Do voters take into account the deaths of family members and close friends when evaluating the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic—particularly when that response is problematic or even negligent—as in the case of Mexico under the Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) administration? Using data from the 2021 Mexican Election Study, this research shows that opposition partisans who lost close friends or relatives to COVID-19 are more likely to evaluate the government’s response to the pandemic negatively. In contrast, National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) partisans do not hold accountable their co-partisan government. They are no more likely to evaluate the government’s response negatively, even when they experience the same losses. Experimental evidence further shows that MORENA partisans do not lower their evaluations of government performance after being informed about the country’s high COVID-19 mortality. They are also more likely to underestimate the number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, even after being presented with official mortality figures. These findings underscore how partisanship can cloud accountability, leading some voters to dismiss objective information and to judge government performance primarily through the lens of partisan loyalty. Partisanship can distort the accountability mechanism at the core of retrospective voting even during a major health crisis.

This article explores how informal medicine sellers (IMSs) in Mexico City “contest” and “reassemble” antibiotic control standards in ways that both challenge and respond to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) governance. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, we examine the “rationales”—moral, political, economic, technoscientific, and practical—that IMSs invoke to justify bypassing antibiotic prescription, dispensing and accounting regulations, and the “practical tinkering” they perform to make antibiotics available and “appropriately” used under conditions of scarcity and oversight failure. Rather than viewing IMSs as simply breaking official rules, we adopt a “social life of standards” perspective to argue that their actions reflect localized enactments of antibiotic control—versions shaped by community needs, corruption, poverty, and distrust in public health infrastructures. These practices are ambivalent, blurring boundaries between public service and profit and systemic subversion and informal regulation. By tracking how IMSs adapt, collectivize, and sometimes deliver treatments, we show how antibiotic governance is reworked from below—not only in response to AMR, but also to structural exclusions from formal care. We argue that rather than treating IMS rationales and practices as part of the problem, they should be studied as grounded responses to systemic failure—and potential sources of insight for context-sensitive regulatory design.

Species of genus Clavellotis (Castro-Romero & Baeza-Kuroki, 1984) are parasites of marine fishes across the world. During the course of a survey on the metazoan parasites of marine fish across the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, specimens of a lerneapodid copepod consistent with the concept of Clavelotis were collected from the gills of three species of sparids, and were described as a new species using morphological and molecular characters. Clavellotis mayae n. sp. represents the second species of the genus reported in Mexican coastal waters. The new species morphologically resembles C. dubius and C. sebastidis in the trunk shape but can be readily distinguished by having a short maxilla which is separated to its distal end, a sub-oval and conspicuously larger aliform process, and a distal margin of the trunk bearing pronounced subcircular flaps covering the attachment sites of the egg sacs. The new species further differs from all other known congeners by having a short genital process and mandibles without secondary dentition. Molecular analyses through 28S rDNA and cox1 sequences further corroborate all these morphological distinctions and support the taxonomic placement of the new species within Clavellotis. The relationships of this species with other congeners are discussed in light of molecular evidence.

This study examines paid and unpaid childcare distribution connected to gender relations and inequalities. We ask: what are the gender consequences of childcare distribution in Mexico? To answer this enquiry, we apply Razavi’s diamond model, examining the social dimensions of the family/household, the State, the Market, and not-for-profit (NFP) sectors. We utilise national statistics and representative surveys from the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), complemented with published studies on Latin America and Mexico.

The article is structured as follows. First, we provide a literature review on the model related to welfare and care provision. Second, we summarise important aspects of the Mexican context. Our analysis is structured in subsections following each dimension of the diamond. We discuss our findings through a graphic representation of the model applied to Mexico, and conclude with final remarks.

Our concrete application of the model shows how the distribution of – paid and unpaid – childcare has consequences in (re)producing and strengthening gender inequalities in a myriad of spaces, dynamics, and arrangements. Key findings indicate a reduction in public childcare provision, transferring responsibilities to the household and the NFP dimensions, enhancing gendered expectations. Additionally, there is an increased protagonism of market relations within the domestic sphere and unequal conditions for those with resources.

We contribute to current studies on gender inequalities connected to welfare systems – and the lack thereof – by offering conceptual elements to develop research pathways sensitive to context-specificities, closely aligned with countries and societies within the Global South.

The white mullet, Mugil curema (Mugilidae), is a catadromous euryhaline fish with an omnivorous diet, and is distributed mainly along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the Americas. Mullets represent an important economic resource for the artisanal fisheries in Mexico. In this study, 73 individuals of M. curema were analysed; specimens were sampled in 4 coastal lagoons of the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, between 2022 and 2024. Parasite identification was accomplished by using DNA sequences. Nineteen parasite taxa were found, including 1 monopisthocotylan, 1 copepod, 1 acanthocephalan, 1 nematode, and 15 trematodes. Specimens were sequenced for a nuclear or mitochondrial molecular marker. Ten taxa are reported for the first time in this host species, including the adult trematodes Saccocoelioides olmecae; Schikhobalotrema sp. 1 and sp. 2, Hemiuridae gen. sp., the larval trematodes Mesostephanus microbursa, M. cubaensis, Cardiocephaloides medioconiger, Saccularina sp., Bucephalus sp., as well as the larval nematode Contracaecum fagerholmi. Of the 21 metazoan parasites recorded, 58% were adults and 42% were larval stages. The checklist of the metazoan parasites of M. curema was updated. Our study contributes to the understanding of the parasite diversity of an economically important fish species with a wide distribution range and corroborates the usefulness of combining morphological and molecular data for species identification and for linking larval forms with adults to complete parasite life cycles. Our results will be useful in further studies of parasites as bioindicators of ecosystem health, and studies of the role of parasites in food webs in coastal lagoons.

In 1615, a Dutch fleet under the command of Joris van Spilbergen attacked the Mexican port of Acapulco. The port was the eastern terminus of the Manila galleons, the ships that linked Asia and the Americas during the early modern period. In the face of foreign incursion, Spanish officials in Mexico proposed to secure transpacific trade by constructing the Fort of San Diego to protect Acapulco. To build and later repair the fort, they mobilized thousands of Indigenous men through the repartimiento (rotational forced labour system) from what is now the Mexican state of Guerrero. Using the port’s accounting records, this article argues that the novelty of transpacific empire profoundly affected the social and economic lives of Mexico’s coastal and hinterland Indigenous peoples. However, the global histories of the Manila galleons and of early modern Asia–Latin American connections have overlooked the relationship between Spanish Pacific expansion and Indigenous labour in the Americas. Placing the fort’s Indigenous builders at the centre reveals not only the violent outcomes of imperial anxiety, but also how Indigenous people adapted to the advent of transpacific empire.

The activity of respiratory viruses (RVs) displays large variability in tropical regions, posing challenges for public health response strategies. Data from most RVs in south-eastern Mexico remain limited, particularly in the Yucatan Peninsula, the largest tourism hub in the country. This retrospective study analyses the regional epidemiology of RVs in Merida, the largest city in the region, using laboratory test data from a local hospital (January 2018–April 2024). Test results of 143292 RVs were collected, including 121976 for SARS-CoV-2, 19355 for influenza A and B viruses, and 1961 for 17 distinct RVs. We found that non-SARS-CoV-2 RVs circulated year-round, with higher activity in autumn and spring, while SARS-CoV-2 peaked in summer and winter. Influenza A virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and influenza B virus reached their highest activity in autumn, earlier than in other regions of Mexico. Human metapneumovirus peaked during autumn-winter. Rhinovirus/enterovirus and parainfluenza showed year-round activity, with peaks in autumn and spring. Other coronaviruses were more frequent during winter-spring. In post-pandemic years (2022–2023), adenovirus outbreaks emerged, as well as an increased prevalence of non-SARS-CoV-2 RV co-infections. This study highlights the need for region-specific public health strategies, including optimized vaccination schedules, such as for influenza A virus, and enhanced diagnostic surveillance.

This article presents the results of a two-year nationwide study presenting the structure and methodology utilized for the National Survey on Solidarity and Volunteer (ENSAV), one of the first national volunteer surveys ever undertaken in Mexico. This study is designed in two distinct segments to be able to engage all formal and informal volunteering in Mexico. The first segment is the analysis of a nationwide survey which presents the main data and findings plus the analysis of these numbers. The second segment reveals some of the main motivations that individuals have for giving and for participating both within and outside of group settings. The national nature of this research project reveals interesting patterns of volunteerism and citizen action by gender, location, and motivation, plus various forms of solidary participation that may be useful guides in the prevailing need to build and strengthen civil society organizations in Mexico and in this region of the world. These results provide an informed basis for decision making in the government public policy arena and reveal distinct and diverse ways for established CSOs to promote and enable citizens for more effective participation in community issues (Butcher, Springer, 2010).

This research explores the contributions of the sea turtle conservation movement in Baja California Sur (B.C.S.), Mexico, to the growth of associational life in the state. Mexico has historically been known as a country with a traditionally weak associational life. Yet, the activities of sea turtle NGOs and community groups presented a unique case study to better understand the social, political, and strategic factors that have contributed to voluntary civic engagement and the environmental successes of the movement. Through 799 interviews and surveys with public stakeholders, this research utilized Sabet’s (Democratization 2:410–432, 2008) focus on political opportunity, efforts to reform informal rules, and supportive social networks, as an explanatory framework to help describe the emergence of associational life. We found that the sea turtle conservation movement in B.C.S. has become accessible to a diversity of interests and individuals. We found unexpected results in the extent of federal environmental agency complaisance in regard to the involvement of NGOs in conservation programs and environmental policy decisions that have traditionally been the sole domain of the Government of Mexico.

This paper offers a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of one of the most important expressions of philanthropy in Mexico: giving by individuals. The data we present have been produced using a survey specifically redesigned to collect information on the giving practices of Mexicans, a national survey on giving and volunteering. We offer a brief literature review and then proceed to provide our results on the incidence of money donation and mean annual donation patterns among different segments of the Mexican population, test different variables as determinants of giving and provide the first estimation of the total value of individual money donation for a given year. We also provide findings on in-kind donations and an assessment of the evolution of individual giving to nonprofit organizations.

We examine the likelihood of collaboration between NGOs and business in persistent intense social contexts. Using social capital theory and the institutional void literature, we argue that an NGO’s stakeholder relations act as a valuable resource in the formation of the organization’s social capital and raise its potential value as a legitimate business partner relative to NGOs with weak or few relations. These relations, however, are moderated by the persistent intense social context in which the NGO finds itself. Using Mexican data, we find that the positive relationship between stakeholder interactions and the likelihood of NGO–business collaboration is weakened by greater poverty (ties are more difficult to establish) and strengthened by corruption (ties provide a trust signal).

Cataract is the primary cause of treatable blindness in low- and middle-income countries. Due to limited resources, the public sector often fails to provide adequate services, resulting in long waiting times, low quality or significant quantity gaps. Nonprofits are crucial in providing supplementary or complementary funding and resources for affordable eye care and other public goods and services. This study evaluates costs and benefits of cataract surgery at the nonprofit Mexican Institute of Ophthalmology (IMO) using data from interviews conducted in 2022 to estimate its social return. For every peso invested, the average stakeholder receives a 12:1 return in improved autonomy, self-confidence, and reduced stress levels. Sensitivity analysis suggests a SROI ratio of at least 2:1 in the most restrictive scenario, increasing to 33:1 under more lenient assumptions. Measuring and communicating the social value of nonprofit activities is critical for optimizing resource allocation, enhancing accountability, and generating valuable insights into their effectiveness.