But what if criminal gangs are one of the biggest employers in the country?
A recent study has found that, taken collectively, the Mexican drug cartels are now the fifth largest employer in Mexico.
From ZME Science: “Mexican cartels now boast an estimated 175,000 members, making them the fifth largest employer in Mexico, right between the grocery chain Oxxo and telecoms company América Móvil.”
Look at chart B, which shows the eleven biggest employers in Mexico. The cartels are #5:
FEMSA (employer #1) runs Oxxo (employer #5), but for some reason they are listed separately here. But according to these employment figures, whether you count FEMSA and Oxxo as separate companies or the same company, the cartels still would be the fifth largest employer in the country.
The Maya Train (Tren Maya), a project begun during the previous administration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), was recently completed. Here’s a photo of the Maya Train in the Merida station:
The Maya Train is located in the Yucatan Peninsula, in the eastern end of Mexico. The peninsula was and is inhabited by the Maya ethnicity. The peninsula is shared with Belize and Guatemala, but the Maya Train is only in the Mexico portion. Here is a map of Mexico with the Yucatan Peninsula in orange:
Global Construction Review has an article on the Maya Train. It begins thusly: “After four years of work, Mexico has completed the 1,540km Tren Maya railway, with recently elected president Claudia Sheinbaum inaugurating the final section on Monday [December 16th, 2024]. She opened the seventh and final section of track, which runs 287km between Escárcega and Chetumal. She said Mexico was the only country in the world that could have built a line of this length in only four years.“
The article contains a short history of the project: “It was originally meant to take two years, notes the Mexico News Daily. Work started in June 2020, during President López Obrador’s term in office, and was to have been finished by October 2022. This was pushed back more than two years by a variety of issues, including a number of court cases brought by environmental groups. Among the objections raised by protesters was the impact on wildlife such as jaguars, and the decision to run part of the system on diesel to reduce cost. The route of the track was modified several times to take into account the concerns of environmentalists.“
It has information on the railway’s route: “The railroad runs in a circuit around the Yucatán Peninsula, and connects destinations and attractions across five Mexican states: Chiapas, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo. Altogether, it has 34 stations and provides access to archaeological sites formerly occupied by the Maya people.”
How much did it cost? “The government has not released figures on how much the project cost, but independent estimates have put the price at between $20bn and $25bn – far above the initial estimate of $7bn. It will be paid for by a tourist tax and funds diverted from other cultural projects.”
Who built the railway and the vehicles? “The rolling stock for the system was supplied by a consortium led by French train-maker Alstom. A large number of construction companies were involved in building the system, including Mota-Engil of Portugal, China Communications, Acciona and FCC Construcción of Spain, and local companies Carso Infraestructura, Construcciones Urales, Gami Ingeniería and conglomerate Grupo México.”
The article closes with information about the passengers: “The total number of passengers who rode the Maya Train in the past year was 603,000, of which only 6% were foreign tourists.”
To see a short video about the Maya Train, with narration from President Sheinbaum’s dedication speech, click here.
Juan Ramon de la Fuente Ramirez serves on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Cabinet as Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, literally Secretary of External Relations, that is, Foreign Minister, or as the the post is also called in Spanish, Canciller (Chancellor). De la Fuente is the equivalent of the American Secretary of State.
Juan Ramon de la Fuente Ramirez was born in Mexico City in 1951. Both of his parents were prominent enough to have their own Wikipedia pages, his father was medical doctor Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz and his mother academic Beatriz Ramírez de la Fuente.
Juan Ramon de la Fuente, son of Ramon and Beatriz, received his university education in Mexico and in Minnesota in the U.S.
Juan Ramon de la Fuente Ramirez became one of the most prominent psychiatrists of Mexico and was president of the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias from 1996 to 1997.
In 1994, De la Fuente became Secretary of Health in the presidential cabinet of President Ernesto Zedillo.
From 1999 to 2007, De la Fuente served as rector (university president) of the UNAM, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico). UNAM is the 15th biggest university of the world (by enrollment) and the largest in Latin America.
From 2018 to 2023, De la Fuente was Mexico’s representative to the United Nations.
In 2024, Juan Ramon de la Fuente has capped off this distinguished record by now serving as Mexico’s Foreign Minister since October 1st, 2024.
Since September 9th, a war between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel has been going on in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. As of December 24th, the death toll had reached 650. That’s in addition to the missing, so it may well be higher.
The violence pits one faction, led by the son of “El Mayo” Zambada against the Chapitos, sons of “El Chapo” Guzman.
Here is a map of Mexico, with the state of Sinaloa in red:
Christmastime is a special time in Mexico. The way you say Merry Christmas in Spanish is ¡Feliz Navidad!
On December 24th, President Sheinbaum tweeted out a twitter X greeting which read “Merry Christmas to all Mexicans. I wish the best for you, remember that the most important thing is love.“
She also released a short video of a Christmas greeting. It shows President Sheinbaum and her husband walking in the Palacio Nacional amidsts poinsettas (a Mexican plant associated with Christmas).
They arrive to a Christmas tree where she delivers a brief message. (Video here and here). Even her husband gets to speak a little!
President Claudia Sheinbaum and First Gentleman. Source: Excelsior
She sends out a blessing to “all the Mexicans in our territory… but also to the Mexicans outside of our territory in this moment, particularly all the Mexicans who are in the United States...”
Meanwhile, in the Zocalo, the historic plaza right outside the Palacio, the Verbena Navideña, a Christmas fair, began on December 17th and is set to continue until December 30th. Here is a photo of the opening night, with the Cathedral in the background:
A big, new, billion dollar U.S. embassy has been constructed in Mexico City. Here is a proposal illustration generated in the early stages of the project:
Design Illustration, U.S. Embassy, Mexico City. Source: David Brody Bond
It’s the biggest U.S. embassy in the world. It has seven stories, two of which are under ground level.
Embassy construction is the responsibility of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO). The architectural firms are Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and Davis Brody Bond Architects. Caddell Construction is the general contractor.
The embassy is located on an 8.5 acre site, formerly the site of a Colgate-Palmolive factory. A toxic cleanup had to be carried out on the site before building.
Construction began in 2018 and it cost a billion dollars to build.
According to the OBO website: “This embassy will consolidate over 530,000 square feet of diplomatic operations, bringing together over 1,400 staff previously spread across multiple sites in the city. These staff will be supported by innovative technology systems to work efficiently.”
More from the website: “To ease traffic impact, the embassy features discrete entrances for various functions…The building’s seven floors include two below-grade levels that balance its size without sacrificing usable space. These floors take advantage of sunken courtyards that provide views to nature and plentiful natural light. Designed around a large, semi-covered, open-air courtyard, the embassy’s extensive outdoor space enhances opportunities for events and collaboration.”
Regarding the construction of the embassy: “ “An estimated total work force of 2,500 U.S., Mexican and third-country nationals were engaged in the construction of the new embassy of which 1,800 will be local. Nearly 225 million USD was spent locally on materials and service related to the project’s construction.”
On December 17th, 2024, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar, with his trademark cowboy hat, inaugurated the embassy. Here is a photo of Ambassador Salazar at the ceremony:
U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar at embassy dedication. Source: Pulse News Mexico
The new embassy is not yet open to the public, there is still work to be done on it.
Here is a photo of the current U.S. embassy in Mexico City:
According to an article in Expansión, “The historic growth of the violence in [Sinaloa] is such that only from September [when the war began] to November surpassed the total of murders from all of calendar year 2023, a year in which there were 492 murders. “
According to the Sinaloa state government, the murder count was 144 in September, 188 in October and 175 in November. Those 3 months add up to 507, more than the whole year of 2023.
Secretaria de Bienestar is translated into English as “Secretary of Welfare”. Her department is the Secretaría de Bienestar, the Secretariat of Welfare.
Ariadna Montiel was born in 1974 in Mexico City and she studied at UNAM (the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México). She was a member of the PRD, AMLO’s previous party, in which she held several party posts, followed by several posts in the Mexico City government.
Since 2018 she has been a member of MORENA, the party founded by AMLO.
After AMLO’s election in 2018, Ariadna Montiel was named Sub-Secretary of Welfare. On January 11th, 2022, she was named as Secretary of Welfare.
She remained in that post when Claudia Sheinbaum assumed the presidency on October 1st, 2024.
On December 4th, Secretary Montiel announced on Twitter X that “With the Reform to Articles 4 and 27 of the Constitution, in the second story of the Fourth Transformation [Second Phase of the Fourth Transformation Agenda], we ensure that the Bienestar (well-being, welfare) of Mexicans is a right.”
These programs are: 1. Pension for the elderly (65 and above) 2. Pension for the handicapped (0 to 64 years) 3. Right to Therapy for the handicapped, with preference to those under 18 4. An annual budget for the programs 5. Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life), a program to attend to rural poverty and environmental degradation 6. Support for small-scale fishing and fish production businesses 7. Fertilizers for small producers 8. Guaranteed prices for corn, beans, milk, rice and flour-grade wheat
As I pointed out in a previous article, President Sheinbaum had pledged this on October 5th.
Secretaria de Gobernación is translated into English as “Secretary of the Interior”, but that doesn’t mean she is in charge of Mexican national parks.
The Secretaria de Gobernación is a very important official. Her department is Secretaría de Gobernación, known as SEGOB, the Secretariat of the Interior.
The Secretary of Gobernación is in charge of the government’s domestic administration and has many responsibilities, including the presentation of presidential decrees and proposals to Congress and the publication of new laws in the Diario Oficial de la Federación.
The Secretary of Gobernación through the SEGOB bureaucracy is in charge of the following programs and departments: 1. The CNI Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, the National Intelligence Center. 2. The National Personal Identification Service 3. The Administration of Mexican federal islands. 4. Policies involving churches and other religious groups. 5. The General Archive of the Nation. 6. Disaster Relief 7. Lotteries 8. General Directorate of Radio, Television and Cinematography 9. The expulsion of foreigners from Mexico.
Mexico does not have a Vice-President but if the President is unable to perform her duties, the Secretary of the Interior would assume them until a replacement is selected by Congress.
So yes, it’s a very important post. The current Secretary of the Interior, Rosa Icela Rodriguez. was born in 1959 in the state of San Luis Potosi.
She later moved to Mexico City where she studied journalism and then worked as a journalist for various media organs.
Rosa Icela Rodriguez served in various posts of the government of Mexico City under Mexico City Chiefs Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Marcelo Ebrard, Miguel Angel Mancera and Claudia Sheinbaum (2 of whom later became president).
Under the national presidency of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), Rosa Icela Rodriguez served as general coordinator of Ports and the Merchant Marine and later she was the Secretaria de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana (SSPC), the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, from 2020 to 2024.
On July 4th, 2024, then-President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum named her as Secretary of the Interior. Rosa Icela Rodriguez assumed this post on October 1st, the day of Sheinbaum’s inauguration as President of Mexico.
If a voter wants to, he or she can become a member of a political party, according to the rules of that party.
The PAN’s problem is that it has so few members that it’s in danger of losing its national party registration.
According to the Ley General de Partidos (General Law of Parties), a political party must have 0.26% of the national registration, which would currently be 261,580 members, in order to be registered at the national level.
So how many members does the PAN have? According to its internal party list as of August, it has 302,982 members.
But what counts is the official list of the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE). The INE list has the PAN at 277,665 members. According to that, the party has just 0.27% of the national registration. If it drops below 0.26% the party loses its national registration.
Is it just a question of updating the INE lists? But that’s only done every 3 years.
And compare the PAN’s figures to the other political parties: 1. MORENA – 2,322,136 members 2. PRI – 1,411,889 members 3. Green Party – 592,417 members 4. PT (Labor Party) – 457,624 members 5. Movimiento Ciudadano – 384,005 members 6. PAN – 277,665 members
Even if the higher figure on the PAN party list were official, the party would still be the one with fewest members.
Note too that parties #1, #3 and #4 are currently coalition allies.
And due to its low membership, the PAN is in danger of losing its national registration.
Why does the PAN have so few members?
In a word, it’s more selective. In order to be a member, you have to take classes on party doctrine and pass exams.
Kenia Lopez Rabadan, a PAN congresswoman, says they plan to recruit more members and they need to change some party rules .
She told Excelsior that “To say what we are, what we represent, I am absolutely clear that we need to be a center-right party. To play at being leftist, there are many parties that want to do that and we have to represent the family. We have to represent human rights. We have to represent this vision of Mexicans who want prosperity and security and health.”
The Excelsior article reports that “With the desire of having more members, since 2022 the PAN has worked on incorporating minorities who do not historically identify with the party, such as members of the Lesbian-Gay community and the distinct indigenous groups. Therefore, the central committee of the PAN decided to create the Secretariat of Equality and Human Development in which belong the LGBTIQ+ groups and the Secretariat of Indigenous and Afromexican Affairs.”
How about Mexico’s security situation? Would campaigning to reduce crime be a winning platform? It might be worth a try.
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