Celebrations clash with social tensions in Mexico ahead of World Cup

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Celebrations have run into mounting social tensions in Mexico as the capital prepares to welcome the world in the opening ceremonies of the FIFA World Cup.

Mexico, which is jointly hosting the soccer tournament with the U.S. and Canada, is slated to kick off festivities with an inauguration and opening match Thursday in a star-studded event that will set the tone for the rest of the competition.

The World Cup comes at a time when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is walking a political tightrope, navigating a deteriorating relationship with the U.S. in the lead-up to July trade negotiations, political scandals and security concerns following a burst of violence in a host city in February.

Pressure has only continued to mount as guests flood into Mexico City, and the government has faced a crescendo of criticisms by protesters and residents who say authorities have prioritized the competition over pressing social needs in the Latin American nation.

“Mexico wants to project an image to the world that doesn’t exactly square with reality,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, a Mexican political analyst at the Mexican Center for Research and Economic Education. “The World Cup is putting the president in a vulnerable situation … The government is under extreme pressure.”

FIFA's logo, bright orange Mexican marigold flowers, giant soccer balls and other sports decorations line streets across Mexico’s capital and the two other host cities, Guadalajara and Monterrey. Soccer fans buzzed with excitement as they strolled through Mexico City's streets, snapping photos in front of the most famous monuments while donning their teams’ colors.

The sporting competition is expected to bring in $3 billion for hotels, restaurants and sports venues, according to the Mexican Soccer Federation.

The Thursday inauguration and opening match, where Mexico will face off against South Africa, are expected to draw more eyes than much of the competition, with Colombian superstar Shakira and a slate of others scheduled to perform.

If all goes off without a hitch, it will be a feather in Sheinbaum's cap, said Pérez Ricart, showing the world that Mexico is “modern and capable of organizing high impact events.”

For months, Mexican authorities have fortified security in an effort to offset concerns, following several days of violence that paralyzed World Cup host city Guadalajara in February.

More than 100,000 soldiers, sailors, National Guard members and police officers are expected to be deployed across the three cities holding matches, yet simmering social tensions that have been growing for weeks have posed the greatest obstacle, particularly in Mexico City.

Critics in Mexico have said that the government has spent too much money and time catering to international visitors at the expense of residents.

For more than a week, the country’s teacher’s union has blockaded roads and toppled World Cup statues in an annual push to win better working conditions. Families of Mexico’s more than 130,000 missing people have hung flyers of their disappeared loved ones and said that authorities should focus their energies on addressing humanitarian crises ravaging other parts of Mexico.

"We’re not against the ball game,” said Luis Antonio Rosales Narváez, a protest organizer. But “they should be investing in education ... not giving the city a makeover.”

On Tuesday, Sheinbaum brushed off criticisms and denied that there was any social unrest ahead of the tournament.

The political opposition “wants to give the impression that there is chaos, that there are problems, right in the middle of an international event we’ve been preparing for a long time,” Sheinbaum said in her morning press briefing on Tuesday.

Police have largely blocked major protests from taking over main plazas and the area outside of the stadium, but it remained unclear what would happen the day the games kick off and during the month of games that follow.

Airports across the Americas were filled with fans who had doled out money to follow their teams. Panama City's airport — one of the main gateways between North and South America — was a sea of multicolored jerseys from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Germany and more.

“This year we’re defending the title, and we’ll follow Argentina to the ends of the earth,” shouted Emilio Sosa, a 29-year-old from Buenos Aires on his way to Los Angeles.

David Botero, a 43-year-old Colombian, planned his vacation around the World Cup, and was traveling to Mexico City with his family to watch Colombia’s opening match on June 17 against Uzbekistan after changing their plans to dodge higher prices in Miami.

“What matters is that we’ll get to see our team up close," Botero said.

Others, like 66-year-old Dr. Jose Luis Muñoz, struck a more skeptical tone as he read and smoked a cigarette next to a park in downtown Mexico City that once teemed with street vendors, since cleared out by authorities in an effort to clean up the streets.

Muñoz said some of his fondest memories were taking his 8-, 12- and 14-year-old children to games during Mexico’s 1986 World Cup and celebrating their home team as it was on a winning streak.

“I was so excited, and that joy I passed on to my children,” he said.

This year, though, he was priced out from attending games, where tickets cost hundreds of dollars.

“The prices are sky-high. Many people aren’t going to be able to go unless they’re foreigners with a lot of money,” Muñoz said. “It feels very discriminatory."

Still, he added, he will root for Mexico's national team from home with his children and grandchildren.

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Associated Press journalists Nayara Batschke and María Verza contributed to this report from Mexico City.

Striking teachers march toward the stadium that will host the opening match of the FIFA World Cup in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

A dancer performs along Reforma Avenue in Mexico City, Saturday, June 6, 2026 ahead of the FIFA World Cup. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Fences block teachers from setting up camp in the Zocalo as they protest for salary increases in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

Police block an avenue to prevent protesting teachers from marching to the stadium that will host the opening match of the FIFA World Cup in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Aztlán Tenochtitlan plays ulama, a traditional Mesoamerican ball game dating back to pre-Hispanic times in Mexico City, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (AP) — Dozens of rescuers in hard hats scrambled out of a partially collapsed grocery in a southern Philippine city Wednesday as it was rattled by an aftershock from a powerful earthquake that left at least 45 people dead and 17 others missing in the region.

A safety officer blew his whistle and others screamed to warn about 30 firefighters and coast guard personnel to dash to safety as concrete debris crashed down from the leaning three-story building in General Santos city in a frantic scene witnessed by an AP video journalist.

The coastal city, a bustling commercial hub and the country’s tuna capital, was devastated by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Monday and left a trail of destruction across southern Mindanao, the Philippines' second-most populous region.

“It was a strong aftershock and an alarm was immediately sounded so those inside and under the damaged building can run out for a headcount,” said Ressa Mia Tactaquin-Betoya, who speaks for the firefighters searching for the last employee missing in the ruined grocery, where two upper floors collapsed during the initial quake.

“It was scary because we don’t want our rescuers to be harmed so the area must be secured before they can go back in,” she told The Associated Press.

The earthquake has been followed by more than 2,100 aftershocks including a few that ranged up to 6.4 magnitude, which is strong enough to cause more casualties and damage, according to Teresito Bacolcol, who heads the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

More than 25,000 people remain displaced, many of them staying in 45 government-run emergency shelters and still too traumatized to return home, officials said.

Monday's quake was one of the most powerful to hit the Philippines in a half century. It injured at least 630 people and damaged more than 3,100 houses, 29 roads, 11 bridges and more than 100 government buildings.

It also damaged the international airport in General Santos, forcing it to shut down indefinitely except for government and military flights transporting aid and disaster-response personnel, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesperson Eric Apolonio said.

About 6,000 public school buildings in quake-hit provinces must be assessed before classes can resume. The quake struck on the first day of classes nationwide after a two-month summer break, and many who sustained injuries were young students who had gathered with excitement for morning flag-raising ceremonies.

Most of the deaths were caused by falling debris from collapsed buildings and landslides in General Santos and the nearby provinces of Sarangani, South Cotabato and Davao Occidental.

At least one person died after being swept out to sea following the quake, as waves up to 1.4 meters (4.6 feet) above tide level were measured in the southern Philippines. Smaller waves washed ashore in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan before tsunami warnings were lifted.

Seven swimmers near General Santos were swept away by strong currents in the minutes after the quake. Three were rescued by the coast guard, one managed to swim back to shore, one drowned and two remain missing, the Philippine coast guard said.

The strong currents that swept away the victims were most likely set off by the earthquake, Bacolcol said.

The earthquake was set off by movement in the Cotabato Trench and was one of the strongest to hit the country since the same undersea depression triggered an 8.1-magnitude quake that whipped up tsunami waves on Aug. 17, 1976 and killed about 8,000 people.

The Philippines, one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, is often hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of seismic faults around the ocean.

Associated Press journalists Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Residents take shelter in a field at a municipal hall in Sarangani province, Philippines, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)

Residents take shelter in a field at a municipal hall in Sarangani province, Philippines, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)

People walk past a landslide following an earthquake in Sarangani province, Philippines, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)

Damaged houses are seen following an earthquake in General Santos, Philippines Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)

Residents take shelter in a field at a municipal hall in Sarangani province, Philippines, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)