Mexico cruise passenger fee will take effect this summer. Here’s how much you’ll pay.
- Mexico will implement a new cruise passenger fee starting at $5 in July 2025.
- The fee, initially set at $42, was lowered after industry pushback and will gradually increase over the next few years.
- Previously, cruise passengers were exempt from such taxes.
There’s a new fee for cruise passengers looking for a sunny escape.
Mexico’s new cruise passenger fee will be much lower than expected when it takes effect this summer.
According to the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), cruise guests visiting the country will pay $5 beginning on July 1, rather than the previously announced $42 rate. That will go up to $10 between August 1, 2026, and June 2027; $15 from July 1, 2027, to July 2028; and $21 on August 1, 2028.
FCCA’s member lines make up more than 95% of cruise capacity in Latin America and the Caribbean. The fee will be collected once per itinerary.
“The cruise industry is a success story for Mexico, contributing roughly $1 billion USD in direct spending to the economy in the past year alone,” its statement read. “This agreement demonstrates what we can accomplish together to foster opportunities for shared growth and success through ongoing, open dialogue and partnership with Mexico officials.”
Mexico’s National Confederation of Chambers of Commerce, Services and Tourism did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fee was originally expected to be implemented in January before being delayed six months amid pushback from the cruise industry, which warned it could have potentially dire impacts. Cruise passengers had previously been exempt from tourist taxes under the Non-Migrant Rights policy since they were considered in transit, according to the Mexican Association of Shipping Agents (AMANAC).
Mexico sues Google over ‘Gulf of America’ name change
Mexico is suing Google for ignoring repeated requests not to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America for US users on its maps service, Claudia Sheinbaum has said.
The Mexican president did not say where the lawsuit had been filed. Google did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.
On Thursday, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to officially rename the Gulf for federal agencies.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office in January calling for the body of water to be renamed, arguing the change was justified because the US “do most of the work there, and it’s ours”.
However, Sheinbaum’s government contends that Trump’s order applies only to the US portion of the continental shelf.
“All we want is for the decree issued by the US government to be complied with,” she said, asserting that the US lacks the authority to rename the entire gulf.
Sheinbaum wrote a letter to Google in January asking the firm to reconsider its decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico for US users. The following month, she threatened legal action.
At the time, Google said it made the change as part of “a longstanding practice” of following name changes when updated by official government sources.
It said the gulf – which is bordered by the US, Cuba and Mexico – would not be changed for people using the app in Mexico, and users elsewhere in the world will see the label: “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America)”.
The Associated Press (AP) news agency’s refusal to use the Gulf of America name led to a months-long conflict with the White House, which restricted AP’s access to certain events.
A federal judge ordered the White House in April to stop sidelining the outlet.
Trump hinted on Wednesday that he may recommend changing the way the US refers to another body of water.
During an upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, he plans to announce that the US will henceforth refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arabia, AP reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has responded by saying he hopes the “absurd rumours” are “no more than a disinformation campaign” and that such a move would “bring the wrath of all Iranians”.
‘She is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight,’ Trump said
President Donald Trump claimed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is afraid of the cartels after she rejected his offer to send U.S. troops to Mexico.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his offer to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help fight against cartels because she is afraid of them.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said he floated the idea of sending American troops to deal with the Mexican cartels facilitating drug trafficking, and criticized Sheinbaum for refusing his offer.
“She’s so afraid of the cartels she can’t walk … And I think she’s a lovely woman. The president of Mexico is a lovely woman, but she is so afraid of the cartels that she can’t even think straight,” Trump said.
His reaction came after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressured her in a call last month to allow the U.S. military to play a larger role in tackling drug cartels in Mexico.
Sheinbaum said she told Trump at the time that Mexico would “never accept” a U.S. military presence.
“No, President Trump, our territory is inalienable, sovereignty is inalienable,” Sheinbaum claimed to have said. “We can collaborate. We can work together, but with you in your territory and us in ours. We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States Army on our territory.”
There has been a larger American military presence at the U.S.-Mexico border after Trump issued an order in January to increase the army’s role in slowing the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.
President Donald Trump before talking with reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington on Sunday from West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP)
In addition to fighting illegal immigration, Trump said American troops are needed to slow the amount of fentanyl being brought into the U.S. by drug cartels.
U.S. Northern Command has deployed troops and equipment to the southern border, increased manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking along the border and requested expanded authority for U.S. Special Forces to work closely with Mexican forces conducting operations against cartels.
In February, Trump designated many gangs and cartels smuggling drugs into the U.S. as “foreign terrorist organizations,” giving law enforcement more resources to take action against the groups.
Thousands march for life in Mexico City
Thousands of people participated in the March for Life on May 3 in Mexico City to mark 18 years since abortion was decriminalized in Mexico’s capital.
The march, organized by the Pasos por la Vida (Steps for Life) association along with other groups, set out from the Monument to the Revolution and followed a route of more than 1.2 miles to arrive at the City Congress, the legislative branch of Mexico City, a quasi state in the Mexican federal system.
Young people, senior citizens, and entire families marched amid banners and signs with pro-life messages lamenting the lack of comprehensive policies to aid pregnant women. They also decried the terrible toll of almost two decades of legalized abortion.
Since April 2007, abortion has been legal in Mexico City up to the 12th week of pregnancy, making it the first federal entity in the country to adopt this measure. Since then, 22 other states have decriminalized abortion, with notable momentum during the six-year term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018–2024), of the MORENA (National Regeneration Movement) political party.
According to data from the Steps for Life organization, the cumulative effect of these new laws has resulted in “more than 292,000 Mexican lives never seeing the light of day.”
‘Abortion hasn’t solved anything’
During the rally held in front of the City Congress, a manifesto was read pointing out that “abortion hasn’t solved anything.”
Pilar Rebollo, outgoing leader of Steps for Life, warned that decriminalization, far from solving problems, has inflicted “a great many wounds, revictimized pregnant women, and deprived Mexico of an entire generation.”
In her speech, she also denounced the “manipulation of figures that renders both aborted children and wounded mothers invisible” in addition to criticizing “the lack of comprehensive policies that truly support women” and “the imposition of an agenda that turns death into a right and marginalizes the [child in the womb] because he doesn’t produce anything, profiting from the most vulnerable.”
“And meanwhile, Mexico bleeds,” she lamented.
“Today we remember the missing generation and embrace every mother who has suffered in silence. But we also proclaim with hope that every heart that beats is a promise, and every step taken today can change history,” Rebollo said.
Six demands to promote life
Also speaking during the event was Luisa Argueta, the march’s national coordinator, who presented a series of demands addressing different areas.
She demanded politicians pass “a constitutional reform that recognizes the right to life from conception to natural death” as well as public policies that allocate funding “to motherhood, adoption, and palliative care, not death-dealing solutions.”
The pro-life leader also called for the reinstatement of public reporting on abortion in Mexico City and emphasized the need for each state to publish “real and verifiable figures on abortions, homicides, and disappeared persons [missing and likely dead].”
Argueta also addressed society, urging it to abandon “the archaic idea” that motherhood is solely a woman’s responsibility, and emphasized that “men and women need each other to make decisions and take responsibility.”
Finally, she called for “active citizen participation,” which means “we should support, donate, adopt, monitor, and vote for life.”
The USDA put out a warning about the New World Screwworm on Wednesday.
New World Screwworm larvae (maggots) can burrow into the flesh of a living animal and cause serious and even deadly damage to the animal. The larvae can infest livestock, pets, wildlife and sometimes birds.
The name “Screwworm” refers to the maggots technique for feeding as they burrow into an animal’s wound feeding as they go like a screw being driven into wood. The insect’s sharp mouth hooks cause serious damage to animal tissue.
The pest was eradicated in the United States in 1966 using sterile insect techniques, but the USDA is on alert for reintroduction of the species.
The USDA, United Nations, and other agencies are monitoring and responding to an outbreak of the New World Screwworm in Central America and Mexico.
The USDA said in 2023, New World Screwworm detections exploded in Panama. The country went from just 25 cases per year to more than 6,500 cases.
Since 2023, the pest has been found in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and southern Mexico, far north of the biological barrier researchers had established for the insect.
In February, the USDA announced that it was shifting its sterile fly dispersal efforts to Mexico, the northernmost point of the outbreak.
Despite eradicating the Screwworm in the 60s, Texas experienced an outbreak in 1976, which infected nearly 1.5 million head of cattle and over 300,000 sheep and goats. Texas ended up with more than $132 million worth of livestock losses that year.
Some symptoms of a Screwworm outbreak in animals include: irritated behavior, head shaking, the smell of decay, evidence of fly strike, and the presence of maggots in a wound.
As the US struggles to contain its worst measles outbreak in years, cases have spilled over into Mexico. In an April 25 report, Mexico’s Ministry of Health reported there have been 583 confirmed cases in the country this year, with 560 recorded in the border state of Chihuahua. On April 27, the Chihuahua Health Secretariat pushed the state’s number of confirmed cases even higher, to 713. In comparison, the Pan American Health Organization reported only 7 confirmed cases in the whole of Mexico in 2024.
The outbreak in Chihuahua is partly due to its proximity to Texas, which it borders to the north. A major outbreak has been ongoing in the US state since late January, and cases in Mexico have been linked to those north of the border. The United States has recorded 884 confirmed cases of measles this year, up from 285 in 2024, as well as three deaths from the disease. Of this year’s cases in the US, 646 have been in Texas.
To try to prevent the measles virus from spreading further throughout Mexico, its Ministry of Health has issued a travel warning for the United States and Canada, where cases have also risen sharply. The ministry advises travelers to make sure they are up-to-date with their vaccinations, practice social distancing, wear a mask, and frequently wash their hands.Falling vaccination levels have also helped drive up Mexico’s cases, as they have in the US. In 98 percent of US cases this year, the patient—whether an adult or child—had no history of vaccination against measles. In early April, it was reported that a 31-year-old man unvaccinated against measles had died of the disease in Chihuahua.
Measles isn’t the only disease being targeted in Mexico: Children over 4 years old are also being offered the DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) vaccine, and a pneumococcal booster is being offered at 12 months of age. Adolescents, adults over 60, and pregnant women are also being invited to get specific vaccines that they might need as well.
Measles is a viral disease, and it is considered to be one of the most contagious in the world. It mostly spreads among children. It is transmitted by contact with infected nasal or pharyngeal secretions and through the air, and it initially affects the respiratory tract. Symptoms include a high fever, cough, abundant nasal discharges, and a skin rash that spreads all over the body. Complications can include blindness, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), diarrhea, dehydration, ear infections, and pneumonia. In severe cases, it can be fatal.
DOD to deploy counter-drone capabilities at US-Mexico border as cartels surveil troops
The Pentagon is preparing to deploy counter-drone capabilities around the U.S.-Mexico border as part of its ongoing support of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and security mandates there, two senior defense officials told lawmakers Tuesday.
“[President Donald Trump] has issued several executive orders directing the Department of Defense to take all appropriate and lawful measures to ensure the complete operational control of the border. The department, in turn, is responding by preparing the path for employment of [counter-small uncrewed aerial system or CsUAS] activities along the border — both in support of DOD interests and in support of [the Department of Homeland Security] as the lead federal agency,” said Mark Ditlevson, acting assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs.
Ditlevson and Rear Adm. Paul Spedero Jr., Joint Chiefs of Staff vice director for operations, J3, revealed those plans in written and oral testimony during a House Military and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing about recent reports of unauthorized drone activity that threaten U.S. national security.
“We know that cartels have used [uncrewed aerial systems or UAS] for unauthorized surveillance to assess our troop size, our movements, to solicit and enable attacks from other vectors. We know that they have used drones for kinetic attacks,” Spedero said.
The rapid emergence, proliferation and application of drones are fundamentally shifting the way that militarized groups and other adversarial organizations conduct warfare.
The two witnesses discussed with lawmakers DOD’s still-ongoing responses to several recent high-profile incidents that impacted military officials and American civilians domestically and abroad over the last few years, including in New Jersey and at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia.
Ditlevson and Spedero confirmed that the Pentagon is moving to buy hardware and software assets designed to help combatant commanders better understand their operating environments and their commands’ capacity to conduct non-kinetic and kinetic defense against UAS threats.
Among other remedies, they also said DOD officials have identified and are pursuing a range of policy, process and technology improvements to govern and streamline DOD’s execution of counter-UAS activities.
However, several lawmakers warned that on some U.S. defense installations — and now, particularly at the southern border, where Trump recently authorized the military to take control — service members have suggested that they’re still not confident in gauging when and if they are permitted to respond to incursions from unidentified drones.
“This is the burden of command, and you need to understand that if there is something that is assessed as a threat to your forces and your installation, you not only have the authority, but the responsibility to act. I would counter that they have authority right now on the southwest border to engage UAS,” Spedero noted.
In their written testimony, he and Ditlevson further stated that “transnational criminal organizations are adapting to our operations by using drones to track the movements of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents and DOD forces near the border” and that the department is puzzling out an associated initiative to defend against small UAS in the near term.
They did not share implementation details or comment on possible policy changes and capabilities updates that need to be completed for the CsUAS “path to employment” to come into fruition.
“It’s critical — the cartels are using drones to surveil our military and law enforcement at the border. That’s not good, and they’re going to use everything they can to find holes that will then dictate their behavior. So yes, we need to have counter-drone technology there,” subcommittee Chair Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., told DefenseScoop after the hearing. “If the border patrol is saying it’s a problem, it’s a problem.”
Mexico Reports Surge in Measles Cases as Texas Outbreak Spills Across Border
Dr. Paul Offit: “He’s held press conferences about autism. He’s held press conferences about food dyes. What he should do is hold a press conference every other day about this measles epidemic and what we’re doing about it and encourage vaccination, especially in areas where there’s low vaccination rates. The opposite is happening. He doesn’t say that. He gets in front of the public and says measles vaccine kills people every year.”
May 1st, known as Día del Trabajo (Labor Day) in Mexico and many Latin American countries, is a significant day dedicated to honoring workers and their contributions to society. It is part of International Workers’ Day, a global observance rooted in the labor movement’s fight for fair working conditions and rights.
The origins of this celebration trace back to the Haymarket Affair of 1886 in Chicago, where workers protested for an eight-hour workday. The tragic events that followed led to the establishment of May 1st as a day of remembrance and advocacy for labor rights worldwide. In Mexico, Labor Day became an official holiday, reflecting the country’s own history of labor struggles, including the Cananea miners’ strike of 1906, which played a role in inspiring the Mexican Revolution.
Across Latin America, May 1st is marked by marches, demonstrations, and speeches from labor unions and government officials. Workers from various industries come together to demand better wages, improved working conditions, and social protections. In countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, the day serves as a reminder of past labor movements and ongoing efforts to secure workers’ rights.
Despite being a public holiday, many workers in informal sectors continue to work, highlighting the economic challenges faced by laborers in the region. The day is not only a celebration but also a call to action, urging governments and businesses to uphold fair labor practices.
Labor Day in Mexico and Latin America remains a powerful symbol of solidarity, perseverance, and the ongoing fight for dignity in the workplace. It reinforces the importance of recognizing and valuing the contributions of workers in shaping society and driving economic progress.
‘The United States is the villain of our story.’ Nationalism surges in Mexico amid Trump threats
- Americans barely remember the Mexican-American War, but in Mexico memories of the war and other military quarrels with the United States remain deeply felt.
- Mexico lost half its territory, including California, in the war that broke out this week in 1846.
- President Claudia Sheinbaum, who often speaks of Mexico’s sovereignty, said, “We are neither a protectorate nor a colony of any foreign nation.”
MEXICO CITY — At the entrance to Mexico City’s largest park lies a towering marble monument to six young military cadets killed in battle.
The Niños Héroes — “boy heroes” — died while defending Mexico’s capital during the Mexican-American War, which broke out 179 years ago this week.
That conflict may not loom large in the minds of most Americans. But in Mexico, which in defeat was forced to cede more than half of its territory to the U.S., memories of the war and other military quarrels with the nation’s powerful northern neighbor remain deeply felt.
As Mexicans, we have to unite for this new battle — which is a trade war
— Felix de la Rosa, chemical engineer
Today, Mexico is once again locked in battle with the United States, this time facing an American president who is hurling insults, tariffs and threatening U.S. drone strikes here. Many see it as just the latest chapter in an age-old tale of U.S. aggression.
“In Mexico there’s a perception that the United States is the villain of our story,” said historian Alejandro Rosas. “That’s the narrative you grow up with, it’s what they teach you in school. We’ve been victims of the United States forever.”
The Niños Héroes are often viewed as the embodiment of courage, teenagers who fought like men against a northern invader. Their faces have appeared on currency, Streets bear their names, children learn about them in school.
“It’s unfair,” said Monserrat Martínez Hernández, 20, a college student who snapped selfies alongside her mother, sister and two cousins.
“They already took away half our territory,” she said of the United States. “Now they want to abuse their power again, this time from an economic perspective.”
Since Trump took office in January, Mexico has been seized by a wave of nationalistic zeal.
On TikTok, users have demanded a boycott of American products, filming themselves pouring Coca Cola down the drain. Companies have embraced the red, green and white of the Mexican flag in ad campaigns.
After the government announced a relaunch of the “Hecho en Mexico,” or “Made in Mexico,” seal on locally produced products, Grupo Modelo said it would print the slogan on its beer bottle caps.
Leading the way is Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has both stoked — and benefited from — the surge in national pride.
She has cooperated with Trump on several key measures, sending thousands of National Guard troops to fortify the northern border and transferring dozens of suspected cartel members wanted by the U.S.
But she has pushed back when possible, suggesting Mexico would retaliate if the Trump administration carried out drone strikes in its territory, pushing a constitutional measure that effectively bans the planting of U.S. GMO corn and recently asking television stations to pull what she called “discriminatory” ads produced by the Trump administration warning against undocumented migration. Her approval ratings — which hover around 80% — are among the highest in the world for a head of state.
She seems to work the word for sovereignty — soberano — into almost every speech.
Tellingly, she has often invoked history in her effort to rally support.
This month she marked the anniversary of the sixth-month long U.S. occupation of the port city of Veracruz in 1914.
“Mexico is and always will be a great country,” Sheinbaum told a stadium filled with smartly dressed naval officers. “We are neither a protectorate nor a colony of any foreign nation.”
Recently, Sheinbaum used the word “traitor” to describe an opposition party member who voiced support for a U.S. effort to designate drug cartels as “terrorist” groups. She compared him with the conservative Mexicans who, in the 1850s, invited the French to help overthrow the liberal government of President Benito Juarez. The French ended up occupying Mexico for several years, briefly installing Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, an Austrian duke, as emperor.
But it is the history of U.S. antagonism, with its roots in manifest destiny and President Polk’s obsession with territorial expansion, that Mexicans best remember. In 1845, the U.S. annexed Texas, a move Mexico rejected. After Mexican troops attacked U.S. soldiers in Texas on April 25, 1846, the U.S. formally declared war. The 1847 battle over Mexico City is recalled on the U.S. side in the opening line of the Marines’ Hymn: “From the Halls of Montezuma …”
The U.S. and Mexico share a 2,000-mile long border and deep cultural, economic and family ties. Americans are largely welcomed with open arms and warm hospitality when they visit Mexico’s vibrant cities, archaeological ruins and vast beaches.
But if an undercurrent of hostility is at times detectable, Rosas says it is related to how Mexicans are educated about their history. While neighboring countries often have territorial disputes, he said Mexican governments, particularly those associated with the Institutional Revolutionary Party, made the U.S. the boogeyman in order to drum up domestic support, he said.
“They needed a shared enemy,” Rosas said. “So they embraced very defensive, nationalistic and anti-interventionist politics.” It’s no mistake, he said, that the war between the U.S. and Mexico is often referred to as “the United States intervention.”
At the Niños Héroes monument, Mexicans reflected on that past and possible conflicts — economic ones — looming in the future.
Felix de la Rosa, 64, a chemical engineer from the state of Coahuila, which borders Texas, says he visits the monument every time he’s in Mexico City.
“As Mexicans, we have to unite for this new battle — which is a trade war,” he said. “But we shouldn’t bow our heads without fighting. I think the boy heroes are a great example, and that is how we should act, with great courage and dignity in the face of this new battle.”
But for some, the lesson of history is that Mexico may again suffer the fate of being neighbor to one of the most powerful countries in the world.
“The truth is, our country doesn’t have the economic strength they have,” said Gerardo Santos, a 33-year-old businessman. “Our country is weaker, and President Trump knows this and takes advantage of it.”
“In the end, the gringos will win again,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do about a man like Trump. The guy is crazy.”
PAST ARTICLES
‘The United States is the villain of our story.’ Nationalism surges in Mexico amid Trump threats