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Behind the renovated façades and short-term rentals are lost stories, communities, and the everyday relationships that give the neighborhood meaning, making it a place full of life. #Displacement #AirbnbCrisis #ColoniaJuárez #Gentrification #CDMX #ProyectoJuaricua #RightToRemain

Entre fachadas restauradas y departamentos de renta corta, se siguen perdiendo historias, comunidades y vínculos que dieron vida a la colonia. 🌆 #Desplazamiento #AirbnbCrisis #ColoniaJuárez #Gentrificación #CDMX #ProyectoJuaricua #NoEsTurismoEsDespojo #UrbanChange #RightToStay #MemoriaBarrial

@erinmcel.bsky.social

To learn more about these themes, check out our interactive story maps at juaricua.org/proyecto , the work of our collaborators @06600juaricua.bsky.social and the campaign of @aquisomos.bsky.social - CDMX residents who are organizing against Airbnb in their neighborhoods.

“Digital nomads” are colonial agents whose presence and economic influence dramatically restructure neighborhoods like Colonia Juárez. We should think critically about American “expats’” decisions to flee US fascism, and where they decide to flee to.

So yes, it is notable that American “digital nomads” are moving to Mexico City in droves to “escape” Trump’s regime. But we need to recognize how these privileged mobilities are not innocent acts - they can have dire consequences on local residents of CDMX.

Blanqueamiento por despojo does similar work, pointing to how the Mexican government enables these forms of dispossession, expelling “undesirable” residents from the city’s core to further the state’s colonial and racial capitalist project and attract whitened capital (and people) to the city.

Ananya Roy introduced the idea of racial banishment, arguing that when people are expelled from their homes, acts such as eviction are forms of “state-instituted violence against racialized bodies and communities” that are rooted in longer colonial histories of genocide and enslavement (2020: 227).

This term gets at both the literal whitewashing of buildings to give them the instagrammable look desired by elite consumers, and points to how this form of displacement is also a racialized process. Juaricuas are not just being evicted, they are being uprooted from the communities they live in.

These neighborhood spots are pushed out, making way for the aesthetic cafes and boutiques that “digital nomads” desire. Juaricuas (residents of Colonia Juárez) don’t call this process gentrification, they have come up with their own term: blanqueamiento por despojo - whitening by dispossession.

Many of the tenants displaced from their buildings by these evictions are not able to remain in their neighborhood because of the increased cost of rent, and end up moving to the outskirts of CDMX. Local businesses are often also displaced, unable to pay the higher commercial rents.

After being redeveloped, in 2023 12 Airbnb units came on the market at this site, renting for around $29,000 MXN a month, just under $1,500 USD. While this price seems cheap to “digital nomads” making USD, this monthly rent is exorbitant for residents who had previously been paying around $8,000 MXN

We have documented how buildings in Colonia Juárez where tenants faced forced evictions in previous years are now operating as full buildings of Airbnb units. One such building, Dinamarca 77, once housed an estimated 40 people who were violently evicted without prior notice in 2018.

Since 2022, the average cost of rent in Colonia Juárez has also increased by 67% - this is the same time period when we see a huge influx in “digital nomad” influencer content emerging on social media, and the neighborhood itself begins to shift dramatically.

Since 2019, in Juárez alone, 600 apartments have been removed from the long term rental market. Many of these apartments have been transformed into Airbnbs, or short term rental units. In fact, the number of Airbnb units in Colonia Juárez has doubled since 2019, from 612 to over 1,200 units in 2024.

This has led to entire CDMX neighborhoods being transformed into American outposts of brunch spots and chic boutiques. In @polgreen.bsky.social ‘s article, Colonia Juárez is one of the sites where the presence of American “nomads” is noted to be changing the cultural fabric of the neighborhood.