Posted on 03/23/2026 6:23:31 AM PDT by delta7
As the 89th Banking Convention wraps up in Cancún today, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau share the stage with Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, and the BIS—amid a focus on ending cash that ties perfectly into Mexico’s ongoing biometric ID rollout.
On Wednesday, the 89th Banking Convention began in Cancún, Mexico, as representatives from the Mexican government and banking sector met to discuss the future of digital payments and the phasing out of cash in a country where more than three-fourths of the population depends on it.
The annual meeting brought together leaders from Mexico’s financial sector, including heads of banking, government economic authorities, and CEOs of major corporations. The convention is organized by the Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM) under the theme “Innovating Banking, Building the Future.”
La 89 Convención Bancaria dio inicio en #Cancún para abordar la transformación en el sector financiero y contará con la participación del ex ministro de Canadá 🇨🇦 , Justin Trudeau, y la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum. 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/ZL1aNtAsLG
— StephaniAlmaraz (@stephiblan) March 19, 2026
On Thursday night, Mexican President Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum spoke on increasing productivity of small- and medium-sized businesses in Mexico. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to give the closing presentation on Friday evening titled “Global Leadership and Transformation.”
Other speakers include representatives of Banorte, BBVA, Scotiabank, Santander, and HSBC. Also in attendance are Ryan McInerney, CEO of Visa, and Tim Murphy, Vice Chair of Mastercard.
International Banksters Seek to Control Mexico
One sign that the meeting is of vast importance to the international banking sector—and the overall push towards Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins—is the presence of representatives of Mexico’s Central Bank, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and BlackRock.
For example, on Wednesday, Fabrizio López Gallo, Director General of Financial Stability for Mexico’s Central Bank, participated in a panel titled “Sustainable Financing: Risks and Opportunities,” while Sergio Mendez, the Director of BlackRock Mexico, spoke on a panel called “Infrastructure Investment as a Catalyst for Growth.”
Multiple panels underscore the push to digitize money in Mexico, including “The Future of Money: What’s Next for Mexico and the World,” featuring BIS’s Alexandre Tombini, and “The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Future of Digital Payments” with McInerney and HSBC Mexico’s Jorge Arce Gama.
Several statements by Emilio Romano, the head of the ABM, make it clear that the Mexican Central Bank and the international bankers are working diligently to shift Mexico away from cash and towards a track-and-trace society where dissidents have their financial resources turned off.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Romano stated, “The central bank is preparing to publish protocols to drive the adoption of payments sent by mobile phones.”
He noted, “Authorities are studying separate measures that could include eliminating cash payments for some services and products, such as gas stations and toll roads.” [emphasis added]
Romano also emphasized that these changes are being made because in Mexico, “roughly 85% of small transactions are done in cash,” largely due to Mexicans not trusting their government and seeking to avoid taxation. “Easing concerns about how the government assesses income will help,” he said.
President Sheinbaum reiterated the plan to end cash payments for gas stations and toll roads in her speech on Thursday night, stating, “Our goal is that this year we make it mandatory to pay for gasoline and toll booths digitally. This will allow us to promote accessible digital payments that allow us to advance the digitization of the country through many other schemes.”
Additionally, the day before the convention began, Juan Pablo de Botton, the Secretary of Administration and Finance of Mexico City, published an opinion piece with similar themes.
“The banking sector is anxiously awaiting these rules to be published again so that we can advance in optimizing the digital-payments ecosystem,” Botton wrote. [emphasis added] He also reiterated the focus on digitizing Mexico’s economy and building trust among the population......
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Absolutely right.
She’s out of her mind. It will be the end of the Morena party. End of cash on toll roads? Who will use them? Who will pay for them? Only digital at gas stations? ⛽️ Revolt.
What will happen is that the cartels will buy the gas using digital currency, then turn around and sell it for cash at a much higher price.
Many tool roads bill electronically now. You get recorded and billed. You aren’t in the system, you get a ticket.
“Toll” roads. I’ve gotten tickets there were mistakes, but they fixed those too. License plate holder on the perp’s car fooled the camera, made an “O” look like a “U”.
I use cash everyday. I think Digital cash is fine for Government transactions , but let the people choose what they want to use. Never let cash be abolished or you wont have any control over your finances again.
I agree but the option of cash is what keeps us free.
how will these elitesbuy their cocaine and male prostitues??
Mexico, specifically Sinaloa, has toll booths as you enter the highway. The electronic tolling you see in the US isn’t there.
End of cash on toll roads? Who will use them.
Is ill-considered legislation in Mexico supposed to make sense to U.S. citizens?
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/digital_euro/html/index.en.html
How the citizens don’t revolt is beyond me....but then Biblical prophecy is inerrant.
“I will not get the FL Sunpass so receive bills in the mail from my plate numbers.”
Then you pay the 30% processing fee.
One use can pay for the pass.
No.
BTC can be private if done properly...never tie your personal info. to the private/public keys in your “wallet(s)”:
https://coinledger.io/learn/bitcoin-privacy-techniques
(i.e. don’t use “KYC” exchanges like “Coinbase” to store/transact your BTC).
Pretty much everyone uses cash in Mexico. Cards are not nearly as common as they are in the States.
Apparently, you don't ... and you suffer from the delusion that everyone is like you.
Who uses cash? People who know that all your electronic nonsense is utterly dependent on the internet and electric power. People who don't want to be tracked all the time. People who have personal reasons to avoid credit cards. People who aren't tied to their mobile spying and tracking devices.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.