Online real estate platform Far Homes conducted a survey in February of mostly retired U.S. and Canadian citizens living in Mexico full time. Puerto Vallarta, pictured here, is one of the cities popular with foreigners. (Taylor Beach/Unsplash)
The international real estate platform Far Homes partnered with the magazine Expats in Mexico to poll non-Mexicans about the cost of living in Mexico. The results offer a snapshot of living expenses for foreigners who have relocated to the country.
The survey, carried out in February 2023, focused primarily on retirees over the age of 55 living full-time in Mexico, who had previously lived in the United States or Canada before relocating.
According to Far Homes, which sourced its data from the online database Numbeo, Mexico’s cities fall into the mid-range of popular expat cities worldwide.
The majority of respondents said they spend under US $2,200 per month on living expenses (34.3%), while according to 2021 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, average retiree household spending in the United States is US $4,185 per month.
In terms of Mexican cities with a sizable population of U.S. and Canadian residents, Mexico City (44.62) ranks highest on the Numbeo Cost of Living (COL) index, which is calculated using consumer goods prices (groceries, restaurants, transportation, utilities) and does not include housing expenses.
These user-contributed prices are then compared to New York City; if a city has a Cost of Living Index of 80, for example, Numbeo estimates it to be 20% less expensive than New York (excluding housing costs).
This graph compares the cost of living in various cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, on a scale where New York is 100. (Far Homes)
Mexico City is followed by Cancún (43.14), Mérida (41.85) and Puerto Vallarta (41.15) on the COL index. Querétaro and Puebla City are on the low end, at 40.53 and 38.77, respectively, while Monterrey comes in as Mexico’s most expensive city, with a Cost of Living Index of 45.43, making it the 99th most expensive city in the Americas in the database.
While food costs for expats living in Mexico are comparable to the U.S., according to the Far Homes survey data (71.4% spending up to US $500 per month), the savings on rent and healthcare contribute to overall lower living expenses. The majority of respondents to the Far Homes survey pay between US $550 and US $1,100 per month on rent, and 62% say they only spend up to US $110 per month on healthcare, including medications.
Not surprisingly, the survey found that “cost of living” was given as one of the primary reasons for moving to Mexico (26.5%), second only to “lifestyle” at 32.2%. “Climate” came in as a close third at 24.2% of those polled.
The flight's passengers caught images of the VivaAerobus jet's engine shooting flames. (Turismo PV/Twitter)
A VivaAerobus aircraft caught fire just three minutes after takeoff from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalajara, forcing the crew to turn around and return to the resort city in order to make a safe landing.
In a statement, the airline explained that at around 4:04 p.m. on Wednesday, flight VB 3235 was traveling on the Puerto Vallarta-Guadalajara route when crew saw that it had “presented a failure in one of the engines.”
According to the industry publication the Aviation Herald, the airline’s Airbus A320-200 stopped its climb at 6,000 feet after the right-hand engine exploded, producing streaks of flames and smoke.
In a video shared on social media, the explosion can be heard while sparks and flames are seen shooting out of the plane’s engine.
“The passengers were disembarked in a timely manner, and the aircraft is on the apron for its review and corresponding maintenance,” the statement said, adding that passengers were moved to another plane to cover the interrupted flight and continue their trip “as soon as possible.”
The aircraft landed at the Puerto Vallarta airport at 4:20 p.m., according to flight data.
Avión de Viva Aerobus aterriza de emergencia, falla motor en pleno vuelo
A video of the plane’s engine on fire that has been circulating on the internet since the incident.
The aircraft, which bears a registration code of XA-VAV, had been used in over 90 flights in April before yesterday’s incident, apparently without problems, ferrying passengers on an average of five to seven flights per day from points of origin as varied as Puerto Vallarta, Tijuana, Guadalajara, Mexico City (AICM), La Paz, Hermosillo, Los Mochis, Huatulco, Cancún, Mérida and Guanajuato (Del Bajío) — as well as international airports, including Bush International in Houston, Chicago O’Hare, and El Dorado International in Bogotá.
Wednesday’s incident is at least the second such event of note involving planes to happen at one of Mexico’s airports this week: on Monday, an Aeromexico Boeing 737-800 and a Delta Airlines Boeing 757 collided on on a runway while taxiing at Mexico City International Airport (AICM).
Aeroméxico’s flight AM117 was bound for Ciudad Juárez, while Delta’s DL625 flight had arrived from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
From left to right: Frank and Kerry O'Brien, William Gross and the boat all three were sailing on when they went missing, the Ocean Bound. (Internet)
The Mexican Navy has suspended its search for three United States citizens who went missing after leaving Mazatlán, Sinaloa, on a sailing vessel in early April, U.S. authorities said Wednesday.
The United States Coast Guard said in a statement that the search was suspended “pending further developments” after the navy and its personnel “conducted 281 cumulative search hours covering approximately 200,057 square nautical miles … off Mexico’s northern Pacific coast with no sign of the missing sailing vessel nor its passengers.”
The Coast Guard noted that the area searched is larger than the state of California.
Kerry O’Brien, Frank O’Brien and William Gross left Mazatlán on a 44-foot Lafitte sailboat named Ocean Bound on April 4, according to a statement issued by the Coast Guard last Friday.
The missing group’s final intended destination was San Diego, California, but they planned to stop in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, on April 6 to pick up provisions and to report in, the Coast Guard said.
“However, they did not report in or arrive in Cabo San Lucas,” the Coast Guard said Wednesday.
William Gross’ daughter Melissa Spicuzza’s interview with NBC News in San Diego.
“Search and rescue coordinators contacted marinas throughout Baja, Mexico, which resulted in no sightings of the vessel. Urgent marine information broadcasts were also issued over VHF radio but yielded no additional information.”
Gross’ daughter Melissa Spicuzza told NBC News in San Diego Wednesday that a person in Mazatlán who was a friend of the O’Briens had called her on Sunday to inform her that the boat had been found, but when she contacted the U.S. Coast Guard, she said, they told her that the boat in question was not the Ocean Bound.
Spicuzza also told NBC News that her father had been contacted by the O’Briens through the sailing community when they had put out a call looking for help in bringing their boat from Mazatlán to San Diego — their planned ultimate destination.
It was Gross’ first sailing trip up the Baja Peninsula coast, Spicuzza said.
Spicuzza also told the news outlet that her father had told her before leaving Mazatlán that the Ocean Bound lacked tracking and communications technology and needed hand steering.
“My dad’s exact words were, ‘I wouldn’t cross an ocean in it,’” Spicuzza said, “‘but it’ll do for what we’re doing.’”
Commander Gregory Higgins, a Coast Guard command center chief, said that the Mexican Navy conducted “an exhaustive search” and that the U.S. and Canada provided “additional search assets.”
Mexican Navy and U.S. Coast Guard assets, including vessels and aircraft, “worked hand-in-hand for all aspects of the case,” Higgins said.
“Unfortunately, we found no evidence of the three Americans’ whereabouts or what might have happened. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families and friends of William Gross, Kerry O’Brien and Frank O’Brien,” he said.
Art lovers can always find something to do in Baja California Sur, like this art walk in San Jose del Cabo,. (Villa La Estancia)
The founders of Zona Maco contemporary art fair in Mexico City have launched a new Art Baja California (ABC) in Baja California Sur this year, which started March 10 and ends Sunday.
The festival has been held in three cities, La Paz, San Jose del Cabo, and Todos Santos, and was designed as a cultural journey across the southern tip of the Baja peninsula, to be experienced in conjunction with road trips, gastronomical experiences and getting to know approachable artists.
Mexico News Daily writer Marko Ayling recently sat down with ABC’s co-founder Zélika García to learn more about the festival, including her personal recommendations below for the perfect weekend in Baja California Sur.
Day 1: Arrival in San José del Cabo
Take an early flight to San José del Cabo, which has direct flights from Mexico City. I like the flights that arrive at 8 a.m. so I can hit the ground running and make the most of my three days.
Next, have breakfast at one of the restaurants participating in “Lo Local,” our program that invites 60 local restaurants, hotels and galleries to host art exhibitions, live music and pop-up
Events
There are currently no events.
.
Baja California Sur is an art-lover’s paradise, where galleries abound and often serve as impromptu socializing hubs. (Cortesía ABC Art Baja California)
Then go to the pop-up gallery at Casa Musa, where you can see a ceramic bazaar from Taller Contorno. Make sure to check out the Baja Stone Market, which has some incredible furniture for sale – all made from local stone.
Grab lunch at Semillón, and then you can take a pottery class at Casa Musa. It’s one of the many cultural programs we have developed to make art accessible to everyone – not just professional collectors.
At sunset, swing by Galería Alfredo Ginocchio, which is hosting evening cocktail parties and special events.
When it comes to hotels, you have some great options in San José. To be central, stay at El Ganso, a design hotel that regularly hosts artists and world-class musicians like L’Imperetrice and Khruangbin. For privacy, stay at Montage Los Cabos. It’s on a secluded beach about 20 minutes west of the main town.
For dinner, I recommend La Revolución, Comedor de Baja California with Benito Molina, a very important chef from la Valle de Guadalupe.
Todos Santos is a beautiful yet quiet town worth making time for. It feels like a true Mexican pueblo. (Shutterstock)
Day 2: Todos Santos
The next day, either rent a car or hire a driver to get to the bohemian village of Todos Santos, which is a pueblo mágico. Todos Santos is full of artists precisely because it doesn’t have an airport and is still difficult to get to. It’s more pueblo.
There’s a very tight community there, and you feel more like you’re in a quiet Mexican town. You can walk the whole pueblo in a single day and go from one restaurant to the other and one gallery to the other on foot, and the local plaza is a traditional Mexican town square.
If you have time on the way, you should stop in the small town of El Pescadero, 20 minutes from Todos Santos. It’s on our official program, but few people stop there. One of the artists from “El Patio,” César Perales, has a studio in the middle of the desert there.
Agricole Cocina del Campo is a farm-to-table restaurant that serves food they grow onsite. And finally, Teatro Pescadero is a live theater with some amazing performances — especially for a fishing village in the middle of nowhere.
Your first stop in Todos Santos should be “El Patio” by Zona Maco, an open-air art installation designed to be the central hub. Then have lunch at Oystera, a new oyster bar with the freshest Baja seafood and a live DJ set at sunset.
In between gallery hopping, check out the film selections from ABC at Todo Santos’ charmingly vintage theater. (Cortesía ABC Art Baja California)
Next, stop by Galería Enrique Guerrero, a prominent Mexico City gallery that recently opened a location in Todos Santos, as well as Galería Militar, owned by painter Mark Gabriel and filmmaker Jessie Wallace. It showcases local and international artists.
The best place to check out the film selections from ABC is the charming cinema on the main plaza, which dates to 1944.
If you want to stay in the town, choose Guaycura Boutique Hotel and Beach Club. The renowned design hotel Paradero is just outside of town and offers serenity in style.
For dinner, try Il Giardino.
Day 3: La Paz
Complete your ABC circuit in La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur. It’s a small community on the Sea of Cortéz, with fewer resorts and more boutique hotels like Baja Club Hotel or Orchid House.
The Baja Club in La Paz is the perfect boutique hotel to take a rest after perusing all the amazing galleries in town! (Cortesía ABC Art Baja California)
Have lunch at Hambrusia, which is right next door to Baja Club Hotel on the oceanfront. You can also take an oyster-shucking workshop at nearby Quemadero as part of “Lo Local.” For your evening, have dinner at Majagua, which has a pop-up every weekend with different artists. Finish by catching a film from el “El Cine”next door at Puerto Cortés.
The next day, you can fly home from La Paz’s airport and start planning your next trip to Baja California Sur!
Marko Ayling is a life-long traveler and the creator and host of Vagabrothers, one of the most trusted and popular travel shows on YouTube, with 1M+ subscribers worldwide. He now writes “The Missive” on Substack, a weekly dispatch of travel tales, reading recommendations, and curated cultural recommendations.
It is hoped a new planetarium to be built in Querétaro city will provide opportunities to teach children about the universe, like the Katya Echazarreta Planetarium in Mexico City, seen here. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
Querétaro city will build “world-class” planetarium
State Tourism Minister Adriana Vega Vázquez announced recently that Querétaro’s capital city will soon begin building a new world-class new planetarium
“It is a world-class planetarium, with the highest standards and technology that we can find,” she said.
The new planetarium will be housed in the Centro Educativo y Cultural del estado Manuel Gómez Morín in Querétaro City. (Cultura Queretaro)
Vega Vázquez also hopes that the new facility will offer the chance to host international conferences and help boost tourism to the city, a sentiment also echoed by Querétaro Governor Mauricio Kuri González.
“Tourists increasingly want to have more experiences,” Kuri said. “They are less contemplative and more participatory. This new planetarium is going to be another tool that the Ministry of Tourism has to attract visitors to Querétaro so that they not only stay one day but two or three days,” he explained.
The project also aims to support space observation projects by providing high-quality equipment as part of the city’s Manuel Gómez Morín Educational and Cultural Center.
Record real estate sale in Riviera Nayarit
An ultra-luxury villa has sold for US $17.5 million in the Riviera Nayarit, a record for property prices in the coastal state.
The One&Only Mandarina Complex, where the villa is located, offers “enchanting rainforest and sea views,” according to developers.
The ultra-luxury development is on the Nayarit coast, north of Puerto Vallarta. (One&Only Mandarina)
RLH Properties, which oversees the complex, sold almost US $67 million worth of villas in 2022. Nayarit has recently seen a boom in luxury tourism, as tourists flock to its unspoiled natural beauty and proximity to major airports.
“Our residential business has exceeded expectations, showing extraordinary results and ensuring its position in the market. We exceeded the commercial goals in the company’s history, making us feel grateful to the investors who trust in this business model, which is a success”, said Borja Escalada, the company’s general director.
RLH also manages the luxury Rosewood Mayakoba, Fairmont Mayakoba and Banyan Tree Mayakoba properties in Quintana Roo.
Pro-bullfighting petition
Tauromaquia Mexicana, a group of pro-bullfighting campaigners in Mexico, has presented a petition calling for an end to bans on bullfighting in Mexico City.
The group claims that the sport is an integral part of popular culture and that moves to ban bullfighting in Mexico are misguided.
Tauromaquia Mexicana claims that bullfighting is an integral part of both Mexico City’s local culture and its economy. (Tauromaquia Mexicana)
Despite criticism of the sport, Tauromaquia Mexicana says that it is fit for the 21st century and that the number of bullfighting’s supporters greatly outnumber its detractors.
With 30,000 signatures on the petition, Tauromaquia Mexicana said there are a significant number of small businesses that depend on the sport for survival.
The Pueblo Bonito Golf and Spa Resorts hotel chain is scheduled to open a new luxury resort in San Miguel de Allende this November.
The 111-room hotel, which will also boast an additional 45 luxury residences, will be located outside the historic center of the city by the Zeferino Gutiérrez park, offering dramatic views of the city skyline.
The Pueblo Bonito San Miguel de Allende is scheduled to open in November 2023. (Pueblo Bonito Advantage)
“This is our first urban property in which we are creating a totally different environment for the Vantage brand,” said Enrique Gandara, commercial director of Pueblo Bonito Resorts.
“Guests will be immersed in an atmosphere of elegance and refined spaces, with a residential component and facilities of a high-level tourist center.”
Tourist caught on Chichen Itzá pyramid
An unidentified tourist has been seen climbing the Temple of Kukulcán, the iconic pyramid at the center of the Chichén Itzá archaeological site.
Footage posted to social media showed a man descending the steps of the pyramid, having climbed to the “castle” building at the top. A crowd gathered at the bottom of the stairs and hurled insults and water at him as he was led away.
The tourist was filmed climbing down the pyramid before being led away by site security. (Screen capture)
The man appears to have been detained by security and fined for his breach of the rules, according to El Universal newspaper.
The Federal Law on Archaeological, Artistic and Historical Monuments prohibits climbing structures in archaeological zones in Mexico. The maximum penalty is 5,000 pesos.
A local “secret” for decades, the high-mountain getaway of Mexiquillo, Durango, is drawing attention. (Leigh Thelmadatter)
The Mexiquillo nature park and reserve in La Ciudad, Durango, began as a few cabins built 25 years ago in the high sierra mountains to take advantage of people looking for a cool respite from higher temperatures in the lowlands. Today, it offers so much more.
At 2,560 meters above sea level, these rugged mountains on the Durango-Sinaloa border are close to — yet a world away — from both the desert city of Durango and the hot and muggy Pacific coastline — where most of Mexiquillo’s visitors come from.
The Mexiquillo park waterfall. (Leigh Thelmadatter)
Mexiquillo is one of a number of high-mountain retreats along the Sierra Madre Tourist Corridor, which includes other natural areas such as Otinapa, Puentecillas, Coscomatte and Arroyo del Agua. All these share vast expanses of forested peaks, some of which are still virgin.
But as Elvira Silverio Díaz of the state tourism agency notes: Mexiquillo offers not only a convenient location but unique natural and man-made features as well, which are bringing more visitors from further away.
After entering the park, the first natural attraction is the Jardín de las Piedras (Rock Garden), an area filled with otherworldly, rounded rock formations overlooking deep ravines. Sujey Delgado, owner of Hostal Mexiquillo, a hostel located in the park, says that science knows little about the rocks’ geology but that their “magic” draws people to climb on them.
Hollywood has used them in scenes, such as in the film “Caveman” (1981). Delgado offers a night tour to see the stars from them, and — believe it or not — as far away as Mazatlán’s lighthouse beam.
One of the “man-made” (by accident) ponds located between Mexiquillo Park’s Rock Garden and its waterfall. (Leigh Thelmadatter)
Nearby is a waterfall that is easily accessible and popular for wedding photos, as well as some ponds that were accidentally created by engineers working in the area over a century ago.
Those same engineers also created eight unfinished tunnels that were blasted into mountainsides, part of a project to connect Mazatlán and Durango by rail. The project met its demise with the construction of a highway between the two cities in the 1940s — today the toll-free highway.
The rail construction is likely the origin of the park’s name, says Delgado. The engineers came mostly from Mexico City and decided to name their encampment Mexiquillo, which translates to “little Mexico” — Mexicans often use the term “Mexico” to mean Mexico City.
This name was chosen when the local community — the La Ciudad ejido (a government-granted communal land parcel) — decided to take a portion of their forest and create a tourist attraction. “Mexiquillo” and “La Ciudad” are often used interchangeably by visitors, but the first officially refers to the park and the latter to the ejido.
The Waterfall Tunnel (Durango Secretary of Tourism).
Originally the ejido was created after the Revolution to allow locals to continue their traditional lives, which revolved around logging and other forestry activities. However, in the late 20th century, these activities came under pressure from federal environmental authorities. The park, and its first cabins, were a response to this, to look for a way to recover lost income. Slowly, the area gained a local, then regional reputation as a way to spend a weekend in the cool forest.
Nonetheless, the number of visitors and cabins, both on and off the ejido, have grown sufficiently that most locals see the value in conserving the forest and its ecosystem. Forestry has not been eliminated, but tourism now accounts for half of the economic activity. The ejido’s abandoned sawmill at the park entrance testifies to the economic shift.
Local businesses like Hostal Mexiquillo also show how the ejido is evolving. It originally was Delgado’s father and grandmother’s home, on a plot given to the family as ejido members. When the park opened its doors, her father began adding rooms to rent.
Today, the hostel has dormitories, an educational mushroom fruiting chamber, meeting rooms and a new, large cabin. The hostel receives visitors from all over Mexico and from abroad, and Delgado offers tours because “…it is important that people understand the culture, environment and people who live here.”
Today, Mexiquillo acts as a kind of ambassador to the ecotourism possibilities of the Durango-Sinaloa border. It introduces outsiders to hiking, mountain biking, birdwatching and other ecotourism activities which are an important part of tourism in the region. Mexiquillo/La Ciudad also offers “rural tourism,” with local cheeses and breads available. Wild mushrooms are so important in late summer that there is a festival dedicated to them in August.
High season runs from June to October, when the lower altitudes have their highest temperatures. However, the area can receive visitors in the winter, especially when it snows. This draws people unfamiliar with winter precipitation, and also prompts authorities to issue warnings, as even the toll road can be rather slippery.
Inside an upscale cabin at Hostal Mexiquillo — this rustic vibe is typical for many of the weekend cabins here. (Leigh Thelmadatter)
Mexiquillo got lucky with the building of the Mazatlan-Durango toll road over a decade ago. Most small towns and attractions die when superhighways are built. But the new highway makes the trip easier and faster as there are exits relatively close to the park, allowing people to avoid dangerous older roads such as the infamous Espinazo del Diablo section of the non-toll highway.
More people can and do come from further away, especially from the Sinaloa side, but the area also regularly sees visitors from much of northern Mexico, especially during holiday periods.
Mexiquillo is a good example of how tourism can help an area adapt to new environmental realities, but there are still challenges. Logging has not disappeared, nor does anyone expect it to anytime soon. More importantly, says Silverio Díaz, there has been environmental damage associated with the park’s growth, especially in the last decades. Some is from the use of ATVs, but the most significant impact has been from the almost wild building of cabins, especially on non-ejido land nearby.
Crowding and traffic is also becoming a problem, especially at peak times. For these reasons, Durango state authorities are considering development of future high-sierra locations with more care.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico over 20 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture, in particular its handicrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
The skyline of Monterrey in Nuevo León, home to the municipal area where citizens felt the least insecure in the country, according to INEGI data. (Daniel Escobedo CC BY-SA 4.0)
An increasing number of Mexicans feel safe in their day-to-day lives, according to the latest data published by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI).
The quarterly National Survey of Urban Public Safety polls people’s perception of public safety in their home city, based on, among other factors, their feelings of insecurity and expectations about crime trends, government performance, and their trust in the public administration.
The survey data showed that only 19.4% of residents of Benito Juárez borough in Mexico City felt unsafe. (Wikimedia)
The survey focused on urban environments and polled residents of 75 cities across the country.
Results found that as of March, 62.1% of the adult population in Mexico felt unsafe in their local area.
That figure is almost 2.5 points lower than that registered in October 2022, when the survey found that citizens’ perception of insecurity where they live had reached its lowest level in a decade (64.4%).
Even amidst a rising number of homicides in the country — almost 31,000 in 2022 — the public sense of safety has continued to improve.
Residents of Fresnillo, seen here protesting missing persons, continued to report low levels of confidence in their safety. (Adolfo Vladimir/Cuartoscuro)
The perception of insecurity is higher for women, with 68.1% of adult females in Mexico feeling unsafe in their home cities compared to 54.8% of men.
The cities in which people felt most unsafe were Fresnillo (96%) and Zacatecas city, both in Zacatecas state (94.3%), Naucalpan de Juárez, a México state city on the edge of the capital (88%), Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, (86.4%), Uruapan, Michoacán, (86.2%) and Colima city, Colima (85.7%).
In contrast, the city where people felt least unsafe (18.3%) was San Pedro Garza García, part of the municipality of Monterrey, Nuevo León, which topped the last survey. The borough of Benito Juárez in Mexico City came second (19.4%), with Piedras Negras, Coahuila, (19.9%), Los Cabos, Baja California Sur (22.7%), Saltillo, Coahuila (23.9%) and Tampico, Tamaulipas rounding out the list (24.1%).
While not as consistently, perceptions of how insecurity affects the tourism industry have also improved over the last decade.
According to data from a survey conducted by Anáhuac University in Mexico City, from 2010 to 2022, the industry’s perception of the impact of insecurity on their business improved markedly.
In 2010, between 50% and 70% of those surveyed felt insecurity “greatly affected” the industry, versus just 24% in the last four-month period of 2022. The majority of remaining respondents still concluded that insecurity does affect the industry, but marginally.
During the Easter holidays, the federal government deployed more than 8,000 members of the National Guard to Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations to reinforce security.
The Mexican president has accused the U.S. of espionage and intentionally sowing dissent in Mexico. (A Touch Of Light/Wikipedia)
President López Obrador on Tuesday accused the United States Department of Defense of spying on Mexico’s federal government, his second claim of espionage against the U.S. government in as many days.
“We’re now going to safeguard the information of the Navy Ministry and Defense Ministry because we’re a target of espionage of the Pentagon,” he told reporters at his daily morning news conference.
The president took exception to a DEA operation that implanted agents into the Sinaloa Cartel without the knowledge of the Mexican government. (Screen capture)
The president’s claim on Wednesday followed The Washington Post’s publication of an article that cited a leaked document in which “U.S. military officials assessed the implications of the Mexican military assuming oversight and control of civilian aviation.”
The Post, which said that the document was leaked via the popular online messaging platform Discord, also reported that Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda Durán “was so frustrated by the possibility that the Mexican army would take control of all Mexican airspace that he ‘instructed navy officials to limit cooperation with … [the Ministry of National Defense] in response.’”
“The briefing notes the potential for worsening tensions among Mexico’s armed forces, ‘a dispute that will likely exacerbate their existing rivalry and further detract from their ability to conduct joint operations,’” the newspaper said, adding that there was no indication that the document was derived from U.S. wiretaps or intercepts of Mexican authorities.
Documents leaked through the online platform Discord and reported by The Washington Post suggest that there is friction between the Mexican army and navy. President López Obrador said that such information was a non-story. (Cuartoscuro)
Despite this, López Obrador pointed to the Washington Post article as evidence of his claim that the Pentagon is spying on the Mexican armed forces.
He also asserted that “a lot of media outlets in Mexico are leaking information that the DEA gives them.”
United States agencies want to “interfere” in Mexico like they did during previous governments, López Obrador said. “They want to be in charge, violate our sovereignty, so they start leaking [information], supposedly to weaken us politically.”
López Obrador said that sensitive military information needs to be protected for reasons of national security “because we feel that they’re wanting to violate our sovereignty in an interventionist plan, using the sold or rented press in our country as a tool.”
López Obrador has used the documents leaked by Jack Teixeria, a member of the U.S Air National Guard tasked with the handling of sensitive information, as evidence that the U.S. is conspiring against him. (Facebook)
A Pentagon spokesman told the news agency Reuters that the United States Department of Defense has a “strong collaborative defense partnership” with the Mexican military, and that the entities tackle common challenges “while respecting each other’s sovereignty and respective foreign policy agendas.”
The Pentagon’s spokesman’s remarks appear to amount to a denial that the Pentagon has spied on Mexico’s army and navy.
Official documents allegedly posted to Discord by 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, however, indicated that the United States has recently spied on some of its allies, including South Korea and Ukraine.
López Obrador on Tuesday reiterated that his government doesn’t spy on anyone, contradicting a New York Times report that said that Mexican authorities used the Israeli-made spyware Pegasus as recently as in the second half of last year to infiltrate the cellphones of two leading human rights defenders.
On Wednesday, he admitted that there are “differences” between the navy and the army, as The Washington Post reported, but asserted that the issue was not newsworthy.
“What’s the story leaked from the Pentagon to The Washington Post? So what if the Ministry of the Navy is fighting with the Ministry of Defense. Don’t they fight over there [in the United States]? What’s the story?” López Obrador said.
“Do you want more information? The Ministry of Finance fights with the Federal Electricity Commission every day. Pemex [fights] with the Finance Ministry, the Economy Ministry [fights] with the Finance Ministry; each has its own opinion. That’s the most normal thing,” he said.
Demand for semiconductors has been accelerating worldwide. (Vishnu Mohanan/Unsplash)
Three technology companies will establish electronic semiconductor chip manufacturing plants in Jalisco and Baja California to meet worldwide demand, according to the head of the National Auto Parts Industry (INA) business chamber, Alberto Bustamante.
While Bustamante didn’t specify a location in Jalisco, he mentioned Mexicali as the location for a Baja California plant on Tuesday.
Industry leaders, including Alberto Bustamante (second from left) at the International Technology and Manufacturing Fair press conference. (@FITMALatam/Twitter)
During the announcement of the International Technology and Manufacturing Fair (FITMA), which will take place in June at the Citibanamex Center in Mexico City, Bustamante said that at least 200,000 units have been affected in Mexico by the semiconductor shortage.
“This doesn’t mean that the manufacturing of such cars came to a halt,” he said, “but that these units are finished and have not yet left the yards of automakers because they are waiting for the semiconductors.”
Since 2020, the disruption caused by COVID-19 lockdowns created a scenario where demand outstripped supply, causing automakers to fall behind in production.
Semiconductors, commonly called chips, are a central component in the manufacturing of consumer electronics such as smartphones, cameras, computers and cars. They are especially important for electric vehicles, which require more chips than gasoline-powered cars.
At the peak of the chip shortage in 2021, global auto production plummeted 26% during the first nine months of the year. Automakers built 3.23 million fewer vehicles than expected in North America in 2021.
Supply chain issues began to resolve in 2022, and J.P. Morgan has predicted a continued steady recovery in 2023.
“We’re nearing the end of the supply crunch after more semiconductor capacity came online in 2022. Looking ahead, we don’t predict any major constraints,” said Sandeep Deshpande, head of European Technology Research at J.P. Morgan.
As part of its promotion of strategic sectors in North America, Bustamante said, the U.S. government is pushing the installation of two semiconductor plants in that country to be ready by the end of this year, or the beginning of 2024.
Once these two plants open, chip shortages will no longer be an issue for the Mexican automotive industry, Bustamante stressed. The INA chief anticipates that semiconductor production would normalize “within the first six months of next year.”
“We are getting closer. As you would say: we already see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Although President López Obrador campaigned on promises to take the military off the streets, he has relied on the armed forces for a wide range of law enforcement and other tasks. He warned it would be a "grave" mistake for the court to rule against military control of the National Guard. (Omar Noyola/Cuartoscuro)
The Supreme Court (SCJN) ruled on Tuesday that the transfer of control over the National Guard from the civilian Security Ministry (SSPC) to the Defense Ministry (Sedena) was unconstitutional, a decision that President López Obrador asserted was based on political bias rather than legal criteria.
The federal Congress last September approved a bill backed by the president that modified four secondary laws and thus paved the way for the security force to be placed under the control of the armed forces.
Eight of the Supreme Court’s 11 justices voted to rule the transfer as unconstitutional, saying that the security force was inherently civilian in nature. (SCJN)
López Obrador argued that the National Guard needed to be under the control of the military to prevent corruption and guarantee the force’s professionalism.
At the time, opposition senators challenged the legislation passed by the ruling Morena party and its allies, arguing that it was unconstitutional. The National Guard was established in 2019 under a constitutionally-enshrined civilian command.
Eight of 11 Supreme Court justices agreed Tuesday that the reform bill was unconstitutional.
The court noted in a statement that it had invalidated the transfer to Sedena of “organic, administrative, budgetary and managerial” control over the National Guard as the constitution “expressly establishes” that the force “will be a civilian entity” and that its “actions, plans and programs” are the responsibility of the civilian Security Ministry.
Justice Loretta Ortiz Ahlf was one of the justices who voted in favor of the reform’s constitutionality. (File photo/Twitter)
The Supreme Court also invalidated the power of the federal defense minister to nominate the chief of the National Guard and the reform’s rule that the Guard must be headed by a high-ranking military official.
In addition, the court ruled that National Guard personnel who were previously military police cannot continue to be considered active members of the military as that situation “distorted the civilian character” of the Guard and violated the constitution.
Supreme Court Justice Javier Laynez, one of the eight who voted to invalidate the transfer of control, said that giving operational and administrative responsibility for the National Guard to Sedena amounted to constitutional “fraud.”
The court’s ruling deals a significant blow to López Obrador, who has relied heavily on the military for public security and a range of other nontraditional tasks since he took office in late 2018.
Without military control, the president has argued, the National Guard is at risk of succumbing to corruption, as he claims occurred with the now-defunct Federal Police.
López Obrador said last week that declaring the transfer of control over the National Guard to Sedena as unconstitutional would be a “grave” and “enormous” mistake. He urged the SCJN justices to take into account that the Federal Police had been “completely spoiled” and “corrupted” under civilian leadership, including that of former security minister Genaro García Luna, who was convicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges earlier this year.
At Wednesday’s presidential press conference, Ana Elizabeth Vilchis ended her weekly “Who’s Who in the Lies of the Week” segment saying that the SCJN ruling “leaves citizens with the possibility of returning to the times of Genaro García Luna,” who was convicted of colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel during the presidencies of Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón. (Cuartoscuro)
U.S. prosecutors argued that García Luna took millions in bribes from and colluded with the Sinaloa Cartel to protect its drug trafficking activities in Mexico and the United States.
At his Wednesday morning news conference, the president asserted that the eight justices who invalidated the transfer of control “acted in a partisan way,” employing political rather than legal criteria and “defending the old practices of the authoritarian and corrupt regime.”
The Supreme Court “responded to the interests” of the elite and didn’t listen to “the voice of the people,” López Obrador said.
Opposition parties, government critics and some human rights organizations pointed to the transfer of control over the National Guard to the army as another example of the militarization of Mexico that they say has occurred during the current government.
President of the National Action Party, Marko Cortés, said on Twitter that the Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday was a “triumph in the face of Morena’s authoritarianism.”
Alejandro Moreno, a federal deputy and president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, said that the ruling was a “good move to guarantee the civilian character of the National Guard.”
Supreme Court Justice Javier Laynez said giving the Defense Ministry administrative and operational responsibility over the civilian force amounted to constitutional “fraud.” (Screen capture)
“That’s why we voted against [the transfer of control] in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Militarization is not the solution to the nation’s problems. Building a safer and more peaceful Mexico is possible through civilian institutions,” he wrote on Twitter.
López Obrador, who pledged to withdraw the military from the nation’s streets before he took office, has denied the claim he is militarizing the country, despite putting the National Guard under Sedena’s control and giving the armed forces responsibility for a wide range of tasks including public security, infrastructure construction and the management of customs and ports.
Almost 130,000 National Guard troops and tens of thousands of soldiers and marines are deployed across Mexico to carry out public security tasks, but violent crime, including homicides, remains a major problem in some parts of the country.
The government is also attempting to address the root causes of crime through the distribution of welfare and provision of social programs such as a youth apprenticeship scheme and a tree-planting employment program.
The National Guard has been criticized for lacking the capacity to investigate crimes, and the conduct of some of its members has been the subject of criminal investigations. Guardsmen are accused of killing two people including a pregnant teenager in an allegedly unprovoked attack in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, last Sunday.
