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LETTERS

Diplomatic row shines light on judicial system Welcome again! In this edition of Mexico Weekly, our cover story fo-

cuses on the diplomatic spat between Mexico and France. Neither country could fully imagine the repercussions when a beautiful young French woman was arrested six years ago, and charged along with her Mexican boyfriend with kidnapping.

Oscar McKelligan PRESIDENT

Ana Maria Salazar

VICE PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Tom Buckley

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Carlos Martínez Cruz MANAGING EDITOR

Fernando Ortiz LEGAL ADVISER

Cecilia Garza V ADMINISTRATION

Unfortunately, Mexico is a world leader in kidnapping, though few suspects are ever prosecuted. And the number of victims continues to climb. I recently met a security expert who told me that, not only are kidnapping incidents rising here, but more victims are killed or mutilated in order to pressure family into paying a hefty ransom. Victims of the “Cassez” kidnapping ring testified that Florence herself would ask if they wanted a finger or an ear cut off.

Iker Amaya

CORPORATE SALES

David Alvarado ART DIRECTOR

Kelly Arthur Garrett LIFE & LEISURE EDITOR

Armando Palacios-Sommer COPY EDITOR

Is Florence Cassez an innocent foreigner who was in the wrong place with the wrong people? Or is she part of a growing cadre of young people in Mexico who understand that kidnapping is a lucrative business with little chance of paying the consequences? According to the judges, she is the latter. President Sarkozy insists he is not saying Cassez is innocent; rather, he is demanding that she be returned to France to serve her 60-year sentence in a French prison. President Calderón said NO! This has produced a diplomatic standoff that caused Mexico to end its participation in the “Año de México en Francia,” costing millions and upsetting hundreds of academic and cultural programs. I spoke this week to Miguel Alemán Velasco who headed the commission that coordinated the cultural program. He voiced his support for President Calderón, since he believes Sarkozy put him in a very difficult situation. Polls published last week not only support Calderón’s decision to keep Cassez in jail here, but also indicate that more than 70 percent of those surveyed believe Cassez is guilty. Still, in a democracy polls do not define a person’s guilt. Guilty or not, the trial was clearly plagued by serious irregularities. If anything good came out of the Cassez case it is that it has produced a serious examination of how justice is imparted here as highlighted in the movie “Presunto Culpable” that is also reviewed in this edition. I want to recommend this week’s article on cartels and criminal gangs within Mexico City. A few years ago, the D.F. was considered one of the most dangerous capitals in the world. Now thousands of families who live in violence-ridden cities and can’t move to the U.S. are taking their families and business to Mexico City because it seems safer than the rest of the country. In this week’s edition we examine what City Hall is doing as Mexico is witness to increasingly extreme drug violence. Don’t forget to check out our website for breaking news and analysis. Ana Maria Salazar Executive Director anamaria.salazar@mexicotoday.com.mx @MEXICOTODAY_MX

4!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

WWW.MEXICOTODAY.COM.MX

Susana Pérez

SENIOR DESIGNER

Blake Lalonde WEB EDITOR

REPORTERS

Rebecca Conan Bronson Pettitt Zach Lindsey Francisco Cándido

IT & OPERATIONS MANAGER

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Oscar McKelligan Ana Maria Salazar Miguel Alemán Velasco Yurek McKelligan José Antonio Valdes Fernando Ortiz John Barson COVER PHOTOGRAPH NOTIMEX PHOTO / DAVID DEL RIO

© “MEXICO WEEKLY”, ES UNA PUBLICACIÓN SEMANAL PROPIEDAD DE YUMAC S.A. DE C.V. CON OFICINAS EN DIVISIÓN DEL NORTE #925 1ER PISO COL. NARVARTE DELEGACIÓN BENITO JUAREZ CP 03020 TEL 2455 5555 IMPRESA EN LOS TALLERES DE SERVICIOS PROFESIONALES DE IMPRESIÓN UBICADOS EN MIMOSAS NO. 31 COLONIA STA. MARÍA INSURGENTES CP 06430 DEL CUAUHTEMOC MÉXICO D.F. FECHA DE IMPRESIÓN: 17 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2010 © “MEXICO WEEKLY” INVESTIGA SOBRE LA SERIEDAD DE SUS ANUNCIANTES, PERO NO SE RESPONSABILIZA CON LAS OFERTAS RELACIONADAS POR LOS MISMOS. ATENCIÓN A CLIENTES: ZONA METROPOLITANA TEL. 3099-4987. LOS ARTÍCULOS Y EL CONTENIDO EDITORIAL SON RESPONSABILIDAD DE SUS AUTORES Y NO REFLEJAN NECESARIAMENTE EL PUNTO DE VISTA DE LA PUBLICACIÓN, NI DE LA EDITORIAL. TODOS LOS DERECHOS ESTÁN RESERVADOS. PROHIBIDA LA REPRODUCCIÓN TOTAL O PARCIAL DE LAS IMÁGENES Y/O TEXTOS SIN AUTORIZACIÓN PREVIA Y POR ESCRITO DEL EDITOR.

Refusing to take the bait Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretariat makes it clear that it perceives France’s reaction to the Cassez case as little more than a bête noire : 6

PARTIES

Colosio’s son slams PRI, calls them hypocritical

Luis Donaldo Colosio, son and namesake of the slain PRI presidential candidate, criticized the party for exploiting his father’s name. Colosio called the PRI “hypocrites” and “fraudulent” in a message on his Twitter account. Incoming PRI president Humberto Moreira said he would try to arrange a meeting with Colosio to hear why he made the accusations.

ELECTIONS

PARTIES

OLVERA DECLARED VICTOR IN HIDALGO

The Federal Electoral Tribunal threw out 17 formal complaints and declared Francisco Olvera governor-elect of Hidalgo. Olvera won the election in July, but challenger Xóchitl Gálvez contested the result.

ENCINAS ANXIOUS TO PRESERVE PRD

Alejandro Encinas has called on PRD leaders to create an internal movement to “rescue and unify the party” as it risks rupture over its electoral alliance policy. Michoacán Gov. Leonel Godoy offered to help mediate.

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"5

NOTIMEX PHOTO/JAVIER LIRA OTERO

www.mexicotoday.com.mx/information/politics

COVER STORY

CASSEZ AND THE ZODIACS

Florence Cassez, now 36, arrived in Mexico from France in 2003 to live and work with her brother (and his Mexican wife). While working for a hotel chain, Cassez began dating Israel Vallarta a little over a year later. The New York Times reported in 2009 that the pair began a difficult relationship that alienated her friends, who sensed he was trouble. Cassez returned to France in the summer of 2005 but Vallarta called her and she returned to Mexico to live at his ranch. On Dec. 9, 2005, the Attorney General’s Office announced it had dismantled a notorious kidnap gang, “Los Zodiaco.” Among the members of the gang was Florence.

Ambassador Carlos de Icaza walked out of the French Senate during Alliot-Marie’s speech.

: Events impacted Ubifrance canceled a high-level colloqui-

NICOLAS SARKOZY and his administration have adopted the roles of enfants terribles, turning a sensitive judicial matter into a fullblown diplomatic row that has already toppled a cultural event BY TOM BUCKLEY / MEXICO WEEKLY

NOTIMEX PHOTOS/DAVID DEL RÍO

alk about bad timing. Just as a symbolic, yearlong celebration of friendship was getting under way, Mexico and France have seen diplomatic relations suffer a dramatic blow over a controversial judicial case involving a Frenchwoman. French President Nicolas Sarkozy went on the offensive, as did a few of his top Cabinet officials, wounding Mexican pride and giving rise to references about 19th century conflicts between the two nations. Mexico’s ambassador to France walked out of the French Senate during a speech by France’s minister of foreign affairs. Complicating matters considerably, France currently presides over the G-20 economic organization and is due to turn over chairmanship to Mexico in November. Columnists here have had a field day, though not all have blindly bashed Sarkozy and France. Several have carefully examined the dual parts of the issue, lamenting that a judicial procedure has scuttled a massive cultural festival that could only have brought positive attention to Mexico.

QUELLE HORREUR! France’s foreign secretary, Michelle Alliot-Marie, delivers remarks in the French Senate on Feb. 21.

The case against the suspects involved at least 10 kidnappings and the murder of one of the victims. Accompanying the announcement was a live video of federal agents entering the Las Chinitas ranch outside Cuernavaca and freeing three hostages while capturing several gang members. This video would become a flash point in the eventual judicial and diplomatic controversy. On Feb. 10, 2006, the government acknowledged that the videotaped arrest had been staged for television. On April 25, 2008, Cassez was convicted on kidnapping and organized crime charges and condemned to 96 years in prison. The sentence was shortly thereafter reduced to 60 years. In February 2010, Cassez published a book proclaiming her innocence and revealing that she would file an appeal based on the evidence she presented in the book. The sentence was upheld on appeal on Feb. 10, 2011, setting off the diplomatic fireworks.

6!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

SARKOZY ANNOYS HIS HOSTS

The Cassez case dominated the agenda of President Sarkozy during his March 2009 visit to Mexico despite the best efforts of the Calderón administration to prevent the topic from taking on a life of its own. Sarkozy ignored diplomatic protocol and barreled on ahead. During the official welcoming ceremonies – ironically held on the steps of the Chapel of the Empress, named after Empress Carlota who built the chapel on the grounds of the National Palace during the so-called Second Empire imposed by Napoleón III – Sarkozy got right to his point. “I didn’t come here to challenge the decision of Mexico’s justice system,” he said. “I am not a judge.” The following day during a special joint session of Congress in the Senate, Sarkozy again broached the subject. “Let me be clear, I was asked not to comment on the Cassez case from the podium so I will proceed to do so,” he said. “I am not a man who supports impunity but I have

a duty to my fellow citizens, regardless of what they may have done. I ask that this balancing act be respected.” Although the point of the state visit was to strengthen economic ties, the most visible outcome was an agreement to form a binational commission of legal experts to review the possibility of allowing Cassez to serve out her sentence in France. Calderón later sent a letter to Sarkozy promising he’d consider the transfer. The French president has attempted to translate the contents of this letter into a promise from Calderón to hand over Cassez. DOMESTIC BACKLASH

In France, Sarkozy’s insistence in the Cassez case has not been well received. The principal newspapers have been quick to recount his diplomatic missteps over the years. A front-page headline in Liberation read “Sarkozy, the diplomatic crash” in reference to his blunders, arguing in the article that his imperiousness has aggravated rather than helped Cassez.

Sarkozy has yet to formally announce he will stand for re-election. On Feb. 24, a CSA survey found that nearly 60 percent of those polled do not want him to run. Another opinion poll published earlier in February showed he had only 24 percent support ahead of next year’s elections. Forty retired and active French diplomats on Feb. 22 published an open letter criticizing Sarkozy’s foreign policy in Le Monde. “Our diplomacy is best described as improvisational and moves from impulse to impulse that more accurately reflects internal political interests,” it read. The diplomats questioned if Sarkozy was more interested in winning media exposure for the Cassez case when it would be better discussed “with discretion.” Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin decried the deteriorating situation with Mexico, saying “this should have been a year during which we celebrated our projects, our relations and our culture. … we should be emphasizing our fraternity with Mexico.”

um due to be held the weekend beginning March 3. Ubifrance – a government agency focusing on international business development – was co-sponsoring the event with the French Senate and Pro-Mexico and the secretaries of economy from each nation were expected to attend. An exposition of monumental sculptures by Rivelino along the Seine was canceled on Feb. 21 as was an exposition of jade Mayan masks in the Pinacoteca de Paris. A colloquium and keynote speech by José Emilio Pacheco in the National Library on March 10 was called off. An exposition of works by cinematographer and photographer Gabriel Figueroa set for early April in Paris is at risk of cancellation. Conaculta canceled its participation in the “El Año de México en Francia,” calling off its sponsorship of 350 concerts, expositions and related events. On Feb. 18, Conaculta – Mexico’s National Council for Culture and Arts – summoned home all personnel that were already in France. The Río Loco Festival in Toulouse – billed as the inaugural festival of “El Año de México en Francia” – was canceled. An upcoming Latin American film series in the same city scheduled for late March has been temporarily suspended. In Lyon, a grand exposition on pre-historic Gulf cultures was canceled. A film noir movie festival and a colloquium on crime novels – both set for late March – are at risk of cancellation. In Lille, Mayor Martine Aubry – the leader of the Socialist Party – canceled an exposition of engravings by José Guadalupe Posada and called for a national boycott of the entire event.

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"7

COVER STORY

: The Chattering Classes

“Víctor Hugo separated

the French from their government when he wrote to the people in the city of Puebla as it was under siege by Napoleon III’s army in 1862: ‘It is not France waging war against you, it is the Empire.’ My email account is full of similar messages from French friends and colleagues who distance themselves completely from the Sarkozy government.” Jean Meyer, Historian who earned his PhD at the Sorbonne

“With the cancellation

of ‘El Año de México en Francia’ both countries have lost a valuable opportunity for cultural and diplomatic rapprochement.” Miguel Alemán Velasco, Coordinator of the “El Año de México en Francia” event and former governor of Veracruz

Presidents Sarkozy and Calderón during the French president’s visit to Mexico City in 2009.

Members of Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) have questioned his insistence, many pointing out that a judicial matter in another country should be handled delicately. “Just because she is French does not mean she is innocent,” said Chantal Brunel, a UMP lawmaker, lamenting the fact that diplomatic relations with Mexico have been damaged. INDIGNATION GROWS

Also in hot water is Sarkozy’s foreign relations minister, Michelle Alliot-Marie, who has only been in office for three months. The former minister of justice has been questioned for family vacations taken in Tunisia during the unrest there and her relationship with the recently deposed president. She publicly suggested that France support Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before he fled the African nation and Alliot-Marie even arranged to send supplies of teargas to Tunisia while also calling on the National Assembly to send French riot police to help restore order. Aillot-Marie further antagonized relations when she mentioned the Cassez case at a special session in the French Senate that was meant to commemorate France’s special historical relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean. Along with the rest of the local diplomatic community, Mexican Ambassador Carlos de Icaza was in attendance. Icaza promptly stood up in the balcony of honor and walked out of the Senate building in the middle of Aillot-Marie’s speech. Later, the Mexican Embassy released a statement saying “Ambassador Icaza sadly found himself obliged to leave.” “Mexico cannot tolerate that judicial affairs be repeatedly dragged into other, separate matters,” the statement insisted. The next day, Aillot-Marie’s office released a statement lamenting Icaza’s

8"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

NOTIMEX PHOTO/DAVID DEL RIO

Denise Dresser, Reforma columnist and academic

“The battle over

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLICKR

“In most functioning democracies, [the staged arrest] would result in the suspect’s immediate release. This – justice converted into farcical theater – is what ought to most incense Mexicans.”

Florence Cassez under arrest in 2005

Florence Cassez’s parents, Charlotte and Bernard, speak to the media in Paris after the failed appeal.

walk-out. “It is a shame Mexico’s ambassador was unable to listen to the speech of friendship toward Latin America delivered by the minister,” it said. The incident prompted a new round of condemnations of Sarkozy’s government in France. Nobel Prize winner Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio criticized the administration as arrogant. “I feel a sense of indignation at the arrogance and contempt Sarkozy has shown toward the Mexican judicial system,” the novelist said.

AffairsSecretariat (SRE) official had declared that the diplomatic row would continue “as far as Sarkozy cared to push it.” “We will not escalate this conflict … it is up to the French government,” said Lourdes Aranda, an SRE undersecretary. Bilateral ties were tested one more time during a G-20 meeting in Paris on Feb. 1920. During the gathering of 20 finance ministers and central bank officials, Finance Secretary Ernesto Cordero ignored efforts by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to discuss the case. During a press conference, Lagarde mentioned that she had attempted to talk to Cordero about Cassez, but “we did not manage to hold a bilateral meeting to address the situation.” During his own press conference, Cordero was asked five separate times about Lagarde and Cassez, but he deflected the issue. “In none of the sessions did we discuss the Cassez case. That is a closed judicial matter and we should not allow it to contaminate our ... economic relationship,”

FINAL APPEAL

As the spat simmered further, the appeals court took the unprecedented step of releasing details of its decision to uphold the conviction on Feb. 20. The summary described each of the complaints presented by Cassez on appeal and offered full explanations as to why each complaint was rejected. By this time, President Calderón had vowed that Mexico “would not kowtow to France” and a top Foreign

he said. “We only spoke to France about issues pertaining to the G-20.” But the damage was done and some analysts argued that this subtle attack was likely more insidious than the cancellation of the “Año de México en Francia” events. “This was Sarkozy’s bigger play,” wrote political columnist Ricardo Raphael in El Universal. “The French president knew full well that the G-20 forum was never going to be the place to discuss the Franco-Mexican judicial dispute. His goal was quite different: He was betting on damaging the international prestige of Mexico in the presence of attending dignitaries.” With Mexico determined to play the aggrieved party and sit quietly to the side, the pressure is growing on Sarkozy back home to rescind his decision that the “Año de México en Francia” would be officially devoted to Florence Cassez. Calls to boycott events have also been chastised. Let’s hope Sarkozy does an about face and the joie de vivre is restored before relations suffer permanent damage.

Florence Cassez is, of course, quite distinct from The Pastry War but actually quite similar to that 1838-39 conflict as it unveils the stupidity of human nature, especially when the people wrap themselves in the flag of patriotism. And here, both President Sarkozy and President Calderón are more concerned about political popularity than justice.” Sergio Sarmiento, Reforma columnist

“Sarkozy’s prestige is damaged and opinion polls are very low so he is trying to puff himself up in front of the voting public, to act as the defender of national honor even at the cost of a very important cultural event.” Carlos Fuentes, Novelist and former Mexican ambassador to France

“Florence Cassez is

clearly not the best representative France could have chosen for a year of activities dedicated to cultural exchange.” Héctor Aguilar Camín, Milenio columnist

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"9

POLITICS

EDUCATION

union’s registration Villaneuva said: “Our principal objectives are to be accountable, to hold the rights of teachers at our core, to avoid compulsory affiliation to any given political party and to strengthen excellence in education.” More specifically, he said the union wishes to reform teacher education and to collaborate on the reform of educational policy. The SITEM certainly has lofty goals but it faces a major stumbling block. By law, each government secretariat only has to answer to one union. Currently the SNTE has sole power to negotiate the employment terms of its teachers with the SEP and it is this right that gives it such clout on a national level. Without the right to negotiate terms, the new union may always be relegated to the role of the SNTE’s poor cousin. If the SITEM manages to grow a larger membership than the SNTE, it would be given the right to negotiate terms. Given that SITEM has 7,500 members against SNTE’s 1.5 million, this may take a while.

New kid in school The SITEM wins registration to challenge the powerful teachers union led by Elba Esther Gordillo

GROWING TREND

SNTE is without a doubt a powerful force in Mexico but allegations of internal corruption are well documented.

NOTIMEX PHOTO/MAXIMILIANO NÚÑEZ

SNTE NOT WORRIED

NOTIMEX PHOTO/JORGE GONZÁLEZ

It took seven years and several appearances before various tribunals but a new group has finally forced its way into the classroom. For the first time in 68 years, the giant SNTE teachers union has a rival in the form of the Independent Syndicate of Teachers in Mexico (SITEM). Though the new union may have received a great deal of fanfare in the press, can it really change the essential fabric of the education debate? However historically significant SITEM’s registration may be, the union faces an uphill struggle if it is to match the power of the SNTE. With 59 regional headquarters and a membership of over 1.5 million, SNTE is the largest trade union in Latin America. Its leader Elba Esther Gordillo has presided over the union since 1989 and wields significant political power. Gordillo rose to secretary general of the PRI in 2005, but after a falling out with presidential hopeful Roberto Madrazo she was ousted from the party leadership. A shrewd political mover, Gordillo switched allegiance and supported Felipe Calderón during the presidential election in 2006. At the same time, she founded a new political party (Nueva Alianza), which allowed her to maintain influence within Congress. The Economist says she is the second most powerful politician in the country after President Felipe Calderón.

Elba Esther Gordillo is the SNTE’s figurehead.

Over the past several decades, there have been accusations relating to the misapplication of funds, murky donations to the union by the Education Secretariat (SEP) and the sale and transfer of teaching positions. Despite being a teachers union, some 30,000 members do not even teach at all, instead acting as full-time union officials. Set against this background it is perhaps unsurprising that there is discontent within the SNTE. Oaxaca’s Section 22 is one prominent dissident faction that has been in the news of late, but the foundation and successful official registration of the SITEM reflects a growing trend in the creation of independent opposition movements. Although SITEM is the first national

10!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

SNTE Section 22 has been a thorn in the side of Oaxaca governors for years.

union to gain registration, 23 regional unions have been registered over the last five years. The unions are spread over a wide geographical area including Baja California, Coahuila, Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán. READY TO RECRUIT

On the announcement of the SITEM’s official registration, Gaudencio Bravo, the new union’s leader said: “We have created a third way, independent of the union led by ‘La maestra’ [as Gordillo is known] because we do not want to be complicit in the corruption and irregularities that were transforming our work into a question of party politics.”

The SITEM’s creation has been a protracted process, taking seven years to come to fruition Following dismissal from the SNTE executive committee, a group led by Carlos Jongitud Carrillo decided to create a “third way” for Mexico’s teachers. Ironically, Jongitud is the son of the long-time former SNTE leader that Gordillo displaced in 1989 with the help of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Carlos Jongitud Barrios led the SNTE from September 1972 until April 1989. The SITEM’s current leadership committee consists of six members, including former PRD Deputy Humberto Barrera and former SNTE executive committee member Juan Carlos Villanueva.

The union’s application was reviewed for seven-and-a-half months by the Federal Arbitration and Conciliation Board before it was granted official registration on Jan. 25. According to SITEM spokesman Homero Pólito Domínguez, the union is currently comprised of 7,500 teachers from across Puebla, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Veracruz, Guanajuato and Mexico City. In addition a concerted recruitment drive is under way. LOFTY GOALS

So, what does the “third way” consist of in practical terms? At the press conference to announce the

SITEM’s creation does not appear to worry the SNTE. Veracruz Section 32 leader Wenceslao Vargas Márquez said the new teachers union “does not represent a challenge to the SNTE. They are too small and have no new ideas. All I have heard them say is a repetition of SNTE’s goals and policies.” Education in Mexico has seen little improvement under the SNTE’s watch despite a generous budget and high salaries. By law the education budget must be at least 8 percent of gross domestic product and the 2011 budget provides more than 208 billion pesos. It would be reasonable to assume that a challenge to the SNTE’s bloated apparatus could stimulate real change. However, economic theories correlating competition with growth do not necessarily translate to the field of public education. According to Vargas Márquez “the best thing for education and for teachers is one single, national union. Dividing the fight is a step backward and denies the possibility of radical transformation.” Without power to negotiate with the SEP and with such a small membership, the SITEM faces an almost Sisyphean task. The union has secured its registration, but the boulder keeps on rolling. REBECCA CONAN / MEXICO WEEKLY

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"11

POLITICS

BROADCASTING

NOTIMEX PHOTO/FRANCISCO GARCÍA

Media wars PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR

NOTIMEX PHOTO/ALFREDO GUERRERO

A rancorous public debate over freedom of expression overshadowed a bitter rivalry that is focused on knocking Televisa off its perch It was early on Friday, Feb. 4, less than five weeks into a new year that seemed hopeful on the political front as a new congressional session had just gotten under way. President Calderón was savoring the defeat of the PRI in Guerrero and the PAN candidate was leading comfortably in polls ahead of the upcoming Baja California Sur election. Party leaders were predicting that Congress would debate key reforms in the weeks ahead and a few of them – labor reform, the anti-monopoly law, judicial reform – were high on the president’s agenda. But that Friday morning, popular radio host Carmen Aristegui took to the airwaves, made some impertinent comments and the result was a two-week hangover for the president. By Monday, Feb. 7, Aristegui had been fired for “reporting rumors as news” after she used a scandalous display led by Labor Party Deputy Gonzalo Fernández Noroña in Congress to demand that Los Pinos declare whether or not Calderón was a drunk. On Wednesday, Feb. 9, Aristegui blamed her firing on “a presidential temper tantrum,” reiterating the imputation that had been repeated ad nauseum in the interim that the sacred ideal of freedom of expression had been desecrated. Three weeks later, Aristegui is back on the air, although the Vargas family (owners of the radio station) have yet to elaborate upon the reasons for the firing nor have they fully explained the decision to rehire the aggrieved broadcaster. In the immediate aftermath of Aristegui’s firing, social networks were ablaze

Carmen Aristegui was reinstated on Feb. 21.

Calderón inisists he did not pressure MVS.

with support for the broadcaster and crude condemnations of President Calderón. Columnists waxed about freedom of speech, while some rationalized the journalistic validity of the request that Los Pinos address the alcoholism allegations. Aristegui was silent for four days before her Wednesday press conference in which she decried the alleged censorship imposed by Los Pinos. “The Vargas family should not bow to pressures from the federal government nor a presidential tantrum,” she said, asserting that MVS was confronted with the decision to fire Aristegui or lose out on future licensing opportunities. Los Pinos countered, issuing a press release: “The federal government is and has been scrupulously respectful of freedom of expression and values the wide variety of

voices and opinions in the debate over public affairs.” President spokesman Roberto Gil Zuarth told reporters later that Aristegui’s original allegations were “offensive rumors” and detailed Calderón’s normal daily activities to demonstrate that the president is “in good health and completely in command of his faculties.” Less than a week later, MVS announced Aristegui would return on Feb. 21 and an arbitrator – Javier Corral – would investigate Aristegui’s alleged violation of the code of ethics. A deeper look at the melodramatic events offers revealing insights. Beyond the clamor about freedom of expression denied were a few voices that focused on journalistic responsibility. Carlos Ramírez of El Financiero and Ciro Gómez Leyva of Milenio

12"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

sent from a total of 292 twitter accounts. On Wednesday, Feb. 16, Aristegui and MVS issued a statement announcing that the reporter would be back behind the microphone on Feb. 21. That same night, on the Televisa program “Tercer Grado,” Carlos Loret de Mola asserted that the story behind the story was a growing conflict between the Carlos Slim empire and Televisa, calling it “a clash of titans.” Slim is competing with Televisa and its cable division, Cablevisión, via the Dish satellite TV company and MVS. Slim and associates are angling to win an eventual bid to acquire rights to a third public television contract, while Televisa (and TV Azteca) have long been fighting the creation of a third network. Carlos Slim has his eyes on a new TV network. The “Tercer Grado” moderator changed the subject and Loret de Mola was not I have seen that Calderón is an alcoholic so able to offer additional analysis, but CarI’d have to say he isn’t.” los Ramírez attempted to shine a light on For four years, Arreola’s “lie” has circu- the issue in a column two days later. lated in columns in what Ramírez terms Ramírez suggests Aristegui’s reinstate“classic Goebbelian strategy” – “repeat a lie ment was more a factor of MVS not wishoften enough and it becomes truth.” ing to upset the alliance with Slim and his Aristegui’s insistence that she didn’t vi- “war” with Televisa. olate the radio station’s code of ethics is alAt the same time, Slim and Co. were so questionable, specifically with reference announcing that they were pulling adverto the section on respect for privacy of pub- tising from Televisa, calling it a cost-savlic individuals. ing measure. Dish satellite programming There was no evidence or reporting to does not offer Televisa channels, because support the allegation about Calderón – a it refuses to pay the reasonable interconcursory search of the Internet and You- nection fee, says El Universal columnist tube produces three videos, Alberto Barranco. Televisa is in only one of which does the at odds with TV Azteca (and president demonstrate badly There is no Slim’s lucrative phone holdslurred speech. The question ings) over a contested bid is, is this news and informa- evidence I to win a new a national cell tion, or is it ideologically driv- have seen phone network. en insinuation? Throw in the fact that Jathat Did Aristegui – often acvier Corral is the previously cused by critics of being a Calderón is mentioned arbitrator in the mouthpiece of López Obra- an alcoholic Aristegui-MVS case and the dor – simply use an act of pa- so I’d have to plot thickens even further. thetic political theater to imCorral was sued by Televisay he isn’t. pugn the president? sa – and was forced to sell a As the president took a Federico Arreola house – for failing to pay off beating in the press for “cen- political columnist a campaign advertising debt soring” Aristegui, word began he accrued while running for to filter out that MVS would revisit its de- governor of Chihuahua in 2004. cision. Whether or not Calderón or someThe intrigue and dirty tricks did not one at Los Pinos (with or without the pres- end with Aristegui’s return to MVS. The ident’s blessing) had forced MVS’ hand, it real story will continue to play out in seemed like a lose-lose situation. boardrooms and the proverbial smokeThe Vargas family received over 10,000 filled rooms. The most appropriate thing “tweets” criticizing their decision to fire to do is to borrow a favorite catch phrase Aristegui, though a family lawyer wrote in of Aristegui’s: “Ya veremos.” El Universal that the 10,000 messages were TOM BUCKLEY / MEXICO WEEKLY

both strongly hinted that Aristegui violated journalistic ethics by failing to investigate before presenting allegations crudely made by a lawmaker well known for bombastic displays. Aristegui’s argument that rumors of Calderón’s drinking problem were widely disseminated on Twitter and Facebook hardly rises to ethical journalistic standards. Ramírez also reported that Federico Arreola had confessed to being the source of the rumor about Calderón’s drinking. Arreola – a former adviser to Andrés Manuel López Obrador and a friend of Aristegui – said he first made the accusation in a 2006 radio interview after Calderón had insulted him. “I was wrong, I admit it,” Arreola wrote in a Feb. 10 newspaper column. “There is no evidence

“

”

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"13

POLITICS

CONGRESS

Premiering soon … The new Senate building is set to open for business in March, four years after its anticipated debut

NOTIMEX PHOTO

The Senate has announced that it will begin making the move to its new quarters on March 1 and expects to begin working there by March 21. The building near the corner of Reforma and Insurgentes boasts state-of-the-art features to the extent that National Geographic has arranged to film a segment for its series “Megastructures.” But the world-class add-ons led to cost overruns and the construction took so long that four inauguration dates came and went before the current target date was announced on Feb. 21. The federal auditor even conducted a review of the project and its Feb. 16 report offered mild criticism (some examples of poor construction and insufficient quality control) with general approval for adhering to basic regulations. Construction on the site did not get under way in earnest until 2008.

EARLY DELAYS

The Senate acquired the property in July 2002 (then-Sen. Jesús Ortega of the PRD objected to the purchase calling it “an authoritarian decision” led by the PAN) and announced that the construction would be finished in 2005. The property cost $24.7 million, El Universal reported. “The new building will feature ‘intelligent engineering’ at a total cost of roughly 1.4 billion pesos,” said Sen. Ramón Corral (PAN) when the construction contract was put up for bidding. By February 2004, termination of the project was pushed back to August 2006 and the Senate requisitioned an additional 800 million pesos in credit from the Finance Secretariat. The contract bid was pushed back from November 2002, finally winning approval in August 2003. By this time, the PRD had begun to complain about the progress of the construction. “We recognize that the Senate needs a new building, but it should not be built in accord with relationships that some senators have with friends in the construction

industry,” said PRD Sen. Antonio Soto Sánchez. Soto revealed that the PRD had been locked out of the jury that voted on the bids. The cornerstone was finally placed in June 2004, but the economic slowdown then subsoil problems caused the project to grind to a halt. The just-completed audit also revealed that the Senate had neglected to conduct a feasibility review, an oversight that would delay the opening an extra four years. RISING COSTS

Construction finally began in earnest in 2008, slowly so that the concrete foundation would settle adequately in the questionable subsoil. Progress continued apace, but so did the overall cost. From the original estimate of 1.4 billion pesos, the new estimated cost by 2009 was 2.2 billion pesos and final expenditures exceeded 2.5 billion pesos. The Senate targeted the Bicentennial celebrations as the new inauguration date. Ironically, as several of President

14!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

Calderón’s Bicentennial projects fell apart in mid-2010, Senate criticism gradually became muted as it became apparent that its own building would not be completed on time. November 2010 – the Centennial of the Revolution – was the next inauguration target. That too was missed though the Senate held a ceremonial “partial inauguration.” Now, senators are weeks away from moving into their new building, replete with smart technology – iris recognition systems, electronic voting boards, audio and video systems on the main floor, retractable screens at each desk, and a heliport. One thing, though. PAN Sen. José González Morfín confessed in January that the building’s parking lot does not contain sufficient parking spaces for senators and staffers. The Senate has since been going about looking for parking lots to rent in the neighborhood in hopes of mitigating the problem by the time the building opens for good. TOM BUCKLEY / MEXICO WEEKLY

Serious about tax reform Sen. Manlio Fabio Beltrones and PRI senators are pushing a bill that aims to boost public finances, but analysts say transparency is top priority : 20 OIL

Unrest abroad paying off in higher crude profits

Mexican crude has climbed above $95 per barrel due to unrest in the Middle East and northern Africa. That represents a $10 rise per barrel since the beginning of the year. That’s the highest price for national crude since March 2008. The Central Bank reported that the price hike brought $750 million into the Treasury during the Feb. 14-18 reporting period.

ECONOMY

COMMERCE

HOLLAND TOPS LIST OF INVESTORS HERE Foreign direct investment in 2010 climbed 16.6 percent over 2009 figures, the Economy Secretariat reported. The total investment – $17.725 billion – was led by Holland with the United States second.

GOV’T LOOKS INTO TORTILLA PRICES

Economy Secretary Bruno Ferrari accused traders of artificially bumping up the price of corn and said his agency will levy fines against offenders found to be hoarding. Ferrari said an investigation is under way.

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"15

NOTIMEX PHOTO/JAVIER LIRA OTERO

www.mexicotoday.com.mx/information/economy

ECONOMY &FINANCE

INDUSTRY

Cemex has won approval for a new share issue as it scrambles to reduce its considerable debt

Cemex’s Jan. 28 announcement of a proposed $1 billion ordinary share issue was met with consternation among its shareholding ranks and nervousness in the Mexican stock exchange. However, shareholders gave the green light Thursday, Feb. 24, when they voted in favor of the proposal at a Cemex shareholders meeting in Monterrey. The share issue will be larger than originally announced ($2 billion in ordinary shares), but Cemex CEO Lorenzo Zambrano pledged to sell convertible bonds to avoid an immediate stock dilution. Cemex, the world’s third-largest cement manufacturer, was hit hard by the recession in the United States and at the peak of the crisis the company saw a 50-percent drop in share trading. The 2007 acquisition of Australian building materials supplier Rinker, for $14.2 billion placed a heavy burden on the company’s already overstretched balance sheet. The global economic crisis severely hurt Rinker whose main market was in the United States, and the company quickly tripled its debt becoming a liability for Cemex. The Monterrey-based company’s own sales in the U.S. fell 55 percent as a result of the economic slump.

The announcement of one billion new shares led to a 7 percent tumble in Cemex’s share price. This is the largest drop in over a year.

12.79 pesos

the company debt. If Cemex can begin to reduce its debt, analysts say the company has positive prospects for the year ahead. Indeed, in his letter to shareholders in the company’s 2010 annual report, Zambrano said last year “was a transitional [year] for Cemex, from the global crisis of 2009 to the slow recovery that is now taking place in many markets.” He also said the company needs to strengthen its balance sheet and business model to reposition itself for future growth. And although the U.S. recovery will be key to reviving the fortunes of one of Mexico’s corporate giants, the fact that Cemex recently managed to post growth for the first time in years offers newfound hope. To illustrate this, at the Feb.24, press conference held before the shareholders meeting that same day, Zambrano announced Cemex would invest this year a further $475 million to continue with its international expansion. The expansion features special interest on Peru, Brazil, China and India. Zambrano revealed the company is already in talks with a strategic Chinese partner to begin producing ready-mix concrete. The share issue along with the latest investment plans might just sprinkle a little water on those budding green shoots. REBECCA CONAN / MEXICO WEEKLY

MEXICO WEEKLY

12.49 27/01

11.59

28/01

11.48

10/02

Cementing an overdue recovery

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR

Cemex hopes it has weathered the worst of the global crisis and is now looking to expand.

to financial analysts the worst has passed. The sharp drop in share price demonstrated the markets’ reaction to the announcement but IXE analyst José Itzamna Espitia Hernández said the “conflict in Egypt could also have been a factor.” FACING PENALTIES

The shock expressed by the Mexican market and Cemex shareholders is anomalous given they had advance warning. As part of a major refinancing deal in 2009, Cemex agreed to amend its capital covenants on Oct. 25 of last year. In order to comply with the new covenants Cemex must issue $1 billion worth of shares this year or face default penalties. This information was relayed to shareholders last year and so the announcement of

16"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

the share issue was not unexpected. The killer blow of the proposal appeared to be the larger-than-expected stock dilution. Estimates made in October provided for 20 percent less stock dilution than was originally announced. In addition, the higher value issue has led some Cemex analysts to believe the company is not recovering at the expected pace. However, in an effort to calm investor fears and to lessen the effects of dilution, Cemex agreed to issue mainly convertible bonds. Zambrano said “the issue won’t have an immediate dilutive effect as we plan to issue bonds with a four- to seven-year maturity.” “With this [share issue] in the next five years we’ll have a higher free cash flow per

share, so the [stock] dilution myth does not apply, if anything that would be after five years,” said Zambrano at a press conference held before the shareholders meeting. ‘GREATER FLUIDITY’

According to IXE, the share issue will have an initially negative effect on minority shareholders because they have no right of preference to subscribe for the new shares. However, “in the long term the negative effect of stock dilution will be compensated by greater fluidity, the reduction of debt and the reduction of investment risk given the company’s reduced leverage,” IXE said in a market report. IXE analysts reported that the money generated from the share issue will be used to pay down approximately 11 percent of

Telecoms spat spills over into TV advertising arrangments The battle of media tycoons heated up this week when Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man according to Forbes, pulled all of his holding company’s advertising from the two main television networks – Televisa and TV Azteca. While advertising was pulled from Televisa due to a 20-percent hike in pricing, Grupo Carso reported negotiations with TV Azteca broke down on the networks’ request for preferential interconnection tariffs. Interconnection fees – charges paid by all phone operators to connect calls to other networks – are viewed by many as the main obstacle to creating a competitive telecoms market in Mexico. According to Axtel, fixed-line operators have paid almost $21 billion in interconnection tariffs over the last 11 years. The Telecommunications Law permits telephone operators to set interconnection fees as they wish but – in contrast to Europe and the United States where stiff competition among similar sized operators keeps the tariff low – Telmex and Telcel can effectively charge what they want. Slim’s pre-eminence in telecoms is undisputed. Telmex and Telcel dominate 90 percent of the fixed-line market and 70 percent of the cell phone market, respectively. Both companies levy interconnection charges for connecting calls with other phone networks. TV Azteca and the cable operator association Canitec turned on Slim following his refusal to reduce tariffs. In a press statement released Thursday, TV Azteca called for “the immediate opening of a public debate to discuss interconnection fees which affect all of Mexico’s 88 million cell phone users.” The Federal Competition Commission has declined to intervene saying “this is an issue for the companies involved. It has not been established that this matter affects the public.”

24/01

HEFTY BILL DUE

By the end of 2010, Cemex had amassed a hefty debt of $17.7 billion. Just this year, the cement company must pay $2.3 billion in debt if it wants to avoid a rise of $200 million in interest payments. In its financial report for the last quarter of 2010, Cemex reported net losses of $581 million, although sales increased by 1 percent on the same quarter in 2009. At an extraordinary general meeting held on Jan. 28, Cemex announced its proposal to issue 6 billion ordinary shares (approximately 20 percent of the company’s total shares in circulation) and confirmed that shareholders would be asked to vote on the proposal on Feb. 28. Following the Jan. 28 announcement, Cemex’s shares closed down 7.21 percent that same day, dropping to 11.59 pesos, a year long low. The price has yet to bounce back to pre-announcement levels but according

CEMEX STOCK PRICE SLUMP

ECONOMY &FINANCE

Day/Month

Source: IXE

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"17

ECONOMY &FINANCE

INDUSTRY

Cemex has won approval for a new share issue as it scrambles to reduce its considerable debt

The announcement of one billion new shares led to a 7 percent tumble in Cemex’s share price. This is the largest drop in over a year.

12.79 pesos

MEXICO WEEKLY

12.49 27/01

11.59

28/01

11.48

10/02

Cementing an overdue recovery

PHOTO COURTESY OF FLICKR

Cemex hopes it has weathered the worst of the global crisis and is now looking to expand.

16"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

share, so the [stock] dilution myth does not apply, if anything that would be after five years,” said Zambrano at a press conference held before the shareholders meeting. ‘GREATER FLUIDITY’

24/01

HEFTY BILL DUE

CEMEX STOCK PRICE SLUMP

ECONOMY &FINANCE

Day/Month

Source: IXE

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"17

ECONOMY &FINANCE

TAX REFORM

to hire almost 15,000 additional mid- and high-level civil servants.

New fix on public spending

PRI senators have prompted a tax reform debate, although action on transparency and efficiency must likely come first

ack in 1999, President Ernesto Zedillo was nearing the end of his sexenio. He sought to revive his and the nation’s fortunes by submitting a tax reform proposal to Congress. That same year, PAN lawmakers (with Felipe Calderón as their party president) decided to reject the Zedillo proposal. Since then, dozens more tax reform proposals have been submitted to Congress but none have mustered enough votes for approval. Throughout the years since, new taxes have been implemented and small changes have been made to the country’s fiscal system. However, Mexico has not experienced comprehensive tax reform since David Ibarra Muñoz – the finance secretary under President José López Portillo (197682) – introduced the value-added tax (IVA) back in the early 1980s. Since then, lawmakers from all parties (Calderón included) have either submitted, lobbied for, examined, or voted on a flurry of tax reform proposals. Indeed, Mexico’s fiscal woes are well documented and the reforms needed are clear to almost every politician. As Sen. Manlio Fabio Beltrones recently wrote in an Op/Ed piece: “We all have multiple options on how to redirect [the country’s] fiscal policy.”

FOOLISH SPENDING

While nations such as Greece and the United Kingdom are desperately trying to cut public spending (despite huge public outcry), public spending in Mexico has steadily grown at an annual average rate of 6.9 percent, according to Fundar researchers. Throughout the years, petroleum sales and oil-related taxes have been primarily used to finance Mexico’s burgeoning bureaucracy. A 2009 report by the Chamber of Deputies’ technical body in charge of overseeing public spending (the ASF) discovered that in 2004, during Vicente Fox’s fourth year in office, one-quarter of the country’s “additional” oil revenue – that is, the difference between the projected and actual price of Mexico’s heavy crude – was spent on “balancing the federal budget.” This is a familiar euphemism used in Mexico that means using the money to pay for government overspending throughout the year. A report compiled by Fundar on oil-financed spending from 2000 to 2006 found that petroleum revenue paid, among other things, for a giant flagpole in Nuevo León and for the remodeling of several churches in Yucatán. This simply “reflects the lack of planning and programming in public spending,” wrote Moreno, the report’s author.

NOTIMEX PHOTO/JOSÉ PAZOS

INSTITUTIONAL INEFFICIENCY

TOUGH SELL

This month, Sen. Beltrones and other PRI senators have worked hard to defend a new tax reform proposal, although he has yet to submit the bill to Congress. Surprisingly, Beltrones has to convince his own party’s deputies to endorse the proposal before submitting it. The accounting firm Ernst & Young has said the proposal (if approved) could increase the country’s non-oil tax revenue by 1.3 or 1.8 percent – well below the 3 percent recommended in 2009 by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Beltrones proposal – like most others proposed in the past 11 years – focuses almost exclusively on boosting the fiscal base and increasing the country’s languid

Congress could take up comprehensive tax reform this session.

tax revenue (which is well below other Latin American countries and almost two times below that of OECD countries). However, many analysts question why politicians have not shown any interest in making more transparent and more efficient the way the country currently spends what little it collects in tax revenue. “Before any tax reform proposal gets approved, we must first study very thoroughly what the current tax revenue is being used for,” said Rocío Moreno López, a

20"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

researcher at the independent Mexico City think tank Fundar. “There’s no use in increasing tax revenue if it’s only going to be spent foolishly.” IRRESPONSIBLE DECISIONS

There is actually plenty of data to support Moreno’s concern. From 2005 to 2010, for instance, on the heels of record-breaking oil prices, the federal budget increased by almost 75 percent, going from 1.8 trillion to 3.2 trillion pesos.

In contrast, the country’s Human Development Index (an index that combines data on life expectancy at birth, adult literacy, educational enrollment, and average income) only increased from 0.727 to 0.750. In other words, an extra 1.4 trillion pesos in public spending did almost nothing to alleviate the country’s economic and social problems. “More revenue – whether it comes from oil [sales and taxes] or taxes – does not automatically translate into a decrease in

poverty levels,” said Moreno in a telephone interview. This is not surprising if we consider that public spending, or the expenditure incurred by the public sector in the course of its activities in Mexico nearly doubled between 2000 and 2006. Even in 2009, in the midst of the worst financial crisis in global history – as countries all over the world were frantically trying to reduce their public-sector costs – Mexico’s federal government managed

Almost the exact same criticism was made recently by the ASF when it presented its 2009 sampling audit of public accounts to Congress. Indeed, its report is filled with cases where government agencies blatantly fiddled away public money. The country’s revered state-owned oil company, for instance, serves as a clear example of the endemic inefficiency, corruption and inefficiency that plagues our government. Figures compiled by Reforma show that Pemex – with its 145,000 employees – has 30,000 more workers than privately-owned British Petroleum (115,000) and 39,000 more than Exxon Mobil (106,000). In fact, using Pemex’s own figures, the newspaper discovered that from 2008 to 2010, while Mexico’s oil production fell by 7.7 percent, the state-owned company’s spending on workers’ benefits increased

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"21

TAX REFORM

by 15 percent, going from 123 billion to 142 billion pesos. Not surprisingly, Pemex’s efficiency fares very poorly when compared with privately owned oil companies. While an Exxon employee produces approximately 43.6 barrels of oil per day, a Pemex employee only produces 17.2 (nearly 40 percent less). TRIVIAL SPENDING

Sadly, inefficiency is not a phenomenon exclusive to Mexico’s oil sector. According to the ASF’s 2009 audit report, lawmakers are not much more efficient than oil riggers. Figures show that, between 2007 and 2009, the congressional budget increased from 7.7 billion to 9.6 billion pesos and in 2009 it experienced its biggest-ever increase (10.3 percent). On the other hand, the rate at which lawmakers proposed or approved urgently needed reforms – including a comprehensive tax reform – was less than impressive. In 2009, for example, federal deputies as a whole proposed 1,079 different bills, of which 909 were sent to committees and only 170 were acted upon. The Senate, meanwhile, did a little bit better by proposing a total of 974 bills and voting on 925 of them. But perhaps the most telling sign of how little thought is given in Mexico to public spending is the expenditure laid out for the two big official celebrations last year – the Bicentennial of Independence and the Centennial of the Revolution. According to the ASF, at least 260 million pesos were spent on celebratory projects, including 31.2 million pesos (or approximately 1,448 years’ worth of minimum wage salary) spent on publicizing and organizing a laying-of-the-first-stone event for the yet-to-be-constructed “Arco del Bicentenario.” Another 63.3 million pesos (approximately 2,800 years’ worth of minimum wage salary) were spent on the creation and endowment of a research institute specializing in the study of Mexico’s social revolutions. This seems rather ironic given that Mexico’s Revolution was sparked, among other things, by President Porfirio Díaz’s similarly excessive spending on lavish public projects, including structures for the Centennial of Independence. So while the Beltrones tax reform proposal promises to “promote growth and

MEXICO'S TOTAL TAX REVENUE COMPARED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES As a percentage of gross domestic product 40

Spain

36.6

33.7 34.2 34.7

OECD Total

35.4.2

Canada

31.1

33.3

30.7

27.9 26.0 United States 25

24.0

23.2 19.7 Chile 18.6

Mexico

16.5

18.2 17.5

15 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Source: OECD (2010), Revenue statistics: Comparative tables, OECD Tax Statistics (database)

BUDGET AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX Comparison between public spending and HDI 3.5

3.2 trillions of pesos

0.8

3.0 2.5 2.0

1.8

1.5

0.750 1.0 0.5

Human Development Index

ECONOMY &FINANCE

0.727

0.0

0.7 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Source: UNDP, Chamber of Deputies / Finance Secretariat

employment,” it is not much different from all the other proposals submitted to Congress in the past 11 years. It simply doesn’t address how the resulting revenue will be spent. In fact, Beltrones – like most other politicians before him – avoids talking about making public spending more efficient and transparent because he figures it’s something that is just unattainable. “They know such a reform would never be passed in Congress. That’s why they

22!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

never propose it,” said José María Marín, another researcher at Fundar. In that respect, many analysts believe politicians would be better served to focus more on establishing proper guidelines and creating independent agencies that can effectively oversee public spending. For Fundar, there should be a balance between increasing the country’s tax revenue and making public spending more efficient and transparent. CARLOS MARTÍNEZ CRUZ/MEXICO WEEKLY

www.mexicotoday.com.mx/information/lifeleisure

life& leisure

PHOTO COURTESY OF SECRETARIA DE CULTURA/DF

AQ in the DF

Art in Review: A tour through 20th-century Mexican society through Abel Quezada’s sharp pen: 24

LETTERS

BOOKS

Tongue Chief

Show Time

Poet Jaime Labastida, brother of 2000 PRI presidential candidate Francisco Labastida, is the new director of the Mexican Academy of Language.

“200 años del Espectáculo,” a visually rich history of D.F. entertainment, has been published by Conaculta, the D.F. government and the Auditorio Nacional.

“The last

of the oldstyle movie theaters.” Film critic Luis Tovar on the D.F.’s doomed Cine Teresa.

TELEVISION

MUSIC

LETTERS

Catch 22

Triple Loss

Iturriaga

Novelist Jorge Volpi, head of Canal 22 since 2007, will hand over the reins of the government TV channel on March 1 to Irma Pía González Luna.

The Senate paused on Feb. 17 to applaud three recently deceased giants of Mexican music – Manuel Esperón, Eugenio Toussaint and Salvador Ojeda.

José Ezequiel Iturriaga – writer, diplomat, historian, political scientist and a leading public intellectual of 20th century Mexico – has died at age 98.

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"23

ART IN REVIEW

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SECRETARIA DE CULTURA/DF

life& leisure

At the Museum of Mexico City: Abel Quezada’s twin murals honoring oil sovereignty are available for public viewing for the first time.

The Likable Doodler The artist Abel Quezada satirized his contemporaries each and every day with pen and ink. And they loved him for it.

bel Quezada’s most remembered piece isn’t typical of his art, his approach or his demeanor. Then again, it was published on an atypical day. The late artist, who fills one of the loftier slots in the pantheon of great Mexican cartoonists, had multiple styles in multiple mediums. But none would have included the solid black rectangle that ran under his name and the two words “¿Por qué?” in his usual space in the then-dominant daily Excelsior on Oct. 3, 1968. Quezada, 47 at the time, had huddled the evening before with an editor to select among several cartoon options, with the news still sinking in that soldiers had shot down an undetermined number of students earlier that day in the Tlatelolco plaza, just north of Mexico City’s Historic Center. As responses to atrocity go, that black box, as much dolorous as accusatory, was hardly regime- threatening. But it stood out among the press coverage that day, which mostly praised the government for taking

care of business. That “Why” at the top was the kicker; it insubordinately suggested there might have been a better way to deal with an inconvenient protest than slaughtering hundreds of young people. The “anti-cartoon,” as it’s since been christened, contributed to the view of Quezada as a pioneer of freedom in modern political cartooning. He is certainly revered for that by his successors. “His work was courageous at a time when it was difficult to be critical about national political life,” says political cartoonist Rogelio Naranjo (Proceso, El Universal), one of the most prominent of those successors. “He was able to open up considerable space for us in the media.” But, as a generous and pleasing exposition of his work at the Museo de la Ciudad de México makes clear, Abel Quezada was no political firebrand. He wasn’t really a political cartoonist in any familiar sense of the term. In fact, if you listen to Quezada himself, he wasn’t even a cartoonist. “My job doesn’t have a name,” he said in

24"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

Illustrated texts: “I’m not a cartoonist.”

1985. “I can’t say I’m a ‘cartonista’ because that rather ugly word, which comes from the English ‘cartoon,’ doesn’t exactly describe what I do.” What he did, in his words, was create “illustrated texts.” He could as easily have said “annotated illustrations.” Much of the time they were in “historieta” form, consisting of several panels, each of which could often stand alone, but in their aggregate always led to something. In that sense his work was similar to Paco Calderón’s current offerings in the Sunday Reforma, but without the snarl.

You can also choose to see some Quezada in Rius, Jules Feiffer and the New Yorker’s Roz Chast. Visitors to the current exhibit will agree with Quezada that “cartoonist” is an inadequate term for his work. For one thing, the drawings themselves aren’t all in the same style, as those of a typical political cartoonist would be. He can communicate much with little ink; look at the crowd scenes in some of the larger drawings and you’ll see that most of the individuals consist of not much more than half a dozen lines. Or he can add detail and texture (and therefore personality) as he does with some of the recurring characters, like

the paunchy PRI deputy. And, of course, Quezada was not only a drawer. The Mexico City Museum show displays dozens of his oils and watercolors, and they tell us something about his side passions. One is aircraft; a room at the exhibit is hung almost exclusively with landscapes and cityscapes, most featuring at least one flying machine, usually a blimp. Another is the “long and joyous party” that was Mexico in the 1940s, a time of “Cadillacs, Ciro’s, caviar, blondes, whisky and champagne.” Was he being nostalgic or caustic when he wrote in 1975, “Everything bad that is happening now is just a hangover”? We also learn from the paintings that Quezada was no gringophobe. Many are scenes from the United States. He loved baseball. One oil depicts Babe Ruth standing, in full uniform, outside a row of brownstones (probably in New York, where he played, but maybe in Baltimore, where he grew up). The obligatory blimp hovers above. He was also an admirer of Saul Steinberg, the great Romanian-born American illustrator who is most remembered for his “View of the World from 9th Avenue,” which uses forced perspective to declare there’s little west of Manhattan worth including on a map. Quezada, like Steinberg, contributed covers to the New Yorker, the holy grail of cartoonist/artists, though considerably fewer than the American’s 90. But what makes Quezada Quezada is the daily commentary he provided in the newspapers Excélsior (1956-1976) and Novedades (1977-1988). They were

usually in cartoon or historieta format, but their reach went beyond those categories. He satire was social, not overtly political. “Throughout my long career in drawing, my principal character was never any politician,” he once said. “My character was the Mexican.” That’s a riskier route than it sounds. Lampoon a politician and the people will nod in agreement, save for the lampooned politician. Expose the foibles of the people themselves, and you’re treading on sensitive ground. By doing just that, Quezada compiled accolades from cultural critics such as Guillermo Sheridan (who calls him “a combative journalist with paper and pencil”) and Carlos Monsiváis (“a novelist in the land of cartoons”). What’s more, Quezada satirized his compatriots without resorting to the usual disclaimer that any character flaw had to have been imposed from above or abroad. “I never depicted the people the way the old cartoonists did, as the eternal and impotent victims of the powerful,” he said. (For the record, though, he did take his share of shots at rich foreign countries as well as rich people.) How, then, could he have been so popular for so long with the very people he so relentlessly chided? One reason is that his satire was as gentle as it was effective. By all accounts, Quezada was a very nice man. The veteran journalistBlanche Petrich, in praising his stance at the time of the Tlatelolco massacre, described him as a “likable doodler,” which she meant in a good way. Naranjo uses the word “simpático.”

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"25

ART IN REVIEW

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SECRETARIA DE CULTURA/DF

life& leisure

Nothing personal: Quezada’s jabs were usually gentle, but always spot on.

Quezada’s amicable nature shows in the rounded edges of his satire. People apparently didn’t take his spot-on jabs personally; perhaps they assumed he was talking about everybody else but them. As if to acknowledge that possibility, one single-panel cartoon prominently displayed in the current show depicts two identical couples secretly calling each other “naco,” a derogatory term that in this case implies “insufficiently educated with poor values and poorer taste.” Quezada’s twin murals honoring the nationalization of the oil industry are in theory the main draw of the exhibit, which is entitled “Códice AQ” and continues through April 3. He took the assignment in 1988, the 50th anniversary of the expropriation, and finished the work shortly before his death in 1991. The murals were ensconced at Pemex headquarters until they were shipped to the Mexico City Museum last December, so this show provides their first public viewing. If it seems contradictory that Quezada would celebrate a parastatal industry often associated with corruption and inefficiency, keep in mind that he was of the generation that equated Pemex with independence and progress. Both are symbolized in the train of

Códice AQ, featuring drawings and paintings, continues through April 3.

the first mural, which is accompanied by horses bearing six heroes of the Revolution — Villa, Carranza and Zapata out front, with Obregón, Calles and Cárdenas alongside. The animals might be moving faster than the machine, and though they’re not tethered to it, they seem to be pulling the train along. In contrast, the nine (at the time) postCárdenas presidents, from Ávila Camacho to Salinas, stand idly on a flat car, along for the ride. Typical of Quezada, none of them look much like themselves, but they all look just like a Mexican president. The second mural depicts Pemex

26!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

officials (“The Pioneers and Some Others”) in a setting that is simultaneously industrial, rural and coastal. Compared to the leaders and heroes of the first mural, this is a mundane bunch, which may be why 15 of them are dressed as baseball players and stand as a team under a swarm of aircraft. The mural display offers a historic viewing opportunity, but it’s the hundreds of smaller works, most of them “illustrated texts” on newsprint, that show us Abel Quezada. aVisitors pass through the rooms viewing (and reading) the pieces under glass on tables, with the paintings hanging on the walls. Also on the white walls are oversized reproductions of Quezada cartoons and characters, brightening up the interior of the museum (a converted mansion, beautiful, but a tad gloomy). Visitors smile more at the Quezada show than at other art exhibits. Most are too young to know much about him. All the more reason to appreciate this good-natured tour through the pre-NAFTA Mexico of the 20th century. KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT / MEXICO WEEKLY

kellyarthurgarrett@gmail.com

FILM IN REVIEW

life& leisure

Sight Unseen The Mexican press began playing up “Biutiful” when the 2010 film started pulling in international prize nominations, including for Best Foreign Language Film at the upcoming 83rd Academy Awards on Feb. 27. But in Mexico City, capital of the land of its director Alejandro González Iñárritu, the movie itself was until Feb. 25 still only viewable via a funky print in a tiny room at the Cinemanía art film complex. Its limited popular appeal is no surprise; as González Iñárritu himself put it, you survive “Biutiful“ rather than enjoy it. “It’s not a movie for every taste,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking of a mass audience when I made it.” The film is a joint Mexico-Spain production, with other nations also involved in the financing. It was submitted to the Academy in Mexico’s name, but “Biutiful” takes place in Spain, in a rough section of Barcelona the Catalan Tourist Board doesn’t want you to know about. González Iñárritu insists, credibly, that the setting could have been any European city. The true location is the crossroads of globalization and the new world order, any urban no man’s land where the displaced survive however they can, without thinking too much about the moral cost of exploiting other immigrants. This is a typical piece of modern geography – squalid and dangerous, but also strangely unmoored, like a forgotten garbage barge drifting with the currents. We see it through the central character, Uxbal, who acts out Hobbes’ observation that human life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Played with chin pressed toward the chest by the Spanish actor Javier Bardem in a universally praised performance, Uxbal is both outside the fray (he’s not an immigrant) and an enabler of it (he scrapes by financially as a go-between among the petty ethnic mobs).

PHOTOS COURTESY OF BIUTIFUL-THEMOVIE.COM

The film ‘Biutiful’ has been more awarded than distributed, and more admired than attended. That’s too bad.

Single dad: His days are numbered, but there’s time for homework.

Dying of cancer, he has a few months to get his affairs in order, which in his case means hustling enough money to help his two pre-teen children get by when he’s gone. Fortunately, there’s plenty of cash moving around in the neighborhood, all in envelopes. Novelist Carlos Fuentes credited the movie with implicitly posing a question: If a globalized world can generate so much business and circulate so much money, why can’t it create jobs? Looking for an upbeat respite that the movie won’t grant easily, it’s tempting to point to Uxbal’s devotion to his children as a transcendent character reference. He does take the role of single father seriously, helping them when it matters most, failing them occasionally in minor matters (such as how to spell the only English word in the movie). It’s condescending, however, to describe such a commitment as heroic. Wouldn’t any man take the reins if circumstances demanded it? Uxbal’s use of his dying days to set up his children, then, is really just one of many decisions that have been made for him. This imposed passivity has bothered some critics, such as Daniel Krauze in Letras Libres, who sniffs, “Chance is not an interesting narrative thread.”(Somebody send that man

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu (right) and Javier Bardem discuss a scene.

the collected works of Thomas Hardy.) As though to counter, González Iñárritu said in an Associated Press interview in January, “That’s what tragedy is, exposing a human being to destiny’s fury.” He also maintains – with a hint of frustration – that “this is a story of hope.” Those who can’t see the hope are the pessimists, one can almost hear him say, not the director. So it’s worth pointing out that the one strong, selfless decision made in the course of “Biutiful” fulfills Uxbal’s mission posthumously. It ensures that the future will be taken care of – by immigrants. KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT / MEXICO WEEKLY

kellyarthurgarrett@gmail.com

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"27

life& leisure

FILM IN REVIEW

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PRESUNTOCULPABLE.ORG

Lawyers with Cameras

The defendant and his attorney: Overcoming the obstacle of being presumed guilty.

‘Presunto Culpable’ exposes a scandalously dysfunctional Mexican justice system. But that’s the easy part. Feb. 18-20 was an unusual weekend in Mexican cinema, and an encouraging one. In a nation where home-grown productions are mostly ignored and documentaries shunned, moviegoers started lining up Friday to see “Presunto Culpable,” a Mexican documentary that seeks to expose what most people already know – that the justice system is outrageous. The movie’s not new. It’s been knocking around film festivals and other secondary venues for two years now, and was even shown with English subtitles on U.S. public television in 2010. But age doesn’t matter in this case. Once a national distribution deal was struck, the pre-release buzz was louder on the op-ed pages than anywhere else, reflecting a consensus that this is a very important movie indeed, and that every citizen owed it to the cause of justice to see it. A lot of them did. Over that first weekend, 128,000 persons paid 6.4 million pesos to see “Presunto Culpable.” That’s not exactly “Titanic” territory (and its gross lagged way behind “Yogi Bear” and three other Hollywood imports), but it’s already

José Antonio Zúñiga: More than two years in prison for a crime he never committed.

halfway to out-performing the mostwatched Mexican documentary of all time, Luis Mandoki’s “Fraude: 2006.” Even the luxury VIP rooms in the cinema complexes are screening “Presunto Culpable.” So socially conscious film buffs can enjoy waiter service and plush reclining seats as they ponder the fate of an innocent man condemned to rot in a claustrophobic prison for 20 years. Why the success, welcome as it is? The

28"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

urgent reviews helped, of course, especially since they came not so much from the entertainment tastemakers as from the intellectual elite – Juan Villoro, Guadalupe Loaeza, Jorge Castañeda, Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez. People don’t go to movies for civic reasons, but the idea that the criminal justice system is worth paying more attention to is a timely one. There’s a better reason that “Presunto Culpable” is drawing audiences, though.

Filmmakers Layda Negrete and Roberto Hernández: A call to action.

For all its effectiveness as an advocacy project, and all its hard-earned credibility, it also works as a movie. There’s a satisfying dramatic arc to it, as though created by screenwriters. There are plot shifts and a huge false climax; this may be the only documentary where a reviewer feels bound to hold on to spoiler information. There’s even a love story. And dancing. And original rap lyrics. This is a documentary for people who don’t like documentaries. The characters are especially memorable, and reveal themselves cumulatively over time. Which is amazing, since none of them are acting. They’re not characters at all, of course, but real-life participants in (and victims of) the farcical theater of the absurd that passes for a criminal trial in Mexico. They’re on screen only because two young lawyers, Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete, somehow convinced authorities to let them film the re-trial of a young everyman named José Antonio Zúñiga, who had been falsely accused and then unjustly convicted of a murder he never knew about, let alone commited. From the authorities’ point of view, this had to be the most ill-advised lapse into transparency since Nixon turned on the tape recorder. The film couldn’t have been cast better if it were actually cast. The prosecutor chuckles disinterestedly on those rare occasions that she does anything. The judge (shockingly, the same one who allowed Zúñiga to be defended by a fraudulent nonattorney in the original trial) smiles insincerely, like a ham villain. The judicial police

are truly chilling hombres who feel no need to even pretend to tell the truth. Zúñiga’s gang-member accuser is like a method actor, holding his fear of the consequences of his perfidy just below the surface; when he breaks he maintains his macho stare. Hernández and Negrete chose Zúñiga’s case because they thought it was strong. They were right. They also did well to bring the Australian filmmaker Geoffrey Smith on board after the filming; it’s likely his work that turned a compelling documentary into a moving dramatic experience. They caught a break when Zúñiga turned out to be articulate, thoughtful and handsome – a leading man from central casting. But they hit the jackpot with Rafael Ramírez Heredia, the hyper-competent defense attorney who exudes the right mix of sympathy and ruthlessness, and more or less takes over the movie as soon as he walks into it. He doesn’t like what goes on at these procedures, but he isn’t intimidated by it. Like Atticus Finch, he’s up against obstacles that have nothing to do with the merits of the case. Ultimately, though, as an advocacy documentary, “Presunto Culpable” has to be judged on the success of the arguments it set out to make. One of them, that Zúñiga was falsely accused and convicted in the face of overwhelmingly exculpatory evidence, is obvious. Even allowing for selective editing by filmmakers on a mission, it’s clear from ballistics tests, eyewitness accounts and the accuser’s change of heart that Zúñiga was, as the movie’s title has it, presumed guilty from the start. But how well does the film expose the

system as a whole? Was this case an aberration? Are we presuming the system guilty based on a single atypical example? Here the bar is set lower. “Presunto Culpable” reveals enough to seriously call into question the system’s fairness at a structural level, which is all you can ask of a movie. Even if Zúñiga had not been found guilty, the extreme arbitrariness of the proceedings is disturbing, as are the absurd overreliance on the written record, the absence of accountability, and (again) that presumption of guilt that makes truth irrelevant. Only in a hopelessly inept justice system could such a travesty take place. In one sense, the Zúñiga re-trial was indeed an aberration: It was filmed. But that anomaly only strengthens the filmmakers’ case. The very notion that what we saw usually takes place in secrecy is scary, to say the least. And who doubts that without those lawyers’ cameras, José Antonio Zúñiga would still be serving time in Mexico City’s Reclusorio Oriente? Finally, will “Presunto Culpable” do any good? Hernández and Negrete see the film as a call to action, and they go out of their way to provide strategies for a grass roots movement. But, like their protagonist, they face forces stronger than their cause. One is attention span. Leaving the theater, the public can be fired up. Then it’s back to the daily grind, not to mention a thousand other causes to be fired up about. Al Gore made climate change the hottest cause of 2006 with his documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” Four years later, the U.S. electorate loaded up its Congress with extremists who deny the problem. Also, Mexicans are understandably more concerned about the booming population of murderers who are not in prison than the innocent non-murderers who are. The filmmakers try to address that priority by pointing out that for every innocent person put in prison, a guilty person remains free. That’s not mathematically precise, but the point is well taken: A dysfunctional criminal justice system nurtures impunity as well as miscarriages of justice. In the end, a documentary can only draw attention to a problem, taking it out of its dark hiding place and exposing it to the light of public review. But it can’t fix a broken justice system. That task requires courageous and competent reform-minded leadership, a commodity as rare as justice. KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT / MEXICO WEEKLY

kellyarthurgarrett@gmail.com

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"29

r&r

: what : when : where

FRIDAY 25

SATURDAY 26

Sanctum

Iglesias

Luis Miguel

Dancing Fowl

Hotel Garage

Show Trial

The new underwater action picture, billed as a James Cameron movie (he of “Avatar” and “Titanic” fame) but directed by the little-known Australian Alister Grierson, premiers in wide release, unavoidably at a theater near you. And yes, it’s in 3D.

Enrique Iglesias, the Spanish-born pop star, who’s still only 35, performs at Guadalajara’s Auditorio Telmex at 9 p.m. (and Saturday at the same time), before his three-day run at Mexico City’s Auditorio Nacional Feb. 28 to Mar. 2.

The many-Grammied and megagrossing Mexican pop idol continues his three-week occupation of the Auditorio Nacional that won’t stop until Mar. 6. Best seats: 2,707 pesos. Worst: 429 pesos.

The National Dance Company’s presentation of fragments from “Swan Lake” debuts at 8 p.m. in Chapultepec Park, with 120 dancers, 300 extras, and an undisclosed number of live swans and horses. Continues Thursday through Sunday until Mar. 27.

Jaime López, a oneof-a-kind rockero, blusero, folkero, ranchero and a smart and hip singer/songwriter for three decades, appears in his electric incarnation with Hotel Garage (his band for that purpose) at 10 p.m. at El Imperial (55251115) in the Condesa.

The penultimate performance of El Juicio de Hidalgo, the popular stage enactment of the Independence hero’s troubles with the Spanish authorities. At 6 and 8 p.m. in Teatro Hidalgo, behind Bellas Artes. Also Sunday at 5 and 7 p.m.

SUNDAY 27

Iphigénie

Fair: Day 4

Bassooning

Third Root

Orozco Ends

Anita Brenner

If televised opera works for you, the Auditorio Nacional, with its huge highdef screen and good sound, is the place to see it. At 12 noon, the New York Metropolitan Opera’s production of Gluck’s Ifigénie en Tauride will be telecast live. Tickets 40 to 300 pesos.

The fourth day of the International Book Fair in the Palacio de Minería includes appearances by historian Enrique Florescano, author Vicente Quirarte, former presidential candidate Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, and scores more visitworthy writers.

American Benjamin Kamins (pictured) is the featured bassoonist and Jesús Amigo the guest conductor as the National Symphony Orchestra performs Montsalvatge, Mozart and Beethoven. At 12:15 p.m. in the Palacio de Bellas Artes. Also Friday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m.

Last chance to see the exhibition “Santa Negritud,” celebrating the AfroMexican culture in southern Guerrero and northern Oaxaca. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares (pictured) in Coyoacán. Also Friday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 26.

The final day of “Pintura y Verdad,” the largest-ever exhibit of works by José Clemente Orozco. At the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, behind the Catedral in Mexico City’s Historic Center. A must-see. Also Friday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 26.

Susannah Glusker presents the two volumes of diaries, in English, kept in Mexico in the 1920s by her mother Anita Brenner, the great promoter of Mexican art and culture. At 5 p.m. at the International Book Fair in the Palacio de Minería on Tacuba in the Centro Histórico.

30!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

www.mexicotoday.com.mx/information/security

PHOTO COURTESY OF NOTIMEX

Time to stand up Mexico City officials insist that drug cartels have yet to take root in the capital, but experts say it is dangerous to delay firm action : 32 TRAFFICKERS

Rights agency releases report on migrants’ plight

More than 11,000 migrants were abducted in Mexico over a six-month period in 2010, the National Human Rights Commission reported on Feb. 22. Nearly half of the victims (44 percent) were from Honduras, the report stated. The report said drug gangs often demand a ransom from families of $1,000 to $5,000 to ensure their relative’s release.

DRUG GANGS

BORDER VIOLENCE

EX-PRI GOV. TALKS OF CARTEL DEALS

TEXAS AUTHORITY URGES SELF-HELP

Former Nuevo León Gov. Sócrates Rizzo admitted that PRI governments made deals with drug cartels, saying that by establishing where cartels could operate the widespread violence seen today was prevented.

A Texas sheriff called on residents of his county to arm themselves against Mexican drug cartels. Sheriff Arvin West of Hudspeth County said he remains suspicious of Mexicans who have fled the violence in Chihuahua.

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"31

SECURITY

DRUG CARTELS

not?” asked Corcoran. “Even if they are not part of the cartels per se, if they are killing and trafficking ... as though they were part of one of these big [criminal] organizations, then why even try to make the distinction?” According to Inacipe analyst Tirado, the reason why authorities deny the presence of organized crime groups in Mexico City stems from a “tacit agreement” between Ebrard and President Felipe Calderón. Acknowledging the presence of cartels in the capital, said Tirado, “would mean accepting a certain lack of governance [and] it could cause an escalation of violence.” But Tirado does agree with the fact that policing has helped keep the amount of drug-related violence inside the city to a minimum. However, he also claims it would be “absurd” to think there is no criminal presence inside the city. Even if the armed forces are not patrolling Mexico City like they do in Ciudad Juárez, security operations have been conducted inside the city limits. At dawn on Jan. 24, Marines captured Juan Ramón Córdoba Peñaloza, a 47-year-old Mexico City native and suspected Zeta financial officer, in the Del Valle neighborhood.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NOTIMEX

ORGANIZED CRIME IN MEXICO CITY Organized crime is fluid. Small cartels are absorbed by larger cartels. Large cartels fracture. This map includes the most up-to-date information on organized crime in Mexico’s capital city.

Who controls Mexico City?

HUIXQUILUCAN

Huixquilucan corridor (State of Mexico to D.F.) SINALOA + BELTRÁN LEYVA

NOTIMEX PHOTO/PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Mayor Ebrard prefers to insist that drug cartels

Attorney General Miguel Ángel Mancera says

operate, but have not settled, in the capital.

small–time dealers are his biggest concern.

TURNING A BLIND EYE?

drug cartels were not established inside the city, and that “here [in Mexico City] we do not have the violence that they have in other parts of the country.” That, Ebrard said, was partially due to effective local anti-drug programs that focus on rehabilitation, good policing and the more than 5,000 surveillance cameras scattered across the city. A closerlookat Ebrard’spast statements,

Mexico City Attorney General Miguel Ángel Mancera told El Universal as recently as Feb. 17 there were no cartels operating in the city. Mancera insisted that small-time drug trafficking (“narcomenudeo”) is the only drug-related crime taking place. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard Casaubón concurs with Mancera. In January, he also told El Universal that

32"MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

4 GUSTAVO A. MADERO 3 4 3 1 4 5 3 VENUSTIANO CUAUH- CARRANZA TÉMOC

ÁLVARO OBREGÓN

3 3 BENITO JUÁREZ 3

4 IZTAPALAPA 3

Analysts believe several cartels have established ‘levels of presence’ in the Federal District and it is time to take them more seriously

NOTIMEX PHOTO/CARLOS BAEZ

t least four different organized crime groups are openly fighting for control of territory outside the city limits, turning municipalities in the State of Mexico such as Nezahualcóyotl into war zones. However, some security analysts think drug cartels already operate from within the city. The reason Mexico City hasn’t yet experienced the level of violence seen in other areas is that almost all criminal organizations have a presence inside the D.F., from local groups like the Tepito arms smugglers to groups with ties to Korean mafias. Erubiel Tirado, an analyst at the Institute of Criminal Sciences (Inacipe), says it would be naïve to think one cartel dominates within the D.F. “The reality is a little more complicated,” he said. “All groups have a criminal presence in the city.” Tirado insists, if anything, there are “levels of presence.” For instance, Jorge Guzmán Meyer, a top official in the Mexico City police force, suggested that drug cartels operate in a triangular area that encompasses the east, north and central parts of the city, El Universal reported. The north, Guzmán Meyer said, is controlled by the Sinaloa cartel, but some areas are disputed by the Beltrán Leyva cartel. Then there’s the northeast, close to Nezahualcóyotl, where Guzmán says the Zetas and La Familia are battling for control. According to El Universal, the areas with the strongest presence of narcotics trafficking and organized crime are the Gustavo A. Madero, Iztapalapa, Venustiano Carranza and Cuauhtémoc boroughs.

1+2

Residents of Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl outside Mexico City have become accustomed to clashes between drug cartels in recent months.

Cuautitlán corridor (State of Mexico to D.F.) SINALOA

CUAUTITLÁN

6 TLALPAN

XOCHIMILCO

D.F.

Juárez Borough (Del Valle and Nápoles neighborhoods) ZETAS Iztapalapa, Gustavo A. Madero, Venustiano Carranza and Cuauhtémoc boroughs ZETAS + LA FAMILIA Alvaro Obregón Borough (Jardines del Pedregal neighborhood) SINALOA Cuauhtémoc Borough (Tepito) TEPITO CARTEL International Airport SINALOA Xochimilco Borough XOCHIMILCO CARTEL Tlalpan Borough BELTRÁN LEYVA

STATE OF DENIAL

1 Sinaloa 2 Beltrán Leyva 3 Zetas 4 La Familia 5 Tepito cartel 6 Xochimilco cartel

Source: Compiled by Mexico Weekly based on interviews and news reports

however, shows that even he has conflicting views about the presence of drug cartels in the capital city. Back in 2007, he admitted that drug cartels were “operating” inside the city but he quickly added that they were not “settled” in the city. That same year, he told Diario Hispano de México: “We do have distribution of drugs [inside the city], but we do not have those cartels here.”

‘A TACIT AGREEMENT’

Patrick Corcoran, a writer for World Politics Review and Harvard International Review, sees no difference between “official” drug cartel members and other types of organized crime delinquents. If it looks like a Zeta and acts like one, then, for security purposes, it is one, he says. “Who cares if people went through some elaborate induction into Los Zetas or

Ebrard claims he was unaware of any military operations, and Tirado believes the mayor since Mexico City officials were “not informed of the Navy operation.” “For two years, there have been drug-related violent acts around the city,” Tirado said. And while “the Army has taken appropriate strategic actions in troublesome areas [like in Neza where the Zetas and La Familia fight for control], it was only a matter of time before those criminal groups began having a presence inside the city.” Information compiled by a human rights NGO and published in Mexico City's official newsletter (Noticias de Tu Ciudad) describes how criminal organizations extort payments, or narcorentas, from 282 property owners in the city. City officials – who did not return calls for this article – insist on denying drug cartel members operate within the city. Corcoran worries about the possible repercussions of denying the facts. “It’s something that Mexico City [politicians] did for all of the [1980s and 1990s], saying: ‘it’s just a northern problem, not anything we need to worry about’,” Corcoran said. “And we see how that turned out.” ZACH LINDSEY / MEXICO WEEKLY

Friday February 25, 2011 : MEXICOWEEKLY"33

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Need help doing business, investing or trading in Mexico? We offer project support, legal counseling, advice on investment portfolios, financial planning, organizational development and management, government procurement processes and fiscal compliance. Do not hesitate to contact us. Maximum Commitment What are the top three worries that you would like to solve now? If you achieved them now, what three goals would make your life better? www.carrerainternacional.com, www.cienmilpesos. com Contact us and we will give you three free gifts, no strings attached! CORPOMARK highly experienced attorneys in trademarks, patents, copyrights and corporate matters. We have attorneys in other specialized areas to offer you comprehensive consultation. 51195190, 55194330. www.corpomark.com.mx

34!MEXICOWEEKLY : Friday February 25, 2011

CreatividadWeb Our main priority is to offer you service in graphic and web design projects. We have complete packages that answer to the needs of your business, including hosting, domains and personalized design. www.creatividadweb.com.mx Arandano Films Filmproduction company offering comprehensive marketing strategies. Our services include: coroporate and institutional documentaries, training videos, promotional films, video for websites, closed-circuit channels and digital advertising screens, biographical and commemorative documentaries, production and coverage of special and social events and any other type of audiovisual strategies 4437-2003, 04455 1852-8424, and 04455 1852-8424 La Bola de Papel Comunicación: Communications and public relations agency, with consulting in public communication policies, media management and cross-institutional relations, for companies and organizations. Villahermosa 23-A. Col. Hipódromo Condesa, Ciudad de México. 55 24540400/04 www.laboladepapel.com VIAJES FRYSO, S.A. Insurgentes Sur 559 Piso 5 Col. Nápoles, D.F. 55 4395 55, 1107 8043, and 5525 7576 We offer the best prices on reservations and sales of: Plane tickets, nat’l and int’l packages,

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The weakest beings – animals – tend to be ignored by the most-abusive ones, who turn a deaf ear on the formers’ suffering and needs. El Muro will make those voices heard and will put an end to animal abuse and neglect. Join EL MURO! www.elmuro.mx IMPERIOS OPTICOS S.A. DE C.V. Mexican compnay with 20 years of national prestige. We manufacture, sell and distribute more than 500 brands of optical products such as frames, lenses, cases and all types of accessories. Taking care of your image and ocular health. www.hugoconti.com We are a 100 percent Mexican company offering business and individual language

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For Sale PowerMacintosh G3 266Mhz with Zip internal zip drive, included also are 1 Jaz Drive and cartridge and 1 external zip drive all in excellent condition still fully operational Price $ 1,500 MXN contact: macmaster_2054@hotmail.com KODEK-TI experts in electrical systems and structured cabling for computing centers. Consulting and solutions for projects, installations and maintenance of electric and structured wiring systems. Tel: 5077-2538, 9215-71403. www. kodek-ti.com FALCON INGENIERÍA specialized company in projects, installations and maintenance of electrical systems, structured cabling and computing centers, with services in lighting, electrical installations, contacts and UTP and fiber optic cabling. Tel: 5077-2538, 921571403 www.falconingenieria.com.mx

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FRIDAY 25 ĂźĹ&#x17D;ĂłĂąĂ˛Ă˛ 2# )Ĺ&#x17D; #.3 ,Ĺ&#x17D;ĂąĂąĹ&#x17D;Ĺ&#x17D; ĂąĂą

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Reflection with an eye on the future when he does not pull punches CuauhtĂŠmoc CĂĄrdenas new book state of the Left and his discusses the current : 8, 22 at a truly historical figure offers a rewarding look

Congressâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; best intentions appear to have been scuttled : POLITICS 6

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MEX$25 EURâ&#x201A;Ź2 Ä USD 3.50

The CFE earns kudos from CalderĂłn, but are they deserved? : ECONOMY & FINANCE 16

Team Mexico wins in Chepoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s debut yet 2014 is still far away : LIFE & LEISURE 28

Quâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;est-ce que câ&#x20AC;&#x2122;est, Sarkozy?

Can Lozano ride labor peace to Los Pinos?

The youthful labor secreta ry insists heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a team player first and foremost, but his credent ials shepherds the labor reform might be tough to beat if he bill through Congress : 18

" Ĺ&#x17D; &&# Ĺ&#x17D;*, -# (.Ĺ&#x17D;/(& -" Ĺ&#x17D; Ĺ&#x17D; #*&)' .# Ĺ&#x17D;ĂŻ, -.),'Ĺ&#x17D; 3Ĺ&#x17D; - ,#ĂŻ #(!Ĺ&#x17D; Ĺ&#x17D;' --#0 Ĺ&#x17D; /&./, &Ĺ&#x17D; 0 (.Ĺ&#x17D;.)Ĺ&#x17D;. % Ĺ&#x17D; Ĺ&#x17D;-. ( Ĺ&#x17D; ),Ĺ&#x17D; Ĺ&#x17D; , ( "Ĺ&#x17D;( .#)( &Ĺ&#x17D; )(0# . Ĺ&#x17D;)(Ĺ&#x17D;%# ( **#(!Ĺ&#x17D; " ,! - : 6

" Ĺ&#x17D;ĂŻ,#(!Ĺ&#x17D;) Ĺ&#x17D; Ĺ&#x17D;, #)Ĺ&#x17D; $)/,( &#-.Ĺ&#x17D;, 0 & Ĺ&#x17D; '), Ĺ&#x17D;." (Ĺ&#x17D;$/-.Ĺ&#x17D;." Ĺ&#x17D; -/, Ĺ&#x17D;-.),3Ĺ&#x17D;Ĺ&#x17D;Ĺ&#x17D; Protests take shape : POLITICS 12 in Guadalajara after violence spikes : SECURITY 32

Ĺ&#x17D; Ä&#x2018;-*)(-), Ĺ&#x17D;. 2Ĺ&#x17D; , ),'Ĺ&#x17D;*,)'*.-Ĺ&#x17D; Ĺ&#x17D;&))%Ĺ&#x17D; .Ĺ&#x17D;*/ &# Ĺ&#x17D;-* ( #(!Ĺ&#x17D; : ECONOMY & FINANCE 20

Ĺ&#x17D; 2# )Ĺ&#x17D; #.3Ĺ&#x17D; '/- /'Ĺ&#x17D;* 3-Ĺ&#x17D; ")' ! Ĺ&#x17D;.)Ĺ&#x17D; Ĺ&#x17D; &)0 Ĺ&#x17D; )) &#(!Ĺ&#x17D;- .#,#-. : LIFE & LEISURE 24

" Ĺ&#x17D; Ăť ĂťĹ&#x17D;!)0 ,(' (.Ĺ&#x17D; #(-#-.-Ĺ&#x17D;." .Ĺ&#x17D; ,. &-Ĺ&#x17D; " 0 Ĺ&#x17D;3 .Ĺ&#x17D;.)Ĺ&#x17D;- ..& Ĺ&#x17D;#(Ĺ&#x17D; ." Ĺ&#x17D; *#. & : SECURITY 32

Fierce Guerrero campaign pushes BCS into shadows : POLITICS 6

Fundamentals augur growth in the Bolsa : ECONOMY & FINANCE 20

New Mexico City museum confronts the evil of genocide : LIFE & LEISURE 22

Tamaulipas governor and mayors commit to follow CalderĂłn : SECURITY 32

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Recycle your cell phone and help your community and the environment. Small- and medium-sized businesses, corporations, universities, institutions, communities and individuals: send us your working or non-working cell phones, cell phone batteries and chargers and we'll recycle them. In turn, we support more than 60 social aid organizations and charities. We are currently the leader in cell-phone recycling in Mexico, with more than 30,000 agreements with domestic and foreign companies.

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