The arrest of Gabriel Martínez came a week after a nephew of "El Chapo" was detained in the northern border city of Nogales, Sonora. (Defense Ministry)
Federal authorities announced on Tuesday the arrest of an alleged Sinaloa Cartel figure who is said to be linked to the abduction and murder in Sinaloa of 10 employees of Canadian mining company Vizsla Silver.
The Ministry of National Defense (Defensa) and the federal government’s Security Cabinet announced that Gabriel “N” — identified in media reports as Gabriel Nicolás Martínez Larios — was detained on Monday in Rosario, a municipality in Sinaloa south of Mazatlán.
En una acción coordinada en El Rosario, Sinaloa, elementos de @Defensamx1, @GN_MEXICO_ y autoridades estatales detuvieron a Gabriel “N”, alias “Gabito”, identificado como generador de violencia y jefe regional de la facción “Los Menores”.
— Gabinete de Seguridad de México (@GabSeguridadMX) June 2, 2026
The Mexican Army, the National Guard and Sinaloa state police were involved in the operation to detain Martínez, known as “Gabito” and “El 80.”
Defensa said in a statement that he is considered the “regional boss” of the “Menores” faction of the Pacific Cartel, as the Sinaloa Cartel is also known. The “Menores” faction of the Sinaloa Cartel is another name for the “Chapitos” faction, led by sons of convicted drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera.
According to Defensa, Martínez allegedly led the Menores in several municipalities in southern Sinaloa, including Concordia, the municipality where 10 Vizsla Silver employees were abducted in January. Nine of the 10 workers have been found dead.
Martínez “is considered a close collaborator and friend” of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, one of El Chapo’s sons, Defensa said.
The ministry also said that he is “one of the main generators of violence in the southern area of the state of Sinaloa.”
He is under investigation for kidnapping, homicide and drug trafficking, and is linked to the kidnapping and homicide of “six workers and four suppliers of a mining company in the state of Sinaloa,” Defensa said.
Vizsla Silver has referred to the 10 abducted workers as “colleagues.” Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said in February that four alleged members of the Chapitos who were arrested in connection with the abduction told authorities that the victims were mistaken for members of a rival cartel faction.
The Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that security forces seized weapons, ammunition, drugs, cash and a vehicle from Martínez, who was turned over to the Federal Attorney General’s Office in Culiacán, the state capital of Sinaloa.
The arrest of Martínez came a week after a nephew of Guzmán Loera was detained in the northern border city of Nogales, Sonora. Isaí Martínez Cepeda — who reportedly worked for the Chapitos — is wanted on drug trafficking charges in the United States.
U.S. prosecutors accuse Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rucha Moya of colluding with the Chapitos on a drug trafficking conspiracy. Nine other current and former Sinaloa-based officials, including the mayor of Culiacán and a federal senator with the ruling Morena party, were also accused of drug trafficking in the same indictment that was unsealed in late April. Two former Sinaloa government cabinet ministers turned themselves in to U.S. authorities last month, but the eight other defendants, including Rocha, have not been detained by Mexican authorities, who have asked their U.S. counterparts for more proof.
Playa del Carmen officials, whose beach is considered one of the top LGBTQ+ destinations in Mexico, say the motive behind the free wedding policy is to “foster equality, inclusion and respect for the human rights of all people.” (Shutterstock)
Playa del Carmen will mark Pride Month by providing free same-sex marriages and gender-identity paperwork, expanding benefits from prior years as inclusion efforts intensify in Quintana Roo.
The City Council last week approved a 100% subsidy on municipal fees for collective same-sex weddings in June, though not for standard unions at city hall. Collective ceremonies will be held in June, and couples must pre-register.
The 100% discount for June weddings applies only to collective weddings, which are popular across Mexico, for both gay and straight marriages. (Unsplash)
Additionally, the city is waiving 100% of municipal fees for legal gender identity recognition certificates through Dec. 31, 2026, a process that allows people to update their official documents so their name and gender markers match their lived identity.
Playa del Carmen officials said the measures aim to “foster equality, inclusion and respect for the human rights of all people.”
Couples who want to join the collective nuptials in Playa del Carmen must sign up with the civil registry, which coordinates mass wedding events that can bring dozens of pairs to the same ceremony.
Activists say such subsidies matter even in a country where same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, because fees and paperwork can pose barriers for lower-income couples and trans people seeking to update their documents.
All the players made the trip, but an assistant coach, the team doctor, the head of security and one analyst were still sorting out visa issues in South Africa. (@BafanaBafana/X)
After resolving visa issues that made them “look like fools,” the South African men’s soccer team arrived in Mexico on Tuesday, two days later than planned.
The Bafana Bafana had been due to leave on a charter flight for their training base in Pachuca on Sunday, but that was delayed while the South African Football Association (SAFA) sorted out the paperwork required to obtain U.S. visas.
Also on Tuesday, Televisa journalists Julio Ibáñez and Daniel García were released from custody in South Africa and are expected to fly home Wednesday. The two men were arrested in Johannesburg on March 18 for allegedly using a drone in an area where such devices are restricted.
Visa debacle criticized
South Africa’s sports minister Gayton McKenzie slammed SAFA for the snafu that forced the postponement of the national team’s travel to Mexico. The Bafana Bafana are scheduled to play a friendly match on Friday against Jamaica in their final warm-up ahead of the inaugural World Cup match against host Mexico on June 11.
All the players made the trip, but an assistant coach, the team doctor, the head of security and one analyst were still sorting out visa issues in South Africa.
SAFA had announced on Sunday that the team had been forced to postpone their travel plans due to “challenges regarding visas” for some players and officials.
The visas in question were U.S. visas as the Bafana Bafana play their second group-stage match in Atlanta, Georgia, and the issue had to be resolved before departing South Africa.
This infuriated McKenzie, who, in a social media post, called the visa debacle “grossly unfair towards the players [and] coaching staff.” The sports minister demanded an investigation and called for punishment to be meted out to “those responsible for this mess.”
This @SAFA_net travel & visa debacle is embarrassing & grossly unfair towards the players & coaching staff. I have informed @SAFA_net that I need a report and action must be taken against those responsible for this mess. We are being made to look like fools.
McKenzie also shut down criticism of the U.S. Embassy in a second post, thanking embassy personnel for “bending over backwards” to help, insisting that “[t]he fault is entirely on our side, and making statements against the US staffers is not helping the situation for future applications.”
Televisa journalists coming home after dubious legal dispute
While the South Africa team was settling into its Pachuca headquarters, Ibáñez and García were preparing to return to Mexico after a judge terminated the legal process against them.
The two journalists have now recovered their passports after nearly 11 weeks in custody, which included five days in prison beginning on March 24. Since then, they had been held in house arrest in a Johannesburg Airbnb.
“Our colleagues will arrive in Mexico tomorrow to reunite with their families,” Televisa said in a statement. “We thank the Mexican authorities for their support during this unfortunate process, which has finally concluded.”
In the 20-second video, Ibáñez can be seen asking fearfully, “What’s happening?” and the live stream abruptly ends, leaving viewers uncertain about what happened.
The journalists were originally accused of terrorism and espionage, but those charges were dropped on March 27. They subsequently were held on the grounds that their immigration status in South Africa was irregular, but these charges were later amended before the entire case was dropped this week.
The CNTE’s current encampment along 20 de Noviembre Street followed the protesters’ failed attempt to enter and set up a sit-in within the Zócalo on Monday. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s militant teachers’ union, the CNTE, has set up a protest camp within blocks of Mexico City’s Zócalo — Latin America’s largest public square — where the FIFA World Cup Fan Fest is under construction.
With just nine days ahead of the tournament’s inaugural match on June 11, the group has escalated their public displays of dissatisfaction. On Tuesday, protesting teachers again blockaded Reforma Avenue, this time knocking down and vandalizing statues of soccer players made for the World Cup.
On Tuesday, the CNTE left its mark on World Cup statues that had been set up on Reforma Avenue on May 18. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The CNTE’s current encampment along 20 de Noviembre Street followed the protesters’ failed attempt to enter and set up a sit-in within the Zócalo on Monday.
“We will win this fight no matter what it takes,” protesters could be heard chanting as they tried to bring down metal barriers protecting the entrance to the Plaza de la Constitución, the Zócalo’s official name.
“It’s going to fall, it’s going to fall… that fence is going to fall!” they cried.
In addition to the still-standing metal barriers, the public square is also guarded by hundreds of police officers due to the ongoing presence of the militant teachers, who have dubbed the World Cup “the bourgeoisie’s party.”
“This event will have to be suspended,” union leader Filiberto Frausto told AFP during the protest. “A cause like ours should be far above; it’s far more important than a bit of distraction and fun,” Frausto said, referring to the soccer tournament.
In the aftermath of Monday’s protests, the CNTE reported two injured teachers: one struck in the cheek with a metal rod and the other at risk of losing his eye after being hit by fragments of an explosive device.
Mexico City police have stated that they did not use rubber bullets or firecrackers.
The CNTE on Tuesday blocked the intersection of Reforma and Insurgentes, one of Mexico City’s most transited areas. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Monday’s demonstration was called by a dissident group from the CNTE with a history of disruptive protests, which has threatened to summon “millions” of teachers to the capital during the World Cup if their demands are not satisfied by the Mexican government.
When asked about Monday’s clashes between policemen and teachers, President Sheinbaum said that teachers have the right to protest peacefully and urged them to heed the calls from the Education Ministry to engage in dialogue and move forward with their demands. According to Sheinbaum, talks with CNTE representatives were scheduled for Tuesday, though an agreement has yet to be reached.
Meanwhile, the CNTE’s tactics are gaining more attention by the hour as international press corps arrive in Mexico to cover the World Cup. This afternoon, the president was forced to move a meeting with Spain’s Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo online due to Tuesday’s blockade. Cuerpo and his team, who are currently in Mexico City, were unable to safely travel to the National Palace, according to the EFE news agency.
As hurricane season officially begins in the Pacific, two early storm systems that could become Hurricanes Amanda and Boris are being monitored off Mexico's west coast.
(Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
As hurricane season in western Mexico begins, forecasters are monitoring two weather systems off Mexico’s Pacific Coast with the potential to transform into the first two hurricanes of the year, Amanda and Boris.
According to the National Water Commission (Conagua) and the National Meteorological Service (SMN), Amanda corresponds to a low-pressure area located southwest of the Baja California peninsula. The probability of cyclonic development is high — 90% in the next seven days — but it is already located 2,225 kilometers away from Mexico’s coastline and moving further out to sea at 16 kilometers per hour. Forecasters at the SMN say that even if it were to grow into a hurricane, it would not pose a risk to the country.
(1) The low-pressure zone southwest of the Baja Peninsula’s west coast is expected to increase in intensity soon, but it is moving farther out to sea and SMN officials say it poses no threat to the Mexican mainland. (2) The other low-pressure zone off the southwest coast is closer to land but has a much lower chance of cyclonic development. (SMN/Conagua)
Boris, on the other hand, has a lower probability of becoming a hurricane (40%). However, if it does form, which would be off the coast of Guerrero, Oaxaca or Chiapas, it would represent a higher risk due to its closer proximity to Mexican shores.
Conagua predicts above-average activity in the Pacific for this year’s hurricane season, and near or below the historical average in the Atlantic. That translates to between 18 and 21 tropical cyclones in the Pacific and between 11 and 15 hurricanes in the Atlantic.
Meteorologists will pay special attention to the Pacific, as the El Niño weather pattern is likely to form over the summer. This natural phenomenon causes anomalies in the water’s surface temperature that directly influence the global climate and the formation of hurricanes.
Weather forecast for Tuesday
The SMN forecasts significant rainfall in eastern and southeastern Mexico, and in parts of central Mexico, associated with a low-pressure system and other atmospheric conditions.
The rainfall forecast for Tuesday:
Intense rainfall (75 to 150 millimeters) in parts of Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Chiapas.
Very heavy rainfall (50 to 75 millimeters) in parts of Jalisco, Michoacán, Morelos, Guerrero, Campeche and Yucatán.
Heavy rainfall (25 to 50 millimeters) in Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Colima, México state, Tlaxcala and Quintana Roo.
Showers (5 to 25 millimeters) in Chihuahua, Durango, Nayarit, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Hidalgo.
Also of note at today's mañanera were Sheinbaum's remarks about a soon-to-be-signed agreement between Mexico's state oil company Pemex and its Brazilian counterpart Petrobras. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
🇺🇸 US ambassador told to respect Mexico’s internal affairs: After Sheinbaum’s speech on Sunday denouncing U.S. intervention in Mexico, Ron Johnson posted on X that the fight against cartels “should unite us, not divide us.” Sheinbaum said she agreed on the need for collaboration, but stressed that ambassadors must stick to bilateral issues and stay out of domestic politics. “Mexico’s affairs correspond to Mexicans,” she said.
🛢️ Pemex-Petrobras deal could be signed this month: Sheinbaum said the Brazilian state oil company brings unique deep-water expertise that could help identify additional reserves in already-exploited fields. She stopped short of endorsing Carlos Slim’s claim that Mexico’s oil production could rise by up to 1 million barrels per day.
🪧 CNTE clash blamed on outside provocateurs: On Monday’s confrontation between teachers union members and police in Mexico City’s historic center, Sheinbaum said she doesn’t believe actual teachers were behind the provocation. Federal-CNTE talks were set to continue Tuesday, with union demands including a 100% pay rise and repeal of the 2019 education reform.
Why today’s mañanera matters
President Claudia Sheinbaum’s most significant remarks at her Tuesday morning press conference were directed to U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson.
Sheinbaum effectively called on the ambassador to stay in his lane after he took to social media and made a thinly veiled criticism of remarks she made during an address at a large rally in Mexico City on Sunday.
During her speech at the rally — held to mark the second anniversary of Sheinbaum’s election — the president railed against U.S. interference in Mexican affairs in light of the CIA’s alleged participation in a drug lab raid in Chihuahua in April and U.S. prosecutors’ request for the arrest of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and various other current and former officials accused of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Also of note at today’s mañanera were Sheinbaum’s remarks about a soon-to-be-signed agreement between Mexico’s state oil company Pemex and its Brazilian counterpart Petrobras.
Sheinbaum calls on US ambassador to respect Mexico’s ‘internal affairs’
A reporter noted that there have been “reactions” to the “forceful” and “powerful” speech Sheinbaum delivered on Sunday, including from some of those who were “targets of this message.”
He then read out the message that U.S. Ambassador Johnson posted to social media on Monday.
On X, Johnson wrote: “The fight against cartels should unite us, not divide us. People on both sides of our border want to live safely and in peace. They deserve freedom from the intimidation, corruption, and fear that the cartels inflict. Every moment spent turning this shared security challenge into a political dispute is a missed opportunity to strengthen our partnership and protect the people we serve.”
Sheinbaum said that her government agrees with part of the ambassador’s message “because we have to work together when we have shared problems.”
“One of those is obviously violence caused by organized crime, and on that, as we have always said, we seek collaboration and coordination in order to be able to make progress together — they act in their territory and we act in … [our] territory,” she said.
Sheinbaum subsequently stressed that “it’s important for ambassadors to stick to the issue of coordination and collaboration.”
“Ambassadors have to be respectful of a country’s internal matters,” she said.
“Our ambassador in the United States, our ambassador in France, our ambassadors in any place in the world — Australia, India — don’t offer opinions on a country’s political issues because our constitution clearly establishes [the right to] self-determination … and respect and non-intervention, ” Sheinbaum said.
“We have to also remember that it’s important for the [U.S.] ambassador to stick to bilateral issues and to respect the internal affairs of our country because Mexico’s affairs correspond to Mexicans,” she said.
Petrobras-Pemex agreement could be signed this month
A reporter asked the president about billionaire businessman Carlos Slim’s assertion that Mexico could increase its oil production by up to 1 million barrels per day within two to three years thanks to private and public investment in new oil projects. “Would this be possible?” the reporter asked.
“We’re going to sign an agreement … with Petrobras,” Sheinbaum responded, referring to the Brazilian state-owned oil company.
“Why is this agreement important? Because Petrobras is an expert in exploration and production in deep water. And it’s also an expert in a technique that only they have,” she said, explaining that said technique makes it possible to determine whether there are additional oil reserves “at greater depths” in fields that have already been exploited.
“So I hope that this month we’re going to sign the agreement with Petrobras — Petrobras-Pemex — that will help Pemex with exploration and production,” said Sheinbaum.
Returning to the reporter’s question, Sheinbaum said that she didn’t know whether the agreement between Pemex and Petrobras would allow Mexico to increase daily oil production by 800,000 to 1 million barrels per day, as Slim claimed was possible.
“What we have to guarantee is the production of oil for the country — our internal use,” she said.
“… There are also environmental considerations,” Sheinbaum added.
“That’s why for electricity generation, we’re proposing to increase renewable sources of energy,” she said.
Sheinbaum comments on clash in CDMX historic center
“Yesterday I think there was a lot of provocation. The truth is I don’t think they are teachers those who caused the provocation,” she said.
Sheinbaum said that more talks between the federal government and the CNTE would take place on Tuesday.
“There is dialogue [and] that’s very important,” she said.
Teachers affiliated with the CNTE have been protesting in Mexico City, Oaxaca and elsewhere as they seek to pressure the government to meet their demands. Those demands include a 100% pay increase and the repeal of the 2019 education reform as well as the 2007 ISSSTE (State Workers’ Social Security Institute) Law, which changed their pension system and will leave them — they say — considerably worse off in retirement.
On Monday, Sheinbaum expressed confidence that progress will be made in talks with the CNTE even as she highlighted that “some” of the protesting teachers’ demands can’t be met for budgetary reasons.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
On Monday, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson posted a message on his X account that was clearly directed at President Claudia Sheinbaum, even though the ambassador didn't mention her by name. (Camila Ayala Benabib/Cuartoscuro)
On Monday, Johnson sent a different message via his X account, one clearly directed to President Claudia Sheinbaum, even though the ambassador didn’t mention her by name, as he often does in his social media posts.
The fight against cartels should unite us, not divide us. People on both sides of our border want to live safely and in peace. They deserve freedom from the intimidation, corruption, and fear that the cartels inflict. Every moment spent turning this shared security challenge…
— Embajador Ronald Johnson (@USAmbMex) June 1, 2026
“The fight against cartels should unite us, not divide us,” he wrote.
“People on both sides of our border want to live safely and in peace. They deserve freedom from the intimidation, corruption, and fear that the cartels inflict. Every moment spent turning this shared security challenge into a political dispute is a missed opportunity to strengthen our partnership and protect the people we serve.”
Sheinbaum is not happy that U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officers allegedly participated in a drug lab raid in the northern state of Chihuahua in April without the knowledge or authorization of her government. She has expressed her dissatisfaction with U.S. authorities for requesting the arrest and extradition of Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya and various other Sinaloa-based current and former officials without providing hard proof supporting the drug trafficking accusations against them. She has asserted that U.S. media reports claiming that the CIA was involved in a targeted assassination in Mexico are not only false, but part of an orchestrated international campaign against her government.
All this, Sheinbaum believes, amounts to U.S. meddling in Mexican affairs. All the while, she is forced to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s semi-regular threats to take unilateral action against Mexican cartels on Mexican soil.
At her rally speech on Sunday, Sheinbaum made her strongest statements yet against alleged U.S. interference in Mexico. Among them:
“The Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the National Security Law establish with precision that no foreign agent may carry out tasks that correspond exclusively to Mexican authorities. Whoever comes to our country must do so respecting our sovereignty, accrediting themselves in accordance with the law and subject to our regulations.”
“An office of the United States Department of Justice issued an urgent request for the arrest for extradition purposes of 10 Mexican citizens — including a sitting governor, a sitting mayor, and a sitting senator — without publicly presenting evidence to support the request. An action of that magnitude has no precedent in the history of our bilateral relationship.”
“We must ask — and it is a legitimate question: … [Does the U.S. have] a genuine, legitimate interest in helping Mexico? Is it a genuine commitment to combating organized crime? Or are we witnessing sectors of the American far right using our country to position themselves ahead of their 2026 elections? Or perhaps they intend to influence the 2027 elections in our country? These are not rhetorical questions.”
“Let it be heard loud and clear, Mexico doesn’t accept interference. We are a free, independent and sovereign country.”
Mexico “is not anyone’s piñata,” President Claudia Sheinbaum declared during a rally on Sunday. (Hazel Cárdenas/Presidencia)
Johnson’s social media post on Monday indicates that he believes that Sheinbaum is creating a “political dispute” between Mexico and the United States by denouncing alleged U.S. interference in Mexican affairs. The ambassador evidently thinks — or at least publicly indicates — that the issues the Mexican president spoke about on Sunday, and has been speaking about for weeks, should not be an impediment to the additional strengthening of a bilateral security cooperation that he himself has described as “historic.”
For Sheinbaum, things are not that simple. While she said on Sunday that security cooperation with the United States would continue, the president evidently feels she cannot ignore, or even downplay, U.S. actions that she sees as violations of Mexican law, the Mexican Constitution and Mexican sovereignty, and/or blatant examples of U.S. interference. She frequently vows to stand up for Mexico and the Mexican people — no matter what — and with her words on Sunday, she did that emphatically.
“Strongest rhetoric I can remember hearing from Sheinbaum,” Brian Winter, a political analyst and editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly, wrote on X.
Sheinbaum responds to Johnson
At her Tuesday morning press conference, Sheinbaum took the opportunity to respond to Johnson, a former Green Beret and CIA officer to whom the Mexican government sent a protest note after the CIA’s alleged participation in the security operation in Chihuahua in April came to light.
She said that her government agrees with part of the ambassador’s social media message “because we have to work together when we have shared problems.”
“One of those is obviously violence caused by organized crime, and on that, as we have always said, we seek collaboration and coordination in order to be able to make progress together — they act in their territory and we act in … [our] territory,” she said.
Sheinbaum subsequently stressed that “it’s important for ambassadors to stick to the issue of coordination and collaboration.”
“Ambassadors have to be respectful of a country’s internal matters,” she said, making it clear that she believes that Johnson had overstepped the mark.
“Our ambassador in the United States, our ambassador in France, our ambassadors in any place in the world — Australia, India — don’t offer opinions on a country’s political issues because our constitution clearly establishes [the right to] self-determination … and respect and non-intervention, ” Sheinbaum said.
“We have to also remember that it’s important for the [U.S.] ambassador to stick to bilateral issues and to respect the internal affairs of our country because Mexico’s affairs correspond to Mexicans,” she added.
Mennonite deforestation in Mexico has led to government fines in communities where illegal logging operations have been found, such as in Quintana Roo. (Ale Escárcega/Wikimedia Commons)
Coakee William Wildcat of the Oklahoma Seminole Nation, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Mother Tree Food and Forest, works in agroecology restoration around the U.S.–Mexico borderlands, combining progressive ecosystem restoration methodology and ancestral traditions. Among the issues that concern him the most are those of the Mennonites in Mexico.
“We have Mennonites buying up all the Indigenous land on the Mexican side (of the Mexico-U.S. border) and displacing all the Indigenous peoples,” he said. “And they are doing the most destructive agriculture imaginable.”
A Mennonite family in Campeche. Mennonite communities have existed in Mexico since 1922. (Adam Jones, Ph.D/Wikimedia Common)
The Mennonites’ origins
Following the teachings of the 16th-century Dutch priest Menno Simons, the most conservative Mennonites live in the countryside based on an ancestral understanding that living far away from the center of society means evil can be better controlled.
While cars and mobile phones are used by some Mennonite communities, most conservative communes’ way of life is far from the typical understanding of modernity: horse‑drawn transport, wooden houses and no electricity.
This doesn’t exactly suggest environmental destruction. But the reality of Mennonite agriculture in Mexico is more complicated and includes bulldozers, rule‑breaking, burning and extreme deforestation, all bound up in the realities of Indigenous ethnic persecution.
The Mennonites are an Anabaptist religious group that formed in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation in Central Europe. Yet today, two‑thirds of Anabaptists live in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Persecution toward Anabaptists came in multiple forms, often a result of tensions between Catholic and Protestant officials and Anabaptist practices, including a refusal to baptize until adulthood or to involve themselves physically or financially in violence and wars. This caused the Mennonites to flee to North America in the 1700s.
A Mennonite cultural center in Cuauhtémoc, Chihuahua. Cuauhtémoc is home to both traditional and progressive Mennonite factions. (L8stbefore/Wikimedia Commons)
Mennonite roots in Latin America
The Mennonites reached Mexico in 1922, a popular destination as President Álvaro Obregón allowed the Mennonites to buy land and promised no obligation to military service, as well as total autonomy to practice religion and religious education without interference.
Obregón stated that “it is the most ardent desire of this government to provide favorable conditions to colonists such as Mennonites who love order, lead moral lives and are industrious.”
The settling of the Mennonites in the 1920s and 1930s clashed with the formalization of the ejido system during this period — part of the post-Revolutionary agrarian reforms that promised property to landless people, namely Indigenous groups and those with historical ties to the land.
Mennonites and Mexico’s ejido system
Much of the land claimed by the Mennonites was taken away from agraristas — local agrarian activists — thus undermining the spatial and political rights of that were fought over during the Mexican Revolution.
The Mennonites’ purchase of what is now the Nuevo Ideal Colony resulted in the closing and reopening of Mennonite schools as the government navigated rightful land claims, often favoring what it saw as the economic benefits of the Mennonites over its ideological stance in support of ejidos.
Mennonites in Nuevo Ideal, Durango, once the site of numerous rival land claims by campesinos. (Facebook)
Rapid industrialization and urbanization during the 1940s and the growth of their colonies saw increasing land given to Mennonite communities, with many locals forced off their property. Rural Mexicans organized protests, as well as a government‑aligned national union and the independent Central Campesina Independiente (CCI).
While Indigenous claims sometimes resulted in Mennonite land being redistributed into ejidos, the overarching pattern was capitalist expansion of Mennonite colonies, a form of colonization that pushed rural communities off their land. Later, legislation in 1992 helped facilitate the development and sale of previously protected forest land.
Younger generations within more liberal factions are increasingly integrated within their sociocultural surroundings: They learn Spanish and marry interculturally. But through religious worship, language, labor, gastronomic practices, clothing, family and gendered organization and the sharing of oral lore, the Mennonites continue to preserve their identity.
A Mennonite family in Campeche in the Yucatán Peninsula. (Adam Jones, Ph.D./Wikimedia Commons)
In a bid to preserve a traditional lifestyle, some Cuauhtémoc Mennonites banned women and children from learning Spanish and integrating with local Indigenous and Mexican communities.
God’s will is that humans control nature
The Mennonites are part of a wider systemic issue in Mexico of cultural erosion through trade liberalization, land reforms and the capitalization and mechanization of agriculture. Their arrival coincided with the rise of Latin American developmentalism, where the transformation of “virgin” lands for productive means was favored by governments across the region. This suited the Mennonites’ understanding that it is God’s will for humans to control and utilize nature.
Last year, the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) began filing criminal complaints against Mennonite communities and shut down seven properties in response to the illegal razing of more than 2,600 hectares of forest in the Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo. The agency seized timber, three tractors and a variety of agricultural equipment.
In the Piedras Negras ejido in José María Morelos, native rainforest was reported to be illegally removed, with the natural vegetation in San Diego Buenavista in Tekax being felled, burned and replaced by leveled ground.
The Maya Forest is a critical carbon sink and home to up to 400 bird species, 100 mammal species and endangered jaguars. Global Forest Watch has warned that each year a Dallas‑sized chunk of the forest is disappearing, threatening biodiversity, groundwater stores and ecosystem health. While a handful of Mennonite communities agreed to halt deforestation in response to government requests, not all agreed.
The Maya Forest is losing 80,000 hectares of tree cover every year to agricultural incursions. (Nature Conservancy)
Upwards of 1.5 million hectares of tree cover were lost in the states of the Maya Forest (Quintana Roo, Campeche and Yucatán) between 2001 and 2018, causing a shortening of the rainy season and affecting planting schedules.
In Bacalar, Mennonite deforestation has resulted in the El Bajío ejido changing from primarily rainforest to expanses of agricultural lands, due to the influx of Mennonites and their mechanized agricultural practices since 2000. Illegal logging, monoculture practices and deforestation threaten local ejidatarios’ livelihoods and block access to their travel by horseback.
In March 2017, the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection and the Mexican Navy reported unauthorized logging on 1,445 hectares of forested land. Despite Mennonites and the ejido authorities of Paraíso and El Bajío being penalized with a fine of 10,266,640 Mexican pesos (around US $500,000), harmful deforestation continues to take place.
Global Forest Watch’s satellite data has exhibited the increasing expansion of large‑scale agriculture and forest clearing in Bacalar in 2022 and 2023, such as in the Blanca Flor, San Fernando, Paraíso, El Bajío and Salamanca ejidos. A Mennonite representative claimed the new colony was a necessary response due to a shortage of space for Bolivian settlers and that they were granted permission by the Program for the Certification of Ejido Rights and Land Titling to establish their own ejido.
Since its establishment in 2005 by the Mennonites, the Salamanca ejido experienced a loss of 4,600 of its 5,000 hectares of rainforest by 2012, and three additional Mennonite settlements have since been established nearby.
Cultural erosion of Indigenous peoples
Mennonite settlers in Bacalar and their agricultural methods are threatening traditional Maya practices of beekeeping. (Bel Woodhouse)
By settling in Bacalar, Mennonites threaten the Blanca Flor Maya community’s beekeeping practices. Campeche Mennonites’ use of genetically modified soy crops and the weed killer glyphosate also threatens Maya bee colonies and milpas more widely.
Medicinal plants and Indigenous farming practices involving crop rotation are widely jeopardized, as are their non-hybrid native crops when contaminated by Mennonite agrochemicals used for hybrid crops, such as those provided by the pharmaceutical company Bayer.
Critically, the Mennonites have reportedly used Indigenous labor to bolster their commercial means and agricultural expansion. Additionally, many Mennonites have been imposing their value systems onto Indigenous peoples in Mexico through agriculture, education, language and labor, reflecting claims to cultural and ethnic superiority through missions to “civilize” Indigenous peoples.
What’s next?
There are, of course, conflicting points of view, and while seeking to comprehend the marginalization of Indigenous peoples, it is also important not to overlook either their agency and self‑determination or ongoing and future opportunities for peaceful collaboration with Mennonite colonies.
The situation in Mexico’s borderlands and southern states reflects a broader, unresolved tension between land rights, cultural survival and agricultural expansion that has defined the region for centuries. For Indigenous communities — Maya beekeepers, milpa farmers and ejidatarios alike — the stakes are not abstract: they are measured in disappearing forests, contaminated crops and eroded traditions. At the same time, the Mennonites themselves remain a people shaped by their own history of persecution and displacement, a complexity that resists simple vilification.
What is clear, however, is that meaningful resolution will require enforceable environmental protections, genuine recognition of Indigenous land rights and a willingness from all parties — including the Mexican government, which has long favored economic development over ecological and cultural preservation — to reckon honestly with who bears the cost of agricultural progress and who has always been asked to bear it most.
A big picture overview of tourism in Los Cabos in 2026 shows some interesting trends. (Grand Fiesta Americana)
It has been a strange year for tourism in Los Cabos. After starting the year well, the number of international visitors arriving by air dipped significantly below expectations in both March and April: down 7.1% and 9.7% relative to 2025 numbers for those months, respectively. To make matters worse, as noted last month, domestic arrivals have been slipping with disheartening regularity since last summer.
What’s strange is that the number of tourists coming to Los Cabos this year hasn’t dropped overall. That’s because Mexico’s Pacific Coast ports are in the middle of an unprecedented cruise ship boom. In 2025, Ensenada, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta — the top Pacific Coast ports — all posted record numbers, and all finished the year with over one million passenger arrivals.
Cabo San Lucas has never been more popular as a cruise ship destination than it has been during the last two years. (Norwegian Cruise Line)
A balancing of numbers
Last year may have been a record year for cruise ship passengers in Cabo San Lucas, but that record won’t last long. That’s because the 2026 numbers logged have been staggering. Through April, Cabo San Lucas has welcomed 158 cruise ships so far this year, carrying 597,981 passengers. For the same period last year — again, 2025 was a record year — the destination received 102 ships with 355,707 passengers. So the number of ships is up 54.9%, and the number of passengers is up over 68%.
These astonishing figures help balance the disappointing air arrivals so far this year, which, through April, are down 2.9% for international visitors and 3.9% for international and domestic visitors combined. In sheer numbers, Los Cabos is down about 107,000 tourists this year. That’s by air. Meanwhile, via cruise ship, it’s up over 242,000 this year. That’s a net positive, right?
Not at all. That type of math doesn’t work in reality because the value of tourists who fly to Los Cabos is worth so many times more than those who arrive via cruise ships.
An imbalance of value
On a recent Sunday, when two cruise ships were at anchor in Cabo San Lucas Bay, I walked through the downtown area and saw very few tourists. Puzzled by this, I called a source knowledgeable about local cruise ship matters. “That’s because so few of them are actually getting off the ship,” he told me. Are they scared? I asked. “No, just cheap.”
In 2026, the average cruise ship arriving in Cabo San Lucas carries 3,785 passengers. There’s no data available on how many stay on the ship in port versus those who debark to enjoy shopping, dining and activities. But we do know that traditionally, the average cruise ship tourist is worth US $80 to $100 dollars to the local economy. Multiply that by 3,785 and the sum is certainly not negligible. Cruise ships do bring value that local business owners very much appreciate.
Los Cabos attracted 84% of all tourists who flew into Baja California Sur in 2025, with each tourist contributing thousands of dollars to the local economy through hotel rates and high-priced activities like golf, seen here at Puerto Los Cabos (Coldwell Banker Riveras).
But compare those tourists, who stay for a few hours, with those who arrive by air, and, according to the most recent data, stay for 4.7 days, and spend about US $2,000 on hotel rooms alone (As of January 2026, during the height of “high season,” the average hotel rate was US $499 per night). So, at a minimum, the average fly-in tourist is worth at least 20 times more in economic value than the average cruise ship tourist, and that’s not even counting what these airline brought visitors are spending on food, drinks, transportation and activities.
That’s why a surfeit of cruise ship tourists can never replace a dearth of fly-in tourists, no matter how many of the former there are, or how many records they break. And it’s why the Los Cabos Tourism Board (Fiturca) puts so much emphasis on the establishment of new air routes.
Courting the European tourism market
Just last week, Francisco Villaseñor, director of Los Cabos International Airport, told the Gringo Gazette that “tourism and airport officials are seeking a direct air connection between Los Cabos and Cancún as part of a broader strategy to attract more international travelers, particularly from Europe.”
Two weeks ago, a delegation of Los Cabos tourism officials and local hotel representatives led by Fiturca’s managing director, Rodrigo Esponda, was in Frankfurt, Germany, to attend IMEX Frankfurt, one of the world’s largest trade shows for the meetings, conferences and events industry. Frankfurt, not coincidentally, is where the only direct European flight to Los Cabos, from Condor Airlines, originates.
So while airline passenger numbers from the U.S. and within Mexico may have dipped in recent months, Los Cabos tourism officials are working to boost arrivals from other parts of the world, and also to position the destination as a stop on longer vacations for Europeans that may have begun elsewhere in Mexico, like Cancún. This kind of strategic thinking is why tourism to the destination in the long term, over the past decade, has been up an impressive 130%. It’s also why Los Cabos continues to dominate tourism within Baja California Sur, accounting for 3.8 million, or 84%, of the over 4.52 million tourists who flew into the state in 2025.
Famed for its tasting menus, Nemi Restaurante in La Paz has now been recognized by the Michelin Guide as a regional culinary standout. (Nemi/Instagram)
Michelin Guide joy in La Paz
The Michelin Guide’s latest selections for Mexico were announced on May 20, 2026. Los Cabos, home to one Michelin star at Cocina de Autor and 14 recommended restaurants, saw no new additions or subtractions. La Paz, however, the state capital, became the first destination in BCS outside Los Cabos and Todos Santos to host a restaurant worthy of the guide’s coveted recognition.
That’s Nemi Restaurante, helmed by chef Alejandro Villagómez, who worked for 10 years under acclaimed chef Enrique Olvera at Pujol in Mexico City — itself honored with two Michelin Guide stars — before opening his own restaurant in the historic heart of La Paz in October 2019. At Nemi, “the tasting menu focuses almost exclusively on the bounty of Baja California — though it also welcomes guests like French truffles —all perfectly paired with Mexican wines,” Michelin Guide, which awarded “recommended” status to the restaurant, notes.
Elsewhere around the Baja California peninsula, several new eateries were added to the Michelin Guide, including Comal Restaurante in Ensenada, and Amapola and Fireside in Valle de Guadalupe. Additionally, Damiana in Valle de Guadalupe, already the possessor of a coveted Michelin star — one of five such “starred” restaurants in Baja California — was also awarded a new “green star,” indicative of its commitment to sustainability and responsible restaurant practices.
Chris Sands is a writer and editor for Mexico News Daily, and the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He has also contributed to numerous other websites and publications, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise and Travel, and Cabo Living.
According to Mexico's Health Ministry, no individuals with the disease have been identified in the country to date. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico has imposed travel restrictions on three countries as a precaution against a possible Ebola outbreak less than two weeks before the FIFA 2026 World Cup.
International travelers who have been in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo or South Sudan in the last 21 days are currently barred from entering Mexico. The restriction does not apply to those with a Mexican passport or valid Mexican residency, and is active for an initial 60 calendar days.
Ebola, which is transmitted through direct or indirect contact with blood, bodily fluids or secretions from infected individuals, has officially killed at least 40 people in central Africa in recent weeks — though hundreds more deaths are suspected.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the most recent outbreak as an international public health emergency on May 15 and has since raised the risk to “very high” after registering 750 suspected cases.
Health Minister David Kershenobich,speaking at President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference on Tuesday, said that Mexico would not impose a total entry ban but recommended that those who have been in or transited through these countries in the last three weeks reschedule their trips until the emergency is over.
Earlier in May, Mexico issued an Ebola-related travel advisory for those planning to travel to the affected African region.
Mexican nationals or legal residents arriving from the three countries will be subject to epidemiological surveillance. Authorities will collect data on their itinerary, documents and place of stay and will contact them every 24 hours to monitor for symptoms.
The United States and Canada have announced stricter restrictions on travelers arriving from the three affected African countries.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s national team will be permitted to participate in the World Cup, as their players reside in Europe and held their pre-tournament training camp in Belgium.
In the event of a suspected case of Ebola in Mexico, the individual will be admitted to the National Center for Research and Care of Burn Victims at the National Institute of Rehabilitation for evaluation and treatment.
Mexico’s Health Ministry (SSA) said that no individuals with the disease have been identified in the country to date; however, its most recent travel advisory raised the risk of contagion abroad to high.
The SSA also issued a new epidemiological alert outlining the actions to be taken for any individual who has been in areas with Ebola transmission or has had contact with a confirmed case and has a sudden fever of 38.6 degrees Celsius or presents any of the principal symptoms.
