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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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Mexico is fighting a US antidumping tariff on strawberries

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Mexico has condemned the U.S. Commerce Department for calling for an antidumping tariff on Mexican strawberries, a move Mexico says would violate international standards and threaten to end decades of largely duty-free strawberry trade between the two countries. Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard voiced a “grave concern” over a preliminary determination by the U.S. that Mexican strawberry exports were being dumped during the winter season, which, if true, would constitute an unfair trade practice that consists of exporting goods at prices below their production cost or lower than the sales price in the domestic market. The imposition of tariffs would affect almost 5,000 Mexican strawberry producers — 97% of whom are small or medium-sized, with no more than 10 hectares. (Ashy Anderson/Unsplash) Mexico’s Economy Ministry (SE) issued a statement Tuesday night informing the public that the U.S. accused Mexico of selling strawberries at prices between 3.37% and 5.28% below the normal produ...
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Peso punches below 17 to the US dollar for the second time in a week

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Buoyed by a weaker greenback, the Mexican peso appreciated on Wednesday morning to trade below 17 to the US dollar. At midday Mexico City time, the USD:MXN exchange rate was 16.97, according to Bloomberg. Earlier on Wednesday, the peso reached 16.95 to the dollar, its strongest position since June 2024. Compared to the Bank of Mexico’s closing USD:MXN rate of 17.06 on Tuesday, the peso appreciated 0.65% to reach 16.95 to the dollar. Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Banco Base, wrote on X that the peso appreciated on Wednesday morning due to “the weakness of the dollar” as a result of the U.S. Treasury Department’s announcement that it was increasing a bond buyback operation. The dollar weakened after the Treasury Department announced in a statement that it was “increasing, by at least double, the size of liquidity support buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities (the 10-year to 20-year sector and the 20-year to 30...
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Deadly Sonora heat wave expected to intensify over next 3 days

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Temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for the next three days in the northwestern border state of Sonora, with highs reaching 47 C in municipalities in the northwest and central region, according to Mexico’s National Meteorological Service (SMN). The dangerous heat wave, which has lasted more than six weeks, has already caused 22 deaths and sickened 350 as of Tuesday morning, reports the Sonora state Health Ministry. Temperaturas máximas registradas la tarde de ayer en estaciones de #Sonora El valor mas alto que se presentó fue de 46.9°C en El Pinacate. Fuentes: @ConaguaOCSonora , @CESAVE_Sonora . pic.twitter.com/XPq10IkZJH — Gilberto Lagarda Vas (@gilbertolagarda) August 18, 2026 The cities of San Luis Río Colorado, Caborca and Hermosillo could experience highs of between 43 C and 47 C. In the state capital of Hermosillo, the relative humidity is around 45%, while the ultraviolet radiation index is in the “extreme” category, rangin...
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Navy seizes over 300 IEDs and 300 kg of explosives in Sinaloa

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The Mexican Navy on Tuesday said that its personnel had seized more than 300 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and around 300 kilograms of explosives in a southern municipality of Sinaloa, a state where IEDs have been used in the long-running battle between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel . The Ministry of the Navy (SEMAR) said in a statement that navy personnel found the IEDs and explosive material near Agua Verde, a small town in Rosario, a municipality that borders both Nayarit and Durango. Como parte de las acciones para fortalecer la seguridad en Sinaloa, en El Rosario, elementos de @SEMAR_mx localizaron más de 300 artefactos explosivos improvisados y cerca de 300 kg de explosivos. Personal naval especializado aseguró la zona y deshabilitó los artefactos en el… pic.twitter.com/QfhWrg0wJ5 — Gabinete de Seguridad de México (@GabSeguridadMX) August 18, 2026 The discovery was made at a rural property during an operation led by the navy in conjunction with the federal Se...
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Spanish police confiscate dozens of critically endangered Mexican axolotls

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Spain’s National Police have recovered 29 axolotls, a critically endangered amphibian endemic to Mexico that survives in the wild only in the canal system of Xochimilco in Mexico City. Spanish authorities confiscated the specimens in the city of Granada and are investigating a Mexican national for his alleged participation in illegally trading the axolotls. Though the axolotl population has been dangerously depleted in its natural habitat, axolotls have been trending as “pets.” But to survive, captive axolotls need the conditions of the Xochimilco canals to be duplicated, which is difficult, expensive and rarely achieved by non-scientists. (gob.mx) Although the International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the axolotl as a critically endangered species — the category immediately preceding extinction in the wild — its international trade is legal, though strictly regulated. The species is included in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in End...
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