Peso loses strength
After an impressive run as one of the world’s best-performing currencies, Mexico’s “superpeso” appears to be losing its strength.
Further depreciation this week, possibly driven by uncertainty surrounding the impending judicial reforms (see story on page 1), means that Mexico’s currency has lost 16 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar since June 1, the day before Claudia Sheinbaum won the presidential election. The peso stood at 16.96 to the dollar on May 31 but closed at 19.71—its weakest level since December 2022—on August 28.
Dengue’s 1st victim
Jalisco has recorded its first confirmed dengue-related death of 2024. Although the death was reported during epidemiological week 33, it likely occurred several weeks earlier, as all cases in Mexico must be officially confirmed by the Ministry of Health’s Epidemiological Surveillance System (Sinave), a process known for being notoriously slow. According to the latest data, an additional 445 dengue cases were confirmed last week, bringing Jalisco’s annual total to 2,612.
Research program
A joint research program between Virginia Tech in the United States, the University of Windsor in Canada, and Guadalajara’s Jesuit ITESO University has been launched to unite students in addressing the critical challenge of improving access to clean water in rivers and lakes. The launch was attended by ITESO Chancellor Alexander Paul Zatyrka, as well as the consuls of Canada and the United States, Frank Le and Amy Scanlon.