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The MND Peso Index™ for September: MXN is nearly 6% overvalued against USD

By
MND Intelligence
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Our headline finding for September 2026 indicates that the peso is overvalued against the dollar by 5.8%, an increase of 3.4 percentage points compared to the 2.4% overvaluation we determined in early August.
Our headline finding for September 2026 indicates that the peso is overvalued against the dollar by 5.8%, an increase of 3.4 percentage points compared to the 2.4% overvaluation we determined in early August. (Mexico News Daily)

THE MND PESO INDEX™

Tracking the exchange rate people actually experience

MND Intelligence · Fifth edition

Welcome to the fifth edition of the MND Peso Index™, part of the MND Intelligence™ suite of data products developed by Mexico News Daily.

The MND Peso Index™ is a monthly purchasing power parity measure that assesses whether the Mexican peso is overvalued or undervalued against the US dollar by comparing the prices of a standardized basket of 20 goods and services in Mexico and Dallas, Texas.

As was the case with our previous edition, our latest MND Peso Index™ assessment is being published in the same month as its underlying price survey, making it more timely.

Our headline finding for September 2026 indicates that the peso was overvalued against the dollar by 5.8%, an increase of 3.4 percentage points compared to the 2.4% overvaluation we determined in early August. This is the highest overvaluation assessment the MND Peso Index™ has yielded, surpassing the 4% overvaluation appraisal in May.

For a detailed explanation of the purpose of the MND Peso Index™, the makeup of the basket and more, please refer to the index article we published in June. You can read even more about the index in our introductory article published in early May.

What did the MND Peso Index™ tell us in September 2026?

In September 2026, the MND Peso Index™ suggests that the USD:MXN exchange rate on the date we collected prices in various Mexican cities and in Dallas, Texas, overvalued the Mexican peso by 5.8%.

The Mexican and Dallas prices were collected on Sept. 2, 2026. The MND Peso Rate — the simple average of the 20 item-level implied exchange rates, rather than the rate produced by dividing the total Mexican basket cost by the total Dallas basket cost — came in at 17.96 pesos per dollar, compared with a Banxico FIX rate of 16.98 pesos per dollar on Sept. 2.

(Mexico News Daily)

The gap between those two figures indicates that the peso — at a rate of 16.98 to the US dollar — was overvalued by 5.8% in early September.

In the table below, you can see the Mexico and U.S. prices for all 20 goods and services in the basket, the total costs of the two baskets, the implied exchange rate for each item, the MND Peso Rate (i.e., the overall implied rate), the Banxico FIX rate on the date prices were collected and the overvaluation assessment for the peso.

Why did the peso’s ‘overvalued’ assessment increase between August and September? 

The peso’s overvaluation assessment increased from 2.4% in early August to 5.8% in early September because the gap between the Banxico FIX rate and the MND Peso Rate widened.

The widening occurred due to the appreciation of the peso between Aug. 6 and September 2 and due to an increase in the MND Peso Rate. The peso appreciated 24 centavos from 17.22 to 16.98 over that period, a strengthening of 1.4%. The MND Peso Rate increased 32 centavos from 17.64 on Aug. 6 to 17.96 on Sept. 2. The difference between the Banxico FIX rate and MND Peso Rate on Sept. 2 was 98 centavos, an increase of 56 centavos compared to the gap between the two rates on Aug. 6.

The peso has recently appreciated due to a range of factors, including US dollar weakness and carry trade demand for Mexico’s currency. The MND Peso rate increased due to eight month-over-month changes in the implied rates for items in the basket of goods and services.

The implied rates increased for six items: A Big Mac, a Big Mac meal, a dozen eggs, Kirkland toilet paper, Listerine mouthwash and a Planet Fitness membership. In the case of the Big Mac and the Big Mac meal, the implied rate rose because prices in Dallas fell. In the case of the eggs, toilet paper and mouthwash, the implied rate increased because prices in Mexico rose. The price of a Planet Fitness membership declined in both Dallas and Mexico. However, the Dallas price fell more than the Mexico price, causing the implied rate to increase.

The implied rate for a cinema ticket declined because the price fell on both sides of the border, but the decrease in Mexico was larger. The eighth month-over-month implied rate change was due to the replacement of a Flexon Hose — which is no longer available on Costco México’s website — with a set of glass containers. The implied rate for the set of glass containers was 21.64, while the implied rate for the hose last month was 24.26.

Overall, the combined upward effect of the six higher implied rates outweighed the downward effect of the two lower rates. Thus the MND Peso Rate increased between early August and and early September.

The MND Peso Index™ has now found the peso to be overvalued in April, May, June, August and September 

Through the use of the MND Peso Index™, we have now determined that the peso was overvalued against the US dollar by 2.8% in late April, 4% in late May, 2.9% in late June, 2.4% in early August and 5.8% in early September.

The difference between the lowest overvaluation assessment (that in August) and the highest one (this one) is 3.4 percentage points.

(Mexico News Daily)

So far in 2026, the peso has appreciated 6.4% against the US dollar. It closed at 18.00 to the greenback on the final day of 2025, according to the Bank of Mexico, while the closing USD:MXN rate on Tuesday, Sept. 8 was 16.91. If the Banxico FIX rate was 16.91 when we collected the prices for the Mexican and Dallas baskets on Sept. 2, the overvaluation assessment for the peso would have been 6.2%. 

* Price sources: Mexico prices were collected from the websites and apps of Walmart México, Costco México, AutoZone México, Telmex, Cinépolis, Petco México, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Netflix, Spotify and Microsoft. Dallas prices were collected from their U.S. equivalents. The Banxico FIX rate of 16.98 published on Sept. 2, 2026, was used as the official exchange rate reference.

New 11-tower hotel and apartment complex proposed for Bahía de Banderas

By
MND Staff
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Bahía de Banderas
The start of construction is contingent upon the development obtaining the necessary Environmental Impact Assessment (MIA). (Gobierno de Bahía de Banderas/Facebook)

A major new 11-tower housing and hotel development in Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit, has been proposed at a projected cost of 515 million pesos (US $30.5 million). 

The proposal from BM/5096 Business Trust was published in the Environment Ministry’s Ecological Gazette on Aug. 20 for review, and the start of construction is contingent upon the development obtaining the necessary Environmental Impact Assessment (MIA).

The project, known as Ocean II, will cover 65,453 square meters of land, including private land, land reclaimed from the sea and a portion of the Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone. It is expected to consist of a hotel zone and a residential zone, accessible from Paseo de los Cocoteros Avenue. 

A 187-room hotel will occupy the Palapar Lot within the Los Flamingos Master Condominium across five towers, ranging from five to 10 stories high, while six residential towers will contain 275 apartments. There are plans for basement parking for 784 vehicles.

Planned amenities include restaurants, a spa, a gym, a beach club, an event hall, retail spaces, swimming pools and over 25,000 square meters of green space. 

The developers noted in their submission to the Environment Ministry that they expect the project to take around seven years to complete, with the first phase of construction slated to begin in March 2027 and completion expected in 2033. 

The announcement is for a general area where beachside development has been controversial, as it is a nesting habitat for the olive ridley sea turtle. 

In July, the Environment Ministry revoked a federal concession for a luxury development in Punta de Mita after finding unauthorized construction and environmental violations by developer Cantiles de Mita.

President Sheinbaum visited Nayarit over the weekend to deliver her second annual report, announcing the creation of a Master Plan to conserve beaches, guarantee free access and protect the entire state coastline’s biodiversity.

“I want to tell you that we’ve been working with the [state] governor for over a year on a master plan for tourism in Nayarit, because we don’t want the mangroves destroyed or all the beaches privatized,” said Sheinbaum in a speech. 

With reports from El Sol de México and Tribuna de la Bahía

Mexico fails the 2025 PISA evaluation: A perspective from our CEO

By
Travis Bembenek
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Mexican students practicing reading
Mexico’s students have registered consecutive declines in their reading skills since the 2009 PISA evaluation. (Pedro Anza/Cuartoscuro)

Just this morning, the 2025 PISA 2025 results were released and as feared, they are very concerning both on a global scale and for Mexico specifically.

As a reminder, PISA assessments test 760,000 15-year-old students in 91 countries in science, mathematics and reading. The results show a continued decline globally in all three areas with reading being the largest long-term weakness. Singapore students scored highest, followed closely by China, Japan and South Korea.

Latest PISA survey reveals 4 in 10 Mexican students do not meet basic level in science, math and reading

Mexico, which historically has done poorly, did even worse than in previous years. Some of the lowlights of Mexico’s performance:

  • Mexico performed below the OECD average in every 2025 PISA domain and placed 64th out of 91 participating countries/economies globally.
  • The last time the testing was done, in 2022, Mexico placed 51st out of 81 participating countries/economies.
  • Mexico declined in country rankings in math and reading, as well as compared to its previous performance.
  • Mexico ranks significantly below the OECD mean in math, science and reading.
  • This was Mexico’s fifth consecutive decline in reading since 2009. (The test is taken every 3 years.)
  • Half of Mexican 15-year-olds read below the minimum proficiency threshold. This is the threshold that one needs to be able to read in order to learn.

Other than the slight gain in science, the results are a disaster. Not only is Mexico getting worse in math and reading scores, but actually getting relatively much worse than other countries.

I often write about the potential of the Mexican economy, but these testing results are a significant red flag. I have written before about two concerns regarding the Mexican workforce:

1.  The education barrier means companies have to make significant investments in workforce development and training to prepare workers. This is both a financial cost and a time loss, and puts Mexican operations at a disadvantage versus other countries.

Could education be a barrier to Mexico’s nearshoring success?

2.  The strengthening peso increases the cost of the Mexican workforce. A relatively lower-skilled, relatively expensive workforce means that many companies will instead invest in automation and robotics versus investing in workers.

Solving this problem will not happen overnight, and it will take a massive effort to change the very concerning trend. It will take a combination of parents, entire families, teachers, administrators, politicians and just about everyone else to slow the troubling declines. We as a society need to get back to prioritizing the simple benefits and joy that come from reading and writing. Of course, it is increasingly difficult in the age of AI, but what is more important than making sure the next generation of kids can read and write? We need to get our priorities straight before it is too late.

The MND team will continue to do our part, and we invite kids, parents and grandparents to all enjoy reading via our MND and MND KIDS platforms. If you haven’t invited your child or grandchild to check out MND KIDS yet, what are you waiting for?

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.

Goods from Mexico now make up almost one-fifth of the US import market

By
MND Staff
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United States of America and Mexico flags
Compared to a year earlier, Mexico's share of the U.S. import market increased 2.7 percentage points in July. (Shutterstock)

Mexico captured almost one-fifth of the U.S. import market in July, well ahead of second-placed Canada, shipping a record US $60.55 billion worth of goods to its northern neighbor, according to official U.S. data.

Mexico’s share of the $332.92 billion U.S. import market in July was 18.2%, ahead of Canada (10.1%); China (8.1%); Vietnam (7.9%); and Taiwan (7.7%), according to data published last Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

In other words, nearly one in every five dollars the United States spent on imports in July was spent on products from Mexico.

Compared to a year earlier, Mexico’s share of the U.S. import market increased 2.7 percentage points in July.

The difference between Mexico and Canada’s shares of the U.S. import market in July 2025 was 4.5 percentage points. In July of this year, the difference was 8.1 points. Similarly, the difference between Mexico and China’s shares of the U.S. import market increased significantly, rising to 10.1 points in July from 6.5 points in the same month of last year.

The increase in Mexico’s share of the U.S. import market coincides with a boom in Mexican exports. The boom is largely driven by a sharp increase in the export of computer equipment, including AI servers, and other electronics to the U.S.

Mexico in Numbers: How Taiwanese imports are fueling Mexico’s record tech exports

While such products are helping to boost Mexico’s overall export revenue and share of the U.S. import market, their Mexican content is generally very low. That means that a significant share of the revenue Mexico receives from the export of tech products has already been spent on imported inputs, especially from Taiwan.

Mexico’s export revenue increased 33% annually in July 

In July — for the first time in any month on record — Mexico’s revenue from selling goods to the United States exceeded $60 billion.

The year-over-year increase in revenue was 33.6% in July. The month-over-month increase was 9.6%.

Canada’s revenue from exports to the United States also increased on an annual basis in July, but only by 4%. Canada’s income declined on a month-over-month basis in July, falling 10%. Canada’s revenue from products shipped to the United States in July was $33.49 billion, equivalent to 55.3% of Mexico’s income in the same month.

China’s revenue from goods shipped to the United States in July was $27.07 billion, up 2.6% from the same month of last year.

Mexico’s exports to the United States reached a record level in July at a time when there was significant uncertainty in the bilateral trade relationship. On July 1, the U.S. government announced that it had declined to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020.

Despite that decision, the USMCA remains in effect, allowing most Mexican goods to enter the United States tariff-free and giving Mexico a significant comparative advantage over most of its competitors.

Mexico’s exports to the US increased 16% between January and July 

The U.S. data also shows that the United States imported goods from Mexico worth $358.7 billion in the first seven months of 2026. That figure represents an increase of 16% compared to the same period of 2025.

Mexico’s share of the $2.08 trillion U.S. import market between January and July was 17.3%, up from 15% in the same period of last year.

Canada’s share of the U.S. import market remained virtually the same on a year-over-year basis, while China’s share fell almost two percentage points.

Canada’s income from goods shipped to the United States between January and July increased 1.8% to $233.66 billion. Its share of the U.S. import market was 11.24% in the first seven months of the year, an increase of just 0.08 percentage points compared to the same period of last year. Canada and the United States are currently engaged in a significant trade dispute.

China’s revenue from goods shipped to the United States between January and July was $156.39 billion, a 19.4% decrease compared to the same period of last year. Its share of the U.S. import market was 7.5%, down from 9.4% in the same period of last year. China and the United States are engaged in a long-running trade war.

Mexico is the top market for US exports 

The U.S. data shows that the United States exported goods worth $34.24 billion to Mexico in July, an increase of 18.3% compared to the same month of 2025. In the first seven months of 2026, the United States’ revenue from goods exported to Mexico was $229.81 billion, a 16.8% year-over-year increase.

In July, and in the first seven months of 2026, Mexico was the top market for U.S. exports. In the first seven months of last year, Canada was the top foreign market for U.S. goods, just ahead of Mexico.

In the first seven months of 2026, U.S. exports generated total revenue of $1.43 trillion. Sixteen per cent of that revenue — or around one in every six dollars — was derived from goods sent to Mexico. After Mexico, the largest markets for U.S. exports between January and July were, in order, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and China.

Mexico’s trade surplus with US nears $130 billion 

Mexico recorded a trade surplus of $26.31 billion with the United States in July. At the end of July, Mexico’s calendar trade surplus with the U.S. was $128.89 billion. At the end of July last year, it was $112.57 billion, 12.7% lower.

The only country that recorded a larger trade surplus with the United States than Mexico in the year to the end of July was Vietnam. The southeast Asian nation sent exports worth $149.61 billion to the United States in the first seven months of the year, while its outlay on imports from the U.S. was $10.75 billion. Vietnam thus recorded a trade surplus of $138.86 billion with the U.S. in the first seven months of the year.

Mexico’s large trade surplus with the United States has angered U.S. President Donald Trump, who takes the view that the U.S. is “losing money” if its imports from a certain country exceed its exports to the same country. On Friday, he threatened in a social media post to “STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT” if the U.S. Federal Reserve doesn’t lower its benchmark interest rate, which is currently set at 3.50%-3.75%.

Later on Friday, Trump asserted that Mexico has “nothing” the United States needs, apart from “hot tamales” and “tomatoes,” a claim that collides with the reality that the U.S. and Mexican economies are highly integrated and that Mexico ships huge quantities of goods to its northern neighbor on a daily basis. The data on Mexico’s exports to the U.S. in July and in the first seven months of the year — and that on the United States’ exports to Mexico in the same periods — provide clear evidence of that economic interdependence.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

500 Chihuahua farmers are benefitting from a 20-year-old Tec student’s prize-winning filtration invention

By
MND Staff
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Luis Ángel Robles Morales
Luis Ángel Robles Morales received a 2026 Eugenio Garza Sada award for a water-efficient filtration invention that is already helping drought-stricken farmers in Chihuahua. The honor also earned the Monterrey Tec student and leader of OAKS Filtration a 1 million-peso prize. (David Garza Salazar/Facebook)

A 20-year-old engineering student from a farming family in Chihuahua has won a national award by developing an irrigation filter that could make water go further for drought-stricken farmers.

Luis Ángel Robles Morales, a mechatronics student at Tecnológico de Monterrey’s Chihuahua campus, leads OAKs Filtration, which last week received the 2026 Eugenio Garza Sada Award in the category of student social innovation.

Luis angel Morales
Robles’s grandfather grew corn, chiles and alfalfa, and his father branched off into making filters for irrigation systems. Luis Ángel has taken the family business a step further with his breakthrough invention. (Premio Eugenio Garza Sada/Facebook)

The award — which includes a prize of 1 million pesos (US $59,121) for Robles — was one of three presented Sept. 2 by Tec de Monterrey and FEMSA, the Monterrey-based company that operates OXXO stores and controls Coca-Cola bottling operations in Mexico.

The two entities jointly established the award in 1993 in honor of the late Garza Sada, an industrialist who was among the university’s founders in 1943 and who helped lead a Monterrey business group that later became FEMSA.

Robles’ irrigation filter makes water use more efficient by preventing clogs that lead to wasted water, disrupted harvests and increased maintenance costs.

A persistent problem in drip and sprinkler systems is sand, mud and other particles clogging emitters.

So far, the system has benefited more than 500 farmers in the south-central region of Chihuahua, according to Tec de Monterrey.

Robles comes from a farming family: His grandfather grew corn, chiles and alfalfa, and his father branched off into making filters for irrigation systems.

In Chihuahua, the need for improved irrigation is acute.

From January through August this year, the state received 247.6 millimeters of rain — roughly 9.8 inches and 11.7% less than the same period last year, the newspaper El Diario de Chihuahua reported. By Aug. 15, drought was affecting 28.3% of the state, up from 11.2% in early May.

OAKs Filtration uses a carbon-steel outer casing and a PVC internal filtering element. Robles said the design provides two to three times the filtration area of commercial systems and channels debris toward the filter’s end, allowing it to clean itself through water flow.

In a test described by the digital news platform Expansion ESG, a competing filter clogged after 30 to 60 minutes, while the OAKs filter ran eight uninterrupted hours without pressure loss and was only about one-third full when inspected.

Robles said the price of the OAKs filter system runs from 30,000 to 100,000 pesos (US $1,773 to  $5,910), while traditional commercial filters can cost 300,000 to 500,000 pesos (US $17,736 to $29,560).

OAKs was one of three 2026 Garza Sada Award honorees, with a total prize pool of 4.5 million pesos (US $266,000). 

The others were pharmaceutical executive and conservationist Eric Hágsater Gartenberg, recognized for humanistic business leadership, and Formando Emprendedores, a nonprofit that provides education and youth-development programs in northern Mexico.

Since its founding in 1993, the award has recognized 81 winners.

Robles said he will devote half of his prize money to the project and half to an international entrepreneurial experience.

With reports from Expansión ESG, EJE Central, El Economista and El Diario de Chihuahua

Latest PISA survey reveals 4 in 10 Mexican students do not meet basic level in science, math and reading

By
MND Staff
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students in classroom
Mexican 15-year-olds scored well below the global average in the most recent PISA global evaluation, delivering their lowest results since 2009. (Cuartoscuro)

The latest edition of an OECD-conducted global education evaluation reveals a disturbing decline in the skills of Mexican students: four in 10 15-year-olds are scoring below the basic level in science, mathematics and reading.

The test, called the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), has been administered periodically since the turn of the century; this time to 7,843 students from 297 schools in Mexico. The 41.8% of students who scored below the basic level in the science/math/reading triad was more than double the 19.7% average of all countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

students
Whatever’s behind the low scores, it’s clearly not about attitude. More than 80% of 15-year-old Mexican students said on the test that they are curious about various topics, higher than the average, and only 11% said that school is a waste of time, compared to 24% overall. (Unsplash)

Mexican 15-year-olds as a whole scored 388 points in mathematics, 408 in reading and 414 in science, all well below the OECD averages of 463, 461 and 482, respectively.

Mexican students aren’t just falling behind their global peers — their own results are slipping too. Since the 2022 PISA, Mexico has dropped seven points in both math and reading, even as it held steady in science.

Overall, the current test results are Mexico’s worst since 2009. 

While it may be a small consolation to parents and the education community, Mexico is far from the only country experiencing a decline. “Globally, we have seen a dramatic drop, particularly in reading skills,” Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s Director of Education and Skills, said in an interview with the newspaper El Financiero.

If the first step toward turning things around is a positive attitude, it may already be at hand. The OECD highlighted that 80% of 15-year-old Mexican students stated in the PISA test that they are curious about various topics, up by 7% compared to the global average. Another finding revealed that just 11% of respondents agreed that school is a waste of time, compared to the OECD average of 24%.

In another sense, the poor scores may be a case of Mexico being a victim of its own success. As pointed out in a report cited by Animal Político, “Given the expansion of secondary education to previously marginalized populations, [Mexico’s] results appear somewhat more positive. ”

Meanwhile, Mexico is struggling, along with the rest of the world, with modern impediments to educational performance. According to Education International, the largest global federation of teachers, the decline in student performance can be attributed “to shorter attention spans, excessive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the global teacher shortage.”

Despite that, the top-performing countries in all PISA areas were China, Singapore, South Korea, Estonia and Canada.

Mexico News Daily

Authorities seize 300 computers from cryptomining farm siphoning power from Puebla grid

By
MND Staff
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1
cryptomining farm in Puebla
Puebla Security Minister Francisco Sánchez said the “farms” are part of a network that takes advantage of the proximity to hydroelectric facilities in the Sierra Norte to steal massive volumes of energy. (@SSPGobPue/X)

Federal authorities dismantled a clandestine cryptocurrency mining farm in the state of Puebla where approximately 300 computers illegally connected to a hydroelectric complex were found to be mining digital assets.

The cryptomining farm was discovered in Tlaola, a municipality in the remote Sierra Norte region of Puebla, thanks to a joint investigation carried out by the Federal Attorney General’s Office, the Navy and state prosecutors.

During the operation, authorities uncovered a highly equipped digital operations center. Agents seized large-scale electrical and technological infrastructure that included transformers, medium-voltage terminals, 300 specialized computer units (GPUs) and operational satellite internet antennas. 

The initial criminal charge being prepared is energy theft, but prosecutors say money laundering charges have not been ruled out. Forensic accountants are tracing the origin of the funds used to acquire the expensive technological hardware.

State authorities have confirmed that investigators have expanded their search to neighboring municipalities in anticipation of similar operations.

Puebla Security Minister Francisco Sánchez said the “farms” are part of a network that takes advantage of the proximity to hydroelectric facilities in the Sierra Norte to steal massive volumes of energy. 

Cryptomining consumes a significant amount of energy and produces a lot of noise, Sánchez said, so remote and isolated locations away from communities are favored. 

“We have been monitoring this … area of ​​the state, especially due to its proximity to the [Nuevo Necaxa] dam,” he said, adding that the discovery of a large-scale power line connection helped the authorities locate the clandestine farm.

Last year, officials busted a crypto farm in the small Puebla community near the dam where properties owned by the Electrical Workers Union were allegedly being used to operate mining facilities powered by illegal connections to the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) power grid.

Two other mining operations straddling the border between Puebla and Tlaxcala were also dismantled in 2025.

Cryptocurrency mining — which is not illegal in Mexico, although cryptocurrencies are not legal tender here — is a process that uses computers to solve complex mathematical operations in order to validate transactions and earn rewards in digital assets. 

In its latest report on non-technical losses covering the period from January to July 2024, the CFE estimated that energy theft, meter tampering and illegal connections cost the company approximately 13.8 billion pesos (US $817 million).

Cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used to move funds between financial users and countries quickly, cheaply and discreetly, such that they have become a popular money-laundering tool for criminal groups.  

With reports from El País, Xataka México, Debate and La Jornada de Oriente

MND Local: Pro tennis and golf face uncertainty in Los Cabos

By
Chris Sands
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0
Denis Shapovalov serving in the final of the 2026 Los Cabos Tennis Open
Arthur Géa defeated defending champion Denis Shapovalov (pictured here) in the final of the 10th edition of the Los Cabos Tennis Open, which took place Aug. 1. (Los Cabos Tennis Open)

Money trumps tradition in professional sports, at least where the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is concerned. That was the takeaway from the recent report by Spanish-language tennis journalist Iván Aguilar that the ATP 500 Series event in Acapulco (Abierto Mexicano Telcel) will go away in 2028 to make way for a new Masters 1000 Series event in Saudi Arabia. 

Acapulco has been a mainstay on the ATP Tour since 2001, hosting the most consequential tennis tournament in Mexico and a marquee event in Latin America. The long-running competition has always drawn top-tier talent. Legendary Spanish player Rafael Nadal, for example, was a four-time champion at the Mexican Open in Acapulco. So its loss to the tour, if confirmed by the ATP, will be deeply felt.

Los Cabos will also be affected by the schedule changes, Aguilar noted, as the Los Cabos Tennis Open (Mifel Tennis Open by Telcel Oppo, in sponsor-speak), which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, will be downgraded from an ATP 250 Series event to a Challenger 175 tournament in 2028, with a shift in its calendar placement also in the works. 

This news, combined with recent announcements by the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour, which is in the process of a major reworking of its own schedule, ensures that two of the three biggest annual sporting events in Los Cabos — Bisbee’s Black and Blue, the world’s biggest fishing tournament, is the other — will undergo significant changes in coming years.

The Saudi money driving ATP changes

The ATP’s calendar shakeup is being driven by Saudi Arabia’s US $900 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF), and by its dedicated sports arm, SURJ Sports Investment. According to The New York Times’ sports arm, The Athletic, SURJ has spent hundreds of millions of dollars buying back tournament licenses to clear a space on the calendar for a 10th Masters 1000 tournament, a 56-player draw likely to take place in Riyadh beginning in February 2028 with an estimated US $6 million prize pool. This is part of a massive overall investment by Saudi Arabia in the ATP Tour. 

Baja heats up as the Los Cabos Tennis Open begins

Among the licenses SURJ purchased to retire or relocate as part of the ATP’s “calendar optimization” program are those from the Chengdu Open, Hong Kong Open, Moselle Open, and the dormant Kremlin Cup. The Athletic reported in March that negotiations were also ongoing to acquire the licenses of tournaments in Acapulco and Buenos Aires. Aguilar’s subsequent reporting suggests the negotiations to acquire the license for the Mexican Open in Acapulco are complete.

Changes to the tennis tournament in Los Cabos

The loss of the Mexican Open and the demotion of the Los Cabos Tennis Open from an ATP-sponsored event to a second-tier Challenger 175 tournament amounts to a gutting of ATP events in Mexico. No top-tier ATP-sponsored events are expected to remain in the country by 2028. Los Cabos keeps its professional tournament, albeit with weaker fields — top-10 players have regularly appeared at the event during its decade-long history, but will likely become a thing of the past — and a fraction of the prize money. 

The tournament will also move from its traditional late July calendar slot to sometime during the first few months of 2028. The 2027 editions of the Mexican Open and Los Cabos Tennis Open, meanwhile, have been confirmed, so there is at least one more opportunity for spectators to enjoy each of these events in their current form.

How the PGA’s new schedule affects Los Cabos

Ben Griffin holding the trophy for the 2025 World Wide Technology Championship, a PGA event held in Cabo San Lucas
Ben Griffin won the 2025 World Wide Technology Championship, held at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal course in Los Cabos. (PGA)

Just like in professional tennis, the other major North American individual sport, golf, is looking at major changes as it prepares to make its most significant structural overhaul in decades. Beginning in 2028, the PGA Tour will split into two tiers: a Championship Series and a Challenger Series. As a consequence of this update, the FedExCup Fall Series, of which the World Wide Technology Championship (WWTC) at Tiger Woods’ El Cardonal course at Diamante in Cabo San Lucas has been a part, will no longer exist. 

Saudi investment has also played a role in the history of this tournament. For its first 16 editions, the WWTC was held at the Greg Norman-designed  El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course on the Riviera Maya. However, when Norman became CEO of the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Tour, the PGA moved the tournament to Los Cabos in 2023. Diamante, the upscale resort and residential community that is home to several Tiger Woods-designed courses, became its new site, with the Woods-designed The Legacy Club talked about as the future location of the WWTC after its opening in 2027.

An uncertain future

But that future is now up in the air following the PGA Tour’s calendar shakeup. The WWTC, notably, only has a contract with the PGA Tour through 2027. Nor does it necessarily fit neatly into either of the new series tracks premiering in 2028. Although the WWTC has drawn top tour pros to compete for its distinctive El Arco-inspired trophy — Ben Griffin was in the world’s top 10 when he won the tournament last year — FedExCup Fall events are not high-profile enough to be slotted into the new Championship Series. 

How golf sells real estate in Los Cabos

The Challenger Series is a possible landing spot — despite the international locale — and the Tiger Woods connection certainly helps, since the calendar restructuring was approved by the Woods-chaired Future Competition Committee. 

But uncertainty remains … both for the WWTC and the only other PGA-sponsored event in Mexico, the VidantaWorld Mexico Open in Nuevo Nayarit. This year, the two are back-to-back on the schedule, with the VidantaWorld Mexico Open slated for Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, and the WWTC for Nov. 5 to 8.

Chris Sands is a writer and editor for Mexico News Daily, and the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He has also contributed to numerous other websites and publications, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise and Travel, and Cabo Living.

US, Mexico carry out ‘High Eagle’ operation to ground cartel drones along border

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MND Staff
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officer holding anti drone equipment
According to the United States Northern Command, the Joint Task Force–Southern Border has taken down more than 300 unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, along the U.S.-Mexico border this year. (Cuartoscuro)

Mexico and the United States are currently carrying out an anti-drone operation at the border between Baja California and California, according to the Mexican Ministry of National Defense (Defensa).

Criminal groups use drones near the Mexico-U.S. border to assist their illicit activities, including the smuggling of people and drugs into the United States.

In a statement issued on Monday, Defensa said that the Águila Alta (High Eagle) “binational anti-drone operation” is taking place in the border region between Tijuana, Baja California, and San Diego, California.

The ministry said that the Aug. 31-Sept. 21 operation is occurring “within the framework of the Mexico-United States Bilateral Implementation Group” — a security group established a year ago — and that it is related to “concurrent (mirror) operations that the Armed Forces of both countries and U.S. law enforcement agencies are carrying out through simultaneous reconnaissance along the common border.”

Defensa said that the aim of the operation is to have a “safer border through the detection and disablement of commercial drones that are used by criminals at the common border to watch authorities during the trafficking of people and drugs.”

It didn’t say how many drones had been detected and disabled during the ongoing operation.

US official claims cartels are conducting thousands of drone ops at Mexico border

The Defense Ministry, led by General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, said that the operation — described as “similar” to one that took place at the border between Ciudad Juárez and El Paso in March — consists of two stages, the first of which has already been completed.

It said that stage 1 took place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 in Tijuana and San Diego. During the stage, “a coordination exercise addressing drone issues was conducted, culminating in simultaneous ground reconnaissance missions, with each force operating within its own territory,” Defensa said.

The ministry said that the second stage of the operation is taking place “as of this date” — i.e., Monday, Sept. 7 — and until Sept. 21. The stage involves “the deployment of forces in the border region of each country, supported by fixed and mobile anti-drone equipment,” Defensa said.

“Security cooperation between Mexico and the United States is carried out with full respect for national sovereignty and is governed by the principles of reciprocity, shared and differentiated responsibility, mutual trust and respect for sovereign decisions and territory, favoring at all times the interests of the Mexican state,” the ministry said.

The announcement of the bilateral anti-drone operation came three days after the United States Northern Command said in a statement that the Joint Task Force–Southern Border (JTF-SB) had taken down more than 300 unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, along the U.S.-Mexico border this year.

“JTF-SB defeated more than 300 UAS this calendar year employing kinetic and non-kinetic systems, with more than 100 defeats occurring in the month of August,” said USNORTHCOM, one of 11 unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense.

“… The UAS were assessed to be associated with illicit activity along the border. Transnational criminal organizations use UAS to support illegal cross-border activity, including smuggling operations and surveillance of law-enforcement and military personnel,” USNORTHCOM said.

It noted that JTF-SB personnel have conducted patrols along the border “in coordination with Mexican military personnel.”

Trevilla said Friday that U.S. authorities had informed the Mexican government that drones are mainly used in the border region by people who smuggle migrants into the United States

“They are commercial drones. They only capture images … and what they’re seeking to find are routes that are free, where there is no presence of [U.S.] authorities,” the defense minister said.

Last month, Mexico and the United States signed a defense agreement on new technologies that allows Defensa to acquire drones and counter-unmanned aerial systems in the U.S. Army’s online marketplace. However, the Defense Ministry said at the time that it hadn’t made any purchase commitment.

Mexico News Daily 

2 Mexican soccer stars make history with Ballon d’Or nominations

By
MND Staff
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Camberos and Quiñones
The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious annual award in world soccer. (Instagram/Cuartoscuro)

World Cup hero Julián Quiñones and Club América forward Scarlett Camberos made history on Tuesday by earning Best Player nominations for the 2026 Ballon d’Or, the most prestigious award in world soccer.

Quiñones is only the second Mexican man to garner a nomination, while Camberos is the first Mexican woman to be so honored. Additionally, Camberos’ team — Mexico City-based Club América — is among five teams vying for the Women’s Club of the Year award, competing for the trophy with the likes of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

Camberos playing for Club América
Camberos’s team, Club América, is among five global teams vying for the Women’s Club of the Year award. (Gabriela Pérez Montiel/Cuartoscuro)

The Colombian-born Quiñones earned his nomination after a standout performance in the Saudi Pro League and a star turn for El Tri at the 2026 World Cup. 

The 29-year-old striker arrived at the El Tri training camp in May after leading the Saudi league in scoring (his 33 goals were five more than Cristiano Ronaldo scored). He then proceeded to score the first goal of the tournament and added three more, now sitting tied atop the all-time Mexico World Cup scoring list.

In addition to his four goals, Quiñones was selected by tournament organizers FIFA as one of the Top 10 players of the World Cup.

Quiñones’ nomination for the Ballon d’Or comes 19 years after goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa became the first Mexican player to earn similar recognition, although back then France Football magazine selected 50 nominees. Quiñones is among 30 nominees this time around, honored alongside superstars including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, Lamine Yamal and last year’s winner Ousmane Dembélé. 

Mexico’s World Cup hero Julián Quiñones earns a top 10 spot in FIFA’s latest player ranking

For her part, Camberos, 25, helped lead América to three titles last season, scoring 27 goals and adding 7 assists. 

The Lady Águilas won the Clausura 2026 Liga MX Femenil title, claimed the Campeón de Campeones trophy for a second straight season and hoisted the Concacaf Women’s Champions Cup. Camberos was selected Best Player of the Concacaf tournament.

Not only is the recognition of Camberos and América well-earned, but it represents a significant step forward for the Liga MX Femenil which does not turn 10 years old until next year.

The nominees were selected based on performances during the 2025-2026 football season as well as international tournaments that took place between Aug. 3, 2025, and July 19, 2026.

The 2026 Ballon d’Or awards ceremony will take place on Oct. 26 at the London Palladium Theatre.

With reports from Vanguardia, ESPN and Marca

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