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The men, who identified themselves as local residents, said they felt “powerless” because the government hasn’t done enough to provide security. They asked her to take action as president so their township, Motozintla, along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala, doesn’t become a “disaster” like other communities in the region.
During her campaign swing through Chiapas, Sheinbaum was escorted by the army and national guard.
The border area of Chiapas has been plagued by violence as the rival Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels battle for territory. Thousands of people have been displaced as the cartels work to control migrant, drug and weapons smuggling routes and forcibly recruit locals.
Later Sunday, Sheinbaum confirmed the incident had occurred but downplayed it and said she didn’t believe the men were part of an organized crime group. She described the encounter as “very strange” because she said a media outlet critical of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador‘s administration first published it. Sheinbaum has maintained a comfortable lead in the presidential race, according to polls.
A federal lawmaker from López Obrador’s party who was traveling with Sheinbaum had earlier described the encounter on the social platform X. Federal deputy Carmen Patricia Armendáriz wrote that they had been stopped by masked men from one of the cartels battling for the area’s control, but she later deleted it.
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How Chinese firms are using Mexico as a backdoor to the US
They’re destined for large retailers in the US, like Costco and Walmart. But the company is from China, its Mexican manufacturing plant built with Chinese capital.
The triangular relationship between the US, China and Mexico is behind the buzzword in Mexican business: nearshoring.
Man Wah is one of scores of Chinese companies to relocate to industrial parks in northern Mexico in recent years, to bring production closer to the US market. As well as saving on shipping, their final product is considered completely Mexican – meaning Chinese firms can avoid the US tariffs and sanctions imposed on Chinese goods amid the continuing trade war between the two countries.
“We hope to triple or even quadruple production here,” he says in perfect Spanish. “The intention here in Mexico is to bring production up to the level of our operation in Vietnam.”
General manager Yu Ken Wei plans to at least triple production in Mexico
The firm only arrived in the city of Monterrey in 2022, but already employs 450 people in Mexico. Yu Ken Wei says they hope to grow to more than 1,200 employees, operating several new lines at the plant in the coming years.
“People here in Mexico are very hardworking and fast learners,” says Mr Yu. “We’ve got good operators, and their productivity is high. So, on the labour side, I think Mexico is strategically very good too.”
Certainly, nearshoring is considered to be providing an important shot in the arm to the Mexican economy – by June of last year, Mexico’s total exports had risen 5.8% from a year earlier to $52.9bn (£42.4bn).
The trend is showing few signs of slowing down. In just two months of this year, there were announcements of capital investment in Mexico of almost half of the annual total back in 2020.
The Man Wah sofa factory is located inside Hofusan, a Chinese-Mexican industrial park. Demand for its plots is sky high: every available space has been sold.
In fact, the Industrial Parks Association of Mexico say every site due to be built in the country by 2027 has already been bought up. Little wonder many Mexican economists say China’s interest in the country is no passing fad.
“The structural reasons that are bringing capital to Mexico are here to stay,” says Juan Carlos Baker Pineda, Mexico’s former vice-minister for external trade. “I have no indication that the trade war between China and the US is going to diminish any time soon.”
Mr Baker Pineda was part of Mexico’s negotiating team for the new North American free trade agreement, USMCA.
“While the Chinese origin of the capital coming into Mexico may be uncomfortable for the policies of some countries,” he says, “according to international trade legislation, those products are, to all intents and purposes, Mexican”.
That has given Mexico an obvious strategic foothold between the two superpowers: Mexico recently replaced China as the US’s main trading partner, a significant and symbolic change.
Bosses at Man Wah praise the skills of the Mexican workers
Mexico’s increased trade with the US has also come about in part through a second key aspect of nearshoring in the country: US firms setting up Mexican facilities too, sometimes after relocating production from factories in Asia.
Perhaps the standout announcement came from Elon Musk last year, when he unveiled plans for a new Tesla Gigafactory outside Monterrey. However, the electric car company is yet to break ground on the $10bn plant.
And, while Tesla is apparently still committed to the project, it has slowed its plans amid concerns over the global economy, and recent job cuts at the carmaker.
But regarding Chinese investment, some urge caution over Mexico being drawn into the wider geopolitical struggle between the US and China.
“The old rich guy in town, the US, is having problems with the new rich guy in town, China,” says Enrique Dussel of the Centre for China-Mexico Studies at the National Autonomous University in Mexico. “And Mexico – under previous administrations, and in this one – doesn’t have a strategy vis-à-vis this new triangular relationship.”
With elections looming on both sides of the US-Mexico border, there may be new political considerations ahead. But whether it’s Donald Trump or Joe Biden in the White House over the next four years, few expect any improvement in US-China relations.
Mr Dussel thinks nearshoring is better defined by what he calls “security-shoring”, saying Washington has placed national security concerns above all other factors in its relationship with China. Mexico, he argues, must be wary of being caught in the middle.
Amid this tension, Mr Dussel says: “Mexico is putting up a big sign to China saying: ‘Welcome to Mexico!’. You don’t need a PhD to know that this isn’t going to end well for bilateral relations between the US and Mexico in the medium term,” he adds.
Chinese firms are racing to buy up new-build factory space in Mexico
Others are more optimistic. “In my mind, the question is not if this trend will continue, but rather how much of this trend can we take advantage of,” says former Mexican trade official, Juan Carlos Baker Pineda.
“I’m sure people are having these same discussions in Colombia, in Vietnam, in Costa Rica. So, we need to make sure in Mexico that those conditions that are aligned by themselves go hand-in-hand with corporate and government decisions to sustain that trend in the long term.”
Back in Monterrey, the talented Mexican seamstresses at Man Wah Furniture put the finishing touches to another sofa before it’s shipped north.
When an American family buys it at a Walmart store near them, they may have little idea of the complex geopolitics underpinning its production.
But whether nearshoring is a clever back door to the US, or part of a costly war between superpowers, it’s currently Mexico’s key advantage in these hostile times of global trade
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Mexico is ‘champion’ of fentanyl production, says country’s head detective
Lopez Obrador hotly denies that any fentanyl is produced in Mexico, saying Mexican cartels only press it into pills or add finishing touches.
But Felipe de Jesus Gallo, the head of Mexico’s Criminal Investigation Agency, said that since the 1990s “Mexico has been the champion of methamphetamine production, and now fentanyl.” He spoke at a U.S.-Mexico conference on synthetic drugs in Mexico City.
While fentanyl is not widely abused in Mexico, methamphetamine addiction is commonplace.
Gallo said that Mexican cartels have launched industrial-scale production of meth in many states throughout the country and now export the drug around the world.
“Believe me, methamphetamine production has become industrialized, it’s not just in the mountains anymore,” Gallo said. “We now expect to see (drug) laboratories not just in the mountains of Sinaloa and Sonora, but in Hidalgo as well, Puebla, and also in Jalisco.”
He was apparently referring to thousands of drug labs detected in previous years in the hills and scrublands around Culiacan, the capital of the northern state of Sinaloa. Those clandestine, rural production sites were often bare-bones, improvised labs covered with tree branches and tarpaulins.
Police and military patrol Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico, Jan. 6, 2023, the day after the government detained Ovidio Guzman, the son of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman (Martin Urista /AP Photo / File)
Now, the meth trade has become so lucrative and so sophisticated that Mexican meth is exported as far away as Hong Kong or Australia, and the cartels have found ways to avoid detection of their drug money.
“The business models have become very innovative, or as old and antiquated as barter; `I’ll trade you precursor chemicals for meth,’ to avoid leaving a money trail,” Gallo said.
There is little question that drug production goes on at a huge scale in Mexico.
In February, Mexico’s Navy seized over 45 tons of methamphetamine at the biggest drug lab found during the current administration. The lab was in Quiriego, a township in a remote part of the northern border state of Sonora.
The 91,000 pounds (41,310 kilograms) of meth found there was more than half of the 162,000 pounds of the drug Mexico has seized so far this year.
Fentanyl production is also huge, though because it is a more potent drug, the volume is smaller.
A year ago, soldiers seized more than a half-million fentanyl pills in Culiacan in what the army at the time described as the largest synthetic drug lab found to date.
Soldiers found almost 630,000 pills that appeared to contain fentanyl, the army said. They also reported seizing 282 pounds (128 kilograms) of powdered fentanyl and about 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of suspected methamphetamine.
Lopez Obrador, who took office on Dec. 1 2018, also claims that Mexicans are culturally immune to drug addiction.
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GoFundMe expands into Mexico as part of for-profit crowdfunding platform’s international growth
GoFundMe Chief Executive Officer Tim Cadogan poses for a photo in Altadena, Calif. on Friday, April 19, 2024. Mexican fundraisers can now solicit donations on GoFundMe, the company announced Tuesday, under an expansion that the crowdfunding giant hopes is the first of additional entrances into untapped Latin American markets. Mexico marks the 20th country serviced by GoFundMe.
NEW YORK (AP) — Mexican fundraisers can now solicit donations on GoFundMe, the company announced Tuesday, as the crowdfunding giant expands into what it hopes is the first of more untapped Latin American markets to follow.
Mexico marks the 20th country serviced by GoFundMe. The for-profit platform is eyeing new international targets now that the unprecedented strain of crowdfunding campaign levels spawned by COVID-19 has eased to pre-pandemic figures, CEO Tim Cadogan told The Associated Press.
The company finds that its generally popular appeals for help with medical expenses and emergency aid are also common in Mexico — a country with relatively high out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures and a history of severe natural disasters.
Cadogan pointed to Category 5 Hurricane Otis’ deadly touchdown last fall on the southern Pacific coast and the resort city of Acapulco. The GoFundMe community raised about $1.5 million to help recovery and rebuilding efforts, Cadogan said. But Mexicans themselves could not launch campaigns.
“If we had been available then, I think more people would have been able to avail themselves of the service,” Cadogan said.
Mexico remains a country where about half the population lives in poverty, and where any unexpected expense — most often medical, but also related to events as terrifying as kidnapping or extortion — can prompt appeals for funds.
United States users had previously circumvented the geographic restrictions by opening GoFundMe campaigns on behalf of relatives in Mexico or other Latin American countries, according to Jeremy Snyder, a bioethicist who researches medical crowdfunding. Snyder expects that the expansion will ease the flow of money between users from the two countries, where many families have ties to both sides of the border.
“It’s just more evidence of the spread and normalization of crowdfunding,” Snyder said of Tuesday’s announcement.
Likeminded networks already exist in Mexico. Founded in 2016, Donadora first supported creative industries before refocusing on personal causes. Some 527,000 donors have given about $14 million, or 239 million Mexican pesos, to more than 6,800 campaigns, according to the company website. Donadora keeps 6.5% of donations before releasing the funds.
But none have the reach of GoFundMe. Cadogan said GoFundMe is well positioned because of its strong brand awareness, advantageous pricing structure and security protections. GoFundMe takes 2.9% of every transaction plus another five Mexican pesos. The company also guarantees full refunds of any donation amount for users who successfully file claims within one year of making a payment.
Junueth Mejia Martell, Hispanics in Philanthropy’s deputy director of digital philanthropy and innovation, welcomed the move. She said the nonprofit, which seeks to bridge gaps in philanthropic funding for Latino causes, has been building a culture of collective giving alongside other platforms. GoFundMe’s expansion provides yet another avenue for crowdfunding.
“This strengthens the muscle of generosity, of philanthropy, in Mexico,” she said.
Financial technology startup Stripe will serve as the online payment provider. Fundraisers must be at least 18 years old, share a Mexican postal address, have a Mexican bank account and submit their federal taxpayer registry number.
The rollout will inform the company’s consideration of other Latin American countries where GoFundMe currently does not have a presence, Cadogan said.
“We would love to serve more markets,” Cadogan told AP. “But we want to understand them carefully and really see how, in this case, our first Latin American market plays out.”
Mexico swelters under season’s first heatwave
Anticyclonic conditions have allowed temperatures to reach 35-45C across much of the country
Mexico has been undergoing its first heatwave of the season. The heatwave started on Sunday 14 April, when Mexico City recorded a new date record with a high of 32.9C, surpassing the previous record of 32C from 1998.
However, on Sunday night and into Monday, a cold front moved southwardsallowing temperatures to fall considerably below average at the start of this week and bringing wet and windy weather to the country.
The prefrontal trough that is expected to develop ahead of this cold front will lead to heavy rain and thunderstorms across the south-eastern parts of the country on Monday. These will include lightning, hailstorms, and possibly allow some tornadoes and whirlwinds to develop too.
Additionally, across north-eastern parts of the country, this frontal boundary will introduce some strong winds and high wave heights. As a consequence, there is a risk of seeing some localised flooding in places, as well as an increased risk of landslides.
Meanwhile, parts of southern China have been experiencing torrential rain. Convective activity over the past few days has led to a significant flooding risk across Guangdong province in southern China, with fears of seeing a one-in-50-year flood there.
Saturday had the heaviest downpours, with 12 consecutive hours of rainfall, prompting the Chinese government to issue flood warnings across the Beijiang basin. By Sunday morning, aerial footage showed many low-lying towns and buildings were already underwater, and telecommunication channels and power supplies have been damaged across the province. The fear of flooding continues this week as further heavy rain is forecast.
In Europe, temperatures are set to fall considerably below the seasonal norm this week. Parts of Germany, Italy, France as well as the Baltic states will have temperatures about 7-10C below average. However, by the end of the week and into the weekend, temperatures are expected to return to around or just above average across Europe.
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What you need to know about Mexico car insurance because it’s required and US /Canadian insurance coverage stops at the Mexican border. Every year Mexico implements stricter laws for uninsured motorists, meaning not having it can cost you money due to damage/loss to your vehicle, fines and more
When you drive your car to Mexico, travel with complete peace of mind, by being properly insured. Your U.S. or Canadian insurance policy, however comprehensive, won’t cover you in Mexico, but affordable insurance is available…
Mexican Auto insurance You Can Trust if you ever get into an accident in Mexico Click here for some quotes!
Insuring Your Car in Mexico
Although your U.S./Canadian car insurance policy may be comprehensive, and might also extend some limited damage coverage in Mexico, you will still need to purchase policy that is legally valid in Mexico.
U.S. and Canadian auto insurance policies, however comprehensive, hold no legal jurisdiction in Mexico. This means that you must buy separate insurance cover for your car while you’re driving in Mexico if you want to travel with complete peace of mind.
If you are driving your car improperly insured in Mexico and you become involved in an accident it will, at best, cost you a lot of money and, at worst, leave you imprisoned in a Mexican jail house. Presenting a U.S. or Canadian auto insurance policy will be of no use because these documents have no legal or actual force in Mexico, and the companies backing them will not settle any claim arising when you or your car are situated south of the border.
Drivers who are involved in serious accidents in Mexico are usually arrested pending investigation. If you are not properly insured in Mexico and become involved in a serious accident—even if it’s not your fault—these procedures will likely place a great deal of stress and financial burden upon you.
This guide explains how insurance works in Mexico and how to go about buying the additional insurance protection you need to ensure that you, your passengers, and your vehicle are properly insured when driving on Mexican soil and that, in the event of a serious accident, you are properly covered by a legally-valid and adequate insurance policy.
Mexican Auto Insurance
Mexican Law stipulates that only insurance companies which are licensed in Mexico can provide the type of auto insurance coverage that is recognized and accepted by Mexico’s legal system.
A few U.S.-based insurance companies will extend physical damage coverage on cars and RVs while they are situated in Mexico, but they cannot and do not provide Mexican liability insurance. So, although these policies may cover your damage, they will not cover your liability to others in Mexico. This is why a special insurance policy is absolutely necessary to be properly insured in Mexico.
Mexican Insurance Companies
Mexican Law also stipulates that liability insurance must be purchased from a licensed Mexican company, so your auto insurance policy necessarily needs to be issued by one of Mexico’s insurance companies, or through a broker in the U.S./Canada working in conjunction with a Mexican insurance company.
Who’s Insuring You?
Buyers purchasing insurance for their car in Mexico are often times misled by believing that they can rely on the broker, rather than the Mexican Insurance Company, to properly handle any claim that may arise during their stay in Mexico.
The insurance company underwriting your policy is much more important than the Broker that sells you the policy.
As all insurance policies are sold through brokers, it’s important to know which insurance company (or companies) are underwriting the policies being sold to you by the broker. Click here to read more Click here to get your free quotes