In response to the ruling, President Sheinbaum said that the Mexican Congress will soon enact a ban on planting GM corn in Mexico. (Andrea Murcia Monsivais/Cuartoscuro)
With the inauguration of the 47th president of the United States less than seven weeks away, Mexico is preparing – or, some might say, bracing – for the return of Donald Trump.
Whether or not Trump goes through with his promise to conduct mass deportations of migrants to Mexico, Sheinbaum said she and governors in Mexico’s northern states will have a plan in place. (Ron Sachs/Consolidated News via Shutterstock)
The latter promise – and especially the possibility of it becoming reality – was a key focus of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference on Thursday.
Among other remarks at her Thursday mañanera, Sheinbaum recalled the period of her life when she lived as an immigrant in the United States.
Feds and border states to plan for possible US mass deportations
Sheinbaum noted that all state governors will attend a security meeting with federal officials in Acapulco next week.
She indicated that on the sidelines of that meeting, the governors of Mexico’s six northern border states – Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas – will gather with federal officials to discuss Donald Trump’s stated plan to carry out a mass deportation operation.
Sheinbaum said that the federal government will come to an agreement with the northern border states over “how to receive our compatriots in case of a mass deportation” of Mexican immigrants currently living in the United States.
The U.S. policy of deporting migrants to Mexico — whether Mexican or not — has led to shanty towns in border cities like Reynosa, Tamaulipas, where deported migrant families live in tents and other makeshift living spaces.(MSF)
“We hope that it doesn’t happen, but if it does happen we’ll be prepared to welcome them,” she said.
Mexico’s former foreign affairs minister and current Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena said in February that there were 5.3 million undocumented Mexicans living in the United States.
Trump confirmed last month that he plans to use the U.S. military to carry out his proposed mass deportation plan.
Mexico hopes for agreement with Trump to avoid receiving non-Mexicans
Sheinbaum told reporters that Mexico currently has an agreement with the Biden administration under which the United States sends deportees “of many nationalities” on direct flights to their countries of origin.
She said that Mexico has a “caring” attitude toward “everyone,” but stressed that its “main” job is to receive Mexicans who are deported from the United States.
Sheinbaum said that her government hopes to reach an agreement with the Trump administration so that most non-Mexican deportees continue to be sent to their countries of origin.
Reuters reported Thursday that “Mexico has played a key role in implementing U.S. immigration policy in recent years, accepting migrants from countries to which the U.S. struggles to deport people, such as Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.”
‘I never stopped participating in the transformation of my country’
During Thursday’s press conference, President Sheinbaum showed a 1991 newspaper photo of herself protesting then Mexican President Salinas de Gortari’s appearance at Stanford University. At the time, she was pursuing a doctorate at UC Berkeley. (Andrea Murcia Monsivais/Cuartoscuro)
Near the end of her press conference, the president noted that she lived in northern California for four years in the early 1990s while completing a doctorate at UC Berkeley.
“I had the opportunity to live four years outside of Mexico. … I always dedicated myself to academia, but I never stopped participating in the transformation of my country,” said Sheinbaum, who says her government is now building the “second story” of the so-called “fourth transformation” initiated by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
She told reporters that she participated in protests in the United States that were aimed at pressuring the Mexican government to give Mexicans abroad the right to vote in Mexican elections.
“We thought that the agreement had to be fair and include good salaries for Mexicans,” she said of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The president displayed on a screen the front page of the Oct. 1, 1991 edition of The Stanford Daily newspaper, which included a photograph of her protesting against then Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari at Stanford University.
Sheinbaum, 29 at the time, was holding up a sign that read: “Fair trade and democracy now!!”
The state government said it will begin building the wildlife crossings – along Federal Highway 307 and the path of the Maya Train tracks — before the end of 2024. (Government of Quintana Roo)
The state government said it would begin building the wildlife crossings – along Federal Highway 307 and the path of the Maya Train tracks — before the end of 2024.
The wildlife crossings aim to protect species whose habitats surround Quintana Roo’s transportation corridors, such as the Mexican spider monkey. (Utica Zoo)
The plan — with an initial budget of 17 million pesos (US $850,000) — calls for 15 elevated crossings, two aerial bridges and four underground passages.
On Monday, Quintana Roo Gov. Mara Lezama announced the creation of a trust to support the project. In a social media post, Lezama said her administration aims to conserve and protect the state’s biodiversity through the construction of these wildlife crossings to protect the state’s “emblematic species, including the jaguar, ocelots and spider monkeys.”
All three species are native to Quintana Roo.
Quintana Roo’s Ecology and Environment Ministry (SEMA) and its Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Natural Areas will oversee the project, the newspaper Riviera Maya News reported.
Addressing the environmental impact of megaprojects
Wildlands Network, a U.S. NGO whose primary mission is to prevent biodiversity loss and promote climate change resilience, says wildlife crossings are critical to protecting species living in ecosystems fragmented by roads and other development.
Activist Jose Urbina says that the government’s stated plans for the wildlife crossings aren’t always realistic. (Facebook)
A November 2023 amendment to the Federal Highways, Bridges and Motor Transport Law now makes wildlife crossings mandatory in Mexico’s road infrastructure. In addition, a June 2024 regulation states that transportation infrastructure projects must include provisions for wildlife crossings.
The Wildlands Network points out, however, that neither the law nor the regulation features enforcement language and that there are no specifics about the characteristics, maintenance or budget requirements for these crossings.
Although the Maya Train was promoted as an environmentally friendly project with promises of 500 wildlife crossings, activists claim such is not the case.
The newspaper El Financiero reported in June that fences were installed in some areas and that some drainages and tunnels are described as wildlife crossings, though they were not built with that intention.
“Animals such as spider monkeys are not going to come out of the trees to cross through a tunnel,” environmental activist José Urbina, known in Mexico as a defender of the Yucatán Peninsula’s cenotes and an opponent to the Maya Train project in the state, told El Financiero.
Such passages are not useful for wildlife, says Wildlands Network, and only a few of the drainages have the minimum characteristics to protect animals’ free passage. As a result, roadkill incidents are on the rise near the Maya Train, according to Wildlands Network.
The peso began to recover this week from its value dipped following Trump's tariff threats. (Shutterstock)
The peso strengthened for a third straight day against the U.S. dollar, recovering from Trump’s tariff threats as traders reacted to a weak U.S. jobs report.
Mexico’s currency was trading around 20.20 to the dollar just before noon on Thursday, a 0.49% increase according to the foreign exchange website FX Street. Dollars were being sold for 20.74 pesos at banks in Mexico, the newspaper El Financiero reported.
Although traders ignored Wednesday’s hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, comments about inflation by the deputy governor of Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) might have slowed the peso’s rebound.
A day after Powell said the U.S. economy’s strength will allow the Fed to “proceed cautiously with interest rate cuts,” the U.S. Department of Labor reported a slight deterioration of the jobs market.
Along with the disappointing jobs report, data showing the U.S. trade deficit narrowed in October sent the dollar tumbling in global markets, according to FX Street.
Comments from Banxico Deputy Governor Irene Espinosa may have slowed the peso’s momentum. Espinosa said that if Mexico’s Congress approves a 12% increase to the minimum wage, Mexico would experience upward pressure on inflation in 2025.
Banxico Deputy Governor Irene Espinosa said the minimum wage increase could put inflationary pressure on the peso next year. (File photo)
Despite Powell’s hawkish stance, the financial services company CME Group suggests investors see a 70% chance that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points at its Dec. 17-18 meeting.
At the same, a Citi Mexico survey projects that Banxico will follow suit and cut rates by 25 basis points on Dec. 19.
The peso had depreciated to 20.71 to the dollar on Nov. 26, its weakest level since March 2022, after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican imports.
Fears of a trade war were eased after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke to Trump the next day, prompting the peso’s gradual recovery, according to the website Trading Economics.
Despite the bounce-back, the peso is about 20% weaker year-on-year, hamstrung by concerns over the Mexican government’s spending and its budget deficit.
After one of his agents was targetted and killed, García Harfuch retruned to oversee the state's security operations. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Almost three months after a long-running feud between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel escalated into a full-blown war, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch has arrived in Sinaloa to coordinate the security strategy in the violence-plagued northern state.
On Wednesday, García admitted that there is no silver bullet to the violence in Sinaloa, but emphasized that the government is committed to bringing peace to the state no matter how long it takes.
A conflict between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel came to a head in September, causing an escalation in murders, disappearances and kidnappings, especially in the area surrounding the state capital of Culiacán. (José Betanzos/Cuartoscuro)
The violence, he said, “won’t be resolved from one day to the next.”
Sheinbaum: García will seek to improve security strategy in Sinaloa
President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Wednesday that García traveled to Sinaloa on Tuesday.
“He will be there a few days with a special team from the Ministry of the Defense and the Ministry of the Navy,” she told reporters at her morning press conference.
She said that García will help “local forces to coordinate in a better way the [security] strategy in Sinaloa.”
Authorities seized over 1 tonne of fentanyl in Sinaloa on Tuesday, a record-breaking bust. (Omar García Harfuch/X)
García announced the bust as well as the arrest of two men on social media, and declared that “these actions will continue until violence decreases in the state of Sinaloa.”
At her Wednesday morning press conference, Sheinbaum also conceded that violence in Sinaloa won’t “drastically decrease” in a short period of time.
But it will decline, she pledged before emphasizing the importance of a coordinated security plan and reiterating the four pillars of the federal government’s strategy, namely attention to the root causes of crime; consolidation of the National Guard; strengthening of investigative and intelligence practices; and coordination between authorities at all levels of government.
“In Sinaloa, in particular, we took the decision for the minister to go there for a period to guarantee this coordination with Army and Navy forces,” Sheinbaum said.
Sinaloa and federal authorities will maintain ‘permanent coordination,’ says governor
García met with Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya in Culiacán on Wednesday morning to discuss the current security strategy in the state.
Rocha, who has faced criticism over his management of the security crisis in Sinaloa, said that he and García spoke about “the special strategy for Sinaloa” and about “the presence” the federal security minister “will personally have in the state.”
Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya has faced criticism for his handling, and minimization, of Sinaloa’s ongoing cartel war. (Gobierno de Sinaloa)
The governor said they evaluated the security operations that have already been carried out, and declared that state and federal authorities “will be in close permanent coordination in order to strengthen security for the good of Sinaloa residents.”
“El Mayo” Zambada claimed in August that Guzmán López lured him to a property in Culiacán on July 25 on the pretext that he would help resolve a dispute between Rocha and former Culiacán Mayor Héctor Cuén over who should head up the Autonomous University of Sinaloa.
Cuén was allegedly killed at the property where Zambada was supposedly kidnapped. Rocha has denied that he was at the property, or that he had any knowledge of the meeting.
García: Pacifying Sinaloa will take ‘as long as necessary’
After his meeting with Rocha, García told a press conference that Sheinbaum gave him the instruction to “review, supervise and coordinate” the security strategy in Sinaloa and ultimately “pacify” the state.
Asked how long pacification of the state would take, he responded:
“I can give you an answer that won’t be very popular: as long as necessary.”
“The important thing,” García continued, is that security authorities are present in the state and ready to “combat violence.”
“Citizens have to be clear about who their allies are. The authorities are the allies of citizens,” he said.
“… We’re going to work every day to reduce violence and actions such as the confiscation of fentanyl won’t stop,” García said.
The security minister emphasized that “narcoblockades” of roads have diminished, and that the National Guard will increase surveillance of the state’s highways. (José Betanzos/Cuartoscuro)
“A lot of the time we can’t prevent terrible acts like homicides, robberies, … there are things that are beyond our reach … [but] what is within our reach is to prevent [crimes] from going unpunished. That is the task, that is the instruction,” he said.
Much of the recent cartel-related violence in Sinaloa has occurred in and around state capital Culiacán. But García is expected to visits various municipalities in Sinaloa as he pursues a strategy aimed at reducing violence across the state, including in the Pacific coast resort city of Mazatlán.
Federal focus on Sinaloa could help appease Trump
García Harfuch’s presence in Sinaloa and the focus on the fight against fentanyl in the northern state could help the Mexican government to get on the right side of Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as the United States 47th president on Jan. 20.
He said he would impose the tariffs on the first day of his second term and that they would remain in effect “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”
The record seizure of fentanyl in Sinaloa came just eight days after Trump issued his threat.
Operativo realizado en la Col. Francisco I. Madero, de #Sinaloa, por parte se @SEMAR_mx, @SEDENAmx, @GN_MEXICO_ y @FGRMexico. Se logró el decomiso de 151 maquinitas tragamonedas, las cuales se encontraban en 17 establecimientos que operaban de manera irregular como mini casino. pic.twitter.com/8SfB0bz3ve
On Tuesday, authorities also seized more than 100 slot machines allegedly operated by Sinaloa Cartel factions.
Ioan Grillo, a Mexico-based crime journalist, wrote on his Substack site Crash Out Media that it was “hard to believe” that the timing of the raids on two properties were the record amount of fentanyl was seized on Tuesday “was a coincidence.”
“Mexican agents will often make big busts handily before bilateral meetings with Washington,” he added.
Sheinbaum hopes that Mexican officials will have the opportunity to meet with members of Trump’s team before Jan. 20 so that they can present their case against the tariff that the former and future U.S. president has threatened to impose on Mexican exports.
In addition to seizing more than 1 tonne of fentanyl in the coastal municipality of Ahome, the army on Tuesday also confiscated in Sinaloa more than 4,000 liters of “chemical substances” used to manufacture methamphetamine, according to a government statement.
Authorities have reported other drug busts in recent days as well as arrests and seizures of firearms and slot machines at “casas de juego” — illegal casinos — allegedly operated by a criminal organization.
On Thursday, García noted on X that another suspect had been arrested in connection with the 1-tonne fentanyl bust on Tuesday.
“The investigations in the state continue,” he added.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Sinaloa Cartel, which was founded by El Mayo, El Chapo and others, “is largely responsible for the massive influx of fentanyl into the United States over the past approximately eight years.”
The National Autonomous University of Mexico was No. 54 on the Times Higher Education list of universities for interdisciplinary science, making it the highest-ranking university in that category in Latin America. (Daniel Uribarren/Unsplash)
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is ranked No. 54 on a recent list published by Times Higher Education, of the world’s best universities for interdisciplinary science research — making UNAM the No. 1 university in Latin America for that category.
Times Higher Education — formerly a supplement of The Times of London before becoming an independent entity in 2008 — is a prominent British publication and data provider best known for its annual world university rankings.
UNAM was judged on 11 Times Higher Education indicators, including its research funding environment, administrative support and quality of research output. (Facultad de Ciencias UNAM)
UNAM’s lofty position among the 749 universities on the list — representing 92 countries and territories — on THE’s inaugural list for interdisciplinary science research puts it ahead of every other university in Latin America.
Interdisciplinary science refers research that integrates concepts, methods and perspectives from multiple scientific fields in order to address complex questions or problems that can’t effectively be studied within a single field. An example would be biophysics, which combines principles of biology and physics to study the mechanics of biological systems
Among Latin American universities, No. 54 UNAM was followed by Brazil’s the University of Sao Paulo (No. 57), Pontifical Catholic University (No. 63) in Chile and Brazil’s Paulista State University (No. 84) in the top 100.
Mexico’s prestigious Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (Monterrey Tech) appeared on the list at No. 139.
UNAM — which former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador once chastised for becoming “individualistic” during the nation’s neoliberal period from 1982 to 2018 — is the largest educational institution in Mexico and one of the largest and most prestigious in Latin America.
The University of Sao Paulo was the second highest ranked university on the Times Higher Education list after UNAM in the interdisciplinary science category. (Wikimedia Commons)
Its main campus in Mexico City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it also has satellite campuses and research centers across Mexico and abroad. THE lists UNAM’s overall enrollment at 175,968 students.
The interdisciplinary sciences list was arrived at by using 11 indicators to evaluate the three main stages of research: funding, administrative support, and “output,” such as published studies, research quality and reputation.
The top five schools on the list are MIT, Stanford University, the National University of Singapore, Cal Tech and Duke University.
UNAM indicated in a bulletin that its inclusion on the list is thanks to its commitment to finding solutions to global challenges. According to the UNAM Statistical Agenda 2024, the university carried out 6,383 research projects in 2023 alone.
THE also published an overall ranked list, the World University Rankings 2025, which was led by the United States with seven universities in the top 10.
The top five on that list are the University of Oxford (for the ninth year in a row), MIT, Harvard, Princeton and the University of Cambridge. Stanford dropped from second to sixth from last year.
A caravan of migrants walks through Huixtla, Chiapas, near the border with Guatemala. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
The federal government said Wednesday that more than 5,000 migrants were detained across Mexico on Tuesday, an indication that authorities are clamping down on migratory flows to the northern border ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president on Jan. 20.
The government said in a statement that the Army, Navy, National Guard and state police “rescued” 5,234 migrants during an operation “in support” of the National Immigration Institute.
“Rescued” is a government euphemism for detained that alludes to the fact that migrants face a range of dangers, including human trafficking, as they travel through Mexico toward the country’s northern border.
Many of those detained on Tuesday will likely be deported to their countries of origin.
The government didn’t specify where the more than 5,000 migrants were detained on Tuesday. It did say that 349,625 migrants were “rescued” between Oct. 1 — the day President Claudia Sheinbaum took office — and Dec. 3.
A group of migrants gets into an INM vehicle in Tapachula, Chiapas, on Dec. 2. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
The detention of a large number of migrants on a single day coincided with the largest fentanyl bust in Mexican history, with authorities seizing more than 1 tonne of the synthetic opioid in Sinaloa.
In any future meetings with Trump or members of his team, the Mexican government could argue that the mass arrest of migrants and the huge fentanyl bust are evidence of its strong action against the flows of people and narcotics to the United States.
He asserted in a social media post that the tariff would remain in effect “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump added.
“We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” he said.
The Sheinbaum administration appears to be stepping up detentions of unauthorized migrants, amid pressure from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum spoke to Trump on Nov. 27, and the latter claimed that the Mexican president agreed to “stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our southern border.”
Sheinbaum denied reaching such an agreement, retorting that “Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples.”
The president has, however, said that migrant caravans don’t reach the northern border because they are “taken care of” in Mexico.
In a letter to Trump last week, Sheinbaum said that Mexico has developed a “comprehensive policy” to attend to migrants who “cross our territory” en route to the United States, and pointed out that migration to the U.S. has declined 75% over the past year, in large part due to President Joe Biden’s implementation of a new border policy in early June.
It remains to be seen whether Trump will act on his most recent tariff threat, but it is clear that Mexico will argue forcefully against the imposition of a duty on exports to its largest trading partner.
Judging by Tuesday’s actions, concrete examples of a crackdown on migrants and drugs could form an important if not central part of the Mexican government’s argument. For Trump, those examples just might be more important than anything else.
Soldiers stand guard outside the crime scene in Polanco's Plaza Miyana mall. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
A concert promoter alleged to be involved with a notorious drug cartel was gunned down in a shooting at a restaurant in the tony Mexico City neighborhood of Polanco on Wednesday afternoon.
The incident caught the attention of the U.S. Embassy which issued a security alert within hours of the shooting, urging U.S. citizens to “exercise caution and avoid the area if possible.”
Jesús Pérez Alvear was dining with three companions at the El Bajío restaurant in the Plaza Miyana mall when two men entered and approached the table. The suspects got within a few feet of their target, appeared to ensure his identity, then opened fire, hitting Pérez at least 10 times.
Pérez’s companions scurried out of harm’s way as other patrons dived under tables. The two gunmen ran out of the restaurant and fled the mall on a motorcycle. Pérez was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics shortly thereafter.
Later that night, the Mexico City police department announced that the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) would also be investigating the case. The National Guard and the Army were dispatched to the mall to secure the scene for FGR investigators.
Alleged cartel links
While Mexican authorities remain tight-lipped with regard to their investigation, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has alleged that Pérez has been laundering money for the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG).
The U.S. Treasury issued sanctions against Pérez for allegedly laundering money for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. (OFAC)
A 2018 OFAC report states that “Perez has close ties to the family of [Abigael] Gonzalez Valencia, and focuses primarily on promoting concerts staged during large Mexican fairs, such as those held in Aguascalientes and Metepec.”
González Valencia, alias “El Cuini” was arrested in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, in 2015 on organized crime charges and was subsequently arraigned under the Kingpin Law after evidence that he was involved in international drug trafficking was presented.
González, the brother-in-law of CJNG leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, currently sits in a maximum security prison in México state awaiting extradition to the United States.
As a result of the Kingpin Law charges, the U.S. Treasury Department froze all of González’s assets in the United States as well as all assets attributed to alleged associates. Pérez is alleged to be one of the associates who was affected by the Department’s actions.
The Treasury investigation further alleges that Pérez used his connections with the CJNG — and threats of violence — to win contracts to stage concerts through his promotional company Gallistica Diamante, also known as Ticket Premier.
The OFAC sanctioned Pérez on April 6, 2018, accusing him of laundering cartel money by mixing it in with revenues from concert ticket sales, food concessions and parking fees.
The FGR has not mentioned a possible motive for Wednesday’s murder, but Infobae reported that in June 2023 Pérez allegedly admitted to U.S. authorities that he had conspired with the CJNG to break the law.
While legends like Pancho Villa are remembered today, the women who fought alongside him in battle deserve greater recognition for their role in shaping modern Mexico. (Wikimedia Commons)
The Mexican Revolution is full of stories and larger-than-life characters like Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, José María Morelos, and Venustiano Carranza. Less known are the thousands of women who joined the revolution to fight on the front lines and provided critical support services. They would set up camp, do all the cooking and washing, but also cared for the wounded, handled the logistics of arms and ammunition transportation, fought alongside the men, and even served as spies behind enemy lines.
By joining the Mexican Revolution, women were able to challenge the stereotype of women as weak, submissive, and incapable of holding important roles in society. These were not weak women. They did the heavy lifting on the battlefield, carrying arms and ammunition long distances, foraging for food which they used to prepare meals for hundreds, dragging wounded soldiers to safety so they could tend to their wounds. Many performed these tasks while pregnant or carrying a small child on their back.
The Adelitas were named after Adele Velarde Pérez, the granddaughter of a general who fought against the French. (Aresser23/Wikimedia Commons)
When the front line moved, it was the women who tore down the camp, carried the tents and bedding, pots and pans, food rations, and ammunition. The men carried their rifle astride a horse, the women walked beside them laden with all the supplies they would need for the next battle.
These women demonstrated strength, bravery, and resilience. From their experience in the revolution, they gained confidence, self-respect, and the respect of others. They became known as the “Adelitas”.
The Adelitas
The Adelitas were named after Adele Velarde Perez. According to the Mexican government, Velarde was the granddaughter of the prominent Juarez general Rafael Velarde who fought against French troops. She was a mere teenager when she joined and is said to be the first woman to join the fight. She became a revolutionary hero and a muse to the troops, embodying the essence of the national spirit and the brave revolutionary Mexican identity.
Velarde first joined the Mexican Association of the White Cross providing nursing services. She then became a member of the Northern Division of the Constitutionalist Army commanded by General Pancho Villa, and later joined the Northeastern Army Corps.
Many women actively fought on the frontlines of the Revolution. (Wikimedia Commons)
Most Mexican stories contain a tragic romance, and this one is no exception. Velarde fell in love with a soldier wounded at the front lines. As he lay in her arms dying while she tended his wound, he asked her to pull a piece of paper from his satchel. On the paper were the lyrics to a song he had written for her. The words became the corrido “La Adelita” which was sung obsessively by the revolutionaries and is still popular today.
The Adelitas played a critical, fundamental role in the revolution and the war might have turned out differently if not for their participation. In addition to the support services they provided, many fought side-by-side with the men, acted as spies behind enemy lines and took on other dangerous roles. Some women reached powerful positions and fought on the battlefield.
These women faced not only physical risks, but discrimination, exploitation, and violence, but were not intimidated. They were strongly committed to the revolution and the social justice and equality it represented.
Adelitas known as fierce and fearless warriors
Adelitas were strongly committed to the revolution and the social justice and equality it represented. (Cuartoscuro)
Only a handful of the Adelitas were recognized as true heroes of the revolution, but for many Mexicans, their names are now synonymous with bravery and duty:
Col. Maria Quinteros de Meras
Pancho Villa highly respected Quinteros de Meras who became a high-ranking officer reaching the rank of Coronela. In her three years in his rebel army, she fought heroically in ten battles. She could shoot as well as the men and dressed as they did wearing khaki suits and cartridge belts. The El Paso Morning Times wroton May 7, 1914, that “some of her followers have come to believe she is endowed with some supernatural power.” She and her husband both fought voluntarily in the same outfit. When they left, Pancho Villa offered to pay them for their services – as he did all his troops – but both refused.
Margarita Neri
Margarita Neri. (Hormigueros de Potosí)
Neri was singled out during the revolution as a fearless fighter. When the war broke out, she was a landowner in Quintano Roo but was left behind by male forces because she was a woman. Undaunted, Neri raised her own troops — first numbering only 200 but growing to 1000 in just two months — who realized she could ride and shoot as well as they could. She led looting raids throughout Chiapas and Tabasco. It is said that her approach instilled fear in the federal troops, who fled before her. Allegedly, her arrival frightened the Governor of Guerrero so thoroughly that he hid in a crate to flee her onslaught. She was eventually executed but where and when remain unknown.
Elisa Griensen Zambrano
At the age of 12, Griensen was already a devout fan of Pancho Villa and was passionately opposed to the U.S. troops. She lived in the town of Parral, Chihuahua. When Pershing’s troops — under the command of Major Frank Tompkins — approached Parral in 1916, the men of the town refused to fight. Griensen gathered up the women and children and confronted the troops themselves. Armed with sticks and guns they forced the troops to retreat, ordering the major to proclaim, “Viva Mexico, Viva Villa” on his way out of town.
Encarnacion Mares “Chonita” de Cardenas
Chonita de Mares. (Hormigueros de Potosí)
Cardenas was also described as fearless and was known for wearing her hair cut short and donning ragged men’s clothing. After her heroic fighting at the Battle of Lampazo, Nuevo Leon, she was promoted from corporal to lieutenant. She left the war in 1916 after the fighting died down in the north.
The Feminist Movement for women’s rights emerged from the Mexican Revolution
Among the women heroes of the Mexican Revolution two female journalists stand out for their outspoken opposition and criticism of Porfirio Diaz: Juana Belén Gutiérrez de Mendoza, and Hermila Galindo.
Born in Durango, Gutierrez de Mendoza wrote radical feminist literature against Catholicism, political corruption, and social injustices under Díaz, who had her imprisoned numerous times to prevent her from writing. Each time after being released she continued to broadcast her beliefs that the political parties and leaders were illegitimate. She strongly believed in democracy for Mexico and faulted the Mexican people for not insisting on their rights. She ultimately became disillusioned when Carranza assassinated Zapata — who she considered the only real leader — in 1919.
Hermila Galindo continued to grow more famous and well-known after the war ended. During the war she was the editor of the radical journal Mujer Moderna. She would encourage women’s groups to fight for their rights. She advocated for not only general education for girls but also sex education. As an early suffragette, she also proclaimed that women should have the same rights granted to men, including the right to vote. After the war she fought to include women in the 1917 constitution, was the first woman to run for elected office and was seen as the leader of the feminist movement and continued to fight for women’s rights.
The Adelitas have never received appropriate recognition for their contribution to the Mexican Revolution. Women who were heroes were largely overlooked in history. In 1941, Adele Velarde was recognized as a “Veteran of the Revolution” by the Mexican Ministry of National Defense. In 1962, she was named a member of the Mexican Legion of Honor.
After former president Felipe Calderon made news criticizing Mexico's attempts to extract a governmental apology from Spain for the conquest, President Sheinbaum said she plans to keep asking. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
The big news out of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Wednesday morning press conference was that Mexico’s minimum wage will increase by 12% on Jan. 1.
Labor Minister Marath Bolaños López announced that the daily minimum wage will increase to 278.80 pesos (US $13.75) per day in most of the country and 419.88 pesos (US $20.70) in the northern border zone frequently referred to as the Mexico Free Zone. (Click here to read MND’s report).
President Sheinbaum talks with officials she invited to accompany her at Wednesday’s daily press conference as she announced an increase to Mexico’s minimum wage. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Later in the press conference, Sheinbaum responded to a question about the plan to impose a US $42 per-person immigration fee on cruise ship passengers when they arrive at Mexican ports.
She also acknowledged a record fentanyl bust in Sinaloa on Tuesday (read MND’s report here), and declared that Mexico will continue to “insist” on an apology from Spain for the abuses committed during the Spanish conquest of the Mexica Empire (Triple Alliance).
Sheinbaum advises consultation on fee for cruise ship passengers
Both houses of Congress have now voted to impose a US $42 immigration fee on every passenger of each cruise ship that docks at a Mexican port starting in 2025, whether or not said passengers disembark in Mexico. The Senate approved the move on Tuesday after the Chamber of Deputies did the same late last month.
A reporter asked Sheinbaum whether she would consider exempting cruise ship passengers from the payment of the nonresident fee in 2025, as cruise lines have requested.
“It’s an increase. It’s not like all of a sudden they’re going to charge US $42,” she said.
The cruise ship Crystal Serenity arriving in Acapulco in June. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum was referring to the Congress-approved increase in the nonresident fee from 717 pesos (US $35) to 860 pesos (US $42). International tourists entering Mexico by air, for example, already have to pay the fee, but cruise ship passengers are currently exempt.
Sheinbaum didn’t commit to exempting cruise ship passengers from the payment of the fee next year but noted that she had instructed government officials, including Navy Minister Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, to speak with cruise lines about the matter.
Former president Calderón should ‘apologize for the atrocities of the war on drugs’
A reporter noted that former Mexican president Felipe Calderón recently spoke at an event in Madrid and made critical remarks about ex-president Andrés Manuel López Obador’s decision to ask the Spanish government to apologize for abuses committed during the Spanish conquest of the Mexica (Aztec) empire.
“Do you think that Calderón will someday apologize for the war on drugs … or [for] García Luna? retorted Sheinbaum.
Calderón launched a militarized “war” against drug cartels shortly after he took office as president in late 2006. The strategy is now widely attributed to have led to a huge increase in homicides in Mexico.
“I don’t agree with Calderón,” Sheinbaum said in reference to his criticism of the request for an apology from Spain.
“… And he should think about apologizing for the atrocities of the war on drugs,” she added.
Former president of Mexico Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) recently criticized Mexico’s last president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, at a Madrid event for having asked Spain to formally apologize to Mexico for the Spanish conquest. (Wikimedia Commons)
Mexico will ‘insist’ on an apology from Spain
Sheinbaum noted that 2025 will mark the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Mexica empire and the forerunner to Mexico City.
She said that the government will commemorate the anniversary and continue to “insist” on an apology for abuses committed by Spain during the conquest and the fall of Tenochtitlán, even though the Spanish government rejected López Obrador’s request in 2019.
Saying sorry “enhances peoples and government and strengthens relationships,” Sheinbaum said.
Acknowledging that “terrible abuses” were committed against Indigenous people “allows you to see the future,” she said.
“If one doesn’t recognize the atrocities of the past committed by others, how does one forgive? How does one build a new history?” Sheinbaum asked.
A pro-vaping user protesting outside the Chamber of Deputies building in Mexico City in March. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s lower house of Congress on Tuesday easily approved a constitutional reform to ban e-cigarettes and vaping devices, as well as sanction synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.
The proposal must now pass in the federal Senate to become law.
The reform bill, which would make a ban on the sale of vaping devices and e-cigarettes part of the Mexican constitution, easily passed Tuesday in the Chamber of Deputies, with a vote of 410 votes in favor and 24 against. (Morena party/Twitter)
“The ban on fentanyl and the use of vapes is a significant step that will prevent thousands of cases of respiratory illnesses and lung diseases that have accounted for a significant number of deaths, mainly among young people,” member of Congress Margarita García García said, according to the online news site Infobae.
A reported 1.7 million Mexicans used e-cigarettes and vapes in 2023, while 16.4% of adults in Mexico smoke some form of tobacco.
Arguing that the smoking devices were damaging public health, former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador instituted a ban on the sale of vaping equipment and e-cigarettes by presidential decree in 2022 – although both continued to be widely available in Mexico. However, he didn’t manage to get a law passed before he left office at the end of September of this year.
President Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed when she took office in October that she would pursue a legislative ban.
The new reform, which passed with 410 votes in favor and 24 against, also sanctions the “production, distribution and sale of toxic substances, chemical precursors [and] the illicit use of fentanyl and other nonauthorized synthetic drugs.”
Although fentanyl is available for medical use, it is otherwise banned in Mexico.
Former Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell at a presidential press conference in 2023 explaining to reporters that vaping and e-cigarettes posed the same risks to health as conventional tobacco products. (Galo Caño Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)
While there was broad support for the reform in Congress, Reuters reported that opposition legislator Éctor Jaime Ramírez said including vaping devices and e-cigarettes in legislation banning synthetic drugs like fentanyl trivialized “the effort being made to combat the most addictive and dangerous drugs.”
Meanwhile, some worry that introducing an outright ban on vapes could encourage the sale of such products on the black market.
“These vapes are brought by organized crime from China, India and even Bangladesh,” journalist Óscar Balderas said, according to the Guardian newspaper. Illegal imports are entirely unregulated, and “the consumer has no idea what they’re putting in their body,” he added.
The legislation now heads to Mexico’s Senate, where the ruling Morena party holds a healthy majority, making it likely — given its easy passage in the Chamber of Deputies — that the ban will become law.
