On December 15, 2025—just over six months ago—we published a warning here at Código Magenta under the headline “A World Cup in the Dark.”
At the time, we warned that a crisis was looming within the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) and that it would explode in the face of the Fourth Transformation government in June, right in the middle of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. We stated, verbatim, regarding a World Cup in the dark:
“It is a very real possibility if we consider the collapse that is approaching in the coming months for the national electricity supply system, operated by the troubled Federal Electricity Commission, a state-owned company brought to the brink by the personal ambitions of its former director, Manuel Bartlett Díaz, the King Midas of diesel fuel theft.”
It was never our intention to be prophets of doom. We simply had enough information to foresee the energy collapse that would continue to worsen. And that is exactly what happened.
For more than a week, large parts of Mexico have been living through an energy crisis, with prolonged blackouts lasting even days, while no one has been able to explain what is keeping them without electricity.
The most dramatic case is the Monterrey metropolitan area, one of the three host cities of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The capital of Nuevo León has endured six days of an out-of-control power supply crisis that has left tens of thousands of consumers so frustrated that they have taken to the streets to block roads and avenues, demanding that service be restored. And they will likely continue waiting.
The heat wave, which reached 44 degrees Celsius last Monday, increased electricity consumption from air conditioners and televisions broadcasting World Cup matches, combined with a supply deficit that has forced the CFE to implement rolling blackouts, has left the capital of Nuevo León in intermittent darkness. This is a metropolis that prides itself on being at the forefront of modernity, with residents who have the financial means to pay for the deficient service they receive.
The energy crisis in Monterrey reached such a severe level that some hospitals even canceled surgical procedures yesterday because electrical substations could not guarantee a continuous and safe power supply for operating rooms. We know firsthand of surgeries that have been canceled and rescheduled until electricity service stabilizes.
If this is happening during the 2026 FIFA World Cup in one of its host cities, filled with Japanese, Korean, Swedish, South African, and Tunisian visitors, imagine what the rest of the country is experiencing. Reports of energy shortages are emerging across the Yucatán and Baja California peninsulas, the Bajío region, and large areas of Tabasco and Veracruz. In fact, as this analysis is being written, reports have emerged of an accident at the controversial Dos Bocas refinery, allegedly caused by one of the blackouts that have become common for months in the neighboring region governed by Rocío Nahle, the former Secretary of Energy under Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
In that December 2025 video, we revealed a confrontation between Luz Elena González and Emilia Calleja. During a meeting with senior officials from the electricity sector, the Secretary of Energy criticized the CFE director for her limited ability to strengthen Mexico’s energy infrastructure. Emilia Calleja responded by saying that she did not report to the Secretary of Energy but directly to President Claudia Sheinbaum.
At that time, we concluded that President Claudia Sheinbaum’s warning was timely.
“Because the worst thing that could happen to Mexico is for the energy crisis to explode during the World Cup. Immediate temporary measures exist in other countries and could prevent the crisis that already appears imminent. The first step is to determine whether the energy sector—CFE and Pemex—is in competent hands capable of delivering the expected results. Today, it is clear that it is not.”
Despite that warning, little or nothing happened. The blackout crisis affecting a World Cup host city like Monterrey—and many other Mexican cities—has become a global embarrassment. Who would want to invest in a country that cannot reliably provide electricity for its households, let alone support new industrial projects? The answer is simple: no one. Quite simply, we do not have the offensive strength to score that goal.
Will President Claudia Sheinbaum Finally Decide to Show a “Red Card” to One of the Two Officials Who Have Spent the Last Six Months Operating “Offside”?
As the saying goes, let the one who is without sin—and also “clear to board”—cast the first stone.
Source: codigomagenta
