The Mexpat Notebook: March
On cartel drones, an axolotl census and scuba diving in the CDMX sewage system
Welcome to the March edition of The Mexpat Notebook.
Below you’ll find a selection of links to good reads (in English and Spanish), as well as snippets from the national conversation in the “Odds and Ends” section.
If you feel inspired, please share your own finds—good reads, podcasts, films, or just fun tidbits about Mexico—in the comments section below.
And here’s a recap of the past month at The Mexpatriate:
Murky waters - On “expelled” narcos, polluted presas and film follies
On a tightrope - Of festivals, firearms, fires and a funeral
To the magnates, go the spoils - A deep dive on oligarchs and inequality in Mexico
What I’m reading
TikTok becomes a tool of choice in cat-and-mouse game between migrant smugglers and authorities (AP)
Hundreds of videos examined by the AP feature thick wads of cash, people crossing through the border fence by night, helicopters and airplanes supposedly used by human smugglers known as coyotes, smugglers cutting open cacti in the desert for migrants to drink from and even crops of lettuce with text reading “The American fields are ready!”
As the Trump immigration crackdown continues and the administration rolls out its CBP Home app to encourage “self-deportation,” social media apps like TikTok are being used by vast networks across the Americas every day, by both migrants and smugglers. One Mexican woman interviewed in the report said it only took her half an hour to find a smuggler after she started searching on TikTok, “in a moment of desperation.”
Así funciona un refugio pesquero en el Golfo de México (WIRED en Español)
Desarticular la pesca ilegal es difícil. Canul asegura que los pescadores justifican ser furtivos porque así alimentan a sus familias. “Desde chicos tenemos la cultura de que mientras más agarras, más tienes. Nunca nos enseñaron a cuidar para tener.”
Overfishing is a global issue, but in Mexico—despite sanctuary zones covering over 2 million hectares of ocean—the lack of enforcement and funds to support conservation make it even more acute. This long read about a Celestún sanctuary shows how critical it is to integrate local fishing communities into monitoring and research; one fisherman notes that data used to go straight from researchers to institutions, but “now there is an intermediary: the community.”
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Feeding the Borderlands and Beyond: A Q&A with Yoli Soto (Border Chronicle)
“Every year, about 7 billion pounds of produce come through Nogales. An estimated 3 to 5 percent will go into the landfill. So we’re here to rescue the produce that is still good for consumers. We were rescuing ‘ugly produce’ before it became fashionable.”
This interview is a refreshing read, telling a rare border story of hope, instead of despair. Yolanda Soto started a small nonprofit in 1996 in Nogales, Arizona (a major entry point for Mexican produce into the U.S.) to “rescue” fruits and vegetables from going to landfills, feeding them instead to thousands of people and animals across the state at minimal cost.
El buzo de aguas negras y la ciudad que secó sus lagos con drenajes (Milenio)
–¿Se nota que la Ciudad de México está levantada sobre un lago? –le pregunto a Julio César Cu.
–Sí, pero ahora el lago es de aguas negras y está debajo de la tierra.
Julio César Cu has been working for the Mexico City government for 41 years, diving in the sewage system of the megalopolis to unblock drains, make repairs and at times, recover bodies. This feature story gives a glimpse into a highly unusual career and also goes into detail about the city’s long history of hydraulic engineering, from its founding 700 years ago.
Drones fuel criminal arms race in Latin America (InSight Crime)
Drones replaced pigeons that were once used to deliver messages and small parcels, offering more advantages and easy availability of goods on the black market, including weapons, drug packages, food, liquor, cell phones, and all kinds of contraband that found an airborne way into prisons.
A disconcerting report on the use of drones by Mexican cartels, which have been part of criminal arsenals for over a decade across the region—starting in prisons. The first reported use of a weaponized drone in Mexico was in 2017; explosives have since been dropped using drones in Michoacán and Guerrero, which was covered by Ioan Grillo in this short documentary.
¿Inmobiliarias o gente, quién tiene derecho de vivir en Sisal? (Pie de Página)
A pesar de que hay iniciativas y proyectos ambientales que integran a los dos grupos, personas entrevistadas apuntan que desde el principio hubo un choque cultural entre estudiantes universitarios de distintas ciudades del país y familias pescadoras del puerto.
While the article about Celestún I shared above is an example of cooperation between conservationists and the local community, this one tells a contrasting story in Sisal, another seaside Yucatán town. Local residents have come into conflict with environmentalists and researchers—despite their shared opposition to the “touristification” and over-development of the area in recent years—who have reported their illegal clearing of protected mangroves to state and federal agencies.
This is no world for an axolotl (El País)
Axolotls like fresh water and silence, which is a lot to ask for in Mexico. Trajineras playing loud music pass constantly by chinampas whose owners live off tourism, primarily exhibiting, yes, axolotls in aquariums.
While the emblematic and remarkable axolotl—a species that rebelled against God, as described by 19th-century zoologist Auguste Duméril—has inspired a mass of scientific research and public fascination, it is disappearing from its native habitat. This story explores the reasons why ambystoma mexicana is on the verge of extinction in the waters of Xochimilco, and how biologists are trying to save it.
Odds and Ends
The death of an anti-crime crusader…or criminal?
On March 8, a reporter posted on social media that Isabel Miranda de Wallace—tireless victims’ advocate or Machiavellian criminal, depending on who you ask—had died at age 73 at ABC Hospital in Mexico City. Miranda gained fame after her son Hugo was reported kidnapped in 2005, rising to prominence in the Calderón administration as an activist, and even running for Mexico City mayor in 2012. She put six people in prison for their alleged involvement in the presumed murder of her son, though no body was ever found.
Stories about Miranda are never quite as they seem. Her death occurred days before the release of a new book about her case by journalist Ricardo Raphael (“La Fabricación”), and Raphael has expressed suspicion about her demise: “That there could be this sudden cosmic coincidence allowing her to leave this world without being held accountable does leave behind many questions.” I’ll be writing more about this appalling, twisted tale in my next news roundup edition, so stay tuned.
From first lady back to leading lady
Angélica Rivera, Mexico’s first lady from 2012-2018, returned to the silver screen after an 18-year absence on Friday as the star of telenovela “Con esa misma mirada.” Rivera had a successful career in soap operas before she married Enrique Peña Nieto in 2010 and during his term, her reputation was tarnished by the “Casa Blanca” corruption scandal (she and Peña Nieto divorced in 2019). Rivera may be tempting further public scorn now, this time by taking on the role of an iconic character—the show is a remake of the beloved “Mirada de mujer,” released in 1997.
I grew up watching Mexican telenovelas with my mom and sisters for Spanish practice—adding important phrases like “¡lárgate canalla!” to our vocabulary—and most were formulaic fairy tales, set in a world of virginal heroines, fallen women, fallen priests and, of course, evil stepmothers. But “Mirada de mujer” was different, and took hold of the national imagination; following the story of María Inés Domínguez, a 50-year-old wife and mother who finds love with a younger man (gasp!) after her husband leaves her for a younger woman.
One of my first impressions in seeing the promotional photos and videos for the new show is how youthful Rivera looks for her age (55)—and in comparison to Angélica Aragón, who played María Inés in 1997 (she was 44 years old, playing a 50-year-old). While hardly shocking, it is disheartening that women are continually pushed to meet ever-narrower beauty standards that defy normal aging.
Now it’s your turn! Please share what you’ve been reading about Mexico lately in the comments, and let’s get a discussion going. And feel free to email me at hola@themexpatriate.com with any questions or suggestions.