The sting shut down 67 properties functioning as fraudulent call centers in México state. (Unsplash)
México state authorities and federal agencies this week arrested 102 individuals and seized 67 properties that were operating as fraudulent call centers while carrying out extortion, fraud, data theft and drug trafficking.
The massive bust, part of the National Strategy Against Extortion, was the result of a month-long sting operation carried out by state, local and federal authorities.
🚨 El “Operativo Desconexión” logra desmantelar una red de fraude y extorsión. 🇲🇽 🚫 Fueron 197 inmuebles asegurados. Hay 107 detenidos, entre ellos 77 personas de nacionalidad extranjera implicadas en esquemas de préstamos “gota a gota” y extorsión telefónica. 🛡️ David Galván… pic.twitter.com/z3QTOXPriz
In addition to the 67 properties operating as call centers, five loan companies, 14 drug sales points and 106 other illicit businesses were seized or shut down.
Of the 102 people apprehended, 77 are foreigners. Fifty have been formally charged and remanded to custody. They include 22 Mexicans, 20 Colombians, six Venezuelans and two Cubans.
In a statement on social media, the state Attorney General’s Office (FGJ) said that the operation, dubbed Operation Disconnection, “lasted 46 days with the objective of combating and inhibiting ‘indirect extortion’ — committed through telephone calls, text messages, web pages and other messaging applications.”
The sting also disrupted abusive loan schemes that utilize those platforms.
The FGJ expressed gratitude for the cooperation of the Defense, Navy and Security Ministries, the National Guard, the National Migration Institute (INM) and the National Intelligence Center (CNI), as well as state police officials
The investigation discovered that financial institutions were being impersonated through mass calls and cloned websites from call centers primarily located in the municipalities of Ecatepec, Naucalpan and Nezahualcóyotl, all three within the greater Mexico City metropolitan area.
Operators relied on detailed scripts in communicating with their targets to generate false alarms about bank transactions, offer non-existent prizes or simulate parcel deliveries to obtain transfers or confidential data from the victims.
As part of the scheme, unregistered lending centers granted loans in cash or in kind (e.g., offering appliances and cell phones) with unclear contracts and interest rates far higher than permitted by law.
When debtors failed to pay, thugs would go to homes or workplaces to intimidate their targets, physically assaulting them at times.
Additionally, the FJG said, drug sales and black money transfers served to diversify income, launder funds and obtain personal data that were later used in new extortions or identity theft. The network was also linked to express kidnapping and human trafficking.
Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) workers take down old cables and electric posts in Mexico City. (Moisés Pablo / Cuartoscuro.com)
Amid ongoing USMCA talks, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has strongly criticized Mexico’s energy sector framework, raising a range of concerns that it says disadvantage U.S. energy companies.
Along with the CFE, the USTR report placed Mexico’s state oil company Pemex in its crosshairs, saying that Mexican law privileges the state-owned companies while effectively limiting the participation of private companies in the market. (Fernando Carranza García/Cuartoscuro)
In a section of the trade barriers report focused on Mexico’s energy sector, the USTR first seeks to offer an overview of Mexican energy policy before making various criticisms.
“Mexican energy policy is centered on reinstating the primacy of its state-owned electric utility, Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), and state-owned oil and gas company, Mexican Petroleum (PEMEX),” the section begins.
“Since 2018, Mexico has undertaken many measures to achieve this aim, culminating in the October 2024 ratification of a constitutional amendment to reclassify CFE and PEMEX as ‘public enterprises’ rather than ‘productive enterprises’ in order to limit the participation of private companies in Mexico’s energy market,” the USTR states.
In addition, the report states that “in March 2025, Mexico published a reform package of new energy laws implementing this constitutional amendment and other measures, which include as a principle a guarantee of CFE’s prevalence and its maintenance of at least 54 percent of the average electricity sent to the grid, require CFE ownership of at least 54 percent in any ‘mixed investment’ electricity generation projects, and set out a preference for CFE over private entities in electricity generation and marketing.”
In 2022, the USTR made clear its discontent with Mexico’s energy sector policies by requesting dispute settlement consultations under the USMCA. Canada subsequently joined the U.S. in seeking dispute settlement consultations with Mexico over energy policies that favor state-owned firms over private and foreign companies. More than three years later the dispute hasn’t been resolved.
Former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-24) made significant changes to Mexico’s energy policies after his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto opened up the national energy sector to private and foreign companies. AMLO’s changes — maintained by President Claudia Sheinbaum — altered the rules of operation for foreign companies in Mexico, giving rise to the complaints the USTR sets out in the report it submitted to Trump and the U.S. Congress this week.
The USTR’s criticisms of Mexico’s energy sector
In its report, the USTR asserts that “private companies operating in Mexico are often unable to participate effectively, if at all, in Mexico’s energy sector due to frequent delays, unexplained or unjustified rejections, and inaction regarding applications for new permits or permit modifications.”
While serving as U.S. ambassador to Mexico during López Obrador’s presidency, Ken Salazar acknowledged that U.S. energy companies were having problems securing the permits they needed to operate without encumbrance in Mexico.
The USTR said that “unexplained or unjustified suspensions or revocations of existing permits, as well as other impediments, undermine private companies’ ability to operate energy facilities, import or export electricity or fuel, store or transload fuel, and build or operate retail fuel stations.”
It noted that in 2025, Mexico disbanded its energy regulatory agency and established a new agency — the National Energy Commission (CNE)— under the supervision of SENER [the federal Energy Ministry], further centralizing decision-making authority under SENER.”
The USTR also said that:
In October 2025, Mexico “published implementing regulations for the Hydrocarbons Sector Law that prohibit certain fuel transloading activities, which decreases logistical flexibility and increases operating costs for U.S. companies, unfairly favoring PEMEX.”
“Changes to the regulations also impose new restrictions for fuel permits, reduce the term for new import permits from 20 years to five years, and reduce the term for commercialization permits from 30 years to 2 years” — regulatory changes that “do not apply to PEMEX.”
U.S. stakeholders have “raised concerns about draft regulations previewed in December 2025 that would have placed restrictions on the ability of independent power producers to sell their output and granted CFE the option to acquire the assets at no cost.”
The USTR also said that over the past two years, “U.S. companies supplying the Mexican oil and gas sector have reported an unprecedented challenge with receiving payment from PEMEX for services rendered.”
“As of December 31, 2025, while some U.S. companies have received full or partial payment, others continue to report overdue payments that total over [US] $2.5 billion,” the USTR said.
Other criticisms and concerns
Beyond energy, the USTR outlined various other “non-tariff barriers” to trade with Mexico in its report. They include “technical barriers,” “sanitary and phytosanitary barriers,” and “services barriers.”
The criticisms of Mexico’s energy sector were detailed under the subheading of “investment barriers.”
Under the same sub-heading, the USTR noted that amendments made in 2022 to Mexico’s federal Mining Law “place the exploration, exploitation, and utilization of Mexico’s lithium under the exclusive control of a state-owned company, LitioMx, and exclude private companies from concessions, licenses, contracts, permits, and authorizations to undertake those activities.”
Jamieson Greer, who leads the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative, has accused Mexico of being out of compliance with USMCA free trade deal in areas including energy, telecommunications and more. (@USTradeRep/X)
The USTR also raised concerns about labor law enforcement in Mexico and the environmental impacts of “illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing by Mexican fishing vessels” and “trade in illegally harvested timber” that “puts U.S. companies that comply with environmental laws at an unfair disadvantage.”
“This could be energy, telecommunications services, agricultural, all kinds of things,” he said.
Despite the United States’ concerns about Mexico’s compliance with the USMCA — and a declaration from Trump that he doesn’t care about the agreement — the Mexican government is confident that it will achieve a good outcome in the review of the free trade pact.
Sheinbaum said last week that Mexico was going “very well” in the USMCA review process, asserting that the fact that formal talks with the U.S. are taking place is “very important.”
“That gives us a lot of certainty,” she said at an event in Nuevo León.
Sheinbaum said that her government retains hope that the United States could lift tariffs on Mexican vehicles, steel and aluminum, and declared that Trump has demonstrated a “good attitude” toward the USMCA review.
“There is certainty for our country and for the future of the trade agreement with the United States and Canada,” she said.
Local tourism officials are feeling upbeat as the Los Cabos spring break season heads into its busiest weekend, with visitor numbers increasing and exit polls at the airport reporting positive experiences from young tourists who say they felt safe and well taken care of. (Unsplash)
“During this busiest weekend, from Thursday to Sunday, we expect to reach an occupancy rate of around 90%,” said AHLC president Lilzi Orci, adding that she has “very high expectations for the numbers … this week.”
The annual occupancy rate in the municipality is 70%.
One new trend driving the increase in occupancy is that parents are tagging along.
Tourism officials said approximately 20% of the arriving students were accompanied by family members.
This demographic shift created a massive secondary economic boom. While students packed into the traditional, high-energy party resorts in Cabo San Lucas, their accompanying family members booked rooms at quieter properties along the Tourist Corridor or in San José del Cabo.
At the same time, authorities with the local Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) say they are fully prepared for the influx of tourists, both foreign and domestic.
Zofemat’s 1,700 municipal employees on the ground established protocols to ensure the safety of tourists and local residents last month, and will be working to protect and monitor the beaches.
“We expect 120-150,000 people, many coming and going from the certified beaches, but many camping along the coastal strip, too,” said local Zofemat director Rafael Álvarez.
“Each beach will have at least one toilet and several trash cans,” he said, “and public services personnel will be passing by at the end of each day.”
The primary task during the upcoming week will be ensuring the care of the environment, he said, adding that the equivalent of a month’s worth of trash will be collected from the beaches over the next five days.
Already, local authorities are calling this year’s spring break season a big success.
Results from exit surveys at the Los Cabos International Airport are providing overwhelmingly positive feedback.
Students reported feeling secure whether they were at massive beach concerts, navigating the downtown bar scene at night or attending crowded boat parties in the bay.
Family size has dropped steeply in Mexico since the 1960s, with Mexican women now having just 1.9 children on average. (Shutterstock)
The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), a Mexico City-based think tank, recently published a report titled “Women in the Economy: 100 Years of Data.”
Mexico News Daily selected two pieces of data from the report as the focus of this “Mexico in Numbers” article, the continuation of a series we resumed last week with this piece on Mexico’s most popular airlines.
Mexico’s fertility rate has plummeted since the 1960s
Citing World Bank data, IMCO reported that the fertility rate in Mexico declined from 6.8 children per woman in the 1960s to 1.9 children per woman in 2023.
Thus, a Mexican woman today is having 4.9 fewer children on average than her 1960s counterpart. The decline in percentage terms is 72.%.
In the period between the 1960s and 2023, IMCO reported that Mexico recorded the fourth largest fertility rate decline among OECD countries, behind only Costa Rica, South Korea and Colombia.
The think tank also said that the 1960s were an “inflection point” as before that decade Mexico’s fertility rate was declining by an average of 1.2% per year, but in 1979, the annual reduction reached 4.6%.
IMCO highlighted that during the presidency of Luis Echeverría (1970-76), mass campaigns were run under slogans such as “small families live better” and “let’s make ourselves fewer in order to live better.”
The use of contraception was also heavily promoted during this period.
As things stand, IMCO noted, Mexico’s fertility rate (1.9 children per woman) is below the replacement level fertility rate (2.1 children per woman).
“As a result, Mexico has begun to transition toward a process of population aging with implications for fiscal sustainability, the labor market, and the provision of care,” IMCO said.
Women are getting married later in life
Citing a 2001 academic reported titled “A Century of Marriage in Mexico,” IMCO reported that in 1895, the majority of Mexican women married between the ages of 15 and 19.
Today, the average age of marriage for Mexican women is around 30, according to the think tank. The national statistics agency INEGI provided more specific data last September, reporting that the average age of women who got married in 2024 was 32.1. The average age of men who married in 2024 was 35.
INEGI data shows that the average age of marriage for Mexican women increased every year between 2014 and 2024. The average of marriage for women during each year in that period was as follows:
2014: 27.6
2015: 27.9
2016: 28.4
2017: 29
2018: 29.5
2019: 30
2020: 30.5
2021: 30.6
2022: 31.3
2023: 31.7
2024: 32.1
Thus in the space of a decade, the average age at marriage of a Mexican women increased by 4.5 years, or 16.3%.
IMCO said that increased access to higher education for women and their greater participation in the labor market are factors that have caused an increase in the average age of marriage for Mexican women.
It noted that women with higher levels of education attainment and income tend to marry later than women who studied less and earn lower salaries. The think tank also said that the increase in the average age of marriage among Mexico woman is linked to the reduction of the fertility rate in Mexico.
The Mexican Finance Ministry projects economic growth of up to 2.8% this year, with similar expectations for 2027. Pictured: The headquarters of the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. (Shutterstock)
The federal Finance Ministry (SHCP) is forecasting that the Mexican economy will grow in the range of 1.8%-2.8% this year and 1.9%-2.9% in 2027.
The forecasts are included in the ministry’s “General Economic Policy Preliminary Guidelines for 2027” document, which was submitted to both houses of Congress on Wednesday and which will inform the 2027 budget. The forecasts for this year and next would represent significantly faster growth than the 0.8% expansion recorded in 2025.
The SHCP’s growth outlook for this year is unchanged from the forecast included in the 2026 budget proposal the ministry submitted to Congress last September. The SHCP hadn’t previously published a growth forecast range for 2027.
The midpoints of the ministry’s growth forecasts are 2.3% in 2026 and 2.4% in 2027.
Both midpoints are significantly more optimistic than the consensus forecasts yielded from the Bank of Mexico’s March survey of 41 private sector economic analysis and consulting groups. Those consensus forecasts are 1.49% growth in 2026 and 1.82% growth in 2027.
SHCP: ‘Investment will be one of the main drivers of growth’
In the executive summary of its “General Economic Policy Preliminary Guidelines for 2027” document, the SHCP said that in 2026 and 2027, the Mexican economy “will return to a path of greater dynamism, supported by its solid macroeconomic fundamentals.”
“Investment will be one of the main drivers of growth. Private investment will rebound as companies adapt to the new regulatory environment and the USMCA review process moves forward. In turn, public and public-private investment will help expand productive capacity, improve connectivity, and reduce bottlenecks in strategic sectors through Plan México and the Infrastructure Investment Plan for Development with Well-being,” the SCHP said.
The ministry also said that household consumption will be “a pillar of economic growth.”
“The sustained rise in real wages, job creation associated with investment, and the continuation of welfare programs will continue to strengthen families’ purchasing power,” the SHCP said.
The ministry also said that Mexico’s export industries “will continue benefiting” the Mexican economy within a context in which Mexico has a “more favorable” tariff environment than its competitors — i.e. when goods are shipped to the United States, the world’s largest economy.
The SCHP said that “productive integration” with the United States and Canada “will continue deepening,” and asserted that “high-tech sectors will continue to gain prominence.”
It also said that the Mexican economy will get a boost this year from the FIFA men’s World Cup, which Mexico will co-host with the United States and Canada in June and July. Millions of tourists are expected to visit Mexico during the tournament.
While its overall tone was optimistic, the SHCP did acknowledge that “sources of volatility associated with geopolitical conflicts, disruptions to strategic global trade routes, and changes in U.S. trade policy persist.”
Nevertheless, the ministry said that Mexico has economic “strengths that allow it to face up to the external environment with a greater capacity to respond.”
The SHCP’s other forecasts
The Finance Ministry made a range of other forecasts in the document it submitted to Congress on Wednesday. Among those forecasts are the following:
Mexico’s annual headline inflation rate will be 3.7% at the end of 2026 and 3% at the end of 2027. (The headline rate was 4.63% in the first half of March.)
The US dollar-Mexican peso exchange rate will be 18.4 at the end of 2026 and 18.6 at the end of 2027. (The peso closed at 17.83 to the dollar on Wednesday, according to the Bank of Mexico.)
The Bank of Mexico’s benchmark interest rate will be 6.3% at the end of 2026 and 5.5% at the end of 2027. (The central bank’s key rate is currently set at 6.75%.)
Public debt will be 54.7% of GDP at the end of 2026 and 55% at the end of 2027.
Former President López Obrador declared the site of the Sac-Tun limestone quarry, located just outside Playa del Carmen, a natural protected area in 2023. The declaration followed a years-long dispute between mine owner Vulcan Materials and the Mexican government. (Cuartoscuro)
Mexico could offer new sites of operation to U.S. mining company Vulcan Materials in a bid to settle a long-running dispute, President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week as Mexico faces a fresh wave of pressure from the United States over what the company calls the “expropriation” of its land in Mexico.
The U.S. House of Representatives this week approved legislation to protect U.S. business assets abroad. The bill — now pending a Senate vote — was proposed by Texas Congressman August Pfluger, who has acknowledged that the initiative was inspired by the Vulcan Materials case in Mexico.
President Sheinbaum recently said that her administration is seeking new land where Vulcan Materials can continue its operations.
The Environment Ministry confirmed Sheinbaum’s claim and clarified that Vulcan Materials’ assets in Mexico, including its maritime terminal, “remain the property of the company.”
“The Mexican government maintains an open and good-faith dialogue with the company to find solutions that provide legal certainty and guarantee environmental protection,” the Ministry said.
It said the mining restrictions are due to the declaration of the “Felipe Carrillo Puerto” Protected Natural Area, in accordance with the Mexican legal framework.
The Mexican government has also argued that the company’s operations caused an “ecological disaster” in the area it was authorized to mine.
At her Tuesday morning press conference, Sheinbaum said her proposal to find new sites for Vulcan Materials would allow the company to continue operating in Mexico, ending a years-long conflict.
“Mining could no longer take place in the Protected Natural Area. There are some mines located elsewhere that the Environment Ministry would have to analyze to determine if their operation is feasible, or if there is some other mechanism to avoid the controversy and reach an agreement,” she said.
A viticulture lab has been expanded at the Technological University of San Miguel de Allende, reinforcing Guanajuato's reputation as one of Mexico's top wine-growing states. (Tim Gouw)
Business developments and disputes are in the news for San Miguel de Allende and the state of Guanajuato lately, along with a startling number of fires, ongoing hotel construction and a lab to support viticulture (wine grape cultivation) at a local university.
US senators want a probe into companies exporting from Mexico
Two U.S. senators have asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to investigate the importation of heavy construction and agricultural equipment from U.S.-owned production facilities in Mexico, including one in Querétaro.
Case New Holland has been making tractors in Querétaro since 1964, but two U.S. senators want manufacturing to return to the U.S. (CNH)
A March 26 letter signed by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), requested a government investigation under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1952. President Trump has used that law to restrict imports or impose tariffs, citing national security concerns.
“Comprehensive trade remedies are needed to hold companies accountable for offshoring jobs and compel the industry to move these manufacturing jobs back to the United States,” the letter stated. The companies are Caterpillar, which has more than 29 facilities and more than 14,000 employees in Mexico; John Deere, which has plants in three Coahuila cities and in Monterrey, Nuevo León (with a new one coming this year in Nuevo León); and Case New Holland (CNH), which has a production facility in Querétaro originally established by Ford in 1964.
It remains to be seen how this request might be handled, given the current renegotiation of the USMCA Act, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent action overturning the Trump tariffs and Trump’s request that those three companies and others in the sector lower agricultural equipment prices to U.S. farmers.
Nearly 900 fires have been reported to date around San Miguel
The El Charco fire as seen from a nearby residence. (Barbara Pardue)
More than 500 hectares (1,235 acres) have been burned in 883 fires reported in and around San Miguel so far this year. This number includes a fire on March 4 at the El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Garden on the eastern edge of the city. Four hectares of El Charco’s total of 67 hectares (about 165 acres) also burned about a year ago.
Other reported fires included more than 90 hectares burned in the Los Picachos mountains south of San Miguel and some outbreaks near, and sometimes including, residential areas.
Since dryer weather has arrived, Civil Protection officials have warned that additional fires can be expected in grassy areas and vacant lots around the city.
Big cranes loom over a hotel construction site
This is what the Waldorf Astoria in San Miguel de Allende is expected to look like when it’s finished. Construction is ongoing. (Waldorf Astoria San Miguel)
Two huge cranes were recently spotted inside the Waldorf Astoria construction site on El Cardo in Centro. Work has been ongoing at what was previously a large parking lot since shortly after the announcement of the hotel project in December 2022.
Completion of the 120-room and 24-residence hotel has been pushed back one year to 2027 from the original schedule. The project, owned by Peakair Group, is being developed by Mexico City-based Skyplus Developments Corp. and will be managed by Hilton.
Viticulture lab built at local technological university
Mexico has a number of wine-producing regions, of which Guanajuato is one of the most important. (Sectur/Mexico News Daily)
The state of Guanajuato Ministry of Public Works has invested more than 12 million pesos (about US $667,000) in a viticulture program laboratory at the Technological University of San Miguel de Allende, east of the city. The work includes a raw material reception and preparation area, an area for fermentation and wine processing, and a wine cellar.
Guanajuato is attracting attention for producing good wines and has won many awards for them in recent years. It is one of 14 major wine-producing areas in Mexico and one of the four most important ones, along with Baja California, Coahuila and Querétaro.
The Technological University of San Miguel de Allende opened in 2007 and is an academic unit of the Technological University of Northern Guanajuato in Dolores Hidalgo. It is a non-profit public institution and offers both two-year technical degree programs and four-year bachelor’s degree programs.
Cathy Siegner is an independent journalist based in San Miguel and Montana. She has journalism degrees from the University of Oregon and Northwestern University.
CECUT and its distinctive architectural achievement, La Bola, which houses an IMAX theater, have been cultural landmarks in Tijuana for over 40 years. (Instagram)
Most people think of Tijuana as a place you pass through, a blur of traffic signs and waiting. President José López Portillo, who led Mexico between 1976 and 1982, set out to challenge that notion by commissioning a bold arts and culture center just five minutes from the border. Inaugurated in 1982, Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT) quickly became one of Baja California’s most important cultural institutions.
Spearheaded by a visionary first lady
The creation of CECUT was led by Carmen Romano, the wife of President López Portillo. As Mexico’s first lady from 1976 to 1982, Romano played an active role in the country’s cultural life and firmly believed that access to the arts should extend far beyond the capital.
President José López Portillo and his wife Carmen Romano were instrumental in the creation of CECUT, which opened in Tijuana in 1982. (Instagram)
Designed by architects who helped shape modern Mexico
The project was entrusted to architect Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, one of the most influential architects in modern Mexico. Known for integrating pre-Hispanic motifs with modernist principles, he created many of the nation’s most emblematic civil landmarks. Through the National Border Program, for example, he had already designed the Museo de Arte in Ciudad Juárez.
However, his most celebrated work is the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City, inaugurated in 1964. With its monumental courtyard and iconic concrete umbrella, the building transformed how history and identity were presented, placing Indigenous cultures at the core. Ramírez Vázquez also designed the Estadio Azteca and multiple venues for the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. His way of showcasing Mexico to the world even reached the Vatican when he designed the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
Manuel Rosen Morrison, an innovator already recognized for designing the beautiful Japanese Embassy in Mexico, was also a designer on the project. He approached CECUT with a bold idea: the building itself should announce that it housed an IMAX theater. By adding color directly into the concrete mix, he gave the structure its warm tone and sculptural presence. The choice was both forward-thinking and practical. Without paint or coatings, the dome ages naturally and requires less maintenance, allowing time itself to become part of its character.
The iconic dome
CECUT unfolds across 3.5 hectares (nearly 9 acres) in one of Tijuana’s most modern districts, functioning less like a single museum and more like a cultural ecosystem. At its center is La Bola, the complex’s most visually striking feature.
The massive sphere was built to house one of the country’s most advanced movie theaters at the time. It originally operated as an Omnimax theater, using a curved screen to create a fully immersive experience, and was later rebranded as IMAX Dome. The first film shown there was created especially for the space and celebrated Mexico’s landscapes and cultures.
An unexpected look at the surrounding seas
Another main attraction is the Tijuana Aquarium, the only facility of its kind in Baja California. Opened in 2012, the 300-square-meter space offers a close-up look at marine life from the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. Around 500 animals live here, including native regional fish, species from other parts of the world, Australian corals, jellyfish, turtles and freshwater creatures. Designed as an educational space, the aquarium aims to connect visitors with the sea and ocean that border the peninsula.
The history that blurs the borderline
The Museo de las Californias at CECUT welcomes visitors to explore the region’s fascinating history. (CECUT)
The Museo de las Californias guides visitors through the region’s complex history. The journey begins before California had a name and moves steadily toward the present day. Along the way, Indigenous cultures, Spanish colonization, missionary routes, migration, shifting borders, revolutions and environmental change are woven into a continuous narrative, showing how Baja California and the U.S. West evolved together.
El Cubo is Tijuana’s venue for contemporary art
The sense of evolution continues at El Cubo, a space devoted to contemporary art. It hosts exhibitions that meet international standards, from large-scale installations to photography, sculpture and painting. El Cubo’s more than 1,500 square meters are spread across several exhibition halls, a mezzanine and outdoor terraces, giving curators room to experiment and visitors space to linger. It has hosted exhibits featuring Mexican and international artists, with themes that range from cutting-edge visual trends to deeply local stories shaped by border life and migration.
Where Tijuana’s cultural energy takes the stage
The Sala de Espectáculos is a modern performance hall with a thousand seats. It hosts a wide range of events throughout the year, from theater and contemporary dance to concerts, film presentations and multimedia productions. Its design allows for professional staging and acoustics. On busy nights, the energy spills outside to the adjacent esplanade, where festivals and open-air events turn the surrounding plazas into an extension of the stage.
CECUT also serves as a gathering point for creative communities through events like FotoFilm Tijuana, an annual photography and film festival that brings together local and international creators. Screenings, workshops, and panel discussions turn the center into a meeting place for visual storytellers and curious audiences alike.
A powerful presence at the border
Just steps from one of the busiest border crossings in the world, CECUT invites visitors to pause and see Tijuana not as a place you pass through, but as a city with a strong cultural pulse. It has a way of reshaping first impressions and reminding you that some of the most meaningful stories live right at the edge.
Sandra is a Mexican writer and translator based in San Miguel de Allende who specializes in mental health and humanitarian aid. She believes in the power of language to foster compassion and understanding across cultures. She can be reached at: sandragancz@gmail.com.
Mexico has been emphasizing higher-cost, more-profitable electronic products as demand for them has increased in the United States. (Unsplash)
Helped along by the U.S. decision to decrease tech imports from China, Mexico is exporting record quantities of computer equipment and other electronics to such an extent that tech has overtaken automotive as Mexico’s leading export sector.
According to an analysis by Banco Base, national exports grew 7.64% in 2025, but shipments under heading #8471, which covers computer equipment, grew nearly 145% — a surge so outsized it knocked new automobiles off the top spot for the first time.
The strength of Mexico’s export figures for electronics has a lot to do with computer equipment not being subject to any rules-of-origin restrictions, meaning that many products fall within the criteria of the USMCA free trade agreement. (Unsplash)
Leading the tech export boom are Chihuahua and Jalisco.
Chihuahua alone accounted for 46% of all computer equipment exports, while Jalisco contributed 23% — together representing nearly seven out of every ten dollars in Mexican tech exports. Both states saw their technology and electronics shipments drive overall export figures to record highs, with Chihuahua reaching an export value of almost $110 billion in 2025 (from 75 billion in 2024) and Jalisco climbing to nearly $53 billion (from $32 billion).
Jalisco had never before achieved the status of the leading non-border state in terms of exports.
The strength of Mexico’s export figures for electronics has a lot to do with computer equipment not being subject to any rules-of-origin restrictions, meaning that many products fall within the criteria of the USMCA free trade agreement.
As a result, the average U.S. tariff on Mexican electronics stood at just 0.45% throughout 2025, compared to the average tariff of 10.53% on the import of similar products from China.
Computer processors were the single most exported product, at $80.5 billion, with just 0.71% of their value subject to a 25% tariff, according to the deputy director of economic studies at Banamex, Rodolfo Ostolaza.
“Decades of investment in North American supply chains have created products that easily comply with the USMCA rules of origin,” explained Ostolaza in an interview with Forbes.
Mexico has been emphasizing higher-cost, more-profitable electronic products as demand for them has increased in the United States. Modernization is also solidifying through automation, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Move over cars; the computer is king
The increase in U.S. demand for computer equipment is driven by the growth in the country’s data center sector, with investment growing by 30% between 2024 and 2025 to reach $102.2 billion. Meanwhile, U.S. investment in information processing equipment and computers increased by nearly 22% last year.
In addition to Chihuahua and Jalisco, Baja California (13% of total tech exports), Tamaulipas (7%) and Nuevo León (5%) also made important inroads in the sector in 2025.
The equipment is mainly destined for six U.S. states, which accounted for 96.92% of related exports in 2025: Texas (67%), Georgia (10%), North Carolina (6%), California (5%), Arizona (4.11%) and Virginia (4%).
Employment in Mexico’s computer equipment manufacturing sector reached 331,411 workers in 2025, representing over 7% of total manufacturing employment.
While Mexico’s tech manufacturing sector has the potential to continue growing, it is currently operating at production capacity, meaning there is no room to increase output without investing in new facilities, according to the director of Banco Base Gabriela Siller.
Pedro Casas explains why Mexico, the U.S. and Canada need a deliberate strategy that puts small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the center. (Courtesy of the author)
The global contest for industrial dominance isn’t between companies or even countries anymore. It’s between continental production systems.
Over the past two decades, China has built the most expansive manufacturing ecosystem in modern history. Twenty years ago, the United States accounted for more than twice China’s share of global manufacturing output. Today, China claims about 30 percent—roughly twice the U.S. figure.
Scale tells much of the story. China has constructed nearly two billion square meters of industrial warehouse space, the logistical spine of its manufacturing juggernaut. Mexico’s entire industrial real estate market, by comparison, is about 100 million square meters. If Mexico built capacity equivalent to just five percent of the warehouse space in China’s major manufacturing cities, its industrial footprint would double.
For the past three decades, all Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into China had to be anchored in hiring local providers and local workers, partnering with a Chinese company to produce and an obligation to technological transfer, among many other things. All of these have a profound involvement of the Chinese government.
This isn’t to say North America should mimic China. But it should learn from it. To compete with Asia’s integrated bloc, the region needs a deliberate strategy that puts small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the center, as the engine of widespread prosperity.
When we think about who gets the most benefits from the USMCA, most people point first to Mexico, then to Canada and sometimes hesitate about the United States. Yet we must double-click on those figures to be even more precise. A huge winner of the USMCA — not widely discussed enough — are American SMEs. Not the big Wall Street public companies, but actually the farmer from Iowa and Nebraska, the manufacturer from Ohio and Michigan, the family-owned machine shop in Texas and California. Let me explain why.
Mexico and Canada are the top destinations for U.S. SME export value, outpacing every other market. In recent years, SMEs have shipped roughly $90-110 billion to Mexico annually (40–45% of total U.S. exports there) and $80-100 billion to Canada (35–40% of the total). Proximity slashes costs, USMCA rules reward regional content and supply chains are so intertwined that smaller firms can plug right in-shipping parts to Monterrey or produce to Toronto without the headaches of trans-Pacific hauls. Against European or Asian competitors, these near-shore partners give American SMEs a decisive edge: lower barriers, faster turnaround and just-in-time reliability that far-flung rivals can’t match. Those exports keep heartland fields productive, Rust Belt factories humming and small-town paychecks steady — sustaining middle-class jobs where big multinationals often overlook.
Yet this SME success is uneven. FDI in Mexico clusters in the north and Bajío, leaving the south-southeast — a region rich in agriculture and untapped potential — largely sidelined. In the U.S., Rust Belt revival often focuses on headline-grabbing OEMs, ignoring the supplier networks that could revitalize smaller communities. To build a true regional utopia, we need policies that integrate SMEs everywhere, ensuring no part of North America is left behind.
The USMCA recognized this reality: Chapter 25, dedicated specifically to SMEs, was designed to help smaller firms access the opportunities created by regional trade. Yet, the next phase of North American integration should go further.
SMEs should not merely benefit indirectly from integration. They should become a central pillar of the region’s industrial strategy. I see several practical steps that could move North America toward a stronger SME-driven production platform.
First, we must ensure the development of supplier ecosystems. Industrial clusters, business and trade organizations should actively incorporate small firms into their supply chains and communities. Along with this should come trainings, know-how and technological transfers. Incentives for foreign investment could prioritize projects that develop local supplier networks, particularly in sectors such as automotive, electronics, agribusiness and advanced manufacturing. We must lose the fear of asking for conditions for foreign investors, not just set the dollar sign as the sole KPI (cough cough, this message is for you, my dear friends at the EDOs and Mexican Secretarios de Desarrollo Económico).
Second, talent mobility and workforce development. SMEs often face labor shortages and skills gaps. Regional certification systems and targeted mobility programs could enable technicians, engineers and specialized workers to temporarily cross borders to where they are most needed. This in hand can create regional spillovers in knowledge and ways (I will cover this topic in more depth in an article about talent mobility).
Third, digital integration of supply chains. China did it already. Digitalizing SMEs’ supply portfolios in a standardized way is the gateway to accessing big buyers. Small firms often struggle to navigate complex rules of origin, certification requirements and customs procedures. A unified North American digital trade platform, including single-window customs systems and shared supplier databases, could lower entry barriers and connect SMEs directly to regional manufacturing networks.
Fourth is access to capital investment. Development banks — national and regional — should increase capital risk investments to facilitate their access to SMEs and enhance their growth capacity. Without this, none of it will work.
Fifth is trusted-trader interoperability. Programs such as the U.S. CTPAT and Mexico’s OEA initiative already allow certified companies to move goods across borders with fewer inspections. Making these programs fully interoperable for SMEs would reduce border friction and allow smaller firms to participate more easily in cross-border supply chains.
Sixth, secure logistics corridors. Increased security in Mexico is essential for SMEs’ participation in regional supply chains. While big companies have equally big budgets to mitigate security risks, SMEs don’t have that margin. Security instability is an SME’s death penalty. (I will also dive deeper into these two topics when I write about the border).
We could increase the percentage of rules of origin for USMCA tariff-free access to North America. Nonetheless, if we don’t enhance the avenues for SME creation, empowerment and capacity building, we’ll undoubtedly be shooting ourselves in the foot (again?).
This isn’t zero-sum. When Mexican manufacturers grow, they buy U.S. machinery. When U.S. agricultural exports rise, Mexican logistics and processors expand too. China didn’t dominate because of a few giants; it built a dense web of suppliers, parks, and clusters.
I have no doubt that strengthening the millions of SMEs across the U.S. and Mexico will prove to be the most decisive step in turning integration into lasting prosperity.
Pedro Casas Alatriste is the Executive Vice President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (AmCham). Previously, he has been the Director of Research and Public Policy at the US-Mexico Foundation in Washington, D.C. and the Coordinator of International Affairs at the Business Coordinating Council (CCE). He has also served as a consultant to the Inter-American Development Bank.
