MI’s Mexico Foreign Press Chatter – Oct. 17, 2025

octubre 17, 2025
8:05 am

Two major long reads stood out this week. The NYT reported on the tension stemming from the prospect of Trump’s strikes against Venezuelan drug boats extending to Mexican territory. President Sheinbaum has repeatedly vowed that “under no circumstances” would she allow such an intervention, easing cartel worries who claim, “it will never happen”, but Trump’s volatility remains a threat. The FT, in turn, presented perhaps the most thorough review of Sheinbaum’s first year in power. With quotes from observers across the political spectrum, the president comes across as a balancing populist loyal to López Obrador yet pragmatic and data-driven. She has averted recession and kept Trump’s tariffs at bay, but a judicial reform that concentrates power, continued U.S. pressure, and corruption scandals will soon test the limits of that balancing act.

Headlines concentrated on the devastating floods and landslides across central Mexico. Over 20 inches of torrential rain hit Veracruz, Hidalgo, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro and Puebla, leaving at least 64 dead and 65 missing, per the NYT and Reuters. In Poza Rica, Veracruz, the AP captured scenes of devastation: soldiers knee-deep in mud and a lingering “stench of decay”. Sheinbaum’s visit to the region was met with angry crowds demanding swifter action, renewing questions over Mexico’s heavy reliance on the military for climate-related disasters, per the NYT. In other grim developments, Reuters confirmed that 60 bodies found in Hermosillo, Sonora, earlier this year were part of a “score settling” between criminal organizations. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported the approval of a reform to the rights protection law, designed to streamline judicial processes, but criticized for weakening judicial independence by critics.

Bilateral tensions also gathered their usual share of headlines, with Reuters revealing that 50 Mexican politicians had their visas revoked as part of Trump’s crackdown on cartel-linked officials. Meanwhile, AP spotlighted two stories underscoring the human toll of the U.S. migration crackdown: a longtime farmworker with 16 years in the U.S. who voluntarily returned to Mexico after ICE detention, and the deportation of a Marine’s father. Then, screwworm fears continued for yet another week, as the Texas agricultural commissioner lobbied for synthetic “Swormlure” fly traps to be used in Nuevo Leon to stop the outbreak, which the USDA dismissed.

On the business front, the big story of the week was Plata’s new US$250 mn funding round, which took its valuation to a whopping US$3.1 bn, according to Bloomberg. Less cheerfully, Delta and Aeroméxico are fighting the U.S. order to dissolve their partnerships over competition issues in Mexico City, as per Reuters. Reuters also reported that Pemex reached a deal with its powerful union for a 4.5% salary increase. Elsewhere, Banxico’s deputy governor urged prudence in cutting interest rates, according to Reuters, citing stubborn core inflation despite progress toward headline targets.

Shifting gears, the NYT profiled actress Tamara Henaine, a.k.a. Claudita, Sheinbaum’s professional dopplegänger, whose uncanny resemblance has turned her into a viral sensation as her performances blur the line between satire and admiration. The AP highlighted the government’s effort to vindicate La Malinche through new cultural programs and academic studies, reframing her legacy from traitor to survivor and symbol of Indigenous women in Mexico’s complex conquest narrative. Another NYT feature followed Francisco and Laura Bautista, Zapotec artisans from Oaxaca who rebuilt their lives in Oregon, merging tradition and innovation to bring their ancestral weaving into the contemporary art world.

Notable podcasts and blogs in English on Mexico

On this week’s MexMoves podcast, Damian and Eduardo interview Pedro Latapi, CEO of HR Ratings, on the firm’s growth in Mexico and now the U.S. and its rating outlook for both markets. Also, Bernardo Cordero, founder of Mexico Tech Week, joins to discuss Mexico’s startup and tech ecosystem. Lastly, they discuss Mercado Libre’s opposition to the government’s planned withholding taxes on third-party sellers; Orbia’s rally on divestiture speculation; Plata’s new round taking its valuation to $3.1 billion; and AFORES’ growing influence across Mexico’s capital markets.

On the Mexico Political Economist podcast this week, hosts Tavo and Alex explore Mexico’s structural corruption. They investigate its political-historical origins and how it persisted into political parties, low-level bureaucrats and the judicial system to become “the biggest problem in Mexico today”. The Americas Quarterly deep dove into Sheinbaum’s 1^styear with special guest Brenda Estefan, discussing how she has balanced three key relationships: AMLO, Trump, and the Mexican public.

Mexico-related Substacks this week focused on diverse topics. Moments in Mexico evaluated the current state of the bilateral water agreement between the U.S and Mexico, as new challenges threaten an 80-year-old treaty. The Mexican Political Economist scrutinised the claim that security statistics have improved under Sheinbaum’s presidency, analysing the discrepancies between murder and disappearance numbers. And in Mexico Decoded, as often, Viri Ríos jumps on some data (indigenous and rural men having more sex than urban men) that ‘’underline’’ her firmly-held thesis about capitalism’s many sins — this time linking it to the rise of “incel” groups and sexless men in Mexico, after a tragic school shooting earlier this fall. (Though she skips over the fact that the numbers also inconveniently suggest that the supposedly more capitalist men of northern Mexico are having more sex than those in the center and south.)

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