More airports - in Uruapan, Palenque and Puebla - have been placed under Sedena control. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
The federal government has placed three additional airports under military control, further entrenching the prominent role the armed forces play in civilian life in Mexico.
The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) on Tuesday published documents in the government’s official gazette that grant control of the airports in Uruapan, Michoacán; Palenque, Chiapas; and Puebla to the Olmeca-Maya-Mexica Airport, Railroad and Auxiliary Services Group, a state-owned company run by the National Defense Ministry (Sedena).
The military has become increasingly involved in the operation of almost all major Mexican transport hubs. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
Those airports were previously operated by other state-owned companies.
The SICT also published a “concession title” that places the airport in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, under the control of the Mexican Touristic Airport Group, another state-owned company that operates the airport in Tepic, Nayarit.
The Olmeca-Maya-Mexica group – which already operates a number of other Mexican airports and will control the Tulum airport once it opens – will take charge of the airports in Uruapan, Palenque and Puebla for an indefinite period of time.
Among the airports that Sedena already operates via the state-owned company or independently are the Felipe Ángeles International Airport, which the army built during the current government, and the airports in Nuevo Laredo, Campeche and Chetumal. The newspaper El Financiero reported that the army will now control 12 airports across Mexico.
The National Defense Ministry already controls operations at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in Mexico City. (AIFA/Instagram)
In addition to operating airports, Sedena will soon launch a new state-owned airline to operate under the long-dormant Mexicana de Aviación brand.
The military has been given a wide range of non-traditional tasks during the current government, including public security, infrastructure construction and the management of customs and ports.
Sedena also controls the state-owned company that will operate the Maya Train railroad, which is set to begin operations next month. The navy will take charge of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor, which will include a modernized train line between Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, and Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, that is set to begin operations in December.
The rail service in the new Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor will be run by the navy. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
López Obrador said earlier this year that the military is a “fundamental pillar of the Mexican state,” but denied claims that he has militarized Mexico during his presidency.
“Despite what our adversaries maintain, … it’s important to point out that the greater participation of the armed forces in security tasks doesn’t imply authoritarianism or militarization … of the country,” he said during an Army Day address in February.
“… It has been proven that society feels safer and more protected with the army’s fulfillment of this mission. In other words, people feel that a soldier is one of them in uniform … and – like the majority of Mexicans – maintains a great reserve of cultural, moral and spiritual values,” López Obrador added.
Ten tombs, containing the rremains of five people, were found in Chapultepec park earlier this year. They are believed to date back at least 3,500 years. (INAH)
Archaeologists have discovered a series of 3,500-year-old graves on the edge of Mexico City’s Chapultepec Park, theNational Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) revealed last Friday.
The discovery occurred earlier this year, during construction work on Line 3 of the Cablebus, near Avenida Constituyentes.
The site in the park where the graves are being excavated. (INAH)
The graves include ten truncated conical tombs, half of them containing human remains – four women and one man, most of them young adults. They are believed to come from a large village that existed in the Lomas de Chapultepec area during the Early and Middle Preclassic periods (2,500-400 B.C.).
“This community was living here before the eruption of the Xitle volcano and the formation of the Pedregal de Coyoacán [lava fields]. And this subsoil was preserved intact for more than 3,000 years. It’s fantastic!” said the excavation coordinator, María de Lourdes López Camacho.
Xitle’s last major eruption was in around 245-315 A.D., when it destroyed the city of Cuicuilco, an important archaeological site in what is now the borough of Tlalpan.
The discovery of these tombs provides further evidence of the early human habitation of the area, after a collection of objects from the same era was discovered last year.
The tombs are not the first evidence of burials in the area. Work on the Cablebus unearthed a conquest-era graveyard in the forest earlier this year. (INAH)
Most of the burial chambers are between one and two meters in diameter, with a maximum height of 1.5 meters. They are known as botellón or bell tombs, due to their inverted conical shape.
“It is a very particular funerary architecture,” López Camacho said. “Examples of these tombs have been found in other areas of Mexico such as the Gulf Coast and the West; they have also been found in the present-day states of México and Morelos, and there are records of them in the south, north and east of the México Basin. ”
Archeologists also discovered a series of later burials at the site, demonstrating a prolonged history of habitation.
Both sets of tombs contained a series of objects left as offerings, including tools carved from deer antlers, a cup, and numerous female figurines. All of these have been taken to the National Museum of History in Chapultepec Castle for further study.
Building work around Chapultepec Park has exposed a rich series of historical finds over recent years. In February, archaeologists performing pre-construction restoration work in the park discovered a16th-Century cemetery, dating from less than 100 years after the Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlán.
Bety González and Ale Valladares met in Argentina four years ago and now run their own empanada business in San Miguel de Allende. (María Rosario Ruíz)
At Mexico News Daily we like to tell stories of dreamers who decide to become entrepreneurs in Mexico because this is a great country where everyone can create their opportunities.
San Miguel de Allende is a great example of this, where people of different nationalities and cultures arrive in search of the “Mexican dream” to undertake and create their own success stories. Such is the case of Bety González and Alejandro Valladares, a Mexican-Argentine couple who decided to share a little piece of Argentina with the people of San Miguel.
Spinach, meat, bacon, cheese, corn, chicken, apple with cinnamon, strawberry with cream cheese… More than 14 fillings to delight you. (Photo: María Rosario Ruiz)
How it all began
Bety González, a Mexican from Tampico, Tamaulipas, gradually became attracted to Argentine culture. When she saw the opportunity to move to the South American country to study for a master’s degree, she didn’t think twice. An industrial engineer by profession, Bety always had a passion for cooking. The Argentina-born Alejandro Valladares – Ale – is a lover of craft beer and gastronomy. In 2019, destiny joined their paths in Buenos Aires.
Connected by their love for food, they decided to start a business together. Bety was already running Cualli, a gourmet taco business named for a Nahuatl word meaning “good.” Ale, on the other hand, had his own brand of beer that he was looking to sell. There was no better combination: tacos and craft beer.
Everything was going well… until the pandemic hit. Like so many others, Bety and Ale had to change their plans. They decided to move back to Bety’s home country. Where before Bety had brought Mexican food to Argentina, this time she and Ale were bringing Argentine cuisine to Mexico.
The couple decided to settle in Querétaro, where they ran their business for nine months without much success. One day, they visited San Miguel de Allende, fell in love with the city and without a second’s hesitation decided to move their business.
Right from the start, their business, called Viento Sur, was welcomed with open arms by both the Mexican and foreign communities. Bety and Ale immediately felt at home because of the kindness of the sanmiguelenses and their interest in trying food from around the world.
The most popular empanadas in town
Viento Sur makes typical Argentine empanadas, with more than a dozen kinds of fillings, from spicy beef to corn (choclo). For Bety and Ale, homemade flavor is very important. To keep them fresh, Bety prepares fillings from scratch every day, as well as discos– the empanada dough.
Every day, Bety hand-prepares the dough for fresh empanadas. (María Rosario Ruiz)
In Argentina it’s as easy to find empanada discos as it is to find tortillas in Mexico; getting your hands on discos in Mexico, however, is a different story. The pre-made empanada dough sold here isn’t fresh and is full of preservatives. To maintain the quality they’re known for, Bety and Ale decided to make their discos from scratch to keep the quality that identifies them.
In addition to empanadas, Viento Sur sells plates of pasta with an Argentine touch, salads, and alfajores, made with authentic Argentine ingredients.
A perfect duo
Being spouses and business partners is not easy, but Bety and Ale have learned to maintain a balance between work and marriage. From the beginning, each of them has had their own tasks: Bety prepares the fillings like an authentic Argentine, while Ale is in charge of hand-folding each empanada, as well as administration and delivery service.
Ale is responsible for meticulously hand-folding every empanada, paying close attention to every detail. (María Rosario Ruiz)
Ale says that he’d never made an empanada before opening Viento Sur. One day, watching Bety struggle to fold an empanada, Ale decided to take the initiative; with natural talent and great skill, he folded the pastry as if he’d been doing it all his life. Nowadays, Ale is in charge of stuffing the empanadas with filling and giving them their finishing touches.
Both recognize the difficulties but have enjoyed the process of starting a business together. Every day, they say, they get to know each other a little better and to be the best team.
The next step
Bety and Ale have many plans for the future. They want to get a bigger place to offer an authentic Argentine experience in San Miguel: Argentine music and decoration and a larger menu with asado and picadas. They also plan to offer a space for cultural exchange, where Mexicans and foreigners can dance, sing and share.
You can find Bety and Ale at Viento Sur, at Calzada de la Luz 90, in downtown San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Reachable on Facebook as Viento Sur Empanadas and by phone at 442 171 5586, they’ll be happy to meet you and maybe even share a mate with you.
It is time to pay attention to Mexico’s original spirit. (Canva)
Mezcal is a universe of spirits
Whiskey is made from 4 or 5 types of grain. Tequila from a single variety of agave. But mezcal? Some say there are 30 varieties of agave that will render it, others 40, some 50. Honestly, I don’t think anyone knows for sure, but the variety of flavors and characteristics mezcal offers is nothing short of extraordinary. Over the past 9 years, I’ve introduced many people to mezcal, and the number of times they move from, “Oh, I don’t like mezcal,” to “Wait. This is mezcal? It’s amazing!” is way beyond my ability to count.
This is partly because mezcal is so diverse in flavor. Agave plant varieties like Tepextate yield a verdant herbal distillation. A Madrecuixe agave is normally earthy and complex. Then there’s the Sacatoro agave, which produces a tangy, mildly sweet final product. You have to stop thinking mezcal is a spirit. It’s not. It truly is a universe of spirits. Saying you don’t like mezcal is sort of like saying you don’t like food!
Mezcal may be the healthiest spirit
Let’s get real: it’s a stretch to call any alcohol “healthy.” That said, you’ll find no shortage of doctors and health gurus suggesting that agave spirits are among the cleanest and, thus, least problematic.
Jonathan Lockwood at “Mezcal Desde la Eternidad” in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca.
Terpenes are natural plant compounds believed to carry health benefits. There are at least six noteworthy terpenes in mezcal. Some can have mild anti-depressant effects, others may relax the muscles lining blood vessels, and some have anti-inflammatory properties. Of course, they exist in pretty small amounts, so it’s not definitive. But having spent plenty of time with mezcaleros in the campo, I can assure you they are confident in mezcal’s positive properties. Further, agave sugar is agavin, a natural fructose with molecules linked by long chains. As such, they are a non-digestible dietary fiber that won’t raise blood sugar levels—but are still sweet in flavor and fermentable. My question: while agave sugar has healthy characteristics, by the time the plant is distilled into a spirit, there should be no sugars left, right? Aren’t all pure spirits zero carbs? Therefore, I remain a bit skeptical that this necessarily makes it healthier.
I’ve reached out to quite a few doctors who’ve been quoted in various articles in this regard without receiving a reply. I suspect there’s something I’m missing on this. I’ll let you know when I find out.
Unique chemistry means fewer hangovers
Building on the healthy aspect, congeners are byproducts of fermentation, which provide countless flavors and aromas but also hangovers. Generally, the darker the spirit, the more congeners and, thus, the worse your hangover.
There’s one study in which participants drank either bourbon or a clear spirit, and the bourbon group reported much more severe hangovers.It’s no wonder: the study found barrel-aged bourbon has 37 times as many congeners as vodka. Thirty-seven times?! It’s true that if I’m drinking mezcal with a lot of beer, this is less noticeable. But my friends and I swear that an evening of clean artisanal mezcal produces either no hangover or at least the mildest one of all.
The traditional manufacturing process
Not to insult whiskey or rum manufacturers, but when you visit an artisanal mezcal palenque, you can watch it being made in almost exactly the same way it was over 300 years ago. Harvesting huge agaves from the fields, roasting them in the ground for days, using a horse-pulled stone wheel to crush them, I just feel so privileged to look in on this process.
Yes, larger commercial producers have eliminated some of these charming aspects, but the more you come to appreciate the finer points of this remarkable spirit, the more it’s impossible not to conclude that the traditional way is best. No wonder they continue it!
It’s all a fascinating trip back in time. And when a mezcalero pours you something he made, explaining the intricacies of his process for that particular distillation, you can’t help but be enchanted by it all!
Mezcal provides an exuberant buzz
Maybe it’s all those possibly positive health aspects we already addressed or maybe it’s something naturally magical, but for my mezcal maniac friends and I? Nothing gives us a more buoyant buzz than this spirit! Sometimes, I swear my vision improves after a shot or two. I’m relaxed, I’m smiling, and just enthusiastic. Maybe one day, some biochemist will finally land on why, but when that day comes, I may not be able to resist an “I told you so!”
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: before becoming a true mezcal aficionado, you must know what to look for. Wait for my next article on how to order mezcal.
If you happen through San Miguel de Allende, make sure to shoot me a message. My wife and I would love to have you over for a mezcal tasting. ¡Salud!
Jonathan Lockwood is an American Voice Talent living in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He is also a Mezcal Lover, Explorer, and Collector and writes the Mezcal Maniac Substack. Read and subscribe here: https://mezcalmaniac.substack.com.
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox was suspended on the social media platform X after a controversial post. (ANDREA MURCIA /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
The X (formerly Twitter) account of Vicente Fox has been suspended after the former president described the wife of Nuevo León Governor and presidential aspirant Samuel García as an “escort.”
Fox, president of Mexico between 2000 and 2006, called Mariana Rodríguez a “dama de compañia,” or escort, on the social media platform last week.
Samuel García with his wife Mariana Rodríguez and daughter Mariel. (Samuel García/X)
Rodríguez hit back at the 81-year-old ex-president, telling him on X that she is not an escort, but “a woman, university graduate, entrepreneur, wife and mother.”
“I will not allow you to speak to me or any other woman like that. We’re not accessories or objects. … What you did is called violence,” she wrote last Saturday.
Three days later, Fox’s X account disappeared from the social media site purchased by Elon Musk in late 2022.
Former first lady Marta Sahagún issued a statement on behalf of her husband, in which Fox said that his account – which had some 1.5 million followers – had been suspended “without any notice and in an arbitrary way.”
“We’re working to resolve this problem,” said the ex-president, who had been taking aim at García on X shortly before his account became inactive.
As of midday Tuesday, the message “This account doesn’t exist” still appeared below the @vicentefoxque X handle.
Fox is well known for using blunt, colorful and derogatory language, both on and off social media.
On X, he has called President López Obrador “autistic” and described presidential aspirant Claudia Sheinbaum as “Jewish and foreign at the same time.”
In a 2018 interview, Fox called Donald Trump a “wild beast,” and on social media the same year he told the then U.S. president that his mouth was “the foulest shithole in the world.”
It was unclear who at X took the decision to suspend Fox’s account. There was some speculation that the ex-president deleted it himself, but his statement appeared to debunk that idea.
Chinese companies made 19 investment announcements totaling US $8.14 billion between January and November 2023, so, why isn't China considered among Mexico's top 10 investors? (Wikimedia Commons)
When the Economy Ministry (SE) published foreign direct investment (FDI) data earlier this month, one country was conspicuous by its absence in the list of the top 10 investors in Mexico in the first nine months of 2023.
The United States was there, of course, occupying its entrenched position at the top of the list.
President López Obrador met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November of this year. (Facebook/Andrés Manuel López Obrador)
Spain was there, Germany was there, Japan was there, Canada was there, but China — the world’s second-largest country and an emerging superpower — was not.
That was surprising because numerous Chinese companies have announced investments or started operations in Mexico this year: Noah Itech in January, Xusheng in May, Asiaway in June, to name a few.
So why did China fail to crack the top 10 when, as the Economist reported last weekend, “Chinese investments have been pouring into Mexico lately”?
In this article, I’ll seek to answer that question and explore a couple of other issues related to Chinese investment in Mexico.
Investment announcements don’t immediately show up in FDI data
According to Integralia, a Mexico City-based consultancy that tracks foreign investment in Mexico, Chinese companies made 19 investment announcements totaling US $8.14 billion between January and November.
In the Economy Ministry’s FDI data for the first nine months of the year, Chinese investment wasn’t even reported as it was below the $500 million threshold required to get into the top 10.
Based on the $8.14 billion figure — which takes new (as yet unrealized) investment announcements and facility inauguration announcements into account — China is currently the second largest foreign investor in Mexico behind the United States.
Former Nuevo León Governor and presidential hopeful Samuel García with executives of the Lingong Machinery Group, which announced an investment of US $5 billion in the northern state. (Nuevo León state government)
However, money tied to investment announcements — including US $5 billion announced by Lingong Machinery Group last month — takes time to show up in SE data as the funds don’t immediately flow into the country, and in some cases never arrives because the project is canceled before it begins.
As Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base, noted on the X social media platform on Monday: “There are a lot of announcements, but that doesn’t equal investment.”
Of course, Lingong’s $5 billion announcement couldn’t show up in the SE’s data for the first nine months of the year because it was made in October. It will likely take a considerable amount of time before the entire investment amount is reflected in official statistics.
The government of Nuevo León — a nearshoring hotspot that is popular with Chinese investors — “says billions in investments that have been announced there are not yet reflected in FDI figures and exports,” according to a Financial Times report published Sunday.
Some Chinese money is never counted as such
Some Chinese investment in Mexico isn’t reflected in SE data because the money comes into the country via United States subsidiaries of Chinese companies, according to Enrique Dussel Peters, an economist and coordinator of the Center for Chinese-Mexican Studies (Cechimex) at the National Autonomous University.
The FDI inflow is thus recorded as coming from the United States, when for all intents and purposes the money came from China.
Between 2001 and late 2022, the Economy Ministry recorded some $3 billion in Chinese FDI to Mexico, but according to Cechimex, the real figure for that period is around $17 billion.
“It’s almost six times higher!” Dussel told the El País newspaper. “It’s not 10% more or 5% more, but 500% more.”
This graphic shows FDI in Mexico by country of origin in the first nine months of 2023. (SE)
The establishment of joint ventures between Chinese and Mexican companies can also skew Chinese FDI figures in Mexico.
Why Mexico? Why now?
The Economist reported Saturday that “Chinese companies’ heightened interest in Mexico dates to 2018 when Donald Trump, America’s president at the time, launched a trade war that included raising tariffs on imports from China.”
U.S. President Joe Biden has kept those tariffs in place, and his “America-first policies, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, are encouraging companies to consider ‘nearshoring’ in North America, in large part to thwart China,” the London-based publication said.
“The irony,” Dussel Peters told The Economist, “is that the first to react positively to an explicit policy against China are Chinese firms.”
Mexico courted Chinese investment in 2008 when the Mexico-China Chamber of Commerce and Technology organized a series of events, but the attempt to attract more Chinese capital was unsuccessful, according to the chamber’s vice president César Fragozo.
“Back then,” The Economist reported, “China had no need to use Mexico as a way into America, which had yet to turn its back on Chinese companies.”
But 10 years later, with Trump in the White House, things changed. In the years since 2018, Mexico has become more attractive than China for many manufacturers for a variety of reasons, including geopolitical ones, rising wages and costs in China, supply chain issues and other factors related to the COVID pandemic.
Mexico gives China “a back door” into the United States because along with the U.S. and Canada it is party to the USMCA free trade pact, The Economist noted.
The United States has been much less friendly to Chinese companies in recent years, whereas Mexico has focused on strengthening relations with the eastern giant. (@POTUS/X)
“Depending on what components they use, Chinese companies based in Mexico cannot enjoy all the benefits of the trading bloc, whose rules dictate what percentage of a product must originate in North America. But, Mr. Dussel Peters notes, the average American tariff on imports from Mexico in 2021 was 0.2%, far lower than on those from China,” the publication said.
The Economist also noted that Chinese investors “have learned to deal with the challenges of working in Mexico, such as insecurity and poor infrastructure.”
Is increased Chinese investment a threat to the Mexico-U.S. relationship?
A growing Chinese presence in Mexico “could backfire if it raises tensions with the United States,” The Economist reported.
Some U.S. lawmakers have already expressed their dissatisfaction with the presence of export-oriented Chinese companies in Mexico.
A bipartisan group of United States representatives wrote to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai earlier this month to urge the Biden administration to raise the current 25% tariff on Chinese vehicles and request that it be ready to “address the coming wave of [Chinese] vehicles that will be exported from our other trading partners, such as Mexico, as [Chinese] automakers look to strategically establish operations outside of [China] to take advantage of preferential access to the U.S. market through our free trade agreements and circumvent any [China]-specific tariffs.”
“Indeed, [Chinese] automakers BYD, Chery, and SAIC Motors have already established themselves in Mexico,” the lawmakers continued.
A growing Chinese presence in Mexico could backfire if it raises tensions with the United States. (Margarito Pérez Retana/Cuartoscuro)
The four members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party including chairman Mike Gallagher also said in their letter that they are “concerned by how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is preparing to flood the United States and global markets with automobiles, particularly electric vehicles, propped up by massive subsidies and long-standing localization and other discriminatory policies employed by the PRC.”
“… We look forward to USTR’s response on whether the current rules of origin in our trade agreements need to be strengthened and what other policy tools are needed to prevent the PRC from gaining a backdoor to the U.S. market through our key trading partners,” they said.
The Economist said that if China “is too successful in skirting tariffs it may find its back door as well as the front entrance slammed shut.”
Writing in Mexico News Daily last month, Travis Bembenek argued that Chinese investment in Mexico “is a good thing” in a scenario in which China and North America “soon return to ‘normal’ relations in which there is good communication, trust, and cooperation between both regions.”
However, if Sino-North American relations further deteriorate, “North American countries need to urgently get more serious and coordinated with a plan for Chinese investment into the region,” the MND CEO wrote.
If the United States-China relationship worsens — in spite of Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco earlier this month — and Mexico, in the absence of a regional plan, continues to welcome Chinese companies while defending their right to benefit from the USMCA, it is conceivable that Chinese investment here could indeed put a strain on the bilateral relations between Mexico and the U.S.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])
An avocado packer sorts produce destined for export in Michoacán. (Cuartoscuro)
Mexico is on track to record its best year ever for exports after the value of shipments sent abroad in October increased 5.6% compared to the same month of 2022.
Mexican exports were worth US $51.97 billion in October, the national statistics agency INEGI reported Monday, lifting the cumulative total for 2023 to $493.51 billion.
The figure for the first 10 months of the year is a record high and an improvement of 3% compared to the same period of 2022.
Auto sector drives export growth in October
INEGI data shows that oil exports increased 14.1% annually in October to $3.19 billion, while non-oil exports rose 5.1% to $48.77 billion. The latter contributed to around 94% of Mexico’s export total last month.
Manufacturing exports increased 5.3% in October to $46.37 billion, equivalent to 89% of the total and 95% of the non-oil total.
Revenue from automotive exports increased to US $17.66 billion in October. (Gob MX)
Within that category, auto exports surged 20.9% to $17.66 billion while non-auto exports fell 2.5% to $28.7 billion.
Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base, said that the auto sector export growth could have been higher if auto workers in the U.S. hadn’t gone on strike between mid September and late October.
“It was a good month, but it could have been better,” she said.
Agricultural exports spiked 12.3% to $1.71 billion in October, while mining exports decreased 15.1% to $698.8 million.
Mining exports from Mexico declined in October (above is the Peñasquito gold mine in Zacatecas). (ADOLFO VLADIMIR /CUARTOSCURO.COM)
INEGI noted that avocado exports were up 37.6% compared to October 2022, while shipments of citrus fruits and tomatoes increased 32.4% and 20.9%, respectively.
In contrast, exports of raw coffee beans and frozen shrimp both declined by over 60% on an annual basis.
A good year for Mexico’s automotive industry
Non-oil exports contributed to 94% of the $493.51 billion in export revenue in the first 10 months of the year. They increased 4.5% to $465.33 billion, while oil exports declined 16.3% to $28.17 billion.
Manufacturing exports increased 4.5% to reach $439.44 billion. Auto exports also drove the export growth recorded between January and October, increasing 15.2% to $156.61 billion. Non-auto manufacturing exports fell 0.6% to $282.83 billion.
Mexico’s agricultural exports increased 4.3% to $18.08 billion, while mining exports rose by the same percentage to reach $7.8 billion.
Most Mexican exports go to the US
INEGI data shows that just over 83% of Mexico’s export income is derived from shipments sent to the United States. Just under 17% comes from exports sent to the rest of the world, including Canada, China, Germany and South Korea.
Imports up in October, but down so far this year
The value of imports to Mexico rose 1.8% annually in October to $52.22 billion. The import of intermediate goods – inputs used in the production of other goods – contributed to about three-quarters of that amount, while consumer goods accounted for around 15%.
The value of imports between January and October was $503.84 billion, a 0.6% decline compared to the same period of 2022. The contributions of intermediate goods and consumer goods to the total was very similar to that seen in October.
Fuel imports declined 29.3% to $45.57 billion in the first 10 months of the year, allowing Mexico to record a slight decrease in its overall spending on foreign goods. President López Obrador is aiming to make Mexico self-sufficient for fuel, but the data shows there is still some way to go.
Mexico’s oil imports declined 29.3% this year. President López Obrador’s administration has prioritized reducing Mexico’s dependence on fuel imports, with projects like the Dos Bocas refinery in Tabasco. (Gob MX)
Non-oil imports – made more accessible to Mexican consumers due to the appreciation of the peso this year – increased 3.6% between January and October.
A declining trade deficit
Mexico recorded a trade deficit of $10.33 billion between January and October, a reduction of 62.7% compared to that recorded for the same period of 2022.
The deficit in October was $252.5 million, a drop of 87.9% compared to a year earlier.
With 182 museums, you could spend a decade getting to know all of the art and history collections in Mexico City. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico City tops the list of the world’s best cities for culture, according to a Time Out magazine ranking that surveyed 21,000 city-dwellers around the globe.
The Time Out methodology involved quizzing locals on their city’s best cultural attractions, then asking them to score its overall cultural offering on quality and affordability.
The National Cinematheque in southern Mexico City is a symbol of the city’s cultural scene. (Denisse Hernández Rubio/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico City came out triumphant, leading a Top 10 list of cities that also included Prague, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Athens, Edinburgh, Vienna, Madrid, Florence and Melbourne.
CDMX residents heaped praise on the city’s museum scene which, according to thecapital government’s listing, now includes a whopping 182 museums, spanning all subjects from pre-Columbian archaeology, to contemporary art, to planetary science.
Many of these museums are either permanently free or offer free entry on Sundays to Mexican residents, and several are housed in spectacular buildings that are attractions in themselves, including the neo-baroque Palacio de Bellas Artes and the ultra-modern Museo Soumaya.
Residents of CDMX also called attention to the capital’s unique street parades, variety of quirky, colonial and modern architecture, and its theater scene.
“What captivates me most is the diversity and vitality of the arts scene,” said Mauricio Nava, editor at Time Out Mexico City. In particular, he highlighted the Kurimanzutto contemporary art gallery in San Miguel Chapultepec, the iconic Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacán, and the Festival del Centro music, theater and dance event in April.
“CDMX is always redefining the boundaries of creativity, and that’s what makes it so vibrant,” Nava concluded.
Mexico City is not the only Mexican destination to top global travel lists. Last year, Time Out ranked Guadalajara’sColonia Americana district as the coolest neighborhood in the world, and readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine votedSan Miguel de Allende the world’s best small city – for the fifth time.
Xóchitl Gálvez, who represents the PAN-PRI-PRD coalition in the 2024 presidential election, is known for wearing traditional huipiles at campaign events. How else is fashion playing a part on the political scene? (Denisse Hernández/Cuartoscuro)
The politics of fashion (and the fashion of politics) have been part of human culture since ancient times. From inspiring awe or exalting wealth, to preserving tradition or signaling rebellion, clothing has always been an integral part of political vocabulary.
In the United States, contemporary political fashion – for men and women – is mostly homogenous. There are some exceptions that break the rules, like John Fetterman in his shorts and hoodies or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “tax the rich” evening gown, but the uniform doesn’t vary much.
A surprisingly short time ago, women wearing pants in Congress was considered a faux pas – Senator Barbara Mikulski said it was as if she was “walking on the moon” when she became the first woman legislator to wear trousers on the Senate floor in 1993 – but now the pantsuit is standard-issue, even if it is also often derided. Two candidates may hold polar opposite positions or represent states on opposite coasts, but wear almost identical attire.
Political fashion in Mexico, however, is more colorful.
For the first time, the candidates representing the country’s major parties are women, and their fashion choices are inevitably subject to increased scrutiny. The third aspirant, Samuel García, mostly dresses as if for a boardroom, but has stirred up some controversy with his expressions of regional norteño identity – in September, he posted on X that he would soon be getting cowboy boots and a hat for his baby daughter Mariel, but “no huipiles.”
How do the candidates’ style differences speak to their supporters? How are the complexities of Mexican identity playing out in campaign wardrobes? Are these politicians guilty of cultural appropriation?
Citizens Movement 2024 candidate and Nuevo León’s former governor Samuel García often wears cowboy boots and other clothing identified with northern Mexico. (Samuél Garcia/Cuartoscuro)
Let’s take a short tour of fashion in Mexican politics by way of two distinctive garments: the guayabera and the huipil.
How the guayabera became a populist Latin American symbol
The origins of this linen, pleated tunic-like shirt for men are mysterious. However, by the 18th century, they were being manufactured and worn in Cuba and then imported later to the Yucatán peninsula. Mérida became the “capital” of this iconic garment of the Caribbean in Mexico.
They were not initially worn by wealthy men, but by field laborers, which has contributed to their popularity with populist leaders. In Mexico, the first president to wear them regularly was Luis Echeverría (1970-1976), and the shirt became not only part of the Mexican political wardrobe, but more broadly, a symbol of Latin American leftist politics. Fidel and Raúl Castro both favored guayaberas (once Fidel set aside the fatigues), and Hugo Chávez was rumored to wear a bullet-proof one.
President López Obrador is a fan of the guayabera shirt, which has been part of Mexican presidential wardrobes since the 1970s. (Andrés Manuel López Obrador/X)
While all Mexican presidents since Echeverría have donned the guayabera for some official events – particularly when visiting tropical regions – and gifted them to visiting dignitaries (yes, both George Bush Sr. and Jr. have donned one), President López Obrador is definitely the shirt’s biggest presidential fan in recent history.
He wears plain or embroidered guayaberas on many of his weekend tours of the country, when visiting his administration’s signature infrastructure projects like the Maya Train or the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor. Of course, both of these are in southern states with hot, humid climates. You could say that AMLO’s more south-facing presidency is reflected in his wardrobe.
The huipil as representation of Mexican identity
While the guayabera has been part of presidential garb in Mexico for decades, the huipil has not. Mexico’s first ladies have only worn it occasionally, such as on visits to Indigenous communities. But in this election season dominated by women, it has been described as the “other protagonist” of the campaigns.
This garment has many centuries of history throughout pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America, worn by women of high and low social status. The design varies by region, but in essence, the huipil (from Náhutal huipilli, which means shirt or dress) is made of rectangles of embroidered fabric, and worn as a tunic top. They were made originally on backstrap looms, woven from cotton or jute fibers, though after the Spanish conquest, wool and silk were also used.
Today, variations of this garment are worn in Indigenous communities across Mexico, with different styles associated with specific events or social status. You can find designer huipiles for hundreds of dollars at department stores, or handmade ones at a village market.
The Broad Front for Mexico (FAM) opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez appears to have a never-ending supply of long huipiles in every hue, wearing them even to ride her bicycle on the streets of Mexico City.
Gálvez’s background is Otomí, an Indigenous group in central Mexico, but she has not always worn traditional clothing. When she served as the head of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples Development in former president Vicente Fox’s administration, and later as the mayor of Miguel Hidalgo borough in Mexico City, she often wore more modern attire.
The 2024 Morena party candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, has also taken to wearing huipiles at political rallies, though she still frequently appears in modern pantsuits and dresses. She is also more likely to pair a short huipil as a blouse with trousers or jeans, rather than the long style over a skirt, like Gálvez.
Morena candidate Claudia Sheinbaum has also worn traditional garments on the campaign trail. (Claudia Sheinbaum/X)
Sheinbaum’s grandparents emigrated to Mexico from Europe (Bulgaria and Lithuania) in the 1920s and 1940s, and she was born into a secular Jewish household. While she responded to social media rumors earlier this year about her birthplace by posting a photo of her birth certificate and stating “I’m more Mexican than mole!”, wearing the huipil is another visual way to reinforce this national identity – even though her ancestors would not have worn it.
“I wear the textiles of the original peoples of Mexico with emotion and pride,” Sheinbaum posted on Friday, along with a video with Indigenous tzeltal artisans. “…I am proud to be Mexican.”
The huipil as a symbol of Mexican national, rather than ethnic, identity is a delicate one.
When worn by politicians, they allude to an illustrious Indigenous heritage of creativity and artistry, and to a folkloric vision of national identity. But does this mean they are using the huipil as a patriotic costume, appropriating a way of dress that is wholly disconnected from the experiences of most Indigenous women today? Or does it finally give these communities a visibility long-denied?
Throughout its long history, the huipil has undoubtedly represented myriad things to the people who wear it, but since the Spanish conquest, there is one thing it has never symbolized: power. Perhaps that is changing.
Mariel Colón, former lawyer for "El Chapo", said that working for the drug lord "definitely" opened doors for her in the music world. (renedelvalleb/X)
Mariel Colón Miró, who by age 26 had already worked as a lawyer for the Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera and the late American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is making a name for herself as a ranchera singer.
In February of this year, the 31-year-old Puerto Rico native who grew up in the Mexican state of Durango released her debut single, “La Abogada” (“The Lawyer”). This fall, Colón has performed the song in several venues around Los Angeles, along with new releases “No Ha Nacido Otra” (“Another Girl Has Yet to Be Born”), “Te Perdí” (“I Lost You”) and “Encubiertos” (“Undercover”).
Mariel La Abogada debuted her first single, “La Abogada,” in February (mariellaabogada/Instagram)
In September, La Abogada sang her first single at a concert billed as “Celebrating the Patriotic Holidays of Mexico” at a venue in Lynwood, California. There, Colón was accompanied by one of her clients, former Mexican teen beauty queen and wife of “El Chapo” Emma Coronel, who had been released from prison only days earlier.
Since that first concert, Colón has performed at least 10 shows, according to her Instagram.
Colón has compared singing on stage in a club to making an appearance in court. “You have an audience, which is the judge and jury, and you have to convince them of a story,” she explained in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Another point in common? “Both are worlds led by men,” said the New York–based lawyer.
Colón poses for a selfie with her client and wife of El Chapo, Emma Coronel. (mariellaabogada/Instagram)
In her video for “La Abogada,” Colón portrays an attorney who falls in love with her accused client. “Good morning your honor, may I speak? Today I’m here to defend my heart,” she sings to the sound of trumpets and accordions. Ranchera-style music is iconically Mexican, with strong, emotional lyrics and deep, vibrant instrumentation.
Colón’s passion for music started early and was influenced by her father, Héctor Colón, a former music director and drummer for Menudo, a famous Puerto Rican boy band that has been active since 1977.
Insisting she isn’t abandoning the law for music, Colón said her intent is to balance both professions, stating on Univision’s show Despierta América, “The lawyer is still there. The singer is not going to eat the lawyer, nor the lawyer the singer. Both are going to coexist.”
In 2017, four months out of law school in New York but not yet licensed, Colón replied to a Craigslist ad seeking a Spanish-speaking paralegal. She got the job, which called for her to speak extensively with “El Chapo,” the notorious leader of the Sinaloa cartel who was awaiting trial in the U.S. In 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison.
Colón replied “Definitely!” when asked if working for “El Chapo” opened doors for her in the music industry. Emma Coronel often touts Colón’s singing abilities to her 788,000 Instagram followers.
Colón also has represented Rubén “El Menchito” Oseguera Gonzáles, a high-ranking member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and was part of Epstein’s defense team before the convicted sex offender committed suicide in 2019.
