This Saturday, San Miguel de Allende hosts the 33rd-annual Sanmiguelada, its version of Spain's legendary Pamplonada, which, of course, features daring participants dressed in white, running through the streets with angry bulls. Needless to say, injuries are common - 47 last year - and tourists flock to San Miguel for the festivities, which, surprise, surprise, involve heavy drinking.
Many locals grumble about the influx of some 20,000 20-something Mexicans and foreigners. Numerous businesses plan on closing up shop tomorrow, preferring not to deal with drunk revelers, who don't spend money in coffee shops and boutiques and only are looking for the bathroom. (Portable toilets were finally installed for this year's event.) The municipal government, however, said the tourists spend at least $1.5 dollars over the weekend in hotels and bars and at the post-Sanmiguelada bull fight. (Normally, novice matadors fight in San Miguel, but not this weekend.) The taxes generated during the event subsidize other fiestas - including the patron saint holiday on Sept. 29.
To keep law and order, more than 150 police officers from other towns will help patrol San Miguel and the municipality imposed "Ley Seca" (dry law) that forbids retail liquor sales and public drinking - which apparently is allowed at other times.
22 September 2006
21 September 2006
Interesting tequila figures
According to figures released by the Camara Nacional de la Industria Tequilera, tequila comprises 45 percent of all hard liquor sales in Mexico and production grew by 19 percent over the past year. Tequila consumption outside of Mexico also continued to grow; sales jumped by 22 percent last year.
Although a beverage commonly associated with campesinos, outlaws and macho revolutionaries, women and men drink tequila in equal numbers.
Although a beverage commonly associated with campesinos, outlaws and macho revolutionaries, women and men drink tequila in equal numbers.
20 September 2006
AMLO's antics splitting the Mexican left?
At about the same time as Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was being proclaimed the "legitimate president" of Mexico by a "National Democratic Convention," PRD founder Cuauhtemoc Cardenas blasted the disgruntled presidential candidate for hurting the Mexican left and damaging the country's institutions, which Cardenas' own protests and struggles, no doubt, helped to establish.
"The institutions have to be respected," Cardenas told a Spanish newspaper in an interview published on Monday (and republished in the Herald Mexico yesterday).
"The path of confrontation, of breaking and disrespecting the constitutional order, won't bring the nation better results."
(Lopez Obrador recently said, "To hell" with Mexico's institutions, after the tribunal adjucting election complaints dismissed his coalition's allegations of fraud.)
In an open letter penned late last week, he expressed discomfort with a perceived lack of tolerance for dissent on the part of Lopez Obrador.
"It worries me profoundly, the intolerance and demonization, the dogmatic attitude that prevails around Andres Manuel for those of us who do not accept unconditionally his proposals and who question his points of view and decisions," Cardenas wrote.
(Lopez Obrador took heat during the election campaign for not heeding his team's advice and continuing to stick with an ineffective strategy, even when polls showed his campaign slipping.)
And Cardenas isn't the only member of the Mexican left attacking Lopez Obrador. Patricia Mercado Castro of the upstart Alternativa Party portrayed herself and party as a modern and responsible alternative to Lopez Obrador's coalition throughout the election campaign. She accused Lopez Obrador of "building dependency."
Author Carlos Fuentes also took issue with Lopez Obrador's tactics and the selective nature of the candidate's allegations of fraud. He questioned why Lopez Obrador would call the presidential race fraudulent, but not object to the congressional and senate results, in which the left-leaning Coalition for the Good of All made impressive gains. (It even displaced the PRI as the second-leading group.)
"There could have been fraud in the Chamber of Deputies, there could have been fraud in the Senate, but there wasn't. ... There was only fraud for the presidency of the Republic. How strange, no? I don't believe it."
Like Mercado, who also accused Lopez Obrador of reviving old PRI practices, Cardenas showed discomfort with a number of ex-PRI functionaries in Lopez Obrador's inner circle - especially Manuel Camacho Solis, a former member of Carlos Salinas' cabinet and a figure in the 1988 fraud.
A former co-worker once complained to me prior to the election: The PRD is like a garbage can for the PRI's worst politicians. Being in Jalisco, he pointed to the PRD's local slate, which was full of recent party-switchers, including gubernatorial candidate Enrique Ibarra.
Grupo Reforma columnist Sergio Sarmiento - who is not on the left - once opined that previously, one couldn't be on the left in Mexico without being a democrat. Those times seem to have changed. Institutions were supposed to be the country's salvation from calamities like 1988.
19 September 2006
Mexico's Fox Avoids Potential Independence Day Conflict
DOLORES HIDALGO, Mexico -- Perhaps hoping to avoid conflict and a political storm at the Sept. 15 independence celebrations in Mexico City's Zocalo (main square) -- the usual site of such festivities -- President Vicente Fox bolted for Dolores Hidalgo in his home state of Guanajuato to deliver the annual grito, a reenactment of parish priest Miguel Hidalgo's call for independence from Spanish rule. Stormy conditions, though, followed the president. The skies opened less than an hour before the 11 p.m. ceremony began, soaking the revelers gathered in the town center. Later, lightning crashed while Fox delivered the grito from the doorway of the Nuestra Señora de Dolores parish church, the scene of Hidalgo's original act in 1810.
After walking through a rain storm from the Casa de Hidalgo to the parish -- shaking hands and kissing babies along the way like a consummate political campaigner -- Fox lustily yelled, "Viva Mexico!" before ending with the additional shouts, "Long live our democracy," "Long live our institutions," and "Long live our unity." All three shouts referred to the contentious July 2 election and the opposition movement led by presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose supporters Fox was avoiding by delivering the grito in Dolores Hidalgo. (Lopez Obrador said recently, "To hell with Mexico's institutions.")
The short sojourn, a face-saving measure on Fox's part, revived the tradition of presidents visiting Dolores Hidalgo, a city of approximately 40,000 residents located 270 kilometers northwest of the capital, in the final year of their sexenios (six-year terms). Prior to this year, former president Carlos Salinas delivered Dolores Hidalgo's last presidential grito. (Former president Ernesto Zedillo failed to make the trip.) Fox probably would have also skipped visiting Dolores Hidalgo during his sexenio if not for security concerns and the potential for conflict in Mexico City -- which the Interior Ministry said was a distinct possibility, according to press reports. Up until Sept. 14, Fox insisted he would deliver the grito in the Zocalo.
But by heading for Dolores Hidalgo, Fox ceded the Zocalo to Lopez Obrador and his adherents, who had been camping out in the giant plaza for the past six weeks. (They finally cleared out in order to allow the traditional Sept. 16 military parade.) Mexico City mayor Alejandro Encinas, a member of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and whose government openly abetted the street protests in the Federal District, instead delivered the grito in the Zocalo, where the following day, a well-attended National Democratic Convention declared Lopez Obrador the "Legitimate President" of Mexico -- even though the candidate only received the support of slightly more than 35 percent of the voters on election day.Analysts were split on their assessments of Fox's trip, with critics panning Fox for once again avoiding conflict.
"[Fox] has shown the fear he has of Lopez Obrador and his people," opined Grupo Reforma columnist Sergio Sarmiento, a critic of Lopez Obrador.
He cited other examples of poor leadership during Fox's lackluster presidential term, including the 2002 decision to abandon plans for a new Mexico City airport after machete-wielding farmers in nearby Texcoco objected, as well as his handling of the ongoing teachers' strike in Oaxaca state, which has morphed into near anarchy. (The teachers, abetted by radical sympathizers, are calling for the state governor's head. The strike, an annual occurrence in Oaxaca, started over a pay dispute.)
"The perception is that in the moment of truth the president was scared and ceded the public square to Lopez Obrador. That perception, of the president being defeated, is what will remain as the legacy of Fox's term," Sarmiento continued.
Others, including Lopez Obrador biographer George Grayson, were more charitable.
"It's a reasonable compromise. Fox goes to Guananjato (as other presidents have done on their sixth grito) and the military marches in the Zocalo," he wrote in an email.
"It would have been much more embarrassing if the president had been harassed at his appearance at the Palacio Nacional where the security is lousy."In Dolores Hidalgo, the cradle of Mexican independence, Fox found a friendly and appreciative crowd. He previously governed Guanajuato before successfully running for president. The state overwhelmingly backs his conservative National Action Party (PAN) and elected another PAN governor on July 2.
"[Fox] is well liked by everyone," said mariachi musician Luis Gutierrez, giving his opinion on the prevailing attitude in Dolores Hidalgo.Not surprisingly, he enthusiastically welcomed Fox's last-minute trip, saying, "With this, he's fulfilling his obligation to come and give the grito."
The boost to the local tourism economy was also appreciated. He said business for his nine-member group had improved this year when compared to previous editions of the grito.
"Whenever the president comes, a lot more people make their way here," he explained.Out-of-town-visitors always descend on Dolores Hidalgo for the fiestas patrias (Independence Day holidays), but the president's presence no doubt boosted their numbers. Emilio Turquie, a business consultant from Mexico City, who was on his way to Guanajuato city for a long weekend trip, took a detour through Dolores Hidalgo after hearing where the president would deliver the grito.
"If I were in Mexico City, I wouldn't have gone" to see the grito, he explained.As for the charged political atmosphere engulfing his hometown, he lauded the president for moving the grito instead of risking conflict."I think it was a very responsible act to come here and not go [to the Zocalo,]" he said.
Some long-time grito visitors said the rain and the security accompanying the president's visit dulled last Friday's festivities in Dolores Hidalgo.
"For me, the past years were better than today was," said Pedro Aboytes, a Cortazar, Guanajuato native, who has witnessed the last four gritos in Dolores Hidalgo.
"The party got spoiled."
Lopez Obrador's adherents, of course, ultimately spoiled Fox's final grito. At last Saturday's National Democratic Convention, Lopez Obrador spoke of revolution -- not unlike Miguel Hidalgo, who started the revolutionary process, but lost his life shortly thereafter due to strategic blunders. Lopez Obrador's strategy of disregarding Mexico's institutions could backfire -- PRD founder Cuauhtemoc Cardenas recently blasted Lopez Obrador for inflicting harm on the often-disparate Mexican left. But at the very least, his call for peaceful civil resistance and the establishment of a shadow government -- which will be inaugurated on November 20 -- will cause enormous headaches for president-elect Felipe Calderon, who columnist Sergio Sarmiento said "should be worried: It's clear President Fox will leave all of the work to him."
After walking through a rain storm from the Casa de Hidalgo to the parish -- shaking hands and kissing babies along the way like a consummate political campaigner -- Fox lustily yelled, "Viva Mexico!" before ending with the additional shouts, "Long live our democracy," "Long live our institutions," and "Long live our unity." All three shouts referred to the contentious July 2 election and the opposition movement led by presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose supporters Fox was avoiding by delivering the grito in Dolores Hidalgo. (Lopez Obrador said recently, "To hell with Mexico's institutions.")
The short sojourn, a face-saving measure on Fox's part, revived the tradition of presidents visiting Dolores Hidalgo, a city of approximately 40,000 residents located 270 kilometers northwest of the capital, in the final year of their sexenios (six-year terms). Prior to this year, former president Carlos Salinas delivered Dolores Hidalgo's last presidential grito. (Former president Ernesto Zedillo failed to make the trip.) Fox probably would have also skipped visiting Dolores Hidalgo during his sexenio if not for security concerns and the potential for conflict in Mexico City -- which the Interior Ministry said was a distinct possibility, according to press reports. Up until Sept. 14, Fox insisted he would deliver the grito in the Zocalo.
But by heading for Dolores Hidalgo, Fox ceded the Zocalo to Lopez Obrador and his adherents, who had been camping out in the giant plaza for the past six weeks. (They finally cleared out in order to allow the traditional Sept. 16 military parade.) Mexico City mayor Alejandro Encinas, a member of Lopez Obrador's Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and whose government openly abetted the street protests in the Federal District, instead delivered the grito in the Zocalo, where the following day, a well-attended National Democratic Convention declared Lopez Obrador the "Legitimate President" of Mexico -- even though the candidate only received the support of slightly more than 35 percent of the voters on election day.Analysts were split on their assessments of Fox's trip, with critics panning Fox for once again avoiding conflict.
"[Fox] has shown the fear he has of Lopez Obrador and his people," opined Grupo Reforma columnist Sergio Sarmiento, a critic of Lopez Obrador.
He cited other examples of poor leadership during Fox's lackluster presidential term, including the 2002 decision to abandon plans for a new Mexico City airport after machete-wielding farmers in nearby Texcoco objected, as well as his handling of the ongoing teachers' strike in Oaxaca state, which has morphed into near anarchy. (The teachers, abetted by radical sympathizers, are calling for the state governor's head. The strike, an annual occurrence in Oaxaca, started over a pay dispute.)
"The perception is that in the moment of truth the president was scared and ceded the public square to Lopez Obrador. That perception, of the president being defeated, is what will remain as the legacy of Fox's term," Sarmiento continued.
Others, including Lopez Obrador biographer George Grayson, were more charitable.
"It's a reasonable compromise. Fox goes to Guananjato (as other presidents have done on their sixth grito) and the military marches in the Zocalo," he wrote in an email.
"It would have been much more embarrassing if the president had been harassed at his appearance at the Palacio Nacional where the security is lousy."In Dolores Hidalgo, the cradle of Mexican independence, Fox found a friendly and appreciative crowd. He previously governed Guanajuato before successfully running for president. The state overwhelmingly backs his conservative National Action Party (PAN) and elected another PAN governor on July 2.
"[Fox] is well liked by everyone," said mariachi musician Luis Gutierrez, giving his opinion on the prevailing attitude in Dolores Hidalgo.Not surprisingly, he enthusiastically welcomed Fox's last-minute trip, saying, "With this, he's fulfilling his obligation to come and give the grito."
The boost to the local tourism economy was also appreciated. He said business for his nine-member group had improved this year when compared to previous editions of the grito.
"Whenever the president comes, a lot more people make their way here," he explained.Out-of-town-visitors always descend on Dolores Hidalgo for the fiestas patrias (Independence Day holidays), but the president's presence no doubt boosted their numbers. Emilio Turquie, a business consultant from Mexico City, who was on his way to Guanajuato city for a long weekend trip, took a detour through Dolores Hidalgo after hearing where the president would deliver the grito.
"If I were in Mexico City, I wouldn't have gone" to see the grito, he explained.As for the charged political atmosphere engulfing his hometown, he lauded the president for moving the grito instead of risking conflict."I think it was a very responsible act to come here and not go [to the Zocalo,]" he said.
Some long-time grito visitors said the rain and the security accompanying the president's visit dulled last Friday's festivities in Dolores Hidalgo.
"For me, the past years were better than today was," said Pedro Aboytes, a Cortazar, Guanajuato native, who has witnessed the last four gritos in Dolores Hidalgo.
"The party got spoiled."
Lopez Obrador's adherents, of course, ultimately spoiled Fox's final grito. At last Saturday's National Democratic Convention, Lopez Obrador spoke of revolution -- not unlike Miguel Hidalgo, who started the revolutionary process, but lost his life shortly thereafter due to strategic blunders. Lopez Obrador's strategy of disregarding Mexico's institutions could backfire -- PRD founder Cuauhtemoc Cardenas recently blasted Lopez Obrador for inflicting harm on the often-disparate Mexican left. But at the very least, his call for peaceful civil resistance and the establishment of a shadow government -- which will be inaugurated on November 20 -- will cause enormous headaches for president-elect Felipe Calderon, who columnist Sergio Sarmiento said "should be worried: It's clear President Fox will leave all of the work to him."
14 September 2006
Fox blinks - again
Due to a possible conflict with PRD supporters, President Vicente Fox will deliver the traditional Independence Day grito (shout) in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato instead of at Mexico City's Palacio Nacional, ceding the grito's usual location to disgruntled candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had already planned on usurping Fox by staging his own grito. (Mexican independence started in Dolores Hidalgo in 1810.)
Once again Fox folded in the face of potential conflict, something not lost on his detractors. So far this summer, he failed to act when protesters took over central Mexico City; he failed do anything in Oaxaca, where the teachers' strike has morphed into anarchy; and now, he's leaving town on the eve of Lopez Obrador's democracy summit, where the left-leaning former mayor of Mexico City is expected to be named the "legitimate president" of Mexico. (The summit takes place this weekend after the military parade moves through the Zocalo.)
Fox, a former Guanajuato governor, should have already delivered the grito in Dolores Hidalgo by now, following the tradition that presidents go to the self-described "cradle of independence" at least once during their mandate. But going now - just as Lopez Obrador's inner circle advised the president to do? (Lopez Obrador hasn't even received his "legitimate president" designation and he's already imposing on the current, elected president.)
So now what? The informe was scrubbed due to a revolt by PRD legislators. (Fox gave it via television.) President elect Felipe Calderon has kept an extremely low profile - perhaps out of necessity. And now the grito goes to Dolores Hidalgo. Will Calderon's swearing-in ceremony be moved too? It seems very likely - despite PAN comments to the contrary.
Update: This AP story explains some of the reasoning behind Fox heading for Dolores Hidalgo and the deal struck with Lopez Obrador by the interior ministry.
11 September 2006
Dolores Hidalgo: there's more than just the grito
I recently passed through Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato and tried chicharron (pork rind) ice cream. (It tastes as good as it sounds.) Mexican independence put Dolores Hidalgo on the map - Miguel Hidalgo gave the first grito (shout for freedom) from the town parish in 1810 - but ice cream vendors have since set up shop in the town square, scooping up every flavor imaginable, from mole to avocado. Although lacking some of nearby San Miguel's charm, the upcoming fiestas patrias (national holidays) - and the ice cream - make it an ideal spot for a brief daytrip.
The story I wrote on the town is posted at The Herald Mexico site.
05 September 2006
Tribunal: Calderon won
To no one's surprise, the tribunal adjudicating the July 2 election declared Felipe Calderon the victor, dismissing allegations of fraud and irregularities lodged by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said in advance of today's ruling that he would not accept a negative decision.
Calderon faces a tough task governing - he won by a slim margin and waged a deeply-negative campaign. He also lacks PAN majorities in both the Congress and Senate. Lopez Obrador, who will probably be proclaimed the "legitimate" president after a Sept. 16 democracy forum in the Zocalo, could also generate headaches, depending on how motivated he and his supporters are.
Winners and losers (A follow up to a previous posting in early July)
Obviously, Felipe Calderon is the ultimate winner - he's now the president elect. It's remarkable that someone with such a thin resume - he finished third in the 1995 Michoacan governor's race and served as energy secretary for less than a year - could vault to Mexico's top job. At this time last year, he barely registered in the public consciousness and Lopez Obrador was riding high in the polls. In fact, former interior minister Santiago Creel was expected to capture the PAN nomination. But Calderon's team ran an effective - and deeply negative - campaign. It worked. The campaign was modern - Calderon would go on TV while Lopez Obrador would stump for votes in the sticks - and it capitalized on Lopez Obrador's mistakes.
The next biggest winner? President Vicente Fox, who unlike his predecessors, actively campaigned for the PAN from the presidency. A rather unremarkably politician, Fox knows campaigning and he actively railed against the perils of populism - read: he indirectly attacked Lopez Obrador. Short of having his wife succeed him, seeing Calderon take office is the best thing that could have happened for Fox. It gives him more of a legacy and Fox will no doubt view this as a thumbs up for his lackluster administration.
And perhaps, at least I gather this from interviews with PAN supporters - at least in Jalisco and Northern Mexico - the Republic's good macroeconomic climate that Fox helped usher in might have kept enough voters from casting ballots for Lopez Obrador's agenda of change. Comments like, "We're not getting ahead, but at least we're not going backwards ... we always used to go backwards," were common - and often uttered by not-so-wealthy PAN voters.
Francisco Ramirez Acuna
Paco, as the Jalisco governor is not-so-affectionately called, astutely backed Felipe Calderon early on - at a time when the PAN establishment was openly pulling for Santiago Creel. Ramirez, bucking conventional wisdom, went against his predecessor Alberto Cardenias - the former Jalisco governor and environment secretary - in the primaries. His reward? Watch Ramirez take a place in Felipe Calderon's cabinet.
Ramirez has presided over a very lackluster regime in Jalisco, taken an endless number of foreign junkets - conveniently being away when controversy surfaces - and spoken sparingly with the media. He also refused to show a constituent a copy of his pay stub, openly violating transparency laws.
But like Fox, Ramirez will be succeeded by a fellow panista, former Guadalajara mayor Emilio Gonzalez Marquez.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
He led the race for months and watched it slip away - and instead of acknowledging mistakes, he cast himself as a victim and floated somewhat bizarre conspiracy theories. His protests and winner-take-all approach potentially hurt his movement and party. Worse, it reinforces the message of the PAN attack ads - that he truly is "a danger for Mexico" - and suspicions he's not a democrat.
Democratic Revolution Party (PRD)
If I wrote this on July 2, I would have declared the PRD one of the election winners. The PRD made record gains in the Congress and Senate and nearly won the presidency, but by blocking the informe and having the PRD-led Federal District government abet the street blockades, the party is hurting its long-term prospects and falling into stereotypes of not being a responsible left-wing option. The partly seemingly is nothing more than Lopez Obrador; why else would it follow him to these lengths? And Cuauhtemoc Cardenas; where is he? He is the party founder.
Mexican democracy
Enrique Krauze spells out the threats to Mexico's young democracy in an excellent Washington Post column.
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