New research suggests an Aztec-allied town ceremonially disfigured the bodies of captive Spaniards during one of the worst defeats in the Spanish Conquest of 1519-21, experts said Wednesday. The heads of the captive Spanish women were strung up on skull racks alongside those of men. An analysis of the bones revealed the women were pregnant,...Read More

The inhabitants of Santiago Xalitzintla rise well before dawn to prepare their offerings to The Sleeping Woman, as they affectionately call the dormant Iztaccíhuatl volcano that hovers above their town in central Mexico. There are potatoes to fry for the feast, and heaping bunches of red carnations to lug up to the stone altar 3,800...Read More

Archaeologists in Mexico have found a Spanish anchor off the Gulf coast of Veracruz that dates to around the time of the Spanish conquest. The anchor was found near a site where Hernán Cortés intentionally sank 10 of his ships in 1519 to prevent his troops from deserting. Cortés landed in Veracruz 500 years ago,...Read More

Spanish politicians reacted with anger on Tuesday to a request by Mexico’s president for an apology for the wrongs committed by conquerors to indigenous peoples 500 years ago, calling it an affront to Spanish history. Spanish conquistadors arrived in the territory of Mexico in 1521 and ruled it as a colony until 1821, sweeping away...Read More

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday he has asked Spain and the Vatican to apologize for the conquest of the Americas five centuries ago. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he sent a letter to King Felipe VI of Spain and Pope Francis over what he called an “invasion” and the “many misdeeds that were...Read More

A trove of Aztec sacrifices including a richly adorned jaguar dressed as a warrior and recently discovered in downtown Mexico City could lead archaeologists to the most tantalizing find yet: an Aztec emperor’s tomb. Discovered off the steps of the Aztec’s holiest temple during the reign of the empire’s most powerful ruler, the sacrificial offerings...Read More

Mexico’s outgoing government announced on Tuesday that it will bestow the country’s top honor for foreigners on Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, a decision quickly met with derision by critics on social media. Kushner, who also serves as a senior White House adviser, will be admitted into the Order of the Aztec Eagle...Read More

Mexico’s axolotl salamander can almost magically heal itself, holding the power to regrow its heart and brain. But there is one feat it may not pull off: survive dire threats to the last wild place it calls home. Plagued by polluted water, predatory fish and the steady encroachment of one of the world’s biggest megacities,...Read More

New research strengthens the case that people used the chocolate ingredient cacao in South America 5,400 years ago, underscoring the seed’s radical transformation into today’s Twix bars and M&M candies. Tests indicate traces of cacao on artifacts from an archaeological site in Ecuador, according to a study published Monday. That’s about 1,500 years older than...Read More

Mexico’s Day of the Dead is right around the corner. But death is not something to be feared on this holiday. In Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit, two vibrant destinations on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, it’s the time of year that feels most alive. Day of the Dead 2018 Day of the Dead is one of...Read More

Almost all animals that were worshipped by the ancient Aztecs are now under some kind of threat in Mexico, according to biologist Carlos Galindo, director of science communication from the National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity (Conabio). The quetzal, jaguar, hummingbirds and the golden eagle are some of these animals, which long...Read More

Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is considered the most representative traditions of Mexican culture and is from the Aztec culture that was popularized in much of Latin America. In 2008 Unesco declared Día de Muertos as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of Mexico. In Brazil, there is a similar celebration known...Read More

My foray into tequila appreciation began on a train with 400 drunken Rabbit Gods and ended with a headache as throbbing as a Mexican hat dance. And that was just the first day. It’s 8.30am when we board the luxurious Jose Cuervo Express in Guadalajara for the two-hour journey to Tequila in the western state...Read More

Three Mexican drug cartels operated in the El Paso-Juarez region Daniel Borunda/El Paso Times (Photo: Courtesy Chihuahua state government) Gold-plated handguns, cocaine and pickups were seized Wednesday during the arrest of one of the reputed leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Chihuahua. Chihuahua state police arrested Leonel "El Cuate" Salgueiro during an "intense operation"...Read More

IT WAS one of the most audacious heists in art history. On Christmas Eve 1985 125 Mayan, Aztec, Miztec and Zapotec artefacts were stolen from the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Some suspected that it was the work of the KGB or the CIA, a gang of professional crooks from Guatemala or Colombia...Read More