The Mexpat Notebook: November

On hidden cities, the borderlands and a bloody Mexico City feud

Welcome to the November edition of The Mexpat Notebook.

Below you’ll find my monthly curated list of interesting reads, and I encourage you to share some of your own finds in the comments section.

Two U.S.-Mexico border sherriffs, two visions on immigration and security (InSight Crime)

This on-the-ground report about two neighboring Arizona counties is an eye-opening account of differing approaches to border security policy—from law enforcement officials. The Election Day results from Santa Cruz and Cochise crystallize this contrast: Harris won the former with 58.9% of the vote, and Trump won the latter with 60.1%.

*Going deeper: El País published an in-depth piece on Starr County, Texas—the most Hispanic county in the United States—which voted Republican for the first time in a presidential election since 1892 on Nov. 5.

De puñetazos a balaceras: Los cambios de poder en el centro histórico de la capital que explican el ataque contra Diana Sánchez Barrios (El País)

A trans woman who represents Mexico City steet vendors is gunned down in broad daylight. Her cousin dies from his wounds, but she survives. Her sister says another cousin is to blame. This could be a pitch for a Netflix miniseries, but it’s actually the story behind the Oct. 17 shooting of controversial lideresa Diana Sánchez Barrios in downtown CDMX. The Sánchez Barrios family traces its roots in the city’s historic center to the Revolution, and has been witness to encroachment by organized crime. In the words of Diana’s sister, Silvia: “We, who are from the neighborhood, who are tough, who don’t back down, are afraid.”

Lost Maya city with temple pyramids and plazas discovered in Mexico (The Guardian)

Indiana Jones meets laser surveys in this story about the recent discovery of a large ancient Maya city hidden in the forests of Campeche. “The government never knew about it, the scientific community never knew about it….there’s a lot more to be discovered,” says anthropologist Luke Auld-Thomas, who led the team that found the city—dubbed Valeriana, and thought to be founded before AD 150—when analyzing LiDAR maps of the area from 2013.

¿Es Mariana Mazzucato la gurú económica que la 4T necesita? (El Economista)

This op-ed by business journalist Luis Miguel González profiles the influential leftist Italian economist Mariana Mazzucato—who recently visited with President Sheinbaum—and how her ideas about the “entrepreneurial state” could shape the administration’s economic policies. González highlights some of Mazzucato’s provocative statements about the role of the state in driving innovation. “If the rest of the world wants to emulate the United States,” says Mazzucato, “they should do what the United States did, not what the United States says it did.”

“El Chapo”: The mastermind behind “El Mayo’s” kidnapping (Saga/Proceso)

This investigative story by crime reporter Luis Chaparro was described as “very interesting” by President Sheinbaum at a mañanera a few weeks ago, as she continues to contend that the U.S. government has been holding back information on its involvement in the July capture of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. According to the sources Chaparro quotes in his report—including U.S. federal agents and members of the Zambada and Guzmán families—it was Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán who orchestrated the kidnapping of his former partner Zambada. And the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit helped carry it out. The plot thickens.

Lecturas precarias en la Nueva Escuela Mexicana (Este País)

The author of this essay begins by reminiscing about how reading literature impacted her as a child, leaving “a mark of awe and fascination.” She mentions classical mythology, stories by Cervantes and García Márquez, and The Little Prince, all included in her public school textbooks. Then she assesses the curriculum of today, known as “La Nueva Escuela Mexicana”—implemented by the Public Education Department (SEP) under AMLO—and its disheartening drift away from reading.

The Republican case for Mexico (The Mexico Political Economist)

While Trump’s victory signals a doubling down on economic nationalism in the U.S., this thought-provoking piece is a reminder that the Republican party is still home to politicians with a more liberal economic mindset who are “bullish” on Mexico and Latin America. Could the ongoing threat of China push the U.S. closer to its neighbors in the region?

Las cartas de los vecinos y la democratización de la justicia en México (Nexos)

I was intrigued by this professor’s analysis of Mexico’s fraught judicial reform, taking the animating force of “democratization” to a different frontier: trial by jury. The purpose of a jury is indeed to democratize justice—by allowing ordinary citizens to decide not only the question of guilt or innocence, but to help shape the law. While Morena’s judicial reform is focused on electing judges, not bringing back jury trials (which ended their uneven history in Mexico in 1929), this article makes a compelling case for their return.

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.