Polo made landfall Monday night, bringing to Baja California Sur sustained winds of 150 to 170 km/h with gusts of 180 to 200 km/h and waves 7 to 9 meters high. (Gabriel Laros Heredia/Cuartoscuro)
After lying threateningly off Mexico’s west coast for the better part of a week, a weakened Hurricane Polo finally made landfall in Baja California Sur at 10 p.m. Monday night, dumping 15-30 cm of rain but causing little harm before making its way across the Peninsula and the Gulf of California to the Sonora coast, where it still packed enough power Tuesday morning to lash the beach city of Guaymas.
Guaymas and nearby Empalme suffered flooding, power outages and damage from fallen trees Tuesday, with storm-generated waves crashing over the Guaymas malecón, flooding streets.
City employees of La Paz, state capital of Baja California Sur, prepared Monday for Polo’s arrival. (Gabriel Larios Heredia/Cuartoscuro)
The Sonoran state government had announced on Monday the suspension of all “nonessential” activities, including schools, sports and certain work, in the state capital and more than a dozen municipalities
The Mexican Navy said it had personnel ready along the northern Pacific coast and, as a precaution, deployed three vessels to deliver aid to coastal communities isolated by the storm, while local authorities along the Baja California Peninsula said they had shelters at the ready.
Travel was also suspended where the hurricane was expected to make landfall, and ports across the region were closed.
Polo was expected to weaken later on Tuesday afternoon as it moves inland, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Before it does, however, Mexican authorities urged residents to remain safe indoors either at their homes or in temporary shelters in high-risk areas. Hundreds of people across the region have been evacuated.
Polo has been an oddly behaving hurricane from its formation and continued to be so after landfall. It hit the Sonora coast hard after it weakened to a Category 1 storm. But after it made landfall in Baja California Sur (far north of Los Cabos, almost in the middle of the Peninsula at the level of the Comondú municipality) as a slightly stronger Category 2, state authorities were breathing a sigh of relief.
A “saldo blanco” for Baja California Sur was preliminarily reported Tuesday morning — no deaths, no injuries. “There was more water than wind,” Governor Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío said. “So there was only minor damage, well within our capacity to deal with it.”
But it was still a hurricane. Mexico’s National Meteorological Service (SMN) reported that the hurricane brought to the Peninsula sustained winds of 150 to 170 km/h with gusts of 180 to 200 km/h and waves 7 to 9 meters high.
Mariachi Herencia de México — which roughly translates as Mexico’s Mariachi Heritage — performs mainly in the United States, including a 2017 Mexican Independence Day concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
The group emerged from a program providing mariachi instruction and cultural education to Chicago public-school students. (Screenshot)
A performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the band Mariachi Herencia de México on “Monday Night Football” this week drew cheers and made history, but it also elicited online backlash from some MAGA supporters.
Mariachi Herencia de México — an ensemble that started in Chicago 10 years ago and has been nominated for two Latin Grammys — became the first mariachi group to perform the U.S. national anthem at Soldier Field in Chicago, according to CBS Chicago.
The 14-member group’s all-instrumental rendering aired on ABC and ESPN before the Chicago Bears’ 27-7 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. It was part of the team’s annual Latino Heritage Month observances.
Mariachi Herencia de México — which roughly translates as Mexico’s Mariachi Heritage — performs mainly in the United States, including a 2017 Mexican Independence Day concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
The group emerged from a program providing mariachi instruction and cultural education to Chicago public-school students.
The program eventually reached 2,100 students at eight schools and led to auditions in which 20 students were selected to form the original ensemble.
The group earned Latin Grammy nominations for best ranchero/mariachi album for its debut, “Nuestra Herencia,” in 2017 and for “Herederos” in 2023.
Their appearance was Soldier Field’s first mariachi performance of the U.S. anthem, but not Chicago sports’ first overall. Mariachi Monumental de México, also based in Chicago, played “The Star Spangled Banner” before a Chicago White Sox baseball game on Cinco de Mayo in 2016.
Chicago native Sandra Delgado, who sang at halftime, told CBS Chicago before the game that Mariachi Herencia de México’s performance was going to be “beautiful and meaningful” and that it was “going to bring down the house.”
But it also prompted criticism on social media, including from supporters of President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
The prominent pro-Trump social-media account Gunther Eagleman wrote on X, “Hearing the American national anthem played mariachi-style on Monday Night Football feels weird. I understand putting your own spin on music, but the national anthem is one of those things that just hits harder when it’s kept traditional.”
Another MAGA supporter on X added in less measured tones, “Last time I checked, Mexicans have their own country and national anthem … it wouldn’t shock me if Democrat Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker personally requested this disgusting display. These woke people hate America.”
The Bears-Eagles game came during Week 3 of the NFL season. In Week 11, on Nov. 22, the NFL will return to Mexico City when the San Francisco 49ers play the Minnesota Vikings at Estadio Banorte, better known as Estadio Azteca.
The tertiary or services sector grew 4% annually in July, according to INEGI, while the secondary sector, which includes manufacturing, construction, mining and electricity generation, expanded 2.4%. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s economy grew 3.3% in annual seasonally adjusted terms in July, the strongest growth of any month so far in 2026.
INEGI also reported that month-over-month growth was 0.8% in July, the second-best result this year after a 1.5% sequential expansion in April. Mexico’s economy stagnated on a month-over-month basis in June, recording 0% growth. It contracted 0.3% in May compared to April.
In the first seven months of 2026, Mexico’s economy grew 1.5% annually, according to INEGI.
Andrés Abadía, chief Latin America economist at the British firm Pantheon Economics, said that the growth data for July “puts the third quarter in a much stronger position than expected.”
However, he added that “one month of strong results is not enough to predict a sustained recovery.”
Services sector fuels growth in July
The tertiary or services sector grew 4% annually in July, according to INEGI, while the secondary sector, which includes manufacturing, construction, mining and electricity generation, expanded 2.4%. The primary sector, which includes agriculture and fishing, contracted 0.6% on a year-over-year basis in July.
On a month-over-month basis, the tertiary sector grew 1.2% in July, while the secondary sector expanded 0.5%. The primary sector contracted 1.1% compared to June.
Other need-to-know economic data
The Bank of Mexico reported an end-of-day USD:MXN exchange rate of 18.06 on Tuesday. The Mexican peso has depreciated 5.9% this month after ending August at 16.99 to the US dollar.
Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate in the first half of September was 3.42%, up from 3.26% across August.
According to Mexico's Interior Ministry (SEGOB), the "four new lines of investigation" stem from a "reanalysis of documents and telephone records, using a methodology that incorporates technical and scientific elements." (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Twelve years and two days after 43 students disappeared in the southern state of Guerrero, federal officials outlined “four new lines of investigation” in the abduction and presumed homicide case that shocked Mexico and triggered massive protests during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto.
At a press conference on Monday, Deputy Interior Minister Arturo Medina and Mauricio Pazarán, the prosecutor heading up the investigation into the Ayotzinapa case, presented the new investigative leads, which are included in a new federal report.
Protesters marched through Mexico City to the National Palace to demand justice on the 12th anniversary of the mass kidnapping on Saturday. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro)
Before we look at each line of investigation presented on Monday, here is a summary of the Ayotzinapa case, one of Mexico’s most notorious criminal cases.
On the night of Sept. 26, 2014, 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College were abducted after a bus on which they were traveling to a protest in Mexico City was stopped by municipal police in Iguala, Guerrero.
The students were presumably murdered after their abduction, which was allegedly carried out by members of a Guerrero-based crime gang.
A total of 168 people are subject to judicial proceedings in connection with the case. Among those people — 130 of whom are in prison — are soldiers, high-ranking members of the Mexican Army, police officers, members of the Guerreros Unidos crime gang and former officials, including Ángel Heladio Aguirre Rivero, governor of Guerrero at the time of the students’ abduction.
No one has been convicted of involvement in the abduction and presumed murder of the students.
The disappearance of the students triggered large protests in Mexico City and other cities across Mexico in late 2014. Countless additional protests have been held since then, including annual marches on the anniversary of the abduction of the 43 young men. “Fue el estado,” or “It was the state,” is a common chant at the protests, as is “¡Vivos se los llevaron, vivos los queremos!” (They were taken alive, we want them back alive!)
Two mothers and six fathers of the 43 students have died in the 12 years since their sons disappeared.
The Ayotzinapa case file runs to more than 5 million pages and is divided into more than 3,000 volumes. It is currently being digitized.
In a 2023 report, the federal government cited three “possible reasons” behind the abduction of the students. Among those possible reasons was that the students were mistaken for rival gangsters by Guerreros Unidos members, and that “drugs, weapons or money” were on buses they had commandeered to travel to a protest in Mexico City.
Jesús Murillo Karam, federal attorney general at the time of the students’ disappearance and a chief architect of the Ayotzinapa case’s so-called “historical truth,” was detained in 2022 on charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in connection with the case. He was released from prison in 2024 after a judge ruled he could await trial under house arrest. The 78-year-old former attorney general suffered a stroke in April.
Line of investigation No. 1 leads to the discovery of human remains at Iguala funeral parlors
In a statement released after Monday’s press conference, the Interior Ministry (SEGOB) said that the “four new lines of investigation” stem from a “reanalysis of documents and telephone records, using a methodology that incorporates technical and scientific elements.”
“… This approach made it possible to organize, correlate, and compare the data collected over 12 years with a new perspective, in order to identify clues that had not previously been noticed or thoroughly investigated,” the ministry said.
The first “new” line of investigation stems from the analysis of telephone communications and allowed authorities to identify 17 new suspects who are now under investigation. The analysis also allowed authorities to “reconstruct links” between members of the Guerreros Unidos crime gang — who allegedly kidnapped the students — municipal and state police, public servants and “people related to funeral parlors,” according to SEGOB.
“Among the findings, calls between members of that criminal organization and staff of funeral establishments and the health sector were detected. One of the people under investigation (Rodolfo Rueda) and his family were owners of funeral parlors, licensees of the [Guerrero government’s] Forensic Medical Service (SEMEFO) in Iguala and participated in the management of a cemetery,” SEGOB said.
“In August 2025, it was established that the owner of the funeral parlor used a telephone belonging to a student [from Ayotzinapa],” the ministry said.
SEGOB said that the discovery that the funeral parlor owner (Rueda) had used an Ayotzinapa student’s phone “motivated various actions” in October 2025, including searches at funeral parlors and SEMEFO facilities in Iguala, during which authorities found a “human femur, a firearm, documents and a crematorium oven without official registration.”
Between March and June 2026, authorities carried out additional searches at SEMEFO facilities attached to an Iguala funeral parlor owned by Rueda, locating hundreds of bone fragments, dental prostheses, “biological remains,” cartridges, bullet casings and documents, according to SEGOB.
The ministry said that the human remains and other items are “under expert analysis to determine their nature and possible match with missing people.”
Authorities have identified 17 new suspects linked to nearby funeral and forensic facilities who are now under investigation. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Line of investigation No. 2 ‘strengthens the hypothesis’ that some students were taken to the Iguala municipal lockup on the night of their disappearance
The second line of investigation stems from an analysis of the phones of three of the Ayotzinapa students.
After the students’ disappearance, authorities established that those phones were used by a municipal official in Iguala, who was arrested in August on forced disappearance charges, a municipal police officer, who is under investigation, and people close to a former public servant in Iguala.
“The review of the third device strengthens the hypothesis that some students were taken to the municipal lockup [on Sept. 26, 2014] as the users [of the phone] after the disappearance were people close to an ex-public servant in Iguala who was assigned to … [the municipal lockup],” SEGOB said.
Authorities suspect that 17 students were taken to the municipal lockup in Iguala on the night of Sept. 26, 2014. In addition to information found on the telephone in question, the lockup “hypothesis” is based on statements made by municipal police officers, two alleged members of the Guerreros Unidos and an Ayotzinapa student.
Line of investigation No. 3 leads to identification of a new suspect who was a minor at the time of the students’ disappearance
The third line of investigation stems from a reanalysis of documents in the Ayotzinapa case file.
The reanalysis allowed authorities to “identify a person who participated in the events,” SEGOB said, adding that the previously unidentified suspect was aged 14 at the time.
“From the statement he gave on July 30, 2026, information was obtained that strengthens the accusations against members of the ‘Guerreros Unidos’ criminal organization,” the ministry said.
Line of investigation No. 4 leads to the arrest of former Guerrero governor
SEGOB said that the fourth line of investigation is related to the “concealment” of video footage captured by security cameras at the Superior Court of Justice in Iguala on the night of Sept. 26, 2014, and in the early hours of the following day.
Federal Attorney General Ernestina Godoy said in August that her office had evidence that former Guerrero Governor Ángel Aguirre ordered the concealment of said video footage, which apparently showed the bus on which the students were traveling at the time it was stopped by police in Iguala. The Federal Attorney General’s Office hasn’t managed to obtain the footage — which was likely destroyed — but is aiming to do so.
SEGOB said that authorities had been able to “reconstruct part of the decisions” high-ranking officials made in relation to the “concealment” of the video footage.
“This led to the arrest of the former presiding judge of the [Superior] Court [in Iguala], as well as the former inspector of the same judicial body, both of whom are currently subject to criminal processes,” the ministry said.
“Based on the statements made by these former public officials and in light of new evidence, the former governor of Guerrero [Ángel Aguirre] was arrested on August 6, 2026, for the crime of forced disappearance of the 43 students.”
Medina addresses allegations of army involvement
Interior Minister Medina, who heads up the government’s Ayotzinapa Truth Commission, said that the Ministry of National Defense, which has direct responsibility for the Mexican Army, provided investigators with all the information it had that is relevant to the Ayotzinapa case.
He said that 17 members of the Mexican Army have been arrested and are subject to ongoing judicial proceedings. Medina stressed that military personnel allegedly involved in the students’ disappearance are accused of acting independently rather than under the auspices of the Mexican Army. He said that the army, as a federal institution, is not accused of involvement in the abduction and presumed murder of the students.
The government’s ‘priority’ is to find the missing students
In its statement, SEGOB said that “for this government, the mothers and fathers of the 43 young men remain at the center of this process” — i.e., the investigation into the Ayotzinapa case and the pursuit of justice.
“The priority is to find them, shed light on what happened and bring to justice those who are responsible,” the Interior Ministry said.
“… The case is not closed and no person is above the law,” SEGOB said.
One suspect who has avoided arrest is Tomás Zerón, the former head of the now-defunct Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC).
“Any official involved in illicit activities will be investigated, regardless of the position they hold or the party to which they belong,” the Oaxaca attorney general said on Monday. (Carolina Jiménez Mariscal/Cuartoscuro)
Following the momentous arrest of the mayor of Juchitán on Sept. 23, the Oaxaca Attorney General’s Office (FGEO) announced that it has launched investigations against six other municipal presidents in the southern state.
Attorney General Bernardo Rodríguez confirmed that his office has opened case files against six politicians following the arrest of Miguel Sánchez Altamirano. He also hinted at a possible investigation of the former director of the state’s Institute of Public Education (IEEPO), Emilio Montero, though he declined to offer specifics.
Montero — Sánchez’s predecessor as mayor of Juchitán, a primarily Indigenous city in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region — resigned as director of the IEEPO last Friday, two days after Sánchez’s arrest.
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec has one of the highest incidence of crime in Oaxaca, with 957 murders since 2022, 70% of which have been linked to the “Los Cromos” crime gang.
All six cases described by Rodríguez are related to Juchitán — the third-largest city in Oaxaca — and feature a wide variety of charges related to alleged organized crime activities.
Rodríguez also confirmed that an arrest warrant had been issued for Mariano Rosado, the former secretary of the Juchitán City Council and Sánchez’s second in command.
Sánchez remains in pretrial detention on charges of aggravated extortion and crimes against the security of the state related to his alleged ties to “Los Cromos” and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
While Sánchez is a member of the ruling Morena party (he has been described as a key operative of both the party and Governor Salomón Jara, also of Morena, in the region), Rodríguez said the six municipal presidents under investigation are from “different political affiliations.”
“This office does not take into consideration partisan distinctions,” he said. “Any official involved in illicit activities will be investigated, regardless of the position they hold or the party to which they belong,” he said.
The FGEO released a bulletin on Monday claiming that as a result of its ongoing investigations dating back to last year, prosecutors have arrested more than 250 people, including Sánchez and members of the “Los Cromos.”
“This has been an effort carried out jointly with the federal government, with the backing of intelligence units from the Security Ministry and the Navy,” Rodríguez said.
The positive INEGI report carried one concerning piece of data: the overwhelming majority of Mexican exports, including more than 90% of its servers, go to the United States. Given the Trump administration's inconsistent and sometimes threatening trade policies, some analysts see possible problems with the U.S. predominance in Mexico's export market. (Aldward Castillo/Unsplash)
Mexican exports grew at an annual rate of 40.4% in August, accumulating an increase of 29.3% through the first eight months of the year, according to the national statistics agency INEGI.
INEGI’s monthly report showed that exports reached a record US $549.4 billion during the January-August period and topped $78 billion in August.
The automotive industry is no longer the top driver of Mexican exports, having given way to non-automotive manufacturing, mainly computer goods such as servers. (Kevin Ache/Unsplash)
At the same time, imports increased 34.2% in August and 26.8% through the first eight months of 2026, rising to US $77.405 billion and $539.5 billion (a new record), respectively.
As a result, Mexico recorded a surplus of $605.4 million in August, and $9.86 billion on the year through August.
The export sector was led by non-automotive manufacturing exports, up more than 63% in August, primarily due to a continuing surge in sales of computer equipment that began in 2024.
From January through August, manufacturing exports rose 30.8% annually, while non-automotive manufacturing rebounded 45%, the highest since records began in 1994.
Despite the record performance, analysts point out two concerns: the predominance of the U.S. as Mexico’s main buyer and the country’s reliance on Asia as an indispensable supplier for the fast-growing computer industry.
According to INEGI, 84.7% of Mexico’s total non-oil exports went to the U.S., while Mexico’s dependence on the U.S. in the computer sector is even more dramatic.
Mexico exported nearly $83 billion worth of servers, primarily used in data centers and artificial intelligence, and 93.9% of the servers were destined for the United States.
On the import side, processors, memory, cards and other high-value components come primarily from Taiwan, China, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand with Taiwan alone supplying approximately 44% of the main inputs imported by the computer industry.
El Imparcial columnist Eduardo Ruiz Healy argued that as Mexico imports these components, assembles the equipment, and exports them (mainly to the United States), a significant portion of the value of each server is generated outside the country.
The concern here is that since the U.S. is demanding greater North American content in servers and other artificial intelligence equipment (in its bilateral trade negotiations with Mexico), the inability to produce them here could impact the export sector negatively.
Still, when paired with other data for August — oil exports down 2.8%, agricultural exports down 1.6% and automotive exports down 2.2% — it is apparent that the technological expansion cycle in the United States is supporting the Mexican economy.
It’s a scary time to live on Mexico’s Pacific coastline. This satellite image from Saturday, Sept. 26, shows Hurricanes Polo and Odalys to the west of Baja California Sur, with a third storm (Tropical Storm Rachel) forming off the coast of southwestern Mexico. (NOAA)
On Monday, Sept. 21, Polo was designated a tropical storm off the southwestern coast of Mexico, with wind speeds of approximately 50 miles per hour (mph). Within 24 hours, winds had increased to 160 miles per hour, and Polo was suddenly one of the most terrifying types of natural disasters: a Category 5 hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center characterized the speed of Polo’s intensification as “truly remarkable,” not to mention historic. Indeed, it was one of the most rapid storm intensifications in recorded history, second only to that of Hurricane Patricia in 2015, a monster Category 5 hurricane that reached sustained winds of over 200 miles per hour.
The destructive path of Hurricane Polo as it approached the Pacific Coast of Baja California Sur, on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 27. (NOAA)
By Tuesday afternoon, Hurricane Polo had reached sustained winds of 180 miles per hour (285 kilometers per hour), making it the third-strongest hurricane by that measure in the history of the Eastern Pacific region.
This rapid intensification was aided by climate change — sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are the highest they’ve ever been — and an exceptionally strong El Niño weather pattern, which has raised water temperatures even further. Polo’s development, per NASA, occurred over waters with surface temperatures as high as 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).
But despite its supercharged power, Polo remained offshore as it developed, making no landfall along the southwestern coast, but causing at least four deaths in Jalisco, and inflicting property damage across parts of Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco and Michoacán.
Baja California Sur prepares for the arrival of Hurricane Polo
By Sunday, Hurricane Polo had been downgraded to Category 3, with wind speeds of “only” 125 miles per hour as it continued in an arcing, left hook-like path towards Comondú municipality in the center of Baja California Sur — but with effects expected to be felt statewide, since tropical force winds from Polo were extending up to 105 miles (165 kilometers) from the storm’s center.
Hurricane warnings were issued for both the west (between Punta Abreojos and Santa Fe) and east coasts (from Loreto to Santa Rosalía) of the state prior to the arrival of the hurricane on Monday, and the state readied its response efforts, with help from the federal government.
Classes were canceled statewide for schools on Monday, while 1,360 military personnel in engineering groups awaited deployment, in case of need from impacts such as destructive winds, flooding and storm surges. Port activities in Comondú and Los Cabos were closed over the weekend, as were 26 beaches in Los Cabos. Meanwhile, 169 shelters across all five of the state’s municipalities were readied for those potentially displaced or in vulnerable areas.
The aftermath
The most visibly affected as the storm neared was Puerto San Carlos, in the Bahía Magdalena area, where storm-driven waves flooded streets, prompting hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes and seek shelter.
But it was 84 miles farther north, near Las Barrancas, a small fishing community of a little more than 500 residents that also lies in the municipality of Comondú, that Hurricane Polo finally made landfall at 11 p.m. local time on Monday, Sept. 28. By then, it had been downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, but still a dangerous one, with sustained wind speeds of 110 miles per hour (175 kilometers per hour).
Six hours later, at 5 a.m., Hurricane Polo reached the Gulf of California on its way to Sonora — downgraded to Category 1 — leaving behind power outages, wind damage and flash flooding, but with no reported deaths in Baja California Sur … at least pending official damage assessments.
New rules instituted for swimming with whale sharks tours in La Paz
Whale sharks are the world’s biggest fish, with adults weighing up to 60,000 pounds. However, these gentle giants subsist on plankton and are safe to swim with. (Cabo Adventures)
Bucket list adventures are a big draw in Baja California Sur. There’s whale watching in Los Cabos and in Pacific Coast lagoons, and swimming with whale sharks off the coast of the state’s capital city of La Paz. (Seasonal opportunities to swim with orcas at La Ventana are currently up in the air after a pilot program for 2025-2026 expired at the end of July).
In each case, however, there are regulations in place to protect not only tourists, but also the wildlife at the center of these experiences. In Los Cabos, for example, permitted boats must remain at a minimum distance from whales (60 to 80 meters, depending on the size of the vessel).
But nowhere is the need for caution more urgent than in the state capital, La Paz, where swimming with whale sharks season (Oct. 1 to April 30) has been suspended for parts of each of the last three years (2023 to 2025) due to an insufficient population of whale sharks.
Whale sharks are listed as endangered worldwide by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and because La Paz is a seasonal feeding ground for juveniles, it should ideally play a key role in helping to replenish and grow the species’ population. Although whale sharks are enormous (they are the “world’s largest fish,” reaching up to 65 feet long and weighing as much as 60,000 pounds), these “gentle giants” are plankton eaters and very safe to swim with — from a human perspective.
From the wildlife perspective, very strict rules are needed to protect whale sharks from injury or undue stress due to tour activities. To this end, Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) has recently published new guidelines for swimming with whale shark tours in La Paz for 2026 through 2029.
The most notable change is the creation of three zones, in only one of which — Zone I, off the northern shore of the El Mogote peninsula — swimming with whale sharks is permitted. Zone II is listed as a conservation area, with Zone III restricted to transit for tour operators, and at slow speeds (7 knots or less).
The new zones put in place by Semarnat to protect whale shark populations off the coast of Baja California Sur’s capital city, La Paz. (Semarnat)
Cap on boats tied to whale shark population figures
A ceiling of 56 boats per day for swimming with whale sharks is retained from previous regulations, which will be spread across four time periods for 14 boats each. Boats can bring five swimmers only, plus a guide, with encounters limited to 30 minutes. Other boats must keep at least 50 meters’ distance from those that are engaged in whale shark swims, and tourists are prohibited from touching the whale sharks (they can get no closer than two meters from the side of the fish, or three meters from its tail).
However, since the number of boats permitted for such tours (112 this year) exceeds the daily capacity allowed by half, time slots will be eagerly sought after … but closely tied to abundance. Meaning, the number of allowable boats, per the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas (Conanp), will be scaled back if the whale shark population, or lack thereof, warrants it. For instance, no boats will be allowed if there are five or fewer observable whale sharks, with a sliding scale up to the maximum of 56 boats based on closely monitored population figures.
Chris Sands is a writer and editor for Mexico News Daily, and the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He has also contributed to numerous other websites and publications, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise and Travel, and Cabo Living.
“We need to get in touch with the rector and the students to see what is happening and implement further preventive measures involving the students,” the president said. (Margarito Pérez Retana/Cuartoscuro)
President Claudia Sheinbaum announced a special security plan for Morelos following the murder of two teenage students who attended High School No. 2 of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM). The incident, which also left another young man injured, took place early on Sunday in Cuernavaca, the state’s capital.
“We are going to coordinate with the governor [Margarita González Saravia] to find out where she needs our support,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her Monday morning press conference. Sheinbaum also said that Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez had contacted the head of the UAEM, Viridiana Aydeé León Hernández, to learn more about the needs of the university community.
Seven UAEM-affiliated students have been murdered in Morelos since April 2025, including Claudia Tacoronte, a Spanish student on an academic exchange program in Cuernavaca. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
“We need to get in touch with the rector and the students to see what is happening and implement further preventive measures involving the students,” the president said.
She noted that according to data from the Public Security and Citizen Protection Ministry (SSPC), the number of intentional homicides in Morelos is declining, but crimes such as theft are on the rise.
Seven UAEM-affiliated students have been murdered in Morelos since April 2025, including Claudia Tacoronte, a Spanish student on an academic exchange program in Cuernavaca. The young woman was murdered on the night of Sept. 12 in Cuautla, after falling victim to a robbery.
Meanwhile, Cuernavaca Mayor José Luis Urióstegui Salgado acknowledged that the municipal security strategy has not succeeded.
“The patrols conducted by our police officers are becoming less visible, and criminals are taking advantage of this; that is why I called upon all of our security forces today to redouble their efforts, and I instructed the secretary and the command staff to focus more on providing support to the officers on the ground,” he noted.
Urióstegui stated that he would evaluate reinforcing police operations and warned that, if no results are seen in two weeks, changes to security leadership could occur.
“I deeply regret this situation. There should be no more homicides anywhere,” he said.
After providing an update on Hurricane Polo, President Sheinbaum spoke about trade relations with the United States and Morena's process for selecting its 2027 gubernatorial candidates. (Juan Carlos Ramos Mamahua/Presidencia)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
🌀 Hurricane Polo hits Baja California Sur: Civil Protection chief Laura Velázquez said Polo made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane at midnight in Las Barrancas, Comondú, and “only” caused some flooding and toppled trees. Governor Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío reported no loss of life in the state. Velázquez said that people in temporary shelters would return home Tuesday. She added that Polo was heading for Sonora, with landfall forecast near Guaymas on Tuesday.
🇲🇽🇺🇸 Ebrard heads to Washington for more trade talks: Sheinbaum said Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard was traveling to Washington, D.C., to continue talks with U.S. officials. She said Mexico is doing “well” in the trade dialogue, but acknowledged that there is no tariff agreement yet. Mexico wants the U.S. to reduce, or ideally eliminate, the tariffs imposed last year on Mexican steel, aluminum and vehicles. The talks come after the Trump administration announced in July that it wouldn’t renew the USMCA in its “current form.”
🗳️ Sheinbaum praises Morena’s candidate selection process: She said the process to pick 17 presumptive gubernatorial candidates, known for now as “state coordinators of the defense of the transformation and national sovereignty,” had “a lot of unity.” Gubernatorial elections will be held in 17 states on June 6, 2027. Asked for advice for the presumptive candidates, Sheinbaum said: “Don’t lie, don’t steal and don’t betray the people.”
Why today’s mañanera matters
The arrival of Hurricane Polo in Baja California Sur, the Mexico-U.S. trade relationship and the ruling Morena party’s selection of 17 presumptive gubernatorial candidates were among the significant topics discussed at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference.
Polo made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane after strengthening to Category 5 level last week. While the hurricane caused flooding and downed trees in Baja California Sur, it didn’t claim any lives in the state, according to Governor Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío.
Sheinbaum’s remarks about Morena’s selection of presumptive gubernatorial candidates came a day after the party announced who those people are in seven states.
They are set to be designated as Morena’s gubernatorial candidates at a later date. Morena, Mexico’s ruling party since late 2018, supports the so-called “fourth transformation” (4T) political movement founded by former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador and now led by Sheinbaum.
Morena is currently in office in 23 of Mexico’s 32 states, while the Green Party, which is also affiliated with the 4T, is in power in San Luis Potosí. Morena will be aiming to increase the number of states it governs at the gubernatorial elections that will be held in 17 states next June.
Hurricane Polo causes flooding, topples trees in BCS
Appearing at the mañanera via video link, National Civil Protection chief Laura Velázquez reported that Hurricane Polo made landfall in Baja California Sur (BCS) as a Category 2 hurricane at midnight Tuesday. She said that the hurricane made landfall in Las Barrancas, a small town in the municipality of Comondú.
Velázquez noted that the hurricane was heading for the coast of Sonora, where it was forecast to make landfall near the port city of Guaymas on Tuesday.
She said that Hurricane Polo “only” caused some flooding in BCS and toppled some trees. Velázquez said that the municipalities of Comondú, Mulegé and Loreto had electricity and water service as of 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
She said that people who spent Monday night in temporary shelters that were set up prior to the arrival of the hurricane would return to their homes on Tuesday.
Governor Castro said that BCS residents “behaved extraordinarily well” on Monday, following the instructions of authorities to remain indoors as Hurricane Polo approached the state and eventually made landfall. He reported that there was no loss of life associated with the hurricane in BCS.
Ebrard heads to Washington for more trade talks
Sheinbaum told reporters that Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard was traveling to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to continue trade talks with U.S. officials.
She said that Mexico is doing “well” in its ongoing trade dialogue with the U.S., which is taking place after the Trump administration announced in July that it had declined to renew the USMCA free trade pact in its “current form.”
Mexico is pushing for a reduction, or ideally the elimination, of tariffs that the U.S. government imposed on Mexican steel, aluminum and vehicles last year.
Sheinbaum acknowledged that her government has not yet reached an agreement with the Trump administration on tariffs. Citing Mexican and U.S. sources, Reuters reported earlier this month that Mexico and the United States were “racing to reach a bilateral trade deal before the U.S. midterm elections,” which will take place on Nov. 3.
Sheinbaum praises Morena’s process to select presumptive gubernatorial candidates
“I think it was a process in which there was a lot of unity, and that was very good,” Sheinbaum said.
Morena conducted internal surveys to select its would-be candidates in states where gubernatorial elections will be held next year, among which are Nuevo León, Baja California, Guanajuato, Michoacán and Quintana Roo.
Among the designated 4T coordinators is Santiago Nieto, a former head of the federal government’s Financial Intelligence Unit, who is set to represent Morena at the 2027 gubernatorial election in Querétaro, one of just four states currently governed by the National Action Party. Another would-be Morena candidate is Clara Luz Flores, who is set to contest a second consecutive gubernatorial election in the northern border state of Nuevo León, where Citizens Movement party Governor Samuel García is currently in office.
Asked what advice she would give to 4T “coordinators,” Sheinbaum mentioned a Morena party ethos.
“Don’t lie, don’t steal and don’t betray the people,” she said.
Teotihuacán is one of the modern centers of hot air ballooning in Mexico, but the pastime has a surprisingly long history in the country. (Juliana Barquero/Unsplash)
Anybody who has traveled out to Teotihuacán in the early morning will have been delighted at the sight of dozens of hot air balloons rising into the sky. Mexico’s hot air balloon tourist industry carries about 60,000 passengers annually and generates US $25 million in revenue. Business has not yet peaked, with annual growth predicted at around 7%. While the vast majority of tourists fly over the Sun and Moon pyramids, there are companies offering flights in other places, most notably San Miguel de Allende.
Indeed, the real home of Mexican ballooning might be said to be León, where the Festival Internacional del Globo is the largest balloon festival in Latin America, featuring 200 hot air balloons and attracting 400,000 spectators. It is a remarkable comeback for an activity that nearly died out at the beginning of the 20th century.
The man credited as the pioneer of ballooning in Mexico, and the first Mexican to take to the air, was José María Alfaro Guiles. His flight occurred, if it did, just six months after the Montgolfier brothers captured the world’s imagination by soaring over Paris. Guiles had no direct contact with the French pioneers and only learned of their achievement thanks to a brief report in an international newspaper.
Having some engineering skills, he decided to try ballooning for himself. Guiles started by constructing small paper balloons with little more than a nightlight to lift them. His models increased in size until on May 18, 1784, a crowd gathered in the city of Xalapa to watch him climb into the basket and successfully ascend into the sky. According to the commonly accepted account, he piloted the craft across the countryside for about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles), reaching heights of around 800 meters (2,600 feet).
This historic achievement was recorded in the Gazeta de México, then a new publication that had been founded only a few months before. The report came out June 2 and was brief: “Xalapa. There has been manufactured in this town a hot air balloon, similar to those described in the latest Gazetas from Madrid, crafted by Don Josef María Alfaro: it measures approximately 18 Castilian varas, and it is believed it will have the desired effect, given the precision and care with which it has been built, of which the public will be notified.” (A Castilian vara is a traditional Spanish unit of length equal to approximately 33 inches or 0.84 meters).
Debating the evidence behind Mexico’s first flight
However, whether José María Alfaro Guiles actually flew in his balloon is open to debate. Careful readers will note that this report is not of the flight of the balloon but of its construction, and no evidence is offered that the designer took his life in his hands and climbed into a paper balloon heated by an open fire. Pictures of the flight clearly show Guiles in a basket beneath the soaring balloon, but none of this artwork was created at the time. The first illustrations appeared many years later and were based on drawings of balloons in Europe.
The next written account of the flight was by Manuel Rivera Cambas in his “History of Xalapa,” published in 1869. Here he confirms that Guiles made a successful manned flight of nearly 9 kilometers. Rivera Cambas is said to have researched the story by accessing local municipality archives and collecting oral accounts. However, we have no details of what papers he actually read in the archives, while oral histories are notoriously unreliable, especially if collected years after the event. One major reason to argue against a successful manned flight at this early date is that there were numerous balloons built in Mexico over the next 50 years, but none were big enough to carry a passenger.
Early ballooning in Veracruz
It was Veracruz that became the first center of ballooning in Mexico. While it was noted that altitude would make ballooning more difficult in Mexico City, the emergence of Veracruz was probably a coincidence. A local merchant, Antonio María Fernández, after reading of Guiles’ design, constructed a sizable balloon and watched it ascend into the sky on Feb. 6, 1785. This captured the local imagination and led others to copy his experiment. While some of the balloons crashed and burned, a few rose and dramatically disappeared into the night sky. There was an interesting discussion about what farmers would make of a balloon if it landed close to a village. After all, peasants in France had attacked one of Montgolfier’s balloons with pitchforks.
Hot air balloons captured the fancy of Mexico, with the golden age for flights occurring during the 19th century. (Public Domain)
Ballooning in Puebla
By the summer of 1785, Puebla had become another center of ballooning, and it is here that we find the first authentic attempt at a manned flight. There were two problems to overcome with a manned balloon: First, a balloon had to be a considerable size to carry a man’s weight; second, the man had to be brave enough to fly in a contraption that, based on the experience of smaller models, had a habit of bursting into flames.
The Puebla balloon was large, about 10 meters (33 feet) in height and 20 meters (66 feet) in circumference, and quite sophisticated for the time, with the skin encased in a net and a basket attached for the passenger. However, the bigger the balloon, the more difficult it was to handle on the ground, and this happened to be a windy day. The balloon might well have lifted a few meters, but it was already being thrown around by the wind. It banged against a wall, the gondola broke and the attempt was abandoned.
Foreign aeronauts introduce hydrogen technology
By this point, Mexico was being left behind by the balloon revolution. In Europe, balloonists had already progressed from heating the air with an open flame to using lighter-than-air hydrogen, a gas not readily available in Mexico. Progress in ballooning was therefore made by foreigners who brought all the necessary skills and equipment with them. General Manuel de la Barrera, a prominent businessman who owned the San Pablo Bullring, was a pioneer of ballooning in the 1830s, and he persuaded aeronaut Adolfo Theodore to bring his balloon to Mexico. Despite his reputation for having made a successful flight in Cuba, Theodore’s visit was a disaster. The paying crowd was furious when his flight in May 1833 was canceled because of the weather, while the government halted a second attempt in October over safety concerns.
Étienne-Gaspard Robert, a French aeronaut better known as Robertson, was far more successful. On Feb. 12, 1835, he lifted off in a balloon from the Plaza de Toros de San Pablo in central Mexico City and disappeared into the distance. He did not find his way back to Mexico City until Feb. 14, having traveled approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles). After this, he performed a series of exhibition flights, but he caught yellow fever in Veracruz and died in 1838.
Spectacular exhibitions and national pioneers
Ballooning was entering its golden period, and Fanny Calderón de la Barca, wife of the Spanish ambassador, left an account of an attempted flight in Mexico City in 1841. She noted the attendance of the rich and finely dressed, who were entertained by two bands. As for the balloon itself, it “swayed up and down in the midst of the plaza like a living thing.” On this occasion, the attempt to take off was abandoned after a hole was discovered in the fabric: “The people bore their disappointment very good-humouredly, although it was conjectured that the air traveller had merely proposed to himself to get their money without the slightest intention of performing.”
It was Robertson’s flights that inspired the first generation of successful Mexican balloonists, led by Benito León Acosta. Born in Guanajuato in 1819, he entered the School of Mines in Mexico City and made his first ascent on April 3, 1842. His balloon remained airborne for a little over half an hour, and in an act of showmanship, he waved the Mexican flag to the crowd below. President Antonio López de Santa Anna was among the witnesses and sponsored many of Acosta’s later flights. The hero toured Mexico, but after an accident in Morelia where he fell from the basket, he concentrated on his career as an educator.
Joaquín de la Cantolla y Rico was 10 years younger than Acosta, having been born in Mexico City in 1829. He entered the Military College and helped defend Chapultepec Castle during the American invasion. Starting in 1863, he built and piloted his own hot air balloons, capturing the public’s imagination with both his flying and his showmanship, often ascending while dressed in a formal frock coat and top hat. He received gifts from presidents and emperors and is featured in Diego Rivera’s murals. Even today, the small balloons flown at village festivals are known as globos de Cantoya.
For all the enthusiasm, plans to find a practical use for balloons ran up against the great stumbling block that they could not be steered. Cantolla had the idea of encasing several of them into a more streamlined shape and adding an engine — creating an airship — but lacked the resources for such an ambitious scheme. Aeronauts already suspected that winds at high altitudes always blew west to east and wondered if this might be exploited to carry goods across the Atlantic, but this idea came to nothing.
The one organization that might have made use of balloons was the army, as a tethered balloon makes a good lookout point. However, wars in Mexico were most likely to be fought in remote areas where transporting the heavy equipment required for balloons would be impractical. And so the great age of the balloon faded out with the arrival of ever more powerful and reliable airplanes.
Who could have predicted that balloons would make a US $25 million comeback flying tourists over the pyramids of Teotihuacán?
Bob Patemanlived in Mexico for six years. He is a librarian and teacher with a Master’s Degree in History.
