Mexiconews

Mexico has 4,110 islands, islets, reefs and keys , according to the national statistics agency INEGI . Among the country’s many islands, which are the largest and which have the highest population? If you don’t already know, you’ll find out in this week’s “Mexico in Numbers” article! Mexico’s largest islands  Mexico’s largest island is Isla Tiburón (Shark Island), an uninhabited island in the Gulf of California off the coast of the northern state of Sonora. The area of Isla Tiburón is 1,198.7 square kilometers , according to INEGI. Thus, Isla Tiburón is just over 20 times larger than the island of Manhattan , New York, whose area is approximately 59 square kilometers. Mexico’s second largest island is Isla Ángel de la Guarda (Guardian Angel Island), which is also in the Gulf of California. The area of Isla Ángel de la Guarda, located off the eastern coast of Baja California, is 930.4 square kilometers . The island is around 16 ...

Based on a new strategy unveiled by the Intermunicipal System of Drinking Water and Sewerage Services (SIAPA) last week, the road to better water quality in the Guadalajara Metro Area (GMA) will be long and expensive. But with receipts now in, local authorities are highlighting some positive (if surprising) economic impacts from tourism tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Jalisco’s strategic plan to improve water quality and access in the Guadalajara Metro  With one in 10 neighborhoods in the GMA experiencing dirty water from water taps and others suffering from service outages, Jalisco state officials announced last week that solving these problems will require infrastructure investment of more than 20 billion pesos (US $1.1 billion), with projects spanning years. Protestan en Casa Jalisco: exigen a Pablo Lemus alerta sanitaria por agua contaminada con plomo y mercurio pic.twitter.com/kuZ1m0Fg3r — SIAPA CORRUPTO (@SiapaCorrupto) July 4, 2026 The high cost reflects the need to rep...

The first Protected Natural Area (in Spanish, Área Natural Protegida , or ANP) in Baja California Sur was established in 1972, two years before the then territory officially became a Mexican state. That was the Ojo de Liebre Lagoon Complex, a gray whale sanctuary whose designation as a Biosphere Reserve helped pave the way not only for the state’s whale watching industry but for the 12 other ANPs that would subsequently be added.  These protected areas have been the site of many conservation success stories, but there have also been numerous setbacks, both due to climate change and to the pressures on these ecosystems from business and tourism-related developments. This is particularly true for the three oldest ANPs, which all date to the 1970s. Ojo de Liebre Lagoon Complex and El Vizcaíno The Ojo de Liebre Lagoon Complex has been a federally protected breeding sanctuary for gray whales in Baja California Sur for over 50 years. (Simec/Conanp) Ojo de Liebre is a case in point. By 19...

Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, the former CEO of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), was arrested in Mexico City on Tuesday following a domestic violence complaint filed by his wife, María Felicia Jiménez Lavie. The arrest came after Jiménez posted a video on YouTube that shows Rodríguez hitting, pulling and pushing his wife at their home in the state of Morelos. The security camera video also shows the pair’s 6-year-old son fleeing the scene after the violence erupts.  Mexico’s National Arrest Registry indicates that Rodríguez’s arrest took place in the Narvarte neighborhood of the Benito Juárez borough on Tuesday afternoon at 5:32 p.m., after which he was handed over to the Morelos Public Prosecutor’s Office, where an investigation file for the crime of domestic violence was opened.   Following the release of the video, President Claudia Sheinbaum advocated for the full application of the law in the case involving Rodríguez and pledged that her government “wouldn’t protect anyone in the face ...

Exports of light vehicles made in Mexico increased slightly in the first half of 2026, despite the United States’ imposition of tariffs on Mexican autos last year and a sharp decline in exports in June. The national statistics agency INEGI reported Tuesday that Mexico exported just under 1.69 million light vehicles (light trucks and cars) between January and June, a 1.4% increase compared to the same period of last year. Mexico’s light vehicle exports have their worst first quarter since 2021 INEGI also reported that light vehicle exports declined 9.2% annually in June to 301,009 units. The newspaper El Economista attributed the decline in June to the U.S. tariffs, which aim to protect the U.S. auto industry and which took effect in April 2025 . U.S. content in Mexican vehicles is exempt from the 25% duty, lowering the effective tariff for virtually all cars shipped north. The United States is easily the largest market for light vehicles exported from Mexico. In the first s...

A team of international scientists, including Mexican researcher Nora Vázquez Laslop, has discovered an antibiotic whose mechanism of action could open new ways to fight bacterial resistance to medicines, according to new research published in the science journal Nature .   Vázquez, acting professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, helped identify the  compound manikomycin from soil bacteria ( Streptomyces rimosus ), known for decades for producing other antibiotics such as terramycin and oxytetracycline, one of the antibiotics in the tetracycline family. Nora Vázquez Laslop (third from right) and Alexander S. Mankin (far right) are co-directors of the Mankin and Vázquez Laslop Laboratory, engaged in studies of molecular mechanisms of protein synthesis. Seen here with their lab team, both are co-authors of the manikomycin study. (Mankin and Vazquez-Laslop Laboratory) Classic antibiotics usually act on the ribosome – the cellular ...