Top stories on Mexico
The Washington Post broke the week’s first major foreign press story: two of the four victims of a fatal car accident on a remote road in Chihuahua on Sunday were CIA officers. The Americans were traveling in a convoy from the site of a clandestine drug lab — “one of the largest ever located” according to Chihuahua AG César Jáuregui — and were initially reported to be US Embassy personnel, but after the WaPo story was published on Tuesday (credit for the initial scoop goes to independent reporter Luis Chaparro), various other outlets confirmed the CIA connection.
President Sheinbaum has denied that she or her security cabinet had knowledge of the intelligence officers’ presence in Chihuahua, though PAN Governor Maru Campos claimed otherwise, and state officials have insisted that the agents didn’t actively participate in the raid (which would be illegal if the federal government wasn’t informed). A later story in the LA Times (copublished with Puente News Collaborative, a bilingual nonprofit newsroom that covers stories from Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border), further thickened the plot, saying there were four CIA officials present, with two of those dying in the car crash, and revealing that this was at least the third time that CIA agents had “joined authorities” in counternarcotics operations in the border state this year. The LA Times headline called this a “surprising turn” in the cartel war, though given the agency’s history in Mexico — drone surveillance, help tracking down El Mencho — reactions were more indignant and suspicious than surprised.
An interesting development in foreign press coverage of Mexico highlighted by the CIA story is increasing collaborations between resource stretched news organizations like the WP, LA Times, El Pais, even the NY Times and investigative news NGOs funded by the general public, foundations, and rich philanthropists like Puente News, ProPublica, ICIJ that are home to some of the most experienced Mexico-focused foreign journalists (Alfredo Corchado, Steve Fisher, Tim Golden, Isabella Cota, Ginger Thompson, and many others). Read more about Puente News here.
One Mexican ex-security official told the NYT it’s “outdated thinking to claim this [close coordination] violates sovereignty”. Sheinbaum has asked for answers from the US government but instead of waiting for hell to freeze over, has put more focus on where the blame lies domestically. Campos and the state attorney general have been asked to appear before the Senate next week.
Mexico made more global headlines after a 27-year-old man opened fire on tourists at the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacán on Monday, killing one young Canadian woman and injuring 13 others (including two children), before being surrounded by National Guard members and killing himself. Various outlets reported on evidence indicating the killer was inspired by the Columbine school shooting (on the same date in 1999), and on the increased security implemented by the government in response. Sheinbaum, who noted that “we’ve never seen anything like this in Mexico”, has said that x-ray scanners will be installed at major archaeological sites.
USTR Jamieson Greer’s meetings with Sheinbaum and Ebrard were nearly buried in the news pileup at the beginning of the week, but the takeaway is that if the USMCA survives, it will no longer guarantee free trade. Reuters reported that Greer told Mexican business leaders that “tariffs are here to stay” for the automotive and steel industries, and AP followed up with Ebrard saying Mexico “shouldn’t be nostalgic” for the era of tariff-free trade. “What we are looking for is how to reduce them.” Ni modo.
In other economic news, Reuters published an in-depth report on the Maya Train’s “broken pledges” of economic development and Bloomberg reported on new (more favorable) regulation for private electricity generators. In cultural coverage, Oaxacan weaving was a theme, with a profile of a trans weaver from Oaxaca in AP and the debate over threatened marine mollusks used by the Mixtec people to dye textiles in the NYT.
Notable blogs in English on Mexico
This week, CrashOut by Ioan Grillo covered the recent femicide case of 21-year-old Edith Guadalupe Valdés in Mexico City, which “sparks horror, anger and desperation…having the same ingredients as thousands of other femicides that have scarred the country”. The Mexico Political Economist brought historical context to the CIA story, looking at the agency’s Cold War operations in Mexico – including the fact that at least two Mexican presidents were informants – and their echoes today. In Mexico Decoded, Viri Ríos analyzed why the left is declining in Latin America, pegged to last week’s summit of progressive leaders held in Barcelona, highlighting Mexico as “the closest thing available for a left blueprint” in the region. Eduardo García wrote in Materia Gris that the Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold the government’s authority to freeze bank accounts without a court order risks undermining legal certainty. And Miranda Intelligence’s daily Substack over the week covered key Mexico Culture, Fintech, Public Affairs, and Energy developments.
- Crashout – Femicides Still Scar Mexico
- The Mexico Political Economist – Mexico and the CIA: A love story
- Mexico Decoded – The Left Is Losing Latin America. Here’s What Mexico Can Teach It.
- Materia Gris – A Case in Point of Legal Uncertainty
- Miranda Intelligence on Substack
Photo of the Week
Laboratorio clandestino descubierto en una zona montañosa cercana a Guachochi, Chihuahua (México). el 18 de abril de 2026. Fiscalía de Chihuahua vía REUTERS
Foreign press coverage
Cartel war takes surprising turn as CIA involvement in Mexico surfaces
22/04/26, Los Angeles Times, Steve Fisher
Two CIA officials die in Mexico accident after counter-narcotics operation
21/04/26, The Washington Post, Warren P. Strobel and Ellen Nakashima
2 Americans Killed in Mexico Crash Were C.I.A. Members
21/04/26, NYT, Maria Abi-Habib, Dustin Volz, Adam Goldman and Paulina Villegas
Teotihuacán Gunman Carried Notes Related to Past U.S. Mass Shootings
21/04/26, NYT, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and David Shortell
Mexico reopens famed pyramids under heavy police presence after deadly shooting
22/04/26, Reuters, Diego Delgado
Mexico Revises Power Rules, Easing Tensions Ahead of Trade Talks
23/04/26, Bloomberg, Scott Squires
Mexico ‘shouldn’t be nostalgic’ about zero-tariff era, economy minister says
22/04/26, AP, Emily Green and David Lawder
Exclusive: US trade rep tells Mexican companies Trump tariffs here to stay, sources say
21/04/26, Reuters, Emily Green, David Lawder and David Shepardson
Greer Meets Mexico’s Sheinbaum as Teams Prepare for USMCA Review
20/04/26, Bloomberg, Tyler Kendall and Catherine Lucey
US Telecom Aims to Use Fintech to Build Mexican Prepaid Market
20/04/26, Bloomberg, Amy Stillman and Andrea Navarro
Mexico mends ties with Spain in first presidential visit in eight years
18/04/26, Reuters, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Joan Faus
Mexico’s Sheinbaum travels to Barcelona for ‘progressive’ confab, tension-easing talks with Spain
18/04/26, LA Times, Patrick J. McDonnell
In Mexico, flagship Mayan tourist train leaves trail of broken pledges
22/04/26, Reuters, Cassandra Garrison
Mexico masculinity summit plows ahead after public funding backlash
17/04/26, Reuters, Sarah Morland
The Flores twins built a drug empire with El Chapo — then betrayed him
22/04/26, LA Times, Kate Linthicum
Mexico disappearances climb as attacks on rights defenders persist, Amnesty says
21/04/26, Reuters, Lizbeth Diaz
Many migrants from Haiti abandon US dream and now aim to settle in Mexico
21/04/26, AP News, Edgar H. Clement
Once punished for weaving, this Mexican artisan uses her loom for LGBTQ+ resistance
22/04/26, AP, María Teresa Hernández
What’s in a Name? For These Snails, Legal Protection
21/04/26, NYT, Zoë Lezcaze
Metropolitan Opera and MoMA Together Put Kahlo at Center Stage
17/04/26, NYT, Hilarie M. Sheets
Homophobic chant surfaces again in Mexico stadiums as issue looms for World Cup
21/04/26, AP News, Carlos Rodriguez
Mexico’s Marcel Ruiz is ready to risk it all on the World Cup, ACL injury be damned
22/04/26, NYT, Felipe Cardenas
Download PDF: