In the Aztec culture (1300-1521), when somebody died, they had to travel through different levels of the underworld before reaching the ninth and final level, Mictlan, Place of the Dead. At each level, they faced different trials that would purify them until they were transformed into a new essence.

Very interesting map of the Spanish viceroyalty of the New Spain in 1810, covering a huge territory in comparison with the territories of the USA. Also noteworthy is the naming of the Gulf of Spain.

This is a timeline showing the fragmentation of the drug cartels in Mexico over the last 25 years. It went from 7 large organizations to more than 150 medium-sized organizations between 2000 and 2025. The image shows only the main ones. The cartel dispersion started under the presidency of Calderon.

The real sizes of continents. Most maps stretch places near the poles, making Greenland, Europe and the U.S. look way bigger than they really are. In reality. In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland and around 80% bigger than Russia.

Mexica pulque god sculpture. Pulque is an alcoholic drink made from the fermented sap of the maguey. The piece is from the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan in Mexico City. This pulque god is named Tepoztécatl, Pahtécatl or Totoltécatl; he wears red face paint and a crescent-shaped yacameztli nose ring.

Very well done: world history from west to east and from 4000 BCE to 2000 AD. Interesting!

Dieren on the IJssel river, the Netherlands.

The cost of living in Mexico: national average monthly income needed, in thousands of pesos.

When were Southamerica's capitals founded? Average foundation date: 1616.

Spain has acknowledged and expressed regret over the “pain and injustice” suffered by the Indigenous people of Mexico during its conquest of the Americas, heralding a shift in tone after six years of diplomatic spats over the abuses of the colonial period. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Autumn in Ellecom, the Netherlands (2).

Ranking of friendliest countries: 1. 🇲🇽 Mexico 2. 🇧🇷 Brazil 3. 🇵🇭 Philippines 4. 🇮🇩 Indonesia 5. 🇻🇳 Vietnam 6. 🇴🇲 Oman 7. 🇨🇷 Costa Rica 8. 🇹🇭 Thailand 9. 🇰🇪 Kenya 10. 🇬🇷 Greece 11. 🇵🇦 Panama 12. 🇨🇴 Colombia 13. 🇵🇹 Portugal 14. 🇲🇾 Malaysia 15. 🇧🇭 Bahrain 16. 🇪🇸 Spain 17. 🇹🇼 Taiwan 18. 🇦🇪 UAE World Population Review

One of the opposition’s talking points is that the current government has pushed Mexico into unsustainable debt since 2018. Yet, World Bank data shows Mexico has the second-lowest debt-to-GDP ratio in Latin America: Mexico’s debt has risen only 1.2% per year. www.pan.senado.gob.mx/2025/10/el-c...

Peru’s government has announced the country is severing diplomatic relations with Mexico over the asylum claim of former Peruvian prime minister Betssy Chávez, who is under investigation for rebellion. The asylum is at the residence of the Mexican embassy in Peru www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

Interesting map of the ancient Maya world, which is now made up of 5 countries. The Maya culture encompasses an area of 500,000 square kilometers. The 4 pillars of the Classic period are observed: Palenque, Calakmul, Tikal and Copán. (Map from The Mayas, a Millennial Civilization by Nikolai Grube).

Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent. Its willingness to maintain these relations was tested recently and remaining relevant in this continent is even more urgent. www.americasquarterly.org/article/taiw...

The Trump administration has begun planning to send American troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels. The early stages of training for the potential mission, has already begun. But a deployment to Mexico is not imminent, apparently. www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...

Autumn in Ellecom, the Netherlands.

Magnificent Maya art: a scene from August 27, 783, shows a soldier named Aj Chak Maax presenting a group of three war captives to the Ahau of Yaxchilan (Chiapas, the Southernmost state of Mexico), Itzamnaaj Bahlam, as a sign of respect and subordination. Note the ruler seated on the "throne."

A good overview map of ‘the five Guyana’s’.

Free trade agreement of North America: there is confusion surrounding how the statutory review process - which will surely lead to renegotiation - of the USMCA operates. Here is a decision tree by @CSISAmericas on how this will proceed.

Gun control works! Homicide rate in Europe (by country) and the US (by state): number of intentional homicides per 100,000 people.

Industrial parks in northern Mexico are buzzing, companies are leasing factory space at a fast pace. Vacancy rates decreased between 0.3-0.5%. This new wave is investment from companies avoiding high US tariffs. With Mexican exports facing only a 5% average tariff, the nearshoring boom is happening.

“China is replacing the US in Latin America”, but data tells a different story: since 2020 a third of all FDI has come from the US, roughly double than from the 27-country EU. In fact, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, through which many European countries direct investments, invest more than China.

Mexico will propose a 40-hour workweek in November, cutting the current 48-hour limit and phasing in the change over 5 years. mexicobusiness.news/talent/news/...

Oil diplomacy? Venezuela cancelled energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, a day after a US warship docked in the country and amid rising tensions between Washington and Caracas. www.ft.com/content/8d42...

The Trump administration will reportedly prioritize the Western Hemisphere in its national security strategy. It’s going to be difficult to actualize that strategy without allies in the region, and the U.S. has very few partners at the moment. warontherocks.com/episode/the-...

Trump’s bailout of Argentina is not an act of economic prudence (it makes no sense), but of ideological finance. The goal is to shore up an ally in the US’s back yard and discredit opponents, especially the leftwing Perónist tendency in Argentinian politics. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/america-fi...

Guatemalan President Arévalo requested an extraordinary meeting with the Organization of American States on Sunday, accusing Attorney General Consuelo Porras and Judge Fredy Orellana of leading a “criminal alliance” to dismantle the country’s democratic institutions. www.latimes.com/espanol/inte...

Many of Mexico’s largest companies are engaging in a game of chicken with the Sheinbaum administration over backtaxes, arguing that they would happily pay, but that they are being overcharged. They are pushing back in courts, and vying for public sentiment. www.mxpe.org/p/tax-chicke...

Facing global shifts and sluggish growth, Latin America must forge a new productive consensus and developmental synthesis. Not a nostalgic return to classic developmentalism but an adaptation to today’s world—marked by a new phase of globalization and an energy transition. nuso.org/articulo/319...

The Great Pyramid of Toniná, located in the state of Chiapas, is the tallest pyramid in America with an altitude of 75 m. The pyramid belongs to the Maya culture. I’ve visited the site in 1987, when only the top chamber was excavated. What a beauty lay for centuries under a hill in tropical jungle.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will cancel 13 current or planned Mexican airline routes to the U.S. in response to Mexico's failure to comply with a 2015 air transport agreement. elpais.com/mexico/2025-...

When someone says they're going to explore all of Mexico in 1 week.

Archaeologists have uncovered a 200-foot scorpion-shaped mound in Puebla’s Tehuacán Valley, believed to have served as a solstice observatory between CE 600 and 1100. archaeologymag.com/2025/10/anci...

A small but growing group of women have bought chinampas — island farms outside of Mexico City — to cultivate sustainably in an effort to preserve an ecosystem that is increasingly threatened by urban development, mass tourism and water pollution. apnews.com/article/mexi...

Highly recommended: restaurant Los Danzantes in the centre of Oaxaca de Juarez, with a fully deserved Michelin star!

Thursday marks the end of the 90-day deadline that Trump gave the Mexican government to evaluate their trade relationship and define the tariffs that will remain in place. In Mexico, there is now talk of an agreement that includes security, migration, and trade. english.elpais.com/economy-and-...

Argentina’s ruling Libertad Avanza party obtained a strong showing in yesterday’s mid-term elections, which a defacto referendum on President Javier Milei. He now has a strong mandate to continue his austerity policies. La Libertad Avanza secured 40.8% of the vote, the Peronist opposition 31.7%.

As Brazil prepares to host the UN COP30 climate summit in the Amazon in November, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “has clocked impressive climate wins on curbing deforestation, legalising indigenous land reserves and securing conservation funding.” www.france24.com/en/live-news...

How free is the press in Latin America and what elements are considered to call a press “free”? Two countries lead the region in every single metric. These small yet robust democracies, Costa Rica and the Dom Rep., have reported on key political developments, economic trends and security challenges.

Should economic thinking influence Latin American anti-crime policy? Policies to address organized crime should pay more attention to the economic effects of illicit activities and seek to attack crime from a financial front. insightcrime.org/news/economi...

The city of Oaxaca de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico is decorated with cempasúchil flowers in vibrant orange colour for the well-known celebrations of the Día de los Muertos (day of the dead) on the 1st of November. These are pictures of doorways, participating in a decoration competition.

Trump and Brazil’s president Lula met in Malaysia. The US needs rare (and critical) minerals, the reason for this Lula-Trump thaw (see also the recent US-Australia deal). Brazil became part of a global story and ‘politics as usual’ (read: the Bolsonaro court case) is not important anymore for Trump.

As Día de Muertos approaches, cempasúchil flowers form golden pathways across markets, in vibrant orange. This native Mexican marigold, originally called cempohualxochitl in Nahuatl (twenty flowers) is placed on ofrendas to guide ancestral spirits home with its brilliant color and distinctive scent.

Pan de Muerto isn’t just a sweet treat, it’s a symbol woven into the Día de Muertos tradition. This bread acts as a bridge between the living and their ancestors, the cycle of life and death in every bite. It symbolizes a human heart offered to the gods, an offering to the goddess Izcoxauhqui.

Dia de muertos is 1 November: in Mexico death is understood in a very peculiar way, as the writer Octavio Paz so aptly expressed: "Our cult of death is a cult of life, just as love, which is hunger for life, is yearning for death." For this reason, death is normal, a part of life to celebrate.

Cultural appropriation? Mattel’s 2025 Barbie Día de Muertos doll is now available for purchase, featuring a cempasúchil-inspired gown, golden heart earrings, and delicate catrina makeup. www.amazon.com/Barbie-JBJ05...

Trump’s pressure on countries in LAtin Ametica to distance from China has worked in the case of Mexico, and backfired in the case of Brazil. Americas Quarterly looks at how other countries in Latin America are handling the issue with more nuance. www.americasquarterly.org/article/how-...

President Sheinbaum’s picks to head Mexico’s new antitrust regulators turn out to be competent, independent technocrats. When Mexico restructured its regulatory agencies, it seemed to weaken oversight. The opposite is happening: she appears to be empowering regulators to go after dominant players.