On today’s episode of the podcast we talk about Mexican cycling phenomenon Isaac Del Toro, an athlete who captured the world’s attention with his achievements in 2025.

We also look at how sports have helped shape and develop Modern Mexico’s identify, and how Mexico’s social and political context have impacted the country’s athletes.

Within the world of sports, Isaac Del Toro is Mexico’s top star right now.

Host Nathaniel Parish Flannery talks about how he traveled to Italy to watch Del Toro compete at the Giro d’Italia, Italy’s biggest cycling race, and wrote about Del Toro for the British magazine ROULEUR.

Historian David Wysocki talks about his research on the history of sports in Mexico.

They also discuss the culture vs institutions debate.

Wysocki's paper "Exercising the Cosmic Race: Mexican

Sporting Culture and Mestizo Citizens" is available for free here: https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/625658/azu_etd_15795_sip1_m.pdf

On this episode of THE MODERN MEXICO PODCAST, host Nathaniel Parish Flannery speaks to BLOOMBERG journalist Maya Averbuch about the problem of cargo truck hijacking in Mexico.

Mexico is now considered to be the world's worst hotspot for cargo truck hijacking with over 100,000 violent in-transit robberies occurring over the last five years. These incidents have resulted in billions of dollars of losses over the last decade. Companies including GM, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and Philip Morris have all been affected.

Cargo truck hijacking has become a major problem in Mexico.

During President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration, Mexico has a unique opportunity to encourage foreign investment in manufacturing.

Many cities in Mexico are experiencing a boom in new industrial investment. But, foreign executives managing new facilities and operations in Mexico are discovering that Mexico presents some unique challenges when it comes to dealing with organized crime.

According to the Global Organized Crime Index, Mexico is ranked as the world’s third worst country in terms of organized crime.

For the last 20 years the generally accepted explanation has been that organized crime in Mexico typically tries to avoid messing with foreign manufacturing companies.

For the most part, criminal groups have largely avoided kidnapping foreign executives or trying to extort companies operating factories.

But, there is one type of crime that does directly impact foreign companies: cargo truck hijacking.

Many remote stretches of highway in Mexico have become major hotspots for violent cargo robberies.

On this episode of THE MODERN MEXICO PODCAST host Nathaniel Parish Flannery talks to agave spirits expert and author David Suro about Mexico’s booming mezcal and tequila industry.

Mezcal is an absolutely fascinating product. It connects some of the most isolated, rural, mountain communities in southern Mexico with consumers in the most sophisticated urban bars and restaurants in the world.

There are some parallels with single origin organic coffee in that respect but within the world of spirits, mezcal is pretty unique.

Whereas some premium spirits such as high end vodka have garnered attention largely through successful marketing mezcal is a product with an incredibly complex history and flavor profile.

It’s unique aromas and taste are derived from the flavors of the wild agaves that used to make it, from the soil, and from the wood used to roast the agaves in underground ovens.

Most mezcal is still made using traditional processes including crushing the agave with a horse-driven stone wheel called a tahona and letting it ferment in wooden barrels.

Many stills continue to be heated with firewood rather than modern technology.

And, the end result is an incredibly unique product that absolutely deserves to be considered as one of the most complex and sophisticated drinks on the planet.

Tequila, on the other hand, has modernized and mechanized and is now produced on an industrial scale in the state of Jalisco.

Mexico’s exports of mezcal and tequila have surged over the last ten years and both industries are now going through some growing pains.

When it comes to mezcal 93% or around 19 out of every 20 bottles is made by small craft distillers.

The production totals of mezcal are absolutely tiny in comparison to tequila.

Total, mezcal production in Mexico tallies up to about 2% of the annual output of tequila.

For every bottle of mezcal that Mexico makes, the country produces 49 bottles of tequila.

Mezcal and tequila production techniques are different but both industries face serious constraints such as problems securing a stable supply of agave.

Despite the industry's immense profitability many workers in Jalisco and Oaxaca are still underpaid.

Check out the full conversation to hear David Suro, one of the co-authors of a new book called AGAVE SPIRITS: THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF MEZCALS, share his perspective.

"Agave is not like grain or sugarcane or grapes where we every year we have new crops. In the case of mezcal a lot of the species of agave, they are plants that need 15, 20, 35 years to develop. But, the growth of [agave cultivation] in Oaxaca is not at the same pace of demand. So, we are now seeing a lot of species, especially wild species of agave used to produce mezcal, in danger of extinction. Rapid growth [caused] challenges we’ve never seen before," Suro explains.

Mexico’s tortilla industry is under threat from organized crime. In the state of Morelos, just outside Mexico City, tortilla-makers are complaining about local organized crime groups threatening and extorting them.

More broadly, politicians and police are struggling to deal with a splintering roster of organized crime groups that are diversifying away from drug trafficking into a variety of new rackets including extorting local business owners, hijacking cargo trucks, and stealing lumber.

One of the biggest challenges Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum will face is whether or not she can improve security and reduce violent crime in places such as Morelos.

On this episode of the podcast, host Nathaniel Parish Flannery speaks to Washington Post journalist Mary Beth Sheridan about her article about how organized crime groups are targeting tortilla makers in Morelos.

On this episode of the podcast, host Nathaniel Parish Flannery speaks to Will Freeman, a Latin America expert from the Council on Foreign Relations.

Freeman says he would give President Claudia Sheinbaum's security plan a "C" or "D."

He explains that he thinks Sheinbaum's policies are an improvement over the strategies implemented by former presidents Enrique Peña Nieto and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

He also talks about his recent trip to the state of Tabasco, his assessment of Donald Trump's statements about corruption and organized crime in Mexico, and gives a suggestion for how President Sheinbaum can tackle the problem of "narco politics" in Mexico.

An intelligent and in-depth discussion of Trump's 2025 tariff threats and what they mean for Mexico's economy.

On this episode of the podcast, host Nathaniel Parish Flannery speaks to Diego Marroquin Bitar, a North America researcher at the Wilson Center, a Washington DC-based think tank.

Diego says that Trump's 25% tariffs, implemented on March 4, 2025, represent a "red light" level of risk for foreign investors considering making investments in Mexico.

He also explains why Mexico's economy is so vulnerable to Trump's bullying.

Exports account for over a third of Mexico’s GDP and over 80 percent of Mexico’s exports go to the US. On the other hand, US exports of goods to Mexico account for only about 1% of the US’s GDP.

Although both countries benefit from cross-border commerce, the relationship is more important to Mexico than it is to the U.S.

But, Diego also gives Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum an "A" for her effort in dealing with Trump so far.

To many observers it still seems like it’s still unclear if Mexico can really make a deal with Trump.

Are the tariffs just a tactic for bullying Mexico during broader negotiations? Or are we starting an improvised experiment with radically shaking up the global trade system?

“Trump 1.0 used tariffs as a bargaining chip. I think right now more than just a concession extraction tool tariffs are being used to undermine Mexico’s nearshoring potential. I think this is something [Trump and his team] are doing on purpose. They are making manufacturing in Mexico less attractive vis-à-vis the U.S.,” Diego said.

Even before the new tariffs went into effect Mexico’s economy was only expected to grow by around 1 percent.

Executives at foreign companies are going to have to figure out how serious Trump really is about using tariffs as a long-term economic strategy.

In the short-term, this new environment of unprecedented levels of uncertainty in the global economy will hurt investment in Mexico.

On this episode of THE MODERN MEXICO PODCAST, host Nathaniel Parish Flannery speaks to historian Benjamin Smith (author of the book THE DOPE: THE REAL HISTORY OF THE MEXICAN DRUG TRADE) about the impact of the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada.

“El Mayo has had a very long history of almost five decades in the drug business. He started in the 1970s. He became a major exporter of cocaine. However, over the last decade or so El Mayo’s importance has... been as a key mediator between the Sinaloa Cartel and the federal and state government. He’s more of a political figure now. This is partly why people are worried about what’s going to happen in Sinaloa," Smith explains.

Smith says he gives Mexico's President Lopez Obrador a bad grade for his security policies.

"AMLO’s public attitude towards drug violence has been pretty depressing. He seems to delight in insulting civil society NGOs. He seems to denigrate victims. He excuses the military while at the same time talking very politely about narcos. He also appears to have made absolutely no effort whatsoever to improve the completely awful state of the judicial system," he says.

On this episode of the MODERN MEXICO PODCAST, host Nathaniel Parish Flannery speaks to journalist Ioan Grillo about the evolving dynamics of organized crime in Chiapas, Mexico.

Recent events in Chiapas raise questions about what the government can do as powerful organized crime groups move into the state and local criminals adopt increasingly violent tactics.

Over 98% of the murders recorded in Chiapas go unsolved.

Grillo describes the current dynamic in Chiapas as "oppressive," "fractured," and "worsening."

Chiapas has for centuries been a state where the federal government in Mexico City has struggled to exert control. Over the last thirty years many small towns controlled by the Zapatista rebel army have established their own autonomous fiefdoms.

So this dynamic of weak federal government capacity and the existence of local strongmen has existed for a long time in Chiapas.

But, in the last few years this nexus or synergy between local political bosses and organized crime groups seems to have become even more pervasive.

Overall, Grillo gives Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador a "D" for his security policies.

Parish Flannery says, "Right now in Chiapas the police are only managing to solve around one in every hundred murders in the state. Social programs and soldiers are not a sufficient strategy for tackling violence. It just seems like it’s going to be impossible to improve the security dynamic in Mexico unless the new president takes the initiative to make a massive, multi-billion investment in improving the capacity of Mexico’s police and prosecutors."

On this episode of the podcast, host Nathaniel Parish Flannery talks to Katherine Corcoran, the former Associated Press Bureau Chief for Mexico, and the author of a fantastic new book called IN THE MOUTH OF THE WOLF: A MURDER, A COVER-UP, AND THE TRUE COST OF SILENCING THE PRESS.

Corcoran’s engaging book delves into investigating the murder of Regina Martinez, a high-profile journalist who covered the topic of political corruption in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz, Mexico.

Over the last 12 years, Veracruz stands out as BY FAR the most dangerous state in Mexico for journalists.

The dynamics covered in IN THE MOUTH OF THE WOLF help explain the broader risks that critical journalists face when writing about organized crime and political corruption in Mexico.

"In the case of Veracruz, they operated under the system where the governor was the strongman who negotiated with the cartels and organized crime. That’s what was going on under Javier Duarte. They all made huge amounts of money in this criminal government either by stealing public funds or collaborating with drug cartels. That’s what created this atmosphere of fear and intimidation, and uncertainty. Because the authorities were the perpetrators. You couldn’t go to the police. They wanted to keep you silent," Corcoran says.

"The whole strategy of the president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has been to be very hands-off with the cartels. He is very much against confronting organized crime directly. What has happened is that these collaborations between the political system and organized crime have increased. Corruption has increased. That is why it continues to be so dangerous to be a reporter in Mexico," she adds.

In total, according to Article 19, 43 journalists were killed in Mexico during Lopez Obrador’s time in office (through the end of 2023). Another journalist was kidnapped and killed a few days before this podcast was recorded.

The 2023 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index ranks Mexico in 128th place, among the world’s worst countries in terms of press freedom.

In 2022, Reporters Without Borders ranked Mexico as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists.

Nathaniel asks Katherine Corcoran what grade she would give President Lopez Obrador for his rhetoric towards the media in Mexico.

"I would give him a ‘D.’ He has used his daily press briefing to attack the press and say that any critical press of his administration is orchestrated by his enemies, by the United States. He doesn’t look at the press as any kind of component of a democracy where you have an independent watchdog that is keeping an eye on the government. To him, he doesn’t want a watchdog. He knows best. He is going to fix everything. He doesn’t need any critics. He has created a very hostile environment for reporters. His rhetoric is very dangerous. He is basically giving license to anybody who wants to attack the press," she says.

On this episode of THE MODERN MEXICO PODCAST host Nathaniel Parish Flannery talks to Noah Hurowitz, author of the book EL CHAPO: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE WORLD'S MOST INFAMOUS DRUG LORD.

"El Chapo could operate without any true fear of being captured. This undercuts the way El Chapo is seen in popular media. He [is] often likened to outlaw figures [such as] Robin Hood. But, I don’t know how accurate that is because the role of someone like El Chapo was not some cops and robbers dynamic. The drug trade and the modern Mexican state developed together and intertwined with one another. Drug traffickers [historically] had strong links with local political bosses who ensured a level of stability," Hurowitz says.

Parish Flannery mentions recent trends in carjacking, homicides, and cargo truck hijacking in Sinaloa and also talks about his recent visit to Sinaloa to participate in an amateur cycling race between Culiacan and Badiraguato, two of El Chapo's former home bases.

"I recently visited the most exclusive cemetery in Culiacan– the Jardines del Humaya. Something that really stands out is that BOTH powerful narcos and local elite business owners are buried there. The families have built these incredibly ornate shrines which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some have Roman columns and look like mini Ivy League university buildings. Others are hyper modern and made from glass and steel. When you are inside the cemetery you may see well-dressed, wealthy locals visiting the graves of deceased family members. You really can’t tell who is a narco and who is an empresario," Parish Flannery says.

Regarding recent allegations from ProPublica and The New York Times that people working with Mexico's President Lopez Obrador accepted drug money from the Sinaloa Cartel, Hurowitz says:

"I think it’s absolutely credible. I find it very believable that members of AMLO’s party potentially received bribes from El Chapo and Los Chapitos and other organized crime networks. Bribery is endemic in Mexico and it would not surprise me if members of government even at the highest level are on the take. [Lopez Obrador] has insisted that fentanyl is not being produced in Sinaloa which is absurd. I’ve seen it myself. I’ve been to a drug lab in Sinaloa where fentanyl was being manufactured."

Asked for one word to describe El Chapo's lasting legacy in Sinaloa, Hurowitz picks "nostalgia."

"The period [when El Chapo] held power in Sinaloa was one of economic development. Communities in the mountains have been suffering. The illegal market for marijuana has collapsed. There is a lot of joblessness in the mountains. Many people I spoke to [had] a certain nostalgia about El Chapo as this old school guy from the mountains who treated people right," he says.