Author: Carlos Rosado van der Gracht

Across Mexico, homes and businesses have been plunged into darkness with alarming frequency in recent weeks. 

A wave of blackouts, power outtages and voltage fluctuations has affected at least 20 states, leaving residents without power for hours during some of the hottest months of the year. The outages have disrupted daily life, damaged appliances, spoiled food, and forced businesses to halt operations, resulting in millions of pesos in losses. 

While the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has insisted there is no national crisis, the evidence on the ground tells a different story: Mexico’s electrical system is struggling to keep up, and the root of the problem lies not in a lack of power plants but in a transmission and distribution network that has been neglected for decades.

Widespread Power Outages Across Multiple Regions

The blackouts have been felt in nearly every corner of the country. One of the regions hardest hit includes the states of Morelos, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Querétaro, and San Luis Potosí. The northern states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, and Coahuila have also experienced significant disruptions. 

In Monterrey, authorities have attributed the outages to the advanced age of transformers. In Matamoros, residents have taken to the streets to protest the widespread blackouts, and the mayor has publicly demanded that CFE provide a solution. Other affected cities include Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo.

The situation is equally dire in the southeast. In Tabasco, where temperatures regularly exceed 35 degrees Celsius, users have staged demonstrations over power suspensions. An incident at the Dos Bocas Refinery, which experienced a fire caused by a power outage, underscored the cascading effects of these failures. 

The Yucatán Peninsula, including Quintana Roo, Campeche, and Yucatán itself, has also seen widespread failures. The director of Yucatán’s Energy Agency has pointed to disorderly urban growth and excessive demand as key pressures on the network. In Baja California Sur, residents of La Paz and Los Cabos have faced daily interruptions, with experts linking the outages directly to a deficient distribution network that has not received sufficient maintenance.

Power a Problem of Distribution, Not Just Generation

CFE has publicly rejected the idea that Mexico is facing a generalized electrical crisis. In a statement, the company argued that the interruptions are localized, with causes, scopes, and durations that vary by region. According to CFE, the primary triggers include extreme weather events such as storms, lightning, high winds, and high temperatures; contact with animals or vegetation; damage caused by third parties; and equipment in need of maintenance or replacement.

But this official explanation does not fully account for the persistence of the problem. Experts and analysts have pointed to a more fundamental issue: while CFE has focused on expanding generation capacity, it has neglected the infrastructure that actually delivers electricity to consumers. 

The Center for Renewable Energies and Environmental Quality, known as CERCA, has been particularly vocal on this point. According to the organization, the blackouts are not occurring because demand exceeds production, as was the case in previous years. Instead, the problem is that the distribution network, which includes substations and transformers, has not received adequate maintenance to operate efficiently. “Despite the investment in generation, we have the same problem: a lack of infrastructure throughout the electrical network,” the organization stated.

Aging Infrastructure and Decades of Neglect

The condition of Mexico’s electrical grid is the result of years of underinvestment. In 2025, CFE’s physical investment fell by 24% in real terms compared to the previous year. The decline in investment in power plants during the previous administration has also been cited as a factor contributing to current failures. 

But the more pressing issue is the age of the distribution equipment. Much of the network relies on transformers and other components that are decades old and have been subjected to repeated repairs rather than full replacement. In some cases, the state of the infrastructure has become so degraded that maintenance crews have resorted to makeshift solutions, with modules held together by little more than tape to keep the system operational.

This patchwork approach has left the grid vulnerable to even minor disruptions. When a transformer fails, it can knock out power to an entire neighborhood or city block, and because the equipment is often obsolete, replacements are not readily available. The result is a cycle of breakdowns and temporary fixes that do nothing to address the system’s underlying deterioration.

Economic and Social Consequences

The impact of power outages extends far beyond inconvenience. For households, the loss of power means spoiled food, damaged electronics, and an inability to cope with extreme heat. For small businesses, the interruptions can be catastrophic. Restaurants lose inventory, shops cannot process payments, and manufacturers are forced to halt production lines. In a country where many workers are paid by the day, a power outage can mean a lost day of wages.

The problem has also begun to affect larger economic ambitions. Analysts have warned that the energy crisis is slowing investment in nearshoring and the expansion of data centers, both of which require reliable and abundant electricity. Without a stable grid, Mexico risks losing out on opportunities that could drive growth and employment.

A Long Road to Resolution

CFE has announced plans to modernize the grid, proposing to build 6,000 kilometers of new transmission lines over five years, representing more than 50% of the current infrastructure. The government has also pledged to spend more than $8 billion to upgrade the network. But these projects will take years to complete, and in the meantime, the existing grid continues to deteriorate.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that the problems are not uniform across the country. Each region faces its own combination of challenges, from extreme weather to outdated equipment to rapid urban growth. This means that a one-size-fits-all solution is unlikely to work, and addressing the crisis will require sustained investment and coordination at both the federal and local levels.

For now, Mexicans in affected areas are left to endure the uncertainty of an electrical system that has become increasingly unreliable. The blackouts of 2026 are not a temporary phenomenon. They are the predictable result of years of neglect, a grid held together by patchwork repairs, and a system that has prioritized generation over distribution. Until that imbalance is corrected, the lights will keep going out.

Mexico’s Human Rights Commission released a new recommendation on the Ayotzinapa case, which has fundamentally altered the trajectory of one of Mexico’s most enduring human rights crises.

Nearly 22 years after the disappearance of 43 students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos rural teachers’ college, today’s CNDH report has absolved the Mexican armed forces of direct responsibility, directly contradicting the findings of international experts and sparking outrage among the victims’ families and human rights organizations.

Ayotzinapa and The Night of Sept. 26, 2014

The events of Sept. 26 and 27, 2014, in Iguala, Guerrero, have become a symbol of state violence and impunity in Mexico. 

On that night, students from the Ayotzinapa rural teachers’ college commandeered buses to travel to Mexico City for an annual protest commemorating the 1968 student massacre. 

Local police, allegedly in collusion with the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel, opened fire on the students. Six people were killed, including three students, and 43 young men were taken into custody by police officers and never seen again.

The official investigation into the events of Ayotzinapa, led by the then Attorney General’s Office, produced what became known as the “historical truth.” This version claimed that the students had been murdered and their bodies incinerated at a garbage dump in Cocula. 

This narrative surrounding Ayotzinapa was widely discredited by international experts and human rights organizations. The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), established by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to assist in the investigation, repeatedly challenged the official account and documented grave irregularities in the government’s handling of the case.

The 2026 CNDH Recommendation

The CNDH’s new recommendation regarding the Ayotrzinapa case represents a significant departure from previous findings. The document, which runs for more than 800 pages, acknowledges grave human rights violations against 92 students, an increase from the 83 documented in the commission’s 2018 recommendation. 

It identifies 40 cases of forced disappearance, six extrajudicial executions, and numerous instances of torture, arbitrary detention, and cruel treatment. 

However, the most contentious aspect of the new recommendation is its treatment of the Mexican armed forces. Unlike the 2018 recommendation, the 2026 document explicitly excludes the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) and the Secretariat of the Navy (Semar) from responsibility. 

The CNDH concluded that while military personnel were present on the streets of Iguala on the nights of September 26 and 27, “there was no participation of Defense elements in any of the violent events against the students, much less the existence of a ‘counterinsurgency’ plan or a general strategy against the normalistas.”

At most, the commission acknowledged acts of omission by individual soldiers, with 20 military personnel currently facing criminal proceedings for organized crime and forced disappearance.

Rejection of the Ayotzinapa Findings

The CNDH’s recommendation has been met with widespread condemnation. 

The families of the 43 disappeared students have long insisted that the military was involved in the disappearances and have demanded access to military archives. 

For them, the commission’s exoneration of the armed forces represents a profound betrayal. The commission’s rejection of the GIEI’s findings, which the families had come to trust as an independent and credible source of investigation, has been particularly devastating.

Human rights organizations have also expressed alarm. The recommendation effectively dismantles the narrative that the Mexican state, through its security forces, was complicit in the disappearances. 

Critics argue that the commission has not only failed to advance the cause of justice but has actively undermined it by validating the military’s version of events. The fact that the CNDH, a state institution, has chosen to absolve the armed forces while criticizing international experts has raised serious questions about the commission’s investigation’s independence and integrity.

The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X, known as the SSPX, is a traditionalist Catholic society that has operated on the margins of the Roman Catholic Church for decades. 

In July 2026, the Vatican formally declared the group to be in a state of schism. This decision has created a definitive rupture with profound consequences for the society’s clergy and its estimated half-million followers worldwide. 

The declaration affects SSPX missions in numerous countries, including Mexico, where the group holds regular services in cities such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Mérida, and Cancún.

Origins of the SSPX Traditionalist Society

The SSPX was founded in 1970 in Écône, Switzerland, by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. The French archbishop strongly opposed the reforms introduced by the Second Vatican Council, which took place from 1962 to 1965. 

The Council modernized the Church by allowing Mass in local languages rather than Latin and by promoting ecumenical dialogue. Archbishop Lefebvre and his followers viewed these changes as a rupture with Catholic tradition and a threat to doctrinal purity.

The conflict escalated in 1988 when Lefebvre consecrated four bishops without the permission of Pope John Paul II. This act resulted in the automatic excommunication of Lefebvre and the new bishops. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI lifted these excommunications to encourage reconciliation. 

Despite that gesture, the SSPX continued to exist in a state of canonical irregularity, remaining outside the Church’s formal structure while often being tolerated.

The Events of July 2026

The fragile relationship between the SSPX and the Vatican collapsed on July 1, 2026. On that day, the society conducted a consecration ceremony for four new bishops in Écône. The bishops were Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier. 

This act was carried out without the mandate of Pope Leo XIV, who had personally appealed to the society’s leadership to abandon the plan. The SSPX justified the consecrations as a sacred duty.

The Vatican responded immediately. On July 2, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a formal decree. The decree declared that the SSPX had committed a schismatic act. The society was now considered to be in formal schism, meaning a deliberate rupture with the authority of the pope and communion with the wider Catholic Church—the bishops who performed the consecrations and those who were consecrated incurred automatic excommunication.

What Schism Means for the Faithful

In a significant move, the Vatican decree extended penalties to lay followers. It declared that any Catholic who formally adheres to the SSPX is also to be considered schismatic and excommunicated. 

The Dicastery clarified that this applies to those who habitually participate in SSPX celebrations and formally share its doctrinal positions. The sacraments administered by SSPX ministers, particularly marriage and penance, were declared invalid.

The Vatican urged all faithful to remain in communion with the pope and local bishops. Catholics were instructed to abstain from participating in SSPX activities. In canon law, schism is defined as the refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff. Excommunication is one of the severest penalties, excluding a person from the life of the Church. 

Global Reach and Presence in Mexico and Yucatán

The SSPX has a substantial global presence. It operates with approximately 733 priests, 250 religious sisters, 145 religious brothers, and 264 seminarians. The congregation comprises more than 1,500 consecrated members and claims about 500,000 faithful across more than 60 countries. The society’s main strongholds are in the United States and France.

In Mexico, the SSPX conducts missions in several locations. In Mérida, Yucatán, the society holds monthly religious celebrations. These typically occur on the weekend of the fourth Sunday of the month. The gatherings are held in private homes in the north or the center of the city. 

They have also taken place in local hotels. So far this year, congregations have met in properties in the Nuevo Yucatán neighborhood and at the Hotel Nacional in the city center.

Priests from the SSPX usually visit Mérida for two to three days. Their stays generally run from Friday to Sunday or Sunday to Monday. 

The society also has a presence in Cancún, where it meets in private venues. Upcoming activities are scheduled for August 1 and 2 at a house in the Rinconada de Gran Santa Fe subdivision and at a party hall.