Shandong Golden Empire will build a major manufacturing plant in Mexico to produce components for the automobile, robotics, wind turbine and aerospace industries. (Shandong Golden Empire)
The Chinese firm Shandong Golden Empire (GEB) announced Friday plans to invest US $165 million in the state of San Luis Potosí.
GEB will construct a plant in Mexico’s biggest industrial park, Parque Logistik III, located in Villa de Reyes, just south of the city of San Luis Potosí.
Shandong Golden Empire will build its San Luis Potosí plant in Mexico’s largest industrial park, the Logistik Industrial Park in the municipality of Villa Reyes. (Logistik)
GEB’s plant will produce equipment and components for the automobile, urban train, robotics, wind turbine and aerospace industries, and aims to enhance industrial and technological development in the state. The investment is part of GEB’s plan for strategic expansion in key sectors, the state Economic Development Ministry said.
GEB’s is one of 10 investment commitments already made in the state in the last year by Chinese companies, totaling $1.17 billion, according to San Luis Potosi’s Economic Development Minister Jesus Salvador González Martínez, who also announced that the ministry is currently wooing six more Chinese companies to invest in the state, primarily in the automobile and manufacturing sector.
“Tomorrow, the Minister of Economic Development Minister, Jesús Salvador González Martínez, will meet with the Ambassador of China, Zhang Run, who will visit [San Luis Potosí’s] industrial zone to explore potential investment opportunities. We will strengthen ties, and we expect growth!” the ministry posted on the X social media platform Monday.
San Luis Potosi is part of the central Mexico Bajío region, where several major automakers have longstanding operations, including Toyota, Honda and General Motors (GM). The region benefits from its strategic location in Mexico’s center, as well as from the USMCA free-trade agreement between the U.S. Mexico and Canada, which facilitates exports to the North American market.
San Luis Potosí state is home to more than 300 auto manufacturing businesses alone, both foreign and Mexican.
In recent years, Chinese companies have sought to build manufacturing or assembly facilities in Mexico in order to benefit from the USMCA free trade zone, although the U.S. has been making moves to prevent Chinese companies from getting around heavy U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods by producing them in Mexico.
In March, Minth México, a subsidiary of the Chinese auto parts company Minth Group, announced plans to build two new plants in the central state of Aguascalientes — also part of the Bajío region — with a combined cost of $173.5 million. This followed news last December that Chinese Tier 1 supplier Xinquan Automotive planned to invest $100 million in its Aguascalientes plant.
In the past, González said, the state government had offered companies free land to attract big investors like BMW and GM. However, improved financial incentives, a favorable business environment and straightforward administrative processes have helped attract higher levels of investment to the region in recent years without having to do that, he said.
Sheinbaum's security cabinet attempted to portray a positive picture of Mexico's security situation on Tuesday, but the reality is much more complex. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Federal security officials on Tuesday highlighted a decline in homicides and more than 800 arrests since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office on Oct. 1.
During Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said that authorities have this month seized 834 firearms, 33,800 kilograms of “different kinds of drugs” and more than 46,000 fentanyl pills. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
They attempted to portray a positive picture of Mexico’s security situation, but the reality remains that various parts of the country are plagued by high levels of violent crime.
Figueroa, a former Mexico City security official, said that preliminary data shows that there was an average of 75.3 homicides between Oct. 1 and Oct. 28.
That means there have been more than 2,100 murders in Mexico since Sheinbaum was sworn in.
Figueroa highlighted that the average daily murder rate this month is the lowest for any October since 2017.
She also noted that the daily murder rate this year — an average of 82.32 murders per day between Jan. 1 and Oct. 28 — is more than 18% lower than the daily rate in both 2018 —the year former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s term ended — and 2019, which was ex-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s first full year in office.
The daily murder rate so far this year is 3.26% lower than the rate across 2023. The rate during Sheinbaum’s first 28 days in office is 8.5% lower than the rate for the year to date.
Guanajuato remains Mexico’s most violent state
There have been almost 25,000 homicides in Mexico so far this year, according to the data presented by Figueroa on Tuesday morning.
The SNSP chief noted that 49.8% of the murders — a total of 12,400 — occurred in just seven states.
Last week, several police officers were wounded after car bombs went off near Public Security Ministry buildings in Acámbaro and Jerécuaro, Guanajuato. (Acámbaro SSC/X)
The seven states with the highest number of homicides between Jan. 1 and Oct. 28 were:
Guanajuato: 2,562 murders (10.3% of the total)
Baja California: 1,982 murders (8%)
México state: 1,919 murders (7.7%)
Chihuahua: 1,660 murders (6.7%)
Jalisco: 1,514 murders (6.1%)
Guerrero: 1,398 murders (5.6%)
Nuevo León: 1,365 murders (5.5%)
Most of the violence in Guanajauto — Mexico’s most violent state in recent years — is the result of confrontations between criminal groups, in particular the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel.
Among the most violent municipalities in the state are Celaya and Salamanca. Twelve bodies were found in Salamanca on Oct. 3, two days after four men were killed in an armed attack in the same city.
In addition to Guanajuato, various other Mexican states are currently plagued by turf wars between rival criminal groups or battles between competing factions within the same cartel, as is the case in Sinaloa.
Figueroa acknowledged Tuesday that homicides have increased in Sinaloa in September and October as factions of the Sinaloa Cartel — “Los Mayos” and “Los Chapos” — engage in a fierce battle in Culiacán and other parts of the state.
824 people arrested for ‘high-impact crimes’ this month
García Harfuch, a former Mexico City security minister who survived an armed attack in 2020, said that the new federal security cabinet has “developed lines of action based on the strengthening of intelligence and investigation tasks and close inter-institutional coordination.”
The objective, he said, is to “build peace and combat impunity in our country.”
Several cartel leaders, including alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader Óscar Melchor, known by the alias “El 18,” have been arrested in the past month in attempts to bring the state greater security. (FGE Quintana Roo/X)
García said that 824 people were arrested in the first 28 days of the Sheinbaum administration for having allegedly committed “high-impact crimes” such as murder and kidnapping.
The security minister also highlighted that authorities have seized 834 firearms, 33,800 kilograms of “different kinds of drugs” and more than 46,000 fentanyl pills this month.
García spoke about some of the most significant arrests authorities have made in October, including the detention last week of Edwin Antonio Rubio López, an alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader whom the security minister described as “one of the main generators of violence in Culiacán.”
‘We’ve made progress in the consolidation of the National Guard’
García told reporters that the National Guard — a security force created by the previous federal government and recently put under military control — has played a major role in the new government’s security achievements in its first four weeks.
“The National Guard has contributed in a very significant way in these first weeks,” he said, noting that it has seized drugs, recovered vehicles used by criminals, confiscated firearms and arrested “generators of violence.”
“We’ve made progress in the consolidation of the National Guard and in its surveillance and reconnaissance work,” the security minister also said.
There are 133,000 members of the National Guard deployed across all 32 federal entities, García said. They are patrolling transport infrastructure, including highways, and have a presence in high-crime municipalities, he said.
National Guard personnel have also increased their “social proximity tasks in order to be close to the citizenry,” García said, highlighting that they provided assistance to residents of Acapulco affected by the recent passage of Hurricane John.
A shootout between the Mexican military and alleged members of the Sinaloa Cartel left 19 civilians dead on Oct. 22. (José Batanzos/Cuartoscuro)
Major security incidents in Sheinbaum’s first four weeks as president
Sheinbaum faces a wide range of security challenges, including the ongoing conflict in Sinaloa, the dire situation in parts of Guanajuato, a turf war between the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG in the southern border region of Chiapas, and the nationwide fight against the manufacture and trafficking of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
Like former president López Obrador — whose six-year term was the most violent in Mexican history — and other former presidents, Sheinbaum is using the military in the fight against crime. And like her predecessor, the new president has pledged to avoid direct violent confrontation with criminals whenever possible.
However, on Sheinbaum’s watch, the Mexican army has already killed not only alleged criminals but also migrants and innocent bystanders.
Mexican soldiers killed 19 suspected members of the Sinaloa Cartel after they were attacked by more than 30 gunmen near Culiacán on Oct. 22. The Defense Ministry said that the troops came under fire in a rural area 11 kilometers east of Culiacán while arresting “alleged criminal cell boss” Edwin Antonio Rubio López. No soldiers were killed or wounded.
The Associated Press reported that the killing of the 19 drug cartel suspects in “a lopsided encounter” in which soldiers “suffered not a scratch themselves” has “awakened memories of past human rights abuses, like a 2014 incident in which soldiers killed about a dozen cartel suspects after they had surrendered.”
However, no evidence has emerged to indicate that the killings occurred after the alleged criminals had surrendered, or had been arrested and disarmed. The confrontation remains under investigation.
The USD:MXN rate at the close of trading was 20.08. (Cuartoscuro)
The Mexican peso depreciated against the US dollar on Tuesday to close above 20 to the greenback for a second consecutive day.
The USD:MXN rate at the close of trading was 20.08, according to the Bank of Mexico.
The nearing U.S. presidential election appears to be taking the wind out of the peso. (Kamala Harris/X)
The peso depreciated around 0.25% on Tuesday after closing at 20.03 to the dollar on Monday. It was the third consecutive trading day that the peso lost ground.
Next Tuesday’s presidential election in the United States is one factor causing the currency to decline.
Polls continue to show an extremely close race, but there are “growing bets” that former U.S. president and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump will win, the El Economista newspaper reported.
There are also concerns about other constitutional reform proposals, including one that seeks to disband a number of autonomous government agencies.
The new Congress has already approved a number of constitutional reforms since recently elected lawmakers assumed their positions on Sept. 1, and is expected to approve others given that the ruling Morena party and its allies have strong majorities in both the lower house and the Senate.
Since the comprehensive victories of President Claudia Sheinbaum and Morena at the June 2 elections, the peso has depreciated more than 15%.
The newly-located ancient Maya city, which has been dubbed Valeriana by researchers, is not visible to the naked eye as it is covered by miles of jungle in Campeche. It was discovered using lidar data originally commissioned for other purposes. (MikaelT/Shutterstock)
A team of archeologists has unearthed the existence of a previously unknown ancient Maya city hidden deep within the Yucatán Peninsula jungle, a discovery triggered by a PhD student doing a Google search.
The ancient city’s discoveries include pyramids, sports fields and causeways connecting districts and amphitheaters in the southeastern state of Campeche. Archeologists have dubbed the complex Valeriana, named after a nearby lagoon.
A mapping of ancient Maya structures believed to be within Valeriana’s city limits. (Luke Auld-Thomas, et al./ Antiquity)
“I was on something like page 16 of Google search and found a laser survey done by a Mexican organization for environmental monitoring,” Luke Auld-Thomas, a PhD student and lead researcher of a study about the finding published Tuesday in the British archeological journal Antiquity.
The data Auld-Thomas saw on Google — commissioned in 2013 by The Nature Conservancy México as part of an ecological survey — revealed to him what others had missed: the ruins of a huge ancient city.
Valeriana is located near the town of Xpujil, located near Campeche’s border with Quintana Roo and populated mostly by modern-day Indigenous Maya.
“For the longest time, our sample of the Maya civilization was a couple of hundred square kilometers total,” Auld-Thomas told The Guardian newspaper. “That sample was hard won by archaeologists who painstakingly walked over every square meter, hacking away at the vegetation with machetes to see if they were standing on a pile of rocks that might have been someone’s home 1,500 years ago.”
But lidar, which began to be used in Mesoamerican archeological study in the last two decades, has changed the game, allowing researchers to detect ancient structures covered by canopies of vegetation and invisible to the naked eye. In January, researchers using lidar discovered a huge city in Ecuador’s Amazon jungle dating back 2,500 years that is challenging the prevailing belief that Amazonian civilizations in South America lived in nomadic settlements.
Six years ago, some of the same researchers involved in Auld-Thomas’ study used lidar to detect tens of thousands of Maya buildings and pyramids in Guatemala’s Petén region, which supports the surprising idea that millions of people lived there, the Guardian reported.
Newly-discovered Valeriana is believed to have rivaled the building density of the neighboring Calakmul, believed to be one of the largest and most important Maya cities ever uncovered. (INAH)
Short for Light Detection and Ranging, lidar uses pulsed lasers to examine the earth’s surface. It can map structures buried under dense vegetation and generate precise 3-D information about the earth’s surface from a plane flying over an area. The technology has unearthed other archeological findings in Mexico, including ancient ceremonial centers and new data about the size of pre-Hispanic settlements.
Auld-Thomas’ study posits that at its peak — from A.D. 750-850 — Valeriana may have been home to 30,000–50,000 people.
Professor Elizabeth Graham from University College London, who was not involved in the research, told the BBC that the new finding supports claims that the Maya in the area lived in complex cities and towns, not in isolated villages.
“The point is that the landscape is definitely settled — that is, settled in the past — and not, as it appears to the naked eye, uninhabited or ‘wild,'” Graham said.
For Auld-Thomas — who in the study called the east-central area of Campeche where Valeriana was found “a blank spot” for researchers — the new findings show that this part of the Yucatán Peninsula could yet reveal many more undiscovered archeological treasures, he told the Guardian.
“The government never knew about it; the scientific community never knew about it,” he said. “That really puts an exclamation point behind the statement that, no, we have not found everything, and, yes, there’s a lot more to be discovered.”
The United States government has concerns about the capacity of Chinese connected cars to collect data and thus compromise national security. (BYD)
The Mexican government has taken a range of concerns about the Biden administration’s proposal to ban certain Chinese software and hardware in connected cars on United States roads to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The move came just over a month after U.S. President Joe Biden announced what the White House called “strong action to protect America from the national security risks associated with connected vehicle technologies from countries of concern.”
Biden’s proposal would effectively ban the import of Chinese brand vehicles [to the U.S.] even if they were assembled in Mexico. (Wikimedia Commons)In a fact sheet published in late September, the White House noted that the Department of Commerce was “issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking that would, if finalized as proposed, prohibit the sale or import of connected vehicles that incorporate certain technology and the import of particular components themselves from countries of concern, specifically the People’s Republic of China and Russia.”
In a filing with the Department of Commerce on Monday, Mexico’s Economy Ministry (SE) said that the proposed ban on Chinese software and hardware in connected cars on American roads could have a “substantial impact on Mexico’s automotive industry.”
“Economically, it poses potential trade barriers, disruptions to supply chains, increased production costs, and a possible risk of reduced direct and indirect employment,” the SE said.
The Economy Ministry also said that the proposal could violate trade rules as set out in the USMCA and “lead to increased production costs due to the shift in suppliers of auto parts and components within the automotive industry’s pre-planned supply chain.”
The proposed ban on Chinese connected car technology in the U.S. wouldn’t just affect Chinese companies, but any automaker that uses Chinese technology in their vehicles.
Al Jazeera reported that the planned regulation would “force American and other major automakers in years ahead to remove key Chinese software and hardware from vehicles in the U.S.”
— Alliance for Automotive Innovation (@autosinnovate) October 3, 2024
Automakers from the U.S. and various other countries have plants in Mexico, and they could soon be joined by Chinese automakers if companies such as BYD follow through on their investment plans.
Reuters reported that the proposal “would effectively ban the import of Chinese brand vehicles [to the U.S.] — even if they were assembled in Mexico.”
The news agency said that automakers and tech groups separately asked the Biden administration on Monday for changes to the proposed ban on key Chinese connected car software and hardware, and for more time before the rule takes effect. One of those groups, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, represents General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai, all of which make cars in Mexico.
Polestar, a Swedish automaker that is majority-owned by Chinese company Geely, said that the proposed rule would even ban the sale of the vehicles it makes in South Carolina.
The Department of Commerce is aiming to finalize the proposal by January 20. Prohibitions on connected car software from China and other “countries of concern” are slated to take effect in the 2027 model year. The ban on hardware would take effect in the 2030 model year, or January 2029.
BYD, one of the world’s two largest electric vehicle manufacturers, is the most prominent Chinese automaker with plans to open a plant in Mexico. The company’s Americas CEO, Stella Li, has repeatedly said that the proposed Mexico plant will make electric vehicles solely for the Mexican market and not for export to the U.S. or anywhere else.
Polestar, a Swedish automaker that is majority-owned by Chinese company Geely, said that the proposed rule would even ban the sale of the vehicles it makes in South Carolina. (Polestar)
BYD’s general director for Mexico Jorge Vallejo has said that the company is aiming to settle on a location for its proposed plant by the end of the year.
“Connected vehicles provide many benefits — from promoting vehicle safety to assisting drivers with navigation — but they also pose new and growing threats,” the White House said last month.
“These technologies include computer systems that control vehicle movement and collect sensitive driver and passenger data as well as cameras and sensors that enable automated driving systems and record detailed information about American infrastructure. Now more than ever, vehicles are directly connected into our country’s digital networks. As the Department of Commerce has found, vehicles’ increasing connectivity creates opportunities to collect and exploit sensitive information,” it said.
The raids were part of an ongoing operation that began on Oct. 10 to address complaints about an increase in street-level drug sales in the borough. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico City police discovered a narco-tunnel while conducting a series of raids in the southern borough of Xochimilco that netted the arrest of 27 people and the confiscation of a large quantity of illegal drugs.
The raids were part of an ongoing operation that began on Oct. 10 to address complaints about an increase in street-level drug sales in the borough, according to the newspaper El Universal.
NARCOPASADIZO en XOCHIMILCO
Es un túnel hallado en un predio de vendedrogas en @XochimilcoAl
Conectaba de una casa a otra y luego llevaba a una azotea.
Los equipos especiales de @SSC_CDMX lo hallaron y detuvieron a 3 vendedores.@FiscaliaCDMX indaga.
The discovery of the tunnel was made when Mexico City Public Security Ministry (SSC) officials carried out five simultaneous raids in the borough known for its popular floating gardens, which are a major tourism attraction in Xochimilco.
In collaboration with officers from the Mexico City Attorney General’s Office, the SSC officials executed five search warrants at six properties.
The tunnel was found to connect two of the buildings that served as warehouses in the Santa Crucita neighborhood, reported the newspaper Milenio.
The initial discoveries produced by the search warrants led to 17 additional raids in 10 other neighborhoods in Xochimilco, according to El Universal. The last of the raids took place on Oct. 26.
In addition to securing the tunnel, the authorities reported confiscating more than 1,000 “doses” of cocaine, 364 packets of marijuana, three vehicles, an unspecified amount of cash, cell phones and unidentified “items of value.”
Resultado del operativo de reforzamiento de seguridad implementado en @XochimilcoAl, entre el 10 y el 26 de octubre, compañeros de @SSC_CDMX detuvieron a 27 personas, algunas de ellas con antecedentes delictivos, y aseguraron más de mil 300 dosis de presunta droga.
The news site Periódico Enfoque reported that several of the 27 suspects arrested had criminal records, with four of them having served time in Mexico City prisons on charges ranging from domestic violence to robbery and breaking and entering. The same source also reported that two of the suspects were members of an unidentified local security force.
Milenio reported that the suspects have been turned over to the Mexico City office of the Public Prosecutor, who will adjudicate the case.
Mexican Prints at the Vanguard is on display now through January 2025 at The Met in New York City. (Christopher Landau/X)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in New York City is showcasing the exhibit Mexican Prints at the Vanguard, an exploration of Mexico’s rich tradition of printmaking, or estampado.
On display through January 2025, the exhibit features over 130 works, including woodcuts, lithographs and screen prints by artists such as José Guadalupe Posada (creator of the “Catrina”), Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and Leopoldo Méndez.
A print from the exhibit featuring U.S. president Abraham Lincoln alongside Mexican president Benito Juárez that says “Good neighbors, good friends.” (Christopher Landau/X)
“The exhibition explores how prints were central to the artistic identity and practice in Mexico and highlights their effectiveness in addressing social and political issues, a role of the graphic arts that continues today,” The Met said in a press release.
Most of The Met’s collection of Mexican prints came from the French-born artist Jean Charlot, who spent decades in Mexico. Charlot donated many of his own prints and works by other artists to The Met, and in the mid-1940s acted on behalf of the museum to acquire over 2,000 prints in Mexico.
The collection reflects The Met’s pioneering recognition of Mexico’s artistic renaissance, well before the movement captured global attention.
Printmaking has been central to Mexican art and culture since the Spanish conquistadors arrived with religious woodcuts in the 1500s. Following the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920), artists turned to printmaking to address social and political unrest, voicing resistance to a range of issues such as the rise of fascism around the world. They also used printmaking to reproduce Mexican murals, announce upcoming art exhibitions and conferences, create prints for the press and document Mexican dress and customs.
Mexican Prints at the Vanguard features prints made between the late 19th century, when Posada introduced the Catrina, Mexico’s iconic cartoonish skeleton, and the early 20th century. (Christopher Landau/X)
“This remarkable exhibition evokes the continued resonance of the graphic arts in Mexico and illuminates treasures of The Met collection—many of which have never been exhibited before,” Max Hollein, The Met’s director and Chief Executive Officer said in a statement.
The prints range from an 18th-century Virgin of Guadalupe on white silk to a number of colorful silk-screens by the Guatemalan-born artist Carlos Mérida that document regional costumes and dances. But the largest share of the exhibition pertains to two main periods — the late 19th century, when Posada introduced the Catrina, Mexico’s iconic cartoonish skeleton, and the early 20th century, when artists like Rivera worked for El Machete, a Communist Party-aligned newspaper.
Mexican Prints at the Vanguard is curated in six chronologically organized sections across three galleries. One is entirely dedicated to Posada, regarded by many as the father of printmaking in Mexico, and his contemporaries.
Printmaking remains a popular and widely practiced art form in Mexico today.
John made landfall twice in late September, bringing days of torrential rain to coastal Guerrero. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
The federal government has announced over 400 million dollars in reconstruction and rehabilitation funds for homes in Guerrero and Oaxaca that were devastated by the recent passage of Hurricane John.
According to a census by the Welfare Ministry, more than 40,000 homes were damaged by the storm, impacting approximately 153,000 people.
Acapulco, Guerrero saw nearly one meter of accumulated rainfall from Hurricane John, causing severe flooding around the resort city. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
On Oct. 27, President Sheinbaum visited Acapulco, where she declared the state of emergency in Guerrero following Hurricane John concluded.
“Today we can say that the emergency is over and we are moving on to the next stage. This does not mean that we are done here. There is the clean-up aid, and then, depending on the results of the census, we will give subsequent financial support and even more support for housing,” Sheinbaum said during a press conference.
The president reported that 7.7 billion pesos (US $384 million) have been invested in disaster aid throughout 66 municipalities in Guerrero and Oaxaca. Of these resources, 6.7 billion pesos have been destined for Guerrero — with 51 municipalities affected — and 1 billion pesos to Oaxaca, with 15 municipalities damaged by the storm.
Aid of 8,000 pesos (US $400) was given to all homes in these states for clean-up. Additional support will be given to homes with minor or medium damage, which will receive 15,000 pesos (US $747); homeowners with major damages will receive 35,000 pesos (US $1,745); while those homes that suffered total losses will receive 60,000 pesos (US $3,000).
“Today we can say that the emergency is over and we are moving on to the next stage. This does not mean that we are done here,” Sheinbaum said during a press conference in Acapulco, Guerrero, on Oct. 27. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
With an additional investment of 300 million pesos (US $15 million), the National Workers Housing Fund (Infonavit) announced its plans to begin reconstruction activities in the El Coloso and Alta Progreso neighborhoods of Acapulco, both of which suffered severe landslides and flooding due to the impacts of John. This funding is expected to support the rehabilitation of 6,000 housing units.
Infonavit will work with the housing non-profit Fundación Hogares to improve housing complexes and public spaces. The planned improvements include the construction of markets, as well as sports and recreational spaces aimed at boosting social interaction in the neighborhoods. The works are expected to take around one year and a half to complete and will benefit around 24,000 residents.
In Acapulco, Fundación Hogares will replicate the rehabilitation project it carried out in Jojutla in Oaxaca state following the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck central Mexico on September 19, 2017.
“Our focus is to use endemic materials for reforestation and replanting of areas, which guarantees that the rehabilitated spaces are sustainable in the long term,” said Madeleine Cortés Cravio, general director of Fundación Hogares.
Cortés Cravio emphasized that one of the lessons learned from recent natural disasters is the need to develop resilient infrastructure that can withstand future climate events.
Fall is a time for new skills, so why not check out Mexico City's litany of amazing workshops and classes? (Poga)
The winter doldrums seem to be creeping in these days in CDMX. Crisp air, cloudy skies, and the early sunsets are an invitation to hibernate. Before you get too comfortable working in pajamas all day, how about beefing up that to-do list? Not the boring one of pending paperwork and menial chores, but rather a list of fun, unique activities to enjoy in your very own neighborhood. There are no shortage of craft workshops in Mexico City, so why not take the time to pick up a new skill?
CDMX is an overflowing cauldron of things to do. Within a five block radius, you can unleash your artistic side, learn a new skill, or whip up your own culinary delights. Wake up one Saturday your normal self, and go to sleep that very night as an expert cake decorator. Whatever gets you going, the capital’s got you covered.
Whichever of Vainila Bar’s two locations you choose, there’s no doubt you’ll be rewarded with a good time. In between bites of waffles, chilaquiles, and sandwiches and sips of bubble tea and coffee, create something everlasting. Bring a picture of your dog that you can turn into a portrait and hang in your living room. Everything is included in the cost, which includes paints, ceramics, pencils, and canvases.
Locations: Insurgentes Sur 615, Col. Nápoles; Universidad 133, Col. Narvarte
Tufting workshop
Knitting is so last year, as the creative team at Arenera are aware. With temperatures in CDMX dropping faster than a lead balloon, there’s no time like the present to focus your energy on learning the art of tufting. What is tufting, you ask? It’s a textile technique where threads are inserted loosely into a base material to create raised loops for a cushiony texture. Design your own fluffy rug or warm throw in this four-hour workshop that includes all necessary materials, plus a mocktail.
Location: Av. José Martí 118e, Col. Escandón I Secc
Channel your inner Demi Moore (but stay clothed) in a ceramic workshop. Create and paint mugs, vases, dishware, even jewelry in just a few hours. Departamento Barro, located in San Rafael, offers technique and a tipple, like mimosas or coffee. Luaa Estudio in Roma Norte includes beer as part of its popular and highly-rated cerámica y chelas class.
Locations: Departamento Barro: Manuel María Contreras 86-int. 1, Col. San Rafael; Luaa Estudio: Jose Alvarado 30, Col. Roma Norte
Cooking classes
There are so many opportunities to make your own culinary masterpiece, it’s hard to know where to start. Consider the renowned Casa Jacaranda in Juárez or family-run Aura Cocina Mexicana in Roma Norte. Regardless of the company you decide to go with, an authentic Mexican cooking class will teach you far more than technique – you’ll also learn the history, the stories, and the psychology behind Mexican culture through its food.
Want something a little more international? Sobremesa offers French, Asian, and Italian cooking classes while Flor de Loto specializes in online courses of popular vegan dishes.
Locations: Casa Jacaranda – C. Milan 41-int A, Col. Juárez; Aura Cocina Mexicana – Medellín 191A, Col. Roma Norte; Sobremesa – various
Mixology experiences
(Mezcal Mixology)
Craft three mezcal-based cocktails in the dark and moody Salón Rosario, hidden behind a barber shop on Calle Puebla. Start with a quick tasting and explanation of mezcal’s fundamental ingredients. With an expert bartender, you’ll mix up various flavors to make a personalized cocktail that you can recreate later to wow your friends.
Location: Puebla 71-int 1, Col. Roma Norte
Books and writing
Apart from a bountiful list of writer talks and feminist-leaning discussions, U-Tópicas Bookshop in Coyoacán offers monthly workshops. The themes are wide ranging – beautify a new journal for daily scribbles, create Day of the Dead-inspired collages, read and dissect passages from Latin American authors. Enjoy a coffee from the onsite cafe while you design.
Location: Felipe Carrillo Puerto 60, Col. Coyoacán
If your dream is to whip up a leather bag in just three hours, you’re in luck. Distrito Marroquinero will provide you with the patterns, materials, and expert guidance needed to make a purse rivaling Louis Vuitton. Choose from different models, textures and colors, and walk out with the accessory of your dreams.
Location: Celaya 17, Col. Condesa
Decorate a cake
I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of many better ways to spend an afternoon than with coffee, a cookie, and a naked box cake waiting to be decorated. At Ramona Artesanal, each month showcases a new cake-decorating class with a unique theme like vintage, flowers, and holiday-inspired designs.
Location: Quintana Roo 49, Col. Roma Sur
Flower arranging classes
Every Sunday I go to the local tianguis to stock up on flowers for the week. I come home, throw on some Luis Miguel, and get to snipping and clipping. As I arrange and rearrange the colorful blossoms that lay before me, I make myself a half-hearted promise to switch jobs and dive headfirst into floristry. Sound familiar? Poga, Verbena, and Floristika (online) are here to fulfill that fantasy without the career change. Learn how to make impressive bouquets for any occasion, even if that occasion is simply a joyful Sunday afternoon.
Locations: POGA – 287, Interior POGA, Xicoténcatl, Col. Del Carmen; Verbena Flores – Eje 3 Pte 929, Col del Valle Centro
More Cuban than Mexican, does it really matter when you’re twirling on the dance floor? Conquer those salsa steps like you’ve always wanted, and make some friends while you do. There are a plethora of places to learn salsa and even more places to practice, with or without a minty mojito. Get whisked away to sunny Havana without leaving the boundaries of Mexico City at premier dance clubs like Roma Norte’s Flor del Son and Mama Rumba, or Cuauhtémoc’s Babalu Salón Ríos.
Locations: Flor del Son – Puebla 52, Roma Norte; Mama Rumba – C. Querétaro 230, Roma Norte; Babalu Salón Ríos – C. Río Lerma 218, Col. Cuauhtémoc
Folkloric dance lessons
Speaking of dance, if salsa doesn’t call you but traditional folkloric dancing does, check out the Saturday schedule at Amalia Hernandez’s dance school. No formal training is necessary, just an open mind and the will to move. There are classes for all age groups, and certain levels include the fundamentals of classic dance.
Location: Calle Violeta 31, Col. Guerrero
Textiles and weaving
Knit, crotchet, weave – the workshop schedule is packed at Del Valle’s coveted textile school, Taller Dos Coyotes. There’s simply no limit to the masterpieces you can make, so if you’re in the market for a new, colorful wall hanging or a Macramé stool, this is the place for you. Classes last up to five hours with lunch breaks, so come ready to dive in. For those who want to get their feet wet without a real commitment, sign up for an evening knitting or crochet class every Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. Location: Calle Lic. Julián Grajales Robles no. 16, Col. Del Valle
Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog, or follow her on Instagram.
Sail, board, fish and golf while taking in the arts on a pleasant stroll. Los Cabos has it all this November! (Fishing Cabo San Lucas)
There’s always something happening in Los Cabos in November, from holidays and arts-themed festivals and events to sporting competitions and one-of-a-kind outdoor adventures. The last big-money fishing tournament of the year happens in November, as does Los Cabos’ only PGA-sponsored golf tournament. Meaning, on any given day you can attend events celebrating athletics, cinema, cuisine, painting, sculpture, and yes, the dearly departed. Or enjoy ideal weather conditions for sailing, surfing, and windsports.
Día de Muertos – November 1-2
(Visit Los Cabos)
Día de Muertos means more in Los Cabos than simply an opportunity for souvenir shops to fill display windows with Catrinas and colorful calaveras. It’s also the de facto kickoff for Art Walk season in San José del Cabo. The high-season weekly event begins annually in November with many gallery owners often showcasing artistically designed ofrendas (altars) during the early part of the month. Day of the Dead is also notable as an inspiration for events at many regional bars, restaurants, and resorts.
The funniest book ever written about the Baja California peninsula and its colorful residents was the work of a Western Outdoor News columnist and all-around fine writer named Fred Hoctor. The book, called Baja Haha, was published in 1984 and has been something of a cult classic among gringo expats ever since. Sadly, Señor Hoctor is no longer with us. But his title lives on thanks to Baja Ha-Ha, a fun-filled 750-mile cruiser rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas that celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
Calendar-wise the last of Los Cabos’ million-dollar-plus fishing tournaments, the Cabo Tuna Jackpot is also noteworthy as the world’s richest tuna-focused competition (the prize pool was US $1.47 million in 2023). It’s got a great motto, too: Fish hard, party harder! Base entry is US $1,000 per team, which seems small enough price to ante up (teams can include up to six anglers, meaning the entry is only $166.66 each) given last year’s winning team, Sneak Attack, held up an over-sized check for $585,775 after bagging a 284-pound yellowfin.
The historic Art District in San José del Cabo takes center stage each Thursday evening from 5 pm to 9 pm during high tourist season, November through June, when residents and visitors alike are invited to stroll its cobblestone streets and peruse the many eclectic fine arts galleries. Nearby bars and restaurants (of which there are many of superb quality) also benefit, since the event finishes around dinner time.
Want to see the world’s best golfers tackle one of Los Cabos’ best golf courses? The Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal Course at Diamante hosts the area’s only PGA-sponsored event: the World Wide Technology Championship. Last year’s winner, Erik van Roos won dramatically with an eagle on the final hole – and in recent years a who’s who of PGA stars have participated, including major champions Scottie Sheffler, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. Tickets are affordable ($35 to $45 per day), food and drink options are abundant, and free shuttles will run from downtown Cabo San Lucas.
You can’t tee it up at the PGA World Wide Technology Championship. But you can at the fifth iteration of the Swinging for Scholarships Golf Tournament, which helps fund educational opportunities for children of employees at Esperanza, Auberge Resorts Collection. You might win some cool stuff, too. More than $30,000 worth of prizes are up for grabs, along with the opportunity to play the picturesque Tom Weiskop-designed Desert Course at Cabo del Sol. The entry fee is $400, or what you’d pay to play golf at just about any Los Cabos course — without the good cause attached.
There’s seemingly nothing Los Cabos luxury resorts like more than bringing top chefs from the U.S. and Mexico to prepare world-class cuisine for their guests. That’s certainly the case at Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, which as part of its Festival of Flavors this year has hosted culinary weekends headlined by several great chefs. November’s kitchen star-in-residence is Claudette Zepeda, a former Iron Chef contestant and San Diego-based founder of Chispa Hospitality and acclaimed Mexican-themed restaurants such as El Jardín and VAGA.
This annual showcase for Mexican and Latin American films was founded in 2004, meaning this year the festival celebrates its 20th anniversary. As always, short films and features will primarily be shown at historic Teatro-Cine Manuel Márquez de León, a landmark 80-year-old movie theater that overlooks the town square in Todos Santos. However, select films will also be screened in Los Cabos and La Paz. No schedule has been released yet, nor have any special guests been announced, although it bears noting that Mexican actors such as Diego Luna and Tenoch Huerta have appeared at past festivals.
Surf Season on the Pacific Coast – November to March
(CONADE)
Summer may be the best time to find great waves off Los Cabos’ Sea of Cortés-facing beaches. But beginning in November the surf scene is centered around Pacific Coast beaches like Cerritos, La Pastora, and San Pedrito. Surfing is indeed good year-round in this part of Los Cabos (La Paz municipality, to be exact). However, conditions are at their peak from November to March, thanks to seasonally bigger and more consistent swells. Several local activities companies offer lessons for those who need to brush up on their wave-riding skills. Or learn some.
Windsports Season in Los Cabos – November to March
(Velas Resorts)
While the Pacific Coast is Los Cabos’ wintertime surf mecca, windsports enthusiasts flock to the East Cape. Why? From November to March each year, strong El Norte winds blow hundreds of miles down the Sea of Cortés, creating optimal wind and kite surfing conditions in small East Cape communities like Los Barriles and La Ventana. The wonderfully named Lord of the Wind Competition may be a thing of the past, but the East Cape is the place to be if you love kiteboarding, kitesurfing, windsurfing, or similar pursuits. Lessons, camps, and special accommodations are available.
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
