The Climate Investment Fund estimates that the Brazil and Mexico funding programs combined will prevent the annual release of CO₂ roughly equivalent to the CO₂ absorbed by 33 million trees. (Unsplash)
The Climate Investment Fund (CIF) last week announced it has approved US $500 million in catalytic financing for Brazil and Mexico intended to unlock billions of dollars in additional funding to accelerate the decarbonization of their industrial sectors.
The World Bank-managed reserve — a US $14 billion climate-focused equity fund — has endorsed this first-of-its-kind investment to spur industrial decarbonization efforts in Latin America’s two biggest economies.
Among the first Mexican industries that will benefit from decarbonization projects will be the ones that are hardest to clean up, according to the Finance Ministry: iron and steel, cement, chemicals and aluminum. (Daniel Moqvist/Unsplash)
“The global race to decarbonize industry has begun, and emerging markets are out front,” CIF CEO Tariye Gbadegesin said. “Decarbonizing industry is about more than emissions — it’s about securing long-term prosperity and the jobs of tomorrow.”
Both countries are rapidly developing their industrial bases and, in Mexico, industry currently accounts for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Brazil and Mexico will each get US $250 million and, although this figure might be considered modest, the design is not. The grant is intended to act as bait, “catalyzing” far larger sums from banks and private investors.
In Mexico, the investment is expected to activate US $1.68 billion in co-financing, including as much as US $1.2 billion from private investors. Participating institutions include the IDB Group and World Bank Group’s private and public sector arms.
“As Mexico advances in the implementation of Plan México and the National Development Plan 2025–2030, industrial transformation has become a strategic priority,” said María del Carmen Bonilla, undersecretary of finance and public credit with Mexico’s Finance Ministry.
Bonilla said Mexico will focus on the industries hardest to clean up, such as iron and steel, cement, chemicals and aluminum.
In a press release, the CIF said, “The investment plan [for Mexico] channels resources through non-sovereign-guarantee instruments to maximize private capital mobilization.”
The grants “will be deployed on a project-by-project basis through a range of financing instruments, including senior, subordinated and mezzanine debt, and in some cases, equity investments and guarantees,” the CIF told the online platform Latin Finance.
Combined, the two programs are expected to prevent the release of nearly 2 million metric tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere annually — roughly equivalent to the CO2 absorbed by 33 million trees — while supporting the creation of green jobs, the press release said.
Catalytic financing is designed to reduce risk, thereby bringing in private, public and institutional capital that might otherwise avoid a project.
Some of the more intriguing details of Salazar's memoir reportedly originate from a "friend and confidant" of AMLO. (Simon & Schuster/Cuartoscuro)
Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) was “very concerned” about the information the United States could get from Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin who was arrested in the U.S. in July 2024.
In his forthcoming memoir, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar wrote that he was told exactly that by a Mexican businessman who was a “friend and confidant” to AMLO.
The former president feared that “El Mayo” would “spill the beans” on corrupt Mexican officials, Salazar wrote, citing information he received from an unidentified businessman he refers to as “the AMLO whisperer” or simply “the Whisperer.”
Those excerpts from “Borderlands: My Fight for an Inclusive America” were published on Sunday by the newspaper Reforma, which received an advance copy of the ex-ambassador’s book.
A day later, Salazar’s prose reached the morning press conference of President Claudia Sheinbaum, who asserted that López Obrador — the founder of the “fourth transformation” political movement she now leads — in fact had no concerns about what Zambada might testify to U.S. authorities.
AMLO’s concern, rather, was about the possible participation of the U.S. government in events that led to the arrest of “El Mayo,” as U.S. authorities’ involvement would constitute “interference and violation of sovereignty in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said.
Whether Zambada has in fact informed U.S. prosecutors about corrupt Mexican officials remains publicly unknown, The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.
“El Mayo” was arrested at an airport in New Mexico after he was kidnapped by Joaquín Guzmán López, a son of imprisoned drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, and forced onto a private plane that took him to the U.S.
Ambassador Ken Salazar (left), former U.S. Homeland Security Advisor Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, former President López Obrador and former Security Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez. (@lopezobrador/X)
As president, López Obrador asserted that the United States carried out the “operation” that resulted in the arrest of Zambada in the United States. With his use of the word “operation,” he apparently meant a negotiation with Guzmán López that he believed resulted in the delivery of Zambada to U.S. law enforcement authorities at a New Mexico airport near El Paso, Texas, on July 25, 2024. U.S. authorities have denied any involvement in an operation aimed at the capture of “El Mayo,” who last August pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in U.S. federal court. He has not yet been sentenced.
U.S. authorities’ denial of involvement in an operation to capture “El Mayo” is referenced in a U.S. Department of Justice statement released in December 2025 after Guzmán López pleaded guilty to drug charges in the U.S.
“Guzmán López admitted to coordinating and committing the kidnapping [of Zambada] in the hopes of receiving cooperation credit from the United States. As stated in the plea agreement, the United States did not induce or condone the kidnapping, and Guzmán López will not receive any cooperation credit for it,” the Justice Department said. Guzmán López has not yet been sentenced.
AMLO, who has made few public comments since leaving office in late 2024, hasn’t responded to Salazar’s written remarks about his alleged concern about information Zambada might provide to U.S. authorities. He has previously denied allegations that he had cartel ties before and during his presidency.
Salazar tells LA Times he ‘never saw’ any proof of ties between AMLO and cartels
While the ex-ambassador and former U.S. secretary of the interior cited claims by “The Whisperer” in his book, thus adding to speculation and allegations that AMLO had cartel ties, Salazar told The Los Angeles Times that he had never seen any evidence linking López Obrador to criminal organizations.
“I never saw any proof of it,” he told the L.A. Times in a telephone interview.
“As far as I know, Andrés Manuel López Obrador was a president who strongly believed in Mexico and the sovereignty of Mexico,” Salazar said.
The former ambassador maintained a close relationship with AMLO during much of the time he was posted to Mexico City. However, shortly after Salazar voiced concerns about the Mexican government’s proposed judicial reform (which is now law), and just a month after Zambada was arrested in the United States, López Obrador announced a “pause” in his administration’s relationship with the U.S. Embassy.
“How are we going to allow [Salazar] to opine that what we’re doing is wrong,” AMLO said on Aug. 27, 2024.
The L.A. Times reported that the ex-ambassador wrote in his memoir that he was “frozen out” by AMLO after the arrest of Zambada and never spoke to the president again. The newspaper also reported that Salazar wrote that he became a “persona non grata” in Mexico City following Zambada’s arrest, and noted that he resigned after the election of Donald Trump in November 2024.
Salazar dedicates around 1/3 of ‘Borderlands’ to his ambassadorship in Mexico
Salazar, who served as attorney general of Colorado and as a U.S. senator before becoming secretary of the interior during the first term of former U.S. President Barack Obama, dedicates more than 100 pages of his 347-page memoir to his ambassadorship in Mexico, according to the Ciudad Juárez-based newspaper El Diario mx.
Salazar served as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico from 2021 to 2025. (Ken Salazar/Twitter)
In addition to detailing information passed on to him by “the Whisperer,” Salazar wrote about a range of other topics related to Mexico in “Borderlands.”
Salazar wrote that “the Whisperer” helped him get his first lengthy meeting with AMLO in late December 2021, two months after he became ambassador. At that three-hour meeting, Salazar wrote that he and the then president of Mexico agreed to promote the modernization of the Mexico-U.S. border and to work together to combat cartels.
In his memoir, Salazar criticized AMLO’s so-called “hugs, not bullets” security policy, describing it as “insufficient.” Near the end of his ambassadorship, Salazar publicly declared that the “hugs, not bullets” security strategy — which favored addressing the root causes of crime over combating criminal groups with force — failed. At the same time, he blamed AMLO for a breakdown in the bilateral security cooperation. In his book, Salazar wrote that initiatives such as educational scholarships and employment schemes — i.e., the “hugs” part of the former Mexican government’s security strategy — should have been accompanied by more decisive actions against cartels. He also wrote that Mexicans felt unsafe in Mexico during AMLO’s presidency — the most violent six-year period of government in Mexico on record — and disclosed that he told the ex-president on several occasions that “without security, there is no prosperity.”
Salazar wrote that AMLO submitted a request in late 2022 for former U.S. President Joe Biden to land in Air Force One at the Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA) in México state rather than at the Mexico City International Airport. The presidential aircraft did indeed touch down at AIFA in January 2023, a month in which AMLO, Biden and then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in the 10th North American Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City. Salazar wrote that the U.S. Secret Service didn’t initially authorize the landing of Air Force One at AIFA. However, he wrote that AMLO was insistent that the plane land there. Salazar wrote that López Obrador told him that AIFA represents “the new relationship” between Mexico and the United States, and that if Biden lands there, he will show that he understands what the two nations are trying to build together.
Salazar claimed that AMLO’s prioritization of spending on “mega-projects,” such as the Maya Train railroad and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor, was one of the causes of a migration crisis at the Mexico-U.S. border in late 2023. He wrote that the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City heard from the then-head of Mexico’s National Migration Institute, Francisco Garduño, that there were scant resources for migration control in Mexico as so much money was being spent on infrastructure projects.
Salazar also wrote in his memoir that he told himself in July 2024 that he “should run for president.” He gave himself that advice, Politico reported, after growing “increasingly frustrated with the White House’s border plan” during his ambassadorship in Mexico. Politico, which obtained an advance copy of “Borderlands” and recently interviewed Salazar, also reported that the ex-ambassador “says he begged for a ‘border czar’ to run point on interagency coordination.” However, “he never got one, and instead, the moniker was inaccurately and problematically affixed to then-Vice President Kamala Harris,” Politico wrote. While Salazar didn’t run for president in 2024, he is now “positioning himself as his party’s immigration whisperer, meeting with [Democratic Party] presidential hopefuls and pitching them on his “borderlands platform,” which says the U.S.’ borders are ‘broken’ and ‘must be fixed,'” according to Politico.
In addition to two new roadways, the investment will provide increased maintenance of existing state roads, including pothole repair, resurfacing, modernization of signage, bridge improvements and drainage works. (SICT Jalisco)
Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus last week unveiled a 24 billion-peso (US $1.37 billion) road repair and maintenance plan to rehabilitate and expand the state’s highway network.
The investment is part of Lemus’ 2025-2030 Highway Plan, an initiative that includes works in all 125 Jalisco municipalities in order to reduce travel times, improve regional connectivity, increase road safety and facilitate the movement of goods in logistics corridors throughout the state.
One of the most important construction projects will be the new 169-kilometer highway connecting Guadalajara, the state capital, with San Martín de Bolaños, in northern Jalisco, historically one of the state’s most isolated regions.
Approximately 4.6 billion pesos ($262 million) will be allotted for this project, which is expected to reduce travel times by up to three hours.
Another priority project will link Jocotepec, on the western end of Lake Chapala, with the Chapala highway and the so-called Chapala Riviera.
This new interchange would improve mobility and reduce congestion in an area that concentrates significant tourist, agricultural and commercial activity in the southern part of the state.
Other important projects included in the plan are:
— Repaving and upgrading the Quitupan-Lagunillas section of state highway 414 that connects southeastern Jalisco with Cotija, Michoacán, via the Valle de Juárez
— Increased maintenance of existing state roads, including pothole repair, resurfacing, modernization of signage, bridge improvements and drainage works
The 24 billion-peso investment will also serve to fund the more than 200 projects currently underway across the state, which employ over 5,000 workers.
Lemus said the initiative will not only improve road infrastructure, but will also boost local economies by creating jobs and providing contracts for regional suppliers.
The governor made the announcement while attending the swearing-in ceremony of the National Chamber of Freight Transportation’s new regional Board of Directors. Lemus acknowledged the Chamber’s willingness to collaborate with the government on issues related to urban mobility and logistics, particularly with regard to adjusting freight delivery schedules in light of preparations and activities linked to the World Cup.
The governor also talked of developing specialized training programs for freight transport operators, given the driver shortages the industry faces. He also touched upon highway security, endorsing the State Highway Police’s strategies to coordinate surveillance with federal authorities.
For his part, Daniel Flores, the new president of Canacar Jalisco, expressed gratitude for Lemus’ concern about issues important to the state’s transportation sector.
Freight transport comprises approximately 6% of Jalisco’s Gross Domestic Product, in addition to playing a fundamental role in job creation and the movement of goods within and outside the state.
Mexico City (AIFA)-Cartagena is one of the new routes. (Unsplash)
Mexico kicked off June 2026 with the launch of 48 new air routes, strategically strengthening national and international connectivity and consolidating the country as a tourism and commercial powerhouse in the Americas.
The Tourism Ministry (Sectur) reported that of the 48 routes that began operations, 29 are domestic and 19 are international, representing a balanced expansion between the domestic and international markets.
Among the domestic routes, notable connections include Acapulco–Felipe Ángeles International Airport (AIFA), Acapulco–Querétaro, Puebla–Los Cabos, Puebla–Huatulco, Puerto Escondido–Tijuana, Querétaro–Oaxaca, and Monterrey–San Luis Potosí; all aimed at boosting tourism to beach, cultural, and business destinations.
International routes will now connect AIFA with Cartagena and Medellín, in addition to opening or strengthening routes such as Monterrey–Madrid, Cancún–Brasilia, Guadalajara–Detroit, Los Cabos–Las Vegas, Monterrey–New York and Puebla–Los Angeles.
These connections aim to increase visitor flow, diversify source markets and strengthen tourism and trade with South America, Europe and the United States.
“The opening of 48 new routes in a single month reflects the airlines’ confidence in Mexico’s tourism and economic potential and strengthens our air connectivity, bringing development, investment and well-being opportunities closer to more destinations and communities in the country,” Tourism Minister Josefina Rodríguez said in a statement.
The airlines operating the national and international new routes include Aeroméxico, Gol, Iberia, Mexicana de Aviación, Southwest, Viva and Volaris.
According to Sectur, there have been 102 announcements of new air routes to and from Mexico so far this year. Mexico is currently the world’s sixth most-visited country, and aims to become the world’s 5th most-visited country during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s six-year administration.
Thousands of fans have turned out to watch games during Guadalajara's Fan Festival, most enthusiastically during Mexico's 1-0 victory over South Korea in Guadalajara Stadium. (gdl2026/Instagram)
Tapatíos went crazy following Mexico’s World Cup win against South Korea in Guadalajara Stadium, while also embracing Korean visitors who were in town for the game. In other news, researchers at the University of Guadalajara have identified a new reason for the city’s recurrent flooding problem and MiBici has upgraded its fleet with new e-bikes.
Korean fans descended on Guadalajara, and Mexicans were smitten
An estimated 2,000 fans from South Korea have visited Guadalajara during the 2026 World Cup, and have fully embraced the experience, enjoying cantaritos (tequila-based cocktails served in small clay jars), attending lucha libre matches and basking in the locals’ warm hospitality.
Despite a significant language barrier (South Korean tourists generally speak English as a second language), there has been widespread enthusiasm for South Korea’s fans.
In the streets of the Historic Center (both in Guadalajara and Zapopan), the scenes on match days have been pure celebration. It’s been common to see Mexican fans singing, dancing and taking selfies with South Korean fans.
“Everyone is super friendly and has supported us a lot,” noted one South Korean visitor.
In last Thursday’s highly anticipated head-to-head, Mexico and South Korea dueled for more than half the match with no score. Then, early in the second half, Mexico took advantage of a botched defensive play by Korea’s goalie Kim Seung-gyu, and midfielder Luis Romo found the net.
When Mexico had at last sealed the victory, local fans erupted in spontaneous dancing, singing, bawdy chanting and flag-waving all over town, with plenty of tequila and beer to lubricate the celebration.
Luis Romo scored the lone goal as Mexico defeated South Korea in their World Cup matchup in Zapopan’s Guadalajara Stadium. (Moisés Pablo/Cuartoscuro)
The revelry lasted into early Friday morning around Zapopan’s historic center, with no South Korean fans in sight.
Flooding in Guadalajara from summer rains exposes infrastructure gaps
When dangerous flooding occurs around Guadalajara in summertime, inundating roads, cars and even pedestrians, local officials typically blame either excess rainfall within a short timespan or sewers blocked by garbage.
But researchers at the University of Guadalajara (UDG) are now calling attention to an entirely different reason for the widespread flooding.
The UDG team claims that decades of disorganized growth in Mexico’s second-largest city is now the main cause of repeat flooding. The academics recently identified 670 recurring flood points throughout the Guadalajara Metro Area (GMA), several hundred of which pose an especially high risk to residents due to the speed and depth of flooding following major storms.
Luis Valdivia Ornelas, one of the UDG researchers, warned that underpasses, valleys and other low-lying areas continue to be the most dangerous places, and urged residents not to attempt crossing flooded streets during and immediately after storms.
The specific locations considered especially high risk for dangerous flooding are Ciudad del Sol, Avenida Patria, Puerto Melaque and San Andrés. Ornelas also noted that each flood-prone area is unique and warrants a dedicated study to determine what types of interventions are needed to remedy drainage problems.
Researchers at the University of Guadalajara have discovered a new reason for the city’s recurrent flooding problems. (UDG)
In a critique of current methods for managing flood risk, the team cautioned against overreliance on sumps and pumps to facilitate drainage.
The reason? Human failure to turn on the pumps can result in catastrophic flooding during a major storm, with high water causing considerable property damage and danger to the public.
Furthermore, the UDG researchers questioned city officials’ downplaying of the problem and urged them to expand urban green space and urban planning to avoid further loss of life during the rainy season.
Meanwhile, an enormous sinkhole measuring approximately 25 meters long by 10 meters wide opened up this past weekend along López Mateos Avenue in Zapopan’s La Calma neighborhood. The crater-sized opening damaged water pipes and left residents in the surrounding area without water.
“They cut off the water because the pipe is indeed broken and we have no water … It’s not the first time; we’re frequently without water, and we’ve already lost electricity and internet because of that construction,” Ana Martel, a resident of the neighborhood, told El Mural. According to SIAPA, Guadalajara’s water utility, a large construction project underway immediately adjacent to the sinkhole was a precipitating factor.
MiBici adds electric bicycles to its fleet
The Guadalajara Metro Area’s MiBici program continues to grow, with 1,000 electric bikes being added to the 4,000 bikes already in the system. (MiBici)
To expand residents’ usage of city bikes offered through the public MiBici program, which spans Guadalajara, Zapopan and Tlaquepaque, local officials recently unveiled a new initiative to add electric bicycles to their fleet.
Antonio Martin del Campo, head of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Agency for Mobility (AMIM), the organization responsible for the program, highlighted that this change places Guadalajara at the forefront of urban transport innovation in Latin America.
“This expansion will allow for better connection with mass transit and will strengthen both the first and last mile of people’s journeys,” he said.
For the initial rollout, 150 electric bicycles are being added to 16 stations in June. Ultimately, the program seeks to distribute 1,000 e-bikes to 470 stations.
Besides giving residents a wider range of biking options, Del Campo highlighted how the initiative also supports better connectivity with Guadalajara’s existing mass transit infrastructure.
For his part, Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus stated that he is working to eliminate the 10-peso charge for unlocking each electric bicycle via an initiative presented to the Jalisco Congress. “Now it’s up to the representatives to approve this proposal,” he said.
According to official government statistics, MiBici’s current infrastructure includes 368 active stations, with more than 4,000 bicycles and over 212,000 registered users.
MND Writer Dawn Stoner is reporting from Guadalajara.
Also on Tuesday, President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged security operations that resulted in the seizure of large quantities of methamphetamine and ammunition. (Juan Carlos Buenrostro/Presidencia)
Sheinbaum’s mañanera in 60 seconds
🧪 Record meth bust in Sinaloa: Federal authorities seized 24,400 liters of liquid methamphetamine in Los Mochis — the largest such confiscation of the current government’s term and the second largest on record. One person was detained. Sheinbaum called it “a good seizure” and framed it as routine Security Cabinet work.
🔫 Ammo seized at the U.S. border: A reporter raised the recent Nogales, Arizona, interception of 43,000 rounds of ammunition bound for Mexico. Sheinbaum acknowledged the seizure and highlighted her government’s call for U.S. authorities to do more to stem the southward flow of weapons.
🔎 Sheinbaum pushes back on madres buscadoras criticism: After a reporter contrasted Monday’s lighthearted welcome of the “World Cup duck” with an alleged failure to meet the mothers of missing persons, Sheinbaum said she meets with many madres buscadoras — during both travel and time at the National Palace — but does not publicize the encounters. She said she personally handles “very difficult” cases, attends to sexual abuse victims and gives people she meets with her personal cell number. Sheinbaum also said she monitors the Ayotzinapa case directly and meets the families of the 43 disappeared students every two to three months.
🛣️ Highway C5 command center in the works: Sheinbaum revealed that her government is developing a dedicated command-and-control center to monitor highway security in real time, as part of broader efforts to tackle road robberies that cost the economy billions of pesos annually.
Why today’s mañanera matters
Today’s mañanera was important as President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged security operations that resulted in the seizure of large quantities of methamphetamine and ammunition. She framed the meth bust as part of the day-to-day work of Mexican security authorities, which have seized almost 400 tonnes of drugs during the term of the current government, according to data presented last week.
At her Tuesday morning press conference, Sheinbaum also rebutted claims that she hasn’t taken the time to meet with Mexico’s madres buscadoras — mothers searching for their missing children. The missing persons issue is, of course, a sensitive one, and has received significant international attention this month as Mexico co-hosts the FIFA men’s World Cup. Sheinbaum’s remarks about her meetings with madres buscadoras were both notable and poignant. While she is known for her cabeza fría — her cool head under pressure — the president this morning sought to show her caring side and her empathy with mothers who have endured the devastating loss of a son or daughter.
Sheinbaum acknowledges large seizures of meth and ammunition
“… It’s part of the daily work of the [government’s] Security Cabinet,” she said.
Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said on social media that the confiscation of 24,400 liters of liquid methamphetamine in the city of Los Mochis was the largest seizure of its kind during the term of the current government and the second largest on record. One person was detained in connection with the bust.
“I meet with many madres buscadoras,” Sheinbaum retorted.
“I just don’t promote it,” she added.
Sheinbaum said she meets with individual mothers, rather than various members of search collectives, when she is traveling outside Mexico City and also when she is working at the National Palace in the capital.
She said that Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez, Deputy Interior Minister Arturo Medina and the head of the National Search Commission, Martha Lidia Pérez Gumecindo, meet with members of search collectives on a regular basis.
Rodríguez does a “very good” job attending to search collectives, Sheinbaum said, adding that she personally deals with “very difficult” and “very painful” missing persons cases.
“But I don’t like turning this into a media spectacle because I don’t believe it’s necessary,” she said.
She said there are people who want to portray her as not being a “humanist” who attends to “serious or delicate situations.”
“I even personally attend to victims of sexual abuse, ” Sheinbaum said.
“… But I don’t like taking a photo of that because it’s a matter of direct attention to the person, to victims,” she said.
“I give them my personal cell phone number,” added the president, who last year said that “attending to the problem of missing persons” in Mexico — there are more than 130,000 — was a “national priority” for her government.
Government developing a command center to monitor highways
Sheinbaum told reporters that in Security Cabinet meetings, officials review the problem of robberies on highways at least once a month. She said that the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport works closely with the National Guard to combat the problem, which costs the economy billions of pesos annually, according to the Confederation of Industrial Chambers.
“We’re going to present new things for highways,” Sheinbaum said, referring to initiatives aimed at improving security for truck drivers and motorists in general.
“I can disclose that we’re working on a kind of C5 for highways,” revealed the president, who said late last year that her government wants there to be “zero robberies on all of Mexico’s highways.”
In Mexico, a C5 is a command center from where officials monitor security conditions in real time. In the case of Mexico City’s C5, the five “Cs” stand for comando (command), control (control), cómputo (computation), comunicaciones (communication) and contacto ciudadano (contact with citizens).
By Mexico News Daily chief staff writer Peter Davies (peter.davies@mexiconewsdaily.com)
Caver Adam Haydock, 400 meters below the surface, ascends one of many ropes in the La Grieta section of Sistema Huautla, the deepest cave in the Americas. (Chris Higgins)
In 1965, a handful of college students in Austin, Texas, asked their geology professor a simple question: Where would you look to find the deepest cave in North America?
Their investigation pinpointed the town of Huautla de Jiménez, Oaxaca.
Oaxaca’s Sierra Mazateca is home to world-class caves, including the famed Sistema Huautla. (Bill Steele)
What was it about this remote spot that attracted their attention?
“It was the local limestone,” says longtime caver and Explorer’s Club member Bill Steele. “It’s around two kilometers thick. Then there is the rainfall: about three meters a year. That’s 118 inches! But there aren’t any surface streams in the area — so where was all that water going?”
In 1966, four Austin cavers drove south to Huautla and ended up rappelling into astoundingly beautiful Sótano de San Agustín (St. Agustine’s Basement).
“That was in 1966,” says Steele, “and here we are now, 60 years later, and we’ve got the deepest system of caves in the Western Hemisphere, 1,560 meters deep. Up until this year, it had been explored and mapped to a length of 101 kilometers. When we process this year’s data, it may surpass 105 kilometers.
The most magnificent cave
“Sistema Huautla has 30 entrances, with immense rooms, stunning crystalline formations, waterfalls and underground rivers. It’s been called — by people who know — the world’s most magnificent cave … and our best hunch is that we’ve only found half of it.”
To promote further exploration of the Huautla Cave System, Proyecto Espeleológico Sistema Huautla (PESH) was founded in 2014 and typically organizes cave studies during April of each year.
Over 1,000 meters of rock lie between the surface and Sistema Huautla’s Anthodite Hall, which is big enough to hold Estadio Azteca. (Chris Higgins)
This year, 59 volunteers came to Huautla from Mexico, the U.S., England, Poland, Australia and Costa Rica.
Four teams of the hardiest explorers were sent into four different caves to camp underground for a week, following up on leads discovered in previous years.
One week underground
“They’re completely out of contact with the outside world,” Bill Steele told me. “There’s no radio that works through that much rock, so they tell us when they expect to get out, and if they don’t show up, we go looking for them.”
In addition to the cave explorers and mappers, there are the scientists.
“We follow the philosophy of the people who explore Mammoth Cave, the world’s longest,” says Steele. “This means that while you’ve got the best explorers — and all the right equipment — in the cave, you should take advantage and do all the scientific studies possible.”
The results have included theses on the system’s geology, biology and paleontology as well as an archaeological study related to rain-god rituals held in some of the caves.
“They’re also doing studies of paleoclimatology. It turns out that there are datable traces of minerals in stalagmites, so if you find a stalagmite that’s fallen over in an earthquake long ago, you can bring it out for analysis. A professor in Las Vegas, Nevada, has used these to find much more about the climate of southern Mexico than had even been known before.”
A scorpion named Steve
One of Huautla Cave’s many contributions to science is a blind scorpion called Alacran tartarus, which was found around 800 meters below the surface. This was the world’s first known troglobitic scorpion and was described by renowned Mexican biologist Dr. Oscar Francke in 1982.
“Could your people find me a live one and get it all the way to Mexico City?” UNAM professor Edmundo González asked Bill Steele, explaining that a study of the venom of these cave-adapted scorpions might result in the development of a new antivenom.
“By good luck, a couple from Georgia did come across this cave scorpion, deep underground,” Steele told me, “and they brought it to the surface in a half-liter bottle, which they opened every few hours to splash in a little water. Then I put it into a ‘critter box’ whose walls I lined with black paper. All the cavers liked that little scorpion so much, they named it Steve to honor Steve Zeman, the camp cook, whose food everyone adored. Next, the couple transported Scorpion Steve to Mexico City by bus and finally took a taxi to UNAM, where they handed it over to Professor González. So far, it’s alive and healthy and doing fine. This, by the way, is the first time that a cave-adapted scorpion has been kept alive on the surface.”
Collecting experiences
PESH is a non-profit organization, and participants in the project pay their own way. On top of that, the cavers have supported many initiatives benefiting the local communities, including the printing of materials written in the Mazatec language.
Nevertheless, rumors circulate about the motives that would bring so many foreigners out to a remote corner of Oaxaca.
Steve the scorpion was delivered live to UNAM in Mexico City, the first time a cave-adapted scorpion had survived outside its natural habitat. (Roger Marmol)
“I was in a pottery shop in the little town of San Andrés,” Steele said, “and the proprietor came over to me and said, ‘¿Sabes que? People say you guys take things out of the caves.’”
For years, Steele had typically replied that this was untrue, that they don’t take things out of the caves.
Taking new knowledge from the caves
This time, he tried a new tactic.
“Yes, that’s true,” Steele told the man. “Actually, we take three things out of the caves.”
The man looked stunned.
“Number one, we take knowledge of what’s down there so that we can share that knowledge with the Mazatec people who don’t have the equipment or the experience to be able to go into them.
Negotiating the tricky entrance to Nita He cave in Sistema Huautla, Oaxaca’s subterranean world of adventure. (Chris Higgins)
“Number two, photographs of what we see in there, so we can share that beauty with you.
“And then number three: experiences which enrich our lives.
“To my surprise, it was the third one that made the man smile big.
“And on reflection, I understood. These people don’t live in the world community. So it’s their everyday experiences that make up their lives. These are things they appreciate.”
John Pint has lived near Guadalajara, Jalisco, for more than 30 years and is the author of “A Guide to West Mexico’s Guachimontones and Surrounding Area” and co-author of “Outdoors in Western Mexico.” More of his writing can be found on his website.
After several years of dry weather, what appears to be the second straight year of higher-than-average May-October rainfall is setting Mexico on the road to full recovery. (Conagua/X)
After several difficult years, Mexico is experiencing far less drought so far in 2026 as the El Niño phenomenon brings more rainfall.
In the 2026-2027 period, El Niño could behave similarly to how it did in 2015, one of the most intensely rainy years in recent times, Dante Sinohé Hernández Padrón, a researcher with the National Water Commission (Conagua), said during the 40th Climate Perspectives Forum in May.
Mexico City experienced in 2025 its wettest year in 42 years after a prolific rainy season, and 2026 looks to offer a repeat of that experience. (Cuartoscuro)
Mexico may be free of widespread drought by the end of its rainy season, which typically runs from May to October, according to current predictions.
Conagua bases its drought assessment on the international five-category system, which ranges from abnormally dry or D0 (a precursor to drought, not actually drought), to moderate (D1), severe (D2), extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4) drought.
“Currently, we are experiencing normal dry conditions, without a nationwide drought [although] obviously, one could occur in some regions,” Hernández Padrón said at the conference.
He added that there has been a 94% recovery from the previous several drought-plagued years.
Drought occurs gradually and can affect domestic water supply, agriculture, energy, water quality and other areas, so its effects are often felt only after it has persisted for several months or even years.
Just before the 2025 rainy season, almost half of Mexico — 596 municipalities — was experiencing some level of drought, with 46.5% of the country falling into the D1 to D4 categories, according to Conagua.
However, after months of above-average rainfall in 2025, Mexico began 2026 with its smallest drought footprint in six years, with just 7.4% of the country experiencing some degree of drought. As of June 15, only 2.4% of the territory was experiencing drought (D1-D4).
Northern Chihuahua, one of only two regions currently experiencing severe drought, has seen conditions ease considerably since late 2025, with several municipalities moving from drought to abnormally dry or drought-free categories, according to Conagua’s Drought Monitor. The improvement is stark compared to the same period in 2024, when much of the state was gripped by extreme drought.
Hernández Padrón warned that a severe drought could occur in 2027 if temperatures reach levels similar to those of 2023.
The researcher stressed the importance of monitoring the El Niño-Southern Oscillation phenomenon for 2026-2027, as an intense drought could occur if a “Godzilla” El Niño forms, which will push global temperatures higher.
For 19 days, the encampment congested the streets near Mexico City's central square, the Zócalo, which is currently hosting FIFA's official World Cup Fan Festival. (Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
The federal government has denied that it paid 800 million pesos (US $46 million) to Section 22 of the CNTE teachers’ union in exchange for it agreeing to take down its protest camp in the historic center of Mexico City.
Teachers affiliated with the Oaxaca-based Section 22 of the dissident union began taking down their tents on Friday night. A large protest camp set up by teachers demanding better pay and the abrogation of a 2007 reform that changed their pension system remained in the historic center of the capital for 19 days.
Members of the CNTE’s Section 22 voted last Thursday in favor of ending their protest in the capital, although they remained committed to fighting for a 100% pay rise and the revocation of the 2007 ISSSTE (State Workers’ Social Security Institute) Law, which changed their pension system and will leave them — they say — considerably worse off in retirement.
While the general secretary of Section 22, Yenny Aracely Pérez Martínez, said late last week that an “economic offer” from the federal government wouldn’t go to the union division she leads, and wasn’t related to any decision to take down the protest camp, assertions were made, including on social media, that the Sheinbaum administration had paid Section 22 to dismantle its encampment.
Education Minister Mario Delgado denied that was the case, telling reporters on Saturday that the 800 million pesos would go to schools and be used to create additional teaching positions in places where more teachers are needed.
He said that the money was coming from the government’s education budget.
On Monday, President Claudia Sheinbaum stressed that the government’s 800-million-peso allocation to schools in Oaxaca wasn’t going to the CNTE.
“Those 800 million pesos have absolutely nothing to do with the CNTE, nothing,” she told reporters at her Monday morning press conference.
“It’s for the education of girls and boys in Oaxaca,” Sheinbaum said.
School was finally back in session on Monday in Oaxaca after members of the local CNTE Section 22 spent 25 days on strike. (Carolina Jiménez Mariscal/Cuartoscuro)
She said the money would be used to create new teaching positions in the southern state and to make “improvements” to schools.
“Last year, for example, we reached an agreement for there to be computers and printers in all the schools that need them,” Sheinbaum said.
The 800-million-peso allocation “isn’t given to the union so that the union gives it to the schools,” she stressed.
The money is given “directly to the schools,” Sheinbaum said.
“… This idea that ‘this money is going to the union’ is mistaken, it’s false,” she said.
“It’s to improve education in Oaxaca for the girls and boys in Oaxaca,” Sheinbaum said.
A ‘historic’ protest comes to an end
The federal and Mexico City governments, business owners in the historic center of Mexico City — many of whom have incurred heavy economic losses due to the teachers’ protest — and at least some World Cup fans are no doubt relieved that the CNTE camp has been dismantled. The encampment was located near Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, which is currently hosting FIFA’s official World Cup Fan Festival.
As for the protesting teachers, they will “reorganize” for the next stage of their fight for better pay, better conditions and the repeal of the 2007 ISSSTE law, according to Pérez, the leader of the CNTE’s Section 22.
“We came out to demand a decent retirement, and during these days the intransigence of the federal government was made visible,” she said.
She said that “the fight” teachers have undertaken through recent protests in Mexico City and other parts of the country “has been historic.”
“Not just because we denounced a government that isn’t on the side of workers, but also because we denounced the administrators of retirement funds [AFORES]. We’ve made national and international headlines, and achieved the goal of raising awareness that there is not a [fair] retirement system for all workers in the country,” Pérez said.
Teachers are not going home because they have been defeated, but rather to “reorganize,” she said.
“… We will return with more strength,” Pérez said.
For his part, Pedro Hernández Morales, a CNTE leader in Mexico City, said that the decision to end this stage of the fight for better pay and conditions is not akin to being “defeated.” According to the newspaper La Jornada, Hernández said that CNTE-affiliated teachers will “return with greater strength, composure and intelligence.”
Education Minister Mario Delgado has sought to show the general public that teachers have benefited from recent government policies in a range of ways. (Juan Carlos Ramos Mamahua/Presidencia)
Sheinbaum has said that protesting teachers have “legitimate demands,” while stressing that it is not possible for the government to meet all of them. She has said on repeated occasions that the government can’t meet all of the demands for budgetary reasons. Via the Education Ministry and the Interior Ministry, the Sheinbaum administration has engaged in dialogue with the CNTE in recent weeks as it sought to reach a resolution that would bring the protests to an end and get teachers to return to their classrooms.
Delgado has sought to show that teachers have benefited from government policies in a range of ways in recent years, including due to significant salary increases, while ISSSTE chief Martí Batres said earlier this month that the creation of a common pension fund for teachers of the kind that existed before the 2007 reform is unaffordable, but the Pensionissste scheme could be “developed progressively” in order to become a better alternative to individual retirement accounts.
Valle de Bravo, less than two hours outside Mexico City, is a Magical Town with hectares of preserved forest and one-of-a-kind weekend homes built by some of Mexico City's most innovative architects. (Pexels)
The town of Valle de Bravo has been Mexico City’s mountain retreat of choice for decades, a lakeside colonial town and Pueblo Mágico in the pine forests of México state where the capital’s professional class comes to decompress on weekends. What almost no one has noticed yet is what will happen when a major federally funded highway connecting Valle de Bravo to the Pacific coast opens in 2029.
The Mexican federal government is upgrading Federal Highway 134, which connects the Toluca region to the Pacific beach resort city of Zihuatanejo on the Guerrero coast, with a committed budget of approximately 18.6 billion pesos (about US $1 billion).
Valle de Bravo has long been CDMX denizens’ place to rest and reconnect with nature. A revamp of Federal Highway 134 will end up making it easy to shuttle between Valle de Bravo and Zihuatanejo, making it significantly quicker to commute to the beach from Mexico City.
The infrastructure project, currently approximately 33% complete, will significantly reduce the drive from the Valle de Bravo region to Zihuatanejo — from more than eight hours to approximately four.
The existing Federal Highway 134 is a two-lane mountain route that demands full attention and adds significant time to distances that look more manageable on a map than they currently are by car.
Combined with Valle’s existing two-and-a-half-hour road connection to Mexico City, the project will create a triangle of access that few places in Mexico can offer: a major international city, a mountain environment with a developed residential landscape, and a pristine Pacific coastline, all reachable from a single address.
This outcome has not yet been widely talked about, and the market does not yet reflect it.
What Valle de Bravo actually is
Valle de Bravo’s historic center, with its cobblestone streets and lakeside promenade, is the version of Valle that most visitors see. It is also only part of the story.
A generation of innovative, environmentally conscious Mexican architects have been playing in Valle de Bravo for years, designing homes that integrate themselves seamlessly into the area’s forest land and wetlands, like this home designed by the Mexico City architectural firm Estudio Temporal. (Dezeen)
The residential landscape here that draws long-term residents with weekend homes extends across the surrounding forest and countryside, where elevations range from 1,800 to 2,600 meters above sea level. The climate shifts considerably across that range: cooler and more heavily forested at altitude, warmer and more open lower down. A car is close to essential; the communities that make up Valle’s residential fabric are spread across terrain that does not lend itself to walking.
It is in this broader residential landscape that a generation of Mexican architects has produced some of the more quietly influential residential work in the country. The homes here are modern and minimalist, built with gorgeous volcanic stone, cantera and floor-to-ceiling glass positioned to frame specific views at specific times of day. Outdoor terraces function as primary living spaces. Trails from private properties lead into the surrounding pine forest.
The design language is one of integration with the landscape rather than imposition on it, and it produces a quality of life difficult to find at comparable price points elsewhere in Mexico or, for that matter, North America.
“Valle de Bravo has all the ingredients to become a truly international destination”, says Luis Romo from Minkoba, a local real estate firm. “What makes it special is how much variety you can find in such a small area. Within just a few kilometers, you can go from warm, lakeview neighborhoods to cool, dense forests where you’re completely surrounded by nature. That diversity is also reflected in the architecture and in the lifestyle people choose here.”
Romo also noted that he’s seeing growing interest from international buyers.
“Foreign buyers are discovering that Valle offers something unique: beautiful natural surroundings, a great quality of life, a wide range of real estate opportunities, and easy access to one of the largest cities in the world.”
Valle de Bravo is at a “very interesting moment,” Romo says.
“It still feels authentic and relatively undiscovered internationally, but it has the potential to become one of Mexico’s most desirable residential destinations in the years ahead,” he says.
Central to its appeal is its location within a federally protected natural area, which has preserved the surrounding pine forest, keeping the air quality far cleaner than polluted Mexico City.
Residents also have easy daily access to fresh, local organic produce: Certified-organic farmers in the area do direct home delivery, with some even offering online orders.
A new real estate market for foreign buyers?
Few places in Mexico can offer a major international city, a mountain retreat and a pristine coastline from one address. (Alejandro Linares/Wikimedia Commons)
The ongoing work on Federal Highway 134 covers 317 kilometers or roadway and includes widening the highway from two lanes to three — with some key sections being widened to four lanes. The project is also building elevated bridges, underpasses and bypasses to eliminate the bottlenecks that currently make the mountain route so slow.
The full corridor runs from Toluca through the Nevado de Toluca area, Temascaltepec, Tejupilco, Ciudad Altamirano and Coyuca de Catalan, and, finally, to Zihuatanejo. As of early 2026, work is advancing along a 38-kilometer stretch between Tejupilco and Temascaltepec.
Full completion is projected for December 2029.
The current Valle-to-Zihuatanejo drive takes more than eight hours. The projected time after completion is approximately four.
Valle de Bravo, with an established residential landscape and an international-city connection that most coastal alternatives lack, has received comparatively little attention from buyers looking outside Mexico’s more familiar expat destinations. But that could change once this highway project finishes.
“I think the new Zihuatanejo highway has the potential to put Valle de Bravo on the radar of a much larger international audience,” says Romo. “For people who build their lives around the outdoors, Valle offers an incredible range of activities that are all accessible within minutes.”
The triangle
What the combination produces is a well-positioned triangle of access that has not previously existed for Valle residents: a practical three-point connection between a world-class city, a high-quality mountain environment and the Pacific coastline.
The highway does not change what Valle is; it changes what Valle can offer. Mexico City has always been the case for the region. Mexico City, the forest and a four-hour Pacific coast is a different conversation, and it is one that the market has not yet had.
How that conversation develops, and what it means for property values in the region, is a question that real estate professionals in Valle are beginning to examine closely.
Nolan Clack is the founder of Qué Onda Valle, an English-language publication covering Valle de Bravo.
