This photograph is NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for August 2nd, 2025. It was photographed on July 29th and 30th at Mexico’s Sierra de Organos National Park (Parque Nacional Sierra de Órganos) in Zacatecas state.
Here is NASA’s explanation: “Taken on July 29 and July 30, a registered and stacked series of exposures creates this dreamlike view of a northern summer night. Multiple firefly flashes streak across the foreground as the luminous Milky Way arcs above the horizon in the Sierra de Órganos national park of central Mexico. The collection of bright streaks aligned across the sky toward the upper left in the timelapse image are Delta Aquariid meteors. Currently active, the annual Delta Aquariid meteor shower shares August nights though, overlapping with the better-known Perseid meteor shower. This year that makes post-midnight, mostly moonless skies in early August very popular with late night skygazers. How can you tell a Delta Aquariid from a Perseid meteor? The streaks of Perseid meteors can be traced back to an apparent radiant in the constellation Perseus. Delta Aquariids appear to emerge from the more southerly constellation Aquarius, beyond the top left of this frame. Of course, the bioluminescent flashes of fireflies are common too on these northern summer nights. But how can you tell a firefly from a meteor? Just try to catch one.”
Here are three daytime photos from the Sierra de Organos National Park:
Here’s how the article begins: “Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum praised the growth of Canadian tourism during a press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday [September 18th], highlighting a trend that has coincided with a decline in international visitors to the United States.”
And, “It is not just Canadian visitors who are flocking to Mexico; the country is reporting record numbers of tourists from all over the world, including the U.S., which in turn is fueling a boom in hotel development. This boom started in 2023, when the country started recovering from the disruptions caused to the sector by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“According to Mexican Secretary of Tourism Josefina Rodríguez Zamora, Mexico welcomed 23.4 million international tourists in the first six months of the year, up 7.3 percent from the same period a year earlier and 6.2 percent above 2019 levels. In the month of June alone, international tourism grew 10 percent year-over-year.”
“In July, according to official data, Mexico reported a 12.3 percent increase in international arrivals from the previous year, led by visitors from the U.S. and Canada, many of whom flocked to its beaches.”
“Of all visitors that went to Mexico between January and June, 5.7 million were cruise passengers—up 9.6 percent from the first six months of 2024—who brought the country $484.2 million in revenues. Overall, revenues from international tourists reached $18.68 billion between January and June, representing a 6.3 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.”
According to the article, there’s a relation between the U.S. decrease and the Mexican increase.
“While several factors contribute to Mexico’s tourism growth, including a surge in investment in the sector, the country appears to have benefited from a decline in visitors to the U.S. since Trump’s return to the White House, particularly among Canadians.”
“The majority [sic] of the 23.4 million international tourists who visited Mexico in the first six months of the year came from the U.S., totaling 7.36 million people. The second-highest share of visitors within the same period, totaling 1.68 million, came from Canada. This number increased by 11.8 percent from the previous year, indicating a significant shift between 2024 and 2025.”
Note that these figures are from the period from January to June of 2025.
“International tourism to the U.S. has declined in recent months, as the country experienced what some have called the ‘Trump Slump.’ “
“Between January and May, international arrivals were down 2.4 percent compared to the same period in 2024, according to data by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA).”
“In July, the latest data from Tourism Economics’ Global Travel Service showed that overseas arrivals to the U.S. dropped 3.1 percent year-over-year, bringing the year-to-date decline to 1.6 percent. In August, the number of overseas visitors to the U.S. reported another year-over-year decline, with 3.5 million arrivals, down 2.9 percent from the same period a year earlier.”
“A majority of this decline can be attributed to a decline in visitors from Western Europe, Asia, and Canada. The number of visitors to the U.S. coming from the Great White North was down 25.2 percent year-to-date as of July, including a 37 percent drop in land arrivals in July alone—a loss that affected states bordering Canada the most.”
“In the first half of the year, the number of Canadians traveling to the U.S. by land was down about 33.1 percent year-over-year, while the number of those traveling by air was down roughly 22.1 percent, according to Canada’s national statistics agency.”
“This slowdown in tourism appears to be a direct response to Trump’s immigration policies, which earlier this year raised concerns among visitors from around the world about being denied entry to the country upon arrival.”
“ ‘Lengthy visa interview wait times, stricter border and immigration policies, potential tariffs, the dollar’s strength, and U.S. travel restrictions for certain countries’ are all factors that a recent report from the Congressional Research Service mentioned as possibly linked to the recent plunge in international tourism.”
Plus, many Canadians are boycotting visiting the U.S. specifically due to Trump’s tariff and 51st-state talk.
“However, while Americans are leading the way in Mexico’s tourism boom, Mexicans seem to be returning the favor, boosting tourism to the U.S. Mexican visitation to the U.S. increased by nearly 14 percent in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2024.”
Now that’s interesting. Despite the general drop in tourism to the U.S., Mexican tourism to the U.S. is up!
“This, however, is not enough to prop up the sector alone. According to estimates by the World Travel & Tourism Council, international visitor spending in the U.S. is expected to fall below $169 billion this year, down from $181 billion last year.”
An article from Mitú reports that “Mexico’s tourism is seeing a surge of international travelers, especially among Americans and Canadians. According to data, July tourism numbers are 12.3 percent higher in 2025 than in July 2024. The new data shows that tourism in Mexico is becoming the moment. Tourists from around the world are visiting the major cities and cultural sites and pumping money into the country’s economy.”
The article reports that “Border tourists spent the least at $121 per person. Tourists who entered by land spent around $359 per person. Meanwhile, travelers who entered Mexico by plane spent on average $1,194 per person.”
Mexico is the world’s sixth most-visited country, and the Mexican government has a plan to get it up to #5 by 2030.
As reported by the New York Times, “The leaders of Canada and Mexico, the United States’ two largest trading partners, met in Mexico City on Thursday [September 18th] without their U.S. counterpart — but the trade chaos brought by President Trump still filled the room.”
“Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada and President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico focused the meeting at the National Palace on trade, security cooperation and investments in areas like mining, agriculture and natural gas.”
“But looming over everything was the desire of the two leaders to preserve their free trade partnership with the United States, which has so far limited the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on their economies. This week, Mexico and the United States opened public consultations on the trade pact, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement, or U.S.M.C.A., the first step in a review of the agreement. Canada is expected to follow shortly.”
On the 19th of September, Prime Minister Carney tweeted this: “Here in Mexico City, President@ClaudiaShein and I met with business leaders from across Canada and Mexico. We’re elevating our partnership and delivering the certainty that businesses need to invest — and building opportunities for workers in both our nations.”
Just how much trade do Canada and Mexico currently have with each other?
As it turns out, not that much, in the big scheme of things. But it’s something.
As the New York Times explains, “Though they are bound together in a trade deal with the United States, the two countries’ own economic and cultural relations have always been distant.”
“Mexico accounted for 1 percent of Canadian exports last year, and Canada represents around 3 percent of Mexico’s export market. Separated by the United States, both countries long prioritized trade with their giant neighbor rather than building ties with each other across, over or around it. Bilateral meetings between them have been rare.”
But hey, Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo is in Canada. Grupo Bimbo is the world’s biggest bakery company, the biggest bakery company in the U.S. and the biggest bakery company in Canada. See my recent article Grupo Bimbo in Canada.
The leader of the CJNG is Nemesio “el Mencho” Oseguera, worth a 15 million dollar bounty from the U.S government. Here is a Wanted Poster for Oseguera when he was still worth 10 million. :
From the article: “From a heavily guarded mountain hideout in the heart of the Sierra Madre, 59-year-old Nemesio “Mencho” Oseguera reigns as the new drug king of Mexico, aided in his ascendance by America’s resurging love of cocaine and the Trump administration’s escalating war on fentanyl.”
So you see, the changing drug demand north of the border is part of the change in the cartel alignment in Mexico.
The CJNG cartel is now #1, having surpassed the internally-warring Sinaloa Cartel.
“Oseguera spent decades building his Jalisco New Generation Cartel into a transnational criminal organization fierce enough to forge a new underworld order in Mexico, displacing the Sinaloa cartel, torn by warring factions, as the world’s biggest drug pusher.”
Plus, demand in the U.S. for fentanyl is dropping, demand for cocaine is rising.
“The Sinaloans, Mexico’s top fentanyl traffickers, got caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, which promised to eradicate the synthetic opioid. The crackdown has left an open field for Jalisco and its lucrative cocaine trade, elevating Oseguera to No. 1.”
The article quotes Derek Maltz, “who served this year as interim chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration”.
Quoth Maltz, “ ‘Mencho’ is the most powerful drug trafficker operating in the world.” And, “What is happening now is a pivot to much more cocaine distribution in America.”
So how’s the U.S. cocaine market doing?
“Cocaine sold in the U.S. is cheaper and as pure as ever for retail buyers. Consumption in the western U.S. has increased 154% since 2019 and is up 19% during the same period in the eastern part of the country, according to the drug-testing company Millennium Health. In contrast, fentanyl use in the U.S. began to drop in mid-2023 and has been declining since, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
There are varying social perceptions of different drugs.
“For new users, cocaine doesn’t carry the stigma of fentanyl addiction. Middle-class addicts and the tragic spectacle of homeless crack-cocaine users in the 1990s helped put a lid on America’s last cocaine epidemic.”
Oseguerra can claim a rags-to-riches story made possible by the big bucks in the drug business.
“Oseguera, who grew up poor selling avocados, is making a killing from cocaine buyers in the U.S. His cartel transports the addictive powder by the ton from Colombia to Ecuador and then north to Mexico’s Pacific coast via speedboats and so-called narco subs.”
Oseguera stays where he is safe and well-protected.
“The U.S. has a $15 million bounty on Oseguera, but he rarely leaves his mountain compound, according to authorities. Few photos of him circulate. The cadre of men protecting Oseguera, known as the Special Force of the High Command, carry RPG 7 heat-seeking, shoulder-fired rocket launchers capable of piercing a tank, people familiar with cartel operations said. Visitors to the drug lord’s stronghold are hooded before they embark on the six-hour car trip through terrain sown with land mines, those people said. Locations of the pressure-activated explosives are known only by members of Oseguera’s inner circle.”
The crackown on the Sinaloa Cartel actually helped Oseguera and the CJNG.
“Oseguera’s fortunes rose after the U.S. pressured Mexico to crack down on the Sinaloa cartel, where Oseguera got his start in the trade. The Sinaloans pioneered the manufacturing and smuggling of fentanyl, an industry breakthrough that sent cartel revenue soaring and drove up the number of fatal overdoses in the U.S. For the Sinaloans, landing in the administration’s spotlight couldn’t come at a worse time.”
“The capture of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán in January 2016 and his extradition to the U.S. a year later, set in motion a precipitous decline. Guzmán’s four sons inherited their father’s empire, highly valued for its network of smuggling tunnels beneath the U.S.-Mexico border, used for moving cocaine, fentanyl and other contraband.”
“The sons, known collectively as the little Chapos, or ‘Chapitos,’ shifted production resources to fentanyl, which compared with the heroin their father had brought into the U.S. by the ton is easier to smuggle and costs just a fraction to produce.”
“The Chapitos triggered an internecine war last year as a result of a plot against Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, the 70-something co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel. Zambada was forced aboard a private plane bound for the U.S. by Joaquin Guzmán , one of El Chapo’s sons, who hoped for leniency from U.S. prosecutors.”
“Both men were taken into U.S. custody when they landed outside of El Paso, Texas. Zambada pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges last month and faces a possible life sentence. Guzmán, still in custody, pleaded not guilty to trafficking charges.”
“Zambada’s capture led to a violent split between men loyal to Zambada’s son, Ismael ‘Mayito Flaco’ Zambada, and those allied with the Chapitos. An estimated 5,000 people from both camps have been killed or gone missing in the conflict, along with bystanders caught in the crossfire. Mexico has sent 10,000 federal troops in the past year to the state of Sinaloa, where the federal government has been largely helpless to end the fighting.” [See here].
“Hemmed in by U.S. and Mexican authorities on one front, and Zambada’s men on the other, the Chapitos swallowed their pride and sought the help of Oseguera, once a sworn enemy. Each side had something the other wanted. Oseguera agreed to meet, looking to a future where he and his Jalisco cartel would rule as Mexico’s dominant criminal enterprise.”
This led to a deal between the CJNG and the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. (See here.)
“In December, Oseguera sat down with a top lieutenant of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, who leads Sinaloa’s Chapito faction. At the meeting in Mexico’s western state of Nayarit, Oseguera, who was operating from a position of strength, agreed to supply the Chapitos with weapons, cash and fighters.”
“In exchange, the Sinaloans opened their smuggling routes and border tunnels into the U.S., said people familiar with the meeting. The Jalisco cartel previously paid hefty fees to use the tunnels to move drugs beneath the U.S.-Mexico border, people familiar with its operations said.”
The agreement included a division of the U.S. drug market.
“The agreement also divvied up the U.S. trafficking trade, these people said: The Chapitos would keep their focus on serving American fentanyl addicts. Oseguera would concentrate on cocaine and its down-market cousin, methamphetamine. The Jalisco cartel now ferries tons of cocaine and record amounts of methamphetamine into the U.S. through Sinaloan-built tunnels, as well as fentanyl, the people familiar with cartel operations said.”
“The Sinaloa-Jalisco agreement was ‘an unprecedented event in the balance of organized crime,’ Mexico’s attorney general’s office said in a July report. The Jalisco cartel compares with the Sinaloa cartel at the height of its power before El Chapo’s arrest, according to the DEA’s [US Drug Enforcement Administration‘s] latest drug-threat assessment.”
There’s now a glut of cocaine, bringing down prices.
“Colombia is producing records amounts of cocaine, and the volume of the drug arriving in the U.S. is driving down prices, the people familiar with cartel operations said.”
“Cocaine prices have fallen by nearly half to around $60 to $75 a gram compared with five years ago, said Morgan Godvin , a researcher with the community organization Drug Checking Los Angeles. ‘The price of pure cocaine has plummeted,’ Godvin said.”
Like a typical successful big business, the CJNG has branched out into other enterprises besides drugs.
“The Jalisco cartel also draws steady revenue from diverse sources outside narcotics.”
“The cartel acts as a parallel government in the southwestern state of Jalisco and other parts of Mexico, taxing such goods as tortillas, chicken, cigarettes and beer, security experts said. It controls construction companies that build roads, schools and sewers for the municipal governments under cartel control.”
“A booming black market for fuel is another cash cow. Gasoline and diesel stolen from Mexican refineries and pipelines—or smuggled into Mexico from the U.S. without paying taxes—is sold at below market prices to small and large businesses. U.S. officials estimate as much as a third of the fuel sold in Mexico is illicit. The head of the Jalisco cartel’s fuel division is nicknamed ‘Tank’ for his prowess at stealing and storing millions of gallons of fuel.”
“The cartel profited from the passage of migrants bound for the U.S., charging them thousands of dollars each to pass through territory it controls. And in recent years, the cartel has operated more than two dozen call centers to scam senior citizens out of hundreds of millions of dollars in a vacation-timeshare fraud, according to the Treasury Department.”
Another thing about cartels is some Mexicans see them as beneficial.
“Oseguera, celebrated as ‘El Señor Mencho’ in narco-ballads, is viewed as an altruistic patriarch by some poor Mexicans living in areas controlled by the cartel, which organizes town fiestas and hands out food, medicine and toys.”
“Hundreds of gunmen trained by former Colombian special forces work for Oseguera, according to Mexican officials. He travels through his territory in a small convoy of armored vehicles with a team equipped to fight off aggressors until reinforcements arrive. He had a specialized medical unit built near his mountain hideout to care for his advanced kidney disease, according to people familiar with the matter.”
To summarize, Oseguera and his CJNG Cartel are now the most powerful in Mexico, thanks to American consumers, pressure on the Sinaloa Cartel and its war against itself.
From the U.S. State Department: “Today [September 16th], the Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is announcing a reward offer of up to $5 million under the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP) for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Sinaloa Cartel leader Juan José Ponce Félix, a/k/a “Jesús Alexandro Sanchez Félix” and “El Ruso,” for violating U.S. narcotics laws.”
“According to the DEA and FBI, Ponce Félix is the founder and leader of Los Rusos [“the Russians”], the primary armed wing of La Mayiza. La Mayiza is a powerful faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization co-founded and led by Ismael Zambada Garcia, a/k/a ‘El Mayo.’ The cartel’s La Mayiza faction manages the production and trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine from northwest Mexico into the United States.“
Ponce Felix is believed to be in Mexicali, the capital of Baja California state. Mexicali lies on the Mexico-U.S. border.
The U.S. State Department specifies that “ALL IDENTITIES ARE KEPT STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL” which is important if one is proffering information to the U.S. government about a Mexican drug cartel figure.
The same document states that “Government officials and employees are not eligible for rewards.”
On the night of September 15th, 2025, President Claudia Sheinbaum presided over her first Grito ceremony as President of Mexico.
Mexican Independence Day is September 16th, but really it starts on September 15th.
On the night of September 15th, a ceremony is held in the Zocalo Plaza in Mexico City, and in state capitols and city halls throughout the country.
The ceremony is called “El Grito”, the “shout” or “cry”, commemorating the Grito of Miguel Hidalgo in 1810 which publicly initiated a movement which eventually became a movement for the independence of Mexico.
In the ceremony in the Zocalo, the president comes out on to a balcony of the Palacio Nacional and rings a bell (similar to the Liberty Bell in the U.S.) after shouting a series of Vivas, “Viva” meaning “Long Live…” to commemorate Mexican historical figures.
Then he (now she) rings the bell a lot and waves the flag, and the national anthem is sung.
In the state capitols and cities, the ceremony is presided over by the governor or mayor.
The next day, on the 16th, there is a military parade.
So at 11 p.m. on September 15th, Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office October 1st, 2024, presided over her first Grito as Presidenta.
On September 11th, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum lamented and condemned the assassination of U.S. conservative activist Charlie Kirk on the day previous.
President Sheinbaum made the comments near the beginning of her morning press conference. They were planned comments, and not in response to a question. (Text here, video here).
President Sheinbaum stated that she’d wanted to comment on two topics.
The first was to lament the explosion of a gas tanker explosion which killed 8 and injured at least 90 in the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City, also the day previous.
Then President Sheinbaum said that “The second [topic], also to lament the occurrence in the United States yesterday with this activist, this activist person, Charlie Kirk. We are also totally against any violence, and particularly political violence. Therefore, also our condemnation to actions of this type.”
For the fourth straight month, remittances sent from Mexicans in the U.S. to Mexico were down.
U.S. in orange, Mexico in green. Source: Wikipedia
Last month I reported that June remittances were down from the previous June.
This month it was reported that July remittances were down from the previous July. That’s the fourth straight month that remittances have fallen.
According to the Banco de México , “In July of 2025, remittance income from the exterior [mostly the U.S.] totalled 5.33 billion dollars, a decrease of 4.7%.”
That’s 4.7% less than July of 2024.
The Banco also reported total remittances of January to July: “The accumulated sum of remittance income in the January to July 2025 period is 34.889 billion dollars, less than the 36.919 billion dollars registered in the same period of 2024 and indicates an annual decrease of 5.5%.”
What explains the decrease?
According to the Latin Times“Experts consulted by the outlet explained that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown has prompted both voluntary returns and reduced work participation among Mexicans in the U.S., while fewer new migrants are entering the labor market. Analysts note that remittance flows naturally depend on ongoing migration, and Mexico’s migration levels have fallen over the past 15 years.”
The nine candidates who won took office on September 1st, 2025.
The Chief Justice, or as they say in Spanish, Presidente de la Corte, is Hugo Aguilar Ortiz, who was the biggest vote-getter on the Supreme Court ballot, receiving over 6 million votes (6,195,000). Here is the Chief Justice’s official photo:
Chief Justice Aguilar is a lawyer and Mixtec Indian from the state of Oaxaca. Aguilar served as indigenous rights coordinator of INPI, the Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas (National Institute of Indigenous Peoples). Aguilar had never served as a judge before becoming Mexico’s Chief Justice.
Here is a list, in descending order of their votes, of the 9 justices of the Mexican Supreme Court.
Hugo Aguilar Ortiz
Lenia Batres Guadarrama, who was already on the Supreme Court.
Yasmin Esquivel Mossa, who was already on the Supreme Court.
Loreta Ortiz Ahlf, who was already on the Supreme Court.
Maria Estela Rios Gonzalez
Giovanni Azael Figueroa Mejia
Irving Espinosa Betanzo
Aristides Rodrigo Guerrero Garcia
Sara Irene Herrerias Guerra
It’s important to note that before the election, the MORENA party, which is the party of President Sheinbaum and the party that runs Congress, distributed papers to voters which listed judges on the ballot recommended by MORENA.
All nine winning judges, slated to serve on the new Supreme Court, were MORENA-approved, meaning it’s less likely that they are going to exhibit much judicial independence.
In fact, three of the judges (Batriz, Esquivel, Ortiz) were already on the Supreme Court, having been appointed to the Court by previous MORENA president AMLO. Another judge, Maria Estela Rios Gonzalez, is a former legal advisor to AMLO.
AMLO, moreover, did not like the Supreme Court ruling against him, and it is AMLO who engineered the judicial reform before he left the presidency on October 1st, 2024, to be replaced by Claudia Sheinbaum.
You can see the concern that this judicial election could be a way for MORENA to get control of the judicial branch.
Now that these justices are in office, observers can see how it really turns out.
On September 3rd, 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Mexico City, where he conferred with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente. Rubio and De La Fuente spoke at a press conference, in which Rubio spoke both in English and in his Cuban-accented Spanish. (Text here, Video here).
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Source: Government of Mexico
Things seems to have gone well.
Here’s a statement from State Department spokesman Tommy Piggott: “Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. They reaffirmed our strong U.S.-Mexico partnership and joint commitment to dismantle cartels, tackle the scourge of fentanyl and the violence perpetuated by transnational criminal organizations, end illegal immigration, and promote economic prosperity and security.”
“Secretary Rubio thanked President Sheinbaum for Mexico’s partnership to secure our shared border, helping the Trump Administration reach a historic low in border encounters with illegal immigrants. The President and the Secretary agreed to continue our strong security cooperation and intensify future collaboration. The Secretary also thanked the President for collaborating to manage our shared water resources more effectively and expressed optimism for further progress. During the meeting the Secretary emphasized the importance of resolving trade and non-trade barriers to further the prosperity of both of our nations.”
“The United States and Mexico remain committed to creating a hemisphere that is safe and prosperous for our citizens.”
Here’s a tweet from President Sheinbaum’s Twitter X account: “During the cordial meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, we agreed on a program of cooperation for border security and law enforcement, after several months of work. It is based on four axes: reciprocity, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, shared and differentiated responsibility, as well as mutual trust.”
Here’s a tweet from the Mexican Foreign Ministry (SRE): “Today at Foreign Relations a message was sent to national and international media by Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which the cooperation with respect to sovereignty and territorial integrity of our peoples was reinforced.”
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