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Court deals setback to controversial gas terminal on the Gulf of California

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The start of construction on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the northern state of Sonora has been temporarily halted by a federal court, even though a government port authority granted the project 36 hectares last year. The Amigo LNG terminal — planned for Catalina Bay south of Guaymas, Sonora on the Gulf of California — would receive natural gas from the United States by pipeline, cool it into a liquid for shipment and export it by tankers to Asian markets. Amigo LNG was granted 36 maritime hectares in Guaymas, Sonora, to buiuld a liquefied natural gas facility for shipment across the Gulf of California to Asia. (Semar) A federal judge in Sonora granted a definitive suspension that temporarily bars the previously authorized construction while the court reviews an amparo (a constitutional rights challenge) filed by the environmental group Nuestro Futuro. Last week’s ruling, which followed a Sept. 18 hearing, does not cancel the project or revoke Amigo LNG’s separate ag...
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Mexican Senate passes bill holding pet owners accountable for abuse or negligence

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The Mexican Senate approved on Tuesday wide-ranging legislation that recognizes animals as sentient beings and prohibits their mistreatment and cruelty as it holds owners or caregivers accountable for their health, nutrition, living conditions and mental well-being. Though most notably aimed at the 69% of Mexican households that include pets (totaling some 80 million animals, according to the national statistics agency INEGI), the law would apply to all animals under human care, including those used in sports and entertainment; those on exhibition in zoos, aquariums or educational farms; those used in marketing; and even animals being raised for human consumption Public awareness of the longstanding problem of sub-par treatment of animals in captivity escalated recently with tales of dolphin deaths and injuries in resort marine mammal shows. (Iván Stephens / Claroscuro.com) The bill, formally the General Law on Animal Welfare, Care, and Protection, passed the Senate on a 115-1 vote...
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Flooding and landslides in Xalapa leave 2 dead, dozens of homes damaged

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The heavy rains that battered Xalapa, Veracruz, between Monday night and the early hours of Tuesday morning resulted in the death of two individuals, as well as severe flooding, landslides and damage across dozens of neighborhoods in the capital city.   In a radio interview cited by news outlet Quadratín Veracruz , Mayor Daniela Griego Ceballos said that the fatalities included a man in the Independencia neighborhood who was killed by a landslide, and a young woman who lost her life after becoming trapped in a flooded building in the area of San Bruno. A 23-year-old woman lost her life after becoming trapped in the supermarket where she worked. (Tonatiuh Navarro/Cuartoscuro) At the time of the interview, Griego said there were no other reports of people seriously injured, trapped or in similar situations.    The intense rainfall left damage across Xalapa. Initial reports from municipal authorities recorded 31 instances of rising water and 64 cases of flooding or pooling water at va...
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Authorities present 4 new lines of investigation in Ayotzinapa case

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Twelve years and two days after 43 students disappeared in the southern state of Guerrero, federal officials outlined “four new lines of investigation” in the abduction and presumed homicide case that shocked Mexico and triggered massive protests during the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto. At a press conference on Monday, Deputy Interior Minister Arturo Medina and Mauricio Pazarán, the prosecutor heading up the investigation into the Ayotzinapa case, presented the new investigative leads, which are included in a new federal report. Protesters marched through Mexico City to the National Palace to demand justice on the 12th anniversary of the mass kidnapping on Saturday. (Rogelio Morales/Cuartoscuro) Before we look at each line of investigation presented on Monday, here is a summary of the Ayotzinapa case, one of Mexico’s most notorious criminal cases. On the night of Sept. 26, 2014, 43 male students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College were abducted after a ...
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MND Local BCS: Hurricane Polo hits Baja California Sur, plus new regulations for swimming with whale sharks in La Paz

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On Monday, Sept. 21, Polo was designated a tropical storm off the southwestern coast of Mexico, with wind speeds of approximately 50 miles per hour (mph). Within 24 hours, winds had increased to 160 miles per hour , and Polo was suddenly one of the most terrifying types of natural disasters: a Category 5 hurricane.  The National Hurricane Center characterized the speed of Polo’s intensification as “truly remarkable,” not to mention historic. Indeed, it was one of the most rapid storm intensifications in recorded history, second only to that of Hurricane Patricia in 2015 , a monster Category 5 hurricane that reached sustained winds of over 200 miles per hour.  The destructive path of Hurricane Polo as it approached the Pacific Coast of Baja California Sur, on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 27. (NOAA) By Tuesday afternoon, Hurricane Polo had reached sustained winds of 180 miles per hour (285 kilometers per hour), making it the third-strongest hurricane by that measure in the history ...
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Peso falls to 18 to the US dollar as oil, Fed worries weigh on both currencies

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The Mexican peso depreciated to 18 to the US dollar on Monday, a weakening of more than 1% compared to Friday and over 6% compared to its strongest position this month. The sharp depreciation on Monday came just weeks after the return of the “super peso” was proclaimed at a time when the peso was trading at below 17 to the greenback. A USD:MXN exchange rate of 18, as was the going rate early Monday afternoon, represents a depreciation of 6.2% for the peso compared to its strongest closing position this month — 16.89 to the greenback on Sept. 4, according to the Bank of Mexico (Banxico). At 3 p.m. Mexico City time, the peso was trading at 17.99 to the US dollar, according to Bloomberg. Banxico’s closing USD:MXN rate, reported daily at 2:10 p.m., was 17.94, a depreciation of 1.3% compared to the closing rate on Friday. The newspaper El Financiero attributed the peso’s decline on Monday to a greater aversion to risk, an increase in oil prices — which rose afte...
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Oregon woman, a ‘medical tourist,’ wins the right to have her Tijuana medical malpractice complaint heard

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While studies show that medical procedures in Tijuana can cost up to 75% less than in the United States, patients considering this option might want to embrace the maxim “caveat emptor.” Although cheaper dental work, plastic surgery and bariatric surgery might sound appealing, insufficient regulation and inadequate oversight are legitimate concerns. And when patients’ lives have been endangered, the question of where to turn has not always been encouraging. That might be changing, however. Julia Carpenter, recovering back in Oregon from complications after her surgery in Tijuana that turned out to have been performed by a doctor unlicensed for the procedure and who has since disappeared. (Julia Carpenter/Facebook) Early this month, a district judge in Baja California ordered the Baja California Medical Arbitration Commission (CAMEBC) to consider a complaint of medical negligence filed by an Oregon woman who suffered severe complications following weight-loss surgery in 2024. Julia...
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