Mexico is about to finish one of the longest bridges in Latin America

If you’ve been to Cancun, it’s very likely that you’ve been through the same thing: short trips that take much longer than expected, especially when it’s time cross towards the hotel zone. The city depends largely on a connection that, at peak times or in high season, becomes a bottleneck that is difficult to avoid. That is the problem that Mexican authorities have been trying to alleviate for years. Now, everything indicates that the answer is close to materializing with the Nichupté Vehicular Bridgean infrastructure that seeks to offer a direct alternative and significantly reduce travel times. The answer to this problem is not only a distant promise, but a work that is approaching its final phase. According to the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), the Nichupté Vehicular Bridge is in his last works and the most recent official forecast places its opening towards the end of April. In this final section, the work focuses on verifying that the structure responds as expected, with load tests of up to 150 tons and vibration measurements using accelerographs. A new access to alleviate the Cancun bottleneck To understand the scope of the work, it is advisable to stop at its dimensions, which are not always clearly explained. The infrastructure adds 11.2 kilometers in total: 8.8 km correspond to the bridge over the lagoon and 2.4 km to the junctions at both ends. According to the SICT, this is the key difference between the complete work and the section that directly crosses the Nichupté lagoon system. Added to this are three traffic lanes, one of them reversible, as well as a 103-meter metal arch and a cycle path. Beyond its dimensions, the key is how it is integrated into the real mobility of the city. The new route will connect the Boulevard Luis Donaldo Colosio with the Kukulcan Boulevardtwo essential points to access the hotel zone, one of the main tourist and traffic hubs of Cancun. This connection, those responsible explain, would make it possible to reduce journeys that today can take up to an hour and a half to just about 10 minutes, an estimate that should be understood as the objective of the project. Furthermore, the infrastructure is planned as an alternative route in emergency situations, something especially relevant in an area exposed to natural phenomena. The scope of the work is also measured by who it aims to impact. According to data from the Government of Mexicothe bridge is designed to benefit more than 1.3 million inhabitants of the region, in addition to the more than 20 million tourists who visit Cancun every year. Regarding the expected traffic, the official figures have not been entirely uniform: in November 2025 the SICT spoke of an annual average daily traffic of 12,612 vehicles, while in January 2026 it raised that forecast to 20 thousand. Added to this is its impact during construction, with around 51 thousand direct and indirect jobs generated, according to the secretariat itself. But not everything is reduced to mobility and travel times. The passage of the bridge through the Nichupté lagoon system introduces a delicate variable, that of the impact on a sensitive ecological environment. The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation maintains that the project has been developed under 10 programs and 25 environmental subprograms focused on mitigating this effect. In that framework 306 hectares of mangrove have been restoredrehabilitated 118 hectares of seagrasses and relocated more than 2,100 specimens of fauna, in addition to rescuing native vegetation. Cancun has been living for years with an obvious limitation in its mobility, especially in access to its most touristic area, and that pressure has only grown over time. He Nichupté Vehicular Bridge It is proposed as one of the most ambitious responses to this problem, both due to its scale and the role it aspires to play in the day-to-day life of the city. With the work in its final phase and an opening scheduled for the end of April according to the most recent official communication, it will soon be possible to verify to what extent it meets the expectations that have accompanied the project since its conception. Images | Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation / SICT Quintana Roo Center In Xataka | China has already conquered the cargo ship industry: now it has begun to compete in the mega-cruise ship industry

Mexico is about to finish one of the longest bridges in Latin America

If you’ve been to Cancun, it’s very likely that you’ve been through the same thing: short trips that take much longer than expected, especially when it’s time cross towards the hotel zone. The city depends largely on a connection that, at peak times or in high season, becomes a bottleneck that is difficult to avoid. That is the problem that Mexican authorities have been trying to alleviate for years. Now, everything indicates that the answer is close to materializing with the Nichupté Vehicular Bridgean infrastructure that seeks to offer a direct alternative and significantly reduce travel times. The answer to this problem is not only a distant promise, but a work that is approaching its final phase. According to the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), the Nichupté Vehicular Bridge is in his last works and the most recent official forecast places its opening towards the end of April. In this final section, the work focuses on verifying that the structure responds as expected, with load tests of up to 150 tons and vibration measurements using accelerographs. A new access to alleviate the Cancun bottleneck To understand the scope of the work, it is advisable to stop at its dimensions, which are not always clearly explained. The infrastructure adds 11.2 kilometers in total: 8.8 km correspond to the bridge over the lagoon and 2.4 km to the junctions at both ends. According to the SICT, this is the key difference between the complete work and the section that directly crosses the Nichupté lagoon system. Added to this are three traffic lanes, one of them reversible, as well as a 103-meter metal arch and a cycle path. Beyond its dimensions, the key is how it is integrated into the real mobility of the city. The new route will connect the Boulevard Luis Donaldo Colosio with the Kukulcan Boulevardtwo essential points to access the hotel zone, one of the main tourist and traffic hubs of Cancun. This connection, those responsible explain, would make it possible to reduce journeys that today can take up to an hour and a half to just about 10 minutes, an estimate that should be understood as the objective of the project. Furthermore, the infrastructure is planned as an alternative route in emergency situations, something especially relevant in an area exposed to natural phenomena. The scope of the work is also measured by who it aims to impact. According to data from the Government of Mexicothe bridge is designed to benefit more than 1.3 million inhabitants of the region, in addition to the more than 20 million tourists who visit Cancun every year. Regarding the expected traffic, the official figures have not been entirely uniform: in November 2025 the SICT spoke of an annual average daily traffic of 12,612 vehicles, while in January 2026 it raised that forecast to 20 thousand. Added to this is its impact during construction, with around 51 thousand direct and indirect jobs generated, according to the secretariat itself. But not everything is reduced to mobility and travel times. The passage of the bridge through the Nichupté lagoon system introduces a delicate variable, that of the impact on a sensitive ecological environment. The Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation maintains that the project has been developed under 10 programs and 25 environmental subprograms focused on mitigating this effect. In that framework 306 hectares of mangrove have been restoredrehabilitated 118 hectares of seagrasses and relocated more than 2,100 specimens of fauna, in addition to rescuing native vegetation. Cancun has been living for years with an obvious limitation in its mobility, especially in access to its most touristic area, and that pressure has only grown over time. He Nichupté Vehicular Bridge It is proposed as one of the most ambitious responses to this problem, both due to its scale and the role it aspires to play in the day-to-day life of the city. With the work in its final phase and an opening scheduled for the end of April according to the most recent official communication, it will soon be possible to verify to what extent it meets the expectations that have accompanied the project since its conception. Images | Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation / SICT Quintana Roo Center In Xataka | China has already conquered the cargo ship industry: now it has begun to compete in the mega-cruise ship industry

Mexico is developing its first electric car and Puebla has the responsibility of delivering it: Olinia

Mexico has a plan: the ‘Mexico Plan‘. It is the roadmap to attract investment and develop industries such as biotechnology, that of semiconductors either that of electric cars. With tariffs, Mexico has realized that it must depend more on itself, and Olinia will be a way to achieve this. It is the name of a family of ‘Made in Mexico’ electric cars that was put on the table last year as part of that ambitious plan. And it needs -a lot- of money to get started. The plan. In Mexico there is a beastly infrastructure to create cars. In fact, the United States bought thousands of units of those cars manufactured in Mexico each year. However, Trump’s latest policies They convinced some manufacturers to move to American soil. That made the Sheinbaum government realize that they need their own industry to achieve technological sovereignty, and Olinia was the answer. in language nahuatl“olinia” means “to move”, and is the name of a family made up of three types of 100% electric and cheap vehicles: A small one for the personal mobility of young people and taking their children to school, as an alternative to buying a motorcycle. One for mobility in the neighborhood. One for last mile merchandise delivery companies. Puebla. During these last few months the development of the car has been moving, but recently we have had two interesting developments. The first is the manufacturing area. Puebla aimed to be, due to some plants they had, a systems supplier for the Olinia. The Technological Institute of Puebla would be in charge of some tasks, such as design, but now everything will take shape there. It will be one of the 60 technological innovation projects that will be developed in Puebla over the coming months, but it is evident that Olinia is the most visible piece of the strategy. The Government stated that the project is very advanced, but that we will have to wait until June for the launch of two prototypes. The car platform show me the pasta. This is not only a boost for Puebla in the particular struggle with Jalisco and Sonora to become the spearhead of the Mexican technology sector, but a declaration of intentions. It seems that the car is closer than we think and that commercial goal set in 2027 will be met. But something fundamental will be financing. Olinia is a program backed by public money (scarce so far, according to Bloomberg), but it is already noted that a few more million from private capital will be needed for it to see the light. At least, another 200 million dollars What the Government is looking for to be able to produce these first models in something that they describe as “a common practice in the market when talking about relations between governments and automobile companies.” Lithium. Little by little, Olinia is taking shape and phases of development are being completed. The intention is for them to be short-range cars for short-distance urban trips, but beyond the issue of financing, there is something on the horizon that could put a brake on the Mexican electric car: lithium. Because Mexico has some of the most important lithium reservesbeing a crucial component for the batteries of any device, but it is not produced on an industrial scale. And if it wants to be technologically and economically sovereign, perhaps the focus should be on discovering how to achieve a stable production of lithium and other critical minerals. In Xataka | The United States knows it has a problem with rare earths from China. And he believes he has an alternative: Mexico

BYD sales are sinking in China, so its plans now go through two countries: Mexico and Argentina

BYD has its eye on America. At the moment, its entry into the United States is almost impossible but its expansion plan not only targets the country that has tried to build a wall against Chinese car manufacturers. The Chinese company has set its sights on Canada. But also further south, in Mexico. And much further south, in Argentina, with a project that crosses the entire continent. 100,000 cars. According to Stella Li, vice president of BYD worldwide, the volume of cars that Mexico and Argentina have claimed that the Brazilian factory exports to them. According to Chinese media, this volume of orders is distributed equally, with 50,000 cars for each country. The export order for the Brazilian factory demonstrates the growing interest in both countries for BYD plug-in vehicles. He’s not the only one. In Brazil alone, BYD sold 113,000 cars last year, making the country the country that bought the most cars from the company outside of China. A factory is key. Since last summer, BYD is producing cars in Brazil with a clear focus for South America. There it produces the BYD Dolphin Mini (what we know in Europe as BYD Dolphin Surf) and will share facilities with the BYD Song Pro and BYD King, plug-in hybrid options. The plant, which started with controversy after working conditions close to slavery will be reported During its construction, it has the current objective of producing 150,000 cars each year but is capable of expanding the volume to 600,000 cars per year. The investment, therefore, is strong. At the moment, production has begun in the SKD version, with kits that arrive partially assembled, as is happening in Barcelona with the Chery Group, but according to BYD The goal is for production to be completely local over the years. From Mexico to Argentina. In Bloomberg They explain that the plant will be the central industrial hub of the entire continent for BYD. The company started with a production of 150,000 cars per year and planned to expand its capacity with a second phase to 300,000 cars. However, last October they announced that they plan to double this figure and reach 600,000 cars manufactured per year. Expansive plans in America are key for BYD. The company is seeing its sales slow down in the local market. In China, the State has withdrawn aid to the purchase of “new energy” vehicles (plug-in hybrids and electric), which directly impacts a company like BYD that has no other alternative in its range. Added to this is that the State has been trying for years to mobilize local consumption, which declines without this aid. The news coming from outside China indicates in Blomberghave been good news for the company whose shares have begun to rebound after a sustained fall. The Mexico case. Looking ahead to its expansion, BYD has set its sights on Mexico. In fact, Chinese manufacturers have been gaining great popularity in the country. enough so that the Government, in a clear nod to the United States, has raised some 50% tariffs on these cars. A strategy that, for the moment, has been unsuccessful in its first stages because These companies had already exported cars in very high volumes. However, BYD has the best tool in Brazil to continue selling in Mexico. Both countries have a special treaty that allows them to take cars from one country to another without paying tariffs along the way. The company planned to build a factory in Mexico which, in addition, he wanted to use as a back door for shipping cars to the United States. With the closure of this border and the tariffs already imposed on Chinese cars (and those to come)BYD ended by throw away your plans. The Argentina case. As we said, Mexico and Brazil are not the only two attractive markets for BYD. Argentina has become another vein that, supposedly, has demanded the importation of 50,000 Chinese cars. In Infobae They point out that this figure is equivalent to 10% of Argentina’s annual vehicle production. Until now, the Argentine market has been highly regulated in its imports but it has opened up. This has increased imports by 97%, making it more important than ever for companies to export outside their borders. (90% of them already do it). However, they are seeing how the reception capacity in countries like Peru or Ecuador is lower because Chinese vehicles are also beginning to enter these markets. At the moment, tariff-free imports to Argentina are based on quotas. Quotas that, of course, They are 50,000 units which are exactly the ones that BYD plans to send to the country from Brazil. An eye on Europe. But, in addition, the Chinese company says it is not only interested in America. In presenting all these figures, BYD also assured that it had one eye on Europe. And with him progressive link between Mercosur and Europeit will be easier to import cars to Europe economically. It remains to be seen, however, if BYD is compensated for the efforts it has to make in terms of homologation to bring cars from Brazil. And tariffs are one thing and security obligations are quite another. Despite this, the company may have an opportunity if it manufactures pick-up for America, widely purchased in the region but with very low performance in Europe, so it can compensate for its exports so as not to have to dedicate specific assembly lines in our soil for a marginal type of vehicle. Photo | Jimmy WooBYD and Nicolas Flor In Xataka | Spain has a new brand of Chinese cars and it arrives with an ambitious plan: “Five million units by 2030”

Mexico has placed impossible tariffs on Chinese cars. What they didn’t imagine was that the cars were already there.

Export to buckets. That was China’s goal in 2025 towards Mexico. Alerted by the enormous tariffs that the country was going to impose, as it has been, Chinese manufacturers have done everything possible to be faster than the Government. Now, exporting a car to Mexico from China is unfeasible. But the Chinese cars arrived months ago. taxes. Was a 20% tariff on Chinese cars too little? Mexico believes so and that is why, since January 2026, it has been applying a new 50% tariff on imports of products arriving from countries with which it does not have trade agreements. Come on, what Chinese cars now have to pay 50% tariffs to enter Mexico. The measure, explained in Motorpasión Mexico has a bit of a protectionist flavor compared to China or India (the latter country has Mexico as the third country to which it sends the most cars). But, above all, It has a lot of nods to the United Stateswith whom Mexico has a special trade agreement that has been at risk since Donald Trump returned to the White House. when you go. I will tell an anecdote from the writing of Xataka. In our Slack we have a reaction from Chenoa to point out to someone that we were already contemplating writing on a topic that he now proposes to us again. You know: “when you go…”. And that is what has happened to Mexico with China. Manufacturers, alarmed by the possibility of tariffs being raised in their country of origin (as has finally happened) began to send all the cars they could to Mexico. The result: 625,187 cars exported to Mexico in one year. They have done “a Chenoa” to Mexico. one in three. To understand the magnitude of exports, according to data from the China Passenger Car AssociationMexico is the country to which China exported the most cars in 2025. These more than 625,000 vehicles surpassed those purchased by Russia (582,738 units), which has serious difficulties in obtaining vehicles from abroad. The United Arab Emirates, with 571,937 cars imported from China, was the third country that received the most cars. The figure is enormous. And in Mexico around 1.5 million cars are bought a year. That is, if in 2026 each and every one of the cars exported by China were sold, in 2025 we would be talking about one in every three sales in the country being from Chinese manufacturers. How many are available? Those exports, of course, leave a pool of cheap cars in stock so the impact of Chinese cars on the market will continue to be felt for some time. It must be taken into account that it is calculated that China had already taken 15% market share. The storage of these cars, everything indicates, guarantees that Chinese brands continue selling at the same rate throughout the year. They point out in Motorpasión Mexico In 2025, it is estimated that Mexicans will buy just over 400,000 cars of Chinese origin. The only question is how many of them belong to the more than 630,000 cars imported last year and how much is the stock since a part of them must have been imported into the country in 2024. Photo | aboodi vesakaran and BYD In Xataka | Japan has been charging a 0% tariff on foreign cars for half a century. It will be very difficult for you to find one on the street.

The US has been looking from space for years at a huge brown ribbon in the Atlantic that goes from Mexico to Africa that should not be there

The blue planet looks very different from space. We have internalized things like that the Chinese Wall is seen and it is not true: what is appreciated They are the greenhouses of Almería. Or a great old man desknown as the Great Dam of Zimbabwe. And for a few years now, NASA satellites they have been registering the presence of a brown stripe that extends across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not a big brown island or a continent, but it looks like it. What is that “brown continent”. It is a mass of brown algae that, according to research from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Florida Atlantic University in whose last record It weighed 37.5 million tons and surpasses the 8,000 kilometers in length, more than from New York to Madrid. And it has a name: the Great Sargassum Belt. Context. He pelagic sargassum It is a seaweed that historically has always lived confined to the Sargasso Sea. However, since 2011 NASA has been documenting its expansion into the open sea until what it is now: a brown strip that by the end of 2024 left the Gulf of Mexico and spread until it reached the coasts of West Africa. This phenomenon is actually a huge accumulation of algae that reappears almost every year with one exception: 2013. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is bigger than ever: evolution documented by NASA Why is it important. Because this stratospheric mass of algae is not only spectacular from a visual point of view: it has repercussions on the marine ecosystem, destroys beaches and even contributes to accelerating climate change. It is also an ecological alarm signal for the Atlantic. According to Dr. Brian Lapointelead author of the review of changes in pelagic sargassum and professor at FAU Harbor Branch, explains that it even caused the emergency shutdown of a Florida nuclear power plant in 1991. Why are they growing like foam?. Lapointe and his team have been investigating the evolution since the 1980s and have found that the nitrogen content in brown algae has increased by 55% between 1980 and 2020; the nitrogen/phosphorus ratio also increased by 50%. This change has occurred because brown algae no longer only feed on natural nutrients from the ocean, but also receive nitrogen and phosphorus from land thanks to human activity, such as agricultural runoff or wastewater discharge. The result is uncontrolled growth. Sargassum is transported by ocean currents, especially in floods from the Amazon, towards the Atlantic. There it thrives thanks to that extra supply of nutrients. An unaesthetic and harmful stain. Brown algae per se are not harmful and in fact, they serve as habitat for different species. However, its enormous presence has altered the ecosystem. Upon reaching the coasts, they begin to decompose, thus releasing hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that damages coral reefs, reduces the oxygen present and emits greenhouse gases. What can we do. In short: stop feeding them. After this exhaustive monitoring, the research team warns that humans should reduce nutrient runoff from the coast since, if this continues, more Great Sargassum Belts could appear throughout the ocean. In Xataka | The brutal floods facing Portugal and western Spain, seen from space In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space Cover | POT

A single company is going to buy 20% of all the footwear manufactured in Mexico. Their goal: confront China

These are not easy times for the footwear industry in Mexico, a sector that generates tens of thousands of jobs, moves million-dollar investments and has its headquarters in the state of Guanajuato. main bastion. In a market highly conditioned by Asian competition, the local industry has experienced setbacks and job lossstaying far below of its production capacity. With this backdrop, the sector has received curious news: a single Mexican company is willing to buy 20% of all national production. Shoe addict. Grupo Coppel is a heavyweight in the Mexican economy. He holding companywhich a year ago announced its plans to invest almost 700 million of dollars in the country throughout 2025, has a long experience in the financial services and retail sector, with hundreds of points sales distributed throughout the country. All in all (and despite its enormous size), it is surprising the advertisement what it just did: in 2026 the company plans to buy no more and no less than 42 million pairs of shoes produced in Mexico. That’s a lot of shoes, right? Yes. To be precise, this is one million more pairs than those already purchased in 2025. However, the figure is striking for another reason. With this enormous volume of purchases, Coppel will account for a fifth (about 20%) of all formal national footwear production. The operation is part of a “strategic alliance” reached with the Chamber of the Footwear Industry of the State of Guanajuato (CICEG) and, according to calculations from the firm itself, will allow “contributing to the livelihood” of the more than 100,000 families that depend directly on the footwear industry in Guanajuato. “This alliance promotes the growth of our companies and strengthens the Mexican footwear industry in an environment of legality, transparency and respect for market rules. By choosing the formal national supplier, you contribute to the construction of a more solid and competitive sector,” celebrated a few days ago Juan Carlos Cashat, president of CICEG. For shoe manufacturers in Guanajuato, the news is a valuable breath of fresh air. Footwear ‘made in Mexico’. His output It is far from that of countries like China, India or Vietnam, but Mexico is a prominent footwear manufacturer. In fact there are rankings that place it as the tenth worldwide and second in Latin America, only behind Brazil. In 2024, the country’s companies produced around 214 million of pairs of shoes, which explains why the sector contributes million dollars to the Mexican GDP (especially in Guanajuato, the heart of the sector) and also maintain thousands of jobs. Despite this footprint, the sector has not had easy years. “The impact of the pandemic was severe. Before 2020 we had 64,000 jobs registered with the IMSS. During the pandemic that figure fell to 49,000,” recognized two years ago the CICEG. Since then the situation has changed, but the sector stay away to be at 100%. Beyond market fluctuations, the industry has had to deal with competition from low-cost merchandise from Asia. Click on the image to go to the tweet. The Government, to the rescue. The data quoted by the local press are eloquent. In 2022, Mexico imported 136.4 million pairs of footwear valued at 1,843 million dollars. Two years later, the Import Trade Balance showed that this flow had already reached 185.5 million pairs with a value of 2,163 million dollars. On average each pair cost $11.6. The problem was not so much the arrival of products manufactured in Asia as the competition it exerts on national firms, especially due to suspicions of price manipulation. To clear up doubts, the authorities responded with an investigation antidumping and in September 2025 they decided to impose a system of compensatory duties on imports from China. It was not the only support from the Government to the industry. In November the Executive advertisement a Textile and Footwear Promotion Plan to finance small and medium-sized businesses. The objective: inject around 6.5 billion dollars to improve the competitiveness of the industry and reactivate 50,000 jobs, recovering part of the lost production muscle. How does the future look? Optimistic. At least that is what the CIEG recognized in December. “Despite a challenging economic and commercial environment, the industry in Guanajuato is beginning to show signs of recovery, especially in terms of employment and productive capacity,” indicates the sectorwhich recalls that between the month of September and October it registered a small rebound in employment. The increase was modest (256), but it is the first recovery “in many years.” The employers’ association also detected a change in the international market. “Total imports remain high, with more than 141 million pairs imported from January to September 2025, although relevant progress in the fight against unfair practices stands out,” celebrates CIEG“Imports from China, corresponding to tariff items with quota, decreased by 81%.” Images | Irfan Simsar (Unsplash) and Phil Desforges (Unsplash) In Xataka | Mexico City is already noticing the economic effect of the World Cup: it is losing homes and gaining Airbnb apartments

Mexico wants to shield the ancient Mayan city of Toniná at all costs. So he has expropriated more than nine hectares

Maybe not as well known as Teotihuacan, Chichen Itza or even the neighbor Palenquebut Toniná It is one of the great archaeological treasures of Mexico. The necropolis experienced its heyday between 600 and 900 AD and today it is preserved as one of the most fascinating complexes of the Mayan area and pre-Hispanic urbanism. In fact, it is crowned by a unique pyramidal structure in the region that is taller than the famous pyramid of the sun of Teotihuacan. Therefore, to guarantee its conservation, the Mexican Government has just made a radical decision: expropriate 9.2 hectares of the environment so that they become directly dependent on the National Institute of Anthropology (INAH). What has happened? That Mexico has just shown that it is willing to pull expropriation decree to protect your assets. And he has also done it in a practical way. The Executive led by Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that the National Institute of Anthropology and History has “taken possession” of a 9.22-h property in the vicinity of the Toniná site, in the state of Chiapas. The curious thing is how that land has been obtained, until recently in private hands. The transfer has been possible thanks to a decree that gave the green light to the sale in favor of the INAH. “The action arises from a cause of public utility, promoted in December 2025 by Culture,” clarify the authorities. Why have they done it? The Executive’s objective is twofold: to facilitate the conservation and research of the environment. In the words of INAH itself, the idea is to “guarantee the optimal conditions” of the site. “Toniná is an essential part of the living history of Chiapas and Mexico. This decree protects an asset of the nation and contributes to the exercise of cultural rights through access to knowledge and historical memory,” reasons Claudia Curiel de Icaza, Secretary of Culture. The leader insists that with the measure the State reinforces its capacity to “preserve heritage, ensure its management with technical criteria and sustain conservation, restoration and research tasks.” From now on, the INAH will expand its capacity to monitor, care for and study the ancient Mayan city. Why is it important? For several reasons. Beyond the legal formula used or its advantages to protect, conserve and study the site, the measure is interesting because Mexico wants to take advantage of it to promote Toniná. “In the archaeological zone, a comprehensive reactivation program will be implemented that will create a structured route for its eventual reopening,” keep it up the INAH. In fact, one of the objectives is to promote “responsible tourism.” Click on the image to go to the tweet. Is Toniná so important? Yes. And that is another reason why the recovery of the nine hectares has generated so much expectation. Located on the border between the Mayan highlands and the lowlands, the inhabitants of ancient Toniná left a fascinating acropolis, with overlapping platforms and a pyramidal structure that archaeologists considered “unique” in the Mayan world. In fact, it surpasses in height the famous Pyramid of the Sun of Teotihuacán, 65 meters. “The richness of this archaeological zone makes it comparable to other large sites in Chiapas, such as Palenque. Its heyday goes from the year 600 to 900, within the Classic period, and it was the last witness to the decline of the so-called Old Mayan Empire,” explains the INAH. The most famous governor in its history was Tzots Choj (‘Tiger-Bat’) and its greatest archaeological treasure is offered by its acropolis and central plaza. In it we find a staircase of 260 steps, the enormous pyramidal structure and a labyrinth of temples, palaces and roads. Experts have also located an altar for sacrifices and spaces to play ball. How long have we known her? The first to tell us about Toniná was Brother Jacinto Garridoin the 17th century, but the site has continued to fascinate experts since then. During the 19th century, expeditions continued and throughout the 20th century (especially between the 1970s and 1980s) excavations intensified. It was then when the studies and conservation work carried out by the INAH were launched, which has allowed its secrets to be discovered. Despite years of study, the archaeological institute trust in which there are still surprises: “Toniná still keeps many secrets that will have to be known.” Images | Wikipedia and SC (INAH) In Xataka | The Mayan Train has become a nightmare for Mexico: what seemed like a great plan has run into justice

A teenager in Mexico created a Hombres G fan website in 1998, with the band already separated. 9 years later they filled Las Ventas

In 1998, Mexican Francisco Romero was 15 years old, had a new computer and a school assignment to complete. Looking for the best grade, he created a website about his favorite group: Hombres G, a Spanish band that by then was already dissolved. What began as an academic exercise ended up becoming the band’s first digital fan community, with thousands of members spread around the world. And it was also the trigger that convinced David Summers and his team to return to the stage. How it all started. In 1998, having internet at home in Mexico was not common: just a marginal fraction (2-3%) of the Mexican population had access to the network under these conditions. Even so, Francisco Romero, a teenager who had just gotten his first computer, embarked on completing a school project in which students were asked to create a web page. Romero chose the Hombres G as the subject of his project. He had arrived at the Madrid group, which had already been dissolved for five years, through friends from high school. And since finding documentation about the band was difficult (there were only two pages about Hombres G on the internet), he decided to create a community. Meeting point. The web, as Romero himself explainswas titled Club ‘We’re still crazy… so what?’, in reference to ‘We’re crazy… or what?’ title of one of the group’s first albums. The success was immediate: in its first five months, it received hundreds of requests from Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Peru and Japan (in times before algorithms and search engines crashed). They wrote to him, above all, from fans who had not had a space to talk about the band for years, to which they had not stopped listening since the last album they had released in 1993, ‘Bikini history‘. The contact. At the end of 2000an anonymous user left him a complimentary message on the page, to which Romero responded politely. Three days later, another message arrived from the same sender, who turned out to be one of the band’s two guitarists: “Please don’t give out my email, I’m Dani Mezquita.” Later they established telephone contact, which ended up leading to more frequent conversations. The significant fact: Mezquita was then working as marketing director at DRO East West, the Warner Music label that released almost all of the band’s albums. From his position he had noticed something: at the end of 2000, a compilation of Hombres G was the third best-selling album in Mexico at that time. A group without activity, without tour, without active label, without a single public appearance in years. That is, they had an active and completely underserved fan base. With these data on the table, and as told in the documentary ‘The Best Years of Our Life’ (released in theaters scheduled for April 30), the members met and proposed a modest return, with three or four concerts in Mexico. It gets out of hand. From there the expectation skyrockets. The reunification tour ended adding 70 performances during 2002 and 2003including a concert in Las Ventas before 20,000 people and several cities in Latin America and the United States. The album that accompanied the comeback, ‘Dangerous Together’, was initially released only in America, which says a lot about where the weight of the comeback was leaning. When he arrived in Spain he ended up obtaining the Platinum Record. In gratitude for Romero’s importance in this return, he has continued working continuously with the band from Mexico. And so we come to the present: on April 25, 2025, Men G performed before more than 60,000 people at the GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City. All within the framework of a tour titled ‘Thank you, Mexico Tour’. A name that makes it clear to what extent the very survival of the group is owed to a modest student from the city. In Xataka | Three millennia of pop: the oldest song in the world is 3,400 years old and we can still hear it

After 16 years, Mexico has managed to get a millionaire to pay his taxes. And they are going to use them to help young people

One of the richest men in Mexico has been litigating for two decades to avoid paying what he owes to the treasury. In an unexpected turn of events, that money that was owed has ended up financing scholarships, soccer fields and cultural centers for young people at risk of falling into drug trafficking violenceat least that is what the Mexican Government has assured. President Claudia Sheinbaum has presented the social program “Young People Transforming Mexico” aimed at distancing young people from the influence of drug trafficking networks. During the explanation of the measures that includes the program, the president was very direct about the origin of the project’s financing: “Where does this resource come from? All this resource for young people, well, from the payment of a person who finally paid his taxes.” Sheinbaum was not referring to just any citizen, it was a direct reference to businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, owner of TV Azteca, Elektra and Banco Azteca, who at the end of January settled the largest individual tax debt in the history of Mexico. The largest payment in Mexican tax history The conflict between Salinas Pliego and the Tax Administration Service (SAT) dates back to 2009, when the Treasury concluded that the Elektra Group, owned by Mexican millionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, with a estimated fortune at $5.8 billion, it had declared non-existent tax losses to artificially reduce its bill between 2008 and 2013. As explained in the specialized medium LexLatinFor 16 years, the businessman used a strategy of systematic delay, filing appeals in multiple judicial instances and requesting recusals of judges in order to prolong the lawsuits that demanded payment of his tax debt. In the Supreme Court alone, the seven main trials generated 100 secondary processes, the majority at the initiative of the Salinas Group. The turning point came in October 2025, when Congress approved a reform of the Amparo Lawwhich limited the possibility of challenging already final tax rulings. In November, the Supreme Court used this new law to resolve the seven trials, confirming sanctions of more than 48,000 million pesos (about 2,367 million euros), including one of more than 33,000 million pesos (about 1,627 million euros) from the 2013 fiscal year. What began in 2009 as the claim of a tax debt of about 38,000 million pesos (around 1,874 million euros) had already exceeded 74,000 million pesos (about 3,649 million euros) due to accumulated interests, surcharges and penalties. On January 29, 2026, Salinas Pliego made a first disbursement of its tax debt with a payment of 10,400 million pesos (about 513 million euros), which were deposited that same day into the Treasury. The total debt finally recognized has amounted to 32,132 million pesos (the equivalent of 1,584 million euros), with the remaining balance to be settled in 18 monthly payments. This final amount represents a discount with respect to the 51,000 million pesos (about 2,515 million euros) that the Mexican treasury had initially set, since Salinas Pliego took advantage of the benefits of the Tax Code, which in this case represented a 37% reduction of the debt through voluntary payment. As and how I collected The CountrySheinbaum He did not hide his satisfaction after knowing the sentence. “It is the largest payment that has ever been made for a case of this type. And it is really good that he decided to pay it!” The president recalled that “for many years, based on negotiations and agreements, taxes were not paid. When President Andrés Manuel López Obrador arrived, the remission of taxes was prohibited in the Constitution.” A plan against youth violence As Sheinbaum pointed out at the presentation event, the money collected from taxes owed for years by one of the largest fortunes in Mexico was going to be used to finance the program “Young People Transforming Mexico“. This project includes the construction of new educational facilities, more places in secondary and higher education, as well as the expansion of the Gertrudis Bocanegra Scholarship for one million students. In the sports field, 4,208 football fields will be rehabilitated, 100 community centers will be created in high violence areas with capacity for 1,000 young people each, offering sports, cultural workshops, mental health and addiction prevention. The objective of all these measures is to offer educational opportunities, social support and leisure to prevent young people at risk of social exclusion and without professional opportunities from falling into the networks of the Mexican drug cartels. “That young people stop any activity that has to do with criminal groups,” the president stated Mexican. In Xataka | The chances of two superyachts colliding are few, but never zero: “You won’t believe it, but our yacht was hit” Image | Wikimedia Commons (JGTorresH), Unsplash (Jesus Herrera)

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