This year's edition of GIFF features 18 world premieres and 51 Mexican premieres. (GIFF)
Set to open Friday, the 28th Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF) will be showcasing 206 films from 61 countries during an 11-day run in three cities: Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende and Irapuato.
This year’s edition — themed “In Free Fall” and inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 renowned psychological thriller “Vertigo” — includes a focus on the role of artificial intelligence in cinema.
Mexican director Emilio Portes Castro’s psychological thriller “No dejes a los niños solos” (“Don’t Leave the Children Alone”) will open the Irapuato segment of the festival on Aug. 1. (GIFF)
With over 4,000 submissions received, the selection committee settled on a program that includes 18 world premieres and 51 Mexican premieres.
Pretty much every screening — including a late-night showing of two horror films in Guanajuato city’s old Santa Paula Cemetery — is free, with seats offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
The San Miguel de Allende portion of the festival will run from Tuesday, July 29 through Thursday, July 31, officially opening with the U.S. production “Omaha” at the Cinemex la Luciérnaga. It’s about a middle-America family searching for a better life during the tough economic times of 2008.
U.S. director Cole Webley’s “Omaha” (in English with Spanish subtitles), a road movie that follows a family struggling with an economic downturn, will open the San Miguel de Allende portion of the festival. (GIFF)
The Aug. 1-4 lineup in Irapuato officially opens with “No dejes a los niños solos” (“Don’t Leave the Children Alone”), a Mexican psychological thriller about a 10-year-old and his 7-year-old brother being left at home alone. It will screen at Teatro de la Ciudad on Friday, Aug. 1.
Other highlights of GIFF 2025 include the Epicentro program (with immersive virtual reality experiences, plus panels and workshops focused on filmmaking technology and the use of A.I.) and the panel “Women in Innovation” (featuring four Mexican women in cutting-edge professions, including Glenda Michel, who leads tech and AI projects at Facebook’s parent company, Meta).
Notable figures in Mexico cinema will be honored with awards, including actress Verónica Castro, who played the matriarch Virginia de la Mora in the first season of the popular Netflix comedy series “La Casa de las Flores,” and TV producer Rosy Ocampo, who adapted the global hit “Ugly Betty” into “La Fea Más Bella” (“The Prettiest Ugly Girl”), a hugely popular telenovela comedy in Mexico.
Legendary Mexican singer Emmanuel will be celebrated Sunday in the Music + Film program, and other awards will go to cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, actress Arcelia Ramírez and director-screenwriter Carlos Carrera, all Mexicans.
Highlight entries from Mexico’s Cinematographic Training Center include “Mudanza” and shorts such as “Amare” and “Gasolina,” which explore emotional reconnections, family fractures and magical realism.
The International Monetary Fund is currently forecasting that the Mexican economy will contract 0.3% in 2025, while the World Bank is predicting growth of 0.2%. (Shutterstock)
It was the second-worst month-over-month result for the Mexican economy this year after a 0.2% contraction in March.
En mayo 2025, y con cifras desestacionalizadas, el Indicador Global de la Actividad Económica #IGAE presentó las siguientes variaciones:
↔️ 0.0% mensual
⬆️ 0.4% anual
Por componente, las variaciones mensuales fueron:
⬆️ 3.6% primarias
⬆️ 0.6% secundarias
⬇️-0.4% terciarias
U.S. tariffs on various imports from Mexico, including steel, aluminum and vehicles, are weighing on the economy and creating uncertainty for investors.
The publication of the growth data for May comes four days after INEGI released preliminary data showing that the Mexican economy grew 0.2% in June compared to the previous month and 1.3% in annual terms.
Services sector contracts compared to April
INEGI’s data shows that Mexico’s tertiary or services sector contracted 0.4% in May compared to the previous month. Within that sector, the cultural and sporting services industry recorded the largest contraction, shrinking 3.4% in the space of a month.
Valeria Moy, an economist and director of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, said on X that the 0% month-over-month growth in May is due to the decline in the services sector, “which is precisely where economic activity is concentrated.”
Mexico’s primary sector, which includes farming and fishing, grew 3.6% in May compared to April, while the secondary sector expanded 0.6%.
Within the secondary sector, the construction industry grew 2.8% on a month-over-month basis, while manufacturing output increased just 0.1%.
The mining industry, which is also part of the secondary sector, declined 1.1% in May, while the electricity, water and gas industry grew 0.4%.
Secondary sector shrinks in annual terms, primary sector grows more than 5%
INEGI reported that the secondary sector contracted 0.4% in May compared to the same month of last year.
The mining (-8.4%), electricity/water/gas (-3.8%) and construction (-1%) industries all declined in annual terms.
The manufacturing industry grew 1.4% compared to May 2024.
The primary sector grew 5.4% annually in May while the services sector expanded 0.6%.
Annual growth below 1% in first half of 2025, says analyst
Taking the latest data from INEGI into account, the director of economic analysis at Banco Base calculated that the Mexican economy grew around 0.72% in the second quarter of 2025 compared to the first three months of the year, and 1.11% in annual terms.
In a post to X, Gabriela Siller said that the data indicates that the Mexican economy grew 0.84% in annual terms in the first six months of 2025. That result, she said, is the lowest growth rate for the first half of any year since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions ravaged the economy.
Mexico’s Finance Ministry is more optimistic, forecasting growth in the range of 1.5%-2.3% in 2025.
President Sheinbaum has rejected forecasts from international financial organizations, asserting that they don’t take into account federal government efforts to stimulate the economy, including through its Plan México initiative.
Lake Chapala is currently at 54.63% of its capacity — a 14.6 percentage-point improvement over July 21, 2024. (Arturo Esparza/Unsplash)
Thanks to a generous rainy season, Mexico’s most important dams are at a combined 48% of capacity.
According to the National Water Commission’s Technical Operations Committee, 80 of the nation’s top 210 dams were at less than 50% capacity, 27 were at 100% capacity, 44 others were at 75% or above and 59 were found to be between 50-75% full as of July 14.
Total volume at the Cutzamala’s top reservoirs — Valle de Bravo, El Bosque and Villa Victoria — has doubled since last summer, when an extended drought prompted media reports about a potential Day Zero in Mexico City.
Lake Chapala, the primary source of water for the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, saw its surface level rise 30 centimeters through the first week of July and is currently at 54.63% of its capacity — a 14.6 percentage-point improvement over July 21, 2024.
Despite this week’s positive data, the committee cautioned that current water volumes are still 2.19 billion cubic meters below the historic average for July of 62.04 billion cubic meters. That’s a deficit of 4%.
Rainy season replenishes Guanajuato’s water supply
Another top beneficiary of the wet summer is the state of Guanajuato, where volume at its eight biggest dams nearly doubled since July 2024, reaching 71.6% capacity as of July 18.
Residents of León, Guanajuato city and San Miguel de Allende have been caught off guard by incessant rainfall recently. (María Ruiz)
According to state water agency officials, total volume at these eight reservoirs was at 1.261 billion cubic meters, up from 1.207 billion one week earlier. In 2024, their volume barely surpassed 700 million cubic meters, or approximately 29% of capacity.
Four of the eight dams were operating at 100% capacity: three in Guanajuato city — La Mata, La Soledad and La Esperanza — and the El Palote in León.
Another three — the Allende Dam in San Miguel de Allende, La Golondrina in Pénjamo and the El Realito in San Luis de La Paz — were above 80%.
However, the much-needed precipitation has not come without its problems.
Because of their non-traditional employment status, gig workers often find it difficult to obtain credit to finance the car they need for their job. (Paul Hanaoka/Unsplash)
OCN, a fast-growing Mexican start-up that provides rental cars to gig workers, will invest US $150 million over 18 months to expand services in Mexico.
The company, formerly known as One Car Now, plans to expand car access for ride-hailing drivers in five major cities: Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Tijuana and Querétaro.
With most of it app-enabled, gig work has been increasingly common. But there’s no getting around the fact that most of the time it requires a vehicle. (Depositphotos)
Toward that end, OCN plans to triple its current fleet of vehicles from 5,000 to 15,000 vehicles, and expects to add at least 30 new employees to its staff of 120.
Given their nontraditional employment status, gig workers often lack access to traditional lines of credit.
OCN seeks to address this issue by utilizing risk-assessment analysis to lend to customers who are “often excluded from or overlooked by the formal financial system in Latin America and the United States.”
The company offers drivers a week-to-week payment arrangement that includes insurance, maintenance, registration and roadside assistance. Drivers may purchase the car after 36 months.
The firm estimates the number of gig drivers in Mexico who can access cars under its scheme to be in the thousands.
The investment will also be used to drive international expansion, particularly in the U.S. and Brazil, as the company seeks to achieve a global presence.
Some of the cars advertised on OCN’s website show rental costs of approximately 4,000 pesos (US $215) per week. (OCN)
Additionally, the firm plans to expand beyond car rentals by introducing additional financial products.
Founded in 2022 and based in Mexico City, the company says its mission is based on the belief that “transforming the way people get a new car can drive economic and technological development.” It defines its goal as making “a positive difference by committing to ethical and sustainable practices that will help us improve people’s mobility experience.”
OCN announced its investment following the closing of a Series B round in February, the amount of which was not disclosed. Series B is the second round of venture capital funding that a startup typically raises after successfully completing a Series A round.
Fintech Futures reported that in July 2024 OCN secured a US $86 million Series A funding round comprising a mix of equity and debt.
These transactions were completed at a time when venture capital investment in Latin America has fallen to its lowest level in nearly seven years, according to PitchBook.
The contraction in venture capital funding is partly due to global economic uncertainty and the withdrawal of U.S. funds, but fintech startups like OCN that are targeting the gig economy in emerging markets are carving out unique opportunities for scalable growth, according to AInvest.
AInvest said OCN’s strategy suggests it is well-positioned to thrive in this new reality as it offers a compelling thesis: addressing underserved markets with technology-driven, capital-efficient solutions.
El Financiero reported that the incident on Monday "points to, preliminarily, an overload of work in control towers and the lack of personnel with necessary training." (Unsplash)
A dangerous situation unfolded at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) on Monday when an Aeroméxico plane landed on a runway that a Delta aircraft was using to take off.
The incident occurred at around 7:30 a.m. when an Aeroméxico Connect flight from Aguascalientes came in to land on the 05 Right runway at AICM.
A Boeing 737 plane operated by Delta Air Lines was reportedly performing its takeoff roll on the same runway when Aeroméxico’s Embraer E190 aircraft flew over it before landing.
The Delta plane had to brake abruptly and abort its takeoff, delaying its departure to Atlanta. It was unclear how close the Aeroméxico plane came to the Delta aircraft.
However, the aviation news website Air Live reported that “both aircraft were simultaneously occupying the critical portion of the runway, creating a dangerous situation with the potential for a high-speed collision.”
A person with knowledge of the near-miss told the newspaper El Financiero that the incident was “more serious” than an incident in 2022 when two Volaris planes came close to colliding at AICM. The director of the government agency Seneam (Navigation Services for Mexican Airspace) resigned following the 2022 incident.
El Financiero’s source attributed Monday’s incident to a “problem” in the control tower at AICM, an extremely busy airport whose two terminals reached saturation point in early 2022, according to the federal government.
“What they’re saying is that they’re investigating to see what happened. The truth is that the people are overworked,” the source said, referring to air traffic controllers.
El Financiero reported that the incident on Monday “points to, preliminarily, an overload of work in control towers and the lack of personnel with necessary training.”
The newspaper noted that in a letter sent to federal Infrastructure, Communications and Transport Minister Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina last December, air traffic controllers warned of the potential consequences of the failure to address a shortfall of adequately trained personnel at Mexican airports. At the same time, they also raised concerns about the excessive workload they face.
Tempers have boiled over in central Mexico City, but is it entirely fair to single out a region that has always been a hotbed of immigration and cultures? (Mitú)
On July 4, there was an anti-gentrification demonstration marched through the streets of Mexico City’s Colonia Roma and up to the U.S. embassy. While the purported purpose of the march was to condemn the rising rents and unaffordability of the capital, to an outsider, it could have easily been perceived as an anti-immigration rally.
The most repeated chants were “Fuera Gringos!” — Gringos out! — and “No se van a ir, los vamos a sacar”: “They aren’t going to leave, we’re going to kick them out.” These were joined by signs reading “Gringo culero, my people are first” and “We don’t hate you because you are gringos, we hate you because you’re culerxs.” The word “culero” has a variety of meanings, including coward, disloyal, freeloader and asshole.
Many participants of the protest against gentrification singled out Americans in Mexico City due to anger over the treatment their compatriots are receiving in the United States as the Trump administration pursues its mass deportation agenda. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
The aftermath of the march included broken storefronts, looting, and graffiti that read “Learn Spanish” and “Gringos go back to your f*cking country” — making it all feel like it could have been right at home in MAGA country in the United States, with the obvious difference that there, the slogans would be anti-Mexican.
Mexico City, like all great cities, is essentially multicultural. Since its foundation, it has been home to immigrants and transplants. In the past several years, the city has seen an increase in the number of foreign residents — particularly from the United States — living in a handful of neighborhoods at the city’s center, specifically Roma, Condesa, Polanco and the Historic Center. Official statistics from Segob cite the city-wide population of U.S.-born residents at19,122 in 2022, an increase of almost 70% from 2019 but still only18% of the over 100,000 foreign-born residents in a city of more than 9 million people.
Despite those low percentages, social media videos abound about how the city’s salsa is no longer spicy and that everywhere one goes in the aforementioned neighborhoods mentioned, you will hear English spoken and be offered English-language menus. And the biggest complaint is gentrification, which residents like these protesters blame on the influx of digital nomads and other foreigners with greater buying power.
The anger about gentrification is real and valid. It’s a global phenomenon and we have seen similar demonstrations in cities across the world in the past several decades. Rising rents displace long-standing residents while big chains homogenize neighborhoods and push out local businesses while creating long commutes for minimum wage workers who can’t afford to live in the neighborhoods where they work. All of these realities are alarming symptoms of a free-market economy where the spoils — in this case, homes and a central location — go to those who can pay the highest price.
The gentrification in Mexico City is multifaceted and its roots include real estate speculation, the deluge of vacation rentals, an extreme lack of not only affordable housing but housing in general, and the centralization of economic and cultural activity in the city center,among many other factors.
Long-standing tensions stemming from U.S. policies towards Mexico and Mexican immigrants have only added fuel to the fire. But the idea that the gentrification of Mexico City is due to a handful of digital nomads from the pandemic onward is misleading at best. This process has been a long time coming and from a lot of different directions.
Roma and Condesa are both areas that were always intended for the wealthy, as evidenced by their plentiful parks and outstanding architecture. (Keizers/CC BY-SA 3.0)
Cities, by their very nature, are in a constant process of evolving, shifting and changing, and Mexico City is no different. As a single example, in the early 20th century, Roma and Condesa were built as enclaves for the urban elites, old-moneyed Mexicans as well as industrialists who got rich during the government of Porfirio Díaz. In designing these neighborhoods, city planners were responding to an overflowing Historic Center that in the late 19th and early 20th centuries more than doubled in population.
In the 1920s, a community of Syrian Jews moved from the Historic Center into La Roma, making it very much their own, with Jewish bakeries and kosher butchers in the Mercado Medellín. In the 1940s and ‘50s, migrants from rural areas of Mexico migrated massively into the city in search of work, and European refugees from both World Wars were welcomed with open arms. Veterans from the United States came across the border and also found a home in Roma. The Mexico City College — today the Universidad de las Américas Puebla and the Universidad de las Américas, A.C. — opened, offering classes in English.
By the 1970s and ‘80s, a process of de-gentrification was happening in Roma and Condesa, as these neighborhoods had become solidly middle class, with many higher-earning residents moving to newly built and wealthier neighborhoods like Las Lomas and Polanco. The 1985 earthquake hit both neighborhoods hard, in particular Roma, which spiraled into decline for the 15 years from the earthquake to the dawn of the new millennium.
But both of these neighborhoods have been rapidly transforming for the last 25 years. In the beginning of the 2000s, the city’s 50-year rent freeze was lifted and many Mexican investors saw an opportunity, beginning to purchase property and renovate buildings. The more popular Roma and Condesa became, the higher the rents went. In other words, these neighborhoods have long been inaccessible to the majority of average city workers.
With a history like this, the question of who is a local becomes a tricky one. Are the original wealthy landowners the true residents of Roma? The Jewish families that moved here after? The migrants from other Mexican states who came later? Am I local? I’ve lived in Roma for 14 years and was myself forced out of my apartment of 12 years along with my neighbors, some of whom had been living in the building for over 30 years, under the guise of “renovations.” I am also now a part of this neighborhood and its history.
The majority of the country’s economic and cultural activity takes place in the center of Mexico City, making this area a favorite and convenient place to live. Residents here, both Mexican and foreign, know that it implies paying a premium for the opportunity. In a recent TikTok, social commentatorVero Teigeriotalks about the difficulties in decentralizing the economic activity of the city, which relies on a certain level of density in order to function. She points out that while the city’s population is 9.2 million, the surrounding municipalities add nearly 12 million more, and there’s no way all 20 million plus can live in the city center.
Given the urban sprawl of Mexico City, is it realistic to believe that everyone should be able to live in the city center? (File photo)
One of the solutions that Teigerio presents is improving the quality of services such as water and electricity and urban infrastructure — such as public parks and cultural spaces — outside of the city center. If peripheral areas could be made workable and pleasant to live in, and if mass transit were improved so that workers could have a comfortable 45-minute ride into the center rather than a hellacious two-hour commute, demand for housing in the city’s core might go down as people living in other neighborhoods enjoyed the quality of life of those living downtown. But, Teigerio points out, inequality of services runs deep, and local politicians don’t have much enthusiasm for changing the status quo.
Mexico City is also in desperate need of more housing, affordable housing, and caps on rent that will keep landlords and real estate companies from charging whatever they think that people will be willing to pay.
The city’s latest reforms seem an attempt to address these concerns. For some, they are worthless, token gestures; for others, they represent a first small step in the right direction. The reforms cap rent increases based on yearly inflation, require rental contracts to be publicly registered and limit both the quantity of Airbnbs that individuals can own and the number of days out of the year they can be rented out. While the Airbnb occupancy caps seem like an odd addition (if you have an Airbnb, you likely won’t be able to rent it for six months as a vacation rental and the other six months to a local resident), that may be the idea: to dissuade property owners from operating an Airbnb to begin with. The mayor’s office also committed to getting 20,000 affordable homes on the market by 2030, but previousadministrations have made and broken similar promises.
Will these policies be enough to curb rising rents? Will the current administration be able to deliver affordable housing at a rate that meets the needs of residents? Will the organizers of the anti-gentrification march be able to move beyond their hostility towards immigrants to build a coalition to fight the root causes of gentrification?
“Gringos love Mexico but they hate Mexicans,” another sign seen at the march, is quite an accusation. While there are certainly immigrants to Mexico City who are culturally oblivious, the vast majority of those who live here full time do so because they love it. “Mexico for Mexicans” smacks of another slogan we’re hearing a lot of recently, one whose parallels I would think would make anyone who cares about progressive values think twice.
The truth is that there are thousands of immigrants, not only from the U.S. but from Korea, China, Japan, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela and all over Europe who have chosen to make Mexico City their home. And for most, it’s not about cheap rents or bland salsa but because they are passionate about the chaos, beauty, food and life of this metropolis. Many of them are likewise concerned about the rising cost of living and could likely be persuaded to join the cause.
While the current protests have some basis in merit, the history of Mexico City — and especially Roma Norte and Condesa — would be incomplete without the culture, stories and life that immigrant communities of all types have brought to it. (Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)
I know that anything I write, by the mere fact that I am a foreigner, will be seen as being an apologist for foreigners and for the gentrification of central Mexico City. I don’t defend my countrymen; we can be annoying and disrespectful guests. I understand the history that has made relations between the United States and all of Latin America filled with resentment and anger. But the socially corrosive and xenophobic rhetoric heard at the march misses the point. Not every foreigner is a gentrifier and not all locals are suffering. Gentrification is about systems and class, not nationalities. It’s about a right to the city and a right to housing. We must learn to separate our economic systems (and our governments) from the people who function within those structures.
Over the years, I have written about a lot of immigrant communities in Mexico. What I have taken from listening to their stories is the overwhelming sense that they have deeply enriched the city’s food, art and culture. Throughout the 20th century, Lebanese, Armenians, Chinese, Japanese, Colombians, Argentinians, Koreans and many, many other immigrant groups have each added their own touch to the city’s life.
While “the other” is an easy target in times of crisis, it’s important to remember that Mexico City’s multiculturalism is one of the things that makes it vibrant, and why it is beloved by so many. As human beings, we all have the right to move freely across borders. Migration is not the problem, neither in Mexico or the United States, the system is.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based out of Mexico City. She has been published widely both online and in print, writing about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of “Mexico City Streets: La Roma.” Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at mexicocitystreets.com.
Mexico City's bustling international metropolis perenially draws foreign expats worldwide, but just buying property in the first place you land is a mistake, says Mexican architect Benjamín Bross. (CDMX Government)
Have you ever thought about moving to Mexico City after spending a few weeks there? I am guilty of this every time I land in Benito Juárez International Airport and start venturing to my favorite go-to spots in Condesa, Roma Norte, the Historic Center and in the area around Interlomas, where my family lives.
But anyone who’s been to Mexico City knows that it’s bigger and more complex than you’d think. I am always surprised by how many beautiful neighborhoods, monuments and parks I pass in the taxi on my way to my grandmother’s house. It’s not enough to love the vibes of Mexico City if you want to live there. You have to put in the time and effort to learn about what makes it unique and what boroughs and neighborhoods speak to you as a temporary or permanent resident.
Renowned Mexico City architect Benjamín Bross. (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
After my conversation with Dr. Benjamin Bross, a local Mexican architect, I learned that it’s important to understand Mexico City architecture before you can dive into engaging with the real estate market.
Dr. Bross currently teaches at the University of Illinois and is the author of the 2022 book “Mexico City’s Zócalo: A History of a Constructed Spatial Identity.” He’s been a licensed architect for 30 years and has over 75 projects in eight countries under his belt. Not only is he a force in the Mexican architecture community, but his knowledge is invaluable.
“Mexico City is built in the same pattern as many Latin American cities in that you can read the structure of various neighborhoods and understand the design philosophies of different generations that have come and gone,” Dr. Bross told me. “It’s polycentric from an architectural point of view, meaning every neighborhood in Mexico City functions as its own center. It evolves over time while maintaining its distinct identity and soul.”
A great example of this is Condesa, which is the product of Mexico City architects’ adherence to the garden city movement, which started in the late 19th century with the English Urban planner Ebenezer Howard. Howard’s idea was to create areas that had a good balance of housing, work opportunities and green spaces, and in Mexico, his movement led to the birth of Parque México, Parque España and similar places where life and businesses thrive.
It’s a neighborhood that has a lot to offer and carries history at every corner. It’s personally where I like to stay whenever I find myself in Mexico City, and it turns out this is a mutual feeling I shared with Dr. Bross when we started diving into real estate.
“Condesa would be my first choice in terms of places I’d live in because it is very walkable. It’s rich in experiences, restaurants, art galleries and culture,” Dr. Bross told me.
The Condesa neighborhood is located in the Cuauhtémoc borough, one of the more expensive places to rent in the capital. (Pueblos de México)
“You see [that] the garden movement’s influence works well here if you look closely, and it’s the reason I believe [Condesa] attracts both locals and foreigners. You see old and young couples, corporate professionals and retirees inhabiting the same places. Small cafes, restaurants and food stalls are embraced by their community and give Condesa a little more color. It’s just a neighborhood that’s so alive.”
Dr. Bross also noted that Contadero, in the borough of Cuajimalpa, would be another great choice for those looking for a quieter neighborhood to call home in Mexico City that’s less known among tourists. It’s a beautiful, rural area near the forest and the Sierra de las Cruces mountains. It feels like a small town within a big city, but it’s also quite accessible to modern areas like Parque La Mexicana and the Santa Fe shopping center.
The more I learn about Mexico City, the more I log onto real estate sites to dream about what kind of apartment or neighborhood I’d like to someday call my forever home. But as Dr. Bross informed me, it’s crucial to know what you’re signing up for beforehand.
“Real estate can be complicated in Mexico for those who are not from there. It’s important that you try to understand how ownership works before you purchase anything. That’s my first piece of advice,” Dr. Bross said. “The good news is that it’s very possible to buy real estate successfully even if you don’t hold Mexican citizenship, but do your homework and be sure to seek insight from a real estate advisor or a lawyer.”
“I’d also say not to buy a place in Mexico City thinking it’ll be a safe investment. The Mexican real estate market isn’t as predictable as the American one, where you can follow economic cycles and know how they work.”
“Governments and laws can change really quickly, and if you’re not prepared for that reality, it can cause unwanted stress if you hope to make a good return with your investment in the event you want to rent out your apartment and gain passive income. If you’re going to buy an apartment or a house, be sure it’s primarily for you to have a place of residence and not a cash cow.”
Torre Monarca is Dr. Bross’ latest Mexico City development. (Torre Monarca)
Now, with the recent protests in Mexico City against gentrification, Dr. Bross’s honest advice rings true. And he also argues that Mexico is a victim of its own success due to the way it built up neighborhoods like Condesa, Roma Norte and Coyoacán to be great places to call home, only to encounter unexpected issues due to the high costs of living that developed there.
However, Mexico City’s architecture community is still thriving in modern times and bringing forth new and exciting masterpieces that’ll likely continue to build on its polycentric reality and help maintain Mexico City’s creative heartbeat.
Torre Monarca, Dr. Bross’s latest project in Mexico City, is a residential building in the Polanco neighborhood, located in front of the Canadian embassy. It’s designed to represent the monarch butterflies found in Chapultepec Park and to give each tenant their own unique sense of place in the capital, whether they live on the top or bottom floor. It’s also meant to integrate tenants with Chapultepec Park, one of Mexico City’s most important sites.
Torre Monarca, which Dr. Bross hopes will become an urban landmark, is one of several projects being planned every day that aspire to feed into Mexico City’s cultural makeup. This constant aspiration is the reason I believe Mexico City is a notable standout in modern architecture and will continue to attract expats and inspire everyday people all over the world.
Ian Ostroff is an indie author, journalist and copywriter from Montreal, Canada. You can find his work in various outlets, including Map Happy and The Suburban. When he’s not writing, you can find Ian at the gym, a café or somewhere in Mexico visiting family and friends.
With the Maya Train passenger rail network complete, the government is now building a freight network using some of the same infrastructure. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The freight service of the Maya Train in the Yucatan Peninsula is expected to be up and running by the end of 2026, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week.
“It will be two years of construction, in 2025 and 2026,” stated Sheinbaum at her Wednesday press conference. “We hope to be inaugurating at the end of 2026.”
During the press conference, General Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo Suárez, director of the Felipe Ángeles Engineering Contingent, discussed the progress of the freight project.
The Maya Train’s passenger service has been wholly operational since July 7, with 34 stations across the Yucatan covering 1,554 kilometers. Meanwhile, work on a Maya Train freight network commenced in April and is expected to be completed by November next year.
The freight network will include four main transfer terminals: Palenque, Poxilá, Progreso and Cancún.
Military engineers plan to rehabilitate 70 kilometers of railway, starting in the city of Mérida, to connect local industry with the existing Maya Tren railway line. The line will then be extended to Yucatán’s main port of Progreso to facilitate cargo transportation.
General Ricardo Vallejo, leads the group of army engineers tasked with building the Maya Train freight network. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
The military is developing the Progreso Multimodal Cargo Terminal in collaboration with port authorities, the state government and the Maya Train group, to prepare to launch operations in late 2026, Vallejo said.
The Maya Train will eventually connect with the national railway network, he said, allowing for freight to move from Mexico’s northern borders to Chetumal and Cancún in the south.
The team is also working with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) to excavate archaeological relics encountered along the route.
Vallejo stressed the importance of environmental protection, saying his team plans to relocate tree and wildlife species to protected natural areas.
“It is complicated in terms of its topography,” said Vallejo. “Every day, we move more than 15,000 cubic meters of materials.”
Vallejo said the resources, permits, personnel and machinery are ready to commence works across the freight network. Project progress stands at approximately 5%, he said, with greater progress expected once the INAH completes its preservation work.
Dancers perform at the first of the two Lunes del Cerro (Monday on the Hill) events around which Guelaguetza is organized. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
The 92nd edition of Oaxaca’s famous Guelaguetza festival has officially commenced, bringing to the state a wide range of events that showcase traditional dance, music and folklore.
The week-long festival originated from a Zapotec ritual known as Daninayaaloani or Hill of the Beautiful View, in honor of Centéotl, the corn goddess. As part of this ritual, people gathered to share offerings, eat food and dance over eight days.
On Sunday, actors performed “Donají, the Legend,” which recounts the love story between the Mixtec prince Nucano and the Zapotec princess Donají.
After the Spanish conquest, the festival transformed into a Catholic celebration, honoring the Virgin of Carmen. It has long been celebrated on the two Mondays closest to the Catholic Day of our Lady of Carmen on July 16 and has gradually evolved into the Guelaguetza festival.
Monday marks the first Lunes del Cerro (Monday on the Hill) of the festival, set to take place at the Guelaguetza Auditorium. It can be watched via the Oaxacan Radio and Television Corporation (CORTV) broadcast or Guelaguetza’s social media.
Lunes del Cerro showcases performances from across Oaxaca’s eight regions. Regional bands and dancers from the Central Valleys, the Sierra Norte, La Cañada, Tuxtepec, Mixteca, the Coast, the Sierra Sur and the Isthmus will perform in traditional costumes.
At the end of each performance, Indigenous communities typically offer regional handicrafts, fruits, ceramics and other local products to the audience.
Oaxaca city expects to attract 139,000 tourists throughout July, with Guelaguetza running from July 21-28, with the second Monday on the Hill taking place on July 28.
However, celebrations for La Guelaguetza will take place throughout the whole of July, including food fairs, parades, musical concerts, dance performances and visual arts exhibitions.
Guelaguetza 2025: Diosa Centéotl (21 de julio 10am)
Some of the best places to enjoy the festivities include Zimatlán, Teotitlán del Valle and Cuilápam de Guerrero.
Funds will contribute to Oaxaca’s hurricane recovery
In a social media post, Jara announced the creation of a Guelaguetza fund, with all ticket sales from the festival’s two Mondays on the Hill being redirected to hurricane clean-up efforts.
In addition to the 40 million pesos (US $2.1 million) expected from Guelaguetza’s profits, the state government will also redirect profits from Oaxaca’s Mezcal Fair, which takes place from July 18-29.
The second Mexico City anti-gentrification protest in just over two weeks took place in the southern borough of Tlalpan, with World Cup speculators one of the targets.
(Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)
For the second time in just over two weeks, Mexico City was the scene of an anti-gentrification protest march that turned violent. And once again, the vandalism appeared to be carried out by interlopers who were not members of the groups that organized the protest.
President Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday denounced the vandalism, singling out for condemnation the burning of books at the national university.
“The only people who have ever burned books are fascists,” she said. “There may be legitimate demands, but burning books in an educational institution must be condemned.”
Sunday’s protesters, marching in the southern Mexico City borough of Tlalpan, railed against real estate speculation ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The location of the march was selected to defend the neighborhoods in the vicinity of Banorte Stadium, the monumental stadium formerly known as Azteca Stadium that will host five World Cup matches next year.
Organizers and local residents said they fear that realtors and developers will seek to upgrade property for moneyed visitors attending the World Cup. They also criticized the environmental damage construction and renovations in the area could cause.
One target of their ire was the so-called Fuentes Brotantes megaproject, a large housing development in Tlalpan being built by the Graus Arquitectura construction company in the Santa Úrsula Xitla neighborhood, a pueblo originario (original town).
A pueblo originario is a pre-Columbian settlement that has maintained its social, historical and political characteristics, and is formally recognized as such by the Mexico City government.
Last November, borough authorities temporarily halted the Fuentes Brotantes project but Sunday’s protesters demanded that the project be permanently canceled.
Sunday’s protesters also demanded affordable housing, denounced displacement from their homes by developers and wealthy outsiders and rejected the “accelerated touristification” of residential neighborhoods.
Some participants held signs decrying government policies “that serve the interests of capitalism” and effectively price students and young adults out of certain neighborhoods. Others chanted slogans such as “This is not development, it is eviction.”
According to Global Property Guide, Mexico City’s housing market “remains dynamic, with residential prices continuing to rise due to constrained supply in central neighborhoods and growing interest from both domestic and international buyers.”
Protesters have also charged that professionals and freelancers who work remotely for non-Mexican employers or clients have caused rents to climb, pricing longtime residents out of their neighborhoods.
En que mundo destruir librerías y museos ayuda a resolver los conflictos, en que mundo destruir obras de arte que representan quienes somos nos salvara de la gentrificación! Hoy más que nunca me dueles México. Somos mejor que esto! #MUAC#JulioTorri#UNAM@UNAM_MX#CDMXpic.twitter.com/JU9c359FPy
Despite a heavy police presence, vandals smashed glass partitions at Metrobus stations along the protest route, broke windows and spray-painted graffiti on the walls of a museum on the grounds of the National Autonomous University (UNAM) before raiding a nearby campus library and burning books.
Protest organizers distanced themselves from the vandals, many of whom dressed in black and wore masks. They also pointed out that the vandals were not wearing orange bracelets which were handed out to registered participants of the march.
A July 4 anti-gentrification protest targeted popular neighborhoods in central Mexico City where many foreign residents live and many foreign tourists stay. Some instances of xenophobic rhetoric accompanied that protest.
On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy issued a security alert ahead of Sunday’s protest, warning that in addition to the vandalism that occurred on July 4, some protesters “threw rocks at people perceived to be foreigners.”
