Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Is San Miguel de Allende a victim of its own success? What our readers think

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A vibrant photo of the pink neo-Gothic spires of the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, viewed from a city street.
Many respondents to a new MND survey about the popularity of San Miguel de Allende told us that they love the city but also notice the impact its international fame is having on the city's character and livability.(Lugtur)

San Miguel de Allende’s recognition as the No. 1 City in the World for a second year in a row has put this colonial gem again in the international spotlight. Its charm, culture and especially the kindness of its people (as recently highlighted by MND CEO, Travis Bembenek) attract visitors from around the globe. Yet growth, tourism and development bring both opportunity and challenges, leading some observers to raise concerns about gentrification, strains on infrastructure and the city losing its very character that attracts so many there. 

To understand how people feel about the city’s changes, we surveyed 278 individuals —from full-time residents to occasional visitors — about what they love, what concerns them and what their hopes are for San Miguel’s future.

For decades, San Miguel de Allende was a smaller city without much growth. In recent years, it has capitalized on its colonial vibe, thriving art scene and multiple traditions to attract visitors interested in a dose of what feels like an older Mexico. (Gobierno de San Miguel de Allende)

Who shared their voice?

Just over half of respondents (51.5%) said they live in San Miguel de Allende full-time, while another 20% reported being occasional visitors. Another 16.5% split their time as part-time residents.

Frequent visitors (6.6%) and those who had yet to experience the city (5.5%) rounded out the mix, ensuring insights that range from deeply rooted to admiring from afar.

Feelings about the city’s global acclaim

Nearly 45% of respondents felt very positive about the city’s renewed “best city in the world” status, with another 16% mostly positive. Yet 25% shared mixed feelings, reflecting the nuanced impact of international fame, while smaller groups remained neutral or concerned, highlighting the balance of pride and a sense of pressure on prices and amenities.

Below we share a sampling of readers’ responses, in their own words, with minor edits for space or punctuation.

A young boy smiles as he plays with a bubble gun in a sunny public plaza in San Miguel de Allende. He is surrounded by adults sitting on park benches in the background.
Asked what they enjoyed about San Miguel de Allende, many respondents cited the community’s welcoming warmth but also worried that locals are being pushed out by commercial interests eager to profit off elite tourists and newer, wealthier residents. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)

What people love about San Miguel

1. The people

The kindness, warmth and community spirit of San Miguel’s residents were the most cited reason (90 times) that people said they love the city:

  • “When the city’s heart beats strongest is when the people of San Miguel de Allende and the surrounding campo [countryside] swell to bursting in its streets on any given holiday, festival or religious event… We are all welcomed here by a truly magical city and its loving people.”
  • “I love the respect and genuine kindness that people show for each other. The sounds of honking we endure back in California are replaced with nods, waves and smiles in SMA [San Miguel de Allende].”

2. Architecture and visual identity

Many respondents celebrated the city’s colonial streets, plazas and historic architecture for their beauty, walkability and sense of history:

  • “The architecture and history; I like the smaller size of the city.”
  • “The central plaza is usually full of locals with children and few tourists… Reminds me of the way it was 30 years ago.”
  • “Cleanliness of the city center, well-maintained sidewalks, awesome architecture…”

3. Culture, arts and events

An onstage panel discussion taking place before an audience at the Guanajuato International Film Festival (GIFF) in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. In the background, a large screen displays the festival's logo and a banner for its special tribute, "Homenaje: Mujeres en el Cine y la Televisión"
Over the years, as San Miguel de Allende has attracted wealthier Mexican and foreign transplants, high-profile cultural events have come to the city with them, like the Guanajuato International Film Festival. (GIFF)

San Miguel’s festivals, galleries, music, and culinary experiences consistently impress:

  • “Culture, art, and the people!”
  • “Love the GIFF (film festival), food, music, vibe, and culture.”
  • “Since I am in the music scene, there are great musicians, venues and festivals.”

4. Climate, lifestyle and small-town charm

Many respondents mentioned factors like walkable streets, mild weather and a welcoming atmosphere contributing to the city’s high quality of life:

  • “I love the climate, the Parroquia, the restaurants and food, the accommodations, the relative affordability compared to American prices…”
  • “Although the city has become far more cosmopolitan… if you stay away from Centro, you can still find the SMA that was there 25 years ago.”
  • “It’s such a walkable city. I feel safe as a single older woman exploring street food, old buildings and neighborhoods.”

What people don’t love about San Miguel de Allende

An artisan street vendor, wearing a traditional straw cowboy hat, walks along a bustling cobblestone street in San Miguel de Allende. He carries an load of handmade woven palm baskets, hats, and colorful bags for sale on his shoulders.
An elderly Mexican sells artisan bags to tourists in San Miguel de Allende’s downtown. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)

1. Tourism and overcrowding

Respondents often cited rising tourism as a threat to San Miguel’s authenticity and said it was straining the city’s infrastructure:

  • “With more tourism, I’m afraid San Miguel is turning into a tourist trap and will be overcrowded all the time.”
  • “What I do not love are entitled people who do not respect Mexicans and their traditions.”
  • “Hate that expensive shops, hotels and restaurants are taking over.”

2. Cost of living and gentrification

Many respondents worried that rising costs are pushing out longtime residents and changing the city’s soul:

  • “Hate the gentrification! The cost of living near Centro has driven long-time Mexican residents out, leaving only expensive boutiques.”
  • “Everything priced to match USD, locals cannot eat or drink or even shop at the City Market.”
  • “What I really hate to see is calles in Centro that once were primarily residential streets now overtaken by gringo-oriented commercial enterprises. Where do the original residents go?”
A candlelit swimming pool at a luxury boutique hotel in San Miguel de Allende, illuminated at dusk with torches around the pool. A colonial-style stone wall with a softly lit fountain is in the background.
As tourism has exploded in San Miguel de Allende, luxury hotels and other businesses targeting wealthy clients have moved in to meet the demand. (Booking.com)

3. Infrastructure, services and governance

Growth in San Miguel de Allende is outpacing planning, creating concerns about safety, traffic and the pressure on public services:

  • “Lots of insecurity, little infrastructure, too many communities without access to basic services…everyday life for local residents will become unsustainable.”
  • “Traffic is often a consequence of poor urban planning, lack of alternatives and insufficient investment in mobility solutions.”
  • “I love the city, but I am concerned about too many people draining our limited water resources.”

Airport concerns

Many respondents tied infrastructure worries to the possibility of an airport coming to San Miguel de Allende. While 57.5% of respondents supported the idea (45% strongly), nearly one-third opposed it, citing potential negative impacts:

  • “The city’s charm lies in its historical streets and slower pace — an airport might disrupt that and bring too many visitors too quickly.”
  • “Don’t let overdevelopment fueled by an airport ruin SMA.”
  • “Of course an international airport would be a convenience, but I’m afraid it would have the same negative effect as cruise ships at major tourist destinations… A little inconvenience in getting here makes the reward sweeter.”
  • “It is a very small town for the amenities available. I would rather see train service to regional airports than a local airport. Train service would benefit more people.”
  • “An airport and international accolades will change the traffic and investment patterns. SMA will grow into a major internationally renowned city. Obviously, this will change its character.”
A silver colored unmarked passenger airplane in a blue sky with scattered puffy clouds. The plane's landing gear is down.
Currently, the closest cities you can fly into to reach San Miguel de Allende are León, Guanajuato, and Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro. You then face at least an hour’s drive to San Miguel. (John McArthur/Unsplash)

Looking ahead: A city at a crossroads

While San Miguel de Allende’s world-renowned beauty, culture and warm community draw people from around the globe, preserving the city’s soul requires mindful growth, said respondents.

The responses we received reflect a community deeply proud of its home, aware of its challenges and nostalgic for the city’s past:

  • “San Miguel de Allende is truly special. Most days, I have to pinch myself to assure myself that I am not dreaming, I really live in this amazing place!”
  • “The inherent kindness here is such a relief for me and helps reinforce my decision to move my life to San Miguel.”
  • “It is still ‘authentic’ and very real… San Miguel de Allende is one of the true repositories of Mexican grace and hospitality. Viva San Miguel de Allende!”
  • “The town was funky with an exceptional arts community… The funk is diminishing.”
  • “Although the city has become far more cosmopolitan and sophisticated over the last 10+ years, it’s so far still managed to maintain its soul, and if you stay away from Centro, you can still find the SMA that was there 25 years ago.”

For San Miguel de Allende, success will mean balancing its cherished traditions, vibrant culture and welcoming community with the realities of modern life, ensuring that the city’s magic continues to thrive for generations to come.

Karla Parra is a Mexican-American writer based in San Miguel de Allende. She writes the MND series Hecho en México, authors Coloring Across Lines on Substack and helps organize the annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference. You can find her on Instagram as @karlaexploradora.

Tiny Dr. Simi Desk? Concert series promotes Mexican musicians ahead of SimiFest

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musical group playing in Dr. Simi headquarters
Dr. Simi's "Simisónico" concerts, here featuring Enjambre in the debut chapter on Aug. 7, are taped in the pharmacy chain's Mexico City headquarters. (Screen capture)

The Dr. Simi empire is growing once again — this time with the launch of “Simisónico,” a live-session music series from Farmacias Similares that spotlights Mexican performers in a style much like NPR’s Tiny Desk concerts.

Moreover, the new series serves as the official lead-up to the much larger SimiFest 2025, the second annual version of a multiple-act concert that debuted last November at Parque Bicentenario in Mexico City.

SIMISÓNICO PRESENTA: ENJAMBRE I EP 1

The first installment of “Simisónico” on Aug. 7 featured Enjambre, the two-decades-old rock band with Zacatecas roots that reportedly was the first act to be confirmed for SimiFest 2025.

Filmed inside the Farmacias Similares corporate offices in Mexico City, the tiny concert — though not as crammed as at NPR’s offices — featured Enjambre playing songs such as “Juguete,” “Angustias” and “Impacto.”

The clips quickly picked up steam on TikTok and other platforms. A life-size Dr. Simi doll can be seen sitting motionless behind the company’s front desk alongside a real-life receptionist (who is actually working), while a costumed Dr. Simi grooves to the beat among the small audience.

“Simisónico is the warmup before SimiFest,” Víctor González Herrera, CEO of Farmacias Similares, noted as the series launched. “The best bands of the current Mexican scene will be visiting us at our headquarters.”

The project underscores González’s broader effort to link his pharmacy chain’s usually lab-coated mascot, Dr. Simi, to youth culture, music and social causes.

Last year’s inaugural SimiFest raised funds for the SíMiPlaneta initiative, which supports reforestation and environmental cleanup projects in 23 Mexican states. SíMiPlaneta translates to YesMyPlanet.

Since then, Farmacias Similares has launched the Dr. Simi brand in the United States and a line of budget-friendly veterinary clinics in Mexico, featuring Doctora Lares as a new mascot. The clinics are in the process of opening 12 new locations in metropolitan Mexico City and México state.

Additionally, a new Dr. Simi flight simulator and store opened last month in the one-and-half-year-old Aztlán amusement park in Mexico City, and last year, a four-room Dr. Simi museum and café opened in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City.

This is in addition to the over 9,500 Farmacias Similares locations across all 31 Mexican states and Mexico City, according to Bloomberg and other sources.

As for the upcoming SimiFest 2025, it will be held on Saturday, Nov. 29 at Mexico City’s Hermanos Rodríguez Racetrack, expanding from one to two stages. Multiple media outlets say Enjambre is confirmed, although the group isn’t included on a concert poster that includes bands such as Empire of the Sun, Leon Bridges, Caloncho, Maribou State, Rhye, Roosevelt, Darius and others.

The charitable mission will continue in 2025, with proceeds from each ticket converted into an “environmental bomb” used for planting efforts, organizers said.

Tickets range from 1,647 pesos (US $88) for general admission to 4,270 pesos (US $228) for VIP.

As for “Simisónico,” organizers promise more sessions from “emerging and established Mexican talent” in the weeks ahead.

With reports from El Universal, Milenio and Chilango.com

MND Local: San Miguel de Allende August news roundup

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A warm, late-afternoon street scene in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Colorful colonial buildings in shades of pink and yellow line a cobblestone street where people are walking. The iconic dome of the Las Monjas church is visible in the background against a pale sky.
San Miguel de Allende's news this month includes announcements about the San Miguel Writers Conference, city infrastructure updates and the annual grape harvest season. (Chris Luengas/Pexels)

San Miguel de Allende is buzzing with new developments this month, from the announcement of a major national tourism summit to investments in infrastructure, technology, literature and wine. As the city continues to grow and evolve, we asked residents and visitors in a separate feature, how they feel about these changes. Read their perspectives here.

This month, the headlines reflect the city’s dynamic mix of tourism, culture and innovation. Here’s a look at what’s making news in San Miguel de Allende.

City to host National Tourism Summit

Mexico's Secretary of Tourism, Miguel Torruco Marqués, delivers a speech from a podium at the 2nd Summit on Tourism, held in Mexico City on August 25, 2022.
All previous iterations of the National Tourism Summit have taken place in Mexico City. (Cumbre de Turismo)

San Miguel de Allende will take center stage in Mexico’s tourism industry when it hosts the fifth National Tourism Summit from September 3–5, 2025. The theme this year is “The New Tourism: Culture and Prosperity.” It will be the first time the high-level tourism industry gathering has been held outside Mexico City. 

Organized by CUMBRES HUB, a platform that connects leaders across sectors to engage in dialogue and develop strategies for sustainable growth, the summit will gather more than 120 government officials, legislators, investors and academics to discuss how cultural tourism can help position Mexico among the five most-visited countries in the world, and how the sector can be a catalyst for sustainable, equitable development. 

The city’s host role comes at a time of strong tourism performance for the UNESCO World Heritage city. According to Jorge Olalde, president of the San Miguel de Allende Hotel Association, the city is maintaining its position as Guanajuato’s top destination for hotel occupancy. 

“We’re currently at 42%, but the annual projection is 44%, which suggests the coming months could be very positive,” Olalde noted, referencing seasonal peaks due to festivals and upcoming fall holidays that could push San Miguel’s numbers even higher.

At the same time, city leaders are working to address perception challenges following the recent U.S. travel advisory discouraging travel to Guanajuato. San Miguel Mayor Mauricio Trejo Pureco described the alert as “extremely serious and dangerous,” warning of its potential impact on the state’s economy, which relies on tourism for 84% of its revenues. 

In a recent address, Trejo highlighted the importance of seeing the city’s 16,000 U.S. expat residents as partners and friends, noting that each month they contribute thousands of free breakfasts, support cultural programs and help build community centers. The mayor also emphasized the value of sister-city partnerships with places like Palm Springs and Santa Fe as symbols of confidence in the city. 

“We need to be hand-in-hand with each other,” he said, adding that fostering a culture of respect among all residents and visitors is the foundation for maintaining the city’s vitality and welcoming reputation.

Infrastructure projects aim to boost connectivity

A multi-lane highway running through a small-town Mexico. The recently modernized road features fresh pavement, a landscaped median, and a long row of new, solar-powered streetlights. The road connects San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hidalgo in Mexico.
The long-awaited Bulevar de la Libertad, which connects San Miguel de Allende and Dolores Hidalgo, is now fully open to traffic. (Government of Guanajuato state)

La Libertad boulevard, which connects San Miguel with the town of Dolores Hidalgo, has officially opened its four lanes to traffic, marking a major step in improving connectivity between two of Guanajuato’s most notable municipalities. Built with hydraulic concrete, the 30-kilometer road includes a bidirectional bike lane, lighting, bridges, returns and other safety features. 

The boulevard represents an investment of more than 3 billion pesos and is considered a vital step toward strengthening regional development.

Though the La Libertad project is still only 95.8% complete — with sidewalks, drainage, signage and landscaping pending due to recent heavy rains — state officials expect final work to be finished by September 10. 

At the same time, a state legislator is pushing for the planned Guadalajara–Mexico City passenger train to include a stop in San Miguel de Allende, noting the city’s status as Guanajuato’s flagship tourism destination and the fact that existing rail tracks already run through San Miguel, meaning the corridor would mainly require rehabilitation and a station to return to service.

Currently, the train route is slated to make stops in the following Guanajuato cities: 

  • Salamanca
  • Apaseo al Alto
  • Celaya
  • Irapuato
  • Villagrán
  • León

Together, these initiatives highlight how the city increasingly sees infrastructure as a cornerstone for its future, supporting its rapid tourism growth.

San Miguel strengthens its role as a tech hub with new ODATA center

Odata center in Querétaro
Brazilian company ODATA has built the largest data center in Mexico to date. (File photo/ODATA)

San Miguel de Allende has taken a major step into the digital economy with the opening of a new large-scale data center by the company ODATA on the city’s outskirts. The project represents a significant investment in technology and innovation, designed to enhance data connectivity not only locally but across Latin America.

ODATA has built several major data centers in Mexico and Latin America. These centers are essential for technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The company aims to establish itself as the leading platform of interconnected data centers in Mexico and the region. 

ODATA says its new center emphasizes sustainability and energy efficiency, creates 80 highly skilled jobs and positions Guanajuato as a growing tech hub, which helps diversify San Miguel’s economy beyond tourism.

2026 San Miguel Writers’ Conference announces star-studded lineup

Margaret Attwood in San Miguel
Last year’s event featured Margaret Atwood receiving the San Miguel Writers’ Conference Award for Literary Excellence. The 2026 edition promises to feature more major literary heavyweights. (File photo)

The annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference & Literary Festival has unveiled its 2026 program, set for February 11–15 at the Hotel Real de Minas, under the theme “Our Stories, Doors to the World.”

The newly released schedule features some impressive guests. 

This year’s keynote speakers include Abraham Verghese, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rebecca F. Kuang, Emily St. John Mandel, Andrés Neuman and Mixe linguist Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil. Special guest and San Miguel local Sandra Cisneros will also join the teaching faculty at this year’s event.

The rest of the conference’s teaching roster features celebrated authors in both English and Spanish, including Eduardo Antonio Parra, Amaranta Caballero, Jean Kwok, Bonny Reichert, Christopher Bollen, Martin Fletcher, Ann Hood, and Hope Edelman.

In addition to the main program, the annual Writing Contest in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction/memoir is now accepting entries in both English and Spanish until September 15. Winners will receive lodging, full admission to the conference’s workshops and events and lodging.

Discounted packages are available through September 1, with additional discounts for students, teachers, Mexican nationals and San Miguel seniors.

Time for the grape harvest celebrations

Promotional graphic for the "Vendimia ¡Viva la VID!" grape harvest festival at Viñedo San Miguel winery in Guanajuato, Mexico, scheduled for August 30, 2025. The poster features watercolor illustrations of grapes and includes the logos for Guanajuato tourism and Viñedo San Miguel.
Viñedo San Miguel is just one of several San Miguel de Allende vineyards that will participate in the state’s grape harvest festivals. (Guanajuato state government)

San Miguel de Allende is a key player in Guanajuato’s 2025 Vendimias, the statewide grape harvest festival season, running Aug. 9–Oct. 18. 

Alongside Dolores Hidalgo and Comonfort, San Miguel hosts some of the region’s most anticipated wine events, including vineyard tastings and celebrations at the Gran Reserva Fiesta and at Vendimia Santa Catalina

The festivals highlight both tradition and growing international recognition. Local winery Viñedo San Miguel has earned prestigious awards this year, including a gold medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London, underscoring the state’s reputation as a rising force in global viticulture.

The Vendimias also provide a significant economic boost, with projections of over 12,000 attendees and a total economic impact of 11.6 million pesos for the 2025 season.

Patron saint festivities kick off with ancestral reseña ceremony

A street-level view of a crowded religious procession for the feast day of San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. A statue of the patron saint is carried on a platform, surrounded by participants in the parade and traditional, colorful feather decorations.
The reseña, a traditional kickoff to patron saint festivities in San Miguel de Allende in August, is a ceremony that dates back centuries. (San Miguel de Allende government)

San Miguel de Allende officially began its annual patron saint celebrations in honor of San Miguel Arcángel (St. Michael the Archangel) with the traditional Indigenous “reseña” ceremony, a ritual that dates back centuries. During the event this past Sunday, community leaders placed symbolic staffs on the atrial cross, seeking divine permission to carry out the festivities, which culminate on September 29, the Catholic saint’s feast day.

The city is celebrated for its deep Indigenous and religious roots, where centuries-old traditions have endured through adherence to values and customs passed down from the evangelizing friars. The ceremony this year featured offerings, processions and communal meals, involving more than 600 participants, including dancers, families, Indigenous community members and religious image bearers.

The end of the festivities will feature the traditional alborada, which this year continues into the early hours of Oct. 4 in the atrium of the city’s main church, the Parroquia de Arcángel San Miguel, and in the surrounding plaza, with a spectacular display of fireworks.

City prepares for peace march after shootings

The shootings happened in the Infonavit Malanquín residential neighborhood early Monday during a traditional religious ceremony celebrated by residents annually. (El Sol de Bajio)

Following an armed attack early Monday morning in the city’s Infonavit Malanquín neighborhood during the annual Virgen de San Juan festivities, different sectors of civil society have called for a peaceful march this Friday, August 22, at 10 a.m. 

The attack killed two people and wounded at least 17 others, one of whom, according to the newspaper Infobae, later died from injuries sustained at the scene.

Friday’s march will begin at El Cardo street and proceed downtown to the Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, where a message of unity and a call for peace will be delivered.

Organizers are encouraging families to bring candles, flowers or signs in the victims’ memory. The call has also been shared across the community to dress in black, “because our town is in mourning.”

Karla Parra is a Mexican-American writer based in San Miguel de Allende. She writes the MND series Hecho en México, authors Coloring Across Lines on Substack and helps organize the annual San Miguel Writers’ Conference. You can find her on Instagram as @karlaexploradora.

Made in Mexico: Juan Rulfo

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Juan Rulfo in front of a page of his book
Juan Rulfo was not especially prolific during his career, but the mark he left on Mexican literature endures to this day.

There are many ways to get to know a country: through its food, its music and its politics. But literature always struck me as the truest way in. Even when a story is invented, the way its characters speak and the way its landscapes are drawn reveal the habits, fears, and humor of a people. Truman Capote gives us one map and Jane Austen gives us another. In Mexico, Juan Rulfo gives us perhaps the starkest and most unforgettable map of all.

He left behind scarcely more than 350 pages. Yet in them — “El llano en llamas” (The Plain in Flames, 1953), “Pedro Páramo (1955), and the screenplay-novella “El gallo de oro”’ (The Golden Rooster, 1964) — he conjured a rural Mexico scorched and silent, abandoned by the Revolution, peopled by voices both living and dead. These slim volumes altered the trajectory of Mexican literature forever.

Author Juan Rulfo
Mysterious and often contradictory, Rulfo was a man who knew how to spin a yarn or two. (Quiosco de la Historia)

Mexico in the aftermath of revolution

The landscape of Rulfo’s youth — and later of his fiction — was shadowed by the Cristero War, the bloody conflict (1926–1929) that erupted after the revolutionary state moved to curtail the Catholic Church. Outdoor masses were outlawed; priests were stripped of political rights; church property was seized. In a country where faith had long controlled daily life, the closures sparked rebellion. Under the cry “¡Viva Cristo Rey!” tens of thousands rose against the government. Roughly 250,000 people died. Many more fled north. Only the mediation of U.S. ambassador Dwight Morrow produced an uneasy truce.

By the 1930s and 40s, Mexico cast itself as a nation rooted in tradition yet eager for progress and modernization, a country determined to turn the page on violence. But by the 1950s, the generation born after the Revolution began asking harder questions. Had the upheaval delivered justice, or merely exchanged one form of despair for another? Few gave that uncertainty such haunting expression as Juan Rulfo.

The boy and the myth

Juan Nepomuceno Carlos Pérez Rulfo Vizcaíno was born on May 16, 1917, in Sayula, Jalisco. He was as artful in shaping his own biography as he was in crafting fiction. In interviews — now archived on YouTube or Spotify — he embroidered his origins into legend.

Later journalists would unpick this embroidery. Both sides of the family were hacendados, with estates such as San Pedro Toxín in Tolimán and the Hacienda of Apulco part of their patrimony. Rulfo often recalled his childhood as marked by the murder of his father, shot, he said, by marauding gangs after the Revolution. His siblings remembered otherwise: their father was killed by the son of Tolimán’s municipal president in an argument over cattle crossing the Rulfo property. Juan was six.

Made in Mexico: Author Juan Rulfo

His mother died soon after, undone by grief at seeing her husband’s killer walk free. The children were sent by their grandmother to an orphanage in Guadalajara — an institution Rulfo would later liken to a penitentiary. “The only thing I learned there,” he said, “was how to feel depressed.”

There, in that bleakness, books found him. The parish priest in his hometown had abandoned a small library, and there the boy discovered Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo and even Buffalo Bill.

Becoming a writer

By 1935, he had moved to Mexico City. He likened himself to an orphan drifting alone through an indifferent metropolis. In reality, he lodged with his uncle, Colonel David Pérez Rulfo, a member of President Ávila Camacho’s general staff. 

Family connections secured him a desk at the Secretaría de Gobernación. Then he worked as a migration agent chasing foreigners, a tire salesman and an advertising man. At night, he wrote about the ghosts that chased him. His first stories appeared in unlikely outlets — medical journals, engineering bulletins, ephemeral magazines where a voice could grow unnoticed. 

The stories

A sculpture of Juan Rulfo in a central reservation
Rulfo’s legacy lives on today across Mexico even today. (The Collector)

The Plain in Flames introduced 17 stories. Rather than narrating from above, Rulfo let his characters speak, their voices summoning a landscape at once physical and spectral.

He admitted later that he had invented campesino cadences, not merely transcribed them. Among the collection’s most enduring pieces: “¡Diles que no me maten!” (“Tell Them Not to Kill Me!”), often read through the prism of his own family trauma,condemned the Revolution’s pointless violence; “Luvina,” a bleak prelude to the ghostly murmurs of Pedro Páramo; and “No oyes ladrar los perros,” whose stark brutality still stuns readers.

Pilgrims sometimes travel to Jalisco searching for the towns of these stories, only to find they never existed. But their imagined geography has proven more enduring than any map.

Pedro Páramo remains Rulfo’s masterpiece — a novel he warned must be read three times before its meanings reveal themselves. On the surface, it is a ghost story. But its true protagonist is not the landowner Pedro Páramo, whose cruelty ruins a town, but Comala itself.

Comala’s name derives from “comalli,” the griddle for tortillas. Rulfo’s vision was harsher: “a village set on the hot coals of the earth, in the very mouth of hell.” The book was nearly titled “Murmullos” — Murmurs — for the voices that fill it. “Time and space are broken,” Rulfo said, “because the work was done with the dead.”

For some, the novel is an attempt to reassemble his own family history; for others, a reckoning with the Revolution’s aftermath. Still others place him in the lineage of magical realism — alongside García Márquez, Allende, Cortázar — writers who blurred the border between the real and the uncanny and who gave Latin America a new literary authority on the world stage.

Pedro Páramo Netflix
An adaptation of Pedro Páramo has hit streaming service Netflix. It’s every bit as good as the original book. (Netflix Latam/X)

Translated into more than 40 languages, Pedro Páramo remains Mexico’s most enigmatic novel. Douglas J. Weatherford’s recent English translation comes closest to capturing its lyric strangeness. Read it in Spanish if you can. If not, find the version that lets you hear its murmurs.

A legacy

Rulfo’s slim library has had an outsize afterlife. His stories are taught in primary schools, adapted into more than 30 films, reshaped into music and theater. One biographer even suggested that his father’s murder was among the most consequential deaths in modern Mexican history. Perhaps an exaggeration, but without that rupture, Rulfo might never have written.

He died 39 years ago. And still his work whispers, like the dead of Comala: murmuring of Mexico’s past, and of the Mexico that endures within it.

If you have never read him, start small — with a single story from The Plain in Flames. Or surrender yourself directly to Pedro Páramo instead, if you’re feeling brave. In scarcely 350 pages, Juan Rulfo created a haunted library that Mexico still carries inside it.

María Meléndez is a Mexico City food blogger and influencer.

Former boxing champion Julio César Chávez Jr. imprisoned in Mexico on cartel allegations

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Julio César Chávez Jr.
According to the United States Department of Homeland Security, Chávez is believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel. (Wikimedia Commons)

Julio César Chávez Jr., a former world middleweight champion and son of Mexican boxing legend Julio César Chávez, was deported to Mexico on Monday and is now imprisoned in Sonora.

Chávez was detained by U.S. immigration agents in Los Angeles, California, in July, just days after losing a fight to U.S. boxer Jake Paul.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said at the time that the 39-year-old Culiacán native was a “criminal illegal alien.”

Chávez allegedly overstayed his U.S. visa and lied on a green card application.

The DHS said on July 3 that it was “processing him for expedited removal from the United States,” and noted that Chávez has an “active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives.”

It also said that Chávez is “believed to be an affiliate of the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.”

The DHS told U.S. media outlets this week that Chávez was deported to Mexico on Monday.

On Tuesday, United States Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson posted a photo to social media of the boxer apparently being escorted across the border by U.S. immigration agents.

“@DHSgov deported Julio César Chávez Jr. to Mexican authorities to face charges under his country’s justice system. This action reflects the strong cooperation between our governments, showing that collaboration delivers results and advances the security of both nations,” Johnson wrote on X.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday morning that her government was informed that Chávez was going to arrive in Mexico. She noted that there was a valid warrant for his arrest in Mexico.

Sheinbaum said in July that her government would seek the deportation of the boxer so he could serve in Mexico any sentence resulting from the charges he faces.

Behind bars in Hermosillo 

Chávez was deported to Mexico across the border between Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora, on Monday.

He was subsequently transferred to a federal prison in Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora.

Sonora Governor Alfonso Durazo acknowledged that Chávez was being held at the Federal Social Rehabilitation Center in Hermosillo.

Federal Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero has said that the investigation into the boxer’s alleged criminal activities began in 2019. A warrant for his arrest was issued in 2023. Gertz said last month that federal prosecutors are “ready” to present their case against the boxer.

It appears likely that Chávez will plead not guilty to the organized crime and firearms charges he faces in Mexico.

After his arrest, a Los Angeles-based lawyer for the boxer, Michael Goldstein, said that the allegations against his client were “outrageous.”

Who is Julio César Chávez Jr.?

Julio César Chávez Jr. was born in 1986 in Culiacán, Sinaloa. He started his boxing career at 17. His greatest achievement was becoming the WBC world middleweight champion in June 2011, a title he successfully defended three times before losing it in 2012.

Saúl "El Canelo" Álvarez and Julio César Chávez Jr.,
Mexican boxers Saúl “El Canelo” Álvarez (L) and Julio César Chávez Jr. (R) before a fight in Las Vegas in 2017. (Isaac Esquivel/Cuartoscuro)

Throughout his career, he has faced several problems, including doping suspensions and criticism for a perceived lack of discipline. In 2012, he was convicted of drunken driving in Los Angeles and sentenced to 13 days in jail. In January 2024, he was again arrested in Los Angeles for possession of an illegal AR-style “ghost rifle.”

The Associated Press reported that he was freed after his second arrest on a US $50,000 bond and on the condition that he went to a residential drug treatment facility. “The case is still pending, with Chávez reporting his progress regularly,” the news agency said Wednesday.

Chávez’s wife is Frida Muñoz Román, who was previously married to Édgar Guzmán López, the deceased son of convicted drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

His father, Julio César Chávez, was a world boxing champion in the 1980s and ’90s, and earlier this year participated in a “National Boxing Class” led by President Sheinbaum.

After his son’s arrest in Los Angeles last month, Chávez said he had full confidence in his innocence.

The Associated Press reported that Chávez Sr. “was a massive celebrity in the 1980s and ’90s who mixed social circles with drug dealers and claimed to have been friends with drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes.”

With reports from El FinancieroMilenio and AP

Motorists find 6 human heads in violent display attributed to La Barredora

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police car with do not cross tape in the foreground
The six heads, all belonging to men, were found on a highway in the municipality of Ixtacuixtla de Mariano Matamoros, Tlaxcala. (Margarito Pérez Retana/Cuartoscuro)

Six severed human heads were found on Tuesday in Tlaxcala, a state not normally associated with cartel violence.

The Tlaxcala Attorney General’s Office (FGJ) said in a statement that it launched an investigation following the discovery of the six male heads, which were found on a highway in the municipality of Ixtacuixtla de Mariano Matamoros.

The FJG said that police and forensic investigators traveled to the location where the heads were found, removed them and began investigations.

It said that the location where the heads were found was not where the murders of the men occurred. The rest of the victims’ bodies had not been located as of Wednesday morning.

The FGJ didn’t give a motive for the killings or say who might have committed them.

However, a narcomanta (narco banner) signed by the criminal group La Barredora was left with the heads. The Reforma newspaper said that the message on the banner alludes to a dispute between criminal groups over control of the area and the theft of gas.

The location where the heads were found is close to San Martín Texmelucan, Puebla, which has been described as Mexico’s capital huachicolera, or fuel-theft capital.

The Ixtacuixtla municipal government said in a statement that it “vigorously condemns the terrible events that occurred on the Ixtacuixtla-Nanacamilpa highway, where human remains were found.”

Tlaxacala was one of Mexico’s least violent states in the first seven months of the year in terms of total homicides. There were 75 murders in the state between January and July, according to data presented by the federal government last week. Only Yucatán, Durango, Coahuila and Aguascalientes recorded fewer homicides in the first seven months of 2025.

While crime groups including fuel theft gangs operate in Tlaxcala and the neighboring state of Puebla, the region has not experienced the same levels of extreme violence, including decapitations, as some other parts of Mexico.

Motorists reported grisly discovery 

Motorists traveling on the Ixtacuixtla-Nanacamilpa highway reportedly called 911 on Tuesday morning to alert authorities to the presence of six human heads near the community of San Gabriel Popocatla.

The Ixtacuixtla municipal government said that local police immediately responded to the reports and other relevant authorities were notified of the discovery.

It called on citizens to remain calm and to trust “the institutions in charge of the investigations.”

The municipal government said that it would “continue supporting all the necessary actions to guarantee peace and tranquility for the families of Ixtacuixtla.”

La Barredora

La Barredora is a Tabasco-based criminal organization allegedly affiliated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

The crime group’s notoriety has increased this year as a former security minister in Tabasco, Hernán Bermúdez, has been accused of heading it up while in office.

Bermúdez is currently a fugitive, while former Tabasco governor and current Senator Adán Augusto López Hernández has come under pressure to respond to questions about what he knew about his security minister’s alleged criminal activities.

The newspaper Excélsior reported that “the structure” of La Barredora “is characterized by operating from the inside of public institutions, especially in security areas, which allowed it to expand without facing an effective response from the state.”

The crime group is allegedly involved in a range of illicit activities, including migrant trafficking and extortion.

Federal prosecutor fatally attacked in Reynosa

Another head and human remains found in Colima 

More human remains, including a head, were found at different locations in the city of Colima in recent days, according to media reports. Some of the remains were reportedly inside bags, while others were not.

It was unclear how many people the remains corresponded to.

Colima, home to Mexico’s largest seaport in Manzanillo, is known for violent crime and the presence of criminal groups. There were 362 homicides in the Pacific coast state in the first seven months of the year, according to federal data.

In 2024, Colima had the highest per-capita homicide rate in Mexico. It is one of six Mexican states that is classified as “Level 4 – Do Not Travel” by the United States Department of State.

With reports from Eje Central, ReformaExcélsior and Meganoticias 

Authorities investigate after Maya Train car derails near Mérida

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Car of the Maya Train derailed
The train was running from the resort city of Cancún to Mérida when one of its cars fell off the track at the Izamal station. (Cuartoscuro)

A single car of the Maya Train derailed near the city of Mérida, Yucatán, on Tuesday as it was slowly pulling into the Izamal station, with no reported injuries or deaths. 

According to a statement by Maya Train authorities, the cause of the incident, which occurred at 1:48 p.m., is currently under investigation by an examining committee. Service is operating normally at the railway’s remaining stations.

The statement said that after activating safety protocols, passengers were transported to their destinations on company buses. The train was running from the resort city of Cancún to Mérida. 

A federal official who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident, told the Associated Press that part of the derailed car leaned onto a train on a parallel track, ruling out a collision. Photos and videos that circulated online show one car veering off the tracks, but not overturned.

On Wednesday morning, the director of the Maya Train Óscar David Lozano explained the cause of the incident before President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, insisting it was not a derailment but a “track error.”

“Just car 3 [of four] is off the track, so … it is leaning slightly on the MC1 of train 307, which is stationary. That is why it looks inclined. And car 4 is completely positioned on track 2,” Lozano said before a diagram of the incident. 

Maya Train derailment or "track error"
“This should not have happened in the design of the railway system,” Maya Train Director Óscar David Lozano said as he explained the track mechanism that failed on Tuesday. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

The director of the Maya Train added that he will be in contact with the companies responsible for installing the safety and railway traffic systems for the Maya Train, including Alstom. 

This is not the first time the Maya Train has experienced a rail incident in the same area. On March 25, 2024, a similar incident occurred near Tixkokob, the station following Izamal, when the fourth car of convoy D006 went off the tracks upon entering the station, traveling at just 10 kilometers per hour. 

No injuries or serious property damage were reported then. Passengers were evacuated and boarded another train to continue their journey. 

Investigations of such an accident concluded that the cause of the incident was inadequate mechanical fastening of the track clamps.

The Maya Train, operated and managed by the Mexican Army, is one of the ruling Morena party’s so-called “Fourth Transformation” of Mexico. It began construction under former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s term (2018-2024). 

The train runs through the Yucatán Peninsula states of Quintana Roo, Yucatán and Campeche as well as Tabasco and Chiapas. It has stations in or near the cities of Palenque, Campeche, Mérida, Valladolid, Cancún, Playa del Carmen and Chetumal, among others.  

Since the project was announced, it has faced widespread criticism due to its significant environmental impact and its questionable profitability, after it required an investment of over US $30 billion. It was originally projected to cost US $7.5 billion.  

Concerns have also been raised about the operation of the Maya Train by the Mexican Army due to a historic absence of accountability mechanisms for military operations.  

With reports from El Financiero

Sheinbaum to seek explanation from DEA: Tuesday’s mañanera recapped

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Sheinbaum mañanera 19 August 2025
"Why was this [DEA statement] published without the knowledge of the government of Mexico?" the president asked during her daily press conference on Tuesday. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)

President Claudia Sheinbaum is now just six weeks away from completing her first year in office.

In less than two weeks, on Sept. 1, she will present her first informe del gobierno, or government report, to the Congress, and in a major speech.

In the lead-up to those two important milestones, Sheinbaum continues to hold morning press conferences every weekday, and travel widely in Mexico on weekends.

Here is a recap of the president’s Aug. 19 mañanera.

Mexico to ask US why it wasn’t informed about a DEA statement before it was published 

Early in her press conference, Sheinbaum said that her government hadn’t entered into any agreement with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Her declaration came a day after the DEA announced what it called “a major new initiative to strengthen collaboration between the United States and Mexico in the fight against cartels.”

The DEA said in a statement that “at the core” of the effort to combat cartels is Project Portero, “DEA’s flagship operation aimed at dismantling cartel ‘gatekeepers,’ operatives who control the smuggling corridors along the Southwest Border.”

The U.S. agency also said that it had “launched a multi-week training and collaboration program at one of its intelligence centers on the Southwest Border” that “brings together Mexican investigators with U.S. law enforcement.”

Sheinbaum denies DEA agreement on anti-cartel operation, calls agency statement unauthorized

Sheinbaum said that she and her government became aware of the DEA statement at the same time as journalists and “all of Mexico.”

“When I saw the statement, I said: Just in case I’m wrong, I’m going to speak with the security minister,” she said.

Sheinbaum said that Security Minister Omar García Harfuch told her that Mexico hadn’t signed anything “additional” with the DEA and that Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero assured her that Mexico hadn’t agreed to “anything special” with the U.S. agency.

She indicated that she got similar responses from army and navy officials. Sheinbaum also indicated that an official — she didn’t say who — reminded her that she had authorized a number of Mexican agents to go to the United States to attend a “workshop.”

“Ah, yes, I remember,” she recalled saying.

“That’s all there is,” came the response from the official, according to Sheinbaum.

While the DEA referred to a “bold bilateral initiative to dismantle cartel gatekeepers and combat synthetic drug trafficking,” the president said there is “nothing in particular that has to do with an agreement with this U.S. agency.”

She said that the issuance of the DEA statement wouldn’t affect the security relationship between Mexico and the United States, but asserted that her government has “the obligation to clarify because if we don’t, this idea with no basis remains.”

Sheinbaum said that Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente would speak to U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ron Johnson about the matter.

“Why was this [DEA statement] published without the knowledge of the government of Mexico?” she asked.

Sheinbaum met with Adán López, but says she didn’t speak to him about Tabasco corruption scandal 

A reporter noted that the president met on Monday with the ruling Morena party’s leaders in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Morena’s leader in the lower house is Ricardo Monreal, while its leader in the Senate is Adán Augusto López Hernández, a former federal interior minister and governor of Tabasco whose security minister in the Gulf coast state is accused of having headed up a criminal group while he was in office.

Adán López and Ricardo Monreal
Morena’s leader in the lower house Ricardo Monreal (L) with Senate leader Adán Augusto López (R). (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

In late July, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) formally requested that the Federal Attorney General’s Office investigate López for criminal association and demanded that he resign from his position in the Senate.

Sheinbaum said that she spoke to Monreal and López about Morena’s “legislative agenda,” but didn’t discuss the case involving former Tabasco security minister Hernán Bermúdez, who is currently a fugitive.

Asked why she didn’t discuss such an “important” issue with the senator, the president responded that criminal investigations are the responsibility of the Federal Attorney General’s Office and state prosecutors’ offices.

“So, in the case of the ex-security minister, there is an arrest warrant issued by the Tabasco Attorney General’s Office. Anything that the senator has to say, he should say,” Sheinbaum said, noting that López has indicated that he will give a statement to authorities if summoned to do so.

“But everything needs to have a basis,” she said.

“That’s why we didn’t touch on that issue. That issue corresponds to the Tabasco Attorney General’s Office [and] to the Federal Attorney General’s Office,” Sheinbaum said.

She also said that there was no discussion about the possibility of López stepping down as leader of Morena in the Senate.

‘The end of an era of nepotism’

A reporter noted that the Supreme Court (SCJN) on Tuesday was holding its final session before recently-elected justices will assume their positions on Sept. 1. She asked Sheinbaum how she would “farewell” the current SCJN, and how she would describe its work over the past 30 years.

“[It’s] the end of an era of nepotism in the judiciary,” said Sheinbaum, who argued that the judicial elections held in June were needed to rid Mexico’s courts of ills such as corruption and nepotism.

“… It’s the end of an area of a judiciary that served only a few,” Sheinbaum said.

The president asserted that during a period of decades, more than half of Mexico’s judges and other judicial workers were “friends, siblings [and] cousins” of the people who appointed them.

“And now a new era begins starting Sept. 1,” Sheinbaum said.

“And it will be better, I don’t have the slightest doubt about that,” she said.

All of the incoming Supreme Court Justices are affiliated with, seen as sympathetic to, or were at least tacitly supported by the ruling Morena party at the judicial elections, a situation that government critics argue will eliminate a vital check on executive and legislative power.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies ([email protected])

Profepa ordered to ensure illegal Tulum condo building is torn down

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unfinished building
Work on the seven-story condominium building was halted after a June court ruling, but the order for its demolition has yet to be carried out. (DMAS/Facebook)

The Federal Attorney’s Office for Environmental Protection (Profepa) has been ordered to guarantee full environmental restoration at a shuttered construction site in the Caribbean resort city of Tulum.

An Aug. 14 federal court ruling requires Profepa to ensure the so-called Adamar condominium is fully demolished and that the 731 square meters of affected land is restored to its natural state. 

unfinished building
Tulum residents and visitors no doubt find the condemned building hard to miss, given its prominent place in lush surroundings. (DMAS/Facebook)

Profepa must also collect 1.4 million pesos (US $74,370) in outstanding fines from the developer.

The ruling reportedly stemmed from a legal complaint filed by a Tulum resident against Profepa “for failing to comply with a ruling ordering they ensure the site is returned to its original state.”

A June court decision had so ordered and at the time, Profepa director Mariana Boy said her agency was “committed to reversing damage caused by real estate developments that are built without proper environmental impact or land use change authorization.” 

As the weeks went by and restoration activities were not in evidence, the complaint against Profepa was filed.

In arguing its case, Profepa claimed it had fulfilled the requirements of that ruling. In actuality, it had only stopped the construction and the court declared Profepa had improperly delegated compliance to the real estate company without conducting any verification.

Instead of tearing down the illegal building, the developer sought to rescue the project, a seven-story structure that would feature 24 apartments and penthouses just south of the Xcacel Xcacelito Sea Turtle Sanctuary.

The developer requested permission to carry out an environmental impact study that should have been processed before the project began. Semarnat denied the permit request.

Profepa now has 10 days to appeal, but it is unlikely to win should it do so since both rulings were explicit.

Instead, a demolition request will have to be obtained from the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) and the remaining structure will have to be torn down and the lot completely cleared. Then, the environmental damage must be reversed and full restoration must be brought about in order to adhere to the terms of the June ruling.

With regard to the fine Profepa has been ordered to collect, Boy acknowledged that such penalties are no longer a deterrent since developers typically incorporate them into their financial projections.

Mónica Huerta, an attorney with the Association for the Right to a Healthy Environment (DMAS), celebrated last week’s ruling for safeguarding the collective interest of the public and ensuring that any citizen can access the protection of the courts.

“This ruling reminds us that access to a healthy environment is a right and the State is obligated to guarantee it for future generations, as well as for existing generations,” she said.

DMAS filed the complaint that halted the illegal construction project, which had been a target of activists for more than a year.

Before the condominium project was finally shuttered in June, the developer ignored two legal injunctions to temporarily halt construction — the second issued in February — according to the newspaper El Quintanarroense.

With reports from El Quintanarroense, La Jornada, El Punto sobre la i, Riviera Maya News and El Economista

Tourism Ministry launches program to accredit community-based experiences in 8 states

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small town street
Certificates will be reserved for individuals, groups or communities that offer community tourism products and services with a focus on sustainability and continuous quality improvement. (Alexis Quiroz/Unsplash)

Starting in September, Mexico’s Tourism Ministry (Sectur) will implement a new accreditation system that will certify tourist service providers who offer “community tourism” — that is, tourism experiences that benefit the local community and reflect its true culture.

Sectur, which made the announcement last Thursday, aims to identify community tourism experiences eligible for certification under its National Community Tourism Program. It’s the  first certification drive since 2017, and the first under a Morena-led government. 

man at podium while presidenet watches
Sebastián Ramírez Mendoza, head of the National Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur), presented the certification program at a recent morning press conference by President Claudia Sheinbaum. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)

Certificates will be reserved for “individuals, groups or communities that offer community tourism products and services with a focus on sustainability and continuous quality improvement,” Sebastián Ramírez Mendoza, head of the National Fund for Tourism Development (Fonatur), said during Thursday’s daily presidential press conference. 

Ramírez said the program is part of the National Tourism Quality System. He stressed that qualified local groups will be the ones to decide how their activities look, how big tour visitor groups are and other rules and specifications for tourism in their communities. 

“The certificate will guarantee authenticity, that is, that there is no cultural appropriation, that no one pretends to be a public servant,” Ramírez said. “Therefore, we can tell travelers that when they see this certificate, it means they have found a truly community-based experience.” 

By the August 8 deadline, 1,385 communities, cooperatives and service providers had registered their community tourism projects in hopes of being included in the 2025 National Guide to Community Tourism Experiences. Eight states were selected to participate in the first phase: Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Michoacán, Puebla, Morelos and Tlaxcala. The first eight Community Experience Guides (ETC) aim to provide lasting economic and social benefits to communities, as well as support tourism. 

Community activities are assessed using a diagnostic tool with 120 questions, with supporting evidence required. Following assessment, certificates will be distributed to groups designated as Community Tourism Providers, after which they will be included in the 2025 National Guide.

Sectur, in conjunction with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), plans to support community tourism providers by offering digital technology, training and professional development programs, among other tools. 

“What we want to do with this is make it easier for community tourism projects to access markets, platforms, travel agencies,” Ramírez said. 

With reports from Revista Contralínea, El Economista and Infobae