Chiapas

A child looks at a TV screen in a living room with orange painted walls.

Pandemic learning in Mexico requires thinking outside the screen

Millions of schoolchildren across Mexico began the academic year this week in front of a TV. But teachers in Oaxaca say televised classes won’t meet fundamental educational needs and many families lack the technology to keep up, deepening Mexico’s socioeconomic divide.

Several people are shown on the beach next to large floating rafts with wooden tops.

Free passage is a way of life for Mexicans and Guatemalans on the border

Borders
River

Some migrants are rethinking the US as their ultimate destination

Economics
Ramirez

Mexico’s ‘Mama Africa’ welcomes migrants on a long journey

Business
Zahit Salazar used to earn a little money selling clothes she bought near the southern border with Mexico. But Mexico's new checkpoints have made that too difficult. She's had to fall back on grinding corn to make tamales.

Locals say checkpoints along Mexico’s southern border mean endless commutes and shake-downs

Global Politics
The ruins of the town of Valdivia in the southernmost Mexican state of Chiapas. The town was destroyed by a tropical storm in 1998.

Mexico experiments with adapting to climate change naturally — and on the cheap

Environment

Increasingly, when people talk climate change, they talk about adapting to it. In southern Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala, adaptation could be easier, cheaper and better at preparing for a future of more intense tropical storms and hurricanes. Increasingly, when people talk climate change, they talk about adapting to it. In southern Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala, adaptation could be easier, cheaper and better at preparing for a future of more intense tropical storms and hurricanes.

Chocolate lovers for the environment

Farmers in Mexico have been clearing their ecologically important cacao farms. Chocolate lovers are trying to help them bring the cacao back.

The World

Zapatista youths reconsider capitalism

Arts, Culture & Media

Grant Fuller reports from southern Mexico on disillusioned Zapatista youths who are ready to give up the movement’s anti-capitalist ideals to try and make some money for themselves as laborers in upscale beach resorts like Cancun.

The World

Saving the Selva

The rainforest in southern Mexico–known as the “selva”–is slowly being destroyed to make way for farms and ranches. One Indian community is trying to stop the destruction–with an innovative blend of ecotourism and sustainable agriculture. Correspondent Tatiana Schreiber reports from the village of Zapata (za-PA-tah), in the state of Chiapas (chee-AH-pas), Mexico.

The World

Bio-Piracy

The Mexican state of Chiapas contains an abundance of medicinal plants used by the indigenous healers in the region. A few years ago, an American scientist working there began a project to search for drugs based on these plants, as well as preserve traditional knowledge and provide income to local communities. But some local people […]