Lufthansa seeks to add more weekly flights to its Mexico City-Munich route later this year, company officials said. (Shutterstock)
German carrier Lufthansa announced plans to increase weekly flight frequencies between Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and Munich from three to five starting this winter. Though the crowded AICM has yet to approve the new flights, routes to Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) are not under consideration due to lack of infrastructure and domestic connections, the carrier said.
In a press conference, global Sales VP Frank Naeve said the flights are still subject to the government’s approval, adding that their interest in increasing its seating capacity between Munich and Mexico City has not been officially communicated to the AICM administration.
Lufthansa Sales VP Frank Naeve expressed his hope that authorities will someday expand Mexico City International Airport (AICM), where flights are currently capped at 44 per hour. (Edgor Tovar/Vmzp85/Wikimedia Commons)
“This decision to supplement flights is very recent. The truth is, we haven’t had time to approach the authorities,” Alejandro Arias, CEO of Lufthansa Group for Mexico and Latin America, told El Financiero.
If demand is sufficient, Naeve said, it is the company’s intention to maintain these five weekly flights permanently, not just seasonally.
Lufthansa Group offers direct routes between Germany and Mexico, with around 579,000 passengers annually according to figures from the Mexican aeronautical authority corresponding to the end of last year.
The carrier uses the Airbus A350-900 for service from Munich, while the daily route to Frankfurt use the Boeing 747-8 — all from AICM.
Naeve said the company has no plans for passenger operations at AIFA due to it being difficult to reach for potential passengers and its lack of domestic connections.
AIFA is located some 45 kilometers from downtown Mexico City, and about 35 to 45 kilometers from AICM. From downtown, a typical car ride can take around 1 to 1.5 hours without traffic. In contrast, it takes less than 30 minutes to reach AICM from downtown under similar conditions.
Puerto Vallarta is amazing, but beaches to the south will also reward a visit. (Puerto Vallarta)
It’s high season in Puerto Vallarta, which means comfortable weather and busy beaches, yet my social media feeds are absolutely drowning in, “Is such and such worth it?”
I see it about beaches, boat tours, day trips, tacos and entire towns. Everyone wants to know if the thing they’re about to spend time and money on is going to live up to the hype. And honestly? That’s completely fair. Time is limited, vacations are precious and nobody wants to spend a day thinking, “Well, this could’ve been a nap.”
Puerto Vallarta’s southern coast lives up to the hype
Looking for a Puerto Vallarta getaway that’s a little smaller and slower-paced than life in the city? Head south. (Roman Lopez/Unsplash)
So instead of chiming in on each comment section like a know-it-all, I decided to lump them all together and give you what I’ll now be calling my “beaches, boat tours, day trips, tacos and entire towns must-see and do list that’s practically begging for your attention!” It’s a mouthful, but so is trying to answer the same question 50 different ways.
People often call it island hopping here, but that’s not quite right. What you’re really doing is exploring the boat-access-only beaches and villages south of Puerto Vallarta.
No big islands, no castaway fantasy, just stretches of coastline where the jungle meets the sea and the road quietly gives up. It feels wild without being intimidating, which is an incredibly appealing middle ground.
This entire journey can also be done on foot. From Boca de Tomatlán all the way to Quimixto, there’s a coastal trail that connects these beaches one by one.
Boat, hike or a mix of both. That flexibility is part of what makes this area so special, and also why people argue about the “best” way to do it. The correct answer to that debate is “personal choice.”
Boca de Tomatlán
Nestled in a small bay about 20 minutes by road south of Puerto Vallarta, Boca de Tomotlán is the departure point for pangas and water taxis to other paradisiacal beaches such as Las Ánimas, Playa Caballo, Quimixto and Yelapa. (Visit Puerto Vallarta)
This is where it all begins, whether you’re hiking or hopping on a panga. It’s a small fishing village, and it feels like a natural gateway to everything south of it.
Boats bob in the river, hikers compare notes over coffee and there’s a quiet sense that you’re about to go somewhere different.
Boca itself is delightful, but it’s really the starting point rather than the main attraction. Worth stopping, worth eating and absolutely worth appreciating as the threshold between accessible and adventure.
Colomitos
Colomitos is beautiful, but also very small, so it doesn’t take many people to make it look full. (Puerto Vallarta)
Just beyond Boca is Colomitos, often hyped as one of the smallest beaches in Mexico. It’s tiny, yes, but it’s also genuinely charming.
A short hike or a quick boat ride gets you to this little cove with emerald water and a jungle backdrop that feels almost too perfect, like it was designed specifically for postcards and engagement photos. But because it’s so close to Boca, it fills up quickly, especially during the high season.
But if you go early or pass through as part of a longer day, you can think of it as a beautiful introduction rather than a place to settle in for hours.
Madagascar Beach
You don’t have to travel off the coast of Africa to find Madagascar. There’s a beautiful beach with the same name south of Puerto Vallarta. (Puerto Vallarta)
It’s one of those stops that surprises people, mostly because they weren’t expecting to hear the word Madagascar in Mexico. Visitors can look forward to a small, rocky beach with clear water and a quieter feel than its neighbors.
If you’re hiking, it’s a natural pause point. If you’re boating, it’s often a swim stop rather than a long stay.
Madagascar doesn’t scream for attention, and that’s kind of its charm. It’s perfect for those who like places that feel a little under the radar and don’t need a sign explaining why they’re special.
Playa Caballo
Playa Caballo is not only wide and dramatic, but it feels like a destination rather than a brief episode. (Puerto Vallarta)
Playa Caballo is where the journey starts to feel more rewarding. It’s wide, sandy and dramatic, with a sense of space that some of the smaller coves lack.
If you’re hiking, it’s a satisfying place to stop, drop your pack and actually relax for a while without feeling like you’re in someone else’s beach day. If you arrive by boat, it feels like a proper destination rather than a brief interruption.
Las Ánimas
Las Ánimas is a lively place to socialize and enjoy the views. (Puerto Vallarta)
The next stop on our tour feels like a sudden return to civilization. After the quieter beaches, Las Ánimas is lively and social. Restaurants line the shore, music drifts over the water and lunch isn’t something you have to plan or overthink.
This isn’t a hidden escape, but it is easy and fun. It’s perfect if you’re hungry, thirsty and very happy to sit in the sand for longer than you intended.
Yelapa
Yelapa isn’t just a beach, but a village, which means more things to see. (Puerto Vallarta)
Get ready for the energy to shift again. Whether you arrive by boat or on foot, Yelapa immediately feels slower and more layered. It’s a village, not just a beach and that makes a difference.
The walk to the waterfall is part of the experience, as is wandering through town and watching daily life unfold between cafés, homes and beach bars. The water at the main beach isn’t the clearest you’ll swim in, but Yelapa has personality in spades. It’s the place that quietly convinces people to stay longer than planned and then reorganize their entire itinerary around that decision.
Quimixto
Quimixto is rustic, but that’s part of the charm. It’s a great place to finish up your tour of southern beaches. (Vallarta Adventures)
This is the final stop, and it feels like a pretty perfect ending. The village is a little rougher around the edges and a little less polished than Yelapa. But that’s part of the appeal. The waterfall hike here is steeper and requires a lot more effort, which makes the payoff feel earned.
Whether you arrive sweaty from the trail or sun-kissed from the boat, Quimixto has a genuine sense of accomplishment to it, like you’ve actually gone somewhere rather than just passed through.
Also worth visiting: Los Arcos and Majahuitas
Los Arcos often gets lumped into these conversations, even though it’s closer to town and not part of the hike. It’s still worth mentioning because it’s undeniably beautiful.
The rock formations are dramatic, the water is clear and snorkeling here is genuinely fun. It’s busy, especially in high season, but it’s one of those places where the hype exists for a reason, not just because someone needed content.
Majahuitas sits slightly outside the Boca-to-Quimixto hiking route, but it deserves its reputation. It’s a sheltered cove with calm, clear water and a peaceful, tucked-away feeling. If you’re choosing between hike-only beaches and boat-only stops, Majahuitas makes a very strong case for getting on a boat at least once.
Hiking, boating or both?
The important thing to understand is that you don’t have to choose between hiking and boating. Some people hike one direction and take a panga back. Some hop between beaches by boat and hike a section that looks particularly beautiful. This coastline lets you build the day you want instead of forcing you into a single experience, which is surprisingly rare and deeply underrated.
Los Arcos is also worth a visit for snorkeling or scuba diving, if you have time for it on your itinerary. (Vallarta Adventures)
So, is exploring Puerto Vallarta’s southern beaches worth it? Yes. Absolutely, 100%. But only if you pick the stops that match your energy, respect the distance involved and remember that not every beach has to change your life to be enjoyable.
Some will wow you. Some will simply be lovely. And sometimes lovely, sweaty, sun-soaked and ending the day with tired legs and salt in your hair is exactly the point.
In high season, especially, worth it doesn’t have to mean empty, untouched or perfect. Sometimes it just means you had a really great day.
Charlotte Smith is a writer and journalist based in Mexico. Her work focuses on travel, politics, and community. You can follow along with her travel stories at www.salsaandserendipity.com.
La Minerva has been given a facelift ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but some Guadalajara residents aren't happy with the cost. (Instagram)
La Minerva, Guadalajara’s iconic roundabout, has undergone a massive renovation project ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, the cost to the public treasury — 70 million pesos, or about US $4 million — has sparked controversy amongst tapatíos.
Situated at the edge of the city nearly 100 years ago, the Minerva roundabout has grown to become part of the city’s identity. It is also the traditional epicenter of celebrations for Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas), where thousands of fans gather to celebrate titles, championships and important victories of the team.
When Chivas wins a championship in Liga MX, La Minerva is where fans celebrate. (Instagram)
A symbol at the center of the city
Mayor of Guadalajara Verónica Delgadillo said that, although La Minerva has already undergone renovations in the recent past, the current one places it at the center of the city, turning a representative symbol into something approachable for pedestrians.
“This public space that we are handing over to our city and its people today is a space that will allow us to come together, not only when we want to celebrate something, as we have done for 70 years, but also invites us to come together on a permanent basis,” she said.
Following five months of work causing traffic jams in the surrounding areas, the project’s renovation has encompassed over 24,000 square meters, transforming the roundabout into an accessible pedestrian plaza, with new hydraulic infrastructure, walkways, planters and improved lighting.
The work that has been done
Key aspects of the work included the reorganization of the five existing lanes, the rehabilitation and waterproofing of the fountain, new hydraulic systems with synchronized jets and new lighting. A perimeter walkway and interior walkways were also incorporated, allowing visitors to explore and enjoy the monument.
The project also rehabilitated sidewalks, built new safe pedestrian crossings with illuminated signage, improved the traffic light system, replaced horizontal and vertical signage and enhanced the urban landscape with new street furniture, planters and seating areas.
The renovated work now allows pedestrian access to the parks surrounding the Arches of Guadalajara, and integrated free WiFi connectivity through the Jalisco Network, in addition to a new MiBici (MyBike) station.
Why budgetary costs are a cause for controversy
¿Valió la pena? Así quedó la NUEVA Minerva tras gastar 70 millones - LONGVLOG
“La Minerva has restored the possibility for people to coexist with the roundabout itself, with this symbol, and for people to be able to walk around it, to approach and enjoy it, to take a picture and to coexist with La Minerva,” Jalisco’s Governor Pablo Lemus said.
However, the cost overrun has been one of the main reasons for citizen criticism.
Tapatíos have complained that the Minerva’s visual upgrade does not justify the investment, which was originally budgeted at 40 million pesos (US $2.2 million). Videos circulating on social media show users expressing disappointment and accusing politicians of misusing public funds.
“It looks horrible,” one user says. “Totally not worth it,” adding that these funds could’ve been directed to resolving other public needs in the transport sector.
2026 FIFA World Cup upgrade strategy
La Minerva’s upgrade is part of a broader renovation strategy to beautify the city of Guadalajara ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Improvements include works on roads, public transport, upgrades at the Historic Center and the opening of new hotels.
Overall, the anticipated budget for all renovation works across the city is around 700 million pesos (US $40 million).
The costs for renovating La Minerva, including new lighting, are among 700 million pesos being spent around host city Guadalajara for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Instagram)
Gabriela Solis is a Mexican lawyer turned full-time writer. She was born and raised in Guadalajara and covers business, culture, lifestyle and travel for Mexico News Daily. You can follow her lifestyle blog Dunas y Palmeras.
Visitors to the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá will not be able to bring in backpacks for now. (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
Monday’s shooting at the Teotihuacán archaeological site, 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, in which a Canadian tourist was killed, has prompted the government to implement enhanced security at some of the country’s main tourist sites.
The National Guard is now on duty at Monte Albán and visitors’ bags will be checked upon entry. But for the time being, National Guard personnel will not be able to enter the site with weapons. (Carolina Jiménez Mariscal/Cuartoscuro)
“It takes time to install X-ray scanners to check for entry,” Sheinbaum said. “It doesn’t happen overnight, but this serves as a reminder that we need greater security to prevent someone from entering an archaeological site or tourist site with a firearm.”
Several new security measures have already been announced at Mexico’s main archaeological sites, with more expected to follow through the week:
The Teotihuacán archaeological site officially reopened on Wednesday with a reinforced security protocol, but the Pyramid of the Moon remains closed to the public. Increased surveillance will be carried out by the National Guard and law enforcement agencies from all three levels of government.
At Mexico’s most-visited archaeological site, Chichen Itzá, in the state of Yucatan, backpacks have been temporarily banned. The site’s director, María Guadalupe Espinosa, said the ban will be in place for the next few days.
National Guard officials have been deployed at the state of Oaxaca’s main archaeological sites of Mitla, Monte Alban and Yagul, as well as in the town of Atzompa. Visitors’ bags are being inspected upon entry. For now, National Guard personnel will still not be able to bring weapons into the site itself.
Bulkmatic is looking to address Mexico's woefully inadequate fuel storage capacity, the second lowest among OECD countries. (Bulkmatic)
Bulkmatic, a logistics company for Mexico’s main railway terminal, has announced plans to invest US $600 million to develop multimodal stations in various states over the next 10 years.
The company’s commercial director, Francisco Melo, said that the investment will be placed across different zones and equipment, with the goal of expanding fuel storage capacity and strengthening intermodal terminals.
Bulkmatic’s fuel expansion plans could add 3,000 cars to the total that Mexican rails can handle per month. (Unsplash)
“In terms of track capacity, we are talking about being able to receive an additional 3,000 cars per month on top of what we currently handle, which is between 3,000 and 3,500 cars,” Melo said at the Energy and Infrastructure Forum on the National Agenda.
In 2026 alone, Bulkmatic plans to allocate some US $100 million to the first and second phases of a 100-hectare terminal with a capacity to handle 500,000 fuel barrels.
Mexico has the second-lowest fuel storage capacity among OECD countries, with reserves equivalent to about 3.5 days, while the international standard is 90 days. Experts and business leaders have warned of a “latent risk” due to a lack of infrastructure and regulatory uncertainty, which has slowed new investments in terminals.
The private sector has only 12 operating storage terminals, and growth has stalled under the current administration’s energy policy, even though Pemex owns more than 70 terminals.
In an interview with El Cronista, Melo said that the relationship with current regulatory authorities is much better compared to what it was during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term (2018-2024).
“I see a lot of openness, especially from the Ministry of Energy,” Melo said. “Still, procedures are tougher and with more requirements.”
The cities where Bulkmatic plans to develop the multimodal terminals include Pesquería, Nuevo León; Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua; Hermosillo, Sonora; Torreón, Coahuila and Guadalajara, Jalisco. Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, would be connected with the Interoceanic Train, while Progreso, Yucatán to the Maya Train.
Meanwhile, the facilities that will see fuel handling include Pesquería, Nuevo León (with a capacity of 690,000 barrels), Hermosillo, Sonora (400,000 barrels) and Tula, Hidalgo. (720,000).
As of now, the company is not planning to mobilize hydrocarbons in Mexico’s southeast. Melo said they are considering more plastic resin and food-grade material.
A Guggenheim Fellowship grant to travel to Mexico in 1932 greatly influenced Graham's approach to her work. (inba.gob.mx)
After a 45-year absence from Mexican stages, the Martha Graham Dance Company will return to the Palacio de Bellas Artes with a one-night centennial program set for Oct. 20.
The performance will bring back a body of work shaped in part by Martha Graham’s own encounters with Mexico and its ritual traditions.
Martha Graham’s choreography told stories in new ways and her collaborations with costume and stage designers changed the aesthetic of the art. Now, her dance company marks its first century. https://t.co/7gSbfo7Tg1
— Smithsonian Magazine (@SmithsonianMag) March 2, 2026
Though the company was founded in 1926 in New York City, a Guggenheim Fellowship to travel to Mexico in 1932 fundamentally shifted the then-38-year-old Graham’s artistic direction toward what she called “dances of necessity” and human need.
Presented by Mexico’s Ministry of Culture and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), the event is billed as “Martha Graham 100 Years: The Dance That Transformed the 20th Century.”
The company — often described as the longest-running modern dance troupe in the U.S. — will include “Dark Meadow Suite” (2016), “Lamentation” (1930), “We the People” (2024) and “Chronicle” (1936) in its repertoire.
Graham, who lived from 1894 to 1991, is widely regarded as the mother of modern dance and the creator of a technique often compared to ballet in scope and influence. She established her school and company in a tiny studio in midtown Manhattan, working with a small group of women.
During Graham’s travels to Mexico, her study of Indigenous ritual dances — after years of interest in ceremonies of the American Southwest — changed the choreographer’s conception of art, said Janet Eilber, the company’s artistic director since 2005.
What she observed, Eilber said, were “expressions born from human need, fertility, climate, food, and religion” — which “totally revolutionized her conception of dance” and led her away from decorative, spectacle work.
“For the rest of her career, Martha Graham sought to create works that reflected that kind of basic human need,” Eilber said.
The Mexico connection runs through “Dark Meadow Suite,” adapted from Graham’s 1946 “Dark Meadow” and set to music by Mexican composer Carlos Chávez.
The program will also underscore Graham’s humanist and political force, said Eilber, who has called “Chronicle” “an anti-war statement, a protest dance against war and oppression.” The piece was created the year Graham rejected an invitation to dance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics under Nazi rule.
“Lamentation” is a radical, four-minute solo in which a dancer, enveloped in purple fabric, sways on a bench in “a universal portrait of loss.” It’s included as the emblem of Graham’s modernist break, when she “announced to the world [in 1930] that modernism had arrived in American dance.”
The company, which has been led exclusively by women, last appeared in Mexico in 1981, after an earlier visit in 1968.
The company is in the middle of its 2024-26 international centennial tour, which will include the Oct. 20 performance at 8 p.m. No other stops in Latin America have been announced.
Tickets for the Mexico City show are available at the Palacio de Bellas Artes box office and through Ticketmaster. Prices range from 420 pesos (about US $24) to 1,350 pesos (US $78).
The newspaper Reforma reported that the Mexican Army, the National Guard and other federal agencies were involved in an operation near Badiraguato, Sinaloa, on Wednesday. (José Betanzos Zarate/Cuartoscuro)
The federal government launched an army-led operation in Sinaloa on Wednesday that appeared to be aimed at detaining Aureliano Guzmán Loera, a brother of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera.
At a press conference on Wednesday, federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch responded to an inquiry about claims that Guzmán Loera, aka “El Guano,” had been detained.
Operativo Federal con Helicópteros Artillados en El Triángulo Dorado, reportan enfrentamientos y la detención de Aureliano Guzmán Loera, “El Guano”, por radio frecuencia los Sicarios están confirmando su detención y la de Churras Calabazas (Informacion en el enlace)… pic.twitter.com/SklruU1q5k
— Blog del Narco México (@blogdelnarcomex) April 22, 2026
“Operational actions have been taking place in Sinaloa since this morning,” García Harfuch said, adding that the focus was on the municipality of Badiraguato — a Sinaloa Cartel stronghold where “El Chapo” was born — and surrounding areas.
“There are Security Cabinet actions, mainly led by the Ministry of National Defense. There are already people detained, the arrest of this individual [“El Guano”] is not yet confirmed, but the operations are continuing at this time,” he said.
Some 340 security personnel were reportedly participating in an air and ground operation aimed at detaining Guzmán Loera. The newspaper Reforma reported that the Mexican Army, the National Guard and other federal agencies were involved in the operation.
Badiraguato is in northeastern Sinaloa on the border with the states of Durango and Chihuahua. It is located within the mountainous Golden Triangle region of northern Mexico, which is notorious for drug production.
He allegedly leads a drug trafficking group called “Los Guanos,” or “Gente de Guano” (Guano’s People), a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Department of State is offering a reward of up to US $5 million for information leading to his arrest.
In its 2021 wanted notice, the State Department said that “under the umbrella of the Sinaloa Cartel, Aureliano Guzmán’s drug trafficking organization (DTO) controls drug smuggling routes from Sinaloa, Mexico, through Sonora, Mexico, and into the United States.”
“The Aureliano Guzman-Loera DTO can be classified as a poly-drug organization responsible for growing, cultivating, producing, manufacturing, and transporting poppy, marijuana, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel,” it said.
“The Aureliano Guzmán-Loera DTO’s main source of income is derived from the significant cultivation of marijuana and poppy fields in the Sierra Madre Mountain Range of Sinaloa, Mexico,” the State Department said.
“While the Aureliano Guzmán-Loera DTO is based out of La Tuna, Badiraguato, Sinaloa, Mexico, the organization operates drug grow operations and drug production facilities throughout various locations within what is referred to as Mexico’s ‘Golden Triangle’ which is known for Sinaloa Cartelsanctioned, large-scale commercial drug cultivation operations.”
The State Department noted that in 2019 and 2020, two separate federal grand juries in Arizona returned superseding indictments charging Guzmán with drug trafficking offenses.
Siemens AG, a German firm with a longtime presence in Mexico, including four decades in Querétaro, has announced a new 1.8 billion-peso investment in that state, bringing its total there to more than 3 billion pesos over the last year. (@SEDESUQro/X)
An industrial trade fair nearly 10,000 kilometers away in Hannover, Germany, had barely begun this week when it resulted in a financial bonanza for the central Mexican state of Querétaro, the recipient of 2.3 billion pesos (US $132.6 million) in new investment from several different European companies.
The combined investments are expected to generate 900 jobs, Querétaro’s state government said in a video posted on social media on Monday. And there could be more on the way in terms of investment and jobs, as Querétaro Sustainable Development Minister Marco Antonio del Prete Tercero has scheduled several more meetings at the prestigious Hannover Messe 2026, which runs through Friday, April 24.
¡Segundo día de estupendas noticias desde Alemania para #Querétaro!
Hoy anunciamos más proyectos de inversión que llegarán a nuestro estado, reconociendo el ecosistema económico, social e institucional que hemos construido juntos, y generando empleo para impulsar el desarrollo… pic.twitter.com/jleHsDKUY4
Leading the pack of investors was Siemens AG, an industry-oriented technology firm with a long presence in Mexico, which announced Monday that it will spend 1.3 billion pesos ($75 million) to expand its production capacity in Querétaro while creating 300 new jobs.
“Querétaro has become a key pillar for Siemens globally,” said Alejandro Preinfalk, the CEO of Siemens Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. “This investment not only expands our production capacity but also strengthens our position to support our customers in their transition to more digital, sustainable and resilient industries.”
The investment will add to the 1.8 billion pesos ($104 million) Siemens had already earmarked for Querétaro, bringing its total announced investment over the past year to more than 3 billion pesos ($173 million), and solidifying the state as a key advanced manufacturing hub for the firm.
Governor Mauricio Kuri González confirmed that the total of announced investments so far is 2.3 billion pesos and specifically thanked, in addition to Siemens, Hansa-Flex, Vibracoustic and ZF Group.
Available information does not tie any of those companies to a specific investment amount, but Andreas Temmen, vice president of Steering Operations at the German firm ZF Group, which supplies advanced products and systems for automotive mobility, commercial vehicles and industrial technology, stated at Hannover that his company plans to launch new projects in Querétaro.
Meanwhile, Merlin Naisar, the general manager of Hansa-Flex Mexico, a German supplier of hydraulic solutions, said that launching operations in Querétaro has placed the company closer to its customers.
Imagine a true North American energy platform: pipelines and power lines that treat the border like an extension cord, Mexican solar-plus-batteries firming up U.S. grids during peak demand, joint LNG terminals turning our combined gas into a global export weapon and harmonized rules that make investment boringly predictable. (Image courtesy of the author)
If we’re serious about painting the North American future we keep talking about — the one where Mexico supercharges U.S. growth, nearshoring turns into a continental manufacturing renaissance and we stop worrying about distant supply chains — then we have to start where everything else begins: energy.
Without it, there are no factories, no AI servers, no data centers, no EVs, no production, no jobs, no growth. Nada.
When we look at what’s happening in the Middle East and its implications for Asia, Europe and basically the entire planet, we’re facing a classic “tsunami moment.” The ocean pulls way back, the beach looks weirdly inviting and most people just stand there taking selfies instead of running for higher ground.
That’s exactly where we are with global energy. Tomas Pueyo laid it out in chilling detail: by 2050, the Middle East will be a geopolitical mess — civil wars in Iran, Kurdish breakaways, Iraqi splintering, Azerbaijan in flames — because the oil that funded everything is drying up. Europe and Asia, still hooked on those distant barrels, are about to get slammed (really, read Mr. Pueyo here). And if Mexico sits on its hands, Venezuela and Guyana (with their own massive reserves) will happily step in and become the region’s new energy and petro-suppliers.
Wake-up call, folks. The ocean is already receding.
But here’s the beautiful part: North America doesn’t have to play that game. We have something no other bloc can match: genuine regional complementarity that feels almost unfair.
The United States sits on world-leading natural gas production and enough reserves to power domestic needs and exports for decades. Canada holds the planet’s third-largest proven oil reserves. And Mexico? NREL’s numbers still blow my mind: more than 28,000 GW of technical renewable capacity across solar, wind, geothermal, and hydro. That’s enough to meet Mexico’s electricity needs a hundred times over. Put those three together and you get a perfectly balanced continental battery: U.S. gas for baseload reliability, Canadian oil for the heavy stuff, Mexican sunshine and wind for the cheap, scalable, zero-fuel-cost future.
Energy security? Check. Industrial competitiveness? Check. A real energy transition that doesn’t bankrupt anyone? Double check.
We’re already living the first draft of this story, and it’s working better than most people admit. Mexico imports 73% of its natural gas — 99% of that via pipeline straight from Texas. Those pipelines have grown 8.3% a year since Trump’s first term. Flip the script, and Mexico is America’s top export market for petroleum products, natural gas, refined fuels, and the fourth-biggest buyer of upstream oil-and-gas equipment. Texas producers literally need Mexican demand to keep associated-gas prices from cratering; U.S. liquefaction capacity covers only 9.5% of production. The old “U.S. deficit with Mexico” narrative? It flipped into a surplus years ago. You can read more about this in my previous essay on energy.
The Ember reports make the math deliciously clear.
Hitting 45% clean electricity by 2030 would cut Mexico’s gas imports for power generation by 20% and save US $1.6 billion a year. Falling battery prices turn Mexico’s world-class sunshine into dispatchable power that can replace imported U.S. gas entirely in many places.
Cheaper, cleaner energy in Mexico makes every nearshored factory more competitive. It powers semiconductor plants (Foxconn/Nvidia’s giant Guadalajara server assembly), the auto industry and the exploding data-center boom (Microsoft’s $1.3 billion, AWS’s $5 billion, ODATA’s 400 MW campus). Mexico needs energy capital investment ASAP!
Energy is the multiplier for everything else in our series. Dr. Luis de la Calle brings the argument home. He constantly highlights how Asia knows this game cold: they do 65% of their intermediate-goods trade inside the region; we’re stuck at 48%. If we want to compete with Asia, we must integrate vertically as a region. Energy is one of the three non-negotiable conditions (along with logistics and talent) for making that happen.
Without competitive, abundant, regionally sourced power, the rules-of-origin incentives in USMCA stay half-baked — even counterproductive. Asia’s dense energy-and-supply web keeps factories humming at low cost. We have the pipelines, the complementary resources, the rulebook and the geography — we just haven’t flipped the switch to “continental platform” yet.
That brings us to the rulebook itself: USMCA, our legal backbone. The agreement already treats energy trade as a complementary system, not a zero-sum fight. But Mexico’s latest energy reform has created real ambiguity in interpretation, and investors hate ambiguity more than they hate tariffs.
We need to use the 2026 review to lock in clarity: make sure the recent Mexican reforms align with USMCA, fast-track cross-border electricity and renewable projects and create joint incentives for transmission and distribution upgrades.
If Mexico sends the right messages on energy in the coming months, investment flows to the region will be unprecedented.
Mexico doesn’t just want to be the U.S.’s cheap assembly shop; it wants to be the reliable, high-value enabler that attracts the full nearshoring wave. That requires growing the energy matrix, hardening reliability and building the wires that let electrons flow both ways without drama.
So here’s the vision — the “Regional Utopia” part we keep circling back to in this essay series.
Imagine a true North American energy platform: pipelines and power lines that treat the border like an extension cord, Mexican solar-plus-batteries firming up U.S. grids during peak demand, joint LNG terminals turning our combined gas into a global export weapon and harmonized rules that make investment boringly predictable. Factories on both sides of the border run on the cheapest, cleanest electrons anywhere. American families pay lower prices at the pump and on their electric bills (American politicians, remember: “It’s the economy, stupid” — this actually yields votes). Mexican communities get jobs, tax revenue and a diversified economy that doesn’t rise and fall with oil alone.
It is obvious, besides, that energy cooperation strengthens U.S. economic and national security.
While the rest of the world fights over dwindling barrels and geopolitical tsunamis, North America builds something bigger: a shared energy future where the only “petrostate” left standing is the whole continent, humming along on solar, gas, wind, and sheer integration swagger. The powerhouse doesn’t need more power — it needs the right kind, sourced together, governed together, and grown together.
That’s not a utopian daydream. It’s the logical next chapter of the story we’ve already started writing. The documents are there, the pipelines are built, the money is ready and the 2026 USMCA review is the perfect moment to hit “publish.”Let’s not waste it.
Pedro Casas Alatriste is the Executive Vice President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (AmCham). Previously, he has been the Director of Research and Public Policy at the US-Mexico Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the Coordinator of International Affairs at the Business Coordinating Council (CCE). He has also served as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank. Follow his Substack here.
The MND ESPI score for Q1 2026 — was 88.97. (Mexico News Daily)
MND ESPI™ Q1 2026
Welcome to Mexico News Daily’s Inaugural Expat Safety Perceptions Index
The MND Expat Safety Perceptions Index (MND ESPI™) is a quarterly survey conducted exclusively with foreign nationals living in Mexico. It measures personal, lived safety experiences and perceptions — not Mexico’s general security situation or national crime statistics. The distinction matters: this survey asks how safe YOU feel in YOUR daily life in the community where you live, not how you feel about headlines from places you have never visited.
Why this survey exists and why it matters to you
If you have ever tried to explain to a friend or family member back home that you feel perfectly safe living in Mexico, you know the frustration. You describe your morning walk to the market, your evening out at a restaurant, your life, and they respond with a news clip about something violent that happened 800 miles away from where you live.
That gap between perception and reality is precisely what the MND ESPI™ was built to measure. With data from hundreds of foreign nationals living across Mexico, we can now replace anecdote with evidence. This is the first edition of what will become a quarterly benchmark. Every three months, we will ask the same questions of expats living across the country, building a trend line that documents how safety perceptions evolve over time. This survey does not intend to gloss over the prevailing security issues that impact a large sector of the Mexican population, such as organized crime, gender-based violence and kidnapping.
Who responded?
By our cutoff time, 773 people living in 29 of Mexico’s 32 states had responded to Mexico News Daily’s inaugural Expat Safety Perceptions Index (ESPI) survey.
The top six states where respondents live are Jalisco, Guanajuato, Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Mexico City and Quintana Roo. The top six cities/towns where respondents live are San Miguel de Allende, Puerto Vallarta (and nearby areas), Ajijic, Mexico City, Guadalajara and Mazatlán.
Over half of the respondents have lived in Mexico for 6+ years and more than three-quarters have lived here for 3+ years.
More than three-quarters of the respondents are aged 60 or over, while the remainder are younger. Fifty-five per cent of the respondents are men, while almost 45% are women.
The headline number: 88.97/100
The vast majority of respondents feel very safe in the Mexican city or town where they live. The average personal safety score — i.e., the MND ESPI score for Q1 2026 — was 88.97.
On a spectrum where 0 represents feeling completely unsafe and 100 represents feeling completely safe, the average foreign national living in Mexico scored their personal sense of daily safety at nearly 89 out of 100. That number sits firmly at the safe end of the scale — and it comes from people who live here, not people who are visiting.
How safe is Mexico compared to your home country?
Respondents, on average, generally feel safer in the Mexican town or city in which they live than in the place they most recently lived in their home country. The average score respondents chose on a 0-100 spectrum measuring their personal sense of safety in Mexico was 63.71. A score of 50 indicated that a person’s personal sense of safety in Mexico was “about the same” as in their home country, while a score of 0 represented “much less safe” and a score of 100 indicated “much safer.”
The data does not say Mexico has no crime. It says that for the foreign residents surveyed — the majority Americans — the daily experience of personal safety in Mexico compares favorably to what they left behind.
On Mexican police: Room to improve
Respondents, on average, think that Mexican security forces, including their local police, are only doing an average job. Asked to rate the responsiveness and effectiveness of police and other security forces in their community, the average rating of survey respondents was 3.1 stars out of five. While not a poor rating per se, it indicates that police and other security forces have plenty of scope for improvement. Many Mexicans would agree with that assessment.
The media gap: 26.55 out of 100
Most respondents think that the foreign media’s portrayal of Mexico is inaccurate.
On a scale where 100 means “foreign media coverage of Mexico is completely accurate” and 0 means “completely inaccurate,” the average score among survey respondents was 26.55.
What crimes do expats in Mexico report?
More than four in five respondents haven’t been a victim of crime in Mexico in the past 12 months, and neither has anyone in their immediate household.
Among those who did experience crime, the most common by far was petty theft — phone, wallet or bag. Smaller numbers reported fraud, home burglary, extortion, vehicle theft, verbal harassment and robbery with a weapon.
On bribery: Approximately 85% of respondents had not been asked to pay a bribe to a government employee or police officer in the past 12 months. Mexico’s reputation for bribery is well-established historically, but this data suggests the practice, at least as it affects the expat community, may be less prevalent today than the reputation implies.
What comes next
The MND ESPI™ will be published every quarter. Each edition will:
Track whether the composite safety score is rising, falling or holding steady.
Add city-level breakdowns as the respondent pool grows.
Connect the data to current events — including the Sheinbaum administration’s security initiatives — to provide context.
Expand the respondent base to make the findings more geographically representative with each edition. The more people who participate, the more powerful and credible the data becomes. A survey of 773 people is a strong start. A survey of 3,000 people, spread evenly across Mexico’s major expat communities, becomes something that real estate companies, government agencies, insurance firms, and international media organizations cannot ignore.
Participate in the next survey
The Q2 2026 MND ESPI™ survey opens in June. It takes less than five minutes and is completely anonymous.
If you live in Mexico — whether you responded to this survey or not — your participation in the next edition directly improves the quality of data available to every expat considering or already living here. You are not just answering questions. You are building the record that replaces sensationalized headlines with lived reality.
Know another expat who should see this report? Forward it. The conversation this data can start is only as wide as the people who know it exists.
The MND Expat Safety Perceptions Index™ (MND ESPI™) is a proprietary quarterly survey product of Mexico News Daily, published under MND Intelligence. Media organizations, research institutions and relocation companies wishing to cite or license MND ESPI data should contact nayelli.sanchez@mexiconewsdaily.com.
