Mexico

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Vaccine teams in Mexico scramble over measles outbreak rippling out from Mennonite community

CUAUHTEMOC, Mexico (AP) — In a rickety white Nissan, nurse Sandra Aguirre and her vaccination team drive past apple orchards and cornfields stretching to the desert horizon. Aguirre goes door to door with a cooler of measles vaccines. In one of Latin America’s biggest Mennonite communities, she knows many will decline to be vaccinated or even open their doors. But some will ask questions, and a handful might even agree to get shots on the spot.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-measles-vaccines-misinformation-mmr-mennonites-misinformation-ea6158b9a4d513b20f33cbc09034e5c2?

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Personal secretary and adviser to Mexico City's mayor killed in attack

The personal secretary and an adviser to Mexico City’s mayor were killed by gunmen on a motorcycle in a central neighborhood of the capital Tuesday, authorities said. Read More.

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Will Mexico's judicial elections hurt democracy or make the courts accountable?

Mexicans will vote in the country’s first judicial elections Sunday. The fiercely debated question is whether electing judges will deepen democratic decay or purge courts of rampant corruption and impunity. The vote comes as power in Mexico has been increasingly concentrated in the popular president’s office, and as organized crime wields significant political influence in many parts of the country. Read More.

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Election of Mexico’s first Indigenous Supreme Court justice in 170 years raises hope and skepticism

MEXICO CITY (AP) — In his campaign for Mexico’s Supreme Court, Hugo Aguilar sent a simple message: He would be the one to finally give Indigenous Mexicans a voice at one of the highest levels of government.

https://apnews.com/article/hugo-aguilar-mexico-supreme-court-judicial-reform-indigenous-d7a6cfcd7269128c7641f26ca5ed4191?

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Another mayor is killed in Mexico, this time in Michoacan

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican mayor and her husband were killed Tuesday in the western state of Michoacan, less than 48 hours after a mayor in the southern state of Oaxaca was killed.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-mayor-michoacan-violence-c58ca33ba677cc3d076bda9580999aa1?

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Mexico's president calls march against mass tourism 'xenophobic.' Critics blame government failures

A fierce protest in Mexico City railing against gentrification and mass tourism was fueled by government failures and active promotion to attract digital nomads, according to experts, who said tension had been mounting for years. The criticism comes after Mexico's president alleged that Friday’s protest was marked by xenophobia, reviving a debate over an influx of Americans in the city. Read More.

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He closed his store after years of threats. Why Mexico’s extortion problem is getting worse

MEXICO CITY (AP) — It started with a phone call to a men’s clothing store in the heart of Mexico City’s historic center. “I need you to put together 10,000 pesos ($500) for me weekly, or else we’ll have to do something,” the voice said.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-extortion-crime-sheinbaum-cartels-53ece497efb7b5509e7ba9fb91e465a3?

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A car accident in Tennessee leads to US charges against a major Mexican drug operation August 14, 2025 Justice Department indictments have been unsealed against three leaders and two high-ranking enforcers of United Cartels, an umbrella organization made up of smaller cartels that have worked for different groups over time.

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Lime growers’ leader in Mexico killed after denouncing cartel extortion

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A leader of lime growers in the violent western Mexican state of Michoacan was killed Monday, authorities said, after repeatedly denouncing in recent months the extortion demands of organized crime on producers.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-limes-cartels-extortion-93b32d7e85c9e3a7165a1866d38c4b88?

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How 2 killings exposed the depths of cartels’ grip in Mexico Two recent killings in Mexico's western Michoacan state have sent a clear message that organized crime controls much of the region, something residents have known for years. Now, as President Donald Trump has launched military attacks against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific and has offered to send the U.S. military to Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum faces increased pressure. But years of failed tactics have left residents skeptical that the government will offer a solution. Read more.

What to know: Michoacan has stymied presidents before, and has become one of Sheinbaum's biggest challenges. All strategies to pacify the state over the last 20 years have failed, while criminal groups have multiplied and renewed their tactics.   The U.S. government is watching because Michoacan is a key importer of chemical precursors for synthetic drugs. In the last two months, 17 drug laboratories were dismantled by Mexican authorities.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Community police in Michoacan defend their land from cartels   WATCH: Victims of cartel violence speak out

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Mexico’s Sheinbaum pledges to send humanitarian aid to Cuba

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum announced Sunday she plans to send humanitarian aid to Cuba this week, including food and other humanitarian aid. Sheinbaum’s comments came after U.S. President Donald Trump said he asked the Mexican leader to suspend oil shipments to the Caribbean island. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

What a reporter found when she returned to Cuba after last trip 3 years ago Mexico’s push for US natural gas sparks community opposition and threatens its climate pledges A mix of hope and fear settles over Venezuela after US-imposed government change

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💥 Cartel chaos in Mexico

A law enforcement officer stands near a burning bus in Zapopan, Mexico, after it was set on fire by a cartel yesterday. Photo: Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images The Mexican army killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho," yesterday, decapitating what had become Mexico's most powerful drug cartel and thrusting swaths of the nation into chaos. (AP) The drug lord was the Mexican government's biggest prize yet to show the Trump administration in its efforts to crack down on the cartels. The killing set off several hours of roadblocks with burning vehicles, tactics commonly used by the cartels to block military operations. Videos circulating on social media showed smoke billowing over the tourist city of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco, and people sprinting through the airport of the state's capital in panic. The State Department warned U.S. citizens in the area to remain in safe places due to the ongoing security operations. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. "provided intelligence support to the Mexican government" for the operation. Go deeper.

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Mexico fears more violence after army kills leader of powerful Jalisco cartel The Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful cartel leader and one of the United States’ most wanted fugitives on Sunday, notching a major victory while cartel members responded with a wave of violence across the country. Read more.

Why this matters: The killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes during an attempt to capture him was the highest-profile blow against cartels since the recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán a decade ago. The killing could give the government a leg up in its dealings with the Trump administration, which has been threatening tariffs or unilateral military action if Mexico does not show results in the fight against the cartels.   Mexico’s Defense Department said in a statement that the army launched an operation in the southern part of Jalisco state to capture Oseguera Cervantes, involving the Mexican Air Force and special forces. The cartel counterattacked, and in the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed four members of the criminal group, and wounded three others, including its leader, who died later during transfer by air to Mexico City, according to the statement.   Following Oseguera Cervantes’ death, cars torched by cartel members blocked roads in 20 Mexican states and left smoke billowing into the air. People locked themselves in their homes in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city and Jalisco’s capital, and school was canceled Monday in several states as security forces were placed on alert all over the country.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Mexico fears more violence after the killing   Photos of violence in Mexico after the army killed ‘El Mencho’   Soldiers keep up clash with cartel gunmen a day after Mexico’s military killed top drug lord TAPALPA, Mexico (AP) — A day after the Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful drug lord, the picturesque town where it happened was a study in contrasts. https://apnews.com/article/mexico-jalisco-cartel-mencho-sheinbaum-trump-226e50edc33f981d5d6509acc7021ae5?

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Mezcal’s popularity is booming in the US. That comes with a growing environmental cost in Mexico

Thirty years ago, a single light bulb would illuminate the mezcal distillery owned by Gladys Sánchez Garnica’s family in rural Oaxaca, where the agave-based spirit was made through the night. As drops dripped from a clay oven, Garnica and her siblings listened to stories told by their parents while neighbors arrived by horse to get a taste of a drink known for its smoky flavor. Today, that small-scale tradition exists alongside a global boom that has transformed mezcal into a major industry dominated by international brands. As mezcal has spread to bars around the world, so has its footprint on the land. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

See how mezcal is made in Mexico Mezcal producers in Oaxaca pose for photos while reflecting on economic impacts of the drink

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They were under siege by a Mexican cartel. Now these civilians fight back with AK-47s and grenades

Jesús Domínguez pushes through thick brush lining a rugged mountainside with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder and a grenade fastened to his leather belt. He marches alongside a pack of camouflage-clad men patrolling the rural stretches of Mexico against one of the country’s most powerful drug cartels. Armed with military-grade weapons smuggled from the U.S., the 50-man force is one of dozens of “autodefensa,” or “self-defense,” groups that have emerged over the past decade in Mexico to fight increasingly sophisticated cartels in areas far out of the reach of security forces. Read more.

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WATCH: Self-defense groups become last line of defense against cartel expansion in central Mexico

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They scour the Mexican cartel lands for the missing — and for closure

In Mexico a group called the Guerreros Buscadores, and dozens of other groups like it, scour the country for people who are missing. More than 130,000 people have been reported missing since 2006, according to official records. It is perilous work in a perilous environment, and these Guerreros agreed to be shadowed by an AP photojournalist to see what they do — and why it matters. Read more.

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WATCH: Searching for missing people Mexico’s Sheinbaum takes a firmer stance toward the US over migrant deaths and Cuba US sanctions 2 casinos and 3 people over alleged links to Mexico’s Cartel del Noreste