Christmas Eve froze with -10°C and torrential rains in Mexico

Housing for Wellbeing: 1.8 million new homes

From Gómez Palacio, Durango, President Claudia Sheinbaum explained that her administration will build 1.8 million homes, provide 1.8 million supports for home improvement and grant one million deeds. In addition, 5.1 million unpayable loans will be restructured. Everything is part of the Housing for Wellbeing program, which seeks to benefit 11.5 million families throughout the six-year period.

Sheinbaum contrasted this policy with the past: “Before they built 40 m² houses, without services, without transportation. Now they will be at least 60 m², with all services and close to schools and hospitals.”

The director of Infonavit, Octavio Romero, specified that in Durango alone the goal is 25 thousand homes, with an investment of more than 15 billion pesos. At the national level, the institute already has 500 thousand houses contracted, 40% of its goal of 1.2 million.

Women’s Welfare Pension: a right, not a gift

In Río Grande, Zacatecas, the president stressed that the Women’s Welfare Pension is a right for all Mexican women when they turn 60. “It is not a gift, it is a right,” he stated. The program applies to all 32 entities.

Sheinbaum reiterated his support for Mexicans in the United States, whom he called “heroes and heroines of the homeland.” He also highlighted other social programs such as the Benito Juárez scholarship, Rita Cetina, Young People Building the Future and Sowing Life.

The governor of Durango, Esteban Villegas, offered his support and asked for national unity in the face of current challenges.”

Vice Admiral Manuel Roberto Farías Laguna, accused of leading a huachicol network from the Navy, challenged the judicial decision that denied him protection. His defense presented an appeal for review before a Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters.

The court will define whether to admit or reject the appeal. If admitted, he will review the sentence of Judge Jorge Adrián Cruz Flores, who on June 22 denied federal protection. If he ratifies it, the Vice Admiral will continue to be held in the Altiplano prison.

Farías Laguna requested protection in October 2025, after Judge Mario Martínez Elizondo linked him to proceedings for organized crime and fuel trafficking. The FGR accuses him of leading an organization that operated the disembarkation of at least 31 vessels with fiscal huachicol at the customs of Altamira and Tampico, Tamaulipas.

Details of the accusation

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, a group of sailors and customs officials, led by brothers Manuel Roberto and Fernando Farías Laguna, would have coordinated the entry of stolen fuel during the six-year term of former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The network operated with complicity within the same institution.

The resolution of the Collegiate Court will be key for the legal future of the accused. The case shows the challenges in the fight against huachicol when it involves senior Navy commanders.

Entry to the Atlacholoaya prison

Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, former director of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), was admitted to the Observation and Classification Center of the Atlacholoaya prison after his arrest at the Benito Juárez mayor’s office in Mexico City. He is accused of family and vicarious violence, for attacking his wife in the presence of their youngest daughter.

During his first morning in the protection area for officials, he expressed dissatisfaction because they did not bring him fruit. The prison rule is that fruit is served only to those who are on a sick diet. Later they gave him pieces of melon, and other prisoners indicated that he probably paid for this benefit, a common practice in that area.

Rodríguez occupies a single cell, wears a beige uniform and plain tennis shoes. So far he has not received visits from family or friends. He also did not have companions at the accusation formulation hearing last Wednesday. Judge Consuelo Adriana Carrera Ortiz asked twice if there was any family member present, without receiving a response.

In that same hearing, the former official reported that he is undergoing treatment for a malignant tumor in the prostate. The judge ordered immediate medical attention.

“I am going to order that the corresponding letter be sent to the director of the Social Reintegration Center so that they can immediately provide medical attention and they must inform me within 24 hours,” said the judge.

Rodríguez tried to detail his medication, but the judge interrupted him: “I cannot order in this office that you be given these medications, because I am not a doctor; however, a doctor will determine if it is pertinent for you to take these medications.” Complaints have been registered in the prison about lack of medication.