Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) director Zoé Robledo presented the preliminary results during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily press conference on Monday. 

“Of the 4 million public school children who have undergone [the screenings], 18 percent are obese,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday. “And if we consider both overweight and obesity, the number rises to nearly 37 percent.”

Robledo said that 1,986,117 of the children screened between March and July as part of the government’s Healthy Living (Vida Saludable) program have received referrals for free medical attention.

The study found that more than half of the school-age children in three states — Campeche (56%), Quintana Roo (52%) and Tabasco (51%) — were either overweight or obese.

The study also found that the problem increased with age. While 33% of first-graders were assessed as overweight, the prevalence for sixth-graders was found to be 45%.

Additional results showed that 55% of the children screened had cavities and 35% had impaired vision.

The objective of the government’s program, Sheinbaum said, is to assess students’ health, offer referrals to clinics for checkups as needed and to promote a healthy lifestyle, featuring a nutritious diet and exercise.

“The program is very important because, in the end, it’s not just about providing healthcare when someone gets sick, but about prevention, about being able to build a healthy life,” she said.

The program is being managed by IMSS and the Education Ministry.

A Gringa’s take on the Mexican childhood obesity crisis

Four million schoolchildren underwent health screenings in the final months of the school year that ended in July. The screenings will continue during the upcoming school year until 12 million children have been evaluated.

“Our goal is to help families and teachers demonstrate how to eat right, how to exercise properly in order to lead a healthy life,” the president said, adding that the nationwide ban on junk food at public and private schools is a key part of this strategy.

The junk food ban, approved last year, went into effect on March 31.

Schools were required to phase out food and beverages displaying one or more black warning logos identifying the product as high in salt, sugar, calories or fat. These banned items include donuts, carbonated drinks, French fries, chips and snacks, candy, ice cream and flavored milk.

School administrators who violate the ban risk fines of up to 5,450 pesos (US $290).

With reports from La Jornada Maya, Excelsior and El Universal

The post More than one-third of Mexico’s schoolchildren are overweight or obese appeared first on Mexico News Daily

In its second-quarter earnings report issued last week, SCC, a subsidiary of Grupo México, one of the largest copper producers in the world, said ongoing negotiations are designed to secure environmental and operational approvals needed to move forward with several key projects in the country.

“We are in talks with the current administration to continue SCC’s US $10.2 billion investment in Mexico,” it said in the report.

SCC identified several Mexican projects it hopes to develop, including mines in Angangueo (Michoacán) and Chalchihuites (Zacatecas), as well as the El Arco copper deposit (Baja California) and the El Pilar project (Sonora), which is a conventional open-pit mine with an annual production capacity of 36,000 metric tons of copper cathodes. 

The company also hopes to revisit plans to invest in a copper smelter project in Sonora.

SCC’s mines in Mexico produce more semi-processed copper, or concentrate, than its plants can handle, forcing the company to rely on offshore smelters. Before Mexico’s latest mining reforms in 2023, the company was considering spending US $1 billion on a new smelter in Sonora.

The reforms significantly altered Mexico’s mining regime, emphasizing enhanced environmental and social protections. The reform included modifications to mining concessions (reducing them from 50 years to 30 years, among other changes), water rights and obligations for concession holders.

Regarding fracking and open-pit mining (the latter being of interest to Southern Copper), the reform authorizes contracts and concessions at the discretion of the president, “due to their strategic nature for national development.”

BCS legislators call on Baja California to reject copper mining mega-project

Mining.com magazine reported that as of late 2024, “there were 116 pending environmental approvals with [the Environment Ministry] and 107 awaiting clearance from [the National Water Commission] Conagua.”

Southern Copper, with operations in Mexico and Peru, said its investment plans include an immediate expenditure of more than US $600 million by the end of 2025 in both open-pit and underground operations in Mexico. 

The company said it would spend roughly half of that to modernize infrastructure and ensure long-term viability. It would also target “water efficiency, tailings management and operational improvements to boost productivity and sustainability,” according to the industry platform Mining Reporters, which focuses on mining in Latin America.

The planned investments would go a long way in strengthening SCC’s position as a fully integrated copper producer, it said in its earning report.

With reports from El Economista, Mining Reporters and Mining.com

The post Southern Copper in talks with government to unlock US $10B+ in stalled mining investment appeared first on Mexico News Daily

The regulations specifically target the community of La Ventana on the southeastern, or Gulf of California, side of the peninsula where the overwhelming majority of the boats offering orca-tracking services operate.

Swimming alongside orcas at La Ventana Beach, Mexico pic.twitter.com/PS4x2XJgv2

— ViralRush (@tweetciiiim) June 24, 2025

The protocol — published by the state Environment Ministry (SMADS) — requires that tourism boats interacting with the animals acquire permits and limits the number of boats that can surround an individual or family of orcas on any given day.

The Model Management Plan for the Conservation and Non-Extractive Use of Orcinus orca aims to ensure that tourists are allowed to swim with orcas only in La Ventana.

Georgina Saad, a marine biologist who studied at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur, called the site limit the most important part of the pilot program.

“We can send the message that this is the only place to do it, and this is how it is going to be done, and the rest is illegal,” she told the newspaper The Guardian.

Saad and Erick Higuera, a marine biologist and documentary filmmaker based in Baja California Sur, were among the scientists advising the SMADS as it sought to address the legal gray area being exploited by tourism providers.

The activity, which reportedly took off after several Instagram posts went viral in 2019, fell between strict whale-watching regulations — which apply specifically to baleen whales and the sperm whale — and the orcas’ status as a species “Subject to Special Protection.” 

So while the “Special Protection” norm provides guidelines for conservation and management, it does not regulate swimming or other direct interactions with orcas, which are actually not whales but members of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae).

The plan goes beyond establishing a quota on the number of people and boats that can interact with the orcas. It also requires boat captains to respect the animals’ behavior — if they exhibit distress, the boats must retreat.

The revenues from the boat permits will fund training for captains and local residents as well as pay for patrol boats to enforce the decree.

“The goal is to teach captains and guides how to read the whales’ behavior so they know when to interact with the animals, how to do so safely, and when to give the orcas space,” Saad told The Guardian.

Not everyone is happy with the SMADS decision. Local boat captains have expressed concern that the permits will go to established tour companies in Cabo San Lucas and La Paz.

Some tour company operators complained that they were not involved in crafting the plan. Others wondered why the program is limited to La Ventana when orcas roam around the entire peninsula.

With reports from The Guardian and El Sudcaliforniano

The post Baja California Sur becomes first state to legalize swimming with orcas appeared first on Mexico News Daily

The sailboat was en route to Australia from Mexico, according to investigative reporters with Aristegui Noticias. It was boarded by French authorities after it made a stopover in Nuku Hiva, the largest of the Marquesas Islands, one of five archipelagos that make up French Polynesia.

An initial inspection found 900 kilograms of cocaine and 180 kg of methamphetamine, but a more exhaustive search by the authorities led to the discovery of 1.8 tonnes of cocaine, 232 kg of meth, 11 firearms and 24 magazines.

Officials are calling the bust the largest narcotics haul ever recorded in the territory.

The two men on board — a Dutchman and a German — were arrested.

France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau praised the work of the French Customs Service, the local gendarmes and officials with the French Office for Biodiversity.

“The State will never give in to the drug trafficking that plagues our regions,” Retailleau said in a social media post. “Throughout the country, drug traffickers will be relentlessly pursued.”

#ContreLeNarcoTrafic Saisie record en #Polynésie française !
1,6 T de cocaïne, 232 kg de méthamphétamine, 11 armes de point et 24 chargeurs
Une excellente coopération #douanes, antenne #Ofast de Papeete et commandement de la gendarmerie de Polynésie pic.twitter.com/dvhG5XKsHD

— Gendarmerie nationale (@Gendarmerie) August 4, 2025

According to the news magazine Proceso, French Polynesia is a popular route for methamphetamine and cocaine trafficking, which “primarily originates from clandestine laboratories located in Mexico.” 

Traffickers take advantage of the vast expanse of ocean to ship their drugs from South American and Mexican sources to the Australian market. This makes effective patrolling by authorities extremely challenging, according to the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre.

French Polynesia’s vast maritime zone comprises 5.5 million square kilometers.

In late June, the Assembly of French Polynesia urged the French government to declare the fight against meth a national priority. The past year has seen a 28-percent rise in drug-related court cases with the increasing involvement of minors, according to Radio France Internationale.

A social media post from France’s Ministry of Overseas Territories said protection of the population in its territories is a priority in the face of the growing pressure of drug trafficking.

“In French Polynesia, our security forces are mobilized to combat these criminal networks that threaten youth and social cohesion,” it said.

With reports from Proceso and Aristegui Noticias

The post Sailboat carrying US $381M in drugs from Mexico intercepted in French Polynesia appeared first on Mexico News Daily

President Claudia Sheinbaum called the acquisition “a sign of certainty in our country, of confidence and of a desire to keep investing,” at her Friday morning press conference.

“I have spoken to Cox management and they are very committed to investing in Mexico and to the development of various projects,” Sheinbaum said.

Cox, an 11-year-old water and renewable energy company with a market capitalization of around US $958 million, will buy Iberdrola’s 15 power plants. The news agency Reuters said 75% of the deal will be funded with debt and the remainder with equity.

Reuters said closing is expected by the first quarter of 2026. Approval is virtually assured since shareholders representing 84% of the company’s capital have already expressed support for the acquisition.

In a statement, Cox said it will invest more than US $10.7 billion in Mexico between 2025 and 2030.

The company defined the deal as a landmark acquisition, adding that it “aims to leverage [our] established presence and in-depth knowledge of the Mexican market, reinforcing its position in high-growth strategic markets.”

The company said it sees Mexico as a strategic market “thanks to its strong legal certainty” under the new energy regulatory guidelines in the government’s Plan México.

La presidenta @Claudiashein indicó que la empresa Cox compró los activos de Iberdrola de forma totalmente legal y calificó de positiva esta decisión, ya que dijo, es un privado que está de acuerdo con las nuevas normas de México para seguir invirtiendo en el sector.… pic.twitter.com/kCKzqSttcr

— SENER México (@SENER_mx) August 1, 2025

Cox referred to Mexico as the second most-important electricity market in Latin America (only Brazil has a larger consumer market). It highlighted the country’s “solid macroeconomic fundamentals and an investment-grade economy underpinned by a responsible fiscal policy.” It also lauded Mexico’s banking system as “sound and stable.”

The acquisition of Iberdrola’s platform offers vast potential for increased penetration and growth in Mexico’s power sector, Cox believes, especially due to “a rising demand for energy” that is driving investment.

The company’s five-year investment target not only includes the Iberdrola acquisition, but also “more than US $4 billion in new energy assets, up to US $1.5 billion in water concession assets and the development of a hub focused on Mexican welfare.”

Cox said it also hopes to co-invest in new energy projects alongside Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), the state-owned electric utility.

The company says the deal creates “significant synergies within its strategy to make Mexico one of its key business hubs in Latin America by integrating water and energy solutions.”

Iberdrola, a Spanish multinational electric utility which has operated in Mexico since 1999, announced its intention to sell its remaining Mexico assets last week, hiring Barclay’s Investment Bank to manage the sale. At the time of that announcement, the assets for sale were valued at US $4.7 billion.

The 15 power plants being sold — six wind parks, three solar parks and six gas and cogeneration plants — have a combined 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of capacity..

The acquisition also includes a pipeline of 11.8 GW of various renewable energy sources. Cox says 1.4 GW of the renewable energy projects in the pipeline are at an advanced stage of development and may start commercial operations in 2027-28.

Iberdrola began divesting its assets in Mexico, including a US $6 billion sale to the government in 2023, as it became a frequent target of then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s attacks. 

The Cox sale will complete Iberdrola’s exit from the country. 

With reports from El Economista, El Financiero, La Jornada and Reuters

The post Cox Energy buys departing Iberdrola’s Mexican assets for US $4.2 billion  appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Contract bidding for three other tranches and the provision of more than 60 trains is well advanced, and studies are underway for new lines connection to Guadalajara, San Luis Potosí, Mazatlán and more.

Sheinbaum opened her Wednesday morning press conference by introducing the three men responsible for meeting an ambitious goal: that of building more than 3,000 kilometers of railway track for passenger trains before her term ends in 2030.

Andrés Lajous, director of Mexico’s Rail Transport Regulatory Agency (ARTF), provided a brief update on progress on the Mexico City-Querétaro and Mexico City-Pachuca lines, before turning his attention to the Querétaro-Irapuato line, construction of which is expected to begin this month.

Lajous said the Querétaro-Irapuato line will be built in two sections: from Querétaro to Apaseo el Grande (a distance of 33 km) and from Apaseo el Grande to Irapuato (78 km). Construction contracts will be announced in mid-August and October respectively.

The Mexico City-Querétaro and Querétaro-Irapuato lines are tranches of the Mexico City-Guadalajara-Nogales line that aims to serve 6 million passengers a year upon completion.

Another section of track that could see construction begin this month is the Unión San Javier to Arroyo El Sauz tranche of the Saltillo-Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo train. The winning bid for this 100-kilometer section in the northern state of Nuevo León will be announced this month.

With regards to the remainder of the Saltillo-to-Nuevo Laredo line, the Saltillo-Santa Catarina section (70 km) tender will be published on Sept. 18 and the Arroyo El Sauz-Nuevo Laredo tranche (133 km) will be determined on Oct. 3.

Larous said that four other lines — Irapuato to Guadalajara; Querétaro to San Luis Potosí; San Luis Potosí to Saltillo and Mazatlán to Los Mochis — are entering the study phase. The call for proposals for environmental assessments was published on Wednesday.

Also this month, the ARTF will award contracts for trains for three lines: Mexico City-Pachuca, Mexico City-Irapuato and Saltillo-Nuevo Laredo.

General Gustavo Ricardo Vallejo, commander of the Army engineers overseeing the construction of the Mexico City-Pachuca line, said construction there will generate more than 60,000 direct and indirect jobs.

“There are already 6,000 people employed in building embankments, compacting track platforms, excavation and pouring of piles and foundation footings,” he said.

Additionally, Vallejo said, the Mexico City-Querétaro job is expected to create employment for roughly 200,000 people. More than 5,000 people have already found jobs on this route.

En la #MañaneraDelPueblo de hoy, con la Presidenta @Claudiashein, compartimos el avance de construcción de los nuevos trenes de pasajeros:

En agosto, inician las obras de las rutas Querétaro-Irapuato y Saltillo Nuevo-Laredo.

Arrancamos los estudios para las nuevas rutas. pic.twitter.com/eG7NTfQUP7

— Andrés Lajous (@andreslajous) July 30, 2025

Sheinbaum interjected that her passenger railway project has two purposes — better communication across the country and economic benefits for the communities along the routes.

“The objective … is to benefit communities during and after construction, not just provide a means of transportation,” she said, adding that another goal is to ensure safe, rapid and high-quality transportation.

Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation Minister Jesús Esteva was also present, but his comments were limited to progress on the Amado Nervo Bridge that will connect the Pacific Coast resort cities of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, and Bahía de Banderas, Nayarit. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in November 2026.

With reports from Infobae and Milenio

The post What’s next for Mexico’s growing rail system? Officials share advances in Nuevo León, Guadalajara, SLP, Sinaloa and more appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Olvera, 21, overcame a poor third dive to surge past his two Chinese rivals with his next three dives, including a fifth dive of 102.60 points, and a flawless finish. 

Osmar Olvera was flawless all day, even in the sixth round, he didn’t flinch

His reward? A well-earned gold in the 3m Springboard! #Diving #AQUASingapore25 pic.twitter.com/cYyTOOEQci

— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) August 1, 2025

The Mexico City native finished with 529.55 points over six dives, edging four-time Olympic gold medalist Cao Yuan (522.70) who is also an 11-time World medalist, and three-time reigning World champion Wang Zongyuan, who scored 515.55.

Olvera became the first non-Chinese diver to win this event since Canada’s Alexandre Despatie won in 2005.

“I feel amazing,” Olvera said. “It’s a dream come true, to be a world champion … in an Olympic event.”

Olvera said he’ll now focus on maintaining his gold-medal form in order to continue battling the Chinese divers who have dominated these events, including a gold medal sweep at the Paris Olympics last year and taking seven out of eight golds at the two previous Olympics.

The Mexican diver’s victory is by no means a surprise. He won the 1-meter springboard competition at the 2024 World Championships in Doha and has eight career Worlds medals, including four this year in Singapore. 

Olvera also won bronze in the 3-meter springboard event at the Paris Olympics last year as well as a silver in the 3-meter synchronized springboard competition.

Olvera’s gold on Friday was the sixth diving medal for Mexico at the Worlds, behind only China’s 14 and well ahead of the rest of the pack, including the USA’s one.

The path to gold for Olvera at the Worlds was not easy. 

Wang was first and Cao was second in every round of the semifinals. But, according to Swimming World Magazine, Olvera leaped ahead in the finals with the best dive in each of the first two rounds.

Olvera wobbled in Round 3 and was in third place after four rounds. Then came what Swimming World Magazine called “the best dive of the final and maybe the meet writ large.”

The Mexican nailed a forward 4 1/2 somersault dive in a pike position to move a half-point ahead of Cao. He clinched the gold medal with the best dive of the final round — a forward 2 1/2 somersault dive with three twists, performed in a pike position . It earned 97.50 points.

“I felt a lot of pressure [on the sixth dive],” Olvera said afterward. “I knew I needed a great dive, so I just focused, controlled myself and did my job.”

During her daily morning press conference, President Claudia Sheinbaum showed reporters a video of the event and applauded Olvera’s triumphant performance.

In a chat with El Universal newspaper afterward, Olvera thanked Mexican fans who followed his performance despite the time difference with Singapore, sharing an emotional message with them.

“Thank you to all those who supported me, to all of Mexico who stayed up all night to cheer me on, thank you for sending the best vibes,” he said. “And to those of you who didn’t, I ask you to support me too, because Mexico isn’t just about soccer.”

With reports from ESPN, El Universal and Swimming World Magazine

The post Mexican diver Osmar Olvera ends China’s run with a 3m springboard gold at the World Aquatics Championships appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Moya, a naturalized Mexican, passed away at his home in Cuernavaca on Wednesday after a long illness, surrounded by his family and his partner of 43 years, Susan Flaherty.

Rodrigo Moya, fotógrafo colombo-mexicano. QEPD. pic.twitter.com/1skRJIK06Y

— Malely Linares Sánchez (@Malelylinares) July 30, 2025

Mexico’s Ministry of Culture lamented Moya’s passing on social media, writing that “[h]is work acutely portrayed the social inequalities, popular struggles and revolutionary movements of the 1950s and 1960s. Author of the famous portrait ‘Melancholic Che,’ Moya captured historical processes that today are part of an essential legacy of memory and truth. May he rest in peace.”

Numerous institutions and journalists paid tribute on social media as well, including the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, the National Institute of Anthropology and History and Jenaro Villamil, the director of Mexico’s Public Broadcasting System.

The Coordination of Cultural Diffusion at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) said Moya “leaves us a lucid and profoundly honest legacy: a mirror where history still breathes.”

Moya, whose work has been compared favorably to Henri Cartier Bresson and Manuel Álvarez Bravo, photographed political unrest throughout Latin America during the 1950s and 1960s, including the guerrilla movements in Guatemala and Venezuela, the U.S. invasion of Santo Domingo, and the Cuban Revolution. 

He captured the human cost of civil and military uprisings and the people who lived through those turbulent times, and memorably described photography as “the most intense approach to life, to the nature of the world, to the beings and things that entered through my lens and remain there.” 

Moya referred to his subjects as “populating memory and the small surface of photographic paper, refusing to die, looking at me with the same eyes they looked at me with decades ago.”

He abandoned the profession of photography in 1968 to focus on print journalism and produce documentaries, although he continued to take photographs.

Some of his images from this later period were featured at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in 2015, billed as the first retrospective of Moya’s career to be exhibited in the United States.

They featured subjects such as the sea and residents of fishing communities, as well as the countryside, the streets of Mexico, religious processions and portraits of both anonymous people and celebrities.

Wittliff curators wrote that images by Moya published in eminent Latin American news magazines such as Impacto, El Espectador, Sucesos and Siempre! documented newsworthy events, “while providing an insider’s view, suggesting that his subjects were waiting for his camera.”

He said of himself: “I think my photos did have a constant search, but more than a seeker of images, I was a seeker of social contrasts, I was a seeker of the physiology of Mexico and the economic physiology of our countries.”

In a pamphlet explaining the exhibit “Eyes Wide Open” featuring photos by Moya, The Etherton Gallery in Tucson, Arizona, described him as “part photojournalist, part street photographer.” 

“The photographer renders timeless, the sweet, ordinary moments of life, like a girl looking out a train window in “La Muchacha.” His affecting portraits afford the same dignity to renowned artist Diego Rivera as to an agricultural laborer in “La vida no es bella”  (“Life is not Beautiful”).”

Moya was born in Medellín, Colombia, on April 10, 1934. His father was Mexican.

Moya took his famous photo of Che in July 1964 as part of a project to produce a book about the Cuban Revolution that was never written. On the last day of the visit to Cuba, he did a series of 19 portraits of the revolutionary, including the image of Guevara smoking a cigar, with a sad expression.

In 1997, Moya won Mexico’s National Short Story Award for his book “Cuentos para leer junto al mar” (“Stories to read by the sea”). 

With reports from La Jornada and El Economista

The post Mexican photographer Rodrigo Moya, who famously photographed Che Guevara, dies at 91 appeared first on Mexico News Daily

The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) on Wednesday formally requested that the Federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) investigate López, currently a Morena party senator, for criminal association while also demanding that he resign from office.

The accusation stems from López’s relationship with Hernán Bermúdez, the former state security minister of Tabasco. Bermúdez, who is under investigation for ties to organized crime, fled Mexico in January.

As governor of Tabasco, López selected Bermúdez to be the state’s top cop, although the latter had been jailed for 11 days in 2006 while being investigated for murder. The pair is said to have a relationship dating back more than 30 years.

López has not spoken publicly about the scandal, limiting his comments to a July 18 post on X in which he said he was willing to submit to questioning if so required.

Bermúdez allegedly used his position as security minister to establish ties with the notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and oversee an extortion racket and fuel-theft ring in Tabasco.

López also faces allegations that, in his capacity as notary public, he helped Bermúdez and his brother set up shell companies utilized to carry out these illegal activities as well as earn millions in state-issued contracts.

Bermúdez remained in charge of the Tabasco Security Ministry after López left the governor’s mansion to become interior minister in 2021, finally stepping aside late last year. He reportedly fled the country in January, just two weeks before an arrest warrant was issued.

Word of the arrest warrant was confirmed in mid-July by Gen. Miguel Ángel López, who said Bermúdez was identified as the leader of the criminal gang known as “La Barredora.” Gen. López said that Interpol has issued a “red notice,” alerting police worldwide that Bermúdez is a fugitive.

Shortly after taking office in October 2024, Tabasco Gov. Javier May identified Bermúdez as the leader of La Barredora. May, a member of Morena, also criticized his predecessors, including López, saying they needed to answer questions about their knowledge of Bermúdez’s activities.

Leaked intelligence reports suggest that federal authorities knew of Bermúdez’s links to La Barredora as far back as 2020 and then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador reportedly ordered an investigation into Bermúdez’s illicit activities in 2021.

PRI Senator Alejandro Moreno submitted the motion to force López to resign. It was the third time the opposition has sought to open debate on the scandal, but members of the ruling party Morena have repeatedly blocked the topic from being placed on the legislative docket.

Morena lawmakers closed ranks around López on Wednesday, insisting there is no legal foundation for López to resign. “There is no formal investigation of López and the accusations are nothing more than a media-driven smear campaign,” said Morena Senator Imelda Castro.

In its petition to have López removed from office, the PRI cited Senate regulations that define honorability, political responsibility and public ethics as conditions for exercising popular representation.

The PRI party also revealed that it had filed a second complaint with the FGR, requesting an investigation of eight prominent Morena party members, including former President López Obrador, Education Secretary Mario Delgado and five governors. The PRI alleges that the Morena politicians are involved in “a treasonous cover-up of organized crime activities.”

Later Wednesday, the National Action Party (PAN) also demanded a formal investigation into López’s ties to Bermúdez. “This is not an isolated case,” said PAN Senator Ricardo Anaya. “This suggests a pattern of complicity between Morena and organized crime.”

With reports from Animal Político, El País, Milenio, Excelsior and InSight Crime

The post Opposition formally accuses AMLO’s ex-interior minister of ties to Tabasco crime gang appeared first on Mexico News Daily

In an audacious and innovative twist, the second international reimagining of the Dark Knight — “Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires” — is set in the 16th century among pyramids, ancient codices and Indigenous ceremonial rituals.

Unlike the 2018 Warner Bros. production of “Batman Ninja” which saw the modern-day Caped Crusader time-travel to feudal Japan, “Aztec Batman” is a period piece in which colonialism is intertwined with the Dark Knight’s vigilantism.

In the new 89-minute animated film, premiering in Mexican theaters on Sept. 18 and set to be released digitally on Sept. 19, Batman’s origin is completely altered and the setting of Gotham City is nowhere to be found.

Instead, the story is centered on a young Aztec boy named Yohualli Coatl, whose father, village leader Toltecatzin, is murdered by Spanish Conquistadors. The boy manages to flee to Tenochtitlán, the Aztec capital city, to warn King Moctezuma and his high priest, Yoka (think “The Joker”), of looming danger.

Director Juan Meza-León, a Mexican storyboard artist who also co-wrote “Aztec Batman,” said the new film seeks to be “as faithful as possible to the essence of the characters, whether it’s Batman, Joker or Two-Face [Hernán Cortés].”

Although the film features completely new characters with different origins — including Jaguar Woman (Catwoman) and Forest Ivy (Poison Ivy) — “you can still see the spirit of their comic counterparts,” Meza-León says.

A new legend rises. AZTEC BATMAN: CLASH OF THE EMPIRES is coming to Digital 9/19. pic.twitter.com/YXn8VTzIng

— Warner Bros. Entertainment (@WBHomeEnt) July 25, 2025

“[Yoalli Coatl] goes through tragedy at the hands of the conquistadors. So that’s where you get the loss of the parents and also the loss of his village,” he told Anime News Network. “That motivates him and pushes him into a journey that, unbeknownst to him, is being led by the deities that guide him into becoming the bat warrior.” 

According to an HBO Max Latin America press release, Yohualli Coatl uses the temple of the bat god Tzinacan as a lair, where he trains with his mentor and assistant, Acatzin. There, Aztec Batman “develops equipment and weaponry to confront the Spanish invasion, protect Moctezuma’s temple and avenge his father’s death.”

The film featured a largely Mexican production team from Ánima Estudios, as well as Dr. Alejandro Díaz Barriga, an ethnohistorian who teaches at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM), in an effort to ensure visual and narrative authenticity.

Horacio García Rojas, who voices Yohualli Coatl, spoke glowingly about the film at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 over the weekend, saying he hoped the character would lead to new narratives that include a greater diversity of ethnicities, languages, races and beliefs.

“To know that brown-skinned boys and girls like me can see themselves in a hero who shares their same features, who carries in his skin the history of a past that is still alive, a hero who fights for his own, fills me with emotion,” he told HBO Max.

However, not everybody was enthralled with the reimagination of Batman as an Aztec hero.

The recent launch of the official trailer has prompted criticism, especially from Spaniards who complained the film stirs up anti-Spanish sentiment and reinforces the Black Legend, a negative vision of the Conquest and Catholicism.

With reports from Yucatán Magazine, Expreso and Informador

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