Deja Vu? 1988 elections again?
John Ross has been covering Mexico and Mexican politics forever, but isn’t much known outside the small world of alternative and “progressive” journals and websites like Counterpunch and the Texas Observer. This is a shame — he is a partisan reporter, but then, what foreigner isn’t? But, somehow, being a partisan for a corporate press makes you “legitimate”.
Ross has more credibility than most. He has lived for decades in Mexico City, is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction and the winner of the American Book Award in 1995 for Rebellion From the Roots, the first look at the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas.
Ross has published a novel of the Mexican cataclysm, Tonatiuh’s People, a political guidebook to Mexico( Mexico in Focus), an anthology of basketball writings, and eight chapbooks of poetry, and is the long-time Mexico correspondent for Noticias Aliadas (Lima, Peru), the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and the Texas Observer.
He takes exception to David Reiff’s pro-Calderón New York Times article (I’ve noted the New York Times’ pro-PAN biases before). Reiff is better known as Susan Sontag’s son and an academic expert on Bosnia than for any expertise or experience in Latin America), and he takes a dim view of the prospects for a fair win by the left.
The Ominous Shadow of 1988 Hovers
Over this July’s Mexican Presidential Election
MEXICO CITY (June 13th): Driving in from the airport, the U.S. reporter asked the usual dumb questions. In his New York Times Magazine hit piece, David Rieff had just reported that airport taxi drivers were being pressured not to vote for leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the July 2nd presidential election. Was this true?
“On our site, they threatened two drivers if they don’t vote for Calderón (Felipe Calderón, the rightwing National Action Party – PAN in its Spanish initials – candidate) but no one is going for it,” corroborated Hector S., a 36 year-old National University business grad who is forced to push a hack for a living, “How can they do that? Isn’t the ballot supposed to be secret?” the driver asked his passenger but didn’t wait for an answer. “To me, it’s a lot like 1988 when they stole the election from Cárdenas. Like I said, we’re not going for it this time.” Hector had been an 18 year-old student about to enter the university in 1988 and had joined the protests that followed the Great Fraud with his older brothers.
As the taxi glided to a stop at the light on the wide slum avenue, a ragged youth threw himself gracelessly on the cab’s hood and started soaping the windshield. Hector waved him off sadly and dropped a coin in his cupped hand. “How can a country so rich have so many poor people?” The cabbie answered himself again. “This is two countries, amigo. One up there for Calderón” – he pointed to a bank of skyscrapers in the distance – “and the rest of us down here with López Obrador.”
The July 2nd Mexican presidential election is the most pertinent one since the watershed year of 1988 when Cuauhtemoc Cárdenas, the son of Lázaro Cárdenas, the nation’s last leftist president (1932-38) squared off against a Harvard-trained neo-liberal technocrat named Carlos Salinas in a contest that pitted the Washington Consensus against the revolutionary nationalism of the Mexican left, an election that would decide the future of Mexico at least up until now.
As it turned out, Salinas and the then-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the longest ruling political dynasty in the known universe at the time, stole the election and NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) was next on the agenda. On July 2nd, Andrés Manuel López Obrador intends to change all that but in Mexico, history is a closed loop, the same boneheaded mistakes and miscalculations are made over and over again, and what happened back then is apt to repeat itself now.
Another brick in the wall… hey! teacher!
From the cranky Antiwar.com (old “isolationists” who never accepted the 1930s “New Deal” — though supported by Greens, Libertarians, Religious Pacifists and others) comes this interesting “compare and contrast” on militarizing the border…
The neoconservatives have issued their own statement on immigration, supporting pending Congressional legislation for militarization of the borders using federal troops for “border enforcement, and interior enforcement (employer sanctions).” The letter is signed by 39 “prominent conservatives and civic leaders,” such as the unapologetically pro-war William Bennett, Frank Gaffney, Newt Gingrich, David Horowitz, Michael Ledeen, Victor Davis Hansen, and Daniel Pipes…What makes this letter … noteworthy is its “coincidental” appearance just hours before the public release of the Independent Institute’s Open Letter on Immigration, which has been signed by 500+ economists and other scholars, including five Nobel Prize-winners, plus 44 scholars from other countries…
So, who would you trust, 500 economists, including Nobel Prize-winners, and the courageous and impeccably honorable Independent Institute, or the likes of the same people who have relentlessly championed the war in Iraq, the USA PATRIOT Act, and greatest expansion of federal power and pork spending since the New Deal?
Heads for the beach … yuck!
This is becoming a real nusance… gangster and cops getting their heads chopp
ed off, only to have them wash up on some beach somewhere. The latest five heads belong to the bodies found yesterday in Playas Rosaritos — found in a channel in Tijuana about 150 meters from the State’s CSI offices.
Notimex identifies three as policemen, one as a “bodyguard from Arizona” and the other isn’t named… put I’ll venture a guess it’s not Pancho Villa.
The curious case of the gringo immigrant, part 2…
I achieved 15 seconds of fame with my (and David Bodwell’s) post questioning the validity of the supposed internet letter by the supposed SBC executive who couldn’t get a work visa in Mexico (The Myth of the Gringo Immigrant) . This post received a lot of hits — only topped by one on “Nacho Libre” and the recent one on Pancho Villa’s death mask (though, weirdly, one on Biblioteca Jose Vasconcellos got hits from places I normally don’t have viewers — Newfoundland, Portugal, the Czech Republic and India. Go figure)/
But our questioning the validity of the “Gringo Immigrant” post is my proudest moment in one way — it’s the only post I’ve ever had that’s quoted (negatively, I’m happy to say) by the John Birch Society! Whoo-hoo! “Thanks” to the Birchers, I found what appears to be the “original source” — a gay MySpace.com blog in Houston — “Waking Up the Sheeple” claims Brad “Received the following (the original e-mail) from Tom O’Malley who was a Director with SW BELL in Mexico City.”
I’m not about to sign up for “MySpace.com” just out of morbid curiousity, and I don’t think “Brad” is my cup of tea… who Tom O’Malley is, and whether he’s really an executive of SBC (in or out of Mexico), and whether or not his trials and tribulations were real, or self-inflicted, I still don’t know.
By the way, here’s the address and phone number for SBC in Mexico City, for anyone even nosier than I am:
South Western Bell
Parque Via No. 190
Col. Cuauhtemoc, C.P. 06500
DISTRITO FEDERAL
Tel.(55)5254-2149
From the “majesterial” Kelly Arthur Garrett’s column in today’s Mexico City Herald:
April and May were heady months for the Felipe Calderón campaign, a time when the conservative National Action Party (PAN) candidate came back from a distant second to catch and pass longtime frontrunner Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the polls.Calderón appeared to benefit from López Obrador´s absence from the first nationally televised debate, but his comeback was well underway before that April 25 event. The key to success was a negative ad strategy that quickly evolved into a scare campaign, in which a flood of PAN media spots branded López Obrador as a clone of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and “a danger to Mexico.”
But the tide turned after the June 6 debate when the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) candidate first made the charge that companies owned by Diego Zavala, Calderón´s wife´s brother, had profited disproportionately from government contracts during the Fox administration, and then didn´t pay taxes on most of the income.
Unlike accusations Calderón made against López Obrador during that debate (such as that the son of López Obrador´s driver was attending a college requiring huge tuition sums, which turned out to have been paid by the other side of his divorced parents´ family), this one had legs. If nothing else, the subject has changed from the PAN´s unfavorable description of López Obrador´s economic platform to Calderón´s character.
The new atmosphere may have contributed to López Obrador´s recent surge in the polls, although the rise may also be due to a natural end to what has been described as a media-driven Calderón bubble.Five of six major national polls released since June 6 show the PRD candidate gaining ground, with four of the six putting him in the lead again. The latest, conducted by Parametría for the newspaper Excelsior, gave him a 36-32 edge over Calderón, with Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Roberto Madrazo in third place with 27 percent.
AMLO has been trumpeting his own internal polling showing a 10 point lead over Calderón, but I’m naturally dubious about “interal polling”. I’ve noticed that the so-called “mainstream media” in the U.S. is no longer calling AMLO the “firebrand ex-mayor…” but only the “ex-mayor…” which — I suppose — can be taken to mean they expect him to win, or else have FINALLY realized he’s not another Hugo Chavez.
I haven’t heard from Dick Morris in several weeks now. It appears the PANistas have given up on emulating U.S. style dirty tricks for the tried and true Mexican ones…
Ken Edmonds, also in today’s Herald, writes:
The internet and message-receiving cell phones have registered at least 7 million anonymous messages saying things like, “López Obrador is a danger to Mexico.” No one is sure who does this, but a finger of suspicion points at the National Action Party (PAN), whose candidate, Felipe Calderón, is running neck-and-neck with Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the former Mexico City mayor….
Many of today’s vote-manipulating tactics are high technology, but some of the tried and true methods are still used — though they have spread from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to everyone with a realistic chance of winning on July 2. Companies are told that they must contribute generously to a party if they are to expect post-election government contracts. Can the vague laws forbidding this practice be invoked to bring justice to perpetrators who do this in private conversations?
…Will polling booths be mysteriously moved on Election Day, as has been done in the past, to discourage some voters from exercising their democratic right? The number and variety of dirty tricks
that can be played is limited only by the imaginations of campaign managers.
And, this… from the same paper:
Felicia González says she was undecided in the last presidential election until campaign workers knocked on her door and offered her nearly US$200 in cash and a basket full of rice, beans, cooking oil and sugar.
That was more than the 35-year-old cleaning woman makes in a month, so suddenly her choice was easy.
“I thought, why not? Who else was going to come along and offer me that much money?” she said.
…
González, the cleaning woman, said members of Fox´s National Action Party (PAN) bought her vote in 2000. The party also was fined for illegally accepting campaign money from foreigners that year and for violating campaign-spending limits. ..The PRI was fined for funneling money from the labor union of the state-run oil monopoly to its presidential candidate in 2000.
Even before this year´s campaign, several members of López Obrador´s party were caught on video taking suitcases full of cash. They denied taking bribes, arguing the gifts were campaign contributions. Critics alleged the gifts were not reported.
This year, rivals have accused López Obrador´s party of using public money to lure votes in Mexico City, where he was mayor. Some members of Fox´s party have been accused of conditioning federal aid on political support.
…
As in the last election, the PAN´s rivals have accused Roman Catholic priests of backing party candidate Felipe Calderón, violating laws that bar the clergy from interfering in elections.Some companies also have been pressuring workers to vote for a favored party, according to Dan Lund, president of the polling firm Mund Americas.
The president of the Coppel furniture and clothing chain, Enrique Coppel, wrote a letter to his 30,000 employees detailing reasons why they should vote for Calderón – though he also told workers they were free to vote for any candidate. …
There are indications voters are starting to resist outside pressures. Lund said a study of the 2000 elections showed many people took favors from the PRI and gave their support for the party – then went on to vote for Fox.
In other words … it LOOKS like AMLO’s gonna win the vote — but who will win the Presidency is as iffy as President Gore’s victory in 2000 or President Kerry’s in 2004.
Pancho Villa’s Death Mask… for a fistful of dollars
It was a weekend for cosmic convergences … or at least two of my favorite kinds of folks came together — weird rich Texans and Pancho Villa enthusiasts.
The weird rich Texan — even better, a weird rich French-born surrealist painter — was Charles Trois, invariably described as a “retired artist”. He’s moving out of Fredericksburg, Texas and putting his little hill country place — described by the sales brochure as a 6485 sqare foot castle on the market. He also had an auction, to dispose of the bibilots that pile up… little must haves like Richard Burton’s old Ferrari and autopsy photos of Lee Harvey Oswald. And… best of all …
THIS!
Pancho Villa’s death mask (which Trois claimed is the only one in existence, though scholars claim there might be three or four more around somewhere), supposedly made within hours of his assassination on 20 July 1923.
According to Amy Dorsett of the San Antonio Express-News
It’s impossible to appreciate the creepiness of Pancho Villa’s death mask until you see it.Although there are just black holes where the eyes should be, the mask still conjures a vivid image of the famous Mexican outlaw’s face. It’s his prominent mustache, eyebrows and the beginning of his hairline thanks to the scalping that followed his violent death in 1923 that seal the macabre effect.
…
Trois said that the death mask was made by a confidant of Villa’s and that he has papers to prove its provenance.
…
Trois, who wouldn’t reveal how much he hopes to make during the action, said he acquired the Villa items several years ago from a private collector in Nashville, Tenn.
Some lucky, obsessive “anonymous buyer” paid 17,000 for the mask. I’m wondering if that anonymous buyer might provide a clue — or the “private collector in Nashville” might have a clue — as to one of the best, and weirdest of unsolved Mex Files: WHO DUG UP PANCHO VILLA IN 1926 AND STOLE HIS HEAD? Maybe that’s best left unsolved — among the improbable suspects (including Laurel and Hardy) are George W. Bush’s grandfather… wouldn’t be prudent to go there.
I wrote — obsessively, like all good fans of Pancho should — about the Caudillo and his enemies, his wives and his missing head (and a side trip into the life of Ramon Novarro) back in February 2005. Lyn Keelan added her reminscences of a 1974 visit to Luz Corral, the “official” widow Villa.
For the really, really obsessive, there are the memoirs of James W. Baker (no relation to the former Secretary of State) who was a ranch manager for some of William Randolph Hearst’s Mexican properties during the Mexican Revolution. To Hearst Pancho Villa was what Saddam Hussain was to the Bush family… a politically useful enemy. Poor Mr. Baker, trying to do right by his employer, recalled meeting Pancho in a 1967 oral interview, part of a series of oral histories and transcripts published on the internet by the University of Texas at San Antonio.
“Hispanic”
According to the United States Census Bureau, Hispanics are “People who identify their origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race. Thus, the percent Hispanic should not be added to percentages for racial categories. Tallies that show race categories for Hispanics and nonHispanics separately are available.”
For no particular reason, other than it’s a neat photo, here’s a typical “hispanic woman” from the Mexican Revolution: Yaqui Indian scout Hermilianda Wong Chew
Oaxaca… part 2
The latest reports are that everyone is negotiating… and, OFFICIALLY, not negotiating Ulises Ruiz Ortiz’ removal from office — by which we can assume they are. “Mark in Mexico”, which I recommended yesterday for its photos, gives the impression that this would be unprecidented. Not at all — Oaxaca has a long history of resistance (the Aztecs never were able to control the place and, the local Zapotecs complained about the first Spanish officials — they were too damn stringy and just didn’t cook up well; Benito Juarez made his name as a national leader by resisting Santa Ana) and Mexicans have a habit of tossing out leaders quite regularly. Even under the worst of the old PRI system, incompetent State Governors who couldn’t maintain control were prevailed upon to “retire” — or, if they really screwed up, find themselves appointed deputy consul somewhere like Leon, Nicaragua. It’s a little more difficult now — especially if the Administration needs a particular governor (Morelos seems stuck with their PANista Governor, who openly paid out bribes to state legislators — on the floor of the legislature — to stop his desafuero over money-laundering, bribery and murder charges). PAN was ready to remove and replace AMLO in Mexico City (and managed to force him to temporarily retire for a couple of days) over bogus charges, so there’s no reason Ruiz Ortiz’ can’t be removed. And, remember, AMLO made HIS national reputation helping throw out a governor in Tabasco. Incidentally, Delores Paderna, the PRI candidate for Jefa de Gobernacion in Mexico City, made HER reputation as an honest governor, appointed to replace a crook removed by the federal government.
“Mark from Mexico” seems to be calling for miliary intervention. Highly unlikely. Since their unhappy experience in the 1970s, the Army itself has shied away from being used to settle political disputes. The Federal Police might be called in, but that would be an admission of failure on both the State, and Federal, Administration’s parts. Given the mood of the State (and the protests are not just in Oaxaca City, but all over the state) the goveror will probably be prevailed upon to retire for some face-saving reason or another. I don’t think he’ll face disafuero and criminal charges, but it looks like the teachers have one at least part of their demands. Oaxaca was a stronghold of the old-time political caiques, and it looks as if their era is coming to an end. Even if the Governor stays (which is possible), he’s managed to piss off even reliable “consesus voter communities” (those indigenous groups that still vote by village) like the Triquis — not necessarily a disaster for the PRI, but one that means governance is going to have to open up beyond the old guard. My feeling is this is what really troubles Fox — PAN always prefers to deal with PRI traditionalists over the “new PRI” or PRD. PAN has never been particularly powerful in this part of the country, and the PRD and the Zapatistas are going to capture the disaffected voters. So — if necessary — the governor is expendable.
Ruiz Ortiz’ has never been a popular governor. His candidacy and eventual election in December 2004, while no surprise, has always had a dubious quality about it. During the campaign, he was attacked for his ties to the — uhh — colorful then governor, Jose Murat (who tried to create a fake “terrorist” threat by arranging a self-assassination attempt — which he fucked up, getting himself injured for real — think of the Reichstag fire planned by Homer Simpson) — and more seriously, for his ties to secret paramilitary organizations. Mexican commentators used words like “alchemy” to describe his election Gabriel Cué, who ran on a PRD(socialist), Convergencia (rural middle-class) and PAN(conservative) fusion ticket. While there were plenty of accusations of dirty tricks and shady voting, the speculation was that Oaxaca — having always been a PRI fiefdom — was basically written off by the Administration — and, at the time, the Administration was trying to find allies within PRI — specifically from Esther Elba Gordillo, who just coincidentally, is the head of the Teachers’ Union (SNTE).
The Oaxaca teachers, and most on the left despise her. Even the “fair and balanced” mass media — and foreign papers — call her “Señora Hoffa”. When they don’t call her a “charro” (a union leader coopted by the government and “powers that be”), they call her a chupacabra — a blood-sucking horrible monster. La Crisis — never “fair and balanced” but slightly more literary, calls her “Lady Macbeth” (for those who read Spanish, one of the better things La Crisis ever did was a special on Esther with the alliterative title “Truculenta trayectoria de la cacique, asesina, corrupta, tramposa y traidora Elba Esther“.
Especially in Oaxada, union dissidents who crossed Elba Esther tended to fall off high places, or shoot themselves in the back — or have mysterious one-car accidents. Oaxacan teachers occupied Mexico City’s Zocalo for months and months in 2002 and 2003 attempting redress. And, it seems like forever, that teachers have been striking in Oaxaca state itself. Most of the dissidents, are — naturally — from the left, or sympathetic to the Zapatistas.
And, this year, teachers had a new — and suprising — grievance: history classes. Lat year, the Secretaría de Instrucíon Publica made changes to the History curriculum that de-emphasized the role of indigenous Mexicans to spend more time on the colonial era. Mexicans take their history very, very seriously. In mostly Indigenous Oaxaca, this change was especially unpopular. When recent scandals involving textbook publishers surfaced, teachers — and parents — throughout Mexico took to the streets. In Mexico City, this particular grievance went unnoticed, since it coincided with the recent Texcoco Flower Wars . In Oaxaca, it is only a side issue, one too esoteric to even be noticed by outsiders.
And — lest we forget — Presidential and Congressional elections are only two weeks away. The immediate crises appears to be over, but there are still years of grievances to work out. No matter what’s done in around the negotiating table, there will still be street actions… but a “civl war”… I don’t think so.
What’s gives with Oaxaca? (The teachers’ strike)
I’ve held off writing on the Oaxaca teachers’ strike, for a couple of reasons.
- First, there are ALWAYS Teachers’ strikes in Oaxaca this time of year. Every year, along with questions about the rainy season, the tourist message boards are full of worries about whether there are “riots” in Oaxaca — and how this will affect them (for the record, there were more disturbances this year, but even so, such things seldom — if ever — more than inconvenience a tourist more than momentarily. The smart ones see it as an adventure (and a break from eavesdropping on the retirees whose gossip about each other gets old after about 15 minutes), or — better yet — a rationale to explore the REST of Oaxaca City — Benito Juarez’ house, the art museums and that Cathederal which is either an overly-enthuastic attempt at Baroque restoration, or was meant to be a drag-queen’s vision of heaven) …or… maybe go down the street and talk to the Mixtec and Zapoteca weavers.
- Second, I’m no where near Oaxaca, and everything I have is second-hand. And unreliable: depending on who you read, there are either 25 dead teachers being hidden from the media — or somewhere between two and ten , somebody keeling over from a heart attack … or none. A reliable source — quoting second hand information — hints darkly at “disappearances”. And — again based on foreign reports, people either do, or do not support the teachers. “Mark in Mexico” — which calls itself “moderate to conservative” but is linked to nothing but U.S. Republican Party websites and ultra-conservative opinion pages — focuses extentively on alleged damage done by the striking teachers.Mark makes some mistaken assumptions about Mexico(Pemex oil is nowhere near the OPEC benchmark 75 USD per barrel — an important figure he uses in his analysis of Mexican education, for example) and his political leanings aren’t shared by Mexicans, but he’s got photos that clearly show some violence occurred.
How much is anyone’s guess. And the number of arrests is questionable. The Governor of Oaxaca, according to el Universal, cancelled 25 arrest warrants connected with the disturbances. Mark — and most tourist reports — suggest the strike has no popular support. Which doesn’t give with the photo on the cover of today’s Jornada — showing “Padres de Familia” (an organization similar to the PTA in the U.S.) and merchants marching in support of the teachers.
Of course, the left-leaning and anti-Ulises Ruiz (Governor of Oaxaca) press (and just about all of them despise Ruiz — whose election was tainted by almost as much corruption as George W. Bush’s) press reports anywhere from 25,000 to 300,000 people marched in support of the teachers. None of which seemed to inconvenience one person crossing the city during the supposed event.
The only thing anyone seems to agree on is that negotiations are going on — but for now, the question of Ulises Ruiz’ resignation is off the table — at least according to Ulises Ruiz.
- And, finally, with a presidential election, a couple of years of union disputes over leadership within Oaxaca, some federal changes in labor law that will affect the Oaxaca teachers, AND nation-wide actions over changes in the curriculum — this demonstation is much more complicated than any of the foreign analyses let on.
Harry Avis — a retired college psychology prof (and serious researcher in hallucinogenics) — who has been in Oaxaca for several years and who has reliable contacts with Mexican teachers posted this on a tourist message board:
The situation is far more complicated than we foreigners know, There reports of deaths seem grossly inaccurate and the situation is calm. I know a few teachers and none of them are sure what the strike is all about. One sticking issue is the right to rezone the state, Salaries depend on the living conditions where the teachers work and this decision is made at a federal level so the teachers union is applying pressure to force a rezoning. Another issue is the upcoming election. Do not believe the propaganda promulgated by either side and in my opinion you should refrain from writing letters of protest unless you know the situation well.
The teachers had the support of most people in previous years, but in my talking with the locals that support has been serioiusly eroded by their recent actions.
Like the presidential polls (AMLO is on top, again — though within the margin of error) this is another “¿quíen sabe?” . The Revolution is not going to break out anytime soon — my advice is that if going to Oaxaca, you might have to spend an afteroon eating the world’s best ice cream around the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Solidad instead of sitting around the Zocalo with the old gringos and their toyboys.
(More) Ford in the future…
I once saw a posting on a tourist website (ok, it was the Thorn Tree Mexico Message Board), claiming there were no Fords in Mexico. I thought that was kinda strange, since they’ve only been built there since 1926. And, at the time, I lived just down the street (on the corner of calle Henry Ford) from this building (next to another popular U.S. import — Sam’s Club).
What made me think of that was this item from today’s el Financiero en linea:
Mexico, June 16th.- Ford Motor Co., planning to cut jobs and close factories in the U.S., will upgrade and expand threeMexican plants over the next several years.Auto assembly plants in Cuautitlan and Hermosillo and anengine plant in Chihuahua will get the investment, Ford said onits Web site, without giving any estimates of cost or specifictiming. The automaker said it hasn’t yet decided where to locatea new, low-cost North American auto plant.
Investing in Mexico may rankle union members in the U.S.Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford plans to cut 30,000 jobs in itshome market and close 14 North American factories by 2012 as itloses U.S. sales and market share. The United Auto Workers unionrepresents only workers in the U.S.
“It s absolutely critical that they do more in Mexico, aheck of a lot more”, said David Healy, an analyst for BurnhamSecurities Inc. “They pay way too much for labor in the U.S.”
The Oakland Press of Pontiac, Michigan, reported this week that Ford plans to invest $9.2 billion in its operations inMexico between now and 2012 to build a new plant and boostproduction of engines and transmissions. The newspaper said itobtained a 28-page company document etailing the plans.
Ford, the second-largest U.S. automaker, released the information on its Mexican plans today in response to media speculation about the investment, spokesman Said Deep said.
“Of our total North American investment, 90 percent isstill in the U.S., with less than 5 percent in Mexico”, Deep said. “And for engineering resources, that s 98 percent in theU.S.”. (Information provided by Finsat)
Borderlands loses one of the greats
Luis Jiménez who combined borderlands folk arts (neon sign making, wielding and graffitti) with fine arts, was killed yesteday — ironically, one of his sculputes fell he was working on toppled over and crushed him. He was 65.
Very much in the borderlands tradition, Jiménez combined the American tradition (he had formal training, and the academic creditials essential to being taken seriously in the U.S. art world), he was also in the Mexican tradition, where artists — even the greatest, like Diego Rivera — are workers, with a creative sense of the material at hand. For Jiménez, traditional forms were those of his native El Paso — spray paint, auto body fiberglass and a sense of color. He learned his art, not so much in school, but in his father’s body shop.
New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson (Jiménez’ studio was in Hondo) ordered flags lowered to half-staff in the artist’s honor.
Southwest Pieta
Getting too damn civilized…
“The Durango State Congress has aprroved the Law for the Protection of Non-Smoker’s which pr 
Maybe Mexicans aren’t taking over California… Californians are taking over Durango!
mexfiles.net 