Mexico - August 2026

The first article in this August edition of the Latin American Regional Report: Mexico concerns the targeting of allegedly corrupt Mexican officials by the US administration of President Donald Trump, as part of its wider campaign against drug cartels. This is pushing President Claudia Sheinbaum’s willingness to cooperate to the limit, particularly as the US appears to be mainly targeting officials from the ruling Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena). Tensions ramped up another notch at the end of June, with Sheinbaum vehemently rejecting international press reports suggesting that Morena officials were working as informants for the US government.

The conditions facing those searching for Mexico’s disappeared are the focus of the next piece, as search collectives used the increased publicity afforded by the country’s co-hosting of the Fifa World Cup in June and July to draw attention to their cause. The efforts and resources devoted to the hosting of the World Cup have also led activists and searchers to criticise the government for prioritising the tournament over their plight. These tensions were exacerbated by the murder of missing persons activist Patricia Negrete Tafoya in Guanajuato state on 23 June, reflecting the dangers facing members of search collectives and drawing condemnation from rights groups.

The following article looks at domestic violence. The issue was thrown into the spotlight in late June after the wife of the former CEO of state-run oil company Pemex denounced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband. The public nature of the denouncement and the alleged perpetrator has drawn attention to a problem that affects many Mexican women each year.

Next, we examine the decision of the US government not to renew the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for another 16 years. This cleared the way for rolling annual reviews ahead of the trade deal’s expiration in 2036 and has dealt a major blow to the Mexican and Canadian governments, which were both pushing for the pact to be extended until 2042, as this piece explains.

The following article focuses on gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), which rebounded in April, breaking a 19-month streak of year-on-year declines that has caused growing concern over the country’s economic model.

The final piece in this issue analyses tourism numbers from the 2026 World Cup. A total of 7.8m people visited Mexican host cities during the tournament, beating pre-tournament projections, but a closer look at the data reveals a mixed picture of the impact on the tourism sector.