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Opinion: What would a regional utopia look like? Part 3

By
Pedro Casas Alatriste
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Four American and six Mexican border states form an economy worth roughly US $7 trillion: the third-largest on the planet.
Four American and six Mexican border states form an economy worth roughly US $7 trillion: the third-largest on the planet. (Courtesy of the author)

I’m writing this text on a plane back from Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua)-El Paso (Texas), to Mexico City. The U.S.-Mexico border phenomenon is something hard to cover in a few paragraphs, but I’ll give it a try.

The border is almost a country in and of itself. It has history, shared territory, culture, traditions and communities that long predate the line drawn on the map. Less than two centuries ago, all the lands that are now the U.S.-Mexico border states belonged to the same nation.

Looking for Parts 1 and 2? Catch up here.

Together, those ten states (four American, six Mexican) form an economy worth roughly US $7 trillion: the third-largest on the planet, just behind China and nearly as big as the UK and France combined. In terms of population, the border region is home to more than 100 million people, more than Vietnam, France, Germany, the UK or Turkey; more than twice the population of Canada, Spain or South Korea.

For too long, the U.S.-Mexico border has been framed in mainstream media almost exclusively as a problem. The language is “crisis”: migration surges, drug trafficking, violence and political standoffs. Yet that narrative misses the deeper truth. This same border is the backbone of one of the world’s most integrated production systems. It is also the living proof of cultural fusion — where being American or Mexican blurs into something new: fronterizo. Not one or the other, but both.

Every day, more than two billion dollars in goods cross that line.

Cars assembled in North America crisscross it multiple times before rolling off the line. Agricultural supply chains stretch from Canadian prairies to Mexican fields to American supermarkets. What started as trade has quietly become continental co-production and social blending. I see more in common between a regio from Nuevo León and a Texan than between a regio and a yucateco — or between a Texan and a Californian, for that matter.

One country is winning the US-China trade war: Mexico

And yet the infrastructure and institutions governing the border still behave as if none of this integration exists.

I flew from Mexico City to Ciudad Juárez. A driver picked me up and took me to El Paso. Fortunately, she had the Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI), a trusted traveler certificate that allowed us to go through the express line. It took us about half an hour from the start of the “express” line to the bridge, where I had to step out and walk across the bridge. In the end, it took me about 50 minutes to get to the U.S. once the line started. Unfortunately for my colleagues, they had no SENTRI, and they waited 2.5 hours in line to cross one of the three bridges connecting Juarez to El Paso.

The border runs on outdated procedures, fragmented data systems and physical inspections straight out of the last century. The result is a frustrating paradox: the production networks and societies that rely on it grow ever more intertwined, while the border itself stays slow, opaque and ripe for criminal exploitation.

We desperately need a smarter border.

Imagine one that works less like a wall and more like an intelligent filter — speeding up everything legitimate while surgically catching the bad stuff. The technology already exists: data analytics, real-time tracking, supply-chain transparency, smart infrastructure. Customs could run joint inspections and ditch the duplicative nonsense that inflates costs and kills just-in-time manufacturing. Trusted-trader programs (U.S. CTPAT, Mexico’s OEA; basically the SENTRI or Global Entry of trade) could become fully interoperable, letting certified shipments glide through dedicated lanes. A trilateral “single window” digital platform could replace mountains of paper with secure, risk-based clearance.

Startup aims to speed up trade with Monterrey-to-Texas automated freight corridor

But real security can’t stop at the bridge. That’s where Mexico’s Safe Logistics Corridors idea shines. Certify not just the company and the cargo at the factory gate, but the entire route: from Pacific ports like Lázaro Cárdenas or Manzanillo, along guarded highways, through secure rest areas, all the way to the border. Digital tracking, coordinated patrols and real-time monitoring. At the crossing, that trusted status unlocks the fast lane. The whole journey becomes a secure, continental conveyor belt.

The payoff is huge. Legitimate trade flows faster and cheaper. Criminal networks lose their favorite blind spots — meaning better chances of stopping fentanyl heading north and firearms heading south. One smart system quietly chips away at three of the most toxic bilateral headaches at once: drugs, guns and irregular migration.

On my return trip from El Paso to Juárez, the bridge was almost empty. There was no passport check-in or visa check-out at the border; the crossing took minutes. The contrast was almost comical.

In the end, a smarter border isn’t about erasing lines or surrendering sovereignty. It’s about managing flows — of goods, people and ideas—with far more intelligence, coordination and earned trust. Prosperity, efficiency and security aren’t trade-offs here; they can reinforce one another if we let them.

North America already has the economic foundations of a true continental powerhouse, rivaling Europe’s integrated market or East Asia’s production networks. Yet our border infrastructure still feels stuck in the 1970s. If we project today’s problems eighty years forward without bold upgrades, they won’t magically disappear — they’ll multiply.

It’s been more than fifty years since the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (AMCHAM) last opened a chapter on Mexican soil.

Sitting in Juárez-El Paso, the case for doubling down on this region feels obvious, and I’m glad AMCHAM is spearheading its new Northwest Chapter. During my time at the border, I kept hearing businesspeople calling it “the world’s best-kept secret.”

It is time to break the news.

Pedro Casas Alatriste is the Executive Vice President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (AmCham). Previously, he has been the Director of Research and Public Policy at the US-Mexico Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the Coordinator of International Affairs at the Business Coordinating Council (CCE). He has also served as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank. Follow his Substack here.

Who is Rafael Prieto-Curiel, the mathematician saving Mexico through numbers?

By
Bethany Platanella
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Rafael Prieto-Curiel
Rafael Prieto-Curiel is changing how people view cartel violence in Mexico, and he's doing it through math. (YouTube)

In 2023, three mathematicians conducted a modeling study on organized crime in Mexico. Cartels were treated as large-scale employers within an illegal labor market, recruits as employees. Their findings were concerning — according to their research, between 160,000 and 185,000 Mexicans worked for criminal organizations, making cartels the country’s fifth-largest employer.

The three authors concluded that in order to keep that workforce from collapsing, cartels need to hire roughly 350 to 370 new members every week, which they accomplished through TikTok campaigns, video games and sheer force. Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), the country’s president at the time, publicly refuted the report, calling the findings “false” without providing any contradictory evidence.

Graph of biggest employers in Mexico in 2022
Who were the biggest employers in Mexico in 2022? According to Rafael Prieto-Curiel, cartels likely had more employees than Oxxo, based on the statistical range his model claimed. (X, formerly Twitter)

A year later, one of those mathematicians, Rafael Prieto-Curiel, won Complexity Science Hub’s Science Breakthrough of the Year award. Using quantitative research, Prieto analyzed homicides, arrests and cartel behavior to determine that arrests alone will not lead to the demise of cartel networks. Putting a stop to recruiting, however, will. He and his collaborators built a mathematical model of around 150 criminal organizations, assigning each a set of members, alliances and rivalries. They then “played out” different scenarios such as killing or arresting leaders, fragmenting groups or cutting off new recruits.

Across thousands of simulations, the only strategy that consistently shrank manpower and reduced homicides was lowering recruitment. Even imprisoning or assassinating cartel kingpins mostly led to splinter groups and new waves of violence. But who is the man behind the model — and what made a Mexican mathematician decide to take on the cartels?

From finance to fighting cartels with math

Prieto-Curiel was born in 1987 in Mexico City. After attending ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México) and an unfulfilling stint in finance, he landed a job with Mexico City’s police department. At the C5 emergency command and control center, he worked his way up to Director of Strategic Analysis.

At the time, Mexico City had 8,000 security cameras to cover about 80,000 city blocks — a low number, considering it’s now the most surveilled city in the Americas with more than 80,000 cameras. But it was never the number of cameras that mattered as much as who was watching them: in 2009, just a few dozen officers were tasked with monitoring 12 different screens at the same time, missing crimes as they happened.

To solve the monitoring gap, Prieto-Curiel compiled three years of crime records and built a model to predict where crime would likely take place and when. Operators could instead concentrate on high-risk areas, anticipating criminal activity and responding efficiently. According to his former boss, Alejandro Herrera Bonilla, “at the beginning of the program, we caught one criminal every day,” but after a year of running Prieto-Curiel’s model, they were stopping about 120 suspects each day, and decreasing response time from 17–20 minutes to just four.

Despite his success, something nagged at him. The surge in arrests did not make people feel safer. To understand why, Prieto-Curiel left Mexico to pursue a PhD in Applied Mathematics at University College London, digging deeper into statistics around crime, fear of crime and urban security.

According to mathematician Rafael Prieto-Curiel, stopping cartel recruitment is a crucially important factor in reducing violent crime in Mexico. (X, formerly Twitter)

Why feeling unsafe has nothing to do with crime rates

At UCL, Prieto-Curiel and Steven Bishop, a professor of nonlinear dynamics at University College London and co‑author on the fear‑of‑crime models, built a simulated city: thousands of virtual inhabitants living across neighborhoods of varying safety, each carrying a personal fear level that rose when they were victimized, rose again when they heard a neighbor’s story and faded slowly in the absence of new incidents. He then let those agents talk to each other — at home, at work and on the street — so that fear could spread socially instead of through direct experience.

The result was counterintuitive. When the simulation’s crime rate doubled, fear levels didn’t change. Nor did it change when crime levels were reduced. He determined that less crime didn’t automatically make people feel safe — supporting exactly what he saw in Mexico, where perceived insecurity has remained stubbornly high despite fluctuations in official crime data.

Prieto-Curiel went on to complete postdoctorate work at Oxford, analyzing crime and conflict in Africa, before joining the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna in 2022, where he now leads research on human migration and organized crime, consulting the OECD and the World Bank on urban and demographic analysis. It was exactly the kind of systemic thinking he would need when he turned his attention back to Mexico and its cartels.

Why more arrests mean more violence, not less

The model’s core finding tells us that doubling arrests doesn’t reduce violence. In fact, apprehensions largely increase it, because cartels simply recruit faster to replace their losses. In Prieto-Curiel’s projections, even prosecuting twice as many cartel members would still leave Mexico with more deaths in 2027 than today. In the most optimistic scenario, eliminating recruitment entirely, it would still take roughly three years just to return to 2012’s levels of violence, which were already high. (According to the Mexico Peace Index, Mexico’s homicide and violent crime rates in 2011–2012 surged to their highest levels in at least a decade.)

In short, criminal organizations are massive and deeply integrated into Mexican society. By halving recruitment, Mexico would see a significant reduction in casualties and criminal activity. Which brings us back to AMLO’s fiery response (and subsequent failure to back up his claim with facts) — for a country that poured nearly all its security budget into military and police operations, Mexico is an awfully violent place. That same index calculates that the rate of overall peace has dropped 14% since 2015, with organized‑crime killings nearly tripling in a decade. 

While the López Obrador and Sheinbaum administrations repeatedly tout falling homicide numbers, independent analysts and human rights groups see it differently. Mexico has racked up more than 30,000 killings a year since 2018; AMLO’s term is frequently considered the most violent on record in absolute terms. The math, as they say, is not mathing.

What happens when the cartels find out a mathematician is watching?

Impunity index Prieto-Curiel
Few people are punished for violent crime in Mexico, as Prieto-Curiel shows with the red line in this “impunity index.” In 2022, for example, not one person was convicted of a homicide in Mexico City. (X)

His mother wasn’t happy when he joined the Mexico City police, let alone when he went on to research organized crime. He kept going anyway, driven, he has said, by “the love of science and for the love of his country.” The possibility of threats from the cartels themselves looms at the back of his mind — a fear few mathematicians ever have to reckon with — but Prieto-Curiel remains determined to use his skill set to benefit society.

Here is a Mexican mathematician with an equation that could reduce violence, save lives and, in an ideal world, exterminate organized crime. What happens if Mexico finally follows the math?

Bethany Platanella is a travel planner and lifestyle writer based in Mexico City. She lives for the dopamine hit that comes directly after booking a plane ticket, exploring local markets, practicing yoga and munching on fresh tortillas. Sign up to receive her Sunday Love Letters to your inbox, peruse her blog or follow her on Instagram.

What is regenerative tourism and is it relevant while visiting Mexico?

By
Andrea Fischer
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regenerative tourism
Regenerative tourism in Mexico might appear, at first glance, like the ideal solution to environmental and social challenges — but is it really, though? (Elizabeth Ruíz/Cuartoscuro)

Last year was historic for tourism in Mexico. According to the Ministry of Tourism’s latest figures, 2025 closed with record numbers, thanks to the arrival of more than 47.8 million international tourists. This translates, according to the Ministry, to a 6.1% increase compared to last year — the highest this century.

The figures were so impressive that the Secretary of Tourism, Josefina Rodríguez Zamora, stated in a press release that “Mexico is entering 2026 with a strengthened and competitive tourism sector, firmly positioned to capitalize on major international events.” And this could be a perfect opportunity for the federal government, on the eve of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Store in Mexico, regenerative tourism
Regenerative tourism implies making a lasting contribution to the workforce, economy and communities of the destinations we choose to visit. (Salomon V/Pexels)

However enthusiastic we might feel about these figures, these activities have had an undeniable social, economic and environmental impact. Enter regenerative tourism, the even more enthusiastic approach to dealing with the challenges that this growth entails in Mexico.

What is regenerative tourism, exactly?

First of all, regenerative tourism is more than simply refraining from littering the streets of the cities we visit. The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) considers this a broader and more holistic travel practice.

Following the GSTC’s definition, regenerative tourism “seeks to leave destinations in a better state than they were found.” This new perspective draws inspiration from regenerative agriculture, a contemporary practice focused on restoring native ecosystems. 

Beyond merely minimizing harm, such as polluting the Bacalar Lagoon with sunscreen, this practice aims to increase “positive impacts alongside reducing negative ones,” as outlined in the GSTC Criteria. This translates to contributing to the workforce, economy and communities of the destinations we choose to visit — and not just avoid harming their natural environments or disregarding their customs to favor our own.

So no, regenerative tourism does not aim to generously tip your local waiters or restaurant owners. It’s way more than that. Lethabo-Thabo Royds, content program coordinator at the World Travel & Tourism Council, thinks of this new travel approach as “the next step in our sustainable travel journey,” given that “as travelers, we have a huge impact on the world around us.”

Regenerative tourism vs. sustainable tourism: key differences

Regenerative tourism has received a heavy wave of criticism due to its lack of applicable and concrete guidelines, as the GSTC acknowledges. Not only that. It seems that this new approach to travel has had no substantive change or positive impact on local communities and businesses. That’s why, too, the term is often misused or confused with the so-called “sustainable tourism.”

regenerative tourism market
Regenerative tourism “seeks to leave destinations in a better state than they were found,” says the GSTC. (SICULA Đỗ/Pexels)

Sustainable tourism encompasses practices that promote sustainability across the industry. It is defined as “tourism that fully considers its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, while addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”

Regenerative tourism, however, focuses mainly on restoration. It not only aims to avoid harm, but to “create the conditions for life to thrive,” as explained by the BBC’s Tourism Sustainability Network.

To ensure long-term viability, the GSTC proposed the three Ps: People, Planet and Profit, referring to the positive impact tourists could have on communities, the environment and local businesses alike. There are now global certifications that massive hotel chains can apply to — if they comply with certain guidelines.

Beyond pretty certificates … can tourism really restore living conditions in host countries, like Mexico?

A postcolonial point of view in the Mexican context

Last year, a reader wrote a fantastic comment in one of my travel articles, pointing out that it promoted “gentrification and the continued displacement of Mexican people.” Honestly, I can’t blame them.

We’ve already established regenerative tourism’s intent “to leave things better than they were.” Now, were things “bad” or “wrong” as they were? Andrey Núñez Kozlova, human rights specialist at UNAM, thinks otherwise.

mountain town in Mexico, regenerative tourism
Can tourism really restore — or even better — life conditions in the host countries? (Mark Neal/Pexels)

Despite Royds’s enthusiasm, there is a rather sinister side to these allegedly “restorative” practices. Núñez has dedicated his doctoral studies to the postcolonial theory, which, in a nutshell, denounces the abuses of the West — understood as the hegemonic power — over everything it considers exotic and foreign.

How does this apply to regenerative tourism? Núñez thinks this fits “with the colonial mindset,” given that “massive hotel companies are mowing down the jungles of Southeastern Mexico.” These activities have way more impact than those that could possibly be done by individuals. “This is nothing compared to what the government and its institutions can do,” the human rights specialist told Mexico News Daily in an interview.

The road paved by good intentions

Moreover, there’s a problematic innuendo to these practices. “It is as if tourists from the global north came to teach us (locals) how to behave and take better care of our own resources, when the Indigenous populations have been the ones to safeguard them.” Delving deeper into this, Núñez thinks that this way of thinking suggests that the individuals are to blame, while “disregarding the root problem.” Namely, a healthier public policy that addresses the human and environmental rights of communities that receive tourism in Mexico. “Problems regarding deforestation and corruption should be matters that are resolved locally, by strengthening democracy.”

Don’t get me wrong. Tourism is a fundamental pillar of the Mexican economy, directly employing nearly 5 million people and contributing approximately 8.7% to the national GDP. Not only that, but this industry is the leading employer of young people and women in the country, making its economic and social importance undeniable. But not everything is flowers and rainbows when it comes to tourism in Mexico.

However, seen in this light, regenerative tourism might seem like an easy, almost palliative, way out for complex power structures at play. “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions,” concludes Núñez Kozlova.

Andrea Fischer contributes to the features desk at Mexico News Daily. She has edited and written for National Geographic en Español and Muy Interesante México, and continues to be an advocate for anything that screams science. Or yoga. Or both.

El Jalapeño: 300-kg crocodile relocated for safety of tourists, even though it was there first

By
El Jalapeno
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Whose beach is it anyway? (Thomas Couillard/Unsplash)

All stories in El Jalapeño are satire and not real news. Check out the original article here.

PUERTO ESCONDIDO, OAXACA — Civil Protection authorities successfully captured and relocated a 300-kilogram, 3-metre crocodile from Bacocho Beach Monday after the animal alarmed tourists by being present in a coastal lagoon system it has occupied, along with its ancestors, for approximately 74 million years.

The crocodile, described by authorities as posing “a real threat to humans,” was found stationary on the beach after being displaced by a swell event. It had not approached anyone. It had not displayed aggression. It was, by all available evidence, simply there, which is something it and its predecessors have been doing in this specific coastal area since before the Gulf of Mexico had its current shape, before the Sierra Madre existed in its present form, and before the resort infrastructure of Puerto Escondido was developed in the 1970s, which is when the humans arrived.

crocodile being removed from beach
Bit unfair to do this when he was here first. (Facebook)

Civil Protection personnel captured the animal, confirmed it had no injuries, loaded it onto an ATV, and transported it to Lagunita de Punta Colorada, a lagoon authorities described as “suitable within the crocodile’s habitat,” which is a description that also applied to Bacocho Beach, where it was before the tourists were there, and to every other body of water along this stretch of Oaxacan coast, where it was also before the tourists were there.

The tourists returned to the water following the crocodile’s removal.

Authorities confirmed surveillance operations are ongoing to ensure beachgoers’ safety. They did not comment on the crocodile’s perspective on the matter, as it had submerged.

Civil Protection urged the public not to approach crocodiles, not to attempt to handle them, and to report any sightings immediately. The crocodile, whose species has survived five mass extinctions, two supercontinent separations, and the complete reorganisation of life on earth, was not available for comment. It is, however, still out there.

Check out our Jalapeño archive here.

Got an idea for a Jalapeño article? Email us with your suggestions!

Puebla’s airport will spend 420 million pesos on expansion to accommodate 12 new routes

By
MND Staff
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Puebla airport
The Puebla International Airport, also known as Aeropuerto Internacional Hermanos Serdán, is located in the city of Huejotzingo, 30 minutes outside of the state capital. (Cuartoscuro.com)

The Puebla International Airport is preparing for a 420 million-peso face-lift ahead of increased flight schedules expected to include at least 12 new domestic and international routes.

In a related development, local businesses have announced plans to develop a hotel, a shopping center and a bus terminal at the airport and three investment groups have already submitted letters of intent to the state Economic Development Ministry (Sedetra).

Puebla’s airport is operating at very low capacity, so the 420 million-peso renovation and expansion can be seen as a step toward a turnaround. (Cuartroscuro)

Sedetra Minister Víctor Gabriel Chedraui said the state government will allocate 300 million pesos (US $17.3 million) for the airport expansion. The remaining 120 million pesos (US $6.9 million) will be contributed by the National Guard, through Grupo Mundo Maya, a government-owned tourism network operated by the Defense Ministry.

The funds will reinforce airport infrastructure — including runway expansion — providing “a dignified entrance to the region for visitors.” The renovations are also designed to strengthen connectivity, attract more tourism and boost economic development in the state.

The airport — which Chedraui said is operating at only 10% of capacity — is located in Huejotzingo, about 30 minutes northwest of downtown Puebla city, the state capital.

Some construction is expected to begin this month, with Chedraui saying initial results “should be evident before the end of the first half of 2026.”

Additionally, state officials are negotiating with several airlines to open new routes, with the hope that some could be operational in June. 

Among the international routes being sought are flights to and from Houston, Los Angeles and New Jersey. El Economista newspaper reported that new domestic routes will connect Puebla to Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Tuxtla Gutiérrez (Chiapas), Villahermosa (Tabasco), Huatulco (Oaxaca), San José del Cabo (Baja California Sur), Puerto Vallarta (Jalisco) and Zihuatanejo (Guerrero).

As part of the development plan, the state government invited the private sector to invest in the area, even suggesting it might offer to provide matching funds. “We will provide [investors] with every possible support for development projects at the airport,” Governor Alejandro Armenta said.

“We will provide [investors] with every possible support for development projects at the airport,” Governor Alejandro Armenta said.

Armenta laid the groundwork for the airport renovation project last year when he met with the director of Grupo Mundo Maya, General Adolfo Héctor Tonatiuh Velasco, convincing him to participate in the funding efforts. 

With reports from El Economista, El Sol de Puebla and El Universal

Peso rises for seventh straight day as dollar weakens on US-Iran ceasefire

By
MND Staff
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Mexican 500-peso bills in a bill counting machine
The peso has had a strong run so far this month, appreciating from over 18 pesos to the dollar to just 17.36 to the dollar on Thursday. (Shutterstock)

The Mexican peso rose in value against the US dollar every trading day between March 30 and April 9, appreciating more than 4% in the period.

The peso closed at 17.36 to the greenback on Thursday after appreciating 0.4% during the trading day.

The gain on Thursday came after the peso appreciated 1.6% against the dollar on Wednesday, buoyed by the two-week ceasefire agreement that the United States and Iran reached on Tuesday night Mexico time.

Over the past seven trading days, the peso has appreciated from 18.13 to the dollar to 17.36, a gain of 4.4%.

The 2% appreciation on Wednesday and Thursday coincided with a general weakening of the dollar. The U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal has increased appetite for currencies considered higher risk, such as the Mexican peso.

In a social media post, the director of economic analysis at Banco Base, Gabriela Siller, wrote that the appreciation of the peso on Wednesday morning was the greatest since April 9, 2025, “when Donald Trump announced a pause on the highest reciprocal tariffs that had been announced on ‘Liberation Day‘ [April 2, 2025].”

Inflation rises in March 

National statistics agency INEGI reported on Thursday that Mexico’s annual headline rate was 4.59% in March, up from 4.02% in February. The headline rate was thus above the Bank of Mexico’s 2-4% target range for a second consecutive month.

Month-over-month inflation was 0.86% in March, while the annual core rate was 4.45%, down from 4.50% in February.

The publication of the inflation data for March comes two weeks after the Bank of Mexico cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 6.75%. Most analysts had anticipated that the central bank would leave its key rate unchanged.

With reports from El Economista and Reforma  

San Luis Potosí’s David Olvera rewrites the record books by swimming nonstop from Cozumel to Cancún

By
MND Staff
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David Olvera
David Olvera swam the 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the island of Cozumel to Cancún in 16 hours, 48 minutes. (David Olvera/Facebook)

Ten months after setting a Guinness World Record with his open-water swim around Manhattan, David Olvera has rewritten the record books again — this time by swimming from Cozumel to Cancún.

Olvera, 31, from Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí, swam the 85 kilometers (about 53 miles) on Tuesday, completing the crossing in 16 hours, 48 minutes of nonstop swimming.

The feat set a new record for the longest solo, unassisted, open-water swim in Mexico, surpassing the previous widely recognized 55-kilometer record held by Graco Morlán. 

Olvera set out in the early hours of the morning off Cozumel and faced strong currents, humid Caribbean conditions and the physical toll of nearly 17 hours in the water. 

The marathon crossing was officially documented — including video of his arrival in Cancún —  with observers on hand to comply with validation protocols for the national record, according to media reports.

One Facebook account posted, “¡Orgullo potosino!” — which means “Potosí Pride!”

On Instagram, a small hotel in Cozumel posted, “Not every achievement is measured in numbers, some are felt in discipline, focus, and the strength to keep going when it matters most. Congratulations to David Olvera … a truly historic accomplishment [and an] inspiring reminder of what happens when preparation meets determination.”

The swim capped a years-long pursuit for Olvera, who has over 15 years of experience as a high-performance swimmer.

Published reports said this crossing was his third attempt at the 85-kilometer Cozumel–Cancún challenge. (The world record for the longest unassisted ocean swim is 142.3 kilometers, set in 2024 by Neil Agius of Malta over 60 hours and 35 minutes.)

In June of last year, Olvera completed the 20 Bridges circumnavigation of Manhattan Island in 5 hours, 34 minutes, 58 seconds. He covered the 48.5 kilometers in what was recognized by Guinness World Records as the fastest circumnavigation swim around Manhattan — beating the existing mark by nearly seven minutes.

Upon his arrival in Cancún Tuesday, Olvera was welcomed by Cancún Mayor Ana Paty Peralta, who presented him with an award and said his achievement was a point of pride for the country. Shortly after he stepped onshore, exhausted, someone draped the Mexican flag across his shoulders.

Olvera has said the Cozumel–Cancún crossing is another step in a still-evolving career. He is eyeing future ultra-distance challenges abroad, including attempts to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, the English Channel and the Catalina Channel in Southern California.

After his feat this week, the popular Facebook page “Mexican Problems” — which posts Mexico-related viral content, memes and other content — offered its praises to the Potosí iron man.

“David Olvera didn’t do this in a pool with perfect conditions and a cheering crowd every 50 meters. He did it in the open Caribbean Sea — battling currents, waves, darkness, and exhaustion for nearly 17 hours straight,” the post read. “That is the Mexican spirit in its purest form. Not for fame. Not for money. Just to prove it could be done.”

With reports from Medio Tiempo and Infobae

Chinese car imports drop steeply under Mexico’s new tariffs, even as sales surge

By
MND Staff
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A BYD car dealership
Though Chinese cars from companies like BYD, MG and Changan have surged in popularity in Mexico in recent years, imports have slowed since Mexico implemented new tariffs in January. (Shutterstock)

The 50% tariff that Mexico imposed on Chinese-made cars on Jan. 1 appears to be working as intended, with imports falling sharply in the first month of 2026.

Data from China’s General Administration of Customs (GACC) shows that Chinese-made cars worth US $188 million were exported to Mexico in January, a 45.3% reduction compared to the same month of last year.

The port of Veracruz, which moves over 30 million tonnes of cargo each year, will receive 10.2 billion pesos in public investment and 10.44 billion pesos in private investment, according to Mexico's Naval Ministry.
Chinese vehicle imports into Mexico dropped by more than half the month Mexico’s new tariffs took effect. Pictured: Cargo ships in the port of Veracruz. (Shutterstock)

The newspaper El Economista, which first reported the GACC’s January data, wrote that imports of Chinese-made cars to Mexico peaked last November, with vehicles worth $1.06 billion brought into the country.

Compared to November, the slump in January was 82.3%.

On Jan. 1, Mexico imposed new and higher tariffs on a wide range of goods from China and other countries with which it doesn’t have free trade agreements. The Mexican Congress approved the tariffs — including an increase of the duty on Chinese-made vehicles from 20% to 50% — late last year.

According to the federal government, the main aim of the duties is to protect Mexican industry — including the country’s large auto sector — and jobs. The imposition of the tariffs on Chinese goods could help the Mexican government in this year’s USMCA review negotiations with the Trump administration, which has escalated the China-United States trade war and pressured Mexico to increase protectionism against China.

The government of China said late last month that it has the right to take countermeasures to the new tariffs Mexico imposed on Chinese goods at the start of the year. China’s Commerce Ministry said that Mexico’s new and increased tariffs affect more than US $30 billion of Chinese exports to Mexico. It said that around $9 billion of those losses would be borne by China’s automobile and auto parts sectors as Mexico was the biggest export destination for Chinese vehicles in 2025.

From top importer of Chinese-made cars to No. 16 in just 2 months

Last November, El Economista reported, Mexico was the world’s top importer of Chinese-made cars — an import category that includes vehicles made by Chinese automakers such as BYD and GWM as well as cars manufactured in China by foreign companies such as General Motors and Ford.

Just two months later, Mexico slumped to 16th on the list of the world’s largest importers of Chinese-made cars.

In January, imports of Chinese-made cars to Mexico accounted for just 1.7% of China’s total car exports, which were worth $11.12 billion, according to GACC data.

GACC data compiled by El Economista also shows that exports of Chinese-made cars to Mexico increased significantly during the past five years.

In 2021, imports of Chinese-made cars averaged $69 million per month before increasing to an average of $184 million per month in 2022. The average monthly outlay increased to $321 million in 2023, $365 million in 2024 and $529 million in 2025. The percentage increase in the average monthly value of Mexico’s Chinese-made car imports between 2021 and 2025 was 666%.

Chinese car sales surge despite import slump 

Despite the decline in the import of Chinese-made cars in January, the sale of Chinese cars increased significantly in the first quarter of 2026, according to data from national statistics agency INEGI.

Sales of nine Chinese car brands — including Chirey, Geely, MG, JAC, Changan and GWM — increased 25.3% annually to 42,808 units between January and March. The figure doesn’t include sales by BYD, which doesn’t report to INEGI, or sales of cars made in China by non-Chinese automakers. The Chinese cars sold in Mexico in the first quarter of the year were, in all likelihood, imported to Mexico before the higher tariff took effect.

Among the nine Chinese automakers that report to INEGI, MG sold the highest number of cars in Mexico in the first quarter of the year. It sold 14,504 cars, a 30.5% increase compared to the first three months of 2025.

Geely recorded the largest increase in sales among Chinese automakers. It sold 10,782 cars in Mexico between January and March, an annual increase of 272.2%.

Around one in five cars sold in Mexico in 2025 was made in China, according to data from INEGI and industry groups.

Imports of Chinese cargo vehicles fall 15.7% 

Mexico’s imports of Chinese-made cargo vehicles (i.e. trucks and other large vehicles used to move freight) also fell in January. GACC data shows that imports were worth $70 million in January, a 15.7% annual reduction.

Mexico was the fourth largest importer of Chinese-made cargo vehicles in January, after Indonesia, Vietnam and Australia.

With reports from El Economista 

Sinaloa mine collapse: Second miner rescued, third found dead, fourth still missing

By
MND Staff
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recuse team at SInaloa mine
Francisco Zapata Nájera, 42, was found alive and painstakingly brought to the surface after being trapped for 13 days in the Sinaloa mine where he had been working when it collapsed on March 26. (Coordinación Nacional de Protección Civil/Cuartoscuro.com)

Nearly two weeks after a mine collapsed in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, a second miner has been rescued, while authorities confirmed that the body of a third was discovered.

Efforts continue to locate a fourth miner, who has been trapped since March 25.

Francisco Zapata Nájera, 42, was pulled from the Santa Fe mine in the municipality of Rosario before dawn on Wednesday morning. He was located at a depth of 300 meters surrounded by large quantities of water.

A team of divers reached Zapata on Tuesday afternoon. He was afforded basic medical attention while rescuers used a pump capable of extracting 9 liters of water per second to clear a path to safety.

The process of extricating him from the mine took nearly half a day. Once reaching the surface, he was swiftly airlifted to a hospital in Mazatlán about 70 kilometers north of the site.

Shortly thereafter, the rescuers found the body of a third miner. The location and condition of the fourth victim remain unknown.

Twenty-five employees were deep inside the mine owned by Industrial Mineral Sinaloa on March 25 when disaster struck. It is believed that a tailings dam, used to store waste generated inside mines, collapsed. 

Twenty-one of the miners were close enough to the surface to escape, but José Alejandro Cáustulo — rescued four days later — was believed to be at a depth of 100 meters, while the other three were known to be in the deepest part of the mine.

The accident released large quantities of mud and water over an area 300 meters deep and 3.2 kilometers long, converting tunnels into underground rivers.

The flooded tunnels required the use of divers who faced virtually zero visibility as they raced against time to find the missing miners.

The 300-man rescue team used an extraction system capable of pumping out 34,000 liters per hour, while also using cement compounds and expanding resin to reinforce the structure to secure an escape route.

Hours before Zapata was located, the Command Post reported technical adjustments to expedite the work, including optimizing the drainage system by installing a second pipeline on the main pump. This modification included a dual-discharge adapter and the installation of a third pipeline to increase drainage capacity.

Federal and state agencies say that the operation will not stop until the fourth worker is located, while officials are maintaining constant communication with the victims’ families.

With reports from La Jornada, El País, Aristegui Noticias and El Economista

Mexico in Numbers: The 10 largest companies in Mexico

By
MND Staff
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State-owned oil company Pemex topped the ranking, which also included the Mexican subsidiaries of several well-known multinational corporations. (Shutterstock)

In this “Mexico in Numbers” article we turn our attention to companies, specifically the largest firms operating in the country.

Who are these companies? How much revenue do they generate? Did their income increase or decrease in 2024?

The data cited in this article comes from Grupo Expansión’s 2025 list of “the 500 most important companies in Mexico.” Expansión created the list based on companies’ revenue in 2024.

1.  Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex)

Mexico’s largest company is the heavily-indebted, state-owned oil company Pemex.

In 2024, Pemex’s revenue totaled just over 1.67 trillion pesos (US $95.74 billion at the current exchange rate), a decrease of 2.7% compared to 2023.

Pemex is a multi-faceted company, spanning the entire petroleum chain from exploring and drilling for crude oil, to refining it into fuels, to selling gasoline and diesel directly to motorists at service stations across the country. It also has gas and petrochemical interests.

A chart showing the earnings of Mexico's 10 largest companies

2. Walmart de México y Centroamérica

This retail behemoth — a subsidiary of the U.S.-owned Walmart Inc. — is Mexico’s second largest company, with revenue of 958.5 billion pesos (US $54.94 billion) in 2024, an increase of 8.1% compared to 2023.

Walmart de México y Centroamérica announced in late March that it will invest 43 billion pesos across Mexico and Central America in 2026 as part of an ambitious push to reach 99% of Mexican households within three years.

3. América Móvil

América Móvil, the parent company of Telcel, Telmex and Claro Video, is Mexico’s third largest firm, with revenue of 869.2 billion pesos (US $49.83 billion) in 2024, an increase of 6.5% compared to 2023.

The company is owned by Carlos Slim, Mexico’s richest person.

4. FEMSA 

Femsa, the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler and owner of the convenience store chain OXXO, is Mexico’s fourth largest company. It had revenue of 781.58 billion pesos (US $44.81 billion) in 2024, an annual increase of 11.2%.

5. Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) 

Mexico’s fifth largest company is the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission.

The CFE — which by law has a 54% share of the electricity generation market in Mexico — had revenue of 667.24 billion pesos (US $38.25 billion) in 2024, up 4.3% from the previous year.

6. General Motors de México

The Mexican subsidiary of Detroit-based General Motors is Mexico’s sixth largest company. Revenue in 2024 totaled 654 billion pesos (US $37.49 billion), up 31.9% from the previous year.

GM has four plants in Mexico.

GM México headquarters in Mexico City
GM México, the country’s sixth largest company, brought in over US $35 billion in revenue in 2024. (General Motors)

7. BBVA México

Mexico’s seventh largest company is BBVA México, a division of Spanish bank BBVA.

The bank had revenue of 522.7 billion pesos (US $29.96 billion) in 2024, an annual increase of 13.8%.

8. Banorte 

The Mexican bank Banorte ranks as Mexico’s eight largest company with 506.96 billion pesos (US $29.06 billion) in revenue in 2024, a year-over-year increase of 9.6%.

The bank was established in 1986 via the amalgamation of Banco Mercantil de Monterrey and Banco Regional del Norte.

9. Grupo Bimbo 

The multinational bakery Grupo Bimbo is Mexico’s ninth largest company. Bimbo had revenue of 408.33 billion pesos (US $23.41 billion) in 2024, an annual increase of 2.1%.

Bimbo is the largest baking company in the world.

10. Stellantis México

Rounding out the top 10 of the largest companies in Mexico is Stellantis México, the Mexican subsidiary of the Netherlands-based automaker. Stellantis México had revenue of 377.97 billion pesos (US $21.66 billion) in 2024, a decrease of 3.1% compared to 2023.

Late last year, Stellantis announced plans to expand operations at plants in Saltillo and Toluca.

Mexico News Daily 

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