Mexico

Today's BBC featured an article about a small town in Michoacan, the state that has been consumed by drug violence.  But today's story centered on the affect that decreasing remittances is having on town, a decline of around 12% thus far.  Many families are sending less money from the US to their relatives in Mexico, […]

As the year closes, we’re focusing on 2008 in review.  Below is my take; see my co-blogger Alejandro's commentary here. Summary 2008 has been an extremely turbulent year in Mexico.  Drug-related violence dominates the headlines and is now the most pressing issue facing the country.  Following President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on drug cartels–including deployment of […]

In August 2008, an article in the New Yorker described a number of outbreaks of highly resistant infections caused by "superbugs‚ those bacteria that have developed immunity to a wide number of antibiotics." Although the author of the article, Jerome Groopman, was referring to the harmful inhabitants of the human body, he could have been […]

Historically, the Interior Minister in Mexico has been the second most important politician in the country. Last week, Juan Camilo Mourino, the Interior Minister and a close ally of President Calderon, died in a plane crash. He has been replaced by Fernando Francisco Gomez Mont Urueta, an influential lawyer and high-ranking member of the ruling […]

By now you surely have seen the headlines about the historic election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.  As an American, I’m thrilled to have Obama as our next President, and to know that the race and class barriers have been shattered by his victory.Naturally, his election will have implications […]

Juan Camilo Mourino, Mexican Interior Minister, has been killed in a plane crash in Mexico City. Mourino was not only the second most important politician in the country, but also a close ally and advisor of President Felipe Calderon. Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a former high-ranking official at the Unit of Special Investigations on Organized […]

During the past two weeks my mid-term exams at Georgetown University have consumed nearly all my time.  After several papers, I’ve nearly finished my mid-terms with only one more to go in Economics for Latin American Studies…  That said, I should be back on track writing frequently for the Mexico blog, along with Alejandro. In […]

Surprise, surprise! One of Mexico's key anti-drug units has been infiltrated by a drug cartel. This suggests not only that Mexico's best anti-drug units are still at risk of losing even more credibility (government agencies can always lose more credibility), but also that the Mexican government should start to hire more historians. Indeed, this is […]

The impact of the (now global) financial crisis on Mexico has been more than marginal. Not only have remittances fallen dramatically since April 2008, but the Peso fell to a record low against the US dollar in the last few days. It seems that both the Treasury Secretary and the Head of the Central Bank […]

An earlier post from this week's blog touched on the human rights debacle, known as the Tlatlelco Massacre, during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.  This week the BBC interviewed a British journalist, Robert Trevor, that was on the scene as the events unfolded, in what he calls “the most terrifying night of my life”.  He […]

"No Queremos Olimpiadas, Queremos Revolucion!" claimed thousands of Mexican students in response to the repressive activities of a government that was about to host the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. Many of those students would end up in prison or in the list of the more than 1,500 disappeared individuals during the "Dirty War" […]

After Monday's worst day of trading in eight years, Mexico's market rallied today (9/30) 933 points to 24888, or up nearly 4%, on fresh hopes of a restarted US government bailout to ease the strain in global credit markets.  Owing to extreme uncertainty in the markets, watch for an overly optimistic or pessimistic market reaction […]