In the early 1990s, the effects of overfishing caused the residents of Cabo Pulmo, a small fishing village in the municipality of Los Cabos, to take an unprecedented step: they asked the government for help. In 1995, they received it, and Cabo Palmo became a marine Protected Natural Area (ANP), and fishing within the borders of its 7,111 hectares was prohibited.  What happened next is one of modern history’s most remarkable conservation stories. In a single decade, Cabo Pulmo’s depleted fish diversity and lack of large predators were restored. Beyond restored. Between 1999 and 2009, marin ..read more

For the fourth time this year, the project to build a long-awaited Mexico City-Toluca commuter train has been halted by a mishap. Toluca is a city in México state. Another crane failure on the Mexico City-Toluca commuter rail project occurred in January in the same Mexico City borough of Álvaro Obregón, causing part of a concrete arch to fall, damaging two vehicles. There were no injuries. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro) La Jornada newspaper reported that a 200-meter long, 800-ton crane collapsed Wednesday morning in the Mexico City borough of Álvaro Obregón. The crane was placing a bridge segment o ..read more

Amidst a presidential election campaign in which public security is a major issue, a survey has found that well over half of Mexican urban dwellers consider the city in which they live unsafe. According to the results of the latest National Survey of Urban Public Security, the percentage of Mexicans with security concerns about their city increased to 61% in the first quarter of 2024 from a 10-year low of 59.1% in the final quarter of last year. Conducted by the national statistics agency INEGI in the first half of March, the ENSU found that 66.5% of women and 54.5% of men consider their city ..read more

In collaboration with several Mexican government agencies, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will begin its annual survey of vaquita porpoises in the Gulf of California in early May, it was announced this week. The independent survey will examine the critically endangered mammals and how they are getting along in their only habitat — a small region of Mexican waters in the upper Gulf. The expedition will take place May 5–26, conducted by more than a dozen expert observers. Vaquita porpoise numbers increased slightly in 2023, for the first time since 2021. (Dolphin Discovery) Since 2015, Se ..read more

Mexico’s current administration, now in its final stretch, will leave behind a legacy of a highly controversial and ideological energy policy that in practice halted the progress of the ambitious 2013 energy reform. As Mexico gears up for its largest-ever elections, Claudia Sheinbaum (Morena), the candidate currently leading the polls, has declared her intention to continue the main policies of Andrés Manuel López Obrador. This includes a vision of Mexican energy policy that considers the current government was stymied in achieving its energy sovereignty objectives due to an “inherited” legal ..read more

The Mexican Navy (SEMAR) has issued a Level 2 sargassum alert for Caribbean coastal areas for the first time this year. Sargassum — a type of floating brown algae that provides food, protection and habitat for many marine species — can adversely impact coastal ecosystems, tourism and public health when it’s carried by wind and currents near shorelines, a phenomenon known as an inundation event. Although Quintana Roo’s beaches have been relatively unaffected by the stinky seaweed this year, signs of it returning were evident already by late March, when this photo was taken in Playa del Carmen ..read more

Pressure from United States authorities has led the Mexican government to refuse to offer incentives to Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers planning to invest in Mexico, according to Mexican officials who spoke with Reuters. Three officials said to be “familiar with the matter” told Reuters that the government is not offering Chinese EV makers incentives such as low-cost public land or tax cuts. The sources said that the move was the result of pressure from the United States government, in particular the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The United States government is de ..read more

Almost six months after Hurricane Otis, the recovery in Acapulco is still far from complete. The Category 5 storm — the strongest ever to hit Mexico’s Pacific coast — devastated the resort city on Oct. 25 and claimed at least 50 lives. Hurricane Otis was the strongest to ever hit Mexico’s Pacific coast, devastating the city and killing at least 50 people. (Cuartoscuro) Major events have since returned to Acapulco: a professional tennis tournament in late February and March; Latin America’s largest tourism fair last week; Mexico’s annual Banking Convention this week; and regular sol y playa (su ..read more

A delicious dish featuring the little known huauzontle inspired me to delve deeper into this intriguing quelite, and led to a greater appreciation for the timeless wisdom of Mexican cuisine. Huauzontle, a highly nutritious pigweed native to Mexico, has been treasured since ancient times. While sharing similarities with amaranth and quinoa, huauzontle is consumed as a green and has an herbal, slightly bitter taste. Huauzontle can be considered a superfood due to its rich nutritional profile, providing essential nutrients such as protein, fiber, calcium, iron, phosphorus and many vitamins, inclu ..read more

Riding the coattails of a decades-long mezcal and tequila boom, an array of new and newly popular Mexican spirits are exciting aficionados and compensating for years of hard work on the part of promoters and producers. Both ancestral concoctions like pox or sotol as well as distillation experiments in gin and whiskey are suddenly front and center in bars across Mexico as well as north of the border. You can’t be faulted if you haven’t heard of some of these, but you will be left behind if you don’t get into the mix. So here are a few Mexican spirits you should know and some places to try them ..read more