Many reservoirs across Mexico are below 50% capacity after months of below-average rainfall.(Cristanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
Mexicans have been coping with drought conditions since the summer of 2023, set to become one of the most severe droughts to hit Mexico in over a decade, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory website.
Total precipitation from Jan. 1 through June 2 is 50.3% below the national average according to the National Water Commission (Conagua), about 6 centimeters instead of the usual 12 centimeters the country usually has received this time of year. Last month was also the second-driest May ever recorded — and the hottest, with temperatures 2.9 degrees C above average.
How much of Mexico is experiencing drought?
Nearly 76% of Mexico was experiencing drought conditions as of May 31, according to the Drought Monitoring Agency of the National Meteorological Service (SMN). Of even more concern, 58% of the country is experiencing severe to exceptional drought.
Less than 11% of Mexico is “unaffected” by the drought and only 43 of the country’s 2,471 municipalities are considered free from some degree of drought.
Where is there severe drought?
The states hit hardest by these searing conditions are in the central and northern regions of Mexico.
In Mexico’s midsection, more than 81% of Querétaro is reporting exceptional drought, the most severe classification. Sixty five percent of neighboring Hidalgo is in the same condition. The border states of Sinaloa (47%), Chihuahua (39%), Sonora (19%) and Tamaulipas (8.5%) are dealing with dangerous levels of aridity.
The Cutzamala system of reservoirs has reached perilously low levels following drought. (María Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
In the north central region, San Luis Potosí (46%), Durango (25%), and Guanajuato (19%) suffered from a lack of rainfall, while north and east of Mexico City, Veracruz (17%) and Puebla (9%) are also experiencing severe drought.
How many reservoirs are below 50% capacity?
Of the 213 most important reservoirs, only two are at full capacity, while 160 are below 50%. Just 126 were found to be below half capacity last year. Thirty-six reservoirs are 50 to 75% full and 15 are above 75% of capacity.
How many forest fires have there been in Mexico this year?
The heat and drought conditions have made for a high number of forest fires in Mexico this year. Through June 6, the National Forest Commission (Conafor) has reported 5,482 fires that have affected 538,233 hectares (1.3 million acres) of land. There were a total of 7,611 fires reported in all of 2023, and only 5,913 in 2020.
The good news is that forecasts suggest the weather will turn to wet and cool in over half of the country in the second half of June. The NOAA announced the official end of the El Niño cycle on Thursday — which has been blamed for much of the recent extreme heat and drought in Mexico — and said there is a 65% likelihood that La Niña will develop from July-September (which is forecast to bring more rain).
A potent Central America gyre is currently forming and is expected to bring generous rainfall to southeast Mexico and to Gulf Coast states starting today through next week.
The gyre is expected to be more moderate from June 23-30, which could produce abundant rainfall across eastern Mexico through the end of the month. Unfortunately, northern and western Mexico are expecting little precipitation and high temperatures.
The convicted customs officer worked at the San Ysidro border crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. (Wikimedia Commons)
A former United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer was convicted this week of bribery after allowing vehicles transporting illegal drugs to enter the U.S. from Mexico in exchange for large payments from criminal organizations.
Leonard Darnell George, who worked at the San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana earlier this decade, was found guilty on Monday by a federal jury in U.S. District Court in San Diego.
Fentanyl, heroine, cocaine and meth made it to the United States with the help of @CBPSanDiego Officer Leonard Darnell George, federal prosecutors say. George is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for his clearance at the U.S./Mexico border. @nbcsandiego Back in court 7/11. pic.twitter.com/sG2CAvVGd8
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California (USAO) said in a press release on Wednesday that George, who is now in his early 40s, was convicted of “accepting bribes to allow vehicles containing methamphetamine and other illicit drugs to pass through the border into the U.S.”
It also said he was convicted of “allowing vehicles with unauthorized individuals to pass through his lane and into the U.S. while working for two separate criminal organizations.”
George’s nickname among drug traffickers who associated with him was “el portero,” or “the doorman.”
He reportedly made his first connection with traffickers while visiting a strip club in Tijuana. In addition to methamphetamine, George facilitated the entry to the U.S. of smaller quantities of heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, according to court documents.
During a six-month period in late 2021 and early 2022, law enforcement agents and prosecutors identified approximately 19 illegal crossings that the ex-CBP officer facilitated, according to the USAO.
“George repeatedly omitted passengers and the true names of drivers coming through his lane, instead entering the names of others to conceal his criminal activities,” the office said.
He eventually aroused the suspicion of his colleagues, which led to his downfall.
While his illicit scheme was operating, George received bribes of at least US $13,000 for each vehicle he allowed to cross.
George received $13,000 for every car he illegally allowed to pass — before raising his fee. (Shutterstock)
During his trial, a number of witnesses testified that George agreed to allow cars carrying drugs to enter the United States via his lane at the border crossing in late 2021.
“George would notify members of the drug trafficking organization when he was at work, what lane he was on, and that they had one hour to reach his lane,” the USAO said.
In February 2022, the corrupt official found himself in a tricky situation. A car with a CBP alert on it due to it being a suspected drug smuggling vehicle was flagged when it entered George’s lane at the border crossing, forcing him to refer it to a secondary inspection, which uncovered 222 pounds, or just over 100 kg, of methamphetamine.
“Undeterred, George allowed a second drug-laden vehicle affiliated with the drug trafficking organization and traveling directly behind the flagged vehicle to enter the U.S. with over 200 pounds of drugs,” the USAO said.
“Text messages sent by George the following day reveal he received approximately $13,000 for the vehicle he allowed to enter the U.S. On the same day he received his bribe payment, George purchased a 2020 Cadillac CT5 for an associate of the drug trafficking organization as a gift,” the office said, adding that he delivered it to the associate in Ensenada on Valentine’s Day.
The former CBP official subsequently raised his fee for waving a drug-laden vehicle into the U.S. to $17,000, seized text messages revealed. However, he offered a small discount for a four-vehicle deal, charging $65,000 instead of $68,000.
All told, it appears George accepted more than $300,000 in bribes. One witness told the court that he purchased vehicles, motorcycles, and jewelry with the proceeds of his illicit activities.
“Additionally, on George’s days off, he traveled to Tijuana to visit Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club where he spent approximately $5,000 per trip,” the USAO said.
“He would stand on the second level of the club and throw cash over the balcony to the dancers below, ‘showering’ them with money. He would buy bottles of alcohol, and occasionally gifts, for dancers,” it added.
On his days off, the corrupt official spent thousands of dollars at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club in Tijuana. (Yelp)
A photograph presented during the trial offered an insight into the coziness of George’s relationship with his drug trafficking associates. It showed one of the narcos taking a selfie while wearing the ex-official’s CBP uniform jacket.
With its guilty verdict, the jury in San Diego “sent a clear message to anyone considering trading in their badge for cash,” said U.S. Attorney Tara K. McGrath.
“Abandoning the integrity of the uniform for the conspiracy of drug trafficking is a path to a criminal conviction,” she added.
George’s sentencing is scheduled for September 13.
The former customs officer faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for partaking in bribery as a public official; life for conspiracy to import controlled substances; and 10 years on each of two counts of “bringing in certain aliens for financial gain.”
Reproduction of the mountain stream axolotl — a salamander on the brink of extinction that lives only in Central Mexico — has been successful under human care for the first time ever, the Environment Ministry of Mexico City (Sedema) announced this week.
This significant milestone occurred about 25 kilometers southwest of Mexico City in a protected natural area of the Desierto de los Leones National Park, where a “maternity ward” was set up for the amphibians.
The survival rate for axolotl offspring in the wild is low, so they are being carefully monitored by the scientists. (Sedema)
In February, Sedema recorded the first instance of egg laying by the axolotls in their facility. The team of caregivers then monitored the embryonic development of over 70 eggs, employing a specialized infrastructure designed to ensure optimal growth conditions.
The El Pantano Wildlife Conservation Management Unit includes independent enclosures that function as “cradles,” where the larvae are meticulously observed and provided with the necessary resources for their development.
After nearly three months of monitoring, the babies began to emerge, each less than 2 centimeters long. Now, the hatchlings (Sedema did not reveal their numbers in its press release) are being kept under constant monitoring, because the survival rate of axolotl offspring in the wild is usually very low.
This species of axolotl (Ambystoma altamirani) measures about 23 centimeters long (9 inches) but can grow up to 30 centimeters (12 inches). Characterized by a dark, thin body often speckled with brown, black and white.
Axolotls are native to the canals and chinampas of Xochimilco, though pollution has severely affected their numbers in the wild. (Susannah Rigg)
The reproductive success aligns with the goals set out in the “Strategy for the Comprehensive Conservation of the Mountain Stream Axolotl in Mexico City,” implemented by Sedema in 2021. The strategy aims to protect the species Ambystoma altamirani and Ambystoma mexicanum, the two remaining axolotl species in the Valley of Mexico whose wild populations are gravely threatened.
Overall in Mexico, there are at least 18 different species of axolotls, almost all of which are in danger of extinction.
Mountain stream axolotls inhabit the lake systems of the Valley of Mexico, particularly in Xochimilco and Chalco, where they thrive in well-oxygenated, cold freshwater bodies rich in aquatic vegetation. Their natural habitat is increasingly compromised by pollution, habitat loss and fluctuating water levels, making conservation efforts crucial.
Two years ago, the “Adopt an Axolotl” campaign was started in an effort to raise funds for conservation.
The successful reproduction of axolotls at El Pantano represents a beacon of hope for the species’ conservation. Sedema has several partners in its commitment to this cause, including the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM).
Scientists tested the DNA of the children's remains, which were found in 1967 near the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá, and date back over 1,000 years. (Cuartoscuro)
DNA testing on the remains of 64 children sacrificed at the Maya city of Chichén Itzá more than 1,000 years ago has given researchers extraordinary insights into the ritual killing practices of the site’s pre-Columbian inhabitants and their ties to the Maya people who live in the area today.
In 1967, a team of archaeologists discovered the remains of more than 100 young children in a chultún, or underground cistern, near the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá, located in the state of Yucatán. While a chultún was typically used to store fresh water, this one had been repurposed as a funerary chamber.
The DNA analysis of fragments of the children’s skulls showed that all of the victims found in the were boys, including two sets of identical twins. (INAH)
Several decades after the discovery, DNA was extracted from the skulls of 64 of the children, most of whom were buried in the cistern between 800 and 1,000 AD, when Chichén Itzá was a major political, cultural and religious center.
The results of the DNA testing came as a great surprise to an international team of researchers, who revealed in an article in the journal Nature that all of the sacrificial victims found in the chultún were boys, and among them were two sets of identical twins as well as other brothers, some of whom may have been fraternal twins.
“We kept rerunning the tests because we couldn’t believe that all of them were male,” said Rodrigo Barquera, a Mexican archaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) in Germany and lead author of the study published in Nature on Wednesday.
“It was just so amazing,” he added.
Why were twins among the child sacrifice victims?
In their paper, the international researchers wrote that in contrast to human remains found in the Sacred Cenote at Chichén Itzá, those discovered in the chultún were all boys, “demonstrating a strong preference for the ritual sacrifice of male children in this context.”
“Genetic analysis also showed the presence of related individuals within the chultún, including two sets of monozygotic twins and nine other close relative pairs. As such twins occur spontaneously in only 0.4% of the general population, the presence of two sets of identical twins in the chultún is much higher than would be expected by chance,” they said.
“Overall, 25% of the children had a close relative within the assemblage, suggesting that the sacrificed children may have been specifically selected for their close biological kinship.”
The researchers noted that twins are “especially auspicious” in Maya mythology and that “twin sacrifice is a central theme in the sacred K’iche’ Mayan Book of Council, the Popol Vuh.”
The above map was included in the Nature journal article, showing the site and where the remains were discovered in relation to the Sacred Cenote of Chichén Itzá. (Nature)
In that book, the twins Hun Hunapu and Vucub Hunahpu descend into the underworld and are sacrificed by the gods following defeat in a ballgame, they explained.
Hun Hunapu’s head is subsequently hung in a calabash tree where — in an episode akin to something you might read in a magical realism novel — it impregnates a young woman who gives birth to another set of twins, called Hunapu and Xbalanque.
“These twins, known as the Hero Twins, then go on to avenge their father and uncle by undergoing repeated cycles of sacrifice and resurrection to outwit the gods of the underworld,” the researchers wrote.
“The Hero Twins and their adventures are amply represented in Classic Maya art and given that subterranean structures were viewed as entrances to the underworld, the twin and relative sacrifices within the chultún at Chichén Itzá may recall rituals involving the Hero Twins,” they said.
Barquera told Reuters that he and his fellow researchers “think that the people from Chichén Itzá were trying to symbolically replicate the Mayan mythological stories and the representation of the twin heroes in this ritual burial.”
“For Maya, and Mesoamerican cultures in general, death is the ultimate offering, and as such, sacrifices bear high importance to their beliefs system,” he added.
Twin sacrifices are part of ancient Maya mythology. Depicted here are Hunupu and Xbalenque, the “hero twins” who appear in the Popol Vuh. (Wikimedia Commons)
Barquera also noted that while “ritual sacrifice was a common practice among ancient Mesoamerican populations, … the biological relationships between the sacrificed individuals had not been described before.”
How were the boys killed?
The researchers haven’t been able to determine how the boys were sacrificed, but they have concluded how they didn’t die.
“There are no cut marks or evidence of trauma, which tells us how did they not die,” Baquera said. “But we have not found a cause of death for them yet,” he added.
The cause of death of the sacrificial victims has not been determined, but researchers say there are not obvious indications of trauma. (INAH)
The discovery that boys were sacrificed at Chichén Itzá contradicts a once popular idea that the ancient Maya people preferred females, and especially young virgin women, for ritual killings.
From researching a centuries-old pandemic to uncovering sacrificial practices
Close to 20 years ago, Barquera was aiming to discover the genetic legacy of a 1545 Salmonella enterica pandemic that killed large numbers of Indigenous people that lived across the territory that is now known as Mexico.
To do so, he and his colleagues needed to compare the DNA of pre-Columbian remains with that of people born after the calamity, the New York Times reported. The skulls found in the chultún fell into the category of pre-Columbian remains, and in 2015 Barquera’s team received permission to destroy small sections of the craniumsto extract and sequence DNA.
The researchers were allowed to destroy small sections of the craniums for the analysis. (INAH)
Analysis of the DNA extracted from the petrous portion of temporal bones of the skulls allowed the researchers to determine the genetic relationships between the sacrificial victims, and consequently theorize about why the twins and other siblings were killed.
“We found two pairs who were so similar they could only be identical twins, and at least three more who were full siblings. They could have also been twins, but fraternal twins, coming from two different egg cells,” said Kathrin Nägele, another MPI-EVA archaeogeneticist and co-author of the study published in Nature.
“This is the first time we are able to confidently identify identical twins in the archaeological record,” she said.
Comparison between the sacrificial victims and modern-day Maya people
In addition to analyzing the DNA extracted from the skulls of the 64 boys, researchers compared the children’s genomes to those of 68 present-day Maya inhabitants of Tixcacaltuyub, a town around 60 kilometers southwest of Chichén Itzá.
They also compared the DNA from the skulls to “other available ancient and contemporary genetic data from the region,” according to the paper published in Nature.
Researchers found “long-term genetic continuity in the Maya region” between the ancient children’s remains and Indigenous Maya children living today near Chichén Itzá. (UN Women)
Those comparisons uncovered “long-term genetic continuity in the Maya region,” the paper said.
The comparisons also revealed “allele frequency shifts in immunity genes, … specifically an increase in HLA-DR4 alleles which provide greater resistance to Salmonella enterica infection,” the researchers said, noting that said infection was “the causative agent of an enteric fever … associated with the 1545 cocoliztli pandemic.”
Jaime Awe, a Belizean archaeologist who specializes in the ancient Maya and is a professor at Northern Arizona University, told The New York Times that the comparative DNA analysis provides “clear proof” that the residents of Tixcacaltuyub “are descendants of the folks that developed one of the world’s most accomplished civilizations.”
Barquera, who along with a few colleagues traveled to Tixcacaltuyub to present their findings at local schools and share them with the 68 study participants, told the Times that the Maya residents of the town were thrilled to receive confirmation of their genetic links to the people who built and occupied Chichén Itzá long before the arrival of the Spanish.
He said that Maya people who live close to ancient cities such as Chichén Itzá often pose this question to outsiders: “‘Why do you have so much respect for the people who built these sites, and then treat the Indigenous people who live around them like inferiors?'”
Barquera added that the Maya people can now say: “Look, we’re related to the ones who made these pyramids. So maybe stop being racist toward us.”
Thanks to Paulina's expert teaching, you'll be able to prestar some pesos, and pichar the check on your next night out. (Spanishandgo)
“No tengo baro, ¿me pichas una chela?” If you’re scratching your head, don’t worry! We’ve got you covered. Mastering the art of discussing money is crucial no matter where you are or which language you’re speaking. Therefore, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the local lingo. Mexican words for money can sometimes be a little confusing!
Slang terms can vary widely, so being prepared will help you navigate conversations with ease. In this article, we will dive into some Mexican slang around money.
When someone asks for some “baro,” what do they mean? (Shutterstock)
Baro
Starting off with “baro,” this term is a popular way to refer to money in Mexico. Originating from the Spanish word “barro” (clay), which was once used to make coins, “baro” has evolved into a casual term for cash.
Example 1:
“No voy a salir hoy, no tengo baro.” (“I’m not going out today, I’m out of money.”)
Example 2:
“Traes baro que me prestes?” (“Got some bucks to spare?”)
Pichar
Next, “pichar” is a term for paying for someone else’s expenses, like buying a friend a drink or covering the bill at a restaurant. It’s derived from the English term “pitch in,” meaning to contribute or throw in.
Example 1:
“¿Quién va a pichar las pizzas?” (“Who’s going to pay for the pizzas?”)
Example 2:
“Hoy yo picho el cine, la próxima vez te toca a ti.” (“Today I’ll pay for the movies, next time it’s your turn.”)
Finally, the phrase “Cuentas claras, amistades largas” translates to “Clear accounts, long friendships”, it can also be the equivalent to the phrase “good friends make good neighbors”. This saying emphasizes the importance of settling debts and being transparent with money matters to maintain healthy and long-lasting relationships.
Example 1:
“Ten te debía 100 pesos. Cuentas claras, amistades largas.” (“Here, I owed you 100 pesos. Clear accounts, long friendships.”)
Example 2:
“Siempre pago lo que debo, ya sabes: cuentas claras, amistades largas.” (“I always pay what I owe, you know: clear accounts, long friendships.”)
Bringing It All Together
So, next time you’re navigating social situations in Mexico, remember these handy phrases. Whether you’re discussing money, offering to pay for a friend, or stressing the importance of honesty in financial matters, these expressions will not only enhance your language skills but also help you connect more deeply with Mexican culture.
Although you will hear these words often, bear in mind that saying baro to refer to money and the verb pichar to pay for someone is a very informal way to express yourself. However, these informalities are part of getting to know the true essence of a language.
Paulina Gerez is a translator-interpreter, content creator, and founder of Crack The Code, a series of online courses focused on languages. Through her social media, she helps people see learning a language from another perspective through her fun experiences. Instagram: paulinagerezm / Tiktok: paugerez3 / YT: paulina gerez
The ubiquity of computer chips in modern life has meant that the semiconductor industry is now worth around hundreds of billions of dollars. (Vishnu Mohanan/Unsplash)
A week after the Mexican federal government published an agreement to support the national semiconductor sector, industry participants and government officials from both Mexico and the United States gathered in Tijuana to formulate strategies to discuss the Mexican semiconductor industry’s competitiveness.
The second of four quarterly forums aimed at promoting the development of semiconductor supply chains in North America was co-hosted by Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila and Mexico’s National Chamber of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology (Canieti). U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Mark Johnson led the U.S. delegation.
Representatives from Mexico and the United States met in Tijuana this week, to discuss strategy for improving competitiveness in the global industry. (Canieti/X)
The forums aim to catalyze dialogue among the U.S. and Mexican federal governments, Mexican local governments and the private sector in order to make Mexico’s part of the global semiconductor supply chain.
“Studies presented to the forum indicate that Mexico has the potential to develop design, assembly, packaging and integration to complement the U.S. chip manufacturing industry,” said Canieti president Enrique Yamuni.
“The importance of semiconductors is massive,” said Pedro Casas Alatriste, the CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and a participant in the forum. “Just as we’ve talked about oil in recent decades, this is how we should talk about and act on this technology as a key differentiator for North America.”
Representatives from the U.S. and Mexico discussed regional integration in the semiconductor industry at a summit earlier this year. (Anthony Blinken/X)
The partnership is developed under the umbrella of the multi-billion dollar CHIPS Act of 2022, a U.S. federal statute that aims to develop semiconductor research and manufacturing in the U.S., and also to strengthen supply chain resilience in North America.
Mexico’s government further solidified its commitments to the industry with the June 5 decree, which establishes the formal commitment by several federal agencies to collaborate on promoting the semiconductor industry in Mexico.
Armando Cortés, the director of the National Autoparts Industry association (INA), applauded the publication of the decree.
“The development of the semiconductor industry is essential to guarantee inventory for key sectors, particularly the automotive industry,” Cortés said, according to the magazine Fortuna y Poder. “Furthermore, global market conditions indicate that sufficient demand exists such that Mexico can position itself as a competitive supplier.”
The semiconductor industry will allow Mexico to further support its significant automobile manufacturing sector. (Intel Guadalajara)
The decree authorizes the Finance Ministry (SHCP), the Economy Ministry (SE) and the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) to coordinate the promotion of the semiconductor industry in the country via identifying the best areas for development, ensuring adequate energy supply and also providing tax incentives to attract investors.
The new program is designed to help Mexico keep pace with the fast-evolving global industry, one of the most critical elements of the global economy and especially attractive to investors, especially as Canada and the United States have taken significant steps to develop their position in the front end (chip design and manufacture) of production.
Cortés and forum participants point to Mexico’s potential to play a critical role in the back end of the value chain. This would have Mexico specializing in validating processors in semiconductor assembly and focusing on semiconductor packaging.
Caminos de Agua have made it their mission to help communities heavily affected by Mexico's water crisis. (All photos by Caminos de Agua/Ann Marie Jackson)
In Mexico, water scarcity is increasing at an alarming rate. In the year 2000, 58% of Mexico’s municipalities had daily access to public sources of water and only 2% were limited to access 1-2 days per week. By 2022, according to an in-depth investigation by newspaper El País, the percentage of municipalities with daily access to water had fallen dramatically to 33%, while those limited to 1-2 days per week had risen nearly tenfold to 19%. The remaining 48% had access 3-5 days per week. More recent data is not available, but by all appearances, the trend is accelerating.
The situation in the state of Guanajuato is particularly dire. The only state with a higher water stress index is Baja California Sur. In Guanajuato, 65% of the state’s aquifers are overexploited, with water table levels dropping by 1-3 meters per year. In the Upper Rio Laja Watershed, for example, which serves 740,000 people, when residents drilled wells in the 1960s, they only had to go down 5-50 meters. By the 1980s, the population of the watershed was already over-extracting groundwater. Since then, the water table has dropped hundreds of meters, so current wells must be dug up to 500 meters deep.
With an inclusive coalition of grassroots organizations, community leaders, university scientists, engineers, foundations, and governments, Caminos de Agua makes a major impact on the lives of citizens hardest hit by the water crisis in Guanajuato and across Mexico. Dylan Terrell, Founder and Executive Director, at center. Casilda Barajas, Director of Social Outreach, second from right.
Moreover, in Guanajuato, according to the State Water Commission, 84% of the groundwater extracted goes to agriculture, especially alfalfa, a water-intensive crop used to feed cattle.
Water scarcity leads to an even bigger problem: arsenic and fluoride contamination
Because wells must now be dug to such an extreme depth, we are accessing “fossil water” that has been held deep in the ground for tens of thousands of years, taking up minerals and metals from volcanic rock. Some, such as calcium and magnesium, are beneficial, but some absolutely are not: arsenic and fluoride. 61% of all wells tested by Caminos de Agua in the Upper Rio Laja Watershed demonstrated excessive levels of arsenic and/or fluoride. Arsenic levels of up to 23 times the allowable limit were discovered.
Across Mexico, 21 million people are exposed to excessive levels of arsenic and/or fluoride in their drinking water, as are 200-300 million people globally. The health impacts of excessive fluoride include irreversible dental fluorosis, whereby teeth turn brown and eventually crumble; crippling skeletal fluorosis, which is the weakening and deformation of bones; and cognitive developmental impairments and learning disabilities in children.
Arsenic causes skin cancer, gallbladder cancer, and possibly other cancers, as well as skin lesions, cognitive developmental delays, and kidney disease. Mexico has a higher rate of kidney disease than almost anywhere else in the world.
How to remove arsenic and fluoride from drinking water?
Removing arsenic and fluoride, along with other chemicals such as pesticides and nitrates from livestock farm runoff, is very difficult to do. Boiling water only concentrates the chemicals, and none of the usual water filters, which are effective on pathogens, remove these chemicals.
Therefore, Caminos de Agua, a small but impressively impactful nonprofit organization in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, has brought to bear a wide range of resources to address the problem of arsenic and fluoride contamination. The team began by monitoring water quality at 600 sites throughout the Upper Rio Laja Watershed. Finding widespread contamination, they turned to installing rainwater catchment systems on the roofs of homes and schools to capture and store water that is inherently free of harmful chemicals, coupled with inexpensive ceramic filters to remove pathogens. By partnering with other water organizations throughout Mexico, they have impacted 45,000 people in this way.
Caminos de Agua works with community members to construct rainwater harvesting systems such as this one in Puerto de Matancillas.
Then they spent six years developing a community-scale groundwater treatment system specifically designed to remove arsenic and fluoride that is also adaptable for many other contaminants. Now, for the same cost as two rainwater catchment systems that serve two families, they can install a groundwater treatment system to serve 50 families. The design can be scaled for thousands of people. The systems are made from locally available materials, designed for easy maintenance, and proven in real-world conditions. In 2021, they installed their pilot system in the rural village of Los Ricos.
“The most important aspect of the system isn’t technical; it’s human,” noted Dylan Terrell, Executive Director and Founder of Caminos de Agua. “This system is owned and now completely operated by a group of local women who initially came together because they were concerned about the health of their children. Today they are in charge of their entire community’s first source of clean drinking water.”
The women learned to independently monitor the system, fix leaks, and troubleshoot. They monitor water quality and take payments, making the system operationally and economically sustainable over time. Each family in the community pays a nominal fee of 50 pesos per month.
“The system took time to build, and we built it together with community members, which is good, because technology alone is not a solution,” said Terrell. “If we’re going to solve these increasingly complex problems around water and other environmental challenges, we need to create this type of marriage between technology and humanity. We do that by designing technologies with the active involvement of the people most affected by the problems. That is how we create lasting solutions.”
“The two principles that drive our work in local communities are co-responsibility and respect,” emphasized Casilda Barajas, Director of Social Outreach. “Truly collaborative community partnerships may take longer to build, but they create the best path to sustainability.”
Caminos de Agua staff and community volunteers install a rainwater harvesting system in La Carbonera.
Caminos de Agua recently brought a second, larger groundwater treatment system online in March 2024 in the community of Alonso Yáñez, serving 270 families or approximately 1,500 people. They also launched a pioneering public health study in Alonso Yáñez in collaboration with researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, Columbia University, and the University of Colorado. The researchers measure biomarkers for kidney damage in children who were exposed to fluoride levels more than five times higher than the allowable limit. They will subsequently assess changes in the children’s health after drinking clean water with the contamination removed.
“Our vision is to have 10 groundwater treatment units operational within the next 5 years, each one community-owned and operated, thereby demonstrating a scalable, autonomous solution to a critical global water quality challenge, creating both a technical and social blueprint for addressing these challenges in underserved communities throughout Mexico and beyond,” explained Terrell.
This year, Caminos de Agua will also continue to scale up their installation of rainwater catchment systems. “We are planning to construct a staggering 350 large-scale rainwater harvesting systems in 2024, complete with accompanying filtration.”
Caminos de Agua installed their first community-scale groundwater treatment system in Los Ricos, a small rural village with high levels of arsenic and fluoride contamination in its groundwater. Here Caminos de Agua staff join community representatives in the town of Alonso Yáñez in front of their second such system.
Terrell stresses that although the organization is having an impressive impact, much more work is needed by many actors to address the issue of contamination and overall water scarcity. Many people have urged the national government to pass laws to defragment water management in the country and better regulate water concessions in order to fulfill the human right to water enshrined in the Mexican constitution. Further, Terrell and other activists argue that agricultural producers must finally begin to pay for the water they use, which will incentivize them to pursue less water-intensive methods, leaving more water for direct human consumption.
In addition, massive investment in water infrastructure is needed throughout Mexico. Currently, a frustrating 40 percent of public water is lost to leaks. Due to underinvestment in water infrastructure over the last half-century, 57% of Mexico’s population still does not have access to safely managed drinking water, a shameful fact in a country with an economy as large as Mexico’s. That percentage is on par with some of the least developed countries in the world. As a result, Mexico is the world’s biggest consumer per capita of bottled water.
Water schools: finding a way forward
Educational efforts, including technical workshops and community-building initiatives, are an important part of Caminos de Agua’s work. This year, the organization is launching a three-year “Water School” initiative. Twenty instructors will train 30 young community organizers from throughout the Upper Rio Laja Watershed on watershed management, rainwater harvesting and filtration technologies, reforestation, composting toilets, community-scale retention ponds, and more.
“Through these efforts, we aim to foster a new cohort of community leaders committed to safeguarding our local resources into the future,” said Barajas.
To learn more about the water crisis and the innovative programs of Caminos de Agua, visitwww.caminosdeagua.org.
Based in San Miguel de Allende, Ann Marie Jackson is a writer and NGO leader who previously worked for the U.S. Department of State. Her award-winning novel “The Broken Hummingbird,” which is set in San Miguel de Allende, came out in October 2023. Ann Marie can be reached through her website, annmariejacksonauthor.com.
The jaguar was recorded on video exploring a backyard patio in the Arco Norte section of Cancún, 16 kilometers from the beach destination's Hotel Zone. (Video capture)
A video of a jaguar wandering around the backyard of a home in residential Cancún has gone viral and led authorities to advise the public what to do in case of encounters with potentially dangerous wild felines.
Posted on X on Tuesday, the original video received more than 61,000 views in its first 48 hours and was shared by dozens if not hundreds of accounts.
Vuelven a captar a un Jaguar cerca del Arco Norte en Cancún, el felino estuvo rondando en el patio de una vivienda 🛑👇 pic.twitter.com/pNyy63VLGS
What most interested the jaguar most was a container on the patio floor, which the jaguar notices about one minute into the video.
The 151-second video shows the jaguar walking casually, sniffing and exploring the patio of a house in Arco Norte, a relatively modern but still developing area 16 kilometers from the Cancún’s Hotel Zone.
According to local media, sightings of jaguars and other wild animals have become more common in Arco Norte, some of which borders large swathes of jungle. The home appears to be in a rural setting without fences.
The video, taken at night, does not specify its recording date. It shows the jaguar trying to get into a container on the patio floor that’s covered with a thin sheet of metal held in place by two large plastic containers. Unable to achieve his goal, the jaguar eventually moved on.
It is certainly not the first time a jaguar has been spotted in residential areas of the state, Quintana Roo. Eleven months ago, a jaguar was run over near Akumal on Highway 307, between Cancún and Chetumal. Thanks to residents’ quick work, however, authorities were alerted and the animal’s life was saved by a veterinary clinic.
Entities such as the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (Profepa) and the National Alliance for the Conservation of the Jaguar are using the video as an opportunity to remind the public that jaguars are an endangered and protected species. People who harm them are subject to severe penalties under the law.
Tania Fernández Moreno, head of the Ecology office for the municipality of Benito Juárez (which encompasses the city of Cancún and surrounding regions), took the opportunity to warn that human encounters with jaguars can be dangerous.
Jaguars are generally not interested in attacking humans, said Tania Fernández, head of the Ecology office for Cancún’s municipal government, but an attack could occur if the animal feels cornered or thinks its offspring are in danger, she said. She advised the public not to approach them. (File photo/John Pint)
If a jaguar has to defend its territory or protect its offspring, or feels threatened or cornered, an attack on humans could occur, she said.
She advised against approaching the spotted cat — known in Mexico as “El Jefe” (The Boss), “La Sombra” (The Shadow, based on its stealthy hunting techniques) and “Colmillo Blanco” (White Fang, evoking its powerful bite).
Likewise, Fernández urged area residents to keep their dogs and cats from roaming because jaguars might try to prey on them for food.
“[Jaguar] attacks on humans are extremely rare, [but] they are predators, and they usually hunt prey that is commonly found in their habitat,” Fernández added.
According to Mexico’s most recent government census, from 2018, an estimated 4,800 wild jaguars roam Mexico. Results from a new census being taken from March through June of this year are expected in August.
On Friday, the conferences will highlight Mexican pride. (Cuartoscuro)
There are more ways to destroy a liberal democracy than just sending troops into the streets, storming radio stations, and arresting opponents, as Hitler discovered after the failure of his coup attempt — the so-called “Beer Hall Putsch” — in Munich in 1923.
The collapse of the German Weimar Republic in 1933, when Adolf Hitler — already a democratically elected chancellor — began to urge his supporters to take to the streets, demonize his critics and political opponents, to label the media as “enemies of the people,” subordinate the judiciary, science, and universities to politics, and to subsequently cancel elections, is a clear example of how a state and democracy can be destroyed from within.
In “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” Karl Marx began the text with the famous phrase (originally formulated by Hegel) that history repeats itself, “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”
AMLO leaves a weakened and inefficient state
In Mexico, we have witnessed in these almost six years of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidential term a demolition of the state and its institutions. And no, before readers have a fit, I am not comparing López Obrador to Hitler or what is happening in Mexico in 2024 to Nazi totalitarianism in Germany in 1933.
But on Election Day, the majority of the Mexican electorate unequivocally chose to give six more years to this administration’s vision of the nation. And the problem is that this project is potentially fraught with limitations and own goals, as we head towards the transition on Oct 1. One of the main challenges we as a country — and especially President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum — will face is receiving a deeply weakened and dysfunctional state.
The urgent issue of our time for the liberal state that we should all advocate for has nothing to do with its ideological orientation, or the size and vocation of the government in power, themes around which the right and the left have been in constant ideological and political-electoral struggle for decades. The central issue, in my view, is its efficiency and effectiveness.
The COVID-19 pandemic made this clear: the essential difference in how various nations around the world fared was not whether some governments were right-wing and others left-wing, or between democratic and authoritarian regimes; the essential fault line was between effective and ineffective governments.
What is happening today with the institutions of the Mexican state is simply the logical conclusion of the obsession that has largely driven López Obrador. From the beginning of his administration in 2018, the most serious danger on the horizon was always going to be an imperial presidency, all-powerful and centralizing, and the elimination of checks and balances as well as autonomous institutions that a generation of Mexicans laboriously worked to establish over more than three decades to anchor and deepen our nascent democracy.
Government institutions and agencies, as well as their powers and responsibilities, and the few relatively depoliticized civil service bureaucracies, have been eviscerated and cannibalized or, in the worst case, demolished.
The president has fundamentally sought to weaken Mexico’s institutions so that they cannot constrain him, purging them of cadres he considers disloyal to him and the Fourth Transformation (4T) movement. But this also means that he cannot rely on these institutions to generate growth, mitigate the costs of the pandemic that have not dissipated, resolve social conflicts, tackle growing public insecurity, leverage Mexico’s geostrategic assets, or even secure what he most desires: to leave a legacy.
Mexico must be more plural and open to the world
And all this also contains a great paradox: for a president who from day one boasted that “the best foreign policy is domestic policy,” it is precisely the weakness of his public policies, exacerbating the internal weaknesses of the country, that have opened fronts of pressure and vulnerability abroad, particularly with respect to the United States. Just look at the numerous examples related to the inability to manage migration flows, curb fentanyl trafficking, or address issues of civil aviation, fishing, agricultural exports, or maritime preservation to grasp the impact this is having on the country and the state’s capacities.
Therefore, we Mexicans and our society must continue to push for a country that is fully democratic, plural, tolerant, liberal, balanced, just, secure, with a market economy, open to the world, with a strong, solid, effective state.
And for this reason, I want more Mexico in the world and more of the world in Mexico; a state that relies on its professional diplomatic cadres, a nation that stops navel-gazing and floating aimlessly in the international system, that finds its moral compass and geopolitical bearings in a highly fluid global environment; that leaves behind old foreign policy crutches and paradigms; that decides to contribute to global public goods; that returns to being a weight in the multilateral arena, particularly on issues such as disarmament and nuclear proliferation, which today loom as emerging threats; that has the vision to design an integrated migration policy paradigm; that rediscovers its vocation to preserve biodiversity and once again lead on global climate change issues; and that recognizes the enormous value of promoting the country abroad, whether by rebuilding agencies to attract investment, designing a true cultural and creative industries promotion strategy, or confronting the brutal degradation of the credibility and perception of the country abroad.
History shows over and over that populism and demagoguery — on the left and the right —are shortcuts that often end in disaster; they fracture and polarize societies and divide people into rival camps of intolerance. Instead of building the future, they always invoke the past, but nostalgia can neither be nor should be established as public policy.
Today in Mexico there are plenty of excuses, shouting and insults and a lack of rationality, debate and consensus. Listen, respect, tolerate, understand, converse, debate, reach consensus, build, negotiate, move forward. If someone finds those lost verbs somewhere, tell them that Mexico’s democracy is desperately looking for them.
At this turning point for the republic, I hope the president-elect recognizes this, and decides to act accordingly. We Mexicans urgently need it.
Arturo Sarukhan has had a distinguished education and career, serving as Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S. (2007-2013), and in additional advisory roles in both Mexico and the U.S. Currently based in Washington, D.C., he writes about international issues for various media outlets and is a regular opinion columnist published on Mexico News Daily.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mexico News Daily, its owner or its employees.
A fourth heat wave has made it devilishly hot across Mexico, with maximum temperatures in some northern states reaching 50 degrees Celsius. (Cuartoscuro)
What feels like an interminable heat wave (in reality, it has been three separate ones) has been scorching large swaths of Mexico since early March, with temperatures reaching above 40 C (104 F) in multiples regions of the country, and even surpassing 50 C (122 F) in a few places in the north.
The extreme heat has resulted in 90 deaths according to the federal Health Ministry as of June 7, a more than 1000% increase over the same period last year.
Residents of Hermosillo, Sonora, drink electrolyte beverages that the city’s Civil Protection office was handing out for free Wednesday to people on the street. Temperatures on Wednesday broke a local record in the state capital, where Civil Protection is also offering free shelter locations from the heat during daytime hours. (Hermosillo Civil Protection)
On Wednesday, Hermosillo, the state capital of Sonora, set a new record when the mercury topped out at 49.5 C. El Cubil — a locality in the state of Sonora — hit 51.9 C on Wednesday, the highest maximum temperature reached in Mexico that day, according to the National Meterological Service (SMN).
Three other municipalities in the state set new local records: Ciudad Obregón reached 48 C, Empalme hit 45.5 C and Navojoa reached 45 C. A Sinaloa geophysicist told the newspaper Milenio that Sonora was seeing temperatures comparable to those seen in the Sahara desert.
A fifth heat wave is expected before the end of the month.
On Thursday, the SMN forecast torrential rains for much of southern Mexico. The Gulf Coast states of Campeche and Tabasco as well as the states of Yucatán and Chiapas can expect 150 to 250 millimeters of rain while Oaxaca, Quintana Roo and southern Veracruz will see 75 to 150 millimeters of rain. In addition, 50 to 75 millimeters of precipitation is forecast for Guerrero on the Pacific Coast.
The SMN warned of landslides, fast-rising rivers and flooding in the affected areas, while urging the public to pay heed to recommendations from Civil Protection authorities. The weather agency also warned of the approach of the initial tropical cyclones of the hurricane season.
Heavy rains are heading to southeastern states of Campeche, Chiapas, Tabasco, and Yucatán, as this Conagua map shows. (Conagua/X)
The SMN identified three potential storms:
The first just off the coast of southern Florida and possibly headed toward Quintana Roo
A second in the southeastern regions of the Gulf of México
A third in the Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chiapas
In the meantime, sweltering conditions continue in northern Mexico:
Baja California and Sonora residents are experiencing temperatures above 45 C.
Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michoacán, Nayarit, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, which are all experiencing temperatures ranging from 40–45 C, have been warned to protect themselves from the extreme heat.
