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Remembering when Banksy, the world’s most famous street artist, visited Chiapas
It’s not every day that the world’s most famous — or infamous — street artist hops across the pond from the United Kingdom to spend time in the jungles of Chiapas, a region of Mexico most known for its coffee production, revolutionary movements and Maya ruins.
Even rarer is when that artist is doing it as part of a community-centered football club with a sociopolitical goal to unite oppressed communities around the world.
When Banksy became a footballer
I’m talking about Banksy — the faceless graffiti guerrilla whose globally renowned work once sold for more than US $25 million — and the time he came to southern Mexico as a goalkeeper and member of Bristol’s Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls Sports and Social Club (nowadays known as the Easton Cowfolk).
The English club’s origins and its socially minded mission — which the book “Freedom Through Football: The Story of the Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls” by Will Simpson outlines in great detail — can be traced back to the late 1980s.
In 1992, the team was formally organized from a ragtag pick-up team to an actual club by a group of punk rockers and anarchists to represent the working-class aspirations of amateur footballers. Over the years, the team’s reputation as a vehicle for civic engagement and social betterment allowed them to travel to struggling parts of the world — Palestine, South Central Los Angeles and Mexico — to unite disparate communities through sports.
Enter Banksy, who cut his teeth around Bristol’s underground graffiti circuit as a teenager, and whose use of street art stencils with anti-establishment messaging eventually gained him notoriety as a mysterious, universally sought-after artist. Banksy signed up with the Easton Cowboys as the team’s goalie.
What Banksy left behind in Chiapas
In 2001, Chiapas was in the international spotlight for its Indigenous mobilization to demand social justice and human rights, led by the militarized Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN). Banksy made the trek with the Easton Cowboys to Chiapas’ mountainous communities to lend his support, both on and off the pitch.
A few years prior, in the late 1990s, the Acteal massacre had occurred, in which 45 Indigenous people in Chiapas were murdered by a pro-government paramilitary group. This had reignited the EZLN, which had previously signed a peace treaty with the Mexican government.
The BBC reported that Banksy had helped the football club with its charity fundraising for Chiapas, creating a painting that was raffled off to raise money for water projects there.
There are also vintage photos of the street art that Banksy left around the state, including a mural that declared “resistencia” and that featured armed soldiers being confronted by the local community. Its message encouraged community members to stay informed and knowledgeable.
Another mural, perhaps even more iconic, portrayed masked EZLN members in mid-air while unleashing a chilena, or bicycle kick. It was framed by the text, “A la libertad por el fútbol.” (To freedom through football).
Other remnants of Banksy’s time in Chiapas can be found in a few of his stencils — one shows a group of EZLN freedom fighters armed with AK-47s and playing football. Another shows a mariachi gripping his guitar like a weapon and playing music that is symbolized by bombs being dropped (i.e., music as a form of combating oppression).
Banksy’s legacy in Chiapas
It’s unclear whether these relics remain visible in Chiapas or if they have been painted over. One thing is certain, though: Chiapas has since transformed into a hotspot for street art, with Condé Nast Traveler documenting the parts of Chiapas that are veritable outdoor museums.
Sadly, Chiapas is facing just as many social issues and environmental concerns as when Banksy originally visited over two decades ago. In the past year, the state has experienced a severe water crisis — despite being a naturally abundant and largely tropical region, but clean-water access has been a problem in the state for a lot longer. Protesters have repeatedly confronted corporations in the state — most notably, Coca-Cola — over their levels of water consumption, which have impacted populated areas like San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Paradoxically, Chiapas supplies around 30% of Mexico’s water. According to the We Are Water Foundation and designated by the National Water Commission (Conagua), Chiapas “possesses one of the 10 largest groundwater reserves in the world.” Yet, Chiapas struggles with water access and neglect. The federal statistics agency INEGI’s 2020 Population and Housing Census revealed that nearly 700,000 Chiapas residents regularly don’t have access to safe drinking water in acceptable quantities.
One street artist can’t fix those issues, of course, and it’s unlikely that Banksy will return to Mexico to protest — or participate in a football match — in support of Chiapas’ people and causes. But the time he played a small role in fighting for Chiapas’ residents through soccer and graffiti will certainly be remembered as one of Mexico’s most unlikely events.
Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.
After a decade of growth, why is Los Cabos tourism down in 2026?
Irrational fears pose no actual danger. But the people who have them are still afraid.
Such is the paradox that confronts Los Cabos as tourism numbers dwindle in 2026, a trend at least partly based on perceptions with no basis in fact.
‘El Mencho’ and the Los Cabos paradox
“We have to take into account that the beginning of this year was marked by an atmosphere of insecurity that permeated the perception of the destination abroad,” explained Mauricio Salicrup, the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Los Cabos Hotel Association, referring to the incidents of cars set ablaze in several areas of Mexico — although, notably, not in Los Cabos — following the arrest and death of CJNG cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes in the state of Jalisco on Feb. 22.
“Although the Los Cabos Tourism Board (FITURCA) promotes and clarifies the situation in Los Cabos compared to what happens in the rest of the country, it still affects us because there is always a decrease in tourism due to companies sending notices to their employees prohibiting travel to Mexico for safety reasons.”
A solid, if unspectacular year so far
Which is to say, despite Los Cabos’ superb safety record and peninsular isolation from mainland Mexico, the destination is losing business due to perceptions of Mexico as a whole among U.S. and other international travelers.
How much is it being hurt? Salicrup, in an interview with Sudcaliforniano, said there has been a 49% decrease in demand from U.S. travelers during the first quarter of 2026, a 23% loss of Canadian travelers and a 16% dip in the domestic market. Those numbers sound alarming and could certainly cause very rational fears for business owners in Los Cabos who depend on tourism. However, some context is needed.
Although there is no public data regarding reservations made with area hotels and resorts, there is ample data on the number of tourists who fly into Los Cabos, and by that standard, Los Cabos is having a solid, if unspectacular, year. So far, at least.
What the numbers say about international arrivals
The number of international tourists arriving in Los Cabos was up relative to 2025 in both January and February 2026 (by 2.6% and 4.2%, respectively), according to Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), which operates Los Cabos International Airport.
Now, since the aforementioned incidents in which no tourists were hurt happened in late February, March is where one would expect to see a decline, and indeed that did happen. International arrivals were down by 7.1%, falling from over 545,000 in 2025 to 507,000 in 2026. But there was also a record number of spring breakers in March and, in the first week of April, robust 90% hotel occupancy for Semana Santa, so it’s not as if the sky is falling, especially since, for the year, Los Cabos has seen only a 0.7% dip in international arrivals.
The long-term fallout
Of course, Salicrup’s point is that the drop in demand is driven largely by insecurity fears, so that being the case, it’s too early to tell what diminishing reservations right now might mean for summer, or for the remainder of the year. Perhaps this is the start of a precipitous drop, or perhaps it all ends up being a tempest in a teacup.
In a recent interview with Travel Weekly, CruisingStores CEO Dwain Wall, whose company sells more than just cruises to Mexico, noted that bookings for the country had been down 40% in the weeks immediately following the images of burning cars being broadcast on American and Canadian televisions. But, with the exception of Puerto Vallarta — where insecurity was most glaringly obvious and where international arrivals plunged by 32% in March — he expects tourism in Mexico to bounce back pretty quickly, assuming nothing else happens this year to alarm tourists.
As for Los Cabos, Wall said, bookings had indeed softened but should pick up soon.
The domestic tourism decline in Los Cabos
Despite the attention given to speculations on the international tourism market in Los Cabos, it’s the domestic market that has proven to be a clear and demonstrable problem. Domestic tourism has declined in Los Cabos for nine straight months relative to year-over-year (YoY) numbers.
In July 2025, per GAP numbers, domestic passengers were down by over 10,000 from the same month in 2024. In August, by over 6,000 from the previous year; in September, by more than 12,000; in October, by over 17,000; in November, 9,000; in December, 13,000; in January, 13,000; in February, 6,000; and in March, more than 15,000!
These numbers add up quickly and point to the real issue dragging down tourism in Los Cabos. While it’s true international arrivals have decreased by only 0.7% in 2026, overall tourism is down 2.5%, a much more significant number that is largely due to this ongoing domestic nosedive.
Why is domestic travel in Mexico down?
This is not just a Los Cabos issue. As Mexico News Daily reported earlier this year, the domestic tourism market in Mexico saw flatline growth in 2025 due to a combination of factors, including a weakening economy and an inflationary rise in prices for tourism goods and services.
But the squeeze is being felt acutely in Los Cabos, which has the highest average hotel prices in the country and is one of the most expensive destinations in general. Yes, average daily hotel rates have declined in Los Cabos in recent years, falling from a yearly average of US $458 in 2024 to “only” US $429 in 2025. But that’s still a lot to pay — nearly US $3,000 for a weeklong visit — particularly when one’s pesos have less purchasing power than they used to. And there are plenty of other attractive domestic destinations, some of which are likely closer to home, meaning that the plane fares are cheaper too.
Traditionally, international visitors have accounted for about two-thirds of annual tourism in Los Cabos, domestic visitors for about one-third. So maybe this domestic downturn didn’t seem like such a big deal when international tourism was thriving.
But it sure seems like a big deal now.
Chris Sands is a writer and editor for Mexico News Daily, and the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He has also contributed to numerous other websites and publications, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise and Travel, and Cabo Living.
How am I meant to find anything in a Mexican pharmacy and why is everything so confusing?
The first time I walked into a Mexican pharmacy, I stood still in the doorway for a few beats.
Why was it so small? Where was everything? No candy aisle, no greeting card aisle, no sexual health or feminine hygiene products aisle. In fact, there was nothing that could even be called “an aisle.”
For such a cramped space, it was incredibly confusing.
I soon learned the ropes, and now, my fine readers, it is time to pass that knowledge on to you. Here’s what to remember when it’s time to go to the pharmacy in Mexico.
Not all pharmacies are created equal
In my neck of the woods, we can divide pharmacies into three tiers. When I say “tiers,” by the way, I’m not necessarily referring to quality but to familiarity for those of us from the United States who are used to stores like Walgreens and CVS.
At the bottom is Farmacias Similares, which is a regional low-cost pharmacy chain stocked with cheap generic versions of many medicines. Many of these pharmacies also come with an attached consultorio (doctor’s office), where one can see a general doctor for minor illnesses like digestive or respiratory infections. The doctor will write you a prescription if one is warranted and recommend other medicines for your symptoms, which you can, of course, buy at the pharmacy.
The fee for seeing the doctor is symbolic (about 50 pesos, or close to US $3), and in most places, the pharmacy itself is countertop-style and pretty no-frills — meaning, there’s no “store” to walk into. You don’t browse the shelves; you ask an attendant to fetch the medicines you need. The supply of basic toiletries is fairly limited.
Farmacias Similares, by the way, is where you might find someone dressed up in a Dr. Simi mascot costume, a staple of modern Mexican culture. As far as I’m concerned, their medicines are just as good as any others, though I have had doctors tell me not to buy certain medicines there, so apparently, there are medical professionals out there who have their doubts, valid or not.
More pharmacy tiers
The next tier would include chains like Farmacias del Ahorro and Yza, which may or may not come with an attached consultorio — Farmacias del Ahorro usually does, and theirs is free. At these pharmacies, there is a little “store” area with items you can pick up and examine, though these are restricted to a fairly small variety of toiletries and over-the-counter medicines.
Condoms are mercifully available in this area now as well (you had to ask for them at the counter when I first arrived in Mexico). On the shelves, you can also find things like nail clippers and lip balm, and maybe a few snacks and refrigerated drinks. A few different brands of baby formula and diapers are available behind the counter. Most independent pharmacies are similarly stocked.
Finally, there are the larger pharmacies like Farmacias Guadalajara and Farmacias San Pablo, which are the most similar in terms of selection to a place like CVS, though without as much variety; I’d include grocery store pharmacy sections in this tier as well. Medicines tend to be a little pricier, but if you need more specific toiletries or other things on the same trip that you might normally look for in a tiendita or grocery store, these pharmacies can be very convenient.
Lastly, homeopathic pharmacies are in their own class, and there’s usually a homeopathic doctor available if you choose to go that route.
You don’t need a prescription for everything
When I first arrived, you could ask for pretty much any kind of medication in pharmacies — including antibiotics — and staff would just sell it to you. That’s no longer true for antibiotics nor for stronger pain medications — more on that below.
One notable area on this subject is birth control: In Mexico, you can simply ask a pharmacy for birth control pills (by brand, as there are many), as well as the morning-after pill, both without a prescription. While abortion before 12 weeks of gestation is now officially legal at the federal level in Mexico, asking for the abortion pill (Mifepristone) may yield success on a case-by-case basis, depending on the pharmacist you are dealing with. A quick online search of local pharmacies makes it appear that this is completely possible, but seek the advice of a medical professional.
What’s available and what’s not
Other medicines you might be surprised to learn you don’t need a prescription for are psychiatric, like many SSRIs, a class of antidepressants used to treat depression and anxiety. Medicines that are known to be addictive, like stimulants, for example, are more tightly controlled and can still only be bought with a prescription. They are also often subject to shortages, so you may have to visit multiple pharmacy chains to find the one that currently has it in stock. Weight-loss wonder drugs like Ozempic are available over the counter across all of Mexico.
Part of the confusion customers sometimes experience at Mexican pharmacies comes from the fact that certain brand-name over-the-counter medicines haven’t expanded into Mexico yet. (Luckily, Excedrin Migraine finally has. Now if I could only get a hold of some Tylenol Sinus!) The lesson? If you have a go-to over-the-counter medication that works for you, you might want to stock up during trips back home.
And if you’re looking for something particularly strong, such as opioids, you’re likely not going to find them anywhere outside a hospital. If you do happen to find them, I’d advise you to be incredibly suspicious of their origin and authenticity. That level of pain medication in Mexico is typically reserved for palliative care. My mother couldn’t even access them after having surgery here.
Since certain pharmacies in tourist and border areas have been found to sell counterfeit medications containing fentanyl — those that do typically advertise these drugs heavily to foreigners, another telltale sign worthy of suspicion and avoidance — it’s best to stay far away from such purchases.
As with many things in Mexico, a trip to the pharmacy will be a different experience than you’re probably used to, one in which you’ll need to interact with the people who work there to get what you need. Thankfully, you’ll likely find people to be as helpful and accommodating as they are elsewhere. Happy shopping, and get better soon!
Sarah DeVries is a writer and translator based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She can be reached through her website, sarahedevries.substack.com.
This article was first published in April 2024.
Why getting uncomfortable may be the most important skill you can give your child today: A perspective from our CEO
Before I begin, a disclosure: My wife and I don’t have kids. Our “baby” is Mexico News Daily. But having spent time with the kids of friends and family — and enough time studying what the world is demanding of the next generation — I think that I have a well-reasoned perspective. And frankly, sometimes an outside observer has an advantage because they aren’t as deeply immersed and invested in the day to day of what parents go through. I am also someone who has spent over 30 years navigating significant personal and professional change — from studying abroad, to traveling to 60+ countries, to now building a life and a business here in Mexico. That experience is the lens through which I write this.
Here is something that many parents already know: Research consistently shows that today’s young people are measurably more anxious, more depressed and less resilient than any previous generation on record — despite living in conditions of historically unprecedented comfort and safety. More comfort. More anxiety.
That is not a coincidence. A growing body of thinkers, researchers and leaders have begun to make the case — compellingly — that our level of comfort is actively undermining the mental and physical health of our children. The data backs it up: A significant percentage of American parents now say they believe that their children’s emotional health is getting worse.
And yet the dominant response to this crisis in most households I observe is to double down on comfort. Kids have their own cars if parents can afford it. Grade inflation is accepted as normal. Mental health days are routine. Many kids don’t have jobs. And if you ask a parent about their child’s development, nine times out of ten the answer involves sports. Never books. Never struggle. Never a job.
To be fair, sports matter. I played them. They teach discipline, time management, how to win graciously and how to lose without falling apart. They build teamwork, accountability to others, and the ability to perform under pressure. These are real skills, and I don’t dismiss them. But sports are a managed discomfort. The rules are fixed, the coaches are supportive, the metrics are clear. When a season ends badly, there is always next year. Life does not work that way.
Sports prepare kids to compete within a known system. What they rarely teach is how to navigate a system that doesn’t exist yet — which is precisely what the next decade will demand. Life does not come with a referee. The world your child will inherit is not managed. It is chaotic. Geopolitical instability, climate disruption, trade wars and the seismic arrival of artificial intelligence are reshaping every industry, every career path, every assumption about what skills will matter. The CEOs of the most powerful AI companies on earth have said publicly that intelligence itself is becoming a commodity.
When intelligence is a commodity, what becomes scarce? Character. Judgment. Adaptability. The ability to stay calm, curious, and capable when everything around you is shifting. That kind of character is not built in a comfort zone.
Consider that one of the most successful builders of our era, CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang, spent his teenage years washing dishes and scrubbing toilets for minimum wage. He didn’t just survive it — he credits it as foundational. He came to the U.S. as an immigrant child from Taiwan, was dropped into a world entirely foreign to him, and had to adapt or fail. That daily friction of not fitting in, having to learn the rules, not having it easy — is precisely what helped him forge the mindset and skill set that built the largest company in the history of the world.
I ask myself: What is pushing kids out of their comfort zones today? In many cases, what could be growth-building discomfort instead is replaced by curated extracurriculars, producing a generation that is impressively scheduled yet likely very unprepared for real life.
Which brings me to the single most underutilized growth opportunity available to a college student: a genuine study abroad experience, chosen not for the Instagram aesthetic but for the productive discomfort it delivers.
I recently returned to my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to understand why more students aren’t choosing to study in Mexico and find out how I could help. What I found was striking: Of 32 business school study abroad options available today, five are in Italy, five in Spain, four in France — and zero in Mexico. Over 200 students a year go to Barcelona alone. When I spoke to students, professors and administrators, the framing was nearly universal: Study abroad is a resume item, an extended vacation, a box to check. The discomfort is being optimized out of the very experience designed to create it.
I want to be clear: Any study abroad program is valuable. But not all destinations are created equal — and I say this not as someone promoting Mexico, but as someone shaped by it. When I studied in Guadalajara 30 years ago, I was forced into discomfort. The language barrier was real, the cultural norms were different, and the relationships required patience I didn’t know I had. That friction rewired how I think and how I lead. More than 60% of employers globally now say graduates with international experience are stronger candidates, specifically because they demonstrate adaptability and cross-cultural competence.
Mexico — a country that shares a 2,000-mile border, $800 billion in annual trade, and generations of human connection with the United States — offers that formative friction in one of the most professionally relevant contexts imaginable. It is not about Mexico for its own sake. It is about what genuine immersion does to a developing mind. The same mechanism that shaped an immigrant child from Taiwan into a world-changing technologist is available to any student willing to be challenged and grow with the harder path of a study abroad experience in a country like Mexico.
So, what do kids gain from this experience?
- Resilience — the ability to stay grounded when the world shifts beneath them
- “Figure-out-ability” — the capacity to solve problems that don’t have a playbook
- Cross-cultural fluency — a competitive edge in a globally connected, AI-disrupted economy
- Self-reliance — earned confidence that no participation trophy can replicate
- A story worth telling — the kind of formative experience that shapes identity and character, not just a resume
- Perspective — seeing the world and the United States from another point of view
The window to take six months, step outside of everything familiar, and grow in ways a classroom simply cannot provide — is short. Most adults never again have the opportunity once they leave college. Every parent I meet says that they are worried about their kids’ futures. Here is the most actionable thing you can do about it: Stop protecting them from the discomfort that helps build the future they will need to face. The most important gift you can give your child right now is not a safer path; it is a harder one.
Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.
Dave Matthews announces a 2027 10th anniversary date for his Riviera Maya destination concert
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Dave Matthews and his band’s lead guitarist, Tim Reynolds, will return to Mexico next winter for the 10th anniversary edition of their Dave & Tim Riviera Maya concert vacation, it was announced this week.
Matthews is the frontman of the Dave Matthews Band — one of the most successful touring rock bands of the past three decades — and Reynolds is a guitar virtuoso who also plays acoustically with Matthews.
The duo will headline three such unplugged shows from a beachfront stage during the four-night event scheduled for Jan. 20-23, 2027, at Moon Palace Cancún, a luxury resort on the Riviera Maya.
The “10 Years on the Beach” shows will offer “a mix of classic hits, fan-favorite rarities and unexpected covers in a relaxed, stripped-down setting,” according to an announcement on the Dave Matthews Band website.
The lineup also will include two sets from jam favorites Goose on opening night, along with performances by Sierra Ferrell and Stephen Wilson Jr., and possibly more artists to be announced.
The 2027 shows “reflect the incredible community Dave and Tim have fostered around this event, bringing fans closer to the music they love in a setting that feels both intimate and deeply connected,” said Dan Berkowitz, CEO of producer 100x Hospitality, a company that specializes in destination concerts.
The concert getaway has evolved into a winter pilgrimage for fans, who over the years have been able to hear deep-catalog sets and special tributes.
At this year’s edition three months ago, Matthews and Reynolds joined members of bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles to honor Bob Weir, the Grateful Dead co-founder, rhythm guitarist and vocalist who died Jan. 10 at age 78.
The concerts included Grateful Dead classics such as “Friend of the Devil” (played by an iteration of the Dave Matthews Band for the first time since 2015) and “Casey Jones,” an outright debut.
That show opened with a cover of Jimmy Buffett’s “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” performed by the duo for the first time since 2017, and also featured a cover of Neil Young’s “Ohio.” Both songs highlighted a 26‑song acoustic set that leaned on deeper catalog choices.
All-inclusive packages for next year will go on sale beginning April 29. For details, visit the website.
With reports from Live for Live Music, Relix and Pollstar News
Mother-in-law wanted in femicide of ex-beauty queen Carolina Flores in Polanco
The investigation into the April 14 murder of former beauty queen Carolina Flores Gómez took a surprising turn this week after a video appeared to confirm that she was murdered by her mother-in-law.
Mexico City prosecutors obtained an arrest warrant for Erika María Herrera and have accused her of femicide. They are also questioning the husband who was present during the murder, but did not report it to police until the next day.
“Q HICISTE MAMÁ!?”
Es la forma en q la exreina de belleza, Carolina Flores, fue atacada a tiros por su suegra Erika Herrera.
Ahí la mató.
Su hijo Alejandro, le reclamó, pero la dejó huir del depa d Polanco.
Hasta el otro día, fue a @FiscaliaCDMX a denunciar.El caso #c4EnAlerta pic.twitter.com/i6dG2HKTGz
— Carlos Jiménez (@c4jimenez) April 22, 2026
Warning: Though the video does not clearly show the murder, it’s contents may be distressing to viewers.
The video in question — apparently from a baby monitor — shows the moment when Flores, 27, was shot dead.
In the 60-second recording leaked to the public, Flores can be seen walking into a room inside her apartment in the Polanco neighborhood of the capital as her mother-in-law follows.
Then comes the sound of at least six gunshots and screams. Alejandro, Flores’s husband, appears in the frame and can be heard confronting his mother, saying “What was that? What did you do, Mom?”
Herrera calmly replies, “Nothing, she made me mad.”
Alejandro then says, “What’s wrong with you, she’s my family.”
Herrera responds, “You are my family, not hers … you’re mine, she is not.”
When detectives arrived the following day, they found the former Miss Teen Universe face down on the floor with multiple bullet wounds.
Under questioning, the husband admitted his mother had shot Flores while he and their 8-month-old son were present in the apartment. Alejandro justified his failure to immediately report the shooting by saying he was doing what he thought was in the best interest of the baby.
The suspect remains at large. Authorities have issued an immigration alert and continue to look for the 9mm gun used to murder Flores, originally from Ensenada, Baja California,
Prosecutors say they continue to classify the murder as femicide, which in Mexico is defined as when a woman is murdered under circumstances that may be related to gender violence.
Femicide is a significant problem in Mexico, with an average of eight to 10 women murdered every day. The data on how many of those murders qualify as femicides varies widely, with some putting the number as high as 2,800.
The impunity rate for femicide in Mexico is 95%.
Last month, the attorney general proposed a new anti-femicide law seeking to increase penalties and unify criminal codes among all 32 states.
One major concern is the tendency of investigators to repeat old sexist patterns of negligence, indifference or even misogyny. Among these patterns is suggesting the missing woman might have eloped.
Family members of Edith Guadalupe Valdés, murdered in Mexico City three days after Carolina Flores, say police officials demanded money before opening a case file, then asked whether she might have run off with her boyfriend.
The family started an investigation on their own and tracked Edith Guadalupe — who had left home for a job interview — to a building in the borough of Iztapalapa only for the police to wait until the following day to send agents to the building where the body was found in the basement.
Three police officials were fired for negligence in that case.
With reports from La Jornada, Reporte Indigo, El País, El Financiero and Milenio
Mexico gears up to regulate AI, with prison sentences for wrongful uses
Artificial intelligence is increasingly ubiquitous, touching nearly every industry and country around the world — and begging the question of how governments can prevent the powerful new technology from being misused. Now, while the United States takes a piecemeal approach to regulation, Mexico is preparing a sweeping federal law to regulate AI, including new regulatory institutions and fines or prison sentences for misuse.
The bill seeks to prevent sexual deepfakes, electoral manipulation and lethal AI-based systems that work without human input.
The current proposal prohibits the creation and dissemination of sexually explicit deepfakes without consent, especially when they involve minors, in which case no authorization, even if explicit, would be valid.
Similarly, it prohibits “the manipulation of images, audio, or video for the purpose of humiliating, harassing, extorting, or perpetrating violence against a woman; the deliberate automation of hate campaigns, defamation, smear campaigns, or gender-based attacks; as well as the design or use of artificial intelligence systems primarily intended to facilitate cyberbullying, harassment, or digital persecution.”
To promote innovation and ensure technical and ethical compliances, the bill proposes a national artificial intelligence strategy, an AI development fund and a federal certification system.
Since it is often unclear online whether content has been manipulated using AI, the bill also seeks to establish basic rules of transparency.
Fake fires, real fear: Debunking the lies that went viral after ‘El Mencho’ fell
Experts in the field have warned that the bill could affect freedom of speech, political debate and technological innovation due to the vagueness of some concepts such as “cognitive manipulation” and “information risks.”
“Without precise definitions, these terms can be open to broad interpretations by the authorities,” Víctor Ruiz, CEO of the cybersecurity firm SILIKN told Expansión magazine.
Created by the Senate’s specialized committee on AI, the bill has seen participation from all political parties represented in the federal Congress.
Senator Rolando Zapata, who chairs the committee, said that the project is the result of 16 months of work and dialogue sessions that involved 72 specialists from different sectors, including academia, the private sector, representatives of the public sector and human rights organizations.
Zapata argued that the bill “does not censor opinions or criticism” and that it does not penalize political communication made in accordance with the law and democratic principles.
“This project in no way limits or restricts freedom of expression or political debate. It does not censor opinions or criticism, nor does it establish penalties for expressing oneself,” Zapata wrote on his official X account.
After the initial discussion phase, the bill will be presented and debated in the Senate.
With reports from Wired en Español, Expansión and Infobae
Fugitive Mexican Navy officer wanted for fuel smuggling arrested in Argentina
Rear Admiral Fernando Farías Laguna, a Mexican Navy officer and alleged fuel trafficker, was arrested in Buenos Aires on Thursday and faces extradition.
Wanted by Mexican authorities for his role in a scheme to sell stolen fuel, Farias is the nephew of former Navy Minister Admiral José Rafael Ojeda Durán. He was holding a forged Guatemalan passport when apprehended.
Farías stands accused by Mexican authorities of leading a hydrocarbon trafficking network uncovered in March 2025 when 17 million liters of stolen fuel was seized in a northeastern Mexican port.
A fugitive since skipping out on pre-trial hearings last November, Farías was also the subject of an Interpol red notice for organized crime charges, through which he was wanted in 192 countries.
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch attributed the capture to “international information exchange and cooperation mechanisms” that informed a “coordinated operation involving the Naval Intelligence Unit, the Federal Attorney General’s Office and its Organized Crime Unit, Interpol Mexico and the National Intelligence Unit.”
Harfuch also expressed gratitude to Argentine authorities for their collaboration in the operation.
Farías will undergo a recognition hearing to begin extradition proceedings on charges of organized crime and “huachicol fiscal” (falsifying customs documents to introduce fuel and passing it off as another duty-free product, often lubricating oils).
The network, which allegedly involved public officials, private companies and naval personnel, operated in customs offices in Manzanillo, Colima; Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán; and Tampico, Tamaulipas, among others.
The March 31, 2025, bust — six months after their uncle’s term ended — exposed a criminal network led by Farías and his brother Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías (in custody since September).
Investigations revealed a scheme that allowed 31 ships from the U.S. to enter Mexico with approximately 1.5 million liters of fuel per week. The authorities believe the network may have smuggled at least 564 million liters of fuel into Mexico since June 2023.
On Sept. 7, 2025, Manuel Roberto Farías was arrested along with 13 other suspects, including three businessmen, five Marines (one retired) and five customs officials.
At the time, Fernando Farías was out of the country and in October he managed to win an injunction against arrest. A month later, however, an appeals court threw out the injunction and Farías had been a fugitive since.
Hours before Fariás’ arrest in Buenos Aires, Harfuch announced the dismantling of the remainder of the “huachicol” network and 14 additional arrests. Combined, the actions constitute the first large-scale corruption case uncovered by the Sheinbaum administration, a case that shook the Navy from within and greatly weakened the narrative of the incorruptibility of Mexico’s armed forces.
With reports from La Jornada, Infobae, TV Azteca, El País and Proceso
