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Extradited Navy offficer, accused of fuel-trafficking, arrives from Argentina to Mexico’s top security prison

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Alleged fuel smuggler Rear Admiral Fernando Farías Laguna arrived from Argentina on Friday and is now incarcerated at the Altiplano maximum security prison in México state.  Farías — accused of leading a network that siphoned off millions in profits from state oil company Pemex — will face an initial arraignment hearing ahead of what promises to be explosive judicial proceedings. Fernando “N”, posiblemente relacionado con una compleja red criminal dedicada al contrabando, dispersión y distribución de combustible, es trasladado a México. pic.twitter.com/A96Bh8ToZt — FGR México (@FGRMexico) August 20, 2026 After months on the run, Farías was arrested in Buenos Aires in April for entering Argentina with a fake passport. Two petitions for asylum were rejected and his challenges against extradition were turned aside. His departure has been categorized as an administrative expulsion. His brother Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna,  a former vice admiral, has been in prison since September 2...
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Mexico City launches drive to plant a million native trees in underserved boroughs by 2030

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Not regarded as one of the country’s top tree cities, Mexico City has begun an urban reforestation drive that aims to turn sidewalks, medians and other “gray” spaces into 1 million new shade points by 2030. The program is built around the international 3-30-300 guideline: Residents should be able to see at least three trees from each window of their homes; all neighborhoods should include at least 30% tree canopy covering; and households should have a park or green area within 300 meters, about 1,000 feet. The árbol colorín or flame tree is one of the several native species that will be planted throughout the capital. (Unspash) Launched Tuesday by Mayor Clara Brugada at a housing complex in Iztacalco — which has the fewest trees of any of Mexico City’s 16 boroughs — the program calls for planting 200,000 native trees annually across the capital. Officials said the plan calls for 100,000 trees to be planted this year, with priority for the eastern boroughs, where green-space shor...
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Sinaloa capital’s Independence Day celebrations set to return after 2 years

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For the first time since 2023, the state of Sinaloa will stage Independence Day celebrations in Culiacán, its capital city, incuding the traditional public Grito.  Interim Governor Yeraldine Bonilla this week announced that the  Grito will be celebrated in the Governor’s Palace Esplanade, declaring that preparations are already under way to resume the popular Sept. 15-16 festival and the massive celebrations that accompany it. Interim Sinaloa Governor Yeraldine Bonilla’s announcement was succinct and to the point: “There will be Independence Day celebrations!” Then she turned it personal: “I hope to see you there.”   (Yeraldine Bonilla) Culiacán’s “Grito” — an event that commemorates Father Miguel Hidalgo’s Sept. 16, 1810, call to arms which launched the initial insurrection of Mexico’s War for Independence — was canceled in 2024 and 2025 due to widespread cartel violence. The cancellations were imposed because authorities were unable to contain a civil war...
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Mexico in Numbers: A 2025 security snapshot

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On Aug. 13, the national statistics agency INEGI published the results of the 2026 National Census of Federal Public Security and National Census of State Public Security . This “Mexico in Numbers” article looks at some of the key results. It also includes some of the security statistics presented by the federal government last week. Security spending by National Guard and state forces exceeded 136 billion pesos in 2025  INEGI reported that the “total budget” exercised by the National Guard (GN) and state public security authorities in 2025 was 136.16 billion pesos (US $8 billion). Just over one-fifth of that amount — 20.7% — was spent by the GN, while the remainder was used by security authorities in Mexico’s 31 states. (Security spending in Mexico City wasn’t included in the 2026 security census.) INEGI said that using prices from the second quincena (15-day period) of July 2018 — i.e. before Mexico’s inflation rate spiked significantly ...
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Mexico refuses to support US-led push to address Nicaragua’s election ban

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Mexico abstained from voting on a United States proposal for an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) on how to respond to Nicaragua’s decision to bar opposition politicians from running for office. Despite Mexico’s objections, the OAS on Wednesday approved a resolution summoning foreign ministers to an emergency council session by a lopsided 29-1 vote. The OAS is the leading international political forum for Western Hemisphere nations. President Sheinbaum echoed her OAS representative’s words during her Thursday mañanera. Asked why Mexico didn’t support the proposal for a special meeting to discuss Nicaragua, she said, “We would have no reason to. We believe in non-intervention and in self-determination of peoples — not just out of conviction, but also because it is established in the Constitution.” (Camila Ayala Benabib / Cuartoscuro.com) Brazil was the lone “nay” vote, while Haiti and Venezuela were absent. Nicaragua, which withdrew fro...
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An infamous Morelos narco ranch will be converted into a school and health center

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A ranch in central Mexico formerly owned by convicted drug kingpin Edgar Valdez Villarreal — aka “La Barbie” — will be converted into a high school and health complex, Morelos Gov. Margarita González Saravia said Tuesday. The property, known as El Paraíso, is in Atlacholoaya, roughly a 35-minute drive south of Cuernavaca, the Morelos state capital. Morelos Governor Margarita González Saravia announced Tuesday that the former ranch El Paraíso of convicted narco La Barbie in the municipio of Atlacholoaya will soon be converted into a high school and health center. (Gobierno Morelos / Facebook) will house three entities: a technological agricultural high school; a center for traditional medicine; and an office of a 2-year-old state agency that promotes and supports Indigenous and Afro-Mexican communities. The school, known by its Spanish initials CBTA, is intended to address a longstanding demand for secondary education infrastructure in the area. Its curriculum will be tied to tradi...
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9 alleged CJNG members arrested in Michoacán security operation

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Federal security forces on Wednesday arrested nine alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in Michoacán. Among those detained was one woman identified as the daughter of a CJNG regional boss and another woman identified as the partner of the same man. The CJNG responded to the federal operation by blocking highways in Michoacán at more than 20 points, including by setting vehicles on fire, but most, if not all, of the narco-blockades had been cleared by early Wednesday afternoon. Nine arrests were made in an operation targeting the CJNG boss responsible for ordering attacks on National Guard troops on Feb. 22, 2026. He, however, remains at large. (Defensa/Cuartoscuro) The Ministry of National Defense (Defensa) said in a statement that “nine members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel” were arrested in Tinaja de Vargas and Colesio, towns in the municipalities of Tanhuato and Ecuandureo, respectively. Those municipalities are located in northwestern Mi...
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