remark even though the official designation hasn’t yet occurred.
Téllez, a former journalist, said that designating cartels as terrorist organizations has been “her greatest wish since 1999 when I reported on cartels and survived an attack.”
She said that Trump’s executive order on cartels “is a first step toward the truth: in Mexico there is a narco state.”
The PAN senator (and former journalist) Lilly Téllez said that designating cartels as terrorist organizations has been “her greatest wish since 1999 when I reported on cartels and survived an attack.” (Twitter @LillyTellez)
In another X post, Téllez said that “the threat for Mexico is Morena, not Trump.”
“Morena protects the cartels, Trump goes against them,” she wrote.
Mexico should seek ‘gradual disconnection’ from US, says Morena lower house leader
“We’re a toxic neighbor for the new administration. The main threat for their security, their economy and their wellbeing is not Gaza or Ukraine or Iran but rather Mexico,” wrote the ruling party’s leader in the Chamber of Deputies.
The politician was referring to Trump’s executive orders regarding the “emergency” at the Mexico-U.S. border, Mexican cartels, trade and other issues.
“In the immediate term, as President Claudia Sheinbaum has established, we will gladly cooperate, collaborate and coordinate with our neighbor in order to confront problems such as fentanyl and irregular migration, but [we will do so] without kneeling down [or] subordinating ourselves,” Monreal wrote.
Morena party lower house leader Ricardo Monreal suggested Mexico start “the second independence” from the United States. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
“… In the medium and long term we have to start the second independence of Mexico. In other words the gradual, orderly and planned disconnection from … [the country that] has decided to close itself off and fence itself in,” he said, making an apparent reference to Trump’s border wall.
“Let’s be the second or third [trade] partner of the rest of the world, of the emerging powers, taking advantage [of the fact] that we’re one of the countries with the most free trade agreements on the planet,” Monreal wrote.
“That means turning on the motor of the internal market, promoting a common market with Latin America and welcoming to these lands emerging powers, their products, goods and investment,” he said without mentioning any specific countries.
“It might take us a generation to carry out this restructuring but we have overcome worse heartaches,” Monreal said.
Lorena Ramírez is a member of the Raramuri, an Indigenous community in the mountains of Chihuahua known for its runners with remarkable stamina. She finished the 2025 Hong Kong Ultramarathon on Sunday. (Fundación Lorena Ramírez A.C./Facebook)
Rarámuri runner María Lorena Ramírez Nahueachi completed a 100-kilometer race Sunday in the 2025 edition of the Hong Kong Ultramarathon, wearing an Indigenous dress and traditional sandals known as guaraches.
The Rarámurí, or Tarahumara, are an Indigenous community living in the Sierra Tarahumara, the northern mountains of Chihuahua state. Their name for themselves, Rarámuri, means “runners on foot.” Tarahumara is a name that was applied to them by outsiders.
A few hours into the race, Ramírez received medical attention for foot lesions caused by the guarache sandals she wore. She bounced back and finished the Hong Kong ultramarathon in just over 24 hours. (Fundación Lorena Ramírez A.C./Facebook)
Two thousand women athletes participated in the ultramarathon, which covered different areas and terrains across Hong Kong. Ramírez finished 328th, with a final time of 26:02:12. The ultramarathon started in Pak Tam Chung and ended near Tao Mi Chan Peak, after a winding route with views of the region’s landscapes and challenging climbs.
Reportedly, Lorena Ramírez suffered lesions on her feet due to the guaraches she wore. She was attended by a medical team a few hours into the race, allowing her to finish the 100-kilometer distance.
Days before, also in Hong Kong, Ramirez’s brother, José Mario Ramírez, completed a 56-kilometer ultramarathon in 8 hours and 48 minutes, finishing up in 142nd place. Meanwhile, Mirna de la Cruz, from the southern Mexican state of Tabasco, completed a 33-kilometer route in 7 hours and 42 minutes.
“Greetings to all of Mexico. Thank you very much for the encouragement,” Lorena Ramírez said in a broadcast from Hong Kong shared by the Lorena Ramírez A.C. Foundation, an organization that provides food assistance, promotes educational programs and preserves the Rarámuri culture.
The Rarámuri runners stand out for regularly participating in international long-distance races. Their remarkable endurance is shaped by the challenging conditions of the regions in which they live. After studying their cardiovascular functions 50 years ago, cardiologist Dale Groom called them “modern Spartans.”
Mexico's Lázaro Cárdenas port in Michoacán. (Government of Mexico)
United States President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Mexico could limit economic growth to 0.6% in 2025, financial services company Moody’s Ratings warned on Monday.
“Our estimates indicate that the Mexican economy would lose around 1 percentage point of growth in 2025. We are estimating that Mexico would only grow 0.6% this year,” said Director of Economic Analysis for Latin America at Moody’s Analytics Alfredo Coutiño in an online conference Tuesday.
Alfredo Coutiño also predicted Monday that U.S tariffs could cause rising inflation in Mexico and peso depreciation. (LinkedIn)
On his first day in office Monday, President Trump announced plans to introduce 25% tariffs on products from the U.S.’s two main trading partners, Mexico and Canada, starting February 1.
On January 17, the International Monetary Fund predicted Mexico would see economic growth of 1.4% in 2025. The revised Moody’s forecast suggests growth may falter in the wake of U.S. tariffs causing trade to slow.
This could also harm Mexico’s nearshoring efforts, which President Claudia Sheinbaum has been encouraging through her term-long Plan México strategy, which is aimed at luring more foreign investment to Mexico.
Coutiño also warned that tariffs could cause inflation to rise and the peso to depreciate, which may prompt Mexico to tighten its monetary policy.
“The tariff and protectionist policy of the United States government will have an effect on investment flows due to the relocation of companies, not only from the U.S. but from other parts of the world, particularly Asian companies that wanted to reach the Mexican market,” said Coutiño.
By contrast, Moody’s Ratings predicts that the Latin American region will experience greater GDP growth in 2025, of around 2.1%.
This view is also shared by the World Bank, which projected 2.6% growth for the Latin America and the Caribbean region in late 2024. In an October report, the organization predicted Mexico would lag behind its neighbors with just 1.5% growth, the third lowest among all regional nations.
Literary icon Margaret Atwood spoke in San Miguel de Allende on dystopian fiction and today’s world. (All photos by Scott Umstattd/San Miguel Writers' Conference)
On January 12, five-time Emmy Award-winning journalist Martin Fletcher conducted a fascinating interview with literary icon Margaret Atwood in San Miguel de Allende. Entitled “From Fiction to Reality — Has Our Dystopian Future Arrived?”, the live event was a scholarship fundraiser for the upcoming 20th annual San Miguel Writers Conference.
Mexico News Daily reporter Ann Marie Jackson had the pleasure of continuing the conversation with both Fletcher — who is also a Mexico News Daily trustee — and Atwood, probing deeper into issues of importance to Mexico.
Atwood receives the San Miguel Writers’ Conference Award for Literary Excellence
Margaret Atwood holds aloft an award presented by San Miguel Writers’ Conference Executive Director Jodi Pincus.
Susan Page, Founder and President of the San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival, and Executive Director Jodi Pincus launched the evening by presenting Ms. Atwood with the conference’s first annual Award for Literary Excellence.
“It is not an exaggeration to say that Margaret Atwood is a pioneer of the written word,” noted Page. “Her work transcends genres… and explores virtually every facet of the human experience. In addition to her extraordinary literary output, Margaret Atwood… uses her platform to speak out against injustice. She challenges us to think, to question norms, and I believe she is a model for a future in which literature serves as a guiding light in troubled times… We are grateful for her stories, courage, and relentless pursuit of truth.”
Martin Fletcher shares his ‘Margaret Atwood moment’
Martin Fletcher, former NBC Middle East correspondent and Tel Aviv Bureau Chief, current commentator for MSNBC and PBS NewsHour, and author of eight books, resides in San Miguel. Early in the conversation, Fletcher shared his own “Margaret Atwood moment,” which happened in Afghanistan.
Margaret Atwood was interviewed by Martin Fletcher, the recipient of five Emmy Awards, five Overseas Press Club Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize for television.
After the first Taliban government fell in 2001, he went there to do a story on a women’s art class. “After living for years under extreme restrictions, these women were finally able to leave their houses unchaperoned by a male relative,” he explained. “And it was amazing. Their paintings were quite good, but what struck me was that half of them essentially showed the same image: dark edges all around and a little strip of the world showing in the middle — which was all they had been able to see through the eye slit in their burkas.”
“That sent a shiver down my spine. I thought wow, this is Margaret Atwood’s world in real life.”
Dystopian fiction from a female perspective
“Is it true,” Fletcher asked Atwood, “that you wrote The Handmaid’s Tale from a woman’s point of view because 1984 by George Orwell and most other works of dystopian fiction were written from a male viewpoint?”
“Nearly all,” Atwood responded. “There were some female-written utopian works early on, but not dystopian ones. Utopias were popular through the 19th century into the early 20th, but then there was a turning point… After World War Two, it was just not possible to write utopias for a while.” Ray Bradbury and others wrote powerful dystopian works in that era.
“I started thinking about writing The Handmaid’s Tale after the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. He immediately began dismantling the progress made by 1970s second-wave feminism as well as the social contract of the New Deal. A friend of mine who escaped from Poland as a child, both from the Nazis and the Communists, could see a dystopia coming. She recognized one when she saw it. And she said to me, are you aware that the extreme, so-called ‘religious right’ is now refashioning itself as a political power, and one of the things they are saying is that women should be back in the home?”
“Whenever anyone says ‘women should,’ I always think about how they could implement it. Well, thanks to second-wave feminism, many women had jobs outside the home. They were earning money; they had credit cards; they had some freedom. How could those in power stop that, I wondered — and the answer I found was by obliterating the jobs and thereby cutting off the money.”
To write The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood also knew she needed to fill in a gap in her knowledge of American history by studying Puritanism in the New England colonies. “So I studied that quite thoroughly, and I’m here to tell you that America did not begin as a democracy. Sorry, but it didn’t. It began as a theocracy — and if you have something like that in your background, it’s quite likely to recur.” Fletcher concurred that the current Christian nationalist movement in the United States is frighteningly influential.
Susan Page held the microphone for Margaret Atwood so she could demonstrate her famous diagram of the relationship between chaos and tyranny.
American dystopia: false nostalgia and the belief in a golden past
“There’s a recurring tendency in human history,” noted Atwood, “to believe in a Golden Age and that there’s some way of returning to it. That goes all the way back to the Greeks, and it’s the same with Make America Great Again. Okay, which period of time are you thinking about? The 1950s? We actually don’t know when the supposed brightness was; it’s false nostalgia, a recurring human thing, and it’s very attractive.”
“The inauguration has not even taken place yet. Give it three months, and we’ll know what movie we’re in — is it Game of Thrones? Macbeth with Mrs. Vance playing Lady Macbeth? Or Julius Caesar? Will Mr. Trump have an unfortunate fall down a flight of stairs? All of these are intensely possible.”
“We’re watching a pitched battle for power amongst the billionaire courtiers, too, with Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and others who hate each other. I think we’re in the Machiavellian Renaissance,” said Atwood. Fletcher agreed, noting that the present political situation in the United States appears to be uniquely difficult in part because of the historic rise in the influence of unelected billionaires.
He also shared his concern with Jackson that Mexican immigrants in the U.S. will be targeted during the early months of Trump’s second term. Many of the new president’s campaign promises to the MAGA base will be impossible to fulfill, but sweeping up some undocumented immigrants is both possible and politically appealing.
When asked by Jackson about Mexico and America’s joint dystopian reality around illicit drug use and cartel violence, Atwood responded, “It’s a vicious spiral. The real solution I suppose is to remove the appetite for drugs, but you can’t do that without making life more attractive for those who consume them. America right now is a deeply unhappy nation — and the more drugs, the more unhappy.”
Fletcher and Atwood on stage together.
Prophet or not: Atwood on activism
Fletcher noted that as the writer of the incredibly prescient Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood, an astute student of the past, is now treated by many people as something of an oracle or prophet. Her deadpan response to his question of just how much could actually come true? “Well, I don’t think we’ll get the outfits.”
Fletcher and Atwood then more seriously discussed the responsibilities of writers as activists. Atwood volunteers with a group called the Theater of War that puts on Greek tragedies for targeted groups of people, such as veterans suffering from PTSD. She plays Tiresias, a know-it-all prophet who is always right. “I love playing that role, but it’s not who I am in real life. I am not a prophet. I cannot predict the future. If I could, I would have every horse race thoroughly covered.”
Atwood insisted that she is not a “real,” full-time activist, but acknowledged the importance of using her platform to speak out against injustice. “Real activists tend to have jobs, while I’m a self-employed writer who can’t be fired. Also, I’m so old; I’m not worried about my future. People can’t get at me the way they could if I had a job and were younger. So when I frequently get called to speak about these things, there’s no reason I can’t.”
Atwood also shared with Jackson her respect for Mexican activists and journalists covering narcos, impunity, and government corruption. “They’re amazingly brave people,” she said.
However, when asked about calling others to activism, Atwood responded, “I can’t tell other people how they should be called upon to behave. Their circumstances are different; they could be a lot more vulnerable. They could be supporting a family or they may be part of a community that’s quite censorious and punitive. There are all kinds of reasons why people can’t answer their inner conscience publicly. So it’s not up to me to tell people what to do. People will tell themselves what they can afford to do and should be doing.”
Attend the 20th annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference, February 12-16
This fascinating event raised funds for the San Miguel Writers’ Conference student scholarship program. For more information and to purchase tickets to the 20th annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference on February 12-16, visithttps://sanmiguelwritersconference.org.
Based in San Miguel de Allende, Ann Marie Jackson is a writer and NGO leader who previously worked for the U.S. Department of State. Her award-winning novel “The Broken Hummingbird,” which is set in San Miguel de Allende, came out in October 2023. Ann Marie can be reached through her website, annmariejacksonauthor.com.
