{"id":19718,"date":"2026-08-28T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T18:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/news-and-content\/miranda-intelligence\/foreign-press-chatter\/mis-mexico-foreign-press-chatter-aug-21-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T21:42:33","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:42:33","slug":"mis-mexico-foreign-press-chatter-aug-21-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miranda-partners.com\/es\/news-and-content\/miranda-intelligence\/foreign-press-chatter\/mis-mexico-foreign-press-chatter-aug-21-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"MI\u2019s Mexico Foreign Press Chatter \u2013 Aug. 21, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top stories on Mexico<\/strong><\/h3>

A stridently opinionated op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Mary Anastasia O\u2019Grady about the Mexican government\u2019s controversial proposed legislation to protect audience rights (or \u201cgag Mexico\u2019s media\u201d, as O\u2019Grady put it) provoked a reply from Secretary of Foreign Affairs Roberto Velasco, whose\u00a0rebuttal<\/a>, which stated \u201cMexico\u2019s press isn\u2019t silent\u201d, was also published in the paper.\u00a0Mexico under Morena has sought to rebut Mary O\u2019Grady before, including AMLO personally in the mana\u00f1era in 2020 regarding alleged Iranian influence in Mexico and \u2018\u2019Qui\u00e9n es qui\u00e9n en las mentiras\u2019\u2019\u00a0in 2022, but this is the second letter published in the paper complaining about her coverage that we are aware of.<\/p>

The right-wing, free-market O\u2019Grady is unabashedly anti-Morena, claiming that Sheinbaum and her party are responsible for the \u201cslow strangulation of\u00a0democratic pluralism\u201d in the country, so her criticism was hardly surprising. This was not Velasco\u2019s first time responding directly in a foreign newspaper\u2019s pages. While serving as the foreign ministry\u2019s head of press under then foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard in 2020, he wrote to The Economist to rebut a critical Bello column of L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s government. As a former flak, defending Mexico\u2019s government in the foreign press comes naturally, but unlike his former boss and once mentor Ebrard, he chose to do this himself, rather than get his press secretary to write in. A media-engaged Minister.<\/p>

And Velasco joins company: on 31 March, 2026, Hacienda created a local media storm in a teacup by formally responding to The Economist after it published an article characterizing Mexico as having a \u201cbroken economy\u201d, arguing that the magazine had exaggerated cyclical weakness, underplayed external shocks and ignored structural strengths such as macro stability, wage gains and social-policy changes.<\/p>

The top political story in foreign press coverage this week was the cancellation of Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Beltr\u00e1n\u2019s US visa. AMLO\u2019s son made this news public, along with a florid, much derided and hugely enjoyable open letter he addressed to President Trump that decried the move as \u201cHitlerian\u201d and said he should fire Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy Secretary Christopher \u201cEl Quitavisas\u201d Landau.<\/p>

While no public reason has been provided for the revocation, the LA Times noted that \u201closs of a visa is widely viewed as raising suspicions about a politician\u2019s character\u201d, making it precisely\u00a0the kind of stealth weapon that the administration enjoys deploying. Sheinbaum has described this as yet another example of US meddling in Mexican politics. Given that most Mexicans do not have US visas, and recently not a few have seen theirs revoked for immigration not political reasons, Andy may be betting that the broader public will prove more sympathetic to his case, in contrast to Mexico\u2019s elite, which has been almost universal in its condemnation.<\/p>

Mexico has reportedly been contemplating increased tariffs on Chinese goods to better align with Washington, even as a sudden trade rapprochement between Canada and the US (which, according to Bloomberg, \u201ccaught Mexican officials and business leaders off guard\u201d) has altered the USMCA negotiation landscape this week.<\/p>

Bloomberg was overall quite busy this week. It published an in-depth report about the Mexican government\u2019s high hopes for the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (CIIT) and its bid to become an alternative to the Panama Canal. In a global context of heightened concern about shipping lanes, the CIIT offers geographic advantages, but its capacity is still far below its peers. \u201cGlobal trade\u00a0has a lot of inertia, and to change this inertia requires a lot of pushes\u201d, one academic quoted in the piece noted. And its LatAm Opinion columnist Juan Pablo Spinetto and urban planner manqu\u00e9 argued that Mexico needs a \u201chigh-rise revolution\u201d to reverse decades of costly urban sprawl. Denser housing in city centres, supported by modernised building rules and faster permitting, could shorten commutes, improve access to jobs and talent, make better use of infrastructure and ultimately create more productive, liveable cities.<\/p>

AP reported that over 2,300 Mexicans have been deported from the US to Guatemala and Honduras before being sent back home this year; this is a shift from the start of Trump\u2019s second term, when such transfers were minimal. The INM said the aim is to stop them crossing back over the border, while migrant advocacy groups see it as a scare tactic and a way to pressure the Mexican government.<\/p>

Blogs destacados en ingl\u00e9s sobre M\u00e9xico<\/strong><\/h3>

Ioan Grillo published part two of his series about Iv\u00e1n Guzm\u00e1n (son of El Chapo) and his ascent from \u201cjunior to kingpin\u201d and his control of Culiac\u00e1n. In Mexico Decoded, Viri R\u00edos sought to explain in what some might consider a tendentious piece on how Carlos Slim became Mexico\u2019s wealthiest man, in her view by being \u201cremarkably adept at staying on good terms with whoever governs Mexico\u201d. The Mexico Political Economist examined the lack of opposition to the USMCA in Mexico (which, as NAFTA, once inspired a healthy backlash), and how this has potentially put the country in a less advantageous negotiating position. And Miranda Intelligence\u2019s daily Substack covered key developments in energy, fintech, public affairs and politics in Mexico.<\/p>