Category Archives: Mexico

Chicago teen who pushed for parents’ release from ICE custody dies of cancer

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Kevin González, 18-year-old who had terminal colon cancer, died shortly after reuniting with his parents in Mexico

A Chicago-born teen who advocated for his parents’ release from US immigration authorities’ custody while fighting terminal cancer has died shortly after reuniting with them in Mexico, his family has told media outlets.

The parents of 18-year-old Kevin González had been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in Arizona in mid-April after they crossed the US border from Mexico without permission in an attempt to see him in Chicago as his health waned. González since then traveled to be with relatives in Mexico, and in recent days he had publicly pleaded for them to be released from ICE custody so they could be with him as he battled metastatic stage four colon cancer.

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Up to 2cm a month: Nasa keeps track as Mexico City sinks into the ground

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Powerful radar system is providing new data on city’s subsidence, which experts hope will draw more attention to it

Walking into Mexico City’s sprawling central Zócalo is a dizzying experience. At one end of the plaza, the capital’s cathedral, with its soaring spires, slumps in one direction. An attached church, known as the Metropolitan Sanctuary, tilts in the other. The nearby National Palace also seems off-kilter.

The teetering of many of the capital’s historic buildings is the most visible sign of a phenomenon that has been ongoing for more than a century: Mexico City is sinking at an alarming rate.

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Mexico nightclub’s $300 cover charge for US citizens captures popular mood

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Owner of Japan nightclub says ‘This is a response to a year of insults directed at us – as a country – by the United States’

A Mexico City nightclub has gone viral for charging Americans a nearly $300 cover charge, while citizens from any other country pay just $20 for access, and Mexicans and other Latin Americans pay only $14.

The Instagram announcement from the nightclub Japan in the Roma Norte neighborhood has been liked over 26,000 times and received more than 200 comments, mostly supporting the policy as part of a broader revolt in the capital against what many see as a US takeover.

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Mexico warns US involvement in anti-drug operation should not be repeated

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Claudia Sheinbaum says Mexico was not aware of US participation until four officials were killed in car crash

Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, said on Monday that her government told the United States, in a diplomatic note, that the unauthorized presence of US officials at an anti-narcotics operation in the northern state of Chihuahua should not be repeated.

The incident came to light after two US officials, along with two Mexican officials, were killed in a car crash on 19 April after the operation. Sheinbaum has said the federal government was not aware of the participation of the US officials, who were widely reported to be CIA officers.

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Dozens of Mexican mafia members arrested in California crackdown

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Prosecutors say 43 people indicted on charges including murder, kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking

More than two dozen members and associates of the Mexican mafia were arrested during an early morning crackdown in southern California, federal authorities said on Thursday.

The FBI and other federal and local agencies executed search and arrest warrants at locations mostly in Orange county, south of Los Angeles, according to the US attorney’s office.

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Canadian woman killed after gunman opens fire at Mexico’s Teotihuacán pyramids

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At least four more injured at world heritage site in latest violent incident as country prepares to co-host World Cup

One Canadian tourist has been killed and six other people were wounded by gunfire after an armed man opened fire at one of Mexico’s most famous tourist destinations, the Teotihuacán pyramids near Mexico City.

The shooting – the latest violent incident to affect Mexico as it prepares to co-host the football World Cup in June – took place on Monday lunchtime and was captured in mobile phone videos.

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US and Mexican officials assigned to cartel case killed in car accident

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Director of state investigation agency among those killed in Chihuahua in operation to destroy clandestine drug labs

Two United States officials and another two Mexican officials assigned to combat drug cartel operations died in a car accident in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua on Sunday, a US embassy spokesperson said.

The Mexican officials were the director of the state’s investigation agency and an officer, state authorities said, adding that they were on an operation to destroy clandestine laboratories in the municipality of Morelos.

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Sheinbaum vows to ‘defend Mexicans at every level’ amid anger at Trump over migrant deaths

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Sheinbaum has recently been taking a firmer stance with the US, defying pressures where other countries have caved

The Mexican government has voiced concern about the deaths of its citizens in US custody, with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum also pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba.

The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting US requests to crack down on cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offset threats of tariffs and US military action against gangs.

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Mexican art world protests over plan to send Frida Kahlo masterpieces to Spain

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Cultural figures sign open letter asking government for clarity on how long landmark collection will remain abroad

One of the world’s most important collections of 20th-century Mexican art, including works by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, is set to be exported to Spain under an agreement with Banco Santander, sparking outrage among Mexico’s cultural community.

Nearly 400 cultural professionals have signed an open letter calling on the Mexican government to offer greater clarity on what the deal means for the masterpieces, particularly the works by Kahlo, which the Mexican state has declared an “artistic monument”.

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US embassy in Mexico prompts outrage with AI video promoting ‘self-deportation’

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AI-generated footage depicts group of men performing a corrido, singing phrases including ‘return to your roots’

An AI-generated video from the US embassy in Mexico encouraging migrants to “self-deport” has sparked disbelief and outrage online.

The video posted this week on official embassy social media accounts depicts a group of men wearing black caps and sporting tattoos performing a kind of traditional Mexican ballad known as a corrido.

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Missing aid boats have safely reached Cuba, US confirms

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Two convoy vessels that were supposed to get to Havana by Wednesday have made it to Cuba, says US Coast Guard

Two sailing boats that went missing while carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba have safely reached the Caribbean island, the US Coast Guard said on Friday.

Earlier in the day Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, had said his country would do everything it could to save the people on the two boats that disappeared while travelling to Cuba from Mexico.

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Two humanitarian aid boats heading to Cuba have gone missing, Mexico says

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Navy searching for two boats that left Isla Mujeres last week bound for Havana with nine crew members of different nationalities on board

Mexico’s navy said on Thursday it had activated a search-and-rescue operation in the Caribbean to locate two sailboats carrying humanitarian aid to Cuba after the vessels failed to arrive in Havana as scheduled.

In a statement, the navy said the two boats left Isla Mujeres, in the Mexican Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, last week bound for Havana with nine crew members of different nationalities on board.

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Mexico’s monarch butterfly population jumps 64%, offering hope for at-risk species

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The insects covered its largest area since 2018, despite threats from habitat loss, climate crisis and pesticides

The population of monarch butterflies in Mexico increased 64% this winter, compared with the same period in 2025, offering a glimmer of hope for an insect considered at risk of extinction.

The figures, released this week by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Mexico, showed that the area occupied by monarchs expanded to 2.93 hectares (7.24 acres) of forest from 1.79 hectares (4.42 acres) the previous winter, the largest coverage since 2018.

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Sheinbaum tells Trump: stop illegal arms trade from the US to Mexico

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US president claimed he wanted to eradicate cartels and made comments about Mexico’s president that were deemed sexist in summit speech

Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to Donald Trump’s description of Mexico as the “epicenter of violence,” by calling on the US government to step up efforts to combat gun trafficking.

“There is something that the US can help us a lot with: stop the trafficking of illegal weapons from the US to Mexico,” the president of Mexico said. “If they stopped the entry of illegal weapons from the United States into Mexico, then these groups wouldn’t have access to this type of high-powered weaponry to carry out their criminal activities.”

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Trump convenes ‘Shield of Americas’ summit with 12 Latin American leaders

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In Miami, president calls for regional cooperation to counter Chinese economic and political interests

Donald Trump changed the channel from Iran to the western hemisphere on Saturday, convening a gathering of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club to discuss regional interests and establishing what he called a “counter-cartel coalition”.

“Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate Isis, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels,” he told 12 regional leaders gathered at what the White House called the “Shield of the Americas” summit.

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Dismay as Hegseth urges Latin American allies to join ‘offense’ against cartels

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Critics sceptical Pentagon chief’s plan for increased military force – amid rising US intervention – will stop drug gangs

Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, has urged Latin American countries to adopt a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration may otherwise act unilaterally in the region.

Hegseth’s remarks come in a context of escalating US intervention in the region, both militarily and in elections, which culminated in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro – the first US ground military attack on a South American country.

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Democrats outraged at US military’s downing of CBP drone near Mexico border

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Second time in two weeks military used laser to attack what it mistakenly thought was a threat, disrupting air traffic

Democratic members of Congress have expressed astonishment and anger at what they claim is the incompetence of the Trump administration after the US military used a laser on Thursday to shoot down what it thought was a threatening drone on the US-Mexico border in Texas but later turned out to belong to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

The apparent confusion between two entities in the US government led to airspace being closed around Fort Hancock, right along the border. It was the second time in two weeks that air traffic was disrupted in the region as a result of a high-energy laser being deployed against drones.

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Who was El Mencho, the former police officer who co-founded an ultraviolent cartel in Mexico?

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Drug lord who was killed by Mexican special forces on Sunday led a cartel known for aggression and military-style arsenal

The drug lord “El Mencho”, who was killed on Sunday by Mexican special forces, was the co-founder and leader of a gang that in recent years had become the country’s most powerful criminal organisation: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

While less internationally famous than the Sinaloa cartel of the now imprisoned Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the CJNG is a household name in Mexico, where it is known for its displays of ultraviolence and its big, military-style arsenal.

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Disappearances in Mexico surge by 200% over 10 years

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More than 130,000 people considered missing or disappeared in Mexico as drug cartels expand

It was a bright morning in August 2022 when Ángel Montenegro was taken. A 31-year-old construction worker, Montenegro had been out all night drinking with some work buddies in the city of Cuautla and was waiting for a bus back to nearby Cuernavaca, where he lived.

At about 10am, a white van pulled up: several men jumped out and dragged Montenegro and a co-worker inside before speeding off. Montenegro’s co-worker was released a few hundred meters down the street, but Montenegro was driven away.

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Mexican authorities kill one of country’s top fentanyl traffickers

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Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alias ‘El Pichón’, was killed during an anti-drug operation by the Mexican navy in Sinaloa

Mexican authorities have killed one of the country’s top fentanyl traffickers, accused of importing tens of thousands of kilos of the drug into the US and wanted by the US authorities on narco-terrorism charges.

Pedro Inzunza Coronel, alias “El Pichón”, (The Pigeon) was killed on Sunday during an anti-drug operation by the Mexican navy in the north-western state of Sinaloa.

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