What is "Mexico Decoded"?

Understanding Mexico beyond the clichés —from the ground up.

Mexico is often misunderstood.

Flattened into clichés by media made for foreign eyes, Mexico is too often portrayed as either a sun-drenched resort or as a sepia-toned episode of Narcos, overlooking the fact that it is the world’s 12th-largest economy, the United States’ top trading partner, and that Mexico City is a cosmopolitan metropolis whose cultural richness, urban vitality, and economic importance surpass those of many European capitals.

This Substack exists to reframe how Mexico is seen, understood, and debated.

Every week, I’ll bring you a sharp, idea-driven piece about what’s really happening in Mexico. Its politics, economy, and power struggles written by someone who lives here and speaks the language, not just flies in to report.

In here, you won’t find summaries of what’s already in the headlines.

You’ll get analysis grounded in lived experience, informed by data, and free of the filters imposed by traditional media. Filters shaped by class, distance, and the narrow perspectives of English-speaking elites.

I’m a Mexican journalist and analyst.

In Mexico, I comment on the country’s top political analysis show, write one of its most-read columns, and have authored two best-selling books about Mexico’s economy in Spanish. Every summer (except 2025), I teach the class on “U.S.-Mexico Politics” at Harvad.

In English, my work has appeared in The New York Times, The Intercept and Americas Quarterly — mostly when the news cycle makes editors care about Mexico, such as when a drug lord is captured or a new Mexico president is elected.

I started this Substack because I want Mexico’s complexity, contradictions, and unresolved tensions to be known.

There are stories happening in Mexico that matter to the world beyond criminal organizations such as its sweeping judicial reform, its regulatory pushback against Uber’s labor precarity, and its world-class ambition to create a public internet provider that can compete with global telecommunication companies.

By subscribing, you're not just getting better insight.

You are supporting independent, data-driven journalism from within Mexico, and helping reshape how the world understands it.

Paid subscribers will receive weekly essays on Mexico’s politics, economy, and power dynamics —explained for a global audience. You'll also get access to exclusive interviews with Mexico experts that I follow and respect, and the chance to join the conversation through comments.

Welcome.