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CDMX, Querétaro and Nuevo León lead as Mexico’s most competitive states for business, IMCO finds

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MND Staff
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An aerial view of Queretaro City, Mexico. Drone photo in the morning in City center
Querétaro moved up in the ranking this year, jumping from sixth to second place overall. Pictured: Querétaro city. (Shutterstock)

Mexico City remains Mexico’s most competitive state for business, while Querétaro — the country’s data center hub — ranks second, according to an analysis by a Mexican think tank.

The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) published its 2026 State Competitiveness Index (ICE) on Monday.

According to IMCO, the ICE “measures the ability of the country’s states to generate, attract, and retain talent and investment.”

“A competitive state is one that makes efficient use of its capabilities to foster a favorable environment that contributes to improving its development and, consequently, the well-being of its inhabitants,” the think tank said in its index report.

The 2026 ICE — the 20th edition of the annual index — ranks all 32 federal entities based on their performance across 53 different indicators in six categories called “sub-indexes.”

The sub-indexes are innovation and economy; infrastructure; labor market; society and environment; law (which includes crime rates and citizens’ security perceptions); and political system and governments.

Mexico City ranks first in three of those sub-indexes — innovation and economy; infrastructure; and society and environment — and comes out on top overall for a 20th consecutive year.

Querétaro, which ranks first in the “political system and governments” sub-index, moved up four positions compared to 2025 to become Mexico’s second most competitive state.

Mexico City and Querétaro are the only two entities deemed to have a “very high” level of competitiveness.

The next three most-competitive states, each of which was found to have a “high” level of competitiveness, are Nuevo León, Coahuila and Baja California Sur. Nuevo León’s position didn’t change compared to last year, while Coahuila moved up three spots to become Mexico’s fourth most competitive state. Baja California Sur fell three spots in the ranking to fifth from second a year earlier.

On the other end of the scale, Guerrero is Mexico’s least competitive state, according to IMCO. The southern state fell one spot in the rankings to 32nd in 2026. IMCO said that “economic, labor, institutional and security shortcomings” limit the state’s capacity to attract investment and retain talent.

St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Chilpancingo, the Guerrero state capital.
Guerrero’s business environment ranked as the least competitive in the country. Pictured: St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Chilpancingo, the Guerrero state capital. (Shutterstock)

Oaxaca ranks as the second least competitive state while Michoacán is the third least competitive.

Guerrero and Oaxaca have “very low” levels of competitiveness, according to IMCO, while Michoacán’s level is “low.”

Chiapas, deemed Mexico’s least competitive state in 2025, rose five places in the rankings to 27th this year. Along with 10 other states, it has a “medium low” level of competitiveness, according to IMCO.

What makes CDMX Mexico’s most competitive state?

As mentioned above, Mexico City ranks first in three of the six ICE sub-indexes.

The capital ranks second in the “labor market” sub-index; fifth in the “political systems and governments” sub-index; and 28th in the “law” one.

In its index report, IMCO wrote that Mexico City “remains the top-ranked entity in the 2026 ICE 2026 by combining economic scale, talent, innovation, financial infrastructure, and fiscal capacity.”

The think tank said that 925 economic sectors operate in Mexico City and that 47.1% of the population has a higher education qualification. It also said that per capita GDP in Mexico — at 545,000 pesos (about US $31,500) per year — is 4.7 times higher than that of Guerrero.

Many large Mexican and foreign corporations have offices in Mexico City, while the main campus of Mexico’s most prestigious university, UNAM, is located in the capital. In addition, the federal government and most of its agencies and departments are based in Mexico City, as are some of the nation’s leading healthcare facilities.

Mexico City, Mexico - August 25, 2021: Aerial view of BBVA bank tower
Mexico City hosts the offices of numerous large national and international companies as well as the country’s top public university, UNAM. (Shutterstock)

This helps Mexico City attract highly educated workers from around the country and abroad.

Still, Mexico City’s competitiveness faces “concrete challenges,” according to IMCO.

“Only 23.7% of the adult population feel safe and 88.9% perceive frequent corruption in the state government,” IMCO said, referring to the administration led by Mayor Clara Brugada.

“To maintain its leadership in an environment of geo-economic competition, the capital must translate its economic and fiscal sophistication into greater certainty, security, and productive linkages with national and international value chains,” the think tank said.

Querétaro, which has received billions of dollars in data center investment in recent years, ranks in the top 10 in all six ICE sub-indexes. As noted above, the state ranks first in the “political system and governments” sub-index, scoring particularly well on the “state debt” and “corruption perception” indicators. Querétaro ranks second among Mexico’s 32 federal entities in the infrastructure sub-index.

10 states recognized for their ‘competitive performance’ over 2 decades 

At the presentation of the 2026 ICE in Mexico City on Monday, IMCO director Valeria Moy and other representatives of the think tank recognized 10 states for the “competitive performance” and “strengths” they have maintained over the past 20 years.

Those states are Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Mexico City, Coahuila, Jalisco, Nuevo León, Querétaro and Sonora.

IMCO highlighted the strengths of each of those states in a statement.

  • Aguascalientes (8th in this year’s ICE) was lauded for its “strong integration” with North American supply chains and for the “significant progress” it has made in exports and the attraction of investment.
  • Baja California (17th in this year’s ICE) was praised for its “strong integration” with the global economy and its “sustained” strong performance in exports and attracting foreign investment.
  • Baja California Sur (5th in this year’s ICE) was described as having a tourism-driven economy with a strong ability to attract investment, “relatively high wages” and “low levels” of employment informality.
  • Chihuahua (15th in this year’s ICE) was singled out as Mexico’s “exports leader” during a period of 20 years.
  • Mexico City (1st in this year’s ICE) was described as the country’s leader in talent and higher education over the past 20 years. The capital was also said to be Mexico’s “most efficient economy in electricity use.”
  • Coahuila (4th in this year’s ICE) was lauded for being an “export powerhouse” in the automotive sector.
  • Jalisco (6th in this year’s ICE) was described as having a “diversified economy” with a “capacity for innovation.” The state was also praised for fostering the growth of medium and large companies.
  • Nuevo León (3rd in this year’s ICE) was lauded for its “highly trained talent” and “low” levels of employment informality. The northern state was also described as a leader in “innovation sectors.”
  • Querétaro (2nd in this year’s ICE) was praised for its “dynamism” in the automotive, aerospace and data center industries. It was also recognized for its “high level of economic complexity” in the past five years.
  • Sonora (12th in this year’s ICE) was described as a state with an “industrial economy with a highly educated workforce.” The northern state, which is also known for its high-quality beef, was praised for its “sustained” strong performance in GDP per capita and exports.

Moy: Water and energy are crucial to competitiveness

IMCO director Valeria Moy. (Cuartoscuro)

At Monday’s Mexico City event, Moy said that adequate access to water and energy is decisive to competitiveness in Mexico.

She said that each of the country’s states requires federal government support to ensure they have adequate quantities of the vital resources.

“We’re going to need electricity and water, and we know that these depend largely on the federal government —we’re very clear on that. The states won’t be able to manage on their own,” the IMCO director said.

“We urgently need a much more productive dialogue in order to have more electricity, [greater] supply and competitive prices. Otherwise, there will be no way to compete with the southern border of the United States,” Moy said.

With reports from El Economista and Reforma 

Southwest residents on alert as ‘dangerous’ Hurricane Polo moves up Mexico’s Pacific coast

By
MND Staff
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A Civil Protection vehicle drives through the rains of Hurricane Polo in Morelia, Michoacan
Hurricane Polo is already dumping rain on Michoacán (including in its capital Morelia, seen here), prompting school closures in a number of municipalities and sending public protection vehicles into the streets. (Cuartoscuro.com)

Residents of the states of Guerrero and Michoacán remain on alert Tuesday as Hurricane Polo, a Category 5 hurricane, moves slowly along the Pacific coast and is forecast to bring heavy rain to southwestern Mexico.

At 9 a.m. Tuesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center described Polo as ‘extremely dangerous’ with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 km/h). It was moving slowly north at 2 mph, located about 200 miles (330 kilometers) south of Zihuatanejo, Guerrero.

Hurricane Polo
An updated satellite photo clearly shows Hurricane Polo sitting menacingly off Mexico’s Pacific coast. (SMN)

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from the center and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles (150 km).

The storm had been moving east slowly toward the coast, but had begun to turn northwest and is forecast to continue west-northwest, moving away from land by Wednesday night.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 165 mph (270 km/h) with gusts reaching 195 mph (315 km/h). Additional strengthening is likely through Tuesday, with fluctuations possible throughout Wednesday. 

Authorities have suspended classes in Guerrero and Michoacán and schools will remain closed through Wednesday. The Navy has restricted navigation in several ports as authorities continue to monitor the storm’s development.

Polo is expected to dump up to 6 inches of rain across coastal portions of Guerrero and Michoacán through Thursday. The National Water Commission has warned of potential landslides, overflowing rivers and streams, flooding and waves of up to 4 meters (13 feet) in Michoacán and Guerrero. 

Rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is possible in coastal portions of Oaxaca, Colima and Jalisco through Thursday.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Pacific coast from Tecpan de Galeana, Guerrero, north to Punta San Telmo, Michoacán. At the same time, the Tropical Storm Watch that has been in effect north of Michoacán was extended westward to Playa Perula, Jalisco.

A Tropical Storm Warning signifies that tropical storm conditions are expected within 36 hours, whereas a Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within 48 hours.

The governments of Michoacán and Guerrero have issued warnings encouraging residents — especially those living near the coast — to adhere to recommendations by Civil Protection authorities and take precautions to secure their homes against heavy winds. 

Guerrero has established a Civil Protection center in Zihuatanejo to coordinate emergency response and mitigate risks.

With reports from El País, The Associated Press and NBC News

SENER: Wind power expected to grow 80% by 2030

By
MND Staff
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Wind turbines in La Rumorosa, Tecate, Baja California
Wind power production in Mexico is expected to surge to 15 gigawatts by 2030, according to Energy Ministry projections. Pictured: Wind turbines in La Rumorosa, Baja California. (Yitzhak Rodriguez / Unsplash)

Mexico is doubling down on its renewable energy ambitions, with wind energy generation expected to increase 80% by 2030 to reach 15 gigawatts, the Energy Ministry (SENER) reported in September.

Mexico is expected to increase its renewable energy generation from 24.6% of its total portfolio in 2025 to over 38% in 2030, said Jorge Islas Samperio, SENER’s Deputy Minister of Planning and Energy Transition, at a forum of the Mexican Wind Energy Association (AMDEE) and the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) earlier this month. He said renewable sources will account for more than 74% of new capacity additions, including solar, wind and hydroelectric power.

The SENER plan includes 6.86 gigawatts of capacity additions, of which 4.7 gigawatts have already been allocated to 17 wind farms.

At the same Sept. 10 forum, CFE announced the awarding of eight wind energy projects under mixed-ownership schemes, with a total capacity of 2.9 gigawatts.

The projects, which include 890 megawatts of battery storage, are expected to be operational in Nuevo León and Tamaulipas by 2030, supplying clean power to the industrial hubs of northeastern Mexico.

Energy Minister Luz Elena González previously presented the government’s plan to add almost 32.5 gigawatts of generation capacity to the national grid by 2030, with around 22 gigawatts — roughly 70% — coming from renewable sources, predominantly solar (55%) and wind (30%). González said that total investment across CFE, joint ventures, and private projects was expected to reach 739 billion pesos (US$ 41.9 billion).

Energy Minister unveils plan to source 70% of new power generation from renewables: Wednesday’s mañanera recapped

In the September forum, Samperio highlighted opportunities for Mexico to develop across the wind energy value chain, including parts manufacturing and construction, and operation of wind farms.

The deputy minister said that expanding Mexico’s renewable energy capacity would be key to meeting growing electricity demand, supporting industrial development and achieving the country’s energy transition goals.

Meanwhile, AMDEE President Gerardo Pérez Guerra acknowledged that legal certainty, public-private collaboration and the expansion of transmission networks are needed to encourage new investments in infrastructure and storage.

With reports from La Jornada

MND Local San Miguel de Allende: Art passport, charity events and celebrity sightings

By
Cathy Siegner
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Cow sorting event in San Miguel de Allende, with woman on horseback waving the Mexican flag
A cow-sorting benefit event at Rancho Sol Dorado is one of several upcoming events in San Miguel de Allende. (Rancho Sol Dorado)

A new passport guide focuses on the city’s lesser-known artists and art studios; a cow-sorting benefit event is coming up; an athletic challenge will help feed local schoolchildren, and a celebrity sighting is reported at a local bar and restaurant. Read on about some of the community activities going on in and around San Miguel de Allende.

Art passport draws attention to SMA’s ‘hidden studios’

San Miguel jewelry maker Mariana Díaz started thinking about her Hidden Studios Art Passport project in January after a period of feeling invisible as an artist and realizing others were in a similar situation.

Hidden Studios Art Passport in San Miguel de Allende
Look for the Hidden Studios Art Passport at selected hotels, cafes and restaurants around San Miguel de Allende. (Mariana Diaz)

“I just thought about everybody having so much talent, but no one knows about it,” she said. “People keep on the same route in Centro, and they really don’t walk around and see all the good stuff that’s out there.”

Her idea led to a Sept. 12 launch of the initial project, which included 14 local artists plus members of the public who can use her printed passport guide to find artists, studios and creative spaces around the city and collect stamps for each one they visit.

“The event was great,” Díaz said. “There were 70 people there. It was wonderful to see everybody. My family was there, all the artists were there and they brought a little piece of themselves — a sample of their art, a painting or a sculpture or something.”

MND Local: A new chapter opens for San Miguel de Allende’s most iconic cultural landmark

How it works

Artists pay her a fee to participate and send in pictures of their work to be put in the passport guide. She then gives them stamps that she designed to hand out to people who visit their studios. It works like a treasure hunt and can be done year-round, she said.

Since the art passport project just started, Díaz is currently highlighting the opportunity for participation for artists and local businesses such as hotels, cafes and restaurants.

“There are two options that help,” she said. “People can carry the passport in their restaurant or cafe or appear in the guide or put their business in the guide.”

Seven artists have already signed up for the second edition of the passport, she noted, and more hotels and other businesses may join in.

“There are some big names interested, and I feel it could become really big at some point,” Díaz said. “I’m waiting to have the guide with me and go deliver it everywhere. The majority are really interested in it. It’s something for their guests to do.”

For more information, she can be reached on Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp.

Upcoming cow-sorting event will benefit local NGO

Cow sorting event in San Miguel de Allende, with riders separating out cattle in sequence
In cow-sorting, riders separate out cattle in sequence while working against the clock. (Rancho Sol Dorado)

The Billy Boots Cup cow-sorting event will be held Saturday, Oct. 10, at Rancho Sol Dorado, a 120-acre private ranch community and club about 6 miles north of San Miguel at Km 5.5, Marroquín de Abajo. Doors open at 10 a.m., and the action starts at 11 a.m. Admission is free.

Cow sorting (also known as ranch sorting) involves teams of riders separating numbered cows from a herd and putting them in pens in numerical order within specific time limits. The event will benefit Feed the Hungry San Miguel, a nonprofit organization that distributes meals to local schoolchildren.

Besides the equestrian action, there will be food and drinks, a raffle and 20 local vendors on hand.

Walk, Run, Bike challenge to help feed local schoolchildren

Two girls who have hot meals on trays courtesy of Feed the Hungry San Miguel
Feed the Hungry San Miguel provides daily hot meals to more than 40 schools in and around San Miguel de Allende. (Feed the Hungry San Miguel)

Feed the Hungry San Miguel will hold its seventh Walk, Run, Bike for Food Challenge on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 8:30 a.m. to noon to benefit its food and nutrition programs. The goal is to provide more than 5,000 nutritious school lunches every day to local and rural communities.

The nonprofit organization, formed in 1984, invites participants to sign up now to walk, run or bike through the Viñedo Dos Búhos countryside east of San Miguel and stay afterward for live music, food and community spirit.

Another benefit for Feed the Hungry San Miguel is coming Sunday, Nov. 15. The annual Fashion Feeds runway brunch is scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. at Live Aqua, located at Calzada de la Presa 85 in Centro.

Another celebrity sighting reported

Ryan Gosling hanging out in a bar with locals in San Miguel de Allende
Canadian actor Ryan Gosling showed up last week at a bar and restaurant in El Centro. (Eli Martinez)

Spotting famous people in and around San Miguel isn’t uncommon to anyone who spends time out and about. Diego Luna, Karol G, Lorde and Bill Murray have recently been seen in the city, along with others who likely slipped in and out without being recognized.

The most recent celebrity sighting was Sept. 18, when Canadian actor and musician Ryan Gosling was spotted enjoying the ambiance at Sala de Despecho at Umarán 14 in El Centro. The venue offers a bar, restaurant and karaoke featuring Spanish-language “pop and heartbreak ballads.” No word yet on whether he joined in.

Gosling is known for his breakout role in “The Notebook” (2004), followed by starring roles in “La La Land” (2016) and “Barbie” (2023), among others. His latest project, “Star Wars: Starfighter,” has reportedly finished filming and is in post-production, with release scheduled for May 2027.

Cathy Siegner is an independent journalist based in San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University.

Guanajuato has drawn US $630 million in data center investment as it evolves toward being a tech powerhouse

By
MND Staff
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A solid indication of Guanajuato's commitment to data centers and other major projects of the digital economy was the construction of a new substation in PEMSA, the municipallity of San Miguel de Allende's business park, aimed at ensuring a reliable energy supply for the electricty-hungry and water-thirsty AI infrastructure. (Guanajuato state government)

Guanajuato is expanding its footprint in the digital economy with a portfolio of data centers that has drawn a combined investment of US $630 million and the creation of 200 jobs, as reported in a state government statement.

The Bajío state has currently two operational facilities and another in development, two of which belong to ODATA, a member of the Aligned Data Centers group located in San Miguel de Allende and Apaseo el Grande. 

The third project is still under construction, also in San Miguel de Allende. 

The development of these projects required a new substation at the San Miguel de Allende Business Park (PESMA)—featuring a 60 MVA capacity and an investment exceeding US $45 million— to ensure sufficient and reliable energy for new technological and industrial operations.

This electrical infrastructure is complemented by the Bajío region’s central location and by new investments in fiber-optic connectivity. 

According to authorities, the data centers established in Guanajuato incorporate energy and water-efficiency technologies, including state-of-the-art cooling systems and reuse of treated water.

State Economy Minister Cristina Villaseñor explained that the inclusion of information technologies — including data centers, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors — is one of the strategic sectors within the Guanajuato Suma strategy, whose central objective is to evolve the economy from a traditional industrial base into a technological powerhouse. 

According to the state government, Guanajuato has drawn over US $6.5 billion in investment — equivalent to 81.9% of the six-year target of $8 billion — across various sectors, including digital infrastructure and data centers.

Villaseñor explained that this strategy responds to changes in the global economy driven by the reconfiguration of supply chains and the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). In this context, the state’s vision is to boost digital infrastructure growth while protecting  the region’s natural resources.

This vision dovetails with President Claudia Sheinbaum’s policy y regarding the technology industry. 

Although she has said that Mexico needs data centers to develop AI and modernize its technological capabilities, she has warned that the country must not become a global hub for data storage and processing to meet external demand, given the high energy and water consumption involved. 

Mexico News Daily

Over 4,000 corrupt officials sanctioned since Sheinbaum took office: Tuesday’s mañanera recapped

By
MND Staff
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President Sheinbaum at her September 22 mañanera press conference
Topics of note at Tuesday's presser included a major hurricane off the coast of Michoacán, an investigation into neonatal deaths in a Durango public hospital and government anti-corruption efforts. (Presidencia)

Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds

  • 🚨 Corruption crackdown continues: Anti-Corruption Minister Raquel Buenrostro said 4,193 public servants were sanctioned between Oct. 1, 2024 and June 30, 2026, mostly for improper payments, data theft and unjustified purchases. Sheinbaum said corruption prevention efforts have saved over 80 billion pesos in government contracts.

  • 👶 Newborn deaths in Durango under investigation: Sheinbaum said authorities are investigating the deaths of five newborns last week at an IMSS hospital in Durango city. Parents alleged poor hygiene in the hospital’s neonatal unit.

  • 🌀 Hurricane Polo not expected to make landfall in Mexico: Sheinbaum said the Category 5 storm will skirt the Pacific coast near Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán without directly hitting Mexico, though she urged residents to stay alert for updates.

Why today’s mañanera matters

The fight against corruption, the deaths of five babies in a hospital in Durango and the presence of Hurricane Polo off Mexico’s Pacific coast were among the issues discussed at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference.

The seriousness of each of the issues made today’s mañanera particularly consequential.

While progress in combating corruption can be celebrated by the government — even though there is still plenty of work to be done — the deaths of five newborns in a public hospital raise serious concerns about Mexico’s public health system.

More than 4,000 public servants sanctioned since Sheinbaum took office

Anti-Corruption and Good Governance Minister Raquel Buenrostro told reporters that 4,193 public servants received administrative sanctions between Oct. 1, 2024 — the date Sheinbaum was sworn in as president — and June 30, 2026.

She said that the main reasons why officials were sanctioned were for:

  • Making or authorizing “improper payments.”
  • Stealing government information, including personal data.
  • Approving payments for goods or services that were “never delivered.”
  • Approving “unnecessary, unjustified purchases.”
  • Forging documents.
  • Sexual harassment.

Buenrostro said that 3,528 of the public servants committed “non-serious offenses” and were sanctioned by the ministry she leads. She said that an additional 665 public servants committed “serious offenses” whose cases were referred to the Federal Administrative Justice Tribunal.

Anti-Corruption Minister Raquel Buenrostro shares a slide about the corruption report website DenunciasMX
Anti-Corruption Minister Raquel Buenrostro urged the public to report acts of corruption to her ministry. (Presidencia)

Sanctions can include dismissal or suspension from work. Officials accused of committing serious offenses, such as embezzlement and fraud, are investigated by the Federal Attorney General’s Office.

Buenrostro said that 53 officials accused of serious offenses have been ordered to stand trial during the term of the current government.

Sheinbaum: Prevention of corruption in government contracts has generated savings of more than 80 billion pesos 

Sheinbaum said that Buenrostro and the ministry she leads dedicate a lot of their efforts to preventing “bad behavior” and corruption within government departments.

She said that the Ministry of Anti-Corruption and Good Governance “immediately” halts any government bidding process that “has problems” and takes action against any public official possibly involved in “an act of corruption.”

Sheinbaum said that bidding processes that are scrapped due to possible corruption are “repeated.”

“In two years, as Raquel says, it’s close to 83 billion pesos [US $4.8 billion] that we’ve managed to avoid [losing],” she said.

Sheinbaum: Deaths of newborns in IMSS hospital are under investigation  

Sheinbaum said that the deaths of five newborn babies in a Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) hospital in Durango city are under investigation.

She said that the investigation is aimed at determining what caused the deaths of the babies, all of whom died last week in Durango’s IMSS Zone 1 General Hospital.

Entrance to the IMSS Zone 1 General Hospital in Durango city
The five newborns died at the IMSS Zone 1 General Hospital in Durango city. (Wikimapia)

IMSS said in a statement on Monday that federal health authorities had arrived in Durango and that they, along with IMSS medical and epidemiological teams, were carrying out a “comprehensive review of clinical files, care protocols, epidemiological surveillance and measures for the prevention and control of infections.”

Parents of the deceased babies have denounced a lack of hygiene and other irregularities in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. IMSS said that antibiotic-sensitive bacteria was detected in the hospital, but asserted that its presence didn’t in itself explain the deaths of the newborns.

Hurricane Polo not expected to make landfall in Mexico 

Sheinbaum said that current information indicates that Hurricane Polo — a Category 5 storm — won’t make landfall in Mexico.

“Until now the information we have is that it won’t directly reach the coast,” she said.

“It’s going to be skirting the Pacific [coast], particularly along the states of Jalisco, Colima and Michoacán,” Sheinbaum said.

She urged residents of Pacific coast states to be “very attentive” to announcements from Civil Protection authorities regarding the hurricane.

“So far there has been intense rain,” Sheinbaum said.

“… It doesn’t appear that [the hurricane] is going to make direct landfall. … If there is other information, it will be immediately announced,” she said.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

In Mexico City’s ‘Little LA,’ deportees find work and a community

By
Logan J. Gardner
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colossal Monumento de la Revolución
Perhaps best known for its colossal Monumento de la Revolución, Tabacalera has also gained fame as "Little LA" thanks to the number of deportees who work in the area. (CDMX Secreta)

Tabacalera, in Mexico City, is known for its wide streets, palm trees and colossal Monumento de la Revolución. Lately, the neighborhood has gained global recognition for its community of deportees, who have dubbed it “Little LA.” 

A slew of recent articles — from the Guardian to Airmail Weekly — have celebrated the deportees finding new homes in Little LA after expulsion from the United States. 

Call center in Tabacalera, Mexico City
Call center in “Little LA.” Call centers, because they will hire English speakers, are a popular workplace for deportees. Photo: Logan J Gardner

Yet, for most Tabacaleros, it’s just another day in the neighborhood. 

“I didn’t even know they were calling it Little LA,” said David Jiménez, a Mexico City local, who laughed when I suggested the name. 

David works at an English-language call center — one of five in the area — attracting some 2,000 deportees with decent wages and stable employment. 

“Many (of the deportees) don’t actually live in Tabacalera,” Jiménez explained, “But because so many work here, Tabacalera is like their meeting place.” 

For many of the 190,000 Mexican nationals deported since Trump’s re-election, deportation is just the start of building a new life. Often without Spanish skills, many struggle to find work, housing and the legal papers needed to establish themselves in Mexico.   

Israel Concha was deported in 2014. After losing everything in the United States, he was violently kidnapped upon arrival in Mexico. 

Mexico reports nearly 190,000 citizens repatriated since Trump took office: Thursday’s mañanera recapped

Eventually, he landed in Tabacalera, where he found work at a call center.   

“Call centers,” Concha remembers realizing, “will hire anyone speaking English.” He shared the postings across his growing network of deportees in Mexico. Many of those joining him in Tabacalera were from Los Angeles. 

“So we started calling it Little LA,” he told me over Zoom. 

Though he now lives in Las Vegas, Concha today leads New Comienzos, an organization he started in Tabacalera to help deportees land in Mexico City. 

Walking around Little LA, Concha’s story — of landing and leaving — seems common. Though Tabacalera’s call centers offer employment and stability, few settle permanently in Little LA.  

The expected length of call center employment, Israel told me, is about eight months. Beyond this, Tabacalera’s handful of deportee-owned small businesses, like El Diablo and a giant burrito stand, have been sold or closed, per Shunaxi Estrada Guzman, New Comienzos’ Director of Volunteer Programs.  

 

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A post shared by New Comienzos (@newcomienzos)

Jesús Daniel Sandoval Gallardo runs Shelter Constitución de 1917, a shelter for migrants and returnees. “Arriving here is often traumatic for them,” he explained. “The work they do here in Little LA, in Tabacalera, is a platform for them to find better opportunities or move elsewhere.”   

Still, Little LA’s transience doesn’t change the power of its name. 

“Little LA is a community,” said Estrada. “(It’s) a name that is helping returnees to identify a place they can gather and find help and see that, yes, we do have a community here.” 

This brought one recently self-deported woman, who preferred to remain unnamed, to a “Little LA Tour” hosted by New Comienzos. “I saw all these videos and came here to check out what Little LA is.”     

Though we learned much about New Comienzos’ impactful work on our tour — helping, by their count, over 100,000 deportees through wide-ranging programs — the bilingual, binational Little LA I had read about wasn’t visible during the tour or my other visits.  

Apart from the call centers, the clearest glimpse I caught was a 10-year-old sign, hanging in a mini-mart, run by a woman who seemed used to the press.  

Mexico rejects US decision to deport Mexicans to Central America: Friday’s mañanera recapped

Outside of the call center, I asked David if the name “Little LA” bothers him. “Of course not. The name’s for their community here. The neighborhood is still Tabacalera.” 

Though his colleague debated him — how different is it from Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico? — they both agreed that there’s no real tension here about Little LA. 

“It’s not like gentrification in La Roma.” David continued, “I mean, (the deportees) are vulnerable and came here in difficult circumstances.” 

For deportees stuck between worlds, the degree to which CDMX’s Little LA exists — in Tabacalera, its call centers and the media — is, perhaps, not the point, after all.  

Logan J. Gardner is a writer, photographer and filmmaker based in Mexico City. His coverage includes culture, food and travel, and geoeconomics. He earned degrees from Wharton and the University of Cape Town and formerly worked at L.E.K. Consulting and Netflix. 

AmCham-IMSS deal pledges US $44 million to bring clinical trials to Mexican public hospitals

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MND Staff
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AmCham Director General Pedro Casas and IMSS Director General Zoé Robledo announced the agreement, which Casas says "is clearly the most ambitious public initiative of its kind." (IMSS)

The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (AmCham) have signed an agreement to increase sponsored clinical research in public hospitals, with a projected investment exceeding 766 million pesos (US $44 million) during the 2026–2030 period. 

The agreement aims to have more pharmaceutical industry clinical trials conducted within IMSS’s hospital network. The project involves the IMSS Foundation, AmCham, and the pharmaceutical companies Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, MSD, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, and Sanofi.

IMSS Director General Zoé Robledo insists that Mexico’s public hospitals have at least as much to offer as clinical trial hosts as private hospitals, if not more: “No one else possesses what we have at the institution.” (IMSS)

“This is a major step for Mexico, the Mexican people, and the implementation of Plan México,” AmCham Director General Pedro Casas wrote in a post on his official X account. 

IMSS Director General Zoé Robledo highlighted the opportunity to expand the Mexican public sector’s participation in this type of research.

“Why should the IMSS lead clinical research in Mexico? Because today, 70% of clinical trials conducted by pharmaceutical companies in our country take place in private centers, even though no one else possesses what we have at the institution,” he said. 

Robledo noted that this agreement does not entail displacing private hospitals; rather, it seeks to ensure that IMSS competes for projects that are currently channeled to other institutions or countries, “seeking to occupy the place that corresponds to its scale.”

Indeed, the strategy seeks to leverage IMSS’s infrastructure and reach, which has more than 1,800 medical and highly specialized care facilities that serve approximately 70 million beneficiaries. It also involves training of 729 IMSS researchers with the aim of strengthening capabilities and increasing the number of studies that can be conducted within the institution.

“With this potential investment of 767 million pesos, it is clearly the most ambitious public initiative of its kind,” Robledo said. 

The strategy’s primary objective will be to translate scientific research findings into everyday patient care, particularly for diseases requiring a high level of medical services. Priorities include high-prevalence or complex conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, kidney disorders, neurological diseases, and rare diseases. 

In fact, the newspaper Excélsior reported that IMSS is already working on a Phase 3 study for people with Sjögren’s syndrome, and that another Phase 3 trial related to irritable bowel syndrome is planned. 

Mexico News Daily

Brugada, Mamdani swap notes on housing, care systems at U20 mayors summit in New York

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MND Staff
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Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada visits New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani at his office in New York City during the U20 mayors summit.
Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada visits New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani at his office in New York City during the U20 mayors summit. (Clara Brugada / X)

Mexico City’s public care system and Mayor Clara Brugada’s community center initiative won praise from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during the 2026 Urban 20 Mayors Summit (U20), an annual gathering of mayors from major G20 cities and other metropolises around the world.

Speaking alongside Brugada in New York on Sunday, Mamdani said that Mexico City is a city “that many of us look to for inspiration, especially in how we answer the crisis of care in our economies.”

“When we’re talking about care blocks, we talk about these often within our own administration as an example of what it can look like to deliver for people in our own city,” he said.

Under Brugada’s leadership, the Mexico City government has set up a public care system, a central part of which is the provision of free childcare as well as services aimed at the well-being of seniors and people with disabilities.

Among the government-run centers that offer these services are Unidades de Transformación y Organización para la Inclusión y la Armonía Social (Units of Transformation and Organization for Inclusion and Social Harmony), known as Utopías. These community centers — which also offer cheap meals and a range of recreational, cultural, social and educational facilities — first opened in Iztapalapa when Bruagada was mayor of that Mexico City borough (2018-23) and are now being expanded to other parts of the capital as the city government seeks to offer greater support to primary caregivers, including working mothers.

Brugada is aiming to open 100 new Utopías during her 2024-30 mayorship, while solidifying caregiving as a “public responsibility” rather than a private one.

Mamdani said that “when we talk about Utopías, [there is] the understanding also that we have to be delivering dignity to working people … to ensure they can live lives that are full, lives that are flourishing.”

“And it is such a pleasure to have a fellow mayor here as we do with the mayors of Freetown and Rome who understand that the issues of the working class must be issues at the forefront of our politics,” he said. “And one day I will return to Mexico City, but I don’t know when that is.”

In separate remarks on Sunday, Mamdani said he would like to work with President Claudia Sheinbaum and “any other leaders from across Mexico” to address “global crises.”

“… The crises we face are global crises and that is true for Mexico City, for Rome, for Freetown, for New York City and so many others. And we’ve also watched in admiration of President Sheinbaum’s initiatives and the ways in which she is tackling the same issues of cost of living,” the mayor said.

Public park and recreational facilities of the Utopía Papalotl in Iztapalapa, Mexico City
Community centers like the Utopía Papalotl in Iztapalapa offer free classes, eldercare, cultural programming, cheap meals and other services. (Alcaldía Iztapalapa)

Brugada draws inspiration from NYC

While Mamdani looks to Mexico City for inspiration, Brugada was herself inspired by New York, a city she said she visited as a young “social activist” in 1987.

In a social media post, the mayor noted that on Monday, she met with Mamdani and “repartidores paisanos” — i.e. Mexicans who work in the Big Apple as deliverymen and deliverywomen for companies such as Uber Eats and DoorDash.

“In Mexico City we will replicate some of New York’s good practices to support those who work in this activity,” Brugada wrote.

She said her government will create “spaces where [repartidores] can rest, recharge their bikes and access bathrooms.”

“We take care of our workers here and there!” Brugada wrote.

On Monday morning, the mayor used the New York City Subway to get to her meeting with Mamdani.

“Hello. We’re going on the subway to City Hall where the Mayor Mamdani awaits us,” she said in a video message.

Above the video, Brugada wrote: “On the way to a meeting with the Mayor of New York. We’re continuing the exchange of ideas and experiences about the future of our cities. As in our beloved #CapitalDeLaTransformación [i.e. Mexico City] public transport is what connects and integrates major metropolises … and here we go.”

Brugada: ‘No (affordable) housing, no peace’

During an address at a U20 forum on affordable housing on Sunday, Brugada said that Mexico City would, “of course,” join a global “affordable housing coalition” proposed by Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni.

“I know that many cities present here will [also] join,” she said.

In a video posted to social media, Brugada said that Collboni had made a “very good proposal to build a coalition of cities in favor of affordable housing.”

In the same video, the mayor of Barcelona — a city with serious tourism-related housing problems — said that Mexico City is among the first cities to join “the defense of a fundamental right, as is the right to decent and affordable housing for everyone.”

“This is a fight that all the big cities of the world are in, and I’m very happy that Mexico City together with New York and Toronto … have joined the initiative in order to do big things,” Collboni said.

In her forum address on Sunday, Brugada declared that without affordable housing, there is “no peace,” and spoke about her government’s housing initiatives and the progress made during her mayorship and that of Sheinbaum, who governed Mexico City from December 2018 to June 2023.

Mexico City’s mayor unveils housing program to reduce impacts of gentrification

“Between 2018 and 2025, nearly half a million people were lifted out of housing poverty in Mexico City. Despite these results, significant challenges remain. As in other cities around the world, the city continues to face a housing shortage, as well as gentrification and the displacement of communities due to speculative dynamics in the real estate market,” she said.

“To address this situation, in Mexico City we have developed the largest housing policy in our history — and one of the policies of greatest reach at an international level as well,” Brugada said.

“The three pillars of this housing policy are firstly, the large-scale construction of social housing; secondly, regulation of the real estate market; and thirdly, we carry this out in partnership with the people through a model of co-management,” she said.

“… We have the goal of building 200,000 … [affordable] homes by 2030,” the mayor said.

“I’m talking about new homes and improved homes.  … This means unprecedented progress in reducing the housing shortage,” Brugada said.

Mexico News Daily 

Mass nesting event brings more than 100,000 olive ridley sea turtles to Oaxaca’s Playa Escobilla

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MND Staff
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se turtles in Oaxaca
Oaxaca’s Playa Escobilla is one of the most important nesting grounds in the world for the olive ridley sea turtle. Conanp)

More than 100,000 olive ridley sea turtles came ashore at Oaxaca’s Playa Escobilla in a single mass nesting event last week, but the spectacle masks a fragile reproductive outlook: As few as 30% to 40% of the eggs may hatch.

According to the newspaper El Universal Oaxaca, 101,500 females emerged from the Pacific Ocean in Santa María Tonameca last Tuesday in a huge, synchronous nesting event known as an arribada. 

The sixth arribada (literally “arrival” in Spanish) of the 2026-27 season lifted the season’s running total to more than 465,000 turtles as of last week, according to the paper.

The olive ridley turtle is among the smallest species of sea turtle in the world. They are found primarily in tropical regions, with a nesting season that generally runs from May through February or March.

Playa Escobilla is among the world’s leading nesting sites for the olive ridley, or Lepidochelys olivacea.

The species is listed as endangered in Mexico and faces risks from egg poaching, fishing, destruction of nesting habitat and climate-related events. Conservation efforts are abundant all over Mexico, and volunteer opportunities are many, as detailed this month in Mexico News Daily.

Despite the current large Escobilla tally, Rafael Villanueva Alcázar of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Conanp) cautions that nesting totals do not guarantee a comparable increase in hatchlings.

“It sounds like a lot,” he said, “but it’s actually very low compared to other beaches that have a higher rate of hatchling production.”

Only about 30% to 40% of Escobilla nests hatch, Villanueva said. By comparison, Playa Ceuta in Sinaloa estimates an 85% hatch rate, but it has only about 500 olive ridley nests per season.

No global hatching rate for sea turtle nests could be found, but one widely cited statistic is that roughly one in every 1,000 sea turtle hatchlings worldwide survives to adulthood. 

Rising sand temperatures, changes in sand composition, erosion, strong swells and low humidity are among the factors reducing hatching success. Egg theft and other human-caused damage also take a toll.

Conditions can vary sharply between seasons and sanctuaries.

At Morro Ayuta, another major olive ridley refuge on Oaxaca’s coast, a record 1.9 million olive ridley nests were protected and more than 34 million hatchlings were released into the sea during the 2025-26 season.

Guillermo González Padilla, the head of that turtle camp, said those numbers were “unprecedented” thanks to “the rains, the wetter beaches and the fact that the summer’s temperature [in 2025] was ideal for egg incubation.”

(For this season, Morro Ayuta had counted about 135,000 turtles through the start of its third arribada earlier this month, according to Conanp.)

Meanwhile, at Escobilla, conservation work over the past 35 years has helped. Officials set aside a 5-kilometer protected area for nesting during last week’s arribada, and Conanp is monitoring the nesting grounds along with other federal agencies and local communities.

Local participation is critical because available park rangers alone cannot protect the beach from poachers and other threats. Also, according to EDUCA, a Oaxacan community development NGO, locals help strategically relocate eggs — which average 100 per nest — after arribadas.

With reports from El Universal Oaxaca and MeganoticiasMx

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