Mexico

MEXICO CITY — In a packed nightclub in Mexico City, hundreds of young people sang along as a band played a popular song narrating the life of a foot soldier for the Sinaloa drug cartel.

I like to work/ And if the order is to kill / You don’t question it.

And for those who misbehave/ There’s no chance to explain/ I throw them into the grave.

Narcocorridos — or drug ballads — are more popular than ever in Mexico, where a new generation that came of age during the ongoing drug war has embraced songs that recount and often glamorize both the spoils and perils of organized crime.

But the genre is increasingly under attack. About a third of Mexico’s states and many of its cities have enacted some kind of ban on the performance of songs about narcos in recent years, with violators subject to heavy fines and jail time.

Mexico City may be next. Mayor Clara Brugada said she plans to introduce a law that would bar the songs from being played at government events and on government property.

“We can’t be promoting violence through music,” she said.

Musicians perform at the popular Los Guitarrazos event in Mexico City, where narcocorridos, or drug ballads, are common.

The bans, which come amid President Trump’s hyper-focus on drug trafficking in Mexico, have sparked debates here about freedom of expression and state censorship and have raised provocative questions: Do narcocorridos merely reflect reality in a nation gripped by powerful drug gangs? Or do they somehow shape it?

Said Amaya, the organizer of Guitarrazos, the event at the nightclub in Mexico City where multiple singers performed narcocorridos last week, said government focus should be on improving security, not persecuting young musicians.

“If you change the reality, the music might change,” Amaya said. “But you’re not going to change the reality by censoring songs.”

Drug ballads belong to the genre of corridos, a musical tradition born in the 1800s that helped chronicle life at a time when many people couldn’t read or write.

Each song told a story. There were corridos about the exploits of bandits and outlaws, some of them Robin Hood-esque characters who outwitted oafish authorities and helped the poor. Others narrated chapters of the Mexican Revolution or the U.S. invasion of Mexico in 1846.

In more recent years, as Mexico became a key gateway for the U.S. drug market, enriching some people and claiming the lives of hundreds of thousands of others, musicians have described that, too.

“The entire social history of Mexico is narrated through corridos,” said José Manuel Valenzuela Arce, a sociologist in Tijuana. “It’s an intangible part of our cultural heritage.”

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1. An audience member wears a diamond chain on the dance floor at Los Guitarrazos. 2. Drug ballads belong to the genre of corridos, a musical tradition born in the 1800s that helped chronicle life at a time when many people couldn’t read or write.

Valenzuela wrote a book about the newest version of drug ballads, known as corridos tumbados, which combine acoustic guitar, brassy horns and the aesthetic and lyrical content of U.S. gangster rap. Proponents of the music, like artist Peso Pluma, who performs in ballistic vests and sings of diamond-encrusted pistols and shipments of cocaine, have brought the genre to global audiences.

The 25-year-old musician, whose name translates to “Featherweight,” was the seventh most streamed artist in the world on Spotify last year. In 2023, former President Obama included in his top 10 songs of the year a Peso Pluma song that does not touch on drug trafficking.

Musicians dedicated to the genre have long faced backlash from the government, which since the 1980s has tried, at various times, to ban the music.

But the long-standing controversy exploded back into public life this year after a concert in Michoacan state by the band Los Alegres del Barranco, which displayed images of Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, better known as El Mencho, who heads the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The band played at a venue not far from a gruesome cartel training camp that authorities had just discovered.

The concert outraged many Mexicans, and Michoacan Gov. Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla soon announced a ban on public performances that glorify crime and violence. That was followed by similar measures in other states, including Aguascalientes, Queretaro and Mexico state.

A performer plays his guitar with a beer bottle at Los Guitarrazos, a Mexico City event featuring artists playing the northern Mexican genre corridos.

Days later, the Trump administration announced it was revoking the U.S. visas of the members of Los Alegres del Barranco.

“The last thing we need is a welcome mat for people who extol criminals and terrorists,” Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau said on X.

President Claudia Sheinbaum says she does not support the bans, but also doesn’t support the music. She recently announced a national song competition for compositions about subjects other than drug trafficking.

“More than banning, it’s about educating, guiding, and getting young people to stop listening to that music,” she said.

But the bans have momentum — a recent poll found that 62% of those surveyed support prohibitions on narcocorridos — and they have put the genre’s stars in a tricky position. Their fans demand they play their hits, but doing so is increasingly risky.

Performing in one of the states that had banned the songs last month, artist Luis R. Conríquez refused to play his ballads that romanticize drug traffickers.

Audience members were enraged, forcing him off stage as they flung insults, beer bottles and chairs, and later destroyed his band’s instruments.

A singer performs at Los Guitarrazos, an event featuring artists playing the northern Mexican genre corridos, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Others musicians, such as corridos tumbados star Natanael Cano, have pressed on despite the bans.

The 24-year-old performed at an annual fair in Aguascalientes state this month just days after the local authorities warned musicians not to play narco songs.

He began his set with songs from his repertoire that touch on love and other subjects. But soon fans were pleading for popular songs such as “Cuerno azulado,” which talks about blue-tinted AK-47s and pacts between drug traffickers and the government.

Cano first told audience members they should press their leaders to roll back the bans.

“You have to ask your government,” Cano said. “Don’t come here asking me for it.”

Audience members at a club in Mexico City where musicians performed narcocorridos, a genre many states are trying to outlaw.

But eventually he acquiesced, playing a song called “Pacas de Billete,” or “stacks of cash,” which alludes to “El Chapo,” the Sinaloa drug cartel kingpin Joaquín Guzmán. After the event’s organizers cut the sound, Cano’s team activated their own audio system. Eventually, though, the lights were turned out and the artist left the stage and headed directly to the airport. Local authorities have not pressed charges against him.

A few years ago, Cano was slapped with a $50,000 fine for performing narcocorridos in Chihuahua, one of the first states to enact a ban.

Los Alegres del Barranco, the band that flashed a picture of El Mencho in Michoacan, has tried to skirt the laws in recent days with karaoke events in which they play the music but project lyrics for the audience to sing.

For many stars, the bigger threat may be organized crime itself. Drug traffickers often pay to be featured in songs — Peso Pluma has acknowledged taking money from them — and dozens of the genre’s stars have been killed over the years, sometimes by rivals of the hit men and drug dealers they’ve portrayed. Peso Pluma canceled an appearance in Tijuana last year after he received death threats.

Those who support the bans say they are necessary to keep the next generation of young people from romanticizing violence, and to honor those who have lost loved ones to bloodshed.

“Will we tell the victims and their families that it is better to respect the freedom of expression of those who advocate violence than to take measures to safeguard the lives of Mexicans?” columnist Mauricio Farah Gebara wrote in Milenio newspaper.

But for the genre’s devotees, the bans smack of classism.

A musician plays the double bass.

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1. An audience member records the musicians play. 2. An audience member wears a diamond chain bracelet.

It’s a double standard, said a musician named Rosul, who often performs narcocorridos and who attended the lively party in Mexico City last week.

“Netflix can release a series about drug traffickers and win awards and get applause,” she said. “But if somebody from the ‘hood sings about the same thing, it’s an apology for violence?”

Banning the genre, she said, is a losing battle. Young people, after all, hate being told what to do.

“This only makes it more appealing,” she said. “This will only make us stronger.”

Times special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.

Mexico has called on Google to not change the name of the Gulf of Mexico for US users, despite Trump’s executive order.

Mexico has sued the technology company Google for adopting United States President Donald Trump’s labelling of the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America”.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the lawsuit on Friday, without providing further details. Mexico’s foreign relations ministry had previously sent letters to the tech giant asking it not to use “Gulf of America” to refer to waters within its territory.

Currently, the Gulf of Mexico appears as the “Gulf of America” on Google Maps for users within the US. It appears as “Gulf of Mexico” for users outside of the US.

On January 20, his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order changing the body of water’s name in all references by the federal government. A few weeks later, on February 9, he flew over the gulf and declared it to be “Gulf of America Day” in a separate proclamation.

Critics have said the move is in line with Trump’s expansionist goals, which include threatening to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, and pushing for Canada to become the “51st state”.

The body of water in question, an oceanic basin cradled between the southern US and Mexico, has carried the name “Gulf of Mexico” for more than 400 years.

Mexico has argued that, if the US is to adopt the term “Gulf of America”, the new name should only apply to the part of the gulf that sits over the US continental shelf. That boundary generally aligns with the US-Mexico maritime border.

In February, Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, told Mexico it would not change its naming convention, according to a letter shared by Sheinbaum at the time.

Turner said the company was following its “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions”.

Google, part of the Alphabet conglomerate, has said it updates its region names according to the US Geographic Names System.

Since taking office, Trump has also moved to change federal documents referring to the tallest peak in North America as Denali, its traditional Alaskan name. He has reverted its name to Mount McKinley, a more recent name adopted by gold miners to honour a slain president.

The controversy over the “Gulf of Mexico”, however, has galvanised politicians in Trump’s Republican Party.

On Thursday, the US House of Representatives voted along party lines, 211 to 206, to formalise “Gulf of America” as the official name, with only one Republican joining the Democrats in opposition. The bill is likely to face steeper odds in the Senate, should it be taken up for a vote.

The Mexico-Google standoff has not been the only tussle related to Trump’s renaming of the gulf.

A month after taking office, the White House sought to block The Associated Press news agency from reporting from the Oval Office and on board Air Force One, in retaliation for the organisation’s insistence on referring to the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico.

A federal judge ordered the White House last month to restore the agency’s full access to cover presidential events, citing First Amendment rights that bar the administration from punishing news outlets for the content of their speech.

MEXICO CITY — Mexico has sued tech giant Google over its labeling of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, a change made by President Trump via executive order, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday.

Sheinbaum did not provide details of the lawsuit during her daily press briefing, but said that Google had been sued.

Mexico’s Foreign Relations ministry had previously sent letters to Google asking it to not label Mexican territorial waters as the Gulf of America.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The body of water has shared borders between the United States and Mexico. Trump’s order only carries authority within the United States. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.

Mexico argues that Gulf of America should only apply to the part of the gulf over the U.S. continental shelf.

In February, Sheinbaum shared a letter from Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy, stating that Google would not change the policy it outlined after Trump declared the body of water the Gulf of America.

As it stands, the gulf appears in Google Maps as Gulf of America within the United States, as Gulf of Mexico within Mexico and Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) elsewhere. Turner in his letter said the company was using Gulf of America to follow “long-standing maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions.”

The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press refers to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. The White House moved in February to block the AP from being among the small group of journalists to cover Trump in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One, with sporadic ability to cover him at events in the East Room.

The AP sued three Trump administration officials over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the blocking of its journalists.

A federal judge ordered the White House last month to restore the AP’s full access to cover presidential events, affirming on 1st Amendment grounds that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech. The judge’s decision granted emergency relief while the lawsuit proceeds.

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House passed a bill Thursday that would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and direct federal agencies to update their documents and maps to incorporate the new name.

President Trump already signed an executive order during his first day in office to rename the Gulf. House Republicans are looking to show their support, though it is unclear whether he Senate will go along. The bill passed by a vote of 211-206.

The body of water has shared borders between the United States and Mexico. Trump’s order carries authority only within the U.S. Mexico, as well as other countries and international bodies, do not have to recognize the name change.

Democrats said the vote demonstrated that Republicans are not focusing on the priorities of most Americans. New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House’s top Democrat, asked Democrats to vote against this “silly, small-minded and sycophantic piece of legislation.”

“It’s easy to mock this legislation because it’s so inane and embarrassing — and we have,” said Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, (D-Pa.). “But it’s very existence and the fact that House Republicans have chosen to waste time and taxpayer dollars to bring it up for a vote, is worth considering.”

Republicans said the nomenclature of the Gulf extended back to a time before the U.S. existed and when Spanish influence over Central American and the Caribbean was at its zenith. But now, it is the U.S. that dominates economic activity in the Gulf.

“In short, this legislation recognizes the strategic influence America has over this geography, not to mention the existing economic, cultural, and commercial might that we passively exert on the Gulf,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).

The bill was sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a Trump ally and an influential voice in the Republican conference who wore a red “Make America Great Again” hat during last year’s State of the Union address.

“The Gulf of America is one of the most important things we can do this Congress,” Greene said, adding that it promotes pride in the country.

The Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years. The Associated Press refers to it by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen. The White House moved in February to block the AP from being among the small group of journalists to cover Trump in the Oval Office or aboard Air Force One, with sporadic ability to cover him at events in the East Room.

The AP sued three Trump administration officials over access to presidential events, citing freedom of speech in asking a federal judge to stop the blocking of its journalists.

A federal judge ordered the White House last month to restore the AP’s full access to cover presidential events, affirming on 1st Amendment grounds that the government cannot punish the news organization for the content of its speech.

The GOP leadership in the House promoted the legislation during a news conference earlier in the week.

“The American people are footing the bill to protect and secure the Gulf of America. It’s only right that it’s named appropriately,” said House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan.

Several Democrats spoke out against the bill on the House floor.

Rep. George Latimer (D-N.Y.) said that “instead of mind-bending tariffs, giveaways to billionaires, and renaming bodies of water, we should be voting on bills that lower costs for the average family.”

“No one is clamoring for a newly named body of water,” Latimer said. “They want lower grocery bills.”

Freking writes for the Associated Press.

The increased price tag is a result of Trump’s tariffs on auto imports which car companies ultimately will pass on to consumers for cars that will hit dealer lots in June.

Ford Motor Company has raised prices for three of its vehicles produced in Mexico, becoming one of the first major carmakers to adjust sticker prices following US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The new prices took effect on vehicles produced on May 2 or later, according to the news agency Reuters, which first reported the story on Wednesday.

Prices on the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, Maverick pick-up — one of its most affordable and popular vehicles— and Bronco Sport will increase by as much as $2,000 on some models, according to a notice sent to dealers, which was reviewed by Reuters.  A Ford spokesperson said the cars with the raised price tag would arrive at dealer lots in late June.

Ford said the trade war would add about $2.5bn in costs for 2025, but it expects to reduce that exposure by about $1bn. General Motors said last week that tariffs were projected to cost it between $4bn and $5bn following the imposition of hefty levies on foreign imports of automobiles, but it expected to offset that by at least 30 percent.

Trump’s tariffs have unleashed weeks of uncertainty across the auto sector, as major carmakers in the United States and Europe have pulled forecasts, shifted production and caused companies to idle plants.

Following weeks of pushback from the auto industry, Trump softened his tariffs on foreign auto parts imports to give carmakers credits for what is produced in the US and to avoid double-tariffs on raw materials used in production. However, the White House has not rescinded a 25-percent tariff on the 8 million vehicles the US imports annually.

Ford is in a better position to weather tariffs than some of its competitors because of its strong US manufacturing base. The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker assembles 79 percent of its US-sold vehicles domestically, compared with GM’s 53 percent, according to an analyst note from Barclays.

Pricing pressure

Ford and GM also face significant levies on imports from China and South Korea, respectively. GM estimated that the costs on its Korean imports totalled about $2bn, while Ford declined to specify the expenses around importing vehicles from China.

Automakers that rely on exports to the US are facing increased pricing pressure. A dozen major carmakers, including Toyota and GM, import at least 40 percent of the vehicles they sell in the US, with some, such as Volkswagen and Hyundai Motor, importing more than 60 percent, according to 2024 data from S&P Global Mobility.

Before Ford’s move, most carmakers had not taken the step of boosting prices, but had warned that it was on the way. Porsche said it would have to boost its selling cost if tariffs remained in place, while US Volkswagen’s Audi brand also suggested potential price increases, without providing any details.

By contrast, BMW expects US car tariffs to decline from July, based on its contacts with US officials – a more upbeat assessment of the trade climate than many rivals. GM’s finance chief, Paul Jacobson, told analysts last week that the automaker was not expecting imminent price increases, saying they “feel good about where the pricing environment is today”.

Guacamole has been spared from tariffs for now. But salsa may not be so lucky.

While President Trump put threatened tariffs on Mexican avocados on pause, the U.S. government plans to put a nearly 21% duty on fresh Mexican tomatoes starting July 14. A duty — like a tariff — is a tax on imports, and this one would affect the 4 billion pounds of tomatoes the U.S. imports from Mexico each year.

Proponents say the import tax will help rebuild the shrinking U.S. tomato industry and ensure the produce eaten in the U.S. is also grown there. Mexico supplies around 70% of the U.S. tomato market, up from 30% two decades ago, according to the Florida Tomato Exchange.

“Unless we even the playing field in terms of fair pricing, you’re not going to have a domestic industry for fresh tomatoes in the very near future,” said Robert Guenther, the trade group’s executive vice president. Florida and California are the top U.S. producers of tomatoes, but most of California’s crop is turned into sauces and other products.

Opponents say the duty will make fresh tomatoes more expensive for U.S. buyers. NatureSweet, a San Antonio-based company that grows tomatoes in Mexico as well as the U.S., said it will be paying millions of dollars each month in duties if the decision isn’t reversed.

“We will look for ways to adapt or streamline our operations, but the truth is, we are always doing that so we run an efficient business already,” said Skip Hulett, NatureSweet’s chief legal officer. “Produce is not a large-margin business. We’re determining what portion of the cost we could absorb, but these added costs will most certainly need to be passed on to the consumer.”

Tim Richards, a professor at the Morrison School of Agribusiness at Arizona State University, expects U.S. retail prices for tomatoes to rise by about 10.5% if the duty goes through.

Mexico’s government said last month it was convinced it could negotiate over the issue. But if the tomato tax takes effect, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has hinted her country may impose duties on chicken and pork legs imported from the U.S.

The tug-of-war over tomatoes has a long history. In 1996, shortly after the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect, the U.S. Department of Commerce investigated allegations that Mexico was exporting tomatoes to the U.S. at artificially low prices, a practice known as dumping.

The U.S. government agreed to suspend the investigation if Mexico met certain rules, including selling its tomatoes at a minimum price. Since then, the agreement has been subject to periodic reviews, but the two sides always reached an agreement that avoided duties.

But last month, the Commerce Department announced its withdrawal from the latest agreement, saying it had been “flooded with comments” from U.S. tomato growers who want better protection from Mexican imports.

Guenther, of the Florida Tomato Exchange, said that even though Mexican exporters are required to charge a minimum price, shipments are only spot-checked, so exporters can get around that. But more generally, Mexico hurts the U.S. industry because it costs 40% to 50% less to grow tomatoes there, Guenther said. Land is cheaper, labor is cheaper, and inputs such as seeds and fertilizer cost less, he said.

Tomatoes are a labor-intensive crop, Guenther said, and the U.S. industry typically relies on immigrant workers through the H-2A visa program. That program required farmers to pay workers an average of $16.98 per hour last year, an amount that has jumped as labor has become harder to find. Richards estimates that workers on Mexican tomato farms earn about one-tenth that rate.

NatureSweet acknowledges that it’s more cost-effective to grow tomatoes in Mexico, but says climate is one of the biggest reasons. The company’s Mexican greenhouses don’t need lighting, heating or cooling systems because of the year-round weather conditions.

“You can relocate some industries, but you can’t relocate climate agriculture,” Hulett said.

Lance Jungmeyer, the president of the Fresh Produce Assn. of the Americas, which represents importers of Mexican tomatoes, said Florida doesn’t produce the vine-ripened tomatoes that U.S. consumers increasingly favor. Florida tomatoes are picked when they’re green and shipped to warehouses to ripen, he said.

“Florida doesn’t grow the kinds of specialty tomatoes that have taken off, but they want to get protection,” Jungmeyer said. “Their market share is dropping for reasons of their own choice.”

Guenther disagrees. “If you put a Florida tomato up against a Mexican tomato, I think it would do very well in [a] taste test,” he said.

Adrian Burciaga, co-owner of Don Artemio, an upscale Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth, said he wouldn’t want to switch to a U.S. producer. He compares it to fine wine; if he wants a good Cabernet Sauvignon, he gets it from Napa, Calif. If he wants a good tomato that reminds him of his childhood, he gets it from Mexico.

“We know the flavors they are going to bring to the salsas and moles. We don’t want to compromise flavors,” Burciaga said.

Burciaga said his restaurant uses 300 to 400 pounds of Roma tomatoes from Mexico every week. He currently pays $19 for a 25-pound crate of tomatoes. He doesn’t relish paying the additional cost, but he feels he has no choice.

Burciaga said the tomato duty — and the threat of Trump implementing the paused 25% tariff on many other products from Mexico — are making it difficult to run his business.

“The uncertainty part concerns us. A small or medium restaurant budgets things out. We know in advance that in six months things will increase, so we’re able to adjust,” he said. “But we don’t know these things in advance. How do you plan and how do you react?”

Durbin writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Maria Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

On a recent Friday morning, President Claudia Sheinbaum stood inside Mexico’s presidential palace during her daily morning news conference and was asked by one of the reporters whether she had talked with President Trump about a visit to the White House.

“We’ve talked about how nice it would be to meet in person, but there’s nothing formal yet,” Sheinbaum replied. “When necessary, we speak directly; but there is dialogue.”

At a time when Trump seems to be picking fights with allies the world over, and threatening tremendous tariffs on friends and foes, Mexico has emerged relatively unscathed, thanks in large part to the cool head and deal-making skills of its president.

Her powers of negotiation have earned Sheinbaum the kind of praise the American president usually reserves for strongmen and dictators, with Trump calling her a “very wonderful woman,” while the foreign press has been equally fawning.

The Washington Post called Sheinbaum “the world’s leading Trump whisperer,” while the New York Times mused she might be “the anti-Trump.” Bloomberg pondered if the Mexican leader was “the most powerful woman in the world.”

At home, she has also earned high praise for her efforts to manage Mexico’s most important bilateral relationship, and her approval ratings have soared from 70% when she took office in October to more than 80% in March, according to local newspaper El Financiero.

But even as Sheinbaum has rightfully been lauded for her efforts in handling her pugnacious and volatile counterpart north of the border, there remain a number of domestic issues that could mar her record of wins.

While the Mexican leader avoided the worst of Trump’s blanket tariffs, she is still contending with a 25% levy on cars, steel and aluminum that are sold in the U.S., which will no doubt hobble the Mexican economy: Last month, the International Monetary Fund revised its January projection of a 1.3% growth for the Mexico’s GDP to a 0.3% contraction in 2025. Mexicans would feel that, and Sheinbaum’s popularity could suffer.

And though murders have dropped sharply since she took office, according to state figures, security remains a critical issue in Mexico: A government poll released last month found that more than 6 out of 10 Mexicans living in cities felt unsafe.

With cartels controlling about a third of Mexico’s territory, according to estimates from the U.S. military, it’s not difficult to see why. Shortly after Sheinbaum took office, violence erupted in the northern city of Culiacán, where gangs murdered hundreds of people, gunfire ripped through the air in broad daylight and explosions tore through the night.

Perhaps most troubling of all is the number of disappearances, a long-running horror that continues apace. During Sheinbaum’s presidency, more than 8,000 people have gone missing, or an average of 41 people a day.

Since 1962, more than 120,000 people have disappeared or gone missing, according to official figures. Although such disappearances were once associated with the state, especially Mexico’s secret police, in recent decades the tactic has become a tool of cartels to exert control through terror.

The scale of the crisis was brought to the nation’s attention in March when a group of activist searchers came upon an abandoned ranch in the western state of Jalisco. Inside was a scene of unimaginable horror, one that recalled Nazi concentration camps: crematorium ovens, charred human remains, bone fragments.

Perhaps most heart-wrenching of all, there were also scores of backpacks, torn photographs, piles of clothes, hundreds of pairs of shoes. The “Mexican Auschwitz,” as it has been dubbed, became a national scandal that raged for weeks.

But as happens all too often in Mexico, the scandal remained just that. While the media described it as an extermination center, Sheinbaum sidestepped the idea in a news conference by suggesting it was a recruitment camp. Fingers were pointed; the governing Morena party blocked a bill to initiate a special commission to investigate the case.

When the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances said last month that it would seek to bring the issue of forced disappearances in Mexico before the General Assembly under the argument that it was “systematic or widespread,” Sheinbaum accused them of being poorly informed.

If she cannot tackle the crisis of disappearances more directly, she is unlikely to hold on to that 80% approval rating.

Meanwhile, next month, Sheinbaum may face the greatest test of her presidency yet, with Mexico embarking on a first-ever election allowing voters to choose judges from the district level right up to the Supreme Court.

A final and deeply controversial reform pushed through by her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, weeks before he left office, the election will see more than 3,000 candidates vying for 881 roles across the judiciary.

At best, the process promises to be chaotic, with the head of Mexico’s elections institute admitting that the agency isn’t prepared “in terms of the size of the task, how rushed it is, and the budget cuts it’s facing.”

At worst, the election could be marred by violence and its legitimacy called into question. Mexico’s last federal election was its most violent ever with 34 candidates murdered during the campaign. With organized crime infecting almost every corner of Mexican life, this election could also be bloody: Last month, the Senate majority leader admitted that some of the judicial candidates had links to criminal groups.

And even if the election runs smoothly, with candidates favored by the governing Morena party likely to come out on top, the ruling party would have control of the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches of government. This would drag Mexico back toward the one-party rule that it endured throughout much of the 20th century. It would also raise expectations about how much Sheinbaum should be able to accomplish, with such party unity behind her.

During a speech in January, Sheinbaum defended the judicial election as an exercise in democracy and a means to root out corruption. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but with her global star on the rise, the world will be carefully watching.

Oscar Lopez is a Mexican author and journalist based in Mexico City working on a book about the origins of forced disappearance during Mexico’s Dirty War.

Alvarez sets up a bout with ex-welterweight champ Terrence Crawford after beating Scull by unanimous decision.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez has re-unified the IBF super middleweight championship with his WBA (Super), WBC and WBO belts with a unanimous decision victory over William Scull, setting up a bout with former welterweight champion Terence Crawford in September.

Cuba’s Scull, who had an advantage in height and reach over Alvarez, was unable to find an answer to the Mexican’s methodical stalking and effective body blows as he suffered the first loss of his professional boxing career on Sunday.

“For me, it’s a boring fight. [Scull was] not trying to win, just trying to survive. I hate these kinds of fights,” Alvarez said in his post-fight interview after all three judges awarded him the victory (115-113, 116-112, 119-109).

Alvarez, who was stripped of the IBF strap last year after choosing to fight Edgar Berlanga over the sanctioning body’s number-one contender Scull, has now become the undisputed 168-pound champion for the second time.

Scull’s quick movements were not enough to evade Alvarez’s steady onslaught early on as the Mexican landed strong body blows in the second and fourth rounds, leaving Scull momentarily off balance.

Alvarez, fighting outside the United States and Mexico for the first time, continued stalking the Cuban in the fifth round, but Scull fought back, breaking Alvarez’s guard with a right uppercut and pushing him back before catching him with a counter.

“Don’t let this guy get bigger and more confident,” Alvarez’s corner warned him at the end of the sixth round after Scull caught him with another right hand before Alvarez responded with body shots.

Alvarez landed combinations to the body in the seventh round, and caught Scull with a lead left hook near the ropes in the eighth.

Measured attacks to the body continued from Alvarez, as he landed 40 body blows in the bout while Scull managed only six, claiming the 63rd win of his professional career.

Alvarez, 34, improved to 63-2-2 with 39 knockouts after doing enough on his Saudi debut which continued his tradition of fighting during the Mexican festival weekend of Cinco de Mayo.

The Mexican said he was looking forward to returning to the ring against undefeated Crawford in Las Vegas.

“Crawford is one of the best out there, I like to share the ring with that kind of a fighter. It’s my pleasure,” he said.

American Crawford, who became the undisputed welterweight champion with a knockout win over Errol Spence Jr in 2023, said he was ready to take on Alvarez as they faced off in the ring.

“In September, I’ll show the world what greatness looks like,” Crawford said.

Alvarez signed a four-fight deal with Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Seasons promotion in February.

In recent years, the kingdom has been pouring money into boxing events as part of Saudi Arabia’s oil-funded thrust into the sporting world, which has drawn accusations of “sportswashing” its dire human rights record.

Along with Formula One, the LIV Golf tour and attracting several ageing football stars to its domestic league, Saudi Arabia was named last year as the host of the 2034 football World Cup.

Mexican president says she told Donald Trump that Mexico ‘will never accept the presence of US army in our territory’.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says she rejected an offer from her United States counterpart, Donald Trump, to send US troops to Mexico to help combat drug trafficking.

Speaking at a public event on Saturday, Sheinbaum said Trump had asked her during a call how he could help fight organised crime and suggested sending US troops.

The Mexican leader said she declined, telling Trump, “We will never accept the presence of the United States army in our territory.”

“I told him, ‘No, President Trump, our territory is inviolable, our sovereignty is inviolable, our sovereignty is not for sale,’” Sheinbaum said.

Her comments come a day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was pressuring Mexico to allow “deeper US military involvement” in the fight against drug cartels.

Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the news outlet said “tension rose” during an April 16 call between the two leaders as Trump “pushed to have US armed forces take a leading role in battling Mexican drug gangs that produce and smuggle fentanyl to the US”.

Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly hit out at Mexico and the US’s other neighbour, Canada, over drug trafficking.

He has accused the two countries of allowing illegal drugs, most notably fentanyl, to flow over their borders into the US.

Trump’s administration has also tied its push to impose steep tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods to fentanyl trafficking, among other factors.

On Saturday, Sheinbaum said she had offered to collaborate with the US during her talks with Trump, including through greater information-sharing.

At the same time, the Mexican president said she had urged Trump to stop the cross-border arms trafficking that has contributed to a wave of violence that has killed more than 450,000 in Mexico over nearly two decades.

She added that Trump issued an order on Friday “to ensure that everything necessary is in place to prevent weapons from entering our country from the United States”.

A spokesperson for the US National Security Council told the Reuters news agency that Trump had been “crystal clear that Mexico must do more to combat these gangs and cartels and the United States stands ready to assist and expand the already close cooperation between our two countries”.

The spokesperson added that Trump had worked closely with Sheinbaum to achieve the “most secure southwest border in history”.

But “dangerous foreign terrorist organizations continue to threaten our shared security and the drugs and crime they spread threaten American communities across the country”, the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Trump has continued to push forward with his plan to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in US history, despite several legal challenges against his hardline anti-immigration policies.

The US Department of Defense said earlier this week that it designated a second stretch on the border with Mexico as a military zone to enforce immigration laws.

The newest area is in the US state of Texas and is attached to the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso.

Like the first zone established last month in New Mexico, military personnel are authorised to take custody of migrants who irregularly cross the border until they are transferred to civilian authorities in the US Department of Homeland Security.

The United States and Canada are experiencing one of their worst measles outbreaks in years, while the virus has also crossed to neighbouring Mexico.

A total of 2,500 cases and four deaths have been reported in the outbreaks across the three countries. Vaccine hesitancy has been blamed.

Here is what we know about the outbreaks so far and why measles cases are on the rise.

What is measles?

Measles is a highly contagious viral illness that starts with symptoms including high fever, cough, runny nose, red or watery eyes, and sensitivity to light. A few days after infection, a red, blotchy rash typically appears on the face and spreads down the body. Fatigue and loss of appetite are also common.

Most people recover within two to three weeks but complications, particularly in young children and those with weakened immune systems, can be serious.

These include ear infections, diarrhoea, pneumonia and brain swelling (encephalitis) which can lead to permanent disability or death. In wealthier countries, measles causes about one death in every 5,000 cases, but in lower-income regions with weaker healthcare systems, the fatality rate can be as high as one in 100.

Before the measles vaccine was introduced in 1963, about 3 to 4 million cases of measles were reported annually in the US, with hundreds of deaths and thousands of hospitalisations. By 2000, following widespread vaccination, measles was declared “eliminated” in the US – meaning there had been no continuous transmission of the disease for more than 12 months. Countries that have eliminated a disease through vaccines are considered to have “herd immunity” as long as vaccines continue to be offered to everyone.

What is herd immunity?

Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a community become immune to a disease, either through vaccination or by recovering from an infection.

The number of people who need to be immune in order to achieve herd immunity for the whole community varies from disease to disease. Measles, which spreads very easily, requires 95 percent of a community to have immunity.

When most people are immune, the disease has a much harder time spreading – meaning it is more likely to die before it can be transmitted to another host. This helps to protect those who cannot be vaccinated for specific reasons, including newborn babies or people with certain health conditions.

Experts say the safest way to maintain herd immunity is through vaccination due to the potentially severe effects of a measles infection.

How effective is the measles vaccine?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), measles vaccination prevented an estimated 31.7 million deaths globally between 2000 and 2020.

The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, widely used around the world, provides about 97 percent protection against the measles virus, according to public health agencies.

The vaccine is normally given to children in two stages: The first dose at 12 months and the second at about three years and four months of age (when the child is nearing pre-school age), as part of routine immunisation programmes in countries like the United Kingdom.

Breakthrough cases in vaccinated people are rare and usually mild.

Where has measles spread in North America?

North America is experiencing a significant measles resurgence, with more than 2,500 confirmed cases across the US, Canada and Mexico. Three deaths have occurred in the US and one in Mexico. The outbreak began in late 2024 in Ontario, Canada, before spreading to Texas and northern Mexico in early 2025, with Mennonite communities (Anabaptist Christian congregations), a historically under-vaccinated population, being the hardest hit.

A WHO report in April stated that measles cases in the Americas during the first three months of this year were 11 times higher than during the same period in 2024. The region now faces a “high” risk of measles outbreaks, compared with a “moderate” risk globally, the WHO said.

United States

The US has so far reported 935 confirmed measles cases across 30 states, with Texas being the epicentre of the outbreak, accounting for 683 of those cases. The outbreak has now also spread to New Mexico (67 cases), Oklahoma (16) and Kansas (37).

Three people died from measles between February and April, including two unvaccinated children in Texas and one unvaccinated adult in New Mexico. These mark the country’s first measles deaths since 2015.

In 2019, the US experienced its most significant measles outbreak since 1992, with 1,274 confirmed cases reported across 31 states, but no deaths.

Canada

Meanwhile, Canada is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in more than 25 years. Since mid-October 2024, Ontario alone has recorded more than 1,000 cases.

Canadian officials confirmed that the outbreak had originated from a large gathering in New Brunswick province that involved Mennonite communities, which strive for a simple life and tend to avoid modern technology and medicine.

Mexico

In Mexico, the number of measles cases has risen sharply this year in the northern state of Chihuahua, where 786 cases have been reported so far. Just seven cases were reported in the whole country last year. A 31-year-old, unvaccinated man from Ascension, Chihuahua, died from the disease in early April.

Why is measles spreading?

According to the WHO and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main reason measles is spreading is that fewer people are taking up vaccines. Misinformation and growing hesitancy have seen vaccination rates dropping below the level needed for herd immunity.

In some US states and Canadian provinces, exemptions – giving non-medical reasons for declining vaccines, such as for personal or religious reasons – are becoming more common. This has led to the existence of clusters of unvaccinated people who are more vulnerable to outbreaks when exposed to the virus.

The US CDC reported that during the 2023-2024 school year, exemptions from one or more vaccines were claimed by parents or carers of 3.3 percent of preschool children, compared with 3 percent the previous year. Exemptions were higher in 40 states and the District of Columbia, with 14 states reporting exemption rates exceeding 5 percent.

Health officials point to how closely connected the affected communities in the US, Canada and Mexico are, with people frequently travelling between them. Mennonite groups, in particular, have strong cross-border ties and lower vaccination rates, making it much easier for the virus to spread from one region to another.

Who are the ‘anti-vaxxers’ and what are their concerns?

Anti-vaccine advocates, often referred to as “anti-vaxxers”, oppose vaccinations for a number of reasons, including fears about side effects, distrust of pharmaceutical companies or government agencies, and religious or personal beliefs.

Mennonite groups in Ontario and Chihuahua have also historically been hesitant about taking up vaccines, and health authorities say a significant share of recent measles cases in these areas are concentrated within this population.

One of the most persistent myths driving vaccine hesitancy is the claim that vaccines cause autism. This belief stems from a 1998 study that has since been discredited and retracted.

Will Trump’s pick of RFK Jr as health secretary push vaccination levels down further?

Robert F Kennedy Jr’s appointment as US Secretary of Health and Human Services prompted concern among health experts, particularly as measles cases are on the rise across North America.

Kennedy, a longstanding vaccine sceptic, has repeated false claims that vaccines are linked to autism and that the MMR vaccine contains “aborted fetus debris”.

Health experts have debunked this claim. The rubella part of the vaccine was made using lab-grown cells which were copied from a single foetal sample taken in the 1960s. These cells have been multiplied in labs for decades and are used to grow the virus needed for the vaccine. But the cells themselves are removed during the process, so there is no fetal tissue in the actual shot.

Kennedy has been criticised for downplaying the severity of the current measles outbreak, and for promoting unproven treatments for measles. He has suggested alternatives including vitamin A supplements and cod liver oil, which experts say do not replace vaccination and are not backed by strong scientific evidence.

Kennedy has also made major changes to the Department of Health and Human Services, firing thousands of employees and cutting budgets for key agencies like the CDC, which experts say could weaken the country’s ability to respond to health emergencies.

Government says 100km-long Texas National Defense Area runs east from the Texas-New Mexico border in El Paso.

The United States military has created a second military zone along the border with Mexico, adding an area in Texas where troops can temporarily detain migrants or trespassers, following another zone newly designated in New Mexico last month.

The announcement of a new military encampment comes as President Donald Trump has launched an aggressive anti-immigration crackdown since taking office, increasing troops at the southern border and pledging to deport millions of people from the US.

Some of the people the Trump administration deported have included children who are American citizens.

The US military said late on Thursday that it had established the “Texas National Defense Area” in a 100-kilometre (63-mile) strip running east from the Texas-New Mexico border in El Paso.

According to the Pentagon, US troops can detain migrants in the zones, and the detainees will then be handed over to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or other civilian law enforcement, which maintains jurisdiction over illegal border crossings.

In April, the Trump administration designated an 18-metre-wide, 270km-long (60 feet by 170 miles) strip along the base of New Mexico as a “National Defense Area”.

A total of 82 migrants have so far been charged for crossing into the New Mexico military zone, according to the US Attorney’s Office. US troops did not detain any of them, and they were dealt with by CBP officials.

The military zones are intended to allow the Trump administration to use its military forces to detain migrants without invoking the 1807 Insurrection Act that empowers a president to deploy the US military only to suppress events like civil disorder.

About 11,900 US troops are currently stationed on the border with Mexico. According to government data, the number of migrants caught crossing illegally into the US in March fell to the lowest level ever recorded.

Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, a Republican, on Thursday posted pictures of a razor wire barrier construction on the border, saying, “Texas continues to work with the Trump Administration to stop illegal immigration.”

Since 2021, Abbott has deployed the state’s National Guard and police to border security.

However, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has opposed what she called a “deportation buffer zone” in her state.

In a March social media post, the Democrat called it “a waste of resources and military personnel, especially when migrant crossings are at the lowest in decades”.