Nu México has expanded rapidly since starting to offer savings accounts and debit cards in the Mexican market earlier this year. (Nu México)
Nu México, a subsidiary of a digital bank based in Brazil, announced this week that it will now offer personal loans to customers in Mexico.
Online-only neobanks such as Nubank are growing in popularity in Mexico, where many adults don’t have traditional bank accounts.
Brazil’s Nubank has been only been operating in Mexico since November, but has already seen enormous success with its digital offerings. (Nubank)
Earlier this year, Nu México began offering savings accounts and debit cards, and in less than one month, clients in Mexico had opened 1 million savings accounts with total deposits of 1 billion pesos (US $58 million at the time), Nubank announced.
According to Nubank, some 90% of these deposits were kept in a separate space within an account where a customer can hold funds and receive a 9% annual return.
Nubank is one of the largest financial technology (fintech) firms in Latin America, according to Reuters. Co-founder Cristina Junqueira has said that Mexico, the region’s second-largest economy, is the company’s second-most-important market and has excellent growth potential.
The new product, which is not yet available, will allow customers to obtain personal loans in less than five minutes through the Nubank app, the company said in a statement.
The app ofers convenient banking service, to a market which still struggles with access to traditional banking services. (Nubank)
“By expanding our portfolio with personal loans, we are giving Mexicans more options to achieve their goals,” said Iván Canales, general director of Nu México. “We give the customer full control over their loan, with no hidden fees or conditions.”
In Mexico, only 68% of the population between the ages of 18 and 70 have some type of formal financial product (savings, credit, insurance or retirement account), according to the 2021 National Survey of Financial Inclusion (ENIF). In that same age segment, only 49% have an account at a bank or financial institution.
“Around 20% of the adult population [using] smartphones in Mexico has already applied for a Nu product,” Canales said. Its offerings also include a credit card. “We look forward to continuing to expand our footprint in the country.”
Loans through the app are still in a test phase, but when they are available to the public, they will be just like Nubank’s other products — 100% digital. The company didn’t release any information about the interest rates that will be charged on the loans.
Nubank reports that it has more than 85 million clients in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Last month, according to Reuters, it reported a record revenue of US $1.9 billion for the second quarter. Its stock, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has surged nearly 80% this year, Reuters added.
Foxconn has invested US $500 million in their Chihuahua operations. (Grupo HB)
Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn and the government of Chihuahua have formed a “strategic partnership” they say will “contribute to the prosperity” of the northern border state and its residents.
In a press release dated Aug. 28 but posted to the Foxconn website on Tuesday, the Taiwanese firm also known as the Hon Hai Technology Group and the Chihuahua government announced a partnership “aimed at advancing talent training, fostering innovation technology, and promoting sustainable energy development in Mexico’s largest state [by area].”
Foxconn has one plant in Chihuahua, and may be investing in two more according to Reforma newspaper. (Government of Chihuahua)
Foxconn – which manufactures electronic products for companies such as Apple, Sony and Nintendo – and the state government led by National Action Party Governor Maru Campos said their partnership “reflects a shared vision” to “elevate” Chihuahua’s industrial capabilities, “empower its workforce and contribute to sustainable economic development.”
“By combining expertise and resources, the effort is anticipated to drive positive change, shape the future of manufacturing, and contribute to the prosperity of Chihuahua and its residents,” the joint press release said.
The two parties said their alliance will focus on:
1) Seizing opportunities from nearshoring, the relocation of companies to Mexico due to its proximity to the United States and other factors.
2) Empowering human talent and driving innovation.
3) Collaborative Efforts in Electricity Development.
With regard to the first objective, Foxconn and the Chihuahua government said their partnership will focus on “optimizing supply chains, enhancing infrastructure, and fostering an environment conducive to growth and innovation.”
They said that “the thriving landscape of nearshoring” – reflected by record foreign investment in Mexico in the first half of 2023 – “presents immense opportunities along with unique challenges for the State of Chihuahua.”
Maru Campos, the PAN governor of Chihuahua. (Maru Campos/X)
The statement noted that Foxconn – which describes itself as “the world’s largest electronics manufacturer and leading technological solutions provider” – has already invested US $500 million in Chihuahua, where it has one plant and plans to open another two at which 5,000 additional employees will work, according to a Reforma newspaper article.
The company and the Chihuahua government didn’t say how much they were investing in their new strategic partnership.
With regard to the second objective, the press release said that Foxconn is “committed to nurturing a talent pool equipped with cutting-edge skills to meet the demands of the evolving ICT [information and communication technology] and automotive industry.”
The private-public partnership will “aim to develop training programs and initiatives that will empower the workforce and position Chihuahua as a hub for innovation-driven manufacturing,” the statement said.
Thirdly, Foxconn, in partnership with the Chihuahua government, “aspires to enhance energy efficiency, explore renewable energy sources, and support sustainable power solutions,” the two parties said.
“This collaboration underscores our shared commitment to environmentally responsible practices and driving positive change for the business community in San Jerónimo and [Ciudad] Juárez,” they said.
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García has also courted Foxconn, meeting with company executives on a tour of Taiwan earlier this year. (Samuel García/X)
Foxconn makes computers for clients including HP and Dell at a plant in the San Jerónimo area of Ciudad Juárez, located opposite El Paso, Texas.
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García said in May that Foxconn – which makes products including iPhones, iPads, Kindles, GoPro cameras, PlayStations and the Xbox 360 – would open a plant in that northern border state.
Three arrests have been made in the homicide case, with two of the suspects, who were part of a gang preying on people who exchange cash at the airport, seen here. (Cuartoscuro)
A federal security official on Tuesday outlined the modus operandi of a criminal gang that has targeted people who exchange money at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM) and last month allegedly murdered an Indian man.
At President López Obrador’s morning press conference, Deputy Security Minister Luis Rodríguez Bucio spoke about the murder on Aug. 19 of 35-year-old Ketan Shah, who worked in Mexico City as a pharmaceutical company executive.
The homicide occurred on Aug. 19 on the Viaducto freeway. The victim was shot 11 times. (Cuartoscuro)
The deputy minister said that Shah was shot 11 times on the Viaducto freeway shortly after changing US $10,000 at an AICM currency exchange.
The car in which the Indian national was traveling with another person was intercepted at around 11:30 a.m. by four men on two motorbikes, Rodríguez said.
Shah didn’t understand the men’s demand to hand over the cash as he didn’t know Spanish, he said.
“This caused confusion and in the end one of the assailants shot him 11 times,” the deputy minister said.
Deputy Security Minister Luis Rodríguez Bucio outlined the criminal gang’s modus operandi at the Tuesday morning press conference. (Gob MX)
After reporting that three people including a man who allegedly shot Shah had been arrested in connection with the case, Rodríguez explained the modus operandi of a gang that has targeted people who have exchanged money at AICM currency exchange businesses, which attract Mexican and foreign residents of Mexico City due to their favorable rates.
He said that the gang is divided into four “teams,” each of which has specific roles in an operation whose central aim is to mug people carrying recently-exchanged cash.
The first team is usually made up a man and a woman who monitor AICM currency exchanges and select victims, Rodríguez said. They subsequently provide information about people who have exchanged “significant amounts” of cash to a second team of two or three criminals, he said.
Information conveyed by telephone about the physical appearance and clothing of people who have exchanged money allows them to be identified by the second team, whose members follow the selected victims to their vehicles.
One of the alleged gang leaders and accused murderer of Shah was arrested on Aug. 31. (Omar García Harfuch/X)
That team gives a third team details about the cars, and its members – “six to eight people who use motorcycles and vehicles” – follow them and then rob people carrying large amounts of cash exchanged at the airport.
A fourth group of criminals known as the “cooling team” is tasked with getting the cars and motorbikes used in the muggings off the streets, Rodríguez said, adding that the vehicles are usually hidden at addresses in Mexico City and neighboring México state.
He said that authorities arrested a man and a woman on Aug. 29 for their “probable participation” in the murder of an elderly man in México state, and explained that they subsequently confessed to belonging to a crime group and having participated in the operation that ended with the murder of Shah.
Rodríguez said that the man and woman belonged to the second team that follows victims to their cars at AICM.
On Aug. 31, Josué Elías “N,” also known as “El Gemelo” (The Twin) was arrested in Mexico City, he said, noting that he is the alleged murderer of Shah. The deputy minister said that Josué Elías had told his imprisoned brother in a telephone call that he had shot the Indian national.
Mexico City Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said in an Aug. 31 post on the X social media site that the alleged murderer was the leader of a crime group “dedicated to violent muggings.”
A peace march was held in Mexico City on Aug. 26 in honor of the victim, Ketan Shah. (India in Mexico/X)
Citing a recent Defense Ministry report, the newspaper El Universal reported Aug. 21 that there are at least 10 gangs that have targeted tourists after they exchanged money at AICM. There were 10 reported cases last year, El Universal said.
The Indian Embassy in Mexico called the murder of Shah “an extremely regrettable and heart-wrenching incident” in a Facebook post, and thanked Mexico City authorities for their “assistance and action” in the wake of the crime.
Members of the Indian community in Mexico City participated in a “peace and solidarity march” to commemorate Shah’s life on Aug. 26.
Voces de Guiraa’ helps children with cerebral palsy to learn to communicate. The service is especially valuable in a country where many struggle to access mental health services. (Gordon Cole-Schmidt)
The names of children mentioned below have been changed to safeguard their privacy.
María was only a few months old when the seizures started. As electrical energy flooded her brain, the convulsions rendered her body and mind unresponsive to her family around her. As she grew older, María struggled to stand, walk, and communicate. After multiple tests, she was finally diagnosed with cerebral palsy, the most common movement and motor disability in children.
According to the Cerebral Palsy Guide, an online resource produced by expert writers and researchers, early intervention is critical when helping children with cerebral palsy. There is no cure for the disease, but certain medical treatments and therapy can make a big difference for a child suffering from symptoms. Anti-convulsant drugs, for example, can also help with mood swings and emotional outbursts, which María was particularly prone to. The medicine, however, is very expensive.
Like many families who have a child with a disability, María’s parents were forced to choose between the many treatments and medical services she needed to help treat the severity of her condition based on the cost. Lacking financial support, the outlook for María’s development was bleak until news of her case reached Viridiana Pacheco. A young speech therapist originally from Mexico City, Pacheco had just relocated to Oaxaca to work with disadvantaged children. She describes the moment she heard about María:
“There was one case seven years ago that really built the foundations of Voces de Guiraa’ and what I wanted to do in Oaxaca. There was a girl (María) who needed medicine to help with her convulsions. We organized a meeting to see how I might be able to help her with her development.
In her first session, her parents told me the convulsions were getting worse. María was incredibly sensitive, angry, and confused. It was really hard, and at times, impossible to work with her.”
Viridiana works with a child. (Gordon Cole-Schmidt)
Pacheco knew the life-changing impact that cerebral palsy medicine could have on María’s daily life, especially when combined with therapy. Soon after meeting with María, Pacheco began reaching out to her contacts and asking neighbors and old friends for support, but before long, she hit a brick wall. One evening in 2016, she explained her frustration to Amy Burns and Tim Shepherd, two friends who had moved to Mexico from the United States and Australia, respectively.
“I remember seeing how touched Amy and Tim were when I told them about the case,” Pacheco says. “They told me that they would do whatever they could to pay for her treatment.”
The following day, Amy and Tim began an online fundraising drive. Not long after, enough money had been raised to pay for María’s anticonvulsant drugs as well as years of speech and physical therapy.
Buoyed by the wave of interest, the trio wanted to help more children in Oaxaca and decided they would create a charitable organization, Voces de Guiraa’, to help more families benefit from financial and emotional support. Since its foundation in 2017, Voces of Guiraa´ (meaning ‘together’ in Zapotec) has raised tens of thousands of dollars for children in Oaxaca to receive medical care and therapy for cerebral palsy, which would not have been accessible otherwise.
Early intervention is essential in many cases of developmental disabilities. (Gordon Cole-Schmidt)
The problem of financing care is certainly not just limited to families in Mexico. In the U.S., soaring care costs are creating greater difficulties for families of children with disabilities. A recent poll carried out by the Disabled Children’s Partnership of over 2,000 parents and carers found that just one in three children with a disability are getting enough support from their educational settings; just one in five have the correct level of support from their health services, and one in seven are getting adequate social support.
In the United Kingdom, recent reports by the Department of Education, published at Bedford Today, uncovered a sharp drop in the rate at which children with disabilities receive education, health, and care plans. The disability charity Sense said delays in creating these plans will see thousands of young children “fall through the cracks” of the welfare system.
While government support is available in Mexico, long waiting lists for treatment in poorer southern states, including Oaxaca, mean it can take years for a child with disabilities to be correctly diagnosed and receive a treatment plan. If children with disabilities do not receive the care they need from the earliest age, they can “suffer incredibly when they are older,” according to Pacheco.
Children with disabilities can find themselves trapped and pushed to the outer boundaries of society from a young age. Rejected for being seen as different, they are also often targets of physical and mental abuse which can lead to damaging psychological consequences throughout their lives.
Without the power to talk and express themselves, children suffering from motor disabilities can become voiceless victims, frustrated and disheartened by their inability to communicate. Developing emotional connections becomes a lofty ambition, and exclusion and segregation become an accepted part of their daily routine.
Seeing how much Pacheco’s first case (María) meant to her, and how it had started a chain reaction that created her foundation, I’m tentative to ask what became of María’s story. Resolutely, Pacheco replies:
“I am so proud of her! [María] is 9 now and is talking, interacting, and communicating with people. She is a completely different person to the young child that I met 6 years ago. She has confidence, and balance and has control over her life and became so receptive to therapies as she grew older.”
Viridiana Pacheco hopes more and more people will talk about the benefits of therapy for children with disabilities in Mexico. A deeper discussion of the positive effects of therapy on the most vulnerable and in-need children can only help to break down bureaucratic barriers to state funding and public awareness, which will undoubtedly change the lives of children with disabilities for the better.
Gordon Cole-Schmidt is a public relations specialist and freelance journalist, advising and writing on companies and issues across multi-national communication programs.
The left-handed pitcher, who had a MLB-best 19-3 record in 2021, was arrested in Los Angeles near BMO Stadium, where Los Angeles FC was playing a soccer game against Inter Miami and its new superstar, Argentine Lionel Messi. Urías, 27, was among the celebrities who went to see the game, a list that included Britain’s Prince Harry, actors Will Ferrell, Leonardo DiCaprio and Selena Gomez.
Urías was attending an Inter Miami soccer game featuring all-time great Leo Messi (left) prior to his arrest. (Inter Miami CF)
But what might have been a nice night out for the native of Culiacán, Sinaloa — he moved to the United States in his youth after being scouted and signed by the Dodgers at age 16 — ended with him being arrested around 11 p.m.
“We are aware of an incident involving Julio Urías,” the Dodgers said in a statement released Monday, with no follow-up as of early Tuesday. “While we try to learn the specific details of the case, the pitcher will not travel with the team. The organization has no further comment at this time.”
The Dodgers played at home on Sunday afternoon, had a day off Monday and were scheduled to play the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night. Urías last started on Friday night at home against the Atlanta Braves.
According to ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan, Urías was released from a Los Angeles prison at around 4:45 a.m. Monday after posting $50,000 bail and has a court date on Sept. 27. An MLB spokesman said the league is aware of the arrest and will conduct its own investigation.
Daisy Pérez, Urías girlfriend. It is unknown if she was the victim of the alleged assault. (LA Dodgers/X)
This is the second incident of this type for Urías. In 2019, he was arrested after allegedly shoving a woman to the ground in a Beverly Center parking lot. That time he served a 20-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy.
As of Tuesday morning, it was unknown if Urías’ girlfriend, Daisy Pérez, was involved in the latest incident. Pérez, 26, is also from Culiacán and is reportedly a model.
Pérez also threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium this season, before a game at which the Dodgers gave away bobbleheads of Urías, nicknamed “El Culichi” for his hometown of Culiacán.
Urías, pictured here with Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador, is one of Mexico’s most popular baseball stars. (X)
Urías has an 11-8 record with a 4.60 ERA this season for the Dodgers, who are comfortably in first place in the National League West. He has struck out 117 batters and walked 24 in 117⅓ innings. He is under contract with the Dodgers until the end of this season, having signed a US $14.25 million deal earlier this year.
The Dodgers are no doubt on edge over the Urías charges. From the middle of 2021 to early 2023, the team had to deal with pitcher Trevor Bauer’s unprecedented 324-game suspension over sexual misconduct allegations. Bauer was put on paid administrative leave by the Dodgers in July 2021 and then suspended by the MLB after a San Diego woman said he beat and sexually abused her; Bauer, who was released by the Dodgers and is now pitching in Japan, has been accused of sexual assault by four different women.
The Chichén Viejo complex is located about a few kilometers from the iconic Temple of Kulkulcán at the Chichén Itźa complex in Yucatán. (INAH)
Chichén Viejo (Old Chichén), a newly-restored section of the Chichén Itzá archaeological site, opened to the public on Sunday following its inauguration on Saturday by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The site, once a housing complex for the city’s Maya elite, is located a few kilometers from the structure known as El Castillo or the Temple of Kukulcán, the step pyramid which is an icon of Chichén Itzá. Chichén Viejo has been closed to the public while undergoing archaeological research and restoration for over 25 years. The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) had said in 2021 that the site would open in 2022.
A ceremony was held on Saturday night at Chichén Itźá, with President López Obrador and other officials in attendance. (Mauricio Vila/X)
“The site was open from 1988 until 1997 when excavations began that were consolidated in recent years thanks to the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza), which comes out of the Maya Train,” José Osorio León, director of Chichén Itzá, told Spanish news agency EFE.
President López Obrador traveled to the site’s inauguration on Saturday aboard the first carriages of the new train, which recently finished safety testing in Cancún and wereperforming a test trip around several stations on the Yucatán Peninsula.
AMLO used the inauguration speech to reiterate his vision that the controversial Maya Train should strengthen Mexico’s cultural identity and knowledge of its Indigenous history, as well as stimulate tourism in the southeast of the country. He also highlighted the greatness of the ancient Mayan culture, exemplified by the splendor of Chichén Viejo.
Chichén Viejo is one of 13 housing complexes surrounding the ceremonial center of Chichén Itzá. It is made up of 27 buildings dating from 650 to 700 A.D., which saw their cultural peak between 900 and 1200 A.D. Most of the structures are residential buildings and temples. The largest is the Palace of the Phalluses, which contains a house with 11 vaulted rooms and Puuc and Maya-Toltec decorations.
Chichén Viejo will only allow limited visitors at first, in groups of up to 50 per day. (INAH)
“In this majestic building the origin and life of an important character is displayed, it shows their struggles, sacrifices and rituals,” Osorio León explained. He added that the site will give visitors “a clearer perspective of how Maya society lived, as it will show the power that the elite had.”
Other important structures in Chichén Viejo include the Temple of the Initial Series; the Temple of Sacrifices; the Temple of Atlantean Columns; the Temple of the Owls; the Gallery of the Monkeys; and the Turtle Platform. Many of these sites are named for the sculptures and depictions of animals they contain.
The site has faced repeated access issues, with a planned key access road passing through privately owned land. On Aug. 14, local media reported that owners of the land denied entry to restoration workers and placed signs threatening to prosecute trespassers. Authorities had to rush to open an alternative 1.2-kilometer access road for the inauguration to take place as planned.
Although the site is now officially open to the public, Osorio León said that permission to enter will be restricted in order to maintain greater control of the site. It will initially be open only on certain days, to groups of around 50 people per day.
The vessel was carrying a total of 922 kg of cocaine when it was detected off the coast of Guerrero. (Semar)
The Mexican Navy has seized 922 kilograms of presumed cocaine in two vessels off the coast of Guerrero, continuing a trend of large cocaine seizures at sea this year.
The seizure took place 189 nautical miles (350 kilometers) southwest of the tourist resort of Acapulco, in an operation involving “surface units and aircraft,” according to astatement by the Navy. Nine people were arrested, including seven Mexicans.
There has been a rise in the number of seizures carried out by the Navy during AMLO’s term, with 2023 so far seeing the same amount of cocaine confiscated as during the entire previous government administration. (Semar)
Both the presumed cocaine and the detainees were sent before the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) to undertake the relevant investigations.
The seizure comes one week after the Navy launched a major anti-narcotics operation off Mexico’s Pacific coast, intercepting three vessels carrying 4.4 tonnes of presumed cocaine.
The first vessel, carrying 1.5 tonnes of drugs and crewed by two Mexicans and four foreigners, was intercepted by Navy vessels and aircraft approximately 290 nautical miles (537 kilometers) off the Pacific Coast.
In a second action, the Navy intercepted two boats around 296 nautical miles (548 kilometers) off the Pacific Coast, crewed by five Mexicans and carrying 2.9 tonnes of cocaine between them. Six outboard motors and 5,300 liters of fuel were also seized.
Earlier this year, the Navy discovered the largest narco-submarine seen in the last five years, carrying 3.5 tonnes of cocaine near Baja California. (Semar)
The Navy notedin a statement that 11.4 tonnes of cocaine were seized during August alone, and 23 alleged criminals arrested. August’s seizures brought the total cocaine seized at sea in 2023 up to 37.85 tonnes – a dramatic uptick from the total of 41.8 tonnes seized in 2022 (176% more than in 2021).
While most of these seizures were from fast boats, the Navy also intercepted thelargest narco-submarine seen in the last five years off the coast of Baja California in June, found to be carrying 3.5 tonnes of cocaine.
These seizures continue a trend of frequent large cocaine seizures at sea during the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Navy seizedless than 40 tonnes during the entire six-year term of former President Enrique Peña Nieto – roughly the same amount as has been seized in 2023 so far.
The lighting displays around the historic center depict important moments from pre-Columbian history, as well as important figures in the independence movement. (Daniel Augusto/Cuartoscuro)
A series of enormous lighting displays have been installed at iconic locations in Mexico City to celebrate the 213th anniversary of Mexico’s independence on Sept. 16.
Two luminous mosaics adorn the Ángel de la Independencia while a gigantic design of the Sun Stone — better known as the Aztec Calendar — stands over Calle 20 de Noviembre.
The illuminated central Zocaló square will play host to a free concert by Grupo Frontera. (Gobierno de la CDMX/X)
In Mexico City’s Historic Center, over 20,000 LED lights cover the facades of the Mayor’s office, the Viceroyalty Building and the Jewelry and Merchant centers.
To mark the occasion, U.S. norteño band Grupo Frontera will perform a free concert in the Zócalo after the traditional grito byPresident Andrés Manuel López Obrador on the night of Sept. 15. The grito, or “cry” of independence commemorates the Cry of Dolores, the call to take up arms against the Spanish issued by Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on Sept. 16, 1810.
According to lighting designer Alberto González, the luminescent decorations in the Historic Center show a timeline of Mexican history from the pre-Columbian era to independence.
“The design is inspired by models and illustrations from the pre-Columbian era, with the ball game as a central part,” he told online magazine Chilango in an interview. Some of the mosaics weigh up to 7 tonnes, he said.
The installation, designed to be viewed from the center of the square, tells the story of several important elements of Mexican identity. (Gobierno de la CDMX/X)
Images also include the Templo Mayor, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and independence heroes like Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, Leona Vicario and José María Morelos y Pavón.
The structures required five tonnes of rods, three tonnes of wire rod and 10,000 meters of power cables and were assembled by a team of 110 workers.
To appreciate the timeline and design of this year’s decorations, González recommends standing in the center of the Zócalo, “so that all the pyramids can be seen, because everything has a meaning and an order.”
The peso was trading at 17.44 to the US dollar on Tuesday afternoon. (Shutterstock)
The Mexican peso depreciated to its weakest level against the US dollar in three months on Tuesday after losing ground against the greenback on four consecutive trading days.
Data from Bloomberg showed that the USD:MXN spot rate was 17.44 just after 1 p.m. Mexico City time.
A Bloomberg graph shows that the last time the dollar closed in a stronger position than that level was on June 5, when a greenback was worth 17.47 pesos.
The peso weakened by almost 2% last Friday after Mexico’s Exchange Commission (Comisión de Cambios) took the decision to reduce a six-year-old hedge program aimed at reducing currency volatility.
Janneth Quiroz, chief economist at Monex, said Tuesday that the peso has also been affected by an increase in investors’ aversion to risk due to signs that point to a cooling of the global economy.
Despite depreciating 70 centavos since last Wednesday, the peso remains in a much stronger position than it was at the start of the year, when the USD:MXN exchange rate was about 19.5.
Among the factors that have helped the peso appreciate this year are strong inflows of foreign investment and remittances, and the large gap between the Bank of Mexico’s key interest rate (currently 11.25%) and that of the U.S. Federal Reserve (5.25%-5.5%).
The electric vehicle (EV) plant construction investment, of at least US $5 billion, was announced in March this year. (Tesla)
Tesla has not yet obtained any of the permits it needs to build and operate its proposed electric vehicle (EV) gigafactory in Nuevo León, according to Forbes México.
The multi-billion-dollar project, announced by CEO Elon Musk in March, is expected to take 36 months to build, according to a Tesla document seen by Forbes, meaning that the earliest it could be finished – if the company obtains the required permits in the final months of this year – is late 2026.
The land where Tesla will build its gigafactory in Nuevo León. (Cuartoscuro)
Forbes reported Monday that Tesla Manufacturing Mexico, a subsidiary of the Austin-based EV company, has so far only applied for permission to change the land use classification of the site on which the gigafactory is slated to be built in Santa Catarina, a municipality just west of Monterrey that borders Coahuila.
Tesla has asked the federal Environment Ministry (Semarnat) to allow industrial activity on a 260-hectare site that is currently classified as forested land. The company has not yet received a response.
According to the confidential document seen by Forbes – specifically the application to Semarnat to change the land use designation – Tesla will seek authorization for the construction and operation phases of the project after it has been given the green light to use the site for the production of EVs.
In the document, Tesla says it will carry out “activities” to prevent, mitigate and compensate for “environmental impacts” on the site. It notes that the Santa Catarina site is not within a natural protected area (ANP), and asserts that the change of the land use classification to industrial won’t have a negative impact on nearby ANPs.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk with Nuevo León Governor Samuel García after the investment announcement. (Samuel García/X)
In its application to Semarnat, Tesla also notes that it plans to build an EV plant on the site as well as “associated infrastructure” such as roads, a parking lot and warehouses.
When he announced the new gigafactory in March, Musk didn’t offer specific details about the project, but Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Martha Delgado said at the time that Tesla would invest more than US $5 billion in the plant and employ up to 6,000 people.
Once the factory starts operations, Tesla will manufacture about 1 million EVs per year in Mexico for domestic and international markets, Delgado said.
An unnamed Reuters source with knowledge of Tesla’s plans said that total spending could reach $10 billion, a figure that was also cited by Santa Catarina Mayor Jesús Nava.
President López Obrador in a meeting with government officials and executives from Tesla in March. (Andrés Manuel López Obrador/X)
President López Obrador, who suggested Mexico’s southeast was a better location for a Tesla plant given the abundance of water there, said in March that the company had agreed to “a series of commitments to address the problem of water scarcity” in Nuevo León, including the use of recycled water at its factory.
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García, who is determined to capitalize on companies’ growing interest in nearshoring to Mexico, has lauded Tesla’s decision to set up near Monterrey.
“The richest man on earth trusted Nuevo León, Mexico, for his new gigafactory and his next generation vehicle. The future is bright,” García said in a social media post shortly after Tesla’s announcement in March.
The governor said earlier this year that the gigafactory – a manufacturing facility name popularized by Tesla – could be built in just nine months, a prediction that now appears to have been wildly optimistic.
