Nothing is more Mexican than a churro. Nothing is more greek than yogurt. Why not try mixing the two for the ultimate fusion snack? (Locavore)
Mixing Mexican and Greek cuisines might sound out there, but if you think about it, there are some strong throughlines. A few weeks ago, I had some friends over for carnitas served on homemade pita bread with tzatziki sauce. They were tacos with a Greek twist — you’ve got a fiesta in your mouth where feta cheese crashes into the dance floor with spicy jalapeños. Picture a mariachi band drinking ouzo or a Greek philosopher pounding some churros.
Let’s not forget the Greek salad with a touch of Mexican flair. Throw in some avocado and tortilla strips, and suddenly you’re not sure if you’re dining in a quaint taverna or a bustling taqueria. The vibrant flavors of Greek food complement the spicy notes of Mexican dishes, creating a bold blend that keeps you on your toes.
This statue of the Greek god Poseidon didn’t go down well with Mexicans – but these churros might! (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
Today I’d like to share a recipe that uses the creamy, rich textures of Greek yogurt to make churros with honey and crushed pistachios. If you’re feeling adventurous and want to give your dinner guests something to talk about, go ahead and mix up this Mexican-Greek fusion dessert, don’t be scared. It’s the equivalent of proudly wearing a sombrero on a Greek island beach. Did I mention it’s only four ingredients?
Greek Yogurt Churros with Honey and Crushed Pistachios
Ingredients
1 cup Greek yogurt
1 cup self-rising flour
2 tablespoons honey (plus more for drizzling)
1/2 cup crushed pistachios (finely chopped)
Instructions
Prepare the Dough:
In a mixing bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, self-rising flour, and honey. Mix until a smooth dough forms. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour, a tablespoon at a time, until it becomes manageable.
Shape the Churros:
Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. If you don’t have a piping bag, you can shape the dough by hand into logs or small balls.
Fry the Churros:
Heat oil in a deep pan to about 375°F (190°C). Pipe the dough directly into the hot oil, cutting off pieces with scissors, or drop the shaped dough in by hand. Fry until golden brown and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side.
Prepare the Coating:
While the churros are frying, place the crushed pistachios in a shallow dish.
Coat the Churros:
Remove the fried churros from the oil and drain them on paper towels. While they’re still warm, drizzle with additional honey and then roll them in the crushed pistachios until evenly coated.
Serve:
Serve the churros warm, with more honey on the side for dipping if desired.
This recipe combines the tangy richness of Greek yogurt with the natural sweetness of honey, creating a dough that’s both flavorful and easy to work with. The use of self-rising flour simplifies the process, while the crushed pistachios add a much needed crunch. The honey not only sweetens the churros but also helps the pistachios adhere, creating a beautiful and tasty coating ready for the center stage of your next dinner party (or at least your Instagram). This combination results in a unique twist on traditional churros, offering a lighter, more nuanced flavor profile that’s both satisfying and sophisticated. Try it out and let me know what you think!
Stephen Randall has lived in Mexico since 2018 by way of Kentucky, and before that, Germany. He’s an enthusiastic amateur chef who takes inspiration from many different cuisines, with favorites including Mexican and Mediterranean.
Mexico is on track to receive significantly more international tourism this year than in 2023. (Margarito Pérez Retana/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico recorded a 6.24% increase in international tourist numbers compared to last year, as the country continues to benefit from a rebound in global travel demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to data by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), Mexico received 21.8 million international tourists in the first half of the year, compared to the 20.4 million during the first six months of 2023.
Tourism spending also went up by 7.7%, reaching US $17.5 billion. This figure surpassed pre-pandemic numbers by 34.6% when tourism spending reached US $13.01 billion in the first six months of 2019.
The INEGI reported that while tourism numbers increased in its annual comparison, they are 1.07% below pre-pandemic figures, when Mexico registered 22 million international visitors in the first six months of 2019.
Air travel numbers remained strong in 2024. The Tourism Ministry (Sectur) reported that the first six months of the year saw 11.9 million travelers enter Mexico via air. That is 4.9% more than 2023 and 18.6% more than the same period of 2019, before the pandemic.
So far in 2024, more travelers have entered Mexico by air than during the same time frame in 2023. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The three countries that exported more travelers to Mexico in the first half of the year include the United States, Canada and Colombia, which represent 79.5% of the market share.
The U.S. saw 7.61 million tourists travel to Mexico in the first half of 2024, up 7% from last year. Meanwhile, Mexico received 1.62 million Canadian tourists, 10% more than in 2023. Finally, the number of Colombians traveling to Mexico reached 312,960 travelers, a 13.1% increase compared to the same period of 2023.
Various nationalities accounted for the remaining 2.46 million tourists, down 1.8% than the figure recorded in the first six months of 2023.
As for the airports that saw the largest numbers of passengers, Cancún came in first with 5.46 million tourists and a surge of 3.3% compared to 2023. Next came Mexico City, with 2.11 million tourists and a decrease of 0.3%. Los Cabos, in third place, saw 1.25 million passengers and an increase of 0.1%.
The rest of the airports with international operations recorded the remaining 3.15 million international passengers, 14.4% more compared to the first six months of 2023.
Sectur aims to end this year with 55.3 million international tourists and US $31.6 billion in tourism spending.
Bel Woodhouse headed to Tulum to learn about Mexican wine pairings. What she found was even better than she had imagined. (All photos by Bel Woodhouse)
Mexico’s wine industry is booming and quickly becoming a contender on the global stage. Finca El Empecinado in Baja California’s Guadalupe Valley, produced a Grand Gold medal winner at the 2023 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (CMB), one of wine’s biggest prizes. Selected as the 2023 Revelation White Wine, this canary colored beauty was the top choice out of 7,054 entrants, from 50 different nations. But what would this go well with? To find out more about the best Mexican wine pairings, I went in search of answers.
My friend and I could barely contain our excitement when we went to stay at the Conrad Tulum Riviera Maya. We were about to meet the Director of Wine for Hilton Tulum and Conrad Tulum, Aaron Alvarez, for a tasting of top Mexican wines, each paired with traditional dishes from the regions where the wines are grown. It was hands down the best tasting of my life. That includes tastings in Italy, the US, Australia’s top wine regions, and European nations (Slovenia, Bratislava, Slovenia). As I said, I enjoy a glass.
Starting with a white
Tres Raíces 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, great with Mexican seafood starters.
Tres Raíces bright, light yellow 2023 Sauvignon Blanc was our first wine. It was fresh with hints of mango, pineapple, and citrus. This makes it the perfect white for a ceviche pairing. Mine was a little different though because I’m a vegetarian. So, instead of seafood, a traditional ceviche from the Dolores Hidalgo region of Guanajuato arrived.
Faced with the xoconostle (prickly pear) and mushroom ceviche, my taste buds sang. If it wasn’t rude to do so, I may have licked the bowl. Judging by the noises coming from my friend, I could tell the traditional seafood ceviche was every bit as amazing.
Aaron added that, in his opinion, Tres Raíces is “the best Sauvignon Blanc in Mexico.” I’m trusting that opinion, because it certainly was sublime.
Rosé all day, wine not?
A light rosé from Valle de Guadalupe, Pitaya, was incredible when served alongside a fruit pallet cleanser.
Yes, we all giggled at the pun. Aaron introduced a special rosé from Casta de Vinos. From the Guadalupe Valley in Baja California. Pitaya, a Rosé Grenache, has some very special ingredients.
Passion, courage, feeling, and love are all essential parts of the wine. Each bottle is in remembrance of winemaker Claudia Horta’s mother, who lost her battle to cancer. Now, Pitaya, the special rosé grenache blend, has helped over 300 women with cancer by donating a portion of their profits to support medical costs.
This wine is bright and clean, a beautiful soft coral color with copper flecks. It tastes of berries and pink roses. Served alongside strawberries and dragonfruit, it was refreshing and lovely. With a touch of honey and wildflowers, it was a perfect pairing.
Onto my personal favorites, reds
Don Leo proved a wonderfully medium-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon. (Passion Spirits)
I’ve been a red wine lover my whole life. So, I most looked forward to the part of the tasting where I tried a medium-bodied and then a full-bodied red. And I must say, I was not disappointed.
The first red was a medium-bodied cabernet sauvignon from Don Leo in the Parras Valley, Coahuila. Even while Aaron poured, I could smell the blackcurrant and berries. But there was something else. Do you ever have that sensation that something is on the tip of your tongue?
Raising the glass to my nose, I felt a hint of beautiful dark chocolate fill my senses. This was ticking all the boxes for me. I love blackcurrant and dark chocolate, so I couldn’t wait to take the first sip. At a medium-high acidity, I was impressed that it was so smooth.
Then came the perfect pairing: a traditional dish from Coahuila. My friend delighted in a chicken filled with sweet corn on a tomato and red pepper sauce. My veggie substitute was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten — so much so that I kissed the chef at the end of the tasting and asked for the recipe!
Saving the best for last
Megacero is probably the best red wine I have ever tasted. I have tasted a lot of red wine, so this is no small claim.
The Megacero is a full-bodied premium blend from Encinillas Winery in Chihuahua. Organic and sustainably farmed, this wine was magnificent. It may have skyrocketed to my all-time favourite Mexican wine in fact.
It was a deep carmine color, known as sangre (blood), Aaron explained. The smell of currant, mushroom, and earth was heavenly. It reminded me of my grandfather, who was a wine distributor and avid leather worker. His workshop always smelled of earthy fragrances and red wine so for me, it was home.
It paired beautifully with a regional specialty: Discada. Traditionally, discada is cooked on a hot plate over a fire in the field and usually contains meat. Mine was mushroom with blue cheese and bell pepper. It turned out to be the perfect mouthful of flavor to bring out the smoothness of the wine.
Honestly, I could eat that for the rest of my life. It was magic.
This was more than a wine tasting. As Aaron and his team said, “It was an activation of our soul and identity. The team of Tulum makes it a culinary tour around Mexico. We put our heart and soul into this experience.”
Mexico Correspondent for International Living, Bel is an experienced writer, author, photographer and videographer with 500+ articles published both in print and across digital platforms. Living in the Mexican Caribbean for over 7 years now she’s in love with Mexico and has no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.
The colorful life of Luis Cóppola Bonillas proved the inspiration for a novel that changed the course of Baja Californian history. (Luis Cóppola Bonillas)
During the waning days of World War II, pilot Luis Cóppola Bonillas found himself with some unexpected downtime. The Tucson, Arizona native was attached to the U.S. Eighth Air Force and had flown just under three dozen missions in his B-17 Flying Fortress, the aircraft responsible for more bombs dropped over Europe during the war than any other. Grounded one day in Greenland due to inclement weather, he had time to read a book.
The one he chose would change the course of his life and forever change the landscape of Los Cabos. Inspired by the Antonio de Fierro Blanco novel TheJourney of the Flame, Cóppola had relocated to the Baja California peninsula by 1948 and was busily ferrying passengers in war surplus DC-3s as a pilot for the regional airline Trans Mar de Cortés. Over the next six decades, he would also help open (and own) some of the pioneering resorts in La Paz and Los Cabos during the birth of the tourist age and would play an important role in founding what is today the world’s richest fishing tournament.
‘The Journey of the Flame’ and the story of its mysterious author
Trans Mar de Cortés airliner on the tarmac in Loreto, circa 1961. (Howard E. Gulick Collection at the UC San Diego Library)
What appealed to Cóppola about the book? That’s unknown, but he’s hardly the only person to revere it. My first Los Cabos landlord, for example, upon learning I was a writer, immediately asked for help in petitioning the publisher for a Spanish-language translation.
Certainly, no novel has ever captured the rich culture of the Baja California peninsula quite like The Journey of the Flame. First published in 1933, it opens with the 104th birthday celebration of its narrator, the flaming-haired Don Juan Obrigón, then flashes back to the journey he took as a 12-year-old boy, accompanying the Spanish viceroy from San José del Cabo to Monterey, California, circa 1810. Along the way, readers are treated to a succession of compelling episodes, generously punctuated with archaic and often delightful Spanish idioms, that allusively refer to important figures and events in the region’s history.
Amazingly, the novel’s backstory is every bit as colorful. Antonio de Fierro Blanco was a pen name, of course. The real author was Walter Nordhoff and his Baja bona fides were legit. His father, Charles B. Nordhoff had written a highly influential 1872 work about California (California: A Book for Travelers and Settlers), so his proposed follow-up on Baja California (Peninsular California) led the Mexican International Company to gift him with 50,000 acres of land near Ensenada. Walter was soon put in charge of that tract, which became Rancho Ramajal, an experience that would help to inspire his great Baja novel. Walter’s son Charles, meanwhile, would later become the family’s most famous author, co-writing The Bounty Trilogy with James Norman Hall.
The pioneer resorts of Los Cabos and the people Who built them
Cabo San Lucas as it looked in 1961. (Howard E. Gulick Collection at the UC San Diego Library)
When Cóppola came to Baja California as the first pilot hired by nascent airline Trans Mar de Cortés, what is now the peninsula’s southernmost state, Baja California Sur (which wasn’t legally recognized until 1974), had about 60,000 residents and only one modern hotel: the Hotel Perla in La Paz. That would soon change. Cóppola and his wife Evangelina Joffroy bought the 12-room Hotel Los Arcos in 1952. It had opened two years previously, the same year Abelardo “Rod” Rodriguez and partner W. Matt “Bud” Parr premiered Rancho Las Cruces, and a year before Fisher House, the first modest inn in Los Cabos opened.
Partnerships would be a feature of many of the region’s early resorts. Rodríguez and Parr teamed up again for Hotel Palmilla in 1956, and Cóppola was a partner in Parr’s Hotel Cabo San Lucas, which opened at Chileno Bay in 1961, Luis Bulnes Molleda, the former Cabo San Lucas cannery manager, would get in on the act for Hotel Finisterra in 1972. But Cóppola was the driving force and principal owner of that stunning property. Bulnes would open his own Hotel Solmar two years later at Land’s End. These and Rodriguez’s Hotel Hacienda in Cabo San Lucas, that city’s first lodging in 1963, pioneered tourism in Los Cabos, setting the stage for the opening of the Transpeninsular Highway in 1973.
Before the highway was completed, building hotels was anything but easy. So opening two benchmark properties and expanding the Hotel Los Arcos to 182 rooms by 1976 were feats worth crowing about.As Cóppola remembered in a 1992 interview with Baja Explorer: “When Bud Parr and I built the Hotel Cabo San Lucas, we didn’t have a damn thing. There was nothing here. We had to load up boatloads of lumber and plants. We recruited carpenters from Manzanillo and boated them over here. We used to fly in our own people, supplies, and a lot of the materials for construction.”
The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and the birth of Bisbee’s Black & Blue
The 1965 Swimsuit Issue celebrated “little known” Los Cabos. (Sports Illustrated)
Photography for Sports Illustrated’s second Swimsuit Issue in 1965 took place in Baja California and the magazine published an accompanying article on emerging tourism in Los Cabos. Pioneering hoteliers Parr and Cóppola were each quoted, with the latter telling a colorful anecdote about the difference in attitude between local fishermen and those who visited.
“Señor, they are coming in with the boats and the motors and they go out and fish with a captain and two more men to help,” exclaimed a local boy, according to Cóppola. “And I said, ‘Well, this is great fishing down here,” and he said, ‘Yes, but they spend all this money to get maybe one marlin, and you know my father? My father, he goes out and gets 10 or 15 marlin in one day all by himself.’ I never could make that boy understand the ways of the North American.”
Cóppola did understand the importance of fishing to the early resorts in Baja California Sur and proved it in the early 1980s when he was instrumental in launching Bisbee’s Black & Blue marlin fishing tournament. His and Hotel Finisterra manager Bill Baffert’s impromptu meeting with Bob Bisbee’s Sr., then running a fuel dock on Balboa Island in Newport Beach, led to the inaugural tournament in Cabo San Lucas in 1982. The first purse was modest ( US $10,000) but by 2022 it had grown to $11.5 million, the richest ever offered by any fishing tournament.
The book for which Luis Cóppola was an inspiration
Pool scenery at Luis Cóppola’s landmark Hotel Finisterra; now the Sandos Finisterra. (Sandos Finisterra Los Cabos)
Cóppola passed away in 2008 and only one of his hotels remains open, the now Sandos-managed Finisterra. But his legacy still looms large and he and hoteliers Parr, Rodríguez, and Bulnes are honored by name at Plaza Pioneros in Cabo San Lucas.
Thus, his name will always be remembered in Los Cabos and forever associated with two great books about the Baja California peninsula: The Journey of the Flame and The Sea of Cortez. The latter, a bestselling travel book by Ray Cannon published in 1966, was enormously important in spurring tourism to the region. However, Cannon could not have written it without the help of Trans Mar de Cortés owner Mayo Obregón, who authorized pilots like Cóppola to take the writer wherever he wanted to go free of charge.
Naturally, Cóppola welcomed the duty. After all, who knew better the power of a good story?
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.
The highway was completely open as of Saturday morning, Puebla Interior Minister Javier Aquino Limón said. (Guardia Nacional Carreteras/X)
All lanes on the Mexico City-Puebla highway are now open after protesters ended a five-day blockade early Saturday.
Residents of the municipality of Santa Rita Tlahuapan, Puebla, commenced a blockade of the Mexico City-Puebla highway and the Arco Norte toll road last Tuesday.
They hoped to pressure on authorities to compensate them for land expropriated more than 60 years ago for the construction of the highway.
The protesters, among whom were ejidatarios or community land owners, cleared their blockades on Saturday morning after several hours of dialogue with state authorities.
Puebla Interior Minister Javier Aquino Limón told reporters on Saturday morning that the Mexico-Puebla highway and the Arco Norte road had been “completely reopened in both directions.”
Protesters lifted the blockade Saturday morning, after five days. (Alaín Hernández/Cuartoscuro)
Aquino said that ejidatarios and their “committees and advisors” would meet with federal authorities on Monday to discuss their compensation claim for 41 hectares of land on the López Rayón ejido that the government expropriated for highway construction in 1958.
As of 2:30 p.m. CST, there was no news of the outcome of that meeting.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said last week that the government couldn’t pay more than the amount established by an appraisal carried out by a federal authority.
“The appraisals are done, we have the money to pay the campesinos but the lawyers say, ‘We don’t agree with the appraisals.’ They want more,” he said last Thursday.
“[But] we, as public servants, can’t pay more than an appraisal establishes,” López Obrador said without revealing the valuation amount.
Surfer Alan Cleland took first place in the US Open of Surfing on Sunday. (Conade/X)
Two weeks after making history as Mexico’s first surfer in the Olympics, 22-year-old Alan Cleland Quiñonez took his burgeoning career to yet another crest by winning the US Open of Surfing on Sunday.
In the grand final, Cleland bested another Mexican-born surfer, Marco Mignot, 23, of Sayulita, Nayarit. Thanks to his dual nationality, Mignot now represents France.
As he grew, Cleland became better and better, turning professional at age of 13. Eight years after that, he qualified for the Summer Olympics in Paris during the 2023 World Surfing Games in El Salvador.
Alan Cleland, right, took first place over his friend Marco Mignot, a Mexican-born surf representing France. (Marco Mignot/Instagram)
Surfing made its Olympic debut at Shidashita Beach in Japan as part of the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.
In Tahiti, Cleland made it through the second round but was defeated in the third round on July 29, one level shy of the quarterfinals. He lost to Frenchman Joan Duru, who scored 18.13 on his two best rides compared to 15.17 by Cleland.
Cleland’s participation in the US Open of Surfing began less than two weeks later on Aug. 9, when he took second in his heat. The Mexican surfer won his next heat to get into the round of 16, where the format turned to head-to-head competition and he beat Brazilian Michael Rodrigues.
In the quarterfinals, he beat American Crosby Colapinto, then topped Australian Jarvis Earle in the semifinals.
In a final that pitted two Mexican-born surfers against each other, Cleland’s 12.70 was just good enough to beat Mignot’s 12.60. Score one for Colima over Nayarit — and a big one for Mexico.
“It means everything to me to represent my flag, my entire country, my people,” he said. “It is an honor. Being able to put this flag up high is incredible. Viva Mexico!”
Cleland was appearing in his first final in surfing’s important Challenger Series, which will determine which 10 surfers will automatically qualify for the 2025 Championship Tour.
With his victory, Cleland jumped a whopping 42 spots in the rankings, all the way up to No. 9.
“It’s crazy … It feels amazing,” Cleland told the news and information website Surfer.com. “Especially having a final with one of my good friends who I grew up surfing with, literally since we were 8 years old. It’s an honor to see how far we’ve come. To have the support crew, the Mexico crew, all my friends and my dad, everybody here, it feels crazy.”
Lime packers are on strike again and this time, some farmers are considering joining their cause. (Juan José Estrada Serfaín/Cuartoscuro)
Organized crime is once again strangling the lime industry in the state of Michoacán as five lime-packing houses decided to strike and shut down operations to protest the lack of security.
The packing houses say they might continue their work-stoppage through Wednesday, the day farmers are set to harvest their crop. Lime farmers — many of whom expressed a willingness to join the work-stoppage — told Milenio newspaper that the packing houses are located in Apatzingán and Buenavista.
Extortion at multiple stages of the supply chain has pushed up the price of limes while cutting producers’ profits. (Mario Jasso / Cuartoscuro.com)
Both packers and farmers have been urging authorities to take action because, despite existing security measures, extortion remains a serious concern for the entire industry.
Elements of organized crime “demand payments from the producer, the packer, the shipper, the wholesaler and even at the final point of sale,” Juan Carlos Anaya, director general of GCMA, a farmers’ market consultancy, told Reforma newspaper. “The entire chain of production is threatened by insecurity.”
In June, the United States paused safety inspections for avocados and mangos in Michoacán due to a security incident involving U.S. Department of Agriculture staff. After a 10-day suspension, inspections restarted pending a new security model.
Last year in September, 600 soldiers deployed to Michoacán to re-establish security in the lime-growing region. Organized crime had targeted the state’s lime industry, causing prices to spike, while also exerting control over avocado production. The ongoing extortion practices are again causing lime prices to soar while reducing producers’ profit margins, Anaya said.
Michoacán is Mexico’s No. 2 producer of limes and is the world’s No. 1 producer of avocados. But it is not the only state facing extortion-related violence.
Headline, or overall, inflation fell to 3.59% in January. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Consumer confidence in Mexico declined in July compared to June, but remains higher than a year earlier, according to official data published on Monday.
National statistics agency INEGI reported that the consumer confidence index (ICC) declined 0.4 points between June and July to reach 46.9. On a year-over-year basis, the ICC increased 0.6 points.
Mexicans were less optimistic in July than a month earlier about their capacity to save some of their income, go on a vacation in the next 12 months and buy a car. (Cuartoscuro)
The index score is calculated based on responses to a range of questions in the National Survey on Consumer Confidence.
INEGI, in conjunction with the Bank of Mexico, conducted the survey at 2,336 homes in cities across all 32 federal entities during the first 20 days of July.
It asked respondents about:
Their current economic situation compared to a year earlier.
Their expected economic situation over the next 12 months.
Their opinion about Mexico’s current economic situation compared to 12 months earlier.
Their opinion about Mexico’s expected economic situation over the next 12 months.
Their current capacity to purchase furniture, a television, a washing machine and other home appliances compared to their capacity 12 months earlier.
Their responses — derived from the options of much better, better, the same, worse and much worse with regard to the first four questions, and greater, the same or lesser with respect to the fifth — were weighted and used to formulate the ICC score.
The biggest driver of the month-over-month decrease in consumer confidence was a decline of 0.7 points in the sub-index that measures perceptions of Mexico’s economic outlook over the coming year. The four other sub-indexes also declined compared to June, with the reductions ranging between 0.3 and 0.4 points.
The survey also found that Mexicans were less optimistic in July than a month earlier about their capacity to save some of their income, go on a vacation in the next 12 months and buy a car (new or used) in the next two years.
#TomaNota ✍🏼 El @INEGI_INFORMA publicó hoy el Indicador de Confianza del Consumidor (#ICC) de julio de 2024 y los resultados indican que la confianza del consumidor tuvo una disminución ⬇️ mensual y un aumento ⬆️anual.
🧵Te explicamos más en este mini hilo. pic.twitter.com/jrKmvXJSMl
Another issue on consumers’ minds is inflation: the National Consumer Price Index rose for a fifth consecutive month in July, with annual headline inflation hitting 5.57%.
Meanwhile, unemployment ticked up to 2.8% in June from 2.6% in May, and the Mexican peso has weakened considerably since the June 2 elections, making imported goods more expensive.
The peso was trading at 19.08 to the US dollar shortly after 1 p.m. Mexico City time, down from a closing position of 18.83 to the greenback on Friday, and 17.01 just before the comprehensive victory of Claudia Sheinbaum and the ruling Morena party in the presidential and congressional elections on the first Sunday in June.
El Mayo's account of events on July 25 — released by his lawyer — suggests he and others were tricked into attending a meeting in Culiacán. (Cuartoscuro)
Alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García has sought to set the record straight about the events leading up to his arrest in the United States last month.
He asserts that he was kidnapped and forced onto a U.S.-bound private plane after traveling to Culiacán, Sinaloa with the belief that he was going to help resolve a dispute between the Sinaloa governor and a former mayor of the state capital.
Some reports speculated that El Mayo might have made a deal with the U.S. government, but recent statements by Ambassador Ken Salazar and El Mayo himself confirm otherwise. (X)
In a statement sent to media outlets by his lawyer Frank Perez, Zambada also claimed that former mayor Héctor Cuen was killed “at the same time, and in the same place, where I was kidnapped” — a version of events that contradicts the official account of the politician’s murder.
The 76-year-old co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel and Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, were arrested on July 25 after arriving at a small airport near El Paso, Texas.
Initial reports suggested that Guzmán López tricked Zambada into boarding a U.S.-bound plane by telling him they were going to inspect clandestine airstrips within Mexico.
However, Perez subsequently said that Guzmán López “forcibly kidnapped” his client before he was put on a plane bound for the United States. The lawyer also said that Zambada “neither surrendered nor negotiated any terms with the U.S. government” before he flew into the Doña Ana County airport, located about 25 kilometers northwest of El Paso near Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
United States Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar issued a statement on Friday that said that evidence “indicates that El Mayo was taken [to the U.S.] against his will.”
Salazar also said that Guzmán López “voluntarily” turned himself in to United States authorities.
Mi declaración acerca de los hallazgos sobre la custodia de Ismael Zambada García “El Mayo” y Joaquín Guzmán López #SeguridadCompartida
Both Zambada — who had avoided capture during a decades-long criminal career — and Guzmán López have pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges they face.
On the day of their arrest, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement that both men face “multiple charges in the United States for leading the [Sinaloa] Cartel’s criminal operations, including its deadly fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking networks.”
“I was ambushed. A group of men assaulted me”
In his statement, Zambada said there have been “many inaccurate reports” about the events leading up to his arrest, and affirmed that he was providing “the true facts.”
“… I wish to say at the outset that I did not turn myself in, and I did not come voluntarily to the United States. Nor did I have any agreement with either government. To the contrary, I was kidnapped and brought to the U.S. forcibly and against my will,” he said.
Zambada said that Guzmán López asked him to attend a meeting to help resolve a dispute between Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and Cuén over who should head up the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS).
On July 25, Zambada said he went to a ranch and event center just outside Culiacán where the supposed meeting was to take place.
Upon arriving, El Mayo said he saw “a large number of armed men wearing green military uniforms” who he assumed were gunmen for Guzmán López and his brothers, collectively known as “Los Chapitos.”
Zambada said he entered the property with two security personnel: a commander in the State Judicial Police of Sinaloa, José Rosario Heras López and Rodolfo Chaidez, “a long-time member of my security team.”
Zambada says the former mayor of Culiacán Héctor Cuén Ojeda was present at the meeting where he was “ambushed” on July 25. Cuén Ojeda was killed that same day. (Carlos Sicairos/Cuartoscuro)
“While walking toward the meeting area, I saw Héctor Cuen and one of his aides. I greeted them briefly before proceeding inside to a room that had a table filled with fruit. I saw Joaquín Guzmán Lopez, whom I have known since he was a young boy, and he gestured for me to follow him. Trusting the nature of the meeting and the people involved, I followed without hesitation. I was led into another room which was dark,” Zambada said.
“As soon as I set foot inside of that room, I was ambushed. A group of men assaulted me, knocked me to the ground, and placed a dark-colored hood over my head.”
Zambada said 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. During the “ordeal,” he said he was “subjected to physical abuse” causing “significant injuries” to his back, knee and wrists.
Once on the plane, Zambada said that Guzmán López removed the hood from his head and used zip ties to bind him to a seat.
He also said that Cuén — mayor of Culiacán between 2011 and 2012, founder of the regionally influential Sinaloa Party and rector of the UAS between 2005 and 2009 — was not shot at a gas station, as Sinaloa authorities have said. Rather, Zambada asserts that he was killed at the property outside Culiacán where he believed he was going to meet with the ex-mayor and Rocha Moya, who denied any knowledge of the meeting allegedly arranged for July 25, and who has said he was in Los Angeles that day.
El Mayo’s claim that was lured to the meeting on the understanding he was to meet with the Sinaloa governor — a representative of Mexico’s ruling Morena party — is not preposterous. Security analyst Chris Dalby told Mexico News Daily earlier this year that “playing ball” with the Sinaloa Cartel is “just part of the game” for municipal and state officials in parts of northern Mexico.
Zambada says he traveled to Culiacán on July 25 with the belief that he needed to help settle a dispute between Cuén and Rubén Rocha Moya, governor of Sinaloa. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
In his statement, Zambada also said that Heras — who was reportedly El Mayo’s security chief in addition to being a police commander — and Chaidez disappeared the same day as his kidnapping and haven’t been seen since. He described Cuén as a “longtime friend” and lamented his death.
“I believe it is important for the truth to come out. This is what occurred, rather than the false stories that are circulating,” he said.
“I call on the governments of Mexico and the United States to be transparent and provide the truth about my abduction to the United States and about the deaths of Héctor Cuen, Rosario Heras, Rodolfo Chaidez and anyone else who may have lost their life that day.”
Zambada also called on “the people of Sinaloa to use restraint and maintain peace in our state.”
“Nothing can be solved by violence. We have been down that road before, and everyone loses,” he said.
Salazar: “It was not our plane, not our pilot”
In his statement, the United States ambassador described the arrests of Zambada and Guzmán López as a “great victory” for both the U.S. and Mexico, asserting that the detentions will disrupt the trafficking of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl.
The U.S. was offering separate multi-million-dollar rewards for information leading to their arrest.
Salazar offered five points about the arrests of the two men.
Guzmán López surrendered voluntarily.
The evidence at the time of his arrival to the United States “indicates that El Mayo was taken against his will.”
No United States resources were used to facilitate Guzmán López’s surrender. “It was not our plane, not out pilot, not our people.”
No flight plan was presented to United States authorities before the private plane took off. “We understand that the flight began in Sinaloa and landed in Santa Teresa, New Mexico.”
The pilot is not a United States government employee nor was he hired by the U.S. government or “any U.S. citizen.”
Guzmán López’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, said in late July that his client hadn’t reached any agreement with U.S. authorities before arriving in the United States.
“We’ve got no agreement with the government. There has never been an agreement with the government with Joaquín Guzmán López. Period,” he said.
FGR investigating El Mayo’s alleged kidnapping
The Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) said in a statement on Sunday that immediately after the arrests of Zambada and Guzmán López it opened an investigation into a range of “possible crimes” including the operation of an “illegal flight,” violation of migration and customs laws, kidnapping and treason.
The FGR has asked the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office to cede responsibility for the investigation into the murder of Cuén to federal authorities due to its “possible link” to the events described by Zambada. (fiscaliasinaloa.mx)
The FGR said it subsequently initiated probes into “other crimes,” including homicide and “illegal deprivation of freedom,” or abduction.
In light of the statements issued by Zambada and Salazar, “specific” investigative tasks were carried out in “the area known as Huertos del Pedregal de Culiacán” and “the aerodrome possibly used in this case,” the FGR said.
Zambada said he was kidnapped at “the ranch and event center called Huertos del Pedregal.”
The FGR also said it has asked the Sinaloa Attorney General’s Office to cede responsibility for the investigation into the murder of Cuén to federal authorities due to its “possible link” to the events leading up to the arrests of Zambada and Guzmán López.
Federal Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said last week that Joaquín turned himself in to United States authorities after reaching an agreement to surrender with Ovidio, who was captured in Culiacán in early 2023 and extradited to the United States last September.
Seven boroughs of Mexico City got at least 30 mm of rain on Sunday, leading to severe flooding on several roadways. (Tajo Oveda/X)
Residents of Mexico City were hammered by heavy rain on Sunday afternoon, causing localized flooding in several areas south of the city.
At least three boroughs — Coyoacán, Tlalpan and Álvaro Obregón — were on red alert (50 to 70 mm of water), while an orange alert (30 to 49 mm) was issued for Cuajimalpa, Iztapalapa, Magdalena Contreras and Xochimilco.
💧🚨 Se aproximan equipos de emergencia para atender inundación en Hermenegildo Galeana y Calz. de Tlalpan, colonia Tlalpan Centro, @TlalpanAl
↔ 150 metros de espejo de agua con 40 centímetros de tirante.
Images shared on social media showed flooded streets and cars floating during Sunday’s storms. In some areas, the water level exceeded one meter in height.
Local authorities also reported fallen trees on main roads and buildings, including along Avenida Revolución in Benito Juárez and several streets of the San Francisco neighborhood in Coyoacán. The Universidad Panamericana (UP) in the Insurgentes Mixcoac neighborhood reported a downed tree on campus measuring nine meters in length and 30 centimeters in diameter.
Authorities also reported flooded houses in some areas.
Following the deluge, some vehicles were stranded due to mechanical breakdowns, while others got stuck around potholes and manholes, causing traffic chaos in the southern part of the city.
The city’s Comprehensive Risk Management and Civil Protection Ministry (SGIRPC) reported that emergency teams were working to clear the damaged streets of water and fallen trees.
Local authorities have called on the population to remain alert for “water currents on streets and avenues,” as well as fallen branches, trees and tarps.
Light rail service in Mexico City was suspended on Sunday between Huipulco and Xochimilco due to flooding along the tracks. (STECDMX)
More rain in the forecast for Mexico City and other states
Mexico City’s residents will see more rain tonight, according to the National Meteorological System (SMN). During the day, temperatures will remain warm with cloudy skies.
The Mexican monsoon will cause strong gusts of wind and heavy rains accompanied by lightning and potential hailstorms in several states across the country. Here is the rain forecast by region for Monday, Aug. 12.
Very heavy rains (75 to 150 mm): Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán.
Heavy rains (50 to 75 mm): Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Nayarit, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz.
Light rains(25 to 50 mm): San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Morelos, State of Mexico, Mexico City, Tamaulipas and Tabasco.
Showers (5 to 25 mm): Baja California, Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
Most of the country can expect persistent and scattered rainfall throughout the rest of the week.
