Felipe Calderón = Porfirio Diaz, part II

28 January 2007

I’ve been playing around with the idea that the Calderón administration isn’t just conservative, but a reactionary return to the “neocolonialism” that flourished under Don Porfirio in the late 19th century. In the 1880s, it was the need to industrialize and the argument that traditional farms were not “modern” that justified foreign control of agricultural and industrial production (and using Mexican troops as policemen to control dissent)…

And, as the cientificos said, these foreign developments were much more important than say, the price of tortillas.

DAVOS. – Michael D. White, president of Pepsico Group, told Felipe Calderón of his company’s interest in participating in maize production in Mexico, at a meeting in which he also spoke of Mexico’s role as the leading market for his company’s products – beverages and fructose — after the United States.

The Robert Bosch company also expressed to the President of Mexico its willingness to invest 100 million U.S. dollars on a program to create alternative fuels for diesel engine consumption, which would offer a 30% reduction in the costs of fuel, while reducing the environmental impact of emissions.

…

When meeting with directors of global companies, Calderón offered advantages to investors in Mexico, changing government policies to guarantee them security and stability, agreeing on the necessity of structural reform.

(translation from a longer article by Ivonne Melgar in today’s Excelsior)