Last year's Pride march drew a staggering 800,000 people to the streets of downtown Mexico City, and according to the press “unfolded peacefully and concluded without incident.”
(Marcha del Orgullo LGBT CDMX 2026 / Facebook)
Mexico City will host one of Latin America’s largest Pride marches on Saturday, with authorities expecting hundreds of thousands of marchers and spectators to pour into the capital’s streets.
The 48th annual LGBT+ Pride March will again turn the city center into a focal point for both celebration and demands for equality.
🔴Comenzaron los preparativos para la Marcha del Orgullo LGBT+ de este sábado en la #CDMX. La instalación de un escenario y equipo de sonido a la altura de la calle 5 de Mayo mantiene cerrado el Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas, por lo que la circulación es desviada por avenida Juárez… pic.twitter.com/AxU0jPPtDg
This year’s march is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., with groups gathering at the Ángel de la Independencia and assembling along Paseo de la Reforma. The marchers will then move into the Historic Center en route to the Zócalo.
Even so, government officials eventually said the marchers could end at the Zócalo and are welcome to attend the viewing party — but they couldn’t set up a closing stage there as in years past.
Instead, the stage will be on Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas, next to the Palacio de Bellas Artes.
Mexico City’s Pride parade has grown into one of the largest in Latin America. Some guides and media say that it’s second only to São Paulo, Brazil, which drew 3-4 million people last year.
Last year’s Mexico City march underscored the event’s public health role. The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) administered more than 1,500 free rapid health tests during the march, including screenings for HIV and hepatitis C — part of an effort that has become a recurring feature of Pride in the capital.
This year’s event “aims to advance demands related to identity, diversity, equality, and the eradication of violence against people of diverse sexual and gender identities,” according to an English-language article from CDMX Secreta.
“Don’t forget to bring your flag, banner, sign or message,” the lifestyle and events website added. “More than just a celebration, the Pride March remains a collective demonstration that seeks to build a more equal, inclusive and free society for everyone.”
The event takes place in the context of Mexico being identified as one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America for LGBTQI+ people, with the agency Sin Violencia LGBTI documenting scores of killings each year — including 80 in 2023, a 23% increase over 2022.
The agency noted that, in Latin America, reported killings of sexual and gender minorities in Mexico are second only to those in Colombia, and that at least one LGBTQI+ person is murdered every 24 hours in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The slogan of this year’s march is “Ante los ojos del mundo: mi lucha es tu lucha. ¡Igualdad, paz y solidaridad!” — which translates to “In the eyes of the world: my struggle is your struggle. Equality, peace and solidarity!”
King Felipe VI of Spain's met with President Sheinbaum Thursday evening, his first meeting with a Mexican president since the inauguration of former President López Obrador eight years ago. (Presidencia)
President Claudia Sheinbaum met with Spain’s King Felipe VI at the National Palace on Thursday night, marking a new step in the rapprochement between the two nations and opening the door to future cooperation.
El Rey ha mantenido un encuentro con la presidenta de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Claudia Sheinbaum, en el Palacio Nacional de México.
Al día siguiente, asistirá al partido de la “Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026” entre Uruguay y España celebrado en el estadio de Guadalajara. pic.twitter.com/NOpjizrnID
Shenbaum spoke passionately about the importance of Indigenous people to Mexican national identity, and the two leaders also discussed bilateral trade, the economy, geopolitics and the defense of the Charter of the United Nations.
Sheinbaum appeared most pleased that King Felipe listened intently to her comments about Mexico’s Indigenous roots.
“I underscored that 28 million Mexicans still identify as Indigenous, the 69 languages spoken in Mexico, and how the recognition of the great civilizations, the great cultures, the cultural grandeur of Mexico prior to the arrival of the Spanish is linked to present-day Mexico,” she stated.
After listening to Sheinbaum, the monarch expressed interest in collaborating on this issue at the Ibero-American Summit in November, telling the president that one of the working groups will be dedicated to Indigenous peoples.
Cultural exchanges were also on the agenda, and Mexico agreed to promote three exhibitions in Spain in the coming months, covering the exiles of the Spanish Republic in Mexico, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Maya culture.
Mexico’s Foreign Ministry said “Mexico and Spain continue to strengthen their diplomatic ties for the benefit of the relationship and the well-being of their people.”
In a series of messages on social media, the Royal Household said the visit took place “in a context of intensified bilateral relations,” while Spain’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, posted that the meeting occurred at “an extraordinary moment in our relations.”
Albares added that both countries share “a firm commitment to democracy, international law and multilateralism.” He also touted “the excellent and intense fraternal relations,” based upon “deep cultural, historical, economic and, above all, human ties” and said Mexico and Spain are “strengthening brotherhood, friendship, and cooperation.”
En Palacio Nacional, tuvimos una cordial reunión con el rey de España, Felipe VI. Conversamos sobre la importancia de los pueblos originarios a lo largo de la historia y de los vínculos entre México y España.
During her Friday morning press conference, Sheinbaum described the visit with the king as “very cordial,” describing Felipe as “a very down-to-earth person.”
President Sheinbaum reported Friday that Mexico has sent a contingent of 250 military troops, 18 search and rescue dogs and over 10 tonnes of aid to Venezuela after a pair of devastating earthquakes hit the South American country on Wednesday. (Mario Jasso / Cuartoscuro.com)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
🚑 Venezuela earthquake response: Mexico has deployed 250 military personnel, two Foreign Ministry representatives and 18 search-and-rescue dogs to Venezuela following twin earthquakes that killed at least 589 people. Sheinbaum said she would speak with acting president Delcy Rodríguez at 10 a.m. Friday to assess what additional support is needed. Mexico also sent 10.7 tonnes of medical supplies along with helmets, gloves, chainsaws and electric generators.
🌉 Walls vs. bridges: Asked about U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s claim that every inch of Mexico’s northern border is under cartel control, Sheinbaum pushed back by citing Trump’s own statements declaring the border the most secure in history. She said a wall is “not necessary” and that “what needs to be built between the United States and Mexico are more bridges, not more walls.”
💰 Gertz Manero wealth: Sheinbaum defended former Attorney General and current U.K. Ambassador Alejandro Gertz Manero after a newly disclosed asset declaration revealed he owns 13 properties, luxury cars including a Rolls-Royce, and inherited valuables worth over 26 million pesos. She said full transparency was shown and that a problem would only arise if assets had gone undeclared.
Why today’s mañanera matters
President Claudia Sheinbaum dedicated the first part of her press conference to detailing Mexico’s response to the two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela on Wednesday. The twin quakes killed at least 589 people and left thousands injured, the Associated Press reported on Friday morning, citing an announcement on the death toll from the acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez.
Sheinbaum told reporters she would speak to Rodríguez at 10 a.m. on Friday. She said that the aim of her conversation with the acting president would be to find out “what else” Venezuela needs and establish what additional support Mexico can provide.
Hoy tuve llamada telefónica con la presidenta encargada de Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, a quien expresé condolencias por las víctimas de los terremotos y reafirmé nuestro apoyo al pueblo venezolano. México ya despliega ayuda humanitaria en las zonas afectadas; estamos atentos a…
— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) June 26, 2026
AP reported that Rodríguez announced the new death toll early Friday, “surrounded by government and military officials as she welcomed the arrival of rescue crews from all over the world.”
Today’s mañanera was significant as Sheinbaum detailed how Mexico is doing its part to help Venezuela in a time of immense need.
Also of note at the Friday morning press conference was the president’s response to remarks made on Thursday by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who met with Sheinbaum in Mexico City last month.
Mexico goes to Venezuela’s aid
Sheinbaum highlighted that 250 members of the Mexican military have already arrived in Venezuela along with two representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 18 search-and-rescue dogs.
Mexican search and rescue teams left for Venezuela on Thursday to aid in the search for earthquake survivors. (Sedena via Cuartoscuro)
According to information she presented, the mission of the Mexican military in Venezuela is to “carry out search and rescue operations.”
Sheinbaum said that the Mexican military was assigned a work area by Venezuelan authorities and began search and rescue operations early Friday.
She highlighted that Mexico has also sent medical supplies, tools and equipment to Venezuela. Information Sheinbaum presented showed that a total of 10.7 tonnes of medical supplies was sent to Venezuela. Among the equipment sent to the South American country from Mexico are helmets, gloves, chainsaws and electric generators.
Later in the mañanera, Sheinbaum said that Mexico “always lends a hand” when a tragedy occurs.
“We always help. It’s part of the culture that comes from the Indigenous people [of Mexico], a culture of community above individualism,” she said.
Sheinbaum: A wall between Mexico and the US is ‘not necessary’
A reporter asked the president about the remarks made on Thursday by Markwayne Mullin, who asserted that “there is not one inch of Mexico’s northern border that isn’t covered by a [cartel] plaza.”
No hay una sola pulgada de la frontera que no esté controlada por cárteles: Markwayne Mullin
In response, Sheinbaum highlighted that U.S. President Donald Trump recently posted a statement to social media that says that the United States border with Mexico is the “most secure.”
Mullin himself said earlier this month that “under President Donald Trump’s leadership, we are delivering the most secure border in American history.”
For her part, Sheinbaum said “there couldn’t be a secure border if work is not done on both sides.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported last week that “illegal [border] crossings in May remained historically low,” while drug seizures by U.S. authorities at the Mexico-U.S. border have increased 56% “this fiscal year through May.”
The wealth of Mexico’s ambassador to the U.K. and former federal attorney general, Alejandro Gertz Manero, is in the spotlight after an asset declaration revealed he owns numerous properties, cars and over a million dollars in other valuables. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)
According to a recently disclosed asset declaration, Gertz, federal security minister during the presidency of Vicente Fox, owns 13 properties and various luxury cars including a Rolls-Royce, and inherited jewels, watches, coins and art worth more than 26 million pesos (US $1.5 million).
Sheinbaum said that Gertz “was transparent and declared his assets.”
“… There is complete transparency. … It would be bad if he had assets that he didn’t declare,” she said.
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
In Mexico, we love everything spicy — even our candies. Keep reading to find out how Mexicans developed the distinctive flavor known as chamoy. (Benjamin Wong/Unsplash)
It is a quintessential Mexican experience to wince at the sweet and fiery flavor of chamoy-flavored candies. From the cradle, we’re taught to sweat through that itchy, hot feeling on the tongue when we’re offered something spicy-sweet — and we grow to love it!
These confections, however, often surprise foreign tongues not used to a bit of fire with their sweets. A very dear Colombian friend of mine once told me, rather angrily: “Mexicans do not know how to make candies!They’re all spicy!”
No Mexican child grew up without their mothers, grannies or aunties giving them a nice sweet-and-spicy surprise after Sunday service. (Lu George/Unsplash)
I was terribly offended by this, of course. What do you mean, we don’t know how to make candy? But that’s another story.
How do Mexican candies get that iconic spicy-sweet taste?
To understand how this beloved sweet-spicy flavor profile became popular in Mexico, we have to go back to the Spanish colonial era and the Manila galleons, Spanish trading ships that traveled between Manila and Acapulco from 1565 to 1815, exchanging Asian luxury goods for Mexican silver.
Among the wealth of Asian goods coming into Mexico over the centuries was likely see mui, a sour Chinese fruit from the Prunus mume tree, also called Japanese Apricot, that was salted and dried for preservation and eaten as a snack, according to historian Rachel Laudan in her book, “Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History.” In Japan, this preserved fruit snack became umeboshi, and in Hawaii, it became the salty-sweet fruit snack known as crack seed, or ling hi mui.
Mexicans are thought to have adapted it further, adding chile and lime to transform it into the uniquely Mexican flavor now known as chamoy. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the original Chinese name in “chamoy.”
The evolution of chamoy
While chamoy started in Mexico as a fruit snack, time and experimentation have expanded its range of uses and the forms that it takes. Nowadays, chamoy is primarily known as a condiment, either in liquid, paste or powdered form — something you sprinkle atop beer or fruit, pour onto your potato chips or, at the manufacturing level, incorporate into candies.
Laudan explains that Chinese immigration to the Americas (and, specifically, to what is now Mexico) began in the 16th century, with the onset of the Manila galleon trade. It took hundreds of years more, however, before this China-derived, Mexico-adapted colonial confection became the trademark flavor for spicy candies in the country. Chamoy’s popularity got a nationwide boost thanks to the Mexican brandChamoy Miguelito, made by the company Dulces Miguelito, which began mass production of chamoy in 1971.
Although the evolution of chamoy benefits from Mexican influences, the original fruit came to Mexico via trade with Asia. (Chris Wu/Unsplash)
Mexico has had a love affair with chocolate and chile peppers dating to pre-Hispanic times, but chile flavors have become even more ubiquitous thanks to modern manufacturing and marketing. Neither micheladas nor lemon ice cream escapes the temptation of being savored with chilito, as we affectionately call it.
And so Mexican children grow up loving everything with that sweet-spicy flavor profile, and even now, in adulthood, our mouths still water when our mothers, grandmothers and aunties bring us spicy-sweet treats.
Thank goodness that China long ago brought us this extra ingredient that we have made our own — and that makes our candies so distinctive!
Andrea Fischercontributes to the Mexico News Daily Features desk. She has edited and written for National Geographic en Español and Muy Interesante México, and continues to be an advocate for anything that screams science. Or yoga. Or both.
Despite numerous ongoing community projects, San Miguel de Allende locals had time to take a break and don colorful costumes for the annual Locos Parade on June 14. (Ria Talken)
Volunteers continue to clean up an impressive amount of garbage from the Arroyo de las Cachinches in San Miguel de Allende, although the mural project planned for there has been delayed. In other news, a new community project is promoting kindness and information sharing, while another is regularly bringing free pet sterilization to rural areas.
Volunteers removing large amounts of garbage from Arroyo de Las Cachinches
A group of volunteers has spent 12 Saturdays since January hauling out garbage from a stretch of the Arroyo de las Cachinches between Calzada de la Aurora and Canción de India. Their most recent cleanup of the stream on June 22 resulted in 120 bags of garbage being removed to the dump.
Volunteers removed 120 bags of garbage from the Arroyo de las Cachinches in San Miguel de Allende during a recent cleanup effort. (Herminia Torres)
The goal is to clean up the arroyo, restore the soil and add more plants and trees. Volunteers include neighbors, locals, foreigners and others who are working together on the project. They have cleaned up the area, donated to pay for gardeners and funded trucks to haul trash to the municipal collection site.
For more information or to donate to the arroyo cleanup project, you can email arroyocachinches@gmail.com.
Arroyo mural project delayed over permitting issue
The launch of the La Vida de Las Cachinches mural corridor project has been temporarily postponed due to an unexpected permitting issue. Mural painting had previously been scheduled to take place June 12–14, with an inauguration of the murals planned for June 17.
“We will be working closely with the appropriate authorities to secure the remaining approvals and look forward to announcing new painting and inauguration dates as soon as possible,” said April Gaydos, president of Audubon de México, which is managing the project.
The La Vida de las Cachinches project will consist of 12 murals painted over 90 meters where an ancient stream still runs through the city. (Audubon de México)
While this development is disappointing for those involved, it hasn’t diminished the enthusiasm of the artists, volunteers and supporters behind the project. Months of preparation will allow the organizers to immediately reignite the project once the go-ahead from the city is received.
The completed project will feature an illustrated map showing the arroyo’s journey from Parque Landeta — a 35-hectare natural reserve located next to the El Charco del Ingenio botanical garden — through the city to the Presa Allende reservoir. There will also be a mural painted by local schoolchildren. The other 10 murals will focus on water, birds, insects, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, plants and trees, as well as moments of wonder, hands for the earth and cycles of life.
SMA Kindness Collective offers free help settling in
An NGO that launched in San Miguel about two months ago aims to bring information about the city and connection to community members, whether they’re newcomers or longtimers. Formed by resident Lisa Williams and a few other like-minded people, the SMA Kindness Collective is presenting information that newcomers might need to make settling in easier.
“It grew out of the idea that people shouldn’t have to figure out everything alone,” Williams said. “From shared experiences, it’s a little guidance to make it different for people settling into the community.”
Originally from the Bay Area, Williams moved to San Miguel from Puerto Vallarta about four years ago. She had previously lived in Switzerland, where she did similar outreach work for those coming there to work and needing support settling in.
Lisa Williams (left) and Kim Conley are two of the founders of the San Miguel de Allende Kindness Collective, which helps new residents adapt to life in the city. (Iggy Garcia)
Key topics for exchange
The group is holding social happy hours and informational presentations on the second and last Thursdays of the month at Silveyra’s Restaurant at Zacateros 41 in Centro. Attendance is free. The first gathering drew 30 people, Williams said, which encouraged the organizers and told them that the effort had sparked something in the community.
“What was really cool is, at the very first event, we had someone who had just arrived the day before to someone who has lived in San Miguel for over 50 years,” she said.
Participants said they would like information on four key topics, Williams said: residency issues, places to live, banking and currency exchange and accessing health care. These subjects will be part of a lecture series over the next three months or so, she said.
For more information, or to contact the SMA Kindness Collective, visit the group’s Facebook page.
Rosey’s Wish brings free pet sterilization to rural areas
A mobile sterilization van called Rosey’s Wish has been traveling outside San Miguel since March 2025 to help pet owners in rural areas spay and neuter their dogs and cats. The NGO’s president, Donna Lynes-Miller, said 1,203 animals were sterilized last year, and that the goal for 2026 is 2,000.
“We have much work to do to break the cycle of reproduction,” she said. “In Centro [San Miguel’s historic center], there aren’t as many homeless animals, but when you go out in the campo, you see a different world.”
The Rosey’s Wish mobile sterilization clinic during a visit to Tequisquiapan in April. (Martha Olver Galvan)
Rosey’s Wish is named for a sick and malnourished street dog who was rescued in October 2023 at the Presa la Cantera reservoir, located a few miles from downtown.
“She was homeless and probably born to a litter of homeless animals,” Lynes-Miller said. “She was in pretty bad shape. I rescued her and fostered her, and my property manager adopted her. Rosey is doing very, very well.”
Breaking the cycle of reproduction
Lynes-Miller said people are contacting Rosey’s Wish because of the “pretty good reputation” the group has developed in San Miguel. To set up a sterilization event, a community host serves as a central point of contact and works with the group’s operations manager.
“We need a minimum of 40 animals [to sterilize] in one day,” Lynes-Miller said. “We have gone up to 85 in one day, but the minimum to efficiently fire up the bus is 40.”
She said it’s important to break the cycle of reproduction, meaning that 70% of the animals in a community must be sterilized for the birth rate to equal the death rate.
“It’s just a matter of money, people and organization,” she said.
Rosey’s Wish can always use volunteers and donations. The group’s Facebook page has more information, and donations can be made here.
Cathy Siegner is an independent journalist based in San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University.
Banco de México, Mexico's central bank, indicated after the last meeting of its board that future cuts in the interest rate would not happen soon, and it was true to its word this week as it held the benchmark rate to 6.50%. (Banxico / Facebook)
The Bank of Mexico (Banxico) board voted on Thursday to maintain the central bank’s benchmark interest rate at 6.50%, even as inflation continues to decline.
At Banxico’s fourth monetary policy meeting of 2026, all five members of the central bank’s board voted in favor of keeping the overnight interbank interest rate at 6.50%.
Meat prices were a big decliner during the first half of June, at 6.15% compared to the same period last year. (Jose Ignacio-Pompe / Unsplash)
The Bank of Mexico’s interest rate decision came a day after the national statistics agency INEGI reported that Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate was 3.55% in the first half of June, down from 3.94% across May. Banxico targets 3% inflation, with tolerance for a 2-4% range.
In a statement announcing its board’s interest rate decision, Banxico noted that “[b]etween April and the first fortnight of June 2026, headline inflation decreased from 4.45% to 3.55% due to a decline in both its core and non-core components.”
The central bank noted that “core inflation decreased from 4.26% to 4.12% during such period,” and Banxico expects that the core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, will continue to decline in the second half of 2026.
However, Banxico did make slight upward adjustments to its core inflation forecasts, and is now predicting a rate of 3.5% in the final quarter of 2026, up from a previous outlook of 3.4%.
Regarding headline inflation, the central bank anticipates a rate of 3.8% in the third quarter, 3.5% in the fourth quarter, 3.2% in the first quarter of 2027 and 3% in the second quarter of next year.
Banxico said its forecasts are “subject to various risks,” including upside ones such as “disruptions due to foreign trade policies or to an inflationary impact from geopolitical conflicts”; “climate-related impacts”; and “a trend towards depreciation of the Mexican peso.”
The central bank said that its board “evaluated the inflationary outlook” and “assessed the observed levels of the exchange rate, the absence of demand-related pressures in the economy, and the level of monetary restriction implemented” before taking the decision to leave the benchmark interest rate at 6.50%.
“Looking ahead, the Governing Board estimates that it will be appropriate to maintain the reference rate at its current level. It judges that the monetary policy stance is well-suited to face the challenges posed by the macroeconomic environment, including those associated with the international context,” Banxico said in its statement.
Inflation appears set to decline for a third consecutive month in June
The 3.55% headline reading for the first half of June indicates that inflation is likely to decline for a third consecutive month in June. The annual headline rate increased in each of January, February and March, reaching 4.59% in the third month of the year. A downward trend began in April, with inflation falling to 4.45% that month and then to 3.94% in May.
In the first half of June, inflation declined 0.11% compared to the second half of May, while the annual core rate, as Banxico noted, was 4.12%.
INEGI reported that annual inflation for processed food, beverages and tobacco was 5.13% in the first half of June, while the price of non-food goods rose 2.38%.
The cost of services increased 4.57% compared to the first half of June 2025, while fruit and vegetables were 7.77% more expensive. Meat prices declined 6.15% annually, while energy prices, including those for electricity and gasoline, increased 3.49% compared to the first half of June 2025.
The Tate exhibit focuses as much on Frida the person as on Frida the artist, as highlighted in the museum's use of the work shown here to promote the show, along with the quote: "I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best."
(Tate / Facebook)
The Tate Modern’s exhibition “Frida: The Making of an Icon” has become the most pre-sold exhibition in the London museum’s storied history with more than 41,000 tickets bought before its opening date.
That figure easily exceeds the previous record of 32,000 pre-sold tickets, for the British artist David Hockney’s exhibition in 2017.
The Guardian newspaper reported that demand for advance tickets was so high that people lined up for hours to get them. What’s more, the museum’s website crashed.
On social media, users compared the phenomenon to the ticket frenzy of Glastonbury, a performing arts festival known for its crunching ticket demand.
The audience’s extraordinary response was something that not even the Tate anticipated. In an interview with The Guardian, Interim Director Catherine Wood said that they were “pretty blown away by it.”
For decades, Kahlo has been a nearly omnipresent figure in popular culture, with images of her persona or art adorning everything from tote bags to T-shirts and coffee mugs. The new exhibition, which opened Thursday, aims to explore the commercial phenomenon around Kahlo and her transformation from a local artist into a global sensation.
“There are many Frida exhibitions, but this one is unique in its perspective,” Tobias Ostrander, the chief exhibition curator told newspaper El Universal. “It’s the only one that’s focusing on her as a cultural phenomenon, really investigating or building how we got to this moment of so much visibility, so much love, so much attraction to Frida’s story and art.”
The exhibition examines Kahlo’s legacy through over 30 paintings that bring insight into her various roles — the wife, the intellectual, the modern artist, and the political activist — in addition to 250 works by artists who painted the Mexican painter or who were influenced by her work.
The show culminates with a display of over 200 commercial items adorned by her art, image, style and persona.
“This exhibition tells the story of how we arrived at Frida as an icon, as an artist, as a Mexican or international figure,” Ostrander said. “Today she is the most famous female artist. She is at this level with Picasso, Van Gogh or Warhol.”
For Wood, Kahlo’s enduring relevance and her resonance with different cultural movements reflect a broader search for authentic figures in an era of political uncertainty.
“People are looking for forms of continuity and stability, for figures who are bold in owning their own life experience,” she said. “Although her life had lots of trauma and disappointments, she showed a way to live and survive and thrive.”
The injured were taken to local hospitals, including the driver of the vehicle who arrived in cardiac arrest and was saved by hospital personnel.
(Facebook)
At least 17 people were injured in Los Cabos on Wednesday night when a vehicle plowed into a large gathering of fans celebrating Mexico’s World Cup victory.
In a Facebook post, Los Cabos authorities said they responded to “a traffic accident with multiple injuries on Lázaro Cárdenas Boulevard in the Cabo San Lucas tourist area” shortly after 9 p.m.
⚠️ Un conductor arrolló a un grupo de personas que celebraban el triunfo de la selección mexicana en el bulevar Lázaro Cárdenas, Los Cabos, Baja California, dejando 17 personas lesionadas que fueron trasladadas a diversos hospitales 🚑. Se reportó que el responsable fue detenido… pic.twitter.com/WhqbtiOZ30
The injured — one of whom has been listed in serious condition — were taken to area hospitals for treatment.
Los Cabos’ Acting Mayor Jose Manuel Larumbe promised to keep the public informed regarding official investigations, adding that “I would like to express our deepest solidarity with the people affected and their families following the unfortunate events that occurred tonight.”
The incident could have started before the driver moved through the crowd some celebrants acted toward the car in what could have been interpreted as a threatening. Officials say that “upon being surrounded by people obstructing the road and rocking his vehicle, [the driver] accelerated suddenly, striking several pedestrians.”
A video shared on social media shows a car trying to move slowly through the crowd, before running over several people and then crashing into short traffic-control posts and coming to a stop a few meters on.
The driver was dragged from the car and nearly lynched by the furious crowd. A video shows him lying on the asphalt, his face bruised and bloodied, while some people continue to kick him and curse him.
The unidentified driver was transported under police custody to Cabo San Lucas General Hospital where he reportedly arrived in a condition of cardiac arrest. Emergency personnel performed resuscitation measures and were able to restore his vital signs.
By early Thursday, the patient was still intubated and remained in serious condition, under specialized medical supervision.
The State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE) said it will open an investigation into the attack on the driver as well as on the inciting incident.
The PGJE told the newspaper Hoy BCS that the suspect is “in custody at the hospital and will remain at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, while investigations continue to determine his responsibility and the specific charges he may face” regarding the incident which is officially being labeled “multiple hit-and-run incidents.”
Prosecutors insist that regardless of the criminal liability that may arise from the hit-and-run, the driver is also “the victim of an act that may constitute assault and battery.”
Given that the injured were celebrating El Tri’s victory, the Mexican Soccer Federation (FMF) issued a statement early Thursday morning saying it deeply regrets the incident that occurred tonight in Los Cabos.”
“We express our solidarity with the affected people and their families, with the wish that those who were injured have a speedy recovery,” the FMF statement said.
A Mexico City man checks his phone outside the San Lazaro Legislative Palace. (Mario Jasso / Cuartoscuro.com)
With less than a week to go, a June 30 deadline for pre-paid Mexican cell phone users to link their number to their personal identity has been extended. With less than half of Mexico’s over 140 million phone lines registered, millions of people will now face staggered cutoff dates running from mid-August to late December.
The federal government last year implemented a mandatory mobile phone registry policy on the basis of public safety, saying that associating cell phone numbers with personal identities would help reduce telephone fraud, extortion and other crimes whose perpetrators use anonymous or easily rotated numbers. People who hadn’t registered their pre-paid cell phone line by June 30 were set to face service cuts.
Officials say the registry will reduce extortion, which is often committed using anonymous, pre-paid phones. (Shutterstock)
However, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (CRT) on Thursday announced not one but 10 new deadlines, the earliest of which is Aug. 15.
“Pre-paid lines that until now have not been linked [to their users’ identities] will have a deadline assigned according to the last digit of the telephone number,” the CRT said in a statement.
“Thus, a schedule is established so that, between August and December, each [pre-paid cell phone] user registers their line with their telephone company.”
The new deadlines are as follows:
Aug. 15 for numbers ending in 0.
Aug. 31 for numbers ending in 1.
Sept. 15 for numbers ending in 2.
Sept. 30 for numbers ending in 3.
Oct. 15 for numbers ending in 4.
Oct. 31 for numbers ending in 5.
Nov. 15 for numbers ending in 6.
Nov. 30 for numbers ending in 7.
Dec. 15 for numbers ending in 8.
Dec. 31 for numbers ending in 9.
The CRT said that telephone companies will suspend the telephone lines of pre-paid cell phone users who don’t register their lines by the applicable deadline. It said that suspensions will take place within 72 hours after the deadline expires, noting that cell phone users will only be able to call emergency numbers, “citizen attention” numbers and their phone companies, and receive earthquake alerts.
“Once the line is linked [to a person’s identity], the telephone company will reestablish all services (calls, messages and mobile data),” the CRT added.
“We reiterate that the government doesn’t carry out the [registration process],” the CRT said.
“Rather, it is carried out directly with telephone companies, which only associate the name and CURP [identity number] with the user of the cell phone number, eliminating any other data or image used during the registration process,” the commission said.
“If a crime involving the use of a telephone line is committed, the relevant authorities may request information from telephone companies, in accordance with the provisions of the National Code of Criminal Procedure,” the CRT said.
The main reason for scrapping the June 30 deadline and setting 10 new ones appears to be that tens of millions of phone lines have not yet been registered. Registering such a large number of lines by next Tuesday would be nigh on impossible.
The El Universal newspaper suggested that low cell phone registration rates were the reason for the deadline extension. The newspaper reported that only 43% of some 144.6 million cell phone lines in Mexico have been linked to their owners’ identities.
In its statement, the CRT sought to depict the situation in a positive light.
“The registration of lines has shown sustained and growing growth, and to date, 63 million lines have been registered: 40.2 million pre-paid lines and 22.8 million post-paid lines that do not require a new registration process because they have been associated with a person since they were contracted,” the commission said.
In its statement, the CRT also said that “for everyone’s safety, each telephone number must be [registered] in the name of a person in order to eliminate the anonymity that has allowed [organized] crime to commit offenses such as fraud and extortion.”
“With this measure, Mexico will cease being one of the few countries that allow a [cell phone] chip to be purchased without identification, and will add an international practice that is in force in 166 countries,” it added.
As Mexico News Daily reported earlier this year, critics have voiced several concerns about the mandatory registration of cell phone lines, including ones related to possible mass surveillance and misuse of people’s personal data.
No registration needed for post-paid cell phone plans, officials say
In a social media post earlier this month, the federal Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation wrote that “if you have a post-paid [cell phone] line, you don’t need to complete any registration as your information is already validated.”
📱✨ Si tienes una línea de pospago, no es necesario que realices ningún registro, ya que tu información ya está validada. Tú ya estás listo 🎉
Si manejas una línea de prepago y aún no la has registrado, el reloj está corriendo. Tienes hasta el 30 de junio para hacerlo.
The Science Ministry included a series of infographics in its post, on which it collaborated with the CRT and the federal government’s Digital Transformation Agency.
“Do you have a plan (post-paid) line? You’re already registered,” reads one.
“What is a post-paid line? Those for which you pay a fixed monthly plan,” reads another.
A third infographic reads: “Do I need to register my post-paid line? No. When you contracted your plan, the [telephone] company registered the line in your name.”
Mexico recently experienced a day with the lowest number of homicides in over a decade. (Jorge Aguilar/Unsplash)
Amigos, you’ve been reading about it everywhere: the homicide rate is significantly down in Mexico. The work that Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch has been doing is clearly bearing fruit. The security strategy has been steady and sustained. That said, critics have pointed out that some of the government’s numbers have been dressed up, and that those who don’t show up among the murdered may well be showing up among the disappeared. Whatever the case, one reality stands: President Sheinbaum’s government is working to contain the violence the cartels have unleashed — violence that we Mexicans have let grow for the past three decades.
Tuesday, June 16
Tuesday, June 16, is, so far, the day with the fewest homicides in Mexico this year, and for quite some time. The figures, according to the Security Cabinet’s preliminary report, are these: 27 homicides across the entire national territory, the lowest daily figure in over a decade. The President said as much in her morning press conference the following day from the National Palace: “I even applauded the security cabinet today, because 27 homicides in a single day is something Mexico hadn’t seen in at least 13, 14 years.”
Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch has led the effort to reduce homicides in Mexico, a process that is working, based on recent statistics. (Omar García Harfuch/Instagram)
The most telling data point isn’t the number itself — it’s the geography. Nineteen states closed the day without a single homicide. If we add those that reported only one, 22 of the 32 states ended the day with zero or one homicide. Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Hidalgo, Michoacán, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Yucatán and Zacatecas reported no killings. That Chihuahua and Michoacán appear on this list is, frankly, remarkable.
The day’s hotspots were elsewhere: Colima led with four cases, followed by Oaxaca and Veracruz with three each. And here comes an important caveat we can’t gloss over: the June 16 dip is not an isolated event, but it’s also not a linear trend. As Milenio rightly points out, June 14 saw 49 homicides nationwide, so the new minimum has to be read as an exceptional day within a series that still has its peaks and valleys.
Where is this trend coming from?
The incidence of homicides dropped 46%, with the daily national average falling from 86.9 victims in September 2024 to 47.3 in May 2026. May 2026 had the fewest homicides for that month in the last 12 years. The strategy is producing measurable results. According to Harfuch himself, from Oct. 1, 2024, to May 31, 2026, 56,134 people were arrested for high-impact crimes, 419.3 tons of drugs were seized and 2,407 clandestine labs were dismantled across 22 states.
The counterweight that can’t be ignored
Amnesty International, in its annual report, documented that during 2025, forced disappearances and missing-persons cases in Mexico rose to 133,500, an increase of 10.5% over 2024. Red Lupa makes the contrast even more concrete: the number of disappeared persons at the start of the President’s term hovered around 115,000; by early 2026, the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons counted 133,485. In just 15 months, the number grew by some 18,000 disappeared people.
México Evalúa pushes the methodological analysis further. Using an integrated metric that combines intentional homicide, manslaughter, femicide, disappearances and other crimes against life, it estimates that lethal violence dropped 8.6% between 2024 and 2025, but accumulated a 68.2% increase over the past decade. The think tank explains it clearly: disappearances can operate as a mechanism for evading the immediate registration of homicides and generating social uncertainty. The coexistence of intense disputes with increases in disappearances suggests that part of the lethal violence may be displacing toward less visible categories.
Ricardo Anaya (PAN) and other opposition figures have gone further: they argue that the federal government is dressing up its violence data by reclassifying murders as disappearances, manslaughters and other crimes. I have no way to prove that charge, and I’d rather stick to what the numbers do allow us to say: there is a real drop in homicides, and there is a real rise in disappearances. Both things are true at once.
Amigos, for the past 15 days, it seems the only thing Mexicans can talk about is soccer. Those of you who’ve been living here for several years will agree with me: no World Cup has ever looked quite like this one. Every day is a party. The national mood these days is more cordial, more hopeful and more celebratory than usual.
This is where it’s very tempting to fall into lazy reductions and declare that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop,” and that the drop in violence is linked to the World Cup. But the data doesn’t allow that reading. On June 7, four days before the tournament kicked off, Mexico had already registered 28 homicides; on May 15, almost a month earlier, it was 29. January 2026 had closed with a daily average of 47.3 homicides, the lowest level since daily records have existed in this country. The downward trend started in September 2024 and has been sustained. The World Cup coincides with it, but does not cause it.
But the World Cup is revealing what happens when Mexicans share a collective project that isn’t mediated by individual economics.
The lesson nobody is drawing
On opening day, I took my dog out for a walk around the neighborhood, both of us wearing our national team jerseys. People smiled at us. A car gave us the classic celebratory honk. It’s not magic. It’s what happens when there is a collective experience — shared, free and sustained — that occupies public space and reorganizes community time for an entire month.
During a World Cup, we call that a “party.” The rest of the time, in normal conditions, it would be called cultural, sports, community and recreation policies. The kind of policy Mexico has been dismantling for the last 30 years.
Let’s look at the numbers from the 2026 Federal Budget. Culture will receive 13.097 billion pesos, 16% less than in 2025. The National Commission of Physical Culture and Sport (Conade), according to its own director Rommel Pacheco, will receive 2.5 billion pesos, a 133-million-peso cut from 2025. The deputy research director for the Center of Economic and Budgetary Research (Ciep), Judith Senyasen Méndez, puts it bluntly: “The emphasis remains on scholarships, because those are the ones with the largest real-terms increases, while areas like culture, sports and upper-secondary and higher education face significant cuts.”
President Sheinbaum’s administration isn’t the only one to cut cultural and community programs, a troubling tradition in Mexico for decades now. (Carlos Ramos Mamahua/Presidencia)
This isn’t a one-administration problem. It’s the culmination of a long process. Since the 1990s, Mexican public policy has been systematically eliminating the idea that the State has a responsibility to the community fabric: to municipal cultural centers, to neighborhood sports leagues, to free workshops, to community art schools, to local libraries, to the spaces where a teenager in Guerrero, in Zacatecas, in Chiapas or in Baja California, could find a sense of belonging different from what the cartels offer.
The World Cup is exposing what Mexico typically lacks
What replaced those policies was an exclusively economic logic: cash transfers, individual scholarships and direct subsidies. I’m not saying those programs are bad. I’m saying that a scholarship deposited into a bank account does not build a youth orchestra. A cash transfer does not teach a kid to train in soccer on Saturdays with his neighbors. A subsidy does not turn an empty lot into a lit-up sports court. And when the only thing the State offers a community is money — and nothing to build together — what prevails is the individual pursuit of economic improvement, not the shared quality of life of a neighborhood.
That’s why the World Cup is revealing. For one month, Mexicans are getting what we don’t have the rest of the year: a collective project not mediated by money, an excuse to occupy the street and a sense of belonging that doesn’t require individual achievement. And we behave differently. When a young person in Colima, in Guanajuato or in Veracruz weighs his life options, he doesn’t weigh them against an abstraction called “the rule of law.” He weighs them against what his community concretely offers him. If the only thing his colonia offers is absence — of sports courts, of workshops and of meaningful adults other than his exhausted mother or the cartel lookout on the corner — the calculation is very easy to make. And he makes it badly, but he makes it.
The General Law of Physical Culture and Sport, in its Article 2, establishes among its purposes the promotion of physical culture, recreation and sport in the general population as a means of crime prevention. The law says it. The budget denies it.
June 16 was good news
And we should celebrate it. Harfuch’s strategy is working; the arrests are piling up and the seizures too. But good days are not built solely on military intelligence. They are also built with orchestras, with sports courts, with reading clubs, with art teachers who come to the neighborhood twice a week and with boxing coaches who don’t charge a fee because the municipality pays their salary.
That is what Mexico dismantled in 30 years. And that is what no Harfuch, however good his work, will be able to rebuild from an intelligence room.
Community and culture programs are needed to sustain lower crime rates
The World Cup has brought Mexicans together, as at this Fan Festival in Guadalajara. The question is, why can’t communities function better regularly? (Ivan Villegas/Chivas)
The World Cup will end on July 19. The streets will empty again. And the question, amigos, is whether we will be able to read what the tournament is showing us these weeks: that the Mexicans do know how to share a project, do know how to occupy the streets cordially and do know how to build community when someone gives us the pretext and the space. What we need is for that pretext to exist year-round. Not once every four years.
We did it once before, when the Mexican Revolution ended. The newly formed Mexican State, under the cultural leadership of José Vasconcelos, sent painters, writers and playwrights traveling across the country with a single idea: to build a sense of belonging to the Mexican nation. The murals you see in every public building today are what’s left of that bet — a bet that the State could be a builder of shared meaning, not just a distributor of resources.
If we want Tuesday, June 16, to be the first of many, we are going to have to stop thinking about security only as arrests and begin to think of it as what it also is: a cultural policy, a sports policy and a community policy. In other words, a policy of the public sphere.
Maria Meléndez writes for Mexico News Daily in Mexico City.
