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The continued scrutiny of the United States as the head of the International Committee, and FIFA’s role as organizer of the games, have overshadowed a growing list of security concerns and protests in Mexico where the opening games begin next month.
The 2026 World Cup will open in Mexico City on June 11, with the home team facing South Africa at the Estadio Azteca. But soccer fans are wary of recent violence and frequent protests in Mexico’s host cities.
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A Mass shooting that killed 10 people in the Mexican state of Puebla Sunday has heightened security fears among former human rights activists and nationalists heading to North America for the tournament.
Here’s what happened in Mexico a few months before the World Cup:
Shootings, cartel violence raise security fears
Six men, three women and a young child were tortured with weapons at the house of Tehuitzingo, 200 kilometers from Mexico City, where the opening games are expected in three weeks.
The state Attorney General’s Office has announced that it has opened an investigation into the shooting. Before that, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum promised to strengthen security, including exports 100,000 security personnel involved National Guard soldiers, police and private security company employees.
The shooting happened less than a month after the gunman’s murder a Canadian immigrant and injured 13 others at Teotihuacan, a popular tourist and archaeological site outside Mexico City.
US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is scheduled to travel to Mexico this week, President Sheinbaum said Monday but did not specify why.
In April, Human Rights Watch highlighted ahead of the World Cup that Mexico remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. It also pointed out that FIFA had not taken into account the potential risks to journalists working in the host cities of the World Cup in Mexico.
Amnesty International too to call FIFA and the World Cup are calling for immediate action to protect fans, players, media, staff and local communities as the tournament takes place during a “serious human rights crisis”.
Mexico erupted in violence in February, after security forces killed a cartel leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Osegueramember of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said he is “determined” for Mexico to host the tournament, following the violence sparked by the killing of a drug lord.
Repeated incidents have left the country unable to deal with violent crime, and its leadership is trying to quell fear and criticism.
Forced disappearance
Several Mexican human rights groups are using the World Cup to draw attention to a long-standing political issue.
On Sunday, relatives of missing people in Mexico played football outside the Nuevo Leon palace to demand answers about the whereabouts of their loved ones.
The mother of missing man Roy Rivera Hidalgo, Irma Leticia Hidalgo, criticized the authorities for spending what she called “useless and superficial” while cutting resources from agencies responsible for investigating missing persons.
There are 133,960 people missing in Mexico, according to the government, a problem largely driven by years of violence and institutional neglect.
Earlier this month on Mother’s Day in North America, thousands of people, led by the mothers of women who have disappeared in decades of drug violence, demonstrated against the violence and impunity that has affected the country.
The missing women asked football fans to join them, saying “there is nothing to celebrate, because Mexican women are playing the most difficult game: fair”.
“Mexico, triumph over poverty,” protesters chanted.
“We had to start fighting, because no one wanted to take care of the accident (the case),” said Graciela Perez Rodriguez, whose daughter and four other relatives disappeared in 2012.
A strike by teachers for a pay rise
On Friday, teachers and activists marched in Mexico City on Teachers’ Day to demand higher wages and benefits, as union leaders warned of a global strike that could disrupt the opening of the World Cup next month.
The teachers’ union, the National Coordination of Education Workers (CNTE), has rejected the government’s announcement to raise the salaries of nine percent of the workforce and is demanding higher wages and reforms in education.
Pedro Hernandez Morales, General Secretary of the CNTE Section 9 in Mexico City, warned that if the demands are not met before the opening game in Mexico on June 11, “the ball will not be moved”, threatening the teachers of the whole country.
The warning adds to the already tense education debate, after officials last week reversed plans to cut the school year short for the competition, following a row between parents and teachers.
