Time to laugh with the best memes while learning a little about the Mexican sense of humor.
It is time once again, my friends! If you love Mexican memes and you have a questionable sense of humor like I do, then you’ve come to the right place.
Seriously though. What better way to learn about Mexico and its humor than through the Spanish-language memes currently making the rounds? See below for some hearty laughs, complete with translations. Enjoy!
Meme translation: “The good thing is that you have your kitty so you won’t feel lonely.” “Safe distance, safe distance!!!”
What does it meme? Well, here it is, folks: the reason I’m not really a cat person. (Why can’t they just let me love them?)
“Safe distance” doesn’t actually do the translation above justice. During the pandemic (oh, how distant it seems now!), the Mexican government came up with a character named “Susana Distancia” as a catchy way to illustrate and remind people (mostly kids) how far they should be standing from each other to lower the risk of transmission.
The name “Susana” is common, and also means something if you split it up: “su sana…” (your safe…” in English). Cute, right? It was also a great opportunity for those who, like that cat, didn’t love being in close proximity with others in the first place.
Meme translation:“My body is like a Catholic church. Filled with bread, wine, and sin.”
What does it meme? Cute, right? I imagine that this is something that would give most Mexicans (who are majority Catholic) a pretty good laugh. Especially now during the winter months, I’m heavy on the bread and wine – got to keep warm and keep up my reserves!
Meme translation: “What do you know about caresses if you’ve never traveled by metro?”
What does it meme? I’ll admit that this one is not new, but it’s one of my favorite ever so I just had to share it with you.
If you’ve ever traveled by metro on one of the more heavily traveled routes (especially during rush hour), you’ve probably, like me, stood staring in disbelief as more people than you thought possible packed themselves into a metro car.
Don’t like people touching you? Too bad. Not only will you be squished in like sardines, you’ll have to fight your way both in and out. Godspeed!
Meme translation:“When I see some chick graffitiing a monument that I peed on three days ago.”
What does it meme? It’s always during the annual women’s marches in Mexico that righteous indignation for the country’s symbols of patriotism swells like rainwater during a hurricane.
Quite a lot of it is geared toward graffiti from the march – women writing feminist messages or symbols on highly visible monuments and buildings. It’s not very ladylike, and extremely unappreciated by those who would prefer the damitas stay home and wait patiently for their equal rights to show up.
Do a side-by-side, though, and I don’t think you’d find much of a difference between women marching for their rights and the average male citizen when it comes to general respect for pristine public spaces.
Meme translation: “Men: not all men are like that.” “Men to their daughters: yes, all men, every single one of them.”
What does it meme? And speaking of feminism, a fair zinger, I’d say.
When wondering about whether you really believe what you’re saying, a good question to ask yourself is this: Would I swear this to the person I most love if I knew they would take my words deeply to heart?
Meme translation: “Bro, how do I know if my Jordans are real or fake?” “Mm, look at the logo. Hold on, look…”
What does it meme? At least in the 20+ years that I’ve been here, Mexico has been a place where you can find counterfeit goods galore (the word that most people would use to describe a knockoff of something is “chafa”) – there are even certain markets that are famous for them.
I’d personally actually seek out those chafa sneakers above, and I’d be willing to be someone out there knew there’d be a market for them. (If any of you see them on sale anywhere, e-mail me? Thanks.)
Meme translation: “What is that?” “An insect.” “What kind?” “A green one.” “Right but what’s it called?” “Jonathan.”
What does it meme? Mexicans enjoy deadpan humor as much as the rest of us! Remember, if you’re not sure what something is called…you can always make up a name!
Amazon announced a US $5 billion investment in Mexico recently, which could be part of a trend towards increased productivity and more high-skill jobs. (Wikimedia Commons)
Is Mexico at risk of falling into the “middle income trap?”
Much has been written about this infamous trap in economics, which refers to the situation in which a middle-income country — which Mexico is becoming — can no longer compete internationally in standardized, labor-intensive goods because of wage increases, but also struggles to compete in higher value-added sectors, because of low productivity.
In short, this means a country is no longer poor, but not yet wealthy, and can get stuck — unable to advance economically. The danger of this is that a middle-income country can then fail to attract additional foreign direct investment into lower-skill industries, due to a relatively high cost of labor, yet lack the skilled labor and productivity to attract investment in other sectors.
Further complicating matters, a common solution to get out of the “trap” is a currency devaluation that, while lowering labor costs, can create many other problems.
The recent strengthening of the peso has put Mexico at risk of this dilemma, which I have written about previously. Mexico needs to evolve beyond relatively low-skill, basic manufacturing and service jobs to those that are of higher skill levels, and/or to increase productivity of existing jobs. This means more output from each worker, which tends to lead to increased wages, higher-skill work, and ultimately improved standards of living for workers.
But is this really happening in Mexico?
Part of what makes the country so fascinating to watch is that a transformation across multiple industrial sectors is taking place at the same time — right before our eyes. There is an industrialization boom taking place in the manufacturing sector, being led by the auto industry but there is also significant investment in aerospace, healthcare and other industries. There is a boom in the food and beverage industry, with exports hitting record highs across many products in that sector.
There is also an infrastructure boom, with investment and improvements pouring into airports, ports, highways, and trains. There is a tourism boom, with tourist spending hitting record highs across the country. These transformations are undeniably creating new and better jobs for many Mexicans, but are they improving productivity?
Mexico is receiving record amounts of foreign direct investment, with the vast majority continuing to be in the manufacturing sector. Perhaps of most interest, many of these investments are going into higher skill manufacturing in new technologies like electric vehicles, solar panel production and medical devices, which are industries that have more advanced technology, require higher skill levels and as a result will pay workers better wages.
The recent US $5 billion investment announcement from Amazon Web Services (AWS) into cloud computing infrastructure is especially promising. This investment, to be made in the center of the country in the state of Querétaro, will serve to boost Mexico’s digital transformation across many industries.
The investment from AWS is a game changer because it is an enabling technology, allowing companies to lower costs and improve productivity in their operations. In this sense, an investment like this can have a much larger, “multiplier” effect, given the impact it can have on many other companies.
Since 2017, AWS says that it has up-skilled over 400,000 Mexicans in digital technologies, and will train an additional 200,000 by 2026. An investment in infrastructure along with the training provided by AWS will allow businesses of all sizes to better leverage vital digital resources like cloud computing.
It is not easy for an emerging economy like Mexico to attract investment in both new technologies like electric vehicles and into enabling technologies like cloud computing.
The fact that Mexico has had significant investment announcements in both of these strategic areas is a very bullish sign for the country’s economy. These types of investments will help by providing higher-wage jobs, raising the standard of living of workers, and ultimately helping the government to have the resources it needs to invest in important areas such as education, health care and infrastructure for its citizens.
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for over 27 years.
Edson Álvarez celebrates a goal during Mexico's semifinal game against Panama. (Concacaf)
Get ready for March Madness, soccer style, as the Mexican men’s national team goes up against the United States in the final of the Concacaf Nations League on Sunday.
Mexico advanced with a 3-0 statement victory over Panama on Thursday night, just hours after the USA somehow turned a 1-0 deficit in the final seconds into a 3-1 overtime win over Jamaica in the first semifinal.
Sunday’s 7:15 p.m. championship match will take place at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, where supporters of El Tri — the team’s nickname because of the three colors of the Mexican flag utilized in its uniforms — are expected to be louder, more passionate and in greater numbers than the USA fans.
“Don’t expect the Stars and Stripes to feel at home,” wrote the Dallas Morning News.
El Tri averaged 52,337 fans per game in 15 games in the United States last year, whereas the U.S. men’s national team averaged 29,578 in 11 games on home turf.
The Mexico-Panama game in Dallas drew 40,926 fans, and a packed house of 80,000 on Sunday is possible.
Mexico’s Edson Álvarez faces off against Christian Pulisic of the U.S. in a 2023 game. (Concacaf)
What is the Nations League?
The Concacaf Nations League involves the 20 best national teams out of the 41 member nations in North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Group-stage games began way back in September, although four top-rated teams (including the U.S. and Mexico) went straight to the quarterfinals.
Mexico was almost eliminated right there, losing 2-0 to Honduras in the first leg, then leading only 1-0 in the second leg at the end of 90 minutes. But a miracle goal by Edson Álvarez 11 minutes into injury time created a 2-2 aggregate score, and in penalty kicks, Mexico won 4-2 to advance.
Quiñones and Álvarez huddle with other team members at Thursday’s game against Panama. (Federación Mexicana de Fútbol)
The U.S. is two-time defending champion, and this year’s final is a rematch of 2021, when Mexico lost 3-2 in overtime.
The best six teams in this year’s tourney earn bids into this summer’s Copa América, an intense mini–World Cup for the Americas that could be a swan song for Argentine legend Lionel Messi.
Mexico vs. USA — and itself
After taking a 1-0 lead on naturalized citizen Julián Quiñones’ first goal for Mexico, El Tri cruised past Panama thanks to 38-year-old veteran goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and goals by Álvarez and Orbelín Pineda.
Now Mexico sets its sights on the U.S., and the pressure is on.
Mexico has no wins, four losses and two ties in its last six against the U.S., including a 3-0 thrashing in the 2023 Nations League semifinals.
A fan celebrates at Thursday’s game against Panama. (Federación Mexicana de Fútbol)
Mexico leads all-time with 36 wins, 17 draws and 23 losses, but the U.S. has an 18-8-9 edge since 2000.
Most betting outlets have installed the Americans, who come in 13th in the current FIFA world rankings, as Sunday’s favorite against Mexico, which is ranked No. 15.
Gerardo “Tata” Martino left as head coach after four tumultuous years, and then his replacement, Diego Cocca, was dismissed after only four months. Jaime Lozano took over last year — with perhaps brighter and more stable times ahead for El Tri.
Didn’t Mexico just shock the USA in soccer?
Less than a month ago, Mexico pulled off a 2-0 upset win over the United States in a Concacaf tournament — only it was the women’s team playing in the W Gold Cup.
But it was indeed a stunner: Mexico was No. 35 in the world rankings, the U.S. was No. 2, and Mexico had lost 41 of its previous 42 matches to Team USA.
Mexico went on to beat Uruguay 3-2 in the quarterfinals, but lost 3-0 to Brazil in the semifinals.
Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya has said authorities are working to locate the people abducted from Culiacán on Friday, including children. Some reports indicate there could be as many as 41 victims. (Cuartoscuro)
Authorities in Sinaloa said that 15 people including several children were kidnapped in Culiacán on Friday, while several media outlets reported that the real number of abductees is 39 or higher.
State Public Security Minister Gerardo Mérida Sánchez said that 15 people, including as many as seven children, were abducted from their homes in the Sinaloa capital. He described the number of victims as a “preliminary” figure and explained that it came from 911 emergency operators.
Media outlets including Milenio, SDP Noticias and Animal Político reported that at least 39 people were kidnapped, while the El Universal newspaper put the figure at 41.
El Universal said that additional calls were made to emergency services from three Culiacán neighborhoods, and that based on the information received by operators, the total number of people abducted by “armed men” had increased to 41. Men, women and children from several families are reportedly among the victims. The motive for the kidnappings was unclear.
Sinaloa Governor Rubén Rocha Moya said in a post to the X social media platform on Friday afternoon that the information in media reports was “still not confirmed.”
Since early Friday, authorities of all three levels of government have been working to “clarify the facts and rescue each person deprived of their freedom, if that was the case,” Rocha said.
🚨¿Qué está pasando en la capital de #Sinaloa? En menos de 24 horas se han reportado 50 personas privadas de la libertad, son pertenecientes a al menos 11 familias, que fueron ‘levantadas’ en diversas colonias de la ciudad de #Culiacán. https://t.co/SvckzR9EoR
A post from the news site Debate showing police in areas where abductions were reported
“In any case, the lives and safety of women, girls and boys must be sacred,” he added.
Mérida attributed the abduction to “criminal groups,” but didn’t identify any by name.
Milenio reported that abductions occurred at various addresses in Culiacán starting at around 4 a.m. Friday. The Reforma newspaper said that state police had visited houses where kidnappings occurred and found firearms, “disarray” and evidence that doors had been forced open.
El Universal reported that residents of the El Palmito neighborhood witnessed armed men entering an address and abducting a man, woman and three children who were put into pickup trucks. Similar events reportedly played out at several other addresses.
Immediately after the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán, son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, presumed cartel members launched a series of armed attacks around Culiacán, and major travel routes around the state were blocked with burning vehicles. (Alma Fonseca / Cuartoscuro.com)
Mérida said there would be a “strong” response from authorities, while Rocha urged Culiacán residents to not be afraid.
“These are things that unfortunately happen,” the governor said, before declaring that in no way had authorities been “overwhelmed.”
Culiacán is a stronghold of the Sinaloa Cartel, the powerful criminal organization formerly led by imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
Smart Depot, a chain of cellphone stores with locations in Mazatlán, Culiacán and Quintana Roo, was implicated as part of a money laundering network. (U.S. Treasury)
The operators of a scheme in which the proceeds of illicit fentanyl sales are used to buy cellphones in the United States to supply a chain of stores in Mexico are among 15 Sinaloa Cartel members sanctioned by the Biden administration on Friday, U.S. authorities said.
Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Wally Adeyemo announced the sanctions against 15 alleged cartel members and six Mexico-based businesses in Phoenix, Arizona, where he declared that the “Biden Administration will continue to use every tool at our disposal to target the violent drug cartels that profit from deadly fentanyl sales in our country.”
The U.S. Department of the Treasury said in a statement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had sanctioned Mexico-based cellphone business Smart Depot and “several related actors, including brothers, Arturo D’Artagnan Marín Gonzalez and Porthos Marín Gonzalez.”
The Marín brothers and others are responsible for operating a “Black Market Peso Exchange (BMPE) scheme” for the Sinaloa Cartel, Treasury said.
“In coordination with Sinaloa Cartel fentanyl suppliers, the Marín brothers brokered fentanyl sales in the United States and used the proceeds of the illicit sales — which were in bulk U.S. dollars — to purchase cellphones from U.S. companies,” the statement said.
“After the phones were transported to Mexico, they were sold in Smart Depot stores located in Culiacán, Sinaloa; Mazatlán, Sinaloa; and Cancún, Quintana Roo — for Mexican pesos. As Smart Depot thrived and expanded, the Sinaloa Cartel traffickers received their illicit proceeds in their national currency,” the Treasury said.
A 2020 photo shared on social media shows Samsung phones for sale at a Smart Depot store in Culiacán, Sinaloa. (Foursquare)
Among the other alleged Sinaloa Cartel members sanctioned on Friday are “fentanyl suppliers” Rolando Verduzco Castro and Jesús Manuel León Valdez, “who utilized the BMPE scheme run by the Marin brothers to launder their drug proceeds,” according to the U.S. authorities.
Léon “was previously an enforcer for Joaquin Guzman Loera (“El Chapo”)” and “now operates at the direction of Los Chapitos,” the Treasury said, referring to a Sinaloa Cartel cell controlled by sons of “El Chapo,” who is in prison in the United States.
“Based in Las Trancas, Tamazula, Durango, Jesús León oversees clandestine drug labs, producing both methamphetamine and fentanyl,” the statement added.
Four businesses established “using illicit drug proceeds and Smart Depot profits” were also sanctioned by OFAC.
Brothers Porthos and Arturo D’Artagnon allegedly launder money through a chain of cellphones stores call Smart Depot. (U.S. Treasury)
Sinaloa Cartel members affiliated with top cartel leader Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García, and who also participated in the Marín brother’s BMPE scheme were also sanctioned on Friday, the Treasury said.
In addition, Jorge Alejandro García Velazco, identified as “a San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora-based associate of the Marin brothers” as well as his spouse, Mayra Gisel González Cordero, and his cellphone business, Celulandia, were also sanctioned.
“Similar to the Marín brothers, Jorge Garcia operates a BMPE scheme to launder drug proceeds for the Sinaloa Cartel. Assisted by Mayra González, Jorge García’s scheme involves Celulandia, which has two locations in San Luis Río Colorado,” Treasury said.
A chart showing all the sanctioned individuals and businesses can be viewed here. Treasury said that “several” of those designated on Friday are fugitives.
As a result of the sanctions imposed, “all property and interests in property of the designated persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC,” said the Department of the Treasury, which has sanctioned numerous other alleged members of Mexican cartels in recent times
“… Today’s action is part of a whole-of-government effort to counter the global threat posed by the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States that is causing over 110,000 deaths of Americans annually, as well as countless more non-fatal overdoses and poisonings,” the department said.
Mexico's attempts to address human rights violations via mechanisms such as the Ayotzinapa truth commission and others have done little to reduce impunity, according to the author. (Cuartoscuro)
In the year 2024, Mexico will celebrate its fourth federal election process as an electoral democracy since the democratic transition of power from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) party to the competing National Action Party (PAN) in the year 2000, ending 70 years of authoritarian rule.
Not far into its democratic transition, instances of lethal violence and forced disappearance, among other types of violence, began to increase dramatically in Mexico.
Despite being, by all accounts, an electoral democracy, for the last 17 years Mexico has been undergoing what various human rights monitoring international bodies have characterized as a crisis of human rights violations and impunity.
What happens when something that is meant to be exceptional — a crisis — becomes a regular part of the daily operations of public institutions and, more significantly, the everyday lives of the country’s most vulnerable citizens: children, teenagers, women, journalists, human rights defenders and even local politicians?
The causal explanations that have been put forward to address the disconcerting twin reality that Mexico is a democracy and a very violent society are varied. We can find some common ground in at least four of them.
The first is “the tip of the sword:” the intensification, starting with President Felipe Calderón’s 2006-2012 term, of the deployment of military forces and militarized federal and state law enforcement agencies to tackle crime-related issues.
Next is the “uncommon response:”the fact that organized criminal actors fought back with “bullets and bribes.”
The third explanation is the opportunity factor — the increase in the availability of illegal weapons flowing from the United States to Mexico due to relaxed gun control policies in the northern neighbor, providing more and deadlier tools to fight these fights.
Lastly, violence can also be partly explained by the paradox of local democratization itself in fragile contexts,where increasing democratic competition has tended to destabilize collusive arrangements between the state and organized crime, leading to large-scale criminal violence.
Against this backdrop, Mexico is entering the 2024 national election process. Here, I want to highlight two approaches in projects stemming from the work of Justicia Transicional en México (JTMX), the think-and-do tank on impunity issues in the countrythat I have led for the last two years.
The first approach takes place on the micro, or local, level. By partnering with the Guernica Centre for International Justice to document and trace trajectories of violence in parts of a specific state in the country — Nayarit — for a relatively protracted period (2011-2021) we have gained a degree of, albeit superficial, understanding on how violence unfolds and operates in local realities.
Put briefly, in many realms of the country, violence establishes the real rules of the game and the resort to it coalesces private, public and illegal interests. The exercise of citizens’ rights is heavily restricted in these terrains. That should concern us.
Second, at the macro or national level, a recent study by JTMX explores institutions established since 2013 to address aspects related to impunity in gross violations of human rights.
These include national systems like the National Search Commission (CNB), established in 2017, and Executive Commission for Attention to Victims (CEAV), founded in 2013, as well as presidential commissions addressing specific situations, like the 2018 Ayotzinapa truth commission and the 2021 commission on human rights violations committed from 1965 to 1990, during Mexico’s “dirty war.” It goes without saying that these institutions are merely the culmination of claims from victims and movements seeking improved institutional tools to address their demands for redress.
However, despite partial solutions — and even with greater support from the federal government on some issues, such as addressing disappearances — their promise has begun to fade, as exemplified by a questionable strategy to reduce reported disappearance numbers.The intertwining of impunity with the country’s political system raises questions about the commitment of the three presidential candidates to address impunity: the elephant in the room. This year will be key. And time is pressing.
This article was originally published by The Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center
Jorge Peniche Baqueiro is a specialist in issues related to combating impunity and transitional justice. He previously served as the Executive Director of “JT MX. Justicia Transicional en México” (JT MX), a think and do tank that, since 2019, has been providing technical support to local and grassroots processes seeking truth and justice for gross human rights violations across Mexico.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mexico News Daily, its owner or its employees.
Under a new treaty provision, the federal government could seize water belonging to northern states to make up for shortfalls in water deliveries to the U.S. (Cuartoscuro)
Water supplies are dwindling in Mexico City. Many residents have limited or no access to running water. The capital’s primary water source could be depleted in 40 years. And at least 60 companies have permits that allow them to extract more than 1 million liters of water per day from the Valley of México’s water supply.
The news website Sin Embargo published a report on water scarcity this month that includes National Water Commission (Conagua) data on Mexico City water concessions held by companies including bottler Coca-Cola Femsa, broadcaster Televisa, brewer Grupo Modelo and manufacturer Procter & Gamble.
Those companies, and many others, use large quantities of water every day in Mexico City, and thus contribute in a significant way to the water scarcity problem faced by residents.
Now, at a time when Mexico City’s water shortage problem is growing more acute, civil society organizations, researchers and others say that things must change — and fast.
In addition to private companies’ substantial use of a resource that United Nations experts say should be managed as a common good rather than a commodity, low rainfall, leaky infrastructure, haphazard urban development and the high population of the greater Mexico City metropolitan area are among the factors that have caused and continue to contribute to water supply problems in the country’s capital and largest city.
The Cutzamala system of reservoirs has reached perilously low levels as drought continues in the region. (María Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
There has been speculation that a “day zero” — a day when Mexico City essentially runs out of water — is coming, perhaps even as soon as this June, but Mayor Martí Batres has denied that is the case.
Which companies hold large water use permits in Mexico City?
According to the Conagua data published by Sin Embargo, numerous Mexico City-based companies have concessions that allow them to extract hundreds of millions if not billions of liters of water per year. They include:
Grupo Modelo — brewer of beers such as Corona, Modelo and Victoria — has had a concession since 1996 that allows it to use 8.09 billion liters of water per year, or almost 22 million liters per day.
Embotelladora Mexicana de Bebidas Refrescantes — known commercially as Coca-Cola Femsa — was issued a permit in 2022 that allows it to use just under 1.3 billion liters of water per year, or 3.56 million liters per day.
Procter & Gamble has had a concession since 1996 that allows it to use 1.16 billion liters of water per year, or 3.05 million liters per day.
Colgate-Palmolive has had a permit since 1995 that allows it to use 893.7 million liters of water per year, or 2.44 million liters per day.
Televisa, a large broadcaster that is currently redeveloping the Estadio Azteca (Aztec Stadium) in preparation for the 2026 FIFA men’s world cup, had had a concession since 2019 that allows it to use 450 million liters of water per year, or 1.23 million liters per day.
Several other bottling companies including Pepsi bottler Gepp hold rights to large annual water allocations as do a number of property development companies, ice producers and firms in a range of other sectors.
Many residents of the greater metropolitan area of Mexico City have limited access to running water, and await deliveries from pipas. (CRISANTA ESPINOSA AGUILAR /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
The National Autonomous University (UNAM) whose main campus is in southern Mexico City, is also a large water user. Since 1999, UNAM has had a concession that allows it to use 2.98 billion liters of water per year, or 8.16 million liters per day.
According to the Mexico City government, 10 companies and organizations including Coca-Cola Femsa, PepsiCo, Grupo Modelo, UNAM and Procter & Gamble hold permits for 48% of all water for which concessions have been issued in the capital.
“The water goes at midday and doesn’t come back until the next day”
While many companies have their own wells from which they extract huge quantities of water, Mexico City residents commonly face water shortages in their homes.
One such person is Alicia, a 52-year-old housewife who lives in the northern borough of Gustavo A. Madero. In her neighborhood, water pressure — when there is water — is low, and supply is limited to a few hours per day.
“The water goes at midday and doesn’t come back until the next day,” Alicia told Sin Embargo. “We have about five hours per day to collect it in buckets or the tank.”
The resident of the San Felipe de Jesús neighborhood believes that large companies “monopolize the city’s water,” a view shared by another Gustavo A. Madero local who spoke to Sin Embargo.
“We know they take the water, especially when they’re building shopping centers or buildings,” said Susana, a 50-year-old resident of the Tlalpexco neighborhood.
Water scarcity in Mexico City has led to some neighborhoods going for days without municipal water and depending on deliveries by truck. (Cuartoscuro)
On the opposite side of Mexico City in the southern borough of Tlalpan, water shortages are also common.
Alejandro Gómez, a Tlalpan resident, “has been without proper running water for more than three months,” CNN reported in late February.
“Sometimes it comes on for an hour or two, but only a small trickle, barely enough to fill a couple of buckets. Then nothing for many days.”
Residents of many other boroughs in Mexico City endure similar situations. Buying water from trucks known as pipas to fill tanks is not a viable option for many of them due to the high cost.
How can Mexico City avoid a full-blown water crisis?
In late February, they presented a report that underscored the criticality of addressing the impending exhaustion of the Mexico City aquifer.
The UNAM researchers’ water security plan includes intensive water capture, increased use of treated residual waters in agriculture and artificially recharging the aquifer by injecting surface water directly into the ground. Part of the recommended 97-billion-peso outlay would go to much-needed maintenance on the aging Cutzamala system.
“Specific actions are required for the next 15 years, for which 97 billion pesos are required to reverse the symptoms of water insecurity in the Valley of México,” said Marisa Mazari Hiriart, coordinator of the UNAM Seminar on Society, Environment, and Institutions.
Experts have recommended massive investment in repairing water infrastructure and in water capture to help mitigate the crisis. (Cuartoscuro)
Harvesting more rainwater, repairing leaky infrastructure and “rehabilitating” water sources are among their proposed actions.
The fight to make the distribution of water more equitable
“Companies think they own the water, that’s the case with Grupo Modelo, which is in [the Mexico City borough of] Miguel Hidalgo,” Ángel Martínez, a member of the non-governmental organization Agua Para Todos (Water for Everyone), told Sin Embargo.
“…There is also [bottled water company] Bonafont in Iztapalapa, where there has been subsidence in the area where it is located,” he said.
Agua Para Todos, other civil society groups, academics and many others are pushing for Mexico’s General Water Law to be changed in order to make the distribution of water more equitable in Mexico City, and across the country.
“The paradigm of water management has to change with a change in legislation that allows equitable access to water, that guarantees the human right to water [and] the sustainable and democratic management [of water],” Beatriz Romero, an academic and member of Agua Para Todos, said in a recent interview.
As things stand, “there is no guarantee of equitable access to water,” she said.
Large private concession holders have been given access to water in large volumes whereas water is rationed in small quantities to ordinary citizens, Romero said.
Protesters outside a Conagua building in Mexico City in 2022. (Cuartoscuro)
In consultation with researchers, Indigenous people, farmers, NGOs and others, Agua Para Todos developed 12 “consensuses” on which it believes a new General Water Law for the entire country should be based.
They include “closing the door on the privatization” of water, allowing citizens to “co-manage” water in the areas where they live and making the use of water to grow food a priority.
Authorities said that trash-burning triggered the forest fires in El Veladero National Park. (Abelina López Rodríguez/X)
As if recovery from Hurricane Otis and rising attacks from organized crime were not enough, the Acapulco region is also dealing with five active forest fires this week.
Municipal authorities have confirmed that all five blazes are located in the El Veladero National Park, about 15 kilometers north of downtown Acapulco. The state Civil Protection Agency has reported that the conflagrations originated in trash piles that were set on fire and burned out of control.
The two biggest wildfires have consumed a combined 90 hectares. The largest is near the village of Carabalí and firefighters have been battling that blaze since Wednesday.
Another fire is threatening the El Coloso housing project on the northern outskirts of Acapulco. That blaze has destroyed 30 hectares of forest and prompted Mayor Abelina López Rodríguez to order an evacuation of all residents living within 100 meters of the fire. Shelters have been set up to house the evacuees.
Municipal Fire Chief Raúl Noyola told reporters that firefighters have employed mitigation works and built some firewalls to protect the neighborhood but explained that his men have been unable to encircle the fire for fear of being trapped in the higher reaches of the forest.
The Civil Protection Agency revealed that more than 770 firefighters were battling the blazes in the Acapulco area, including 120 from the National Forest Commission (Conafor). Officials from the National Defense Ministry (Sedena) and the National Commission for Protected Natural Areas were contributing to the mitigation efforts.
More than 700 firefighters have been working to extinguish the wildfires that threaten the city. (Abelina López Rodríguez/X)
On Friday, officials were preparing to enlist a helicopter water tank to suppress the Carabalí fire which had begun to spread east and link up with the blaze threatening the Palma Sola neighborhood to the northeast. Reports also suggested the helicopter would be needed to protect the Praderas de Costa Azul neighborhood to the east of the El Coloso fire.
The remaining two fires were said to be almost under control. The first is near the village of San Agustín in the extreme northeast and the other was outside the Ejido Viejo community about 30 kilometers further to the northwest on the opposite side of the national park.
President López Obrador said the interest rate cut would spur investment in Mexico. (Lopezobrador.org.mx)
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday described the Bank of Mexico’s decision to cut its benchmark interest rate as a “daring” move and expressed satisfaction that the Mexican peso didn’t depreciate as a result.
The central bank announced on Thursday that its board had voted to reduce the key interest rate by 25 basis points to 11% from a record-high 11.25%. It was the bank’s first interest rate cut in more than three years.
López Obrador described the 25-basis-point cut as “very small,” but nevertheless called the decision to reduce rates “daring” because the United States Federal Reserve has kept its benchmark rate unchanged at 5.25%-5.5% since last July.
“It was daring move because they don’t want to move rates in the United States,” he told reporters at his morning press conference.
The Bank of Mexico (Banxico) board holds its regular monetary policy meetings shortly after those of the Fed and has often followed the lead of the U.S. central bank.
López Obrador said that the rate cut in Mexico “could” have caused a depreciation of the peso against the US dollar, but — with the USD:MXN exchange rate projected onto a screen behind him — happily declared that “nothing happened.”
Though Bank of Mexico often follows the lead of the U.S. Federal Reserve, this time its board chose a different path. (Shutterstock)
“Nothing. It didn’t move,” he said, displaying a rate of 16.71 pesos to the greenback.
The peso has benefited from the wide difference between the official interest rates in Mexico and the United States, and many analysts predicted that the currency would weaken if that margin decreased as a result of an interest rate cut by Banxico.
López Obrador asserted that the reduction in interest rates would spur investment in Mexico, saying that while the size of the cut was only small it would still encourage business people to invest.
“And it also helps us, all Mexicans, … because 70% of the debt contracted by Mexico is in pesos,” he said, explaining that repayments would decline as a result of the interest rate cut.
“So it was a good decision [to cut rates],” López Obrador said.
“It didn’t affect [the peso], there’s no need to buy dollars. … The peso is strong, very strong [and so is] the economy in general,” he said.
The cost of a taco in Mexico is up over 20% from 2023. (Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro)
The Bank of Mexico’s benchmark interest rate has finally come down, but inflation moved in the opposite direction in the first half of March.
A day after the central bank announced a 25-basis-point cut to what was a record-high 11.25% interest rate, the national statistics agency INEGI published data that showed that annual headline inflation ticked up to 4.48% in the first 15 days of March from 4.40% in February.
Prices for fruits and vegetables are up 12% this year, on the whole. (Cuartoscuro)
The annual core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also increased, reaching 4.69% from 4.64% in February.
Both the headline and core rates exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The increase in inflation in the first half of March came after consumer prices declined in February following a three-month period in which the headline rate was on the rise.
In a post to the X social media platform, Moody Analytic’s Latin America director Alfredo Coutiño said that the latest inflation data sends a “message and warning” to the Bank of Mexico a day after it announced its first interest rate cut in more than three years.
In another post that could serve as a warning to the general population, he noted that a spike in services inflation in the first half of March indicated that prices for “tacos, tortas [and] enchiladas” have risen once again.
INEGI data shows that services were 5.57% more expensive in the first half of March than a year earlier, while prices for processed food, beverages and tobacco rose 5.08%.
Fruit and vegetables were 11.74% more expensive compared to the first half of March 2023, non-food goods were 2.62% dearer and energy prices including those for gasoline and electricity were up 3.12%.
The only category in which prices declined on an annual basis was meat, which was 0.83% cheaper.
INEGI also published inflation data for some individual products and services, including air travel, which was just under 36% more expensive in the first half of March than it was in the second half of February. The cost of holiday packages also increased by double digits in the lead-up to the Semana Santa (Holy Week) break, rising just over 10% compared to the second half of last month.
In better news, prices for nopales, onions and green beans all declined by 12% or more in the first half of March. While fruit and vegetable prices were up over 11% compared to a year earlier, those products were 1.29% cheaper in the first half of the month compared to the second half of February.
In a monetary policy statement published on Thursday, the Bank of Mexico predicted that inflation would fall to 3.6% in the final quarter of 2024. Such a rate would be within the central bank’s target range of 3% +/- one percentage point.
The bank anticipates inflation will fall to 3.2% in the first quarter of 2025 and 3.1% in the second before remaining at that level in the third and fourth quarters of next year.
