Episodes

  • Episode 29: Cycling star Isaac Del Toro and the politics of sports in Modern Mexico

    Episode 29: Cycling star Isaac Del Toro and the politics of sports in Modern Mexico
    Dec 20 2025
    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
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    49 mins
  • Episode 28: Organized Crime Groups Are Attacking Cargo Trucks In Mexico

    Episode 28: Organized Crime Groups Are Attacking Cargo Trucks In Mexico
    Oct 28 2025
    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.
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    40 mins
  • Episode 27: Agave Armageddon: Mexico's Mezcal & Tequila Boom

    Episode 27: Agave Armageddon: Mexico's Mezcal & Tequila Boom
    Jul 22 2025
    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.
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Episode 26: Organized Crime Groups Are Threatening Tortilla-makers In Morelos, Mexico

    Episode 26: Organized Crime Groups Are Threatening Tortilla-makers In Morelos, Mexico
    May 11 2025
    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.
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    39 mins
  • Episode 25: Assessing President Sheinbaum's Security Policies

    Episode 25: Assessing President Sheinbaum's Security Policies
    Mar 18 2025
    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.
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    43 mins
  • Episode 24: How Vulnerable Is Mexico To Trump's Tariff Threats?

    Episode 24: How Vulnerable Is Mexico To Trump's Tariff Threats?
    Mar 4 2025
    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.
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    40 mins
  • Episode 23: Has El Mayo's Arrest Sparked A New Cartel War In Mexico?

    Episode 23: Has El Mayo's Arrest Sparked A New Cartel War In Mexico?
    Sep 26 2024
    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.
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    33 mins
  • Episode 22: Coffee & Organized Crime In Chiapas, Mexico

    Episode 22: Coffee & Organized Crime In Chiapas, Mexico
    Jun 18 2024
    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."
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    42 mins