☕️🇲🇽🏆 Is this the best espresso in Colonia Condesa in México City? I stopped by the % Arabica cafe. Very good! I have noticed lately that espressos made with washed beans are consistently good, but a bit boring- thinner texture and muted flavor. Natural process beans can be hit or miss- but open the door to better texture and more complex flavors. #espresso #mexicocity

Latin America is racing to become the next data-center powerhouse. Brazil, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina are leading the way, attracting billions in investment. But will data centers actually transform the region’s economies—or simply become another extractive industry? Andrés Oppenheimer argues that the real race is for something else: talent, education, and AI adoption. Only at Americas Quarterly. @AmerQuarterly, @oppenheimera, #LatinAmerica,#AI ,#DataCenters, #Technology, #DigitalInfrastructure, #Argentina, #Brazil, #Mexico, #Chile americasquarterly.org/articl…

🇲🇽☕️👍This was so fun. I’ve been trying to find the best espresso in Mexico City. I stopped by Cafe Bella in Colonia Centro. Their machine is from 1954. One of the patrons bragged that he is even older but still going strong! #mexicocity #espresso

Flying back to DC, still savoring yesterday’s win. My testimony dove deeply into the numbers showing that Big Bend is *not* an area of high illegal entry. The transcript will show me saying, “OK this is going to get really nerdy.” And yeah, it was. From marfapublicradio.org/news/20…

🇲🇽🚨When people talk about the idea of "narco gobierno" in Mexico what do they mean? 🤝 "The thing that's so challenging for everyone in Mexico is that one threat is the government & the other threat is organized crime, the cartels. Very often they are one and the same, they work in unison," author Ted Genoways told me on a recent episode of the @ModernMexico Podcast. 📗He also explained how some of the political trends tequila makers dealt with a century ago are still very much present today. In his book TEQUILA WARS, he delves into the story of Jose Cuervo and the industry's early years during the late 1800s and early 1900s. 📈During the 21st century, Mexico's tequila industry experienced an unprecedented boom. Centered in the west coast state of Jalisco, it's still a big cash earner: tequila exports tallied to over $3.5 billion in 2025. I talked to Genoways about how the trends he researched from the industry's early days to compare with the on-the-ground reality today. 🤝Jose Cuervo and the other industrialists in Jalisco watched the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, which started in 1876, come to a chaotic end in 1911. During the Porfirian era, Mexico became defined by "a culture of graft. And that cronyism eventually produces such disparity in the culture and economy of Mexico that revolution really becomes inevitable," Genoways explained. 💰During the Porfiriato, as foreign money came in and exports grew, Mexico's economy expanded by over 2% per year on average. But by 1900, the top 10% most affluent families controlled over three-quarters of Mexico's wealth. It was crony capitalism. It was extractive. And, ultimately, it was fragile. ❌ "You can't have a system where there's this very small elite that enjoys unbelievable wealth, and then the people who produce that wealth live in abject poverty," Genoways added. ⚠️The Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 through 1920, "was devastating to the [tequila] industry. The town of Tequila was raided by revolutionaries and it was cannonaded and burned multiple times," Genoways explained. ⚖️But some of these challenges seem to still be present in Jalisco today. Mexico remains characterized by limited state capacity, weak institutions, and high organized crime activity, ranking 121 out of 143 countries in the 2025 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. Jalisco is now the main base for one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, and in recent years gunmen have hijacked tequila shipments. 🛑Genoways said that in his visits to the town of Tequila he saw "it really is [now] the modern tequila industry that Jose Cuervo envisioned. But, unfortunately, it is also a world of corruption and of threats that I think Jose Cuervo would recognize as well." 🚓🚨The mayor of the town of Tequila was arrested alongside several other municipal officials, including the top local police official, in an investigation into alleged attempts to extort the town's billionaire tequila producers with the backing of the New Generation Jalisco Cartel.

🇲🇽🚨When people talk about the idea of "narco gobierno" in Mexico what do they mean? 🤝 "The thing that's so challenging for everyone in Mexico is that one threat is the government & the other threat is organized crime, the cartels. Very often they are one and the same, they work in unison," author Ted Genoways told me on a recent episode of the @ModernMexico Podcast. 📗He also explained how some of the political trends tequila makers dealt with a century ago are still very much present today. In his book TEQUILA WARS, he delves into the story of Jose Cuervo and the industry's early years during the late 1800s and early 1900s. 📈During the 21st century, Mexico's tequila industry experienced an unprecedented boom. Centered in the west coast state of Jalisco, it's still a big cash earner: tequila exports tallied to over $3.5 billion in 2025. I talked to Genoways about how the trends he researched from the industry's early days to compare with the on-the-ground reality today. 🤝Jose Cuervo and the other industrialists in Jalisco watched the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, which started in 1876, come to a chaotic end in 1911. During the Porfirian era, Mexico became defined by "a culture of graft. And that cronyism eventually produces such disparity in the culture and economy of Mexico that revolution really becomes inevitable," Genoways explained. 💰During the Porfiriato, as foreign money came in and exports grew, Mexico's economy expanded by over 2% per year on average. But by 1900, the top 10% most affluent families controlled over three-quarters of Mexico's wealth. It was crony capitalism. It was extractive. And, ultimately, it was fragile. ❌ "You can't have a system where there's this very small elite that enjoys unbelievable wealth, and then the people who produce that wealth live in abject poverty," Genoways added. ⚠️The Mexican Revolution, which lasted from 1910 through 1920, "was devastating to the [tequila] industry. The town of Tequila was raided by revolutionaries and it was cannonaded and burned multiple times," Genoways explained. ⚖️But some of these challenges seem to still be present in Jalisco today. Mexico remains characterized by limited state capacity, weak institutions, and high organized crime activity, ranking 121 out of 143 countries in the 2025 World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. Jalisco is now the main base for one of the most powerful cartels in Mexico, and in recent years gunmen have hijacked tequila shipments. 🛑Genoways said that in his visits to the town of Tequila he saw "it really is [now] the modern tequila industry that Jose Cuervo envisioned. But, unfortunately, it is also a world of corruption and of threats that I think Jose Cuervo would recognize as well." 🚓🚨The mayor of the town of Tequila was arrested alongside several other municipal officials, including the top local police official, in an investigation into alleged attempts to extort the town's billionaire tequila producers with the backing of the New Generation Jalisco Cartel.