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The midpoint of the summer is here. What's on in Guadalajara? (Protoplasmakid / CC BY-SA 4.0)
We’ve reached the middle of the summer – and the year – and Guadalajara has some exciting events awaiting you. From international concerts to a beer festival and sporting tournaments, there’s more than enough to keep you busy.
British singer James Blunt will perform live in Guadalajara as part of his international tour Back To Bedlam 20th Anniversary Tour. The tour marks 20 years since the release of Blunt’s breakthrough single “You’re Beautiful,” which became an international sensation, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 list in 2006.
Date: July 3 Location: Auditorio Telmex. Av. Obreros de Cananea 747, Industrial los Belenes Cost: Tickets start at at 300 pesos
If you’re curious about hypnosis, you’ll want to attend the John Milton show in Guadalajara this summer. Combining entertainment with hypnosis techniques, Milton’s show has gained popularity due to its surprising demonstrations. During the show, Milton selects volunteers from the audience to take part in live hypnosis demonstrations. Reviews note that the show is entertaining, dramatic and even stress-relieving.
Date: July 3 and 4 Location: Teatro Galerías. Av. Lapizlázuli 3445, Victoria, 45089 Cost:Tickets start at 756 pesos
Born in the United States to Mexican parents, Iván Cornejo, 20, is one of the latest revelations of Mexican regional music; and this summer, he’ll be performing in Guadalajara. Cornejo’s music, which blends alternative influences with sierreño sounds, has established him as a new idol in the genre and has earned him the Billboard Latin Music Award.
Date: July 10 at 9 p.m. Location: Teatro Diana, Av. 16 de Septiembre No. 710, Zona Centro Cost: Tickets start at 756 pesos
Banda El Recodo and Banda Machos take Auditorio Telmex
If you’re looking to experience some authentic banda music show, don’t miss out on this concert Banda El Recodo and Banda Machos, two of Mexico’s most popular banda groups. This concert is a special collaboration titled “Las más Perronas,” where Banda El Recodo and Banda Machos will share the stage to perform their most iconic hits. The event promises to be historic for fans of the genre.
Date: July 10 Location: Auditorio Telmex. Av. Obreros de Cananea 747, Industrial los Belenes Cost: Starting at 549 pesos
Sara Baras, the internationally renowned flamenco ballet dancer, will present her show “Vuela” in Guadalajara this summer. The show is a tribute to Paco de Lucía – the best flamenco guitarist in history – to celebrate her dance company’s 25th anniversary. The show promises a celebration of life, music and shared memory.
Date: July 17 at 8:30 p.m. Location: Conjunto Santander, Av. Periférico Norte No. 1695, Parque Industrial Belenes Norte Cost: Tickets start at 1,000 pesos
Beer lovers rejoice as the Tlaquepaque Beer Festival is back for its eighth edition. This annual event, which celebrates craft beer, food, music and art, has become a renowned festival in the national and international craft beer scene. Thanks to its growing popularity, this year organizers hope to surpass the 15,000 attendees the event recorded in 2024.
Date: July 19 and 20 Location: Plaza de las Ciudades Hermanas, Blvd. Gral. Marcelino García Barragán, Prados, San Pedro Tlaquepaque Cost: Free general admission with donation of three or more non-perishable food items
Learn to cook mole this summer at The Cooking Table, a culinary franchise that teaches cooking class in Mexico City and Guadalajara. At this class, the team will teach you how to prepare Mexico’s famous mole poblano from scratch, as well as homemade tortillas, red rice and the classic Jalisco dessert jericallas, a milk custard dessert.
The school has three locations in Guadalajara: La Platza, La Estancia and Zona Real. For more information, WhatsApp them at +52 333 8149 857.
Date: July 23 at 8 to 11 p.m. Location: All locations in Guadalajara Cost: 800 pesos
Charros de Jalisco home games at the Estadio Panamericano
If you’re a baseball fan, July has something for you too. Zapopan’s hometown baseball team, the Charros de Jalisco, will play several home games at the Estadio Panamericano in Guadalajara, as part of the 2025 Mexican Baseball League (LMB) regular season.
The Charros will play Caliente de Durango on July 1, 2 and 3; the Algodoneros de Unión Laguna on July 11, 12 and 13; the Rieleros de Aguascalientes on July 15, 16 and 17; and the Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos on July 29, 30 and 31. Date: Throughout July Cost: Prices vary per game Location: Estadio Panamericano de Béisbol, Calle Sta. Lucía 373, Tepeyac, Zapopan
This innovative staging fuses the intensity of opera with the energy of metal, offering a unique experience for lovers of musical theater and alternative genres.Expect a reinterpretation of Mary Shelley’s classic story, combining operatic voices with powerful brass arrangements, visual effects and high-impact stage production.
Date: July 26 Location: Teatro Galerías. Av. Lapizlázuli 3445, Victoria, Zapopan Cost: 800 pesos
Attend a classical music concert om the Chapala Ribera
Residents of Chapala and the Chapala Riviera can enjoy the Quinteto de Alientos Saturnino, which will perform chamber music by composers from various parts of the Americas. This music ensemble was founded in 2017 in Aguascalientes city. It is composed of flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon.
Date: July 6 Location: Centro para la Cultura y las Artes de la Ribera. Carretera a Chapala-Jocotepec 168, La Floresta, Ajijic Cost: Free
Gabriela Solis is a Mexican lawyer turned full-time writer. She was born and raised in Guadalajara and covers business, culture, lifestyle and travel for Mexico News Daily. You can follow her lifestyle blog Dunas y Palmeras.
You can encounter various types of sharks in Mexico in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. (Shane Myers Photography/Shutterstock)
It’s June 1975. Audiences are packing into cinemas to watch a young female character named Chrissie Watkins wander down to the ocean for a midnight swim. The setting is peaceful and beautiful, yet the flat sea and summer night sky carry a chilling edge of danger.
The shark attack, when it happens, is subtly filmed: There is no blood, no close-up of mutilated limbs. We hear muffled screams and see the woman being pulled underwater. Her drunken friend wakes on the beach in the morning to find her missing, and movies will never be the same again.
JAWS | Official Trailer | Experience It In IMAX®
When Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” was first released in 1975, it dramatically increased the public’s fear of sharks.
“Jaws,” when it was released 50 years ago, propelled Steven Spielberg to fame and marked the start of the summer blockbuster. From this point onwards, studios would be on the lookout for the next cultural phenomenon, a motion picture with a big budget and a star-studded cast that would bring in the crowds during the summer holiday season. “Star Wars,” “Alien,” ”Indiana Jones” and “Ghostbusters” all followed the path established by “Jaws.”
If “Jaws” revived the movie industry, it probably did little for scuba tourism. Despite widespread societal fear of them, shark attacks are extremely rare. Incidents can be classified into two types.
The first is the phenomenon of unprovoked bites, in which an attack occurs in the shark’s natural habitat with no human provocation. Swimmers, waders and surfers are the most common targets.
The second, a provoked bite, takes place when there a human interacts with a shark. This might include spearfishers, people attempting to feed or touch sharks or those trying to remove a captured shark from nets.
While most sharks can bite if provoked, three species account for the vast majority of unprovoked attacks: the bull shark, the tiger shark and, of course, the great white.
In 2024, there were 47 shark attacks reported around the world, with four fatalities. To put that into perspective, around 81,410 to 137,880 people die each year from snake bites, while 24,000 die from lightning strikes.
Mexico’s Office of the Attorney General for Environmental Protection, or Profepa, confiscated this illegal shark fin haul at the Port of Ensenada in early June. (Profepa)
Mexico has a long coastline, and sharks can be found in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. However, no attacks were recorded in Mexico during 2024, and the last five years have seen just eight recorded attacks. Surprisingly, four of these were fatal, a high ratio of deaths to attacks that might suggest fishermen who receive some relatively minor injury do not report the bites.
Humans are far more deadly to sharks than sharks are to humans. According to a low estimate, 73 million sharks are taken from the seas every year, and the last decade has seen Mexico increase its share of this international trade. According to the National Aquaculture and Fishing Commission’s (Conapesca) Fisheries Statistical Yearbook, Mexico is now ranked sixth in terms of the total catch of sharks, with an annual catch of 20,000 to 40,000 tons per year.
A fisherman in Mexico receives around US $2 per kilogram of shark, but by the time the dried fins reach Asia, they can be worth up to $70. This market has resulted in several shark species in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean being fished to the point where they are now described as being “exploited to the maximum sustainability.”
While the shark trade is regulated in Mexico, there are ways around any rule. Some fishing boats operate without permits or boats might creep out during the closed season, and protected species are still being caught. Add this to poor recordkeeping and corruption, and it is reasonable to assume that at least some of the shark that passes from Mexico to Asian markets is off the books.
While the situation in Mexico is uncertain, studies have shown that more than 70% of the fins that end up in Hong Kong fish markets come from vulnerable or endangered species. There is also a terrible level of animal cruelty in shark fishing. It is primarily a shark’s fin that is valuable, so it has become a common practice for fishermen to cut these from a living shark and then throw the animal back into the water, where the sharks, unable to swim, will slowly drown.
One hope for sharks is that humans are fascinated by them; each year, world shark tourism generates more than US $300 million. While any diver going into warm water might be lucky enough to spot these wonderful animals, there are a handful of Mexican dive sites famous for shark spotting. Playa del Carmen offers a variety of diving tours that focus on viewing the bull sharks that gather here from November to March.
Bull sharks are large sharks responsible for many attacks on humans. However, this is largely because they share the shallow waters where humans like to splash around, and they are not considered a threat to divers. Indeed, Playa del Carmen is famous for the opportunity of seeing these ocean giants swim past at close range.
Another hot spot for shark encounters in Mexico is Cabo Pulmo, on the southeast coast of the Baja California Peninsula. This reef is around 20,000 years old, and after many years of overfishing became protected in 1995. It is now one of the most successful marine parks in the world, with over 6,000 species recorded. Sharks can be seen here in large numbers in winter, and there are many other attractions, from whales to the seasonal gathering of Mobula Rays.
Mexico’s third famous shark site is currently closed to tourists. This is Isla Guadalupe, 240 kilometers from the western coast of the Baja Peninsula. Declared a Biosphere Reserve in 2005, it offers clear, calm waters and great views of the white sharks that gather here from July to December. The start of shark season is marked by the arrival of juvenile male sharks. As the weeks roll by, these juveniles are joined by mature female sharks, some of which measure over five meters.
Until recently, Guadalupe Island was a noted destination for cage diving. This concept was pioneered in Australia in the 1970s by Rodney Fox. Having survived a shark attack, Fox developed the idea of putting divers into a cage and letting great whites come to them.
Each year, world shark tourism generates more than US $300 million. (Nautilus Adventures)
The idea was copied in South Africa and here in Mexico, but has always been controversial. The main problem with cage diving is that in many places, sharks need to be attracted by throwing chum — fresh chunks of fish meat with bone and blood — into the water. This puts excessive nutrients into the sea. Detractors say the easily available food source changes the sharks’ migratory habits.
Cage diving off Isla Guadalupe made headlines for the wrong reason in 2016, when a young shark managed to force its way into a cage. The trapped diver escaped injury, but the incident was filmed and widely shared, with 8 million views on YouTube.
Despite this incident, Guadalupe cage diving had a good reputation within the industry. The water was clear, the sharks gathered here naturally and although some bait was used, this was not chum but fish heads. At one point, three companies were operating small but profitable businesses.
So it came as a surprise when cage diving was suspended in 2022 and all tourism on the island stopped in January 2023. While the explanation that the closure was intended to “make it possible to gather information that will guide activities and the adoption of the best sustainability practices that guarantee the conservation of the aforementioned populations” sounded commendable, it also posed questions.
The suddenness of the decision left small tour operators unable to refund deposits, and the ruling did not seem to be part of any greater conservation plan. There was also a concern that removing the licensed dive boats, which acted as watchdogs, would leave the waters deserted and open to the poachers.
Sharks are great survivors. Over the last 500 million years, they have lived through five mass extinction events that have decimated other species. However, 50 years after Police Chief Brody hunted down the monster in “Jaws,” sharks might be facing their greatest challenge.
Bob Pateman is a Mexico-based historian, librarian and a life term hasher. He is editor of On On Magazine, the international history magazine of hashing.
"The government is not going to spy on anyone, like they spied on us," the president said on Wednesday, referring to alleged espionage carried out by previous governments. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
At her Wednesday morning press conference, a day after the Senate approved legislation dubbed the “Spy Law,” President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected claims that security authorities will be able to access citizens’ personal data, including on their cell phones, without first obtaining a judicial warrant.
She also declared that the federal government “is not going to spy on anyone.”
The president came prepared Wednesday morning with a lesson on the Mexican Constitution after national headlines announced a new “Spy Law” had passed in the Senate. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Her remarks came after various politicians, non-government organizations and media outlets stated that security authorities will be able to access citizens’ personal data without obtaining a court order.
The National Action Party’s leader in the Senate, Senator Ricardo Anaya, asserted in a social media post on Tuesday that the ruling Morena party “consolidated the #SpyGovernment: geolocation, access to your health, bank and biometric data without a judge.”
The Network in Defense of Digital Rights, a non-governmental organization, said on social media on Tuesday that the Senate had granted the government “permission to spy.”
“Legalizing surveillance and access to our [personal] information without controls, judicial orders or any safeguard, through public and private databases, is an abuse of human rights,” the organization said.
Sheinbaum denies any intent of government to spy on citizens
During her Q&A session with reporters, Sheinbaum called for the front page of the Wednesday edition of the Reforma newspaper to be displayed on a screen behind her.
A headline in the newspaper referred to opposition parties’ warning that a “spy state” will be created as the result of the Mexican Congress’ approval on Tuesday of the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law.
“The opposition in the Congress yesterday accused [the ruling party] Morena and its allies of imposing a ‘spy state,’ through laws that authorize security and law enforcement authorities to request the geolocation of citizens without a court order,” stated the opening sentence of Reforma’s report.
“They also questioned the authority granted to authorities, in the Investigation and Intelligence Law, to have access to any public or private record with useful data to ‘create intelligence products,'” the report continued.
After reading out the report’s headline, Sheinbaum requested that Article 16 of the Mexican Constitution be displayed, and reminded reporters that “no law can violate the Constitution.”
The president read out two sections of Article 16, with which she sought to refute claims from opposition politicians and others that the government will be able to access people’s personal data and track their location without first obtaining a court order.
The sections she read out — as translated in English-language copies of the Mexican Constitution available on the websites of the Organization of American States and Mexico’s Electoral Tribunal — are as follows:
“Private communications shall not be breached. The law shall punish any action against the liberty and privacy of such communications, except when they are voluntarily given by one of the individuals involved in them. A judge shall assess the implications of such communications, provided they contain information related to the perpetration of a crime. Communications that violate confidentiality established by law shall not be admitted in any case.”
“Only the federal judicial authority can authorize telephone tapping and interception of private communications, at the request of the appropriate federal authority or the State Public Prosecution Service. The authority that makes request shall present in writing the legal causes for the request, describing therein the kind of interception required, the individuals subjected to interception and the term thereof. The federal judicial authority cannot authorize telephone tapping nor interception of communications in the following cases: a) when the matters involved are of electoral, fiscal, commercial, civil, labor or administrative nature, b) communications between defendant and his attorney.”
“It’s what the laws say, it’s what the Criminal Code says,” Sheinbaum said.
“There can only be an intervention, a GPS location, etcetera, under court order, unless it’s a missing person, a kidnapping, where the information is requested directly to the telephone company in order to attend in an extraordinary way to a case of this type,” she said.
“… It’s false, it’s a lie that the laws approved [by the Senate on Tuesday] have to do with the state spying. False, they’re lying deliberately,” Sheinbaum added.
“In fact, I believe that all of us here were spied on in one way or another, because all of the colleagues have been members of the [Morena party] movement for many years,” said Sheinbaum, who was joined by various federal and state officials at her morning press conference.
“So we were all spied on [but] we don’t spy on anybody, nobody, absolutely nobody,” she said.
“What we want is to build a safe country, in peace,” Sheinbaum said.
In accordance with the constitution and Mexico’s laws, “a telephone intervention can only be approved by a judge,” she said.
“At no time is anyone being spied on. Let that be clear,” Sheinbaum said.
President Sheinbaum witnessed the arrival at the AIFA airport of the first of what will be 20 deliveries of Embraer E-195-E2 planes to become part of Mexicana de Aviación's fleet. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s state-owned airline Mexicana de Aviación welcomed the first of 20 Embraer E195-E2 aircraft on Tuesday, marking the beginning of a major expansion phase.
President Claudia Sheinbaum officially received the aircraft at Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in Mexico City, alongside other officials, including the Defense Minister, the Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) Minister and the governor of México state.
The purchase of 20 planes marks the beginning of a major expansion for Mexicana, for which the airline is training 56 pilots and 84 flight attendants. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
“Mexicana de Aviación is not about nostalgia for the past, it is a bet on the future,” Sheinbaum said during the event. “It is a company that is being created with new principles, transparency, inclusion, efficiency, social responsibility and a sense of nationhood … it is a message to the people: ‘You have the right to fly.’”
The delivery of 20 planes over two years comes after the Mexican government signed a 20 billion-peso (US $1 billion) purchase agreement with the Brazilian company Embraer. Five aircraft will be delivered in 2025, followed by seven in 2026 and the final eight in 2027.
Mexicana is currently training 56 pilots and 84 flight attendants in preparation for the company’s expansion.
Having a state-owned airline is crucial for mobilizing the population, resources and security forces in emergency situations, natural disasters and logistical operations, said Mexicana’s CEO Leobardo Ávila Bojórquez.
The Embraer E195-E2 has a capacity for 132 passengers and can reach speeds of up to 963 kilometers per hour. Its aerodynamic design, consisting of lightweight, composite materials, helps to reduce operating costs, and its latest-generation engines have a fuel-saving capacity of 30%, according to the company.
The aircraft has a range of 4,615 km, which will allow it to reach parts of North, Central and South America from AIFA.
Mexicana’s first Embraer 195-E2 is expected to make its inaugural commercial flight by August 25, followed by a second aircraft on September 12.
The airline, which began operations in late 2023, currently has six main routes.
In June 2024, Bojórquez announced plans to expand Mexicana’s routes in the next three years to include 11 international destinations in the United States, Canada and Latin America, with bases in Tijuana, Baja California and Tulum, as well as AIFA.
The repopulation program, responsible for the introduction of nearly 300,000 totoaba in Gulf of California waters, aims to reverse decades of overfishing and illegal trafficking that have pushed the totoaba to the brink of extinction. (Marina Robles/X)
As part of a milestone conservation effort led by Mexico’s Environment Ministry, 40,000 baby totoaba fish were released into the waters of the Gulf of California, a unique ecosystem where this threatened species is endemic.
This marks the tenth generation of totoaba — 270,000 individuals in the past 10 years — that Mexico has reintroduced to prevent the extinction of the species. The fish plays a crucial role in marine balance in the Gulf, dubbed by Jacques Cousteau as “The Aquarium of the World.”
The 40,000 hatchlings released measured on average 25 centimeters, but adult totoabas can reach two meters in length and weigh 100 kilograms. (Maria V/X)
In an official statement, the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) said the release of the totoaba hatchlings — each about 25 centimeters long — “is the result of a collaborative effort between the private sector, civil society and the government.”
Thanks to the joint program involving Semarnat, the regenerative aquaculture company Santomar and civil society, the baby totoaba are now swimming freely in the waters off Santispac Beach, in the municipality of Mulegé, Baja California Sur.
The program aims to reverse decades of overfishing and illegal trafficking that have pushed the totoaba to the brink of extinction.
“The reintroduction effort promotes the recovery of this threatened species,” said Dr. Marina Robles García, undersecretary of Biodiversity and Environmental Restoration at Semarnat. “And this is possible thanks to totoaba cultivation in laboratories located in Sonora, Baja California and Baja California Sur.”
Robles García attributed the program’s success to scientific developments at the Institute of Oceanological Research at the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC).
According to the website Big Fish, these research centers “have perfected the reproduction and rearing of the species under human care, then reintroduced them in a controlled manner to the wild.”
Robles García said the program is also assisted by a new, state-of-the-art regenerative aquaculture system in La Paz, Baja California Sur. There, larval food is cultivated in tanks filled with microalgae.
“This joint effort shows that it is indeed possible to recover threatened species, as has already happened with the California condor and the Mexican wolf,” she said.
The totoaba repopulation scheme is also aided by the nine Wildlife Conservation Management Units (UMAS) that are dedicated to the care of the Gulf corvina fish, where around 3 million totoabas have been produced in recent years.
Though prohibited since 1975, illegal fishing of the totoaba continues due to the demand for the fish’s swim bladder, an organ that helps the fish control its buoyancy and is considered a delicacy in certain parts of Asia. The swim bladder can fetch prices of around US $500 per kilo in Mexico and $8,000 per kilo on the international market.
With the totoaba population stabilizing, the Mexican government last month amended the import/export tax law to grant Santomar, which cultivates the totoaba in submersible farms on the high seas, the exclusive authority to export totoaba meat as long as it adheres to traceability regulations. According to the newspaper Milenio, this modification seeks to exercise greater control over the illegal totoaba market.
Selling the swim bladder is still prohibited, as are sales of live totoaba.
The crematorium provided (or was supposed to provide) cremation services to six funeral homes in Ciudad Juárez, located on Mexico's northern border opposite El Paso, Texas. (Manuel Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
The owner of a private crematorium in Ciudad Juárez where 383 bodies were left in piles to decompose has been arrested along with his sole employee.
The attorney general of Chihuahua, César Jáuregui Moreno, announced that José Luis Arellano Cuarón, the owner of the Plenitud crematorium in the Granjas Polo Gamboa neighborhood of Ciudad Juárez, and Facundo Martínez Robledo, an employee, were detained on Sunday.
A judge ruled that the two men must remain in preventive prison ahead of a court hearing on Friday. They face charges related to the improper handling of cadavers. If convicted on all counts, they face prison sentences of a minimum of eight and a maximum of 19 years.
Jáuregui said that the crematorium provided (or was supposed to provide) cremation services to six funeral homes in Ciudad Juárez, located on Mexico’s northern border opposite El Paso, Texas.
The 383 bodies found in the crematorium were “received by funeral homes, the mourning of families was carried out there and subsequently this company picked up the bodies to carry out the cremation service, which it didn’t do,” the attorney general said.
He said that the crematorium most probably charged the funeral homes for cremation services, but just left the bodies to pile up in its facilities.
Mexican police have discovered more than 350 corpses piled up, embalmed and abandoned at a private crematorium in Ciudad Juarez, local prosecutors reported pic.twitter.com/YrS8ma65Pw
Given that the bodies were taken to funeral homes by families, it is unlikely that any of them are of missing persons, Jáuregui said.
“In any case, each and every one of them will be investigated so that there is no doubt about the origin of the bodies. I think it will be difficult to determine how long they were there in the crematorium because all of them had funerary treatment [embalming],” he said.
“… The investigation will be sufficiently exhaustive to first provide dignity to these bodies, secondly to identify them [and] thirdly to provide them with the fate that their relatives decide,” Jáuregui said.
He also said that the investigation will look beyond the crematorium owner and employee to determine whether anyone else is guilty of negligence and/or criminal behavior. Officials responsible for inspecting such facilities and ensuring their compliance with applicable laws could be among those investigated. The crematorium had the permits required to operate.
Corpses ‘stacked’ in various rooms at crematorium
The 383 bodies found at the Ciudad Juárez crematorium were piled up in five or six rooms and in its yard, according to Jáuregui. Authorities discovered them last Thursday after receiving a report from a citizen about foul smells in the area. The bodies of four minors, including two babies, were found at the crematorium.
The Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office (FGE) announced on Monday that a total of 383 embalmed bodies were piled up at the crematorium. Some of them had been there for as long as five years, according to the FGE.
Eloy García, spokesperson for the FGE, told the AFP news agency that the cadavers were “stacked” in no apparent order.
They were “just thrown like that, indiscriminately, one on top of the other, on the floor,” he told AFP.
‘Unprecedented drama’: Prosecutor describes hell-like scene of 383 bodies in Juárez crematorium https://t.co/9P7FN6lLtx
García said that relatives of the deceased were given “other material” in lieu of ashes.
According to AFP, the FGE spokesperson “alleged ‘carelessness and irresponsibility’ by the crematorium owners, adding that all such businesses ‘know what their daily cremation capacity is.'”
“You can’t take in more than you can process,” García said.
Marcelo Ruiz, representative of the Ciudad Juárez Funeral Homes Union, said that it was not the first time that bodies were left to pile up in a crematorium in the border city, noting that there was a similar case in which 63 decomposing bodies were found during the COVID pandemic.
The law gives the federal Security Ministry broad powers to access people's personal and biometric data as well as their financial information, among other sensitive data. (Shutterstock)
The Mexican Senate on Tuesday approved legislation dubbed the “Spy Law,” which will give the federal government broad intelligence and surveillance powers.
The National Investigation and Intelligence System Law was supported by the ruling Morena party and its allies, ensuring its passage through the Chamber of Deputies last week and the Senate on Tuesday night.
Sixty-seven senators voted in favor of the legislation, 29 opposed it and there were three abstentions.
The law, which will take effect once promulgated by President Claudia Sheinbaum, will give the federal Security Ministry broad powers to access people’s personal and biometric data as well as their financial information, among other sensitive data. Security authorities will be able to access telecom metadata, allowing them to track people’s location.
They will be able to access people’s data, reportedly without obtaining a judicial warrant, and will have the capacity to seek information from public and private sources. Private companies that refuse to hand over data that authorities want face legal sanctions and other potential consequences.
Data collected will be used to create “intelligence products for the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crimes,” according to the law. Artificial intelligence tools and other digital systems and programs can be used to assist the creation and use of “public security strategies, actions and intelligence products that … strengthen operations” carried out by security forces.
The “intelligence products” will also help to “identify and combat threats to and impacts on public security,” according to the law.
The law also allows for the creation of a new intelligence division within the federal Security Ministry.
Senator Ricardo Anaya, the leader of the National Action Party (PAN) in the upper house, was outspoken about the bill, comparing its powers to those of Big Brother. (Cuartoscuro)
Senator Ricardo Anaya, the leader of the National Action Party (PAN) in the upper house and a former presidential candidate, was among the opposition senators who voted against the law.
“Big Brother is watching you,” he wrote on social media on Tuesday before the vote on the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law took place.
“This extraordinary period [of Senate sessions] will go down in history as the darkest. Morena consolidated the #SpyGovernment: geolocation, access to your health, bank and biometric data without [approval from a] judge. We will not be accomplices. We will vote no!” Anaya wrote.
The federal government, including Morena lawmakers, argue that the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law, and other security-related legislation, is required to bolster the state’s capacity to combat organized crime, which has a pernicious effect on Mexican society all over the country.
Central Intelligence Platform to be created
The National Investigation and Intelligence System Law allows for the creation of a Central Intelligence Platform, where data collected by security authorities will be stored. The platform must be ready for use within 180 days of the promulgation of the law.
Security officials, including National Guard personnel, will be able to access the information on the platform as part of their efforts to prevent and investigate crimes.
The investigation and intelligence law establishes a range of standards that all officials who manage intelligence information must meet.
The new law allows for the creation of a Central Intelligence Platform, which can be accessed by all security officials under the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena), including the National Guard. (Cuartoscuro)
“The dominance of organized crime in Mexico is the main reason that the surveillance apparatus is being bolstered. It’s not a surprise, given Sheinbaum’s clear desire to focus on intelligence rather than direct military confrontation,” he wrote.
“Additionally, pressure from the U.S. — cancelling prominent Mexicans’ visas and advocating for military intervention if Mexico can’t sort out cartels — has lit a fire under the government, explaining the rush to get these surveillance measures through,” González Ormerod wrote.
‘Extremely important’ legislation or ‘espionage disguised as public policy’?
She asserted that the new investigation and intelligence law will not allow unjustified invasions of people’s privacy, as decisions to obtain access to personal data must be approved by the Federal Attorney General’s Office — which is ostensibly independent of the federal government — and will be subject to judicial controls.
Senator María del Rosario Corona Nakamura of the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM), an ally of Morena, said that the law will provide authorities with the technological tools they need to prevent and prosecute crimes.
For his part, PAN Senator Francisco Ramírez Acuña described the law as “espionage disguised as public policy.”
He criticized what he called the capacity of authorities to have “disproportionate” access to sensitive information, and asserted that the law doesn’t establish clear rules or controls governing authorities’ ability to access personal data.
Morena Senator Félix Salgado Macedonio questioned opposition senators’ motivation for opposing the law, suggesting that they are worried about their bank accounts in tax havens being detected.
The National Investigation and Intelligence System Law has also faced significant criticism outside of Congress.
The Network in Defense of Digital Rights (R3D), a non-governmental organization, said on social media on Tuesday that the Senate had granted “permission to spy” with its approval of the law.
“Legalizing surveillance and access to our [personal] information without controls, judicial orders or any safeguard, through public and private databases, is an abuse of human rights,” the organization said.
🚨 “No hay un límite para el acceso de las autoridades a los datos”, me comentó Francia Pietrasanta, abogada en tecnología y datos en @R3Dmx.
👉 “El gran problema es lo que está en la leyes de investigación y de seguridad, que implementa la fusión de bases de datos (…) Podría… pic.twitter.com/DuG7p8Zzlo
In a radio interview on Wednesday, R3D lawyer and project leader Francia Pietrasanta said that “there is no limit” on authorities’ capacity to access people’s data.
“The authorities can access your movements in real time and very sensitive data could be revealed,” she said.
Pietrasanta said that the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law, and other security laws recently approved by Congress, “create massive infrastructure in order to be able to surveil all people.”
Luis Fernando García, a lawyer and former director of R3D, warned that the legislation could institutionalize espionage. He highlighted that the National Guard, the army and other security institutions will have real-time access to a range of personal data.
Senate also approves General National Public Security System Law
On Tuesday night, the Senate also approved the General National Public Security System Law, which, according to Morena senators, “establishes the operation of joint strategies between all public security institutions.”
Most senators with the PAN voted in favor of the law, as did Citizens’ Movement party senators, and those representing Morena and its allies, the PVEM and the Labor Party. Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) senators voted against it.
The law, which was also approved by the Chamber of Deputies last week, creates a new regulatory framework to coordinate security collaboration between federal, state and municipal authorities.
Increased coordination between security authorities at different levels of government is one of the four “ejes” — axes or core tenets — of the federal government’s national security strategy. Strengthening investigation and intelligence practices is another.
Morena senators said that the General National Public Security System Law will “optimize the functioning” of security policy by “establishing absolute coordination between the [federal] Security Cabinet and the federal entities,” or states.
The law creates “a model of total coordination for public security” between all levels of government, they said.
The General National Public Security System Law also creates a National Information System, of which various databases and registries — including ones with information on arrests, prisoners and court orders aimed at protecting women and children — will be part.
Morena Senator Lucía Trasviña, president of the upper house’s public security committee, declared that the law, and the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law, will right public security wrongs of the past.
“For decades, Mexico suffered the consequences of a [security] strategy focused on the excessive use of force and … [with] fragmented coordination structures,” she said.
“Today we’re consolidating a new model focused on intelligence, professionalization and cooperation,” Trasviña said.
Morena Senator Lucía Trasviña emphasized on Tuesday that the legislation will not be used for arbitrary surveillance. (@Luciatraswbcs/X)
“… It’s not about spying,” she said. “It’s about acting with institutional responsibility, legality and guarantees. [We’re] talking abut surveillance for security, not arbitrary surveillance,” Trasviña said.
Senator Anaya said that the General National Public Security System Law represented “recognition that the ‘hugs, not bullets’ strategy,” implemented by the administration of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, “was an absolute failure,” and for that reason, the PAN supported it.
However, the National Investigation and Intelligence System Law is the “final nail in the coffin” for privacy in Mexico and the installation of a “spy government,” he said.
The government “will be able to monitor your cell phone [to find out] what time you go out, who you meet up with,” Anaya said.
PRI Senator Miguel Ángel Riquelme, a former governor of Coahuila, said that both laws approved on Tuesday are part of a “legal framework that seeks to restrict freedoms and weaken our democracy.”
“They’re taking away rights … to establish a police-military state,” he said.
PAN Senator Marko Cortés was equally scathing in his assessment of the laws.
“They’re empowering the operational arms of the presidency without any control or limit. They’re militarizing security and the violation of human rights is clearly going to increase,” he said.
“We can’t accept that the government has unlimited, uncontrolled access to [people’s] private lives. They can already do that, but with judicial orders. It’s unacceptable that it will be permanent, discretional and without a judicial order. … They will have all our information,” Cortés said.
In addition to the two laws approved by the Senate on Tuesday, Morena has approved, or is seeking to approve, a range of other laws that government critics say violate people’s right to privacy and, in the case of a new National Guard Law, increase the militarization of public security in Mexico.
Señor Frog's Playa del Carmen location had been closed since October 2024. (Noticaribe/X)
Señor Frog’s, the chain of fiesta-themed eateries and bars often cited as the antithesis to “authentic Mexico,” has been reduced to nothing but a memory in what once stood as one of its prime locations — near the pier in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo.
Demolition began last week on the building that had housed Señor Frog’s for more than 25 years, adjacent to the terminal where people catch the ferry to Cozumel.
The building, which also housed offices and apartments on its upper floor, had deteriorated to the point where the possibility of collapse could not be ignored, officials said.
“There was a risk. That’s why the decision was made to intervene immediately,” said Hernán González, head of the city’s sustainable planning bureau.
This particular Señor Frog’s had already shut down last October, a closure that surprised tourists who considered the lively restaurant and bar a must-visit on the Riviera Maya.
Others, however, frequently use Señor Frog’s as shorthand for “tourist trap” and contrast it with authentic local experiences.
Although the company did not provide an official explanation for last October’s closure, local reports indicated that declining visitor numbers and reduced income contributed to the decision, with the venue having seen fewer guests for months prior to shuttering its doors.
Playa del Carmen still has two other Señor Frog’s in operation — each less than 1.5 km away from the razed location. One opened in December 2022, and both are on the city’s main commercial strip, Quinta Avenida, or Fifth Avenue.
Overall, Señor Frog’s has “over 17 locations worldwide” according to a summary on its website that also touts its restaurant-bars as places where “the fun never stops.”
Their Tex-Mex-heavy menu includes Mexican and American fare, from tacos, nachos and burritos to hamburgers and seafood — along with an extensive selection of beer, margaritas and other alcoholic drinks.
Señor Frog’s was founded in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, in 1971 by Jesús Humberto “Chuy” Juarez and Carlos Anderson.
The brand is owned by Cancún-based Grupo Anderson’s, which claims to be Mexico’s largest restaurateur, operating more than 50 restaurants. Two of its other prime holdings are Porfirio’s and Harry’s Prime Steakhouse & Raw Bar.
The Playa del Carmen closure follows other high-profile shutdowns, such as the Las Vegas location, which ceased operations at the end of 2024, and the original Mazatlán spot, which shut down in 2018.
A small example of the more than 2,600 hectares of cleared forest land indicates the kind of radical land use change the landowners were undertaking. (Profepa)
More than 2,600 hectares of forest were destroyed in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, leading to the closure of seven properties, the Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) reported on Monday.
Profepa inspectors carried out operations between May 28 and June 14 on forest properties located in the states of Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo, where they discovered the removal of trees and other vegetation, resulting in unauthorized use of forest lands across 2,608.9 hectares (ha).
Farm equipment found on the properties betrayed the intention to convert the forest into agricultural land. (Profepa)
Such activities have the effect of transforming forests into agro-industrial monocultures, Profeca wrote on the X social media site.
The agency seized 108.5 square meters of round and square timber, three tractors and a variety of agricultural equipment.
Of the seven properties that were closed, two were in Campeche, totaling 702 ha, two in Yucatán (606.4 ha) and three in Quintana Roo (1,300.5 ha). All seven are within an area where Mennonite populations have been expanding, according to Profepa.
In the popular tourist state of Quintana Roo, inspectors visited the municipalities of José María Morelos and Othón P. Blanco.
In the Piedras Negras ejido (communal farmland) in José María Morelos, inspectors identified a change in land use on 10.68 ha of forest, where a total of 1,057 square meters of native rainforest species had been removed without permission.
Profepa also sent inspectors to the municipalities of Hopelchén and Calakmul in Campeche and Tekax in Yucatán.
The inspectors found that natural vegetation had been replaced by leveled terrain in San Diego Buenavista in Tekax, where the cutting, felling, sectioning and elimination by fire of adult trees and sapling trees had taken place.
In a statement, Profepa said it plans to continue operations to halt and reverse the environmental impacts of deforestation on forest ecosystems on the Yucatán Peninsula.
