Your weekly selection of madcap Mexican memery, translated into English for your enjoyment.
It is time for our collection of funny Mexican memes once again!
Dehydrate AND laugh with this week’s collection:
Meme translation: “If you’re not happy, then you have failed as a worm.”
What does it meme? Spoiler alert: Paulo Coelho (famed Brazilian lyricist and novelist) didn’t really say this. In fact, I’m not sure he even spoke Spanish. Such is the internet – brimming with often very untrue, but often very funny, content.
Anyway! Notice how “feliz” (happy) and “lombriz” (worm) rhyme in Spanish? “Feliz como lombriz” (Happy as a worm) is the Spanish equivalent to the cutesy “Happy as a clam” in English. So unless you want to fail as a worm – and I don’t believe you do – it’s time to get happy, STAT!
Meme translation: “I declare war against my worst enemy, which is… (clockwise from top) my boss; CFE (the state electricity company); the heat; the bill collector (an informal role by someone who sells on credit or in payments and then comes to collect periodically); love; my neighbor; his damned little “friend”; Coppel (a popular department store in Mexico that gives terrible opportunities for buying on credit).”
What does it meme? Well. It seems we’re all a little irritable lately, and unfortunately, have plenty of reasons to feel that way. And hey, I’ll also admit it: sometimes you’re just in a bad mood and whatever happens to pop up in front of you when you’re feeling that way becomes The Absolute Worst.
What’s got us irritable? Spin the wheel and find out!
Meme translation: “Mexicans trying tacos anywhere else in the world.”
What does it meme?Mexicans are not known for their pretentiousness, but I think most people would admit that they’ve earned the right to be absolutely intolerable snobs about tacos. The man in the photo is dressed as Anton Ego, the infamously dissatisfied food critic from Disney’s “Ratatouille.”
Now that a taco stand has won a Michelin star, there will probably be no living with them on this subject.
If you really want to get a Mexican going, tell them about your favorite Taco Bell order. If you want to see their head explode, talk about how much you appreciate Taco Bell as a seller of Authentic Mexican Food and wonder aloud why they don’t open any stores in Mexico.
Meme translation: “Oh, how I’d love to be a dried-out lime just hanging out in a nice, cool, fridge.”
What does it meme? Has the life of a dried-out lime ever looked so good? I’ve found myself lingering lately in front of my own refrigerator, basking in the cool air.
And that’s about as good as it gets right now in the many areas of Mexico that don’t have air conditioning, because it is hot, hot, hot with no end (so far) in sight. When you start fantasizing about being a cold piece of fruit hurrying toward decomposition, you know things are getting intolerable.
Meme translation: “When you’re over 30 and you prefer to party at someone’s home, with music at a reasonable volume so you can chat.”
What does it meme? Last weekend I went out for a “girls’ night” with some friends. We’d originally planned on a low-key bar not too far from my house, but then someone noticed they’d be having a show, with a cover no less: 100 pesos to listen to a Norwegian folk music soloist on a Saturday night.
We decided to avoid the “Midsommar” vibes and went to an Irish pub instead. And let me tell you: after a while there, we were dying for Norwegian folk music at a reasonable volume. Though we’d sat outside to avoid the noise, it was all in vain: after the soccer game (which had attracted many very loud fans), there was a Metallica cover band.
Next time, we’re going to a friend’s house.
Meme translation: “I’m up, God. What time are you helping me, or how’s this going down?”
What does it meme? There’s a cute little rhyme in Spanish: “A quien madruga, Dios le ayuda” (God helps those who wake up early).
For this little chick unaccustomed to waking up early, the effort should result in some pretty immediate results. I especially love the phrase, “o cómo va a estar la onda,” as it’s so casual, as if it had been a deal struck the night before with one’s buddy.
Good luck, little guy! I hope someone gets back to you with that help.
Meme translation: “The ocean might have me beat on water, but it’s got nothing on me when it comes to salt.”
What does it meme? To be “salty” in Spanish is not quite the same as in English: here in Mexico, it means that you’re unlucky…the saltier you are, the unluckier you are. Indeed, “más salado que el mar” (saltier than the ocean) is a phrase I’ve heard several times.
The other phrase you’re probably not used to, “me la pela” means, in this case, that there’s no competition – that little doggie is the clear front-runner!
A federal agent patrols in Coyuca de Benítez, Guerrero, the after the assassination of PRI-PAN-PRD mayoral candidate José Alfredo Cabrera Barrientos earlier this week. (Carlos Alberto Carbajal/Cuartoscuro)
To gain a better understanding of the recent electoral violence and how it relates to Mexican cartels, and the national security situation more broadly, I spoke to Chris Dalby, director of the World of Crime media company and publishing house, former managing editor of the think tank/media organization Insight Crime and author of a new guide to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG.
Electoral violence and the most powerful Mexican cartels
“What we’re seeing in this electoral cycle is the continuation and worsening of electoral and political criminal relationships that have existed for decades in Mexico,” Dalby said.
He went on to explain that the ways in which the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG — Mexico’s two most powerful cartels — seek to hold sway over politicians, the candidates who aspire to public office and the electoral process in Mexico are “drastically different.”
Chris Dalby is the author of “CJNG: A Quick Guide to Mexico’s Deadliest Cartel” and a former managing editor of Insight Crime.
The Sinaloa Cartel
Formerly headed up by the infamous — and now imprisoned — drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the Sinaloa Cartel is “often considered the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere,” according to Insight Crime.
Dalby told me that the cartel has long-established criminal networks in areas it has criminal control over — including the states of Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California — and therefore doesn’t need to be overly violent in order to maintain its influence, including over incoming politicians.
Those networks include corrupt municipal and state officials because “playing ball is just part of the game up there,” Dalby said.
“Of course, if there is a mayor or governor who doesn’t play ball, bodies are going to drop,” he added, noting that while the Sinaloa Cartel doesn’t have the same penchant for violence as the CJNG, it’s not afraid to use its firepower if need be.
The 2019 Battle of Culiacán, or Culiacanazo, is one example of the cartel’s willingness to use violence to get what it wants.
The Sinaloa Cartel didn’t hesitate to use violence in the 2019 “Culiacanazo,” after federal agents captured Ovidio Guzmán. (File photo)
Dalby explained that in certain parts of Sinaloa, such as Chapo’s home town of Badiraguato or the capital Culiacán, “to reach the position of being a candidate … it’s understood you’re going to do business” with the Sinaloa Cartel, one faction of which is controlled by Chapo’s sons, known as Los Chapitos.
So entrenched is the influence of the Sinaloa Cartel in certain parts of northern Mexico, “you’re not getting nominated” as a candidate by party powerbrokers unless you’re willing to “play ball,” he said.
While Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) governments have governed Sinaloa and Sonora in recent decades, those two states — and Baja California — are now ruled by Morena, the party founded by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Dalby cited the contents of journalist Anabel Hernández’s new book “La Historia Secreta: AMLO y el Cartel de Sinaloa” as evidence that some Morena politicians and officials are in cahoots with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Before Morena came to power, the Sinaloa Cartel had “a very long relationship with the PRI” in northern Mexico, Dalby said.
“Dealing with the Sinaloa Cartel … was seen as the cost of doing business for politicians, police prosecutors, [and] even foreign investors,” he added.
The CJNG
The criminal organization headed up by the elusive Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes operates “completely differently” from the Sinaloa Cartel, said Dalby, who has studied, analyzed and reported on crime in Mexico for over a decade.
The CJNG’s use of electoral violence differentiates them from other Mexican cartels. (Cuartoscuro)
“They don’t seem that interested in criminal governance, they don’t seem that interested in community relations, they don’t seem that interested in cultivating those long-term political ties that would eventually lead to not needing to kill people,” he said.
“Violence is woven into the MO of the Jalisco Cartel on a far more basic level,” Dalby added.
For that reason, electoral violence and murders of police are higher in states where the CJNG is in control or has a significant presence, he said.
“Every time there’s an election there’s a new crop of candidates to conquer, so to speak. So you either convince them to play with you or you eliminate them,” Dalby said.
“… That’s why in the last two or three [electoral] cycles, the Jalisco Cartel has been the [Mexican cartel] connected to most political violence,” said the organized crime expert.
He asserted that while the CJNG is “not the biggest cartel” and “not the richest cartel — that’s Sinaloa” — it is “the principal security threat to Mexico”
Dalby said that a lot of flare-ups of violence in Mexico are due to the CJNG moving in on territories controlled by other criminal groups. Sometimes, the ensuing turf wars last for years.
For example, Dalby noted, the CJNG’s fight with the Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel over the fuel theft racket in Guanajuato — Mexico’s most violent state in terms of total homicides — has being going on for longer than World War II.
He also said that cartels, including the CJNG, are “much more horizontal that we think,” explaining that plaza bosses — criminal leaders that control a particular territory for a criminal organization — have “immense leeway to act as they see fit.”
The murder of Morena’s mayoral candidate in Celaya
If it was the Jalisco Cartel who killed her, “I’m not certain that’s a decision that Mencho would be taking,” he said.
Relatives carry the coffin of Gisela Gaytán, a Morena candidate for mayor of Celaya, Guanajuato, assassinated in April. (Diego Costa Costa/Cuartoscuro)
“That’s probably the CJNG plaza boss in Guanajuato or in Celaya who thinks that that candidate is likely to win and is not going to play ball and is [therefore] worth taking out,” Dalby said.
Concentration of violence at the municipal level
Political violence in Mexico is most common at the municipal level, at which candidates and officials are usually more accessible to the public and have small or non-existent security details.
Further explaining the concentration of political and electoral violence at the municipal level, Dalby noted that killing a governor or a gubernatorial candidate is “going to bring you more heat” than murdering a mayor or someone running for that office.
Turning his attention back to the CJNG, Dalby said that that cartel engages in the “systematic extortion of everything,” including the budgets of municipal governments.
Municipal governments, ranchers and avocado growers are just a few of the CJNG’s extortion targets. (Juan José Estrada Serfaín/Cuartoscuro.com)
The CJNG routinely demands that 10% to 15% of municipal budgets be paid “straight into their bank accounts,” he said.
Dalby added that the Jalisco cartel also demands “help” from municipal officials including mayors to “extort every industry in your town,” which depending on the location could include sectors such as avocado production and ranching.
Why has electoral violence increased since Morena came to power?
I asked Dalby why electoral violence has worsened since President López Obrador took office and since Morena came to power in many of Mexico’s states, including the three states — Chiapas, Guerrero and Michoacán — that have recorded the highest number of candidate murders this electoral cycle.
“Morena as a party doesn’t have a long institutional culture” and therefore doesn’t have long-established political networks, he told me.
“Dealing with Morena is dealing with individual people and that of course can lead to friction because … you don’t have instructions from up high saying ‘you deal with the cartel or otherwise you’re dead,’” Dalby said.
The Morena party, still a relative newcomer in Mexican politics, has shaken up long-standing political networks and correlated with a rise in electoral violence in some states. (CNM/X)
“Every [Morena] mayor, every governor has a little bit more flexibility and that either maximizes the opportunity for corruption or maximizes the opportunity for violence,” he added.
During the current electoral cycle, it should be noted, Morena candidates have been killed in significantly higher numbers than those of any other party.
Can violence in Mexico be reduced in a meaningful way?
Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Dalby whether, in his view, it was in fact possible to reduce violence in a meaningful way in Mexico given that the country is on the doorstep of the world’s largest market for illicit drugs, is located between the U.S. and cocaine-producing countries in South America, is a fentanyl manufacturing hub and is home to criminal organizations fiercely competing to control the illegal narcotics trade.
“Sustained double-digit drops” in homicide numbers would take years and “a level of political stability and policy stability from government to government” in Mexico and the United States that “shows no sign of being realistic,” he told me.
While official homicide numbers — the accuracy of which some analysts question — have declined since 2021, “AMLO has done nothing, precisely nothing, to stop the cartels — no new ideas, no strategy,” Dalby asserted.
Returning to the question of violence reduction, he said it is possible to bring murder numbers down significantly at a local level — in a certain region, for example — by “flooding an area with troops and keeping them there.”
However, that strategy can be “hugely costly” in terms of deaths of security personnel, Dalby said.
He stressed the importance of conducting rigorous investigations into cartels and their illicit activities, and said that Omar García Harfuch — security minister in Claudia Sheinbaum’s Mexico City government and target of a cartel attack in 2020 — is one official who has done that.
Flooding an area with soldiers, as the Defense Ministry did in Aguililla, Michoacán in 2022, can dampen cartel violence but at the cost of many lives, Dalby said. (Sedena)
If Sheinbaum wins the presidency this Sunday, as polls suggest she will, and García Harfuch — also a former Criminal Investigation Agency chief — gets a position in her cabinet, “I have some hope that there will be some good investigation because … he has consistently investigated cartels,” Dalby said.
He said that “following the money” can be a particularly valuable strategy, but portrayed the efforts of Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit — which in recent years has frozen thousands of bank accounts linked to criminal organizations — as inconsequential.
“Since the war in Ukraine started, the U.S. and the E.U. have shown an ability to track Russian funds around the world, freeze them and choke the Kremlin’s financial resources,” Dalby said.
“Cartels move tens of billions of dollars through shadowy banking practices, through Chinese money laundering, through black market peso exchange and through crypto currency — that can be followed” he said.
Dalby also said that the legalization or decriminalization of drugs can be a successful strategy against cartels, noting that demand in the United States for Mexican marijuana “plummeted” due to widespread legalization of cannabis in the U.S.
However, he called the widespread decriminalization of hard drugs in the United States a “pipe dream.”
Decriminalizing drugs “means having a support system for addicts, it means creating a domestic production and distribution [capacity] legally controlled by the government or private companies,” Dalby said. “That is legally very complicated, economically even more so.”
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
The Maya softball team Amazonas de Yaxunah are the subject of a soon-to-premiere ESPN documentary. (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
An ESPN documentary about a Maya women’s softball team in Yucatán is set for its world premiere on Sunday at the Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival.
“Las Amazonas de Yaxunah” is a 52-minute film produced by ESPN Deportes and narrated by Yalitza Aparicio, whose portrayal of a housekeeper in the 2018 drama “Roma” made her the first Indigenous American woman ever nominated for the best actress Academy Award.
“Las Amazonas” was produced in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of ESPN Deportes and will be shown on the network during Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, which runs from September 15 to October 15.
The Maya women’s softball team breaking stereotypes in huipiles
The ESPN documentary follows the women’s softball team Las Amazonas de Yaxunah, whose players compete in traditional Maya dresses known as huipiles and don’t wear any shoes. Yaxunah is a village of fewer than 800 people in the southern Mexican state of Yucatán, not far from Chichén Itzá.
One of the major themes in the film is how the players have had to break stereotypes about women competing in sports, especially in an insular Indigenous community where feminism doesn’t exactly flourish.
“Las Amazonas de Yaxunah” will have its world premiere on June 2 at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival. (ESPN)
When they first began playing six years ago, they were criticized for playing sports in the first place. Before that, there were no women’s softball teams in the Yaxunah area, and now there are four.
Their team nickname, the Amazonas, alludes to the legendary women warriors known as the Amazons.
“If it were up to the chauvinists in our village, women would spend their lives slaving away with chores at home, caring for the children and working on the farm,” pitcher María Enedina Canul Poot told Mexico News Daily last year. “Sport was a no-go for women, but we had enough, and decided to tell our husbands, fathers and brothers that we would play whether they approved or not.”
A founder fed up with machismo
Still an active player in her mid-50s, María was the main founder of the team, which includes players from 14 to 63. As a child, she used to sneak out of her home to play baseball with the boys.
When local officials wanted to start a Zumba exercise class to help women get in better shape, María had other ideas — and the softball team was born. Within a few years, there was even a state tournament for women’s softball.
A viral video of the women in action led to invitations to play exhibition games across Mexico, and last year, the Amazonas’ profile rose even more when they beat a local squad 22-3 in an exhibition game at Phoenix’s Chase Field, the ballpark of the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. Later, one of their players threw the ceremonial first pitch before a Diamondbacks game against the San Francisco Giants.
As a child María Enedina Canul Poot snuck out to play baseball with the boys of her village. Now, she’s traveled across Mexico and internationally to play on the softball team she founded. (Mark Viales/Mexico News Daily)
The synopsis of the film on the L.A. Latino film fest website says, “In a small Mayan village in the heart of the Yucatán jungle in México, a group of women began playing [softball] with a makeshift bat carved out of a tree branch.”
It continues: “What ensued was a fight against sexism that would change their lives. Playing barefoot and in traditional Mayan dresses due to lack of resources, Las Amazonas became a traveling softball team that both challenged cultural norms and brought a new generation closer to their Mayan traditions. The documentary captures their trips across Mexico and their continued fight for equality in their town.”
A trailer of the film, directed by U.S.-based filmmaker Alfonso Algara, is available for free online.
On Sunday, nearly 100 million Mexicans are eligible to vote in federal and local elections. Who will succeed President López Obrador and why does this matter for the U.S. Congress? (Cuartoscuro)
When you mention the 2024 election, most people think of the U.S. presidential election in November.
Sheinbaum is known as a leftist nationalist who is committed to continuing the policy platform of current president Andres Manuel López Obrador (AMLO). Gálvez has promised to reject those nationalistic attitudes and policies and adopt a more business-friendly and collaborative relationship with the United States.
Here are seven numerical reasons why the U.S. Congress should pay attention to the Mexican election:
249,735: In December of 2023, almost a quarter of a million migrants were either apprehended or expelled at the United States’ Southwest border. According to the Pew Research Center, that “was the highest monthly total on record, easily eclipsing the previous peak of about 224,000 encounters in May 2022.” The outgoing president, López Obrador, initially worked closely with the U.S. government on this shared goal of reducing illegal immigration, but in recent years, he has scaled back cooperation. The next Mexican president will have to decide whether to renew and re-energize bilateral U.S. cooperation, especially within the realm of controlling the flow of migrants coming through Mexico en route to the southern U.S. border.
280,000 is the number of foreign nationals deported from Mexico in March 2024. Due to pressure from the U.S. government, President López Obrador has once again begun helping stem the flow of migrants across its territory after drastically reducing those efforts in 2023. Will the next president allocate the funding needed to stop migrants within Mexican territory?
107,543 drug overdoses occurred in the United States in 2023, according to the CDC. Mexico is a critically important partner in fighting the drug trade, but in recent years, the Mexican government has taken a lighter hand when it comes to tackling drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs). President López Obrador has adopted a “hugs, not bullets” strategy in dealing with organized crime and has repeatedly denied Mexican involvement in manufacturing fentanyl, the most lethal drug currently crossing the border. If the next president continues this policy of inaction, the synthetic drug problem in the United States will only worsen, with catastrophic consequences for public health.
US $63.3 billion is the amount of remittances sent to Mexico in 2023, almost all of which came from the United States. This number has grown from $36 billion before the pandemic. In large part, this flow of dollars to the Mexican economy has helped sustain domestic demand and has compensated for a lack of growth. If the next president can stimulate the Mexican economy, these remittances will become much less important.
US $44.2 billion is the value of refined petroleum products exported by the United States to Mexico in 2022. Mexico has become the United States’ largest export market for gasoline and other refined products, and this sum has grown four-fold in the past decade. AMLO has overseen a rapid deterioration in Mexico’s oil sector but has committed himself to a very ambitious and expensive goal of producing more refined products at home. If successful, this “energy sovereignty” policy will directly impact U.S. exports. Of the two leading candidates, Sheinbaum is committed to continuing AMLO’s approach. Galvez supports a free-market model of modernization and liberalization of the sector.
5.7 billion is the volume in cubic feet of natural gas exported to Mexico from the United States every day. Mexico’s industrialization and growing need for power generation will see this number grow even further in the years ahead if the next president pursues the right economic policies. However, a number of economic nationalist voices in the Mexican government have warned of potential over-dependence on U.S.-provided gas, which they believe could pose a threat to Mexico’s sovereignty — a fear that could affect the continued strength and viability of the energy trade.
1: Mexico is the largest trading partner for the United States. In 2023, for the first time, Mexico traded more goods with the United States than any other country, surpassing China and Canada — who, for years, had held the top spot. Total trade between the two countries amounted to $799 billion in 2023. That is $2.2 billion a day, over $91 million an hour, and over $1.5 million a minute. The deepening of ties between the United States and Mexican economies has reached the point where they are an essential element in maintaining U.S. competitiveness. Perhaps this reason, above all the others, is the most compelling reason to pay attention to Mexico’s election.
The choice facing the Mexican people in June is one of continuity or change. Continuity means that cooperation between the United States and Mexico on issues of security, migration, and narco-trafficking will remain difficult and limited. This election is critical for the well-being of citizens and the economies on both sides of the border. Good governance in Mexico, paired with solid cooperation between the new Mexican government and the United States, will be essential in promoting the welfare of both nations.
This article was originally published by The Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center.
Duncan Wood, PhD, Vice President for Strategy & New Initiatives and Senior Advisor to the Mexico Institute, focuses his research and publications on supply chain policy, critical minerals, Mexican politics and US-Mexican ties. He regularly gives testimony to Congress and other national legislatures, and has published 12 books and is a widely quoted source in national and international media.
UK ambassador Jon Benjamin was fired soon after the April assault rifle incident, according to the Financial Times. (Subdiplomatic/X)
The British ambassador to Mexico was reportedly fired earlier this year after he pointed an assault rifle at an embassy employee while on an official trip to Durango and Sinaloa.
“British Ambassador to Mexico, Jon Benjamin, points a semi automatic weapon at concerned Mexican staff member. In a context of daily killings in Mexico by drug dealers, he dares to joke,” says a message above the five-second clip.
Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Financial Times reported Friday that Benjamin lost his job “soon after the episode in April.”
The newspaper noted that Benjamin no longer appears as the ambassador to Mexico on the U.K. government website, with the former deputy head of mission, Rachel Brazier, now listed as the chargé d’affaires.
The Times said that “foreign officials visiting dangerous parts of Mexico typically travel with armed staff for protection.”
Thus, the weapon Benjamin pointed at an embassy employee likely belonged to security personnel protecting him as he toured northern Mexico, parts of which are notorious for cartel activity.
The U.K.’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said that it was aware of the incident and has taken “appropriate action.”
“Where internal issues do arise the FCDO has robust HR processes to address them,” the government department said.
The Financial Times said that Benjamin “remained a Commonwealth and Development Office employee after his removal as ambassador.”
Former U.K. ambassador to Mexico Jonathan Benjamin. (Government of the United Kingdom)
The British Embassy in Mexico City hasn’t publicly commented on the affair.
The Financial Times reported that the @subdiplomatic X account is “apparently controlled by employees of the embassy angry over mistreatment of local staff.”
One post says that the “British Embassy in Mexico has a history of hiding things to the public including how Jon Benjamin’s attitude of being ‘above everything’ has resulted in the systematic harassment of Mexican staff.”
Another post says that the embassy’s Mexican staff members are “terrified of speaking up about these injustices because internal whistleblowing tools are broken and favor British Diplomats.”
“They are afraid to lose their livelihoods if they speak up,” the post adds.
A @subdiplomatic post from last Monday says that the embassy is “apparently trying to cover [up] the [gun-pointing] scandal just a week ahead of the Mexican elections.”
On his LinkedIn page, Benjamin describes himself as a “diplomat of 38 years standing” and says he has been “part of the Foreign Office’s senior management since 2002.”
He previously served as U.K. ambassador to Chile and Ghana and before that had postings in Indonesia, Turkey and the United States.
Benjamin became British ambassador to Mexico in 2021 and frequently posted updates about his activities to social media.
“Entering Sinaloa, the 29th of Mexico’s 32 States I’ve visited so far,” he said in a LinkedIn post last month.
The Financial Times said that Benjamin didn’t immediately respond to its requests for comment on his dismissal and its circumstances. Posts to his X account are currently only visible to approved followers.
More than 10 times as many people have died from heat-related illness os far this year compared to last year. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
As many parts of Mexico continued to swelter, the federal Health Ministry reported a sobering statistic this week: 61 people have died of heat-related illnesses so far this year, including more than 50 deaths in May.
The SMN predicts temperatures over 45 C for nearly half of Mexican states in coming days. (Gabriela Pérez Montiel/Cuartoscuro)
Heat-related deaths up over 1,000% compared to the same time last year
By late May last year, the Health Ministry had only registered five heat-related deaths across Mexico, meaning that this year’s death toll is currently up 1,120% in annual terms.
However, 2023 was by no means a mild year. There were three heat waves in Mexico last year, according to the SMN, the longest and deadliest of which occurred last June.
Mexico’s heat-related death toll soared to 421 by the end of the official “hot” season in October 2023. That figure was 10 times the number of heat-related deaths in 2022.
Which states have recorded the most heat fatalities this year?
The Health Ministry said that Veracruz has recorded the highest number of fatalities this year with 16.
Tabasco ranks second with 11, followed by San Luis Potosí (9), Tamaulipas (9), Oaxaca (4), Nuevo León (4) and Hidalgo (4).
Chiapas, Campeche, Guanajuato and Sonora have recorded one heat-related death each.
The Health Ministry also reported 1,346 recorded cases of heat-related illnesses so far this year. Just over 65% of those cases — 881 — were heat stroke, 32% of the total were dehydration and 2.5% were sunburn.
The case-fatality rate for heat-related illnesses in Mexico so far this year is 4.52%, the Health Ministry said.
Japan and Mexico may have more in common than you think, from UNESCO World Heritage Sites to earthquakes. (NASA/MND)
Japan and Mexico might not immediately seem to be very similar countries.
But as this piece by Bethany Platanella revealed, the two countries do have certain things in common, including a reverence for ancient grains — rice in Japan, corn in Mexico — and a penchant for public displays of religious devotion.
In this Japan and Mexico data comparison — the latest edition to our “Japan in Focus” and Mexico in Numbers series — you’ll see that the two countries have some other similarities, as well as some significant differences.
Population
Japan and Mexico currently have similarly-sized populations, but they are set to diverge in coming years.
Population of Japan
The Japanese government estimated in October 2023 that the population of Japan was 124.35 million, a reduction of 595,000 people or 0.48% compared to a year earlier.
The Japanese population has, in fact, been in decline for over a decade as the number of deaths exceeds the number of births.
Japan is home to the world’s biggest metropolis by population (Tokyo, with over 37 million people), but the country’s population has been declining for over a decade. (Wikimedia Commons)
In 2023, Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research said that the country’s population is “projected to decrease to 87 million in 2070,” a decline of 30% compared to the current level.
“According to the assumption of this revision, the total population will fall below 100 million in 2056, a delay of 3 years from the previous projection,” the institute said.
“The pace of population decline is expected to slow down slightly, mainly due to the increase in international migration,” it added.
On World Population Day last July, the National Population Council said that Mexico’s population “will continue growing slowly” in the coming decades before reaching a peak of 147 million in 2053.
Subsequently, “for the first time in history,” Mexico’s population will start to decline, the council said, adding that in 2070 the population is projected to be 141.4 million.
If the projections for Japan and Mexico are right, Mexico’s population will be 62% larger than that of Japan in 2070, whereas it is currently only about 5% bigger.
Area and other geographical data
In area, Mexico is more than five times larger than Japan.
Mexico’s territory covers 1.96 million square kilometers, making it the 13th largest country in the world, while the area of Japan is 377,975 square kilometers, making it the 61st largest country in the world.
Mexico is much larger in area than Japan, which is made up of four large islands and a total of over 14,000 smaller ones. (TheTrueSize.com)
While Mexico is divided into 32 states (including Mexico City), Japan has 47 prefectures including the Prefecture of Tokyo, the national capital.
Japan is made up of four main islands — Honshu,Kyushu, Hokkaido and Shikoku — as well as more than 14,000 smaller ones, most of which are uninhabited. The country’s fifth biggest island is Okinawa Main Island, located south of Kyushu in the East China Sea.
While Mexico can’t compete with Japan in an island-counting contest, it does have a significant number — more than 1,300.
Mexico’s largest inhabited island is Cozumel, located in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Playa del Carmen, but the country’s biggest island overall is Tiburón Island, located in the Gulf of California off the coast of Sonora.
Mount Fuji, a national symbol of Japan, is the country’s highest peak with a summit of 3,776 meters. Located on the island of Honshu, the active volcano commonly known as “Fuji-san” is two-thirds the height of Mexico’s highest mountain, Pico de Orizaba, an active stratovolcano on the Veracruz-Puebla border. Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl, has a summit of 5,636 meters.
The IMF estimates that the nominal GDP of Japan was US $4.21 trillion last year, making the Japanese economy about 2.35 times the size of the Mexican economy. Mexico’s nominal GDP was $1.79 trillion in 2023, according to the IMF.
Wealth, as measured on a per-person basis, is three times higher in Japan.
Per-capita GDP in Japan was US $34,017 in 2022, according to the World Bank, while the figure for Mexico was $11,496.
Earthquakes are common in Japan and Mexico, both of which are situated along the Ring of Fire, described by National Geographic as “a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes.”
According to earthquakelist.org, which tallies earthquakes based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey as well as the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, there were 1,839 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher in Mexico, or within 300 kilometers of Mexico, in 2023.
Mexico thus ranked second for the total number of earthquakes last year behind Indonesia.
Japan ranked fifth with 903 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher.
In Mexico, the 2017 Chiapas earthquake, which measured 8.2 on the Richter scale and claimed around 100 lives, was probably the country’s most powerful quake since it became independent in the early 19th century.
However, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, which killed at least 10,000 people, is Mexico’s deadliest temblor on record.
Almost 200 years before that tragedy, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.6 struck the territory now known as Mexico. The 1787 New Spain earthquake, which caused a tsunami, could thus be considered Mexico’s most powerful known earthquake.
The National Diet building in Tokyo. (Wikimedia Commons)
Mexico’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, has 500 seats, while Japan’s House of Representatives is slightly smaller with 465 seats.
Voters in Japan, like those in Mexico, elect representatives directly, and via a proportional representation system.
Mexico’s Senate has 128 seats while Japan’s upper house, the House of Councillors, has 248.
Thus Japan has a total of 713 federal lawmakers, 13.5% more than Mexico’s 628.
While Mexican presidents are limited to serving a single six-year term, there is no limit to the number of times a Japanese prime minister can be reelected. A single term for a Japanese prime minister lasts a maximum of four years.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Mexico has a total of 35 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 10 more than Japan.
Contrasting landscapes, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites: on the left, Mount Fuji in Japan, and on the right, the Pinacate desert in Mexico. (UNESCO)
Among Mexico’s UNESCO sites are the historic center of Mexico City, the Maya city of Chichén Itzá, the Pinacate Desert, the Luis Barragán house and studio in Mexico City and the whale sanctuary of El Vizcaíno in Baja California Sur.
Known as the seat of luxury living today, Los Cabos wasn't always the way it is now. (Las Ventanas al Paraiso, A Rosewood Resort)
To understand how much Los Cabos has changed, one must first understand its past. The name Los Cabos, for example, didn’t even exist before 1981, when a new municipality was carved out for Baja California Sur and dubbed according to the common appellation shared by its two most notable communities: Cabo San Lucas and San José del Cabo. Cabo means “the cape” in Spanish, so the two fast-growing tourist destinations became “Los Cabos.”
Fast-growing, though, isn’t a strong enough word. Not only has there been massive growth in the local population in recent years – the population of Cabo San Lucas nearly tripled between 2010 and 2020, and is ten times more than in 1990 – but luxury hotel brands seemingly can’t build new resorts here fast enough. Four Seasons has built two new resorts here since 2019 and in the interim new properties have been opened for big-name hospitality brands like Ritz-Carlton, Waldorf Astoria, and Nobu. Soho House, St. Regis, Park Hyatt, and Aman are expected to open properties here within the next year.
Casa Fisher, the Carmen Fisher-owned guesthouse that was the first lodging in Los Cabos, circa 1957. (Howard E. Gulick, from the Baja California Collection of the University of California San Diego)
The average hotel room rate has risen to over $500 per night and guests at most hotels and resorts are treated to a level of indulgence far beyond what was typical in the smaller, less polished Los Cabos of 30 years ago. Hard as it may be to believe for first-time visitors, who take the chic accommodations and abundant amenities for granted, it wasn’t always like this. The unique brand of Los Cabos luxury that has now proven so attractive is the result of nearly 70 years of growth and evolution.
Hotel Palmilla and the birth of Los Cabos hospitality
One&Only Palmilla, the modern incarnation of Los Cabos’ most historic and influential resort. (One&Only Palmilla)
Before Abelardo “Rod” Rodríguez Jr. opened Hotel Palmilla (originally Las Cruces Palmilla and now One&Only Palmilla) in 1957, the only other lodging in the area was the small Casa Fisher guesthouse in central San José del Cabo. Rodríguez, the son of a former Mexican President, had something more ambitious in mind. His marriage to Hollywood actress Lucille Bremer had helped draw a celebrity clientele to their Rancho Las Cruces resort when it opened near La Paz in 1948. The formula worked for them at Palmilla, too. Soon after its opening, high-profile guests like Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower were among those inhabiting Palmilla’s 15 rooms across 400 sprawling acres. This was the birth of Los Cabos’ reputation as an A-list getaway destination – even though tourism was still in its infancy. The transpeninsular highway wasn’t completed until 1973, and the Los Cabos International Airport didn’t open until 1977.
The Hotel Palmilla (whatever name it has been known by) has been the region’s benchmark property and a trendsetter throughout its history. The succeeding owner Don Koll convinced Jack Nicklaus to come to Los Cabos to build the area’s first world-class golf at Palmilla in the 1990s. This set the template that continues in Los Cabos to this day. Not only must the best resorts offer access to a golf course from a renowned designer to their guests, but golf courses have also become the centerpiece of every major residential real estate development in the area.
The man who defined luxury hospitality in Los Cabos
Los Cabos’ high-end resorts offer unique experiences, like Las Ventanas al Paraiso’s floating breakfasts. (Las Ventanas al Paraiso, A Rosewood Resort.)
One&Only Palmilla would also change the quality of cuisine in Los Cabos during the management heyday of the legendary managing hotel director Edward Steiner. Steiner was the first to elevate a Los Cabos resort to world-class status. However, that originally happened at Las Ventanas al Paraiso, which he oversaw beginning with its opening in 1997. A Los Angeles Times writer visiting the property a year later wondered, “This is Cabo?” The $475 per night price tag and the resort’s amazing service and amenities – validated by a AAA Five Diamond status – marked a sea change in the existing fishing-friendly, “party hearty” hospitality model.
Outshone for the first time in its history, the newly rebranded One&Only Palmilla hired away Steiner in 2003 and he remained with the resort until 2012. The expansion of rooms (to 174) took place on his watch, as did the unveiling of a 25,000-square-foot luxury spa to compete with the holistic spa at Las Ventanas al Paraiso, the first of its kind in the area. Spas, naturally, soon became a specialty at every Los Cabos luxury lodging, with an “arms race” to see who could build the biggest, and provide the most pampering treatments. Montage now holds the record for the former, with a 40,000-square-foot wellness center.
One&Only Palmila likewise upgraded its dining options, bringing in celebrated imported chefs like Charlie Trotter and Larbi Dahrouch; an example since followed, and responsible for the Michelin-star quality chefs now notable in present-day Los Cabos – from Martín Berasategui and Enrique Olvera to Sidney Schutte and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
Steiner passed away in 2013, but his unique conception of luxury hospitality remains the standard by which all other regional hoteliers are judged. More importantly, by proving that Los Cabos could support a discerning luxury clientele, he laid the foundation for all the high-end hotel brands that would follow.
Barefoot luxury and the value of location and one-of-a-kind experiences
Resort dining at El Farallon, encompassing the modern ethos of beachfront locations and world class eating, that has helped propel Los Cabos to among the world’s most luxurious destinations. (Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal)
Ocean views, beachfront access, pampering spas, swimming pools, and exceptional cuisine became the formula for all new hotels and resorts in Los Cabos – with world-class golf access also a must. However, the “only in Cabo” style barefoot luxury pioneered at Las Ventanas al Paraiso and One&only Palmilla wasn’t just about beautiful beaches and pampering service. It was also about special experiences. As Rodrigo Esponda, Managing Director of the Los Cabos Tourism Board, has noted of how the conception of luxury has evolved locally: “Luxury is to wake up and see a whale jumping out from the ocean right in front of you, or sleeping under a sky full of stars with shapes and lights you have never seen before, or savoring a dish of freshly caught fish, offered in the most kind, unique type of hospitality you’ve ever enjoyed before.
Leveraging Los Cabos’ spectacular blend of mountain, desert, and ocean scenery, and its location-specific charms – including marlin fishing, off-road explorations, and bucket list activities like whale watching – has, over time, been integrated into a type of resort experience that is necessarily different than that offered at any other destination. Las Ventanas al Paraiso, not surprisingly, is still a leader in this area, with curated experiences focused on romance and gastronomy. But it has plenty of competition. Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal in Cabo San Lucas has curated experiences, as do One&Only Palmilla, Esperanza, and every other upscale property worth its salt-rimmed, pool butler-delivered margaritas.
In 2024, it’s no longer a question of whether guests prefer vacation pampering or an unforgettable adventure. They can have both, from spas as decadent as those enjoyed by Roman emperors to curated desert helicopter expeditions and private yacht excursions. Los Cabos’ best resorts have mastered an elevated approach to personalized and location-specific luxury that legendary figures like Rodriguez, Bremer, Koll, and Steiner would undoubtedly have approved. They helped to create the blueprint, after all.
Chris Sands is the Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best, writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook, and a contributor to numerous websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily. His specialty is travel-related content and lifestyle features focused on food, wine and golf.
On Thursday, Mexico's Ninth Naval Region received an emergency call alerting them to the presence of two boats near Isla Mujeres. (@SEMAR_mx/X)
Navy personnel on Thursday rescued 51 migrants in two hand-crafted wooden boats in waters about 4 nautical miles (7 kilometers) north of Isla Mujeres, just off the coast of the state of Quintana Roo.
The Navy Ministry (SEMAR) said its headquarters in the Ninth Naval Region received an emergency call alerting them to the presence of the two boats. The Ninth Region functions as a Coast Guard and is based out of Isla Mujeres.
The migrants rescued by Navy personnel were traveling in two hand-crafted wooden boats in waters about 4 nautical miles north of Isla Mujeres, Mexico. (SEMAR)
Navy ships intercepted the boats, reported the newspaper La Jornada Maya, and pulled the migrants aboard, acting to “safeguard their lives.” The migrants were treated by Navy medics and, upon being taken to land at Puerto Juárez, were turned over to immigration (INM) authorities.
SEMAR did not reveal if the migrants themselves had made the emergency call, or if it came from a third party. The nationalities of the migrants have not been reported, nor is it clear from which country they had embarked or how long they had been traveling.
Upon determining that the overcrowded boat appeared to be in poor condition, the cruise ship executed a rescue and delivered the migrants to the INM offices in Cozumel.
Cozumel is an island off the coast of Quintana Roo about 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of Isla Mujeres.
In the latter case, the 28 migrants — 18 men, nine women and one unaccompanied minor — were identified as Cubans. The INM provided the migrants with medical treatment before transporting them to Cancún where the adults were provided shelter while their immigration status was resolved. The unaccompanied minor was turned over to Family Protection Services (DIF), also in Cancún.
The arrival of undocumented migrants in Mexico rose significantly last year, surpassing by 77% the numbers recorded in 2022, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The Tourism Ministry reported this week that employment in Mexico's tourism sector increased 3.3% annually in the first quarter of 2024. (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
According to the latest employment statistics, Mexico’s tourism sector has seen impressive job growth since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the global travel industry in 2020.
The Tourism Ministry (Sectur) reported this week that 4,831,000 people held jobs in the tourism sector during the first quarter of 2024: a 7.7% increase over the then-record number of people employed in tourism during the first quarter of 2020. This figure represents 9% of all employment in Mexico during the first three months of the year, Tourism Minister Miguel Torruco Marqués noted.
The tourism sector continues to boost the Mexican economy, with revenues reaching new heights in 2023. (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
In real numbers, 344,009 more people were employed in the tourism sector during the first three months of this year than were in January-March 2020.
The increase in tourism-industry jobs comes in the context of a steady post-pandemic rebound of international travel to Mexico. More than 42 million international tourists visited Mexico in 2023, a 10% increase over the number of international travelers who arrived in the country in 2022.
