A further 279 historical artifacts have been recovered by the Mexican government, as part of a campaign to return the country's vast patrimony to Mexico. (Gobierno de Mexico)
With the recent return of 279 Mexican archaeological artifacts from Europe, South America and the United States, roughly 14,000 pieces have been recovered since Dec. 1, 2018.
Last weekend, the Foreign Relations Ministry (SRE) announced it had handed over the recovered artifacts to the National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH) which has confirmed they are indeed part of Mexico’s cultural patrimony.
Mexico repatriated the artifacts via its embassies in Germany, Spain, Argentina and other countries. (Gobierno de Mexico)
Mexico’s historically significant artifacts are protected by the federal Archaeological, Artistic and Historic Monuments Law which aims to preserve, conserve and protect Mexico’s cultural patrimony.
The repatriated items ranged from human remains to elaborately carved jade and ceramic pieces, dating from 2500 B.C. to A.D. 1521.
Some of the pieces may be more than 4,000 years old. (Gobierno de Mexico)
They include bones from an infant dating to 800-500 B.C., returned from Montreal. From Germany came a stone tripod mortar that could be more than 4,000 years old. Mexican consulates recovered a delicately carved jade mask from the Classic period (A.D. 250-900) from Los Angeles, and from Las Vegas, a clay pot dating from the years 200-800.
Other Mexican artifacts recovered include a double-edged knife from the Altiplano Central found in Tucson, Arizona, and 19 artifacts dating from 1200-1521 that had been removed to the United Kingdom.
Since taking office in 2018, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has lobbied strenuously for the preservation of and return of historical artifacts. In addition to the #MiPatrimonioNoSeVende campaign, he has established new protocols and legal strategies to repatriate items illegally removed from Mexico.
Much of the recovery work is thanks to a federal government task force created in 2023. The task force has worked with local authorities abroad to seek juridical redress and to halt auctions in New York, Paris and Rome. It also negotiates with academic institutions and museums to recover archaeological artifacts.
U.S. personal care giant Edgewell broke ground on a US $110 million investment on Wednesday. (SEDECYT_AGS/X)
The U.S. consumer products company Edgewell Personal Care formally sealed its US $110 million investment in Mexico with a cornerstone laying ceremony in Aguascalientes on Wednesday.
Shelton, Connecticut-based Edgewell wasted no time in confirming its investment plans after revealing on Tuesday that it had selected the tiny north-central Mexican state as the site for its new factory, which will eventually employ 1,300 people.
Aguascalientes Governor Tere Jiménez and Edgewell CEO Rod Little celebrate the achievement. (SEDECYT_AGS/X)
“We are not here by accident,” Little said in a Tuesday press conference. “We visited 30 sites across Mexico to make sure we found the perfect location, and Aguascalientes won out.”
Little said the company was swayed by the region’s highly trained labor force, the state’s public security record, the high quality educational system and the support provided by state officials.
Jiménez lauded the decision as a boon to the state’s economy and a boost for the quality of life for everyone in the state.
REUNIÓN CON DIRECTIVOS DE LA EMPRESA EDGEWELL
Un gusto recibir en Aguascalientes a Rod Little, CEO de la empresa EDGEWELL, quienes deciden confiar en Aguascalientes para invertir y hacer crecer su industria.
“Aguascalientes plays a key part in the successful bilateral relations between Mexico and the United States, especially in economic terms,” she said. “The friendly relationship and solid collaboration between our state and [the United States] guarantees growth and prosperity for Edgewell’s project here.”
Esaú Garza de Vega, state economy minister, also welcomed Edgewell to Aguascalientes. “It is a great pleasure to accommodate Edgewell and be part of its global growth,” he said. “We’ll proudly manufacture and distribute their products; we’ll work alongside them every step of the way.”
The new 55,000 square-meter factory will be built in the FINSA Aguascalientes industrial park in the southern part of the state capital, also called Aguascalientes. The site is currently home to 20 companies, providing 5,000 jobs.
Edgewell’s vice president of global operations Carlos Texidor says the factory should be operational next year.
Edgewell owns more than 25 brands of personal hygiene products, including Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Playtex, Carefree, Stayfree, Hawaiian Tropic, Banana Boat and Edge.
Edgewell’s investment is the latest in a very profitable year for Mexico. The federal Economy Ministry announced this week that Mexico had received a record US $31.2 billion in FDI during the six-month period ending June 30.
Foxconn aims to increase capacity at the Óscar Flores Plant in Ciudad Juárez. (Foxconn Industrial Internet - Planta Oscar Flores/LinkedIn)
Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn announced a US $241.2 million investment in Chihuahua to increase its capacity to manufacture artificial intelligence (AI) servers.
According to Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News, the money will go to increasing production capacity at the Foxconn Industrial Internet (FII) plant in Mexico, located in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
FII, a China-based subsidiary of Foxconn, is already manufacturing AI servers at the Chihuahua plant.
FII’s Ciudad Juárez plant — called Planta Óscar Flores — was established in 2005. It is unclear whether the company plans to expand the approximately 63,000-square-meter facility.
Foxconn, officially called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., and its subsidiaries have other plants in Mexico, including one in Tijuana. The company is the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, and makes products for companies such as Apple, Sony and Nintendo.
Demand for artificial intelligence servers is growing as technology companies expand their offering of AI products. (Google)
In February, the company purchased a 421,600-square-meter site in Jalisco where it plans to produce AI servers. Via a Mexican subsidiary, Foxconn bought the property for 453 million pesos (US $23.3 million).
Late last year, the company and the government of Chihuahua announced they had formed a strategic partnership “aimed at advancing talent training, fostering innovation technology, and promoting sustainable energy development in Mexico’s largest state [by area].”
“… By combining expertise and resources, the effort is anticipated to drive positive change, shape the future of manufacturing, and contribute to the prosperity of Chihuahua and its residents,” they said in a joint press release.
Since early this month, Chalco has been flooded with contaminated sewage water. (Delfina Gómez/Facebook)
For nearly three weeks, thousands of residents in Chalco — a city of 174,700 in the state of México — have been living in dire conditions due to severe sewage flooding triggered by atypical torrential rains.
The ongoing disaster has led to widespread health concerns, forced evacuations and increasing demands for government intervention.
On Wednesday, Mexican Red Cross teams traversing the flooded streets by boat rescued 64 residents from the worst-affected areas — bringing the total number of rescued citizens to over 1,100 so far.
Most of the evacuees were taken to one of four temporary shelters, where showers, basic medical care, food and other essential services awaited them. Wednesday’s operation also included rescuing pets, some of whom had been left without food or water for days.
However, despite living in stagnant, contaminated water for days on end, many of the estimated 3,600 affected residents have refused to leave their homes for fear of looting.
Some of those people are receiving assistance from residents from non-flooded areas who have taken it upon themselves to prepare and distribute hot meals by boat to those trapped in their homes.
A woman contemplates her sewage-flooded living room in Chalco on Aug. 16, more than two weeks after the flooding started. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
“There were 16 children in one building who were so relieved when we brought them food,” one local volunteer, Verónica Urbina, told the newspaper La Jornada. She also said that community solidarity has provided some comfort in the midst of what might escalate into a full-blown public health crisis.
A two-minute news report on the Chalco flooding is available on CNN en Español.
As the situation has grown increasingly desperate, complaints from residents have escalated. During tours of the flood zone, México Governor Delfina Gómez Álvarez has been confronted by people irate over a perceived lack of action by state and federal authorities.
Mayor José Miguel Gutiérrez, like Gómez a member of the Morena party, has urgently called for a state of emergency to be declared.
“There is already a risk of diseases due to stagnant sewage, and the situation is only worsening,” Gutiérrez said in a radio interview with journalist Joaquín López-Dóriga. “It’s a catastrophe,” he added, noting that the water level has dropped at times, but then “it rains on us and raises the water level again.”
Additionally, he stressed the need to replace a 30-year-old sewage system that has a garbage trap, which prevents flood waters from receding.
The most affected neighborhoods are Culturas de México, San Miguel Jacalones and Emiliano Zapata. All abut the center of the city also known by its formal name of Chalco de Díaz Covarrubias, which is about an hour’s drive from Xochimilco in southern Mexico City.
The Red Cross of Mexico has helped flood zone residents evacuate. (Red Cross Edoméx/X)
Angry residents this week loudly slammed the doors of a building where Governor Gómez was meeting with authorities about the flooding in Chalco. Other residents blocked a portion of the Mexico-Cuautla highway on Tuesday.
And according to the newspaper El Financiero — quoting what residents have told reporters and written on social media — the military members and state police sent to the area to help “are not doing anything.”
“The state police are only on their phones and eating,” El Financiero quoted people as saying. “When people bring us food, the state and municipal police come to eat.”
Mexico’s National Water Commission (Conagua) issued a press release on Thursday noting that it has “deployed specialized personnel and equipment to help eliminate the three blockages [of the drainage system] caused by the accumulation of garbage.”
It’s a job that “exceeded the capacity of municipal and state teams,” the release added.
Conagua also said that it and other agencies are dredging some areas, clearing other drainage ducts, pumping water from affected areas and reinforcing eroding river banks.
Shortly before his death, Sinaloa poltiician Héctor Melesio Cuén allegedly went to meet with 'El Mayo' Zambada. By the end of the day, Zambada was in U.S. custody and Cuén was dead. (Héctor Melesio Cuén Díaz/Facebook)
Alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was kidnapped by fellow cartel member Joaquín Guzmán López near Culiacán, the same place where former Culiacán mayor Héctor Cuén was killed. That’s the story according to Zambada himself. Now, it looks like the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) agrees.
The FGR has identified this luxurious Culiacán villa as the place Cuén and ‘El Mayo’ Zambada allegedly met the day of Zambada’s alleged kidnapping and Cuén’s murder. (FGR)
It said that a request for an arrest warrant for Guzmán López on charges of abduction of a person in Mexico in order to hand him over to the authorities of another country has been prepared.
The Attorney General’s Office said on Wednesday that it had established “with complete precision” the airfield where the plane used for the “alleged kidnapping” of Zambada took off.
In a statement released by his lawyer, Zambada, asserted that he was “ambushed” at a ranch and event center just outside Culiacán after being lured by Guzmán López to a supposed meeting between Cuén and Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya.
Zambada said he was kidnapped at a meeting near Culiacán and that Cuén was killed at the same location. (Cuartoscuro)
“A group of men assaulted me, knocked me to the ground, and placed a dark-colored hood over my head,” the 76-year-old said, adding that he was tied up, handcuffed and forced into the bed of a pick-up truck before being driven to a nearby landing strip and “forced” onto a private plane.
Zambada also said that Cuén — mayor of Culiacán between 2011 and 2012, founder of the regionally influential Sinaloa Party and an ex-rector of the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS) — was not shot at a gas station, as Sinaloa authorities initially said.
Rather, he asserted that Cuén was killed on July 25 at the property outside Culiacán where he believed he was going to help settle a dispute between the former mayor and Rocha over who should head up the UAS.
The FGR said it had located the property where “the probable crimes” of kidnapping, homicide, assault and “acts linked to forced disappearance” took place.
Zambada said Cuén was murdered at the place where they met, contrary to the claims of Sinaloa state investigators. (FGR)
Those “probable crimes” are also “linked” to the aggression that caused the death of Cuén, it said.
“The exterior part of said property is now protected by the FGR’s Criminal Investigation Agency,” the FGR said, adding that they have identified the vehicles used in the “possible kidnapping.”
The FGR also said that it had established, “with precision,” that the finding of the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office (FGE) that Cuén was killed at a gas station in Culiacán “is not acceptable, nor does it have reliable elements of proof that allow it to be taken into account.”
However, as the FGR previously noted, the identity of the occupants of the pick-up truck is impossible to establish from the video.
Sara Bruna Quiñónez Estrada resigned as attorney general of Sinaloa last Friday after discrepancies between the state and federal findings came to light. Governor Rocha has highlighted that he traveled to Los Angeles on the day Zambada and Guzmán López arrived in the United States, and denied any knowledge of the supposed meeting with Cuén.
After a botched autopsy, the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office (FGE) quickly cremated the Cuén’s body and released a video that they said showed he was shot in a gas station near Culiacán by unknown assailants on a motorcycle. (Youtube screenshot)
The circumstances that resulted in the arrests of Zambada and Guzmán López, the murder of Cuén and the disappearance of two of Zambada’s security personnel — one of whom is a Sinaloa police commander — are still not clear.
But the FGR’s statement is congruent with both Zambada’s statement and a declaration by United States Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar that evidence “indicates that El Mayo was taken [to the U.S.] against his will,” suggesting that a kidnapping is the most likely version of events.
It was the second consecutive two-week period that the annual headline rate declined after it fell to 5.52% in the second half of July from 5.61% in the first half of the month.
The 5.16% rate is lower than the 5.33% consensus forecast derived from the latest Citibanamex survey, but still well above the Bank of Mexico’s target of 3%.
Consumer prices fell 0.03% on a fortnight-over-fortnight basis, while the closely watched annual core inflation rate declined to 3.98% from 4.05% across July.
It was the first time in more than three years that the annual core inflation rate went below 4%.
The inflation rate in the first half of August is still well above the Bank of Mexico’s target of 3%. (Archive)
The decline in core inflation — a reading which excludes volatile food and energy prices — continued the trend seen over the past 1 1/2 years.
A strong majority of more than 30 banks, brokerages and research organizations surveyed by Citibanamex predict that the central bank will make another 25-basis-point cut after its board’s next monetary policy meeting on Sept. 26.
The decline in both headline and core inflation in the first half of August makes an interest rate cut even more likely next month.
Fresh produce inflation eases, but remains high
Annual inflation for agricultural products — fruit, vegetables and meat — was 10.95% in the first half of August, down from 13.72% across July.
Fruit and vegetable prices rose 15.89% annually, compared to 23.55% in July.
Inflation for meat increased to 6.28% in the first half of August, up from 5.36% across July.
The cost of meat rose 6.28% annually in the first half of August. (Cuartoscuro)
Packaged food, beverages and tobacco were 4.14% more expensive in the first half of the month than a year earlier, while annual inflation for non-food goods was 1.80%.
Annual inflation for services was 5.11%. Within that category, housing costs rose 3.98% and school fees increased 6.14%.
Energy prices, including those for electricity and gasoline, increased 6.74% on a year-over-year basis.
What is the inflation outlook?
The median forecast of the banks, brokerages and research organizations surveyed by Citibanamex is that the annual headline inflation rate will be 4.60% at the end of 2024.
Their consensus forecast is that inflation will continue falling next year to reach 3.86% at the end of 2025.
The Bank of Mexico is currently predicting 4.40% inflation at the end of the year and a 3% headline rate at the end of 2025.
Mexican athletes brought home five medals at the Summer Olympics in Paris, entitling them to a reward from their country as well. (Conade)
Over the past weeks, we saw thousands of athletes from all over the world compete in the Olympics games in Paris. After years of training, some of these athletes are recognized for their effort and achievement and are awarded a long-awaited and deeply cherished Olympic medal.
Prisca Awiti took home Mexico’s first-ever Olympic medal in judo. (Mexican Olympic Committee)
What do medalists get from the International Olympic Committee?
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) provides each winning athlete with a medal and the box we’ve seen athletes hold when they stand on the podium. This box contains an official poster of the 2024 Olympics. Additionally, the first three athletes that win in each sport received a stuffed animal of the official mascot of the 2024 Olympics: Phryge, an anthropomorphized version of the cap used by 18th-century French revolutionaries.
This year, medals have an exciting and special addition: each circular metal has an original piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower mounted on it. Apart from these items, the IOC does not bestow any further reward to athletes, leaving additional recognition in the hands of each country’s Olympic Committee.
What do Mexican athletes win?
In Mexico, athletes who win a medal get a monthly stipend for the rest of their lives, the quantity of the stipend depending on the medal. For gold, they get thirteen thousand pesos, for silver eleven thousand, and ten thousand for bronze. For group sports, each competing athlete gets the full amount of the stipend. If they get more than one medal, the price is cumulative. Osmar Olvera, for example, gets a double payout for winning both in synchronized and individual diving.
This stipend comes out of the budget of the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (Conade), a government agency. For this year’s Olympics, Conade has a budget of 30 million pesos for medalists. The 109 athletes that participated throughout the summer do not receive any sort of salary or award for attending and competing, only those who are able to bring home a piece of the Eiffel Tower.
Diver Osmar Olvera presents his bronze and silver medals to Conade head Ana Gabriela Guevara. (CONADE/X)
Conade was established in 1988 as part of the Secretary of Public Education (SEP) in order to promote, encourage and support sport and physical culture, but it wasn’t until the 2004 Olympics that they settled on the quantity that they would award medalists every four years. That quantity hasn’t changed since. In 2021, the Mexican Olympic Medalists Association (AMOM) requested a slight raise to the stipend, which hasn’t been approved. These prizes are legally recorded in the Physical Culture and Sports Law.
How does Mexico stack up against other national rewards?
Other countries have different policies. Spanish athletes, for example, following the same incentives they had for Tokyo 2020, will receive 94 thousand euros for gold, 48 thousand for silver and 30 thousand for bronze. Colombia measures their award in minimum salaries: gold medal recipients will receive 240 minimum salaries, currently equivalent to US $77,255.
Hong Kong and Singapore are the countries that offer their Olympic victors the highest prizes. Gold medalists in Hong Kong will receive 6 million Hong Kong dollars (US $768,000), while Singaporeans who bring home gold can receive 1 million Singapore dollars (US $745,300).
Other countries also reward athletes with non-cash prizes. In Malaysia, athletes also receive a “foreign-made car,” according to CNBC. There are also countries, like Norway, whose athletes receive nothing from their government. Sports are considered an indicator of national development, since they are directly related to the quality of life of the population. Conade’s budget of 30 million pesos is more than enough to cover Mexico’s wins in Paris 2024 — whether it’s enough to push for better social and public health policies that might give young Mexican athletes the support they need to make it to the Olympics is another matter.
Montserrat Castro Gómez is a freelance writer and translator from Querétaro, México.
Though a Supreme Court ruling this year found that not granting marriage to a polyamorous throuple was not discriminatory, the court affirmed that polyamorous families deserve equal treatment. (Shutterstock)
Have you ever wondered if polyamorous marriage is legal in Mexico? Traditional Catholic values have strongly influenced how couples and families are formed in Latin American countries, including Mexico. For a long time, marriage was seen as the default way for people to be in a romantic or sexual relationship. Marriage was originally a solely religious practice, but in the late 1850s, President Benito Juárez separated the church from the government, making marriage a legal practice as well.
Because of these traditions, people were expected to get married in a heterosexual and monogamous relationship, to have children. However, Mexican society has changed a great deal in recent decades, allowing for different types of relationships to exist in the public eye. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2015, and 10 states now allow same-sex couples to adopt children. This progress is thanks to groups and organizations that have advocated tirelessly for equal rights and families’ rights.
A 2022 survey by polling agency México Elige found that 25% of Mexicans believe that one can love more than one person at the same time. (Deon Black/Unsplash)
This new acceptance of diverse families in Mexico has opened up discussions about other types of relationships, like non-monogamy, or the practice having more than one partner, and polyamory, or loving more than one person at a time. In fact, a survey by Mexico Elige showed that at least 25% of Mexicans believe they can love more than one person at the same time.
In most countries, societal discussions of new ideas often lead to institutions stepping in to make things clearer. In April of this year, the Mexican Supreme Court (SCJN) made a decision regarding polyamory. Mexican society — even the law — is starting to accept different models of the family and relationships. This article will explain what the people who brought the case to court were asking for, what the Court decided, and how this decision could help make polyamorous relationships legally recognized.
What did the complainants ask for?
The plaintiffs argued that the way that marriage and cohabitation — living together without being married — are defined in the Civil Code of Puebla discriminates against polyamorous families because of their sexual orientation.
The throuple in question was originally granted an amparo in 2022 to be able to wed in Puebla. (Lucía Durdos/Unsplash)
Since marriage and cohabitation are defined as legal agreements between only two people, polyamorous relationships are left out. The plaintiffs argued that this was discriminatory because it meant they do not receive the same protections as married or cohabitating relationships, like certain tax benefits, social security, or legal protections for their children.
If the plaintiffs had been right, the Court would have had to agree with them: the Mexican Constitution clearly says that people can’t be treated unfairly because of their sexual orientation. But that’s not what happened.
What did the Supreme Court decide?
Although the SCJN ruled against the plaintiffs, the Court made several important points in its ruling. First, it said that Puebla’s definition of marriage is not unfair based on sexual orientation because polyamory is not a sexual orientation: it’s a way of having relationships. This means that leaving polyamorous families out of marriage laws isn’t exactly the same as treating people unfairly because of who they love.
Even if the Court had agreed with the plaintiffs and removed the limit on the number of people in a marriage, it wouldn’t have fixed the problem: all the other rules about marriage, like divorce or child custody, are made for two people.
Changing societal norms in Mexico have made more forms of relationships increasingly visible. (Toa Heftiba/Unsplash)
However, the Court did make a notable statement: polyamorous families should be treated equally by the government. The main thing all families share, the SCJN said, is “the existence of loving, sexual and supportive connections, as well as commitments among people who want to share a life together.” The right of Mexicans to form a family should be protected in all its different forms, not just for monogamous heterosexual couples.
The Court also recognized that Mexico’s current laws do not cover all kinds of families, such as polyamorous ones. But, the Court said, this doesn’t mean these families shouldn’t be protected by the government. On the contrary, this case shows that polyamorous families want to be protected by the law and provides an opportunity for lawmakers to create new rules that can do just that.
The Court also noted that the plaintiffs did not provide enough evidence to show that polyamory or other types of relationships have been treated unfairly in the past. To me, it seems like the Mexican Supreme Court is inviting the public to take action: if you want your family to be recognized, get organized and ask the government to protect your family through the law. The Court almost seems to be saying, “If anyone challenges this, I’ll be here to help,” hinting that polyamorous families need to make stronger arguments in the future and before their state legislatures.
April’s ruling is a positive sign for diverse families seeking protection from the government. The SCJN’s acknowledgment of polyamorous relationships and its definition — a type of intimate, loving, sexual and affectionate relationship involving more than two people, with knowledge, consent, honesty, respect, responsibility, non-possession and equality among its members, regardless of their gender — is a green light for these families.
More signs of change
Just last year, the Ministry of Public Education (SEP) introduced new textbooks for elementary and middle school students that showed different kinds of families, like families with two dads, two moms, no children or adopted children, among others. This led to lots of discussions about what a family really is, with many people agreeing that a family is simply a group of people with loving bonds who choose to share their lives together, reflecting how Mexican values are changing to accept and respect different ways people can be in relationships.
Another important development is that more people are getting organized to be seen and heard. Groups like Poliamor en México connect polyamorous people so they can share their experiences. More and more podcasts and social media accounts centered around non-monogamy and polyamory are popping up, including Rico y bonito and Gotitas de poliamor, among others. People in Mexico are realizing that while a monogamous marriage is one valid and unique way to be in a relationship, there are other ways to build a life that are just as valid.
Ceci is a lawyer who grew up in Monterrey and has lived in Mexico City since 2013. She is passionate about the Mexican culinary and music scene, taking great pride in her country’s cultural contributions to the world.
Did the electoral institute to give Morena and its allies an unconstitutional number of "plurinominal" seats in Congress? (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
The National Electoral Institute (INE) has calculated the allocation of proportional representations seats in Congress, delivering favorable results — including a supermajority — for the ruling Morena party and its coalition allies.
According to the as-yet-unratified INE calculations, the Morena-led coalition will have a supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies, allowing it to approve constitutional reform proposals without opposition support. It will also have a strong majority in the Senate.
The INE determined that Morena and its allies, the Labor Party (PT) and the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), won 364 of the 500 seats in the lower house, or 73% of the total.
Three hundred of those seats are allocated directly to candidates who won elections in the same number of districts, while 200 go to plurinominal, or proportional representation, candidates based on the percentage of votes won by each party.
Morena, the PT and the PVEM won 256 of the 300 districts, or 85% of the total.
The INE determined that Morena and its allies won 83 of the 128 Senate seats, including 32 allocated via proportional representation. That’s three seats short of a two-thirds majority, meaning that the Morena-led coalition will need the votes of a few opposition senators to pass constitutional reform proposals such as the controversial judicial reform bill.
The Juntos Hacemos Historia coalition led by Morena received 73% of seats in the lower house of Congress, including seats awarded based on proportional representation. (Partido del Trabajo Estado de México)
The INE’s General Council will hold a ratification vote on the results this Friday. A split vote is expected as there is contention over whether seats in Congress were allocated in accordance with the Constitution.
The recently elected lawmakers will assume their positions on Sept. 1, one month before Claudia Sheinbaum takes the oath of office as Mexico’s first female president.
The makeup of the Chamber of Deputies
Based on the INE calculations, the 500 seats in the lower house of Congress will be allocated as follows:
Morena: 236 seats
PVEM: 77 seats
PT: 51 seats
The three allied parties will thus have 364 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 30 more than the number required to reach a supermajority.
National Action Party (PAN): 72 seats
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI): 35 seats
Democratic Revolution Party (PRD): 1 seat
Those three parties, which together formed the Strength and Heart for Mexico coalition, will have 108 seats in the lower house of Congress.
Citizens Movement (MC): 27 seats
Independent candidates: 1 seat
The composition of the Senate
Based on the INE calculations, the 128 seats in the Senate will be allocated as follows:
Morena: 60 seats
PVEM: 14 seats
PT: 9 seats
The three allied parties will thus have 83 of the 128 Senate seats.
PAN: 22 seats
PRI: 16 seats
MC: 5 seats
PRD: 2 seats
Controversy over the Morena-led coalition’s supermajority
INE reportedly received a total of 69 complaints from civil society organizations, former electoral councilors and judges, academics and regular citizens about the alleged “overrepresentation” of Morena and its allies in Congress.
They have questioned how the Morena-led coalition can have a supermajority in the lower house of Congress when the three parties only won 55% of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies election.
The 73% of seats allocated to the three parties is 18 points higher than the collective vote they received. That is 10 points higher than the eight-point discrepancy allowed by the constitution.
However, the INE document outlining the allocation of Congress seats says that the eight-point rule applies to individual political parties, rather than a coalition of parties.
López Obrador at his Wednesday morning press conference spoke about the allocation of seats in Congress. (Cuartoscuro)
In other words, its view is that each of Morena, the PT and the PVEM may hold a percentage of seats eight points above the percentage of votes they received. The INE has made the same determination in the past, including after the 2012, 2015 and 2018 elections.
However, some electoral councilors reportedly don’t agree with the interpretation.
Citing unnamed sources, the Reforma newspaper reported that a group of electoral councilors will present an alternative proposal this Friday in “a final attempt” to stop Morena and its allies from getting a supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies.
The INE’s allocation of seats could also face challenges in the Federal Electoral Tribunal (TEPJF).
What does the Constitution say?
According to an English-language version of the Mexican Constitution posted to the TEPJF website, “The political parties shall never have a number of representatives whose percentage of the House exceeds by eight points the percentage they have obtained in the vote.”
The Mexican Constitution’s allowances for plurinominal seat allocation are under debate. (Gobierno de El Salto)
“This restriction shall not be applied to the political party that, due to its electoral victories at uninominal districts, obtains a percentage of seats greater than the addition of the percentage obtained in national vote plus eight percent.”
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has asserted that the eight-point rule applies to individual parties rather than a coalition, and called on the INE and the TEPJF to respect the Constitution.
‘The word party refers to political force’
Among those who believe that a coalition should not be allowed to hold a percentage of seats in Congress that exceeds the percentage of votes it won by more than eight points is political scientist José Antonio Crespo.
In a column in the El Universal newspaper, he wrote that the use of the word “party” in the Constitution applies both to an individual party and a coalition.
“In the exposición de motivos [constitutional document] it is clear that the word ‘party’ refers to ‘political force,’ whether it is a single party or a coalition,” Crespo said.
En esta gráfica se puede apreciar a simple vista como fue el paso del autoritarismo a la democracia, y el regreso de la democracia al autoritarismo.
La última vez que un presidente tuvo mayoría calificada fue De la Madrid, en 1982. Un retroceso de cuatro décadas. pic.twitter.com/ogU0ZdYUq5
On the social media platform X, political scientist José Antonio Crespo shared a graphic showing that the last Mexican president to have a supermajority in the Chamber of Deputies was Miguel de la Madrid in 1982.
Consequently, a coalition cannot be “overrepresented” by more than eight points, he added.
The dispute over whether the Morena-led coalition should be allowed to hold 73% of the seats in the lower house of Congress comes as López Obrador attempts to win approval for a range of constitutional reform proposals before he leaves office.
Among the proposals he sent to Congress in February are controversial bills that aim to allow citizens to directly elect Supreme Court justices; disband a number of autonomous government agencies; and incorporate the National Guard into the military.
The judicial reform proposal is generating major concern among investors, and has contributed to a significant depreciation of the Mexican peso since the June 2 elections.
Sheinbaum highlighted the . (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Increasing participation of Mexican women in the country’s workforce has the potential to add hundreds of billions of dollars annually to Mexico’s economy, according to a new report.
If Mexican women participated in the workforce at the same rate as Mexican men, Mexico’s annual economic activity would increase by 26.6% or US $390.5 billion, the Milken Institute said.
Less than half of working-age Mexican women are employed. (Alice Moritz Nigro/Cuartoscuro)
Lifting the female labor force participation (LFP) rate to levels comparable to Nordic countries would add over $200 billion per year to the Mexican economy, while reaching the U.S. rate would increase GDP by well over $100 billion, the California-based think tank found.
The think tank also outlined a range of strategies that could help increase the number of women in the workplace in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
What is Mexico’s female labor force participation rate?
According to World Bank Data cited in the report, 46.5% of all working-age Mexican women worked in the formal or informal sectors in Mexico at the end of 2023.
The figure for men was more than 30 points higher at 77.5%.
The Milken Institute noted that Mexico has the lowest female LFP of Latin America’s five biggest economies: Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
It also said that Mexico has the third lowest rate across Latin America.
More women in the workforce could add billions of dollars to Mexico’s GDP. (Cuartoscuro)
The think tank highlighted that 21 million working-age Mexican women, or 40.1% of the total, have completed intermediate or higher education. However, 8.9 million of “these highly skilled women remain outside the labor force,” the Milken Institute said.
“This is despite a large demand for human capital in Mexico,” it added.
“The vast pool of untapped highly skilled female labor, combined with the size of its economy and growing demand for workers, makes Mexico a perfect example of the latent income gains within Latin America’s female population.”
The potential gains from increasing Mexican women’s workforce participation
The Milken institute used methodology outlined in a 2017 International Monetary Fund working paper to calculate potential economic gains from increasing the number of women in the Mexican workforce.
If female LFP increased by just over 16 points to the 62.6% average of Nordic countries, the annual gain for the Mexican economy would be US $208.2 billion, according to the think tank’s analysis.
The new report was produced by the Milken Institute, an economic think tank based in California. (Milken Institute)
That amount would increase per capita GDP by $1,633, or 14.2%, the Milken Institute said.
Mexico’s per capita GDP was $13,926 last year, according to the World Bank.
Increasing female LFP to the United States level of 56.5% would add $132 billion annually to the Mexican Economy, the Milken Institute found.
The $390.5 billion estimated gain from gender parity in the Mexican workplace would increase per capita GDP by around $3,000.
The Milken Institute noted that its economic gain estimates “do not account for the effects of increasing female employment on men’s work.”
“Two offsetting effects might arise. On the one hand, male workers might be displaced by the entry of female workers. This might be especially true among high-income households where men can afford to increase leisure time due to additional income, which in turn might decrease the supply of highly skilled male workers (who tend to earn higher wages),” the think tank said.
The majority of Mexican women would like to have paid work, but less than half actually do. (Milken Institute)
“On the other hand, male and female labor are complementary, and the new skills that women bring into the workforce can boost the productivity of male workers. Therefore, productivity gains could offset the decrease in the labor supply of highly skilled men.”
How can Mexico get more women in the workforce?
The report states that “Latin American women who are not currently in the workforce consistently express a desire to work, suggesting that the low LFP rates throughout the region are the result of constraints on women’s paid employment.”
“… In every one of Latin America’s five major economies, an overwhelming majority (64% or more) of women express a preference for paid work, either exclusively or in tandem with housekeeping duties,” the Milken Institute said.
The report says that “strategies that have successfully increased female LFP include public provision of childcare services, investments in female education, and policies aimed at narrowing gender pay differentials and promoting inclusive hiring.”
The Milken Institute’s senior research director, Maggie Switek, was the lead author of the report. (Milken Institute/Instagram)
However, it adds that “the relative effectiveness” of the strategies “depends on the context in which they are implemented.”
The Milken Institute detailed the prevailing situation in Mexico and the four other major Latin America economies, and offered recommendations to increase female LFP under the three subheadings that appear below.
1. Increase availability of high-quality and low-cost childcare
The report states that Mexico has “the most severe child penalties” among Latin America’s major economies.
Child penalties, also known as motherhood penalties, “are defined as the average effect of the first child on the male-to-female employment ratio, with positive child penalties implying an amplification in the gender gap in LFP,” the report says.
The Milken Institute said that “the obstacle represented by childcare can be effectively overcome.”
“Policies such as childcare subsidies, public preschools, and other cost remedies that result in access to free or low-cost childcare have been consistently identified as successful in increasing the levels of women’s work,” it said.
Switek said that “the expansion of high-quality, low-cost childcare remains a clear public policy in which Mexico needs to invest.”
The report states that childcare enrollment rates in Mexico are less than 10% of the eligible population.
Increased availability of high-quality childcare could allow more women to enter the labor force in Mexico. (Jhon David/Unsplash)
That could change during the term of the next federal government, as President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum has pledged to bring back public “early education centers.”
2. Decrease gender pay gaps by combating workplace discrimination
The Milken Institute said that “gender-based social inequities” can prevent women from advancing to more senior, higher paid positions.
It also said that the opportunities for women to remain at work are “particularly low in Mexico.”
“… Gender pay gaps and workplace discrimination are closely linked. Stereotypes impact employers’ hiring decisions and wages, which in turn affect the incentives for women to seek employment and remain in the workplace,” the think tank said.
“… While shifting social norms is a lengthy and complex process, policies such as enforcing flexible working conditions help to drive change in the right direction,” the Milken Institute said.
“… Overall, narrowing the gender pay gap and fighting gender biases that lead to workplace discrimination could promote female LFP, and thereby increase family wealth, across Latin America’s major economies,” the think tank added.
3. Increase formal employment opportunities for highly educated women
The report notes that more than 50% of both male and female workers in Mexico have jobs in the country’s vast informal economy. As a result they don’t have access to benefits such as health care, sick pay and paid vacations.
“Female workers are especially exposed to the vulnerabilities of unregulated work because informal employment often serves as a fallback for women otherwise excluded from paid work due to household duties,” the Milken Institute said.
It said that policies promoting formal employment “should strike a balance between creating formal job opportunities and structuring incentives to make these jobs attractive to women.”
“Because [economic] growth fosters job creation, policies that promote growth play a crucial role in reducing informality,” the think tank said.
“Measures to streamline registration of businesses and improvements in oversight also tend to increase formal job creation. To ensure that women can access these newly created formal jobs, such policies need to be accompanied by measures that support women’s ability to work,” the Milken Institute added.
Those measures include the provision of low-cost childcare as well as policies aimed at closing the gender pay gap and reducing workplace discrimination.
