Sweden and a comment or two about the upcoming elections

Believe it or not Sweden is too having an election this year but you wouldn’t notice by the raucus the elections churn out in news pieces such of the likes as whether a politician can make noise at a local shopmall rather than the issues at hand, what issues Julio?

Yeah, me and hundreds [of] others seem blissfully ignorant that we are about to have elections in Sweden aka Sverige and the weekend that just passed relished instead on an old sun ritual rather than reflect, wait this needs a period here, otherwise my spanish will get the better of the english. So there, got a fresh breath of air yet? Rather than reflect on whether the Moderaterna or the Socialdemocrats are better than the environmentalists or the lefties. Swedes are doing what they do best, live in Sweden.

Don’t ask me about the issues ’cause you’ll end up recieving an invariable uh? in bold letters.

What is a country like Sweden to do when its democratic system seems like a utopia in America? The Spaniards see it as the future to be and France envies its law and order while England can’t get enough of its exports and the germans adore its forests and moose trafic signs.

Homelessness? Forget it, there is little or next to nothing compared to other states in developed countries which of course, doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem. The solution however, is devoid of that long term aspect that it has, for example, in the USA. Here, homeless people have all kind of resources to resort to get out of the situation there are in and, believe it or not, homelessness, at times, can be a lifestyle choice.

Ok, how about government graft? that’s sure to rile a few folk here, erhm, not, the last graft issue involved a minister who used her government credit card to buy diapers for her baby. Ok, other stuff might have ocurred since then but that has stuck tills now.

Urgh, as a Xicano with dual citizenship that means I get to vote and as I’m a leftist, voting leftist here makes me look like a conservative. Gí¶ran Persson, the prime minister who has overseen the institutions that oversaw my permanent green card and dished out my citizenship is as popular as I stepped in unto these nordic lands. Today he seems perpetual like that even the opposition flirts with him. Gosh.

Are things that great in Svealand? and what does this teach us about democracy once nearly all acomplishable things are acomplished? Is it that better to steal from paul rather than peter?

yes, I know, your dirty, cynical stinking thought process will immediately recall greek dictatorships where, we are told by dubious characters, that everything was nice and swell. Far from the realities as we see’em to-day.

It’s just that our mess doesn’t look like your mess. Perhaps it’s that Swedish attitude towards the environment which manages to lull us into believing that everything is alright. The environment affects us all and the Swedes have been good at hiding the mess we are all in, masquerading all to fit our surroundings. One reality at a time.

At times one would think that Sweden lives a life separate from that it presents to the rest of the world, even themselves. At times you can see the triple reflection on the mirror but you have to be quick at the blink to see it or just sit and contemplate as the Swedes do. Am sure they do. What they say and what they do is not consistent t all, but heck, which country doesn’t do as they do?

Either way, the midsummer was good. What did I do? I got drunk, as a good Swede, I will not fail my country.

Holy molly!

Well slap me in the face and call me aunt Jamina, I was linked by the Agonist. Jí­jole mano! I better clean up the place, I never expected visitors to this place from that corner of the net, shit, this is huge. Thanx for the Link Sean!

Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell R’s backpeddling?

I was rather amused at the noise the progressive blogs made yesterday. They relished a vid snippet crooks and liars dished out on the net yesterday. Turns out the wingnuts are eating their own. O´leilly not only ridiculed Malkin, a special cucuy for the Xicano gente, he, some argued, made sense on immigration.

And lordi lordi lord, even the wsj did too as well a few days ago.

Are they re-trenching to their so-called old values to rescue the few and not-so awed anymore?

What is going on here? Have they seen something we haven’t yet? All this is making my speculation antena shoot up in the sky like a beanstalk on viagra.

Me thinks the wingnuts saw into the future and came around the real impact May 1st will have on the upcoming elections, in turn, they are softning their positions to appease the May 1st crowd? Ah, gawd knows. It sure smells like it though.

Rosarito

Puras niñas menores de edad/solamente fueron secuestrando/las llevaban derecho a matar/y después las seguí­an torturando/las usaban para transportar polvo blanco y demás contrabando … La Mafia de la Frontera – Lorenzo de Monteclaro (1986).

Esta nota del periódico Frontera me erizó los vellos del cuerpo. Y es que el mensaje es brutal. A eso se le llama terror, estar terrorizando a la ciudadania. Además de ser un acto sin par o sin previo precedente en la historia reciente del narco mexicano.

Especulaciones:

Stratfor, una agencia dedicada a la inteligencia militar y aserorí­a para compañí­as de negocios tení­a algo que decir al respecto el pasado Mayo 22

The main fronts in the war are Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana, both on the U.S. border. In those cities, police officials have been killed, rival gangs have fought each other with heavy weapons, and U.S. citizens have gone missing. In recent months, however, Acapulco has become increasingly violent as the fighting spreads.

Though killing police officers is not uncommon in Mexico, beheading them is. Mexican gangs have used guns, knives and even grenades and heavy machine guns against the police and each other. Decapitating victims, however, is more consistent with methods used by groups originating in Central America or South America. In parts of El Salvador, Guatemala and other countries south of Mexico, fighting with machetes is taught to boys by their fathers. In South America, Peru’s notorious Shining Path militant group often beheaded its victims (among other things). The decidedly ”southern” tactic seen in Aguaje and Acapulco indicates that a foreign element has been added to the Mexican cartel wars. It is likely that a gang or cartel operating in the states of Guerrero and Michoacan has brought in other enforcers from Central or South America, possibly former militants or members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang.

En un estudio con más profundidad, Jorge Fernández Menéndez le dedica toda una explicación a este fenómeno:

Dí­as pasados, después de una tormenta tropical que habí­a arrojado demasiada basura a las playas de Acapulco, los trabajadores que estaban limpiando las mismas se encontraron con una sorpresa desagradable: dentro de una bolsa hallaron una cabeza humana. Estudios posteriores permitieron confirmar que era la de un funcionario de seguridad pública desaparecido dí­as atrás. No era la primera vez que ocurrí­a: todos recordamos cómo fueron dejadas, el 19 de abril, en el mismo puerto, las cabezas de otros funcionarios policiales decapitados, a las puertas de la Secretarí­a de Finanzas de Acapulco (y nadie ha respondido, hasta hoy, por qué allí­ y no frente a oficinas ligadas a la seguridad pública).

El método tampoco es nuevo. La Mara Salvatrucha lo utiliza desde tiempo atrás con sus adversarios. Ya en los enfrentamientos ocurridos el año pasado, en Guatemala, las ví­ctimas de la Mara Salvatrucha se dedicaron a mutilar y decapitar a sus adversarios. ¿Cómo han llegado esos métodos a México? seguir leyendo más

Ese es el background teorético o especulaciones, you name it.

Tijuana

El terror aplicado a la ciudadaní­a de Rosarito tendrá sus efectos, uno, espantará a los placas a preguntarse para quién trabajan y espantará a más que uno porque, esperemos, se darán cuenta que sólo son unos alfiles en un juego que está más allá de su simple charola que, de hoy en adelante, ya no los protejerá tanto.

Dos, la CISEN tendrá que empezar a contratar a gente local, gente que conoce el terreno, y esperemos, deje ya esa mentalidad centralista que caracteriza al so llamado gobierno federal. Si la “Mara Salvatrucha”, [es] un problema de seguridad nacional como lo atesta Rafel Rí­os entonces habrá que contar con el apoyo local. Los fronterizos conocen mejor que nadie su terreno y saben distinguir entre las pandillas de California y mucho más a los maras que se distinguen radicalmente de los cholos de Califas o de la MM. Si no, las consecuencias se agravarán si persisten en sus pinches mañas mentales que los del DF son los que saben más, de confirmarse las especulaciones, este crimen en Rosarito es una fracaso de inteligencia para la agencia del estado mexicano.


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El Revés Del Alma: Carla Guelfenbein

Pocos son los libros que termino y más raros son los autores a los que me da por conocer su obra completa (o casi). En ese último ejemplo se encuentran la chilena Isabel Allende, el nipones Yukio Mishima, el inglés de origen nipones Kazuo Ishiguro, y el Xicano Richard Rodriguez por sólo mencionar los que tengo en la cabeza al escribir lo siguiente.

Creo que algunos libros están entrando al ámbito de las novelas televisivas. Quizá se deba a que hay más personas en el mundo iberoamericano que están pasando esa barrera psicológica del estatus social y mucho más adquieren estudios superiores no ya de secundaria sino de preparatoria y eso impulsa la demanda de literatura. No es un criticismo despectivo, para nada, no quiero comparar una telenovela con una novela escrita ni mucho menos quiero insinuar que los menesteres de la literatura femenina son de menor importancia, aunque se niegue que tal cosa exista y que sea de menos importancia para la humanidad lo que serí­a una patente falsedad ya que aquí­ nunca nos hemos dado a la tarea de hablar por otros y mucho menos por toda la raza humana.

Tal es el caso de El Revés Del Alma de Carla Guelfenbein (aquí­ ya habí­a escrito algo de ello antes) y jode, si hasta en su propio paí­s le dan carrilla a la escritora. Tendrán sus razones y las tienen muy bien detalladas.

En lo particular me gustó mucho el paisaje, la descripción de la naturaleza, si hay algo beneficioso en leer literatura de otros paises hispanoparlantes es la manera en que utilizan el lenguaje para detallar sus entornos. Y ahí­ no falla Guelfenbein. Nos recuenta un Chile con palabras que no se usan a diario en México y eso es en sí­ refrescante ya que la naturaleza juega un rol importantisimo para nuestro bienestar. Otro aspecto que me gustó es que los hombres toman un segundo lugar en la moralidad femenina. El hombre es una bestia que no distingue las sensibilidades femeninas ni mucho menos el cuadrante ético de una mujer aunque Guelfenbein juega, roza con la pederastia sin darle más importancia que un acto intrafamiliar el cual no recibe castigo alguno. Las mujeres son el eje central de la novela y habla de franquezas que quizá se podrán comprender mejor en paí­ses más o menos desarrollados como lo serí­a siendo España, quizá el mismo Chile o Argentina por mencionar algunas sociedades que tienen una clase media en desarrollo. No, no le estoy dando una lectura Marxista a la novela, nada más lejos de la realidad. Pero venga, ¿cuántos pobres en México, Ecuador, Bolivia, tendrán problemas de bulimia o anorexia? Y es que la problemática de la novela se centra en personajes cuyos problemas son, en verdad, lejos del imaginario de latinoamérica.

Decí­a, no terminé la novela, la entregué a la biblioteca hoy después de tener en mi posesión el tomo por más de dos meses y el que, de por cierto, me costó una pequeña multa por cuestiones de retraso, me costaba retomar la lectura y por fin, hoy, decidí­ regresarlo al estante en donde lo encontré.

Un dato antes de cerrar este post. Creo que los monolingíües se restringen así­ mismos y en especial los hispanos. Y esto me trajo a memoria aquel dicho de Carlos V. Y es que el español se concentra demasiado en el alma, ¿por qué no en la mente? No es que no me haya gustado el giro lingíüí­stico que Guelfenbein le da a la problemática que pinta porque pinta muy bien un cuadro de mujeres cuyas debilidades son sus fuerzas, muy allá ella en sus recursos literarios pero creo que eso del alma simplemente ya está pasé. ¿Por qué no incorporar lo que Virgina Woolf insta en Modern Fiction? Explorar el stream of consciousness ….

Referencia bibliográfica: Guelfenbein, Carla. El revés del alma/ Madrid: Alfaguara, 2003. 307p.


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Mexican elections

Alright, alright already ese!

So I’ve been recycling news yet there are less folk out there concentrating on the mexican elections than there are concentrating on it. Erhm, did that make sense?

Either way, these elections matter. Lots. Beyond lots. Way beyond. (ok Julio, we get your drift.) I got the gut feeling that mexicans, some of us either way, are causing some kind of like dent somewhere and policy is being formed to mend the dent. Riddles. What am saying is that even though mexicans abroad seem not to be interested in mexican politicians my hunch tells me this is not entirely true. Those in the business of interpreting these kind of things tend to like huge numbers in order to make predictions and tend, as well, to be off the Southwest area making residency instead in seats of power. The Southwest has a life of its own that many suits fail to see.

I have argued that most mexicans who vote in the elections rather take the highway and use the oportunity to visit the motherland instead of going the IFE way. However, there are quite a proportionate number of mexicans who fear deportation the moment they come near a mexican embassy though most mexicans would not have an idea of the kind of services and embassy and its consulates offer the mexican citizen because said places are mostly seen as an establishment of the upper classes. This is very much ingrained in us. I remember how I felt the very first time I sat a foot on the premises of a mexican consulate. One has to understand that the mexican government is at times little interested on its subjects and when they show interest one does well in being cautious. Those who do know tend to be already familiar with the shenanigans of said institutions. These are the people that go and vote in places like Tijuana as they did back in 2000. They are known as emigrados. Amongst other things. Be that as it may, the politization of the mexican masses, illegal, legal, mexican-americans and other identity contraptions of our Gente is in full swing in the good’ol USA.

My question here pertains the Xicano community since the political leverage must balance somewhere and will either alienate or coalesce. The Tomás Rivera Center gave out a lofty little phamplet outlining some of its ideas in 1994 titled Latinos, Global Change, and American Foreign policy. In summary, it predicted that we were to start flexing muscle in our country of origins but since the Bush gang took over the White House they stopped listening to anyone outside their circle of realities. Nonetheless Xicanos who tend to be in positions of power understand the importance of México. Though we haven’t seen much evidence for the aforementioned for obvious reasons. The fear machinery that is intrinsic to American politics has the Latino community in a weird state of mind since most latinos have adherence to their homeland and this is not seen particularly well by the powers to be and is a strategic tool to keep that population at bay lest they begin flexing muscle as seen on May 1st. This in turn keeps many latino leaders off the ramp light as was evidenced by the L.A. Mayor who decided to take of to Texas on the most important day in American politics in many years.

I think that his fear mongering will soon stop having its effect on Latinos. The more they assert their americanness and start painting their own America instead of having others paint it for them. The sooner the better.

If Manuel López Obrador wins I think this idea will accelarate since many suspect that many mexicanamericans will lean towards the PRD. This in turn will fuel a more direct engagement with mexicanamericans and start building the necessary bridges to create a stronger Xicano community both economically and politically as well. Fox realized this only too late as evidenced by his flurry of trips to the USA where he met representatives of the mexicanamerican community. I believe gringo mentality will have a hard time swallowing this idea of a more present México in their midst. We have been in their midst for a long time. We have adapted. Its their turn to do the same in kind.

Related: What a wall can’t stop

La gringada speaks again

Stratfor says …

Mexico: Why the Upcoming Election Matters

Summary

Sixteen days before Mexico’s presidential elections, the two leading candidates — leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon — are still in a dead heat. Roberto Madrazo, the Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate, remains in third place but he is not so far behind that a Madrazo victory can be completely ruled out. Polls also indicate that no party will win a majority in Congress. This will restrict the next president’s ability to pursue any policy in the short term; but the candidates’ positions on policy issues are so different that the outcome of the upcoming presidential election will matter in the long run.

Wanna read more? Read it here or read over here.

pregunta, dudas, especulaciones y otros menesteres fuera de la realidad y otras tantas dentro

La pregunta es simple y sencilla. En este blog hemos arguido hasta el cansancio que Tijuana es Aztlán también por las las obvias similitudes que existen entre la chicanada de los EEUU y los tijuanenses.

La presente narrativa no lo pinta así­ y los medios de comunicación han insistido hasta el cansancio que los tijuanenses mientrás no chicanos sí­ otra raza aparte.

Esto lo podemos confirmar por medio de los mensajes que han salido a raí­z de Tijuana la 3ra Nación impulsada por el español Antonio Navalón Sánchez, intí­mo amigo de Azcarraga y la reciente Tijuana Organic exp.

El énfasis yace en que se nos quiere pintar como tijuanenses y nada más lo que a la vez exluye lo gringo, lo anglo de nuestra parte pero bajita la mano.

¿Estoy equivocado?

No me gusta ese tipo de mentalidad, debo de confesarlo y creo que al final de cuentas terminaré como el Dr Messina. Al Dr Messina nadie le hizo caso y fue blanco de Blancornelas con eso de lo de Colosio, mas bien se le echo encima. Se me figura que la única intención de Blancornelas era desprestigiar al buen Dr. Blancornelas se me figura uno de esos mexicanos extremos en su nacionalismo y al momento de ocurrir lo que ocurrió no desperdició teorí­as que involucraban al Dr en un complot que nunca paso del plano mental, eso o Blancornelas vendió una de las ideas más exóticas que habí­a en Tijuana a un México en shock con tal de darle rienda suelta a la imaginación. El mentado Dr creí­a en una unión polí­tica entre México y los EEUU. Una idea que le hubiere quedado como mano al guante al discurso del TLAN. Nadie le hizo caso y en un momento histórico paso de simple curiosidad extravagante a un intelectual extremista. En este informe de la PGR se le menciona 19 veces en 33 páginas, la envergadura de las ideas no se hacen pasar desapercibidas. A qué se debió quizá requiera de más tiempo del que quisiera otorgarle al tema. Mas hemos de notar que la narrativa entorno a las relaciones White House – Rancho de las Hormigas a.k.a Los Pinos lleva años contradiciendose así­ misma. Por un lado los huestes del poder en Los Pinos se avientan a los brazos del gringo mientrás que los poderes que riguen la frontera insisten en la separación, el divorcio continuo entre los EEUU y la frontera. Ojo, el poder que no la población. No quiero hacer ver una imagen que no es pero el discurso oficial de las fronteras es aún uno de precaución, de prevención a pesar de que las actividades económicas marcan otra pauta. Como último pensamiento a este capí­tulo de nuestra historia admito que es dato curioso que nadie haya propuesto que el asesinato haya tenido la función de distracción, después del todo el TLAN no era del todo popular que digamos y logro desviar la vista a otros menesteres mientrás el TLAN daba sus primeros pasos.

No me gusta que el establishment intelectual de Tijuana se la pase gritando a los 4 vientos que en Tijuana termina América Latina. Mentira más falsa no he oido decir y peor aún, la ignorancia acepta lo dicho como una verdad indiscutible. Le dan consuelo al enemigo, en vez de avanzar lo contrario nuestros falsos profetas aceptan una frontera que en primer lugar no quieren ahí­. En EEUU hay muchos latinos que luchan a diario por el derecho de hablar español pero en Tijuana y en muchos otros discursos estos combatientes no reciben apoyo moral por sus derechos, los entregan sin más ni menos al filo del anglosajonismo cual cerdo al rastro.


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La gringada speaks again

Stratfor says …

Mexico: Why the Upcoming Election Matters June 15, 2006 21 21 GMT

Summary

Sixteen days before Mexico’s presidential elections, the two leading candidates — leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and conservative Felipe Calderon — are still in a dead heat. Roberto Madrazo, the Institutional Revolutionary Party candidate, remains in third place but he is not so far behind that a Madrazo victory can be completely ruled out. Polls also indicate that no party will win a majority in Congress. This will restrict the next president’s ability to pursue any policy in the short term; but the candidates’ positions on policy issues are so different that the outcome of the upcoming presidential election will matter in the long run.

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Analysis

Mexico’s next presidential election will be July 2 — just over two weeks away — and polls show that the two leading candidates are practically tied. Felipe Calderon of the incumbent National Action Party (PAN) and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) each have the support of about 35 percent of the voters; support for Robert Madrazo of the formerly dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is in the upper 20s. In Mexican presidential elections, there is no runoff; only a plurality of the votes is needed to win. If the candidates maintain their current standings through the last days of the campaign, no candidate will be likely to break the 40-percent threshold.

Polls also indicate that no party is likely to win a majority in the congressional elections, also slated for July 2. A divided government — which Mexico has had since 1997 — means that whoever wins the presidency will have difficulties in advancing his agenda. Lack of a congressional majority and other restrictions, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), will result in few real policy differences in the short term. However, the candidates’ stances on the main issues are so different that in the long term, it will matter who wins the presidency in the upcoming election.

Though the divided electorate and divided Congress will make it difficult for the next president to have an effective mandate, whoever wins the election will claim one. The victor might have learned from current President Vicente Fox’s experience in 2000, when he won with 43 percent of the vote against the 37 percent obtained by PRI candidate Francisco Labastida. Fox could have claimed a mandate on the basis that almost two-thirds of the people voted against the PRI and sought an alliance with the PRD. He also could have chosen to work with the PRI to advance most of his economic agenda at the cost of possibly handing the presidency back to the PRI with the next election. Fox chose neither and accomplished little. Granted, maintaining macroeconomic stability in a region historically prone to financial crises is no easy task, and Fox does have a good record on some anti-poverty policies, but he did not accomplish any of the economic structural reforms he had promised during his campaign. Mexico’s next president will need to make the kinds of strategic decisions Fox chose not to make.

Given that whoever wins the July 2 presidential election will face difficulties in translating that victory into a mandate, does it matter who wins? It depends. In the short-term, the political, legal and external restrictions will mean that there will not be any fundamental policy differences; cosmetic or superficial changes will be in order. However, the path the new administration chooses will affect Mexico’s long-term growth prospects and thus has a direct effect on issues such as immigration to the United States.

One of the driving issues in some Latin American countries has been resistance to free trade agreements with the United States. This is not an issue in Mexico, which signed NAFTA 12 years ago. None of the presidential candidates seeks to break that agreement. Lopez Obrador, invoking part of NAFTA’s safeguard mechanism, is asking to delay the import of duty-free corn and beans into Mexico, slated to start in 2008. He also has mentioned his intention to propose a scheme of development funds in North America similar to the EU method of giving money to the least-developed areas. This could help develop areas that now produce the largest number of immigrants to the United States.

In terms of maintaining macroeconomic equilibrium and solid public finances, Calderon and Madrazo are both considered safe. Lopez Obrador has claimed that he does not want to tinker with economic stability and will maintain budgetary discipline. Concerns about his bad personal relationship with the governor of Mexico’s Central Bank, Guillermo Ortiz, have forced Lopez Obrador to tell the public he will respect the bank’s constitutional independence.

Mexico’s economic reforms of the past two decades successfully diversified the economy and ended its dependence on oil; however, the federal government is highly dependent on oil revenues. Though Fox did not succeed in pushing through fundamental tax reforms, Calderon and Madrazo — to different degrees — are pushing for such a reform that would give the Mexican government a more stable source of revenue. However, as with any tax reform, the short-term transition could be costly. Lopez Obrador does not propose any tax reform; he says that forcing all businessmen to pay the taxes they do not pay now would suffice. A lack of tax reform would prove more costly over the long term and would further reduce the Mexican government’s ability to pay for social programs — of which Lopez Obrador proposes many.

Regarding energy, Mexico poses no risk of nationalization or expropriation of private investment; Mexican law does not allow such investment in the energy industry. The differences among the presidential candidates on this issue are about the opportunities for future investment. Lopez Obrador wants to maintain the status quo and adamantly opposes allowing any private (much less foreign) investment in the energy sector. He talks about substantially increasing government investment in the sector, but given his opposition to tax reform and his promises of social programs, he would have to increase public debt again to accomplish this. Calderon has proposed opening up the system for complementary private investment while keeping Pemex under state control, but even if Calderon wins the election he will have a hard time convincing a divided Congress to change anything. If there are changes, they will not be immediate.

Mexico’s main foreign policy focus is its relationship with the United States and the rest of Latin America. The Mexican community in the United States will represent a growing political constituency in Mexico, and that will shift Mexico City’s relationship with Washington. The three main presidential candidates have recognized that the immigration problem is caused by the lack of jobs in Mexico, and they all claim they want to solve that problem. The question, then, is which candidate can generate enough confidence and investment to improve Mexico’s economy. (Lopez Obrador has thus far refused to meet with business organizations during his campaign.)

As long as the Mexican economy does not show a sustainable high rate of growth, people will keep moving to the United States. This will not change in the short term, regardless of who wins the July 2 election. But again, the long-term consequences of today’s policy choices will make a fundamental difference. Addressing the migratory issue will continue to be one of the main themes in the U.S.-Mexican relationship.

Another main concern in Mexico is crime, particularly drug cartels and organized crime. No candidate offers a credible solution to this issue. Lopez Obrador has proposed a soft approach, pointing only to the economic causes of crime but avoiding mention of the drug cartels. His constant questioning of various court decisions puts a question mark on his respect for the rule of law. Madrazo has vowed to take a tough line on crime, but he has a huge credibility problem since some of his supporters have been implicated in drug cartels (there is an ongoing investigation involving the PRI’s current candidate for governor of Jalisco, for example). Calderon will inherit the same structure Fox has, which has been unable to effectively fight the cartels and organized criminals. The outlook is not inspiring.

When Mexico’s new president assumes power Dec. 1 — Mexico has one of the longest presidential transition periods in the world — he will be limited by a fractioned Congress and economic constraints. There will be no fundamental differences initially, but the voters’ choice could affect how Mexico relates to the United States and the rest of the world in the future.

Lo que dice la gringada sobre México y sus elecciones

As Elections Approach, Mexico Faces Internal Instability

Weak governance and deteriorating social conditions have steadily increased political and social instability in Mexico during the past several years. Rather than soothing the country’s rocky political and social environments, the results of Mexico’s upcoming general elections will heighten this instability. More concerning, however, are tightening U.S. border security and immigration reforms. These measures may provoke economic instability in Mexico, further destabilizing the country’s political and social environments in the months ahead.

Vicente Fox’s Big Shadow

Washington Post/Mexico Votes – For those of you just dropping in on Mexico’s July 2 presidential election, I wouldn’t blame you if you thought Vicente Fox was seeking a second term. The man who ended 71 years of rule by the conservative Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, continues to dominate the polls, headlines and even the airwaves