By THÉRÈSE MARGOLIS Based on the Guacamaya Leaks — a collection of over 4 million confidential Mexican government documents that were released in early October by a group of national hackers exposing how the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has been monitoring journalists using Israeli Pegasus spyware and how the military under his regime sold arms to
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By MARK LORENZANA Acts of extortion, robbery, abuse of authority and even links to organized crime have allegedly been identified within the ranks of the Mexican National Guard (GN). According to a report from the Internal Affairs Unit (UAI) of the GN, which was obtained by Mexican daily newspaper Reforma, from the beginning of 2019 until April 2022, 8,656 anonymous
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By MARK LORENZANA In the last two years, 3,622 workers from the health sector of Mexico’s federal government have died of the covid-19 virus. Among these health workers were doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and administrative staff. A report by Mexican daily newspaper El Universal on Monday, Oct. 3, revealed that from March 12, 2020, to March 12, 2022, 2,746 doctors employed by three government agencies
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By MARK LORENZANA When Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) met U.S. President Joe Biden at the Oval Office of the White House on July 12 of this year, AMLO made sure to remind his U.S. counterpart that gas prices in Mexico were lower than in the United States. López Obrador even said that he had “allowed Americans to
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XINHUA At least 18 people were killed Saturday, Sept. 10, when a tanker truck carrying fuel collided with a bus, catching fire on a highway in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, the state’s Attorney General’s Office reported. The bus belonged to the Castanuelas Tours Company and was traveling from the municipality of Huejutla when the accident occurred on Kilometer 67
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By MARK LORENZANA Northern Mexican states recently experienced a reprieve brought about by August rainfall that exceeded the country’s historical average and alleviated — at least temporarily — the drought that has plagued, in particular, the northeastern part of Mexico. According to the Mexico Drought Monitor, in the second half of August of this year, above-average rains were observed in
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By KELIN DILLON According to the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography’s (Inegi) annual National Survey on the Dynamics of Relationships in Households 2021 (Endireh), more than 70.1 percent of Mexico’s 50 million-plus women over the age of 15 have experienced at least one violent situation throughout the past 12 months, statistics reflective of Mexico’s enduring femicide crisis. The
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PULSE NEWS MEXICO The U.S. State Department issued a travel advisory on Wednesday, Aug. 17, warning Americans not to visit six Mexican states — Zacatecas, Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas, due to recent violent events in the country. The Level 3 advisory, which recommends reconsidering any travel plans to the regions, the second-highest warning the State Department makes, also
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OPINION By MARK LORENZANA Veteran Mexican-American journalist Jorge Ramos, in an article for the now-defunct U.S. political and opinion website Splinter, wrote about the curious Mexican political custom of “el dedazo,” which, when translated roughly, means “to point a finger.” “As a young man, I was obsessed with the political phenomenon of ‘el dedazo’ in Mexico. It didn’t make sense
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By MARK LORENZANA A shootout on Saturday, July 23, in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, has left at least three people injured, according to local reports. Surveillance cameras at a hotel captured the moment of the shooting, which caused tourists traversing Fifth Avenue — a popular street in Playa del Carmen filled with souvenir shops, restaurants
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