Tulum has won the World Travel Award (WTA) for Leading Beach Destination in Mexico and Central America for the third year in a row. (Unsplash)
Quintana Roo’s beaches won two World Travel Awards (WTA), with Tulum taking home “best beach” in the Mexico and Central America region for the third year in a row. Cozumel won “best island” in the region.
Also known as the “Oscars of tourism,” the WTA recognizes excellence across all sectors of the global tourism industry, including airlines, hotels, destinations and more.
Cozumel, Quintana Roo won the 2024 World Travel Award for Leading Island Destination. (Archive)
At a ceremony held on July 1 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, WTA Founder Graham Cooke said that the winners “represent the very best in travel and tourism from across the Caribbean and Americas,” as they play “starring roles in driving the regions to even greater heights.”
In the Leading Beach Destination category, Tulum competed against destinations including Jacó, Costa Rica; Bastimentos Island National Marine Park, Panama; Ambergris Caye, Belize; and Cancún and the Riviera Maya in Mexico.
Upon WTA’s release of the list of nominees, Tulum Municipal President Diego Castañón Trejo said that “this award is a recognition of the women and men who, with their human sense of hospitality, contribute to the consolidation of Tulum as the paradise of the Mexican Caribbean.”
The nominees for Leading Island Destination included Ambergris Caye, Belize; Coiba Island, Panama; Roatan, Honduras; Little Corn Island, Nicaragua; and Cozumel, Holbox and Isla Mujeres in Mexico.
Some of the other winners in the Mexico and Central America region included:
Costa Rica: Leading Destination
Aeromexico: Leading Airline Brand
Belize: Leading Dive Destination
Acapulco: Leading “City Break” Destination
Founded in 1993, the World Travel Awards are decided based on direct voting by travelers worldwide. Tulum and Cozumel, along with the rest of the regional winners, will advance to the Grand Finale ceremony in Madeira, Portugal, where the winners of the “World’s Leading” categories will be revealed.
Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama announced over the weekend that cruise ships have resumed docking at the state’s ports following the passage of Hurricane Beryl. (@MaraLezama/X)
The Yucatan Peninsula bounces back from Hurricane Beryl
Over the weekend, the Yucatan Peninsula felt the impact of Hurricane Beryl but reported minimal material damage. According to a post on X by Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama, the state is ready to resume tourist activities.
“Quintana Roo is ready to continue receiving thousands of tourists from all over the world, to continue breaking records and maintain our tourism leadership,” the governor’s online statement said.
“All tourist and economic activities have been reactivated with total normality and success, the ports are open, cruise ships are arriving, the airports are operating national and international flights and there is a large tourist influx and hotel occupancy,” Lezama added.
Graeme Clark, Canadian ambassador to Mexico, talks to Mexico News Daily about the relationship between the two countries. (Graeme C. Clark/X)
Mexico News Daily co-owners Travis and Tamanna Bembenek share below their interview with Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Graeme C. Clark, as part of MND’s “Canada in Focus” series, which highlights connections between the two countries as they celebrate 80 years of diplomatic relations.
Ambassador Clark became Canada’s ambassador to Mexico in 2020, having previously served as ambassador to Peru and Bolivia, the Organization of American States and as deputy head of mission in France.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Tell us a little about yourself. What’s your role here in Mexico?
My role as ambassador is to cultivate the bilateral relationship on all fronts and to bring it to a new level. The focus is on understanding each other’s reality, and my aim has been to go beyond the clichés and look to our real shared interests. Canada’s relationship with Mexico as our partner and neighbor in North America is characterized by great depth and breadth. Mexico is one of Canada’s most important economic relationships and is Canada’s third most important commercial partner. Our two countries are united in our desire to promote gender equality and Indigenous peoples’ rights, to advance democracy and the rule of law, to fight climate change, and to strengthen international peace and security. In this complex and ever-changing world, we cannot overemphasize the importance we place on our relationship with Mexico as a continental partner in the world’s most prosperous region.
Canada and Mexico recently commemorated 80 years of diplomatic relations. Given these longstanding ties, what priorities does Canada have in advancing bilateral relations with Mexico? What is the Embassy doing to bolster cooperation?
As you mentioned, this year Canada and Mexico are commemorating the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, which began on January 29, 1944. In addition, 2024 marks 20 and 50 years since the launch of the Canada-Mexico Partnership (CMP) and the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP), respectively, and 30 years since the implementation of NAFTA in 1994.
Canada is committed to enhancing and expanding relations with Mexico, both bilaterally and within the region of North America. Our most immediate priority this year is to establish new relationships and update our networks to work with the incoming administration in Mexico, building new alliances and redefining our common goals within our shared values.
As part of our 80th anniversary celebrations, we just inaugurated a photo exhibit in the Senate, and we are looking forward to a wonderful retrospective of the works of Canadian surrealist artist Alan Glass in Bellas Artes later this year.
In addition, we have constant projects and a very busy schedule of visits at all levels and constant dialogue, including the meeting between President-elect Sheinbaum and the [Canadian] Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, on June 26, and the visit of the parliamentary secretary for international development on July 1-3, as well as constant engagement on topics including academic collaboration, trade, the environment, migration, human rights and security.
What is your vision for the Mexico-Canada relationship three years from now? Are there any areas of cooperation or growth that you anticipate will become more significant?
Of course, we’re opening a new chapter with a new administration in Mexico as of Oct. 1, and with a new administration there’s always hope, there are new opportunities that Canada and Mexico can explore together. We also have in the pipeline the review of the CUSMA/T-MEC [also known as USMCA] between the three countries. That’s something that we have to work on bilaterally with Mexico and, of course, trilaterally with the U.S. There’s clearly going to be an emphasis on the environment, renewable energy and climate change, and that’s something we look forward to working on.
Thinking strategically, what I find interesting about the relationship is that there’s so much more to scope out in terms of building that bilateral dynamic. We have so much in common, so many shared interests, so many shared values, and we must continue to work on building that relationship and mutual understanding between the two countries, whether it’s in three years’ time or in thirty years’ time. Canada and Mexico will share the North American space with the United States, and we have to find a way to manage that as effectively as possible to the benefit of Mexicans, Canadians and Americans.
A large number of Canadian companies operate in Mexico across various sectors, driving economic growth and development. What impacts do these companies have in key industries such as automotive, renewable energy, agriculture and mining?
Canada is Mexico’s third largest foreign investor after the U.S. and Spain, with Canadian direct investment stock in Mexico valued at US $56 billion since 1999.
The positive impact that Canadian companies have in Mexico is spread across several sectors, such as mining, energy and automotive, to name a few. Canadian investment in Mexico creates over 85,000 formal jobs and contributes to an important economic spillover in the regions where they are investing. For example, in the mining sector, Canadian companies are the largest foreign investors in Mexico, representing 70% of all foreign companies operating. In energy, our companies have invested more than US $10.3 billion. In the automotive industry, there are over 60 Canadian auto-parts companies operating in Mexico, with over 130 plants in 14 states.
There are great opportunities in areas where we find an overlap between the leading-edge expertise and capabilities from the Canadian private sector and emerging and fast-growing industries in Mexico. This could include areas such as electromobility, renewable energies, life sciences, clean-tech, etc.
When I reflect on Canadian investment in Mexico, what I’m most proud of is how critical Canada’s investment footprint is for supporting Mexican economic growth and trade with the world. One Canadian company, TC Energia, has struck a strategic alliance with the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) to bring gas and spur economic development to the southeast of Mexico. Canadian Pacific Kansas City continues to grow and support Mexico in moving its exports throughout the country and northward into the United States and Canada. And our pension funds have made strategic investments in Mexico’s road infrastructure.
Given the nearshoring trend, how are Canadian companies’ attitudes toward Mexico evolving? Are there any notable shifts in their strategies for investment and operations here?
The North America region is the economic block that has most benefited from the current supercycle of foreign direct investment. All three of our economies are bringing in record levels of investment.
In addition, it is almost impossible to reflect on the Mexican economy over these years without mentioning the increased flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) that nearshoring is bringing into the country, and into the North American region. This has been an important element for the economic stability that Mexico is currently experiencing and a key element to continue promoting our integration in the region.
As we continue to see sustained levels of investment flowing from Canada into Mexico, and rather than a shift of strategy from Canadian companies, it demonstrates the continuous interest Canadian companies and investors have in the Mexican market. Since the entry into force of CUSMA in 2020, Canada has positioned between the 2nd and 3rd most important investors in Mexico each year. Last year, Canada positioned itself as the 3rd largest investor in 2023 with an investment of US $3.47 billion, accounting for 10% of Mexico´s total FDI.
Through ensuring that there is a level playing field for investors, regulatory and legal certainty, and providing enhanced stability, Mexico will be well-placed to continue to benefit from increased investment. Strategic investments in energy infrastructure, particularly in the expansion of renewables, will allow global manufacturing firms to meet their ESG goals and grow in Mexico.
Lastly, but definitely not less important, it will be critical to ensure the new incoming investment has the potential to add value to the already strong and interconnected supply chains of North America and give space for the participation of SMEs [small and midsize enterprises] and unrepresented groups.
What is the current situation around CUSMA (T-MEC)? What do you expect of its joint review in 2026?
July 1, 2024, will mark the fourth anniversary of the entry into force of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), or T-MEC as it is known in Mexico, an agreement that has been one of the foundational pillars of the economic relationship for the North American region. This agreement looks to preserve key elements of the long-lasting trading relationship, which flourished with the entry into force of our previous agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, whilst incorporating new and updated provisions that seek to address 21st-century trade issues and promote opportunities for the nearly half a billion people who call North America home. It has also served as an important cornerstone in strengthening conditions for North America’s workforce.
This agreement also represents a key element for the bilateral trade relationship between Canada and Mexico, which in 2023 reached $54 billion CAD. This means that for Canada, Mexico remains our third most important trading partner and our top export destination in Latin America. CUSMA has been a mechanism to strengthen our economic ties with Mexico, but also to address any concerns both parties may have.
As part of the commitments reached under CUSMA, Mexico, the US, and Canada agreed to have a joint review, which will take place on or by July 1, 2026. This process, which is not a renegotiation, will be an opportunity to ensure CUSMA remains fit for purpose and continues to strengthen our region’s competitiveness and resilience. Between now and the 2026 joint review of the agreement, we will face a busy political calendar with national elections in the three countries. This period will also be an opportunity to progress on full implementation of the agreement, as highlighted by ministers at the fourth meeting of the CUSMA Free Trade Commission in May.
In what ways has cultural exchange between Mexico and Canada strengthened bilateral ties, and are there any upcoming initiatives or events to further promote cultural understanding?
In the past three years, as we were going through and out of the pandemic, we put a certain emphasis on uplifting Canadian Indigenous art and artists.
A major initiative for us came at the request of President López Obrador in 2021, when he asked our prime minister to contribute to the celebration of 200 years of the consummation of Mexico’s independence in partnership with the state of Oaxaca. For three weeks between September and October 2021, we presented audio and audiovisual art of various Canadian and Mexican artists from Oaxaca in the city of Oaxaca, such as virtual reality experience, music, murals and a movie cycle, among other things.
In 2022, we also brought two throat singers from Nunavut, who performed in Mexico City to audiences that were amazed by this very particular form of singing.
Earlier this year (2024), we partnered with the Carleton University Choir to bring a group of young singers to perform in Mexico City, Tlaxcala and Puebla to highlight Canadian musical talent but also to provide music masterclasses to a vulnerable community in Tlaxcala, where most children who benefited were Indigenous.
These are only a few examples of what we have done in recent years and will continue to do, fostering relationships between Canadian and Mexican artists and our communities, and collaborating with local authorities and the Mexican federal government in some instances as well.
At the end of this year, we will be working with the Mexican Ministry of Culture to show the art of late Canadian-Mexican artist Alan Glass in the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, inaugurating at the end of October. This will be a perfect example of how our countries, our peoples, can foster ties that go far beyond commercial trade or tourism.
This year, you will be completing five years in Mexico. Can you comment on the aspects of Mexican culture that you will miss when you go back home?
Well, really, I don’t want to go home. I’ve been so happy here. I say sincerely that this has been the high point of my diplomatic career. Serving here, in a country so important to Canada, a country that I’ve always loved, whose food, people and culture have engaged me and complemented me personally and professionally, has been wonderful.
So, as we say in French, it will be an au revoir, till we meet again. I came to Mexico often before I was named ambassador, as a tourist and as an official, and I hope to continue coming to Mexico in the future so that the tastes, the smells and the sites will remain familiar and sharp in my mind.
So yes, of course I will miss Mexico, as one misses any posting as one moves on in one’s diplomatic career. It’s always a painful moment to have to leave an assignment that one has loved. But what’s wonderful about Mexico for Canadians is of course that it’s only a four hour and a half flight away, and I look forward to taking those flights so that I can renew my engagement with this country.
Lastly, what is your favorite Mexican food? Our staff and readers would love to know.
It strikes me that the best thing about Mexican food is a series of small things. So you go to a restaurant and you don’t order just a plato fuerte, you order all sorts of small things to begin your meal, perhaps a little plate of ceviche, or perhaps some sopes, a taco, a wonderful guacamole. Even the different salsas that you find in the center of the table give the experience of a single dish so much nuance and variety. So, to me, the attraction of Mexican food is that variety and multiplicity that exists at the outset of a meal and that can sometimes be a meal in itself.
This article is part of Mexico News Daily’s “Canada in Focus” series. Read the other articles from the series here.
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for over 27 years. Tamanna Bembenek was born in India, studied and worked in the U.S. and now lives in Mexico with her husband, Travis. Together, they are the co-owners of Mexico News Daily.
Mexico has become a prolific producer of high quality coffee, providing stable employment for Indigenous communities and winning international acclaim. (Finca Santa Cruz Coffee)
If there’s one thing on which a shockingly high percentage of us can agree it’s that the day doesn’t properly begin until the first cup of coffee has been poured. In the U.S. a whopping 73% of the country’s residents quaff the stuff daily, and Mexicans evince a similar enthusiasm, with the majority of the population (55%) cited as everyday coffee drinkers.
The difference is that the U.S. grows coffee in limited quantities and only in Hawaii. Mexico is one of the world’s largest producers, typically among the top 10 globally, and is renowned for the quality of its beans. Most of its exports are earmarked for its neighbors to the north, the U.S. and Canada. Starbucks, for example, relies on Latin American sources for most of its coffee, including countries like Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Costa Rica.
Mexican growers provide beans to global giants such as Starbucks. (Finca Santa Cruz/Facebook)
As to the quality, one need only look to the nation’s coveted denomination of origin program to see the esteem with which top-growing regions are viewed. Mexico has given special status to 18 protected products, which include liquors like tequila, mezcal, charanda, raicilla, and sotol; and beloved foods and flavor enhancers like the “Ataulfo” variety of mangoes, vanilla from Papantla, and Yucatán’s chile de habanero. Premium coffees are singled out, too, but only from select areas: Veracruz, Chiapas, and “Pluma,” a coffee variety grown in 30 municipalities in Oaxaca.
Mexico’s three great coffee-growing regions
Veracruz, Chiapas, and Oaxaca are the states most associated with coffee growing in Mexico, not just because of their protected status, but because they produce about 80% of the country’s annual output. Other states deserve mention, however, particularly Puebla, whose coffees have fared well in recent blind-tasting tests for the Cup of Excellence ratings (more on this later). Coffee is also grown in lesser quantities in Colima, Estado de México, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Morelos, Nayarit, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Tabasco.
Because of their unique growing conditions, each state produces coffees with a specialized flavor profile. But there are also some commonalities. México is no longer a country with large coffee plantations. Small farms, called fincas, are now the rule rather than the exception, with 95% of growers cultivating less than 3 hectares of land (about 7.5 acres). Also notable is that Mexico’s coffee producers are overwhelmingly from Indigenous populations (85% of all growers, representing 30 groups). These small farmers often band together in cooperatives to sell their coffee, much of which is shade-grown under organic conditions at altitudes between 1,000 and 1,300 meters above sea level.
Their coffees, particularly when labeled as “cafe de altura” (high-grown) are synonymous with quality since the cooler temperatures associated with higher altitudes allow the the coffees to develop at a slower rate, adding complexity and more potent flavors.
The mountains of Oaxaca, seen here, are home to small ‘fincas’ which produce the overwhelming majority of Mexican coffee. (Finca Las Nieves)
Veracruz
This is the oldest coffee-growing region in México, with a history that dates back to 1795. Despite this tradition, it’s also the most forward-thinking regarding new technologies. Coffees high-grown in fertile volcanic soil from 1100 to 1600 meters above sea level in Veracruz’s tropical humidity emerge bold yet aromatic, with a sophisticated flavor palette. Coatepec is the source of some of the best of these “altura” coffees, sought-after for its Arabica beans’ sweet flavor and balanced acidity.
Chiapas
Chiapas has the most coffee-growing acreage in México, producing about 41% of the national total. Volcanic soils and altitudes between 1,300 and 1,700 meters are defining features and contribute to the region’s distinctively rich and nutty flavor profile. Chiapas Turquesa, a popular sub-variety, is notable for its bigger-than-average beans and buttery smooth drinkability. It’s associated with San Cristóbal de las Casas and Yajalón, which along with Ángel Albino Corzo (source of Jaltenango blends), Bochil, Comitán, Copainalá, Motozintla, Ocosingo, Ocozocoautla, Palenque, Pichucalco, and Tapachula comprise Chiapas’ denomination of origin coffee production zone.
Oaxaca
Pluma Hidalgo may be the most famous coffee bean in Mexico. An evolution of a 19th-century form of Typica, a mother strain of Arabica, the Oaxacan specialty developed through long use in the Sierra Madre de Sur mountains surrounding the small town from which it takes its name. Local growers still favor a traditional approach for their plants, which flourish between 900 and 1,650 meters above sea level in shaded cloud forests. The resulting coffees are unmistakable — medium-bodied with a sweet flavor, floral notes, and a hint of citrusy zest.
Where to buy the best Mexican coffee
One of the best ways to support Mexican coffee growers is by buying directly from their cooperatives. Boicafé, for example, an organic cooperative representing more than 1,000 families in Chiapas, sells coffee via monthly subscriptions on My Coffee Box. CESMACH, another respected Chiapas cooperative, promotes its roasted, by-the-bag treasures on its website. The SICOBI cooperative in Oaxaca, rather than selling coffee directly, invites interested parties on Copalita Trail hiking journeys that visit agrarian Zapotec communities to see how coffee and crops like corn, tomatoes, and avocados are farmed.
There are no shortage of outstanding local Mexican coffee bean producers to sample, enjoy and support. (Dos Culturas Coffee)
Another option is to visit your favorite local Mexican coffee shop and ask where they source their beans. My local, Cabo Coffee Company, gets their Pluma Hidalgo beans from the Sierra Madre mountains in Oaxaca. They also sell this excellent coffee by the bag and even ship to the U.S. Major grocery store chains like Chedraui, La Comer, and Soriana are also good places to find premium Mexican coffee, including regional blends or single-origin expressions from respected domestic brands.
Want to seek out the best of the best? The Alliance for Coffee Excellence’s “Cup of Excellence” ratings are for specialty coffee what Robert Parker’s ratings are for wine. Graded on a 100-point system, México saw several coffees score above 90 based on the 2024 jury results, including offerings from farms and cooperatives in Chiapas, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Veracruz.
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
"Can you say 'frog' for me?" Apparently not. If your kids are refusing to speak your language, why not try a different approach? (Yael González/Unsplash)
In my 22 years in Mexico, I’ve happened upon a familiar scene several times. It involves a family with one Mexican parent and one foreign parent. There are children, or perhaps just one. The scenario, as you might have implied from the title, involves trying to teach your child English.
And though the foreign parent, usually English-speaking, may speak tome in English, it’s Spanish with their kids. “Oh, they understand English, they just won’t speak it.”
Oh, dear.
It is quite common to see multicultural families in Mexico, but multilingual ones can sometimes be problematic. (Chayene Rafaela/Unsplash)
The roots
How does this happen?
Most of the times I’ve witnessed this dynamic, the father is the foreigner, and the mother, Mexican. Obviously, I’ve got a theory — for my generation of immigrants and older, at least.
The profile of young men who would come to Mexico before it was cool tended toward counter-culture hippie types. And if they stayed, they typically wound up with one of two types of women. The first, shy, sweet and unassuming; the second, also counterculture hippies.
And to be a counter-culture hippie in Mexico often means to reject, loudly, imperialism from the north. One easy way to do that is to actively resist the imposition of their language and culture. As an added bonus, avoiding the hard work of learning a language gets rebranded as activism.
But like humans everywhere, we’re charming, and sometimes even get people to fall in love with and marry us.
Golden boys
Foreign men especially get huge returns on at least attempting to speak the language. People may be impressed by foreign women who learn Spanish, but they love, love, love when men do it.
Why? I’m not sure. But I have seen countless foreign men get adopted into multiple Mexican families. If they’re friendly, passably good-looking and speak even broken Spanish, they’re golden. They’re fed, included in all major family events and generally treated like rock stars.
Notably, I have not yet witnessed this treatment of foreign women. I fear the root of this is the fact that a foreign woman does not meet the standard of what it traditionally means to be a good woman in Mexico. If you’re a visitor, you’re serving no one. All those American “Girls Gone Wild” videos from the ‘90s couldn’t have helped, either.
Anyway: if you’re a foreign man in Mexico and not a total jerk, you’ve found your oyster.
The (kind of) bicultural, monolingual Kid
So why rock the boat? You’ve got a formula that works and you don’t want to mess it up. If you’ve married someone with misgivings about your culture, you may not be eager to disturb the peace at home by bringing it to the foreground.
Chances are, too, that your kids will adopt some similar attitudes of ambivalence. Pair that with every child’s need to fit in and not be too different and you’ve got a recipe for protest.
I’ve often heard that the ideal situation for a child to learn another language from birth is to have a foreign mother in the father’s country. The reasoning behind this is old-fashioned: mothers, traditionally, interact more with their children.
I suspect that this is less true with modern parents, but the fact remains. If you don’t speak to your kid regularly in your language, your kid won’t learn the language. Period.
How to make sure your kids are bilingual
Protest or not, speaking two or more languages is always beneficial. If making it happen automatically is a gift you’re able to give your child, it’s my opinion that you should.
Insisting on speaking your language from a young age is important. (Bruno Nascimento/Unsplash)
To make this happen is, as a friend once brilliantly put it, not a mystery; it’s just hard. All you have to do as the “foreign” parent is this: insist that your children speak to you only in your language.
That’s it.
They will likely push back, even as babies. That’s okay — you might as well get used to that aspect of parenting now. If your kids know that you speak the primary language — and how could they not — they will likely protest. But you must stand firm. Even though it’s not the truth, you must say, “Mommy can only understand you if you speak to her in English.” Unless it’s a dire emergency, ignore them in Spanish, or say “What? Can you say it in English?”
I mean, you don’t have to be cruel. If your kid — especially if they’re older when you begin — truly doesn’t know how to say what they want, teach them. Make them repeat it. Explain that it’s important to you to have that linguistic connection to them.
While this article is not peer-reviewed, the author’s daughter is fluent in English and Spanish, so the advice seems to have worked. (Sarah DeVries)
If you’ve been speaking to them in your language from the beginning, though, narrating everything you can to them, these moments will be few and far between. I promise.
My own 10-year-old, who has been raised in Mexico, speaks both languages fluently. She doesn’t have an accent in either, and never has. People ask me how I managed to teach her English, but really, I didn’t teach her. I simply never spoke directly to her in Spanish, ever, and that was that. Done. Easy.
And don’t worry about their Spanish, by the way. It’s the language of the sea they swim in. They’ll learn it just as naturally as they did English.
So go forth, parents. Don’t be afraid to put your foot down about insisting they speak your language with you. I am 100% sure they’ll be glad for it in the future.
Researchers were able to piece together some of the desert nomad's remains, which could hold lessons about the lives of ancient peoples. (INAH)
Officials in the state of Coahuila last week presented the skeletal remains of the “Man of Bilbao,” a nomad who roamed the high desert between 700 and 1,000 years ago. The unprecedented finding could open a new chapter in the study of northern Mexico’s ancient peoples.
The man’s skull was initially found in 2022 by tourists riding on ATVs in the Bilbao Dunes near the Pueblo Mágico of Viesca, Coahuila, prompting the state’s Missing Persons Prosecutor’s Office to investigate further.
After all, maybe the skull belonged to a contemporary person who had met an untimely demise.
However, after more bones and other artifacts were found — and archeologists were brought into the mix — it was determined that the remains were pre-Columbian, and that the man was likely 20 to 30 years old when he died.
Enough bones were found to construct a rudimentary skeleton, which was nicknamed “El Hombre de Bilbao” and presented last Wednesday at the La Laguna Regional Museum in nearby Torreón, Coahuila.
Diego Prieto Hernández, general director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), participated in the unveiling for the media and a handful of locals. Others present included archaeologists, anthropologists and members of the Attorney General’s Office of Coahuila.
Archaeologists at the site where the ancient remains were found. (via Milenio)
An INAH press release said the “surprising” initial finding led to the discovery of a new archaeological site that offers valuable insights into ancient hunter-gatherers in the region.
The remains were discovered on the shores of the ancient Viesca lagoon, in the high sand dunes of what is now referred to as the Chihuahuan Desert.
“This discovery allows us to generate a great deal of knowledge about who our ancestors were, how they lived, their health, what they ate, what physical activities they performed, and at what age they died,” said Axel Baños Nocedal, head of the INAH’s Physical Anthropology Department.
He said the finding was significant because it was not only in the middle of nowhere, but because it was in sand, a material that commonly treats bone material poorly. Officials speculated that the dunes buried the remains for centuries, until the movement of ATVs brought them back to the surface.
A researcher studies one of many bone fragments found at the excavation site. (Centro INAH Coahuila)
Archaeologist Yuri de la Rosa explained that the site was likely a hunting or gathering camp, as evidenced by the presence of small flakes from rockwork, finished objects and preforms indicating tool production.
“It was not a site for burying the dead, nor is there any evidence that the body was prepared,” De la Rosa said, “which leads one to think [he] was in his camp, hunting or fishing, and something happened to him or he was sick.”
Near the remains of the man were a seashell necklace, a white flint blade, a projectile point and animal remains. Also found were fragments of pottery and clay models common to the region.
The artifacts suggest the individual belonged to the Desert Cultures, which thrived between 700 and 1,000 years ago.
The lithic materials are similar to those found at Candelaria Cave, a site about 65 kilometers away that was used as a cemetery by nomadic people and was discovered in the 1950s. Caves and rock shelters were traditionally used as burial sites, De la Rosa said.
“El Hombre de Bilbao” and his associated artifacts are currently housed at the La Laguna museum, where they continue to be analyzed.
Sheinbaum's economic proposal includes the development of 10 industrial corridors, planned around the the strengths of different regions of the country. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
In an interview last year, President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum predicted that the nearshoring trend will help drive significant economic growth in Mexico during the 2024-30 period of the federal government.
An aspirant to the ruling Morena party’s presidential nomination at the time, Sheinbaum made it clear that she wouldn’t be satisfied with strong economic growth unless it benefited all regions of Mexico and the nation’s poorest people.
So how does she plan to go about ensuring that foreign investment in Mexico is spread across the country and benefits all Mexicans?
The soon-to-be president outlines her response in the “100 pasos para la transformación” (100 Steps for Transformation) document she released earlier this year.
In it, Sheinbaum presents her plan to create 10 industrial corridors spanning all 32 federal entities of Mexico.
She also proposes the construction of “at least 100 additional industrial parks to arrange and distribute national and foreign investment.”
Sheinbaum has proposed the construction of at least 100 new industrial parks. (Thor Urbana)
The Sheinbaum administration could offer additional incentives to attract companies in specific sectors to the different industrial corridors outlined below.
Sheinbaum’s regional development plan
At the beginning of the “regional development” section of her 381-page “100 steps” document, Sheinbaum asserts that there is currently a “favorable environment” for business and investment in Mexico because the federal government “has created political and macroeconomic stability” in the country.
Mexico’s skilled labor force and location in North America have attracted increasing industrial investment in recent years. (VG Foto/Shutterstock)
“In addition, it has maintained healthy public finances, strengthened the peso and managed to control inflation despite global pressures,” she writes.
In that context, she proposes the creation of 10 “specialized” industrial corridors. According to the consultancy Prodensa, industrial corridors are “geographical areas that have a concentration of manufacturing, industrial and logistics activities.”
The Trans-Isthmus Corridor
This industrial corridor, named after the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, will run through Oaxaca, Veracruz, Tabasco and Chiapas, according to Sheinbaum’s plan.
The sectors to be prioritized in the corridor are renewable energy, specialized manufacturing, agro-industry and logistics.
An important feature of the planned isthmus corridor is the recently opened Interoceanic Train. (Oaxaca state government)
The railroad — part of the government’s plan to create a trade route that rivals the Panama Canal — will allow freight to move between the Salina Cruz port on the Pacific coast and the Coatzacoalcos port on the Gulf of Mexico coast.
The AIFA Corridor
This corridor, named after the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), will run through Mexico City, México state and Hidalgo.
The priority sectors are medical devices, chemical and pharmaceutical products, logistics, specialized manufacturing, services, and food and beverages.
Running along Mexico’s northern border with the United States, this corridor will run through the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
The priority sectors are auto parts, manufacturing and agro-industry.
This corridor already includes a large number of export-oriented manufacturing plants known as maquiladoras. Many maquiladora workers earn low salaries, but Sheinbaum asserted that her government will seek manufacturing investment that brings “fair and decent salaries, knowledge, technological innovation and added value.”
The Baja Corridor
As its name indicates, this corridor will include the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur as well as Sonora and Sinaloa, which also border the Gulf of California.
The priority sectors are semiconductors, renewable energy generation, tourism and agriculture.
The Baja corridor includes green energy projects like the Puerto Peñasco solar farm. (CFE)
Earlier this year, the United States government announced that it would partner with Mexico in a new initiative whose ultimate aim is to strengthen and grow the Mexican semiconductor industry.
The Bajío Corridor
This corridor will run through the Bajío region states of Querétaro, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí and Aguascalientes.
The priority sectors are automotive, data centers, aeronautical and tourism.
This corridor is already home to auto plants operated by companies such as General Motors, Ford, Nissan and Honda. More foreign automakers including Chinese companies could open plants in the region in the coming years.
Named after the people who have inhabited Mexico’s south and southeast for thousands of years, this corridor will run through the states of Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán, Quintana Roo and Chiapas.
The star of Sheinbaum’s proposed Maya corridor is the new Maya Train. (Maya Train/X)
The priority sectors are tourism, agro-industry, renewable energy, food and beverages, and services.
This corridor includes the US $20 billion Maya Train railroad, which is already partially operational and is slated to be completed later this year. Tourist trains are currently running on the railroad, but freight services are expected to commence soon after the project is completed.
Sheinbaum said in late June that she was analyzing a proposal to extend the Maya Train railroad to Progreso, a port city north of Mérida on the Gulf of Mexico.
The Central Corridor
This corridor will run through Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala.
The plan prioritizes four sectors: textiles, automotive, electricity and electronics.
Volkswagen and Audi already have plants in Puebla, while Nissan has a factory in Cuernavaca, Morelos.
The Northwest Corridor
This corridor will run through Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango and Zacatecas.
Mines like the Mina Peñasquito in Zacatecas are a focus of the northwest industrial corridor. (Cuartoscuro)
The priority sectors are mining, agriculture and electricity generation.
Mexico’s largest potential lithium reserves are in Sonora. The current federal government nationalized lithium in 2022, but Chinese company Ganfeng Lithium remains determined to go ahead with its proposed Sonora Lithium Project despite the cancellation of its concessions.
The goals of Sheinbaum’s industrial corridor plan
In her “100 steps” document, the president-elect says that “unlike in the past, we must ensure that investment translates into well-being for everyone.”
Sheinbaum says that “strategic infrastructure projects” must be prioritized in the 10 industrial corridors to guarantee residents’ rights to housing, water, energy, health care, education and high-quality transport.
The president-elect also writes that the government has a responsibility to ensure that job creation occurs close to where people live.
Increased economic opportunity at home could mean fewer Mexicans seeking to work in the U.S. and other foreign countries. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
If employment is available, migrating to another part of Mexico or another country — most commonly the United States — goes from being “the only way” to improve one’s life to “one of many choices that people can take with autonomy,” Sheinbaum says.
The president-elect also writes that “regional development and the defining of productive vocations by federal entity will provide continuity to the approach focused on the development of value chains in the priority sectors for North America.”
The objective, she says, is to “achieve the substitution of imports from Asia” for North American companies — a central goal of nearshoring to Mexico.
Sheinbaum adds that “the main sectors … that must be promoted in the coming years are:
Residents of the Nahua town Cuentepec in Morelos walk by a multi-lingual mural. More than 7 million Mexicans speak an Indigenous language. (Margarito Pérez Retano/Cuartoscuro)
Google has added 110 new languages — including Zapotec, Nahuatl, Maya Yucateco and Qʼeqchiʼ, also a Maya language — to its free Google Translate service.
Machine translation is valuable in the efforts to save minority languages, which could help preserve Mexico’s Indigenous languages.
Indigenous Mexican languages now supported by Google Translate
Zapotec is an extensive language family originating in southern Mexico. There are over 50 different Zapotec languages (which belong to the larger Otomanguean language family). Mexico’s national statistics agency, INEGI, reports that a total of approximately 425,000 people speak Zapotec, primarily in the state of Oaxaca.
Nahuatl (also known as Aztec, or Mexicano) is a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. About 1.7 million Nahua people speak Nahuatl, primarily in Central Mexico.
Nahuatl, Maya, Zapotec and other Indigenous languages spoken in Mexico are now available on Google Translate. (Google)
Qʼeqchiʼ (Kekchi in many English-language contexts, such as in Belize) are a Maya people of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Their language is Qʼeqchiʼ.
Maya Yucateco, often simply called Maya, is spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula and parts of northern Belize. Linguists added “Yucateco” to the name in order to clearly distinguish it from all other Maya languages.
Google Translate’s latest expansion is its largest yet
The expansion is part of a Google initiative to build AI models to support the 1,000 most spoken languages around the world.
“We’re always applying the latest technologies so more people can access this tool … From Cantonese to Qʼeqchiʼ, these new languages represent more than 614 million speakers, opening up translations for around 8% of the world’s population,” the tech giant said in a statement.
These languages are in different stages of usage. Some have 100 million speakers, Google noted, and some have no active speakers.
In determining which languages to provide support for in Google Translate, Google said it considers regional varieties, dialects and different spelling standards, the news site Tech Crunch reported.
A large language model called PaLM 2 powers the new expansion. PaLM 2 was pre-trained on multilingual sets of texts ranging in scope from human to programming languages, making it much more advanced than its predecessor PaLM, which used mostly English-only datasets.
More readily identified with tequila and mezcal, Mexican rum is emerging from the shadows to take a turn in the spotlight. (Photos by Anna Bruce)
Mexico might not be at the forefront of the mind when it comes to thinking of great rum producers. But Mexican rum has a profound, if often overlooked, legacy that lives on today at the hands of traditional distillers.
Mexican sugarcane rums are different from Caribbean rums in that they are generally produced using not molasses but fermented sugarcane juice. There are two prominent styles of this type of spirit in Mexico. The first is charanda, made from either molasses or fresh-pressed sugar cane. This spirit has a protected appellation of origin (AO), and can only be called charanda if it’s produced in certain parts of Michoacán.
In the moutains of Oaxaca, a rum revolution is gathering steam.
A second style is locally called aguardiente, also known as Mexican agricole. Much of this liquor comes from mountainous areas in Oaxaca, where fresh-pressed aguardiente de caña is made in a manner akin to Martinican rhum agricole and Brazilian cachaça.
Sugarcane was first brought to Mexico by the Spanish. Over the next century, liquor production grew rapidly. Despite its popularity, Mexico’s growing liquor industry was hit by a royal prohibition to protect public morals and the interests of Spanish merchants, driving production underground.
Fortunately, as with many alcohol prohibitions around the world, people found a way to keep recipes and traditions alive. In Mexico, people made rum at home in secret small pot stills. This activity has kept the legacy of rum in Mexico alive.
Centuries later, Mexican sugarcane rum hit another hurdle with the introduction of NAFTA in 1994. Major transnational alcohol brands arrived with aggressive prices, marketing and branding. Mexican companies adjusted their prices to compete with foreign brands, going for volume over quality. This in turn reduced their margins and options for innovation. Overall, these developments led to a stigma of low quality around Mexican cane spirits.
Mexican rum is made from traditional sugarcanes, unlike most famous Caribbean rums which use molasses.
In the past decade, consumer preferences have begun to change. A major shift towards craft production has swept through the liquor industry, with mezcal serving as the movement’s poster child. Underdog spirits such as raicilla and sotol have been on the rise, and Mexican sugarcane spirits are not far behind.
Small-batch cane spirit production draws many comparisons with traditional agave spirits. Production facilities are often far from the cities. Distillation traditions vary by location, creating a wide diversity of style and flavor. Ellisandro Gonzalez, who produces Dakabend sugarcane rum, explains that “rum from this part of the land will taste different than the next because the soil is different [and] the microclimates are different.”
Alongside Dakabend, Camazotz is one of the first of the new wave of Mexican rums reaching the international market. It was developed by Melanie Symonds, founder of Quiquiriqui mezcal, and partner Charles Koutris. Together they have led the way for deeply flavorful craft sugarcane rum to reach the United States, United Kingdom and beyond.
Symonds explains that she became interested in the idea around 2016. “There was a lot of industrially produced aguardiente de caña in the region, which isn’t great, but occasionally I’d visit a village to meet a mezcal producer and someone would bring over a plastic bottle that had the unmistakable smell of an agricole-style rum, something I have always loved!”
She asked the mezcal producers she works with to keep an eye out for small, traditional cane spirit producers. This went on for over a year, due to the challenges of reaching these producers whose products rarely made it out of the local area. She explains this was “much like mezcal back in the early 2010’s when you could drive off from Oaxaca city and follow the smoke plumes in the hills and there you’d find a magical palenque making beautiful liquid, untouched by the grubby hands of commercialization.”
In 2018 she was given a trio of samples made by a producer from a remote, steep, area of the Sierra Mixe, in eastern Oaxaca. Symonds remembers that “as soon as I opened one of them, there was the unmistakable smell of agricole.” This unique profile is what she then pursued for her sugarcane rum brand, Camazotz.
The day after she tried the sample, she took off on a four hour journey to the highest region of Oaxaca. “We arrived and met the producer of the rum, Leoncio Gaspar, at his family home, along with his wife and son. Leo learned to make rum from his father and has worked most of his life making rum at the family ranch, Punto Fiero, in the valley next to his village.”
The rum is often still made in traditional pots and with traditional tools.
Gaspar and his family grow their cane organically, without using pesticides or fertilizers. It takes approximately eighteen months to reach maturity and reaches up to three meters. Gaspar and his team harvest the cane by hand.
The area of Gaspar’s distillation is extremely remote, you need to hike for several hours down a mountain trail to reach his ranch. The setup at Punto Fiero hasn’t changed since his father was head distiller. They have a mule pulled cane press, fermenting tubs and a clay pot for distilling.
The press he uses at the family ranch is around 80 years old and is worked by Gaspar and the mule. The cane is fed into one side and pulled out of the other side, this is repeated to maximize the collection of the juice. One kilo of sugarcane yields approximately 700 milliliters of raw juice.
The juice is collected in a tub ready for fermentation. Symonds describes how “a bunch of the crushed cane is always added to the juice to kickstart the fermentation.” This helps the ambient yeasts relied on for this artisanal process. The ferment takes around 5 days to a few weeks, a time frame dependent on the outside temperature at the time of production.
One kilo of sugarcane yields around 700 milliliters of raw juice and takes up to eighteen months to grow to maturity.
Symonds says that the surrounding flora and fauna also have a dramatic impact on the wild yeast and therefore the flavor imparted through the fermentation. The ranch is surrounded by a very old wild banana plantation which plays an important role in the development of the unique flavor found in Camazotz.
The challenges for Symonds and Camazotz have been significant. “I can’t explain the difficulties of getting this rum to where we have,” she says, “from the remote location and hard work to produce the rum, trying to navigate a truck on the clifftop trails to collect it, to the ridiculous taxes and legal restrictions in place when you try and export. It’s way harder to export than mezcal because it does not have an AO. Mexican Customs have no idea what it is and we have had instances where they won’t let it leave port because we don’t have a certificate from the AO governing body. Hopefully as more people discover Oaxacan rum, this will change and it will become easier.”
Since Camazotz launched in 2019, they have sold to the USA, UK and Europe. Symonds also recognises the appeal for mezcal lovers “because of the hand made process and the similarities in how terroir affects the flavor.” She accepts that it “definitely helps having Quiquiriqui as the sister brand as it opens up introductions and often, where people say they hate rum and only drink agave, we find once they try it they are converted!”
She was reminded of launching her mezcal brand before many people knew what it was. It’s exciting and it feels extra special when you know the hard work it takes to get that liquid into a bottle. Leo’s face when we first took him a labeled bottle with his name on was also a special moment.”
Anna Bruce is an award-winning British photojournalist based in Oaxaca, Mexico. Just some of the media outlets she has worked with include Vice, The Financial Times, Time Out, Huffington Post, The Times of London, the BBC and Sony TV. Find out more about her work at her website or visit her on social media on Instagram or on Facebook.
Mexico and Canada celebrate 80 years of diplomatic relations this year. (Canada in Mexico/X)
On a late January day in 1944 – the same day that a British bomber sank a German U-boat in the Bay of Biscay as World War II continued to rage – Mexico and Canada established diplomatic relations.
Now, in 2024, the two countries are celebrating the 80th anniversary of that milestone with a range of events, including a photographic exhibition inaugurated by Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly during her visit to Mexico City in late June.
President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly met in late June, accompanied by Sheinbaum’s future foreign affairs minister, Juan Ramón de la Fuente (left) and Canadian Ambassador Graeme C. Clark (right). (Mélanie Joly/X)
This week, Mexico News Daily is joining the celebrations with a series of “Canada in Focus” articles, each of which explores connections between Mexico and Canada.
As we’ve done in previous editions of our Global Mexico series, we’re kicking things off by delving into the history of Mexico-Canada relations, and examining the state of the bilateral relationship today.
A brief history of Mexico-Canada relations
While the formal diplomatic relationship between Mexico and Canada began 80 years ago, their commercial relationship dates back even further.
Porfirio Díaz ruled Mexico for three decades in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Canadian investment in Mexico began during this period. (Wikimedia Commons)
During the Porfiriato — the three-decade period in the late 19th century and early 20th century when Porfirio Diáz was president of Mexico — Canadian investment began flowing into the country.
“At that time, Canada played a significant role in Mexico through major infrastructure projects including railways, urban transportation, hydro-electrification, water treatment and the establishment of the banking system,” Sandra Fuentes, a former Mexican ambassador to Canada, wrote in an article published in the magazine Voices of Mexico.
Companies such as Mexican Light and Power Company, Mexico Tramways Company and Mexico North Western Railway were founded with Canadian money around this time.
Díaz was ousted at the start of the Mexican Revolution, and the decade-long conflict that ensued was a major impediment to Canadian investment in Mexico.
A Canadian share of the Mexico North Western Rail Company dated 1909. (Wikimedia Commons)
In 1938, almost two decades after the end of the Mexican Revolution, President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalized Mexico’s oil industry and expropriated the assets of foreign petroleum companies. Canada cited that decision as a reason for holding off on establishing diplomatic relations with Mexico at a time when it was formalizing ties with other Latin American countries, such as Argentina and Brazil.
Eventually, amid World War II, a conflict in which both Mexico and Canada participated on the Allied side, formal diplomatic relations were established.
Fuentes, the former Mexican ambassador, wrote that “one would have thought that there would have been a flurry of activity between the two countries” after the commencement of diplomatic relations.
“But this was not so,” she said. “In fact, over the next 30 years, while the two countries often shared similar views on major issues of the times, … bilateral interaction was very limited.”
Despite that, it was in this period that a Mexican president and a Canadian prime minister came face to face for the first time. Adolfo Ruiz Cortines met Louis St. Laurent at a trilateral meeting in 1956 organized by United States president Dwight D. Eisenhower.
At that meeting, held in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the Mexican and Canadian leaders raised with Eisenhower “similar concerns related to their proximity to their powerful neighbor, such as environmental issues, illegal fishing by American vessels and the temporary employment of Mexican workers,” wrote Fuentes, citing Ruiz’s 1956 report to the nation.
Mexico’s President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines (left) and Canada’s Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent were the first leaders of the two nations to meet in person in 1956. (Wikimedia Commons/MND)
In 1959, Adolfo López Mateos became the first Mexican president to make an official visit to Canada. Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker reciprocated by coming to Mexico the following year.
Many other Mexican and Canadian heads of state subsequently met during visits to each other’s countries.
In 1968 — an especially tragic year in Mexico due to the Tlatelolco massacre just before the start of the Mexico City Olympics — a joint Mexico-Canada ministerial committee was established, providing a forum for biennial meetings between officials from the two countries.
A significant development in the bilateral relationship occurred in 1974 when the governments of Mexico and Canada signed a memorandum of understanding that established the Mexico-Canada Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP).
Just over 200 Mexican workers went to Canada in the program’s inaugural year, while more than 26,000 will participate during this 50th anniversary year, according to the Mexican government.
“Over the last five decades, 522,628 employment contracts have been arranged, benefiting an equal number of families,” the government said in a recent statement.
Canadian Ambassador Graeme C. Clark (far right) at a sendoff for 92 Mexican workers heading to Canada. (Canada in Mexico/X)
Mexico and Canada entered into a range of other agreements facilitating cooperation in various fields in the years and decades after the SAWP was established. They include a cultural agreement, signed in 1976, and an environmental cooperation agreement, reached in 1990.
The relationship, however, was turbocharged when the two countries, together with the United States, signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which took effect on Jan. 1, 1994.
Trade between Mexico, Canada and the United States is now governed by the USMCA, which superseded NAFTA in 2020. The free trade pact is known as T-MEC in Mexico and CUSMA in Canada.
The bilateral relationship in the NAFTA and USMCA era
Trade
The trade relationship between Mexico and Canada has increased significantly in the 30 years since NAFTA took effect.
Canada is the second largest destination for Mexican exports, after the United States.
According to the Canadian government, Mexico is Canada’s third largest single-country trading partner after the U.S. and China, while Canada is Mexico’s fourth-largest trading partner.
Major Mexican exports to Canada include motor vehicles, auto parts, alcoholic beverages and agricultural products such as fruit. Among Canada’s exports to Mexico are auto parts, aluminum, steel, wheat and rapeseed.
Canada was the third-largest investor in Mexico in 2023. (SE)
Economy Ministry data shows that Canadian investment totaled $3.47 billion last year, or almost 10% of Mexico’s FDI.
Among the major Canadian companies that operate in Mexico are Scotiabank, TC Energy and Bombardier.
A number of large Canadian mining companies also have a presence in Mexico. Some have faced criticism for reasons that include alleged damage of the environment, such as water contamination, and failure to pay taxes.
For its part, the Canadian government says that “Canadian investors play an important role in economic development and employment in Mexico, sometimes in isolated and marginalized regions.”
“Canadian companies are committed to operate under the principles of responsible business conduct, and contribute through their programs not only to employment, but also to education, sustainable development and the well-being of individuals and communities,” it adds.
Among the Mexican companies that operate in Canada are baked goods company Grupo Bimbo, which owns Bimbo Canada, building materials company Cemex and mining company Grupo México.
The Canada-Mexico Partnership and the Canada-Mexico Action Plan
Launched in 2004, the Canada-Mexico Partnership is the “key mechanism for bilateral cooperation” between the two countries, according to the Canadian government.
“It serves as a catalyst for concerted action between our governments, private sectors, and non-governmental partners to pursue common goals and mutually beneficial priorities,” the Canadian government says.
President López Obrador with U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the North American Leaders’ Summit in 2023. (LopezObrador.org.mx)
Mexican and Canadian officials frequently engage at bilateral, trilateral and multilateral meetings.
After the trilateral North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City in January 2023, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a bilateral meeting and subsequently announced a new “Canada-Mexico Action Plan.”
The plan established “a strengthened partnership built on 9 pillars that outlines our citizens’ priorities and the initiatives that will advance them,” according to the Mexican and Canadian governments.
Those pillars are:
Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples
Gender equality and women’s empowerment
Trade and investment
Anti-racism
Youth engagement
Peace and security
Tourism, migration and human mobility
Environment and climate change
Cooperation in the face of future health crises
Cooperation in multilateral forums
Mexico and Canada collaborate on various issues in a range of multilateral forums including the G20, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the United Nations.
While the USMCA is the main instrument that governs trade between Mexico and Canada, both countries are also signatories to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP.
Mexico and Canada collaborated on a complaint against the United States over the interpretation of auto-sector content rules under the USMCA. They prevailed in that dispute early last year.
Challenges and disagreements in the bilateral relationship
While Mexico and Canada are trade partners and friends, there have been – and are – some challenges in the bilateral relationship arising from disagreements between the two countries.
When the Canadian government announced in February that it was ending visa-free travel to Canada for some Mexican citizens after an increase in asylum claims by Mexicans, Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Mexico “regrets” the decision “and believes that there were other options available before putting this measure in place.”
Mexico and Canada remain engaged in a dispute over the former country’s nationalistic energy policies. Canada joined the United States in 2022 in seeking dispute settlement consultations with Mexico over its policies that favor state-owned firms over private and foreign companies.
Among the previous disputes between the two countries is one long-lasting one over potatoes.
Views of political leaders and ambassadors
The last time President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met face-to-face was in San Francisco last November during the 2023 APEC summit.
At the time, López Obrador said that Mexico’s “relationship with the people of Canada is a very good one, and that the trade relationship is fundamental for the development and prosperity of the North American people and region.”
During an address in Mexico City in January 2023, Trudeau said that trade between Canada and Mexico had increased “more than ninefold” since NAFTA took effect, but asserted that there is still “huge potential for growth between our countries.”
“… Let us continue this momentum. Let us keep doing what [North American] leaders did a generation ago: hold fast to a belief in open trade and collaboration” he said.
Mexico’s ambassador to Canada, Carlos Joaquín, described Mexico as a “strategic ally for Canada.” (Gob MX)
In a message included in the 2023 report “Mexico and Canada: Two Nations in a North American Partnership,” Canadian Ambassador to Mexico Graeme Clark wrote that the two countries “have become indispensable friends, partners and allies” since formal diplomatic ties were established in 1944.
“Canada and Mexico are two countries sharing not only a continent but also a solid friendship that has continued to grow over the years, and which includes strong cooperation on a wide range of issues: trade, culture, Indigenous empowerment, human rights, gender equality, and much more,” Clark wrote.
In the same report, Mexican Ambassador to Canada Carlos Joaquín described Mexico as a “strategic ally for Canada” and noted that the two countries “share various mechanisms to promote dialogue and cooperation throughout their relationship.”
“Both face the 21st century with enormous challenges, but the strength of their relationship must be the roadmap that leads to understanding in the coming years,” Joaquin wrote.
The 20-year-old airport has seen a consistent increase in passengers, both national and international, since completing renovations in December 2023. (Demian Chávez/Cuartoscuro)
Querétaro International Airport (QIA) saw international passenger traffic increase by 47% annually in January 2024, just one month after the airport completed a US $80-million renovation project.
Domestic arrivals are also up at QIA, and overall traffic at the newly renovated airport is projected to reach 2 million passengers in 2024.
Aeromexico recently relaunched its Querétaro-Atlanta route from QIA. (@AIQ_MX/X)
The Federal Civil Aviation Agency reported that 51,200 international passengers arrived at the 20-year-old airport in January, up 47.2% over the 34,800 international arrivals in January 2023. And from January through April of this year, 205,142 international travelers touched down at the Querétaro airport, representing a 60.4% increase over the 127,906 international arrivals during the first four months of 2023.
After the renovations were completed in December, several airlines added new international routes. Viva Aerobus now flies to San Antonio and Houston from QIA, and Aeromexico flies from QIA to Detroit and Atlanta.
Domestic arrivals during the first four months this year increased by a comparatively modest 11.2% over the January-April 2023 figures, but domestic traffic makes up the majority of total passengers at QIA. Of the 594,152 passengers arriving at the QIA during the January-April 2024 period, 389,010 — or 65% — were Mexican nationals.
Querétaro’s Sustainable Development Minister Marco Antonio Del Prete predicted last week that overall traffic at the airport could surpass 2 million this year, a number that would represent a 13% increase over 2023, when 1.7 million passengers traveled through QIA.
“We are seeing 20% growth in passenger traffic over last year,” del Prete said at a press event, taking into account the unofficial data for May.
The second phase of the aforementioned renovation project includes the expansion of the existing terminal as well as the installation of new jetways. A new waiting room will accommodate 500 additional passengers, while the jetways and additional screening centers will facilitate the movement of the increased numbers of travelers.
