text: is it true that an american citizen can not own land in mexico? i heard that we can not purchase land in mexico , that we can only lease it. is there any truth to this? until recently, a foreigner could only purchase land through a mexican-based  trust...meaning the foreigner technically did not own the land.  now, foreigners can own land outright but not in prime locations, eg. near the coast, near the border, etc...these still have to be purchased and held via the trust.  it's ironic that mexico and mexicans scream about us policy, when mexico is 100 times more discriminatory with regard to its laws and policies concerning non-mexicans, eg. foreign ownership of land, designating spanish as the sole official language of mexico, preventing foreign-born persons from holding large numbers of designated jobs that are reserved solely for native-born mexicans, etc...etc...they are arguably the most hypocritical country in the northern hemisphere.