Seojin Mobility representatives at the groundbreaking ceremony last week for the Korean company's first plant in Mexico. (Seojin Mobility Mexico)
Korean electric motor manufacturer Seojin Mobility will invest US $300 million in its first Mexico plant, which is now under construction in the northern state of Nuevo León.
Reforma newspaper reported that the first stage of construction is expected to be completed by February 2025 at a cost of $200 million, while the second $100 million phase will involve the construction of hybrid motors. The Korean electric vehicle (EV) supplier anticipates the plant, once operational, will create 300 jobs.
Byung Hyuk Kang, general director of Seojin Mobility México, and José Antonio Quiroga, the local municipal president, presided over the groundbreaking ceremony on March 28 in the city of Escobedo, just north of Monterrey.
Byung Hyuk told reporters that Seojin Mobility will build motors for electric vehicles for the Hyundai plant in Savannah, Georgia, and has plans to collaborate with Kia Motors’ operations in the city of Pesquería, 36 kilometers west of Escobedo.
When asked if Seojin would build motors for the Tesla plant in Santa Catarina (27 kilometers southwest of Escobedo), Byung Hyuk said that is unlikely, though not impossible.
“We will be focusing on four Hyundai models in the United States,” he said, explaining that the company also hopes to work with Kia. “[Kia] has a plan for a small model electric vehicle in 2025.”
Seojin Mobility will make motors at its Mexico plant for Hyundai electric vehicles that are made in the United States. (Hyundai)
Seojin Mobility, headquartered in Siheung, South Korea, is the primary supplier for Hyundai and Kia and also has contracts with GM, Renault, Ferrari and Volvo. Still, the proximity of the Tesla plant presents several advantages.
“With Tesla being nearby, we might find an opportunity to develop [new] products,” Byung Hyuk admitted, while emphasizing the new plant will serve to strengthen Seojin’s association with Hyundai and Kia México and develop the local electric vehicle market.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, the Seojin director said the company chose Escobedo for its location (near the industrial center of Monterrey and just 150 miles from Laredo, Texas) and the presence of a qualified workforce.
“Escobedo has been preparing to take advantage of nearshoring, creating an industrial district,” Quiroga said of the municipality’s development plan, which includes the construction of two hotels at a cost of $1 billion. “We are pleased that companies such as [Seojin Mobility] are coming to settle in our municipality.”
In the aftermath of the gun battle, photos uploaded to social media showed fires blazing in the area near the La Angostura reservoir bridge. (Isaín Mandujano/X)
Dozens of civilians were caught in the crossfire of a gun battle between National Guard (GN) troops and presumed cartel gunmen on Sunday in the municipality of La Concordia, Chiapas, located off federal route 157 about 185 kilometers south of San Cristóbal de las Casas.
Initial unattributed reports indicated that one civilian had been killed and another severely wounded, but the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights Center (Frayba) has since reported at least 25 people dead and a dozen or more wounded.
The municipality of La Concordia is located 185 kilometers south of San Cristobal de las Casas. (Google Maps)
According to a statement published Wednesday afternoon by the federal Public Security and Civil Protection Ministry (SSPC), only five people were killed in the shootout on Sunday afternoon. An additional five men were found dead by federal and state security forces at the Nuevo Paraíso ejido, where there had been reports of a gunfight between armed civilians earlier that morning.
This confirmed statements made by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at his Wednesday morning press conference, in which he denied the human rights organization’s account.
“There were two separate incidents,” the president said. “[Frayba] talks about 25 victims, but that is not so. Instead, there were maybe 10 — five in one incident and five in the other.”
The shootout, according to the Frayba statement, occurred before noon on Sunday as roughly 40 people were waiting in vehicles to be ferried across the La Angostura reservoir, when the GN arrived in pursuit of armed civilians.
Migrants in 2021 crossing the La Angostura reservoir in La Concordia. The crossing has become a route for migrants heading north, which has brought more organized crime to La Concordia as criminals target migrants. Local activists estimate a total of 2,300 residents of La Concordia and two nearby towns have been forced to leave their homes due to cartel violence. (Pedro Anza/Cuartoscuro)
A firefight ensued between the GN and the gunmen, with the civilians caught in the middle. Frayba reported the existence of videos — which they said had been taken by the GN — that appear to show that some victims had been shot in the head and may have been victims of extrajudicial killings by security forces.
The SSPC statement said 13 Guatemalan nationals had been arrested after the confrontation.
Frayba is demanding a full investigation, insisting that a massacre occurred, and accusing the GN of using excessive force. Frayba is also asking that the government’s security policy be overhauled and that soldiers not be used for policing duties.
Chiapas has seen an uptick in violence and forced displacements since criminal organizations began infiltrating the region, where they are vying for control of drug trafficking and human smuggling routes.
Another violent incident took place on Monday in the Chiapas city of Ocozocoautla, about 36 kilometers west of the state capital Tuxtla Gutiérrez.
According to the newspaper El Universal, shots were fired when heavily armed civilians kidnapped two unidentified men. Local officials said no bystander injuries occurred and state authorities have begun an investigation.
Just a week earlier, two people were killed and a third injured when a predawn shootout left early-morning commuters stranded while security forces shut down the main highways in Ocozocoautla for eight hours.
On March 19, gunmen ambushed a GN detail in Ocozocoautla, killing one and injuring two. The soldiers had responded to an apparent bogus emergency call reporting a vehicle accident when they were attacked on federal highway 145D.
A few days earlier, hitmen attacked the local offices of the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR), killing an official. In February, a presumed cartel gang murdered three policemen and the police chief of Berriozabal, a city a few miles east of Ocozocoautla.
A Maya Train car derailed on March 25, but was traveling at low speed so there was minimal damage, and no injuries were reported. (Cuartoscuro)
The derailment of a single Maya Train car near Tixkokob station in Yucatán state on March 25 was caused by a failure in the track fastening system, according to Mexico’s Defense Ministry (Sedena), which operates the Maya Train.
Defense Minister General Luis Cresencio Sandoval revealed Tuesday that although the system is designed to be automated, it is still being operated manually due to its incomplete state. This manual operation — in this case, the improper clamping of tracks — is believed to be the culprit behind the car derailment.
General Sandoval said at President López Obrador’s Tuesday morning press conference that the incident was caused by human error. (Cuartoscuro)
“The incident was caused by a lack of mechanical screw fixings that ensure the change of track with the rail,” read a document displayed by Sandoval during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Tuesday morning press conference at the National Palace.
Because the train was traveling at a slow speed, approximately 10 kilometers per hour, it sustained minimal damage and there were no injuries. An investigation is currently underway by federal authorities. The train’s manufacturer, Alstom, and track constructor, Azvindi, are also involved in damage assessment.
This incident raises concerns about the Maya Train project, which has faced criticism for its premature inauguration and environmental impact. The railroad, a signature infrastructure initiative of the current government, stretches 1,554 kilometers through the Yucatán Peninsula states of Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Campeche and neighboring states of Tabasco and Chiapas. Originally projected to cost US $7.5 billion, the government now anticipates the final price tag to exceed US $28 billion.
Initially, President López Obrador had described the derailment as “strange,” hinting at the possibility of sabotage meant to make his government look bad in the lead-up to the June elections. However, there reportedly is no evidence to support this theory.
The Maya Train began operations on three of its seven sections in December. The derailment incident occurred on Section 3, near the Tixkokob station located east of Mérida, Yucatán’s capital.
Footage on social media showed the last car of the train, which had been bound for Cancún, off the tracks near a railway junction. The Maya Train agency released a statement acknowledging the derailment, which occurred as the train passed over a track switch at the Tixkokob station entrance.
Officials assured the public that a committee is investigating the incident and that the Maya Train will implement preventative measures to avoid similar incidents in the future.
Adrián Guerrero Caracheo is a candidate for the Celaya, Guanajuato, city council. His whereabouts were unknown for over a day after a shooting that killed a Celaya, Guanajuato, mayoral candidate. (Adrián Guerrero/Facebook)
When Gisela Gaytán, a Morena candidate for mayor of Celaya, Guanajuato, was murdered on Monday afternoon in a flurry of gunshots, a member of her party running for city council was initially believed to have lost his life as well. But Celaya city council candidate Adrián Guerrero Caracheo is safe and sound, Guanajuato authorities reported Tuesday.
Guerrero was hiding out with his family and cooperating with authorities investigating Gaytán’s murder, authorities said.
Gisela Gaytán was shot and killed Monday on her first day of campaigning for mayor. She had asked the National Electoral Institute for protection after receiving threats. (Gisela Gaytán/Facebook)
Gaytán was shot and killed Monday while campaigning in San Miguel Octopan, a community of the Celaya municipality located about 10 kilometers northeast of downtown Celaya.
The 38-year-old lawyer had asked state electoral officials for protection but had not yet received any when the shooting occurred, on her first day of campaigning.
Guerrero, a Morena councilor candidate, was initially believed to be dead as well after Ricardo Sheffield, the party’s senatorial candidate in Guanajuato, said in a press conference that Guerrero was taken with two other injured people to the hospital, where he supposedly died.
Guerrero’s reported death was additionally confirmed Tuesday morning by Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), as well as by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also of Morena.
Hours later, however, the SSPC corrected the error and changed the aspiring councilman’s status to “missing.” He still had not been located, officials said, but he was “not deceased, as reported this morning,” the agency said.
It wasn’t until hours later that Guerrero contacted Morena party officials. The candidate was also reportedly seen at the federal Attorney General’s Office in San Miguel de Allende, according to the newspaper Infobae, asking for protection for himself and his family in the wake of the attack.
As for protection before the shooting, Sheffield said that the National Electoral Institute had granted it to him and Alma Alcaraz Hernández, who is running for governor of Guanajuato — but not to the nine Morena candidates for municipal positions, including Gaytán.
Their requests were turned over to the Electoral Institute of the State of Guanajuato (IEEG), whose officials were informed that their campaigns had not yet begun, he said.
Gaytán had already reported having received threats, said Mario Delgado, national leader of Morena, who attacked the IEEG for “not responding” to a situation that “ended in tragedy.”
Celaya is currently governed by Javier Mendoza, who is seeking reelection with the National Action Party (PAN), a party with significant clout in Guanajuato.
Changing climate conditions, like the increased heat and drought that have affected many areas of Mexico, are just one of the factors driving the recent surge in extinctions. (Michael Balam/Cuartoscuro.com)
The last time the world underwent a mass extinction 66 million years ago, the place now known as Mexico had front-row seats. A 200-kilometer-long meteorite slammed into Earth near the Yucatán Peninsula, setting off a chain of events that extinguished about 75% of all species living at the time, an event known as Earth’s fifth mass extinction.
Now, scientists say the Earth is in a sixth mass extinction — but this time, it’s because of humanity. The very term “sixth mass extinction” used to be controversial among experts. It isn’t anymore, thanks in part to the work of two internationally renowned Mexican scientists. Dr. Gerardo Ceballos, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and Stanford University professor Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo have worked together for decades to understand why the Earth is losing so many species and spread the word about the threats that nature and humanity face.
Dr. Rodolfo Dirzo (L) and Dr. Gerardo Ceballos (R). (BBVA/Indianapolis Zoo)
That’s why Ceballos and Dirzo won the BBVA Foundation’s 2024 Frontiers of Knowledge award, a recognition of pioneering work addressing the most pressing issues of our century. Since the award was established in 2008, more than 10% of recipients have gone on to win Nobel Prizes. This year marks the first time that anyone from Mexico or Latin America has received the Frontiers of Knowledge award.
Just as Mexico had a front-row seat to the biotic crisis 66 million years ago, it is once again center-stage on matters of extinction and biodiversity loss. In addition to the ground-breaking science coming from Mexican scientists like Dirzo and Ceballos, Mexico is one of the most biologically diverse countries in the world. It is also an example of how human activity can lead to the loss of those irreplaceable natural resources.
I sat down to talk to Dr. Ceballos and Dr. Dirzo about the award, their work and what the world can learn from Mexico.
How has Mexico changed over the years with respect to its scientific institutions? You’re the first Mexican winners of this award. Is it surprising that it’s taken until now?
Ceballos: No, not really. There is a lot of high-quality science being done in Mexico, Latin America and Iberoamerica. But we’re at a disadvantage compared to other countries because they have many, many more people and resources dedicated to working on these topics. That’s why this award is so important.
What is the sixth mass extinction?
Dirzo: In 550 million years, there have been five documented episodes of catastrophic extinction where a large proportion of species disappear from the face of the planet. These are called mass extinctions. It’s a very rare phenomenon in the history of life. The last one was only 66 million years ago: the extinction of the dinosaurs. Now, much earlier than would normally happen, we’re seeing another extinction, the sixth, generated by the human species.
Jaguars used to exist from the south of the United States to the south of Argentina. The species still exists, but it’s gone now in many places. When you add populations disappearing in one place, then another, then another, eventually you get to total extinction. Populations are going extinct in massive numbers right now.
The other research that Gerardo and others have done is on the extinction of species. Say 370 species in the last 500 years. If you see it in the context of the normal speed of species extinctions, depending on the group of animals, it can be 100 to 1000 times faster than normal. From the perspective of geological history, it’s very fast.
Dr. Gerardo Ceballos presenting the national plan for the conservation of jaguars in 2016, in collaboration with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP). (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
With time, what kind of effects can these extinctions have on the planet?
Dirzo: For the local ecosystem in, say, the forest of Veracruz, where there are no more jaguars, tapirs, wild boar or deer, the ecological processes that happened with the interactions of those animals and their environment — the dispersal of seeds, the hunting of prey and the rest — no longer exist.
So ecological interactions are going extinct as well, and many of those losses mean problems for humanity. The simplest is that if animals that pollinate flowers go extinct at the local level, those flowers can’t reproduce. If you have a crop — alfalfa or apples for example — the loss is enormous for you. Your whole business and all that food production — it’s an economic problem and a truly serious food supply problem.
This almost always leads to problems for human well-being. A world without pollinators? A world without seed dispersal? A world without pest regulation? It would be impossible to survive.
It would be impossible to survive in a world without pollinators, says Dr. Dirzo, as the process of food production — for all species — would halt. (Carolina Jiménez/Cuartoscuro)
Your work has also focused on how the loss of biodiversity affects human diseases. That’s another way it directly affects us, right?
Dirzo: Yes. We just endured a pandemic — the strongest hypothesis at present is that it came from a wild animal, probably kept in a market. That pathogen was able to jump from an animal species to the human species. In changing the structure of animal populations with illegal animal trafficking, we put ourselves in contact with those animals and that’s a serious risk for us.
Ceballos: All of these environmental interactions that are lost when populations are lost are what we as scientists call “environmental services.” Environmental services are all the benefits that we get for free when nature is functioning well, like the fertilization of all the soils and pollination. 70% of all the active compounds in the medicines we use today come from wild plants and animals. There are enormous benefits.
The wall behind me is made of bricks. If you take away one brick, the wall keeps working but it won’t work as well. There’s more noise, dust, etcetera. If you take away more bricks, it will weaken and eventually collapse. That’s an analogy for what’s happening with populations in nature. The collapse we’re talking about is a collapse of the biological systems that make life on Earth possible — life in general and human life in particular.
Mexico began a serious jaguar conservation effort in 2010 which has seen the population recover by 20%. “Everything we are able to save — natural ecosystems, species — will probably be what survives into the future,” emphasizes Dr. Ceballos. (Joaquín Sanluis/Cuartoscuro)
So we’re facing losing everything that sustains us, food, air. I don’t want readers to think I’m exaggerating, making up an apocalypse…
Ceballos: But it is a question of apocalypse. We should stop being afraid to call it what it is. The collapse has already started. If you look at all the predictions that there have been about climate change and the extinction of species, they have been surpassed by a lot. What was expected to happen in 2100 is happening this year. There’s still hope but if we don’t frame the questions in terms of their real magnitude, it’s not ethical.
And what signs of hope are left? Not hope that everything will be fine and exactly the same as in the past, but hope in the sense of finding conservation strategies that work?
Dirzo: There is much that can still be done. We need to inform the public about the challenges that we must face so that we can attack the problem collectively. To the degree that we have a more informed society, it’s possible to elect leaders and decision-makers, demanding that they have a clear agenda for addressing environmental problems.
Ceballos: This year, 50% of the global population will change their president or leader. If Trump wins, or in Mexico if the successor of the current president wins, they are people who don’t have the slightest idea of the seriousness of the current problem. It would be a huge setback to this effort.
The work required to save the planet and save humanity doesn’t require changing the existing economic systems. Conservation can become a huge business for companies that invest in undoing all the harm we have done. There’s no time to change them. The window of opportunity is closing quickly but it’s still open, which should give us hope.
There are many successes, cases of rural or Indigenous communities, of private enterprise, of government, and all of those success stories should be told, to understand that there is a solution. In Mexico, for example, we began to work on jaguar conservation in 2010. In the first census there were 4,000 jaguars. In 2018, we had increased to 4,800 jaguars, despite the enormous problems the country has.
We have to double down on our efforts. Everything we are able to save — natural ecosystems, species — will probably be what survives into the future. It’s a great responsibility.
It seems like many people know that nature is at risk, but it can be difficult to accept what is happening. You both deal with this reality every day without turning a blind eye. What gives you the strength to do so?
Ceballos: Achievements like this kind of award give me a lot of hope. We should keep working as much as we can, as long as we can still save species and areas. In Mexico, we’re going to make 3 million hectares of new reserves despite having a government less interested in the environment than any in the past 40 years. We have to work hard today, take good care of each other today, enjoy ourselves today. The better we make the present, the better the future will be.
Is there anything else that MND readers need to know?
Dirzo: They need to know that the system that keeps life on Earth going, as we know it today, is at serious risk due to unprecedented human activity. There’s tradition, culture and an important foundation of knowledge in Mexico. We have Indigenous communities that continue to contribute new genetic materials, strains and varieties that are a real global treasure. We hope readers’ curiosity will be piqued to know more and even reach out to us. Whatever Gerardo and I can do, we are always available to contribute.
Ceballos: I’d add that we’re very proud of the Mexicans outside of Mexico and they should be incredibly proud of Mexico. Despite all the bad news that comes out of the country, it’s much bigger than that in terms of biological diversity. They should be enormously proud of the biological and cultural heritage we have in this country. I hope many readers can take an interest and participate, however they can, in the conservation of nature, wherever they are in the world.
Rose Egelhoff is an associate editor at Mexico News Daily and a freelance writer. She’s on Twitter and the internet.
The "Galapagos of Mexico" are the perfect destination for eco-tourists, though the islands harbour a dark past. (Photos by Visita Islas Marías)
Everything deserves a second chance — even destinations. And what better opportunity for a makeover than turning a former federal penitentiary into a haven for eco-tourism, wildlife and regrowth? Mexico’s Islas Marías in the state of Nayarit, once a hardened penal colony for more than a century, has been transformed into what is being called the Galápagos Islands of Mexico.
Islas Marías is a small archipelago of islands in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 94 kilometers from the coast of Nayarit. From 1905 until 2019, the islands were used as a penal colony — Islas Marías Federal Prison. In 2019, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced that the prison would close and an ecological and cultural center would open in its wake, bringing an opportunity for education and eco-tourism to this remote part of Mexico. In 2022, Islas Marias opened as a tourist center and ecological preserve, aimed at protecting the native wildlife of the islands, among the most diverse in Mexico.
Once a prison, the Islas Marías has reinvented itself as a natural paradise. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
Today, visitors can tour Islas Marías in Nayarit through government-regulated tour packages, making for one of the most unique eco-tourism experiences in the country. Read on to learn everything you need to know about Las Islas Marías in Nayarit, Mexico.
Where are Islas Marías, Nayarit?
Islas Marias is an archipelago of nine islands, though there are three that are known as the principal islands. They are located about 94 kilometers from San Blas, Nayarit, and 322 kilometers from the tip of the Baja peninsula.
History of Islas Marías
In 1905, Porfirio Díaz bought the Islas Marías archipelago and converted it into a penal colony. By 1908, nearly 200 people were already imprisoned on the islands. In 1910, President Álvaro Obregón began banishing petty criminals and opposition politicians to the archipelago. Life in the prison was exceptionally difficult, with prisoners permitted only 15 minutes of sunlight per day.
But the islands, while stained with a cruel history, are also so isolated from the mainland that they are practically teeming with spectacular and rare wildlife. The islands are home to a diverse array of plants and animals, including the Tres Marías raccoon, the endemic Tres Marías cottontail rabbit, sharks, sea turtles, tuna, red snapper, large colonies of sea birds and much more. The wildlife on the islands is so rich that in 2010 they were designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve.
There is only one way to visit Islas Marías, and that is part of a regulated tour package. This is because the ecosystem is so delicate and unexposed to tourism, so the government has put packages in place to help protect the natural environment.
Two packages are available: one with a ferry departure from San Blas, Nayarit, and another with a departure from Mazatlán. Ferries depart once a week on Fridays at 8 a.m., alternating between San Blas and Mazatlán. Return ferries leave from Puerto Balleto on the island every Sunday at 11 a.m. The ferry trip is roughly four hours and vessels are outfitted with bathrooms and a snack bar.
Keep in mind that you cannot bring any food onto the island. What you can (and must) bring, however, is cash because you won’t find any ATMs in Islas Marías. Establishments are also unable to process credit cards.
Visitors from Nayarit will arrive at Puerto Balleto, on Isla María Madre.
Both ferries dock in Puerto Balleto on Isla María Madre, the largest of the islands. The packages include round-trip ferry tickets, guided tours by Biosphere Protectors, hiker insurance and entrance to the natural protected area.
A tourist-class seat costs 3,500 (US $210) pesos. Executive class seats are 3,800 pesos (US $230). A private cabin seat is 4,000 pesos (US $240) and private cabins can seat up to eight passengers. Guests can then choose what type of approved accommodation to book, which ranges from single rooms to entire houses for larger groups. Food costs are 1,900 pesos (US $114) per person, which includes buffet meals for the entire visit.
Once you reach the island, the visit is somewhat limited — again, to protect the natural environment. Tourism on the island is regulated by the Mexican Navy, and free exploration is restricted. Still, there is freedom and flexibility in choosing the guided tours that align with your interests.
Given the delicate nature of the biosphere, there is little chance to freely explore the islands – but there are a variety of activities available for visitors to enjoy.
One of the activities is a visit to the former prison — think of it like the Mexican version of an Alcatraz tour. Visitors can get a feel for what life was like being imprisoned on the island. The guides are deeply knowledgeable about the dark history of the prison and share some of the most interesting stories.
But for travelers who aren’t as excited about dark tourism, there are plenty of ecological and historical things to do that veer more towards the new identity of Islas Marías. A sunrise hike to the towering Christ the Redeemer statue or a hike to El Faro Lighthouse, nightly stargazing, crafts markets in Puerto Balleto, an afternoon at Playa Chapingo, cliff tours at Mirador Punta Halcones, and museum and historical sites tours are just some of the activities that visitors to Islas Marías can do with their weekend visit.
What all visitors can expect is a glimpse into a side of Mexico rarely seen by the majority of tourists or locals. These isolated islands offer pristine, undeveloped beaches and are completely devoid of modern-day developments. Forget all-inclusive resorts, restaurants, bars or even grocery stores. The islands’ natural beauty tells the real story here, both in the relics of a painful past, and the growth and rebirth of a new and exciting future.
Meagan Drillinger is a New York native who has spent the past 15 years traveling around and writing about Mexico. While she’s on the road for assignments most of the time, Puerto Vallarta is her home base. Follow her travels on Instagram at @drillinjourneys or through her blog at drillinjourneys.com.
"Me llamo Bond, James Bond..." is what Timothy Dalton might have said during the British agent's first trip to Mexico, in 1989's Licence to Kill. (IMBd)
Remember that amazing James Bond film that was set in Mexico? The film opens with Bond strolling calmly through the streets of Mexico, surrounded by people celebrating Day of the Dead and it looked so cool that Mexicans actually started copying it — wait. That’s a totally different movie.
As it turns out, there was another, less well remembered Bond film that saw 007 take up arms in Mexico, three decades before Daniel Craig demolished half of the Centro Historico and nearly crashed a helicopter into the Zócalo — one that most people have never heard of. The oft-overlooked “Licence to Kill,” a hard-nosed, realistic revenge thriller released in 1989, was a pioneering film in many ways and one that was quintessentially made in Mexico.
This, it turns out, was the fourth time that Bond had been to Mexico. (MGM/Danjaq)
With Coyoacán, Toluca, Cancún and Acapulco standing in for the fictional Republic of Isthmus — a sort of ersatz Colombia/Panama hybrid — Timothy Dalton rampaged through the streets, highways and seas of Mexico. The sixteenth entry in the James Bond canon saw the British secret agent return in a much darker story than audiences were used to, showcasing some of Mexico’s most unique locations in the process.
A new James Bond for a new decade
It was the 1980s. Welsh-born Timothy Dalton had not long come off the back his first outing as James Bond in “The Living Daylights” and was looking to reinterpret his character as a harder-edged, grittier Bond in the style of the books — how quick we all were to forget that he joined the Taliban in that one? The literary Bond was a somewhat different character from the one popularized by Sean Connery, Roger Moore and later Daniel Craig, and one more prone to bouts of extreme violence and brooding silences.
This time, 007 was going to be a rogue agent, hellbent on revenge against vicious drug lord Franz Sanchez — implied to be Colombian and clearly based on Pablo Escobar and Manuel Noriega — responsible for a brutal attack on his longtime ally Felix Leiter. The plot and subject matter were much more reminiscent of the action films of the 1980s, and the winding down of the Cold War provided the opportunity for the franchise to update and escape from the mid-century stereotypes that it was so often reduced to.
"Licence To Kill (1989)" Teaser Trailer
The man with the golden tax break
“Licence To Kill” became the first film in the long-running James Bond franchise to be entirely shot outside of the United Kingdom, as the country had abolished tax breaks for foreign film producers in 1985. Set briefly in the Florida Keys and the fictional Isthmus City, filming got underway in the middle of 1988, with the Mexican portion of the film shooting from July 18 to August 18.
The resulting film was shot almost entirely in Coyoacán and Toluca, with cameos from Baja California, Quintana Roo and Acapulco, which hosted underwater scenes shot at Isla Mujeres, and lavish interior shots of Acapulco’s Villa Arabesque.
Sanchez and Bond face off on the mean roads of Mexicali. (IMBd)
In Coyoacán, the legendary Estudios Churubusco, Mexico’s leading movie studio, saw a lot of the sound stage work normally filmed at the U.K.’s Pinewood Studios. Surrounding areas of the Centro Histórico also provided lavish interior shots for casino and palace scenes. The Gran Hotel de Ciudad de México, which also stars in “Spectre,” makes its first appearance in the franchise here, as part of an extended series of scenes where Mexico City’s Centro Histórico stands in as Isthmus City. Eagle-eyed viewers will recognize the Casa de los Azulejos as the Casino de Isthmus, the Banco de México as Sanchez’ office and Mexico City’s grand Post Office building, opposite Bellas Artes, as the Banco de Isthmus.
The final, desperate chase, in which a series of tankers race through the desert, was shot on Baja California’s Federal Highway 2D at La Rumorosa, just outside Mexicali.
The decadent Villa Arabesque doubles as villainous drug lord Sanchez’s private villa. The villa was built between 1978 and 1982 for Baron Enrico “Ricky” di Portanova, a flamboyant member of the Acapulco jet-set who popularized Acapulco as a resort destination and was designed by Aurelio Muñoz Castillo. If you are feeling like living like a Bond villain, you can book a night’s stay at Villa Arabesque, which now serves as a luxury hotel.
From Toluca with Love
Bond villains have always occupied stunning hidden lairs, from the iconic volcano base in “You Only Live Twice”to Karl Stromberg’s underwater hideout in “The Spy who Loved Me.” “Licence to Kill” continued the tradition: the climactic portion of the film, in which Bond infiltrates the drug trafficker’s lair, takes place at the Otomí Ceremonial Center, between Toluca and Naucalpan. Not only is the Otomí center a worthy addition to the list, but it’s one of the few bases that actually exists outside of the films.
007 has faced down enemies inside volcanos, in space and underwater. Unlike all of those, the lair in Licence to Kill is a real-life place, and you can visit! (Wikimedia Commons)
Bond’s super gritty reinvention was not a total success. Trading in the gadgets for exploding villains in a pressure chamber, feeding people to sharks and setting fire to enemies was perhaps a level of violence that filmgoers were less comfortable with in 1989, and it would be six years before Bond returned to screens in “Goldeneye” — this time with Pierce Brosnan as the titular character.
As for Estudios Churubusco, “Licence to Kill” was part of a run of major foreign films shot at the studio — with 1989 bringing “The Hunt for Red October,” “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and “Total Recall.”Mexico would host three more Bond shoots: 1997’s “Tomorrow Never Dies,”2008’s “Quantum of Solace” and, of course, 2015’s “Spectre.”
If you’d like to travel Mexico and recreate the events of the film — though perhaps with fewer sharks and acts of immolation — an exhaustive guide to the locations used in Licence to Kill is available here.
The operation was dubbed "Rainmaker." (thecentersquare.com)
The United States government announced Monday that 23 people allegedly affiliated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) have been detained in the U.S. on drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
Those detained are among 41 individuals charged in connection with a scheme under which illicit drugs smuggled into the United States from Mexico were distributed in the U.S. between December 2018 and April 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.
16 suspects remain at large, including Roque Zamudio-Mendoza. (thecentersquare.com)
The department said that the 23 suspects were taken into custody after “the return [in December] of a 50-count indictment alleging cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and meth trafficking and related crimes in the Houston and Galveston areas” of Texas.
Twenty of the 23 detainees were arrested last week during an operation carried out in Texas, Louisiana, Colorado, Washington, and California, during which firearms, luxury Rolex watches and large amounts of cash were seized, the DOJ said. The other three were taken into custody at an earlier date.
“The indictment alleges they all operated under the overall control of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel,” said the DOJ, which described the arrests as “the culmination of a 63-month Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation dubbed Operation Rainmaker.”
The 41 individuals charged in connection with the smuggling and distribution scheme were allegedly involved in the distribution of drugs from southeast Texas to other cities in the United States including New Orleans, Atlanta, Nashville and Chicago, the DOJ said.
The suspects face sentences of up to life in prison if convicted, while the indictment also seeks forfeiture of illegal proceeds of the alleged crimes, which are estimated at US $10 million.
Of the 18 suspects not in custody, two are dead and 16 are at large, the department said.
Authorities have been hunting for El Mencho, the leader of the CJNG, for years. (U.S. DEA)
Among the fugitives is Roque Zamudio Mendoza, identified as “the main source” of drugs smuggled into the United States in the 2018-20 CJNG scheme. The 52-year-old Mexican national is believed to be in Mexico, the DOJ said.
Announcing the 23 arrests at a press conference on Monday, the United States attorney for the Southern District of Texas, Alamdar Hamdani, said that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel “casts a long shadow that extends far beyond the borders of a single nation and into the streets of places like Houston and beyond.”
“… The CJNG is not just confined to Michoacán or Jalisco. It’s in Houston. Its folks are in Houston. Its folks are in other parts of the country. That is the big message we want to send. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is not just a far-off entity. They’re in the streets of Houston. They’re in our communities,” he said.
In addition to the recent arrests, U.S. authorities have seized “approximately 550 kilograms of meth, 249 kilograms of cocaine, 34 kilograms of heroin, five kilograms of pentobarbital and 22,600 fentanyl-laced pills” during Operation Rainmaker, according to the DOJ.
“Have you heard the term ‘one pill can kill’ when it comes to fentanyl? [That’s] 22,600 deadly pills,” Hamandi said.
Led by Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the CJNG is one of the two most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico, the other being the Sinaloa Cartel.
Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Anne Milgram told U.S. lawmakers last year that the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) have more than 40,000 members and associates in over 100 countries around the world.
She has asserted that the two cartels pose “the greatest criminal threat the United States has ever faced” given the large quantities of narcotics they smuggle into the country.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday that “countless American lives have been lost because of the Jalisco and Sinaloa Cartels.”
“Over the past three years, the Justice Department has zeroed in on these cartels, and with these arrests of dozens of Jalisco Cartel associates, we are taking yet another step in our fight to dismantle these deadly organizations,” he said.
Gisela Gaytán, 37, was a candidate for mayor of Celaya, Guanajuato. (Gisela Gaytán/Facebook)
A candidate for mayor in Celaya, Guanajuato, was shot and killed on Monday. Three other people including an aspirant to a councilor position were wounded in the same attack.
Gisela Gaytán, the Morena party’s candidate for mayor of the notoriously violent city, came under fire Monday afternoon while campaigning on the street in San Miguel Octopan, a community about 10 kilometers northeast of downtown Celaya.
The assassination occurred in the neighborhood of San Miguel Octopan, Celaya. (Diego Costa/Cuartoscuro)
Among the three people wounded was Adrián Guererro, a Morena party candidate for councilor. Authorities said on Tuesday that he died of gunshot injuries, but the federal Security Ministry (SSPC) subsequently published a statement saying he was in fact missing, “but not deceased as reported this morning.”
“The Security and Citizens Protection Ministry is waiting for the investigations to advance to establish his whereabouts,” the SSPC said.
Given that he is apparently missing after being wounded in a gun attack, Guerrero could indeed be dead. He was reported to have died at a hospital, but it now appears doubtful whether he reached one.
The Guanajuato Attorney General’s Office said in a brief statement on Monday that it was investigating the armed attack on Gaytán, who worked as a lawyer before running for mayor. Six gunshots can be heard in a short video posted to social media that shows Morena party supporters walking through the streets of San Miguel Octopan.
Adrián Guererro (R), a Morena party candidate for councilor, was also wounded in the same attack and is currently missing. (Facebook/VIA “El Canal de Celaya”)
The murder of the mayoral candidate came just one day after the campaign period officially got underway in Guanajuato ahead of elections on June 2.
Just hours before she was killed, Gaytán, 38, said that she had asked for protection during her campaign in Celaya, a city of over half a million people in southeastern Guanajuato, Mexico’s most violent state in terms of total homicides.
“The citizens are with us, they look after us, but of course we’re going to have security protocols. … Let’s see whether they have an answer for us today,” she said, referring to her protection request.
Federal Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez said Tuesday that the National Electoral Institute (INE) arranged protection for candidates running for federal office, but indicated that electoral authorities in Guanajuato failed to organize protection for local candidates.
“We’ve been in contact with the governor [of Guanajuato]; where … the absence of protection for the candidate is part of the investigations,” she said.
Gaytán had visited the city’s central market hours before she was killed by gunshot. (Facebook/Gisela Gaytán)
There were 360 homicides in Celaya during the 12 months to the end of February, according to the crime statistics website elcri.men. That made Celaya the 40th most violent municipality based on per-capita murders over the past year.
“Peace has been taken away from us,” Gaytán said before she was murdered, adding that as mayor she planned to increase salaries for municipal police and renew officers’ focus on crime prevention.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the founder of Morena, acknowledged the candidate’s death at his Tuesday morning press conference and declared that it was a “sad day.”
“These events are very regrettable because there are people who fight to uphold democracy, they’re on the street showing their faces and it hurts a lot that this happens in our country,” he said.
The Associated Press reported that at least 15 candidates have been murdered in Mexico this year, including two mayoral candidates in Maravatío, Michoacán, who were murdered on the same day in February.
López Obrador noted that cartels sometimes seek to determine who will become the next mayor in municipalities where they operate.
“They make an agreement and say, ‘this person is going to be mayor; we don’t want anyone else to register to run,’ and anybody who does, well, they know [what to expect],” he said.
Guanajuato has been Mexico’s most violent state for several years, and recorded more than 3,100 homicides in 2023, according to government data presented by Rodríguez in January. The powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Guanajuato-based Santa Rosa de Lima cartel have been engaged in a turf war in the state for years.
Mexican retail giant Coppel plans to open 100 more stores across Mexico before the end of the year. (Coppel)
Coppel and Home Depot have each come forward with plans to expand their retail operations in Mexico this year.
Grupo Coppel announced on Monday its aim to open 100 new stores in Mexico “in its different formats” and to reduce its environmental footprint by installing solar panels at more than 700 stores by the end of 2024.
The Home Depot has been in Mexico since 2001. (Unsplash)
To accomplish this, Coppel — which currently has 1,782 stores in Mexico — said it plans to invest more than 12 billion pesos (US $724.3 million) this year.
The Mexican retailer, founded in 1941 and headquartered in Culiacán, Sinaloa, sells appliances, electronics, furniture, shoes and clothing, and also operates a banking arm.
In a separate announcement on Monday, Home Depot said it will invest 2.86 billion pesos (US $172.6 million) in Mexico in 2024 and that it plans to open 12 more stores over the next few years to reach 150 total in the country.
The largest home improvement retailer in Mexico, as well as in the United States, also said it will be expanding its product offerings in Mexico, particularly for furniture, decorations and pet supplies. Home Depot was founded in 1978 in Marietta, Georgia.
Coppel said it will invest an additional 6 billion pesos (US $362.2 million) over the next three years to enhance its digital services. (Coppel)
Together, the total amount the two retail chains plan to invest in Mexico is 14.86 billion pesos (US $897.6 million).
Coppel, owned by the billionaire Coppel family, also said it would be remodeling some of its current stores and investing an additional 6 billion pesos (US $362.2 million) over the next three years to enhance its digital services.
Coppel said its actions will create 8,000 new jobs, adding to the 120,000 positions it currently has, making it a top-10 job creator in Mexico.
“Our decision seeks to endorse a double commitment: firstly, to serve our customers better, so that their experience in physical stores and across our digital channels is more satisfactory every day, and also to redouble our commitment to the environment,” said Agustín Coppel Luken, president of the board and general director of the company.
Coppel officials said installing solar panels at some 700 properties will reduce the company’s carbon emissions by 33,000 tons, equivalent to planting 540,000 trees. Coppel also plans to add more electric and hybrid vehicles to its transportation fleet.
Home Depot noted that its new investment will send the company past 50 billion pesos (US $3.02 billion in today’s currency market) invested in Mexico since it arrived in the country in 2001.
“We are very excited about the growth opportunities we see for 2024, after we managed to grow in a year of moderation and great challenges,” said José “Pepe” Rodríguez, the president of Home Depot’s operations in Mexico.
“With this, we will celebrate 22 consecutive years of growth in Mexico,” he continued. “The new investment plan will allow us to continue gaining market share, reaffirm our commitment to offering the best experience to our customers, develop capabilities, promote our interconnected retail approach and accelerate our geographic expansion in the country.”
This week’s dual announcements slightly echo what happened in 2020, when Coppel and Home Depot each announced significant investment plans for Mexico within a few months of one another.
