One goal of the AccioNNar initiative is to improve regional cooperation and data exchange with Central American governments to better protect at-risk migrant children in Mexico’s southern border region. (Marcel Crozet/ILO)
A new United Nations project seeks to tackle the poverty-related factors that push an estimated 3.3 million minors into child labor in Mexico.
The project, called “AccioNNar: combating child labor and forced labor,” will work with local authorities as well as with employers’ and workers’ organizations in the southern states of Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Yucatán.
Worldwide, the UN estimates that 160 million children work, some as young as 5 years old. The majority of them work in agriculture. (Flourish.com)
AccioNNar has three main objectives:
To generate data for the development of laws, policies and programs to combat child labor and trafficking
To stimulate the development and enforcement of laws, policies and programs
To improve regional cooperation and data exchange with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize, to protect at-risk migrant children in Mexico’s southern border region.
The United Nations Office for Mexico and Cuba announced the project to mark World Day Against Child Labor on June 12. The agency estimates that 3.3 million children in Mexico work — 11% of the country’s 29 million children.
According to a report by Save the Children, most of these minors started working between the ages of six and eight, two thirds of them are in unauthorized occupations that put their physical and mental health at risk and 26% receive no financial remuneration.
The NGO lists occupations in which minors are often found working in Mexico, including agricultural labor, textile factories, street work such as cleaning windscreens and shining shoes and sex work.
Save the Children found that poverty was the main factor pushing children into work but also found that 26% say they do it for pleasure; 20.6% to pay for their studies or other expenses; 15.3% because their family needs their work and 12.9% because their family needs their economic contribution.
“Poverty is one of the most important factors [pushing children to work], but it is not the only one,” Save the Children’s political advocacy coordinator Miguel Ramírez told the newspaper El Universal. “[There’s also] difficulty in accessing school, obstacles to continuing with studies or that the family is in the informal sector and lacks social security.”
The initiative will work on building relationships between Mexican officials and those in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize, where many migrants to Mexico come from. (Google Maps)
Ramírez acknowledged that federal and state governments have tried to address the issue but said that more inspectors were needed to monitor child labor, particularly in the informal sector, to prevent minors from falling into a cycle of poverty.
“Children who work from an early age will hardly be able to attend school, or if they do, they face educational lag,” he said. “When they become adults, they will not be able to aspire to a good job and will have to look for one in precarious conditions.”
The UN project’s focus on Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Yucatán reflects the fact that child labor is largely concentrated in Mexico’s southern states. Local authorities working with the program described situations of children selling items on the streets in Chiapas, working in tourist bars in Quintana Roo and even being forced into construction or agricultural labor in Yucatán.
Working from an early age means little or no access to school, a lack that has ripple effects through adulthood, making it harder to escape poverty, says Miguel Ramírez of Save the Children, one of the organizations involved in the initiative. (UNICEF)
“[The project] is a very big door because it gives us the opportunity to add other institutions we didn’t previously have a relationship with,” said Ana Keyla Álvarez Arzate, Deputy Minister of the National Employment Service in Chiapas. “This is only the beginning of these actions aimed at combating child and forced labor in Chiapas.”
The Laredo crossing, seen here in 2019, is at the center of allegations of corruption. As a result, the U.S. government will no longer permit CBP One asylum appointments to be made at the point of entry. (Gabriela Pérez Montiel/Cuartoscuro)
The United States’ government has stopped taking mobile app appointments to admit asylum-seekers at the Laredo border crossing, according to the Associated Press (AP), following reports that migrants face extortion by Mexican authorities.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced its decision in a June 2 message to migrant advocates in Nuevo Laredo sent by a U.S. consular official and reviewed by Reuters.
The U.S. government has encouraged migrants not to “just show up” at the border without having made an appointment, and encourages use of a new Customs and Border Patrol application, CBP One. However, U.S. officials announced they will no longer be accepting making appointments at the Laredo crossing due to corruption concerns. (Google Play Store)
Migrants in Mexico seeking to travel to the U.S. had been encouraged to use the free U.S. Customs and Border Protection CBP One app, launched in 2020, to submit information in advance and schedule an appointment at authorized border crossings.
Some asylum seekers told the AP that Mexican officials in Nuevo Laredo had threatened to detain them and prevent them from attending their scheduled asylum appointments unless they paid a bribe. Humanitarian organizations in Laredo had also reportedly alerted the CBP.
Migrant advocates say the situation in Nuevo Laredo, where there are ongoing cartel conflicts and other issues, challenge the Biden administration’s notion that Mexico is a safe place for people escaping violence in Central America and other regions. In 2021 and 2022, Human Rights First recorded more than 13,000 reports of violent attacks against migrants in Mexico.
Rafael Álvarez, 29, who fled Venezuela, told AP that after he arrived in Nuevo Laredo early in June, Mexican immigration authorities seized his documents and held him along with other migrants, demanding to be paid 1,000 pesos (US $57) before they would allow them to proceed to their appointments.
The transition from Title 42 to Title 8 policy, which means harsher penalties for attempted re-entry, has reduced the number of undocumented immigrants trying to enter the United States. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
Álvarez refused to pay and was eventually let go. Five Russians held with him paid a total of 5,000 pesos (US $290), he said.
Neither the U.S. nor the Mexican governments responded to requests for comments from the AP regarding the extortion reports.
Last month, the pandemic-era rule Title 42, which allowed U.S. authorities to quickly expel asylum seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic, expired. Since then, thousands of asylum-seekers have been stranded in Mexican border towns awaiting appointments.
Although the Biden administration has opened new legal pathways for immigration, the CBP One app is the only resource for many migrants. There are only 1,250 appointments available per day across the entire U.S.-Mexico border.
The U.S. government has said it will maintain the daily allocation of appointment slots by reallocating them from Laredo to the seven other border crossings.
Online appointments for the Laredo crossing scheduled before the June 3 change of policy will remain in place, U.S. officials said.
Mexico is the leading supplier of medical devices to the United States. (Courtesy/Entrada Group)
Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, GE HealthCare, Philips and Kimberly-Clark. They are just a few of the more than 2,000 companies that manufacture medical devices in Mexico, the world’s leading supplier of such equipment to the United States.
Foreign investment in the sector – measured in the billions of dollars over the past 15 years – is significant for the same reasons that manufacturing any type of product in Mexico is potentially a good idea: proximity to the United States, the presence of an educated and motivated workforce, competitive labor costs and low or tariff-free trade with the U.S. and Canada.
Companies operating in Mexico’s medical device manufacturing industry, which was worth more than US $16 billion in 2022, can tap into a growing pool of qualified workers, as thousands of students complete their studies in related fields every year. In state-of-the-art plants, those companies make a wide range of medical devices, both big and small, that meet all U.S. standards.
Whether it’s high-quality prosthetics or pacemakers, dilators or defibrillators, or nearly any other medical device your company is seeking to make at an affordable cost, Mexico could be the answer you’re looking for.
The Mexico advantage
There are many locations that are a strong fit for companies thinking about establishing a presence on the doorstep of the world’s largest economy. One region that is already home to many foreign manufacturers and is actively seeking to attract companies that produce medical devices is the Bajío. This region includes parts of several states including Guanajuato, Jalisco, Querétaro, and Aguascalientes.
Medical device manufacturing in Mexico is worth US $16 billion today and growth is accelerating. (Courtesy/Entrada Group)
Guanajuato, where numerous small and medium-sized medical device manufacturers already have plants, is one of the most attractive options for companies thinking about producing for the medical device and life sciences sector, considered a strategic priority in Mexico. The state is currently governed by the business-friendly National Action Party and has been a manufacturing powerhouse for decades.
Recently, to spur additional growth in the medical device sector, the state launched Guanajuato’s Life Innovation & Technologies Cluster, comprised of international and domestic medical device manufacturers, industry services providers, related associations and educational institutes. Entrada Group, along with a handful of select other companies, is a founding member of this new cluster.
Entrada Group, a United States-based company, already has a manufacturing campus in Celaya, Guanajuato, and can facilitate the entire process of setting up and operating a medical device production plant in Mexico, helping companies save both time and money.
According to John Paul McDaris, Entrada’s director of business development, Celaya offers a range of benefits to foreign manufacturers, including those that specialize in the production of medical devices.
Entrada Group’s “campus” located in Fresnillo, Zacatecas. (Courtesy/Entrada Group)
These benefits include the presence of over 25 tertiary education institutes that offer degrees in relevant fields; the availability of an experienced manufacturing labor force; proximity to the expat friendly cities of Querétaro and San Miguel de Allende; and transport infrastructure that allows companies to get their product to market quickly.
Entrada’s Celaya campus is only around 100 kilometers from the Querétaro airport and a similar distance from the Bajío airport, which serves a growing number of international and domestic destinations. Better yet, highways connect Guanajuato to the rest of Mexico and beyond, facilitating the transport of both finished products and company personnel.
Celaya’s location in the Bajío places it within the Mexico City-Guadalajara-Monterrey triangle, which is home to a significant percentage of Mexico’s overall population, and also includes cities such as Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí.
Foreign manufacturers that establish a presence in the city would therefore be in an advantageous position to sell their products into the growing domestic market for medical devices in Mexico, potentially opening up a revenue stream to complement income generated from exports to the United States or other foreign countries.
Entrada Group also has a manufacturing campus in Zacatecas, which could suit companies that want to set up operations even closer to the United States border.
The alternative to China
As McDaris further notes, many companies that currently make medical devices in China are seeking alternatives due to a range of risk factors there, including supply chain delays, rising costs, intellectual property concerns and tariffs. Mexico is a viable option for such companies, even if they choose to maintain a presence in China.
“For medical device-makers, a diverse manufacturing footprint is a big advantage,” McDaris says. “By looking at other production locations to complement China, companies can reduce risk, be closer to customers and be prepared for future unknowns.”
McDaris believes there’s a compelling economic case for manufacturing companies focused on the North American market to question where they make their products.
“It has arguably never been more advantageous to shift some or all of production away from stalwarts like China to a viable alternative such as Mexico,” he says.
“Locating production closer to current and potential customers facilitates commerce. By working in similar geographies and overlapping time zones, producers can shorten lead times, improve service delivery and offer greater levels of customization.”
Mexico has averaged 83 homicides a day nationwide so far this year. (Margarito Pérez Retana / Cuartoscuro.com)
May was the most violent month so far this year with 2,660 homicides recorded across the country, official data shows.
Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez presented data at President López Obrador’s morning press conference on Tuesday that showed that homicides increased 9.2% in May compared to April.
Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez reviewed the latest data on homicides in Mexico at the president’s Tuesday morning press conference. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez / Cuartoscuro.com)
The last time more homicides were recorded in a single month was last October, when 2,770 people were murdered.
Rodríguez acknowledged that homicides increased last month compared to April, but highlighted that the number of victims was the lowest of any May in the past six years. The year-over-year decline in murders was 5.9%.
The security minister noted that the number of homicides in May was 13.4% lower than the all-time single month high of 3,074, recorded in July 2018 during the government of former president Enrique Peña Nieto.
Data also showed that there were 12,582 homicides in the first five months of the year for an average of 83 per day. The daily homicide rate has trended downward during López Obrador’s presidency, falling around 18% between 2018 and 2023.
Almost half of the homicides this year – 47.6% – occurred in just six states. Guanajuato was the most violent state with 1,380 murders followed by México state with 1,119.
Ranking third to sixth were Baja California, Jalisco, Chihuahua and Michoacán. Yucatán has been the least violent state so far this year with just 16 homicides between January and May, while Baja California Sur recorded 18.
Guanajuato, where clashes between rival crime groups and targeted killings of presumed criminals are common, has been Mexico’s most violent state in recent years. Eleven of the state’s 46 municipalities are among the 50 most violent in the country based on their per-capita homicide rates over the past year, according to data compiled by crime statistics website elcri.men.
The municipalities encompassing state capital Guanajuato city, tourism and expat hotspot San Miguel de Allende and the historic town of Dolores Hidalgo are not among the 50 most violent.
Forensic experts process a crime scene in Tijuana, the city with the most homicides in 2022. (Omar Martínez Noyola/Cuartoscuro)
The majority of homicides in Baja California occur in Tijuana, currently Mexico’s most violent city in terms of total murder numbers over the past year.
Data presented by Rodríguez showed there were over 1,800 homicides in the northern border city in the 12 months to the end of May, almost double the number recorded in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the second most violent Mexican city.
Historian Borja Torres portrayed Nicolás Zuñiga y Miranda as a calm gentleman who went crazy each election year, entering a state of fury in his desire to be president. (National Archives)
One of the most colorful — and perhaps tragic — characters in the political history of Mexico was Don Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda. Known as the “perpetual candidate,” he ran for president nine times in 30 years (1894–1924), never garnering more than a few thousand votes.
After each defeat, he would declare electoral fraud and announce that he was the “legitimate president” of Mexico.
Zúñiga y Miranda was born in Zacatecas in 1865 and studied jurisprudence in Mexico City, although there is no evidence he ever practiced law. He first rose to fame in 1887 when he claimed he had invented a machine — the seismeon — that could predict earthquakes. With chance in his favor, he successfully predicted an earthquake in 1887.
Shortly afterward, he predicted a second earthquake would happen on August 10 of the same year, one that he said would cause the Popocatépetl volcano to erupt and would destroy Mexico City.
People panicked, abandoned their homes and left the city or gathered in squares and parks on the designated day. But when the earthquake didn’t occur, an angry mob delivered Zúñiga y Miranda a public beating that sent him to the hospital.
He disappeared from public view for a while, then suddenly reappeared in 1896, announcing he would run as “the people’s candidate” against President Porfirio Díaz.
Zuñiga y Miranda ran for president against Porfirio Díaz four times, and twice the dictator jailed him. (National Archives)
A group of men opposed to Díaz told Zúñiga y Miranda that they would back him, hoping that he could defeat Mexico’s dictator, who had been elected in 1876 and with the exception of a few years where he was ousted, had stayed in power ever since.
But Díaz arrested Zúñiga y Miranda and imprisoned him a month before the election, releasing him only after the election was over and Díaz had been reelected.
After his release, Zúñiga y Miranda founded the newspaper La Voz Zúñiguista (The Voice of Zúñiga) and published an article titled “I Am the President.” Upon seeing it, Díaz was enraged and ordered that Zúñiga y Miranda be sent back to prison for another six months.
Upon this release from prison, however, it became obvious that the months of solitary confinement had impaired Zuñiga y Miranda’s mental faculties. The people started referring to him as el loco.
But he was persistent and continued to run for president as an independent candidate. He ran against Díaz four times, as well as against Francisco Madero (1911), Venustiano Carranza (1917), Álvaro Obregón (1920) and Plutarco Elías Calles (1924).
He was also a candidate in 1914. Mexican presidential elections have always been contentious, but 1914 was one of the most interesting scenarios.
In his earlier political life, Zuñiga y Miranda did attract some support for his campaign, but he never got more than a few thousand votes. (National Archives)
Francisco I. Madero was elected president in 1911 but assassinated in 1913 by Victoriano Huerta, who then took his place as president. People in the capital were so angry that they voted for Zúñiga y Miranda instead, even though he was by then a known loco.
He received more votes than Huerta, but there were other contenders in the race, and the Mexican Revolution had just entered a new stage of warring factions. The election was annulled, and Zuñiga y Miranda lost yet again.
After each defeat, he would declare electoral fraud and insist he was the legitimate president.
According to Ecuadorian historian Rodrigo Borja Torres, author of a biography of Zúñiga y Miranda, newspapers of the time wrote that “Díaz realized that Zúñiga was not a danger to him… The political class took [his candidacy] more as a joke.”
But Zúñiga y Miranda kept declaring himself the “legitimate president” and walked the streets of Mexico City greeting people as if he were. It made him a source of amusement and derision: people would mockingly greet him with “How are you today, Mr. President?” or “Good morning, Mr. President.”
Zuñiga y Miranda was famous enough that Diego Rivera included him in his mural filled with figures from Mexican history. He is the figure in the foreground touching his top hat. (INBAL/Twitter)
Historians say that in moments of lucidity, his proposals were populist in nature. During his one-man campaigns for president — he had no staff and he did no debates — he promised that if he won, eggs would cost two centavos, rents would drop by 80% and students would have open accounts at the best restaurants and free scholarships to study abroad.
He had no real proposals for achieving these lofty promises.
Historian William H. Beazley recounts that Zúñiga y Miranda was sincere in his awareness of social problems of the time and thought that poverty, especially rural poverty, impeded the nation’s progress.
But at one point, he proposed teaching jiu-jitsu tactics to the Mexican army. He also suggested a meeting of municipal authorities to analyze the effect the stars had on international politics.
During World War I, he announced he was organizing a séance — he called himself a spiritualist — in order to invoke the spirits of Aristotle, the King of Spain, the Kaiser of Germany, the King of England and the Tsar of Russia as a way to achieve peace in Europe.
And so he became famous as the “perpetual candidate.” Historians have studied him with great curiosity, books have been written about his life, newspapers have likened him to Don Quixote de la Mancha and his character makes an appearance in Juan Bastillo Oro’s 1944 film “Mexico of my Memories.”
The “perpetual candidate” had found enough fame throughout his life that his death in 1925 warranted a notice on the front page of the newspaper El Universal. (El Universal)
Zúñiga y Miranda was also immortalized by Diego Rivera in 1947 in his mural “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park,” where he is pictured speaking with Porfirio Díaz while a newsboy stands behind them holding up a newspaper announcing Zúñiga y Miranda’s candidacy for president.
Was he a madman or just another politician obsessed with becoming president? Probably both.
Historian Borja Torres portrayed him as a calm gentleman who would go crazy each election year and enter a state of fury in his desire to be president.
Perhaps historian Guillermo Mellado in his book “Don Nicolás de México” best sums up his life with this anecdote:
One morning, Zúñiga y Miranda awakened early. Still in his underwear, he went to the dresser and removed a tricolor sash from a drawer. Reverently, he crossed it over his chest, turning from side to side in front of a mirror to admire his reflection.
When his landlady walked in, he told her, “Don’t go. I called you because I wanted you to be the first lady to recognize me as the President of the Republic.”
In 1925, an impoverished Zúñiga y Miranda died in the Mexico City neighborhood of La Merced. Although he had made a career of running for president, he never achieved his dream of actually becoming the president of Mexico.
Sheryl Losser is a former public relations executive and professional researcher. She spent 45 years in national politics in the United States. She moved to Mazatlán in 2021 and works part-time doing freelance research and writing.
In Mexico City, some are taking to public fountains in an effort to escape the punishing heat. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
The third heat wave of the year currently sweeping Mexico is expected to bring scorching temperatures across the country.
Temperatures of up to 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) are expected in 24 of Mexico’s 32 states.
Government forecasts show that temperatures are likely to be above 40 degrees across nearly all of the country. (Conagua)
Only the central states of Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro, México state and Puebla will escape the most punishing heat — although temperatures are still expected to rise to as high as 40 C. Tlaxcala and Mexico City expect temperatures to remain between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius.
Rains, hail and thunderstorms are also forecast in Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo and Yucatán. Heavy rainfall could increase river and stream levels and lead to flooding and landslides in these areas.
Faced with these extreme conditions, the National Meteorological Service (SMN) has issued warnings urging residents to take all necessary precautions, stay informed on weather conditions and follow prevention measures issued by Civil Protection authorities. These measures include staying hydrated and avoiding prolonged sun exposure.
The extreme temperatures that began on June 1 have caused at least one death. A 78-year-old woman in Hermosillo, Sonora passed away while walking outdoors, according to the newspaper El País.
The extreme weather conditions are caused by El Niño, a climate pattern characterized by the warming of ocean surface temperatures. It occurs cyclically in the Pacific Ocean and has a significant impact on global weather patterns, causing altered rainfall, droughts, floods and temperature shifts.
Despite a decline in funding, Mexican cinema remains stronger than ever, after another record year. (Chris Murray/Unsplash)
Mexico produced more films than ever in 2022, despite an increasingly difficult funding environment caused by reductions in government support for the industry.
In its Statistical Yearbook of Mexican Cinema, the Mexican Institute of Cinematography (Imcine) recorded 258 Mexican feature films produced in 2022, surpassing the previous record set in 2021.
Production levels in the Mexican cinema industry have continued to rise, though the industry remains Mexico City-centric. (Imcine)
“For the second consecutive year after the pandemic, when production collapsed, the indexes have risen sharply, and this year, the number of feature films is 258,” Imcine General Director María Novaro said.
“[This is] a number similar to last year, and a record for Mexican cinema throughout its history. Not even in the golden age [of Mexican cinema, from the 1930s to about 1960] was so much cinema produced.”
Novaro said that the increased number of productions over the last two years demonstrated real growth in the sector, not just a return to pre-pandemic levels. Film production rebounded 133% between 2020 and 2021, but those sorts of numbers hadn’t been expected to last into 2022.
Novaro also praised the diversity in Mexico’s film industry, claiming it is “more diverse, inclusive, egalitarian and decentralized than ever.” She highlighted that 21 feature films were made by indigenous or Afro-descendant filmmakers in 2022 — although this is a drop from the 31 such productions in 2021.
Targeted incentives could help attract film production companies from the U.S., says a recent report by UK-based Olsberg SPI. (Ruben Ramirez/Olsberg SPI)
One hundred forty-two of these films, or about 55%, were made in Mexico City in 2022, up from 35% in 2021, suggesting that Mexico is still struggling to decentralize the industry. However, 2022 did see an increase in films made by women, from 25% to 32%.
The explosion of Mexican cinema has taken place despite an increasinglydifficult funding environment. In 2022, 46% of Mexican films relied on some public financial support, but government support for the industry has been sharply reduced under President López Obrador’s austerity measures, which have cut arts and culture funding down to just 0.25% of the federal budget, according to the Mexican think-tank Fundar. That is the lowest figure seen in decades.
In November, the Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences (AMACC) said it will suspend the 2023 Ariel Awards because of a “serious financial crisis” as a result of these cuts.
“The state, which was the motor and support of the academy for a long time, has renounced its responsibility as the main promoter and disseminator of culture in general, and of cinema in particular,” the AMACC said at the time.
International analysts have also suggested that a lack of financial incentives is holding back Mexico’s film industry. In late May, the international creative consultancy Olsberg SPI said that Mexico could become aglobal audiovisual production hub if it offered federal production incentives such as cash rebates or tax credits.
The Olsberg report also said that Mexico’s talent base, relatively low costs, infrastructure and proximity to the United States were highly attractive to foreign production companies, and the country would be “primed for immediate growth” if these incentives were introduced.
Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero said that the move was a "sacrifice," but explained, "I have a child, I have a family and I have a commitment to my city." (Montserrat Caballero/Facebook)
With her life apparently at risk, the mayor of Tijuana is moving into military barracks in the northern border city.
Morena party Mayor Montserrat Caballero announced Monday that she will live in barracks in the south of the city for an undefined period after receiving threats from presumed members of crime gangs.
The mayor says her life is being threatened by criminals because she is taking them off Tijuana’s streets. Her city has the most homicides in all Mexico.
She attributed the threats to the positive security results the Tijuana government has achieved since she took office in late 2021.
“Why am I receiving threats? Because we deliver results,” Caballero told a press conference.
The mayor said that Tijuana police have detained thousands of alleged criminals since she was sworn in and have seized more firearms than any other force in the country.
Caballero also said that personnel with the National Guard — under the army’s control —suggested that she move to the barracks for security reasons.
“I hope that it’s temporary,” she said.
“… It’s not [about] the protection of an [ordinary] citizen, it’s the protection of the citizen that has seized the most weapons of [the past] three administrations,” she said.
Caballero, seen here with U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, must navigate not only constituent satisfaction but also the relationships between her border city and the U.S. (Montserrat Caballero/Twitter)
Caballero, who admitted to being afraid and concerned about her safety, described her decision to move to the barracks as a “sacrifice.”
“I have a child, I have a family and I have a commitment to my city,” she said.
Her announcement on Monday came almost four weeks after a vehicle in which one of her bodyguards was traveling was shot at. The man suffered minor injuries caused by broken glass. The Baja California Attorney General’s Office is investigating the incident.
As Tijuana’s mayor since 2021, her tenure has not been without controversy. In 2022, in response to a wave of organized crime violence in her city, she released a video in which she told criminals to “only make those who owe you debts pay,” i.e., not ordinary Tijuana citizens. Critics said that her statement was turning a blind eye to criminal behavior.
Following a wave of violence in her city in 2022, Caballero made a statement directed at organized crime via video that provoked controversy. She told criminals to target “those who owe you debts,” not bystanders. (Tijuana City Council)
In response to criticism, Caballero said that her words were taken out of context.
While data presented by Mayor Caballero shows that some crimes — including business robberies and vehicle theft — have declined in Tijuana, the city remains Mexico’s murder capital. Drug cartels covet control over Tijuana due to its proximity to the United States.
There were over 1,800 homicides in Tijuana between June 2022 and May 2023, according to statistics presented by federal Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez at President López Obrador’s morning press conference on Tuesday.
That figure is almost double the number of homicides in the same period in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico’s second most violent city over the past year.
Mexico City's mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced she would step down on Friday to focus on winning the Morena party nomination for 2024. (Daniel Augusto / Cuartoscuro.com)
Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum announced Monday that she will step down on Friday to focus on securing the ruling Morena party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
Under selection process rules approved at a meeting of the Morena National Council on Sunday, aspirants to the party’s candidacy must resign their positions this week. The winner of a polling process will be announced on Sept. 6.
Sheinbaum (center) with other Morena party aspirants for the nomination, from left to right, Marcelo Ebrard, Adán Augusto López and Ricardo Monreal. (CNM/Twitter)
Speaking at a press event in the capital, Sheinbaum said her aim is to become “the first woman in the history of Mexico to lead the fate of the nation.”
She also said she wanted “provide continuity” with her “own stamp” to the “transformation” of Mexico initiated by President López Obrador.
Sheinbaum, a physicist and engineer who was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, said that she is the only Morena presidential aspirant with a scientific background.
“I’ve participated in the fight for the rights of the people of Mexico, democracy, freedom, social and environmental justice and women’s rights since I was 15 years old,” she added.
The “#EsClaudia” (“It’s Claudia”) slogan has been appearing around the country in support of the aspiring candidate. (Graciela López Herrera / Cuartoscuro.com)
Sheinbaum, who will outline her achievements of the past 4 1/2 years in an address on Thursday, also said that “the time for women” has arrived. It is not yet clear who will replace her as mayor of Mexico City.
Sheinbaum, who was chief of the Mexico City borough of Tlapan between 2015 and 2017 and served as environment minister in the 2000-2005 Mexico City government led by López Obrador, is considered the leading Morena aspirant among a field of four main “pre-candidates” and two peripheral ones.
The other aspirants to the ruling party’s candidacy are Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández, Senator Ricardo Monreal, Labor Party Deputy Gerardo Fernández Noroña and Green Party Senator Manuel Velasco.
The presidential election will be held on June 2, 2024, with the successful candidate to take office four months later.
Party leaders of the opposition Va por México alliance said last week that they would announce their candidate selection method by June 26.
Alicia Bárcena was the executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) between 2008 and 2022. She's currently Mexico's ambassador to Chile. (Rogelio Morales Ponce/Cuartoscuro)
President López Obrador announced Tuesday that former United Nations official Alicia Bárcena will replace Marcelo Ebrard as foreign affairs minister.
Bárcena, who was executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) between 2008 and 2022 and is currently Mexico’s ambassador to Chile, will assume the role in 10 days, the president said.
President López Obrador announced Bárcena’s appointment Tuesday morning at his daily press conference. Bárcena’s naming to the post must be ratified by the Senate. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)
“She has an extensive career in the field of diplomacy. She is a very intelligent and capable woman,” López Obrador said.
He said that Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Carmen Moreno Toscano will take charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the period before Bárcena starts.
The appointment of the new foreign minister, which must be ratified by the Senate, comes after Ebrard stepped down on Monday to focus on campaigning for the Morena nomination for the 2024 presidential election.
López Obrador will also have to replace Interior Minister Adán Augusto López Hernández as he too is vying to secure Morena’s candidacy, and under Morena’s selection process rules, he must resign this week.
“She’s a professional, a diplomat, a woman with convictions, with principles,” said President López Obrador, seen here with Bárcena at the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Summit in 2022. (Presidencia)
With Bárcena as foreign minister, Mexico will be “well-represented” on the world stage, the president said.
“She’s a professional, a diplomat, a woman with convictions, with principles, and she will help us in this last stretch in government,” said López Obrador, whose six-year term ends Oct. 1, 2024.
He also said she is well-known in the entire region of Latin America and the Caribbean as a result of her work with ECLAC.
Bárcena studied biology at the National Autonomous University and later completed a Master in Public Administration degree at Harvard University. She was a deputy environment minister in the federal government in the 1980s before becoming head of the National Institute of Fishing near the end of that decade.
Bárcena, who studied biology at the National Autonomous University, visiting Mexico’s health regulator, Cofepris, on Saturday to discuss the creation of pan-Latin American and Caribbean medications agency. (Alicia Bárcena/Twitter)
Bárcena has also worked in academia, and held other high-ranking United Nations positions before becoming ECLAC chief. She served as acting chef de cabinet in the office of former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan in the mid 2000s, and as under-secretary-general for management during the tenure of Ban Ki-moon.
After a long career in the United Nations, Bárcena took up the position of ambassador to Chile last September, becoming Mexico’s first female head of mission in the South American country.
She replaces a foreign minister who became well known on the world stage, as Ebrard stood in for López Obrador at numerous international meetings, forums and summits.
One of Bárcena’s main responsibilities will be to collaborate with United States officials on shared challenges, including immigration flows through Mexico to the U.S. and the fight against the smuggling of narcotics and firearms.
Outgoing Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard described Bárcena’s 14-year tenure at the ECLAC as “brilliant.” (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)
In a Twitter post, Ebrard congratulated his successor and wished her well in her new role.
“Alicia collaborated closely with us during her brilliant tenure at the head of ECLAC and showed her ability and commitment to the best causes,” he wrote.
