NEWS BRIEFS
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Between Spies & Corruption
Pegasus, the israeli-spawned spyware that monitors Mexico, has made news again amid corruption allegations against former President Peña Nieto.
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Protest at Labor Ministry Demands 40 Hour Work Week Immediately
Front members accused Morena of using the proposal to win votes in its 2024 campaigns and now wanting to use it again until 2030.
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Airbnb-linked Fund Behind Mexico’s Rental Monopoly
Blueground is the largest provider of 30-day minimum stays in Mexico City; like Airbnb, it is funded by WestCap, an investment fund headed by Airbnb’s former CFO.
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CLICKS JULY 6
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including the ubiquitious and dismal saga of US-Mexico relations, Mexico City anti-gentrification protests, public-private partnerships in renewables, Heineken to suck Yucatán dry, sanctions on Mexican banks, and Peña Nieto and Israel deal.
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Puerto Vallarta House to House Healthworkers Strike
35 workers from the Mexican government’s new preventative healthcare initiative struck after not receiving any wages for the entire month of June.
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Gringo with Apparent CIA ID and Weapons Arrested in Mexico State
A search of the gringo’s home revealed four pistols, two AR-15s; more than 100 rounds of ammunition, six magazines, and a knife.
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“Your Airbnb was my home!” Anti-Gentrification Protest in Mexico City
A large mobilization against social cleansing began in the heavily gentrified area of Roma Norte.
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Collective Warns About Shady Building in Puerto Escondido
The developer behind the project is GDC, considered to be part of the widely reviled real estate cartel in Mexico City.
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BYD Drops Mexico Plant
BYD’s Executive Vice President made the announcement in Brazil just before the start of the 17th BRICS Summit, which Mexico will attend as an observer, without the presence of President Sheinbaum, who had attended the June G7 summit.
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MUBI Festival Canceled After Controversy Over Ties to Israeli Occupation
MUBI received a $100 million growth investment from Sequoia Capital, a US venture capital fund with a strong presence in israel’s military-tech sector.
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Mexico to Host 9th Continental Solidarity with Cuba Meeting
“We must aim for the Meeting to be a real contribution to confronting the current counterrevolutionary offensive of US imperialism, in pursuit of the broadest possible unity of leftist forces in the region, strengthening militant solidarity for Cuba and for the just causes defended by our peoples”
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Clicks July 1
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including Canadian mining corporate union-busting, US imperialism, US expanding military zones on Mexican border, monehy laundering allegations, Ricardo Salinas and Russia offers LNG deal.
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US Senate Lowers Remittance Tax to 1%
Congressional lawmakers had initially set the tax at 3.5 percent in May; lower than the 5 percent planned in the bill’s initial version.
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Outsourcing Ban Improved Wages and Benefits
A study found Mexico’s ban on outsourcing increased workers wages and reduced precarity, despite ominous predictions from employers who resisted the reform.
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Artists, Writers, Academics Call for Sheinbaum to Welcome Gaza Orphans
In a June 24th public letter titled A Home for the Orphaned Children of Gaza, the signatories requested the “valuable diplomatic and managerial intervention” of Mexico’s President to grant asylum to orphaned children in Gaza.
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A Proposal to Tax Vacant Homes and Cap Airbnb in Jalisco
Representative Mariana Casillas seeks to curb real estate speculation and the impact of gentrification in Jalisco, using tax revenues to fund social housing and public programs.
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US Sanctions Mexican Banks for Money Laundering, No Evidence Provided
The US Treasury Department provided no evidence, but did provide a list including many transfers made with legally incorporated Chinese companies, raising suspicions that the US is attempting to limit Mexico-China trade.
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US Attacks Mexico, Calling it a “Foreign Adversary”
The comments were made by US Attorney General Pam Bondi during a Senate Approprations Committee hearing.
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Real Estate Developers Fradulently Monopolizing Water in Mexico says CONAGUA
While some Mexican communities suffer up to 40 days without water access, private concessions hoard the resource, even re-selling it illegally. The government is reviewing only 326 concessions of a national total of 538,000.
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Clicks June 22
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including GM workers voting on union membership, Canadian mining crimes, upcoming women’s conference, the long drive to the 40 hour workweek, Trump admin plans for counterinsurgency in Mexico, the attack on Iran, Sheinbaum at G7, ICE custody deaths and microfinance bankruptcy.
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Israel Attacks Iran: Mexico Calls for “Dialogue,” US Attacks Iran: Mexico Calls for “Dialogue.”
Israel Attacks Iran: Mexico Calls for “Dialogue,” US Attacks Iran: Mexico Calls for “Dialogue.”
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Russia Offers to Supply Mexico with LNG to Strengthen Cooperation
Russia’s energy minister also stated that his country is interested in collaborating with Mexico in the electricity sector.
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Supreme Court Justice Batres Proposes Tax Issues be Discussed Openly, Not in Secret.
Secret judgements have allowed some of Mexico’s most prominent corporate citizens and members of the ruling class to escape fiscal responsibilities.
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.3% Of Mexicans Own Roughly Half the Value of Mexico’s Economy
There was a slight reduction in inequality from 2019 to 2024, but Mexico is the tenth most unequal economy in the world.
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Iranian Embassy Asks Sheinbaum to Speak for Peace
The Iranian Embassy in Mexico acknowledged Sheinbaum’s influence and called on her to condemn Israeli’s unprovoked attack on Iran.
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Clicks June 16
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including Sheinbaum attends G7, US stranding deportees in southern Mexico, judicial elections, Morena politician in dust-up with US Undersecretary of State, Los Angeles uprising, and continuing issues with Morena’s novel recruitment strategy.
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Over 14,000 Mexicans in USA Join IMSS as Independent Workers
In addition to medical, hospital, and pharmaceutical care, self-employed members receive benefits such as workers’ compensation insurance; financial support in the event of disability or death; retirement, old-age, and severance pay; as well as access to childcare and social benefits
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House-to-House Healthcare Launches in Tlaxcala
The healthcare brigades will make visits to the people with disabilities and the elderly across the state.
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Canadian Trade Unionists Rally Against Orla Mining
Vancouver’s Orla Mining owns the Camino Rojo open-pit mine in Zacatecas, and has been conspiring with criminal elements to break Los Mineros union and attack its organizers.
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Court Orders Tizapa Mining to Pay 100% of Lost Wages to Striking Workers
Section 219 of Los Mineros have been on strike since April 2024, while the company has been accused of controlling and favouring a competing union FRENTE.
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US Undersecretary of State Feelings Hurt by Tweet, Cancels Visa
If you prick Christopher Landau, does he not bleed?
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Morena Opposes Cap and Gown at Supreme Court of Justice
Senators presented a bill that eliminates the mandatory use of the cap and gown for Supreme Court justices, with the goal of “eradicating symbols” of remoteness and elitism from the country’s highest court.
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Communist Party of Mexico: Solidarity with Migrant Worker Struggle in the US
We find the Mexican presidency’s position of joining the condemnation of the Los Angeles protests in Los Angeles, instead of strongly condemning the brutality with which migrants are treated on the other side of the border, shameful.
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Popular Socialist Party of Mexico: Stop Repression and Persecution of Migrants in US
The PPSM categorically repudiates the use of force against migrant brothers and sisters who are resisting the oppressive onslaught of the Yankee government.
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Halconazo: 54 Years Since the Corpus Christi Massacre
In 1971, Mexican President Luis Echeverría (previously Interior Secretary during the Tlatelolco massacre) unleashed a right wing paramilitary group, connected to a police training program run by the US government, to attack and murder students in Mexico City.
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CLICKS JUNE 9
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including US regime migrant repression, judicial elections, gun lawsuits, teachers strike, and migrant labour exploitation in Canada.
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MEXICAN SENATE PRESIDENT CALLS FOR COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE ICE ABUSE
Gerardo Fernández Noroña called the treatment of migrants facing military intervention, ICE attacks as “unjustifiable, despicable and unjust.”
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SHEINBAUM TO TRUMP: “THEY ARE NOT CRIMINALS”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned anti-migrant raids and the repressive use of the National Guard by the American regime.
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A LEFT WING REFEREE
Mexico’s new Judicial Disciplinary Tribunal has been elected. Five judges will focus on the oversight and discipline of judges, magistrates, and Supreme Court ministers.
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CETEG TEACHERS REDECORATE SNTE HQ
Striking teachers burned photographs of controversial union leader Alfonso Cepeda Salas, head of SNTE, who was last year appointed a plurinominal Senator by the Morena government, which is negotiating with striking teachers.
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CNTE TO CONTINUE MEXICO CITY MOBILIZATION
Teachers have been occupying Mexico City’s Zócalo for over 20 days, seeking to finally end neoliberal education reforms and privatized pensions.
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IN DIALOGUE WITH TEACHERS, THE GOVERNMENT’S INTRANSIGENCE
The CNTE maintains the Mexican government is refusing to negotiate, making the same proposal over and over again to striking teachers.
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EZLN CALLS MEETING OF RESISTANCE & REBELLION
Zapatista Subcommandante Moisé said “it’s not a meeting of analysis or theory, but rather a meeting of practical resistance” that will take place from August 2 to 17, in Morelia.
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CLICKS JUNE 2
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including… well, mostly just stories about the judicial election.
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THE ELECTION IS ON!
Mexico will elect ministers, magistrates and judges today by popular vote, in the first elections of its kind in Mexico and in the world. Around 100 million Mexicans are eligible to vote in the judicial elections.
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MEXICO’S WAGES AS SHARE OF GDP HIGHEST IN DECADES
It’s the highest point in four decades, but less than the mid-70s when workers wages account for 40.6% of GDP, prior to a period of catastrophic neoliberalism.
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OIL BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE… UNTIL IT’S SMUGGLED TO THE US
Expanding investigations into fuel theft from Mexico’s state oil company PEMEX reveal northern connections that might be too close for the US government’s comfort.
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CNTE WILL RESPOND TO GOVERNMENT OFFER ON SATURDAY
The government’s offer to striking teachers did not include repealing the 2007 ISSSTE law, although today President Sheinbaum found time to meet billionaire Carlos Slim, who this week proposed scrapping the pension system and retirement age.
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WATER BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE: ILLEGAL DAMS ON EX-GOVERNOR’S RANCH
Former Chihuahua governor César Duarte built unauthorized dams and reservoirs monopolizing 700,000 cubic meters of water in the drought-stricken northern state.
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POPULAR SOCIALIST PARTY OF MEXICO CALLS FOR MASS JUDICIAL VOTE
With the June 1st election, Mexico will become the first country to elect all of the judiciary. 881 positions, including the entire Supreme Court, will be elected.
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CNTE SUBMITS GOVERNMENT’S 5 POINT PLAN TO MEMBERSHIP
The document presented to the CNTE includes a declaration in which the federal government expresses its respect for their organization and methods of struggle.
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SHEINBAUM RULES OUT BREAKING RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL
Mexico has recently broken relations with other nations for far less.
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JOURNALISTS CONSIDER OBSTACLES TO MEXICO’S FIRST JUDICIAL ELECTIONS
Issues that look to hamper participation in the democratic procedure include a poorly managed and restricted campaign to promote the vote by the country’s electoral institute.
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ACADEMICS ON HUNGER STRIKE, DEMAND MEXICO END RELATIONS WITH ISRAEL
The academics asked if Mexico wants to be known as a country which defends the free self-determination of all peoples, or if it will be among the cowards who dared not fight to build a better future for all.
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WTF IS GOING ON IN LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN?
The popular anti-imperialist podcast returns with Teri Mattson, Alina Duarte and Marco Castillo discussing the ongoing and forthcoming issues with the US-Mexico relationship.
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CLICKS MAY 25
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including judicial elections, teachers strike, murder of two Morena staffers in Mexico City, battle for union at GM plant, remittances and gringos buying up real estate.
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CULTURAL EVENTS IN CDMX PARK RETURN TO PUBLIC CONTROL
The Parque Bicentenario concession, previously privatized by the Peña Nieto government, will return to public hands, with the Secretary of Culture and CDMX government ensuring there are no corporate events.
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CNTE BLOCKS ROADS IN MEXICO CITY
“The average real salary of a teacher is between 14 and 15 thousand pesos per month ($725-$775USD), which is totally insufficient to support a family.”
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SHEINBAUM: DIALOGUE WITH CNTE IS PERMANENT
President Sheinbaum made the comments amid the striking teachers’ blockade of the National Palace prior to the morning press conference.
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MURDERS SHAKE MEXICO CITY
Ximena Josefina Guzmán Cuevas and Jesús Muñoz Vega, murdered Tuesday morning, were young officials with long careers, public servants in the left-wing Morena administration of Clara Brugada.
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CIA & MEXICO SPIED ON CUBAN & SOVIET DIPLOMATS, LEFTISTS UNTIL 1994
Newly declassified documents also reveal extensive spying on former President Lázaro Cárdenas, muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros, and plots to infiltrate the goverment, youth groups and to cultivate leftist journalists in order to surveil Latin American political activity.
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DAMMING THE IRON RIVER
A Saturday, May 25th webinar by the Democratic Socialists of America and Global Exchange will discuss a campaign to help interrupt flow of guns from US to Mexico.
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STRIKING TEACHERS LIBERATE HIGHWAY TOLLBOOTHS
On the national strike’s fifth day, CNTE teachers opened toll-booths to drivers in San Marcos, Tepotzotlán, Tlalpan, Chiapas and Guerrero. They stated they are willing to engage in dialogue, but the government has not set a date.
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MEXICO CITY: MARCH AGAINST GAZA GENOCIDE
Thousands marched from the Angel of Independence to Zócalo, through rain and hail, to support Palestinian liberation.
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4TV INTERVIEW WITH MEIZHU LUI
Meizhu Lui, founder and co-coordinator of the México Solidarity Project, appeared on 4TV’s Al Mediodía to discuss the project,
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CLICKS MAY 17
Our weekly press roundup of Mexican political stories, including US threatens remittance tax, corrupt judge in Ayotzinapa case, cartel family escapes to US, CNTE strike, 40 hour work week, Morena’s cowardly approach to business interests, Mujica’s passing, and Parque Bicentenario events return to public control.
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FIRST STRIKING TEACHERS ARRIVE AT ZÓCALO
The national strike is demanding the repeal of the 2007 ISSSTE Law and neoliberal ex-president Peña Nieto’s education reform.
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MEXICO CITY EXPROPRIATES PROPERTIES, PROPOSES NEW PUBLIC LAND BANK
While a proposed reform to end the plague of excessive Airbnb rentals remains stalled in Mexico City, in other areas related to social housing, advances are being made.