Actually, Mexico has had this hang-up with batteries for a longer time now. I flew a domestic leg from a small airport (CTM / Chetumal, Quintana Roo) to MEX in early January of 1994, a day or two after the armed Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas started. All was pretty much business as usual, except that all batteries were forbidden in carry-on luggage; they had been fine on the outbound. The agents searched everything manually and took away any and all batteries...