Jason Peña, 14, has been in a medically induced coma since he and three other members of his family were attacked on a highway on Dec. 27 in the northwestern state of Durango. Jason is the lone survivor of the attack.

On Thursday, Jason was flown on a private plane to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston where he will receive treatment. “He is in critical condition in ICU and on life support,” his mother, Ana Cabral, said in a post on the fundraising site Spotfund.

Local authorities are investigating the attack, which has generated indignation in the Duranguense community in the Chicago area, according to the newspaper El Siglo de Durango.

A birthday celebration becomes a tragedy

Jason, his father Vicente Peña Jr. and his younger brother drove 3,000 miles from Chicago to the municipality of Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango, where they planned to celebrate Jason’s 14th birthday with family, according to Telemundo Chicago.

Family spokesperson and lawyer Julie Contreras said that two days before the birthday, Jason jumped into his father’s car as his dad, his uncle and a cousin left to buy food and drinks in Santiago Papasquiaro.

When the group had not returned after two hours, Vicente Peña Sr. — Jason’s grandfather — alerted the authorities.

Shortly thereafter, police located the vehicle, an SUV with Illinois license plates, along the Francisco Zarco Highway. All four occupants had been shot; the three adults — Vicente Jr., 38, Antonio Fernández, 44 (Vicente’s brother who flew from Chicago to join the festivities), and Jorge Eduardo Vargas, 22 — were pronounced dead at the scene.

Vicente Jr., Jason and Fernández were all U.S. citizens, Contreras said, and Jason was a student at Prairie Hills Junior High School in Markham, Illinois.

Jason was taken to a public hospital in Durango city, the state capital, but the hospital was not equipped to treat the severe brain injury. Cabral flew to Durango to be with Jason and her other son and began working to fly Jason to Houston for better care and to ensure his safety, Contreras said, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The U.S. State Department told USA Today that they had been in touch with the victims’ families and confirmed that Mexican authorities are conducting an investigation.

Contreras, through her NGO United Giving Hope, worked with the family to arrange for the private plane to carry Jason back to the U.S., while also alerting the public to a fake GoFundMe page that had been opened in Jason’s name.

The boy’s grandfather, Vicente Sr., spoke to Chicago television station WMAQ-TV in Spanish and said the shooting had wrecked their family.

“I feel very devastated because they wiped out my entire family,” he told the outlet. “It was a massacre … because my son was shot four times in the head and once in the shoulder.”

In the statement to USA Today, the U.S. State Department said “Durango, Mexico, has a Level 2 Exercise Increased Caution Travel advisory due to crime.”

The State Department lists Durango among the Mexican states with travel cautions, warning of violent crime and drug activity. Regions in western Durango, where the shooting occurred, are considered so dangerous that U.S. government employees are prohibited from traveling there.

With reports from El Siglo de Durango, Latinus, Chicago Tribune, Telemundo Chicago, USA Today and Fox News

The post U.S. teen transferred to Texas hospital after armed attack in Durango appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Fishing groups across the region blame the massive die-off on a lack of oxygenation in the water due to poor management at the Mexicana de Hidroelectricidad Mexhidro (Mexhidro) hydroelectric plant, located in the municipality of Cutzamala de Pinzón.

“For four days now, the tilapia has been dying in the entire dam; it is sad that neither the state nor the federal government pay attention. Who knows what they want us to do?” a local group of fishermen from the Guerrero town of La Dicha told the newspaper La Jornada.

Mexico’s National Water Commission (Conagua) constructed the El Gallo dam on the Cutzamala River in the northwestern part of the state of Guerrero to expand the irrigation system to the valleys of Cutzamala and Ciudad Altamirano.

In 2007, Mexhidro completed a hydroelectric plant to produce clean energy for the states of Morelos, Michoacán, Guerrero and México state.

Fishing groups say that the floodgates at the dam are not opened often enough, leading to a lack of water oxygenation, which then causes mass fish die-offs. The eight cooperatives operating in the region have reported similar experiences along the reservoir’s 30-kilometer length.

| Alertan por pérdida de unas 100 toneladas de tilapia en la presa El Gallo.
https://t.co/agH2S1jgGE pic.twitter.com/eHIOWaHd2z

— El Sur periódico de Guerrero (@elsurdeguerrero) December 31, 2024

The cooperatives have been reporting the issue since 2013 and are now calling on President Claudia Sheinbaum to intervene. Fishermen previously caught between 20 and 30 metric tons of fish a year in the region, supporting the supply of Mexico City’s famous La Viga fish market. However, this figure has fallen significantly in recent years.

Each metric ton of fish lost is valued at 50,000 to 60,000 pesos (US $2,420-2,905), according to reports from the news site Sur Acapulco.

Local fishing groups have threatened to protest if the government does not intervene.

Cutzamala: A key Mexican waterway

The Cutzamala River originates in the central state of Michoacán and ends in Guerrero. Dams on the upper part of the river provide water to Mexico City, via an aqueduct over the mountains known as the Cutzamala System.

The system is one of the world’s largest networks of dams, canals and pipes, supplying around 27% of the capital’s water. However, in recent years, water levels in the system have decreased due to drought and other factors, falling to a historic low of below 30% in May 2024, according to Conagua.

As Mexico City officials race to develop alternative water networks, Mayor Clara Brugada last week announced a plan to halve the capital’s reliance on the Cutzamala reservoir system for the next two years. The goal of cutting withdrawals is to allow the water levels of Cutzamala System reservoirs to recover from extended drought conditions, and any excess water could boost downstream reservoirs like El Gallo in Guerrero.

With reports from La Jornada, Sur Acapulco, The New York Times and Infobae

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In accordance with Mexican law, the increase in the Special Tax on Products and Services (IEPS) — which is levied at different rates depending on the good or service — is in line with Mexico’s headline inflation rate at the end of 2024.

The IEPS brought in revenue of more than 570 billion pesos (US $27.6 billion) in the first 11 months of last year, making it the third largest generator of tax income for the federal government after income tax and Mexico’s value-added tax.

Here is a summary of how the 4.5% increase to the IEPS rate will lift prices for certain products this year.

Gasoline and diesel 

• The IEPS on magna, or regular, gasoline is now 28 centavos higher at 6.45 pesos per liter.
• The IEPS on premium gasoline is now 24 centavos higher at 5.45 pesos per liter.
• The IEPS on diesel is now 30 centavos higher at 7.09 pesos per liter.

* NOTE: The federal government sometimes offers fuel subsidies that reduce the price motorists pay when filling up.

During the first 10 days of January, the IEPS on regular gasoline will be 23 centavos lower at 6.22 pesos per liter thanks to a 3.57% government subsidy.

During the same period, the IEPS on diesel will be 3 centavos lower at 7.06 pesos per liter thanks to a 0.37% government subsidy. There will be no subsidy for premium fuel during the first 10 days of 2025.

So, how much will you pay when filling up your vehicle in early 2025?

According to fuel market data cited by the El País newspaper, the average price in Mexico for one liter of fuel on Jan. 1 was as follows:

• Regular gasoline: 24.04 pesos per liter (US $1.16 at the current exchange rate).
• Premium gasoline: 25.38 pesos per liter (US $1.23).
• Diesel: 25.73 pesos per liter (US $1.25).

Alcoholic beverages 

The IEPS rate for alcoholic beverages varies depending on the alcohol content, or alcohol by volume (ABV).

The rate for beverages with an ABV up to 14% (beer and many wines) is lower than those for stronger beverages such as spirits.

Consumers should expect to pay slightly higher prices for alcohol as a result of the 4.5% increase to the IEPS.

Soda and other ‘flavored beverages’ 

The new IEPS for refrescos (soda/soft drinks) and other bebidas saborizadas (flavored beverages) is 1.64 pesos per liter, an increase of 7 centavos compared to 2024.

Cigarettes 

In 2025, smokers will pay an IEPS of 64 centavos per cigarette, an increase of almost 3 centavos compared to 2024. The IEPS on a pack of 20 cigarettes is therefore almost 13 pesos, nearly 1 peso higher than in 2024.

Processed food 

The IEPS also applies to processed foods such as potato chips, chocolate, peanut butter and candy. Such products will consequently be slightly more expensive in 2025.

Even before the higher IEPS rate took effect, Mexico’s largest baker, Grupo Bimbo, increased the price of some of its products by 1 peso. Those increases took effect Dec. 23, according to the newspaper La Jornada.

Services 

The IEPS is also levied on certain services including mediation, brokerage and the distribution of alcohol, cigarettes and junk food.

Therefore the price of such services will likely increase in 2025.

The post-holiday financial blues  

While many Mexicans receive an aguinaldo payment (an annual entitlement for formal sector workers) in December, financial stress is common in the first month of the year

Higher-than-usual spending over the holiday period as well as price hikes that take effect in January leave many Mexicans struggling to make ends meet in January. The phenomenon is known as “La cuesta de enero,” which could be translated to English as the uphill struggle of January.

In addition to the increase in the IEPS on Jan. 1 2025, “tax cuts on food and energy will disappear” and “there will be new taxes on electronic cigarettes,” La Jornada reported.

In addition “large telecommunications companies will increase their rates,” the newspaper said, while products purchased on foreign e-commerce sites could become more expensive as companies such as Amazon and Temu will now have to pay Mexico’s 16% value-added tax on products they export to and sell in Mexico.

Thankfully, many workers will get a pay rise this year as Mexico’s minimum wage increased 12% on Jan. 1.

The cost of living in Mexico has risen significantly in recent years due to inflation, which peaked at 8.7% in August and September 2022.

With reports from El País, El Economista and La Jornada

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In a post to social media on Wednesday night, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) said that United States authorities had confirmed that “two Mexican people were affected by the terrible attack in the early hours of today in New Orleans.”

Última Hora. La Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores informa que las autoridades estadounidenses acaban de confirmar que dos personas mexicanas resultaron afectadas por el lamentable atentado ocurrido en la madrugada de hoy en Nuevo Orleans.

Ambos se reportan estables.

El…

— Relaciones Exteriores (@SRE_mx) January 2, 2025

The ministry said that both Mexican victims were reported in “stable” condition. It didn’t identify the victims or say what injuries they sustained.

President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that the two Mexicans were visiting New Orleans.

The SRE said that the Mexican Consulate in New Orleans is in contact with the families of the Mexican victims and is providing them with the assistance they require.

The two Mexicans are among more than 30 people who were injured when a man drove a pickup truck into a crowd on New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street in the city’s French Quarter.

Among those killed were “an 18-year-old girl dreaming of becoming a nurse, a single mother, a father of two and a former Princeton football star,” according to the Associated Press.

The suspect, identified as 42-year-old U.S. citizen Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar of Texas, was killed in a shootout with police.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the FBI had informed him that “mere hours before the attack,” the suspect “posted videos on social media indicating that he was inspired by ISIS,” the Islamic State terrorist organization.

FBI Update on Bourbon Street Terrorist Attack: https://t.co/jFrEkJVqRO

Anyone with information, photos, or video should call the FBI at 1-800- CALL FBI or visit https://t.co/S8bFkjWn1O pic.twitter.com/Dl4KUvm9Ic

— FBI New Orleans (@FBINewOrleans) January 2, 2025

The FBI said in a statement that “an ISIS flag was located in the vehicle” — a Ford pickup truck.

“The FBI is working to determine the subject’s potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations. Weapons and a potential IED [improvised explosive device] were located in the subject’s vehicle,” the statement said.

Sheinbaum condemned the attack in a social media post on Wednesday and at her morning press conference on Thursday.

“Our solidarity with the families of the victims and with the people of the United States,” she said Wednesday.

With reports from El Universal and Reforma  

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An inaugural ceremony on Satuday in Bahía de Banderas led by President Claudia Sheinbaum and members of her cabinet celebrated the opening of the final stretch of the highway — a 33-kilometer segment along the Pacific Coast that extends from Bucerías, Nayarit, to Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco.

The new roadway also provides a direct link between Tepic, the Nayarit state capital, and the beach resorts in and around Puerto Vallarta, reducing travel time from three hours to 90 minutes.

The strategic infrastructure project has been delayed multiple times over its 13-year duration due to budget constraints — outlasting three of Mexico’s presidents and even more governors of Jalisco and Nayarit.

It was set to open in 2014, but by the time President Enrique Peña Nieto left office in 2018, only two sections of the highway project had opened. Progress on its construction continued on a slow drip in the following years, with sections opening one at a time. 

The road loops northwest from the state capital around the Sierra de Vallejo Biosphere Reserve in southern Nayarit, then curves southwest toward the Pacific Ocean, traversing along the coast for nearly 100 kilometers.

The new toll road will reduce travel time between Guadalajara and the coast in half, from five hours to two and a half hours, according to Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) Minister Jesús Antonio Esteva. It also benefits travelers farther north along the Jalisco coast, giving them a more direct route to Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara.

Sheinbaum also announced on Saturday other infrastructure and social projects benefitting the region, including scholarships for children in Nayarit and Jalisco and funding to renovate schools in both states. 

Inauguración de la autopista Jala-Puerto Vallarta. Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit https://t.co/YTOCcYI9ZQ

— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) December 28, 2024

Sheinbaum also took advantage of the highway’s inauguration to announce new funding for upcoming infrastructure and projects to benefit citizens in the two states.

Among the new public works to be constructed are a bridge between Bahía de Banderas and Puerto Vallarta, a freshwater aqueduct in southern Nayarit and several scenic highways — known as caminos artesanales — in the Indigenous Wixárica region of northwestern Jalisco. 

The caminos artesanales project seeks to connect Indigenous communities in rural areas and will use local materials. It will also provide temporary jobs to residents.

“We are demonstrating that nobody will be left behind in Mexico,” Sheinbaum said Saturday.

Welfare Minister Ariadna Montiel said that the new highway and the projects Sheinbaum announced demonstrate that the administration is determined to improve the quality of life of Mexico’s marginalized citizens.

The final stretch of highway, which cost 2 billion pesos (US $98 million), features eight bridges — with the longest being 300 meters in length — three overpasses, a trunk road to the Puerto Vallarta airport and one toll booth, according to SICT Minister Esteva.

The entire toll highway has six toll booths and costs as much as 1,300 pesos (US $63) to travel its entire length, according to the newspaper Informador.

With reports from Debate and NTV+

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Elected to office on June 2 and sworn in on Oct. 5, Brugada announced the strategy during the inauguration of the city’s first Agua Bienestar purification plant in the Coyoacán borough on Monday.

The plant is going to help solve water problems, as well, the Morena party member noted. Starting next Monday, 19-liter garrafones (jugs) of purified water will be sold mainly to low-income residents and those in areas that suffer from chronic shortages — for only five pesos (US 24 cents) each, with an additional 80 pesos (US $3.83) up-front cost for the reusable plastic jug.

A filled 19- or 20-liter garrafón in Mexico generally retails for 48 to 60 pesos (US $2.30 to $2.87), although self-fill purification stations can cut the cost to about 13 to 26 pesos (US 62 cents to $1.24).

This part of the strategy aims to alleviate financial strain on families who are hit harder than others because of repeated water woes in their areas. The program will initially serve 738 neighborhoods and districts lacking sufficient water infrastructure that are sometimes subject to rationing.

“I want to make it very clear that Agua Bienestar solves part of the problem, but the underlying problem — the problem of water scarcity — will be addressed with sectorization, redistribution, infrastructure, water balance and sustainability,” Brugada said. “That is the way we are going to solve things.”

Brugada said a good start is reducing by 50% the city’s reliance on water from the Cutzamala System, so the three main reservoirs that feed it can recover.

Though abundant July rains in Michoacán and México state — home to Cutzamala’s largest reservoirs — helped boost CDMX’s water supply, drought conditions persist and the Cutzamala System currently is operating at 65% capacity.

The National Water Commission (Conagua) has noted that the Cutzamala System supplies around 28% of the capital’s water. This summer, the system was briefly shut off for repairs.

“At least for two years, we will receive only half of what Cutzamala supplied us last year, ensuring its long-term viability,” the mayor said.

Brugada also detailed plans to infiltrate more rainwater into aquifers, which supply 70% of Mexico City’s water.

She said investment will focus on reviewing, maintaining and improving well infrastructure; setting up water-treatment facilities in more communities; and implementing automated systems to monitor and resolve water supply issues promptly.

Brugada said 15 billion pesos (US $718.5 million) will be allocated for these water initiatives; that’s out of the 291.5 billion pesos (US $13.98 billion) that she proposed last week for Mexico City’s overall 2025 budget.

“A large part of the resources will be used to guarantee that the existing wells function and provide the amount of water that should be,” she said.

Brugada’s government aims to construct at least one purification plant in each of CDMX’s 16 boroughs, with some areas receiving up to four. This expansion, supported by 30 million pesos (US $1.45 million) at the outset, is expected to produce 200,000 jugs per month by the end of 2025.

“We’re prioritizing areas where water scarcity and poverty intersect,” Brugada said, adding that no individual application process is required. “This is about addressing systemic inequality in water access.”

“This is an immediate step to support those who need it most while we work on long-term solutions,” added Mario Esparza, Mexico City’s minister of water management. He also assured residents that the purified water meets the highest quality standards.

Brugada said her administration is committed to resolving water shortages citywide by 2027, in equitable and sustainable ways.

With reports from El Universal and La Jornada

The post Mexico City will cut its reliance on water from the Cutzamala System by 50%, mayor announces appeared first on Mexico News Daily

After closing at 20.66 to the greenback on Monday, the peso fell to 20.90 shortly before 2 p.m. Mexico City time on Tuesday. The tumble marked a 1.16% depreciation, bringing the peso to its weakest position in all of 2024.

The peso’s depreciation on Tuesday came after the currency fell 1.67% against the greenback on Monday.

The expectation that the Bank of Mexico’s benchmark interest rate will continue to decline in 2025 after five cuts this year is one factor contributing to the decline of the peso in recent days. Concern over the potential impact of the second Trump administration on the Mexican economy is another.

United States President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, has pledged to impose a 25% tariff on all Mexican exports on the first day of his second term and keep it in place until Mexico does more to stop the flow of drugs and migrants to the U.S.

In a post to X on Tuesday morning, Banco Base’s director of economic analysis, Gabriela Siller, attributed the recent depreciation of the peso to “fear” over Trump’s return to the White House.

El tipo de cambio se perfila para cerrar el año cotizando cerca de 21 pesos por dólar.
Hay miedo por el regreso de Trump. pic.twitter.com/ZbeHgOIFcB

— Gabriela Siller Pagaza (@GabySillerP) December 31, 2024

“The exchange rate is shaping up to end the year at close to 21 pesos per dollar. There is fear over the return of Trump,” she wrote.

Cipactli Jiménez, an independent investment adviser, told the El Economista newspaper that “there is great uncertainty” regarding the relationship Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum will have with Trump.

Uncertainty over the impact the policies of the second Trump administration will have on the Mexican economy “is reflected in the [current USD:MXN] exchange rate,” he added.

The worst year for the peso since 2008 

According to Yahoo! Finance, the Mexican peso closed at 16.86 to the US dollar on Dec. 31, 2023. Thus the peso has depreciated around 19% in 2024.

Compared to the 16.30-to-the-dollar rate the peso reached in April, the depreciation is almost 22%.

The peso depreciated sharply after the ruling Morena party’s comprehensive victory in Mexico’s June 2 elections. Concern over Morena’s constitutional reform agenda, especially the judicial overhaul that Congress approved in September, was a major factor in the decline.

The election of Trump in early November, and the former and future president’s tariff threats, placed additional pressure on the peso.

On Monday, Siller noted on X that the peso was on track to record its fourth-worst year since Mexico implemented a free-floating exchange regime in 1995.

“If the exchange rate ends the year at today’s level (20.55 pesos per dollar) it will be the fourth largest annual depreciation [for the peso] since we’ve had the free-floating exchange regime,” she wrote.

The Banco Base analyst said that the annual depreciation this year would rank behind a 51.63% decline in 1995, a 22.87% depreciation in 1998 and a 25.46% weakening in 2008 amid the global financial crisis.

With reports from El Economista, Reuters and Bloomberg Línea

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In a message posted to X, the SRE offered “its most sincere condolences … to the family of the former president, as well as to the people and government of the United States for this regrettable loss.”

El @GobiernoMX, a través de la @SRE_mx, expresa sus más sinceras condolencias por el fallecimiento del ex presidente de Estados Unidos, James E. Carter Jr., ocurrido hoy en su natal Georgia.

México extiende sus condolencias a la familia del ex mandatario, así como al pueblo y al…

— Relaciones Exteriores (@SRE_mx) December 30, 2024

As president from 1977-1981, Carter broke with prevailing U.S. foreign policy early in his term, outlining a vision based on protecting human rights. 

Carter proclaimed a new era in U.S.-Mexico relations, while also pledging to end the tradition of U.S. interventionism in Latin America. Additionally, he offered to support the development of democracy through multilateral cooperation.

That same year he signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, guaranteeing that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999.

In 1978, Carter again put his new foreign policy into action, straddling the geopolitics of the Cold War while seeking solutions to address a revolution in Nicaragua, where the Somoza dictatorship had been seen as a U.S. ally. Carter criticized the military dictatorship’s abuses, pushed for a path to democratic transition and eventually ended military assistance to the Somoza government in January 1979.

Jimmy Carter lived a life devoted to justice & human rights. As President, he created the White House Office of Hispanic Affairs & appointed a record number of Latinos to the Administration. May he rest in peace.

Photo: President Carter visits Mexico City, 1979. pic.twitter.com/ANGjkgOsNw

— Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI) (@SomosMACRI) December 29, 2024

Carter’s visit to Mexico in 1979

In February 1979, Carter made what the New York Times described as a “troubled visit to Mexico,” during which he and then-Mexican president Jose López Portillo agreed to start negotiations for the U.S. purchase of Mexican natural gas.

While in Mexico City, Carter spoke in Spanish to a joint session of Congress, famously quoting storied Mexican poet Octavio Paz: “What separates us is the very thing that unites us. We are two distinct versions of Western civilization.”

But he also spoke hopefully: “Our perceptions of each other have sometimes been distorted,” he said. “But we have made progress, and I believe that in the coming years we will make greater progress toward fuller cooperation, understanding and mutual respect.”

During the three-day visit to Mexico, the two presidents agreed to close consultations on the issue of undocumented Mexicans in the United States, but made little progress on other issues that divided the two nations, including trade and border control.

With reports from El Economista, Infobae, Milenio and The New York Times

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Speaking at an event in Tlaxcala, Sheinbaum highlighted that a number of constitutional reforms were approved by Congress in recent months, allowing Mexico to “recover the social sense” and the “patriotic sense of our Constitution.”

“Thanks to senators and deputies, this year something unique in Mexico and the whole world was approved. Next year, on June 1, thanks to one of the reforms to the Constitution, the judicial power will be elected by the people of Mexico,” she said, eliciting cheers and applause from attendees of the event in Panotla, Tlaxcala.

Sheinbaum noted that Mexico’s president and lawmakers are already “democratically elected” before emphasizing that the nation’s judges will soon be chosen by citizens as well.

“Now judges, magistrates and Supreme Court justices will be elected democratically. This makes us perhaps the most democratic country there is on the face of Earth,” she said.

“Our adversaries say there is authoritarianism but how [can there be] if it is the people who decide? Democracy is government of the people by the people for the people. And now the judicial power will serve the people of Mexico and the nation as it should have always done,” Sheinbaum said.

The president, like her predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has argued that judicial reform was needed to rid the nation’s courts of corruption and other ills. López Obrador submitted the reform proposal to Congress in February and signed it into law two weeks before he left office at the end of September. A second round of judicial elections in 2027 will follow those scheduled to take place on June 1, 2025.

Critics assert that the election of judges will lead to the politicization of Mexico’s judiciary. In a nutshell, they argue that Mexico’s courts will come to be dominated by judges sympathetic to the ruling Morena party’s agenda, thus removing an essential check on government power.

Candidates for judgeships will be selected by the president, the Congress — which is currently dominated by Morena — and the judiciary itself. In 2025, citizens will elect a total of 881 federal judges, including nine justices who will sit on the bench of the Supreme Court, two fewer than is currently the case.

“On June 1 next year,” Sheinbaum said on Sunday, “together we will elect justices of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.”

“It is something historic,” she added.

The government has also faced criticism over some of the other reforms that were recently approved by Congress, including one that eliminated seven watchdog agencies.

Government critics have long argued that the incorporation of autonomous agencies into ministries and other federal departments would eliminate important counterweights to executive power and represent a backward step for democracy.

Sheinbaum has said that the reform will lead to “more transparency” and help to eliminate corruption while generating significant savings for the public purse.

Mexico News Daily 

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His reasoning? An improvement — not a worsening — of bilateral relations between Mexico and the United States. 

Rejecting the prevailing pessimism about future relations between North American neighbors, Czerwonko told the newspaper Milenio that the mutually beneficial bilateral relationship is very strong and can’t be overlooked when predicting the future of the peso.

“Of course, Mexico benefits from the United States, but the reverse is also true,” Czerwonko said. “If Washington really wants to reduce its economic dependence on China, the relationship [with Mexico] is part of the solution.”

Czerwonko predicted that the peso — which opened Monday at 20.31 to the US dollar — will trade at 19.50 to the US dollar by the end of 2025. This is stronger than most projections, but still weaker than the 18.70 exchange rate that Mexico’s Finance Ministry (SHCP) anticipates in 2025.

The peso’s tumultuous year in review

The 19% hit the peso took this year was its worst since 2016 though the decline in international oil prices was primarily to blame then, according to Milenio.

In April, the peso reached a nine-year high of 16.30 to the dollar. Shortly after, the currency started to slip, grazing an exchange rate of 18 by June 3. President Sheinbaum’s election on June 2 created nervousness about a perceived upward trend in absolutism, sending the peso on a downfall that was made worse by the Morena party’s passage of a controversial judicial reform in September. 

In recent months, the peso has hovered around 20 to the dollar, with December producing a depreciation of 0.46%. 

The exchange rate winds shifted dramatically this month as both the Mexican and U.S. central banks lowered their benchmark interest rates, inflation decelerated in Mexico and U.S. political news ahead of Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration emphasized potential conflicts. 

Contrary to UBS, the news magazine Expansión cited analysts who see Mexico’s currency weakening to as much as 21 pesos to the US dollar.

Trump’s return to the White House, the uncertainty of the Mexico-U.S. relationship, broad geopolitical concerns and local fiscal policies are all expected to impact the peso in 2025, Expansión reported.

In contrast to SHCP’s bullish stance, Mexico’s central bank sees the peso finishing 2025 at 20.53 to the dollar. Other institutions surveyed by Expansión offered projections ranging from 18.5 by Banco Base to 21 by Monex Financial Group. 

Citibank Mexico (20.5), Finamex Casa de Bolsa (20.9) and Rankia Investment Group (20.5) also foresee a slight weakening in the peso next year. 

Banco Base analyst Gabriela Siller hedged on the bank’s positive projection, telling Expansión that if Trump does carry out his threat to slap tariffs on Mexican imports to the United States, the situation would become less certain.

With reports from Milenio, Expansión and ABC Noticias

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