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A staff writer for The Atlantic, Kevin Sieff, happened to be eating sushi with a police chief near the Culiacán KFC joint where influencer César Gastélum was shot dead last week, leading to an in-depth report about how cartel violence has seeped into the layers of Sinaloa society and how US pressure has worsened deadly divisions.

Sieff notes that “the cartel presence [in Culiacán] has never been subtle”, and writes of the despair of residents. He interviewed the mother of a young man who was kidnapped with a friend last year and hasn’t been heard from since, describing the lethargic reaction from Mexican authorities and her attempts to leverage her son’s US citizenship (so far, to no avail). Of Governor Rubén Rocha Moya, she lamented: “All I could think was that I had begged that man for help...But of course, he did nothing. He had been working for the cartel the whole time.”

The cultural impact and precarious existence of Mexicans living north of the border drew focus in the foreign press this week. The New Yorker reported in detail on the deadly 7 July ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston and the outrage it sparked on both sides of the border, quoting analyst Carlos Bravo Regidor on the Mexican government’s response: “This is one of the few moments when Mexico is the one raising the stakes.”

Food reporters from The New York Times embarked on a cross-country journey exploring Mexican restaurants in the USA, noting the explosion in popularity of regional Mexican cuisine (”a dynamic cuisine all its own and as American as any food”) not just in big cities but in places like Oklahoma and Idaho; all this, while Mexican Americans live under the shadow of Trump’s deportation crackdown.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Mexico’s proposal that the US only tax the value of automobile components sourced from outside North America (letting Mexican and Canadian parts qualify duty-free) as a counter to Washington’s push for higher US-content requirements in the ongoing trade tug of war. Colombia’s rejection of a Mexican offer to assist with earthquake rescue efforts was covered by Bloomberg; acceptance of assistance from the US, Israel, Ecuador and El Salvador has raised questions about the ideological motivations of the freshly installed right-wing government of Abelardo de la Espriella.

This week, The Mexico Political Economist examined how three Mexican states (CDMX, Tamaulipas and Yucatán) are utilising different strategies to attract more investment and boost local industry. In CrashOut, Ioan Grillo published part one of a biographical sketch of one of Los Chapitos, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán, and his rise to power. In Mexico Decoded, Luis Manuel León wrote about the vast, threatened “invisible forest” that supplies most of Mexico City’s water via 11 (overexploited) aquifers, which also supply other urban areas including Cuernavaca and Toluca. And Miranda Intelligence’s daily Substack covered key developments in energy, fintech, public affairs and politics in Mexico.

CrashOut Media – “El Chapito” - Iván Archivaldo Fights On
MXPE – Mexico’s next top investment hubs
Mexico Decoded – The Invisible Forest That Keeps Mexico City Alive
Miranda Intelligence daily reports on Substack

The owners Carnitas Ramirez in the East Village, from left: Kari Boden, Yvon de Tassigny, Giovanni Cervantes and Tania Apolinar. Credit...Cole Saladino for The New York Times

What I Saw In Sinaloa

13/08/2026, The Atlantic, Kevin Sieff

Who Killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo?

13/08/2026, The New Yorker, Stephanie Taladrid

The Golden Age of Mexican Food Is Here. And It’s Complicated.

13/08/2026, NYT, Bill Esparza and Brett Anderson

41 of the Greatest Mexican Restaurants Across the United States

13/08/2026, NYT, Bill Esparza and Brett Anderson

Colombia Rejects Quake Aid From Mexico as Toll Passes 270

13/08/2026, Bloomberg, Alex Vasquez and Oscar Medina

Taylor Farms outbreaks show limits of US ability to safeguard produce from Mexico

13/08/2026, Reuters, Cassandra Garrison