Bart van Zwieten

The Lady with the Jaguar Helmet is a renowned Zapotec ceramic effigy urn from Monte Albán, Oaxaca, dating 200–600 CE. It depicts an elite woman wearing a richly decorated quexquémetl (traditional dress) and a jaguar helmet, signifying high status, power and ritual connection to the feline deity.

How do you say “tortilla” in the indigenous languages of Oaxaca.

'Gringo go home': Mexico’s growing tourism backlash – video The Guardian visits Oaxaca, a state synonymous with indigenous culture, where tourism has grown 77% since the pandemic

Tourism in Mexico is at an all-time high. In Oaxaca it has grown 77% and private family rituals like Day of the Dead are now big parties. But there is a growing backlash, as local people struggle with a cost of living crisis that is exacerbated by tourism growth. www.theguardian.com/world/video/...

The Lady with the Jaguar Helmet is a renowned Zapotec ceramic effigy urn from Monte Albán, Oaxaca, dating 200–600 CE. It depicts an elite woman wearing a richly decorated quexquémetl (traditional dress) and a jaguar helmet, signifying high status, power and ritual connection to the feline deity.

How do you say “tortilla” in the indigenous languages of Oaxaca.

'Gringo go home': Mexico’s growing tourism backlash – video The Guardian visits Oaxaca, a state synonymous with indigenous culture, where tourism has grown 77% since the pandemic

Tourism in Mexico is at an all-time high. In Oaxaca it has grown 77% and private family rituals like Day of the Dead are now big parties. But there is a growing backlash, as local people struggle with a cost of living crisis that is exacerbated by tourism growth. www.theguardian.com/world/video/...

On Sunday the weekly Tlacolula de Matamoros market brings people from all over Oaxaca to buy and sell. Buy some nice meat and other taco ingredients, fry these in the ‘smoke corridor’ and eat. Delicious, lovely and colorful.

Dancing dogs, Tumba de Tiros, Colima, 200–900 CE. A natural form of recognition, play, or dance among Xoloitzcuintli or the extinct Tlachichi dogs. It interprets the natural duality of the old dog, characterized by its wrinkled skin, and the young dog, suggesting the wise counsel of experience.

Map of Mexico's longest highways. The famous Panamerican Highway, running from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego in Argentina, is a combination of highways 85 and 190 for the Mexican stretch of this “longest highway in the world”. This highway runs only three blocks from my frontdoor in Oaxaca de Juarez!

President Sheinbaum said that Mexican companies have proposed US$100 billion in investments, a vote of confidence in the Mexican economy despite global volatility. The government announced a US$22.5 billion highway plan through 2030 to improve 4,937 km of roads and build or upgrade 21 bridges.

‘An ideological guest list’: Trump invites Latin America’s rightwing leaders to Florida summit Omission of presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, however, exposes failure of US president’s ‘theatrical’ doctrine, say experts

Trump invites Latin America’s ideological rightwing leaders to Florida summit on the Shield of the Americas “to promote freedom, security and prosperity in our region”. The omission of presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia exposes failure of Trump’s theatrics. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Correct. Lula heeft echter de invasie wel veroordeeld en inderdaad de VS en Europa bekritiseerd omdat ze de oorlog zouden "aanmoedigen".

Lula veroordeelt de Russische invasie van Oekraïne en steunt de territoriale integriteit. Hij handhaaft echter een neutrale positie en weigert wapens naar Oekraïne te sturen of zich aan te sluiten bij de westerse sancties. Lula pleit voor een vredesclub van neutrale landen om te onderhandelen.

President Lula of Brazil: “My message to the US, Israel and Iran is simple: the world is tired of your conflicts. Diplomacy is not a sign of weakness; it is the highest expression of human intelligence. Those who die are not the ones signing the attack orders; those who die are the innocents.”

Dismay as Hegseth urges Latin American allies to join ‘offense’ against cartels Critics sceptical Pentagon chief’s plan for increased military force – amid rising US intervention – will stop drug gangs

The exclusively military approach to combat drug trafficking is a very absurd simplification: dismay as US secretary of defense Hegseth urges Latin American allies to join ‘offense’ against cartels. If the fight is not multi-dimensional, it will be fruitless. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The laminated solar disc is a Mixtec artifact from the 1250–1521 CE, found in Tomb 2 at Zaachila, Oaxaca. It is a delicate, small, gold-laminated ornament. The disc represents the sun with four primary rays (or cardinal points) and features concentric circles of varying sizes as decorative elements.

Mexican Economy Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the first round of bilateral discussions in preparation for the Joint Review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the trilateral free-trade agreement. Negotiation will start mid-March.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense says that Latin America is in danger of losing its “Western and Christian” values due to mass migration. Pete Hegseth urges Latin American countries to make more efforts in combating the cartels.

This is the front, normally the side that shows the main symbolic face and chest ornaments—especially the skull necklace, hands, and heart motifs associated with sacrifice and rebirth. The front emphasizes death and regeneration symbols. The elements represent earth consuming and regenerating life.

Under the radar, the US is eyeing expanding military interventionism throughout the Americas. The Americas Shield Force looks like a replacement of the Rio Pact of 1947 of conservative states (US, Argentina, El Salvador, Ecuador, Chile), pushing this agenda under the guise of fighting narcoterrorism

Chaac, the Mayan deity of rain, thunder and lightning, Mayapán, Yucatán, 1200-1450 CE. The long, curved nose, Chaac's most iconic feature, often compared to the trunk of a tapir or a snake. Chaac was fundamental to Maya survival, as agriculture and the success of the corn harvests depended on him.

“City of forced waiting”: Stuck at Mexico’s southern border Every day, people forced to flee countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are arriving in the city of Tapachula, with nowhere else to go.

“City of forced waiting”: Stuck at Mexico’s southern border. Tens of thousands of migrants have arrived in Tapachula in Chiapas over the last year, stranded and prevented from moving further north to find greater opportunities while they lodge asylum claims www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2026...

‘Iron river’: Mexico’s cartel violence fuelled by trafficked firearms from US Lax American gun laws mean weapons are readily available to buy and smuggle south of the border

‘Iron river’: Mexico’s cartel violence fuelled by trafficked firearms from US. Lax American gun laws mean weapons are readily available to buy and smuggle south of the border, contributing to extreme violence by heavily armed drug cartels and criminal groups. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/f...

Ecuador severed diplomatic relations with Cuba, expelled all Cuban embassy staff from Quito, and recalled its ambassador from Havana. The Cuban Foreign Ministry called the decision “arbitrary and unjustified.”

Figure from Monte Albán, Oaxaca, the Zapotec capital (500 BCE–800 CE). The exposed ribs and internal organs are typical of funerary or ancestor imagery. It is a deified ancestor, a ruler, or a funerary effigy placed in a tomb. Large ceramic figures were sometimes discovered in elite burials.

Cuban migration routes to Brazil: Cubans first flew to Paramaribo, Suriname, where a coyote would wait to transport them overland to French Guiana. From there, they crossed into Brazil via Oiapoque. Some use Brazil as a point of transit en route to Uruguay. www1.folha.uol.com.br/internaciona...

Sólo con apoyo de Morena, llega hoy al Congreso reforma electoral Se espera que hoy la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo envíe al Congreso su iniciativa de reforma electoral, en la que los dos principales puntos que han generado polémica y rechazo de la mayoría de ...

President Sheinbaum proposes a new electoral reform. She lacks the votes to pass the present proposal, as two parties in her coalition would be hurt by it. She introduced it so they would reject it publicly, giving her grounds to end the alliance and go at it alone www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2026...

The Tajín clay statues of the Totonac civilization depict various figures, incl. gods, animals, and ceremonial objects, showing the spiritual and daily life of the Totonac people. These statues serve as a testament to the artistry and rich traditions of Totonac civilization in Veracruz, 800-1200CE.

Migrant shelters at US-Mexico border: Fewer people coming but staying longer "People are staying much longer at the shelter, in some cases up to nine months," said Fr. Francisco Javier Bueno Guillén of the Ciudad Juárez Diocese, who serves as director general of a diocese-oper...

Fewer migrants are arriving in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican border city of nearly 1.7 million people located across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. Migrant shelters in the city are operating at about 20% capacity and migrants stay much longer at the shelters. www.ncronline.org/news/migrant...