General Manager of GDL Martín Zazueta said that the airport’s renovations, which began in 2020, has been essential to it becoming one of the most advanced airports in compliance with FIFA’s guidelines. (Aeropuerto Internacional de Guadalajara/Facebook)
Guadalajara International Airport (GDL) has received a 2024 Airport Experience Award from Airports Council International (ACI) in the “Airport Service Quality” (ASQ) category.
Launched in 2006, ASQ is the world’s leading airport passenger satisfaction program with more than 400 participating airports in 110 countries.
The Guadalajara International Airport offers the best passenger experience in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to Airports Council International. (Shutterstock)
The award recognizes airports that achieve a 20% overall satisfaction score, based on data from ASQ’s Departures and Arrivals Surveys. GDL made it to the top in the category for airports serving 15 to 25 million passengers per year in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We are very happy with this news because the arrival of national and international tourists to the Perla Tapatía [Guadalajara] is very important to us,” Gustavo Staufert, the general director of Guadalajara’s visitors’ office, told the news magazine Expansión.
“What better reference than having an international airport that is on par with the best in the world, focused on providing excellent service and ensuring that it is at the forefront and maintained in optimal conditions? This undoubtedly impacts traveler preference and acceptance,” Staufert said.
So far this year, GDL has reported a flow of 2.9 million passengers, making it one of the most connected air terminals in Mexico.
The accolade boosts the airport’s confidence ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026. In an interview with the Jalisco newspaper El Informador, the general manager of GDL Martín Zazueta said that the airport’s renovations, which began in 2020, has been essential to it becoming one of the most advanced airports in compliance with FIFA’s guidelines.
“They’re liking what they [FIFA] are seeing,” he noted. “They like the ‘look and feel’ of the airport.”
Staufert also confirmed previous news that the airport is planning a billion-dollar investment to build a new terminal and new platforms to increase flight capacity.
Guadalajara International is part of the airport group Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico (GAP), which is renovating all 12 of its airports in western Mexico. However, Guadalajara will receive the largest share of the funds — 22 billion pesos, or US $1.1 billion.
“I am sure that next year, the people of Jalisco, Guadalajara and Mexico overall, will be even more proud of the airport,” Zazueta concluded.
Unilever's proposed Nuevo León plant is expected to create 850 direct jobs, with an additional 120 jobs possible in the future. (Shutterstock)
Unilever, one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies, has announced a multi-million dollar investment in Mexico to build a manufacturing plant in the northern state of Nuevo León.
The move follows a previous announcement in February 2023, when the company said it planned to invest US $400 million in Mexico over the next three years. This week’s announcement increases that initial sum to $800 million.
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García’s working tour of Europe to promote his state has paid dividends, with Unilever’s newly announced commitment to invest US $800 million being the latest success. (Gobierno de Nuevo León)
Despite the uncertainty resulting from a series of global tariffs imposed — and later paused — by U.S. President Donald Trump, the beauty and personal care products manufactured by the new facility will be destined primarily for export to the United States and Canada. The factory will be located at Nexxus and Nexxus2, within the Salinas Industrial Park in the municipality of Salinas Victoria near Monterrey, Nuevo León.
“Nuevo León continues to thrive!” Nuevo León Governor Samuel García wrote on his official X account from London, where he met with the company’s executives as part of a European working tour promoting Nuevo León as a strategic hub for new investments.
García’s state, in fact, has been on quite a run lately in attracting new investment.
Just a few days ago, during the same European working tour, García announced that toy company LEGO will invest $508 million to expand its plant in Ciénega de Flores, outside of Monterrey.
Other recent investments in Nuevo León include that of car manufacturer Volvo (US $1 billion), electric tools manufacturer Daye (US $260 million), mobility company Fixbus (US $162 million), zinc die casting products manufacturer Zinkteknik (US $60 million), industrial automation and robotics company Kuka (amount not made public yet) and global logistics service provider Rhenus (US $50 million).
Arrancamos la semana con un NUEVO corte de caja para la inversión que llevamos hasta ahora en nuestra gira por Europa:
✅UNILEVER: 800 MDD y 1500 NUEVOS empleos
✅Volvo: 1 BILLÓN de dólares y 2,500 empleos a su fábrica más grande del mundo
✅ Lego: 508 MDD, y 6,300 empleos…
“Investments like these prove that we are the industrial heart of Mexico and a global manufacturing powerhouse,” García added.
As for the Unilever project, in its first phase, the new plant is expected to create 850 direct jobs, with an additional 120 jobs possible in the future. The products manufactured in Monterrey will include deodorants, shampoos, hair conditioners and body lotions from well-known brands such as Dove and Sedal.
Once finished, the plant will seek the coveted Lighthouse certification, an international recognition for factories that use cutting-edge technologies to increase productivity and efficiency while minimizing their environmental impact.
In addition to the Nuevo León project, Unilever has made significant investments in its four existing plants in México state, Morelos and Mexico City. Between 2021 and 2023, it allocated 5.5 billion pesos (US $277 million) to increase production capacity and boost exports from Mexico to its international markets.
With over 400 brands across a wide range of industries in 190 countries worldwide, Unilever estimates that two billion people use their products every day. These brands include Magnum, Rexona, St. Ives, Hellman’s, Knorr, Ponds and TRESemmé, among many others.
The Chapultepec Audiorama has long been an obligatory pilgrimage for anybody looking for quiet in Mexico City. (Gobierno de la Ciudad de México)
A saying I once heard sometimes occurs to me in Mexico: We don’t know what we love until it’s missing. In my case, about a year after my husband Barry and I bought a home in Guanajuato, I began to miss quiet and feel irritated by the ambient noises I kept hearing: music, barking dogs, fireworks and loudspeaker-equipped trucks.
Noise is obviously subjective, and the same sound can be annoying or pleasant, depending on context. Usually, for example, I dislike the sound of traffic, but if I’m approaching the end of a long, tiring hike, the thrum of a car engine is a welcome sign that the end is near.
It can be tough to find quiet in a country where every day is a saint’s feast day and every saint loves fireworks. (Tres Cervezas)
I noticed that the noises I objected to didn’t seem to bother most Mexicans, so it wasn’t their job to change, it was my job to adapt. While I loved Mexico, I needed to find ways to satisfy my need for silence.
Fortunately, Guanajuato is quieter than many Mexican cities, thanks to its layout. Because it’s built in a valley with steep sides, it doesn’t have the grid pattern typical of many Mexican cities. Cars can’t speed, since the streets are narrow and windy. Guanajuato is also laced with callejones, narrow pedestrian alleys that snake their way up to the Panorámica, the road that partly circumnavigates the city.
Still, Guanajuato has plenty of noise. Here are some ways I’ve found quiet in Mexico.
Wandering along the city’s callejones
I fancy myself a flaneuse — a French term meaning an urban walker — and I love exploring Guanajuato’s serpentine alleys, where I can still get lost, even after knowing the city for 25 years. They look like a Middle Eastern souk to me, with a Catholic twist. Every so often I come upon altars, shrines, mosaics of Our Lady of Guadalupe and even the occasional chapel. Occasionally I’ll hear music coming out of a house, but usually I feel a heady mix of quiet, lung-pumping exercise, and appreciation for the city’s eccentric character.
A Guanajuato street. (Gobierno de Guanajuato)
Seeking out green space and hiking areas
Guanajuato does not have as much green space as I’d like. Its tiny plaza, Jardín Unión, is crowded with restaurants, and the city’s two parks are located at opposite edges of the city, each about a half hour’s walk from our home. But a few months ago I realized I had overlooked another green space: a dry riverbed less than ten minutes away.
People don’t use it much because its access is difficult to find and its paths aren’t well-established. Yet this area has become a secret hideaway where I can lie on mottled leaves and gaze dreamily up at the branches and clouds, entirely alone; not an easy thing to do in a country where most urban parks discourage visitors from lying or even stepping on the grass.
As for hiking, one of my favorite aspects of Guanajuato is that Barry and I can walk out of our front door and, without getting in a car or bus, be in the hills within 20 minutes. We always look for hiking opportunities when we visit other parts of Mexico, too.
Sitting in churches
Unlike in the United States, many Mexican churches remain open all day. We enjoy sitting in a different church for 15 or 20 minutes every day or so, taking in the quiet, the cool and the musty smell. I also sometimes dip into a church for a break between errands, allowing myself to write in my journal, but not check my phone, which seems disrespectful to me.
Getting up early and doing errands in the morning
As madrugadores (early risers) know, quiet is not only a matter of place, but of time. I naturally wake by about 4 a.m. My early-morning hours are sacred, a time when I journal, read, do puzzles, edit articles and listen to birdsong. Later in the morning, if I have errands to do, the earlier the better, because the streets are quieter and less crowded.
Not all these options that I can enjoy are available everywhere in Mexico. Callejones, for example, are rare. On the other hand, many Mexican towns have bigger parks and more squares than Guanajuato does, because their downtowns aren’t confined by geography. When visiting other areas, I seek out libraries, museums, hotel lobbies and the local cultural center, the Casa de la Cultura. I particularly enjoy the ambiance of hotel lobbies, where I can sit undisturbed in an overstuffed chair watching the people come and go.
It’s funny: I’ve become so used to the noise level in Mexico that when I go back to the U.S., it seems strangely empty and quiet. Too quiet. Where is everyone? Where are the mime artists, the street musicians, the guy selling tamales? Now that I can find quiet whenever I need it, the typical sounds of Mexican life rarely bother me anymore. In fact, they make me happy.
Louisa Rogers and her husband Barry Evans divide their lives between Guanajuato and Eureka, on California’s North Coast. Louisa writes articles and essays about expat life, Mexico, travel, physical and psychological health, retirement and spirituality. Her recent articles are available on her website, authory.com/LouisaRogers
High prices for agricultural products — fruit, vegetables and meat — have weighed on Mexico's inflation rate over the past year. (Daniel Yáñez/Cuartoscuro)
Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate increased for a second consecutive month in March, but remains within the Bank of Mexico’s target range.
The national statistics agency INEGI reported Wednesday that the annual headline rate was 3.80% in March, up slightly from a 3.77% reading in February. Month-over-month inflation was 0.31%.
The annual headline rate was in line with the consensus forecast of analysts polled by Reuters.
The Bank of Mexico (Banxico) targets 3% inflation with tolerance of 1 percentage point in either direction. Despite the uptick in inflation, the central bank is still expected to make another cut to its key interest rate after its board’s monetary policy meeting on May 15.
While annual headline inflation ticked up in March, the annual core inflation rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, declined to 3.64%, just below the 3.65% reading in February. The core rate was also in line with market expectations.
Fresh food prices up nearly 5%
INEGI data showed that prices for agricultural products — fruit, vegetables and meat — were 4.87% higher in March than the same month last year.
Meat prices rose 9% in annual terms, while the cost of fruit and vegetables actually fell 2.28% compared to March 2024.
Processed food, beverages and tobacco were 4.15% more expensive in March than a year earlier, while the price of non-food goods rose 1.88% annually.
Mexicans paid 4.35% more for services in March compared to a year earlier, while the cost of energy, including gasoline and electricity, increased 2.94% annually.
Spring produce in Mexico creates opportunities for dishes as fit as roast asparagus and as indulgent as mango sorbet. (Joy / CC BY SA 2.0)
April is when my favorite season, mango season, really kicks in. I drool in anticipation each year, and seeing those big juicy fruit so abundant makes my heart smile and tummy growl. Of course, as someone who adores cooking, the recipes start to run through my head.
Mango salsa, mango in my guacamole, grilled mango in salads and my favorite… mango sorbet! Incredibly easy to make with only four ingredients, mango sorbet is always in my freezer, ready to indulge on a hot day. Or any other day for that matter. And don’t worry, I’ve included the recipe for you at the bottom. I would never deny anyone mango sorbet!
I also love April for cooking because spring is here, and with it all the delicious spring vegetables: artichokes and asparagus, fava beans and snap peas. Plus the lovely milder members of the onion family like leeks and spring onions, sometimes I even find fennel, which I love to bake into breads.
Let’s take a look at some wonderful ways to include these fresh veg in your meals this April.
Asparagus
Lime and chili will make your roast asparagus even more Mexican. (Christina Rumpf / Unsplash)
Made into delicious soups, baked into a frittata or thrown in a primavera risotto, asparagus is a versatile vegetable. April is the prime month for asparagus in Mexico, the world’s third-largest producer of the vegetable, which is mainly grown here in Caborca, Sonora. One of my favorite ways is to bake it in the oven using traditional Mexican flavors: chili and lime. Enjoy as a snack, side or appetizer.
Roasted asparagus with chili and lime
Ingredients
1 pound asparagus
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp lime zest
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 F (230 C).
Rinse the asparagus and trim the ends, then pat dry. In a bowl mix the olive oil, garlic powder, chili powder, lime juice, zest and salt.
Spread the asparagus on some parchment paper and pour the seasoning mixture over the top. Toss lightly and lay the spears flat.
Roast for 12 minutes or until bright green and browned slightly.
Enjoy hot out of the oven.
Fava beans
Almonds and feta bring the perfect touch to a fava bean salad. (Bel Woodhouse)
Deliciously creamy fava beans — habas, in Spanish — are most popular in soups. But my favorite way to enjoy them is fresh, with only a few ingredients. Especially when they are at peak freshness, in season and cheap. This salad is refreshing and light, tossed with feta, lemon and parsley. Best of all, add toasted almonds for crunch.
Haba salad
Ingredients
1 pound fresh habas (without pods)
75g almonds toasted
1/2 cup parsley
50 g feta cheese
Lemon or lime juice to taste
Instructions
Remove fava beans from pods. Half fill a medium sized saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Add the beans and cook for five minutes, drain and set aside to cool.
Dry fry the almonds in a frypan over medium-low heat until small dark brown spots begin to form. Set aside to cool.
Peel the fava beans. The outer skin of a boiled fava bean will wrinkle when cool. Cut one end and pop the fresh green bean out into a large bowl. It’s kind of fun, but be sure to have a bowl waiting: I’ve had them shoot out and end up on the floor, much to my kitty’s delight. It turns out cats like fava beans too!
Chop the parsley and crumble the feta.
Add everything to the bowl and season with lemon juice to taste.
Mangoes
Mango sorbet is a perfect use of this seasonal fruit. (Joy / CC BY SA 2.0)
Mango season kicks off early in Oaxaca and Chiapas, with peak production in the southern regions at the end of March and April. Mexico enjoys a second mango peak in May and June as the harvest moves up the coast.
This mango sorbet is easy and quick to make. A total crowd pleaser, you may want to double the recipe, as it’s nearly impossible to resist! And best of all, the whole family can enjoy it: it’s vegetarian and vegan friendly.
Mango Sorbet
Ingredients
2 large ripe mangos
100 ml canned coconut milk
2 tbsp maple syrup (or agave)
1/2 lime, juice only
Instructions
Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Cut the mango around the stone. Cut the two halves criss cross and use a spoon to scoop out the chunks. Cut up the rest into chunks and put on the tray. Place in the freezer for 4 hours minimum, or overnight.
Add mango chunks, coconut milk, maple syrup and lime juice to a food processor and blend until smooth.
Enjoy straight away, or put in a freezer-proof container to thicken further in the freezer.
Mexico Correspondent for International Living, Bel is an experienced writer, author, photographer and videographer with 500+ articles published both in print and across digital platforms. Living in the Mexican Caribbean for over seven years now, she’s in love with Mexico and has no plans to go anywhere anytime soon.
The peso has performed well compared to the greenback this year, remaining below 20 to the dollar since mid-April. (Shutterstock)
* This story, originally published on Wednesday morning, was updated on Wednesday afternoon to reflect new developments including a significant change in the USD:MXN exchange rate.
The Mexican peso depreciated to above 21 to the US dollar on Wednesday morning amid an escalating trade war between the United States and China.
However, the currency got a significant boost later in the day after United States President Donald Trump announced a major change to his tariff policy.
After losing ground during the past three trading days, the peso slid again on Wednesday morning to reach 21.07 to the greenback, according to Yahoo! Finance.
While trading conditions for Mexico didn’t change — the U.S. hasn’t imposed “reciprocal tariffs” on Mexican goods — the peso strengthened after the U.S. president’s announcement to close at 20.28 to the dollar, according to the Bank of Mexico (Banxico).
Compared to Banxico’s closing USD:MXN rate on Thursday of 20.81, the peso depreciated 1.2% to reach Wednesday’s low of 21.07. However, its end-of-day position was 2.6% stronger than 24 hours earlier.
Trump announced an additional 34% tariff on imports from China last Wednesday and subsequently raised the duty to 84% after Beijing retaliated with its own 34% tariff on imports from the United States. The Chinese government said it would match Trump’s 84% tariff on imports from the United States, and that duty took effect at midnight Thursday Beijing time.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that the United States would immediately impose a 125% tariff on goods from China in yet another escalation in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The Mexico City-based financial group Monex said on Wednesday morning that the escalation of the trade war between the United States and China was weighing on the Mexican peso.
“Additionally, local inflation rebounded during March, showing the effect of the first tariffs on prices in our country,” Monex said.
Mexico’s headline inflation rate was 3.80% in March, according to national statistics agency INEGI, up from 3.77% in February. Despite the uptick, the Bank of Mexico is still expected to cut its key interest rate after its board’s next monetary policy meeting on May 15.
Sheinbaum's Tuesday morning press conference focused on issues of national security, including a new NBC report claiming the U.S. government is considering using drone strikes against cartel members in Mexico. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
The possibility of the United States carrying out drone strikes against Mexican cartels and an allegation that enforced disappearances are commonly perpetrated in Mexico were among the issues President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke about at her Tuesday morning press conference.
Here is a recap of the president’s April 8 mañanera.
Sheinbaum doesn’t believe US will carry out drone strikes against cartels in Mexico
“First because we don’t agree on any intervention or interference,” she said before reiterating that Mexico collaborates with the United States on security issues but won’t allow itself to be subordinated.
Sheinbaum subsequently asserted that drone strikes on cartels “wouldn’t resolve anything.”
What is needed is “attention to the causes” to combat crime and drug use, and “arrests” to combat drug traffickers, she said.
Sheinbaum said that she and other government officials don’t believe that the Trump administration will carry out drone strikes against cartels in Mexico “because there is a lot of dialogue on security issues and many other issues.”
“So no, no, not that. In Mexico no, not that,” she said.
Enforced disappearance ‘doesn’t exist in Mexico’
“In Mexico, there is no enforced disappearance [perpetrated] by the state. We’ve fought against that our whole lives. That doesn’t exist in Mexico.”
According to the United Nations, “an enforced disappearance is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the state.”
Sheinbaum said that abductions in Mexico are carried out “mainly,” but not solely, by organized crime groups, recognizing that individuals acting alone also kidnap people.
“There is a phenomenon of disappearance linked to organized crime and we’re doing everything in our hands to … combat this crime,” she said before reiterating that the “state” under her leadership does not perpetrate enforced disappearances.
Sheinbaum sought to differentiate the frequent abductions committed by cartel members from past cases of enforced disappearance in Mexico, like the case of the 43 kidnapped college students from Guerrero in 2014, which by all accounts was carried out with the “support or acquiescence of the state.” (Dassaev Téllez Adame/Cuartoscuro)
Sheinbaum said that her government sent a diplomatic note to the United Nations to express its “disagreement” with the CED’s commencement of a procedure under the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance that could lead to the issue of alleged enforced disappearances in Mexico being referred to the General Assembly of the UN.
“In any case we’re going to explain to them what the phenomenon in Mexico is because there is a lot of ignorance in this commission,” she said.
‘Los Chapitos’ believed to have carried out massacre in Culiacán
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch noted that nine people were killed and five others were wounded in an armed attack at a rehabilitation center for addicts in Culiacán, Sinaloa, in the early hours of Monday morning.
Citing preliminary investigations, García said that “everything indicates” that members of a cell of the Sinaloa Cartel faction “Los Chapitos” perpetrated the attack against members of the rival “Los Mayos” faction who were at the Shaddai rehab center in the Sinaloa capital.
“That’s the information we have at the moment,” he said.
A long-running dispute between “Los Chapitos” — led by sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán — and “Los Mayos intensified last year after the arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, an alleged Sinaloa Cartel leader who was detained in New Mexico last July after he was allegedly flown to the United States against his will. Members of “Los Mayos” belong to the faction led (or formerly led) by Zambada.
The conflict between the rival factions has claimed hundreds of lives in recent months.
Attorney General Gertz Manero said on Tuesday that "substantial progress" has been made on the Teuchitlán case since the FGR took control of the property approximately two weeks ago. (Galo Cañas/Cuartoscuro)
Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero said on Tuesday that human remains found at a now-infamous ranch in western Mexico are fragmented and some show signs of cremation.
However, he also said that soil and other materials from the Izaguirre ranch that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) submitted for testing did not show any signs of an “act of cremation” having taken place at the property in the municipality of Teuchitlán, Jalisco.
Federal authorities maintain that the Izaguirre ranch, where human remains and a significant number of personal belongings were found by search collectives, was a “recruitment, operations and training center” for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). (Fiscalía del Estado de Jalisco/Cuartoscuro)
Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference, Gertz said that human remains recovered at the ranch are “very fractionated” and “they don’t directly correspond to a single corpse.”
“In some cases these remains have traces of some kind of cremation,” he said.
“Therefore what we have done is first do the expert report that corresponds to us and then … send them to the National [Autonomous] University [UNAM] laboratories so that the age of these remains is established with complete precision,” Gertz said.
For his part, Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said in late March that neither the ministry he leads nor the federal government’s security cabinet had evidence that the property was “an extermination camp” as has been claimed.
Rather, it was “a training center” for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), he said, adding that he didn’t have any knowledge of people having been killed at the property.
“I believe there is a good amount of information that we’re going to have in the course of this week and next week and I would like to see the possibility of summoning you to not only give you the information but also the relevant documentation,” he told reporters.
The Warrior Searchers of Jalisco also found more than 150 pairs of shoes and other evidence that suggested that a significant number of people had been killed and/or cremated at the ranch. However, the federal government has challenged that narrative.
AG: Analysis of ranch soil doesn’t indicate that cremation occurred
Before speaking about the human remains that have been sent to UNAM for analysis, Gertz said that the FGR submitted soil, “stone materials” and construction materials from the Izaguirre ranch for testing to determine whether they showed any signs of an “act of cremation” having taken place at the property.
He told reporters that the FGR didn’t detect any such signs.
Soil, “stone materials” and construction materials from the Izaguirre ranch were submitted for testing to determine whether they showed any signs of an “act of cremation” having taken place at the property. (Fernando Carranza García/Cuartoscuro)
“For us, this is not enough. We’ve asked the laboratories of the National [Autonomous] University to ratify or rectify this information,” Gertz said, adding that the FGR wants the results of the analysis immediately.
18 suspects in custody
Gertz said that “substantial progress” has been made on the Teuchitlán case since the FGR took control of the property approximately two weeks ago.
He said that 15 people who were already in custody “for other crimes” are now under investigation in connection with the case. Three additional people including two former municipal police officers have been arrested in connection with the case, bringing the total number of suspects to 18.
The 15 suspects initially detained “for other crimes” are “linked” to organized crime, Gertz said.
He said that “the boss” of the “unit” of which the detained suspects were allegedly members was detained in Mexico City. The attorney general was referring to the arrest last month of José Gregorio Lastra Hermida, allegedly a CJNG leader who was involved in the recruitment of cartel members who were sent to the Izaguirre ranch for training.
Teuchitlán ranch will be opened up to search collectives
Gertz said that once the FGR has completed its forensic processes at the Izaguirre ranch it will open it up so that search collectives can examine the property.
“And we won’t just open it up but also provide all the facilities to work [there],” he said.
“And all these remains will be available to the public so that the expert decision we take can be ratified,” Gertz said.
Asked when the ranch in Teuchitlán would be opened to search collectives, the attorney general said it depends on how long the testing at the UNAM laboratories takes.
“We’ve told them that this is a matter of extreme urgency. They have an analysis protocol, which like any expert protocol, takes its time,” Gertz said.
Nuevo León Governor Samuel García said that with this latest investment, LEGO aims “to make the plant not only the largest in the world, but also the most sustainable,” with plans to minimize energy use and increase renewable energy supply. (Gobierno de Nuevo León)
Iconic toy manufacturer LEGO will invest US $508 million to expand its plant near the northern industrial city of Monterrey, Nuevo León Governor Samuel Garcia announced last week.
Governor García and state Economy Ministry official Emmanuel Loo met with Lego executives at their headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, as part of a European working tour promoting the state of Nuevo León as a strategic hub for international business.
According to the governor of Nuevo León (R), LEGO has invested US $1 billion in its Ciénega de Flores facilities since 2021. (Gobierno de Nuevo León)
García said that since he took office in October 2021, LEGO has invested US $1 billion in its Ciénega de Flores facilities.
LEGO undertook a US $200 million expansion project in November 2023, adding a packing building, a warehouse extension and other facilities. That project added 59,000 square meters of operational space to the current site.
The governor said that with this latest investment, LEGO aims “to make the plant not only the largest in the world, but also the most sustainable,” with plans to minimize energy use and increase renewable energy supply.
García said the expansion will include additional solar panels and increased solar battery storage capacity.
The factory already features a water treatment and recycling plant that reduces its water consumption — critical infrastructure in drought-prone Nuevo León.
LEGO COO Carsten Rasmussen thanked Governor García, saying his visit reinforced confidence in the relationship between the toy company and the state and their mutual opportunities for growth.
Rasmussen said he would convey García’s message to the Board of Directors, confirming the value Lego places on Nuevo León.
The LEGO plant has generated 6,300 jobs across the state of Nuevo León. It is one of three LEGO factories in the world handling all aspects of the manufacturing and packaging of LEGO products, including molding elements, element processing and decoration and packing boxes.
Macario Martínez, a sanitation worker-turned-local superstar, during a recent performance along Mexico City's Reforma Avenue. (Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)
Move aside “American Idol.” Here comes México Canta, a binational music competition aimed at fostering creativity among young people while addressing social challenges such as addiction and violence.
Jessy Martínez performed a corrido without violent lyrics during the president’s announcement of México Canta on Monday morning. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
Another aim is to bring elements of the U.S. music industry to Mexico.
The full name of the program is México Canta (Mexico Sings): For Peace and Against Addictions, and it’s open to performers and composers aged 18 to 34 from Mexico and the United States.
Registration will begin April 28 and end May 30, after which a Mexican Music Council jury will select 10 competitors from each Mexican state and 15 from each of three U.S. regions (West, Central and East).
Through live performances in cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Tijuana and Oaxaca, those 365 competitors will be whittled down to 48 finalists — eight from each of the U.S. regions and eight from each of three Mexico regions: North, South and Central.
The grand finale is set for Oct. 5 in the northwest state of Durango.
During her Monday morning press conference, Sheinbaum said the singing competition aims to help young people create identities linked to art, culture, sports, education and employment — rather than through music that condones violence and crime.
Furthermore, there’s a goal to establish choirs in all Mexican public schools.
La música tiene un papel fundamental en la transformación cultural de nuestro país. #MéxicoCanta es una convocatoria para fomentar la composición de canciones que se alejen de la violencia y recuperen la fuerza narrativa de la música mexicana, inspiradas en el amor, la historia,… pic.twitter.com/EozOWMA9N3
“We are changing the reality of young people by giving them … a different narrative,” Sheinbaum stated in a Culture Ministry press release. “I’ve always said this about the false idea that joining a criminal group is a life choice: It’s not a life choice. It’s a death choice.”
Sheinbaum said the singing and composing competition, which will be broadcast on public media in Mexico, includes the U.S. for two reasons, one of which is “the promotion of Mexican music on both sides of the border.”
Another is an economic tenet of Plan México: “To bring part of the creative industry that exists in the U.S. to our country … [the music industry] generates many jobs in the U.S. — and we want much of that to come to our country, as well.”
Participants in the contest are invited to showcase traditional genres such as mariachi, norteño, banda and bolero, or explore contemporary Mexican fusions with rap, rock, pop and hip-hop. Submissions in Indigenous languages are encouraged.
Composers must submit an original three-minute song, while performers can submit a three-minute excerpt of any song fitting the competition’s profile.
México Canta, which is being promoted by the Culture Ministry in collaboration with the Mexican Music Council (CMM) and the private sector, has been praised by industry leaders.
CMM director Miguel Ángel Trujillo called the singing contest “historic;” Guillermo González, the general director of the Mexican Association of Phonogram Producers, said Mexico is one of the best bets in the global music industry and is therefore primed for outside investment; and singer-songwriter Horacio Palencia lauded the program’s focus on combating violence through music.
In recent years, a new crop of Mexican artists, such as Peso Pluma, have taken traditional forms of Mexican music and turned them into “narcocorridos” or “drug ballads.” These songs condone the lives of criminals in the drug trafficking trade in Mexico, or “narcos.”
Culture Minister Claudia Curiel de Icaza said that while Mexico ranks 10th in the global music industry market and eighth in digital consumption, more than 70% of Latin music is corridos, many of them “narcocorridos.”
