It was a bumper year for Mexican archaeology, with public works projects uncovering lost cities, burial grounds and prehistoric birds. (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
From pre-Columbian cities to a fossilized flamingo egg, Mexico’s rich and diverse history and varied environmental landscape have made it an exciting year for archaeologists.
Below are some of the highlights of discoveries made across Mexico in 2023.
The Chapultepec burials mark the first discoveries of changing burial rituals in Mexico, from Mexica to Catholic. (INAH)
In February, a 16th-century cemetery was found in Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park, believed to date from less than 100 years after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlán (Mexico City).
The cemetery was discovered during construction work in the park. The bodies had been buried at three different times, but all after Tenochtitlán’s fall in 1535. Researchers said some were buried in the Catholic style, while others followed Mesoamerican traditions.
This led archaeologists to believe that some of the deceased were European individuals, while others were Mexica. Tests revealed that they had suffered from various conditions, including malnutrition, infections, and bone inflammation.
The remarkably well-preserved statue was uncovered during road paving work in Veracruz. It is believed to depict a local female ruler. (INAH)
Over the summer, a sculpture resembling the “Young Woman of Amajac” – one of the most important recent pre-Columbian archaeological finds – was discovered during road-paving work in a town in Veracruz.
The remarkably well-preserved statue stands at 1.54 meters high and weighs between 200 and 250 kilograms, slightly smaller than the 2-meter-high previous find.
Both statues wear headdresses with similar decorations, leading experts to hypothesize that they may represent the same figure, possibly a female Huasteca ruler.
Archaeologists believe the city dates to the Classic period, which lasted from A.D. 250–1,000. It was discovered as part of wide-ranging archaeological work carried out alongside the construction of the Maya Train. (INAH/Cuartoscuro)
June saw a major discovery in the Yucatán Península.
Hidden in the jungle inthe southeastern state of Campeche, is a “monumental site” as described by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), which was dubbed Ocomtún, meaning “stone column” in the Yucatec Mayan language.
The pre-Columbian city is located within the Balamkú ecological reserve in the municipality of Calakmul.
The city was found thanks to the laser surveying techniques, which experts used to scan the area where Ocomtún was found.
According to archaeologists, the site served as an important regional hub, most likely during the Classic period of ancient Maya civilization, which lasted from 250-1,000 A.D.
The extremely rare fossilized egg was found at during construction work at the Felipe Ángeles airport. (INAH)
In August, a flamingo egg dating from the last ice age was found during construction work at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport in Mexico City.
INAH officials said the remarkably preserved egg is incredibly rare, and only the second discovery of its kind in the world – the first in the Americas.
The presence of the egg suggests that an ancient shallow lake existed in the area between 8,000 and 33,000 years ago.
The fossilized egg is 93.5 mm (3.7 inches) by 55.8 mm (2.2 inches).
Ten tombs containing the remains of five people were found in Chapultepec Park earlier this year. They are believed to date back at least 3,500 years. (INAH)
Back in Chapultepec Park, archaeologists found another series of far older graves, dating back 3,500 years, during construction work on Line 3 of the Cablebus, near Avenida Constituyentes.
These include 10 conical or bell tombs half containing human remains, indicating the existence of a village in the area during the Early and Middle Preclassic periods (2,500-400 B.C.).
The discovery of the tombs is additional evidence of early human habitation in the area, after artifacts dating to the same era were unearthed there last year.
Mexico will send microbots to the moon, as part of NASA's Artemis program. (UNAM/Cuartoscuro)
The countdown has begun on Mexico’s first mission to the moon. The launch of a rocket that will include five Mexican microbots will occur on Jan. 8 in Cape Canaveral, Florida — as long as atmospheric conditions are right and other technical factors are in order.
Created by a team of Mexican scientists and nearly 250 university students, the microbots each weigh about 60 grams and are 12 cm in diameter — a tad smaller than a standard saucer for a coffee cup.
A render of what the projected lander – and it’s launch vehicle – will look like. (Gob. Mex.)
On the moon, the bots will recognize one another, connect electronically and then assemble a panel that can generate energy. The project is dubbed “Colmena,” which means beehive in Spanish.
“This project will make history and is the first of its kind in Latin America,” Salvador Landeros, director of the Mexican Space Agency (AEM), said in a Dec. 22 press release. The project “speaks very well of Mexico, confirming once again that Mexican engineering is at the level of the best in the world,” he added.
The project is part of Mexico’s participation in the Artemis program, led by the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in conjunction with six other space agencies around the globe. Formalized in late 2022, Artemis also includes emerging space programs in countries such as Brazil, South Korea and Mexico.
The Mexican microbots were developed in the Space Instrumentation Laboratory of the Institute of Nuclear Sciences (LINX-ICN), part of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Joint support has come from the AEM, the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology (CONAHCYT) and the central Mexican state of Hidalgo.
The mission will blast off from Cape Canaveral next month. (Bill Jelen/Unsplash)
“Developing our own technology is a necessity for the country,” said Gustavo Medina Tanco, head of LINX. “We need to not be just consumers, and transform the country into an actor with technological sovereignty.”
The microbots will travel inside Peregrine, a lunar lander developed by Pittsburgh-based space robotics company. Peregrine, the first private U.S. spacecraft to be launched as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, will also carry some 20 other NASA and commercial payloads.
The lander has been fueled and mated with the United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket on the launchpad. ULA is a U.S.-based aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor. A launch during the Jan. 8-11 window would set up a landing as early as Feb. 23. The lander will not go directly to the lunar surface, but rather enter the moon’s orbit and wait for the lighting to be correct for landing.
The Mexican team had hoped to send its tiny robots into space in 2022, but delays occurred, including a scrapped launch earlier this month due to an interrupted “wet dress rehearsal.” After communicating and setting up power, the UNAM gazette reported last year, the robots will begin taking measurements that have never been taken before, including lunar plasma temperature and the size of particles floating just above the moon’s dusty surface.
What is the history of alcohol production and consumption in Mexico? (Canva)
For many of us, banning alcohol is strongly associated with conservative Protestant Christian thought, itself a result of temperance movements in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Mexico never had a “Prohibition” like the U.S., but its current reputation as a drinking and partying haven is not entirely accurate either.
The history of alcohol usage in Mexico is a mix of restrictions and tolerance, but their bases have varied depending on the social and cultural landscape. One constant is the dominating role of the country’s many agave species, beginning in pre-history and continuing to the present day.
Agave, Mesoamerica and religion
The longest-documented alcohol in Mexico is pulque, the fermented sap of certain agave (magüey) plants prevalent in the central Mexico highlands. The plant has its own goddess, Mayahuel (depicted with her own vessel of pulque in the Laud Codex). But the drink also appears in a story about Quetzalcoatl, who committed a sexual transgression while drunk, and was eventually banished, effectively a morality story against wanton consumption.
The records also indicate that its consumption was highly restricted by both social rank and ceremonial purposes for aged and pregnant women and was also used as a kind of “reward” for great deeds. Breaking these rules was heavily punished and could mean death even for high-ranking priests.
Colonial period
The Spanish and the rest of the old order swept away all these prohibitions. This meant pulque was not banned for the general public, but it did become stigmatized as something only for the most marginalized segment of society – which remains to this day.
To replace it, the Spanish quickly introduced crops to create the beverages they knew – sugar cane, apple, grains and grapes for wine.
Under pressure from wineries in Spain, the Crown forbade all alcoholic beverage production in 1595. This prohibition (and its avoidance) shaped Mexico’s drinking habits.
Only the very rich could afford imported alcohol, and the edict had its intended effect on alcohol made from cultivated crops. Beer and coconut wine disappeared. Cider and rum nearly did. As it was necessary for communion, wine production for the Church was allowed – one reason why Casa Madero, Mexico’s oldest winery, survived in Coahuila. But in general, there would be no commercial wine production in Mexico until the late 20th century
That left agave. Growing wild in just about all of Mexico, it became the basis of almost all alcohol production – legal and illegal – to this day. Pulque survived, but more importantly, the cactus would be used for distilled spirits of various names – the most common of which is “mezcal.”
Authorities could not eliminate the plant, nor the basic distillation technology required to ferment it. Colonial records show a mix of suppression (prosecution) and tolerance (tax collection), but their accuracy is questionable given the industry’s clandestine nature and bribery of local officials.
Post-Independence
Social reorganization hit Mexico again during the struggle for independence in the early 19th century, but the mass importation or production of non-agave alcohol would not immediately follow.
Modernization and Europeanization efforts by the Porfirio Díaz dictatorship of 1884-1910 is responsible for one major change – the rise of beer.
The symbol of progress during the late 19th century was the railroad. Lines connected Mexico City to haciendas in the provinces, allowing the very profitable shipping of perishable pulque into the capital.
Its consumption among the lower classes became visible, leading to a backlash from more elite sectors of society. A crusade against pulque began, blaming it for the social ills of the lower classes, including their perceived resistance to “modernization.” Pulque was also accused of being a health issue, with claims that feces were used in its production.
Simultaneously, German and French brewers reintroduced beer to Mexico on a large scale. As with all things European, it was embraced by the same elite who had shunned pulque, and makers took advantage to promote beer as the civilized alternative. Breweries appeared in various parts of the country. Today, modern brands like Montejo and Tecate hearken back to these breweries.
What remained of the pulque industry that had survived the bad press and the Mexican Revolution collapsed shortly after, when the new government dismantled the hacienda system.
Northwest “moonshine” and smuggling
The Revolution had one other significant effect on Mexican alcohol consumption – the rise of “moonshine” in the west/northwest.
The years that followed the revolution marked the height of temperance movements in the West. Mexico never had a national “Prohibition,” but northern Revolution-era generals were aware of them and were sympathetic to the ban across the border.
Pancho Villa was particularly anti-alcohol, keen to promote military readiness and general social welfare. This forced several regional spirits – bacanora in Sonora, sotol in Chihuahua and raicilla in Jalisco underground yet again. Their suppression would not fully end until the 1990s.
This may seem odd given that northern Mexico took advantage of US Prohibition to make and smuggle whiskey and set up bars all along the border. But “Mexican moonshine” was produced by and for the most marginalized, making them vulnerable to large-scale crackdowns by regional rulers.
Modern era
Marketing expert Ricardo Pico and master distiller don Eduardo Arrieta share a NocheLuna mezcal, which they produce by traditional methods in Chihuahua (credit Leigh Thelmadatter)
The past decades have been far kinder to Mexican alcohol makers, both economically and culturally.
Bars along the border introduced Americans to tequila, and by the mid-20th century, the drink was internationally known. Tequila and the tourism industry would open the door for other drinks, notably commercial beer (like Corona) in the 1980s and mezcal in the 2000s.
New beverages are being introduced, including whiskeys featuring Mexico’s heritage corn varieties and a craft beer industry that is now coming into its own.
All this comes with social and legal blessings because alcohol is highly profitable and Mexico now takes pride in products that conserve its heritage and promote its agriculture. This newfound “prestige” means that more people, from more strata of society are getting involved.
Pulque remains a very niche market, but that is due to its highly perishable nature. But major cities in and near pulque-producing areas have seen the rise of “neo-cantinas” where younger drinkers can congregate, and this has helped the drink to remain relevant, even in the 21st century.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico over 20 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
Latin American literature is having a big moment. Here are some of the authors you need to read. (Unsplash)
Latin American literature is booming with women writers who are exploring exciting and innovative ways of telling stories.
In 2020, The New York Times highlighted “The Adventures of China Iron” by Argentine writer and activist Gabriela Cabezón Cámara as one of the best Ibero-American fiction books of the year, a work that made her a finalist for the International Booker Prize.
One year prior, author Valeria Luiselli was the first writer from Mexico and the fifth woman ever to win the Dublin Literary Award for her book “Lost Children Archive.” The Guadalajara International Book Fair, the largest book fair in the Americas, has awarded the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz prize to Latin American storytellers for the past five years straight.
Accordingly, most of the books listed below were written by women, as it is an open secret within the literary world that women are the ones leading contemporary Latin American literature today.
Fernanda Melchor, “Hurricane Season,” translated by Sophia Hughes
(4 Goodreads stars)
The Witch is a woman who hosts parties at her isolated home, helping the women of the town when they need abortions – always refusing their money when they try to pay her. When she dies, the town enters a storm of darkness.
Melchor’s novel is raw and overwhelming with emotions. The story is separated into eight long monologues where the characters recount their stories of rage, violence, madness, suffering, abuse, fear and death. “Hurricane Season” takes place in a world where real violence seeps into the soil, poisoning everything around.
A reader wrote on Goodreads: “That was so far removed from my comfort zone, I now need to watch the Disney channel for a month.”
Yuri Herrera, “Signs Preceding the End of the World,” translated by Lisa Dillman
(3.9 Goodreads stars)
Francisco Goldman has called Yuri Herrera “Mexico’s greatest novelist.” In this book, Herrera has written a lyric novel: the story of Makina, a young Mexican woman who crosses the United States border hoping to find her brother – and to deliver a package from the Mexican underworld. It is a surrealist, strange tale that interrogates issues of immigration, language and translation. The book is fast and will leave you feeling thoughtful and slightly unsettled.
The book must have been a difficult challenge for the translator, so much so that she felt she had to explain some of her word choices in an afterword. Herrera uses a mixture of slang and allusive poetic descriptions and often uses words in strange new ways. As a result, Lisa Dillman’s choice of English words often seem very odd.
Jazmina Barrera, “On Lighthouses,” translated by Christina McSweeney
(3.8 Goodreads stars)
This memoir-of-sorts consists of six chapters, all centered around a different lighthouse – the oceanfront towers the author has visited, researched, read about and pondered. Barrera expresses her love for, or “collection,” of lighthouses using personal anecdotes, history and quotes from other books featuring lighthouses.
Barrera visits the Montauk Lighthouse, talks to the children of lighthouse keepers and analyzes literary works by Virginia Woolf and Edgar Allan Poe. What do lighthouses stand for in history and our collective consciousness? Barrera creates a thoughtful, reflective melding of memoir, history, travel writing and literary inquiry, linking her reflections to her fears, her experiences living in a city and the way she looks for a guide in the form of a lighthouse.
Laia Jufresa, “Umami,” translated by Sophia Hughes
(3.7 Goodreads stars)
“Umami” is one of my favorite novels of all time – a multi-voice story about grief, loss and missed opportunities told by the people living in the same building in Mexico City. This story takes place in a middle-class Mexican neighborhood and unfolds via the interactions of its inhabitants after tragedy strikes. Jufresa’s writing forces you to pay attention; voices and timelines change without any warning, so you must be present to fully enjoy the literary treat that is “Umami.”
Cristina Rivera Garza, “The Iliac Crest,” translated by Sarah Booker
(3.6 Goodreads stars)
Cristina Rivera Garza is a Mexican journalist who writes about injustice, gender violence and forced disappearance.
“The Iliac Crest” is a short poetic novel about the disappearance of several women over many years. On a stormy night, two mysterious women invade the narrator’s house, where they proceed to question their host’s gender and identity ruthlessly, both refusing to leave the narrator’s house. Here, Rivera Garza plays with gender fluidity and identity. It is sure to spark a lot of thought.
Valeria Luiselli, “Faces in the Crowd,” translated by Christina MacSweeney
(3.5 Goodreads stars)
Like most of Luiselli’s work, this novel is a study in fragmentary feeling. In Mexico City, a woman writes a book about her life as a translator in New York. In Philadelphia, Gilberto Owen recalls his friendship with the Spanish poet García Lorca and the young woman he saw in the windows of passing trains. In Harlem, a translator is desperate to publish the works of Gilberto Owen, an obscure Mexican poet.
“Faces in the Crowd” is a book of overlapping fictions and timelines; a story of a woman who, while translating others’ stories, may also be telling her own. Valeria Luiselli speaks to the nature of reality, identity, memories and time in this book.
Camila Sánchez Bolaño is a journalist, feminist, bookseller, lecturer, and cultural promoter and is Editor in Chief of Newsweek en Español magazine.
Automotive exports from Mexico continue their booming post-pandemic recovery. (Shutterstock)
The value of Mexico’s automotive sector exports increased by a double-digit percentage for the third consecutive year in the first 11 months of 2023 to reach a record high of almost US $173 billion.
Data published by the national statistics agency INEGI shows that auto exports were worth $172.68 billion between January and November, a 14.4% increase compared to the same period of 2022.
The value of automotive exports from January to November went up 14.4% from 2022. (Mireya Novo/Cuartoscuro)
The strong growth in the value of auto exports came after even bigger increases in the first 11 months of the past two years: 18.6% in 2022 and 16% in 2021.
Auto exports slumped 19.3% between January and November 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic and associated restrictions took a heavy toll on the sector.
What percentage of Mexico’s total export revenue comes from auto exports?
INEGI data shows that Mexico’s exports were worth $543.76 billion in the first 11 months of the year. Auto sector exports, including vehicles and parts, contributed 31.8% of the total.
Mexico’s automotive industry was battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, but has shown double-digit annual growth in 2021, 2022 and this year. (Volkswagen México)
In other words, almost one in three export dollars earned in 2023 came from auto exports.
The total value of exported products made by Mexico’s diverse manufacturing sector was $484.85 billion between January and November, or 89.2% of total export revenue.
Auto sector exports accounted for 35.6% of the total manufacturing sector export revenue.
The auto sector’s contribution to Mexico’s GDP
According to the United States Department of Commerce (DOC), “the automotive sector is one of Mexico’s most significant industries, comprising 3.6 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 18 percent of the manufacturing GDP, and employing over one million people nationwide.”
In a “country commercial guide” published last month, the DOC also said that Mexico is the world’s seventh-largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, making 3.5 million vehicles per year.
“Eighty-eight percent of vehicles produced in Mexico are exported, with 76 percent destined for the United States,” the department said.
“Established automakers in Mexico include Audi, BMW, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jac by Giant Motors, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Nissan, Stellantis, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Tesla, which recently announced a new plant to be built in the state of Nuevo León as part of its electric vehicle production.”
DOC also said that Mexico is the fourth largest producer of auto parts in the world, “generating US $107 billion in annual revenues.”
Where are automakers located in Mexico?
Automotive manufacturers are “primarily concentrated in the northern region of Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and San Luis Potosí,” the DOC said.
“Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) plants are also based in Guanajuato, Aguascalientes, Jalisco, México state, Hidalgo, Morelos, and Puebla,” it added.
“In terms of supply chains, auto parts producers are located close to these plants, primarily in Coahuila, Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Guanajuato, Querétaro, Puebla, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, and México state, although they are also found in other parts of the country.”
Tesla is one of the major EV manufacturers coming to Mexico. (Tesla/X)
Is the future of Mexico’s auto sector electric?
The DOC noted that the market for electric vehicles, or EVs, is “evolving rapidly in Mexico as automakers have announced ambitious strategic goals to transition their offerings from gasoline to electric vehicles.”
“… While the market for EVs and hybrids totaled only 51,065 units in 2022, this represented a growth of 8.5 percent compared to 2021,” the department said.
BMW, Tesla and Volkswagen are among the automakers with plans to make EVs in Mexico.
Electric vehicles are “the future of the automotive industry,” President López Obrador said during a visit to BMW’s San Luis Potosí plant in February.
“The day will come when you won’t be able to sell vehicles that are not powered by renewable energy. … The future is in lithium, in batteries, in chips, in electric cars – that is the future,” he said.
The peso has appreciated significantly over 2023, but analysts expect the currency to weaken next year. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
The Mexican peso traded below 17 to the US dollar on Wednesday, but the currency will weaken significantly in 2024, according to the results of a recent survey of more than 30 banks, brokerages and research organizations.
The peso strengthened to just under 16.91 to the greenback on Wednesday morning before weakening slightly. One US dollar was trading at 16.93 pesos at 1:30 p.m. Mexico City time, according to Bloomberg.
The peso reached 16.91 against the dollar on Wednesday as the end-of-year rally continued. (Shutterstock)
The 16.91 level was the peso’s strongest position since Aug. 30, when it reached 16.74 to the greenback.
After starting 2023 at around 19.5 to the dollar, the peso strengthened significantly this year due to a range of factors including the vast difference between the official exchange rates in Mexico and the United States, strong incoming flows of investment and remittances and healthy tourism revenue.
But the peso’s superpowers will wane in 2024, according to all 33 banks, brokerages and research organizations consulted by Citibanamex for its most recent “expectations survey.”
In a survey report published Dec. 19, the bank said the consensus forecast is that the USD:MXN exchange rate will be 17:50 at the end of 2023 and 18.65 at the end of 2024, an election year in both Mexico and the United States. The latter forecast represents a 9.3% depreciation for the peso compared to the 16.91 rate it reached Wednesday morning.
Ten of the 33 entities surveyed by Citibanamex, including Banorte, Morgan Stanley and Santander, forecast that the peso will trade at or above 19 to the dollar at the end of next year.
Masari Casa de Bolsa, a Mexican brokerage, made the most pessimistic prediction for the peso, anticipating a USD:MXN exchange rate of 19.70 at the close of 2024.
Analysts at Masari Casa de Bolsa estimated the peso would finish 2024 at 19.70 to the dollar, the largest depreciation predicted in the survey. (Fredie Farca/Google)
While none of those surveyed predicted that the peso will be below 17 to the dollar at the end of next year, five entities – BNP Paribas, HSBC, Multiva, Natixis and Vector – forecast that it will be below 18.
Vector, a Mexican brokerage, made the most optimistic forecast, predicting a 17.40 rate at the end of 2024.
The other respondents to the survey – i.e. the majority – made forecasts of between 18.00 and 18.80.
For its part, the federal Finance Ministry said in a document in September that it anticipated a 17.60 exchange rate at the end of next year.
Citi Global Wealth, an investment division of Citigroup, noted in its “Wealth Outlook 2024” report earlier this month that “inflows of foreign capital associated with U.S. nearshoring” drove a 20% appreciation of the peso to 16.62 to the dollar in July.
“As electoral uncertainty picks up ahead of the June 2, 2024 general elections, this longer-term [nearshoring] trend should at a minimum continue to provide a floor under the peso,” Citi said.
Later in the report, Citi said that it views a USD:MXN exchange rate in the 19.00 area “as much closer to fair value.”
However, “[we] fully recognize that the strong nearshoring flows could keep this currency relatively overvalued for some time to come,” the bank added.
Among the other consensus forecasts derived from the Citibanamex survey were that the Bank of México will make an initial cut to its record high 11.25% interest rate next March, and that the Mexican economy will grow by 2.3% in 2024.
By 2025, the state of Guanajuato will be producing more than 16.5 million tires each year. (Robert Laursoo/Unsplash)
Sailun Jinyu Group, a Chinese manufacturer of tires for light-duty vehicles, has announced it will open a plant in León, Guanajuato, with an investment amounting to US $240 million.
This will be the first manufacturing plant in North America for Sailun Jinyu Group, which is headquartered in Qingdao, China. The León location will manufacture semi-steel radial tires for cars, SUVs and small trucks.
Sailun ranks among the top 20 tire manufacturers in the world, with plants in China, Vietnam and soon Mexico. (sailun-tyres.eu)
The move is the result of a joint venture between Sailun Jinyu and TD Mexico, the parent company of Tire Direct and the largest tire distributor in Mexico.
The partnership will be named SL & TD Tire Manufacturing, and will be predominantly owned by Sailun. Its Singapore subsidiary will hold 51% of the stake, while Tire Direct will hold the remaining 49%. Sailun will oversee construction, equipment installation, and production of the plant, while TD Mexico will provide administrative support and manage process flows.
To build the plant, Sailun and TD Mexico have allocated US $192.78 million to be distributed over a 12-month construction phase. Once the plant starts operating, it is expected to create over 650 jobs.
The venture has set an initial production target of 6 million semi-steel radial tires annually. It also plans to produce 1.65 million all-steel radials per year for larger trucks and buses in a future expansion.
Sailun estimates an annual revenue of US $219.42 million at total capacity, with a net profit of $4.06 million.
The tire market in Mexico is one of the largest and most competitive in the region. Across the country, Sailun has global competitors such as Michelin, Pirelli, Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental and Hankook.
According to data from the National Association of Tire Distributors and Renewal Plants (ANDELLAC), the Mexican tire market moves around 6 million units annually, with an estimated value of more than US $2.5 billion.
Jayson Barniske inadvertently captured Mexican marines pursuing an alleged drug dealer on aTulum beach. (Screen Capture)
Gentle waves lap at the shore of the beach in Tulum. A bare-chested man brings his legs together to complete a yoga handstand. A woman walks toward the sea, pointing her cell phone camera at the endless blue horizon.
Another bare-chested man appears, running along the beach, seemingly taking a very brisk jog. But, in fact, a chase is underway, with two heavily-armed Mexican marines in hot pursuit of the apparently felonious runner, who warily looks back over his left shoulder.
This is the intriguing scene that plays out in a video posted to Instagram last week by Jayson Barniske, a yoga teacher who was recording his yoga session and unintentionally captured the coastal chase.
“Meanwhile in Tulum,” Barniske, a United States native who lives and teaches yoga in the town, captioned his post.
According to reports, the man pursued by the marines is an alleged drug dealer, who had apparently been caught selling drugs on the beach. It was unclear whether he was taken into custody.
On Instagram, Barniske responded to an inquiry as to what happened after the events shown in his video.
“I hope he got away. I didn’t know what happened until I saw the video. I only heard the guns clinking when I was in the handstand,” he wrote.
“When I was practicing handstands the marines started chasing someone behind me. But I held my line,” Barniske wrote in response to another inquiry.
Among the comments other Instagram users added to his post were: “High season promo video”; “I saw this guy trying to sell ‘cocaina‘ to everyone”; “Great video. Yep only in Tulum!! Well, Playa [del Carmen] also”; and “México surreal.”
Tulum, located about 130 kilometers south of Cancún, is a particularly popular destination for young foreigners and Mexicans, and has become known as a party mecca where a range of illicit substances are readily available.
Parties continued through the pandemic when restrictions were in place in many other places around the world, which only made Tulum an even more appealing destination for many travelers.
Cold front 19, the latest to hit Mexico, will bring precipitation and cold temperatures to northern and central Mexico. (CRISANTA ESPINOSA AGUILAR /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
Cold front 19 will bring heavy precipitation to much of Mexico over the next few days, with snow forecast in high-altitude areas of the north and heavy rains in the south and center regions of the country.
According to theNational Meteorological Service (SMN), the mass of cold air is moving over the north and east of the country this Tuesday, interacting with subtropical low-pressure bands at its southern edge to bring very heavy rains (50-75mm) to Campeche, Chiapas, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán.
While the front will move across the center of the country, all of Mexico will be affected by the winter weather. (SMN)
Heavy rains (25-50mm) are also predicted for México state, Colima, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí; scattered showers are likely in Mexico City, Morelos, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Nayarit and Nuevo León.
The SMN warns that the heaviest rains could be accompanied by hail, lightning and strong winds, and may cause flooding in low-lying areas.
Meanwhile, the cold front will cause snow and freezing fog across mountainous areas of the north, particularly in the states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora, where temperatures could drop as low as -10 degrees Celsius. Temperatures around freezing are also predicted for high-altitude areas across the center and north of Mexico, with snowfall on peaks over 4,200 meters, such as Nevado de Toluca and Popocatépetl.
Wind gusts of up to 60 kilometers per hour and waves 1-3 meters high are predicted for the Gulf of California, with potential tornado formation in most of Mexico’s western and central states.
Veracruz, which has already seen strong weather this winter, is set for high seas and large waves as as result of Cold Front 19. (Victoria Razo/Cuartoscuro)
Meanwhile, higher temperatures are predicted for the south of the country, with maximums of 40 degrees Celsius on the coasts of Chiapas, Guerrero, Michoacán and Oaxaca, and 35 degrees Celsius in Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán.
TheSMN predicts that similar conditions will continue over at least the next three days, with the “northerly event” in the northwest extending south and east to bring strong winds and high seas to the coasts of Tamaulipas and Veracruz and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
By Thursday, wind gusts of up to 70 kilometers per hour and waves 1-3 meters high are predicted to develop around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and gusts of up to 50 kilometers per hour are forecast on the coasts of Tamaulipas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.
Similar conditions seem likely to continue over the first days of the new year, as cold front 20 slowly advances over the northern Gulf of Mexico.
An estimated 6,000 migrants departed Tapachula on Christmas Eve, as a new caravan took its first steps towards the U.S.-Mexico border. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
A newly formed migrant caravan composed of an estimated 6,000 people spent Christmas Day marching seven hours under the hot sun, just north of the Mexico-Guatemala border.
Temperatures were above 30 degrees Celsius as the caravan members walked approximately 30 kilometers, heading towards the U.S.-Mexico border some 2,500 kilometers away.
With no proper shelter available, migrants had to sleep where they could. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
The caravan is reportedly the largest of this year, composed mostly of Central Americans, Venezuelans and Cubans. Some media outlets reported its total to be 7,000 people, while others said 8,000.
Its formation near Mexico’s southern border came just days before a high-level delegation including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other officials is due to meet in Mexico City with President López Obrador to address migration challenges and hammer out new agreements.
The sprawling caravan departed from the city of Tapachula, Chiapas, on Sunday morning with a 13-mile walk to the nearby ejido (communal property) of Álvaro Obregón.
Though it was Christmas Eve, there were no celebrations, gifts or family dinners. Instead, several thousand adults and kids hunkered down in a park, which was at least decorated for Christmas. Some set up tents; others slept where they could.
Some caravan members had their own food, such as Fanny Rivas, who made ham-and-cheese sandwiches for her husband and their 6-year-old, 2-year-old and 4-month-old.
Others received sandwiches and bananas from a Catholic church and local residents, and some children were lucky enough to get chicken to eat.
Many woke at dawn on Christmas Day to continue the journey northward.
Many of those on the long march north are young children. (Damián Sánchez/Cuartoscuro)
“It has been a horrible Christmas,” said Bertha del Cid, 32, of Honduras, to a reporter from newspaper La Jornada, while pushing her 3-year-old son in a stroller. “I have slept on the street. I have no money. It has been horrible,” she added, on the verge of tears.
In the space of two days, the group covered more than 40 kilometers, reaching Huixtla, Chiapas, where many spent Christmas night on a sports field.
It was a Christmas “like we have never spent,” said Honduran Karla Ramírez, who is traveling with 18 family members, including four minors. She did acknowledge that attempting the long walk to the U.S border was their choice.
“It is what we have to do” to get a better life, added Venezuelan Eduviges Arias. “This is an opportunity for us.”
Local police and the National Guard followed the group’s advance without intervening.
At the U.S.-Mexico border this month, U.S. authorities have recorded up to 10,000 illegal crossings on some days, leading to temporary closures at some crossings.
