Xin Xin is the only giant panda in Latin America and the only one in the world that does not belong to China, as well as one of the oldest of her species. The life expectancy for giant pandas is about 15-20 years. 

“This celebration symbolizes the ambition of recovering and conserving threatened wildlife species and those in danger of extinction,” said Mexico City’s Environmental Ministry in a statement.

Xin Xin is the most popular resident of the 101-year-old zoo and visitors come from all around the world to watch her roam and play.

Visitors cluster in the viewing area waiting for Xin Xin to appear, although the waits have become longer as the aging panda now walks more gingerly, fumbles with her playthings less frequently and takes longer naps. 

Officials and caretakers at the zoo take great pride in Xin Xin. 

“It is very important to celebrate [her birthday] because it helps circulate the positive message that Mexico City’s Wildlife Conservation Centers — and Xin Xin, as wildlife ambassador — provide,” said Dr. Fernando Gual Sill, the director of the conservation center. “Visitors learn the importance of conservation, not just of wildlife like giant pandas, but also about Mexico’s native species and those that are threatened by extinction.”

The Chapultepec Zoo has had one of the most successful panda-breeding programs outside of China. Eight giant pandas have been conceived in the zoo since the first pandas — Pe Pe and Yin Yin — arrived in Mexico on Sept. 10, 1975.

Xin Xin, Latin America’s sole panda, celebrates 34th birthday in Mexicohttps://t.co/pkTwruLEbC

: Amaranta Atzin Marentes Orozco pic.twitter.com/zVHIidvOGe

— Anadolu Images (@anadoluimages) June 28, 2024

Xin Xin was conceived naturally and was born in the zoo on July 1, 1990. Her mother was Tohui, the second giant panda born in captivity outside of China and the first born overseas to survive into adulthood. Xin Xin’s father was Chia Chia who was on loan from the London Zoo for breeding purposes.

Some experts attribute the success of Mexico City’s breeding program to the high altitude, which at 7,300 feet (2,225 meters) is similar to the pandas’ native habitat in Sichuan, China.

With reports from El Universal, El Imparcial and Chilango

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The trailer was stopped at a military checkpoint near the desert town of Samalayuca about 42 kilometers south of the United States border at Ciudad Juárez.

In a press bulletin released on Saturday, the INM said the truck was moving erratically, prompting soldiers to stop the vehicle. Upon inspection, the soldiers discovered that none of the truck’s 63 passengers had the proper immigration documents, requiring the presence of INM personnel. No information was provided on the immigration status of the driver or drivers of the vehicle.

The INM moved the immigrants to a nearby INM facility where they received medical attention. It is not known how long they had been traveling in these conditions.

The INM reports that among the 63 persons detained, 18 hailed from Guatemala, 23 were from Ecuador, six from El Salvador, five from Honduras and two were from the Dominican Republic. Three of the immigrants were categorized as unaccompanied minors, one each from El Salvador, Ecuador and Guatemala.

The adults were transported to the aforementioned INM facility, while three families traveling together were taken to a separate office that handles families and unaccompanied youth. The three unaccompanied children were sent to the INM’s housing center for young migrants in Ciudad Juárez.

The checkpoint at which the cargo truck was stopped is the final checkpoint before Ciudad Juárez, which has seen the number of arriving migrants surge in recent years. There, many are targeted by criminal groups who use kidnapping, torture and extortion to control and profit from the rising migrant population.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security carried out a joint operation with Mexican authorities to rescue 13 kidnapped migrants from a Ciudad Juárez stash house, where the captives “were beaten, tortured, sexually assaulted and extorted for additional smuggling fees by members of a transnational criminal organization.”

With reports from La Jornada, Forbes México and Vanguardia

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The announcement comes one month after Mayor-elect Clara Brugada unveiled her ambitious social housing program which she described as the broadest in Mexico City history.

For his part, Batres announced that the pilot program will start with 150 units and will target university students and young professionals. Each apartment will measure at least 40 square meters in size, will feature basic services and will be close to public transportation.

The program will be administered by the city’s Urban Development and Housing Ministry (Seduvi). Ínti Muñoz Santini, Seduvi director, said the initial apartments set aside for the program are located in the Doctores neighborhood, just east of the popular Roma neighborhood and south of the Centro Histórico.

Once approved by Seduvi, recipients of the apartments will receive a five-year lease with the option of a single two-year extension. Rents will range from 2,500 to 5,000 pesos/month (US $136 to $273), considerably lower than the 10,000 to 30,000 pesos (US $545 to $1,636) that rents can reach in the Roma neighborhood.

To participate in the program citizens:

• Must be between 18 and 29 years old
• Must have a job or be attending university
• Earn a salary no more than twice the minimum wage, or 591 pesos/day (US $32)
• Must not own property elsewhere

Batres, whose term ends on Oct. 5, did not say when the program would be launched though he expects it to be under way within a year.

Brugada announced her city-wide plan during the mayoral campaign to formalize and register deeds so as to provide juridical certainty to Mexico City homeowners, especially in low-income neighborhoods.

During a meeting with notaries public on May 20, Brugada said the goal is to regulate informal housing developments that have sprung up over the past several decades.  Brugada’s administration will begin by carrying out a survey to evaluate the situation with regard to deeds and the registration of buildings and homes across the entire city.

The Ninth Notary Services Survey found that in 2022, only 51% of Mexico City property owners had a deed to their home. 

With reports from El Financiero, Expansión, Via Tres, El Economista and ContraRéplica

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President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum inaugurated the new museum on Friday, highlighting the project’s aim to provide greater context and understanding of the rich Maya cultural heritage.

Edzná, located 55 kilometers southeast of the city of Campeche, was inhabited as early as 400 B.C., evolving into a major city by 200 A.D. The diverse architectural styles located in the area around the main plaza indicate that it was a powerful regional capital from 400 to 1000 A.D.

The most remarkable structure at Edzná is the 40-meter-high temple in the main plaza, but the site also features groupings such as the Grand Acropolis and structures including a ball court and a 31-meter-high structure known as Cinco Pisos.

Due to its low-lying location, inhabitants of Edzná built a complex hydraulic system to direct surface water into a lake. The system featured a dam and irrigation canals.

While delivering an update on INAH activities, INAH Director Diego Prieto said that the Edzná Site Museum will not only serve as a space for the exhibition of recovered artifacts, but also as a living testimony of the cultural and archaeological wealth of the Maya civilization.

Prieto said the museum and the recent restoration work at Edzná are the product of the federal Archaeological Zone Improvement Program (Promeza) that was developed to take advantage of excavations done for the Maya Train project.

Promeza provided funding for the exploration of the territory and the verification of photogrammetric and LiDAR images, as well as for the prospecting, excavation and registration of archaeological materials.

After analysis and classification, some of the recent finds will be displayed at the new Edzná museum and other museums that are part of the network of recently created sites in ancient Maya cities in southeastern Mexico, including new facilities at Palenque, Moral-Reforma, Kabah, Dzibilchaltún, Tulum and Calakmul. 

With reports from La Jornada and El Sol de México

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Jesús Carmona, CEO of Schneider Mexico and Central America, recently told the newspaper El Economista that he is bullish on nearshoring, insisting that the impact in Mexico over the next 30 years will be enormous.

“I believe in nearshoring because I see [its impacts] every day,” he said. “The first place to feel its impact was Monterrey, but we see it in other northern cities and in the Bajío [region]. I have no doubt it will reach southern Mexico as well.”

Describing how Schneider’s presence in Mexico doubled between 2021 and 2023, Carmona said there are three reasons for his company’s accelerated growth here: “nearshoring, increasing demand for efficient solutions to electrical energy needs, and the great abilities of Mexican labor.”

Schneider employs 1,600 people across Mexico in 10 plants, with 1,000 of those workers hired in the past four years. Last year, Schneider invested US $72.5 million in its Mexican energy automation services.

At the June 13 inauguration of the new plant known as Monterrey 4, Schneider’s director of operations in North America, Agustín López, said that the new plant in Monterrey — its fourth facility in the northern Mexico city — would strengthen its local economic ecosystem by 17%–20% over the next two to three years. 

“We are always trying to optimize our technological capital via the development of a campus,” he said. “That’s why we build these production centers.”

Monterrey 4 will eventually create 460 jobs (257 people are on the payroll at present) and will be focused on the manufacture of specialized products, such as low-voltage electrical distribution boards — essential for hospitals, data centers; digital companies and organizations with high energy consumption. 

Schneider Electric, which has been operating in Mexico since 1945, specializes in digital automation and energy management by combining energy technologies, real-time automation, software, and services.

The 183,000-square-foot plant will boost the company’s production in North America as it will be an Engineer to Order (ETO) facility, which manufactures products to customer specifications and engineering designs.

López said that by next year, its four plants in Monterrey will reach net-zero status (a balance between the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere). The new plant is also the first in the world in which it will be possible to reutilize scrap metal.

In addition to the new Monterrey plant, Schneider is also building an 11th plant in the state of Tlaxcala.

With reports from El Financiero and El Economista

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Lingering drought and extreme heat prompted pundits to proclaim June 26 as potential Day Zero —  when Mexico City’s reservoirs would be so reduced that the complex interbasin transfer could stop functioning, leaving Mexico’s capital without water.

Though the projection was overwrought — the Cutzamala supplies only 28% of Mexico City’s water — the shrinking water supply in the system’s seven reservoirs is a legitimate concern.

It was hoped that rain from Tropical Storm Alberto — which slammed into Mexico’s east coast on June 19 and greatly replenished some of northern Mexico’s drastically depleted reservoirs — would replenish the Cutzamala’s reservoirs somewhat. However, accumulated rainfall in greater Mexico City from Alberto was negligible.

The Mexican National Meteorological Service (SMN) forecast heavy rains across the nation this week, but as the newspaper El Financiero reported on Wednesday, Mexico City’s three main reservoirs remain at critically low levels. 

Those three reservoirs — in México state’s Valle de Bravo and Villa Victoria and in El Bosque, Michoacán, — are currently at an average 26.18% capacity, a slight increase over their 26.09% average level before Alberto. However, these numbers represent historic lows for Mexico City’s nearly 50-year-old reservoir system.

To give an idea of how drought and heat have impacted the system, the reservoir levels’ average capacity was 39.5% in January.

Recognizing the dire situation, the National Water Commission (Conagua) reduced the flow in the Cutzamala from 8 cubic meters/second to 6 cubic meters/second last Friday. Twelve of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs and 14 municipalities in neighboring México state are serviced by the Cutzamala system.

Conagua said the reduction is necessary to guarantee water over the medium-term because if water in the reservoirs dips below a certain point, the pumps that send the water up 1,100 meters (3,600 feet) to Mexico City will no longer function.

While rain in greater Mexico City has mildly mitigated the Valley of Mexico’s drought conditions, the reservoirs remain in need of replenishment. 

Conagua forecast heavy rains across the country this week, and a tropical disturbance tracking across the Caribbean has a 30% chance of becoming a tropical storm, but it remains to be seen if that weather system — heading toward Chetumal, Quintana Roo — will provide any rain to the Mexico City area.

Although Mexico City’s rainy season is expected to last into September, several studies suggest a genuine Day Zero for the Cutzamala is a real possibility.

A joint investigation conducted by the United Nations and the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico City (UAM) projected that a genuine Day Zero is possible in 2028. 

The Instituto Belisario Domínguez (IBD) — a state-funded research institute — wrote a report indicating that Day Zero talk should go beyond setting a date and instead prompt a discussion about creating a sustainable reservoir system for Mexico City.

The IBD proposed promoting a culture of respect for water (especially via water capture), investing in infrastructure and establishing penalties for wasting water.

With reports from Infobae, El Financiero and Expansión

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At least one escapee from an enclosed park of crocodile-populated mangroves in downtown Tampico was captured on video over the weekend, strolling city streets and impeding traffic.

Enorme cocodrilo sale de laguna de Carpintero de Tampico y detiene el tráfico

Especial pic.twitter.com/lljAmHjQkN

— @telediariomty (@telediariomty) June 22, 2024

The large reptile is believed to have escaped from an enclosed park in the heart of Tampico, known as Laguna del Carpintero, a popular tourist spot.

The video, which was posted on social media, also showed how the Tampico crocodile’s journey came to an abrupt stop in the middle of a busy road, forcing passing cars to slow down and drive around the 3-meter-long reptile.

Tampico has crocodile-populated mangroves at Laguna del Carpintero, a popular park in the heart of the Gulf Coast city. The mangroves there are known to host a hundred or so crocodiles.

As rain continued to fall into the weekend, the water levels in Tampico had risen so much that at least one of the mangroves’ crocs was apparently able to climb out and wander away.

Commuters appear to have notified authorities: the organization Grupo SOS Cocodrilo was alerted, and National Guardsmen arrived to secure the area and prevent any unsuspecting pedestrians from happening upon the stray crocodile. 

Three firemen were tasked with capturing the reptile and returning it to its habitat, according to the news website Sin Embargo. The men used rope and a thick fireman’s jacket to wrap up the crocodile. Once it was adequately covered up, one fireman knelt on top of the reptile while his two coworkers tied it up. They then transported it back to the Laguna del Carpintero.

Crocodile sighting in Mexico’s urban areas is not unusual. Similar experiences were reported in Chetumal at the other end of the country on the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as in the state of Sinaloa on the Pacific coast.

After a tropical cyclone passed over the peninsula earlier this month, residents of the Caribbean resort town reported seeing crocodiles in the city. Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama called on the Army to patrol the streets to protect the public. Two small crocodiles were captured and returned to their habitat in the Chac estuary.

In Sinaloa, Environmental Protection agents were patrolling rivers after receiving reports of crocodiles in public areas. Three people were killed when their car crashed after hitting a crocodile on April 24.

With reports from Infobae, Milenio and Sin Embargo

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The storms, starting on Sunday, knocked out electricity in parts of Mérida, but the accumulation of rain was proving to be the bigger problem on Tuesday.

Reportan calles inundadas en Paseo de Montejo tras las recientes lluvias del día de hoy en #Mérida, #Yucatán. pic.twitter.com/InNE6S6p29

— José Díaz (@JJDiazMachuca) June 25, 2024

Municipal officials are assessing drainage systems and providing relief services to victims of the intense flooding, particularly in the historic center, where water high water levels have forced commuters to find alternate routes.

Many left their cars and splashed home on foot through the flooded streets. Just north of the historic center, several commuters, unable to cross the Itzimná borough, abandoned their stalled cars.

José Collado Soberanis, director of Mérida’s Municipal Public Services, said teams were unclogging drains, drilling wells to help water flow and cleaning up the muddy mess. Special attention was being given to areas around hospitals, schools and shelters in order to ensure roads were passable, he said.

Municipal Public Services also was delivering 78 water tankers to residents after the loss of electricity shut down Mérida’s water distribution system on Sunday.

Outside the capital, about 15 kilometers to the northeast, the municipality of Conkal was inundated by 238 millimeters of rainwater.

Today’s forecast will not bring any relief: cloudy skies over the Yucatán Peninsula are predicted to bring more intense storms through Wednesday morning in the states of Campeche, and Yucatán. The state of Quintana Roo, on the eastern side of the peninsula, is expecting scattered storms.

The inclement weather forecast is due to the arrival of Tropical Storm No. 4 over southern Campeche, which is coming into contact with a band of low pressure over the Yucatán Peninsula. 

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) issued an advisory on Tuesday morning that another storm with the potential to cause more intense flooding in the region, called a tropical wave, is approaching the Gulf of Mexico. As of midday Tuesday, the wave — currently located in the southeastern Caribbean — was headed west at 25 mph and bringing heavy rain and electrical storms.

There is a low chance that the tropical wave will reach the southwestern Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

With reports from Diario de Yucatán, Península de Yucatán and La Jornada

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After a recent visit to the new park, Román Meyer Falcón, the head of the Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development Ministry (Sedatu), said the development of the site located in northeastern Tulum is 92% complete, the newspaper La Jornada Maya reported on Sunday.

On June 16, however, the tourism website Reportur revealed that the failure to carry out an environmental impact report for a US $38 million hotel project in the park was drawing criticism.

The Defense Ministry (Sedena) began building the luxury hotel last year on a site adjacent to an old Navy aerodrome. Critics immediately expressed concern that construction was moving ahead rapidly before an environmental impact review had been released. The review, known as an MIA, is a federally mandated procedure.

As a result of rising criticism, Sedena recently formally petitioned the Environment Ministry (Semarnat) to conduct an MIA.

Over the weekend, Meyer said the park project is presently focused on the museum, which is being built on the grounds of the old aerodrome that was incorporated into the park grounds after a lengthy process of reforestation. The reconstruction of the old aerodrome will also include the park’s administrative buildings.

The museum area will also feature six “windows to the sea,” access to footpaths and bicycle paths, and a nearby lighthouse will be restored.

Park infrastructure has largely been modernized to improve the experience for visitors to both the park and Maya archaeological sites in and around Tulum, as well as to facilitate connectivity to the Maya Train.

Jaguar Park comprises nearly 2,250 hectares encompassing numerous protected natural areas such as beaches, forests, the Tulum Archaeological Zone and the Tulum National Park. The area is home to at least 966 species of flora and fauna, including 60 endemic species that can’t be found elsewhere. Construction on the project began in 2022 and the park was originally scheduled to be operational by February.

With reports from La Jornada Maya and Reportur

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Governor Ramírez also said that officials from both governments had agreed on a new security model for the avocado export sector.

Why did the USDA suspend avocado and mango inspections?

Two USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) inspectors were reportedly detained and/or attacked during a road blockade in Aranza, a town in the municipality of Paracho, Michoacán on June 14. In response, the USDA paused avocado and mango inspections and the State Department reissued its Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory for the state.

When will inspections resume?

On Friday, Salazar issued a statement saying APHIS employees would gradually return to packing plants in Michoacán. 

“It’s still necessary to make progress to guarantee the safety (of the health safety inspectors) before we can achieve full functioning,” Salazar said in his Friday statement.

Salazar traveled to the state capital of Morelia on Monday to meet with Governor Ramírez Bedolla and private sector representatives to discuss the security issues, concluding with a press conference announcing the lifting of the suspension.

Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Victor Villalobos thanked Salazar in a post on X, saying that “this reflects what can be achieved working together for a common goal: the well-being of producers, workers and inspectors, their families and communities; as well as the environment and its natural resources.”

AMLO weighs in on the suspension

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized the suspension during his Monday morning press conference.

“We’d prefer that the U.S. government avoid unilateral actions. We’re on good terms … that’s not the way to handle things,” López Obrador said. “Why such high-handedness? We could have talked this through instead of halting exports.” 

The president dismissed the alleged attack as a minor incident but said he respects the way the U.S. government works. Despite complaining that “this sets a poor precedent,” he did express gratitude toward Ambassador Salazar for working to resolve the issue quickly.

How much have avocado and mango producers been affected?

Representatives of the avocado export industry said the suspension — which didn’t affect fruit exports already in transit, but did halt other exports — cost growers approximately US $52 million, according to the newspaper La Jornada.

Exporters claim that the damage was particularly severe since demand for avocados increases ahead of the July 4 U.S. Independence Day celebrations, even more so than for the annual NFL Super Bowl game in February.

Avocados are a top Mexican agricultural export to its northern neighbor worth billions of dollars each year. The state of Michoacán is Mexico’s No. 1 avocado producer and exporter. 

Mango producers say they lost roughly US $30 million, claiming that about 5,000 tonnes of mango were affected.

Producers in Michoacán say the security concerns are not limited to U.S. inspectors. Farmers in the state have long dealt with extortion rackets perpetrated by powerful organized crime groups seeking to profit from the lucrative trade.

With reports from La Jornada, El Universal and Reuters

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