El Taller: The Real Story of the Tren Maya
In this episode of El Taller, Kurt Hackbarth and José Luis Granados Ceja speak with Professor Etienne von Bertrab of University College London about his new graphic-book Más allá: una historia del Tren Maya. Von Bertrab explains how the book emerged from frustration with academic publishing and a desire to bring rigorous, balanced research to a wider public. The conversation explores the origins and construction of the Tren Maya, the social and environmental controversies surrounding it, and what the project reveals about the broader goals of Mexico’s Fourth Transformation. From historical extraction in the southeast to today’s debates over development, welfare, and sovereignty, the interview offers a nuanced, informed look at one of the country’s most ambitious—and misunderstood—projects.
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People’s Mañanera January 19
President Sheinbaum’s daily press conference, with the ever-frequent reading of the polls, raising revenue without raising taxes, Salinas Pliego tax debt comes due, US Hercules plane landing in Mexico, and Mexican dying in ICE custody.
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Our Water, In Whose Hands?
A promising vision from President Sheinbaum for public water management rapidly disappeared. Yet again the Mexican state openly assumes the role it has always played under neoliberalism: facilitating access to natural resources for special interests.
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38 Billion Pesos Withdrawn from AFORE Accounts Due to Unemployment
The large number of Mexicans withdrawing from their pensions to survive unemployment indicates an urgent necessity to establish national unemployment insurance.
