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I see a lot Mexicans on a daily basis, they shop a lot in Passeig de Gracia in Barcelona. Passeig de Gracia is where the most expensive shops are. There's always a lot of Brazilians, Mexicans, Chinese and Arabs. I can't set apart Mexicans unless they open their mouth. They don't look Spanish, but Northen Spanish. They dress very European. Americans are easier to spot.
Maybe Mexicans here are mostly descendants of the Spanish emigration during the civil war, back in 1936 or from older immigration waves.
Many are, but others are just tourist with different backgrounds.
If you see some mexican from Mexico City, Guadalajara, Puebla, Cordoba, Veracruz, they look like your description, but if you see a mexican from northern states, they look more like americans in moods and attire.
I heard from Mexicans that they didn't have much faith in him as presidente but look what he has done so far, arrested the head of the teachers union and presented legislation to break-up monopolies. He might be a huge surprise for Mexico and change it for the better.
Those kinds of things always happen with a new president... before they fall into the same old habits. In general, the people they "take down" are more or less the opposition, not necessarily because they should've been all along.
EPN is not an intelligent, thoughtful man. Whatever intentions has has, good or bad, are likely to be far overshadowed with time by his own party, which is still, by all indications, just as corrupt as it has always been.
The PAN's existence actually, if by obligatory forces, actually instituted real change in the country. After the 1984 earthquake, the Zapatista crisis in Chiapas and a couple of other incidences, PRI was basically ruling itself out. In order to not face a coup or a revolution, the PRI ceded power to the PAN and the PAN could no longer do 'business as usual'. Since then, tons of free trade agreements have been signed, and there's been a lot of liberalization of government control industries. I wish they would privatize pemex, but we as Mexicans have a very fearful mentality of outsider control of our minerals... don't know why .... could be something that happened in the late 1890's.
Mexicans like to complain a lot. If we look at our live now v. 12 years ago, we are better off. The thing is, we are constantly comparing ourselves to the United States, and therefore we always have a defeatist mentality. 12 years ago, in Mexico City you could barely breathe. Today, the air is much cleaner (still not the best, but not 1990s level), we have a higher purchasing power, and whereas 20 yrs ago one of our problems was malnutrition, today the biggest health problem we have is obesity! Isn't that what we all want? To be as fat as Americans?
Anyway... I don't like how this guy (Pena Nieta) got elected, despite his dreamy looks... but I don't think this will be the same PRI as Zedillo, or Gortari's PRI. This will be a much different government... and he will very much have to compromise... or cause serious destabilization... which few Mexicans actually want.
Mexico City is an island in the country, though. It has not been ruled by the PAN or PRI the last 12 years. It has not suffered from the national violence issue. It is liberal and far more open and economically diverse, and its drastic reduction in pollution is basically the result of progressive policy, something you don't see outside of it very much.
That said, there is a growing middle class in the country, and that will ultimately negatively affect just how much corruption can take place. More money and access tends to equate to being better informed and more active.
Mexico City is an island in the country, though. It has not been ruled by the PAN or PRI the last 12 years. It has not suffered from the national violence issue. It is liberal and far more open and economically diverse, and its drastic reduction in pollution is basically the result of progressive policy, something you don't see outside of it very much.
That said, there is a growing middle class in the country, and that will ultimately negatively affect just how much corruption can take place. More money and access tends to equate to being better informed and more active.
Correct. And I don't necessarily agree with you that it is an island. Even cities like Queretaro, Puebla, Toluca have an up and coming middle class.
BUt on the middle class negatively affecting how much corruption can take place. That is why, while I am not happy that EPN won, I am confident the PRI will not be able to get away with what they did in the past.
Other posters might take this post as a negative rant, it is not.
There is also racial/ethical discrimination. You see light skin mexicans(which make a very small minority ironically) call themselves "white" and mock darker skin mestizos and indians, even though the latter make the majority. They call the U.S racist, while at the same time mexico shows mostly light skin actors, singers, and actresses on their tv shows.
They call mexican-americans traitors, while their youth is trying to learn english, listen to pop music in english, and watch american shows. They claim mexican-americans are descendants from poor small fat indians who migrated to the U.S while they are "supposely" light skin tall and middle class who fair well in their own country, while mexican americans are supporting immigration reform. The reality is their own version of "middle class" matches to our version of "lower-lower middle class"
Northern mexicans claim they are whiter and taller, when the reality is they are the same as southern mexicans.
They supported Oscar de la Hoya, but when he went against Julio Cesar Chavez, they turned their back on him and called him a sissy boy.
I admire Mexico, its culture, its history, but its people contradict themselves alot. Light skin mexicans feel superior than mestizo mexicans, mestizo mexicans feel superior than indian mexicans, and every mexican feels superior than mexican-american(even though mexican americans have more in common with mexican, then say italian americans with italians). They call our government imperialistic and corrupt, while moving over here, knowing their own government is far worst.
They say U.S police officers are tyranical, while mexican police turn the other way around when the cartels are beheading and skinning them.
The on going contradictions they have, have made me believe they feel insecure about their country. They are always saying they are proud of their country, all the time.
A breath of fresh air. Hold on, the racist attibutions will come soon or the "you don't know what you are talking about" comments. I agree with everything in this post and it is a good, honest opinion.
Yes skin color is a factor, , but it is not the end-all in discrimination in Mexico. The article focus on more than just skin color and race... but I think it's really hard for Americans to peel themselves off from that alone.
How someone behaves, acts, speaks can severely restrict their social mobility and social interactions.
...snipped...It kind of was... the fact that you called it a 'rant' means it's not really that far fetched to think about it as negative.
How about an impassioned, honest opinion from their own observations, that had some negative overtones.......
I think there is a lot of your statement from above and quoted below and, not just the color of skin, in some of American societal judgments. Just as there are in yours. It is so easy to hate on America and not recognize your own racism and bigotry. You all always speak in generalizations and paint a broad brush about what America thinks and does, and yet you chastise people that you accuse of the same thing in your country.
"How someone behaves, acts, speaks can severely restrict their social mobility and social interactions."
A breath of fresh air. Hold on, the racist attibutions will come soon or the "you don't know what you are talking about" comments. I agree with everything in this post and it is a good, honest opinion.
Or could it just possibly be that you really DON'T know what you are talking about, and you just like to sling mud at a country whose people you really don't care for??
That just shows that the PRI is the main obstacle to the advance of the country, if the entire reformist zeal that they are showing now had been applied with PAN governments, the country would have gone much further.
It takes two to tango. Both Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon of the PAN attempted various important reforms, only to be met by gridlock put into place by both PRI and PRD. The opposition parties didn't want to provide much support for things PAN would tout as accomplishments. Yes, the country would have advanced further. But 'national interest' isn't an important factor in Mexican politics.
The PRI aren't reformers. They're the enemy of the people. That's been the history/legacy of the PRI. If there'll be a change in that organization I think it will come in future generations, not this one.
If the PRD would jettison the crazies and advance someone of the stature/competence of Marcelo Ebrard (former head of D.F. government) it would have more success nationally. But that's not likely to happen any time soon. We're likely to see PRI Presidents for the next 12 years.
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on the middle class negatively affecting how much corruption can take place. That is why, while I am not happy that EPN won, I am confident the PRI will not be able to get away with what they did in the past.
