Purple pain: backlash over Mexico City’s ‘axolotlisation’ for World Cup

Mayor’s attempt to beautify the city with murals of mascot and plum paint jobs criticised as waste of resources The giant purple axolotl peered up at Manuel Martínez from the black bitumen of the street. It was the second such painting of the rare amphibian he had walked past that morning. In recent weeks he had seen axolotl murals pop up in neighbourhoods across Mexico City. “It’s a waste of money,” he said. “You could use that budget for fixing potholes, traffic lights, security cameras. They’re spending on something that doesn’t benefit us at all – it’s just for tourists.” The axolotl, a kind of salamander native to the ancient waterways of Mexico City, is the capital’s mascot for this summer’s Fifa World Cup. And these days it is everywhere: painted on walls, plastered on trains, crawling up lamp-posts, swimming across traffic barriers. Following in its trail is an apparent effort to beautify the city before the tournament by painting much of the capital’s infrastructure purple: pedestrian overpasses, building facades, walls, bridges, banisters, footpaths – all of them turned lilac, lavender or plum. But many residents are unhappy with what has been

May 18, 2026 → May 18, 2026