Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval announced that the airline would fly to 20 national destinations out of the Felipe Ángeles airport in Mexico City. (Gob MX)
The Mexican government will purchase the brand name and some equipment of the defunct airline Mexicana de Aviación, better known simply as Mexicana, for 815 million pesos (US $48 million), Interior Minister Luisa Alcalde announced on Thursday.
The money spent on the airline will be used to compensate more than 7,400 former employees who were left in the lurch when Mexicana went bankrupt and shut down 13 years ago.
The deal was announced at the Thursday morning press conference. (Gob MX)
The deal includes the transfer of three buildings and a flight simulator to the Mexican government, which will then revive Mexicana as a military-run commercial airline.
Starting Aug. 15, payments will be distributed among Mexicana’s former employees, who lost unpaid wages and benefits when the airline filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Before ceasing operations, the flagship company, founded in 1921, was Mexico’s longest-standing airline and one of the oldest in the world.
“Today, a historic agreement was reached to achieve justice for 7,407 Mexicana de Aviación workers, pilots, flight attendants, ground staff, trusted workers and retirees,” Alcalde said at President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Thursday morning press conference.
“The Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS) mediated with the different organizations, who held assemblies and consultations among the people [involved], the workers, to reach an agreement,” she added.
Interior Minister Luisa María Alcalde said the purchase was an “historic agreement”. (Gob MX)
Negotiations between the workers and the government over back pay have been ongoing for about three years. The government firstannounced an agreement to buy Mexicana’s brand and assets at the same price in January, but this stalled over the following months as a group of workers agitated for greater compensation.
In July, President López Obradorhalted the negotiations, saying that the government would not make the purchase while the dispute continued.
“The brand would be in litigation, and we don’t want to buy a lawsuit,” AMLO said at the time. “Instead of the money being evenly distributed, as had been agreed, the lawyers went in, made noise and said no [to the deal]. They go to the judiciary [and] file appeals. And we cannot wait because the airline needs to start operating.”
On announcing the revived deal this week, Interior Minister Alcalde stressed the government’s commitment to “recover[ing] at least part of the compensation [the workers] have a right to.” She blamed the Mexicana debacle on the administration of former President Vicente Fox, whose government was responsible for privatizing the airline, selling it to Grupo Posadas. The airline went bankrupt five years later.
The airline was once state-owned, then transferred to private ownership in 2005 and went bankrupt in 2010. (Mexicana)
“In 2005 …[Mexicana] was privatized by the government of Vicente Fox, passing into the hands of Grupo Posadas, and in five short years they managed to dismantle and bankrupt what was once Mexico’s most important airline,” Alcalde said.
The general secretary of the Trade Union Association of Aviation Pilots (ASPA), José Humberto Gual, praised the current buyout plan as “an act of social justice” and symbolically presented AMLO with a pair of Mexicana pilot wings.
The government plans to relaunch Mexicana with ten Boeing 737-800s, Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval announced. These will fly to 20 destinations across the country – including Cancún, Guadalajara, Tijuana, Mérida, Oaxaca, León, Puerto Vallarta, among others – out of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), which was opened by AMLO’s administration on the outskirts of Mexico City last year.
Tickets will go on sale starting in September, according to officials.
Amber has been part of Chiapas culture since before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. (Alejandro Linares García)
It is nearly impossible to avoid the numerous street vendors in San Cristóbal de las Casas offering you “authentic Chiapas amber” at a so-called special price. Pro-tip: no matter what anyone tells you, if it’s inexpensive, it isn’t real.
But the vendors’ presence does raise interesting questions about what amber’s role is in the state’s history and culture.
Chiapas amber on display at the Amber Museum in San Cristóbal de las Casas. (Alejandro Linares García)
Unsurprisingly, amber was an important tribute and trade item in Mesoamerica for many of the same reasons as in other parts of the world, its unique look and supposed magical and healing properties.
But it never gained the favor with the Spanish after the conquest, as they were far more interested in silver and gold (both notably absent in Chiapas) and likely did not want to continue the gemstone’s pre-Catholicism’s associations. For centuries, the amber’s only value in Mexico was in amulets sold to indigenous mothers to keep the evil eye off their babies. So some amber would continue to travel from the Simojovel in northern Chiapas to San Cristóbal, as noted by travelers and writers like Franz Blom and Moisés de la Peña as late as the mid 20th century.
But this would change by the end of that same century. Economic and political unrest in the 1970s broke up many large farms to the eventual benefit of many Simojovel families, but for a decade or so, many lost their livelihoods. In the 1980s, some did look to amber as an alternative form of income, mining and working the petrified resin, with their product destined for San Cristóbal.
Simojovel, known as “the amber town,” is located in the state of Chiapas.
It was international interest starting in the 1990s that changed Simojovel’s fortunes. First, amber had come to the attention of mineral collectors in the U.S. who would pay for exceptional pieces. In 1996, the American Museum of Natural History held an exhibition about amber that included pieces from Chiapas, expanding interest. But it was 1994’s Zapatista uprising that introduced Chiapas to the world, and the result was zapaturismo: foreign idealists hoping to get a glimpse of the black-masked revolutionaries — and looking for a souvenir to take home.
By the 2000s, tourism and amber had grown important enough for the Chiapas government to promote both.
In the 2010s, Chiapas experienced an “amber rush” as the Chinese market discovered Chiapas’ supply. Demand and prices skyrocketed starting in 2012, with many gemstones making their way into beaded bracelets. But it did not last: the Chinese market became saturated, and the fever cooled considerably.
Prices fell, but amber remains an important part of Simojovel’s economy, as well as of Chiapas’ identity. Although it can be found in a number of other municipalities such as Tapilula, Yajalón, Del Bosque, Pantelhó, Ixtapa-Soyaló and Totolapa, Simojovel remains the state’s “amber town” with most residents here dividing their economic activities between mining and agriculture.
Amber miner working in Simojovel. (Jaime Avalos via Flickr)
Amber mining is important in this impoverished area because it does not require special equipment. One person simply digs in the relatively soft dirt of the mountain, and another sifts through it. But there is no guarantee that the mountain will be generous, so miners often make offerings of candles and incense to increase their chances. Most of what they do find makes its way to San Cristóbal, often to middlemen, and prices are always in flux.
However, more Simojovel residents are learning to obtain greater value from the resource. Local artisan Elizabeth Mendoza says that when she began working the gemstone four decades ago, most miners simply sold unworked or lightly worked stones mounted on cardboard. Over time, artisans arose who could get better prices from polished or cut stones. Today, there are a number who will take the ancient resin all the way to a finished piece of jewelry or another final retail form.
Mendoza learned as a child that polished and cut amber brought more money. Some years ago, she met a “gringo hippie” passing through who showed her how to make jewelry by twisting copper and other wire. Impressed with the results, she and her husband went to Taxco and learned to work silver. Today, she is one of Simojovel’s success stories, inspiring more families to learn more.
Working amber is physically easier than mining it, and many Simojovel women are involved in this stage of the process, as well as in marketing. Although the town’s amber trade has made it more open to the world and more liberal, it is still not easy to be a woman in the amber business.
Most work the material anonymously as part of their domestic chores. In general, Chiapas’ most prominent amber artisans are still men.
Initial working of amber at the workshop of Elizabeth Mendoza in Simojovel, Chiapas. (Elizabeth Mendoza)
Modern demand for Chiapas amber is driven by globalization. Many gemstones are still sent to the U.S. and China, making it difficult for local artisans to compete on price. International tourism is now a mainstay of San Cristóbal’s economy.
The promotion of Chiapas amber has a strong international component as well. Over 25 years ago, the state began an amber expo in the cities of San Cristóbal and Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the state capital. But in 2019, it decided to move the annual event to Mexico City, which multiplied attendance. The recently concluded 2023 event hosted 168 exhibitors from various parts of the state, with about 25,000 national and international attendees.
The rise of the amber industry has had its positives and negatives for the state. Although tough work, amber mining is still more lucrative than subsistence farming. But artisans in Simojovel and San Cristóbal still sell mostly to intermediaries instead of engaging in more lucrative retail.
There does not yet seem to be a Taxco-like future for Simojovel. Although the only highway in the area has improved over the decades, it is still a nearly four-hour trip on rough roads to get to this town tucked away in the mountains around San Cristóbal.
Reaching Simojovel, Mendoza says, is still too difficult for any but the most adventurous of travelers.
Leigh Thelmadatter arrived in Mexico over 20 years ago and fell in love with the land and the culture in particular its handcrafts and art. She is the author of Mexican Cartonería: Paper, Paste and Fiesta (Schiffer 2019). Her culture column appears regularly on Mexico News Daily.
Mexico was the United States' largest trade partner during the first half of 2023. The two nations traded almost US $400 billion between January and June.
(Venti Views/Unsplash)
Mexico was the United States’ largest trade partner in the first six months of 2023, with the value of the exchange of goods between the two countries reaching a record high of almost US $400 billion, according to official U.S. data published Tuesday.
Mexico beat out Canada and China to claim the enviable title of largest trade partner of the world’s largest economy.
Mexico was once again the United States’ largest trading partner. Here, workers in Michoacán prepare avocados for export. (Juan José Estrada Serafín/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico-U.S. trade totaled $396.6 billion between January and June, the United States Census Bureau reported. That figure – up 3.1% compared to the same period of last year – accounts for 15.7% of the United States’ total international trade in the first half of 2023, which was worth some $2.55 trillion.
The United States’ exchange of goods with Canada accounted for 15.4% of total U.S. trade, while China ranked as the third most important trade partner of the U.S. with commerce between those two countries representing a 10.9% share of the $2.55 trillion pie.
Mexico’s exports to its northern neighbor were worth $236.04 billion in the January-June period, a 5.4% increase compared to the first half of last year. Mexico had a 15.5% share of the U.S. import market, ahead of Canada’s 13.8% and China’s 13.3%.
United States’ imports to Mexico were worth $160.55 billion in the first half of the year – practically unchanged from the same period of last year – leaving Mexico with a two-way trade surplus of $75.49 billion.
Mexico exports a diverse range of goods to the U.S., from fruit, to crude oil, to electronics to automobiles. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico exports a wide range of goods to the United States including vehicles, auto parts, crude oil, electronics, fruit and vegetables, meat and beverages such as beer and tequila. U.S. imports to Mexico include gasoline, agricultural products including corn used as livestock feed, capital goods such as machinery and plastics.
Gabriel Casillas, head of Latin America economics at Barclays, said that the appreciation of the Mexican peso – which can make Mexican products more expensive when sold abroad – didn’t seem to have had an effect on Mexican exports in the first half of the year. Demand for Mexican goods outweighed the increased cost of same due to the appreciation of the Mexican currency, he said.
“While we don’t see a slowdown of the U.S. economy it will be difficult to see a downturn in Mexican exports,” Casillas said.
Mario Correa, an independent economist, said that “North America is the natural destination for Mexican exports” and noted that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the free trade pact that superseded NAFTA in 2020, “gives us a great advantage compared to other regions and countries.”
The USMCA free trade agreement has governed trade between Mexico, the United States and Canada since 2020. (LopezObrador.org.mx)
The USMCA seeks to strengthen the integration of the Mexican, U.S. and Canadian economies and thus make the three countries less dependent on supply chains outside the region. The data on the Mexico-U.S. trade relationship in the first half of 2023 provides a concrete example of a benefit the free trade agreement has brought to Mexico, even as it succeeds Canada as the United States’ largest trade partner. The USMCA – largely negotiated while former presidents Enrique Peña Nieto and Donald Trump were in office – has also helped spur the nearshoring phenomenon in Mexico, in which foreign companies relocate here to take advantage of proximity to the United States.
Luis Adrián Muñiz, deputy director of economic analysis at Monterrey-based brokerage Vector, said that Mexico’s ranking as the United States’ largest trade partner this year “makes perfect sense” considering the significant investment made by companies that have relocated here from other parts of the world.
Numerous foreign companies have recently set up operations in Mexico, or taken the decision to do so, to take advantage of quick and easy access to their main market – the United States. A range of other factors, including affordable labor costs, the presence of a large educated workforce and growing challenges associated with operating in China have also encouraged firms to relocate to Mexico.
Nearshoring, where foreign businesses relocate production closer to target markets, has proved a winner for Mexico in the last year – with US $18.6 billion flooding into Mexico in Q1 2023 alone. (Wikimedia Commons)
To further develop Mexico’s exporting potential, the country needs a robust and diversified energy sector that includes the generation of electricity from renewables, Correa said.
Marcelo Ebrard, the former foreign affairs minister who resigned in June to focus on winning the ruling Morena party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election, said late last year that Mexico needs to increase the use of renewables “at a rate even faster than the United States” to ensure it can comply with any clean energy requirements the U.S. imposes on exports to that country.
Ebrard subsequently said that Mexico would collaborate with the United States to double its capacity to produce renewable energy by 2030.
President López Obrador on Tuesday emphasized the importance of the trade relationship between Mexico and the United States. He noted that Mexico has recently supplanted Canada as the United States’ largest trade partner and said he was hopeful that the nation he leads would hold onto that position.
“The environment for investment is very good in Mexico, there are unbeatable conditions,” he said, adding that Mexico is the world’s “preferred” country for foreign investment.
President López Obrador said he was inspired to issue the decree after visiting with the Indigenous residents of Santa Catarina last year. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)
In honor of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on Wednesday, Mexican President López Obrador signed a decree to protect a number of Indigenous sacred sites and pilgrimage routes around Mexico.
The sites of Isla del Rey in San Blas; Isla de Alacrán in Chapala; Cerro Gordo in San Bernardino de Milpillas, Durango; Wirikuta in Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí; and Santa Catarina in Jalisco have now been afforded new protections against unwanted development.
A member of the Indigenous Wixárika visits the sacred site of Wirikuta in San Luis Potosí, to harvest peyote, used in rituals and in daily life. The site, threatened by mining interests, was named in President López Obrador’s decree. (Iván Stephens/Cuartoscuro)
Also protected by the decree are pilgrimage routes of the Wixárika (Huichol), Cora and Tepehuano peoples, as well as of the Mexicanero people of Jalisco, Nayarit, Durango and San Luis Potosí.
AMLO said that the decree is partially the result of a visit he made to the community of Santa Catarina, Jalisco, last September. The president also spent much of 2022 visiting Indigenous communities around Mexico to discuss security plans in native communities. Such communities are targeted in several states by criminal groups for aggression, kidnapping and murder. Several Indigenous community leaders have been killed, apparently for fighting against development or criminal incursion on their lands.
The sites included in AMLO’s decree are places that strengthen cohesion among Indigenous peoples, especially now that many such communities have scattered populations across Mexico and even into the United States.
“My government has made the decision to recognize and protect the cultures and spiritual values of the peoples that are the heart of Mexico,” the president said at his morning press conference. “I have instructed all public servants to comply with this decree and stop all attacks [and] invasions of their lands and sacred places.”
The Indigenous people of Santa Catarina, Jalisco, now protected under the decree, continue to live in traditional homes. Some residents speak do not speak Spanish. (Gobierno de Mexico)
Isla del Rey has a long ancestral history for the Wixárika people, who for centuries have made offerings there to the sea goddess Aramara.
The Wixárika consider Isla de Alacrán, located in neighboring Jalisco, to be the place where Earth and the underworld meet through the waters of Lake Chapala.
At Cerro Gordo, the Tepehuan community of San Bernardino of Milpillas, Durango make offerings and conduct rainmaking ceremonies with the participation of council elders, medicine men and civil authorities.
Former president Enrique Peña Nieto celebrates International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in 2015. (Gobierno de Mexico)
San Luis Potosí’s Wirikuta, another sacred site of the Wixárika, is filled with open landscapes where peyote grows wild. The Wixárika make a pilgrimage there every year to collect the hallucinogenic plant for ceremonies and daily use.
Santa Catarina is a community of more than 130 people who live in traditional Indigenous homes and where some people speak only their native language (not Spanish).
90% of expats in Mexico also said they were “happy with their lives,” as opposed to 72% of expats in other countries. (Unsplash)
Every year, InterNations — which bills itself as “world’s largest network for people living and working abroad” — conducts an “expat satisfaction” survey of thousands of its members living all over the world.
Mexico took the spotlight in 2023, with InterNations users voting it the number-one place worldwide to live.
This year’s edition of InterNations’ Expat Insider survey, which polls expats on various factors of their life abroad, ranked Mexico as #1 worldwide in expat satisfaction. (internations.org)
Citing factors like quality of life, feeling welcomed,cost of living,ease of settling in, affordable housing and a beautiful culture,almost 12,000 expats gave Mexico a big thumbs up. And, 90% of expats in Mexico also said they were “happy with their lives,” as opposed to 72% of expats in other countries.
These rave reviews have made many people think more seriously about actually moving to Mexico. But how can you actually do it?
After living in Mexico for almost 20 years, I’ve learned that there’s no single way to make your expat dream a reality. More than 1.5 million Americans live in Mexico, and you can bet each one’s journey was different, with their own style, timetable and priorities.
That being said, here are some tips to make your transition easier and help you relax and enjoy the sometimes bumpy — but always amusing — ride you’ve just begun.
Mexico has a variety of options for medical coverage that expats can access. (IMSS/Cuartoscuro.com)
Do your due diligence
Research everywhere you can think of. Check and double check information. Don’t rely on hearsay; look at Facebook pages, blogs and YouTube, then investigate some more.
Remember: if it sounds too good to be true it probably isn’t true.
Visit the place you’re interested in and see how it actually feels once you’re on the ground. While you’re there, talk to anyone you can; most folks are friendly and willing to answer the millions of questions you’ve probably come up with.
Check out housing and location options
Your new life is going to look very different than the one you’re leaving, and you may not know exactly what that means. Houses, condos and apartments can be found at every price point, with wildly differing amenities. Consider renting for a year or more while you figure out what you want.
As you ponder the future, think about where you see yourself: a busy, cosmopolitan city, a peaceful, rural paradise or something in between, bearing in mind that all those look different in Mexico than what you’re likely used to. Think long and hard about what your priorities are, but if they’re unclear at this point, that’s OK too.
Mexico City is enchanting, but it’s much bigger than what you might normally call a “city.” Keep this in mind when considering the locations you might like to live. (Unsplash)
Explore medical options and facilities
If you’re retiring and of senior age, you’ve probably given this lots of thought already. You’ll be looking for expert medical care by English-speaking professionals, something that’s not available everywhere in Mexico.
As you research, dig deep into details you might not consider in your home country. Check out the local hospitals, clinics and medical centers: what resources and technology do they have? Can they give you a tour of the facilities? Cities with big expat populations, like Puerto Vallarta, have excellent medical resources that will be able to take care of your health needs in a way you’re used to.
You may have heard about Mexican IMSS health insurance, but look beyond the clickbait headlines and do your research! It’s not free: costs depend on age and physical condition. You’ll also want to visit the local general hospital before signing up. While Medicare doesn’t cover costs out of the U.S., some insurances and Advantage Plans do.
Business basics
Where will you keep your money? A bank in your home country, a Mexican bank, or both? Be sure to check if your current bank charges a fee for international withdrawals; if it does, consider switching to another bank that doesn’t.
Cash will take you far in Mexico. Still, you may need to open a Mexican bank account to pay for some services including Internet. (Shutterstock)
How about a phone plan? Mexican companies offer amazing cell phone plans — many of which include free calls to the U.S. and Canada — but maybe you want to keep your U.S. number. Will it work where you’re moving to? If you want access to U.S. TV and streaming channels, how will you manage that?
Update and make copies of personal documents — physically and in the cloud — and consider designating someone in your home country to get your mail and keep copies of your important papers, just in case.
Cost of living
Be very skeptical of articles or videos peddling a one-size-fits-all monthly budget for living in Mexico. Your cost of living can indeed be much lower than in the United States or Canada, but it also depends on your lifestyle and where and how you want to live.
Utilities usually cost much less in Mexico, and rent, property taxes and home prices can be much lower than they are in the rest of North America. On the other hand, if you prefer to live in a new condo with lots of amenities, costs will be higher — potentially much higher.
This graph compares cost of living in various cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, on a scale where New York is 100. (Far Homes)
Question carefully what your costs will be specific to where you’re going and with your preferred lifestyle in mind. Ask on Mexico expat Facebook pages or, better yet, go for a visit and talk to folks in person who actually live there.
There may be some sort of expat meetup group or community center where you can ask some of these questions and get real-time answers and information. Also ask about those sorts of options when you contact the expat online forums. Consider talking to realtors about costs too, although get a recommendation from fellow expats for a realtor to talk to.
No matter how much preparation and research you do, it’s inevitable that there will be unexpected surprises along the way. It helps to remember that you chose to be on this adventure precisely to create and enjoy a new life that isn’t completely the same as what you’d been living before.
Embrace your journey into the unknown of your new expat life with your eyes open but also with a happy heart, a smile on your face and the freedom to create the future you’ve been dreaming of!
The Canadian airline has increased offerings to Mexican coastal airports this winter. Canada is Mexico's second largest source of tourism. (Ken Fielding/Wikimedia)
Canadian carrier WestJet has announced its winter schedule out of Vancouver, featuring six beach destinations in Mexico.
Departing from Vancouver International Airport, the new routes include Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo (starting in December), Mazatlán (starting in November), and Huatulco (starting in October), with additional flights in the updated schedule for Cancún, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta.
The new flights mean a 14% increase in capacity from Vancouver to Mexico. (Martin Kulcar/Wikimedia)
“We are thrilled to bring more opportunities forour guests across B.C.’s Lower Mainland, to seamlessly connect to their favorite destinations across Mexico this winter,” said WestJet Vice-President Chris Avery.
According to WestJet, its winter schedule will see a 14% increase in capacity from Vancouver to Mexico, more than any other airline flying from Canada’s second-busiest airport.
Starting in December, WestJet passengers in the Greater Vancouver Area can also fly out of Abbotsford International Airport to Puerto Vallarta and San José del Cabo.
Mexico is one of the most popular winter destinations for Canadians, and is the second largest source of tourists to Mexico, after the United States. Mexico saw 3.6 million international tourists via air during the final two months of the 2022-23 winter season – an increase of 135.3% compared to 2022. Of these, 656,293 arrived from Canada.
National Action Party Senator Xóchitl Gálvez is currently the opposition coalition's most promising candidate, but a new poll shows her still behind the Morena Party frontrunners. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
The ruling Morena party remains on track to retain the presidency at the 2024 election, but the popularity of the leading opposition aspirant is on the rise, a new poll found.
Published on Tuesday, the results of an El Financiero newspaper poll show that former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and ex-foreign affairs minister Marcelo Ebrard — the leading aspirants to the Morena candidacy — would win the June 2, 2024 election if pitted against National Action Party (PAN) Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, who is vying for the nomination of the opposition Broad Front for Mexico (FAM) alliance.
The poll pitted in a hypothetical election ex-Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, left, against Gálvez and Nuevo León Governor Samuel García (who said he’s not running in 2024). Most respondents (42%) chose Sheinbaum, but the gap between her and Gálvez has now tightened to only eight points. (Claudia Sheinbaum/Twitter)
However, the popularity gap between Sheinbaum and Gálvez, as well as Ebrard and Gálvez, narrowed in the second half of last month.
The successor to President López Obrador, who founded Morena, will take office on Oct. 1 2024.
Asked who they would vote for in a presidential election in which Sheinbaum, Gálvez and current Nuevo León Governor Samuel García were the candidates, 42% of 500 respondents to the poll conducted over July 28 and July 29 opted for the former Mexico City mayor, whose popularity increased one percentage point compared to the 41% support she had among those surveyed by El Financiero on July 17 and 18.
Gálvez, who would represent the PAN, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) if chosen as the Broad Front for Mexico candidate, attracted the support of 34% of respondents, up from 30% in the previous poll.
El Financiero also pitted former Foreign Affairs minister and Morena hopeful Marcelo Ebrard against Gálvez in a separate hypothetical contest. He did two percentage points better against her than did Claudia Sheinbaum. (Marcelo Ebrard/Twitter)
The gap between Sheinbaum and Gálvez thus decreased from 11 points to eight points.
García, who said in December that he was interested in contesting the 2024 presidential election but subsequently ruled out a run until 2030, attracted 8% support in both polls, while 16% of respondents to the latter one said they had not yet decided who they would vote for next June, down from 21% earlier in July.
In a second mock contest, 44% of respondents said they would vote for Ebrard, up from 42% in the previous El Financiero poll. Gálvez once again attracted 34% support, an increase of four percentage points compared to 11 days earlier.
The gap between Ebrard and Gálvez thus narrowed to 10 points from 12.
The improvement in Gálvez’s poll performance coincides with the growth in the profile of the senator, an indigenous Otomí woman from Hidalgo who emerged as the most likely FAM candidate about a month ago.
Santiago Creel, another main hopeful for the Broad Front for Mexico candidacy, polled nine percentage points below Xóchitl Gálvez. (Michael Balam/Cuartoscuro)
Her growing popularity, as shown by the results of the latest El Financiero poll, may hearten the 60-year-old Hidalgo native, but the path to becoming Mexico’s first female president remains a challenging one.
The results of a recent poll conducted for the El País newspaper and W Radio showed that Gálvez needs to overcome a gap of 30 points to defeat Sheinbaum in next year’s presidential election and a 20-point gap to beat Ebrard. Just to get to the starting line in the race for the nation’s top job, she will have to see off a field of formidable FAM aspirants, including Deputy Santiago Creel, a former interior minister, and Enrique de la Madrid, an ex-tourism minister and son of Miguel de la Madrid, president from 1982 to 1988.
El Financiero found that Gálvez is the preferred PAN-PRI-PRD candidate of 23% of respondents, while Creel and de la Madrid attracted support of 14% and 13%, respectively. Senator Miguel Ángel Mancera, a former Mexico City mayor, was nominated as the best option for the FAM by 12% of those polled, while 8% opted for Senator Beatriz Paredes, a former ambassador to Brazil.
Sheinbaum, a physicist and environmental scientist who served as Mexico City’s environment minister when López Obrador was mayor of the capital in the early 2000s, remains the preferred candidate for Morena, which leads an alliance that also includes the Labor Party (PT) and the Ecological Green Party of Mexico (PVEM). Twenty-eight per cent of Morena voters polled by El Financiero in late July chose the ex-mayor as their preferred Morena-PT-PVEM candidate, while 21% opted for Ebrard — another former Mexico City mayor — 15% selected ex-interior minister Adán Augusto López and 9% nominated former PT deputy Gerardo Fernández Noroña.
Sheinbaum’s advantage over Ebrard narrowed to seven points compared to 10 earlier in July.
The two other aspirants to the Morena nomination, former senator Ricardo Monreal and ex-governor of Chiapas Manuel Velasco, were each nominated as the preferred candidate by 5% of respondents.
Popular Nuevo León Governor Samuel García was chosen by 8% of respondents despite him having put off a run for president until 2030. (Samuel Garcia/Twitter)
The Morena-PT-PVEM and FAM aspirants are currently campaigning across Mexico ahead of polling and citizen votes that will determine the two blocs’ candidates for the 2024 election. Both alliances are scheduled to announce their standard bearers in early September.
While Gálvez has had a meteoric rise, Sheinbaum is getting greater cut-through with citizens, the El Financiero poll suggests. Asked which aspirant they’ve seen or heard from the most in recent days, 26% nominated Sheinbaum, 21% mentioned Gálvez and 15% selected Ebrard.
Almost one quarter of respondents — 24% — said that Morena will easily win next year’s presidential election, while an additional 20% predicted that the ruling party will triumph in a competitive contest. Just 17% of those polled believe the opposition bloc will win, while 36% said the result is uncertain.
The Citizens Movement party has indicated it will also field a presidential candidate, but there appears to be some chance it will join the FAM alliance. Voters will also renew both houses of federal Congress at the June 2, 2024 election, while the governorships of eight states and the mayoralty of Mexico City will also be up for grabs.
President Francisco Madero, who overthrew dictator Porfirio Díaz, was guided by his belief that he could communicate with the spirits of the dead - including former president Beníto Juárez. (Library of Congress)
Spiritualism (called espiritismo or “spiritism” in Latin America) — the practice of communicating with the spirits of the dead — originated in Europe, but after being introduced by French educator Allan Kardec (real name Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail)in the 1850s, it quickly spread throughout Europe, the United States and Latin America.
The practice found fertile ground in Mexico, a country that already celebrated Day of the Dead and had an Indigenous population that believed in sorcery, spells, witchcraft and a connection between the living and their dead ancestors.
President Francisco I. Madero believed he could commune with spirits, something which profoundly shaped his personal politics. (Library of Congress)
Given Mexico’s history, it’s not entirely surprising that spiritism had appeal: in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, Indigenous people were being converted to Catholicism and told to abandon their own spiritual beliefs.
In the period following Mexico’s independence from Spain and until the Mexican Revolution, there was a schism between the government and the Catholic Church. People needed something to believe in that bridged Catholic doctrine and their long-held beliefs. Spiritism provided that bridge.
What may be surprising to many is the number of former Mexican presidents, business leaders and other historical figures who embraced spiritism. One of the most famous Mexican spiritists was former president Francisco I. Madero (1911–1913), who believed that spirits guided his political career.
In his memoir, “The Spiritist Manual,” written under the pseudonym Bhima, Madero laid out his personal philosophy based on spiritism. Author C.M. Mayo discovered the book while conducting research on Madero in the archives of Mexico’s National Palace and translated it into English.
Madero — nicknamed the “Apostle of Democracy” — was born in Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila, in 1873. Born into a wealthy family, he was educated in the United States and Europe and developed a “positivist” philosophy that prioritized science over religion.
After discovering the concept of spiritism while traveling through Europe, Madero came to believe that his pen held a direct channel to the afterlife. (Library of Congress)
According to his memoir, Madero first came across Kardec’s writings on spiritism in a magazine he found among his father’s books. It seemed to fit with his positivist thinking and led him to return to Europe to explore it further.
While in Europe, he participated in seances and came to believe that he had been gifted with the ability of “mechanical writing” — a way of supposedly communicating with the dead through involuntary/unconscious writing. Upon his return to Mexico, Madero began secretly hosting spiritist sessions and attending seances.
By 1900, he says in “The Spiritist Manual,” he’d had his first contact with his younger brother Raúl, who died in an accident at the age of three. Raúl convinced him to become a vegetarian and become a teetotaller, Madero said.
Later, Madero would claim to also communicate with other spirits, including his uncle José Ramiro — a renowned politician and former governor of Coahuila — and with the spirit of former president Benito Juárez, who Madero said signed his communications as “BJ.”
Madero claimed to have contacted the spirit of President Benito Juárez, considered by many to be among Mexico’s greatest leaders. (INAH)
Madero’s memoir says that Ramiro and Juárez guided him to start the Mexican Revolution in 1910, by encouraging him to write the San Luis Potosí plan, which called for armed revolution to start across Mexico on November 20, 1910. Ramiro supposedly told Madero that he would lead a transformation of the country. Benito Juárez’s spirit helped Madero formulate his ideas of implementing a commonwealth for all people with equality and respect for the rule of law, he said.
Madero made it clear in his memoir that spiritism informed his every action. And, indeed, he seemed a true believer: Juárez’s spirit had instructed him from beyond the grave, and he would respect his messages; after victoriously marching into Mexico City to oust the dictator Porfirio Díaz he respected the rule of law and didn’t just declare himself president. Instead, Madero announced they would conduct a fair and legal presidential election — which he won.
However, heroes of the Mexican Revolution devolved further and further into factionism, some felt the now-President Madero had not moved quickly enough to provide concrete solutions to the people’s problems. His political enemies denounced his spiritism to discredit him. Newspapers began ridiculing him — portraying him in cartoons as a medium at seances communicating with ghosts of the past.
In 1913, when rebels marched into the capital, Madero looked to his former ally army commander Victoriano Huerta for protection – only to be betrayed, arrested, and executed.
Madero believed that Juárez’s spirit inspired him to begin the revolution that eventually ended in the toppling of dictator Porfirio Díaz — but also his own execution. (Bain News Service/U.S. Library of Congress)
Madero was not the only Mexican president who likely believed in spiritism. Former president Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–1928) was also said to have attended spiritism sessions once a month, along with a group of other politicians and intellectuals. Together, they had a medium contact spirits for them. Calles was also said to hold his own sessions to get political predictions from the spirits that would then guide his actions.
These details come from the book “Una Ventana al Mundo Invisible” (“A Window to the Invisible World”), which contains meticulously documented records of dozens and dozens of seances held by the Mexican Institute for Psychic Research (IMIS) from 1940 to 1952, including the names and signatures of members and participants.
The IMIS was founded by a distinguished Mexican banker Rafael Álvarez y Álvarez (1887–1955) who had also been a congressman and senator.
According to the records, not only was Calles — then in retirement — a regular participant but so was former president Miguel Alemán (1946–1952) and several Mexican generals, ambassadors, bankers, a Supreme Court justice, the ex-ministers of Foreign Relations and of Finance and an ex-director of the Bank of Mexico.
Day of the Dead, during which many Mexicans believe their ancestors return to visit, is an enormously important part of Mexican culture. It’s perhaps no surprise that some Mexican leaders also shared a profound belief in communication with the afterlife. (El Motivo de Viajar)
The sessions were conducted by Mexican medium Luís Martínez. According to recorded accounts, these seances included a broad spectrum of supposedly supernatural phenomena, including apparitions, spirit guides, and levitation.
These may all have been “parlor tricks,” but they do show the historical belief among Mexicans — including those in power — in seeking out and speaking to spirits, a belief embodied today in the Day of the Dead when the deceased come back to visit their family and friends.
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.
Tulum's new Jaguar Park, the site of a new INAH museum, is currently under construction. (INAH)
Construction of two museum sites in Tulum and at the Calakmul archaeological zone in Campeche — part of the Maya Train project — are moving forward, said National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) head Diego Prieto Hernández.
During President López Obrador’s Monday morning press conference, Prieto provided an update on the new sites.
Construction work on the Maya Train project has led to a wealth of new archeological discoveries, which the government will showcase in two new museums. (Martín Zetina/Cuartoscuro)
The Tulum museum will be located in the under-construction nature reserve, Jaguar National Park. According to Prieto, the Tulum museum’s sample script — a visual guide to navigating from room to room in a museum — is 90% complete.
Meanwhile, “the Calakmul [museum] will display many of the archeological objects that have been discovered thanks to the participation of hundreds of specialists,” Prieto said.
An onsite museum will be built at the Calakmul archaeological site, INAH announced. The current museum is located nearby but offsite. Prieto said that research work in this area was 22% complete, with infrastructure and signage at 20% and 10% completion respectively.
Prieto also provided updates on the 12 archaeological zones along Sections 5,6 and 7 of the Maya Train route that are benefitting from the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), a government initiative to restore sites along the train route in preparation for increased tourism.
The ancient city of Calakmul, Campeche is a World Heritage Site. (INAH)
To date, archaeologists working with Promeza have uncovered thousands of artifacts in these three sections, Prieto said. These include more than 35,000 ruins and/or structures; over 500 artifacts, 200,00 pottery shards; 106 gravesites and more than 1,600 associated natural features.
“Without a doubt, the largest number of vestiges in terms of ruins, dwellings, roads, platforms, housing units, palaces and other types of building have been found in these areas,” Prieto said.
“Recovering its materials will give us a new vision of the future of the Maya civilization in our territory.”
Mexico's per capita water supply has declined by an average of 30% between 1996 and 2020, says water commission Conagua. (Crisanta Espinosa Aguilar/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s average per-person water supply was at its lowest level in at least 24 years during 2020, according to data from the National Water Commission (Conagua).
The average person received 240 liters per day in 2020, Conagua’s figures show, a 31.1% decrease from the 348.3 liters they received in 1996.
A lack of appropriate water treatment facilities means that a significant amount of water is contaminated and lost, instead of reused. (Cuartoscuro)
Twenty-five of Mexico’s 32 states registered decreases over the recorded period, while just seven registered increases.
The sharpest drop was in the state of Oaxaca, which saw a 61.3% reduction in per capita supply, from 276.4 liters per day to 107 liters per day — barely over the 100 liters per day recommended by the World Health Organization as a minimum requirement per person.
The second sharpest drop was in Hidalgo, whose per capita water supply dropped 53.9% to 121 liters per day, followed by Chiapas, which saw a 52.6% drop to 134 liters per day.
On the other end of the spectrum, Guerrero’s per capita supply increased 56.7% to 213 liters per day, Colima’s increased 21.5% to 519 liters and Durango’s went up 11.7% to 262 liters. Michoacán also saw a 33.5% increase between 1996 and 2016, the last year on record in the state.
Per capita water supply is an average number, not a reflection of reality for every resident. So, despite the numbers showing an increase in available water in Guerrero, many in the state don’t have reliable access. (Dassaev Telléz Adame/Cuartoscuro)
Experts who spoke to the newspaper El Economista blamed a range of factors for the drop in supply, including changing population distribution, agricultural usage, declining rainfall and poor water management.
“It is definitely a lack of planning and management, and not [just] of the last five administrations,” said Juan Francisco Bustamante, president of the Mexican Association for Proper Water Hydration.
“In the last 50 years, the demographic growth of urban centers, the need for water and [the need for] best use were not foreseen,” he said. “There is a lack of 100% water reuse. Rainwater is not captured, [and] it goes to the drain and is contaminated.”
Rainfall in Mexico has also decreased, resulting in serious droughts. Precipitation in the first half of 2023 was30% below 2022 levels, although it isexpected to normalize for the majority of the country during the coming months. An exception is a continued water deficit in the northeast.
The government has suggested using specially modified aircraft to induce rainfall in drought-hit regions of the country, but farmers would rather see increased water management, something that some experts agree isn’t addressed enough in Mexico. (Cuartoscuro)
While the Mexican government has launched new artificial cloud seeding programs to stimulate rainfall — in which aircraft are used to stimulate rainfall in humid areas — some farmers have told media outlets that they would prefer the government to invest in more efficient ways to use water resources.
Manuel Cohen, a member of the Institute of Social Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), told El Economista that policies such as desalination, the accumulation of underground reserves, improved agricultural processes, recycling of wastewater and rainwater harvesting could help address water shortages.
He pointed out that, although all of Mexico’s states meet the WHO’s recommendation of 100 liters per person per day on average, this is an average statistic that does not reflect the full scope of water supply issues in Mexico.
“There are areas where they do not receive a single liter,” he said.
