According to authorities, the attacks could be related to recent security operations in the Valley of Mexicali, where an alleged member of the Los Rusos criminal group — a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel — was killed in a confrontation with state police. (@la_contrasena/X)
Two state police officers were murdered in recent days in separate attacks in the border city of Mexicali, Baja California, crimes that authorities say could be linked to operations against an organized crime group.
Ruben López, a 27-year-old Baja California state police officer, and his 26-year-old wife, Anayeli Anaya, were shot dead by armed men outside their home in Mexicali last Friday night. The woman was shielding her three-year-old boy when she was shot, according to state officials. The boy survived the attack.
🚨 El secretario de Seguridad, Laureano Carrillo señaló que los asesinatos de dos agentes estatales ocurridos con menos de 24 horas de diferencia son una respuesta a los operativos en el Valle de #Mexicali que han derivado en la captura de presuntos integrantes del grupo criminal… pic.twitter.com/E5r7S5KxaB
— La Jornada Baja California (@LaJornadaBC) June 28, 2026
The next day, 32-year-old state police officer Manuel Enrique Guerrero Sánchez was gunned down at a taquería in Mexicali, the capital of Baja California. A woman was wounded in the attack and was reported in serious condition in the hospital. Both deceased police officers were off duty when they were murdered.
At a press conference on Sunday, Baja California Security Minister Laureano Carrillo and state Attorney General María Elena Andrade said that the attacks could be related to recent security operations in the Valley of Mexicali, where an alleged member of the Los Rusos criminal group — a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel — was killed in a confrontation with state police.
The person who was killed, known as “El Wicho” or “Compa Wicho,” was a high-ranking criminal group member, Carrillo said.
“He was a very close relative of one of the [criminal] leaders we are aware of in the Valley of Mexico and that is the main reason why this reaction by them occurred,” he said, referring to the murders of the two police officers allegedly perpetrated by members of Los Rusos.
According to the news outlet Zeta Tijuana, “Compa Wicho” was the son of an old Sinaloa Cartel leader called Eduardo Alarcón Guillén, alias “El Colorado.” He was the brother-in-law of a criminal leader known as “El Isra,” according to Zeta.
Carrillo said that both slain police officers directly participated in investigations and intelligence work that allowed state police to locate and carry out operations against Los Rusos.
Those investigations led to operations that resulted in arrests and seizures of drugs, planes and stolen vehicles, the state security minister said. Following the operations, state police officers received intimidating messages and direct threats, he said.
No arrests have been reported in connection with the two murders, but five suspects have been identified, Carillo said. State and federal security forces are involved in an operation aimed at their arrest.
Andrade said that vehicles used by the perpetrators of the murders were located by authorities. One of them had been burnt out, she told the press conference on Sunday. Andrade said that the main hypothesis is that the murders were related to the police officers’ investigative work. She noted that the murders were committed with large-caliber weapons and appeared to have been well-planned.
Ecuador and Mexico flags. 3D Waving flag design. Ecuador Mexico flag, picture, wallpaper. Ecuador vs Mexico image,3D rendering. Ecuador Mexico relations war alliance concept.Trade, tourism concept
Mexico will come to a stop on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when El Tri takes the field to face Ecuador in a World Cup knockout clash.
The Round of 32 contest at Mexico City Stadium pits two teams with high hopes of making history at the global soccer tournament. The hosts are intent on advancing to a fifth game for just the second time ever, while Ecuador aims to win a knockout game for the first time.
Fans gather at Mexico City’s Angel of Independence to watch Mexico’s last World Cup group stage game against Czechia on Wednesday. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico and fans across the nation will be hopeful that playing at home will prove to be an advantage. After all, El Tri’s two best World Cup performances came as host in 1970 and 1986, the team reaching the quarterfinals both times.
Although Mexico was one of just three teams to finish the group stage with a perfect 3-0-0 record (2022 Cup finalists France and Argentina being the other two) and Ecuador qualified as one of the best third-place finishers, the task won’t be easy.
Ecuador is arguably the best of the eight third-place teams to reach the knockout stage (Sebastián Beccacece’s team defeated heavily favored Germany 2-1 on Thursday, a win that Beccacece termed Ecuador’s greatest ever) and the talented team boasts an optimal blend of precocious youth and seasoned experience.
For its part, Mexico has been stingy (one of two teams yet to concede a goal, Spain being the other), but uninspiring on offense. Coach Javier Aguirre also has a blend of youth and experience, but has not demonstrated confidence in the promising young talent.
Setting the stage
This is Ecuador’s fifth World Cup appearance, whereas Mexico is appearing in its 18th World Cup and ninth straight.
Prior to this year, Ecuador advanced out of the group stage just once, that coming in Germany 2006 where the South Americans finished second to the hosts in the group stage before being eliminated by David Beckham and England.
The two teams have met just once before in a World Cup and that came in the group stage at Japan-Korea 2002, a 2-1 victory for El Tri.
Mexico — in Aguirre’s first stint as Team Mexico manager — came from behind to win and went on to finish atop the group, ahead of Italy and Croatia. Ecuador — in its first-ever World Cup appearance — came in last with one win and two losses.
This will be the 26th meeting between the two sides since their first fixture in a 1993 Copa América semifinal at Quito’s Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, a 2-0 Mexico triumph, coincidentally also on June 30.
El Tri leads the all-time series with 13 wins, 4 draws and 8 losses, but Ecuador has lost to El Tri just once in their last six encounters dating back to the 2015 Copa América.
Mexico fans will be quite familiar with three Ecuador players — team captain Enner Valencia plays for Pachuca in Liga MX, midfielder Pedro Vite plays for UNAM and back-up striker Jordy Caicedo is under contract to Atlas of Guadalajara.
Sheinbaum said on Monday that Víctor Rodríguez will never hold another position in her government after the former Pemex CEO's wife published footage of him being physically abusive. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
🗞️ NYT Morena informants report: Sheinbaum pushed back on a New York Times article claiming at least a dozen Morena officials — including governors and legislators — have quietly offered themselves as informants to U.S. authorities. She criticized the paper’s reliance on anonymous sources and said the Mexican government has no information confirming that any Morena member is cooperating with the U.S. to provide information against colleagues.
🚨 Ex-Pemex CEO domestic violence: Sheinbaum responded to a video showing former Pemex CEO Víctor Rodríguez physically assaulting his wife, María Felicia Jiménez, who has requested government protection for herself and her children. The president said the Women’s Ministry has been in contact with Jiménez, that the case falls under Morelos state jurisdiction and that Rodríguez will never hold another position in her government. “We’re not going to protect anyone in the face of acts such as these,” the president said.
🇮🇷 Iran’s World Cup welcome in Tijuana: Sheinbaum described the outpouring of affection Tijuana residents showed the Iranian national team — including mariachi serenades — as “completely organic” and unrelated to politics or diplomacy. She attributed the warmth to Mexico’s deep cultural values rooted in Indigenous traditions of community over individualism.
Why today’s mañanera matters
At her Monday morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum responded to a New York Times report that states that Morena party politicians are aiding U.S. criminal investigations into their colleagues. That development, the Times asserts, “is a deeply worrying sign for Mexico’s dominant political party and its leader, Ms. Sheinbaum.”
Sheinbaum also responded to a distressing video in which the recently departed former CEO of Pemex is shown assaulting his wife.
Former CEO Víctor Rodríguez Padilla resigned from his role at Pemex in May. (Graciela López Herrera/Cuartoscuro)
The president’s responses were significant as they reinforced her distrust of The New York Times, which she has previously criticized, and other major international and local media outlets, and her determination to protect women from violence and stand up for their rights.
Also of note at today’s mañanera were Sheinbaum’s remarks about the Iranian World Cup team’s experience in Tijuana, which hosted the players and support staff in recent weeks despite the team playing its three matches in the United States.
Sheinbaum responds to NYT report about Morena officials collaborating with US authorities
The New York Times’ article states that “[a]s the Trump administration ramps up its investigations into Mexico’s government, elected officials in the country’s governing party [i.e., Morena] have been quietly offering themselves to U.S. authorities as informants against fellow party members, according to eight people involved in the conversations.”
“… At least a dozen elected officials in Mexico — including governors and members of Congress, many from the governing party — have reached out to discuss sharing information about fellow politicians, multiple people said, and several have already begun talks with the United States,” the Times wrote.
“Many of the officials are seeking to get ahead of investigations that they fear could soon focus on them, the people said.”
Morena-party officials Senator Enrique Inzunza Cázarez, former Sinaloa Security Minister Gerardo Mérida Sánchez and former Sinaloa Finance Minister Enrique Díaz Vega were recently accused by the U.S. of cartel links. (José Betanzos Zárate/Cuartoscuro)
On Monday morning, Sheinbaum urged the aforesaid reporter to “look at the article” published by The New York Times over the weekend.
She noted that the Times is known as “one of the best newspapers in the world,” but railed against its use of anonymous sources in the article in question.
“A source told me — who knows who — that there are people from Morena who are informing the United States. This is the article,” Sheinbaum said.
“‘They told me that there are people informing.’ Governor Durazo sent a letter saying it wasn’t true. We don’t have any information [about Morena officials providing information to U.S. authorities] and the truth is … [The New York Times] should provide greater context,” she said before once again criticizing the newspaper’s reliance on anonymous sources.
“We don’t know if it’s true because we don’t have any information of anyone [in Morena] cooperating with the U.S. government … to provide information,” Sheinbaum added.
‘The law has to be applied’; Sheinbaum responds to domestic violence case involving ex-CEO of Pemex
She said that it was up to the Morelos Attorney General’s Office to prosecute the case as the violence occurred in that state.
“It’s a state crime and the law has to be applied because there can’t be violence against women,” Sheinbaum said.
She also said that Rodríguez will never hold another position in her government.
Sheinbaum: What the Iranian team experienced in Tijuana was ‘completely organic’
A reporter noted that the coach of the Iranian World Cup team — which was eliminated from the tournament after three consecutive ties in group stage matches — thanked the people of Mexico for the “love” they were shown while staying in Tijuana.
Sheinbaum said that the love and support toward the Iranian team was an “expression of the people.”
After Iran’s elimination from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, dozens of Tijuana residents and fans gathered outside the Marriott hotel where the national team was staying. (Omar Martínez/Cuartoscuro)
“… What the Iranian team experienced was completely organic. … The people of Tijuana came out to welcome them, to take mariachis to them, to welcome them when they came back [from the United States],” she said.
“It has nothing to do with politics or even the relationship between governments. Rather it’s support for humanity, affection, which is what is seen in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
“That’s why we say that the values of the people of Mexico are very special … and unique. And a lot of this, I repeat, comes from the culture of the Indigenous peoples. … [It’s a manifestation of] the value of community over the value of the individual,” she said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
Mexico was banned from participating in the 1990 World Cup in Italy due to a football scandal known forever after as Los Cachirules. (Uncredited historical photo)
Mexican soccer has endured enough heartbreaking defeats, controversial refereeing decisions and penalty shootout misery to fill several lifetimes. Yet the most painful World Cup absence in the nation’s modern history didn’t come at the hands of a rival on the field.
Mexico missed the 1990 World Cup because of something far more damaging: its own actions.
Records falsified to make players appear younger than they actually were
The episode in Mexican sports history is remembered simply as Los Cachirules, which, in Mexican sporting slang, refers to players who aren’t quite who they claim to be. It remains one of the darkest chapters in the history of Mexican football and a cautionary tale about arrogance, bureaucracy and the high price of trying to bend the rules.
To understand why the scandal still resonates nearly four decades later, it helps to remember where Mexico stood in the late 1980s.
El Tri had just hosted the 1986 World Cup and reached the quarterfinals, producing one of the most memorable campaigns in the nation’s history. The national team appeared to be entering a golden era, and players like Hugo Sánchez were among the most respected footballers in the world. Optimism about the future ran high.
Then came a youth tournament that few people outside hardcore football circles were paying much attention to.
In 1988, Mexico participated in the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship, which served as qualification for the FIFA World Youth Championship. The competition had strict age limits. Players were required to meet eligibility requirements designed to ensure the tournament remained a genuine youth competition.
Instead, Mexican officials knowingly fielded several players who were over the age limit. Among those later identified were José Luis Mata, José de la Fuente, Gerardo Jiménez and Aurelio Rivera. Birth records had allegedly been altered to make the players appear younger than they actually were.
What makes the story particularly remarkable is how the deception was uncovered.
Mexican journalists uncover the scandal
The scandal wasn’t exposed by FIFA investigators or rival federations. It was revealed by Mexican journalists. Reporters examining official federation records noticed discrepancies between published player information and the ages listed for the squad.
So what began as routine reporting quickly evolved into a national sports scandal.
Initially, some Mexican soccer officials appeared to believe the issue could be contained. They badly misjudged the situation. CONCACAF launched an investigation and determined that Mexico had indeed violated tournament regulations. The youth team was stripped of its achievements and removed from the competition pathway.
That alone would have been embarrassing enough, but FIFA was far from finished. The soccer world’s governing body decided that the offense reflected broader institutional responsibility rather than a simple mistake by a youth squad. And so, in April 1988, FIFA imposed a sweeping punishment: Every Mexican national team, regardless of age level or gender, was suspended from international competition for two years.
The ban lasted until July 1990, and the consequences were enormous.
The consequences
Hugo Sánchez was the greatest footballer Mexico has ever produced. In 1990, the year Mexico was banned from the World Cup because of the Cachirules scandal, he was in the prime of his career, coming off five Pichichi Awards in six years as the top scorer in Spain’s La Liga. (Rob Bogaerts/Wikimedia Commons)
Most significantly, Mexico was barred from participating in the qualification for the 1990 World Cup in Italy. There would be no dramatic qualification campaign, no chance for redemption and no opportunity for one of the strongest generations of Mexican players to compete on football’s biggest stage.
The tournament came and went without El Tri.
For supporters, the punishment felt particularly cruel because the senior national team itself had committed no wrongdoing. Yet FIFA’s message was clear. Federations, not just players, are responsible for maintaining integrity.
Many Mexican fans still debate whether the punishment was excessive. Some argue that a youth-level violation shouldn’t have cost an entire nation a World Cup appearance. Others counter that deliberate age fraud strikes at the heart of competitive fairness and demands a strong response.
What’s beyond dispute, however, is the lasting impact: The ban denied a generation of Mexican footballers a unique opportunity. Sánchez was in the prime years of a remarkable European career. Other talented players who might have left a mark on the global stage never got the chance.
What might have been
To this day, Mexican supporters speculate about what might have happened had that squad reached Italy. Some believe it could have been one of the country’s strongest World Cup teams ever.
The scandal also transformed the way Mexican football was administered.
In the years that followed, greater attention was paid to governance, player registration and international compliance. While Mexican football has hardly been free of controversy since then, few incidents have carried consequences as severe as Los Cachirules.
Interestingly, the affair has become almost mythical in Mexican football culture.
Mention Italy in 1990 to older fans, and the conversation often shifts from tactics and players to regret. The absence has become one of the great “what ifs” of the sport’s national story.
What if the federation had simply followed the rules? What if officials hadn’t believed they could get away with falsifying ages? What if one administrative decision hadn’t wiped out an entire World Cup cycle?
Those questions will forever remain unanswered.
How El Tri emerged stronger after the scandal
El Tri emerged stronger following the Cachirules scandal, and has qualified for every World Cup since, including the 2026 edition, in which Julián Quiñones scored the tournament’s first goal. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro.com)
Today, younger supporters know Mexico as a nation that consistently qualifies for the World Cup. Since the end of the suspension, El Tri has returned to every tournament and established itself as a regular participant on football’s biggest stage.
Not because Mexico lost a match. Not because a referee made a bad call. But perhaps because the most painful World Cup in the country’s history was one the team never got a chance to play.
In football, defeats are usually inflicted by opponents. The Cachirules scandal was different. It was an own goal of historic proportions, and one that continues to echo through Mexican football.
Charlotte Smith is a writer and journalist based in Mexico. Her work focuses on travel, politics, and community. You can follow along with her travel stories at www.salsaandserendipity.com.
Ernesto Pugibet and his company, El Buen Tono, helped to usher in the Industrial Revolution in Mexico, an achievement for which he will always be remembered. (a_layered_city/Instagram)
From 1876 to 1911, Mexico was ruled by José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori, either as president (1876–1880 and 1884–1911) or as a behind-the-scenes power broker. He remains one of the most controversial figures in Mexican history, to some an abusive dictator who ruled through authoritarian repression and whose financial policies only benefited a small elite. To others, these 35 years in which Diaz held power — known as the Porfiriato — brought industrialization and urbanization, and put Mexico on the road to becoming a modern nation. Both viewpoints have elements of truth.
But this is not the story of Porfirio Díaz and his financial policies, but of one businessman who adapted to the new opportunities to build up a great manufacturing empire: Ernesto Pugibet, the creator of El Buen Tono.
El Buen Tono was more than just a business that dominated the Mexican tobacco industry with its cigars and “European style” cigarettes for decades; it was the great symbol of Mexico’s new industrialized future, setting the pattern and standards that others would follow.
Ernesto Pugibet and the tobacco industry in Mexico
Although born in France, Pugibet would find fame and fortune in Mexico with El Buen Tono, the market-leading tobacco company he founded. (Public Domain)
Pugibet was born in Saint-Martory, a rural area of France that sits in the shadow of the Pyrenees mountains. He left his homeland in 1875, a 22-year-old, intending to seek his fortune in the Americas.
His first stop was Cuba, where he worked in the tobacco industry. It seems likely that he intended to make the island his permanent home until political upheavals forced him to move on. He arrived in Mexico City in 1879, looking to apply his newly won knowledge.
Tobacco had long been popular in Mexico in the form of pipes, snuff and chewing tobacco. The idea of rolling a small amount of tobacco in paper and thus creating the modern cigarette is credited to one Antonio Charro, a Mexican entrepreneur who stood outside theaters to sell them to concertgoers. Others copied the idea, creating a booming cottage industry.
Hand rolling cigarettes was a tricky business, and a worker was considered skilled if they could produce four cigarettes per minute. However, in 1880, a machine capable of rolling cigarettes mechanically was invented in the U.S., and by 1884, the first such machines had been imported to Mexico by the El Modelo company.
By then, Ernesto Pugibet was finding his feet. From 1879 to 1884, he operated a small artisanal tobacco business, employing three female workers to roll cigarettes by hand, which he personally delivered to customers and local shops. An attempt to open a cigar factory on Calle Don Juan Manuel failed, but in 1884, Pugibet founded another small company, Ernesto Pugibet y Compañía.
Growing El Buen Tono
In November 1887, Pugibet married Guadalupe Portilla Garaicoechea, a woman of considerable political connections, and the marriage gave Pugibet access to investors. He imported some of the new foreign rolling machines and expanded into the cigarette business on a grander scale. His timing was perfect: People were flooding into the cities to find work in factories, and the population of Mexico City had surged to 400,000. Factory workers had a little spare cash and became consumers themselves.
Business opportunities were no longer limited to making fine furniture or carriages for the handful of truly wealthy; fortunes could now be made by selling small items to the urban masses, with beer, cigarettes and textiles the driving forces behind this consumer revolution. As modern city life picked up pace, the factory-made cigarette became a symbol of modern Mexico, and Ernesto Pugibet was there, both exploiting this new market and, with his powerful advertisements, helping to drive it. As production increased, prices came down, until a packet of cigarettes sold for as little as 5 centavos, while brands such as High Life or Jockey Club were a status symbol for the rich who happily paid 15 centavos for a better cigarette in a more elegant package.
El Buen Tono went international with a display in the Mexican Pavilion at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889. This was the event for which the Eiffel Tower had been constructed, and El Buen Tono put on an impressive show in the Aztec-style Mexican Pavilion. Attendance in Paris was less about garnering international sales and more about winning political favor with the Mexican government. But it helped the firm’s reputation when they were awarded a gold medal for excellence.
El Buen Tono’s largely female workforce
The El Buen Tono tobacco factory that Pugibet built in Mexico City had baths and housing for employees, as well as its own church. (Fideicomiso Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México)
In 1890, with business booming, Pugibet moved to a larger factory near Alameda Park and the following year purchased new French cigarette-rolling machines. These had the advantage over previous models by removing the need for glue, bringing a notable improvement in the taste of cigarettes. By 1897, El Buen Tono had teams of horse carriages out every day delivering their products around Mexico City. As the train network improved and internal tariffs were removed, El Buen Tono cigarettes could be sold around the country, leading to booming sales figures. The expanding market encouraged the planting of more Mexican tobacco. New estates were opened in Oaxaca, and there was a notable improvement in both the quality and quantity of the Mexican product.
El Buen Tono was a model employer for its day, with baths being introduced at the factory and housing provided for many of their workers. However, it was still a hard job: Most of the workforce at El Buen Tono was female, with the women usually working under male supervision. Giving women the majority of jobs was not about equal rights; it was due to the fact that women could be paid lower wages.
Squeezing out smaller competitors
Similarly, by moving into the security of a company house, workers had to accept low wages and were banned from seeking any union representation. Many workers had recently arrived from the countryside, and the famous Swiss clock above the factory’s entrance was not just a symbol of modern times but was there to impose a sense of punctuality on a workforce used to the more easy-going ways of village life.
Even as cigarette consumption rose across Mexico, an ever more competitive market forced many of the smaller companies out of business, leaving the big three of El Buen Tono, La Tabacalera Mexicana and El Águila. These companies were all selling what was basically the same product, so branding and advertising were particularly important. It was here that El Buen Tono was the great master of the art.
The art of advertising
At the core of their advertising campaigns was their own in-house printers, where a dozen workers produced everything from packaging to newspaper ads to posters. These beautiful lithographically printed posters gave the city a free art show, while each year the company’s prized Christmas calendars were handed out from the factory and the main kiosk by Alameda Park. The design team became famous for their comic strip advertisements, which depicted a range of characters who benefited from smoking El Buen Tono products. The series “Aventuras Maravillosas de Ranilla”became so popular that scripts were published in book format by 1922, an event seen as the start of the Mexican comic book industry.
While there might have been three big tobacco companies operating in Mexico, they were not equals: El Buen Tono dominated, claiming a majority share of the market.
Marketing and a flair for the dramatic
El Buen Tono was known for its clever and elegant advertisements, which promoted smoking as a lifestyle choice. (Public Domain)
Ernesto Pugibet always had an eye for the dramatic, and in 1906, he sent the El Buen Tono airship, the first such flying machine in Mexico, on a dramatic flight over the Zócalo main square in Mexico City. El Buen Tono also employed “El Hombre Luminoso,” a dandy dressed in the finest clothes who would stroll amongst the evening crowds and suddenly connect the batteries hidden in his coat to light up an advertisement on his back. Ernesto Pugibet scored another coup when the famous French opera singer Emma Calvé was treated to a guided tour of the factory. El Buen Tono produced a cigarette brand named in her honor.
Ernesto Pugibet was very much a man of the world, with properties in New York and Paris. At home, he wined and dined the politicians who determined policy, with Finance Minister José Yves Limantour becoming a close friend. Although his cigarette factory remained at the heart of his business, Pugibet invested in breweries, banks and textiles. He loved modern inventions and, in 1907, imported motorized trucks from Paris to take over deliveries around the city. The El Buen Tono policy of importing the latest technology from Europe became a model for other companies to follow.
The end of the golden age
By 1910, the factory was employing approximately 1,000 men and over 1,200 women, and its capital had grown to 10 million pesos. Events, however, were moving beyond Ernesto Pugibet’s control. An aging President Porfirio Díaz was losing his iron grip on power, and it became a period of labor unrest and strikes. In 1910, rebellions broke out across northern Mexico, and the country entered a decade-long period of violence, bringing disruptions, broken supply routes and a decline in foreign investment. El Buen Tono would come through the troubles and keep making cigarettes for another 50 years, but the golden age had come to an end.
Bob Patemanlived in Mexico for six years. He is a librarian and teacher with a Master’s Degree in History.
Metro riders prepare to board at the Observatorio station — part of Line 1, which first opened to the public in 1969. (Daniel Augusto / Cuartoscuro.com)
Editor’s note: This feature brings together previous Mexico News Daily reporting on Mexico City’s Metro culture, commerce and mobility — now updated to include information on how to use the subway system and on the latest renovations made for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is conceived as a single, long-read guide for visitors and residents who want to rely on the Metro to get around as Mexico City welcomes the world.
The new and improved Metro Line 1 can now carry 850,000 passengers a day. (@ClaraBrugadaM/X)
Now that the 2026 FIFA World Cup has started, thousands of visitors are trying out Mexico City’s Metro subway system for the first time and discovering that it’s not only a convenient way to get from Mexico City Stadium to their hotel, it’s also a rolling museum, a bustling marketplace and the backbone of a vast mobility network across the city that includes buses, light-rail trains, bicycle rentals — electric and manual bikes — and even airborne cable cars.
CDMX authorities are betting that the recently updated and modernized Metro — with new trains, revamped stations and better connections to buses, cable cars and suburban rail — will be one of the capital’s strongest calling cards during the World Cup.
You never know what kinds of passengers you may encounter in the Mexico City Metro. (Peter Davies)
Mexico City’s network of Metro stations has long been one of the world’s most unusual art spaces, where pre‑Columbian relics, contemporary murals and scientific exhibits coexist with rush‑hour crowds. Line 3’s Hidalgo station boasts works from over 300 artists from 50 countries, making it one of the world’s largest public art galleries, according to the city government.
One stop away, at the Bellas Artes station on Line 2, commuters routinely rush past a reproduction of a Maya stele from the Izapa archeological site in Chiapas, a replica of a Mesoamerican Chac Mool statue and a reproduction of Chiapas’ Bonampak archaeological site murals, turning a subway transfer into a crash course in Mesoamerican history. For a more modern art experience, visit the station’s Galería Metro, which features trippy Pedro Friedeberg murals and light displays.
Farther along on Line 2 — as well as on Line 1 — the Pino Suárez station, which hides a surprising treasure: a historic circular pyramid dedicated to Ehécatl, the wind aspect of Quetzalcóatl, discovered during Metro construction in the 1960s and now billed as Mexico’s “busiest” archaeological site, with tens of millions of people streaming past each year.
At the Talismán station on Line 4, a genuine mammoth skeleton unearthed here in 1978 greets passengers under a glass dome, while colossal replicas of Olmec heads loom over platforms at Tezozómoc on Line 6.
Mexico City’s Metro network also celebrates science and pop culture: At the La Raza station, the Tunnel of Science stretches between Lines 3 and 5, with astronomical exhibits and a glowing celestial sphere that offers perhaps the clearest “night sky” that most chilangos will ever see in their notoriously hazy city. At the Auditorio station on Line 7, a London Underground‑themed station opens up to “Un Viaje por el Rock and Roll,” (A Trip Through Rock and Roll”), a mural teeming with images of iconic musicians, including Mick Jagger, Patti Smith and Jimi Hendrix.
Art in transit: How Mexico City’s metro doubles as a museum
Not just a museum, the Metro is also one big market — one that stretches from platforms to concourses and spills out onto surrounding streets. Beyond the restaurants and stores that occupy Metro stations, there are also around 2,000 designated commercial spaces within the system where vendors ply their trade, offering just about anything a commuter could possibly want to pick up on their way home — fruits and vegetables, skincare products and costume jewelry, headphones, books — the list goes on and on.
There are also, of course, vendors selling a myriad on-the-go snacks: This includes not just the typical candy, chips and soda but also churros, fresh sliced fruit, fresh-squeezed juices, pan dulces, and much, much more.
Inside the train cars, you’ll sometimes encounter informal sellers known as vagoneros — who have become less visible after a series of city crackdowns, yet they still slip through. These are generally folks doing an unauthorized side hustle, selling small items often bought in bulk to offer for resale at cut-rate prices: We’re talking traditional Mexican candies, packs of ballpoint pens or pencils, children’s coloring books, small gadgets — you name it. The iconic bocineros, who once blasted their pirated CDs for sale from backpack speakers as they walked through train cars, have mostly disappeared, thanks to the advent of streaming and smart phones.
Books are for sale in several Métro stations — be they in independent stores, at vendor kiosks or in branches of major Mexican bookstore chains.
If you’re a book lover, you can’t miss the Pasaje Zócalo-Pino Suárez, a long underground passage that connects the Zócalo/Tenochtitlan and the Pino Suárez stations on Line 2. It’s one giant book walk, featuring over 40 bookstores representing around 500 publishing houses, one after the other along a kilometer-long pedestrian walkway.
This underground path devoted to the love of literature was once the site of the city’s annual Metropolitan Book Fair, which stopped being staged here in 1992, prompting the Pasaje’s creation in 1997 by the National Chamber of the Mexican Publishing Industry. You’ll find books on every topic here, from philosophy to pop culture.
You can get there by stopping at either station, or walk in from the historic center by entering either at the Pino Suárez station entrance at the intersection of Pino Suárez Avenue and República El Salvador Street, or at the Zócalo/Tenochtitlan station, using the entrance that’s by the Supreme Court building and Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez street.
In the run‑up to the World Cup, the Metro underwent significant revamping: Line 1 saw new tracks, the installation of advanced telecommunication systems and 29 new trains, designed with better accessibility. Line 2, with a direct route to one of the World Cup host venues, Mexico City Stadium (Estadio Azteca), was also a major focus for renovations, with 15 stations on the line updated to provide better lighting, new floors, wider transit passageways and textured floor surfaces designed to help people with visual impairments navigate safely.
All the renovations to Lines 1 and 2 for the World Cup have also inspired the city to revamp Line 3, earmarking 5 billion pesos (US $270 million), but not until after the Cup, to avoid paralyzing north‑south flows through the nation’s capital during the tournament.
The tournament will test how this complex transportation ecosystem handles an influx of first‑time users. If successful, the Metro will not only move fans efficiently but also offer them an unexpected crash course in Mexican history, art and everyday life. The legacy, city leaders have argued, will be a more modern, better‑connected transit system that continues to serve the Mexico City’s residents long after the last World Cup banner comes down.
For, behind the art and the commerce, the Métro remains above all a workhorse: a 226‑kilometer system of 12 lines that has run every day since 1969 and moves a metropolitan region of over 20 million people. For lower‑income residents who cannot afford cars, the Métro is a lifeline, connecting peripheral neighborhoods to formal job markets in the city’s interior.
The Métro runs until midnight seven days a week. On Monday through Friday, services start at 5 a.m., on Saturdays at 6 a.m. and on Sundays and holidays at 7 a.m.
With the interactive map in the image below, you can quickly find any route you need—just zoom and navigate within the map. If you want a more static map showing the entire subway system at a glance, plus links to finding info on the rest of the city’s transportation public network, download this map.
And, finally, as in any other major metropolis, there are some commonsense things to know about using Mexico City’s Metro that will help you have the best experience possible:
It’s notoriously crowded during peak hours. Be prepared for a lack of seating during these times, and perhaps to be packed in with your fellow passengers like a bunch of sardines. Be clear on exactly how many stops there are until yours — because it may be crowded enough that you can’t see the station names going by — and plan to be situated near a subway car door by the next-to-last stop on your route, or you may struggle to make it off the train in time before the doors close.
Pay attention to your surroundings. Pickpockets do ride the subways, especially during the chaos of peak hours, so be aware of what’s going on around you, especially when you’re in a particularly crowded train or station. Also, you’ll notice many locals with their backpack worn in front rather than on their back so that they can see it at all times. It’s an idea worth adopting if you are carrying anything that you’d be upset to lose.
Women and girls may want to ride in the female car. Every Métro train has at least one female-only car, usually located at the front, where only women and children under 12 — of all genders — are allowed. You can spot them in most stations by the signage bearing the phrase mujeres y niños, located at or near the boarding platform. They’re often cordoned off by barriers and a security officer who’s there to keep men and teenage boys from trying to board — which some males are tempted to do during rush hour. Enforcement is not always perfect, but many women say they feel safer there than being trapped in a super-packed car where they can’t see who’s doing what.
If you need assistance, find a service module. These are located at the following stations, which are all on Line 1, 2 or 3: Observatorio, Insurgentes, Hidalgo, Zócalo/Tenochtitlan, Ermita, Juárez, Balderas and Centro Médico. You can also try the “México Contigo” kiosk at the Glorieta de los Insurgentes Métrobus station.
Fans gather at Mexico City's Angel of Independence to watch Mexico's last World Cup group stage game against Czechia on Wednesday. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
The FIFA World Cup delivered the week’s most jubilant moments, as Mexico’s national team closed out the group stage with a perfect record, beating Czechia 3-0 on Wednesday night in a match that sent El Tri into the knockout round undefeated. The goals and the stadium roar were matched by diplomatic warmth off the pitch: Spain’s King Felipe VI arrived at the National Palace on Thursday evening for his first meeting with a Mexican president since the inauguration of former President López Obrador eight years ago, a visit framed by both governments as a turning point after years of friction rooted in Mexico’s 2019 demand that the Spanish Crown apologize for Spain’s 16th century conquest of the Aztec Empire.
While soccer dominated the national mood, the week also brought more sobering news. The newspaper Reforma published excerpts from a forthcoming memoir by former U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar, in which he wrote that AMLO was “very concerned” about what Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada might tell U.S. authorities after his 2024 arrest — allegations President Claudia Sheinbaum disputed at her Monday morning press conference. Also this week, a devastating earthquake struck Venezuela, prompting Mexico to mobilize search-and-rescue teams, and the economy posted a string of indicators that pointed to firmer ground than Mexico stood on just two months ago.
Mexican search and rescue teams left for Venezuela Thursday afternoon. (Sedena via Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum herself was the subject of international attention beyond the soccer pitch. The Guardian profiled her this week as “the world’s most popular left-wing leader,” citing an approval rating above 70%. On the environmental front, years of severe drought have largely receded. On the security front, federal authorities recorded what officials described as the second-largest drug seizure in Mexican history. And a teachers’ union that had camped out in the capital for weeks packed up its tents — though the circumstances of its departure remained contested.
Didn’t have time to catch this week’s top stories? Here’s what you missed.
Mexico beats Czechia, advances with a perfect group stage
Mexico defeated Czechia 3-0 on Wednesday in Guadalajara to close the group stage with three wins and no goals conceded. The night included a farewell tribute to retiring goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa and sent El Tri into the round of 32. President Sheinbaum — who has used her morning press conferences to celebrate each team victory — told reporters on Thursday that Mexico has the best World Cup atmosphere of any host nation.
Spain-Mexico relations: A royal visit closes a chapter
King Felipe VI’s Thursday night meeting with Sheinbaum at the National Palace was the first such encounter between a Spanish monarch and a Mexican president since 2018. The rift stemmed from AMLO’s 2019 demand that Spain apologize for the conquest — a request the Crown rejected. Sheinbaum said the meeting was made possible by Felipe’s prior gesture of acknowledging abuses committed during the conquest. At the meeting, Sheinbaum emphasized that 28 million Mexicans still identify as Indigenous and that 69 languages are spoken in Mexico; the king responded by proposing a working group on Indigenous peoples at the Ibero-American Summit in November, while Mexico agreed to promote three cultural exhibitions in Spain. Spain’s Foreign Ministry called it “an extraordinary moment in our relations.”
El Rey es recibido por la presidenta de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Claudia Sheinbaum, a su llegada en el Palacio Nacional de México.
The Salazar memoir: AMLO, ‘El Mayo’ and competing accounts
Excerpts published by Reforma from former U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar’s forthcoming book, Borderlands, claimed that AMLO was “very concerned” about what Zambada might tell U.S. prosecutors after his 2024 arrest — information Salazar says he received from an anonymous Mexican businessman he calls “the Whisperer.” Sheinbaum rejected that framing, saying AMLO’s concern was about possible U.S. involvement in Zambada’s capture, which would have constituted a violation of Mexican sovereignty. Salazar separately told the Los Angeles Times that he never saw any proof of ties between AMLO and criminal organizations. Whether Zambada has actually provided information to U.S. prosecutors remains publicly unknown, according to the L.A. Times. The memoir is due out next month from BenBella Books.
Economy: April data brings the clearest positive signal of 2026
MND Economy Index: Nine of ten pillars improve in April
The April data drove the biggest single-month gain in MND’s Economy Index since the index launched, rising 4.16 points to 67.55 out of 100. Nine of the index’s ten pillars improved month-over-month; the sole laggard was productivity, which fell to 3.2 from 4.8 as INEGI’s quarterly productivity measure grew only 0.1% annually in Q1 2026.
Energy Minister Luz Elena González appeared at Wednesday’s mañanera to unveil a plan under which 70% of all new electricity generation capacity would come from renewable sources. The announcement signals a notable strategic direction for the Sheinbaum administration, which has publicly committed to expanding clean energy while also grappling with the legacy infrastructure of the state-owned CFE. The government is also looking into developing nonrenewable energy sources: Sheinbaum said at Monday’s mañanera that a government-appointed scientific panel will soon issue recommendations on whether “sustainable fracking” is feasible in Mexico — a potential major policy break from López Obrador, who paused fracking during his administration.
Separately, Pemex signed a memorandum of understanding with Brazil’s Petrobras to jointly pursue oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, a partnership both companies say could help reverse declining output.
The federal government aims to expand energy generation in Mexico, with at least 70% of new power coming from renewable sources. Pictured: A wind farm in Nuevo León. (Prensa Gobierno de NL/Cuartoscuro)
A $512 million meth seizure and a teachers’ camp disbanded
Federal authorities announced the seizure of 24,400 liters of liquid methamphetamine in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, valued at more than US $512.3 million — described by officials as the second-largest drug bust in Mexican history. Meanwhile, the CNTE teachers’ union cleared its encampment from Mexico City after weeks of occupation near the Zócalo. The union had been demanding salary increases and changes to the education system. Terms of any government agreement with the union were not publicly confirmed.
Mexico mobilizes aid after Venezuela earthquake
A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck Venezuela on Thursday, killing hundreds and affecting thousands more. By Friday’s mañanera, Sheinbaum confirmed that Mexico had deployed approximately 250 military personnel with specialized search-and-rescue equipment to assist in relief operations — part of what she described as Mexico’s humanitarian commitment to the region.
Cell phone registration deadline extended
The government extended its cell phone registration deadline after millions of devices remained unregistered ahead of the original June 30 cutoff, replacing it with 10 new staggered deadlines running through December. The registration program requires users to link their SIM cards to official identification in a government database — an anti-crime measure aimed at reducing the use of anonymous phones for extortion and kidnapping. Critics have raised concerns about data privacy, while authorities have warned that unregistered phones could be blocked from service once the new deadlines pass.
Looking ahead
Mexico enters the World Cup knockout stage as one of its undefeated hosts, and the government has already renewed its work-from-home mandate for Mexico City public workers ahead of El Tri’s next knockout-round match. World Cup-related spending — including by international tourists — could lift June and possibly July growth figures. On the diplomatic calendar, the relationship with Spain now has concrete follow-up commitments, including cultural exhibitions and an Indigenous-peoples working group at November’s Ibero-American Summit. The Salazar memoir officially publishes next month, and its reception in Washington and Mexico City will likely reopen scrutiny of the AMLO years and the current state of bilateral security cooperation.
This story contains summaries of original Mexico News Daily articles. The summaries were generated by Claude, then revised and fact-checked by a Mexico News Daily staff editor.
Colombian immigration to Mexico has been rising for decades, especially in Mexico City, where there are an increasing number of Colombian restaurants and vendors. (Shahriar Shimul/ Dreamstime)
The ties that bind Mexico and Colombia have been interwoven for generations. From Bogotá’s first mariachis around the middle of the 20th century to the Cholombianos, a subculture in Nuevo León in the early 2000s, a cross-cultural exchange of music, fashion, film and cultural icons has passed between these two countries. While many of the immigrant populations we have covered previously in this series first came to Mexico at the end of the 19th or early in the 20th century — Chinese, Japanese and Lebanese, for example — Colombian immigration is comparatively more recent and has grown significantly in recent decades.
Colombian emigration began to increase in the 1970s, during the political transition following the end of the National Front, with Mexico becoming a favored destination.
Colombian migration to Mexico
Bolero Café is a favored hangout for Colombian residents of Mexico City, and is particularly famed for its patacones. (Bolero Café/Facebook)
By 1990, only a few thousand Colombians were registered as residents of Mexico. A series of agreements between the two countries — a 1995 trade agreement, a 2001 agreement to mutually recognize educational certificates and diplomas, the 2002 Tourism Cooperation Agreement and, perhaps most importantly, the forming of the Pacific Alliance in 2012 — have deepened cooperation and created more channels for mobility, especially for students and professionals; to the point that Colombians are now one of the top five immigrant groups in the country.
The Pacific Alliance eliminated short‑stay tourist and business visas for each other’s nationals, allowing Colombians to enter Mexico with only a passport for stays of up to 180 days, and eventually to apply for residency or citizenship.
Mexico, with the second-largest economy by gross domestic product (GDP) in Latin America, has been a natural draw for lots of Latinos (as well as U.S. citizens, who have been the largest immigrant group by far for years), but while many Central Americans have used Mexico as a pass-through country during their trek north of the border, many Colombians have come to stay.
The appeal of Mexico City
Neighborhoods in Mexico City, like Colonia Roma, have a strong Colombian presence. If you’ve ever been inside Mercado Medellín — its colloquial name, a funny coincidence given that it sits on Medellín Street and predates the arrival of the Colombian community — you may have noticed something peculiar. Several stands are dedicated 100% to the products and ingredients of other Latin American countries, particularly Colombia and Venezuela.
You can purchase arepa flour and mixes to make Colombian-style natilla, yuca, green plantains, Colombian candies and even homemade buñuelos and pan de bono, sold by several stands.
There are plenty of products from other places, too — Yerba maté from Argentina, Bucanero beer from Cuba — but Colombian products dominate. “El Paísa,” a vendor who claims to be the first to sell these foreign products in the market, claims that the community came first.
Customers from Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba started coming to the market and asking him if he could procure certain ingredients and foodstuffs that they were finding it hard to get their hands on. Even as Colombians and other South Americans have spread across the city’s neighborhoods, this market is still a meeting point for finding the flavors of home.
Along Medellín street near the market are also a handful of Colombian restaurants, the best-known of which is Pollos Marios, where you can buy frozen arepas and pan de bono (bread made with yuca starch, corn flour and a mix of cheeses) or sit for a massive bandeja paisa (a Colombian smorgasbord of sausage, arepa, chicharrón, rice, beans, fried green plantain, finely ground beef and a Colombian-style condiment called hogao). While the Colombians in the neighborhood will tell you that the best bandeja is the one they make at home, Pollos Mario is a good place to go in case you don’t get invited over.
Next to the market on Coahuila Street is a tiny outdoor food stand set up just a year or so ago that sells Colombian street food: hard-boiled eggs encased in mashed potato and deep-fried, corn empanadas filled with savory potatoes or meat, and the crispy on the outside, tender in the middle pan de bono. My partner Sergio’s Colombian father, a demanding critic of Colombian food in Mexico, loves this place.
A family’s story of immigration
Sergio’s family is a classic story of Colombian immigrants to Mexico. They came at the beginning of the 2000s, not exactly fleeing but definitely looking to distance themselves from the state-sponsored violence that was prevalent in Colombia at the time. They were also searching for economic and educational opportunities.
Mexico’s expansive higher education system, which until recently offered a bounty of scholarships for foreigners, meant that every person in the family went to college. A large number of the Colombian immigrants in Mexico are studying, and we have several friends who have graduated and now work in those same university systems.
Like many of their compatriots, they were drawn to the capital. The largest percentage of the Colombian immigrant population is concentrated in Mexico City and just over the border in the State of México.
Mercado Medellín in Mexico City is known for its products from around Latin America, including Colombia. (Stellarc/Wikimedia Commons)
Sergio’s family started their own business 15 years ago — a bar and restaurant — and 11 years later, a café. Statistics show that most Colombians who arrive in Mexico work in the service industries. Their introduction to Mexico, like the majority of immigrant communities around the world, was through a fellow Colombian living in Mexico who encouraged Sergio’s father to come and work for the company where she was employed.
Education and social mobility
Their story is a classic, but it’s not the only one. Many Colombians have come fleeing the violence that continues to affect regions of the country; some came in response to their persecution after the National Strikes in 2019 and 2021. Some are here for the social mobility that Mexico offers, which many other Latin American countries do not.
Angela and Luis came in 2005. Luis was recruited at his university in Cali by representatives from Mexico’s National University (UNAM). He was offered a scholarship for a master’s program and came to Mexico at first on his own, with Angela following two years later with their baby girl, now 21 years old.
While Luis was eventually offered a permanent position as a professor at UNAM, Angela went into the service industry, first selling Colombian food out of her house for parties and events, and eventually opening La Tertulia Valluna in Del Valle two months ago. Her business partner, also from Cali, arrived 9 years ago and has been working in the restaurant industry in the city since landing.
In the area of Colonia Del Valle, where they opened La Tertulia, there are several other Colombian restaurants nearby, as well as a handful of Colombian-owned beauty parlors and a few Venezuelan restaurants. For this generation of immigrants, it seems this area is set to become the next “Little Colombia” of Mexico City.
For a taste of Colombian food in Mexico City, here are a few standout eateries:
This stand doesn’t show up on Google Maps, but it can be found next to the Discos Aquarius store on Calle Coahuila in Roma. The papas rellenas are divine.
A cozy new spot in Colonia Del Valle where Angela sells her famous empanadas with shredded beef and potatoes, as well as a whole menu of delicious Colombian classics.
One of the most old-school options for Colombian food in the city, Pollos Marios serves a full menu of traditional Colombian dishes as well as frozen foods to go.
Lydia Carey is a freelance writer and translator based in Mexico City. She has published extensively both online and in print, sharing her insights about Mexico for over a decade. She lives a double life as a local tour guide and is the author of “Mexico City Streets: La Roma.” Follow her urban adventures on Instagram and see more of her work at mexicocitystreets.com.
