This is NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 30th. It’s a nighttime photo of the Cerro de la Bufa, a distinctive rock formation standing above the city of Zacatecas. (Click here for a daytime photo).
Look at the nighttime sky above the Bufa, and notice that the crescent moon and the planets of Venus and Saturn form a somewhat-sideways smiley face. It’s impressive!
For a previous Astronomy Picture of the Day, also taken at night in Zacatecas, and also from Daniel Korona, click here.
The ongoing war between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel, being fought in Mexico’s Sinaloa state, broke out last September 9th and continues.
As of May 5th, according to AFP, the death toll in the conflict had passed 1,2000 dead, with 1,400 missing.
Of that total, nearly 39 minors had been killed and 100 minors had disappeared.
On May 5th, there was a shooting in Badiraguato municipality in which a 7-year old girl and a 12-year old girl were killed. According to AFP, the two were ” caught in the crossfire between gunmen and security forces.”
For previous reports on this situation, see here, here, here , here , here , here , here and here.
Here is a map of Mexico, with Sinaloa state in red:
The tragic story of recently-murdered Ivan Morales Corrales displays the power and ruthlessness of a Mexican drug cartel.
Ivan Morales Corrales was a Mexican federal agent.
On May 1st, 2015, Morales was part of a secret mission in Jalisco state to capture Nemesio Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG).
There were five helicopters on the mission. The one Morales Corrales was in was hit by RPGs and crashed and burned. Of the 18 persons on board the aircraft 9 survived.
Morales survived but was horribly burned, with second and third degree burns over 70% of his body, after which he underwent 15 reconstructive surgeries.
In December of 2015, Morelos received the Police Medal of Merit from then-President Enrique Pena Nieto.
In September of 2024, Morelos was in the U.S. where he testified in the trial of
Ruben Oseguera González “El Menchito”, the son of “El Mencho”.
El Menchito had actually given the order to attack the helicopter and was later arrested in Mexico and extradited to the United States.
On March 7th, 2025, El Menchito was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for international drug trafficking.
On April 30th, 2025, nearly 10 years after the attack on the helicopter, Morales and his wife were ambushed and shot to death in Temixco, state of Morelos.
So the CJNG got its revenge on a brave Mexican who had already suffered greatly in the Cartel War.
The discovery of an altar at the Maya site of Tikal in Guatemala may shed more light on the relationship between Tikal and Teotihuacan. Or does it pose more questions than it answers?
Tikal was part of the Maya culture area, in what is now eastern Mexico and northern Central America.
Eight hundred miles to the west of Tikal was the non-Maya city of Teotihuacan, north of present-day Mexico City.
Archaeologists have found evidence in Tikal of Teotihuacan influence. But what sort of relationship was it?
Was it just Teotihuacan influence? Was Tikal actually conquered by Teotihuacan? Did it have a Teotihuacan ruling class?
The April 8th issue of Antiquity magazine (published by Cambridge University Press) has an article about the altar and the general topic.
From the Antiquity article: “The nature and extent of interactions between the distant regions and cultures of Mesoamerica remain open to much debate. Close economic and political ties developed between Teotihuacan and the lowland Maya during the Early Classic period (AD 250–550), yet the relationship between these cultures continues to perplex scholars. This article presents an elaborately painted altar from an elite residential group at the lowland Maya centre of Tikal, Guatemala. Dating to the fifth century AD, the altar is unique in its display of Teotihuacan architectural and artistic forms, adding to evidence not only for cultural influence during this period, but also for an active Teotihuacan presence at Tikal.”
Here below is a photo of the altar now (from the southwest) and below that an artist’s rendering of how it looked before (from the northwest) :
The artwork on the altar is in Teotihuacan, not Maya, style. The Antiquity article says that “The form and painted decoration of the … altar point strongly to the presence of artists trained at Teotihuacan.”
The article’s conclusion states that “The…compound and its altar add to the growing evidence of Teotihuacan influence in Maya material culture and imagery, suggesting not just local adoption of artistic styles but potentially the presence of Teotihuacan-trained painters practising their skills at Tikal in the fifth century AD… Far from loose Maya imitations, the altar murals are expert examples of a complex, non-local style and likely evidence of the direct presence of Teotihuacan at Tikal as part of a foreign enclave…”
The effect of Trump’s tariffs on Mexican-made automobiles is soon to take effect on American consumers. .
Ford Motor Company is raising prices for three Ford vehicles manufactured in Mexico.
From Car and Driver: “Ford will raise prices on three Mexico-made cars as a result of the Trump administration’s tariff on vehicles built outside the United States, according to a report from Reuters. A spokesperson from Ford confirmed the news to Car and Driver and said that the increases will affect vehicles built after May 2 but won’t go into effect until after July 4. Following the holiday, Ford is planning to sunset its current ‘From America, For America’ employee pricing program, which opens employee pricing to everyone.”
So you still have time to purchase one of these before the prices go up.
Car and Driver: “Prices on the Bronco Sport, Maverick, and Mustang Mach-E, all three of which Ford builds in Mexico, will see increases. The Ford spokesperson said the price hikes are part of the brand’s ‘usual’ mid-year pricing changes,’ combined with some tariffs we are facing. We have not passed on the full cost of tariffs to our customers.’ As the price changes don’t affect vehicles built before May 2, they shouldn’t have an impact on the price of cars already on dealer lots.”
So get down to your dealer if you want one before the price hike!
Car and Driver: “The extent of the price increases isn’t totally clear yet. According to the Reuters report, an internal dealer memo reflects price increases as much as $2000, though the report doesn’t make it clear which model will see that change. The Ford representative who spoke with Car and Driver referenced smaller changes and pointed to a $600 price hike for the Bronco Sport Heritage as well as a $700 price hike for the Maverick XLT AWD.”
Here’s a 2025 Bronco Sport:
Here’s a 2025 Ford Maverick:
Here’s a 2025 Mustang Mach-E:
So get to your local Ford dealer to beat the price hikes !
There’s been a firestorm in the media over a recent CNN interview with a Sinaloa Cartel gangster. See here for example.
I decided to watch the whole CNN video . It lasts ten and a half minutes and stars CNN correspondent Isobel Yeung, who is half-Chinese and half-British and was raised in England.
Isobel Yeung takes the viewer to Mexico’s Sinaloa state where the Sinaloa Cartel’s intra-cartel war is still going on. (See here). The infamous interview with the gangster is only a part of the video.
If you watch the whole video, it’s actually quite informative and does not glorify the drug cartels.
Isobel Yeung accompanies the Mexican National Guard in a helicopter to the mountains of Sinaloa, where she visits a marijuana field, a poppy field and a meth lab.
She witnesses the aftermath of violence in the streets of Culiacan and attends the funeral of a victim of the violence, interviewing the victim’s sister.
As part of the big picture, she interviews a member of the Sinaloa cartel who is involved in the production of fentanyl. It’s not a long interview.
Here is the text of the interview. Yeung spoke in English and the cartel guy responded in Spanish.
Interview:
Yeung: “How safe or dangerous is this area to be in?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “Right now, all areas are dangerous.”
Yeung: “The Mexican military are making a big effort to crack down on the drug production here, how are you responding to that and how does that impact your work?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “They’re doing a good job. There are more of them now, so we have to find a way to keep doing this, to keep working. Of course, on a smaller scale, not the same as before. But it continues.”
Yeung: “I mean, according to the Trump administration, you are a terrorist. I mean, the cartels have been labeled a foreign terrorist organization. What do you make of that?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “Well, the situation is ugly. But we have to eat.”
Yeung: “What’s your message to Donald Trump if he’s watching this?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: ‘My respect. According to him, he’s looking out for his people, but the problem is the consumers are [in the United States]. If there weren’t any consumers, we would stop.”
Yeung: “There is a lot of violence playing out on these streets here at the moment every day, right? I mean, people are dying on a daily basis. Children are afraid to go to school. Do you have any sense of remorse over your role and your involvement in this group?”
Sinaloa Cartel Guy: “Of course. Of course. Things are sad, but — well, things are sad.”
After that the cartel guy ended the interview saying the CNN people needed to leave for their own safety.
Another thing about the video is that Isobel Yeung or someone in her team knows how to properly handle Spanish surnames, which is not true of all journalists!
In conclusion, I think it was a good news report and I salute Isobel Yeung for it.
Don’t take my word for it. Watch the video yourself, by clicking here.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum plans to construct at least 3,000 kilometers of passenger rail lines, in 13 new passenger routes. Click here for my previous article about the Mexico City-Pachuca line.
On April 27, President Sheinbaum kicked off the construction of the Mexico City-Queretaro train line. Queretaro is northwest of Mexico City. Its official name is Santiago de Queretaro and it’s the capital of Queretaro State.
Construction of this line is projected to create 200,000 jobs and the project is supposed to be completed in two and a half years, to be in use in 2027. That’s the plan.
Cinco de Mayo – May the 5th, is the Mexican holiday celebrating the Mexican victory over the French army on May the 5th, 1862, at Puebla, east of Mexico City.
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, as many erroneously think. That’s September 16th (and the night before).
And actually, Cinco de Mayo is not that big a deal in Mexico.
The city of Puebla holds a big annual celebration on the anniversary of the battle. But in most of Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is not an important holiday. It’s mostly a bank holiday and a day off from school.
In the United States Cinco de Mayo has become, in recent years, the major Mexican – American celebration, celebrated by others also. Throughout the Southwest, and in other parts of the U.S., there are various Cinco de Mayo celebrations – parades, mariachi music performances , and exhibitions of Mexican dancing.etc . Cinco de Mayo is also a big beer-drinking day.
The Cinco de Mayo battle was a part of a longer conflict called the French Intervention, which lasted from 1862 to 1867. The French military occupied Mexico and fought the republican government of President Benito Juarez.
French Emperor Napoleon III saw France as the protector of the Latin peoples, and had an ambitious plan to establish Mexico as a bulwark against the United States.
France invaded Mexico during the U.S. Civil War, which rendered the U.S. military unable to intervene. Part of the French emperor’s plan was a linkup with the Confederacy, thus neutralizing U.S. ability to thwart the French strategy .
On May 5th, 1862, north of the city of Puebla, the French Army, under General Charles de Lorencez fought the Mexican army, under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza.
A number of legends have grown up around this famous battle.
A popular view is that the Mexican army was composed of sturdy peasants armed with machetes, who defeated a vastly superior invasion force. Another story says the French were trampled by a cattle stampede.
But even if there were machete-wielding peasants and a cattle stampede, they were not decisive to the battle’s outcome. The truth is, General Zaragoza won the battle using sound military strategy and tactics.
The Mexican Army of 1862 was a fully-equipped 19th-century European-style military. At Puebla, Zaragoza had under his command regular infantry, artillery and cavalry. The Mexican troops were seasoned veterans of the recent War of the Reform (1857-1861).
It’s true that the French Army outnumbered the Mexican Army, but not by much. The French had 6,040 troops, and the Mexican army had 4,500 regular troops, and possibly additional volunteers (maybe those guys with machetes).
The Mexican Army was on the hills, and the French had to fight uphill, never an enviable position to be in. Each army had the same quantity of cannon.
The French Army tried and failed to assault the Mexican positions thrice, and by the third assault their cannon had run out of ammunition. So French troops had to attack without artillery support. After the third failure, they retreated, harassed by Mexican cavalry, and then it started to rain.
So Mexico won the battle , and Zaragoza sent a one-line report to President Juarez: “The national arms have been covered with glory”. The young general died only 4 months later, succumbing in September of 1862 to typhoid fever.
The 1862 Battle of Puebla was not the end of the French Intervention, which continued until 1867. Besides the determined opposition of Benito Juarez’ republican army, the French also faced U.S. pressure (after the Civil War had ended) and the Prussian threat back in Europe.
So Napoleon III called it quits in Mexico and withdrew the French Army.
The 1862 Battle of Puebla had been a great morale booster for Mexico, and is still the most famous battle of the war, by far .
Nowadays, a tourist can visit the site of the 1862 Battle of Puebla, as my wife and I did once. The principal Mexican defensive positions, the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe, are now part of a park in the city of Puebla.
As we walked in what is now a pine-covered park , it was quiet and peaceful, a far cry from the clamor of battle on May the 5th, 1862.
According to President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, in the first 100 days of the U.S. Trump administration, there were nearly 39,000 deported from the U.S. to Mexico. Of that, nearly 33,000 of them were Mexicans.
From Fox News: “Mexico has received nearly 39,000 deportees from the United States in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration, according to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. More than 33,000 of the deported immigrants were Mexican nationals, Sheinbaum said on Tuesday [April 29] during her regular morning press conference.”
More from Fox: ” ‘Since President Trump’s administration began, 38,757 have been deported [from the U.S. to Mexico], of which 33,311 are Mexicans and 5,446 are foreigners,’ Sheinbaum said. ‘The majority of people who are returning to Mexico are Mexicans, because the U.S. government, through the Department of State, has agreements for them to return directly to their countries,’ Sheinbaum continued.”
“For ‘humanitarian reasons,’ Mexico has ‘decided to accept people of other nationalities, particularly those who come from the northern border ‘ by land, the Mexican president said. Fewer deportees of other nationalities were arriving in Mexico because the U.S. government has agreements with ‘practically all of those countries, and so they send the planes directly to the countries where they are citizens,’ Sheinbaum said.”
“The Mexican president said most of the Mexicans were flown from the U.S. and that the majority of the foreigners accepted back into Mexico have since ‘voluntarily’ chosen to return to their home countries.”
“Mexican data shows that Mexico accepted approximately 52,000 deportees from the U.S. in February, March and April of last year, according to Reuters. Mexico, therefore, accepted fewer deportees from the U.S. from the start of Trump’s second term compared to the same time period last year under former President Joe Biden’s administration.”
“U.S.-Mexico border crossings have slowed under the Trump administration, as migrants – deterred by Trump’s promised border crackdown and mass deportation plans – have increasingly abandoned their journeys north through Mexico and returned home, according to Reuters.“
See my previous article here: In Tijuana, Drastic Drop in the Migrant Population.
The Trump administration, which took office January 20th, has drastically reduced the quantity of border crossers from Mexico to the United States.
In March of 2025 the Border Patrol caught 7,181 border crossers and that was a 95% decrease from the 137,473 detained in March of 2024.
As a result, the quantity of migrants in northern Mexico has greatly dropped.
An effective way to gauge this drop in the migrant population is to look at migrant shelters in Mexico.
An article on The World website has reported on the situation in the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California.
From The World: “Just across the border from San Diego, the Mexican city of Tijuana has long been a crossroads for migrants seeking a new life in the United States, with families filling local shelters, parks and hotels while they wait for a chance to cross the border. But in recent months, the migrant population across northern Mexico has drastically declined.“
The article quotes two directors of migrant shelters: “Pat Murphy of La Casa del Migrante and Albert Rivera, who runs another shelter.”
The occupancy rate of La Casa del Migrante went down 70% in just a few months. Murphy said that “[The migrants] stopped coming because they have no hope for asylum right now,”
Albert Rivera’s migrant shelter has the capacity to house 1,300 migrants. The article reports that “Just over a year ago, every corner of the space was packed, [Rivera] said, with tents filling the basketball court. Now, Rivera points to unused bunk beds and an industrial kitchen empty at meal time. Only 31 people are now sheltering there. Rivera said that many migrants who remain in Mexican border cities are among the most vulnerable, especially those targeted by organized crime and who, under normal circumstances, would qualify for asylum.”
Nor are the migrant shelters receiving hordes of deportees from the United States.
From The World: Many shelters in border cities were expecting to receive massive numbers of deportees from the US…The Mexican government, preparing for eventual mass deportations, launched the “Mexico te abraza” (“Mexico Embraces You”) program, and put together massive tents in a dozen cities along its northern border to provide food, shelter, medical services and psychological support to potential deportees. In Tijuana, the government rented the Flamingos Eventos hall with capacity to host 2,500 people. But only about 100 Mexicans are being deported to Tijuana every day, mostly people who just tried crossing the border and who find their way back to their home states. But shelters remain on alert, preparing for any shifts in migration patterns that may arise from evolving policies and global events.
Isn’t this a good thing for the migrant aid organizations? Now they don’t have to take care of so many people. But Rivera and Murphy are complaining.
From The World: “Organizations devoted to helping migrants on both sides of the border are also facing financial hardships. The Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid has further strained resources, leading to the suspension of vital programs. ‘We lost about 40% of our budget thanks to all the cuts that Trump has made,’ Murphy said. ‘And we have just begun to tell people we can no longer afford to pay them.’ He said he hopes to keep the place operational with a skeleton staff because, despite the current lull, concerns loom over potential future surges.”
And, “Albert Rivera, the evangelical pastor, said that his shelter is also at risk of closing and he worries that future migrants or deportees could be left without the resources they need. Rivera, a US citizen, said he wants Trump to know that he voted for him. ‘I was hoping he could crack down on organized crime and human smugglers that control this area,’ he explained. But now, he said, he’s regretting it: ‘I didn’t vote for this.’ “
Murphy and Rivera have less money so support their shelters but at the same time they have fewer migrants to serve.
I guess they need to figure out how much they need each month and alert their donors.
In the big picture, not having hordes of migrants passing through Mexican border cities ought to be good for Mexico.
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