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Made in Mexico and the US: 250 years of a bilateral relationship

By
María Meléndez
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Merging of flags for Mexico and the U.S.
The bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Mexico stretches back centuries, and the histories of the two countries are in many ways inseparable. (Wireworks/Dreamstime)

This year, the United States of America turned 250. This piece isn’t about the fireworks over the National Mall, the commemorative coins or the flotillas of tall ships — that’s already been covered amply elsewhere. What I want to consider is what those 250 years of American history look like from south of the border, for the simple reason that this is the anniversary of the country that has, in many ways, shaped what Mexico is.

This isn’t so different from what we do when we raise a toast at a friend’s or a loved one’s birthday: you tell their story through what you’ve lived together. Mexico and the United States are two nations bound by an extraordinarily complicated shared history — you cannot toast a neighbor’s 250th without also telling the story of the land that changed hands, and the family members who ended up on opposite sides of it without ever moving. That story is 250 years of proximity, collaboration, a shared economy, resentment at times and, more recently, an entanglement so deep that neither country can fully separate its fate from the other’s.

An asymmetry baked in from the start

Battle of Cerro Gordo in the Mexican-American War
The U.S. had a decades-long start on Mexico in gaining independence. This head start was evident in the Mexican-American War from 1846 to 1848, which future U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant would call “one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation.” Mexico lost 55% of its territory in the war. (Public Domain)

The U.S. declared independence in 1776. Mexico would not exist as a sovereign nation for another 45 years. That head start — institutional, territorial and demographic — is the foundational fact of the entire relationship, and it never really went away. As historians Marcela Terrazas, Gerardo Gurza, Paolo Riguzzi and Patricia de los Ríos argue in their sweeping account of two centuries of bilateral relations, no single country has done more to shape Mexico’s face than its northern neighbor — and, they add, no single country has shaped the United States quite the way Mexico has, either. It is a two-way influence, but never a two-way power.

By the time Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, the U.S. was already a functioning republic with expansionist ambitions clearly in view. Mexico spent its first decades of nationhood consumed by internal conflict, foreign debt and the near-constant threat of losing more territory. The two nations were never starting from the same place, and the 19th century made sure that gap would only widen.

The founding wound: 1846-1848

If there is one chapter of this relationship that the commemorative columns circulating this July have carefully avoided, it’s this one. The Mexican-American War ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, under which Mexico ceded roughly 55% of its national territory — what is now California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Texas.

Albert Camarillo, a Stanford historian specializing in Mexican American history, has pointed out something that rarely makes it into Fourth of July retrospectives: tens of thousands of Mexicans became part of the United States without ever crossing a border. The border crossed them. Overnight, longtime residents of what had been northern Mexico were told they had a year to decide whether to leave or accept citizenship under a new set of laws — laws that, in practice, did little to stop Anglo settlers from seizing land from Mexican families still nursing the wounds of a war they’d just lost.

Camarillo’s broader point, made in recent interviews tied to the anniversary, is that this omission isn’t necessarily deliberate malice — it’s the residue of Manifest Destiny, the doctrine popularized by John L. O’Sullivan holding that U.S. expansion across the continent was divinely ordained. Under that framing, what existed on the other side of an advancing frontier simply didn’t matter. That framing, Camarillo argues, still shapes how the country tells its own origin story today. It’s hard to disagree when you notice how rarely this war appears in the flood of 250th-anniversary retrospectives — American or Mexican.

Investment, intervention and distrust: From the Porfiriato to the Mexican Revolution

The late 19th century brought a different kind of asymmetry: economic rather than territorial. Under Porfirio Díaz, American capital poured into Mexican railroads, mining and oil, embedding a dependency that would outlast the dictatorship itself. When revolution broke out in 1910, Washington did not stay neutral for long. In 1914, U.S. Marines occupied the port of Veracruz, ostensibly over an arms-delivery dispute, in reality asserting the kind of leverage a much larger power reserves for a much smaller one. The pattern that would define the next century was already visible: economic dependency, punctuated by direct intervention whenever Washington judged its interests were at stake.

When the relationship became human: 1942-1986

 

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If the 19th century was about land, the mid-20th century was about labor — and it’s here that the story stops being about loss. In 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt launched the Bracero Program, formalizing decades of informal labor migration and bringing millions of Mexican workers into American fields and railroads during wartime labor shortages. In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed an amnesty that regularized the status of roughly 3 million people, the vast majority of Mexican origin — a single stroke of policy that reshaped the lives of entire extended families on both sides of the border.

These decades produced the counterweight to everything the 19th century took away: a human relationship that no treaty fully anticipated. Today, roughly 26 million Mexican Americans hold dual nationality, U.S.-born but entitled to claim Mexico as their own. Add another 8 million Mexican-born residents living in the United States, and you get a demographic reality no government on either side can legislate around: millions of families who belong, fully and without contradiction, to both nations. If the war of 1848 was the wound, this is the scar tissue — not painless, but binding.

Economic integration, formalized: From NAFTA to the USMCA

By the 1990s, the relationship’s center of gravity had shifted again, this time toward formal economic integration. NAFTA in 1994, followed by its 2020 successor, the USMCA, tied the two economies together. The numbers today tell the story better than any treaty language: Mexican exports to the United States hit a record $54.18 billion in May alone, a 17.5% year-over-year jump. That is not a trading relationship anymore. It’s a shared circulatory system — and it is precisely why any disruption to it now carries consequences neither government can afford to treat lightly.

The present: tariffs, extraditions and a treaty under review

Which brings us to the summer of this 250th anniversary, when the pattern that has defined this relationship since 1848 is once again on full display — just dressed in 21st-century language. President Claudia Sheinbaum has spent recent weeks insisting the USMCA is not at risk, confirming Mexico has already signed on to extend the treaty for another 16 years, while Washington has refused to endorse an automatic extension, forcing the region to undergo yearly reviews. Steel and aluminum tariffs sit at 50% for Mexican producers, with U.S. trade officials signaling — but not confirming — that adjustments might be coming.

Meanwhile, the security side of the relationship has moved at its own accelerated pace: Mexico has transferred 92 people wanted by U.S. authorities to American custody in under a year, a rate of extraditions with few precedents. But security, like trade, has never been a problem either country can solve unilaterally on its own side of the line. The same asymmetry that shapes tariffs and treaties shows up here too — Washington has been far quicker to demand cooperation on cartels and fentanyl than to confront the flow of American guns south or the demand that sustains the drug trade in the first place. If the last 250 years have taught both countries anything, it’s that neither the border nor what crosses it belongs to just one country.

250 years later, still not equals — but no longer separable

For 250 years, the United States and Mexico have never related to each other as equals. Not in 1846, not in 1914, not in the tariff negotiations happening in Washington conference rooms.

There are 26 million Mexican American citizens in the U.S., evidence that communities can span both sides of the border. (Pew Research Center)

But somewhere between the war that took half our territory and the 26 million people who now hold both nations’ passports without contradiction, the relationship stopped being one a treaty could fully contain. We are not just neighbors who share a border. We are, whether either government finds it convenient or not, a single, unevenly stitched-together community that no longer has the option of imagining its future separately. That is the real anniversary worth marking — not because it is comfortable, but because it is true.

Maria Meléndez writes for Mexico News Daily in Mexico City.

Health regulator flags fake bottles of Gran Centenario tequila following deadly poisonings

By
MND Staff
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gran centenario
The warning comes after bottles of adulterated tequila branded as Gran Centenario were linked to the deaths of five people who attended a recent 15th birthday party in Salamanca, Guanajuato. (Gran Centenario)

The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) issued a warning on Monday due to the “falsification and adulteration” of bottles of Gran Centenario Anejo (aged) tequila.

The warning comes after bottles of adulterated tequila branded as Gran Centenario were linked to the deaths of five people who attended a recent 15th birthday party in Salamanca, Guanajuato. Twenty-eight other people fell ill after consuming tequila at the party, according to the newspaper Milenio, which called the phony Gran Centenario the “tequila of death.”

The adulterated tequila was reportedly purchased at the Central de Abastos market in León, Guanajuato. Authorities in Guanajuato are investigating the five fatalities in Salamanca as well as the death of a man in Irapuato who is also believed to have consumed adulterated tequila.

In its “health alert,” Cofepris warned consumers about the “falsification and adulteration” of Gran Centenario Anejo “tequila reposado” (rested or lightly aged tequila). The warning applies to 950 ml bottles with the batch number L 061 24.

Cofepris said that the issuance of its warning followed “actions of sanitary control” and the identification by Casa Cuervo, the owner of the Gran Centenario brand, of “product irregularities.”

“The counterfeit and adulterated product was sold through online sales platforms and does not comply with the specifications set forth in [regulation] ‘NOM-142-SSA/SCFI-2014. Alcoholic Beverages: Health Specifications, Health and Commercial Labeling.’ As a result, it poses a risk to public health, since the raw materials used are unknown, as are the conditions under which it was produced, bottled, stored and distributed,” Cofepris said.

The commission said “it should be noted that this alert applies only to the GRAN CENTENARIO AÑEJO brand reposado tequila with batch number L 061 24 and a net content of 950 mL, with the following irregularities:

  • The front label lacks embossing.
  • The cap is loose.”

Cofepris warned consumers not to purchase bottles of tequila branded as Gran Centenario with the batch number L 061 24 and the “irregularities identified in this alert.” If anyone has information about the “possible commercialization” of the phony tequila they should file a “sanitary report,” Cofepris said.

What to do before purchasing a bottle of alcohol 

Before buying “any alcoholic beverage,” consumers should carry out a “physical inspection of the product,” Cofepris said in its alert.

liquor bottles
Check your liquor bottles for leak-proof seals and legitimate labeling, especially if you buy them online or at a market. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)

According to the health regulator, bottles of alcoholic beverages sold in Mexico must have:

  • A label with “good print quality” that is free of spelling mistakes and not “poorly stuck” to the bottle.
  • An SAT federal tax administration label and QR code on the neck of the bottle or on the brand’s label.
  • Seals and stamps “without alterations, tears or excess glue.”
  • Caps that don’t easily move when turned or that allow the content of the bottle to leak.

Cofepris also said that bottles of alcohol shouldn’t have any indentations or scratches. In addition, it said that the label of an alcoholic beverage must include the name of the product, the country of origin, the percentage of alcohol, the batch number, the name and address of the producer, bottler or importer and a message warning of health risks associated with the abuse of alcohol.

With reports from La Silla Rota and Milenio

Leaked audios suggest BC governor sought deal with FBI to avoid US charges and extradition

By
MND Staff
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4
Marina del Pilar
It remains unclear what charges, if any, the 40-year-old Baja California governor could face in the United States. (Presidencia/Cuartoscuro)

In a telephone conversation with one man identified as an “external” FBI adviser and another man identified as an FBI “special agent,” Baja California Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda — who was stripped of her U.S. tourist visa last year — said she is willing to cooperate with U.S. authorities, apparently in order to avoid possible criminal charges in the United States and extradition to that country.

An audio recording in which Ávila speaks of her willingness to collaborate with U.S. authorities was published by the newspaper El Universal on Monday in a column by journalist Héctor de Mauleón. The column is headlined “In new audio, Marina del Pilar offers to collaborate with the FBI.”

In one section of the recording, Ávila says: “They’re saying they’re going to charge me and file an extradition order. I’m always willing to speak about everything I know, how to help, how to cooperate. I can say what I’ve heard in security meetings.”

The governor, who represents the ruling Morena party, has confirmed the authenticity of the audio recording published by El Universal on Monday as well as another recording published by the same newspaper last month in which she expressed her willingness to “clarify anything” to U.S. authorities that needs to be clarified.

In a statement to the media, the social communication department of the Baja California government said that “the recordings disseminated correspond to fragments of a private conversation with people who introduced themselves as agents or intermediaries of U.S. authorities without formally confirming said representation.”

“During the conversation, these people set out different legal scenarios without presenting documents, identification or official requests to support their claims,” the statement said.

The Baja California government also said that the references to “cooperation and exchange of information correspond exclusively to institutional coordination on security matters that Baja California, as a border entity, maintains with the authorities of Mexico and the United States.”

The publication of the second recording comes 14 months after Ávila revealed that the United States had revoked tourist visas for her and her then-husband, Carlos Torres Torres. The governor denied any wrongdoing, saying that the revocation of her visa was “an administrative decision, not an accusation.”

Baja California governor confirms criminal probe into ex-husband

In January, Ávila confirmed that the Federal Attorney General’s Office was investigating her ex-husband, a former federal deputy, for crimes related to arms trafficking, drug trafficking and money laundering.

It was unclear what charges, if any, the 40-year-old Baja California governor could face in the United States. Asked by the FBI adviser “the charges” the governor faces or “the crime” she is accused of, a man said to be an FBI special agent responds: “I can’t discuss that in detail. That would have to be a discussion between our prosecutor and her [lawyer].”

Another Morena party governor, Rubén Rocha Moya of Sinaloa, is accused by U.S. prosecutors of drug trafficking in league with the Sinaloa Cartel.

The New York Times reported in late June that “elected officials in the country’s governing party” — including governors and members of Congress — “have been quietly offering themselves to U.S. authorities as informants against fellow party members, according to eight people involved in the conversations.”

‘A final chance’?

At the start of the most recent recording published by El Universal, a man identified by de Mauleón as an FBI special agent, speaking in English, says: “I think they’re going to offer a final last chance.”

“That was the special agent,” the FBI adviser tells Ávila in Spanish.

The special agent was referring to a “final chance” for Ávila, governor since late 2021, to cooperate with U.S. authorities before charges against her are possibly laid in the United States.

Ávila points out that she has already met with U.S. authorities.

However, the special agent says: “Essentially there is a lot of frustration right now with the U.S. government because the three meetings … were not productive.”

Ávila says she doesn’t want to have any more meetings with U.S. authorities because “they’ve behaved very badly.”

“… I haven’t seen any progress, any attention,” she says.

At one stage of the recording, Ávila questions whether she is going to be sanctioned by OFAC, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. She says she has two bank accounts in the United States. The FBI adviser responds that he doesn’t know anything about possible sanctions.

Later in the recording, the governor asks whether a U.S. prosecutor will contact her lawyer, Miami-based Michael Nadler. The FBI adviser indicates that will happen, and Ávila subsequently says she doesn’t want to cross into the United States for more meetings with U.S. authorities. She expresses her preference for meeting with U.S. authorities at a hotel rather than at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, the largest city in the state she governs.

Ávila also says she is privy to a lot of security information and asks whether there is anything in particular that U.S. authorities “want to know.”

García Harfuch: No indication that Ávila will provide ‘confidential information’ to US authorities 

At President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said that in the audio recording published on Monday, it cannot be “inferred” that Ávila is going to provide “confidential information” to U.S. authorities.

Security Minister Omar García Harfuch came to the partial defense of the Baja California governor on Tuesday, saying that there is no proof she gave "confidential" details to the United States government.
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch came to the partial defense of the Baja California governor on Tuesday, saying that there is no proof she gave “confidential” details to the United States government. (Carlos Ramos Mamahua/Presidencia)

García Harfuch also said that in state security meetings, information with a high degree of “sensitivity,” whose disclosure to another authority would be concerning, is not presented or discussed.

The only things presented in such meetings — which are attended by federal, state and municipal officials — are crime statistics and information on “priority targets” and “ongoing cases,” he said.

Sheinbaum: It is not known who Ávila spoke to

Asked about the recording published on Monday, Sheinbaum noted that Ávila already provided her own explanation.

“It’s really not even known who she was speaking to,” she added.

“What we have is a telephone call that was made public by a journalist,” Sheinbaum said.

“… We don’t know who the person is. We don’t even know if he is from the U.S. authorities or not,” she said.

Sheinbaum asserted that Ávila has not put the security of Baja California — one of Mexico’s most violent states — at risk in any way.

Sheinbaum: Ávila’s call is not comparable to the ‘Chihuahua case’

A reporter asked Sheinbaum whether it was “valid” for Ávila to be offering security information to the U.S. government after — in light of the CIA’s alleged involvement in a drug lab raid in Chihuahua in April without the knowledge or authorization of the Mexican government — she reminded governors that the bilateral relationship with the United States is conducted solely by federal authorities.

Sheinbaum asserted that the “Chihuahua case” is different as “it is proven” that U.S. agents were operating in Mexican territory. “That is a flagrant violation of the National Security Law,” she said.

Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos
Chihuahua Governor Maru Campos has been at the center of a controversy over the unauthorized participation of the CIA in an anti-drug trafficking operation in her state. (Maru Campos/Facebook)

Sheinbaum characterized Ávila’s telephone call, and the governor’s apparent offer to provide information to U.S. authorities, as much less serious.

“It’s a call she has with people who we don’t even know who they are, whether they belong to the U.S. government or not,” she said.

“… If it has to be investigated, let it be investigated. But they’re two completely different things,” Sheinbaum said.

She said later in the press conference that the federal government doesn’t believe that Ávila has committed a crime by offering to provide security information to U.S. authorities.

“We don’t think there is a crime to prosecute because in this communication there isn’t anything related to compromising security,” Sheinbaum said.

In Ávila’s telephone conversation, “nothing is heard that compromises national security or the security of the state of Baja California,” the president asserted.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

Campeche’s bees, vital for Indigenous bioculture, present their case for legal rights

By
MND Staff
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a bee
Key bee populations in Campeche are facing die-offs due to deforestation, pesticides and climate change. The court case is seen as a step toward improving the situation. (Boris Smokrovic/Unsplash)

Mexico’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear a landmark case that could recognize bees as subjects of rights, a move Indigenous communities say is critical to protecting both biodiversity and their own cultural survival.

In an amparo case — a Mexican constitutional injunction used to defend fundamental rights — a group of Maya communities in the southeastern state of Campeche is asking the high court to grant legal standing to melipona bees native to the area.

Hopelchenin Campeche map locator
The Campeche municipality of Hopelchén, located toward the bottom of the map, 93 kilometers due west of the city of Campeche and 174 kilometers south of Mérida, is the state’s most productive beekeeping and agricultural region and home to the communities involved in the rights case. (Google Maps)

The case also asks that Indigenous beekeepers be recognized as the guardians of these stingless honeybees, which are facing mass die-offs linked to deforestation for soy production, heavy pesticide use and climate change.

These hardships have threatened a honey industry that underpins local livelihoods and biocultural heritage, the lawsuit says.

Activists say authorities at all levels have failed to guarantee the constitutional right to a clean and safe environment, or to investigate complaints over habitat destruction and toxic chemicals. 

The lawsuit, taken up last week with eight votes in favor and one against, also challenges regulatory agencies for allegedly ignoring calls to treat bees as rights-bearing entities and Maya communities as their legal representatives.

The communities involved in the case are in the inland municipality of Hopelchén, the state’s most productive beekeeping and agricultural region. 

Soybean cultivation there has expanded rapidly and is directly tied to deforestation and glyphosate-heavy industrial agriculture, with studies noting that the area’s forests are being cleared “at a dizzying rate.”

Justice Irving Espinosa Betanzo said the case “allows us to study the ancestral relationship of the Maya community with bees [and] whether Indigenous communities can be guardians of nature.”

Mexico is home to about 1,900 bee species, including at least 46 native stingless bee species, 19 of which are traditionally managed by Indigenous communities.

The honey and propolis (sometimes called “bee glue”) from the melipona bees — stingless honey-producers native to Mexico and Central America — have shown antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and potential anti-cancer properties in studies of diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.

Mexico’s rights-of-nature debate is also playing out at sea.

Last year, a coalition of organizations filed an amparo on behalf of Gulf of California whales, arguing that the animals have an inalienable right to a safe, livable environment. In that case, a federal judge blocked mega-ship traffic tied to a planned LNG export terminal.

With reports from La Jornada, Wired en Español and UniVerso

Am I being disrespectful? A reflection on living in San Miguel as an American intern

By
Jared Tucker
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collection of overseas travel books lined up on bookshelf
Jared Tucker ponders how he can be a more respectful visitor while living in San Miguel de Allende for two months. (Shutterstock)

Last week, I walked into a bakery in the heart of San Miguel de Allende. 

I was not looking for a full loaf of bread, a sandwich or some elaborate pastry. I just wanted a small piece of sourdough that I could slice open and add some sandwich meat to. Nothing fancy, nothing special. 

I found what I was looking for quickly. That was the easy part. Next came ordering; that was the hard part. 

I arrived in San Miguel de Allende nearly three weeks ago to start a journalism internship with Mexico News Daily. I came to Mexico with next to no Spanish skills. I studied the language for five years in middle and high school, but easy access to Google Translate (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic years) stunted my language development. I tried again to learn more in the months before I left, but it was nowhere near enough to feel comfortable having a conversation with a native speaker.

So here I was muttering “puedo tener…?” while pointing at the bread because I did not know how to say “sourdough.” It was not until later that I found out that starting with “quiero” is a more apt lead-in while ordering, at least for a foreigner. The cashier rang me up and asked me if I wanted anything else in rapid Spanish. I was only able to catch the word “algo,” which luckily I knew. I told her no, and then she told me the price. 

The amount was not too much of a concern to me because, like a true American, I had no interest in fumbling through my wallet to count my change and pay in cash. I tapped my card on a payment worth about US $0.30 and went on with my day. 

It was not until later while lying in my bed struggling to fall asleep that I thought back on that interaction. How disrespectful am I for coming to a foreign country for nine weeks while barely having a grasp on the language? Am I also being rude for using a credit card on a tiny purchase in a place where cash is the norm? 

Many Americans, especially in our ever-polarizing society, detest hearing other languages or broken English spoken in the United States, despite most Americans being unable to speak other languages. I came to San Miguel knowing it was a tourist town where I could get by with English, but I never expected that locals would cater to my language. I realized that back home, I never made the effort to make my servers’ lives easier, while they learned one of the most complicated languages in the world to help mine.

Even the act of tapping a credit card on autopilot can make a foreigner question if they are being disrespectful. (Nathana Reboucas/Unsplash)

Is that me being rude or them being nice? Do they dislike that they have to speak a language they are less comfortable with just to make a sale worth 30 cents?

My Spanish has certainly improved after spending three weeks in Mexico, but it’s no different than a baby learning to walk. At first, I could take one step without falling, now it’s two. Hopefully, by next week it will be three or four, and maybe I will be able to have part of a conversation before I head back home. 

There is more to Mexico than Spanish and credit cards, however. This is a nation rich with culture and passion, filled with its own norms that American travelers have a habit of not respecting. Back in the United States, I dressed like an American. I wore merch of sports teams I supported on a daily basis, whether it was my hometown team or my current university. I knew before I came to Mexico that most people wore pants, even in the summer, and that plainer shirts were more common. So I bought new clothes. 

That is not to say that I am in tune with everything. I often find myself more scared to get something wrong in Spanish than to try and get it right. So I sometimes stop myself from saying good morning or good afternoon, scared that I will get them mixed up. I can skip out on saying basic phrases because I am more concerned with getting my lunch order right. What does this say about me?

I still can not help but feel some guilt for coming to live in a foreign country where I cannot speak the language. Am I less rude because I am one of many in San Miguel who get by with English, or more rude because I have the upper hand of being able to speak my native language in my non-native country? 

In reality, it depends on who you ask. 

Mexico is famous for being welcoming to foreigners. Almost everyone that I have encountered has been warm, but Mexicans clearly are more comfortable when I am able to speak to them in Spanish. 

Yet I have still met expats, some who have lived in San Miguel for multiple years, who barely speak any Spanish. In San Miguel, specifically, there truly is no need for it, but to me, learning Spanish is a show of respect for the local culture.

That raises even more questions. Is this a modern American ideal about responsible tourism? Does that norm exist in Mexico? Am I overthinking all of this?

My overthinking caused me to head to a bank the morning after my struggles in the bakery and exchange some of my USD for pesos. The cash has been useful when I buy snacks at OXXO or at the local market. But again, does using peso bills to pay instead of a card actually matter?

Mexicans’ opinions of Americans have plummeted since the rise of Trump 2.0, in large part due to the United States’ rhetoric toward Mexico and its migrants. But speech, as we’ve seen, is far from harmless. On July 7, another Mexican citizen was killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States. Can you imagine the outrage if an American citizen were killed by the government in Mexico? Can you imagine the military response? The lawsuits and the thinkpieces? It’s no wonder that American travelers might encounter apathy from locals while traveling abroad.

This makes me feel like I should be more respectful while in Mexico, especially considering the abuse of Mexicans living in the United States under the Trump administration. Here, I can roam freely through public parks and churches with no fear of the Mexican government kidnapping me and throwing me in the back of a truck. Many would not be allowed to do the same in the U.S. right now. How do I reckon with that?

I have encountered local people who are happy to serve me and are satisfied with my knowing basic Spanish words at a restaurant. I have met other locals who have told me that they think it is disrespectful that people come to live in San Miguel without having a grasp on local norms. 

That’s what makes San Miguel a middle ground for these questions. It is a town both full of locals and full of tourists, unlike Cabo, which is dominated by all-inclusive resorts that only exist for vacationers. I am not here to stay, but I am in town for a significant length of time. I am here to work, but I am also here to explore and snap some photos.

Does my unfamiliarity make me disrespectful? Maybe. Some would say yes. Some would say no. 

The chances of me becoming even conversational in Spanish throughout the next nine weeks are slim, and I certainly should have put more effort into it before I made the trip. But now I am here, and I am willing to try. I can go to the bank and get some cash, which is better for local businesses. I can continue observing and talking to locals about respectful customs when ordering food or walking down the street. I can try and speak in Spanish when I can.

That might not make me respectful, but it should count for something — at least in my American mind. 

Jared Tucker is a summer intern at Mexico News Daily in San Miguel de Allende and a rising senior at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he is the sports editor for The Daily UW. He was previously a fellow at TheFulcrum.us, where he covered public participation in American democracy.

President Sheinbaum welcomes Japanese business leaders to Mexico, eyeing closer trade ties

By
MND Staff
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0
President Sheinbaum met in the National Palace Monday with representatives from a number of prominent Japanese corporations as well as leading business sector organizations such as the Mexico-Japan Economic Committee and the Japan Business Federation. (Presidencia)

President Claudia Sheinbaum welcomed visiting Japanese business leaders on Monday as part of Mexico’s efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Japan. 

“At the National Palace, we received the president of the Mexico-Japan Economic Committee, Seiji Kuraishi; members of the Japan Business Federation; and Ambassador Kozo Honsei to discuss investments,” Sheinbaum wrote on X. 

Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard had his own meeting with the Japanese business delegation and Embassy representatives.  

The meetings addressed the main business challenges faced by Japanese companies operating in Mexico, as well as those related to the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), within the framework of a dialogue on the general trade and investment environment in North America.

Directors and representatives from a number of Japanese firms, including Honda Motor, All Nippon Airways, ANA Holdings, Toyota Motor Mexico, NSK, Panasonic Holdings, Mazda, Mitsubishi Electric Automotive, Nissan Mexicana and Mitsubishi Mexico, also attended the meetings. 

Ebrard emphasized the importance of Japan and Mexico working together to expand the presence of Japanese companies in Mexico.

The trade relationship between the two countries was formalized in 2004 with the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement, since updated, that has permitted most products from both Japan and Mexico to be traded between each other without tariffs. 

There are now approximately 1,600 Japanese companies in Mexico that generate 350,000 jobs, Sheinbaum said.

The Economy Ministry revealed that it is monitoring 39 Japanese investment projects and has addressed several challenges in the business environment in recent months. The Ministry also said that an agreement was reached to continue coordination between Japan and Mexico on energy, customs and trade facilitation.

With reports from El Financiero and Revista TYT

2 tropical storms threatening to form off Mexico’s southwestern coast

By
MND Staff
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stormy seas
The system that could develop into Tropical Storm Fausto is located much closer to Mexico and has a 70% probability of becoming a tropical storm in the next seven days. (Unsplash)

Mexico’s National Meteorological Service (SMN) is warning that two nearby low-pressure areas in the Pacific Ocean have a high probability of developing into tropical storms this week, with the potential to generate significant rainfall in several regions of the country.

If they continue to develop, the systems will be named Elida and Fausto, according to the official list of tropical cyclone names, and will be the fifth and sixth named storms of the 2026 season.

Should they approach Mexican territory, they could cause heavy rains, strong winds and high waves, especially in the southwestern states of Guerrero, Michoacán, Colima and Oaxaca.

Satellite images show the two systems very close to one another, which could give rise to the so-called Fujiwhara effect, when two tropical cyclones begin to rotate around each other. 

What’s the latest update on potential storms Elida and Fausto? 

As for the system that could potentially evolve into tropical storm Elida, there is a 90% chance it forms in the next two days, and a 100% probability in the next seven days.  

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecasts that tropical storm Elida will form late on Tuesday, though it presents no direct threat to land. Currently, the center of the system is located 525 kilometers southwest of Punta San Telmo, Michoacán, with a west-northwest trajectory. 

The system that could develop into Tropical Storm Fausto is located much closer to Mexico.  

Forecasts currently place it a few hundred kilometers south of Técpan de Galeana, Guerrero, with a 70% chance of developing into a tropical storm in the next seven days. The NHC said that a tropical depression is likely to form in this area by the weekend.

Forecasters also monitoring the arrival of the Saharan dust   

While forecasters are vigilant of simultaneous cyclones in the Pacific Ocean, the National Water Commission (Conagua) predicts the arrival of dust from the Sahara Desert to Mexico’s Atlantic coast, with effects that could be felt through Saturday. 

Saharan dust is expected to enter Mexico through the Yucatán Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico states, causing grayish tones in the sky during the day and reddish sunsets.

With reports from Milenio, The Watchers, El Informador, Nmás, El Financiero and Meteored

Beaches in 2 of Mexico’s most popular coastal destinations deemed unsafe for swimming

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Puerto Escondido
Puerto Escondido is a surfing mecca whose popularity as a coastal getaway has skyrocketed in recent years. But one of its beaches, Playa Principal (or Main Beach), has been found to include bacteria counts higher than the federal limit. (Arturo Pérez Alfonso/Cuartoscuro)

National health regulator Cofepris found concentrations of bacteria higher than permitted in several coastal destinations in Mexico, including two of the country’s most popular beaches.

As part of its annual pre-summer vacation beach monitoring, Cofepris (Federal Commission for the Protection Against Health Risks) reviewed beaches in all 17 coastal states and examined thousands of samples taken at 289 beaches between mid-June and early July. 

Most destinations met federal health standards (98.3% to be exact), but five sites exceeded the established microbiological limit for recreational activities.

Among the five deemed not suitable for swimming were Cuale Beach in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and Main Beach in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca.

Playa del Cuale is located in one of the principal tourist areas of Puerto Vallarta. The health alert refers to the specific point analyzed on that beach and not to all the beaches in the municipality or the entire Banderas Bay area, which extends north into the state of Nayarit.

Main Beach, or la Playa Principal, is one of the sites in Puerto Escondido with the greatest economic activity — tourism, commerce and fishing — in the world-renowned destination.

The other three beaches found to pose health risks for bathers are Tijuana Beach in Baja California and José Martí and Tumbao beaches, both in Veracruz.

Cofepris is already working with local authorities and their respective Clean Beaches Committees to implement sanitation and surveillance actions that will allow the water quality to be restored in the shortest possible time.

The monitoring tests are conducted in conjunction with state health authorities and the National Network of Public Health Laboratories immediately before holiday periods, as water conditions can vary due to rain, urban discharges, ocean currents, tides, sewer failures and temporary increases in tourist influx.

The sanitary quality of seawater is determined by searching for enterococci (bacteria used as indicators of fecal contamination) and the possible presence of other microorganisms capable of causing disease.

Samples from the five beaches cited as unsuitable were found to have more than 200 enterococci per 100 milliliters, the maximum allowed by the Health Ministry in accordance with World Health Organization recommendations.

With reports from Informador and Proceso

Sinkhole swallows pickup truck while stopped on Hermosillo boulevard

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a sinkhole swallowing a pickup truck
The eye-popping situation occurred on Quintero Arce Boulevard just outside the Villa Toscana subdivision on the western outskirts of Hermosillo. (X)

A massive sinkhole opened up on a boulevard in an upscale neighborhood of Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, on Monday, swallowing a pickup truck. 

The incident, which occurred on Quintero Arce Boulevard just outside the Villa Toscana subdivision on the western outskirts of Hermosillo, began when a motorcyclist fell while trying to avoid a large pothole as he drove past the Los Lagos Country Club.

Fortunately for the biker, Alejandro Lizárraga was driving by and noticed what happened. The 57-year-old Lizárraga pulled his double-cab pickup truck to the scene of the accident and prepared to help the victim.

But before he could open the door to get out, the sinkhole opened up and the front of his truck fell into a pit that was slowly filling with water. Suddenly, he needed rescuing as well.

Passers-by used a rope to extricate Lizárraga, who then assisted his rescuers in tending to the motorcyclist. 

Red Cross paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and treated the motorcyclist before transporting him to a hospital for medical attention. His condition has not been made public. 

Lizárraga told the newspaper El Imparcial that the fact that he was still wearing his seatbelt when the sinkhole opened likely saved him from injury, and he remained at the scene as his truck sank deeper into the hole.

Later Monday, the Hermosillo Water Authority said the sinkhole was caused by the rupture of an aged sewer pipe. 

The Public Works Department said maintenance work was carried out on that stretch of road about 10 years ago and sections of utility networks were rehabilitated at the request of the municipal government. However, the pipe — which was nearly 50 years old at the time — was not replaced.

Water Authority officials said the agency will pay for the repairs to both vehicles and will assist the two victims with any resulting medical bills.

The newspaper La Jornada reported that Hermosillo residents have been expressing concern about the city’s infrastructure after recent heavy rains softened the subsoil.

With reports from La Jornada, El Imparcial, N+ and Expreso20

Daily homicide rate drops to 11-year low: Tuesday’s mañanera recapped

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Sheinbaum celebrated the data, saying, "41 more lives were saved in June compared to September 2024."
Sheinbaum celebrated the data, saying, "41 more lives were saved in June compared to September 2024." (Carlos Ramos Mamahua/Presidencia)

Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds

  • 🔻 Homicides fall to 12-year June low: National Public Security System chief Marcela Figueroa reported that June saw an average of 45.4 homicides per day — a 48% drop from September 2024 and the lowest daily rate for any June in 12 years. The first half of 2026 also saw a 30.1% decline in homicides compared to the same period last year.
  • 📍More than half of homicides concentrated in 8 states: Of the 8,988 homicides recorded between January and June, 54% occurred in just eight states — led by Guanajuato, Baja California and Chihuahua. Homicides fell in 29 of Mexico’s 32 states, with only Oaxaca, Colima and Tlaxcala seeing increases.
  • 🚔 Nearly 60,000 arrests, hundreds of tonnes of drugs seized since Sheinbaum took office: Security Minister Omar García Harfuch reported 59,582 arrests for high-impact crimes since Oct. 1, 2024, along with the seizure of over 31,000 firearms and nearly 499 tonnes of drugs. He said 1,674 extortionists have been detained since a new anti-extortion strategy was launched in July 2025.
  • ⚽ Sheinbaum rejects idea of a World Cup “truce” behind falling homicides: Responding to claims that criminal groups struck a truce during the World Cup, Sheinbaum said June’s decline is part of a longer downward trend, not a one-month anomaly. She did credit public enthusiasm for the tournament with helping reduce insecurity, but rejected any direct link to a cartel ceasefire.
  • 📊 No manipulation of homicide data: Pushing back on experts who argue some murders are misclassified as less serious crimes, Sheinbaum said, “homicide is homicide” with no reclassification taking place. Figueroa added that the crime-classification methodology used by state prosecutors is public and was updated this year for greater transparency.

Why today’s mañanera matters

Homicide data for the month of June and the first six months of 2026 were presented at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Tuesday morning press conference.

The mañanera was significant as the data showed that the security situation in Mexico has significantly improved in 2026. The government has attributed the reduction in homicides and other crimes to the success of its security strategy, which is based on four central tenets, including the strengthening of intelligence and investigative practices and a bolstering of the National Guard, the federal security force that was established in 2019.

On Tuesday morning, Sheinbaum dismissed claims that a “truce” between criminal organizations while Mexico was co-hosting the FIFA men’s World Cup was the reason why homicides declined in June.

President Sheinbaum shows a graph indicating a drop in homicides in Morelos, Mexico's seventh most violent state, in June.
President Sheinbaum shows a graph indicating a drop in homicides in Morelos, Mexico’s seventh most violent state, in June. (Carlos Ramos Mamahua/Presidencia)

Today’s mañanera was also important as the president responded directly to claims that the homicide numbers presented by the federal government on a monthly basis — numbers that come from Mexico’s 32 state Attorney General’s Offices — are not accurate.

As Mexico News Daily reported in January, there are concerns that authorities in Mexico’s 32 federal entities are not accurately reporting homicides because they are incorrectly classifying some murders as less serious crimes, as well as claims that the decline in homicides during Sheinbaum’s presidency is related to an increase in disappearances.

Homicides down 48% in June compared to September 2024

National Public Security System chief Marcela Figueroa reported that there was an average of 45.4 homicides per day in Mexico in June, a reduction of 48% compared to September 2024, the final month of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidency.

At the start of the press conference, Sheinbaum noted that there were, on average, 41 fewer homicides per day in June than in September 2024.

Figueroa highlighted that the daily murder rate in June was the lowest of any month since Sheinbaum took office.

She also noted that the homicide rate last month was the lowest of any June in the past 12 years. Compared to June 2025, the reduction in homicides last month was 32.5%.

Homicides decline 30% in first 6 months of 2026 

Figueroa presented data that showed there was an average of 49.7 homicides per day in the first six months of 2026, a 30.1% reduction compared to the same period of last year.

The last time the daily homicide rate was lower in the first six months of a year was in 2015.

54% of homicides between January and June committed in just 8 states 

Figueroa reported that 54% of homicides in the first six months of 2026 were committed in eight states. Data she presented showed there was a total of 8,988 homicides in Mexico between January and June.

Fifty-four percent of those murders — 4,835 — were committed in Guanajuato (789 homicides); Baja California (731); Chihuahua (704); Sinaloa (633); México state (533); Guerrero (500); Morelos (498); and Veracruz (447).

The least violent state in terms of homicides was Yucatán, which recorded just 13 homicides in the first six months of the year. There were 420 homicides in Mexico City in the period, making the capital the 10th most violent entity in the country.

Mérida
Yucatán is by far Mexico’s least violent state, recording just 13 homicides between January and June 2026. (Expedia)

The average number of homicides per entity in the first six months of the year was 280.88. The number of homicides in Guanajuato, which has been Mexico’s most violent state for several years, was almost three times higher.

Homicides declined in 29 entities in first 6 months of 2026 

Figueroa reported that homicides declined in annual terms in the first six months of 2026 in 29 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities.

There were reductions above 50% in six states: San Luis Potosí (-81.7%); Zacatecas (-61.8%); Quintana Roo (-60.1%); Nayarit (-59.1%); Guanajuato (-50.9%); and Nuevo León (-50.6%).

The only states where homicides increased in the first six months of 2026 were Oaxaca, Colima and Tlaxcala.

High-impact crimes down 12% in first half of year 

Figueroa reported that there was an average of 452.7 high-impact crimes per day in the first six months of 2026, a 12.1% reduction compared to 2025.

Among the offenses classified as high-impact crimes are homicide, kidnapping, rape, violent robbery and acts of extortion.

Almost 60,000 arrests since Sheinbaum took office 

Security Minister Omar García Harfuch presented data that showed that 59,582 people were arrested for allegedly committing high-impact crimes between Oct. 1, 2024 — the day Sheinbaum was sworn in as president — and June 30, 2026.

The data also showed that in the same period, authorities:

  • Confiscated 31,366 firearms.
  • Seized 498.98 tonnes of drugs.
  • Dismantled 2,627 clandestine drug laboratories.

García Harfuch said that seizures of narcotics stop “millions of doses of drugs” from reaching the streets and have a “direct impact” on criminal organizations’ “financing sources.”

The security minister also reported that 1,674 extortionists were detained between July 2025 — the month in which a new national strategy against extortion was implemented — and June 2026.

The arrests took place in 24 of Mexico’s 32 federal entities.

Sheinbaum: Decline in homicides in June is not due to the World Cup 

A reporter asked the president whether a kind of World Cup “truce” was the reason why homicides declined in June.

“Experts say there are truces [between criminal groups] at times like Christmas and Mother’s Day,” the reporter said.

Mexico’s World Cup host cities (Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey) reported very few incidents throughout the tournament, including five fatalities related to festivities. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)

Sheinbaum countered that the decline in homicides in June is the continuation of a downward trend.

“If there had been a spectacular fall [in homicides] in one month in particular, it could be associated with … a distinctive characteristic,” she said.

While she didn’t attribute the decline in homicides in June to the staging of World Cup matches in Mexico, she did say that the “takeover of public space” by citizens (watching soccer matches and celebrating Mexico’s victories) “contributes to the decline in insecurity.”

However, the decline in homicides in June is “part of a trend” that began when the current government took office, Sheinbaum said.

Sheinbaum: There is no manipulation of homicide figures 

A reporter asked the president about the view of some security experts that Mexico’s homicide figures are not accurate because some murders are classified as other less serious crimes.

“Homicide is homicide, there is no manipulation. It’s not that there are crimes that go from [being classified as] one crime to another crime,” Sheinbaum said.

Figueroa subsequently said that the methodology that state Attorney General’s Offices are required to follow when classifying crimes is “very clear” and “public.”

“The methodology was updated this year so that it is even more transparent than it was,” she said.

By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)

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