¡Feliz Día de la Independencia, amigos! This week, urban food costs are rising, Mexican workers could get paid time off when a pet dies, GMO corn is causing more friction in U.S.-Mexico trade talks, and a brain-eating amoeba has turned up in Mérida.

Plus, what to know before packing your household goods for a move to Mexico, a refresher on some of your most-asked immigration questions, and the Spaniard who crossed the Atlantic to fight for Mexico’s freedom.

And in honor of El Grito tonight, we’re breaking down the words behind all those ¡Vivas! so you know exactly what you’re shouting along to. Wherever you’re celebrating tonight, amigos… ¡Viva México!

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Q: Which Mexico City skyscraper changed what engineers thought was possible? 

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.

🛒 The cost of the basic food basket increased 4.5% over the past year in Mexico’s cities, outpacing overall inflation.

🦠 A brain-eating amoeba was found in an artificial lake in Mérida after the infection killed a 34-year-old aquatic instructor. The lake is now closed.

✈️ Volaris to launch nonstop flights between Raleigh-Durham and Guadalajara starting Oct. 16.

🐾 A Morena lawmaker introduced a bill that would give Mexican workers three days of paid leave when their pet dies.

⚡ Mexico’s proposed 2027 budget slashes energy spending by 69%. 

🌽 GMO corn remains a sticking point in U.S.-Mexico trade talks as Mexico fights to protect its native corn varieties.

🛢️ Mexico deployed 255 troops to contain a Pemex oil leak about 85 kilometers off the coast of Campeche.

☕ Dr. Simi plans to expand Café Simi to around 20 coffee shops across Mexico by the end of 2026. 

🇪🇸 Spain’s University of Granada suspended student exchange programs with a university in Morelos after a 21-year-old Spanish exchange student was killed last weekend.

📦 Exports of Mexican unroasted coffee beans surged nearly 92% in 2025, with the U.S. buying most of it.

💰 New foreign investment in Querétaro jumped 2.5X in the first half of 2026, second only to Baja California Sur.

🏈 The NFL returns to Mexico City on Nov. 22 with the Vikings taking on the 49ers at Estadio Banorte. Ticket presales are happening now, with general sales opening Sept. 22.

If you’re getting ready to move to Mexico, you’re probably already sorting, donating, packing. Maybe you’re putting things into storage until you’re ready to move down.

But don’t tape up those boxes just yet.

Chuck Bolotin of Best Mexico Movers says this is a problem he sees all the time: people put their belongings into storage before realizing what they should have documented first.

For starters, you may need two inventories: one for Mexican customs and another for insurance. Labeling something “Box #12: Kitchen” isn’t going to cut it. For customs inventory, items such as TVs, computers, appliances and electronics may need to be listed separately with the make, model and serial number for customs clearance.

Depending on the insurance policy, higher-value items may need to be listed individually. Taking photos before they’re packed is also a smart idea.

That’s easy to do when everything is still in front of you. Not so easy when it’s packed in a box at the back of a storage unit.

Then there’s what goes inside those boxes.

The menaje de casa is the process by which the Mexican government allows us to import our used household items into Mexico. Every legitimate move uses the menaje de casa. 

Some everyday household items cannot be included on a Menaje de Casa, such as perfume, toothpaste, spices, and supplements. 

For insurance, how you pack and store your belongings can affect damage coverage later. Depending on the insurance and how the goods were originally handled, items may need to be unpacked and repacked before the move to obtain damage coverage.

There are a lot of moving parts, but it’s easy when you know what to do – and in what order – with help from an expert like Best Mexico Movers. Otherwise, you could end up digging through storage and doing it all over again.

See what to do before you pack, plus get Best Mexico Movers’ free Master Inventory template.

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Mexico’s fight for independence produced many unlikely heroes. One of them was a Spaniard.

In 1808, Napoleon’s army invaded Spain, and a young university student named Francisco Xavier Mina abandoned his studies to join the resistance.

He soon emerged as a skilled guerrilla leader. His fighters repeatedly ambushed French troops and disrupted their supply lines. 

His success made him a target. Captured and badly wounded, he spent four years imprisoned in France. 

There, Mina befriended French general Victor Fanneau de La Horie, an opponent of Napoleon, from whom he learned military tactics and French while his own liberal political convictions continued to develop.

When Mina returned home to Spain, Napoleon was defeated, and Fernando VII was back on the Spanish throne. He was offered command of Spanish troops heading to Mexico to fight the independence movement. But he refused. 

He’d become disillusioned with the king, who was undoing many of the freedoms and reforms he had fought to defend. To him, Mexicans were fighting for the same freedom he had fought for in Spain.

After a failed rebellion against the king, Mina fled to England. There, he connected with supporters of Mexican independence. His journey eventually took him to Haiti, where he met Simón Bolívar before continuing toward Mexico.

In April 1817, he landed in Mexico with just over 300 men. It was a critical moment. Hidalgo had been dead for years, Morelos had been executed in 1815, and Mexico’s independence movement had entered a desperate struggle for survival.

Soon after arriving, Mina issued a proclamation explaining why a Spaniard had crossed the Atlantic to fight alongside Mexican insurgents. “The cause of the Americans is just,” he declared, calling it “the cause of free men.” He argued that your homeland wasn’t simply the place where you were born, but the place that protected your rights.

Mina brought years of guerrilla experience with him. Alongside Mexican insurgents, he won a string of early victories.

The campaign put royalist forces under pressure and gave the independence struggle a much-needed boost. But it didn’t last. After a failed attack on Guanajuato, Mina was captured at Rancho del Venadito.

On November 11, 1817, he was executed by firing squad — shot in the back as a traitor.

Mina’s entire campaign in Mexico lasted less than seven months. But six years after the Spanish Crown executed him as a traitor, independent Mexico honored him alongside Hidalgo, Morelos, Allende and other heroes of the independence movement.

Today, his remains rest alongside other heroes beneath Mexico City’s Independence Column.

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Festival Carne y Vino 2026 – September 19–20, Nogalera San Bernardo, Chihuahua
Chefs from Chihuahua and beyond fire up the grills at this outdoor festival. Live cooking and a dramatic Open Fire show bring plenty of action. Regional wines feature in tastings throughout the day. As evening falls, live music keeps the crowd lingering outdoors. More info here.

Feria San Francisco Pachuca 2026 – September 24–October 18, Pachuca, Hidalgo
More than 130 artisans and food producers from across Hidalgo will gather at this 25-day fair. On show will be many of the region's craft traditions, including textiles, ceramics, woodwork, and metalwork. General admission includes concerts and cultural events. More info here.

Feria Xcaret de Arte Popular Mexicano 2026: September 24–27, Riviera Maya, Quintana Roo
Master artisans from across Mexico will be showing their work. Eighteen craft traditions are represented, from textiles and ceramics to Wixárika art. Watch artisans at work during live demonstrations. There are also artisan fashion shows, talks, and a competition. More info here.

Festival CulturaUNAM 2026 – September 25–October 11, Mexico City
A packed arts program takes over UNAM venues with theater, dance, opera, film and live music. International highlights include John Malkovich, Camerata Salzburg and productions from the Comédie-Française. Expect everything from contemporary performance to experimental works, alongside major Mexican talent. More info here.

Circuito Cervantino 2026 – September 26–October 28, Multiple Cities Across Mexico
Think of it as the Festival Cervantino on tour. One of Mexico’s biggest cultural festivals is going beyond Guanajuato to 32 cities in 16 states around the country.. Expect everything from live music and opera to contemporary dance, cabaret, film, and experimental work. It’s a chance to catch Cervantino far beyond its famous home base. More info here.

Tonight, plazas across Mexico will come alive for El Grito. You already know when to shout ¡Viva! — but do you know exactly what’s being said?

The names and phrases can change depending on who is giving the Grito, but before the celebration begins, here’s a look at the words behind all those ¡Vivas!

A: The Torre Latinoamericana.

When plans for the Torre Latinoamericana took shape in the late 1940s, engineers faced a serious problem: how do you build a skyscraper in an earthquake-prone city that is also sinking into the soft clay of an ancient lakebed?

Their solution was ambitious. Beneath the tower, they drove 361 concrete piles down about 33 meters to a hard layer of sand and built a foundation system that helps the tower move with seismic forces rather than rigidly resist them. Above it, they used a flexible steel frame designed to withstand the sideways forces of an earthquake.

The 44-story tower opened in 1956, becoming the first skyscraper successfully built in a highly seismic zone. 

A year later, that engineering was put to the test.

On July 28, 1957, a powerful earthquake damaged roughly 1,000 buildings in Mexico City and sent the seven-ton Ángel de la Independencia crashing from its column. The Torre remained standing.

Then came September 19, 1985. Buildings across the capital collapsed, but the Torre survived again. It also withstood the deadly September 19, 2017 earthquake, cementing its reputation as an international example of seismic engineering.

Seventy years after it opened, the Torre Latinoamericana still rises above the Centro Histórico. It wasn’t simply designed to reach for the sky. It was designed for the ground beneath it.

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