Art Week stretches well beyond Zona Maco’s official dates, with events before and after the fair. Satellite fairs like Feria Material and Salón ACME have grown alongside the main event. At the same time, exhibitions, talks, and parties animate the neighborhoods of Condesa, Roma, Polanco, and Juárez.

From Monterrey to Mexico City

Founder Zélika García took three years to gather 25 galleries and hold the first edition — originally called “Muestra” — in 2002 in Monterrey. After its success, she brought the fair to Mexico City in 2003, where it was renamed “Maco” (México Arte Contemporáneo) and later became “Zona Maco.” The 2024 edition marked the fair’s 20th anniversary, drawing a record-breaking 81,000 visitors, with similar attendance in 2025 when 200 galleries from 29 countries participated. The fair has a direct economic impact on the city during the event, with hotels, restaurants, and local businesses all benefiting from the influx of international visitors.

A distinctive Latin American voice

The two largest fairs in Latin America, Zona Maco in Mexico City and SP-Arte in São Paulo, are both still independent and, notably, both founded by women. This independence has allowed Zona Maco to maintain its distinctive regional character.

The fair is tightly curated with just 125 galleries compared to the much larger Art Basel Miami Beach’s 286 galleries. Yet while Art Basel Miami Beach 2024 attracted more than 75,000 visitors, Zona Maco’s 81,000+ attendance in the last two years demonstrates its growing appeal for art lovers.

Unlike Basel, over half of the galleries at Zona Maco are from Mexico and Latin America, and offer a cultivated roster of museum-caliber artists and an engagement with traditional materials, modern politics, and Latinx-centric themes. “People come to this fair to see different art from Latin America,” says Luis Maluf of the São Paulo gallery. “There are new collectors from around the world, and we have more space than at other fairs to show our Latin American artists.”

Zona Maco 2026 Schedule:

Wednesday, February 4:

• Exclusive collector and museum preview; 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
• VIP Guests; 12 pm-5 pm
• General Public; 5 p.m.-8 p.m.

Thursday-Friday, February 5-6:

• VIP Guests; 12 p.m.-1 p.m.
• General Public; 1 p.m.-8 p.m.

Saturday, February 7:

• General Public; 12 p.m.-8 p.m. 

Sunday, February 8:

• General Public; 11 p.m.-6 p.m. 

The post Zona Maco 2026 is Mexico City’s biggest Art Week yet appeared first on Mexico News Daily

MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials confirmed Thursday that one in five tacos eaten in Mexico last year was made in China, sparking mild concern among local taqueros.​​

Industry figures say roughly 20% of all tacos eaten in 2025 came from China, up from “basically none” just five years ago, when Chinese tacos were considered a meme and not a macroeconomic threat. ​

“Chinese tacos don’t have a single ingredient made in Mexico, and that’s exactly why they’re so cheap and so terrifying,” said Manuel Montoya, director of the Nuevo León Taco Cluster, staring grimly at a suspiciously perfect tortilla. “They arrive frozen, stacked and standardized.”​​

Consumers, however, appear delighted.

“These Chinese taquerías? Incredible,” said Mexico City resident Karla Jiménez, devouring what appeared to be a perfectly symmetrical suadero. “They’re half the price, never run out of salsa, and the robot server bows when it brings your lime.” ​

Despite the surge, authorities moved quickly to “level the playing field,” slapping a 50% tariff on all tacos imported from countries without a free trade agreement, including China, Brazil, South Korea and “any place where they think cilantro is exotic.” ​

Industry leaders argue the measure is not about closing the border to foreign tacos but about “balancing the market” so that local taqueros, their plastic stools and their delicately balanced salsas can continue to compete.​

Check out our Jalapeño archive here.

Got an idea for a Jalapeño article? Email us with your suggestions!

The post El Jalapeño: 1 in 5 tacos sold in Mexico now made in China appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Welcome to MND Tutor! This interactive learning tool is designed to help you improve your Spanish by exploring real news articles from Mexico News Daily. Instead of just memorizing vocabulary lists or grammar rules, you’ll dive into authentic stories about Mexican culture, current events, and daily

Mexico was once home to remarkable dinosaurs that roamed the land for over 170 million years. The northern regions, especially Coahuila, are rich with fossil discoveries. From terrifying beats soaring above the ground, to fearsome hunters stalking the forest, Mexico had several incredible species of dinosaur.

These prehistoric giants once dominated what is now Mexican territory before vanishing 66 million years ago. To discover more, why not check out Andrea Fischer’s original article?

To get started, choose your level of Spanish:

🌵 Choose your level of Spanish
— Choose Level —🇲🇽Beginner🌵 Intermediate🌶️ Advanced

Let us know how you did!

The post MND Tutor | Dinosaurios appeared first on Mexico News Daily

What's been going on in the news this week? Our weekly quiz is here to keep you on top of what’s happening in Mexico.

Get informed, stay smart.

Are you ready?  Let’s see where you rank vs. our expert community!

Jalisco has become the first state in Mexico to offer what qualification?

A degree in Mariachi music

A postgraduate degree in "AMLOism"

A doctorate in Bullfighting

A degree in "Costco Studies"

None

What pest is causing havoc for Mexican livestock as it spreads across Mexico?

The Chupacabra

Freshwater crocodiles

Screwworm

The Mexican wolf

None

President Sheinbaum announced this week a new 50-billion-peso initiative to tackle which problem?

Potholes on Mexico's highways

Mexico's low minimum wage

A lack of affordable housing in Mexico City

A lack of accessible internet in rural areas

None

The Mexican peso dropped to its strongest level against the U.S. dollar since 2024 on Wednesday. How low did it go?

18.20 pesos to the U.S. dollar

15.32 pesos to the U.S. dollar

17.48 pesos to the U.S. dollar

16.10 pesos to the U.S. dollar

None

Which Mexican cabinet member is currently representing Mexico at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos?

Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard

Foreign Affairs Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente

Interior Minister Rosa Icela Rodríguez

Environment Minister Alicia Bárcena

None

Which group did University of Guadalajara experts recently warn is increasingly opting NOT to go to the state of Jalisco?

Mexican tourists

Migratory birds

Mexican college students

IT companies

None

What U.S. childhood-disease outbreak have authorities announced is now in every Mexican state?

Chicken pox

Measles

Polio

Whooping cough

None

The Bank of Mexico will soon release a new coin to honor which pre-Hispanic icon?

The temple of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá

The pre-Hispanic city of Palenque

The pre-Hispanic god Quetzalcoatl

Ixchel, the Maya goddess of midwifery and medicine

None

The first ever mom-and-son duo to compete on the same Mexican Winter Olympics team will do so in 2026. In which sport?

Figure skating

Curling

Alpine Skiing

Snowboarding

None

Which of Mexico's resources is rapidly vanishing due to buyers from places like Saudi Arabia, China and Japan?

Lithium

Copper

Obsidian

Coal

None

Time's up

The post The MND News Quiz of the Week: January 24th appeared first on Mexico News Daily

What's been going on in the news this week? Our weekly quiz is here to keep you on top of what’s happening in Mexico.

Get informed, stay smart.

Are you ready?  Let’s see where you rank vs. our expert community!

Mexico City's Cablebús Line 5 is set to become the world's longest cable car system. At which Metro station will it terminate?

El Rosario

Barranca de los Muertos

Mixcoac

Coyoacán

None

Airline Aeroméxico has called for upgrades at Mexico City's AICM airport. What do they want?

A third runway

A third terminal

Larger gates for the Airbus A380

An upgraded weather warning system

None

The peso had the strongest recorded week against the dollar in 18 months. How high did it get on Thursday?

17.65

16.80

18.02

17.25

None

Which Latin music legend has confirmed his appearance at a Baja California Sur music festival?

Peso Pluma

Bad Bunny

Carlos Vives

Ricky Martin

None

Mexico's homegrown Olinia EV finally has a release date. When?

2030

2027

2032

2028

None

Allan Corona and Regina Martínez are off to the Winter Olympics. What sport will they participate in?

Cross-country skiing

Snowcross

Curling

Skeleton Bob

None

Mexico City's Zocalo square is full of art this week. What is on display?

A replica of Tenochtitlán's Templo Mayor

A giant tapestry depicting the presidency of Claudia Sheinbaum

1000 Dr. Simi statues

200 cactus sculptures

None

TikTok star and singing street sweeper Macario Martínez is set to perform his first major concert. Where?

Cholula, Puebla

León, Guanajuato

Tulum, Quintana Roo

Zactecas, Zacatecas

None

Government figures show that 1 in 5 cars sold in Mexico came from a single foreign supplier. Who?

The United States

China

Guatemala

France

None

A group of Monterrey students are up for the prestigious Zayed Sustainability Prize. What did they invent?

A solar battery

A zero-emissions office building in central Monterrey

A modular EV that can be assembled at home

A water purifying device

None

Time's up

The post The MND News Quiz of the Week: January 17th appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Welcome to MND Tutor! This interactive learning tool is designed to help you improve your Spanish by exploring real news articles from Mexico News Daily. Instead of just memorizing vocabulary lists or grammar rules, you’ll dive into authentic stories about Mexican culture, current events, and daily

Bolero is the heartbeat of Mexican memory, where every slow chord feels like opening an old family album. Born in 19th-century Cuba and carried by sea routes into Yucatán and Mexico City, it transformed from dance-hall rhythm into the smoky, intimate soundtrack of city nights and secret longings.

Discover iconic composers like Guty Cárdenas, Agustín Lara, Consuelo Velázquez, Álvaro Carrillo, and María Grever, whose songs turned heartbreak into high art and learn some Spanish as you go.

To get started, choose your level of Spanish:

🌵 Choose your level of Spanish
— Choose Level —🇲🇽Beginner🌵 Intermediate🌶️ Advanced

Let us know how you did!

The post MND Tutor | Boleros appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Now, as a PhD candidate at Tecnológico de Monterrey, Garza is pushing artificial intelligence to an entirely new frontier: the micro-world of chips, sensors, and embedded devices. Forget massive server clusters or data centers sucking up megawatts of power. His vision is of an AI that can think locally — and he is creating miniature, energy-efficient systems that learn and adapt on the fly without ever calling home to the cloud.

That bold idea has earned him a Google PhD Fellowship for 2025, a prestigious award reserved for the most promising young scientists redefining how computing will look in the next decade.

When Big AI gets too big

Most of today’s AI depends on immense computational infrastructure. This is like brainpower outsourced to enormous digital “cathedrals” — endless racks of GPUs chewing through terabytes of data. It’s powerful but also unsustainable.

“Today’s large AI models have an enormous environmental footprint,” Garza says. “We want to show that intelligence doesn’t have to mean excess — that it’s possible to build systems that are just as capable, but far more sustainable and accessible.”

Enter Tiny Reinforcement Learning, or TinyRL — Garza’s minimalist twist on machine learning. In essence, he’s teaching microsystems to be smart. TinyRL combines reinforcement learning (where machines learn by trial and error) with math inspired by the Kolmogorov-Arnold theorem, letting embedded devices optimize themselves in real time. The most incredible part of this process is that no supercomputers are required, unlike the large-scale machine learning systems that are currently popular.

A robot that learns by failing

In the university’s robotics lab, Garza and his team are testing a small ground robot that starts out totally clueless. It doesn’t know where it is, how its wheels move, or what its sensors are for. But through thousands of tiny experiments — bumping into walls, pivoting, adjusting — it begins to figure it out.

After a few hours of digital trial and error, that chaos turns into coordination. “You can literally see intelligence emerging from scratch,” Garza explains. The robot goes from jittery improvisation to purposeful navigation, all without any pre-programmed instructions or cloud-based training.

Soon, these algorithms will evolve to run on multi-microcontroller architectures, where multiple miniature agents learn together and share discoveries, creating a sort of ecosystem of networked intelligences.

The human-centered future of Industry 5.0

The work anchors Tec de Monterrey’s “Research Group for Industry 5.0,” a collaborative effort to design technology that’s smaller, smarter, and friendlier to both people and the planet.

Garza imagines factories where robots learn new tasks on the job, homes where assistive devices adapt to their users, and wearable health monitors that predict problems before they surface. “Imagine a smartwatch that doesn’t just track your pulse,” he says. “It anticipates changes in your health and warns you before something happens.”

For Google, his selection as a 2025 fellow places him among 255 doctoral candidates worldwide tackling pressing computing challenges. The program provides mentorship, funding, and a global research network. For Garza Elizondo, it’s an affirmation that big thinking doesn’t have to live in big machines.

“When people think about AI, they imagine huge systems behind screens,” he says. “But what excites me is the idea that intelligence can live anywhere — even in the tiniest corner of a chip.”

This story was written by a Mexico News Daily staff editor with the assistance of Perplexity, then revised and fact-checked before publication.

The post The Mexican researcher who’s shrinking AI — literally appeared first on Mexico News Daily

Welcome to MND Tutor! This interactive learning tool is designed to help you improve your Spanish by exploring real news articles from Mexico News Daily. Instead of just memorizing vocabulary lists or grammar rules, you’ll dive into authentic stories about Mexican culture, current events, and daily

Mexico has gone all in on the rail revolution in recent years. One of the key new lines has been the creation of the Interoceanic Train (CIIT), between Oaxaca and Veracruz. This railways has seen the revival of old operating lines, using engines and railcars brought in from abroad.

The most recognizable new face on the railway is the British Rail Class 43, which was once the most famous train in the United Kingdom. But how did an icon of modernity, progress and innovation end up in the mountains of Oaxaca?

As ever, our education Spanish series has the details.

To get started, choose your level of Spanish:

🌵 Choose your level of Spanish
— Choose Level —🇲🇽Beginner🌵 Intermediate🌶️ Advanced

Let us know how you did!

The post MND Tutor | Trenes appeared first on Mexico News Daily

What's been going on in the news this week? Our weekly quiz is here to keep you on top of what’s happening in Mexico.

Get informed, stay smart.

Are you ready?  Let’s see where you rank vs. our expert community!

Jalisco's Akron Stadium is set to host group stage games in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Where is the stadium actually located?

Tlaquepaque

Zapopan

Tequila

Puerto Vallarta

None

Despite a fall from the start of 2025, President Claudia Sheinbaum has ended the year with a very strong approval rating. How many Mexicans approve?

83%

59%

78%

69%

None

The new Skeelo app has launched across Mexico. What does it offer?

A free book every month

Discounted Costco memberships

Access to discounted pharmaceuticals

The ability to text President Claudia Sheinbaum directly.

None

Which state saw record numbers of tourists in 2025?

Tamaulipas

Zacatecas

Campeche

Colima

None

With the fall of Venezuela, Mexico has become the largest supplier of oil to which Caribbean nation?

St. Kitts and Nevis

Haiti

Trinidad and Tobago

Cuba

None

Mexico's federal communications agency is bringing back some retro technology. What is it?

Telegrams

Pay phones

Cyber cafés

Semaphores

None

Painter Guillermo Monroy turned 102. Under which legendary Mexican painter did he train?

Diego Rivera

Frida Kahlo

David Siqueros

Leonora Carrington

None

A report this week shows Mexico is paying the highest gasoline prices in the world. Which country was in second place?

Brazil

U.K.

Russia

Indonesia

None

A new ultraconservative political party is looking to stand in the Mexican election. What are they called?

Falange Méxicano

México Tiene Vida

Make México Great Again

Morena

None

A new Mexican-themed store has opened in Los Angeles. What is it selling?

Mexico News Daily caps

El Chapo piñatas

AMLOver t-shirts

Dr. Simi dolls

None

Time's up

The post The MND News Quiz of the Week: January 10th appeared first on Mexico News Daily

What's been going on in the news this week? Our weekly quiz is here to keep you on top of what’s happening in Mexico.

Get informed, stay smart.

Are you ready?  Let’s see where you rank vs. our expert community!

Traffic at Mexico City's troubled AIFA airport is up. How many visitors do they hope to attract in 2026?

40 million

1 million

9 million

4, and an eagle

None

Norteño band 'Los Tigres del Norte' unveiled their new song on which U.S. show?

The Simpsons

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Last Week Tonight

Stranger Things

None

Archeology ministry INAH reported a bumper haul of repatriated treasures in 2025. How many artefacts were returned to Mexico?

165,209

2,158

3,564

1,123

None

Mexico’s Health Minister David Kershenobich is hoping to entice Mexicans into what, as part of a new health drive?

Giving blood

Organ donation

Giving up Tylenol

Cutting out Coca Cola

None

The state of Chiapas has changed its official shield. What object has replaced the Spanish castle that was there previously?

An oil derrick

Dr. Simi

A UFO

A Maya temple

None

Mexico has launched its own tariffs this week. Which country isn't being tariffed?

China

Thailand

Indonesia

Canada

None

Storms lashed Mexico on New Year's Day. Which of these states was not affected by rain and freezing conditions?

Tamaulipas

Sonora

Veracruz

Puebla

None

A tragic derailment on the Interoceanic Train killed 14 passengers this week. In which state did the accident take place?

Oaxaca

Veracruz

Tabasco

Chiapas

None

The first major earthquake of the year has struck! What magnitude was it?

6.5

7.2

6.3

5.8

None

2025 was the best year ever for the modern Mexican peso. How much did it appreciate against the dollar?

19%

12%

25%

14%

None

Time's up

The post The MND News Quiz of the Week: January 3rd appeared first on Mexico News Daily