Mexiconews

Oil that has contaminated the southern coast of the state of Veracruz may have come from a natural oil seep, Governor Rocío Nahle said Tuesday. In early March, what appeared to be an oil spill was detected off the coast of Pajapan , a municipality in southern Veracruz that borders Coatzacoalcos. The contamination also affected the Gulf of Mexico coastline in other nearby municipalities. The mayor of Pajapan said last week that fishermen, restaurant owners and tourism were all affected. Pemex denies responsibility in Veracruz oil spill The state oil company Pemex promptly denied that it was to blame, saying in a statement that “no leaks or spills” had been detected and that its infrastructure in the region was “operating normally.” On Tuesday, Nahle said that there were no reports of an oil spill from a petroleum tanker or oil platform. There is a “theory,” the Veracruz governor said, that the oil that has contaminated the coastline of Veracruz and Tabasco is the result of a “na...

The U.S. government has taken another step in its fight against Mexican cartels, six of which it has designated as foreign terrorist organizations. On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it had issued an “expanded Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) to help law enforcement combat the illicit activities and money laundering of Mexico-based cartels and other criminal actors along the southwest border of the United States.” “The GTO subjects certain money services businesses (MSBs) — which provide financial services outside of a formal bank — to enhanced reporting requirements with FinCEN,” the agency said in a statement . “This important tool ensures law enforcement has access to critical data and can act quickly as they investigate illicit activity.” The expanded GTO requires businesses such as money transfer companies (Western Union, MoneyGram, etc) and currency exchange offices to “file Currency Transaction Repor...

The southern state of Oaxaca will spend an unprecedented 712 million pesos (US $40 million) to overhaul its public safety and victim support operations during 2026. In a press conference announcing the initiative, Governor Salomon Jara Cruz said the new allocation of resources, which will focus on equipment, technology and police salaries, will make Oaxaca’s citizen protection budget one of the nation’s largest for the third consecutive year.     Karina Barón Ortiz, who heads the Executive Secretariat of the State Public Security System of Oaxaca, explained that this historic investment is made up of a federal contribution of 312.2 million pesos (US $18.36 million) and a state investment of 399.9 million pesos (US $23.52 million). Barón added that these resources are part of the investment plan for 2026 to strengthen the infrastructure, equipment and operation of security corporations.   With the investment, the state government will seek to keep its security equipmen...

A prehistoric skeleton has been found in the underground river and cave system along Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Octavio del Río, the cave-diving archaeologist who was among those who made the find, said it is the 11th such skeleton found in the region over the past three decades. Some of the earlier discoveries date back as far as 13,000 years, older than what was originally thought to be the earliest arrival of humans to the Americas (as detailed with a similar but earlier nearby finding that accompanies this article). 8,000 year-old human skeleton discovered by cave divers near Tulum The discovery was made between Tulum and Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo, an area that archaeologists consider strategic for research into the earliest inhabitants of North America. Del Rio, who works with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), told The Associated Press in late February that the skeleton was “found in a flooded cave about 26 feet (8 meters) below t...

Around eight in ten of the more than 24,000 firearms seized in Mexico since President Claudia Sheinbaum took office entered the country from the United States, according to the federal government. The latest government data shows that authorities seized 24,122 firearms between Oct. 1, 2024 — the date Sheinbaum was sworn in — and Feb. 28, 2026. The Sheinbaum administration has been seizing guns at a significantly higher rate than the previous government led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador. On Feb. 27, during the president’s morning press conference , federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch told reporters that “approximately 80%” of the seized guns come from the United States. He said that in the case of larger-caliber weapons, such as machine guns and Barrett rifles, all of the firearms seized during the current government came from the United States. Such powerful weapons are favored by members of Mexico’s notorious drug cartels, such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco N...

Three people were killed and another was badly injured when a building that was being demolished collapsed prematurely in Mexico City. The accident happened at about 2 p.m. just across from the San Antonio Abad Metro station near the corner of Calzada de San Antonio Abad and Lorenzo Boturino Street about 1.5 miles south of the Zócalo. Rescue workers were able to pull out one of the four demolition workers buried in the rubble of the collapsed building, but three others were found dead. (Camila Ayala Benabib/Cuartoscuro.com) Media reports indicate there were 57 workers inside the structure when three of the buildings’ floor slabs reportedly gave way. Fifty-three men made it to safety, but the four victims were buried in the rubble. Emergency services and Mexico City police officers arrived quickly and cordoned off the area, hastening to stabilize the fallen edifice before trying to locate the missing workers.  Ángel Miranda, 45, was extricated from the rock pile within an hou...