The PRI’s Losses are Peña Nieto’s Gains
MEXICO CITY —Mexico’s July 7 local elections, held in half of the country’s states, were the first since President Enrique Peña Nieto took office. As such, they served as a quasi-referendum on the president’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party—PRI), and provide the political backdrop against which Peña Nieto will push his agenda to remake … Read more
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Visit to Mexico
In 2002, former Mexican President Vicente Fox was recorded telling Cuban leader Fidel Castro over the phone, “You’ll eat and then you’ll leave” (“comes y te vas”) days before the UN Financing for Development Conference was held in Monterrey. Fox was referring to an evening dinner for heads of state hosted by the Mexican government … Read more
[i]AQ[/i] Slideshow: President Obama’s Visit to Mexico
On his first trip to Latin America since the beginning of his second term, U.S. President Barack Obama spent two days in Mexico, where he met with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to discuss economic cooperation, energy and education, among other topics. View an exclusive AQ slideshow of his visit. On May 2, Obama and … Read more
Obama and Peña Nieto Focus on the Economy Over Immigration and Security
Building up to their meeting in Mexico City on May 2, the administrations of both U.S. President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto hinted that economic ties would be the focal point of their one-on-one meeting. In an interview with Americas Quarterly prior to the trip, Obama reiterated this, saying that he would … Read more
AQ Interviews U.S. President Barack Obama About Trip to Mexico and Costa Rica
On the eve of his sixth trip to Latin America and the Caribbean, President Barack Obama agreed to an interview with Americas Quarterly Editor-in-Chief Christopher Sabatini about his May 2-4 visit to Mexico and Costa Rica. President Obama is using the occasion of his trip to meet with the new Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto … Read more
Mexico’s Elections: The Presidency and Beyond
On July 1, Mexicans will elect their third government since the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) relinquished their grip on Los Pinos after 71 years ruling the country. But as election day approaches, anxiety and polarization continue to grow among both the electorate and political class. More importantly, this uncertainty stirs concern about the future of … Read more
Mexico’s Silicon Valley
Mexico is quietly emerging as a capital of Latin America’s growing information technology (IT) outsourcing industry. More than 600,000 people already work in IT, with another 65,000 new professionals graduating each year from the dozens of technical and engineering schools clustered throughout Mexico. The industry includes more than 2,000 IT companies, ranging in size from … Read more
[i]AQ[/i] Up Close: East Meets South
Mexico’s Chinese population and links between the two cultures continue to grow as new business and trade opportunities bring the two countries together. In these “AQ Up Close” videos, Americas Quarterly speaks with the director and instructor of the Instituto Confucio (Confucius Institute) in Mexico City about the linguistic interest that Mexicans are displaying toward … Read more
Mexico’s Fiscal Conundrum
Mexico’s reliance on deficit spending to fund environmental, social and income redistribution programs is a rising concern for its long-term fiscal situation. This is a challenge compounded by its historic reliance on declining oil tax revenue and the need for a structural fiscal reform. Without it, federal government debt will increase and future generations of … Read more
Maturing Microfinance
Two decades ago, most articles on microfinance would have begun with a detailed definition of the concept and an explanation of why the provision of microcredit was fundamental to microenterprise and economic development. Today however, microfinance has become a household term that, generally speaking, describes the provision of financial services (mainly loans, savings and insurance) … Read more
From Tradition to Trade
Uriel Arroyo is a ceramics producer from Capula, a small community in Michoacán, Mexico, whose family-run business used a centuries-old method to craft clay table- and cookware. Arroyo, like roughly 10,000 artisanal ceramacists across Mexico, used lead-oxide glaze to finish his pieces. Now, with the help of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and Mexican public agencies, Arroyo … Read more
Escaping Juarez: A Photographic Essay
Once the crown jewel of the maquila miracle that was going to be the cornerstone of Mexico’s development, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua is being abandoned these days by those who were lured there with promises of decent, well-paid jobs. The city’s fate is now in the hands of rival drug gangs who operate with absolute impunity … Read more
The Fulcrum of Our New Relationship in the Americas
Ever since President John F. Kennedy launched the Alliance for Progress in 1961, every new U.S. administration has pledged to dedicate itself to our common hemispheric agenda. Too often, our efforts have fallen short. Today, a truly galvanizing challenge—the threat of catastrophic climate change—offers the United States a chance to break that pattern and reengage … Read more
Mexico’s Fragile Middle Class
Can Latin American governments tackle inequality in the midst of the global economic downturn? Although some countries—most notably Brazil and Chile—have made dramatic gains in reducing poverty and expanding the middle class, Latin America remains, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, one of the world’s most unequal regions. Inequality has deep roots in … Read more
Transparency and e-Government in Mexico: Who’s Complying and Who Cares?
The movement for transparency in government has made great advances in Mexico since the defeat of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in 2000. Parallel to the legal and constitutional reforms that opened up reams of government records and even the salaries of public officials, the Internet has improved the tools available for common citizens to … Read more
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