MND Staff, Author at Mexico News Daily https://mexiconewsdaily.com/author/tbuckley/ Mexico's English-language news Sat, 04 Jan 2025 00:23:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/cropped-Favicon-MND-32x32.jpg MND Staff, Author at Mexico News Daily https://mexiconewsdaily.com/author/tbuckley/ 32 32 U.S. teen transferred to Texas hospital after armed attack in Durango https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/chicago-teen-jason-pena-durango-attack/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/chicago-teen-jason-pena-durango-attack/#respond Fri, 03 Jan 2025 23:15:45 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=426936 Chicago middle schooler Jason Peña, 14, is in critical condition after his family was attacked on a Durango highway.

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

]]>
A Chicago teenager who was shot in the head while visiting family in Mexico has been transferred to a hospital in Texas, according to the U.S. State Department and family members.

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

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/chicago-teen-jason-pena-durango-attack/feed/ 0
Mexico’s 2025 GDP growth likely to lag behind other LatAm nations https://mexiconewsdaily.com/business/mexico-growth/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/business/mexico-growth/#respond Thu, 02 Jan 2025 20:20:31 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=426554 A recent survey by Mexico's central bank found that 59% of respondents said it was a "bad time" to invest in Mexico.

The post Mexico’s 2025 GDP growth likely to lag behind other LatAm nations appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
While Latin America is poised to experience moderate economic gains in 2025, both the World Bank and the United Nations project that Mexico’s growth will lag behind that of its regional neighbors.

The World Bank is projecting 2.6% growth for the Latin America and the Caribbean region (the lowest growth rate among all global regions, it says), while the U.N. commission known as Cepal predicts a growth rate of 2.4% for the region.

Two Mexican workers lifting a large, heavy pottery project in the shape of a bowl or a bell on an outdoor site in Tlaxcala
According to an October World Bank Report, multinational companies only make up 0.2% of Mexico’s GDP, reinforcing predictions that Mexico’s economic growth will be low. (Galo Cañas Rodriguez/Cuartoscuro)

However, the World Bank sees Mexico growing by 1.5% in 2025, and Cepal — the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean — pegs Mexico’s growth rate at a mere 1.2%. In both instances, Mexico’s projected growth rate is the third-lowest among all regional nations, surpassing only Haiti and Cuba.

Additionally, a survey released last month by Mexico’s own central bank (Banxico) revealed that local analysts are more in line with Cepal’s prediction, lowering the country’s growth forecast for 2025 from 1.20% to 1.12%. 

In an October report in which it lowered its 2024–2026 economic growth forecasts for Mexico, the World Bank cited uncertainty for investors among the reasons for its more pessimistic outlook.

One reason for its pessimism, a Bank official said, is that Mexico is not fully taking advantage of the nearshoring trend.

Mark Thomas, World Bank country director for Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, said that multinational companies that have relocated to Mexico amid the nearshoring trend only generate around 0.2% of Mexico’s gross domestic product

Thomas cited water availability, energy supply and the cost of land as concerns, adding that insecurity, government policies and constitutional reforms — especially a controversial judicial reform — are also major issues.

Closeup screenshot of Mark. R. Thomas, World Bank country director for Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela, speaking to an interviewer. A bookshelf filled with journals and books can be seen behind him.
Country director for the World Bank in Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela Mark. R. Thomas said that Mexico’s issues with water and energy availability, insecurity, and recent constitutional reforms are making the nation less attractive to investors. (World Bank/Facebook)

The Banxico survey suggests analysts aren’t confident these issues will be addressed in a timely manner: 77% of those surveyed expect Mexico’s business climate to “get worse,” and 59% of respondents said it was a “bad time” to invest in Mexico.

As for Cepal, its year-end report to the United Nations says Latin America and the Caribbean face a complex panorama in the coming years.

“[T]he region’s economies will stay mired in a trap of low capacity for growth, with growth rates that will remain low and a growth dynamic that depends more on private consumption, and less on investment.”

José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, Cepal’s executive secretary, said that Mexico is particularly vulnerable because of Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Mexican imports to the U.S. once he is sworn in as U.S. president on Jan. 20.

Mexico sends 84% of its exports to the United States, and there is a high level of supply chain integration between the two neighbors. 

“If Trump were to implement just a 10% tariff … exports and investments would be impacted, and we’d see Mexico’s GDP reduced by 0.8% to 1%,” he said.

With reports from El Economista and the World Bank

The post Mexico’s 2025 GDP growth likely to lag behind other LatAm nations appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/business/mexico-growth/feed/ 0
Mark your calendar: Here are all the 2025 Mexican public holidays https://mexiconewsdaily.com/mexico-living/mexico-official-holidays-2025/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/mexico-living/mexico-official-holidays-2025/#comments Wed, 01 Jan 2025 01:08:30 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=425845 Here's a rundown of Mexico's official 2025 holidays, including bank holidays and two new days off being considered by Congress.

The post Mark your calendar: Here are all the 2025 Mexican public holidays appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
2025 is already upon us, and if you haven’t already marked your calendars, here’s a reminder that Mexico has seven official public holidays in 2025.

Also worth keeping in mind is that there are a total of 11 bank holidays (which includes the official public holidays) that will occur in the upcoming year.

Municipal workers in bright green hazmat like jumpsuits sitting in a truck bed as they are driven on a Mexico City street on an official holiday
Those in Mexico who must work on official holidays, like these folks working on Christmas Day, are entitled to double-time pay. (Edgar Negrete Lira/Cuartoscuro)

According to Mexico’s Federal Labor Law, on the seven official holidays of 2025, employees required to work must receive double-time pay, or 100% overtime pay. 

Mexico’s official national holidays are as follows (with the actual date of the holiday in parentheses where appropriate):

  • Wednesday, Jan. 1: New Year’s Day 
  • Monday, Feb. 3: Constitution Day, observed (actual date: Feb. 5)
  • Monday, March 17:  Benito Juárez’s birthday, observed (actual date: March 21)
  • Thursday, May 1: Labor Day, or Worker’s Day, as it’s named in Mexico
  • Tuesday, Sept. 16: Independence Day
  • Monday, Nov. 17: Mexican Revolution Day, observed (actual date: Nov. 20)
  • Thursday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day

Although some people might think that May 5, or Cinco de Mayo, is an official holiday in Mexico, that is not the case. 

Although Mexico’s victory over France’s invading forces at the 1862 Battle of Puebla is celebrated and public schools are closed nationwide on May 5, only the state of Puebla and its neighbor state, Veracruz, observe Cinco de Mayo as an official holiday.

Some might recall that there were nine official holidays in 2024. Those extra two days were linked to the federal election cycle, which occurs every six years. 

Huejotzingo Carnival
Parade commemorating the Battle of Puebla, with participants in faux-Middle Eastern garb, a nod to the fact that Turkish mercenaries fought Mexico’s armies for France. May 5 is not an official holiday, although schools nationwide have it off.

June 2, 2024, was Election Day, on which the president and both houses of Congress were elected. Although Election Day in Mexico is always on Sunday, it was declared an official holiday.

And earlier this year, Congress declared Oct. 1, 2024, to be a national holiday — Inauguration Day. The law establishes that every six years (presidents serve six-year terms in Mexico), Oct. 1 will be an official public holiday. Prior to 2024, presidents were sworn in on Dec. 1 and Inauguration Day was celebrated every six years on that date.

New holidays coming in 2025?

The newspaper El Financiero reported that there could be two new additional public holidays approved for 2025. Congress is considering making Dec. 12, the Catholic feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage destination in the world

Congress also might declare June 1 a holiday as well — but only for this year: Mexico holds its first-ever nationwide election of judges and magistrates on Sunday, June 1, 2025. 

In addition to the seven official public holidays, Mexico’s banks, currency exchanges and financial markets observe four other holidays.

  • April 17: Holy Thursday
  • April 18:Good Friday 
  • Nov. 3: Day of the Dead (although this falls on a Sunday in 2025) 
  • Dec. 12: Virgin of Guadalupe feast day 

With reports from El Financiero, Debate and TV Azteca

The post Mark your calendar: Here are all the 2025 Mexican public holidays appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/mexico-living/mexico-official-holidays-2025/feed/ 1
Por fin! After 13 years, GDL-Puerto Vallarta highway project finishes https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/puerto-vallarta-highway/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/puerto-vallarta-highway/#comments Tue, 31 Dec 2024 23:45:02 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=425795 The long-awaited highway will make reaching Pacific resort cities in and around Puerto Vallarta faster and easier.

The post Por fin! After 13 years, GDL-Puerto Vallarta highway project finishes appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
The long-awaited Guadalajara-Puerto Vallarta highway, which makes it easier and faster to reach the Pacific resort cities of Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas by car, is finally fully open — 13 years after work on the 310-kilometer roadway was first approved.

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.

Map showing the trajectory of the new Guadalajara-Puerto Vallarta highway in Mexico
The highway makes travel between the two cities much shorter and provides increased access to Puerto Vallarta’s airport. it is expected to increase domestic tourism in the region. (SICT)

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. 

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+

The post Por fin! After 13 years, GDL-Puerto Vallarta highway project finishes appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/puerto-vallarta-highway/feed/ 4
Foreign Affairs Ministry mourns Jimmy Carter, champion of bilateral diplomacy https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-mourns-jimmy-carter-bilateral-diplomacy/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-mourns-jimmy-carter-bilateral-diplomacy/#comments Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:46:36 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=425424 While president, Carter visited Mexico City with the aim of strengthening U.S.-Mexico relations — even speaking Spanish before Congress.

The post Foreign Affairs Ministry mourns Jimmy Carter, champion of bilateral diplomacy appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) lamented the death of former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who died at his home in Georgia on Sunday aged 100.

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.”

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.

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

The post Foreign Affairs Ministry mourns Jimmy Carter, champion of bilateral diplomacy appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-mourns-jimmy-carter-bilateral-diplomacy/feed/ 1
What to expect for the Mexican peso in 2025, according to analysts https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexican-peso-projections-2025/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexican-peso-projections-2025/#comments Mon, 30 Dec 2024 19:35:18 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=425342 How will the peso fare in 2025 after depreciating 19% in 2024? Here's what top currency analysts have to say.

The post What to expect for the Mexican peso in 2025, according to analysts appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
UBS Global Wealth Management managing director Alejo Czerwonko believes the Mexican peso will gain 4% on the US dollar in 2025, despite the currency weakening by 19% throughout 2024. 

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

Alejo Czerwonko
Alejo Czerwonko is a United States-based analyst with UBS Global Wealth Management and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2023. (WEF)

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.

A 500 Mexican peso bill and a calculator.
The Mexican peso has taken a wild ride since mid-year, returning to its pre-2023 exchange rate of 20 to the dollar. (Shutterstock)

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

The post What to expect for the Mexican peso in 2025, according to analysts appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexican-peso-projections-2025/feed/ 9
Mexico to launch ‘panic button’ for migrants in US ahead of Trump inauguration https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-to-launch-panic-button-migrants-us/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-to-launch-panic-button-migrants-us/#comments Fri, 27 Dec 2024 19:18:22 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=424597 President Sheinbaum, who has pledged to defend Mexican migrants at risk of deportation, said the "button" is expected to be available Jan. 6, 2025.

The post Mexico to launch ‘panic button’ for migrants in US ahead of Trump inauguration appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
The Mexican government announced on Friday that it is working to develop a “panic button” for migrants in the United States who think they might soon be detained by U.S. immigration authorities.

The effort involves a cellphone app created in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s warnings that he will carry out mass deportations upon taking office on Jan. 20, 2025.

Speaking at President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference on Friday, Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente said the app will allow users to press a button that immediately sends a notification to previously selected relatives and the nearest Mexican consulate. 

Describing the device as a sort of “panic button” for Mexicans in the United States, De la Fuente said small-scale testing has proven that the app “appears to be working very well.”

“The most important thing is that if someone is detained — regardless of migratory status — the consulate is informed and thus able to provide all necessary attention and protect that person’s rights,” De la Fuente said, according to the Mexican news agency Quadratín.

U.S. authorities are obliged to give notice to home-country consulates when a citizen is detained abroad, but the “panic button” would provide immediate notice to more people, expanding the web of transparency.

Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, President of Mexico, accompanied by Juan Ramón de la Fuente Ramírez, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, during a press conference at the National Palace where they highlighted migration issues.
The “panic button” would provide immediate notice of a person’s deportation to more people, expanding the web of transparency. (Andrea Murcia/Cuartoscuro)

The “panic button” allows users to choose contacts they would want to notify in case of emergency and pre-load personalized messages to each recipient. A single click would send all the messages by text in seconds.

President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has pledged to “defend” Mexican migrants at risk of deportation, said the app is expected to be available Jan. 6.

A similar app called Notifica was developed back in 2017 during Trump’s first presidential campaign in which he also spoke about mass deportations. That app is owned and published by United We Dream, an immigrant youth-led network in the United States. 

The newspaper Milenio reported that Mexico’s app is being developed with the assistance of the newly established Digital Transformation Agency

It is not yet clear if the app has a de-activation function that would allow someone to rescind an alert if they are not detained.

The Mexican government began preparing for potential mass deportations as a result of Trump’s victory in the November presidential election. 

The government has set up a 24-hour call center to answer migrants’ questions and has added to existing consular staff in the United States, including additional personnel to provide legal help to migrants caught up in the legal process related to deportation, the AP reported.

With reports from Milenio, Quadratín and El Economista

The post Mexico to launch ‘panic button’ for migrants in US ahead of Trump inauguration appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/mexico-to-launch-panic-button-migrants-us/feed/ 49
Bank of Mexico could cut interest rates by up to 50 basis points in February, deputy governor says https://mexiconewsdaily.com/business/bank-of-mexico-cut-interest-rate-50-basis-points-february-deputy-governor/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/business/bank-of-mexico-cut-interest-rate-50-basis-points-february-deputy-governor/#respond Thu, 26 Dec 2024 19:34:48 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=424225 Deputy Governor Jonathan Heath told reporters this week that growing uncertainty with regard to U.S. trade will be a key factor in the decision.

The post Bank of Mexico could cut interest rates by up to 50 basis points in February, deputy governor says appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
Mexico’s central bank may cut interest rates up to 50 basis points at its next meeting, continuing an easing cycle initiated this year as inflation began to slow, according to a deputy governor at the Bank of Mexico.

Deputy Governor Jonathan Heath told reporters this week that growing uncertainty with regard to U.S. trade, in conjunction with ratings agencies’ outlooks and Mexico’s economic prospects at the time of the Feb. 6 meeting, will influence the final decision.

“If Trump doesn’t announce a major disruption (in his inauguration speech) on Jan. 20, if inflation is in line with projections and as long as there’s no unanticipated shock, discussion prior to the February decision could be between cutting the benchmark rate by 25 to 50 basis points,” Heath said in a written response to questions on Monday.

The central bank lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points five times in 2024, but said after its last meeting on Dec. 19 — in which it reduced the rate to 10% — that it was open to larger cuts.

“In view of the progress on disinflation, larger downward adjustments could be considered in some meetings, albeit maintaining a restrictive stance,” the bank said in a post-meeting statement, according to the news agency Reuters.

The statement also referenced the Mexican peso’s volatility amid “the possibility of measures that could weaken integration with our main trading partner.”

Bank of Mexico facade
Though inflation is down, growing uncertainty related to Mexico-U.S. trade could impact the final rate decision. (Archive)

Heath mentioned the possibility of tariffs on U.S. imports from Mexico as one cause of uncertainty. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to levy a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico if more action is not taken to curb the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States, and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum responded that she would impose reciprocal tariffs.

Economic growth is another concern. Analysts polled by the central bank expect the Mexican economy to grow just 1.12% in 2025, from around 1.6% this year, Reuters reported.

In the face of this uncertainty, Heath said it is “reasonable” to speculate that the benchmark interest rate will end 2025 between 8% and 8.5%, a real possibility if aggressive action is taken at the bank’s February meeting.

Though a 50-basis-point cut is possible at the next meeting, any decision by the central bank board is unlikely to be unanimous, Heath said, as other deputy governors differ on the speed and size of rate cuts to bring inflation back within its 3% target.

The 25-basis-point cut at the December meeting was unanimous, but Heath himself was the sole dissident during the bank’s September meeting at which the other five board members moved to cut the rate to 10.50%.

Heath, in an early October podcast with bank Banorte, said that even though core inflation is inching toward its target, the need to keep rates high still persisted.

As it is, the bank projects that headline inflation will fall to 3.8% by the end of next year, slowing from the 4.6% projected at the end of this month.

Looking ahead, Heath said this week that if Mexico is not hit with any negative shocks, inflation should come to within 3% by the third quarter of 2026.

With reports from Reuters, El Financiero and El Economista

The post Bank of Mexico could cut interest rates by up to 50 basis points in February, deputy governor says appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/business/bank-of-mexico-cut-interest-rate-50-basis-points-february-deputy-governor/feed/ 0
Poll: Mexicans divided regarding idea of US intervention against cartels https://mexiconewsdaily.com/politics/trump-cartels-mexico-terrorist/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/politics/trump-cartels-mexico-terrorist/#comments Tue, 24 Dec 2024 21:40:24 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=423776 A new Reforma poll revealed that 46% of Mexican respondents supported Mexico working with the U.S. to combat cartel violence.

The post Poll: Mexicans divided regarding idea of US intervention against cartels appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
As Mexicans continue to debate whether or not U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is really planning a military invasion of Mexico, a new snap poll by the Mexican newspaper Reforma revealed this week that a surprising 46% of respondents had a favorable view of Mexico collaborating with the U.S. to fight Mexico’s drug cartels.  

A soldier in combat fatigues pours aa large plastic container of gasoline over several large stacked bales of marijuana, in preparation for incineration.
A member of Mexico’s military in Apodaca, Nuevo León, earlier this month, readying to incinerate over 950 kilograms of illicit drugs confiscated from Mexican cartels. (Gabriela Pérez Montiel/Cuartoscuro)

It’s worth noting, however, that an additional 50% told Reforma that they opposed such an idea. But the results of Reforma’s poll have made headlines in Mexico and suggest that a significant number of Mexicans are dissatisfied enough with their own country’s performance in combatting cartel violence that they would consider outside help. 

When asked “What’s the best way the U.S. can help Mexico fight insecurity?” nearly two-thirds opted for “a collaborative scheme relying on joint operations,” while 24% chose “undercover operations by U.S. security agencies.”

To a third question — “How do you rate Mexico’s efforts to combat insecurity in your city?” — 47% responded “very bad,” 37% said “very good” and 12% conceded that the government’s security policy was “just OK.”

The Los Angeles Times newspaper reported Monday that many Mexicans lament U.S. intervention in security matters and blame the U.S. for advocating using Mexico’s military to fight drug cartels, a strategy that has produced shocking violence levels in Mexico.

However, the Times also said that many Mexicans have lost confidence in Mexican law enforcement and its suspected links to organized crime. Therefore, the paper said, Mexicans might welcome U.S. troops.

While President Claudia Sheinbaum insists that Trump’s comments weren’t an implied threat (“He never mentioned anything about an invasion. Not once,” she said on Monday, according to the newspaper La Jornada), her government is not taking Trump’s comments lightly.

“Designating cartels as terrorist organizations would be a strategic error with unpredictable consequences for both countries,” a senior official at the Mexican Embassy in the U.S. told the newspaper El País on Monday.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum standing at the presidential podium during a press conference at the National Palace emphasizing her point with a hand up and her thumb and forefinger pressed together in an oval.
President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters Monday that Donald Trump has never mentioned the idea of a Mexico invasion in any of their conversations and that his comments Sunday were not an implied threat. (Mario Jasso/Cuartoscuro)

Former Mexican ambassador to the United States, Gerónimo Gutiérrez, also weighed in, saying any U.S. military action in Mexico “would set the relationship between the two countries back three decades.”

Some opposition politicians in Mexico, however, are of a different mind.

In early October, lawmakers from the conservative National Action Party (PAN) proposed Mexico designate cartels as terrorist organizations

Critics slammed the PAN at the time for “providing the United States with permission” to invade Mexico, though Pablo Girault Ruiz — a director of the NGO Mexico United Against Crime — soft-pedaled that notion.

“They aren’t going to ask permission,” Girault told the newspaper El Economista Monday. “If they decide cartels are terrorists and authority is granted to pursue them anywhere in the world, there’s not much we can do.”

“I would not be surprised to wake up one day to an American missile hitting a meth lab in Badiraguato (Sinaloa). It could happen,” academic and political columnist Carlos Pérez-Ricart told El Pais.

At her Monday press conference, Sheinbaum compared the PAN to the 19th-century Mexican conservatives who welcomed a Hapsburg monarch to rule Mexico — Maximilian I, installed by France in 1864 with conservatives’ help — and celebrated a French invasion.

“It’s the same today,” she said, labeling it an embarrassment. “How can someone celebrate another country invading Mexico?”

With reports from Los Angeles Times, El Economista, Radio Fórmula, El País and Rolling Stone

The post Poll: Mexicans divided regarding idea of US intervention against cartels appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/politics/trump-cartels-mexico-terrorist/feed/ 38
Trump promises to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations: Sheinbaum responds https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/trump-mexican-cartels-terrorist-organizations/ https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/trump-mexican-cartels-terrorist-organizations/#comments Mon, 23 Dec 2024 22:08:37 +0000 https://mexiconewsdaily.com/?p=423493 President Sheinbaum responded with forceful rhetoric to the announcement, which would open the door to U.S. intervention in Mexico.

The post Trump promises to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations: Sheinbaum responds appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
After U.S. President-elect Donald Trump declared he would designate Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations on his first day in office, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters Mexico would never accept any interventionist actions.

“We will collaborate with and coordinate with the United States,” Sheinbaum said in response, “but we will never subordinate ourselves.”

During a Sunday speech to conservative supporters, Trump — who takes office on Jan. 20, 2025 — said he would address illegal drugs on his first day in office, according to the newspaper El País.

“All foreign gang members will be expelled and I will immediately designate the [drug] cartels as foreign terrorist organizations,” Trump said, adding that every cartel “operating on American soil will be dismantled, deported and destroyed.”

Trump also mentioned his November phone call with Sheinbaum, after he had threatened to levy 25% tariffs on Mexico unless more is done to solve the problems of immigration and drug trafficking.

Calling Sheinbaum “a lovely woman,” Trump told the AmericaFest crowd that he was very tough on Mexico, saying he insisted the Mexican president must do more to address the drug trade.

Trump can be seen as a small figure on a large stage, surrounded by screens with American flags
U.S. President-elect Trump comes on stage at AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, where he announced plans to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations. (Turning Point USA/X)

Trump floated the idea of a terrorist designation during his first term in office back in 2019, but set plans aside at the request of Sheinbaum’s predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who sought to cooperate in the fight against drug gangs, instead of considering intervention.

For several years, hard-liners in the United States have demanded that organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel be labeled as terrorist groups. These supporters would also back targeted attacks on cartel operations in Mexico in violation of international law, El País reported.

Officially designating cartels as terrorist organizations would legally permit the United States to send its military into Mexico to fight the crime gangs, the newspaper El Universal reported. Some U.S. officials believe such a measure would damage relations with Mexico and hinder the Mexican government’s fight against drug trafficking.

After saying she would defend Mexico’s sovereignty against any interventionist actions, Sheinbaum restated her government’s position on the drug war.

“The drugs are consumed [in the United States], the guns [the cartels use] come from there, and lives are lost down here,” she said. “But … we don’t accept interference in our country.”

Sheinbaum added that her administration is working to re-establish peace in Mexico by addressing the root causes of violence so that the country’s youth do not become involved in crime.

With reports from Por Esto, Reuters, El Universal, El País and Reforma

The post Trump promises to designate Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations: Sheinbaum responds appeared first on Mexico News Daily

]]>
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/trump-mexican-cartels-terrorist-organizations/feed/ 81