Arca Continental, Mexico's second-largest Coca-Cola bottler behind Femsa, is celebrating a century of operations in Mexico this year. (Arca Continental)
Two of the world’s largest consumer goods companies announced major investment commitments in Mexico this week, underscoring the country’s continued appeal as a manufacturing and distribution hub despite ongoing trade uncertainties.
Monterrey-based Arca Continental, one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the world, announced it will invest 18.5 billion pesos — roughly US $1 billion — in its Mexican operations in 2026, representing half of a global capital deployment that also covers the United States and South America.
Arca Continental, which is celebrating a century of operations in Mexico this year, said the funds will go toward expanding production and distribution capacity, accelerating digital transformation and launching new beverage categories.
CEO Arturo Gutiérrez Hernández reaffirmed the company’s focus on operational excellence and sustainability, noting that Arca Continental surpassed 50 billion pesos ($2.8 billion) in EBITDA for the first time in 2025 on consolidated net sales of nearly 248 billion pesos ($14 billion).
Of that total, $275 million will be directed to the company’s five existing plants in the area — located in Cuautitlán, Tultitlán and three sites in Toluca — which produce everything from Nescafé coffee and chocolates to Purina pet food and Terrafertil healthy snacks.
Governor of México state Delfina Gómez attended the investment announcement on Monday. (Delfina Gómez Álvarez/Facebook)
The remaining $180 million will fund a new distribution center in Zumpango with a capacity of 90,000 pallet positions. Nestlé Mexico President Fausto Costa said construction will begin promptly following a formal agreement signed with México state Governor Delfina Gómez. The company currently employs nearly 3,000 people directly in the state.
Both companies cited sustainability as a core pillar of their expansion plans, with Nestlé highlighting renewable energy use and zero-waste-to-landfill goals, and Arca Continental noting its inclusion for the fourth consecutive year in the S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook.
Baseball is the second most popular team sport in Mexico, and the Mexico City Diablos Rojos are its premier franchise. (Diablos Rojos/Cuartoscuro)
It’s hard to imagine now, but before football conquered Mexican Sundays, baseball held a central place in the country’s sporting imagination. Sunday afternoons meant radios crackling with play-by-play from ballparks in Mexico City and Monterrey, but also from diamonds in the United States and Cuba — a soundscape in two languages, tied together by nine innings and a bat.
As you might guess, baseball in Mexico has no pre-Columbian roots. It is, instead, a living reminder of the long, entangled history between Mexico and the United States.
How did baseball arrive in Mexico?
Club México, founded in 1887, was the first all-Mexican team to officially be formed in the country. (Salón de la Fama del Béisbol Mexicano)
The truth is, historians have never been able to pinpoint the exact moment the game crossed the border. What we do know, in broad strokes, is that by the late nineteenth century, railroad workers, soldiers, sailors, miners, and, of course, U.S. businessmen who sponsored local games were already bringing baseball to Northern Mexico and to the major ports of the era. In a study by researchers at Harvard, one influential theory is that baseball arrived through the commercial and maritime circuits linking the United States, Cuba and Mexico — a triangle of trade that also moved ideas, customs and games.
By the end of that century, baseball was familiar in Mexico City, Mazatlán, Guaymas, Veracruz, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas. Sunday newspapers are full of early box scores and game stories describing matches between Mexican clubs and foreign
teams, written in a tone that makes clear this was no longer an exotic novelty but part of the weekly rhythm of urban life.
Mexican baseball
The first officially documented Mexican club was Club México, founded in 1887. And the first truly emblematic game was played on March 5, 1899, when the American team“Masters” faced the Mexican “Señores.” The Mexicans won by the improbable score of 51-49. From that moment on, baseball in Mexico began to consolidate as a sport followed religiously, Sunday after Sunday, by a growing local fan base. In those early decades, baseball was still a binational activity, with Mexican and American communities alike tracking their teams and heroes on both sides of the border.
The Mexican Revolution, however, changed the tone of the game. Starting in 1910, many foreign residents — fearing for their safety — shut down their businesses and left the country. In the few surviving baseball chronicles from those years, American surnames begin to disappear from lineups and box scores, just as Mexican teams, players and announcers proliferate. The game remains the same, but its center of gravity shifts decisively into Mexican hands.
The Mexican League
The history of the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol (LMB) is, at its core, the story of how Mexican baseball stopped being an archipelago of amateur leagues and became a professional circuit — modeled on the U.S. system, but with its own logic.
After the revolution, baseball in Mexico City was wildly popular yet fractured: rival associations fought over players, ballparks and legitimacy, in what historian Miguel Ángel Esparza calls a “struggle for the diamond.” Businessman Ernesto Carmona
grasped that whoever controlled the parks controlled the sport and secured the concession to Parque Franco Inglés, while sportswriter Alejandro Aguilar Reyes — “Fray Nano” — used his column to argue for a single, unified league with clear schedules and rules, in line with the great leagues to the north.
Pedro “El Mago” Septién was a legendary Mexican baseball announcer who left behind phrases that have become part of the game’s lore. (Editorcarolus/Wikimedia Commons)
The turning point came on Feb. 24, 1925, when the main associations merged and founded the Liga Mexicana de Béisbol. The new league launched with six clubs — México, Agraria, 74 Regimiento, Águila, Guanajuato and Nacional — backed by businessmen and military officers who saw baseball as a tool for business, prestige and social cohesion in a postrevolutionary capital.
Its first official game, on June 28, 1925, at Parque Franco Inglés, ended with Club México defeating Agraria 7–5 in 14 innings, a marathon now remembered as the formal birth of professional baseball in the country. Those early seasons were fragile — riddled with financial crises and internal feuds — but over time, the LMB stabilized, expanded beyond the capital and learned to coexist with football and with the gravitational pull of Major League Baseball.
Nearly a century later, with 18 franchises and one of the longest uninterrupted histories in professional baseball, the LMB stands as the platform from which Mexico speaks back to U.S. baseball, not just as a source of players, but as a mature system in its own right.
Baseball in Mexican culture
There are myths, legends, and fully documented anecdotes that testify to the depth of Baseball’s place in Mexican life.
One of the most beloved involves perhaps the most important baseball broadcaster in Mexican history, Pedro “El Mago” Septién. In 1951, during a New York Yankees game, the live feed from the stadium suddenly failed. Septién had to call the remaining innings using only short telegraph dispatches from wire services. A single telegram was enough for him to spin an entire inning’s worth of drama, reconstructing pitches and swings in the imagination of his listeners.
His “magic” was not just in his encyclopedic memory, but in what he could do with language. He left behind phrases that have become part of Mexican baseball lore, like his description of the sport as “a ballet without music, a drama without words, a carnival without showgirls.”
100 years later
The Mexican Baseball League was born a century ago, but the history of the league continues today. (Liga Mexicana del Beisbol)
In a few days, when the Kane County Cougars run onto the field at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú to face Diablos Rojos del México in the opening game of the Baseball Champions League Americas, the scene will tell a story far larger than the final score.
In the capital of a country where baseball first arrived as a U.S. import more than a century ago, the champion of an American independent league will square off against the reigning LMB champion on Mexican soil, under the umbrella of a continental tournament that puts clubs from Mexico, the United States, Cuba, Nicaragua and Chinese Taipei on the same footing.
This is not a Major League showcase tour. It is something more horizontal: five champions (or near champions) sharing the same diamond in a round-robin format, as if baseball were reminding itself that it is, before anything else, a common language rather than a pecking order of flags.
Almost 100 years after Fray Nano and Ernesto Carmona stitched together that
first professional season in a Mexico City ballpark, professional baseball is once again
placing the city at the center of the map — this time as host of a Champions League of the Americas, in which the LMB acts not as a peripheral guest, but as the home
institution.
From March 24 to 29, the Alfredo Harp Helú Stadium — home of the Diablos, a
regular LMB venue, and a recurring stage for official MLB games — will become, for one week, a small laboratory of the very history this article has traced: a game that crossed the border in the hands of U.S. soldiers, railroad workers and sailors, then returned northward laden with new accents, styles and domestic leagues now solid enough to welcome a U.S. representative as just another contender for a continental title.
Closing thoughts
Baseball runs through Mexican cinema, family anecdotes and collective memory as
that sound in the background of long Sunday meals. It ceded ground, over time, to the tidal force of football. And yet, as recently as 2019, 54% of Mexicans still identified as baseball fans; it ranks as the country’s fourth-most-watched sport, and since the opening of Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City, interest in Mexican baseball has only grown.
Do you have a baseball memory of your own — on either side of the border? Mine is a
bittersweet mix of sadness and joy, remembering how my grandfather would forbid us from changing the TV channel because he was watching his “beis”, and telling us about his own experience as a player on the TELMEX Team.
Pitcher Dinelson Lamet of El Águila de Veracruz in 2025. (LMB)
For more info, check out the American Association site for more information on the 2026 Baseball Champions League Americas.
Maria Meléndez writes for Mexico News Daily in Mexico City.
Easter week is a great time to visit Guadalajara, for both religious and secular activities and events. (Roman Lopez/Unsplash)
As Semana Santa (Easter week) approaches, locals and visitors who forego the traditional beach getaway for a Guadalajara city holiday will be rewarded with plenty of options. Enjoy your spring break with art exhibits, live music, discounted family entertainment, wine tastings and more.
Discounted cultural activities for families during Easter week
Staying in town for the Easter holiday instead of heading to the beach? There will be no shortage of entertainment options, thanks to Zapopan’s Spring Tourist Tours initiative.
Easter week is a good time to visit the Guadalajara Zoo, with tickets very reasonably priced. (Another Believer/Wikimedia Commons)
To promote visitation during what is typically a slow vacation period, various cultural and entertainment options will be offered around the city at free or reduced rates. Between March 30 and April 10, tours will be available to public pools, museums, aquariums, the Guadalajara Zoo and select amusement parks.
Discounted access is available only on the specific days and times noted below. Here is a partial list of the tours being offered:
Monday, March 30 — Balneario Cañón de las Flores at 8:30 a.m. Cost is 50% off.
Tuesday, March 31 — Los Camachos Parque Acuático at 8:30 a.m. Cost is 50% off.
Wednesday, April 1 — Belén Cemetery (night tour) at 5:15 PM. Cost is free.
Tuesday, April 7 — Michin Aquarium at 9:30 a.m. Cost is free.
Tuesday, April 7 — Chivas Museum at 3:30 p.m. Cost: Free
Wednesday, April 8 — Guadalajara Zoo at 8:30 a.m. Cost for adults is 295 pesos, children 205 pesos.
Wednesday, April 8 — Selva Mágica amusement park at 9:30 a.m. Cost is free.
Thursday, April 9 — Planetario Lunaria at 9:15 a.m. Cost is free.
Pop visionary Lorde set to perform at Telmex Auditorium in Zapopan
Pop superstar Lorde will be performing in Zapopan in April. (Stub Hub)
The singer-songwriter from New Zealand who performs as Lorde is set to play Telmex Auditorium next month as part of her Ultrasound World Tour.
Beloved for her unconventional vocals and emotional songwriting, Lorde broke onto the music scene in 2013 with the smash single “Royals.” The track sold roughly 10 million copies worldwide and earned her two Grammy Awards at the ripe old age of 16.
Her debut studio album, “Pure Heroine” (she’s always had an abundance of swagger), followed soon after, to massive critical acclaim and commercial success.
Taking inspiration from a wide range of musical genres, including jazz and soul legends Billie Holiday and Sam Cooke, and indie electronic artists SBTRKT and Grimes, Lorde continues to mature musically.
Hitting the road this year in support of her fourth studio album, “Virgin,” Lorde mixes electronic synth-pop with storytelling more suited to a woman approaching 30. For a tour selling out plenty of large arenas in the U.S., it’s a gift to have this immensely talented artist playing here in Zapopan at a relatively intimate venue.
Date: Wednesday, April 29, at 9 p.m.
Location: Auditorio Telmex, Obreros de Cananea 747, Complejo Belenes, Zapopan
Tickets: Available at Ticketmaster, starting at 990 pesos, not including fees.
Rocío Sáenz exhibits her Wild Order at MUSA
Rocío Saénz showcases her art at Guadalajara’s MUSA Museum through April 12. (Alondra Ibarra)
A good art exhibit will elicit emotion, challenge preconceptions and hopefully encourage the viewer to think a little differently.
Rocío Sáenz’s current show Orden Salvaje (“Wild Order”) at the MUSA delivers a multi-sensory experience through works of painting, ceramics, photography and drawings.
Her vibrant and colorful compositions belie some of the dark themes that inspired them. As a Guadalajara-based artist, Saenz’s work tackles contemporary issues that Jalisco residents are all too familiar with — human violence and disappearances.
“I cannot distance myself from the issues that are happening in Mexico, such as missing persons, corruption and the feeling of powerlessness and immobilization,” said Saenz.
A self-taught artist born in Chihuahua in 1971, Saenz earned a Master of Fine Arts from the ISA in Havana, Cuba. Her work has been exhibited over the years in Mexico and abroad.
Dates: Through April 12, 2026. Open Tues – Sat: 10 a.m. — 6 p.m., and Sun: 10 a.m. — 3 p.m.
Location: MUSA Museum of the Arts, University of Guadalajara, Avenida Juárez 975, Colonia Americana, Guadalajara.
Cost: It is always free to visit the MUSA.
Taste Mexican wines at the 3rd annual Festival del Vino in Tlaquepaque
The Festival del Vino offers a showcase for some of Mexico’s finest wineries. (Visita Jalisco)
In its third edition, the Tlaquepaque Wine Festival will feature wine tasting, instruction on food and wine pairings, and gourmet treats for purchase.
Participating wineries will include Mexican and international brands. And while the full list of wineries isn’t yet published, it includes Mexico’s oldest winery, Casa Madero, as well as newer producers such as Llano Colorado in Baja California and Cava Ortiz in Guanajuato.
And since Mexicans love a good party, there will also be live music, including jazz, flamenco, pop and rock, with DJs keeping things festive late into the evenings.
The tasting venue Casa Agave sits in the heart of Tlaquepaque Centro, a Pueblo Mágico adored by locals for its pedestrian-friendly streets, old-world architecture, colorful holiday installations, art galleries, ubiquitous crafts and live mariachi music — bonuses for those who make the trip.
Date: Friday, March 27, from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. and Saturday, March 28, from 2 p.m. to midnight
Location: Casa Agave Eventos. Calle Juárez 292, Centro, San Pedro Tlaquepaque
Cost: 950 pesos for Friday and 1,050 pesos for Saturday. Tickets are available on the festival websiteor from Casa Agave directly.
MND Writer Dawn Stoner is reporting from Guadalajara.
MEXICO CITY — Farmacias Similares, the pharmaceutical chain behind Dr. Simi — the beloved, rotund, mustachioed mascot whose foam effigy is hurled at concert stages with a frequency that suggests it is Mexico’s national pastime — filed suit against Mattel Inc. on Thursday, claiming the California toy giant violated its exclusive intellectual property rights by producing a Barbie doll in the likeness of Mexican NASCAR driver Regina Sirvent without first obtaining written consent from a dancing pharmacy mascot.
The 47-page complaint, filed in Mexico City civil court, argues that Farmacias Similares holds “the sole and inalienable right to manufacture, distribute, and have thrown at Billie Eilish any three-dimensional representation of a Mexican person,” a claim legal experts described as “creative,” “unprecedented,” and, from one professor at UNAM who asked not to be named, “absolutely unhinged but also somehow not obviously wrong.”
See? Even the female Simi’s have facial hair. (Revista Brújula/X)
At the center of the dispute is Sirvent’s Barbie Role Model doll, produced by Mattel to honor the 23-year-old Mexico City native’s historic achievements as the first woman to win a NASCAR Mexico Truck Series race and the first Latina to win a NASCAR international race. Mattel presented the doll to Sirvent in February — a one-of-a-kind figurine wearing a racing suit, which the company said would not be sold to the public.
Dr. Simi’s legal team argues this is irrelevant.
“Whether one unit or one million, the precedent is the same,” the filing states. “A plastic Mexican woman was manufactured without our client’s knowledge or approval. Our client has been manufacturing plastic Mexican people since 1997 and considers this its core business.”
The filing further notes that the Barbie in question stands approximately 11.5 inches tall, wears a tailored racing suit, and bears no mustache, all of which Farmacias Similares’ attorneys argue constitutes an “unauthorized departure from established aesthetic norms” for Mexican dolls.
Mattel, reached for comment, said it “respectfully disagrees with the characterization that Dr. Simi owns Mexico.”
Sirvent, currently preparing for her next NASCAR event, said she was honored by the Barbie recognition and had not previously been aware that a foam mascot had standing to sue over it. Her representatives noted that she intends to keep racing regardless of the outcome.
Farmacias Similares is seeking unspecified damages, a formal apology, and the right to produce an official Dr. Simi x Regina Sirvent crossover doll, which it confirmed would absolutely be thrown at concerts.
The La Paz Internal Combustion Power Plant
and the Punta Prieta Thermoelectric Power Plant, both located within 15 kilometers of La Paz, were fined over US $72,000 by the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection. (Ernesto Mendez/CEMDA)
The Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) detected irregularities in emissions from power plants in La Paz, Baja California Sur, resulting in fines for the offending companies.
The La Paz Internal Combustion Power Plant and the Punta Prieta Thermoelectric Power Plant — both managed by the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) — were slapped with fines of 610,956 pesos (US $34,317) and 678,840 pesos (US $38,137), respectively.
The plants operated with fuel oil and without the implementation of sufficient emissions controls. (Ernesto Mendez/CEMDA)
After years of complaints about the pollution and a request for a public inquiry failed to generate a response, a federal judge ordered Profepa to carry out inspections.
Profepa said it sanctioned the two companies for failing to demonstrate compliance with the maximum pollutant emission limits established in environmental law. Both companies lacked technical information, had incomplete emissions reports and were unable to produce reliable operational records.
The La Paz plant was also found to have deficient fuel consumption records and lacked adequate maintenance of emissions control equipment. At the Punta Prieta plant, Profepa detected similar omissions, including a lack of records on the operation of pollution reduction systems.
La Paz Mayor Milena Quiroga Romero blamed the pollution on the continued burning of fuel oil at the plants, adding that long-term solutions can be achieved by relying on renewable energy.
“The transition to cleaner energy championed by President Claudia Sheinbaum must be driven by the federal government and it will take time,” she said.
The previous administration had promised to reduce emissions by installing filters in chimneys and transitioning to natural gas, but the plants continue to operate with fuel oil and without the implementation of sufficient controls.
Promises aside, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (Cemda) said in a press release that although the fines exceed 1 million pesos, that alone is not enough to repair the environmental damage, guarantee the implementation of corrective measures or result in the reduction of toxic emissions.
For its part, the La Paz-based Alianza por la Calidad del Aire (Air Quality Alliance) asked local authorities to accompany the sanctions with a comprehensive strategy that promotes the proper operation of existing plants in the city, as well as a quicker transition to the use of clean energy sources.
La Paz is the main energy center of Baja California Sur. Most of the state’s electricity is produced in power plants located in the state capital.
Holcim is not only seeking to reduce water use in its Mexican plants, such as this one, but also to manufacture materials that require less water use by customers after they're sold. (Holcim)
Swiss-based building materials company Holcim is investing heavily in the water conservation efforts of its Mexico operations, as the popular mood in Mexico has been turning against perceived excess corporate water use.
The global firm plans to invest 356 million pesos (US $20 million) by 2027 to expand its infrastructure and technology for water management. The planned expenditure supports Holcim’s expressed goal of reducing water extraction across all its Mexico operations by up to 33% by 2030.
The Swiss-based construction materials producer could be a trendsetter among manufacturers sensing the need to engage in water conservation and decarbonization. (Holcim)
Companies are feeling pressure to reduce their water use in Mexico as increased episodes of drought across much of the country have forced individual users to cut back on water use.
To date, Holcim has cut its water extraction volume by 58% by increasing the use of treated wastewater, recirculation technologies and predictive maintenance, which it implements at 71% of its plants.
Holcim México also conducts rainwater harvesting projects, community infrastructure projects and environmental restoration in vulnerable areas near its operations.
In the Moctezuma basin, which helps drain the Bajío region and where Holcim conducts much of its non-Mexico City operations, the company has reduced its freshwater extraction by 47%, far higher than its 39% target.
In addition to reducing potable water use in its plants, Holcim aims to reduce the water consumption required for construction processes by customers using Holcim building materials. So far, the firm has achieved a potential reduction of 232 million liters of water in construction projects nationwide by launching several innovative products.
For example, its self-curing concrete technology, I-dracreto, eliminates the need for subsequent watering, saving roughly 70 liters of water per square meter poured. Meanwhile, its permeable systems promote infiltration and natural aquifer recharge.
“Our vision has evolved: simply reducing consumption is no longer enough,” said Holcim México’s sustainability manager, Ibette Sosa. “We are transforming our operating model toward a circular water economy ecosystem, where systematic reuse and regeneration are the pillars of our efficiency.”
Holcim México’s decarbonization efforts
In November, Holcim México inaugurated its first 100% electric ready-mix concrete plant, investing 51 million pesos ($2.9 million) in the electrification of its Zapopan, Jalisco facility.
The firm aims to contribute to the decarbonization of the construction industry and move toward a net-zero model by 2050, with plans to replicate the electrification model in other regions of Mexico, according to the firm’s director of sales and operations, Pedro Garza.
“With innovation, technology, and commitment, we are demonstrating that sustainable construction is already a reality in Mexico and that it can generate economic, environmental, and social value,” Garcia stated.
The electrification of the facility reduces dependence on fossil fuels and reduces carbon emissions by an estimated 300 tons a year. The move is also expected to decrease internal noise pollution by 90%, eliminate traffic noise and cut energy costs by 67%.
At present, Holcim manages over 77 ready-mix concrete plants, seven cement plants, and one grinding mill in Mexico, supporting over 5,000 direct jobs.
The truck — which had been reported as stolen — was intercepted by police on Monday around 45 kilometers southeast of Xalapa and subsequently taken to an impound lot in the state capital. (Tonatiuh Navarro/Cuartoscuro)
Authorities on Monday found 229 migrants crammed into an impounded truck in Xalapa, the capital of the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
The truck — which had been reported as stolen — was intercepted by police on Monday around 45 kilometers southeast of Xalapa and subsequently taken to an impound lot in the state capital.
The discovery of the migrants only occurred after workers at the impound lot heard shouting and banging from inside the trailer.
One employee told the Associated Press (AP) that they called emergency services to open the trailer once they realized that people were trapped inside.
José Manuel Pozos, deputy governance minister in the Veracruz government, attended the scene and told reporters that most of the migrants were from Central American countries. Among them were 17 minors.
Pozos said that the migrants, in general, were “all well,” although some of them were suffering from dehydration. The official noted that the driver of the vehicle had been detained.
The migrants were reportedly taken to state police barracks in Xalapa, the capital of Veracruz. (Tonatiuh Navarro/Cuartoscuro)
The migrants were reportedly taken to state police barracks in Xalapa. Many will likely be deported to their countries of origin, including Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Veracruz is located along the shortest route to the United States from Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, where migrants from Central America and further afield commonly enter the country. It was unclear where the 229 migrants found on Monday commenced their journey or how long they had been crammed into the trailer.
On numerous previous occasions, Mexican authorities have found migrants traveling through the country in trucks. However, the discovery on Monday was the first of its kind in months, according to AP.
The number of migrants attempting to reach the Mexico-U.S. border and subsequently enter the United States — legally or illegally — has decreased since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. The Trump administration has taken various measures to secure the border and prevent the entry of migrants. AP reported on Monday that “while migration levels have taken a nose dive over the past year, migration north appears to be slowly picking up again.”
The journey to the United States from southern Mexico is notoriously dangerous for migrants. Among the risks are becoming victims of crime, being forcibly recruited by cartels and falling off northbound freight trains, collectively referred to as “La Bestia” (The Beast).
In late 2021, at least 55 migrants were killed when the truck they were traveling in overturned on a highway in the southern state of Chiapas.
Mexican authorities frequently detain migrants traveling through Mexico and hold them in detention centers until they are deported or given permission to remain in Mexico.
The country’s biggest cat was caught on camera in an area of continuous forest with minimal human disturbance. (Conanp)
Camera traps installed in the woods of the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve of Guanajuato have recorded the first official images of a jaguar (Panthera onca) in that area, according to the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp).
The Conanp reported that the images were obtained via a 75-trap camera system operated by community monitors.
The country’s biggest cat was spotted in an area of continuous forest with minimal human disturbance, functioning as a biological corridor that links feline populations from central to eastern Mexico. This Natural Protected Area (ANP) extends 236,882 hectares, representing 8.92% of the total territory of Guanajuato state.
A recent study found that the jaguar’s habitat extends through 16 states, or half of Mexico: Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Jalisco, Michoacán, Guerrero, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Campeche, Morelos, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
Thanks to these latest images, scientists have added the Guanajuato jaguar to the national distribution and conservation map of the species. The sighting also marks a milestone for the reserve itself: scientists have now confirmed the presence of all six wild cat species native to Mexico within Sierra Gorda — ocelot, margay, jaguar, jaguarundi, lynx and puma.
According to Conanp, these apex predators are essential to the health of entire ecosystems. Their role in regulating herbivore populations curbs overgrazing, sustains biodiversity, and supports the broader environmental services on which the region depends.
Experts note that the finding validates the functionality of the biological corridors that connect Guanajuato with Querétaro, San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo along the Sierra Madre Oriental.
Furthermore, the jaguar’s presence in Guanajuato’s reserve adds to the list of priority species for conservation that inhabit the region. These include the green macaw, the mountain axolotl, the golden eagle, the black bear and rattlesnakes.
Lastly, the Conanp recalled that the discovery of the jaguar was made possible by a research project conducted between August 2024 and May 2025, led by biologist Juan Felipe Charre-Medellín and his team. The project was funded by the Toyota Group and the Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Secihti).
The Sagrada Familia's Glory Façade — the main entrance and final section — will depict humanity’s journey from sin to salvation, including scenes of the Last Judgement, hell and glory. (Shutterstock)
More than 140 years after construction began, Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia is reaching its final stage — and Mexican sculptor Javier Marín may help bring Antoni Gaudí’s unfinished vision to fruition.
Designed by Gaudí as a vast theological “Bible in stone,” the basilica is the crown jewel of Catalan Modernism and part of a UNESCO World Heritage ensemble that recognizes his experimental, highly sculptural approach to sacred architecture.
Begun in 1882, it is distinguished by three immense façades symbolizing the life of Christ: Nativity, Passion and Glory.
The Glory Façade — the main entrance and final section — will depict humanity’s journey from sin to salvation, including scenes of the Last Judgement, hell and glory.
It is the most complex and ambitious section, as Gaudí left few directions before his death in 1926, compelling today’s curators to balance tradition and innovation.
Marín says artificial intelligence was an essential element of his creative process, in honor of the forward-thinking mentality exemplified by Gaudí during his time. (Javier Marín/Facebook)
He is one of three contemporary sculptors invited to propose designs for the façade, along with Spaniards Miquel Barceló and Cristina Iglesias. The board of trustees of the Sagrada Familia is expected to choose a final plan in April.
Over the past months, Marín has immersed himself in Gaudí’s world.
“I was captivated by his boundless imagination,” Marín told the newspaper La Jornada. “After all this research, I was impressed by how you can conceive such a large work, knowing that it will have to be completed by other people in the future with new technologies.”
Marín blends classical expression and contemporary technique in monumental sculptures installed across Mexico and abroad.
His public works include “Cabeza Vainilla” in Mexico City’s Historic Center; “Retablo,” an altarpiece in the UNESCO-listed Cathedral Basilica of Zacatecas; and “Hoy es hoy,” a large bronze head now on loan to the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team after standing in Florida’s Jacksonville International Airport from 2006 to 2023.
Internationally, his pieces have been shown at the Venice Biennale and in major European institutions such as the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.
His proposal for Barcelona combines handcrafted models with artificial intelligence and robotics.
“It has to be,” he told the newspaper El Sol de México. “It should be possible to read there that we did it at this time and with all these [new] tools.”
Coinciding with his selection, Mexican architect Mauricio Cortés Sierra recently completed Gaudí’s cross atop the Tower of Jesus Christ, now the basilica’s highest point at 172.5 meters.
The Mexico City–born architect has spent years embedded in the Sagrada Familia’s design team, overseeing the terminals of the six central towers that define the basilica’s new skyline.
His work on the cross literally crowns the same Barcelona church where Marín could soon sign the main entrance.
The highest inflation rate for any category monitored by INEGI between the second half of February and the first half of March was 8.34% for fruit and vegetables. (Victoria Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
Inflation continues to rise in Mexico, with the annual headline rate approaching 5% in the first half of March.
The national statistics agency INEGI reported on Tuesday that the annual headline inflation rate was 4.63% in the first 15 days of the month, up from 4.02% across February. Compared to the second half of February, inflation was 0.62% in early March.
It appears almost certain that inflation will rise for a third consecutive month in March, after increases in both January and February.
The annual headline rate reported by INEGI on Thursday came in well above the 4.37% median forecast of analysts polled by Bloomberg.
INEGI also reported that Mexico’s annual core inflation rate in the first half of March was 4.46%, down from 4.50% across February. That reading excludes inflation for food and energy, whose prices tend to be volatile.
The publication of the inflation data for the first half of the month comes just two days before the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) board will decide whether to cut, maintain or increase the central bank’s benchmark interest rate, which is currently set at 7%. The bank targets 3% inflation with tolerance of a 2-4% range.
In a post to X on Tuesday morning, the director of economic analysis at Banco Base, Gabriela Siller, wrote that the Bank of Mexico “should be cautious” and maintain its key interest rate at 7% after its board’s monetary policy meeting this Thursday.
Ahora que la inflación se disparó por la guerra en Irán y por la inseguridad pública en México, vale la pena recordar como se calcula la inflación y cómo puede combatirse.
Abro hilo
La inflación es la tasa de crecimiento de los precios, que se estima con el índice nacional de…
Cutting the interest rate “would be a serious monetary policy error,” she asserted after writing that it’s “possible” that the bank may in fact need to raise its key rate in the coming months.
What’s driving inflation in Mexico?
INEGI’s data shows that annual inflation for agricultural products (fruit, vegetables and meat) was 9.69% in the first half of March. That rate is derived from inflation of 23.91% for fruit and vegetables and 0.57% for meat.
Annual inflation was 5.91% for processed food, beverages and tobacco, 3.16% for non-food goods, 4.49% for services and 1.76% for energy, including electricity and gasoline.
Compared to the second half of February, energy prices (excluding electricity) rose 0.61% due to a rise in gasoline and diesel prices. The newspaper El Economista reported that fuel prices have gone up due to the increase in international oil prices since the start of the Iran War at the end of February. The federal government last week secured a deal with gas station owners to renew a gasoline price cap agreement for a further six months as it seeks to ease cost-of-living pressures for Mexicans.
The highest inflation rate for any category monitored by INEGI between the second half of February and the first half of March was 8.34% for fruit and vegetables, whose prices can fluctuate wildly depending on climatic conditions. Growers of such produce, including avocados and limes, are among those targeted by extortionists.
Analysts divided over whether Banxico will cut or maintain 7% rate
15 of 29 analysts polled by Bloomberg expect the Bank of Mexico board to vote in favor of maintaining Banxico’s key interest rate at 7% at this week’s monetary policy meeting, while 14 are anticipating a 25-basis-point cut to 6.75%.
On Feb. 5, the Banxico board ended a streak of interest rate cuts at 12 consecutive monetary policy meetings by deciding to maintain the 7% rate.
The Bank of Mexico said in a statement at the time that the board took into account “the need to continue evaluating the impact of the fiscal adjustments implemented at the beginning of the year, as well as the behavior of the exchange rate, the weakness of economic activity, and the level of monetary restriction [already] implemented.”
In the same statement, Banxico forecast an average annual inflation rate of 4% in the first quarter of 2026. Considering that inflation was 4.02% in February and 4.63% in the first half of March, it looks likely that the central bank’s forecast will turn out to be an underestimation.
