The Mexpat Dispatch: Jan. 30

6 politics + security stories from the national conversation

Welcome to The Mexpatriate.

President Sheinbaum has again put out a fire on her northern flank after a “friendly” phone call with President Trump on Thursday, who effusively congratulated Mexico on having “a wonderful and highly intelligent Leader” in a Truth Social post. Sheinbaum said they discussed “various topics” in the 40-minute chat and claimed Cuba wasn’t on the agenda. However, since Bloomberg reported that Pemex had canceled its January shipment to the island, Sheinbaum has been dancing around the question of whether Mexico was ending its oil deliveries. Late on Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that would apply tariffs to any country that sells or provides oil to Cuba. Neither Pemex nor the Department of Energy (Sener) have officially commented, and Sheinbaum said this morning that her government will suggest that the U.S. take over sending oil to the island to avoid a humanitarian crisis.

At home, the electoral reform tinderbox seems to be getting less dangerous for the ruling party. On Wednesday, Morena president Luisa María Alcalde called the alliance with the PVEM (Green Party) and PT (Labor Party)—who had been sounding mutinous—“stronger than ever.” The draft bill is still a work in progress, but it is likely to be the hottest reform on the agenda after Congress returns to session this Sunday, Feb. 1. Even the opposition (despite dubbing the proposal the “Maduro Law”) has shown some signs of compromise.

In today’s dispatch, I cover six politics + security stories, from the latest expulsion of traffickers to the controversy over armored vehicles for Supreme Court justices. Another episode of The Mexpat Interview drops on Sunday—a conversation about the press and power in modern Mexico with CIDE professor Andrew Paxman.