can process up to 285,000 barrels per day (bpd) According to Veracruz civil protection officials the fire was successfully extinguished without any injuries Pemex also confirmed that its staff and facilities were not affected by the incident Authorities have not disclosed the cause of the fire Pemex has not commented on whether the event disrupted production at the facility a separate fire occurred at Pemex’s Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca also reported no injuries or property damage according to local civil protection officials Both incidents highlight recent challenges faced by Pemex’s infrastructure though safety measures ensured no reported casualties or structural damages Despite queries regarding potential production impacts at the Minatitlán refinery Pemex declined to provide additional details when contacted by Reuters No further updates have been released about the fire at Salina Cruz local authorities have assured that the incidents are under control This reflects the operational measures in place to safeguard workers and facilities during such emergencies The swift response at both Minatitlán and Salina Cruz limited risks to personnel and surrounding infrastructure A fire at Pemex’s Minatitlán refinery in Veracruz was extinguished without injuries as confirmed by Pemex and local authorities which occurred at the refinery capable of processing up to 285,000 bpd Pemex stated that neither personnel nor facilities were impacted A separate fire also broke out at the Salina Cruz refinery in Oaxaca this week Local civil protection officials confirmed no injuries or damages Pemex has not commented on production impacts from either incident Fire & Safety Journal Americas is a publication of Centurian Media Limited Registered office: 71-75 Shelton Street London Greater London WC2H 9JQ UNITED KINGDOMOperating office: The Maidstone Studios Centurian Media Limited (CML) is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer along with all qualified applicants that we receive for employment fixed contract or freelance projects receive consideration without regard to race CML is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status Website hosted and maintained by Grass Media Web Design ICO registration number: CSN0536342 All content copyright Centurian Media Ltd 2019-2025 The massacre of 14 people at a bar in Minatitlán on Friday night could have been a revenge attack or the result of the failure to make an extortion payment “We have two lines of investigation,” Jorge Winckler Ortiz told the television program La Nota Dura “One of them is revenge due to the possibility of conflict over the sale of drugs had two businesses where she sold one criminal group’s illegal products and shortly after she sold the competition’s products,” he said “The other line of investigation we have is that the cobro de piso [extortion payment] wasn’t made.” The attorney general explained that the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and Los Zetas are involved in a turf war in Veracruz which has contributed to the current insecurity in the state The deceased person to whom Winckler was referring was a trans woman known as “La Becky” who owned two bars in Minatitlán, including La Potra, where Friday’s attack occurred The attorney general told a press conference earlier yesterday that authorities had received statements indicating that “La Becky,” whose real name was Julio César González Reyna As he leads the investigation into the case Winckler is under pressure to resign as a result of accusations of corruption and collusion with former state governor Miguel Ángel Yunes Linares President López Obrador said yesterday that “relevant authorities will investigate the attorney general’s conduct,” charging that “the fact that the previous governor [Yunes] left him there and that he’s acting to protect the old regime He added: “What must be made very clear is that we won’t act as cover if there’s a [criminal] complaint against anyone it will run its course because we’re not going to be protecting anybody we have to clean up the corruption in Veracruz.” The president admitted that he doesn’t know Winckler personally before adding: “but I do know he who was governor and if he’s linked to the past governor we have to look at things carefully because Veracruz had a problem with crime being supported by the government.” He also said Winckler “is not highly recommended.” who was sworn in as governor for López Obrador’s Morena party on December 1 announced last week that Winckler would not attend yesterday’s security meeting with federal authorities due to the corruption allegations he faces which include protecting corrupt regional prosecutors and manipulating statistics for crimes including kidnappings and femicides Despite the possibility that he will be investigated Winckler said he hadn’t considered quitting I was democratically elected by five different parties and I believe that the results of my work are there for everybody to see,” he said However, there has been an increase in violent crime in Veracruz since the new government took office, including a CJNG offensive that has claimed the lives of four police officers López Obrador nevertheless defended García claiming that the current insecurity is the result of lingering corruption in state authorities despite the change of government he asserted that with “the support of the people of Veracruz” and “the support of the federal government,” things will change in the state Don’t forget we’re very perseverant so corruption is going to end in Veracruz Source: El Financiero (sp), E-Consulta (sp)  ADVERTISE WITH MND COMMUNITY GUIDELINES Subscription FAQ's Privacy Policy Mexico News Daily - Property of Tavana LLC The Mexican government’s decision to expropriate the country’s oil in 1938 was sparked by uprisings tied to the labor and environmental abuses of foreign companies If the state-run energy company is privatized reform will have to include stepped-up environmental monitoring and control On August 16, an eight-inch pipeline ruptured at Mexico’s oldest refinery in Minatitlán in the south of Veracruz state. Even as oily wastes poured into the Coatzacoalcos River, stretching out twenty miles by the day’s end a group of long-time residents meeting in this same city recalled the long damaging toll that the petrochemical industry has inflicted on the environment and people of this region But their harrowing past and present have barely registered in the many headlines that Mexican oil was making in this nation’s capital talk has swirled around the new Mexican president’s proposal to (more or less) privatize the country’s oil industry for well over half a century run by the Mexican state This debate over President Enrique Peña Nieto’s plan needs to start considering what any reform may mean for the environment and well being of those in places like Minatitlán There’s no better starting point for this reflection than the expropriation of 1938 when Mexico became the first developing nation to expel Western-owned oil companies and convert its holdings into a government enterprise Many Mexicans celebrate this birth of Petróleos Mexicanos in nearly the same terms as that country’s revolution of the 1910s; it is a modern Declaration of Independence from foreign powers leftists like former presidential candidate Andres Manuel López Obrador have charged that the reform amounts to “treason,” while Peña Nieto defends his plan as actually fulfilling the intentions of Lázaro Cárdenas the president who signed off on the state takeover is that Cárdenas’s decision to expropriate was sparked by local uprisings in oil refineries and fields that were deeply tied to the labor and environmental abuses of foreign companies Excursions into Mexican archives predating 1938 by the historian Myrna Santiago as well as myself have demonstrated just how extensive these abuses were Beyond the refineries and oil fields of Veracruz and Tamaulipas themselves massive oil spills regularly threatened the livelihood of fishermen and farmers the smoke and fumes that billowed from inside oil operations stoking an anger and resistance that by 1938 made expropriation seem the best solution Today’s American readers will find the arguments favoring Peña Nieto’s energy reform familiar They center around the flaws of the state-run enterprise: its corruption and inefficiency and its monopoly in the national market for consumer goods such as gasoline the debates have hardly touched upon the local consequences of this reform for regions that will be most affected like the towns around the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos River where 70 percent of Mexico’s petrochemical production has gravitated Already a few weeks ago, the sale of a huge petrochemical complex at Pajaritos to a private firm has led to widespread rumors about impending layoffs, and lit a fire under the feet of the region’s labor leaders As for the environmental impacts in store from any reform these will only add to those accrued under Pemex itself The damaging hand of state-run oil and petrochemical production on this region was made abundantly clear on August 16 at a gathering I conducted at the Universidad Veracruzana in Minatitlán a representative array of citizens and Pemex spokespeople shared recollections of just how deeply this industry had affected their region Though Pemex representatives argued that its attention to the environment had much improved starting in the early 1990s they made little effort to deny the flood of critical testimony that followed Fisherman and biologists reported plummeting populations of fish all along the river Those living in neighborhoods near the refinery talked of regular visitations by fumes Both they and doctors spoke of unusual concentrations of childhood leukemia and other deadly ailments around plants and in the region as a whole a dearth of statistics or other studies—even more sparse than in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”—has kept most of these claims in the realm of the “merely” anecdotal Though Pemex itself supplies between 30 and 40 percent of the federal government’s budget state monitoring of its environmental impacts in this area remains feeble Mexico’s counterpart to the Environmental Protection Agency there remains as yet only a single person charged with overseeing the region’s industry A general consensus emerging from this meeting was that however good Pemex’s and Mexico’s environmental policies may appear on paper they are not being effectively applied (“no se cumplen”) Even if the monitoring and hands-on regulation were suddenly stepped up recent experiences in the United States make it all too easy to imagine what further calamities will be inflicted upon this and other resource-rich regions of Mexico once anything like Peña Nieto’s reform goes through One stated intention of the reform is to invite new investments in technologies that can open up the nation’s deep-water oil reserves—the kind of drilling done by Deepwater Horizon with such disastrous results along our own Gulf coast whose track record in the United States has been The looming prospect of further environmental disasters means that at the very least stepped-up environmental monitoring and control should form an integral part of any reform of Mexico’s oil industry At best—though this possibility seems more remote—the reform should include policies as well as a clear timetable to transition Mexico away from fossil fuels toward more renewable energy sources The good news is that many in southern Veracruz already know the drawbacks of having an oil industry next door and that some of them have been organizing aside from Greenpeace Mexico and a 2007 visit from Global Community Monitor they have received little support either from national or international environmental groups Those Americans who have become so concerned about fracking or oil drilling or climate change need to lift their eyes beyond the confines of their own local and national debates far-reaching contest over the future of Mexican oil and gas boding a new depth of devastation to the humanity and ecology of this far corner of the earth Christopher Sellers is co-editor of the recent book Dangerous Trade: Histories of Industrial Hazard across a Globalizing World, as well as author of Hazards of the Job: From Industrial Disease to Environmental Health Science. He is a professor of history at Stony Brook University in New York. in one of the worst slayings to hit Mexico since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office.The unidentified assailants opened fire on Friday night after coming to look for a man at a bar in the southeast of Minatitlan a spokesman for the government of Veracruz said.Seven men five women and a child died in the shooting which occurred close to Minatitlan's oil refinery one of six run by state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) the state government said in a statement.The motive for the killings was unclear the spokesman said.The man the gunmen were seeking was identified as the owner of a bar in the city The attack took place during a family celebration.It was not immediately clear if the man owned the bar where the attack occurred nor whether he was present at the time.Hugo Gutierrez said on Twitter that an operation had been launched to capture the people responsible for the killings.The oil-rich state of Veracruz has been convulsed by gang violence and political corruption scandals for several years.Lopez Obrador took office in December vowing to reduce violence in Mexico where more than 200,000 people have been killed since the end of 2006 in brutal turf wars between drug cartels and their clashes with security forces.After reaching record levels in 2018 surpassing previous-year levels in the first three months of the new government official government data shows.The president was due to visit Veracruz on Sunday according to an official schedule published before the attack took place.Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. 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To view our full cookie policy, please click here You can also view it at any time by going to our Contact Us page Pemex said the first fire broke out on a drilling rig at its Tuzandepetl Strategic Storage Plant in the municipality of Ixhuatlan The company said internal firefighters arrived at the scene promptly to extinguish the blaze and were able to quickly bring it under control Three injured workers were discovered at the site and were transported to a local hospital where they were said to be in stable conditions.Pemex said that five other workers who were near the drilling rig at the time of the fire were missing and search efforts began immediately During search efforts over two days following the incident Pemex said that two bodies were discovered but that three workers remained missing   In another statement later in the evening of February 23 Pemex said that a separate fire had erupted at its Minatitlán Refinery Five workers were initially injured in the fire however two of them later died as a result of their injuries on February 24 Pemex said that the three other injured workers were continuing to receive treatment in hospital.While the exact cause of the Minatitlán Refinery fire has not been determined initial reports suggest it was possibly caused by the spillage of product on a hot surface Print this page | E-mail this page Hazardex Live 2024 event review Petroleos Mexicanos is offering more cargoes of oil to its customers after fires struck two of its refineries hampering its plan to keep crude supplies to produce fuels domestically Pemex’s PMI trading arm told some US refiners that it may have more crude to sell than initially expected during May according to people with knowledge of the situation That’s a change from earlier this month when the state oil company told customers it would sell less oil and keep more for its own refineries.  Pemex didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.  Mexico’s decision to export more is sending prices of competing sour oils lower with Mars crude produced in the Gulf of Mexico now trading at $1.70 less than benchmark Nymex West Texas Intermediate That’s the widest discount since October Prices of Southern Green Canyon reached the lowest in more than a year Mexico’s refineries had been operating near their highest utilization rates in six years until a series of setbacks in recent days a boiler at the Salina Cruz refinery caught fire and on Friday the Minatitlan refinery had a fire and explosion Pemex also said that the new Dos Bocas refinery would reach full production by September six months later than previously expected.  Petróleos Mexicanos' (Pemex) Lazaro Cardenas refinery is located in Minatitlan Petróleos Mexicanos’ (Pemex) Lazaro Cardenas refinery is located in Minatitlan Pemex completed a $3.62bn modernisation project of the refinery in July 2011 The project was scheduled for completion in 2008 but was delayed The cost of the project also doubled due to an increase in raw material and equipment prices The modernisation was part of the clean fuels programme aimed at upgrading outdated facilities in Mexico The programme will enable production of low-sulphur gasoline to meet global environmental standards The government plans to invest further in facilities operated by Pemex to upgrade them to global standards The modernisation of the refinery was launched in 2003 It included construction of 11 processing plants and associated facilities The processing plants included a sulphur recovery plant fluid catalytic cracker complex (42,000bpd) atmospheric and vacuum distilling plant (150,000bpd and 60,000bpd) hydro-desulphurisation plant (37,000bpd) and amine regeneration units Nine of the 11 processing plants specialise in crude oil processing The refinery now consists of 27 plants covering an area of more than 800ha The project also included installation of three spherical vessels for storing propylene and butane The 550t vessels have a diameter of 53ft and are supported by 12 cylindrical legs The project upgraded the refinery’s processing capacity from 160,000 barrels a day (bpd) of crude oil to 285,000bpd Gasoline production as a result will increase from 45,000 barrels to 93,000 barrels The project will reduce Mexico’s dependence on fuel imports It will also save more than $5bn annually for Pemex Construction of the project was divided into several packages Initial works included surface soil improvement as the site contained soft clay and loose sand Dynamic compaction and compaction grouting were carried out to ensure the ground had enough load bearing capacity for the foundations Deep soil treatment was followed by the construction of foundations ABB provided automation services for the project under a $9.1m contract It supplied its Foundation fieldbus technology including installation of field instrumentation compressor protection systems and a new distributed control system ABB’s scope of work included automation electromechanical and civil engineering works The new equipment replaced the 30-year old pneumatic instrumentation installed at the refinery tests and adjustments were earlier carried out manually by operators With the implementation of the new technology predictive maintenance and maintenance scheduling was made possible The technology improved safety and emergency responses by alerting operators of instrument failures Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for the project was awarded to the Odebrecht Engenharia Industrial and Técnicas Reunidas consortium The $635m contract included the construction of the sulphur recovery plant jointly owned by Fluor Corporation and Empresas ICA Sociedad Controladora was awarded a $690m contract to build a water treatment plant integrate all units of the refinery and provide auxiliary services A $534m contract was awarded to Dragados Industrial to provide engineering and construction services Dragados worked on the catalytic distillation units CIMESA was contracted to carry out soil improvement and deep foundation works for the project Enerpac provided lifting and positioning services for installation of spherical storage vessels Samsung Engineering provided EPC services for the alkylation unit of the refinery OMB Valves was subcontracted by Samsung Engineering to supply forged steel valves for the project A $2m contract was awarded to Graham Corporation for supplying an ejector system for the refinery instrumentation and control works were carried out by Kentech Mexico Mina-Trico was also involved in the project Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network State oil company Pemex is facing renewed scrutiny of its safety record after fires at three separate facilities on Thursday left at least eight people injured and several missing The first fire started around noon at the Lázaro Cárdenas Refinery Pemex said in a statement that it was caused by the runoff of product onto a hot surface and was quickly put out by firefighters but there was no damage to the plant or interruption of activities a second fire broke out just 19 kilometers away in the drilling equipment of the Tuzandépetl Strategic Storage Plant Despite the deployment of multiple fire crews the blaze spread to other wells in the facility and continued to burn throughout the afternoon Pemex reported that three workers were injured and five more were missing One worker was reported dead: Family and friends of petroleum engineer Carlos Ascensión Morales confirmed Friday morning that Morales had passed away due to the accident Personnel from the Defense Ministry guarded the entrances to the area through the night and local municipalities opened four shelters Pemex issued a community alert for a third fire in the crude distillation unit at its Deer Park refinery in Texas The blaze was quickly controlled and the extent of the damage is unclear The company is under pressure to boost productivity after more than a decade of annual losses It is currently the most indebted of all major oil companies with a total debt of $105 billion at the end of September around $8 billion of which is due this year Pemex has also faced several major safety scandals in recent years. Most notably, a fire at its offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021 caused five deaths and cut Mexico’s oil production by a quarter the company drew international criticism after a large gas explosion near its offshore rig in the Bay of Campeche A presumed regional chief of the notorious Los Zetas cartel in southern Veracruz was arrested in Oaxaca on Thursday also known as “El Comandante Reyes,” was believed to be in charge of the gang’s operations in 12 municipalities in Veracruz Veracruz Public Security Secretary Hugo Gutiérrez Maldonado recognized the Oaxaca government’s efforts in the apprehension of the gang leader and said the two states maintain a close relationship to combat crime have been cited as central to the rise in insecurity in southern Veracruz The cartel’s territorial conflict with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was believed to have been the cause of the massacre of 14 people at a party in Minatitlán last April. In August, a group of armed men killed 25 people when they burned down a bar in Coatzacoalcos Both towns were under the control of José Carmen N. according to the Veracruz Public Security Secretariat Source: El Financiero (sp) Violent waves caused by Hurricane Enrique have killed two people in separate events in Acapulco and destroyed hundreds of houses in the state The storm has also caused damage in Michoacán and Colima Authorities on Monday morning predicted torrential rains in Colima but said they were optimistic the hurricane would move towards the coasts of Nayarit and Sinaloa on Tuesday and be downgraded to a tropical storm in its advance toward Baja California Sur Wednesday Enrique continued to be classed as a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale as of 1:00 p.m Tropical storm watches are in place between Puna Mita and San Blas in Nayarit and from Cabo San Lucas to Los Barriles in Baja California Sur while a hurricane warning has been downgraded to a tropical storm warning between Cabo Corrientes and Playa Perula in Jalisco Guerrero has recorded 207 houses destroyed The most serious damage was reported in Coahuayutla where rain and winds collapsed the roofs of 120 houses; in Copalillo the El Carrizo bridge collapsed on the Manzanillo-Minatitlán highway Minatitlán was one of four municipalities affected most of the damage has been registered in Lázaro Cárdenas with flooding and fallen trees The Defense Ministry has assigned 13,397 personnel and 310 vehicles to attend to damage and support local people Those in affected areas are instructed to follow updates from the Meteorological Service of the National Water Commission (Conagua) The 2021 rain and tropical cyclone season began on May 15 and ends in November With reports from Aristegui Noticias, El Financiero 43,000+ global companies doing business in the region. 102,000+ key contacts related to companies and projects Analysis, reports, news and interviews about your industry in English, Spanish and Portuguese. 2018Photo by Megan SpurrellSave this storySaveSave this storySaveA hand-stitched doll with a needle gently bound to its torso a vial of a mysterious amber mixture labeled "Love Honey," or a soap bar that promises success: The teenager behind the counter wants to know which we’re interested in buying Dried herbs hang overhead and shelves behind him are stacked high with boxes and bottles that scream out a mix of desires: "Eternal Beauty!" "Success!" "Good Fortune!" I scan the offerings and then point hesitantly at a wax replica of the grim reaper on the bottom shelf of the glass display He’s not allowed to sell any of the black magic items without his boss there I empty my coin-purse onto the table and grab some sticks of incense and a soap bar emblazoned with the word "Success!" as he scoops up a few pesos Black and white magic services are a daily offering throughout Catemaco The lure of the supernatural feels powerful enough to help any agnostic—myself included—tap into the spiritual Markets specializing in the esoteric and occult aren’t uncommon in Latin America so our quick shopping excursion is an easy way to get our feet wet in Catemaco But the adventure revs up the next morning when our waitress at breakfast overhears Tanya and I talking about our search for a sorcerer and her quick glance at the business cards in our hands—Tanya’s picked up a few from previous travels in the region—is followed by a dismissive wave sell everything from oil made of four-leaf clovers to waxy incarnations of voodoo dolls—pins included a rattling Volkswagen Beetle taxi scoops us up and as quickly as the paved road beneath us turns into a dirt one the engine finally sputters out in front of a house on the edge of town the facade of the two-story home is adorned with images of wild animals and shadowy portraits of men in dark cloaks The only sound breaking through the hot afternoon air comes from a snorting pair of cows in the neighbor’s yard and tinkling wind chimes hang over the porch we see we’re not the only ones here for his services having traveled from throughout the state and country When I envisioned traveling to Mexico's tierra de brujos I had expected the sorcerer of storybooks: a grim cave and someone dressed in black wearing a craggy So when I see a middle-aged man in broad daylight Then I hear him tell the person on the other end to send over an explanation of their dream and he’ll get back to them shortly with his interpretation That’s when I notice the string of jagged animal bones around his neck Marten says he knows which ritual is right for us: a general spiritual cleansing and he’s right—we have no idea what else to ask for I feel my eyes waver between brightness and the brink of tears as I’m asked to relive the most significant moments of my life We’re sent to a small hut in the jungle behind his home where we're to begin the ritual on our own We're asked to spend 15 minutes quietly reflecting on everything in our lives—the pains and the successes the uncertainties and joys—before Marten will join us Everything negative is to be "thrown" into the lit candles in front of us Marten wants us to envision the flames engulfing them Everything positive is going to be used to fortify our bodies as we move through the rest of the ritual It's utterly silent and the only relief from the heat is a gentle breeze flowing through tiny windows cut into pentagrams Marten joins us and leads us through the hour-long ritual it’s hard to make sense of what’s happening around us Tanya and I find ourselves standing in the middle of a ring of actual fire burning at our heels as Marten chants toward the sky Tanya and I acknowledge each other for the first time since entering the room “Holy shit.” I smell the aguardiente burning inches from us as the ritual consumes every one of our senses I feel as though I’ve completed an emotional marathon Still waking from a kind of stupor, we walk back toward the house and Marten gives us a quick tour on the way. He doesn’t consider himself a sorcerer, he says, as we walk down a dark staircase—he prefers the term "spiritual guide." We reach the bottom and see a dark cavern open beside us red-glass votives lending a sinister light A statue of the devil towers over a table laden with folded notes and offerings are piled at the statue’s feet A T-shirt hangs from an outcropping nearby pins sticking through the head of one of them Enrique Marten is known throughout Catemaco as a 'head sorcerer.' had told me on the way in to Catemaco from Minatitlán When asked if he believed in sorcerers and magic yes.” He would go to a sorcerer to protect himself but he knew someone else could go to the same person to do harm to him or his family One of the business cards we'd been reading at breakfast played off this very idea you could be the victim of someone jealous.” It had felt like a way to drum up business but looking at the photographs of strangers stuck under warped melted candles throughout Marten’s cave knocked the wind out of me Above ground, the queue of others waiting for Marten's services has grown. The woman he had seen before us sits with her family on his patio, drinking beers in the afternoon sun. She had come from Mexico City for an exorcism He can’t tell us the details of her treatment He’s vague about the other services he offers unwilling to go into details for something we don’t need but we’ve taken too much much of his time—the next client is looking at him expectantly Tanya and I work our way from one spiritual cleanser (or brujo is not a term most sorcerers are quick to apply and 'magic' is a slippery term as well—'black magic' especially The longer we spend with the brujos asking them about their magic the more we notice those same words creeping back into the conversation—but on their terms Those most faithful to their practice use them guardedly we're delivered good and bad news about ourselves I want to believe their amulets will ward away negative energy—the images from Marten’s cave have stuck with me I want to believe the four-leaf clover oil rubbed on my knees will keep me safe—it sure makes the idea of boarding the ancient puddle-jumper that will fly me back to Mexico City easier Catemaco may be known for sorcerers and magic but the entire region is home to plenty of the supernatural spanning out from the tierra de brujos as its epicenter who asks not to be named—she's from a small town and values her privacy—tells me this extends throughout the entire state of Veracruz she’s dealt with duendes taunting her baby a type of gnome that has long been featured in regional Catholic lore yet in Veracruz everyone seems to have a personal encounter with duendes to prove their existence The woman starts by telling me she’s not religious and she never thought of herself as someone who believed in the supernatural the toys in her daughter’s room would light up and sing on their own at night—even after she removed their batteries Things appeared in places other than where she left them and I had someone come over and do a spiritual cleansing of the house And nothing strange has happened since.” She is originally from central Mexico and is clear with me: This was never something she experienced there and also insists she doesn’t believe in magic—just before launching into a story about how a potion procured by her parents put a stop to shadowy visions that had been haunting her Catemaco's lake is said to emit a powerful energy from which local sorcerers draw their powers Chatting over a fresh plate of aguachiles, Tanya and I stare out at the Atlantic Ocean from the beach of Sontecomapan, a 30-minute drive from Catemaco. A former pirate hideaway, there’s said to be buried treasure just off the shore. Local legend says that anyone who tries to take it faces death at the hands of ghost pirates. Despite the promise of untold riches, no one dares try. “Does it matter if it’s true?" Tanya asks, gesturing toward the choppy sea that is allegedly home to ghosts and treasure. "Does it matter to the people who believe any of these things, how real they are? Or does it simply matter that they believe?” If the stories of duendes and curses and ghosts are enough to inspirit people to protect themselves, they may as well be. On my last day in Acayucan, I visit a spiritual cleanser who rubs an egg all over my body before cracking it open and interpreting its movement in a pot of water. Observing how the wispy trails of the egg white elongate, she tells me I’m very connected to my spiritual side—which, after a trip like this, I'm able to believe—but a red speck on the yolk worries her that I have an ulcer. I quietly make a note in my journal to set up a doctor’s appointment once I get home. Just in case. up-to-the-minute voice in all things travel Condé Nast Traveler is the global citizen’s bible and muse We understand that time is the greatest luxury which is why Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts and influencers so that you never waste a meal or a hotel stay wherever you are in the world Veracruz has declared a state of emergency in 13 municipalities after heavy rain flooded homes and roads in the southern part of the state The Coatzacoalcos river overflowed its banks in the municipalities of Hidalgotitlán and Jesús Carranza while the Tecolapan river overflowed in Saltabarranca affecting towns in the municipalities of Jesús Carranza In the municipalities of San Andrés and Santiago Tuxtla hundreds of families lost everything when their homes flooded while owners of restaurants and stores in Catemaco reported severe losses State and local authorities continue to work to repair the damage and offer relief to victims State Civil Protection officials warned that if rains continue the emergency declaration could well expand to five more municipalities With the official declaration of emergency the affected municipalities have access to funds from a state disaster relief fund Source: Milenio (sp) President López Obrador on Monday denied that his government expropriated a section of railroad in Veracruz asserting that it “recovered” a concession granted to a subsidiary of Grupo México a mining and infrastructure conglomerate owned by billionaire businessman Germán Larrea The president published a decree on Friday that ordered the “immediate temporary occupation” of three sections of railroad operated by Ferrosur between Medias Aguas and Coatzacoalcos The decree declared the combined 120 kilometers of tracks to be of “public utility” and relevant to national security, and ordered their temporary occupation in favor of Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec, a military-run state-owned company working on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec trade corridor project which includes the modernization of a railroad between the port cities of Salina Cruz The operation of the tracks by the state-owned company is required “to satisfy the needs of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec Interoceanic Corridor,” the decree said adding that they are “ideal for a direct and dynamic railroad operation.” said that armed navy personnel occupied Ferrosur facilities along the 91-kilometer Medias Aguas-Coatzacolacos section from 6 a.m “The surprising and unusual takeover … by the armed forces is being analyzed by Group México Transportes its investors and advisors,” the firm said Speaking at his morning press conference on Monday López Obrador stressed that Grupo México doesn’t own the railroad tracks but rather has a concession to operate them Private property can be legally expropriated but “recovering a concession of the nation” is “very different,” he said even though his decree cited an expropriation law Asked whether the takeover would be permanent López Obrador responded that it would “depend on the attitude of the company.” He said he had no “personal problem” or “dispute” with Larrea — with whom the president reportedly met twice last week — and asserted that there was no problem with Grupo México’s planned purchase of Citibanamex Gabriela Siller, director of economic analysis at Mexican bank Banco Base, said Friday that the railroad takeover could put the bank sale — which had appeared to be a done deal —  “at risk.” López Obrador’s decree said that “market-value compensation” would be paid for the temporary occupation but the president said that Grupo México wanted 9.5 billion pesos (about US $530.5 million) That amount is not a “fair price” but rather “abuse,” he said López Obrador said that an evaluation would be carried out to determine a compensation payout “if they are entitled to one.” Grupo México shares closed 4.25% lower on Friday following the government’s takeover of part of the railroad operated by its subsidiary Ferrosur “It’s not exactly inviting for the government to seize a railroad,” said Roger Horn a senior strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities America in New York “This is bizarre even for this administration where AMLO has for the most part negotiated with the private sector to achieve his policy goals,” added Horn “This sets a negative precedent for investments in Mexico specifically in regulated sectors,” said Rodolfo Ramos GMXT said Sunday that it remains in negotiations with the government about the concession for the Medias Aguas-Coatzacoalcos section of the Ferrosur railroad It also said that it signed an agreement with the ministries of the Interior and Communications and Transportation in early 2022 that “contemplated the construction of a second [rail] route with operational independence that would be handed over to the Ministry of the Navy for the use of Ferrocarril del Istmo de Tehuantepec,” the state-owned company GMXT said that it began construction of the second route spending “hundreds of millions of pesos” on the project “The total cost of the project would have been settled through … royalties the company pays on a yearly basis the agreement was discarded by the government months later,” the company said GMXT said it was seeking a new agreement with the government but noted that the negotiations “face difficult circumstances” given that an “occupation decree” was published and acted upon The company said it would continue to provide “quality service” for its clients while the government allows it to operate its trains and maintain tracks on the Ferrosur network The federal government has collaborated with big business, including on an anti-inflation plan but some of its laws and policies have angered the private sector especially companies that operate in Mexico’s energy sector In 2022, the United States and Canada both launched challenges under the North American free trade pact against Mexican policies that favor the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission and state oil company Pemex over firms from those countries More recently, the United States construction materials company Vulcan Materials denounced the “illegal” takeover and occupation of its Quintana Roo marine terminal by federal and state security forces United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the takeover — which occurred in March and allowed the Mexican company Cemex to use the facility — could have a “chilling effect” on future U.S. investment in Mexico Cemex and Vulcan reached a temporary agreement in late March that allowed the former to use the latter’s marine terminal in Quintana Roo Vulcan and the Mexican government still have unresolved issues related to environmental damage the Alabama-based company allegedly caused along the Quintana Roo coast A strong magnitude 4.6 earthquake hit 82 km (51 mi) away from Minatitlán, Estado de Veracruz-Llave,  Mexico, in the early morning of Friday, Apr 18, 2025 at 1.40 am local time (America/Mexico City GMT -6). The quake had a moderate depth of 142 km (88 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so). were rescued Friday from a box truck abandoned on the side of a highway amid sweltering temperatures in the southeastern state of Veracruz according to the Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM).“The INM rescued 148 migrants who were traveling overcrowded in the box of a trailer and were abandoned in life-threatening conditions on the side of the Minatitlán Cordova highway,” the institute said in a statement The truck was abandoned by the driver who is still at large Of the 148 people rescued there were women and men traveling solo 23 unaccompanied minors and 44 families – which consisted of 115 people “Humanitarian attention was provided to groups in vulnerable conditions the adults were taken to the INM facilities to carry out the corresponding immigration procedures,” it added The unaccompanied minors and family units will remain protected by the System for the Integral Development of the Family (DIF) and the Office of the Attorney for the Defense of Minors during their immigration process The faces of rescued migrants were obscured by INM in this picture Mexico’s National Institute of Migration Immigrants fleeing violence and poverty frequently travel through the state of Veracruz on their way to the United States Without documents, they ride trailers or atop freight trains known to be a vessel for immigration north, called La Bestia Many migrants have been killed or badly injured trying to complete the journey Many others have been found traveling in trucks and trailers. In 2021, Mexican authorities reportedly found 600 people hidden in two trailers. That same year, at least 55 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a truck overturned in southern Mexico Migration is very common from Central American countries like Guatemala and a lack of economic opportunity have left many with no other choice.