The Mex Files Society Page

Your tax pesos at work:

The D.F. Government picked up the tab for a mass quinceanera for 180 poor girls (including those in juvenile facilities): 

Life is a ball for 180 teenage girls from Mexico City who danced the waltz at a mass ‘quinceanera’ party in their honour.

The girls – all from disadvantaged families – posed in donated ball gowns as the city threw a big party.

Quinceanera parties are traditionally held on a girl’s 15th birthday and mark her passage into womanhood.

But girls from disadvantaged families often miss out on the tradition. The parties are held in countries across Latin America and often rival weddings in expense and fanfare.

Among the participants at the ball in Mexico City’s main plaza were juvenile offenders or shelter residents.

Some of the girls were given sashes to wear, each bearing the name of an area in which young people have rights: education, recreation, and a clean environment.

And Felipe Calderón attended a wedding:

President Calderón spent 66,000 pesos in public funds to attend the Feb. 9 wedding of a leading National Action Party politician, according to information released by the office of the presidency.
Calderón, his wife and a five-man security team traveled to Torreón, Coahuila, in a Gulfstream jet at a cost of 51,578 pesos, paid for by the public treasury.

The wedding – between Jorge Zermeño, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, and Astrid Casale, a TV reporter – was billed as a private activity by the office of the president.

How many quinceanara dresses can you buy for 66,000 pesos? Well, I’m sure the wedding was a very nice affair.