The agreement was signed during Health Minister David Kershenobich’s work trip to Brazil within the framework of the wider healthcare cooperation agenda that both countries began last year at the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. (Health Ministry)
Mexico and Brazil have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to boost technical, scientific and institutional cooperation in the healthcare sector while expanding citizens’ access to services, technologies and medicines.
The agreement was signed during Health Minister David Kershenobich’s work trip to Brazil within the framework of the wider healthcare cooperation agenda that both countries began last year at the 78th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
Este encuentro entre Brasil y México en materia de salud, ofrece oportunidades para fomentar el desarrollo de la industria farmacéutica, la formación de recursos humanos y conocer referencias claras para la implementación del Servicio Universal de Salud de nuestro país. https://t.co/QnNA45VXtR
— Dr. David Kershenobich S (@DKershenobich) April 14, 2026
Key agreements include the creation of a bilateral analysis committee focusing on the healthcare systems of Mexico and Brazil; the exchange of information and best practices between Brazil’s Farmácia Popular (Popular Pharmacy) and Mexico’s Farmacias del Bienestar (Well-being Pharmacy); and the implementation of a joint technical team for telemedicine and telehealth.
The agreement prioritizes technical, scientific and institutional cooperation in health surveillance and disease control (such as dengue and other infections), as well as epidemiological exchange and collaboration to develop new platforms such as messenger RNA. Other actions include cooperation on new platforms such as local production of supplies and the strengthening of clinical research.
To boost education, the agreement also aims to facilitate training exchanges between the two countries and enhance the capacities of healthcare professionals.
During the signing of the memoranda, Kershenobich said Mexico wants to continue developing “joint initiatives with Brazil, especially in the areas of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and innovation.” Previous bilateral agreements between the two countries include those signed in August last year to accelerate regulatory processes and strengthen regional production of vaccines and medicines.
Brazil’s Health Minister Alexandre Padilha celebrated the strategic nature of the bilateral collaboration and highlighted Brazil’s universal healthcare system — known as the Unified Health System (SUS) — whose model, he said, can contribute to Mexico’s goals.
“The SUS is a concrete example of inclusion and can contribute to the transformation process of the Mexican system, as we move forward together in innovation, drug production, and responding to common health challenges,” he stated.
Recently, President Clauda Sheinbaum announced her administration will transform the public system (IMSS-Bienestar and Health System for Well-being) towards a program that offers free health care for citizens and legal residents regardless of their social security status.
During his trip, Kershenobich held meetings with medical management teams to draw on their experience under SUS ahead of Mexico’s transition, which is expected to begin in January 2027.
“Mexico sees the SUS as an important source of inspiration for advancing the construction of a more integrated and accessible system,” Kershenobich said, adding that their collaboration with Brazil seeks to strengthen Mexico’s “capacities and guarantee more access to health for our populations,” he said.
MEXICO CITY — Following the announcement that Italian opera legend Andrea Bocelli will share the Zócalo stage with cumbia institution Los Ángeles Azules and singer Ximena Sariñana on April 18, city officials confirmed this week that they consider the booking “completely normal” and have no intention of slowing down.
The free concert will feature a full symphonic orchestra and is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of fans to the Plaza de la Constitución — continuing a tradition of landmark Zócalo performances that included Shakira’s record-breaking show just weeks prior.
The fateful decision that started it all. (Banco Plata)
Sources close to the city’s cultural programming office, however, confirmed that preliminary discussions are already underway for future events, including a proposed evening with Metallica and Guadalupe Pineda, a tentative double bill pairing Björk with Los Yonics, and what one official described only as “a Radiohead and Pepe Aguilar situation we’re still working through logistically.”
Also reportedly in early conversations: Celine Dion and Banda MS, Roger Waters and Paquita la del Barrio, and a headline slot for Bad Bunny and Plácido Domingo that two separate departments claim the other one proposed first.
When asked what unifying artistic vision connected these lineups, a spokesperson pointed to the April 18 bill and said, simply, “Can you imagine this fusion?”
Rumour has it that the Kid Rock and Peso Pluma crossover has already been cancelled.
This portrait of Natasha Gelman by Diego Rivera is a jewel of the Gelman art collection. (Diego Rivera)
Mexico’s art world is going through one of the most intense media controversies in recent times due to the imminent departure of the Gelman collection, arguably the most important private collection of 20th-century art in the country.
The collection was originally assembled by Natasha and Jacques Gelman, a married couple of European descent who arrived in Mexico as Jewish refugees in the 1940s. Together, they became great patrons and collectors of modern Mexican art after making a fortune in the Mexican film industry following Jacques’ discovery of Cantinflas.
What is the Gelman collection?
Jacques and Natasha Gelman put together an amazing collection of Mexican art. However, since their deaths, controversy has surrounded it. (Gelman Collection)
Boasting 160 works by some of Mexico’s most renowned artists, the collection includes pieces by Frida Kahlo, as well as several artworks by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, María Izquierdo and David Alfaro Quintero.
“The Gelman collection has the third most important collection of Frida Kahlo’s paintings in Mexico,” curator and cultural analyst Ximena Apisdorf told me. “That’s only one of the reasons why this case is so relevant.”
Currently exhibited at the Modern Art Museum in Mexico City, the collection is set to leave the country as part of an agreement between Marcelo Zambrano, who recently acquired part of the Gelman collection, Banco Santander and the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL).
The controversy surrounding its leaving the country
According to the agreement, the collection will now be called Colección Gelman Santander and will initially be exhibited over the summer at the upcoming Faro Santander Museum in Spain before traveling to museums around the world under the management of the Spanish bank.
Upon learning the news, Apisdorf — along with nearly 380 individuals from the artistic community — sent an open letter to Mexico’s government. In it, they expressed their concern about the departure of the collection, given that 30 pieces have been declared National Artistic Monuments and thus are subject to restrictions on export.
“No one doubts that the change of ownership is a matter that strictly concerns private individuals,” the open letter says. “However, the fate of the work protected by these decrees … concerns us all.”
A selection of the Gelman collection is currently being displayed in an exhibit at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City. (Gobierno CDMX)
According to Carlos Lara, an expert lawyer in cultural heritage issues, a National Artistic Monument decree sets limits to the property of an artwork, while granting two property dimensions: a symbolic and a legal one.
“The legal dimension means that the piece belongs to the owners,” Lara explained to me. “Meanwhile, the symbolic dimension is granted to Mexicans, meaning that while the legal ownership rests with the owners, the artwork is symbolically considered to belong to the people of Mexico.”
The legal issues involved
One of the limitations of an artistic monument is that the artwork cannot leave the country except under certain conditions that must be approved in advance by the INBAL. In the case of Kahlo’s work, her artwork must always return to the country.
Lara said that INBAL’s permission for the artwork to be displayed abroad is legal. However, the lack of transparency is a concern.
“It’s the usual lack of transparency surrounding the duration of travel permits and the issue of the works traveling to different venues that’s concerning,” he said, adding that INBAL itself acknowledges in the agreement the need to avoid, as far as possible, periodic and recurring travels as the handling and transporting of the pieces poses risks to the artworks’ integrity.
This lack of transparency adds to previous debates surrounding the opaque management of the collection following Natasha’s death.
Painting of Natasha Gelman by Frida Kahlo, whose art must always return to Mexico. (Facebook)
Since Natasha’s passing in 1998, the collection has been in a legal and narrative limbo marked by a rarely-seen will to which everyone refers and which reportedly said that it was Natasha’s will that the collection remain undivided in Mexico.
But after her death, Robert Littman — the Gelman’s art adviser — appeared as the will’s alleged executor and acted as the rightful owner managing the collection for years before selling it to Marcelo Zambrano in an operation lacking transparency and allegedly contravening Natasha’s will.
Will the collection return to Mexico?
Adding to the controversy, Apisdorf said it’s unclear whether Santander actually owns the collection or simply manages it, arguing it is suspicious that its name is now attached to the collection.
“It’s like a child. If you don’t plan to adopt the child, you don’t give him your last name,” Apisdorf said.
“How many times do we have to tell you that the Culture Ministry is complying with the law?” she said.
Sheinbaum said that while artworks designated as cultural heritage of Mexico — as is the case with works in the Gelman Collection — cannot be sold abroad, they can be exhibited in foreign countries. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Culture Minister Claudia Curiel Icaza later clarified that the collection belongs to Mexican collectors and not to Santander; that the export permit is temporary and for five years; and that after its exhibition in Spain and other venues, the collection must return to Mexico.
Banco Santander and legal loopholes
Banco Santander has also addressed the issue and confirmed Curiel’s statement that the pieces will return to Mexico and that the owners are still Mexicans.
“We reiterate that no signed agreement foresees a change of ownership, nor the definitive transfer of the collection to any point outside of Mexico,” the Fundación Banco Santander said. “The agreement entails five years of collaboration with the current administration.”
However, the agreement — seen by newspaper Excelsior — says that the five-year term could be extended, meaning the collection could stay abroad for an indefinite period of time.
“As far as I know, this is not the first time a long-term authorization with periodic renewals has been signed,” Lara said. “Just look at the Tonalamatl Aubin Codex.”
This Codex of pre-Hispanic origin is currently exhibited at the National Museum of Anthropology and History, but legally — and paradoxically — belongs to France. Thanks to an agreement with periodic renewals between France and Mexico, the Codex has remained in Mexico.
The fear of the Gelman collection leaving Mexico is that classic paintings by Mexicans, like this one from Diego Rivera, may remain indefinitely in Spain. (Gelman Santander Collection)
“One of our fears in the artistic community is that eventually, Santander may decide that for the sake of preserving these works, they will no longer travel and will keep them permanently in Spain,” Apisdorf said.
“Ultimately, Gelman’s case is a very clear example of the problems that arise when a cultural piece is viewed as a financial asset,” she emphasized. “But in any case, we will not stop defending the collection.”
Gabriela Solis is a Mexican lawyer turned full-time writer. She was born and raised in Guadalajara and covers business, culture, lifestyle and travel for Mexico News Daily. You can follow her lifestyle blog Dunas y Palmeras.
Charrería is the national sport of Mexico and an iconic symbol of the nation. (Gobierno de Mexico)
Amigos, this weekend I went back to the saddle. After decades without riding, taking the reins again felt less like a hobby and more like going home. Within charro circles, there’s a phrase we like to repeat: “A charro isn’t made, but born.”
More than riding, I missed the people and the culture around charrería. Charros tend to have a very particular temperament: forward-moving, blunt and generous, with the kind of steel nerves you need if you’re going to be a good horseman. They also come with a certain bon vivant streak; they know their horses, their tequila and sobremesa.
Charrería reflects the skills charros need for ranching and cattle herding. (UNESCO)
Today, as a historian and former charra, I find it intriguing how charrería has been closely tied to Mexico’s elite and become an emblem of our identity. Since the viceregal period, it has been a pastime of ranch owners, generals, power brokers and businessmen who could afford to spend serious money and time on horses. Even today, you need resources to practice charrería. And even if no one admits it openly, charros still tend to quietly quiz newcomers: What family are you from, who taught you, which lienzo do you ride at? Just to prove you really were born into the charro world.
From cattlemen to charros
Charrería emerged with the introduction of cattle and horses into what is now Mexico in the mid-1500s, and with the daily work of managing the haciendas and ranches that Spanish families carved out of the newly conquered territory. Much of the ranching economy is concentrated in a region known as Nueva Galicia, roughly corresponding to today’s Jalisco, Nayarit, Aguascalientes and Zacatecas.
In the early colonial years, however, Indigenous people, mestizos and even creoles were forbidden to ride. The ban didn’t last. Within a few decades, it became clear that Spanish landowners found it beneath them to do the hard work of tending their own cattle, and the law quietly yielded to economic reality. Yet, those landscapes demanded highly skilled horsemen who could control herds across vast, open stretches of land.
So who handled the herds?
Here, it’s worth pausing to acknowledge the horsemen from Salamanca, in Spain. They had already adopted elements of Mozarabic riding styles, and the few historians who study charrería seriously argue that Mexico inherited from them not only the word “charro,” but also the basic saddle design, the one-handed rein, characteristic clothing and even the broad-brimmed hat.
In other words, Mexican charrería is the local expression of a much longer equestrian tradition that can be traced back — through Spain — to Arab riders. Mexico did not import a fully formed “charro” from Europe; it reworked this Iberian, Hispano-Arab way of riding in the very specific context of New Spain’s haciendas and Indigenous labor.
Over time, the “charros of the new world” changed the repertoire by turning the reata (or rope) into a central tool. Roping cattle had been a practical necessity; gradually, charros began to show off with it, adding personal style and spinning tricks before throwing the loop.
Austrian archduke Maximilian of Habsburg adopted the charro suit during his brief reign as emperor. (Public Domain)
That is why so many of today’s charreada events carry the names of specific ranch tasks. What looks like a stylized performance in the lienzo is essentially a carefully choreographed memory of everyday work: stopping a horse on a dime, roping a steer by the head, flipping it and holding it down.
How did those working horsemen end up as a national symbol?
By the time of Mexican Independence in 1821, the new country needed a face — a figure who could stand in for “the real Mexico.” That figure couldn’t be a peninsular Spaniard, and it couldn’t be purely Indigenous either in a society built on mestizaje. The charro, a popular and admired mestizo or criollo horseman, was perfectly placed to become that emblem.
No wonder that some forty years later, when the Austrian archduke Maximilian of Habsburg arrived to rule Mexico with conservative backing, one of his first political gestures was to tour the country dressed as a charro. He believed that wearing the charro suit would signal love and respect for his adopted nation.
Contrary to a persistent myth, Maximilian did not invent or redesign the charro suit. It already existed, in multiple variants, and was worn by different social groups. The emperor adopted it, quite deliberately, as a marketing strategy — a way to wrap himself in an already powerful symbol.
By the Porfiriato at the turn of the twentieth century, Mexico’s economic and social life revolved around haciendas, and the charro was a key figure in keeping those estates working.
When the Revolution broke out, many of those charros — men used to commanding horses, men and territory — became colonels and generals. They turned into part of the new political class, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with both the common soldier and the emerging military elite.
From horseman to national sport
The charro and the charra, too, are symbols of Mexico. (Gobierno de Nuevo León)
After the Revolution, Mexico once again needed a symbol of the nation. As in a century before, that symbol had to be mestizo, with revolutionary overtones but also a fundamentally “kindly” face.
Radio, cinema and the press all helped sculpt that figure. The charro, once merely a cattleman on horseback — and by then firmly embedded in Mexico’s economic and political elite — became a national emblem.
In 1921, that elite coalesced into the Asociación Nacional de Charros, which still exists today. Its role was to preserve charro tradition, but also to regulate it.
Official recognition followed quickly. In 1934, the president established September 14 as National Charro Day, and in 1940, another president formally declared charrería the national sport of Mexico. Even today, though their influence has waned, members of the Asociación Nacional de Charros ride in the official Independence Day parade every September 16, since they are the “reserve” of the Mexican Army.
Riding alongside the charro, there is almost always a woman: dressed as an adelita or a china poblana, she is part of the visual script of “lo mexicano.” But her story is its own chapter.
What happens during a charreada?
Men’s charrería and the suertes
In the men’s competition, charrería is organized around a series of set events, or suertes: coleadero, piales, cala de caballo, bull and mare riding, manganas on foot and on horseback and the paso de la muerte, among others, formally codified as ten core disciplines.
Jorge Monroy’s painting of El Coleadero, a charrería event in which a bull is brought down by pulling its tail. (File Photo)
Each one is designed to showcase specific aspects of ranch skill: roping and throwing cattle, stopping and reversing a horse with precision, staying on a bucking animal, or leaping from a saddled horse onto a running mare. The logic is always the same — demonstrate mastery of livestock, recall the routines of hacienda work and do it all with elegance under pressure.
Escaramuza charra
Escaramuza teams are made up of eight women who perform tightly choreographed patterns at a gallop, riding sidesaddle, with both legs draped to one side of the saddle.
Academics see these women as heirs to revolutionary figures like the adelitas and to popular icons like the china poblana, but also as modern athletes negotiating strict dress codes, risk and discipline.
They ride directly into the heart of a sport built by men, and in doing so they subtly redraw the silhouette of who gets to be associated with the word charro.
Children and youth charrería
Charro associations and the federation have created children’s and youth divisions, treating them as crucial to passing down the tradition. In its heritage listing, UNESCO explicitly highlights these intergenerational dynamics: families training together, elders teaching youngsters, skills and stories moving from one generation to the next.
Charros today
Recent scholarship treats charrería as a living cultural phenomenon that still shapes regional and national identities. Even though today charro practices intersect with globalization, mobility and changing land use, charrería exists alongside gated communities, industrial agriculture and streaming platforms. Yet it continues to offer a thick sense of belonging and a language of resistance to cultural erasure.
Yours truly as the most important member of the parade at age 7. (Maria Meléndez)
Today, that world of reins, reatas and carefully rehearsed risk is no longer just a private passion of a few families or a convenient symbol for the state. It is formally recognized as part of Mexico’s intangible cultural heritage, a living archive of memory and muscle that survives only because, generation after generation, someone is still willing to climb into the saddle and ride.
Maria Meléndez writes for Mexico News Daily in Mexico City.
Thanks to what the IMF sees as a gradual recovery from last year's stagflation, the global financial organization boosted Mexico's 2026 GDP forecast by one-tenth of a percentage point. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Even as it reduced its global growth forecast for the year to 3.1%, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) upgraded Mexico’s forecast by one-tenth of a percentage point, to 1.6% for 2026, recognizing its recovery from a year of stagflation.
The IMF’s lowered expectations for the world as a whole were based on the Iran war. “Before the war, we were preparing to revise our forecasts upward to 3.4%,” the IMF’s chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, was reported as saying.
Kristalina Georgieva heads the IMF, which issued economic forecasts for Mexico, Latin America and the world as its annual meeting began on Monday in Washington, D.C. (IMF)
But the pessimism is expected to be temporary. “Our baseline forecasts are based on a relatively short conflict, with a temporary disruption to the energy market that would disappear next year,” Gourinchas added.
“In Mexico, weak economic growth in 2025 amid fiscal consolidation, restrictive monetary policy and headwinds from trade tensions is expected to lead to a mild recovery,” the IMF report stated.
The IMF also improved its economic outlook for Mexico in 2027, from 2.1% to 2.2%.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s Finance Ministry expects growth to fall somewhere between 1.8% and 2.8% in 2026, followed by 1.9% to 2.9% growth in 2027.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the IMF revised its forecast upward by 0.1 percentage points, to 2.3% growth.
The global economy, as the IMF sees it
At the IMF annual meeting in Washington, which is running through April 18, International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol warned that April may be worse than March for global energy supply. The increase in oil prices is expected to drive inflation to a global average of 4.4%, which is 0.6 percentage points higher than stated in the IMF’s January forecast.
Also, if the Iran conflict continues, the economic impact could be much more significant, with a worst-case global growth scenario of just 2%, according to Gourinchas.
“The world is facing this shock after having already endured the impact of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine… with very little room for political maneuvering,” explained the IMF’s managing director, Kristalina Georgieva.
According to the Treasury, Casino Centenario in Nuevo Laredo and Diamante Casino in Tampico are "involved in a money laundering and cash smuggling enterprise" operated by the Northeast Cartel. (Google Maps)
The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Tuesday announced sanctions against three men and two casinos in Tamaulipas for their alleged involvement with the Cartel del Noreste, or Northeast Cartel (CDN), one of six Mexican cartels that the U.S. government has designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
The individuals sanctioned include the president of the Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee, Raymundo Ramos, against whom the Ministry of National Defense used Pegasus spyware during Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency (2018-24), according to a 2022 investigation by three civil society organizations.
(U.S. Treasury)
The Treasury Department said in a statement that Ramos is in fact “a CDN associate that leads the CDN disinformation campaign against Mexican authorities while posing as a ‘human rights’ activist.”
“Under the guise of human rights activism, Ramos solely advocates for violent cartel members by filing false complaints against the Mexican military, paying individuals to attend protests, and protecting the reputations of fallen or arrested CDN members,” Treasury said.
“On the CDN payroll, Ramos engages in these activities with the goal of boosting the public opinion of CDN and discrediting Mexican authorities’ law enforcement initiatives against the cartel,” it stated, adding that “Ramos has supported CDN in this capacity for over a decade.”
The Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee president has previously denied links to the Northeast Cartel.
The other two individuals designated and sanctioned by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday are Eduardo Javier Islas Valdez and Juan Pablo Penilla Rodríguez.
Treasury said that Islas, aka “Crosty,” is “in charge of CDN human smuggling operations in Nuevo Laredo.”
It said that Islas “oversees human smugglers” and “grants permission to move the migrants, acting as a gatekeeper for human smuggling along the Rio Grande into Texas.” Treasury said that the 41-year-old “also ensures the continuity of cross-border activities that sustain the cartel’s criminal enterprise by controlling cash stash houses in Nuevo Laredo.”
Penilla is a defense attorney who “provides illegal services to CDN members,” according to the Treasury. It said that Penilla “assisted” former Zetas leader Miguel Treviño “in Mexican prison — despite OFAC’s sanctions against him — by serving as his intermediary to the current leadership of CDN and other criminal associates.”
Treviño’s faction of the Zetas morphed into the CDN over the last decade. Treviño is now in U.S. custody, having been transferred to the United States along with his brother and 27 other cartel figures in February 2025.
Treasury said that Ramos, Islas and Penilla as well as Casino Centenario in Nuevo Laredo and Diamante Casino in Tampico are “involved in a money laundering and cash smuggling enterprise” operated by CDN.
It also said that “the three individuals designated today play central roles in advancing CDN’s criminal dominance over the Nuevo Laredo plaza in Tamaulipas, Mexico, supporting the cartel’s broader illicit operations, which include fentanyl trafficking, human smuggling, money laundering, and extortion.”
Treasury’s sanctions freeze all U.S.-based assets of the designated individuals and casinos and ban any U.S. person or business from transacting with them, effectively cutting them off from the U.S. financial system.
1 of the designated casinos is just 2 miles from the Mexico-US border
Treasury said that Casino Centenario in Nuevo Laredo is “located just two miles [3.2 km] from the U.S. border.”
The casino is “utilized by CDN as a stash house for fentanyl pills and cocaine, as well as a vehicle to launder illicit proceeds and integrate them into the legitimate financial system through its gaming operations,” Treasury said.
“CDN also uses the backrooms of Casino Centenario to torture and intimidate alleged enemies of the cartel. Many CDN members also frequent Casino Centenario,” the department said.
Treasury said that the same entity that operates Casino Centenario — a company known as CAMSA — “also operates Diamante Casino, which has a location in Tampico, Tamaulipas and a gambling website with the same name.” The company is also subject to the sanctions.
Treasury said that “CDN is primarily based in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon” and for a period of “decades” has been involved in drug trafficking.
“CDN is involved in violent criminal activity on both sides of the border, including the kidnapping and killing of individuals that threaten their criminal enterprise on the southern border,” it said.
Jáquez also helped her university set a new WNBA draft record as five UCLA players were selected in the first round. (Gabriela Jacquez/Facebook)
Mexican-American Gabriela Jáquez made history on Monday when she became the fifth woman selected in the WNBA Draft.
Upon being selected by the Chicago Sky, the 22-year-old from Irvine, California, joined her brother Jaime as the first siblings of Mexican descent ever chosen by the two biggest U.S. basketball leagues.
GABRIELA JAQUEZ, la MEXICANA CAMPEONA NCAA que ILUSIONA en GRANDE al BASQUETBOL AZTECA | Entrevista
Fresh off winning the U.S. national college championship, Gabriela also helped her university set a new WNBA draft record as five UCLA players were selected in the first round. A sixth Bruin was taken in the second round, setting an additional record for most players from the same school selected in the same draft.
Gabriela averaged 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game this past season, while shooting 54% from the field and 39% from three-point range. Her steady improvement during her four years at UCLA and her standout performance in the national championship game (a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds) guaranteed her a high spot in the draft.
As she walked up to the stage after being selected at No. 5 overall, her family in attendance at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York cheered loudly. Her father, Jaime Jáquez, Sr., held up his smartphone so Jaime Jr. — in Miami preparing for an NBA playoff game — could take in the moment via FaceTime.
Gabriela became just the third player of Mexican descent to be drafted by a WNBA team, joining Evina Westbrook (2022) and Lou López Sénéchal (2023). López Senechal, born to a Mexican father and French mother, is the only one of the three to have been born in Mexico, though she grew up in France after her parents separated.
Gabriela and Jaime will soon become the fifth WNBA/NBA sibling duos, joined by Canadians Olivier-Maxence and Candace Prosper after Candace was selected 19th on Monday night. Olivier-Maxence was chosen 24th in the 2023 NBA Draft, the same night Jaime Jr. — who also starred at UCLA — was selected No. 18 by the Heat.
“I can’t say how proud I am of her. This has been a dream of hers for so long, ever since the third grade.”
Miami Heat’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. on his sister, Gabriela Jaquez, fulfilling her dream at UCLA 👏 pic.twitter.com/GWvxay8Axp
“I’m really thankful that me and my brother can represent the whole Latino community,” Gabriela told Our Esquina online sports publication. “Obviously being of Mexican descent, it’s just really important for us to share our culture.”
The Jáquez siblings take their heritage to heart, having played for Mexico at the international level. Gabriela made her Mexico debut in August 2024, while Jaime played for Mexico at the 2019 Pan Am Games though he has not committed to playing for Mexico in the long term.
While acknowledging that the records and notoriety are a great tribute, Gabriela preferred to look ahead to the challenges she’ll face in Chicago.
“[I’m] really excited for this new opportunity,” she said. “To play in the WNBA and for the Chicago Sky will be a lot of fun.”
Fernanda Arellano backflips over water during her gold medal-winning duet with Joana Jiménez. (Comité Olímpico Mexicano)
Mexico dominated the medal count at last week’s PanAm Aquatics Artistic Swimming Championships in Santiago, Chile, coming home with 13 golds, two silvers and two bronze medals.
In a press release, Mexico’s National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport noted that the performance of the national delegation secured its qualification to this summer’s Central American and Caribbean Games to be held in the Dominican Republic.
¡MÉXICO EN LO MÁS ALTO! 🇲🇽🥇
Diego Villalobos se baña en oro en el Panamericano de Natación Artística en Santiago de Chile 🇨🇱. Con una ejecución perfecta en el Solo Técnico Senior, ¡hizo sonar nuestro himno y ya suma 3 medallas en este certamen! 🎶💦
¡Eres un gigante, Diego! 🔝 pic.twitter.com/SmagIhq9V9
The artistic swim team was led by Diego Villalobos, who claimed victory in the men’s technical solo event, while also earning gold in the mixed duet, teaming up with Nayeli Mondragón to finish first in that event.
Villalobos — a bronze medal winner in the men’s technical solo event at the Singapore World Aquatics Championships last year — is seen as a 2028 Olympics medal hopeful for Mexico.
González also came home with a silver medal in the free duet competition alongside Fernanda Arellano, while earning another silver as a member of Mexico’s team in the technical routine event.
For her part, Arellano also won a gold medal, working with Joana Jiménez to finish first in the senior women’s technical duet.
Mexico’s senior team won in the team acrobatic event and concluded its participation in the Championships with a flourish, winning gold in the final event of the games by dominating in the free routine competition.
Mexico was represented by both its senior and junior national teams, each with upcoming international competitions in mind.
The senior team was preparing for the aforementioned Central American and Caribbean Games to take place from July 24 to Aug. 8, while the junior team is looking ahead to the World Aquatics Artistic Swimming Junior Championships in Budapest from Aug. 12-16.
The senior team won a total of nine medals (six gold, two silver and one bronze), while the junior team finished with eight medals (seven gold and one bronze).
Mexico’s 17 medals were far and away the most by any nation. Host nation Chile finished with seven medals (2 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze).
The United States came in third with five medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze), while Canada earned four medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze).
Colombia also went home with five medals (3 silver, 2 bronze), but failed to win a gold, while Brazil claimed a silver and two bronze medals.
The mayor and his father were found in the México state municipality of Zacualpan, which borders Guerrero. (Arq. Juan Andrés Vega/Facebook)
The mayor of Taxco, a popular tourist town in Guerrero, and his father were rescued on Monday after both men went missing, authorities said.
Juan Vega Arredondo, a 68-year-old doctor and director of a hospital in Taxco, was allegedly abducted by armed men on Saturday after he was intercepted while driving on the Taxco-Cuernavaca highway.
Morena party Mayor Juan Andrés Vega Carranza set out to find his father but was allegedly kidnapped while he was trying to negotiate his release.
Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch announced on social media on Monday afternoon that both men had been located alive. He said that México state police found the men after a federal operation that involved a ground deployment of security forces supported by helicopters.
“Both are safe. Operations to detain those responsible will continue,” García Harfuch wrote.
More than 500 security force members, including soldiers, marines, National Guard officers and police were involved in the federal operation to locate Vega Carranza and Vega Arredondo.
La Familia Michoacana identified as perpetrator of abductions
At President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference, García Harfuch said that Vega Arredondo was reported as missing on Saturday. He said that no demand for ransom was made.
The security minister said that an initial operation to locate Vega Arredondo commenced at the point on the Taxco-Cuernavaca highway where he was allegedly intercepted. He said his vehicle was found on Sunday.
🔴 La Familia Michoacana estaría detrás de s3cu3stro de alcalde de Taxco y su padre: García Harfuch.
Esto es lo que se cree de acuerdo con las primeras líneas de investigación, tras su localización con vida en el Estado de México.#ImagenInformapic.twitter.com/QprLTdUInk
García Harfuch noted that Vega Carranza went missing while searching for his father. He said that Sheinbaum instructed federal security forces to conduct a search operation for the two men. García Harfuch noted that authorities in Guerrero and México state were also involved in the search efforts.
He said that the two men were flown to the city of Iguala, Guerrero, after they were located in México state.
Asked which criminal group was responsible for the abduction of the mayor and his father, García Harfuch said that “everything indicates” that La Familia Michoacana — a criminal organization based in Michoacán — perpetrated the crime. He said that no arrests have been made, but stressed that work to identify and detain those responsible is continuing.
Asked about narcomantas (narco-banners) claiming that Vega Carranza has links to criminal groups, the security minister responded:
“Indeed, there were two banners that came out against him, one this year, it seems, and the other last year. There are two that we are aware of at this time. And that is also part of the investigation file.”
Taxco — Mexico’s ‘silver capital’ — is known for crime
Located about 170 kilometers southwest of Mexico City, Taxco is known as Mexico’s “silver capital,” and attracts significant numbers of Mexican and foreign tourists.
The pretty colonial town was once one of the largest suppliers of silver in the Spanish Empire and, as Mexico News Daily reported in 2024, remains world-renowned today for its intricate silver jewelry creations and family-run workshops that attract thousands of visitors every year.
However, Taxco also has a dark side. In January 2024, the U.S. government issued a security alert for Taxco shortly after the driver of a public transport van was killed by armed men in the historic center of the town.
“Public transport operators have received threats from La Familia Michoacana and Los Tlacos, crime groups vying for control of Taxco and other parts of Guerrero,” MND reported at the time.
Police officers and teachers, among others, have also been murdered in Taxco.
The trove of 16 examples of art ranging from prehistoric to Aztec times was found in an area of the state of Hidalgo that has yielded other such discoveries since the 1970s. (INAH)
Sixteen pre-Columbian cave paintings and petroglyphs have been discovered at the El Venado archaeological site in the state of Hidalgo. The discoveries, made in January, were a direct result of rescue archaeology carried out along the route of the under-construction Mexico-Querétaro passenger train.
According to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the works’ dates range from prehistoric times (nearly 4,000 years ago) to the Mesoamerican Postclassic period, which included the time of the Toltecs and later the Mexica, or Aztecs.
Conservación de pinturas rupestres en el trazo México Querétaro | Trenes del Norte
The paintings are located on two cliffs near the Tula River and the La Requena Dam, close to the state capital of Hidalgo. The area has been a source of pre-Columbian art since famed Mexican archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma unearthed a painting featuring a deer, thus giving this archaeological place its name of El Venado.
Subsequent findings have included images of other regional animals, natural phenomena, anthropomorphic figures and humans.
Archaeologists found several figures near the dam in January, including human pictures with distinctive elements such as shields, headdresses and weapons. One of the figures is wearing accessories associated with deities such as Tláloc, the Mexica god of rain. A face with ornaments and compositions in red with a white stripe was also identified.
Other less visible figures worn by time include a stylized human figure in red, along with shapes that could represent a snake or lightning.
The general area of the findings.
A figure depicting a human face and the legs of a bird or horse suggests that the work was created around the time of Spanish contact. This would also imply a continuation of the symbolic use of the site into the early colonial period.
Researchers are carrying out comparative analysis with other artistic expressions of this type found in the region.
