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That didn’t take long
Ah, Mexico, so far from god, so far from a decent political system. The new and heralded reform-minded “Pacto por Mexico” is on hold as opposition parties rage about the political corruption of the...
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The Lost Decade of the 1980s and the current Eurozone crisis
In August, 1982, Mexico stunned the financial world by announcing it could no longer pay back its debt. Dozens of countries followed suit. The 1980s is often referred to as the “lost decade” for Latin...
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Is Most Favored Nation Status obsolete?
The top two contenders for the director-generalship of the WTO are from Mexico and Brazil. Given that the Doha Round has been stalled for decades, it will be interesting to see if the end of Pascal...
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Mexico Links
1. Mexico: The Stranger Next Door 2. Mexico telecoms reform: almost there 3. The only place you can buy guns legally in Mexico 4. Mexican politics could constrain US influence on security 5. Mexico’s...
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The dinosaurs fight back
The Economist recently published a good article called “The PRI’s long tail,” which documents a brewing battle between Mexican President Peña Nieto and the traditionalist dinosaurs of his party. There...
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Recent research on Latin America
Now that classes are over and grading is done, it is a great time to catch up on recent research. Here is a list of papers on Latin America that I am anxious to check out: Exiting Belindia? Lesson...
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Mexico news & views
1. Why Mexico’s Management of Protected Witnesses is a Disaster by the excellent InSight Crime. “Mexico, must deal with all of the downsides [of protected witnesses] (cases falling apart because of...
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Mexico in the news
If you are interested in Mexico, especially if you want to read more on drug trafficking and crime, then Alejandro Hope is your guy. He’s a researcher who studies these issues and tweets regularly on...
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A sad state of affairs: violence in Latin America
1. To avoid crime, Venezuelans run together “Pereira still jogs at night. But she goes with friends, plenty of friends — as many as 300 of them, a huffing, heaving mass of people who chug in unison...
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Mexico in transition
I am currently enjoying Jo Tuckman’s excellent Mexico: Democracy Interrupted. The book is an important reminder that even though Mexico’s one party rule ended almost 15 years ago, the country is still...
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“Cars drive train (boom)”
The (slightly altered) title of this post stems from a great sub-title in “Trains, planes and automobiles: Mexico rail freight comes of age“. I learned some interesting tidbits about Mexican shipping...
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Border Patrol Body Slam
The New York Times has a great video with the above title. Apparently a lucha-libre wrestler that goes by the name of Blue Demon Jr. (real name unknown) is “a self-proclaimed defender of Mexican...
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Department of duh
Of all the interesting articles out there about the capture of the Zeta cartel boss and what it means for Mexico’s drug war, this headline takes the cake on least insightful and most obvious: Mexican...
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Private law in Mexico?
I just finished an excellent book about Mexico’s democratization called Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy by Ny Times reporters (and Pulitzer Prize winners) Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon....
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Mexico’s best president
Ernesto Zedillo caught a lot of flak from Mexicans while we were living there (among other things they thought his grito de independencia was “weak”), but Kevin and I always thought he was by far...
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Migration and the power of art
I just learned of an excellent Mexican sculptor last week named Alejandro Santiago. Sadly I learned of him and his work because he died of a heart attack at age 49. He is most famous for the clay...
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Top Mexican Tweeters
CNN Mexico recently compiled a list of the 140 top tweeters from Mexico. Here is the link to all 140, but they are also broken up by category. For those interested in economics & finance, click...
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The not so friendly skies
Aeromexico has had to backpedal furiously as a backlash has formed against their recent casting call for a commercial. In the call, they ask for “nobody dark skinned”, only actors with “white skin.”...
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Mexican teachers, improving education one strike at a time
The teachers’ unions in Mexico are at it again. The country faces massive problems in public schooling and a lot of it has to do with how the union runs things (and the relationship between the union...
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F is for Fatty
Mexico has been in the news a lot lately not only for its war on drugs but also its failing battle against the bulge. Recently schools have started giving out weight report cards in the hopes of...
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