January • January 1 • Tax changes designed to increase income for the
Office for the Treasury and Public Credit (SHCP) take effect. • The minimum wage increases 20%, from MXN $102.68 to $123.22 (US$6.53) daily. This is still lower than in Brazil and
Colombia, where per capita income is similar. • January 2 •
Reuters reports that Mexican citizens who seek
asylum in the United States will be sent to
Guatemala. • The first
femicide of the year is reported in
Aquismón, San Luis Potosí. • A second
riot at the prison in
Cieneguillas,
Zacatecas leaves one dead in addition to the 16 inmates who were killed on December 31, 2019. • January 3 • Mexico names
Edmundo Font new interim ''
Chargé d'affaires'' for
Bolivia. • President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) requests the liberation of
Julian Assange. • January 4 – An earthquake with a
magnitude 5.9 and an epicenter in
Unión Hidalgo, Oaxaca was felt in at least states: Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tabasco, Veracruz, Puebla, Morelos, State of Mexico, and Mexico City. No damage is reported. • January 5 – 26: Mérida Fest 2020,
Mérida, Yucatán • January 6 • President López Obrador announces that construction of 1,350 branches of the
Banco de Bienestar ("Social Assistance Bank") has begun. •
Internet for All, part of the
Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), begins operations with a proposed budget of MXN $3 billion (US$159 million) in 2020 and a planned completion date of 2022. • Margarita Ríos-Farjat becomes a member of the
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN). • January 7 • The
Office for the Treasury and Public Credit (SCHP) sells bonds worth US$2.3 billion. • At least seven people are killed and 35 injured when a train and a bus crash in
Vícam,
Guaymas, Sonora. • January 8 • Arias Consultores releases a poll that describes the best and worst governors. Sinaloa governor
Quirino Ordaz Coppel is chosen best, while
Puebla governor
L. Miguel Barbosa Huerta is declared the worst. • Mexico becomes president pro tempore of the
Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. • January 9 •
Popocateptl volcano emits 3 km of smoke. On January 7 and 8, the volcano emitted 155 exhalations, 198 minutes of shaking, and three earthquakes. • AMLO promises that obesity will be combatted by a nutrition campaign, not through new taxes. • January 10 • A teacher is killed and four people are wounded in the
Colegio Cervantes shooting in
Torreón, Coahuila. The eleven-year-old shooter committed suicide. • A 21-year-old man is arrested and charged with terrorism for using
pepper spray in several stores in
Monterrey, Nuevo León. • January 10 – February 4: Leon State Fair,
León, Guanajuato • January 11 • The
National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) requests the
Attorney General (FGR) to sue to prohibit an auction of 28 Mexican archaeological treasures by French auctioneer "Millon de París" on January 22. The
Secretariat of Foreign Affairs (SRE) also plans to ask the French government to intervene. • Governor
Enrique Alfaro Ramírez says
Jalisco will not participate in the
Instituto de Salud para el Bienestar (Insabi) (Institute of Health for Welfare). • Activists place hundreds of red shoes in Mexico City's
Zócalo to protest the murders of an average ten women and girls daily; fewer than 10% are resolved. • Mexico City imposes a ban on plastic bags. • January 12 – President Lopez Obrador meets with members of the
LeBaron family in
Bavispe, Sonora. AMLO promises to erect a monument in
La Mora, Sonora in honor of the nine family members killed. Protesters accused Julián LeBarón of
stealing land and water. • January 13 •
Secretary of Education (SEP) Esteban Moctezuma proposes a new scheme for
Operativo Mochilla (Operation backpack) wherein parents will be responsible for revising the backpacks of children and staff at schools so as to prevent the entry of guns and other contraband. • Governor
Cuauhtémoc Blanco of Morelos says that at least 180 police officers are being investigated for ties to organized crime and drug trafficking. • China announces that two of its banks will lend US$600 million for the construction of the
Dos Bocas refinery in
Paraíso, Tabasco. Energy Secretary
Rocío Nahle makes it clear that the refinery will be built with public funds, but that contractors may borrow money from China or other countries. • January 14 • Despite confessing to abusing several minors, Fernando Martínez Suárez will remain a member of the
Legion of Christ but he will not perform priestly duties. • The presidential airplane has been returned to Mexico after the government tried to sell it in the United States for a year at a cost of US$1.5 million in maintenance. It may be rented out or bartered for needed goods. 19 other planes and nine helicopters will be auctioned off, with the hopes of raising US$1 billion. • The Supreme Court rules that
National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) can ignore the ban against paying its executives more than the
President of Mexico. • January 16 • Two earthquakes of 5.3 and 4.9 respectively, hit at least five municipalities in the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca. Slight damages but no injuries are reported. There have been 679 earthquakes in Oaxaca this year. • U.S. Attorney General
William Barr visits Mexico to discuss
money laundering,
arms trafficking, and drug trafficking. • A commando consisting of 150 men armed with
assault rifles burn 22 homes and seven vehicles and kidnap five people in two towns in
Madera Municipality, Chihuahua. • January 17 • AMLO offers 4,000 jobs to Central American immigrants. •
Secretariat of the Interior (SEGOB) announces it will build a memorial for the 137 victims of the
2019 pipeline explosion in Tlahuelilpan, Hidalgo. Each family was compensated with MXN $15,000 (US$800). • January 18 • The office of the attorney general of
Oaxaca reports that investigation into the acid-attack on saxophonist
María Elena Ríos Ortiz has finished. Governor
Alejandro Murat says there is an arrest warrant for former deputy Juan Vera Carrizal. • Mexico stops thousands of Honduran immigrants on the border with Guatemala. • January 19 • Between 1,500 and 2,000 undocumented immigrants from
Honduras try to cross the
Suchiate River in Chiapas, but are stopped by the
National Guard. Groups of 20 or 30 were allowed to try to regularize their immigration status and obtain employment. • 1,000 supporters of "Reforestación Extrema" (Extreme reforestation) demonstrate in
La Huasteca-Nuevo León. • The fire at the
Cuemanco Plant Market in
Xochimilco, Mexico City, is the fifth market fire in a month. • January 20 • Thousands of Honduran migrants and asylum-seekers battle with
Mexican National Guard and try to force their way across the
Suchiate River. • Isatech technology of Monterrey offers to pay US$130 million for the presidential plane to use it for commercial purposes and to make it available to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. • 22,923 police officers and 2,375 vehicles participate in Mexico City's first
Macrosimulacro (Macro earthquake drill). • New data show that homicides in Mexico in 2019 reached a record level. • January 21 • A popular poll by
U.S. News & World Report places Mexico as the second most corrupt country in the world; Colombia is number one. • Eighteen states have signed up for the new health care program, Insabi. • January 22 • Airports in Mexico City, Monterrey, and Cancun, where flights arrive directly from China, are on alert for
Coronavirus disease 2019. • Nineteen children between six and fifteen march as community police by the
Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias-Pueblos Fundadores (CRAC-PF) in
Chilapa de Álvarez, Guerrero. Those over 12 have been issued
.22 caliber rifles while younger ones carry sticks. • January 24 •
Tijuana International Airport joins other airports on alert against the coronavirus from China. • Dulce Susana Jacobo Cruz, a student at the
Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH), complains of racist comments and torture of children when she and a group of migrants were detained by authorities at the Estación Migratoria (Migrant Station) of Ciudad Industrial,
Villahermosa, Tabasco. • Parents of children with cancer protest for the third day in a row because of a lack of medicine. • In
Guerrero, officials announce that children as young as 14 have been recruited to assist local police in local law enforcement efforts. About 20 children have been recruited for an indigenous community police force in western Mexico following a deadly attack blamed on a drug cartel. Some of the children, aged between eight and 14, were handed rifles while others paraded with sticks on a road in the town of Chilapa in Guerrero state. • Calm returns to the Mexico-Guatemala border after 800 Honduran immigrants were arrested on January 23. • January 26 – The
Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Commission) reports that 2019 saw 35% more complaints about a lack of medicine and negligence than in 2018. • January 27 • Twelve governors, all member of PRI, agree to support Insabi. • At least sixty are killed in violence over the weekend of January 24–26 in the state of
Guanajuato. • The Supreme Court (SCJN) declares that it is unconstitutional to require a
Carta de No-Antecedentes Penales (letter that certifies no criminal record) as a prerequisite for employment. • January 28 – Judge Francisco Castillo González orders a MXN $10 million (US$534,000) lien against journalist Sergio Aguayo and his property for "moral damage" of former Coahuila governor
Humberto Moreira (PRI) in an editorial Aguayo wrote for
Reforma in 2016. Journalists and human rights activists unite in solidarity with Aguayo. • January 29 – Three notorious criminals, one in the process of being extradited to the United States, escape from the
Reclusorio Sur (South Penitentiary) in Mexico City. • January 30 • INEGI reports that the Mexican economy contracted by 0.1% in 2019 after growth of just over 2% in 2018. • Naela Berenice Razo López, an engineering physics graduate of the
Autonomous University of Queretaro wins the
John Bacall Physics Prize from
Princeton University and will spend the summer semester at the
Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark. • Seven municipal police officers, including the chief of police, are arrested for a November 2019 murder in
Cuitzeo, Michoacan.
February • February 1 • AMLO says his administration has rescued
Pemex from bankruptcy and discusses other energy issues while in
Merida, Yucatan. • A Chinese tourist who passed through Mexico City is confirmed to be infected with
Coronavirus disease 2019. Nine cases of possible infection are being monitored, but as of today, there are no confirmed cases in Mexico. • The
Sinaloa Cartel guards the
Culiacán Cathedral in Sinaloa as the daughter of
Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán marries the nephew of Margarita Cázares, la "Emperatriz del Narco". Only members of the cartel are allowed to attend. • February 2 –
Candlemas The
National Museum of Popular Cultures in
Coyoacán reports that a record-breaking 126,000 attended the 27th
Feria del Tamal (Tamales fair) in one week. • February 3 •
Constitution Day (
Statutory holiday) • At least eight people including one minor are killed in a shooting at a video-arcade in
Uruapan, Michoacan. The unrest seems to be related to the arrest on January 31 of Luis Felipe Barragán (
El Vocho), the presumed leader of
Los Viagra. • February 4 – The
National data protection authority (Spanish:
Instituto Nacional de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información y Protección de Datos Personales) (Inai) orders the
Ministry of Health to publicize all information about the cost and available of cancer medicine. • February 5 • Farmers in
Chihuahua fight with the
National Guard over water payments to the United States. Earlier this week farmers in
Ojinaga Municipality broke open locks on a dam. • AMLO says he wants to eliminate
puentes (English: three-day weekends) in the academic calendar beginning July 2020 so that children will learn and appreciate the historic importance of holidays. • Fifteen schools and colleges of the UNAM are now on strike in protest of violence against women. • February 5 to 9 – Contemporary Art Week at four locations in Mexico City Art critic Avelina Lésper destroyed Gabriel Rico's
Nimble and sinister tricks (to be preserved without scandal and corruption), worth US$20,000, with a can of soda pop. The fair in "Zona Macro" is considered the most important
contemporary art fair in Latin America. • February 6 • Activists from Mexico join their African counterparts to support the International Day of Zero Tolerance for
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). • In a visit to the
Mexican Senate, the
President of Guatemala,
Alejandro Giammattei suggests the two countries construct
Muros de Prosperidad ("Prosperity Walls") in the form of an investment bank in the Mexican states of
Chiapas and
Tabasco and the Guatemalan departments of
San Marcos,
Quiché, and
Huehuetenango to stem migration. • Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov says that Russia is in talks to sell military helicopters to Mexico. Hugo Rodriguez of the
United States Department of State says that Mexico could be subject to sanctions if the sale goes forward. • February 9 – Strikes in five schools and colleges of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) that were taken over to protest sexual harassment and violence have been returned to university authorities. Others continue in the hands of protesters, and an interuniversity assembly has been convoked for February 10. • February 10 – The
Attorney General of Mexico (FGR) promises that the law against
femicide will not disappear, but that the laws must be reformed to protect women and children. He notes that
homicides have increased by 35% in the last five years, but femicides (Spanish:
feminicidios) have increased by 137% in the same period of time. • February 11 – The diffusion on social media of graphic photographs of the dismembered cadaver of Ingrid Escamilla, victim of a brutal femicide, disturbs the nation. The
Ministry of Home Affairs (SEGOB) promises an investigation. The sighting is later confirmed by the National Civil Protection Coordination, stating that no damage was reported. • February 12 • Former head of Pemex
Emilio Lozoya Austin is arrested in
Málaga, Spain. • At a supper for the 200 most important business leaders in the country, guests were pressured to commit to buying blocks of raffle tickets for the Presidential airplane. • February 12–16: San Miguel Writers' Conference & Literary Festival,
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato • The
Banco de México (Bank of Mexico) cuts interest rates for the fifth time in a year. • February 14 – Family members of victims of violence against women and feminists protest the President's silence on the issue by painting the walls and doors of the
National Palace. AMLO responds
"No soy un presidente surgido de la élite, insensible, simulador. Estamos haciendo todo lo que nos corresponde, y se va seguir informando y deseo con toda mi alma de que se reduzca la violencia y que no se agreda a las mujeres, eso es lo que deseo." ("I am not a president emerged from the elite, insensitive, simulator. We are doing everything that we must, and I will continue to inform and I wish with all my soul that violence is reduced and that women are not added; that is what I want.") • February 15 • Thousands protest against femicide in Mexico City and other parts of the country. The naked body of an unidentified girl between 10 and 14 is found in a plastic garbage bag wrapped in a sack in
Tláhuac, Mexico City. • The government of
Jalisco launches an investigation into the source of heavy metals and other pollutants in the
Grande de Santiago River, which feeds the once-spectacular
Juanacatlán Falls. • February 16 – Ten Mexicans who were evacuated from China to Paris due to the
COVID-19 pandemic return to Mexico after a 14-day quarantine in which they tested negative. • February 18 •
Claudia Sheinbaum announces that the search for missing children will begin as soon as they are reported missing, instead of waiting for an official police complaint. The
Autoridad Federal Educativa de la Ciudad de México (Federal Educational Authority of Mexico City) explains that if a child is not picked up by a parent or guardian within twenty minutes of school closing time, the child should be taken to the local police. • Reforms against sexual harassment go into force at the UNAM. • The Mexican government will resume the search for 63 bodies lost in the 2006
Pasta de Conchos mine disaster. • Multiple social media users in Mexico City, Morelos, State of Mexico, and Puebla report seeing a
meteorite at 20:18 hours (8:18 pm) • February 19 •
Xcaret Park is named the best theme park in the world for the fourth year in a row by the
Travvy Awards. • Mexican scientist Héctor Carera Fuentes is arrested at
Miami International Airport for spying for Russia. • February 19 – 25:
Carnaval de
Veracruz • February 20 •
Alfonso Durazo, Minister of Security, says that seven of ten weapons used by organized crime in Mexico are imported illegally from the United States. • Mexico bans the importation of
e-cigarettes. • February 21 – Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum promises that city employees who join the Woman's Strike on March 9 will not be penalized by the city government. • February 23 – Lawyer Juan Collado, former husband of
Leticia Calderón who has close ties to former presidents Calderón and Peña Nieto is formally accused of money laundering and association with organized crime. • February 23 – 25 – Carnaval de
Mazatlán, Sinaloa • February 24 – A protest happens at
Playa del Carmen over public access to a supposedly "private" beach. • February 25 • The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the parents of Sergio Hernandez Guereca cannot sue the U.S. Border Patrol for the teen's 2010 death. Mexican prosecutors had charged Agent Jesus Mesa Jr. with murder, but the U.S. government refused to extradite him. • 120,000 students at
Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla and
Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla strike after three students are killed. • February 26 – Mexican authorities refuse permission for a cruise ship registered in
Malta to dock in
Cozumel, Quintana Roo, because she carries a passenger presumed to be infected with
Coronavirus disease 2019. The ship was previously denied access to ports in
Jamaica and the
Cayman Islands. On February 27, AMLO reversed the ruling, saying it would be "inhuman" to prohibit people from disembarking. • February 28 • The first two Mexican confirmed cases of
COVID-19 have been identified by the Health Ministry. Family contacts of the patients have been placed in isolation. • The
National Human Rights Commission announces that its president,
Rosario Piedra Ibarra, will receive MXN $159,227.83 monthly, some $5,000 more than what her predecessor, Luis Raúl González Pérez, received and $51,000 more than President
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, despite a law that prohibits any government employee from earning more than the president. Despite the official policy of austerity, other top officials will also be paid more than López Obrador. The third and fourth cases were confirmed on February 29. • The Mexican stock market closes the week with a 4% decrease in value due to fears of COVID-19. The peso also loses 2% of its value. • Former Nayarit governor
Roberto Sandoval Castañeda and his wife and children are banned from entering the United States due to corruption. • February 28 – March 1: Electric Daisy Carnival (electronic music), Mexico City • February 29 – An appeals court in San Francisco rules against the U.S. government's "stay in Mexico" policy for asylum seekers, although the ruling is stayed until March 2.
March • March 1 • In a concession to the
junk food industry, a judge from the
Juzgado Séptimo de Distrito en Materia Administrativa (Seventh District Court in Administration) rules that companies do not have to label the sugar and fat content of their products. • Patricia Rosalinda Trujillo Mariel, Operational Coordinator of the
National Guard, is fired for corruption. • March 3 – A study by
Código Magenta reveals links between the company that collected signatures for
Jaime Rodríguez Calderón ("El Bronco") during his 2018 presidential campaign and money laundering. • March 4 • Six bank accounts controlled by
La Luz del Mundo (English: Church of the Living God, Pillar, and Ground of the Truth, The Light of the World) are frozen by the
Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF) (English: Financial Intelligence Unit) because of sex scandals involving child pornography and sexual relations with minors. • The Ministry of Health reports 1,455 cases of
dengue fever, a 104.6% increase over the same period in 2019. • March 6 • The airline
Interjet is near bankruptcy as it owes the federal government MXN $3 billion (US$150.6 million) and it is threatened by losses due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, AMLO proposes establishing a new airline in Mexico. • A shootout between police and members of an auto-theft gang leaves nine dead, including one police officer and a civilian bystander in
Tlaquepaque, Jalisco. • Three people have died and 55 others require special medical attention after the Pemex hospital in
Villahermosa, Tabasco, administers expired medicine. • March 7 • "Time for Women 2020" festival in Mexico City •
Proceso says the government of the United States has evidence linking former presidents Peńa Nieto and Calderon and several generals and admirals to narcotics trafficking • March 8 – 15,000 people participated in the Women's March in Monterrey. 80,000 march in Mexico City. Hundreds march in
Tlaxcala;
Ecatepec, State of Mexico; and
Oaxaca. • March 9 • Women strike across the country, demanding an end to
violence against women in Mexico. The
CONCANACO estimates that the strike cost MXN $30 trillion (US$13.5 billion), 15% more than the original estimate. • Crude oil prices fall to US$24.43 a barrel, the lowest price since 2016. The peso loses 4.83% of its value compared to the U.S. dollar, at $21.17/dollar, as the world worries about the
COVID-19 pandemic. The Mexican stock market fell 6%. • March 10 • The City of Mexico will publish the names, photographs, and other information about individuals convicted of sexual crimes, including femicide,
human trafficking,
sexual tourism, and abuses against minors. • It is revealed that the microphones discovered in the
Senate of the Republic were paid for and installed by the
National Action Party (PAN) in 2011 and 2012, not by
National Regeneration Movement (Morena). Senators from PAN accused Morena of spying on them and forced the Senate to be shut down last week. • One person dies and 41 are injured in a crash in the
Tacubaya metro station in Mexico City. • March 11 • The
United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announce they have arrested more than alleged 600 members of the
Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNJ). • A train crash at the
Tacubaya station of the
Mexico City Metro leaves one dead and 41 people injured. • March 13 • AMLO signs a decree that the victims of the 2009
ABC Day Care Center Fire in Hermosillo, Sonora, will be compensated. • Evidence of the Mayan kingdom of ''Sak Tz'i'' is proven near Lacanja Tzeltal,
Chiapas. • The Canadian Parliament approves the
T-MEC (English:
United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA)). • March 14 • Some universities close, sporting events are canceled, and other large group events are canceled or rescheduled for a later date as Mexico enters Phase 2 of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. The
Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit (SCHP) announced it was taking measures to prevent a 5% fall in
gross domestic product (GDP). • Mexico City bans gatherings of groups of more than 1,000 people. • March 14–15:
Festival Vive Latino (rock and Latin music), Mexico City • March 16 •
216th anniversary of Benito Juárez's birthday (Statutory holiday) • The Health Department reports 82 confirmed and 171 suspected cases of COVID-19. • The Catholic
Episcopal Conference of Mexico recommends suspending masses and other large group gatherings. Priests can continue with private masses. • A group of four Mexicans from
Tamaulipas who went to
Cusco,
Peru, on vacation cannot return to Mexico until April 2 because all flights have been canceled and the borders of Peru are closed. Citizens of
Ecuador,
El Salvador, Peru, and
Chile are stuck at
Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City. • March 17 • The
Mexican Stock Exchange closed for 15 minutes this morning after dropping 7.12% upon opening. This also happened last March 12. After reopening, the market fell by 8%. •
Interjet announces it will reduce its seating capacity by 40% as a health measure. • March 18 •
82nd Anniversary of the oil expropriation (Civic holiday) • Twenty-five cases of
measles are reported in Mexico City. The outbreak began in the
Reclusario Norte (Northern penitentiary) last week. • Mexican crude oil prices fall to their lowest level (US$12.92 per barrel) since 2002. • March 19 – A group of protesters block downtown
Cuernavaca. • March 20 • U.S Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo announces there will be restrictions on travel across the
Mexico–United States border. Said restrictions would not apply to cargo. • A new report (in Spanish) by the Mexican Centre for Environmental Rights (Cemed) shows that at least 83 land rights and environmental defenders were murdered in Mexico between 2012 and 2019. 40% of the 2019 incidents of harassment and murder were the responsibility of state officials such as police officers, national guard, and local prosecutors. • Mexico opposes the reelection of
Luis Almagro as Secretary-General of the
Organization of American States (OAS). • Mayor Juanita Romero (PAN) of
Nacozari de García Municipality, Sonora, declares a curfew, in effect until April 20. Only the
President of Mexico has the legal authority to declare such a declaration. • March 21 – A
Mexican Navy helicopter crashes during an anti-kidnapping operation in
Zongolica, Veracruz. One police officer is killed and ten military personnel are injured. • March 23 • The
World Health Organization (WHO) says Mexico has entered Phase 2 of the
COVID-19 pandemic with 338 confirmed cases. This includes cases where the sick individuals did not have direct contact with someone who had recently been in another country. • 76% of the voters in
Mexicali, Baja California, voted that the partially-built brewery owned by Constellation Brands should not be completed. Only 36,781 people participated in the poll. • Mexico City reports 67 cases of measles, ten of whom had been vaccinated. There are 60 cases of COVID-19 in the city. • March 24 – Mexico requests extradition of
Emilio Lozoya. • March 26 – Health officials report 5,983 cases and 102 deaths from
influenza this year. • March 27 – An investigation into the
2018 Puebla helicopter crash that killed Puebla governor
Martha Érika Alonso and her husband,
Rafael Moreno Valle Rosas was because of a stability problem due to poor maintenance. • March 28 • Seventy-three cases of measles have been confirmed in Mexico City and the State of Mexico. There are 196 confirmed cases (7 deaths) of coronavirus in Mexico City and 119 infections in the State of Mexico. Nationally, there have been more than 2,000 murders since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in February. •
World Wide Fund for Nature calls for people to join the
Earth Hour at 8:30 p.m. local time. • March 30 – The
Mexican Financial Unit (UIF), led by
Santiago Nieto, blocks US$1 billion (MXN $1.5 billion) in accounts controlled by the
Sinaloa Cartel and
Rafael Caro Quintero. • March 31 – A riot in a migrant detention center in
Tenosique, Tabasco, leaves a Guatemalan man dead and four people injured. The detainees were worried about a possible COVID-19 outbreak.
April • April 3 • AMLO issues a decree to abolish 100 public trusts related to science and culture; the
Finance Ministry (SHCP) will receive the money directly. The move is expected to save MXN $250 billion (US$10 billion). • A shoot-out between presumed drug dealers results in at least 19 deaths in
Ciudad Madera, Chihuahua. • Mexico registers 2,585 homicides in March—the highest monthly figure since 1997—potentially breaking last year's record total for murders. • April 5 – The traditional
Passion Play of Iztapalapa begins inside the
Iztapalapa Cathedral instead of parading the eight
barrios of the borough. Extras who play Roman
centurions,
Pharisees, Jews,
Nazarenes, and others are asked to stay home. In 2019, 5,000 people participated and 150 had speaking parts. • April 7 –
PAN conditions its support for less money for political parties on an abandonment of the
Dos Bocas and
Mayan Train infrastructure projects. • April 8 • President López Obrador says that fifteen large companies owe MMX $50,000,000,000 in taxes. • Charges of rape, child pornography, and human trafficking against
Naasón Joaquín García, apostle of
La Luz del Mundo church, are dropped for technical reasons. • April 11 – Three doctors employed by IMSS are murdered in Tilzapotla,
Puente de Ixtla, Morelos, during a presumed robbery. • April 12 – The
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it has used the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to expel over 10,000 Mexican and
Central American asylum seekers to Mexico. • April 13 – The number of COVID-19 infections in the country passes 5,000; there are 332 deaths. • April 15 – A report by
Agence France-Presse (AFP) indicates that
poppy growers in
Guerrero are going out of business as cheaper
fentanyl replaces poppies. • April 16 –
El Universal reports that several federal investigative units are looking into the wealth of former President
Enrique Peña Nieto. AMLO says that any decision to prosecute will depend upon a referendum. • April 20 – Drug cartels hand out aid packages of rice, pasta, cooking oil, and other household supplies. Javier Oliva Posada, defense specialist at the UNAM, commented that the packages reach a small number of people, but that they are designed to gain public and extend territory. Oliva Posada also noted that cartels are facing a shortage of supplies from China and a tightening of the border along the United States. • April 21 • Mexico begins Phase 3 of the
COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. • The Mexican Senate approves an amnesty law for minor offenders; it awaits the president's signature. • Some oil wells are closed as prices fall and Pemex's credit rating declines. • April 22 • The
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime warns that Mexican cartels are branching into
human trafficking and
illegal logging. • The United States pressures Mexico to reopen factories with military contracts despite worker fears of contacting COVID-19.
Lear Corporation acknowledges there have been coronavirus-related deaths among its 24,000 employees in
Ciudad Juárez, but refuses to say how many. • COVID-19 pandemic: The number of reported cases passes 10,000. • April 23 • COVID-19 pandemic: Mexico surpasses the 1,000 deaths figure. • Grupo Alemán (Galem) acknowledges the embargo by the
Tax Administration Service (SAT) in the facilities of the
Miguel Alemán Valdés Foundation due to the MXN $549.3 million debt that
Interjet has with the SAT. Interject is owned by
Miguel Alemán Magnani, son of
Miguel Alemán Velasco, former
governor of Veracurz (PRI: 1998–2004) who is CEO of Galem. Interject and SAT have reached an agreement on payment. •
Bank of Mexico (Banxico) issues a new MXN $20 commemorative coin to honor the 500th anniversary of the founding of city and port of
Veracruz. It is smaller and lighter than previous coins and has twelve sides. • As
Ricardo Ahued, administrator of the customs agency of the SAT, departs to run for the
Senate, AMLO says corruption in the agency is a ″monster with 100 heads.″ • April 26 – Mexico's
National Institute of Migration (INM) empties the 65 migrant detention centers it has across the country by returning 3,653 people to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in the hope of preventing outbreaks of COVID-19. • April 28 –
Marcelo Ebrard announces a new trade agreement with the
European Community (EU). • April 29 – Police in
Yajalón,
Chiapas, open fire on people who were protesting against a checkpoint that left their community isolated. Residents of neighboring
Tumbalá complain that the checkpoint make it impossible for them to access governmental and banking services and that it seemed to be related to a belief that Tumbalá has a high rate of coronavirus infection. Checkpoints have been installed in about 20% of Mexico's municipalities, which the federal government has declared illegal. • April 30 – Twenty-one deaths and 44 people hospitalized for drinking adulterated alcohol in Jalisco.
May • May 1 • COVID-19 pandemic: • Mexico passes 20,000 infections of COVID-19. •
Christopher Landau, the American Ambassador to Mexico, asserts that protecting the lives of Mexican workers is less important than making sure the American military machine operates without a glitch. Many
maquiladoras (assembly plants) along the border are being kept open to produce medical products for the U.S. market, even though the same products cannot be sold in Mexico. At least three people have died at European Schneider Electric, a factory in Tijuana, and 14 have died at an automobile parts factory in Ciudad Juarez. Three confirmed and five suspected COVID-19 deaths can be traced to Regal Beloit in Juarez. •
Mexicanos contra la corrupción (Mexicans against corruption) alleges that Léon Manuel Bartlett, son of
Manuel Bartlett, head of the
Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), fraudulently tried to sell overpriced ventilators to the
Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) in Hidalgo. AMLO promises an investigation but also says the charges are designed to discredit his government. • Luis Rodríguez Bucio of the internal affairs unit of the National Guard announces that it has fired one of its officers after pictures of him celebrating with known criminals in Puebla circulated on social media. • AMLO cancels expensive wind and solar energy projects. • May 2 • COVID-19 pandemic: Mexico surpasses 2,000 deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic on May 2. • The
United States Department of Commerce announces that the Mexico-U.S. sugar agreement will continue for five years. Mexico faced accusations and fines for
dumping, but these will be suspended. Mexico is allowed to export 421,901 metric tonnes (465,067 short tons) of sugar to the United States. • 61 forest fires are reported in fifteen states. • May 3 • Auctions of the house once owned by
Amado Carrillo Fuentes ( Señor de Los Cielos), jewels, cars, and airplanes provide almost MXN $50 million for the
Instituto Nacional para Devolver al Pueblo lo Robado ("National Institute to Return that Stolen to the People"). •
Roberta S. Jacobson, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico (2016–2018) insists that the Calderon government knew of the ties
Genaro García Luna,
Secretary of Public Security (SSP) (2006–2012) had with the
Sinaloa Cartel. Calderon insists they did not. • May 4 • The
Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare singles out
Grupo Elektra (10,000 employees), Autofin, and Hyplasa (more than 100 employees each) that refuse to close during the pandemic despite not providing essential services. • The arrest of Óscar Andrés Flores Ramírez, sets off a wave of homicides in
Cuauhtémoc, and
Venustiano Carranza, Mexico City, as
extorcionists and drug dealers fight for control of
La Union Tepito gang. 261 homicides have already been reported during the month of May, with Guanajuato (46), Jalisco (32). and State of Mexico (21) leading the list. • May 5 • The traditional parade in Puebla is canceled. • AMLO reports that
remesas (
remittances) sent by Mexicans living abroad to their relatives grew 35% in March compared to those of February 2020. • May 6 • Eruption of
Popocateptl. • Eleven prisoners escape from a prison in Zacatecas. • May 8 • COVID-19 pandemic: More than 3,000 deaths related to the pandemic are reported.
The New York Times reports that the federal government is underreporting deaths in Mexico City; the federal government reports 700 deaths in the city while local officials have detected over 2,500. • Two people die and twelve tractor-trailers are damaged along
Mexican Federal Highway 40D when an
EF-2 tornado hits
Apodaca, Nuevo León. Four houses are damaged by a tornado in Metepec,
Zacatlán, Puebla on May 9. • May 9 – The
Sevicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria ("National Service of Health, Safety and Agro-Food Quality"), part of the
Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), issues a warning about the
Asian giant hornet. The agency notes there are 43,500
beekeepers with 172,000
beehives in Mexico. •
267th anniversary of Miguel Hidalgo's birthday (Civic holiday) July 10 is proposed as an alternative day of celebration. • May 11 – The Supreme Court nullifies the
Ley Bonilla (Bonilla Law), saying it was unconstitutional to increase the term of the
Governor of Baja California from two to five years. • COVID-19 pandemic: More than 100 health workers are included among the 3,573 deaths from the virus. • May 13 – COVID-19 pandemic: AMLO presents a three-stage plan to reopen the economy. • May 15 • Teacher's Day; schools closed • At least 100 deaths have been reported due to adulterated alcohol in Morelos, Puebla, and Jalisco. • The
Ministry of Energy (Sener) stops private renewable energy projects while strengthening the
Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). • May 16 – COVID-19 pandemic: Mexico reports more than 5,000 deaths. • May 18 • COVID-19 pandemic: Phase One of the government's plan to reopen the economy begins in 269 municipalities in 15 states. • A judge rules the conviction and nine-year prison sentence of former Verzcruz governor
Javier Duarte de Ochoa; however, he rules in Duarte's favor regarding the illegal acquisition of property. • May 20 –
Alfonso Durazo of the
Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection (Mexico) reports a 1.66% decrease in murders from March to April this year. The highest numbers were in Guanajuato (1,534), State of Mexico (982), Chihuahua (906), Michoacán (886), and Baja California (880). Femicides dropped 10.25% to 70, and robberies fell 33.29%. • May 22 • Remains of sixty
mammoths are found during construction of the
Mexico City Santa Lucía Airport. • A 6.1Mw earthquake is reported east-southeast of
San José del Cabo, Baja California Sur. No damages and no tsunami were reported. • May 25 –
Walmart de México y Centroamérica agrees to pay MXN $8 billion (US$358 million) in back taxes after being sued by the
Tax Administration Service (SAT). • May 25 – COVID-19 pandemic: Mexico reaches a record of 3,455 new cases and 501 new deaths in one day. The daily death rate approaches that of the
United States, where there are 620 deaths in one day. • May 27 – Jaquelina Escamilla, head of the Women's Institute in
Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, is fired for not broadcasting an anti-abortion video on the municipal media site. Abortion is legal in Oaxaca. • May 28 – COVID-19 pandemic: Leaders of the
LXIV Legislature of the Mexican Congress convoke their counterparts from nine other Latin American countries to discuss a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Latin America has 706,798 confirmed cases and 38,384 deaths. Maximiliano Reyes Zuñiga, Assistant
Secretary of Foreign Affairs (SRE), proposes three measures to finance the recuperation of the region, including a 3% tax on billionaires. • May 29 –
FEMSA agrees to pay MXN $8.79 billion in back taxes. • May 30 • Seven people including a local drug lord are killed and two are injured at a party in
Tierra Blanca, Veracruz. • Hundreds of protesters, mostly driving luxury cars, participate in caravans in Mexico City and other cities to demand that AMLO resign.
June • June 1 • National Merchant Marine Day (Civic holiday) • President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announces a "new normal" of partial reopening with a road trip to
Cancun and the inauguration of construction of the
Mayan Train. •
MORENA proposes an increase in taxes on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary soft drinks with the additional income going to support public health. • Foreign digital platforms such as
Netflix and
Spotify are required to withhold the
value-added tax (IVA). • June 2 – Working with the
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the
Financial Intelligence Unit under Santiago Nieto freezes the bank accounts of 1,770 individuals, 167 businesses, and two trusts linked to the
Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). • June 3 • Senator
Lilly Téllez quits Morena and joins
National Action Party (PAN). • Meteorologists predict between seven and nine major hurricanes and between 15 and 19 named storms
this year. Tropical Storm Cristobal makes landfall in Astata,
Campeche, from
Ciudad del Carmen and east of
Frontera, Tabasco causing flooding and driving people from their homes. In addition to Campeche and Tabasco, the states of Yucatan, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, and Veracruz were affected. • Mexico surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 confirmed cases. • June 4 – Violence breaks out during demonstrations in Jalisco to demand justice after the
death of Giovanni López, 30, in
Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos. • June 5 – Three police officers including the commissioner are arrested in connection with the May 5 beating death of Giovanni López. • June 6 – Ten people
are shot dead at a drug rehabilitation center in
Irapuato, Guanajuato. Guanajuato reports 1,500 homicides this year. • June 7 • Seven police vehicles and a motorcycle are destroyed during a riot in
San Pedro Cuajimalpa, Mexico City, while preventing the
lynching of a driver who began shooting into a crowd following an auto accident. • With 117 murders, June 7 is the most violent day in Mexico this year. • June 8 • AMLO explains that a US$1 billion loan from the
World Bank is not new debt but is a routine loan that was solicited last year. • The death toll from adulterated alcohol in Guerrero reaches 18. • June 9 • Official
news agency Notimex shuts down until an agreement can be reached with striking workers. • Police in
Acatlán de Pérez Figueroa,
Papaloapan Region, Oaxaca, shoot nine teenagers, one fatally, while buying softdrinks. • June 10 – A health clinic and city hall are burned by armed inhabitants of
Las Rosas, Chiapas after the death of a peasant, apparently from COVID-19. • June 11 • Police in
San Pablo Huitzo, Oaxaca, hand over two young men accused of theft to local citizens; one is lynched. The state human rights commission (DDHPO) has received 120 complaints of police abuse including two prisoner deaths this year. • The WHO reports a decrease in
malaria in Latin America, including Mexico, although there are fears that many cases are going undetected as sick people stay home instead of going to hospitals. • June 14 – Caravans of at between 50 and 900 luxury cars in 12 states demand that AMLO resign. • June 16 – AMLO says that Mexico will sell fuel to Venezuela for humanitarian purposes if requested. • June 17 – Mexico wins a two-year seat on the
United Nations Security Council as well as a three-year term on the
United Nations Economic and Social Council starting on January 1, 2021, during the
2020 U.N. Security Council Elections. • June 23 –
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck two kilometers northeast of Crucecita,
Santa María Huatulco, Oaxaca at 10:29 a.m. with a depth of . Thirty aftershocks, including one of 5.4 were reported. Nine deaths and more than 2,000 damaged homes were reported in the state. 46 million people in a dozen states across the country felt the earthquake. There are reports that the alarm system did not work in some parts of Mexico City. • June 24 – A giant dust storm from the
Sahara Desert hits southeast Mexico. • June 25 • A six-hour gunfight for control of the Sinaloa drug cartel leaves 16 dead in Tepuche, Sinaloa. • The
Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel is accused of a bomb attempt at the Pemex refinery in Guanajuato after several of the cartel's leaders were arrested on June 20. The cartel is infamous for fuel theft and extortion. • June 26 – Mexico City
Police Chief Omar García Harfuch is wounded this morning after he and his bodyguards were attacked by 50 heavily armed members of the
Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Two police officers and a civilian woman were killed; García Harfuch is reported stable. Twelve of the attackers were arrested.
July • July 1 • The free-trade agreement known as
T-MEC (English:
United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement) is scheduled to take effect. • Twenty-eight people are killed in a mass shooting at a drug rehabilitation center in
Irapuato, Guanajuato. • COVID-19: Mexico becomes the country with the seventh greatest number of deaths with 28.510, surpassing
Spain. Mexico has 231,770 confirmed cases of infection, tenth in the world. • July 3 – Quintana Roo Governor
Carlos Joaquín González warns of the threat of
Sargassum on the beaches of the
Riviera Maya. • July 4 • COVID-19: Mexico surges to sixth place in the number of deaths with 30,366, surpassing
France. • The
Foreign Ministry announces that it formally adheres to the 189th
International Labour Organization Convention on Domestic Workers. • July 7 – Remains of a second student killed in the
2014 Iguala mass kidnapping are found and identified in
Cocula Municipality, Guerrero. The remains were not found in the waste dump where the bodies of the students were previously said to be burned. • July 8 • In his first foreign visit, President López Obrador flies commercially from Mexico City to
Atlanta and then to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. President
Donald Trump to discuss trade, investment, health issues, and combatting organized crime. AMLO and Trump sign a joint declaration pledging to build "a shared future of prosperity, security, and harmony." •
César Duarte Jáquez, former
governor of Chihuahua (PRI) is arrested in Florida. • Paintings by
Frida Kahlo and
Rufino Tamayo are reported stolen from a private collection in Mexico City. • Two adult and three minor females are killed in an apparent reckong among gangs in El Gavillero,
Nicolás Romero, State of Mexico. • July 10 –
2014 Ayotzinapa kidnapping: Mexico seeks the arrest and extradition from Canada of Tomas Zeron, former head of the Criminal Investigation Agency that wrote the now-discredited "historical truth" about the kidnappings. • July 11 – COVID-19 pandemic: Mexico surpasses the
United Kingdom with 295,268 reported cases. • July 12 – COVID-19 pandemic: Mexico becomes the country with the fourth greatest number of deaths in the world with 35,006, surpassing
Italy. • July 13 • A network of eight to twelve doctors who worked with funeral homes to falsify death certificates related to both the
September 19, 2017, earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico City is revealed. • The United States promises a $47 million (MXN $2 billion) aid package to fight drug traffic in Mexico. • July 16 – WHO warns about an alarming drop in childhood vaccinations in Mexico. • July 17 • President López Obrador announces that the
Mexican Armed Forces are in charge of customs at border crossings and seaports to combat corruption and drug smuggling. •
Emilio Lozoya Austin, former director of PEMEX accused of corruption, is extradicted from Spain and immediately hospitalized for
anemia and problems with his
esophagus. • The
Comité de Sanidad Vegetal de Quintana Roo (Plant Health Committee of Quintana Roo, Cesaveqroo) issues an alert for a plague of
American grasshoppers that could also affect Campeche, Chiapas, Hidalgo, Oaxaca, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Yucatán. • July 18 • A video showing 20 armoured vehicles and heavily armed paramilitary soldiers shouting
pura gente del señor Mencho ("pure people of Señor Mencho"), a nickname for
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, is attributed to the
Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), circulates in social media. • Twenty young businessmen are kidnapped and one killed while on a "Vallartazo," or tour, from
Guadalajara to
Puerta Vallarta, Jalisco. The
CJNG drug cartel has reportedly demanded
ransom, but nothing has been heard from the men in a week. • July 20 to 27 –
Guelaguetza festival in
Oaxaca City is presented online. • July 21 – Three women are arrested for human trafficking as 23 children between 3 months and 15 years old are rescued in
San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. -year-old Dylan, whose disappearance from a market sparked the investigation, is still missing. • July 21–22 – Fifteen
Huave people are tortured and burned alive in a political dispute in
San Mateo del Mar, Oaxaca. • July 22 – AMLO proposes major reforms in pensions. Bank stocks go up. • July 23 • The government announced 20 actions to repair the damage done during the
Acteal massacre of 45 people including children in Chiapas in 1997. An
Acuerdo de Solución Amistosa (Friendly Solution Agreement) is to be signed on September 3. • The volcano
Popocatépetl had its most active day of 2020 with 1,348 minutes of quaking, plus emissions of gas, water vapor, and ashes. • July 25 • Former Secretary of the CDMX is
Rosa Icela Rodríguez is named coordinator of ports and seacoasts. • A study of 20 states reveals an excess of 71,315 deaths for the first six months of the year, compared to 2019. Some but not all are related to the COVID-19 pandemic. • July 26 –
Hurricane Hanna hits southern Texas and parts of Mexico, causing flooding in a maternity ward in a hospital in
Reynosa, Tamaulipas. A section of the
border wall collapses. Flloding and fallen trees are reported in
Monterrey, Nuevo León. • July 27 – Federal Deputy
Jesús de los Ángeles Pool Moo (QR-PRD) joins the
PRD after leaving Morena on July 1. • July 28 • The government of Chihuahua announces it will place 21 properties owned by César Duarte Jáquez up for auction. • Child rape charges are refiled against
Naasón Joaquín García, leader of the Guadalajara-based
La Luz del Mundo church, and two alleged accomplices. • July 29 –
Nancy Guadalupe Sánchez Arredondo, substitute Senator for
Vanessa Rubio (PRI-BC) changes her party affiliation to Morena. • July 31 •
Santiago Nieto Castillo, head of the
:es:Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (Financial Intelligence Unit, UIF) confirms an investigation against
Luis Cárdenas Palomino, former
Secretary of Public Security. The bank accounts of Cárdenas Palomino,
Genaro García Luna, and
Ramón Pequeño have been frozen. • COVID-19 pandemic: With 46,688 deaths, Mexico moves into third place in the number of fatalities, behind the United States and Brazil.
August • August 1 – The
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is rated the second-best university in Latin America by the
Webometrics Ranking of World Universities of the
Spanish National Research Council (SCIC), surpassed by only the
University of São Paulo. • August 2 –
José Antonio Yépez Ortiz, "El Marro," leader of the
Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, is arrested. • August 5 –
Emilio Lozoya Austin is charged with four counts of corruption similar to the 2013–2014
Estafa Maestra ("
Master Scam"). • August 6 • The
Secretaría de la Contraloría General de la Ciudad de México (Mexico City comptroller) reports that between January 2019 and February 2020, 1,680 public servants in the city were sanctioned for acts of corruption. • The state legislature of
Oaxaca bans the sales of sugary drinks and
junk food to minors.
Public Health Nutrition reveals that
Coca-Cola has financed pseudo-scientific studies to demonstrate that drinking sugary drinks does not contribute to obesity. •
Víctor Manuel Toledo Manzur,
Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources offers his resignation after an audio recording of his opposition to the
Mayan Train is made public. • COVID-19 pandemic: 50,000 deaths The
United States Department of State classifies travel to Mexico as "high risk." • August 7 • AMLO sets up a "justice commission" to solve land, water, and infrastructure problems for the
Yaqui in Sonora. •
Nobel Prize-winning scientist Mario J. Molina calls for a complete ban on
fuel oil in the production of electricity. • August 11 – Tamaulipas Governor
Francisco Javier García Cabeza de Vaca is investigated for money laundering and ties to drug dealers. • August 12 • While reiterating the independence of the
Attorney General of Mexico (
Fiscalía General de la República, FGR), AMLO says that former President Enrique Peña Nieto will have to testify in regard to the accusations of
Emilio Lozoya Austin. For the second time, he accuses former president Felipe Calderón of leading
narcoestado (drug lord state). •
Jesús Orta and eighteen other former top police officials are arrested in a crackdown on corruption. • Hugo Bello, leader of the
Confederacón Libertad de Trabajadores de México, (Freedom Confederation of Mexican Workers) is arrested for kidnapping and the union's suspected involvement in embezzlement of money destined for construction of the now-defunct
Mexico City Texcoco Airport (NAIM) in Texcoco. • August 13 • COVID-19 pandemic: • Mexico reports more than 500,000 confirmed cases. • AMLO decrees thirty day of mourning for victims of the pandemic, from August 13 to September 11. This is in addition to the minute of silence offered during the President's daily press conferences. • The company that built the
Estela de la Luz in CDMX as a monument to President Felipe Calderón is ordered to pay back MXN $447.1 million for overcharges. • August 14 – Over 1,000 employees of the National Migration Institute (INM) are fired for corruption. • August 14 to 17 –
Chiapas conflict: Paramilitary groups from Santa Martha, Chenalhó, carry out 26 attacks against villagers in
Aldama Municipality, Chiapas. • August 15 – The
Registro Nacional de Personas Desaparecidas (Nation Registry of Missing Persons) reports an increase in the number of missing children and teenagers. There are 73,000 missing persons in Mexico, with the largest number of cases in Tamaulipas (11,000), Jalisco (10,000), and the State of Mexico (7,000). • August 17 • A
Google Doodle honors Mexican translator, professor, and author
Librado Silva Galeana on his 78th birthday. • Heavy rains are expected along the Pacific coast as
Hurricane Genevieve is elevated to Category 2. • Querátero Governor
Francisco Domínguez Servién fires his secretary,
Guillermo Gutiérrez Badillo after the latter appears on a video receiving money from a director of Pemex. • August 18 • Genevieve becomes a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Jalisco and Baja California Sur. Waves up to are reported in Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán. • COVID-19 pandemic: Hugo López-Gatell declares that the pandemic is clearly in descent as daily cases and deaths decline for six consecutive weeks. • AMLO reveals that President
Carlos Salinas de Gortari ceded a 50-year concession to a private company to operate the
Port of Veracruz, and that President Peña Nieto extended the concession to 2094. • The Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) of the Treasury Department (SCHP) freezes the bank accounts of
Aquiles Córdova Morán,
Juan Manuel Celis, and other leaders of the
Antorcha Campesina (Torch of the Peasantry) in the states of Mexico and Puebla. • August 19 • Two deaths are reported in
Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, due to Hurricane Genevieve. • Members of the
Sindicato de Telefonistas de la República Mexicana (Telephone Workers' Union of Mexico, STRM) call a national strike in protest of the destruction of their pension system by
Telmex. • August 20 • Journalist
Carlos Loret de Mola of
Latinas shows two videos from 2015 wherein
Pio López Obrador, brother of the President and head of Morena in Chiapas, received packages of cash from David León Romero, who has been nominated to head the government agency responsible for delivering medicine to the Secretariat of Health. • COVID-19 pandemic: Mexico City passes 10,000 deaths, 17% of the total. • August 21 – AMLO says the money his brother Pio received from David León involved private donations, not bribes. AMLO also expressed his willingness to testify. León Romero says he was a consultant, not a public servant, at the time of the videos, and that he will not accept the position he has been nominated for until this matter has been cleared up. • August 22 • COVID-19 pandemic: More than 60,000 deaths are reported. • An "antimonument" in the form of
72+ is erected on
Paseo de la Reforma in CDMX in front of the
U.S. Embassy to commemorate the
2010 San Fernando massacre in Tamaulipas. • The Human Rights Commission of Guanajuato (PDHG) opens an investigation of police in relation to the arrest of 29 women, including four reporters, during a protest demonstration. • José Antonio Rojas Nieto, Finance director of the
Federal Electricity Commission (FCE) resigns. Sánchez Aguilar is appointed in his place. • August 24 – Schools reopen across the country. • August 25 – The confederation of
Gobernadores de Acción Nacional (Governors of National Action Party, GOAN) and opposition parties protest against the 13–0 decision of the Baja California Sur legislature to remove five and sanction three of its members for missing five sessions in a row. • August 26 – Defense Secretary
Luis Cresencio opens an investigation involving two dozen soldiers involved in the killing of nine gang members and three kidnap victims in
Nuevo Laredo in July. •
Grupo Modelo becomes the latest industrial giant to agree to pay its back taxes, MXN$2 billion. • August 30 – Juan Collado, the former lawyer of ex-President Peña Nieto, is charged with tax evasion of MXN #6 million in 2015. This is in addition to earlier charges of organized crime and money laundering, in addition to possible charges for bank fraud in
Andorra. • August 31 • AMLO criticizes the
Labor Party (PT) for its maneuvers to take over the presidency of the Chamber of Deputuies. Due to party defections, PT and PRI are tied as the third-largest political party in the Chamber with 46 seats each. • Gerardo Sosa Castelán, chairman of the board of the
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo (UAEH) is arrested for money laundering, embezzlement, and tax fraud. Sosa Castelán had already been implicated in the US$156 million
Estafa Maestra.
September • September 1 – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador gives his Second
Informe (Report) in the
Legislative Palace of San Lázaro. He says,
"En el peor momento está el mejor gobierno" ("At the worst time there is the best government"). • September 2 •
Acteal massacre: The government accepts its responsibility for the December 1997 massacre and apologizes to the surviving victims. • Luz María de la Mora, Undersecretary for Trade, announces that trade between Mexico and the United States in the first quarter of the year amounted to US$290 billion, making Mexico the largest trading partner of the United States. • September 2 to 7 –
Hay Festival Querétaro will be online. • September 4 – The
Times Higher Education World University Rankings rates the
UAM at number 601,
ITESM at number 800, and UNAM at number 801. • September 6 –
Tropical Storm Julio: Waves up to in Jalisco and Nayarit. • September 7 • The 2020–2021 electoral process begins. Elections will be held on June 6, 2021. • Governors of ten states leave the
National Governors' Conference, CONAGA. • September 8 – Opposition Senators demand accountability from
Rosario Piedra Ibarra, president of the
National Human Rights Commission, in relation to the occupation of the Human Rights Commission headquarters by a group of feminists. The occupation began on September 3, and demonstrators say they may occupy other facilitities if their demands are not met. • September 9 • Two demonstrators are killed by the
National Guard while protesting against sending water from
La Boquilla Dam in Chihuahua to the United States as stipulated in a 1944 treaty. • The SCHP presents its 2021 budget without proposed increases in taxes or debt. Infrastructure projects such as the airport of Santa Lucia and the Mayan Train plus the health sector are given priority. Tourism (mostly for the Mayan Train), SEDATU, SEDENA,
National Electoral Institute (INE), and the TEPJF are the areas with the greatest increases. The Chamber of Deputies receives an increase, but the Senate and the Human Rights Commission will have budget cuts. The total budget is MXN $6.295 trillion (US 293.6 billion) with projected income of MXN $5.539 trillion (US$258.34 billion) with the largest single item for BIENESTAR (MXN $190 billion). • COVID-19 pandemic: Six former Health Secretaries release a report critical of the government's response to the virus, saying that increased testing and mapping of cases could lead to containing infections in six to eight weeks. • September 11 – Members of the feminist group
Manada Periferia complain that male police officers used unnecessary force to arrest eleven adults and eight minors who were occupying the offices of the state human rights commission (Codem) in Ecatapec, State of Mexico. • The CFE estimates damages caused by protesters to La Boquilla Dam at MXN $100 million (US$4.7 million). • September 11–12 •
Festival Pa′l Tecate Norte (Mexican and Latin music) in Fundidora Park,
Monterrey •
Festival Corona Capital (rock and indie music) in
Guadalajara • September 14 –
Pasta de Conchos mine disaster: The government and family members of the 65 victims of the 2006 exlosion reached an agreement on rescuing the bodies and compensating the families. • September 15 •
Grito de Dolores: AMLO gives his second
Grito amidst special health restrictions. • Three hospitals are among the one hundred winners of the for the presidential airplane. A kindergarten in
Aramberri, Nuevo León also won. • Pope Francis names
Rutilo Felipe Pozos Lorenzini Bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Ciudad Obregón. • UIF freezes the accounts of former governor of Chihuahua
José Reyes Baeza Terrazas for embezzlement of MXN $129 million (US$6.14 million) related to the
Estafa Maestra ("Master Scam") while Reyes Baeza was the director of
FOVISSSTE. • September 16 – Independence Day, national holiday • The traditional military parade in the
Zócalo is televised but closed to the public. • Fifty-eight health workers from hospitals of IMSS, ISSSTE, Insabi, Semar, and Pemex receive the
Condecoración Miguel Hidalgo for their work in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. • September 17 – The government demands an explanation as to why immigrants in
Georgia were forcibly given
hysterectomies. • September 19 – The flag in the Zócalo is raised to half mast in memory of the victims of the
1985 earthquake and the
2017 earthquake. • September 22 – Jaime Cárdenas Gracia, head of the
Instituto para Devolverle al Pueblo lo Robado (Institute to Return that which was stolen to the People, Indep), resigns and Ernesto Prieto, formerly of the
National Lottery, replaces him. • September 23 •
SAT: The Tax Administration Service reveals that between 2007 and 2018 MXN $413 billion in taxes was forgiven. Of the 647 large contributors whose accounts have been reviewed, two unidentified companies still refuse to pay their debts. The SAT denounced 497 public servants for acts of corruption. • Two Mexicans,
Gabriela Cámara, a chef at
Contramar, and
Arussi Unda, feminist (
Las Brujas del Mar) are included in the list of one hundred most influential people in the world by
Time. • September 25 – The government reveals that two politically connected families are behind the demonstrations against the
1944 water treaty with the United States. Demonstrations at La Boquilla dam have left MXN $100 million. AMLO announces changes in the leadership of
CONAGUA.
October •
October 2 • Marches are cancelled but social events are held to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the
Tlatelolco massacre. • AMLO deploys 26,000 soldiers on the southern border to block an immigrant caravan originating in Honduras. • October 3 • Six police officers and two civilians die in an anbush in San Antonio de Padua, Durango. • Quintana Roo is on red-alert and flooding is expected in Tabasco and Chiapas due to
Tropical Storm Gamma. • October 18 – Elections • Coahuila:
PRI wins 16 of 32 municipalities with 49.31% of the votes, second place for
MORENA (19.3%), and third place for
PAN (9.9%). • Hidalgo:
PRI wins 32 municipalities,
PAN five plus six others in alliance with
PRD, and
MORENA six plus another five in alliances with
PVEM,
PES, and
PT. • October 29 – Authorities in the Mexican state of
Guanajuato discover a
mass grave containing 59 bodies.
November • November 6 – Twenty-one people are killed and 80,000 are homeless because of
Tropical Storm Eta. • November 7 – AMLO cancels his tour after floods in Tabasco kill 20 and damage thousands of homes in Villahermosa, Tabasco. Opening the
Peñitas Dam southwest of
Villahermosa leaves 184,000 homeless in Tabasco, Chiapas, Veracruz, and Quintana Roo. • November 9 – Cancun police shoot at demonstrating feminists, wounding a female reporter. • November 9–20 –
El Buen Fin • November 11 • AMLO apologizes for insulting
Alonso Ancira, president of
Altos Hornos de México who was recently arrested in Spain for cheating the Mexican government on the sale of a fertilizer plant. “Yes, I'm offering an apology, now just return the 200 million dollars," said López Obrador. • Mexico receives praise from international human rights advocates for changing responsibility for the care of migrant children from the
National Migration Institution (NIM) to the
National System for Integral Family Development (DIF). • November 12 – Members of the Attorney General of Tabasco's office remove drinking water and food from a flooded
convenience store to distribute among victims of the flooding in Tabasco. • November 13 – The Senate begins debate on recreational use of marijuana. • November 14 – The anti-AMLO coalition (
Frente Nacional Anti-AMLO, FRENAA) lifts its demonstration in the
Zócalo of Mexico City after one of its members is accused of sex abuse. • November 15 • COVID-19: More than 1,000,000 total positive cases are confirmed. • AMLO admits that low-lying, indigenous, "poor" areas of Tabasco were flooded to save the city of Villahermosa. • November 16 – Thirteen people are killed and four vehicles are killed when an automobile and a truck carrying LP gas collide on the Guadalajara-Tepic tollway Km. 106. • November 17 – Prosecutors in the United States drop the charges against General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda so he can be tried in Mexico. • November 18 – The Chamber of Deputies approves a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing indigenous languages the same legal status as Spanish. • November 21 – President López Obrador participates virtually in the
2020 G20 Riyadh summit. • November 23 – Police in
Celaya kill a tamal vendor by kneeling on his neck for ten minutes. • November 25 –
LeBarón and Langford families massacre: Three suspects are arrested in connection with the 2019 murder of three women and nine children belonging to a Mormon sect.
December • December 3 – AMLO says that the government of the United States helped him secure an agreement from
Pfizer to secure 34.4 million doses of its
COVID-19 vaccine, including 250,000 doses in December. • December 4 –
Pemex cancels its contracts with
Litoral Laboratorios Industriales SA de CV, which is owned by Felipa Guadalupe Obrador Olán, cousin of President López Obrador. • December 5 –
PAN,
PRI, and
PRD announce an electoral alliance for the
2021 Mexican legislative election. • December 6 – AMLO calls for an end of diplomatic immunity for
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents. • December 7 • López Obrador names
Galia Borja Gómez Assistant Secretary of the
Banco de Mexico,
Graciela Márquez Colín to the board of directors oF
INEGI, and
Tatiana Clouthier as Secretary of the Treasury.
Elvira Concheiro is named Secretary of the Federation and Captain
Ana Laura López Bautista is named coordinator of ports. • The Secretary of Foreign Relations (SRA) has solicited the extradition of
Genaro García Luna, former Secretary of Public Security, who is on trial in the United States for drug trafficking and money laundering. • A Campeche judge has indefinitely suspended construction of Section 2 of the
Tren Maya (
Escárcega to
Calkiní). • December 8 –
COVID-19 pandemic: Distribution of the vaccine will begin late in December, after the Pfizer vaccine is approved in the United States and by Mexican authorities. First to receive the vaccine will be 125,000 health workers in CDMX and the state of Coahuila; full coverage will take until 2022. • December 10 – Alejandro Encinas, deputy interior minister responsible for human rights, calls upon the State of Veracruz to reopen the investigation into the death of Ernestina Ascencio, a 73-year-old indigenous woman who died after being reportedly raped by members of the armed forces. • December 10—13 – COVID-19 pandemic: For the first time in its 400-year history, the
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is closed. Several metro and metrobus stations in the area are also closed. • December 11 • CFE and the government of France sign an agreement to develop
geothermal energy in Mexico. • Cardinal
Carlos Aguiar, archbishop of Mexico City, endorses civil unions for gay couples. • Archaeologists find remains of 119 more people in the "Aztec Tower of Skulls". • December 14 – AMLO congratulates President-elect
Joe Biden on his victory in the
United States Electoral College. • December 15 • The United Kingdom and Mexico sign a continuity trade agreement; the UK retains its
European Union benefits. • The
Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) complains that the attorney general (FGR) and (FEPADE) has blocked information about
Odebrecht and
Pío López Obrador. •
Samuel García,
Citizens' Movement candidate for governor of Nuevo León, whines that political opponents question how much he suffered as a child for being forced to play golf with his father or the suffering of families who earn "mini-salaries" of MXN $50,000/month (US$2507). Conservative former president
Felipe Calderón joined the critics. The average salary in Mexico is US$1,358/month, and 20% of workers make the minimum wage of MXN $123.22/day (US$6.53). • December 16 • COVID-19 pandemic • According to a survey by the
Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (National Institute of Public Health—INSP), 31 million Mexicans, 25% of the population, has been exposed to the virus. • 150 members of SEDENA and 50 members of SEMAR begin training for application of the
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccination will begin on December 22. • Education Secretary Esteban Moctezuma Barragán is named
Ambassador of Mexico to the United States following the retirement of
Martha Bárcena Coqui. • December 18 – Former governor
Aristóteles Sandoval (
PRI) of Jalisco is assassinated in Puerto Vallarta. • December 19 • AMLO and United States President-elect
Joe Biden discuss a new approach to migration issues during a phone call. • A photograph of Pedro Gabriel Hidalgo Cáceres, state leader of
PAN in Tabasco, illegally collecting MXN $10,000 destined for flood victims, circulates on social media. • December 20 – AMLO proposes that the armed forces control Maya Train and the airports of
Chetumal,
Palenque, and
'Felipe Ángeles' of Mexico City to free them of dependence on civilian oversight. • December 21 • Security measures are increased in
Puerto Vallarta following the assassination of Aristóteles Sandoval. • AMLO names
Delfina Gómez Álvarez the new head of SEP. • Two precandidates for mayor from
MORENA in Guerrero, Efrén Valois Morales (
Pilcaya) and Mario Figueroa (
Taxco de Alarcón) are attacked by armed assailants. Valois Morales dies. •
Aeroméxico renews flights of the
Boeing 737 MAX on its Mexico City-Cancun routes. • December 22 • The
Committee to Protect Journalists says Mexico is the most dangerous country for
journalists in the world. • Celaya,
Villagrán, and
Cortazar, Guanajuato see a wave of violence after a high-ranking member of the
Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel is arrested. • December 23 • COVID-19 pandemic: The first batch of vaccines arrive in Mexico. • A poll by
Morning Consult lists President Lopez Obrador as the second most popular president in the word, after India's
Narendra Modi. • December 25 –
2018 Puebla helicopter crash: Four people who worked for Rotor Flight Services are arrested in connection with the crash. • December 28 – CFE reported electrical failures in six entities. The National Center for Energy Control (Cenace) explained, ″[T]here was an imbalance in the National Interconnected System between the load and the power generation, causing a loss of approximately 7,500 MW." Later reports indicate that from 12 to 21 entities were effected by the blackout. • December 29 – Dozens of Cuban migrants demonstrate in Ciudad Juarez to be allowed to cross the border into the United States to seek asylum. • December 30 – INE insists that Morena Party remove a video from Twitter entitled
Extirpemos el tumor de México until election camoaigns begin on April 3,
2021. • December 31 • A report by the
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM) shows that 20% of the nation's water is controlled by 1.1% of the population. • An oil pipeline in
Dos Bocas was temporarily shut down due to a fire. • AMLO proposes a popular consultation among women on
abortion. ==Predicted and scheduled events==