Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2008 > January
January 2008
Democrats to vote in the “51st state”
Here’s an interesting nugget about the potential political power of ex-pats: more than 6 million Americans live abroad, more than in 24 U.S. states. But ex-pats generally play a minor role (putting it nicely) when it comes to deciding elections back home, often because few go through the onerous process of securing an absentee ballot.
But Democrat ex-pats now have a second option if they want to weigh in on the presidential election: Democrats have created a so-called Global Primary, in which Americans living abroad will vote as a block and actually send delegates (22) to the Democratic convention in Denver. Today is the last day to sign up for the Democrats Abroad group, which will allow ex-pats to vote by Internet or by fax between Feb. 5 though the 12 (even if you don’t sign up, you can vote in person at voting booths throughout Mexico). The Global Primary isn’t a chance to double dip, however. If you vote by absentee ballot from your home state, you can’t vote again in the global primary.
There is also a Republicans Abroad group, which helps Republican ex-pats get absentee ballots for individual states, but as of yet has not organized an Internet voting system.
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Americans fixated on immigration, but not interested in region
A new Zogby poll portends some bad news when it comes to the future of U.S. relations with Mexico and Latin America. According to Peter Hakim, a leading Latin Americanist with the Inter-American Dialogue, the poll results show that Americans increasingly view Latin America through the narrow lens of immigration, something he said threatens to sour “prospects for improving U.S. policy and relations with the region in the years ahead.”
The poll found that 76 percent of respondents said a candidate’s stance on immigration is very or somewhat important. Respondents also voiced displeasure with remittances, the money immigrants send home through wire transfers and bank deposits. A whopping 61 percent said remittances were bad because they take money out of the U.S. economy.
However when it comes to fixing the immigration problem, American aren’t too keen on job creation ventures in Latin America. Only 36 percent say job creation to stem the flow of migrants should be the most important policy. Despite much agreement that better jobs in Mexico and Latin America are perhaps the only long-term solution to massive migration, the idea has gotten remarkably short shrift. While the U.S. mulls a $1.4 billion aid package to help Mexico fight the drug cartels, we haven’t hear much of aid packages to help stimulate job creation. On the campaign trail, President Felipe Calderon talked a lot about getting U.S. investment in states like Michoacan and Zacatecas. Since he was elected we’ve heard little on the subject. And job creation in Mexico still doesn’t keep up with the waves of young people entering the workforce each year.
Beyond the immigration debate, Americans appear to have little interest in Latin America. Just 7 percent think it’s the most important region to the United States, falling well behind the Middle East (43 percent), East Asia (20 percent) and Europe (12 percent).
And notoriously sensitive Mexico is surely to be hurt by the poll’s finding that only 18 percent believe it is the most influential country in the region, trailing Venezuela (29 percent) and Brazil (23 percent).
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The ultimate half-time show
Hands down, the coolest half-time show I’ve seen in any sport took place last weekend at a soccer game between Mexico City’s Cruz Azul and Santos of Coahuila (which should be the home town team for Austinites given their proximity).
If I had known what was going to unfold I would have videotaped it, so hear goes the written explanation: Two men ran parallel races through an obstacle course. So far so good. In the first leg, the men ran with parachutes strapped to their back, which slowed them up a little. Then they jumped on tricycles and tried to pedal their way across a steeply pitched see-saw (they went almost vertical before the see-saw crashed to the ground). They were then met by hulking luchadores, the famous Mexican masked wrestlers, who tried to keep them from advancing. The men were slapped, kicked, tackled and pile driven. If they managed to make it past the wrestlers, they found a teammate strapped inside a gigantic ball who they then had to roll into the goal while the same wrestlers tried to take out their knees. That, my friends, is entertainment.
Forget grown men in animal costumes doing dunks off trampolines. The Mexican soccer league knows how to do half-time.
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Mexico drug war really is like a movie
“They infiltrate the authorities to create a group with impunity,” said top federal prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos.
The arrested men were found with vests emblazoned with FEDA, an acronym for Arturo’s Armed Forces, a nod to drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, whose brother was arrested this week.
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McCaul gets wish on Border Patrol slaying
Among the first issue McCaul brought up when I met with him at his Mexico City hotel Monday night was the recent killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar, who was run down by a Hummer allegedly carrying drugs in the Imperial Sand Dunes east of San Diego. McCaul said he told Mexican officials, “If you want to show commitment, then working with us to (arrest the killer) would demonstrate in a strong way how we can work together.”
Well, yesterday Mexican authorities arrested Jesus Navarro Montes and charged him with the Border Patrol agent’s death. It’s unclear if Navarro will be extradited to the U.S. since Mexico does not extradite subjects who face the death penalty (which Navarro could face).
Navarro’s arrest does not necessarily translate to passage of the Merida Initiative, which has been pushed by both Presidents Bush and Calderon. Members of congress in both countries were ticked that they weren’t kept in the loop when the aid package was being negotiated, and U.S. lawmakers have expressed alarm about giving money to what have traditionally been corrupted Mexican law enforcement agencies. And Mexico’s military has come under heavy criticism for human rights abuses committed during its battle with the drug cartels, allegations that include shooting to death a family at a checkpoint in Sinaloa.
But the quick arrest could demonstrate to U.S. lawmakers Mexico’s newfound resolve to tackle both border security and the drug war. Calderon has made several attacks on both the warring Gulf and Sinaloa cartels in the last week and taken drastic measures like disarming police forces in border cities like Nuevo Laredo. And a top Mexican drug lord, Alfredo Beltran Leyva, was arrested just as the Texas congressmen were meeting with Mexican officials, McCaul reported.
Here’s how McCaul summed up his thoughts on Mexico’s performance: “I think the Mexican government has been in denial for awhile,” he said. “The most significant thing I am walking away with is the recognition that they have a problem.”
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The narco-corrido of Alfredo Beltran Leyva
Beltran Leyva was in charge of bribing public officials, laundering money and arranging transportation for the huge quantities of marijuana, cocaine and heroin his organization sent north. And a drug lord of his stature of course had his own narco-corrido, the traditional folk song singing the praises of drug traffickers. Narco-corridos are often described as gangsta rap set to an accordion, but unlike the American version, narco-corridos tend to be true and based on real people. That has created a dangerous nexus between singers and drug gangs and about half a dozen narco-corrido singers have been gunned down in the last year.
The Mexican newspaper El Universal dug up the words to this Beltran Leyva diddy by singer Diego Rivas. Here’s a translation (a little rough, and unfortunately no rhyming):
He’s a man of respect, a gentleman and a good friend, Respectful with the ladies, simple and also very refined, He inherited it from his parents, that’s why he’s well known.
My respects to his work, he knows how to do things very well, If you look at him be careful of the high powered weapons, It’s for his protection in case he runs into some dogs.
He delivers massive shipments without stuttering, The man’s stare has never been equalled, Even the government knows him and is afraid to find him.
Well, apparently the government got over its fear and went after Beltran Leyva, following up his arrest with that of 11 of his associates this morning in southern Mexico City (quite close to the Cox office actually). The government’s targeting of the Federacion/Sinaloa Cartel runs in the face of complaints from their rivals that the government is protecting the organization. The Zetas, the armed wing of the rival Gulf Cartel have released several notes and grisly Internet videos claiming that the federal government protects El Chapo and his people while targeting the Gulf Cartel with high profile military operations along the border.
Confessions of Mexican cheese lover
If you dig cheese, there’s fewer places on the planet better to be than Mexico. Sure France and Italy may have some amazing cheeses, but in the Western Hemisphere it’d be hard to beat the cornucopia of asaderos, oaxacas, panelas, chihuahuas, manchegos and cotijas that make up the Mexican pantheon. The cheeses aren’t sharp or smelly (no camembert here), rather they are smooth, salty, deliciously meltable and often sublime.
My first trip to a Mexico City supermarket was an overwhelming experience: three aisles crammed with exotic cheeses, many of which I had never heard of before. And so began my love affair with Mexican cheeses, an odyssey marked by periods of intense infatuation, the occasional betrayal and constant two-timing.
My first cheese adventure centered around Queso Chihuahua, a yellow, mellow cheese. Soon after we arrived two years ago, we found ourselves in a local taqueria munching on some heavenly quesadillas. The waitress told us the cheese inside was Chihuahua and I immediately bought as much as I could at the supermarket. That obsession lasted a few months, enough to try many of the seemingly infinite number of brands (it’s amazing how much the taste can vary from brand to brand). About a year later we would come face to face with some original Queso Chihuahua while doing a story about a Mennonite politician. It seems that when the Mennonites arrived in Mexico in the 1920’s, many dedicated themselves to cheesemaking and the result was Chihuahua, named after the state where most Mennonites settled. We visited a Mennonite dairy and bought a chunk of cheese - top notch. In Mexico City you can still find overall-clad Mennonites selling their cheese at intersections, one of the capital’s truly bizarre sights.
My next cheese obsession was the result of another story assignment, this one about http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/stories/2007/07/0718mexicocheese.html">Queso Cotija, which had just won a prestigious international prize. Original Cotija is made in Cotija, Michoacan, a beautiful town in the Michoacan mountains. Cotija is roughly similar to Parmesan, a hard cheese that is used as a garnish on pasta and tacos. That weekend we ate countless handfuls of Cotija cheese, broken off from huge wheels. Like tequila, Cotija is aged and takes on different tastes depending on how long it’s been around. The original Cotija, with subtly complex, almost nutty, flavors bears little resemblence to the cheap knockoffs sold in stores in Mexico and the U.S. We bought a kilo, bagged it up in ziplock bags and gave them out as gifts. We still have some in our freezer that we bring out on special occasions.
After Cotija came a brief fling with Manchego after trying a particularly good, high-end variety. Manchego is kind of like Mexico’s version of cheddar: hard-working and versatile, but not spectacular. But more than any other cheese I’ve found, Manchego varies depending on the brand and I spent several weeks trying out different varieties.
I am now in the midst of a full fledged love-in with Asadero cheese, a slightly stringy cheese that is perfect for snacking by itself. My brother-in-law introduced me to it up on the Coahuila border and I’ve become obsessed.
The bad news is that some day I’ll have to leave my cheese paradise and depend on the selection at U.S. supermarkets. The good news is that there are still plenty of Mexican cheeses yet to try.
New phase in border drug war?
Mexican police seized a disturbing weapons shipment this morning in southern Mexico City, an arsenal that included several anti-tank bazookas, according to the El Universal website. Why would narcos want to that type of firepower? The answer may lie to the north along the festering border with Texas. In the last few weeks, Mexico has sent thousands of soldiers to border cities like Matamoros, Reynosa and Rio Bravo in an attempt to tamp down on increasing violence there.
Since the end of last year, the border region has suffered a spike in violence, beginning with the several shootings and kidnappings related to November elections in the state of Tamaulipas, which were widely seen as having been influenced by drug cartels. Tamaulipas is the home state of the Gulf Cartel, which is waging a 3-year-long war with the Sinaloa Cartel for dominance in Mexico. Much of the violence, which in the last month has included spectacular firefights in Reynosa and Rio Bravo, has been blamed on the Zetas, the much feared armed wing of the Gulf Cartel made up mostly of military deserters (interestingly, the shipment seized today in Mexico City also netted a former Mexican Army member).
This is not the first time Mexico has sent its army to quell violence on the border. In 2005, army units were dispatched to Nuevo Laredo where they failed to stop an out of control drug war.
But this time things may be different, if only slightly. Mexico and the United States are increasingly cooperating along the border, both with money and intelligence. Authorities yesterday announced Project Gunrunner, with which authorities hope to crack down on guns illegally introduced into Mexico to feed the the cartels’ war. Mexico will now have access to the U.S. e-Trace program, which will allow authorities to trace guns that make their way to Mexico back to U.S. gun dealers. Just as Mexico provides the U.S. with most of its illegal drugs, so too does the United States provide Mexico with its illegal guns. As part of the operation, some 40 special agents and investigators with the ATF will be posted along the border and officials will create an intelligence-sharing clearinghouse on gunrunning operations.
At the same time, the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion aid package to help Mexico fight the cartels, is set to kick in if the U.S. Congress approves it. This year, Mexico would get $550,000 in aid, that would include equipment and perhaps more importantly, training from U.S. law enforcement.
So is the massing of resources along the border working? One unidentified U.S. law enforcement official told the Dallas Morning News yesterday that Mexico’s campaign “has instilled fear in narcos who felt they owned the region. Now they’re nervous, looking both ways, hiding, and that is very positive because any disruption hurts their business. But we’re looking at a protracted war here. There is no light at the end of the tunnel yet.”
Mexico to get an eyeful of the Naked News
The Naked News, the titillating news show in which attractive women gradually disrobe as they relay the day’s events, is coming to Mexico. It’s all part of the Canada-based company’s push for globalization. In addition to Mexico, the Naked News is heading to Italy and South Korea (it’s already available on pay-per-view in the U.S.).
The arrival of the nude broadcasters here has generated some buzz, but not the outcry one might expect in a heavily Catholic, and at its core, conservative country like Mexico. Maybe that has something to do with proliferation of nudity south of the border lately.
Photographer Spencer Tunick became a national hero last year when he photographed 20,000 naked Mexicans in the Mexico City Zocalo plaza. An exhibit featuring Tunick’s photos has become one of the biggest draws in the Mexico City art world.
And nudity has also become an essential part of some protests in the Mexican capital. Indigenous people from the state of Veracruz annually march naked through Mexico City’s streets to publicize their demands for land.
Mexican newspapers also seem to take a more liberal view of nudity than their American counterparts. For example, coverage of Tunick’s Zocalo shoot brought numerous naked bodies to newspapers for several days and reproductions of nude photography is a common sight in some Mexican dailies.
Narco-Cops nabbed
File this in the How-Deep-The-Corruption-Reaches-in-Mexico department: This week in the border state of Coahuila, federal officials broke up an organized crime ring made up of high ranking police officials reportedly working for the feared Zetas, the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.
According to Monday’s Reforma newspaper, Alfredo Zamora, commander of the municipal police in San Pedro de las Colinas (located near Torreon, a good six hours from the Texas border) was in charge of hiding weapons for the Zetas. Another official was responsible for finding the homes of kidnapping targets, a third official alerted the group to legitimate police operations that might impinge on their activities, while others committed the actual kidnappings.
The feds say that in addition to kidnappings, the narco-cops sold drugs, found housing for hitmen, stole gasoline from Pemex pipes, trafficked in guns and engaged in telephone extorsion.
You would like the think this is an isolated incident, but more likely it shows just how far Mexico needs to go to clean up corrupt police forces across the country.
Mexico City vs. my lungs: Round 1 to the capital
When I quit smoking two years ago, I thought my lungs were on a one-way path to health and happiness. Gone would be the days of dry heaves after a game of basketball or touch football. I would run like the wind, or so I figured.
That however, was before I moved to Mexico City and my newly pink lungs had to do battle with the capital’s vicious combination of altitude (we’re nearly half a mile higher than Denver) and toxic air pollution, which is at its worst in winter and early spring, when lack of rain lets the contamination cloud sit heavy and uninterrupted over the Valley of Mexico.
Just how ill-equipped my lungs are to battle the Mexico City air was on full display this weekend when I played basketball with a fellow correspondent at a park near our house. We did great during the shootaround, but things went bad when we were challenged to some 2-on-2 by a pair of locals. We should have easily beat these two, but as we struggled to reach the magic number of 7, the lung differential became apparent. The two locals, whose native lungs had long ago grown accustomed to the city’s hellish air, continued normally. My teammate and I however, began playing as if we were running laps on Mt. Everest: We sagged into the rarely seen 2-man zone (both of us doubled over under the basket while our opponents ran around without a care in the world) as they sank the winning basket.
We spent the next 20 minutes on the sidelines trying to shake the burning in our chests and swearing that we’d be better the next time.
McCain gets love south of the border
Republican has almost become a four letter word here in Mexico, which largely sees the GOP as xenophobic and rabidly anti-immigrant. Republican candidates are seen as stepping all over themselves in an attempt to flash their tough on immigration credentials. The great Republican hope though is Sen. John McCain, who defied his party last year by co-sponsoring a broad immigration reform bill.
Analysts here are putting a lot of stock in McCain’s performance tomorrow night in the New Hampshire primary. Ricardo Raphael, a columnist for the El Universal newspaper, writes today that a McCain win would show that “the xenophobia in our neighboring country has lost a fundamental battle …On the other hand, if Romney or Giuliani recover their political vigor and manage to get past McCain or Huckabee (the winner of the Iowa primaries), the anti-immigration flag will continue to fly and the very soon it will be the Democratic candidates…that will have to define themselves before the issue.”
Mexicans fear Huckabee
A week ago, most Mexicans had never heard of Mike Huckabee. After the former Baptist minister’s victory in Iowa, many here now view Huckabee as a danger. Huckabee is generally seen as the most conservative of the Republican candidates and as such, the toughest on immigration (Mitt Romney might have something to say about that characterization).
Here’s how this morning’s Reforma newspaper analyzed Huckabee’s victory:
“The triumph of Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucus is not good news for Mexico. It happens that the ex-governor of Arkansas … is winning supporters in great part through his plan to seal the border with Mexico with a wall and more Border Patrol. He also has the support of such “wonderful” people as James Gilchrist, founder of the anti-immigrant Minuteman movement and the actor Chuck Norris, who played the role of a violent Texas Ranger.”
In the Milenio newspaper, columnist Diego Petersen Farah writes, “Huckabee’s position on immigration is absolutely radical…Without a doubt, for Mexico and Latin America in general, Barack Obama would be a much more empathetic president, although not free of problems.”
Mexico sees Obama victory in terms of, well, black and white …
Mexico hasn’t exactly caught Obama fever, but the nation seems somewhat fascinated with the man one Latin American newspaper is calling the “Black Kennedy.”
Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa last night has tongues wagging here, and at this early stage in the race Obama seems to be defined by one factor: his blackness.
In Mexico, no description of Obama is complete without a nod to his race. El Universal, one of Mexico City’s leading dailies, splashed a smiling picture of Obama across its cover this morning with the caption, “Barack Obama, the third black democrat to seek the White House.” The Milenio newspaper started its Iowa roundup story like this: “The young black senator Barack Obama caused the first surprise of the American electoral campaign last night.” Other newspapers marveled that Obama was able to win in an overwhelmingly white state.
Going forward it will be interesting to see how Mexico’s perception of Obama changes. The Mexican government’s record is spotty to say the least when it comes to race relations. It caused a stir when it put images of Memin Penguin, a beloved, but buffoonishly stereotypically cartoon of a young black boy, on a commemorative stamp two years ago. And former president Vicente Fox angered African-American groups when he declared in 2006 that Mexican immigrants “do the work that not even blacks want to do.”
President’s cousin kidnapped
In proof that very little deters kidnappers here, the cousin of President Felipe Calderon was kidnapped for several hours on Wednesday, according to the Reforma newspaper.
Alfonso Reyes Hinojosa was reportedly picked up by a group of armed men as he and his wife tried to get into their car near their home in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan state. Reyes was released several hours later, unharmed, according to the newspaper. Unnamed federal officials told the Milenio newspaper that the president’s cousin’s disappearance was due to a business dispute. Whatever happened, the Mexican press is abuzz this morning with tales of an “express kidnapping,” a term that’s come to describe quick kidnapping in which victims are usually forced to withdraw money from ATM machines.
It’s unclear if the kidnappers knew they were dealing with the president’s cousin or if a ransom was paid. The kidnapping triggered a convoy of federal troops to the regional capital, which is home to Calderon’s family.
Michoacan has suffered heavily in the on-going drug war between rival cartels and was the scene of some spectacularly brutal beheadings, which transfixed the nation last year. More recently, it was where popular singer Sergio Gomez, of the K-Paz de la Sierra group, was kidnapped and executed.
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Wedding of the year? Hey, wait a minute…
Just before Christmas, the border state of Coahuila held what the local media breathlessly called “the wedding of the year.” The border region was abuzz with news of the marriage between Coahuila Governor Humberto Moreira, a young up and comer in the PRI, and his bride, the fabulous and fashionable Vanesa Guerrero (a former beauty queen). On the wedding day, the La Voz newspaper blared on its front page: “Today They Marry.”
Nancy and I had our own interest in the wedding of the year: The governor was getting married at the same gorgeous Spanish mission where we had been wed the year before. Our wedding was just the second at the San Bernardo Mission, located in Guerrero, Coahuila, just outside of Piedras Negras, since it was restored. The governor’s wedding was the third. Of course ours didn’t make quite the same splash (amazingly, the local media didn’t feel the need to record the union of two journalists).
Perhaps the guest list had something to do with it. The governor’s wedding attracted such famous and infamous invitees as former president Carlos Salinas de Gortari and PRI Senator Manlio Fabio Beltrones (one of the most influential power brokers in the Mexican Congress). The pop band Camila provided the entertainment and Mexican comedians Facundo and Adal Ramones brought the jokes. And the governor had slightly more security: some 400 cops guarded the mission.