The urban pop star may have embarrassed a young woman in front of 15,000 people, but experts say that his message about the fragility of babies' ears was accurate and helpful. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Colombian urban-pop star Maluma halted one of his three recent concerts in Mexico City to admonish a mother for bringing her 1-year-old baby to the show without any hearing protection — sparking a wave of social media debate over parental responsibility at live events.
The incident took place Friday night during Maluma’s “+Pretty +Dirty World Tour” at the Palacio de los Deportes where, in front of 15,000 fans, he spotted a woman in the crowd holding a baby.
The 31-year-old Maluma — himself a first-time father since the birth of daughter Paris Londoño Gómez 17 months ago — paused the music and addressed her directly.
“With all due love and the utmost respect — and I’m now a father — do you think it’s a good idea to bring a 1-year-old baby to a concert where the decibels are puta mierda high and the sound is incredibly loud?”
As Maluma spoke, many in the crowd started to boo what they took as a judgmental attitude.
Then he continued, “I’d like to know what he’s doing here. Next time protect his ears or something” — appearing to win the crowd back when talking about the child’s welfare.
“It’s an act of irresponsibility by you,” he added. “You’re swaying him as if he were a toy. That boy does not want to be here.”
Maluma, whose real name is Juan Luis, is known for a reggaeton style that blends rhythmic Latin sounds with romantic (sometimes violent) lyrics.
A major figure in Latin music for more than a decade, he has done collaborations with the likes of Shakira and Ricky Martin and is known for hits such as “Borró cassette,”“Hawái” and “Felices los 4.”
His Wednesday, Friday and Saturday concerts in Mexico City were his first in the country in three years.
“Mexico, I missed you like an hijo de puta,” he told the crowd. “The country that saw me grow up, along with Colombia, is definitely Mexico. You guys have been with me for more than 14 years.”
After his words to the mother last week, videos of the exchange went viral across social media, with many users praising the artist’s concern and others arguing that the mother might not have had childcare options or was unaware of the risks.
Pediatrician Sophie J. Balk explains on HealthyChildren.org website that concerts, fireworks, sporting events and other “loud noise can damage a child’s hearing.”
Johns Hopkins Medicineadds, “A typical conversation is usually around 60 decibels. Regular exposure to noises above 85 decibels can cause hearing loss.”
Johns Hopkins and other experts warn that concerts and similar live events can easily surpass 95dB, sometimes reaching up to 110 or even 120dB.
The DOJ is charging the two men "for their roles in an alleged bribery scheme to retain and obtain business" related to Pemex and Pemex Exploración y Producción (PEP), a wholly owned exploration and production subsidiary of the state oil company. (Shutterstock)
Two Mexican businessmen were indicted in the United States for allegedly bribing Pemex officials as they sought to retain and obtain lucrative contracts with Mexico’s state oil company, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Ramón Alexandro Rovirosa Martínez, CEO of Roma Energy, and Mario Alberto Ávila Lizárraga, who contested the 2009 gubernatorial election in Campeche, are each charged with “one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and three substantive violations of the FCPA,” the Justice Department (DOJ) said in a statement.
The DOJ said that an indictment was unsealed on Monday in the Southern District of Texas charging the two men “for their roles in an alleged bribery scheme to retain and obtain business” related to Pemex and Pemex Exploración y Producción (PEP), a wholly owned exploration and production subsidiary of the state oil company.
Citing court documents, the DOJ said that Rovirosa Martínez, 46, a U.S. lawful resident of The Woodlands, Texas, and Ávila Lizárraga, 61, a U.S. lawful resident of Spring, Texas, and other unnamed people conspired to bribe Pemex officials.
The two men, “together with others, allegedly conspired to pay and offered to pay at least [US] $150,000 in bribes to officials at Pemex and PEP in order to obtain and retain business from Pemex and PEP for companies associated with Rovirosa,” the DOJ said.
“Between at least 2019 and continuing into at least 2021, Rovirosa, Ávila, and their co-conspirators allegedly offered to pay and paid bribes in the form of luxury goods, including from Louis Vuitton and Hublot, cash payments, and other valuable items, to at least three Pemex and PEP officials in exchange for those officials taking certain actions to help companies associated with Rovirosa obtain and retain business with Pemex and PEP,” the DOJ said.
1.🛢💰Los implicados son mexicanos y cuentan con residencia permanente en EEUU.
🔻Ramón Alexandro Rovirosa Martínez (46)
🔻Mario Alberto Ávila Lizárraga (61)
•Acusados de conspiración, soborno y presuntos vínculos con cárteles mexicanos. Ambos viven en Texas. pic.twitter.com/CAEQhZKvLS
“Those improper advantages helped companies associated with Rovirosa obtain contracts with Pemex and PEP worth at least $2.5 million. In addition, according to court documents, Rovirosa is alleged to have ties to Mexican cartel members,” the department said.
Matthew R. Galeotti, an acting U.S. assistant attorney general, said that Rovirosa and Ávila “are alleged to have bribed Mexican officials in order to rig the bidding process to secure millions of dollars of lucrative contracts and other advantages.”
“This indictment should send a clear message that the Criminal Division [of the DOJ] will not tolerate those who enrich corrupt officials for personal gain and to the detriment of the fair market,” he said.
The DOJ said that Rovirosa was arraigned on Monday, but Ávila “is a fugitive and remains at large.”
The former was reportedly arrested on Sunday and paid a $1 million bail to remain out of jail before he faces trial. He pleaded not guilty on Monday.
The DOJ said that if convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count they face.
“A federal judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors,” the DOJ said.
It noted that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the case. The current evidence against Rovirosa and Ávila includes “a long list” of WhatsApp written and audio messages to Pemex officials, the newspaper Reforma reported.
The period during which the DOJ said that the alleged bribery of Pemex officials by Rovirosa and Ávila occurred coincides with the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a self-styled anti-corruption crusader.
Octavio Romero was CEO of Pemex — the world’s most indebted oil company — during the entirety of López Obrador’s six-year term between 2018 and 2024. He is now the head of the government housing fund Infonavit.
Octavio Romero was the CEO of Pemex during the period when the bribes allegedly occurred. (Cuartoscuro)
Corruption involving Pemex has long been a problem.
Emilio Lozoya, who served as Pemex CEO from 2012 to 2016 during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, continues to await trial on corruption charges five years after he was extradited to Mexico from Spain.
Who is Ramón Alexandro Rovirosa Martínez?
According to U.S. court documents seen by the Milenio newspaper, Rovirosa is “the founder and CEO of Roma Energy, an Exploration and Production (E&P) company for the Oil and Gas Industry established in Texas.”
He is originally from Villahermosa, the capital of the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, according to media reports.
Rovirosa is reportedly the owner of various companies in Mexico, including one called Tubular Technology and another called Energy On Shore Services. Both those companies are based in Tabasco.
The news outlet Infobae reported that PEP awarded contracts worth over 82 million pesos (US $4.4 million) to companies associated with Rovirosa between 2018 and 2021. One of the contracts for which bribes were allegedly paid was awarded to Tubular Technology and Energy On Shore Services, according to the Milenio newspaper.
Milenio also reported that Rovirosa, a qualified lawyer, formerly served as the “legal operator” of Omar Vargas, a businessman who came under investigation for allegedly defrauding Pemex during the 2000-2006 presidency of Vicente Fox.
Who is Mario Alberto Ávila Lizárraga?
Ávila, originally from Campeche, contested the 2009 gubernatorial election in Campeche as the candidate for the National Action Party (PAN). He lost to Fernando Ortega Bernés of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, who was governor of Campeche until 2015.
Ávila, a business administration graduate who completed postgraduate studies in Spain, worked in both the public and private sectors in Mexico.
Between 2010 and 2012, he worked for Pemex as a deputy director of maintenance and logistics. In 2015, he was disqualified from holding public positions for 10 years after irregularities were detected in the awarding of Pemex contracts to the company Oceanografía. Ávila was also accused of using “official” airplanes for personal purposes while working at Pemex, according to Infobae.
Citing U.S. court documents to which it had access, Milenio reported that Ávila allegedly worked “for the benefit” of Rovirosa and his companies in recent years.
On Tuesday morning, President Claudia Sheinbaum said it was “worth talking about the fugitive businessman because he is a member of PAN,” currently the main opposition party in Mexico.
“He was a PAN candidate to the government of Campeche, he worked in Pemex and he was accused of corruption,” she noted.
“He’s currently a fugitive and is sought by the U.S. government,” Sheinbaum said.
Few men have played such an important role in Mexican history as Antonío Santa Anna. The former revolutionary-turned-dictator built Mexico in his image — until the country united against him. (México Desconocido)
On Aug. 12, 1855 — 170 years ago today — Antonio López de Santa Anna officially resigned from his sixth term as Mexico’s president in Perote, Veracruz. Three days earlier, he had slipped out of Mexico City at dawn and fled for his home state, where he would board a ship and leave for yet another exile. Santa Anna had lost and returned to power many times before, and he may have imagined that afternoon that he would soon be back again. But though he did not know it, his chapter in Mexico’s history was closing and another was beginning in his place: the Liberal Reform. It was heading for Mexico City with the insurgents who had toppled Santa Anna in the conflict Mexico remembers as the Ayutla Revolution.
We can’t understand the Ayutla Revolution without understanding the man it overthrew. It would not be right to say that Antonio López de Santa Anna is one of the most controversial figures in Mexican history, historian Patricia Galeana once remarked, because almost everyone agrees that he is one of its most disastrous characters. In recent decades, this view has become more nuanced thanks to the work of researchers like Will Fowler, who has done much to place Santa Anna in his proper context and refute the idea that he was a traitor to Mexico. However, this idea is still widespread. To this day, schoolchildren learn about Santa Anna as the great villain of the early republic, a dictator who betrayed his nation and sold off half the country.
Antonio López de Santa Anna is one of the most controversial figures in Mexico’s history. (Wikimedia Commons / Manuel Paris)
Santa Anna’s historical reputation as a tyrant was solidified during his 1853-1855 period in office — which ended with the Ayutla Revolution. But by the time the revolution broke out, Santa Anna had a decades-long career in politics behind him and had been one of the central figures in national life since the earliest days of independent Mexico.
The age of Santa Anna
Born in Xalapa, Santa Anna joined the Spanish army as a teenager, just in time for the War of Independence to break out. When insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero and the royalist officer Agustín de Iturbide joined forces to achieve independence, Santa Anna changed sides and joined the rebels, becoming famous as the liberator of his home province. It was the first in a long string of political switches during his long career. In the 19th century, Mexico was torn between federalists and centralists, liberals and conservatives, republicans and monarchists. At some point or another, Santa Anna would fight for them all.
It was Santa Anna who first moved to establish a republic, rebelling against the Mexican Empire — the country’s first independent government — and driving Emperor Iturbide into exile. In 1828, after Mexico’s second presidential election, Santa Anna revolted to prevent the inauguration of the conservative winner in favor of his old comrade, the liberal Guerrero. In 1829, he was transformed into a national hero when he defeated Spain’s attempt to recolonize Mexico at the Battle of Tampico.
In 1831, Santa Anna rebelled once more against the conservative government of Anastasio Bustamante, who had overthrown Guerrero, and re-established the constitutional order that he himself had broken in 1828. By this point, the Veracruzano general was popular nationwide and handily won the presidential election of 1833. He preferred, however, to leave the task of governing to his vice president, Valentín Gómez Farías, who embarked on a radical campaign of reform that attacked the power of the army and Church.
Conservatives rebelled against Gómez Farías and invited Santa Anna to become dictator of the country. After initially fighting them, Santa Anna acquiesced. In 1836, he inaugurated a new constitution known as the Seven Laws that brought the federalist First Republic to an end and gave birth to the new Centralist Republic.
The Seven Laws sparked a wave of federalist and separatist revolts across the country, from Yucatán to Texas. Santa Anna personally led troops in the effort to put down the slave Republic of Texas, but ultimately lost the province and went into exile. Returning home, he rehabilitated his damaged public image when he fought to repel the French invasion of Veracruz in 1838, becoming president once again in 1841 through a military revolt that gave him sweeping legal powers with the centralist constitution called the Bases Orgánicas.
Why, with all the turmoil of his governments, did the conservatives — and Mexicans more generally — keep bringing Santa Anna back to rule? Santa Anna was a talented, ideologically ambiguous politician who had no problem changing sides as it suited him. His fame as the man who liberated Veracruz, proclaimed the republic and drove away Spain and France in 1829 and 1838 made him a valuable ally and symbol of unity for many factions. In an age where the model of leadership was Napoleon, many believed that Santa Anna was indeed the only man capable of holding turbulent Mexico together.
The bombardment of Veracruz during the Mexican-American War. (Public domain)
Exiled again in 1844, Santa Anna was called back to lead the country during the Mexican-American War. When the United States took Mexico City in 1847, Santa Anna left the country once more. In late 1852, Guadalajara conservatives rebelled against President Mariano Arista, a moderate liberal, and invited Santa Anna to return to Mexico. He did so in April 1853, meeting a generally warm reception from the public and assuming the sweeping executive powers that the conservatives had offered him for what was meant to be only a single year.
Santa Anna’s last act
Santa Anna’s last government kicked off energetically by promoting education, attacking banditry and improving highways. It essentially abolished local government when it adjourned all state legislatures and disbanded almost all of the country’s ayuntamientos, or city halls. Then, the sudden death of right hand man Lucas Alamán left Santa Anna without a moderating force or mastermind. This government was uncharacteristic for the Veracruz native in that it lacked his typical absenteeism and became, in the words of historian Raúl González Lezama, “the only one that truly deserves to be called dictatorial.”
The year 1853 saw Santa Anna impose extravagant taxes, limit the freedom of the press and compel citizens to carry a passport to travel within the country. He also made broad concessions to the Catholic Church and provided for the military trial and summary execution of civilian political prisoners. Additionally, Santa Anna began a political persecution of prominent liberals, including ex-governor of Oaxaca Benito Juárez, writer Guillermo Prieto and former Michoacán governor Melchor Ocampo, whom he sent into exile both in Mexico and abroad.
All these policies spread discontent, but perhaps the most important nail in the coffin of Santa Anna’s last government was his December 1853 signing of the Mesilla Treaty, which Americans know better as the Gadsden Purchase.
Already blamed for the loss of Texas in 1836 and losing more than half of Mexico’s territory in 1848, Santa Anna’s reputation was further stained when the United States successfully pressured him into selling a 30,000-square-mile area of land in what was then Chihuahua. The badly needed 10-million-peso indemnification promised by the Mesilla Treaty was squandered through official corruption, and Mexicans were enraged.
It was in this context that Santa Anna made a decision that would change the course of Mexico’s history. In 1854, he authorized a delegation to travel to the Old World and offer the crown of Mexico to a European prince. The results of that effort would arrive in Mexico in 1867, in the form of Maximilian von Habsburg.
The arrival of Maximilian von Habsburg in Veracruz, accompanied by his wife, Carlota. (Public domain)
Santa Anna against Álvarez
Despite problems, Santa Anna had control over most of Mexico by early 1854. The South, however, was a trouble spot. Santa Anna turned his eyes to the state of Guerrero, a federalist stronghold, and its leader, Juan Álvarez. A fellow independence hero, Álvarez was wealthy and popular among the peasants of the region. When Santa Anna returned to Mexico in 1853, Álvarez was serving as the first governor of the newly created state, and it was no secret that he opposed his return.
Santa Anna moved against Álvarez and his appointees, and Álvarez soon began actively plotting against his government. In April 1853, Santa Anna incited a revolt against Álvarez, which the governor put down. Finally, under the pretext of defending Acapulco against the French filibuster Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon, the president ordered troops to the port and secretly instructed their commander to capture Álvarez and his allies. The Guerrero liberals knew that they would need to act fast.
The Plan of Ayutla
In the last days of February 1854, Álvarez, Florencio Villarreal, Ignacio Comonfort and several federalist military officers drafted the platform of their rebellion, which they proclaimed on March 1 in the city of Ayutla.
The rebellion against Santa Anna brought together moderate and radical liberals, as well as conservatives like Villarreal. Its leaders needed to smooth these internal tensions and co-opt part of the standing army, which was loyal to Santa Anna. The Plan of Ayutla is therefore not a highly ideological document, and its content was further toned down by Comonfort in the days following its declaration.
The signers of the plan declared Santa Anna’s government illegitimate and called for representatives of the states to elect an interim president who would quickly convene a constituent congress to write a new national constitution. With government troops heading for Acapulco, Álvarez took his place at the head of the Army to Restore Freedom, as the revolutionary army was called.
Juan Álvarez was a key figure in the opposition to Santa Anna. (Gobierno de Mexico)
The Ayutla Revolution
As he had done during the Texas Revolution and the war against the United States, Santa Anna took it upon himself to personally lead federal troops against the rebels and marched towards Acapulco. His 6,000-man army was harassed in guerrilla actions by liberals on the way there, and once in Guerrero, he was unable to take the port, whose defenders, led by Comonfort, held out from inside the San Diego Fort.
With his supply lines cut and unable to take Acapulco, Santa Anna turned back for Mexico City. On the way home, he burned several towns whose populations were suspected of aiding the rebels.
Gradually, forces across the country — in Michoacán, Oaxaca and in the Northeast — declared their adherence to the Plan of Ayutla. During the revolution that followed, radical liberals whom Santa Anna had exiled abroad returned to Mexico and joined them. The fighting, however, was inconclusive for most of the war as the revolutionaries lacked the strength to hold the towns they took, and the government would have needed to destroy or occupy every town in rebellious areas to win. Santa Anna had not definitively lost by the time he resigned, but public confidence in his government had collapsed. He abdicated probably because he thought that the United States was going to intervene on the side of the revolutionaries.
On Aug. 9, 1855, Santa Anna fled the capital at dawn, and three days later, he formally abdicated the presidency in Perote, Veracruz. “I see a coming division, anarchy, desolation and the loss of our country forever,” he wrote in his farewell address to the nation. In October, the congress convened by the Plan of Ayutla chose Álvarez as president. The period of the Reform had begun.
The meaning of the Ayutla Revolution
Ayutla is often overshadowed in historical memory by the major conflicts that came before it, like the Mexican-American War and the Texas Revolution, and those that followed, like the Reform War and Second French Intervention. But unlike previous revolts, which limited themselves to installing a new political regime and failed to effectively challenge entrenched conservative power, the Ayutla Revolution both sought to systemically change Mexico. After three decades of conservative and moderate domination in the national government, the scales were tipping towards the liberals.
Battle scene from the Ayutla Revolution. (Wikimedia Commons / Historiamexican)
The bitterly fought Ayutla Revolution was far from the end of the conflict between liberals and conservatives or between centralists and federalists. It would be more accurate to see it as setting the stage for the bloody Reform War to follow. The lines were drawn, including among the liberals themselves. Had they revolted against Santa Anna as an individual or against the system itself? For the moderate liberals like Comonfort, the answer was the former. Santa Anna had to go, and the rest could be reformed. But for the radicals — Ocampo and Juárez, for example — the point of the Ayutla Revolution was to remake Mexico, to break the power of the traditional landowning classes and unleash capitalism to create a modern nation.
The coalition formed by the Plan of Ayutla was enough to overthrow Santa Anna, but when it came time to govern, this difference split the liberals — so much so that as president in 1858, Comonfort would allow the Conservative Party to overthrow his government to prevent the enactment of the constitution written by Juárez’s radicals.
Though Santa Anna left Mexico for present-day Colombia on Aug. 15, 1855, he would eventually be back, looking to retake his place in politics. Part of the importance of Ayutla was that he never managed it again. Santa Anna and Álvarez were the last of the generation of independence fighters who had established the country and then the republic. They would live for a few more years, but the Ayutla Revolution turned the page on their time as main figures in Mexican politics. From then on, politics would be dominated by the younger men who had made the revolution, including Juárez, Comonfort, Ocampo, Santiago Vidaurri and, later on and perhaps most important of all, Porfirio Díaz.
In the summer and autumn of 1855, the liberal government that came to power with Ayutla passed the Lerdo and Juárez laws, breaking up Church and Indigenous property and limiting the use of special courts for soldiers and clergy. Two years later, the liberals codified these reforms as the law of the land with the Constitution of 1857. The military elite, the Church and the landowners were determined to resist and would soon plunge the country into the Reform War. At the end of it all, the victorious liberals would be free to remake Mexico in their image, a process that in the long run laid the groundwork for the Revolution of 1910 and the country we know today.
It was the Ayutla Revolution’s triumph, 170 years ago today, that opened the door to it all.
The federal Education Ministry (SEP) celebrated the students’ victory as “a source of Mexican pride that shines brightly throughout the world.” (Maru Campos/X)
Three Mexican students delivered an outstanding victory at the 2025 World Robot Contest (WRCC) held in Beijing, China (Aug. 8-12), after securing first place in one of the world’s leading robotics competitions.
The students, originally from the northern state of Chihuahua, won the “DOBOT Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge — Moon Landing Challenge,” which involved designing, programming and building robotic arms that simulated a moon landing.
“This historic achievement not only makes Chihuahua proud, but also all of Mexico,” the state government said in a statement. “It sends a clear message that talent, when combined with vision, preparation and teamwork, can conquer any challenge, even on a global scale.”
The award-winning team successfully represented Mexico in this international competition, thanks in part to the support of the Chihuahua STEM Council. This local institution seeks to boost STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) activities in the state and nurture young talent in the industry as part of Chihuahua’s Digital Policy strategy. One of the council’s initiatives is to support students’ participation in international competitions.
The federal Education Ministry (SEP) celebrated the students’ victory as “a source of Mexican pride that shines brightly throughout the world.”
The INADET/CENALTEC team was made up of students Karina Jaired Castellanos Hernández, Gabriel Enrique Ojeda Carrillo and Luis Fernando Quintana Ríos. They were coached by Joel Hiram López Echavarría and supported by engineers Walter Ignacio Zamarrón Estrada, Sergio Mancinas and Lennin Rubio.
Karina Jaired Castellanos Hernández, Gabriel Enrique Ojeda Carrillo and Luis Fernando Quintana Ríos working on their project for the “DOBOT Intelligent Manufacturing Challenge — Moon Landing Challenge” at the 2025 World Robotic Contest in Beijing last week. (Maru Campos/X)
They also received advice and training from the Ibero-American STEM Academy, a nonprofit scientific organization that promotes innovation and technological development among students, teachers and professionals in Mexico and the rest of Latin America.
“This triumph represents not only a source of pride for Chihuahua, but also for all of Mexico, consolidating CENALTEC, the Ibero-American STEM Academy and the Chihuahua STEM Council as leaders in developing talent capable of competing and succeeding at the highest international levels,” the Ibero-American STEM Academy said in a social media post.
The milestone achieved by the Mexican team strengthens Chihuahua’s position as a national leader in robotics production. According to data from the Economy Ministry, Mexican exports of commercial robots reached US $1.15 million through the second quarter of this year. Chihuahua led sales with US $922,000, followed by Jalisco with $227,000.
The WRCC has attracted over 100,000 contestants from more than 20 countries since its first edition in 2015. The competition takes place during the World Robotics Conference, hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and is considered the “Olympics” of robotics.
Leonel Maciel was part of Mexico's Breakaway Generation of artists who abandoned the nationalistic themes of muralism, which had dominated Mexican art since the Revolution. (Autonomous University of Hidalgo)
One of Mexico’s most beloved and well-known artists is Leonel Maciel. Now in his 80s, Maciel grew up in the small town of Petatlán, just 45 minutes from Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, which lies in Guerrero’s Costa Grande region.
By chance, Maciel was visiting Coacoyul from his main home in Cuernavaca. I was invited to join Maciel and his family and friends for lunch at a restaurant at the Museo del Coco in Coacoyul.
Maciel’s 2016 work “Sol” (Sun), which both nods to science that revealed the sun’s spots, and religion that caused ancient Mexican civilizations to make blood sacrifices to the sun. (Coleccion Milenio Arte)
Years ago, Leonel Maciel, together with his brother Carlos Maciel, who is also a famous Mexican artist, created a breathtaking double-sided mural that dominates the entrance to the compound. It measures 4 meters high by 20 meters wide and tells the story of the coconuts’ importance to the region. This stunning masterpiece alone makes Coacoyul well worth a visit.
At our first meeting, Maciel quickly put me at ease; he was charming and immediately likable. Although he spoke very little English, his nephew and other guests were there to help me when I got stuck. I even joked that my Spanish was better with mezcal, and soon a bottle appeared in front of me, to much laughter, followed by a toast to new friendships.
During the meal, I caught a glimpse of who he was — humble, humorous, interesting and dedicated to his work. After enjoying the food and a couple of shots, I excused myself with the promise of another meeting.
Our second meeting was a couple of weeks later at a popular downtown restaurant in Zihuatanejo, La Sirena Gorda. Armed with extensive research from a retrospective art book about him entitled “Leonel Maciel, El Buscador Impentiente (The Unrepentant Seeker),” I felt better prepared.
The book, filled with beautiful samples of his work, was written in Spanish but also translated into English and Russian. I was captivated by the images that leapt off the page and soon drawn in by the sheer genius of his work.
I learned in this book that Maciel attributes the unique personalities of his parents, María Sánchez Ríos and Justo Maciel Rodríguez, as his inspiration. It was through their gifts — his mother being an avid reader of literature and his father a born storyteller who retold her stories as she relayed them — that Maciel began to paint at a very early age.
Leonel Maciel’s 1970 oil on canvas painting, “Carnaval.” (Aura Art Galleries)
Even as a child, he said, “I painted as an adult.”
However, when I asked Maciel about his parents’ influence, he joked in response.
“My father was a great storyteller, a liar,” he said. “But our mother encouraged us to read. I painted as I heard the stories from literature. And it is not so much that they influenced me. That’s something someone said. People always think they know you better than they do.” He laughed. “But when I was about 4 or 5, I saw a group of men riding horses, and that made me want to paint.”
Maciel began his formal training at the Esmeralda National School of Art in Mexico City (La Esmeralda, or Escuela Nacional de Pintura, ENPEG). Later, he travelled extensively in Europe and Asia, learning, painting and experiencing different cultures.
He can rattle off the places he visited.
“I went to Bali, Thailand, Hawaii, Bhutan, Europe, the United States. Bali was my favorite. The people were incredibly warm and kind, and the scenery was beautiful. After that, I did 30 paintings and sold them all.”
Maciel, left, in 2024 in Cuernavaca, where he is currently based, with the director of the Mexican photo news agency Cuartoscuro, Pedro Valtierra Ruvalcaba. (Margarita Pérez Retana/Cuartoscuro)
When examining Maciel’s work, the constant evolution of his style over various periods in his life is evident. There is his primary orange and red series, and then a completely different style, done in mainly blues and browns. There are also his erotic paintings and sketches — all so different, you wonder if they have come from the same person.
When I asked him about it, he said, “I paint how I want, when I want, how I feel at the time. I paint free.”
Today, Maciel’s work is exhibited in several art galleries and museums in Mexico, including in the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Museo de Arte Moderno, both in Mexico City. He also has works in galleries and museums in Ireland, Nicaragua, and Reykjavik, Iceland.
When I asked him what was next for him, he replied, “I will paint until I die.”
The writer divides her time between Canada and Zihuatanejo.
Mexico's president said that there will be "very interesting issues" to discuss with the two Central American leaders, but didn't disclose what they will be. (Victoria Valtierra/Cuartoscuro)
At her Monday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum once again expressed her opposition to any kind of U.S. military incursion to combat Mexican organized crime groups, six of which were designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government earlier this year.
She also provided an update on the number of Mexicans detained at the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention facility in Florida and announced that she would be making a brief international trip this Friday.
Sheinbaum: ‘We would never allow’ the US army to set foot on Mexican soil
Asked about CIA drone flights over Mexican territory, Sheinbaum said that none are currently taking place. She stressed that flights of U.S. drones over Mexico can only occur under Mexican supervision and at the request of Mexican authorities.
“It has to be within the framework of collaboration,” Sheinbaum said.
“It has to be made very clear to all Mexicans … [that] we will never put our sovereignty at risk, never,” she said.
“We will never put the independence of Mexico at risk. Mexico is a free, sovereign, independent country,” Sheinbaum said.
“We collaborate, we coordinate on security issues and other issues, but we never subordinate ourselves. And we would never allow the United States Army or any other institution of the United States to set foot on Mexican territory, never,” she said.
That remark came three days after the president declared that there will be no U.S. military “invasion” of Mexico after news broke that President Donald Trump had “secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels.”
Asked last Tuesday about the possibility of a U.S. military intervention against criminal groups in Mexico, Sheinbaum reminded reporters that she previously rejected an offer from U.S. President Donald Trump to send the U.S. army into Mexico.
During the 2018-24 presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s Congress approved legislation that regulates the activities of foreign agents in Mexico, removes their diplomatic immunity and allows for their expulsion from the country. The legislation was seen as being aimed primarily at the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who have long operated in Mexico.
Sheinbaum: 81 Mexicans have been detained at Alligator Alcatraz
Sheinbaum told reporters that officials at the Mexican Consulate in Miami, Florida, have met with 81 Mexicans detained at the Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center, located in the Everglades region of the “Sunshine State.”
She said that Mexico’s consul general in Miami, former Chiapas governor Rutilio Escandón, is making regular visits to the facility “to see what the Mexicans imprisoned there need.”
Sheinbaum said that her government is working at a “diplomatic level” to advocate the immediate deportation of Mexicans who wish to return to their country of origin.
Por instrucciones de nuestra Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, acudí nuevamente al Centro de Detención de los Everglades (Alcatraz de los Caimanes), con el firme compromiso de dar seguimiento puntual a los casos de nuestros connacionales detenidos por temas migratorios. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/EIEMyfzIXZ
She didn’t say how many Mexicans have returned to Mexico after being detained at Alligator Alcatraz, the official name of the state-run facility.
Sheinbaum said that some of the detainees don’t want to be immediately sent to Mexico as they want to take their cases to courts in the United States.
She said there had been no reports of the violation of the human rights of Mexicans held at Alligator Alcatraz, so named due to the presence of the reptiles in the Florida Everglades.
“Obviously we don’t agree with these types of places of imprisonment,” Sheinbaum said.
Sheinbaum to meet with President Arévalo in Guatemala
Sheinbaum said that she would meet with President Bernardo Arévalo of Guatemala in the Central American country this Friday.
The president, who said last Thursday that she planned to meet Arévalo somewhere in the southeast of Mexico, didn’t specify where in Guatemala she would meet with her counterpart.
However, Sheinbaum said she would hold her mañanera on Friday in Chetumal, the capital of the state of Quintana Roo. From Chetumal she will travel to Guatemala to meet with Arévalo, president since early 2024.
Sheinbaum said she spoke with the Guatemalan president on Friday and noted that he invited her to Guatemala.
“And yes, we’re going to be in Guatemala a few hours,” she said.
“… We love, respect and admire President Arévalo of Guatemala, so we’re going to go to Guatemala for a few hours,” Sheinbaum said.
“After we’ll return to Calakmul,” she said, referring to the archaeological site in Campeche that is just 35 kilometers from the border with Guatemala.
“We’re going to welcome the prime minister of Belize there,” Sheinbaum said, noting that Arévalo will also make the trip to Calakmul for a trilateral meeting with Belizean Prime Minister Johnny Briceño.
She said that there will be “very interesting issues” to discuss with the two Central American leaders, but didn’t disclose what they will be.
“They can be an article for that day, the surprise of that day,” Sheinbaum said.
“There are many agreements we have made with the countries on our southern border, with whom we have an excellent relationship,” she said.
“We’re going to announce them on Friday,” Sheinbaum said.
AT&T's corporate headquarters on Paseo de Reforma in Mexico City may have a different name in the near future as reports are circulating that the telecom company is considering selling off its Mexican unit after more than a decade in the country. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
AT&T may be packing its bags and preparing to leave Mexico.
Bloomberg News reported last week that the U.S. multinational, one of the world’s leading telecommunications companies, is working with financial advisers to find a potential buyer for its Mexican unit.
Though consistently lagging far behind Telcel, AT&T has some 23 million users who would be shifted to whatever entity buys the company, assuming there is in fact a sale. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Dallas-based AT&T is reportedly seeking more than US $2 billion for the deal, according to unidentified sources cited by Bloomberg. The report says the talks are confidential and no final decision has been made. Additionally, there is no guarantee the deal will go through.
AT&T has been in a losing battle for more than a decade with billionaire Carlos Slim’s Telcel, the dominant carrier in Mexico. This, despite telecoms reforms that, according to Bloomberg, had given international companies hope that they could compete with Telcel.
Despite investments of more than US $10 billion in the country, AT&T’s share of the Mexican mobile market has been significantly smaller than Telcel’s, which regularly tops 60%.
The fact that the sales price reportedly being sought represents just 20% of AT&T’s total investments in Mexico seemingly highlights concerns about regulatory uncertainty in Mexico and the entrenched market dominance enjoyed by Slim’s companies.
AT&T entered the Mexican market in 2014 by paying US $2.5 billion to acquire wireless telecommunications and cellular services company Grupo Iusacell from billionaire Ricardo Salinas. Soon thereafter, the company purchased the Mexican wireless operations of NII Holdings Inc. for nearly $1.9 billion.
The competition between AT&T and Slim has been testy over the years, Bloomberg reported.
In 2022, Slim’s América Móvil — the largest wireless provider in Latin America — accused AT&T of interfering with the media giant’s efforts to obtain a television license, leading to “a dispute that escalated into insults.”
If AT&T’s business in Mexico is sold, the company’s 23 million users would become part of the future buyer, assuming the transaction is approved by the country’s regulators.
Telefonica’s Movistar México may also be up for sale
AT&T isn’t the only telecom group looking to exit Mexico, Bloomberg added. Spain’s Telefónica is also reportedly in talks to sell its Mexican subsidiary Movistar México.
Telefónica’s move is not wholly unexpected. Since 2019, the Spanish telecom giant has opted to lease AT&T’s network rather than continue investing in its own infrastructure.
If both AT&T and Telefónica exit, the telecom landscape in Mexico could change dramatically, according to Merca 2.0 magazine.
While Telcel would remain the dominant operator, other players cited by Merca 2.0 — particularly companies known as Mobile Virtual Network Operators, which don’t own their own infrastructure and rely on third-party networks, could benefit from “a reconfigured ecosystem following the exit of traditional operators.”
The only industrial sector to record a year-over-year increase in activity in June was construction, whose output rose 1.5%. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
Industrial activity in Mexico declined in June compared to May and in annual terms, the national statistics agency INEGI reported on Monday.
INEGI reported that industrial activity — which includes activity in the manufacturing, mining, construction and electricity/water/gas sectors — fell 0.1% in June compared to May, the first month-over-month decline since March.
In annual terms, industrial activity was down 0.8% in June.
INEGI also reported that industrial activity declined 1.3% annually in the first six months of 2025. It was the first annual decline for the first six months of a year since 2020.
In 2025, industrial activity in Mexico has been affected by uncertainty related to trade with the United States, which has imposed new tariffs on a range of Mexican goods.
President Claudia Sheinbaum recently expressed confidence that construction sector activity will increase in the second half of 2025 as a result of public infrastructure projects, including the construction of new railroads and homes.
Mining, construction and electricity sector activity down in June compared to May
INEGI reported that mining sector activity (or output) fell 1.4% in June compared to May.
Construction sector activity declined 0.2%, as did activity in the combined sector that includes the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity as well as the supply of water and natural gas.
The only sector whose activity increased in June on a sequential basis was manufacturing. Manufacturing activity increased 0.3%, INEGI reported.
The 0.1% decline in month-over-month industrial activity came after increases of 0.7% in May and 0.1% in April.
In January, industrial activity declined 0.3% before increasing 2.4% in February. Industrial activity fell 1.1% on a sequential basis in March.
Manufacturing activity stagnant in annual terms, mining declines 8.5%
INEGI data shows that there was a variation of 0.0% in manufacturing sector activity between June 2024 and the same month of this year.
Mining activity fell 8.5% annually in June, while electricity/water/gas sector activity declined 3.8%.
The only industrial sector to record a year-over-year increase in activity in June was construction, whose output rose 1.5%.
The 0.8% annual decline in industrial activity in June came after decreases in each of the previous three months.
First January-June decline since 2020
The 1.3% annual decline in industrial activity between January and June was the first decrease for the period since 2020, when the COVID pandemic and associated restrictions caused a 13.6% year-over-year reduction.
The newspaper El Economista reported that the decrease between January and June is greater than the 1.1% annual decline recorded during 2019, the first full year of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency, “which was marked by the pessimism that was created by his decision to cancel construction of the new Mexico City International Airport in Texcoco,” México state.
Mining sector activity (including oil and gas drilling) declined 8.8% annually in the first half of 2025, while activity in the electricity/water/gas industry fell 2.1%.
Construction sector activity also fell, declining 1.1% compared to the first half of 2024. Activity related to the construction of civil engineering projects declined 24.6% due to a significant decrease in spending on public works.
The manufacturing sector recorded a modest 0.1% annual increase in activity. Thirteen of 21 sub-sectors of the manufacturing industry, including the automotive sector, recorded year-over-year declines in activity in the first half of the year.
Thirteen of 21 sub-sectors of the manufacturing industry, including the automotive sector, recorded year-over-year declines in activity in the first half of the year. (Cuartoscuro)
Manufacturing sectors affected by imports from Asian countries, including the wood and clothing sectors, also recorded annual declines in activity.
Among the eight manufacturing sectors that recorded increases were food production, computer equipment and electrical appliances.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or loss of life due to flooding on Sunday. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Torrential rain in Mexico City on Sunday flooded streets and homes, interrupted services on the subway system and forced the suspension of takeoffs and landings at the capital’s airport for around four hours, affecting more than 100 flights and almost 15,000 passengers.
The rainfall during a storm on Sunday evening was “the most intense” of the 2025 rainy season in the capital, according to Mexico City Water Management Minister José Mario Esparza.
Hail also fell in some parts of the city, where flooding is common during the annual rainy season.
Esparza said on Sunday night that more than 84 millimeters of rain was recorded in the Zócalo, flooding the capital’s central square and other parts of the historic center.
He said that the historic average for rainfall in Mexico City across the month of August is 152 millimeters, meaning that the capital — in its downtown area at least — received more than half the usual amount of rain for this month in a single day.
Mayor Clara Brugada said on social media on Sunday night that the city’s Plan Tlaloque was activated when the heavy rain began in the capital. The activation of the plan put “all emergency services” in Mexico City into action, she said.
Flooding along Calle Regina in the area surrounding Mexico City’s Zócalo on Sunday night. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
The city’s purple alert — the highest warning level for rainfall — was activated in the central Cuauhtémoc borough, while the second-highest level, a red alert, was issued for several other boroughs.
Brugada called on Mexico City residents to exercise caution and only leave their homes if necessary on Sunday night.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or loss of life due to flooding. Cleanup efforts were continuing on Monday.
President Claudia Sheinbaum said Monday that the federal government would provide support to the areas of the capital most affected by the flooding.
More rain is forecast to fall in Mexico City on Monday.
104 flights affected by airport closure
The Benito Juárez International Airport said in a statement on Monday that air operations were suspended for around four hours from 7:45 p.m. to allow water to be cleared from the runways. Poor visibility was also a factor in the decision to suspend takeoffs and landings.
Largas filas de pasajeros se registran en el Aeropuerto internacional de la Ciudad de México, luego de las demoras y cancelaciones de vuelos por las lluvias registradas durante la tarde de ayer. #DíaEnImágenes / Alfredo Domínguez pic.twitter.com/IMfFZvIcWF
The airport said that “the intensity of the atypical storm caused several areas of the terminal buildings to also be affected.”
It said that the rain overwhelmed the airport’s stormwater drainage system.
Video footage showed the baggage claim in Terminal 2 under water on Sunday night.
The airport said that vacuum trucks and motorized pumps were used to remove water and thus “guarantee optimal conditions on runways, taxiways and aprons,” allowing them to reopen early Monday.
It said that 104 flights and 14,892 passengers were affected by the suspension of operations, with incoming flights diverted to “alternate airports.”
The airport said that flights resumed on one runway at 12:05 a.m. Monday, while operations recommenced on the other at 6 a.m. — more than 10 hours after it was closed.
#CDMX ✈️🔴|| Esta noche, la intensa lluvia con tormenta eléctrica obligó al Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México (#AICM) a suspender operaciones, dejando pistas inundadas, retrasos de 3 a 4 horas y cancelaciones, incluyendo vuelos de Viva a Los Ángeles, mientras… pic.twitter.com/0OGGoY2dOI
The Guadalajara and Cancún airports were among the airports to which Mexico City-bound flights were diverted. Some Mexico City-bound flights landed back at the airports from which they took off, including an Air Canada flight that returned to Toronto and an American Airlines flight that returned to Dallas-Fort Worth.
Flooding in various CDMX boroughs
Serious flooding was reported in various parts of Mexico City, including the boroughs of Cuauhtémoc (which includes the historic center), Venustiano Carranza (where the airport is located), Iztacalco and Gustavo A. Madero.
The Lineal Park in Venustiano Carranza, situated in an old drainage canal, filled up with water and overflowed, flooding nearby streets and scores of homes in the area.
“I started crying because it was a desperate situation,” one affected homeowner, María del Consuelo, told TV Azteca.
Parts of the historic center of Mexico City were covered by up to 40 centimeters of water, the El Financiero newspaper reported.
The Zócalo was covered with water and nearby jewelry stores were flooded, something that hadn’t happened in decades, according to El Financiero.
The Metropolitan Cathedral, located opposite the Zócalo, was also affected, with water accumulating in various parts of the edifice. People visiting the cathedral and its personnel banded together to remove the water and avoid major damage to the building’s interior, El Financiero reported.
Flooding was also reported at several Mexico City hospitals, including the Balbuena General Hospital and the Gregorio Salas Hospital in the historic center.
At the Balbuena hospital, firefighters helped move patients out of danger, the newspaper Reforma reported.
CDMX roads and subway system affected
Dozens of roads in Mexico City, including a number of major arteries, were flooded as a result of the intense rainfall on Sunday. Authorities rescued stranded motorists and in some cases removed vehicles from floodwaters.
In the Mexico City Metro system, the downpour on Sunday evening caused the closure of six stations on Line 5 and two stations on Line 3. There was significant flooding outside some of the shuttered stations, all of which had reopened by Monday morning.
On Line 2 of the metro, an explosion and fire occurred near the San Antonio Abad station due to a short circuit caused by the rain. Line 2 services were consequently suspended for around two hours from 7:30 p.m.
Sunday’s downpour caused the closure of six stations on Line 5 (pictured above), two stations on Line 3 and the temporary suspension of Line 2 due to a short circuit. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Authorities respond to the extreme weather
Esparza, the capital’s water management minister, said that more than 200 personnel from the Water Management Ministry were deployed to respond to the flooding in various parts of Mexico City. They used electric water pumps and other equipment to alleviate flooding.
National Water Commission (Conagua) personnel also assisted the efforts to reduce the flooding.
“Due to the intense rain in the Valley of Mexico, we put 37 pumps into operation to remove 74,000 liters per second,” Conagua said on social media.
“In addition, specialized equipment was sent to [the México state municipalities of] Nezahualcóytl and Ecatepec, with the aim of supporting the population and mitigating the effects of the rain,” the water commission said.
Esparza told the Aristegui news outlet that parts of Mexico City’s deep drainage system collapsed due to the torrential rain.
“The drainage system remains full,” he said on Monday morning.
“In other words, the pipes are at their maximum capacity and everything is now flowing out of the Valley of Mexico to the Tula River basin,” Esparza said.
He said that the accumulation of trash is the main thing that affects Mexico City’s “deep” and “conventional” drainage systems.
Esparza called on residents to be “very careful” with the disposal of their trash to ensure that it doesn’t end up in stormwater drains.
The drainage systems, he said, are designed for average amounts of rainfall. The rain on Sunday, however, was “extraordinary in its volume and intensity,” Esparza said.
Wildlife crossings have been reduced by 86% by the border wall, and jaguars on both sides may be among the animals whose migratory patterns are affected. (Hidde Rensink/Unsplash)
A male jaguar has been spotted five times this summer on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border near a 27-mile border wall project, reigniting debate over the issue of wildlife connectivity.
ICYMI: There’s a jaguar here again in southern AZ. A team of scientists and volunteers at the University of Arizona’s Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center have recorded five sightings of one male jaguar this summer, including the detections below. 😻 https://t.co/Rp8hsNk9ptpic.twitter.com/sdYiJD753f
Two Arizona-based environmental nonprofit organizations are suing the U.S. government over the border wall being extended through the San Rafael Valley, the last major open space for wildlife migration along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Motion-activated cameras recorded Arizona’s only known resident jaguar at three different locations in June and July, including a rare daylight detection.
Based on the previous sightings, they speculate that the jaguar migrated back into Mexico before returning to Arizona sometime during the past 18 months.
Such migrations have become more problematic as new sections of the U.S.-Mexico border wall are completed. A study published in November 2024 found that the border wall has reduced wildlife crossings by 86%.
Emily Burns, program director for an Arizona environmental nonprofit organization, said the U.S. government has begun work on another wall across another important wildlife corridor that will disrupt the hydrology of the Santa Cruz River near where it crosses back into the U.S. east of Nogales, Sonora.
“If we’re going to be working toward any kind of long-term recovery (for jaguars), we need to have open corridors,” said Susan Malusa, director of the WCC. “Anything — a border wall, a mine — can cause fragmentation of these corridors, further stressing the population.”
The forbidding San Rafael Valley is not favored by migrants looking to cross into the U.S. Sky Island Alliance cameras in the valley have documented an average of five pedestrians per month, including Border Patrol agents, hunters and hikers.
On the other hand, conservationists argue, these walls will be devastating to animals that rely on the critical migratory corridors there. One solution being promoted is to include small wildlife openings in the barriers.
