Blood in the water
Morena wrestles with its demons, plus vaquitas are making some noise
Welcome to The Mexpatriate.
In today’s tour of the national conversation, I cover the ongoing controversy reaching the upper echelons of Morena, the Mexicans held at “Alligator Alcatraz,” a viral speech from a graduation ceremony in Chiapas, another court-ordered public apology in a case of alleged political gender violence, a win against junk food in schools and a glimmer of good news for the nearly-extinct vaquita.
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How do you solve a problem like Adán Augusto?: The maelstrom surrounding Adán Augusto López, Morena’s top senator, ex-governor of Tabasco and one-time presidential aspirant, continues to intensify and dominate the national political conversation. López went briefly missing from Congress after news broke that his former head of security in Tabasco, Hernán Bermúdez, is a fugitive wanted in connection to the criminal group “La Barredora.” López reappeared at the party’s national committee meeting last Sunday and again in Congress on Wednesday, but has said very little to dispel suspicion—blaming the noise on politicking by his adversaries.
As pressure mounts to investigate López, Morena could face a crisis of unity—some pundits who are sympathetic to the 4T have called this a battle for the soul of the party. In an op-ed about AMLO’s less savory political allies, including Ricardo Monreal and Adán Augusto, journalist Jorge Zepeda Patterson wrote: “The mere possibility of handing over the movement to this faction should lead Morena supporters to reflect on the fact that even heroes make mistakes.”
“It’s a very close relationship…how could he not know?” said journalist Hernán Gómez of the López-Bermúdez relationship in an interview last week. “Obviously Adán Augusto knew how this guy worked…this is why the case of Adán Augusto is particularly serious, and there are many people inside Morena who won’t come out and say it because there is Leninist discipline…But they are very worried about this.”
There’s also wishful thinking from the opposition, which has predicted Morena would succumb to internal injuries before.
The Morena party leadership has stood by López so far, as has Sheinbaum (at a safe distance). She also said he should publicly clarify “his version” and defend his security record as governor. On Thursday, she reiterated that there is no open investigation into López, but that progress is being made on the Bermúdez case. Ulises Pinto, the alleged second-in-command of La Barredora who was also a former federal policeman and member of the Zetas, was arrested in Jalisco on Wednesday. Pinto and Bermúdez reportedly had a falling out late last year, splitting the gang into rival factions.
Swamp monstrosity: Mexican Consul Jaime Sabines is considering issuing a travel warning for Mexicans visiting Orlando, Florida after the arrest of two Mexican citizens for operating an unregistered vehicle on July 7; the brothers, Carlos and Óscar Alejandro González, were sent to the new Everglades migrant detention center which Trump said will house “some of the most vicious people on the planet.” One of the brothers was in the country on a valid tourist visa, the other is married to a U.S. citizen (though his residency has reportedly expired).
The consul says the brothers—who were pulled over in their Mexican-plated car because of their tinted windows—are in “legal limbo” since the facility, baptized “Alligator Alcatraz” by Florida’s attorney general, is under state rather than federal (ICE) jurisdiction. “All we’re asking is for them to be allowed to leave, to go back to Mexico,” said Sabines in a CNN interview. Sheinbaum’s government sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. to request the repatriation of all 14 Mexican nationals currently held in the detention center.
Sometimes, the asymmetry between these countries lunges and grabs you by the throat. Would Trump send a diplomatic note if two U.S. citizens had been arrested at a traffic stop in Mexico, sent to a detention center and barred from legal recourse?
Chiapas student’s speech goes viral: “I am deeply sorry I haven’t spoken up before.” On July 16, a high-school student sent shockwaves through a graduation ceremony in the small town of Pijijiapan, Chiapas when she took the microphone to publicly accuse male teachers of molesting students.
“The problem is they feel at liberty to make out of line comments, give us flirtatious looks, put the blame on the skirts we wear, make inappropriate overtures and even think they can have sexual relations with minor girl students.” The student asked for a show of hands from other classmates who had been molested, and several girls raised theirs. By the end of her speech, her voice is broken with emotion: “You should at least have sensitivity, manners and respect for the students here, because you also have daughters.” The crowd erupted in applause.
The 4-minute video went viral and an investigation has been opened by the state prosecutors' office. The school’s director resigned, and one teacher, José Moreno Solís, was arrested before attempting to flee to Guatemala. The girl in the video had reported him first to the school and then to law enforcement a few months ago, alleging he had been abusing her for two years. “The first time she came to my office, she was in a state of shock, she was emotionally distraught,” said her attorney, Lourdes Ovando Wong, in a report by El País. Ovando also lamented that what her client described is “very normalized behavior” in schools across Chiapas.
Moreno’s friends and family organized a march in his support last week, claiming he has been unjustly accused.
Mea culpa: A spate of attacks on free speech by Mexican politicians—under the guise of prosecuting political gender violence—continues. Echoing the high-profile case of a woman in Sonora who has been punished for posts on X about a federal congressional candidate, a local media outlet in Acapulco has been ordered by a state electoral court to post a public apology to Mayor Abelina López for 15 consecutive days, and pay a 22,000-peso fine. Reporter Jesús Castañeda of Acapulco Trends says López is after him because he wrote about a state audit showing irregularities in the management of city funds. However, the original complaint was filed in 2023, before the audit controversy.
“We regret that Abelina López is once again attacking the media, which has been a characteristic of her administration. We repeat that freedom of expression is not a crime and we will continue to inform citizens responsibly,” said the Acapulco Trends team in a post on X. For her part, López says the complaint was made against the outlet because of the “constant publication of misogynistic and racist comments,” though she didn’t share any examples.
Allegations of political gender violence have also been used by Governor Layda Sansores in Campeche (against a journalist) and were leveled at Alessandra Rojo de la Vega during the campaign for mayor of the Cuauhtémoc borough in Mexico City last year. Her opponent, Catalina Monreal, lost the election, but won her case at the city’s electoral tribunal, which ruled she had suffered psychological violence from her rival’s campaign.
Fighting big food and beverage: In November, the Sheinbaum administration announced it would implement a ban on the sale of junk food and sugary drinks in the nation’s schools (nearly 100% of them have both available on the premises). While Coca Cola announced it would voluntarily stop selling at schools, some affiliate companies and others filed lawsuits against the new regulation. Last week, the Public Education Department (SEP) announced it had prevailed in five of the cases. Over 19,000 schools have been reported for permitting the sale of junk food in the 2024-25 school year, since the ban went into effect on March 29. Diabetes is the second-leading cause of death in Mexico, which also has one of the world’s highest childhood diabetes rates, and recent data indicate 39% of school children are overweight.
Pulling back from the brink?: The world’s smallest cetacean (and rarest marine mammal), the vaquita porpoise, is endemic to the Gulf of California and has seen its population decline to merely 8-10 specimens according to 2024 surveys. But last week, federal environmental agencies said that they have registered 41 “acoustic encounters” with vaquitas this year, which is “something positive” according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
While the government has stepped up efforts to enforce a zero-tolerance protection zone, illegal fishing continues. Vaquitas—which don’t reach sexual maturity until three to six years old, and only give birth to one calf every other year—have been pushed to near-extinction because they drown in the nets set to catch totoaba, a fish that has been dubbed the “cocaine of the sea” because of its high value on the black market. While the totoaba is also endangered, progress has been made in repopulation efforts. The next vaquita census expedition will begin in September.
Thank you for reading and feel free to send me your suggestions, comments and questions at hola@themexpatriate.com. And please share The Mexpatriate!